Page 45 of Benedict’s Rejuvenation (Dark Patriots #5)

We’d stopped on our way back to the rental last night and got food to go.

It was from a small burger place we’d seen good reviews of.

A call to Heath and Justin when we did got them food along with ours.

Back at the house, dressed in our comfy clothing, we all ate, laughed, and had a good time.

Justin and Heath continued to give me a hard time about the way I proposed.

Kensy came to my defense, telling them that being different didn’t mean it meant less or wasn’t romantic.

When we retired to our rooms for the night, she and I had a very romantic and highly pleasurable celebration. It lasted an hour and was repeated before we fell asleep in the early hours of the morning.

Everyone was up and functioning. We were in a sort of holding pattern.

We had to wait for Wynne to either stop trying to meet with the women, which meant we’d have to find a different way into that house.

Or he’d get his act together and invite us to his home rather than trying to do this meet in an empty room at a gala or a snooty restaurant crap.

Last night, I noticed how pleased Barrett Sherman appeared to be when he saw Kensy and Keeley submitting to our direction.

We ordered their drinks and did the same with their food.

They stayed silent unless directed to answer by us.

We went that way because if he was holding a woman as his sex slave, it was good odds he was into that whole dominant thing to the extreme. He was possibly another Vadzim.

We were all sitting in the backyard. No one could see us there, so Heath and Justin were free to hang out with us. The sun was out, and the ladies were sunning themselves. It was warm for ten in the morning.

“Do you think we’ll hear from the bastard today, or will he slink away?” I asked Beau.

“Hell, I don’t know, Ben. He’s acting too erratically for me to say. We know he was struck by them, and he sent Sherman over shortly after he saw them. I want to know what this business opportunity Sherman spoke of is.”

“I have no idea,” I said.

“I want to know why his lawyer played go-between. Does that strike anyone else as odd? Men like Wynne have assistants and personnel coming out of his ears. Why not task one of them with it?” Kensy asked.

“That does seem weird to me, too. Unless he thinks those people would gossip or something,” I replied.

“How long will we stay here if he doesn’t contact us, or keeps playing games with us?” Keeley asked.

“That’s the hard part. We don’t want to bail too early, but we can’t be here indefinitely.

You had to take emergency leave to do this, and you were granted a two-week leave of absence.

I know that you hated to lie to them to get it, and we don’t want you to have to lie to get more time,” Beau told her.

“I did hate to do it. Chief Becarra bought it, though, when I said it was for Kensy’s recovery and we were going together to have some more intensive counseling done. In a way, it’s not a lie. This trip will help with some of your PTSD, I hope.” Keeley smiled at her sister as she said it.

“I think it’ll be cathartic if I can see someone being rescued from such a situation, even if it’s not exactly like mine. It’s a reminder that some of us do gain our freedom and can move on to have a pretty normal life.”

She had such a sad look on her face, I had to pull her chair closer to me so I could put an arm around her. Kensy gave me a slight smile.

I hated to think anything we were doing was causing Kensy to slide back. She hadn’t had another flashback, thank God, but it could happen at any time without warning. Risking her still didn’t sit well with me.

“We’ll have to update the bosses tonight. I hoped that we’d have something to tell them, but—” Beau’s phone ringing cut off Justin. All of us tensed up. We watched as he picked it up to check the screen. His gaze met mine.

“It’s Wynne’s number. Everyone, be quiet, and let’s see if it’s the man himself.”

Beau let it ring three times, and on what would’ve been the fourth one, he answered. “Beau Pierce, how may I help you?” he asked in a businesslike voice, acting as if he didn’t recognize the number.

Hopefully, Wynne didn’t have Sherman or another flunky call for him. I was tired of the shit.

“Hello, Mr. Pierce, this is Joshua Wynne. I was hoping to speak with you and your friends to extend my apologies for how the past few days have gone. I want you to know that I am not playing games. I would like to meet with you and your friends to discuss something with you. I’m terribly embarrassed about last night.

I was wondering if you’d give me one more chance?

