“My only condition…” Lydia tossed out, just when they thought it was decided.
“Oh shit, here it comes,” Wylie warned.
Dace laughed. “Just like a woman. Get everyone on board, then start tossing out conditions.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, Dace. My condition is we keep Jax out of this – as much as possible – he’s not involved.”
Luke nodded in agreement. “Easy. Just let him be seen a time or two, so Tom knows he’s back too – and make all of this is believable. Jax will be protected, Lyd.”
“Tom knows where you go, we go, by now. And we know he’s watching. So seeing a few of us with you and Jax won’t be a surprise,” Luke added.
Lydia nodded. “After that, back in the shadows. Jax is done. Even if it means getting him out of there all together – if stuff turns bad.”
“You got it, sis,” Wylie said. Using the endearing term made Lydia’s heart swell a little. “Even if Jax is the target, it should be enough to get him to move on you, to get to him. Either way – we got him.”
Lydia shuddered at the idea of Jax being the target but knew they were right. It was a possibility. If she wanted a safe, quiet life with Declan and Jax – she had to fight for it. This was her fighting.
“I’ll go pack.”
It was their last night in Portland. The brothers had gone back to McKenzie ahead of them to get set up and to avoid looking like the cavalry. Ronan and Ryker were in Portland, however, to escort them back in the early morning. It made more sense. Since Ronan and Ryker were still in the background, Tom wouldn’t be watching for them.
Blake called earlier in the evening; Jessie’s brakes went out on her car. They had been tampered with. It was clear that Tom was around and had been in town.
Blake was furious and one hundred percent on board with the plan. He, too, was more than ready to take the guy down, whatever the cost. He was ready – his team was ready.
Colleen brought dinner by from the Pub again. Lydia adored her, admired her really. She knew what her sons did, and it couldn’t be easy to know they were walking into danger every day they went to work. They became fast friends, and Lydia felt connected to her somehow. She was nurturing and sincere – something Lydia never had in her own mother. She even offered to keep Jax in Portland, with her, until they were done with whatever needed to be done. Lydia appreciated the gesture but ultimately turned it down, to which Colleen told her the offer stands, should she change her mind.
“My boys, they’ll keep you safe. They’ll fix this, ya know. They always do.” Colleen left on that note, offering her hugs and affections before heading for the door.
Lydia looked forward to coming back to Portland, spending more time with Colleen and getting to know her. Somehow, that woman had already made Lydia feel like she belonged. Like she was an O’Reilly, too. Portland was starting to feel more and more like home.
Jax was staying one more night with Felicity and Reagan. When Liam was out of town, Reagan usually stayed with Felicity. It was part of her job but also something she loved. Since the two kids had become joined at the hip, Felicity offered a final night of sleepover time.
“If you want to leave Jax here, in Watermark with me and Reagan, I’m more than happy to keep him,” Felicity offered.
“Oh, I do appreciate it, but I just…I don’t know. It wouldn’t feel right with him so far away. I would worry even though he is safer here than there,” Lydia admitted.
Felicity smiled. “I understand. Just know that I’m here if you need me.”
“Please don’t think that it’s because I don’t trust you,” Lydia corrected, fearful she was sending the wrong message, “because I do. I just need him nearby and don’t want to bring any unnecessary harm to you or Reagan if Tom were to try and come for Jax.”
“I completely understand, Lydia. No need to explain.” She leaned in and hugged her new friend before heading out the door with the sleepover crew. “Just remember, I’m only a phone call away, okay?”
Reagan was several years older than Jax and doted on him like he was her own little brother. The two walked out the door behind Felicity, holding hands and giggling. It warmed Lydia’s heart to see their immediate bond so strong and loving. Jax was going to miss her.
Declan was sitting at the edge of the dining room table, which sat between the kitchen and living room with a perfect view of the front door, arms crossed and chuckling. “Those two certainly hit it off.”
