Page 14 of Maverick

“I can stay here, you know that, for as long as you need. However, I haven’t any idea how I’m supposed to keep an eye on someone so that they don’t poison you. I mean, I’m not a stupid man, but that’s well beyond anything that I studied for in college.” Dad said that just having him here would be a blessing. “You know that I’d give my life for you and Mom. Just tell me when you want me here, and I’ll—”

“Tonight.” He nodded and worked around in his head on how to move things around on his schedule so that he could work with his parents and not miss too much in the way of working.

Then he felt stupid for doing that, making work first in his life, so he decided that he’d clear his calendar until his parents no longer needed him. As Jade was leaving, she handed him a thumb drive. She didn’t say a word, of course, but kissed him on the cheek and whispered to him to use his own laptop. This was getting scarier and scarier all the time.

Chapter 7

The house was finished. It was an incredible feeling to walk through the house and not see bits and pieces of things lying about. All the wheels of wires were gone. There weren’t any more lunch boxes, half drank cups of coffee or tea. She loved that the sounds were normal again, only the outdoors coming in and no more loud screeching noises that drove her nearly batty each time she was here.

Grace knew that it was the main reason that they’d decided to eat out, far from the house every evening. It wasn’t just the noise. It was everything about having the house fixed up. She didn’t know how Jenson and Jade did it. Their house was being built from the ground up. And it seemed to her that they really weren’t ever going to finish. There was always something needing to be changed or looked into. Just as she was coming down the stairs, having looked at the upper floors to be sure that the construction crew wouldn’t be returning, her cell phone rang.

“I have a favor to ask of you.” There was pounding at the front door when Jade started speaking. “What’s going on there? You under attack?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to look before I go opening the door.” The security system had been finished as well, and it was a breeze to bring up on her computer. “It’s that crazy woman again. Carol something. Loren. She’s alone this time, but she’s got an ax using it on my brand-new door.”

“I’m calling the police right now. I want you to hide someplace in the house.” She told her that she wasn’t going to cower away like a fraidy cat. “I’d rather you be labeled a fraidy cat than dead, Grace. Get away from the doors, and the police will be there before she can get in. I’ve seen that front door of yours and it will take a bomb going off before she’d be able to breach it. Christ, hide.”

She wasn’t stupid enough to think that she was immortal. As much as she’d like it to be true right now, she knew that it was never going to happen. Running up the stairs, she was to the large landing when the first splinter of wood skidded across the floor and into the beautiful woodwork of the baluster.

There were plenty of places that she could hide on the upper floors. But she decided that if she were chasing someone, anyone really, that would be the first place that she would look. Going back down the stairs, Grace hid in the pantry, a large room that held all the serving ware. When they got it, that was what would feed the masses when they had company over. Closing the door behind her, she heard the door split open more. Then there was the voice.

“Where are you? You think that you can hide in my own house? Get real. I know every…what have you done to my home? Holy Christ. Look at this mess. Where are all the antiques that my family…you all are going to pay for this. Mark my words, you’re going to pay for this with your fucking lives.” The voice of Carol was getting closer to her. “Come out and face me like a man.”

Carol thought that Maverick was in the house. That might not bode well for either of them but she thought that she could hide better being a smaller person than Maverick would have been able to do. Crouching down and pressing her body into the bottom of the shelves that were in the small room, Grace closed her eyes. Whatever happened, she knew that she had to— She remembered that she had her cell phone. Pulling it out of her pocket, she muted the sound first and foremost. Then she messaged the link to the entire family. She wanted as much support as she could get.

“Carol Loren is in the house. Broke down the front door with an ax. I’m in the pantry.” The replies came fast and short. Are you hurt? Do you have a gun? Did you call the police? All these things that she couldn’t answer because it sounded to her like Carol was right outside of her hiding place.

The next message told her that the police were in the driveway and that they were coming in quietly. She was never so happy to get that text from Jade than she was anything else in the world. Hearing the police coming in, they were talking to Carol about putting down her weapon.

“Ms. Loren, put down your weapon, or we’re going to have to shoot you.” She asked them if they were in their right mind, shooting someone in their own home. “You’ve been told several times now that this house no longer belongs to you nor your family. Put the ax down, and we’ll not have to kill you.”

