The outside was no better. Weeds had overtaken the flowerbeds beside the concrete front porch. Not to be outdone, the died-and-gone-to-goat-head-hell lawn boasted nothing but the promise of a lot of hard work in Jake and Lacy’s future. The frayed blue tarp that had dangled dangling by nylon ties off the carport had truly been the icing on the cake. The place had absolutely no curb appeal, and nothing going for it. They really should have run from the money-sucking-pit. But then...
They bought the place. Something about it had cried out for rescue to Lacy that day. All it needed was a little—make that a lot—of TLC, and she’d felt certain that it could be turned into a home again. It had been once. She could feel honest vibes from the poor place. It had potential.
Further investigation proved her right. Once upon a time, someone had done a bang-up job remodeling the interior of the place. Walls had been moved where two of the three bedrooms had been converted into a master suite, complete with a walk-in closet. How cool was that? The lavishly tiled, adjoining bathroom with the sunken tub also testified of someone with definite carpentry skills in the house’s past.
Jake was the one who’d said it first, when they’d stopped at the curb. “This is it.”
Lacy had agreed wholeheartedly—then. But now? Now she had a baby to feed and a jittery case of nerves. Motherhood seemed a daunting task for the Marine she was at heart, and bringing her brand new baby home turned out to be the pinnacle of stress.
She hadn’t been around many babies growing up. Had no sisters or brothers. No cousins, nieces, or nephews. Give her an artist’s palette, her camera, or an M16 any day. Those things she understood, but the infant who now relied on her for every second of his care, his future, and his next meal? Just too much!
“Found it,” Jake called from the baby’s room. He’d left Raymond Elias, so named after Lacy’s and Jake’s paternal grandfathers, in the twitchy fingers of his exhausted mother like she knew what she was doing simply because she’d given birth. The funny guy.
Lacy forced a confident smile as Jake strolled into the living room with the powder blue baby blanket Kelsey Stewart had made. He’d positioned her chair near the living room picture window. Now shuttered with hunter-green shutters that offset the crisp red of their freshly power-washed brick home, the spotless windows let in the lovely view of her re-sodded front lawn. Lacy wished she could enjoy it.
He’d been extra busy while she was in the hospital. Her home now boasted new paint throughout, a sprinkling system to tend both front and back lawns, and matching hunter green trim along the eaves and windows. He’d divested the piles of garbage and junk in the basement and attic.
A crew was due early Monday morning to enclose the carport, turning it into a garage, complete with a garage door opener. How cool was that? To a girl who’d been living in a cramped tiny apartment and parking in an uncovered, assigned parking stall for the past couple years, this place felt like a mansion. She had a full-sized kitchen for heaven’s sake. A sunken tub that, now sanitized and sparkling clean, she loved to lounge in.
Baby Ray curled his entire hand around Lacy’s pinkie finger, and that went a long way to calming her, so why was she still on edge? Maybe because her perfect little home had also once boasted a high-end security alarm system, and the leftover frazzled magnetic tapes on every window declared a scary need to keep someone out. The frayed wires from security cameras dangling under the eaves warned of unscrupulous neighbors. Or stalkers. Or worse.
“What’s wrong?” Jake asked as he covered her and Baby Ray with the blanket. “Did the trip home wear you out? Can I get you something to drink? Are you hungry?”
Ah, she loved him so hard. “I’m fine. Just crabby.”
He dropped to his knee at her side and reached one hand to the nape of her neck. Drawing her forward, he kissed her forehead. “Not crabby. Just tired. Want me to take him off your hands while you catch a few winks? I can do that, you know.”
Closing her eyes, Lacy pulled the spicy scent of her man into her soul. He’d brought so many things with him into their marriage, but the smell of him was her number one favorite. She craved it now, the strength of him, the intimacy of his touch, and his steady foresight. Tears blurred her vision at the ways he’d changed right before her eyes. The scruffy vagrant he’d once been was gone, replaced by a fiercely protective, clean-shaven male who—most days—seemed ready to fight the world again.
