Guts & Glory: Hunter (In the Shadows Security Book 3) Read online

  Note taken.

  While she was bent over, stepping out of her panties, he said, “Grab your ankles and stay there until I tell you otherwise.”

  Her body jerked in response, but she did it, not saying a word.

  “Spread your legs a little bit, baby. That’s it. Show me what you have for me.” His voice sounded thick even to his own ears.

  Her plump flesh was shiny, tempting. He drew a finger through her slick folds. Fuck, this woman was responsive.

  He sucked his finger clean, then grabbed her hips and buried his face against her, his tongue now following his finger’s previous path. He sucked each fold, flicked her clit hard enough to make her twitch, ran his tongue back up and then even higher until he circled her puckered hole with the tip. She lurched forward and made a noise.

  A noise of complaint or encouragement?

  He didn’t waste time trying to figure it out, instead he slipped two fingers inside her heat and used them to fuck her as he swept his tongue over her ass, teasing her.

  Seconds later, her legs were shaking and whimpers, sounding as if she were fighting them, escaped her.

  She liked it. No, she more than liked it.

  He sped up the pace of his fingers, added a third and pushed his thumb against her clit as he tried to dip his tongue inside her, but she clenched down, shutting him out.

  “Hunter,” she breathed.

  “Let me in, Frankie.”

  He hadn’t stopped plunging his fingers in and out of her with one hand, with the other he smacked her ass hard, making her gasp and jerk forward slightly. He realized he wouldn’t be able to do that again, it was too loud and he worried about waking up Leo.

  “Let me in, Frankie,” he growled softly instead.

  “Okay.” Her whisper held a shake, but he could feel her relax around his fingers, against the hand he had back on her hip, holding her in place.

  This time he was able to dip his tongue inside her. With his tongue fucking her ass, and his fingers fucking her pussy, she began to shake so violently, he thought she might fall to the floor.

  But she remained on her feet long enough for the orgasm to rip through her. The other day in her bed, she hadn’t tempered her screams, her responses. Tonight, she managed to muffle her cry.

  Before he could back away, she began to crumble, and he grabbed her quickly to pull her toward him so she’d land on the bed. Within seconds, he had her on her back and beneath him, his hips cushioned by her soft thighs as he stared down into her face, her expression lax and satisfied.

  “That was...” she began.

  “Yeah,” he answered. His cock was throbbing and dripping, his balls pulled tight. He had no time to analyze her response.

  He lifted up just enough to grab a condom, rip it open and roll it on. “Ready?”

  She nodded, her eyelids still heavy, her eyes still unfocused.

  Yes, this was how a woman should look in his bed. Sexy and satisfied. She could take care of the sexy part; he’d make sure to take care of the satisfied.

  He settled back between her thighs, lined himself up and hesitated.

  A trickle of something he didn’t recognize slid down his spine.

  No, he knew what it was.

  Fear.

  Every time he fucked Frankie, it was as though a net wrapped around him, trying to tie him down, pulling him under, trapping him.

  It wasn’t her doing it, she hadn’t asked for anything from him. They hadn’t known each other long enough for that to even happen.

  And it made no sense. He could only assume his mind was playing games with him. Making him think this was something permanent. Unescapable.

  He needed to remind himself that was far from the truth.

  Her softly calling his name snapped his attention back to her. She was who he should be concentrating on, not his unreasonable fears.

  “Yeah, baby,” he whispered.

  “You disappearing into your head is not concentrating on me.”

  He fought back a grin. “I’ll make up for it.”

  “You better,” she said with her own grin.

  “Let’s not get carried away,” he warned her.

  “No, let’s get carried away. I said I’m ready, you’re the one taking your sweet ol’ ti—” A rush of breath replaced her words when he tilted his hips and took her hard.

  “Thought you were ready?” he teased.

  Her answer was tilting her hips and wrapping her thighs around his. Every time he powered deep, she met him halfway, taking everything he gave her and giving it back to him twofold.

