Charity's Secrets (20 page)

"I
hate seeing her this way. That fucking asshole!" I growl.

"I
hate seeing you both this way," Justin agrees. He slides his phone back
out of his pocket and punches out a text. He knows I'm watching him do it.
"Getting some eyes on him for now, nothing more."

"Good,"
I snap with a coldness I'm happy to hear in my voice.

I don't
see him as a man; someone that does this is nothing more than an animal. Her
body was beaten everywhere, and there are handprints around her neck where he
tried to strangle her. Justin said he didn't hold it long enough, mistaking her
unconsciousness for death, and that's the only reason we still have her. Her
wrists look like they were broken when she caught herself falling to the
ground. The doctor said they see a lot of similar breaks from people getting
knocked off their motorcycles; its instinct to put your hands out. After that,
it looks like he beat and kicked her everywhere before choking her.

"She
should not have gone through this, baby," I cry again.

Justin's
arms give me comfort until we can have something more bittersweet.

WHEN JUSTIN LEFT TONIGHT
, his hands were balled into tight
fists that relaxed only long enough to hold me. For that he was full of gentle
emotion, passing his strength to me, sharing my pain.

As soon
as he let go, the fiery anger re-flamed in his eyes. "I'm going to go take
care of this—for all of us, and when I get back it's all over. We'll relax in
the morning and check out. Then we can go straight back to her and make sure
she's okay."

A nod was
my only reply. Justin will never let me near the danger, I get that, but I
really want to do this one myself.

And he
knows that.

"Please
just stay here, Charity. Go downstairs while I'm gone; pick out the best bottle
of wine they have and have it ready in our Jacuzzi room for when I
return."

I
submit to him. It's the only way I can get him to leave so I can decide if I'm
going to follow or not.

Another
kiss from his beautiful, subtle lips, with his hand around my cheek and neck,
and he is leaving. "I love you, Warrior."

"I
love you too. Stay safe!" I demand.

As he steps
through the door of our Forest Guest Room, he fires his overconfident smirk
back at me. That smirk makes me smile and nervous at the same time. What he's
going to do should be quick and easy for him, but just because it should be,
doesn't mean it will be. If it wasn't dangerous at all, if there was no way
this could go bad, then he would be letting me go with him. Despite his smile—there
was nothing to be cocky about.

The
door closed behind him, and just like that I am alone in the Fern Lodge Hotel
near Lake George. It's the most luxurious rustic styled room I've ever seen, with
a Jacuzzi room completely separate from the bathroom, large stone fireplace,
and vaulted ceiling. It feels like a log cabin smack in the middle of Beverly
Hills.

I want
to come back here some day when I can enjoy it. This is not the time; my head
is too caught up in revenge. Justin wants to pamper me through this, but I've
already told him not to try, that we'll go away for that after this is all done
and we are no longer needed so much but he booked this lavish room anyway.

I
wonder if he really thinks for a second that I will not follow him.

I'm
just waiting for him to stop waiting for me. Right now he's either at the end
of the hall or in the lobby, some place he can wait to see if I'm coming out
right behind him. I'm sure he'll catch me at one point tonight, but I'm
certainly not going to be that fucking stupid and easy.

The
address I need is in my phone; I don't need to follow him. A wicked smile
spreads evenly over my face—he's not the only one that has friends helping him.

About
fifteen minutes later I figure he has to be gone. He doesn't have all night to
play with me. Carefully, I check the hall around my door and then head for the
lobby. He isn't anywhere to be found, and outside I find the truck we'd brought
is missing as I'd hoped.

I went
back in to the lobby and walked to the concierge desk, where they happened to
have a package waiting for Miss Powers. I thought they might, since I had
arranged for a rental car to be delivered and the key left in an envelope for
me at the desk. There was one more thing to do before I left, I asked them to
send one of their most expensive red wines up to my room for later.

So
much for spending my time in their cellar.

My
phone is powered off in the seat beside me. I'd punched the address into the
car's GPS before shutting of my phone so I wasn't so easily traceable.

When I
get there, I have no idea what I expect to see, maybe just a dark house with
Justin's car parked out front. There's no way I can go in; I think I just need
to be there, to be close to Justin when he has our revenge. This one was just
too close to home, not just because she's my friend, but because it reminds me
of Steve. This has to be over so those memories can slink back into the dark
places they belong.

The
frozen road offers me no comfort. My eyes follow the faded yellow lines that
seem to take me nowhere in this inky night.

When I
turn onto the street, I turn off my lights even though I'm at the far end. For
a few hundred yards, I let the rental coast until I can see the Panther SUV's
ahead of me and I pull over. Disappointment washes over me. I'm way too far to
see a damn thing, and there's no way to get closer, not with Justin's team
watching.

I might
have missed it all by now anyway. From here, I can't tell if they've already
gone in, or if they're still waiting in the trucks down the road. Nothing seems
to be happening other than the slow fogging of my windows. I don't dare move
yet, not until I know what the hell is going on.

About
the time my car loses all of the heat it has been trying to hold, I suddenly
see a car turn onto the street behind me. I'm not sure why, but the hair on the
back of my neck stands and I can't take my eyes off it. Its white lights
casually move up the road as uninterested as they could be until the car is
beside me, passing me.

Thank
fucking Christ I had already been slumped down in the seat. He doesn't see me,
but I see him—and his gun.

I don't
know how, but he's been tipped off, and in a moment he's going to open fire on
Justin and the team in an ambush.

I can't
let that happen.

