Saving Micah (Sequel to Conquering Jude) (11 page)

“Not the last time I was checked. The doctors gave me a clean bill of health…and I got the papers to prove it.” Ethan bent over and stretched. “How about a fast walk? We can do a quick tour of the yard and call it checking out the perimeter. Then you can go back and tell your mistress what a good sub she has.”

Growling, Jude gave a half-assed swing at the other man. Ethan danced back lightly on his feet. “Aw come on man, you can do better than that. Where’s the all mighty protector of Company B?”

“I’ll show you almighty protector, you smart ass.” Jude lunged for him. He winced when Ethan proved why the rest of the company had called him Lightfoot, and Jude slammed his bad hip into the wooden railing enclosing the porch. It wouldn’t have been so bad but part of the wood must’ve been rotten because it disintegrated beneath his weight sending him spilling onto the dew covered ground. His eyes stung as he tried to catch his breath. “Da…dammit! You we…were…supposed to stand still!” He gritted out between clenched teeth. Rolling to his knees, he scrambled to his feet, using the broken rail to brace himself. Jude knew Ethan would flip out if he actually thought he’d hurt him.

Ethan jumped down from the porch. “Are you okay?”

Jude nodded - rubbing his outer thigh as beads of sweat popped out on his upper lip. “Yeah.” He tentatively swung his leg back and forth before he groaned as stabbing pain shot through his hip to his groin. “I think.” Hobbling over to the steps, he managed to navigate them with the aid of the railing before collapsing onto the old swing attached at the far end. “Can you go see if we have any ice in the freezer?”

“Yeah, right on it. Fuck, I didn’t mean to…” Ethan’s voice faded as he headed back into the house. The screen door slammed behind him. Tipping his head back, Jude cursed himself. He knew better than to fuck around with Ethan. The bastard had been slippery as an eel in the service, and it was obvious he hadn’t lost any of his speed. Jude knew he’d just acted like a first-class fool. Micah needed him to be in top form, not nursing an old war injury if his attackers found them. Right now, as much pain as he was in, he wouldn’t be able to fight his way out of a wet paper sack.

The screen door opened, then slammed shut. Opening his eyes, he expected to see Ethan back with the ice pack or possibly Mistress coming out to see what the racket was. Instead it was Micah. Standing in the cool morning air in nothing more than a pair of drawstring pajama bottoms, he looked as if he just crawled out of bed. In the early morning light, all the fading bruises along Micah’s chest and abs paled in comparison to the darker bruise around his neck.

“What are you doing out here dressed like that? Go get some clothes on, man.” He swore mentally as his former partner studied him with too sharp eyes. It wouldn’t take much for Micah to read the lines of tension he was sure were around his mouth. It wouldn’t be the first time his old war wound had flared up, but it was the first time it had happened in front of Micah. The last thing Jude needed was to have Micah go off the deep end, the same way their Mistress had the first time she’d seen how the cold Chicago mornings caused it to flare up.

“You’re a dick, Larson.” With those quiet words the man turned and went back into the house. Jude gave a sigh of relief. It turned into a groan of misery when Micah returned moments later with Olivia in tow. She looked as if Micah had dragged her out of their warm bed. All sleepy looking with a crease on her cheek from the bedding, she was wearing only a pair of sleep shorts and a chemise so thin that he could just make out the dark hue of her nipples. This wasn’t happening to him – it just couldn’t be.

* * * *

Olivia yawned behind her hand as she trailed behind Micah. Still half asleep, she wasn’t sure what had brought the man to her and Jude’s room but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She vaguely remembered him shaking her awake before telling her something about Jude sitting on the porch. But why her ex-ranger, sleeping-in lover had left their bed to sit on a frigid porch should’ve been a surprise but wasn’t. They’d both been under a lot of strain. She must’ve been more tired than she realized because she hadn’t felt him leave their bed.

She shivered as the cool air touched her bare arms and legs left exposed by her chemise and shorts. Then Micah moved out of the way. Her eyes landed on her other lover. He was sitting on the front poor swing with both legs sprawled in front of him with a very familiar look of pain on his face. She glanced around the porch, saw the destruction of the porch rail and drew the most obvious conclusion. The fool had somehow managed to aggravate his old injury.

“You need your pills, pet?”

As Jude started to shake his head, her temper snapped. “Don’t lie to me!” She placed a hand on Micah’s arm. “Please go into our room and in the black canvas carry-on – the inside pouch to be exact, there should be a prescription of diazepam for Jude. Please bring it and a tall glass of water back to us.”

“Yes, Mistress.” She let the pleasure at hearing the words pass Micah’s lips sooth her temper. She knew he had done it without thought, but it was still a good thing.

“I won’t take them,” Jude warned her as the screen door snapped shut behind Micah. “I can’t protect both of you if I’m doped up and out of my mind on drugs.”

“Well what do you expect? I come back out here to hear your old lady swearing about shoving something up your ass…I can’t help but go there.”

Olivia spun on the man, her hands landing on her hips. “What the hell happened out here?”

Ethan’s eyes widened. “We, ah…we were…”

“Goofing around when you shouldn’t have been?” She tapped her foot. “And why the hell were you doing it at the butt crack of dawn when other normal people would still be in bed?”

Ethan blinked before he doing some obvious back pedaling. “He started it…” he pointed a finger at Jude.

