Deliverance (The Maverick Defense #1) (27 page)

“Dawson,” she breathed out and her hand slipped underneath my t-shirt, dainty fingers explored hard muscle, sliding up to my chest and back down. When her hand reached the waistband of my jeans, she fumbled with my belt buckle, using her other hand to unfasten it. I let go of her hair and my hand landed on her wrists, unwilling to let this go any further, for now.

Every time I felt things were heating up between us, I stopped play. I didn’t know how much longer I would get away with it before Joy picked up on my reluctance to let things go too far. The kissing and touching I could handle; it was as if we were discovering each other all over again, but it was the rest. The intimate stuff, the actual act of making love to her, was what I was having a hard time getting my head around. I knew it was all to do with the thought of Donnie and her. In fact, I couldn’t help but imagine the two of them together, and every time my thoughts headed in that direction, I had to shut them down. If I didn’t, it would drive me wild with jealousy, but I didn’t want Joy to worry about it. It was my issue, and I had to get over it. I just needed time.

“Later,” I whispered against her lips and felt her lips turn down at the corners. “Mikey’s only going to come up if we don’t get our asses down to the kitchen soon.” I kissed her again, harder than before to soften the rejection.

“I guess,” came her mumbled response as she turned away from me. Mom always used to send Mikey up when we hadn’t appeared for dinner. Now, I wondered if she had been afraid of what she might interrupt.

With Joy’s hand firmly in mine, we headed down to the living room to see what Mikey had for us. Despite there being a perfectly good dining table and four chairs, we had taken to eating in the living room. Mainly because Lex’s shit covered the table with what I only assumed was his plan.

On the coffee table sat two bowls of spaghetti bolognaise for Joy and myself. Lex and Mikey had already sprawled out on the sofa, taking up a sofa designed to accommodate three. Taking a bowl, I handed it to Joy and offered her the armchair; she shook her head and sat cross-legged on the floor, leaving the armchair for me.

Between the four of us, we hardly uttered a word as we devoured our pasta. Mikey could certainly cook, which was something I hadn’t expected.

“The myths are true. He can cook,” I teased him, and he flashed me a sarcastic smile before he flipped up his middle finger in response.

“Mom taught me everything I know. Besides, when Joy used to come around, I couldn’t let Mom do it all.” He shrugged but my eyes narrowed a fraction trying to work out if it was a dig. Deciding he meant no offense, I nodded. I couldn’t lose my shit with Mikey just because he had held everything together in a situation I left for him.

“It’s good,” I said after swallowing my last mouthful. Seeing everyone else was finished, I gathered up the empty bowls and carried them through to the kitchen. It looked like a bomb had hit it, pasta sauce all over the cooktop and dishes lying in the sink. But seeing as Mikey had cooked, I took dish duty.

Once I’d washed all the dishes and wiped down the counter, I took my seat in the armchair, leaned down to pick up Joy, and placed her on my lap. Some comedy played on the TV, but after staring at it mindlessly for ten minutes, I was restless. Shifting us around to look at Lex, I asked, “So what’s the plan?”

“Funny you should ask.” Lex grinned at me, “I don’t have a fucking clue.”

“What, nothing?” I asked in disbelief. Lex always had a plan.

“Well, I have a few ideas floating around but nothing that constitutes a fool-proof plan.”

“So what have you got?” I pressed him for specifics.

Lex pushed up from the sofa and jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen. “Step into my office,” he said with a deep chuckle. Despite his humor, I didn’t like it. Lex was always the man with a strategy—it was what he did best—and now … when we really needed one, well, he was too fucking cheerful for someone who didn’t have one.

The four of us traipsed through to the kitchen and sat down at the table while Lex started typing on his laptop. Although there were enough seats for each of us, I hauled Joy onto my lap and wrapped an arm loosely around her body. Now that the wheels were in motion and we knew Donnie was coming after us, I wanted her with me all the time. Especially after her reaction to what had happened at the diner today.

“Who were the two guys at the diner?” I asked, directing my question as much to Joy as to Lex. We hadn’t discussed it since Joy’s hysteria earlier. I didn’t know what had scared me the most—the blank look on her face as she stared into space, thinking about God knows what, or the crazy, hysterical laughter that sounded like something out of a bad horror film. I saw the look of regret in Lex’s eyes when he looked at Joy, and I knew he felt partly responsible that they had gotten to her.

