Dirty Little Lies: A Men of Summer Novel (8 page)

Zack stared down at the coffee in his cup, his chest tightening at the knowledge that they’d kept the information to themselves.

Jazz had to have been about to bust for years.

“You should have said something,” he said quietly, his chest heavy, guilt flaying his conscience.

“It didn’t matter, Zack,” Slade assured him. “You’re our brother first, your bloodline doesn’t matter. And now, I’m going to assume what’s going on with Grace is somehow tied to the reason her father and your parents were killed? Whatever they were doing has finally come back to haunt the Maddox family?”

After pulling out the file he’d folded and stuck in his back pocket, Zack opened it and laid it on the table between Jazz and Slade. “This is everything I have concerning Grace,” he said on a sigh. “The information Toby got together for me as well as what I’ve managed to get from Alexander Brigham over the years is on this flash drive.” He pulled the small drive from the pocket of his shirt and placed it on the table with the hard copy files. “My parents weren’t killed because of any rumored information that Benjamin Maddox knew where the Brigham daughter and her son were hiding. They were killed for the investigation they were involved in to uncover a possible traitor in the Maddox family. And that’s information even Vinny Maddox doesn’t have. As far as he knows, the traitor was high-level Kin. The information Alexander had from Benjamin at the time pointed to possible Maddox family involvement. Close relatives, possibly one of the cousins who oversees top-level security.”

Brooding, dangerous. The expressions on the faces of his brothers changed with that information.

“No names were mentioned?” Jazz asked, fingering the flash drive.

Zack shook his head. “Benjamin was keeping the information to himself. He told Alexander he wanted to confirm it. Supposedly that was what he was doing the night he and my parents were murdered.” Zack sat back in his chair, one finger tapping at the wooden arm of the seat as he narrowed his eyes on the files for a moment. “Vinny has known my identity for years. Vinny knew, and he trusted Cord with the information. The twins and Grace are aware of it now as well. We’ll see if it goes any further—though, honestly, I can’t see Deacon, Sawyer, or Grace being in league with a traitor. It just doesn’t fit. We know Luce was involved in the murders, but according to her interrogation, she didn’t give the orders. Though she also swore she didn’t know who gave them and that one I just don’t believe.”

He couldn’t make Luce’s accusations that Grace was involved fit, and he’d tried. Grace had barely been five when her father died, but she’d idolized him; she would never have betrayed his memory in such a way. Deacon and Sawyer could be wild cards, but like Cord, they’d had many chances to betray the family and hadn’t done so.

“If Grace were a traitor, she would have given Kenni up as soon as she realized who she was, two years ago,” Jazz murmured. “Killing Kenni before the family realized who she was would have been imperative. Besides, Grace sees Vinny and those boys as her only family. You’re right, she wouldn’t turn on them.”

“So how do you intend to draw a traitor out, Zack?” Slade asked somberly.

Zack nodded to the files. “During her interrogation, Luce swore Grace had the files her father hid and she was just waiting for the right time to sell the sensitive Kin information that was hidden on it, as well as the identity of the traitor. I can keep the Brighams from coming after her by claiming her as my lover—the traitor and missing information, we’ll have to figure out for ourselves.”

And that was going to be the hard part. Hell, “hard” part? It could become impossible if he didn’t play his cards right. Somehow he was going to convince an unknown traitor that Grace was giving him the information. That she was becoming so enamored of him that she was willing to believe in his claims of hating the Kin and the agency enough to betray them.

“You’re going to need help,” Jazz pointed out. “It won’t work if you try to gung-ho this and go it alone. You’re gonna need your back covered.”

“Hell, he’s gonna need all four sides covered,” Slade snorted. “Very covertly while still giving the appearance that he and Grace are working alone. Then we sit back and listen to the rumors that start making their way to us.”

Zack nodded, then rubbed at the back of his neck. “They still haven’t found Grace’s assailant. The team sent out after him reported in last night, and there’s no sign of him. No way he managed to get out of the county without being seen.”

