Protected: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella

by Lexi Blake

  No sex. He’d kissed her last Saturday night, a brief brushing of lips that hadn’t even begun to satisfy him. He wanted more. He wanted to stay with them.

  “I think what Ben is trying to say is that it’s easy for us to forget that we’re part of this, too. When your significant other has gone through the kind of trauma yours has, it’s natural to suppress your own needs,” Leo said, sounding like the academic he was. “It’s also a mistake. You have to sit down and talk to her. Before you do that, though, you have to know what you can accept and what you can’t. If she’s horrified at the thought, how are you going to handle that? Do you want a relationship with her if she doesn’t want kids?”

  That was an easy answer. “Yes. I want her more than I want anything.”

  “Good, then you can open a dialogue when she’s ready to talk about the future,” Leo said.

  “And what if she’s never ready?” That was his real fear. He knew they were getting back to a point where sex would be on the table. But he wasn’t sure she would want to marry him, want to build a home with him.

  “Patience,” Big Tag said, putting a hand on his arm. “She’ll get there. She’s already more comfortable at work. She regularly puts me on my ass. I think she’s taking lessons from Charlie. And if you need to take out your aggression, punch Chase in the face. He deserves it.”

  Chase flipped him off, but then from what Wade could tell that was half of the man’s communication skills.

  “Ian is an ass, but he’s also right,” Leo said. “She’s coming along nicely and you’re a huge part of that. By being patient and letting her know she can take the time she needs and not lose you, you’ve given her a gift. She’s learning that she’s safe with you, and she’s also getting the time to figure out you’re not here because you feel guilty.”

  The door to the small gym flew open and Shane ran in, his face flushed. “Wade, man, you aren’t answering your cell.”

  He left his cell in the locker room when he was on the court. Leo didn’t allow cell phones during his “sessions.” A wave of fear went through him. Shane had come all the way over from the McKay-Taggart building. He wouldn’t have done that if things weren’t serious. As they were only working on training right now, there was exactly one thing that would put that look on Shane’s face. “We lost him?”

  Shane nodded. “The PI we were paying down in Houston said he hadn’t come out of his apartment for over forty-eight hours. He’s gone. We have no idea where Brock Howard is. I’m sorry, Wade.”

  Ian grabbed his shirt, dragging it over his head. “No, this is my fault. I haven’t wanted to hire anyone and that’s why we’re working with contractors. Shane, did we send someone to pick up Ash?”

  “Jake’s on his way to the school. We need to secure Genny.” Shane frowned as he reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell. “Shit. He’s calling someone.”

  “We managed to dupe his phone?” Big Tag asked.

  “The contractor wasn’t a bad PI.” Wade was already in motion. He had to get to Genny. Luckily she was here at Lodge’s building. She was having lunch with Kate and Nat after group, so she should be safe for the moment. “But you know as well as I do that 24/7 coverage is hard to maintain. He tagged Brock’s phone early on, but Brock also has a landline. We haven’t caught him doing anything but ordering pizza and talking to his lawyer.”

  Shane turned the phone around. “He’s not talking to the lawyer today. That’s Genny’s number. I’m going to listen in.”

  “Give it to me,” Wade said. Had Brock been calling anyone but her, he would have put it on speaker.

  She knew he’d had Brock’s phone tagged, but he wasn’t sure she would remember. Maybe she wouldn’t pick up. She might hate him for it later, but he wasn’t leaving her alone. Not ever again.

  “Hello, wife.”

  Wade listened to the conversation, to the way Genny’s voice hitched when she realized who she was talking to, to the horror and sorrow in her tone. His stomach turned. Brock had done it. He’d managed to do the one thing sure to make Genny lose her mind and her good sense.

  She was going to leave him. She was going to sacrifice herself. And he would have to stop her. He would have to take control when he’d promised her he wouldn’t.

  She would never forgive him this time.

