Nailed Down: The Complete Series Read online

  “You wanna get shot?” I asked her, dropping any pretense of being friendly to either of these women. They might be family or close to it to Kiel, but that didn’t mean I had to play nice just because they were scared. “Or worse, you wanna distract your man so that he glances at you and drops his guard? Easy way for those bastards to get the upper hand.”

  “No. Of course not,” Kit said, her voice soothing, matching the way she squeezed her friend’s hand. Gin tossed me a glance then shook her head.

  “This is bad, I know.” The women frowned at me, and I hurried to correct myself. I might not have to play nice, but there was no need to get them all worked up and itching to throw open the door and dart right into the middle of whatever was happening downstairs. “I know rough men. I can tell when one can handle himself. Those three will have no problems…”

  The telltale rip of a bullet shot through the quiet below and cut off whatever bullshit I was planning to say. Damn the danger. Damn the promises I’d made to Kiel. We three spared one glance at each other then clamored for the door, struggling to open it.

  The noise had started up again, and from our vantage point, we spotted the small crowd downstairs. Vinnie gestured with a gun like a maniac, pointing it at Kane as he moved to Dale, who was bent over on the floor, clutching his side.

  “Back up, stronzo,” Vinnie told Kane.

  “He’s down. I have to—”

  “You have to do nothing. Move away…”

  Behind me, Kit and Gin struggled, trying to maneuver away from me to get to their men, but I managed to keep them back. “Hold on,” I whispered, my heart thundering against my ribs. “He’s got a gun.”

  “Dale…” Gin started, leaning against me. I felt her hot tears on my back as she gripped my arm. “Oh God, please…”

  “Move. Now,” Vinnie tried again, twisting his gun to angle it at Kiel. I stopped breathing as he sidestepped, going toward his brother and their downed friend.

  “Dale?” Kane called, focus still on a shaking Vinnie.

  “I’m…good,” the man wheezed, but his breath was labored. The pain he felt was evident in the low breath he released. When Dale leaned back, rolling to his back and slumping on the floor, blood spilling from his side, I couldn’t keep Gin back. She gasped, bringing the attention of the men right up at her.

  Vinnie’s mouth hardened, and a smug, pleased smile broke across his face. “Bella,” he said, laughing as he pointed the gun right at Kiel’s chest. “Come here.” When I didn’t move, the man narrowed his eyes, moving his top lip in a curl. He stepped forward, pushing the gun right over Kiel’s heart. “Now, bella.”

  “Cara,” Kiel warned, face set hard.

  I came down the stairs, holding a hand up when Gin tried scrambling around me to get at Dale.

  “Careful,” Vinnie told her, nodding for both her and Kit to stay back. “I will take Cara, sì, back to her papa.”

  “Like hell,” Kiel said, flinching when Vinnie’s gun moved, twisting into his chest. He stepped forward, sticking his chest out. “Do it,” he taunted, face screwed up in a snarl. “Because it’s only over my dead fucking body that you’ll take my wife back to New York.”

  “Kiel, no,” I cried. My heart was beating so fast now that I got light-headed.

  “Understood,” Vinnie said.

  My focus was on Vinnie’s finger curled around the trigger and the slow-motion movement of him squeezing it. The scream left my mouth. I curled my hands over my ears just as Kiel slapped Vinnie’s hand away and the gun fired just over my husband’s head.

  Everything happened in beats, like what I saw came out in slow, jarring segments, a paradox of stillness and rapid-fire movements. Vinnie stumbled back as Kiel grabbed his collar, pulling him near the door and the balcony beyond it. Gin escaped the stairs and ran straight for Dale, wailing out an awful noise that was more growl than scream. Kane launched himself at Kit, arms outstretched as he went for her just as the half-conscious asshole near the island came to, observed the chaos around him, then scrambled to his feet, charging right at Kane. He slammed into the big man, knocking him to the floor, and Kane released a loud rush of air from his chest as he fell on top of the coffee table, splintering the wood.

