Stacking the Deck (Redemption Club Book 1)

by Anne Marie Becker

  He chuckled. “Don’t get your panties in a knot. I know you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. Blah, blah, blah. But Tom was wrong about some things—sometimes it’s okay to count on your team and not take the whole load on yourself. Jared’s the guy you met up with at the Roadhouse?”

  “Yes,” Skye said. “He followed me from California. It’s a long story.” In the passenger seat, Skye shifted uncomfortably, knowing Viper and Tom shared their negative opinion of her going so far from the ranch, even for her job. “I was working with Mark Sheldon to find his daughter. Loretta had run away a couple weeks before and nobody had heard from her. The credit card trail led to Hollywood, which matched the note she’d left for Mark. We weren’t expecting trouble, but it sure found us.” She swallowed hard. “And now Mark’s dead.”

  “I heard. The sheriff came around to ask questions this morning. Mark was a good man. Didn’t know his daughter had run away, though.”

  “Do you remember anything about who attacked you?”

  Viper’s words were bitter. “Asshole ambushed me from behind. I was already injured. Almost made it to the road before the guy tracked me. I think he kept me in some kind of kennel, but I was pretty out of it.”

  “Did you see his face?”

  “Weirdest thing. He wore a mask. Looked like a bear or something.”

  “Could it have been Tristan?”

  “Tristan Floyd?” Surprise filled his voice. “He was the right height. I suppose it could have been him. But why would he attack me?”

  Skye’s stomach squeezed with guilt. “I think he’s part of whatever happened to Loretta. At least, that’s our theory at this time. I’m so sorry you had to go through this.”

  “Not your fault, darlin’. But if Tristan’s involved in this, you should have a twenty-four-hour guard, too.”

  Her glance cut to Jared, who had overheard and was grinning. She rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, and Jared and I have become partners.”

  “He must be something special.”

  Jared was, but there was no way she’d admit that in front of him. Especially when she had no idea what to do about just how special Jared was becoming to her. “All signs indicate someone from Stone Studios made a promise to Loretta. They followed Jared, as he was sort of working for Stone at the time—”

  Viper interrupted. “Stone Studios? As in, Robert Stone?”

  “Yes. Did you know Stone is part owner of the ranch?”

  “You need to talk to your uncle.”

  She rolled her eyes, not that he could see it. “So I’ve been told. Just today, by Stone himself, actually. But Uncle Tom hasn’t responded to my messages. I was wondering if you could try. Maybe he’s afraid talking to me would put me in danger?”

  “I’ll call him, but if Tom’s gone deep underground, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a reply.”

  She gave him the emergency cell number she had for Tom and hoped Viper could get through to the man. Assured he would follow doctor’s orders and stay under guard at the hospital until she could come check him out in a few days, she hung up.

  They tried driving by Finn’s condo, but nobody answered the door. There was no sign of him, and no return phone call from Ryan, which wasn’t exactly a surprise. And they couldn’t walk into the hotel and demand to speak to the guy. His father would throw them out on their asses.

  The frustration, combined with waiting to hear from Tom and making sure he was alive and well, was driving Skye crazy, so as they left Finn’s condominium and the sun was getting low in the sky, she came up with a new plan. “What did Haley want to do for her birthday?”

  Jared glanced over at her, surprised by the question. A slow grin spread across his face, making her pulse race. “Miniature golf.”

  She straightened, intrigued at the thought of a new challenge. “Really? I’ve never done that.”

  “It used to be a family tradition for birthdays. Miniature golf, pizza, cake.” He shook his head. “I was surprised that’s what she wanted for her eighteenth. When I told her to send me her wish list, I was expecting something more complicated.”

  “Do it.”

  “Do what?” He steered onto the freeway before sparing her another glance. “Her birthday wish list?”

  “Yeah. Tomorrow’s her birthday. Why not surprise her now?”

  “Kind of defeats the purpose of being grounded.” But she could see he was intrigued by the idea. “I was going to surprise her this weekend.”

