Pure Bliss

Chapter Seventeen

James smiled at the two mechanics who had obviously come out to deliver the bad news in the expectation that they would be able to get a glimpse of Hope.

Hope was having none of it, and that did amazing things for his ego.

“Where’s Hope?” Noah asked, his eyes trailing back toward the kitchen door.

“Yes,” Jesse said, his eyes following Noah’s line of sight. “Where’s the luscious little Hope?”

Odd, now that he’d settled his relationship with Hope, James didn’t feel the urge to bash the man’s face in. “She’s hungry. She had a long night.”

“Yeah, she did.” Noah held up his hand and offered a high five.

James slapped at his brother’s hand in a sign of male solidarity.

“So juvenile.” Cade crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. “So, the rumors are true. You’ve settled your differences. The last time we saw you two you seemed to be at odds.”

“We’re brothers,” James said. “We always figure it out. Now, Hope said she’s just going to let her men buy her a new car.”

Noah pointed out the front window toward the shiny car in the driveway. “You know they restored that beauty. Hope would look awfully nice driving around in something like that.”

Yeah, and Noah would drive that sucker every chance he got. “Dipshit, our wife is not driving around these mountains in a sports car. Hell, Hope can barely drive as it is. No, we’ll find her something safe.”

Cade looked at him for a moment. “We’ll keep our eyes open. Stop brooding, Jesse. She’s taken, and it looks like she’s in a good place. We’re just going to have to keep looking.”

“Hey, maybe you can give Hope’s friend Lucy a call.” James was damn proud of himself for coming up with that little plan. Lucy was a pretty little thing, and as far as James could tell, she was alone. She worked doubles at Trio, and word was she sent most of her money back home. Lucy sounded like a woman who could use a couple of men looking out for her. And Lucy was Hope’s friend. He had to start looking out for Hope’s friends.

Jesse shook his head. “Lucy? That waitress at Trio? The pretty brunette?”

“Yeah, Hope was just talking to her.” James could guess what they had been talking about. Him. Noah. Hope was probably telling her friend all about the events of the last couple of days, and he was damn sure she was probably going into way more detail than he would be comfortable with. Women liked to talk more than men.

“I haven’t met Lucy,” Noah said, obviously curious about Hope’s friends.

“Uhm, they were talking about her this morning at Stella’s. She didn’t show up for her shift last night. The big Russian guy was really worried about her. I heard he and Holly and the doc were in the sheriff’s office trying to convince Cam to start a search for her,” Cade explained. “We were going to come out here, talk to Hope, and then we were going to head back and see if we could help with the search.”

James shook his head. “I don’t think you’ll need to do that. Hope was just talking to her.”

Jesse gestured toward the house phone. “Well, someone needs to let the Russian know. Apparently he checked her place this morning when he couldn’t get her on the phone, and he said it looked like she’d been in a struggle. The whole damn place was torn up.”

A cold fear ran along James’s spine.

Noah looked toward the kitchen door. “Does everyone know Lucy is Hope’s friend?”

James’s mind was making some horrible leaps. “Yes. Hope was the first person Lucy got to know. She and Lucy spend a lot of time together. It wouldn’t take much to figure out that they’re close. Hell, Lucy can talk a mile a minute, and she’s not exactly discreet. She’s not guarded. She’ll tell anyone anything.”

“What’s wrong?” Cade asked, seeming to sense the tension.

“Hope?” Noah called out as he strode into the room.

“Get her out here,” James ordered his brother.

They wouldn’t let her out of their sight. Christian Grady was out there somewhere, and it looked like he was trying to find a way to get at Hope. Since Grady hadn’t been able to walk off with her yesterday, it looked like he might try to find a way to bring her to him. James grabbed his phone and started dialing Cam.

He cursed the ringing phone. What was taking Noah so damn long? He was going to grab a shotgun and lock all three of them in the bedroom until this fucker was caught. He had a deep desire to be the one who found him, but he wasn’t about to turn his back on Hope.

The line picked up, and James started talking immediately. “Cam? Cam, listen to me, I think this guy has Lucy, and he’s going to try to use her to get to Hope.”

