Sanctuary (Family Justice Book 3) (36 page)

Some mess you made
, she brooded with a frown. Thinking she knew better than to unleash her bitch side on Alex, she could only shake her head at the nightmare she’d created with her foolishness.

“I
MISSED OUT
on all this bridezilla stuff.” Tori chuckled quietly to Lacey. “And I’ve been married twice! First, when I didn’t even know that’s what was happening, and the second time by stealth and surprise.”

The most senior of the Justice wives giggled. Though she was the youngest, Lacey Cameron was wise beyond her years. “You guys weren’t around before Cameron and I got married. It was just Carmen, Ria, and Betty. I didn’t even know you, Tori! So bride hysterics never even occurred to me.”

Tori smiled. She’d first laid eyes on Draegyn St. John at Cam and Lacey’s homespun wedding. And her life hadn’t been the same since.

“What do you think is happening at Parker’s?” Lacey asked. “My husband is radio silent.”

Tori glanced at a glum-faced Meghan. Sitting on a beanbag chair next to the Pack ‘n’ Play rigs where Dylan and Daniel peacefully napped, she resembled a sad Madonna as she gazed longingly at the two strapping boys who were the next generation of Family Justice.

Before she could answer, a racket sounded beyond the great room.
Someone is here
, she thought as the distinctive sound of the huge wooden front door opening and closing echoed.

Into the room flew Alex’s little sister like she’d been shot out of a cannon. “Red,” the flustered whirlwind blurted out. “What the fucking fuck? How do you put up with that asshole?”

Tori rolled her eyes. Angie was a thousand times worse than she was with the colorful language.

Meghan jumped up at Angie’s arrival and flew straight at her sister-in-law. “Is he all right, Ang? What’s going on over there?”

“Oh, pfft,” she grunted. “He’s fine. Jesus. It’s Alex, after all. I got out of there fast as I could, but man, the Nerd King is seriously on fire.”

Nerd King? Tori laughed. “Hey, that’s my boss you’re maligning.”

Lacey chuckled and stood between her and Angie like a referee with her arms up. “We’ve been over this before, ladies. Brother trumps boss AND husband.”

Meghan rolled her eyes. “Is that the Justice version of Rock, Paper, Scissors?”

They all cracked up in unison. Shooing everyone into a group huddle where their conversation wouldn’t wake up the boys, Tori took on her husband’s usual role as the one with the critical eye. “All right, Desert Angel,” she began. “Update, please. Last we saw any of our big bad alphas, they were converging on the residence of one Parker Sullivan, Esquire for the purpose of laying down an ass kicking for reasons that have yet to be explained. Yet here you stand, apparently unscathed.”

Angie began laughing. “Oh, my god. It was epic! You should have seen them when they came bursting in.”

“Let me guess,” Lacey stated drolly. “Knock, knock. Who’s there? A butt kicking … and then the door got pushed in. Right?”

Angie nodded enthusiastically as she wiped away tears of laughter. “Cam came in first. Like a tank, that one.” She snickered with a wink at Lacey. “I don’t think I fully realized before how physically imposing he is.”

“Yeah,” Tori drawled. “Now, that’s what I’m talking about.” She and Lacey exchanged smirking high-fives.

“And then Draegyn swaggered in like he owned the place. Started pontificating about god knows what but he was clearly egging Alex on.” She rolled her eyes at Meghan. “And then that asshole saw me, and I was in a headlock before I could react.” Shaking her head, she chuckled. “I should have been ready. He used a familiar big brother stealth technique. Sophie and I know it well.”

“What did Parker do when Alex grabbed you?” Meghan sounded half horrified and half amused.

“It all happened so fast that he didn’t have time to stop it. Next thing I knew, Alexander was delivering a vicious noogie that I swear made a bald spot.” Tori and Lacey each snickered when Angie rubbed the top of her head. This was already more amusing than any TV show could possibly be.

“Actually,” Angie continued. “Cam and Drae sort of blocked Parker’s way. There were a lot of lewd taunts and threats of physical retribution, but honestly, as they were doing all that, my brother was ranting and raving like a crazy man.”

“I told him about the change in plans,” Meghan mumbled. “He didn’t take it well.”

“Uh … no shit, Sharona! I’ve never seen him that unglued.”

All right, Tori thought. Enough was enough. Time for these two to come clean. With a side-glance at Lacey, she motioned for her to close ranks. If their men were mediating a smackdown, they deserved to know what fuckery was behind the alpha outburst.

Loudly clearing her throat, all eyes turned her way. “Okay, you two. What the hell is really going on?” Arching an eyebrow at Irish, she boldly asked, “What are you up to, Mrs. Marquez?”

“What?” Angie barked. Turning to Meghan, she drawled, “Mmmhmm. Am I late to the wedding party?” Watching Meghan groan at the question and cover her face with her hands was all kinds of funny.

Being out of the loop because she was living off the compound at Parker’s house outside Sedona, Angie wouldn’t have picked up on the Justice gossip. Maybe it was wrong to drop the bombshell secret on Alex’s kin but whatever. It wasn’t like she had anything to do with their secret vows. Nope. That honor belonged to Tori’s mother, but that was a story for another day.

