Awakening Veronica (35 page)

“Yes, Hank.”

A wide smile crossed his lips and his eyes went warm and misty. “Good, I wanted to make sure I had your undivided attention when I told you
I
love you, too.”

Another sob escaped her lips, which normally would have embarrassed her but she could see the truth in his unflinching gaze.

Travis’s eyes were centered completely on her as he stroked the back of her head and his beautiful lips, framed by that sexy red beard, turned up in a smile and he said, “I love you, too, Nika. I don’t know if that’s enough for you. Moving from Montana to be with us is asking a lot of you. We know your life is there but we want you here with us.”

She struggled, reaching for both of them, and they helped her turn, draping her over their laps. She hissed as she put weight on her tush but she ignored the pain and threw herself into their arms. “The election? The job offer?”

Hank said, “Secondary. This is what matters to me right now.”

Travis said, “California is nothing compared to you, beautiful Nika.”

She lifted her head. “You’d do that? You’d make those sacrifices?”

In one voice, they murmured, “Yes.”

“You would do that, knowing what a basket case I am?”

Hank squeezed her butt cheek and growled. “Careful, Nika.”

A giggle suddenly erupted from her, almost surprising her. Did she dare hope? The heat in their eyes told her she had to. She rested her head against Hank’s chest, taking his scent deep into her lungs. “I did not enjoy that spanking.”

Travis chuckled. “Then you’ll learn to stop thinking the worst and putting yourself down, because we’ll be happy to light your gorgeous ass up for you if you do. You’re a gift, Nika. That’s how I see you. You’ve lived among animals who have made you feel less than the beautiful woman you are and we aim to protect you from them in the future and help you learn to embrace what we already know to be true. Wake up, Veronica. We love you just the way you are.”

Hank cupped her face and leaned forward to kiss her. “Just the way you are.”

She reached up to stroke Travis’s jaw and Hank’s cheek and she murmured, “I love you, too. I love you so much my heart is practically beating out of my chest. I want to be with you, too. I’ll move to Divine. And I’ll trust you to make the decisions you need to make.”

Hank said, “And no more pulling back from us when we’re together. Regardless of where we are. You have no need to feel ashamed.”

They sat, holding her to them, stroking and petting her, speaking soft words, and Veronica giggled when Hank told Travis about how he’d startled her earlier when he’d come in. Travis eventually lifted her in his arms and they took her back to Hank’s master bathroom and put her in a tub of warm water to soothe her bottom. Hank smoothed a cooling cream on her red ass cheeks, and then they made sweet love to her until she cried with what felt like the first true joy she’d ever known.

She was awake now.

Chapter Sixteen

Veronica felt like she was encompassed with an army of men. Men willing to fight for her, to protect her, and to get to the bottom of the harassment she’d been experiencing online. It was a marvelous feeling as she sank into the desk chair at Hank’s dining room table and signed into the online chat room.

She’d put Duke in touch with the reader group’s admin and she’d set him up as a moderator in the chat room, so he could see the IP addresses of the readers as they entered. The only one they were interested in was the address for BookAddictedWhore. Duke had found a bulletin board post leading them to believe that this person planned to be in that chat room that evening. Veronica hoped so. Duke smiled at her over the monitors and nodded as she greeted the admin and readers started to enter the room.

Kemp sat at another computer setup next to Duke, a headset over his ears and his craggy face frowning between the two screens as he watched and waited. With his brows drawn down in a frown, he looked like a massive avenging angel waiting for the opportunity to enact retribution.

BookAddictedWhore entered the room, followed by the three minions who followed wherever that troll led. Duke’s face lit up and he bumped fists with Kemp who had a trace of a smile as he looked across the table at Veronica. He said, “Veronica, we’re going to nail this bastard to the wall.”

Duke said, “Do whatever it takes to keep him in the room.” He was one hundred percent certain that BookAddictedWhore was a man.

