by Cynthia Eden
Julia started to follow, but Bran turned to her. He gave her a careless smile. “I just want to say my thanks to your friend one more time.” His voice was carefully bland. “I’ll be right back.”
She didn’t look happy. She didn’t follow, though, so Bran took that as a win. He followed Rick down the porch steps. The man’s team had already packed up and headed out. The only truck that remained was Rick’s.
Bran trailed the guy to his vehicle.
Rick paused near the door and glanced at him. Then he glanced at the cabin. Probably making sure Julia wasn’t close because the grizzly bear immediately said—
“She is so far out of your reach, bro. Don’t even think about that shit.”
Bran’s chin lifted. “I know exactly what she is.”
But Rick gave a growling…laugh? Had that been a laugh?
“Do you?” Rick wondered. “I doubt it.”
I know what Julia is. She’s mine. He had to bite back those words. “Thanks for the installation. Appreciate you driving all this way.” Get your ass on the road.
“Didn’t do it for you.” Rick rolled back his shoulders. “Did it for her. Would fucking bleed for Julia if she asked.”
Okay. That was more info than Bran needed to hear. It was also info that pissed him off. Hello, jealousy, my new best friend. “You love her?” Now his words held an edge, too.
Rick shook his head. “Love? Too tame of a word.”
Okay, he really did not like—
“As far as I’m concerned, she saved my life. Before she dragged me back from the edge, I was ready to let everything go.” Rick looked down at his hands. “Didn’t seem much point in holding onto anything else.”
There was pain there. A lot of it.
Rick looked up at him. “Rich asshole,” he rumbled. “With money to burn. Up in this cabin, playing some kind of game. You put her at risk, and I’ll end you.”
What the fuck? Bran had almost—almost—started to like the grizzly. At least, he’d sure sympathized with the fellow’s obvious pain, but his sympathy was dying a brutally quick death.
“Don’t try to fuck her,” Rick warned him. “That would be playing a million miles out of your range.”
“Uh, you do know who I am, right?” People didn’t usually talk this way to him.
“Sure, like I said, you’re a rich asshole.” Rick obviously had no fucks to give.
Sonofabitch. I could like him.
Rick’s eyes were hard and ice-cold. “Don’t mess with her. Don’t play games with her. Just let the woman do her job.”
“What are you? Her brother?”
Rick opened the driver’s side door. “Julia doesn’t have a brother. Doesn’t have any family left, well, except her grandmother. Doubt that tough broad will ever die.”
He hadn’t known about her family. I haven’t asked. I haven’t asked any of the questions that I should.
Rick didn’t get in the truck. He did cast a glare back at Bran. “She might not have a lot of blood family left, but Julia has plenty of friends who will kick your ass if she snaps her fingers, so how about you make sure she doesn’t snap those little fingers of hers, huh, rock star?”
Bran’s eyes narrowed.
Giving a growling laugh, Rick jumped in his truck. With a roar of his motor, he was gone and Bran was marching back in the cabin. He kicked the door shut and set the alarm. When he spun around, he found Julia staring at him, biting her lip a little nervously.
“Your friend hates me,” Bran announced. His lips twisted. “And I think he’s a bit of a dick.”
“Oh, yeah, he can be.” She nodded. “And he probably does dislike you a bit. Nothing personal, though. Rick is that way with most people. Warm and friendly isn’t exactly how I’d describe him.”
Would fucking bleed for Julia if she asked. Bran closed in on her. “What’s the story there?”
“Story?” She was wearing her glasses again. Her eyes were wide and deep behind the lenses.
“Why does Rick want to kick my ass for getting too close to you? And why did you pull away when he was near?” And why can’t I get this jealousy under control?
“He’s a close friend. Nothing more.” She put her hand on his chest because he’d eliminated the distance between them. “So stop the whole Neanderthal routine, and slow your roll. I haven’t slept with Rick. And even if I had, what’s the big deal?”
