Jackson's Sub [The Doms of Club Mystique 2] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 20

  “Right.”

  “And, now that we’re best friends, you have to tell us everything, and we never, ever rat on each other. Right, Jenna?”

  “Right.” Jenna returned to her chair. “So, talk.”

  “Okay,” Cassie said, “I’ve been really confused so maybe you two can help me figure this out. The other night nothing actually happened. Once we got to the playroom, Luc and Logan just kept giving each other these funny glances and shrugs then Logan made me write out my limits. He and Luc read them and then Luc nodded and left the room. Then Logan said they’d let me know when they decided on a time for my punishment and he left the room.”

  “Well, you have to understand how they work,” Addison said. “Luc is brilliant but he’s sort of clueless and he gets his emotions from Logan.”

  Jenna took up the conversation. “On the other hand, Logan is street smart and really in touch with his emotions. He acts as a sort of emotional conduit for Luc. Just think of them as two halves of a whole and you’ll be okay.”

  “Don’t forget the symmetry thing,” Addison added. “They almost always sit directly across from each other so when one of them looks up he has a mirror image of himself. If they can’t sit across from each other for some reason then Luc always sits on the left and Logan on the right. The number one thing to remember is no matter how much they argue they are a package deal. Nothing and nobody comes between them.”

  “I don’t want to come between them.” Cassie blushed then giggled. “Although I’ve decided I wouldn’t mind playing with them in a casual, no-contract arrangement every now and then. Maybe.”

  “Another thing you need to know is the entire ranch is wired for intruders. Video and audio. So be careful what you say anywhere else in the house and everywhere outside,” Addison said.

  “The bedrooms are bug free?” Cassie asked.

  “Yes, although the windows are wired for security purposes and the glass”—she waved at the glass wall beside them—“is all bulletproof.”

  “Wow, paranoid much?” Cassie giggled.

  “Something else you need to know is Cade and Addison have fucked everywhere on this ranch, inside and out, except for the snake-infested garden shed,” Jenna said, still miffed.

  “It doesn’t have snakes. I just think it does,” Addison reminded her.

  Cassie shuddered with revulsion. “I’m avoiding the garden shed. I hate snakes. I even hate worms and caterpillars. Ugh!”

  “Spiders,” Addison added and all three of them nodded.

  “Grasshoppers,” Jenna added. “They jump on you and they have those prickly legs.” A delicate shiver shook her hand as she lifted a glass of tea from the table next to her.

  “Cade when he gets that cold, hard look in his eyes and I know I’ve pushed him too far.”

  “Jackson when his eyes lighten to the golden color. Then I know I’m in big trouble.”

  “Luc and Logan when they’re arguing and then all of a sudden they get quiet and do that odd miming act then come to a silent, unspoken agreement. It’s really weird, and scary in an ‘oh, yes, I can hardly wait to see what they’re going to do next’ kind of way.” Cassie leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I’ve heard rumors about Luc and Logan for years but I always sort of thought they were exaggerated.”

  “No. I don’t think anything you’ve heard about the Ramsey brothers is ever exaggerated,” Jenna said.

  When a loud gurgle of hunger rumbled from Addison’s stomach, she laughed then rubbed her tummy. “Let’s go feed Limo.”

  “Limo?” Jenna asked.

  “Cade and I decided since the baby was conceived in Thor’s limo we would call him, or her, Limo until we find out what we’re having then figure out a name.”

  Cassie laughed. “I like it.”

  Jenna agreed as another rumble came from Addison’s tummy. “Let’s go eat and then we can see if someone can take us into town. You forgot to bring your wedding dress from the house the other day, and I need to check on the contractor’s progress at the clinic. They’re having a lot of problems.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Addison climbed to her feet with a tug from Jenna. “I’m going stir-crazy in this house.”

  “Me, too,” Cassie told them, “but I have to finish some other projects Mick has me working on, and Thor has told me he wants them today.”

  “It will be interesting to see how Luc and Logan resolve the seating issue,” Addison mumbled. “They’ll probably make you eat in the kitchen.”

