by Honor James
“All we know for sure at this point is he called from your landline. At least that’s what Timmons told me. He was mumbling under his breath when I walked out to come and let you know what was going on. I’m sorry,” he said softly.
Clara closed her eyes and melted into Craig’s embrace. She reveled in the feel of his strength holding her close, keeping her safe. “I love being held by you,” she whispered honestly, letting go of her worry for a moment and simply enjoying being held by this man.
“Good thing since I rather like holding onto you. Seems very mutually beneficial for the two of us,” he said. Laughing softly, he gave her a squeeze. “Why don’t you go grab a shower? I’ll wait for you out in the lobby. Okay?”
“Or you could come and shower with me?” she asked hopefully. She had loved these last few weeks of getting to know these men, in every way possible. “The shower is massive and private, and you know you want to. You know that you want to reassure yourself that I’m fine, right?”
He lifted a brow at her and clicked his tongue. “No, I’m pretty sure you want me to come in there for your own reasons. Which I’d normally be more than happy to oblige you with. Not now, we’re on a timetable. Since we don’t know if he was in the house or not we need to get there quickly to ensure the scene is preserved if there is one.”
“Crap, you are right.” She got up on her tiptoes and then used his shirt to pull him close. “Promise me later you will shower with me? That you will play with me?” She rubbed her cheek to his and wrapped her arms around his neck once more. “I need you to touch me again. It’s been nearly ten whole hours and I’m in need.” She was teasing him, mostly.
His chuckle warmed her. She could feel him nodding against her cheek. “I will shower with you later, and I will even play with you a little if you are up for it. Go, and shower quickly. I will meet you out in the lobby. The others will be waiting for you there as well, so be quick as you can manage please.”
“You know that I will.” After one more toe-curling kiss she pulled away from him and then began to walk to the showers so that she could get cleaned up.
* * * *
Thirty minutes later
Her hair was still wet, but she was clean and dressed. She walked out into the lobby area and happily let both Elliott and Craig take her hands, both of them taking up spots on each side of her body. She relaxed a bit, feeling more relaxed now that they were both touching her. She felt a calm and peace that only came when she had both of her men holding her and touching her.
Cutter, Harker, Jacobs, Connor, and Bradley were also there. Each of the five looked at their watches, and then ten-dollar bills started to pass over to Jacobs who threw her a wink and a grin. “And now that the betting pool has settled up,” Elliott muttered. “Can we go now?” he asked the others.
“Absolutely,” Jacobs assured him.
She snorted and laughed. “Hardy-har-har boys. Do your women know that you bet on when they might or might not be out of the shower?” She wanted to know. “Because if not, that’s so going into this week’s newsletter.” She wasn’t teasing. It was the only way for the women to seem to come together and form a closeness that these men all had in spades. She adored the women. They were great friends, but they hadn’t seen battle and saved each other’s asses like these men had. “Ulysses, have you figured out yet why my friend Olive has you in such knots?” Jacobs, otherwise known as Ulysses, had gone with a friend of his to pick up Olivia who had testified against her stalker and since picking her up the man had his dick in a twist, at least that was what she thought about it.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jacobs said. Giving her a haughty sniff he headed for the door with Connor on his heels, harassing him as they went.
“They all know we have various betting pools going. The shower, or time in the bathroom one is limited, though, to a six-month window. It’s either that or we don’t get any loving between the sheets,” Harker told her. He gave her a big grin, a wink, and then jogged off to catch up with the other two.
“You boys are incorrigible.” She didn’t try to stop them though. Honestly she loved that they were as close as they were and that they all spent the time together that they did. “Did you know that we ladies have bets as well?” They didn’t, but she sure as hell was going to bring it up at their next wine and book meeting, minus the books.
