Framed (27 page)

“Guess everyone got a free show.”

“Yeah, and then some,” he snapped.

Wrapping the towel around my shoulders, he clipped out, “No more bikinis from here on out.”

“Like that will happen,” I scoffed, then made my way towards the shore, tucking the towel around my body like a dress.

“I’m not kidding,” Kade snapped like a rabid dog, following close on my heels. His tone was intimidating at this point and he was definitely on edge.

Welcome to club, pal. I’ll meet your edge and raise you one pissed-right-the-hell-off.

“You don’t honestly think you can tell me what to wear, do you?” I threw over my shoulder as I headed for the house.

“Dammit, Harley,” Kade hissed, grabbing my arm to turn me around. “You just flashed three men who’d been watching you for an hour and I’m sure D got enough of a look to feed his imagination.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious, I know that. But I’m not about to stop wearing a bikini just because you say so.”

“Then the beach is off limits while you’re here.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Full. Fucking. Stop.

The fuse that ignited my temper lit, and I unleashed all the frustration that had been building for more than a week.

“I’m sorry?” I asked between my teeth. “I must have misheard you or have water in my ears, because there is no way in hell you just ordered me to stay inside like a child.”

“You heard me.”

“Do you have heat stroke?”

“No.”

“Are you on medication that alters your thinking?”

“No,” he returned with veiled hostility and crossing his arms.

“Then it’s just your arrogance that makes you believe I’ll follow that order?”

Clearly not feeling the weight of my anger or my incredulousness that he’d ordered me around, Kade leaned down, got right into my face, and then stupidly said, “Get inside and get dressed. We’ll finish this later.”

“We’ll finish this now,” I retorted.

“I’m not doin’ this now; I have a killer to catch. Just get inside and stay there so I can fuckin’ think for one damned minute, instead of parading your body in front of the world.”

Parading my body in front of the world?

That was it, the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. His sighing I could handle, being left out of the loop I could kinda handle, Kade being mad for no reason I could also handle. All of it at the same time, coupled with being told I had to stay indoors and insulting me? Big fucking mistake. No,
colossal
mistake.

My anger went from a slow simmer to epic proportions in a blink of an eye and without thinking, just like Kade had taught me, I swept his legs until he was on his back and I was standing over him. He didn’t move to get up, but stayed on his back as I leaned over him.

Guess he caught the full weight of his mistake.

Go inside and stay there? Not in this lifetime.

“Fine, you want me out of sight and out of mind, you got it,” I replied calmly before turning and marching up the beach towards the house. Prez and Mickey kept their mouths shut as I marched past, though I saw the astonishment on their faces.

That’s right, keep your mouths shut or I’ll bring a can of whoop-ass down on you, too.

He wanted me out of sight and out of mind, no problem. It took me all of ten minutes to pack my bag, grab the dogs, and find my keys before I was in my Jeep heading for home. I’d kept expecting he’d storm in and finish the fight, but not once while I was packing had he come inside. No, he just assumed I’d followed his orders like a good little girl and was inside pondering the error of my ways. The big jerk. I hope I’d bruised more than his pride with that take-down.

It took me twenty minutes to make it back to Milton, a record time, I might add. When I arrived, I ignored my father, unloaded the dogs, and then made my way to my apartment. It took all of thirty seconds before my father came walking through my door, phone at his ear. When he got a look at my face, he told the phone, “I don’t think she’s ready to talk.”

That’s right,
now
was definitely not a good time to talk to me. The time to talk should have been on the beach when he saw my anger instead of ordering me around. Now was too fucking late.

Dad hemmed and hawed a few more minutes while I gave him my ‘do not mess with me face’ before he finally hung up. When I raised my brow in question, he cautiously asked, “You wanna talk about it?”

“Nope.”

“I take it he screwed up somehow?”

“I don’t know, Dad, is telling me what I can or cannot do or what I can or cannot wear screwing up?”

I waited for him to gruff out a reply like “men are idiots" to show his support, but he just stared at me, assessing.

“You’re fightin’ over
clothes
?” Dad finally asked in a quiet, lethal voice. A voice, I might add, which stated clearly if I were twelve, I’d be in big trouble. “You’re in a killer’s crosshairs and you ran off from your trained protection over clothes, is that what you’re tellin’ me?”

