Hunter checked us into the hotel and returned to the car with keys to a large suite. Given what has happened, the four of us will be sharing a suite with Hunter and Carter taking turns keeping watch all night. Not only do we not know how Harper ended up in the apartment but until we know for certain that he is still in Colorado, I don’t think anyone will feel safe.
Once Carter ensures the room is safe, we enter the large suite which contains two bedrooms with a shared living area. Hunter puts our small overnight bag in the master bedroom before joining us in the living room. Carter is on the phone the entire time; Nicholas is pacing the floor while typing away on his phone. Hunter and I sit in opposite chairs facing each other sort of waiting to see what happens.
“How is that possible?!?!” Carter screams before slamming his phone on the counter. I cringe as I hear glass shatter knowing that he likely just broke the screen of his phone.
“What do we know?” Nicholas asks.
“He’s gone.”
“Westbrook?”
“Yes.”
“How? What do you mean he is gone? I thought we had someone on him?”
“We had someone on him from a distance; you didn’t want him to know that he was being followed, so we had to keep our distance. Our guy last saw him two days ago—”
“WHAT?” Nicholas stops and stares at Carter.
“He left work in the middle of the day, telling his boss that he was sick,” Carter explains. “Our guy followed him to his condo, watched him enter the building and reports he never left.”
“Did someone check the condo?” I ask.
“It’s empty; we don’t know how or when he left but the apartment is empty. His car was still in its parking spot, so someone must have picked him up.”
“Why didn’t that fucker check him out when he didn’t leave his apartment? Why did he wait until today to search the apartment? What fucking excuse could he possibly have?”
“According to our source, this is somewhat typical behavior for Westbrook. He would often lock himself in his apartment for three to four days at a time without leaving—”
“He’s right,” I cringe at the memories of those days. “When he was having a bad week, he would sometimes leave the office early, go to a bar, get wasted and then come home and drink for two or three days straight, not stopping until he passed out at least a few times a day.”
It didn’t happen often, but every couple of months that would be his pattern. The alcohol made his temper worse; during that time there was nothing I could right by him. He would flip out and hit me for no reason. The only good thing about those days was when he would pass out: the beatings would stop for a few hours and it gave me a little reprieve.
When Nicholas squeezes my hand, I realize that everyone is kind of watching me and he is now sitting next to me on the couch. What Carter and Hunter know of my past, I don’t know, but they must know enough because I can tell by the look in their eyes right now that they likely know where I just went.
“I think the only reason he didn’t lose his job was because of who his father was. Not many bosses would put up with someone leaving early sick on Fridays and then still being sick the following Monday as often as he was,” I say.
“You’re probably right,” Nicholas agrees.
“So, we don’t know where he is right now?” I ask Carter.
“We have people looking for him, but at the moment, no. We don’t know where he is,” Carter confirms. “He withdrew a large sum of cash earlier in the week from his bank account, but again this didn’t raise any concerns—”
“Because it wasn’t out of the ordinary either,” I finish Carter’s sentence. “He needed the cash to pay for his drinks and lap dances.”
“That’s what our guy said as well.”
“My family has security on them still, correct?” Nicholas asks.
“Yes, everyone has a CPO assigned to them; our staff is aware of the increased threat.”
“I think I’m going to go to bed,” I can barely keep my eyes open let alone follow what anyone is saying.
“Good idea—” Nicholas says.
“You don’t need to—”
“It’s late, I don’t think us sitting out here any longer tonight will get any answers. Let’s get some sleep and reconvene when we’re all a little more awake.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll keep watch for the next couple of hours and then Hunter will take over,” Carter confirms.
“First thing in the morning, I want an update on where that fucker is,” Nicholas hisses.
“Understood, sir.”
Nicholas wraps his arm around my waist and walks me to the master bedroom, not leaving my side until he ensures the room is empty. Wordlessly, he strips me out of my clothes before removing his own. We climb into bed and he immediately pulls me close to him, so my back rests against his warm chest.
“I am so sorry,” he whispers, his mouth so close to my ear, I can feel his breath on it.
“What are you sorry for?” I try to turn around, but he holds me tight against him preventing me from doing so.
“For what I said at the bakery,” his voice is guilt ridden.
I try to figure out what he is referring to, but for the life of me I can’t recall him saying anything that he should apologize for.
“What you said?”
“To… her,” his arms tighten around me, as I’m sure he’s recalling the scene when we walked in. “When I told her that she was right about what she said about you—”
When it dawns on me what he’s referring to, I force myself to turn over and face Nicholas. The guilt is written all over his face—guilt which he shouldn’t be feeling.
“Nicholas, I knew then and I know now, that when you said she was right that you weren’t agreeing with her,” his eyes meet mine questioningly, as if he isn’t sure he believes me. “When you stepped away from me and started talking to her, I may have initially thought you were crazy for placing yourself closer to her when she had a knife, but I never for a moment thought that you were agreeing with what she was saying. I knew you were doing it because you didn’t want things to end with her being shot or killed.”
