Kandy is sleeping upstairs. It took a couple of hours to arrive at our location and the second I shoved the SUV into park I set up our laptops and got on the phone with some buddies. Atlas took our girl and settled her in, and Brogan did a rations run.
Atlas walks in and plants his ass in a chair across from me. “Perimeter is clear. I checked the security cameras, and they are up and running.
I nod. “Unless Yogi Bear is out there, no one knows we are here, man. Lighten up.”
“Excuse the fuck out of me. Am I the only one who saw the bruises she’s wearing? And those are only on her face. I saw that fucker take potshots at her ribs before we got to her.”
I cross my arms and kick back in my chair. It was that or lash out at Atlas and he doesn’t deserve my wrath.
“Fuck it. Forget it. Starting over, okay? Any luck reaching anyone with answers?” Atlas jerks his chin at my phone.
“Not yet. Give it a little bit. No one is awake at this hour or if they are, they sure the hell aren’t answering. Don’t blame them. I’ll try again in a minute.”
“How the hell did we miss her having a stalker?”
“Too busy getting this place ready for one.” My fingers flex around my cell phone. “Think she’ll love it?”
“Depends if we can get her to trust us again. We really hurt her badly.”
I consider my friend’s words. “That point was proven to us tonight in spades. She would rather run out into the snow than stay and talk to us.”
“I don’t think I’ve fallen into such a deep sleep since joining the Navy.”
I rub a hand over my face. “Agreed. It’s the only way she got away from us.”
“Maybe the forced night at Club Sin wasn’t such a great idea.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. She signed. We didn’t hear her safe word once.”
Atlas looks torn and I know my friend will war with himself until he has her in his arms again. I can see him struggling not to go to her right now.
Brogan walks in and sets several grocery bags down on the kitchen island and a few I see are from a department store.
“Food, clothes for Kandy and some things she can use for showering.”
“Coffee?”
“Affirmative.” Brogan passes each of us a cup and leaves a fourth in the holder. “She up yet?”
I pick up my phone and hit a different number. “Not yet.”
Lincoln, Cain, and Grant. Their wife, Mercy, is a friend of Justice’s and they have a similar living arrangement as the one we want with Kandy. All four own the lodge about a mile from our cabin and is one of the reasons we offered double the selling price for this place. Justice didn’t hesitate. After helping us plan last night with her best friend, keeping one more secret wasn’t a far stretch to ask.
In recent months Mercy’s men hired us to rebuild each of the luxury cabins on their property. Which is a good thing, because it gave us the kick in the ass we needed to finally put the last leg of our plan involving Kandy into motion. If we leave it solely up to Atlas, that man would still be in planning mode, making everything as perfect as possible for when we approached Kandy.
Perfect never happens. Tonight is a prime example of just how fast shit can hit a fan.
After signing off on my resignation papers from the military, we immediately went into business for ourselves using Atlas’ architecture degree and family business, my degree in business and Brogan’s savvy way with people. We worked well with guns in our hands and a target in our sights. We work even better now with one mission pulling us together: Kandy.
Another fact that comes in handy now is all three of Mercy’s men are former spec ops like us. Great neighbors to have, if you ask me.
“Hey, Grant, sorry for the early hour. Wanted to let you know we have arrived at our cabin, but we might have brought some heat. Didn’t want to leave you in the dark in case he mistakes your place for ours.”
“Yeah, got it. We’ll be safe.”
I hang up and see Atlas rubbing at his neck. A sign of irritation and the man is about three seconds away from going upstairs.
Instead of calling Justice, Atlas takes my phone and taps Seth’s name. He puts it on speaker and places it in the middle of the table.
“Hey, man, trying to reach you all morning.” Atlas goes into the rundown of what happened and rattles off the description we have. Seth, Jacob, and Lucian own a security company and are our best option right now in tracking down who is after Kandy.
Justice’s sleepy voice comes over the speaker. “What’s going on?”
“Did you know about the stalker?”
There’s a pause before a shaky, “Yes.”
Atlas is on his feet and pacing the space behind the large dining table, his coffee abandoned. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”
“The police are handling it. We’ve done everything possible to track him down but he’s a slippery guy. Don’t think we’ve left Kandy out in the cold.”
That’s Seth. There’s tension in his voice. I get it; Kandy isn’t his to look after or protect. That was our job. Something else we failed at.
I lean forward. “The police have their hands tied. None of us got a look at his face. Maybe check the surrounding security cameras?”
“Copy that,” Seth replies. “We might get lucky if we can catch something. I’ll start reaching out after we hang up.”
“Keep the cops out of this for now. Now that there’s been an attack and the sick bastard beat the shit out of her this morning, we won’t stop until there’s blood.”
There’s a clattering before Justice shrieks, “What? What the hell? Attack? Is she okay? Can I speak with her?”
“She is now. She’s not leaving our sight again.”
“Ever,” Atlas adds on, and I feel the finality of his claim. But I doubt Kandy will go for it. Should be interesting to watch that conversation happen.
“You can’t keep me locked up in a cabin in the woods forever. I don’t care how pretty it is.”
Speak of the angel. We turn to see our beauty walk through the archway looking a little worse for wear but more beautiful than a ray of sunshine. She’s sleeping in something between pajamas and striptease lingerie. Justice must have left it behind.
I leave the conversation to Atlas and Brogan and cross to Kandy. Rage wells inside me so thick it’s hard to hold back a roar of fury. Black and purple markings cover most of her jaw. The pretty cheeks of hers I watched turn such a lovely red for us just hours ago are now swollen and already turning their own shade of purple.