  I didn’t know Gin and Kit well. They were practically strangers I’d been forced upon like a stray puppy in an at-capacity kennel because of our circumstance. But each of us was scared. Each of us terrified of what happened around us to the men we loved.

  Dale was down and bloody, and Gin didn’t seem able to do more than shake and make weak attempts at comforting him. Kit was screaming at her downed man as some asshole pummeled him, and I could only stare, breath held, as Kiel traded punches with Vinnie out on the balcony.

  It took the briefest glance between the three of us before we moved, but there was a clarity in that moment that made me almost believe in some cosmic surge that moved between women. Our men were threatened. We were scared, but none of us seemed able to cower under a table or behind closed doors waiting for a rescue.

  Kit moved in time with me, and Gin followed. The bastard beating on Kane stood up straight, ready to deliver another punch, then stopped short as we came at him. There were cuts and scrapes all over his face, and his left eye was swollen shut. But shock was easy to make out, even on a bruised and bloody face like his.

  Kane groaned on the floor, and we toppled the bastard, Kit getting the most traction as she jumped on his back and started beating her fists against his head. I followed, clawing at the bastard’s neck just as Gin clamored around his front, driving her knee up into his crotch.

  “Fuck!” he cried, trying and failing to cover his head as we beat, slapped, and clawed over every free inch of skin we found. It went on forever, the sounds of his loud cries getting louder and more desperate the more we beat on him. He called out names we didn’t know, men I guessed had come along for the attack, but only Vinnie was still moving, and his attention was taken up by Kiel. “Get off…oh! God!” the bastard cried as he went to his knees, giving up fighting us off and settling for burying his face against the area rug covered in the splinters of the coffee table.

  “You got him,” Kane wheezed, pushing off the floor, sounding proud as he pulled Kit away from the downed asshole. “Baby, come on.” She climbed off him, and Gin retreated to Dale as I got to my feet, watching Kiel and Vinnie on the balcony. Kane stood behind me, moving his large hand to my shoulder as if to stop me from disrupting the fight. “He’ll be okay. Trust me.”

  I didn’t have Kane’s confidence in Kiel, but then, I’d only heard from Johnny how the Kiel I’d betrayed five years ago hadn’t been much of a fighter when they’d cornered him.

  This Kiel, however, was scary.

  “That all you got, motherfucker?” he yelled at Vinnie when the man landed one solid punch against Kiel’s chin. They both staggered, but Vinnie was the one struggling to stand upright. He was bulky and strong, but Kiel was stronger.

  “Fuck you!” Vinnie screamed, wiping blood from his nose as he charged at Kiel, managing to knock him to his knees and against the firepit near the center of the balcony.

  “Wrong answer,” Kiel said, rolling to his side to grab the metal fire poker leaning against the railing. He had it in his grip, turning it before Vinnie noticed it, and Kiel brought the metal poker down against Vinnie’s knee, then right at his ankle. Two loud, crunching strikes against his body and the bastard went down, grabbing his fresh injury as Kiel got to his feet.

  Kane let me go as I rushed toward the door, watching Kiel stand over the man, that poker still gripped in his massive fist. He watched Vinnie wailing and panting on the floor, and something moved across his face—rage and anger and likely a lot of hatred.

  It reminded me of how my father’s men looked after coming back from appointments I knew were code for family “business.” Violence slipped into the shadows of their eyes, and it hung around them like fog.

  That had started to creep into Kiel’s features, and the sight
of it scared me. He wasn’t one of my father’s brutal guards. He was talented. Kiel was intelligent, and he was mine. He was nothing like the men I’d been around my entire life. It was why I loved him.

  That fist gripped the poker tighter, and Kiel moved his hand, like he was considering smashing Vinnie’s face in just to make sure the asshole never came after us again. But when I stepped onto the balcony and caught Kiel’s attention, he glanced at me. He blinked, lashes fanning quick, as though just that rapid action was enough to pull that haze of violence from his head.

  “Amore mio,” I said, my voice sounding thick with the tears I forced down my throat. He nodded, glancing once at Vinnie, who was barely conscious, before Kiel threw the poker over the railing and darted toward me, engulfing me in his large arms.

