The Irrevocable Series Boxed Set

by Samantha Jacobey

  He stared at her, puffing slightly as if his mouth refused to close, “Ok, what is it you understand?” His eyes narrowed when she made no attempt to respond, “You can stop it any time. I know you’re jus’ fuckin’ with me now,” he tried to remove the taste of her by applying the back of his arm to his lips.

  “No,” she giggled. “I swear that I’m not. I have this… fear, I guess you could call it, that I won’t ever get that chance. Too many things are wrong in the world, and not enough of them are right. But it’s ok, Caleb. I made my promise to you, and I swear on my life, I will keep it.” Not waiting for his reply, she stood, making her way to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

  Welcome to Lawson

  Caleb flopped his head back onto the top edge of the couch, so that he stared at the ceiling above him. Damn. She obviously wanted to be with him; why didn’t I just do it? But he knew why, and there was no point in second-guessing his decision.

  Sitting in an awkward position, he noticed the room growing lighter. Raising his head, he straightened; watching sun glint off the snow outside. His brother still sound asleep, he wondered if the boy had rested at all when he was alone; probably not. Giving himself a good shake, he stood and stretched, and moved to the kitchen to begin the search for breakfast.

  Just as Carson said, everything in the house was gone, and the only food to be had they had brought with them. Searching through the items, he located things he thought would make a good morning meal, gathering them on the counter. A few minutes later, Bailey came out of her place of hiding and began to help.

  Glancing at the girl, he noticed that her face had been washed, and she appeared calm. He also got the idea that she was ignoring him.

  Taking his items, she pulled out a pan and began to prepare them. A few minutes later she suggested quietly, “You should wake your brother, so he can have some while it’s hot.”

  Obeying her command, Caleb moved to the other room, giving the younger Cross a firm shake. Roused, the boy went to the bathroom, washing his face, and then joining them at the table. The trio ate the odd collection in silence, and Caleb considered that the atmosphere could not have been more awkward if they had made love.

  Nourishment completed, Bailey cleaned the kitchen while the boys had their showers and dressed warmly, as if to leave her behind. Discerning that was their intention, she decided to put her foot down.

  “I’m coming with you,” she stated firmly, pulling on her shoes.

  “Not right now,” the tall blond challenged, “I told you I have to check on somethin’. After that, we can make our plans from here. Jus’ hang out an’ wait, an’ we’ll be back; fifteen minutes or less.”

  Staring at him, her mouth hung open, her green eyes wide with bewilderment, “Don’t leave me here. Look, I know you’re going to look at something you don’t want me to see. What is it? Their bodies? Your secret food? Just tell me, God dammit! I’m part of this place, too!” The flood of tears came in a rush, surprising the boys, but startling the girl more.

  Taking in her slender frame, Caleb grimaced, “Stop that, you want those things frozen to your face?”

  Carson laughed loudly, pointing at the girl, before his brother smacked him across the chest with an open palm, “Shut up. I get t’ pick on her. You don’t.”

  The younger boy wiped the spot roughly, “Oww. Why do you get to an’ not me?”

  “Because,” Caleb grinned, cutting his eyes over at her, “She’s my girl.”

  Bailey’s expression changed in an instant, picking up on his playful tone, “Your wife, you mean,” she countered, tugging her jacket on and preparing to exit the structure with them.

  Carson’s grey eyes darted between them, “You guys‘re jus’ jokin’ about that, right?” When neither of them responded, he laughed, “I know you are.”

  Leaving the door cracked on the back side of the house, the trio walked through the compound, the stillness of it wearing on their nerves. Crossing the road, they arrived at the armory, which faced the Cross residence, and butted up against the gym. The door stood open, and inside, the contents had been completely removed.

  Walking across to the wall on the end, where the gym lay, they paused. Drawing a deep breath, Caleb puffed the warm air into his hands, “You realize you are never t’ speak to anyone about anything you see today. Understand?” He turned enough that he faced her squarely, waiting as if he had all day.

  “Yes, of course,” she opened her palms to the ceiling, the suspense killing her. “I won’t ever tell anyone,” she added with a small smile while her hand flicked, “Cross my heart.”

  Reaching out to the slats that covered the wall, he slid his finger along one of the boards, applying pressure, and it popped up in a small section, exposing a keypad, which he quickly punched in his code. The device made a long beep, and a large section of the partition swung away from them, exposing a staircase that went straight down into the darkness.

  Turning on a flashlight she didn’t know he possessed, he guided them through the dark tunnel, taking it slowly on the run of steps that measured about four foot wide, lined on both walls by brick and concrete. A handrail ran along each side, and Bailey gripping one of them for a moment; finding it to be cold through her glove, she pulled her hand away in disgust.

  After about fifteen steps, they arrived at a flat area, four by four, where the staircase turned and descended again. Reaching the bottom, another wide flat surface faced them, and this time he simply pushed against it, and it gave way, opening into an equally dark cavern.

