Chapter Twenty-Six

At daybreak.

It felt like a knife was permanently stuck in Kellum’s gut.

The separation from Creed sat like cold fucking steel slicing him open.

Kellum kept going over and over the words Creed had mouthed to him just before he’d been led away.

I love you.

And Kellum’s heart bled from the pain in Creed’s words. But also from the fact that he hadn’t said it back. He should have fucking screamed it to the heavens so Creed would know that he held his heart and always would.

Kellum’s hands shook. He had zero ability to function right then, but he had to.

He had his brothers to care for.

Aaron was currently wrapped in one arm, crying unconsolably and Dylan, who was too young to understand, clung to his leg. Kellum kept his other hand in Dylan’s hair, trying to soothe the boy.

Aaron was too young to have known about Creed’s arrest, but his brother had overheard the adults talking. As much as Ace liked to think that kids would be unharmed here and truthfully, for the most part they were, but they didn’t come equipped with ear plugs and people were only human.

Beckett gathered them up and herded him and the two boys into a recently fashioned common area with comfy couches, rugs on the floors, and a television set on one wall along with game consoles. This was the room where Aaron, Joshua, and Travis had been hanging out when they’d overheard Gage on the phone. Travis had jumped up, scowled at his brother, and slammed the door, but the damage had been done and Aaron had burst into tears.

Gage felt like shit and Mason, his husband, tried to console him, but it didn’t stop the big guy from apologizing profusely.

Mason took ahold of Gage’s face to keep the man from pacing. “I think we need to spend the money and section off a place for family, away from where we do our job.”

Gage studied Mason. Kellum knew Mason was super rich, so for them to be talking about upgrading was no big deal, that they were talking about it because of him and his brothers made him feel guilty.

“No, we can stay somewhere else,” Kellum murmured through his raw throat. He’d lost his voice for a few hours after screaming with rage at the cops, Stone, and anyone near him at Durn’s estate. And it was still scratchy and burned like hell.

“And what about the rest of our families?” Beckett countered. “Don’t they deserve a safe place when shit comes down? Because trust me, this isn’t the first time we’ve had people here. Nor is it the first time something has slipped out.” Beckett took a deep breath and really got going. The man was like that. “Do you think that all the doors here had controlled locks when we moved in? Why do you think the weapons room has a lock on the door when it’s inside of a fucking bunker built like Fort Knox? It’s because we had Travis.” Beckett threw the boy an apologetic look, but eighteen-year-old Travis only shrugged.

“I was exploring,” Travis smirked, looking so much like Gage.

“Yeah, well, he went in there and tried to pick open a locker full of automatic weapons,” Beckett finished, waving a hand at Travis.

“Okay, okay.” Holden stepped forward when Beckett took a breath to ramp up. He took ahold of his husband’s arm with one hand and placed his palm over Beckett’s mouth with the other. “We don’t need to go into details.”

Kellum didn’t believe that he could, but damned if he didn’t smile. Aaron gave a hiccupping laugh and Kellum reached down to pick up Dylan and rubbed his back to calm the toddler.

“So, you two think you can stay with Travis while us grownups have a talk?” Holden asked Aaron after he released Beckett and tucked his husband into his side.

“Yeah, we can,” Aaron said with a trembling smile.

“I don’t know about Dylan,” Kellum murmured.

“He will be fine, bro,” Aaron said, and took Dylan from him. The toddler wrapped his arms around Aaron’s neck, content to be in one of his brother’s arms.

“We’ll put on something for him to watch. Yeah?” Aaron asked Travis.

“You got it.” Gage’s younger brother smiled. “Plus, when Joshua and his boyfriend…what’s his name?”

“It’s Chase?” Aaron grinned.

“Yeah, when they get here, we can order pizza and play some games.” Travis winked.

Aaron turned to Kellum. “You’ll be back, yeah?”

Kellum cupped the side of Aaron’s face and nodded. “I won’t be far.”

The operatives left the room and Travis took over watching the kids. With the door to the common area closed, Gage led the way to the command room where they held most of the meetings.

Ace, Jacob, Parker, and Oliver were already seated inside. They all stepped in and Holden shut the door. Kellum walked over and took the chair next to Jacob.

“I’m sorry, Kellum,” Ace said with a grimace.

“It’s understandable,” Kellum said softly.

“We’re going to expand,” Mason said and Ace didn’t argue.

“Where’s Owen and Jordan?” Kellum looked around.

“I sent them on a side job,” Ace said and then nodded to Jacob.

“What we tell you now can never leave this room. You won’t need to talk about it with anyone else because myself or Ace will take the initiative to fill in the others that need to know.”

“What’s going on?” Kellum whispered.

Jacob closed his eyes for a brief moment and Kellum wanted to puke. Then Jacob’s lids lifted and he drew in a deep breath and turned to Parker.

“Last night in jail,” Parker said. “Creed was brutally beaten. He’s alive,” the man finished quickly at Kellum’s sharp inhalation, but Kellum couldn’t stop the ragged sound from erupting from his throat.

“They tried to kill him?” Kellum’s lips stretched back as he bared his teeth, holding back the sounds that threatened to tear from his throat and he wrapped his arms around himself.

Jacob slipped an arm around his shoulder and held him tight.

“They did, but we figured something like this would happen,” Parker continued. “Not everyone at VPD is happy with the guy who has temporarily taken over for Chief Dennison. I just want you to know that Stone, Wrath, and Fisher went inside hunting for Creed.”

“Hunting?”

“They don’t know where he’s being held.”

“They’re getting away with it,” Kellum said on a half sobbing whisper. “Those rotten fuckers are going to get away with everything.”

A chair scraped nearby and Kellum jumped.

He glanced over near the long table where the team kept their coffee and snacks for the meeting and his gaze settled on a very familiar man.

Kellum had only met him a handful of times and seen him just as many, but he’d never forget the power that rolled off the former Secretary of Defense.

David Ladd Allen III walked the short distance to the meeting table and stood across facing Kellum. Not able to stay still, Kellum jumped up and stood at attention, but he was shaking.

The SecDef wore a black power suit with a crisp white shirt beneath, open at the throat, no tie. His dark hair was swept back and gray threaded through the strands. The man’s eyes were the color of steel and closely resembled Creed’s, but where Creed’s had blue, Dave’s did not.

They were a cold slate gray.

The man’s hands were manicured and every inch of the guy was so well put together, it appeared at first glance to be deceiving. People probably thought he was tame, but holy fuck were they wrong.

Kellum swallowed at the tightness that filled his throat. The gleaming look in the man’s eyes held him in place like a captured bird and he struggled to keep back tears.

“Trust me.” Dave voice was low and deep. “They won’t get away with it.”

Kellum couldn’t stop his lips from trembling, but he gulped and held the man’s gaze with every ounce of bravado he had left.

“Thank you,” he whispered.