“Maybe. But she forgave you a fuck of a lot faster, though, when I took your case before Honor, didn’t she?” Seeing Jake’s jerky nod of acceptance, Zeke moved on to the last man and narrowed his eyes on Patience’s husband, Abel. “And then there’s you,” he remarked to the town’s attorney. “I’ve done you the biggest favor of all.”
Abel merely arched an eyebrow as he unbuttoned his suit coat. “Is that so?” he inquired dryly.
“Patience had the spot picked out, Abel.”
“What spot?” Abel grunted, shoving his hand into his slacks as he tilted his head to the side.
“The one where she was going to dispose of your body. Pretty place, too. Lots of shade. If not for me you’d be pushing up dirt on the acreage on the back side of the fuckin’ property,” Zeke barked, gesturing toward the southern end of the McKinnon lands.
“That’s true,” Ice interjected conversationally, shooting a grin toward Abel. “She showed it to me once when we took the kids out for a walk a couple of months ago.”
“Fuck off, Ice. Stop taking leisurely walks with my wife and kids,” the attorney demanded, his old rivalry with Zeke’s brother over Patience still very much alive and well. Ice and Patience were just friends, and that’s all they’d ever have been regardless of whether she’d married Abel or not, but that didn’t seem to matter much to the good lawyer. What mattered to him was that, in Abel’s book, Ice was very close to encroaching on sacred territory – territory reserved strictly for husbands.
“Abel, he’s trying to piss you off, man,” Zeke said in a low voice, shooting his troublemaking sibling a hard look.
“It’s working,” Abel snarled, focusing his own glare on an unaffected Ice.
Zeke looked to the heavens and prayed for patience. Mostly because if he asked the Almighty for strength, he felt certain he’d end up beating at least one of these morons to a bloody pulp.
And that would piss his Honor off to high heaven.
“Point is that all you assholes owe me for your current state of wedded bliss. I think I’m the last person you all need to issue any kind of warning. I make the threats, remember?”
Jethro chuckled. “We know you’ll do Honor right, boy. We’re just yankin’ your chain.”
“Except about getting married in a barn,” Slade said, bringing the conversation full circle. “I still don’t get that,” he asserted, staring at the huge, freshly painted red and white barn.
“The barn’s a special place to me and Honor. It’s got meaning, Slade,” Zeke said quietly as he looked at the building with a sense of deep pride and satisfaction.
“Dude, you store tractors and animals in it,” Slade pointed out.
“Not if you’re Zeke and Honor,” Ice returned with a sly smile and glittering eyes. “Why don’t you tell the guys why this place is so special, little brother?”
“As Abel previously directed, fuck off, Ice,” Zeke snarled. “Suffice it to say that this barn is where my life began after six long years of waiting. It’s where Honor wants to say her vows to me and in this case and as you’ll find in most cases, what a McKinnon woman wants, a McKinnon woman gets.”
“Amen to that,” Jake testified with a nod as the other husbands murmured their agreement while both Ice and Slade stared at them with amusement.
Looking at Slade, Ice shook his head. “I don’t know about you, man, but I’ve never been happier that my dick is a free agent.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Slade returned with a rare grin.
“We’ll see if you two are still sayin’ that when you meet your match,” Cain asserted. “It’s all fun and games until your dick only starts rising for one woman.”
“You have my permission to shoot me if that ever happens,” Ice informed Zeke with a shudder as the men began walking into the barn to get a look at the progress.
Entering through the wide sliding double doors onto a gleaming hardwood floor that he’d had laid especially for the wedding, Zeke felt a sense of pride as he looked around. This would be the path Honor took when she walked down the aisle to him… to their future. And even with the threats still looming over her, he couldn’t wait for that future to begin. And it would… in just a little over two months.
They’d finally decided on the day they’d officially join their lives together. It was a formality though as far as Zeke was concerned because in his heart he’d been married to her for years.
Honor had chosen October 22, 2016 as the date she’d go from being Honor Grace McKinnon to Honor Grace Monroe.
