A Place to Call Home Read online

  “What do you mean?” York asked with concern.

  It wasn’t too long ago that York had been a victim of a sexual assault. She was with some college friends at a concert, and then went to the bar in the hotel. She and another friend were grabbed by some drunk guys and forced into a room. It was a bad situation, and thank God Sheriff McCabe and some friends were able to help out with the investigation and catch the guys responsible. They ensured that York and her friend got the best care and therapy afterward. It was amazing how that man stepped in and assisted. That was two years ago, and since then, Harper had seen Kane and his brothers help out many members of the community. He was great at his job.

  It was late and the bar was now closed. Hannah was coming out from behind the bar with Ade and Maya smiling and chatting away.

  “You did awesome, Hannah. You don’t know how much I appreciate you staying tonight and doing the job before we discussed things.”

  “I could tell you needed the help, and I guess the best way to clean the rust is to start doing the job.”

  “So you’re in?” Maya asked with a smile.

  “Sure she’s in. You think I would let her slip through my fingers after the work she did tonight? No way. Let’s talk, Hannah, and then I can give you a ride home.”

  “Oh, you don’t need to. I have my bike.”

  “Bike?” Ade asked, eyes furrowed. “No fucking way are you—“

  Harper raised her palm up. “I got her, Ade. She’ll catch a ride with me.” They said goodnight and then Harper grabbed her things, and they all locked up and headed out for the night.

  They got into her truck and Harper smiled. “So, Friday and Saturday nights good for you to start? You get an hourly wage for the books, and then you split cash tips with the other bartenders, and the waitresses give you ten percent of their tips for making their drinks. How does that sound?”

  She noticed Hannah was quiet a moment and then she turned in the seat slightly. “No paying on the books, cash only, and I’m fine with that being from the tips alone, and you got a deal.” She put out her hand to shake.

  “Shit,” Harper said, and shook her head then gripped the wheel. She should have known this was too good to be true. That Hannah had reasons for keeping her distance and laying low.

  “How bad, Hannah?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “How bad of a situation are you in? I mean, will cops be coming?” Harper asked, and she felt that tightness in her gut.

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Sure you do, and I get it. I do. The way you keep to yourself, never go into town, work two days at Spark’s, a town away from Cherry Hill, how you avoid deep conversations, and now you don’t want to get paid on the books. No money trail, no way of tracking you down. Now I’m not stupid. I may be twenty-five years old but I’ve seen shit, dealt with shit or have family and friends who have. And I can tell when a person is hiding out, keeping low and maybe running from something. What are you running from?” She just pulled onto the side road leading to the Gaynor’s entrance to the farm.

  “I’m not running from anything. I’ve been here in Cherry Hill for a year?”

  “What sent you this way?”

  “Change.”

  “Come on now, girl, do I look stupid?”

  “No.”

  “If it’s not anything criminal then it must be a man.” She saw the change in her body language. The way Hannah turned away and wrung her fingers together. She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Is he going to show up looking for you?”

  “I don’t know what you mean, or what you want to hear from me as a reply.”

  “The truth would be nice. You can trust me, Hannah.” She shook her head.

  “No offense, Harper, but I don’t trust anyone. Haven’t in a very long time, and it doesn’t matter what people show me, how they act, what kind words or actions they do, I just don’t trust easily. I keep to myself. So if this is a problem, then I have to decline the job.”

  Harper pulled into the driveway and toward the garage and apartment Hannah was renting. Cash for sure. “God damn, man. Fine, cash only. No records on the books of your existence. However,” she said as Hannah nodded and opened the side door. Hannah turned back. “If anything changes. If you need help, need a friend, you let me know. I’m willing to take a chance with very little information on you, so maybe someday you’ll be willing to take a chance on me, as a friend who could help?”

  Hannah nodded.

  “I’ll drop the uniform off to you tomorrow for tomorrow night. I’ll give you two shirts and two tank tops. As you know it gets hot in there. Wear jeans or shorts, your choice, and comfortable shoes.”

  “Got it. Thank you, Harper, and see you tomorrow.”

  Harper watched her climbed the stairs to the dark, empty apartment. It was a nice spot though, and the Gaynor’s were good people. She looked around as she pulled down the dirt driveway and hoped that she made the right decision. She liked Hannah though and hoped her personality, her smile and demeanor, weren’t an act, and that really she was trouble. If she was, then she would handle it accordingly along with Sheriff McCabe.