“Look, what she said about the belt… it wasn’t like that—”
“I never thought it was,” I assure him.
“I did hit her with one a few times, but only after she asked. She… it would turn her on,” he shrugs. “But, I NEVER hit her hard enough to leave bruises or draw blood.”
“I know you wouldn’t—you’re not like that.”
His lips find mine as he pulls me even closer to him; his arms wrap around me keeping me close to him. He groans when I place my leg over his thigh, opening myself up to him. His erection probes my sex, sliding through my folds as he teases my opening.
“I love you, Kenzie,” Nicholas whispers as he slowly pushes into me; we both moan when he’s fully sated in me.
“I love you, so much,” the tears are in my eyes at the realization of my words. Tonight, scared me—everything almost ended. I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared as I was tonight, even the night my ex almost killed me.
“I was so scared she was going to hurt you—I couldn’t have lived with myself if she had,” he whispers, and for the first time I realize how much tonight affected him. In the car, and when we were talking to Carter and Hunter in the living area here, he seemed angrier than anything. I know it’s a rare occurrence for him to let his guard down, to let someone in… to trust someone.
“I’ve never been so scared,” I admit. “I was so scared that I was going to lose you.”
“Never, Kenzie,” he kisses me and holds me tightly against him. “You’ll never lose me.”
Our love making is different: it’s slow, with sometimes neither of us moving, instead we take the time to be with each other. Neither of us hurry, rather than chasing the orgasms, which is so often the case with us, we both wait for it. Our hands silently move slowly over one another’s body, instead showing
each other how we feel with our bodies rather than with words. We find our release together long after we went to bed.
Nicholas falls asleep almost immediately; I take advantage of this rare occurrence and watch him sleep for a while like he does with me sometimes. His arm remains wrapped firmly around my waist, holding me tightly against him, keeping our connection intact. I feel him soften slightly inside of me, but he doesn’t seem to go completely soft inside of me. It’s very rare for him to be as vulnerable as he is tonight; I know it couldn’t have been easy for him. Turning around to find her behind us in the bakery was not something I ever expected to happen. I shiver at the memory, immediately Nicholas’s arms tighten around me, keeping me close to him–reminding me that I’m safe now.
Chapter 41
Nicholas
“Everything ready, Carter?” As hard as it was to leave Kenzie alone in the shower in our bathroom this morning, I needed to get an update from Carter on where we are with what happened.
“Yes, sir. We can leave whenever you’re ready.”
“And what I requested?”
“Will be there by the time we arrive, sir.”
“Perfect.”
Last night, after making love to Kenzie, I immediately fell asleep with her still wrapped in my arms. However, sleeping didn’t last very long.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
In her hand is a large knife, right now it’s aimed at the floor however, I don’t pretend for a minute that it’s going to stay aimed at the floor. I frantically search behind her, looking for Carter and Hunter who are suddenly nowhere to be found.
“I asked you a question. What the fuck are you doing here?!?!?!”
“I’m here because you need me.”
“I need you? What the fuck do I need from you?”
“She isn’t what you need—she can’t be what you need,” as she speaks she glares at Kenzie.
“Kenzie has nothing to do with this—”
“She has everything to do with it!” Harper screams, waving the knife around in multiple directions.
“What is it you want, Harper?” I try a different approach, as I inch closer to Kenzie, slowly trying to put myself in front of her.
“YOU! I told you, she can’t be what you need. I can! I can be everything you need! I’ll let you do whatever you want to me!”
“You don’t know what he needs!” Kenzie steps to my side. “He doesn’t need someone to fuck, he needs—”
Before I can figure out how it happened, Harper is in front of Kenzie, stabbing her repeatedly in the stomach.
I woke up from a horrific nightmare, the final image was Kenzie’s shirt slowly turning from white to red as her eyes searched out mine before finally closing. I don’t think I’ve ever been so grateful to wake up and see her sleeping face next to mine than I was in that moment. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close to me and held her. Feeling her warm, bare skin against mine finally allowed me to start to relax. It was as if just feeling her against me somehow calmed me, relaxed me and reassured me that the image still burned in my brain was only that… just an image.
What I realized in that moment, was that last night was single handedly the worst, most terrifying thing that I’ve ever experienced. The realization of this took my breath away. In the blink of an eye, my worst nightmare went from being flashbacks of what my birth mother did to me, to the possibility of losing the woman I love more than anything. I knew in that moment that something needed to change, that things couldn’t continue as they have been.
Thankfully, I had left my phone on the nightstand next to the bed last night. With as little movement as possible, I grabbed my phone and started sending off several emails to begin facilitating the steps necessary to move forward. Things needed to change immediately, and I wasn’t wasting another minute. I didn’t care that it was barely four in the morning—I paid my staff enough to be available when I needed them. It wasn’t often that I would bother them in the middle of the night, but they knew if I did it was important.
“ETA?”
“Once we take off, about two hours, sir. The jet will be ready within the hour.”
