Whispered Words

Chapter Seven

Chloe didn’t have to like a situation to know how to deal with it. Fortunately, she’d found men who knew how to handle themselves in a crisis. Xavier crawled to one closet while Josh ordered her to stay still and crawled to another. Stay still?

Yeah, right.

She low-crawled to the front mudroom and found her boots. After shoving her feet into them and lacing up, she backed into Xavier.

“Put this on. Hurry up.”

Xavier threw her coat at her. He’d put his own on and handed one to Josh, who quickly joined them carrying an assortment of weapons.

Chloe buttoned up, glad she’d kept her gloves in her pockets. With no time to find anything more than what they had with them, she followed the men into the kitchen and down, through a hidden trapdoor in the floor under a braided rug.

Once under the house, the guys paused to hand out weapons and regroup.

Chloe tucked a knife away and loaded the gun Josh handed her.

Xavier opened a clear pathway between the three of them. “I don’t think it needs saying, but the Werlins have arrived. Sam also passed word they were seen in Bend a few days ago. Little brother was also more than happy to pass your boss’s info, Chloe. Man, that kid loves to see other people get into trouble.” He sighed.

“Anyway, we have a few options.”

Josh continued for him, and Chloe had a good example of how they acted while under pressure. A seamless team of professionals. Add the danger and meanness flaring from their dark eyes, and she found herself turned on despite her resolve to remain clearheaded. Oh man, I’m such a perv. Maybe I am perfect for them.

“Chloe. Pay attention.” Xavier sent the sharp reprimand.

“Oh right. You’re the hothead.”

Josh grinned.

She poked at Xavier with her mind. “Say all that again. I promise, I’m listening.”

Xavier scowled. He probably wasn’t in the mood to hear it made him look even sexier. She wanted to brush away the hank of hair from his eyes but didn’t.

“We have three options. One, we stay and fight.”

“Too risky.” Josh glanced at Chloe, and she glared back.

“Don’t blame me because you’re scared to fight back.” Xavier rolled his eyes. “So option two is to trek it down the mountain and get help.”

“And three?” she asked.

“We take them on out there, in the snow and woods. Josh and I know this area inside and out. Problem is, you don’t.”

“But I have you to guide me. Let’s go with option three.”

“That was my choice too,” Josh said.

“I figured you’d say that. Okay, Chloe, you stick with me. Josh, you take the southern perimeter. Disable the vehicles.”

“Vehicles?” she asked. “I had to hike it out here. Are you telling me there’s a way to drive up the mountain?”

“Of course. It’s a private way, though, and not many know about it. Do you really think we’d build a cabin carrying lumber in one tree at a time?” Now that she thought about it, that made more sense.

Xavier continued. “Chloe, you and I’ll try to see what we’re dealing with from the north side. Go.”

Josh nodded. Before he left, he kissed Chloe hard. “Don’t get dead, or I’ll be really, really angry. Ask him. I’m not that pleasant.” He slipped away like a ghost.

Xavier nodded. “He’s not pleasant when he’s pissed. True. Now come on.” Then he leaned down, his kiss loving and tender. “I love you too. And I’m not about to lose you to these assholes. Let’s nail ’em.”

“My kind of guy.” She lifted her glove to his cheek, wanting badly but not ready to say the words. She wished she knew what still held her back, but then the urgency of their situation overtook everything.

She followed Xavier’s mental directions without a hitch. They moved through the small tunnel and popped up several feet from the cabin, deep in the woods. The hollow tree stump through which they exited blended into the wood line. She would never have thought to look twice for another way into the cabin.

“Nice camouflage.”

“We try.” He moved with her back toward the cabin, where she could see four men positioned at the front of the building. “Damn. Werlin has more than I’d thought. Otis is the old man, his brothers Clay and Arlo are with him, I’m sure.

Those four I don’t recognize. But their guns don’t lie.” The men wore black and carried small arms. Pistols and what looked like grenades—one exploded in the house.

“Yep. Grenades,” she said.

“Shit. Dad is going to blame me for this. I just know it.”

“How is this your fault?”

“Wait until you meet him. He’s kind of a hard-ass. A lot like Josh.” Chloe didn’t see Josh like that at all. “O-kay.”

“We should have taken them out right away instead of playing house. That’s what my dad will say.” Xavier smiled at her. “But once he takes a good look at you, I think he’ll understand.”

