Power Up 3: Whispered Words (13 page)

“So,
cowboy
,” Josh said. “What the hell are you doing up here? Not that I mind, exactly, but I’m curious.” He stood with Chloe’s help and tried not to cry like a girl when he put a bit of weight on his leg.

“You’re bleedin’, son.” The guy frowned.

“No shit,” Chloe muttered. “Captain Obvious, meet Josh and Xavier Cannon.

Guys, the big lug is Keegan Price. The other one is James Foreman.”

“The other one?” James looked wounded. “Chloe, my dove, I’m so much more than that.”

Keegan snickered, and Josh relaxed. Neither man seemed too intent on Chloe, which was fine with him. Josh caught the easy camaraderie between the three, and he recognized them on closer inspection.

“You work with them.”

She nodded.

Xavier joined him and put his uninjured shoulder under Josh’s arm. Chloe moved to his other side, and together they maneuvered back through the woods to the private drive, where his vehicle sat, covered in snow but otherwise undamaged.

“The truck is good, but I can’t say for sure Werlin didn’t wire it. We’ll have to check it out before we leave.”

“How do we know there aren’t more of them out there?” Chloe asked. A legitimate question.

“Good point.” He looked at Xavier. “Can you go ahead and scout it out?”

“Yeah.”

But before Xavier could move, James shook his head. “You’re hurt and bleeding. Keegan and I’ll check. Chloe, you keep an eye on these two.” 

“Right.”

Josh and Xavier exchanged a look.

“What?” she said. “I’m uninjured and in charge. Deal with it.”

“Oh, we’re going to deal with it, all right.” Xavier gritted his teeth.

Josh waited. It didn’t take long.

“What the hell did you think you were doing, firing like that? You nearly got killed.
Twice
!”

He and Chloe argued like cats and dogs.

Josh didn’t know if the pain had sapped his will to argue or if the situation really was as funny as it sounded, but he started to laugh.

Chloe and Xavier set him down on a large rock by the truck. Their puzzled looks set him off again, and he laughed so hard, he cried.

The other guys returned. “Nothing out there,” the Texan said. “Too bad, really.”

James snorted. “You need better things to occupy your time.”

“You offerin’?”

“Dick.”

“Promises, promises.”

James laughed. “Keep it up, and I’m telling Rory.” Josh liked their interaction, so at ease with one another. They reminded him of himself and Xavier, except they exuded something more intimate than anything he’d shared with his brother. In fact, they looked at one another the way he and Xavier looked at Chloe.

“Oh, uh, just one thing, Chloe.” Keegan cleared his throat and said, “We were never here, you got me?”

She rolled her eyes. “I
knew
Jack hadn’t okayed you two being here.” Keegan had the grace to flush. “He’s not the boss of me.” 

“Oh please. He is so.” James sighed with disgust then turned his attention back to Josh. “So can one of you tell me what was so funny?” Josh shook his head. “My brother and Chloe are arguing about who was in more danger out there, him or her. My money’s on…” He felt dizzy and realized he’d lost more blood than he’d thought. “Shit. Man, help me out before I…” He didn’t see anymore.

Chloe seriously freaked. One minute Josh was sitting there laughing it up, and the next he lay slumped on the ground. She hovered over him, trying to see if he’d been shot or stabbed somewhere she’d missed. What if he lay dying because she’d been so busy arguing with Xavier? To lose him now, when she’d just found him, scared the hell out of her.

She didn’t realize she’d been crying until Xavier wiped her tears and carried her away from Josh. “He’s okay, honey. Just some blood loss. He’ll be fine.” Keegan lifted Josh up with ease, thanks to a steady regimen of weightlifting and a massive frame, and walked down the drive. “Come on. We’ll take our SUV and get him to a doctor. The road’s not too bad, not with four-wheel drive and chains.” He gave Chloe a reassuring smile. “He’ll be fine. I’m guessin’ that man will do everything in his power not to disappoint you.” Xavier nodded.

“I wish we had a healer on staff.” Chloe couldn’t look away from Josh’s pale face.

Xavier hugged her to him and grinned. “We do.”

Three hours later, after the Feds had been called in to take the Werlins and their henchmen away, quietly—apparently the Cannons had connections—Josh complained as his mother finished stitching him up. A hunting accident, so the paperwork at the clinic said.

