Always (Family Justice Book 1) (18 page)

Sighing, she laid her palm upon his muscular thigh and smiled when he turned questioning eyes her way. The smirk that lit up his face let her know that he too was remembering his rather epic downfall—spurred on by her ravenous mouth and desperate need for his flesh. When he squeezed her fingers, Tori had to bite back the love-dazed giggle that rumbled in her chest.

Glancing at the couple seated across from her made keeping the giggle inside even harder when she spied a telltale love bite on Cam’s neck. It was just barely visible along the line of his suit collar when he turned his head toward Lacey.
Lord almighty but these Justice boys are a seriously sexy bunch
, she thought.

Bunny Cha Cha chose that moment to start kicking a soccer ball low in her abdomen, making Tori wince and shift in her seat trying to find a more comfortable position. Draegyn, ever alert to every little thing, immediately registered his concern. “ You okay, honey?”

She had to sigh at the anxiety in his voice. He was no more thrilled with having to leave her now than she was. She understood that it couldn’t be helped so, plastering a smile on her face, she winked at him and nodded. The last thing she wanted was for him to be any more distracted on this assignment. The sooner he tracked down the missing kid, the better for all involved.

Deciding a quick change of subject was needed, she asked, “Anyone else notice my mom almost dropkicked Calder’s ass last night? Goddamn but that was funny! What did she call him? Pompous oaf? She always did have a way with words.”

Cam snorted out a laugh. “Did you see Alex’s face? Don’t think he expected zero to snark in less than three seconds! Fuck, man, those two set off some serious fireworks, huh?”

Draegyn groaned. “I know from experience that Stephanie Bennett can be one scary lady. Calder better watch his balls if he wants to hang onto them.”

“Draegyn!” Tori squeaked with faux outrage. “That’s my mother you’re talking about.”

Lacey whooped with laughter. “Yeah, Drae. What’s a matter Double-O-Scaredy Cat? That little Southern belle making you sweat?”

“Thank fuck I don’t have a mother-in-law to worry about,” Cam added.

“Excuse me?” Lacey quipped. “I believe that the future Mrs. Marquez has volunteered for that position and serves you right! Irish will keep you honest, right Tori?”

“Indeed! Nothing like having Mom and Dad on-site to keep us all on our toes,” she chuckled with good humor.

Cam must have been having some kind of brain fart ‘cause all of a sudden he blurted out, “Am I hallucinating or is the Major playing matchmaker?” Tori was momentarily stunned, her eyes wide as saucers and he instantly made the
oops
face and winced.

“Whaaaat?” she choked out. Whipping her head to pin Draegyn with a fierce scowl, she opened and closed her mouth to speak a dozen times, but no words came out.

“What the fuck, Cameron?” her husband sniped at his brother. His tone definitely suggested he wanted to strangle the man. Reaching for her hand, he lifted it to his mouth for a soft kiss on the knuckles then rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Now don’t freak out, honey,” he told her, “but my idiot bro may be on to something. You know damn well Alex didn’t really need his uncle at the compound for another month or so.”

Tori just sat there dumbfounded and stared as Draegyn kept trying to explain.

“Dad has a soft spot for Stephanie—always has and as far as Calder goes, he all but idolizes the man. Just seems to us like maybe he had ulterior motives in bringing Calder on around the same time your mom shows up.”

The silence in the car was deafening. Suddenly, Lacey started laughing.

“Could be worse Tori—after all, the guy is seriously hot.”

“Uh—what the fuck?” Cam barked. “Did you just call some aging surfer dude hot?”

“That I did,” she giggled. “But don’t you worry, big guy. I still prefer tall, dark, and outrageously handsome to blond muscle men.”

Tori finally grabbed on to a couple of coherent words. “Okay, so what you’re all saying is that my boss is trying to fix my mother up with his bachelor uncle. Do I have this right?”

Cam, who looked like he’d just given up the nuclear codes, shrugged and cleared his throat before muttering, “Sorry, Tori. Should have kept my big mouth shut. It’s just that last night they got in each other’s face so quick that it was hard to miss. And Alex’s reaction kind of suggested he might be rethinking bringing those two together. Y’know what I mean—that oil and water look he gets. The one that says,
Maybe this wasn’t a great idea
.”