“And we’re confident the jet hasn’t been compromised?”
“I have personally reviewed the surveillance video for the three weeks and no one unauthorized has even so much as entered the private hangar. Brian ran another background check on our flight staff this morning, including full financial review and nothing indicated they were being paid off.”
“Perfect.”
“We have security already on the ground waiting for us, but all reports at this time indicate no one has been there since the last visit.”
“And everything else?”
“In process and will be ready when we land.”
“Perfect.”
“Brian was able to clean up some of the video from the alley at the bakery—”
“And?”
“She wasn’t alone last night—”
“Who was with her?!?!”
“We don’t know yet. Whoever it was, avoided facing any of the cameras; all we have are a couple shots of his back.”
“Can I see them?” Kenzie’s soft voice startles us all as she enters the living area. I immediately walk over to her, kissing her before escorting her back to the couch.
“You can’t see anything. The person wore a hoodie and sunglasses; he never faced a camera,” Carter brings up a picture on his phone and holds it out so both Kenzie and I can see it. The picture is grainy, and in black and white, which makes it even more difficult to make out the person.
“You say he was with… her last night?” I ask as I hand Kenzie the phone. The person was careful to avoid the cameras; hell, it could be Austin for all I know based on that picture. You can’t make out a damn thing from it. It seems he knew exactly where the cameras were, because he stayed at the edge of the image at all times.
“From the timing of everything, we’ve pieced together a few things. It appears that Ms. Snyder was driven to the bakery in a cargo van, which ultimately dropped her at the rear door.”
“How did she get in through that door? It automatically locks when it closes…”
“We’re still working on that. It appears the lock was compromised, but we can’t tell how it was done. Asher is going back through the security footage to see if anything comes up on there.”
“It’s him,” Kenzie’s voice is confident, despite the phone that is shaking in her hand.
“Kenzie, we don’t know that—” there’s no way she can tell if it’s her ex by these pictures.
“It’s him,” she repeats.
“Mrs. Parker—” Carter voices the doubt that I’m feeling right now as well.
“Look,” she zooms in on a picture, adjusting the picture so it focuses on a bare spot of the man’s wrist. “He has a tattoo. I would bet anything that if you can get Brian to clean this up, you’ll find the tattoo is the handle of a dagger. It’ll be black with a dark red rope wrapping around the handle before it leads up to a silver blade. There will be a single red drop near the tip of the blade. You won’t be able to see all that detail from the picture, but you’ll be able to see the handle of the dagger.”
“Carter.”
“I’ll get Brian to clean it up and focus on the wrist area of the picture.”
“Kenzie—”
“I’m fine,” she says her voice much stronger than it was a few minutes ago. “I always hated that tattoo. He said he got it when he was drunk one night, just after he turned eighteen, to piss his father off. I had hoped to never have to see it again.”
“You won’t have to—he won’t hurt you, I swear. He’ll never come near you again,” I try to assure her.
“We’ll see,” she sighs. “He got close last night.”
“We’ve increased security measures—” I try to explain even though I know she’s right.
“We’re on top of everything, Kenzie,” Carter interrupts. “We’r
e improving systems to ensure this does not happen again. We won’t let Westbrook get close to you again.”
She doesn’t say anything but nods in agreement, even though I’m not sure she completely believes Carter. Deep down I knew it was him; I knew he was the mastermind behind getting her into the building.
“I recommend speaking to your attorney, sir, although I don’t think having a PFA issued would deter him.”
“It won’t stop him,” Kenzie sighs heavily. “I spoke to the police when I first left: a PFA is only a piece of paper. If he came all this way, a piece of paper isn’t going to stop him.”
“Agreed, it won’t. But if we catch him near The Accord Towers, the Sweet Dreams or PFS, we can have him arrested for violating the order,” Carter points out.
“If you think it will help, I have no objection to filing for one. But, I doubt it will be granted—”
“Why wouldn’t the police grant the order, after what he did to you?!?!”
“He isn’t doing anything right now, and we probably can’t even prove that it’s him in the picture. The police will argue that the tattoo isn’t enough to identify him.”
“You’ve been through this before,” Carter says rather than asks.
“I tried to leave him at one point,” she explains. “The first time he hit me, he swore he would never do it again and, stupidly, I believed him especially since my grandmother wouldn’t take me back. When he grabbed me again after that, I went to the police station to ask what my options were. They talked to me about a PFA and how if he violated it that he could be arrested, assuming the police showed up while he was still there. They told me my case was weak because I had no injuries from him grabbing me, there were no witnesses and no documentation of his previous abuse. At the end of the meeting, they were sure to ask me how my future father in law was doing. I knew right then that even if I did have a PFA against him, it would never be enforced in that city.”
“It wouldn’t be like that here,” I say firmly. Hell, I’ve probably paid for half the police department’s vehicles over the last two years alone.
“Maybe, maybe not,” she shrugs. “But it doesn’t change the fact that he hasn’t done anything… yet.”
The Arrangement Duet Box Set Page 68