The Elite: The Complete Series of Boomer and Player (With Bonus) Read Online Free PDF Page A

voice chimed in the back of my mind, asking why I hadn’t said yes, or made a plan to meet when I got back.
    The elevator arrived and I stepped aboard, leaving the self-doubt on the other side of the metal doors. I had a laundry list of tasks to complete before I could pack up Hunter and start for the beach, and my frequent conversations with myself were all the proof I needed that I needed to get to the beach as soon as my Honda CR-V could take me!
    * * * *
    “That’s the last of it! You ready for an adventure?” I called out to Hunter, shutting the front door behind me. I’d just finished the last run down to the car and all I needed was one mischievous puppy, before we could hit the highway.
    A puppy that was nowhere to be seen.
    “Damn!”
    I slipped my sling-back sandals off and started down the hallway toward my bedroom—his usual hideout.
    Mostly because that’s where my shoes lived.
    Sure enough, as I rounded the corner into the master suite, Hunter was smack dab in the middle of the faux fur rug at the foot of the bed, his sharp puppy teeth digging into the heel of my brown suede pumps. I screamed at the sight of the impressions in the delicate fabric and launched myself at the little terror.
    “Hunter! No, no, no! Bad puppy!” Hunter took off, abandoning the shoe. I snatched it off the floor and was immediately flooded with guilt at the chubby little rear end sticking out from the bed skirt. I took a deep breath and sank to my knees. I reached under the bed and pulled his warm little body into my lap. “I’m sorry little guy. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. But no more shoes! Okay bud? These things cost more than a year’s supply of your fancy kibble. All right?”
    Hunter licked my hand, and I smoothed my hand over his silky fur. After a few minutes of loving him up, I stood from the floor, and went to put the shoe away in the closet. I flicked on the light to the walk in closet and went to set the shoe next to its mate on the shelf…
    “Where’s the other—”
    It was gone too.
    “Hunter!”
    I bolted from the closet and followed his scampering steps down the hall and met him in the living room just in time to watch him root the matching shoe out from its hiding place behind the couch.
    “Oh, no,” I breathed, chocking back the urge to scream again. It was utterly destroyed.
    Hunter grabbed it in his mouth and shook it around, before dropping it to the ground again. I was frozen with horror when his third, and final act, was to raise his leg on the corner of the couch and pee all over the entire area.
    I buried my fingers in my hair and tugged at the roots. “Oh. My. God. I soooo need a vacation!”

Chapter Four
    Jack
    “This is the life, Princess,” I shouted to my four legged passenger, over the roar of the salty air flowing over the windshield of my convertible. It’d been ages since I’d had the opportunity to drop the top and cruise.
    It was almost as good as flying.
    Princess panted, her eyes half closed against the wind, a big, happy grin on her face.
    We’d been driving down the 101 for the past three hours, stopping at a few viewpoints along the way to take pictures of the ocean and stretch out. We’d had a fish and chips lunch at a little crab shack along the way, and were getting ready to close in on Player’s place.
    We flew by a blue, highway sign listing attractions, and I smiled when I saw Rosen Air Museum listed among the other tourist spots. After his father had retired from the Navy, he’d opened his own business. It had originally started as a museum with old fighter planes from different military branches and time periods. People came from all over the state to see his collection, and over time, he’d added to the business to get even more people through the doors. He’d built a hanger and airstrip and took people on air tours up and down the California coast. I’d been out to see it a few times over the years, but I hadn’t been there since Aaron’s father