Lucas

Untangling myself from a sleeping Embree, I roll to my back and reach for my phone. Though I try to grab it before the ringing wakes her, I’m too late.

“Who is it?” she asks, her voice thick with sleep.

“Just Ben, sweetheart.” I drop a soft kiss on the top of her head. “Go back to sleep.” Pulling my arm out from under her, I sit on the edge of the bed and run a hand over my tired eyes. “What’s up?” I answer the call.

“I’m ten minutes out. Get the guys up. We need to talk.” His sharp tone is unexpected and snaps me awake. While early morning calls from him aren’t unusual, his showing up at my door before six in the morning certainly is.

“Got it. We’ll be ready.”

Hanging up, I reach for my t-shirt and sweatpants, both piled on the floor where I tossed them last night in my lust-induced haze. Remembering how she looked up at me as she pulled down my pants and took me into her mouth makes me groan. She was so sexy and confident in her ministrations that two minutes was all I lasted before I shot down her throat in a heart-pounding orgasm that nearly buckled my knees. And the way she swallowed me up… Fuck! The memory awakens that tingling sensation in my balls and leaves me wishing I could stay in this bed to indulge in more of the immeasurable pleasure only she can give.

“Get your shit together,” I mumble under my breath, as I pull up my sweatpants and adjust my erection so it’s not tenting the fabric. Ben showing up at this hour can only mean something is up. Something important enough to warrant a face-to-face, and whatever it is, can’t be good.

After stopping at the bathroom and brushing my teeth, I call Nero, who’s been watching me from where he lies on his bed.

“Come on. Time to go.” With an exaggerated groan, he stretches, his rear end rising first before he uses his front paws to drag himself out of bed like it’s the hardest thing he’s ever had to do.

I know exactly how he feels.

Shutting the bedroom door behind us, I sneak a quick peek at the girls, who are both sound asleep in their beds. Assured my three girls are safe and where they belong, I head downstairs to wake the guys. Knocking once so they know I’m coming, I let myself inside the control room. Zeb is at the monitors, looking over the screens, while James is asleep in a cot on the other side of the room—though he rouses awake just as I’m about to speak.

“Ben’s on his way and needs us ready. I’ll start coffee.” 

In the kitchen, I flick on the coffee machine, which is ready to go thanks to Embree, who prepped it the night before. It instantly whirs to life, and it isn’t long before the air is saturated with the comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

“Come on. Let’s go outside.”

In the living room, I swing open the French doors and let Nero out. Despite the early hour, the morning feels unusually warm and humid. As such, Nero efficiently takes care of his business, marking several areas around the property before darting back inside. As I’m about to close the doors, James announces Ben’s arrival. Not two seconds later, Ben bursts through the door, flanked by Dominick and Owen.

“Oh shit. If you got this guy to come out of his bat cave, it must mean we’re well and truly screwed.” Zeb grins as he shakes Owen’s hand before pulling him in for a rough hug. Though it sounds like a joke, it’s not. The only time Owen’s ever out in the field is when doing tech installations. Otherwise, he’s back at headquarters, manning the multiple screens and keyboards that are like a physical extension of him.

“This place is closer than the office. Plus, what we have to discuss is rather urgent,” Owen explains.

“Let’s get to it then. What’s going on?” I usher the guys to the dining room, where we all settle around the table.

With the remote in hand, Owen powers on the TV mounted on the far wall and sets up his laptop. His fingers dance over the keyboard until what he came to show us appears on the TV screen. The image displayed elicits a stunned silence as we all grapple to understand what it is we’re looking at.

“Is that…” Zeb asks.

“Yep, dear ol’ Harold,” Owen quips.

“What the hell is this?” I’m fucking livid. That this asshole would go behind Embree’s back and jeopardize her safety is beyond belief.

“Agent Hunt sent it to us. Harold showed up at the FBI’s Philadelphia office yesterday demanding to speak to whoever’s in charge of the investigation against Emilia.” Ben fills in the blanks. “Hunt told him it was his case, which is when Harold proceeded to share his suspicions about his stepdaughter’s recent activities and connection to Creed. At which point he demanded something be done, given his belief that she is a danger to the girls.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I growl, furious at the thought of how things could have turned out if Agent Hunt hadn’t been there to intercept him. “Are we at risk here? Was anyone else involved in the conversation?” The deal we made to free Embree from the FBI’s investigation was contingent upon specific provisions that bar her from disclosing any information related to Creed, the FBI, or the investigation. Harold showing up at their office and mentioning the case could have ruined everything.

“Hunt got to him before anyone else got involved. It’s handled for now, but it’s up to us to convince him it’s in his best interest to keep his mouth shut, and never dare mention Emilia, Creed, or the FBI in the same sentence again.”

“Fuck!” I erupt, slamming my fists on the table. Needing an outlet for my pent-up frustration, I rise and start pacing the room.

“Relax, Lucas,” Ben attempts to calm me. “We’re working to find a way to neutralize him. Owen is digging into his past, and once we find the leverage we need, we’ll use it to keep him quiet. At this point, Harold is the least of our problems.”

That last sentence stops me in my tracks. “What?”

“Take a look,” Owen directs our attention back to the TV screen.

“What am I looking at?” All I see is a video feed from the cameras set up in the front of Embree’s house. Other than the running timestamp on the corner, there’s no other movement.

“Here. I’ll play it again.”

It doesn’t help. “I still don’t see anything.”

