Executive Protection International: A Bodyguard Crime Thriller (Kyle Gray Book 1) (The Kyle Gray Executive Protection Thriller Series) by Charlie Bravo

Author:Charlie Bravo [Bravo, Charlie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: No Coast Press
Published: 2024-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Wednesday

Memories flooded Kyle’s mind as he fiddled with the Keurig. Something bitter to drink would help.

His life had indeed changed dramatically after the events Rachel wanted to hear about. Even if he could have described the smell of burning tires and the pain of his injuries, he could never explain the confluence of events that led up to the “accident,” as they called it.

Never again being able to inhale the smell of sweat on the jiu-jitsu mats or hear the sounds of the cheering crowds was nothing compared to losing his career or his ability to walk without pain. And most of all, nothing could compare to the damage done by his losing his marriage and custody of Hailey.

Blinking away the thoughts, he set a cup under the spigot to fill. Part of him felt like a failure. His two career goals, jiu-jitsu, and law enforcement, had been taken from him. Nor was he able to be the husband and father he wished he could be. But he didn’t know how to reveal that level of vulnerability to his client. He didn’t know how—but he knew he wanted to.

Getting back to his own questions, he couldn’t help but feel that Rachel had shifted the conversation brilliantly. The more he pressed her on what she knew, the more evasive she was.

Rachel walked in. “What happened to you? Why did you leave the police and stop competing.”

“The more I rose through the ranks of jiu-jitsu and of the police department, the more I lost of my family. The cost of being that man is something I’m still paying off.”

“I don’t understand.”

The muscles in Kyle’s chest constricted. “I lost my wife and daughter because of the life that I chose to live,” he said. “Sure, I was hot shit, but I was never around for the people who mattered. I was gone more than half the year. Between traveling and training for jiu-jitsu and doing my law enforcement job, I wasn’t fulfilling my duties as a husband or as a father. I thought that turning my back on that old life would allow me to salvage everything, but it didn’t. Too much time had already passed with me not doing what I should have been doing all along.”

Kyle saw the faces of his ex-wife and daughter in his mind, smiling at him warmly as they coiled their arms around his neck. “I figured all was well,” he said. “I thought being there would be enough. The way I saw it, I just needed to find a way to provide for my family. Not long after that, the accident happened. It was like I hit reset on everything all over again. Long story short, my marriage crumbled, my wife left, and I’ve been spending the last few years of my life trying to salvage whatever I can.”

“Tell me about the accident?”

Kyle didn’t want to go there. He waved her question away and stood up.

“You’re too hard on yourself,” she said. “It sounds like you did the best that you could.

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