A Mad Reed Security Christmas

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  “I know, but you’re staying with us,” I finally said. “It could still blur the lines. It’s best if we only practice together every once in a while.”

  He nodded. “Do you and Alec train together?”

  “Yeah. We’re on the same team, and he’s my team leader. So, when we go out on a job, we have to be able to work together efficiently.”

  He sat for a moment, not saying anything. I didn’t want to push too much, but this was good. We’d had a little conversation and finally pushed past the silence barrier that was there most days. He stood and picked up his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder.

  “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

  “Alright.”

  I stood, watching him disappear into his room, shutting the door behind him. I started pacing. He was getting under my skin, and I could feel it. It was just…he needed someone and I was here. I could tell, that night when he held the knife on me, that I had come into his life for a reason. And I knew right then and there that this kid just needed a chance.

  The door opened and Alec walked in. I quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him to our bedroom, not wanting Reid to overhear anything we had to say. Alec grinned and kissed me hard, but I pushed him off me.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I want Reid to stay with us.”

  He looked at me funny, a slight grin touching his lips. “Yeah, I want him to stay too.”

  “No, I mean, I want him to stay. For good.”

  Alec’s eyes narrowed slightly and then he stepped away, rubbing his hand along his jaw. “Florrie, we can’t just keep him here forever. I mean, I want that too, but we still don’t know who he belongs to.”

  “And they deserve him?” I shot back. “They abused him, and you want to send him back?”

  “Fuck no,” he said fiercely. “You really think I want to send him to the people that he ran away from? Florrie, I would do fucking anything to keep that kid here with us. But we don’t just have rights to him because we picked him up and gave him a home. Someone’s going to be looking for him. Even if it’s not his asshole parents. For all you know, there’s someone out there that’s desperate to find him.”

  “Then why haven’t they filed a police report? Why haven’t they been searching the streets for him? Sean didn’t know him.”

  “Maybe he’s not from around here. Fuck, I don’t know, but he’s not a fucking puppy on the streets. We can’t just bring him home and keep him forever without looking into who he is! Can’t you see that?”

  I shook my head, not believing what Alec was saying. I thought he was on the same page as me before, but now he was acting like he was going to find Reid’s parents and hand him over.

  “Alec, I won’t let you take him from me. I don’t care what I have to do, I will keep him with me every minute of the fucking day if I have to.”

  “Florrie, I’m not saying that I’m turning him over to the cops. I just want to look into this more. I need to know that I’m not keeping him from people who love him.”

  “And what about me? You’re willing to rip him away from me? Alec, he needs us. It’s not a coincidence that we were the ones on the street that night. We have what he needs!”

  “And what is that? Fuck, Florrie, what the fuck do either of us know about parenting?”

  “I know that you’re not supposed to beat your kid! I know that he needs love and support. We have a whole fucking family here that would love him. Why can’t you see that?”

  He stepped back again. It seemed like he was moving further and further from me with every sentence in this conversation.

  “Florrie, I’m not a kidnapper. I won’t keep him around here forever and pretend like he doesn’t belong to someone else. There are steps that we have to take if we want to keep him around here.”

  “And if you do that, he’s going to end up back with his parents and we’ll never see him again. Are you willing to deal with that? To know that you sent him back to hell?”

  He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, his whole body strained with tension. “I’m not willing to steal someone else’s kid to have my own. I’m going to continue to look into this, and when I find out who his parents are, I’ll take it from there. But I won’t turn a blind eye to the facts.”

  “You’re not the man I thought you were,” I said, wiping the tears that had fallen down my cheeks.

  “What are you saying?” He narrowed his eyes at me, his body going rigid.

  “I’m saying that you need to think about what’s more important to you, finding his parents or keeping me.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Alec

  I slammed the door on my pickup and headed into the bar for a drink. I couldn’t be around Florrie anymore. Not after what she said to me. She was willing to throw us away over a kid that we found on the streets. And I liked that kid, but I couldn’t justify stealing him.

  “Hey,” Craig said, slipping onto the stool beside me. “I ran into Florrie.”

  I grunted in response.

  “She says that you want to send Reid back.”

  “That’s not what I fucking said. She’s talking about keeping the kid, without finding out who his parents are.”

  “Do you really care?”

  I turned and glared at him. “Of course I care. That’s someone’s kid, and while I fucking hate what they did to him, I don’t know the whole story.”

  “So, you’re not taking his word for it.”

  “His word? He hardly fucking speaks. I don’t know what actually happened. I know it was fucking bad based on his reactions, but I can’t just steal him because of that. What if he has other family out there? Someone that’s looking for him and wants him?”

  Craig signaled for a beer. “I don’t know, man. I’m not judging. I’m just trying to understand what’s going on.”

  “I told her I needed to find out who he belonged to and find out what his situation is. She looked at me like I was betraying her.”

  We sat in silence for a few minutes, just drinking beer and staring at the wall. I couldn’t believe that she was right, that I was doing the wrong thing. We were supposed to help people, and without knowing the facts, how could I be sure that I wasn’t taking him away from people who loved him?

