Hardwired (The Brotherhood Series) Read online

  When Luke finally severed their kiss, Jen braced herself with a hand to his chest to keep herself upright. He smoothed her wet hair from her face, letting his fingers trace down her neck and across her collarbone. He paused when he was stopped by the strap on her swimsuit, then his eyes darkened as he let his finger trace the strap down to the swell of her breast.

  Her eyes bore into his, and she begged him to go further, touch her more. The beach wasn’t overly crowded. They had chosen the location for its privacy alone, a small beach front town in the Outer Banks. Luke’s deep brown eyes glanced up to scan their surroundings. Jen knew he saw so much more than the average person would. His training, though dormant when they were together, was always there lying in wait. As he continued to calculate their chances of being caught, Jen studied his beautiful profile. His dark hair was longer than normal thanks to his two-week leave and his tattoos were prominent against his tan skin. His jaw was clenched. Jen couldn’t help but reach up to trace the firm line down to his chin, then she slowly moved up and drew her fingertip across his thin lips.

  This brought his eyes back down to hers. There was a heat there, telling her that he was going to take her there with or without prying eyes. He lifted her up, her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist as he waded back out into the water. The waves crashed around them as if they didn’t even exist. Luke always preached about the strength of the ocean, but it seemed to pertain to everyone except him. He prowled forward until their bodies were mostly hidden by the water.

  His lips found hers and the next kiss was full of dark promises of what was to come. He commanded her body as his tongue worshipped hers in an erotic motion. His fingers grazed over the cup of her swimsuit, but this time he wasn’t deterred. He moved the fabric out of his way, his hand molding to her breasts.

  “Luke,” she moaned, and the sound woke her from her dream.

  Jen sat up in bed, her breath rushing in and out of her lungs at warp speed. She touched her skin, and it was hot as if Luke’s lips had just left it. Her legs clenched to ward off the throbbing sensation there.

  “Shit,” she muttered, throwing the covers off as she got out of bed.

  It had been months since she had a dream about one of her and Luke’s sexual encounters. She poked her head into Bella’s bedroom just to make sure she was still tucked in safe and sound. The sound of Bella’s soft snores greeted her, bringing a smile to her face.

  Jen shut the door as quietly as possible before heading to the kitchen. She knew it would be a while before she could fall back asleep, so she decided to make herself some hot tea to calm her down. Not bothering with the lights, Jen used the small light coming from under her microwave to fix her tea. The smell alone comforted her. It wasn’t that she disliked the dreams of Luke, it was just that there was no way she was going to get over him with their memories running on repeat in her mind.

  Once she had her cup of tea she turned to walk into her living room hoping to open the blinds up to look out on the moonlit beach. She took several steps before she saw the figure in her living room. A man dressed in all black stood still staring at her. Jen screamed, and the fight ensued.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Luke

  A rare case of insomnia had Luke up, and wandering the rental home. After his accident he had insomnia until they had inserted his first chip. The civilian chip was new, but he was surprised to find himself up. He had just started toward the beach, hoping a midnight swim would help him sleep better when he heard the scream.

  He moved fast. It was her; he knew it with every fiber of his being. He also knew he was more than likely the reason she was screaming. Dean’s weird phone call made sense to Luke now. They were going after Jen; she was a threat to Luke’s precious guarded memories. Luke threw the front door open just as a man wrapped his hands around Jen’s throat. His mind snapped and fury controlled Luke’s every move.

  Luke grabbed the intruder by the back of the neck and flung him off Jen. She threw herself to the side as she gasped for air. Luke heard her ragged intake and knew she would be fine. He prowled toward the man. It was too dark in the house to make out the man’s features. Luke didn’t care who the man was; he was going to die. The man initiated the fight by throwing a skilled punch toward Luke’s throat.

