Chapter Six
Surrounded by his family, Knox kicked one boot-shod foot up on the ottoman and stretched out further on the entertainment room’s butter-soft leather sectional. It’d been two hours since they’d all staggered away from the dining room stuffed full of Trevor’s steak-and-potato dinner selection, and Knox’s stomach still felt like it was going to explode. Although, over-stuffed on KC Strips or not, he’d still kicked everyone’s ass in some old-school Mortal Kombat.
Gabrielle, or Gabe as the crew referred to her, yawned and snuggled deeper inside the crook of Zeke’s arm. “Who picks dinner next week?”
“Knox,” Ninette said with a smirk.
Everyone groaned in a well-synchronized chorus and Knox grinned huge. In the last three years, he’d pushed their tradition of one person picking dinner for family night by picking every kiddie favorite he could come up with. He’d thought Jace was going to put a hit on him the week he’d picked fish sticks and cherry Jell-O. “What? Someone’s gotta keep this group on their toes.”
“You’re not keepin’ us on our toes, brother, you’re keepin’ us fat,” Danny said.
Trevor’s wife, Natalie, smiled and smoothed her sleeping son’s overlong blond hair away from his eyes. The poor kid had passed out with his head resting on Trevor’s lap an hour ago and hadn’t so much as budged. “You guys might not appreciate Knox’s taste in food, but Levi’s a huge fan.”
“That’s because they’re both wee lads at heart.” Sylvie stood and started gathering up empty dessert plates. Where Knox kept everyone guessing with food, Sylvie’s personal mission was to find the perfect sweet to go with whatever meal was chosen. Tonight, it’d been a traditional cheesecake, made one hundred percent from scratch. Plates in one hand, she paused next to Knox, patted his cheek and winked. “Don’t let ’em get ta ye, love. Whatever ye pick is fine with us.”
Axel grumbled and thumbed through the screen’s television guide. “Christ, Ma. Don’t encourage him. We’ll end up eating frozen Kid Cuisines again.”
Vivienne snickered, stood and started helping Sylvie. “You guys are so dense. He only does it to get your goat. If you’d relax and go with the flow a bit, he’d find some other way to make you nuts.”
Yep. Jace’s woman was smart as hell. No wonder the Haven leader had given up his solitary ways to claim her.
As if spurred by some innate womanly cue, Ninette and Gabe joined in with cleanup detail, their quiet voices as they divvied up tasks and shared plans for the next day drifting through the room with a pleasant warmth.
Out of nowhere, the conversation he’d had with JJ popped in his head. He’d done that a lot the last few days, churning through the possible ways of how to bring her request up with his brothers along with his suspicions, but this time he couldn’t help but wonder how she’d fit in with the rest of the women. If she’d be as comfortable as Viv, Gabe and Nat were with his brothers.
Knox shoved the thought aside, closed his eyes and focused on the moment. Family night never got old. The other guys grumbled every now and then when Sylvie and Ninette demanded their presence each Wednesday, but not him. He’d waited his whole damned life for this. Watched the other foster kids he hung with finding permanent homes while he bounced from place to place, hoping each new placement would be different. But it never was. At seventeen he’d given up and accepted Beck would be the closest to family he’d ever get.
And then he’d met Axel.
One private security gig, a whole lot of hacking questions and a full year later, Axel, Jace, Trevor and Zeke had welcome him and Beckett into the fold. Only twenty-three years to get the family he’d wanted, but man, the wait had been worth it. So yeah, Ninette and Sylvie might have to browbeat the rest of his brothers, but it’d take an act of God and a probable loss of limbs before he’d miss this weekly sabbatical from the world.
Still chattering amongst themselves, the women ambled out of the room and toward the kitchen downstairs.
Jace scanned each of his brothers. “Who’s bunking down here for the night?”