A calm feminine voice spoke back. Laura. Laura Niles was taking Hope’s place at the station house. She, Rafe, and Cam were all there and all had an extensive background in law enforcement. “James? We were just about to call you. We need you to get Hope down to the station. Until we figure out where Lucy is, Hope needs to be under lock and key. Rafe is out talking to Lucy’s neighbors, but we don’t have anything right now except a wrecked apartment. Cam thinks this is all about Hope.”

Noah walked back in the room, his face a pale white.

“Where’s Hope?” James asked before he realized things had gone very, very wrong.

Noah wasn’t alone. One of his new hands followed behind Noah, and James caught sight of the metallic gleam of a gun at his brother’s back.

James felt his heart flip, adrenaline beginning to pound through his system. He couldn’t lose his brother. He’d just gotten his brother back. And Hope. Where the hell was Hope?

And where had Jesse and Cade gone? He looked around, hoping for a little backup, but the mechanics seemed to have slipped away while he was talking to Laura. Cowards. Or were they something more? How long had this Christian person been watching them? How many people had he put in this town?

Just how fucked was he?

“Where’s Hope?” James asked. He had to force the words out of his throat. All he really wanted to do was scream.

“Jamie, I’m so sorry. I think she’s gone.” Noah’s voice sounded tortured.

The cowboy Trev had hired just a day before kept a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “She’s on her way to see her husband. And I’m not about to let you two screw up that little reunion. Your wife never met me, but I’ve worked with the boss for a long time. He’s obsessed with that dumb bitch. We aren’t going to move on and get back in business until he deals with her, and I would really like to get back in business. So I’m afraid I can’t let the two of you go after her.”

James met his brother’s eyes.

“Jamie, she’s more important and you know it,” his brother said.

“Shut up,” the cowboy said, shoving the gun deeper against Noah’s back. “We’re going to wait here until I get the all clear. It won’t take long, and then we can all go about our business.”

The man with the gun was lying. There was no way he would leave them alive. He was simply waiting until he was sure he didn’t need them for anything else. James could wait and pray that he was wrong, but he knew he couldn’t.

“She’s out there, brother,” Noah said, his eyes fairly pleading with James.

Damn it. Did he know what he was asking James to do? Fuck yeah, he knew. He was asking James to make good on the promise they had made. They might not have said it out loud, but they had grown up knowing this was the way a family worked. Hope was theirs. And Noah was willing to sacrifice himself if it meant James had any shot at saving her.

“I forgive you,” James said, letting go of all of his anger in that moment. He loved his brother—the man who shared a life, if not blood, with him, his constant companion, the other odd half of his soul.

Noah nodded and closed his eyes as though he didn’t want to see it coming, wanted his last moment to be something private. He would be thinking of Hope.

James braced himself because if he could save his brother, he would try, but there was no way he could stand there as Hope got further and further away.

James felt the yell build inside, and then his eyes widened.

“I would drop that if I were you.” A calm voice cut through the tension. Jesse McCann came from the left, his feet moving far more silently than any man who weighed somewhere over two hundred pounds should be able to.

The cowboy who held Noah flushed, his breath panting in and out. “I’ll shoot him. I will.”

“And then we’ll shoot you,” Cade Sinclair promised. He moved in from the kitchen, his SIG Sauer aimed at the cowboy’s head. “Look, we don’t really care about the vet. We’ve been tracking your boss for eight years, ever since the minute we figured out he hadn’t died in that fire. Once we found Hope McLean, we knew it was only a matter of time. So don’t think we’ll kill you. We’ll just incapacitate you, and then the torture begins until you tell us exactly where he is.”

“I’m really looking forward to the torture,” Jesse said, his lips curling in a faintly cruel smile. “It’s been a long op. So, what’s it going to be? Are you going to let the vet go and we’ll have a reasonable discussion, or do I prepare to cut your balls off very slowly? Don’t think I won’t. I’m very comfortable with my sexuality.”

“Fuck.” The man dropped the gun and shoved Noah away.

Noah stumbled, but got to his feet. He turned back to Jesse and Cade. “You two are assholes. Who the fuck are you?”

