Stronger Than You Know--A Novel

by Lori Foster

  For now, though, all he knew for sure was that there was more to Kennedy Brooks than she let on.

  He nudged the thug with the edge of his boot. “On your stomach, lace your fingers behind your head, and don’t move or I’ll send your balls into your throat.”

  It took a lot of effort for Herman to painfully maneuver around, but the balls threat often worked wonders. Choking on his every agonized breath, Herman got into position.

  “Stay like that,” Reyes warned again as he began moving away, one of the guns held at the ready in his right hand, the remaining weapon and wallets balanced in his left. He glanced behind him and saw Kennedy stepping out of the car, her eyes huge in the shadows. The driver lurched to the trunk, practically tossed out a rolling suitcase and allowed her to snatch a laptop case out of his hands. While she tried to get her luggage upright, the driver sped away.

  Leaving her standing there alone.

  Giving up on the goons, Reyes jogged to her. “Come on.”

  Staring at the load he carried, she whispered, “What did you do?”

  “Gathered intel, that’s all. Move it.” He got her to his truck, dumped the confiscated items onto the floor and practically tossed her inside. “Buckle up, babe.” He took her laptop case from her and shoved it to the floor as well.

  After putting her enormous suitcase into the back of his truck, he gave one last look at the fallen men and a quick glance at the still-raging fire. The night had turned into a clusterfuck of the first order. But, hey, Kennedy had called him, not anyone else.

  Overall, he’d claim it as a win.

  * * *

  TREMBLING FROM HER eyebrows to her toes, Kennedy wrapped her arms around herself as Reyes drove away, putting the fire farther and farther behind her. Physically, anyway. Emotionally? She knew what could have happened, what might have been intended, and it left her painfully aware of her own vulnerability.

  Hadn’t one tragedy in her life been enough? “Reyes?”

  “Hmm?” As if he hadn’t just annihilated two men and stowed multiple weapons near her feet, he flashed her a smile meant to reassure. “You okay?”

  The interior lights created a bluish glow over his dark hair and limned his wide, muscular shoulders. No man should look as good as he did.

  From the first moment she saw him, she’d made note of his physique. Every moment since then had been an exercise of resistance.

  Kennedy peered down at the floor. Two big guns, a wicked-looking switchblade and a couple of wallets shared space with her laptop case, leaving her feet little room.

  Those men had planned to use those weapons on her. She felt sure of it.

  After adjusting the heater, Reyes patted her leg. “I’ve got you, honey. You’re safe.”

  Odd, but she did feel safe. The road ahead was long and dark, and she had no idea where they were going, but Reyes wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. She believed that.

  “Babe? You’re worrying me.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised her, but it seemed her call had further changed the dynamic of their relationship. They already had a loose friendship, formed during the joint rescue of Chimera the alley cat, so they were beyond being merely gym member and gym owner.

  They’d never dated. She’d deflected his efforts to get to know her better. Instinctively, she knew Reyes was more than a simple man running his own business. Others might take him at face value, but she’d experienced things others hadn’t, and it had changed her forever.

  With his secrets, as well as the lethal ability he usually tried to downplay, Reyes reeked of danger.

  Plus, avoiding involvement with any man suited her just fine.

  Now, that didn’t seem possible.

  She might be bordering on shock, but she hadn’t missed the things he’d called her, like babe and honey. If he’d ever used endearments before, she didn’t recall it.

  Usually she wouldn’t like it. Tonight? She wanted more than just his affection. She wanted his protection. She wanted his comfort.

  She wanted him to promise her it would be okay.

  Her eyes burned as she stared at him. She could pretend it was from the smoke, though she knew better. “I don’t have anywhere to go.” The enormity of the situation was sinking in, bringing a tinge of panic with it. “Almost everything I owned was in that apartment.” Another thought occurred to her, and she gasped. “My car! My car was parked in the lot behind the building...”

