Chapter Twenty
MASON
TELLING THE girls they are grounded to the house went over like a lead balloon. Marley was more accepting, her life revolves around working with her horses, and the rest of the time she’s usually in the house.
Kinley and Breanna nearly had a meltdown. Kinley already knew the situation was serious, but Breanna was worried about her vet classes and girls’ nights.
Breanna was the surprise baby after mom and dad thought they were done having kids, she’s only twenty-four and finishing up vet school, so telling her that she’s grounded for no fault of her own only got us a small drama-filled tantrum.
It got even worse when we told them the specifics.
“So, you’re the reason for all of this?” Kinley turns on Sloane, her eyebrows are pulled down and her eyes narrowed, anger in her tone.
Everyone is gathered in the family room, where we were all laughing and putting up Christmas decorations just last weekend. Now an atmosphere of worry and frustration crowds the room and Kinley’s comment turns everyone’s eyes on Sloane.
If I weren’t standing behind her, Sloane would have taken a step back to retreat, but the back of her head bumps into my chest as she tries. I grip her arms and lightly squeeze to keep her in place, she’s still a part of this house. Her muscles are bunched, and her back is ramrod straight.
She still smells like smoke and she and Kinley both have soot streaked on their faces. The ponytail her long black hair is in has come loose, and the clip has slid to her shoulders. Tendrils of hair are hanging around her face and down her back.
“Kinley,” Dad and I say her name at the same time, our tones low in warning.
Sloane’s head shakes a tiny bit, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”
I squeeze Sloane’s arms in support and am about to put Kinley in her place when Marley steps forward, sparks are in her eyes and her face is tight.
“Are you saying that it’s her fault that human traffickers want to sell her into slavery?
And even worse, are you suggesting it’s her fault that her own flesh and blood initiated the whole thing?
Are you being put out by all this, Kinley? ”
It’s not often that Marley gets angry at one of us, but I can hear the anger in her words, especially since she knows what it’s like to be forced to do something she doesn’t want to do.
The fight visibly leaves Kinley as her shoulders sink, she at least has the decency to look ashamed as her eyes drop to the coffee table in front of her.
But Marley isn’t done. “You have the privilege to live on a beautiful ranch, rent-free, doing whatever you feel like doing every day. I wonder how you would manage in her shoes?” Marley crosses her arms over her chest and her voice lowers almost to a whisper and she looks away from Kinley, “I don’t think you’ve ever embarrassed me like you did just now. ”
The room is silent, everyone’s eyes are now on Kinley. She clicks her thumbnails together, her eyes trained on her fisted hands in her lap before she looks up at Sloane, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Sloane’s shoulders relax a bit, and she nods her head, she pulls out of my grasp and walks to the door, “Excuse me, I need to freshen up before I start dinner.”
The room is quiet for a few moments after she leaves, but a knock on the front door slices through the silence.
Kinley’s head jerks up and she looks at Dad, Marley twists her head to look at me as she steps closer, this whole situation is probably bringing back memories of the night she was attacked.
“It’s okay, it’s some of the guys from my team,” I say to the room, but I reach over and gently squeeze Marley’s neck.
As I walk away to answer the front door, I see Gray reach over and grab Marley’s hand.
Me, Marley, and Gray being closer in age, while also getting to spend more time with our mom before she died, tend to stick together more, while Kinley and Tucker being a year apart and younger when mom died are more bonded to each other.
Breanna got the shit deal because mom died just months after she was born and there was five years difference between her and the youngest of the rest of us.
In a way, it was hard on her because she always felt that she was part of the reason Mom died, but it also made her one of the strongest people I know.
Standing on the large front porch are three of my teammates Callum, Jax, and Spits. Callum is standing in front of the door, a large duffel bag on each side of him at his feet. He’s in his usual black tactical pants, black long-sleeve thermal, heavy wool coat, and black military boots.
