by Lora Leigh
He stilled against her, his muscles tightening dangerously before he pushed her to her back and rose over her to stare into her eyes.
“That’s not what he said, Kenni,” he growled down at her. “That’s what you’re trying to tell yourself so you can keep holding back, protecting your heart from loving anyone too much. That’s what Cord was trying to tell you. You can’t keep running from those who love you, not when all that love is bottled up inside you, ready to explode free. You’ll kill yourself keeping it locked up like that.”
“But I’m not doing that, Jazz,” she whispered.
Was she doing that? She couldn’t see it. She admitted to loving them, to herself. Her brothers, Poppy, Jazz … God, she loved Jazz until her heart ached. He was her heart, he was so firmly entrenched in her woman’s soul that she couldn’t get him out if she wanted to.
“Think about it, Kenni,” he advised, and though it was done gently that flash of dark dominance, of strength, flashed in his eyes before he glanced at the clock. “Hell, Cord’s due here in an hour or so. He texted late last night that he wanted to show us something.”
The irritability in his voice distracted her for a moment.
“Cord means well…”
“Hell, Kenni, I know that, or I would have already shot him.” Rising, he pulled on the cotton pants next to the bed.
Following suit, Kenni retrieved her sleep shirt then a pair of light lounging pants that went with it.
“Go shower.” She nodded to the bathroom. “I’ll let the dogs out. Marcus and Essie will let you know if I have any problems.”
The puppies were dancing around, obviously trying out their new housebreaking skills. Squirrel stood before her, whining pitifully as Jazz’s expression tightened warily.
“Go.” She waved him to the bathroom door. “I’ll let them out and I might even consider fixing your breakfast.”
His brow arched. “You can cook?”
“I am an excellent cook,” she informed him with mock offense. “If you’re very lucky, you just may have perfectly fried eggs, bacon, and homemade biscuits waiting when you come down.”
She could see the avarice in his gaze now. Pure, manly greed for a favorite meal. There was also concern though. Letting her go without him bothered him.
“Come on Jazz, Marcus and Essie would pitch a fit if I needed you. You know that,” she promised solemnly, only barely holding back her laughter.
“Eggs, bacon, and homemade biscuits?” Evidently he wanted to be certain his hearing was in good working order.
“I said so, didn’t I?” she pointed out in exasperation. “Now go, or Squirrel will wet your floor again, and that I do not clean up.”
Jazz turned and moved quickly for the shower as Kenni moved for the bedroom door.
* * *
Hook. Line. Sinker.
Jazz stared at the closed bedroom door as he slipped from the bathroom and moved to where he’d put his phone on its charger next to the bed.
Pulling the cord free he flipped it open, hit Slade’s contact, and waited.
“’Bout time you called,” Slade asked wryly as he answered the call on the first ring.
He’d been waiting for him, Jazz knew. Hell, he should have called the night before but he’d been too busy watching Kenni sleep. Hell, watching her breathe.
“Yeah, I’ve been trying to piece some of this crap together,” he sighed. “I was going over Kenni’s files yesterday and something’s nagging the crap out of me. Evidently it’s bothering Cord, too. He texted last night, he’s going to be here in about an hour. I was hoping you and Zack could show up as well.”
“Zack came around the mountain yesterday to see if anyone was watching. He said Deacon and Sawyer had their eyes on the house.”
“Yeah, they’ve been taking turns with Cord,” he snorted. “Guess they don’t trust me with their baby sister, right?”
A chuckle came across the line. “That’s possible. I have a feeling it’s too late to worry about her virtue, though.”
“Damned straight.” He grinned. “She’s mine.”
“We’ll be there in an hour or so then,” Slade assured him. “Have some coffee ready.”
“Will do.” Hanging up the phone he reminded himself to make sure Kenni knew company might be there for breakfast and hurried toward the shower.
What pulled him up before he reached the door he wasn’t certain. The balcony doors were closed so he couldn’t hear the dogs barking. Glancing out into the side yard, he noticed Marcus and Essie weren’t romping on the lawn like usual.