  “She’s a good kid. Even I can see that. She needs time with you.” Skye had spent many lonely days and nights on the ranch, with nobody to talk to. She sympathized with Haley. “Drop me off at your place and head over there. I can just hang out for the evening. I’ll try to find out more about Tristan Floyd on the Internet, check if there were new charges on Mark’s credit card.” Though she doubted it.

  Jared sent her a considering glance. “Come with us.”

  “You think Haley would be okay with that?” Longing pierced her before she could stuff it away again. “This should be special time between the two of you.”

  “She likes you, and she usually takes a while to warm up to people, so that’s saying something. Besides, it’ll help keep her mind off the fact that Chelsea’s not here.” He frowned, and Skye would suddenly do anything to put a smile back on his face.

  “If you think it’s okay, I think I’d enjoy it. But I’ve never really been on a family outing. Or a birthday celebration.” There were things she’d resigned herself to never having.

  “You didn’t celebrate birthdays at the ranch?”

  On occasion, but it had never been like on television or in the movies. “It was probably different than you’d imagine.”

  “Try me.”

  “The guys who came and went typically didn’t share personal information. Actually, it was discouraged. So birthdays were rarely celebrated unless someone had been at the ranch for a year. The anniversary of their arrival was considered a kind of birthday. But Uncle Tom always made sure to celebrate my actual birthday. There was usually a barbecue, and s’mores.” She grinned at him. “That was my favorite part. Oh, and there were some competitive games, and a shooting competition.”

  “Shooting?” Jared shot a speculative glance her way. “You must be pretty good.”

  “One of the best,” she said with pride. Her smile faltered. “But I don’t know much about normal family life. I feel like an odd duck any time I’m off the ranch.”

  He covered her hand with his. Beneath their joined hands, her thigh warmed. “It’s not like Haley, Chelsea, and I had the ideal family life, either. We make some of it up as we go. The important thing is being there for each other.” His gaze met hers briefly. “It sounds like a difficult life, especially for a young girl. I admire the woman who grew from that.”

  The warmth of his compliment permeated Skye’s body. He accepted her. He understood her. She hadn’t realized how much she needed that from another human being.

  “Where the hell are you?” Ryan’s anger vibrated through the phone. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”

  Finn felt his own temper rise. “What do you care? I tried to come by this morning, but you were occupied.” He’d had the Do Not Disturb sign on his suite at Legacy and wouldn’t answer Finn’s knock.

  “Cut the jealousy. Green’s not your color.” But the amusement in Ryan’s voice told Finn that his friend loved being on top. Enjoy it while it lasts.

  “I wanted to celebrate with you, but you were indisposed.”

  “Celebrate what? Did you get a part?”

  “No.” Something much better, something that had provided much-needed stress relief. The rush of a fresh kill, better than any drug’s high, still vibrated throughout his body. “I hunted.”

  “Without me?” All trace of pleasure was gone. “You went alone?”

  Finn grinned, though Ryan couldn’t see his expression. If he could have
, it would have mirrored the smug expression Ryan had worn in Malibu when he’d had that half-naked woman in his bed and Finn had been left out in the cold. “I went with Tristan.”

  “Which means you earned absolutely no money for last night.”

  “Got something much more important. Respect. And a way to catch an even bigger fish.”

  “That Skye woman? You need to get over that. She seems like the type to fight hard. She’ll be more trouble than she’s worth.” Ryan didn’t have a fucking clue what Skye’s value was.

  Finn’s grin widened. He was dead on his feet, and yet, exhilarated. Last night had reminded him why he was after Skye. No way would he give up now. “And that’s why she’ll bring the big bucks. I’ve already got three hunters lined up, just from posting her description on the Redemption Club loop. It’ll be magnificent, and we’ll be a couple hundred thousand dollars richer.”

  Ryan was quiet for a long moment. “It might be too little, too late. I’ve called a meeting of the Club founders.”

