Chapter Twenty-Five
“How do you know this guy again?” I asked Dontell as we watched Leon back the last car into the plane. This plane wasn’t the same plane Xander and I came back from Russia in.
This was a military plane—a C-130.
D looked at me, his features guarded. “I don’t know him. The Langston brothers do. Denver sent him here last year, looking for Mason. Mason and he had words, and we never saw the guy again,” he explained.
Inhaling deeply through my nose, I looked over to the front of the plane where Collin, Jeremy, and the mystery man were deep in conversation. The sun would be rising within the next two hours, and after spending a good chunk of the night developing a game plan and the other chunk holding Nik, I was on edge.
Having a stranger I didn’t know showing up with the plane to transfer the cars all because Jer made a phone call was unsettling to me.
“Wait—you and Lee have only met this guy once?” I clipped, looking back to my friend.
He nodded. “Yup, and he let Mason Langston take a swing at him.”
“What do you mean let?” I pressed.
Dontell turned to me then. “That bull rider can hold his own, we all know that, but,” he jerked his thumb to the men, “that bounty hunter is a fucking menace.”
“Who? Grayson?” We both turned to find Leon walking to us.
“Yeah. I was just telling Cain about the one and only time we’ve met the fucker,” D said.
Lee looked over his shoulder, my eyes following his. The bounty hunter, Grayson, was staring at us now, his dark eyes unwavering.
“How in the fuck does a bounty hunter have access to a government plane?” I muttered so only the boys could hear.
“Fuck if I know,” D answered, staring at Grayson now.
“Alright,” I sighed. “Look at me. Both of you.”
The men turned their backs to Grayson and the other two, their eyes focusing on me. “Is he solid?”
Lee nodding. “He’s solid.”
I looked at Dontell, and after a moment, he nodded once. “Grayson’s solid.”
“That’s all I fucking care about. We’ve got other things to worry about, and I don’t want him anywhere near Mina and Nik. Got that?”
Lee’s lips twitched. “Awfully protective of my sister, aren’t you?”
“What’s wrong with that?” D asked. “More protection for the woman I love, the better.”
“I’m protective of all of them,” I clipped. Lee’s eyes flashed as I continued, “Amara included. They’re my fucking family.” I pointed in Grayson’s direction. “He’s not. I don’t give a shit about him, but what we’re about to walk into…” I trailed off as I heard Nik’s voice. My head twisted to find her, Amara, and Mina at the mouth of the plane, huddled up.
“I hear you,” Lee murmured.
“Loud and fucking clear,” D added.
I looked back to my friends—my brothers. “If you trust him, then I’ll manage.”
Lee clapped my shoulder. “He’s a good fucking man, that much I know. He went back to Hallow Ranch to help…resolve that fucking pipeline bastard.”
“Is that the word we’re using now? Resolve?” D asked, laughing.
“Yeah, and if you don’t fucking shut it, I’ll resolve your little bitch ass,” Lee threatened.
Dontell lost it, bursting out laughing as his head flew back. My lips twitched and as my shoulders started shaking with laugher, I bent my head, pinching the bridge of the nose. “Leave it to Dontell to make me laugh at a time like this,” I said, chuckling.
“Fucker could have a gun pointed to his head and that won’t stop him from cracking a fucking joke,” Lee muttered, shaking his head.
Dontell was coming down from his laughter as he shrugged a shoulder. “Collin says I’m the funny one. Might as well live up to the reputation.”
“Or you’re just bat shit crazy,” Lee barked.
That was true. Dontell Michaelson was fucking insane, but he made it work.
“Donnie, this is no time to be cracking jokes,” Mina hissed, pushing her way through between Lee and I. Amara and Nik followed. Lee grabbed Amara’s hand and led her away, rounding the other side of SUV so they were out of sight. Pulling Nik to my side, I veered us away from Dontell and Mina as their bickering morphed into soft promises.
Not stopping, I walked us into the plane, weaving us between the five cars, all the way to the back before guiding her against the wall, red nets draped behind her. My hand cupped her jaw, lifting her chin so I could assess her. She was wearing a black, long-sleeved thermal and black cargo pants that hugged her ass in a way that drove me mad. Her hair was braided over her right shoulder and came down past her breasts, a few strays of it framing her face. With that in mind, I curled a few of them behind her ear as I whispered, “You doing okay?”
She nodded. I braced my free hand beside her head as my other went back to her jaw. “Don’t want you to see this,” I murmured.
