by Susan Stoker
The others were excited about the prospect and began a conversation about what else they wanted to ask the veteran and whether their latest plans for the robotic arm would actually work.
Jackson felt Jenny shiver and leaned down. “Cold?”
“A little,” she told him, looking up at him with her big green eyes. He’d been half in love with her the second he’d seen her. Her red hair fell past her shoulders in waves and her pale skin had freckles all over it. He didn’t know he was a sucker for freckles until he’d met her.
She was a lot younger than he was, more than she or her parents knew, but Jackson was moving slowly with her. She was inexperienced and a little naïve, but he loved that about her. He hadn’t pushed her to do anything she was uncomfortable with, but earlier that night, they’d made out behind one of the cars in the lot, and it had been amazing. He’d kissed girls before, had even had sex not too long after Wendy had given him the condom talk, but nothing had affected him as deeply as simply kissing Jenny. She was special, and the fact that she was with him made Jackson feel both scared to death he would let her down somehow and proud as fuck at the same time.
When they were kissing, she’d taken his hand in hers and put it over her breast. Jackson had gotten hard the second he’d felt her small nipple pushing against his palm. He hadn’t done more than squeeze her tit over her shirt, but even that had made him feel ten feet tall. She’d trusted him not to hurt her and not go any further than she wanted.
“You wanna go home?” he asked, rubbing his nose against hers affectionately.
She smiled up at him. “Do you think we can just go somewhere quiet and talk for a while?”
Jackson shifted until he was holding her hand. He squeezed it and said, “That sounds great.” He hoped she might want to kiss a bit more before he took her home as well.
He bid farewell to his friends and looked for Rob. He was their ride home. He saw him with a group of other boys. He led Jenny that way and told Rob they’d be hanging out near the entrance to the parking area. It was really just a large field that had been cordoned off, but it served its purpose…namely, to keep the cars away from the fires and the people.
Rob nodded and said he’d be ready to go in about thirty minutes. Looking at his watch and seeing it was eleven, that worked for Jackson.
He led Jenny over to the parking area and gestured to a large log on its side. It had obviously been placed there as a barrier, but it was a perfect seat. He straddled it and encouraged Jenny to do the same. As soon as she’d sat facing him, Jackson scooted as close to her as he could, pulling her legs over his own. The position was intimate and cozy. He locked his hands together at the small of her back, giving her stability as she perched on the log.
They’d been sitting there, talking and kissing, for about fifteen minutes when Jackson heard something behind them. He turned to see what it was, expecting to see Rob, but was knocked off the log when something hit him in the side.
Because Jenny was mostly sitting on his lap, she went flying as well. Jackson ended up halfway on top of her on the hard grass and dirt. He moaned in pain but immediately shifted so he wasn’t crushing her.
The second he moved, someone hauled him upright with a hand gripping the back of his shirt.
Jackson’s first thought was of Jenny. To protect her.
Instinctively, he bent his leg and kicked back at the person holding him. Whoever it was fell to the ground with a groan, but instantly more hands were there, grabbing at him.
Jackson knew he was in over his head immediately. He tried to do what Aspen and his friends had taught him, but there were just too many hands hitting him. Too many feet kicking him.
But the tipping point was the baseball bat that someone kept using to hit him in the side.
He fell to the ground and tried to get up, but it was no use. He curled into a ball to protect his kidneys and head, but it didn’t stop the beating. The guys kicking his ass were relentless in their assault.
Jenny screeched then, but the sound was immediately cut off.
Looking up, Jackson saw Lars holding her against his chest. He had his hand over her mouth and was smirking down at him.
“Back off, boys,” he ordered, and immediately the guys beating on him stopped. They didn’t move away, as if they were afraid he was going to leap up and try to get to Jenny and Lars. Jackson couldn’t catch his breath, and he knew moving was going to be extremely painful. But he couldn’t just lie on the ground and let Lars hurt Jenny.
“Lookie what I found,” Lars taunted. “A cute little freshman to have fun with.”
