Our crew arrived at the mall four hours ago, and the guys looked worn out. Matt held several bags containing items Leigh Ann bought from every store in the mall. We told the guys, they could wait for us and meet up later, but they refused to budge. Ryan knew I was a quick shopper, but I don’t think he was prepared for Taylor and Leigh Ann.
We went to every store in the mall, including the men’s store to see if we could find something for the guys. Taylor bought John a belt buckle to add to his collection, and Leigh Ann bought Matt a book on how to woo women. I told her it was a waste of money, but she just ignored me and bought it anyway.
John and Ryan took turns following us into each store, making sure we stayed out of trouble. I just think it was an excuse to stay close to us. Ryan snuck in a few kisses here and there. He may have groped me a few times behind the scenes, but I wasn’t complaining.
I told the girls about the hooded figure outside the café, when the guys went to grab us some drinks. They thought I was crazy and should let it go. The problem was, I saw him a few times since we got to the mall. Maybe the guys saw it too and just kept it quiet. I wasn’t sure how to bring it up to them, without them freaking out and going all berserker on everyone.
“Look!” Jumping up and down, we were feet away from the bookstore. Ryan let go of my hand and motioned me to go. Running to the bookstore, I looked back to see Matt plopped in a resting chair outside the bookstore, waiting for us to be done. John on the other hand, seemed to be having a blast and followed Taylor to the next store.
As I walked away from Alanea’s shelf full of every book she ever written, Ryan caught up with me.
“Holy shit, woman! How many fucking books are you buying?” Ryan had texted me after I went inside, he had an errand to run and would be back shortly. Losing track of time, I didn’t realize I already had two dozen books in my basket.
“What can I say, I love books.” Blowing him a kiss, I rounded the corner and made my way towards the history books. Ryan muttered something under his breath and he knew it was going to be awhile before I was done.
Focusing my attention on the books in front of me, I searched for books on the Army and guns. Part of what Ryan told me about his life confused me, so I figured maybe reading books about war and guns might help me a smidge. I felt bad for asking him hundreds of questions about guns and what they specialized in, but it never seemed to bother him.
“Hmm, decisions, decisions.” Tapping my finger against my chin, there was a book with basic diagrams of guns and the different styles throughout history, and another that talked about every war in the US.
“Well, well, well. Look who we have here.”
Goosebumps erupted on my skin and my heart began to race.
No!
“Hi, Cam.” Trying not to sound repulsed, I set the books in my cart, and quickly turned the other way.
Rough fingers wrapped around my forearm and yanked me backwards. My back slammed into his chest, causing me to stumble.
“You think that man wants you? You are like any other woman. Fat and lazy; a being to be fucked and satisfy our needs.” Cam’s lips grazed my ear, causing me to almost vomit. His breath smelled of whiskey and cigar smoke. Turning to look at his face, my body froze when I realized he was the man dressed in black.
“He will toss you aside, like every other man you have been with. You are a waste of space no man could ever love.” Trying to wrench my arm free, I felt something sharp against my ribs. “But no matter, I have something else in mind for you. The night Ryan and his boys went after me, my life was ruined. Now it’s my turn to return the favor.”
The sharp blade was replaced by fingers that started to trace down my arm, leaving ice in its wake.
“Get your filthy hands off me.” I whispered. If that was a knife or he had a gun on him, and I screamed, I would be done for. Looking at my surroundings, I tried to formulate a plan. Silently praying for Ryan to find me, I did what I do best. Stall.
“Ryan will kill you.” I said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, I am counting on it.” Pulling me tighter against his chest, I felt his tongue against my earlobe.
“Hey, Bree what’s-“
“This isn’t over.” Cam released his grasp on me and fled. What did he mean, this wasn’t over? My breathing started to become labored and I collapsed to the floor; flashbacks of my past started to take hold. I never wanted to remember that night. The night my trust over men was disintegrated. Jacob’s best friend snuck into my room when I got back from my surgery and thought it would be fun to take advantage of a helpless girl. My mother stepped into the room just in time, before things escalated.
