Chapter Fourteen

They reentered the house after having sat together with their fingers locked, just taking in the morning beach sounds. Creed figured it was now his favorite thing to do.

The kitchen was bright and cheery with laughter and the smell of food.

Beckett, Holden, Mason, and Gage had shown up and the atmosphere was a bit overwhelming at first because the big men were all in the kitchen.

That was when Kellum heard the rest of Pegasus out in the living room. Stepping farther inside, he got a clear shot of Oliver, Parker, Seven, and Hunter. Seven must be there on loan because the man didn’t typically work for Pegasus.

Kellum couldn’t see Eagle and Link, but he heard the pair razzing each other down the hallway and Eagle’s Aunt Mary’s soft, lilting voice in the mix. Something was said that had Aaron and Dylan in giggles. Pegasus was here with only Cooper and Maverick missing.

Creed took his hand and refused to release him even when he gently tugged. Neither of them had said much after he’d shared what his uncle had done. He still hadn’t shared how he’d ended up with the situation with Percy, or how his mother died, plus the abuse he’d suffered for years. For some reason, keeping that information to himself gave him a sense of control.

“I’ll be right back,” Kellum said when he heard the laughter increasing down the hallway. He tugged his hand free and disappeared down the hallway.

Kellum disappeared toward the back of the house and Creed went into the kitchen to pour the last bit of coffee into his cup. He turned to face Ace, plus several of the team sat at the table.

“I know the story,” Creed told them.

“Tell me,” Ace growled.

Creed spit out the facts as quickly as possible, watching as their faces went dark with anger.

“Jacob,” Ace asked his husband quietly. “Can you find out everything about Kellum’s Uncle Durn?”

“I’m on it.” Jacob left the room and returned shortly with a laptop. He planted himself on a stool and began his search.

“What’s the plan?” Owen asked.

“We find him and end him,” Creed said tightly. He had shared the first rape attempt.

“I wonder how many times this fucker tried to rape him.”

“What?” Creed growled at Jacob, and the word came out choked.

“Well, if he’s the uncle, wouldn’t he have been around for years and have had access to Kellum?” Jacob looked up from the laptop.

Creed’s eyes burned and he took a swallow of the semi-warm coffee. It took every ounce of willpower he had not to snatch Kellum close when he reentered the kitchen a few moments later.

He felt Kellum’s gaze on him.

“I told them,” Creed said abruptly, and then wanted to kick his own ass when Kellum’s eyes turned wide and vulnerable.

“Everything?” Kellum bit his lip.

“No, I just glossed over the highlights.”

Kellum nodded and gulped. “Aunt Mary is watching the boys.”

“Good. Let’s meet in the game room,” Creed said gently.

“I’ve already put our gear in there,” Jacob said, and that didn’t surprise Kellum. Pegasus never went anywhere without weapons, ammo, and armor.

It was a room Kellum had yet to see, but he’d heard the men speaking about how Creed, instead of a three-car garage, had turned the three-car garage into a large room with a pool table, couches, and chairs. A wide screen television hung on one wall and Creed had fashioned a mini bar.

Kellum stepped inside and found the massive room big enough to fit them all.

Everyone found a spot and then most of them turned their eyes on him.

Crap.

He was under the gun now. How the hell was he going to tell them the whole story?

The years of abuse? How weak that made him. Or of when the two weeks prior to the night of the attempted rape, things had come to a head?

Durn had shown up with another man and Kellum had come into the library when the housekeeper had found him.

Kellum closed the door, but stood close in case he had to run.

“I’m tired of this game.”

Kellum stayed silent.

“You have one week to prepare.” Durn smiled.

“I won’t do it,” Kellum spat.

His uncle sneered across the room at him. “You’ve got to know by now that I can have you or your brothers killed or something worse at any given moment.”

“Why are you doing this?” he’d asked through numb lips, his heart pounding, his mind racing.

Durn stalked across the room and cupped his face with hard hands. “I want what’s mine.”

Kellum froze as he stared into the insane gaze of Clancy Durn.

He realized that was probably the moment he should have called Ace, but he’d made a stupid mistake.

He’d tried to handle it on his own.

Now his time was up with a one-week deadline. Instead of the endless beatings and groping, Durn would rape him.

With his mother’s assets still frozen, Durn thought he held the purse strings, but Kellum had saved as much money as he could working for Pegasus.

Pegasus was where he got the idea to escape. Those brave men were something out of a superhero book and he’d gotten the courage.

