Page 27 of James (Big Northwest #6)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

JAMES

“ H OLY SHIT YOU’RE fast.” Frankie raced along beside her, gracefully leaping from branch to branch as they moved through the trees like they used to when they were little.

When they imagined the day they’d be free, not having a clue how much it would take to get there.

James grinned as the breeze moved through her hair, the scent of the forest filling her lungs. “You think this is impressive, you should see me on a pole.”

“No one wants to hear about Phillip’s dick.” Frankie was starting to slow down, her movements getting a little less smooth as she started to get tired.

“I do.” Charlie wiggled her brows as she jumped from one limb to the next. “I bet it’s big.”

“Gross.” Danny called from where she was on the ground beneath them, cutting across the forest floor with Sam and Alex.

“It’s not any grosser than you boning Craig.” Charlie swung over to the same tree as James, hooking one arm around the trunk. “Or Frankie sexing JD all up.”

“I don’t sex JD up.” Frankie lowered to sit, legs dangling on either side of the limb where she perched. “JD sexes me.”

Charlie snorted. “Same difference.”

“No it’s not.” Sam stood below them, her hands on her hips. “It’s worse.” She turned, her body going on alert. “No more inappropriate conversations.

A happy squeal cut through the trees as Lily bounded straight at Sam, leaping at her without fear. “I found you Mama Sam.”

“You did.” Sam hefted Lily onto one hip as she looked around. “Does Daddy Tate know you’re out here?”

“He won’t mind.” Lily lowered her voice. “I was very good and only played with Mr. Bear a little.”

Sam closed her eyes, head falling back. “Sweetheart, we’ve talked about playing with Mr. Bear.”

“I know, but he’s so nice.” Lily’s little voice was pleading. “He and his brother only eat bad men.”

James dropped to the ground, a grin on her face. “We could have used Mr. Bear’s services yesterday.”

Lily swung around, her eyes wide. “Want me to tell him like I did when those mean men tried to hurt Mama Sam?”

James looked from Sam to Lily. “Maybe let Mr. Bear skip this one. Don’t want him to get heartburn.”

Sam leaned to catch Lily’s attention. “I thought you and Daddy Tate were working together at the bakery?”

“We were, but then that man and his friends showed up to see the freezer at Auntie Danny’s and Daddy Tate had to go help, so I went to the cafe with Pop-Pop.”

Sam’s head bobbed back. “You snuck away from Jeffrey?”

“Oh God.” Frankie rolled her eyes as she slid off the limb, her landing only slightly less graceful than normal. “He’s going to lose his shit.”

“At least it wasn’t Kenneth.” Charlie dropped from the tree. “He’d be interrogating people at gunpoint by now.”

Sam turned toward town. “I guess we should head back before they all lose their minds.” She gave Lily a stern look. “We’ve talked about sneaking out into the woods alone.” Her voice was so motherly it made James’s chest tight. “Lots of times.”

Lily huffed out a dramatic sigh. “I know.”

“We’re not worried about you, little miss.” Frankie booped Lily on the nose. “It’s everyone else that’s the problem.”

James brought up the rear, watching as her sisters circled around Sam and Lily, naturally forming a protective ring around the most vulnerable of the group. Not that it sounded like Lily was a damsel in distress. Not with Mr. Bear and his brother in her pocket.

She wanted to go back to Chicago. Wanted to live with Phillip and build a life with him. Wanted to travel the world and experience as much as she could. But that would leave her without a protective circle of her own. No one to help watch over her children or support her when she struggled.

It went against her very nature. The fiber of community laced through her DNA.

The new phone Phillip took her out to purchase yesterday vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, surprised to see a familiar name across the screen.

She connected the call, pressing the cell to her ear. “Theo?”

“Hey, James. I’m supposed to call you and see if it’s okay if we give Morris your number. He wants to make sure he gets whatever you want when he does the shopping before you and Phillip come home.”

“Of course.” She smiled. “That’s really nice of Morris to do that.” She hadn’t yet had the opportunity to meet the man who handled Phillip’s home needs, but she was eager to get to at least talk to him. “That would be awesome.”

