Breaking Free (Steele Ridge Book 5) Read online

  What she’d been thinking, coming here on her way to who knew where, still eluded her. Astounded her, really. She should have just run. Left Vegas and the States and contacted her family when it was safe.

  Mom threw her arms up. “My baby!”

  Everything Micki had been holding in—anticipation, regret, fear—for the past day broke loose, unleashing a wave of relief that had her dropping her duffel, shoving past Reid, and slamming into her mother’s open arms. Tears burned the back of her eyes and she squeezed them closed, willing the damned waterworks away.

  You can’t stay.

  She knew it. Understood it in ways not many could, but still, to be surrounded by family, her true family, annoying as they might be, gave her hope. One day, she’d have a home again. One day.

  Footsteps pounded on the oak stairs, echoing into the entry. “What the hell, Reid?” Jonah snapped. “I was on a conference call.”

  Micki broke free of her mother in time to see Reid point at her. “You might want to hang up.”

  Jonah’s head dipped. “Whoa!” But then he, too, rushed to her, holding his arms wide and wrapping her up in a hug. “Jesus, Mick, way to surprise a guy.”

  “Hi.”

  She held on, squeezing tight, inhaling his clean, soapy smell. The Jonah smell. They’d always been a team, the two of them. Always. Even when no one else understood her, including him, he’d been patient and non-judgey. No matter what, they’d stuck together. At least before the ill-fated party ten years earlier. That party had changed her life, and the bitterness still ate at her.

  She’d adjusted to the hacking and illegal transactions she didn’t necessarily complete but had a part in. At times, she'd even enjoyed life with Phil. The good times, anyway. Times when he invited her on outings with his family because he knew she was lonely or when, years earlier, he started helping her navigate life as a grownup, getting a credit card to establish a credit rating, finding an apartment, a car—all of it, he'd done with her.

  Now Jonah, like most of her family, didn’t know what to think of her. She couldn’t blame them, considering she didn’t know what to think of her.

  Her own fault, she supposed. She’d never been honest with them. She’d hidden so much, yet, if she had to do it over again, she wouldn’t change anything. To keep Jonah safe, she’d do it again.

  “In the kitchen.” Mom waved her arms. “Everyone. I made chicken for lunch. And tonight we’ll have a big family dinner. Oh, my goodness! Our first family dinner in years. All my babies under my roof. I have to call your father. Jonah, Reid, call your brothers. And Evie! She’s running some errands for me. She might be on her way already, but make sure. I want everyone here.”

  “Mom,” Jonah said, “calm down. You’ll have a heart attack.”

  “You hush up. I’m happy. And I swear, if any of you start a fight, I’ll strangle you.”

  Micki swung back to her brothers, laughing because—yes—no matter how much had changed, certain things never would.

  “Y'all get settled,” Mom said. “I’ll call your father and we’ll have lunch. And Jonah, when you go upstairs, take your sister’s bag to her room.”

  Her room.

  In reality, probably not her room, but a guest room. She wouldn't focus on that; what mattered was that her mother had a place for her.

  In the kitchen, Gage pulled out a chair for her. She met his eyes, a beautiful crystalline blue that prompted thoughts of sunny days and hammocks. Next to her, this guy was all light and sunshine. Totally unattainable.

  She shook off the rotten mood starting to swarm. It wasn’t Mr. All-American’s fault she’d allowed her life to turn into dark isolation.

  She slid into the chair he offered. “Thank you, Gage. I like your name.”

  “Suds,” Reid said, “you want a soda?”

  “I’m good with water. Thanks.”

  No harsh chemicals for Mr. Perfect.

  From the fridge, Reid tossed his friend a water bottle while Jonah got active on his phone. Most likely texting their siblings about her sudden appearance.

  Reid held up a pitcher. “Mom’s lemonade.”

  Her mother’s lemonade. Another staple that hadn’t changed. And Reid had remembered it was her favorite. “Ooh, that sounds good.”

  Jonah took the seat across from her. “Where’s the rest of your luggage?”

  “No luggage. Just the duffel.”

