Beautiful Surrender (Pride and Honor Book 4)

by Ember-Raine Winters

  “No one’s innocent,” she muttered. Griffin looked at her in shock but didn’t comment, while I just shook my head; she was so jaded.

  “Come on, let’s go,” Griffin said softly and we all gathered our things and met Mac and Marcy in the lobby.

  “Anything suspicious?” I asked Mac when we got downstairs.

  “Nah, I think they’re getting smarter. I haven’t seen a dark suit in the whole place.”

  “They’re probably outside waiting for us,” Kenzie said as she peered out the glass doors. “Nondescript van three o’clock. A guy on each corner in dark suits and sunglasses.”

  I laughed out loud at that. They most definitely were not getting smarter. “So much for that idea Mac.”

  “How are we getting out of here?” Marcy asked warily.

  Griffin looked thoughtful for a moment. “We’re walking out the front door. There are too many people outside for them to pull anything too crazy. Especially if people recognize us.”

  “Okay, but you know we are gonna have to lose them and that could end up being worse.” Kenzie eyed him.

  I blew out a breath in frustration, tired of running away. We needed to take action and not sit around twiddling our thumbs. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to look at the caller ID. Justin.

  “What’s going on, Justin?” I asked dread filling my gut.

  “Shelby is getting antsy. She says she has clients and is refusing to stay in this backwoods town a minute longer.” He chuckled as I heard a feminine growl behind him. “Those were her exact words… Hey, give that back.”

  I heard Justin grunt in the background. Shelby must have snatched the phone from him because a moment later her shrill voice came over the line and I winced pulling the phone from my ear.

  “Trey Nathaniel Thomas. If you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on I am on the next flight back home and I will skewer you.” So much for her acquiescing and being the agreeable type.

  “Hold up, Shel. You know I can’t tell you, and you know you can’t go home right now. I promise, when this is all over Justin and the guys will escort you and Mikey home.”

  “No, Trey. I have clients that need me. My little measly staff can’t handle the workload we have.”

  “Your life and my son's life are on the line here,” I growled and Kenzie looked at me with wide eyes. “Stay. Fucking. Put. I mean it, Shelby. If you endanger my son by going home, I will do everything in my power to take him from you.” It was over-the-top and I shouldn’t have said it, but I needed her to understand the importance of her staying safe and out of harm’s way.

  The soft gasp over the phone was the only thing I heard before there was a bang in my ear, which I assumed was the phone hitting the ground. A second later Justin was spitting angrily at me. “What the fuck did you say to her?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I barked back.

  “She just ran off in tears, asshole.”

  “Hey. I may be an asshole but I’m still your boss so show some damn respect. I just scared her, so maybe now she will realize she needs to stay where she fucking is and not try to risk our son's life over some rich assholes with more money than sense.”

  I punched the end button on my phone and threw the glass doors open. “Kenzie and Griffin, you’re with me. Give Marcy the address and she can follow us.”

  “You’re not driving, little brother,” Griffin said sternly and I turned and glared at him.

  “The hell I'm not.” I fumed showing him the keys in my hand.

  Kenzie’s sneaky little ass strolled up behind me and snatched the keys from my hand and tossed them to Griffin. “As much as I love a good car chase and blowing shit up, I would rather not die today.”

  “Whatever.” I huffed and smacked the side of the car I just sidled up to with my barely healed broken arm and winced. “Fuck,” I roared.

  “Get in the car, Trey. You’re drawing attention to us.” Griffin growled low next to my ear. Shit! Shelby always got my hackles up when she acted like that.

  We had met in high school and hit it off instantly. She was the new girl and I was the football star. We had dated for nearly five years when I proposed to her the first time. She shot me down. Said she wanted to work on her career first, and I freaked out and left town. We hooked up from time to time after that. Almost five years ago, she came to me and told me she was pregnant. She had been the only girl I had ever come close to loving, so I got down and asked again. She basically laughed in my face and looked at me like I was an adorable puppy before shooting me down a second time. Thankfully, we’d managed to remain friends, if not family, and I can honestly say that looking back on it, Shelby was right. We were never in love, even if I wanted us to be.