Sliding over Jazz opened the lock slowly, cracking the door just enough to hear Marcus’s and Essie’s furious growls.
Son of a bitch. That sound from their throats only meant one thing.
Grabbing the phone, he hit the SOS.
He was dressed in seconds. Pulling on his boots, he checked the concealed knife tucked under the heel. Pulling his Glock from a drawer, he chambered it swiftly before pushing it into a holster and tucking it at the small of his back. Another he didn’t bother holstering; that one he gripped in both hands before moving to the door Kenni had left just slightly cracked.
The house was far too quiet—unnaturally so but for the muted sound of the dogs’ snarls and growls. Moving silently down the stairs, careful to make certain he stayed in the carpeted areas, Jazz paused before moving into the foyer where he could be seen.
From where he stood he could see the television room. Marcus was at the dog door, digging at the metal barrier blocking it. Foam spilled from his mouth as he snarled and barked at his inability to force his way in.
Essie was pacing the fence line, looking for a way out of the yard. God help whoever was in the house, because Essie knew what she was doing. She just hadn’t been able to do it since conceiving the pups.
Ten minutes, he thought. Fifteen at the most before the cavalry would crash this little party after he sent out the SOS.
Unless Essie and Marcus were able to clear a jump to the balcony without the smaller deck next to the pool that Jazz had removed to keep Essie from hurting herself or her babies while she was pregnant.
Maybe it was time to install steps after all.
* * *
Marcus and Essie both must have been forced to hold themselves too long, Kenni thought she heard them race to the dog door with enough force that the hard rubber flap cracked behind them. A second later Squirrel yelped painfully.
Kenni rushed from the kitchen expecting to soothe him from his indignation at having his nose tapped by the rubber. What she didn’t expect to see was a full-grown male booting her baby out the dog door before sliding the metal partition back in place.
The real shock came when he turned to face her, though.
“Colby?” shock dulled her senses for a moment as betrayal knotted her stomach with a strangle hold.
Colby Weston? It had been years since she’d seen him and his twin, Phoenix. They were—once again—cousins. But these cousins were much closer; their mother was actually a Maddox.
Turning, she sprinted for the hallway and the safety of Jazz’s bedroom. Phoenix stepped around the corner before she could reach it, a weapon in his hand pointing straight to her.
“Shower just turned on,” he told his brother. “He’ll be a few minutes.”
Colby sneered at the comment, his gaze raking over her maliciously.
“Jazz will kill both of you.” She backed away, moving into the kitchen again and the little corner shelf on the other side of the room.
If she moved toward the knives, they would stop her. She knew they weren’t completely stupid, otherwise Marcus and Essie wouldn’t have been fooled.
“We’ll have our business finished and be gone before he’s out of the shower,” Phoenix assured her, narrowing his eyes gleefully as she bumped into the corner shelf, her hands going behind her back to steady herself against it, and to grip the handle of the antique corkscrew lying on it.
She hoped Jazz wouldn’t be upset if she blo
odied it a little.
Or a lot.
Her fingers curled around the handle of the corkscrew as Colby advanced on her.
“And what the hell do the two of you think you’re doing?” she snapped, so furious that the bastard had hurt Squirrel that holding on to her control was next to impossible.
“Come on, Kenni, you’re not completely stupid,” Colby drawled. “You know why we’re here.”
“If I knew I wouldn’t ask,” she bit out, hoping, praying to delay them long enough for Jazz to get downstairs.
“That fucking marine that was there the night your mother was killed?” he reminded her. “He had something we want. I assume you have it now?”
He actually sounded convinced that she had whatever it was he was talking about. This was the first she’d heard of Gunny having anything her mother gave him, though.
“He would have told me if he had anything,” she snapped. “Mom was dead before he arrived that night.”
“And she didn’t have it,” Colby snapped, growing angry, his expression turning cruel. “She gave it to him and you know it. So just hand it over.”
“I’m telling you, Gunny didn’t have anything.”
Colby sneered again.
“Killing him was fun, Kenni. Almost as much fun as killing you will be if you don’t have that SD card your mother stole and slipped to her bastard brother.”