She blushed. “Xavier.”

“Hey. I’m in love. Not my fault I can’t think straight.” He sobered as the bastards threw another grenade inside before the four at the front broke through the door and entered, guns drawn.

“And now it’s gonna get really ugly.” He tugged her down into the snow and covered her with his body.

She would have asked him why, but the sudden detonation answered her question. She glanced up to see wood and brick flying everywhere.

“Josh?” Xavier asked, keeping the communication open for the three of them.

“I see Otis’s brothers at the mouth of the drive. No sign of Otis, but I guarantee he’s out here somewhere. I disabled three SUVs.”

“Four men bit it in the cabin.”

“Figure we have at least another four, maybe more out here. Want me to take out the brothers?”

“Do it.”

Her adrenaline rush demanded action. Xavier must have felt the same, because his eyes were overly bright when he looked at her. “Now it’s our turn. You ready?”

She gave him a look and held up her gun.

“Right. Sorry I asked. Okay, I’m going this way. You go that way. We’ll meet up with Josh and hopefully find the other bastards hiding out, waiting for us.” She nodded, kept her mind open, and circled east, on the lookout for anyone not familiar. She didn’t exactly want to kill anyone, but Chloe had no intention of leaving these bastards able to hurt Josh or Xavier.

She spied the first one wearing dark clothes, a ski mask over his features, and a rifle aimed at the house. She looked but saw no one around the debris by the cabin. “Josh, you okay?”

“Fine. I got one of Otis’s brothers. Now I’m on to Arlo. Keep safe, Chloe.”

The man in black tensed and sighted in on something. Chloe didn’t hesitate.

She shot him twice. Once in the chest, once in the thigh; in case he had body armor, the thigh wound would slow him.

Checking him after he fell, she scooped up his rifle and learned he didn’t, in fact, wear Kevlar.

She continued slowly, looking for more of the enemy.

Xavier signaled. “I found two waiting for me. They’re down. Josh?”

“I can’t find Arlo or Otis. The vehicles aren’t going anywhere, though.”

“Good.”

Tuned in to their conversation, she didn’t notice the man in front of her until he knocked her down. Another body landed on top of her and stripped her gun.

She didn’t call out, didn’t want Xavier or Josh to know she’d been distracted when she should have been paying attention.

The man on top of her narrowed his eyes behind the ski mask and drew back to slam his fist into her face.

“Big mistake. You should have killed me,” she whispered while she reached for the knife tucked into her jeans. She pulled it out and shoved it into him while dodging the fist that would have knocked her out.

He tensed over her, and she twisted the knife. Then she pulled back and shoved him off her, needing to find the other man.

A shot sounded, and he fell next to her.

“Dammit. Quit playing around. We’re on a job, Tinker Bell.” She blinked up in surprise at the sight of a large, annoyed male looking down at her.

“Keegan?” She took his hand and rose to her feet. “I thought Jack said not to come.”

“Please. Since when do James and I listen to Jack?” At mention of James, she noticed an SUV in the distance suddenly on fire. Her pyrokinetic friend was obviously at work.

“Oh shit. What’s James wearing?”

“Same thing as me.” He crouched low and kept his eye out for the enemy.

To Xavier and Josh, she sent, “There are two friendlies out here. Keegan Price and James Foreman. They’re wearing jeans and dark sweaters, black caps on their heads. Keegan looks like a six foot six monster. James is more slender. Brown hair.

Looks like a model.”

“Seen ’em both. Would have taken the model out, but he shot one of our friends in black instead, so I stayed my hand,” Josh answered. “Oh good. There’s Arlo.” Xavier sent an affirmative. “Got it. Make sure to tell them not to shoot at us.”

“Keegan, I have some friends out here. They—”

“Avery told us about your twins. No problem.” He grinned at her. “Now all those jokes you made about me, Rory, and James are gonna bite you on the ass, ain’t they?”

“Shut it, cowboy.” Yet she couldn’t contain a grin.

“How about you quit flirting with the giant and get your head in the game?” Xavier snapped.

Another SUV burst into flame.

“Hell. Let me grab James before he sets the whole fucking forest on fire,” Keegan muttered and moved away from her.

