“Tank! What did you just say?”
Emma appears carrying a baby gate. I take it from her and place it between the kitchen and the living room. I know the drill. We’ll move it around from room to room to keep the baby contained.
“Nothing baby. Do you need any help setting anything up?”
Emma shakes her head. “I’ve got it. Sasha got here early to set up so I wouldn’t have to.”
Seven glances over. “Thank you again for planning this party for us, Em. If it was up to Luke and me, we’d probably be eating hot dogs.”
Emma sits next to Tank at our long breakfast banquette table. “Anything for you, sis. I’m just going to sit for a minute.”
I stroke a gentle finger over baby Max’s cheek as she gnaws on Seven’s shoulder. “She’s so cute.”
“Cute and obviously keeping her parents up all night. I think we should offer to babysit again,” Sev whispers and nods her head toward the table.
Emma is fast asleep with her head cradled on her arms. Next to her, Tank is slumped in the corner, his head resting on the wall behind him as he snores softly.
“Wow. I think that’s a new record.”
“I know. Poor things. Oh, can you get the mail? I’m so used to living in apartments and just grabbing the mail on the way into the building. I haven’t checked the mail in three days!”
I can’t even tease her since I’m guilty of the same thing. Living in a house has been quite an adjustment, especially one that’s this big. Originally, we wanted to just buy something already constructed but due to our new security requirements, we ended up building something new.
It’s so big I feel like an idiot getting lost in my own house sometimes but it has tons of land for the two labrador retriever pups Emma convinced us to adopt and a crazy high security fence. The mailbox is all the way at the end of our long driveway.
“Sure thing. I’ll be back.”
Mounds of presents explode off the table in the hallway and just in case anyone missed it, there’s a massive Housewarming Party banner hanging over it. I shake my head. It’s easy to see my sister-in-law’s influence. Emma loves a grand statement.
I pass the living room and raise my hand in greeting when Gabe and Zack look up. They’re helping one of my young cousins put together a model car. Through the back window I can see Finn and Rissa relaxing on our wraparound porch. My mom sits on the couch looking out the window, the widower she’s been dating recently sitting next to her looking uncomfortable.
I grin. He’s probably uncomfortable because he was greeted by my security team when he arrived. My very big and scary security team. Tank recommended his old employer, Alexander Security, and they’ve been great. Professional but completely unobtrusive. I only notice them when I need them which luckily isn’t often.
Our circular drive is filled with cars so I walk directly across the grass to the end of the lawn. Our mailbox is double-sided and mounted into the security gate. I pull it open and then pick up the stack of letters inside. Something flutters out and lands at my feet. It’s a feather.
I stoop and pick it up. It’s a deep red color and large in size. It looks much too large to belong to any of the birds I’ve seen in the area.
A chill runs up my spine.
“You’re a crazy old bird, you know that?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. I always thought of myself as a phoenix. A fighter that rises from the ashes of its own demise.”
I glance behind me at the mailbox and then around the expansive yard. Our drive is bordered by trees and the summer sun overhead beats down mercilessly, making me grateful for the shade. Maybe I should feel worried being out in the open but I’m not. Instead I’m comforted. I rub the feather between my fingers.
“Rise, Max. Rise. And be at peace.”
I must have been standing here longer than I thought because when I look up next I see Seven walking down the drive toward me, her long black hair whipping behind her in the breeze. She waves her hand at me.
“Babe, I thought you got kidnapped out here. I was about to send out the hounds to protect you.”
She looks down affectionately at the two puppies gamboling around her feet. Loki falls over a stick and then whips around to attack it. Uninterested in his brother’s drama, Anakin races over to me and then flops his bottom directly on top of my shoe. His large tongue lolls out of the side of his mouth, a look of complete doggy happiness on his face.
“Yeah, they’re really scary.”
She bends down and scratches Loki under his chin. “Don’t listen to Daddy. You’re a big, scary hound.”
I pick up Anakin and we walk back up the driveway, my mind still reeling from my discovery.
“You’re so quiet. Everything okay?” She looks over at me and she’s so damn beautiful it almost breaks my heart. Beautiful and all mine.
“Yeah. Everything is perfect now.”
That’s when she spies the red feather in my hand. She stretches out her hand to touch it, trailing a finger over the length. “Pretty. Where’d you find that?”
I gesture over my shoulder.
“In the mailbox?” she asks in disbelief. “Like a bird crawled in there just to leave this for us? That’s so strange.”
I tuck the feather into my back pocket for safekeeping. “Crazy old birds do strange things sometimes.”
Then I follow the love of my life back inside the home we’ve made together and toward a future that suddenly seems brighter than ever.
You just finished reading the fifth book in the USA TODAY bestselling Blue-Collar Billionaires series. If you missed TANK’s story, stay tuned for an excerpt after this.
Author’s Note
Sign up for my pre-order list to get the best price on my new books: Just click HERE.
Also, if you’ve enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review. Reviews are the best gift you can give an author. Not only does it help us spread the word about our books but it also influences how vendors choose which books to promote. It helps us more than you know. Plus, we love to hear from readers!
Years ago, Tank Marshall swore off fighting. He exercises iron control to keep his anger in check. But his mother was just diagnosed with cancer and the deadbeat dad he hasn’t seen in years is back demanding airtime. Worst of all, a billion dollar inheritance hangs in the balance if he doesn’t do what his father wants.
There’s only one person that keeps him anchored in the midst of the chaos. One person untouched by violence and money and lies. Emma Shaw. But the one thing that Tank hasn’t learned yet is that when billions are at stake, there’s no such thing as innocent.
Money. Changes. Everything.
Buy TANK now
EXCERPT of TANK
© MAY 2014 M. Malone
T ANK
Darkness hasn’t always been my friend. There was a time when I would have been at home asleep in my bed in the middle of the night. Instead I’m prowling the streets, restless and edgy, looking for an outlet for the anger roiling inside.
I glance to my left and right. I’m standing in an alcove that’s slightly hidden off the street. It’s easier this way. People tend to get nervous if I just hang out. No one stares outright. But there's always a tell. A glance. A step to the side when we pass so our bodies don't touch. Everyone has a “look” about them and mine apparently says trained killer.