Taking It Slow - Reese Knightley Page 0,42
took Spencer’s mother, but he reminded himself that it wasn’t his business.
Not yet.
Spencer was still skittish about their involvement and the last thing Liam wanted to do was fuck it up.
Spencer
“Spencer!”
“Yeah?”
“Someone’s here to see you.”
He frowned. All he wanted was to get home, shower, collect Wesley, and get to Liam’s place.
Looking toward the gate, he made an annoyed sound under his breath. Fuck. Donald Wheeler stood in the parking lot just outside of the base’s front gate.
“Everything okay?” Eagle scowled.
“Yeah. I’ll be right back,” he grumbled, mentally calculating the cash in his wallet.
He nodded at the military guard on duty before he stepped through the gate and toward where Wheeler waited in the off base parking lot.
“Wheeler,” he said, squinting at the agent. The only fucking reason the guy knew where he worked was because Spencer was Wesley’s legal guardian. His heart lurched.
“Is everything okay?” He blinked back the bone crushing weariness from the last week.
“No, it’s not. Since you can’t keep up with the payments, we’ve decided to take Wesley out of that environment.”
“The fuck you are.”
“We’ve already started the process,” Wheeler snapped.
“He’s my responsibility.”
“Not anymore.”
“You fucker.”
“The truth hurts,” Wheeler sneered.
“What do you want from me?”
Wheeler held out his palm, rubbing his thumb and fingers together.
Spencer tugged out his wallet and counted two thousand dollars into Wheeler’s hand.
“Where’s the rest?” The man scowled, shoving the money into his pocket.
That was it. That was the straw that broke his fucking back. He was so fucking done.
“You know what, Wheeler? Enjoy your job while you have it. You and Mayer are fucking done,” he said flatly and turned his back on the guy to walk away.
Before he took three steps, pain exploded in the back of his head and he stumbled, hitting the ground. Rolling, he came up more out of instinct, but his balance was off.
The insane light in Wheeler’s eyes flashed just before the guy lunged again, swinging the big black flashlight.
Spencer let him come. When Wheeler grew closer, Spencer broke the fucker’s nose with one blow and then dropped him to his knees with a punch to the gut. The flashlight fell and rolled away.
“Hey!” The gate guards came running.
The guards were on him before he could take another swing. Wheeler came up from the ground and sucker punched him in the gut while he was being held.
Eagle was there with a grip on Wheeler’s arm, keeping the man from hitting him again.
“You’re done, Turner! You’re fucking done! You hear me?” Wheeler screamed and jerked away from Eagle. Wiping at his mouth, Wheeler grabbed up his flashlight and jumped in his car.
“Fuck.” He rubbed at his forehead.
“What the fuck was that?” Eagle snarled.
“Nothing!” He yanked his arms from the guards and turned on them.
They wisely held up their hands and backed away to return to the small guard shack near the base entrance.
“You’re fucking lucky that was off base,” Eagle snapped back.
“I need my stuff.” He ignored Eagle and turned toward the gate.
Link held up three bags. “I got our phones from the office. Yours keeps buzzing.”
He took the plastic baggie that contained all his personal shit and cell phone.
“See ya,” he said.
“Spencer?” Eagle barked.
“Yeah?”
“Whatever the fuck that is? Fix it.” The older man pointed after Wheeler and spun away.
Spencer turned from Eagle’s back and held Link’s gaze.
“He’ll be okay. He’s just a grumpy bastard.” Link winked.
Spencer couldn’t even muster a smile for Link. He gave a quick nod and got into the car he’d borrowed from Dillon.
He squeezed the wheel, but he didn’t punch it like he would have in the past. Liam’s influence. He smiled just thinking of the man.
Pulling out his phone, he saw he’d missed several calls. A few were from Liam and Wesley.
Fuck.
The first message made his blood run cold. It was Wesley crying into the phone that he was scared that Mom and Carl were going to kill each other. The next call sent his knees weak with relief when Liam’s strong, calm voice assured him that he had Wesley safe at his house.
He floored it to the onramp that would take him to Liam’s place. The traffic fucking sucked, but he made it in less than an hour.
From the guard shack, Jason saw him coming and had the gate open for him by the time he turned into the estate. He sent the man a wave as he drove on past. Shoving the car in park, he jogged across the driveway and took the steps two at a time.
Liam and Wesley