  Reid stalled his pouring and stared at her. “How long are you staying?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe till tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” her brothers said in unison.

  And here we go. The big homecoming already splattering to the pavement.

  “Yes. Quick trip.”

  “Why? I mean, you can’t stay a few days?” This from Jonah.

  No. She couldn’t. Twenty-four hours ago she’d run from Vegas, leaving everything, including her phone, behind. By now, Tomas might be heading back from Mexico, with or without Phil. She couldn’t be sure. The Mexican penal system was wacky, to say the least. They might keep him in jail, but he’d send Tomas back to Vegas to handle the office.

  To handle her.

  She knew from checking her e-mail on the road that Tomas was concerned. He’d sent her four messages asking where she was and why she wasn’t answering calls.

  Sooner or later, he’d figure out she’d taken off and it wouldn’t be a stretch for him to search for her in Steele Ridge. She just needed to be gone when he showed up.

  “One day. Two at the most,” she said to her brothers. “That’s all I have.”

  Reid’s sister was hiding something.

  Then again, Gage was six months into healing from a traumatic brain injury that could be messing with him. The TBI, thanks to the boulder he’d slammed his head into after getting shot, left him questioning a lot lately.

  His instincts were no exception.

  Reid finished pouring Micki’s lemonade, shoved it in front of her, and flattened his hands against the big farm table. “You come here, unannounced, which is totally unlike the barely handful of other times you showed up, and tell us you’re staying one day. What’s the rush?”

  “I just…have to go.”

  “Why?”

  “Cripes, Reid!” Micki said, getting more snippy than necessary.

  Reid had a knack for doing that to people. Poking at buttons they didn’t want poked. They’d served together long enough for Gage to recognize it. Luckily for Reid, and most of the people in his orbit, Gage had gotten good at defusing Reid-induced chaos.

  Gage pointed at him. “Don’t lose your shit. Give her a second.”

  As expected, Reid pushed off the table, folded his arms, and leaned back on Miss Joan’s gleaming countertop.

  “Wow.” Micki looked over at Gage, eyebrows lifted. “Thank you.”

  “No problem. He means well, but he gets anxious.”

  “Damn straight I do,” Reid said. “I know you, Micki. After all this time, I still know you and you’re lying.”

  “How am I lying? I said I can only stay one day. That’s how long I can stay.”

  “Then you’re hiding something.”

  Jonah leaned in, propped his chin in his hand. “Listen, knuckle-dragger. Give her a break. But Mick, as much as I hate saying this, he’s right. What’s going on with you? Aside from Mom’s birthday party, every other time you’ve come back you were on a schedule and knew exactly when you had to leave. Did that scum you work for do something?”

  “No.”

  Miss Joan entered the kitchen, all bright smiles and clapping hands. “I just spoke to your father. He’s on his way. If I’d known getting him out of that cabin was this easy I’d tell him every week our girl was home.”

  Jonah’s phone bleep-bleeped and he scooped it up.

  Miss Joan glared at him. She hated phones at the table. “Jonah? Really?”

  “Yes, really. You told me to let everyone know. I’m letting them know. Britt and Grif are on the way. Evie was
at the bakery. She’s leaving now.”

  “Wonderful! The whole family here. I’m so happy.”

  Gage glanced at Micki, who gnawed at her bottom lip. A damned nice bottom lip that was just the right amount of full. Miss Joan might be happy, but her daughter looked…spooked.

  By her own family. What the hell?

  “Boys,” Miss Joan said, “give me ten minutes to get food on the table. Take Micki outside, show her the property. Ten minutes!”

  Jonah jerked his head at Reid. “You do that. I’ll take her bags upstairs.”

  “Mom,” Micki said, “I can see the property later. Let me help you.”

  “Shoo! All of you. Get some air. For someone who lives in Las Vegas you look pale. And tired. You need to get outside more. I tell Jonah this all the time.”

  Reid headed toward the door. “Let’s go, Mick. Suds, you coming?”

