Freedom (Blackstone Series Book 3)

by J. L. Drake

  “Hey, there, good lookin’.”

  “Son of a bitch!” I cringed and fished the phone from the bowl, glad it was in a waterproof case. I hated that damn Furby!

  Laughter filled the beach, and I hurried out to find them nearly in tears. I tossed her phone at her and she caught it with a shriek.

  “It’s wet, Mike!”

  “There’s a voice message.” I snickered and waited for her to lift it to her face.

  “It’s from Dan.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Catalina.

  “It fell in the toilet, Char,” I interrupted and watched her face fall into twisted disgust. Her mouth dropped open, and she tried to dry her wet, pissy hands on her legs.

  “That’s disgusting!” Charlotte shouted.

  “Don’t prank me. They always backfire,” I warned and playfully glared at Catalina, who apparently couldn’t stop laughing at all of us. “You think that was funny?”

  “It was her idea!” Kyle pointed in glee.

  “Oh,” my face twisted in delight, “is that so?”

  Catalina backed up with her hands in the air.

  “Mark asked me to do it.” Tears lined her eyes. “You know you can’t say no to his smile.”

  “He is a charmer,” Charlotte hissed with a grin.

  “Charmer, huh?”

  “Mike, be nice.” I had her backing up the ramp to the grass. “Remember your parents are here. You don’t want me to tell your mother on you.”

  “Banner?” My mother called from the patio on cue. “Are you behaving?”

  “Not at all, Mom,” I called back and grinned as if to ask, now what?

  “Mrs. Irons,” Catalina pressed her lips together, “your son is going to attack me for something Mark asked me to do.”

  “As long as I get grandbabies, I’m all for the attack.”

  Catalina’s hand shot over her mouth as she laughed. “Mr. Irons?”

  “I’m with his mother on this one, sweetheart.”

  “The parents have spoken.” I took another step closer, and she made a face then twisted on her heel and full-out sprinted across the yard.

  “Aw, baby, you’re forgetting what I do for a living,” I called, then I slipped into predator mode and shot off after her.

  I rounded the house on the opposite side and waited behind a bush, watching her frantically look for a place to hide.

  She decided on the little toolshed, so I hurried around the back and peeked in the window. She was out of breath but started to laugh at something. I opened the door and pressed myself to her back and nipped at her neck while she screamed.

  She suddenly spun around and grabbed my face to kiss me hard. I hooked her waist with my arm and sat her on the flipped over dory.

  I pulled at her bathing suit bottoms until I was free to roam her soft skin with my fingers.

  She was turned on and wiggled when I coated my finger with her excitement.

  “So, a little chase gets you turned on?”

  “Mmm,” she moaned. “It’s the look you get right before I run that does it.” Her hand covered mine, and she showed me how she wanted it.

  “What look?”

  Her hips rolled around my fingers. “You look hungry for me.”

  I nibbled on her earlobe. “I am hungry for you, Catalina.”

  “Mike,” she huffed into my neck, “you need to be inside of me now.”

  Shit.

  “I don’t have a condom.”

  “Don’t care,” she nearly cried and clawed at my shoulders.

  I pushed down my pants and almost jumped at her tight grip as I moved to line up.

  “We seem to have sex in some unique places.” I chuckled and pushed into her as the tight walls stretched around me. I pushed in further.

  Home.

  “Yes!” She leaned back and bowed her spine into the sexy curve I craved to see every time we made love.

  My hand landed on her hip, and the other dragged up the center of her stomach. I flicked my hips and shot her forward. Her breasts bounced, and I nearly crumbled at the sight.

  She wasn’t just the woman I loved; she was the woman who saved me from my childhood nightmares. Catalina could look past my appearance and see me for who I was. I would spend the rest of my life reminding her that she was the most important person in the world to me.

  “Mike,” she screamed when I changed the angle and hit her walls with my assault. “Oh, my God, yes!”

