Page 77 of Waiting For A Girl Like You (Haven House #4)
S quished between Emily and Claudia on a thin mattress, Jamison kept her back pressed to the wall.
Michael had re-cuffed her and Liam to transfer rooms, not wanting anyone to catch on.
It worked since he was apparently supposed to move her, anyway.
According to Michael, Taylor's plan was for all the Fairweather women to be confined to one room while the men came in one after another to take turns using them however they wanted.
Jamison fiddled with the cuffs, her skin irritated under the metal. “I’ll explain everything once we’re out of here.”
“I don’t trust him,” Claudia whispered. Her long, matted hair partially obstructed her face and muffled her voice to the point that Jamison had to lean close to hear her speak. “If we were really leaving, Madi would be here.”
“Grabbing her now would raise suspicion,” Emily reasoned, pulling her knees tight to her chest. “And you know I don’t have faith in anyone, but I have to believe this will work. If I don’t, I’ll go insane.”
Emily wasn’t a weak woman. She was a problem solver, never wavering when there was an impossible task to be done.
Where Claudia was all fire, her sister was the complete opposite.
An Ice Queen right down to the bone. Both were notorious for their resting bitch faces and destroying anyone who got in their way without a second thought.
But to see them now, beaten and afraid in the light of day, had Jamison second-guessing this entire thing. Was she insane for trusting Michael? Was this all a trap to make them look like idiots before they were murdered? One last humiliating strike to the Fairweathers?
“We’re getting Madison and getting the hell out of here,” she promised, “or we’ll die trying.”
Neither of her cousins said anything, but then Claudia scrambled to stand. “What can we do to help?”
Working on Liam’s cuffs, Michael jerked his chin at Damon. “You and Emily come over here and help me with Damon. We should see some improvement by now. Has he come to at all yet?”
“Yes.” Damon’s bloodshot eyes opened. “Not long. In. Out.”
Liam leaned over Damon to speak. “Hey, man.”
“Holy fuck. You’re here.” Damon blinked rapidly, losing the ability to keep his eyes focused. “What’s happening?”
“We’re getting out,” Liam told him. He caught the keys Michael tossed over and freed Damon’s ankles. “Don’t try to stand. You’ve been restrained with your arms above your head for who knows how long, so your blood flow is fucked to hell and—”
The second Liam popped the cuff loose, Damon surged upward, lunging straight for Michael. He made it off the bed, but lost momentum quickly and collapsed into a heap on the floor.
His sisters gasped when Damon tried to rise again, his dark features set with determination. Yet, when he realized he was going under once more, he let out a guttural snarl and passed out.
“Goddammit,” Michael hissed, standing on one side of Damon’s unmoving form while Liam stood on the other. “Fucking Fairweathers.”
“We’ll have to carry him.” Liam stared down at Damon with Michael, the two men gauging their task. “The only question is, you or me?”
“You,” Michael said flatly. “If things go sideways, I’ll give better cover. Hopefully, that scratch Bruce gave you won’t reopen and bleed everywhere.”
Liam nodded. “Speaking of which, give me a gun.”
Michael pulled a Glock from his waistband and handed it to Liam. “Don’t shoot me.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
A soft ping echoed from Michael’s phone. “Shit. That’s the alert letting me know Taylor and Parker are back.”
Emmett knocked on the door. He was in the hall when they arrived, never leaving his post. Keeping with appearances, Michael had called him a good soldier, saying Emmett was a far superior partner for Emily than any of the others.
“Is everything okay in there?” Emmett asked through the closed door.
“We’re good,” Michael replied, loud enough for Emmett to hear. “The girls are just feisty today.”
“Want me to come in and help with Emily?”
“Oh, please let that bastard in,” Emily growled, tucking her dark hair behind her ears. “I’ll show him exactly how feisty I am.”
Michael’s phone rang. “Hold that thought,” he said before answering.
“Smitty? You’re clear? In Garfield? Good.
Wait, they’re staging already? I need them further back, or we’re going to have a bunch of barbequed feds and cops.
Yeah, I know, but plans have changed. No, don’t call Bruce.
You and Paul, get your asses out of here. I fucking know. Give me a second.”
Lowering the phone, Michael addressed Liam. “Your father is here with all his FBI buddies, and they’re having a pow-wow at the diner one town over. My guys overheard they’re staging on Hayden Lane, which is too close.”
