Page 59 of Ex-SEAL Bad Boy

It certainly takes a lot of pressure off of us. While it’s not a guarantee that we’re totally in the clear, it means that we should finally be able to go home.

That I’m not particularly looking forward to.

While it will be nice to finally be back home and mostly free from further threats, there will be a mess to clean up. Multiple messes, in fact.

After all, we have two dead bodies to answer for—not counting the FBI agent, which hopefully Mr. Kramer had successfully dealt with—and a lot of questions I don’t have the answers to.

The army might also wonder why we were snooping around a sensitive installation, but that could easily be put down to a wrong turn. They might be skeptical, but it can’t be the first time that’s happened.

Apart from all that, it’s the matter of how to break the news to Liam that his sister and I are … what?

Despite the romantic nature of our relationship, we haven’t really defined it.

I don’t have a problem identifying Sophia as my girlfriend, my lover, my ….

I don’t really know.

That might be the most difficult thing to face.

Without the distraction of being on the run and constantly having to look over our shoulder, it means we’re going to actually have to sit down and talk about the future.

What does that even look like?

I’m done doing business with my family.

It will be interesting to see if they manage to avoid becoming entangled in this mess.

Their lawyer, Rodney Pierce, will obviously have a lot to answer for.

Even if he wasn’t particularly tight with Whitmore, his part in the Lena Gardner thing will surely have consequences for him.

Even if he manages to avoid jail time and disbarment, his clients can’t be happy with the sloppy way he handled that.

The people he represents don’t tolerate sloppiness.

If nothing else, it will be sufficient motivation for me to get my own place.

Money is not an issue, but I want to stay on the beach.

I’ve had my eye on a place just down the coast from my family for a while now. It’s not extravagant, but that’s never been what I’m about.

I’ve always loved the movieScarfacewith Al Pacino, and I’ll always remember the quote, “the guys who want it all, chicas, champagne, flash… they don’t last.”

In my experience, I’ve seen that to be true.

Ostentatious displays of wealth can be dangerous, both physically and emotionally.

It’s not worth the risk.

It’s too early to even think about asking Sophia to move in with me, but I can’t say the possibility isn’t swirling around in my head.

And what about Sophia?

When I asked her to join me, she accepted partly on the expectation that she would be paid for her services.

I feel like I owe her something.

But it’s a touchy situation.