Cowboy Boots and Uncensored Behavior

by Acres, Natalie

  “You haven’t talked to him?” Ace asked.

  “We both lost our cells during the…” His voice trailed and he jerked with instant recall of the last time he’d fought with his team. A flash of light jolted him straighter and his entire body went rigid.

  “You all right, Cade?” Abby asked.

  “Yeah, fine,” he muttered, adding, “Drake stopped by when he was released from the hospital. We agreed it would be best if we didn’t touch base until I’m released. We didn’t want to endanger the other one if someone was watching the ranch or this place.”

  “He’s safe,” Abby assured him, lifting her head higher. “And you’ve been well protected. The authority placed two sets of shadows on you after you checked in here at this five-diamond establishment.”

  “That’ll cost me later.” Cade laughed. “Who do I owe a thank-you note?”

  Ace leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Let’s see. Where do we begin?”

  “Kit and Judson from our team,” Abby informed him proudly. “Gabe and Crue were here, too, before their US-West division went on red alert.”

  “Another close threat?”

  “Way too close,” Ace replied. “Someone actually broke into their compound.”

  “Is Kelly okay?”

  “According to Colt, she almost kicked the guy’s ass,” Abby said, grinning.

  Cade didn’t know what it was about the female operatives but they always took such pride in telling stories about their fellow female cohorts.

  “She was hospitalized for broken bones and if Colt hadn’t arrived when he did, she would’ve been abducted or worse,” Ace said, shooting Abby a scowl. “Almost hell, Abby. She was pretty banged up.”

  “She gave him a hell of a fight. That’s what counts.”

  Cade shook his head. “Take it from someone who knows, Abby. A hell of a fight is exactly what these guys want.”

  Ace and Abby exchanged a knowing glance, before Ace said, “The threats are coming in daily. The Underground Unit is definitely on someone’s radar and the goal is the ultimate kill.”

  “Take us out one by one?”

  “Looks that way,” Ace replied.

  “Then what are the two of you doing here?”

  “I think we’re bait.” Abby pretended it wouldn’t bother her in the least if they were the worms dangling from several hooks.

  Ace didn’t look too thrilled about the assignment. Cade couldn’t blame him. If he had a woman who looked like Abby, he’d traipse through hell and knock down flames just to protect her.

  Still, he was concerned. Abby was more than a walking billboard for a fantasized good time in the sack. She was a friend. Cade had been on a few missions with Abby and when they fought together, he felt as if he were fighting alongside a true loyal trooper. She was one who lived by her own set of rules and never left a man behind regardless of her orders. A guy had to respect her. Considering she’d saved Cade’s life once, he flat out admired her ass.

  Well, he admired her ass for other reasons, too. He released a grunt and caught a glare from Ace.

  Damn it. He needed a long visit with Lisa, one of his more recent bed pals. He desperately needed a booty call or else he might end up asking for a favor, one Ace would flat out refuse.

  “Quit daydreaming about taking my woman to your bed.” Ace winked at Abby. “She’s off-limits.”

  Cade sniffed. “We need to get out of here then. I have a stop to make.”

  “Oh no you don’t.” Abby steered him to the door. “If you think I’ll sit in the car while you visit a woman, you don’t know me too well.”

  “I’m sure Ace can keep you busy.”

  “I don’t do parking lots.”

  Ace shot her a quick smile.

  “Well,” she purred, blushing. “Sometimes I do Ace in parking lots.”

  “I don’t want to know.” Cade caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror before exiting the room. The hospital stay wreaked havoc on a guy’s appearance. He needed a haircut and a shave. He’d like to lose the patch, too, but he knew what he’d find behind the black cloth covering his eye. Sewn flesh wasn’t a pretty sight.

  More than the way he looked, Cade was concerned about his value as an operative. Surely the authority had considered whether or not he could function well in his job now. He shuddered as he considered a grave possibility. Would the Donovans consider him a liability? Would they fear he couldn’t carry out orders or perform up to par because of his limited vision?

  He swallowed as he remembered the torture. The unforgettable agony was too much to revisit. Then again, he’d walked away with his life and the memories. His friends hadn’t been so lucky.