She settles calm hands over mine. Up until that second revenge and the taste for blood drove my mind. But when her palms touch mine, I anchor myself to the here and now.
“Can you just hold me for a minute? I want to see the sunrise.”
“Sure, my hart. Anything you want.” My nickname for her always gets a reaction. Usually her breath will hitch and her cheeks will warm. Right now, it makes tears well behind those pretty lashes and I want to murder the man who dared touch her.
I tuck her beneath my chin, and we stand like this a moment, watching the snow fall beyond the large balcony door.
“Continue searching. Keep us posted,” I hear Atlas say before he hangs up the phone. He builds a large fire and Brogan hands her the coffee he grabbed from town.
Together we all three stay silent. I can’t tell if it’s because we have nothing to say or all of us are so fucking furious we let this happen in the first place.
I haven’t felt this much pain since losing my parents. In the military I signed on knowing I would lose team members and friends. But losing the people who loved me and raised me tore out a part of my soul.
And tonight, it happened again. The years we were apart from Kandy tore a gaping hole in my chest. Only Atlas and Brogan know the truth of how far gone I became. Only thing that brought me back from the edge of self-destruction, reckless endangerment, and me taking any assignment I could get with the highest chances of me not making it home was that Atlas finally pulled his head out of his ass.
I run my hands over the tight, supple skin and drop a kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s get you a warm shower and then some food.”
I take her hand in mine. I’m already stripping off my shirt and toeing off my shoes before we hit the stairs.
“We’ll get the food stored and gather some firewood from the shed.” I wave a hand and pull my girl next to me. Let them do whatever they need to do. I have my own plans.
In the bathroom I flick on the showerhead and make sure the water is warm. Steam boils over the top of the glass shower door and I silently help Kandy strip away the silk from her body.
“Where’s your dress?”
Kandy points to the trash bin. I pull her chin up to mine and I search her expression for signs of regret, guilt. Anything that suggests she doesn’t want to be here with me.
All I find is a woman even more beautiful than who we walked away from. Her hair is gathered around her shoulders and spills over her back. I ease the curtain of long blond locks to the side and grit my teeth at the climbing bruises over her ribs.
“Hey, don’t look at me with pity. I got in a few right hooks of my own.”
I smile down at her, my little warrior. So brave and tough.
“That motherfucker will die for touching you. Mark my words, I will put a bullet in his head.”
“You’re not really the violent type.”
I find her gaze in the fogging mirror. “I’ve hidden a lot of true nature from you, baby. That boy Samuel. From your prom. He got off lucky. This piece of shit, he will see the true monster I lock away.”
She shudders in my touch, and I tuck her beneath my chin. “You will never have anything to worry about again. Do you trust me?”
“I trusted you once. Then you told me to never return.”
Her intoxicating scent burrows into my senses, and I rock back on my heels as the memory of Atlas’ harsh words tears through my mind.
“I was an asshole, butterfly. Will you ever forgive me?”
A darkness lingers along the edges of my friend’s voice. He’s leaning against the bathroom frame, arms by his sides, eyes intent and hopeful on Kandy.
“Don’t know. I trusted all of you with my whole heart. Told you I loved you and you threw me away.”
Atlas crosses the room and Brogan enters with him. We all three surround her. Hopefully she can see us as a shield of protection and not the smothering force of arrogant assholes I perceive.
Lucky for us, she’s a kinder, more open soul than we are.
“I’ve lived with my regret for a long time. I’ve hurt us all for so long. Please let me show you.”
Her lip trembles at Atlas’ admission and I give him a nod of reassurance when he looks at me briefly. We have a silent exchange of understanding that took years to hone and when he looks back at Kandy, I can sense he and I are in sync.
Kandy strokes a hand down Atlas’ face. “And our parents?”
I physically watch Atlas tense and his expression turns bitter. “I don’t care one way or another. We can show up at Christmas dinner and see how that goes over when we put a ring on your finger. They will have two options. Accept or not.”
She chews on the question a second before finding her voice. “You think that’s gonna happen, do you? Putting a ring on my finger?” Her head is shaking in disbelief and the snarky Kandy I love peeks through.
I move my hand over the sides of her face, careful not to apply pressure to her injuries and take her quivering lips with mine. Blood floods south and my cock makes it no secret how turned on her sultry question makes me. Defiant till the end. “We know it is.” Blue eyes turn into swirling pools and so much heat radiates out at me my dick is dripping cum.
The beast inside me roars to have her honey coating my dick. To sink into her tight sheath and send us all blissfully away from the hellish early morning we’ve had.
My fingers slip between her.
But our sweet Kandy can’t take us right now and the three of us will just have to suck it up and put her needs first.
A glance at my friends and I know they are thinking the same despite the raging hard-ons we sport.
But maybe a small taste won’t hurt.
I look on as Kandy parts her lips for Atlas when he turns her to him for a taste. She falls into Brogan’s arms next. Her chest is heaving and those pretty lips of hers are swelling up nice from all our kisses. She thinks a little shower loving is happening.
We strip out of our tuxedo pants and toss aside the dress shirts we had on from last night.
The shower is large enough for a soccer team with multiple jets and showerheads. It’s perfect. Pretty bright blue eyes come to meet mine, and I pull her under the water.
I strum a finger over the bruises up her ribs, and Atlas kneels in front of her pressing kisses over others. Brogan, the damn poetic bastard, starts to hum a melody used to calm the mind. Something he did a lot in our military days.
And it works on our girl. She settles into us and when those pretty lashes close, I set aside my anger for what happened to her and focus on giving her all my love and energy.
I force calm into my voice and pitch it low so as not to break the spell. “Let us care for you, my hart.”