There wasn’t so much as a deer path that wasn’t being watched by Kin after the attack. The search for Richard James was one of the most intense manhunts Alex had seen in the area.

“I have a feeling, once I have Grace in my house and our traitor is convinced she’s mine, he’ll make a move. Everyone believes I have no love for Kin and pure hatred for the Brigham family. They’ll believe I can be had and so can any information Grace has. I just have to play the game right and make sure Grace plays her part.”

“Without breaking her heart,” Jazz ordered, his voice stern. “That girl’s been half in love with you for years, Zack. Remember that. I don’t think you want to hurt her any more than she’s already been hurt.”

chapter six

She wasn’t a child anymore, Grace told herself the next morning as she watched one of her uncle’s men carry her luggage from her bedroom to the front door. She didn’t get to scream, to cry that it wasn’t fair. She didn’t get to pout anymore, and she hadn’t thrown things since before her father died.

Instead, she stood in the foyer, glaring at her uncle and her cousin Cord along with the object of her anger, Zack, as they stood whispering at the far end of the long entryway. As though she had no business hearing what was being said. It was her life, after all, so she should be privy to whatever the hell their secrets were at the moment.

Her eyes kept straying to Zack more than to her family, though.

As much as she hated what he was doing to her life at the moment, she couldn’t ignore the fact that he still drew her. He made her want when she knew she shouldn’t want him. He made her want the warmth, the pleasure he’d already given her, a pleasure unlike anything else she’d ever known. Not that she hadn’t dated, and often, but those kisses in the past didn’t even compare to Zack’s kisses, to his touch, to what he made her feel even when she didn’t want to feel it.

How she’d ever been fooled into believing he was no more than a quiet accountant, she didn’t understand. Had she been blind, or had she just not wanted to see that the man who so fascinated her was even more arrogant than the cousins who drove her crazy? That determined dominance and pure self-assurance never failed to make her want to knock their heads together. Especially when they gave her that you’re-just-a-girl look. As though being female were somehow inferior to all their male testosterone.

People saw what they wanted to see, her uncle had always told her. If they want to see weakness, then it would take little to convince them they saw weakness. She hadn’t wanted to acknowledge the fact that Zack was just as strong, arrogant, and forceful as her cousins, and he’d never displayed those traits overtly. So she hadn’t let herself recognize what she didn’t want to see.

He was quiet yet always watchful, always on guard. That fact was in the set of his shoulders, the way he seemed focused on what Cord and Vinny were saying right now though she knew he was aware of every move she was making. How had she managed to miss that steely core of authority she could so clearly see now? Her instincts were better than that; she should have known who and what he was years ago.

How many other mistakes had she made over the years?

She could forgive herself for underestimating Rich—she rarely saw him and had interacted with him even less, so she couldn’t have been expected to see the dangerous part of him. He hadn’t been part of her life on a regular basis since they were teens.

She normally had an excellent instinct for people; it was how she’d identified Kenni so quickly when the other woman returned to Loudon under an assumed identity. She had known Kenni like a sister when they were younger, recalling mannerisms like a certain tilt of the head, a certain look when irritated. And Kenni had always done “irritated” very well.

Yet she’d missed so many facets of Zack that it was unbelievable.

How many others had she let slip by her?

Had she missed it because of emotion? Because she hadn’t wanted to see it? Seeing it would have meant choosing to turn away from the fascination she felt for him whenever he was around.

And admittedly, it was more than obvious he’d intended to hide that part of himself. Especially from her.

Too bad Zack didn’t consider it a good idea to
continue
hiding that part; he would have been far easier to get along with if he had.

She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and considered him with narrow eyes.

He’d never spent a lot of time around her. As a matter of fact, whenever she showed up and he was present, he rarely stayed long. A hello, a few quiet smiles, and he was gone.

He hadn’t let her see him, hadn’t allowed her to know him. No wonder Kenni gave her such odd looks whenever she stated how Zack was so unlike her family. Because Kenni knew better. Because Zack showed her cousin all the things he’d hidden from her.

