“Shit, Jacey, let me see,” Rayne says with concern laced in his voice as he takes my clamped fist into his hands. He begins inspecting it and tears form in my orbs as my anger subsides and pain takes its place. “It’s already starting to swell. Let’s go in the house and put some ice on it. But don’t utter a single word until Lucky gives us the green light.” I nod my head in acquiescence as he all but drags me up the lawn and into our house.
Hadley is spending some time with Mrs. McGuire as Lucky and his men scour the house. So far, they’ve found three listening devices—one was tucked up under my bed. Under. My. Bed. How fucking dare someone try to listen in on mine and Rayne’s intimate moments.
I’ve never felt so stomped on and violated in all of my life. I’d rather someone slap me across my face than come at me backwards without me seeing them come my way. That’s some backhanded, cowardly shit I’ve ever seen or experienced. I’m sitting on the couch with an ice pack on my hand as the men continue with their search. When one of the men come out of Hadley’s room with one, my switch gets flipped. Rayne cuffs his hand over my mouth as I continue to rant and rave through his attempt to muffle me. My eyes narrow into tiny slits as I glare at each and every one of the men inside of my home. I’m not blaming them, but why wasn’t one of them here guarding the house in the first goddamned place? It would make sense! At least that way we’d have positive proof of who is desperate and wants to listen into anything that happens in our life.
Why my baby’s room? That angers me more than the one placed beneath my bed. She has done nothing to anybody to deserve this. She’s innocent in all of this. Whoever this sonofabitch is, he’s fixing to face my wrath, and that’s something not many people have ever observed where it comes to me. I’m usually the calm and collected one. I can be sugary sweet, yet, still put you in your place. That’s those southern roots coming out in me. But this fucker, whomever they are, oh, they’re going to meet the side of me that I harbor deep inside of my being. A part of me that doesn’t rear its ugly head unless you mess with my baby.
And this has gone too damn far!
Looking into Rayne’s eyes, I remove his hand and mouth, This is, Jameson, isn’t it? He nods his head, confirming that my suspicion is dead-on. My body begins to vibrate in disdain as I think of all the things I’m going to do to him for invading me in this capacity. Ripping his balls from his body is the first thing on the list of things to accomplish. I want him to feel pain unlike anything he’s ever experienced before.
He’s poked the mama bear inside of me. Now, he’ll feel what it’s like when I bare my sharpened claws. I’ve never hated anyone before like this. I’ve felt loathing for an individual or two in my lifetime, but not downright hatred.
This is a foreign feeling, yet one I’m allowing to take place. I need this anger when I confront his ass, and I promise you, I will.
24
Jacey
I’m robotic throughout dinner. I answer questions as they’re directed at me and nod and shake my head at the appropriate moments, but I’m completely and utterly lost in a loop of rage. I can’t seem to get past this tunnel vision I’m spellbound inside of. Rayne, feeling my tension, slides his hand inside of my own. He gives it a gentle, encouraging squeeze. I know he’s experiencing the same emotions as me, but he’s handling things much smoother than I am.
We haven’t spoken with his sisters about the things we found inside of our home—we don’t want Hadley to overhear and become scared. Our home is a sacred, safe place for her, and neither one of us wants to take that away from her. The security men split up. Some followed us and some stayed behind to see if someone would try to enter while we’re away. I sure the fuck hope Jameson tries, because I’m emotionally tired when it comes to dealing with him. For years he’s been a thorn in my side and it’s one that needs to be extracted.
He needs to be beheaded so he can’t ever have the potential to rise again. If anyone had the capability and maliciousness to become an immortal, it’d be him in my opinion.
I hate chaos and indecisiveness in my life, and he’s brought both of those things in full spades. Fucker! He’s no better than the bloodsuckers we’ve all feared and dreamed about, thanks to Bram Stoker and his book Dracula. As the night winds down and we walk toward our vehicle, I pull Rayne to a stop by digging in my heels.
“Is it safe for us to stay home? I mean, what if there’s something that wasn’t found?” I ask Rayne as fear comes back and rears its ugly head. I’m not sure if I’m more frightened of the unknown, and what threats may be awaiting us once we get there, or if I’m simply imagining the worst-case scenario. I also don’t know if I want to be made aware if there were any more devices discovered around the house or where they were placed.
My mind is a swirl of constant activity. It. Never. Ends. No matter how hard I try to think of anything else, I always come back to this particular subject.
“I got a text from Lucky while we were eating. They swept the house twice more and are confident that they found everything there was to find, Jace,” he soothingly informs me. “We have nothing to fear and nothing that we need to hide from. Let’s not let him take away our house from us. I won’t let that cowardly piece of shit keep us from living our lives free from fear. Plus, it’s Hadley’s home, how would we explain us not staying there? It’s where all of her things that bring her comfort are.” He makes sense in the logical scheme of things. I’m just not sure how satisfied I am that every foreign device has been discovered and removed.
The one thing that I’m trying to laser onto is that Hadley’s things are at our home. He’s right about how we wouldn’t be able to come up with a good enough excuse of why we’re staying in a hotel, when we could be sleeping in our own beds, with our own things surrounding us.