“It’s embarrassing,” Josh whined.

“Suck it up, son.” His father, a mountain of a man, glared at him. “I can’t believe you let yourself get taken. Really, Josh. Is this the impression you’re trying to make?”

Chloe could easily believe Josh and Xavier came from Michael Cannon. They shared his good looks but had their mother’s eyes. Though they had less height and bulk than their father, their attitudes seemed just as aggressive.

“Don’t mind them, Chloe,” Julia Cannon said with a smile as she finished sewing up Josh’s leg. Protocol about keeping the room’s occupants to a minimum had gone out the window when
Dr
. Cannon took over. “Just throwing around a lot of nonsense to cover their worry.”

“Really, Mom. Don’t give away all our secrets.” Xavier smiled, the same grin his mother wore.

Chloe would have felt out of place if Xavier had left her side. But he’d introduced her as his and Josh’s Chloe, and she’d experienced pride, embarrassment, and a welling of love so intense it brought tears to her eyes.

Confusion filled her, the emotional and physical toll finally wearing her down.

Mike pushed Xavier aside and took Chloe away. “Julia, see to the boy, would you? Chloe looks ready to keel over. I’m going to take her home to freshen up.” Considering Keegan and James had dumped her here and taken off, she had no other way to get home. “Thanks, Mr. Cannon.”

“Mike, sweetie. Call me Mike.” He grinned down at her. “Or Dad, if you prefer.”

Shit. She’d known he was going to make a comment.

At her look, he burst out laughing. “If you could see your face. Come on.” They entered his enormous truck—did any of the men she knew drive regular cars?—and he drove in the opposite direction of her place.

“Uh, Mike. I live off Sixth.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

He glanced at her before returning his attention to the road. Night had fallen, so she wasn’t surprised to see the streets all but deserted. Between the snow and the time, not many ventured out. “I don’t know how much the boys have told you about the business, but we have a lot of information at our fingertips. I know all about you and your organization, the gym, the voices. Everything.” She didn’t like the look he gave her. Was he berating her for loving both his sons? Oh hell, loving them? She did, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

Should she accept all the affection they’d given her, throw caution to the wind and just…what? Move in with them? Marry them? She couldn’t marry two men, and it wasn’t like they’d asked.

“Chloe, the thing you need to know, and I’m sure you already do, is that my boys are different. They aren’t like anyone you’ve ever met. And considering what you do and who you work for, I’m sure you’ve met a lot of interesting people.”

“You can say that again.”

He chuckled. “Josh and Xavier are connected and always have been. There’s no shame in loving them, honey.” His expression softened. “When I met my Julia, I just knew. My family’s full of psychics, but love is a magic all its own. When you know, you know. I’ve been hearing about their special friend for years now. They’ve been connected to you for a reason. Not so they could tell you about your future, but so they could make it easier for you to accept them. Their gifts are tied to one another.

Josh sees what he needs to see to keep him alive.”

“But he saw my future.”

Mike gave her a minute.

“My future…because he needs me?”

“And Xavier can only talk to his brother—and you—with that funny mind of his. For a telepath, he’s awfully limited, don’t you think?” 

Xavier had said as much, but she hadn’t thought about it. “I know people who can do what he does. But they’re not limited to one person or two. He really can only talk to Josh and me?”

“Yep. Not even his mother and father. For all that he loves his family, he’s connected to Josh and you in a special way. And that makes you a part of us, the Cannons, whether you want to be or not.” They drove for a bit before he continued.

“No matter what happens with you and my boys, if you need us, you only have to call. You helped them today, and we won’t forget it.” Mike patted her on the shoulder, his big hand making her feel tiny. “They need you, Chloe. Probably more than you need them, but Cannons take care of the people we love. And that’s a fact.” He pulled in front of a solitary house in the middle of nowhere.

“Where are we?”

“The boys’ place. My house is farther down the road, about a half mile or so.

And the others have properties out there. We own a few thousand acres, so it’s private. After what Xavier told us about your stalker situation, I figured you’d be safer out here than in town at your place.”

He had a point. She needed time and space to think. Maybe she’d get it here without having to worry.

