by Avery Gale
She heard Kat sniff through the connection. You have to love emotional pregnant friends. Kat just said, “Right back atcha’. Hugs and call me later.” And then she was gone.
Driving down the mountain was treacherous, and more than once Rissa had questioned the wisdom of trying to get back to her cold, bleak apartment in a car that was ill equipped for the snow-packed roads. By the time she pulled in behind the tavern, her usual parking spot was filled, hell the whole block was full. Holiday weekends were always hopping at the little honky-tonk bar. It was a gathering place for everyone in town visiting family and friends. And many of these early patrons would be heading up to ShadowDance later so at least the noise level would ease up after a while. She finally found a parking place a couple of blocks over and cursed her high-heeled boots with every step on the icy walk.
The wind had picked up so she’d pulled her hood up to cover her ears and shield her face. Rissa was usually acutely aware of her surroundings, being a kidnapping victim had deeply ingrained that cognizance within her. It was telling about her emotional state that she hadn’t noticed the couple who stood in the shadows watching her make her way up the back staircase and in to her frigid studio apartment.
“I told you she’d come back here eventually. Now, when are you going to get rid of her?” The woman’s voice was shrill and reminded Maks of fingernails being raked down a chalkboard.
“I have already told you, Mr. Petrov is planning to take care of this himself. He is on his way, but will not be here until tomorrow. The flights into Denver were booked solid, what the fuck is with all this travel for eating turkey, anyway?” He’d never understood Americans’ fascination with a holiday that seemed to revolve around a bird. And they followed that with another holiday that seemed to celebrate a loud, fat man in a strange red suit, so what did he know? He’d grown up in the slums of Moscow so celebrations of any kind had been little more than government sanctioned events. Holidays were not recognized in his family because the only thing they had ever respected was money. “We just needed this visual, I wanted to make sure you had given me the correct information. Your motives for helping us are…what should I say it? Questionable. And I don’t trust you.”
Rachel Sutton was immediately indignant. “What do you mean you don’t trust me? You wanted me to let you know if I saw her, and I’ve delivered. I don’t know why you don’t just go get her and lock her in the trunk of your car until your boss gets here. You know the men from ShadowDance will be here before morning, don’t you?”
“Indeed we do know, and we are better prepared this time. We have no need of your advice. You will have your reward, and she will be gone. Why is that so important to you anyway?” Maks knew that women like this one never did anything without a self-serving motive, and judging by the way she was dressed, she wasn’t in desperate need of the paltry sum she was being paid. When she didn’t immediately answer, he wasn’t surprised and simply said, “I’m going in to the bar for a beer, I suggest you get home before someone sees you standing in the alley with a man you aren’t going to be able to explain to your society twit friends.” He started to walk toward the bar and was pleased to hear her head in the other direction. Perhaps he’d ask around a bit and see if anyone knew just why the bitch calling herself Rachel was so determined to see his target out of the picture. You can never have too much information—perhaps there is more money to be made from this disaster before Petrov arrives.
Chapter Seventeen
Rissa made her way through the dark, cold studio apartment she had called home since returning to Climax. She had cleaned out her Granny’s house and put it on the market almost immediately after she’d been cleared by the government’s evaluation team. How they could rescue you and then hold you for months in what they’d called “Protective Custody,” she had never been able to figure out. The house had sold within hours, she’d received an absurd offer so far above the small home’s market value she’d called the realtor to make sure the paperwork she’d received wasn’t in error. He had assured her the offer notation was correct as was the stipulation that the seller not be given the buyer’s name. While she thought it odd, the money had been a Godsend, and she’d signed and promised to have her belongings out by the end of the next week. While she still didn’t know who the buyer had been, she did know whoever it was had a heart of gold because she’d been told she could leave her belongings in the house as long as she needed to. She had finally managed to have the house completely cleaned out a couple of months later. The memories of the last time she’d closed the front door and turned the well-worn key in the lock still brought her to tears.
Quickly turning the dial on the old heat register against the large windows facing the street, Rissa looked around at her bleak surroundings and sighed. Exhaustion and emotional overload were taking their toll, and even though she could feel the pounding bass of the dance music below, she was just too frazzled to care. After a fast trip to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth, Rissa returned to the main room and collapsed on the oversized stuffed chair she’d brought from Granny’s. Pulling the soft afghan that she kept draped over the back over her, she finally let the tears fall. Without another thought to the phone she’d turned off before returning it to her purse, Rissa cried herself to sleep.
* * * *
Mitch was in a panic by the time he reached the top of the stairs and rounded the corner in to the room where they’d left Rissa a few hours earlier. He had gotten tied up with work, reports of a man with a foreign accent asking questions about The Club and Rissa had kept him holed up in the Crow’s Nest much longer than he’d planned. Bryant had offered to deliver the clothing they planned to have Rissa wear for tonight’s Club scene, and when he’d found the room empty, he’d called Mitch.