  Just as she leaped over the edge, I joined her and pumped out all that I had inside of me. Her hands found my face again and stopped me when I went in for a kiss.

  “I love you, Mike,” she held my wild gaze, “so much.”

  “I love you, Catalina.”

  Later that night, with the Furby in hand, I raced down the hallway and into Keith’s office while he was in the kitchen. I rushed around the room looking for the perfect place to hide the little shit.

  “Hi!” A little voice had me whirling around red-handed.

  “Hey, baby B.” I smiled down at my nephew. He had his blanket in one hand and a lollipop in the other, both taking their turns in his mouth.

  “Thus mine.” He pointed to the Furby.

  I looked down at the nasty little toy and hatched a plan.

  “Okay, B, go find Daddy,” I picked him up and headed out of Keith’s office. I unfolded the cuddle bug from my hip and placed him on his feet and gave him a nudge toward his father, who balanced an armful of papers.

  “Dad-dy!” He tried to run to him. Just as he did, he held up the toy, and it screamed, “Fire in the hole!”

  The papers went flying, and Keith jumped with a string of curses.

  Lexi came racing around the corner and laughed at her husband, who looked fit to kill.

  “Irons!” he boomed and scooped up his little boy with a laugh. I stayed behind the wall and listened to him try to interrogate his son. “Did Uncle Mike tell you to do this?”

  “Yes.” The little crap outed me to his father. “My toy!”

  “I will get you a toy, but this one is going to haunt your uncle’s dreams tonight.”

  “Boys and their toys.” Lexi chuckled at her family.

  I rolled off the wall and laughed all the way back to my room. I needed to get changed because Daniel was in town, and we were about to start training.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Catalina

  “I’m so glad you’re good at your job, Cat.” Charlotte sipped her coffee at her desk across the room from me. “Anyone else would have been let go.”

  “I know.” I pressed my lips into a line and wondered if she was jealous I didn’t lose my job after I just up and left. “Are you mad?”

  “Mad?” She shook her head, confused. “I get to sit six feet from my one of my best friends and I hope soon to be sister-in-law. I would have been devastated if you got canned.”

  “I second that.” Kyle popped his head in the door. “This place would be super boring without you.”

  “Hey!” She tossed a handful of paperclips at him, and they hit the wall and flew everywhere.

  “Like I said.” He laughed when he caught a few and beamed in delight at Charlotte as she rolled her eyes.

  “Just making sure.” I moved over to help myself to a second cup of coffee. “I didn’t mean to leave, but when I got the news about my brother, well, things just…”

  “We’re sorry, Cat, really, we are.” Kyle came in for a hug, and I gladly accepted it. I had such wonderful friends in my life, though I couldn’t share my entire past with them. That was for their own protection and part of my deal with Frank.

  My past was my past, and my future was much brighter. Besides, who wanted to live the in that past, anyway?

  ***

  The next two weeks flew by, thanks to Nicole Miller signing on with our ad agency. She’d insisted I take lead on the account, and I chose Charlotte as my number two. I had never had more fun than I did when creating an advertisement and a launch party for her brand-new line. One
no one else had even seen yet.

  A bottle of champagne sat on my desk, thanks to my loving boyfriend who knew how big of a deal it was that I got lead on this project.

  I popped the cork and joined my friends in the conference room for a late dinner.

  “Steak and champagne?” Kyle snatched the glass from my hand. “My kind of date.”

  Just as we were finishing up, I caught sight of someone chatting with security. The guard handed him a visitor pass, and I instantly felt my stomach turn the bubbles of champagne into the perfect storm.

  “Who is that cowboy?” Charlotte smirked at me when she caught me watching him. “A friend?”

  “Something like that.” I slowly pushed to my feet as he stood by the door, uneasy.

  “Catalina,” Abel removed his black cowboy hat and ran a shaky hand through his hair, “I need to speak with you.”

  He looked terrible, which sent my nerves through the roof. Something was wrong; I could feel it deep in my gut.

