Her Balancing Act: Quinlan O'Connor Book 3

by Alyssa Bailey

  They were in the township so he led the efforts but both departments had family involvement. The now smaller group turned to resume the task of getting into the house. Cheyenne could be inside bleeding or worse. The door wasn’t sturdy so entering was not difficult. What greeted them was a very pristine house that did not look as though one thing was amiss.

  There was no struggle and Quinn sighed his relief. That meant she was probably gone on foot. No, he would have heard from her by now if she were only three miles from Kelli. Damn, something else was going on. They needed to go on to the next step of the plan if they knew it.

  They would check on Kelli, and he would walk through the apartment to satisfy himself that Cheyenne wasn’t there. He would bring someone with him so that it was official but even though he was irritated with his sister, he loved her fiercely and didn’t want her to be any more traumatized than she already was.

  ***

  Parker was setting up roadblocks, the sheriff’s department was putting out APBs cop talk for all points bulletin or getting ready to shut this shit down, for the Rockland cars, and Liam was trying to keep Quinlan calm. They had discovered that the Rocklands did not exist four years ago which began to make them worry even more about Cheyenne’s safety. Seems they had more aliases than the O’Connors had children. That was a lot.

  “Hey man,” Liam tried taming the lion that his brother had turned into, “you can’t do what you would’ve done for someone else. You know that. This is your wife, and they can’t have this investigation go south if something comes up.” Liam had his hand on Quinn’s arm. Quinn jerked it out of his reach and began his pacing again.

  “I’ve spent most of the last six hours standing around and waiting. I can’t just stand here relying on other people to do what I should have been doing, protecting Cheyenne.”

  “You can and you will, or they’ll kick your ass out of here, and you’ll not know anything that’s going on. When they need you to help, when not if, you’re not going to be available to use. You won’t be helping Cheyenne by not being there. This is how to get it done. For now, it’s the only way to get it done.”

  Quinn didn’t seem to believe him. Liam tried again. “Remember when I helped Katie when she was accosted by that creepy ex-boyfriend of hers? I used Ciarán’s words to gain her attention. I don’t know yours and Cheyenne’s special phrases like I knew some of Ciarán’s. We’d been living closer for longer at the point. I wouldn’t be able to help like that with Cheyenne.”

  He reached and grabbed Quinn’s arm again. He moved to stand in front of his brother who was in a place Liam had been himself in the past.

  “You two have a special bond, its bone-deep, soul deep, so you have to be that person to get into her head when we need it because you’re the only one who can. Don’t screw this up, Quinlan. You’re only going to get this one chance to protect her. Get your head out of your ass and make this work.”

  Quinn didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to listen. But he did. Both brothers simultaneously ran their hand through their hair in that characteristic way that signaled to the world who knew them that they were frustrated and pulling tight on the tether. These men were going to figure something out to get their family safe again.

  ***

  Cheyenne looked around. She wasn’t sure if she was in a basement or just a dark cement room. It might even be underground because it was pitch black and dead silent. The ground felt like a cellar floor. It was hard and cold like cement. After listening intently for another few moments, and not hearing any sounds, Cheyenne tried to stand up, only to hit her head, hard, on the ceiling just a few feet above her.

  Her stomach rolled and even in this dark environment, she felt her sight go dark. Now she knew this was a root cellar or a crawlspace. With that image came the suffocating feeling of claustrophobia laced with panic. Great, Cheyenne, you would’ve been fine if you hadn’t tried to stand up and figured out that you are not in a big airy room, but a small confined space. Way to go, genius.

  Funny, as soon as she thought the words in her head, she immediately felt some trepidation because if Quinn had ever heard her, she would’ve been in trouble. Talking or thinking trash about herself was not allowed. Lord, how she wished that he had heard her because that would mean she was safe and not stuck wherever this place was. She stifled a cry of desperation.

  ***

  Parker looked on with a wry smile even in the midst of the seriousness of the situation. He’d walked up at the beginning of Liam’s impassioned speech, and while many people thought Jocelyn was the brains of the outfit, he knew Liam’s strengths were just different. He would trust that man to get them out of any predicament if it involved those he cared about or a good cause.

  Parker was beginning to learn to read the O’Connor men, and he figured he better get these particular members something to do before they went into renegade mode. He knew that if Quinn went off the grid, Liam would call in reinforcements but he would go right off with him. Something he had experienced with them and needed to stall for as long as possible.

  He knew they would do it. They’d go on the warpath. The same warpath of barbaric clansmen of old, if they felt that things were not going in the direction, they should be going. Calling them over, he began to use their knowledge to help psychologically get into Cheyenne’s thinking. Trying to figure out how she would react to a situation such as if she had been kidnapped and felt in danger.

  The word kidnapped made both men’s head snap up and stare hard at Parker. Apparently, until now, they had skirted around the word in their mind because they couldn’t process that without wanting to take control of the situation. Parker caught his mistake too late to fix the reaction and had to backpedal in damage control.

