Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  Even fatally injured, her ex-husband was a heartless prick and Harmony heard his gurgling laughter as she reached Honor’s side at the same time Ezekiel did.

  “Who? You owe me that, Tanner!” Honor shrieked, slapping at Tanner’s wounds. “Tell me, damn you!” she begged frantically, her eyes glued to his moving lips.

  “Never tell,” Tanner wheezed, shaking his head weakly. “Want you to think about me when they come back for you, Peach. They’re so much closer than you think. They haven’t forgotten you. Haven’t forgotten how sweet you taste,” he rasped, lifting a feeble hand to touch Honor’s cheek. “They’re comin’ for you.”

  “Nooooooo!!!” Honor screamed in agony, jerking back from Tanner’s hand as if she’d been scalded. “Nononononooooooo!” she wailed as the evil man that had abused her rattled out one last dying breath as she lunged for him again, beating her small fists against his useless body as his eyes slowly became vacant and unseeing. “Oh, God, nooooo,” Honor wailed one last time before her body swayed to the side, falling into Zeke’s strong arms.

  Watching powerlessly as her fragile sister dissolved before her eyes, Harmony felt tears pour down her own cheeks as a sob clawed its way up her throat, only dimly aware when Jake wrapped his arms around her from behind and curled her against his warm chest. Even in his death, her ex-husband had found a way to torture them all. Staring at Honor as she keened in Ezekiel’s embrace, she saw the man wrap his arms protectively around Honor and lift her in his arms as he stood up, holding her high against his chest.

  “Gettin’ Honor out of here and to the hospital,” Zeke growled, holding the tiny woman in his arms against his chest like she was the most precious treasure on Earth. “I don’t give a fuck what you do with that piece of shit, but, you get him the hell out of my town,” he continued, jerking his head toward Diego as his eyes bored into Luis/Dante. “Whether it happens in a body bag or in the back of a squad car, that’s up to you, Jake,” Zeke added with an understanding look at Jacob. “Either way, he’s gone.” He stomped out, carrying an uncontrollably sobbing Honor out the back door and past where Slade, Ice and Margaret now stood.

  Staring at her nearly destroyed sister, Harmony closed her eyes as Zeke carried her out. Opening her eyes, she looked up at Jake. “I want my daughter,” she whispered, meeting his worried eyes. “I want to go home.”

  Nodding, Jake wrapped his arms around his woman and helped her back to her feet. “I’m gonna have Slade take you to her, darlin’. You’re gonna go get those cuts on your pretty neck seen to and go wait for me at home with our girl. As soon as I handle things here….”

  Grabbing his arm, Harmony’s eyes widened. “No, this is over. Tanner’s dead. He’s finally in hell where he belongs. We’re going home together!”

  Cupping her cheeks in his warm hands, Jake nodded before he tipped his head down and pressed a kiss to the center of his forehead. “He is, darlin’. And I’m so proud of you for keeping it together until I got here. I love you more than anything in the world, but my sister’s murderer is standing right there,” he continued with a curt nod toward where Diego stood beside Dante, the bead of Ice’s sniper rifle on his chest. “I have to deal with that. I have to deal with him. Been waiting two decades to do that.”

  “Jake,” Dante interrupted irritably, “I already told you, Diego is workin’ with the DEA. He’s one of our assets. I know what you want, man, but there’s no way in hell I can stand here while you pull some vigilante bullshit!”

  “From where I’m standing,” Ice stated coldly from his position in the doorway, rifle poised in his capable hands, “You don’t have much choice. Piss me off and he’ll be dead before you take your next breath.”

  Stepping in front of Diego, the red bead appeared on Dante’s chest just above his hear. “You’ll have to take me out first,” Luis warned. “Can you handle putting down a man that fights on the same side you do?”

  “Jake,” Harmony called, frantically tugging at Jake’s stiff arm. “There are things you don’t know! I swear, he’s not guilty of what you think he’s guilty of doing,” she added with a desperate look at a blank faced Diego. “Say something! Tell him the truth! Tell him what you told me!”

  “He won’t believe me, Harmony,” Diego replied heavily, his eyes kind as they looked at her. “Perhaps, this is what I deserve.”

