by Ava Kendrick
Lethal
Ava Kendrick
Contents
1. Cleo
2. Roman
3. Cleo
4. Roman
5. Roman
6. Cleo
7. Cleo
8. Roman
9. Cleo
10. Roman
11. Cleo
12. Roman
13. Cleo
14. Roman
15. Cleo
16. Roman
17. Cleo
18. Roman
19. Cleo
20. Roman
21. Roman
22. Roman
23. Cleo
24. Roman
25. Cleo
26. Roman
27. Cleo
28. Roman
29. Cleo
30. Roman
31. Cleo
32. Roman
33. Roman
34. Cleo
35. Cleo
36. Roman
37. Cleo
38. Cleo
39. Roman
40. Cleo
41. Cleo
Copyright © Ava Kendrick 2016
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This story contains strong language and mature themes. It is intended for adult readers only.
One
Cleo
“Who’s that guy?” I hissed, staring at the end of the bar.
There was something mesmerizing about his slate-black hair and bright blue eyes, even though he was staring at the TV over the bar and seemed completely unaware of my existence. He stood out from the other hipsters and wannabes in Julia’s local dive bar. Maybe it was that strong, ripped body of his, which was obvious even though he was sitting hunched over his beer.
I shivered. Damn he was cute. I tore my gaze away and glanced at Julia to see why she hadn’t answered. I rolled my eyes. Of course she hadn’t heard me—she was too busy flirting with the bartender.
“Julia,” I said, tapping her arm to try and steal her attention away. Usually I wouldn’t have interrupted, but for some reason I needed to know all I could about this sexy stranger. “That guy. End of the bar. You know him?”
She turned and stared at him for way longer than was polite. It was all I could do to stop myself slipping off my barstool and dying of embarrassment.
“No,” she said, finally.
“I thought you knew everybody here.”
She shrugged. “Most of them.”
I glanced back at him. He was still staring up at the TV. Then all of a sudden it was like someone had switched a light off in my brain. I was in the bar, but it felt like I’d been submerged. The voices around me were muffled and far away. I closed my eyes, wondering if it was my memory coming back. But there was nothing there except darkness.
“Cleo.”
I opened my eyes and felt my awareness seep back.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I just… I can’t explain it. It’s been happening since I came to. The doctors say it’s not unusual for someone with my injuries.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I shouldn’t have taken you to a bar your first day out of hospital.”
“Julia if you start acting all responsible I’ll scream, okay? I’ve been going crazy cooped up alone in there.”
Julia was my best friend, but she wasn’t exactly the nurturing type. Her protectiveness was freaking me out. Maybe because it made it all real.
“I’m just worried about you,” she whispered, punching my arm more gently that she usually would have. “You almost died on me.”
I snorted. “You won’t get rid of me that easily.”
She watched me, saying nothing.
“What?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
“It’s just… it’s good to have you back. I was so worried.”
I smiled. It was hard to believe I’d been out for an entire month—at first I’d thought the doctors had been kidding around. But then they’d shown me that day’s newspaper. I’d been in a coma for a month.
“Well it’s good to be back. I think.” I clinked my glass against hers. “This is much better than lying unconscious in a hospital bed.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head, not meeting my eyes.
I had the strangest feeling that there was something there; something I wasn’t aware of. I thought about it, but it was like trying to hang onto the memory of a dream after you’d woken up. I tried to brush it off, figuring the head injury was making me paranoid. Besides, I didn’t want to worry Julia even more.
“Have you heard from Ben? I thought he might…”
Julia’s usually cheerful expression hardened. “I haven’t seen him since that first week in the hospital. The fucking asshole.”
“Julia,” I hissed. “Stop. He went through it too. Maybe that’s why he—”
“Why he left his girlfriend when her life was hanging in the balance?” she said fiercely, her eyes widened to the size of saucers. “He left you. Like this. Worse; he left you before you came out of that coma. What kind of asshole does that?”
I held up my hand. “He’s been through the same thing as me, Jules. He’s probably feeling guilty that he got away with a broken arm while I got the head injury.”
She shook her head. I knew she was humoring me.
“Look, I’m not happy with him. I’m just trying to understand.”
Julia clenched her hands into fists. She sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’re not the one who split my head open with a ten-pound antique doorstop.”
She winced.
“Sorry.”
I’d had so many discussions with my doctors that I was able to joke about my injuries now. I had to remind myself that others weren’t so desensitized.
