Loving the Wild Card (8 page)

“We’re not being followed so you can cut the crap! I know you, Joshua
Kingdom, and if we were in danger you would have probably gone all He-Man again
with me over your shoulder.”

“Luxie, if you like it when I carry you over my shoulder, it will be my
pleasure to accommodate you,” Josh replied with a slight lift of his lips. The
semblance of a smile warned her, he wasn’t about to tolerate her delaying
tactics.

Giving him her dirtiest look, she ignored the hand he still held out to
her and marched off, fed up with being bossed around by him. For a moment, she
thought about running into the bushes that overran the path they were on. She
changed her mind when she remembered she didn’t know where they were. One
misstep in the darkness and she could be in more trouble than his royal
bossiness posed.

Lux felt something slither over her foot. Without warning, she spun
around and took a flying jump. Scared witless she didn’t stop to think, she
just operated in mindless terror.

From below her, a rumble of laughter split the air. In her mad flight to
escape from the snake, she’d somehow managed to climb Josh’s body. She was now
sitting astride his shoulder with one leg resting against his chest and the
other hanging down his back. To cap it all, she had a death grip on his hair.
When she finally came to her senses, it was too late, her shame was complete.

Throughout her panic, Lux was unaware that Josh was still moving
forward. The feel of his wet tongue running along her inner thigh finally
caught her attention. With a hand against her back to balance her, she felt him
ease her forward. In shock, she forgot to breathe as his mouth moved ever
closer to her cooch.

Someone loudly clearing their throat distracted her from what he was
about to do. Looking around, Lux realized they were standing in a clearing with
two Jakes staring back at them in amusement.

“Lord help me, two of you!”

“That’s right, consider this your lucky day,” laughed one of the men.

“Still indulging in inappropriate behavior I see.”

Lux immediately knew this one was Jake.

“Still got a pole up your ass, I see,” she fired back.

“From what I could tell you were the one about to have something up–”

“That’s enough, Jake,” Josh cut him off before he could finish his
sentence.

Swinging her off his shoulder, Josh lowered her to the ground. Then he
turned her around to face his brothers.

“You already know Jake, so let me introduce you to my other brother.
This is Jason; as you can tell he’s the one who picked us up. He’s also the
tall, silent type. I would add handsome but as you can see, these two have
nothing on me,” Josh laughed at his brother’s expense.

For the life of her, Lux couldn’t find anything funny about the
situation. She had a really awful feeling her life was about to take a turn for
the worse.

Chapter 9

Unable to get a further rise out of his brothers, they turned their
backs to him and walked away. Looking at Lux, he shrugged his shoulders and
spoke in a loud whisper. “Those guys have no sense of humor. I’ve done my best
to change this sorry state of affairs, but it’s my lot in life to be the
amusing Kingdom.”

Throughout his teasing of his brothers, Josh distracted her as he led
her forward. He could see she was still in shock at discovering he had two
brothers. That neither he nor Jason chose to enlighten her didn’t bother him in
the slightest. All he cared about was getting off the island in the same way
he’d arrived; quickly and inconspicuously.

About to bundle her into the waiting car, she balked. Not above pulling
whatever dirty trick he thought necessary, he dropped his eyes and pointed at
the ground.

“Snake!” He shouted. The second the word left his mouth, Josh regretted
his tone. For some unknown reason, the single word was said in a raised pitch
that sounded as though he were imitating a woman.

He needn’t have worried, as it seemed the mere mention of the word
snake,
around Lux, whatever his tone, was enough to see her springing into the car and
slamming the door behind her.

Looking over at his brothers who stood by the doors at the front of the
car, Josh gave them an irritated look at their raised eyebrows.

“What? It worked didn’t it!”

Without comment, the twins got into the car. When Josh was seated beside
Lux, Jake took off driving at breakneck speed.

“Will you slow the hell down,” Josh demanded. “We’ve come this far and I
for one want to arrive back home in one piece.”

“Well, good for you, and for the record, I couldn’t give a shit what you
want!” Jake snapped.

“Jesus, who rattled his cage?” Josh asked, unfazed by his brother’s bad
mood.

“Do not start with me, Joshua, I’m not in the mood!” Jake intoned
through tight lips.

“Jason, could you shed some light on the mood of the uptight one?”

“Lovely isn’t very happy. She’s been blowing up his phone which resulted
in him not answering it. That in itself was a bad move, believe me, I know what
I’m talking about. Then she started calling me. Each time I spoke to her, I
lied through my teeth. Told her he wasn’t with me at that moment, but I’d make
sure he got all of her five million messages,” Jason finished on a dry note.