That was the cool thing about Jace and Axel’s ranch on the outskirts of Allen, Texas. Every brother had their own suite away from Dallas’s chaos and no one but family was allowed. The massive estate was exactly what Jace had named it—Haven. A safe place where they could get away, say what they thought without censure and cover whatever business needed handling without fear of prying ears.
“I’m in,” Knox said.
“Me, too.”
“Yep,” Beck and Danny said in tandem.
Trevor cupped his son’s shoulder, the pride on his face as he did so rattling long dead hopes inside of Knox like a box of brittle bones. “Can’t tonight. Levi’s got a thing in town with his best friend in the morning.”
Man, but Trevor was lucky. Levi might not be flesh and blood, but as of a few months ago, he was Trevor’s boy as far as the courts were concerned. And he was a helluva kid. Rambunctious. Smart. Honest to a fault, too, which meant no one could never predict what jaw-dropping comment was gonna fly out of his mouth.
Zeke raked his fingers through this hair and yawned. “I’ve got a day shift tomorrow, so me and Gabe are gonna head home.”
What a difference a woman made. A little over a year ago, Zeke had been as hard to unwind as Knox, yet here he was at barely ten o’clock, yawning and ready to head home with his old lady.
Out of nowhere, the memory of JJ and the way that she’d looked at him during that one, unguarded moment during their meeting hit him hard. He’d had women look at him with lust before, but she’d focused on his lips like she’d die if she didn’t get a taste. He shook off the image and forced himself to focus. “Got something I need to run past you guys before anyone heads out.”
Axel folded up the footrest on his black leather recliner, stood with his empty crystal tumbler and tossed the remote next to Jace on his way to the wet bar. “Brother, you ate two baked potatoes, all of one strip and half of Gabe’s. Not sure you how can think after all that food.”
“No shit,” Danny said. “For a skinny guy, I don’t know where you put it.”
Jace chuckled and took up scanning through the television channels. “He works it off with the women in his little black book.”
Beck gave Knox a look that said he was about a nanosecond away from spilling how long Knox had gone without sleep before he’d caved and hooked up with Tiffany.
Knowing that would get him a whole lot of attention and a lecture he didn’t need from Zeke, he redirected the conversation before Beckett could speak. “You guys remember that skip tracer who helped us with Trevor’s deal?”
Axel glanced back from the wet bar. “JJ, right?”
“Jeannie Simpson on paper,” Knox said, “but me, Beck and Danny have been digging into her, and I’ve got a hunch that’s a bogus identity.”
Jace paused with his scotch halfway to his mouth and asked, “Just a privacy thing or something else?”
“My gut says something else.”
Beckett crossed his arms as though he were settling in for a good debate. “For the record, his gut was paranoid a week ago. Then he met her and realized I was right.”
“Right about what?” Zeke said.
Danny snickered, but otherwise kept his silence. He’d barely been a brother for a year, but he’d settled into his place among them like he’d been there his whole life.
Knox scowled at Beckett. “Give it a rest, already. You gonna tell me you’d have thought any different if you’d found that picture?”
“Bloody hell.” Axel turned from the bar, leaned against it and crossed his feet at his ankles. “You three wanna quit the Larry, Curly and Moe routine? Found what picture?”
From Beckett’s place on the sectional, Axel was behind him, but Beck cranked his head Axel’s direction the best he could. “Knox got an email from JJ saying she wanted to talk about a business opportunity. But, Knox being Knox, he assumed she was out to blackmail the lot of us after helping us out with Natalie’s ex, so he dug deeper online for counter-dirt.”
“And?” Jace said.
Knox focused on Jace. “The JJ Simpson we worked with is squeaky clean. Only, if you go back in time about three years, she looked a hell of a lot different than she does now and lived in San Diego.”
Trevor frowned. “Not sure I follow.”