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Find out who his parents are. Am I doing the right thing?”

  “One thing I know about you is that you always see the big picture. Florrie can’t see that right now. She’s thinking like a mother who wants to protect a kid. And I’m not saying that’s wrong, but it’s not right either. The kid doesn’t belong to any of us. Sure, we can take him in and keep him safe until we find out who he is, but you’re right. He could have other family out there. It would be devastating to Florrie if she kept him, got even more attached, and then Reid was yanked away by other family members.”

  “I’m surprised Sean didn’t make me turn him over the night I found him.”

  “Well, I think Sean realized that the best place for him was someplace safe. And what’s safer than Reed Security?”

  “What am I supposed to do about Florrie?”

  “I would say fuck it out of her, but I’m not sure that’ll work this time.”

  I snorted a laugh. “I’m pretty sure if I went anywhere near her right now, my dick would be gone.”

  After a beat, Craig leaned over to whisper, “You could always kidnap her. It worked pretty well for me.”

  “Does Reese know how to punch?”

  He laughed. “No.”

  “Does Reese know how to hold a gun?”

  “Are you crazy? She hates them.”

  “Does she know how to kill someone with her bare hands?”

  He looked at me funny. “Of course not.”

  “Then shut the fuck up.”

  I tossed down some money and headed back for my truck. I couldn’t stand to leave things like this with Florrie. I needed her more than anything. After all we had gone throug
h, after all I had fought to keep her, I couldn’t let this go for even one night.

  I made it back to Reed Security in record time and stormed back to our suite. As expected, Florrie was in our room, laying in bed and watching tv. I grabbed the remote and flicked the tv off, then pulled her across me to straddle my lap. I held onto her hips so she couldn’t move.

  “You don’t get to do this to us. You don’t get to walk away when shit gets tough. We’ve been here before and we’ll be here again. But you do not walk away. You stay and fight with me. That’s what we promised each other.”

  “I know,” she said quietly. “I was angry.”

  “You don’t ever fucking tell me that I have to choose again. I will fight for you, and only you, with every last ounce of breath I have. Anyone else right now doesn’t fucking matter.” She opened her mouth to argue, but I shut her up with a hard kiss. When I pulled away, I grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me. “We have to work first. It doesn’t matter if the kid stays if we fall apart. You and I are all that matter right this minute. So, we fix shit between us, and then we work out a plan for the kid.”

  She nodded slightly. “Yeah.”

  “I lost you once, and walking away almost killed me. Don’t put us through that again.”

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me in close. I kissed her lightly at first, her lips brushing against mine in the sweetest way. Her body was pressed right up against mine and her pussy was rubbing against my dick hard. I flipped her onto the bed and in moments was inside her, pushing her to her limits and reminding her who she belonged to. The way she wrapped herself around me, she was trying to remind me of the same thing. But I wouldn’t ever forget. She was burned into my soul and the only way I would walk away was if I was dead.

  When we were both exhausted and had nothing left to give, I pulled her in close and relaxed back into the bed.

  “We’ll figure it out. I promise,” I said quietly. “I won’t just hand him over, but I have to know that I’m not taking him away from someone.”

  “I know.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Knight

  It wasn’t hard to find Adams. He was in a five star hotel. Apparently, he didn’t think that he had anything to be afraid of. I watched from across the street as he walked out of the hotel and got in a car. When the car was at the end of the street, I crossed the road in my black suit, that was just a little too flashy for my tastes, but necessary for this hotel. I needed to blend in, and walking in wearing a leather jacket would not help me blend. I shoved my hands into my long, black wool coat and pretended that the silk scarf around my neck wasn’t bugging the crap out of me.

  The doorman held the door for me and I gave a tight nod, not looking him in the eye. I headed straight for the elevator and hit the button for the top floor. It made me laugh that Adams didn’t have any money, but still acted like he did, getting the penthouse suite for himself.

  I had come by the hotel yesterday, and posed as an employee. It was easy after that to flirt with one of the front desk ladies. When I told her I was having trouble making a second card for one of the guests, she readily helped me out. All it took was giving her my number. My fake number.

  I walked through the doors to the suite, fairly certain that no one was in the hotel at the moment. When I heard nothing, I started my search, going first for the desk. After ten minutes of rifling through all of his paperwork, I didn’t see anything that would help me find what I wanted. I moved on to his bedroom, finding his laptop and case almost immediately. I was just about to hack into his laptop when something slipped out of the case.

  I picked up the paper and grinned. This was just what I needed. After doing a search on his computer, I found his contact information for Carlos Rodríguez, his cartel associate, along with every incriminating piece of information he had gathered on him. I pulled out a flash drive and quickly uploaded all the documents, then erased the hard drive. Of course, that didn’t mean that all the information was really gone, but it would work for what I needed.

