“Anna?” Silence greeted him.
He entered the kitchen and found her note. She’d gone to the store to pick up snacks for the weekend and Chinese food as he had requested for dinner. He smiled and honestly thought he didn’t know what he’d do without her before he hurried down the hallway to his room and changed into casual clothes and then grabbed his sneakers.
After seeing the house where Wesley lived and hearing the facts from Adam, he could only imagine how tough things were for the pair. Spencer and Wesley’s clothes had been aged. He had wondered if the garments came from thrift store purchases and now, it seemed more than possible.
Spencer paid the bills for two households. Along with the apartment Spencer shared with Dillon, the expenses wouldn’t leave Spencer much for essentials. What did Spencer’s mother do with the money he gave her? Wesley sure as hell wasn’t getting enough food, and Liam had a sneaky suspicion that Wesley was lying to his brother about it.
Fuck. He wanted to help so badly, but he was smart enough to know Spencer would balk. The man was hell bent on not taking anything he considered charity. It had hit home when Spencer left him money after Wesley had stayed the night.
Liam hadn’t known until his front gate guard had delivered the twenty with the note that simply said, “Thanks.” That was the same twenty Liam had handed to Wesley the morning after breakfast. Now that he thought about it, if it kept the boy fed, then it was worth it. He’d sneak money to Wesley every damned time he saw him if it kept food in the boy’s belly. He could only imagine Spencer’s reaction to that.
He glanced at his watch and frowned. Adam and Jessica should have already been there. Sliding on his socks and shoes, he headed out the front door.
Anna was just pulling through the gate and he returned her wave and pointed to the house next door. She gave him a thumbs up.
Taking the small paved path that connected the property, he reached the front door and found it locked.
“That’s weird,” he muttered and knocked. After a minute with no answer, he laid on the doorbell.
A few more minutes went by before Rick opened the door.
“Hey, Liam.”
“Where’s Adam and Jessica?”
“In their rooms.”
“Get them. They’re staying the weekend at my place.”
“Yeah, okay,” Rick sniffled and shrugged.
“Got a cold?”
Rick shrugged again. Fury hit Liam so hard, he felt his face go hot.
“Are you doing drugs?” he snarled, moving in, crowding Rick away from the door and making him stumble.
“Hey! You can’t just come in here like you own the place!” Rick argued.
“News flash, I do own the place. Are you doing drugs?” Liam squeezed his fists.
“What’s going on?” a stranger’s voice asked from the kitchen doorway.
Liam leveled the guy with a look, taking in everything from his height, muscle, and prison tattoos, to the overgrown beard and mustache on his face.
“Who are you?” He scowled at the guy.
“He’s just a friend,” Rick cut in before the guy could answer. “And to answer your question, Liam, no, I’m not.”
He spun on Rick and squinted, taking in every inch of his face, looking for signs. He couldn’t be sure, and rather than prolong this, he wanted to get the kids and get out of there. He’d come back later and deal with Rick and him letting strangers in the house.
He turned toward the hallway, but kept an eye on the stranger in the kitchen doorway. Every single cell in his body was on alert. Once a good distance away, Liam strode down the hallway, skirting around the mess. He felt sorry for Mrs. Walters and made a mental note to give her a raise.
Reaching Adam’s door, he pushed it open and found both kids sitting on the bed with scared faces. Jessica had been crying. Adam looked somewhere between scared and angry.
They ran to him and he drew them into the safety of his arms.
“They wouldn’t let us leave,” Adam gulped.
“Liam?” Rick said from behind him.
He turned and spotted the stranger at the end of the hallway.
“You need to mind your own business on this one,” Rick whispered. “Okay?”
“These two are my business.”
“Just take the kids and go home.”
“That’s not very hospitable,” the stranger said, stepping into the hallway. His big body filled up the space. “I think we all should have a beer.”
“You need to back the fuck up,” Liam growled and eased Adam and Jessica behind him and let his gaze go flat. He aimed his look at the stranger, the bigger threat.
