“Who the fuck knows,” Hollywood clipped.
“No, seriously,” Ghost insisted. “You were getting close. You’d been holding hands all night. She had you where she wanted you. Can you honestly say you wouldn’t have taken her up to your room if she gave the slightest clue she wanted that?” he asked. “Why would she tell you about Jacks if things were going so well?”
The room was silent for a moment before Hollywood ventured, “Because she felt guilty.”
“Yeah,” Ghost agreed. “I’m sure she did. But she still didn’t have to tell you shit. She could’ve ended the night, gone home, then made up some excuse not to see you again if she really felt bad about what she’d done. But instead she owned up to what she did. And while we’re on the topic…why did she go along with what Jacks told her to do?”
Hollywood stared at his friend. The question seemed to echo in his brain. Why? He brought his fingers up to his forehead and tried to massage out the headache that had been there since he’d found out what Kassie had done the evening before.
“Did she tell you why?” Beatle pushed.
Hollywood tried to think back to the night before. “She said Jacks had a buddy—Dean, I think Kassie said his name was—who didn’t make it through basic, but had learned military shit from Jacks and was following her around. After I figured out that Jacks was her ex and she admitted what she did, I didn’t exactly give her a chance to explain.”
“He’s threatening her,” Fletch said without a trace of doubt in his voice.
“He’s behind bars,” Hollywood reminded his friend.
“But his friend isn’t,” Ghost added.
“Dammit,” Hollywood swore. And suddenly he felt bad. He was the one who had been wronged in this situation, but somehow he still felt guilty about not listening to Kassie’s explanation.
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,” Blade said dryly.
“What?” Hollywood asked.
“Keep your friends—”
“I heard you, asshole,” Hollywood interrupted. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“If Jacks is still out there planning on doing whatever he’s hoping to do to us…wouldn’t we want someone who has an inside track to him on our side, giving us intel? Wouldn’t we want Kassie to help us figure out what he has up his sleeve and who he has helping him? Otherwise we’re going in blind, which is asking for a FUBAR situation.”
“This situation is already fucked up beyond all repair,” Hollywood said dryly. “But you have a point.”
“You should email her,” Ghost suggested. “Say you’re sorry. Tell her you want to talk.”
“So I should lie to her just like she did to me?” Hollywood asked his friend.
“Would you be?” Ghost responded immediately, with uncanny insight.
Fuck. He loved his friends and the fact that sometimes it seemed like they could read each other’s minds, but at the moment it was highly annoying. He wanted to hold on to his irritation. Wanted them to rant and rail about how horrible Kassie was and how what she’d done was unforgivable. But instead they used logic and made him really think about what she might be going through.
Before he could respond to Ghost, Hollywood’s phone chimed, indicating he had a new email. Glancing at the device, Hollywood blinked. Then looked again. “Fuck me,” he said under his breath.
“What?” Blade asked urgently. “Is it Truck? One of the women? Annie?”
“No. It’s Kassie. She sent me an email,” Hollywood told his friends.
When he didn’t move, but continued to stare down at his screen, Ghost ordered impatiently, “Go on. Read it.”
Hollywood nodded and clicked on the email. The men in the room were quiet as he silently read the words Kassie had sent.
When he stopped and closed his eyes, Ghost said. “Care to share? If it’s about Jacks, it involves us all.”
“I know,” Hollywood said, running his hand through his short hair. He’d gone from being angry when he’d first started talking about the situation with his friends to frustrated and confused in a heartbeat. “She’s upset. And has a right to be. I was an ass.”
“I don’t think—” Coach began, but Hollywood interrupted him.
“No, I was. I appreciate the support, but I didn’t let her talk. I kept interrupting her, all pissed off for myself because I liked her and was humiliated that she seemed to only be with me because of Jacks.”
“What’d she say?” Ghost asked.
Hollywood cleared his throat, and read Kassie’s email to his friends.
To: Hollywood
From: Kassie
Subject: I’m sorry
I’m sorry. I’ll say it as many times as I have to until you hear me. I’m sorry. So sorry.
I’m sorry, but I’m also kinda pissed. At you.
I didn’t have to tell you about Richard. I didn’t have to admit why I’d messaged you that first time, but I did. And you wouldn’t even listen to me when I tried to tell you why.
Richard hit me. It hurt. So much that I’d do anything to keep it from happening again.
He made me kiss his disgusting friends.
He made me drink that shit he called grog.
He made up Army traditions like the fucking “traitor table” and wanted me to blindly believe him.
I never felt safe with him after he got hurt. Not once.
But I felt safe with you. Even after only knowing you for a couple of hours, I knew you’d never hurt me. But then you did. You didn’t use your fists, but you still hurt me.
You want to know why I messaged you?
Because Richard’s friend, Dean, is threatening my little sister. I wouldn’t care if he threatened me; that’s nothing new. He does it all the time. But he’s following Karina. He said if I didn’t message you and try to get information from you (what information? That you look hot in your uniform? Those idiots wouldn’t know a good plan if it bit them in the ass.) that he was going to make Karina disappear and I’d never see her again.
