Against Me (Cedar Tree Book 3) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Against Me (Cedar Tree Series, #3)

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  COMING SOON

  BY OTHER AUTHORS

  Extract from DECLAN (Wounded Heroes #1) - Prologue

  SEE ALSO

  Copyright © 2015 Margreet Asselbergs as Freya Barker

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or by other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in used critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses as permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, mentioning in the subject line:

  "Reproduction Request” at the address below:

  [email protected]

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, any event, occurrence, or incident is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created and thought up from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  ISBN: 978-0-9938883-3-5

  Cover Design:

  Rebel Edit & Design

  Cover Model:

  Chris Simons

  Photographer:

  Christopher Correia of CJC Photography

  DEDICATION

  For Dana Hook – A woman who really needs no introduction, since she is a universe all by herself.

  Irreverent, loyal, loud and loving – You have a heart the size of South America and continuously try to fit everyone in it. If you had the power, you’d turn everyone into a bestselling author – hell, you try hard enough. Not only my partner in Rebel, but my bitch-buddy and task master; pimp queen and editor extraordinaire; you are so elemental and entwined with my books, I swear I’d be lost without you. Not to mention I’d miss my daily dose of hilarity either by your hand or at your expense!

  Love you hard and always.

  In Memory of:

  Blue

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  A bunch of big thank you’s!

  To my family.... ALL of them.

  My hubs who has been more patient than any other person I know; staring at the back-end of a computer while I work and am being a-social; keeping the fridge full and the household running while I have my head buried deep in my fictional characters – and all with silent acceptance.

  My amazing kids who are equal parts proud and mortified with what I do... From their relentless ‘porn’-teasing over dinner to their frequent interest in my radically changed life.

  To my parents who are awesome; my mom who at almost ninety has read each book and my dad who is just happy when I’m happy.

  To my big sister, who would be cheering me on if I’d decided to make a career of pole-dancing. She’s that amazing.

  My brothers; big burly men – all four of them, and I know they have watched, they have supported and yes... they’ve even read.

  Three wonderful sisters in law who are so much more than their title implies, and a great bunch of amazing nieces and nephews; all of them ‘adults’ now, who are absolutely wonderful!

  I am so blessed with my big crazy family.

  I also want to thank a group of women, most of whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting face to face yet, but who are tireless in their support of me and relentless in their promotion of my books: Catherine Scott, Nancy Huddleston, Deb Blake, Pam Buchanan, Kerry-Ann Bell, Linda Funk, Aimee Shannon, Tracy Meighan, Lena Gaitanou, Bonnie Trujillo, Nicole Mccurdy, and last but certainly not least, my brand spanking new PA, Leanne Hawkes, who is working her buns off to keep me organized. I love you B&B’s!

  A special mention to Pam Buchanan and Deb Blake, who have taken over my former blog Ripe For Reader, and are doing a phenomenal job. I am so proud of you girls!

  In this industry you don’t get anywhere by yourself. I am so incredibly fortunate to have a group of amazing author friends who motivate, encourage, correct, and support me. You all make me so grateful!

  Ava Manello is one of those authors and her friendship, intelligence, industry knowledge and insight have helped me out more often than I can recall. Love you big time, honey!

  And finally all you amazing readers – you wonderful people who have taken, or are taking a chance on me. The stories I write are ones that I would like to read myself. I write them for me – so the thought that these books that are meaningful to me, might mean something to you too still boggles my mind.

  Thank you from the bottom of my humble heart.

  PROLOGUE

  The first thing I notice when she walks into the room are her pale, green eyes. It almost looks like they’re lit from within.

  "Hey Katie, meet Caleb. He'll be working with us on a contract basis, same as you."

  I hold out my hand as she slips her smaller one into it. Soft―the feeling of her skin against mine causes an involuntary shiver up my spine. I even hear her sharp intake of breath. I try to get a read on her, but her eyes lower under my scrutiny. Hmmm...Interesting. The top of her head reaches my chin, and to my large frame, her entire body seems much smaller than my first impression of her.

  “Good to meet you." Her voice has a smoky sound to it, a deeper pitch. It’s a quality you wouldn't expect coming from the woman with a pixie face, flowing dark hair and large, expressive eyes. Despite her athletic build, she almost appears fragile to me.

  "Same here."

  Her eyes flick up to mine, then move to Gus, owner of Gus Flemming Investigations―the man whose reputation finally convinced me to give in to his tenacious pursuit of my services.

  I’m a loner. I don't generally work with partners or under a boss. I like my independence and the freedom it provides me, but I haven't been able to resist the lure of working with the investigator who has one of the highest success rates in the state. It helps that the case he called me in on hits close to home: Literally. A child gone missing from the reservation I grew up on, and I feel this one deep. I left the reservation under less than friendly circumstances. My fifteen-year-old sister had died after a brutally short stint with cancer, leaving my family destroyed. My parents were never the same and both my brother and I carried the scars of our fucked up family life on our souls after she passed away.