  Luke smiled. The man had no idea what he was in for. Luke grabbed the man’s fist, squeezing it hard. A normal man would have buckled under the pain. The fact that this man was still standing confirmed Luke’s fear; he was a professional. Luke used the man’s fist to jerk him closer, then Luke landed his own punch straight in the man’s face.

  He recovered quickly and managed to get his fist away from Luke’s grip. Luke threw another punch, the man diverted it, and landed one in Luke’s stomach. The hit was hard, but Luke’s fury made him stronger. He moved quick, grabbing the man by the shoulders and jerking his head down to meet Luke’s knee as it came up full force. Luke felt the man’s nose break under the impact, the blood splattered around him. This was what Luke lived for; it fueled the primitive side of him the government had unleashed.

  The man stumbled back, but Luke wasn’t done. He threw a kick to the man’s stomach. He doubled over, which gave Luke the perfect opportunity to land several more hits to the man’s head. That got the man onto the floor. Luke had just straddled over the man, set to beat him to the end of his life when he heard a small cry behind him.

  Bella. The innocent little girl with the big blue eyes. Luke’s heart clenched as he held up his hands that were now covered in blood. Jen raced over to shield her from the scene, but it was too late.

  The man used the time to throw Luke off him. Luke couldn’t let the man go. As much as he wanted to hide the monster he was from the little girl, maybe it was better this way. The make-believe monsters children fear were nothing in comparison to the monsters living amongst them. Luke wasn’t so warped that he didn’t realize he was one of them. He grappled with the man until he had him wrapped up in a headlock. Jen’s eyes grew wide as Luke and the man now faced her.

  Luke whispered, “I’m sorry,” and then he snapped the man’s neck, letting his body crumple to the floor.

  Luke stepped back to make sure he stayed in the dark of the living room so Jen couldn’t see his face. He spoke up so that she could hear his instructions.

  “Call the police,” he said, keeping his voice low.

  “Thank you. My God, I can’t imagine what would have happened had you not showed up.”

  Her voice sent a pain straight through his mind. Luke stumbled to the side, battling through it.

  “You’re hurt. Here, let me help you.”

  Luke held his hand up to keep her at bay.

  “Mamma,” Bella said from behind her mother’s legs.

  “It’s okay baby. This man saved us.”

  Luke needed to move. He needed to pack his bags and leave before the sirens rolled in, but he had become immobile at the sounds of their voices so close. In that moment he was worthy, but when Jen reached for her phone, reality reared its ugly head. Luke moved toward the door, but a tiny hand grabbed his leg to stop him. Luke stopped but didn’t turn around for fear that he would never be able to leave the presence of her beautiful blue eyes.

  “Sir, are you a soldier?”

  Shock registered through Luke, and a pit of fear settled in his belly. At first

  , Luke feared his initial reaction to the woman and child had been right, and they were a trap, but then he realized his dog tags had come out during the fight. He gripped them and nodded his head.

  “My daddy was a soldier.” A beat passed. “He died. He’s my hero, but you can be, too.”

  Her words gutted him. He had so much to say just on the tip of his tongue, but Jen’s voice filtered over; she was giving her address to the operator. Luke needed to go.

  “I’m no hero little Bella, but your daddy is.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jen

  “You’re coming to stay with us, and that’
s final,” Jen’s dad said firmly.

  Jen just nodded; she was entirely too exhausted to fight with her dad. Besides that, there was blood all over her living room that needed to be cleaned, as if that would erase what had happened.

  Minutes after her neighbor had left her house, she heard his motorcycle roar to life. She raced after him, hoping to get his name or somehow thank him for saving her and Bella, but he never even turned around. The whole thing was unnerving. The man breaking in was one thing, but her neighbor’s midnight rescue and then abrupt departure was even more unnerving.

  “He apologized,” she said out loud to no one in particular.

  “Pardon me?” The young detective asked.

  “The man who rescued us; he apologized before he, um, you know killed the man.”

  “And you have no idea who the man was the came to your rescue?”