Lacy squeezed her eyes to stave off the flood of tears that came at the thought of how much she loved this guy and what she wouldn’t do for him. Hormones! Who knew they ruled the world like they did? Her breasts ached like two bags of milk about to burst, and her heart hurt because she should be better than this, not falling apart like some sniveling woman who couldn’t take care of a little seven pound infant. Her baby!
Jake looked past her to the front walk. “Don’t look now, but Alex and Kelsey are here. Damn. Gabe and Shelby, too.” He pushed to his feet. “We’ve got company.”
“Oh, great,” Lacy said, not feeling up for visitors. Why couldn’t everyone leave her alone?
“Enter,” Jake announced proudly from the new steel security door he’d installed all by himself just days ago. The man couldn’t seem to do enough with their home. “Mi casa es su casa.”
He loved saying that. Lacy brushed her tangled hair behind her ears, determined to look more energetic than she felt, but really. Didn’t these people know a new mother needed rest? They should’ve come tomorrow. Maybe next week. At the very least, they should’ve called.
Kelsey stepped over the threshold first, her eyes wide and bright as she scanned the hall to her left. Chocolate fudge tangles curled over her shoulders. Dressed in jeans and a soft pink blouse, she smiled, but a shadow shifted across her pretty face. She schooled it quickly, but what was that about anyway? Could she smell the lingering scent of garbage? Lacy doubted it, but suddenly, her feminine territorial radar was on full alert.
Alex entered second, his hand at the small of Kelsey’s back. Like his wife, he’d dressed casually. Jeans. Gray polo shirt. Boots. Blue eyed, dark-haired, and the most intense man Lacy had every met, his razor sharp gaze zeroed straight to the backdoor Jake had recently painted a clean, crisp white. If Lacy didn’t know better, she’d swear Alex had been in this home before the way his eyes quartered the house from left to right, rear to back. Interesting.
Gabe and Shelby ducked through the front door together, his arm around her shoulders. Like Alex and Kelsey, they wore jeans. Shelby’s were black, Gabe’s faded blue and torn at both knees. Shelby was one of those tiny women who looked almost pixyish, not that Lacy would ever tell her that. Her blond hair cascaded in fluffy curls over a tiny white t-shirt that stretched tight over her breasts but barely covered her tummy.
Gabe on the other hand, towered over her like a bodyguard. His t-shirt declared allegiance to some hotrod club, Cruisin’ Nova Knights. Lacy couldn’t help but shiver as their gazes settled to the junction in the hall that separated her cozy but small living room from the newly restored kitchen. The sensation of being watched prickled up her spine again. What the heck?
“Wow,” Kelsey said breathlessly, her nose wrinkled. “Fresh paint. You guys have been busy.”
“That would be Jake,” Lacy said. “I’ve been too busy being pregnant to paint.”
Jake grinned in his humble way, a bright red flush creeping into his cheeks. His hands went deep into his jeans pockets. “What can I say? A man likes to work on his castle, and I can’t seem to do enough around here. I knew Lacy’d be worn out when she got home with the baby and all, and…” His voice trailed away as their visitors’ gaze drifted elsewhere. “What’s up, Boss?”
He’d picked up on the same strange vibes resonating from the Stewarts and Cartwrights that Lacy detected. A chill whispered over the fine hairs at the back of her neck. Someone else was here, damn it. Unseen and silent maybe, but she could feel—him! Aha. I have a male ghost in my house, but who could it be? Why now? Why today?
Alex turned on Jake then, his palm still protectively at his wife’s back. “Do you know what you’ve done?”
“I do,” Jake declared, his shoulders squared as if ready to fight, and Lacy felt that way too. She didn’t care who these folks thought they were. They had no right showing up unannounced and acting so proprietary. “I bought a home for my wife and my son,” Jake said.
Kelsey stepped between the men, blinking, her big brown eyes shimmering. “Yes, and it’ll be the perfect home for your little family, Jake,” she soothed. “We wanted to help with the renovations, but Alex and I have been in Oregon a couple weeks. My sister’s husband hurt his back, so Alex helped bring in the hay for him. Congratulations on becoming a first time homeowner and a Dad! What did you decide to name your son?”