Not about to be swayed from my anger, I raised my hand and I ticked off each infraction that I’d endured the past week, so I could aptly defend my actions.

“I left because he doesn’t keep me informed of what’s going on. He has secret meetings that I’m never invited to and I’m stuck in his house with nothing to do, which is making it worse. We are complete opposites when it comes to organization and we’re moments away from killing each other. Now he’s telling me what to wear and that I can’t go outside. Don’t you see? I’ve switched places with him, Dad. He’s out of prison and now I’m suddenly behind bars and we don’t even know if this guy is still after me.”

“He’s keeping you safe and that’s all that matters,” he snapped. “All while he’s trying to find this guy so he can clear his name once and for all. It’s not enough he’s been let loose from prison, Harley. Some’ll still think he’s guilty until proven innocent. He’s got a lot on his plate and you run off like a six-year-old, putting your life in danger over being told what to do?”

“I didn’t run off like a child,” I argued, “I left before we came to blows. Believe you me, Dad, I wanted to hit him, I wanted to yell the house down in frustration, so he is lucky I only swept his legs. I don’t know who’s doing what, when, or for how long. He won’t tell me anything. He pushed me too far today, so I needed some space before it came to blows.”

“All right, okay, you needed space. I get that. But you can’t be surprised he won’t let you know what’s going on.”

“Why? I’m not some wallflower who can’t handle the truth, Dad.”

“Trust me; no one thinks you’re a wallflower. We know if you have a shred of evidence you’d hightail it out of there gung-ho to help.”

“Of course, I would. Why shouldn’t I? I got Kade out of prison; I could help with this, as well.”

“Because, Harley, you’re not equipped to deal with these men. The only reason you’re standing here right now, and not floating in the Blackwater somewhere, is because of those boys and you know it.”

“Fine, you’re right, I’ll be outgunned, but I don’t have to take an active role. I just want to know what’s happening,” I tried to bargain.

“Forget it. If you knew, you’d still try to help. You can’t help yourself.”

“Fine, if you won’t tell me, then I’ll ask Prez or Mickey. Maybe they’ll be more reasonable.”

“It’s not gonna happen, Harley. Those boys are under
my
orders to keep you out of it.”

“Your orders?”

“Yeah. Retired or not, I outrank them all and they’re following
my
orders. So quit fighting me. Those boys are keeping you safe for me. Now, you will do as they say until this is over and that’s an order from your father. I lost your mother; I will not lose you, too. I wouldn’t survive it.”

Oh, God, I’m an idiot.

How could I have forgotten what this would do to him if I were hurt?

“Daddy,” I whispered, moving towards him.

“Save it, there’s nothing you can say that will sway my decision. You’re
my
little girl, do you hear me? Mine! Until the day I die, I’ll protect you. With my last breath if I have to,” he vowed.

Dad tended to tune me out when he got on a roll, so I waited for him to finish before I spoke.

“No more chasing bad guys, no more running down the beach with the dogs, and no more jumping in your car because he pissed you off. If you wanna end things with Kade when this is over, that’s your prerogative, but until that time comes, consider him your commander in chief. Now get your ass back to the beach house before I put you over my knee,” he roared.

Backing up, I put my hands up in surrender.

“I won’t leave again,” I promised. “I wasn’t thinking about how this would make you feel and I’m so sorry. It just built to a boiling point and I snapped, okay? Maybe if you’d told me in the first place the boys were following your orders, I wouldn’t have been frustrated about the whole thing. But I know now and I won’t argue again. I promise.”

“It was an error on my part not telling you, I can see that now,” he admitted. “So do me a favor and cut Kade some slack.”

“I’ll cut him some slack on withholding information, but he’s got to learn he can’t order me around.”

“Does that mean you’re gonna give him another chance or be your typical stubborn self?”

“I’m not stubborn,” I lied, which made Dad scoff. “Fine, I’m a little stubborn, but he’s an overbearing caveman with a possessive complex that rivals Christian Grey’s.”

