Lola: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 8) Read online

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Who's who

  Who's who

  Chapter One - Lola

  Chapter Two - Ryan

  Chapter Three - Lola

  Chapter Four - Ryan

  Chapter Five - Ryan

  Chapter Six - Lola

  Chapter Seven - Ryan and Lola

  Chapter Eight - Ryan

  Chapter Nine - Lola

  Chapter Ten - Ryan

  Chapter Eleven - Lola

  Chapter Twelve - Ryan

  Chapter Thirteen - Lola

  Chapter Fourteen - Ryan

  Chapter Fifteen - Lola

  Chapter Sixteen - Ryan

  Chapter Seventeen - Lola

  Chapter Eighteen - Ryan

  Chapter Nineteen - Lola

  Chapter Twenty - Ryan

  More To Come...

  Lola

  A Reed Security Romance

  by

  Giulia Lagomarsino

  Lola

  A Reed Security Romance

  Copyright @ 2018 Giulia Lagomarsino

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, 2018

  ASIN:

  Self published through Kindle Direct Publishing

  For everyone that hated me after Ryan’s book in the series For The Love Of A Good Woman. This is the ending you’ve been waiting for.

  Who's who at Reed Security

  Sebastian "Cap" Reed- owner of Reed Security

  Maggie "Freckles" Reed- Sebastian's wife

  Caitlin Reed- Sebastian and Maggie's daughter

  Training:

  Hudson Knight

  Kate Whittemore- love interest

  Team 1:

  Derek “Irish” Cortell- team leader and part owner of Reed Security

  Claire Grant- love interest

  Lola “Brave” Pruitt

  Ryan- love interest

  James- Ryan’s son

  Hunter “Pappy” Papacosta

  Lucy Grant- love interest

  Team 2:

  Sam “Cazzo” Galmacci- part owner of Reed Security and team leader

  Vanessa Adams- love interest

  Mark “Sinner” Sinn

  Cara Donnelly- love interest

  Blake “Burg” Reasenburg

  Meghan Magee- love interest

  Team 3:

  John “Ice” Peters- team leader

  Julius “Jules” Siegrist

  Chris “Jack” McKay

  Alison- love interest

  Axel- Ali’s son

  Team 4:

  Chance “Sniper” Newman- team leader

  Gabe Moore

  Jackson “Huey” Lewis

  Team 5:

  Alec “Wes” Wesley- team leader

  Craig “Dev” Devereux

  Florrie Younge

  CHAPTER ONE

  Lola

  I SAW HIM across the bar looking just as miserable as I was. I had seen him here many times before, but I never talked to him. I didn’t know what to say. What could I possibly say to a man that lost his wife just a year after they were married? He had a son and I had no idea how old the kid was, but it had to be difficult. The boy wasn’t his biological son, but I had overheard Sebastian talking about how much Ryan loved his son. Based on the way he looked tonight, he was drinking to forget.

  As I studied him, I wondered why he chose to drink alone. Why weren’t his friends out with him? Couldn’t they see how much pain he was in? Maybe it took someone that had already lost everything to know that particular look of pain. I watched as woman after woman walked up to him, rubbing up and down his arm, hoping for him to buy her a drink and take her home. They wanted something he couldn’t give though. They wanted more than one night and it was clear from the slump of his shoulders and the look of loneliness on his face that all he would ever have to give was a few hours between the sheets.

  I couldn’t blame him. All I ever wanted was a night with someone to make me forget. I relied on Hunter for a long time to make me forget, but I felt like I was using him as a crutch and I didn’t want it to start interfering with our work relationship. So, when the nights got hard, I pretended like I was fine and I stopped calling him over. He knew that I was still having a rough time, but he respected me enough not to question me about it. Well, I thought he did up until he turned on me at the office.

  One job. That was all it took for me to completely lose my credibility with my teammates. All they saw was a broken girl, but I was far from broken. I was psychologically fucked, but I still functioned and was able to do my job. Until a knife was held against my throat. All I could see was that psychopath all those years ago holding that knife to my forehead as he made me watch with a mirror. I remembered sitting in that chair while he drew a line with a marker around my forehead where he was going to scalp me.

  It wasn’t even the pain so much as the terror of knowing that the man was actually going to do it. Then again, that’s what he had wanted. He thrived on knowing that he was going to scare me to death. It was pain like I had never felt before. It ripped through my skull, along with the sound of the knife scraping against my bone. I had passed out at some point and when I woke up, I was in a hospital, but the pain was there. I could still feel that knife and every time I closed my eyes, I could see the evil look on the man’s face as he pressed the knife against my skull.

  I shook my own depressing thoughts from my head and focused back in on the handsome man sitting at the counter. Except the man was no longer brooding in his drink. His eyes were laser focused on me and there was a hunger there that I knew all too well. He stood from his bar stool and walked over to me. He didn’t say anything, he just held out his hand and waited for me to take it.

