Take Me Home: Book 4 The Wakefield Romance Series Read online

  “This looks dangerous, boys,” he says and I see him tying a scarf around his neck as I turn, looking over my shoulder. We look like your average business men, dressed semi-casually for a Saturday at the office. It’s still funny to me to put on a tie everyday rather than a flack, but hey, gotta dress to impress, right?

  “Yeah, and my wife is goin’ to cut off my cojones when I get home,” Reno says, giving me a raised eyebrow and I nod to him, agreeing with the statement. Rhea is going to be overly pissed and this whole leaving without telling her anything, yeah it’s already starting to eat me alive.

  “Yup,” is all I mumble as the elevator dings at the garage level and we all step out. My breath fogs in the cold as Reno keeps stride with me to my truck, glad that the automatic starter has the range to kick on when I’m still in the building.

  “See ya boys on Monday, then.” Carter kind of laughs as he gets into his BMW that’s parked next to us and we both wave. He can laugh, he doesn’t have a wife to make angry. Or a son to miss playing with even if we are only gone a day or two, but with an in-the-dark mission like this, who knows how long we’ll be gone?

  “You gonna tell her?” Reno asks as I start to pull from the parking garage, following Smith’s Jeep. I feel the need to tell Rhea, but I just can’t disobey orders like that.

  “Nah, Man.” I shake my head, pulling my cell from the cup holder as we sit at the red light. I glide through a text, telling Rhea I’ll be home in the normal 45 minutes and send it to her as the weight grows on my heart. “Fuck, this is gonna be bad. Not only for us, but I just have a feeling. Ya know?”

  Looking over to my best friend, I see him pull the collar on his jacket up around his neck tighter. I know that same chill that is running down my spine is going down his. “Yeah, Man, I feel it.”

  Not only am I going to have to deal with leaving Rhea and Charlie, and the aftermath of that, but if I get all the way over there and something has happened to Bobby or Jack, so help me God. I’ll hunt down the owners of Savage Security myself.

