Gray Wolf Security: Back Home

by Glenna Sinclair

  It seemed ironic that it was a pregnancy that brought us together and our inability to get pregnant again that tore us apart.

  Mike was polite as he drove me the few miles back to the office. He leaned over the steering wheel to watch me get out of the car, his eyes dark as he watched me.

  “We’ll need to have a conversation with your husband eventually.”

  “I know.”

  “It doesn’t have to me who interviews him.”

  I bit lip, pretending I didn’t understand why he would say such a thing.

  “I’d prefer if it were you. Maybe after we both talk to him, we’ll be able to figure out what the hell is going on.”

  Mike sat up a little straighter. “Maybe.”

  “I’ll let you know when he’s ready to meet with you.”

  I got out of the car and walked with my head held high. I could feel his eyes on me as I stepped through the doors of my office and a part of me really wanted to turn around, jump back into his car, and forget about everything for a while. But that wasn’t me.

  Time to get back to work.

  Chapter 10

  Shaw

  I really needed to get a coffee pot in my room. The lack of coffee first thing in the morning was really a drag.

  I curled up in a chair in the dining alcove and lifted the sheet off the monitors that I’d taken to putting there whenever I wasn’t actively watching—thank goodness, otherwise Malik would have gotten an eye full last night—and studied Alison lying in the same position I’d left her in last night on her bed. I could just see the movement of her chest, slow steady breaths that assured me that she was still alive and had not succumbed to the poison of gin while I was having fun last night.

  I dragged my fingers through my hair, working out the knots that had come to live there during the night. Alison had been in particularly bad form last night. She didn’t just vomit once she hit her limit, she projectile vomited all over my hair, my shirt, and my jeans. I’d had to put them in a trashcan inside her room—so I wouldn’t have to smell it all night—and shower for what seemed like an hour to get the smell out of my skin. My hair was a whole different chore. It was dry now from the number of times I’d had to wash it, falling around my face in straw-like strands. I’d have to shower again and use a tub of conditioner to fix that.

  This job…it made me wish I hadn’t left the military. If I’d known working for Gray Wolf would consist of babysitting drunks and getting puked on nightly, I might have thought twice. There was another agency in Houston that took down a rogue CIA agent. That might have been a better choice in jobs!

  The bedroom door creaked as it opened. I quickly sat up and pulled the sheet back into place before climbing out of my chair. Malik was dressed, his jacket and tie folded over his forearm. His dark eyes followed me as I crossed the room to meet him.

  “Morning.”

  “You wake early.”

  I tilted my head slightly to one side. “I guess that’s the military training.”

  “Military?”

  “I was in the Marines for four years.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Is that right?”

  “You couldn’t guess?”

  He stroked my cheek lightly. “It does explain a few things.”

  I moved close to him, reaching up on my tiptoes to kiss the center of his chin. He lowered his head and our lips brushed, claiming each other as we moved in for a deeper kiss. His free arm moved around my waist, tugging me in closer.

  “I have to go,” he mumbled against me a few moments later. “I have to sneak out of this place, rush home to change, and get back behind my desk within the hour.”

  “You have to work today? Isn’t it Saturday?”

  “It is. But there’s no rest for the wicked.”

  I smiled even as I moved in for another kiss. He groaned softly against my mouth, his hand sliding down over my ass. I returned the favor, slipping my hands around his waist to take handfuls of his ass as well. And he had a tight, perfect ass!

  He pulled back, a chuckle escaping. “You’re making this really hard.”

  “I hope so,” I said, my hand brushing against the bulge growing in his slacks.

  He laughed aloud then. “I have to go, Shaw.”

  “Will I see you again?”

  “Will you still be here?”

  “I’m here for the unforeseeable future.”

  “Then I’m sure we’ll see one another again.”

  He headed for the door, but I snagged his wrist before he could touch the knob. I wasn’t one to beg, but last night had been an experience I was more than ready to repeat. But I didn’t have to ask. I could see the need in his eyes that told me he felt the same.

  “I’ll come around later tonight. Around eleven?”

  I responded by stealing another kiss. He sighed against my mouth and pulled me in, holding me gently as he kissed me with a heat that was undeniable. We might have stood like that for most of the morning if my phone hadn’t chosen that moment to interrupt with its insistent ringtone.

  “I have to take that,” I said regretfully. “It’s work.”

  “And I have to go.”

  He dropped a kiss on the center of my forehead and slipped through the door before either of us could change our minds. I sighed heavily as I turned and threw myself onto the couch as I answered the call.

  “How’s it going?” Joss asked after the initial pleasantries were exchanged.

  “There’s been no sign of trouble. She went shopping a few times when I first arrived, but she’s been staying in the majority of the time recently. She’s asleep now and I don’t expect to hear from her until later in the day.”

  “Have you seen her on the phone or overheard any conversations?”

  “No,” I said slowly, drawing the syllable out as I began to suspect this wasn’t a casual call. “Is there something I should be aware of?”

