Hot SEALs: Discarded Heart (Kindle Worlds; Danger Incorporated Book 2.5) by Olivia Jaymes Read Free Book Online Page A

resign so they don’t have to fire me. It’s over for me there.”
    “How can they do that? What happened?”
    Cal took a long drink from his water bottle, drawing out the moment until he had some semblance of an answer. He’d put a great deal of thought into that very question.
    “I was the lead on an investigation into organized crime. It took me about three years but I fought my way up the ladder until I was head of a gambling and prostitution syndicate in Chicago. I took down some big names. One night I took down a guy named Alan Morton. He was one sick bastard so please don’t feel sorry for him. Anyway, he had a lot of friends in high places and they had Washington D.C. connections. Long story short? They screamed until they got what they wanted. My ass on a platter.”
    “That’s horrible that they can do that. You don’t have any recourse?”
    She was genuinely upset for him but he’d made some peace with his destiny. He wasn’t completely there but he’d given up on false hope.
    “Sure, I could get a lawyer and drag this out for years. They’d hold hearings and take statements but in the end nothing would change. My career and my reputation would be in tatters. At least this way if I leave quietly I’ll get to keep some of the respect I’ve worked so hard to earn. The people who really know me won’t buy into the bullshit.”
    There were only a few, actually. His job wasn’t conducive to building close friendships.
    “I know you didn’t do anything wrong.”
    There wasn’t a smidge of doubt in her voice, although she knew little about his work and less about how shallow his life had become since he’d left her.
    “You can’t possibly know that. Maybe I’m a terrible agent or an awful person.”
    “No.” Mika shook her head, color in her cheeks. “I know. You were always the one to make sure everything was just right. In school. Playing football. Even when you were making a piece of furniture there were no shortcuts. You couldn’t have changed that much in eight years.”
    “For someone that hates me you’re being kind of nice.”
    “I don’t hate you.” Her voice was a whisper and he had to lean down to hear her. “I tried and sometimes I succeeded, but right now I don’t hate you. How can I when you offered to take all the blame?”
    Cal chuckled and wrapped both of his hands around hers. “I have to be honest and admit that wasn’t my idea. A friend of mine suggested I do that. But once I thought about it I realized that it really was my fault. I should have come back to help you. I should have–”
    “Stop.” Mika pulled her hand away and made a cutting motion in the air. “You were just out of the military and trying to make a career for yourself. You needed the money to help your parents since the economy sucked. And if I’m being really honest here? I kept thinking you’d come back. That you’d hate Chicago as much as I did and you’d come back here to me. But Applewood was never big enough for your dreams, was it? I understand that now when I think about what I want for Alex. When he’s grown I can’t hold him here because of my wants and needs. It wouldn’t be fair, and I wasn’t fair to you.”
    “So what I’m taking from this conversation is that we’re both a pair of selfish jerks who should have done things differently. Except we can’t go back in time and change any of it. We only have the here and now.”
    Mika’s lips drooped and her eyes glistened with tears. “You’re right. We can’t go back. We had our chance and we blew it. Now we’re two different people with grown-up responsibilities. But I’m still glad we talked about this. I didn’t want to but as usual you knew best.”
    Mika tugged her hand away and stood, quickly walking across the room to where her bag sat on the table. Cal levered up from the couch, an uneasy feeling deep in his gut. If this was closure he didn’t like it one bit.
    “What are you doing? There’s still