Caught in the Storm (17 page)

“I’m sure that made everything better,” Lexi said dryly.

Jackson leaned his head against the wall and looked down. “I thought you were gone, Kat. I was supposed to protect you, but I didn’t. Hell, you’ve been stabbed!”

Kat put her arm around him and rested her head against his shoulder. “I wasn’t gone. Neither of us knew that security would be that close and pull me away to safety without taking you too. Besides, it’s just a scratch, it’s really not that bad. Lucky for me that belly was full of gel to absorb the impact.”

He moved his head so he was looking at her. “Lucky for both of us. But you must have been so scared.”

“I was at first, with everything being so loud, and people screaming in the ballroom. Finally, he was able to tell me who he was. Trust me, I’ll never forget Jeremy’s voice, and this was nothing like it. I tried to get him to stop and go back for you, but it was so dark, there was no way he’d risk it. Once I was safe, he was supposed to tell the others on duty to come get you but you were running around the room and they couldn’t get your attention.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Jackson, it’s not your fault. Everything’s fine. We’re all okay. Come on; let’s sit down until they tell us we can leave.”

Noah turned to Jackson, “Have you heard from Bruno?”

“Nope, I figured he was commanding everything from the other room. Let’s see what’s up, maybe he can tell us we can go home.”

Jackson called Bruno from his cell phone. He frowned as it went to voice mail. “That’s strange, he always answers.” He stood up and started walking towards the door.

“Oh no you don’t,” Kat said quietly from the couch, “You aren’t leaving here alone.”

“She’s got a point.” Noah said and gently moved Lexi’s head off of his lap and stood up. “You shouldn’t be going alone.”

“Oh and what you two will be like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum trying to find him. I’m going with you.”

They both turned to her, “No.”

“What? You forget I’m the one with the training.”

“And you are also the one who got stabbed tonight. No, besides, there are other security guards around we can have escort us to the other room.” Jackson said.

Noah walked back to Kat placing his hand on her arm, “Besides, I need you here for Lexi. If she wakes up and all of us were gone she’d completely freak out.”

“Damnit.”

“He’s got you there. Now since that’s settled, let’s go.” Jackson headed back towards the door.

“Hurry back.” Kat said to them.

“We will, don’t worry.”

“I’ve got to tell you Jack, I’m a little worried. It’s not like Bruno to not be in contact like this.” Noah said as they rode the elevator down.

“Yeah, I don’t know him like you do, but once you said something I didn’t have a good feeling about this.” Jackson tried again to reach Bruno on his cell phone, dread filling his gut with every unanswered call.

They met the hotel security at the room Bruno had rented. Once they made the plan that Noah’s men would go in first, followed by hotel, then Noah and Jackson they acted quickly.

Jackson couldn’t see much, there was no light on inside the room, hearing the shout coming from inside they all rushed in and someone turned the lights on. There was Bruno strung up and dead. The head of security. No one was safe.

The following morning Kat awoke to raised voices coming from below. She pulled the pillow over her head, wanting to block it all out, but instead, she got up and put some clothes on. As she descended the stairs, the voices got louder.
What a great way to wake up.

She found Lexi and Evie on one side and the men on the other. Not liking the look of the scene before her, she went over and joined the women. “So it appears everyone is in a Suzy Sunshine mood this morning.
Now
what’s the argument about?”

“These,” Evie waved her hand toward the men, “baboons, think it’s too dangerous for us to be out. So from now on, we aren’t to go
anywhere
, even with security.”

“You’ve got to be kidding?” Kat asked. “We aren’t to go
anywhere
?”

“Oh no, even my Neanderthal is going to have the doctor come here for my checkups. Yeah, the poor little delicate flowers need to be hidden away.” Lexi fumed.

“Now, come on, love,” Noah started.

“Oh, don’t you ‘come on, love’ me. You do know what century we are in, right? No, why am I asking; I’m sure you can’t even count!” Lexi folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at Noah, daring him to make a comment.

“For Christ’s sake people. Bruno is dead. Our head of security is fucking dead.” Jackson yelled. “None of you are going anywhere until Jeremy is dead. Got it?”

“And obviously Bruno was distracted. I think this is a lesson to everyone not to let their guard down. But that doesn’t mean we can’t go out. Ever.” Kat said. “It sucks and I’m broken up inside, but don’t let one man’s mistake punish all of us. Or should I just say, three of us.”