The air in the hallway grew tense, sweat settled between his shoulder blades, and his stomach tightened.
“You know that thing you do,” Adam whispered to Jessica so quietly that Liam was sure only he could hear them.
“What thing?” she whispered back.
“You know the one,” Adam urged.
“Oh that,” she said, drawing in a deep breath.
Spencer
Nodding to the guard at the gate, he pulled down the small street. There was plenty of room in the driveway, but instead of pulling behind Liam’s truck, he parked near the side of the house, sort of out of the way in case they took Liam’s truck somewhere that weekend. He couldn’t help it, he felt as excited as Wesley did to be there.
His brother was already out of the truck door and running into the open front door.
Spencer chuckled and turned to grab their duffle bags when he saw the same black SUV that had run the stop sign and cut them off the other day.
A blood curdling scream came from the house next door and Spencer dropped the duffle bags. He grabbed his personal Glock that he was allowed to keep off duty from his glove compartment and sprinted down the small access path.
The door to the house stood open and he eased inside. Rounding the corner to the hallway, he found a two-hundred plus pound man blocking the entrance. Beyond the man, he saw another man, Liam, and two very scared teenagers.
His only thought was to get to Liam and the kids. He didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but they could figure that shit out later.
Stalking up behind the man, he pressed his weapon to the back of the guy’s head.
“Lift your hands and back the fuck up slowly,” he hissed low and menacing.
The guy froze for a split second and then very slowly lifted his hands. After that, the thug took two slow steps back.
“I’m not armed,” the guy said.
“I don’t fucking care. I am. Keep coming.” His voice sounded like he’d chewed gravel. The guy must have heard how serious he was because he shut his mouth and kept backing up.
“To your knees.” When the guy hesitated. Spencer nudged the Glock’s muzzle harder.
The guy went down with a grunt.
“Now, cup your hands on the back of your head.”
Once satisfied, he patted the man down and found nothing but a wallet and a money clip. He tossed those to the floor near the guy’s knees.
“You.” Spencer lifted his weapon and pointed it at the other stranger.
“What? I live here!”
“Spencer, this is Rick,” Liam said, stepping forward with Adam and Jessica.
Spencer said nothing, he just kept pointing his weapon at Rick, who wisely raised his hands.
“Run to my house, you two, and stay inside until we get there,” Liam ordered the teenagers and the pair dashed out the doorway.
“Why didn’t you just stay in the kitchen, Heath?” Rick snapped.
“Screw you,” the guy on his knees snarled back.
Spencer curled his lip with disgust and tucked his weapon away.
It was the wrong thing to do, because the moment he did that, Heath lunged from the floor and came at him.
Spencer ducked the asshole’s swing and delivered a quick, hard blow to the guy’s abdomen. Heath grunted and stumbled back into Liam.
&
nbsp; Liam shoved Heath away and the guy spun and with his full strength, Heath slugged Liam in the face. The blow cracked Liam’s head back against the wall and Heath aimed a blow to Liam’s ribs. Liam grabbed the man’s arm in a twisting grip, jerked him forward, and slammed his forehead into Heath’s nose. Blood spurted everywhere, covering Liam’s white t-shirt.
Spencer leaped across the distance, his anger spiraling out of control, and he gripped the back of the massive guy’s shirt and power lifted the fucker out of Liam’s grasp. One part of Spencer’s brain told him Liam could take care of himself, the other wanted blood.
Hauling the asswipe away, he shoved him to the ground near Rick. Heath landed on the floor with a groan.
Spencer had his weapon back out and trained on both Rick and Heath.
“Don’t fucking move,” he snarled. Rick paled and Heath groaned.
Spencer stepped toward Liam. The colonel’s eyes narrowed with a warning.
“You okay?” He wanted to brush his hand into Liam’s hair and check his head, but he fought the urge. He had a feeling the colonel wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.
“I’m fine, Captain.” Liam lifted a hand and wiped a smear of blood from his bruised cheek.
“Mr. Cobalt!” Jason, his front gate guard, entered the hallway.
