by Avery Gale
Looking at his friends, Micah saw similar shocked expressions. Jax recovered first, “Seriously? They think we’d hurt our women? What they hell. Where does that bullshit come from?”
“Listen, I’m a Dom so I understand what’s going through your head when you make comments about paddling their asses for putting themselves in danger. However not everybody around here gets it so you need to back off. And this place has cameras everywhere, that’s why we’re out here. This was one of the few places I knew I’d be able to speak freely.” Parker shook his head and laughed, “Jesus, guys, lighten the fuck up. You all looked like I just kicked your puppy. The girls should be done soon, let’s get back in there.
Walking back down the hall, Micah noticed the furtive glances they were receiving from officers they met along the way and he wondered if they had really acted inappropriately enough to warrant the disdained looks they were getting. Rounding the corner to see Gracie and Tobi sitting on a bench with tear-streaked faces while the legal eagles the Wests had called in hovered nearby was all the explanation he needed. When Gracie looked up and grimaced he wanted to kick himself. Opening his arms to her, his knees almost buckled in relief when she scrambled to her feet and ran into his embrace.
Chapter Eighteen
It had been a week since the river incident and all the guys were still peeved, but Gracie had noticed that Tobi was finally able to sit down without wincing. She’d gotten her own paddling but there wasn’t any doubt that Tobi had borne the brunt of the blame. Gracie hadn’t seen Lilly since that day and wondered what had happened on her end. Tobi had assured her that Lilly was capable of “handling” her men, but Gracie wasn’t so sure. It seemed to her that Kent and Kyle had surely learned some of their tricks from their dads, so likely things at the elder Wests’ home were tense as well.
Tobi had called earlier and mentioned bringing lunch down to the Forum Shops, so Gracie had hurried to finish up her work so they could enjoy their lunch. Gracie loved the white gazebo overlooking the river, and sitting there today gazing over the slow moving water was calming. But even though the atmosphere was peaceful, it was obvious there was something on Tobi’s mind. Gracie finally got tired of waiting for her friend to talk, so she turned to her and left no room for argument when she said, “Spit it out, sister.” Sighing to herself at Tobi’s attempt at looking contrite, she continued, “I know something is bothering you, because you are much too quiet. And you have that look that tells me you have already done something…something you don’t think I’m going to like. So out with it.”
Tobi stared out over the water for several minutes before taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders. “Okay. I helped the guys send your mom and brother to Sealy to stay with the Bollingers.” Gracie came out of her seat like a shot, but as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, Tobi raised her hand to stop her. “Listen for a minute. Both of them are vets, their kids are older, all of them know their way around weapons, and they don’t have any connection to you whatsoever. They are also hunters so they have plenty of firepower at the disposal. Jax’s family has already sent a security firm out to install a state of the art security system, which isn’t costing them anything.”
Gracie collapsed back into her seat and didn’t even try to hold back the tears. A part of her mind knew that moving her mom and brother was the right thing to do. But another part of her wanted to fight this to the end because no one had even consulted her. She was tired of being at the whim of whatever direction fate’s winds decided to blow. First she’d had to cope with the loss of her father, then the disaster with Baldamino followed by years of living in fear, and now the battle was even more in the forefront because he’d found her.
When would it end? There were a hundred ways this could go and ninety-nine of them ended badly. Gracie was both physically and emotionally drained. She’d been covering up the fact that she was dropping weight but that wasn’t going to last much longer. Jax had already looked at her with a raised eyebrow earlier today when he’d spanned her waist with his hands. He’d leaned down and whispered in her ear, promising they would be having a discussion later, and that wasn’t likely going to be a walk in the park either.
Gracie finally found her focus and turned to Tobi, “Why you? I mean, why are you telling me and not Micah or Jax? I don’t understand. And why didn’t my mom call? And Alex should have at least text me. I’m just so tired of not having any power in my life. Everything has been out of control since the night they dragged my dad out of our home. And every time I think I’m getting my feet under me, someone yanks on the damned rug again and I go tumbling down a steep flight of stairs into chaos.” By the time she’d finished, she was hiccupping her sobs as the tension just seemed to flow from her.
While she’d been blustering and blubbering, Tobi had moved so she was now sitting alongside Gracie. She’d draped her arm over Gracie’s shaking shoulders and just let her cry for several minutes. Once the sobs had started to diminish, Tobi used one of the linen napkins from their picnic to dry Gracie’s tears before answering, “I asked to be the one to tell you, because I was the one to suggest the move and the location. Your mom understood the importance of not contacting you because your phone was already being pinged by someone in Central America. Please don’t be mad at us, we really were trying to help.”
Gracie felt sorry for her friend and turned to hug her. “I know and I’m sorry for venting to you. It’s just that I had such high hopes when I got this job. It was the answer to so many prayers that I thought this time things were going to be different. But now my mom and brother are forced to hide with strangers and I’m basically a prisoner again. Don’t get me wrong…I love it here, but just knowing that I can’t even drive into town to shop or to go out for a burger…well, it makes me want to go all that much more.”
