“Don’t fucking do that, Trey,” she barked and ripped her arm from my grasp. “Distracting me isn’t going to work. I’m going whether I go with you or I go on my own.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. Sighing, I looked up and asked for patience because this girl was going to drive me batshit crazy worrying about her.
“Don’t. I am not above tying you to the bed and leaving you there. And just so you know, no one will untie you no matter how much you beg, scream, or threaten to blow them up.” I growled. The anger in her eyes intensified and she stomped over to the barn without a word. She didn’t get to risk everything for those kids. That was my job. Walking into the barn slowly, giving her time to calm, I looked around confused after following her inside, just a few steps behind. Where the fuck is she? I thought as I spun around, not seeing her anywhere. Before I even knew what was happening, I was being shoved up against the wall and mauled by a tiny little blonde. Her lips crashed into mine and she pulled my hair, hard.
“You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?” she said in a breathy voice. “Don’t think for one second that you have control.”
I nodded and recaptured her lips with mine. The sharp pain of her biting into my tongue had me wincing. The coppery taste of blood did nothing to detract from the taste of her mouth and I groaned.
“You can hurt me all you want to, sunshine, but it’s not going to stop me from wanting to protect you.” I licked a trail from her ear down to her collarbone. I couldn’t think beyond that moment. Beyond all the dirty things I wanted to do to that amazing body of hers. So, when I reached for her and she backed away with a smile I was totally confused.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked huskily.
“I have to get some fire power, remember?” She turned and swung her hips as she walked deeper into the barn. I groaned and adjusted my aching cock before following after her tight little ass. Well played Kenzie, but when this is all over you’re gonna have my handprint on that gorgeous ass of yours.
CHAPTER TWELVE
KENZIE
He had no idea how difficult it was to walk away from that. If girls could get blue balls I had them.
I was going to do it though, had to show him that he couldn’t control me. I still wasn’t sure what this thing between us was, but I knew that if I didn’t put my foot down and be the person I truly am, then it would be over before it ever even started. I never should have jumped in his lap the night before. Things would be so much easier if I had just controlled myself, which was odd because I never lost control—until I met Trey. Now my emotions were doing crazy things to my brain. The only people I ever cared about were Ellie and Robert, Tasha’s grandparents, the people who raised me. But since starting this, I found myself wanting to comfort Trey and caring about his feelings, wanting to protect him, and have his back for crying out loud.
He caught up to me a moment later as I was moving hay bales to get to a hatch that led into the floor. Brock seriously loved his secret rooms. I laughed to myself when I remembered the looks on everyone’s faces when I told them about Brock’s bunkers he had all around the property outside of D.C. Trey came up behind me, so close I could feel his heat at my back and I shuddered. His seductive chuckle had me stiffening.
“I got that,” he whispered in my ear and took the bale of hay from my hands. I internally groaned while searching for the control panel I knew was there. Moving another bale of hay, I finally found it embedded in the metal hatch that I was sure was where the weapons stockpile was. After entering the code Brock sent, the hiss of compressed air reverberated through the barn.
The weather in Louisiana was humid and wet most of the time so he couldn’t leave weapons and ammo in a place that would be degraded by the elements. Brock really did think of everything.
“What was that?” Trey asked, confused by the sound of the compressor.
“Air locked container; it keeps the ammo from getting waterlogged in the humidity,” I replied as I jumped down into the abyss.
Landing gracefully on my feet, I looked up at Trey with a smirk. He shook his head smiling as he walked down the ladder into the gloom.
Lights started to flicker on and I noticed for the first time how large the space was. There were weapons mounted on every wall and crates of ammo stacked around the room.
One weapon caught my eye and before I knew it I was moving towards a rocket launcher smiling evilly. “Whoa Barbie, are you sure that’s a good idea? That thing’s huge.”
“That’s what she said.” The lame joke slipped past my lips before I could think better of it, and Trey busted up in big loud guffaws. I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of me as well. It really was a lame joke but it seemed to break the sexual tension we had going.
“What better distraction then a rocket launcher?” I replied innocently, batting my lashes at him.
“Whatever you say, sunshine.”
It was such a cute nickname and I was pretty sure I’d never had a nickname that wasn’t mean or meant to degrade me in some way. While “Terrorist Barbie” got under my skin, I knew the guys were just teasing me. Everyone had nicknames in this group.
It hit me like a ton of bricks and I wracked my brain trying to remember anything that would prove me wrong but I came up blank. The question left my lips before I could think better of it. “Why don’t you have a silly nickname?”
Trey flinched almost imperceptibly and shrugged like it was no big deal, but I could see the sadness there. He felt like an outsider too. No matter how much those guys loved him and treated him like family, he would always be on the outside looking in. Griffin came back from the military with two new brothers and no matter what, he would never have the same bond as those men who had been through hell together. “That’s why you insist on going, isn’t it?”
He looked back at me and all the color drained from his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His tone was cold as ice and he dismissed me just as quickly. “Don’t lie. It all makes so much more sense now.”