Joy’s spine straightened as she spoke. “It was Stu in the alley. He said I belonged to Donnie, that I was making a mistake.” Her lips pursed together, and when she spoke, her voice was quieter than before. “I told him I wasn’t going back.”

Another pause and we hung on her every word.

“He said it was the wrong answer.” Her bottom lip quivered, and I gathered her to me, pulling her against my chest so my chin rested on top of her head. I was worried she’d break down again, like she had in the bedroom, but she didn’t. There were no tears despite how hard she clung to me, her small hand fisting my shirt. A warm feeling spread its way through my body. She’d made her choice and, although she hadn’t said the words to me, telling Donnie’s goon she wasn’t going back was her decision enough. And it was me. My determination to keep her safe multiplied; there was no way anything was going to happen to her or us. We needed a fucking good plan.

“What have you found out?” I looked over her head at Lex, who was deep in thought, his brows drawn tight together.

“Donnie’s trying to branch out. Get in with the big leagues. He’s meeting with one of the lesser known cartels working out of Ciudad Juarez, according to Aidan.”

“Right.” I nodded and waited for him to continue with something we didn’t already know.

“We need to keep it on the down low. I’ve had my orders—nothing that draws attention to Maverick Defense; we need to stay under the radar. Aidan is hoping that if we give Donnie enough rope, he’ll hang himself. You know, trip up with the Mexicans.”

“And how the fuck do we do that?” I blurted out. I could understand Aidan’s desire not to involve Maverick Defense because we didn’t usually take on this type of job, but hoping Donnie would fuck up wasn’t as solid a plan as I’d wanted.

“I’ll leave you guys to iron out the finer details. I’m going to take a shower.” Joy climbed off my lap, surprising me when she leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she walked out the kitchen. Even when she had disappeared out of sight, I continued to stare. Touched by her small act of affection, I was in awe. Despite the fact a shitstorm was brewing, she was here with me, where she belonged.

At Mikey’s snort of laughter, my head whipped around to glare at him and at the same time caught Lex’s smile as he shook his head and turned his attention back to the laptop.

“So …” he drawled.

“Right … the fucking plan.” I leaned my elbows on the table and gave him my full attention.

“Aidan called earlier.” He clicked at something and scowled at the screen before looking up. “He’s done some of his own digging. This cartel … they’re nasty.”

“Nasty?”

“Yeah, really bad news.”

“And.”

“And I don’t know if Donnie fully appreciates what he’s getting himself into. You cross them, piss them off, even look at them the wrong way, and they kill you. They’re making waves, got the DEA chasing their tails.”

“Sounds like pretty much every cartel out there …” This was becoming less appealing by the second. If Donnie was making connections with them, that was bad news for us.

“Aidan is still working on it. He’s meeting his contact and trying to call in a pretty big favor. He should have more for us in a couple of days.”

“And until then?” I asked, frustrated at the lack of progress or concrete information.

“Keep doing what we’re doing. Watching her and keeping an ear to the ground for any hint of what Donnie is planning to do.”

“Yeah, look at how well that worked out,” I grumbled.

“Maybe she’ll reconsider going to work?”

“Good luck with that one,” Mikey chipped in, and I had to agree with him. Joy could be stubborn, but when it came to her safety, it was a different story. How much longer would Hank be tolerant of the situation?

“When’s she working next?”

“Not happening. Not after today,” I stated, decision made.

“Does she know that?” Lex quipped.

“I’ll handle it,” I said, leaving no room for argument.

The front doorbell ringing ended the conversation, and we all looked at each other, a wary who-the-fuck look on each of our faces. I stood and opened one of the kitchen cupboards and pulled out a pistol I’d hidden behind some cans.

“I’ll go,” I offered and made my way to the front door. My hand gripped the gun as I skirted around the outside of the living room, keeping my back to the wall and away from the window. I half expected something to come flying through the glass at any second. I peered out the glass at the top of the door but being frosted meant I couldn’t see jack shit. With a tight grip on my gun, I shouted through the door. “Yeah?”