Lacy cocked her head, trying to figure out what was truly going on. Kelsey had said the right words, but there was something left unspoken in her eyes. Whatever this off-balance, creepy sensation climbing up Lacy’s spine was, she’d sort it out later. “Come meet Raymond Elias,” she said proudly. “Raymond after my grandpa, and Elias after Jake’s grand—”
With a startled cry, Kelsey turned into Alex, her hands on his chest. “Raymond. Did you hear that? They named him Raymond.”
Alex just stared like he owned the place, damn it. These people were bugging the shit out of Lacy with everything they weren’t saying. “What?” she asked point blank. “You all know something about this house, don’t you? Spit it out.”
Shelby’s head bobbed and Gabe opened his mouth to say something, but Alex beat him to it. “This cracker box used to belong to me,” he bit out, his gaze down the hall to the master bedroom and his jaw clenched tight.
“It was our home,” Kelsey corrected softly. “We lived here for years before—”
“Before I killed a man in it,” Gabe ended, his usually soft green eyes narrowed and hard.
“Shit,” Jake hissed. He couldn’t get back to Lacy’s side fast enough. “Here? You sure about that?” The world felt better the moment he settled one hand to her shoulder, but why was he rattled while she seemed calm?
Alex nodded, his eyes grim. “Right here in this room. Ever hear of Ron Fallon? Chaos Now?”
Lacy shook her head, but those names jostled something loose in Jake’s mind. He remembered reading about the treacherous VPOTUS somewhere, maybe at Zach’s house or a newstand. He’d been living on the streets then. “Weren’t they involved with Vice President Winston’s treason a couple years back? We all heard about the helo going down on the White House lawn that night. That was you who took him out, wasn’t it?”
Alex neither confirmed nor denied, but Gabe spoke up. “There were a lot of people involved in that mess. Mark Houston. Zack Lennox. Me, Kelsey and Shelby, but yeah, Winston was behind Chaos Now. He masterminded Ron Fallon’s scheme to bring the District to its knees with a dirty bomb. He had big plans for this country that didn’t work out like he’d planned.” His gaze shifted to Alex. “I can’t tell you all Alex went through, but Fallon followed Shelby and me back here the same night Winston died in that crash.”
“He shot Gabe,” Shelby said. “Right in this room, but then Gabe killed him, and I... and I…”
You fell apart, Jake thought. Shelby suffered from a case of PTSD comparable to what some of the guys coming back from the sandbox endured. Jake didn’t know what triggered it, but that explained Gabe being overly protective where his wife was concerned. Even now he had one arm circling her waist and her waif-like body aligned with his. Normally an easygoing guy, he didn’t look too happy being back at his ground zero.
“It’s okay, Shelby. You don’t have to remember if you don’t want to,” Lacy said quietly. “Want to meet my baby boy?”
“Yes, please.” Shelby blew out a shaky breath and took a seat in the corner of the couch nearest Lacy. Visibly shaken, the poor woman was wound as tight as if that shooting had just taken place.
Lacy must’ve picked up on that vibe. She shifted Baby Ray into Shelby’s outstretched hands, and, with a sigh, Shelby tossed her blonde hair back over her shoulder and tucked the little guy’s head into her neck to snuggle him. The little guy moaned and instantly, motherly instinct kicked in and her body began to sway. “He’s so small,” she told Lacy as she tilted forward and backward, the same way Jake found himself doing when he held his little man.
“I know, right?” Lacy grinned, her first real smile since she’d been home. “I’m so afraid I’ll hurt him when I feed him. He’s so tiny.”
“He’s tougher than he looks,” Alex cut in gruffly, and in that instant, it seemed even the rafters in the house took a deep breath, sighed, and relaxed along with Shelby.
Kelsey joined her on the couch, cooing over the new arrival. Jake closed in on Gabe and Alex in the hall, wanting all the details. To find out now that he’d bought not only his boss’s old place but a prior crime scene was disconcerting at the least. Weren’t there laws requiring real estate agents to conceal that kind of horrific information to prospective buyers?
“Where’s Suzette?” Lacy asked after Gabe and Shelby’s daughter.
“She’s with my mom and dad,” Shelby said as she licked her lips. “I didn’t want to bring her here. She doesn’t need to hear how her daddy nearly died. It still gives me nightmares.”