Tori snorted, unamused. “Well, he gets what he deserves then. I can’t believe that Meghan would have anything to do with such a hair-brained idea.”

Ever the cool one of the bunch, Draegyn cut in drily. “I understand we’re about to get a yoga studio. Overheard the sassy redhead laying down the law to the Major. Funny as shit, too. Couched it in some bullshit about being good for the agency but,” he added with a crooked half-smirk, “from where I’m sitting, it seemed more like some plot the three of you hatched.”

As far as changes of subject went, it was a damn good one.

“Don’t know what you mean,” Tori answered smoothly while keeping a straight face.

“Huh? What? Plot? Us?” Lacey chirped. “No way.”

“
Uhhh huh
,” both men voiced in unison.

“Tell it to someone who’ll believe you,” Cam snickered.

The conversation stuttered to a halt seconds later when the big stretch limo turned onto the road that was the final leg to the executive airfield where the agency plane was kept. Suddenly, Tori felt tears stinging her nose and eyes.

No
, she commanded silently.
I will not cry
. This was what her husband did for a living and it wasn’t as if his leaving coincided with her due date. After all, with her mother in the house, she wouldn’t be alone. Deciding to look on the bright side, she tried a fake smile on for size and pushed the riot of negative thoughts dancing in her head to a corner of her mind.

Cam and Lacey were murmuring softly to one another, and she heard the word, “Dylan,” followed by, “big boy.” Tori wanted so badly to emulate Lacey’s wide smile and supportive manner. When her Justice sister-in-law raised her fingers to a gold chain around her neck and pulled a heart pendant from inside her blouse, Tori’s curiosity was piqued. Lacey didn’t wear a lot of jewelry and anything that she had was a gift from her adoring husband.

Jewelry. Humph
. The reminder set off a four-alarm fire inside her and made her tighten up in a nanosecond. Wrenching her hand from Draegyn’s grasp, she ignored his questioning gaze and commented on Lacey’s pretty necklace.

“Wow, sweetie. Is that new?”

“Indeed it is,” she purred. Tori couldn’t miss the satisfied grin on Cam’s face when Lacey added, “A gift from my husband. Look,” she pointed, saying, “Dylan’s birthstone. It’s perfect.”

“Must be nice,” Tori muttered while turning away from the happy couple across from her and pretty much shutting her own husband out.
Fucker
, she thought.
Let him stare at my back
. Rubbing her belly, she concentrated on the leaving about to happen and tried not to let her emotions careen too far out of control.

DRAE WASN’T STUPID. HE KNEW what a wifely
Fuck You
sounded, looked, and felt like.
Goddammit
. Keeping up with Victoria’s mood swings was a full-time job. One moment she was happy and carefree, the next she was shooting murderous glances his way. What in the hell had he done now to earn him the sight of her back as she turned away from him?

All his no-nonsense, analytical skills scattered like raindrops in a hurricane when it came to understanding how a woman’s mind—in particular, his feisty wife’s—worked. She’d been happy and more than compliant ever since their passionate encounter last night, which was a huge relief and went a long way to soothing his inner turmoil. Plus, he’d calmed her reaction to the suggestion that Alex was matchmaking her mother and his uncle. He’d been daydreaming about the delayed honeymoon he intended to spring on her after the baby came and had temporarily dropped the thread on whatever conversation had been going on inside the car. What in the hell had he missed?

Glancing at Cam and Lacey, he read the annoyed expression on his brother’s face as his wife stared at Victoria with an odd, crestfallen look.
Shit.
What the fuck? He was trained to notice small details and it took less than a couple of seconds to note the way Lacey’s fingers trembled as she clutched at a gold pendant around her neck. When his eyes moved back to his brother, he was startled to find Cam glaring at him with fierce disapproval.

Clearly, by the reactions and heavy emotion swirling in the car, he’d done something. Or maybe he hadn’t done something. Which was it?

