Fire (Beautiful Ashes Series, Book 2)

by Ann, Lora

  Chapter Seven

  “Answer the phone!” Mitch was about to push end call for the hundredth time when he heard, “Hello,” at the same time his work cell rang, meaning one thing: Shit hit the fan. He never responded to Keeley, as he ended that call and answered the other. “Rolston.”

  “Mitch,” Clark said on the other end.

  Damn. If the big guy himself was calling, things were about to go from fucked up to clusterfuck. “Sir.”

  “Meet me in twenty outside the old place of operation.”

  “Affirmative, Sir.”

  He paused momentarily, staring down at his personal phone ringing in his hand. Keeley’s number was on the screen. He’d have to deal with her later, turning back toward the condo he left Tar in. Bad vibes traveled his spine as he noticed through a window Lisa massaging Tar’s shoulders. What the hell was he going to do? Mitch marched back inside and barked out, “McNeil. Front and center.”

  Tar met him in the hallway. “You got a lead?”

  “Possibly.”

  “I’m coming with.”

  “Your orders are firm. Stay put.”

  “The hell I will,” Tar growled.

  Mitch exhaled loudly. “I don’t have time for this shit. Just sit tight until I find out more.”

  “You don’t know where he is, right now?”

  “No, I don’t.” He reached over and clasped Tar’s shoulder, holding his gaze with intent. “You need to protect this family. But for the love of God,” his eyes shot up to see Lisa on the stairs, “watch yourself.” He willed Tar to understand where he was coming from.

  Tar followed Mitch’s glance wondering what the hell was behind the coded words. Lisa stood there looking so lost and worried he fought the urge to hold her again. He looked back at Mitch when it clicked. Under his breath he assured, “She’s my sister-in-law. Nothing else.”

  Mitch leveled his gaze on Tar’s. “Make sure she knows that.”

  “Wouldn’t matter, my heart belongs to Keeley.” There was anger caught in his voice, and a lot of hurt.

  With a quirked brow, Mitch replied, “You remember that.” He left with a sick feeling in his gut. Yes, Tar loved Keeley. No one questioned that. But he was still furious, processing the pain, and had feelings for Lisa whether he realized it or not. Mitch couldn’t shake the notion that Lisa would use it to her full advantage.

  The clock was ticking, and Mitch could feel every second that passed. Too many lives were at risk, in more than one way, and he knew time wouldn’t wait.

  *****

  Keeley stared at her phone. She didn’t recognize the number but something told her Tar was in danger. E set everything up for her there in Carmel. Keeley wanted her sister to stay close by but with her asking him to not tell Lacey, she couldn’t imagine why they would. This facility was off the radar. She knew it cost a fortune to get her in so quickly. Her gratitude for Even Strand grew each and every day, which intensified a hundred fold as she pulled up to what appeared to be a small resort. Holy shit! She couldn’t fathom the price tag on such a locale. Part of her wanted to turn around. It wasn’t because she was unaccustomed to money and fine things, but more so of knowing she’d be surrounded by people who she no longer connected with. Somehow everything she’d lived through took all the pomp and circumstance right out of her. Albeit the Strand brothers were wealthy, they never came across as better than. Their familial roots kept them grounded, she realized. Oh how she wished with all her heart her parents would have passed on such love and loyalty. Maybe her mother did have it in her deep down, but not her father. He’d been all about the bigger, the brighter, the better. Ironic, in death we were all on an equal playing field. And all his money didn’t save him from a heart attack.

  Reluctance held her firmly in place as she stared at the front door. The demon murmured, “You don’t belong here. These people won’t associate with trash like you. You’re a drug whore. Useless. You tainted your blood, your body. There’s no redemption for you. No one could ever love you for who you are.”

  Her head hung low with the truth he spoke. Even if she managed to get better, who could really understand? Why would they want her? She was nothing, a no one. She eased her foot backwards ready to turn tail and run.