The same buzz Knox got anytime a decent puzzle or problem presented itself fired beneath his skin, nudging him past his lingering food coma. He pushed up on the couch and planted his elbows on his knees. “The online pictures I found of JJ Simpson three years ago and further back show a woman in her early thirties. Curvy body, gold-red hair, green eyes and 5ꞌ6″ according to legal records. Not a ton of online shots, but at least some candid ones on old social media accounts. Not exactly a country girl, but I’d bet she comes from a blue-collar background.” He shifted his attention to Axel, pacing closer. “Today all I can find are state and federal headshots and the woman in them has platinum blonde hair and light blue eyes.”
“So?” Zeke said. “Identities get mixed up all the time these days.”
“Yeah, well, I wanted to know for sure, so we combed her place.” Knox whipped out his phone, flipped to the image he’d snapped from the box under JJ’s bed and passed it to Jace on his left. “I found this shot of both women.”
Jace set the remote aside and zoomed in on the picture. “So, where’s the redhead now?”
“No clue,” Knox said, “but I can’t find any recent pictures of her.”
Axel rounded behind Jace on the sofa and studied the picture over his shoulder. “You’re thinkin’ foul play?”
“Thought,” Knox clarified. “I set up a meeting two days ago to see what her business deal was, and Beckett’s impression after tailing her was right. No way she’s a killer. If she is, she’s the best damned actress I’ve ever met. But she’s definitely hiding. Or more accurately running. From who, I still don’t know.”
“What was the business deal?” Trevor asked.
Beckett aimed an I told you so look at him and Danny chuckled.
Knox rolled his eyes and blew them both off. “She found out I’ve got a history of mentoring coders and wanted to offer a trade—my coaching in exchange for her services. Traces or administrative work. Whatever I need.”
Zeke leaned forward and plunked his empty Bohemia Weiss on the oversize wood tray situated in the center of the huge ottoman. “I thought she was a skip tracer.”
“She is,” Knox said, “but she wants more. Says she doesn’t like finding people who don’t want to be found.”
Danny tipped the top of his beer toward Knox. “Which ties in with the whole assumed identity. If she didn’t like the job, why start it in the first place?”
“Exactly,” Knox said.
Jace tossed Knox’s phone across the ottoman to Zeke and Trevor’s side of the couch. “So, what happened to the first JJ?”
“She’s MIA,” Beckett said. “No death certificate. No new sightings. She’s just gone.”
“And you think blondie engineered all this?” Axel said to Knox.
“Not sure engineered is the right word. My guess, it’s more a case of her taking advantage of an existing situation. I do know this. She wants the chance to work with me enough to risk a lot to make it happen.”
“What makes you think that?” Trevor said.
“Because she’s got a seriously thick Russian accent. Just showing up for the meet made it clear she wasn’t born on US soil and the real JJ Simpson was born in San Diego thirty-two years ago.”
Zeke cocked his head. “You call her on it?”
“Yep. Asked her point blank how long she’d been here. For a minute, I thought she’d scramble for some lame excuse, but she copped to moving here two and half years ago.”
Danny muttered over the top of his beer, “Definitely a runner.”
“But honest,” Beckett added.
Axel lifted his tumbler in salute. “That counts in my book.”
For a few seconds, silence filled the room, each man looking from one to the other. Per usual, it was Jace who spoke first. “So, what’s your play? You gonna teach her?”
And there was the question. His instincts had already gone off half-cocked once and now he couldn’t decide if he was solid enough to make the call. Especially considering how she’d scrambled his head through the last part of their meet.
Knox shrugged. “She’s got attitude and aptitude. I needed a leg up once. Seems the right thing to do.”
“But?” Trevor said.
“But without knowing who she’s running from, there’s no telling what kind of attention we’d attract. Plus, I’m going on pure gut. She could still be a hell of an actress. I don’t like the idea of putting her in contact with any of our systems without several second opinions.”
Beckett slouched deeper in the cushions. “Already gave you my spin. Give it a go.”
Danny chuckled and shook his head. “You’re just angling to win the bet.”
Zeke perked up and swiveled his attention to Danny. “What bet?”