  Chapter 3

  Matias Garcia looked out the window and the city skyline. Back in New York six months after her disappearance—now a year in total—it was Wednesday, a day for any updates on his Athena. He would wait, not so patiently, in the beginning for any news of her location. Sightings that wouldn’t turn out to be false. Anything at all with the people he paid to watch her brothers and father round the clock. Nothing. Not a thing, and he knew today would be the same outcome. That the call of a possible sighting in Georgia would be false. If he’d learned anything over the last year about Athena, was that she was resourceful and smart. Smarter than his investigators he paid, smarter than the trackers he sent after her, more capable than any woman he had ever known, ever met, or ever would. He tried to get her out of his head. A man in need, he brought in others to replace her in his bed. To play a role and pretend they were his Athena. They were told ahead of time who they were to be but none of them were anything like his Athena.

  He was angry, distraught and he took it out on everyone. A rampage that got him involved with terrorist organizations, but the profit was well worth the risks he was taking. Plus, he was setting up the perfect person to take the fall for it all. Especially if it turned out that he was helping Athena.

  He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He could no longer smell her scent. Couldn’t feel her shaking in his arms or begging him to take her harder as he thrust into her perfect body. The thought of her with any other man than him enraged him and he showed it. He acted out that reaction with the women his men set him up with to help him. They were good loyal men, and especially Ferno. Ferno was just as enraged as Matias to know she had escaped under his protection. For that he would allow Ferno some alone time with Athena to be punished accordingly.

  Someone knocked on the door to the office and he nodded for Hernandez to let them in. It was one of the men he hired to track Athena down and to cover her brothers and father with his associates.

  “Mathews, so good to see you.”

  “Good to see you too, Mr. Garcia.” They shook hands.

  “So, tell me where you are at. Anything new?”

  “Actually, a new direction, sir. It seems her brothers have been making some phone calls to a Ferion Dortry. Now under normal circumstances we wouldn’t have bothered to look deeper into this man, and would have assumed he was military like Louis and Voight, Athena’s brothers. However, further investigation into him revealed that he is quite a resourceful individual, and all avenues and attempts to gather more information were denied. Top secret files, government access beyond any of my resources and most, unless you are basically a government operative.”

  “Government operative?” Matias repeated and narrowed his eyes at him. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that you asked me to push as far as possible without
jeopardizing your name and involvement, or alerting any authorities to the search for Athena. I’m doing my best not to push too far, and I think you’ll find this information interesting.” He slid a file across the table toward Matias.

  “Before you open it, know that this man, Ferion, is beyond mercenary level. He kills for a living. He invades locations, people, groups, whatever the government asks him to invade and he overpowers and destroys, sometimes from within and sometimes from without. While investigating him, and these calls to Athena’s brothers, we realized that they are aware of Athena’s escape from you, and are actively searching for her, as well. I have two men, very capable, military backgrounds, shadowing her brothers. I have several on her father, and men in place if you give the okay and accept the cost, that can tail Ferion Dortry. If any of these men go anywhere, meet anyone, we will know it,” Khan Mathews told him.

  Matias took several breaths and then looked at Ferno. “What do you think?” he asked him.

  “Could be that these men are why we haven’t been able to find Athena. There’s no way she’s remained hidden and on the run all this time alone without any help. No way.”

  “I’m not too sure about that. I think we both underestimated her abilities, and that won’t happen again.” He looked at Khan Mathews. “Do it. Do whatever is necessary to locate Athena.”

  Khan Mathews nodded toward the folder and Matias opened it up. He looked inside and saw the information. Top secret documents, and some of the capabilities of this Ferion Dortry as well as a few of his associates.

  “I took the liberty of highlighting some names on the first page and then again on the back. Not a coincidence that they know Louis and Voight, nor is it one that Louis and Voight have the same security clearance and file type listed under their names, and top secret files about them. I’d say they’re part of that team. They’re extreme on every level, and perhaps the easiest thing to do when the time comes is to take them out.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. The less dead bodies the better. My goal is to grab Athena and take her out of the country for good. My team can handle things here, and I can ensure no one will say a word to me when I travel with my wife on a leash.”