“Leave her alone, asshole,” Jackson growled, forcing himself up to his knees.
“What are you going to do about it?” Lars asked. “You can’t even stand up. Some protector you are.” He looked over at one of his friends and nodded.
Before Jackson could think to protect himself, the boy with the bat—he thought it was Chuck—hit him again.
Doubling over in pain, Jackson fell once more, panting, trying to catch his breath. It felt as if he wanted to cry, but it hurt too badly for any tears to form.
Lars leaned over Jackson, still holding Jenny. “Me and the boys are going to have us our own private party since we weren’t invited to this one. We’re gonna show your girlfriend a real good time.”
Jackson saw Jenny’s beautiful green eyes, wide with terror, fill with tears as she struggled against Lars’s hold. But at five feet three, she was no match for the man’s superior height and strength.
Jackson felt helpless. He needed to get up. To help Jenny. To make sure Lars and his cronies didn’t hurt her.
Lars stood upright and picked Jenny up off her feet. She tried to kick him, but he merely laughed. “Come on, boys. I think it’s time we showed Jenny what a real man is like.” And without another glance at Jackson, Lars spun on his heels, still holding the frantically struggling Jenny. He headed toward a beat-up old pickup truck on the edge of the lot, not far from where Jackson had been kissing Jenny.
The four guys each kicked and punched Jackson another couple times for good measure, then ran laughing after Lars.
Jackson lay on the ground in despair, panting for a moment. His vision blurred from the blood dripping into his eye from a cut over it. He couldn’t quite catch his breath, but he forced his aches and pains back. He watched as one of the guys got into Lars’s truck and the others ran toward another pickup a few cars over.
He could see Lars in the cab of his truck, trying to kiss Jenny, and laughing as she continued to fight him.
A wave of hatred swept over Jackson, and he was moving before he’d even thought about it. He managed to get to his feet, even though he could only stand all hunched over, and with a hand over his kidney, he limped as fast as he could toward Lars’s truck. Jenny was putting up the struggle of a lifetime against the two men, and as much as Jackson wanted to rip open the door and rescue her, he knew he was outnumbered, and he’d only get himself and Jenny hurt even more.
Seeing there was no tailgate on the truck, and a large tarp covering something in the back, he made a split-second decision. Jackson tried to be as quiet as he could—not that Lars would hear him over Jenny’s shrieks of terror and his own evil laughter—and eased his aching body onto the truck bed, covering himself with the foul-smelling tarp.
He would’ve laughed at the irony that Lars, the piece of shit, was hauling a load of crap around in the back of his truck, but he was too scared, worried about Jenny, pissed off, and hurting to even crack a smile.
He’d gotten settled not a moment too soon because the truck engine started and Lars peeled out of the parking area seconds later. Jackson moved slightly so he could lift the back of the tarp and see where they were going, then reached into his front pocket for his phone. For once in his life, he was thankful that Wendy hadn’t been able to afford the huge, expensive smartphone he’d wanted. It wouldn’t’ve fit in his pocket and would probably be lying on the ground back where he’d been bea
ten up.
Making sure to keep the phone under the tarp so the light on the screen wouldn’t alert Lars or his buddy if they happened to look behind them, Jackson clicked on his sister’s name.
He needed help. Immediately. And there was only one person, or group of people, that could help him and Jenny right now.
* * *
Blade ignored his raging hard-on and concentrated on making sure Wendy was pleasured. She was sitting astride his lap and they’d been making out for the last twenty minutes or so. At first, they’d only been kissing, but as time went on, and she got more and more aroused, they’d progressed to her shirt coming off and Blade’s lips on her tits.
She was rubbing herself against his erection and moaning in satisfaction, and Blade had never felt as relieved as he did right then. He’d been afraid she’d never be able to let go enough to trust him to make her feel good again. But at the moment, she obviously wasn’t thinking about anything but her pleasure.
