Protective Operation Read online

  He saw a swirl of stars as he felt his body hit the floor. A boot connected with his ribs as he crumpled into a fetal position.

  As he struggled to remain conscious, he let the man deal his blows. No matter what physical damage this man did to him, it wouldn’t hurt half as much as the pain in Chad’s heart as he recalled all those he had done wrong.

  He opened his eyes. Shaye stood a few feet away, watching in horror as the man delivered his beating.

  Maybe that was why she was here—maybe she was his saving grace. Or maybe she was here to witness his final humiliation.

  Chapter Three

  She may have known how to make an entrance, but Chad sure knew how to make an exit.

  Had he always been this much trouble?

  Kneeling beside him on the floor, she pressed her fingers against his neck, checking for a pulse. His face was covered in blood and it streaked down his neck. When she finally felt the familiar thump of his heartbeat, she pulled back her fingers.

  Not for the first time in the last few months, she found herself with blood on her hands. At least this time the sticky, hot blood was literal and not figurative.

  She sucked in a harsh breath as she thought of Raj. She wasn’t the cause of this fight between Chad and the man he had called Kash, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t to blame. It seemed like anytime she got close to someone, they always found themselves in trouble.

  Chad mumbled something unintelligible as she brushed the front of his hair out of a cut just above his eye.

  “Chad?” she asked, the crowd around her starting to abate as everyone must have realized that he was still alive. “Are you okay? You need to wake up.”

  He needed to be okay. She couldn’t stand seeing him hurt.

  An older woman came hustling out of the crowd. She was well dressed, with a wide, muscular physique that spoke of years working on a ranch. She carried herself with a matronly air—this was her domain. The woman’s hair was thoroughly hair-sprayed, but as she moved the wind caught an edge of it near her face and made a blade of hair fly up. For a moment, she could have sworn that the woman’s silver hair looked like an axe just waiting to fall. And she had a sinking suspicion that Chad was the chicken at the woman’s mercy.

  “Get up, Chad,” Shaye said out of the side of her mouth as she watched the woman descend upon them. At her heels was Chad’s sister, Zoey.

  Both women wore matching scowls.

  She reached over and nudged him. Chad grumbled something and as he tried to speak there was a whisper of drink on his breath. Looking to the crowd, she searched for a friendly face. All she spotted was Kash, sneering down at the man he had just left bloodied and battered—he would have to do.

  “Kash, come here and give me a hand,” Shaye said, motioning toward Chad.

  “To hell with that,” Kash scoffed.

  “If you don’t get down here, I will personally ensure that you spend the rest of your days cleaning latrines at an army training camp in Algiers, in the summer.” It wasn’t completely an idle threat. In the past her father had made similar threats and followed through on them. Though she didn’t have her father’s authority, it didn’t mean she didn’t still carry his confidence in administering justice.

  Not that Chad was innocent.

  No, her friend was far from that if he had done as Kash had said, but that hadn’t given the man the right to dishonor her friend in a public place.

  Kash stepped in and lifted Chad off the ground like a limp mannequin, just as Zoey and the older woman reached them through the crowd.

  “What did Chad do?” Zoey asked, giving the older woman a side-eyed glance as she tried to hide her embarrassment. “Aunt Eloise, I’m so sorry about my brother and this scene he’s created at your event. You know how he can be.”

  How he can be? What did that mean? From the time Shaye had spent with him, he had seemed like a good man. Sure, he had the culinary tastes of a five-year-old, loving macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, but that seemed to be his most glaring fault.

  But now wasn’t the time to ask Zoey for specifics about Chad’s character.

  “Does this have something to do with you?” Zoey asked, pointing at her.

  She stepped back as if Zoey’s finger was a dagger thrust straight toward her gut. “No. I—I just arrived. I have no idea—”

  “Wait, what are you doing here?” Zoey asked, her eyes widening as she must have realized how out of place Shaye was. “Never mind,” she said, once again turning her attention to the woman she’d called Aunt Eloise and the reddened state of her face. “I’ll take care of this.” She grabbed Chad’s other arm and threw it over her shoulder.