The big deal is that I want you to be mine. Again, he managed to hold back. At least part of his self-control was working. For the moment. “Julia, look, I—”
His phone rang. Shit. Seriously? Now he was getting a call?
Her hand lingered on his chest. Seemed to burn through the cotton of his shirt.
“Give me a second, would you? One second?” He backed away. Yanked his phone from his pocket. Hell, it was Gideon. Bran shoved the phone to his ear. “Tell me you’ve got news.”
“Maybe.” Static crackled. “Can you talk a moment?”
His gaze slid to Julia. “What is it?”
“I was worried so I did a little checking today. Did you know that Geneva Ruby got out of her clinic last month?”
His shoulders hunched as he moved a few more feet away from Julia. He didn’t want her overhearing this part. “Yeah. Yeah. A nurse called me.” A nurse that he’d bribed at the clinic because he’d wanted to know what was happening with Geneva.
“And you aren’t worried? The woman went full-on Fatal Attraction with you—”
Not full-on. But close. “I don’t have any rabbits so she wasn’t cooking Bugs on my stove.”
Julia’s fingers touched his arm. “What’s happening?” she whispered.
More shit. More drama that he’d prefer not to tell her. His rock star life was supposed to be all parties and magic? Bullshit.
“She’s still living in California,” he said to Gideon. “So we know—”
“She’s supposedly in Italy right now. Her dad has a villa in Rome, and the story he’s feeding folks is that she’s over there.”
“But you don’t buy that story?”
“You know I don’t believe what I’m told.”
True enough. Most days, Gideon was a straight-up paranoid asshole. One of the reasons Bran liked him so much.
“On a hunch,” Gideon continued, “I went back to the grocery store in town today. Showed the clerk there a pic of Geneva. Not like you can mistake that woman. Mike thinks he saw her in town.”
Bran’s heart iced. Geneva couldn’t be in Hideaway.
“You know what that means, right? You get what I’m saying to you?”
He couldn’t help it. Bran’s gaze went to Julia. Precious, delicate Julia. What am I doing with her? Other than pulling her down into his personal hell, of course. Bran cleared his throat. “Can you check all the local hotels and rental cabins? See if she is here?”
“Already doing it, but you know the search is gonna take some time. We’ve got rental cabins all over the countryside.” A disgruntled sigh. “You just be aware. And maybe tell your pretty assistant what the hell is happening, got me? That way, she can make sure your psycho ex doesn’t get too close.”
His psycho ex. Not exactly. “She’s never hurt anyone before.”
“Except for the time she tried to stab you? But I guess that doesn’t count?”
It counted, and it was the reason he had a restraining order against Geneva. “She was still in the clinic when I first got contacted by the stalker. And no way did Geneva sabotage my motorcycle. She has never picked up a wrench or worked on a vehicle in her life.
“Well, what if she had some help?”
His hold tightened on the phone.
“Are those security people still out at your place?” Gideon asked, voice sharpening.
“They finished for the night. Said the place is secure.”
“That’s something, at least. Keep your ass there tonight, got me? Especially if we’re right and your crazy ex is sniffing around. I’ll get my men and we’ll keep che
cking the local places. See what shakes loose.”
“Thanks, man. I owe you.”
“You owe me about a million. Trust me, one day, I’ll collect.” Gideon disconnected the call.
Bran squared his shoulders and angled toward Julia. “How about I grill some steaks? I can have those ready for us in—”
“Stop.”
He blinked.
“Tell me what that was about.”
Now Bran gave her a vague smile. “It’s just more shit from my life. More trouble that I don’t want at your door.”
She didn’t smile back. “It’s not my door. It’s your door. Our door. We’re in this together, remember?”
Small, beautiful Julia. He didn’t want her facing any danger. Why didn’t she get that?
“I could hear some of the conversation.” She shook her head. “And I heard the name Geneva.” A pause. “I know that name.”