  “Keeley Ann! You are done running. You stand and face this like the warrior princess that you are.” Tar’s voice was so real she spun expecting to see him standing there. But only empty space, trees, and the car were around her. Strange. She could feel two very distinct presences. One cold, conniving, in a word—evil. The other warm, inviting, beautiful, like heaven was standing by her side. The sunlight refracted off the windows of the house in front of her, and she blinked several times at what she saw. There was a dark, frightening shadow on her left. On the right, a brilliant light casting rays along the ground. As if she were face-to-face with her demon and her guardian angel all at the same time. Again that vision from the cliff resurfaced. Could it be her soul was being fought for too? She spun so quick her foot slipped. Before Keeley hit her head against the car, a hand caught her.

  “Careful there, honey. You don’t want to hurt that pretty head of yours.”

  Her eyes darted upward. That voice, she knew it from somewhere. But the face was unfamiliar. She studied the woman closer: long auburn hair, green eyes, nice figure. Nothing about her triggered a memory, yet something about her gave Keeley chills as she jerked away. “Do I know you?”

  Her eyes widened. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Dr. Carla Thompson.”

  “Doctor?”

  “Yes, I’m new here. And you are?”

  “Keeley Kincaid. I’m new, too.” She was still wary of the woman, though couldn’t figure out why.

  “Well, let me be the first to welcome you to The Lodge.”

  “Oh my God. Really! Out of all the things they could’ve called this place.” Keeley shook her head.

  Dr. Thompson smiled. “Makes it more difficult for people to figure out what we’re about this way.”

  “I s’pose so,” she answered, again trying to place the doctor’s voice. Before she could ask any questions, the front door opened.

  Standing there was a well-dressed older woman, who greeted her by name. “Hello, Miss Kincaid. We’ve been expecting you. Please, come in.”

  Keeley walked inside and noticed the doctor disappearing without another word. Odd. The other woman introduced herself, “I’m Dr. Pamela Sheffield. Your psychiatrist to be more precise.”

  Awesome. She would get a woman who she didn’t connect with in any way. “So, when do you start peeling away my layers?”

  She actually laughed. “Miss Kincaid, I do believe you have some jaded opinions of what it is I do.”

  Damn. She called it. “Let’s just say I’ve been around a few in your profession.”

  “Yes. I’ve read your file. And I assure you, I’m not what you expect.”

  Keeley paused and took in the woman from head to toe. When their gazes met, she saw something in those blue eyes she wasn’t anticipating. Dr. Sheffield seemed to understand her to some degree. Just how much, she’d have to wait and see. But there was something she related to. “I could say the same,” she rebutted.

  “Are we to stand here in the lobby and have an old-fashioned pissing contest? Or would you rather go to your room and freshen up first?”

  Keeley laughed out loud. “Show me the way.”

  “Indeed.”

  But Keeley didn’t miss the slight raise of her lips. Yeah, she liked the old gal already. Maybe this could work. She was at least willing to try, and that was something new. Might as well see if there was any hope for her, after all.

  *****

  Absolute horror was painted along every line on Mitch’s face. No fucking way could this be happening. There’d been a lead. Solid one from what he was told, but they lost him. “You lost a California State Assemblyman going up for the U.S. Senate and working to take down a powerful sex slave cartel?!” His voice raised slightly on the l
ast word.

  Clark’s exasperated, “I know it doesn’t sound good,” brought Mitch to his feet.

  “Doesn’t ‘sound good’? Are you fucking kidding me?” he roared. “You realize you’ve signed the man’s death certificate. You knew,” he grabbed Clark by the collar of his five-hundred-dollar dress shirt and growled low, “that if we couldn’t rescue Chase within seventy-two hours the odds were slim to none we’d recover him in one piece.”

  Incensed, Clark pried the fingers from his shirt. “Chase McNeil knew the dangers involved. Just like you and the team do.”

  “And that’s what you will tell his little boy? His widow? How about his brother who is one of the best damn operatives on that team?” Mitch spat on the man he once held an ounce of respect for.

  “You’re out of line, soldier,” he barked out, wiping his face with a monogrammed handkerchief. “This is why we don’t want family ties.”

  Shocked by that last statement. Mitch wondered what the hell Clark would do if his family were endangered by ‘his choice,’ as he worded it. “It should be you in the hands of men who wouldn’t bat an eye to cut off your dick and fuck you up the ass with it.” Mitch let loose another round of nastiness before he spun around and vowed, “If I bring this man home in a body bag, I will become your worst nightmare.” He stormed out before doing something that would land his ass behind bars for the rest of his life.

