All Fired Up (DreamMakers) (26 page)

“That’s Shotelle’s van.” Suz shook her finger at it like she was casting out demons.

Parker slammed on the brakes so hard Dean flew forward and thumped his head on the back of Parker’s seat.

“Chillax, man,” Dean said sharply. “We’re already here. No need to kill anyone.”

Parker wasn’t listening. He was out of the truck in a flash, his boots connecting with the driveway. He had to make sure Lynn was all right. That Shotelle hadn’t done anything to hurt her.

“How do we want to handle this?”

He vaguely heard Jack’s brisk inquiry but didn’t respond. His pulse drummed loudly between his ears as he hurried toward the front door. Fuck coming up with a plan. Shotelle’s vehicle was here, which meant Lynn might be inside the house—which meant that was where Parker needed to be.

The front door flew open in response to his frantic banging, revealing an elderly man with a slight hunch. “What is the meaning of this?” His eyebrows instantly dipped in consternation when he glimpsed Parker.

“Where’s Lynn?” Parker demanded.

High heels clicked behind them, and then Suz was at his side. She wasn’t smiling as she met the older man’s eyes. “I’m Susanna. We need to see Ms. Davidson right away.”

“You said you wanted to speak to Mr. Shotelle—” The man barely finished his sentence before Suz bulldozed past him, her heels snapping on the hardwood floor of the parlor.

The blonde glanced around, then opened her mouth and shouted, “Lynn! Where are you?”

“This is
unacceptable
,” the old man sputtered. “I’m calling the police! You can’t come inside without permission!”

Parker fixed the man with a deadly look. “We’re not here to cause trouble for you, but we are taking Ms. Davidson home.”

That earned him a bewildered frown. “Mr. Shotelle and Ms. Davidson are staying for the weekend.”

“Like hell they are.” Parker sensed Dean and Jack behind him, and turned to bark out an order. “Check the exterior perimeter. We don’t want Shotelle trying to sneak off.”

With matching nods, his partners stalked away.

But Phil disappearing didn’t end up being a concern, because footsteps sounded from above, and Shotelle appeared at the top of the winding staircase.

His blue eyes blazed when he spotted Parker and Suz.

“Mr. Shotelle,” Bigelow’s man blurted out. “These people claim—”

Phil cut him off, descending the stairs with purpose. “Would you be kind enough to give us a moment alone, Henry? I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding—my colleagues are under the impression they were invited to this retreat, which they are
not
.”

Henry seemed even more confused. “No, they’ve come to take Ms. Davidson home.”

“Give us a moment,” Phil repeated, his tone brooking no argument.

The gray-haired man hesitated for a beat before his expression grew incensed. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m phoning Mr. Bigelow right this instant. He needs to be made aware of these shenanigans.”

Henry marched from the parlor with surprisingly quick strides for a man his age, leaving Parker and Suz alone with Lynn’s captor.

“I’m only going to ask this once,” Parker said coldly. “Where is she?”

Shotelle’s lips curled in a sneer. “You have no right to interfere—”

Parker sprang forward, shoving the man aside as he made a beeline for the stairs. “Fine, I’ll find her myself,” he snapped without turning around.

“You can’t go up there!” Shotelle screamed.

Parker took the steps two at a time, his heart hammering in his chest. Christ, if Phil had done anything to hurt her, he was going to murder the man. Straight-up murder him.

“Lynn!” he called as he emerged onto the second-floor landing.

“No!” came Shotelle’s panicked voice. “You can’t be on this floor! This is the family wing!”

Parker ignored him, then proceeded to march down the wide hall knocking on every last door.

Fuck. No sign of Lynn.

With Shotelle breathing down his neck, he raced back to the stairs and went up to the third floor. His sharp gaze immediately zeroed in on the keys sticking out of every lock—except one. Yep, one door was missing its key, and he’d bet anything not only was it locked, but that the key was tucked safely in Phil Shotelle’s pocket.

“You son of a bitch.” He whirled around to glower at Phil, then lunged at the door and rapped his fist against it. “Lynn!” he shouted. “You in there, sweetheart?”

A hard yank on the sleeve of his button-down made him stagger sideways. Shotelle had grabbed him.

