Sanctuary (Family Justice Book 3)

by Halliday, Suzanne

  Dropping her stuff onto a table in the huge tiled foyer and not caring that half her crap missed the tabletop and fell to the floor, she followed the Major’s angry footsteps, noting that he was headed for his study.

  The second she rounded the corner into the spacious great room with the designer kitchen anchoring one whole side of the enormous space, she silently cursed. Fuck. Witnesses. And not only that, a convenient judge and jury who will no doubt read her the riot act for what she’d set in motion.

  Carmen, Alex’s longtime housekeeper, the gentle Latino woman who ran the Villa and kept an eye on the entire compound, looked up from her always present iPad, zeroing in on Meghan with questioning eyes. Gathered at the big island with Carmen were Drae and Tori. Double shit.

  Sparing the assemblage little more than a glance, she picked up speed and headed straight for the study. Halfway down the hallway, however, she came to a stunned halt. The sound of Alex slamming the study door echoed off every wall.

  Uh-oh. That wasn’t good. If he acted any more out of character, she was going to go straight to hell for winding him up. Plus, the entire time she followed his angry march, the obvious limp and the way he struggled with every step were red flags that just made her feel worse.

  Behind her, she heard Drae’s concerned voice. “Uh, Irish? Something you wanna tell us?”

  Squeezing her eyes shut, Meghan’s fists clenched and her jaw tightened as she fought for control. When she turned and faced the Major’s longtime BFF and full-time consigliere, she didn’t miss his accusing glare. Even with the long hallway between them, she could feel the disapproval radiating off Draegyn.

  “What did you do, woman?” he bit out. “He’s crooked!”

  Yeah. No shit, she thought with a grimace and a groan. Seeing Alex strain from the crippling effect of having lost his temper and done something physically stupid … like pick up a goddamn ATV as if it was a postage stamp … gutted Meghan.

  Pushing her hair behind an ear, she bit down on her bottom lip and faced Draegyn St. John’s wrath. “I did a bad.”

  He stayed where he was, leaning against the wall at his back, where he could see down the study hallway while keeping an eye on Victoria, Daniel, and Carmen. Strategic placement. A Justice standard.

  Shaking his head, he frowned. His expression made her feel like a bad kid about to be handed her ass.

  Stuffing a hand into his pocket, he studied her a second before she noticed he was holding a shiny red apple in his other hand. The splash of color in an otherwise muted tableau struck a nerve. Lifting the apple to his mouth before taking a bite, he lanced her with a harsh look and muttered, “Didn’t we talk about this?”

  Oh. Snap. Five words and she was ready to fall on her knees and beg for forgiveness. Remembering with crystal clarity the serious conversation she’d shared with Draegyn about Alex and what loving him would mean, she couldn’t help but cringe.

  Oh, my god. He’d spelled it out for her back then. Happily ever after comes at a price with a man like Alex. It all boiled down to who he was in his core. His ever-present need to take care of her was the reminder she should have paid more attention to. Her leaving, being so far away from his protection, was making him feel powerless and that feeling was a catalyst. A match held too close to emotional kindling.

  Ugh. “I know,” she lamented with a condemning wail. “What have I done, Drae?” Wringing her hands frantically, Meghan froze halfway between the closed study door and the man eating the bright red fruit.

  The other shoe dropped when Alex flung open the study door, sending it crashing against the wall with an ominous thud. When he stepped into the hallway, Meghan gasped at the fury she read on his face right before Drae’s presence drew his attention.

  With an angry snarl, he pointed directly at the other man and bellowed, “Stay the fuck out of this, St. John.”

  Meghan gaped at Drae with wide eyes. She heard Tori groan quietly across the room when Drae simply stared the Major down. Saying nothing, he stood there idly eating the apple and gave nothing away by his expression.

  Stomping toward her with an obviously pained lurch, she shrank back as the big black cloud approached. Swallowing, she desperately searched for her voice, but nothing came. And then he replayed a scene from their past that was like putting her wet finger in an electric socket. Waving a red flag in front of an already fucked-up situation was such a dumb move on his part.

  Stopping ten feet from where she cowered, he straightened best he could and crossed his arms. Eeeep. She knew this posture. It was his ‘I’m the man’ act. Just great.