  “I have reason to believe she’s been calling her soon-to-be ex-husband.”

  That landed like a meteor on my chest. I sat up a little straighter, glancing over at the monitors that were still lightly covered. “Has she told him where she is?”

  “We don’t know. But it’s something you should talk to her about. Find out what she’s up to.”

  “Of course.”

  “And, Shaw, make sure you’re keeping a close eye on her. We don’t want anything to happen to her.”

  “I understand.”

  I paced the length of the room, angry with myself. How could I have missed something so simple? I just assumed Alison was sleeping all day, that she was too sick from her excessive drinking to do anything more than what I was there to witness. Was she making these calls? When? Where?

  I tore the sheet off the monitors and stared at her figure on the bed. Her phone was sitting on the side table where it almost always was. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d mentioned it, the last time I’d seen her pick it up. Was she calling him from that phone or had she made the colossal mistake of calling him from the hotel’s landline?

  If that was the case, we were fucked!

  I sat at the table and pulled up the menu for the security system that ran the cameras and everything connected to it. First I reviewed the past week’s footage, but I didn’t see a single instance in which she’d used a phone. The cell disappeared from her bedside table a few times, but I wasn’t sure it was significant. Was it? She took it into the bathroom. Lots of people take their phones into the bathroom with them. But if that’s when she’d called him…

  Shit! I should have noticed!

  I set new alarms on the system and had them sent to my cellphone. If she so much as farted, I’d know about it. I wasn’t going to screw this job up!

  ***

  Alison woke late in the afternoon like she always did. By that time, I’d showered, dressed, binge watched half a dozen episodes of some sitcom on my Netflix account, and paced the length of my suite at least a hundred times. When the alarm sounded that alert
ed me to movement in her room, I marched across the hall and let myself in with the extra key she’d provided me with when I took his job.

  “Alison!”

  She stumbled to the door of the bedroom, her face ashen and splotchy with her hangover. She met my gaze with a forced smile, but it quickly disappeared as her stomach protested and she turned, running to the bathroom. I followed, groaning in disgust as I watched her rid her body of the last of the gin.

  When she was done, I helped her into the shower, drenching myself as I held her up under the cold spray, hoping the shock would help clear her head and get her in a place where she might be able to answer a few questions. It was a long, drawn out process, but she was finally dressed in comfortable clothes—yoga leggings and a long cashmere sweater—and curled up on the couch. I sat on the edge of the coffee table, my clothes sticking to me in their dampness.

  “We need to talk.”

  Her eyes widened. “Is he here?”

  I shook my head, marking the slight change in her eyes—was that disappointment I saw? “But you’ve been calling him.”

  She turned her face away from mine. She shivered a little, the tension that settled on her shoulders tight enough that even I could feel it.

  “You don’t understand Case. When he finds out what I’ve done here, he’ll go ballistic. He will stop at nothing to find me.”

  “Then why invite him to find you?”

  “I thought it would be okay. I thought I could do it, figure it out. But I…” She focused on me again. “I’m frightened, Shaw. If he was still in jail, I’d be fine. But knowing he’s out there, that he could walk through that door at any moment…? I can’t do it!”

  “He’s not going to hurt you as long as I’m here.”

  She looked me over for a moment, then shook her head, laughing a little. “No offense, but he’d walk all over you, Shaw.”

  “Joss told you, I’m well trained. I can protect you.”

  “You might be able to slow him down. But Case is strong and mean as all hell. I once watched him take down a man twice his size just because the guy looked at me the wrong way. Case is insane! He doesn’t care who comes between him and what’s his. All he cares about is what he wants. If he decides he wants me, nothing will stop him.”

  “I will.” I reached over and touched her knee. “Stop calling him. Your divorce will be final on Monday and he’ll have no legal hold over you. Then we can get you out of the state and he’ll never set eyes on you again.”

  She nodded, her face pale from more than the hangover. “Will you stay here with me today, Shaw? I’d feel better if I wasn’t alone in here.”

  “Of course.”

  I grabbed the television remote and moved onto the couch beside her, turning on some movie I’d seen a dozen times on one of the cable stations. She relaxed after a few minutes, curling up beside me like we were best friends instead of near strangers. I didn’t mind. It was kind of nice, to be honest.

  I stayed with her until late evening when she complained of a headache and disappeared into the bathroom for a moment. When she came back out, she collapsed on the bed and fell into a deep sleep almost immediately. I’d seen the pills in her toiletry case days ago, but left them, deciding it wasn’t my job to police her addictions. But I took them with me tonight.

  The last thing I needed was for her to accidentally overdose when we were so close to the finish line.

  Chapter 11

  Joss

  I arrived home later than usual. Maybe it was my subconscious trying to put off what it knew I had to do tonight. Or maybe it really was the pile of paperwork on my desk that appeared to require my immediate attention. Whatever it was, I missed putting Aidan to bed.