  Shaye wasn’t exactly sure what she should do. She didn’t really belong anywhere, especially not at this party, standing in front of its host, looking like she had caused a scene.

  “Ms. Eloise, I offer you my most sincere apologies,” she said, with a slight supplicating bow. “It was not my intention for such events to occur.”

  Her frown disappeared as she looked at her. “None of this was your doing. Oh, I’m sorry,” the woman said, extending her hand in welcome. “I believe we weren’t introduced. And please just call me Eloise—Eloise Fitzgerald.”

  The woman’s manners were the best she had found since she had come here, and they made her feel as if she was at one of her galas. She immediately took to the woman. She’d always liked a woman who was driven to lead instead of taking a back seat to a man—just another reason Shaye had to leave her father’s control.

  “It is a pleasure,” Shaye said, taking the woman’s hand in a demure shake. “I’m Shaye Griest, a friend of Chad and his family.”

  “Well, Ms. Griest, the honor is all mine. I’m glad you could attend tonight, and please pardon my nephew’s manners. He was raised like a worm in the Big Apple.”

  “Thank you for having me. I must admit this day has turned out to be far more interesting than I had anticipated.” She chuckled as she glanced over her shoulder and checked on Zoey as she and Kash dragged Chad from the barn. “If you don’t mind, I must excuse myself. I want to make sure Chad is okay.”

  Eloise waved her away. “Why don’t you all make yourselves right at home in the main house, all the guest rooms are booked for the night and there is no sense in you going anywhere.”

  This woman was full of surprises, and was nothing like the iron horse she seemed to be when she’d come steaming in.

  Shaye hurried after Kash and Zoey, and caught up to them just as they were making their way into the parking lot.

  Chad moaned, and his head flopped to the side. He looked as though he’d had too much to drink on top of the beating. Maybe that was part of it. Maybe he had been taking shots between pouring people drinks. From what she’d gleaned from his family, he could be the type. When they had been together, he had been so kind and caring, and he didn’t seem like the man he was being portrayed as tonight.

  Raj had always liked him. That had to say something, didn’t it?

  The thought of Raj made her belly do a little flop. Hopefully, if he was watching down upon her, he understood exactly why she was doing what she was doing.

  “What should we do about him?” Kash grumbled.

  It took a second for Shaye to realize they were talking about Chad and not Raj.

  “Eloise said we would have to put him in one of the rooms of the main house—everything else is booked for the night.” Shaye walked up beside Kash.

  “If it was up to me, I’d drop him right here and be done with him,” Kash grumbled. “He got what he had coming, and he knows it just as well as I do.”

  “Did he really?” Shaye asked, sounding far more naive than she would have liked.

  Kash smirked. “I told you what he did. I ain’t gonna repeat it.” For a brief moment, he just looked at her, taking her in as he helped her friend. Hi
s gaze slid over her like a set of hands, but surprisingly it didn’t make her uncomfortable. Actually, as she really looked at the man, he was someone she could have considered classically handsome, but in a Western way. He had Cary Grant features, with dark eyes and a pronounced jaw, and when he smiled—like he was doing right now—there was a single dimple that adorned his cheek.

  If Shaye had to guess, this man could probably have any single woman at the party, and probably several of the married ones if he was so inclined. But perhaps he wasn’t that type. He’d judged his sister and Chad harshly.

  “I’m sure if Chad acted as you say he did, there was a reason. So be careful what you say—few things are ever as erroneous and detrimental as our presumptions about others.” Shaye stepped closer to Zoey, who was studying them but staying quiet.

  She didn’t need Zoey presuming anything about her being there aside from her needing a safe place to land—which was in the entire Martin family’s hands, and it was up to all of them if they would allow it.

