Hot SEAL, April's Fool by Becca Jameson (smart books to read .txt) 📗

he found Rodney coming toward them from down the hallway. He hadn’t seen his old friend or spoken to him in ten years either. Rodney was on the local police force now, and apparently, he was working today because he was in his uniform.

April stiffened beside Cole and released his hand.

Cole watched Rodney’s gaze go from their combined hands to their faces as April put a few inches of distance between them. Rodney’s brow furrowed for a second, and then he shook it off and smiled at Cole, hand outstretched. “It’s been a long time.”

“It sure has,” Cole agreed, shaking his friend’s hand.

Rodney nodded at April. “April. Good to see you.”

“You too,” she murmured.

Pain stabbed Cole in the chest. Was she trying to hide their relationship? Were they even in some sort of relationship? And why was she acting so weird around Rodney? Cole glanced back and forth between them. Something was up with them. When had that happened? Did Rodney have anything to do with the reason April hadn’t wanted to marry Cole?

He was being overly dramatic. He’d reconnected with her yesterday, and though he immediately knew he felt the same way about her as he had ten years ago, it was unfair of him to expect her to return the sentiment. Hell, apparently she hadn’t even returned it then. Cole had been madly in love with his high school sweetheart, and April… God, he didn’t know what she’d felt. He’d thought they’d been on the same page, until he’d learned otherwise.

“Sorry about your father.”

Cole nodded. He didn’t bother to explain the fact that he wasn’t that broken up about his dad. April wasn’t the only person he hadn’t told about his family life in high school. He hadn’t told anyone. Rodney had been his best friend. As far as Cole knew, he was oblivious.

“Listen, I hate to do this to you today of all days, but do you have a moment? Could we talk in private somewhere?” Rodney asked.

Cole flinched in surprise.

April started to step away, but he wasn’t having it. He reached out and grabbed her hand, tugging her back against his side. He didn’t know why he felt the need to be so possessive of her. He didn’t have any right to publicly claim her like this, but he wasn’t about to let her walk away.

Cole looked back toward Rodney. “I don’t have secrets from April.” Not anymore anyway. Except for the one.

Rodney hesitated and then gave a brief nod. “Come on.” He turned and headed back down the hallway.

Cole followed Rodney, his grip on April’s hand tight. It had to hurt, but she said nothing. He was convinced she’d dated Rodney at some point though. Recently? Ten years ago? Sometime in between? He considered the fact that perhaps she’d had a thing for Rodney in high school and that had been the reason she’d been reluctant to commit to Cole.

Rodney opened a door across the hall from the room where the funeral would be held and ushered the two of them inside.

Cole glanced around as Rodney shut the door. They were in a visitation room, but there were no other funerals today, so it was empty.

Rodney adjusted his belt and set his hands on his hips. “I’m sorry about this, but I need to tell you some things you probably aren’t aware of.”

“Is this about Mayor Chamberlain because I’m pretty sure he’s trying to extort money from my family.”

Rodney sighed, his shoulders dropping as he nodded. “Yes. I saw him out front. I guess he got to you before I could.”

“He did.” Cole stiffened. “What do you know?”

Rodney drew in a deep breath and rubbed his forehead, glancing at April. “This can’t leave this room.”

“Of course,” April responded, leaning into Cole. She continued to hold his hand, but she reached across with her other one to grip his forearm.

“I’ve been watching Chamberlain for months. Your father too.”

“Is it true he owed Chamberlain money?”

“Yes. A lot of it. Your dad had a gambling habit, but Chamberlain took advantage of that vice and made things worse for your father.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because he wants the shop.”

Cole flinched. “Why the hell would Chamberlain want my father’s shop?”

April was the one to respond. “He doesn’t care about the shop. He wants the land. He’s building a strip mall on that block. The shop is in his way.”

“Exactly,” Rodney confirmed.

“So, you’re saying he lured my father into making bad deals over and over in order to get him indebted to him so that he could take his business?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Your father was probably weeks away from having no choice. His untimely death makes things slightly messier for Chamberlain, but he’ll go to any extreme necessary to get the land.”

Cole groaned. “How can he get away with this? Why can’t you have him arrested?”

Rodney flinched, his face drawing up in a grimace. “Honestly? I don’t even know who on the police force is clean. Not many.”

Cole rolled his neck back. “You have to be fucking kidding me.”

“I wish I was. My hands are tied right now. It’s all I can do to remain on the force and try to gather information so that hopefully one day the entire department can be exposed. But that’s not going to happen fast enough to deal with your current problem.”

“Jesus,” Cole breathed out. “I’ve done tours in the Middle East that weren’t as sketchy as this.”

Rodney gave a nod. “I’m only telling you this because you need to stall things as best as you can. Chamberlain is going to pressure you for the money.”

“I don’t have that kind of fucking money, so he’s out of luck.”

“Then he’ll want the business. It’s all he wanted in the first place.”

“Well, he’s not getting the shop either.” Cole didn’t give a single shit about how the loss of the shop would affect his stepmother or his half-brother, but he sure as fuck wasn’t going to let the goddamn local mayor extort the business away