Pierce ~
Pierce took the day off and spent his time lounging around his apartment with Natalie. With such an active lifestyle, Pierce usually hated sitting around doing nothing all day, but he quickly realized that he'd rather do nothing with Natalie, than do something with anyone else.
They watched movies and talked the day away, learning about each other one hilarious story at a time. Pierce's cheeks hurt from laughing so hard at Natalie's quick witted comebacks and loved the fact that she matched his playfulness pound for pound. What he loved even more was the light in her eyes, that had been dim and faint the night before, was starting to brighten with each passing hour.
"Okay so help me understand this dynamic, Declan is your boss?" Natalie asked, trying to understand the hierarchy of his team.
"Sort of. There are four teams at Knight Security: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta."
"Marcus, Caleb, Declan, and myself are members of Bravo team, with Declan being the Leader. But Hunter is the handler of all four teams. He's the big man in charge." Pierce explained.
Natalie nodded along with his words as she pieced together each person and their title.
"Is that why you called Declan Boss on the phone?"
"Yes and no. Boss is Declan's call sign. It's like a nickname we can use over a radio so that anyone eavesdropping won't know his identity. Have you heard them call me Hollywood?"
"Yeah, I wondered what that was about." she admitted.
"Hollywood's my call sign. Got it at boot camp because everyone said I looked more like a movie star than a Marine, Hollywood just kind of stuck."
"Hollywood." she repeated to herself. "I like it."
"Are you close with the other teams or is it just you four?"
"Alpha and Charlie team are overseas at the moment, so we usually do most of our tandem assignments with Delta team, which is Slater, Gunner, Kincaid, and Logan and we're not just close, we're basically family."
"I love that." Her bright smile and genuine interest in his teammates warmed his heart. He was both excited and nervous to introduce her to them. On the one hand, she was incredible and he knew they would love her instantly, but on the other hand he had never brought a woman to meet his teammates. Not Ever.
An alarm sounded from her phone, breaking her gaze and turning it to the bedroom.
"Shit, I've got to leave for work soon," she huffed, looking at the time on her phone.
"Here, let me program some numbers into your phone before you go."
She gladly handed over her phone allowing Pierce to input the numbers of every member of Bravo and Delta team.
"If you ever can't get a hold of me, call any one of these numbers and they'll either find me or come help you with whatever you need."
"But they don't know who I am." she chuckled.
"Yeah they do." He said with a wink.
Giving him a knowing smile, she fully understood that meant he had been talking about her all week to his teammates.
Following her into the bedroom Pierce balled and flexed his fists with nervous energy as he worked up the courage to ask her to stay another night with him. Maybe even longer if he could pull that off, but for now he'd settle for at least one more night. He loved having her in space and wasn't ready for her to go just yet.
"Hey, so I was thinking, after you get off work...I mean I know you work late and you'll be tired when you're done...and since your stuff is already here...I just thought maybe..." He stumbled through his rapidly firing thoughts and scowled at himself for sounding like such an idiot.
"Pierce Lockland, are you inviting me to stay the night with you?" she said playfully over her shoulder as she pinned her hair back in the mirror.
"Not very well apparently," he said with a sheepish smile, embarrassed that his knowledge of the English language seemed to flee at the sight of Natalie in a form fitting dress.
"Of course I'll stay, but only if you're sure. I'd hate to cramp your style, Hollywood."
Hearing his call sign roll off of her sweet lips caused his heart to stutter and his pulse to pick up.
"I've never been more sure." he said, sweeping his eyes over her from head to toe as she slipped her heels on and made her way over to him. She looks good enough to eat.
She wrapped her small arms around his neck and leaned into his chest before she spoke.
"Then I'll see you back here around 11:00." she said, pressing her soft lips against his cheek.
He closed his eyes briefly once her lips made contact with his skin, savoring the feeling of her tight body against his and her warm breath dancing across the side of his face. Even a small kiss on the cheek was enough to unhinge him and he fought against himself not to turn his head and take her mouth right then.
