Stripping Bare (Steele Ridge Book 7)

by Kelsey Browning

  Cupping his hands around his mouth, he hollered, “Get up and get the hell outta here. Now. This is not a warning. Not a joke.”

  “I just got my damned cheeseburger,” some zombie with a John Deere cap on groused. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

  “I’ll pay for your fucking burger. I’ll pay for every burger you eat for the rest of your life. Just get your ass outta here.”

  People were rushing out the front door when a blond-haired zombie marched up to Jonah. Had to be Randi. “What are you doing? Why are you forcing all my customers out the door?”

  “Randi,” he said, grabbing her hands and tossing the dishtowel she was holding to the ground. “I can’t explain. Just trust me. I need you to get yourself and all your employees out of the building immediately.”

  “Does Britt know about this?”

  He would soon enough. “How many others are here?”

  “Three. Kris, Grady, and a new waitress I just hired.”

  He tugged Randi toward the door to the office and storage area. It opened and a petite zombie with black and purple hair emerged.

  Randi told her, “Kris, get out of the building.”

  “Wha—”

  “Just do it.”

  Jonah and Randi made a sweep in the back and followed her two other employees into the parking lot behind the building.

  “Now, will you explain…” Randi started, but Jonah was already running around the building toward where Tessa was waiting.

  He didn’t bother to close the car door this time, and the cold air swept over his sweating torso. “U-turn toward…”

  But she was already on it, tires squealing as she did a tight about-face and gunned it.

  At La Belle Style, it took slightly less time, since the boutique wasn’t packed. Only a salesgirl, Brynne, and two customers. Jonah would’ve been in and out if Brynne hadn’t insisted on grabbing the till and an armload of merchandise.

  When he dived into the car this time, Tessa hit the gas and said, “Breathe. You’ll hyperventilate. Maybe we should go ahead and text your mom. Have her get out of the house.”

  With the sensors rapidly generating more heat, he hadn’t realized his breathing was becoming more and more shallow. “We don’t have any idea how he’s tracking us. I can’t risk it based on that damn riddle.”

  The drive out to Tupelo Hill from town had never taken so long.

  “We’re going to beat him,” Tessa reassured him. “You’re doing great.”

  But the clock on the dashboard kept ticking away as she took the country roads and weaved around a tractor and a couple of pickups on the two-lane blacktop. They turned into the family property and Tessa blew right past one of the security patrols Reid had hired when people had threatened the Steeles in the past.

  Dust and gravel flew, probably scratching the hell out of the car’s paint job as Tessa fishtailed to a stop in front of Tupelo Hill.

  In his haste, Jonah stumbled up the porch steps and burst inside the house. “Mom! Hey, where are you?”

  No answer.

  “Is anyone the fuck here?” Where had all his useless siblings gone after he’d filled them in about this psycho? Why had he sent them away?

  He tugged at the sensors because they were starting to sizzle against his skin like butter on a hot skillet.

  The sound of bare feet came slapping down the hallway from his mother’s bedroom. “Jonah Stewart Steele, you can use that kind of language in your own home, but—”

  “Anyone else here?” He lunged and scooped her up in his arms, barely registering that her hair was wrapped up in a towel and she was wearing a short bathrobe.

  She gave a squeaking squawk. “No, just me. If this is some new part of your latest paintball game with your brothers, I swear, I will take away all your guns.”

  He had no idea how far away he might need to get her, so at the car, he swung her to her feet, yanked open the door, and shoved her into the backseat.

  When he jumped in, his mom was saying to Tessa, “I don’t know what this is all about, but I don’t appreciate being manhandled by my own son.”

  Tessa didn’t acknowledge his mother, didn’t look toward the backseat. She just put her foot on the gas and ate up the winding road toward his house as if she’d been studying under Danica Patrick her whole life.

  20

  Even though she’d advised Jonah to keep his breathing under control, the air was backing up in Tessa’s lungs. She reached over to touch his thigh. “She’s going to be fine.”