  He pushed out of the chair. Yeah, he was going. Because something told him the minute Reid got his sister outside, he’d be all over her with questions and she didn’t look ready for that battle. “I could use some air myself.”

  Micki shot him a brief glance and followed Reid outside. Apparently, she had a pattern when it came to her visits. Suddenly, she’d altered the pattern. He didn’t need his tenure as an Intelligence and Operations sergeant to figure out something about this situation was off. In fact, right after lunch, he’d head back to his office and do a little snooping about Micki and whoever this guy was she worked for.

  4

  It looked as if Mikayla Steele worked for an absolute asshole.

  The Internet didn’t have a whole lot on him, and in this day and age of rampant selfies and overexposure, that always made Gage suspicious. On any given day, he could Google someone and find a hefty list of accomplishments, photos, and mentions. Micki’s boss? No company website, no LinkedIn listing, no Facebook. Nada. For a man in his fifties, the guy was a total ghost.

  Except for the photos. Two to be exact. One that took over an hour’s worth of digging to find because it was five years old and showed the man at a Vegas fundraiser. This guy looked all kinds of slick in his fancy suit, gelled hair, and sparkly white teeth. High end. Very high end.

  The second photo, the one that really got Gage’s thoughts churning, was the one that showed Phil Flynn walking behind some knucklehead pop star leaving a Los Angeles courtroom. Flynn’s face was turned away, but it was him. No doubt. He’d been listed on the caption as an “associate” of the knucklehead. An associate?

  “I don’t think so,” Gage said.

  “Hi.”

  He snapped his gaze to the doorway where—shit—Micki stood, one shoulder propped on the frame. Her dark hair fell around a face with just a dusting of makeup, but enough to emphasize her perfectly proportioned cheekbones. She used two fingers to brush her bangs from her eyes. Hard eyes. But, damn, the woman got his attention. Feminine, yet…edgy.

  Realizing his screen still held a photo of her boss, he clicked out and cursed his inability, once again, to fight distraction.

  “Hi,” he said.

  She pointed at the computer. Had she seen what he’d been looking at? From that distance? No chance.

  “Sorry to interrupt. I called out, but I guess you didn’t hear me.”

  “No prob. The furnace is right below me. When it kicks on, it’s loud.”

  And sometimes, his screwed-up brain didn’t hear the door chime.

  Son of a bitch.

  She looked around the office, took in the bookshelf in the corner where he’d stacked all his files so he could keep his desktop clear. After a minute, she moved on to the framed photos Gage had found on his wall one morning. All from his Special Forces days showing him in BDUs, holding some sort of badass weapon or hamming it up with his teammates. Not one of those photos belonged to him. That was all Reid, who thought Gage's Special Forces experience would add to the training center’s credibility. Whatever. To Gage it was just a bunch of pictures of a bunch of guys doing their jobs.

  “Come in,” he said.

  She pushed off the wall and walked straight to the pictures. “You look different.”

  “I like to think I’m more civilized now.”

  She landed on one photo of Gage and Reid standing next to a Jeep—in Colombia maybe—the two of them decked out in full combat gear. BDUs, body armor, helmets, rifles, the works.

  “You were Special Forces with Reid?”

  “I was.”

  She lingered on the photo for a moment, then tapped it. “Can I get a copy of this? I never really got to see him this way. It’s so strange to me.”

  “Now see, it’s strange for me to not see him that way.”

  A small smile quirked the corners of her mouth. “Different worlds, I guess.”

  “It’s Reid’s photo, but I can tell him you want it.”

  “Well, I suppose I can ask him.”

  She didn’t sound too enthusiastic about that. “Whatever you want, Micki.”

  “Ha,” she said, meeting his gaze. “Don’t say that. Who knows what I might ask for?”

  Obviously, Reid’s sister had inherited her brother’s knack for laying on the charm. At this point, the way her skintight jeans cupped her ass, he might give her just about whatever she wanted. Whatever she wanted.

  Going there could damage his relationship with Reid. And Jonah. All the Steeles really, because as a whole, no one seemed to know what the hell to do with Micki. She was different. An outsider in her own family. Gage just didn’t know why.