THAT was something I couldn’t ignore. If I got hurt because of my actions, that’s one thing, but if Dean hurt Karina, I couldn’t live with myself.
That’s why I did it.
Even though I was reluctant to do anything Richard and Dean told me to, I did. But you made me trust you. You made me think that I had someone on my side for once. I knew you would be upset, and I didn’t blame you, but if you’d at least listened to me and then decided that you wanted nothing to do with me, that would’ve been one thing. But you didn’t even give me a chance.
For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I first messaged you for the wrong reasons, but once you wrote back, I talked with you because I liked you. You.
I hope you and your friends stay safe. Richard is (obviously) still pissed at all of you. I don’t know what he’s planning, but I’m pretty sure it involves you all dead and in the ground. Even though I’m upset, sad, and angry at you, I’d hate to see you dead. So be careful.
Good luck.
~Kassie
Call him crazy, but Hollywood couldn’t help but feel proud of Kassie. When he didn’t give her a chance to apologize she could’ve slunk back to her home and never talked to him again. But she’d reached out, not knowing if he’d reject her email as badly as he had her in person the night before. Even after she’d been abused by Jacks and his friend, she wasn’t afraid to stand up to him. He’d been an asshole, even if he was justified in his reaction to her news, but he should’ve at least listened to her. He liked her stubbornness and that she refused to let it go.
What he didn’t like was that Jacks was using his friend to blackmail someone else. It was bad enough he’d done it to Emily. They had to shut this shit down. Yesterday. He stood up.
“You going to her place?” Ghost asked.
“I want to, yes. But I need to figure out where that is first.”
Ghost grinned at him. “You gonna ask Beth?”
“Yup,” Hollywood said with
no remorse. Finding an address should be child’s play to the hacker they’d gotten to know over the last couple months.
“Need a wingman?” Blade asked. “She tore you a new asshole. I’m even a little scared of her.”
Hollywood glared at his friend, who was grinning from ear to ear. “No.”
“You want me to get with Tex or Beth to get info on this Dean guy?” Coach asked.
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Hollywood told him. “We also need to know how he’s communicating with Jacks. His letters are supposed to be monitored, as well as phone calls. Anyone know someone at Leavenworth?”
Everyone shook their heads and Ghost said, “I’ll check with Truck. He seems to have connections everywhere.”
“Appreciate it. Now if you don’t mind, I have a woman to grovel to.”
His friends grinned at him.
“Seriously, Hollywood,” Fletch said. “You need anything, let me know. Em wants to go down to Sixth Street, so I’ll be here for a few hours.”
“I will. Now I just need to figure out how in the hell I’m going to keep Kassie safe when she lives an hour from me. And her sister. And get Dean out of the picture. And make Jacks understand that he’s never to even think about his ex-girlfriend again,” Hollywood muttered.
“Hey…is Kassie the reason you asked me about my apartment being available for rent?” Fletch asked suddenly.
Hollywood shrugged, a little embarrassed. “She mentioned in passing once that she was looking to get out of Austin.”
Fletch got up, walked over to Hollywood and put his hand on his shoulder. “If she needs or wants it, it’s hers. For as long as she needs.”
“Even though Jacks is her ex?” Hollywood asked. It was kind of a dick thing to say, but he had to know if Fletch would hold it against her in some way.
“Especially because Jacks is her ex. I’m more than aware of how that buttmuncher can ruin people’s lives. After what happened to Em, and then those assholes robbing our wedding reception, my place is as safe as Fort Knox. No one farts on my property without me knowing and being notified by my phone app.”
Hollywood chuckled. “Thanks, man, I appreciate it. Don’t know if she’ll need, or even want it, but it’s nice to know the option is there.”
“Anything for you. We might not be blood, but we sure as hell are brothers.”
Hooahs echoed around the room, and Hollywood smiled to himself, thinking about what Kassie had said about the word.
“Now,” he said, holding his hotel door open, “everyone get out so I can go and apologize to Kassie.”
After everyone left, and Hollywood had received a text from Beth with Kassie’s address, he tried to think about what he would say to her…and failed. She’d apologized to him, but in actuality he should be the one saying sorry to her. He was allowed to be upset, but it wasn’t cool that he didn’t let her explain. And to know that she’d done what she did because her sister was being threatened only made him feel worse.
If someone had threatened his sister, Jade, he’d do whatever it took to keep her safe. Hollywood knew he needed to start out by begging Kassie’s forgiveness for not listening to her last night, then work his way up to helping her figure out how to use Jacks’s desire for revenge against him. If the man didn’t know that Kassie had told him everything, they could use that to figure out what he had planned and take him, and his asshole friend, down.
Chapter 8
Kassie was exhausted. It was late Sunday afternoon and she hadn’t slept much last night after getting home from the ball. Too many thoughts had been going through her head. She’d alternated between being sad and heartbroken, then thoroughly pissed off. Hollywood hadn’t even given her a chance to speak. To tell him why she’d gone along with Richard and Dean’s stupid plan.
He still would’ve been pissed, and might’ve stormed off, but at least he’d have all the facts. She knew part of her upset was because she’d liked the man so much and he’d let her down badly. Just once she wanted a champion in her life. Someone who would stand by her, hold her hand, and generally tell her things would be all right. She’d never had that. She thought she had with Richard, but then the stupid explosion while he was overseas had screwed that up.
