Fallen Duet: Brody & Lola: Free Fall & Down Fall (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 1)

by Abigail Davies

  “Please, Hut, you’re hurting me.” Tears streamed down my face. “Please,” I choked out on another sob.

  His boot lifted, and I breathed a sigh of relief, but I shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have taken a second to catch my breath, I should have sprung up and run because then he was on me, straddling my thighs.

  “All of this happened because you opened your legs,” he ground out and clasped his hands around my wrists, keeping them pinned to the ground. “You’re just like your whore mother.” He narrowed his eyes. “I bet I was the only person you wouldn’t open your legs for.” He thrust his hips forward, and I felt his erection scrape against my groin.

  My mind flashed back to over a year ago when he held me in the same position, a knife to my throat, as he tried to tear my clothes off. Only this time, we weren’t in a house full of people. Ford wasn’t here to get him off me and make me feel safe with a lock on my door. No one knew I was here. I had to save myself…

  I had to save my baby.

  “Hut.” I tried to soften my voice, but the shaky tone was clearly evident in the way his eyes lit up at the sound. “Please, just let me go, and we can go home.” I let my body go limp so he wouldn’t think I was fighting him. “We can go home together.”

  He blinked several times and hope spurred me on. Maybe he’d believe me enough that we could make it out of here and back to the house. At least that way I knew where I was. I could formulate a plan when I wasn’t in immediate danger. All I had to do was get him to believe me.

  His one hand loosened on my wrist, and I managed to pull in a breath. All too soon, that hand was gripping my face, squeezing so hard I thought he’d crack my teeth. He lifted my head with his one hand and slammed it back down onto the ground. I was sure I saw stars as pain exploded on the back of my head, followed by some wetness.

  “No.” His one word destroyed all hope, and when his knife flashed in front of my face, I knew I had a choice to make. “I’m gonna cut the bastard out of you and leave you here to bleed out.” He trailed the knife down my chest and stopped at the top of my stomach. “I’ll leave just enough of you so your boyfriend knows who you are.” He cackled an evil laugh. “And I’m going to enjoy every”—he dug the tip of his knife into my stomach—“second”—I winced at the sharp force and felt the blood trickle over my skin and soak into my T-shirt—“of it.”

  The buzzing in my mind made way for complete silence. My mind was blank, and all I had to do was channel that energy.

  It was me or him.

  And I’d choose me each and every time.

  He was focused on watching the blood leak through my clothes from his shallow cut, not concentrating on the fact that he’d let one of my hands go, so I took full advantage and scraped my nails down his face. The shock of it had his hands covering the scratches, and then I had two free hands. I could try and buck him off, but all that would mean was a fight. A fight I didn’t have the energy to take part in. Not when I could have the upper hand.

  “I’m gonna kill you!” Hut shouted, looking at me through his fingers. He pulled them away, staring at the blood coating them.

  I grinned, lifted my palms, and snatched the knife out of his hand. “Not if I do it first.”

  I didn’t think about it, I didn’t hesitate, I let my instincts take over and thrust the knife into his neck, all the way to the hilt.

  His eyes widened, a second of shock taking over, and then I pulled it away, letting the blood flow out and coating us both in bright red.

  “Wh…” His garbled letters trailed off, and his body rolled off me.

  I stood, staring down at him as he clutched his neck, blood escaping through his fingers. And only one thought was going around and around in my mind.

  What did I just do?

  BRODY

  I twisted the cap off the beer and looked at the time on my cell. One hour until Lola would be here. My stomach was roiling, my palms sweating, and it wasn’t because I’d just moved more heavy furniture into my new house but at the prospect of seeing Lola.

  “I like your new place,” Jord said, sitting on the couch next to me. “It’s more you.”

  I glanced around, taking note of the light-gray walls and the light wooden furniture, mixed in with a comfy leather corner sofa. “It is.”

  Kyle stood in the doorway to the kitchen that was big enough for an island and a dining table, talking to Cade. I wasn’t sure what Cade thought of everything that was going on, but I’d let him choose which bedroom he wanted from the three that were spare. It was no surprise he’d chosen the biggest one.