Yeah, thanks to the tabloids, most of the world knew it.
“She’s your ex-lover, isn’t she?” Julia’s voice was carefully emotionless. “Geneva Ruby.”
Bran knew he was walking into a minefield.
“Do you think she’s involved in what’s happening here?”
Julia’s sweet scent curled around him. He wanted to pull her close. If he could, he’d surround himself with her and forget everything else out there. If only. “No.” He cleared his throat. Stalked to the kitchen. She had to be starving. He’d make her those steaks and show her there was more to him than a train wreck of a life. “Geneva voluntarily entered a psychiatric facility a few months ago. After the stalker made contact, I checked on her. Made sure she hadn’t slipped out. She was still there. A nurse guaranteed me that Geneva hadn’t left the facility.” His shoulders thrust back. “And she’s not exactly the motorcycle type.”
Julia trailed him into the kitchen. He heard her nails tap lightly on the countertop. “Maybe she had help.”
That’s what Gideon said. “She’s not that invested in me. Not that obsessed.”
“How do you know?”
His hands flattened on the countertop. He didn’t look back at her. “I slept with her once. After a concert.”
Silence. Then… “Do you do that a lot? Hook up with women at your shows?”
Oh, hell. Her voice had been way too strained.
He whipped around.
She’d wrapped her arms around her stomach. “That’s like…a rock star thing, huh?” Julia asked carefully. “Hooking up with the fans or groupies or…” A step back. Away from him. “Whatever.”
“No.”
She flinched.
Yeah, he’d snarled that denial. Get your shit together, man. “It’s not my thing. I knew sleeping with Geneva was a mistake pretty much as soon as it happened. I don’t go for one-night stands.” Was he gonna lie and say that when he’d first hit stardom he hadn’t gone wild? No point in that. The world had been there to watch him crash into sin. “Hathway introduced me to her.”
“Geneva is…a model. I-I think I read that about her?”
“It didn’t mean anything.”
Her brows lifted. The light glinted off her glasses. “It must’ve meant something to her.”
Fame had meant something to Geneva. “She started following me. If I was at a restaurant, she’d get in the place. If I was at a club, she’d be there. Her dad is old money, rich as fuck and he always gave his little girl everything she wanted. She snapped her fingers, and it was there.” Geneva had never been told no when she was younger, so she didn’t accept the word. “She went to the press. Started telling them that we were planning to get married…”
“I remember those stories.”
Had her face gone pale? Dammit. “Lies, all right? All lies. She wanted attention. Wanted the fame that she thought she could get with me. I told her to stop. Told her to back this crap off. Told Hathway that she wasn’t to be allowed anywhere near me again.”
“That seems…cold.” Her voice was too brittle.
Did she truly want to hear about cold? “I grew up with nothing. I was a piece of trash who spent too much time in the street.”
Julia shook her head.
“No one had time for me back in those days. I was trouble no one wanted.” He realized that his hands had fisted. “Then in the blink of an eye, I had the world at my feet. Turns out, people like bad boys.”
“I don’t.”
He took a step toward her.
She stiffened. “I like men who are kind and decent, and I happen to think that shit is sexy to the extreme.”
He swallowed. “Then I must be your worst nightmare.”
“No. You aren’t him.”
Wait, what? “Julia?”
But she shook her head. “What happened with Geneva?”
“I found her in my bedroom at my Beverly Hills home when I came back from a tour.” He exhaled. “She came at me with a knife. Told me that no one rejected her.”
Julia stared at him with wide eyes.
“It was easy enough to get the knife away from her. And even though I didn’t call them, the press had already swarmed before the cops got to my house. Geneva went outside, tears sliding down her cheeks—but her mascara never running—and she told the world how I’d shattered her.” He’d thought everything had been faked. Every moment—even the supposed knife attack—staged. “Here’s the thing…I told you already that Geneva likes attention. When I stopped giving it to her, when I cut her out of my life, the press stopped noticing her. Geneva can’t stand being ignored. I think she wanted to do something that would get their notice back.”