“Oh,” Durn said, bringing his gaze back into focus and the man withdrew a document from the inner pocket of his suit jacket, unfolded it, and handed it to him.

Kellum took the document and stared at it in stunned silence.

A judge had entered the picture and had given custody of his brothers to Durn.

Kellum’s world darkened.

“They are mine. If you want any part of them in your life, you better consider my terms. One week.” Durn smiled thinly.

“I’ll sue you. I’ll have you fucking arrested!” Kellum finally found his voice, crushing the paper in his hand.

“I figured you’d say as much.” Durn turned to a man sitting in a wingback chair in the darkest part of the study. Kellum hadn’t seen the guy in the three-piece suit until then. He had no clue who the fuck he was.

“This is Senator Garner, and he has the judge and the police commissioner on speed dial.”

Kellum had stood frozen as the room morphed around him and for a moment, he’d thought he would pass out.

“So, take out your phone and make your call to the cops,” Durn snickered evilly.

“No,” Kellum said woodenly.

“So, here’s the deal. You’re going to quit with the bullshit and become my lover or things will end badly for your brothers. You don’t want that do you?”

“No.”

“See that man over there? I’ll give him your baby brother and you’ll never see him again if you don’t comply. And Aaron? Well, let’s just say the judge has taken an interest in him. He’ll be used up before he’s legal age.”

“You can’t take them from me.” Kellum swallowed back bile and squeezed his hands into fists.

Durn tapped at his chin. “Then do as you’re told. You have seven days.”

At that moment, Kellum had chosen the path that seemed to lead to freedom.

He gave a jerking nod because at that moment, he could do nothing else.

“See?” Durn smiled that fake smile. “I can be reasonable. And as soon as you’re done working for the colonel, we’ll talk further about this.” He wanted Kellum under his roof permanently. “You won’t have to work ever again.”

Durn had never dared to mess around with the job he did for the colonel. Kellum kept his face expressionless. He hadn’t worked for the colonel in over a year and thankfully, Durn was still clueless.

Kellum had nodded and stared dry eyed as the two men left the room discussing the stock market.

It was one week later that he’d approached Durn thinking he could have a conversation man to man and tell the guy he was moving out and taking his brothers with him.

Again, he’d made the wrong decision. He’d forgotten how evil his uncle really was.

“Can you tell us the rest?” Ace asked, trying to keep his voice soft, but strong enough to yank Kellum from whatever past hell he was caught in—if the look of terror on the young man’s face was any indication. “If you will, please,” Ace added.

Kellum gave a jerking nod, took a deep breath, and told the team every single thing about Durn and what he’d done including the senator. As well as the increased drug use of Percy’s part over the past month. He concluded with Chip trying to rape Aaron yesterday.

“So, I shot him in the head.”

Stunned silence filled the game room. Everyone seemed afraid to respond or make a sound.

“Say something,” Kellum’s voice wobbled and Creed’s arm tightened around him.

“He’s a dead man,” Jordan choked out in a growl and launched at Kellum to hug the man tight. Kellum wrapped his arms around Jordan. Jacob left the table and headed straight to Ace, and their boss wrapped the techie up tight, bending his head to kiss the top of Jacob’s curly, dark hair and whisper something in his ear.

Kellum released Jordan, who resumed his seat, but anger was still reflected in the man’s eyes. They were ready to go to war for him. He knew it deep in his heart that every single person in this room would do whatever they could to help him.

But Kellum knew better. It wasn’t going to work. They had no idea.

He knew in that instance what he needed to do. All he had to do was get them away from there and he and his brothers could leave the state because as much as he thought they were safe here, they never would be.

There were too many powerful people involved.

He would have to change their names and vanish.

Why the hell he thought he could disappear here in his home town, he didn’t know, but he should have known better.

The councilman’s and senator’s reach were too far. Much farther than anyone in this room could even imagine.

Air was suddenly a distant thought and his skin crawled as hands were all over him like ants crawling over his body.

“Kell.”

His name came from far away.

“Kellum!”

When he jolted back to himself, Creed’s big body was shielding him from the room. His throat was sore from making raw, ragged sounds in the back of it and his hands had become claws gripping Creed’s arms.

“Breathe,” Creed crooned, cradling him close.

Gasping for breath, Kellum stared up into Creed’s smoky blue eyes, his mouth gaping like a fish.

Unable to speak, he lost consciousness.