“We’re fine with anything,” I tell him.
“Great. Do you have your credit card, Jeanne, or do you need cash?”
“I have my card.”
Really? A twelve-year-old has a credit card? My face must show my surprise. “She has a card on my account that she can use to buy whatever she needs if I’m not around,” Blake tells me.
“That’s very generous of you.”
“She’s my daughter, Audrey. Who else would I spend my money on?”
“You should buy Audrey something!” Jeanne tells him.
“Oh. No, I didn’t…that’s not what I meant. Or wanted. You don’t need to buy me anything.”
“Challenge accepted,” Blake says.
“Challenge? What challenge?”
“Finding the perfect gift for you.”
“Really, Blake. You don’t have to. I have everything I could possibly want.”
“Then I’ll just have to give you something you need.”
Yep. I’m in trouble. Big trouble. The man gives his daughter unlimited access to his money, and now just promised to give me what I need. I don’t think he was just talking about buying me something from the store either. And God help me, I really want what he has to give me.
Chapter 4
Audrey
Stella is waiting for us when we walk up to the Fashion Valley mall. Jeanne stops short when she sees her. “Wait, she’s your friend Stella? But she’s famous.”
“So is your dad,” I tell her with a laugh, surprised that she’s star struck.
“Actually, it’s my boyfriend who’s famous. I just go along for the ride.”
“Is Kace as amazing in real life as he seems?”
“He has his moments. Storyside will be coming through here on tour soon if you want to meet him.”
“My dad said he could get me backstage, but if you did it, that’d be cooler.”
“I am much cooler than anyone’s dad, so I’ll do you one better. You can come by for sound check and then have dinner with us before the show.”
“I thought you weren’t flying out to any of the shows. You wanted to be all independent and shit, right?” I tease her.
“I miss him, Aud. So fucking much. I miss my boy.”
“Then go and get him,” I say, giving her a hug.
“I’m going to. I’ll be meeting the tour when I leave here tonight.”
“By the way, who’s here with you?”
We want Jeanne to have fun shopping, but none of us can forget that she was almost kidnapped the other day. Stella and I both wanted her to be able to focus on styling Jeanne, and not protecting her—although she’d be ready if something happened—and Reina agreed.
“Ainsley, Isa, and Darcy. They’re on shopping sprees with their guys.”
“Poor girls,” I say with a laugh. Those three are the most unlikely to want to shop of any of us.
“They’ll deal.”
“Your nerdy friends are here? Can they eat with us later?” Jeanne asks.
“It’s not a good idea for us to be all together while they’re watching you.”
“What if we take the food back to the house? Could they hang out with us there?”
“I’ll ask them.”
“Now?”
“How about I do it while you’re trying on your clothes? It’s not a good idea for us to just stand here for a long time.”
“Okay,” she says, looking a little disappointed. I hate disappointing her, but her safety has to come first.
“Let’s get going,” Stella says. “We’ll hit the big stores first, and then the smaller boutiques.”
“You’re the expert,” I tell her.
“Damn straight.”
We’re still laughing when I sense them. Stella swings her head to the side, and I know she feels it too, the shift in the air. The Society trains us to look for, and sense trouble. It took my science minded brain a little bit of time to trust it, but I’ve come to believe in it after all of these years. There’s danger in the air right now.
Stella and I flank Jeanne, and I put my arm around her as we walk her a little faster. When we veer towards an internal exit instead of the store entrance, Jeanne realizes something is wrong.
“Why are we going down this hallway?”
“There are people here for you,” I tell her. “I don’t know how they found us so fast, but they’re here.”
“You’ll protect me, right?”
“Yes,” Stella tells her. “You just need to do whatever we say.”
“I will.”
We make it only a few feet before the door slams open behind us. Stella and I have our guns out, and Jeanne against the wall behind us before they’re all the way inside of the door.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“The girl,” the lead man says.
“You can’t have her.”
“We’ll see,” he says, rolling his neck.
“Yes, we will,” Stella tells him.
There are six of them, but Stella and I could probably take them if we had to. Our friends should be here any moment now, but it looks like the fight will begin without them as the men fan out into a line in front of us. We could shoot them, but that would stop us from getting the answers we need, and also draw more attention than we want to what’s happening. Stella and I both holster our guns, and get ready to fight.
The first guy goes for Stella, and she easily dodges his fist while knocking him back. The next four attack at once, two on each of us. We both take a few hits, but do more damage to them than they do to us. I see the main guy heading towards Jeanne out of the corner of my eye, and lose my focus for a moment. I take a hard hit to the jaw, and then renew my efforts, even as I move back in front of her. Now it’s three on one as the guy who was going for her joins his friends, and the other one Stella knocked back rejoins the fight with her. We’re holding them off, but it’s not easy.
All of a sudden, Darcy is next to me, taking on two of the guys. Isa helps Stella, while Ainsley grabs Jeanne from behind me. I hear her hand Jeanne off to Zack and Brayden, then she and Jake take on the final two. Six against six is too much for the bad guys, and they realize it, trying to run. I motion to the main guy, and Isa and Jake stop him from leaving. His friends get away, but we only need one.
