A Sense of Security: A Christian Romance (BlackThorpe Security Book 6)

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” As he approached where the two of them sat, he considered if maybe he should ask Alicia to give them some privacy. But there was something in him that thought that in addition to Bond, Alicia might give Meredith the support she needed.

  He grabbed one of the chairs and sat down, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his thighs. When he glanced at Alicia, she was watching him, her brows drawn together slightly. Meredith’s expression was a little easier to read when he looked back at her. She was glancing back and forth between them, a frown on her face.

  “Is everything okay, Marcus?”

  He reached out and covered her hand. “Are you okay talking about our past?”

  Meredith’s gaze darted to Alicia before looking back at him. She held his gaze without wavering and nodded. Marcus took a deep breath and started to explain to her what he’d learned from Jeff and then explained exactly who their guest was.

  By the time he finished telling Meredith the whole story, her eyes were wide, and Bond was pressing against her leg. Alicia wore a similar expression but remained silent, her hands pressed together in her lap.

  “We have a brother?” Meredith asked. “And sisters?”

  Marcus nodded. “The girls don’t know about us or what happened before. I’ll leave that up to Jeff if he wants to tell them.”

  Meredith frowned. “I hope he does tell them about us. We need more family.”

  Marcus wasn’t completely sold on that idea, but he was at least open to the idea of bringing more people into his life than he might have been a short time ago. He glanced at Alicia. And it had all started with her.

  ~*~

  Alicia watched as Meredith left the room. When her gaze returned to Marcus, she found that she couldn’t look away from him. He didn’t seem surprised by his sister’s sudden departure, nor did he get up to follow her. Never in a million years would she have imagined the past that Marcus and Meredith shared. She had searched the internet after meeting Meredith, wondering about her need for Bond, but there had been nothing aside from the report that there had been a murder-suicide. There had been no indication that there had been witnesses. Her heart went out to both of them.

  She reached out and laid a hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry to hear about your family.”

  “Thank you.”

  The muscles of Marcus’s arm tightened beneath her touch. Before she could move her hand, he covered it with his. It was strange that while she had been offering him comfort, the warm weight of his hand on hers was a comfort to her. They shared the loss of family, even though his loss had been on a much larger scale than hers.

  Alicia didn’t move her hand, and Marcus didn’t move his. “Will Meredith be okay?”

  “I think so. She has been doing better, but I’ll check on her in a bit.” Marcus took a deep breath and let it out. “I hope I made the right decision to tell her about Jeff and the situation with our dad.”

  “Were you close with him?” Alicia asked, curious about the family dynamic, especially in light of the new information that Jeff had given him.

  Marcus sat back, crossing his arms. Alicia felt the loss of his hand on hers immediately and clenched her hands in her lap.

  “Not really. He was a difficult man to please, and as his oldest son, I felt the burden of that.” Marcus paused, and his gaze seemed to lose focus. “I think the thing I struggled with the most was how he treated my mother. And I’m not talking about the fact that he had another family on the side and was cheating on her—I obviously didn’t even know about that back then. As my mom became more successful in her career and he struggled with his, he treated her…” Marcus swallowed hard. “Badly. I wanted her to divorce him, and I think I’d finally convinced her to do that just a couple of weeks before he snapped.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Alicia didn’t know what else to say. “You were a good son.”

  Marcus’s head dropped forward. “I tried to protect her. To tell her that she deserved a life without the abuse her husband was handing out to her. But it wasn’t enough. If I’d had any idea of what he was planning, I would have been there that weekend. I would have stopped him.”

  “I’m sure your mom knew that you would have done what you could to protect her and your siblings. And you’re doing all that now for Meredith.” Alicia could now understand how protective he was of his sister. Why there was high security around the house. Why Derek was a constant presence in their lives.

  Marcus glanced over at Alicia, his dark blue eyes intense. “And for you, too.”

  Her hands clenched tighter as warmth flooded her body. He felt he needed to protect her? Was it just because of the current threat that was going on? “I appreciate that so much.”

