Payback: A Vigilante Justice Novel

by Kristin Harte

  Those dark eyes went wide. “You hit him?”

  “He arrested my brother for something he didn’t do.”

  “Which brother?”

  “Finn. Do you know him?”

  She squinted and cocked her head. “Thinner than you, right? Loves huckleberry pie. Your other brother comes in more often.”

  Completely at my request. “Bishop, yeah. There’s one more too, though I don’t know that you’ve met him. Finn’s twin, Elijah. He doesn’t live here. He’s a lawyer down in Denver.”

  “Four boys in your family?”

  “And a girl. Lainie’s in college still. She lives with Elijah.”

  “Five Kennard siblings. I bet holidays were rowdy.”

  “With four boys, everything was rowdy. Lainie made it ten times worse, though.” I grinned when Shye laughed. This was nice, and I didn’t want it to end. “What about you? Any family?”

  Her smile fell. Crashed, really. “No siblings. After my mom died, my dad married a woman with a son, so I have a stepbrother.”

  “You two close?”

  “Not in the least.”

  “And your dad?”

  “Dead.”

  One word, and a pained one at that. I wanted to ask her more, but at that moment, Bishop came walking up to the truck. Keeping his steps slow as if he didn’t want to interrupt. Smart man.

  “We’re ready to go in,” he said, glancing from me to Shye and back. “Cam’s going to need you.”

  “On my way.” I stretched back into the truck and gave my girl a better kiss, one that allowed me to get a solid taste of her, one that left her trembling when I was through. “Stay here for me, okay? I need to know you’re safe.”

  “Okay. But I’m here if you need me.”

  No better words had ever been spoken. “Understood.”

  One last kiss, and then I hopped down and shut the door, following my brother back toward the house. Back toward the hell of what I knew was about to happen. I sought out my brothers and friends, taking stock of all of them. Making sure they were solid. Tired and sooty, I could handle, but not injured. They all stood watching the fire, waiting for us.

  I landed on Cam last.

  Camden stood in the middle of the Kennard crew, surrounded by the men he saw as his brothers and friends, his face hard and his body rigid. Gage and Finn stayed close, looking ready to hold him back if needed. Or hold him up. This was going to be difficult for all of us, but no one more than Camden.

  When I gave him the all clear, Bishop kicked the wall in, opening a hole into the master bedroom just big enough for him to fit through. Three guys with hoses sprayed through the opening in case the fire flared, and then Bishop pulled on his breathing mask and crawled inside. My chest tightened, my eyes locked on that hole as every instinct screamed at me to follow him.

  I couldn’t lose my brother.

  We’d been in dangerous situations in the past—hell, the two of us had pulled some pretty tough duties while serving our country overseas—but this felt different. Even the danger of the logging industry, the daily threat of falling branches, accidents with the saws, and the occasional forest fires, didn’t compare. That house had been compromised by an enemy, and Bishop had to go in alone to clear it. I would rather have been the one to do it.

  Thankfully or not, it didn’t take Bishop long to come back out. “Door to the hallway is stuck, though whether that’s from before the fire or not I won’t know until I get on the other side of it.” He took off his breathing mask and approached Camden, already hanging his head. Looking torn up by what he’d seen. My throat tightened, and I started moving before he even got the words out.

  “I’m sorry, man. It looks like she was asleep—”

  Camden shrugged everyone off, screaming into the pre-dawn sky like a wild animal. One that had been wounded. Mortally. Finn bent at the waist, both hands fisted against his forehead. Suffering. Clawing my heart right out of my chest with their obvious pain.

  And there was nothing I could do to save either of them from their loss. Nothing any of us could do to ease that ache. Except to make sure the people responsible got what was coming to them.

  But it was the sight of Shye hopping out of the truck, the fear on her pretty face, that turned my pain to fury. It could have been her so easily. Still could be if I didn’t find a way to keep her safe.

  “Bishop,” I snapped, hurrying toward my girl. “You and Gage take pictures and collect whatever evidence you can. We’re going to have to call Sheriff Baker back this morning, but I want to be ten steps ahead of him.”