  So. Help. Me. God.

  ~~~~

  Rhea

  It’s starting to snow lightly outside as I see headlights pass across the far corner of the backyard and the familiar rumble of Ellie’s old Beretta as it shuts off makes my heart lighten. I’ve been bored today. We didn’t have anything planned and Chad was called into work at 4 a.m., right out of bed; so I’ve been home all day with Charlie. I’m not complaining because I love lazy days with my son as much as the next mom, it’s just I felt as if I should be doing something more substantial all day other than playing with blocks and trucks.

  “Mama,” he shouts from his high chair and I turn my stare from the dark, snow flake speckled view of the backyard through the sliding patio door to see him flinging the cheese puffs I had just given him off the tray and all over the dining room. It makes me smile, even when I bend to pick them up and a slight soreness runs through my thigh and hip; the same thigh that was torn to pieces by Duke Orr’s bullet.

  I’m reminded daily by little things that I came so close to dying a little over a year ago. Well, in fact, I did die, twice, but thanks to my friend and part time boss, Brad Muncy, and the doctors, I was revived and am here to tell the tale. Charlie squeals when I place the recovered cheese puffs back on his tray and I lean down and kiss his soft, dirty blonde hair covered head. This little boy has me wrapped around each and every one of his chubby, cheese dusted fingers and I won’t have it any other way.

  He’s the perfect mix of my handsome Chad and myself, and I can’t help but sigh a little when I think of my over worked husband. He has been stressed over something, but of course he can’t talk to me about it; it’s top secret. I know because I’ve tried eavesdropping, which is horrible, but he’s caught me every time and just politely brushed it off; closing doors and going into the garage to talk.

  “Hey Ray-Ray!” Ellie’s sweet voice comes through my home and I turn to see her bundled up figure and her arms full of grocery bags. Rushing to her side, I take in her smile as she says, “I stopped and got you some soda and paper plates. I also got some chips and stuff for snacking until the pizzas get here.”

  “You didn’t have to,” I tell her and give her a kiss on the cheek as she gives me a one armed hug. Her grin is wide and it makes my heart swell, brushing away some of the ever-present worry for her that sits in the back of my mind. She shrugs her shoulders and places the rest of the things on the island, taking her gloves off as she creeps over to the giggling Charlie, who is kicking his legs fast enough to make the high chair shift slightly. He loves his Auntie Ellie.

  “So what did you do today?” I ask her as I’m putting the things in the cupboard and taking some cans of soda from the fridge.

  “Oh, I went shopping with Jude.” She sighs and I turn to see her giving Charlie a cheese puff as if it is an airplane, swooping it down just above his little fingers as he laughs. She looks up to me as she brushes her hands off and she rolls her eyes. “He’s got yet another girl, so he needs to get her something special for Christmas.”

  “Oh my,” I say in a slight laugh that she mirrors. “How long do you think that’s gonna last?” I don’t think I’ve ever, in the five or so months he’s been coming around with Ellie, ever seen him with the same girl twice.

  “Eh, I don’t know.” She laughs again, shedding her jacket and coming over to open a bag of the chips she brought as I put a bowl in front of her to pour them into. “You know him. He’s all into it for the first couple of weeks, but then the girl gets too clingy according to him and he breaks it off; moving on to the next hoochie mama.”

  “Yup.” I giggle as she joins me, our laughter making Charlie screech in happiness as a reply. We settle into our normal routine within the kitchen and before I know it, I’m humming a Christmas song as I’m mixing up some chip dip. I hear her sigh heavily and I turn to see her gazing out the patio door. Her shoulders are hunched and her hands are up near the glass, her fingertips just tapping lightly as the snow falls outside.

  “Ell? You okay?” I freeze in my movements, watching her as she puts her forehead against the cool glass. It tears at my heart, knowing my cousin is hurting in ways I can’t really help her. She goes from giddy, to silent and musing in a split second and I just want to make her feel better. I would give anything to make her not feel the sorrow anymore, but I can’t do anything more than be here for her.

  “Yeah,” she says so quietly and I just wait; reaching for a towel to wipe my hands on. “I just…” she starts to say then pauses, shaking her head as I come up behind her, hearing her mumble to herself. I see her fist ball slightly against the glass and I wrap my arms around her, hugging her tight. “I just miss him…You know? I just wish I could go back and make everything different. Or I wish he would call so that I could talk to him, make sure he’s okay and apologize for being so god damn stupid.” She sighs heavily again and leans back into me. “You know, Rhea?”

  “Yeah, I know, Honey,” I say, kissing her cheek. I know what it’s like to have the other half of your heart far away. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t heard from Chad like Ellie hasn’t heard from Bobby. No, I can’t say that; I would have gone crazy. Stark raving mad to be exact.

  “But you’ll be okay,” I tell her, hugging her shoulders a little tighter and she laughs lightly. I know there has to be times when she tells herself she isn’t going to get through this, but I hope those times are few and far between. “You know you can talk to me, anytime, right?”

  “Yes, I know, Ray-Ray.” She smiles as she turns and hugs me tight. So tight I have to kind of gasp in a breath when she lets me go and she laughs. “I know you’re here.”

  “Good. I’ll always be here, no matter what.”

  “I know, I know.” She pats me on the shoulder and I can’t help but feel that she’s brushing me off a little, but I don’t know what else I can do. I stand there and watch her as she walks to the counter and she turns, giving me an obvious
ly forced smile. “Don’t worry, Rhea. I’m doing okay.”

  “Okay,” I concede. Ellie is more like me the more I worry about her; stubborn and easily annoyed when I ask her if she needs help. I guess it’s a Griggs family trait.

  “Hola!” Comes from the front door and the happy screech of a little girl, and I feel like plugging my ears at the reply that comes from my still high chair bound son. Rosa comes in through the living room and sets Marisol down on the floor before hugging Ellie then me. “How are my favorite amigas doing?”

  She’s brushing her fingers through her shoulder length, midnight black hair that is dusted with snowflakes as Ellie fills her in on some of the happenings in her life and I turn my attention to the kids just in time to see Marisol making her way to Charlie’s high chair and pulling herself up. I giggle at them as Charlie squeals and yammers at her as she reaches up and he reaches down. Picking her up, I kiss her chubby cheeks and maneuver her bright pink leopard jacket from her little body before setting her in the spare chair we have set aside for moments like this.

  I push them close together and grab my sons little foot, tickling him. “Are you glad your girlfriend is here, little boy?” The both of them are too busy talking to each other so I kiss them on their cheeks and laugh again as Charlie pushes some of his cheese puffs over onto her tray.

  “Oh I thought she was goin’ to jump right out of my arms as she noticed we were headed this way,” Rosa says as I turn back to her and Ellie, seeing them over by the coffee pot helping themselves. I signal for a cup. “I swear, they are goin’ to be inseparable when they get older. But at least I know he’ll have a good head on his shoulders.” She winks at me as she leans her hip into the counter and Ellie laughs lightly as I smile.

  “Yeah. At least he will if he listens to me about girls and not his father.”

  “Yeah, if he listens to Chad, little Marisol will be waiting around for most of her life for him,” Ellie chimes in and I stick out my tongue.

  Oh ha ha, very funny, I think to myself as my cousin and friend laugh it up at my experience, but I just smile when I think about it. At least I’ve gotten him after so long, and I’ve gotten my happily ever after.

  I hear shoes being pounded off and Reno’s deep laugh and I know my knight in shining armor, my prince on the white horse has arrived. My heart starts to race knowing my husband is home and I can’t wait to wrap him in my arms and kiss him. The crazy things that man does to me.