“I’ll slow it down.” After adjusting something on his computer, he walks over to the screen and points at the running clock at the top. “There, see that?”

“What the… There’s time missing,” James adds.

“Yep.” The sudden appearance of the maniacal grin on Owens’s face is unnerving. “Someone who knows their way around security systems hacked into our feed and deleted a portion of the recording.”

“How the hell did that happen, Owen? This is twice now that these fuckers have breached our security.” And that right there sends my stomach plummeting into freefall. Up to now, I’ve been confident in our ability to secure ourselves against the bad guys, but this second breach confirms we’re more vulnerable than I realized.

“I opened a back door for them.” Owen’s smile grows impossibly bigger.

“Come again?”

“I purposely left a portion of our system unsecured, hoping they would find it and assume they could use it against us.”

Still not understanding why he would do something so stupid, I just stare at him, my fists clenched at my side.

“For god’s sake, I did it on purpose. These assholes are good. Real good. So I was hoping by skimping out on parts of our security, whoever is looking for her would find it. And they did. Someone attempted to delete something off of that feed that they did not want us to see.”

Now getting it, I ask, “So they tried to delete it, but you’re saying we still have it?”

“Bingo.” He points at me and nods. “And the best part is, we now know where Kessler is.” One keystroke later, a video of former Agent Robert Kessler comes up on the screen. He’s walking along the front of the house, stopping at each of the windows and peering in, probably to confirm no one is inside.

“Did he make it into the house?” Dominick asks.

“No,” Owen confirms. “Based on the timestamp, he was only on the property for a total of 93 seconds.”

“Ben, we should get someone over there to dust for prints,” Dominick speaks up. Like Ben, he’s a former law enforcement officer and therefore still has connections with the local PD.

“Agreed. When we leave here, reach out to Will Keller.” Ben tells Dominick. “It’s time we bring him in on this, in case we find ourselves in need of backup. Make it clear details are to remain off the books for now. No official channels just yet.”

“So what now?” Knowing that asshole is in town, and so close to my three girls, has my insides prickling with the need to act. To gear up, track, and hunt the motherfucker down like Nero and I used to back in our team days.

Ben considers my question for a few seconds before he responds. “We wait for Keller to run fingerprints, and if we get a hit, we take what we have to Hunt. He’s been looking to get eyes on Kessler, and that he’s here, so close to Emilia, is enough justification to have the FBI pick him up. He’s their loose cannon, a huge liability they’ll want to contain before he does any more damage.”

“And her stepfather?” Zeb questions, with the same murderous look on his face, as I’m sure is reflected in mine.

“Oh, I’m all over that.” Owen’s expression is almost giddy.

“Don’t worry about Harold. By week’s end, he won’t be a problem anymore.” Ben reassures.

“And Emilia, how much should I tell her?” I ask, knowing damn well the answer is all of it. But with everything going on, I’m worried about how the news of her stepfather’s actions, along with Kessler being spotted outside her house, will affect her. I’m not sure how much more she can take.

“I’ll leave that up to you. Anyway, I think we’re done here. Dominick and Owen, you know what to do. Zeb and James, you can get back to work. I’d like a word with Lucas alone.”

As the guys shuffle out, they pat me on the back and say their goodbyes. When we’re alone, I reclaim the seat across from him.

“Based on your question of how much to tell her, I take it things between you aren’t any better.”

“Better… no.” I scoff, dropping my head I run my hands over my face.

I’m exhausted, and it has nothing to do with the early hour or the fucked up developments discussed during this impromptu meeting. The tension between Embree and me continues to build by the day, and with no resolution in sight, I feel impossibly depleted.

“She’s still affectionate. Still wants to make love and for all intents and purposes, acts like she wants a relationship with me. I just can’t shake this feeling that something’s not right. She’s keeping me at arm’s length, and when I ask her to explain why, she shuts down. I’m starting to think…” I can’t even say it. The emotion choking up my throat makes it impossible to verbalize my greatest fear.

“What?” He waits for me to continue.

“That I’m only good enough for now. That maybe when all is said and done, she’ll go back to her life and leave me behind. I don’t know.” I shrug my shoulders, averting my gaze as I fight the burn behind my eyes. “Maybe she’ll go back to Creed. The only thing I know for sure is that she’s not in this with me, at least not in the way I thought.”

“Have you talked to her about the future? Specifically, about where things will go between the two of you when all this is resolved? Because if you haven’t, maybe that’s where you need to start.”

Shaking my head, I take a deep breath. Exhaling my frustration out loud, my shoulders slump in defeat. “I don’t know if now’s a good time to push for that discussion. Given our history and where we currently find ourselves, it might stir up things neither of us is ready to face. Things that for now, are better off left alone.”

With a deep scowl, he stands. Looking straight through me, he then says, “If you listen to nothing else I tell you, listen to me now. Keep thinking that shit and that’s exactly where you’ll end up. Alone. If that’s not what you want, I suggest you stir up that shit and keep fucking stirring until you make it damn clear you’re not giving up. If you want to keep her, stop handling her with kid gloves. Man the fuck up and tell her straight up, that YOU are NEVER, EVER giving her up.”

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Author’s Note:

With former Agent Robert Kessler back in town, and Emilia's stepfather stirring up trouble, poor Lucas is shouldering quite a lot.

What do you think about Ben's advice to Lucas? Do you think he should be more forceful in convincing her it's time to come clean about whatever is bothering her?

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