Rebuilding Stone (The Stone Brother Series Book 2) (23 page)

Kerrigan is pissed, that much is obvious. It’s cute, I have
to admit, but I don’t want to fight with her. She doesn’t need anything else to
worry about. With two busy boys, a new job, and home renovations, she already
has enough to deal with.

“What, Kerrigan?” I don’t mean to sound irritated, but I am.
I want a normal day-to-day life with my wife and kids. I want this shit to be
over.

“Tell me everything, Maddox. Everything.”

“Why? Kerrigan let it go.”

“Maddox, don’t pull this shit with me. Talk.”

I can tell that if I don’t tell her everything, I’ll have a
pissed off wife for a long time. So, like a damn schoolgirl, I start spilling
everything. I tell her about the threats to Cade and Lani, and how Jackson is
off the grid. How we’ve not really heard anything in the past few weeks, which
concerns us more than the threats.

“Does Missy know?”

“No.” I say.

“I’m calling her right now.” Kerrigan gets her phone out,
and I rip it out of her hands.

“No, you’re not. We have someone watching over her and Cade.
Brayden will kill anyone that gets near them.”

“I know that Evan is a caveman,” she says, “and I can see a
little bit of caveman in Brayden and Noah. I’ve never seen that in you until
right now. So, Missy doesn’t get to know because she has a vagina? I mean, why
else wouldn’t you tell her? She’s a girl. She is also fucking tough. Keep my
phone. I’ll use the one at the house.”

“You’re not calling her, Kerrigan. We have this handled.” I
know Kerrigan and I aren’t going to see eye to eye on this.

Maddox is being a total ass, so I’m about to prove a point
to him and let him get a taste of his own medicine.

“Okay. Go ahead; keep it from Missy. You know, I had been
debating if I should tell you about something that has been scaring me,” I say,
hoping he takes the bait and that I can at least lie a little bit.

“What? Do you know something?” Maddox asks with concern in
his voice.

“Oh no. Nothing about what’s going on with you all. I got a
few phone calls from Aaron.” I look away from him because I suck at lying. I
hear Maddox’s breath pick up.

“When, babe? What did he say?” Maddox asked. There’s my
sweet husband.

“It’s nothing. I just didn’t want to worry you. I shouldn’t
have brought it up.”

Maddox grabs my hand and runs his thumb over it. “Kerrigan,
please.”

“It was stupid threats. I know he couldn’t possibly do
anything. I was worried about our family’s safety.”

“What the fuck did he say, Kerrigan?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to show you how STUPID you are for
keeping shit from Missy. If Aaron made that threat to me about Eli, would you
want me to keep it from you? No, you wouldn’t. If he made that threat to you,
would you keep it from me? Or would you want me to be aware of what’s going on
around my kids or me? Give me the fucking phone. I’m calling Missy.”

Shit. She’s right. I know she is.

“Can we get everyone together and talk about it next
weekend?” I ask. “That way, it gives me time to talk to Brayden and Evan. Also,
Missy finds out what’s she’s having this week. It will give us time to come up
with another plan. One that involves everyone.”

“Alright. I swear, Maddox, if you hear anything else you
better tell me. Lani and Missy are my best friends. Please don’t keep stuff
from me.” Kerrigan’s eyes are pleading with me.

“I’m sorry,” I say, “I just worry about you. I love you.”

“You aren’t protecting me if you’re keeping the truth from
me. I know you think you are, and I love you too.” She leans over for a kiss.

I did think about having sex in the car earlier. I haven't
been inside her in a week; it's going to be quick. I slide my hand up her skirt
and make contact with her clit. She lets out a moan in my mouth and it causes
my to dick to stand straight up. She reaches over and undoes my buttons. I arch
my pelvis up so I can pull my pants down. I move my fingers back to Kerrigan
and start stroking her slit. My fingers are soaked. Kerrigan moves my hands
away and leans over my crotch to wrap her mouth around my dick. Oh hell. That
feels so good. I lean back, and Kerrigan continues to suck me deeper into her
throat. Her mouth has a tight grip on my cock and it’s moving fast. I think I
set a record. It took less than two minutes for me to spill my cum into her
mouth. As awesome as it was, I need to be inside her. I want her pussy and to
have her tits in my mouth.

“Climb on over here,” I instruct her.

"I’m pretty sure that after what you just shot into my
mouth, there’s nothing left.”