  Carrington and McKelty were on the couch watching some movie when I walked through the door, laughing together like old friends rather than father and daughter. She always laughed like that with him, but not often with me anymore. I’d become the mean parent, the parent who was always tasked with enforcing the rules. I don’t know how it happened. We used to have such a close bond.

  “Hey,” I said as I walked into the living room. The laughter died immediately, both of them looking up at me like they hadn’t been expecting me to arrive home eventually.

  Talk about warm welcomings.

  “You’re late,” McKelty announced.

  “I am.”

  “There’s a plate of food in the refrigerator for you,” Carrington told me.

  I inclined my head and spun on my heel, deciding it was best to make myself scarce.

  We were happy once. Carrington was a considerate man, one who waited for me to overcome my demons before pulling me into his world. And McKelty once thought I was the cherry on the top of her sundae. She wouldn’t let me out of her sight for the first year we all lived together, even after baby Aidan was born and she took up so much of my attention. And when she started calling me Mom…damn! That was the best day of my life!

  But the coldness I could feel coming off them in waves was overwhelming.

  I took the plate of food out of the fridge and shoved it into the microwave despite the fact that I had absolutely no appetite. It’d been a busy day at the office even though it was Saturday. Clients came in one right after the other and operatives kept calling, seeking direction in their cases. Then the paperwork that came with the administrative side of this job was incredibly abundant. I was beginning to think I needed to hire some sort of assistant manager just to deal with part of it.

  I used to love this stuff. Now I was beginning to wonder what the point was.

  “You’re going to render it inedible,” Carrington announced, knocking against me with his hip as he snatched the plate out of the microwave. “It only needed a minute or two.”

  “Oh. Sorry.”

  He shrugged even as he grabbed a fork and knife before carrying the whole thing to the table. “It’s your dinner.”

  “You cooked?”

  “Don’t I always?”

  He did, actually. Even when I stepped away from Gray Wolf to be a full time mother, Carrington cooked. I could make a decent pot of macaroni and cheese, but that was about the full extent of my talents in the kitchen.

  I settled at the table and took a bite of the chicken. It was tender and flavorful, exactly what I’d come to expect from Carrington’s talents. I sighed and smiled at Carrington, but the gesture did nothing to change the sour look on his face.

  “You can’t keep spending so many late nights at the office.”

  “I have work to do.”

  “Yes, but we have two daughters who need their mother around.”

  I stabbed the chicken again, but not to cut a piece off. “McKelty seems perfectly happy to see my backside these days.”

  “She’s a teenager. Teenagers fight with their mothers.”

  “And accuse them of having affairs?”

  His eyes darkened. “Doesn’t feel great, does it?”

  I rolled my shoulders as I set my fork down beside the plate. “Especially since I’m not the one who did anything to invite that sort of accusation.”

  He smacked his hands on the table, leaning across it to glare at me. “How long are you going to punish me for that, Joss? How long are we going to continue rehashing all that?”

  “I don’t know. When are you going to forgive me for not giving you a son?”

  Outrage sparked a fire in his green eyes. He got up and began pacing the room, dragging his hands over his hair as he did. He finally stopped and spun around to stare at me.

  “I don’t know how many ways or how many times you want me to explain to you that our inability to get pregnant wasn’t what caused all that! It wasn’t about you, wasn’t about the baby. It wasn’t even about her. It was about me!”

  He slapped his hand against his chest, hitting himself hard enough that I could hear a harsh rush of air come up from his lungs.

  “But doesn’t that make it about me? Doesn’t that mean I failed you in some way?” />
  He stared at me for a long moment, so many emotions rushing over his face that I couldn’t keep track. Then this harsh chuckle slipped from between his lips.

  “No, Joss. It means I failed you. Over and over again.”

  He walked away as those words ripped through me, as they tore apart the wall I thought I’d put up around my heart. I’d been so wrapped up in the thought that I’d failed him and, by some strange code of morality, deserved everything that had happened between us over the last few years, that it’d never really occurred to me how much guilt he was carrying around. It broke my heart, the reality of it all. We’d let each other down in too many ways to count. It made me wonder if we’d ever be able to come back from that.

  I pushed the food away and turned toward the window, staring out at the street and the place where I’d squatted in a van waiting for a man to come kill my husband just a few weeks ago. Tears ran down my cheeks as the ridiculousness of it all settled on my shoulders. Within the walls of our home, we were tearing each other to pieces. But out there? I would do anything to protect my family and I knew Carrington would to.

  Where would this end? Was there any hope? Or was it time for one of us to finally call it and give up?

  “Mom?”

  I quickly wiped the tears from my cheeks and turned, my heart hurting so much more at the sight of McKelty, something like panic on her face.

  “It’s okay, McKelty.”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s not. You and Dad are always fighting and you never come home for dinner anymore. We spend more time with the nanny than with you!”

  “McKelty…”

  “Why did you marry us?”

  I frowned as I tilted my head to regard her. “What are you talking about?”

  “Why did you marry me and Dad if you were just going to leave us again?”

  “I’m not going anywhere, McKelty!” I got up and reached for her, but she pushed me away.