Grayson's Angel_Brotherhood Protectors World

by Linzi Baxter

  Noise from the front of the barn made Josiah swing around to see who was coming. Kara could see two people walking into the barn. It was hard to see their faces with the sun shining through the open door, but as they got closer, she was able to make them out. One was Sarah, and she had a man at gunpoint. It took Kara a couple of minutes to figure out who the other person was. Pastor Paul was walking next to Sarah. He was dressed in his white robes, and his Bible shook in his hands. He looked as if he had just finished a service.

  Pastor Paul’s voice trembled when he spoke. “Sarah and Josiah, you don’t want to do this. This is not God’s way.”

  Sarah shoved the pastor with enough force to make him stumble forward. Kara’s chair was still tipped over on its side, and she was using her position on the floor to run the ropes across the rock under her hand. The rope tying her to the chair was close to being severed. She needed a couple more passes on the rock for the ropes to fall apart.

  Before she had a chance to break all the way through the rope, Josiah picked her up and sat the chair back on both legs. “Hurry up and marry us.”

  “I will not force her to mar—”

  He didn’t even get all the words out of his mouth before Sarah fired the gun and shot him in the foot. He dropped to the floor in agony.

  Josiah took two large strides to stand next to the pastor. He grabbed him by the hair and pulled him to his feet.

  Kara and Pastor Paul had all choice taken from them. He knew he had to do the ceremony even if it went against everything he believed in. She knew she’d have to say the vows or be shot as well.

  “Just do it, Pastor,” Kara pleaded. She remembered his lovely wife and kids from her days at Sunday school. Two people lay dead in the corner stall of the barn. She was not going to be responsible for another death. She would figure out a way out once the ties were undone.

  The ceremony was quick and to the point. When she was supposed to say, “I do,” Kara froze.

  “Say I do,” Josiah demanded. Kara's mouth was dry, and she couldn’t speak. Her mind was telling her to say the words. But her mouth wouldn’t open. Sarah had the gun pointed at her temple. She felt the hammer being pulled back on the revolver. Grayson’s name flashed in the forefront of her brain. Kara was going to go out remembering the man that meant the world to her. Using all the force she had, she pulled at the ropes and felt them give way but not in time.

  The loud bang of a gun firing echoed through the barn.

  Chapter 12

  The ranch Grayson was staring at looked nothing like what Kara had described. The pristine white house was off-white from years of neglect and was missing its front window. Shrubs and weeds had taken over the front porch. Grayson felt angry about what had been done to Kara’s ranch.

  An old rusty-brown F150 was parked in front of the once-red barn. Grayson could faintly hear voices coming from the barn. He signaled the other men to cover him. Before he saw Hank’s response, Grayson was heading toward the barn at full speed. He faintly heard Hank cuss behind him.

  Grayson looked through the broken barn window and saw his worst nightmare. A woman Grayson recognized as the foreman’s daughter from the images Noah sent to his phone had a gun pressed to Kara’s head. Kara’s face was pale, and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

  He wanted to rush in and gather her in his arms, but he knew he couldn’t do that. Grayson raised his gun, trying to get a good angle. He couldn’t hear the words being spoken inside the barn, but he had a good idea of what was going on. A man in church robes, holding a Bible, was speaking.

  He couldn’t let the farce of a wedding happen. The only man Kara was going to marry was him. He was done playing down his feelings because he hadn’t known her long. He wasn’t going to propose next week, but he knew she would be his someday.

  No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get the right angle. Grayson needed to find another way to take out the foreman’s daughter. He left the window in search of another view into the barn. Two steps from the window, he heard a gunshot ring through the barn, and he took off running toward the entrance.

  Grayson passed Hank while he was running toward the front of the barn. He dodged Hank’s outstretched arm and heard the curse under Hank’s breath. Noah had sent them a layout of the farm on the way to Montana Gold. There was another entrance on the back side of the barn. Grayson prayed Hank and his men would come in at the back.