  “Shh.” Reaching over, he clasped her knee, his thumb rubbing against the side of her thigh through her leggings. “I’ll handle it, okay? For now, just tell me what happened.”

  Quickly she tried to tally her cash. She had credit cards—would it be safe to use them? “I don’t know where to go.”

  His hold on her knee firmed. “With me. You go with me, Kennedy. We’ll work it out.”

  Swallowing heavily, utterly relieved that she wouldn’t be alone, she nodded. “I guess I’ll get to see Chimera, so that’d be—what?” The way he grimaced made her fear something had happened to the cat, too. When they’d rescued her from the alley, she’d been half-starved and nursing three kittens. Reyes had taken the animals home with him, but so far she’d been joining him on the vet visits and splitting those bills.

  “Chimera isn’t with me right now.”

  Unreasonable anger swelled. “You got rid of my cat?”

  “No! Damn, do you always have to think the worst of me?” He released her leg and squeezed the wheel with both hard-knuckled hands. “She’s with my dad right now. Or actually, my dad’s man.”

  “Your dad’s man?” Kennedy blinked. “What exactly does that mean?”

  He shook his head. “Tell you what. Let’s come back to that later, okay? For now, just know that Chimera is well loved and cared for.” He tipped his head to the pile of stuff he’d dumped on the floor. “Check out those wallets, see if you know either of those bozos. Keep their licenses out so I can give their names to my brother.”

  “Your brother? The guy who’s even taller than you?” She’d seen him once at the gym, along with a woman who looked equally beautiful and badass, as if she could chew rusty nails while seducing someone.

  The relationship to the brother had been plain. Both men shared superb physiques, incredible height and gorgeous faces. Reyes’s eyes were a warm hazel, but his brother’s had been bright blue. At six foot four, Reyes was tall, but his brother had a few inches on him. Of course she’d noticed the brother—it would have been hard not to—but unlike the other women at the gym that day, Kennedy hadn’t gawked.

  “Babe, if you keep questioning everything I say, we’re never going to get this show on the road.”

  Get the show on the road? Her life was in a shambles and he cavalierly—

  “I got this, okay?” He glanced at her, then returned his gaze to the dark road. “Cooperation would be nice, but you have my word, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  And there it was, that cockiness she knew would make her feel better. “Okay. Thank you.”

  His grin created an over-the-top dimple in his cheek. A man like Reyes McKenzie didn’t need the added charm of dimples, for God’s sake.

  “Licenses?” he prompted with an endless store of patience.

  “Right.” Having a purpose galvanized her. Her fumbling hands accidentally dumped one wallet, and she didn’t care. Quickly she located both IDs, studying the faces, hopeful of making sense of what had happened. “No.” Deflated, she dropped back in the seat. Damn, she really had to get a grip. “I’ve never seen them before.”

  “No big deal.” He glanced at her again. “How’d you get out of the apartment?”

  “I wasn’t there. I was on my way home from the airport after a weekend in Texas.”

  With no expression at all, he asked, “Doing what?”

  She really didn’t feel like su
mming up her entire life for him, but she supposed it was necessary. “I’m a professional speaker, specifically for schools and colleges.” Every muscle in her body tensed. She watched his profile, counted five beats of her heart, then made herself whisper, “I cover the dangers of human trafficking.”

  Slowly he nodded, as if that answered a question he hadn’t yet asked. “You have that knowledge from experience?”

  Five more heartbeats, each strong and steady. It was a practice she’d learned to remind herself that as long as her heart beat, she was alive.

  And as long as she was alive, she had hope.

  Tonight she had more than hope.

  She had Reyes McKenzie.

  “Should I gather from your silence that you don’t want to talk about it?”

  Giving up her scrutiny of his face, she stared out the passenger window. “I talk about it all the time. Professional speaker, remember?”

  Accepting that, he asked, “How old were you?”

  So matter-of-fact, as if she hadn’t just imparted life-altering news. Most people were taken aback at the mention of something as heinous as trafficking. They balked and usually changed the subject.

