Keeley's Fight (The Protectors Series) (14 page)

Sighing, she looked around the table like she was contemplating saying something. “I had to learn to accept it, Nathaniel. Until I came here, it was my life. Everyday. Believe me when I say I don’t like that it happened any more than you do. But it happened to me every day of my life by not one, but two people,” she said with tears in her eyes that started to stream down her face. “I told you my parents never wanted me. I didn’t just say that in a roundabout way. They hated me, the very thought of me disgusted them, and at any given time it would make one or both of them so angry that they would start beating on me. For no reason other than I was alive.”

Sitting down so he was facing her, Ty grabbed her face with both hands and rested his forehead against hers and whispered, “I’m glad as fuck that you were born. I just wish it wasn’t to them.” Kissing her softly and pulling away, he was glad to see her gorgeous blue eyes soften.

“Oh Keeley, I’m so sorry you never got to know the love of real parents the way we have. I’m also incredibly glad you have my brothers to take care of you now. And I’m really freaking ecstatic that I won’t be the only one Ty, Nate, and the dads are harping on anymore!” Count on Kenny to lighten up a mood Ty thought, smiling at his annoying, yet incredibly perceptive sister.

Jackson got up from his chair beside their mom saying, “Alright everyone, let’s get out of here so this young lady can get some sleep. She looks ready to drop.” Walking over to her he gave her a hug and whispered something in her ear so only she heard, causing her to laugh a little.

After saying goodbye to everyone, they ordered some Chinese food before going into the living room and turning on the TV for something to watch. “So do you think I could come into work with you tomorrow?” Keeley asked after a few minutes.

“Are you sure you’re ready for that Butterfly? Your ribs must be sore, and your arm’s not fully healed yet,” Nate said to her.

“I’m positive, Nathaniel. I would feel safer there, with you guys, than at home. I don’t want to be here by myself after today; not yet.”

Looking to Nate Ty nodded his head. If she felt safer, he would do anything she wanted. It also might be good for her to meet new people.

“Alright Butterfly, if that is what you want, but only as long as you take it easy and don’t work too hard, ok?”

Squealing and jumping into Nate’s lap, she started raining kisses all over his face in between saying thank you, repeatedly. Laughing at her antics, Ty felt like she was really going to be ok, and she was coming out of her shell a little more every day. “Hey, what about me darlin’?” Ty teased her.

Sharing her excitement, she jumped onto his lap and kissed him deeply. Moaning into her mouth he felt like he was home. Sucking her tongue into his mouth, he played with it before following it back into hers and sweeping his tongue all around her mouth. Pulling away when he heard the doorbell, Ty picked her up and dropped her into Nate’s lap with a chuckle when she squealed again.

Paying for the food, Ty went and grabbed plates and utensils from the kitchen before walking back to the living room. Shaking his head at the two of them making out, he placed everything on the coffee table before pinching her ass, making her jump and yelp. “Food’s here people, let’s eat!” He laughed.

“So, when we get to work tomorrow, do people know about me? Do they know we’re together? Or do they think I’m with just one of you?” She asked in a rush, making it sound like one long jumbled sentence.

“Calm down darlin’, you belong to us. That means everyone knows it, too. It’s not a secret now, nor will it ever be. Ok?” Ty told her hoping to calm her nerves some. Nodding her head, she started to eat while Ty and Nate talked about the hockey game that Nate had found to watch.

After they were done eating and everything was cleaned up, it wasn’t long before Keeley started nodding off. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, Ty pulled her gently down to lay her head on his lap. Lifting her feet, Nate put them on his and started rubbing them until she passed out completely. Once he knew she was out cold, Ty brought something up that had been bugging him all evening. “We need to find out exactly what her fucking sperm donor did to her, man. The things she keeps hinting at scare me. He can’t get away with this shit,” he vehemently stated to Nate.

“I agree Ty, but we can’t let her know we’re doing it. She might protest about us stirring up the hornet’s nest,” Nate replied angrily. “But you’re right, he can’t get away with what he’s done to her. He needs to know she’s got real men taking care of her now, and that in the future he won’t even be a passing thought to her.”

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Nate couldn’t believe
what Keeley had told them and her parents.
Daily beatings? On a child? Who the fuck does that?
He thought.
How could anyone harm another human being the way that she obviously had been, and for twenty goddamn years?
He couldn’t just let it go. Had he known it was that bad a week ago, he would have hunted the mother fucker down already and disposed of his body in the ocean, or at the very least a desert so the coyotes could eat his remains.

It burned him that they let her leave the restaurant that first day they met her, to go home to him. “Fuck!” He said sharply, getting up. “I need to go for a run or something, man. Get rid of this wild energy running through me,” he told Ty. Nodding his head, he knew he understood.

Changing into his running shorts and shoes, Nate was out the front door in minutes; running up the drive to their property and around the bend leading to the road. He ran the quarter mile that split each house, passing house after house, knowing he was taking longer than he probably should. After he passed the fourth house, he decided it was time to turn around, but instead of running he was walking. Knowing he still wasn’t in the right frame of mind.

Stopping and looking up to the sky, Nate prayed for the first time since his last tour of duty.
Please let Keeley be ok. Let her understand that we’re here for her. That she means everything to us. We can’t lose her, not now that we’ve finally found her.

He didn’t know if what he felt for her was love yet or not, but the way she made him feel he was pretty sure it was damn close to it. Not wanting to be any longer than he already was, Nate started the run back home. Passing the woods that Keeley had run into today and had been there for God knows how long, made him give a slight shutter. Had she been in there past dark, who knows what could have happened to her.

