Hell Breaks Loose: A Devil's Rock Novel (21 page)

Reid walked into the diner where he was meeting Knox for breakfast before heading into work. It was New Year’s Eve. His boss
had offered him the day off, but he declined. As soon as he finished breakfast, he’d clock in like usual. Work kept him busy.
His mind off other things.

He had a job working at a garage in Sweet Hill. Since he’d been pardoned, he’d started looking into graduate schools that
offered masters in criminology. He was up for leaving the area. Starting fresh. There was nothing keeping him here anymore.

He’d been planning to meet with Knox for a while now, ever since he got out, but he’d been dragging his feet. For one thing,
he’d promised to keep an eye out for North. Not only was Reid now free and unable to do that, but four years had been added
to his sentence for the riot Reid had started. Talk about shit luck.

Knox spotted him from where he sat in a back booth and waved him over. Shrugging out of his heavy coat, he hung it on the
hook outside the booth and slid onto the bench seat.

He reached across the table to shake his friend’s hand. “Hey, man. How you doing?”

Knox shook his hand. A good sign, Reid guessed. At least he wasn’t planting his fist in his face and cursing him.

“Doing great. You look good.” Knox nodded. “Never thought I’d be sitting across a table from you on the outside, though.”

“I know.” He reached for the menu, his discomfort growing.

“I’m happy for you, man.”

“How’s your girl?” Reid asked dutifully. He knew Knox was with someone now. He’d mentioned it when they talked on the phone.

“Briar is great. Christmas was . . .” He looked away, his eyes growing suspiciously wet before he blinked them. “Never thought
I’d have that again, you know. A girl to love. A real family Christmas with a tree and decorations. Huge turkey. Christ, she
can cook.” He shook his head. “The pies she can bake.” He patted his flat stomach and grinned. “She’ll have me fat soon enough.”

Reid doubted that. His friend might be happy and at home on the outside, but he still looked hard and alert and ready to bust
heads at a moment’s notice.

“Never thought I’d have this, you know. Wasn’t sure if I deserved it.”

Reid nodded. “I know what you mean.” Of course, he did. They came from the same place. Knox had spent seven years in Devil’s
Rock.

“Means there’s hope for you.” Knox grinned.

Reid’s smile felt brittle.

Silence descended. The waitress came and took their orders. When she left, Knox cut to the point. “You see North before you
left the Rock?”

Reid grimaced even though he had been expecting that question. “No, I was in the hole until my release.”

Knox shook his head. “Last time I went to see him, he refused visitation.”

“Maybe you should go visit Cross. He’ll give you any news. Give North any messages.”

“Yeah, that’s a good thought.”

Reid set his mug of coffee down with a clack on the table. “I’m sorry, man. I promised you that I would look after him.”

Knox waved a hand. “It’s not your fault. I might have been pissed at first but the fact is . . . no one can promise that in
there. You can only try. You were a good friend to us when we first entered that place. The shit that would have happened
to the both of us that first month if you hadn’t stepped in . . .” He shook his head. “Man, forget about it. You don’t owe
us an apology. You’re another brother to us.”

Emotion punched him in the chest. Especially considering how alone he’d felt ever since he got out. Work, eat, sleep. That
was pretty much the cycle.

A few weeks after his pardon, he’d actually paid his mother a visit. He didn’t know what prompted him . . . what he was looking
for from the woman who had never given him anything in life. He felt worse after seeing her.

The years had not been good to her. Most of her teeth were gone. Her greasy hair had thinned so much he could see her scalp
through the stringy strands. He had to remind her who he was several times. She continually asked him if he had any money
and even went so far as to grope his pockets when he stood up to leave.

When he left her trailer, he bumped into Gaby, one of the twins he used to fuck around with in high school. She was there
visiting her parents. She was still hot. Jeans painted on and a skintight sweater that hung loose off one shoulder.

She invited him back to her apartment. He’d accepted the invitation, desperate to move on. Desperate to prove that what he
felt for Gracie wasn’t real. That it had just been circumstances. Their forced isolation and the constant threat of danger
combined with the fact that he hadn’t touched a woman in years. It had taken him ten minutes in Gaby’s apartment to realize
just how wrong he was.