  And apparently, I sucked at marriage proposals and promised myself that I would never put myself out there again unless I was totally sure the woman would say yes. The thought ran through my head as I looked over at Kenzie, who had an odd look on her face and I couldn’t help but smile. I had thrown her off her game. I didn’t know how, but I could see it in the curious expression. Her head was tilted to the side and her eyes bore into mine as if just by staring she could figure me out, like an extremely hard hack that just wasn’t panning out. I chuckled again. It’s gonna take a lot more than a look to figure me out, sunshine.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  KENZIE

  Shock.

  That was what I was in as I listened to Trey yell at that woman Shelby about his son. As I stared at him, trying to figure him out, he chuckled and brought me out of my head. I sat in the back seat of Griffin’s rented Mercedes and slammed the door—just because I could. Both men turned and looked at me curiously and I gave them a toothy smile.

  “Give me the address,” Trey grunted. He was still peeved that I snuck up behind him and took the keys. I’m all for acting out your aggression, but not when it endangers my life. Besides, I could think of plenty of different ways he could act out his aggression. Most of them involving lots of sweating and groaning. Get your mind out of the gutter, Kenzie! I admonished myself and gave myself a mental slap. I handed over the address with a saccharine smile on my face and Trey rolled his eyes.

  “What was up with Shelby?” Griffin asked curiously and I gave him a what-the-fuck look. He couldn’t see me because I was sitting right behind him, but I was boring holes into the back of the headrest with my eyeballs. Yeah let’s just poke the giant auburn-haired bear. That sounds like a great idea, Griff. I thought sarcastically and kicked his seat. “Hey. What the hell, Barbie?”

  “It’s called tact, Griffy. You would think you would have learned that at shrink school.” I chuckled at my own joke.

  “Oh yeah? Where did you go to school? An Al Qaeda training camp?” He snickered and I lunged for him crawling over the seat in front of me in an attempt to get to him. Trey turned around and held me back with a grin on those luscious lips of his.

  “I thought you didn’t feel like dying today, sunshine?” He threw my words back at me as he held his arm out stopping me from diving into the front seat. I glared at him, which of course only made the bastard laugh harder. Asshole! I noticed absently how close our faces were and sat back in my seat arms crossed and stuck my tongue out at him. He stopped laughing instantly and his green eyes darkened. I didn’t know if it was in anger or desire, but I knew one thing for sure—I didn’t want to know. Liar. A little voice in the back of my mind taunted. I slapped that one too because that little bitch needed to shut up. I knew what was best for me, and Trey Thomas was not it. No matter how much his corded muscles and quick wit made my mouth water and lady bits wake up and take notice.

  Being trapped in a car with him had the same torturous effect on me that it always did. His sandalwood and musk scent mixed with the smell of new leather, and I couldn’t help but breathe deeply through my nose. Yes, I am well aware of my creeper status. I couldn’t help it. I was totally and completely addicted to his smell. They seriousl
y needed a support group for that. If it got me off the addiction I would go every damn day.

  “Earth to Barbie.” Trey waved his good hand back and forth in front of my face.

  I reached up as quick as a snake and grabbed his hand and bent his fingers back painfully. "I suggest you keep your hand out of my face unless you would like me to break your other arm,” I ground out through gritted teeth.

  “Ow, ow, ow,” he chanted and nodded his head through the pain.

  “Good. I’m glad we understand each other.” I smiled and patted his cheek roughly.

  Griffin laughed, then said after looking through the sideview mirror, “I haven’t seen anyone following us,”

  Just as he said that I shouted out, “Griffin, watch out!” as a black Escalade came at us from his blind side. We were halfway through the intersection and Griffin hit the gas hard, narrowly missing the other car as it turned sharply and began to give chase.

  “Shit,” Trey yelled. “You just had to jinx it, didn’t you?”