  “Charlotte,” I whispered, and by my warning tone she realized I wasn’t playing around, “call your brother.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyle slide her bag across the table, and she quickly retrieved her phone.

  I walked over to him so he would step away from Charlotte and Kyle. “What is it, Abel?” I asked, keeping my voice level.

  “Can we speak alone?”

  “He’s not picking up,” Char said, her voice worried.

  “Keep trying,” I heard Kyle say.

  I pushed past the mental block of not wanting to hear the news Abel brought me. He could barely look at me when we faced each other in the hallway. I led him into another room and closed the heavy glass door behind me. Kyle had his eyes locked on me through the window, and Charlotte kept trying to call Mike. I folded my arms and waited for his blow to hit.

  “Let me guess. My father has retracted my freedom card?”

  Abel’s troubled eyes shot to mine, and what I saw there was something much worse.

  “Abel? You’re scaring me.”

  “I know I’m the last person you want to see right now…”

  “I think that’s a fair assumption.”

  He shut his eyes, and when he opened them again, I could see the pain that flickered inside him. “The secret got out.” The words barely passed over his lips. “Bash retaliated.”

  I reached for the steel door handle as I processed what he’d said. A shockwave ripped through my core, and I knew another hit was about to come.

  “Your father was the target, but when they came for him, he escaped. Your father’s men fought them off, but this is not over. Bash will not stop at anything to take down your father now he knows.”

  “My mother?”

  “Salvador used your mother as a shield. She took three bullets to the chest. She went down fast, didn’t feel any pain.”

  Boom! The shockwave weakened my knees.

  “No,” I cried, and my two friends flew to my side.

  “What just happened?” Kyle was in Abel’s face. “What did you say? Do you know who her boyfriend is? He can make one…”

  “No,” I quickly cut Kyle off. He couldn’t know who Mike was. No one could! Hot tears blurred out the world for a moment, and I had to struggle to keep myself together. I was at work; anyone could walk by.

  “Shit,” Charlotte hissed, inches from my face. “Pick up your phone!” She looked at me, confused and scared. “I can’t get him.”

  I covered my face and tried to think through the storm that brewed inside me. Once I could suck a full breath in, I knew what I needed to do. Somehow, I willed myself to stand and drew myself up to my full height.

  “Abel, give me the afternoon, and I’ll call you when I’m ready.” He hesitated but nodded, and I waited until he left before I turned to my friends. “I have to go. There’s a problem.”

  “Catalina,” Char grabbed my arm, “this whole thing is really scary. What is going on?”

  I tossed my arms around her neck and hugged her hard. “I know, and I’m very sorry, Charlotte, but please listen. Can you take me to your father?”

  “What? Why?” She looked intently at my face, and when I didn’t answer, she shook her head. “Sure.”

  Charlotte’s mouth was in a constant frown, and her eyes shifted from the road to me like clockwork. She hated that I had shut down on her on the way, but I knew she had enough experience with her brother’s job that she understood not to keep asking questions. I knew I would break if I wasn’t careful.

  “You look pale.” She tried to get me to talk. “Are you going to be sick?”

  I shook my head and drew my knees to my chest and buried my head. My mother’s face popped through my armor, and I let out a small sob.

  “Oh, God, honey!” Charlotte reached for my arm and gave it a squeeze. She tried her phone again, and Mike’s voice message filled the car.

  “You’ve reached Mike Irons. Leave a message, and I’ll call back when I can.”

  “Mike, when your sister texts and calls more times in one day than ever before, there’s a reason! Call me back!”

  When she peeled off the main road and drove for three minutes on gravel, I felt like my stomach was going to betray me.

  “That’s his cabin. Go knock. This time of day, he’ll be inside.” She brushed a tear from my cheek. “I’ll keep trying my brother.”

  With shaky legs, I unfolded from the front seat and headed to the wooden door. The heavy smell of pine laced the air and filled my nostrils with its comforting scent.