  “No!” Harmony denied sharply, wriggling to stand between Jake and Diego. Grabbing both sides of Jake’s face, she tilted his head down until he met her eyes. “He didn’t kill your sister, Jake. I love you, and you know I’d never lie to you about something so important after everything we’ve been through together. That man over there is not a good guy by any stretch of the imagination; I know that,” she said forcefully, jabbing her finger in Diego’s direction. “But, he did everything he could do to keep Honor and me both safe today. He took our backs with Tanner. One of his bullets is in that bastard’s belly. And most importantly, he did NOT murder your sister! His father did, and he’s worked hard to bring that bastard down. He’s still trying, Jake. I promise, I’ll explain everything in detail later, but for now, let him go with Dante or Luis or whatever he’s calling himself now. Please?” she begged, willing him to believe her.

  Harmony held her breath as she watched a fierce battle rage in Jake’s clear eyes. She knew her man wanted justice for what happened to his little sister. It was a feeling she was really familiar with herself, and she didn’t blame him for it. However, the truth was that when he knew the entire truth, if he killed Diego today, he’d regret it. Because he’d be exacting vengeance on the wrong damn man.

  “Swear to me that he’s innocent,” Jake growled, his fingers tightening on her face as his eyes bore into hers.

  “I can’t,” she whispered truthfully. “He’s not innocent, but I don’t believe he’s responsible either. He was a pawn to his father, but he doesn’t deserve to die for it.” Lowering her voice, Harmony closed the distance between them. “He loved her, Jake. He still carries her picture in his wallet. He survives every day knowing his father took the woman he loved. Let him continue his quest to take down the man really to blame for Nessa’s death.”

  “Please listen to your woman,” Luis urged Jake quietly. “She’s telling you the truth, man.”

  Ignoring his former partner, Jake turned his attention to Diego. “You don’t wanna beg for your life?” he asked the silent man.

  “I don’t fear death, Jacob. I’d welcome the chance to see Vanessa again,” Diego replied with dignity. “I only ask that you make sure that my father pays, too. Make him suffer.”

  Son of a bitch, Jake thought, staring at the man he’d hated for so long. Harmony was right. The bastard was still in love with his sister. He recognized that look shining in the older man’s eyes. He saw it every time he looked in the mirror at his own reflection. “Hurt him yourself,” Jake grunted, dropping one hand from Harmony’s cheek to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her against him. “I have a woman to love and a daughter to raise. I don’t have time for any more vendettas.”

  Diego smiled faintly. “She’ll tell you the rest of the story,” he said with a nod to Harmony. “Just know this, Jacob. You have my word that Esteban Fuentes will pay. If it’s the last thing I ever do, I will destroy the man that took Nessa’s light from this world.”

  Inhaling deeply as Harmony melted against him, Jacob slowly nodded. It certainly wasn’t the resolution he’d thought he wanted, but it was something. He had what mattered – the woman he loved in his arms and his daughter waiting at home for them to return. Shifting his gaze to Ice, he murmured, “Lower the gun, man.”

  “You sure?” Ice asked, keeping his eyes trained on Fuentes.

  “I’m sure,” Jacob replied softly as he saw Slade, Margaret and Luis visibly relax. “Take him and go, Luis. Send me a postcard when you finally manage to cripple the old man.”

  Luis nodded, gesturing for Diego to proceed him out of the house and the last of the tension evaporated as they all s
tood together in the kitchen.

  “Well,” Maggie murmured, looking around at the destruction surrounding them as she carefully walked around the littered kitchen in her now-ruined red high heels, “I don’t know about everyone else, but I feel the need for tequila,” she announced, reaching into her Fendi bag. “Anyone care to join me?” she asked, pulling out a solid gold flask and holding it up in front of her.

  And for the first time in a long time, Harmony giggled.