  His only concern was Kara. He grabbed the door hanging off the hinge and ripped it open. The door broke under his hands. Grayson’s eyes sought out Kara. She was awake and not shot. He let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. The foreman’s daughter swung her gun away from Kara toward him.

  Grayson had his Glock pointed back at her. “Let Kara go,” Grayson demanded.

  The foreman was pacing back and forth, and the pastor had passed out after being shot. Grayson couldn’t tell if he was still alive. The foreman, whom Grayson remembered was called Josiah, pulled a gun from behind his back and aimed it at Grayson as well.

  He heard Kara scream, “No!”

  Needing to reassure Kara, he glanced in her direction and gave her a nod, letting her know he had everything under control.

  Josiah shouted, “She’s mine! I’ve given this family everything. They owe me.”

  The daughter, whose name was Sarah, pointed her gun back at Kara. “Put your gun down, or I’ll kill her!” she yelled at him. She looked close to losing her mind.

  “Fine,” Grayson grumbled. He leaned down and set the gun on the ground. But he had come prepared. He still had one more gun and a knife on him. More than likely, Josiah and his daughter didn’t know his background, and he could use that to his advantage.

  Grayson also knew that Hank and his men would have his back.

  “Kick it away,” Sarah demanded. Grayson kicked the gun to the side, and it landed next to a pile of bodies. A flash of sadness came over him. Regardless of how bad Kara’s dad was, Grayson had hoped he was still alive, for her sake. But from the look of the body Grayson thought was his, he had been dead for a while.

  “Is this about the money?” Grayson raised his hands and started inching toward Kara, hoping that, if he talked, it would distract Josiah and his daughter enough that they wouldn’t realize what he was doing. “We can get you guys as much as you want.”

  With each word, he took another step closer to Kara. She was no more than five feet from him. He could almost reach out and touch her. The smell of the decomposing bodies was nauseating. He was breathing through his mouth to keep from puking. Grayson didn’t recognize the other corpse lying on the ground next to Kara’s father.

  “Stop!” Josiah screamed. “I don’t just want the money. I want the gold.”

  Grayson stopped walking. The research Noah had done said the gold mine was depleted. The only “gold” left was in her hefty bank account.

  “There is no more gold.”

  Josiah reached up and ran his hand through his hair. It looked like he hadn’t showered in days. “I found the gold. It’s here. And when I marry her”—he pointed at Kara—“I will have her money and the gold.”

  “We can work this out. Let’s put the guns away. I bet Kara would give you the gold.”

  “Yes, anything,” Kara said. “Please, let us go.”

  “You don’t understand. I need someone to take the fall for the dead bodies.” He waved his hand in the direction of Kara’s father. “I’ll make it look like Kara and her father were fighting, and she killed him. Then you came along, wanting her fortune, and she killed you too. She couldn’t live with what she did, so she killed herself.”

  With every word Josiah spoke, Grayson knew the man was losing his mind. His daughter was scratching at the needle marks running up and down her arms. She needed the money for her next fix.

  “That won’t work. I called the sheriff, and he’s on his way. He won’t believe the story.”

  Grayson could see Hank in the back of the barn. He was getting in
to position but raised his gun a second too late. Sarah squeezed the trigger of the revolver she had pointed at Grayson. He had time to decide he was okay with getting shot as long as Kara made it out alive. He knew Hank would do everything in his power to save her.

  What Grayson didn’t expect was for Kara to try to save his life. His heart squeezed when he saw her launch her body toward Sarah, but she was too late. Sarah had already pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot rang through the air. Kara slammed into Sarah, causing the bullet to go in the same direction in which he had leaped to dodge the bullet. The sting of it hitting his chest was enough to knock him out for a second.

  Lying on the floor, Grayson reached for his gun to take Sarah out, but his hand wasn’t cooperating with his brain. Fuck, being shot hurt. He knew he was bad off, but Kara was still in danger. A second gunshot rang through the barn, and Sarah dropped to the floor. Hank or one of his men had taken a perfect head shot.