  “Baby,” he whispered with a relieved breath before he held my face between his hands. Kiel ignored Kane as he came out onto the balcony to hustle Vinnie inside. I didn’t care what the big man did to him. The only thing that held my attention was the warmth of Kiel’s hands against my cheeks and the taste of his mouth when he kissed me. “I told you to stay in that room.” I could only shrug, having no excuses that would keep him from complaining. “You’re the most stubborn woman I’ve ever known.”

  “But you still love me?” I asked, inhaling the scent of his skin as he held me.

  “I damn well do, goddess.” Then Kiel kissed me long and slow like our world hadn’t just been toppled. Like there was no one else on the planet but me and my beautiful husband.

  16

  Kiel

  Picking at the dried blood on my hands, I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall next to Kane. The girls were clustered together across the room, giving Gin as much comfort as possible as we waited for word on Dale. We were all banged up and covered in blood, some of which wasn’t our own. Dale had gotten the worst of it, though. The gunshot required a surgery that we’d finally got word he made it through.

  Kane has barely spoken ten words to anyone since we’d settled into the waiting room. The guilt felt like a noose around my neck, choking me the deeper my brother’s frown got. We were here because of me. Dale would still be standing, not lying in a hospital bed, if it weren’t for my getting involved with Cara again. I rubbed my face, massaging at my temples to get the headache to ease, but it was no use. That guilt filled me and made breathing difficult. We should’ve stayed in New York and let Cara’s family handle things, instead of bringing the trouble to my brother’s doorstep.

  “This is some bullshit.” Kane pushed himself off the wall. My eyes followed his path, spinning on his heels before he stalked back toward me. Kit raised her head, giving Kane a sad smile before she tightened her hold on Gin. “It shouldn’t be taking so long,” Kane grumbled, unaffected by Kit’s momentary gaze. I knew my brother. It didn’t matter what assurances the doctors gave us. Kane wouldn’t relax until he saw Dale for himself.

  “I’m sorry.” The words came out in a rush, making my brother shoot a look at me. I couldn’t decipher the expression he wore. The apology was sincere and the only words I seemed able to manage. Couldn’t he tell? Couldn’t any of them? “If I could switch places, I’d take it. This is on me.”

  I shouldn’t have agitated Vinnie, but I couldn’t stop myself. Cara was mine. No one threatened anyone I loved. Especially not my wife.

  “Don’t be a dick.” Kane shook his head as he kept pacing.

  “I’m not being a dick, asshole.”

  “The last thing I need is you lying in that bed.”

  I blew out a breath, knowing he was right, but that didn’t make the sting any easier. “We should’ve stayed in New York.”

  At least in New York, we had Cara’s family and all their goons to protect us. Vinnie and his men wouldn’t have gotten within fifty feet of us, but we would’ve been prisoners at her father’s compound. If we’d stayed, I probably would’ve ended up dead, a casualty of the war I’d never wanted or asked for.

  Kane stalked toward me and grabbed me by the shoulder. “Stop your nonsense. You’re right where you should be.” He shook me, almost making me bang my head on the wall behind me. “Do you fucking hear me?” His eyes burned, simmering rage and fear clouding their depths. The emotion wasn’t something I often saw in him, but it was unmistakable when I did.

  “I hear ya,” I muttered, but I wasn’t convinced. We wouldn’t be at the hospital right now if I’d kept my ass put instead of dragging Cara all the way across the country with me.

  “Dale knew what he was getting into. The man is tougher than anyone I know. He’s going to be fine.”

  I wondered if he said the words for me or to comfort himself, but I didn’t bother asking. “You look like shit,” I said because I didn’t have anything else worth saying. We all looked like we’d been to hell and back.

  “Feel like it too.” He almost cracked a smile. “Listen, I’ll take care of the cops. I know they’re probably on their way.”

  “Fuck. We better get our story straight.” I hadn’t even thought about the police or the media who would be on this story once they heard my brother was involved.

  “It was a horrible hunting accident gone wrong,” he told me. “You hear me?” He waited a minute, long enough for me to nod before he continued. “I don’t want anyone going up there while we wait for Johnny.”