It felt good telling Tori and Lacey about her secret plans. When Tori challenged her to come clean, she heard the slight tremor of hurt in Mrs. St. John’s voice. Victoria was more than just a sister to Meghan. She almost single-handedly steered the bus when Alex needed someone to show him the way. Fearing she’d hurt either woman by keeping a secret made sharing the whole stupid story easy.

“That is … awesome,” Victoria excitedly burst out. “Holy shitballs, Irish!” The little dark-haired woman was bending over the desk avidly studying the design Angie was sharing on Meghan’s iPad. “I’m totes jealous.” She snickered. “Why the hell didn’t I think of that?” Her yelp of amusement made Lacey laugh. “I mean, after all … the St. John insignia would probably look fucking amazing stamped on my butt.”

Meghan was grinning. She couldn’t help it. The spur-of-the-moment crazy-headed decision to have her ass tattooed with the Valleja-Marquez crest was being met with wide-eyed appreciation and whispered approval. And it explained with no further discussion why she needed a little extra time. Once you took the healing process into account, it was easy to make the case that every minute she could eke out before the wedding night would give the very sexy tattoo ample time to get ready for the big unveiling.

“So tell me again exactly where this is going.” Tori smirked. “Didn’t you say someplace that only your husband would see?” Lacey choked on a giggle, and Angie just flat-out leered at her knowingly. “Big Daddy spend a lot of time staring at your naked ass, does he?”

And because Tori never missed an opportunity to bring the laughs, she went through the pantomime of grinding against an ass being spanked. “I know what that’s all about!” She laughed hysterically.

Feeling a heated blush shoot up her neck and onto her face, she just shrugged and looked away.

“Busted,” Angie cooed.

Oh no, she didn’t! Meghan gave her new sister-in-law the stink eye because she knew better than anybody the sort of outrageous kink Parker was full of. After all, he and Alex were two of a kind, having grown up side-by-side. She didn’t imagine for a second that she and Alex were the only ones with a closet full of toys and equipment guaranteed to make a shy girl faint.

“Ass up, head down,” Tori shrieked with laughter.

“Oh, fuck you.” Meghan giggled. “Like either of you two are innocent and unwilling.” Shooting Lacey an apologetic look, she murmured, “Sorry, sweetie.”

“Oh,
pfft!
” Victoria croaked. “Don’t let her fool you with that angelic blond bullshit. Little sister has her own style of naughty fuckery going on. Just ‘cause she refuses to use the five-dollar swear words doesn’t mean she’s the picture of innocence.”

Lacey wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at Tori. “Last time I tell you anything,” she cutely drawled.

“Wait,” Meghan grunted. “What?” She looked at Tori for confirmation. “Are you saying there’s wickedness going on in the Cameron household? My, my, my,” she gurgled on a laugh. “Do tell.”

“Ooh, I know,” Angie chimed in. “Now that we all have that lovely visual etched in our heads … ass up, head down.” She shivered dramatically. “Let’s give Red a break and each of us share something just as perverted. For shits and grins,” she added with a snort.

“You first,” Tori challenged. “Tell us all how completely depraved the good counselor really is. Draegyn says he’s a dog from way back. Care to elaborate? Or defend?”

Angie snorted with laughter. “Yeah, well, from what I’ve heard, a certain secret agent with the cool icy stare has quite a few degenerate moments pinned to his past.”

“Touché,” Tori chortled. “But seriously … you first.”

Angie sat back and gazed pensively at the gas fireplace. “Lemme see,” she murmured. “Okay. I have one. Nothing too racy. Don’t want to scare Mrs. Cameron.”

“Sweetie,” Lacey smoothly replied. “You can’t scare me. I’m a Justice wife.”

“Okay, here goes. You know how sometimes your man … um.” She made the yikes face and actually blushed. Meghan was intrigued. “You know, when he touches himself.” The little shiver said a lot. “I’m like …” She put both fists up to her chin and made her eyes go wide.

Tori laughed first. Then Meghan. Finally, Lacey giggled softly and shook her head.

“Yeah.” Angie laughed. “You heard me. Love watching my man handle his junk. Come on,” she joked. “You guys know what I mean, right? Who else likes watching their man stroke his, uh …” She didn’t finish the sentence. Didn’t have to because as she asked the question, Victoria raised her hand. Then for good measure raised the other hand and waved them in the air like a cheerleader.

“Me, me!” she announced. Her enthusiastic response and a husky sounding, “Mmm mmm,” cracked them all up.

“Hey.” Angie snickered. “Just ‘cause you agree with me doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for a reveal. Looks like you’re up.”

“This might be more information than we need,” Lacey said drily.

“Shh. I wanna hear this.” Meghan patted Lacey’s hand and smiled. “Haven’t you always wondered about those two? Now’s our chance to find out.”

Laughing good-naturedly, Tori smirked right back at them. Pinning Meghan with a direct look, she simpered, “You’re not the only one who likes being tied up.”

Lacey smacked her knee and declared, “Well, holy cow. I did NOT see that coming.”

Angie rolled her eyes. “Did she just say holy cow?”

Meghan studied Tori for a moment, noticed the smug grin, and then the light-bulb went off. “Wait a minute. Tied up, you say?”

Tori nodded in the affirmative, sniffed dismissively, then picked at some imaginary lint on her clothes.

“And who’s doing the tying?” she asked.
Pfft.
She wasn’t dumb. Tori would be dangerous restrained.

“Oh. My. GOD!” Angie doubled over laughing. “For fucking real?”