Back in Bliss

Chapter Seventeen

Georgia winced as the man in the suit slapped Seth full across the face. A stream of blood began to flow, racing down Seth’s blue and white button-down, but when his eyes came up, there wasn’t pain in them. He swayed a little on his feet, but it was obvious that Seth was angry.

“Is that the best you can do?”

The man who had taken her prisoner gave him a reptilian smile. “Oh, Mr. Stark, I assure you, I can do so much better. My men are simply playing around right now. Amarralo, por favor. I think it’s time we had a chat.”

Seth’s eyes found hers as he was pulled into one of the dining room chairs and bound by the chest to it. Two of the boss man’s goons had already zip tied his hands, and now they wound a thin rope around his torso. She could see where it cut into his skin.

Her own hands had been left undone. She’d been very careful to be pleasant since she’d gotten in the SUV. All the long trip from town to here she’d wondered if her brother was dead. She couldn’t stand to think of Win’s big body cooling in a parking lot while life went on around him. Tears seeped from her eyes.

“Hey, gorgeous. Don’t cry.” The man with the gun reached up and casually wiped a tear off her face. “You’re very beautiful when you cry, but I haven’t given you anything to cry about. Not yet.”

She shivered, her every nerve in pain at the thought of his hands on her. She didn’t want anyone except Seth and Logan. Not for the rest of her life. She knew who she loved and anyone else was profane. The love she felt for them was sacred.

“Don’t you fucking touch her.” Despite the fact that he was tied up and bleeding, Seth growled the words. He struggled against his bonds, the chair moving back and forth.

“My name is…well, you can call me Kent. I work for a very particular business.” Kent straightened his tie as though he couldn’t stand the thought of being unkempt. “I guess you could say I’m the American manager for my firm. It’s a family-run business, and they’d prefer to stay in their country. I handle issues that tend to come up for my boss back in Bolivia. I suppose you could say I’m the public relations and the security guy all rolled into one. You understand business, don’t you, Stark?”

Seth’s eyes were clear as he spoke, though she could still see the blood on his chin. She wanted nothing more than to walk over there and wipe his face off and kiss every place where he surely ached. He took such good care of her. Standing idly by seemed wrong, but it was her only play now. “I understand that a man like you will do anything for money. I happen to have my checkbook handy. Unfortunately, I can’t write one out because you seem to have tied down my hands.”

Kent walked around him, making a tsk tsk sound, like a disappointed mother. “Oh, Mr. Stark, you underestimate me. I’m a company man, if you know what I mean. Once in, you’re in for life. That life can be an amazing one, or it can be very short and tragic. I personally enjoy the perks of being employed by one of the largest drug cartels in the world, and I also enjoy my head being on my body. So I do my job.”

“What exactly is your job today, Kent?” Seth was cool as a cucumber. He sounded like he was just in a Friday afternoon meeting with his management staff.

Kent laughed, a sound that contained no humor. “I’m going to tell it to you straight, Stark, as one businessman to another. I’m looking for a man, and I think you can help me find him. I brought along my Spanish-speaking compatriots because the last thing I want to do is fail at this. Right now, they think this is just a shakedown. I’ve been trying very hard to solve a problem for my bosses. I want to move up. They can be very generous when they’re pleased.”

“And when they’re not?” Seth asked.

“Oh, well, that doesn’t tend to go well for anyone. Like I said, I’m doing this on the down low because I would rather like to beat the man they actually hired for the job. He doesn’t have my brains. He’s still trying to figure out where Bishop is. Bishop is gone. We won’t find him on our own. But I have a suspicion that you know. So you’re going to be a very good boy and tell me that my hunch is correct, and I can prove to everyone that I’m the right man for the job.”

“I’m not feeling particularly chatty today.” Seth struggled a little against his bonds.