Clenching the grip of his weapon, Spencer snapped at the guard. “Call an ambulance.”
“No, Jason,” Liam said, sounding annoyed. “I said I’m fine.”
“The guy on the floor might need one,” Spencer answered, stepping away from Liam.
Heath rolled over with a low groan and pulled himself up to sit back against the wall.
“I don’t need shit,” Heath nasally sneered, wiping the blood that dripped from his nose.
“You shut your mouth or we’ll give you more,” Spencer warned.
Heath shut his fucking mouth.
“Call the police,” Liam rasped.
Jason held out a zip-tie to Spencer before he got on the phone to call 911.
Spencer reached down, yanked a wincing Heath to his feet, and zip-tied the guy’s hands behind his back. From there, he marched the fucker down the hallway and into the entryway and shoved him into a chair.
“Sit there.”
“They’re on their way,” Jason said, following him to the entryway where Jason took it upon himself to train his weapon on Heath.
Spencer stepped up to Heath and for good measure, he zip-tied the man’s hands to the chair behind him.
“Don’t fucking move. If you make me come back here, you’ll regret it.” He leveled a hard gaze at Heath. The asshole had the presence of mind to nod yes.
He turned to where Liam stood glaring at Rick.
“You’re out,” Liam told Rick.
“You’ve been waiting for this day since I got out of prison,” Rick snapped.
“No, you’re wrong. I wanted to give you a chance. Now, I want you gone.”
“Without letting me explain?” Rick gaped at him.
Liam clenched his jaw and pointed at Heath. “He goes to jail, and you and I will talk.”
“I didn’t do nothing!” Heath growled from behind them.
“You assaulted an officer in the United States Army.” Spencer turned and gave Heath a death glare until the guy looked away.
Spencer wanted to snap the fucker’s neck. He drew some small satisfaction that the guy’s chin was swelling where Liam had clipped him. Not even thinking about it, he closed his hand gently around Liam’s bicep and guided the colonel toward the door.
Rick trailed after them.
“Where are you going?” Rick asked.
“Home. I’ll deal with you later,” Liam growled.
Spencer met Jason’s gaze. “You good?”
“Yeah. Ex-marine, I’m good,” Jason smirked.
“You,” Spencer turned on Rick and he stumbled, “get out and sit on the steps.”
“Wait a damn minute…”
“Do you want me to cuff you?”
Rick’s face paled and he slowly sank to the front steps.
“I got this,” Jason said. “Go on. I’ll come over when the cops get here.”
Spencer didn’t wait any longer, he caught up with Liam at his front porch.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked when Liam winced taking the steps.
Reaching the landing, Liam took a deep breath and then offered him a slight smile.
“Just my pride,” Liam murmured.
“Fuck that. You were sucker punched and he held nothing back. Nobody could have predicted that.”
“Thanks,” Liam wryly grimaced.
Spencer swallowed hard, tempted to go back inside and finish that fucker off.
“Let’s do a quick check at the ER just to be safe,” he urged.
“No. I’m going to get into my swim trunks and sit in the jacuzzi. I’ve had far worse,” Liam frowned.
“I’m going to at least call Oliver.” Infinity’s medic lived nearby.
“Spencer,” Liam stopped and snapped at him, “you’re overreacting.”
Was he? He swallowed and released Liam’s arm before rubbing both of his hands down his jeans. He averted his gaze. Maybe he was, damn it, but he was calling Oliver anyway.
They reached the door to Liam’s home and all the kids came flying out. Jessica ran into Liam’s arms.
“Are you okay?” Wesley’s voice wobbled. Spencer pulled his brother into his arms and hugged him tightly.
“We’re fine,” he whispered, and Wesley gave a jagged sigh of relief.
Adam reached out and placed a hand on Liam’s arm as if the touch of his cousin would make things all right.
“Yeah.” Liam’s voice sounded hoarse. “We’re good.”
When Liam grimaced, Spencer released his brother and then urged them all back into the house. “Okay, come on. Let’s get inside.”