Billie comes up behind us with a jumping Hadley holding onto her hand. “The girls and I have decided that we’re going to follow you home for a cup of coffee.” Her statement sounds innocent enough, but the look she’s shooting our way lets me know that she and her sisters homed in on the fact that things are not okay.
I need to learn how to have a poker face. I suck at keeping things tucked away inside without letting my emotions plaster on my face for the world to witness.
I’ve always been outspoken and one to share my feelings. I learned long ago that if you hold everything you’re feeling inside, you’ll eventually explode like a volcano rupturing. It’s not a good experience to have when you eventually let everything out and hurt those people you love. Years and years’ worth of baggage is likely to come out.
After that experience, Rayne and I vowed to never hold anything inside. We decided that sharing our feelings was a better way of protecting ourselves from harmful and hurtful words spilling free from our lips.
As soon as we make it home and through the doors, I take Hadley to the bathroom for a quick washdown. She’s in a zombie-like state, so I do a sink wash on her. Just enough to make her sleep easier but not enough to fully wake her up. In the meantime, Rayne and his sisters are deep in discussion about what all was found earlier. Those girls wouldn’t have held off long enough for me to get Hadley settled before interrogating him relentlessly. Knowing him as well as I do, he’d want to tell them without me there anyhow. He would do whatever it takes for me to not relive this over and over again by being part of the discussion and explanation of occurrences. He knows I’m already nearing my breaking point.
Hadley easily lays down without her goodnight story. She’s already sound asleep by the time I make it to the doorway. I can’t help but scan her room for any outside threats. I know the men firmly believe that everything was found, but I can’t help but search anyway. I want my baby as protected as I can make her. She’s the brightness in my life. She saved me from drowning in sorrow once upon a time. I need to return that favor to her tenfold. That’s my job as her mother, anyway.
I keep all of her monsters away and keep new ones from surfacing. What a fine job I’ve done of that,
I scold myself. Should’ve gotten rid of Jameson years ago when I had a distrust of him upon our first encounter. But no, I wanted to give him a chance to prove me wrong. I try to see the best in people and give them a shot, but sometimes, you have to bite the bullet and go with your gut instinct. If I’d done that, he wouldn’t have been able to insert himself so deeply in our lives.
Rayne
As soon as the bathroom door shut behind Hadley and Jacey, the Spanish Inquisition began. Question after question was shot in my direction by all three of my nosy brat sisters. But I can’t fault them for doing so, I would’ve done the same thing if it had been any of them in my position. That’s the kind of relationship we have. We keep nothing from one another.
This especially became important to all of us after Billie experienced being stalked. She had a feeling it was who it was, but didn’t share for fear of being wrong. She didn’t want some fool to lose his job if her intuitions were off. But after living through that with her, we promised one another that if we ever had an off-feeling about anyone ever again, we’d tell the others so we could all keep a better eye on the situation.
It also brought us closer than we ever were before. And seeing as I wasn’t the brother that got annoyed with his baby sisters hanging around him, we did everything together… well, as much as we could with the years that separated us. There were some things I did that weren’t age appropriate for them to be around. But Jacey and I, we included them in as much as we could. We never wanted them to feel left out of anything if we could help it.
“You have got to be shitting me,” Billie dumbfoundingly responds after I’ve shared what all we uncovered today.
“Do we have any proof that it’s Jameson? Outside of our suspicions that is?” Justine asks me.
“No, unfortunately we don’t. We don’t have cause to take it to the police outside of the fact that someone infiltrated our home. We can’t prove who it was one way or another. It pisses me the fuck off!” I all but shout the last part, trying to control my temper so I don’t scare my baby.
“Why wasn’t someone here watching y’alls home while no one was here? I thought that would be part of the protection detail,” Sibley loudly vocalizes her question.
“Shh,” I hiss, placing my finger over my lips. “Jace is trying to get Hadley down for the night. I don’t want her to overhear us and become frightened.” I shouldn’t have to remind them of this. I understand that having a young girl around is new to everyone, but we were keeping our conversation low for a reason.
“Sorry,” she impishly replies with an abashed look on her face. I know she feels bad so I won’t continue drumming in these facts; unless one of them gets rowdy again.
“We’re just worried and upset, Rayne,” Justine informs me, and I know it’s true, because I’m not Rayne to them unless their emotions are at an all-time high. Being called big brother by them has always felt like an honor and privilege. So, when they bust out and use my given name instead, I know that their feelings have exploded and aren’t going to sizzle out anytime soon. If anything, they’re likely to boil over and leave a huge mess for me to mop up.
Just another day of paradise in my life.
Jacey
When I make my way and join the others it’s to come across the girls relentlessly pacing the living area. My eyes follow their pattern and I could swear under oath that my hardwood floors are going to have permanent feet paths in them from how heavily they’re stomping their feet.
Each one of them is sporting their own maniacal scowls as they turn around and glance over in my direction. “Everyone okay?” I ask as my eyes bobble from one sister to the other.
