A Mad Reed Security Christmas Page 8

  I nodded and left without another word. I was fucking pissed, but as much as I wanted to go beat the shit out of something, I couldn’t bring myself to be around other people right now. I didn’t want to deal with questions that were sure to come. I stormed back to my room and slammed the door shut. Running a hand over my face, flashes of my ex on the ground, surrounded in blood, flashed through my mind. With a roar, I flipped the coffee table over and then threw the remote at the TV, cracking the screen.

  “Dad?”

  Startled, I spun around, guilt flashing through me when I realized that I hadn’t even bothered to check if Kayla was still in the room before I flipped out.

  “Hey,” I croaked. “Sorry.”

  She didn’t move, but she didn’t look scared either. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just upset.”

  “Dad, I know that you think you have to protect me, but I know this has been hard on you. You don’t have to hide that from me.”

  I sighed and moved to the couch, flopping down and resting my head in my hands. God, I hated it when she sounded so logical when I was losing it. This wasn’t the first time that I had flipped out in front of her. After years on the road, she had seen my aggression more times than I cared to count.

  “Adams found us.”

  She walked over and sat down beside me, resting her hand on my thigh, like she was trying to comfort me. I snorted and shook my head.

  “What did he do?”

  “He went after some of the guys when they went out of town. They weren’t hurt.”

  “How did he find us?”

  I shook my head slightly. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. It’s time to end this.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  I looked at her, all grown up, not a hint of fear in her eyes. “I’m going to kill him. Chance and Morgan are getting married around Christmas.” She nodded. “You can’t go. We’re leaking that information and then we’ll devise a plan to trap them.”

  “What about everyone else?”

  “We’re going to keep as many of the women here as possible. None of the kids will be going, except for Payton.”

  She nodded and looked down for a moment. Years of traveling on the road with her ran through my mind. All the things that she missed out on made me feel inadequate as a father.

  “We’re not leaving here when it’s over, are we?”

  Surprised, my eyebrows shot up and my mouth dropped open. “Um…you don’t want to?”

  She shook her head. “I like it here. I like all the other kids that have the same overprotective parents that I do.”

  “But you’ll be going off to college soon.”

  “And when I come home, this is where I want to be. With you…and with Becky.” I sighed, but before I could say anything, she continued. “Dad, I see the way you look at her. I wish a man would look at me like that someday.”

  “Hey,” I growled. “You’re not old enough to be thinking like that. And any man that comes near you is going to have me to deal with.”

  “Dad, I said someday.” She leaned her head against my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her and dropped my head back to rest on the sofa. Maybe staying here wouldn’t be that bad.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Victor Adams

  I exploded out of my chair, my whole body shaking in anger. “What do you mean they escaped? I thought you knew how to make sure that you’re never seen.”

  “Sir,” my head of security said, looking a little stupefied. “As far as I know, they weren’t seen. None of them stayed on the road. They only drove for ten miles and exited. Then another car took over. Their vehicle never sped up or made any moves to show that they knew we were there.”

  “Except when they drove to a state park and killed nineteen men,” I sneered.

  “Sir, the fact is that the men are dead and we are seriously depleting our resources trying to take them out.”

  “What are you saying?” I stood quickly and walked around to the other side of the desk and got in the man’s face. He may be head of security, but he answered to me, and nobody told me what to do. “Are you suggesting that I back off? That I let this asshole walk away after what he did?”

  He took a deep breath and looked me in the eye. “Sir, I’m suggesting that if you want to take them out, you’ll drain all your money to finish a vendetta that’s almost a decade old. No one wants to do business with you anymore. I’m suggesting that you walk away while you still have something to walk away with.”

  I nodded, looking into his eyes and seeing a man that wanted to walk away. And nobody walked away from me. I pulled my gun from behind me and shot him before he could argue or plead his case. His eyes went wide and he crumpled to the floor in a bloody mess. The door flew open and a guard walked in, gun drawn until he saw I was the one holding the weapon. His eyes landed on my head of security and he quickly holstered his weapon.

  “Get him out of here. Make sure he’s not found.”

  The man hurried over and grabbed his arms to drag him out of the office. “And Barnes…” The man looked up. “You’re my new head of security. Congratulations. Now, figure out how to kill everyone at Reed Security.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Morgan

  “Why are we going to a lodge for your wedding?” Payton asked as we flipped through a bridal magazine.

  “Because I think it would be nice to have a Christmas wedding. And I found this lodge that would be perfect.”

  “Is everyone going?”

  “I think so.”

  “Do I get to wear a new dress?”

  “Of course. What color do you think it should be?”

  “Um…I want this one.”

  She pointed to a picture on the page that showed a teenager in a red floor length chiffon dress that had a high neck halter with a lace overlay. “That’s very pretty.”

  “And it’s a Christmas color.”