  None of which would help a person taken into captivity.

  What victims needed, especially young people, was information. Ways to avoid being taken, and what to do if they were.

  No one had ever reacted as Reyes just had. So what was his real vocation? Definitely, he did a lot more than just running a gym.

  “I feel like everything I say causes you this painful introspection. I’m sorry for that, okay? But the best way for us to tackle this is to first understand it.”

  Kennedy knew he was right. She filled her lungs with a bracing breath. “I’d just turned twenty-one. Fresh out of college. A know-it-all.” In truth, she hadn’t known a damn thing, not about the real world. “I tell kids what to watch for, how important it is to have situational awareness, and what it means to risk going out alone.”

  “Did you get taken from Texas? Or here in Colorado?”

  “Florida,” she answered. Going into speaker mode, she insulated herself from harsh memories. “I was jogging on the beach, enjoying my solitude, thinking about my future...” She remembered it all in sharp-edged detail. “The next thing I knew, men had me, one with his hand so tight over my mouth I thought I would suffocate. I lost a sneaker in the sand. My shirt ripped.”

  Again he cupped her knee, the simple connection offering needed comfort.

  “I got stuffed into a van and taken to a house with a few other women, some of them drugged unconscious.” Tension gathered along her neck and upper spine. “That was punishment if you tried to get away. I saw two women held down while another woman injected them.”

  “The woman who injected them—she worked with the traffickers?”

  “Yes.” And that was something Kennedy still struggled with. How could one woman do that to another? She’d made a point of being the opposite. She helped not only women, but also children and some men.

  “It’s an ugly business. Anyone who’s not a monster can’t make sense of it.”

  Very true. “After a few weeks, I got away only because another one of the captives sacrificed herself. Literally.” Kennedy rubbed her forehead, thinking of Sharlene and how she’d tried to mother everyone, even the women who were the same age as her. “There was one guy known for cruelty. He wasn’t satisfied with rape. He...” Her throat closed. These were details she didn’t share during her talks, not because they weren’t important, but because they were far too personal.

  Reyes lifted his hand from her knee, turning it palm up, waiting. When she put her hand in his, he enfolded it in his strength. Somehow, he seemed to know what to do to help.

  Amazing.

  “Her name was Sharlene. She was thirty years old and the most beautiful soul I’ve ever met. More than once she convinced a man that he wanted her instead of one of the other girls. She’d tell us to be really quiet, to avoid eye contact, and then she’d draw attention to herself.” Kennedy stared at him. “She was used so poorly, and she did it anyway—to spare the rest of us.”

  “She did that the day you got away?”

  “Yes.” Kennedy tightened her hold on his hand. “The bastard decided he wanted Sharlene and me both, so I had to go along. So many times, when it was just us girls in the room, Sharlene would coach us on what to do, what to say, opportunities to look for.”

  “She gave you an opportunity,” Reyes said quietly, as if he already knew.

  “She did, and it saved me.” The shallow breaths she’d been taking left her lungs starved, prompting her to suck in a deep, desperate inhale. “I knew that if there was a window near, I should go out it. If there was an unlocked door, I should try. If a car was moving slowly enough, I should take my chances on jumping out.” That night had been dark just like this one, but instead of cool, crisp air, the skies had hung heavy with heated humidity. “We were on a busy street and the customer, who was driving, braked to avoid another car that switched lanes. I didn’t know Sharlene was going to do it. I was pretty much just sitting there shaking. But all of a sudden she kicked the back of his seat hard, sending his face into the steering wheel. She kept kicking, too. I saw blood go everywhere. Then one car crashed into another, and the handler who rented us out was in the passenger seat and he reached back for her.” Kennedy tightened her hold on Reyes. “He had a gun, and he was threatening to kill her, but all she did was yell for me to go.” Kennedy swallowed hard, then whispered, “So I did.”