She buzzed with the rush, loving the thrill of the hunt, despite the danger that had yet to pass. She still had no idea how many of the enemy remained on the mountain, but having Keegan and James as backup sure helped even the odds.

She swept more of the area, on guard not to be taken unaware again. Time passed in silence; only the crackle of flames could be heard.

Then Xavier returned to her, his face grim.

“What’s wrong?”

“Otis has Josh. Come on.”

Josh swore up and down as Otis Werlin and two men he didn’t recognize dragged his sorry ass deeper into the woods. They didn’t stop until they came to a small clearing by the large boulder he and Xavier used as a landmark, the one close to the drive where he’d left his truck. He wondered if Werlin had done anything to it and promised himself he’d make the man really pay if Werlin had so much as scratched his precious rig. He quickly sent his location to his brother, minus the extreme pain he suffered. He didn’t want Chloe to know, but by now Xavier would have felt it.

Xavier swore. “Such a dumb-ass, getting caught. Just hold on. We’re coming.

And remember not to kill Chloe’s friends if you see them.”

“Sure thing. Because I could easily kill everyone with this handy knife in my friggin’ leg. Hurry up!” Sometimes sarcasm worked on Xavier, and sometimes it didn’t. But hell, Josh’s calf really hurt.

Otis Werlin looked around and scratched his scraggly gray beard. The old man’s eyes looked like sunken holes, and his face seemed thinner than it had been.

Tired and worn down thanks to him, Xavier, and Dana. Good. The things Werlin had done to the people in his own community were atrocious. Lynching, killing, stealing. The man had murdered kids, for Christ’s sake. He deserved to look tired, at the very least.

“Not bad, Cannon. I didn’t think you had it in you, but you whittled my force down to nothin’.” Otis twisted the knife he’d stuck in Josh’s leg. “Not that I liked Arlo all that much, but he was kin.”

One of the bastards in black punched him in the jaw.

He blew out a curse. “Fuck you, Werlin.”

“’Course, now I own everythin’. Lock, stock, and barrel.” The bastard cackled.

“What’s left of it, anyhow. So where’s your brother? I know better than to think he blew up with your cabin.” Werlin smiled, exposing a bloodied lip and missing front tooth. “Shame about that, eh? Boy, you know this ain’t gonna end until you’re dead.”

“Or you are.” Chloe shot a hole through Werlin’s forehead.

The men with him fired back at her just as Xavier flattened her to the ground.

Josh’s heart pounded. The little idiot had nearly killed herself!

The sting across his shoulder told him Xavier had been hit while saving her.

Annoyed all over again at Werlin and his people, Josh yanked the knife out of his leg on a roar and jammed it into the back of one of the bastards guarding him.

The other turned his gun from Xavier and Chloe to him when Xavier suddenly plugged him full of holes. The man’s gun went off but missed Josh by a hair. Thank God.

Chloe raced to his side and ran her sexy little hands all over him. Then she punched him in the chest.

“Ow.”

“Who said to be careful? Jesus, Josh. You took ten years off my life.” She hugged him tight.

“Just ten?”

“Idiot.” Her kisses made him feel much better.

“Uh, wounded over here? Remember? I saved your life taking you down, sweetcheeks.” Xavier tried to sound pitiful, but Josh could feel the wound as no more than a burn. The bullet had just grazed him.

Chloe snorted. “Oh please. That barely touched you. I would have been fine and taken both of those assholes down if you hadn’t interfered.”

“Hadn’t interfered? Woman, they shot at you!” Xavier’s temper wound up. But before he said another word, he raised his gun to confront the men approaching with loud footsteps.

Josh took Chloe’s weapon before she could protest and aimed as well, shoving her behind him.

“Well, well.” The hulking mass of muscle stopped and stared at Josh and Chloe. “Little bit has finally found love. Ain’t that sweet, James?”

The handsome guy next to him grinned. “It sure is, cowboy. I can’t wait to see what the boss thinks of Chloe’s new friends.”

She groaned. “Am I in big trouble?”

“Hell, yeah.” The twang on the big guy made sense of his name.

“So, cowboy,” Josh said. “What the hell are you doing up here? Not that I mind, exactly, but I’m curious.” He stood with Chloe’s help and tried not to cry like a girl when he put a bit of weight on his leg.

“You’re bleedin’, son.” The guy frowned.