  As the rage churned within him, he remembered the malice and laughter, the way the cartel members had joked about taking four lives. The fellow who shot Drake had boasted about killing him before he’d even fired the first shot. Then, he squeezed the trigger and the gun misfired.

  Thank God the dude’s pistol was a dud. Then again, Drake had endured pure hell, too. The others hadn’t suffered their hellish nightmare. They hadn’t been stabbed or beaten. They hadn’t been whipped like mules or branded like cattle.

  But they had somehow survived. Cade might have lost an eye, but he hadn’t lost his life. At the end of the day, those bad memories would drive him. Those recollections were embedded in his mind just like the faces of their would-be assassins, the killers who’d destroyed their unit and taken their fellow operatives.

  Walking down the long corridor, Cade acknowledged Judson Dalton as he lowered a newspaper. Neither man spoke. They didn’t nod at one another. Their eye contact was only brief. Cade kept walking as if he had never even seen his old friend.

  Judson was a shadow. He didn’t exist, not even on paper. Keeping a shadow’s cover in place, particularly when there was an active threat over their heads, was crucial.

  They rounded the corner in pursuit of the parking garage. Over the intercom, someone said, “Dr. Belfonte, O.R. please. Dr. Belfonte. O.R. please.”

  Cade came to an abrupt halt and cocked his head.

  “What is it?” Ace asked, his gaze combing the nearby waiting room.

  Cade stood frozen in time. That voice. He’d heard that voice somewhere before.

  “Are you okay, Cade?” Abby asked.

  Shaking off all the ridiculous notions of why he felt compelled to find the woman behind the intercom, he said, “Let’s get out of here.”

  Abby gave him a weary look and then continued walking. Cade stayed on her heels. Ace loped ahead of her.

  Cade felt stronger and stronger with every step. Shoving the release bar on the metal door, he took a deep breath of fresh air and followed Abby and Ace to their car.

  He was leaving behind the victim, the weakened and hospitalized Cade Livingston. He was now ready to face anything their enemies might throw their way.

  He’d had time to heal. He’d taken a few moments and revisited the past. He’d spent hours planning and plotting, thinking of how he would soon carry out those threats he’d silently whispered in the belly of that dark, dank dungeon where he and Drake had been tortured.

  Retribution would soon be delivered. Vengeance had a name. If anyone could deliver an appropriate retaliation, he could. He would have his bases covered. His enemies would not escape his wrath.

  Cade had one agenda—death. And it would not be a merciful one.

  * * * *

  By the time they reached the ranch, Cade wasn’t as spunky as he’d been when he’d first left the hospital. The ride home made him queasy and he wasn’t sure where to place the blame. Ace’s driving combined with the medication taken on an empty stomach sealed the deal. He lost his breakfast, lunch, and dinner from the day before as soon as he stepped out of their SUV.

  “Your five-diamond resort meal plan didn’t agree with you?” Abby teased, guiding him inside a few minutes later.

  Drake greeted him at the door. “You look like hell.”

 
“That seems to be the general consensus,” Cade fired back.

  “And you look like you were nominated for sexiest man of the year.” Abby stepped up to defend Cade.

  “Who would’ve thought?” Ace asked, his gaze swinging from Drake to Cade and back to Drake again.

  “Don’t even go there right now, man,” Cade warned him.

  Abby shivered. “No, Ace, don’t go there. Cade might throw a left hook and lose his balance.”

  “You’re a barrel of laughs.” Cade continued walking toward his bedroom located at the end of the hall. Once there, he dropped to the bed and folded his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling until the fan’s high-speed rotation made him dizzy.

  “The place is too quiet,” Drake said from the double doorway. “And you’ll never get used to it.”

  “I feel like I’m in a sealed coffin.”

  “I’m not sure I understand that one, but whatever you say.”

  Cade’s master suite was lavishly appointed in antiques from a bygone era. Thanks in part to David, who once dated an interior decorator, his room was a collection of historical furnishings.