And a little weird. But so much had been lately. A man doing her grocery shopping and cleaning her house was probably the least of the strangeness she’d faced.

“Awesome. I’ll pass that on.” Theo didn’t say more, but he also didn’t try to end the call.

She pulled it away from her ear, making sure she hadn’t lost the signal. The bars were all still there and the timer was still ticking, so she put it back in place and said, “Are you still there?”

“I am.” Theo dragged the words out. “I was just wondering if maybe any of your sisters were single.”

James barked out a laugh, startling a few birds overhead and sending them flapping from the branches. “No. They’re all super taken. Sorry.”

Theo sighed. “No problem. I figured it was worth a shot.”

“If you don’t shoot your shot you’ll never know.” She blinked against the sun as they broke through the treeline and moved into the field behind town. “I’m sure I can help you lady hunt when I get back to town.”

“Yeah?” Theo perked up. “That would be fantastic.”

She was still smiling as their call ended and she followed her sisters back to town, feeling a little lighter. Maybe she would have a circle. Not one like she came from, but one formed with purpose.

And strangely enough, one that contained men.

Life was weird.

Danny led everyone past the cafe, dropping Sam and a very apologetic Lily off with Jeffrey, who was well on his way to a meltdown before he saw them. The rest of their group went to Danny’s shop, walking inside to find a group of men in full tactical gear milling around the space. They were probably used to being the scariest thing in the room.

Which made her smile because she imagined Phillip used to be just like them.

“You can’t come in here.” One of the men held up a hand, like he was going to stop Danny from going into her own back room.

She looked him up and down, expression unimpressed. “Careful, or you’ll end up in my freezer too, big guy.”

The guy took a half step back. It was instinct. She’d seen it happen quite a few times.

Usually right before a guy landed on the list she gave Phillip.

“Let her in.” Phillip poked his head out from the processing room, eyes finding her immediately. “They can all come back.” He tossed the guy a smirk as he passed on his way to where she stood. “Especially this one.”

Frankie made a gagging noise.

“Shut up.” Charlie elbowed their sister. “Let her have her fun. No one pukes when JD puts his tongue in your mouth.”

Phillip lifted a brow at her sister’s antics, but the line of his mouth was amused as he reached for her, pulling her body to his. “Did you have fun playing in the woods?”

“I did.” She toyed with his tie. “It was almost as fun as helping you climb out a fifth story window.”

“I’m gonna ask that we don't add that to our list of recreational activities.” Phillip hooked his arm at her waist, turning to follow her sisters into the back. “Maybe we can go rock climbing, or something else involving a harness system.”

She perked up a little. “Could we do it with everyone from the office? Like a team building activity?”

“You want to take the whole office rock climbing?” His head tipped. “That’s actually not a bad idea. They’d probably love it.” His lips lifted. “And I can only imagine how great the view is from the ground.” His hand slid into hers as he led her past another row of dangerous looking men. “I want you to meet someone.”

It was easy to figure out who Phillip was leading her toward. Pierce. The friend he’d called for help, as well as the man he used to work for. From what little information she’d managed to get out of Phillip the previous night—between rounds of his face between her thighs in various capacities—Pierce was wealthy, and maybe a little stuck up and stuffy.

He was also one thing Phillip forgot to mention.

Freaking gorgeous.

The man standing next to Kenneth was tall, dark, handsome, and obsessed with his wife and daughter, which made him even more attractive.

“She’s an angel.” Kenneth was being a perfect gentleman, letting Pierce show him no less than fifty pictures of his little girl and the woman who locked him down.

Would that be Phillip one day? Assaulting unsuspecting victims with camera rolls of their kids picking their noses?

Hopefully.

“Pierce.” Phillip interrupted, cutting the slideshow short, and giving Kenneth the opportunity to break free. “This is James.”

Pierce’s eyes lifted from his phone to her, sharp and assessing. Like he was trying to pick her apart at the seams. Then a wide smile split his face.

“Excellent to meet you.” He reached one hand her way. “Pierce.”

She shook Pierce’s hand. “Thank you so much for coming to…” Her eyes drifted to where a couple of his men carried a suspiciously-sized box marked ‘fragile’. “Handle this situation.”

