Guts & Glory: Walker (In the Shadows Security Book 4)
Guts & Glory: Walker
In the Shadows Security, Book 4
Jeanne St. James
Copyright © 2019 by Jeanne St. James, Double-J Romance, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Acknowledgements:
Photographer: FuriousFotog
Cover Artist: Golden Czermak at FuriousFotog
Cover Model: Brian Silvers
Editor: Proofreading by the Page
Beta readers: Whitley Cox, Andi Babcock, Sharon Abrams & Alexandra Swab
Warning: This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.
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Contents
Books by Jeanne St. James
About the Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Guts & Glory: Steel
Sneak peak of Guts & Glory: Steel (Unedited)
If You Enjoyed This Book
Also by Jeanne St. James
About the Author
FREE Erotic Sampler Book
Books by Jeanne St. James
* Available in Audiobook
Made Maleen: A Modern Twist on a Fairy Tale *
Damaged *
Rip Cord: The Complete Trilogy *
Brothers in Blue Series:
(Can be read as standalones)
Brothers in Blue: Max *
Brothers in Blue: Marc *
Brothers in Blue: Matt *
Teddy: A Brothers in Blue Novelette *
The Dare Ménage Series:
(Can be read as standalones)
Double Dare *
Daring Proposal *
Dare to Be Three *
A Daring Desire *
Dare to Surrender *
A Daring Journey
The Obsessed Novellas:
(All the novellas in this series are standalones)
Forever Him *
Only Him *
Needing Him *
Loving Her *
Temping Him *
Down & Dirty: Dirty Angels MC Series™:
(Can be read as standalones)
Down & Dirty: Zak *
Down & Dirty: Jag *
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Down & Dirty: Diesel *
Down & Dirty: Axel *
Down & Dirty: Slade *
Down & Dirty: Dawg *
Down & Dirty: Dex *
Down & Dirty: Linc *
Down & Dirty: Crow *
Crossing the Line (A DAMC/Blue Avengers Crossover)*
Guts & Glory Series
(In the Shadows Security)
Guts & Glory: Mercy *
Guts & Glory: Ryder
Guts & Glory: Hunter
Guts & Glory: Walker
Guts & Glory: Steel
Guts & Glory: Brick
COMING SOON!
Blood Fury MC™
Blue Avengers MC™
Dark Knights MC: Magnum
Brothers in Blue: A Bryson Family Christmas
About the Book
You can lie down and give up or you can rise and keep going...
Walker’s been living life by this motto since the age of twenty when the girl he planned his future with shattered his heart and left a hole in his soul. His time in the military, and current job at In the Shadows Security, have kept him moving, but he’s always felt the ache of that loss.
From the outside Ellie McMaster has led a seemingly perfect life, big house, rich adoring husband, fancy cars. But it’s all been a huge lie, one that started nineteen years ago when she walked away from her first love and the boy who stole her heart. Now time has run out for her and with nowhere to go and nothing left to lose she’ll have to face down the pain of the past in hopes of saving her future.
But Trace Walker isn’t the carefree teenager she remembers, he’s now a muscle-bound titan with nothing but hurt and anger shining in his blue eyes. His time in the Army as a Night Stalker wasn’t easy, and he didn’t return home whole. Will he open himself up again and face the risks that come with having Ellie back in his life, back in his heart? Can this be their shot at a happily ever after, or their final goodbye?
Note: Walker is the fourth book of the Guts & Glory series, a six-book spin-off from my Dirty Angels MC series. While it’s recommended to read both series in order, each book can be read as a stand-alone. As with all my books, this has an HEA, no cliffhanger or cheating.
A Special Thanks:
To Alexandra Swab for assisting me with Walker’s blurb. Your help, as always, was invaluable!
Also, thank you to ALL my readers who belong to my readers’ group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JeannesReviewCrew/
You all encourage me to keep writing! Love to you all!
Chapter One
Walker stood outside the door and heard it.
He hated that apartment complex because the walls were so fucking thin. Anybody and everybody could hear what was going on behind them.
Which made it clear.
The woman he was banging was banging someone else.
He dropped his fist, deciding there was no reason to knock and instead turned, leaned back against the wall next to the door, cocked his leg and planted his boot on that wall. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and settled in to wait.