Grinning huge, Danny zeroed in on Trevor and Zeke. “She’s hot. Like Christmas fairy hot. Beckett ponied up one large that says Knox’ll add her to his black book inside of a month.”
“Not gonna happen,” Knox said. “If anyone knows what a bad idea it is to fuck someone you’re teaching or working with, it’s me.”
In all of a second, Beckett went from laid-back to upright and pissed off. “Oh, give that shit a rest. You were barely eighteen. Not a man in this room that could think with anything other than their dick at that age. Especially with a thirty-year-old teacher built like a brick shit house out for attention. JJ’s thirty-two. That’s a whole different situation.”
“No, her records say she’s thirty-two,” Knox argued back. “No way she’s that old.”
Beckett scoffed, stood and stomped to the mini fridge. “Whatever. She’s way older than you were so cut yourself some fucking slack.”
Not the least bit bothered by Beckett’s outburst, Jace grinned and focused on Knox. “Gotta say, sometimes mixing work and pleasure works out for the best.”
“I’ll second that,” Trevor said.
Of course, they would. Both of them had found their women through work. Sort of. Trevor had truly gone after Natalie while she was on payroll, but Jace had to bribe Vivienne into a job first and then lured her in.
“You guys are makin’ too much out of this.” Granted, he’d had a whole host of ideas slide through his head on things he’d like to do to JJ while she was sitting next to him, but who the hell could blame him? With those high as fuck heels she’d had on and her sinfully long legs, he’d have had to be a eunuch not to conjure up a ton of dirty thoughts. “The only reason I’m considering what she asked is because she seems to need the help. That’s what we do, right? Just because she doesn’t have a dick doesn’t mean I should tell her no.”
Beckett paced forward with his fresh beer, took a pull, then murmured, “Mmm hmmm.”
Trevor grinned at Beck’s subtle jab but gave his attention to Knox. “Ignore him. If you want more opinions, just set it up so we meet her.”
Danny barked out a laugh. “Yeah, that’s an incentive to keep a girl from running. Line her up in front of seven men with a ton of questions.”
“Not like that,” Jace volleyed back. Like they handled this kind of arrangement every day when in fact, they only met as a group for brothers. Or meeting a woman a brother wanted to claim. “We’ll set up something casual. She doesn’t have to know what’s up. Just a chance for us to get a read on her.”
“A family thing,” Zeke added, though his gaze when it slid to Knox had a mischievous glimmer that made Knox want to stand up and pace. “Wouldn’t be the first time we’d gotten together to meet a girl, would it?”
The fucker. That wasn’t what this was and he damned well knew it. Still, if he protested, the rest of the guys would just jump on the bandwagon, so Knox ignored it.
Axel leaned his hip against the couch and rubbed his jawline, working his fingers through his thick beard. “We could meet her Saturday night. That’s the next Bikers and Blues Rally.”
As laid-back venues went, the summer-long gimmick Axel had set up to promote a new outdoor music venue in Dallas was perfect. The premise behind the bi-weekly gatherings was that if you could get people out on a regular basis in the hottest months of the year in Texas, you could damn well support a steady music venue year-round. So far, he’d been successful as hell, packing Klyde Warren Park to the gills with a slew of bikers and every other music lover in Dallas.
“That could work.” Beckett shuttled his gaze from Jace, to Trevor and Zeke. “The girls will be there, right?”
“Yep,” Zeke said. “Music. Food. Laid-back. Perfect for letting JJ’s guard down.”
Jace studied Knox, the uncanny shrewdness behind his eyes saying he was thinking the same thing Zeke was. “That gonna work for you?”
Well, they could eyeball and tease him about mixing work and pleasure all they wanted, but this was nothing more than a meet with a prospective employee. Not some fabricated excuse to get his family’s blessing on a long-awaited girlfriend. Knox shrugged and reclined against the couch back. “Yep. Works for me just fine.”