  “Understood. Who shot Dale?” I asked because there was no way I wanted to be the one to fuck up the lie.

  “Can’t tell. We both were by each other’s side and shot in the same direction, not knowing he was across the field.”

  “You think that shit will fly?”

  “It’ll work. Shit like that happens every day.”

  “But…” I said, glancing down at our torn clothes covered in blood from the fight with Vinnie’s men.

  “Dale’s blood. Tears are from when we carried him through the thick forest.”

  I shrugged, figuring his explanation worked, and between the story and his celebrity, the cops wouldn’t dig too deep. We didn’t have to worry about the Seattle police knowing Cara or the trouble her family brought with the name, so at least that point wasn’t a dead giveaway.

  The nurse walked into the room, a metal binder clutched in her hands as she scanned the name, calling “the Reynolds family,” with her eyes still on the chart. She moved her gaze around the waiting room, only half filled with impatient families then nodded when Gin shot up, darting toward her.

  Kane followed behind Gin, raising his hand. “We’re here.”

  She nodded and gave him and Kit a quick smile when they joined Gin. The woman ignored everyone but my brother and his woman, likely recognizing them like most everybody around here did. “He’s settled in his room now and finally coming out of the anesthesia. You can go up. He’s in room 417.”

  She barely got the number out before Gin was in the hallway, Kane, with Kit at his side, hot on her heels. I grabbed Cara, placing my hand at the small of her back, and walked behind them, keeping silent because I hadn’t processed everything yet. The hospital wasn’t the place to discuss what happened and how we were going to deal with the situation still at the house.

  Kane froze as we stepped off the elevator, and my eyes followed his gaze. Fuck.

  “Let me handle everything,” Kane told us, straightening his shoulders and stepping in front of Gin. “Not a word from any of you.”

  “I’ll help,” I called out, but he turned around and growled. “Let’s go, ladies,” I said, sweeping my arms out and ushering them away from the officers and inside.

  A woman stood over Dale’s bed dressed in scrubs, holding his hand like they were having a moment.

  “What the fuck?” Gin whispered as her body tensed, throwing my hand off her shoulder.

  The woman turned and glared at Gin. Clearly, they knew each other, but I had no idea from where. “Gin,” the woman said, lifting her chin as her eyes raked down the redhead’s body.

  Gin stepped forward, her hands at her sides but b
alled tight like she was about to go off and clock the nurse right in the face. “You shouldn’t be here, Trudy.”

  Trudy crossed her arms, tilting her head with a sneer, acting as though she didn’t give two shits if Gin was going to hit her. “He’s my husband. I have every right to be here.”

  I rocked back on my heels, glancing down at Cara, who looked just as shocked as me. I’d heard of Trudy. Dale never had a thing good to say about her, and I understood why. She’d been a lousy wife, and now was a piece of trash Dale couldn’t get loose from. Dale hated her, but he never said much else except for the one time we got him so drunk he spilled the entire dirty story.

  “Your ex-husband,” Gin corrected her as she moved to the foot of Dale’s bed.

  If the room hadn’t been so crowded with unwanted hospital employees, I’d have thought the expression on Dale’s face was hilarious when he began to stir. There was a lazy, goofy grin pulling up his mouth, and by the way he laughed and waggled his eyebrows at us, it was clear the man was still high as a kite from the anesthesia.

  His gaze moved between the two women, but he didn’t speak or try to defuse the situation. There was nothing to do but watch the drama unfold. This would be bad. I could feel it in my gut. Very fucking bad. At times like this, with two women about to throw down, my brother needed to be here.

  “Ladies,” I said and stepped forward, ready to give it a shot. “Maybe we should…”

  “Who the fuck are you?” Dale’s ex-wife asked, turning her icy glare toward me.

  “Get the fuck out,” Gin told Trudy before I had a chance to answer.

  “Baby,” Trudy turned toward Dale, grabbing his hand again, “do you want me to go?” she asked, her voice so sugary sweet it gave me a toothache. This bitch was good and knew exactly what she was doing.