  Bishop nodded once. “On it.”

  “What happened? Why is he…?” Shye trailed off, obviously unable to finish the question. I wrapped her in my arms, pulling her right off the ground and holding her against me. It made my heart pound a little harder, how she grabbed hold of me easily and wrapped her little body around mine, how she seemed to reach for me for support.

  No fucking way would I let her down.

  “Camden’s wife was in the house. She didn’t make it.” No sense saying her death had been intentional. Not yet. I didn’t want to scare her.

  “Oh, no. Leah, right?” Her frown intensified at my nod. “She always seemed really nice when she came to the restaurant with Camden.”

  “She was nice, and practically part of my family. She’ll be missed.”

  Shye ran a hand through the back of my hair, the touch sending shock waves through my body, pulling me closer as I watched Bishop crawl back through the hole he’d cut. But not even her touch could calm the tension inside of me, the fear of him getting into trouble. This time, two of my other employees followed Bishop into that dark space, their face masks making it impossible for me to tell who was who. That was fine, though. They were Kennard workers—they’d take care of him and each other. Bishop had backup. So I took the time to do exactly what I wanted to—hold my girl and try real fucking hard to breathe. Finally.

  We stood that way for hours, it seemed, her body wrapped against mine as I held her off the ground. Something I’d wanted for three long years. Something I’d planned for. I wished I’d accomplished my goal under better circumstances, but I’d take what I could get.

  Something scratched inside of me, though. A worry at what was coming. A need to protect everyone, to extinguish the threat against us. I’d been through enough shit to know this would get worse before it got better, which meant I needed to go full out on protection. Especially for Shye. She’d been all alone at that trailer. If they’d have gotten to her while she’d been home, if she’d had to face things alone, I’d have lost her. Not fucking happening.

  “Boss,” Bishop yelled from inside the house a short while later. “We’ve got a problem.”

  I needed people to stop saying that. Shye wiggled out of my hold, so I set her down before yelling, “What kind of problem?”

  Bishop popped his head out, looking over the crowd of Kennard Mills employees standing around before focusing in on Shye. He frowned. “Maybe you should come over here.”

  Oh, hell no. “She’s with us.”

  Shye stiffened, probably uncomfortable being the center of attention because all eyes were suddenly on her. But she was with me, which meant she’d be under Kennard protection. That meant we had to trust her. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, making my point clear.

  Bishop nodded. “Okay, then. I know who set the fire.”

  “Who?” So we could track him down and light his dick on fire before feeding it to him.

  “Spark of the Soul Suckers.”

  Shye sucked in a quick breath, but I kept my eyes on Bishop. Motherfucking Spark…not like plug. Spark as in flame. Shit, I’d missed that connection. “You better be sure, man.”

  “I got into the hallway. The jackass tagged the wall.” He glanced at Camden. “And barricaded the door. She couldn’t have gotten out even if she had been awake.”

  Camden turned his back on the crew, big, heavy sobs ripping from his chest. His vo
ice a total growl as he said, “I want them dead. Whoever did this, I want them all fucking buried.”

  Bishop grunted his agreement, and the entire crew nodded. Ready to fight. Ready to seek payback for what these fools had brought down on us.

  “What’s the plan?” Gage asked me, sounding deadly serious and ready to go to war. Exactly how I needed him to be.

  “We take them down.”

  “You can’t,” Shye said. “They’re a national club—they’ll just keep bringing in reinforcements. They’ll kill you all.”

  I shook my head and tugged her closer, looking down into terrified brown eyes. “Not going to happen.”

  She didn’t look convinced. “There has to be some other—”

  “Way?” Gage stalked closer, his gaze cold and heavy as it held hers. “Like what, call for help? You think Sheriff Baker’s going to go out of his way to solve a murder when the Soul Suckers are involved? He might as well be their mascot for all the leeway he shows them.”

  Shye cowered against me, igniting my temper, and I turned on my mechanic.

  “Ease up, Gage. She doesn’t know him like we do.”