  I knew what he was asking and I gladly took him up on his offer. I wanted the same thing too. To be in the arms of someone who understood, even if it was only for one night. He led me out of the bar and pushed me against the outside wall, his lips latching onto my neck and sucking harshly. His hands coursed over the backs of my thighs and up under my skirt to grab my ass. He pulled back from me, his eyes glinting in the moonlight.

  “I don’t ever bring anyone back to my place.”

  “That’s fine. We can use mine,” I whispered. “Just follow me.”

  I strutted to my car and slipped inside, watching as he did the same. He followed me home in his pickup truck and inside where I left all the lights off. He didn’t need to be shown around or see what my house looked like. He was here to fuck me and then he would leave. I would get some sleep and he could go back to his life with his son.

  I took his hand and guided him through the dark rooms, back to my bedroom. I pushed him down on the bed and pulled off the tie that hung loosely around his neck. Spreading his legs, I stepped between them and started unbuttoning his shirt. His hands slid back into place on my ass and pulled me closer. His mouth nipped at my stomach through my dress, down to my pussy that was aching for him to go further.

  He stood suddenly, ripping the dress over my head and throwing me on the bed. His stare was predatory and lit my whole body on fire. He was the only one since Hunter that had gotten me this excited, this wet. I could feel my desire soaking my panties and I knew he could smell it too. He undid his belt buckle and shoved down his pants. Spreading my l
egs, he knelt between them and shoved his hard cock into me, thrusting hard with no foreplay. I didn’t care. I didn’t need it tonight. I needed it hard and I needed him to take me so high that I forgot my own name.

  He knew what I needed instantly. He didn’t need a few hours to get to know my body or know what buttons to push. It was like we had done this before, many times before. Every thrust was exactly where I needed and his hands touched me in all the right places. He didn’t take his time and make sure that it was flowery or special. He fucked me hard and made sure I came before he went over the edge himself.

  We laid on the bed panting afterwards for only a few minutes before he stood and got dressed, leaving without another word. I rolled over and went to sleep, making it most of the night without dreaming of the psycho that took a part of me I would never get back.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had left Reed Security a while ago, unwilling to bend to Sebastian’s demands that I go into counseling over what happened to me. I desperately wanted to kick someone’s ass or shoot someone. Call me twisted, but nothing felt better than knowing I had taken someone down. It didn’t matter how it happened, but since it was illegal to shoot someone without justification, that left training at Reed Security. It was the only place where I could go and take out my frustrations on someone and there was one person in particular that I wanted to take down at the moment. Hunter.

  For all his talk of always being there for me, he abandoned me when I needed him most. He could have stood up for me and told Sebastian that I was doing fine, which I was. Most days. Nights were always hard, but unless I was on a job, it didn’t matter how I slept. When I was on the job, I used Hunter as a distraction. Until I didn’t anymore. Then he moved on and was now engaged and using him was no longer an option.

  When Reed Security came under attack, I was called back in to help take out the gangs that were coming after all of us. My house had been hit, but since I wasn’t home at the time, I had no clue what was going on. I had thought about walking away from it all before I was called back. Even though it was in my blood to be in that line of work, I just didn’t know if I could work with people who didn’t trust me. Or maybe it was just that I didn’t want to admit that maybe Sebastian was right about me needing help.

  I had no clue what I would do if I left. I had spent months traveling around the United States, trying to find something that would give me the same passion and fire that holding a weapon did. Everyone thought that I was lying on a beach somewhere, soaking in the sun. Really, I was just hoping that I could find some direction.

  I packed a gym bag and headed into Reed Security. Sebastian was still sending daily codes for the building to my phone in case I decided to come in. I hadn’t for months, but now it was time. Hiding out from them wouldn’t do me any good, and I obviously had been unable to find anything else to drive me forward. What I needed was to feel alive again, like I was in charge. I had that feeling back for a short time when Reed Security was under attack and I wanted to feel it again. I pulled into the parking garage and killed the engine, sitting there for a good five minutes, trying to convince myself to go in. I wanted to, desperately, but then I imagined them all staring at me like I was damaged, the girl that lost it on a job. Suddenly, I wasn’t so confident that I could do this. I started my car back up and left, not able to convince myself to go inside.

  I did that every day for a week. Every day, I changed my mind and left. Every day, I was angry with myself for being so weak. Today was different though, because when I pulled in, Knight was leaning against the wall in front of the spot I usually parked in. When I shut off the car, he walked over to me and flung open my door, reaching across the seat for my bag.

  “Get your ass inside. We have training to do.”

  “How did you know I would come today?” I asked.

  “Because you’ve been coming for a week and then leaving when you chickened out. You’re not doing that today. I’m not waiting around for another week for you to get your ass in gear.”

  “I don’t know that I’m ready,” I said as I stepped up beside him. “Everyone thinks that I’m damaged, that I can’t handle myself.”

