Cage

by Madison Stevens

  “I know,” Marilyn said and let out a harrumph. “They took after him.”

  James kissed her cheek, and she softened a little. “There can only be one you in this house.”

  Whitney smiled and turned to Cage, who was shaking his head.

  “All right, get a room you two,” he said and grinned.

  Whitney looked around the room. The whole house was packed with people, mostly men she’d noticed at Cage’s office.

  “Are all of these people your family?” she whispered to him.

  Cage laughed a little. “Might as well be,” he said and nodded to a few. “Some are cousins and family friends. Others are people we’ve adopted along the way.”

  She marveled at the number of people.

  Her mom was always moving on to the next husband or boyfriend, so it didn’t really matter who the other family was, and her dad didn’t care to stick around long enough to even think about marriage.

  Really, it was just the three of them and never all in the same room. The only time she could really see that happening was at her wedding and that was if they could pull themselves away from their own drama long enough to be concerned with hers. She didn’t hate her parents, but when you don’t spend the time to build ties, there nothing there in the end.

  They moved from room to room as Marilyn introduced her to brothers, cousins and friends. The names started to blur together. Finally, Whitney came across someone she knew.

  “Oh, so bro finally nailed the vet,” Meg said.

  The spunky little woman was a force to be reckoned with.

  “What the fuck, Meg!” Cage said with a glare.

  “Cage!” his mother shouted from the other room.

  He continued to glare at Meg until Whitney slipped her hand back into his.

  She leaned forward slightly. “Who’s to say I didn’t nail him?” She winked.

  Meg grinned from ear to ear. Whitney didn’t really know what had gotten into her, but she nearly laughed when she turned to find Cage staring at her open-mouthed.

  “He needs someone to keep him on his toes,” Meg said. “He thinks he’s big shit most of the time.”

  “How is it she hears me when I say fuck but not when you say shit?” Cage grumbled.

  “Your voice carries, you idiot,” his mother shouted from the other room.

  Meg rolled her eyes at her brother. “Why don’t you come meet the girls?”

  She turned to Cage, who was staring warily at his sister.

  “Don’t get her into any trouble, or I’ll sic Mom on you,” he said.

  Meg snorted. “Yeah? What can she do?”

  “Well,” her mother said from over her shoulder. “I could make sure that I have some little things for Liam to do when he’s off work.”

  Marilyn smiled sweetly at her daughter.

  Meg narrowed her eyes.

  They all looked at Whitney in surprise when she burst out laughing.

  “I think maybe one of your children took after you,” Whitney said and whipped a tear from the corner of her eye.

  “Yep,” Marilyn said. “She’ll fit in just fine.”

  Cage watched as his mother and sister pulled Whitney through the house to where the other women were gathered. He couldn’t help but smile. Things were finally fitting into place.

  He turned to scan the room for Trent, but movement outside caught his eye. Alex walked alone down the path to the dock.

  As Cage made his way outside, he thought about the incident earlier with Roberto. He’d told the kid that nothing would happen, but he couldn’t be sure of that. The only way that the Los Malos would stop was if someone like him gave them a reason to stop. Alex wasn’t stupid. He knew this.

  The land sloped down a bit before leading to the boat dock. Cage followed the wooden plank-covered path to the storage shed and dock.

  Alex sat at the edge of the water and stared out across the way. He tossed rocks into the water absentmindedly.

  “Won’t catch any fish that way,” Cage said as he got closer.

  Alex stared up at him, his face somber.

  He shrugged and went back to throwing the rocks.

  Slowly, Cage lowered himself down. He knee ached a little but not as much as it likely should considering the previous night’s activity.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  Alex shrugged. “Nothing.”

  Cage stared at the kid. He had been so happy earlier, and those bastards had to take that from him.

  He nudged the boy. “Spill it,” he said. “I know those dicks from before are bothering you.”

  Alex stopped throwing rocks and looked over at him.

  “Whitney doesn’t like it when you curse around me,” he said.

  Cage shrugged. “I’m just calling it like I see it.”

  He stared at the boy and only hoped that he could see the sincerity in his face. If things were going to work, they were going to have to trust one another.

  “They will come for me,” Alex said. “Especially now that they know I’m been talking with the Allens.”

  Cage nodded. “Maybe,” he said.

  Alex’s eyes went wide with fright.

  “That’s what I’m here for though,” Cage said. “Not just me, everyone at the firm.”

  Tears pooled in the boy’s eyes. Cage placed an arm around him, but he moved away quickly.

  “What happens when you aren’t around?” Alex said and stood. “What happens when you don’t want me anymore?”

  Cage struggled to stand. Sitting was the easy part in all this.

  By the time Cage finally made it to his feet, Alex was looking back out over the calm water. Occasionally he would wipe his face roughly against his shirt.

  “I want you to listen to me,” Cage said and forced the boy to look him in the eye. “Have I ever fed you a line of bullshit?”

  Alex shook his head, tears still in his eyes.

  “So when I tell you that you can stay with me as long as you want, do you believe me?”