“We’re not going back there, are we, Uncle Liam?” Adam’s voice shook.
“No, we’ll get your stuff later,” Liam ordered and slowly made his way to the kitchen. He slid onto a stool and Spencer rummaged in the freezer for an icepack.
Anna came in with some pain relievers and filled a glass of water for Liam.
“Are you okay, Mr. Cobalt?” Her worried brown gaze searched Liam’s face.
“I’m fine, Anna. If you could get the teenagers settled and then put in a call to Mrs. Walters, I’d be grateful. Tell her to please report here tomorrow.”
“Perfect,” she said solemnly and left to get the kids situated.
“Thanks,” Liam mumbled, not taking the pills. If he had a concussion, he’d best not take anything. He did, however, take the icepack and held it on his jaw and cheekbone.
“I wish I would have knocked that fucker out,” Spencer muttered.
“I’m glad you came when you did,” Liam replied as he lifted the ice, probing at his jaw before replacing it.
“That guy has about fifty pounds on you, and he came around unexpectedly. I would have had trouble avoiding him in the same situation,” Spencer pointed out, leaning on the counter across from Liam.
“Bullshit, you dodged his first swing just fine,” Liam scowled.
Spencer didn’t know what to say to ease the situation between them.
“I should have seen him turning on me. I’m getting old.” Liam sighed.
“Now, I call bullshit.”
“I’m forty-five.”
Spencer was surprised. Sure, Liam had a touch of gray threaded through his hair and laugh lines on his face, but the man was in peak physical shape.
“You don’t look it.”
“Thanks.”
“You got the upper hand on that guy just fine.”
“Of course,” Liam snorted. “I would have taken him to the ground with a well-aimed blow to the throat if you hadn’t interfered,” the man finished dryly.
Spencer barked with laughter and Liam’s answering laugh lightened the tightness in his chest.
“Drop him
like a stone?”
“That was the plan.”
“Are you pressing charges?” He wasn’t sure what Liam would do, but he figured the colonel would make this Heath guy be accountable for his actions.
“I am,” Liam stated.
“What about Rick?”
“I need to find out what trouble he’s in.”
“And the kids will stay here?”
“Yes. I pay their nanny, so she’ll just come here and Anna will help out. Anna loves having them here. She was hurt when they went back home.” Liam smiled, remembering.
Spencer was glad, he hated the thought of Adam and Jessica living in an unsafe environment.
That thought froze him for a split second. Wasn’t Wesley living under the same conditions? Guilt ate at him. He was one hundred percent certain his mother wasn’t physically hitting Wesley, but he couldn’t be certain she wasn’t verbally abusing him. He studied his brother’s too-lean frame. Every time he asked Wesley about eating, his brother assured him he got enough.
He rubbed at his upper lip and shoved his hands into his pockets. He needed to make a decision and soon. But for tonight, he could just enjoy the fact that he was with his brother and a man who was quickly becoming one of his best friends.
Liam
He’d been damned glad Spencer had shown up.
Worry for the children had had him overthinking his next move. And while he had no doubts he would have knocked Heath out, he was grateful Spencer’s appearance had provided the opportunity for the children to get out safely.
The crack to his head still made him feel a bit wobbly and he ran his fingers over the bump before holding the ice pack there. He didn’t blame Spencer for coming to his defense. The man’s training had kicked in with a lethal force. For a moment, he’d thought Spencer was going to shoot both Heath and Rick.
Rick…what a pain in the ass. He needed to find out what Rick was up to. If it was drugs? Liam would be in front of a judge come Monday morning asking for full custody. That was two days away, but first, he had the weekend to enjoy with Spencer and the kids and he planned on enjoying every second that he could.
The cops knocked on his door some fifteen minutes later and he stepped out onto the front porch with Spencer. Closing the door, he and Spencer both gave their statements to the cops just as Oliver Rains, Infinity’s medic, pulled into the driveway. Not only Oliver, but Zane and Isaac jumped out of the jeep.
Taking It Slow (Code of Honor Book 4) Page 7