The Harley parked out front of Building C wasn’t his, but that was his normal parking spot. Whoever was riding that bike was also riding the woman inside the apartment.
He wondered how long he’d have to wait.
Not too long, luckily.
Sami’s familiar cries began to crescendo, a good indication she was about to come.
Or about to fake it.
She’d been known to do that, too. In fact, the second was more likely.
Sami was easy and convenient for when he needed to bust a nut. And it wasn’t like they were exclusive or serious. They weren’t. Or even that they cared about each other. They didn’t.
Hell, they barely liked each other.
He’d come over, occasionally she’d feed his ass, they’d bang one out and when he was in the shitter getting rid of the condom, she’d steal a twenty from his wallet. Sometimes more.
Whatever.
Having his wallet lightened by a twenty was still fucking cheaper than having a wife or a girlfriend. They could financially break a man. He’d witnessed it and it was something he wanted to avoid.
What he couldn’t avoid was hearing Sami’s last high-pitched scream, which meant she was definitely faking it.
Walker twisted his wrist enough to see his watch and time the inevitable. He watched each minute tick by. He’d give it ten since that’s how long it normally took him to bust and roll.
Ten...
Low voices were heard, though he couldn’t make out words.
Nine...
The pipes in the walls squealed with the flush of the toilet.
Eight...
More low voices. One female. One male.
Seven...
A fake giggle. Typical Sami.
Six...
Walker rolled his eyes when he heard nothing, which meant Sami’s guest was probably giving her a parting kiss and ready to split.
Five...
Footsteps heading his direction. Yep.
Four...
The pace getting quicker. Whoever it was wanted out of there.
Three...
More voices. The man throwing a last quick thanks over his shoulder and Sami inviting him to a “next time.”
Walker snorted and shook his head.
Two...
The deadbolt being thrown. The door flying open.
One...
Game time.
“First time?”
The blond-haired man froze in the doorway, his eyes widening as he spotted Walker perched against the wall. The way the man was dressed and because his bike was still stock meant he wasn’t a true biker, just a wannabe. Some weekend rider who wore a helmet and worked a nine-to-five. Got a bike to snag pussy. But he was a sucker and an easy mark for Sami.
“Check your wallet,” he advised the wannabe, jerking up his chin.
As the man stared at him, his mouth opened and closed a couple of times, then he dug for his wallet in his... yeah... khakis.
“Fuck,” Wannabe grumbled as he peered into his empty wallet. Walker doubted it was empty before the man walked through Sami’s door. “She lifted a fifty.”
Walker’s lips curled at the corners. “Yep. Was she worth it?”
Wannabe’s brow dropped low. “No. Maybe ten.”
“Then I’d go back in there and get your change.”
Wannabe glanced back over his shoulder. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Walker said with a single nod. “Or go back in and get your money’s worth.”
Wannabe’s eyebrows knitted together. “Are you her pimp?”
“Nope. Just passing through.”
Sami appeared behind Wannabe in the open doorway. She finished tying the belt around her robe, then smoothed her hair down with her hand. She had sex hair and unless the sex sucked, it normally wasn’t tamable with just combing her fingers through it. No, he liked to leave a woman’s hair in knots.
Sami was able to straighten her hair with a few passes of her fingers, so the sex must have sucked.
Like he suspected, all that caterwauling had been fake. A way to get it over and done with quickly so she could slide into his wallet and out before the bathroom door was even shut.
“What are you doing here, Walker? I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Apparently,” he murmured, letting his gaze roam over her from top to toe. He pushed off the wall. “You owe him some change. Or a real orgasm.”
“What are you talking about?” Sami didn’t bother to hide her outrage, as she pulled her robe belt tighter around her too narrow of a waist.
Walker wondered why his attention ever landed on her. She wasn’t even his type. But then, he wasn’t looking to put a ring on it. She was good for taking off the edge when he was still amped up over a job. Like tonight.
Ah, that’s right. She had walked up to him at the local VFW, grabbed his dick, squeezed and whispered in his ear, “Want to fuck me?”
He’d turned on his stool at the bar, since his attention had been pulled from the Steelers game he’d been watching, took one look at her, and with a shrug, said, “Why the fuck not.”
