Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Sutton
My attention is diverted from Gopher and his stream of jokes he’s telling me when I see the two pres’s I met at the bowling alley accompany Gemini out of the house. All of their faces are thunderous as they pour out and head in opposite directions.
“That doesn’t look promising,” Gopher states as he maneuvers himself out of the door and heads to speak to Gemini before he reaches the truck.
Pisces sends me a compassionate and understanding look before he leaps to follow his club friend, leaving me here alone pondering what could have them so stiff as they huddle together and talk.
“No, it doesn’t,” I whisper into the empty cab. I watch their myriad of facial expressions as tension sets into my shoulders. “Dammit. What the hell did they find?”
They don’t speak for long before Gopher turns toward me and I see pity written all over his face.
“Fuck,” I mumble, closing my eyes and saying a quick prayer that I’ll be able to keep my wits about me when I hear whatever they have to say.
“You’ve got this, Sutton. You’re not alone, not anymore.
Gemini and the guys will never let anything bad touch you.
” I just wish that my chant would penetrate into my mind and nerves because they are shot.
As Gemini closes in on me, I open the door and swing my legs to the side, staying in my seat so I don’t collapse if it’s something life-altering and monumental. When he walks over and makes room for his body between my thighs, grabbing my face between his hands, I know it’s worse than bad.
“Tell me,” I beg, preparing for my world to tilt on its axis.
“It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either,” he says. “I know you don’t want to do this, Sutton, but I’m gonna need you to accompany me inside and tell me if anything's been moved or is missing.”
“I can do that,” I lie, because really, I don’t want to and I'm not sure if I can without turning tail and running out like a chicken. I’m scared shitless of walking through that door.
“You won’t be doing it alone, baby girl. I’ll be with you every step of the way, but there’s something I have to tell you before you go in.”
“It’s bad, isn’t it? You’re stalling, and that’s not like you, which says a lot.”
While I’ve never known him to be deliberately cruel toward another person, he’s always been brutally honest, which I’m counting on now as I wait for him to tell me what they’ve found.
My sanctuary, the one I was so proud of such a short time ago has become tarnished, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to do more than pack my belongings before I find somewhere else to live.
“The pictures on your door?” he asks, waiting for me to nod. “We noticed several seemed to be of you inside of your house, and when we looked around, we found where he was able to get access to take them.”
My stomach, which has been roiling like that damn cow in Twister, suddenly drops into my feet and I think I’m going to be sick. “Move, Gemini, I’m gonna throw up,” I warn as I push at his shoulders to get out of the truck.
As I kneel in the grass, heaving until there’s nothing left but bile, I feel one of his hands keeping my hair back while the other holds me steady as I violently projectile vomit everything I’ve ever even thought about eating.
Finally done, I sit back on my calves as I shakily wipe my hand across my mouth.
Embarrassment floods me when it sinks in that I threw up in front of a lot of men, including the one who I spend way too much time thinking about these days.
“You good?” he asks, holding out his hand to help me up.
When I nod and feel his fingers clasp mine, I stand up, proud that I’m able to keep to my feet.
Part of me wishes I could curl up in a heap and wail about the unfairness of it all, but that’s impractical and if my life has taught me nothing else, it’s that there’s no use crying over spilt milk.
“Sorry about that,” I mumble, unable to look him in the eye.
“No need to apologize. I’m sure you feel violated at what I just told you,” he murmurs, his fingers now laced with mine as he leads me to my porch so we can go inside.
“I do,” I reply, my voice still sounding shaky but far stronger than it did just a few, short seconds ago. I will shamelessly pull from Gemini’s strength until I can stand on my own two feet once again.
He stops before we enter the house, and says, “There’s one more thing, pretty girl.”
“What’s that?”
“How we were able to tell where he had access was he marked those areas with a smiley face,” he tells me. “He’s a sick, twisted fuck, Sutton, and while we figure out how to handle him, you won’t be alone, okay?”
“Show me,” I demand, finding my bravado.
“Remember, let us know if there’s anything missing or looks out of place,” he replies. “We’ll go room by room, and once Riptide and Rio get back with the items they went to buy, we’re going to make sure there are no listening devices or cameras installed inside.”