  Kara came running toward Grayson, but before she had time to get to him, Josiah’s arm pulled her back, and he held his gun to her head.

  “Let me go! I need to save him.” Her plea was heartbreaking.

  Grayson was trying hard to keep from passing out. He had placed one of his hands on the bullet wound, trying to stop the bleeding. In the background, he could hear the ambulance and sheriff coming to their aid. He thought he might close his eyes for just a couple of minutes.

  She couldn’t lose him, not before she told him how she felt. Kara had taken self-defense classes over the years. Using her right leg, she swung it back with enough force to hit Josiah in the nether regions. He was taken by surprise and lowered the gun for a second.

  Then she threw her elbow back as hard as she could and felt the cracking of his nose. Josiah cried out in pain, dropped the gun, and released his hold on Kara. She heard loud footsteps coming from behind her. She knew that they were from Grayson’s friends.

  She ran to Grayson and knelt by him. Tears were streaming down her face, making it hard to assess his injury. She ripped his shirt open and applied pressure to his wound to stop the bleeding. “Come on, Grayson!” she shouted, trying to get him to open his eyes.

  “Kara, you need to move,” a deep voice said from behind her. When the person put his hand on her shoulder, she jerked her arm away.

  “I’m not leaving him.”

  “You need to. The paramedics need to look at his wound.”

  Kara finally took a second to look around the barn. She hadn’t heard the paramedics enter the barn nor the sheriff and his deputy show up. Kara moved to the side, so they could do their job. She kept her hand on him, needing to touch him.

  Hank squeezed her shoulder. “He’s going to be fine.” But his voice didn’t match his words. It was filled with worry.

  “He’s lost too much blood.”

  The paramedics stopped the bleeding by the time Grayson was put in the ambulance. But before the ambulance doors closed, Kara heard the paramedic yell for the paddles.

  She dropped to the ground and sobbed.

  Chapter 13

  Kara stared at the white double doors in the hospital waiting room.

  Hank had carried her to his truck after she collapsed. On the way to the hospital, she tried calling Noah, Grayson’s brother, numerous times. She left him messages to call her back. When they arrived at the hospital, the shift nurse informed them that Grayson was in surgery and they would get an update when he was out. Taz and Bear had stayed back at the ranch to work with the sheriff and give their statements.

  She was still numb from losing her dad, but the thought of Grayson dying ripped out her heart.

  Bozeman Health Hospital’s waiting room was quiet. She and Hank sat waiting for answers. The white clock on the wall made the only noise echoing through the room. The constant ticking reminded her how much time had passed by.

  Noise from the nurses’ station caught Kara’s attention. She saw a man about Grayson’s height with a similar muscular build. Unlike Grayson’s short hair, this man’s hair was long, and he wore dark-framed glasses, reminding her of a nerdy version of Grayson.

  “Where is my brother?” the man demanded.

  Hank stood up from the chair next to Kara. “Noah.”

  The man whipped his head around and came their way. Kara noticed that he walked with a slight limp. When he reached them, she expected him to shake hands with Hank first. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Kara and pulled her into a hug.

  With his touch, she found she couldn’t hold back the tears. She sobbed on his clean white shirt.

  “Grayson is a fighter,” Noah whispered into her ear before releasing her from his hug.

  Hank grabbed Noah’s hand and pulled him in for a one-arm hug.

  “Hell, man. We’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”

  Something passed over Noah’s face. “I should’ve looked into Josiah more.” He let out a sigh. “I did more research once you guys headed to the ranch. That man was under suspicion for killing his wife. I tried calling Grayson back to let him know, but his phone kept going to voicemail.”

  “We turned them off. We didn’t want them going off and ruining the rescue mission.”

