Corps Security: The Series (98 page)

I laugh because she isn’t wrong. But Cohen is a boy full of energy, and if asking a million questions and fighting imaginary villains is what it takes, then hey, I can work with that.

Melissa turns with her smile beaming. I thought I was being careful to mask my expression, but she must have noticed that my mood was off because her smile slips and she looks at me with wide, hopeful eyes.

“Beauty . . .” I start.

“Don’t you Beauty me, Greg. You promised you would make it clear to Axel that you weren’t doing anything work related today. It’s my baby shower, and while I know this isn’t something you have any interest in attending, it means something to me. Everyone is excited. Cohen is through-the-roof excited. And I
was
excited until I realized that you’re not going to be there.”

She takes a breath, but before she can continue, I interrupt her. “Melissa, if it were any other client, I wouldn’t even think about it. I need this woman taken care of
before
our girls get here. Axel can’t deal with her alone, Beck can’t deal with her at all, and Asher isn’t allowed to deal with her. With Maddox gone, it’s only me.” I lean my forehead against hers and take a deep breath. “She’s one of our highest-paying clients, Melissa, and even though we live a comfortable life, I can’t help my worries with our girls coming. We’re going from a family of three to one of five overnight.”

Her face softens and her eyes lose their wounded look. I know she wants me there—hell, I want to be there—but I’m not lying.

“It’s that terribly nasty trophy wife, isn’t it?”

She may think she has me fooled with that bored tone, but I know she and the other girls secretly plot ways to make Mrs. Hutchins disappear.

“Yeah, Beauty. It’s her.” I brace for it because I know it’s coming.

“I hate that plastic, home-wrecking, troll-trotting, skank bitch,” she seethes.

She isn’t unjust with her hatred either. Between her, Izzy, and Dee, each of them has witnessed her attempt at getting their men to stray. We joke about it, because they know we would never even think about it, but when it comes down to it, we all want her out of our lives.

“I know, and you aren’t alone. We agreed a few weeks ago that we wouldn’t take meetings with her alone anymore. She threw herself at Beck, which is why he flat-out refuses to even be near her. Asher is out of town so he can’t help. It’s just me, and baby, as much as I hate it, I can’t let Axel deal with her alone.”

She nods her head in understanding, “I know. I get it, I really do, but that doesn’t mean I like it.” She hugs me close, and I rest my chin on the top of her head.

“I’ll be there before you even open your first gift or play your first game. Promise.”

She smiles, though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “I know you will. Now, go get Cohen dressed, please. No rain boots with shorts though!”

After getting Cohen dressed and waiting until Melissa was finally ready to go, I helped her buckle Cohen into her car before pulling her into my arms and giving her a deep kiss.

“Before the first gift, I’ll be there,” I remind her, hating that I’m letting her down, even just a little.

“I know,” she smiles. “I’m not upset, I just wish you didn’t have to go. I love you and everything you do for us. Missing a baby shower really isn’t a big deal. I’m sorry I made you feel bad earlier, but my hormones are all over the place.” She laughs, and the blush she seemed to adopt when she got pregnant spreads across her cheeks.

“I love you and your crazy hormones.”

She smiles and gives me another deep kiss. “I love you, too.” Laughing, she folds herself awkwardly behind the wheel.

I make a mental note to go straight to the dealership before the week ends and get her the minivan we’ve been talking about for a while now.

* * *

“But, Greg, isn’t there something else you can do? I just know that Harry is sleeping with that woman. I saw the way she looked at him. There is no way that a woman who hasn’t seen him naked would look at him like that.”

“It’s Mr. Cage, Mrs. Hutchins, and as Mr. Reid has gone over with you already, there is no evidence that points to any infidelity on your husband’s behalf. We’ve been watching him closely since the day you walked into our office for the
first
time. There hasn’t been a single grain of proof that we could even offer to you. I’m positive that this is a good report, correct?”

We’ve been playing this game for the last thirty minutes. I keep checking my watch, knowing that Melissa should be at the country club that the girls are using to host her shower by now. If I plan on keeping true to my promise, I need to get this woman out of our building as soon as possible.