  A corner nook housed a hundred-year-old roll-top desk and bookshelves with valuable, limited-edition hardbacks. Cade didn’t read. The focal point was a king-size antique sleigh bed, one that served no purpose for anything exciting outside of sleeping since he preferred a few posts for use in his more dominant practices.

  The room was further appointed with a settee, three matching walnut dressers, and several expensive oil paintings with track lighting above them. Hell, his bedroom was a work of art and belonged in a museum.

  “You’d understand if you were forced to sleep in a dead man’s bed.”

  “As old as that bed is, I’d say a dozen or more ‘dead men’ have slumbered there.” Drake’s voice trailed before he cleared his throat and quickly added, “On another note, there was probably a lot of screwing back then.”

  “God knows there wasn’t much else to do back in the early 1900s.”

  “You still hold a grudge against David’s former old lady.”

  “She wasn’t his old lady, she was his round-the-clock fuck.”

  “You have to give her credit. She gave new meaning to ‘at the stroke of every hour’ and she sure was a pretty thing to watch in action.”

  “Agreed.” Cade’s mouth watered as he thought of those large pierced nipples.

  “Don’t get yourself all worked up now,” Drake teased. “We’re under house arrest until Donovan gets here.”

  “What’s his ETA?”

  “A few hours at the most.”

  Cade left the bed and entered the bathroom, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and decided he felt good as new again. He waved his arm high in the air. “I have a free hand or two to keep me busy until Donovan arrives. If you don’t want to watch, you’d best leave.”

  As if he picked up on Cade’s truer reason for desiring time alone, Drake said, “We’re both fortunate, Cade.”

  “I can’t do this right now.” Cade’s chest knotted.

  “You don’t have to tell me.” Drake looked away, but not before Cade caught a few tears pooling in the corner’s of his eyes.

  How Drake had managed to stay there in that house without the rest of them nearby, Cade would never know. The Underground Unit was a big extended family, but the Longhorn division was one of the strongest brotherhoods in the organization. Even Manny, who split time between divisions, had seemingly fit right in from the start. He belonged to the Longhorns. He was one of them right out of the gate.

  “I can’t escape the guilt. I harbor this unrelenting blame, own it. Ya know?”

  Ah damning hell. Drake was determined to talk about this. Cade pushed aside a fraction of resentment. Drake needed a shoulder, a buddy who understood.

  Clearing his throat, Cade asked the daunting question, “Was there something we could’ve done differently?”

  “We were ambushed,” Drake replied, though he didn’t sound convinced that a surprise attack was enough to explain why they were among the living and three friends were in their respective graves. While they’d been fighting for their lives, Donovans had handled the memorial services. Cade hadn’t been able to bring himself to ask about the arrangements or the funerals he’d been unable to attend.

  “Have you remembered anything else?” Cade asked.

  “No.”

  “Any idea how many there were?”

  “Too many to count.” Drake studied him with a peculiar expression scribbled across his face. “They’re saying our attack is gang related.”

  “They who?”

  “The authority…Donovans. The Northern Division of the Underground Unit specializes in gang-related crimes. Why do you think Ace and Abby are here?”

  “We clearly need backup. Our whole team has fallen apart. We went from a five-man operation, already one of the smaller units, to a dynamic duo without the capes and super powers. If I were in Brock’s shoes, I’d send someone in to save us, too!”

  He felt his blood pressure spike. His peers apparently viewed him as helpless and Cade didn’t like the feeling. Hell, he’d always been part of the cavalry, not the damn body left behind on the bloody fucking field!

  After he forced himself to calm down, he said, “This wasn’t gang related. It’s the Hernandez Mexican cartel.”

  “That’s what I thought, but Donovans think we’re dealing with a gang trying to make a name for themselves.”

  Cade didn’t buy that. “Why would a bunch of kids come after the Underground Unit?”

  “Think about it, Cade. What better way to send a message to other gangs than to go after the country’s prized secret weapons?”

  “Give yourself much credit?”

  “I muster up a little self-confidence here and there.”

  “Knock, knock.” Abby entered the room with a glass of clear liquid and a pack of saltine crackers.