He still felt a pang when that date went through his mind. He knew that would change with time, but for now, it still had the ability to steal his breath.
For years, October 22 had been a day he dreaded seeing arrive on his calendar, and he knew that feeling was even stronger in Honor. It was the anniversary of the day she’d been kidnapped. It was the day her life had been irreversibly altered and forever changed. When she’d suggested it as their wedding day, he’d initially balked, repulsed by the idea of sharing the happiest day of their lives with what he fervently hoped would go down as their worst.
But when Honor had climbed into his lap and settled her head against his chest, and began to explain that she needed to replace the shadow that day had created with a new memory… one so good and so pure that it eradicated the old ghosts of that day and replaced the darkness with light, he understood. His brilliant woman had looked him in the eye and said, ‘Where a light shines, no shadow can live.’ Those words she’d said to him had stayed with him for days, whispering to his soul… so much so that he’d made a visit to Hunter Quaid’s tattoo studio and had them inked on his skin above her name. She’d nearly lost her mind when she’d seen it, and his sweet, shy girl had become a tigress in the bed they now shared. Next to marrying Honor, that tattoo was probably the smartest thing he’d ever do.
Inhaling deeply as they walked deeper into the warm interior of the barn, everything smelled fresh and new, and honestly, it was exactly what he’d wanted... what he’d designed for them. Construction still went on above their heads as a team reinforced the floor of the barn’s lofts. That was where he intended to have whatever band Honor and Harmony hired for the reception set up and play. Once the wedding was performed and the chairs were cleared away, the area where they stood would double as a dance floor. Yes, he was pouring a lot of money into the remodel, but later, after he and Honor had settled, he knew that one day this was the place where his kids would play. He wanted it to be safe and sound for them. “So, what do y’all think?” he asked his friends.
“I think you’re makin’ us all look bad,” Abel answered grouchily as he looked around. “Swear to God, Sheriff, if I have to build Patience a barn, you and I are gonna have problems.”
“I feel ya,” Jake agreed with Abel. “Harmony’s already making noises about how romantic this all is.” Glaring at Zeke, Jake frowned. “Now, I have to build a fuckin’ gazebo to prove my affection. Thanks for that, Sheriff.”
Zeke laughed. “I’m sure you both will survive.”
“Did you decide on a honeymoon location yet?” Cain asked as he leaned against one of the support beams.
Zeke nodded. “Yeah, but if even one of you idiots breathes a word…”
“Our lips are sealed, man,” Ice growled. “Where are you taking her?”
“Ireland. She’s always talked about wanting to see an Irish village. Although, she thinks we’re just renting a cabin in Gatlinburg,” Zeke shared with a devious grin.
Uncle Jethro smiled. “’Bout time my gal got something good out of life. Orla and I always knew you were exactly what she needed, Ezekiel, even if Honor didn’t. I’m grateful I lived long enough to see you both happy together, son.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll always do my best to always make sure she’s happy, safe, and loved. Two of those are easy. Making sure she’s safe… that’s my primary goal right now.”
“Any new leads?” Slade questioned.
Zeke’s
jaw clenched, his fury mounting. “She got flowers last week delivered at the café. Verlena was able to intercept them before they got to Honor. The sick shit that fucker said in the note… let’s just say that I owe Verlena huge for getting to that fuckin’ bouquet. I contacted the local florist, but the order was placed online and he paid with a prepaid debit card. The IP address was the goddamn town library. It could have literally been anybody with a library card, man. This fucker is smart.”
“We both know that eventually the prick will screw up, Zeke,” Jake reminded the sheriff calmly. “You just gotta stay patient.”
“Eight years, Jake. I’ve been waiting to get these last two fucks for eight goddamn years. My patience has worn pretty fucking thin.” Shaking his head, Zeke’s face hardened. “News of our engagement has sent this asshole into a tailspin. The number of hang-ups she’s getting both at work, at home and on her cell has spiked. His fuckin’ notes keep turning up all over town with any and everybody that knows her.”