“Ladies, please,” Anthony spread his hands out, “This isn’t going to be forever. Just for a little bit while we re-evaluate the situation.”

“Define ‘a little bit’,” Evie said and started tapping her foot.

“I wouldn’t plan on doing any Christmas shopping at the mall,” Anthony said.

“What?” Evie shook her head. “Oh, hell no. Christmas is two months away! No. You boys have another thing coming if you think we’re going to stay locked up here for
months
while you do whatever the hell you want.”

“Oh, come on, be reasonable. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that long,” Anthony said, exasperation clear in his voice.

Evie stalked over to him. “Be reasonable? You want
me
to be reasonable. Fine, then you stay here with us that whole time.
None
of us go out.”

“See there. Evie’s come up with the perfect solution. Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I’m going back to bed since I was so rudely woken up this morning.” Kat quickly climbed the stairs and slammed the door to her room.

On one hand, she was happy, she was feeling more stress every time they went through those gates. But being happy to stay here and being forced to stay here were two different things. She didn’t turn around when she heard the door open behind her.

After a few moments, Jackson spoke. “Are you going to talk to me?”

“What about?”

“That whole thing from downstairs.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Evie came up with the perfect idea. If you and your testosterone brothers down there don’t like it, I really don’t care.”

“We’re going to stay here with you.”

She turned and looked at him in disbelief, sat down and waited for him to continue.

“For now.”

She jumped up. “A-ha! I knew it. There’d be no way you guys could stick it out. I give you all about three days before you want to be behind the wheel of some machine, showing off.”

“For now, until we can come up with something better.”

“Sure,
now
you’re all up for finding a different solution, but when it was just us trapped here, you were all for it.” She stood up and crossed to him.

“Now, that’s not exactly true.”

“Oh, really? Somehow I don’t believe you.”

“Come here.” He pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her. “If we are both stuck here, I get to spend more time with you.” He captured her lips and kissed the breath out of her. “And I’ll be able to do more of this.” His hands gripped her ass and brought her closer to him. “Or this.” He started nipping down the side of her neck, moaning when she arched to give him access to her breasts.

When Jackson started moving her shirt up, she wiggled out of his arms. She almost laughed at his confused look but just walked over, shut and locked the door. As she moved back to him, she lifted the shirt up and over her head, tossing it on the floor. “You want some of this?” She spread her arms out.

“Oh yeah, I want some of that.” He leapt and grabbed her, knocking them both onto the bed. “And I’ll take some of this.”

They made quick work of getting naked. He teased and tormented her by kissing every inch of her body, spending a considerable amount of time tasting her juices while sliding his fingers in and out of her. The ferocity of her orgasm shocked her. She lay there, not being able to move, when she felt him slide up her body. She tried to keep her eyes open, but he had drained her.

“Baby, you’re so soft and wet right now.” As he slid his length into her, her walls clenched around him. He slowly thrust in and out, taking his time so she could feel him filling her up.

She wasn’t sure how it was possible with her exhaustion, but she started moving with him. Slowly at first, then faster and faster until she was sure they had moved the bed five feet. When he threw his head back in the throes of release, she saw his muscles bunch and felt his cock jerk inside her. Letting go, she felt herself come again.

Kat laid with her head on Jackson’s chest her fingers tracing abstract patterns. “Did Bruno have any family?”

“Nah, it was just him. Might be some distant relatives, but nothing close. Noah thinks that’s why he got into this field. You know, if something like this happened it’d be no biggie.”

She laughed without humor, “No biggie.”

“You know what I mean, he wouldn’t be leaving anyone behind.”

“What about us? He’s been working for Noah for a long time. He’s been around here for over a year. I know we’re all going to miss him.” She closed her eyes when Jackson hugged her tight with his arm and kissed the top of her head. “How’s Noah?”

“He’s pissed. You’re right, Bruno was the one Noah always depended on, for years. It’s going to be hard.”

“Jackson,” Kat raised up on her elbow and looked into his eyes, “I’m scared. It seems like I’ve been scared forever, but it’s always been just me, you know? But now, now I’m scared for you, for Noah, and even Anthony. No one is safe. Don’t you understand, No one.”