Hers to Heal Page 25

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  Gina drove into her driveway. Reece was on his knees setting in a few plants in the corner where the garage jutted from the house. He couldn’t be. She’d mentioned it only once. Had he been paying that much attention to remember?

  “Daddy’s here! He’s planting something pretty. What’s that statue?”

  Her daughter had been uncharacteristically quiet on the way home from school. She was glad to hear her excitement. “Yes, he is.” She tapped the garage door opener and pulled in, turning off the engine. “I think he’s planting a clematis vine. Let’s go see.” She slipped out of her SUV and helped Piper jump down. Together they hurried around the corner of the garage to see what Reece was up to.

  “My two favorite girls! Do I get a kiss?” He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm and inclined his head, pointing to his cheek. After they dutifully smacked kisses on his sexy scruffy face, he pointed to the work he’d already completed.

  “I’ve planted two deep purple clematis vines like you wanted. Felicity at Feathers, Fins and Flowers shop said when you plant them with a climbing rose, it makes a pretty sight. So I bought you a white rose to accent the dark purple clematis. I’ll spread mulch around them and situate this statue I bought of a fairy in front of the new plants. Felicity just got it in today. I thought the delicate brass figurine was the image of a certain little girl in this family.”

  Piper stood in front of the four-foot statue, her index finger trailing over the details of the fantasy creature with wings. “People will call this the Fairy House! Thank you, Daddy! Isn’t it beautiful, Mommy?”

  Gina watched him work; his broad hands that could do such wicked things to her body spread mulch. He’d taken off his shirt earlier. Hardened muscles flexed and bunched. Her hormones were all eyes.

  He stopped and stared at her. “You haven’t spoken. Have I overstepped a line? I know this is your house, but you’d mentioned you wanted a clematis. Granted, you didn’t talk about a garden statue, but she reminded me of Piper and I couldn’t resist.”

  She bent and kissed him on the lips this time. “Thank you. It’s perfect. This is exactly what I wanted. I never thought of blending clematis with a climbing rose, but it’s a fabulous idea.”

  “Do you have a hose and an outside spigot? These plants will need heavy watering to get them started.”

  “I’ll be right back.” She hurried off to get him what he wanted. When she returned with the nozzle in hand, Piper was directing where to place the statue. Reece looked at Gina and winked. Her little girl had this man wrapped around her little finger.

  After watering the plants, he hosed off his boots and sat on the porch to pull off his wet footwear. “You’ll need to water the clematis and rose every morning for two weeks. Then twice a week after that, depending on the amount of rain we get.”

  “Okay.”

  “Piper, were you a good girl in school today?” Reece set her on his lap while he sat on the porch steps.

  “Yes. But I got yelled at anyway. I told the class I was getting a daddy because my mommy got engaged over the weekend and I got to help pick out the diamond ring. Mrs. Evans told me I talked too much and didn’t deserve a daddy.” Her bottom lip pouched out.

  Reece’s head swiveled so his narrowed hazel eyes pierced Gina’s. “Did you know about this?” A muscle on the side of his cheek bunched. He was definitely pissed.

  “No. This is the first I’ve heard about it.” I will have this teacher fired for hurting Piper like this. Her parentage has no bearing on her as a person. Damn that bitch! She took her daughter’s hand. “Is this why you were so quiet on the way home?”

  Two big tears slipped from her child’s eyes. These weren’t tears of exhaustion or temper tantrums or being hurt. These were tears of a deep emotional wounding.

  “She…she said I was more trouble than I was worth.” She shifted in Reece’s arms and leaned her face against his chest and sobbed. His arms enveloped her and he leaned to kiss her curls. “She doesn’t like me anymore. Some of the kids made fun of me. Bobby pushed me off the seesaw and called me ‘worthless’ and I got a skint knee.” She pointed to a Band-Aid.

  “I will kill her,” Reece mouthed as his hand swept up and down the little girl’s back.

  Gina jabbed her thumb into her own chest and mouthed back, “Me first.” She took her daughter from his arms. “Come here, love. What has Momma told you every night?”

  “I’m as good as everybody else and…and people who say I’m not are idiots. Does that mean my teacher is an idiot?” Her tear-filled eyes looked to her for truthful verification.