  I tidied up the suite, making sure everything was back in place as it should be and walked right out of the room and out the front door of the hotel with no one the wiser. I had one more stop to make, but before I did that, I needed to look the part.

  ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️

  I walked into the bar that I knew posed as a front for unsavory business transactions. According to Adams’ computer, Carlos was in town, most likely to keep track of his investment. I walked straight past the bar and down the hallway for the bathroom, heading straight for the back door that was currently guarded by two men that looked like your typical cartel bodyguards.

  “I’m here to see Carlos.”

  “He’s not in.”

  “Tell him that I can destroy him by tomorrow. He’ll speak to me if he wants my information.”

  One of the guards moved inside the room behind the door. It was only a minute later that the door opened. The guard went to pat me down and I yanked back his hand, breaking his wrist. “Make one more move like that and I’ll snap your neck.”

  The guard looked to Carlos and then let me go when Carlos waved me in. “So, what is this information that I must have?”

  “First, I want the contract you put out on Adams.”

  His eyes sparkled with amusement. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do. And if you want the job done right, you’ll make sure that I am the only one with the contract.”

  “Why do you want it?” he asked curiously.

  “I happen to know some people that would be very happy to see him dead. And I’ll be in the area. Actually, I’ll be exactly where he is.”

  He stared at me for a moment, his eyes flicking slightly over my shoulder. I felt the guard move closer. I heard the rustle of fabric and spun, grabbing his gun at the same time that I pulled my knife and slashed it across his throat. I let him drop to the ground, turning around as if nothing had happened. I unloaded the magazine from the gun and emptied the chamber. I set it all on Carlos’s desk and took a step back.

  “Well,” Carlos finally said. “I guess you’ve proven your capabilities. How much do you want?”

  “Free of charge.”

  “You want the hit for nothing.”

  “Like I said, it’s beneficial to me.”

  “And what do you want for the information that you have on me?”

  I pulled the flash drive from my pocket and held it up. “This? That’s also free.”

  I tossed it to him and he caught it, staring at me like I was a fucking lunatic. “What is this?”

  “All the dirt Adams dug up on you. I erased the hard drive. You’re welcome.”

  He shook his head slowly. “No one ever works for free.”

  “Like I said, I want the contract. I just handed you evidence that would put you behind bars. As soon as you give the contract to me, and only me, we’re square.”

  Carlos barked out a laugh, gesturing for me to come forward. He poured a shot of tequila for both of us. “Come, let’s drink to our newfound friendship.”

  I took the shot, drinking it down and slamming the shot glass back on the table. I leaned forward, whispering for only him to hear. “I get the contract. If anyone else shows up, I’ll be back for you. And you’ll die the same way I take out Adams.”

  Carlos nodded. “Perhaps we’ll come across each other again someday. What’s your name?”

  “That’s something you’ll never get,” I said, right before I turned and walked out of the room.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Cap

  Knight had the blueprints of the lodge laid out on the table in front of us. He had spent the past few days at the lodge with Lola, figuring out the weak spots of the lodge and where we would be most vulnerable. He had been going on for the last fifteen minutes about ideas he had, and what kind of fire power we needed.

  “What about other guests? Did you get any informatio
n on them?” I asked Lola.

  “Yeah, there aren’t any other guests.”

  “Is the place a disaster?”

  Shit, if the place didn’t look nice, Chance and Morgan would have a terrible wedding.

  “Actually, it’s very nice. I did some research online and looked for any negative reviews, but there weren’t any. There just aren’t any bookings.”

  “That’s strange. What about in past years?”

  “They’ve always been booked,” Lola said, shrugging like she had no clue what was going on.

  “Does it really matter?” Knight asked. “Face it, we’re using them as a battleground, and their property will most likely be destroyed. It doesn’t matter why no one is booked there. It makes it easier for us.”

  “And on that note,” I sighed, “what kind of damage are we looking at?”

  “Lola and I have prepared for almost every scenario, but obviously we can’t predict everything they might do or in what order. As of right now, we’re looking at possibly losing part of the building. Best case scenario, if we can draw them onto the property, but keep them away from the building, we could keep the damage to a minimum. But I really doubt that’ll happen. Adams is going to come at us hard. Who knows what kind of firepower he’s going to bring.”

  “What’s the worst case scenario?”

  Knight pointed to the center of the lodge. “Right here, it’s a flat roof and it’s pretty big. Big enough for a helicopter to land. The roof is strong, so it’s definitely something they’ll consider when they check out the property. If they come with a helicopter and land on the roof, we’re talking total destruction.”

  “I hope the building’s insurance is paid up,” I muttered.

  “If I may make a suggestion, I’m monitoring their bookings. They’re going to do what we just did. As soon as I see a booking, Lola and I should pose as a husband and wife and scope out what they’re doing. It’ll give us a leg up, help us make our final plans.”

  “Do it,” I said with a nod.

  The doors to the conference room burst open and Maggie walked in, pissed off, which was a normal face for her ever since she found out she was pregnant. I braced myself, ready for the attack of whatever she was pissed off about now.