Page 4 of Keeping Astrid

Growler shook his head and climbed into this car—not his problem. His job was to make sure he got to and from the stage without any dramas.

The drive to Alliez Security’s office didn’t take long. He’d made sure he’d found a place close to the office so that he didn’t have to deal with bad LA traffic every day. His apartment wasn’t flashy, considering the price of rent in the city, but it was adequate and after the places he’d laid his head over the years, he didn’t need anything fancy.

Once he arrived, he let himself in and walked down toward Ox’s office.

“I wish you’d informed me of this a couple of hours ago, instead of fucking fifteen minutes before we left.”

Growler paused in the doorway, not getting a good vibe from the little he’d overheard.

“Right, well, next time, check with the star’s management before you contact me.” Ox hung up the phone and blew out a breath, looking up and noticing that he was standing in the doorway. “Hey, didn’t see you there.”

Growler shrugged and entered the office. “Just got here. Problem?”

“Yeah.” Ox indicated to one of the free chairs opposite him, waiting for Growler to sit before continuing. “That was the head of security at the venue. Apparently Barry’s management weren’t happy with extra security being brought in for tonight’s show. We’re not needed.”

“Right.”

“This pisses me off. It’s why I’ve been steering away from doing these small security jobs. They’re usually more hassle than they’re worth. Ash and Storm will be annoyed when they hear this. They’ve worked with this venue for a while. It was one of the reasons why they opened an LA office.”

The frustration in Ox’s voice was plain to hear. “What are you thinking?”

He may not have known the man long, but as Ox was a former Delta, his mind would always be on the move. Looking for different angles. Just because they weren’t taking down a terrorist, didn’t mean that he wasn’t thinking of ways to take the business away from the road it was heading down.

Ox sat back and drummed his fingers on the table. “Personal security will always be there. But I want to do more. As you know, there’s more evil out in the world than some over-excited fans who want to throw their underwear at singers.”

“Have you talked to Ash and Storm about this?” Growler had only met the men who’d started Alliez Security over a video conference call when Ox brought him on as a new member of the team. They were based in New York and seemed quite happy to do what they were doing. Then again, both were married and had kids, so he doubted they’d want to do anything that could be dangerous.

He only had his mom, and their relationship was tenuous at best. He didn’t visit her much, and Growler didn’t see that changing in the future. His mom was so far lost in the bottle, her son ceased to exist to her.

“I haven’t, but I plan to. I’m even thinking of either expanding here or talking to them about opening an office down in San Diego. You know better than anyone that we’ve worked with your former SEAL team on a lot of issues. I think we can do more. Get into places and do things that the military can’t.”

Growler processed everything Ox was saying. He’d gotten out of the military because he’d seen so much shit and had felt helpless on so many occasions because their hands had been tied.

Was Ox talking about bordering the lines of legal and illegal?

Of course, there’d been many times when he’d wished he could take matters into his own hands, but he wasn’t the type to go rogue.

“How do you propose doing that?” Growler asked, shifting in the chair. “I’m sure Ash and Storm wouldn’t want their names or the name of their company associated with operations that could bring danger to their doorstep.”

“I’m aware, and I’m not talking about going into places and shooting shit up without thought.” Ox gave him a “Do you think I’m stupid” look. “I’ve been contacted by a guy in the FBI. He works for a division that gets government clearance to work dark ops. We would have government backing for any of the operations we could potentially be assigned to.”

Growler couldn’t deny his interest was piqued. If he was being honest with himself, he’d been worried that going into personal security, the likes of the jobs Ox and his team did, would render him bored. This, though, could be something he could get on board doing.

“Do you think Ash and Storm will go for it? They seem pretty happy with how things are.”

“When they came to me and asked me to open an office in LA, they said that they were open to new ideas. We’ve been busy providing security services, and it’s been fine. It’s just—as I said working with your former team has brought the hunger back to do more,” Ox finished with a shrug.

Growler had no idea what led Ox to leave the military, and he wasn’t about to ask. They all had their reasons for doing what they did.

“Whatever you want to do, I’d like to be involved. I agree there are people out there that need to be dealt with. So many women, men, and children go missing on a daily basis that are never heard from again. You know that most of them haven’t gone voluntarily, and their lives, well, fuck, who knows what their lives are like, but they’re not sunning themselves on a deserted island, surrounded by people serving them drinks and feeding them grapes.”

Ox’s lips quirked in half a smile. “I haven’t spoken to Angel or Irish, but I’m sure they’d be more than happy to follow my lead.”

Growler hadn’t had much to do with the other guys as yet. Tonight was supposed to have been his first assignment, but now that wasn’t happening. “I guess that means we’ve got a free night?”

“Looks that way.” Ox checked his watch. “You want to go get a drink? I know this great little bar which serves great burgers along with cold beer.”

Growler’s stomach grumbled even though he’d had something to eat before he’d taken a shower, but he could always go for a good burger and beer. “Sure.”

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