  “Shit. No. This is going to be big. I can’t take time away from it now.”

  “Then don’t come.” The quiet tone of Ryan’s voice tipped Finn off.

  “Is this meeting about me?”

  “I’m going to propose that someone else take over the Hunting Grounds. You’re abusing your privileges.”

  “Fuck, no. The hunts were my idea. It’s my baby.”

  “And you’re ruining it, putting it at risk like this. You never should have taken Loretta so close to there. The meeting’s tonight, ten o’clock. The usual place.”

  “I’ll be there.” And he’d defend his interests. Maybe he’d even take over the whole thing. “Intrepidus vive ferociter ludeque.”

  Ryan hung up without returning the salutation. Fuck him. Finn didn’t need him anymore. He had bigger game to hunt.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Skye had expected to feel curious and a bit overwhelmed, but she hadn’t thought she’d enjoy herself so much, especially at a game where she only had to swing a stick at a tiny neon ball. Haley’s squeal of delight when they’d shown up at Aunt Jane’s to surprise her with the outing had been a marvelous way to kick things off. The teen’s excitement was contagious.

  “You sure you never played? I think you’re a ringer.” Jared winked at Skye. The butterflies in her stomach were new, and yet she enjoyed the feeling. She forced herself to embrace and explore the novelty rather than stifle her response. She was determined to revel in every aspect of her first family outing.

  “I never hit a ball with a stick, though I have played other games of accuracy,” Skye admitted. “I’ve thrown horseshoes and darts.”

  “And fired guns,” Haley added. She tossed her long blonde ponytail back over her shoulder as she lined up a putt—and sank it right through the center of the windmill that was the eighteenth hole. She promptly celebrated with a victory dance worthy of a pro football touchdown.

  “I have discharged a gun a time or two,” Skye conceded, amused at the twinkle of bloodlust in Haley’s eyes. The girl had fired question after question Skye’s way during the course of the evening.

  “Have you ever killed someone?”

  Her entire body went numb and her smile slipped. Her palms went cold and clammy on the putter’s rubber handle.

  “Skye?” Jared stepped to her side and placed a hand at the small of her back. “Hey? You okay?”

  “I was just kidding,” Haley said. Eyes the same shade of caramel as her brother’s, but tilted up slightly at the edges, went wide. “Really? You killed someone?”

  “I don’t think this is a conversation I’m ready to have.” Skye cleared her tight throat and licked her dry lips.

  Uncle Tom had told her time and again that she hadn’t been responsible for what happened to her parents, but her six-year-old brain had taken on the blame, and it was hard for her twenty-six-year-old brain to shake off decades of survivor’s guilt. And the people she’d killed since… well, that fell under the heading of justice. Why else would God give her these skills and bring people into her path who needed her? But it never felt good to take a life.

  Jared was watching her with concern, so she forced a smile and responded to Haley. “Let’s just say I didn’t kill anyone who wouldn’t have killed me, or someone else, first.”

  Haley nodded with the wisdom of a young adult. “Makes sense. Kind of like Darwin’s theory.”

  “Survival of the fittest?” Could it really be that easy for this girl to accept her past transgressions?

  “We’ve been studying it in biology class. Maybe we could try those shooting lessons next weekend? Not that I’d use them to hurt anyone,” she hastily added.

  Skye shot Jared a glance before looking away. Neither of them knew what would happen by next weekend—or, hell, by tomorrow. He could be back on the job at GSS and she could be back at the ranch, picking up the pieces. By herself. It wouldn’t be the same. But if Viper could find Tom, maybe they could begin again and rebuild Three Fortunes.

  Except ranch life didn’t hold quite the same appeal it had before, especially after spreading her wings these past few months, working with people outside of their tiny group. And after learning part of that community belonged to Stone.

  No, the ranch definitely didn’t seem like home anymore.

  “I’d love that, if I’m in town.” Skye added the qualification, not wanting to get Haley’s hopes up. “We’re hoping to find your sister by then.”