From the corner of her eye, she caught the wary look Cord gave her. He’d been doing that a lot since the day before. Watching her with that faint expression he used whenever they were arguing. She was completely infatuated with a man who thought that because she was smaller and weaker physically, she was somehow weak-minded as well.

Her lips tightened at the thought.

She was not weak-minded, though it appeared where Zack was concerned, she’d definitely been using blinders.

And she was tired of being ignored.

“Did the three of you forget I’m standing here?” she asked in what she considered a perfectly reasonable tone. “If we’re not leaving the foyer, then I’m going back to my room to rest my leg for a while because I’m tired of watching you whisper around like three gossiping little girls.”

It wasn’t really hurting, just aching a little, and her leg wasn’t the reason she was feeling put out by the three of them.

Zack turned to her slowly, his expression borderline incredulous. “Like what?”

Vinny was a little smarter where she was concerned, though. “Sorry, Gracie,” her uncle called over to her, an apologetic smile on his face as Cord moved toward her. “We’re finished.”

“Were we?” Zack murmured, eyeing the stubborn stance Grace had taken by the front door. “I’m still considering the ‘gossiping girls’ comment.”

She didn’t look particularly uncomfortable—more defensive, perhaps—but that was Grace whenever he was around. Yet she had Vinny and Cord ready to jump through hoops.

Those green eyes of hers gleamed between heavy lashes a few shades darker than the multihued blond hair she’d pulled back from her face while the sides and back tumbled in rich waves to just past her shoulders. Loose beige pants and a soft white shirt completed her outfit, and once again she was wearing flat sandals rather than heels. A reminder of the attack that had that responding surge of fury threatening to break free.

“Shut the hell up, Zack,” Cord muttered. “Let’s not piss her off any more than she already is.”

Ire flashed in her gaze and tightened her lips, almost causing him to smile. She hadn’t liked being pushed out of the conversation he, Vinny, and Cord were having. She’d waited longer than he expected her to before protesting, though.

“Go easy on her, Zack,” Vinny ordered. “Give her a chance to acclimate.”

Rather than commenting, Zack joined Cord in lifting her suitcases and carrying them out into the late-summer sunlight to the back of his pickup.

There was no way in hell she’d make it if he went easy on her. Vinny and Cord seemed hesitant to allow her any part in her own protection or to make her an integral part of the investigation. Hell, they’d argued to keep as much information from her as possible.

She was stronger than they seemed to be giving her credit for. He’d always known that. Perhaps not strong enough for his way of life, but stronger than she appeared. That Maddox strength was more than apparent despite the impression she gave of always bowing to Vinny’s temper.

She wasn’t bowing today; she was glaring at all of them as she made her way from the house to the truck, surrounded by several of the Kin, who shadowed her the second she left the house.

And she knew why they were there. To protect her with their own lives if necessary. And she hated it. Zack could see the fear and anger when her gaze met his, that knowledge that the four men walking beside her would lay down their lives for her. Just as her pet had nearly done.

She slid into the front seat of the truck without argument, her body stiff, filled with angry tension as Zack moved behind the wheel.

“Keep her safe, Zack,” Cord demanded, his voice low before Zack could close the door. “You let her get hurt, and you’ll answer to all of us.”

Zack slammed the door closed, ignoring the other man’s warning.

If Grace ended up hurt, then Cord wouldn’t have to retaliate—Zack wouldn’t be able to live with the thought that he’d failed to that extent. For years, he’d cooperated with Vinny and Cord to place an invisible web of protection around Grace, and still, she’d ended up in danger.

As she’d grown older, he hadn’t agreed with the ways in which they’d protected her, but he’d lost the right to object. He’d stayed out of her life, ignored the fact that she was just as fascinated by him as he was hungry for her. A man didn’t have a right to intervene when he had no intention of keeping the prize being protected. His life was far too dangerous for a princess to exist within it for long.

“Do you intend on telling me what the hell is going on now?” It was more a demand than a question. There was nothing pouty or spoiled in her determination for explanations; the tone of voice was more that of a woman used to knowing the facts and learning she’d been lied to.