Dirty Little Lies: A Men of Summer Novel (29 page)

“One of these days,” he muttered, pulling back from her slowly, regret and a flash of worry shadowing his gaze. “I have to answer this.”

Jerking the phone from the clip at his side, he stepped farther away from her, rubbing at the back of his neck as he lifted the phone to his ear.

“What the fuck do you want?” he growled. Paused.

Tension snapped through his body like a live wire as Grace pushed her skirt down her thighs, watching him closely.

“What?” he snarled, his tone dark with fury now. “Like hell…” His voice lowered, but she still heard his side of the conversation. “It’s too fucking soon…”

Turning back, his gaze locked with hers, and though he tried to hide it, though he was hiding it, she saw the tormented flash of grave, certain destruction in his eyes.

She should have paid more attention earlier, she thought. Whoever was on that phone, whatever was going on, was the reason he’d extracted that earlier promise from her.

“Fine,” he snarled moments later. Paused. “I said fine, I’ll fucking be there.”

His hand jerked back and for a moment Grace thought he’d throw the phone. Instead, slowly, with deliberate care, he pushed it back into the clip at his belt instead.

Grace slid from the barstool, smoothed her skirt into place, and watched him silently until he turned to her, his expression savage with the fury filling it.

“Problems?” she asked mildly.

“So Lobo’s convinced.” His jaw bunched, that tormented flash of emotion she found so hard to define making an appearance once again as he propped his hands on his hips and stared back at her broodingly.

“Lobo’s convinced it’s a problem.” She nodded, feeling a thread, a piece of information teasing at her mind. “Well, I guess you need to take care of it, then? It could be important.”

“Grace.” Dropping his hands, he stepped to her, then gripped her shoulders before stroking down her arm, seeming uncertain what to say for a moment. “I won’t be long.” He finally grimaced. “You’re not alone either. Lobo, Calli, Dylan, and Eamon will be right outside if you need them. I’m not going far.”

“Take me with you,” she demanded, suddenly certain, knowing to the bottom of her soul that he needed to take her with him.

“Not yet.” He dropped a hasty kiss to her lips and moved away before she could grab hold of him and strode from the television room.

Grace remained where she was until she heard the front door close before drawing in a slow, deep breath. Whatever Lobo found so important, Zack didn’t believe it was dangerous to her or to him. He was furious, though. So furious that the sound of the Jeep’s motor racing, tires screaming as they caught traction on the blacktop, could be heard even in the house before she watched the lights of the vehicle racing farther up the mountain rather than away from it.

There was a cabin located along that road, she knew. There were a few hunting cabins.…

She walked slowly to the window across the room and watched as the lights disappeared around the bend of the mountain, one hand lifting to the pane of glass as she stared at her own bleak reflection before stepping back and striding out of the television room.

Moving through the living room and entry, she glanced at the front door, the sight of Lobo leaning against the porch railing clear through the narrow side window next to the heavy wood door.

She didn’t pause, but ran up the stairs to the guest room and quickly undressed.

Jeans, a dark T-shirt, thick socks, and her hiking boots. The cabins weren’t far up the mountain, and she was certain she could slip from the house and get past Zack’s friends without them seeing her. After all, they weren’t expecting her to try to leave.

Slipping from the bedroom again, she moved quickly back down the stairs, grateful she’d turned out the lights before going up. There would be no chance of her being glimpsed as she made her way through the house, obviously dressed far differently than she had been earlier.

Lobo and the other two men, Eamon and Dylan, had been out front when she went to change, and Calli was probably with them, which meant the kitchen door would be her best bet. Besides, it was the most direct route to the road leading up the mountain.

“Slick.” The feminine drawl was almost a whisper as Grace reached the back door.

She was almost in a crouch and reaching for the weapon she’d tucked into the inside of her boot before she stopped herself and turned slowly instead.

Calli sat on the counter in the darkest corner of the room. The other girl slid from her perch, settling silently on her feet as she crossed her arms over her breasts. “Sure you want to do that?” she asked when Grace didn’t say anything. “Actually chase after him and see what he’s hiding?”

There was a warning in her half sister’s voice, one Grace clearly understood. There was no going back once she learned whatever Zack was hiding.