She opened her mouth to speak, but I shook my head. “Let me get this out, Dominique.”
“Don’t you want you seeing this. Don’t want this touching you and your light,” I murmured, my voice growing colder with each word. “My fucking lucky charm is about to walk into hell—she’s about to see hell, and I can’t—” I cut myself off, looking toward the open door of the plane. “If something happens to you in there, Clover, I won’t—I can’t…” I released a shuddering breath.
“Cain, look at me,” she ordered softly.
When I looked back to her, those green eyes were shining brighter than I’d ever seen them. “Do you think I want you walking back into hell after the things you’ve already seen?” she whispered. “No, babe, I don’t. I want you as far away from the place as possible.”
My jaw hardened.
She brought her hands up to my face, her touch searing against my skin. “I’d walk through hell with you by my side a thousand times, Cain Donovan, than go another day without you.”
In a flash, my body was against hers, my hand on her throat. I leaned down, brushing my lips against hers, feeling her pants against mine. “Stop saying sweet shit,” I growled.
“You deserve to hear sweet shit,” she whimpered, her hands going to my sides.
My eyes dropped to her lips. “You can’t say shit like that, especially in a place where I can’t bury myself so far inside you that I’ll make you see the goddamn universe,” I growled.
She whimpered my name.
Fuck it.
My lips slammed against hers, my tongue diving in as I drank from her, savoring the feel of her, her tastes, her sounds.
By the time, I wrenched myself away from her, her eyes were hooded, her lips swollen, and I could see her nipples through that damn thermal.
“When we get back, I’m not letting you leave my bed for a fucking week,” I vowed, my voice rough. “Don’t make any fucking plans. You aren’t going out with the girls, to Sullie’s to help out, or to Oasis. The only thing you’re going to be doing is taking your man’s cock any fucking way he gives it to you, that understood?”
She nodded.
“Fucking love you,” I clipped, my voice hard. “You hear me, clover?”
She read me. She understood me. “I hear you,” she rasped.
“Tell your man you love him,” I ordered, my chest heaving against hers.
“I love you, Cain.”
I nodded, stepping back and pulling her into my arms. She laid her head on my shoulder as her hands stroked up and down my back, my arms tight around her, holding her to me for dear fucking life. I tilted my head back, my eyes focusing on the ceiling of the plane as I tried to calm my nerves. Minutes later, she whispered, “We’re going to be okay.”
She was wrong.
We weren’t going to be okay, but I would make damn sure she would be.
Even if that meant dying for my lucky charm.
Joseph Grayson wasn’t a man of many words.
Joseph Grayson wasn’t an average man.
Joseph Grayson was a haunted man.
A broken man.
A deadly man.
The longer I watched him, studied him, the more I came to realize why he bothered me. I leaned over towards Leon, who was staring straight ahead, his hands hanging between his knees. “You said he knows Denver Langston?” I asked.
Lee looked at me and nodded. “He hired him to find Mason.”
“I know that, but how does a fucking cowboy cross paths with a man like Grayson?” I pressed, my voice low.
We were sitting on the seats that lined the wall of the plane, the three of us in front of the Dark Horse while Mina and Dontell were sitting across from us, the Fairlady in front of them. Xander, Collin, and Grayson lingered up by the cockpit, the three of them standing in a small circle, talking in low tones. Nik stirred beside me, and I wrapped my arm around her. Leon waited until she was settled, falling back into slumber, before answering me.
“Jer told me Grayson served with one of Denver’s cowboys in the Marines,” he explained.
Memories tugged at me. “Mags,” I said instantly.
Lee sat up, his spine straightening before he gave me a single nod. “Yeah, him. Why?” he asked, his eyes scanning my face.
I looked back to Grayson for a moment. “Mags watched me like a fucking hawk when we transferred that shit to Hallow Ranch back in the fall,” I explained.
Lee’s brow furrowed. “You get a bad vibe from him?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But I’m getting the same vibe from Grayson. That’s why I was pressing you and D about it earlier.”
He nodded in understanding, then looked over to the bounty hunter. “Look, if Jer trusts him and Collin trusts him, that’s got to mean something. After everything those guys went through together, I trust their judgment.”
I sighed quietly. “Yeah.”
“But we’ll keep him at arm’s length, yeah?”
I agreed, and we both got quiet once more, the plane engines humming around us.