  Stepping inside, he reached to the left, where she could hear the switches flick before the fluorescent lights began to flicker, warming up before exploding to life. Before them lay a chamber, roughly fifty feet straight across, and another fifty feet from their vantage point to the far end, with fifteen feet to the closer end to the right.

  The room contained four large dining tables, with ten chairs each, and a large sunken seating area in the center, shaped like a circle, forming a large pit in the middle of the floor. The outside wall of the room was lined with bookcases, all laden with reading material and textbooks. Lastly, several other chambers could be seen exiting the massive hall.

  Gazing around her in awe, Bailey inhaled deeply, taking it all in. Her eyes finally making their way to the man who stood beside her, she exhaled the breath in a loud sigh.

  Nodding, Caleb smiled, relief fluttering across his features. “Welcome to Lawson.”

  Maps & Flowcharts

  RECOMBINED

  Book 3 in the Irrevocable Series

  Samantha Jacobey

  Lavish Publishing, LLC ~ Houston

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  RECOMBINED. Copyright 2015 ©

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Lavish Publishing, LLC.

  First Edition

  Book 3 of Irrevocable Series

  All Rights Reserved

  Published in the United States by Lavish Publishing, LLC, Houston

  Cover Design by: Nicolene Lorette Design

  Cover Images: SHUTTERSTOCK

  Paperback ISBN

  ISBN: 0692440852

  ISBN-13: 978-0692440858

  www.LavishPublishing.com

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Many Hands

  On Ou
r Own

  Too Close for Comfort

  Snow Angel

  God's Creatures

  Midnight Flight

  Home Fires Burning

  Let's Make a Deal

  No Room

  Call Me Baby

  Last But Not Least

  Girl Talk

  So It Is

  White Wedding

  There Is No Peace

  Pretty Reckless

  Practice Makes Perfect

  A New World Order

  Comforts of Home

  Who's the Man

  Broken

  Enough is Enough

  Can't Stop the Tide

  To the Victor

  Sunshine and Daisies

  Maps & Flowcharts

  About the Author

  Prologue

  “She’s precious,” the blonde whispered loudly, her face hovering above the tiny body in her arms. Her golden waves hung down next to her infant like a curtain, shielding her from the harsh overhead light.

  Across the cramped space, Devon peered at his bride, the size of the hospital bed diminishing her large frame. “She is,” he agreed. “You make beautiful babies, ‘Manda.” Standing, he shuffled closer, laying his giant left hand on her silky crown.

  Shifting her eyes to gaze up at him, she sighed. “I’m really sorry I lied,” she noted the dark circle that evidenced his punishment for her crime.

  “Naw,” he retorted easily, “Dey wouldn’t o’ been happy ‘bout it then neither. Least now we don’ have t’ hide no more.” Lifting his digits, he traced a tiny pudgy cheek. “I’m gonn’ take good care o’ you. Both o’ you.”

  “I know you are,” Amanda smiled weakly, hesitating a glance at the door, “But we can’t stay here, Dev.”

  “Nope,” he agreed crisply, leaning closer to rumble in a deep gravelly voice. “Already workin’ on dat.” He stared at his ebony flesh, its contrast sharp against the milky white of his bride. “I’ll get us home, don’ you worry. You jus’ take care o’ my little girl. Leave the schemin’ t’ me.”

  Amanda watched him, biting her lip and feeling the urge to cry. She had known all along their new angel had been his, but had somehow convinced herself no one would know the difference. How stupid of me. She had a lot to make up for, to a lot of people, starting with the one sleeping against her chest.

  Standing straight, he gathered his coat and gloves, preparing to leave, “I’ll be back in a bit.”

  “Be careful,” she called as his tall frame disappeared into the corridor.

  Adjusting his knit cap, Devon made his way out the front door of the hospital, squinting into the bright light. Glancing at the jail house, where a large number of his comrades were being held, he exhaled loudly. For the moment, they were trapped, but not for long if things went his way. Spying the coffee shop across the narrow street, he made his way inside and ordered a cup of brew.

  Many Hands

  Bailey exhaled in a slow hiss, her eyes scanning the massive cavern. “This place is amazing, Caleb.” Moving forward, she timidly took in the smaller side rooms, finding a kitchen, med center, storage, and several living quarters. Across the great chamber, on the opposite side, she located another hallway, “Where does this go?”

  “Two places, actually. Between here an’ ground level,” the blond supplied, “This’s th’ back storage, more densely packed for long term. We rotate the stock, so it holds th’ freshest items, as far as food. Plus there’s a smaller armory down here, more water, an’ a place for personal items, kinda like a tiny general store.”

  The girl stared at him, her mind turning, “You have everything down here, as well as up top?”

  “’Xactly,” Carson joined in, spouting what he knew, “It’s th’ back-up. If we ever had t’ live down here, that’d be th’ worst scenario, but we’d have everything, in case somethin’ happened t’ all our stuff; houses an’ cellars an’ stuff.”

  “A massive bunker, to hold out the world’s greatest disasters,” she nodded her understanding.

  “Well, it was,” Caleb corrected, “Now it’s just a big hole in the ground.”