Her hands were in his hair, gripping tight. Grabbing at him when she wanted him to suck harder and pulling on his hair when he nipped her a bit roughly. He grinned. She loved his mouth on her. He’d skipped this the last and only time they were together, concentrating more on her juicy pussy and the delicious taste of her there. Mentally rebuking himself for his shortsightedness, Blade closed his eyes and did his best to see if he could make her orgasm with only his mouth on her tits and her dry humping his lap.
Just when he thought she was going to go over the edge, her phone rang, killing the mood.
Wendy jerked in his arms and opened her eyes. She didn’t seem to be all there, and Blade smiled. “Easy, sweetheart. It’s just the phone.”
Keeping hold of her, Blade reached over and grabbed her cell off the table next to the couch they were both sitting on. Looking at it, he held it up and said, “It’s Jackson.”
“Will you answer it?” she asked, sounding almost sleepy, but he knew it was still her arousal coursing through her system.
“You got it. Hey, Jackson, the party over?”
“Need…help.”
Blade immediately tensed. He sat up straight and urged Wendy to stand.
The passion wiped off her face in an instant.
“What’s wrong?” Blade asked Jackson.
“Lars. Beat me. Up. They. Have Jenny.”
His words were staccato and he sounded as if he had marbles in his mouth. Blade could also hear a lot of wind noise.
“Where are you?” He stood even as he asked and was reaching for his own cell phone to text the guys for help.
“What’s happening?” Wendy asked from next to him.
“In the back of…his truck. Hiding. Don’t know where,” Jackson said. “Ask Wendy. She’ll track me.”
Blade immediately looked at Wendy and said, “Your brother’s in trouble. I need to find him. He said you could track him? What does that mean?”
He had to give Wendy credit, she didn’t freak out. Didn’t start yelling at him to give her the phone. The blood drained from her face, but she immediately said, “Find-a-phone. It’s an app. We can both see where the other is as long as the phone is on.”
Blade nodded and sighed in relief. Putting the phone back up to his mouth, he told Jackson, “Don’t turn your phone off, whatever you do. I’m getting ahold of the others. We’re on our way.”
“Five guys…two trucks. Hurry, Aspen. They’ve got Jenny. Want to hurt her.”
“I’m coming, bud,” Blade said, hoping the kid could hear the conviction in his tone. “Stay hidden. Don’t get yourself more hurt than you already are.”
“Don’t care about me. It’s Jenny…I’m worried about,” Jackson said.
Blade understood that. He didn’t like it, but he understood. “I’m going to hang up, but I’m always here. If something changes, call me. I’m coming for you both, hear me?”
“Yeah. Tell Wendy I love her.”
Blade clenched his teeth. “Will do. Hang in there, Jackson.” And with that, Blade clicked off the phone and held it out to the scared woman in front of him. “Pull up the app,” he said.
Wendy had thrown her shirt back on and immediately began clicking on her phone. Blade pushed send on the text he’d typed to Ghost and clicked on Truck’s number.
Wendy held out the phone and Blade nodded his thanks.
“Hey, Blade, what’s up? It’s late.”
“I need your help. Wendy’s brother has been beaten up and they’ve kidnapped his girlfriend.”
“On my way. Where are we going?” Truck said without hesitation.
Blade looked down at Wendy’s phone and eyed the app. “Looks like those assholes are taking her out to the northeast side of post.”
“In the restricted training area?” Truck asked.
“Looks like it. Jack crawled into the bed of the truck and I’ve got his position pulled up on Wendy’s phone. She has an app.”
“Find-a-phone?” Truck asked.
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“I’ve got that myself,” Truck mused. “Where are we meeting? You’ve contacted the others?”
“Sent Ghost a text.”
“I’ll call the commander and give him a heads-up and get ahold of the others on my way. We’ll go through the back gate, assuming that’s how these guys went too. Meet there and consolidate to go in together?”
“Yeah. Jackson said there were five guys with Jenny.”
Truck growled, “Assholes.”
“Yeah,” Blade agreed.
“I’m on my way,” Truck said again, then hung up.