“No you don’t,” Cutter said. “If you did we’d already know about it. Now we do know that there are a couple, or more of you who like to discuss various happenings behind closed doors in a comparative manner. We also know you do it as a fact gathering exercise so you can then get your own guy, or guys, to do whatever it is you happened to have learned about. Nice try, though. If you do start a betting pool I’m pretty sure we’ll know inside of an hour.”
Clara was grinning like a fool. “You boys love that we compare stuff. Come on, admit it. You love it because it gives us ideas for what to do. You guys especially love it when we come up for new and inventive ways of using our mouths.” She certainly did. She nearly fell over when she was taught how to tie a cherry stem with her tongue, and Elliott and Craig had loved every single moment of it, too.
“Didn’t say it was a bad thing, just that there really should be a little less alcohol at those events. You all come home afterward, rip-roaring ready to go, and then promptly pass out in a drunken stupor when we turn our backs for a moment. Not cool,” Cutter told her. “Not cool at all.”
Clara laughed. “I will make sure that she’s cut off from now on. I don’t pass out on my boys. I do sleep in really late and wake up with my hand out for Tylenol and water, but I don’t pass out on them until they are ready for me to pass out.” And she would stay that way, she hoped.
“You’d better not ever do that either,” Elliott said. “I would never, ever let you live it down if you did.” Throwing her a wink, he tugged on her fingers to lead her out of the building as two vehicles pulled up. Jacobs was in one, and Harker was in the other. Craig opened the back passenger side door for her on Jacobs’s vehicle while Elliott got in the front passenger seat.
Clara slid into the seat and watched as Craig looked around the area and then got in at her side. Once he was there beside her she buckled up in the middle seat so that she could cuddle up against him. She waited until they were moving to close her eyes and sigh. “A girl could get used to being hugged all the time.”
“You like the comfort of it,” he said softly. “You got used to it early in life with Timmons, and now it’s a necessity for you. Not that I’m complaining in the least. I like having you pressed up close to me.”
“It’s more than that. It’s you. Both of you, really. I adore being held by you because I feel safe. I feel your strength wrapping around me and keeping me safe. I can smell you and know that you will always come for me. Weird, I know, but that’s me for you.”
“It’s definitely a little strange, but uniquely you.” Pressing a kiss to her temple, he held her closer to him while they drove toward her home. Elliott was working on a tablet while they drove, occasionally looking up or speaking to Jacobs with directions.
It was driving Clara a bit wild that Elliott wasn’t letting her anywhere near the tablet, but she was more than happy to have Craig all to herself so she was letting it go.
Ten minutes later they pulled up in front of the house. Jacobs pulled past, slightly before parking. He and Elliott slid out and went to meet the other vehicle. Craig didn’t move while the others headed up her walk, and then split up to circle it with guns drawn and up.
“Are you sure that this is okay?” She watched the men as they moved. They were deadly and she knew it. She wasn’t worried about them so much as the paperwork when one of them shot the man that had broken into her home.
Nervously, she chewed on her thumbnail, watching and waiting. She cocked her head to the side then and looked at Craig. “Look.” She pointed to the main phone connection box in her yard. “It’s open.” Not a lot,
but she knew that it was opened. The green box was hidden behind some tall snake grass and it had been disturbed and the box was ajar slightly from where she was sitting.
“I see it,” he said softly. Rubbing his hand up and down her arm, he put his other hand to his ear. “Did you see the box? Yeah, any other sign? Copy that. According to Cutter it looks like the tag on the box was cut. He didn’t take a look in as they are still clearing around the house to be safe. He said it’ll be another couple of minutes before he has you come to let us all inside so they can do a sweep just to be absolutely certain he didn’t get in. From what they’ve seen so far there doesn’t appear to be any signs he’d gotten in. A few footprints in a flower bed, but he thinks your guy was looking in through a window to ensure no one was here.”
“Weird. I honestly have to admit I didn’t think that he was even bright enough to know to look for a phone box. Most people don’t know what those things are other than garish reminders that they aren’t Amish,” Clara muttered and watched the men as they moved. “So it’s a bit of a surprise. Which leads me to my next statement.” She looked up at Craig and took a breath. “I don’t think he’s working alone.” She had been thinking about it and the man she had helped put in jail just simply wasn’t bright enough to do all of this.
