WithDrew: A YA Thriller (Unleashed Book 2)

You don’t rest when you’re tired. You rest when the killer is dead.

After her first assignment for the AGENCY is a success, word gets out, and she's in demand. Her next mission is sent from the top. As in the President of the United States. And you don’t say no to the President, no matter what the assignment is.

Aleasha agrees to protect daughters of a man about to revolutionize the power industry. With Drew across the country healing from their last mission, Manny steps in to be Aleasha's partner. Can she keep the girls safe, her emotions in check, and herself alive while dodging world-class assassins and a few ghosts from her past? And what will she do when she discovers Drew has committed the ultimate betrayal?

WithDREW is a YA romantic suspense thriller that will keep you turning the page to see what happens next! If you like Alex Rider, the Gallagher girls, or the Gems, you'll love the Unleashed series.

Memory Lane

Bodies crumble to the ground and screams fill the darkness.

I gasp for breath and lurch upright to sit in bed. Beads of sweat drip down my face and my shirt clings to my torso.

With wide eyes, I scan the room and take in my surroundings. Family pictures on the wall, backpack by the door, turquoise duvet on the king-sized bed. My room.

Well, the room I call mine as long as I’m in Walla Walla pretending to be a high school senior for the A.G.E.N.C.Y..

I scrub my hands down my face and take a cleansing breath. Icy air fills my lungs. It was just a dream. It was just a dream.

I rub my arms, staving off a shudder and waiting for the cold boil of my blood to calm. Checking the time on my phone, I groan.

2:15 in the morning.

A familiar ringtone fills the air and I grab my phone, touching the screen to make Drew’s worried face appear.

“Another nightmare?” he asks from the phone, his brows scrunched together with concern.

“Yeah.” I rub the remaining cobwebs from my eyes and glance at the ring—spy gear the AGENCY uses to listen in on me 24/7.

“Same dream?” he asks.

“I can’t forget that day. How long until these nightmares end?”

“Every person is different. You’ve gotta come to terms with that fact you had to kill them.”

I shake my head at the screen. “It’s not that easy. They had mothers, wives, children. I’m the reason those families are hurting. You know how hard losing a parent is to a child—right or wrong.”

Drew closes his eyes and nods. “Yes, I do. And so do you,” he says, barely above a whisper. “But it doesn’t make your choice any less correct. You killed in self-defense.”

He’s right, as usual. I close my eyes, feeling more exhausted than when I crawled into bed three hours ago. “I guess I need more time. Is it too much to want my life back to normal? Or even feel good about working for the A.G.E.N.C.Y.?” I glance at him. “That’s all I want. To not feel like some mass murderer because I’m doing this.”

I examine his face on the screen. Drew’s emerald eyes are alert, his brown, wavy hair perfectly placed, and he’s in a dark button-down shirt.

I narrow my eyes at my phone. “Hey, isn’t it 5:00 am over there?

Are you getting an early start? Or are you still awake?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” he admits, trying to mask a yawn with his hand.

“So, you’ve been listening to me sleep? Sounds a bit creeper-ish if you ask me.”

He smiles, and his eyes crinkle at the corners. “I can’t help it. I miss you… and you never turn your jewelry off.”

“You can’t turn the dumb thing off, remember?” I stare out the wall of windows facing the forest. It’s still pitch-black outside, but that doesn’t stop me from imagining what happened out there, causing my stomach to tighten with dread. I glance at his face. “I miss you too. The distance is freakin’ killing me.” Loneliness as heavy as a hundred-pound kettle bell threatens to seep in again.

Five months ago, Drew recruited me for the A.G.E.N.C.Y.. Now, he’s across the country being treated by world-class doctors and enduring intensive rehab to get back to his old fighting self. I’m left to deal with the emotional baggage of what I’ve done. Without him. “How are you healing? Are you seeing any progress?” I ask.

“I met with another doctor yesterday. The bones are almost healed. Now it’s physical therapy to get me back to the person I was before.”

“How much longer are they thinking?”

“Four more months of intensive therapy. They swear by the time I’m done you’ll never know I’ve been hurt.”

“Four more months?” I groan. “It’s already been two. I don’t know if I can go six months without seeing you.”

Intellectually, I understand his to be gone for so long, but emotionally I’m like a caged animal without him. There are nights when I’m literally pacing my bedroom, unsure what to do with myself.

I’m a lethal weapon, for Pete’s sake. I have got to learn how to deal with these emotions on my own. But how? He’s not here to help me see reason.

Drew has been my calming force from the moment I met him. Without him, my moods are choppy at best. Without him, I spend hours at a time working to the point of exhaustion just so I can function without accidentally tearing some person’s head off for the audacity to breathe. Without Drew to keep me in check, helping me see the rational side of things, I’ve struggled hard core.

“At least I can still stalk you from here,” he says with a grin.

I roll my eyes at the screen and absentmindedly touch my earring that houses a video camera. Between the ring and the stud in my ear, I have no privacy. It’s also how Drew can “stalk” me from across the country.

“Too bad it doesn’t go both ways,” I say, laying back against my pillows. “It’s lonely without you.”

“How can you be lonely? The entire crew is there. What about Sierra? Aren’t you two getting along?”

“It’s not the same.” I bite my lip, feeling a pang of guilt. Drew actually is alone. At least I have Aunt Patti and the crew to keep me occupied. Drew has only his therapists all day long. “Aren’t you lonely over there?” I ask.

“How can I be lonely? I get to stalk you.” His eyes crinkle with laughter again before he sobers. “They’ve got me working out four to six hours a day, and I’m taking extra online courses to keep busy while I’m waiting to get better.” Drew shakes his head. “The A.G.E.N.C.Y. wants me to get another degree - as if two aren’t enough.”

“Yeah, well, keep that PT up and you’ll be able to do the Iron Man with me this summer. It’d be soooo much more fun if I were doing the triathlon with you.”

“I should be so lucky,” he says, making a face of disgust. “How’s the new recruit shaping up? Is he getting along with everyone? Has

Randy sweet-talked you into taking another assignment?”

“Manny is progressing nicely,” I say, trying to be vague. Drew isn’t fond of Manny, and I can’t blame him. The guys have a history, and it hasn’t been resolved yet.

“Randy hasn’t been so lucky,” I say, pursing my lips. “Quite frankly, I’m in no hurry to start working again. The last time didn’t go as planned.” I shudder at the memory of Drew in the trailer where I’d found him nearly dead, along with Patti and most of the crew.

Drew grunts in agreement, then says, “You’d better get some sleep. I hear Marc plans on training you hard today. It’s his idea of a pre-New Year’s Eve gift so to speak.”

“Greaaaat,” I say, rubbing my eyes. “How about you? Are you gonna get any sleep?”

“Nah. Sleep is highly overrated.” He wrinkles his nose. “Besides, I’ll take a nap during your swim. I find the sound of splashing water calming.”

I make a face at the screen. “I’m jealous already.”

He smiles again before wagging a finger at me. “Seriously. Sleep.

I’ll talk to you at our usual time tonight, okay?”

“Okay.”

He stares at me.

Finally, I sigh. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll sleep.”

“Liar.” He flashes a 1,000-watt smile, then the screen goes blank, leaving me in the darkness of my room.

“You got that right,” I mutter as I climb out of my giant four-poster bed. I’m awake and there’s no getting back to sleep now.