  “If they do that we’ll join you,” Jenna said in a show of solidarity.

  * * * *

  Jenna smiled at Jackson as he caught her eye in the rearview mirror. He smiled before turning onto the shortcut that would take them around the outside of Rendezvous to the north side of town.

  “It won’t take me long to talk to the contractor,” she told him. “I just need to make sure they’re still on schedule and that the right cabinets arrived for the exam rooms.”

  “Take your time, angel. I need to go by the feed store while we’re in town and pick up a few things.”

  “My house is on the way from the clinic to the feed store. I need to stop there and pick up some things I forgot the other day,” Addison said. “Then I want waffles.”

  “Baby, we just had lunch,” Cade said.

  “By the time we get through all the errands it will be time for a snack. You can have sweet tea and I want waffles.”

  “Then you can have waffles,” Cade told her absently as he glanced in the side mirror.

  Jackson glanced in the rearview mirror and saw a large black truck with dark tinted windows coming up fast behind them. “Trouble.”

  “I see it.” Cade checked the magazine in his gun then made sure the safety was off. “Addison, I want you and Jenna to lie down on the floor and hold onto each other. Keep your heads down.”

  Addison glanced behind them then leaned forward, trying to reach Cade. “What about you and Jackson?”

  “Do it now, baby.”

  Jenna met Addison’s scared eyes then pulled her down until she was lying with her back against the front seats and her legs drawn up. Wiggling, she pulled her own legs up then leaned over Addison and hugged her waist, resting her head by her head. “We’ll be okay, Addison.”

  “What about Cade and Jackson?”

  “They’ll be fine. Just keep your head down and think about Limo.” She heard a shaky laugh from Addison just before there was a crashing sound and the truck jerked to the side. She and Addison both screamed as the truck swerved then picked up speed.

  Cade leaned out of the open window. “I can’t get a shot,” he yelled. “He’s too far over to the left.”

  Jackson looked ahead, saw there were no cars on the road ahead of them, and pulled over into the left lane. “Try now,” he yelled as he watched the road ahead of them.

  Cade took aim and a second later a large hole appeared in the windshield of the oversized truck behind them. The black truck swerved then the driver regained control and it picked up speed, crashing into the back of Jackson’s truck again. Cade opened fire, placing a line of bullet holes across the windshield.

  “Shit,” Jackson yelled as he hit the brakes and tried to swerve around the truck blocking the road ahead of them. Seeing a gravel road to his right, he tried to turn onto it. The tires hit the gravel and lost traction, and the back of the truck fishtailed as the front slid toward a large tree.

  Jackson had just enough time to throw his arms up in front of his face before his side of the truck hit the tree. The last thing he saw was Cade’s airbag inflating as Cade’s body disappeared out the window. A second later, his door flew open and something hard hit the back of his head.

  * * * *

  Jenna tapped Jackson’s face with her bare foot again. Next to her, Addison groaned as she opened her eyes. She saw the fear flare in Addison’s eyes just before she heard the muffled screams coming from her duct-taped mouth. Scooting over to her as quickly as she could, s
he leaned against her to calm her and made soothing, muffled noises. Finally after a few moments Addison calmed down as tears made clean tracks in the layer of dirt on her face. She blinked then looked at Jenna, a question in their depths. Jenna shrugged, indicating she didn’t know where they were or how they had gotten there.

  What she did know was that they were in a metal building of some kind. It was empty with a row of windows up high on the back wall and a large door opposite it with a regular door next to it. The floor beneath them was concrete and had muddy tire tracks all over it. The only light in the room came through the west facing windows from the lowering sun. At least Jenna hoped it was the sun going down and not coming up.

  From the feeling in her fingers and toes, she decided they couldn’t have been there very long. She scooted back over to Jackson and tapped his face again with her foot. Next to her Addison copied her motions, tapping Cade with her foot. After several minutes of no response, they looked at each other and knew it wasn’t going to work.