  ~~~~

  Ellie

  The entire atmosphere of my cousins’ home changes as her husband and Reno walk through the door; followed by Harlan and Kendall, along with Brad and Garth only seconds behind. I can’t help but laugh as Rhea starts to chide all of them for wearing their wet shoes into the house, but Chad just pulls her into his dress shirt clad chest and kisses her, effectively quieting her.

  “Hey girlie,” Garth’s deep drawl pulls my attention and I turn my head to see him sidled up next to me, already munching on some of the chips that I had brought. His green eyes always hold his ever-present mischievous attitude and as he winks at me I run my finger along his scruffy chin, up the scar running over his eye like I always do and ending it with a light slap on his cheek. “Why do you always hate on me, girl?” he says, doing his best ghetto rap artist impression, but just sounding ridiculous. Brad snorts out a laugh from the other side of the island and I can’t help but join in.

  “Because you’re so easy to pick on,” I reply, giving him a soft slap one more time before making my way to the table to join Rosa and Kendall. My friends’ light attitudes have kept my head above water for the most part, but you know, there are just times when I feel like giving in.

  Like the moment with Rhea only a handful of minutes ago. I don’t know what had come over me, but as she was humming ‘Jingle Bells’ I started thinking of Bobby and what it would be like to walk down the sidewalk, shopping for little gifts for my friends and family with him as the snow falls. Thinking about the feel of his rough hands as they slide into mine and hold my fingers tight to his, pulling me in for a kiss every now and then and smiling at me with that damn grin of his.

  A warm hand on mine snaps me from my thoughts to see a fancy, hot pink manicured hand squeeze into mine and I smile up at Rosa. Her big brown eyes tell me she can probably sense what I was thinking about, and I can’t keep her sweet smile from making me grin a little myself.

  “How are you doin’, Ell?” she whispers as Kendall and Harlan are having a heated, but friendly, conversation around us with Reno about football. She squeezes my hand again when all I do is shrug my shoulders. I’m about to open my mouth to tell her I have my good days and my bad days, but I’m saved by the doorbell; signaling that the pizza guy is here with our dinner.

  I sink into routine with Rhea; helping dish out the slices, drinks, and napkins, as the guys and Kendall settle in the living room ready to start up the movie. Harlan’s deep laugh makes me think for a second that Bobby is in there, waiting for me, and my heart skips a beat but I know it’s not true.

  “Rhea, have you overheard anything else from Chad?” I whisper to her as she pours herself a glass of soda. Her blue-gray eyes lock onto mine as she scoots a little closer to me, our hips touching as Rosa bumps into my other one, joining the conversation.

  “I heard him talkin’ the other night, but all I got out of it is that he had been doing weeks and weeks of research on some company, and that he will be happy when they take the bastards down.” Her raised eyebrow tells me that she has been trying harder than she’ll admit out loud to hear his conversations, and she’s told me that he has been stressed lately.