  * * * *

  Her cell phone trilled and she thought about ignoring it. It was a lovely afternoon and the sun was shining through the windows, making the small dining room feel warm and cozy. Everyone called this place The Club. She’d learned it was an alternative to Sanctum run by one of Ian’s first investors, a man named Julian Lodge. He was the one who had set up the sessions and offered his building as the meeting place. He also had this small private dining room for friends and club members, of which Nat and Kate were both.

  “Oh, you’re going to love Top,” Nat was saying. “The food is heavenly. It’s such a surprise to me that almost all the chefs are straight out of the military. If I’d had to guess I would have said they’d all spent their lives cooking in some ridiculous French culinary school.”

  Kate laughed, the sound musical. She was a lovely woman with rich brown and gold hair. The fact that she could smile at all after what she’d been through seemed like a miracle to Genny. If Kate had gotten through and managed to find a life, she could, too. “I think after having to eat all those MREs, military men and women are focused on eating well.”

  She was supposed to go to this restaurant everyone seemed to love next Friday night. It was a hot spot run by Ian’s brother Sean Taggart. She and Wade had been keeping things fairly casual, but he’d told her Top was more classy than the beer and burger joints they’d been going to. She’d picked them because they felt comfortable and not at all date-like. She got the feeling this was Wade’s way of pushing her a little.

  Of course, after weeks and weeks of not sleeping with him, maybe she was ready to be pushed a little. The kiss he’d given her last Saturday night had made her wish she’d invested in a vibrator.

  No, it hadn’t. It made her wish she could trust the bond between them, that she didn’t have to lose herself in a relationship with him.

  Hours and hours of talking, getting to know him again, had made her certain he was the right man for her. He was loyal to his friends, always tried to do what was right, would be the best father in the world.

  She wanted more kids. It was something she’d confronted in group, the idea of starting over. She loved her son, but she wanted to start a family the right way, with love and not fear in her heart. She wanted to be excited about the pregnancy, to have her husband sitting beside her holding her hand this time and know that he’d be good to their child. She wanted a partner and to safely know that siblings wouldn’t mean more risk, but simply more love.

  And that husband wasn’t some nameless, faceless somebody. It was Wade Rycroft. It always had been. She wasn’t sure how it would have worked out if things had gone their way all those years before. Maybe they would have broken up. Maybe she would have become his deeply submissive wife. Maybe they would have grown together.

  What she had learned was that she couldn’t look back. She could only move forward, and she was ready to start moving forward with Wade.

  “You have to get the linguine,” Nat said. “The last time we were there, I got the linguine with this ridiculously good lemon sauce. Ben got steak frites and loved it. Chase won’t go because of the windows. The whole front of the restaurant is this gorgeous bank of windows that overlook the street. Chase is completely paranoid about snipers. I swear sometimes I hope someone will actually snipe him. But then I remember how much I love him.”

  Her purse was still vibrating. She pulled her phone out. She didn’t know the caller, but it could be Ash’s school. “Give me a sec. I’ve got to take this. Hello?”

  “Hello, wife.”

  The whole place seemed to go cold. Brock. That was Brock’s voice. Nausea hit her. She’d hoped she wouldn’t have to hear from hi
m again except through their lawyers. “You’re not supposed to contact me.”

  A nasty chuckle came over the line. “No, I’m not allowed to come within five hundred feet of you, my love. I can call you all I like. After all, we share a child and we have to decide on his welfare together.” His voice sent a shiver down her spine.

  “You don’t care about Ash.” What a joke.

  “Call him by his name. You know I hate the fact that you use his middle name. Ash isn’t a name. It’s something that happens when you burn a house down. He’s Brock Howard the fourth, and no matter how many idiot cowboys you throw at him, they’ll never be his father. Now I want to talk to you. In person.”

  She stood up, moving away from the table, but she could see Nat was already concerned. “I won’t meet with you. I’m not insane and I’m done being your punching bag. Don’t try to come near me because Wade will enforce that restraining order. I promise you that. Contact my lawyer.”