  Reece paced through the yard, his cellphone to his ear, gesturing as he spoke. She suspected he’d called ZQ since he served on the school board. It was good to have someone take on part of the parenting load so she could snuggle with her baby girl.

  “Yes, my love, your teacher did an idiotic thing, a bad thing. Daddy will take care of it. This is something for your parents to handle.” She touched Piper’s nose with her finger. “Listen to me now. You do not talk back to her or argue. Be the good girl Daddy and I expect you to be.” She hugged her again. “Understand? No misbehaving for Mrs. Evans.”

  “Okay.” Piper sniffed and wiped her nose on Gina’s aqua scrubs. Right this moment, she didn’t care. All she worried about was Piper’s hurt feelings.

  Reece stalked over. “I took care of it. Enough tears, Precious. There’s a surprise in your bedroom. Why don’t you go see if you can find it?” He opened the front door and she shuffled in as though she’d battled the world and lost.

  He took Gina’s hand. “Let’s keep up. I want to get some pictures.” He held his cellphone.

  “Did you call ZQ?”

  “ZQ and that worthless bitch of a teacher. I asked her how she’d like an editorial written in the local newspaper about her behavior toward our daughter. No decent teacher would verbally attack a first grader like that.”

  Piper rounded the corner to her bedroom. “Holy shit!”

  Chapter 25

  Gina burrowed against Reece’s muscle-hardened body. “I’ve never had a man go down on me until you. The few guys I dated before the Marines expected me to do the honors.”

  “Some guys don’t get how important it is to please the woman first. How it heightens the man’s pleasure. Promise me when I die, you’ll have the coroner cut off my cock and you’ll tuck it inside that sweet vagina of yours. That way I’ll be in heaven here on earth and the rest of my body can go where the other heaven is.”

  She bit his nipple. “You’re awful!”

  He blessed her with that slow sexy-as-hell smile. “Yeah, but I’m so good at it.” His smile disappeared. “I hate to leave, but I’m still working through some bad dreams. I won’t risk lashing out at you in my sleep. You do understand, right, baby?”

  This man was so protective and caring. “Yes, sweetheart, I understand.”

  He sat, reaching for his boxers. “Has this teacher of Piper’s ever picked on her like this before? Damn, I can’t get over it. Why? Does all her negative attitude toward our daughter stem back to the night I stayed here? I mean, how sick is that?”

  “I’m afraid this teacher will make her dislike school.”

  “When will classes end?” He covered his beautiful behind with his boxer briefs.

  “Less than two months. We both know a lot of damage can be done in two months.” She pushed her hair back. “As far as I’m concerned, enough was done today.”

  “I agree. I’ll do what I can to protect her. That’s a promise. I hope she has a good day at the zoo tomorrow.”

  Her fingertips trailed up his back. “She had a good time with her dollhouse tonight while you and I cooked supper.” Her fingers slipped under the elastic of his boxers. “Mom had a good time with Mr. Tool Belt.”

  He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Just keep it up, Blondie.”

  She shifted to her knees and rubbed her breasts over his back. “Is it up yet?”

>   “Fucking A.”

  This time he insisted she take tops. She snatched his Stetson and rode him hard to the magic land of shared erotic spirits, his thumb pressing on her clit to open the gate to her climax.

  —

  Lights were burning in ZQ’s office when Reece returned to the ranch. Titan’s classic ‘68 Corvette Stingray convertible was parked next to Ghost’s silver TT coupe. MoJo’s Harley sat in the yard. Just like old times. The Old Man called and everyone came running, ready for whatever he ordered.

  Reece opened the door to the office, eager to see his three SEAL buddies.

  Titan, who’d been hiding behind the door, pounced on him and punched him a few times. “Son of a bitch, look who the blind cat dragged in. Phew, he smells like pussy.” One huge muscled arm encircled Reece’s neck. “Did you just get fucked?”

  Ghost sauntered over, studied him with his steely gaze, and tipped back his beer. “Hell, he’s been fucked more than once. Look at his eyes. They’re damn near sunk back in his head. Come here, you ugly one-armed bastard.” He jerked him into a man hug, pounding his back. “God damn, it’s good to see you again.”