“The boys won’t be back for a while, so make yourself at home. If you need anything, our numbers are listed by the fridge. Or at least they’d better be,” he murmured and took a card out of his back pocket. “That’s my cell if you need anything.” He got out, turned off the alarm by the front door, and unlocked the door for her.

She left the truck, still feeling as if she were dreaming. When she would have passed him into the house, he stopped her.

She froze, wondering what now.

Then Mike Cannon kissed the top of her head before pushing her into the house. “Welcome to the family, Chloe.” He shut and locked the door behind her.

Xavier flinched as his mother put her hands over his shoulder and concentrated. The heat in her palms tingled and burned for a minute.

“Stop being such a baby.” She kissed his cheek and finally removed her hands.

He rotated his shoulder and sighed with relief. His mother did excellent work.

She handed him a handheld mirror, and he looked at the smooth skin. Not even a scar.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Sure, honey.” She paused and looked again at Josh’s leg. His brother lay on the table next to him. Movement outside the room indicated business during the night. At his look, she shrugged.

“Flu epidemic. Good thing you had your shots, hmm?”

“Good thing I had them forced on me, you mean.” Xavier grinned to take the sting from his words. His mother was hell with a needle.

“I liked your girlfriend.”

He and Josh exchanged a glance. They’d been waiting for this.

“And?”

“And what? She’s clearly attractive. Seems in good health, though she’s a bit small for a Cannon.” She studied them both and slyly grinned. “I suppose she fits you two well enough.”

“Mom.” He couldn’t hide the flush creeping over his cheeks. Neither could Josh.

The evil woman laughed. “I’m sure your father is grilling her as we speak. He took her home.”

“She can’t go home. There’s a problem—”

Before Xavier could jump off the exam table, his mother put her hand on his chest and shoved his sweater in his face. “She’s fine. He took her back to your house. We know all about her secret admirer. You told Sam, and of course he told us.”

“Oh, right.” Xavier felt stupid.

“Way to go, braintrust. Now you look pathetic
and
lovesick
.” Josh’s humor didn’t make him feel any better.

“At least I didn’t let myself get stabbed by an old man and his cronies.”

“Asshole.”

“Boys.” Their mother sighed and turned her attention to Josh. She settled her hands over his leg and worked her magic. “I have patients to see. Amanda’s down with a cold, so I’m it for medical unless the folks out there want a hospital. So if you’re done needing me, and you’re finished telepathically sniping at one another, get your butts home.” She took her hands away. “Josh, I did a lot of surface work.

You’re still going to be stiff and sore for a few days, so take it easy.” She moved to the door but stopped before she left. “You two want my advice?

Slow down with Chloe. Give her some time to fall in love with you. Because if she’s not there already, she will be. Who couldn’t love my boys?” Then she smiled at them and left.

Xavier turned to Josh. “She has a point.”

“That she does.” They walked together outside, Xavier helping Josh.

While they’d been seen to, their brothers Kyle and Justin had retrieved their truck from the mountain and had left it out front with a big
You Owe Us
taped to the inner windshield.

“Idiots,” Xavier muttered with a grin. His younger brothers got into more trouble than he and Josh ever had. Hell, the only one of his siblings who could do no wrong in his parents’ eyes was May, their kiss-ass younger sister. Which made him ask, “What’s with May, anyway?”

“Who knows? I think she’s up in Canada helping a friend of hers with something.”

“A girl friend, or a guy friend?” Xavier asked, more protective of her than the others were.

“Hopefully a guy. I’d hate to think of our sister as perpetually dateless. And I’m pretty sure she’s not a lesbian, so a guy would be more her speed.”

“Jesus, Josh. You’re a nut, you know that?”

Josh’s laugh turned into a grimace as he climbed into the truck.

“If you’d have waited a minute, I’d have helped you.”

“I’m good.”

“I can see that.”
Xavier made sure to let the sarcasm seep through his words.

“Come on. Drive. We have a woman to woo.”

“Yeah, we don’t want to give her too much time to rethink what she sees in us.”

“Good point.”
Josh scowled.
“But make sure you drive the speed limit. The
roads aren’t that safe, Xavier.”

“Control freak.”

“Yeah, but we’re still alive, aren’t we?”