  She and Addison had rope around their wrists and ankles but Jackson and Cade were in locked metal shackles of some kind. All four of them had their arms behind their backs and duct tape over their mouths.

  Addison frowned then wiggled back and began contorting her body, slipping her tied wrists beneath her butt before she dropped to her back and wiggled until her arms were wrapped around the back of her thighs. She wiggled until she could pull her legs free and her arms were in front of her. Reaching up she slowly pulled the tape from her mouth. “Damn, that hurts,” she whispered as she licked her lips. She scooted over to Jenna and began working on the knot holding her wrists together.

  A few minutes later Jenna breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled her arms around in front of her and rolled her shoulders. She pulled the tape from her mouth. “We need to figure out where we are and how to get Jackson and Cade free if we can. If not, we just need to get them out of here,” Addison told her in a whisper as she looked around.

  Next to her, Addison was already working on untying the rope from her ankles. “Do you think there’s a guard at the door?”

  Pulling the rope away from her ankles, Jenna stood then tiptoed to the door and listened. Suddenly she stiffened then backed away from the door.

  Addison had gathered up the pieces of rope and was sitting by Cade with his head on her lap. She had removed the tape from his and Jackson’s mouths. Looking up as she combed her fingers through Cade’s hair, she whispered, “I was afraid they couldn’t breathe with the tape on their mouths. Cade has a large bump on the back of his head. So does Jackson. I think someone hit them.”

  Jenna slid to her knees and lifted Jackson’s head and felt for the knot on his head. When her fingers came away with blood on them, she knew why she hadn’t been able to wake him. She gently lifted his eyelids. He didn’t appear to have a concussion. She lowered his head then checked Cade and found the same thing.

  “We’re on our own and they might need to go to the emergency room.”

  Addison looked around and saw a pipe on the wall that went up through the roof next to the windows. Smiling, she walked over to it and tested it. Jenna stood next to her. “I think this will hold my weight. It goes to the roof. Maybe to an air conditioning unit or something. I can use it to climb up to those windows. They’re large enough for me to get through.”

  “How will you get down?”

  “I don’t know. It depends on what I can see from the windows. Maybe there’s another line or pipe outside.”

  “It’s too dangerous. If you fall, you’ll not only hurt yourself, you’ll lose the baby.”

  “Can you think of anything else?”

  Looking around and not seeing anything they could use, she shook her head. “Okay, listen to me. If you can get up there and out a window and to the ground then go get help. Don’t do anything like try to distract the guard or anything like that. Promise me, Addison.”

  “Maybe I could sneak up behind him and hit him with a rock or something.”

  Grabbing her shoulder, she gave her a little shake. “No, Addison. Promise me you’ll go for help.”

  “Okay, I promise. Just don’t let anything happen to you or them,” she said, nodding toward the two men on the floor.

  “I’ll do my best. I promise.” Jenna bent over and cupped her hands. “Come on. I’ll give you a boost.”

  Addison spit on her hands, rubbed them together, and then put her foot in Jenna’s cupped hands and reached up and grabbed the pipe.

  “Gross,” Jenna muttered.

  A soft giggle came from Addison as she climbed the pipe, her hands reaching one over the other until she was level with the window. Peering out, she grinned down at Jenna. “I can see trees behind us, maybe the corner of a house roof to the left, and a lake with a boat dock to the right.” She reached up and unlatched the window. A few seconds later she disappeared through it.

  Jenna listened for a few moments then moved back to Jackson and lifted his head to her lap. Cade’s eyes were open and locked on the window Addison had disappeared through. He blinked then looked at her, one brow cocked.

  “You have something to tell me, Jenna?”

  “You and Jackson might have concussions?”

  Sighing, he shook his head then grimaced with pain. “Where is Addison going?”

  “For help.”

  “Barefoot and pregnant?”

  “Well, yes, I guess so, but she’s not helpless.”

  “I know that. I may not have known about the wedding dress but I know about the gymnastics and the warehouse and the belly dancing and those ‘retreats’ the two of you took every spring break.”

  “So, Addison was right and you’ve always had a tail on her? Even after she turned twenty-one and sent her security team away?”