  Only seventeen at the time, almost eighteen, I was marked by the experience and pissed off at the world. I'm sure they were happy to see the back of me when I enlisted.

  "I want you to work together on the disappearance of this twelv
e-year-old. Put your heads together and see what you can come up with. She's been gone for seventy-two hours and her family is frantic. Details are in the file."

  Gus hands each of us a folder and his eyes linger on my hand, the one that still holds Katie's much smaller one. Reluctantly, I let her go to grab the file Gus is holding out.

  Great. My first partner and it has to be this woman. When I look at her, my displeasure must show on my face because her eyes are shooting fire. I can hear Gus chuckle, "Don't underestimate that tidy little package you see there, my friend. Katie has proven herself to be a great asset to my team when called upon."

  "What the fuck, Gus? Tidy little package? Sexist much?" She punches him in the shoulder.

  "Ah babe, you know I couldn't do without ya..." Gus throws his arm around her shoulder and smiles down.

  The interaction between the two should’ve been a warning.

  "Get behind me," I hiss at Katie as she tries to get ahead of me into the small shed.

  We managed to get a lead on the girl from one of her friends in Shiprock. Or rather, Katie managed to. She was amazing at pulling the information from the twelve-year old friend. The missing girl had been talking to a guy online who had filled her head with promises and lies, finally convincing her to meet him in town. Her poor parents were drowning in self-recrimination for not keeping a closer eye on her internet activities. But we had a place to start and with the help of a young computer whiz kid Gus has working at the office, we managed to identify the guy. A local kid, only eighteen himself, had been talking to her online for the past two months. When we visit his home address, he's not there, but his mother is. She directs us to the small building at the back of this abandoned business that belongs to his dad.

  "Don't fucking tell me what to do, Caleb." Katie hisses back, pushing ahead despite my caution. Following close behind her, I see some movement from the corner of my eye, just as we step inside. I instinctively throw myself on Katie, taking her down with force. The bullet that explodes from the shaking gun that had been pointed at her finds its way, unobstructed, into the wall on our other side. I roll off Katie and come up with my own weapon ready in my hand, aiming it at the figure in the corner. The acrid smell of urine hits my nose as the kid who’s holed up there throws down the gun and wets his pants.

  "Don't h-hurt me," he stutters, his hands stretched toward me with his palms out.

  "Jesus," I run my free hand through my hair, scanning the small space while keeping my gun trained on the kid. "You okay, Katie?"

  "Fine." Comes her terse reply.

  "Can you check on her?" I nod my head in the direction of a pile of bedding, hiding what appears to be a very scared young girl. I get up and make sure the gun is far away from the kid's reach before pushing him face-down on the ground and securing his hands with a zip tie. "Is she ok?" I ask as I listen to Katie's soothing murmurs as she checks over the terrified little girl.

  "You hurting anywhere, honey?"

  "N-no, he didn't hurt me," a shaky little voice answers Katie's question. "He loves me."

  Katie looks over at me with her eyebrows raised, feeling the same shock and frustration she obviously does. Fucking internet romance gone bad, and I almost killed the kid. Christ, I need a drink.

  By the time we get most of their story, the sound of emergency vehicles begin filling the yard, so I grab my charge by the arm and pull him up.

  "Come on, Romeo. Time to face the music."

  Katie follows close behind with her arm around the young girl who’s crying. "He didn't do anything wrong! We just wanted to be together."

  "Sweetheart, he’s an adult and you’re a minor. That’s wrong, and it’s illegal. Not only that, he tried to shoot us with a gun he stole from his father's locker. That is all kinds of wrong."

  Katie only succeeds in making the girl cry harder.

  With both kids taken care of and her parents on their way to the hospital where she’ll be checked out, Katie and I are left staring at each other.

  "Look-"

  "Listen up-" Katie interrupts, "I'm sorry."

  I'm surprised; I was about to apologize to her for taking her down so hard. "What for?"

  "I could've gotten us hurt. I was pissed and not focused on my surroundings."

  "Well I was about to tell you sorry myself, for trying to order you around. I’m still trying to get used to this 'partner' thing."

  She cracks a little smile and it does something to me. Even the brief minutes laying on top of her in the midst of chaos, I was fully aware of every curve of her body and the faint citrus smell of her in my nostrils.

  "Want to go for a drink with me and discuss our partnership?"

  Her eyes go wide and she’s about to answer me when the slam of a car door and fast approaching footsteps grab our attention.