  His steely, black eyes narrowed in on me. “They know you can handle yourself. They’ve seen it plenty. Besides, when have you ever given a shit what people think of you? I haven’t known you for that long, but I know that you don’t take shit from people. If you want to be here, prove to them that you belong here.”

  “Sebastian wants me to see a therapist,” I said hesitantly.

  “Yeah, he made me do that too. Go, see the therapist, get cleared, and get back out in the field. What the fuck are you so worried about?”

  “That the doctor won’t clear me,” I said as if he was stupid. “He’ll take one look inside my head and determine that I’m so fucked up that I shouldn’t be put in similar situations ever again.”

  “Are you? Fucked up in the head, I mean.”

  I bit my lip, unsure if I really wanted to answer that question. The truth was, I wasn’t sure if I would ever be right in the head again, but that didn’t stop me from living my life.

  “If you’re not sure, then you need to go find out. And if you are, get yourself fixed. It’s that simple.”

  “It’s that simple? Just get myself all fixed and go back to work?”

  “Yeah. I don’t see why you couldn’t. You’ve been working all this time. If you were irrevocably fucked up, you wouldn’t have been working all this time, which tells me that you just need to work shit out. So, go work shit out.”

  “Go work shit out,” I repeated.

  “Yeah, but not right this minute. I’ve been waiting a goddamn week to get you back in the ring, so move your ass.”

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  Knight threw me to the ground, but I bounced back to my feet, refusing to let him keep me down. He was fast and a hell of a good fighter, and he had moves that were absolutely magnificent to watch. In fact, a few times, I had been so enamored with what he had done that he got the drop on me because I had been standing around with my mouth hanging open.

  He swung with his left and I just barely stepped out of the way, but then he got me twice in the jaw with his right and twisted my arm behind my back before I could get a jab in.

  “Is that all you have in you?” he whispered in my ear.

  I tried to break his hold, but he had me pressed tight to his body, one leg hooking around my leg, making it impossible to move. A flash of steel glinted in front of my face and I froze.

  “Is this what he did to you?”

  I started shaking in his arms. Why was he doing this to me? I started to struggle against his strong grip as I saw flashes of that sadistic fucker, Jeffrey Jones, holding a knife in front of me. I saw his twisted smile as he stepped in front of me while I was strapped into that chair.

  “Let’s begin. Should we introduce Lola to some of our games first?”

  My body shook against my will. I was strong and I knew how to take care of myself, but right now, I was powerless to defend myself. This guy’s eyes were evil and I knew that once he started in on me, he wouldn’t stop until I was dead.

  “Please, don’t,” I heard Alex whisper from across the room where she was tied up. She had tears in her eyes and I could only imagine how terrible it must be to be thrown back into this nightmare. My attention was brought back to the man in front of me when he held up a permanent marker. My heart was thundering in my chest as I tried to figure out what his game was. I had to hold onto my nerve and take the opportunity to strike back when it came. I could find my way out of this. I had to keep believing that.

  “I’ll be right back. Just let me grab a visual aide.” He walked down the hall toward the bathroom and I glanced back over at Alex. I could see her hands moving and blood dripping down her hand. She had a weapon and was trying to escape. My eyes flew forward, not wanting to draw Jeffrey’s attention to Alex. I looked in his hand to see a ha
ndheld mirror. He held it up and started laughing.

  “Get it. A visual aide. Geez, I crack myself up. Anyway, back to the task at hand.”

  He knelt down in front of me and started drawing little lines across my forehead. My throat worked overtime to keep the bile from rising and spewing out all over him. It would no doubt anger him and I couldn’t afford that right now. So many scenarios ran through my mind, but I already had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen. I tried to draw courage from my training. I tried not to focus on what was about to happen, but it was no use. I was terrified and I couldn’t get myself under control. How had I survived all those years in the military, only to be tortured back in the United States?

  “This line represents where I’m going to cut you with a knife. When we’re done, I’m going to peel back your scalp and then Lexie and I will crack that nut open and see what’s inside.” He smiled and rapped on my head with his knuckles and that’s when I lost it. Tears leaked down my cheeks and a sob ripped free from my chest. I could handle being shot. I could handle knowing that I was walking into danger at every turn, but being held down and having my flesh torn from my body was terrifying.

  The marker pressed against my skull again as he continued to draw a line around my head. With every depression of the marker, shivers tore through my body, knowing that soon he would be pressing a knife against my forehead. I squeezed my eyes shut to block out his face, but it didn’t help. His breath fanned across my face, the pungent smell on the verge of making me violently ill.

  When he finished, he examined my wrists, cutting the tape from my right wrist. This was my chance. But I couldn’t do anything. I was frozen in terror, and before I could snap myself out of it, he twisted the tape into a rope and wrapped it around my wrist and back to the chair. I was harnessed to the chair with limited movement. I couldn’t reach him. I couldn’t defend myself. The panic set in again, causing me to hyperventilate.