  Hot.

  Wet.

  Silk.

  Heaven.

  Her breathy mews drove him on as he trapped one nipple in his mouth and sucked it hard, giving it no mercy. Her back arched, her head tilted back, and he released her nipple quickly because she was drawing a deep breath, preparing to wail.

  He covered her mouth with his, smothering her cry, capturing the proof of her orgasm as she rocked against him, not slowing down, encouraging him to take her faster and harder. Her nails dug into his ass as she held on tightly. And in turn, he used her mouth to smother his own groans.

  But in the end, he broke away to bury his face in her neck as he powered deep one last time, coming inside her with a grunt.

  He stilled. Not wanting to move. Liking where he was at even though he was disappointed his plans to take their time flew out the window.

  Her rapid breath swept along his cheek as he lifted his head just long enough to glance at the clock. They had plenty of time to make the second round last longer.

  As long as the monitor stayed quiet.

  And they did, too.

  They managed it and he also managed to bring Frankie to orgasm two more times before he flopped onto his back, wrapped the used condom in a tissue, then hauled Frankie against him.

  He ended up staring up at the ceiling with her curled into his side, one hand planted on his chest, her palm covering his dog tags, one of her thighs thrown over his, her breathing slow and steady.

  Forty-five minutes later, still unable to sleep, he carefully freed himself, slipping from the bed, finding his bag, getting dressed and heading downstairs to make a strong pot of coffee.

  He was going to need it.

  Chapter Twelve

  He made one more round through the quiet house. He had a difficult time falling asleep on her couch tonight even though the living room was larger than Leo’s bedroom. But moving downstairs didn’t help, so he gave up.

  He walked down the short hallway at the top of the steps, opened Frankie’s door and peered through the dark. His night vision was decent when he wasn’t in the middle of a panic attack, so he could see Frankie’s shadowed figure curled around Leo. He’d tell her in the morning she could move him back into his room. He wasn’t going to be able to use the boy’s bed. He also needed to explain why.

  However, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to share that info with her.

  It was one thing to have a weakness, it was another to expose it.

  None of the Shadows knew the extent of his panic attacks, they just knew he didn’t like tight spaces.

  He let his gaze slide over the bed. The top sheet was kicked onto the floor since Frankie complained Leo made her too hot.

  But it tugged at him, seeing mother and son. That dedication and deep love she had for Leo, even though he was a result from a bad situation.

  He closed his eyes as another memory pushed forward. One he hadn’t thought about in a long time. His mother trying to encircle him in her arms after the news of his father’s suicide in prison.

  But Hunter didn’t need to be comforted. He didn’t need his tears wiped away. Because they were non-existent. He felt nothing. If anything, he felt a strange sense of relief the man would never hurt a soul again.

  Not one more person would be his victim.

  And the same needed to be true for Taz.

  It was up to Hunter to make it so. Especially
for the two in that bed. And he’d do his best to give them the safety and security they deserved.

  He pulled the door until it was only open a crack and moved to the stairway, then settled halfway down the steps where he could keep one eye on the front entryway and one ear towards Frankie’s room.

  He dropped his head in his hands and drew his palms over his face, thinking about everything that went on only that morning at Manning Grove PD.

  Steel had met him there, having already given Chief Max Bryson a heads up that they were coming.

  “Not sure if this will work,” Hunter grumbled out in the parking lot of the police station.

  Steel shrugged. “Can’t hurt to try, if they’re willing.”

  “But they need a reason to be willing,” Hunter reminded him.

  “The fucker skipped out on parole. He’s got a warrant, and they know Frankie personally since they all grew up in the same town. It probably won’t be hard to convince them that we’re looking out for her. At least in a roundabout way, but they don’t need to know that.”

  “But if the cops flush him out, that means he’ll either be on their radar or, worse, end up in their custody. If he ends up in custody, it’s going to make it harder for us to step in and take care of business.” Hunter kept his voice down since they were standing in cop central. They might not take too kindly to the Shadows’ type of “taking care of business.”