  Leaving the photos, she came closer to the desk. “Is Reid here?”

  “No. He went to see Brynne.”

  “She’s his girlfriend, right? Mom said something about her last month when I called.”

  Last month? Gage talked to his parents almost daily.

  “I’m thinking she’s more than a girlfriend, but yeah, that’s her. She tends to settle him down.”

  “He needed to be settled down?”

  Careful here, buddy. As much as the Steeles had welcomed him into their lives, he wasn’t blood, and offering his opinions on their familial issues probably wouldn’t win him any points.

  He shrugged. “Or maybe he just wanted to see her.”

  She smiled again, clearly realizing he would not take her bait. “Is my brother in love? Seriously?”

  “Micki?”

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t know what your situation with Reid is, but I’m not discussing his life with you. If there are things you want to know, ask him. You of all people should know he’ll tell you.”

  “He doesn’t like me much.”

  “I don’t think that’s true.”

  She propped one hip against the desk, twisted her lips this way and that, so Gage waited her out. Let her get comfortable with whatever direction she wanted to take the conversation.

  “Did you notice he didn’t hug me when he saw me?”

  Yeah. He’d noticed. Shitty, that, but Reid had reasons for the things he did. Right or wrong, it was his business.

  “If it concerns you, ask him about it.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “Iowa.”

  “Of course.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You probably grew up on a farm. The apple-cheeked, Mr. All-American boy who has life all figured out. The war hero adored by all.”

  What the—? Seriously, she, the mystery woman who’d taken off to work for a bastard, was coming into his office and making like she knew him?

  He sat back, set his hands on the back of his head. “Sweetheart, you don’t know me. Whatever crap you have going on isn’t my fault. And I sure as hell won't let you turn your shit on me.”

  She broke eye contact, looking down at the shiny surface of his desk. “I’m sorry. That was…horrible.” She met his gaze again, and in those few seconds some of the bitterness had stripped away. “I just got here and I’m already pissing people off.”

  Whatever this girl had been
doing in Vegas had wrecked her. Made her…angry. Resentful.

  “Take it easy. This has to be difficult for you. And, to be fair, your family, too. You surprised them, that’s all. And me? I’m just a guy who works here. I don’t matter.”

  “Everyone matters. And my family seems to love you, what with my mother stuffing you full of her fried chicken and fussing over you and Reid not kicking your ass when you told him to calm down.”

  “Your mother is a good woman.”

  “Yes. She is.”

  “Reid? He’s just intense.”

  “That’s for sure.” She waved a hand toward the doorway. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to him. Will you tell him I was here?”

  “Sure. This may not be my place, but I care about your family and they care about you. If you need to talk, or whatever, I’m around. I’m a good listener. I spent half my military career as a sounding board for my detachment. Besides, I’m not a Steele. I’m neutral ground.”

  She stayed quiet for a few seconds, then finally nodded. “Thanks. But I’ll be leaving soon.”

  “You mentioned that. While you’re here, though.”

  She headed for the door and Gage watched her trim little ass. And the legs? So long and fluid and…yep…something about the mysterious Micki Steele got him going.

  “Micki,” he said, “when Reid gets back, you might want to tell him you’d like to hit Triple B with everyone tonight.”

  Pausing, she swung back. “Triple B?”

  “Blues, Brews, and Books. It’s the bar in town. Britt’s girlfriend—Randi—owns it.”

  “I know what it is. Is everyone going there? Mom said something about a family dinner.”

  “Yeah. After dinner. It’s Friday night. It’s a thing. Especially now that Evie is twenty-one. Everyone spends Friday nights there. Since you’re leaving so soon, it’ll give you time with your family.”

  “Bars aren’t really my thing.”

  “It’s more of a restaurant and bar. Not a pickup joint. But, hey, it’s up to you.”

  If she wanted to get to know her family again, he was damned near handing it to her.

  She gnawed on her lip again. “Are you going?”

  Oh, what an opportunity this could be to strap on a cape. All because Micki Steele didn’t want to face her siblings alone.