Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter
Twenty-One
Olivia held Keane’s hand and felt Garrett’s arm
around her shoulder as they sat in her father’s office. She looked up at her
brothers—who were supposed to be on their honeymoon.
“You didn’t have to come back.” Olivia felt guilty. Guilty
about Keane getting shot. Guilty about being stupid enough to get kidnapped by
idiots who didn’t even have a backup plan. Guilty about how much money her dad
spent sending in a paramilitary team to rescue her. “I hate the fact that this
disrupted your honeymoon.”
But mostly she felt bad about Keane, who had to have
surgery, and now he was going to have weeks of recovery.
Josh frowned down at her. “My sister got kidnapped. Believe
me, none of us wanted to sit in a luxury resort while you were being tortured.”
She sighed and waved him off. “It was some hair pulling. And
a couple of bitch slaps. I will get laughed at in the kidnapping brackets. I
won’t make it out of the first round.”
“I will beat the shit out of anyone who laughs at you,”
Keane promised.
Josh’s eyes lit up with amusement. “Oh, I would like to see
you take on Kala Taggart. She’ll be the one laughing.”
“See, there was a good kidnapping,” Olivia complained. “She
was kidnapped by a ruthless sociopath who wanted to burn down the world and
rule over the ashes. He had real torture devices. I had Jessica freaking
Fellows and a stun gun I’m pretty sure she got on sale at Walmart. Honestly,
the real torture was having to listen to Scott whine.”
“I thought that was supposed to be classified,” Grim pointed
out.
Olivia shrugged. “Kala claims what’s said at the club stays
at the club.”
“We are not in a club.” Garrett was always technically
precise.
“It was more than hair pulling.” Keane ignored her, meeting
Josh’s gaze. They had already had one of those man-to-man talks, except it was
a whole bunch of men she was related to questioning her men. Though the fact
that Keane had taken a bullet for her seemed to have completely swayed her dad
to Team KG, as she was calling it now. They seemed to be fitting in nicely. So
nicely that Keane wasn’t willing to let her underplay what happened. “They
drugged her and used a stun gun on her. They tied her so tight she’s still got marks
on her wrists. They were going to kill her.”
Grim nodded. “Yeah, I noticed those. I almost wish they
weren’t in jail. I’d like to have a word.”
She bet her brothers would. She was thankful her men hadn’t
gotten a shot at them. They deserved what was coming, but she didn’t want her
guys to get caught up in a potential murder charge.
Morgan had shown up with a couple of deputies and Ruby a few
minutes after the McKay-Taggart team took down Jessica and Gladen, who both
ended up crying like babies. Oddly, so had Scott, and he wasn’t even under
arrest. It appeared her ex-boyfriend was having a crisis. If she hadn’t been
worried Keane was dying, it would have been funny, but it wasn’t. She could
still feel his body pressed over hers, his face ashen as he told her not to
move. He forced her to stay there until Taggart called the all clear. She’d
held him, her hands getting wet with his blood, and all the man had cared about
was her.
She held him so tight, telling him she loved him over and
over. Garrett had rushed in and joined her.
The three of them had been connected like they were now.
Like they would always be.
Nicole wrapped an arm around Grim’s waist and leaned into
him. “That Scott guy isn’t in jail. We could talk to him.”
Grim’s lips curled up. “You know at one point in time you
were fairly docile.”
“Now she’s a fierce thing.” Josh sounded proud of his wife.
Nicole’s nose wrinkled. “No. I was scared. I was never
docile. I suppose getting horrifically humiliated and then fired will have to
do for that man.”
“Oh, I think my dad will make sure Scott never works in the
business again. There’s probably still a hurricane coming that boy’s way, but
we’re going to stay out of it. That’s Dad’s thing,” Josh offered. He glanced
down at his watch. “He’s late. He told us to be here at ten because he has a
present.”
Yeah, she felt guilty about that, too. Her parents were
supposed to spend more time in Dallas, playing and refocusing on their marriage
after that big wedding. A second honeymoon of sorts. But they refused to go
back after what happened. They were living through the renovations and keeping
a watch on her and the guys. Her mom was taking spectacular care of Keane. She
had forgotten nothing of her nursing skills.
It had been so good to have her parents around. When her mom
had walked into the waiting room at the hospital, Olivia had melted into her
arms. Her papa had brought coffee, and her dad had handled all the details so
Keane wouldn’t have to worry about anything. It was something Garrett offered
to do but her dad told him this was his job and Garrett’s job was taking care
of Olivia.
She loved them all so very much.
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me anything.” Olivia
squeezed Keane’s hand.
“It’s nothing bad,” Garrett promised. “Not that I know what
he’s planning, but I trust it’s nothing bad. Aside from the whole terror of the
kidnapping and being worried about the two people I love most in the world
dying, it did have an upside. My relationship with your dad is solid now.”
“I always knew he would come around,” Josh replied.
Olivia looked at her brother. He enjoyed making shit up.
“You only found out about him last week. How did you always know?”
“Oh, we had someone keeping us up to date on everything,”
Grim explained.