I have never seen my mom that enraged in my life. Since she was an adult, she called Jacob to let him take care of it. Their friendship was broken, and he apologizes, to this day, for what happened. After that, I dated losers and men who loved to hit on women. After five surgeries in less than a year, and someone I thought was my friend try to rape me. I lost all hope in men. My father was a sexist pig and the only man in my life who showed an ounce of chivalry and decency was Jacob.
“Bree, where are you?”
Ryan rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks.
“Bree?”
Unable to hold back the tears, the floodgates holding it back, burst open. Cam just threatened me, and I had no idea what to do. I froze and locked up in fear.
“Bree, what the hell happened?” Ryan looked around the isle, trying to see if anyone else was there. Wrapping his arms around my waist, he picked me up to a standing position, in order to pat me down from head to toe, to make sure I wasn’t hurt. The problem was, it wasn’t physical, but mental.
“Are you hurt?”
Shaking my head, I stayed silent.
“For God sakes, talk to me, woman.” Ryan had a wild look in his eye that told me he was ready to kill someone.
Still unable to say anything, Ryan pulled out his phone, muttered something into it and placed it back in his pocket. A few seconds later, John and Taylor rounded the corner.
“What’s… Oh my God, Bree!” Taylor dashed around the guys and engulfed me in a hug.
“Cam. He. Was. Here.” I whispered between each breath. Remembering the way his fingers felt on my skin and his tongue assault, shivers racked throughout my body.
“Who’s Cam?” Taylor whispered, a little confused. After thinking about it for a few, something snapped in her brain. “You mean the sexist pig who needs to have his dick ripped off and slammed down his throat?”
“Cam?” Ryan and John said at the same time.
“What did that fucker do to you?”
I told them all that happened and what was said. Gone, was the carefree Ryan that I woke up with this morning, and replaced was a man I have never met. He barked orders to John and stormed out of the store. Matt and Leigh Ann joined us not long after and we filled them in on everything that happened.
Taylor and Leigh Ann apologized for not believing me beforehand, which led to Matt and John giving me an earful.
Gathering my wits and ignoring the guys, I paid for my books and we headed back to the guys’ house. No one spoke a word since Ryan had stormed out of the store. The guys were stone cold, and had a fierce look in their eyes. From what Ryan told me about Cam, I thought he was harmless. He might have needed to have his head bashed in a few times, but that was it. Whatever was happening, there was something they weren’t telling us.
CHAPTER 18
“Matt will you tell me what the hell is going on?” Pacing the living room floor, I still had no answers. Ryan called an hour ago, but the guys didn’t relay anything to us. After Ryan told them what he told them, Matt and John surveyed the windows to make sure no one was outside.
“MATT!” I screamed, hoping to get his attention. They continued their sweep and headed over to our general direction. Matt sat on the armrest of the sofa, and John placed himself between the front door and us.
“Bree, there is someth
ing we need to tell you.” Matt was the first one to speak.
“Don’t you fucking say another Goddamn word. Ryan made us swear not to tell her.” John snapped. His crossed arms and murderous look made me take a few steps back. Wow, Ryan wasn’t kidding about him.
“Tell Bree what?” Taylor was just about as fed up as me. We were locked in their house with no explanation of what’s going on, and the guys were acting strange.
Leigh Ann remained calm on the sofa, but I knew she was far from it. She leaned against Matt on the armrest and held his hand. There wasn’t anything between them, my ass.
“John, Ryan can skewer me alive if he has to. She needs to know.” Pulling Leigh Ann’s hand to his lips, he placed a gentle kiss on her palm, and made his way to me.
“If he touched you, I would shove a glass rod up his penis and slam my fist down to make sure the glass breaks inside.” Leigh Ann muttered to herself. Both men reached for the pecker in a protective stance.
“Ouch.” Taylor said, and high fived Leigh Ann.
