Page 26 of Stryker

As they pulled into the laneway of thelake house, Stryker made sure to park strategically in the event ofneeding to make a quick getaway.

Overprotectivemuch? He questioned himself and wasgratified when he decided yes; yes, he was.

Fletcher and Gunner led the detectiveinto the house while Brick and Gator hung back waiting for Strykerand John.

Before Stryker could say a word, Brickbeat him to it.

“Conor’s already waitinginside. If the guy lies or hides something, we’ll know soonenough.”

“Good. I don’t like how hejust randomly showed up,” Stryker said. “I don’t know him fromAdam, so I don’t trust him.”

“Same. Conor will get tothe bottom of it. The guy wasn’t armed, and there were no weaponsin his car, so that alleviated one worry, though I do wonder why apolice detective is unarmed. One call confirmed the guy’s identitywith the Hood River PD. There was no second-guessing or hesitationon their part; they knew the guy was on his way down here.” Hegrinned. “Elias headed over as soon as he heard about it. He’ll beat the lake house too. That man hates missing out onanything.”

“Okay, we’ll wait and seethen,” John said. “He could be on the up and up.”

Stryker instinctively put his armaround John, herding him to the house. The man didn’t fight histouch, which made Stryker happy. Little did the guy know how muchpower he possessed over Stryker without even trying.

“Let’s get this overwith,” John said, his face set. “Let’s find out what the hell isgoing on.”

CHAPTER TEN

John

When John entered the lake house, henoticed Julia, Sammie, and Ben weren’t there. Likely for their ownprotection, he mused. Conor was the only other person there waitingfor them. John appreciated knowing Conor’s gift could senseanything hickey and they’d be pre-warned.

He also saw how Stryker always placedhimself between him and the detective. The gruff SEAL was slightlyoff to one side but never far enough away where he couldn’t jumpforward to block an unwanted action. While John had repeatedlystated he didn’t need anyone to stick up for him, he had to admithaving Stryker around was comforting. And, if he was beingtruthful, quite sexy. Having a man like him have his back made Johnfeel…special.

“So, Detective Woodley,what brings you here?” Conor asked before the man even had a chanceto sit down.

Woodley looked at Conor. “And whomight you be?”

“He’s the one who’s goingto determine whether or not you stick around or you’re escorted outof my county,” Elias said as he stormed in the frontdoor.

“I thought Brick was theteam leader in this group,” Woodley said.

“Avoiding the question isnot racking up any points in your favor, dude,” Shaw said as heentered the room from the back deck.

“I see we have a fullhouse,” the detective said as he looked from Brick, Elias,Fletcher, Gunner, Gator, Stryker, John, Conor, and Shaw back toBrick. “To answer your question, I’m here to protect John fromwhatever threat is out there looking for him.”

“Lie,” Conor growled, hisface darkening.

Stryker moved so fast that John had toblink to register it. One moment, he stood beside John, and thenext, he had the detective pinned to the table by hisneck.

“Why are you here?”Stryker demanded. “Forget the fucking lies.”

Woodley looked around the room, andsaw no one coming to his rescue. “Okay, okay. I’m here to find whatJohn’s father has hidden.”

“Truth,” Conorstated.

Stryker didn’t let go of hisprisoner.

“You lied to us. Not agood way to start a relationship,detective,” Strykergrowled.

“Iaman officer of the law. I didn’tlie about that.”

Conor nodded. “Truth.”

“Now let me go,” Woodleybarked, making Elias laugh.

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