Burned by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy Page 0,62

get rid of me?”

“Hell no. Of the five of us, you’re the...”

“I’m afraid to ask,” Rafe muttered as Hauk hesitated.

“The glue,” he at last said.

Rafe gave a bark of laughter. He’d been called a lot of things over the years. Most of them unrepeatable. But glue was a new one. “What the hell does that mean?”

Hauk settled back in his seat. “Lucas is the smooth-talker, Max is the heart, Teagan is the brains and I’m the organizer.” The older man shrugged. “You’re the one who holds us all together. ARES would never have happened without you.”

Rafe couldn’t argue. After returning to the States, the five of them had been transferred to separate hospitals to treat their numerous injuries. It would have been easy to drift apart. The natural instinct was to avoid anything that could remind them of the horror they’d endured.

But Rafe had quickly discovered that returning to civilian life wasn’t a simple matter of buying a home and getting a 9-to-5 job.

He couldn’t bear the thought of being trapped in a small cubicle eight hours a day, or returning to an empty condo that would never be a home.

It felt way too much like the prison he’d barely escaped.

Besides, he found himself actually missing the bastards.

Who else could understand his frustrations? His inability to relate to the tedious, everyday problems of civilians? His lingering nightmares?

So giving into his impulse, he’d phoned Lucas, knowing he’d need the man’s deep pockets to finance his crazy scheme. Astonishingly, Lucas hadn’t even hesitated before saying ‘yes.’ It’d been the same for Hauk and Max and Teagan.

All of them had been searching for something that would not only use their considerable skills, but would make them feel as if they hadn’t been put out to pasture like bulls that were past their prime.

And that was how ARES had been born.

Now he frowned at the mere idea of abandoning his friends when they were on the cusp of realizing their dream.

“Then why are you encouraging me to leave town when we’re just getting ready to open for business?”

“Because he was your family.”

“Bull. Shit.” Rafe growled. “The jackass turned his back on my father when he joined the army. “He never did a damned thing for us.”

“And that’s why you need to go,” Hauk insisted. “You need—”

“You say the word closure and I’ll put my fist down your throat,” Rafe interrupted, grabbing his glass and tossing back the shot of tequila.

Hauk ignored the threat with his usual arrogance. “Call it what you want, but until you forgive the old man for hurting your father it’s going to stay a burr in your ass.”

Rafe shrugged. “It matches my other burrs.”

Without warning, Hauk leaned forward, his expression somber. “Rafe, it’s going to take a couple of weeks before we’re up and running. Finish your business and come back when you’re ready.”

Rafe narrowed his gaze. There was no surprise that Hauk was pressing him to deal with his past. Deep in his heart, Rafe knew his friend was right.

But he could hear the edge in Hauk’s voice that made him suspect this was more than just a desire to see Rafe dealing with his resentment toward his grandfather. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“Hell, I have a thousand things I don’t tell you,” Hauk mocked, lifting his glass with a mocking smile. “I am a vast, boundless reservoir of knowledge.”

A classic deflection. Rafe laid his palms on the table, leaning forward. “You’re also full of shit.” His voice was hard with warning. “Now spill.”

“Pushy bastard.” Hauk’s smile disappeared. “Fine. There was another note left on my desk.”

Rafe hissed in frustration.

The first note had appeared just days after they’d first arrived in Houston.

It’d been left in Hauk’s car with a vague warning that he was being watched.

They’d dismissed it as a prank. Then a month later a second note had been taped to the front door of the office building they’d just rented.

This one had said the clock was ticking.

Once again Hauk had tried to pretend it was nothing, but Teagan had instantly installed a state of the art alarm system, while Lucas had used his charm to make personal friends among the local authorities and encouraged them to keep a close eye on the building.

“What the fuck?” Rafe clenched his teeth as a chill inched down his spine. He had a really, really bad feeling about the notes. “Did you check the security footage?”

“Well gosh, darn,” Hauk drawled. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“No need to be a