  “I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of his being screwed that many times in one night.” MoJo stood and preened, puffing out his chest. “Hell, I get that much most every night.”

  Male pandemonium erupted and Reece drank it all in like a man dying of thirst. These fierce warriors were his brothers, bonded not by sperm, but by blood, the sweat of hellacious rough training, and the horrors of battle.

  ZQ thrust a cold beer in his hand and cuffed his shoulder. “Does a man good to have all his boys with him again. We’ll excuse Dust tonight. I understand the little wife has him handcuffed to the bedpost.” He waggled his eyebrows and the men whooped.

  “Join the party, Reece. We’ve already been over our plans. It’s time to kick back and enjoy each other’s company for a while.” The commander sure looked happy.

  Reece guzzled his beer and reached for a handful of Cheetos on the coffee table. Junebug had evidently laid out junk food before going to bed. “So what’s the plan for tomorrow?”

  ZQ grabbed some snicker doodles and gave everyone the stink-eye before pointing to his chest, indicating he wasn’t in a sharing mood. Not with his mom’s snicker doodles. “Clint is riding on the school bus with the kiddies. Thank God I’m not. JJ’s flying the Blackhawk with me as wingman, Nance, you”—he pointed to Reece—“and Dust for company. Titan is driving the van with Scratch, Ghost, and MoJo. Did you get the tracking devices put on Piper’s clothing?”

  Reece nodded. “That I did. One on her sneaker, under the flap where you lace the shoestrings. The other in the side of her waistband. I had to snip a few stitches and then sew it under the lining of the band. She’s covered.”

  “Even if the Russians don’t target Piper, we might need to be in the area for some other child,” ZQ stated.

  “Hooyah,” the team chanted in unison.

  “This might be the first clue we’ll have about how they operate, how they disappear so quickly without being seen. If we get word they’ve nabbed another child, we’ll at least be in the area and one of the first on the scene,” Titan said.

  “And if we take out most of the motherfucking gang in the process, well gee, it sucks to be them.” Reece drained his beer.

  There were more hooyahs to his proclamation.

  “True dat.” JJ handed him another cold one.

  A couple of hours of catching up and reliving old times sped by in a happy blur before ZQ ordered them all to bed. Tomorrow they’d be on a mission. Even if their gut instincts were wrong and the zoo was a wild goose chase, the day would prove a good exercise for them. The more times they ran through the motions of a potential rescue and takedown of the Morozov Circle, the better. Either way, tomorrow would be a busy day.

  Reece’s dreams were less horrific and more vision-like in scope. He saw a little girl in red watching giraffes. Then she was gone. Where? Where was she? Two men in blue uniforms pushed a cart full of bags. A little voice screamed, “Daddy!” He woke up, untangled his legs from the bedclothes he’d thrashed into a mess, and stepped outside for fresh air, hoping his heart would level out.

  “Bad dreams, kid?” ZQ leaned against a tree, puffing on a thin, black cigar.

  “Thought you gave up smoking?” Reece strode toward him, oddly grateful he was out here.

  “I did. I only have one on those rare nights I can’t sleep. My adrenaline levels are already high. Christ, I hope we get those bastards tomorrow. Then we can set our sights on the group picking up little girls in Florida.”

  “You’ve got the best group of men you could assemble.”

  ZQ nodded as he inhaled a long drag and leaned his head back to puff out a few smoke rings. “Want you to know I called the rest of the school board earlier tonight. Seems one of them had already heard from Olivia Rosen’s mother. Olivia is Piper’s best friend. She came home from school all upset over how Mrs. Evans had talked to her BFF. Mark McGrath, who runs the feed and lumber store, is on the school board, too. His son Dustin, another first grader, told him about the incident as well.”

  ZQ took a drag. “So other parents are complaining. Damn the woman for upsetting that sweet child. I’m going to see her ass is hung.”

  “Piper told us Mrs. Evans said she was more trouble than she was worth. Wonder what she meant by that?”

  ZQ exhaled a bark of laughter. “Oh, I damn well know. Clint went to the school. He insisted she didn’t have enough chaperones to handle a field trip to a large place like the zoo in Austin, especially since she told Gina she wasn’t welcome to go. The old teacher got her ass up. They argued. Clint stormed into the principal’s office and exerted the force of his badge.” He took another hit off his cigar and shook his head once. “Clint is like an unstoppable force. God, I love that old, bald geezer. He’s got balls like a buffalo.