  And she was saying a silent prayer each second that Badger had decided Micki was good company and stayed in Jonah’s cave with her. But as they raced over the last rise toward his house, Tessa could see she might’ve spoken too soon. Although the countdown timer indicated they still had five minutes, smoke was curling up from the massive wood-and-glass structure.

  “Oh, Lord have mercy,” Miss Joan breathed from the backseat. “Jonah, what’s going on? Is Micki still in your house? If she had on headphones, she might not have heard the smoke alarm go off.”

  “I’ve got this, Mom.”

  But Tessa could tell from the way he swallowed, as if he had a grapefruit stuck in his throat, that he wasn’t as confident as he claimed. She put on a little more speed, cringed at the rocks pinging against the car, and navigated the heart-jolting curves up the steep ascent faster than was probably smart.

  But smart didn’t matter right now.

  Again, Jonah barreled out before the car stopped rolling and ran toward the wing of the house that held the garage and his tech cave. Smoke seeped out from under the garage doors, and never missing a step, Jonah changed his trajectory toward another part of the house.

  “For goodness’ sake,” Miss Joan exclaimed. “We need to call 911!”

  “We can’t,” Tessa told her. “Not yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he might burn down everything.”

  “Who? Who are you talking about?”

  “We don’t know who he is.” While Jonah was inside and out of sight, the seconds ticked off as if they were centuries.

  “Give me your phone,” his mom demanded.

  “Miss Joan, I mean it. You can’t call the fire department. Not until he has Micki out of there.”

  “But if she’s not still in the house, then he’s risking himself for nothing.”

  Tessa pulled her phone from her purse and handed it over.

  From the way Miss Joan kept it smashed against her ear with a strained expression on her face, Micki wasn’t answering. Finally, she dialed again. “Gage, have you seen Micki in the past hour or so? Oh. Oh, no. I’ll call you back.”

  Her eyes were terrified as she held out Tessa’s phone in a limp palm. “Maybe we should go help—”

  “No.” The last thing Jonah would want was for more people to be in jeopardy. Tessa was mentally reciting every prayer she could remember from Sunday school as a child, especially the ones that requested deliverance from evil. “He’ll get her.”

  Four interminable minutes later, Jonah came running around the side of the house, carrying his sister in a fireman’s hold over his back. His hair was dripping with sweat and his face was smeared with soot.

  Miss Joan pushed the seat forward, and Jonah stuffed Micki inside the car. She was holding a very disgruntled-looking Badger.

  Tessa’s terror that Micki might not be breathing was alleviated by the creative four-letter words Jonah’s sister was aiming his way. “I was getting out, you idiot. You didn’t have to carry me like I’m some helpless girl.”

  Badger bounded from Micki’s arms into Tessa’s lap. He burrowed down, pressing his little body as close to her as he could get.

  Jonah flopped back into the front seat, his chest expanding and deflating with his labored breaths. “Drive…drive back down the ridge.”

  “What about calling 911?”

  “Once we’re far enough away. That bastard obviously doesn’t play by his own rules. Who the hell know
s what other surprises he might have stashed inside my house.”

  Tessa shivered, remembering Jonah and Cash’s earlier conversation about bombs.

  As they wound their way back toward the farmhouse, Jonah yanked at the sensors on his torso.

  Micki leaned over the front seat, “Whoa, what’re those?” Her voice was hoarse from the smoke, but her curiosity verified that she wasn’t hurt too badly.

  “Don’t stop at Mom’s,” Jonah directed Tessa, rubbing at the fiery red spots where the sensors had been attached. “Get off the property. Once we’re on the main road, we’ll call.”

  “You’re blistered.”

  “Based on the fact that these things didn’t do more than warm up until we got close to my house, I should’ve known those other locations were just decoys.”

  “They looked like they burned the shit outta you.” Micki poked at a spot on Jonah’s shoulder. “That’s cool.”

  “Mikayla Steele!” Miss Joan exclaimed.