  “You go nowhere without my permission. Is that clear?” he barked.

  Some part of her wanted to laugh. God, he was cute but who the hell was he kidding with this Master of the Universe crap? What the fuck happened to being reasonable? Sure, she’d stirred the pot, but this was a bit much.

  Giving her a fiery glare, he added a dollop of cream to an already iced cake. “And you do not have authority to ask Sawyer to take the plane out.”

  Maybe it was a bad case of PMS or maybe it was hearing the verbal put-down. She’d never know for sure, but the reminder of him pulling this shit before, throwing his goddamn weight around and embarrassing her in front of everybody, made her react like the ball-busting Boston bitch she was proud to be.

  “Oh yeah?” she drawled. “How ‘bout you say that to my attorney. See what he has to say.”

  “Your attorney?” Alex shrieked. His arms dropped to his sides with fists clenched. “Are you actually going use my oldest friend against me?”

  Drae chose that moment to snicker which earned him an explosive look of fury that he simply blew off with a smirk. Like the true scene-stealer he’d always been, the man held up his apple, said “McIntosh,” and took a hefty bite.

  Sighing at Drae’s performance, she reached for Alex’s arm only to have him avoid her touch. Then he let loose with an ominous growl.

  “You know what? Fuck this shit. Your attorney and my sister. That’s who’s messing everything up. I’m gonna go smack the shit out of both of them.”

  Muttering angrily, he walked right past her and only stopped when Drae blocked his way.

  “Dude. You sure you wanna do that?”

  She saw Alex’s body language instantly turn hostile. Drae, who was experienced at handling the Major when he was having a moment, wisely added, “Tell you what, you go wait by my car and I’ll drive. Would love a chance to see Sully get his ass kicked.”

  She wasn’t all that surprised when her wounded beast simply kept on walking; apparently, taking Drae up on his offer. The minute he cleared the space, Drae called out, “Victoria, you stay with Irish.”

  Shocked at how quickly everything escalated, she anxiously asked, “Should I call Angie and warn her?”

  Drae laughed. “Fuck no. Best to let this play out but you can tell me one thing before I close myself inside a metal pod racing down the highway with a fucked-up crazy man. What the hell, Meghan? Is whatever got him all bent out of shape worth it?”

  Tori joined them having left Daniel in Carmen’s capable arms. “He’s awfully pissed at Angie. What’s she got to do with this?”

  Well, she might as well try to explain. “Okay. Here it is. There are some, uh … wedding things that have come up and … well, Angie and I changed our plans.”

  “Meaning?” Drae griped.

  Tori elbowed him playfully and muttered, “Be nice.”

  “Yeah, well … meaning we were going to leave the day after tomorrow.”

  “What?” Drae barked. “Are you insane? That’s like, what?” He looked at Tori for support. “Weeks before Alex and the rest of us arrive?” Shaking his head with clear censure in his eyes, he ended with, “Irish. Come on …”

  “I know, I know,” she cried. “It’s just that this is important and, well … oh, fuck. I don’t know.”

  Tori came and put an arm around her waist. With a gentle squeeze, she smiled. “It’ll be okay. The guys w
ill take care of it. Right?” she asked with a knowing look in her husband’s direction.

  “Right,” Drae mumbled as he fished his phone from a pocket and began texting. After a few seconds, he stopped and looked up. “Cam and I have this. He’s going to be here in five. I suppose Lacey will be along in a little bit.” Nodding at Tori, he said, “Babe?” and waved her ahead of him. As they walked off, Meghan stood there and frowned.

  Some mess you made, she brooded with a frown. Thinking she knew better than to unleash her bitch side on Alex, she could only shake her head at the nightmare she’d created with her foolishness.

  “I MISSED OUT on all this bridezilla stuff.” Tori chuckled quietly to Lacey. “And I’ve been married twice! First, when I didn’t even know that’s what was happening, and the second time by stealth and surprise.”

  The most senior of the Justice wives giggled. Though she was the youngest, Lacey Cameron was wise beyond her years. “You guys weren’t around before Cameron and I got married. It was just Carmen, Ria, and Betty. I didn’t even know you, Tori! So bride hysterics never even occurred to me.”