“Yeah, whoever the fucker is, he left one on Maggie’s desk last week. It had a picture from that night with it,” Abel shared with a grimace to a pissed looking Slade. “I thought my office manager was gonna come unhinged.”
“Your office manager is unhinged,” Ice grumbled in a mutter.
“Lay off Maggie, asshole,” Abel ordered, scowling at Zeke’s brother.
“Dude, the woman is holding a grudge over a skirt and a pair of fuckin’ shoes. That’s the definition of a whack job,” Ice contended with a small grin.
“Yeah, well, Mags likes her duds, and you upset her when you didn’t even apologize for ruining them,” Cain interjected, squaring his shoulders.
“Ice, I’ve warned you before. Cain and Abel might as well be Maggie’s brothers. If I was you, I’d be real careful right about now.”
Clearing his throat, Jethro stared at Zeke. “You’re keeping somebody on her all the time though right? Honor, I mean.”
Zeke nodded. “If I’m not with her, I’ve either got Deputy Hightower or Diego close or she’s with one of the men standing in this barn. I’m okay with that. We all know Hightower or Diego would take a bullet for her if it came down to it. In fact, Diego is at the café now since my deputy needed to take his mother to the cardiologist over in Knoxville.”
Jake nodded. “I never thought I’d say this, but for a former drug cartel captain, Diego Fuentes turned out to be a pretty damn good addition to the town of Paradise and the McKinnon family.”
Zeke nodded. “Honor says she’s always felt safe with him, and that’s all I care about. Those are big words coming from my woman and I don’t take ‘em lightly.”
“Well, now that I’m home, put me on rotation, too. Although if the choice is ever guard duty or taking out one of these fuckers that hurt her, you know which one I’d rather,” Slade growled.
“I think that’s a sentiment shared by all of us,” Ice stated quietly. “How’s Honor doing with the increased threat?” he asked his younger brother solemnly.
Zeke pressed his lips together. The truth was that the answer was not well, but he knew Honor wouldn’t appreciate him sharing that. Lately, though, she had nightmares almost every night, sometimes waking her two or three times if she didn’t take a sleeping pill. Zeke hated it. Sure, he was glad he was there to hold her when her screams woke him, but he’d give anything to give her a good night’s rest. His girl was brave though, and she was tackling the problem head-on, increasing her therapy appointments with Bree and religiously taking the medications her doctors prescribed. She was doing her part.
Now, Zeke just needed to do his and catch these sick fucks.
Then, he could get on with the business of giving his woman the happily-ever-after she deserved to have.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
August 18, 2016 – The I Don’t Care Cafe
5:00 pm
Honor
Waving at Faith and Harmony as they ushered Aunt Orla out the back door of their restaurant, Honor released a sigh of relief. She loved her family. She truly did. But sometimes, when they all met to chat, it felt more like a free-for-all than a family discussion. Meetings tended to be loud, long, and boisterous… and that was if everybody was having a good day.
Thankfully, today had been a good day. No blood had been spilled. No threats had been made. And everybody was still on speaking terms with everybody else.
She was gonna count that as a win.
“Sis, you okay back here?” Honor heard Patience call through the order window.
Turning her head to look over her shoulder, Honor smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m just going to finish writing up the produce and alcohol orders for tomorrow. Are all your bottle tallies in the office?” she asked.
Patience nodded. “Abel helped me do them last night while Maggie babysat.”
Honor snorted. “You mean Maggie sat while the babies slept, don’t you? Sorry, but I can’t imagine our redhaired friend actually changing a diaper.”
“I heard that! I will have you know I did so change Bronson’s diaper last night. There was no choice. He exploded. Everywhere!”
Both choked on their laughs as the heard Maggie’s outraged cry.
“Needless to say, I’m picking up Mags’ bar tab tonight,” Patience informed Honor, straight-faced.
Honor snorted.
“You gonna need a ride home?” Patience asked as she picked up the order of loaded potato skins that the cook, Sammy, passed through the heated window to her.
“No,” Honor denied. “Diego spoke with Zeke and told him he’d bring me home after I got these orders handled. He’s sitting out at the counter reading the paper,” she continued, gesturing over Patience’s shoulder toward the quiet Hispanic man.