  “And then what?” Haley asked, leaning on her putter as she watched Skye intently. “You’ll just leave?”

  “Well, I do have a life in Arizona.” Maybe.

  “Right. I understand.” Haley grabbed their three putters and headed toward the window where they returned the equipment.

  Skye watched helplessly as the birthday girl’s shoulders slumped. Skye’s words must have seemed like a rejection to a girl who’d been essentially abandoned by one person after another. Her father, her mother, even her sister and brother had moved on in one way or another.

  “Haley, Skye would help if she could,” Jared said as they caught up to her at the exit. He sent an apologetic look to Skye when Haley wasn’t looking.

  “Tell you what,” Skye said. “How about you come to the ranch for a week this summer and learn to shoot where I did. We have a shooting range, and nobody around for miles.”

  Haley’s face lit up. “You mean it?”

  “Absolutely. Consider it my birthday gift to you. That is, if it’s okay with your brother.” Shit, should she have asked his permission first? What if he didn’t want Haley learning how to shoot? What if he wasn’t planning to see Skye again after the investigation ended?

  Jared’s expression was shuttered, but he nodded. “I think that would be a great idea.”

  An hour later, Jared dropped Haley off at Aunt Jane’s. He was glad to see the GSS guard he’d arranged to sit in a car and watch the house, just in case, was in position across the street.

  After miniature golf, a pizza, and an ice cream cake—and a rain check for shooting lessons—Haley had practically bounced into her aunt’s house rather than putting up the usual argument. Her expression hadn’t deflated even when Aunt Jane reminded her she wouldn’t be going anywhere for the rest of the weekend.

  Jared had Skye to thank for his sister’s happiness.

  “You don’t really have to come,” he said as he pulled into the garage at his house. He turned off the car and glanced at Skye in the passenger seat. The garage door slid down behind them, but the light from above cast a faint glow around them. Still, Skye’s expression was hidden.

  “To graduation?” she asked.

  Haley had surprised them both on the way home by inviting Skye, who’d handled it with grace and promised she’d think about it and reply soon.

  But he’d caught the split-second when Skye’s eyes had gone wide with the idea of participating in another family ritual—one she admitte
d she’d never gone through herself, since she’d been homeschooled on the ranch. There had been fear and interest in those bright eyes.

  Jared wanted to show her all the parts of the world that she’d missed by being shut away on the ranch, and replace the portion of fear with excitement and hope.

  Skye gripped her hands together in her lap. “If you don’t want me to come…”

  “I’d love for you to be there. I just don’t want you making promises you can’t, or don’t want to, keep. It’s entirely your choice.”

  “I want to come. But I don’t know where things will stand.”

  “Between us?” He knew where he’d like them to stand. His body leapt to attention the moment she walked into a room or he heard her voice. His need for her had grown steadily over the past week, and it was getting harder to shut out the voices of reason in his conscience. And hell, the raw hunger he sometimes caught in her eyes made him think she was ready to push past reason, too. “I’ll take as much as you’ll give me, Skye. So stop me when it’s too much.”

  “Who’s stopping you?” She leaned forward at the same time he did, as it seemed they’d both met the limits of their restraint. The hunger in him rose to meet hers halfway.

  He cupped the back of her head and pulled her close until his lips met hers in a soft kiss, a reawakening of the senses. But his senses were already alive with her, eager for more. He slanted his mouth over hers, nearly whimpering when she immediately opened to him, welcoming him home.

  Part of him imagined having this every day and night, having Skye in his home. The other part of him warned him to take it slow. His rabbit was still skittish. So he kept it simple, kept it about passion and shallow needs. There would be time for deeper consideration later.

  After several long moments making out in the car, during which he felt like a randy teenager again, she pulled back. Her breath came in tiny pants against his lips. “Can we go inside now?”

  His cock swelled at the sexy rasp in her voice. Was she suggesting taking this further? “Of course.”