“Is Amara going to be okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, she’s got people watching over her. Pretty sure Dom appointed himself as her chauffeur while we’re gone,” he told me, a soft smile on his lips. “To be completely honest, I didn’t think I’d be here.”
I stiffened. “What do you mean?”
He rolled his neck, his head against the wall of the plane. “The way Mina and I were brought up, surrounded by darkness and the bullshit our father brought down on us…I didn’t think I’d see thirty, much less thirty-five.”
“I hear you,” I muttered, understanding exactly where he was coming from.
“Didn’t think someone like Amara was in the cards for me.”
My eyes dropped to Nik, her head on my shoulder, her lips parted as little soft snores left her. “I don’t deserve Nik,” I told him. When I looked back to him, his face was twisted in disbelief.
“Cain, out of every man here, you deserve a woman like her the most.”
I blinked.
He wasn’t done.
“You’ve spent your entire life surviving and protecting. You sacrificed years to save your brother. You’re always putting everyone first, brother. So yes, you do deserve her. She was made for you.”
His words rocked me.
I stared at his profile as he stared straight ahead, his jaw jumping. “I know I don’t deserve Amara, but she’s mine.” His eyes met mine, and I could see the darkness swirling within the gold rings. “I’m not letting her go. She wasn’t in the cards for me, but I took her anyways.” He looked straight ahead again. “Loved her from the moment she told me her fucking name.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement and followed Leon’s eyes to find Dontell rising from his seat. He turned around, bending down, his arms moving. I saw a glimpse of a blanket, and I knew he was covering up Mina. When he was done, he walked between the cars, heading to us. He leaned against the back of BMW parked in front of the Dark Horse. He folded his arms over his chest and crossed his ankles, his face serious.
“Need you boys to know,” he began, his tone dark. “If shit goes south, I’m going to handle it.”
My blood ran cold as I felt Lee stiffen beside me. “The fuck?” he whispered.
Dontell’s eyes held Lee’s for a few moments. “Jer knows.”
I bit off a curse and ran my free hand through my hair. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I hissed.
D’s eyes met mine. “For once, I’m not joking.”
“You don’t get to make that call,” Lee growled, slowly rising from his seat.
“It’s done, brother,” Dontell said, pushing off the car. They were toe to toe now.
“Fuck,” I grumbled and began working to lay Nik down on the seat. I pulled off my hoodie, making a pillow for her, and once she was settled, I turned back to the street racers. I put my hands on both of their shoulders.
“Enough,” I ordered. “We don’t need to do this now. We don’t know if anything is going to go south.”
Dontell’s eyes met mine, and I wasn’t looking at the funny, easy-going man everyone knew. I was looking at the man who had to fight tooth and damn nail for the life he had now. The man who wasn’t afraid to cover his hands in blood to protect the ones he loved. “It”s done. Jer knows,” he declared and looked back to Leon. “So does James.”
“Gentlemen,” a gravelly voice said.
The three of us looked over to find Grayson standing between the Toyota and Mazda. “We’ll be landing in just a few minutes. We’ll be dropping you outside of the city,” he told us.
My eyes held his, and I ground out, “Wonderful,” through my clenched teeth.
He remained perfectly still, unfazed by me and everyone else on this fucking plane. “I suggest you wake up Mina and Dominique. The landing might be a bit rough.”
I didn’t like their names in his fucking mouth.
“Noted,” Dontell muttered, but as he made his move to go back to Mina, Lee’s hand gripped his bicep.
“Whatever plan you have, it’s canceled. You hear me?” he growled.
“Lee, this isn’t your—”
“The fuck it isn’t,” he barked, gripping Dontell’s shirt. “My sister is in your bed, and my fucking niece is down the fucking hall. You love them both. Don’t you fucking dare leave them. Don’t you dare leave them and force me to mend that fucking hole. You get me?”
D’s eyes softened. “Who in the hell do you think I’m doing this for?” he asked softly. He looked over to Mina, who was sleeping soundly. “I vowed to protect both of them with everything I have, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing, Lee.”
“Gentlemen,” Grayson called.
I looked at him. “We heard you,” I spat.
Xander, who was watching everything from behind the bounty hunter, tilted his head. Collin was nowhere to be found, most likely in the cockpit.
When I looked back to Grayson, he was still staring at me, giving nothing away. “Strap in,” he ordered then turned, heading in the cockpit.
“I’m gonna put a bullet in his foot,” I declared.