  Drake groaned. “Give me a break.”

  Cade tossed a few pillows behind his back and said, “Better not let Ace see you waiting on me hand and foot. He’ll be jealous as hell.”

  “I doubt that, sugar. He’s waiting upstairs.”

  “Tell me you’re joking,” Drake said. “Again?”

  Cade took the glass she offered. “Thanks, Abby, but I can take care of myself.”

  “Consider it my last act of kindness.”

  In the distance the doorbell rang. Both men sprang into action.

  “Stay here, Abby,” Cade said, setting aside his drink and retrieving a weapon from under the mattress.

  “Don’t get excited.” Abby giggled. “Thanks to the added security around here, we had to buzz her in.”

  “Her?” Drake frowned.

  Abby sighed dramatically and fluttered her eyelashes. “The little filly who phones every half-hour to find out if Cade has made it home yet?”

  “Swell,” Drake muttered, apparently wise to the identity of their company.

  “Someone wanted to stop by and pay you a visit,” Abby said. “Considering how many times she’s called, I hope you have a little ammunition stored up. I think she’s more desperate than you are.”

  A smile tugged at Cade’s lips as he considered his approaching guest. A second later, Ace stood in the doorway with one hell of a get well package.

  “Thought you might want a visitor,” Ace said.

  Abby warmly greeted Lisa with a double handshake. Lisa never even said hello. She stretched her neck and peered around Abby as if she only had eyes for Cade.

  Drake snarled. “Lisa.”

  “Drake,” she grumbled, pushing by him and already undressing Cade with her eyes.

  “We’ll leave the two of you alone,” Ace said, shooting Drake a scowl before exiting Cade’s room with Abby on his heels.

  Drake didn’t budge. He glared at the two of them as if he strongly disapproved of their upcoming plans. Then again, maybe he wanted an invitation to join them. If he wanted a hookup, he w
as looking at the wrong woman. Lisa couldn’t stand the sight of him.

  “Are you staying or going?” Lisa asked flippantly.

  Or maybe not. Cade narrowed his gaze. Had he missed something?

  “You couldn’t pay me enough money just to watch, let alone join.” Drake slammed the door when he left and Lisa reached over and locked it. When she turned around and faced him again, a different Lisa was in the room.

  Submission was scribbled across her face. Lust stamped its place in her pretty blue eyes.

  “Come here, sub,” Cade said, already as hard as steel.

  Dropping her handbag to the floor, she shrugged away her jacket and approached him. Before she joined him on the bed, he said, “Stop. Turn around.”

  “I need to touch you, Sir.” She stifled a cry. “I was so scared, Sir.”

  Cade felt a quick twitch in his upper jaw. Shit. This was exactly what he did not need and he was afraid he’d just seen a glimpse of his future, a quick preamble of things to come.

  Her bottom lip quivered and she quickly looked away.

  What the hell had Ace and Drake been thinking? Why had they cleared her for entry?

  His gaze rushed over her body and his cock lengthened. On second thought, his buddies may have been looking out for him.

  Hadn’t he actually thought about stopping by her place prior to returning to the ranch? Downtown Dallas wasn’t exactly on the stretch between the hospital and their Parker, Texas property, but a quick run through the city would’ve granted him the opportunity to dart inside, give Lisa his stamp of approval and then leave without a lot of the brouhaha.

  After everything he’d been through, he didn’t want any emotional attachments. Quick fucks kept relationships on a level playing field.

  When a man was always in a hurry, he didn’t worry about being pressed for more commitments or cornered for one of those ‘how do you feel about me’ talks. Actions spoke louder than words. When a guy kept his distance, gals knew where they stood without being told.

  “Please, Cade,” she pleaded. “Give me permission to touch you, care for you.”

  His jaw tightened. While Lisa knew what they were to one another, this incident had apparently left her misguided.

  For a minute he felt guilty. Then, he reminded himself of their first date, several years prior. He’d been brutally honest because he’d been dog drunk. He’d told her then he wasn’t a keeper. He’d explained that regardless of what happened between them, he wasn’t the staying kind.