  “How the fuck did they know to wait for us there?” Griffin bellowed.

  I had been thinking the exact same thing, watching through the passenger sideview mirror as the truck got closer and closer. “I don’t know. Brock must be compromised.”

  I shook my head, not believing my own words. Trey looked at me in horror as the magnitude of what I just said sunk in. “Are you sure it’s him and not whoever this contact is that he keeps talking about?”

  “I don’t know, but honestly, if they took Kim again? I know him and he would do whatever it took to get her back. I just don’t know who to trust anymore.”

  “You have us,” Trey said with a reassuring smile.

  “Yeah, and I may have just gotten you killed by trusting in the wrong man.” I frowned and buried my face in my hands.

  “Kenzie!” Trey admonished. “No one is dying today.”

  I wanted to believe him. I really did, but the fact was, he didn’t know that for sure. The look of determination in his eyes made me smile.

  “Except maybe the assholes in the Escalade.” I grabbed my bag from the seat next to me.

  Griffin and Trey shared a worried glance before Trey laughed. “At least Mac and Marcy went ahead of us.”

  “You got anything that will just slow them down?” Griffin asked in what I think sounded like hope. What a stupid question. We all knew the answer to that. I giggled at the thought of road spikes in my backpack. What in the world would I ever use those for?

  Uh… how about right now? Idiot. That was another stupid little voice I needed to bitch slap out of my head. That whole logical thing wasn’t really my style, and I needed to focus on finding a solution to this problem.

  “What do you have in Mary Poppins bag o’ death?” Trey barked out a laugh at his joke and I rolled my eyes, though he really had a point. I tried never to go anywhere without it.

  “I have a grenade.” I whipped it out with a bright smile and both men flinched.

  “Don’t you think that’s a bit too much firepower?” Griffin raised a skeptical brow at me and I shrugged his question off.

  “It’s the least lethal thing I have. Beggars can’t be choosers.” I placed both hands on my hips in indignation. Stupidly, I had the grenade in one of them. The pin got caught on my belt loop, and when I pulled my hands from my hips the pin dropped. When I felt the pin release from the grenade, my eyes went wide and I fumbled with the automatic window. “Griffin! Unlock the window or we are all gonna go boom.”

  I finally got the window open and lobbed the grenade at the truck behind us. “You might want to drive a wee bit faster.” I bared my teeth in a goofy smile and he put his foot down on the gas, while I watched out the back window in morbid fascination as the grenade struck the windshield. It was a beautiful explosion. Black and orange engulfed the vehicle as it flew into the air and landed upside down a hundred yards away. I giggled maniacally as I turned and sat back in my seat. Both men were giving me odd looks. “What?”

  “Nothing, Barbie.” Griffin just looked at me through the rearview mirror and I caught the eye roll.

  “Whatever. It got the job done, right?”

  “She has a point there, brother.” Trey chuckled and I beamed at him. He, at least understood me.

  Thankfully we were in the middle of nowhere and it was late at night so there weren’t any other cars on the road.

  “You know you love the explosions too.” I batted my eyes at Trey.

  “Who doesn’t?” Trey grinned back at me through the visor mirror.

  “Your big old fuddy duddy brother over there.” I pointed my finger at Griffin and stuck my tongue out at him through the rearview mirror. Childish? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely not, but I loved teasing Griffin. It was so easy to get him riled up. He was way too serious all the time. I had no idea how his fiancé could stand it. I had never met Kaylee, but I had heard stories and I knew how much everyone loved her.

  “Are we sure this place is safe, now that we think Brock could have been compromised?” Griffin changed the subject with a shake of his head.

  “Not a clue. But it looked like they were trying to get to us before we got there, so it might be worth looking into.”

  The thought of Brock betraying us was just too far-fetched in my mind. He had been there as I grew up, taking me to most of my martial arts classes, and bought me my first computer. He was Uncle Brock and he did everything that my elderly adoptive parents couldn’t.

  “Brock can’t be behind this. It has to be his contact,” I muttered mostly to myself.