  “I don’t mean cool that he looks like he’s contracted some kind of exotic disease. I meant cool technology. Do they hurt?” she asked Jonah.

  “Like a bitch.”

  Once Tessa drove the car off the Steele property, she swung it around by doing a less-than-elegant U-turn on the grassy shoulder so they had a view of the ridge where smoke was still rising from Jonah’s beautiful home. She reached for his hand and squeezed before releasing it so he could call for emergency services.

  Quickly, he gave all the pertinent details, ones Tessa wasn’t sure she could’ve been half as calm about. His home—his uniquely beautiful home—was on fire. “They’re on their way,” he said.

  “I was involved in backtracking through that network, and I didn’t smell the smoke as fast as I should’ve,” Micki said. “Actually, I didn’t smell it until Badger started barking like a maniac. He jumped off my lap and ran to the cave’s door. Did three frantic laps before I figured out what he was trying to tell me. God, Jonah, I’m so sorry about your house.”

  He patted her hand. “It’s just a house.”

  “Your dream house.”

  “Which can be rebuilt. You, on the other hand, are one of a freaking kind.”

  If his mom and sister hadn’t been in the car, Tessa would’ve grabbed for Jonah and given him a soul kiss. He might not believe it, but he was a hero in all the ways that counted.

  “The builder put in a few extras,” he said. “I was able to close off the metal door between the kitchen and the hallway that connects it to the tech cave, game room, and garage. Hopefully, the rest of the house should be okay except for a little smoke damage here and there.”

  “But your cars.”

  He reached for Tessa’s hand, a crooked grin on his streaked face. “At least we saved Clementine.”

  Oh, to hell with their audience. Tessa threw her arms around Jonah’s neck and practically climbed into his lap. Badger gave an indignant yip and jumped in the back toward Micki. Later, Tessa would make it up to him and reward his heroism with his favorite sweet potato and peanut butter treats. “I was so scared.”

  “Sweet Tess,” he said, pulling her close and wrapping his arms securely around her. “I may have failed you once, but never again.”

  That evening, once his mom’s house had been cleared by the fire marshal, Jonah’s family was gathered there. After the fire and the threats on other Steele properties, everyone’s state could only be described as what his mom would call a tizzy.

  With his siblings, their significant others, and Grif’s daughter, the living room was crowded with people all talking over one another. If Reid stomp-paced across the rug one more time, Jonah would knock him to the ground and sit on his ass.

  It had taken hours for the emergency personnel crews to carefully pick through Randi’s place, Brynne’s boutique, and the farmhouse for any type of incendiary device. Come to find out, the modder had planned to target Jonah’s house all along because the others had been completely clean.

  It hadn’t been declared arson yet, especially since a couple of gas cans had been stored in Jonah’s garage, but he knew this was no accident. He’d been lucky that only the one-story wing was destroyed and that he’d gotten Micki the hell out of there. If something had happened to her…

  Gage was obviously harboring the same gut-shredding feeling, since he’d had Micki wrapped in his arms pretty much nonstop since meeting them at the hospital earlier.

  Jonah had to find this dickwad and bring him down. For Micki. For his family. For Tessa.

  Her expression tired and shell-shocked, she sat in a chair in the corner, petting Badger one stroke after another. He went to her and hunkered down to still her hand on Badger’s back. The tremor he felt came from her, not the dog.

  He needed to get her out of here soon, because he couldn’t stand to see that blankness on her face.

  If his family’s racket hadn’t been enough to make Jonah’s head ache, the smoke that had irritated his sinuses would be. Although he knew it would make the brain pain worse, he put his fingers in his mouth and produced a whistle that cut through the chatter and speculation.

  “We aren’t going to solve this thing tonight.” They weren’t, at least. But he’d slipped away earlier and talked with the Charlotte bartender and his nerves were still vibrating from what he’d discovered. Martini dude was none other than one Charles Cartwright. At first glance, a boring banker. But Jonah knew the truth. He was a bastard and a rapist.