  And she certainly didn’t need any man looking at her like Kash was doing right now.

  Shaye cleared her throat. “We probably need to make sure Chad doesn’t need a doctor. Don’t you think, Zoey?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Zoey said, smirking at her as she glanced over at Kash. “Let’s take him in, to the back bedroom. I don’t think anyone is staying in there. We can check him over there. Kash, do you have your squad car or your truck tonight?”

  Squad car? Was Kash a police officer? The idea caught her completely off-guard. It wasn’t that she didn’t think it possible of the drunk, surly, but well-built man, but it seemed strange that his revenge wasn’t handled in a more political manner. If someone had acted against her father, they would have ended up dead in a matter of hours.

  America was strange, but there was something to love about this Western, cowboy-style justice. At least all the things could be put on the table and dealt with in the open. Sure, it wasn’t particularly civilized when blood dripped on the floor and they were forced to drag a man out of a party, but at least everyone knew where everyone else stood. And, to Kash’s credit, he had picked up his enemy after the fight and was helping him—even if he was doing so begrudgingly.

  Even Raj would have been more likely to kick dirt on his enemy instead of carrying him to his sick bed.

  Maybe there was something to cowboys after all.

  Yet, as handsome and drawling as Kash was, he paled in comparison to the enigmatic Chad. There was something about Chad that made her feel sorry for him. Well, not sorry exactly. She was more curious. Or perhaps it was mystifying. Chad wasn’t like anyone she had ever known before. He was a mixture of all the things she found incredibly beguiling in a man. Whenever he was near, she found herself wanting to see more. But, for the most part, she could say the same thing about a car accident.

  And, right now, getting involved any more than she already was would be the personal life equivalent of a four-car pileup.

  As they made their way into the main house, she couldn’t say she had ever been anywhere quite like it. It looked like something out of a John Wayne movie, with animal skins mounted on the walls and a roaring fireplace at the center of the room flanked by leather couches and chairs. A buffalo plaid quilt was folded neatly and hung over the back of the couch as though the entire room was just waiting for someone to come in and make themselves comfortable.

  At the far side, standing tall, its gold angel touching the ceiling, was a Christmas tree decked out in white and gold, all except one bright pink Dora the Explorer ornament hanging at a little girl’s eye level—the effect was breathtaking. Shaye peeked around her, half expecting to see a little one running down the hall that led to the room or laughing from inside the kitchen, which wasn’t far from where they stood.

  This was a home.

  It was nothing like where she had grown up, where staffers constantly waited on her hand and foot. Sure, everything was spotless and in perfect order, but with that austerity came a certain distance—it was like the sterility of their palatial surroundings stripped the soul from the building and kept it from ever truly becoming a home. Compared to this place, Shaye had grown up in a museum.

  Kash readjusted Chad, making him moan. “Can’t we just dump him on the couch?” Kash asked.

  Zoey shook her head. “You don’t get to complain. You’re the reason we’re here. If you had half a brain, you’d have stopped at one punch.”

  Kash mumbled unintelligibly, but Shaye heard something about honor.

  So even Zoey agreed Chad had this beating coming. She found herself shaking her head. This definitely was an entirely different world.

  As they made their way down the hall, Chad started muttering as though he was coming back to his senses. “Do you think we should take him to the hospital, get him checked and make sure he doesn’t have a concussion?” Shaye asked as she spotted the steadily growing lump on Chad’s forehead.

  “He doesn’t have a concussion—he’s just a drunk bastard,” Kash growled.

  Kash dropped Chad on the bed in the back room. His body was half off the mattress, but Kash didn’t bother moving him as he left the room mumbling obscenities under his breath.

  Zoey closed the door behind him and turned to Shaye. “Why are you here? Did you have something to do with this fight—with his drinking?”

  Shaye tried to control her face, but she couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping. Was that what Zoey really thought? That she had come here and immediately gotten Chad into trouble?