“Kerrigan, I’m an endless fountain when it comes to you.” I
smile and motion down to my totally erect cock. A beautiful smile crosses her
face. She climbs over on top of me and impales herself on my hard cock. I
squeeze her ass as tight and help her grind against me as hard as she can. Her
pussy is so tight, squeezing my cock. I kiss her, and then trail my tongue up
against her neck. Her clean scent invades my space and turns me on even more.
The smell, the sounds, and movements in this car are maddening in the best
possible way.

“Maddox,” she breathes out. Her pussy clenches down on my
dick and I release again inside her.

I can’t move. I just had amazing car sex.

“We should fight more often,” Maddox teases.

“We should,” I mutter in agreement. I lean forward and lay
my head on his chest. I’m so exhausted.

“You ready?” Maddox asked.

“Yeah.” I’m ready to be home and get a good night’s sleep.

Except that wasn’t what Maddox meant when he said ready. His
fingers rub my clit and he starts pushing upwards. Even exhausted, I’m ready.
This will never get old. Ever.

It's a few days before I get a chance to speak with Evan and
Brayden about bringing Missy up to speed about what's been going on. Brayden
wants to play it by ear since she has a doctor's appointment in a couple hours.
He wants to make sure that everything is okay and that it's a happy day for
Missy. I agreed and so did Kerrigan.

Kerrigan is out with Donna helping plan an upcoming wedding.
I’m so proud of Kerrigan. She's been working hard, but I know this is her dream
job. I worried that it would be too much for her after all that she's been
through, but she told me that she loves being busy. She says that it means
she’s living.

I’m still adjusting to having two boys at home. I think it’s
funny whenever people say Gavin looks just like me. I’ve grown very close to
him; he always wants to be with me. He loves it when I take him to work with
me. He always wants to sit in the patrol car and make the siren go off. I love
how his little face lights up when I do it. I can see him growing up to be a
cop like me, protecting the people in his life.

With all the overly protective men, it's fortunate that
there aren't any little girls in the family. Molly swears she's done after the
twins arrive and we aren’t taking on any more children. I’m happy we have the
boys, but two is definitely enough for us.

We'll all have to teach our boys how to treat women with
respect. Although, Evan jokes that it probably won’t happen until the boys are
in their 30’s - it took us that long to figure things out. I think it'll happen
sooner for our sons since they'll grow up seeing how much Noah and I love and
respect our wives. They'll have good examples of how to treat women - we didn't.

We're all meeting at Gigi’s tonight for Missy and Brayden’s
baby gender reveal. They don’t know the sex of the baby yet, either. The doctor
wrote the gender on a piece of paper and they'll put that along with other
notes in different balloons. We'll pop the balloons to find the one that has
the sex in it. Brayden’s already telling everyone it’s a boy. With five
sisters, he's going against the odds.

As soon as we walk into Gigi’s, Brayden rushes us to the
table where everyone is waiting. We're the last to arrive and he starts handing
out the balloons.

“Don’t you want to eat first?” Maddox asks.

“No. Missy had to tie my hands earlier because I wanted to
pop all of these bitches,” he laughs and so does Missy.

Without another word, we all pop our balloons. Brayden looks
at his paper and throws it to the ground. I’m guessing he doesn’t know yet. He
looks at Missy and she hands him hers. He throws that on the ground.

“Who has it?” Brayden demands. I look at mine and then at
Maddox's. We don’t have it - mine said toes and his said tiny. We all look
around the table to see Noah smiling.

“Well?” Missy asks.

“The good news is, she will have seven older brothers,” he
announces, referring to our boys and Cade.

“A girl?” Missy starts crying.

“Congrats! It’s a girl,” Noah says.

We all hug Missy and Brayden. I can tell that the moment he
heard it was a girl, he let go of his dream of having a boy.

“Excuse me.” Lani takes off running. I follow her and see
her vomiting in the restroom.

“You sick again?” I ask. Lani was born premature and she
catches every virus floating around. She blames her lack of height on the fact
that she was a preemie. Lani’s dad is 5’5". It’s genetic, I always tease.

“Yeah. I swear the doctor put me on antibiotics over a month
ago and I thought I’d gotten better. The past few days though, I just stay
sick. I’ll go back again.”

“Lani, could you be pregnant? It’s obviously in the water.” I
swear, in a span of three years, we’ve gone from no babies to six, seven,
including Missy.