  Alex hesitated for a moment and then shook his head.

  “You grandfather gave his life for me,” Cage said. A lump formed in the back of his throat. “I never knew why, but now I do. You will always have a place in my home and with my family. That’s what we do here. Take in people who want a family and protect one another. That’s why we’re in the business we’re in.”

  The sobs the boy had been holding in burst out. Alex threw himself hard against Cage and wrapped his arms around him.

  “We are family,” he whispered to Alex. “We take care of each other.”

  He placed a hand on his back and patted the boy until his tears had dried.

  “Better?” he asked.

  Alex let go and took in a shaky breath.

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” He smiled at him. “Now let’s go see if we can steal a piece of cake before my mom finds out.”

  “Busted,” his mother called from the end of the dock.

  They turned to find Whitney and his mother standing together.

  “Alex, you come with me,” Marilyn said.

  She smiled at him warmly, and Cage knew she had overheard their conversation. “I’ve got a big piece of cake with your name on it.”

  Cage frowned. “What about me?”

  She glared at him but with far less anger than usual. “I don’t give cake to men who teach children to steal.”

  Alex laughed and followed Marilyn inside. Cage’s heart was lighter hearing the boy’s laughter.

  Whitney moved along the dock to where Cage stood. Everything he said made her so glad to know him. This was the real Cage, and there was nothing about him that she didn’t like.

  Without a thought, she wrapped her arms around him. The wet spots on his shirt touched her cheek, and she kissed him there.

  “Heard that, did ya?”

  She nodded against his chest, too afraid to talk as she might be the one crying against his chest this time.

  “He�
�s a good boy,” Cage said and wrapped his arms around her. “I just couldn’t let him think that this was only temporary.”

  “He was so happy,” she said and looked up at him.

  Cage nodded and looked away. She could see that she wasn’t the only one who was emotional from it.

  “You know, a boy like that could really use a dog,” she said.

  Cage looked back at her and frowned.

  “What kind of dog?”

  She smiled up at him. “The kind that a kid might risk his life saving.”

  Realization swept over his face. “Hank.”

  She nodded against him. “He loves that dog.”

  Cage smoothed a hand on her back. “I thought you loved Hank.”

  She smiled and kept her face hidden. There was no way she’d be able to get through this if she looked at him.

  “I do,” she said. “But I have a feeling there will be plenty of opportunities to see him.”

  She gasped as he pulled her back and hungrily pressed his mouth to hers. Whitney wrapped her hands around his neck and held on as he plundered her mouth.

  When she finally pulled away, she was more than a little aroused and very winded.

  “Every night,” Cage said.

  Her eyebrows shot up in shock. “I don’t know if I can keep up with you.”

  Cage let out a bark of laughter. “No, you’ll see Hank every night.”

  Whitney blushed but moved a little closer. “I will?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I can’t stand not to see you. Life is short, and I intend to make the most of it.”

  She nibbled her lip. There were so many things she wanted to do right now, and a dinner party was about as far from those as she could get.

  “Later,” Cage growled as if he were reading her mind.

  During one last sweet kiss, Whitney dangled herself from his arms and linked their hands together.

  This was how it was supposed to be.

  * * *

  The ride home was far more somber than Cage anticipated. Despite working things out, reality had come crashing down on them when Reed told the family about the struggles Olivia had been having carrying their child.

  It was just a stark reminder of how focused the family had been on Cage’s recovery that no one seemed to see his brother’s family’s suffering.

  This was only compounded by news about a serious illness affecting Sarah, the wife of his second to eldest brother, Jett. No one seemed to know what was wrong, but she’d had a fever for a week now and couldn’t keep things down. All they could do was hope that the newest medicine she’d been given would do the trick.

  “Do you think Reed’s wife will be okay?” Whitney asked as they drove home.

  Cage glanced in the mirror to make sure Alex was sleeping.

  He sighed. “She’s a fighter, but if Reed’s worried, it means things are serious.”

  She reached over and took his hand. He liked that she wanted to comfort him.

  “Listening to what the doctors say is the best bet she has,” Whitney said. “We should make them something to eat, so she doesn’t have to worry about it.”

  Cage glanced over at her and smiled. Every time he talked with her, his love grew.

  “That would be nice,” he said quietly. “Reed is going to be home more. With all the recent activity, the men have been working twice as much.” He absently stroked her fingers. “We have to be more vigilant with work details.”

  Whitney squeezed his hand hard. “Is it really so dangerous?”

  Cage sighed. He could lie. Everything in him said to, but if they were going to have anything, she had to know what life with him was like.

  “Yes,” he said finally. “I’ve seen the worst in the world, and sometimes people don’t come back in this line of work. But I’m good at it. I get to protect the people I love, and that’s important to me. Sometimes we make sacrifices to protect the people we love.”

  He looked over at her and squeezed her hand. Maybe it was the chicken shit way to tell her, but at least he had.

  She squeezed his hand back and looked out the window. When she spoke again, he could tell she was fighting back tears.