“Men who have been waiting a long time for revenge. Christian Grady hurt someone we cared about. And we’re going to bring him to justice. Now, where can we torture this guy?” Cade asked.

“He’s in a cabin. He had Jay take her to a cabin.” The cowboy was talking quickly now.

“There are hundreds of cabins, asshole,” James pointed out. “You’re going to have to narrow it down.”

The cowboy swallowed. “I don’t know. I…it was close to the lodge. Yeah, it was close to the ski place. The boss found it a week ago. It’s supposed to be a summer cabin.”

Jesse looked at James. “Ring a bell?”

“There are summer cabins all across the valley and up the mountains.” He wracked his brain. “It’s late in the season. Most of them are empty. We could ask Mel. He often checks in on the cabins to make sure they’re locked up for the winter.” And to check for aliens, who apparently loved empty vacation homes.

“I know the road it was on. I don’t remember the name, but I remember where to turn,” the cowboy said, the words pouring from his mouth. “Don’t kill me.”

“We won’t if you’re not lying,” Cade promised. “Let’s head out. We need a quieter vehicle. You can hear the Camaro from a mile away.”

“We’ll take my truck,” James offered. “I need to call Cam. The sheriff needs to know. If we can’t find her, I want everyone else looking.”

“Call him while we’re on the road,” Jesse said, holstering his weapon.

“I’ll get the guns,” Noah said, his voice still shaking. He looked at James and took a deep breath. “We’re going to get her back.”

“I don’t know if we should trust them.” James wasn’t sure he trusted anyone but his brother at the moment.

Cade pulled a gun out of the back of his jeans. “Use this on me if you have to. Look, we’ve been tracking this man for a long time. He hurt the woman we consider to be our mother.”

“And he has the woman I consider to be my wife.” James wasn’t going to let anyone’s need for revenge cost Hope her life.

Jesse and Cade nodded at each other, and Jesse finally spoke, his hand on the back of their prisoner’s neck. “We would be doing our mother a great disservice if we were willing to sacrifice someone like Hope. I promise we will help you get her back. I promise. We won’t allow this asshole to kill another woman.”

James nodded and looked at his brother. “We’ll get her back.” He took his brother’s hand and finally did what he should have done the minute he’d seen him. He pulled his brother in and hugged him. This was his baby brother, and it would always be up to James to be strong. “We’ll get her back.”

Hope wished she’d managed to keep hold of her cell phone, but they had taken it from her when they put her in the car. Jay kept his gun trained on her, and she wondered why they hadn’t tied her up.

“Don’t try anything.” Jay turned up the unmarked road. There were many such roads all over the county. This one ran up the mountainside that held the Elk Creek Lodge. Bliss was surrounded by mountains, but this particular one was mostly used by tourists, and it hadn’t started snowing yet. It would be isolated. It would be perfect for a man with his mind on murder.

“He doesn’t want you to hurt me, does he?” Hope asked. “He wants me pristine and perfect.”

It would play into his deeply disturbed psyche. No one could hurt her except him.

“If you run, he’ll kill your friend. And by now, Brad will have those two dumb cowboys under control. If I don’t call him in ten minutes, he’ll kill them, too. Do you want that?”

She was in a corner, and she didn’t see a way out.

“What does he want?”

Jay frowned as he drove the truck up the steep hill. “You, though I have no idea why. He could have anyone he wanted. I guess he’s mad you left. Did you really try to kill him?”

“No. It was an accident, though I did leave him to die.”

“He said as much. He seems to think you’re some perfect little princess who couldn’t handle seeing his masculine side.”

Hope shuddered. “He killed a woman. He slit her throat.”

Jay shrugged. “I don’t give a fuck, sweetheart. I’m in this for the cash. I’m going to drop you off and then go help Brad out. I have no idea what Chris wants to do with you, but he wants some privacy to do it.”

She could imagine. She clenched her fists against the image. She wouldn’t let him touch her. It would be a brutal violation for him to touch her. Now that she knew what it felt like to really be loved, she couldn’t stand the thought of even seeing him again.

Would she ever see them again? She would give anything to see them, to touch them, to tell them she loved them.