  "Holy fuck, honey - you okay?" Gus wraps his arms around Katie and presses a kiss to the top of her head. Oh. So that's how it is.

  I shake my head slightly and try to shake the unfamiliar burn of jealousy. Damn.

  After a brief report to Gus, I make my excuses and am on my way to my car when Katie calls my name and I turn around. Trotting up to where I'm standing by my truck, she grabs onto my arm.

  "Rain check?"

  I look over to where Gus is standing, talking to one of the officers left on scene and contemplate my answer.

  "You let me know when you're available and I might take you up on it."

  A flash of guilt passes through her eyes and with a nod, she walks back over to his side.

  CHAPTER ONE

  "Morning, Katie." Sue, one of the day nurses walks into my room. "Ready for physio?"

  "Sure," I tell her, less than enthusiastically. Still, she pushes my chair into the hall in the direction of the clinic area where the physiotherapist is likely already waiting for me with his weapons of torture.

  Four fucking months I've been stuck in this damn wheelchair and my physiotherapy sessions are the only times I'm able to get out to move, which is the only reason I'm still going. They have me hung up in some contraption over a treadmill where I'm supposed to be exercising my leg muscles so they don't atrophy. I still can't carry my own weight and I'm not surprised― I've turned into a friggin’ blimp in an alarmingly short period of time.

  Ever since I sustained my brain injury almost half a year ago, I've had to relearn so much. It's been a long and tedious road, and still my legs can't seem to get it together. I'm pretty much fed up with this whole situation. For someone always on the go and quite strong and athletic, sitting in one place all day really does a number on me. As a result, I've really let myself go. I mean really.

  I snort when I think about yesterday, the first time I went out in public. Arlene re-opened her diner after it burned down and Caleb had insisted I stop moping in my room and got me pissed off enough that I ended up joining him for the opening party. God, what a disaster. When he picked me up, he scowled when he saw what I had done with my hair.

  "What the fuck, Katie? What'd you do to your hair? It's all gone."

  True. I had it all cut off. My outgrown dark, thick pile of hair is gone. The hairdresser who came to my room asked me to confirm it at least four different times, confirming that that was what I really wanted. I told her to cut it super short; so short that I wouldn't even have to worry about brushing anything. I was tired of not being able to do much more than tying it back into a ponytail. This way it won't get in my way when I'm running through my exercises, or at least that's what I tell myself, which is partially true. If I were perfectly honest with myself, I'd have to admit that I was just desperate for a change–any change–something to give myself a kick-start, but if I admit that, I'd have to explain and I'm not exactly sure of what I'm looking for yet myself.

  "I needed it gone. It gets in the way when I exercise. This is easier," I explain, hoping he’ll take that at face value, but judging by the look on his face, he's not completely sold. He doesn't question it though; he simply looks at me with his l
ight-brown, almost hazel eyes, that always somehow see right through me. From the first time we met, he seems to have the ability to read me like a book, and more than once, it’s gotten us out of some sticky situations.

  Finally one side of his mouth tilts up and he nods. "I like it," is all he says and rubs his hand over my head.

  Without another word spoken, we drive the three and a half hours from Grand Junction to Cedar Tree. Caleb often goes through these phases of almost complete silence for long periods of time. At first they unnerved me, but now I'm getting used to them and to be honest, I don't mind it much at all. I just pull out my Kindle and read one of the many books that I’ve one-clicked in recent weeks. I spend a lot of time with my head in fantasyland. Let's face it; you can make life as simple or as complicated there and it takes your mind off whatever is going on in your life. In my case, there isn't a hell of a lot of anything going on.

  When Caleb wheels me into the diner, I can tell by the looks of all the people I know in Cedar Tree, that they’re shocked at my appearance. The first time I came here to help my boss, Gus, protect his girlfriend, who was being pursued by some shady organized crime characters, I'd looked much different. My hair had been long and healthy and I didn't have the extra thirty pounds that have settled on my body in the meantime. In part, the medication they give me is to blame, causing me to retain water and gain weight, but I also haven't been using my muscles the way I used to, and let's face it; eating is a way to cope with boredom. I've always struggled a bit with my weight, which is why I used to exercise vigorously every day and ate healthy. I guess I'm slacking off.

  Emma is the first one to approach me, giving me a huge hug, telling me that I looked good. Sure. I like Emma, don't get me wrong, but it still stung when Gus had fallen head over teakettle for her in a matter of days.

  Gus is next and ruffles my hair, just like Caleb had done.

  "How's it going, Katie-girl?"

  "I'm good. Fine really," I try to convince him as much as myself. Damn these investigator guys; both Caleb and Gus have an eerie knack for spotting a lie a mile away, and Gus is the second man to throw a doubtful look at me within hours of Caleb doing the same.