Jonny's Redemption (Gemini Group Book 7)

by Riley Edwards

  “Jonny?”

  “Fuck.”

  “Honey?”

  Jonny took in the woman in front of him. Really took her in. She no longer looked freaked. She didn’t look scared. She knew her man would protect her so she was free to worry about goddamn makeup.

  Fuck, yeah, she believed in him and that felt damn good.

  “Naked?”

  “You know I don’t leave the house without my face on.”

  Face on. The woman was cute. Bobby didn’t need makeup, she was a natural beauty. But he knew any time spent in an effort to convince her of this would be fruitless. He’d also come to like that the first thing she did when she got home was wash her face clean of the armor she applied every morning. That when they were home just the two of them, she knew she didn’t need it.

  Jonny’s gaze went over Bobby’s shoulder and landed on the explosion of makeup and hair products littering her side of the vanity. Her side. She hadn’t slept at her place for a month. Her clothes were in his closet and in his dresser. Her shoes the same, save the dresser add the floor. They hadn’t made the move official but it was time to do that.

  But first, he needed to get their day started and call Nixon.

  Now that some of the tension had ebbed and he could move, Jonny tagged Bobby around the waist and pulled her close. When she was in his arms he said, “You get ready and I’ll make my calls.”

  “You got this, Jonny,” she whispered. “Dick coming here is a good thing. He tipped his hand and confirmed he’s involved. And he’s all kinds of dumb criminal to give you a heads up he’ll come after me, Micky, and Candy. Now he’ll never get to us. I mean, really, that wasn’t smart. If he wanted to harm us he should’ve just done it.”

  Dick wasn’t a dumb criminal. He was a cocky asshole who thought a warning was sufficient to scare Gemini Group into backing off. But Bobby was right—he was a dumb fuck thinking that would work.

  “No, baby, he will not get to you.”

  “I know.”

  Christ.

  Jonny dropped his mouth and the moment his lips touched Bobby’s she opened and slid her tongue against his. He held her tighter but kept their kiss light. Unfortunately, it was also short.

  Fucking Dick Dillinger—cockblocking motherfucker.

  22

  One could say the men of Gemini Group were rabid in their protection of women. And if you happened to be a woman they cared about, that extreme need to take care of you turned violent and then was exacerbated tenfold.

  I knew this of course. I’d had a front-row seat when Gemini Group was hired to handle Evie’s stalker. And I witnessed the change from bodyguards to caring for the woman Chasin loved. I also watched it happen with Charleigh. Though they were all straight-up crazy-protective over her and Faith from the beginning. And when Bent almost beat me to death, I reaped the benefits of that goodness and was surrounded by their strength even though I wasn’t a girlfriend of one of the guys, I was Evie’s best friend.

  This was a shade different. Being Jonny’s meant every man’s violent tendencies had ratcheted up to insane. Yes, there had been a direct threat to my wellbeing, Micky’s, too.

  Right then, sitting in the conference room at Gemini Group with all the men in attendance, the testosterone was enough to choke a pod of blue whales. That was, if you could choke a whale. I figured it was damn impossible to suffocate a marine mammal but if it could be done the anger thickening the air in that room could do it.

  I should back up. Jonny had called Nixon and I’d half-assed getting ready. This wasn’t something I was prone to do but I reckoned for Jonny’s sake it was something I needed to do. When Jonny told me about Dick’s visit he looked murderous, but more, he looked like he thought it was his fault. So I knew I needed to get him to the office so the guys could dissuade him of this notion before it took root. That was why I was out of the house in ratty, kick-around jeans, a t-shirt that had never been worn outside of housecleaning days, I had on a pair of Converse that were cute but didn’t help my outfit in the slightest. And my hair and makeup left a lot to be desired.

  Jonny had filled travel mugs with coffee, he’d ushered me to his truck—me holding the coffee, Jonny with his gun out of the holster. Then he got me situated, folded in, took his mug, and drove us to the office. Whereupon we semi-repeated the process—I carried the coffee, but instead of having his gun out, Jonny’s hand was on his hip hovering over it.