  “Yes. They always worked for me, by the way. They continued to work for me after she sent them away. I just put together a new team. One she wouldn’t recognize.”

  His words really pissed her off. “Don’t you think Addison has the right to her privacy? To live a normal life like everyone else?”

  “Jenna,” Jackson growled, “Addison is not a normal person. She’s the only daughter of a famous mother, and a billionaire in her own right. You don’t know how many death threats, kidnapping attempts, and con artists Cade has protected her from all these years.”

  Upset with herself for never realizing how Addison might have been in danger in the past, and how Cade had protected her, Jenna said, “I’m sorry, Cade. I didn’t know. Has there really been that many?”

  “Yes. Too many,” Cade told her.

  “You love her,” Jenna said.

  “Ever since the day I met her. I just didn’t want to admit it. Not even to myself.” He looked into her eyes, hiding nothing. “I’ll die before I let anything happen to her.”

  Clapping came from the direction of the door as Baume entered the building. Behind him, one of his men jerked on a pale arm and Addison appeared. She lifted her leg and kicked out, catching Baume between the legs. He grunted, then bent over holding his junk, cursing. Addison twisted around and punched out at the man holding her, the palm of her hand catching him on the throat. Gagging, he picked her up and threw her.

  Cade was yelling Addison’s name and trying to get up so he could catch her. Still chained, he couldn’t move fast enough, but Jenna did. She moved to intersect Addison and the two of them crashed together before they fell to the concrete floor together.

  Cade and Jackson heard the back of Jenna’s head hit the concrete as Addison covered her belly with her arms and rolled away from her.

  “You bastard. I’m going to kill you,” Cade yelled as he tried to reach Addison.

  Jackson inch-wormed his way across the floor on his butt until he reached Jenna. Chained the way he was, he couldn’t touch her so he nudged her with his bare foot, then nudged her again, until she moaned. “Open your eyes, angel.”

  Behind him Cade had made his way to Addison and was trying to g
et her to open her eyes. After a moment or two, she opened her eyes and squinted up at him. “I got Baume good, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, baby, you got him good.” Cade glanced at Baume’s man, who was still choking and holding his throat. “You got the other one, too. I’ll have to remember that the next time I piss you off.”

  “You taught me those moves, Cade.”

  “Well, isn’t that sweet?” Baume walked toward them, a self-satisfied smile on his lips. “I got me two Ramseys and two almost Ramseys.” Turning to his man, he told him, “Pete, call the other men. We’re going to have us a little party. I hear these two little gals like their sex down and dirty, and these two like to watch.”

  “You touch either one of them and I’ll kill you so slow the devil will get tired of waiting for your soul,” Jackson said, his eyes flat and cold.

  “Save the threats, Jackson. I already heard them from your dad. He died crying and screaming like a baby,” Baume said, arrogantly confessing to killing John McLeod.

  Jackson rolled to his knees then rose to his feet, standing between Jenna and Baume. “Bullshit. There’s no way a man like my father even noticed a worthless coward like you, Earl, until you challenged him. You couldn’t outshoot him and apparently you couldn’t out fuck him because the way I hear it my mother wouldn’t leave him for you.”

  “You bastard,” Baume screamed as he rushed at Jackson, his nightstick raised and coming down on Jackson’s shoulders.

  A second later Jenna attacked Baume, screaming for him to leave Jackson alone. She slapped at his chest then grabbed him around the waist and tried to jerk him away. Before Cade could stop her, Addison rushed at Baume and jumped on his back and began beating and screaming at him, too.

  Baume was forced to stop swinging at Jackson as he tried to get Jenna’s arms away from his waist and Addison off his back. Every time he got an arm loose, one of the women replaced it with another arm or leg. Finally, yelling for help, his man Pete shuffled over and began helping him. Baume pushed Jenna away and right into Jackson, making them both stumble back. Pete finally managed to pull Addison off Earl’s back, but she turned and wrapped herself around him. After a moment he managed to hold her away from him.