“I know where they are,” I growled under my breath, both of us heaving and seething in the tense silence.
“Well I didn’t think you just wanted to go for a drive,” he muttered back.
“My sister and that dipshit are supposed to be in jail. In fact, the DA we know swore he’d call me first thing if they somehow got early release.”
“No call, huh?”
I shook my head.
“What, they fucking broke out?”
I glanced at my buddy. “Either way, they’re out.”
“And they’ve got her.”
I gritted my teeth, the fury raging through me.
“They’re going to call, and they’re going to want money,” I spit. “I know my goddamn sister, and that’s their play here. Probably looking to score more drugs or some shit.”
“But you know where they are.”
“Yep.”
The small town where I’d built my house, and where Lincoln was building his wasn’t just some random town. Back when I was young, when things were simple and before our parents died young, they used to bring Steph and me here. The small little country house we used to rent for a few weeks in the summer was gone by the time I’d decided to move here, but it was that land that I’d built on.
Back then, with no tv or internet or bullshit like that to capture our attentions, Steph and I had gone exploring instead. Specifically, the old Peterson Mill out by the edge of town. And instantly, I knew two things as I gunned the engine, blasting down the country roads as the blood pounded through my veins like diesel.
One, Steph and her dipshit boyfriend were out for cash, and they’d grabbed Kenzie to do it. They hadn’t called yet, but I knew they would, and I knew for certain where they were.
I knew that and one other thing: if they’d harmed one single hair on Kenzie’s head, there’d be fucking hell to pay.
The car screeched around a bend, kicking up dirt as I slammed on the gas. Suddenly, my cell chimed over the bluetooth, and I glanced at Lincoln, who clenched his jaw grimly.
“Right on fucking time,” he muttered.
“You fucked up, Stephanie.”
I didn’t even let her talk before I spoke, my voice cutting through the phone like a jagged blade. I could hear her stammering, caught off guard by me knowing exactly who it was before she even spoke.
“Listen, Wilder—”
“No,” I growled, my voice like cold ice. “You listen. We’re coming for her, and if you have any fucking sense left in you, you and that piece of shit who calls himself her father will leave her, and get the fuck out of dodge, now.”
“Fuck you, Wilder, if you want to see this bitc—”
“If you hurt her in anyway, I will bury you, both of you,” I said quietly, every muscle in my body clenched tight. “Do you understand?”
There was silence before suddenly, he came on the phone.
“Alright you rich prick,” he mumbled. “We’re gonna need one million bucks, today, in cash. You fucking got that, moneybags?”
“No deal,” I growled.
He laughed. “Fuck you, man. You wanna gamble with her life?”
“She’s your daughter,” Lincoln hissed, his hand balling into a fist like he might put it through the dash speaker.
“Yeah?” the man snickered. “Well it sounds like she’s your whore, so—”
“You’re a dead man,” Lincoln said quietly, his eyes narrowed and looking straight ahead. “You’re a fucking dead man.”
“One million, you pricks!” Kenzie’s dad spat into the phone. “We’ll call you back in one hour to tell you where to—”
I ended the call abruptly.
“You bring a gun?”
I shook my head, glancing at Lincoln. “You?”
“Nope, but it doesn’t matter,” he growled. “Just get me in that room, and I’m going to put your sister and that piece of shit in the fucking ground.”
The rage exploded through me as my hands gripped the wheel tight. My foot brought the pedal to the metal as the car thundered down the backroads.
It was time to take back what was ours.
18
Mackenzie
I screamed into the gag in my mouth, kicking out and trying to break free, even if I knew it was hopeless. I was tied to an old wooden chair, with an old t-shirt or something stuffed into my mouth. The rope dug into my skin, burning and cutting me, but I kept struggling anyway.
No way was I going to just sit there and let them try to do this.
I could hear my dad on the phone with what had to be Wilder and Lincoln, and slowly, I could feel my heart sinking. It wasn’t like I had any love left for my father — not after the life I’d had and all the ways he’d abandoned me and neglected me. But the fact that my own flesh and blood would kidnap me and try and barter me for ransom still hurt.
I glanced at Wilder’s sister, watching her pace the floor and chain-smoke cigarettes. She’d been talking on the phone first, but when she’d stuttered to a stop and turned white, my dad had yanked it out of her hands.
“One million, you pricks!” he yelled into the phone. “We’ll call you back in one hour to tell you where to—”
I blinked, his face turning red as he pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it. “Fucking assholes hung up on me!”
He whirled, snarling as he glared at me.
“Looks like your little boy-toy sugar-daddies gave up on you, huh? I mention money, and they hang up?” He shook his head, glaring at me. “Looks like I raised you to find some real prizes, huh.”
I glared at him, muttering through the gag before he marched over and took it out.
“What?”
“I said you didn’t raise me at all,” I hissed. “I did.”
He rolled his eyes as he looked way. “Well, either way, they ain’t fuckin’ coming, so we need a new plan.”
He and Stephanie stormed away, lighting cigarettes and pacing around muttering and trying to come up with a plan. But I wasn’t worried. I knew Wilder and Lincoln would come for me.