  One thing was for certain—fuck the rules of engagement. Clark willing and knowingly put Chase in harm’s way, and that right there was enough to send Mitch into a dark place of his own. A location reserved for the truly evil he had come face-to-face with on more than one occasion during his years of service as a SEAL. Clark wanted to play with lives like they were pawns on a chessboard. Well, Mitch Rolston would show him just what happened when your knights became your enemy.

  Chapter Eight

  Lacey sat crying and refused to let E console her. Though she should’ve known her husband was a persistent bastard. “Sweetness, I know you’re upset. That you think I’ve let you down. And,” he raked both hands through his long messy hair, “I have in more ways than one.”

  The agony caught in his voice brought her gaze up to his. “I’m trying to understand. Help me,” she begged.

  He nudged her over with his hip and wrapped his arm around her. “Keeley needs to do what’s right for her.”

  “But…” E silenced her with his finger on her lips.

  “No but. If she can’t accept her value as a woman, as your sister, as Tar’s partner, she won’t be able to fight the good fight. She acknowledges that, and it’s damn time she gets her head and heart in line.”

  “I wanted to help her. Is that so hard to grasp?!” Her voice raised with her anxiety.

  “Not at all. But you can’t help her deal with this kind of thing.”

  Lacey heard something underlying in that last statement and turned toward her husband. Studying his features, she realized there was something he wasn’t telling her. “Talk to me, E.”

  His brows raised. “I am.”

  “Oh, don’t you dare do that!” she ground out.

  “Do what, exactly?” He eyed her warily. He should’ve known his wife could see right through him, but fucking A, this wasn’t something he really wanted to talk about. Ever.

  She moved to stand and he grabbed a hold of her, yanking until she was sprawled across his lap. Her struggles rubbed across his cock as he fought to get ahold of his libido and have a conversation he never thought to have with her. Would she still love him once she knew? E went to that place of self-preservation and Lacey noticed the change in him instantly. A chill radiated off him. Where did her husband go? She swallowed down her anger and fear. “Baby,” she stroked his hard jaw, “I’m right here. Not going anywhere. You can tell me anything, you know that, right?”

  “Can I?” His distance brought a huge lump in her throat.

  She needed past the wall he had erected and leaned in to brush her lips across his. “It’s the past,” she whispered between soft kisses, “look back only to see what you’ve learned from it.”

  E’s face gentled at that. Of all the things she could’ve said. He tangled his fingers in her long hair and locked his lips on hers with an urgent hunger. She needed to feel how much he loved her. But before he got carried away and made love to her right there for anyone to walk in on, he broke the heated kiss and placed his forehead against hers. “I know where Keeley is at because I’ve been there myself.”

  Lacey fought to control her need to have her husband buried deep inside her body and truly listened to what he was saying. “You mean when your Domme was murdered?”

  “I went to a very dark place, Lacey. You see,” he tenderly moved her off his body so he could stand up. “I didn’t realize what her son was capable of when I taunted him.”

  “Oh,” she gasped, “I assumed it was her ex-husband who killed her.”

  He scoffed, “That would’ve at least made sense.” E paced as he continued, “I knew how upset Matt was about the whole situation, but I didn’t quite grasp why he was so territorial. So my cocky ass flaunted how awesome it was fucking his mom.”

  Lacey wasn’t surprised by that. She loved his smartass remarks and could only imagine how they would’ve been back when he hadn’t learned some self-control. He’d been an angry teenager and she knew he would’ve been downright cruel with the things he’d said, especially if he knew someone was uber sensitive. Not that she faulted him for it. Keeley was like that too. Ahhhhhhh, now she was seeing the connection. “You didn’t know what he was capable of.”

  “No. But I still feel responsible.”

  She held her hand out to him. “That’s why I love you.”

  “Why’s that?” he inquired as he pulled her up to him.

  She placed her other hand over his heart. “Because this right here, is beautiful and full of compassion even at a point in your life when you tried so hard to be anything but.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t deserve you.”