“Right? Jax adores Reagan – City too! He’s hardly said two words to me since we’ve been here.”
“I’m glad he’s having a good time – distracted,” Declan said.
“Me, too. Last time he was too young to understand what was going on. This time, he still wouldn’t understand, but he would definitely pick-up the fear.”
Declan looked at her, his demeanor changing from amused to something Lydia didn’t recognize. “I’m not going to lie, Lydee. I’m not excited about using you this way, but I am damn proud of your badassery.”
He pulled her against him, leaving her standing between his legs, resting his arms round her waist – hers around his neck.
“Badassery…cute. You want forever; this is how we get it, right?” she asked with confidence.
That look of his changed, yet again, to something darker swirling in his eyes, desire.
“Damn right. I’m so proud of who you’ve become. You just keep impressing me. I’m going to marry you,” he said, matter-of-factly with a deep rumble to his voice as he started to kiss her neck.
With her head back, enjoying his heated touch setting her skin to a low smoldering burn, she struggled to put her thoughts into words. “Ohhhhh…are you now?”
Lifting her arms slowly, she teased him, invited him to take what he wanted because she wanted it just as much, if not more. Following her lead, his fingers skimmed her shirt hem and slid it up her body slowly, seductively.
He dipped his head and trailed kisses along her stomach, following the shirt to her breasts, where he spent time appreciating the ample cleavage displayed, then to her collarbone. He dropped the shirt to the floor and reached behind her to unclasp her bra, which fell to the floor in a growing pile of unneeded clothing.
With her bare breasts on display, she stood boldly, daring him to make another rousing move. His obvious hunger was so hot it burned her flesh, causing her belly to flutter and tighten with excitement. With hooded eyes, heavily weighted with a torching sense of desire that was threatening to explode with only a look, she arched her back and put her offering level with his mouth.
“Well?” she said in a breathy whisper, “are you?”
Her question was loaded with innuendo, and he wasn’t sure what to answer first – the part about marrying her or the part about her tantalizing breasts he was preparing to feast on.
“Well, not now. I’m…sort of busy. But when all of this over, I am going to marry you.” Taking to his feet, he turned and cleared everything from the table in a fast sweeping motion, then turned her too, laying her flat on her back and kicking the nearby chair out of the way before he quickly dragged her pants and panties off of her and fell to his knees. “I’ve waited so long. I’m tired of waiting.”
He pulled her ass to the edge and spread her feet wide, pushing her knees out. He buried his face in his favorite place, right between her legs. There was nothing sweet and sensual about it. It was brash, bold, and dirty.
Her cries of pleasure drove him to take more, to push her to the limit, and he did, driving his fingers into her while his mouth seduced her most sensitive spot, tempting her to tighten around him. Her back arched, lifting her ass from the table, trying to get more of him.
His hands now free, he held her hips in the air and pulled her against his face where his tongue would stroke her, then dip in and out of her. When he opened his eyes, he saw her hands, playing with her own breasts, greedy, wanting to peak. The sight of her alone, scandalous as it was exhilarating, almost took
him to his peak.
In one vast movement, he stood. Taking his sweats down, he slid her ass off the table by her hips and flipped her over, face down on the table. Such an erotic move, it made her yell his name as she gripped the edges of the table while he took her from behind. Fast, hard, and greedy, he rode her, grinding into her, rolling against her, trying to get all of her.
He lifted one of her knees to the table, turning her slightly to the side, giving him access to one breast to pull and tweak as he laid over her, burying himself in her deep and sideways. One, two, three strokes with his hard length in that position, and she was crashing down around him, squeezing him with her heat, draining him as she did – both of them laid on the table, waiting to come down from their tantalizing high.
Stepping out of his sweats, which were still clinging to his ankles, he scooped her off the table and walked toward the bedroom, leaving their clothes in a heap on the floor.
“For now…I’ll just make love to you while I wait for that forever,” he said, to which she sighed in a dreamy tone, still speechless from their spontaneous encounter.