The countdown started before they left Michael’s bedroom. Jamison had clung to Liam as they watched him calculate how long it would take. Thirty-three minutes. Michael had decided on thirty-three minutes because he said CeCe was whispering the number in his ear.
And for once in her life, Jamison hoped ghosts were real. She hoped those whacky dreams were totally freaking real, and that CeCe knew what the hell she was talking about.
Liam bent down to grab Damon’s arm and check the time on his watch. “It’s two o’clock in the afternoon already?”
Michael had told them they couldn’t move until Eugene finished administering the drugs. The group downstairs thought they were receiving medication to enhance their sexual performances for later tonight, and they were, but with a heavy sedative added in.
Eugene had returned an hour ago to say goodbye to Michael. “Keep your hands off little girls, Eugene,” Michael threatened. “I might be dead soon, but someone will always be watching you. ”
To his credit, Dr. Gilbert hadn’t balked, but instead held his head high. “Taylor should be arriving any minute. I’ve been ordered to stay until she can speak with me.”
“Then I suggest you get the hell out of here.”
“For what it’s worth, Mike, I am sorry,” Eugene said as he took his leave. “Cecilia was a lovely woman, and what you’re about to do, while barbaric, is necessary and very much warranted.”
Michael remained quiet until Eugene left, only snickering when the door was closed. “It’s necessary because once this is over, he thinks not a soul in the world will know how much of a monster he is.”
“I’ll take care of Gilbert,” Liam promised. “Get us out of here, and we’ll make sure he’s prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
“Prosecuted? Don’t disappoint me, Cohen.” Michael had shaken his head. “Have someone cut the guy’s dick off and let him bleed out. Eugene Gilbert likes them ten and under if you catch my meaning.”
Cutting off the man’s dick had sounded like a great idea to Jamison, and now, as she listened to Michael and Liam hash out what to do with the incoming raid, she wished she could start castrating every sick bastard in the house.
And she wasn’t the only one.
“If Taylor and Parker are already here, shouldn’t we go?” Emily rose to stand next to her sister. “And if someone gets in our way, just shoot them. Or give me something sharp. I can stab people.”
Michael ignored Emily’s escape plan idea. “Is there someone out there my men can pass a note to? Someone who’ll take it seriously? Your dad?”
Liam shook his head. “He’ll be surrounded by agents.”
“Then who?”
“I’m locked in here with you, remember?” Liam snapped. “I have no idea who’s out there.”
“All this trouble better be worth it.” Michael placed the phone to his ear again. “Smitty, do you recognize anyone else?” He listened for a second. “Ben Fairweather is there.”
Jamison scrambled to her feet. “My dad is here?”
“Yeah, but he’s surrounded by cops, too,” Michael told her. “Smitty says there’s another guy. He’s with your two dads, but keeps wandering off on his own, and he sure as hell isn’t obeying when the feds or the cops tell him to stay back. ”
Liam glanced at her, and they both shrugged. It could be anyone.
“Big guy. Blondish.” Michael’s brows snapped together. “Smitty says he looks like Thor from the Avengers?”
“Holden,” Jamison said at the same time as Liam.
Michael’s annoyed gaze flicked between them. “Can he be trusted?”
Liam swiped the handcuff keys off the bed and started unlocking everyone.
“If your guy can approach Holden when no one is around, he’ll take the note.
But have Smitty tell Holden it’s from Beetlejuice, drop the note, and then get the hell out of there.
Holden will shoot first and ask questions later. ”
Michael relayed the information and gave the Smitty person a time frame while Liam worked on Claudia’s handcuffs and then Emily’s. Saving Jamison for last, he snuck a kiss as he snapped her cuffs off. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Her bottom lip trembled, but she refused to cry. Now was the time to remain strong. Breaking into a million pieces would have to come later.
“Hey, guess what we’re doing tonight?” Liam gave her a bittersweet smile as he stroked her hair.
“We’re going to have a nice dinner and a couple of bottles of wine.
Maybe get naked for a few hours. Then I’ll tell you all about the night Holden and I got completely wasted in our early training days and how when we showed up for hostage training the next morning, I was so hungover I thought it would be a great idea to act like Beetlejuice during mock negotiations. ”
Ah, hell. So much for not crying. He was trying to distract her, which meant that he knew something bad was about to happen.