They went back to her apartment that night and fucked like rabbits.
Then she became a habit.
Now he was kicking that habit cold turkey.
He stepped closer to Wannabe, slapped him hard on the chest, almost knocking the guy back a step, and murmured a “good luck” before giving Sami a look over Wannabe’s shoulder. “It’s been real, honey.”
He turned on his boot heel and strode down the hall to Sami screaming, “Walker! Walker! This didn’t mean anything!”
No shit.
He ignored her and at the end of the hall, loped down the steps to the front door of the building, slammed the exit push bar and headed out into the late summer night.
Walker leaned his weight into one palm which was planted against the shower wall. His head tipped forward, the water from the shower soaking his hair and sliding down his back and chest.
He went through his Rolodex of women he used for jackoff material in his mind. Problem was, he always kept going back to one. An old memory. One he’d never forget. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t. No matter how many women he’d been with for the past nineteen years, none could knock her off the top of the list.
Not one.
His fist tightened around the root of his cock, squeezed and he began to pump in earnest. Long steady strokes from root to tip.
The hot water continued to beat along his back, and he closed his eyes, his lips parting, inhaling the humid air from the shower, then releasing it.
He could’ve gone to the bar and found another woman to relieve his load since he wasn’t in the mood for leftovers with Sami, but he didn’t feel like making the effort of finding someone new.
The fake smiles, the fake laughs, the fake name and stories.
The questions. The made-up explanations.
Finding a woman to fuck for the night took work. He was tired, so his own hand would have to do.
He continued to stroke, closing his eyes, thinking back to soft thighs and soft sighs. A smile, a laugh. Green eyes sparkling. Auburn hair loose over the blanket he had spread out for them in the back of his truck.
Beautiful.
Nothing fake. All genuine.
What a lucky man he’d been.
His pace stuttered.
He hadn’t been a man. He’d still been a boy.
Foolish.
But fucking in love.
Jesus fuck.
He needed to get out of the shower, find a porno with a little girl-on-girl action and just bang it out. This reliving history shit was fucking up his groove.
He shut the shower off with a curse and, balancing with one hand on the edge, leaned out of the stall to grab a towel. While he was wiping the water out of his eyes, he paused, tilted his head and listened.
His phone. Vibrating on the bathroom counter.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath and wrapped the towel around his waist. He hopped out of the shower and made his way to the counter.
The vibrating stopped.
He shifted closer to the sink and snagged it.
UNKNOWN CALLER.
It was almost ten p.m.
He saw he’d missed several calls, but no voicemails had been left.
The phone started vibrating in his hand. Once again, an unknown caller. Something he normally didn’t answer.
But it was late. And he wouldn’t put it past one of his fellow Shadows to call him from a burner phone.
He swiped the screen and barked, “Yeah,” into the phone.
“Trace?”
That name brought a head jerk and a frown. He had no idea why someone would be looking for Trace. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled.
“Trace?” A female voice. Quiet, but thick with worry.
He had no fucking clue who it was. “Got the wrong number.”
A pause. A shaky intake of breath.
His spine stiffened and every muscle locked.
“I’m looking for Trace.”
; No shit. “There’s nobody here by that name.”
“Please, Trace, don’t shut me out.”
He glanced up from where he’d been staring at the water dripping onto the floor. He caught his reflection in the mirror. Walker stared at the man staring back at him.
He hadn’t seen Trace in a long fucking time.
He also had no idea why someone would be looking for him.
There was no reason. None what-so-fucking-ever.
“How’d you get this number?”
“Your sister.”
His blood ran cold when it hit him. Who it was. Why she was asking for Trace.
Nineteen years instantly disappeared. The object of his masturbation fodder was talking into his ear.
“I’m sorry. You’re probably not happy about me doing that. But I had no choice.”
“We all have choices, Ellie. You made a choice years ago.”
“You’re right, I did. And I made another difficult choice by contacting your sister, begging her to give me your number. I made an even more difficult one by calling you. But I had no choice,” she repeated more firmly. Whatever was in her voice was no longer trepidation, but determination and a touch of stubbornness.
“I’m assuming you’re between a rock and a hard place right now and you need me to be the crowbar. But if it wasn’t for whatever you’re involved in, you wouldn’t have ever reached out.”