  Chapter Fifty-five

  Several hours later, Harmony sank to her side of Jake’s bed as she replaced the phone on her lover’s nightstand and ran a hand through her still damp hair. After three showers, she was starting to feel moderately clean again. Her skin had been crawling since Tanner first laid his hands on her this afternoon, but that feeling was slowly ebbing. Touching a hand to the bandage on her neck, she winced and flopped backward on the mattress, closing her eyes as she went. She wasn’t sure there was ever a time in her life when she’d felt this tired yet so thoroughly invigorated. She wasn’t certain how it was possible to feel like she could sleep for a week yet not close her eyes at the same time, but somehow, she was managing it.

  She knew she needed to focus on the positives or she’d lose her mind. After all, the threat to her daughter was finally gone; Tanner Suarez had been banished to hell where she hoped he was agonizing over scorching flames for eternity. For all the evil he’d done during his short life on Earth, he deserved it and she wasn’t sorry. No, the only thing she regretted was that the bastard hadn’t suffered nearly long enough for her to feel satisfied. After the misery he’d brought to her sister, her child and herself, she’d have enjoyed watching him writhing in pain for a good long while, but that wasn’t to be.

  She’d have to settle for knowing that he could no longer hurt any of them.

  Another bright spot was knowing that Jake had chosen her over his need for vengeance. He could have exacted his own justice today against Diego Fuentes, but he hadn’t. For her, he’d walked away. And now, she was safe, in his home, with her daughter sleeping down the hall in a room he’d created just for her. All of them were together, under one roof, breathing easily. Swallowing hard, she realized that when all the chips were down, the man she’d fallen in love with had chosen her over his need for revenge and her heart expanded. He’d been telling her all along that she was the most important thing in his world, but today, he’d shown her what truly mattered to him.

  And it hadn’t been his need for retribution for his sister’s death.

  By walking away from Diego Fuentes, he’d shown her that his first priority was and would always be her and Heaven.

  And if anybody asked her, a show was a hell of a lot more satisfying than a tell any day of the week.

  Turning her head as she heard the bedroom door open, she smiled as Jake walked into the room, scratching his bare chest. Sexy as hell in a low-riding pair of grey sweats that showcased his gorgeous abs and the stunning vee that led to his groin, she felt her core instantly clenching in reaction to the view. Shifting onto her side and propping her chin on her hand, she watched him prowl toward her, silently admiring the way the ink painting his muscular arm and torso shifted as he moved. “Is she out?” Harmony asked softly, her eyes never leaving his mouthwatering body.

  “Like a light,” he murmured, his low voice gravelly as he bent at the waist and dropped one large tanned hand over her towel covered abdomen. Covering her mouth for a lingering kiss, he nipped her lower lip as he withdrew, meeting her eyes as he stared down at her. “You feel better after your shower, darlin’?”

  “I think I finally feel clean again,” she declared with a small smile, lifting a hand to run her fingers against the stubble on his jaw.

  “You were never dirty, baby,” he reminded her sternly, perching on the edge of the bed at her waist and tucking a still wet strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers trailing over the shell of her ear in a tender caress.

  “I felt filthy… his hands all over me.” Harmony shuddered, wrinkling her nose as she remembered the feel of those evil hands on her flesh. “I was beginning to wonder if there was enough hot water in the world to cure that feeling. When I think of how Honor must feel…” She trailed off, unable to continue as her throat thickened. Looking away from Jake’s kind eyes, she shook her head as she chewed on her lower lip. “I’m scared for her, Jake. I wonder if we shouldn’t have just stayed there tonight.”

  “Stop that,” he growled in response, using his thumb to give her a gentle warning tap against her chin. “You’re gonna bite a hole in those pretty lips, and since I’m real fond of that mouth and what it can do, that’ll piss me off. Zeke’s with Honor, Harmony. He ain’t gonna leave her until he thinks it’s safe for her to be left alone. You saw the way she was clinging to his hand at the hospital. Woman refused to turn loose of him while they tended that bump on her skull. I’m honestly surprised that Cain got the docs talked into releasing her. I thought for sure they’d keep her in there overnight.”

  Harmony shook her head. “Honor hates hospitals. Ever since… well, you know. Anyway, she begged Zeke to take her home, and Zeke talked to Cain. Between the two of them, they convinced the on-call doctor to let her go home. She’ll rest better in her own bed anyway. There are bad memories for her in that hospital. In her bedroom, not so much.”