Years of military training kicked in. Parker had his hands on the other man’s collar before he could blink. He slammed Phil against the wall, hard, causing the framed photographs hanging there to sway violently.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” he hissed, his fingers tightening around the man’s throat.

Fear and desperation warred in Phil’s eyes. “You can’t be here! You’re ruining everything!
Everything
, damn it!”

The asshole kept sputtering even as Parker patted him down. One hand maintained a firm grip on Shotelle’s collar as the other searched the man’s pockets. Triumph surged through him when he felt the metal key against his palm.

“I swear to God, if you’ve done anything to her…” He let the warning hang, releasing Shotelle with a breath of disgust.

His fingers trembled as he stuck the key in the lock and turned it. A second later, he flew into the guest room.

It was empty.

He scanned the room with desperation, taking in every last detail. Queen-sized bed, perfectly made. Window open, letting in the cool evening breeze. Closet door open, revealing a dark space with empty hangers.

He hauled ass into the room to peer into the private bath, but it was empty, too.

Lynn was nowhere to be found.

As his heart plummeted to the pit of his stomach, he shot back to the door to face Shotelle, whose expression conveyed shock and horror.

“Where the
fuck
is she?” Parker shouted.

The other man blinked rapidly. “I…don’t know. She was here before. She…”

Parker drew a deep breath, then exhaled in a rush as he slammed his fist into Shotelle’s jaw.

A loud crack sliced the air, Phil’s head thrown back from the impact. The blow connected with the side of his mouth, cutting open his lip and triggering a spurt of blood that dripped down his chin.

Phil slowly brought his hand to his face, as if he couldn’t fathom what had happened. But there was no anger in his eyes. No indignation. Just a cloud of defeat, so thick his shoulders had slumped over.

“She agreed to help me,” he mumbled.

Parker swallowed his rage. “You messed with her car and brought her here against her will, you bastard. And now, if you don’t tell me where she is in the next two seconds, I’m going to beat you within an inch of your life, do you understand?”

“She was supposed to be here! I don’t know where—”

“Parker! We found her!” Suz’s voice echoed from out in the hall, bringing a wave of relief to his chest.

Without another word, he ran from the room. He’d deal with Shotelle later. Right now, his only priority was making sure Lynn was safe.

One look at Suz’s face, and his hopes vanished.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.

Her green eyes swam with concern. “We have a slight problem. Come on, follow me.”

Neither of them spoke as they went downstairs. Suz led the way out the front door, high heels clacking with each hurried step she took toward the side of the house.

Jack and Dean were already there, heads tilted up, deep voices calling encouragement.

Parker followed their gazes—and his heart jammed in his throat.

“Fuckin’ hell,” he sighed as he rushed forward.

Lynn was suspended on the side of the house as if she were doing her damnedest to act out a scene from Spiderman. Clinging to a metal eaves trough, she dangled twelve feet off the ground, her long brown hair rustled by the night breeze as she craned her neck and peered down.

Even in the darkness, the fear in her eyes was visible. And the determination. She was working it out, considering the logistics of jumping, and his heartbeat accelerated with both pride and panic.

“Parker?” Her overjoyed voice wafted from above.

“Hey, babe, fancy meeting you here,” he called out in a dry voice.

“Yeah, I got bored being indoors. Thought it would be fun to scale the side of the house.”

Her sarcasm brought an ill-timed laugh to his lips.

“Don’t you dare laugh,” she huffed. “I’m freaking out here! I thought I could make the jump, but Dean says I’ll break my neck if I try.”

“You won’t if I’m there to catch you.” Parker rolled up his sleeves as he strode toward Dean and Jack, who greeted him with somber nods.

Dean lowered his voice. “I would’ve climbed up and gotten her myself, but…look at the eaves trough, bro…”

Parker glanced up with a frown, choking on a curse when he glimpsed what Dean had spotted. The bend in the metal, near the edge of where the gutter met the downpipe leading to the ground.

Shit. The eaves trough couldn’t support Lynn’s weight for much longer. It could come crashing down any second.

If the precarious bow in the gutter hadn’t been there, he would have encouraged her to shift toward the downspout and shimmy her way down, but no way was he risking any movement on Lynn’s part.

The decision was jerked from his control as a loud screeching noise sounded, the edge of the metal under her fingers slowly peeling away from the wall.

“Parker!” Her voice quivered with fear.