  “No, I’m sorry. He must have just heard my screams from the beach.”

  If the detective thought that was strange, he didn’t say. He jotted down something in his small notepad and then turned back around to speak to someone else. Jen wasn’t even sure who was who; her house was swarming with people of all different capacities. Bella was safely tucked away with her mother in Bella’s bedroom. Jen hated that Bella had witnessed anything at all, but so far she seemed completely unrattled by it all. Jen pressed her fingers against her temples. Her mind was racing from one thing to the next. She needed to focus. Bella was the most important thing.

  “Let me get our stuff packed up, Dad.”

  “Ma’am, we’ll be in touch as things progress, but please don’t leave town,” the detective said, reaching out to hand her his business card.

  Jen tentatively took it and nodded her understanding before disappearing back to pack her and Bella’s things. Jen tried to shake off the dark features of her neighbor. There had been something so familiar about him. She kept telling herself she was just experiencing a bit of White Knight Syndrome, since he saved her. Once she had herself packed, she moved to Bella’s room. When she walked in, Bella was sound asleep on her mother’s lap.

  “How is she?” Jen whispered, as she gathered things in a bag.

  “She seems fine. She did say that your neighbor was a soldier.” Her mother let the sentence hang between them.

  “I wonder what would make her say that…”

  “Bella said he had a necklace like you wear of Luke’s.”

  Jen reached to touch Luke’s tags tentatively, wishing so bad that he was alive and there to guide her through what she needed to do. Of course, had he been alive, he would have handled the situation, if there had even been one in the first place. Jen couldn’t help but wonder if she had a man in the house if the guy would have even broken in.

  “I didn’t notice. Oh Mom, is this all my fault?” Jen asked, slumping down on the floor in front of Bella’s dresser.

  “No baby, not at all. That man was a criminal; he would have broken into your house whether or not a man was in the house,” her mother responded, as if she had read Jen’s mind.

  “He didn’t take anything though; he was just standing in my living room. It was like he was waiting for me, or…oh I don’t know… everything’s getting muddled together in my mind.”

  “Sweetie, you’ve experienced a traumatic incident, and you’re exhausted. Let’s just get you out of here so you can rest. Whatever you forget to pack, we’ll go out and buy.”

  Her mother stood up, still cradling Bella in her arms. Jen rose to her feet, grabbed a few more of Bella’s favorite toys, and followed her mother out. Her dad finished talking to the detective and then helped Jen carry everything out to their vehicle. Jen strapped herself in the backseat next to Bella, who didn’t bother waking up as her mom had strapped her into her booster seat. Jen barely remembered her dad backing out of her driveway before she drifted off to sleep.

  Her dreams were of what had transpired just hours before. Except instead of her mysterious neighbor coming to her rescue, it had been Luke, and instead of running off afterwards, he lifted Jen and Bella into his strong arms and carried them away from the chaos. Jen woke up when her dad shut off his car. She realized why her neighbor’s movements and mannerisms had felt so familiar; he had reminded her of Luke. Even his voice had echoed with the same rich, deep tones as Luke’s.

  Jen tried to shut her mind off as she and her parents worked to unload her and Bella’s things. Bella never woke up as her father carried her into the house and back to the bedroom her parents had designated for Bella. Jen watched as her father gently laid Bella down on her hot pink frilly comforter and then covered her up with her token blanket. After placing a soft kiss on her nose, her father stood up and left Bella. He paused by Jen and placed the same soft kiss on Jen’s nose before continuing down the hallway.

  Even though her father drove her crazy sometimes, Jen knew she was lucky to have him and her mom in her and Bella’s life. Especially with Luke gone. Jen had no idea how she would have survived this long if it hadn’t been for them after Luke’s death. Now here she was once again in a crisis and her parents had swooped in to save the day. She wanted to run and tell them how much she loved them, and thank them for everything, but instead she stood there staring at her daughter.