Kent shrugged as though he’d expected that. “There’s only one way this goes down. You’re going to die. I can’t leave behind a bunch of witnesses. This is a bit of a covert mission, and I don’t want it getting back to the big boss if I fail, so your death is absolutely going to happen. Now, it can happen quick and painless or my friends there will deeply enjoy dragging it out along with your intestines. They’re very good at it.”

At least he was honest. Georgia’s eyes struck on the bar and something that shouldn’t be there. Logan’s hat. Her heart rate tripled and it had been pounding hard before. Logan’s khaki Stetson was right there along with the keys to his county-issued vehicle. Logan was here somewhere. He’d come home after their encounter. Was he hidden? Had he gone for help?

She knew one thing. He wouldn’t leave them behind. If he was hiding, then he was waiting for the right time to pounce. He would come for her. He’d promised her that a long time ago when she’d been taken by another douchebag. I’ll always come for you, Georgia. She’d sobbed in his arms and felt safer than she’d ever felt before.

So she had to stay alive because Logan would be here. And she had to make sure Seth was alive, too. She had to do whatever it took and that meant getting the attention right back to her. If she didn’t, all the attention would be on Seth and it would be all violence. At least when it was on her, it was a slight bit softer. Gross, yes, but not all knifey and stuff.

“You don’t really have to kill me.” She said it in that oh-so-breathy way that let a guy know she was soft and pliable and so very dumb. Guys, idiot, nasty assholes like the one in front of her, tended to really like dumb.

Kent turned, his eyes a little startled. “Really? You weren’t so keen on me killing the other one.”

“He was my brother. I love my family.” He’d called the cartel a family business. It was a gamble. “A brother is different from a guy I’ve been banging and you know it. You let him live.” Hopefully.

Kent’s eyes flared, and she knew she had him. “Now that is a surprise, sweetheart. I thought you were going to be trouble. I’ll be honest, the whole way over here I was thinking what a shame it would be to have to kill someone so sexy. Isn’t this your little boyfriend?”

She shrugged. He was so much more than a boyfriend. He was half her soul. She’d figured out this afternoon that her soul wasn’t her own. It belonged to Seth and Logan. She belonged to them. “I was with him because he’s rich. You’re rich, aren’t you? I can see very plainly that you’re powerful. Power can be very attractive to a girl.” She’d seen him staring at her, his eyes going right to her breasts. When he’d handed her up into the car, his hands had lingered on her hips for just a moment too long.

Kent’s eyes narrowed. “You’re living with him. Do you think I haven’t done my homework? I checked you both out. She’s been living in your condo for months.”

“Wouldn’t you have invited her in? Look at her, man,” Seth said. “She’s not exactly the best assistant. She’s good for one thing. And I’ve had that for months and months.”

Yes, Seth was damn good, too. Georgia huffed and rolled her eyes. “I was his secretary. He’s handsome and rich. A girl’s got to eat, you know.”

Kent frowned her way. “You didn’t seem so happy with me before.”

She hated him and, at the time, she hadn’t known she would need to flirt with her horrific kidnapper and potential rapist. “But you were kind. You didn’t kill my brother when you so obviously could have.”

“I didn’t have to. I believe in a measure of mercy.” He stared down at her.

She giggled like a schoolgirl, looking at his erection. She really wanted to throw up, but that wouldn’t further her cause. “I do, too.”

Kent put a hand on Seth’s shoulder. “You got a good one there, buddy. You chose well. Don’t blame yourself. You’re young. You think with your dick, so it’s no wonder you picked a whore. That’s what happens when you trust a chick, especially one with great tits and a heart-shaped ass. She’ll throw you over for the first guy who comes along and chooses not to put a bullet through her brother’s heart.”

“Georgia, what are you doing?” Seth sold it. And she knew he was acting because she’d seen him do it before. Seth was a master. A deep peace settled in her despite the fact that they could still die. It was the peace that came from having a great partner.

She shrugged, hoping her eyes were properly blank. “Sorry, lover. I’m going to go with the best bet.”