"Call me if you need anything." he said as a half question half statement as she lowered herself down and turned to leave.
"I will."
As soon as the door closed behind her his entire apartment lost its charm. It was quiet and sterile as if all joy and light had left with her. Being alone was nothing new to Pierce, he was a serial bachelor who had always enjoyed the solitude of his apartment, but today it felt cold and unwelcoming. He quickly realized that it had nothing to do with his apartment and everything to do with Natalie's absence. How is it possible to miss someone after only being separated for five minutes?
Deciding he needed familiarity in the wake of all of these new and unwelcomed feelings, he grabbed his keys and headed up to Knight for some target practice to clear his head and bide his time until Natalie returned.
*****
All of the cars and trucks of his teammates still lined the parking lot at Knight, indicating they were still working or at least still on the premises. He threw his bag over his shoulder and headed toward the shooting range, stopping into one of the conference rooms on his way there.
"Oh how the mighty have fallen!" Slater boomed with his big tattooed arms outstretched as Pierce came into view.
"I hear you are straight pussy-whipped, Hollywood." Slater continued with a huge cheesy grin, lacing his fingers behind his head and leaning back in his chair.
Pierce gave him a middle finger in response as he tossed his bag onto the floor and started rummaging through it for his hat.
"He didn't deny it." Marcus chuckled from the end of the table.
"Hell, have you seen her? I'd be whipped too. She's a fucking smoke stack." Gunner added having seen her at Luxe.
Gunner's comment made Pierce's jaw clench, but every word he said was true, so he couldn't exactly argue.
"Don't talk about Pierce's woman like that." Declan said with a smirk.
Pierce sighed as he slid his ball cap on backwards. "She is not my woman."
Yet.
"Could have fooled me." Caleb chimed in with his arms folded across his chest and a knowing smile.
"Fuck alllll of you. How bout' that," Pierce said as he swept a pointed finger across every man in the room.
Declan clutched his chest and feigned pain as if he were wounded. "Hey man I defended you." Declan joked.
"Fine, everyone except Dec."
"Nothing wrong with being a little love sick, brother." Declan added.
"Nevermind fuck Declan too." Pierce joked as he left the room and headed toward the armory.
"Aw come on Hollywood!" Slater howled as he and Caleb joined him in the hallway.
"I'm here for target practice, either of you jackoffs in for some friendly competition or are you just going to stand there busting my balls all night."
Caleb and Slater exchanged looks as if they were weighing their options before ultimately agreeing to go to the range with Pierce.
Two hours later the trio wrapped up their target practice and was in the middle of checking their weapons back into the armory when Pierce's phone started ringing. Natalie's name flashed across the screen and the sight of it put a smile on Pierce's face.
"Hey beautiful."
"Hey, um...I think I need your help." she replied with very little confidence in her voice.
His expression shifted at the hint of fear in her tone and panic slowly crept up his throat.
"Anything, Name it."
"Kenneth is here. He just showed up and paid some big bucks for a room in the tower suites."
Pierce locked his jaw, pressing his lips into a hard line at the mention of Kenneth's name.
"I'm on my way. Don't go anywhere near him and wait with one of the bouncers until I get there." His voice was low and serious as he gave her instructions.
"Okay, I will," she agreed instantly.
"I'm fifteen minutes away, hold tight."
Pierce clutched his phone and squeezed it so hard he thought it might break within his fist.
Was breaking his nose not a clear enough message to stay the hell away from her?
Cracking his neck back and forth, he tried to release some of the rage that was bubbling way too close to the surface. He turned to Caleb and Slater as they were packing up their bags to leave.
"I'm about to go beat some ass, either of you want to tag along?" he said through gritted teeth.
"Does a bear shit in the woods?" Slater replied eagerly.
"We got your back, Hollywood. Where are we headed?" Caleb asked.
"Luxe"
"Shit." Caleb replied knowing exactly what that meant.
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