  Sheriff Kane McCabe was off duty when he walked into Harper’s dance hall. He had to see for himself that Hannah Murphy was working behind the bar. All day he’d heard about the good-looking brunette with the deep green eyes and sexy smile who stepped in to assist when Harper’s bartender didn’t show up for work. Now here he stood, a good distance away and watched as she shook up drinks in some silver shaker while her abundant breasts bounced in the tight T-shirt she wore. He could see all the guys gathered around there, and then as he walked closer and closer, her exceptional body came into full view. The shirt was tight, her breasts extra-large with deep cleavage, and her hair pulled up and back in some fancy style that showed off her thin neck. She looked to be in superb physical condition, her arms muscular, defined, as well as her legs as jeans stretched across them tight. She looked exotic, sexy, and she smiled with those full glossed lips, until she caught sight of him. Then suddenly, as his heart pounded inside his chest and their gazes locked, she nearly dropped the shaker.

  The guys in front of her by the bar turned around to see what put her into a state, and then greeted him.

  “Sheriff, good to see ya. Did you come out to meet Hannah? She’s new here,” he said, and Hannah stepped closer to pour the concoction as Kane looked at her full breasts and gorgeous face, and realized he was still staring when she looked up to ask him what he wanted.

  “What can I get you, Sheriff?”

  He was tempted to say “you.” Which shocked the shit out of him, but he didn’t show his desire.

  “Murphy’s,” he said, and she nodded. He watched her walk to the other beer spouts to get his Murphy’s Irish stout. Maya walked by saying hello, and he noticed that her uniform was a bit different. She had the top tied up underneath, showing off her flat belly, a tattoo and belly ring, and her top was lower. Glancing back at Hannah, after he said hello to Maya, he realized that Hannah’s uniform was not as skimpy or revealing, but Hannah had more curves and was more well-endowed up top.

  She returned with the beer and placed it down on the coaster, and he inhaled, catching her sweet scent. She smelled good as he absorbed the attraction he felt, and then placed a twenty down onto the bar. She reached for it, worrying her bottom lip, which she seemed to do every time he was around. He knew he was taller and larger than the average man and it showed. He stood straight, moved between Lenny and Fred as she got him his change and then placed it down onto the bar. He had to look down at her, towering over her so much and it made him feel protective of her like she was fragile, and in need of protecting.

  “When did you start working here, Hannah?” he asked, and took a sip from his pint of Murphy’s.

  “Last night, Sheriff. She was coming in to check out the job after Harper went to her house and talked her into helping out since Cass and another woman left. She started to check things out when the place got super crowded and she stayed and worked. It was meant to be,” Lenny said, and then looked at Hannah and raised his beer to her smiling.

  She chuckled.

  “That’s how it went down?” Kane asked, and she looked at him shyly.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Interesting,” he said, and held her gaze while he took a sip from his beer. She stared right back at him, her eyes gazing over his chest and then his face, perhaps feeling the attraction he felt.

  “Hey, sexy. I need another round.”

  She snapped out of her stare and turned to the left. He glanced that way and saw Ike Bravalo with his brothers Stan and Barkly. Ike smiled wide and licked his lips as he looked at Hannah. It pissed Kane off, but she handled him with calmness. Perhaps she had been warned about the types of men the Bravalo were, especially when they were drunk.

  “Meet my brothers. This is Stan and Barkley,” he said, and she nodded.

  “Nice to meet you. So what do you need?” she asked, and he told her. When she turned, all three men were staring at her ass.

  “She’s fucking hot,” Kane heard Barkley say.

  She returned and placed the beers down and Ike gave her the money. Kane kept eyes on them as they walked away, but Ike kept looking at her. When she came back over his way to refill Lenny’s beer mug, Kane warned her about the Bravalo men. “You make sure you don’t take any crap from those guys. Any issues, call over the bouncers, ya hear?”

  “I heard about them from Maya and Ade.”

  “What time do you get off?” he asked.

  “You’re about the hundredth guy to ask her that question tonight,” Lenny said, and laughed. “She ain’t biting, Sheriff.”

  “What the hell? Seriously?” Kane asked, and he was pissed. His response and his attitude obviously intimidated Hannah as she walked away to help more customers. When he saw Harper walking his way, he stopped her. “Hey, Harper.”

  She kissed his cheek hello and then moved next to him. “What’s going on, Kane? I haven’t seen your brothers for a while. They due back soon?”

  “Yeah, tomorrow actually.”

  “Ahh, in time for the fight?”

  “Maybe. Culter will be here.”

  “Good. It will be nice to see him.”

  Kane looked back at the bar and at Hannah.

  “Ahh, something finally catch your eyes around Cherry Hill, Sheriff?” she asked, and was smirking.

  He squinted. “What?”