  Noah sat his large frame in the seat next to Kara. When he crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles bulged. “I caught the first flight out when he wouldn’t answer.” He let out another sigh. “Grayson always answers, and I can’t lose another brother.” There was so much sadness in his voice that Kara knew he was referring to the SEAL team that was lost on his last mission.

  “Did you get a hold of your other brothers?” Kara felt bad. She hadn’t even thought about his other brothers. Grayson hadn’t talked about them much. They were both deployed overseas.

  “I called and left a message. If they are off on a mission, they might not get the call for a few days.”

  Kara glanced up at the clock on the wall. Grayson had been in surgery for over an hour. Sitting in the waiting room brought back memories of her mother. The last surgery her mom went through to remove a tumor took eight hours. By that time, Kara’s father had taken up drinking because he couldn’t deal with his wife’s impending death. Kara had spent eight hours in the waiting room, waiting for news. When the doctor walked out with a grim look on his face, she knew the news was going to be bad. The tumor had spread to a section of her spinal cord and couldn’t be removed.

  “Kara, are you okay?”

  Thinking about her mom had tears streaming down her face again. Luckily, the white double doors opened before she had time to answer. A doctor in his late forties came into the waiting room. “Steele family?”

  Noah and Kara both rushed to where the doctor was standing. Hank stood back, letting them get the information from the doctor.

  “How is he?” Noah and Kara asked at the same time.

  The doctor glanced down at his sheet once more before answering. “He made it through surgery. It was touch-and-go for a while. The bullet ricocheted off his tenth rib and punctured his lung. He will need to take it easy for the next month, and someone will need to help him.”

  “I will be there,” Kara answered.

  Noah raised a brow, but she didn’t care what Noah thought. When Grayson had almost died in the ambulance, she made the decision to be by his side if he made it through. She knew she loved him and wanted to spend her life with him.

  “When can we see him?”

  “You can go back now.”

  Kara followed a nurse down the white hallway. When the nurse pushed open the door to Grayson’s room, Kara hurried to his side. He looked so pale. She took his hand and squeezed it.

  Noah pulled a chair to the other side of Grayson’s bed. They both sat in silence, waiting for him to wake up.

  “He looks so weak,” Kara whispered.

  Noah let out a laugh. “Don’t let him hear you calling him weak. Grayson will pull through this.”

  “He’s lying there because of me.”

  Noah pushed his glasses up hi
s nose. “Grayson wouldn’t want it any other way. In every conversation my brother and I have had this week, he talked about this wonderful woman he’d met. Grayson would have done anything to protect you.”

  The next few hours moved slowly. The night nurse came in every half hour to check his vitals. Kara took time to go over his chart and see what they had him on. She knew from her years of working in the hospital that it would take time for him to wake up.

  Hank had brought food for them. He wanted to stay in the waiting room until Grayson woke up, but Noah and Kara talked him into going home, saying they would notify him if anything changed. It took some convincing before he finally left. Every hour, he sent a text asking for an update.

  Midnight had come and gone. Noah was snoring softly in the chair next to Grayson’s bed. Kara couldn’t fall asleep. She was worried she would miss something or Grayson would wake up and she wouldn’t know it. She wanted to be the first thing he saw when his eyes opened.

  “Come on, Grayson. Wake up.”

  She felt his fingers squeeze her hand. “I’m awake, Angel.” His voice was scratchy from the breathing tube.

  “Let me go get the nurse.” When Kara tried to pull her hand away, Grayson increased his grip.

  “No. I just need you.”

  The talking made Noah stir in the chair next to the bed. “About time you woke up.” Noah was trying to make a joke, but Kara could hear the worry in his voice.

  Grayson rubbed his eyes before answering Noah. “How long have I been out?”

  “About eight hours,” Kara answered.

  Noah stood up and stretched. “I’m going to go get a cup of coffee.”

  Grayson let out a chuckle. “You don’t drink coffee. I’m glad you’re here, brother.”

  “There is no place I would rather be. I’ll let Hank, Blake, and Devin know you’re okay.” Noah turned and left the room.