“Oh, don’t be silly, Greg. I told you to call me Alison,” she purrs. Literally purrs. Axel rolls his eyes from his perch across the room. He’s about to blow, and I’m not far behind him.

“Mrs. Hutchins, how about this? We will put the cameras back up inside your home as well as his office for another two weeks and then reevaluate at the end of that time?”

She instantly brightens when I confirm that we aren’t cutting her loose. Shit. Axel’s going to flip.

“Darling, that is just perfect.” She makes a move to touch my arm and I pull back roughly.

After another five minutes of bullshit, she finally agrees to a time for us to come and reinstall the equipment in her home. Another pain in the ass, but this time I wouldn’t make the mistake of showing up alone.

“Swear to Christ, I’m ready to just say to hell with the ridiculous amount of money she’s paying us and cut her loose. She’s like a fucking parasite.”

I laugh at Axel and flip the lock on the front door. “Give her another two weeks of babysitting her monk of a husband and that’s it. If I weren’t in a rush to get to the baby shower the girls are throwing Melissa, I wouldn’t have even given her that.”

Axel follows behind as I make my way down the hallway and into my office to grab my keys and the files I need to go over at home tomorrow for the upcoming week.

“You aren’t telling me anything I don’t know. Izzy almost took off my head when I told her I would be late for the shower,” he laughs, palming his keys and following me out the door. “That woman actually offered to ‘service’ me before you showed up. It’s a shame it isn’t the husband who hired us. Wouldn’t even take five minutes before we had a stack full of proof.”

“Pain in the ass. That’s all she is. But right now, I couldn’t care less,” I chuckle, pausing my steps off the sidewalk when my phone starts ringing. My brow pulls tight when Axel’s own cell starts ringing too. “Popular, I guess.”

He snorts and we both pull our phones out.

“Izzy,” he smiles.

Looking down and seeing Dee’s name across my screen has my stomach dropping. I can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right as I stare at Dee’s smiling face on my phone.

I swipe my thumb across the screen to answer, but before I can speak, I notice Axel’s look of pure terror as he stands a few feet in front of me with his phone pressed against his ear.

That look alone is enough to have my body locking tight in stone-cold fear. Something is definitely very wrong.

“Cage,” I answer almost robotically.

“Greg! Oh, God. Greg . . .” She starts sobbing, and it takes every ounce of strength in my body to keep myself up and not crumpled into a mess on Sway’s golden sidewalk.

“Dee,” I gasp. There’s a simple reason for her to be upset. I’m sure it’s nothing.

“Hold . . . hold on. Let me . . .—let me put Beck on.” Her words wobble and her breath hitches a few times before I hear Beck take the phone.

“Listen to me, brother.”

I nod my head even though I know he can’t see me. My whole body is about to shut down. I just look at Axel and beg him to make my fears unwarranted. His normally tan skin is pale, and his eyes are concerned and . . . full of agony.

NO! No, oh God . . . NO!

“Greg, I’m going to tell you something and I want you to keep your shit together, no matter how hard this is going to be. Axel’s ready to help you. Let him.”

“Just say it,” I plead.

“There was an accident, Greg. Melissa and Cohen . . . Jesus, Cohen was taken by ambulance to the hospital. From what little I was able to get from one of the first responders on the scene, he’s not badly injured.”

I close my eyes. I know that my son is okay, but that relief is short-lived when I realize he’s stopped talking and hasn’t mentioned how my very pregnant wife is.

“John Beckett, you tell me right now that my wife, my fucking heart, is okay. Tell me right now that Melissa, Cohen, and my girls are okay!” I don’t even attempt to wipe the tears that are falling down my face. Axel clamps his arm down on my shoulder, offering his support.

“She had to be airlifted out, Greg. You need to let Axel get you to the hospital as soon as you can. It . . . it doesn’t look good.”

I drop the phone, hearing it shatter against the sidewalk, and it isn’t until I’m sitting in Axel’s truck while he speeds down the interstate that I realize those terrifying wails I hear are coming from me.

CHAPTER 8

Melissa

Two Hours Earlier

I hate that Greg won’t be with me for the shower. I know he said that he would try his best, but knowing
why
he got called in is making me crazier. Or I should say
who
is behind the reason he was called in. Everyone knows how that terrible Mrs. Hutchins is. She has her sights on all the men at Corps Security. I wouldn’t even be shocked if she has tried to get some action from openly gay Davey. Greg’s told me over and over how frustrating she is, and I know he’ll be there longer than he wishes.