  “Mr. Irons?” I knocked on the cabin door and waited for him to look up from his leather-bound book.

  “Catalina?” He smiled warmly and invited me inside. “Please call me Ray. What a lovely surprise.”

  “Sadly,” I swallowed hard and tried to control my emotions, “this isn’t a friendly visit.”

  “No?”

  “Ray, I need your help.”

  Ray looked like I just asked him to help me move a dead body after I told him what happened with my mother and uncle. I knew it was a lot to throw at him, but Mike always said his father was great in stressful situations. So here I was, the girlfriend of his son, and I just dropped the big one at his doorstep.

  “I’m trying to do this right, but I can’t get hold of Mike, and I don’t know how to contact Frank. Look,” I paused and took a big leap by stepping over a line, “I know you know, and now you know I know, so can you give me any suggestions on who to call?”

  His bushy eyebrows finally smoothed out as something hit his memory.

  “After Mike joined Blackstone, he gave me this.” He moved to pull a dusty jar out from behind the canned pickles and showed me the label. “He said if he or I was ever in trouble, I should call this number.”

  He handed me the paper with a name and a number scribbled in pen. I pulled my phone free and dialed the number.

  “Ray?” I stopped him at the doorway. “Would you stay?”

  He smiled and took his seat by the fireplace and picked his book back up, licked his finger, and started to scan the words.

  Thank you.

  “Hello?” a smooth voice answered.

  “Hi-hello,” I stumbled, unsure where I should start. “I’m Catalina Mendez.”

  “Hello, Catalina. I’ve heard a lot about you.” There was a pause, and I could hear someone yelling in the background. “Not to sound unfriendly, but how did you get this number?”

  I glanced at Ray and knew Mike would get in trouble if I told the truth.

  “Mike told me if he was ever to get into trouble to call this number.”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Mendez, but Mike isn’t in trouble. I can see him from where I stand.”

  I closed my eyes, so happy to know he was safe. “I know, Mr. Logan, but I am.”

  I was put on hold while Daniel patched Frank into the call and let me spend the next hour going over every single detail of my plan. I did everything by the book…well, almost everything.

>   “I’ve raised two children, Catalina,” Ray licked his finger again before he flipped the page, “and I can spot the look of someone about to do something really stupid.”

  “Yeah.” I dried my tears and felt another surge of emotion head to the surface.

  “So, now, do I need to worry about another?”

  I leaned up and gave him a hug. “I can protect him, if I get there first.”

  His eyes closed, and the lines in his face deepened with concern. “I’ll give you a twenty-minute head start.”

  I thanked him again as Charlotte and I left. She pulled me into her arms when she stopped to drop me off on the main street. She had been warned by her father not to question what was happening, but her tears tore at me when I left her there and hopped into the passenger seat of Abel’s truck.

  “Drive.”

  “Where?”

  “I’m going to my father’s.”

  “I don’t think that’s the right move, Catalina.” His face was shocked.

  “You either take me, or I fly back alone.”

  He thought for a moment then shoved his truck in drive. “Dammit.”

  The journey back into Mexico took its toll on my strength. We flew part of the way and drove the rest. I couldn’t keep my eyes open, no matter how hard I tried. Abel tried everything he could to make sure I was comfortable on the journey.

  Yeah, guilt can be a real bitch, can’t it?

  I hated him for what he’d done, and I was curious what else he knew about my mother’s death. Once we crossed the border, found his personal truck, and hit the road again, I finally acknowledged his existence.

  “Tell me what you know, and none of the bullshit like you did with my brother.”

  His jaw clenched like he was pissed at my comment, then he tightened his cowboy hat on his head.

  “I’m not proud of what happened with Javier,” he hissed, “and, of all people, you should know that when the boss calls on you to do something, you do it.”

  “Even to kill your best friend?”

  “Javier knew what he had done. He knew when I arrived that he had to own up. I did not kill him. I just took him home.”