Bound for Keeps (Men of Honor) by SE Jakes Read Free Book Online

planning on kicking him out into the snow tonight.”
    He turned on his side to stare at Keith as the man flipped through pages of guns and ammo on his iPad. “Well, you’re just so damned generous, aren’t you?”
    “You know it.” Keith favorited some pages with quick flicks of his finger. Reed had always loved the man’s fingers—they were thick and strong, with perfect, clean blunt-cut nails. Now, he reached out to thread his fingers through Keith’s free hand, pulled it to his mouth and kissed the top of it. “Now you’re just sucking up.”
    “That’s not sucking. I can show you sucking.”
    “Less talking, Army boy.”
    Reed snorted but allowed Keith to pull him close. “You’re leaving in a few days.”
    “You gonna be all right here with him?” Keith asked in all seriousness.
    “Yeah, I will be. But if you’re going to stress about this while you’re away—”
    “I won’t. If I thought I would, I’d never have taken the job. Shane’s sick—he needs to get better. Once that happens…”
    “Once that happens, it’ll happen,” Reed said. “Now shut up and fuck me, all right?”
     
     
    Keith sensed it first, but Reed was by his side in seconds. Both men had hastily dressed and shoved on boots, and they ignored the weather. Reed had his weapon and he said, “Cover me,” as he slid around the side of the house. Keith remained in place, not able to leave Shane inside unprotected.
    He hoped Shane remained inside, didn’t wake and come looking for them. He took the binoculars and scanned the outer perimeters for snipers.
    “Second set of prints. Boots, size nine, headed to and from the woods,” Reed confirmed. “House intact—he didn’t plant anything.”
    Which meant no bombs or bugs.
    “Is this blowback from a job?” Keith wondered out loud.
    “Don’t know. But I’ll gear up and take the ATV into the woods.”
    “I’m going with you.”
    “You can’t. Shane can’t stay alone.”
    As if he needed reminding. “He can handle himself—and weapons.”
    “I don’t want him to wake up screaming again,” Reed reasoned. “Let him think he’s still safe. Don’t ruin it.”
    Keith wanted to tell Reed that it wasn’t fair, that he deserved to know. But he understood Reed wanting to give Shane any kind of peace he could. And when Reed came back out quickly, more fully armed, and jumped on the ATV, Keith wondered if he’d even thought about the fact that whoever was out there might not be for them, but rather, coming for Shane.
    The bigger question was why.
    He checked the area through the binoculars again. Got a few texts from Reed that the tracks went down to the road, where they met with tire tracks from an SUV.
    He would follow them as far down the road as he could, see what direction they went.
    Which might tell them nothing. There were very few places to stay around here, unless he was staying with friends.
    Could be a hunter, Keith told himself. Could all be a false alarm.
    But it never was.
     
     
    Reed followed the tracks to the main road—there was no point in attempting to go farther, since it was a muddy mess of tire tracks mixed with ATV and footsteps. What was important was that he’d been right—there had been eyes on him.
    He promised himself that he’d never ignore his gut feelings again as he roared up the road back to the cabin. The next storm was rolling in—the past month had brought the messiest weather Reed remembered seeing since…
    Since Christmas Eve and that entire winter, eight years ago.
    Keith was still waiting for him on the porch. He pulled up next to the man and cut the engine.
    “Whoever it is, he’s been watching us for weeks,” Reed said, and Keith unconsciously turned his head halfway toward the cabin’s doorway. They were both thinking the same thing.
    “You said you thought he was running from something. Looks like it’s someone,” Keith said now.
    “He’s not ready to tell us.”
    “That shouldn’t matter,” Keith