Room One

Ryder

Kandy is sleeping upstairs. It took a couple of hours to arrive at our location and the second I shoved the SUV into park I set up our laptops and got on the phone with some buddies. Atlas took our girl and settled her in, and Brogan did a rations run.

Atlas walks in and plants his ass in a chair across from me. “Perimeter is clear. I checked the security cameras, and they are up and running.

I nod. “Unless Yogi Bear is out there, no one knows we are here, man. Lighten up.”

“Excuse the fuck out of me. Am I the only one who saw the bruises she’s wearing? And those are only on her face. I saw that fucker take potshots at her ribs before we got to her.”

I cross my arms and kick back in my chair. It was that or lash out at Atlas and he doesn’t deserve my wrath.

“Fuck it. Forget it. Starting over, okay? Any luck reaching anyone with answers?” Atlas jerks his chin at my phone.

“Not yet. Give it a little bit. No one is awake at this hour or if they are, they sure the hell aren’t answering. Don’t blame them. I’ll try again in a minute.”

“How the hell did we miss her having a stalker?”

“Too busy getting this place ready for one.” My fingers flex around my cell phone. “Think she’ll love it?”

“Depends if we can get her to trust us again. We really hurt her badly.”

I consider my friend’s words. “That point was proven to us tonight in spades. She would rather run out into the snow than stay and talk to us.”

“I don’t think I’ve fallen into such a deep sleep since joining the Navy.”

I rub a hand over my face. “Agreed. It’s the only way she got away from us.”

“Maybe the forced night at Club Sin wasn’t such a great idea.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. She signed. We didn’t hear her safe word once.”

Atlas looks torn and I know my friend will war with himself until he has her in his arms again. I can see him struggling not to go to her right now.

Brogan walks in and sets several grocery bags down on the kitchen island and a few I see are from a department store.

“Food, clothes for Kandy and some things she can use for showering.”

“Coffee?”

“Affirmative.” Brogan passes each of us a cup and leaves a fourth in the holder. “She up yet?”

I pick up my phone and hit a different number. “Not yet.”

Lincoln, Cain, and Grant. Their wife, Mercy, is a friend of Justice’s and they have a similar living arrangement as the one we want with Kandy. All four own the lodge about a mile from our cabin and is one of the reasons we offered double the selling price for this place. Justice didn’t hesitate. After helping us plan last night with her best friend, keeping one more secret wasn’t a far stretch to ask.

In recent months Mercy’s men hired us to rebuild each of the luxury cabins on their property. Which is a good thing, because it gave us the kick in the ass we needed to finally put the last leg of our plan involving Kandy into motion. If we leave it solely up to Atlas, that man would still be in planning mode, making everything as perfect as possible for when we approached Kandy.

Perfect never happens. Tonight is a prime example of just how fast shit can hit a fan.

After signing off on my resignation papers from the military, we immediately went into business for ourselves using Atlas’ architecture degree and family business, my degree in business and Brogan’s savvy way with people. We worked well with guns in our hands and a target in our sights. We work even better now with one mission pulling us together: Kandy.

Another fact that comes in handy now is all three of Mercy’s men are former spec ops like us. Great neighbors to have, if you ask me.

“Hey, Grant, sorry for the early hour. Wanted to let you know we have arrived at our cabin, but we might have brought some heat. Didn’t want to leave you in the dark in case he mistakes your place for ours.”

“Yeah, got it. We’ll be safe.”

I hang up and see Atlas rubbing at his neck. A sign of irritation and the man is about three seconds away from going upstairs.

Instead of calling Justice, Atlas takes my phone and taps Seth’s name. He puts it on speaker and places it in the middle of the table.

“Hey, man, trying to reach you all morning.” Atlas goes into the rundown of what happened and rattles off the description we have. Seth, Jacob, and Lucian own a security company and are our best option right now in tracking down who is after Kandy.

Justice’s sleepy voice comes over the speaker. “What’s going on?”

“Did you know about the stalker?”

There’s a pause before a shaky, “Yes.”

Atlas is on his feet and pacing the space behind the large dining table, his coffee abandoned. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

“The police are handling it. We’ve done everything possible to track him down but he’s a slippery guy. Don’t think we’ve left Kandy out in the cold.”

That’s Seth. There’s tension in his voice. I get it; Kandy isn’t his to look after or protect. That was our job. Something else we failed at.

I lean forward. “The police have their hands tied. None of us got a look at his face. Maybe check the surrounding security cameras?”

“Copy that,” Seth replies. “We might get lucky if we can catch something. I’ll start reaching out after we hang up.”

“Keep the cops out of this for now. Now that there’s been an attack and the sick bastard beat the shit out of her this morning, we won’t stop until there’s blood.”

There’s a clattering before Justice shrieks, “What? What the hell? Attack? Is she okay? Can I speak with her?”

“She is now. She’s not leaving our sight again.”

“Ever,” Atlas adds on, and I feel the finality of his claim. But I doubt Kandy will go for it. Should be interesting to watch that conversation happen.

“You can’t keep me locked up in a cabin in the woods forever. I don’t care how pretty it is.”

Speak of the angel. We turn to see our beauty walk through the archway looking a little worse for wear but more beautiful than a ray of sunshine. She’s sleeping in something between pajamas and striptease lingerie. Justice must have left it behind.

I leave the conversation to Atlas and Brogan and cross to Kandy. Rage wells inside me so thick it’s hard to hold back a roar of fury. Black and purple markings cover most of her jaw. The pretty cheeks of hers I watched turn such a lovely red for us just hours ago are now swollen and already turning their own shade of purple.