  When the girl gave him an odd look, he clarified, “It’s the people that make this place special. Without ‘em, it doesn’t really mean anything.” He wafted a hand towards the tunnel in question, “You can also reach th’ surface this way through two other secret passages. We came in th’ south entrance; you can also enter via th’ greenhouse an’ barn.”

  Thinking of the barn, his brow furrowed. “Man, we can’t even rebuild. They took all our animals. Even if we get the people back, we got nothin’ t’ start with.”

  Together, the trio retraced their steps and exited the armory after shutting down the lights and securing the camouflage on their way out. Making the trek to the Cross house, Bailey had a small epiphany, “No wonder everyone got so bent out of shape about my post!”

  “Yeah, pretty much,” Caleb confirmed her theory. “No one outside o’ the community knows about Lawson. No eyes have ever seen it, no other hands helped t’ build it. It’s entirely ours, an’ we can’t run it without everyone. The dream of a handful o’ people, an’ the home we hoped we would never need t’ live in.”

  Bailey sighed, aware of their unhappiness, as well as her own. “What do you suppose they did with them? I mean, why take the people?”

  “Well, they took all th’ munitions, an’ the food. They couldn’t leave the people here t’ starve,” he theorized while they climbed onto the porch. “Hopefully they’re being treated ok, an’ weren’t taken to another location simply t’ be eliminated.”

  Carson’s expression shifted to shock, “They wouldn’ do that!”

  “They might’ve; o’ course if they were gonna do that, I think they woulda killed ‘em here an’ left ‘em, same as the others,” his older brother grimaced. “You said you buried some of our menfolk,” he clamped the smaller male on the shoulder, “Where, an’ who were they?”

  “I used the li’l backhoe an’ dug a hole behind the armory. It was Jim, Bill, an’ Allen,” he looked grave, giving them a shrug, “I didn’ know what else t’ do.”

  “I’m sure it was better than leaving them where ever they lay,” Bailey’s lip quivered, “Jim was a really nice old man, too.”

  Caleb glared at her for a moment, unsure if he should enlighten her about the men who had been permanently removed from the group. Deciding against it, he caught a wisp of her auburn waves, pushing it back away from her face, “There’s really nothin’ we can do about them. What we can do is form a plan. It took many hands t’ build this place an’ we owe it to our friends an’ family to at least try t’ get them back.”

  “I totally agree,” the girl stood straighter. “So what should we do first? Even if we are able to locate them and break them out somehow, we can’t defend ourselves. The front gate is standing wide open.”

  “We need t’ block it up somehow,” Carson suggested, slamming his right fist into his left palm, “Then when they come after us, we stand on the wall an’ shoot ‘em.”

  “Except they have a helicopter, so that wouldn’t really work. They could shoot us instead, or land inside the walls again an’ there wouldn’t be much we could do t’ stop them,” Caleb used a low tone, not wanting to stop the flow of ideas, even as he pointed out the obvious flaws. “Besides, if we block up the entrance, we have t’ go all th’ way around t’ the stable gate t’ get in.”

  “So move the gate, and block up that entrance,” Bailey suggested with a faint grin.

  Caleb stared off into the distance, as if he could see the access in question through the buildings that obstructed his view. “Even if it would fit,” he finally admitted, “We couldn’t do it with only th’ three of us. Havin’ the equipment would help, but we would still need a little more muscle to accomplish it.”

  “So what can we do?” Carson had begun to feel a little hopeless.

  “We clean up th’ mess for one,” Caleb assumed command easily, �
�An’ hope that th’ weather breaks. We still need t’ get a better idea o’ what all they removed, or should I say what they left us; what the bastards took don’ matter much at this point. In the end, I’m sure they’ll come back for more when the snow clears, so we definitely need t’ be ready for that.”

  Bailey stared at him with a bleak expression, finding his evaluation a bit discomforting. Timidly, she laced her fingers with his for a moment, taking comfort in his strength. “Which building should we start with?”

  “Le’s start with this ‘ne,” he indicated the house attached to their current location, “Clean out the bedrooms, put everything back into the closets, an’ make it livable again. You can take mom an’ dad’s room,” he noticed her slight pout at the suggestion, “Unless you still wanna group up in the livin’ room.”

  Staring down the road at the wide open entrance she could see in the distance, she nodded, “At least until the walls are back up, I’d rather be closer at hand.”

  “Alright, clean up, like I said, but we can still sleep in th’ front room together like we have been,” he agreed, giving her hand a squeeze before releasing her. “You go in an’ get started on that, an’ I’m gonna make sure there’s nothin’ goin’ on in any o’ the buildings that needs immediate attention; any leaks or anything.”

  Bailey gave him a small nod, “I guess Carson’s going with you?”

  “Sure,” he agreed “An’ we’ll be back at twelve, if you wanna have a little lunch ready for us.”

  “That I can do,” she smiled at the comfort the familiar routine gave her. Watching them walk away, in the direction of the med center, her heart began to pound heavily in her chest. Giving the snow covered pavement another long stare, she heaved a deep sigh, then made her way inside to begin her task.