  Tori smiled. She’d first laid eyes on Draegyn St. John at Cam and Lacey’s homespun wedding. And her life hadn’t been the same since.

  “What do you think is happening at Parker’s?” Lacey asked. “My husband is radio silent.”

  Tori glanced at a glum-faced Meghan. Sitting on a beanbag chair next to the Pack ‘n’ Play rigs where Dylan and Daniel peacefully napped, she resembled a sad Madonna as she gazed longingly at the two strapping boys who were the next generation of Family Justice.

  Before she could answer, a racket sounded beyond the great room. Someone is here, she thought as the distinctive sound of the huge wooden front door opening and closing echoed.

  Into the room flew Alex’s little sister like she’d been shot out of a cannon. “Red,” the flustered whirlwind blurted out. “What the fucking fuck? How do you put up with that asshole?”

  Tori rolled her eyes. Angie was a thousand times worse than she was with the colorful language.

  Meghan jumped up at Angie’s arrival and flew straight at her sister-in-law. “Is he all right, Ang? What’s going on over there?”

  “Oh, pfft,” she grunted. “He’s fine. Jesus. It’s Alex, after all. I got out of there fast as I could, but man, the Nerd King is seriously on fire.”

  Nerd King? Tori laughed. “Hey, that’s my boss you’re maligning.”

  Lacey chuckled and stood between her and Angie like a referee with her arms up. “We’ve been over this before, ladies. Brother trumps boss AND husband.”

  Meghan rolled her eyes. “Is that the Justice version of Rock, Paper, Scissors?”

  They all cracked up in unison. Shooing everyone into a group huddle where their conversation wouldn’t wake up the boys, Tori took on her husband’s usual role as the one with the critical eye. “All right, Desert Angel,” she began. “Update, please. Last we saw any of our big bad alphas, they were converging on the residence of one Parker Sullivan, Esquire for the purpose of laying down an ass kicking for reasons that have yet to be explained. Yet here you stand, apparently unscathed.”

  Angie began laughing. “Oh, my god. It was epic! You should have seen them when they came bursting in.”

  “Let me guess,” Lacey stated drolly. “Knock, knock. Who’s there? A butt kicking … and then the door got pushed in. Right?”

  Angie nodded enthusiastically as she wiped away tears of laughter. “Cam came in first. Like a tank, that one.” She snickered with a wink at Lacey. “I don’t think I fully realized before how physically imposing he is.”

  “Yeah,” Tori drawled. “Now, that’s what I’m talking about.” She and Lacey exchanged smirking high-fives.

  “And then Draegyn swaggered in like he owned the place. Started pontificating about god knows what but he was clearly egging Alex on.” She rolled her eyes at Meghan. “And then that asshole saw me, and I was in a headlock before I could react.” Shaking her head, she chuckled. “I should have been ready. He used a familiar big brother stealth technique. Sophie and I know it well.”

  “What did Parker do when Alex grabbed you?” Meghan sounded half horrified and half amused.

  “It all happened so fast that he didn’t have time to stop it. Next thing I knew, Alexander was delivering a vicious noogie that I swear made a bald spot.” Tori and Lacey each snickered when Angie rubbed the top of her head. This was already more amusing than any TV show could possibly be.

  “Actually,” Angie continued. “Cam and Drae sort of blocked Parker’s way. There were a lot of lewd taunts and threats of physical retribution, but honestly, as they were doing all that, my brother was ranting and raving like a crazy man.”

  “I told him about the change in plans,” Meghan mumbled. “He didn’t take it well.”

  “Uh … no shit, Sharona! I’ve never seen him that unglued.”

  All right, Tori thought. Enough was enough. Time for these two to come clean. With a side-glance at Lacey, she motioned for her to close ranks. If their men were mediating a smackdown, they deserved to know what fuckery was behind the alpha outburst.

  Loudly clearing her throat, all eyes turned her way. “Okay, you two. What the hell is really going on?” Arching an eyebrow at Irish, she boldly asked, “What are you up to, Mrs. Marquez?”