Shaking off those thoughts, he concentrated on getting home to her. Knowing she was there waiting on him, asleep or not, put a smile on his face and his running kicked into high gear. Making it to the bend just before his driveway, Nate started to run faster, with anticipation of having her in his arms again.

Once he was close enough to the house, he spotted Keeley and Ty lying on a blanket on the front grass, stargazing. The smile on her face made him wonder how often she’d been able to do that before, or if she ever had. Sighing at his thoughts, he made it close enough to them that they finally looked his way. As soon as she saw him, she jumped up and ran to him.

Bracing his feet shoulder-width apart Nate caught her, when she lunged at him. Catching her around the waist and hoisting her up so her legs wrapped around him, he smiled and said “Hello my gorgeous, Butterfly.” Which caused her to giggle.

“Hi, Nathaniel,” she smiled and whispered against his lips. God, he loved how she was the only one to call him by his full name, and probably the only one he would ever let.

Walking over to the blanket he knelt down beside Ty, with her still in his arms. “Star-gazing, huh? I like that. It’s been awhile since I’ve done this. What have we found so far?”

Getting excited at what Ty had already shown her, Keeley started talking animatedly and pointing them out. “See over there, those clusters that look like a broken spatula? Tyler said that’s the Big Dipper. I wonder how it got that name?” She murmured. “And that over there, where those big stars are? That’s Orion’s Belt. I really like that one,” she smiled at him.

Lying outside under the stars for nearly two more hours, Nate had never felt such contentment before. Like he had finally found who he was meant to be with.
This must be love,
he thought to himself.
It’s perfect.

A
fter spending the
first half of the morning at the police station, filing charges against Tawnya for trespassing, assault, and anything else they could come up with, they finally made it to the office. Walking into the building that looked more like a warehouse, Keeley’s nerves started to get the best of her. She started fidgeting with the hem of her new trench jacket. Head down and not paying attention, she almost ran into what could have been a brick wall but was really an extremely large man. Grabbing onto Nathaniel’s arm and maneuvering herself halfway behind him, she peeked up at what had to be one of the tallest men she’d ever met. He had to be close to seven feet tall and easily three hundred pounds or more. With a chiseled jaw that had a five o’clock shadow on it already, she felt fear course through her entire body. When Nathaniel and Tyler shook the man’s hand and introduced her, she didn’t comprehend anything being said; all she could hear was the blood rushing through her veins. It wasn’t until Tyler pressed his front to her back, and Nathaniel turned around and wrapped his hands around the nape of her neck that she realized she was even shaking so hard her knees knocked together.

“Butterfly, you’re safe here,” Nathaniel whispered to her with their foreheads pressed together. “Dane won’t do anything to you. Hell, he couldn’t hurt a fly if he wanted to,” he smirked. Looking around Nathaniel to the man he called Dane, she looked into his nearly black eyes and saw the compassion there. He knew she was scared of him, yet he wasn’t trying to intimidate her like a lot of men would. He simply stood there with kindness in his eyes and a small smile on his face, while she inspected him from head to toe. He was huge. Bigger than Nathaniel. She had never seen so much muscle packed into one person before.

Moving around her guys, she walked up to Dane. Looking up into his face she whispered, “Hi.” When he wrapped her up in a hug, picking her up and spinning around in circle, she couldn’t help but let out a squeal of surprise.

“You’re gonna be alright here, little lady. We’ve got your back,” Dane whispered in her ear, when he put her down.

Hearing a sound from behind her, she turned around to see an older woman with gray hair and a huge smile on her face. “Well now, you must be Keeley… I’m Julia. I’ve heard such wonderful things about you. Welcome to Maxwell Secures, where the men are overgrown, and hot as can be!” Julia told her causing her to laugh out loud. It was freeing to be able to laugh like this with people who didn’t want to cause her harm. “Come child, let’s leave these overgrown beasts to do what they do, and you and I will become better acquainted.” Before Keeley could protest, Julia grabbed her hand and dragged her down the hall to what she assumed was her office.

Turning her head she saw the men with smiles on their faces and chuckling, which made her relax enough to know she would be ok with Julia for the time being. Looking around Julia’s office, she admired the warmth coming from this room. The decor and atmosphere were very soothing. The walls were painted a nice light blue with small pieces of artwork hanging around, mostly birds in flight, but a few with what looked like children’s drawings of wild flower fields. “Did your grandchildren make these, Julia?” She asked the older woman.

“They did. They love to paint and I find that having them here, instead of some stuffy over-priced ones, is much more relaxing,” Julia replied with a proud smile on her face.

“I think they’re wonderful. How old are they?”

“Eight and five, now. I can’t wait to move closer; I miss my grandbabies something fierce. I don’t get to see them nearly enough since my son-in-law’s transfer to California two years ago.”

“Oh wow, that’s awfully far away. Do you have other children?”

“Nope, just the one, which makes moving there so much easier,” she said with a smile. “Alright, let me show you Nate and Ty’s schedule for the day, and we’ll get you situated with what your role will be, sound good?”

Nodding her head, Keeley was shocked at how much she was looking forward to helping with their company. “Julia?” She asked.

“Yes, dear?”

“The guys haven’t really told me much about the company. What exactly is it that they do?” she inquired tentatively.

“Oh my, ok. Well, they do it all really. It might be something as small as training security personnel for an event, or finding a missing person. Sometimes they go overseas and offer protection for dignitaries or business magnates. I suppose it just depends who needs what and where,” Julia explained briefly.

“Are they in danger?” The question voiced her real fear.

“Sometimes there’s a case where some danger is involved. It’s not often, but they are the best at what they do and take every precaution they can to make sure everyone, including themselves, stays safe.” Feeling better about it, she simply nodded and started to study the schedule Julia brought up on the computer for her.