By the time she’d crawled out of bed, she’d been not only sad about what had slipped through her fingers, namely the first man she’d genuinely liked since Richard, but also a little disappointed. So she’d sent Hollywood an email. Apologized, again, and explained what he wouldn’t let her the night before.
Then she’d put on her big-girl panties and headed out to do what she should’ve done way before now.
Her first stop had been her parents’ house. Jim and Donna Anderson needed to know exactly what was going on in their oldest daughter’s life. What had been going on for the last couple years or so. They needed to know the kind of man Richard Jacks was.
They’d been understandably shocked at first. Her dad had liked Richard when he’d first met him. He hadn’t been around him much after he’d been hurt, and hadn’t wanted to believe what the newspapers said he’d done to Emily and her daughter. But listening to Kassie tell him how miserable she’d been toward the end of their relationship, and how he’d verbally and physically abused her, had hit her dad hard.
She was his firstborn. Daddy’s little girl. And showing him the emails and texts from Dean, which supposedly came from Richard, had also been hard. Really hard.
Then she’d unfortunately had to tell them that the threat wasn’t over. She explained how Dean was now threatening Karina. Her dad had gone a little crazy then. Stomping around the room, ranting about how there was no way Dean was going to get his hands on either of his baby girls. It made Kassie feel good that her parents were taking the threat seriously. She knew she’d been an idiot for not sharing with them earlier.
Then she had to tell her sister that someone was watching her. The terror on Karina’s face about broke her. This was why she hadn’t said anything before now. She hated that her little sister had to go through this. It was her senior year. She had her Homecoming Dance in a couple weeks. She shouldn’t be concerned about anything but which university she wanted to attend next year, cheerleading routines, and grades.
Kassie had left after Karina promised to be careful, and assured her they’d talk more about the entire situation later.
Then she’d gone to the police station to report the harassment by Dean. She had no proof that Richard was involved since he was behind bars, but at least they listened to her. They copied all the evidence, texts and emails that Kassie had brought in. They’d told her to be extra vigilant, to let them know if she got anything more, and advised her to get a restraining order against Dean.
She promised to look into it, but was satisfied for the moment that if anything happened to either her or her sister, God forbid, the police would have something to go off of.
Kassie hadn’t eaten anything that morning because she’d been too anxious. Now she was starving, but she only wanted to get home after dealing with the detective. Karina had been texting her all day, worried about the situation, and all Kassie wanted to do was crawl into bed and pull the covers up and over her head.
She pulled into a parking space in the lot of her apartment complex and looked around. She didn’t see anything that looked out of place, but then again, Dean could be inside any one of the cars and she’d never know.
Hating that she was so paranoid, Kassie shivered but took a deep breath and opened the door. Even if she wasn’t feeling brave, she could fake it. She grabbed her purse and messenger bag, which held all the evidence she’d been carting around all day, and climbed out. Using her hip to shut the door, she clicked the lock on her key fob and walked quickly toward the front of her apartment building.
She took the stairs, as usual, to the second floor—and stopped dead when she opened the door to her hallway.
Leaning against the wall next to her apartment door was Hollywood. He had his feet crossed at the ankles,
his arms over his chest, and his chin down as if he was sleeping.
For just a second, Kassie thought about turning around and making a run for it. He hadn’t seen her yet. But then she took a deep breath. No. She hadn’t done anything wrong, and she was sick of being scared all the time. She didn’t think she had the strength at the moment to be yelled at, but whatever. This was her life; she’d brought this on herself, so she had to deal with the consequences of her actions.
She walked down the hallway with her head held high. She hadn’t taken more than five steps in his direction when Hollywood’s head came up, and he pinned her with his gaze as she came toward him.
Kassie couldn’t read the emotion behind his eyes. She was exhausted, and the thought of dealing with another harangue from Hollywood made her want to cry. For all her pep talk of being strong, she really wasn’t at the moment. She looked down at her keys and fumbled with them until she had her apartment key at the ready.
She passed Hollywood, not saying a word, and stuck the key in the lock.
“How’d you find out where I live?” she asked, deciding to go on the offensive.
“A friend of mine is a hacker,” he said calmly, as if he hadn’t just admitted to having someone break the law to find her address. “Can we talk?” Hollywood continued in a low voice.
“I think you said everything you needed to last night,” Kassie told him, proud of the way her voice didn’t quaver.
“I was a dick,” he said baldly. “I should’ve listed to you. I’m glad you emailed.”
“Yay. Go me,” Kassie mumbled, as she turned the key in the deadbolt and pushed the door open. She turned to Hollywood and looked up at him, standing next to her door, hoping her nonverbal language was loud and clear. “You’re forgiven. Now go away.”
She would’ve been good if he hadn’t touched her. She could’ve shut the door in his face and gone on with her evening.
But before she could escape inside, he put his hand on her arm and said softly, “Please. Let me come in so we can talk. I’ve been waiting for you since before lunch.”
Rescuing Kassie: Delta Force Heroes, Book 5 Page 8