“He hates when I ignore him.”

Kemp nodded. “Good, then make him work for your attention.”

She felt safe, insulated, and secure from whatever this creep wanted to say tonight. With warm cheeks, Veronica greeted readers as they entered the room and did as the guys directed.

Her fingers flew on the keys as the chat began, and she happened to catch a glimpse of Hank and Travis as they observed the event, arms crossed over their chests, admiration burning in their eyes. Occasionally they whispered to each other. When she glanced to the side, she saw them focused on the monitors in front of Kemp.

Kemp spoke softly into the headset, catching her eye when she looked up from her screen. “You’re doing great, sweetie. Stay relaxed and do your thing. He’s ours.”

She nodded, focusing on the task in a way that was usually beyond her, given her short attention span. Answers to question flew from her fingertips, and she ignored BookAddictedWhore’s questions to answer others. This of course made him indignant, and he started complaining.

BookAddictedWhore: Hey, you skipped my question! Does
Bound at the River Bridge
have edgier BDSM in it? What you wrote in
Bound at the Bonfire
was too light. I want hard core.

His minions chimed in behind him and Veronica finally replied.

Veronica Benedict: You’d like it harder, BookAddictedWhore? Maybe like a cane across your thighs? Tied down and a dildo shoved up your ass? Duct tape across your mouth?

Kemp saw what she typed and let out a snort. To Hank and Travis, he whispered, “Your girl is one of a kind.”

BookAddictedWhore: Fuck yes, you fucking slut, that’s what I’m talking about!

Kemp chuckled, “Consider it done, you nasty bastard.”

Of course, she didn’t plan to write any such thing because it didn’t make sense for her story but she giggled as she got BookAddictedWhore and his minions worked up before going on to answer other questions, hoping that the other readers wouldn’t think she’d lost her mind.

A few minutes later, a reader asked a question about
Bound at the River Bridge
and Veronica dropped a bomb that she knew would set off BookAddictedWhore, because he had previously demanded that she write a book with a certain character lineup.

Veronica Benedict: Wonderful question! I’m happy to share the answer, now that the next book in the series is done. Gabrielle will be the heroine in the third book in the Bound series,
Bound at the Bed & Breakfast
, and you’ll have your chance to see how Nate and Gaston find their happily ever after.

BookAddictedWhore: What the fuck! Angelina is Nate and Gaston’s heroine!

Daisygirl233: Um, BookAddictedWhore, I think Veronica can write whoever she wants to write about and it will be great. You are very rude.

FantasyDomme17: I agree, Daisygirl233. BookAddictedWhore, perhaps you want to back the fuck up and apologize?

BookAddictedWhore: Fuck you, bitches. It has to be Angelina with Nate and Gaston. Veronica, you’re a stupid fuck. I should shoot your stupid ass.

She sensed Hank and Travis’s reaction as they moved to watch the chat over her shoulder. They both made deep growly sounds in their chests and a warm hand came to rest on her shoulder. Smiling, she leaned her cheek against it for a second.

Veronica Benedict: So sorry, BookAddictedWhore. You’re entitled to feel however you feel, but I don’t let readers dictate story content to me. But I guarantee you I do let them inspire me.

A string of hysterically laughing emoticons streamed by from Daisygirl233, FantasyDomme17, and several others.

FantasyDomme17: You go, girl. Just for that, I’m buying every damned book you’ve ever written.

BookAddictedWhore flipped his ever-livin’ lid. Because the admin had agreed to not put him on moderation if he got abusive, all the readers in the chat got to enjoy his temper tantrum. He turned the room blue with his cursing fit but Veronica felt completely untouched by it.

She giggled as she replied to the next question and stayed focused even when she heard Kemp say, “Someone just pinged the GPS on her cellphone.” When he caught her looking at him, Kemp said, “Focus, sweetie. I think we’ve got him.” He spoke quietly into the headset to whoever was on the other end of his call.