He looked at her and nodded slowly. “Elliott was thinking the same thing. Michael was wondering how he could have stayed so far off the radar without help, so I know he’s on board with that thought as well.”
“So the question would come back to, who?” She had been thinking about that since she got the roses and the clippings. Not many people knew she was allergic to roses, not many people knew a lot about her for a reason. She kept to herself and hid as much as she possibly could from people. So this conundrum was driving her a bit batty.
“Well, talk with Timmons later. He has the police report on the package that was sent to Olivia. You can look at the objects sent to her, and then maybe touch base with her to see if they have any significance to her. If there is then it’s someone you both know, or at least knows both of you enough to know the details.”
“Good point. It will be good to talk to her again anyway, face-to-face.” She hadn’t had much of a chance to go to talk to the woman. Her men had kept her busy and she had been happy with that. Besides, Olive seemed to always be busy with her business and Clara knew that they had a new guy watching over her friend. She knew because she received e-mails from Olivia every night grumbling about her new helper but thanking her all the same.
“You are more interested in getting the lowdown on what Jacobs isn’t telling you about that particular situation aren’t you? Yeah, I know you’re thinking about exactly that. For shame on you,” he said and then clicked his tongue softly.
“Oh shush.” She looked at him and narrowed her gaze. “You know already don’t you? Oh for the love of pity, just tell me already? Come on, this is my friend that we are talking about her. Olivia is a good sort. I love her like a sister, so out with it. What the heck is going on?”
“I know nothing. Sorry, sweetheart, but guys don’t go around discussing things like that. If you want to know you’ll either have to pry it out of Jacobs, or Olivia. And Jacobs has had torture training so I doubt there’s anything you’ve got that could get him to talk. Your best bet is your friend I’m afraid.”
“Yeah well she has something that torture training couldn’t touch.” She shrugged and sighed as she leaned back against him once more. “She has the family from hell. Constantly on her and asking her when she’s getting married. Why is it she’s the age she is and doesn’t have kids. Look at her sister, and on and on and on.” Clara rolled her eyes. “She won’t tell squat.”
Craig let out a soft hum. “Well then we have to beat up on Skinner. He’s the newbie so he may not know to what lengths we will or will not go to for what we want. And really, who’s going to argue with this face?” He squeezed her cheeks slightly and grinned at her. “Too adorable to refuse.”
Clara snickered. “Yeah, well he’s been working with Olivia and watching over her so I have a feeling that he’s heard all about me and my adorable face.” Olive didn’t mince words and more than once had called Clara on her shit over the years, which made Clara like the woman even more. “But I’m so gonna try.”
“He’s the only one that doesn’t know you’re a softy, wouldn’t harm a fly, yet go all Linda Blair on anyone that even looks at Timmons or myself funny. It’s truly adorable, if mildly terrifying. I think you actually made Harker wet himself a little when you did it a couple of days ago.”
“He was pointing a loaded gun at your head. It seriously pissed me off. I don’t give a shit that you guys do that to each other all the time. I’m not used to that and I seriously don’t want to ever see that again.” She had practically had a heart attack when she had seen that and then took it out on Harker. She had been more than a little pissed to say the least.
“It’s a part of our training, Clara. It could happen in the field, and we always have to be ready to deal with it. Not saying it would happen, but it very well could. We always train for the absolute worst case scenario, and then we can always be pleasantly shocked when we don’t get that shit out there.” He put his hand up to his head again. “They’re ready for us,” he said before opening the door and sliding out.
She stalled him, her hand on his arm, and shook her head. “But you’re mine, Craig. I couldn’t handle it if anything happened to you. You mean too much to me. That’s why I lost it. Just, stay safe for me always?” She might have known Elliott longer, but it didn’t stop her from caring as deeply for Craig as she did.