“Drop it, Kenzie.”
“No. This whole time you have been sitting here trying to figure me out and you’re living through the thing I’m most afraid of.” My laugh was hollow even to my own ears.
“What is that, sunshine?” he whispered, his eyes pleading with me not to have him figured out. Not to say what he knew I was going to say.
“That you’re an outsider. You use your humor and flirting as a defense mechanism to prove that you feel as much part of the group as everyone else. When in reality, you feel like you’re on the outside looking in.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said angrily and immediately closed off. “Let’s get what we need and go rescue my future sister-in-law.”
He stormed over to the rocket launcher, then throwing the strap over his shoulder, he lifted a large crate in his arm and stalked towards the ladder before stomping up. I blew out the breath, watching him in his anger, and slumped against the only wall not littered with weapons. What have I done? You couldn’t keep your big mouth shut, now could you? I thought I had beat those snide little voices into submission but it was looking like they needed a reminder not to fuck with me. Yeah I may or may not have been losing my mind. The jury was still out on that one.
Finally, I did what I always did. Scraping myself off the wall and putting myself to good use searching through boxes and grabbing weapons. This was something I understood. Weapons, explosions, computers. But… people? They were a mystery to me. Relationship was like a four-letter word from the seven levels of hell I had no idea if I would ever understand. Don’t get me started on feelings. I had no idea how to cope and I was finally starting to get why some girls ate a gallon of ice cream and watched sappy chick flicks after a break up. I would never do it personally. It would be more my style to end up out at Brock’s compound blowing shit up if I ever found myself nursing a brok
en heart. A broken heart? What. The. Fuck? Where did that even come from.
I lugged a few crates up the latter one at a time and stopped dead. My mouth was dry like the Sahara desert and my breath hitched as I watched Trey, a few yards away, lift his T-shirt to wipe the sweat off his brow. The tan expanse of his perfect abs were showing and I could see each groove in them. I wanted to run my tongue along the ridges and see him squirm. No! Bad Kenzie. Focus! I shook my head to clear it and climbed the rest of the way up the ladder and set the last crate on the ground with a thud. Trey jumped, finally realizing that he wasn’t alone and sauntered over to grab the box.
“I’ve got it,” I grumbled impatiently. He looked at me confused before shaking his head and taking the crate and stacking it with the others.
“I know what you’re doing.” He smiled that cocky smile of his—the one that made me simultaneously want to strangle him and kiss him at the same time. “It’s not going to work on me, sunshine.”
“What is it that you think I’m doing, oh wise one?” I snarled and his loud laughter filled the space.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked seriously after he finally calmed down. “You can’t push me away this time.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” I lied. Well, I guess it was only a partial lie. I was really trying to punish him for trying to control me, and if I was completely honest, for making me want him.
“I’m not giving up on you this time,” he said stepping so close that there wasn’t a breath of space between us. “And, you can bet, if you run I will chase you.”
“Who’s running?” I whispered, looking up into his deep green eyes.
He smirked but his eyes were smoldering. “Good.” He reached up and smoothed my sweaty hair back from my face.
“What are we doing, Trey?” I asked looking into his eyes.
“We’re getting weapons so we can go rescue our family.”
“Cheeky bastard. You know what I mean.”
“I don’t know, Kenzie. I do know that when you’re not near me, I’m going crazy wondering if you’re all right.” He took a step back grabbing at his hair like he was in physical pain. “It’s driving me crazy. It’s even worse since last night. When I woke up this morning to find you gone…”
“It’s okay, Trey.” I took a step towards him. “I’m right here, but you know I don’t have any experience with this shit. All these feelings rushing through me? I have no idea which way is up and it’s driving me crazy.”
“Trey? Kenzie? You both are going to want to see this,” Marcy called from the direction of the house.
We looked at each other warily and took off towards the house at a sprint. As we never knew from one minute to the next what we were going to face, and I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be any better.
Walking in the house, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw what they were watching on the laptop. The color drained from my face and my eyes rounded in shock. “Wh… where did you get that?”
“You’ve seen this?” Griffin asked in shock.
“Yeah, that’s the night I was born. The night Barnes murdered my mother.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
TREY
The look of utter devastation I saw on her face as she watched her mother be brutally beaten nearly undid me. Reaching over I grabbed her around the shoulders and enveloped her in my arms.
“What the hell, Kenzie? You’ve seen this and you never said anything?” Mac asked angrily and I shot him a glare.
“Leave her alone, ass. Do you think she wanted to relive this? If there was video of your parents’ accident, would you want to share it?” I yelled back at him.
“That’s different. I actually knew my parents,” he sneered and Marcy smacked him in the back of the head.
“That makes a difference?” Kenzie balked. “She hid from that sonofabitch because she would rather hide than abort me. She protected me! She died because of me!” she shrieked, lunging toward Mac.
Everyone’s jaws dropped open as I held her back. She was wild and I was sure if I let her go Mac in his current state wouldn’t stand a chance. “Calm down, sunshine. He’s just an asshole.” I rubbed her back and attempted to lead her away.