“Not a problem.” Pierce’s attention turned to Phillip. “Always happy to help a friend out.”

Phillip gestured to where Kenneth stood with Craig. “Or two friends, in this case.”

Pierce rocked back on the heels of his own military style boots. “Yes. Two friends.” He refocused on James. “Having people you can count on is always important.” There was something strange in his tone.

Something she was struggling to put her finger on.

But then the other man snapped back into daddy mode and took advantage of her position as a captive audience, showing off photos of his daughter while his men removed the rest of the ‘fragile’ items from Danny’s walk-in freezer.

Once everything was done, Pierce and his team loaded up the box truck they brought with them and headed out, taking the SUV Leonard attempted to shove her into the day before as well.

“He’s a pretty efficient guy.” James looked around, breathing a little easier now that the evidence of what transpired was out of Shadow Pine and away from her sisters.

“He’s an asshole is what he is.” Phillip pulled the back door shut, closing them in.

“An asshole?” James snorted. “I must have missed that part.”

“He expects me to return this favor at some point. That’s what the comment about friends you can count on was about.” Phillip turned to face her, his expression stony. “I knew he’d want to drag me back in, but I didn’t have any other choice. I was hoping Kenneth’s connection might —”

James tried to follow along, but Phillip wasn’t making a lot of sense. “Why wouldn’t we return the favor? We couldn’t have gotten rid of those guys easily on our own.” She shuddered at the thought of having to drag them deep into the Olympic Forest and then crossing her fingers no part of them could be connected back to Shadow Pine. “He totally deserves a favor back.”

Phillip raked one hand through his hair, looking distraught. “I left my life with Pierce and Alaskan Security behind, James.”

She angled a brow at him. “Did you, though?”

Sure Phillip went legit, taking on clients and building a massive business of his own. He learned to be domestic, cooking and getting plant boners. But the man also worked with Enzo and Leonard and got hard every time he got to do something exciting. Usually involving her. He might not be entrenched in the mercenary life, but he was sure as hell adjacent.

“I don’t want you to get caught up in the kind of life Pierce leads. The kind everyone at Alaskan Security leads.” Phillip was genuinely upset. Worried about her. For her.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but Pierce is leading the same sort of life you said you wanted. He’s got a wife and a kid and seems to be freaking thrilled with both of them.” Was she missing something here?

Phillip blinked at her, mouth slightly open a second before he said, “But you don’t know the kind of shit his company does.”

“I’m pretty sure I do considering he just came to clean up all the dead guys my sisters killed.”

James stepped forward, meeting Phillip’s frantic gaze. “If you want a calm life, I probably shouldn’t go back to Chicago with you, Phillip. Because I’ve never had one, and I never will.”

Phillip’s arm flashed out, circling her waist to pull her close. “You’re coming to Chicago with me.”

She smiled up at him. “Good.” She pushed up onto her toes. “Then I can help when Pierce comes to collect.” Her eyes widened. “Do you think we’ll get to kill someone?”

“No more killing.” Phillip’s words were hard and sharp.

“Within reason, right?” She needed a little wiggle room in that statement. “What if someone tries to hurt me or you or Nathan or Theo?—”

“Fine.” Phillip took a deep breath, eyes closing as he blew it out. “Only a little killing and only when it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t want to be doing Pierce favors for the rest of my fucking life.”

“Fine.” She poked him in the chest. “I have one more demand.”

Phillip lifted his lids, gaze moving over her face. “You know damn well I’ll give you anything you want.”

She did. Lucky him this one was for his own benefit. “I think we should take Pierce up on his offer to go to Alaska.” She pressed one finger to his lip when he started to argue. “I know you don’t see it, but I think Pierce genuinely misses you and wants to be friends again.”

Phillip’s mouth flattened. “Fine.”

She beamed up at him, mouth rounding when she thought of something else. “One more thing.”

“For the love of?—”

“Don’t you dare ever wake me up at the butt crack of dawn to workout.” She smiled sweetly. “Or I’ll be calling Pierce to come put you in a box and haul you out.”