“You mother fuckers, that man stole my house out from under me. Did you see what a mess he’s made of the place? Where does he get off changing things around in my own home? No, he doesn’t. I’m going to find that mother fucker, and I’m going to chop him into tiny pieces and put him in the well out there with the rest of the dead weight around here.” Joey, she could hear who it was now, asked her if she’d killed her brothers. “Yes. They were dead weight. Forever asking me stupid questions like I had all the answers. I do, mark my words on that, but they were a pain in my ass. My mother she made me promise her, on her dying bed, no less that I would watch over them until they died. Or I did. Since I had no intentions of dying, I just told her I would. Christ, have you met them? No, of course not. But I want you to let me kill this man here. He’s been a pain in my ass as well, and I’m not going to take it anymore. I want my house back.”

Joey told her once again to put the ax down. Hearing her slam something against the door she was hiding behind, Gracie closed her eyes when it sounded like about a thousand guns went off at the same time.

She didn’t move when everything stopped. Hearing her own heart beating loudly and quickly in her ears, she was never so happy to be alive as she was in that moment. Looking at the door, glancing downward as she looked at the bullet holes, she saw a pool of blood start to run toward her as she sat there. Standing up, she reached for the door when she had a thought. They had no idea she was in here, and she just might get her ass killed if she just popped out.

“It’s Grace Strong, officers. I’m going to come—”

“Don’t. Don’t come out here right now, Gracie. I’m glad that you told us, but just, for the love of god, just stay there until we get things situated out here. I don’t…there’s a great deal of blood, and I don’t want you to…please, honey, just stay in there while we all get our hearts beating better.” She couldn’t help it, she laughed. Then, as she stood there, backing away from the larger pool of blood on her end, Grace laughed all the harder. “Honey, you all right?”

“I am. Yes, thank you. I don’t suppose you guys have contacted my husband, have you?” it was the first time she’d ever called Maverick that and it felt good. Thinking about that, she missed what Joey told her. “I’m sorry. Can you repeat that? My head is a little fuzzy right now.”

“I said that his brothers have tackled him down to the ground so that he doesn’t come in here and mess up our crime scene. If you could call him, I’m sure… Make the call to his daddy. He’ll have his phone out where he can get to it. I think they got poor Maverick all hog-tied right now.”

She pressed the button to contact Barkley. As soon as he answered, she asked to speak to Maverick. As soon as she heard his voice asking her if she was all right, she started crying. Unmindful of everything else that was going on around her, she told Maverick that she was so happy that they were together, but she did not want to have lunatics coming into their homes ever again.

“Neither do I. I don’t even want the one that is in there either.” She told him that she thought that he was dead and he started crying too. “I love you so much, Grace. So much. I thought that…I didn’t know what to think, but I’m so glad to hear your voice. They won’t let me come in there. Can you come out here so that I can hold you?”

“I can’t just yet. This is a crime scene.” She pulled the phone away from her ear and decided to figure out how to do a face-to-face call. Hanging up on him, she was able to call him back quickly and saw that he was still on the ground, his face covered in dirt and grass. She thought him the most handsome man she’d ever seen.

Touching the screen with her fingers, she was so happy to see that he was all right as well. Each of them spoke over the other, telling each other how much they loved one another and that they were glad that they were all right.

“Just as soon as you can get out of there, I’m going to whisk you away to the closest place and make love to you.” His brothers, more than likely still waiting for him to leap up and go to her, made fun of him. “I don’t care what they say. You’re all mine, and I’m going to show you just how much.”

She heard a voice and it sounded like his dad. But then Lisa was on the call, and she smiled at her. Lisa asked her if she was going to be all right.

“I am. I am now. I was terrified, I’ll not lie to you about that, but it’s done now, and I’m safe. Nothing at all wrong with me other than missing being able to stand out there with the lot of you.” Lisa told her that she’d be out soon enough. “She was set to kill Maverick. She killed her brothers as well. Dead weight, she called them. I’m going to have me the largest family with Maverick. I want my kids to know what it’s like to have brothers and sisters around to keep them safe as Mavericks did.”