After several phone calls including one to the garage, they surmised their woman had panicked and ran. Fuck it all. What a damned novice mistake. We knew the morning was intense damn it. Leaving her to her own coping devices was not a mistake any experienced Dom should ever make, let alone two of us. As he made down the long hallway and finally stepped into the room, he came face-to-face with Bryant whose stern expression told him there was something important going on. “Let’s go. We’re meeting Alex, Zach, and Katarina in the office.” At Mitch’s puzzled expression he continued. “Seems Mrs. Lamont has information her husbands have persuaded her to share.” Finally a small smile crept over his tight lips causing them to curve upward ever so subtly. “That woman is going to be sitting on a pillow for months if not years with all the punishments she’s racking up. I swear sometimes I think she is trying to push them in to paddling her bare ass now. I think she’s bored if you want to know the truth, and she’s topping from the bottom in every way she can think of and they are simply not taking the bait. But they will exact every single punishment, I have complete faith in them.”
They were almost to the bottom of the stairs when they heard Alex’s voice booming from the office. “Katarina, I love you with my entire heart and soul, but if you don’t sit your lovely ass in a chair this very instant, I swear I will not be responsible for my actions.” Oh joy, the boss is wound for sound already.
Katarina was stalling, plain and simple. He knew it. Zach knew it. And Katarina knew it. What he men didn’t know was why, but they damned well knew who would be able to find out. From the look on her face when Mitch walked through the door, she also knew exactly how this conversation was going to play out. Alex watched her shoulders sag in defeat. Good, finally some sign of the submissive we married. God, I don’t know if I’m going to survive this woman let alone the babies he could see dancing in her round belly. Alex and Zach could both lie alongside her for hours staring at her naked middle, watching as small fists and feet pressed outward as if trying to touch the daddies they heard talking to them from an outside world they couldn’t wait to join.
The instant Mitch cleared the door, he sensed his role and moved to sit by Kat, and taking her small hand in hi
s. “Kat, Rissa seems to have gone missing. There are some things happening in town that make it less than safe for her to be alone. Please, tell us anything you can that will help us keep her safe.” Mitch had gone straight to her heart, he’d known playing the safety card would be the quickest way to get information. Katarina Lamont had a heart as big as a woman twice her size, and her experience as a victim would make her even more vulnerable to his argument.
Kat gasped at his words but continued to look at him thoughtfully, trying to judge his sincerity and what level of threat he posed to her friend. Alex growled from the other side, “Katarina.” His voice was low and her name drawn out, but the message was clear. She merely held up her hand to him, giving him a clear signal to stop.
“I’m not stupid, Alex, if Rissa’s safety is in question, I’ll tell you everything, but I want to ask Mitch and Bryant a couple of questions first.” Turning her gaze to Bryant, she asked, “What is your plan with Rissa? Are you playing or serious? I’ve seen you very little since your return, and everything I know about the person you are now is secondhand information.” Smiling a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she turned to Alex and then Zach. “Not that my husbands would ever mislead me or withhold valuable information from me or anything you understand—but I’d like to hear this one directly from you if you don’t mind.” Her comment made no attempt to conceal she was still angry about her husbands not telling her that they’d known she was having twins for almost a month before it had been inadvertently revealed during an argument. Mitch had to suppress a smile. Oh yeah, I tried to warn you she was going to have your balls on a platter when she found out, but did you listen to me? Fuck no…and you can just stew in it, boys.
Bryant moved so that he was squatted down directly in from of Kat and he took her other hand into his and looked deeply in to her eyes as he spoke. “Katarina, I adore Rissa. She is everything Mitch and I ever dreamed of finding in a wife and partner. The love I feel for her touches the very bottom of my heart and sends warmth to parts of me that I was afraid would never feel warm again.” He hadn’t even realized he was caressing the backs of her knuckles with his fingers, and he wondered if the movement was meant to soothe her or himself. “Please help us keep her safe. Did you talk to her before or since she left the mountain?”
Sighing deeply, Kat turned to Mitch. “What about you, Mitch? Tell me you aren’t playing with her, she won’t be able to survive that, you know? She is just still too fragile. She’ll get stronger with the right men in her life. I know what the love of those two lugheads has done for me and that is what I want for my friend. Do you understand that you hold her life, quite literally, in your hands? Are you prepared to take on that responsibility? To be there for her when she says she’s fine, when all she really wants is for you to hold her until it’s true? Are you ready for the tears that flow for no apparent reason? Are you sure you can handle the glass wall she’s put up to keep her heart safe—the one that lets you see her, but not really reach inside? It’s made of ice you know, and the only way in is to melt it with love—well, and really hot sex.”
Mitch was relieved to hear that humor finally surface, because this was the Kat he knew how to deal with. “Kat, I have no idea how my friends over there got so damned lucky, but I’m telling you, I’ve been in a thousand jams with them, and they sure as hell didn’t earn it being angels.” He took a deep breath and squeezed her dainty hand. “I have loved Rissa since the moment she walked in to ShadowDance. Her soul calls to mine, Christ, I was about a hairsbreadth away from stalking her with all the damned research I did and the thousands of pictures I sent to Bry while he was in Japan.” Mitch sat back a bit and listened, but Kat’s lightning-fast wit and intelligence were quiet, she was just waiting for him to continue. “How about a bit of quid pro quo? I’ll go first, but you have to promise on the souls of those darling babies I see wrestling inside you that you will not tell Rissa about this…promise me?”