“No shit,” Chloe muttered. “Captain Obvious, meet Josh and Xavier Cannon.

Guys, the big lug is Keegan Price. The other one is James Foreman.”

“The other one?” James looked wounded. “Chloe, my dove, I’m so much more than that.”

Keegan snickered, and Josh relaxed. Neither man seemed too intent on Chloe, which was fine with him. Josh caught the easy camaraderie between the three, and he recognized them on closer inspection.

“You work with them.”

She nodded.

Xavier joined him and put his uninjured shoulder under Josh’s arm. Chloe moved to his other side, and together they maneuvered back through the woods to the private drive, where his vehicle sat, covered in snow but otherwise undamaged.

“The truck is good, but I can’t say for sure Werlin didn’t wire it. We’ll have to check it out before we leave.”

“How do we know there aren’t more of them out there?” Chloe asked. A legitimate question.

“Good point.” He looked at Xavier. “Can you go ahead and scout it out?”

“Yeah.”

But before Xavier could move, James shook his head. “You’re hurt and bleeding. Keegan and I’ll check. Chloe, you keep an eye on these two.”

“Right.”

Josh and Xavier exchanged a look.

“What?” she said. “I’m uninjured and in charge. Deal with it.”

“Oh, we’re going to deal with it, all right.” Xavier gritted his teeth.

Josh waited. It didn’t take long.

“What the hell did you think you were doing, firing like that? You nearly got killed. Twice!”

He and Chloe argued like cats and dogs.

Josh didn’t know if the pain had sapped his will to argue or if the situation really was as funny as it sounded, but he started to laugh.

Chloe and Xavier set him down on a large rock by the truck. Their puzzled looks set him off again, and he laughed so hard, he cried.

The other guys returned. “Nothing out there,” the Texan said. “Too bad, really.”

James snorted. “You need better things to occupy your time.”

“You offerin’?”

“Dick.”

“Promises, promises.”

James laughed. “Keep it up, and I’m telling Rory.” Josh liked their interaction, so at ease with one another. They reminded him of himself and Xavier, except they exuded something more intimate than anything he’d shared with his brother. In fact, they looked at one another the way he and Xavier looked at Chloe.

“Oh, uh, just one thing, Chloe.” Keegan cleared his throat and said, “We were never here, you got me?”

She rolled her eyes. “I knew Jack hadn’t okayed you two being here.” Keegan had the grace to flush. “He’s not the boss of me.”

“Oh please. He is so.” James sighed with disgust then turned his attention back to Josh. “So can one of you tell me what was so funny?” Josh shook his head. “My brother and Chloe are arguing about who was in more danger out there, him or her. My money’s on…” He felt dizzy and realized he’d lost more blood than he’d thought. “Shit. Man, help me out before I…” He didn’t see anymore.

Chloe seriously freaked. One minute Josh was sitting there laughing it up, and the next he lay slumped on the ground. She hovered over him, trying to see if he’d been shot or stabbed somewhere she’d missed. What if he lay dying because she’d been so busy arguing with Xavier? To lose him now, when she’d just found him, scared the hell out of her.

She didn’t realize she’d been crying until Xavier wiped her tears and carried her away from Josh. “He’s okay, honey. Just some blood loss. He’ll be fine.” Keegan lifted Josh up with ease, thanks to a steady regimen of weightlifting and a massive frame, and walked down the drive. “Come on. We’ll take our SUV and get him to a doctor. The road’s not too bad, not with four-wheel drive and chains.” He gave Chloe a reassuring smile. “He’ll be fine. I’m guessin’ that man will do everything in his power not to disappoint you.” Xavier nodded.

“I wish we had a healer on staff.” Chloe couldn’t look away from Josh’s pale face.

Xavier hugged her to him and grinned. “We do.”

Three hours later, after the Feds had been called in to take the Werlins and their henchmen away, quietly—apparently the Cannons had connections—Josh complained as his mother finished stitching him up. A hunting accident, so the paperwork at the clinic said.

“It’s embarrassing,” Josh whined.

“Suck it up, son.” His father, a mountain of a man, glared at him. “I can’t believe you let yourself get taken. Really, Josh. Is this the impression you’re trying to make?”

Chloe could easily believe Josh and Xavier came from Michael Cannon. They shared his good looks but had their mother’s eyes. Though they had less height and bulk than their father, their attitudes seemed just as aggressive.