Watching as Lacey quickly tucked the necklace she was fingering inside her blouse and the way she reached for Cam’s hand while a look of embarrassment spread across her face. Drae started to feel the slow drip of icy discomfort cascade through his senses.

Well fuck
. Suddenly what was happening hit him like a ton of bricks. Stupid, insensitive, fuck my life bricks. This was about jewelry. Something Cam was very good at, so was Alex, for Christ’s sake while he, Draegyn St. John, legendary ladies’ man, had dropped this particular ball in spectacular fashion. Holy God. How fucking dumb could he be? Pretty goddamn dumb, apparently.

Searching his memory bank, he tried in vain to come up with even one instance when he’d given his beautiful wife some bling. Theirs had hardly been a traditional courtship or marriage. In fact, everything about he and Victoria coming together had been more like the Wild West show than a sappy romance.

The way they’d tied the knot was unconventional and downright surreal. So was finding out that their explosive desire for each other had led to a pregnancy that overrode everything else. Without any effort on his part, except the naked, balls-to-the-wall fucking they indulged in, he’d wound up a married man and an expectant father. And not once in any of those scenarios had he taken into account what all that meant for Victoria.

Shit.
What was it she’d said to Alex when he’d been desperate to win Meghan back? Bitches liked romance? Yeah, that was it. Oh, my fucking God. How could he be so dense? His spunky wife, the one he was on his knees thankful for, the woman he adored with every fiber of his being, hadn’t gotten to be a blushing bride like Lacey had. Hadn’t the experience of enjoying a long engagement like Meghan was. She’d gone from battleground to battleground with him without any of the romantic bells and whistles that every woman deserved. F
uuuuuuuck
. He deserved her scorn but knowing his bone-headed stupidity was hurting her feelings made him squirm. He had to make this right and quickly. Not just for her, but for him as well. The woman deserved a medal for putting up with his bullshit. How was it that he’d never thought of showering Victoria with all sorts of gifts—especially the kind that came in expensive jewelry boxes?

He knew how. She was always so focused on him. Her happiness was all about him—something she’d made clear these past few months. All she wanted was his love. The feeling was mutual. Knowing she adored him meant more to Drae than anything else in this world. Except maybe that baby she was struggling to give him. God. He was a…
dick
.

Were there jewelry stores in Chicago? Of course there were. He was suddenly so rattled by what a complete asshat he’d been that Drae could barely think straight. Screw finding Majid. The minute they landed in the Windy City, he’d put Cam on tracking that little fucker down while he got his ass into a high-end jewelers and start buying everything he could lay his hands on. Hell, he’d cover Victoria in so much bling, she’d need an armored truck and bodyguards to keep it all straight. Yeah, that was what he’d do. Bitches liked romance. Duly noted.

“Oh look, we’re here already,” Lacey murmured in the silence.

Victoria sniffled at the comment and Drae almost smacked his thick, stupid skull against the window in frustration. He had about ten minutes to make this right. Glancing at Cam, he sent his brother an unspoken plea to give he and Victoria a moment of privacy and felt a surge of relief when the other man nodded briefly and gave him a look that offered some encouragement.

“C’mon, Ponytail,” Cam teased. “Let’s go find Sawyer and give him a raft of shit before we take off. You can remind him again what an ass he was at the christening.”

Lacey laughed heartily and squealed, “Oh, my God! That’s right. Who in their right mind gives a newborn a model airplane kit?”

Cam quickly shuffled his wife from the car, turning back at the last to tell them, “You guys stay here until it’s time to board, okay? No use in having Tori standing around getting uncomfortable.”

“Good idea, Cam,” Drae mumbled as he fidgeted nervously when Victoria didn’t react or respond. Looking helplessly at his brother, he tensed and grimaced.

All Cam could do was look at him with something that resembled pity and shake his head. Yeah. This situation was of his own making.

After the door finally shut, Drae reached for his silent wife and hauled her without hesitation onto his lap, easing her carefully over the armrest between their seats. She was stiff as a board, obviously unhappy with displeasure radiating off her body in waves.