“No way. You crazy people keep having your kids. There's no
way I’m having a kid.”

“Well, just remember, if you’ve had sex while on or after
antibiotics, you could get pregnant.” I watch Lani and can tell by her eyes
that she's freaked out.

“Shit. Well, I’m not late. My period isn’t due until
tomorrow. Kerrigan, if I am pregnant - I can’t have this baby. I don’t want to
have a baby. Please, support me on this.”

“Lani, whatever your decision is, I will support you.”

“Thank you. I’m still sure that I’m not, but you do have me
a little freaked,” she laughs.

“Well, fingers crossed then. Any more news on the Jackson
front?” I ask to change the subject.

“No. Nothing. You’d think I'd be relieved that I haven’t
heard anything. But I’m not. He's about to make his move. I just hope I’m ready
when it happens. I have a feeling that if he does, it’ll be at my office.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because my office is on an abandoned street. I’m the only
business left over there.”

“I thought there was an insurance agency next door.”

“Not anymore; they moved. It would be ideal since parking is
so easy now. Still, the fact that I’m the last one over there makes me
nervous.”

“Why don’t you change locations?” I ask.

“I can’t afford anything downtown.”

“What about your parents? Or your brother?”

“You know my parents hate what I do, and Nick is buying out
my parent's' share of the hotel.”

“Are your parents retiring?” Lani’s parents own two upscale
hotels in downtown Chicago. They love their kids, but they've always been
focused on their jobs and success.

“Well, sort of. They want to open a hotel in Hawaii. One
that they can live in and still work.”

“So they’re finally slowing down?”

“Looks like it,” she says. She goes to rinse out her
mouth.
 

We rejoin the rest of the group. The shared laughter and
smiles and growing friendships of this group are what I’ve always wanted. I can
honestly say that I love everything about my life. I’ve found my happiness; we
all have. After a few hours, we call it a night. More congrats and hugs are
handed out. As we say our goodbyes, I take one last look at Brayden who has the
biggest smile on his face.

Who the hell is calling at four in the morning? Fucking
Evan. This better be good.

“Hello?”

“Where's Lani?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” I ground out groggily.

“She’s gone.”

“What do you mean?”

“All her shit is here, but she's not. Her car is gone too,
but she didn't pack anything.”

Kerrigan starts to wake up. “Who is that?” she asks.

“Do you know where Lani is?” I ask her.

“I have no idea. What time is it?” she asks. I answer her as
I put the phone on speaker for Evan to hear.

“What did you two talk about in the bathroom?” I ask
Kerrigan.

“We talked about her parents moving to Hawaii. She did
mention that if Jackson made a move, it would probably be at her work.”

“That’s it?” Evan asked.

“She wasn't feeling well and had thrown up. Maybe she went
to get something from the store to calm her stomach,” Kerrigan suggested.

“Evan, did you have security on her this evening?” I ask.

“No, because she was supposed to be fucking here.” I look at
Kerrigan and her eyes are wide. She knows something.

“Kerrigan, are you sure you don’t know anything else?”

“Maddox, I don’t know anything else. If I had anything that
I thought would help you find her, trust me, I’d tell you.”

“Okay. Just remember, even if you think something won’t help
us, it could. So if you can think of anything, let me know,” I tell her.

“Are you sure she isn’t in the apartment?” Kerrigan asks
Evan.

“Cut the shit, Kerrigan, and tell me what’s going on. Now
isn’t the time for secrets.”

“Evan, I swear, all we talked about was her being sick
again, her parents, and her thinking Jackson might strike while she’s at work.”

“Kerrigan, you better not be lying to me,” Evan warns. That
pisses me off.

“Evan, don’t speak to my wife like that! She's not lying.”

“Shit. I’m sorry, Kerrigan," Evan apologizes. "If
you hear anything, please call me right away.”

“I promise, Evan. If I hear anything, you’ll be the first to
know,” Kerrigan reassures him. I look down at my phone and I’m getting a call
from Brayden. A sickening feeling sets in.

“Hold on, Evan. Brayden’s calling.” I know Evan knows the
same thing I do. Jackson made his move.

“Hello.”

“He took Cade, Maddox. Please. Help.”

"How did you find out he was missing?" I ask.

"We heard a window shatter. I took off running to
Cade's room, but he was already gone." I can hear the desperation in
Brayden's voice.