Gunny? They had killed Gunny? How? Gunny was so much stronger, more intelligent. It made no sense that they’d been able to do such a thing. Colby and Phoenix were far weaker in strength and intelligence than any who’d been sent after her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If Gunny had anything he would have told me,” she snapped, waiting.
Colby was close, moving slowly closer as Phoenix kept watch from the doorway.
“Come on, Kenni,” Colby mocked her cruelly. “Give us the card and we won’t hurt you like we had to hurt Gunny.”
Kenni stared back at him, ice moving through her veins now, a calm settling over her as he moved closer. Almost close enough.
“You didn’t kill Gunny. You’re not capable of it.” She was certain of it.
Colby laughed at the response. “He should have never returned to the warehouse alone. That was the mistake he made.”
He smiled and stepped closer. That was where he made his second mistake. The first was breaking into Jazz’s house to begin with.
When he was close enough to actually touch her, to lift his hand and strike her, Kenni struck. Gripping the wooden handle of the corkscrew she brought it from behind her back, slamming it in beneath the sternum on an upward angle. Feeling the twisted metal crunch through tissue before entering the heart with a hollow pop, she gave a quick little turn, watching his eyes widen as his heart ripped open.
Blood spilled around her hand as Kenni gritted her teeth, forcing herself to hold his gaze.
“Colby?” Phoenix called his name from the doorway.
Life bled from Colby’s eyes just as Phoenix jumped forward. Pushing the lax body weight to the side Kenni moved quickly, sliding out of the way as the twin caught his brother’s body in time to keep it from collapsing to the floor.
As satisfying as that was, she now had no weapon and Phoenix moved fast once he realized what happened. Though she was desperate to avoid the blow she saw coming, Phoenix still managed to deliver a fist to the side of her face, sending her to the floor as pain dazed her senses.
Damn, she hated this part. She’d never been able to take a blow to her face and come back easily. It was one part of the self-defense training Gunny had never been able to condition her to.
“Son of a bitch, you killed him.” Phoenix sounded dazed. “He’s dead.”
Corkscrewing the heart seemed to have that effect, Kenni thought, pushing herself into a sitting position as she searched desperately for a weapon.
A cry dragged from her when hard hands latched in her hair, dragging her to her feet as her stomach lurched sickeningly from the agony.
Oh God, she was going to vomit!
“You fucking whore,” Phoenix hissed in her face. “I’ll kill you now.” The barrel of the gun went to her temple. “You killed Colby.”
“You’re next,” she promised, feral rage ripping through her. “Jazz won’t let you live after this. And if he does, Cord sure as hell won’t. Did you think I wouldn’t tell them who I was after you killed Gunny? That I was in danger?”
“You’re lying. Cord would have told me. We’re best friends. He would have let me know if your bitch ass was alive,” he snarled.
Kenni smiled back at him with icy disdain. “Are you sure about that, Phoenix? Or do you just want to be sure of it?”
If he didn’t shoot her she would damned sure carry a bruise from the barrel digging into her head.
“You’re dead.”
“You don’t have the fucking ball…”
“Kenni, those biscuits done?” Jazz called out from somewhere between the hall and his bedroom. “I’m a hungry man.”
He was furious; Kenni could hear it in his voice. He’d really be mad once he saw how Colby was staining his nice tile floor.
She was whirled around, the gun barrel digging into her head as Phoenix gripped the hair at the other side to hold her in place.
“I want that card,” he snarled at her ear. “Or you can watch Jazz Lancing bleed, too.”
Something exploded in her senses then. See Jazz die? No. She couldn’t. She’d seen her momma die; she’d had to walk away from Gunny’s lifeless body. She couldn’t see Jazz taken from her. She couldn’t bear it.
“Hey, Kenni, did you lock the dogs out again?” Jazz called out as he stepped into the television room.
The puppies were howling at the door. Marcus was watching Essie as she jumped, only to miss her mark.
“Kenni?” he called out again, the weight of the Glock at his back tempting him to pull the weapon.
Kenni wasn’t answering but he could hear the scuffle in the kitchen and terror lanced his soul.