“You know I can’t promise that. Geez, what if you tell me you are some kind of mass murderer or something? Damn…” Kat’s lips lifted on the side so he knew she was teasing.
“No, no dice until you promise, and I swear it’s nothing immoral or illegal. Deal?” When she finally nodded, he said, “I bought her Granny’s house.” He heard more that saw her soft gasp. “I overheard her talking to the real estate agent in the diner one day. She didn’t see me, but I’m telling you, the sadness in her voice as she made those arrangements nearly broke my heart.” He’d released her hand and stood pacing the room as he continued. “I had always planned to give it to her as a wedding gift. Truth is, the deed is in her name, the only reason she doesn’t know is because all the tax statements and insurance bills come to me. I knew she was selling something she loved only because she was so overwhelmed with what had happened and that is the worst time ever to make important decisions.” He’d stopped and stood looking at her like a child seeking her approval of his actions, and she knew he was barely breathing waiting for her response.
He didn’t have to wait long. She struggled to her feet and rushed to him, burying her face in her chest and wrapping her arms around him as best she could, reaching around her well-rounded middle. “That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard, and you are so right, she has regretted that decision a thousand times. I know she has, I hear it in the wistful way she speaks about the house, all the little things she could have done with it, ways to enlarge it, decorate it…” When she pulled back Zach reached for her and enfolded her in his embrace.
“Kitten, don’t cry, please. It’s not good for you or the babies…or for me.” Smiling down at her he kissed her on the nose before moving to a chair and setting her carefully on his lap. “Now, we need to know everything. Time is really of the essence here, so spill it so we can get you back upstairs to rest a bit before dinner.” The twinkle in his eyes promised more than rest, and that was all the prompting she needed.
“Okay, she is at her apartment sleeping. She just felt so overwhelmed by everything…um…particularly whatever happened this morning that she told me she needed time to think. I was talking to her while she was driving down the mountain, and she’d calmed down some, but she knew the switchbacks were going to be really slick, and her car isn’t really good enough for her to be driving it, and she wanted to be able to concentrate on the road, so we hung up. When I tried to get through to her later and it kept going straight to voice mail, I knew she’d forgotten to turn it back on—or at least that’s what I hoped, so I called the tavern and asked them to have a look around for her car. They found it and told me there was a single set of footprints going up the back stairs, so they were sure she was up there.” When none of the men said anything, she quickly added, “That’s it, I swear. I don’t know any more than that. I didn’t want them to disturb her if she was resting.” And then in a voice little more than a whisper she added, “I know that sometimes sleep is the only escape your mind can have, so it’s precious.”
Zach scooped her in to his arms and stood and headed out of the room. Glancing at the other men, he said, “That’s it, she’s resting right now. She’s told you what she knows, and I’m worried about her, so I’m taking her upstairs.” By the time he’d finished speaking, he was out the door, and they could hear him speaking softly to his wife with words of admiration for her loyalty and smart thinking to have the tavern staff check that Rissa had made it down the mountain safely and his promises of a world-class foot massage as her reward.
When Mitch looked at his long-time friend and teammate, he smiled at Alex’s expression. For years everyone had worried that Alex Lamont seemed to be becoming more and more remote and emotionally isolated until even his twin had wondered if anything was ever going to melt the ice his heart seemed encased in. So seeing the love Alex felt for his wife written in every curve and crease of his face was as welcome a sight as Mitch had seen in a long time. Alex’s words seemed so strange coming from a man who had been as much machine as soldier for all his time
in the Special Forces. “She’s a gift straight from God, you know? I wonder every single day what I’ve done to deserve her.” Shaking his head, he seemed to come back to the moment. “Now, get your asses down the mountain and bring your woman home. We all want her safe, and she won’t be as long as she is alone in that damned hole she lives in. We own that building you know…she doesn’t know that, and I’d rather she didn’t…but we’ve tried to fix the place up for her, and she just won’t hear of it. She insists to the overseer that she doesn’t pay enough rent to merit any improvements to the place. God has gifted us with a stubborn woman, and it looks like you two aren’t going to fare any better.” Running a hand through his hair he smiled. “Now give Colt a sitrep and get a move on…Damn, what are you waiting for?”
Chapter Eighteen
The roads leading into the small town of Climax, Colorado were getting worse, and the tiny rental car Victoria Paulson had driven from her home in Houston was ill-equipped to handle the treacherously slick, narrow paths that state officials seemed to think qualified as highways. Good God how do people in this state survive? There must be some special add-on to the local driver’s education classes…Yeah, a required workshop called “Crazy Mountain Driving for Dummies”! Even though Tori had been born in Colorado, her father had quickly taken her mother away from her family and moved the three of them every year or so until her mother’s family had stopped trying to track them down. She still remembered the words her mother had whispered to her just before she’d succumbed to the cancer that had left her a mere shell of the vibrant woman she’d once been. “Uncle Saul lives in Climax, CO. Don’t ever forget that—if you need him, call the Sheriff there. Promise you’ll remember…you’ll always be safe there.” And then she was gone.