  ***

  After a few moments of giving in to her rising panic, Cheyenne decided enough was enough, and she needed to think how to get out of the situation. She knew her husband and as many people as he could gather were out looking for her. It was just a matter of time and just knowing that calmed her spirit. She didn’t know how long ago she had left the Spencer place. No idea what time it was.

  Cheyenne’s head dropped with achiness. She had been hit earlier with something solid and heavy knocking her out. She could feel the dried blood in her hair, and she gingerly reached up to tap the large goose egg that had formed. She wondered what else she had hit and bruised on her way down to the floor.

  I should have told him more than I did. I walked right into this one. Wonder how long I’m going to be in maintenance over this. Strangely, with that thought, came a shiver and the feeling of warmth that flowed through her body, giving her extra strength. Well, emotional strength anyway, she said to herself. A strong wave of nausea and dizziness assailed her as she tried to go up on her knees. She gagged.

  ***

  “Quinn, what does Cheyenne do when she gets scared?” The new line of thought got Quinn thinking. Parker mentally breathed a sigh of relief.

  “It’s according to how scared. I try my best to stop her from being freaked out. If she’s momentarily frightened, she covers it up with a lot of talking. If she’s worried about something that might happen, she gets very pensive and quiet.”

  “And how does she hold up under pressure? I mean does she cry, does she yell, does she tap on things? What does she do?”

  Quinn thought a moment. “She listens to music.”

  “And what if she doesn’t have any music?” asked Liam catching onto Parker’s thinking.

  “She hums.” Quinn continued a bit excitedly, “She hums and she rocks back and forth.”

  “What if it is bad, say she’s hurt?” asked Parker, knowing he didn’t have a choice. They had to face the fact that she was likely injured.

  “She hasn’t been,” jumped in Liam. “She’s—”

  Quinlan began to talk over Liam in a calm, focused voice. “If things get overwhelming, say she’s hurting or hits a certain level of enduranc
e, she goes into sub… mmm, spaces out. She spaces out. She kind of goes into her head but if it’s thrust upon her it isn’t a good place, and she won’t be able to maintain that head space. If she was part of the process, it’s better for her.”

  Parker knew enough about Quinn, who had been working on Parker taking control at home more, that he and Cheyenne had that special relationship that Liam alluded to earlier. He could see Quinn try to think of the right terminology for someone who wasn’t in the lifestyle he and Cheyenne practiced. Parker had to give him credit. He did a good job of describing things for the vanilla world to understand.

  Parker knew that Quinn understood he and Liam were into domestic discipline on a light level. Quinn had told Parker that none of his brothers, that he knew, was in the lifestyle. None of the siblings even dabbled in it as far as Quinn knew and Parker knew Liam would never progress further. He expected none of them, including himself, would. As far as he and Kelli were concerned, only the future could tell but other than some spice in their bedroom, he wasn’t really interested. Not like Quinn and Cheyenne were. In this case, it was a great advantage because if anyone knew his or her spouse, it would be a dominant.

  Parker was quiet for a minute, and then he said, “Well, the spacing out could work in her favor. If she’s hurt, that will keep her from doing something crazy and will keep her from truly experiencing the pain. On the other hand, if she does it because she’s stressed out and is in her head when we need her to do something, something to help her own self, she won’t be able to. So for our sakes and hers, I hope the spacing out is not something that she needs to do.”

  The men continued to discuss what else they could do while waiting on the patrols to call in from their checkpoints. Having an action plan for all contingencies was the best plan of action. They hooked up with the chief and now the sheriff who had decided it was a real emergency and got to work.

  ***

  Kelli was surprised when one of the men from the Circle C had shown up at her door while she has still on with Shane. She thanked her brother and had let the ranch hand, since he turned up, sit at her apartment to make Shane feel better. She loved her brother, but he didn’t know her well if he thought that would be enough to make her go further from the events going on. Now she made them both coffees while they waited.

  The worker appeared uncomfortable but wouldn’t go back to the ranch. Kelli got her last call back and so had to check in and gave her sad report of no news while her keeper sat there. She did not feel any better when Parker said that was the news that all of the men were expecting. There just wouldn’t be any reason for Cheyenne to leave her car at the complex’s parking lot, which was even stranger because she hadn’t even checked in with Kelli.

  Kelli hated that she was unable to go anywhere on her own because of her leg. She thought she might be able to if she had help. She looked over at her help sitting on the sofa.

  ***

  “I got Shelby’s home phone and her cell phone,” said Martin as he pulled up. He’d written it down on a piece of paper and handed it over to Parker, who distributed the information quickly.

  “Hey, Jocelyn called me back, and she has the cell phone number of that Charles Rockland,” said Liam as he handed it over to Parker.

  “Thanks, Liam, but I think we already have that cell phone number,” he said as he looked down at the number that Liam had just handed him. “Hey,” Parker noticed, “this isn’t the same number that the manager at the bank just gave us. His number matched our emergency list but I wonder if the guy has two cell phones, one for personal use and one for business, and I wonder if he has them both on him.”

  As everyone began to work on the new information, getting phone records wouldn’t be easy at this time of the evening. They began interviewing those people associated with the suspects. The world around them filled with a tedious tension. No one answered the cell numbers. It was nearing 2100 hours.