Behind her, Jude started cussing at his friend. “The hell I fucking did. You were the one who decided it was a good idea to take an early morning run.”

Olivia threw her hands up in the air, already exasperated by both chest-pounding idiots. “Both of you shut up! Where the hell is Micah?” She spun looking for her other sub.

“Right here.” Micah slowly made his way back out to the porch carrying the vial of meds and a large glass of water. Even though he still looked battered and bruised, she was pleased to see he was moving about more easily.

“Thank you.” She took the glass and pills from him. Turning to Jude, she arched her brow at him. “Are you going to be good and take these, or am I going to have to get mean with you?”

He gave her a nervous look. She knew he was weighing his options as he always did when it came to her safely. She accepted his need to protect but she also would continue to be the dominant one in their relationship. It usually wasn’t a problem until something like this came up and his need to obey clashed with his deeply seated protective urges.

“Can we…” he started to speak – to negotiate.

“There’ll be no negotiation, pet. If you don’t take these you won’t be able to walk later.”

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Ethan came to stand beside her. “Whoa, you told me it wasn’t that bad, Dickens. Is what she’s saying true?” Gone was the smart-assed old army buddy she’d been introduced to. In his place was what she could only assume was the hard-ass Army Ranger he’d been.

“Fuck.” Jude muttered, looking away from them.

“Then it is. That does it.” Ethan looked down at the pills she held in her hand. “May I?”

She nodded. While she could’ve eventually got them into his system by badgering him until he took them, she had a feeling Ethan could achieve the same thing faster. He took two of the small white pills and the glass of juice from her. He walked over to Jude. “Take them.”

Ethan shook his head and made a disgruntled noise in his throat. “Is that all? Well, let me fix that for you.” He yanked his phone off its clip, flipped it open and punched a few numbers. A few moments later he spoke into it. “Hey, Kathy, it’s Ethan. Something came up and I need to take a personal day.” He listened for a moment. “Thanks, hun, you’re a doll.” Then he laughed. “No, don’t tell Maria what I said. She’ll think I’m sweet on you.” Another pause. “Okay, tell Motormouth he can be on the desk but if he fucks up again, I’m serious about sticking him on KP duty for the next two weeks. That HIPAA privacy shit is serious.” He sighed. “I’ll call Mr. Lacroix tomorrow about the new systems. Tell his boy to get the hell out of my office.”

Olivia gave a sigh of relief when Ethan disconnected his cell. “Okay, I’ve got the day off, and I’ll hang out and protect your asses. Now take the damn meds.” He held out the pills to Jude.

Jude slowly reached for them. “Thanks, White Hawk.”

Olivia could see Ethan’s expression softening. “It’s no problem. You’d do the same for me.” He handed the glass to Jude. “Now take these, or I’ll call your partner and have him come down.”

Jude narrowed his eyes. “The hell you will. Jackson has his hands full between the business and Rena.” He popped the pills into his mouth and washed them down with a huge gulp of juice. After seeing he’d taken the pills, Olivia shivered. She was going back inside. If the guys wanted to freeze their nuts off they could – but she was smarter than that. She held her hand out to Micah, who until that moment had stayed in the shadows, watching the whole exchange. He shifted before hesitantly lifting his hand. When she reached for it however, he dropped it and his gaze darted away, before shuffling inside. . She vaguely heard the men’s words as she followed.

* * * *

“I’m sorry, Mistress, please!” Leland cowered in front of his Mistress, begging for mercy. She gave him none. He arched away as agony streaked across his back as she laid into it again with the heavy whip she used for punishment. It had thrilled him to no end to see her use it on Micah, but he hated being on the receiving end of it. It hurt like a bitch with its weighted tip.

The damp feel of her personal dungeon’s floor radiated through his knees until he felt frozen all the way through, except for the fires burning across his back.

“It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t expect them to whisk him away.”

“It doesn’t matter. You should’ve planned for all possibilities.” She struck him again. He sobbed as fresh blood ran down his spine. He cowered lower to the floor as anger built inside him with every lash. He’d done everything he could to find the man. He’d even snuck into the Head of Security’s office hoping to find some footage or anything telling him where they’d taken the man, but the nosy secretary had chased him out. It was Micah’s fault for leaving…and ooohhh would he make him pay for this. The black man’s ass would bleed for every stroke he took. He sank into a heap when the blows suddenly ceased.

“Now, you’ll go clean yourself up, Leland, and you’ll find him for me, or this punishment will look like a cakewalk. Go to his apartment and see if you can find a clue about where the bitch took him. It’s time she realized Micah Beaumont is mine.”

Scrambling to his knees, he nodded. “Yes, Mistress.”

Chapter Ten

Sampson shifted restlessly. He’d been crouched under the stand of crape myrtle trees across from the Café Giovanni for the past two hours. Evidently Wasterson was taking his sweet ass time having dinner with Landry. He’d watched them go in nearly an hour and a half ago, but had decided after seeing the man’s private security guards flanking him, it’d be easier to corner the man after he took out the guards.

He felt a pang of regret at the idea but realized after attempting to speak with the man earlier and being rebuffed, Jason Wasterson III was a spoiled brat and had to do everything the hard way. It wasn’t that Sampson wasn’t fond of doing things the hard way on occasion – in fact he relished dishing out pain to those who deserved it. It was the idea the idiot had drawn his unsuspecting guards into the situation which was bothering him.