  “We just need to be ready for him. Grab him before they do. He disappears and no one’s the wiser. Cops will think he didn’t take the bait.”

  “Just don’t like getting the cops involved.”

  “Neither do any of us. But we’re not having any luck finding the slippery fucker. It’s a good plan if we stay in control of it, use the cops as our puppets.”

  Hunter’s gaze swept the lot. “Jesus, not the best place to be calling cops puppets.” He blew out a breath and scraped a hand over his hair. “Another option would be to bring her and Leo back to Shadow Valley. Lock her down tight and have Mitch or Axel Jamison put out some sort of press release in hopes Taz sees or hears it.”

  Steel gave him an impatient look. “If you were a Shadow Warrior, would you show up in the Valley? Fuck no. It would be suicide. He’s more likely to surface in Manning Grove, especially if he doesn’t know we’re here waiting for him.”

  “Putting out a press release with her former name, her photo and Leo’s info is going to out Frankie and Leo.” Fuck, this whole idea made his stomach churn.

  “No shit. That’s the point. They’re bait.”

  Hunter’s jaw got tight. “I know they’re fucking bait. But I don’t fucking like it.”

  Steel arched a brow at him. “And like I said before, beside you tapping that a few times, why else would you care? We’re doing her a solid by ridding her of the reason she had to change her name in the first place. She can breathe easy after we take care of the one person she fears and who has any claim to her son.”

  He fucking hated all of this. It pissed him the fuck off that he couldn’t find Taz on his own. He’d never failed at any job. And this felt like a big fat fucking failure. Using a woman and child as bait to bring out some psycho was making him itch, and not just because it was Frankie and Leo. Because he didn’t want to do that with any woman or child.

  It was risky.

  But at this point, they were out of options to flush the fucker out. “If the cops agree to this, we need to time it just right. We need everyone up here and in place before the press release.”

  “And that’ll happen, but I’m not sure D’s gonna want everyone’s ass up here for any length of time.”

  Steel was probably right. “He’ll need to give us a week. Then after that, if the asshole doesn’t pop his head up, I’ll remain and everyone else can split. Like you said, he’s one fucking turd. If I can’t handle one fucking piece of shit, then I need to get a job as a cashier at a dollar store.”

  “Don’t think D’s gonna want your ass up here that long, either, Danny. He’s been griping already. Every time Jewel is pregnant, he gets crankier than normal. You’d think he was the one having to squeeze the kid out.”

  “Well, he’s going to have to deal with whatever time is needed to get the job done.”

  “You tell him that.” Steel jerked his chin toward the brick building. “First, we need the cops to agree.”

  “If they do, then I’ll deal with D. Slade paid us to find his brother. Thinking if he knew the truth, he’d still want us to find him. Just for a different reason.”

  Steel nodded. “And I’m thinking D needs to tell him what we’ve found so far, so he’s prepared that this isn’t going to be some happy family reunion.”

  It turned out, the chief did agree. And after they left the station, Hunter had a long talk with his boss, who grunted his reluctant agreement. He also said he would catch Slade up to speed.

  Everybody but Diesel was heading north first thing in the morning. At noon, the chief would issue a press release. That statement would announce Sucely Hernandez was searching for her missing son... Brandon Bussard, Jr. And a half hour later, Chief Bryson would get in front of the cameras again to announce Brandon Jr. was found just wandering in a nearby park, he was safe and no reason to form search parties, which was one of Bryson’s fears. That the town would be overwhelmed with good citizens wanting to help find Leo when he wasn’t even lost.

  Even so, if two national news announcements didn’t flush the fucker out, nothing would. He only hoped Taz had access to a TV or radio wherever he’d gone to ground. Because if he didn’t, they were doing this all for nothing.