  The anger she felt toward Luke used to catch her off guard. It was something she was used to now, and she could feel the anger building up inside of her. If Luke had been there, he would have protected them, and Jen wouldn’t have to uproot her life to stay with her parents for the foreseeable future. She also wouldn’t be feeling vulnerable like she was the world’s worst mother. It wasn’t fair to place the blame on Luke either; Jen knew that, but sometimes it felt good to just be mad.

  “Mamma?” Bella’s tiny voice called instantly diminishing Jen’s anger.

  “Yeah, baby,” Jen replied, moving further into the room to sit on the bed next to Bella.

  “Will you lay with me?”

  “Of course, baby.”

  “Tell me a story about Daddy.”

  It wasn’t the first time Bella had asked to hear about her dad. Had Jen not been busy being angry, she would have known it was coming. Jen settled into the small bed behind Bella, pulling her tiny body close.

  “Mam said you saw the dog tags on the man’s neck, like the ones I wear of Daddy’s.”

  “Yes, I told him he was my hero, just like Daddy.”

  “That was nice of you.”

  “He told me he was no hero, just Daddy was a hero. He is a hero though isn’t he Mamma? I mean he’s a soldier, and he saved us.”

  “Yes, he’s a hero. Sometimes heroes are modest, which means they don’t like to tell other people how special they are. I think our mystery hero was just being modest.”

  “Modest,” Bella repeated, digesting the new word.

  “Your daddy was modest. The Navy SEALs, which was the part of the military your father served in, is one of the elite units in the military, and I was so proud of him. Mam and Pap were too, all of them.”

  “What do you mean all of them?”

  “Your Daddy had a Mom and Dad, too.”

  “He did?”

  Jen felt guilty for never having told Bella about Luke’s parents. They had been incredible people, and their memory deserved to live on.

  “Yes, they were the nicest people, and they would have loved you so much.”

  “I would have loved them, too. Are they with Daddy now?”

  “I’d like to think so baby.”

  “So I had two Mam and Paps?”

  “You did, well you do. I have no doubt your other Mam and Pap are watching over us along with Daddy.”

  “I bet Daddy sent his friend to us last night, to save us!” Bella said, sitting up in her bed with excitement over her realization.

  “I bet he did.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Luke

  Luke had ridden like hell out of there that night. He never bothered to acknowledge anyone as he made his way into the barracks in
the middle of the night. His first stop had been a shower to rid himself of the man’s blood, his second stop had been to Dean’s room. Luke didn’t go in or even knock, he simply stood outside of the door and listened. He had a thousand questions running through his mind, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. Not then. Instead, he went back to his room and laid on the tiny cot they called a bed and thought of the woman and the little girl.

  The next morning he woke before dawn just as he always had for as long as he could remember. He changed into his PT clothes and went to the gym. After an hour-long workout, he made his way to one of the many pools they had, ditched his sweat-soaked shirt, and swam. Luke hoped that the normalcy of it all would help to calm the rage he had inside of him or quiet the voices in his mind that was chattering on about betrayal and his past. Nothing helped, though.

  When he finally dragged himself from the pool, Dean was waiting for him. Luke stood a foot away from the man he had called his best friend, his brother in arms, and for once he looked at him differently. Dean knew it, too. He never said a word, just simply stood there, his hands clasped behind his back, waiting for Luke to speak.

  Luke finally closed the distance between him and Dean, and his hand wrapped around Dean’s throat, just tight enough to restrict his breathing, but allow him to speak. Luke felt his friends pulse there under his thumb, and he knew he shouldn’t feel a thrill of arousal at having the man’s life in his hands, but he did. Luke liked to think he hadn’t always been a monster, that the government had created, but he had no way of knowing. All he could do was embrace it.

  “I will kill you and everyone else involved if so much as a hair on her head is harmed,” Luke said calmly, tilting his head to really look at Dean and gauge his reaction.