  She brushed his tears away with her lips. “I’m not really an angel. Please, don’t set me up to fail you.”

  His breath caught. She was his angel, his sweetness, yet he heard her plea loud and clear. “I vow, no matter how hard it is, to remember you are human and you do have flaws, too.”

  She smiled against his mouth. “Thank you.”

  It would’ve been so easy to back her up against the wall and show her what she meant to him, but E knew he needed to explain things further. “Keeley will have to learn how to control her very real need for pain. Much like I had to control my needs.”

  “You really do understand her on an elemental level that I don’t,” she sighed.

  “Hey, I love you. Yes, I love your sister as if she were my own, but nothing more.”

  “She just has this way of making men do things for her that I’ve never understood.”

  “Keeley has also attracted the wrong men who have hurt her deeply. Don’t forget that, Sweetness,” he said adamantly.

  Lacey felt horrible for even entertaining a smidge of jealousy toward her sister. “I’m sorry, I thought…”

  To hell with whoever walked in, he needed his wife to know he was hers. Only hers. E trapped her hands behind her back as he nudged her backwards and caught her gasp of surprise in his mouth as he took hers, demanding she comprehended he loved her with all of his being. His hand traveled up her sexy-as-sin thigh just as the door flew open.

  “You two are like bunnies, I swear!” came the low rumble of Nik’s voice.

  “They’re newlyweds, Nikko,” Aimee giggled. “Don’t you remember how we couldn’t stop fucking.”

  He growled low, but not low enough that E and Lacey didn’t hear his, “I still love fucking you.”

  They both looked over to see his hand on her ever-growing stomach and the light of love in his eyes as he kissed his wife.

  Alex stepped in behind them. “For the love of…get a damn room of yo
ur own.”

  Everyone broke out in laugher.

  Sofie walked over to the bed where E had helped Lacey back into and covered her up. “How’s the head?” She whispered while kissing Lacey’s cheek.

  “Better. I didn’t expect you to come along, but I’m so glad you did,” Lacey squeezed her hand.

  “We’re family,” Sofie reassured.

  “Where’s our girl Keeley?” Nik queried.

  E locked his gaze with his brother’s. “Safe for now.”

  Alex nodded with understanding. “Guess that means this is the base of operation until further notice.”

  Lacey couldn’t hold back the tear that slipped down her cheek. This family was amazing and she felt so blessed to be part of it. E didn’t miss a thing and rubbed the wetness off with the pad of his thumb as he answered, “Yes. She needs us close by.”

  “Well then,” Aimee piped up, “let’s get our beauty, here, released from this place.”

  *****

  Decision made, Mitch did what was second nature and drove north to Carmel. Seemed Keeley was tucked away in a rather posh facility. He couldn’t help but approve of Even Strand. Too bad the man wasn’t trained properly, he’d be a valuable asset. But the more he thought about that, the more Mitch realized he could absolutely use his ally. E had helped the team more than once and would most likely be willing again, especially with Tar involved. The two men were good friends, something McNeil wasn’t known for. Although with E and his brothers, all normalcy went out the window with each life they touched. Those brothers were unique and, bound together, they formed a formidable weapon against any and all who tried to harm one of theirs, or anyone they had taken in as family. Family was something Mitch didn’t let himself think on much. Sort of went with the position he accepted, however, after spending time with the Strand brothers, he was rethinking that.

  He pulled into the driveway of a smaller home sitting on top of the cliff and surrounded by trees. The view was breathtaking and deadly he realized as he strolled to the edge. Mitch took a moment to gather his thoughts on how the hell he would convince this family that Keeley wasn’t just needed to the extent of jeopardizing her treatment, but she was vital in saving Tar’s life. From the outside looking in, no one would understand how a woman seducing a man could be deadly. But his gut knew, along with his head and heart, if Lisa got her hooks into Tarius McNeil again, he would not survive a second time. Plus, for all intents and purposes, Chase McNeil could very well be gone already, making this a time sensitive operation. Tar was vulnerable on all sides and his demons would rise to take advantage, unless Keeley could help him fight. God, he prayed Tar could forgive her and that she was up for the battle.