“They’re feeling a bit over the top,” Rayne informs me as I turn my attention to him. “Come here, baby.” He wiggles his fingers, calling me over to him. Needing to feel his arms wrapped around me, I don’t stop long enough to declare my feminine independence. Instead, I rush over and collide with him. The desperation to feel safe and secure is ramping its way throughout me. The only person on this planet that can fortify those feelings is my man.
“Baby, you’re shaking,” he states as he further engulfs me into his embrace.
“This is supposed to be my sanctuary, Rayne. I can’t help but feel as if my every move, and all of my words spoken are being watched and listened in on. I can’t live my life feeling as if I’m being monitored and have to watch over my shoulder and carefully display what I’m willing to be overheard and possibly shared world-wide. This could’ve been someone in the media instead of Jameson, have you even considered that as a possibility?”
“No, Jace, we haven’t. It didn’t even come across our minds as a potential threat. Lucky is going to do his thing and see where the microphones are being pinged to. If he can get an IP address, he’ll be able to follow it and find the owner of the devices. For now, everything’s been removed and we’re free and clear to roam around as we please and say whatever comes to mind.”
“I wish I could experience the same freedom you are, but I just can’t get past the infiltration of our home, Rayne.”
“We could always get y’all a room where we’re staying until someone can go through the house again,” Billie offers.
“No,” Rayne whisper-shouts. “Nobody is going to send us running out of our home. How do we know that’s not the intention behind this? What if someone, for some reason, wants us to leave? I refuse to go scurrying off into the night like a fucking rodent so the big, bad, macho, wanna-be fucker of a man can come in here and do whatever it is he wants to do. My daughter loves this house, and I’m not going to let some jerk-off push us out. Nope, not happening,” Rayne says with vehemence laced in his tone.
“I worked hard on this house and made it our home. I don’t wanna leave either, but I would feel better if we had the house combed over again,” I solemnly admit.
“Then that’s what we’ll do, Jace,” he responds with satisfaction. I guess giving him his way on this topic has made him a happy man.
It figures that when a man gets his way, his entire temperament and body structure changes. He’s no longer stiff, anticipating a sparring of words with me. His shoulders have relaxed and his face no longer encompasses a scowl.
25
Rayne
Using my contacts, I have a team of professionals come through and sweep the house. No more listening devices were found and there was nothing that they could find that would cause any alarms. We’re safe, but I was warned by Lucky that us locating everything could be like waving a red flag in front of a raging bull. We may have unintentionally declared war.
Oh well, I say bring it on to the slithering piece of shit. I will not be run out of this town with my tail between my legs. Jacey and I talked last night and decided to send the girls home. They’re going to take Hadley with them along with a security team on a ‘girls’ trip’ getaway. We’re going to use it as a pretense to make sure that the four of them are safe from whatever this is looming over our heads.
Jacey’s in Hadley’s room with her, packing a bag while I purchase plane tickets for them all. As I scan through the air packages and rates, I decide to buy out first class so that it’s just the girls and security occupying that portion of the plane. It’ll be easier to secure them that way than if they’re sporadically separated in the general seating area.
Once that’s done, I send a mass text message out to the girls and Lucky so that he can divide up the men. I would send them all if Jacey was traveling with them, but with her staying here with me, I need her to be watched over as well. As soon as that mission is accomplished, a light knocking on the door draws my attention. Shutting down my laptop, I walk over and peek through the peephole and a wide grin surfaces on my face as I see who it is that’s standing on the other side.
Ripping the door open, I see the same look I’m sporting mirroring my friend’s face. “Dash Carmichael, why I do declare, what have I done right to earn your visit?”
“What about me standing on Jacey�
��s front porch makes you think I’m here to admire that pretty face of yours?” he asks me as he sends a flirtatious wink in my direction.
“I’m a taken man, Dash. Don’t come here with any intentions to steal me away from my woman,” I tease him. This is the same song and dance we perform each and every time we’re in each other’s company for the first time in an expanded length between visits.
“You have a mighty fine ass there, Mr. Rayne, but that bushy beard you’re sporting isn’t my cup of tea, thank you very much,” he says as he swings open the screen door. “Now, stop stalling and let me in to see my girl.”
“Ah, I see how it is. I’m just the eye candy that can easily be wrapped back up until the next time you need me. My heart just shattered in my chest.” I place my palm over my chest and insert a dramatic pout by lowering my bottom lip.
“We’ll let you stay unwrapped for this visit,” he jests back with a salacious grin marring his face. As he makes his way through the door jamb, I reach out and pull him in for a brotherly hug.
“It’s been too long, Dash. What are you doing here?” I ask but am interrupted from finishing what I was about to say when I hear the squeals of my love bug, as she takes in our visiting guest.
“Mr. Dash!” she hollers out as she wobbly runs on her toddling feet, and rushes who I presume, is one of her favorite people. Can’t say that I blame her—you can’t meet Dash and not come out of that encounter calling him family. He loves everyone unless you mess with someone he considers his.
Uninhibited : Savage Wilde Page 13