by Dee, Cara
“Okay.” Jayden smiled and scrunched his nose. “Do I have to brush my teeth now? It’s early.”
“No, just go upstairs first,” Gray answered. “I put new pajamas on your bed. Then I think Darius has plans. I smell popcorn.”
“That’s what I smell too!”
Gray chuckled and opened the door to the bathroom, letting out the steam.
Jayden skipped out with the towel around him, and Gray called for Justin to say it was his turn to take a shower.
“I can’t!” Justin hollered back. “Darius is showing me a docamemary!”
Gray snorted and left the bathroom to see what they were up to.
The sight was too fucking sweet. Justin was curled up against Darius, who had a bowl of popcorn in his lap.
“We can’t postpone education,” Darius reasoned, draping his arm along the back of the couch. “I gotta teach the boys about our history.”
Gray glanced at the flat screen.
“That carrier right there was the USS Hornet,” Darius told Justin. “Many, many years ago, hundreds of young men spent months at sea on her and helped us win the war.”
It was a documentary about the Battle of Midway.
Perfect entertainment for young children and…well, Gray. He scratched his forehead.
Justin nodded, though, listening and taking it seriously. “There’s planes!”
“Aye, they’re dive bombers,” Darius replied.
“I wanna see planes!” Jayden yelled from upstairs. “Wait for me!”
Gray snorted softly and rolled with it. Evidently, they wouldn’t be watching some Pixar movie on Netflix. Darius had corrupted them. While he pressed pause and looked like a pig in shit at the prospect of further rubbing off his war history obsession on to the boys, Gray headed into the kitchen to grab a couple juice boxes Mom had left here. Darius already had a beer, so he grabbed a soda for himself.
He was kinda looking forward to next weekend. Mom had requested to watch the kids, and Abel would be in town with Madigan. Gray and Abel had already made plans to drag their men out for some drinks and burgers.
“Okay, where are the planes?” Jayden hurried down the stairs.
Darius was about to answer, but a ding halted him, and he frowned toward the entryway. “Just a sec.” He set the popcorn on the table and got off the couch.
Gray observed him on the way to the living room, and he could guess that the alert was from Darius’s surveillance system. The same alerts were also sent directly to his phone.
Justin lit up at the sight of the juice boxes.
“Can we push play?” Jayden wondered.
Gray nodded, keeping his stare fixed on Darius’s profile in the narrow closet in the entryway. He was studying the tablet; even Gray could see there was movement on the screen.
When Darius emerged again, he jerked his chin at the front door, silently telling him they had to step out.
Shit. Now, what?
“Jayden, keep an eye on Justin for a moment,” Gray said, remaining casual. “I’m gonna help Darius with something outside. We’ll be right back.”
He wasn’t sure the boys paid attention to him.
In the entryway, he put on a hoodie over his tee, and it didn’t escape his notice that Darius tucked a gun into his jeans at the base of his spine.
Gray shot Darius a worried look. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know yet. But we have company.” Darius stepped outside.
Gray scrambled to follow as soon as he’d stuck his feet in a pair of construction boots. They were the closest.
“Did you open the gate?” Gray asked.
Darius inclined his head. “I built the fence to keep out animals, not humans.”
Gray knew that. The lock at the gate wouldn’t take much force to get through—if someone was insistent on entering.
“What did the camera at the gate show?”
“Two men, one car.”
They crossed the stream as a set of headlights appeared behind the parked cars.
Gray squinted and held up a hand to shield his eyes from the bright light.
A black sedan parked next to the Wagoneer, and two men stepped out.
Gray swallowed a rush of nervousness and let his eyes adjust to the dark again.
Who the hell could it be? Gray and Darius were by no means hermits; they had plenty of friends, but they knew to fucking call before making a random trip up here. And if something had gone awry with Jackie’s case, and maybe somehow the police wanted to find them, they wouldn’t arrive at this hour. Right?
Jackie hadn’t hinted at anything being amiss. Then again, he was focused on his recovery, not the case.
A flash of a memory pierced Gray’s mind, and for one second, all he saw was a screeching van and two men grabbing him. Oh God, could it be—
“Well, this place wasn’t the easiest to find,” someone drawled.
Gray sucked in a breath and narrowed his eyes.
He knew that voice.
One of the men stayed by the car while the other, the one who’d spoken, walked toward them.
The faint glow from the moon helped Gray confirm his suspicion when the guy was some twenty feet away. Checkered gingham shirt, dress pants, polished shoes, suspenders, heavily inked arms…
Kellan Ford.
It seemed Darius knew who it was too. “You’re a long way from Philly.”
Kellan smirked lazily and stuck his hands down into his pockets. “You’re a long way from everything.”