  Throughout this, I was not scared. I knew Jonny had everything under control. We were met in the reception area by an extremely pissed-off Nixon. He grunted a string of curse words, Jonny grunted a few back in agreement, and then we went into the big conference room where Alec, Chasin, Weston, Jameson, McKenna, and Holden were waiting.

  Jonny gave them a rundown of Dick’s visit and that brought us to now. Seven over-the-top angry men huffing and puffing like a herd of bulls. Dick had waved the red flag and they were all gearing up to stampede.

  I didn’t think that was a good idea.

  “Calm down,” Micky hissed.

  Apparently, Micky felt the same way I did.

  Good to know.

  “McKenna—”

  “Calm, Nix. And listen to me.”

  Then I witnessed a miracle I thought should be reported to whoever recorded such things, or maybe someone needed to call the Guinness Book of World Records because Nixon took in a breath so big I watched his chest expand. That wasn’t the miracle. No, it happened when he exhaled and calmed down.

  “Okay, baby, talk it out. I’m listening.”

  God, that was sweet.

  “I think Dick was actually warning Jonny. I mean, of course, he was, he said don’t say I didn’t warn you, but I think he was warning us. Dick’s an asshole, but he took a risk knocking on Jonny’s door. I’ve tracked his every move since he was fired from the department. I don’t believe he’s suddenly turned into a good person but he has kept his nose clean—as in squeaky clean. He no longer has his dad, the sheriff’s protection. He’s got nothing. And as you know, when I dumped his phone, I was able to identify all incoming and outgoing calls. There was nothing suspicious until after Jonny took over the case. And now we have three incoming calls to Dick’s phone from an untraceable burner. Dick didn’t instigate those calls. And before you say it if Dick had a burner this number wouldn’t be calling Dick’s cell. There’s no doubt Dick knows something—more than likely knows who took Anderson Bull. But I don’t think Dick went to Jonny’s house this morning to personally threaten me, Candy, and Bobby. I think he is genuinely warning us that someone is unhappy. But I don’t think Dick himself will harm us.”

  “Jarrod Clifford,” Jonny clipped.

  “We need to go back to the beginning,” Weston said from across the table. “We need to know what Jarrod’s issue with Anderson is. Why was Anderson targeted all those years ago with the drug bust? We need to look into his family, and friends if he has any. I know he has a brother, Mark. From what I heard the guy’s in a wheelchair from a car accident. And we need to talk to the ex-wife number one, she might have some answers. Though I read over ex-wife number two’s complaint when she filed for divorce. The woman does not like Jarrod Clifford to the extent she wanted nothing from him, not the household items, not her half of the bank accounts, not even his last name. She switched back to her maiden name before the ink was dry on the decree and she declined spousal support even though she was entitled.”

  Jeez, this Jarrod dude must’ve been a horrible husband if his ex-wife didn’t even want her fair share.

  “Just a reminder, I did get into Clifford’s phone records as well. It was no surprise with him being a former cop, but the day Anderson went missing Clifford’s cell was at his house all day and night. The catch to that is, according to his bank records he made a deposit that day, so we know he left his house he just didn’t take his phone.”

  Smart.

  “What about his car?” Jameson asked. “GPS?”

  “Nope. He drives an old
Chevy pickup,” Micky answered then her gaze sliced to Jonny and her lips twitched. “At this point, I think it’s time you let me off my leash.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  All the guys looked at Jonny and I couldn’t get a read but it almost looked as if they were sheepish. Which was totally weird.

  “It means she wants to hack their electronic devices and turn them into surveillance cameras,” Nixon answered.

  “And you haven’t done that yet?”

  Nixon frowned at Jonny’s question which I thought was a good one. Poor Anderson Bull had been gone two months, what were they waiting for?

  “We’ll forget the part where me doing that is highly illegal and if I’m caught I might see the inside of a jail cell for a lot longer than I would for my normal illegal activity. Turning their cameras on is invasive.”

  “But you’ve done it before,” Jonny stated.

  Micky didn’t bother confirming. Instead, she went on to say, “This is where we decide what’s more important, finding Anderson or finding evidence to turn over to the police. Whatever we get cannot be used. After we review the recordings they’re destroyed for my protection and the sake of privacy.”