  “No, I...” She panicked. “I had to get away from my father.”

  Zoey nodded and tried to roll the rest of Chad onto the bed. Shaye hurried over, grabbed hold of Chad’s sweater and pushed the rest of him onto the bed. He was bent at an uncomfortable angle, but at least he was in one piece.

  Zoey turned and there was a pinched look on her face. “But why are you here? I mean, I’m glad to see you. You know I like you, but we had no idea you were coming. And...as for how you found us...”

  The blood drained from her face as she realized what Zoey was thinking. Zoey was probably concerned that she had managed to find this family in hiding. If she could find them, who else could?

  “It’s okay, Zoey. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. I only knew the town where I could find you because Chad once mentioned something about it. He knew I could keep it a secret. Don’t worry,” Shaye said, nearly stumbling over her words.

  The worried expression on Zoey’s face didn’t lessen. “How did you find this party?”

  Shaye couldn’t help but bite at the corner of her mouth as she felt a new sense of shame. “Um, actually the deputy, Wyatt, brought me here after we had a bit of a misunderstanding.” She thanked her lucky stars that she had been able to convince him that she had no intention of causing trouble for the Martins, and he had accepted her apology for accidentally pepper-spraying him.

  Zoey scowled and seemed to study her for a moment before she finally relaxed. “And you are sure that none of your father’s men followed you here?”

  “My father and I are done. After he tried to kill Chad, and what he did to Raj, I’m no longer his daughter.” The words felt like pebbles as they rolled over her tongue and slipped from her lips.

  And that was to say nothing of how her mother had died under mysterious circumstances when she was only nine. Her nanny had told her that her mother had experienced a heart attack, but had refused to answer any further questions. When she was older, she had heard whispers about her mother filing for divorce mere days before she died. Looking back now, she realized that her father likely had a hand in her death...and its cover-up.

  The moment he lost control over someone, they always ended up dead.

  The only thing she had left from her mother now was the ring she’d worn—a ring that had been worn by her grandmother, and now was stuffed in her bag
.

  She nibbled at her lip, as her thoughts moved to the rest of her family, all of whom had chosen to stand behind her father and left her with nowhere to go—even though they all knew what kind of man he really was.

  “I don’t blame you after all you’ve been through. But I guess I didn’t realize that you and Chad...well, you know, that you were a thing or whatever.”

  Shaye flushed. “Oh. No. That’s not it. We’re just friends. He’s like a brother to me. He just told me that if I ever needed a place to go that your door was open.” Her body was rigid as the awkwardness of the entire situation hobbled her. “I didn’t mean to intrude, or bring any sort of danger into your lives. If you would like, I’m happy to leave.”

  Zoey paused for a moment, like she was thinking over their options. “No, you’re fine. In fact, it will be nice having another woman around. Jarrod is here with Mindy, but they’re in a honeymoon phase. And, well, Trevor is Trevor especially since Sabrina is away at Quantico in training.”

  “What about you and Eli? Chad told me that you two got engaged, as well?”

  Zoey laughed, the sound high and filled with joy. “Yeah, I guess this getting-married thing is contagious. But, I gotta admit, I’m not in a huge hurry to pull on the white gown just yet. I’m loving this whole engaged thing. But I miss Eli. He’s currently off the grid, but should be back before Christmas. At least I have this—Look at this thing.” She flipped out her hand so Shaye could take a look at the rock on her finger. It was a beautiful ring with a sapphire at its center and around it was a ring of diamonds.

  A wiggle of sadness and jealousy twisted through her. She had taken off the gold band that Raj had given her, but sometimes she could have sworn she still felt the weight of it on her finger. She missed the security of knowing that just like the circle of the ring, Raj’s love was unending—that was, until his death.

  A lump formed in her throat.

  “You know,” Zoey said, almost as if she could feel Shaye’s sadness, “Chad is going to be all right on his own. Why don’t you go back to the party and just enjoy the night?”