“It was like a soap opera,” Nicole agreed. “We would get at
least one daily update. We thought about coming back after the fire, but then
things seemed to calm down and I didn’t want these two to get overly
protective.”
Grim shrugged. “It was a fire. She could have been in the
building.”
“I wasn’t. I was doing two hot guys in the playroom,” Olivia
replied simply.
Both her brothers winced and looked at each other.
“We might need to stick to the Austin club and leave Dallas
to our sister,” Josh said, looking slightly green.
Olivia rolled her eyes. “We can keep each other informed. I
don’t want to see you two in leathers any more than you want to see me in a
thong.”
“Well, I’m thrilled you’ve joined the group,” Nicole
admitted. “We’re sisters now, and I’m excited to get more brothers-in-law. I
love your love story. It was so sweet, and you had a built-in bad guy in Scott.
I lived for those updates. It was so exciting until the whole terror thing.”
“I am having such a talk with Gigi.” She had been sad to see
her friends go, but they were back in Dallas and Bliss. They had already
promised to be her bridesmaids. She wasn’t engaged yet, but she didn’t think it
would be too long before they made it legal.
For one of them. She wasn’t sure about that part. Her mom
was legally married to her dad, but Papa was tied to them in numerous ways.
Maybe they would flip a coin. Or they could get married and she could be the
third.
Yeah, she wasn’t going to suggest that because her Master
was keeping count of the times she poked him, and he was planning a long
session after his arm worked again.
“It wasn’t Gigi.” Nicole grinned. “I tried to get her to
crack, but she’s a deep believer in the girl code, and she doesn’t gossip about
her sisters. So we looked in another direction.”
“Gabe. That gossipy motherfucker,” Olivia said.
Keane looked surprised. “I always thought Gabe was kind of
stoic. He doesn’t look like a man who would gossip.”
Oh, how little he knew. “They all do. I know they have these
Dom meetings where they’re supposed to talk about what’s best for the club and
how to support the subs, but I’ve been told it’s one big gossip session. And I
expect you to take notes. For years I haven’t been in on the tea because I
haven’t had a proper Dom. Now that Keane’s in, I expect a full report.”
The first bit of news she wanted was about Gigi and Gabe.
She wondered if Gigi was ever going to speak to him again.
They had circled around each other for the longest time, but now Gigi was
really angry. Olivia worried she might cut the friendship off entirely.
“I think Gabe would say he was being a good friend by
keeping us up to date on what was happening with our sister.” Josh made it
sound so reasonable.
“I am not sinking to the level of gossip,” Keane announced.
“I will.” Garrett looked cheerful. “Switches can attend,
from what I hear. I will get you all the dirt, baby.”
“And you will get a red ass,” Keane promised.
The threat didn’t seem to bother Garrett at all. “I look
forward to it, Master.”
Her brother might have some news she wanted to hear. They’d
kept her out of work while Keane was recovering. All she’d done was take care
of him, rest, and talk to her friends since every one of them wanted the full
story. Bobby had kept her on the phone for four hours.
He was going to be her maid of honor. Man of honor. No idea
what they would call him, but she loved him.
“What’s happening with Gladen Farms?” Olivia asked.
Josh’s eyes lit with amusement. “Well, it turns out that
Martin Gladen has a sister. She only got twenty percent of the company when
their father passed. Apparently he thought she would sell Martin her shares,
but she held on to them. She’s been a thorn in his side for years. When Martin
inherited, he had to sign a contract that included a morality clause. So the
sister is taking over, and she promises to bring the farm in line with our
organic principles. She’s going to be good to work with. You’ll like her. She
wants to send you flowers, but she’s worried it might offend you.”
“Not at all. Please tell her I look forward to working with
her.” She would never hold what happened against the woman. Her brother was
evil. Not her.
She hoped Jessica was enjoying prison. And that Scott was
enjoying being unemployed. Again.
She wasn’t going to think about any of them. They were the
past and these people were her future.
The door swung open and her parents walked in, her fathers
carrying a large metal cube between them while her mom fussed.
“That is heavy,” her mom complained. “Do not throw out your
back, Sam. Jack, you need to watch how you hold it. Your neck has been giving
you fits.”
“Is that what I think it is?” Keane asked, sorrow in his
tone.
Josh smiled widely. “Oh, dude, you’re in now. Welcome to the
family.”
They set down the cube next to the others.
“Now it’s useful,” her dad announced. “We needed a new
table. Livens up the place. That truck was a piece of junk, son. Don’t worry.
My brother made me sign a damn contract that I would buy you another.”
Garrett stood. “I can handle it, Mr. Barnes.”
“No, you can’t.” Keane relaxed back. “You’re as broke as I
am. Let Daddy Warbucks handle it. He’s the one who cubed my Mabel.”
“You named your truck Mabel?” It was the first she’d heard
of it.
Keane leaned in. “Nah, but if your dad thinks I was
seriously attached to the truck, we might get satellite radio out of it.”
She laughed as Garrett sat back down, putting a hand on her
knee. Her parents started talking about truck shopping and all the renovations
they needed now that their babies were getting married.
Olivia sat back and took it all in.
This was her family and her future.
She was looking forward to every minute with them.