  Jonny glanced around the room and obviously noticed they were waiting for him to answer, so he did.

  “Do it. Finding Anderson is the most important thing.”

  Micky nodded and stood.

  “I’ll start now. We leave tomorrow for Nashville so I’ll start with Jarrod Clifford. If we don’t get anything from him I’ll do Dick when we get back.” Micky stopped and scrunched her nose. “Ew. That sounded gross. I won’t be doing Dick, no one wants to do Dick. As a matter of fact, I’m seriously hoping Clifford bears fruit because the last thing I want to listen to is Dick—”

  “You’re killing me, McKenna,” Nix grouched.

  “She’s not wrong. You weren’t there when we had to sit through Reggie Coleman boinking Deloris Marshall,” Holden said. “Thankfully, Reggie was a two-pump chump but the fact remains doggie-style couch sex was ruined for a long time.”

  That didn’t sound pleasant and I knew Weston agreed with me when he made a gagging sound.

  “Brother, you’re lying,” Alec put in. “It didn’t ruin anything for you because you weren’t having any kind of sex back then.”

  “You’re right,” Holden mumbled.

  “I’m unclear why we’re talking about Holden’s sex life,” Nixon said, sounding unhappy.

  “Lack of sex life,” Weston corrected. “And just to say, you all know I get squeamish at other people’s sex sounds so in the event someone needs to listen in, it will not be me.”

  There was a cacophony of laughter and I looked over at Jonny. He was not laughing but taking in the men around the room who were. And I hoped with all my heart he saw what I saw—an unshakable brotherhood. Who had each other’s backs no matter what. Who teased and joked and made fun of each other, but it was done in love.

  My study of Jonny was cut short when my phone rang. As noted we were leaving for Nashville tomorrow afternoon, and while I had everything planned, last-minute shit always popped up so I couldn’t ignore the call.

  I dug through my purse and found my phone and barely contained my groan of annoyance.

  Tony.

  As in Penny Cash’s ex-wannabe-manager-still-boyfriend, Tony. The guy was on my last nerve four phone calls ago, this was because even though Penny had made it very clear to the kid while they were at the studio she would be seeking proper representation, Tony wasn’t catching the hint he wasn’t in the running for the job. Which meant he called me, a lot, and these calls were not pleasant; they were aggravating. Therefore I’d mentioned them to Penny who was ready to sign on with Evie, but Evie had her on ice, partly because Tony was irritating as shit but mostly because Evie wanted Penny to find a team of people she could trust before Penny made any deals with anyone. I could say Penny was unhappy when I told her Tony was calling asking about the financial aspects of what Evie was offering but that would be a lie. Penny wasn’t unhappy—she was un-freaking-happy.

  Why he was calling me again after repeated rebuffs I didn’t know. However, Evie had worked her magic and Penny was performing at the benefit concert, which meant I had to take the call just in case something was wrong.

  “Sorry, I have to take this,” I announced and stood to leave while sliding my finger to answer the call.

  “Hi, Tony,” I greeted.

  “What the fuck, Bobby?”

  Yikes. It was a good thing I’d walked out of the room and Jonny was no longer sitting next to me or he would’ve heard Tony’s angry shout.

  “What the fuck, what, Tony? Is Penny okay?”

  “I wouldn’t know seeing as you called her to tattle like the bitch you are and she broke up with me.”

  “Whoa, there, friend,” I chided. “First, tone down the assholery and second, you cannot be blaming this on me.”

  Thankfully, I’d made it out into the reception area far away from the conference room by the time Tony started again. I guess he didn’t feel like toning down his snarky comments and neither did he feel like being civil.

  “It is your fault. Everything was fine until you and that bitch got involved. Now Penny won’t fucking listen to me.”

  And it was a damn good thing she hadn’t listened to him, he had no idea what he was doing. Before I could correct him he kept right on yelling.

  “Then you opened your fucking trap and told Penny I was bothering you and she broke up with me. Told me she warned me and I didn’t listen. Total bullshit. You need to call her to fix this shit, Bobby. Swear to God, you don’t and you’ll be sorry.”