Moving to the kitchen he stepped inside before coming to a hard stop and feigning surprise at the sight that met his eyes.
He took one look at Kenni’s face before directing Phoenix Weston a hard look. The bruise already marring her creamy flesh was a killing offense. Phoenix Weston was a dead man.
“You know, I’m getting really tired of men thinking they can abuse my woman,” he told Phoenix softly.
Kenni’s lip was bleeding, her eye swelling. And she was favoring her right ankle. But she was alive.
“Fuck you, Lancing. She killed Colby. We weren’t going to kill the bitch. But she’ll die now.” There was no small amount of panic in Phoenix’s voice.
That panic wasn’t a good thing.
“Who killed Colby?” He just wanted confirmation, but the bloodthirsty look in Kenni’s eyes assured him he didn’t need it.
“This fucking bitch.” He jerked Kenni’s head back by her hair as she struggled against him. “Stay still, you fucking cunt.”
Jazz winced at the insult and the fury flickering in Kenni’s gaze.
Jazz tsked softly. “Colby’s staining my floor, Kenni. Blood is damned hard to scrub out of stone.”
“It will give it character,” she snarled. “The bastard kicked Squirrel. He deserved it.” Then her eyes narrowed. “What took you so fucking long anyway?”
“I had to get dressed,” he murmured, meeting her eyes and hoping she saw the warning in his.
“Primp,” she snapped.
“Both of you shut the fuck up,” Phoenix cried out. Damn, pressure really brought the bitch out in the other man.
“What do you want, Phoenix?” Jazz didn’t waste any more time. Phoenix was becoming unpredictable.
Phoenix snarled back at him, his hand tightening in Kenni’s hair.
“We were going to be nice and just collect the information her mother gave her,” he spat out. “But she had to go and kill Colby.”
�
�I don’t have it.” She followed the grating denial by swiftly striking an elbow into Phoenix’s kidney, just as Jazz heard Marcus and Essie bounding behind him.
Jazz stepped aside, lifted his brows, and watched Essie take a leap for the kitchen table and throw herself at Kenni. Marcus was right on her heels, his object the gun in Phoenix’s hand.
Powerful jaws locked on tender flesh as Kenni’s assailant screamed out his horror, but Essie had grabbed a mouthful of Kenni’s shirt and pulled her from his hold with enough strength that Kenni went to the floor.
“Hold!” Jazz ordered before the male could take Phoenix’s throat out.
Marcus turned a growl on Jazz at the order, his teeth poised at a horrified Phoenix’s throat as saliva dripped from razor sharp-teeth. Marcus was prone to show Jazz his displeasure with his teeth.
“Do it and your ass goes to the barn,” Jazz growled right back at him.
Marcus let his teeth graze tender flesh over a throbbing vein as the scent of human urine brought a grimace to Jazz’s lips. Dammit, the kitchen tile was going to be impossible to clean.
Marcus was satisfied, though. He moved back, only to jump for Jazz when the kitchen door slammed inward and Slade then Zack rolled into the room. Jazz only shook his head, pushing Marcus aside and moving quickly for Kenni as she grabbed Phoenix’s gun and came to her feet with a graceful, well-trained twist of her body.
“Kenni.” He moved between her and Phoenix.”We need someone to question,” he reminded her as he read the bloodthirsty anger in her eyes.
“He kicked Squirrel.” There was no fear, no hesitancy in her. “Colby said they killed Gunny. They don’t deserve to live.”
“If that’s true, then he’ll die by my hand. I was the one who trusted him.” Cord Maddox stood at the back door, flanked by his second-in-command, Banyon Maddox, and three Kin lieutenants.
Kenni stared at him icily. “See why I didn’t want to tell you a damned thing,” she charged as she threw her hand out to indicate Banyon and the three men Cord had served with in the military. “You can’t keep your damned mouth shut.” Jazz turned to Cord slowly, furiously.
Before he could speak Cord shot Kenni a dark frown. “Men die when they fight alone, squirt, Gunny should have taught you that. So do women.” Then he turned to Jazz, his gaze narrowing. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that once again you didn’t even bruise your knuckles?”