“No. He has a point. I bet they are all wondering why I didn’t bring this information up in the first place. The funny thing is that you had it the whole time.” Her body relaxed in my arms, but I still warred with the idea if I should release her. So instead, I rested my arm snuggly over her shoulder, holding her next to me. “Remember the floppy disks that you sent to me? This video was embedded in the code. At the time I didn’t know who to trust and if I’m honest? I’m still not sure how far I can trust them.” She glared over at everyone else in the room. “Especially when they turn on me so easily.”
She extricated herself from my arms and stomped up the stairs, probably feeling cornered by Mac and my brother.
“You can be a real asshole sometimes, Mac.” Marcy accused before chasing after Kenzie. I made to follow but Griff grabbed my arm.
“What?”
“What is she talking about?” he coaxed as if he were approaching a wounded animal, and who knows, I was probably acting like one.
“When we got those floppy disks and the dinosaur computer from Twitch’s house in Baltimore, I sent the files to Persephone, well you know, Kenzie. She must have found the video embedded in the code. I asked for her help because the shit was so old I had no idea what I was doing.”
“You inadvertently sent your girl a video of her mother’s murder?” Mac spoke quietly, finally understanding.
“Shut the fuck up, dude. The shit you just pulled? That was so fucking wrong,” I seethed.
“Yeah? Maybe, but what about my son and the others? What about our accident? If we had this video of him committing murder back when you sent those files to her, none of this would have happened!” Mac was roaring now in anger and frustration. “There would have had enough to get Barnes put away. He would never have been able to take that plane. We should have known!”
“No!” I heard Kenzie yell from behind me and I spun around. She was rushing towards Mac and I grabbed her around the waist before she flew at him. “You can’t blame me for this. I gave all of you plenty of chances to back off. You all wanted to get him put away just as badly as I did, but I needed more than an old surveillance video. You just wanted to put him away, but I needed enough to completely destroy him.”
I was shocked at the vehemence in her voice and that gave me one more reason, not that I needed another one, to want to take that bastard down.
“What are you saying, Barbie? That everything that’s happened is our own damn fault?” Mac got unsteadily to his feet, looking to approach her.
“Enough,” Marcy bellowed and everyone turned to look at her. “We are not going to turn on each other. Don’t you see what they’re doing? Whoever sent this video wants us to turn on each other. They want us to blame each other. They know way too much about us and know that we are stronger together.”
Kenzie sagged in my arms and buried her face in my chest, attempting to slow her breathing. I rubbed soothing circles on her back as I glared at Mac and Griffin. Why didn’t he stand up to his friend, defend Kenzie? I could see the conflicted emotions plainly on his face as he looked back and forth between me and Mac.
“What do you think, Griff? You know she’s right. Or, are you backing Mac. Even Pixie knows this is bullshit.” I shook my head in disgust.
“What other information is she hiding from us?” Mac asked pointedly. “Is she even on our side or is she just playing a part.”
“Shut your fucking mouth, Mac.” He was going too far. While he may have had a point with her not being as revealing as we would have liked, he was pushing too many buttons in his anger over losing the son he’d only just met. “If it weren’t for her quick thinking at the Governor’s Mansion we would all be dead, including your son.”
I release
d Kenzie and took a step towards Mac. Griffin put a hand on my shoulder which I promptly shook off. “Calm down before you do something you’ll regret.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked Griffin with deadly calm. “You’re taking his side? Blood means nothing? The fact that he is irrevocably wrong about all this doesn’t matter because he’s your “brother” by everything that matters right? The brother you chose rather than the brother you were stuck with.”
I was right up in Griffin’s face and I could see the indecision there. “He’s not completely off base.”
I couldn’t believe he said the words.
“Wow.” I stepped back away from him. “Yeah way to prove her right, brother.”
Griffin had no idea what I meant by those words, but Kenzie’s earlier words rang true. I turned and grabbed her hand before storming out. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I knew that they were all tighter than he and I could ever be. It just hurt that Griffin had so blindly followed Mac’s lead knowing that he was totally and completely wrong. Poor Marcy looked like she was about to be sick as we passed her in the doorway. “Thanks Tink, at least you know he’s being an idiot.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to them.” She smiled reassuringly.
“Don’t bother I know where their loyalty lies. Hoorah.”
“That’s the marines, dumbass.” She shook her head with humor, and I attempted to smile but it was probably more of a grimace.
“I know, but it’s all the same. To me, anyway.”
She squeezed my arm and Kenzie and I continued to walk outside to the sounds of Marcy’s ranting. “You are a couple of fucking morons. I hope you’re proud of yourselves. What the fuck is wrong with you? You realize that you just played into Barnes’ hand right?”
We walked outside and shut out the rest. “Let’s go get the weapons and load up the truck, yeah?” I asked Kenzie gently and she nodded. “I’m sorry, sunshine. They were out of line.”
“You just fought with your brothers over me, why?”
Beautiful Surrender (Pride and Honor Book 4) Page 7