Deadly Dealings (Hardy Brothers Security Book 13)

“I didn’t say I needed anyone to protect me,” Sophie scoffed, tugging a strand of her wavy brown hair behind her ear. Grady could always tell when she was nervous because her normally steady hands were always searching for something to do. “I just don’t understand how we ended up … here.”

Grady glanced around at the crowded parking lot, everyone waiting in line to visit Macomb County’s newest Halloween attraction, Hell House, and shrugged. He enjoyed Halloween, and while visiting a haunted house wasn’t high on his to-do list, when his brother suggested a family outing to the most popular haunted attraction in Southeastern Michigan, he jumped at the chance. He liked horror movies and he couldn’t help but fantasize about his tough girlfriend throwing herself into his arms so he could serve as her hero. He didn’t see a downside to the proposition.

“We can go if you want,” Grady offered, although he didn’t put a lot of effort behind the suggestion. “I thought you would have fun, but if you’re uncomfortable … .”

Sophie made a face. “I am not scared,” she said. “Stop smiling like that. You only agreed to this because you’re hoping I’ll scream and you’ll get to play big man of the haunted house and protect me. Admit it.”

Grady saw no sense in lying. “I do admit it,” he said. “You’re strong, sugar. I can’t help it if I get off on the idea of protecting you. It makes me feel all … manly.” He was partially teasing her, but he really was looking forward to the outing.

“You’re already manly,” Sophie said, rolling her eyes. “You prove how manly you are every night we’re together.”

Grady preened under the compliment.

“You’re also imagining how much fun you’re going to have teasing me about screaming,” Sophie added.

“I won’t tease you.”

“Liar.”

Grady sighed, resigned. “I’m not making you go in this place if you don’t want to do it,” he said. “I thought it would be something fun for all of us to do. The weather has shifted, sugar. Winter is going to be here in six weeks and we don’t have a lot of decent weather in front of us before then. It’s a beautiful night and I don’t want to waste it making you unhappy. I’ll just tell James we’re not going inside.”

“No,” Sophie said, tugging Grady’s hand to pull him back. “Mandy is really excited for this.”

Grady’s oldest brother, James, was married to the world’s biggest horror movie fan. Mandy loved good movies, bad movies, and everything in between. James had been entertaining himself for weeks by taking her to every haunted house he could find. Grady knew his brother wouldn’t have a problem going through this one alone.

“Mandy and James are going to stay here and have a good time no matter what,” he said. “I think Ally and Jake are, too.” He glanced at his baby sister, who also happened to be Mandy’s best friend, and the two women had their heads bent together as they whispered excitedly back and forth. Ally’s boyfriend, Jake, was standing on the other side of his girlfriend holding her hand as he talked to James.

When Grady shifted his attention to the fourth Hardy sibling, Finn, he found his younger brother rubbing his pregnant fiancée’s back to soothe her. “I think Finn and Emma are another story,” he said, grinning.

Sophie followed his gaze. She didn’t think of herself as a timid person. She merely disliked horror movies and the blood and gore associated with them. Emma Pritchard, on the other hand, was squeamish before she got pregnant and things were even worse now. “She does look miserable,” Sophie said, her eyes fixing on the auburn-haired siren. “I can’t believe she agreed to come.”

“James promised to buy everyone dinner afterward,” Grady said. “Emma is convinced that once the baby comes she and Finn will be forced out of a lot of our group outings. She doesn’t want to miss any now.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Sophie muttered. “If anything, we’re all going to change where we go so we can bring the baby.”

“We still can’t take a baby to a bar,” Grady pointed out. “Or a basketball game … or kayaking … or swimming.”

“We can take the baby swimming.”

“Not until it’s a little bigger,” Grady replied. “Finn and Emma are going to have drastically different lives once March hits. They know it.”

“We can go through the haunted house,” Sophie said, sighing. “You need to hold my hand and not let any strangers touch me, though.”

“If any strangers touch you I’ll beat the crap out of them,” Grady promised, leaning over so he could rub his nose against Sophie’s. “I won’t let anyone touch you.”

“Or come near me with a chainsaw.”

“Or come near you with a chainsaw,” Grady conceded.

“Or a knife.”

“Sophie, if anyone looks at you funny, I’ll beat the snot out of them,” Grady said.

“Okay.” Sophie sucked in a deep breath. “I’m going to want five drinks with dinner when we’re done here.”

“I love you, sugar,” Grady whispered, pressing his lips against the delicate curve of Sophie’s neck as he moved in close to hug her. “I’ll always love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“THIS
line is taking forever to move,” Mandy complained, leaning to her left so she could survey the crowd in front of them.

“They’re taking big groups in together,” James said, idly rubbing his thumb over his wife’s knuckles. “We’ll go with the next group. We’ve only been here ten minutes. You’re acting as if we’ve been here ten years.”

“It feels like ten years,” Mandy grumbled. “I don’t like waiting.”

“I never would’ve noticed,” James said, grinning as he leaned over and kissed the soft skin of his wife’s cheek. “I thought you were the most patient woman in the world.”

Ally Hardy snorted as her gaze bounced between her brother and best friend. “You lie to her so she’ll have sex with you, don’t you?”

James shot his sister a dark look. “I never lie to my wife.”

Mandy rolled her eyes. “Last night you told me I sang like an angel when we were in the shower.”

“That’s because all I could see while we were in there was stars,” James teased, kissing her cheek again and letting go of her hand so he could draw her into his arms and cuddle her. “To me, you did sound like an angel.”

“Jake never bothers to lie about my singing voice,” Ally said, casting a sidelong look at her live-in boyfriend. “Even the promise of sex won’t make him say I sing well.”