  After lifting her clenched fingers to his lips for the brush of a kiss, Reyes asked, “You jumped out of the car?”

  “And into insane traffic. Tires screeched and horns blared. More cars crashed. People stopped. One man came running over to help me, another couple was already on the phone to call the police. I looked back, and the guy who’d been driving was dead.” Heavy remorse, forever present, settled on her shoulders. Not for the cruel bastard who’d thought he could rent women to rape. But for a friend she’d lost too soon. “Sharlene also died in the wreck.”

  “The prick riding shotgun?”

  “He made a run for it. I don’t know what happened to him, but the police were amazing. Even with me babbling and sobbing, they understood. They did this incredible coordination between departments, all while caring for me. By the time the sun came up, they’d rescued the other women at the house and had arrested the creeps who’d caused so much harm.” Tears burned her eyes, and building emotion thickened her throat. “Sharlene didn’t just save me, she saved them, too, and lost her life in the process.” Blinking away the tears, Kennedy sniffled. “She’ll always be my inspiration for bravery, selflessness and morality. To me, she’ll always be my hero.”

  “What was the handler’s name?”

  She shook her head. “They were careful not to use names around us. I’d recognize him if I saw him, but that wasn’t enough for the police to find him.”

  Sharlene had died, and that miserable excuse for a man had gotten away.

  He was still out there somewhere, and that fact, more than any other, haunted her every day.

  CHAPTER TWO

  KNOWING KENNEDY LISTENED, that she was sharp enough to draw a lot of conclusions from his conversation with Cade, Reyes finalized his plans. After hearing her heartbreaking experience, he’d had to do something.

  Something other than pulling over and holding her tight.

  Other than going back to kill the two thugs he’d left disabled.

  And telling her his entire backstory was a giant no-go. His family would have a fit.

  So he called big brother.

  Cade, a retired army ranger and one of the calmest, most take-charge people he knew, excelled at focusing on the critical data.

  Plus, when he was honest with himself, Reyes could admit that Cade had an overall posi
tive influence on his life. Yeah, Reyes had once been a hothead. From his midteens, he’d solved all his frustrations with fighting or fucking. And God, he’d had a lot of frustrations—many that he hid beneath caustic humor. After Cade medically retired from the military, he’d stomped the worst of Reyes’s rebellious nature into the dirt. Cade wasn’t unduly harsh. He definitely wasn’t a bully. But, over and over, in the most impressive ways, he’d refined Reyes’s ability through firm control.

  To this day, his brother was the only person he knew who could still best him. Didn’t stop Reyes from challenging Cade. Often.

  A man had to have some fun.

  Now with Cade on the phone, and on the job, Reyes felt proactive rather than reactive to Kennedy’s problem.

  Cade would not only take care of her car, he’d get the names of the guys he’d disarmed to their sister, who would find out everything there was to know about them. Madison’s research skills often left him awed. Before she was done, she’d know more about the two yahoos than they knew about themselves.

  She’d been raised to do exactly that, and a whole lot more.

  Like the rest of the family, his sister was tall and, when need be, dangerous in her own right.

  In contrast to the McKenzies, Kennedy was downright tiny at around five feet five inches. She was also fierce in her attitude and independence.

  At the gym, he’d watched her work hard to master a skill set that remained out of her reach. Unlike most who came to the gym, Kennedy didn’t exercise to bulk up or shed weight, or even for reasons of fitness. Over and over again, day after day, she practiced offensive moves. Kicks and strikes meant to disable. From the first, Reyes had wondered what motivated her.

  Now he knew, and, Christ, he hated it.

  “I’ll put out some feelers, see if there’s any talk on the street,” Cade said. “I’ll check that her car isn’t bugged, then store it at my place. Soon as Madison has some news, I’ll let you know. Anything else?”

  “No, that’s it for now.”

  “Why am I not buying it? Why am I getting the impression you’re a little more invested than usual?”