  “I heard the same kinda thing from Reno,” Rosa chimes in, tapping her nails on the countertop and looking to the doorway to make sure no one is there to hear us. “I heard him say that they’ll probably being sending a team in to take care of the issue and to ‘pull our guys out before anyone else gets hurt’.” Her statement makes me stop, mid pulling a piece of pizza from the box, and I just stare at her.

  I turn to Rhea and see that she has a slack jaw look on her face, so I swing back to Rosa and she just shrugs her shoulders. “Who’s getting’ hurt?” I ask, trying to keep my voice to a whisper but I know that if the guys weren’t laughing obnoxiously about something in the other room that they would hear me and we’d be in for an interrogation session from Chad and Reno.

  “That’s just it!” she says right at the time the noise in the living room dies, and a hot blush runs through her as both Rhea and I cringe. “That’s all I heard him say before he went down into the basement, because he saw me sneak around the corner into the living room,” she whispers in return as she leans in even more, making me squish into Rhea.

  “Are you three comin’ in here?” Kendall shouts out, and Rosa shrugs her shoulders one more time before leaving Rhea and I just standing there. I look to my cousin and see the worry plainly evident on her face. Her brows are furrowed and she’s starring at the counter in front of her, and I can tell that a million bad things are running through her mind.

  Where could they be sending a team? Is Chad going to be on that team? And who are the guys that will be hurt?

  “Mama!” Charlie’s cute little squeal comes from the living room, effectively snapping Rhea and me out of our little haze, and her blue-gray eyes meet mine. Her facial features change instantly and she puts on a cover of a smile, but I know the scenarios are still playing out in her head.

  As I follow her into the living room, being bombarded with laughter and thrown popcorn from Garth, it hits me. Could one of the people in danger be Bobby? Or Jack? Is that the reason why Rhea heard their names in hushed conversation from Chad a few weeks ago?

  “Oh man,” I mumble to myself, plopping down onto the loveseat next to Brad and he throws his arm over the back, around my shoulders. I can’t eat, the pizza on my plate suddenly making my stomach turn as the thought of Bobby or Jack being hurt.

  “You alright there, Ellie?” Brad asks and I lo
ok up to see his brown eyes trained on me. I nod as he snags one of the celery sticks from my plate, but my mind is racing. I need to know more. I want to just stand up and ask Chad and Reno straight up what is going on, but I can’t. Well, I can, but it would most likely just piss them off and they aren’t going to tell me anything anyway, so why bother putting not only my cousin but also Rosa on the spot and making their eavesdropping known.

  The shrill, basic rings on both Chad and Reno’s cells go off at the same time and they share a look before they leave the room, heading for the garage. I watch as Rhea and Rosa look to each other, but then just fall right back into conversation and eating. I don’t know how they do it, but they do.

  I have to shove the piece of pizza into my mouth and force myself to take a bite and chew. It’s keeping me from running out into the garage and demanding some answers. I know deep down that if Bobby or Jack are involved in any way in anything that comes across Chad and Reno’s desks that they’ll do anything to make sure it ends well.

  That’s just the type of men those two guys are. Perseverant, persuasive, and hard headed. Good men. And I’m more than happy to have them as friends and family, because I sure as hell wouldn’t want them against me.

  ~~~~

  Chad

  Fuck. It seems like a lifetime ago that I had sat on this window bench seat and watched Rhea sleep when we first got together. The worry and hurt surrounding my heart that I swore I would never feel again about leaving her is back again, but it hurts ten times over knowing she’ll be shocked waking up alone with only a note left on my beside table letting her know I was called out on a case.

  God damn it! I hate feeling like this. Her presence pulls at me, even from across the room, and sitting here watching her peacefully sleeping is chipping away at my resolve. I should wake her and tell her all about my pending mission. How I have to race to Norfolk to meet up with my old SEAL team, Smith and Carter, and board a C-130 bound for the Middle East. I should tell her about the bastards at Savage Security and how Bobby and Jack are in possible danger. But I can’t or I’d be breaking one of the top rules of my job. I’d technically be a traitor to my nation.