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Kade shuddered, the emotions he was trying to hold in check beating at him to let them come to the surface. Briefly, he tried to explain some of the abuse Asha had suffered, the men sitting around him listening intently. Kade took a long swallow of his beer before he finished, “I’ve seen the scars on her body, and I remember the doctor mentioned that he saw what looked like old rib fractures on her chest x-ray when she had pneumonia. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, thinking maybe she’d had an accident and they’d healed. But now, I’m thinking they weren’t caused by a damn accident.” Just thinking about Asha’s ex-husband beating her hard enough to break her ribs and leaving some of the scars he’d seen on her gorgeous body made him clench his fist around the bottle of beer in his hand. For a minute, he wondered if it might shatter.
“I’ll help you,” Max answered dangerously. “And I’m not even going to ask how you saw scars on her body.”
“Kill the bastard,” Simon grunted.
“I’m in,” Sam said, his voice low and threatening.
“Not happening,” Travis contradicted casually.
Four sets of angry male eyes shifted in his direction.
“What the fuck? I’d have thought you’d be the last one to have any qualms about this!” Kade slammed his empty beer on the coffee table, not giving a damn if it left a mark.
Travis shrugged, looking relaxed and in complete control of himself sitting in Kade’s recliner. “I don’t. He deserves to die for what he did to Asha. But you aren’t doing this for Asha; you’re doing it for yourself. Granted, I don’t know her well, but she doesn’t appear to be the type of woman who wants her brother, brother-in-law, and his friends to go to jail for murder.” Travis heaved a beleaguered, masculine sigh. “He can be destroyed in other ways, pay for what he’s done to her.”
Kill. Kill. Kill.Kade wasn’t sure much would placate his protective madness except death to the man who had beaten Asha nearly to death…more than once. Burying his head in his hands, he groaned, “I don’t think I can be satisfied with anything else. Just the fact that he beat her hard enough to probably leave her close to death makes me insane.”
“Me either,” Max rasped.
“He needs to be wiped off the earth,” Simon commented gruffly.
“Agreed,” Sam echoed adamantly.
“For Christ’s sake...I’m surrounded by some of the most brilliant, richest men in America, and you’re all acting like idiots. Put your emotions aside and think with your heads,” Travis said harshly. “You all have too damn much to lose to do anything else. You have kids or children on the way, women you care about.”
“I can’t just leave it,” Kade replied, his voice hostile. “Yeah, I’m thinking of Asha, but he might kill the next woman he gets involved with.”
A rumble of agreement echoed through the room.
“I’m not suggesting that you leave it. I’m suggesting that you put your emotions aside and use your head,” Travis drawled. “The last thing Asha needs is more chaos and guilt in her life.”
A pang of remorse stabbed at Kade’s conscience. He knew Travis was right, but he couldn’t seem to control his need to seek some kind of justice for Asha, one that involved severe pain and suffering to her ex-husband.
It had only been a few days since Asha had given him her body for the first time and rocked his world, but they’d made up for lost time by touching each other every chance they had. He couldn’t seem tonottouch her when she was anywhere near him. In fact, the urge to get up and go to the kitchen just to see her, make sure she was okay, was almost irresistible.
“I suppose you have a plan,” Max said slowly, glaring at Travis.
Travis shot a superior look back at Max. “I generally do,” he answered arrogantly. “I happen to use the headabovemy waist when it comes to women, unlike the rest of you.”
“Not always,” Kade reminded him hotly. “Not when it comes to Mia.” Other than Travis, only Max would understand his statement because he was the only other one who knew that Travis was more than willing to kill when it came to Mia’s safety.
“Unfortunate accident,” Travis answered nonchalantly. “And Mia’s safety was threatened.”
Simon and Sam looked on, confused, but didn’t comment.
Unfortunate accident, my ass.Kade had no doubt Travis had known exactly what he was doing when the man stalking Mia just happened to have his “unfortunate accident” that left him conveniently dead, never to bother their sister ever again. “I’m listening. But no guarantee that I still won’t kill the bastard,” Kade said sharply, his guts still telling him he needed to hurt the one who had hurt Asha.
Max folded his arms and pierced Travis with a stubborn look. “Let’s hear it.”
Sam and Simon grumbled, but agreed to hear Travis out.
With a satisfied smile, Travis began to talk.
Asha replaced the security phone by the door on its cradle and hugged baby Ginny a little tighter. Ginny Helen Hudson was sleeping peacefully in her arms. She loved the smell and feel of the infant, the trust the tiny being had given her by falling asleep while Asha had rocked her. Named after both of her grandmothers, Asha thought she was the most adorable infant she’d ever seen.
“Why would someone want to talk to me?” she muttered to the sleeping infant as though the baby would answer her. “I don’t even know anyone here.”
Turning away from the door, she walked back into the living room where the women were taking up residence while the guys were on cleaning duty after they had all indulged greedily of the Thanksgiving dinner. Fighting down the instinct to go to the kitchen and help because she was still uncomfortable with the idea of men in the kitchen, she reluctantly handed baby Ginny back to Kara with a frown. “Some lady wants to talk to me. A doctor. Kade’s security agent said he checked her ID and she was legitimate. Apparently she knew my father and wants to give me something that belonged to him.”