“I’m gonna put a bullet in D’s fucking foot,” Lee clipped, shoving our friend away. He pointed at his face. “I’ll fucking kill you myself if that’s what you want.”
Dontell looked at Leon and then to me. “Strap in. We’re landing soon.”
I watched as Nik backed the Mazda out of the plane, joining the rest of us in the rain, dark clouds looming above us. I revved my engine as she parked beside me. Leon was on my left, Mina beside him, and Dontell on the other side of Mina. Xander strode out of the plane, walking by Grayson, who was standing in the mouth of the plane on the edge of the door, his stance wide. My eyes narrowed with Xander turned back around to say something Grayson.
“Everyone hear me?” Collin asked, his voice in my ear. “Sound off.”
“Cain,” I stated.
“Dontell.”
“Mina.”
“Lee.”
“Nikki,” my clover girl said, her voice soft in my ear.
“Xander,” my brother said, turning away from Grayson.
“Garner,” James said. “Alright, you’ll have me in your ear at all times, understood?”
Before the plane landed, he and Xander fitted us with earpieces.
After we landed, James Garner came onto the plane with a team of six agents, and we were each given a 9mm. We couldn’t wear any bullet proof vests, and that killed me. Nik and Mina were already going to attracted attention just because they were women. James also instructed us on what code words to use.
Monday: Tense situation.
Teal: Trafficking sighted.
Throne: Kavi.
Doctor: Send in back up.
Xander walked through the rain, his shoes pounding against the pavement of the air strip as he headed straight for my car. He opened the passenger door and folded himself inside. “Let’s go,” he muttered.
I looked over to Lee, giving him a chin lift and shifting the car into drive. Pulling forward, my eyes flicked to the rearview mirror to see Lee let Nik follow right behind me. Then, he waited for Mina and Dontell go.
“Staying the back,” he informed everyone. “Streets are slick. Keep your shit together.”
I turned left, getting onto the highway that would eventually lead us into Seattle.
“Everyone good?” I asked, gaining speed.
“All good, babe,” Nik said.
“Great,” Mina added.
I didn’t wait for Dontell or Lee to answer, I knew they were good. They’d done runs before, and they could handle the drive. “Right,” I began. “These roads curve and bend, take it slow. Especially you, Mina. Your tires weren’t made for this.”
She laughed. “Gotcha, pretty boy.”
“Pretty boy?” Xander asked, looking at me.
I glanced at him, giving him a shrug. “Fuck if I know.”
He muttered something under his breath that I couldn’t hear, and then the car was filled with a strained silence for the next twenty miles before he broke it again. “You went into Devils Den for me, didn’t you?”
My jaw tightened at the same time my fist did at the top of the steering wheel. “Told you I didn’t want to discuss this with you,” I said, my voice low.
“Too fucking bad,” he clipped, turning to me. “Answer the fucking question, Cain.”
I glanced at him again, the rain hitting the windshield. “The work I had to do there was included in paying off your debt. So yeah.” I looked back ahead, Seattle in the distance. ”Went in there a second time to look for you and found Collin instead.”
“What do I need to do?”
My brow furrowed. “What?”
“What do I need to do to pay you back?”
His question rocked me. “You don’t owe me a damn thing,” I muttered, shifting gears.
“I owe you my life,” my brother said. “Let me do something—anything.”
Glancing at him once more, I saw the pain in his eyes—the torture he’d had to live with since finding out the truth about me. “You want to do something?”
He nodded.
I looked back to the road. “Shit goes sideways in here and Nik is in danger, you get to her. You hear me?” I clipped. “You get to her, and you fucking protect her with everything you fucking have, Xander.”
He was silent.
“Dominique Wells is the only reason I’m still breathing, Xander,” I told him. I looked into the mirror, making sure Nik was behind me, the others behind her before I merged onto the interstate, heading straight for downtown Seattle. “On my eighteenth birthday, Mom lost her ever-loving mind, thought I stole her fucking money or something shit. She held a gun to my face and, honest to Christ, I knew she was going to pull the trigger. She wasn’t getting anymore checks from the state anymore because I was an adult.”
“Jesus,” he hissed, running a hand through his dark hair.
“Nik rushed into the house—she fucking distracted Mom long enough for me to get a handle on the situation,” I told him. “She saved my fucking life. So you wanna do something to repay me for all the shit I did for you—then you fucking save the girl I love. Whatever it fucking takes, you hear me?”
“You have my word, Cain. Whatever it takes.”