Tugging her forward so she fell into his arms Craig gave her a hard squeeze. “Exactly why we do the training we do, so we all stay safe, and can come home to those who love us and who we love. But you can’t keep yelling at Harker every time he does something like that. Hell it took us a full day to calm him down. Any time he lifted the gun he got all shaky, paranoid, and had to go sit down with his head between his knees. He was a wreck.” She knew Craig was messing with her a little. No way would any of the guys at Nightshade ever be that thrown off balance because someone threw a fit in their faces. But Clara did like the image he painted for her.
“As long as you come home to me.” She nodded and hugged him right back. She hadn’t given him the words yet, but he had to know she loved him. It had happened fast, far faster than she could have dreamed but she knew that without a shadow of a doubt she loved him. Completely. “Let’s go and see what, if anything, has been moved in the house.”
Nodding, he gave her a quick kiss to her lips before stepping back out of her arms. Gently, he took her hand and led her up to her front door.
Chapter Eight
Elliott came around the corner of the house with Jacobs on his heels. Giving her a thumbs up, Elliott kept going around to the other side of the house where the box was while Jacobs joined her and Craig in going inside
Clara watched her men and frowned. “Okay, out with it,” she demanded as they shot looks at her and then the report before them and back to her. “What was in Olivia’s box?” Olivia had gotten sick. Freaking flu hit the poor woman like a ton of bricks and now she was off closed up in her home and not taking calls. “Why won’t you tell me?” she demanded.
“It’s not that we don’t want to tell you, it’s that we’re not sure how to tell you.” Elliott made a face before handing over the tablet he’d had in hand at all times that day. “Here, you can take a look for yourself. The police supplied pictures as well since they weren’t entirely sure how to describe the one piece except in abstracts.”
Clara looked at the image and began to pant. She had to sit down, hard. “She’s not seen these, right?” She looked at the men and saw the curiosity, as well as worry, in their gaze. “Don’t let her,” she told them. Taking a deep breath she explained.
“Olivia had a child when she was eighteen. She said that it was with the only man that she had
ever loved, the man that had taken her virginity and then disappeared. Anyway, the child, a little boy, was born with a clubfoot.” She pointed to the image of the child’s toy foot to illustrate her meaning. “He died in NICU less than a day after he had been born. His heart”—she pointed to the heart necklace—“was too weak. The child’s father’s name was Lee. See here the monogramed wooden panel with Lee on it. No one knew this. No one but myself and the other two women, and it’s not something we discussed until the man was at trial.”
“You’re sure that no one else could have overheard all of you talking? Not one of the guards, or court representatives, a lawyer even?” Craig asked. “Because if you’re one hundred percent sure no one could have there’s only one answer to who’s helping this guy, Clara. One I don’t think you, or anyone else, is going to like.”
“It has to be Deandra or Phyllis.” Clara felt sick just saying that aloud. “There is no other way.” She dropped the photos and covered her face to start to cry. She couldn’t believe that one of the women that she had survived hell with had done this, however there was no other solution to this at all. No one could have known these things, no one.
A pair of arms wrapped around her, and lifted her off her chair onto a lap. “Shh,” Elliott whispered against her hair. Rocking her back and forth he rubbed a hand up and down her back. “We don’t know anything for sure yet. Until we do we have to keep an open mind otherwise we’ll only blind ourselves to other data that could provide useful in solving this.”
She sniffed and nodded but didn’t move. “They both had plastic surgery. They could look like anything right now. I know who they should be, but other than that they could walk up to me and I wouldn’t recognize them.” She burrowed against Elliott’s neck and continued to cry softly. “I can’t trust anyone but you and Craig, and your team. No one else.” She would need to give her notice at the magazine. She had been on temporary leave but with all of this, she couldn’t go back there and knew it. She couldn’t face those people and wonder who might be out to kill her.