  “So, what happens now?” Ryan asked, crossing his ankles as he leaned against the large window that looked out into my driveway. “You just gonna jump from Moira to Lola?”

  Jord snorted. “Did you not hear that he tried to do that already? Lola shot him down.”

  I grinned as I moved the bottle to my lips. He was right, she had shot me down, but I was glad she had. This was exactly what I’d needed. To concentrate on myself and Cade for a little while. “She’s coming over in an hour, so all you assholes need to—” The vibrating of my cell cut me off, and I glanced down at it, half expecting to see Lola’s name, but it was Ford that flashed on the screen.

  “Ford,” I answered.

  “Brody.” His voice was low. “Old man Jack said Hut has been at the warehouse most of the day and he just came back. I think he’s up to something.”

  I looked at each of the guys, who were staring at me, paying attention. My shoulders sagged, and I knew we had to go and check it out. It would take us an hour to get there and an hour back, so there was no way I’d be back when Lola got here. I had to make a choice, but in the long run, it was all for her.

  “We’ll check it out,” I said, and ended the call. I placed my beer on the small table next to the sofa and stood. “We need to head out.” I didn’t say more than that, not with Cade standing and listening to everything being said. I shot off a message to Lola, telling her I had to head out but that I would be back and to just wait for me.

  “We’ll meet you outside,” Ryan said, walking out of the room with Jord and Kyle on his tail.

  “Son.” I stared at Cade. “I need to head out. You gonna be okay here for a few hours?”

  “Yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m nearly sixteen, Dad. Not six.”

  I puffed out a breath. “Yeah, all right.” I pulled out my wallet and handed him a twenty. “Get yourself something for dinner, and lock the door behind me. Lola might turn up while I’m gone. You okay with that?”

  I waited until he nodded, and then headed outside to the guys. Ryan and Kyle were already in Ryan’s SUV, and Jord was waiting next to my Mustang. They’d suited up, ready for whatever was about to happen, so I popped my trunk and pulled out my gear. My gun was already attached to my belt along with my badge, so all I needed was to put on my bulletproof vest, and I was ready.

  I pushed into my car, switching the engine on, and giving Jord the run-down so he could relay it to Ryan and Kyle. What should have taken me sixty minutes, took more like forty thanks to the power of my Mustang engine. The closer we got to Cresthill, the more my gut churned.

  “Something is happening,” I said to Jord when we were a couple of minutes out from the warehouse.

  “Yeah, I feel it too,” Jord said, sitting forward in his seat. We’d always listened to what our guts told us, no matter what it was. It had saved our lives several times over.

  I slowed the car right down, the gravel crunching under my tires, and pulled to the side at the opening of the road. We needed to go unseen until the last possible moment.

  Ryan pulled in on the other side, and we all filed out, heading toward the warehouse in our usual formation. Jord in front, then me, Kyle, and Ryan taking up the rear. The lights in the warehouse cast a glow onto the gravel outside the house and illuminated a car I hadn’t seen before, but that wasn’t what had me halting with my hand in the air to alert the guys. It was the figure holding a knife
while standing over a limp body.

  What the…

  We all drew our guns, our instincts kicking in as we moved closer. “Put the weapon down,” Jord commanded, aiming his gun at the back of a woman. A woman I knew. A woman who shouldn’t have been here.

  What the hell was going on?

  Jord took a couple of steps forward, and I finally kicked into gear. I stowed my gun away, knowing the guys had my back, and walked past Jord.

  “Brody!”

  I held my hand up, silencing Ryan, and stepped closer. My gaze flitted over to Hut lying on the gravel, blood flowing from his neck like a river, but his chest wasn’t moving, and I didn’t need to check to see if he was alive. He wasn’t. And it had been at the hands of—

  “Lola,” I said, my voice soft.

  Her body stiffened, and she slowly turned, looking away from Hut’s body and at me. “Brody?” Her wide eyes and pale face told me she was in shock, but it was the sadness along with hope that had me wondering what had happened here. I reached forward and took the knife out of her shaking hands, handing it to Jord who was at my back in seconds.