“I usually know what I’m doing whenever I begin a particular action,” Grace assured her.

Calli breathed in hard and glanced away, her lips tightening for a moment as she obviously considered some problem.

“You’ll get yourself killed out there by yourself,” she sniffed disdainfully. “Like a fucking babe in the woods, no doubt.”

Grace shrugged. “You know, I might take you a little more seriously if you didn’t have such a fondness for four-letter words. Why don’t you stay here where it’s safe? I know where I’m going.”

Calli’s eyes widened in outrage. “You bitch!” she hissed. “Fuck you, Miss Prissy Pants. Me and my four-letter words get along just fine.”

Grace stared at her sister silently, refusing to consider the pain she wouldn’t let herself feel right now. Not now. Not until she found out why it had been so important to her that Zack take her with him.

“Your four-letter words show your immaturity and the depth of your lack of self-confidence,” Grace informed her knowingly. “Now, stay, go, I really don’t care. But make up your mind now.”

“I could just call for Lobo,” the other girl stated spitefully. “Then he’ll call Zack, who’ll come rushing back to soothe your ruffled little feathers. Or whatever.” The suggestive tone and demeaning expression only drew a pitying glance from Grace.

“And a tattletale, too.” She gripped the doorknob and opened the door silently. “Do what you must, little sister, just as I’m doing.”

She left the house, pausing outside the door long enough to catch the faint sound of the men still talking at the front of the house. Assured no one was watching, she sprinted from the porch, across the backyard, careful to stay away from the motion lights Zack had pointed out her first night there, and reach the tree line before pausing.

“Zack will kill me for this!” Calli snapped in a furious whisper from her side. “And it will be all your fault.”

Casting a look heavenward, Grace wondered if God was laughing at her at the moment. She’d done the same thing to Sawyer and Deacon more than once when they’d tried to slip out of the house during her teenage years.

“I’ll take the blame,” she promised. “Now, let’s go. Otherwise, he’ll be back and in the bed asleep before we even get there.”

Moving quickly, Grace made her way through the trees, Calli hot on her heels. She couldn’t risk the penlight she’d brought with her, not until she was out of sight of the house.

“Put these on.” Calli shoved something in her hands with a grunt of disgust. “You left and didn’t bring a weapon, water, or anything. Dammit, you always carry a pack.”

The gogglelike glasses Calli had shoved in her hands were actually night-vision goggles. Not the best, but easy to pack and wear.

“Before you leave, maybe you’ll make me a list of what to pack,” Grace suggested, moving faster now that she could see where she was going.

“Maybe Zack will learn to handcuff your ass to the bed,” Calli sniffed instead. “I’m so going to get busted for this.”

“Then go back.” She was getting tired of hearing about it. “I won’t tell anyone you saw me and you can just play dumb.”

“Want to know how far that one will get me?” Calli drawled, her tone irate. “Or can you pretty much guess?”

They were all but running through the woods, a steady pace that wasn’t straining, but didn’t lend itself to conversation.

“Shut up,” she ordered the girl.

“Can’t run and talk at the same time?” Calli asked knowingly. “You should have stayed in bed.”

Grace didn’t answer, just kept her pace and concentrated on her landmarks. There were two cabins along this road; only one had electricity. She was counting on the cabin with electricity.

“You didn’t get to train a lot when you were younger, did you?” Calli pointed out, easily keeping up with her and talking at the same time.

She hadn’t gotten to train a lot. She’d learned what she needed to, but her heart hadn’t been in it.

“Too busy playing with your Barbies and fixing your hair?” Calli snorted.

She’d never cared much for Barbie, and her hair wouldn’t hold a curl, which made trying to style it pretty much a waste of time.

“I bet you were a freakin’ cheerleader,” Calli guessed in disgust. “Go team go, right?”

“Editor. School paper.” Grace hadn’t gone the cheerleading route either. “Class president. Valedictorian.”

She was so glad she kept up with the jogging along the mountain trails on the Maddox property. If she hadn’t, she would have dropped before the half-mile mark.

“What about you?” Grace asked. “I bet you made a pretty cheerleader. Short skirts and tight tops,” she teased her sister.

It wasn’t mean or snide, just enough, Grace hoped, to get the other girl talking.