Gray could sense the tension rolling off Darius, so he put a hand on his arm, cautioning him, and faced Kellan. “What do you want?”
Kellan cocked his head and observed them, the hand on Darius’s arm. “I’m here about Jayden.”
That caused Gray to go rigid. “What about him?” he asked tightly.
There was fuck-all Kellan could do. Right? Gray and Darius had the law on their side. They had full custody, temporary as foster agreements were. Either way, Kellan could fucking watch himself.
“Wrong approach,” Kellan conceded and showed his palms. “Listen—can youse chill? I come in peace.” He paused. “We look out for the women and children in our community. Even slick little runaways like Jayden.”
Darius folded his arms over his chest. “I trust you know his status.”
Gray glanced at Kellan. Given that Jayden FaceTimed with Father O’Malley every now and then, it wouldn’t be weird for Kellan to know everything concerning the adoption.
“Of course. That’s why I’m here.” Kellan retrieved something from his pocket. “Consider this a thank-you from me and the Sons of Munster.” He extended whatever it was, and Gray took it. A USB drive. “It’s everything you need to know about Alfred Lange and his human trafficking dealings.”
Gray closed his fist around the drive and stared at Kellan.
Holy fuck.
Kellan pointed at Gray’s hand. “Lange turns sixty this fall. There’s a date and a venue already booked in Vegas, and I’m pretty sure something else is gonna go down too.”
Gray’s ears began ringing. He didn’t wanna hear another goddamn word, because he couldn’t unhear it.
Darius’s jaw ticked with tension. “I bet it wouldn’t benefit your own organization to have the Langes wiped out.”
That made Kellan grin. “I’m not gonna lie… But we’re not the ones with a personal vendetta against them.” Then he dropped the mirth. “What you do with the information is up to you. I’ve done what I came to do.” He offered a two-fingered wave before he turned around and started going back to his car. “By the way—” He turned to them briefly. “I get the appeal.” He gestured to their surroundings. “It’s very remote and secluded. You never know when you need a good place to hide.”
With that said, Kellan Ford disappeared where he came from, and Gray and Darius stood fixed in place until they couldn’t hear the car anymore.
Gray’s stomach rolled, and he drew a deep breath.
Then
he extended the USB stick to Darius. “I gave you my word.” Once the drive was out of his hands, he trailed back to the cabin.
He ignored the voice in the back of his mind that screamed out in agony.
How many innocent boys and girls had lost their freedom—or their lives—to Alfred Lange?
How many had yet to travel down that path, but would…if Alfred wasn’t stopped?
Darius caught up with Gray and was in thinking mode. “I’ll give this to Willow,” he said quietly. “She can sort it out and see if there’s anything worth handing over to the Feds.”
“Okay.” Gray nodded and climbed up the steps to the porch.
Yeah, maybe the FBI could handle everything. They’d done a terrific job so far.
Seeing the boys on the couch in the living room, mesmerized by the warplanes on the TV, helped drown out some of the internal noise in Gray’s head.
“That’s the biggest ship I’ve ever seen,” Jayden swore. “See how many planes are on it?”
Justin nodded and sipped from his juice box.
Gray exhaled and tried to erase the past five or ten minutes from his memory. Then he dove for the boys, tickled them, and accused them of already turning into mini versions of the history nerd that was Darius.
In the corner of his eye, while the kids squealed with laughter and pleaded for mercy, Gray watched Darius lock away his gun and the USB drive in the entryway.
“I will only stop if you feed me all the popcorn,” Gray threatened, growling playfully against Justin’s belly.
“Give—give him popcorn!” Justin gasped through his giggles.
The assault ended when a wide-eyed, too-excited Jayden recklessly shoved a handful of popcorn into Gray’s mouth, almost clocking him in the jaw simultaneously. Jesus Christ. Gray coughed as one kernel nearly got stuck in his throat, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
“I shurrender.” He dropped into his seat and chewed quickly so he could catch his breath after.
“We win!” Justin declared.
“No, I win.” Darius joined them and picked Justin up off the couch. “I’m stealing your spot in the middle.”
“Why?” Justin gasped in surprise.
Darius mirrored the boy’s expression and feigned a gasp. “Because I’m a greedy bastard who wants you all close.” He sat down in the middle and planted Justin in his lap. Gray smiled and cuddled up against his left side. Jayden did the same on the right. “That’s better. I gotta have Gray next to me so I can make sure he listens to the documentary.”
“Hey, I graduated high school with a B in history,” Gray defended.
“There’s room for improvement, in other words,” Darius replied. “This fucker got an A.”
“This fucker,” Jayden snickered.
“Shit,” Darius muttered.
Gray rolled his eyes. “That’s a quarter off your allowance, Jayden. Just because grown-ups are dumb enough to curse, doesn’t mean you get to do the same.”