“You’ll never get anything out of me.”
“On the contrary, we’ll get everything out of you. How alive you are when we’re done will be up to you,” I tell him.
“Reina has a car outside for us. We’ll get him settled with the support staff we brought until Reina gets here with Matt and Faith, and then meet you later,” Darcy tells me.
“I was going to ask you about later anyway, so I’ll call with details.”
“It’s a plan.”
I watch them go, and then turn back to Stella. “Are you still up for shopping?”
“Yeah, she needs normal after that. We just need to clean up a little.”
We take care of that, and once we’ve looked each other over, and decided we look normal again, we go back into the mall. The sight we find makes us both smile. Jeanne is sitting on a bench with Zack on one side of her, and Brayden on the other. They’re all eating ice cream, and laughing. A few feet away, some girls and boys around Jeanne’s age are openly gawking.
“Ready to shop?” Stella asks Jeanne as we walk up to them.
“We can?”
“Of course. We’re not going to let a minor hiccup stop us from having some fun.”
“Oh my God, you’re Stella. Like from KaSt, Stella,” a girl says, using the “ship” name fans have assigned to her and Kace.
“I am.”
“What are you doing with her? I mean, she’s so…nerdy?” another girl asks, scrunching up her nose.
“Nerds are hot,” Zack says.
“Gamer girls, too,” Brayden adds, and they fist bump in front of Jeanne.
“Well, I don’t want some girl who has to prove that she’s smarter than me,”
one of the boys says.
“With that attitude, she won’t have to prove it. Everyone will know she’s smarter,” Stella tells him, shaking her head.
I see Jeanne looking sadly at the boy’s friend, who I find staring at my chest. “My eyes are up here, little boy.”
“When you’ve got it flaunt it, right?” he says with a smirk. If this is who I think it is, we may need more ice cream. Yes, I have a denim jumpsuit on, but it’s buttoned almost to the top, and just, no.
“Actually I prefer to flaunt my brain, so if you’d like to ask me some science questions, I might take you seriously.”
“Yeah right. You want me to believe that you like science?”
“I could really care less what you believe. I am, however, a scientist. A damn good one, actually. And I can tell you that back in high school, no one would’ve guessed what I was hiding behind my glasses and baggy sweaters. Think about that, hotshot.”
He looks over to Jeanne, and his eyes widen. When I look as well, I see her glaring at him. We’re definitely going to need more ice cream.
“Well, we have some shopping to do, so we’ll have to say goodbye now,” Stella says, picking up on the vibe that’s going down.
“Need me to hold your purse, Jeanne,” Zack asks, holding his hand out. He really is a good guy, despite the problems Ainsley had with him early on.
“A strong woman doesn’t need a man to hold her purse, but I’ll let you if you really want to. I appreciate a man who is comfortable with his sexuality.”
“Oh yeah, you’re already rubbing off on her, Aud. And after spending time with Stell, every boy in this state had better watch out.”
“Watch out? They should be thanking us,” Stella says, hands on hips.
“Too true,” Brayden says. “There’s nothing sexier than a smart, strong woman. And I am also secure enough in my manhood to hold a purse or some shopping bags, if the need arises.”
“Oh, we know you are, Brayden. Karaoke night will never be forgotten,” I tell him with a laugh.
“Can we come along? We’ll pay you like Jeanne’s doing, and we have better style already,” one of the girls says.
“Jeanne’s not paying me,” Stella says. “She a cool chick, and I want to hang out with her. If you want to try and book me, you can ask your parents to sign up online. I should be available in about five years. Bye now.”
She links her arm with Jeanne’s, and we all walk into the first store together. I seriously have the best friends ever. We’ll make the rest of the day fun for Jeanne, while Reina gets answers from that asshole who tried to take her again. A fun time should be had by all, except for him of course.
* * *
Blake
There was a change of plans for dinner. Audrey called me to say that men came for Jeanne again at the mall. She doesn’t know how they found her so fast, and is afraid that it’s an inside job. Apparently, Reina flew in to torture some answers out of one of the guys while my girl still went on her shopping spree. Audrey texted me dinner orders from everyone, so I still went to Noodles & Co., but we’re all eating here now.
I’d be lying if I said I’m not a little stressed out as I get everyone’s place set for them. My kid was almost taken—again. I know she has mad computer skills, but they can’t be that much better than the other hackers out there. Or maybe they are. I know close to nothing about what she’s doing. I’ve Googled it, even getting a friendly call from my local FBI office after my searches, but there’s still too much I don’t know.
“Dad, where are you?”
“I’m in the dining room,” I yell back.
Jeanne comes running in, and throws herself into my arms. I hold her tight, until she pulls back. “I just needed a hug.”
“Good thing I’ve always got one for you. Nice threads by the way,” I tell her as I look her over. She still looks like herself, just enhanced a little.
“You’re so old. No one says things like that anymore, Daddy-O.”
“Yeah, yeah, I see nothing’s changed in the hours you’ve been gone.”