A long laugh scattered through the room as Kent winked her way. “I thought I’d put a gun to her head and threaten to shoot the bitch if you didn’t give up Bishop, but I think that might be doing you a favor now. Maybe she can just blow me while I have you tortured. A blow job makes everything so much more pleasant, don’t you think?”

Georgia smiled because she would bite his dick off the first chance she got and then they would see who had the upper hand.

“I was in love with her,” Seth said, his voice bitter.

A little bit of worry ran through her. God, he was either really good or not lying at all. What was his game? Had he caught on to hers? She would rather suffer through seriously icky sexual stuff than have Seth’s inner parts get used as playthings. She could survive the ick. She couldn’t survive watching him die. Her stomach rolled at the thought of any of these men touching her, but she would do it with a big smile on her face if it bought Logan the time he needed.

Kent got closer to her. “I’m not kidding. I would really enjoy watching his torture while you service me. I don’t actually like to get my hands dirty. I’ve moved past that. It’s like asking an executive to pass out the mail. But I don’t mind getting my dick a little filthy. Not for a woman who looks like she’d be worthwhile.”

And then she would require some serious bath time in which both of her men took very special care of her. Because they wouldn’t leave just because she’d played a part and pretended to want the gross criminal guy. Oh, she was going to get her ass smacked hard. She might become deeply acquainted with floggers and whips and that spanking bench thing, but then they would kiss her and love her and make her forget because she’d just figured out that she could make it through anything now.

She walked up as boldly as she could and cocked a hip at Kent whose eyes went right to her chest. “I’m game. You said you would be honest, well, I will, too. I’m a practical girl. I’ll go with the guy who offers me the best deal.”

No lying there. The best deal was the one Seth and Logan offered her. Pure, no-holds-barred, stick-together-even-when-the-going-went-to-complete-shit love. They offered her nothing less than a life where things could go wrong and they could fight and make each other crazy and still know that they would get in bed at the end of the day and turn to each other because they were in it together. They were the end game. No one else.

So she didn’t even have to lie to him. She was telling him flat out who she would choose.

“I can offer a lot,” Kent said.

He had nothing on her men. “I imagine you can. So who’s this Bishop guy? I want to help out if it gets us out of this dingbat town.” She loved Bliss. She could stay here. She would even get used to the moose and stuff, but she would bet that Mr. Big Suit didn’t love small-town living. “I don’t know why he dragged me here.”

Kent smirked her way. “You’re a big-city girl. That’s obvious. So you’ve never heard of John Bishop? Think hard, sweetheart. Any information you can give me would help.”

She scrunched up her face, pretending to tax her brain. “I’ve worked for Seth for months. I don’t think he’s on the payroll, but I could find out, maybe get you an address. I just need a computer. Or I could call into the office. We don’t have to make this bloody. This carpet is like, really expensive and stuff. I think the blood would make it less pretty.”

Yeah, she was good at this.

Kent smiled at her, watching her lips as she wet them with her tongue. If she only had her heels, she would bring one very slowly down on the bridge of his foot, letting it sink into the skin, and then she might actually get to shoot a son of a bitch. “Bishop isn’t working for Stark, sweetheart. I rather think it’s the other way around. You see, John Bishop was a ghost, a spook.”

“OMG, you’re a ghost hunter.” A little blondeness never hurt. It always got the guys to think she was cute and stupid and harmless. Why was Seth involved with the CIA? She knew exactly what a spook was. Her brothers were Delta Force. “Do you have one of those EMFBS thingees? Like on TV? They like hear ghosts and stuff. I don’t think Seth believes in ghosts.”

Kent laughed. His right hand relaxed. That was his gun hand. Yes, he was relaxing around her because he really believed she wasn’t a threat. She was sweet and pretty and only good for a fuck. Oh, she was going to show him. “I really wish these guys understood a lick of English because they would be very amused by you. So pretty and so vacant. Just like I like my women.” He turned to his henchman, giving them a shorthand gesture. “Señor?”