“For fuck’s sake, it’s me. Sherri. Open up,” an annoyed voice came back. I heaved a deep sigh, slipped the pistol into the waistband of my jeans, and turned the lock before I opened the door and peered out.

Standing on the doorstep was Joy’s friend, Sherri, and the tall guy from the other day. Troy? I pulled the door wider and stepped back to allow them in.

“Joy,” I hollered, hoping she would hear me. These people were becoming a regular pain in my ass. All I asked for was a quiet night to formulate a plan, not people turning up who were no doubt about to add more drama to the mix. “Come in, make yourself at home,” I grumbled somewhat sarcastically.

Lex and Mikey appeared from the kitchen. Mikey smiled while Lex stared from one uninvited guest to the other, the wheels in his brain working overtime, no doubt wondering what in the hell they wanted this time or whether this was a trap.

“Troy. Hey, Sherri.” Mikey nodded a greeting at them as Sherri sank down on one end of the sofa. Troy hung back, shifting nervously, clearly uncomfortable at being here, and I didn’t blame him. If Donnie knew he was here, he’d have Troy’s balls as well as ours.

“Where’s Joy?” Sherri asked me, and I fought an eye roll.

“Upstairs. I’ll go get her.” I took the steps two at a time, grateful for an excuse to get out of there. I knocked once on the bedroom door before I walked in. Joy was fully clothed, combing out her damp hair.

“You’re too slow.” She grinned at me, and I felt my stony expression dissolve to smile back at her. “If you’d been earlier, you could have joined me.” She crossed the room and reached up and pressed a kiss to my lips. My heartbeat kicked up as my arms caught her and I deepened our kiss, forgetting for a second we had guests downstairs. I had a feeling Sherri wouldn’t think twice about barging in here to see Joy, regardless of what we were doing.

“We’ve got guests,” I murmured as I kissed down the column of her neck, pulling away her shirt to kiss the curve of her shoulder. Her whole body tensed.

“Who?”

“Sherri and Troy.” I resumed my kissing and felt her relax a fraction.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t know. I came to get you.” I tried to distract her again by sucking on the sensitive skin under her ear. She shivered in my arms and a small moan sounded in the back of her throat.

“You’re annoyed?”

“Yeah,” I grumbled, and now that I’d tasted her clean skin, I didn’t want to go back downstairs. “I wanted you all to myself.” Which was true; I wanted to spend the rest of the night with her in my arms, kissing her for hours like we used to. But then it would no doubt lead to something else, something I wasn’t ready to give in to right now.

She laughed a light, airy sound I hadn’t heard in a long time—not this kind of laugh, bright and relaxed. “You’ll have me all to yourself later.” She stood on tiptoes and brushed a kiss over my lips but wiggled out of my grip. “Come on. You don’t think she’ll wait down there much longer.” Joy stood at the door and held out her hand.

My groan was audible. “Do I have to?” Joy laughed again and nodded.

“Yes, come on and be nice.” She winked at me and I couldn’t refuse her anything. Seeing her smile and hearing her laughter made up for the unwanted intrusion.

Sherri had made herself more comfortable on the sofa and was nursing a coffee when we entered the living room. Joy rushed over and sat down beside her; the two of them hugged, their heads bent together, and I felt worse for being annoyed at Sherri’s visit. She had been there for Joy for so long, and even though Joy was away from Donnie, she still needed a friend. And Sherri had been nothing if not a good friend. I wondered what the deal with Sherri and Troy was; he had a coffee too, but had remained standing, and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. Something must be between them if he was willing to bring her here, especially knowing that Donnie was coming for us.

“How are things?” Sherri asked, pulling back to eye Joy critically; her shrewd eyes traveled over every inch of her face, looking for any hint of something wrong. “You look happy.” She smiled a tired smile and squeezed Joy’s hands when she nodded.

“How are you here? I thought it would be too dangerous.” Joy asked the question we were all wondering.

“He’s out of town on business,” Sherri told us, her gaze swept around the room. Lex, Mikey, and I shared a look. It was what Aidan had said; he was meeting with the Mexican cartel. Troy picked up on the tension, but his face remained expressionless.

“How long?” I asked.

“Few days.” Troy spoke up for the first time.

Which gave us a few days’ breathing space. A few days where we could have a bit of normality, although guard duty was still our priority.