He shot forward into position. “Lynn. Sweetheart. Let go.”

“I’m…scared.”

God, so was he. Of fucking up again and hurting her. Of not making the right decisions at some future point and seeing disappointment in her eyes.

But this? This moment he could fix. “Let go and trust me. I’ve got you. I promise.”

For one horrid second the metal jolted free, and he thought she’d be tossed to the side, away from where he waited to save her. But she let out a little cry, cut off as she opened her hands and fell rapidly.

Dean and Jack stood ready as backup, but it was all Parker’s responsibility now, arms extended toward her plummeting form. He timed it perfectly, clasping his hands around her and swinging her with a twist that brought her safely against his body, her feet dangling just off the ground.

She tangled her arms around his neck, and then, halle-fucking-lujah, kissed him like she was never going to let go.

Spontaneous applause burst out behind them, and Lynn smiled against his lips. She eased away even while she kept her fingers wrapped around his jacket collar. “Can’t take them anywhere, can we?”

“We should take them home.”

“God, yes. Take me home.” Her eyes widened. “But first… We need to talk immediately, but after we…come on.”

She dragged him at a near run back around the building and to the front door, the rest of the crew following close at hand. “You forget something?” Parker asked.

“Yes. Suz—my stuff is upstairs, along with my handbag. Could you ask Henry to show you where it is? Oh, and here…” She pulled a wallet from her back pocket and passed over a wad of bills. “Tell him I’m sorry I’m not staying to meet his wife, but he should take her out for a nice meal on me.”

“Deal.” Suz tilted her head toward the house. “Colter, you’re with me. Back me up, and if anyone tries to jump us, do your thang.”

“My thang?” Dean smiled as he moved to her side, double-checking for Parker’s approval before grabbing her by the hand.

“The big, bad Ranger thang. I long to swoon over your manly moves.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “The only
thang
about me that makes you swoon is that I promised to buy you Häagen Dazs once we found Lynn. So let’s haul ass. I need some Rocky Road, stat.”

Parker turned Lynn to face him, examining her carefully. “Did he—?”

“Nothing. Except—” Her teeth went straight into her lower lip, and Parker’s temper flared.

“What? What did he do?”

She seemed to be debating. “Nothing to me, other than bringing me here after I said not to. And then I said he could, but only because he threatened you and the guys. He said he was going to go to the media with proof that would ruin DreamMakers’ reputation because you and I started dating.”

“So?”

Lynn caught him by the hands. “I know how much DreamMakers means to you, and I couldn’t let him drag you through the mud.”

“Fuck DreamMakers,” Parker snapped. “Is that why you didn’t kick his balls off the first chance you got?”

Her expression was growing steadily lighter. “I wasn’t in danger, and you’ve worked so hard and—”

“You’re what matters, Lynn. We can handle some negative publicity, and if the entire thing turns to shit, we’d deal with that as well. Good God, I can’t believe you didn’t know that.”

“I didn’t want to do anything to hurt you,” she murmured.

Christ, Phil was going to be eating soft foods for the rest of his life for everything he’d put her through. “I’ll take care of him once we get home.”

“You can do it now,” Jack offered. “He’s sitting in his van, right over there, cowering.”

Jeez. Parker expected the ass would have run for the hills the first opportunity he got. They moved in slowly on the minivan, in case Phil decided to get really stupid and pull out a weapon. “Why is he still here?”

Jack held up a handful of spark plugs, his lips twitching. “It seemed appropriate.”

According to his most recent actions, Phil should have locked his doors and stayed hidden, but instead, he stood waiting for them by the door. The cocky, arrogant bastard who’d entered the DreamMakers office so many weeks ago was back, staring down his nose and swollen lips as they approached.

“That’s close enough right there,” he ordered. “I take it, Lynn, you’ve already informed your friends you agreed to join me for the weekend?”

“Coercion doesn’t get you off the hook,” Jack drawled.

Phil snorted, which turned into a moan of pain before he jerked upright. “Hardly coercion. She’s here of her own free will and—”

Parker hadn’t anticipated Lynn’s next move. He was focused on restraint instead of diving at the asshole and getting rid of his built-up frustrations and fears. Attempting to remain a rational human being in spite of the fact that this asshole had taken the woman he loved and placed her in a life-threatening situation.