“How did that go down?”

Jason’s only response was a loud snort.

“Right, dumb question,” Josh laughed.

“What about, Vee, I can’t believe she had nothing to say?”

“Oh, she had lots to say, don’t you worry about that,” Jason replied,
all traces of humor gone.

“I’m sorry, I hope you guys know if there had been any other way of
getting out, without putting Lux in danger, I would have taken it.”

Jason twisted around and pinned him with his gaze. The quickness of his
movement startled Lux and she gasped in reaction. Sparing a glance in her
direction, Josh saw that she was staring at Jason as though he were an
apparition.

“You’re kidding, right?” Jason asked.

“No, I hate to ask you two to–”

“Shut the hell up,” Jason cut him off before he could finish formulating
his apology.

“I need to say this, Jason, it’s important to me–”

This time it was Jake who cut him off. “You are our brother and it
doesn’t matter what’s going on in our lives; if you need us, we’ll always be
there for you.”

“Yeah, what he said,” Jason agreed. “Even though MacKenzie is going to
chew him out when he gets home.”

****

Lux listened intently to their conversation. From what she could gather,
Jake’s partner was MacKenzie. Their reference to
lovely
had thrown her
to begin with, but she soon caught on to what was being said.

Jason’s partner appeared to be someone by the name of Vee. From the
tenor of the conversation, neither of the women was pleased by their absence.

As their discussion progressed, Lux took in as much information as she
could. It was her intention, not to board the aircraft they were talking about.
If she were unable to pull that off, being in possession of this type of
information could come in handy.

Exiting the car at the private airport, Lux knew that getting past the
immigration officials would be her last chance of escape. For a moment, it
occurred to her that she was acting foolishly. That her life was in danger
couldn’t be denied. Even acknowledging this, she wanted nothing more than to go
back to her house and erase everything before Josh turned up.

As that wasn’t an option, she would just have to inform the approaching
immigration officer that she was being kidnaped. She didn’t want to do it, but
it was their fault, her brother and Josh’s.

It saddened Lux that after she spoke to the immigration official the
Kingdom brothers would probably be thrown into prison. There, they would find
hardened criminals with nothing to do but sit around and await new flesh.
Always having a propensity of the dramatic, Lux reeled in her thoughts and
focused on the man walking towards them.

Attempting to make eye contact with the man, her thoughts trailed off.
The official wasn’t male, she was a lovely looking young woman and by the looks
of things, she was having difficulty deciding which slice of her twin sandwich
she wanted to bite first.

Lux couldn’t help sucking her teeth at how much of a fool the woman was
making of herself. Having seen enough, she rolled her eyes and began to move
forwards. If the foolish woman were lost in her fantasy, she would just have to
set her straight.

When she tried to move forward a hand snagged her around the waist and
held her firmly in place. Lux knew exactly what he was about, he thought he was
slick, but she wasn’t about to be maneuvered.

Pulling in air, she made ready to gain the official’s attention. Before
a sound left her mouth, Josh plastered his lips against hers. She didn’t even
have time to notice if the dumb-ass woman knew she was there, or if all her
attention was still on the blond men.

Madder than hell, Lux kicked Josh in the shin. By the time she
remembered she was wearing flip flops it was too late, pain already shot up her
leg. Grabbing hold of the front of his shirt, she closed her eyes in the sure
knowledge her toes were broken.

“It’s okay, Luxie, just ride the plane, I mean pain,” Josh corrected
himself with a laugh.

Opening her eyes at his comment and laughter, for a moment, Lux forgot
about her throbbing foot. “That woman may be a damn fool for your brothers, but
I bet she’s still going to do her job. I don’t have a passport, so–”

“Actually, that’s not technically correct–”

“What are you talking about?” She eyed him suspiciously.

“Umm... well, when we were at your other place, I umm... sort of found
your passport and birth certificate, and kept them safe for you,” he finished
in a rush.

“You damn creeping thief. How could you do that to me Josh, go through
my things! My God, I feel violated, I feel as though–”

“Hold that thought,” Josh said. By his unconcerned expression, Lux knew
he’d tuned her out. She’d done it again, overplayed her hand.

Following his gaze she soon realized that his attention was on what was
taking place with his brothers. The official was still smiling at the twins,
but the way they kept moving their bodies appeared to Lux that they were
attempting to block her from view.