  In the morning, Hunter was going to tell Frankie not to take Leo to daycare, that he’d watch him instead when she went to work. She’d have Steel and Ryder stake out the restaurant where she waitressed. Mercy and Brick would take turns driving around town, keeping an eye out for Bussard. Walker would be staked out in front of the house. Hunter would be inside the house with Leo, keeping watch.

  The plan was set, it just needed to be put into motion.

  Problem was, the whole thing left a bad taste in his mouth.

  He’d sat Frankie down after he returned from the police station and explained what had been decided. She tried to hide she was nervous about the whole thing, too, but she agreed. Then she emailed Max Bryson current pictures of her and Leo for the press release.

  When she dropped Leo off at daycare and went to work earlier, Hunter went for a long fucking run to clear his head and try to rid himself of the bad feeling that permeated every cell in his body. He came back, showered and crashed in Frankie’s bed for a few hours.

  Unfortunately, he woke up in a sweat again, this time because he had a nightmare where Taz took Frankie hostage and when Hunter finally found her, she was lying in a pool of blood, her throat slit and there was evidence of rape.

  Just like Buzz Bussard had done to Crow’s mother.

  Like father, like son.

  Fucking motherfucker.

  That was not going to happen this time, Hunter would make sure of it. This was one mission he could not fail at. They could not fail at.

  He had good men helping him. He trusted his “brothers.” Frankie just needed to trust Hunter to do right by her.

  His attention came back to the present when he heard her bare feet padding along the worn wood floor of the hallway, even though he could tell she was trying to be quiet. He didn’t have to look to figure out she hesitated at the top of the steps.

  He doubted she was searching for him, more like taking a bathroom break. Or maybe she couldn’t sleep, either, with what was pending.

  He couldn’t blame her if she couldn’t.

  “Frankie,” he murmured, still not turning around.

  “Be right back,” she whispered.

  A couple minutes later, he heard the toilet flush and her feet moving along the hall again and then down the steps until she stood on the step behind him. She was close enough he could feel her heat and if he leaned back, he�
��d rest against her shins. He lifted a hand and waited.

  Her fingers met his and he clasped them tightly. He guided her around him carefully and to a seat on the step in front of him. Spreading his knees wider, he made room for her to settle against him, but it was still a tight fit since the stairway was narrow.

  “Thought you were asleep.”

  She shook her head. “I heard you open the door.”

  “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “I can’t stop thinking about tomorrow. Or later today, I should say.”

  “You worried?” Of course, she was fucking worried.

  She turned to look over her shoulder at him. “Aren’t you?”

  Of course he was also fucking worried, but he couldn’t tell her that. He didn’t want to worry her further. “We’ll get it handled and you’ll be able to breathe easy after that.”

  “Until he gets released from jail again.”

  Hunter pursed his lips. “Loquilla...”

  “The cops won’t be arresting him, will they?”

  “Not if we can help it.” There was no point in lying. They could make it appear to the cops Taz didn’t take the bait if his team grabbed him first, but they couldn’t lie to Frankie and still set her mind at ease. And he wanted to give her that. Erase that worry once Taz was dealt with permanently.

  She studied his face in the dim light and he kept his expression blank.

  “Good.”

  Good? His lips parted and he slowly released the breath he held. “You okay with that?”

  Her face got hard and she whispered fiercely, “I will do anything for my son.”

  Luckily, she wouldn’t have to do anything. He didn’t want her to be forced to live with that. Taking a man’s life should never come easy.

  Even for him and D’s crew.

  It was easier to live with if the person deserved it. But still, by taking someone’s life, it meant they were acting as judge and jury, which was nothing to take lightly.

  “I told you, you’re a great mom...” Maybe he could take her mind off of what would be happening later. “Tell me about yours.”

  They hadn’t talked about it yet and it wasn’t like it was a secret, but she wasn’t sure why he wanted to know. He was only in Manning Grove until the issue with Taz was “handled.” Then he’d go back to wherever he came from, probably never to be heard from again. So, her personal life—the part not affected directly by Leo’s father—couldn’t be that important to him.