“He’s going to be surprised when he finds out you’ve been playing around. If I were you, I would lie about what you’ve been doing with those two men. Maybe he’ll be satisfied if he thinks you were just staying with them. I would come up with some reason, any reason that doesn’t involve screwing those two guys.”

He wouldn’t believe her. She might try, but she doubted Christian was going to let her live. It would be up to her to survive.

Jay pulled the truck up, and she saw him.

Christian stood in the doorway of the small, neatly kept cabin. He was dressed in khakis and a loose-fitting button-down. His hair was shorter than it had been when she was with him, his eyes older, but there was no question the man in front of her was Christian Grady, the man from her nightmares.

“Get out,” Jay said. He had the gun in his hand.

With trembling hands, she opened the door to the truck. The paring knife she’d slipped in her pocket poked her in the hips, but she ignored the little pain. She smoothed her shirt down, praying he couldn’t see the outline of the knife. She would get one shot.

“Where’s Lucy?” Hope was pleased at the even tone of her voice.

Christian smiled. Once she’d thought it was a beautiful thing, but now it seemed ghoulish. “She’s still alive. Would you like to keep her that way?”

“Yes.” She would do everything she could to save Lucy, but now she was worried about her men. Had Brad lain in wait for them? James had a gun, but he didn’t carry one in the house. He packed a shotgun when he rode out, but he would be utterly unarmed, and Noah hadn’t even fired a gun in years. Had they walked into the kitchen to find her only to get shot?

“You look good, Hope.” He smiled as he said it, as though they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in a while.

“I thought you were dead,” she stated flatly. God, she had to force her feet to move. She didn’t want to get near him.

Christian looked over her shoulder. “You may go, Jay. Do your job.”

Was his job to clean up after Brad or to help Brad get rid of Noah and James? She needed to deal with Christian and find a phone. She prayed the cabin had a working phone. She would call James, and if she couldn’t get hold of him, she would call Cam. God, please let them be alive.

“Come along, love. We have a lot to talk about.”

She would have to get close. Hope’s heart was racing. Christian weighed roughly one hundred and seventy pounds. He was deeply fit. There was no question he was stronger than she was, but she had two things on her side.

She had her knife.

And he had never really known her. Not for one instant. He saw what he wanted to see. Softness. Sweet innocence. He saw someone who was weak, but she was strong enough.

Though her every instinct told her to run screaming from him, she had something far deeper urging her on. It wouldn’t matter if she survived only to find out James and Noah were gone. She had to fight. For herself. For them. For the future they could have.

He held out a hand when she reached the stairs. It was a courtly gesture, the type Christian was good at. He’d seduced her with his pristine manners. He’d never failed to open a door or pull out her chair. Hope doubted Christian would ever scratch his belly the way James did after a meal or talk about spaying pets at the dinner table like Noah. Christian was the perfect gentleman and the perfect person to draw in stupid young girls.

There was nothing wrong with her. It was Christian’s fault. All of it. He’d targeted her. He’d been older, smarter. She’d been barely seventeen. Stupid, but she’d meant no harm. Christian had been the one who lied, who manipulated. Hope had believed she was doing good, had loved the people around her.

She’d been foolish, but well meaning. She wasn’t the reason Elaine had died. But she would be the reason Lucy lived. And she would do whatever it took to save her men.

She put her hand in Christian’s and allowed him to help her up. She hoped her distaste didn’t show in her face.

“You were hard to find.” Christian kept her hand in his.

“I stayed under the radar for a long time.” She hadn’t been able to keep a job. It had made it easy to live off the grid. By the time she’d made it to Bliss, she’d been secure that no one was really looking. She’d given Nate Wright her real name, and she’d started a job.

“I was surprised you managed to do that.”

“How did you survive?” She asked the question not only because she was curious, but her mind was racing with scenarios. She had to put off the moment when he put his hands on her body. If he found the knife, it was over.

“My friends saved me. I woke up when the heat got to be too much, but it was difficult to breathe. I stumbled out, but the house was on fire. Thank you, by the way. The office went up in flames. I didn’t have to worry about the blood stains from poor Elaine. Jerry and Reginald pulled me out, but Jerry was hit by a beam. It was fortuitous. He died, but there was enough of him to identify. I took over his identity and identified his body as mine. Reg backed me up. We got out with most of the cash, though we owed a lot to certain factions. I had to hide for years before I could come after you. Luckily, a couple of months back, my mob connection landed in jail. He can’t come after me from jail. I immediately started looking for you.”

