A Mad Reed Security Christmas Read online

  “That guy is intense,” Jack said, following my gaze.

  “No shit. Did you know he has a tracker in his wife and kids?”

  Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “No shit?”

  “I know.”

  “Maybe I should do that.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with people? Knight says that he needs to do something and suddenly everyone is following him around like a fucking puppy dog.”

  “Well, look at the man. Have you seen that look he gets in his eyes? He looks like he could be an assassin or something.”

  I rolled my eyes as he shoved past me to chase down Knight and Cole. He had no fucking clue.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Alec

  “What do you think Reese will think about her first Christmas with Reed Security?” Florrie asked me as she cut up her steak.

  I smirked, laughing to myself as I thought about all the ways Craig could fuck that up. “I’m sure it’ll be adventurous, but Craig’s gonna be out of control for a while.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because he’s trying to get Reese pregnant.”

  Florrie looked down and I could tell she was fucking sad. I had taken her out to dinner tonight, hoping that we could have just one fucking normal night, but then I had to go bring up the fact that someone else was pregnant. Florrie and I had talked about it, and we both agreed that it wasn’t worth it for her to try again. Too much shit could go wrong. And right now, she just couldn’t think of going with a surrogate. She said it made her feel like a failure.

  “Well,” Florrie smiled at me, pretending to be happy, “she’s wouldn’t be the only one. Hunter was practically shouting from the roof that he had knocked up Lucy again.”

  “What are the chances both of them would be pregnant at the same time? Lucy and Claire…That’s just insane.”

  “Don’t forget Lola and Kate,” she reminded me.

  I shook my head in amazement. It was like they all timed it perfectly. Florrie was quiet the rest of dinner, and I didn’t try to lighten the mood. I didn’t want to make it seem like what we were going through was no big deal. Florrie was hurting and pretending that it wasn’t a sore subject wouldn’t make it any easier on her.

  I paid the bill and helped her on with her coat. We walked out the door, but I wasn’t ready to go home yet. I just wanted to enjoy what was left of our night.

  “Let’s go for a walk.”

  She threaded her fingers through mine and we walked down the street, looking up at the stars. Well, she did. I stared at her beautiful face and thanked God that I had finally won her over. One of these days, I was going to get her to marry me.

  I was so distracted by her beautiful face that I didn’t even see the dark figure that jumped out of the alley and grab Florrie from behind. She hadn’t noticed either. She gave me a look, like she was gonna kill the guy in two seconds if I didn’t stop her. But then I saw that it was a kid behind her and I gave a slight shake of my head. I wasn’t going to let her kill some kid. It would eat away at her.

  “What do you want?” I asked calmly.

  He held onto her, his hands shaking as he held a pocket knife against her throat. She wasn’t even nervous.

  “I just…I just want some money.”

  “You have a home, kid?”

  He looked at me in confusion and shook his head slightly. “I just need some money.”

  “For what? You need drugs?”

  The kid snorted. “Drugs? I just want some fucking food.”

  I nodded. “Okay.” I held up my hands placatingly, just wanting him to take that fucking knife away from Florrie’s neck. I knew she could take him, but if the kid was just hungry, I didn’t want him to get hurt. And Florrie would definitely hurt him. “How much do you need?”

  I pulled out my wallet and he looked at it, licking his lips like he could already taste the food. “Maybe…five dollars.”

  “Five dollars. You’re holding a knife on my woman over five dollars?”

  His shoulders slumped and he slowly put his arms down. Florrie turned around, but didn’t back away from him. She slowly reached forward and took the pocket knife from him. He didn’t even try to hang onto it. He just looked defeated.

  “Do you have someplace to stay?” Florrie asked.

  He shook his head sullenly, not even looking up at us.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Reid.”

  I barked out a laugh. If that wasn’t a fucking sign, I didn’t know what was. “Well, Reid, you look like you need a good meal and someplace to sleep. I have a spare room.”