…I knew it, in my heart. The man holding me hostage like this — tied to a chair in this old mill building — was not my family.
They were.
Lincoln and Wilder had become the family I’d looked for my entire life. And I don’t just mean they were my “daddies,” as hot as that dynamic was. But they protected me, and took care of me, and listened to me. And loved me. With them, I became a part of something bigger than just me, and that’s what a family was supposed to be, right?
“Well call them back!” my dad shouted at Stephanie, shoving the phone back into her hands.
“You fucking call them! You’re the one who just blew the deal, asshole!” She screeched back. “Dammit, we need that money! Rico said he’d have a whole package for us in a few days. We need that money to get it! C’mon, think about it! We could do as much of it as we wanted and sell the rest and be set!”
For one second, my dad glanced at me, and there in his eyes, I could see the hesitation.
“C’mon,” Stephanie whined. “I wanna get high!”
And just like that, his attention snapped away from me, and he grinned as he grabbed the phone. Just like that, my own father chose drugs over me.
Again.
And just like that, I knew there wasn’t any single doubt about who my real family was now.
…I just need them to hurry up and save me.
My dad snatched the phone up, punching the buttons and bringing it to his ear before he swore.
“Fuckin pricks just picked up and then hung up on me!”
He muttered under his breath, dialing again and listening before he swore even louder.
“They just did it again!”
“Maybe you ain’t dialing it right!”
“They’re picking up, Steph!”
The two of them bickered back and forth, yelling so loud that they didn’t even hear the sound of the engine approaching.
But I d
id.
“Well maybe they’re just fucking with you! Keep calling!”
“Goddamnit, bitch, let me handle it!”
“Well maybe they’re trying to get the money together first.”
Or maybe they’re just stalling and keeping you preoccupied.
“Fuck you! Give me the phone, I’ll call—”
With a thundering roar, the big wooden barn door on the side of mill building exploded. I screamed, turning my head as wood splinters showered the room, and as the roaring Bentley came to a screeching stop. The doors slammed open, and the two huge men came roaring out, hurdling the smashed wreckage of the door and charging at Stephanie and my dad.
The two drug addicts went white, their jaws dropped in shock and horror. Stephanie just sank to her knees right there, and while my dad tried to make a run for it, Lincoln’s hand caught him by the back of the neck and yanked him to the ground.
“Watch them,” Wilder growled, shoving his sister into Lincoln’s other hand before he ran across the room to me. He slashed the ropes from me, scooping me up and kicking the chair away before he kissed me fiercely. I threw my arms around him, hugging him so close like I never wanted him to stop.
He sat me down, and I gasped as Lincoln came barreling into me, scooping me up and kissing me too.
“Fuckin knew it.”
We all stopped, turning to look at my dad, there on his knees next to Stephanie.
“I knew you were slutting it up with these two fuckin—”
He choked on his words, his face going white as the hand slammed into his neck, knocking him to the floor and clenching tight around his windpipe.
My hands.
“You listen to me,” I hissed, my blood roaring in my veins and my eyes narrowing on the man I’d never call father again. “Listen to me and don’t you fucking forget what I’m about to say to you.”
He swallowed, his eyes wide.
“You abandoned me. Over and over and over again, you let me down, you left me to raise myself and fend for myself, and you did all of this without even a second’s hesitation. You don’t get to speak to me that way.”
My eyes burned into his empty, vacant ones, and I shook my head.
“You’re not my father. Not anymore.”
I stood, backing away and into Lincoln and Wilder. He and Stephanie started to stand, but my two guys growled as they moved forward, between me and them.
“Sit,” Wilder snarled, his shoulders heaving. He pulled his phone out.
“Wilder, c’mon,” Stephanie whined. “What are you doing?”
“Calling the fucking cops. Because I’m willing to bet money there are jails that are currently looking for you.”
She and my dad looked at each other with white faces.
“Hang on, hang on, Wilder. C’mon, we’re family! You can’t just—”
“Family would never do this, Steph.”
He shook his head, stepping away with the phone. Lincoln pulled me tight, holding me in his arms as Wilder made the call.
“Mackenzie, honey—”
“Don’t ever talk to her again,” Lincoln growled, pointing a finger at my dad. “Not ever.”
His hand tightened on my waist, and I felt Wilder move in behind me.
“Sheriff Watkins and his boys are on the way.” He nuzzled my neck. “You okay?”
“I am now,” I said quietly, feeling the two of them wrapped around me so warm and tight.
We could hear sirens, and when the Sheriff and his officers pulled up, Wilder and Lincoln took me away. Lincoln helped me into the car as Wilder shook hands with the Sheriff and promised to make some statements later. And then we drove home.
Home. Because that’s what it was. A house is just a house, but it’s love and family that make it a home.
And that’s exactly what we had. Love, a home, and two daddies as the only family I needed.
Epilogue
Mackenzie
Six months later
“Ugh, that class. I swear, Professor Jameson gets off on punishment.”
I grinned, looking away to hide the blush from my face.