  “I’ve had a talk with that pit bull Rycroft hired for you. He’s not a pleasant man. And it won’t work. I don’t recognize the divorce. We were married in front of God and you can’t change that.”

  Well, she’d expected that argument. “By the laws of this country, I damn sure can. You signed those papers, Brock. We’re divorced.”

  His voice went low, betraying his anger. “I signed them because my lawyer said fighting you while I was trying to negotiate the best plea bargain I could get was a bad idea. I have you to thank for that, too. We’ll discuss that later, my love. And you need to understand you’ll pay for fucking that piece of shit cowboy. I won you a long time ago.”

  “Won? You blackmailed me and then you continued to do it with my son. Like I said, if you want to talk to me, call Mitch. He can speak for me.” She was ready to hang up and then she would find Wade and tell him Brock was fucking around with her again. He was her bodyguard, or at least the bodyguard in charge of her case. She had a file in Big Tag’s system and everything.

  “I have our son.”

  The room went downright arctic. “What?”

  He let that sit for a minute and when he spoke again, he sounded lighter, happier. As if he knew he was in control now. “I know you had a good plan. Junior was perfectly safe in that school. You and the big thug drop him off and some other thug comes and picks him up, but our little boy is naughty. I think he’s had some bad influences in his life lately. He cut class with some friends of his. They were going to pick up a video game or something, and that’s when I decided to spend some father/son time with him.”

  “I don’t believe you.” It couldn’t be true. Ash was safe in his school. Ash wouldn’t have done something like that. Except lately he’d been rebelling. Not against her exactly, but his life had been so regimented that he’d gone a bit crazy with his new freedom.

  “All right. I can see I have to prove it to you. You know everything you’ve done lately simply makes me believe you need discipline. I’ll punish you for not believing me. You’ll remember that when I say something is true, you don’t question me. For now, here’s your proof. Son, Mommy doesn’t think you’re here.”

  “Don’t give him anything, Mom. Get Wade.” Her baby boy sounded like he’d been screaming. His voice was mottled.

  Her heart clenched and her vision threatened to fade, but she wasn’t about to pass out. She couldn’t. “What are you doing to him?”

  “Nothing much. The boy needs discipline, too. I think that’s where I went wrong with him. I ignored him. I did that for you, you know. My love for you blinds me sometimes. I’ll do more if you don’t come here right away. And if you tell that boyfriend of yours anything, I’ll kill Junior. You’re to come alone and then the three of us will leave the country. I’m only trying to keep my family together. It’s what a good father does.”

  She was getting weak in the knees. “Where do I go?”

  “First off, you’ll meet me someplace public, but you need to understand that I’ve hired some people. I’ll have one of them stay here with our son. If I get even a hint that you haven’t come alone, I’ll send the guard the signal to kill him. If I don’t make contact with him in a timely manner, our son will be killed.”

  “And you call yourself his father.”

  “I’m the head of this family and you and our son are mine to do with as I wish. You both belong to me and if I decide to take you out, I will. You should remember that. You will come back to me and play your part.”

  Play her part. Wade might have once seen her as his potential wife, but that wasn’t a part for her to play. She forgave herself in that moment. They’d been children. She’d made a choice and the truth was she would have made it again and again because it brought her Ash. She couldn’t have known what would happen then. She only knew what had to happen now. “Yes, Brock. I will. Where do you want me to meet you?”

  “I’ll text you the address.” He was silent for a moment. “I’m very disappointed in you, Geneva. I thought you were better than this. You were always the woman for me. Even when you were a girl. You were the only one who ever saw me.”

  She’d been too optimistic about him. And she forgave herself for that, as well. It was time to move past the pain and find some damn joy in her life. It was odd that the truth came to her in the midst of her terror.

  She’d been here before. She knew what she had to do.

  The phone clicked off.

  “Genny, are you okay?” Nat asked.