“Christian who—you know what, never mind, just tell me, are you dumping him without giving him a chance to redeem himself?”

“No, of course not . . . The funny thing is, I find that I prefer possessive men to laid-back men like Michael, so that doesn’t bother me. Not to mention, I spent half my life dreaming about Kade, so I’m not about to give up over one stupid fight. I just needed space, that’s all. But I’ll warn you now, I’m not wearing a one-piece on the beach just because he can’t handle men looking at me.”

“It’s a man thing,” Dad shrugged.

“Oh, please. He can’t walk out the door without women turning their heads, but you don’t see me telling him he can’t leave the house, or dictating what he can wear so women won’t look at him.”

“That’s what set him off? Some guy was looking at you,” he asked.

“A few actually . . . But it’s not my fault a wave took me out.”

“You lost me. What does a wave have to do with this?”

“I lost my top,” I replied.

“You lost your top?”

“Yep.”

“On the beach?”

“Yep.”

“In front of men?”

“Also, yep.”

“ . . . No more bikinis,” Dad ordered, pointing his finger at me.

Before I could even respond to his ridiculous comment though, I heard footsteps on the stairs.

“That would be Kade,” Dad mumbled when he heard them as well. “He said he would have Prez drop him off and bring you back.”

Shit.

I hadn’t had time to prepare myself mentally for another argument. I was wrong for leaving, of course, and I planned to tell him that, but I thought I’d have the ride home to think about what I wanted to say. Bracing myself for his anger, I stayed in the middle of my living room while Dad opened the door.

“Michael,” Dad said, sounding surprised. “How are you doing, son? Harley, it’s Michael.”

I exhaled, relieved for the reprieve, and moved to the door, smiling at my ex-husband. At six feet, Michael was on the thin side with blond hair and green eyes. He worked as a rep for a shoe manufacturer and ran daily to keep his body in shape. Thanks to his running and a metabolism set like a squirrel on caffeine, he annoyingly never gained a pound. He hadn’t changed at all since we met almost nine years ago and that was a good thing. He was kind, considerate, and to this day, a good friend.

“Hey, Mike. What brings you here?” I asked.

“My car is making a grinding noise and I wanted Harry to look at it, so I brought it in. Davy said you guys were up here,” he replied with a smile, then scanned me from head to toe. “You’re looking good, honey. How’s life treating you?”

“Life has been interesting,” I chuckled stepping forward to hug him. I was about to let him go, but I froze when I heard footsteps on the stairs. Knowing it had to be Kade, I tried to step back before he reached the top, but Mike took that moment to place a kiss on my forehead before he let me go. Mike and I were only friends. He had a girlfriend that I’d met and liked. However, in that moment, when I looked up and saw Kade’s face as I tried to pull back, I didn’t think he cared.

Mike heard Kade as he reached the top step and turned his head. Kade froze in place, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest, no doubt to intimidate Mike. He also didn’t move from the top step blocking his escape.

“Whoa, you’re a big guy,” Mike mumbled.

The heat in Kade’s eyes was reminiscent of the fires of Mordor, so Mike caught on quickly that Kade was there for me. He looked back at me, then back at Kade’s face, and released me before asking quietly, “Please tell me he doesn’t belong to you?”

“That depends,” I whispered back. It depended on how pissed off he was at me after taking off. It depended on whether or not he thought I was more trouble than I was worth. And it depended a little on if he would apologize for being an ass, as well.

Kade’s attention shifted to me when I answered Mike, but I couldn’t read his expression.

Not good for Mike or me.

“Why does he look like he wants to kill me?”

“He’s a caveman,” I replied. “He likes to punch people.”

Mike nodded his understanding and quickly stuck out his hand, hoping to defuse the situation.

“Michael Jordan. Please don’t kill me.”

Kade looked skeptical, saying nothing at first. Then, after a pregnant pause that left me praying for my ex’s life, he put his own hand into Michael’s and shook it.

“Kade Kingston. I promise not to kill you,” he answered with twitching lips, “for now.”

“Well, now that’s everyone introduced,” Dad jumped in breaking the tension that hung in the air. “Michael, what say you and me head downstairs so I can listen to this grinding noise you were talkin’ about?”