Dangerous trio 2 (8 page)

“Whoa there cowboy. I think I can handle this myself. I really do not think they will come after me, do you? I am just a contact person, a lowly employee and not even for your company.” Ginny started, feeling like she was losing her mind. She had been employed with Dallas for the last four years; she was a friend and confidant to both of the men. They invited her into their inner circle and she met Steve, Jolly, and Calli. She found she enjoyed their company just as much, but she never felt like she was truly someone other than an employee. Even with Calli, Ginny held back.

“Ginny, we will not take that chance. You know if Dallas ever lost you, he would not know where the hell the sun was located. Besides everyone knows how close you are to us.” Steve said and pushed open Jolly"s door.

“Not that close, you know I do get paid to hang out with you sometimes.” She said desperate to convince him she was not in danger.

Calli and Jolly disagreed instantly and Steve frowned down at her. “What the hell are you talking about? You are our friend the same as any of the others. We trust you with our life or you would never have been invited to any of our homes.” Steve huffed.

“Where do you get off thinking you are just an employee? I should call Dallas and tell Noah and him what you just said. They would have no problem kicking your ass.” Steve groused.

Ginny rolled her eyes and said, “You know what I meant. Of course I am your friend; I just meant I was not nearly important as Jolly, Calli, or the others.” She said impatiently. “Dallas and Noah have Bailey and you both have Calli, I figured now that you were all together, that I would be the seventh wheel. No worries, I get it.”

“I should kick your ass now, but I think I will wait for Noah.” Calli came and stood next to her, pinching her in the arm. “You are my best friend, who else would I call when I need to eat a half gallon of ice cream when Lifetime releases a new movie? Besides, these insensitive assholes will never go to the Disney Movies with me.”

“Ouch,” she said and rubbed her arm, “Bailey can go with you now.” She muttered and looked at the tall woman. It was funny really, Calli was six feet and Bailey was barely five feet tall. Then average Ginny was in the middle with nothing really remarkable about her. She secretly wished the guys would have fallen in love with her but she knew she would never have been able to live like that. She was a one-man type of a woman.

Her family was huge and her three brothers would have a fit if she became involved in a relationship with more than one man. They were very traditional even though they knew and loved Dallas and Noah. She just wanted to find a nice man that would love her like her parents did each other. They were Italian and had passion and love.

“What? You cannot be replaced. What is going on with you?” Calli asked and put her arm around her friend. She had never had self-esteem issues before, what was going on with her now? Calli wondered but never had a chance to talk to her, because Steve"s phone began ringing and she knew something was wrong the instant he started snapping into the phone. Calli returned to Jolly"s side of the bed, pulling Ginny with her and took his hand looking for comfort. She knew something bad had happened, she just wanted to know which of her friends was hurt now.

Steve finished with his phone call and turned to his friends and sighed. “Okay, Andres Junior took a bullet in the shoulder. They are bringing him down to the ER as quick as they can. Someone took a shot from the building across from the loft. Bailey was standing right next to him so we are not sure who they were aiming for him or her. We gotta get out of this town while we only have injuries, not causalities. So, let"s get organizing this thing, girls. Bailey, Noah, and Dallas are on their way with Andres. We need to get transport ready and Jolly needs to be released with us.” Steve said and started snapping orders to them, Calli pulled out her phone and called her part time employees and had them start to gather clothes for all of them. None of them had time to pack, and they needed to get bare necessities together for eight of them.

Ginny took over getting a few weeks" worth of food arranged and ready to be picked up at the local grocer. Thankfully, she knew all of her friends likes and dislikes because she always paid close attention to it in case they needed her to organize a party or something. She just had a hard time thinking she fit in with these people. She loved them and cherished their friendships, but she was a down-home girl that still went to Sunday dinner at her family. Shit, she was going to have to call her mom and tell her she would be out of town for a while. She refused to tell them the truth because they would all freak and want her to come home.

An hour later, Dallas and Bailey arrived at the hospital room. They went to Jolly and talked to him before turning to discuss the situation with Steve. Bailey still felt guilty and it showed in the bags under her eyes and the pallor of her skin. She probably stayed up the whole night trying to convince the boys to let her go; they of course refused and would have put up quite a fight.

“Noah is with Andres downstairs. They have bonded over being shot.” Dallas said and rolled his eyes. The girls both giggled at the look on Dallas"s face, they knew he loved the other man but sometimes he got pissed when he tried to save the world. Noah had a few issues with strays. He loved to bring them home and take care of them, but often it led to a few more problems than he anticipated. A few years ago, one such stray had become a stalker, and tried to kill him when Noah told him he did not return the feelings. Dallas was his protector, and more often than not, it was a full time job.

Steve finally got off the phone and they all wanted to hear what was supposedly going to be happening and what they had found out about the sniper. “Ok boys and girls, we are going to have a little sleep over in the Bat Cave. Calli and Ginny have been trying to organize food, clothes, and necessities for all of us. We just really need to get everyone together, along with the nurse we are taking with us for all you sickies and then we will be off. I think we have a bus coming.” He teased. “Also, the sniper left no marks on the other building and so we have no idea who or what we are dealing with. I really need for you guys to make all the calls you need to from here before we leave. Because we will be leaving the cell phones and any other device, they could use to track us. I will get new ones for each of you when we are safe, but until then, sorry. Tell everyone you are sick or going on an extended vacation for now. So we have about an hour before the others should get here and then another hour before we leave. No one leaves this room without an escort and keep the windows closed.”

They all nodded in agreement. Bailey was the one who started crying first. “I am so sorry, guys. You barely even know me and I have ruined your life.” She said and then buried her face into her hands.