“So she attacked you?”
“She made it look like an attack. I don’t think she would’ve hurt me.”
Now Julia shook her head. “And I don’t think you realize how dangerous some people can truly be.”
“The psychiatric clinic she’s in—I told her she had to go there or I’d press charges.”
Julia gaped at him. Then she gave another hard, negative shake of her head. “If a woman comes at you with a knife—not to tell you your business or anything—but pressing charges seems like a damn good idea to me. The best idea ever.”
“I don’t think she’s the one who is doing this to me now. She didn’t have the access, she didn’t have the opportunity to sabotage my motorcycle, she didn’t have—”
“Does the sheriff think she’s in town? He must, I mean, isn’t that why he called? Because he thinks Geneva Ruby is in Hideaway?”
Don’t lie. Not to her. “The story circulating is that she’s currently at her father’s place in Italy but…”
“But what?”
“But Mike at the grocery store may have seen her. Gideon is checking to determine if she’s here, and I’d call Geneva’s father to find out what’s going on, but the bastard made it clear long ago that he will not communicate with me in any manner. He blames me for everything that happened to his daughter.”
Her shoulders squared. “Are there any other psycho exes that you need to tell me about?”
“No,” he rasped.
Julia spun away and headed for the hall.
Don’t leave me. “Any exes you need to tell me about?”
She froze.
“Like your good buddy Rick? Want to tell me about him?”
“Rick isn’t an ex. He’s a friend. Someone who understands me.”
“I want to understand you.” The words were torn from him, and suddenly, he was across that room. His hand curled around her shoulder as he pulled her around to face him. “I want to know you. I want to know all your secrets. I want to know about your family and your friends. I want you.”
And there it was. The stark truth. He wanted to know everything he could about her because she was starting to matter far too much. He was afraid that he was screwing things up before they even fully got started.
She stared at him with her incredible eyes, looking so heartbreakingly lovely that he wanted to rub the ache in his chest to alleviate the pai
n there.
She searched his eyes and gave a slow nod. “Most of my family members are dead. It’s just me and my grandmother.”
I want to know more. I want to know everything.
“My mother died when I was young, and my father passed away about two years ago.” At the mention of her father, Julia’s lips lifted and her eyes lightened. “He was a great man. A firefighter. He worked hard to keep everyone else safe, and he always made me feel like I was the most important person in his world.”
“I’m sure you were the most important.”
She glanced away. “As far as secrets, yes, I have some. Some I don’t ever tell, but I can say this…I am not perfect. Not even close. I’ve made mistakes in my past. I trusted the wrong man. I had a lover who tricked me and betrayed me and tried to wreck my world.”
“Want me to kill him for you?” The question fired out. Dead serious because he was suddenly ice-cold with rage.
Her gaze whipped back to his. For a moment, she stared at him as if she didn’t know him.
She doesn’t. Not yet.
“Not necessary.” She took another step back. “Daniel is already dead.”
“Julia—”
“I’m going to bed. I’m not hungry.”
Fuck. He’d probably just terrified her. “Julia, I didn’t mean—” But he stopped because, yes, he had wanted to destroy the man who’d hurt her.
And what the hell did that say about him?
Chapter Eleven
A soft knock sounded at her door.
Julia tensed. She’d been in bed, staring out of the window, gazing toward what she knew to be Cole’s cabin while Bran’s words spun in her head.
Want me to kill him for you?
No, no, he hadn’t been serious. But goosebumps still covered her skin.
The knock came again. “Julia?”
She slipped from the bed. Her bare feet slid across the floor as she made her way to the bedroom door. She opened it, and Bran stood on the other side. Tall. Sexy. Dangerous.
“I’m sorry.”
The apology surprised her.
“I scared you.”
She didn’t know what to say, so she simply gazed up at him and waited.