The man closest to Seth planted a fist in his gut. She heard the air whoosh out of his lungs and then his harsh moan of pain wracked her. She rolled her eyes as though the sound annoyed her when it really hurt her down to her soul. She wanted to take the pain for him, but he would never allow it.

Where was Logan? She needed Logan. They needed him so badly. Had it just been a few hours before that she’d held him tight and promised him everything she had? Logan was the hero. He was the one who came out of nowhere and saved the day. Seth was the one who held them together. She needed them both.

“No, sweetheart. Bishop is supposed to be a real ghost, but after my counterpart in South America got through…interviewing…an old barkeep who thought he could get away from us, well, we found out that Bishop isn’t exactly as dead as he should be. If only his counterparts in the CIA had as good intelligence as we did. Turns out Bishop has a couple of half brothers he didn’t know about, and they’ve been looking for him. Surprise. They weren’t happy to discover that their long-lost sibling died at the hands of the evil cartel. They’ve been rather angry, you see. They killed my boss’s brothers. Three of them. Seems like Trace and Levi Conners were some serious shit in black ops before they found out big brother was missing. Now they’ve gone mercenary, and guess who their target is?”

She had no idea what any of this had to do with Seth. There was no way Seth was John Bishop. Was he related to him? She knew how close family could be, even when they were miles apart. Please let Win be alive. “It sounds like they don’t like your boss. Or his brothers.”

He actually purred a little as his free hand came out to pull her close. She was pulled hard against his body, his hand going low to cup her ass. “You are just a little bundle of joy, aren’t you, blondie? You’re going to be a lot of fun to keep around. No. They don’t like my boss and my boss sure as hell doesn’t like them. They’ve been busy torching multimillion-dollar crops and blowing up our safe houses.”

They sounded kind of awesome to Georgia, but it wasn’t a thing she would point out now. Not while they kept pounding on Seth. How much could he take? They were using him like a punching bag.

And Kent, the giant asshole, had an erection he was rubbing against her. “As we knew we didn’t kill John Bishop, my boss found the last man to see him alive. Bishop faked his death. After we paid a hacker a ton of money, all we were able to find was a cell phone we suspect belonged to Bishop. It was used shortly after his car exploded and he went up in a ball of fire and smoke. Do you know who he called?”

She shook her head.

He turned his eyes to Seth. “You, Mr. Stark. He called you. Why would a CIA operative contact a college kid? Was his father not the only one who liked to mess around and leave his bastard kids behind? Is he your father? Or just a guy who liked to bugger college boys?”

He held a hand up. Apparently his goons were well trained. They stopped immediately, and Seth’s head rolled forward, his exhaustion and pain apparent. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, man. I don’t know anyone named John Bishop.”

Georgia looked around. She’d lost track of two of the men. One seemed to have stayed out front and another had walked to the back door. There was a man hovering in the hallway to her left, leaning against the wall, watching the action. The last man she could account for had walked back toward the bedroom looking for anyone else in the house. He’d been gone for a while. She couldn’t stand the thought of that man walking into their bedroom, the room where she was safe and loved.

There was a banging noise that came from that direction and a crash as something broke.

Kent’s head whipped around. “What was that?”

Seth spit blood before talking. “That was very likely a priceless antique. Your henchmen don’t seem to appreciate the value of fine vases. If they destroyed the one I think it was, it was from China. Ming Dynasty. Or they might have smashed a couple of Fabergé eggs. Idiots.”

There was nothing like that back in the bedroom. It was tastefully decorated, but not with antiques. What was Seth doing?

A little light hit his eyes even though he was in rough shape. He gave Georgia a wink.

Logan was coming for them, and Seth knew it. She had to be ready.

She put a hand on Kent’s chest. “He’s not lying. He’s got some seriously amazing stuff back there. We don’t want to leave without it. It’s a fortune just sitting there and collecting dust. And I think I have the code to his safe.”

She looked over at the hall that led to the secondary bedrooms. The man who had been leaning there so negligently didn’t see that Nell Flanders’s husband was walking up behind him. What was he doing here? God, she hoped he didn’t get hurt. Nell was such a sweetheart.