They sat together in silence for several more minutes before Gracie saw a flicker of light across the river. It was a reflection of light from the trees and she froze. “Did you see that?”
*****
Jax pressed on the earpiece as he made his way toward the gazebo where Gracie and Tobi had been eating lunch. He and Micah had promised to leave it to Tobi, and had agreed to only monitor their conversation. And he’d kept his end of the bargain until her crying had completely unhinged him, and then he’d begun making his way toward her. Grabbing a com unit had been a last minute decision and now he was grateful he’d taken the time. When he’d heard Gracie tell Tobi about the reflection of light he’d taken off running. He knew Micah would be sending out the word but if someone was on the other side of the river with a scope, there was no way they’d ever get there in time to catch whoever it was.
His height had been a disadvantage so many times during his time in the Special Forces that Jax had often caught himself cursing it, but today he was grateful for his longer than normal stride. Just as he made his way into the gazebo he saw a flash across the river. Launching himself at the women, he circled his arms around both of them and rolled to the ground. The first shot had been so close he’d felt the air rush past his left ear. He rolled under the steel tables just as a second bullet pinged off the curved leg of the steel leg of the unit.
Jax heard the jet skis and speedboat roar to life down at the dock a split second before the third bullet took out a chunk of the concrete floor near his head. “Stay down, but start scooting toward the edge. As soon as you are close, roll quickly over the edge and then run like hell into the trees. Kent and Kyle are on their way down from the main house and we’ve already sent men to the other side, although I don’t think there is much hope they can catch him, it might at least make him divide his attention and buy us a few seconds.” He was grateful both women nodded quickly and then simply followed his instructions without asking any questions.
Both of them managed to roll over the edge of the gazebo’s concrete floor into the floor bed and then scamper into the trees without any more shots being fired their way. Which Jax knew meant one of two things,
either the shooter had heard the watercraft and abandoned his objective in favor of escape or his sights had actually been set on Jax. He’d stayed down for just a few seconds before he’d followed them into the relative safety of the trees.
Out of the hundreds of close calls Jax had experienced while a part of the Special Forces teams, the incident today had totally eclipsed everything else he’d experienced. The fear that had lanced through him when he realized the danger Gracie and Tobi were in had almost frozen him. If he hadn’t been flooded with adrenaline as they made their way back to the main house with Kent and Kyle, he might had been a bit more introspective about the significance of his reaction. But every step he’d taken had sent a caveman’s pounding need to protect his woman surging through his blood. By the time they reached the back door his body language must have been entirely too clear because Kent had pulled him aside. “Are you going to be okay? Because I’m gonna level with you, man, you look like you need to work off the spin before you say or do something you’ll regret later.”
One of the things being a SEAL had taught Jax was that coming down from what they called a mission high was often more difficult than the mission itself. He’d heard many tales about colleagues unintentionally hurting others during those first few hours simply because their bodies were trained to deal with the adrenaline rush for a longer period of time, so the decline was often a much longer process for a returning soldier.
Running his hand through his hair in a move he knew conveyed the raw edge of emotion he was walking, he shook his head. “Honestly? I don’t know. I’ve never been so damned scared in my entire life. Knowing Gracie and Tobi were in danger felt like someone sticking swords through my heart. And here’s the kicker, I don’t even think the shooter was aiming at them. I think I was the target.”
Kyle had moved ahead with the women and Jax hadn’t realized that Gracie had doubled back until after he’d spoken. When he looked up and saw her standing just behind Kent’s left shoulder, his heart sank. He watched as all the color drained from her face and her eyes filled with terror. The look of absolute horror on her beautiful face made him wish he could pull the words back, but of course he couldn’t. And her whispered words, “He’ll kill you just because I love you...it’s all the reason he’ll need.” The anguish in her voice tore at his heart. Kent heard her and must have recognized the desperation, because he turned just as her knees folded, catching her in his arms.
Chapter Nineteen
Micah sat in front of the fireplace staring at the dying embers and wondered how things had gotten so screwed up in just a matter of hours. As SEALs, they’d have termed it FUBAR, fucked up beyond all recognition. But it didn’t matter what label you slapped on it, everything was still spinning wildly out of control. Once Grace had come to, she’d been adamant about leaving Prairie Winds to the point that she and Tobi had actually ended up yelling at one another.
Kyle West had finally sent his nearly hysterical wife upstairs with Kent with promises of a sound spanking for her interference. Each time Kyle had tried to rationalize with Gracie, his tiny tigress of a wife had jumped in the middle of their discussion and the hell of it was, her points had been valid. But Tobi’s refusal to stay quiet had pushed her husband over an edge and Micah wasn’t sure he’d ever seen his friend that angry before today. He wasn’t entirely sure Tobi hadn’t been intentionally trying to antagonize Kyle in order to deflect Gracie’s attention. If it had been her plan, she’d failed miserably.
As Kent had carried her out of the room over his shoulder, Tobi had still been cursing a blue streak about Neanderthals and Doms with God complexes and how good Kyle would look with his paddle stuck up his ass like a popsicle stick. It was the only time Micah had seen even a flicker of emotion cross Gracie’s face and it had been easy to see she was trying valiantly to suppress her smile.