“Don’t mind them, Chloe,” Julia Cannon said with a smile as she finished sewing up Josh’s leg. Protocol about keeping the room’s occupants to a minimum had gone out the window when Dr. Cannon took over. “Just throwing around a lot of nonsense to cover their worry.”

“Really, Mom. Don’t give away all our secrets.” Xavier smiled, the same grin his mother wore.

Chloe would have felt out of place if Xavier had left her side. But he’d introduced her as his and Josh’s Chloe, and she’d experienced pride, embarrassment, and a welling of love so intense it brought tears to her eyes.

Confusion filled her, the emotional and physical toll finally wearing her down.

Mike pushed Xavier aside and took Chloe away. “Julia, see to the boy, would you? Chloe looks ready to keel over. I’m going to take her home to freshen up.” Considering Keegan and James had dumped her here and taken off, she had no other way to get home. “Thanks, Mr. Cannon.”

“Mike, sweetie. Call me Mike.” He grinned down at her. “Or Dad, if you prefer.”

Shit. She’d known he was going to make a comment.

At her look, he burst out laughing. “If you could see your face. Come on.” They entered his enormous truck—did any of the men she knew drive regular cars?—and he drove in the opposite direction of her place.

“Uh, Mike. I live off Sixth.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

He glanced at her before returning his attention to the road. Night had fallen, so she wasn’t surprised to see the streets all but deserted. Between the snow and the time, not many ventured out. “I don’t know how much the boys have told you about the business, but we have a lot of information at our fingertips. I know all about you and your organization, the gym, the voices. Everything.” She didn’t like the look he gave her. Was he berating her for loving both his sons? Oh hell, loving them? She did, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

Should she accept all the affection they’d given her, throw caution to the wind and just…what? Move in with them? Marry them? She couldn’t marry two men, and it wasn’t like they’d asked.

“Chloe, the thing you need to know, and I’m sure you already do, is that my boys are different. They aren’t like anyone you’ve ever met. And considering what you do and who you work for, I’m sure you’ve met a lot of interesting people.”

“You can say that again.”

He chuckled. “Josh and Xavier are connected and always have been. There’s no shame in loving them, honey.” His expression softened. “When I met my Julia, I just knew. My family’s full of psychics, but love is a magic all its own. When you know, you know. I’ve been hearing about their special friend for years now. They’ve been connected to you for a reason. Not so they could tell you about your future, but so they could make it easier for you to accept them. Their gifts are tied to one another.

Josh sees what he needs to see to keep him alive.”

“But he saw my future.”

Mike gave her a minute.

“My future…because he needs me?”

“And Xavier can only talk to his brother—and you—with that funny mind of his. For a telepath, he’s awfully limited, don’t you think?”

Xavier had said as much, but she hadn’t thought about it. “I know people who can do what he does. But they’re not limited to one person or two. He really can only talk to Josh and me?”

“Yep. Not even his mother and father. For all that he loves his family, he’s connected to Josh and you in a special way. And that makes you a part of us, the Cannons, whether you want to be or not.” They drove for a bit before he continued.

“No matter what happens with you and my boys, if you need us, you only have to call. You helped them today, and we won’t forget it.” Mike patted her on the shoulder, his big hand making her feel tiny. “They need you, Chloe. Probably more than you need them, but Cannons take care of the people we love. And that’s a fact.” He pulled in front of a solitary house in the middle of nowhere.

“Where are we?”

“The boys’ place. My house is farther down the road, about a half mile or so.

And the others have properties out there. We own a few thousand acres, so it’s private. After what Xavier told us about your stalker situation, I figured you’d be safer out here than in town at your place.”

He had a point. She needed time and space to think. Maybe she’d get it here without having to worry.

“The boys won’t be back for a while, so make yourself at home. If you need anything, our numbers are listed by the fridge. Or at least they’d better be,” he murmured and took a card out of his back pocket. “That’s my cell if you need anything.” He got out, turned off the alarm by the front door, and unlocked the door for her.

She left the truck, still feeling as if she were dreaming. When she would have passed him into the house, he stopped her.

She froze, wondering what now.

Then Mike Cannon kissed the top of her head before pushing her into the house. “Welcome to the family, Chloe.” He shut and locked the door behind her.