  “You never talk much about your family,” Marcus said as he stared at her. “Are they still in your life?”

  Alicia took a deep breath to still the nerves that had suddenly flared to life in her stomach. “Well, I’m not sure if you know that Eric and I share a father. My mom had an affair with Eric’s dad. I was the result of that. I didn’t know about that for a long time. My mom was involved in a bad…incident awhile back. After that, as I was going through her things, I found out more about what had gone on back then.” She hesitated. “That’s when I came to Minneapolis to find Doug McKinley.”

  “So your mom never married?” Marcus asked.

  Alicia shook her head. “She was very bitter about what had gone on with Doug. Though she had relationships, she never seemed to even consider marriage.”

  “Did you have a good relationship with her even though she was bitter about what had happened?”

  Alicia didn’t want to answer the question, but she supposed turnabout was fair play. “No. She never let me forget about the circumstances surrounding my birth. It was…challenging.”

  She was sure that he would ask a bunch of questions and braced herself for it, but instead, he just sat in silence. It was a heavy silence, and Alicia wondered what was going on in his mind. Sharing a bit of herself as she had, she felt a closeness with him that she wanted to build on more than anything. It was something she hadn’t been sure she was ever going to have, but having a taste of it, strengthened the longing within her.

  But could she share the secret she had kept since arriving in Minneapolis?

  If she’d known the direction her life was going to take, she never would have hidden the fact that her mother was still alive. She had just assumed that she would be better received if they thought she was alone. That she had no one else in the world. She had figured that if they knew that the woman who had been involved with their dad and husband was still alive, they would reject her.

  And she had really needed to not be rejected. For once in her life, she’d wanted to be accepted. So, Alicia had done what she could to at least make it more likely that she’d be accepted. However, even with her mother “dead,” Brooke McKinley had still had trouble accepting Alicia’s presence in their life and family, which had just reinforced for Alicia that she’d made the right decision.

  Now, looking back, she wasn’t sure that it would have made any difference if she’d revealed that her mother was still alive. In prison, but still alive. How did she get out of that secret now, though? She didn’t want to lose the closeness she’d finally found with the McKinley family.

  “I should go check on Meredith,” Marcus said, his voice gruff. He got to his feet then looked down at her. “Thank you for listening.”

  Alicia replied with the only thing she could say. “Anytime.”

  Once she was left alone in the sunroom, Alicia stared out at the darkness through the glass walls. She let herself have a moment to think about what if. What if she could have something with Marcus? She admired him so much, but more than that, she saw in him the type of man she wanted in her life. Someone who would love her and protect her. These glimpses she caught of the man behind what he showed to the world drew her in.

  Staying here, in his home
, wasn’t helping with the feelings for him she felt growing within her. Seeing him interact with Meredith was probably the thing that had caused her to fall the hardest. He was so gentle with her. So protective and loving. All the things Alicia wanted, except not in the form of a brother.

  With a sigh, Alicia got to her feet and headed upstairs to her bedroom. She needed a little bit of space to unwind after her conversation with Marcus. Unwind and regroup. Because if Meredith had her way, Alicia would be dancing with Marcus the next night.

  14

  Marcus was glad that Meredith was feeling up to dancing on Tuesday night. He was afraid that after the revelation about Jeff, she might revert back to how she’d been in the early years following the murders. But instead, she had come to him that morning before he left for work and asked to be introduced to Jeff.

  Thankfully, Jeff had been polite and respectful, not like he’d been during their previous interactions. He hoped that meant that Jeff was going to be cooperative in the days ahead. The one thing, however, that he wasn’t going to be cooperative about was Kelsey. He was properly apologetic about it, but he wasn’t interested in continuing a relationship with her. He’d said it wasn’t fair since the basis of the relationship had been fake, plus he really didn’t have any romantic feelings for her.

