Taking a beat to compose himself back into a decent human being, he finally said, “Thanks. I just needed to move around a bit.”
“I completely understand. But at least you don’t have too long a flight home to Albany once you’re in the air.”
This woman had one hell of a memory.
He nodded. “Not too long in the air. You’re right. But another hour and a half in the car to get home from the airport. I fly into Albany, but I live closer to the Binghamton and Oneonta area.”
She smiled. “State university towns. I know them well.”
“Do you?” He laughed, surprised.
She nodded. “My late husband and I used to travel a lot. Especially after he retired from service.”
A military widow. That explained her dedication to the USO.
“You know what? Let me give you this.” Her dark brown hair, cut to fall just above her shoulders, swung as she spun to reach into a drawer. She emerged holding a business card, which she handed to Kyle.
He glanced at it, skipping over the embossed logo and reading the text that said, GAPS, Guardian Angel Protection Services.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“It’s a security company run by a group of SEALs. They’re based out of Virginia, but I know they work all over the country. All over the world, actually.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “They were here once on their way to Djibouti.”
He nodded, as if impressed, but kept the information to himself that he’d spent more than a few days at the SEAL encampment in Djibouti himself. But he still wasn’t sure why she’d given him the card.
As if she could read the question in his gaze, she said, “Maybe they could be an option for you for after you leave the Navy.”
“I'm not—” he was about to tell her he had no intention, no plans, to leave the Navy anytime soon. Then he realized that, thanks to this ankle, he might not have a choice in the matter, whether he wanted to leave or not.
He begrudgingly shoved the card into his pocket. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure to help. Oh, and Chief Jones. Don’t worry. You’re going to meet the right one soon.”
His brow cocked up. “Excuse me?”
She smiled but didn’t elaborate.
Woo-woo bullshit. Wasn’t that what Sebastian called this woman’s uncanny ability to know things about all of them? Things they’d never told her.
Although, she was creepily on point.
Blessing’s whacky ramblings had somehow, accidentally he was sure, hit upon what still weighed on him. Other than his injury, of course. The one thing that during all the touchy-feely conversation he’d been having over the past hours with the guys, he’d kept to himself.
Nah. She wasn’t psychic any more than those fraud pay-by-the-minute phone fakes were.
Dismissing her and her prediction, and he used that term loosely, he said, “So uh, the restroom is…”
“Right over there.” She beamed as she indicated the proper direction.
“Thanks.”
He hit the head then, thoroughly depressed by the reality check Blessing had hammered home with that damn business card she’d given him, he made his way back to his seat.
His spot was still vacant and waiting for him, as promised, even though all of his companions seemed to be napping.
Maybe he could catch some shut eye himself. Sleep might be his only escape from his shitty current reality.
He moved his bag out of the way and laid the crutches on the ground, trying not to wake the other guys with his movements. He was just attempting to get his leg up on the table without the racket the big plastic boot usually caused when air-born motion caught his eye.
Wide-eyed, Kyle watched as the stink bug launched out of his open backpack and flew slowly across the room, landing on the wall nearby, where it hung tight.
Oh, shit.
He glanced around at his companions to see if anyone had seen.
Were stink bugs native to this region? If not, had he just single-handedly infested the entire state of Georgia with the invasive insect?
The way his luck had been running lately, there was a good chance he had.
Christ. Could things get any worse? He really couldn’t think of any way they could.
three
He put a ring on it! Pop stars and long-time sweethearts Luna Blue and Angel Leon make it official.
“Engaged?” Heart pounding, Luna raised a narrowed gaze to her cousin and manager. “Daniel. What the hell is this?”
“What?” He glanced at the magazine cover she held up, facing him. “Oh. The label thought it was time.”
“The record label? And what about me? Didn’t anyone think to ask me?” She was the one in this sham of a relationship.
And she was the one in the ridiculous photo taken four years ago that they’d dug out of the archives. The one of her drinking champagne out of the bottle while wearing a minuscule bikini while on the record company’s yacht.
In her defense, the trip was to celebrate her twenty-first birthday. It wasn’t supposed to be splashed on the cover of the country’s biggest celebrity magazine.
“As your manager, I assumed it was my job to take decisions like this off your plate and make them for you.” Daniel lifted one shoulder, making him look like half his current age. Like he had when he’d been sixteen and playing dumb rather than admit to something that would get him into trouble with his mother.
It didn’t work with Aunt Camila back then and it wasn’t going to work with Luna now.
“Daniel Joachim Diaz, don’t you play dumb with me. We were practically raised together. I know you too well. You knew I wanted to pull back from this stunt with Angel. But instead of working to get me out of it, you do this?”
Her heart was pounding so hard it stole her breath.
Daniel took a step closer and ran one suntanned hand down her arm. It stood out in stark contrast against her paler skin since she’d barely seen the sun this summer.
She hadn’t had more than a day or two off, never mind for a vacation, in close to a year. Not since this tour began.
Perform at night. Get on the tour bus. Travel to the next city. Sleep away half the day, wake up and do it all over again.
It had been months and months of what might as well have been the same day being lived over and over and over again. It was enough to make a person lose their sanity.
How did Daniel have time to be out in the sun and, she assumed, have fun, when she felt like she didn’t have time to do anything except work?
Although lack of time wasn’t her only issue, was it?
Lack of freedom was as well. Even a ponytail and baseball hat didn’t allow her to go out unrecognized anymore. She was a prisoner in a gilded cage of her own making.
Make that of Daniel and the record label’s making.
When she first started, she’d just wanted to sing and earn enough to help her mother pay for rent and food while doing it. She’d never asked for all the rest.
She’d certainly never asked for a fiancé.
And speaking of her new fiancé, what did Angel think of this new development in their relationship? Why hadn’t he texted or called as enraged as she was by the news?
Maybe he hadn’t seen it yet. Or, worse, maybe he was on board with the idea.