  The man met my glare and took a step back. Flicking one last look at Shye. “What’s the next step in this ruck-up?”

  “Time for a little joint operational planning.” Because we had three branches of the military represented on one team. The Kennard team—Deacon and me with Army Special Forces, Bishop and Gage with the SEALs, and Camden had been a Marine. We had a shit-ton of experience in warfare. “Justice goes on lockdown until we work this shit out. No one goes out alone, we all avoid our usual patterns, and everyone pairs up to stay safe.”

  Bishop, covered in ash and soot, said, “Someone better tell Deacon.”

  “We’re headed there now.” I tugged Shye with me, wishing there were another way to go about this. To earn her permission before I steamrolled her life. But there wasn’t, and leaving her alone even for a second simply wouldn’t fly with me.

  Once I got her into the truck, I started the engine and turned on the heat before leveling her with a stare. And then I took a deep breath and laid out the rules. “When we get to the motel, I’ll sweep the room first to make sure it’s safe while you wait in the truck. Anyone walks up on you, you hit the horn. Anything seems off, same thing. Got it?”

  Her nod looked stiff, stilted. God, I hated myself for putting that fear in her eyes. I reached for her, unable not to touch. Needing to calm her. “I’ve got you, Shye. Nothing will happen to you while you’re with me.”

  She didn’t look so sure, but she nodded. “Okay.”

  I leaned in, stealing a kiss. Just one. Because I had a feeling this next part was the one that would make her want to run. “Once I clear your room, you’ll have three minutes to get in and grab whatever you want to take with you.”

  “Why? Where am I going?”

  “You’re moving in with me, honey.”

  Chapter Six

  Shye

  It was real damn difficult to avoid someone when you were basically being held prisoner in their house. That might have been a little bit of a stretch. Alder wasn’t truly holding me captive. He simply refused to allow me to move out, or to leave without him or one of his brothers with me. Some people may have seen that as sort of overprotective and maybe even a little sweet.

  Or perhaps those people suffered from Stockholm syndrome.

  “You look real pretty today, honey.”

  The hound dog look on his face almost broke my resolve not to speak to him, but I held strong. Tough to do considering we were trapped together in his truck. But I wouldn’t, couldn’t, give in. No puppy dog eyes or compliments would take away my ire at the man. I’d been avoiding him since he’d dragged me back to his home after the fire at Camden’s place. Three days of silence, of knowing he stayed right down the hall, of hearing the water running for his morning shower and dreaming about seeing him naked.

  Serious Stockholm syndrome, obviously. Because if I compared him to the Soul Suckers, looked at how they’d taken away my free will and put that up against Alder’s actions, there wasn’t much difference at first glance. Sure, I had no fear of Alder. Not really. I worried he’d stop looking at me and saying sweet things, or that I’d go walking downstairs one morning and find him saying goodbye to another woman, but that all had to do with my emotions. My body was safe with him. My heart, my mind, my independence…not so much. The Soul Suckers would kill me; Alder would die trying to save me if he could.

  Which was why nothing was as important as the fact that my being with Alder put him in danger, but he wouldn’t let me leave.

  Alder sighed when I didn’t answer him, sliding his sunglasses on and driving down his driveway, taking us both to the funeral. Leah’s body had been “discovered” by the county fire investigator a few hours after Alder’s crew finished up their work at the house. Sheriff Baker had been furious, showing up at Alder’s that morning and looking ready to spit nails. I’d hidden in the kitchen as Alder’d told him no one had known Leah was in the house, and to contact his lawyer if he wanted to speak to any of the Kennard Mills guys. Then he’d slammed the door in the sheriff’s face, which had made me fall for him that much more.

  And yet, I’d resisted acting on it. Even after that kiss. After all the things he’d done to my body in the office at the restaurant. The night I couldn’t stop thinking about. I couldn’t act on anything because, while Alder would never hurt me physically and was only acting in a way to keep me safe, I couldn’t promise him the same thing. If I told Alder about my stepbrother, if he knew the threat hanging over me and my debt to the Soul Suckers, he’d either run me off his property and right out of his town…or he’d try to help, and they’d kill him for it.

