and cry. I saw people walk away. But my parents were heroes. And when the time came for me to make a decision, it wasn’t about putting a gun in my hand; it was about who best could push me to be like them.”
“Still too simple.”
All of that, and it hadn’t been enough. He wanted to laugh. “What are you, a therapist?”
Sugar had smiled. The woman had a thousand expressions that all seemed to boil down to how she moved her lips. “For the purposes of this conversation, you call me whatever you want, Boss Man.”
“The fire changed my world view. I thought everyone lived a certain way. Followed orders. Understood chain of command. I was wrong, and I wanted to associate only with those who did. I wanted to honor those who would lay down their lives for me. I wanted to be invincible like my dad and as selfless as my mom. I wanted to be an Army Ranger.”
Jared took a deep breath, pulling himself from the flashback. If he and Sugar could be a tenth of the parents his folks were, they’d be doing something right.
“Alright, I’m headed in to monitor the Delta team’s transmissions.” Parker left, his steps echoing in the garage.
Jared cracked his knuckles and waited for Sugar’s first update, missing her already. He pulled out his cell phone and sent a text to Asal just because. He was following Parker’s path toward the secure door when his phone buzzed. He swiped the screen. His daughter sent a selfie: one eye closed, the other squinting. Her tongue was out, and one side of her face was squashed with her hand. The text overlay said, “Beat that!”
He laughed, made a better face, then snapped the selfie and sent it back to his daughter with the hashtag “#dadwins.”
CHAPTER FOUR
The scent of pancakes and syrup filled the air. There were enough blue-haired Betties catching glances at the Lexi and Sugar partnership that Lexi had to chew the inside of her mouth not to smile and wave. The start of this road trip was entertaining for everyone—for her and Sugar and the people who didn’t generally see people like… well, Sugar, on a daily basis.
“So he’s a meathead?” Sugar stabbed a Nutella-covered crepe. “His schedule for the last week, outside of work, is: the gym, the vitamin place, the place where he picks up his food, and the gym.”
Lexi rolled the cooling coffee cup back and forth between her fingers. “He’s got a stack of commendations and crap on his résumé. Shouldn’t you know more about that?”
“That crap doesn’t impress me.” Sugar took another bite.
“Well, obviously me either. I searched through every electronic fingerprint I could find. Squeaky-clean outside of military activities. Typical Titan.” Lexi took a sip. “So we remain wholly unimpressed. Great résumé and a meathead schedule. A few headshots that are as generic as the rest of his stellar military career. Hoorah.”
“ Hooah. The army says, hooah .”
“See.” Lexi traded her coffee cup for a fork and went to town on her hash browns. “I have no idea. The vitamin store would be the best place for us to go. We can wander around, maybe see if he’s a jackass.”
“Why the vitamin store?”
“You’re pregnant and all. Vitamins? Hello?”
Sugar shook her head. “They’re prescription. My OB calls those horse pills in.”
“Oh.” Lexi shrugged. “Clueless in the preggo department.”
“We should go to the gym.”
“Ha!” Lexi snorted. “Oh, wait. Are you serious?”
“Sure.” Sugar shrugged and smirked. “Why not? I’m supposed to get some exercise.”
“Have you ever been inside a gym?”
Her face tightened. “I was ATF. I’m a trained killer, thank you very much, little miss keyboards and leather. I have been inside a gym.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Lexi searched for the right words. “This gym seems different. More than where dudes just pump iron all day. This is more like the kind of gym where they just find things that are heavy and… I don’t
Desiree Holt, Allie Standifer