“Bugs?” I whisper as he walks me over to the kitchen door, where I see the smiley face he was talking about.
I think about all the times I walked around in comfortable clothing, without a robe, and my face pales.
“This is supposed to be my safe place, Gemini!” I exclaim, anger now coursing through me.
“I can’t think of the number of times I’ve forgotten to grab my clothes and run through in nothing more than a towel after my shower, for fuck’s sake! ”
Heat hits my face when I consider that there could be listening devices in my home where I’ve had conversations out loud about what’s happening in my life. Or, what about the night I had Gemini on my mind and took care of a different kind of heat?
Kill. Me. Now.
Just thinking about the possibility that Allen Jeffries might have heard me masturbating has my head wanting to explode.
Or, what if he saw the time I forgot the clean towels were still in the dryer and I walked through my house fully naked?
Anger, embarrassment, and then white-hot rage courses through me.
How dare he? How fucking dare he? He might be from a wealthy family, but as far as I’m concerned, he’s the biggest piece of slimy shit I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet.
As soon as we finish the tour of my house and I notate things that could have possibly been moved, Mercury and Orion come in and by the looks on their faces, I know they’ve found something out in the woods that shouldn’t be there.
“What?” I ask, stepping forward, wringing my hands together in front of me. It’s a nervous habit, one I’ve never been able to break. “You found something, tell me what that is?”
“We’re not sure if we found something or not, Sutton,” Mercury admits. “You’re the only one who can tell us if it belongs or not.”
“Mercury, don’t put this off and try to sugarcoat it,” Gemini orders. “What the fuck did you two find?”
“Have you had any hunters approach you and ask if they could build a blind in the back of your property, Sutton?” Orion asks, and by the look on his face, he knows the answer to that before I get a chance to tell him I haven’t.
“No,” I reveal.
Orion glances over to Mercury who clears his throat and reports, “There’s a newly constructed blind out there. I can tell it’s new because the wood is still fresh, no weather marks on it.”
“So somebody has recently come onto my land and built themselves someplace to hide?” I ask, my lips quivering as my body begins to tremble.
“There’s something else as well, Sutton,” Orion states.
“I can see where your neighbor has cameras on his property, likely from the cow you told Gemini about, and those are well-worn and have obviously been there for quite some time. However, we found several others that appear to have been tied into those lines that are much newer. From the condition of your existing security system, I’m betting they weren’t installed by you. ”
A small smile ghosts across my lips when I think of that stubborn cow, but when the rest of his words hit me, I feel my body begin to tremble once again.
“No,” I whisper, too stunned to raise my voice any louder.
The instinct to look around me skates across my soul and I find myself anxiously looking everywhere, now seeing threats that never even crossed my mind before.
“I can’t stay here any longer,” I spit out, my emotions once again seesawing back to rage. “I have to move.”
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” Gemini says, reaching out and lacing his fingers with mine once again. “We talked about that before I came out and got you, and we feel it’s safer for you to be with us.”
“Be with you where?” I ask, already having my suspicions of where but wanting to hear him say it himself.
“You have two options,” he tells me. “The clubhouse, or in our house.”
I bite my pride because if I’m surrounded by these men, the ones who helped me survive my school years, I feel better about giving into it and living with them. “Why did Orion get a sour look on his face when you said that?”
“Because the clubhouse is nothing more than a shell,” Orion says, disgust written on his face. “It’s going through a renovation, or at least, it will be soon. There’s not much to it and the water is brown, I’m sure there’s all kinds of pollution in it.”
“Yuck,” I say, not wanting to take my showers in murky brown water.
“At our place, you’d have your own bedroom and bathroom, most of them have ensuites attached which will give you a sense of independence,” Gemini states.
“Listen. Normally, I’d bite your head off at trying to get me to cohabitate with you guys. It goes against everything I believe in, but since I have some psycho after me, all I want to know is who’s going to help me pack my bags?”
Because as far as I’m concerned, I’m perfectly fine being far, far away from my formerly safe home. No, it’s now a house.
“That’s it? No arguing, no telling us you don’t need a man to keep you safe?” Orion asks, looking at me as if I’m an enigma.
“Orion, there’s something you should know about me,” I remark.
“What’s that?” he asks, watching me like a hawk.
“I kinda like living,” I smart off.