  “What if it’s like you said and something happened to Kim?” Trey asked.

  “I don’t think so. Kim would never forgive him if he was betraying us. Tasha means too much to her, and her other daughter Ally means too much to him.” It came out in the midst of the investigation that Ally was Brock’s daughter and not the creepy sheriff who Kim was forced to marry because of daddy dearest, Barnes. I knew the sheriff was dead, but just thinking about what he did to little girls, including my sister Tasha, was so unforgivably reprehensible that I for one, was glad Tasha had killed him. The bastard got off easy, though, as far as I was concerned. Torture would have been closer to what he deserved.

  The rest of the three-hour drive to the sleepy little town of Winnsboro, Louisiana was relatively uneventful. I could tell Griffin was getting irritated by my tap, tap, tapping on my keyboard. I may have tapped a little harder on them just to irritate him. It was so easy to ruffle him that I found it hilarious when something annoyed him. Trey turned around giving me a knowing smirk and nodding his head toward Griffin who had his hands in a white-knuckled grip around the steering wheel.

  “Do you want me to put on some music, bro?” Trey asked with a laugh and I silently giggled to myself. I really did need to lighten up on teasing him, but he was such a perfectly easy target.

  “You’re doing that shit on purpose, aren’t you Barbie?”

  Trey and I busted into loud laughter and saw the back of Griffin’s head shake; poor dude, by the end of this he was going to be giving himself his own therapy.

  “It looks like we’re going to the middle of nowhere again,” Trey said once he got his laughter under control.

  “Do you really think that Brock would have it any other way?” I asked. “Secluded places are the safest for everyone involved.”

  “Agreed,” Griffin said thoughtfully. “At least that way when they find us, there won’t be civilians around.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  TREY

  The house was massive. Which, in all honesty wasn’t a big surprise. Brock was a weird one. We had figured that out when Johnny had been kidnapped and we had to go traipsing through the forest looking for the underground bunker where he left backups that were lost when Barnes burned down the house with Pix and Kenzie inside.

  Marcy was helping Mac out of the car, who was being his usual chipper self.

  “Hey, stop gro
wling at Tink. You big grump.”

  “I will cut you, Trey.” Marcy scolded me, defending her man.

  I walked over to where Marcy was trying to set up the wheelchair for Mac. “Let me help, you big ogre.”

  “I swear to God if you grab that damn chair, I will show you what an ogre I can be,” Mac threatened.

  “You need the chair,” Marcy yelled back, clearly exasperated with having to deal with Mac’s growing impatience at his slow rate of healing.

  Grabbing the crutches out of the backseat, I turned and winked at Kenzie who was watching the entire exchange with a bemused expression.

  “Let him have his crutches, Tink.”

  “The doctors said that just because he can walk doesn’t mean he should,” she huffed out.

  “He’ll be fine, Pix,” Griffin said as he walked up behind me. “Let him do a little walking.”

  She mumbled something about stubborn-ass men that I didn’t quite hear and followed Kenzie into the house. Mac and I grinned at each other over our silent win as I handed him his crutches.

  “Better not fall, bro. She’ll never let you walk again.” I teased.

  “The doctors say I need to give myself more time to heal. I’m telling you, they are all just being overly cautious. I’m all right,” he said as he grabbed his crutches and hobbled to the front door.

  “I hear ya brother, but just take it easy. We may need you and you won’t be any use to us crippled.” Griffin laughed as Mac glared back at him.

  “I have an idea,” I said out of nowhere. I had been worried about how much help Mac could really be on a bum leg when it hit me that I had the perfect solution. “What if I taught you the basics in hacking? It would help a lot to have someone here who had the skill just in case Kenzie and I are doing something else.”

  Mac looked at me in horror. If I hadn’t been serious, it would have been hilarious. “You want me to sit behind a computer?”

  “That’s a brilliant idea.” Griffin beamed. “You can’t go in guns blazing, Mac. What are you gonna do? Hit them with your crutches?”