  Kelsey had come back to work that day but was subdued, and he’d noticed that all the flowers that had sat in vases on her desk were gone. Marcus felt bad for her, but he couldn’t force Jeff to develop feelings for her.

  “Are you ready to go?”

  Marcus turned to see Meredith coming down the stairs. She wore a long flowing sundress with a pastel floral pattern all over it. Her dark hair was up in a high ponytail, and her makeup accented her eyes that were the same shade of blue as his. She was definitely going all out for her chance to spend time with Derek.

  “Just waiting on Derek and Alicia.”

  Meredith looked back up the stairs. “I hope they don’t change their minds.”

  Surprisingly enough, Marcus hoped they didn’t as well.

  “Hey, Alicia.”

  At Meredith’s excited greeting, Marcus looked up and saw Alicia coming down the stairs. Like Meredith, she wore a sundress, but it was in shades of blue and matched the sandals on her feet. Her hair hung loosely over her shoulders, and while Meredith looked excited, Alicia’s expression was more apprehensive. Derek wasn’t far behind Alicia, and he just looked resigned. He’d asked Marcus what he should wear and was now dressed similarly to Marcus in a pair of casual slacks and a button-down shirt.

  As Derek joined him, Marcus gave him a whack on the shoulder. “Got your dancing shoes on?”

  Derek looked at him with a lifted brow. “Seriously? Dancing shoes?”

  Marcus found himself more relaxed than he’d been in a long time. Having things settled with the Jeff situation and having found an assistant who worked well for him, Marcus felt he could set aside the threats against the company for one night. He planned to go and enjoy himself, doing something that made his sister happy.

  “I have mine on,” Meredith said with a wide smile.

  There had been days when Marcus hadn’t been sure that he’d ever see his sister happy again. He’d doubted that she’d ever be able to smile again. She’d always been more emotionally…sensitive. Of all his siblings, she’d been the one given to crying at the drop of a hat. Whether it was a commercial for animals at the humane society or a video showing a soldier surprising his mom with his unexpected homecoming, she’d be grabbing tissues to stem the flow of tears.

  For her to have witnessed what she had, Marcus had been certain she’d never be able to get the images out of her mind. That she’d never be able to contain the emotions that had dominated her life in the years following the murder. To see her standing there, smiling at a person she now considered a friend and another she had a crush on, Marcus was thrilled. So he was ready to go out and do something she enjoyed as a way to celebrate.

  Grant Evans, one of BlackThorpe’s security personnel, came out of the office. Marcus had requested he come stay at the house while they went out. With Jeff remaining behind, Marcus had wanted to make sure that he was safe.

  “We should be back around ten,” Marcus told him. “Call if anything unexpected comes up. There shouldn’t be anyone trying to gain access to the property tonight except us. Jeff is free to leave, but call me if he does.”

  “Got it,” Grant said then sent a smirking grin to Derek. “Have fun.”

  Derek rolled his eyes and headed for the front door. Alicia and Meredith followed him with Bond. The dog always went with them. He was well-trained and would lay on the sidelines while they danced. Marcus waited for the women to climb into the SUV then got behind the wheel.

  The sun was still shining which Marcus appreciated. The days had been gradually getting longer as winter faded into spring, and spring headed toward summer. It was a nice change from it being dark when leaving the office every day. It didn’t take too long to get to the tall older building containing the dance studio that overlooked the river.

  The expansive dance space that took up the seventh floor was brightly lit and offered an amazing view of the Twin Cities as the sun was slowly sinking toward the horizon. Thankfully there was plenty of space for the people who were there just to dance as well as the ones who were there to learn.

  Meredith greeted Gerard, one of the co-owners and dance instructors there. The man’s eyes lit up when he saw Derek and Alicia.

  “You have brought me new people to learn to dance?” he asked with his arms spread wide, a broad smile on his face.

  “Be gentle, Gerard,” Marcus said. “Neither of them are completely sure about being here so don’t scare them off.”

  Gerard laughed and moved to shake hands with Derek and Alicia. “If I could teach you to dance, I can teach them.”