Blade turned his attention to Wendy. He didn’t have a lot of time, but he needed to reassure her before he left. “We’ve got this,” he told her, taking her shoulders in his hands. He could feel her trembling under him. “I’m going to find your brother and bring him home to you safe and sound.”
Wendy nodded and brought her hands up to his face. “Is it Lars?”
Blade nodded grimly.
“Dammit. I knew him disappearing wasn’t a good sign. I told Jackson he wasn’t going to just let things go. And he has Jenny?”
Blade nodded again. “I gotta go, but will you do me a favor?”
“What?”
“I’m going to call my sister and ask her to come over here. I don’t want you to be alone.”
“I’m okay.”
“Please, sweetheart. Let me do this.”
“But it’s late.”
“She’s up. Truck is calling Beatle and the others now. I have to take your phone with me, so I won’t have a way of letting you know everything is fine once we get to Jackson. But if Casey’s here, I can call her.”
“Oh…that makes sense. Okay.”
Blade leaned down and kissed her hard and fast. “Jackson said he loves you—but you should know, I’ve got this.”
A tear fell from her eye and trickled down her cheek, but she didn’t move to wipe it away. “I know.”
Blade hated that tear. Hated that at the moment, he couldn’t take her in his arms and comfort her. He kissed her cheek, tasting the salt left behind, and stepped back. He nodded at her, then spun and headed for the parking lot and his Jeep. He was glad he had the vehicle; they’d need it to navigate the back forty of Fort Hood. There weren’t a lot of roads back there and they’d need the four-wheel drive.
The other thought that went through his head was that if Lars was taking Jenny back there, he didn’t have plans to return with her. No one wandered into that area on a whim.
There were thousands and thousands of acres of land on the Army post. It’d be easy to rape and kill the teenager and hide her body where it would never be found.
Thank God Jackson had the wherewithal to get in the back of the truck. If they were lucky, the app would lead the Deltas straight to them and give Lars and his gang the surprise of a lifetime. He didn’t know it, but he was heading straight into an area the Delta Force team knew like the back of their hand. They’d done their share of training there.
Tonight, Lars’s reign of terror would end once and for all.
“Hang in there, buddy,” Blade murmured, thinking about Jackson as he headed out of the condo complex and raced toward one of the many back entrances to the post, his eyes alternating between the road in front of him and the app on Jenny’s phone. The blinking red dot his only comfort at the moment.
Chapter Sixteen
Wendy paced nervously. Time seemed to be moving extremely slow. Not knowing what was going on was killing her. If anything happened to Jackson, she didn’t know what she would do. He might be her brother, but right now it truly felt as if he were her child.
A knock on the door startled her out of her musings and she went to answer it. Standing on Aspen’s doorstep was his sister. But she wasn’t alone. There were five other women with her. Wendy recognized a couple, but not all of them.
Numbly, she opened the door.
Casey immediately pulled her into her arms. The hug was just what Wendy needed. She grabbed hold of Aspen’s sister and held on as if she’d never let her go. She felt them being shuffled backward, but didn’t release her.
“It’ll be okay,” Casey said soothingly. “The guys got this.”
Taking a deep breath and getting herself under control, Wendy eventually pulled back.
“Here,” someone said from next to her.
Wendy turned and saw a brunette about her height holding out a tissue.
“Thanks,” Wendy said and wiped her tears and blew her nose.
“Come on,” Casey said, hooking her arm with Wendy’s. “Let’s go sit and I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
Having no doubt the other women were the wives and girlfriends of Aspen’s teammates, Wendy docilely followed Casey into the living room. She sat in the middle of the couch and Casey plunked down next to her while Emily sat on the other side. Casey latched onto Wendy’s hand and Emily rested a hand on her thigh.
Wendy felt surrounded…and loved. She’d felt alone ever since her parents had died. As if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. But these six women, most of whom she didn’t know, had managed to make the oppressive load of doom that hung around the room lift a bit with just their presence.