The moment she stripped off her sweater and started a little strip tease, fondling her comically large breasts while licking
her lips, he knew. He didn’t want anyone but Grace.

“Like these babies?” she asked between licking her lips and tweaking her distended nipples. “My ex bought them for me. Best
thing I got out of that marriage.”

“I thought they were . . . different than before,” he managed to say.

“Damn straight.” She straddled him in her leopard print bikini underwear. “Bet you’ve got a lot of pent up energy.” Her hand
dove for his dick, grabbing it aggressively as she thrust her chest into his face, nearly blinding him with a nipple.

He jerked at her rough treatment, grabbing her wrist and trying to pull her hand off his dick. “Want to use this on me, big
guy? I’m a lot better than I was in high school.” She winked. “Have had lots of practice since then.”

He tugged her hand off him and squeezed out from under her, dumping her on the couch. “I don’t think I’m gonna be up to your
standards, Gaby. Kinda rusty.”

“Are you kidding me?” She blinked up at him, waving at herself. “You’re passing this up?”

“I’m sure I’ll regret it later.” He was sure he wouldn’t. “Nice seeing you, Gaby.” And then he’d bailed. Ducked out of her
apartment as fast as he could.

It had taught him a valuable lesson. Grace Reeves had in fact ruined him. What he felt for her had been real. Time hadn’t
dimmed his feelings. He couldn’t even stomach touching another woman.

He had even stopped watching television. He needed to purge her from his system, and that included avoiding glimpses of her
on TV.

Maybe it was the thought of the TV that had his gaze drifting to the box in the corner above the long counter. As though he
had summoned her face, she was there. As beautiful as he remembered her. He stood from the table and drifted closer, drawn
despite himself.

He shot a quick glance at the waitress behind the counter. “Hey, can you turn that up, please?”

The woman obliged and he heard the crisp voice of a reporter. “First Daughter Grace Reeves arrived yesterday with her family
and fiancé . . .” The rest of the words faded away.

Fiancé.
She was getting married.
The sight of her looking sophisticated in a green skirt and a fitted black coat alongside some good-looking tool flashed
on the screen. The guy was polished in a suit, his hair gelled and styled like he stepped off a magazine cover. So that was
Charlie.

A panorama of the McDonald Observatory flashed across the screen. He refocused on the rest of the reporter’s words. “. . . the
observatory will be the location for the couple’s engagement party tonight. An astronomy major herself, the First Daughter
looks forward to witnessing Seraphina’s comet tonight in the arms of her future husband, White House communications director
Charles Hubbard.”

She was going to the observatory. She would finally get to see out of her telescopes. He couldn’t help smiling over that.
And she’ll be doing it with some other guy.
A guy she didn’t love. What the hell was she doing?
What the hell was he doing letting her do it?

The waitress behind the counter smacked her gum and winked at him. “Got any New Year’s plans, sugar?”

“Yes,” he answered, turning for the door. “Yes, I do.”

It
still
wasn’t that difficult to slip the Secret Service.

Grace knew she only had moments until they located her. The new special agents appointed to her were especially vigilant these
days. She eased out a side door, escaping the din of the party and finding her way outside. Her coat was still inside and
she shivered in her gown. She fell in love with the strapless blue satin the moment she saw it, but it wasn’t equipped for
outdoors or the winter. The two combined were a straight ticket to hypothermia. Another reason why she wouldn’t be outside
long.

She clattered up to the railing in her three-inch heels, wrapped her fingers around the cold steel and stared up at the darkest,
clearest night she had ever seen. The stars were infinite. She exhaled, glad for the fresh air and silence even with the cold
biting into her. Her eyes teared and she blinked, hoping she didn’t ruin her mascara. Her hand shot out, dashing at her eyes.

She’d seen her comet, but it didn’t matter nearly as much as she had hoped it would. She could only think that Reid should
have been with her to see it, too.

“Did you see your comet?”

She spun around with a gasp at the deep voice. Her chest constricted as Reid stepped into the glow of the perimeter light.
He looked amazing in dark jeans, the hint of a gray thermal shirt peeping out of his dark pea coat. His hair was a little
longer. The winter wind whipped the dark blond strands.

“What are you doing here?”