  They all knew the longer the Rocklands were on the road, the longer it would be before they found Cheyenne. It was decided that the couple would likely leave Cheyenne somewhere as a distraction so they could get further away. Parker wondered aloud why they didn’t have a specific direction to look for Cheyenne so they had a focal point. As long as they didn’t have a clue as to where she was except through the couple, looking for them would be where law enforcement would concentrate all their efforts. Quinn and Liam were left to pace once again.

  ***

  Cheyenne tried to think back on all the events of the day starting from when Kelli moved back to her own apartment after her car accident. She couldn’t remember much. She knew there was so much more, but she tried to piece things together. Maybe if she distracted herself, she would quit gagging and slow the dizziness in her head.

  She had worked on her presentation to Martin Spencer and then began to load her car for the return of everything his. It had seemed a waste to close out this account with Spencer when she had everything perfect now. The loose ends she had earlier were no longer loose.

  She’d run into Quinn, who was not very happy at first that she was not totally done. She was relieved that by the time he had gone back to work on the ranch because it was his day off from the police department, that he’d lost his anger and was anticipating an entertaining evening with his wife. Cheyenne was sure they would’ve played tonight, and she was desperate to have a session. Now, she thought with this goose egg, he’s not going to have a session with me for a while. That over-protective thing he had. Bless him. He would find her.

  ***

  After about ten more minutes of ever-growing discontent, they watched a car that looked suspiciously like their sister’s drive into the parking lot of the police station. It was Kelli. She arrived, driven by her babysitter and parked near them. Both of her brothers walked over to her car before she could even get out, barring her exit. Ever resourceful, she rolled down the window.

  “What the hell, Kelli?” demanded Liam.

  “Fine way to greet your sister,” she responded as she situated her leg better. “What are we doing to find Cheyenne?” She gave them a scathing look. “Besides standing around like a bunch of ignorant people looking for a place to be?”

  “Kelli!” All eyes turned to Parker as he strode angrily toward her car.

  “Parker, you can’t think that I’m just going to calmly wait at home all night sitting on my thumbs, while my sister’s out there somewhere with two crazy lunatics,” adamantly stated Kelli with a hint of righteous indignation. Her accusing undertone of ineptitude was heard loudly if not spoken.

  The brothers had backed away when Parker began striding toward Kelli. They stood just far enough for Kelli to quickly open her door while they yelled at each other. She got out of the car quickly for a woman with a casted leg. It was awkward, but she had done it before Parker had made it to her. She leaned against the car. She stood defiantly with her arms crossed, waiting for Parker to have his say.

  “You’re going home, Kelli. It’s not a request. It’s not a suggestion. It’s a demand. In fact, it’s a command. I’m not risking you or the baby so you might as well get your butt back in the car and go back home. Now.” Parker ignored the gasp when he let the news of the baby out.

  “Parker Jamison, you know?” Her shock at the revelation was obvious.

  “Kelli, you’re going home. We’ll talk about this later. You’re mine for life so get angry and mouthy all you want. I’m not changing my mind. Go home.”

  Parker walked up next to Kelli and spoke softly, but firmly in her ear, “I’m sorry I let the cat out of the bag. I am. I know you wanted to tell me on your own, but you forced my hand here. You have to know I’ll do anything to keep you safe and now to keep our baby safe. Don’t make me assign another escort to take you home.”

  Kelli stood for a moment as though contemplating whether she was going to stand up against Parker or not, but she felt the shiver that went through her body. When he spoke in her ear, low, intently, earnestly promi
sing to follow through on keeping her safe no matter what, it convinced her that he more than meant what he said. There was determination and desperation clearly housed in that threat that Kelli recognized for what it was, a promise to protect. A man protecting his woman, his family and she respected that even if she didn’t like the way that he had let the news of a new O’Connor hit the airwaves.

  In response, Kelli turned to Liam and Quinn with her best sister threatening voice and said, “If you tell anyone, and I mean anyone before Parker and I share our news, I won’t let you hold him or her for a month after the birth. And,” she added with confidence, “you both know that I’m as good as my word. You got me?”

  “Yep,” agreed Liam, “not my news to share, but congratulations.”

  “Same here, sis, I won’t mention it.”

  “Hey, I’m sorry about my behavior with you on the phone earlier. I lose control sometimes. It isn’t the best situation, and you know my bad habit of demanding control. Not an excuse but,” Liam shrugged, continuing, “there it is. I do love you. You know that. Jocelyn says I don’t have a filter when it comes to you. She might be right.” He smiled. “Don’t tell her I agreed with her because I won’t hear the end of it.”

  Kelli nodded in acceptance of their congratulations and Liam’s apology. She allowed Parker to open her car door again. She tried to ease around him to get back inside the car, and he gently helped her to settle in the vehicle.

  “Can we send my babysitter home now?” Her plea was cute, and Parker smiled.

  “I’ll release him, but you had better stay home. I don’t want to go back to a schedule again. Understood?” she smiled and nodded. “I’ll call you as soon as I can with any updates.”