  He looked up at me warily. Whoever fucked this kid over was gonna be pissing blood when I was through with him.

  “Look,” I took out my card and handed it over to him. “I work in security. I’m not some psycho. Florrie works there too. You can come home with us, get a good meal and a good night’s sleep. We’ll figure out the rest in the morning.”

  “Why are you doing this?” he asked.

  I sighed. It always sucked when someone as young as him didn’t trust adults. “Call it being a good human being.”

  “I can’t pay you back.”

  “I’m not asking you to.”

  He nodded and I jerked my head for him to follow us. He did, but he walked behind us, like he was fucking terrified of what would happen. I decided that I couldn’t just take him home. This kid needed some reassurance and I had plenty of ways to set this kid’s mind at ease. I sent Sean a quick text and was happy to see he was at the police station. That would make this a hell of a lot easier.

  “What are you doing?” Reid said from the back seat. “You said we were going to your house.”

  “I’m taking you into the police station. I have a friend that works here. I just want you to hear him say that this is okay. He’s a good cop and you can trust him.”

  But the kid didn’t believe me. He was breathing heavy and he was freaking the fuck out. Sean walked out and over to my truck. I got out and opened the back door so Reid could see Sean.

  “Reid, this is Sean. He’s a detective here.”

  Sean nodded and pulled out his badge for Reid to see. “What’s going on here?”

  “I found Reid on the street. He held a knife on Florrie.”

  “Really?” Sean asked in disbelief. “I don’t buy it.”

  “Anyway, Reid wanted some money for food. I offered to take him home and give him a place to sleep. Figured it might put his mind at ease if a cop gave his approval.”

  Sean jerked his chin at Reid. “Do you have someone waiting for you at home?”

  I could see the kid practically trembling. Whatever was going on at home was not good, and he was scared as fuck right now that I was going to send him back. I looked to Sean, shaking my head slightly. There was no way this kid was going someplace that he didn’t feel safe.

  “Well, maybe you want to tell me about it sometime. Alec and Florrie are definitely trustworthy, and there’s no way they’ll let anyone hurt you. When you’re ready, you come tell me what the hell’s going on. I’ll make sure we sort it out.”

  The kid seemed to relax when Sean walked away. I got back in the truck and sent Florrie a look that I was going to kill whoever the fuck was hurting this kid. She turned around in her seat and tried not to look like she was going to murder someone.

  “What do you want to eat?”

  “Anything?” Florrie nodded. “Meat, please.”

  My fists tightened around the steering wheel. The kid just wanted some fucking meat. I’d make sure that he had a fucking steak like I just had. I drove home, entering the code for the Reed Security property. Florrie and I were still building our house, so we were staying in the panic room. There was no place safer for the kid right now.

  “You live here?”

  “Yeah. This is Reed Security property. We’re still building our house. There’s a panic room that we’re staying in. Well, it’s really more of a bunker. Anyway, there’s a shi
t ton of rooms. Some of the other guys and their wives are staying there until they have their homes built.”

  “Why is everyone living here?” he asked.

  “It’s safer. No one can enter the property without a code. We have facial recognition, and if the cameras can’t pick up who’s at the entrance, the gates don’t open. This is the safest fucking place you could be.”

  I pulled into the garage and we all headed for the building. Reid’s eyes widened as he watched all the security measures. I bet the kid was wondering right now if he was safe or entering some kind of cult. I led him to the kitchen and smiled when I saw Mrs. Cartwright in there, cleaning up the dinner dishes.

  “I’ll go make up a room for him,” Florrie said, leaving me alone with Reid.

  “Alec, who’s this young man,” Mrs. Cartwright asked.

  “This is Reid. I found him out on the streets. He needs a good meal. Reid, this is Mrs. Cartwright.”

  “Oh, stop that. You can call me Susan. Sit down. I’ll make up something for you.”