“Baby, this is not your fault. Listen, I thought we already talked about this. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, it could have happened to any of us. I am thankful we found you before they could really kill you. Just think what our lives would have been like without you in it.” Dallas said softly to her trying to console her, but it was not really working.

“Yeah Dal, make sure you throw in the part where everything happens for a reason,” Calli scoffed. Dallas looked at her warningly but she continued on. “Bailey face it, yeah it kinda sucks that you were working for a mob boss and all. And yeah, we have all been sucked into this mess, but realistically it is not your fault you worked for a low life scum.

It would be if you continued to do the job they asked, but you are trying to help put him in jail. So no, the fault is all on him, the little pecker head is refusing to admit he is a criminal, and needs to go to jail. Our guys will get them and in the meantime, we get to go on a vacation with four hot guys and we get them all to ourselves. Yummy! I am saying thank you, girlfriend.” Calli said and bent down to take the little woman"s hand against her face. “Also the way I hear it, we have a fifth hot man and a lonely little friend who needs a little attention. I think we will have fun getting those two together, don"t you think?”

Ginny blushed bright red because she knew Calli was talking about her and this guy Andres. Well they could scratch her off the list because she refused to even look at a man who was also Italian. She had enough of those bossy men growing up; she refused to get involved with one. Then Noah walked in and the man in question followed. Shit was she in trouble, Ginny thought looking at the totally gorgeous hunk of a man that entered the room. He was as tall as Dallas and had bulges in all the right spots. She looked him over as he continued into the room and was introduced to everyone. When it came time for Ginny to meet him, she was sure she would pass out. He was a Greek God.

Steve came forward and introduced them together. She felt a shock of electricity when they shook hands and looked into his deep blue eyes and smiled when the man frowned down at her. He probably was trying to figure out who the hell she was. Bailey and Calli were both gorgeous and sophisticated, and here was mousey little Ginny, the plain Jane of the bunch. She gently pulled her hands away from him and went and stood in the corner. She had to make the call to her family and she knew it was going to take a while.

She would use every precious minute she could to explain why she was going out of town on the spur of the moment.

Calli made her arrangements and then went to focus on Jolly. She fussed over him getting him ready to leave the hospital. The man had barely made it through surgery yesterday and today he was leaving the hospital. She just hoped the nurse was good at her job because if anything happened to him she realized she would be lost. No matter what the outcome of this crazy adventure, she was on her way to her new home with Steve and Jolly.

Steve was only half joking when he said they would be traveling by bus. Yes, it was a huge bus, but it was one of those kinds that were retrofitted for bands to travel around the country with. Instead of being loaded with plush surroundings, it had state of the art equipment for surveillance. Like this big monstrosity would not stand out on a busy street. Steve had laughed when she said that, explaining this was used for when they were asked to do security for stars coming to Colorado to visit, or political people traveling through. It got the job done and at least ten guys could work in here comfortably.

They were traveling up the curving road, all of them silent and pensive. None of them had been happy about the turn of events, but Steve made the decision to keep them all together and he was going to stick to it.

Calli sat in the back in the bedroom area with Jolly, who was being taken care of by the nurse he had hired to join them. Jolly was very unhappy the nurse was male but when Steve called Calli had insisted on it. She was trying to soothe his grumpy attitude about having a male nurse take care of him, promising to take care of the sponge baths and other personal needs. Steve chuckled when Calli told him how she had taken care of Jolly before lunch.

Steve stood when he saw that they were approaching the gates to their estate. When Jolly and he had called their new house a cabin, it had been a joke between the two friends. Their friends had never asked about what their new home was going to be like.

They just wanted to see it when it was done, because they all assumed both of the guys were talking about a small cabin. When they pulled through the gates, Dallas and Noah both gasped when they saw the size of the cabin.

“Shit man, I guess the security field is more lucrative than I thought.” Dallas whistled.

Calli stormed forward and clipped him on the back of the head.

“Steve, really, cabin?” She said looking out the window.

“Well it is a cabin.” He drawled and looked at the 23,000 square foot place he called a cabin. It had three floors, a six-car garage for all of their toys, and a separate indoor/outdoor pool. The guesthouse was attached to the back, but had its own separate and private entrance.

Steve and Jolly had dreamed of this house since they were in the military together. They had contacted a builder they knew so they would have complete control over everything that went into the house. They had saved all their money and bought the land in the mountain as a retreat. They planned for years about what kind of house they wanted; of course, when they first started out, they could not afford to do much. They had a small little cabin built on the grounds so they could come up here, and regroup when they needed to. As their business grew, they invested wisely and soon they had more money than they knew what to do with. One of their financial wizards had also been in the military with them and they trusted him when he said he had a feeling about certain stocks. When they were in the field, his feelings had never been wrong. So they trusted him with their life, why not with their money? It had paid off and the fruits of their labor were standing right in front of them.

Steve smiled at the look all of their friends had on their faces. They were shocked that he and Jolly could actually have taste. They all climbed from the bus and looked at the beautiful landscape and house. The house was nestled into the side of a mountain with trees hiding both ends so you really could not tell where the house ended. They all marveled at the windows that covered the front of the three-story log home and commented on the gardens on each side of the walkway.

Steve hustled them into the front doorway before returning to the bus and helping the nurse get Jolly out. They had brought a wheelchair, but the man was still big and pushing him on uneven ground required a little more strength than the nurse had. Once they were finally in the house, Steve had all of them follow him into the living area. The huge, dropped pit had four couches and three chairs, all recliners for them to sit in and relax. There was a giant television mounted on the rock wall and a fireplace nestled in the corner. Decorated in soothing brown tones, Calli loved it on sight.