14
Back in McKenzie Ridge, everyone was on edge as expected. They were executing their plan, putting Lydia out there, front and center for Tom to see from wherever he was hiding. Life was back to normal, whatever that was.
The O’Reilly brothers were set up at Sugar Pine Stables when they got back, having snuck in under the guise of darkness the night before. Their command center was there, and they were watching everything, 24/7, rotating shifts. Ronan and Ryker had followed Dec and Lydia back to McKenzie, but drove on through, so as not to be seen.
Later that night, they did as the brothers did and came back to town. They hiked through the forest and came in from the north, where nobody would see them, right into Lydia’s garage through an entry door on the north side.
The cousins were their secret weapon. Tom would anticipate the O’Reilly brothers’ presence, despite not seeing them. Ronan and Ryker, however, left them with the upper hand and element of surprise. He wouldn’t see them coming once they got a trace on Tom. He’d walk right into them – they were the eyes and ears Tom didn’t know they had.
The brothers were spread out. Dace and Wylie were staged at the O’Reilly cabin, where they were less likely to be tracked and able to come and go following leads, less detected. Tom knew the cabin, but it was just far enough out of the way that he couldn’t watch them and everyone else.
Liam and Luke stayed at Sugar Pine Stable on the opposite end of town. Tom didn’t know they were there and wouldn’t think to even look there. Liam had his cyber recon equipment set-up, watching everything clear to Arrow Springs, the next town over.
Blake and his local team were spread out as well. No matter where Tom was or how he decided to strike next, there was a team nearby. He couldn’t watch all of them, all of the time. The pressure was on, and he was sure to falter.
When Lydia left the house, she left with Declan. He was the only person Tom would see with her. He would bank on that when he finally decided to make his move.
Liam’s facial recognition software finally had a hit. It picked him up in Arrow Springs again, at a gun shop, using area security cameras. Something they had been relying on finally paid off. Ronan and Ryker were on the road within minutes, taking the one highway that sat between the two towns. Tom wouldn’t see them coming until it was too late.
It was a good twenty to thirty minute drive, one way, from where they were, with ice and snow on the roads. While they moved in, Liam tracked Tom’s movements through Arrow Springs’ city cameras, then the O.D.O.T, Oregon Department of Transportation, cameras once Tom hit the highway. He was headed to McKenzie Ridge and right into Ronan and Ryker.
“He’s headed right for you, boys. Light blue pick-up, late model. Twenty minutes to target,” Liam instructed.
“Copy that, command. We’ll toss spikes at one mile visual. Road conditions aren’t prime; we’re expecting rough impact,” Ryker said through the radio call, referring to road spikes that would disable Tom’s vehicle.
Everyone was dialed in and listening to the event go down, if not watching for themselves over Liam’s shoulder. It was eerily silent as they waited. Tension was high, emotions higher. Tom was going down, finally.
“I got him on the next camera. Target is ten miles out, on his way to you,” Liam informed.
“Copy – ten miles. Change in plans – conditions warrant tossing the trap at five miles out, then driving on. We’ll circle around when we pass him and chase him right into the spikes.”
“Shit.” Liam hollered. “I think we have a camera out. I don’t see him and there’s no movement on the feed – he should have passed by now. We’re blind boys. Keep your guard up; should be hitting visual in 4 miles, 5 miles to target.”
“Copy. We’re in position. Spikes are down, driving toward target. Two miles, no visual.”
There was a long pause, nothing to see or report on either side.
“He’s off the grid – do you have a visual?” Liam asked, trying to sort out where they lost him or if it was just a technical issue.
Ryker responded with a simple, “Negative.”
“Target should be in view; do you have a visual?” Liam’s tone turned angry as if asking again in an angry tone would simply make Tom appear.
“Still a negative, Liam.”
“Son of a bitch! Where is he?” Liam pulled up live satellite maps, looking for movement from an aerial view.