  “What happened?” I asked, needing to know but not wanting to. This wouldn’t be good for her, and the fact that we’d turned up would just be another nail in the coffin. Had it been anyone else, they’d have investigated it and found out the facts, but we had history, and that wouldn’t serve her well.

  “He...he...oh god.” She choked on a sob, her hands gripping her chest. “I killed him.” Tears ran down her face, mixing in with blood that I wasn’t sure was hers or Hut’s. “I killed him.”

  I swallowed, not sure how to feel about the fact that she’d clearly stabbed him in the neck, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting her out of here and away from the body. But there was only one way to do that, and just as the thought occurred to me, Ryan was sidling up next to us.

  “We’re gonna have to take her in, Brody.” His lips were in a flat line, telling me he didn’t like this either, but we didn’t have a choice. If we took her in, at least we had control over the situation and could get to the bottom of it while keeping Lola at the forefront of our minds. Another cop wouldn’t do that. He’d lock her in a cell and probably try to throw the book at her. The worst things possible were springing to mind, and all it did was solidify what I was about to do.

  “I know.” I pulled in a deep breath. “Get techs down here, we’ll take her to the offices. Meet us there once this place has the right people examining the scene.”

  Ryan nodded and pulled his cell out, already calling it in. I stepped closer to Lola, careful not to touch her. “We have to take you in, darlin'.” I hated the words coming out of my mouth. Hated that I had to say them to the woman who I’d vowed to protect from the man who was on the ground. The man who was now dead.

  She didn’t say anything. She didn’t acknowledge me, and she didn’t even flinch when I gently encased her forearm with my hand. She was a shell of the Lola I knew, and that destroyed me more than anything.

  I threw my keys at Jord. “Bring the car down. You can drive us in.” I expected a joke about me letting him drive my baby, but he didn’t. He just caught the keys and jogged ahead of us.

  “Lola?” I pulled us to a stop behind the car parked on the gravel, spotting the headlights of my Mustang as Jord turned the engine on. “Lola?”

  She looked down at the ground, blinking rapidly as she stared at her blood-coated hands. I wanted to know what was going through her head. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell her everything was okay, that I’d protect her, but I couldn’t. Not when she was like this.

  Jord rolled the car to a stop in front of us, and I sat us in the back, not willing to let Lola sit on her own. She curled up into the corner behind the driver’s seat, staring out of the window and clutching her shaking hands in her lap.

  I had questions, so many questions, and I couldn’t vocalize one of them. I was trapped, not able to escape the confines being a DEA agent had put me in. I was Lola’s enemy right now, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

  We pulled into the lot and exited the car. I led Lola inside and to the same room Hut was put in when we took him down. The only difference was that she wasn’t wearing cuffs. That was a line I refused to step over. She wasn’t a danger to us, and technically, we hadn’t read her her rights, a fact I was well aware of.

  I was blurring the lines, but I didn’t think twice about it.

  We entered the room, and I pointed at the chair. “Sit there. I’ll go and get you some clean clothes.”

  She didn’t acknowledge me, and I puffed out a breath. Today was not meant to go like this. I wanted to see her, but not in this way. I worked on automatic, getting a bag to put her clothes in for evidence, and getting her a paper bodysuit to dress in. Jord was standing outside the door when I got back, and when I went to step inside, he blocked me.

  “You can’t do this, Brody.” His dark eyes met mine, portraying what I already knew. “You go in there and ask her anything, you’re only gonna make it worse for her. You know that.” He held his hand out to me, and I placed the bag and suit in his palms. “We got your back, B. Never doubt that.”

  I nodded, not knowing what to say as he opened the door, and gave me a glimpse of her huddled in the corner, her wide eyes begging me to help her. I was helping her in the best way I could, and that was by letting someone else take the reins.

  “Brody,” Aaron’s voice called.