” Wynne’s words came over the speaker phone loud and clear.

His speech sounded well-rehearsed. He put the right amount of regret in his voice. I saw how people would fall for his manner and believe everything he said. When he finished, Beau let the silence stretch just short of insulting before he answered.

“Mr. Wynne, thank you for your apology. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure my friend, Ben, will be willing to give this another chance.

Ben isn’t as forgiving as I am. We’re soon to leave, and he’s become newly engaged as of yesterday.

He’s taking time to see if Hawaii will make sense for his honeymoon.

As for the ladies, they’ll do whatever we tell them to do, so they’re not a problem.

I’ll have to check with him. What did you have in mind? ”

It was hard not to laugh at the way he described me, and then the looks on the women’s faces at his remark about them doing as we told them.

Beau might have a wildcat on his hands when he gets off that phone.

I felt safer since I hadn’t been the one to say it.

Heath and Justin were rolling their eyes.

“I’d like to ask all of you to join me for dinner this evening. Before you say no, it will be at my home. We won’t be interrupted.”

“Has your emergency from last night been completely resolved to allow that?” Beau asked.

There was the ever-slightest pause before Wynne answered. “It has been taken care of. I don’t anticipate any more problems of that kind. If you accept, I’ll send you the address. I’d like you to be here at seven, if that works for you.”

“I’ll speak to Ben, and I’ll text you our answer. I know you’re a busy man. I won’t hold you up any longer. Hopefully, we’ll meet tonight.”

“Yes, I hope so. I’ll wait for your answer. Have a good day.”

“You as well,” Beau replied, and then we heard the line go dead, so he disconnected.

“Well then, difficult Ben, are you willing to go into the den of the lion tonight?” Heath asked.

“He’s not a lion, he just thinks he is. I’ll show him one. He’s a pussycat at the most,” I growled. Kensy laughed and hugged my arm.

“How long should we allow him to stew before we say yes?” Keeley asked.

“Two hours. I’ll tell him it took some convincing to get you to agree,” Beau suggested.

“Works for me.”

“I suggest we go out and explore today. I say let’s get on the 350 and see where it takes us. It won’t take all day to do some exploring, and we’ll be back here in time to get ready and head to his royal pain-in-the-ass’s house,” I suggested. Sitting here all day would make Kensy more anxious.

“I’d love to do that. We haven’t gotten to see much, and if you’re to honeymoon here, or at least to look like you’re considering it, we need to do more sightseeing,” Kensy immediately added.

No one seemed to object. Of course, it meant poor Justin and Heath had to stay behind. We couldn’t risk being seen together. They waved it off and said they had some plans of their own.

Half an hour later, we were on our way. The drive was beautiful. We passed by many sights, and being near an actual volcano was wild. We ended up stopping at the Haleakala Visitor Center at the base of the Haleakala volcano. There was a ton of information to be gained there.

After that, we continued through other towns until we looped back toward Hana.

There we ended up at Ke’anae Peninsula. It was an amazing sight, and kind of scary.

What it was was a projecting mass of newer lava that stuck out over the cliff line to the Hana highway.

Tourists were parked all along it and were out taking pictures.

We stopped and did the same. It was awe-inspiring in a way.

We swore we’d go to the other end of the island before we left.

However, time was short, and we had to go to dinner.

???

We were stopped at the gate to Wynne’s estate.

He had two men standing guard. They might not have displayed openly that they were armed, but when you did the work we did, it was easy to spot who was carrying and where.

They had stern faces. If it was meant to intimidate us, it didn’t.

We were eyed suspiciously and had to provide all four of our names, then wait for it to be checked against something on a small tablet held by one of the guys. I’d bet money it was our pictures.

I was waiting for them to ask us to step out of the car so they could pat us down.

If they did, they’d get the surprise of a lifetime.

We were armed, and in addition, we were lucky that there was a high point, or whatever you wanted to call it, not overly far from the estate.

Heath was up there as overwatch with a rifle equipped with a powerful scope.

Justin was located much closer and at the base level.