Vexed beyond belief, she again readied herself to shout to catch the
woman’s attention. This time Josh didn’t employ the same tactic as before.

“Go ahead, shout for all you’re worth. I don’t need this crap!” He spoke
through clenched teeth. “My father always told me there are some people you
just can’t help!” Moving closer, Josh whispered into her ear, his breath a
stream of warm air. “When those men get their hands on you, and never doubt
that they will, remember this moment. As you draw your last breath, think of me
and how, I tried to save you.” Finished with what he had to say, he dismissed
her and strode off to join his brothers.

Stunned into immobility, all she could do was follow his departure with
her mouth hanging open. He was trying to freak her out and she wasn’t about to
give him the satisfaction of knowing it worked.

When Josh reached his brothers, he said something that caused them all
to turn and look at her. With Josh’s arrival, the woman seemed to transfer her
attention from the blonds to the black haired devil.

Always the charmer, it appeared to Lux that it didn’t take long for Josh
to gain her sole attention. Well, who could blame her, the man was a walking
wet dream. If one was attracted to that type of male, Lux quickly revised her
thoughts.

No doubt using a charm offensive, she watched as the big lump smiled
down at the woman. When he raised his eyes, he extended his hand to indicate
that she proceed him. The woman giggled like an idiot and Lux felt her
irritation spike. She couldn’t stand simpering females.

Pulling her thoughts back to the matter at hand, she became aware that
the official wasn’t approaching her alone. All three men were walking behind
her with looks of steel in their eyes. The one who had driven the boat, Jason,
was the one who held her attention. They all looked dangerous but somehow he
looked deadly.

When they reached her, the brothers folded their arms across their
chests and watched her unblinkingly. Lux snorted, if these oversized men
thought they could intimidate her, they were mistaken.

“Good evening, ma’am, I understand that you are leaving Trinidad today?”

“Which one of them told you that?” Lux responded.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, I believe it does!”

“I’m not quite sure, one of those two I think,” the officer said,
indicating the twins. “Is this information incorrect, ma’am?”

Lux decided to stretch out the silence to see how they would react. Josh
smiled while the other two looked as though they wanted nothing more than to
wring her neck.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m out,” Jake broke into the
standoff. Turning he strode towards the waiting aircraft.

“Ma’am, I don’t have all day to stand here with you. Are you leaving of
your own volition or are you doing so under duress?” The woman broke off as she
gave Josh and Jason the once over. “Lord knows these men are fine but good
looking don’t feed my children!”

Just like that her faith in womankind was restored. All she needed to do
was say the word and she would be on her way back to her house.

“It’s okay, I’m not being coerced. I want to go with them; it’s time I
returned to my real life. But I thank you for making sure that I was fine,” Lux
smiled at the pretty woman.

“Okay, you are all free to go. Make sure you come back and visit us
again soon, Mrs. Kingdom.”

****

Settling her into a seat, Josh made sure Lux was comfortable before
walking away to prepare himself for takeoff. Foremost in his mind was the way
she balked at being called Mrs. Kingdom. Yet that was her title, she was his
wife of nearly eight years and throughout that time, they had spent less than
one year together.

Sitting alone, Josh closed himself off from everyone. He’d worked hard
at hiding how much Lux’s departure had hurt him. It didn’t matter how many
years had elapsed, he still found it difficult to understand the way she’d
snuck away.

Once they were in the air, Josh stretched out his long body and relaxed
for the first time in over forty-eight hours. The night spent at her house
hadn’t offered him any means of relaxation. Although pleased to see her, he was
too much on edge as so many memories rushed back.

Lost in thought, it took a while before he became aware of a shadow
looming over him. When Jason sat down beside him, he already knew he wasn’t in
the mood for conversation.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to get all touchy-feely with me,” Josh broke
in before his brother could speak.

“No, not my style.”

“So what do you want?”

“Where do you intend to take her?” Jason asked, his eyes steady.

“Why?” Josh had no idea where this conversation was going.

“Aviva–”

“What about, Aviva?”

Jason ignored his interruption and continued on as though he hadn’t
spoken, and it annoyed the hell out of him.

“Aviva,” Jason began again, “is already pissed with a woman she’s never
met. I don’t know what’s going on with you and Lux, but you need to sort it
out. I will not have my wife upset because of you. Do we understand each
other?”

If it had been any other time, Josh would have laughed off his brother’s
comment. But no matter how he tried, at the moment he couldn’t find any humor
in the situation.

“You know how much I love Aviva, but this is not about her.”