  Reid looked to me for direction. I pointed to the table and he took a seat. The kid looked like he needed all the nutrition in the world, so I grabbed him a glass of milk. He chugged it down in just a few gulps. Damn. That made my heart hurt.

  After the kid scarfed down two helpings of Mrs. C’s food, I took him back to the suite that Florrie and I stayed in.

  “This is the common area. TV’s over there. This is your room.” I opened the door and waited for him to walk in. His steps were hesitant and when he saw the bed, his shoulders sagged. “That mattress was picked out by Chance. He’s kind of a freak about beds and pillows. You have your own bathroom. If you need anything, just knock on my door.”

  He turned back to me and I could swear there were tears in his eyes, but it was too dark to be sure. “Thanks. I promise, it’ll just be for tonight.”

  “Stay as long as you need, kid.”

  I shut the door and headed over to my bedroom. Florrie was waiting on the bed.

  “Is he okay?” she asked.

  I sighed and sat down beside her. “I don’t know.”

  “We can’t let him go home, not if he’s being…”

  “We’ll talk to him in the morning. I’ll have to bring Cap in on this. I won’t send him home if things are bad, but we can’t just hang onto a kid if his parents are looking for him.”

  “Alec, I don’t care if his parents are looking for him. He’s not going back to them. You saw him out there tonight. He was starving. He didn’t just run away because he didn’t like his parents. No kid would stay away if he was starving unless it was bad.”

  “I know.”

  ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️

  Reid was in his clothes from yesterday. I needed to get him something else to wear. His clothes smelled terrible. But there were no other boys around here his age. We sat in Cap’s office in the new Reed Security building. Cap was staring at Reid right now, probably wondering what the fuck he was going to do.

  “How old are you?” Cap asked.

  “Thirteen.”

  “Why were you on the streets?”

  Reid looked to me and I wanted to help him out, but I also needed to know the situation.

  “Is there a bad situation at home?” Cap tried again.

  Reid’s leg started bouncing out of control, which signaled that whatever it was that he was thinking, it was pretty fucking bad.

  Cap leaned forward in his chair. “Look, Reid, I want to help you, but I have to know what’s going on.”

  “My stepdad…” He swallowed, but couldn’t finish his sentence. Cap just nodded in understanding. We didn’t know what was going on, but at least we had something to go off of.

  “How long have you been on the streets?” I asked.

  “Two months.”

  I clenched my jaw and gripped onto the arms of the chair so I didn’t fucking punch something. What had that kid dealt with that he spent two fucking months on the street?

  “Alright. Well, I need your last name. Alec said you met Sean last night. I can have him look into your parents.”

  “No!”

  “Reid,” I said as calmly as possible, “we’re not going to send you back there, but we need to know what’s going on. And if you won’t talk about it, we have to find out some other way.”

  “Look, I just need someplace to stay for a day or two. I’ll find a job and-”

  “And what?” I snapped. “Are you gonna live on the streets again?” He didn’t say anything, He had no options and he knew it. I didn’t want to make him feel like crap. I just wanted to help the kid. “You don’t need to go find a job. You’re gonna stay here with me. We have tutors that can get you through school, and when you’re not studying, you can train with the rest of the kids.”

  “Train for what?”

  “So you can defend yourself.”

  The kid just sat there. He wouldn’t look at me, and he didn’t dare look at Cap. I didn’t know how to reassure him that we were gonna set this shit straight.

  I turned to see who was at the door when I heard a knock. Chris was standing there, eyebrow raised at Reid. “I heard we had a visitor.”

  “This is Reid,” I said, standing and hoping the kid followed suit. He did, but the kid just looked beat down.

  “I’m Chris. Let’s talk.”

  He jerked his head for the door and Reid looked to me for direction. I nodded, letting him know it was okay. When they left, I heard Cap sigh and sit down at his desk.

  “So, what do you want to do?”

  “He’s staying here,” I said fiercely.

  “Yeah, I figured that, but what about his family?”

  “I don’t give a fuck about his family. We can find out who they are, but I’ll most likely kill them if I do.”