“Crap,” Jayden whispered. “Fine. Your mom sneaks us money all the time anyway.”
For chrissakes. Gray made a mental note to talk to Mom.
Darius looked like he was trying not to laugh.
It thawed Gray somewhat. He didn’t mean to be an uptight asshole; he just felt the pressure to make sure they were good parents. God forbid they were denied the adoption when that became an option.
Pulling the stick out of his ass, Gray turned his curiosity to Darius. “Did you really get an A?”
He inclined his head, his gaze glued to the flat screen. “It was also the only A I ever got in school, but whatever.” He nodded to the documentary. “Pay attention, knucklehead. There’s a lot to be learned from the Battle of Midway. For starters, trust your intelligence.” He turned to Gray and looked him dead in the eye. “In our case, that’s Willow.”
Gray swallowed. Those last five words were enough to let him know Darius wasn’t talking exclusively about some battle from World War II.
“Lesson number two. A single battle can change the course of the future and give the underdog the upper hand.”
Gray glanced at the screen and felt something settle in his gut. He couldn’t foresee the next battle, but he knew one thing.
The war wasn’t over.
Gray and Darius will return in Played
It was gonna be a big operation.
* * *
They would need all the help they could get.
* * *
“This is between you and me, Willow. He can’t know yet.”
More from Cara
In Camassia Cove, everyone has a story to share
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Abel & Madigan in Power Play
Chloe & Aiden in Inappropriately Yours
Willow
Lincoln & Adeline in Path of Destruction
Ethan
Elise
Lias
Dominic and Adrian in Home
…along with a brief crossover from the Touch Series, Ryan & Angel & Greg
…along with a crossover from This Life, where Kellan Ford plays a significant secondary role, a mafia series in which he will get his own story told too. (His own story will be standalone MM.)
* * *
Cara freely admits she’s addicted to revisiting the men and women who yammer in her head, and several of her characters cross over in other titles. If you enjoyed this book, you might like the following.
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Power Play (M/M) Abel & Madigan. A sweet, angsty Daddy kink novel that deals with mental health disorders and the love between a hotheaded hockey player who struggles with his bipolar disorder, and an older, dominant tattoo artist. Gray is a secondary character in this book, and it takes place right before Auctioned. We also meet Darius briefly in Power Play.
* * *
Inappropriately Yours (M/F) Isla & Jack, Aiden & Chloe. Two romances in one book. Isla Roe publishes her first novel under the name her father has made famous for his own novels, but it doesn’t work out as well for her. More like, it crashes and burns. Her father sends her to Washington and his college friend to get help with her writing. In the end, she finds a lot more than advice, and Aiden Roe, Isla’s dad, makes a trip up to Camassia to see what’s going on. That’s where he runs in to his childhood crush, innkeeper and single mother of four rambunctious boys, Chloe Nolan. This is the first glimpse we get of Gray, Chloe’s son.
* * *
Touch: The Complete Series (M/F, M/M/F) Everyone’s getting their kink on in San Francisco. This is the complete series, consisting of seven novellas and novels, several outtakes and future takes, about men and women finding their way in BDSM. Heavy on Daddykink and other fetishes. In one of the novellas, we meet Greg Cooper, a jaded masochist who falls for the sadistic Dom Ryan Quinn and his much younger, equally sadistic wife, the switch, the baby girl, Angel Quinn. Ryan and Angel may strike hard, but their hearts are warm and open, a combination Greg finds impossible to resist.
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Check out Cara’s entire collection at www.caradeewrites.com, and don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter so you don’t miss any new releases, updates on book signings, free outtakes, giveaways, and much more.
About Cara
I’m often awkwardly silent or, if the topic interests me, a chronic rambler. In other words, I can discuss writing forever and ever. Fiction, in particular. The love story—while a huge draw and constantly present—is secondary for me, because there’s so much more to writing romance fiction than just making two (or more) people fall in love and have hot sex. There’s a world to build, characters to develop, interests to create, and a topic or two to research thoroughly. Every book is a challenge for me, an opportunity to learn something new, and a puzzle to piece together. I want my characters to come to life, and the only way I know to do that is to give them substance—passions, history, goals, quirks, and strong opinions—and to let them evolve. Additionally, I want my men and women to be relatable. That means allowing room for everyday prob
lems and, for lack of a better word, flaws. My characters will never be perfect.
Wait…this was supposed to be about me, not my writing.
I'm a writey person who loves to write. Always wanderlusting, twitterpating, kinking, and geeking. There’s time for hockey and cupcakes, too. But mostly, I just love to write.
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~Cara.
www.caradeewrites.com
www.camassiacove.com