“Remind me not to piss you off, woman.” Matt winked at Leigh Ann, and turned his attention to me. “That night we took Cam home, we found out some disturbing news. His wife was hysterical when we arrived, and threatened to kill him and make sure he never saw the light of day. It took awhile for her to calm down, but when she did, she showed us something we wish we could burn from our memories. Cam forgot to clear out his computer before he left that night, and a small part of me wished he did. There was an auctioning site for animals.”
“What do you mean animals, there is no such thing for… oh no!” Ryan’s life’s work was to save kids, and capture the men, or women who put them in that position. They have rescued dozens of children, but they were barely scraping the surface.
“Cam was purchasing children?” I asked, in utter disbelief. I thought that man was a complete whack job, but this…?
“Yes. We called in a few of our guys that night, and went after the kids. There were eight kids on the website. We contacted our hacker in New York and he was able to hack the database and give us a location. It was four hours outside of Whitetail. Ryan pretended to be a buyer, and bought all the kids. Now before you ask, we have a black market account that no one can tap. It’s money we steal from those that won’t notice it’s gone. When we pay the guys, there is a bug that terminates their account, and it goes back to us. We have a few guys in the FBI, who know about us and make sure we stay hidden.”
“So we went after them. Killed them on the spot, and rescued the kids. We called Lawson, and Maslanik to meet us at the house, and find a place to hide the kids.”
Kids? Buying? Killed the men responsible? “But that still doesn’t answer my question about Cam, or why Ryan stormed off.”
“Prosser is in charge of watching Cam. He was locked up in a cell, waiting for judgement. We thought about sending him to prison, so the inmates can take care of him, or taking him out to a remote location and putting a bullet in his head. It took us awhile to find out what was going on. But that isn’t what Ryan is pissed about. Cam talked about getting revenge on you, and making sure you suffered, when he was locked up.” Matt raked his hands through his hair, and looked exhausted. Make me suffer? The only people I loved were here, then my mom and Jack back home.
“Mom?” Reaching for the phone in my pocket, I went to dial her number, when John placed his hand over my phone.
“Ryan already has it taken care of. He had an idea this might happen, so he sent Blackwood, and Mazik to protect her. Also, we contacted Mart to guard your house. Ryan told us if anything happened to your cat, you would kill us.”
Damn, straight. Aurora may be a cat, but she was my fur-baby. I just hoped my mom and Jack were okay.
“Bree, Cam is going after you, to make Ryan suffer. If he keeps Ryan distracted, then he can get his plan to work. The problem is, we are ten steps ahead of him.” John removed his hand and resumed his spot by the door.
“So what do we do?” My brain was in overdrive. Taylor and Leigh Ann sported the same look I did. What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?
“We stay calm and wait to see what his next move is.” Matt patted me on the shoulder and made his way to the kitchen. “John will keep an eye on the house. Let’s make something to keep you guys busy. Ryan tells me you wanted to destroy the kitchen.”
I loved Matt for trying to lighten the mood, but I had to make sure my family was okay. Sending quick text to mom and Jack, they both texted back right away. Mom was out to dinner with my step-dad at their favorite Mexican Restaurant. She sent me a few pictures of what they were having, which caused a small smile to tug at my mouth. They were safe.
Jack on the other hand, made me laugh. He sent me a picture of Aurora nestled on his lower back, while he was laying on his stomach, watching TV. His text told me, they both were getting along and she was anxious to have me home soon.
Taylor rested her chin on my shoulder, and snatched my phone out of my hand. “Leave it to Jack to melt that cold cat’s heart.”
“You are just jealous that she likes him more than you. Now give me back my phone.” Taylor took off towards the kitchen and passed Leigh Ann my phone. Making my way to Leigh Ann, they decided to play keep away.
“Give that back!”
“Look, if we are going to be holed up in this God forsaken place. We need to do something to pass the time. Because if we don’t, we will all go stir crazy waiting for some answers.” Leigh Ann said, with one hand out in front of her, blocking my attempts at getting my phone.