Well he wouldn’t be the only one…
Cora sighed, thankfully missing the heat on my face as she shook her head. “For real though, if he wasn’t so fucking gorgeous, I’d have dropped that class like a brick by now.”
I snickered. “Well, that and it’s part of your major and you have to take it.”
She groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
We both laughed as we headed across the quad, backpacks slung over shoulders and hot to-go cups of coffee in our hands. Cora and I had become fast friends after being paired for a first week assignment in the aforementioned Professor Jameson’s class. She, like me, didn’t live on campus, but where she lived in the apartment above her grandmother’s garage, I lived with my two boyfriends in an insanely expensive castle-like mansion on an estate’s worth of land.
…I hadn’t exactly given her all those details yet. As far as Cora knew, I lived with my boyfriend a little drive away from campus. She knew he was older, but she didn’t know he was that much older. And she certainly didn’t know there were two of them. I was trying to build up to that though.
This was college life for me. Yeah, it was a little different than most freshman college kids, I’ll admit that. No dorms. No lame keg parties at frat houses. No sweating it out at some part time barista job to pay for books. Trust me, having been on the other side of the tracks, I was well aware of how good I had it. And it wasn’t that I had no social life or anything — it’s not like Lincoln and Wilder “kept me” at the house away from all people. Though, if they had their way, I’m sure they’d want to personally vet any guy who so much as looked my way. But they knew there was nothing to worry about. I didn’t have eyes for anyone but them, and I never would.
…Hell, who the heck could possibly even compete with them?
I studied my ass off, but when I wasn’t, I was living a dream with the two of them. After the whole thing with Wilder’s sister and my dad, we’d all gotten even closer. So close in fact, that it was decided that Lincoln would move into Wilder’s place permanently. He put a hold on the construction over at his place, and instead, they ended up breaking ground to basically double the size of Wilders. It was an insane move, seeing as the house was basically already a freaking castle, but I think Lincoln put it best, even if he was joking.
“You, we can share. But I want my own bedroom from time to time, and I’m sure as fuck not sharing a bathroom with that guy.”
Fair enough.
Instead, they were turning what was going to be Lincoln’s place into a headquarters for their new business. No, no more soldiering for my two Marines. And besides, they already had all the money they need. No, the new venture was going to be coordinating with Veterans Affairs across the country to get vets with addiction problems stemming from PTSD the help, guidance, and support they needed.
I guess seeing how far from the drugs had taken his sister had sparked something in Wilder. And the two of them knew enough vets who were struggling that it just made sense.
As for Stephanie and my dad? Well, they did go back to the jails they’d broken out of. Okay, “broken out of” makes them sound a lot smarter than they actually are. What’d actually happened was that a maintenance worker left a door ajar at the minimum security holding jail where my dad had been kept, and he’d literally just walked out the door. He’d gone across the street and basically done just that to the women’s jail there where Stephanie was being held, and the two of them had gone on the run.
…Not exactly criminal masterminds.
But yeah, they went back to jail, and they’ll be there a little while. None of us pressed charges, even though we could have added kidnapping and extortion to their crimes. At the end of the day, they might have been shitty people, but addiction is a rough collar. They’ll serve their time for the pharmacy hold-up, and then they can go do whatever they want. But Lincoln, Wilder,
and I will have nothing to do with them. Actually, there’s a lifetime restraining order for both of them by us, so, I doubt we’ll be seeing them again.
Suits me just fine.
“So, what are you doing tonight? Feel like coming over? Bottle of wine and a Gilmore Girls marathon?”
I grinned. “Very tempting, but I sadly have plans.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, right, with your mysterious old-man boyfriend.”
“Har har har.”
I poked her in the arm as she laughed.
“Seriously, when are you going to let me meet him?”
“Soon, I promise,” I shrugged. “And he’s not old, he’s just old-er.”
“And yet you won’t give any details about—”
“Thirty-seven.”
Cora turned, her brow shooting up.
“Well then!” She grinned wickedly. “Hot I assume?”
This time, it was my turn to grin. “Extremely.”
“Lucky.”
I blushed, feeling the smile creep across my face as we headed back to the parking lot.
“Alright, well enjoy your night with Mr. Mystery Man.”
Men.
“Thanks. Enjoy Gilmore Girls.”
She laughed. “Thanks for rubbing my singleness in.”
“You know, there’s also Professor Jameson. Good looking, older, and you did say he probably got off on punishment.” I winked. “Hey, it could be fun.”
This time it was Cora’s turn to blush.
“Okay, now I really want to meet your mystery man, because I think there’s a side to you I have no idea about.”
Correct.
I grinned as I gave her a hug and then headed for my car. Well, Lincoln’s car, but I’d pretty much made the vintage Mustang mine at that point.
“See you tomorrow. Text me if you end up getting dirty with our professor.”
She hooted out a laugh. “Try not to get punished too hard by your old man boyfriend!”
The gates to our estate opened automatically as I drove up to them, a sensor in the car letting the security system know it was me. As I drove up the long, winding drive, I felt the heat creep through my body.