  “Clint said when the principal told Mrs. Evans she had to take him along, her face turned damn near purple. She told him the bus was leaving at eight-thirty and not a minute later. The boys in the surveillance van will follow them.”

  “You’ve planned well, boss. Let it go and get some sleep. I needed some fresh air after a strange nightmare. I’m ready to hit the sheets again, too.”

  “Gina’s okay with you being on the team?”

  “Yeah. I got my balls back and told her how things were going to be. A man needs his pride.”

  “Thought you walked with more of a swagger. Sleep well, brother.”

  Reece had more dreams throughout the night, but couldn’t recall them once the sun came up. There were just vague disturbing recollections of hanging upside down and waterboarding and electrical shocks. And a little girl in red calling for Daddy.

  Junebug and Ashley had a hearty breakfast ready for the team. The men ate like they hadn’t had a decent meal in decades. But then, few cooks could measure up to the culinary magic Junebug created in her kitchen. Scratch and Erin embraced and kissed before she returned to their room to finish getting ready for her job interview. The group assigned to the van pulled out, heading for the school.

  While Junebug wearing go-to-hell black lipstick sat, sipping on a cup of coffee and talking to Ashley, the remaining team members rinsed and loaded dishes and pans into the dishwasher. ZQ’s cellphone rang.

  “Slow down! Slow down. What do you mean the teacher lied?” His gaze swept to Reece. The Old Man’s dark expression was pure pissed-off male.

  “I will have her goddamn head on a platter. Where are you now? Good. Stay there. The van will be pulling in soon. They’ll pick you up. Titan’s behind the wheel. It won’t take that speed demon long to catch up with the bus. Damn her lying ass!” He ended the call.

  “Don’t tell me. Mrs. Evans told Clint the bus was leaving at a later time.”

  ZQ had his hands at his waist, pacing. “She said ‘oh-eight-thirty,’ but they pulled out at oh-eight-hundred. JJ, fire up the helo
. The rest of you guys get your rifles and handguns. Flak jackets, too. I want us airborne in ten.”

  “You got it.” JJ walked to Ashley, leaned over, and rubbed his cheek against hers. “See you on the flip side, Angel.”

  “Fly straight.”

  He nodded and squeezed her hand. “Dust, you know the weapons I like. Grab me a Kevlar vest and Nance’s K9 Storm body armor.”

  “Done.”

  JJ hand-signaled Nance. “Time to go to work, Ordnance.” She perked up at the use of her full name and the two ran out the back door.

  “Zane, should I plan on supper?” Junebug stood, fiddling with the buttons on her black top. Worry lines bracketed her mouth.

  “No. If we’re back in time, we’ll order in. Don’t worry, now.” He kissed his mother on the forehead and hurried off. “Need to call my handler at the CIA.”

  In ten minutes JJ had the Blackhawk airborne. ZQ, Dust, and Reece wore their short-sleeve desert fatigues, their Kevlar vests in an orderly pile in a plastic tub. JJ wore a fake security uniform so he and Nance could walk through the zoo under the guise of her sniffing out drugs. They hoped this would explain all the equipment she wore like her flexible body armor, outfitted with high-tech “doggles” with infrared capability to see human heat forms through concrete walls.

  They’d all gone over their weapons yesterday and the day before and would again in a few minutes on ZQ’s command.

  Reece had his new government-issue iPad and his hotspot operational. The GPS tracking devices on Piper were working. The bus was indeed on the move. He contacted Scratch on his Bluetooth. “Are you getting reception on Piper?”

  “Loud and clear, buddy. We’re good. Tell the boss we’ve got Clint on board and he is one scary-assed, pissed-off Ranger. Old school. I like him.”

  “I’ll pass that along.” He ended their conversation. “Scratch has a visual, boss. They’ve got Clint and are hauling ass for Austin. Scratch told me to tell you Clint is ‘one scary-assed, pissed-off Ranger.’ ”

  “It’s no fucking wonder. He was lied to. The woman looked him right in the eye and gave him the wrong time. Bitch has no idea who she’s fooling with. She needs to retire.”