  I turned around, seeing his carefully impassive face. “Need you in my office when this is done.” I didn’t need to know how he knew what “this” was. He had eyes and ears everywhere. He probably knew the second we’d gotten in the car to come here.

  I paced the floor outside the interview room, watching the door and listening for any signs of distress. I didn’t know how long I did that until a hand landed on my shoulder.

  “They’re about to talk to her,” Ryan said. He tilted his head to the room we used to watch people through the two-way mirror. “Come on.”

  I followed him, my hands clenched at my sides, and my teeth grinding together. There was nothing worse than being on the outskirts and not knowing what was happening. I shut the door behind us, basking us in the dimly lit room, and stared through the mirror. Lola was still huddled in the corner, her eyes squeezed shut and her arms wrapped around her body.

  “Can you walk us through what happened, Miss Martin?” Kyle asked, throwing her a reassuring smile she couldn’t see. He was the softest-spoken one out of all three of us, so I was glad it was him asking her the questions. But he should have waited. She was in no state to answer anything, and even though protocol said to get the information when it was fresh in someone’s mind, I hated it right then.

  Kyle moved his chair back, the legs scraping against the floor, and she flinched, trying to back away into a corner she was already melted into. “Please, no,” her cracked voice begged, and every single hair on my body stood on end. She was breaking apart, and I was standing there, witnessing it while doing nothing to stop it.

  No. I could do something to stop it.

  I spun around and took two steps to the door. “Don’t,” Ryan warned, but I ignored him and kept going. I pushed open the interview room door and stepped inside.

  “We’re not doing this,” I ground out at Kyle and Jord, my gaze focused on Lola who was still in the corner. Her hair was a matted mess with scratches on one side of her face and a visible boot print on the other. Dirt was caked over her skin, blood under her fingernails. But none of that affected me the way her eyes did when they opened and looked directly at me.

  I stumbled back a step from the impact her hazel orbs had on me. They told me she was broken, that she wasn’t in this room with us, but back there with Hut and whatever had transpired between them.

  Slow steps forward had me closer to her, and when I was in reaching distance, I offered her my hand. “Let’s go, darlin’.”

  A noise escaped from t
he back of her throat, an echo I’d never forget. She sounded like an injured animal and looked like one too.

  “Brody, you can’t—”

  “I can,” I answered Jord. “She’s in no fit state. Look at her.” I didn’t look away from her, begging her with my eyes to take my hand. “Please, Lola. I’ll take care of you, I promise.”

  She unwrapped her arms from around herself, her shaky hand reaching mine, and as soon as our fingertips touched, I encased her whole hand. She winced from the contact, but I held strong. She needed me to be there and to take care of her. I needed to protect her, even if it were from herself.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  LOLA

  I was scared of what I’d see if I looked down at myself. Would my hands be covered in blood? Would my skin be different? Would the bruises only mask what I did? What about when they disappeared? Would everyone know I had killed a person?

  I’d killed him.

  I’d plunged the knife into his throat and not thought twice about it.

  Maybe I should have regretted it, but I didn’t. I didn’t regret it, and I should have. I should have wanted to take it back. To rewind time and change the outcome. But the reality was, nothing would have stopped Hut. He would have always been there, waiting for the perfect time to strike. And yet…

  I couldn’t look down at my body as the water in the tub enveloped me. Tears streamed down my cheeks, stinging the small cuts, but I didn’t move to wipe them away. I let them flow, doing nothing to stop the dam from falling. I was a captive of my thoughts, and nothing could free me.

  “Lola?” I flinched at Brody’s voice from the other side of the door. “Do you want some help?”

  Yes. No. I didn’t know. I couldn’t vocalize my thoughts. My mouth wouldn’t work, so I stayed silent.

  “I’m coming in.”

  I still didn’t answer him as I heard the bathroom door open. There was a calmness to Brody’s lake house that had been there the first time he brought me here, and I was glad this was where he’d taken me. He’d told me back then he hadn’t been here in fifteen years, which meant neither had Moira. It was our place. Our own little slice of heaven. But right then, I felt like I was in hell.