“It’s your engagement party. Didn’t get an invitation.” He shrugged as he advanced on her, walking slowly. “Figure it must
have gotten lost in the mail.”

A short, hard laugh escaped her before she could catch herself. “Don’t,” she whispered, pressing her fingers over her mouth.

“What?”

“Make me laugh.”

“Why not?” He continued coming, stalking toward her with easy strides, his eyes fastened hotly on her face.

Her voice came out strangled. “Because when I look at you I only want to cry.”

He stopped in front of her. “Yeah? Well, when I look at you I only want to do this.”

His mouth crashed over hers and it was everything she remembered and more. His lips were hungry and brutal. His hands dove
into her hair, messing the elegant updo. Pins scattered and she felt the heavy mass tumble down her back.

She broke away with a gasp, her heart pounding with a mixture of lust and panic. “Reid, stop! You have to go.” She pushed
at his chest and then reached for her hair. How would she explain her appearance?

“I’m not leaving without you.”

She stilled, her eyes fixing on him. “What?”

“I was wrong to stay away.” He motioned to the building. “You don’t want to marry that guy.”

“I have to,” she whispered.

His eyes sparked. “What happened to the girl tired of doing what others wanted? The girl who was going to live for herself?”

She shook her head. “I promised my father.”

“You promised yourself.” He closed the space between them and seized her face. “You love me. I know you do. And I love you.”
He kissed her again, and she let herself drown in sensations again before breaking away.

“I can’t!”

He stared at her a long moment before lowering his hands from her face. He shook his head, his eyes so sad and dejected it
tore at her heart. “Then you’re not the girl I fell in love with. I don’t know who you are.”

He started to back away, and every step felt like another shovel of dirt falling on her grave.

She shook her head and looked up helplessly to the sky. “I promised my father I would do what he wanted if he pardoned you.”
The moment the words were out, her gaze shot back to him again.

Reid froze, his face going pale. “What?”

“I told him I would marry Charles.”

“For me? For my freedom?”

She nodded.

“Fuck that.” In two strides he gripped her arms again. “I promised him if he pardoned me I would leave you alone.”

“What? He went to see you?”

“Yes. Right before I was released.” He shook his head. “I don’t care what he does. I’m not staying away from you.”

She nodded, tears blurring her vision. “Yeah. Fuck that.”

He laughed, and before she knew what he intended, he tossed her over his shoulder.

She beat on his back. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t expect you to get very far through the grass in those shoes.”

She bit back a giggle and hit him in the shoulder. “You know kidnapping is a federal offense.”

“I’ve beat it before,” he replied, walking down the uneven slope of ground. “How does Vegas sound?”

“What?”

“We can drive through the night. Be married by the morning. It might be harder for the president to go through the effort
of revoking my parole if I’m his son-in-law.”

She went utterly still. Her silence must have worried him. He stopped and lowered her to her feet.

She shivered and he uttered a quick curse. Shrugging out of his coat, he slipped it around her shoulders. Beneath that endless
blanket of stars, he took her hand and held it between them, looking almost nervous. “I know I don’t deserve you—”

“You deserve everything,” she quickly rebutted.

Still holding her hand, he dropped to his knees on the cold earth. “Grace Reeves, will you marry me?”

She exhaled and looked up, gazing at the lights of a million stars. Looking down again, she saw the same brightness in his
eyes, in him, in the love reflected on his face. “I will.” Leaning down, she pressed her mouth to his. “Now we better hurry
before the Secret Service figures out I’m gone again.”

“On it.” Rising, Reid swept her up and carried her down the slope.

She leaned toward him to press tiny kisses to his throat. “Maybe we should head to a hotel before we start for Vegas?”

He turned his head and caught her mouth in a short, hard kiss. “Tempting, but not happening. The next time I have you in a
bed, you’re going to be my wife. And when the goons in the suits catch up to us, I’ll be able to wave a marriage certificate
at them.” He nuzzled the side of her face with his mouth. “Because I’m not letting you ever go again.”

Grace smiled. “I’m okay with that.” More than okay. It sounded like a perfect kind of forever—one she had never thought possible.
Never had the courage to seize for herself. Until him. Until he showed her courage. Until he showed her love.

Now it was real. And it belonged to them.