Alexei’s trials. God. Alexei had put away several major mobsters by testifying against them. She’d never dreamed his courage would bring her own monster out in the open.

“Show me Lucy.” She needed to know Lucy was still alive.

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t know if I want to do that. The last time you saw that side of me, you ran. I would never have hurt you, Hope. I loved you. A man has to do what he has to do in order to protect the things he loves. Can’t you see that?”

She didn’t want to listen to his half-baked explanations. “I just want to see Lucy, Christian. I want to make sure you haven’t killed her yet.”

He gestured to the door. “Fine. See her. I find your lack of faith in me very sad, Hope.”

He was off-the-wall, butt-fuck crazy. “Christian, if you told me the sky was blue, I would still think you were lying.”

She walked through the door and gasped at the sight in front of her.

Lucy lay on the floor, her hands tied in front of her. Hope looked down at those hands. Christian had tied the rope tight, but it looked as though Lucy had fought. There was blood on the rope. Her face was swollen, bruises making an insult of what was her usually sweet expression.

“She’s alive. I just tapped her a little, and she went right out. Women are fragile creatures.” Christian stood frowning as though the entire scene was distasteful. “You’re too compassionate. She’s a little whore. She tried to kiss me after one date.”

Hope got to her knees and felt for a pulse. It was there, strong and beating. Lucy’s eye cracked open, and she whispered.

“Run, Hope. He’s going to kill us both.”

“Is she awake?” Christian asked.

“No,” Hope said quickly, standing up. “I was just telling her I’m sorry for getting her in this, and I won’t leave her here.”

He sighed, a deep movement of his chest. “Like I said, you’re too compassionate, my love. You really were the better side of me.”

She needed a distraction. Her time was running out. She needed to get him mad. If she could get him to hit her, perhaps in the chaos she could get her knife. It was too small to be threatening. She would have one shot. One shot at saving Lucy, herself, her men.

“Well, Christian, if you’re referring to the side of you that doesn’t steal, lie, and murder people, then yes, I’m your better half.”

His face hardened. “You know I don’t like sarcasm, love. I’m being indulgent. I’m offering you a chance to come back to our marriage. I’m willing to forgive you for running. I shouldn’t have killed Elaine in our home. I shouldn’t have risked it. I should have kept it far away from you. I don’t expect you to understand, love. You’re far too innocent.”

And that was what he valued. And that was where she could attack. “I’m not so innocent anymore.”

“Hope, I don’t believe that. I heard the rumor about you. It’s just gossip. Even your little friend there admitted that you don’t date. You’re a good girl. You go to work and you go home. Can’t you see why you haven’t taken a lover? Because we’re married, and it’s not in your character to break the vows we made.”

Oh, the bile was starting to build. “We aren’t married. That marriage certificate means nothing. It wasn’t legal because you knew damn well I wasn’t of age. As for the innocent part, oh, I could tell you stories, but let’s just stick to the most recent indiscretion. The gossip is true. I’m sleeping with James and Noah. Well, not sleeping with them. I’m fucking them. As often as possible and together when I can convince them.”

“Hope, I will not listen to this,” Christian barked.

This was why he’d always been so gentle. He’d never even tried to bring her a moment’s pleasure because he didn’t want her tainted by it. He was terrified of real women. He was a pitiful man who couldn’t handle a woman, so he went after little girls and tried to keep them innocent and ignorant. He was the pathetic one. She put one hand on her hips and let her right hand slip under her shirt. If she had any luck, he would think she was hooking her thumb in her jeans in a show of brattiness. “Yes, you will. You’ll listen to everything because you should know what your sweet, innocent little wife has been doing. I took it up the ass last night, Christian, and it was so good.”

“You’re lying.” His face had turned a mottled red. His fists clenched at his sides. “You’re lying, Hope. You’re trying to punish me.”