  “So, we’ll just leave that alone for now. But you realize that we can’t just take him off the streets without finding out what his situation is. We have to cover our asses.”

  I nodded. “Let’s give it until after Christmas. We’ll give the kid a chance to get into a routine, maybe open up some more. After Christmas, I’ll talk to him and find out what he wants to do.”

  “And what about Florrie?”

  “What about Florrie?”

  “You can’t just make all these decisions without her. You have to see how this could change your lives. You’re basically taking responsibility for a teenager. What if she doesn’t want that?”

  “Shit.” I sighed and plopped down in the chair. I hadn’t even considered that Florrie wouldn’t want to help the kid out. I just assumed that we were on the same page.

  “You’d better talk to her about this. The sooner the better.”

  “Right.” I stood and walked out of the office and headed for the training center. That’s where I assumed Chris had taken Reid. I leaned against the doorway when I saw Chris doing some very simple defensive moves with Reid. He seemed to be taking to Chris’s instruction pretty well.

  “He looks good,” Florrie said as she walked up beside me.

  “Yeah.” I slid my fingers through Florrie’s and squeezed. “I really want to help this kid.”

  “So do I.”

  “No, I mean that I want him to stay with us.” I tried to read the expression on her face, hoping that she wanted the same thing as me. She turned to me and quirked her eyebrow.

  “Was there ever another option?”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Chance

  Sweat dripped into my eyes as I laid in the fucking box, unable to move and wipe it away. It had been at least a day, probably more. Staring into the darkness was fucking with my mind. I needed to escape, but there was no way. I was too weak and my body was too stiff. I had to hold it together. I had to survive and get Payton.

  I jolted awake, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The bright light streaming into my bedroom sent rays of sunlight streaming across Morgan’s skin. She was so fucking beautiful. Sinking back into the bed, I tried to calm my racing
heart. What I really needed was a fucking shower. I leaned over and kissed Morgan on the cheek before carefully maneuvering out of bed.

  Walking over to the window, I laughed quietly when I saw kids outside playing in the newly fallen snow. I had built a house with Morgan about a mile from the Reed Security building. Almost all the houses were built now, but the single guys chose to stay in the bunker. They probably thought there was no point in building when it was just them.

  Remnants of my dream were still hanging onto me, so I jumped in the shower and scrubbed my body clean, just like I did every time I had a dream. They didn’t come as frequently now. I was sober and had gone through a shit-ton of therapy to get my life back, and I was flying high now. The dreams still shook me up, but not like they used to. And now that Morgan and I were finally on the right track, pretty much everything in my life was just as it should be.

  I smiled when I felt Morgan slip her arms around me. I looked over my shoulder and grinned at her. “Is Payton still asleep?”

  “Would it matter?” she asked me.

  “Well, I thought we were trying to keep our fucking away from Payton.”

  She ran her hand down my body and gripped my dick in her hand.

  “Then again,” I said, my voice gruff, “it’s not like she’s gonna walk in on us in here.”

  Morgan sank to her knees in front of me and swallowed my dick. My eyes rolled back in my head as pleasure shot through me. Damn. I never got tired of her mouth on me. She started jerking me as she sucked me deeper into her mouth. Visions of her down on her knees, dressed in a white negligee flitted through my mind. Her blonde hair hung over her shoulders in golden waves and those gorgeous baby blues shone brightly up at me as she sucked me off. But what had me ready to fucking blow in her mouth was when I envisioned a diamond shining on her ring finger.

  “Fuck,” I shouted as I came in her mouth. She grinned up at me and wiped her mouth as she stood. I grabbed her around the waist and kissed her hard. Fuck, I loved this woman. My hands trailed over every inch of her body as I kept thinking of that damn vision. She was going to be mine. I knew that now. And as I slid my fingers through her wet pussy and drove her over the edge, I grinned to myself, knowing that it was time to make her mine forever.