  “You called and checked on her and Patience yet?” he asked, glancing at the phone of the nightstand as he settled one hand on her hip.

  “Just got off the phone with Abel before you came in here. He said that he just crammed a pill down Patience’s throat and she was drifting off. They ended up putting her in my room. He’s gonna stay upstairs with her tonight.”

  Jake smiled faintly. “You know, if those two ever stop fighting long enough, they might recognize that they’re head over heels for each other.”

  Harmony laughed. “Because I love you and like all the pieces of your anatomy right where they are, I’m not gonna tell my sister you said that.”

  Jake smirked. “You think I’m wrong?”

  “Didn’t say that. I just think it’s going to take something like a threat of an impending Apocalypse to force my sister to admit she doesn’t begrudge Abel Turner every breath of air he breathes,” Harmony returned with a giggle. “I think he’s praying that he can just keep her so stoned tonight that she doesn’t notice him at her bedside all night.”

  Nodding, Jake toyed with another strand of his woman’s silky hair. “Sounds like a good plan.”

  “Zeke’s sitting in with Honor. She’s still sleeping off the effects of the sedative they gave her at the hospital. She came to for a little while, but Zeke was able to soothe her back to sleep. Abel said he hasn’t moved from the chair beside her bed since he carried her in the house. Cain made Faith go home about an hour ago, and Uncle Jethro and Aunt Orla are bunking down in the double bed in Heaven’s room. So, it’s a pretty full house over there. I’m not sure where we would have slept if we stayed, but I can’t help feeling a little guilty that we left. Especially since it was my ex-…”

  Jake cut her off with a finger against her lips. “Don’t finish that, Harmony,” he cautioned grimly. “If I have to hear you try and take the blame for Tanner Suarez and his shit on your shoulders one more time, you’re gonna feel my hand against that gorgeous ass of yours. You are not responsible for anything he did. None of this was ever your fault. Nobody thinks it was except you. Darlin’, you’ve gotta let that shit go before it eats away your soul.”

  Harmony’s throat burned as she stared up into Jacob’s loving eyes. “It’s hard not to think of it as my fault.”

  “It’s hard for me to understand how you can think it is,” Jake countered fiercely. “You were hurt by that man as much as anybody, baby. I know you don’t see it that way; but it’s true.”

  “He got what he deserved,” Harmony told him, sighing as she leaned back against the pillows.

  “No, he deserved a hell of a lot worse, but I’ll se
ttle for the fucker being dead,” Jake disputed with a growl. “Every fucking time I see these bruises or I look at this fucking bandage, my gut clenches because I can see how close Heaven and I came to losing you,” he admitted in a raw voice. Gently tracing the gauze covering the cuts on her neck, he shook his head. “Makes me wanna go back and put more holes in that fuck’s gut.”

  “He already had plenty of those,” Harmony reminded him, lifting her hand to cover his at her throat. “He had four different men shooting at him.”

  “Yeah,” Jake murmured, lacing their hands together and guiding them to rest on her pillow. “Never thought Diego Fuentes and I would be on the same side about anything… let alone getting the woman I love out of harm’s way.”

  “You believe me, don’t you?” Harmony asked. She’d shared the entire story with Jake in the kitchen after they’d gotten home and installed Heaven in front of a movie. He’d listened to the whole tale without comment, his body stiff and unyielding as he had leaned against the granite kitchen counter. When she’d finally given it all to him, he’d stood there looking at her for a long time, quiet and still. Then he’d crossed the room and taken her in his arms, buried his face in her neck and muttered, “Lucky thing I didn’t kill the bastard years ago. That would have sucked.” Harmony had been relieved, but she still sensed he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way things had turned out.

  Jake pressed a soft kiss to her cheek as he assured her softly. “Baby, you could tell me the moon was on fire, little green men have taken up residence in the forest, and Elvis was alive, and I’d believe you. You don’t lie, baby. I know that.”

  “Then, are you okay with what I shared? I don’t wanna push, and if I’m overstepping my boundaries, you can tell me…”