Rubbing his hand over the stubble on his chin, Micah moved his gaze from the fire and looked over at Jax and sighed. “I really don’t know what to do. Her expression was so blank when we left Kyle’s office. The complete lack of emotion tells me that we didn’t reach her tonight and I honestly just don’t know how to do it. I’ve never seen someone build a wall around themselves so quickly or effectively. She honestly thinks she is protecting us by leaving.”
This time it was Jax who leaned forward with his arms resting on his knees and stared into the dying fire as he shook his head. “I’ll never forgive myself for letting her hear my words. Whoever was shooting wasn’t trying to kill me, just scare me off. And I agree that it tells us they want her alive, and that it doesn’t seem as though they know who we are or they’d have known better than to just take pot shots.” Although the truth of it was that since most soldiers in Central America were only loyal to whoever was currently in power or how had the highest cash offer. Even if they knew he was a soldier, it was likely whoever had hired the shooter honestly didn’t understand the honor code American soldiers lived by or they’d have given his life for either Gracie or Tobi and never had to think twice about the decision.
Short of holding her against her will, Micah wasn’t sure how long they were going to be about to keep her at the compound. After Tobi was gone, Kyle had continued talking to Gracie because she had flatly refused to even respond to either he or Jax. It had finally gotten late enough in the afternoon that she had agreed to rest before taking off under the cover of darkness. Just as Micah started to respond to Jax, there was a knock on their door.
Jax moved to their front door and when he opened it, Lilly West swept into the room like the tornado she often proved to be. Both of her husbands were trailing along behind her, but neither Dean nor Dell West seemed as agitated as their lovely wife. She looked around the room before turning to Micah. “Where is she? We’re putting a stop to this nonsense right now. Thinking I spent all those hours answering those inane questions at the law enforcement center just so she can waltz out of here big as she pleases. I don’t think so…no siree.” Her voice had trailed off but he could see it was only going to be a brief lull in the storm.
Micah knew without even turning toward the hallway that Gracie must have come into the room because Lilly’s eyes had narrowed and her hands were now bracketing her slender hips. “You get your happy self right on in here, Gracie. Boy oh boy, my two husbands have been preaching to me for years that I should be thanking my lucky stars that the good Lord gave me boys. Because boys are so much easier to raise, they said. Girls are more emotionally driven, they don’t think things through logically, they said. Well…I scoffed at that and now I’m dealing with a hell on wheels daughter-in-law that I had to practically hand deliver to my sons and then I had to talk her into staying with them when they screwed everything up right out of the gate. And tonight…oh don’t even get me started on the train wreck I just walked in to up there.”
Micah watched as Gracie’s eyes never left Lilly's face. Lilly started pacing and he had to suppress a grin when he saw Dean and Dell both lean comfortably against a back wall, arms crossed over their chests, and indulgent half smiles curving their lips. They were obviously just going to let their lovely wife get it all out of her system before adding their two cents.
Trying to hold back his smile at the stunned expression on Gracie’s face, Micah settled back and studied her as she focused on Lilly. From their previous conversations, Micah knew that Gracie considered her mother to be a strong-willed woman and had even compared her to Lilly a couple of times, so it made sense that Mama West had garnered her full attention. He sent up a silent prayer thanking the Fates for the gift of Lilly West, because it appeared as though she might be the one person among them that had a chance to reach Gracie.
*****
Gracie watched Lilly West pace the room in the tallest, narrowest stiletto heels she’d ever seen on a pair of boots. The woman’s balance was something to behold as she moved with fluid grace around the room, managing the oak flooring and throw rugs with equal ease. Her pencil skirt was so tight Gracie wondered how t
he woman got in and out of a vehicle, but when she let her gaze move to Dean and Dell, their lust-filled expressions spoke volumes. Gracie didn’t doubt they were more than happy to lift their live-wire wife into any vehicle they could.
“Gracie, you better listen to me, young lady. These men are the best at what they do. They don’t think I know about their jobs or the types of things they did in the SEALs, but they’re wrong. I may not know all of it, but I know enough to know you are safer here than anywhere else.”
Gracie didn’t think Lilly had even looked at her so she was surprised at her next words. “I can tell what you’re thinking, and if you think leaving will protect them, then you better yank that very pretty head of yours out of your ass. Because these are men of integrity and they’ll follow you. And then you’ll have all of your asses swinging in the breeze. And don’t give me that little speech about painting a nice large target on everybody here, either. You think that asshat that is after you is going to just turn tail and chase you…that he isn’t royally pissed off that somebody old enough to be his mother took out two of his hired guns? You think he isn’t a bit miffed that he now looks like a boob to all his other criminal buddies?”
Micah and Jax had both tried to cover their snorts of laughter with feigned coughing fits, but Gracie hadn’t been fooled. And when she saw Dean glance at his watch and shake his head as he handed a fistful of cash to his grinning brother, she wondered what the wager had been. Tobi had told her once that Kent and Kyle’s dads regularly bet on various things related to their wife. Gracie could only assume they’d bet on how long it would take Lilly to make Micah and Jax lose their famous control.