  But did he have the tech skills to pull off such an elaborate setup?

  Jonah couldn’t let Tessa find out his suspicions. She wouldn’t understand why the guy was targeting her and Jonah, and he sure as fuck didn’t want to explain. Because if Cartwright was after her, Jonah had done this. He’d brought all this shit to her front door.

  He urged her up from the chair. She looked as if she was about to nod off, even with all the noise. “Tessa and I are going back to my place. I need to think. The first person who calls or texts and interrupts my deep thoughts will pay a steep price.”

  Reid was the first to react, stalking toward Jonah. But Britt put an arm out to clothesline him. “I got this.” He turned to Jonah. “Going back there isn’t smart.”

  “It’s been cleared. And Reid’s upped security all over the place.”

  “The problem with that, as always, is guarding every inch of twenty thousand acres is impossible. This guy probably hiked in from land adjoining ours. Somehow, I don’t think those owners would be happy to let Reid’s security guys invade their privacy. Randi’s land only borders so much of our property line.”

  Grif gave an agreeing nod. “He’s right. Which is why I brought these.” From his pants pocket, he pulled a keyring with two keys on it. “These’ll give you access to the Murchison building. The apartment is still set up.”

  When Grif had first come back to Steele Ridge, he’d lived above his City Manager’s office for a while.

  “And that’ll put you both closer to the sheriff’s department and the fire station,” his mom said.

  “What about you?” he asked her. “If I’m in town, I don’t want you out here.”

  “I already have a bag packed to stay with Grif and Carlie Beth. Aubrey and I are planning a cookie-baking marathon.”

  “I don’t like it.” Jonah glared around the room at the people he loved most in the world. “This fu…idiot is running us out of our homes.”

  Reid clapped him on the shoulder. “Just for the time being. We’ll get him.”

  Which only reminded Jonah that his roomful of equipment was toast. What hadn’t actually burned, the heat had compromised. Finding the cash to replace it wouldn’t be a problem, but some of it had been custom built. He didn’t have time to replace and rebuild, not if he wanted to drop this guy quick.

  Honestly, he wouldn’t have imagined Cartwright had this deep well of creativity. After Jonah had tanked the guy’s odds of getting into law school, he’d gone on to become a mid-level grunt at a bank, a loan offi
cer or something. Not exactly a visionary.

  Could he have hired someone to come up with a revenge plan?

  From her spot in Gage’s lap, Micki said, “I know what you’re thinking. My setup isn’t as expensive as yours was, but it’s good. If Grif doesn’t object, we can move it over to the Murchison building. That’ll give us room to work.”

  Jonah slid his hand across his eyes. He wanted them all completely out of the picture. “I called a travel agent earlier. I can have all of you on a cruise out of Miami tomorrow afternoon. Hotel in Charlotte is already booked and the flight goes out first thing in the morning. You can load up now.”

  His mom recoiled as if he’d slapped her. “You cannot be serious.”

  He pulled Tessa’s hand up to hold it against his still painful chest. “Including you.”

  Her eyebrows went up. “So you want us to take off and leave you here to find this person on your own.”

  “He’s already made it clear that he’s willing to inflict collateral damage.”

  “I sure hope you didn’t put down a deposit,” she said, her voice sharp. “Because you’ll lose every dollar of it.” She smiled in Grif’s direction and held out her hand for the keys he’d offered. “Thank you for the place to stay.”

  “I dropped off some clothes and toiletries while y’all were still at the hospital,” Brynne said.

  “We’ll plan to check in with y’all in the morning,” Reid said.

  Fuck. He wasn’t six years old anymore, yet his older brothers were taking charge like they always had.

  Think with your head instead of your ego.

  Micki broke away from Gage’s embrace and did something that had happened way too little in the past ten years. She put her arms around Jonah’s waist and laid her head on his chest.

  When he wrapped his arms around her, a weight lightened inside him. He and Micki would always share something visceral, something special that came from floating around in a womb together. “Please let us help.”