  “I have to go.” She had to get out of here. With watery eyes, she looked around the small dining room. There was no time. Brock would text her the address and she had to be there when he said. There was no way around that. She had to move quickly if this was going to work.

  “I think you should wait here,” Kate replied, concern in her eyes. “Nat’s already called her husbands.”

  “You did what?” Why would she have done that?

  She didn’t get the chance to ask again because the doors opened and she breathed a huge sigh of relief because she didn’t have to run through The Club screaming for Wade like a mad woman. He was here.

  He would always be here. She knew that now. It didn’t matter who they’d been. All that mattered was who they were now.

  “Baby, I know what you’re going to say…” Wade started.

  She barely registered the words. “Brock has Ash. You have to get our boy back. You have to get him back, Wade. He has our boy.”

  She practically fell into his arms. She didn’t have to be strong. She’d saved herself once. This time was all about him. He was the security expert and more than that, he was her man. This was their problem.

  She wasn’t making the same mistake twice.

  Wade’s arms went around her and she could feel his sigh of relief. “Baby, I thought you would run off on your own. I thought you would try to sacrifice yourself.”

  She was confused, but she wasn’t about to let go of him. “Who told you? Oh, god, I forgot you duped his phone. You heard it. No, I wasn’t going off on my own. Not again. We’re in this together. Wade, you have to get him back. He’s going to hurt Ash. I think he already has. He’s going to kill him and collect that money.”

  Blood money.

  “Where are you supposed to meet him?” Ian was behind Wade. He and Simon Weston stood there with Nat’s husbands, Ben and Chase Dawson, and the therapist she’d met, Leo Meyer. Simon was on his phone and Ben and Chase had Nat in between them.

  “Adam, I need you to start a citywide search for Geneva’s ex-husband,” the Brit said. “He has her son. Check the cameras around the school.”

  “No need,” Ian said. “Though please ask Adam to get any camera footage he can of Asher. If we can find footage of that asshole kidnapping him, it’ll help enormously when we put him back in prison.”

  She wasn’t sure what Ian was thinking. “I need to know where he’s holding my son. Wade, tell him to find Ash.”

  Wade turned the slightest shade of pink. “I know where Ash is. I’ve alrea
dy got a team on the way. They’ll wait for my command. We have to wait until Brock shows to the meeting with you, baby. I promise you, they’ll take care of Ash.”

  “My brothers, Theo and Case, are on their way along with Michael and Bear. They’ll surround the apartment where he’s holding Ash and take down his little friend when we give the signal,” Ian explained.

  “How do you know?” She didn’t really care. He’d done exactly what he’d said he would. He’d protected them. She didn’t care that he’d listened in. It merely saved her a couple of minutes of talking.

  “I might have put a GPS locator in his backpack,” Wade admitted with a wince. “And on his phone. And in his boots. The backpack and phone were left behind in a park. I’m pretty sure Ash is still wearing those boots though.”

  He was brilliant. “I love you.”

  He pulled her close. “I love you, too.”

  Kate smiled, perfectly calm, as though she was certain everything would be all right. “That’s much smarter than swallowing it. I lost a good necklace that way.”

  Nat laughed but reached for Genny’s hand. “It’s going to be okay.”

  She took a deep breath and let her man do his job. She’d already done hers.

  “I don’t want you to do this.”

  Genny looked over at Wade thirty minutes later. They were in the back of Ian’s Navigator, waiting for the go. She was supposed to meet him in a park outside of SMU. The good news was he’d told her to take an Uber and not bring a car of her own. Her “Uber” driver this afternoon would be Alex McKay.

  “It’s going to be okay.” She was calm. She was surrounded by competent people. This was what they did.

  She was grateful Wade had found his place with them.

  “Alex is here. Boomer is in place. DPD knows he’s here.” Ian was coordinating from his phone. She’d been shocked at how fast they could move when they wanted to. “Boomer is our sniper. He’s going to take Brock out if everything else goes to hell. Otherwise, we’ll try to do this by the book.”