She shook her head. The freedom of finally telling him the truth was almost overwhelming, but she concentrated on the knife’s hilt. The plastic edge was just at her fingertips. “I’m not trying to punish you, Christian. I thought you were dead. And I have gone through more men than I can count trying to wipe away the stain of being your wife. And I absolutely love my men. Men, as in more than one. It’s a way of life here in Bliss. I’m not ashamed, Christian. I love James and I love Noah, and you can’t touch them.”

“I’ll kill them.”

“No.” She was sure of it now. She felt it in her soul. James was resourceful, and Noah was smart as a whip. They wouldn’t wait blindly for some call to have them killed. They would fight, and they would win.

“I will,” Christian promised. “I’ll kill any man who touches my property.”

“Then I’ll have to make you a list. Be prepared. It might be long. I found a whole new world, Christian, and I will never be your girl again.”

His face turned ugly, and he started across the room. “Then you’ve made my decision easy. I won’t have a whore in my life.”

Hope started to back up. The knife was stuck in her jeans. Christian came close, and she had a moment’s breath before his hand came out to slap her viciously. The sound cracked, and the pain bloomed.

“You like that, Hope? You’re such a slut. You probably like a little pain. I’m going to kill you and your friend.” He bore down on her, his hand pulling at her hair. She felt the ache in her scalp as he forced her head back. His crystal eyes looked down at her, but she now saw that they were empty of humanity. He was nothing but a sociopath out for his own strange needs. “But I like a slut as well as the next man. Maybe you can show me what you’ve learned.”

His mouth started to come down on hers. Hope gagged. She tried to push him away with her left hand while her right desperately attempted to pull the knife free. Panic threatened to overtake her. His lips slammed against hers. Her scalp ached as he forced her into position.

And then a loud thwack filled the room. Christian screamed and let her go. Lucy stood behind him, the remnants of a chair in her hand. It had cracked across Christian’s skull, but he wasn’t out. He let Hope go, the sudden loss of balance causing her to fall back.

Christian roared and turned on Lucy. Petite, sweet little Lucy still had her hands tied and one eye had swollen shut, but she screamed as she wielded what was left of the chair. She brought it down on his head just before he drove a fist in her gut.

And it gave Hope just enough time to pull the knife free. Lucy fell back with a groan, and Christian fell on her, his fist rearing back. He would kill Lucy and then turn on Hope. Without a second’s hesitation, she got to her feet and prayed her aim was true. Christian’s neck was exposed. She could see his jugular. It stood out against the muscles of his neck, throbbing with exertion. She gripped the knife and plunged it in, forcing it through flesh. She pulled it out as Christian flailed and struck again. Christian tried to swat her away, but the blood was flowing now. He stood and tried to come at her even as his neck gushed. She kicked him away. He fell back, and she stood over the man who had been her first lover, her husband, the man who had almost ruined her life.

“That was for Elaine.”

He coughed, blood sputtering. “She was a whore.”

No. She’d been a woman who fell for the wrong man. “No. She was innocent.”

Innocence had nothing to do with the state of her virginity but with the state of her heart. A woman could screw a thousand men, and if she still was able to love, she could hold her innocence in her soul.

Christian’s eyes glazed over, and he was gone.

Hope turned to Lucy who was struggling to get up. Hope dropped the knife and held Lucy, balancing her. “Oh, sweetie. I am so sorry.”

Lucy shook her head. “No, Hope. I’m good. He couldn’t kill me. He couldn’t break me. He thought he could, but he couldn’t break me.”

Lucy’s words came out on a sob, and Hope held her close.

Lucy sniffled and turned her battered face up. “I want in on that club, though. It was a tag team, but it counts.”

“Club?” Hope asked.

“Rachel’s club. ‘I killed a son of a bitch.’ She was talking about making T-shirts. I want my T-shirt, Hope.”

Hope nodded. “I’ll make sure, sweetie.”

She hugged Lucy to her. They were alive. They were alive.

There was a ruckus outside. Hope could hear a vehicle pulling up. Her heart froze. Had Jay come back?

“Hope!”

“Goddamn it, Noah. Don’t you fucking let him know we’re here.”

She laughed though her tears. Her men were here, and they were fighting again.

All was right with the world.