Looking behind her, Patience nodded. “I swear, you’d never know Diego was in this place. For somebody so big, hot and hunky, he sure does blend in, doesn’t he?” she asked in a loud whisper.
“It is a talent, yes?” Diego noted without looking up from his newspaper.
Honor chuckled as Patience rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and watch some of these videos of wedding bands while I worked,” she continued, holding up the discs her eldest sister had left for her.
“Harmony’s obsessive planning getting to you, little sister?”
“I know she wants to make it the best wedding it can be, but I would have been happy with a small ceremony at the family church. As long as I’m surrounded by the people I love, that’s all I need.”
“You’re the last McKinnon sister to be married, Honor. Faith wanted a quick ceremony, Harmony was so busy planning everybody else’s wedding that she didn’t get to concentrate much on her own, and well… we all know that I wasn’t the type that was gonna prance down the aisle in a poofy dress. You are Harmony’s chance to do it the way she’s always wanted. And let’s face it, all of us along with half the town has been waiting for this day for years. Just go with it, babe. Ride the wedding wave, and just remember, it could be worse.”
“How’s that?” Honor asked dryly.
“She could have insisted you have a destination wedding,” Patience pointed out.
Honor grinned. “You’re right. It could have been worse,” she agreed, heading toward the office and Patience carried her customer’s order toward the bar area of the restaurant. “Big Sam, sing out if you get backed up,” Honor called before disappearing into the sisters’ small office.
Moving behind her desk, she frowned as she eyed the long list of bar supplies to be ordered. She hated this part of the job, but since Patience had given birth to the triplets, she’d taken it over to give her sister more time with her kids. Grumbling under her breath about Patience’s serial killer handwriting, she spotted another DVD in the center of the desk.
Picking it up, she peered down at the post-it note attached to it. Written in all capital letters, she noted the sender’s neat, precise handwriting as she read the message. “A loving reminder for you be
fore your wedding,” she recited out loud before groaning. “Good Lord, Harm. What new wedding nonsense is this?” she grumbled as she trudged to the TV/DVR combo she’d had Jake mount to the office wall last year so that Heaven could watch videos while Harmony and her aunts worked. Quickly sliding the DVD into the slot and powering on the television, she walked back to her desk and sat down, pulling the list of produce that needed to be ordered toward her as the disc loaded.
“Please, stop! Let me go! Please, please just let me go!” a shrill, panicked girl’s voice beseeched.
Freezing in her office chair, the pencil she held dropped from Honor’s numb fingers as she stared sightlessly at the hand written list.
Her eyes stared at the paper, uncomprehending.
Apples. Cherry Tomatoes. Lettuce.
“Oh, stop!” the voice cried hysterically. “Stop, it hurts!” the girl’s voice screamed.
“That’ll teach the dumb bitch for sneaking around and seeing things she shouldn’t,” a familiar woman’s voice sneered. “Tanner, you know you can’t let her live after this. You boys have all the fun you want, but you make sure that girl ends up where she’ll never be found.”
Jerking her head up as the sound of Angela Hastings’ voice penetrated the fog her mind had slipped into, Honor stared in horror at the television screen mounted to the wall as her eldest sister’s first husband’s swarthy face filled the screen, his black ski mask peeled back to show an angry red scratch dripping red beads of blood as his eyes glittered malevolently.
“What the fuck are you recording this for, puta?” Tanner snarled as Honor screamed in the background.
“Insurance,” Angela snapped. “You threatened to tell Abel about us, remember? Now, I’ve got something to hold over you, too. It’ll be hard to comfort Harmony over Honor’s death if she knows your one of the bastards that killed her.”
Honor swallowed hard as bile rose in her throat. The camera had panned back to where she lay on the ground as a man pushed her face in the dirt, grinding himself against her, pushing his way inside… “Oh, God,” she gasped, clutching her throat as she watched two others holding down her arms as the monster behind her continued to violate her body.
Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4) Page 46