  God, I still felt so guilty over what Payton had been through. Even after getting out of that hell hole, things weren’t right between us. I was struggling, while also trying to deal with Chance. This was our Christmas to start over, and I wanted it to be perfect.

  I heard the front door open and smiled at Payton. “Chance is home.”

  She threw the magazine on the table and ran for the front door, screaming his name. I could hear them talking about what each other did today, and I heard Payton squeal. Chance most likely threw her over his shoulder and was carrying her upside down as we speak. Predictable as every, Chance appeared in the doorway with Payton hanging down his back.

  “Chance, let me down!”

  “Do you hear something?” he asked me. “It sounds like a little squeaky thing, but I can’t find it.”

  “I’m back here!”

  He spun around and looked, but then turned back to me. “I don’t see anything. I must be hearing things.”

  Payton pulled back her hand and I internally winced. She slammed the side of her hand right into Chance’s side. He doubled over, just catching her before she would have fallen. She got down and stood in front of him, her hands on her hips.

  “I told you to put me down.”

  “Shit, you’re not supposed to use that shit on me.”

  “Language,” I scolded. He just rolled his eyes. He didn’t think he really had to change his tune around Payton. So, I just kept telling her that she was never to repeat what came out of his mouth, for however long that lasted.

  Jackson and Gabe walked in behind Chance, without Payton noticing. Chance shook his head once, but Gabe didn’t listen. He flung Payton up and she kicked out, nailing him right in the balls. He sucked in a breath and his face went red as he slowly lowered her to the floor. Jackson took a step forward and Payton swung around, sweeping her leg out and knocking Jackson off his feet.

  “Alright, that’s enough of beating up your uncles,” Chance laughed.

  “Hey, you were the one that put me
in that class.”

  “Yeah, I know. Why don’t you go play so that your mom and I can talk.”

  “Okay,” she said cheerily, sticking her tongue out at Jackson and Gabe before she ran out of the room.

  “You know, it’s not fair,” Gabe groaned. “We’re not allowed to defend ourselves.”

  “You’re just saying that because she took you down before you could stop her,” I smirked. “What did you need to talk to me about?” I asked Chance.

  “Um…” He looked to the guys and then turned back to me with a smile that spelled trouble. “So, you know our wedding…”

  “Yes,” I said warily. “What about it?”

  “Um…there’s a slight change of plans.” I crossed my arms over my chest and tried not to be angry. After all, I had no idea what the change was. Maybe he was thinking we would get married on the beach instead.

  “There’s going to be a little, itty-bitty, insignificant war while we’re there.”

  Maybe not.

  “So, we’re not having a beach wedding.”

  “What?”

  “Sorry, when you came in here and said there was a change to our wedding, I figured that you wanted to get married on the beach instead, not that we were going to war.”

  “Yeah, see, it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s just a few guys, talking things out, making sure that the not so good guys see things our way. And if things don’t go the way we want, then we might have to take action.”

  “There’s not going to be any talking, is there?”

  “Nope, I just made that up.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  Jackson walked up to me, grabbed my hand and started petting me like a cat. “It’s okay though, Morgan. We’ll keep you safe.”

  “And how are you going to do that?”

  “Bullet-proof wedding dress,” Gabe said excitedly.

  I looked from Gabe to Chance, who at least had the decency to look like it was a terrible idea.

  “You want me to wear a bulky bullet-proof vest under my dress on my wedding day,” I said slowly.

  “Not exactly,” Jackson said. “You’d probably have to wear it over your dress. But hey,” he rushed on, “we can decorate it and make it look real spiffy.”

  “Yeah,” Gabe said excitedly. “We can get some super glue and some rhinestones, maybe some glitter, and bam! You’ve got yourself a wedding vest.”

  “I’d rather go naked,” I bit out.

  “Not gonna happen,” Chance growled.

  “Actually, it could cause a distraction.” Jackson held up his hands to ward off Chance’s anger. “Look, you say bad idea, I say brilliant idea. She’s got a great body and as soon as they-”

  He didn’t get to finish before Chance punched him and then tackled him and started beating the shit out of him. Gabe had to pull him off. I sighed and flopped down on the couch. What ever happened to a magical wedding day? Did those even exist? Or did all weddings have their issues. Granted, this was bigger than most.

  “Okay, why don’t you tell me exactly what’s going on so I know what we’re dealing with.”

  “Okay, I’ve told you about Vanessa’s dad and how he’s after Coop.”

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “Well, we’re pretty sure his guys attacked Hunter and Derek on their way out to Derek’s brother’s house a few days ago.”

  “And you think that was only the beginning.”

  “Yeah, they’re not gonna stop. If they know he’s here, they’re gonna keep coming.”

  “Okay, well, then why don’t you do a preemptive strike? Take them out first.”

  “We would, but then we’re battling them on their turf.”

  “The lodge is not our turf,” I reminded him.

  “No, but we can plan out an attack on them. We can make sure that we’re prepared.”