Jax is leaning against the large stone column next to the steps, his hands in his jean’s pockets, stocking cap on his head, with one ankle crossed over the other. Spits has wasted no time; his face is buried in the pad that he is holding in his hand and his laptop is folded under his arm.
Holding my hand out to Callum, I say, “Thanks for coming.”
Callum is a wall of muscle, and his brown eyes are always focused and alert on everything that is going on around him. He grips my hand, “It’s what we do, brother.”
He grabs the big, black, canvas bags at his feet and moves past me into the house. Jax slings his bag over his shoulder and claps his hand on mine as he walks by. Spits doesn’t even look up as he grabs his bag of equipment at his feet and slowly walks by.
I chuckle and say, “Good to see you too, Spits.”
He starts tapping his pad with his finger, his attention solely on what he is looking at, and mumbles, “Yeah.” Spits has never been accused of being a social butterfly.
Callum, always taking the lead, walks into the family room and the introductions start. Spits doesn’t even make it into the room, his attention is focused on his pad, and he is rooted in place in the entryway.
Jax leans a shoulder on the frame of the large doorway into the family room and looks around the room. He may look casual and easy-going, but he is assessing and memorizing every nook and cranny of the place. I notice that his icy blue eyes stop on Marley.
Marley’s focused on Callum and his explanation of what they will be doing and his assurance that they will try not to impact normal day-to-day life as much as possible, so she’s not noticed the attention. I step behind Marley and Jax’s eyes move up to see the warning on my face.
A slight smirk tips one side of his lips up and he pulls his hand out from under his arm and discretely holds it up in surrender. Since he’s been warned, I know I don’t have to worry about him making any moves. I slide my hands in my pockets and turn my attention to Callum.
Wanting to check on Sloane, I duck away to the kitchen, but she’s not there, so I take the back stairs to her room. The bathroom door is cracked open and I can hear coughing, she took in a lot of smoke earlier so I tap and push the door open to check on her.
She’s on her knees in front of the toilet, retching. It only takes a few steps for me to close the space and kneel next to her to grab her hair. I watch helplessly as her body clenches and relaxes with each heave.
I’ve never helped a sick woman, but she looks so small on the floor and everything in me wants to take care of her. I wouldn’t be able to walk out of here without making sure she’s okay if I wanted to.
When she’s done, she rests her forehead on her arm that’s lying across the seat and uses her other hand to push the flush lever.
I grab the hand towel from the counter behind me and hold it next to her hand, “You okay?”
Sitting back on her heels, she takes the towel and wipes her face. She is pale and the smudged soot streaks still on her cheeks look like someone drew on her face with marker.
Nodding, she lets her head fall back and focuses on the ceiling, “Yeah, I think I breathed in too much smoke.”
I stand up and lean over the bathtub to turn on the shower, “Here, you’ll feel better if you wash the soot and smoke smell off you. You need help?” I hold my hand out to her.
She shakes her head but doesn’t move so I squat down next to her and slide the back of my fingers up her cheek. “You sure, I can hang around.”
Movement by the door has both of us turning our heads in that direction. Kinley is standing at the door, her eyebrows are drawn down and she is looking between us, “What’s going on, are you okay?”
When we say nothing in favor of wondering why she is here, she sheepishly follows up with a shoulder shrug, “I felt bad about what I said, I wanted to apologize again.”
Sloane stands up and tosses the towel onto the counter, “I’m fine, just too much smoke.”
Kinley looks at me and says, “Get out, I’ll take it from here.”
After what just happened downstairs, my first thought is if she will be nice so my eyes narrow as I look at her. Her hazel-green eyes soften, and she lightly squeezes my arm to indicate that she is trying to help, “We’ll be fine.”
With a turn of my head, I look at Sloane, she gives me a small smile and a nod. I resist the urge to push her hair off her face and kiss her, so I leave the room and go back downstairs to talk with my team.
The table in the breakfast nook is already covered in computer equipment and Spits is sitting with his back to the wall, spitting sunflower seed shells into a red plastic cup that I assume he brought himself; his focus is on the three screens in front of him.