And then he very casually and with utter silence slit the man’s throat and got him to the ground and was out of sight before anyone could look his way. It had been like one of those nature videos she’d watched. The lion had taken down the rather unattractive and mean gazelle without breaking a sweat.

Wow. That explained a whole lot.

So Henry was John Bishop. Yeah. She hadn’t guessed that.

Kent spoke in rapid-fire Spanish and another of his goons stalked down the hallway, rushing off to the master bedroom. “Sometimes these guys from down south get distracted by shiny things. I think it’s about time we finish up here and take this party somewhere else. No matter how quiet we are, we’re not isolated enough to fire up the chainsaw and start hacking off Stark’s body parts here.”

Henry’s was suddenly back in the hallway. Kent had been right. He moved like a ghost. He caught her eyes and nodded to a place behind her.

“Where are we going to go?” Georgia asked the question like she couldn’t really care less. She yawned a little and turned her head.

And her heart nearly stopped. Logan Green was walking down the hall. His shirt was ripped and completely covered in blood. His hair was wild as though he’d been in a fight. His eyes, oh, his eyes were focused on one thing and one thing only.

Her.

He was a magnificent beast, and he wasn’t going to allow anyone to take his mate. He’d killed both men who had walked back there. They were dead on the floor because they’d threatened her. She had no doubt about that.

He was so getting sex tonight.

But between Logan and Henry, they still only had two against three as the guard outside walked back in. She needed to even up those odds. She wasn’t going to sit back idly. Logan and Seth needed her. Her magnificent beast and her Prince Charming were getting help from her.

“Someone is coming,” he said in slow, deliberate English. “Two cars. I think it’s the police. No sirens, though.”

They needed a distraction because someone was about to get shot and it wasn’t going to be her men. Luckily, Georgia was damn good at distractions, but she was done playing a role.

As quickly as she could, she brought her knee back and up, catching that fucker right in the erection. It was a move she’d perfected on LA casting directors who got too handsy. It was also probably why she’d never been cast. She was okay with that now.

“Son of a bitch!” Kent yelled as he doubled over. His gun dropped to the ground with a clatter. “Kill them.”

But Logan and Henry were already on the move. Shots began raining around her, and Georgia ducked, her hand going straight for that gun. She sent a silent prayer of gratitude to her brothers, who were gun nuts and wouldn’t allow their baby sis to walk around in blissful ignorance. Oh, no, they had taken her to gun ranges. She’d looked ridiculous shooting at targets in designer heels and the full Chanel treatment, but she knew what to do with the one in her hand.

She lifted it and fired the minute she got a good aim. Kent was reaching for her when the bullet hit. His chest pounded with metal as she got three shots off in rapid fire.

Kent’s eyes went glassy as he looked down at the mess she’d made of his chest. He slumped to the side like a marionette with his strings cut.

Her hands shook as she clutched the gun and thought about just emptying the clip.

“Georgia, baby. He’s dead. They’re all dead. It’s all right.” Logan eased the gun out of her hand and then helped her up. She shook, trying to get her arms to his chest. God, she needed to be between them. “Baby, I’m covered in blood.”

She didn’t care. She threw her arms around him, reveling in how tightly he held her. Now that the danger had passed, she was shaking, unable to control her hands, her tears, the way her heart pounded. “Seth.”

Oh, god, Seth. She let go of Logan, but the really scary dude she’d formerly thought of as a mild granola was slicing through Seth’s bonds. Georgia got to her knees and caught Seth as he fell forward. She would have dropped to the floor, but Logan was there, a strong body, holding her up. Seth’s arms went around her, his head slumping forward onto her shoulder.

“You did so good, Georgia. Logan, she was so good,” Seth managed to say.

She let her hands find his hair, pulling him close, trying to lend him whatever strength she had left. She breathed in. She breathed out. Her men were alive, and that was all that mattered.