“We’re moving forward, seeing if he’s just pulled over somewhere making it easy for us,” Ryker informed.
Luke chimed in, offering an update, “Plates are back – truck’s stolen out of Seattle.”
“I have an aerial view. You’re the only vehicle on the road. Mission’s a bust. He’s in the wind again,” Liam said, slamming his fist on the table.
“Could he have turned around?” Lydia asked.
“No, he would have shown up on the cameras, and the software would have alerted us,” Liam answered.
“We’re turning around and picking up what we left behind. There are a few turn-offs out here. Not sure if these are private driveways or supposed to be roads with all this snow,” Ryker offered. “Give me coordinates if you want a search.”
Wylie laid out large grid maps on a table nearby and traced the route Tom was on from start to where he was last seen. “Okay. There are about a half dozen roads between where he was last seen on camera and where we lost him.”
“So just search those roads. There are only six. That’s easy, right?” Lydia asked.
“No, it isn’t,” he replied. “They are Forest Service roads, some active, some not. They branch out in every direction. There are probably hundreds of possible routes here that he could have taken. Some lead to McKenzie, some out of the area. He could be anywhere.”
“Smart. That’s why we haven’t been able to track him. He’s getting around on those roads and has a truck. He can get anywhere he wants to out there,” Luke said.
“And we haven’t been looking this deep, with the snow. We haven’t had reason to, not a single lead until now,” Dace reasoned.
Declan ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “So where is he staying? We know it’s not in town. Here’s our first clue.”
“There are dozens and dozens of old Forest Service cabins, hunting cabins, vacation homes between here and Arrow Springs. He could be in any one of those,” Wylie said, still looking at the map.
“So we start looking,” Dace said, “but where do we start?”
“Shit – that’s looking for a needle in a haystack,” Luke added, pacing the room, trying to come up with a reasonable solution.
“Not necessarily,” Liam smiled. “Call the boys in. I have an idea.”
Liam turned to his computer screens and started typing away, tuning the rest of the crowd out while he worked. While he formulated a plan, the rest of the group stood by, waiting for their next move.
<
br /> Days went by without a sign of Tom. Lydia felt like she was being watched, but that’s because she was being watched by every O’Reilly in town – at the very least. Tom was still hiding, plotting, and preparing, or so they all assumed.
They stuck to the routine, with exception to Lydia working more than usual, trying to keep her mind off of what was going on around her. It made the days go by faster, and with each day, they got closer to finding Tom. Even with the distractions, it felt a little like sitting around and watching the grass grow.
“How was Portland?” Eva asked, walking into Lydia’s office. “You look…different. Jax seems happy. Good trip?”
“I feel a little different,” She replied. “I guess time will tell if it’s a good different. We had a good time though. It was nice.”
On cue, Declan walked in, his expression dark and angry. He had been in and out, spending most of his time in his car or next door at Blooming Grounds, watching Lydia via new surveillance cameras from his phone, of all things, so he wasn’t hovering. It was the only way to avoid the mommy mob at Outside In, too.
“What is it?” Lydia asked.
“They found a body.” Both women gasped at his statement, which came with no warning. Just a blatant statement, one they weren’t expecting.
“Tom?” she whispered.
Declan shook his head. “Tom’s body? No. Was he involved? Probably.”
“Who…who was it?” Eva asked quietly, not sure she wanted to know.
Declan looked between the two women and delivered the bad news. “Your missing employee, Jared Tanner.”
“Oh, Jared.” Lydia’s hand went to her mouth, trying to mask the tears that were threatening but lost it when she heard Eva hiccup a small sob.
“Liam found a way to narrow the search down by about half. He tapped into the electric company mainframe and searched for unusual usage – either new or increased use specifically – over the last thirty days. He narrowed the search to a twenty mile radius around the area we last saw him, before he disappeared,” Declan explained.
Brother's Keeper V: Wylie (the complete series BOX SET): NEW RELEASE + Series Box SET included! Page 28