  I could never tell him, so staying mad seemed easier than forgiving him and opening my mouth.

  We arrived at the funeral early, but not early enough. Already, a crowd of people congregated near the chairs set up at the gravesite. And by crowd, I meant the whole damn town. True, that was only a couple hundred people, but still…every one of them appeared to be there to support Camden and say goodbye to Leah. An amazing and yet horribly painful sight.

  Alder hopped out of the truck as soon as he threw it into park, racing around the front to open my door. Hand held out for me to grab, his big body taking up so much space, he didn’t say a word. Instead, he waited. Not really giving me the choice to take his help or not since he’d have to move if I chose to ignore that outstretched hand, but not demanding I do what he wanted either. Typical.

  I took the choice that would bring me the most pleasure. “Thank you.”

  “You really do look pretty today, honey.” He smiled as I slipped my hand into his, looking like a dream in his dark suit and sunglasses. If only…

  Bishop walked up right as I stepped out of the truck, a wary sort of smile directed at me. Alder must have told his brother how I wouldn’t speak to him. Wonderful. I’d probably get an earful of that Kennard charm trying to get me to break, to speak to Alder, to let go of my stubbornness. Not what I needed because I wanted to let go so badly it hurt, but I wouldn’t be responsible for another death.

  Alder steadied me as my feet hit the ground but didn’t let go of my hand. I didn’t let go of his either. It was a day for a truce even if only during the service.

  “Hey.” Bishop grabbed Alder by the arm and leaned in for some sort of half hug before nodding at me. “Shye. How you doing, babe?”

  I ignored the way Alder’s hand tightened on mine. “I’m fine, thanks.”

  “My big brother here treating you well?” He grinned—the smile not quite reaching his eyes—and took me by the elbow, pulling me away from Alder. “You can always come crash at my place if he starts getting on your nerves. I can keep you just as safe as he can. More so, really. I’m a SEAL, baby. He likes to brag about being a Green Beret, but when are they on the news for saving the world? Never.”

  I glanced back at Alder—a Green Ber
et? Like, true Army hero stuff? I’d had no idea. Though I also hadn’t known Bishop was a SEAL. No wonder they ran Justice like a military base—it practically was one.

  “We’re good enough not to need to toot our own horns, Bishop.” Alder’s voice sounded like a warning, all gravelly and low. Dangerous. Heat flooded my neck and face as Bishop pulled me closer. Almost…egging Alder on.

  But Bishop ignored his brother and dragged me along with him. “He’s been grumpy these last few days, Shye. You two have a fight? Because seriously, the entire Kennard Mills team would give you anything you wanted if you’d help that man get in a better mood.”

  I glanced over my shoulder again, shivering at the frown on Alder’s face. Wondering if he was staring at me behind those mirrored lenses. “Pretty sure I have no bearing on his mood.”

  Bishop laughed. “Trust me, Shye girl, you’ve been responsible for everything that man has thought, felt, and done for the last three years.”

  “That’s enough.” Alder grabbed my arm, looping my hand over his elbow and pulling me away from his brother. “It’s a goddamned funeral, man.”

  “Exactly.” Bishop looked around, then leaned closer. “They killed Cam’s girl. You know how many regrets that man is going to have? Wondering if he should have done this or that, or if he’d changed one thing, would it have made a difference? I’m not living my life like there’s not a goddamned clock counting down to my death anymore.” He gave me a smile before shooting his brother an intense stare. “And you shouldn’t either.”

  Alder didn’t say anything, but he tugged me closer, guiding me into the crowd toward two seats in the front row.

  And he never let go of my hand.

  * * *

  Alder

  The service lasted close to an hour. While I held Shye’s hand in mine—refusing to let go for even a moment—numerous people who’d known and loved Leah stood up to tell stories about her life and how much she’d meant to them. Their palpable sense of loss seemed to be shared by everyone in attendance…except for one.