“You know you want to get this place trashed and make some goodies. Who knows, in the next five minutes Ryan may walk through that door and everything will be fine.” Taylor’s voice told me she believed that about as much as I did. We were going to be here for awhile.
~*~
“DING!”
Eleven hours later, I had made four cakes, six dozen cupcakes, cinnamon bread, banana bread, seven dozen sugar cookies, and just whipped up a batch of brownies. When my brain switched off everything that happened, I went into full baker mode. Matt helped me out with most of the recipes, while the girls stood watch and taste tested everything.
We still hadn’t heard anything from Ryan, but Kangaroo Legs called a few hours ago to let us know everything was on track. Ryan was chasing after Cam with a team of men, while everyone else held down the fort. Mike and Jason were headed our way to relieve John and Matt for the night. Ryan needed Matt for some reason, and John was going to meet up with Ryan.
“Bree, you are going to make me gain ten pounds tonight. Remind me when we get home, to join a gym.” Taylor unbuttoned the top button of her jeans and leaned back in the chair.
“No one told you to eat that much. I’m surprised you are not puking yet, or in a sugar coma.” Removing the brownies from the oven, I stuck a toothpick in the center to make sure it was perfect. My nose told me it was done, but I always had to make sure.
“Someone order delivery service?” Jason and Mike walked through the front door, with several plastic bags full of Chinese food.
“Get over here, mister. If I have another bite of sweets, I may explode. I need real food.” Taylor hopped off the barstool and helped them unload.
Removing the oven mitts, I watched everyone, except John, start to divvy out plates and silverware. Who knew that with everything going on, we would be laughing and having fun?
Mike made everyone a plate. He gimped my way and handed me a plate, full of fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, and two egg rolls. Waving my thanks, he went back to the island and started picking on Matt.
“Bree?” Jumping out of my skin, John held his phone out in front of him. “Sorry to scare you, it’s Ryan.”
Placing my plate on the counter, I grabbed his phone and ran upstairs to the master bedroom. “Ryan?”
“Hey, Baby.” Hearing his voice, everything inside me instantly relaxed. He was okay.
“What’s going on, Ryan?”
“When
you told me about Cam, I had to get out of there. That disgusting piece of shit laid his hands on my woman and threatened her. Not to mention, I want to rip him apart piece by piece for what he has done. I made a few calls to the guys, and we tracked him down. The problem is, his trail went cold over two hours ago. Lawson said he might have a lead, but he isn’t sure. We are on our way back now. I’m sorry this happened, baby. I should be there with you.”
Looking out the bedroom window, I waited until he was done.
“There is someone within my ranks, that is feeding information to whoever is in charge. I have an idea who it is, but I am not certain. Williford and Maslanik are looking into it now and should get back to me shortly. For now, we will regroup at the VA and come up with a plan. I will have Matt and John bring you guys here, to make sure you are safe. We can’t be too careful. I don’t know what Cam is planning. But I have to make sure you are safe.”
“Ryan-“
“Bree, please don’t fight me on this.” Ryan’s voice told me that he was fighting his inner soldier. It was either his way or the highway, but it looks like he was trying a different approach.
“If you let me finish, soldier. I was going to say, we can meet you when you are close. How long until you get here?”
“About nine hours. Try and get some sleep, baby. I will see you soon.”
“Is that an order?” I teased.
“No. I love you, Bree. Stay safe.”
Looking out the window, I tried to see if anyone was outside. Unfortunately, it was pitch black outside. Ryan was going to be home, soon. With four soldiers downstairs ready to kill anyone who stepped near the house, I knew I was safe.
“I love you too, Ryan.” Who knew it would take a creep, Ryan running off, and eleven hours of baking to make me finally say the words out loud?
“You have no idea how long I have waited to hear those words. Be safe. I will see you soon.” Ryan disconnected the call, and the room was silent. Cam was out there, doing who knows what, and Ryan was hot on his tail. Well, so to speak. Hopefully this would be done soon, I had an answer to give someone.
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