  “What?” Angie barked. Turning to Meghan, she drawled, “Mmmhmm. Am I late to the wedding party?” Watching Meghan groan at the question and cover her face with her hands was all kinds of funny.

  Being out of the loop because she was living off the compound at Parker’s house outside Sedona, Angie wouldn’t have picked up on the Justice gossip. Maybe it was wrong to drop the bombshell secret on Alex’s kin but whatever. It wasn’t like she had anything to do with their secret vows. Nope. That honor belonged to Tori’s mother, but that was a story for another day.

  It felt good telling Tori and Lacey about her secret plans. When Tori challenged her to come clean, she heard the slight tremor of hurt in Mrs. St. John’s voice. Victoria was more than just a sister to Meghan. She almost single-handedly steered the bus when Alex needed someone to show him the way. Fearing she’d hurt either woman by keeping a secret made sharing the whole stupid story easy.

  “That is … awesome,” Victoria excitedly burst out. “Holy shitballs, Irish!” The little dark-haired woman was bending over the desk avidly studying the design Angie was sharing on Meghan’s iPad. “I’m totes jealous.” She snickered. “Why the hell didn’t I think of that?” Her yelp of amusement made Lacey laugh. “I mean, after all … the St. John insignia would probably look fucking amazing stamped on my butt.”

  Meghan was grinning. She couldn’t help it. The spur-of-the-moment crazy-headed decision to have her ass tattooed with the Valleja-Marquez crest was being met with wide-eyed appreciation and whispered approval. And it explained with no further discussion why she needed a little extra time. Once you took the healing process into account, it was easy to make the case that every minute she could eke out before the wedding night would give the very sexy tattoo ample time to get ready for the big unveiling.

  “So tell me again exactly where this is going.” Tori smirked. “Didn’t you say someplace that only your husband would see?” Lacey choked on a giggle, and Angie just flat-out leered at her knowingly. “Big Daddy spend a lot of time staring at your naked ass, does he?”

  And because Tori never missed an opportunity to bring the laughs, she went through the pantomime of grinding against an ass being spanked. “I know what that’s all about!” She laughed hysterically.

  Feeling a heated blush shoot up her neck and onto her face, she just shrugged and looked away.

  “Busted,” Angie cooed.

  Oh no, she didn’t! Meghan gave her new sister-in-law the stink eye because she knew better than anybody the sort of outrageous kink Parker was full of. After all, he and Alex were two of a kind, having grown up side-by-side. She didn’t imagine for a second that she and Alex
were the only ones with a closet full of toys and equipment guaranteed to make a shy girl faint.

  “Ass up, head down,” Tori shrieked with laughter.

  “Oh, fuck you.” Meghan giggled. “Like either of you two are innocent and unwilling.” Shooting Lacey an apologetic look, she murmured, “Sorry, sweetie.”

  “Oh, pfft!” Victoria croaked. “Don’t let her fool you with that angelic blond bullshit. Little sister has her own style of naughty fuckery going on. Just ‘cause she refuses to use the five-dollar swear words doesn’t mean she’s the picture of innocence.”

  Lacey wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at Tori. “Last time I tell you anything,” she cutely drawled.

  “Wait,” Meghan grunted. “What?” She looked at Tori for confirmation. “Are you saying there’s wickedness going on in the Cameron household? My, my, my,” she gurgled on a laugh. “Do tell.”

  “Ooh, I know,” Angie chimed in. “Now that we all have that lovely visual etched in our heads … ass up, head down.” She shivered dramatically. “Let’s give Red a break and each of us share something just as perverted. For shits and grins,” she added with a snort.

  “You first,” Tori challenged. “Tell us all how completely depraved the good counselor really is. Draegyn says he’s a dog from way back. Care to elaborate? Or defend?”

  Angie snorted with laughter. “Yeah, well, from what I’ve heard, a certain secret agent with the cool icy stare has quite a few degenerate moments pinned to his past.”

  “Touché,” Tori chortled. “But seriously … you first.”

  Angie sat back and gazed pensively at the gas fireplace. “Lemme see,” she murmured. “Okay. I have one. Nothing too racy. Don’t want to scare Mrs. Cameron.”

  “Sweetie,” Lacey smoothly replied. “You can’t scare me. I’m a Justice wife.”