  “Actually, Gerard,” Meredith began, “Marcus and I want to help them learn. We’re not here to dance together. I’m going to dance with Derek, and Marcus is going to help Alicia.”

  “Really?” One of Gerard’s eyebrows rose as did his tone. “Well, you’re in good hands, you two. Just sticking with the waltz then?”

  Marcus nodded. “I hope we can use the small dance room.”

  “Of course.” Gerard clapped his hands once. “Let’s go.”

  Gerard led them across the room to a door that opened into a smaller room. It still looked as if it were a part of the other room since its walls were all glass. The room also offered the same amazing view as the main room.

  “Do you have a playlist, Meredith?” Gerard asked as he gestured to a set of speakers. “You can hook a phone up there. If not, I have one you can use.”

  “It’s okay,” Meredith said as she pulled her phone from her purse. “I made one up today.”

  “Perfect!” Gerard exclaimed then left them with a quick wave. “Have fun!”

  If it was possible, Alicia and Derek looked even more uncertain than they had before leaving the house. Not surprising, Bond had found his way to Alicia’s side and was pressed up against her leg. Alicia ran her fingers through his fur, watching Meredith with a wary look.

  “This is going to be fun,” Meredith said with a smile. She put her phone in the dock and then turned around. “Ready?”

  “Uh…no,” Derek said. “I hope there are no cameras around to catch any of this. I’m not interested in becoming the star of the next viral video.”

  Alicia laughed and some of the tension in the room seemed to slip away. “Yeah, me either.”

  “Why don’t we start with the steps first, before you start the music, Meri,” Marcus suggested.

  She nodded and headed toward Derek, holding out her hands. Marcus moved to stand next to Alicia, and they watched as Meredith guided Derek into the holding position.

  “Want to try it?” Marcus asked as he looked down at Alicia.

  Alicia looked up at him and shrugged. “So far is doesn’t look too difficult.”

&
nbsp; “It really isn’t,” Marcus assured her.

  He held out his hands, and after a brief hesitation, she put one hand in his and then, after a glance at Meredith, she laid her other hand on his bicep as he rested his hand on her upper back. The distance between them was respectable, but he could still feel the tension in her. She listened as Meredith began to explain the first steps of the dance.

  He knew that Meredith was eager to turn the music on, but it was important that Derek and Alicia had an idea of what to do. After Meredith had finished giving her directions, Marcus began to lead Alicia through the steps.

  He tried to focus on the steps of the dance, but it was hard to ignore the feel of her small hand in his. Her skin soft. Her grip gentle. For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to take her into his arms. To tuck her head beneath his chin, against his heart. There was such a strong urge within him to hold her close, to protect her. There was just something about her gentle nature that drew him. He’d figured out pretty quickly that while she may appear timid, she was more than capable of taking on anything that came her way. He knew that she didn’t need his protection, but he wanted to give it to her nonetheless.

  “Ready for some music?” Meredith asked after about ten minutes of practicing the basic steps.

  Neither Derek or Alicia responded, so Marcus said, “Sure. Let’s give it a try. We can always turn it off if we need to.”

  Meredith went over to the speakers and tapped something on the screen.

  “Really, Meri?” Marcus said when Ann Murray’s Can I Have This Dance started to play.

  It was a song they’d danced to many times before, most recently at Than and Lindsay Miller’s wedding, but he wasn’t sure that it was entirely suitable for this situation. He had figured that she’d play one of the more traditional waltz songs, but he should have known better. She was determined to make sure that Derek was aware of how she felt about him. Unfortunately, it put him and Alicia in a rather awkward position.

  Rather than dwell on the music, he once again took Alicia’s hand and slid his other hand to her upper back and waited for the beat to start. He spoke to her in low tones, counting out the steps when they got off beat. Alicia’s movements were hesitant at first, and she kept her head bent. Marcus figured she was watching to make sure that she didn’t step on his toes or put her feet where he could step on hers.