Duke chuckled as he participated in the chat as the moderator and she glanced at him. He said, “Tall, dark, and scary over there gets all Chatty Cathy when he’s closing in on a bad guy. You’re doing great. By the end of chat I should have his location but keep chatting and see if he’ll hang around after. The group admin just messaged me and said she can announce it if you don’t mind going a bit longer.”

“Awesome. I’ll keep chatting all night, if that’s what it takes.”

By the end of the hour they knew the location of the person pinging her GPS, which they’d turned on for that purpose. Hank and Travis had agreed to it with the one stipulation that if they made her accessible like this, they were also physically going after the perpetrator. Kemp and Duke were betting that the ping on the GPS and the IP address for BookAddictedWhore originated in the same location and they weren’t disappointed when they got the results from their search, and from Kemp’s contact.

Duke yelled at the screen as he got the news. “We’ve got you, motherfucker! It’s the same location as where the bogus invitation to that gathering was posted from.
I knew it
.”

Grace was right. Duke was a wicked Internet ninja.

Veronica thanked all the readers graciously, thanked the admin privately for her help, and signed off. She looked up at Duke and he said, “We don’t even need to book air travel. Who’s up for a trip to Dallas?”

Dallas was hours away and it was already late. Hank settled his stare on her as if he’d read her mind, and she pressed her lips together, stifling the reply that she hated inconveniencing all these wonderful men. Hank knew it, and he nodded in approval before he voiced his opinion. “I’ll take Veronica to the Hourglass Inn. We’ll bring her laptop with us and wait for word from you.”

Travis said, “I can’t wait to see this son of a bitch face-to-face.” As a game warden, Travis had arrest authority that surpassed even Hank’s capability so it was logical for him to go with Kemp and the guys.

Kemp whistled the theme to
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
, as he started gathering his equipment and packing it away. “The Suburban is gassed up and ready. Ace wants us to stop by and pick him up.”

Duke turned to her and said, “When I get back from Dallas, I’ll do some checking on Brent Haygard. See if there’s more there to worry about than just a lazy bastard who wants you to come back so he can keep freeloading.”

“Good,” Hank said. “I’d rather be safe than sorry where that jerk is concerned.”

Feeling humbled, Veronica rose from her seat and hugged Duke, Kemp, and her men. “Thank you, guys. I’m so lucky.”

Kemp’s smile transformed his face into a sweet visage and she knew exactly why Summer adored this man, along with his brother in arms, Ace Webster. “I’m bringing the duct tape with me on this trip, Veronica. That bastard has more than earned it.”

She kissed his cheek in gratitude. The world needed more heroes like the ones filling this room.

Hank was taking her to the Hourglass Inn until they made contact with the odious person behind BookAddictedWhore. There was no point in opening herself up for attack, especially since she’d done her best to rile BookAddictedWhore up. The threat to shoot her was likely only that, but Hank wasn’t letting that go and she didn’t blame him.

* * * *

Veronica opened her mouth as Hank held out a forkful of his omelet to her. The Hourglass Inn Bed & Breakfast in Divine had been wonderful. Heat crept into her cheeks every time she happened to notice the red velvet bondage sashes still tied to the framework of the four-poster canopy bed.

Hank had made another of her fantasies come true after she’d read to him from the rough draft of
Bound at the Bed & Breakfast
. He’d tied her to the posters on the bed and flogged her with a soft deer hide flogger until the boundaries between pain and pleasure had blurred. He’d brought her to orgasm with his final strokes before climbing up on the bed behind her and fucking her against the damask rose wallpaper until she’d climaxed again.

The encounter had inspired her and she’d tossed and turned after they’d dimmed the lights. Hank had finally taken her in his arms and said, “Nika, you need to get it out of your system or you’ll never sleep. Go, beautiful. Go write.” She’d kissed him before taking her seat at the little desk and writing deep into the night.