  “You just make sure you are one of the ones that comes back,” she said.

  His heat thumped n his chest. Knowing she cared was enough for now, and he’d take whatever her could.

  “I’ll always come back,” he whispered.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Cage!”

  Whitney’s voice cut through his sleepy mind, and he opened his eyes.

  “Wake up, Cage!” This time her panicked words pulled him wide awake.

  Cage sat up quickly.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  Whitney flipped on the light. Her face paled, and she paced around frantically.

  “He’s gone, Cage,” she said and pulled out a note.

  He hopped out of bed and took the paper.

  A message had been scrawled in pencil:

  Sometimes you have to protect the people you love,

  Alex

  “Shit,” Cage said and raced over to the chair his pants were slung over.

  This was his fault. Alex had misunderstood all that stuff he’d said. He wasn’t talking about the kid protecting them. That was Cage’s fucking job. All Alex needed to do was be a kid and grow up happy, maybe have a family and make his grandfather proud.

  Cage tugged on the pants and ignored the pain that came from moving his leg without stretching his muscles.

  “Cage,” Whitney said.

  Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to keep herself under control.

  He hurried over to her and hugged her tightly.

  “I’ll get a hold of Trent. We’ll find him,” Cage whispered.

  He gave her one last hug before standing and slipping on his shirt.

  The more time he spent there, the less of a chance the kid had.

  Cage dialed Trent, but his call went to voicemail.

  “Call me,” he said to the voicemail. “The kid’s gone, and we could use your help.”

  He hung up and scanned over the numbers. Reed would normally be his first choice, but if Olivia heard what had happened, there was no telling how things would turn out.

  Ryder. He was the most capable of handling this.

  Cage touched the name on his phone’s screen and waited.

  “This better be important,” Ryder mumbled into the phone.

  “It is,” Cage said. “Alex is gone, and I need your help.”

  “I’ll be right over,” Ryder said, sounding far more alert than Cage would have thought possible given the situation.

  “Not here.” He glanced over at the light from the bathroom where Whitney was dressing. He shut the door to the bedroom. “He went home,” Cage said, pacing the floor. “They’ll kill him if they find him.”

  “Damn.”

  “I’ll meet you there.” Cage pulled out his top drawer. “Oh, no,” he said and riffled through the drawer, hoping that he might be wrong. “Oh, this is fucking bad.”

  “Cage?” Ryder said on the other end of the phone, his voice tight with worry.

  “The kid’s got one of my guns.”

  Whitney gasped at the doorway. A gun? What did a boy know about guns?

  “Meet me there,” Cage said quickly into the phone and hurried over to her. “I’m sure he’s fine.” He held her close. The warmth of his body wasn’t enough to stop the ache that poured through her. “We’ll find him.”

  She nodded against him and pushed him to the door. If Cage was going to find him, she had to let him go and be strong.

  “What about the police?” she said.

  “Have to time this right, or it’s going to end badly for everyone. Let me handle all of that.”

  “Go,” she said and started toward the front door. “I’ll stay here in case he comes back.”

  Cage nodded and stepped onto the porch.

  “Cage,” she called. Her
voice cracked as she called out to him. “You call as soon as you have him. You understand? As soon as you have him.”

  She watched as he nodded.

  “Call my mother,” he said and pointed to the back where his family’s number was written on a paper for Alex. “She’ll know what to do.”

  Whitney nodded and held back the tears. Hank whimpered beside her, and she knew he was worried as well.

  She took in a deep breath and looked down at the sad little dog.

  “No time for that,” she said and took in a deep breath. “We’ve got calls to make.”

  * * *

  Cage raced through the dark streets of the city until he approached the bike shop. He flicked off his lights and drove quietly along the streets near the building. The last thing he needed was to get spotted before he wanted them to see him. He wasn’t sure this could end without someone getting shot, but he damned wanted to make sure it wasn’t him or Alex.

  He had no idea what the plan was besides seeing if Alex was there and beating the shit out of anyone that tried to stop him from getting that kid back.

  His hands clenched the steering wheel.

  Ryder was already across the street in a hidden grassy patch with his bike. Cage pulled in next to him and cut the engine.

  He climbed out and stood next to his brother as they watched the place.

  “You know this is fucking crazy,” Ryder said.

  Cage shrugged. “So says the man who charged up a mountain and fought off a biker gang.”

  Ryder turned and grinned at him. “So we’re both fucking stupid. Pretty sure that’s genetic.”

  Cage chuckled as he watched the building across the way. From their position, they were never going to see anything.

  “I need to get closer,” Cage said and started to walk forward. He stopped when Ryder placed a hand in front of him.

  “With caution,” Ryder said.

  They hurried across the road and made their way to the front. When Ryder went to peer into the front window, Cage stopped him and pointed to the overhead cameras.

  Ryder nodded, and they walked the opposite direction. Cage recognized the area. It was where he’d first met Carlos and Alex. At that time they’d been seeking information about a recent crime. Now they were there for a whole new reason. Crates lined the wall. He pointed toward them.