I won't
let that happen.

Instantly,
I'm now certain they are all in the trucks. They'd gone in and found the place
empty, and they are all sitting point down there waiting for him to come to his
Lake George summer home. This is where we had tracked him to. He'd been smart
enough to get out of the city, but it wasn't far enough. Luck was on his side,
and he wasn't home when Justin came for him; otherwise his body would already
be in one of the trucks.

But he
knows we're here. Somehow he knows, and I have to do something to alert
everyone.

My
pulse is at a gallop, making my neck throb closed. I can't afford to react too
soon, or he could turn on me. Justin and the team can't afford me to react too
late or they won't have time to defend themselves. This must be what Justin
feels all the time. It's not about yourself in this moment—it's the lives
depending on you, the lives in your hands that matter most to you.

I let
him half the distance between me and the closest SUV, putting him nearly in
front of his own house. My desperate lungs pull in as much air as they can and
hold it.

Fuck
it!

I laid
on the horn. The annoying trumpet-like blare fills the night.

It's
so loud—so fucking loud!

I see
him tap the brakes, the red light blowing back toward me for a moment, but
there's no time for him to react more than that. A rush of adrenaline and fear
nearly cripple me. I feel my muscles begin to shake and twitch as my nerves
explode around me. Lives are at stake. The emotions are primal.

The
great, blaring eyes of the monstrous SUV's come to life. They growl and cough
into the cold as they lurch forward. My hand is still pushing the horn as the
SUV's surround him and light up with muzzle flare.

Holy
shit!

I let
go of the horn, and as quickly as it started, it is over.

Goodbye,
Sam!

Trisha
will never have to worry about that asshole again.

It was
much quieter than I'd expected. They used suppressors, and the only sound I
heard was the thumping of the bullets bursting through the sides of the car.

One of
the team jumped out, gun aimed at Sam as he approached him. My stomach twists
into a tight ball for him, terrified that he has no cover. His feet shuffle
quickly, keeping him balanced but moving. When he gets to the now broken car
window there's another bright shot of muzzle flare.

One
to the head!

He
flicks his wrist in the air, some sort of signal, and simultaneously puts his
weapon away and opens the car door. Another figure jumps out of san SUV and
races to his side. With us watching, they shove Sam's lifeless body over and
the second guy hops into the driver's seat. The brake lights flicker and the
SUV's get out of his way.

This is
not according to plan, but they look ready for anything.

That
first guy, still standing in the street with a gun at his side, hurriedly kicks
the broken glass toward the side of the road as the trucks all leave him,
whipping by him within inches.

Suddenly,
his gaze fixes on me and he jogs toward my car. My heart sinks and convulses.
It's Justin, his not-very-happy face becoming clear when he gets close. He
pulls the passenger door open and dives in. "Go—now!"

I do
exactly as he says, and seconds later the street is empty behind us.

"He's
dead?" I ask.

"Yes,"
he says angrily. "I made sure."

"You
can't be mad that I came, not after that!"

He
looks at me through the side of his eyes.

Okay,
maybe he can be.

"I
am pissed, but I'd expected you'd show anyway," he growls

"I
helped!" I say defensively. "I may have saved some of your
lives!"

"Yes,"
he replies, still growling.

"Then
what the hell, Justin?"

His JP
expression sets on me. "You’re not why I'm pissed the fuck off!"

I
quickly back off, confused. "Then what's wrong?" I ask in a much calmer
voice.

Justin's
unbearably sexy shoulders shrug briefly. "That prick knew we were there.
We better figure out how."

JUSTIN LEANS ME SLIGHTLY
forward so that he can tip the wine
bottle over our glasses; filling them, and places the bottle back on the edge
of the Jacuzzi. I grab my glass and lean back against his warm chest, feeling
the softness of his muscles under the hot water.

At this
point I'm doing all I can to control my sexual urges. I'm lit up like the fuse
on a two ton mound of dynamite after watching the way he approached Sam
tonight, fearlessly putting himself in front of his team to take the kill shot
himself. He won't want to brag, he never does, but I
have
to know what
it felt like to rid the world of such a piece of shit.

There's
no way Trisha was the first woman he'd beaten like that, and no doubt in my
mind she would not have been the last. Justin will never know how many women he
saved tonight, but I'm going to thank him for all of us anyway.

I hold
up my glass and Justin grabs his to meet mine. "To you, for protecting me
and our friend."

He
silently taps my glass and smiles proudly while we drink.

"What
did you see when you jumped out of the truck?" I asked, hoping for once he
will see that I need details.

He
quickly takes another gulp of wine. I hear his throat swallow and click deeply.
Under the water, I'm rubbing the outside of his bare thigh to encourage him.

"He
wasn't home when we got there, so we were waiting when we saw you drive up and
park. The crew was already warned you might show." He tilts his head
toward me. "Did you really think we wouldn’t notice you driving with your
lights off?"

I
laugh, realizing how silly I was for that.

He
settles and continues, "When he turned on the road, we had a disadvantage;
we couldn't quite see through his headlights. We were on it and ready, but when
you hit your horn it was perfect. We knew you saw him; we had your
confirmation, plus you scared the shit out of him, which made him hesitate. We
put a few into him through his car, mostly hoping to wound or distract him and
I hopped out to finish him personally."

"Was
he moving? Was he still alive?" I ask.

"Yes,"
he answers easily, almost happily. Normally he hates this, but he has so much
anger in him at Sam that I can see this time he enjoyed it—loved it!