“Can I get you folks a drink?” Jake offered, finally remembering his manners. “Coffee? Beer? Lemonade?” He ended up bringing beer for Alex and Gabe, lemonade for the ladies.
Gabe took a thirsty pull on his long neck and explained, “I woke up alone that night and went looking for Shelby. By then, the president was safe, and the bomb was disarmed. We should’ve been home free, but Fallon was here. He had his hands on her, and God, I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
Alex dragged his fingers through his dark hair and down the back of his neck. “Fallon was running for his life. Somehow he suspected I was working with the FBI, and he wanted revenge. Zack already had Kelsey stashed at another location, but damn it to hell. I thought I’d arrived too late again.”
Jake nodded as more details came back to him about that horrendous few weeks in The TEAM’s history. Under orders from President Adams, the FBI had ‘shot’ Alex in his own parking garage. They made everyone believe that the number one sniper on the East Coast had been assassinated, when he’d really gone—albeit involuntarily—deep undercover to serve his president. That cleverly planned tactic had to have been a time of pure hell for Kelsey, but the ruse fooled VP Winston into believing that Alex was sick unto death of the politics running rampant in America, and that he wanted change badly enough to betray his wife, his president, and his team.
Winston fell for it. Alex infiltrated the conspiracy of Chaos Now. Days after the nation was once again secure, President Adams showed up at TEAM headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, and explained the plot to the men and women Alex had inadvertently betrayed.
Shelby’s head came up from snuggling Baby Ray. “It was awful. Gabe almost died. I nearly lost him.”
He tapped his upper chest. “Fallon missed my heart, though I was sure I was seeing ghosts for a minute there. Turned out to be Alex. Damned glad to see you that night, Boss.”
Alex grunted. “Son-of-a-bitchin’ bastard.”
That made Jake smile. Alex was one bad-assed man’s man, born to lead and die in the process. A hard but fair taskmaster, he expected perfection from his men and women, but mostly, from himself. Knowing he’d arrived in the nick of time to save Gabe’s life that night cast a different light on Fallon’s death. Yes, a fatality had happened in Jake’s new home, but what a testament to honor and valor. To courage and loyalty. There weren’t enough leaders like Alex in the world.
“So what’s the deal with Raymond?” Jake had to ask. He hadn’t missed the way Kelsey had gone pale and leaned into Alex at the mention of Jake’s son’s given name.
“Ah, that.” Again, Alex raked a hand through his hair, and Jake noticed the silver at his temple
s. Alex had to be in his late thirties, too young to be showing the wear and tear of his chosen profession. “Kelsey? Would you mind? You’re better at telling that story than I am.”
Her face brightened. “Sure. I love talking about my boys.”
Gabe plopped cross-legged on the floor opposite Shelby while Kelsey told how she’d lost her two small sons to her murderous first husband before she’d met Alex. As hard as that was to hear, she continued through her unexpected love affair with the grouchy owner of this little home. “I was a mess back then, and what’d he do? He whisked me out here to the East Coast and he saved my life is what he did.”
Still standing in the hall doorway, Alex looked out the kitchen window at time or two instead of adding to the tale. But God, what these two people had suffered on their way to happily-ever-after. Not only had Kelsey’s ex killed her two baby boys, but the rat bastard had nearly killed her and Alex at a later date, too.
“For a while, we were happy here,” Kelsey insisted, her eyes warm and her tone wistful. Jake believed her.
“Not me,” Alex grumped, his gaze still out the back window. “I wanted to buy her the moon, but the damned woman wouldn’t move.”
She giggled. This pretty abused woman who’d survived more than her share of crap—giggled!—like a happy little girl. “Oh, Alex, you know I couldn’t leave this place. It was your home, and the first time I’d been happy in a long time. You gave me that. How could I have left it behind?”
He turned and winked then. And there it was again—the invisible bond between one hard-assed warrior and his queen, reminding Jake of his feelings for Lacy. A smile crept over his mouth, curving his lips. He chanced a glance in her direction, and there she was. His queen. Smiling at him as if she’d read his mind.
Jake (In the Company of Snipers Book 16) Page 26