“You have many other fine qualities,” Jake replied, rubbing his hand up and down Ally’s slim back. “You cook. You’re funny. You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“That’s why I love him,” Ally said, beaming.

“You sound like eight dying cats when you sing, though,” Jake added.

“And that’s why he’s going to bed without sex tonight,” Ally said, her grin flipping upside down.

James extended a warning finger in his sister’s direction. “How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t want to hear about your sex life? To me, you are sexless.”

“I’ll stop talking about my sex life when you stop talking about yours,” Ally challenged.

“Done.”

Mandy, Ally, and Jake snorted in unison at James’ declaration.

“What? I do not talk about my sex life that often,” James protested.

“Only every day at work,” Jake said.

James owned Hardy Brothers Security, a security company based out of Sterling Heights in Michigan’s Macomb County. Grady, Finn, and Jake all worked for him, and none of them would ever be able to say James wasn’t boastful about the time he spent with his wife.

“Whatever,” James said, tightening his arms around Mandy’s waist. “I only talk about our sex life because you’re smoking hot, baby.”

Mandy shook her head, but the smile on her face was genuine. She loved her husband more than anything in the world and there was nothing he could do to change that. “I don’t care if you hire a skywriter,” she said. “I am looking forward to this place – if we ever get inside, that is.”

“It won’t be long, wife,” James said, rubbing his cheek against Mandy’s flaxen blond hair. “After that, I’ll treat everyone to a nice dinner … and when I take you home I’m going to treat you like a queen.”

“Oh, nice,” Jake said.

“I’ve heard this place is supposed to be really gory,” Mandy said, rubbing her hands excitedly over James’ arms as they held her in place. “I’ve heard they wear those freaky plastic masks that make them look deformed. I’ve heard they have fake ghosts.”

“Only you would find that cool,” Emma complained, moving closer to Finn as he rubbed her back.

For his part, the youngest Hardy Brother looked worried. “I’m thinking that we might wait for you guys outside,” Finn said, his hands ceaselessly roaming Emma’s back.

“We might be in there for an hour or so, though,” Mandy said, her blue eyes widening. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“I think it’s for the best,” Finn said. “Emma is already worked up, and now she’s convinced that if she’s scared badly enough the baby will either come out warped or it could trigger early onset labor.”

“Can that really happen?” Mandy asked, horrified. Haunted houses didn’t scare her in the least, but a baby was another story.

“I have no idea, but I don’t want to find out,” Finn said. “It’s a nice night and they have a bonfire and snacks on the other side of the building. We’re going to go over there and wait for you guys to come out.”

“Are you sure?” James asked, concern for his future niece or nephew taking center stage. “I can bring Mandy back tomorrow.”

“Mandy wants to go now,” Finn said.

“I can wait,” Mandy said hurriedly. “Emma is more important.”

“We’re fine waiting on the other side,” Emma said, embarrassment coloring her cheeks. “I’ve never been fond of scary houses or horror movies. It’s a beautiful night. We’re still arguing about baby names. I promise we’ll be okay waiting for you over there.”

“Are you sure?” James asked one more time.

“We’re sure,” Finn said. “Don’t rush yourselves. We’ve spent hours arguing about baby names and I have a feeling we’re going to spend the remaining months until the kid gets here doing more of the same. It’s beautiful out. It’s in the sixties. This could be one of the last nights we see that for the next few months. Take your time.”

“Yes,” Emma said, fervently nodding her head. “Take your time. Please. If I thought I ruined anyone’s time … especially Mandy’s … .” She broke off, her lower lip quivering.

“I can pretty much guarantee Mandy is going to have a good time,” James said. “We’ll take our time. I’ll buy you two desserts to make up for this, Emma.”

“I’m going to take her over there now,” Finn said, leading Emma away from the noisy line.

Once they were gone, Mandy shifted her attention to James. “Maybe we should go, too.”

“No,” James said, brushing her hair out her face. “You heard them. They want us to have fun. We’re going to have fun. Don’t you dare rush yourself.”

“Are you going to follow me around so you can protect me?” Mandy asked, her eyes lighting up as she teased him.

“Probably not,” James said. “I get more scared in these things than you do. I think you’re going to have to protect me.”

“I think I’m up to the challenge,” Mandy said, her heart-shaped face splitting with a wide grin. “I’ll save you.”

“I think you are, too, baby. You’ve been saving me since the moment you agreed to be my wife.”

“You’re going to get
so
lucky tonight,” Mandy promised, rolling up on her toes so she could give James a soft kiss.

“I’m already lucky.”

“WELL,
that was worse than I thought it was going to be,” Sophie said, her face white as Grady helped support her weight as he led her out the back door of Hell House an hour later. “That was … there are no words.”

“I’m not going to lie,” Grady said. “That was worse than I thought it would be, too. That room with the dinner table where they were pretending to eat people? I thought I was going to throw up.”

“I’m guessing we made the right decision when we decided to wait here,” Finn said, eyeing the members of his family dubiously as they filed out. “Wow. You guys look … rough.”

“It was horrible,” Ally said, all traces of the excitement she’d boasted upon entering the haunted attraction absent from her pale features. “I’m going to have nightmares for weeks.”

Jake wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “It’s okay,” he said, kissing her forehead.

Finn glanced at him. “Were you scared?”

“I don’t think ‘scared’ is the right word,” Jake replied, his dark eyes weary. “Whoever came up with that thing has a demented mind.”

Finn shifted his attention to James, who looked queasy. “How about you?”

“My wife is lucky I love her.”

“Speaking of the horror freak, where is she?” Finn scanned the area behind everyone else, but Mandy was nowhere in sight.