“We were never going to change her, Blake. You should know I wouldn’t do that,” Audrey says to me.
Fuck. Here I go screwing up again. “I do know that. Thank you for taking her out, and for you know, saving her again.”
“We had lots of fun, and I, for one, am starving,” the blonde bombshell standing next to Audrey says.
“You must be Stella,” I say, holding out my hand, which she ignores. “Friend of Audrey’s. Right, so no handshake.”
“Behave, Stell. Blake, this is Zack and Brayden. Isa, Darcy, Matt, Faith, and Jake should be here soon with Reina, and Ainsley, whom you’ve already met.”
The guys and I do the nodding thing, and then we all sit down to eat. I’m listening to Jeanne tell me about her day while trying to ignore that Audrey’s thigh is touching mine, when everyone else arrives. Everyone stops talking to greet them.
“Did he talk?” Audrey asks.
“You didn’t really ask me that, did you?” Reina asks with a smile. “Of course he talked.”
“Did you kill him?” Jeanne asks her.
“No, honey. We try to keep as many people alive as possible. He’ll be wishing he was dead for a little while, and then once he’s out of the hospital, he’ll go to jail.”
“What did he tell you?” I ask her.
“He was hired through a mercenary magazine. He doesn’t know who it was, but he has an email address for them.”
“Which I’ll be tracking down,” Ainsley says in between bites of her pasta.
“You can do that? Find someone that way?”
“Yes, she can, Blake. My girl has skills,” Zack tells me.
“Unless the person has better skills,” Jeanne says.
“Well, that’s when I call in my good friend, Scott Griffin. Between the two of us, there’s no one better.”
“You know Scott Griffin?” Jeanne asks, her eyes going wide.
“Yep. We went to school together, and we’re all good friends with him.”
“Wow,” I say, because even I know who he is. His family is one of the most powerful in the world.
“You won’t need Scott, Ains. You got this,” Zack tells her.
“You’re sweet, but I never turn down help.”
“Needing help makes you weak,” Jeanne says, and I whip my head around to look at her.
“Who told you that?”
“Mom.”
“Well, that’s just one more thing your mother and I will never agree on. Everyone needs help sometimes. We’re getting help right now from Audrey and her friends.”
“Oh yeah. I guess we are.”
“We’ll talk more about this later.”
“Great. Another lecture from Mr. Perfect.”
Where the Hell is this attitude coming from? “I am so far from perfect that I can’t even see the shore. You should know that by now.”
“I can vouch for that,” Audrey says, trying to lighten things up.
“I wish you couldn’t,” I tell her honestly.
“I know.”
“Are you two going to kiss again, because I’m leaving if you are.”
“Kiss?” Reina asks, and I see her send a warning glance to Audrey.
“Can we talk about this after dinner, please?”
“Yes, but we are talking about it.”
“I know.”
Dinner finishes with no more talking as I try to figure out what is going on with my daughter, while Audrey dodges all the curious looks coming her way. I know we’re all in a crazy situation right now, but I hope when it all dies down, I can show Audrey that I’m serious about really getting to know her this time around. I could fall in love with her very easily. Again.
Chapter 5
Blake
“Let’s go put your new clothes away while we talk about what you said at dinner.”
“Wanda said she’d put my stuff away for me tomorrow.”
“That right the
re is another problem—we don’t make other people do things we can do ourselves. You know that.”
“Wanda has people clean your office, and cook for us.”
“That’s because I usually work long hours. No one has been in my office in the last couple of days, and no one cooked us dinner tonight.”
Why am I explaining myself to her? It’s almost like having Misha here again, and God knows that didn’t work out well. I won’t have Jeanne turning into a mini her.
I lead her into her giant walk-in closet and start pulling clothes from the bags. “Grab some hangers.”
“Fine.”
“No, Jeanne, it’s not. What has gotten into you? I know you’re probably scared after almost being kidnapped again, but your behavior right now, and the things you said at the dinner table, are completely unacceptable.”
“Why? Just because I said there are people smarter than Ainsley?”
“You asked Audrey to have her friends come here for dinner so you could talk to them. Talking would’ve been nice. Treating them like they’re below you is definitely not.”
“They work for us.”
“Zack Taylor makes at least as much as I do in year—probably more with his endorsement deals. Jake Mason’s mother is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his father runs one of the largest corporations in the world. And Brayden—well Brayden was a King, until he gave up his crown for Darcy. I’m sure the women are all millionaires. Even if they weren’t, no one is better than anyone else just because they have money. I don’t care what bullshit your mother’s told you, you know how I feel, and we shouldn’t even be having this conversation.”
“You just cussed.”
“You said you’re not a baby, and you’re right. I’m done coddling you. You’ll start pulling your weight more around here, especially if you don’t lose this new attitude.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” she says, using the term she knows is sure to melt my heart, and only uses when she wants something. Or to get out of something.
“You’re still getting extra chores.”
“I know,” she says with a sigh. “Do you think Audrey’s in trouble because I told them you kissed?”
“Maybe.”
“You like her more than Mom, don’t you?”
Playing in SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 9) Page 4