Callum is on the other side of the kitchen island talking to Marley.
“I have to be able to work with them every day, it doesn’t have to be all day but at least a few hours.” Her arms are crossed over her stomach, she only stands like that when she starts to feel cornered.
Callum glances over her head to make eye contact with me and I nod my head. I’ll figure something out; I can’t have her slipping further into nightmares or not eating since Dad’s heart attack already sent her into a mini-spiral. Marley functions on structure and familiar surroundings.
Marley usually avoids talking to men, we only see her real personality at home, when she goes out, she is mostly withdrawn and quiet.
She’s only comfortable talking to Callum because she’s been around him enough in the past to be familiar with him.
If it were anyone else, she would have waited to pull me aside.
He’s got an extra inch to my six-two, so she looks even smaller standing next to him than she does when she’s next to me.
He brings his focus back to her and reaches up to give her upper arm a gentle squeeze, “We’ll figure out how we can get you to your horses every day.”
“I’ll keep an eye on her.” Jax steps out of the pantry with a box of wafer cookies, his mouth is half full. “I don’t mind.” The top part of his shoulder-length brown hair is pulled back with a tie and his cool blue eyes move to me.
When he looks in my direction, Marley turns to see what he’s looking at. Her eyes meet mine and she raises her eyebrows in question, she’s asking me if she can trust him.
I walk around the island and lean to her ear, “He’s like a brother to me, you can trust him.”
She turns her head just enough so she can mumble to me, “He has to stay back, my newest girl won’t like him being too close.” I’m pretty sure there’s a double meaning behind the request.
“You just tell me where to stand, sweetheart, and that’s where I’ll be.” Jax shoves another handful of wafers in his mouth and starts crunching.
I put my hands on Marley’s shoulders and say in her ear, “Don’t worry, we’ll work it out, you can trust everyone in this room.”
She nods her head and turns to leave without another word. I hang my hands on my hips and turn to look at Jax, “You can’t be that familiar with her.”
Jax’s face falls and his eyebrows shoot up his forehead in surprise, “What’d I do?” He looks at Callum, but Callum only holds his hands up and takes a step back to let us know he’s staying out of it.
Reminding myself that I never told Jax about what happened to Marley, I roll my head from one shoulder to the other and take a deep breath. I look over my shoulder to make sure Marley is not in the room, “Marley doesn’t trust men.”
His eyebrows climb even higher in confusion as he looks at Callum and then back to me. I tilt my head and wait for him to figure it out, it only takes a few seconds. He points to the door Marley just went through as understanding, then shock, and finally, anger registers on his face.
I give a small nod.
Callum has tucked his hands under his arms and is leaning against the counter while looking at the floor, he looks at Jax through his eyebrows, “She’ll get used to you, just don’t be too comfortable around her. It took her a few times being around me before she would talk to me.”
Jax sets the box of wafers on the counter like he lost his appetite, his eyebrows are pulled down in anger and his mouth is a tight line as the seriousness of it settles on him, “Got it, I’ll keep my distance.”
Sloane walks into the kitchen, grabs the box of wafers off the counter, and closes it as she walks into the pantry while giving Jax the stink-eye. Kinley must have told her about the guy’s arrival after she left the room.
She looks much better, her dark hair is still damp in its low braid falling over her shoulder and some of her color is back.
She is sexy as hell in an oversized sweater that reaches her knees over a t-shirt and tights with big fluffy socks that hug her calves. She’s fucking adorable.
When she walks back out with an arm full of cans and canisters, she looks between the three of us and her face turns stern, “Am I supposed to make dinner while the three of you stand in the way?”
“That’s my cue,” Jax says and walks to the table that Spits is monopolizing and sits in one of the chairs.
Callum walks away and I turn to follow him, but as I walk by her, I pull her by her waist to me and kiss her on her temple. Her frame, which was stiff as a board earlier, molds to me.
A small smile pulls her lips but she keeps her eyes averted to all the stuff she has in her arms.