  “But why does it have to happen on our wedding day? Draw them out before our wedding. You can still control it.”

  Gabe and Jackson exchanged a look and Chance just looked down. “The location is ideal.”

  “Ideal for what?”

  “Ideal for what we have to do. The location is pretty isolated and we think there’s a high probability that most of the people that live up there will be gone for Christmas.”

  “Based on what? Did you do a door-to-door and ask about their Christmas plans?”

  Chance cleared his throat, scratching at his jawline. “Uh, no. We called.”

  I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. It was clear that I wasn’t getting anywhere with these guys. They had already made up their minds.

  “Okay, so what’s the plan then? I’m just supposed to go about my wedding day and pretend that none of this is happening?”

  “Most likely, this will all be over before you actually get married,” Jackson supplied, like he was helping the situation.

  “And what about all the ladies? What are we supposed to be doing during this war? Play cards and bet on who’s going to win?”

  Gabe snorted. “Like anyone other than us would win.”

  “The ladies won’t be going along. At least, none of the pregnant ladies.”

  “You’re going to tell them they can’t come to the wedding?” I threw my head back and laughed. It was hysterical to me that they thought they could tell these women what to do. “Oh, I’d love to see that. I could probably sell tickets, make myself a nice chunk of change for the wedding.”

  Chance gripped onto my arm tightly. I knew this look on his face. He was dead serious and he needed my full attention. “Morgan, it’s very important that as many of the ladies stay behind as possible. None of the kids besides Payton are even allowed to come. And Maggie’s pregnant with triplets. Just imagine what could happen if she was there.”

  I nodded in understanding. He was right. It wasn’t safe. “Can’t we just pretend that we’re having the wedding and you can draw them in and take them out?”

  “It has to look real. If they suspect that something’s off, they won’t come and they’ll attack some other time.”

  “How will they even know about it?”

  “A wedding announcement. People still do that sort of thing. We’ll put it in the paper and wait for any sign of activity from them. Rob has already started tracking their movements from every angle he can.”

  “But how can you be sure that they’ll see it? Not everyone reads a paper.”

  “If they attacked Hunter and Derek on their way out of town, then they were watching us closely. It’s not very hard to believe that they’re monitoring all our movements.”

  “Then why haven’t they attacked before now?”

  “Because we are fully protected here. It wouldn’t be easy for them to get to us. They want to wait until they have the advantage.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe this was really happening. How did one get in a position like this? But I had to admit, for every question I had, Chance answered it and really made me see where these guys were coming from. I had to go along with it. I knew they would keep me safe, and right now, I had to put all my faith in them.

  “Okay, so what do I tell the ladies?”

  “Nothing. We’ll take care of it. As far as you’re concerned, you’re planning a wedding and you know nothing. The guys with pregnant wives will simply be their overprotective selves and make it impossible for the ladies to come. If we have to, we’ll lock them in the panic room.”

  “And you’re sure this is safe for Payton.”

  “I’ll protect her myself,” Chance vowed. And I believed him. I had been there when he held onto her, when his body was broken. He didn’t let go then, and I knew he wouldn’t let me down now.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Florrie

  “How was school?” I asked Reid when he came back to our suite that night. He didn’t actually leave to go to school. We had tutors on the property for all the kids. The tutors tested him when he first started staying with us. They said h
e tested out of his grade level. So, now they were working on advanced coursework to give him a challenge.

  “It was okay.”

  “Do you like the teachers?”

  He threw his backpack down and sat in the chair. “They’re fine.”

  It was like pulling teeth to get anything out of this kid. But every once in a while, he would open up just a little, and those were the days that made me realize how right this kid was for us. I wanted him, and not just because he was there and convenient.

  It was clear that I had to go a different route to get to this kid. He had wall higher than the Mexican border. If I was going to break through to him, I needed to put myself in his shoes and figure out what it was that he needed. He needed love and family, but I couldn’t just come out and start treating him like my kid. He needed safety and security, and that was something that I was very good at. But it wasn’t enough just to make him feel safe. I had to give him the power, make him feel like he would never be treated the way he had been ever again.

  “Maybe sometime you could show me what you’ve learned so far.”

  His eyes shot up to mine and curiosity shone bright. “You want to watch me train?”

  “Well, I’ve already seen you train. I was thinking that you and I could get in the ring and you could practice on me.”

  “Really?”

  “Hell yeah.”

  He gave a slight smile. “Why don’t you train me now?”

  “Well because it’s hard. Parents always have higher expectations for their own kids.”

  “But I’m not your kid.”

  I knew that all too well. I couldn’t have kids and I would never have what everyone else had. And I had come to be okay with that, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t still feel it every time someone else had a kid. But with Reid, I saw this kid that was struggling and needed someone like Alec and me in his life, that could guide him and show him how to become strong. I wanted to make sure that no one could ever hurt him the way he had been before.