I don’t pretend to understand why they keep her on as a client, but I trust my husband, so I’ll give him the support he needs, even if I wish he were by my side right now.

I pull up to the intersection, adjusting my belt so that it doesn’t keep digging into my belly, and take a deep breath. It doesn’t do me any good to stress over a situation I can’t control. I know it’s my hormones making me insane. Seriously, I know that Greg doesn’t have any interest in a baby shower. Hell, if I weren’t the one with enough emotional crazy rushing through my veins right now, I would probably laugh at a husband being dragged to a shower for his pregnant wife. I know he doesn’t care; he’s just doing this because I want him there.

“Mommy, will I get presents too?”

I look away from the light a few cars ahead of me, still red, before looking up and focusing on Cohen’s reflection in my rearview mirror.

I smile from just looking at his messy brown hair a few weeks past due for a cut, tousled just the way Greg’s always is these days. His brown eyes, always bright with unshed energy, and that crooked smile never fail to melt my heart. I instantly want to start sobbing with the strength of my love for this little guy.

“Mommy, your face looks funny like it does when you cry. Are you going to cry? I don’t have to get presents. I can wait till my birthday if you forgot them. Will Aunt Izzy have cake? I like leopards. Can we get my girls some leopards to match their sheets in their beds?” His smile gets bigger and he shakes his head rapidly.

“I love you, you know that?” I ask, smiling at him one more time before returning my eyes to the road when I see the light turn green.

“I know. I’m awesome.”

“Yes, you sure are.” I laugh, waiting for the car in front of me to go. I swear, traffic is a mess today. Apparently everyone and their mothers have somewhere they have to be.

“Can we buy a boat? I hope Aunt Izzy got a big cake. I’m going to eat it all up and get big like Maddox Locke.”

“Cohen, you are so silly. Why don’t you just call him Maddox?” Cohen’s been calling Maddox by his full name for so long now that it’s almost slipped out from my own lips a few times. Everyone thinks it’s the cutest thing ever, but honestly, it’s just another weird little piece of Cohen logic that helps make him the coolest kid around.

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because Maddox Locke is cooler, and it makes me smile. Maddox Locke is funny. He told me that one day I’m going to be a big boy and I need to watch how Daddy acts so that I can be the bestest man in the whole world, just like Daddy. He says it’s the key to being a superhero. Maddox Locke keeps his secrets all locked up. He told me that. But sometimes he unlocks his secrets and tells me some. So he’s my Maddox Locke.”

I have to take my eyes off the road and look at him. I’ve never noticed him and Maddox having conversations long enough for all that. Maddox is, for the most part, quiet and pensive. I’ve always known that he holds some deep pain, and while it’s no secret with the girls that he’s got a seriously secret soft side, this is the first I’ve heard of him and Cohen bonding like this.

“You know, he might be onto something there.”

“I know.”

I smile, focusing my attention back on the road when we finally start making some progress through the intersection that’s been backed up for a while now.

“Uh, they need to do something about all this traffic,” I mutter under my breath. They’ve been working on this intersection for what seems like years. The light that was a last-ditch effort to relieve some of the congestion seems to be making it worse. No one pays attention to anything.

Right when I’m about to cross over the intersection, I hear a loud horn followed by Cohen’s scream in the backseat. Checking the car in front of me, seeing that it’s a good distance ahead, I don’t even get my eyes to the rearview to check the one following before I see it.

Just out of the corner of my eye, I see the flash of red before I hear the twisting, bending, moaning, and screaming sounds of metal and glass colliding. I can feel the tiny pieces of glass that fly from my window piercing my skin. My seatbelt pulls tight and digs into my skin. Every inch of my left side is on fire, burning in a way that makes my vision dim.

It takes only a second, but in that second, I think about the little boy in the backseat, praying that he’s okay and unharmed. I pray that the little girls still growing in the safety of my belly aren’t affected. And I think about the handsome man who isn’t going to be okay if anything happens to his family.