  I tensed at his threat and something funny stole over me—not fear, not anxiety, not apprehension. No, it started as a twinge in the pit of my stomach and it grew and grew until I couldn’t contain it. I was sick and tired of people thinking they could treat me like shit. I was not Tony Whatever-his-last-name-was’s whipping girl, nor was I his personal errand girl who would hop to and deliver messages for him. As a matter of fact, he was nothing to me. Not a client, not a friend, not a colleague. I was as good as a stranger to him and he thought he had the right to call me fifty-two times, annoy the shit out of me, make demands, question me, and now shout at me and threaten me.

  No.

  Just no.

  “Did you fall down this mornin’ and bump your head?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “You must’ve. There’s no other explanation other than you bumped your goddamn head thinkin’ you have the right to call and threaten me. No. Fuck no, I’m not calling Penny and telling her anything. Her personal life is none of my business and it would seem it’s none of yours either seeing as she finally wised up and got shot of your ass. And since I think that’s the smartest thing she’s done since I met her I might buy her a drink tomorrow when I see her.

  “Now what’s gonna happen is this—you’re not ever gonna call me again, and I see your number come across my phone I’m gonna take that as harassment and report it. And since you’ve already—very lamely I might add, proving irrefutably what an uninspired moron you are by telling me I’ll be sorry if I don’t fix your fuck-up—you calling just now will be threat number two. I don’t wait for the third strike to make my move, Tony. I’m making it now and you don’t wanna fuck with me. I’ll rain hellfire down over you until you beg for mercy.”

  “You’re so full of shit. You got nothing, bitch.”

  “I got more than you could ever dream possible. Lose my number, asshole.”

  And with that, I hung up.

  I was supremely mad. So angry, my hands shook.

  But standing in the reception area of Gemini Group after hearing the second person that day make a threat against me, strangely I felt great.

  Sure I was furious at Tony, and Dick was a nuisance, but for the first time in my life, I truly felt like I had more than I ever dreamed possible.

  I felt it.
<
br />   The Tonys and Dicks of the world couldn’t touch me. EJ and my father couldn’t hurt me. My mother’s defection had been a blessing.

  I had Evie and the girls.

  I had Jonny and the guys.

  I had it all.

  I was living the dream.

  And the best part?

  I’d earned it.

  It was all mine.

  So fuck Tony. Fuck Dick.

  Jonny had my back.

  23

  Jonny’s gaze went from his sister-in-law to her husband Alec. Macy had tears in her eyes, Alec’s did not. His were hard and assessing.

  It was shit timing. But that was life, or at least it was Jonny’s. A series of shitty events that ended in heartbreak.

  Last night when Macy called and said she wanted to talk, Jonny readily agreed. It was time for him to come clean, well past time. But at the time, Jonny had no idea he’d wake up to Dick Dillinger banging on his door. He hadn’t known the little fuckstick Tony would call and give Bobby shit.

  He had no way of knowing his day would be waylaid and he’d have to pay Sheriff Baker a visit. Today’s talk with the sheriff had been enlightening and he finally opened up about shit that should’ve been talked about when he was cleaning up the department. In Jonny’s opinion, Baker had made a poor choice keeping it hidden. It was a gamble seeing as Baker was the face of a department that had been tarnished, and if anyone found out he was covering something up—even something that happened a long fucking time ago—it wouldn’t look good for him.

  So by the time it was quitting time and he and Bobby left the office—Jonny to go home and meet with Macy and Alec—he was mentally exhausted and wanted nothing more than to take his woman to bed and sleep until they had to catch their flight to Nashville.

  But he couldn’t cancel on Macy. So he hadn’t. Then he wasted no time laying it out. From start to finish Jonny told Macy everything. Throughout this, Macy cried and his hatred for Doug and his father grew with every tear that spilled. Alec knew, of course; Jonny had told him and the rest of the guys weeks before. Another reason Jonny could no longer put off telling Macy the truth, it wasn’t right for Jonny to ask Alec to keep secrets from his wife.