“I really hate you,” Calli injected with no small amount of surliness. “I really do.”

“Uh-huh. Give me a cheer, then,” she suggested, catching a glimpse of lights through the trees farther ahead.

“Reporter and editor, school paper four years running. Class president, valedictorian, and honor guard,” Calli snapped. “Now, follow me or you’ll get caught before we even get there. My ass is so kicked for this.”

chapter twenty

Benjamin Maddox and Ureana Richards stood next to the fireplace, Ben’s arm around his lover’s small waist, his expression brooding and heavy in the low light of the living room lamp.

Like his twin, Ben was still tall and strong for his age, though his hair might not be so gray as Vinny’s. Other than the slash of a scar over his left eye and one lower, along his jaw, he was still Vinny’s twin.

Ureana, nearly fifteen years his junior, was still remarkably pretty. Tanned, fit, Ben often complained that he had to stay young just to keep up with her. At the moment, Ben looked every bit his age, though, and then some.

Sitting in the recliner facing the fireplace, Clyde Brigham actually had his feet propped up, boots off, his automatic rifle was leaning against the arm of the chair as he peeled and ate an orange, section by section, and watched Zack with knowing gray eyes.

Clyde’s wife, Mena, was still bustling around the cabin, putting away clothes, making certain everything was ready for breakfast the next day while several of the hard-eyed men his uncle and Ben Maddox had saved and trained over the years stood ready in case of trouble.

“You’re early!” Zack snapped, glaring at all of them as he paused at the entrance of the main room. “Dammit to hell, it’s been less than twenty-four hours. You owe me three more days.”

Clyde grunted at the protest and dropped his orange peels into the paper bowl resting on his lap. “Shoulda expected it,” he mumbled around the orange. “He’s an impatient bastard.” He flicked his finger in Ben’s direction.

Ben shot his lover’s uncle a look of resigned disbelief. Ben wasn’t the impatient one in the family, though his determination to return to Loudon had been making Zack’s life very uncomfortable for the past year.

“I have three more days,” Zack repeated through clenched teeth.

“Wrong. Time’s up.” Clyde tucked the last slice of orange between his lips and stared back at Zack blandly. A look that spelled mayhem if Zack didn’t do something to rein his uncle in.

“And may I ask why my time is up?” Zack questioned him.

Get the facts, he warned himself. Before going ballistic, always get the facts.

“’Cause, word’s already out that Grace is pokin’ her nose into stuff.” Clyde sat the bowl of orange peels on the table next to him and stared at Zack questioningly. “Unless you have something that piques my interest, then I’m of a mind to handle things my way, Zack.” He gave his nephew a hard look. “So, you have anything?”

This was why Clyde couldn’t get along with his older brother, Alexander Brigham. He didn’t take orders worth shit, he ignored suggestions and pretty much did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it. Screw protocol or anyone who stood in his way.

Zack turned to Ben. “You couldn’t talk any sense into him?” He turned back to Clyde. “What the hell do you think you’re going to do? Go in, guns blazing? This isn’t Central America and it’s damned sure not the Middle East. And we’re not in the middle of a war zone here. And I won’t have you turning it into one.”

Why in the hell hadn’t he brought Lobo with him? Talking sense into Clyde was like talking sense into his brother Alexander sometimes. Impossible.

“Someone’s getting desperate, Zack,” Ben stated, his voice calm though worry shadowed his eyes. “And whoever it is has enough ties into the agency that they’ve killed not one, but two prisoners being held for interrogation. If it doesn’t stop now, then it could become more than just a Kin problem.”

Zack could feel his molars threatening to crack as he ground his teeth in frustration. Clyde and Ben? His night had just gone from bad to worse.

“Three more days,” he bit out. “Give me the time you promised me.”

“That’s three more days someone has to kill Grace!” Ben snapped, anger roughening his voice. “After that little meeting you took her to, whoever’s behind this will be more determined than ever to kill her.”

“I have her protected,” he snarled, frustration clawing at him now. Dealing with them was getting harder by the year. “With Grace’s safety at risk, Vince and Alexander both will get to the bottom of this. Not to mention Cord’s determination to find out what’s going on. For God’s sake, do you think they won’t do it now that Kenni’s home? Her safety is paramount to them now.”