She shook her head. “We need to get you laid; take your mind off that fucking asshole.”
I took a huge gulp of my Long Island ice tea to bite back the instinctive urge I felt to stand up for Ben. It was all so new to me.
She turned and looked down the bar again. When she turned back to me, her eyes were wide. I knew that look.
“Why don’t you go chat to Mister Mysterious over there?”
“Who?” I asked innocently.
Julia rolled her eyes. “Don’t play that game with me, girl. The guy you’ve been staring at all night.”
“I have not.”
“Have too,” she countered. “I’m not judging. I think you should go talk to him, that’s all. He looks like he knows how to make a woman forget her troubles.”
I flushed at the thought. She was right—it wasn’t hard to imagine the strong body underneath the suit. And if he focused on a woman’s pleasure the way he was laser-focused on that TV… I exhaled deeply, giddy with excitement at the thought.
“Do it,” Julia urged.
I looked back at him. Could I? I wondered. Could I just march up there and stake my claim? Ben had abandoned me in a coma, and even before then he’d barely looked at me in months. Suddenly all I craved was one night of uncomplicated pleasure.
And then he looked up at me and I had to stop myself from shivering. It was as if his eyes had seared all the way to my core. I saw my own desire reflected back in them.
I pushed off my bar stool and nodded, determination coursing through my veins. I was going to march down there and take what I wanted.
Julia grinned up at me. “That’s my g
irl.”
I nodded, proud of myself. “Next round’s on…” I trailed off.
Because he’d stood up quickly and made his way to the emergency door at the back of the bar without another glance at me.
“What the hell?” I muttered. I may have had a head injury but there was no way I’d mistaken the meaning of that look.
Julia turned to see what I was looking at. She shrugged and took a sip of her drink. “Plenty more fish in the sea.”
I looked around the bar. It was true—the bar was filling up and there were several groups of guys, some of them hot. I shook my head. But they weren’t him. I glanced up at the clock above the bar and saw it was almost seven. We hadn’t eaten anything more substantial than bar snacks since we’d left the hospital that afternoon. Suddenly I was ravenous.
“Have the cops given you back the keys to my apartment? They didn’t say anything to me, but I assume they’re done with the place now.”
“Why don’t you come stay with me?” she said quickly.
I shook my head. “Thanks for the offer, but I just want to get home to my own place.”
I loved my home—it was the penthouse of a brand new re-development near the port. I earned about a tenth of what Ben earned in commissions as a broker, so rent hadn’t been a problem before. I didn’t want to think about how I was going to afford the rent on my own, but I knew I’d figure out a way even if it meant living on the breadline. I could always take on some additional accounting clients on the side.
I frowned. Julia had turned pale. “Are you okay?”
“Cleo,” Julia said gravely.
I looked up at her, and I knew then. I just knew—you don’t spend your entire life around someone and not know their every facial expression. She wasn’t just concerned about me being alone in the apartment. There was something else. My heart started to race.
“Julia?” I said, my voice high and tense.
She looked away.
“Please,” I whispered, wondering what it was she was protecting me from.
“The apartment,” she said, in a low monotone that sounded nothing like her voice. It was like a stranger was talking.
My stomach plummeted with dread.
“It’s… it’s gone, Cleo.”
“What do you mean, gone?”
“I spoke to the owner. He’s already found new tenants.”
I narrowed my eyes. “He can’t have. We’re paid up in advance. He can’t just cancel on us.”
She looked down at her hands.
“Tell me.”
She shook her head. “Ben canceled the contract,” she said finally.
My mouth fell open. If it had been anyone else but Julia, I would have struggled to believe them. But I’d known her for most of my life. “He wouldn’t do that, Jules. He wouldn’t.”
“Well he did.”
My head was swimming all of a sudden; Julia had to grab me to stop me falling off the stool. I just couldn’t believe it—he knew how much I loved that place.
“What about my stuff?” I asked.
“It’s all in my apartment waiting for you. Well, anything the cops haven’t taken as evidence.”
I frowned. “Did they take much?”
“The cops?”
“No. The burglars.”
Both times the cops had visited, they’d asked me more about the assault than about the burglary. I’d assumed they’d spoken to Ben about what was missing. Not that I had much in the line of valuables.
She shrugged. “I couldn’t find your laptop. Or your cell phone. But I didn’t notice anything else missing.”
I sighed and closed my eyes, suddenly wishing Mystery Man hadn’t left the bar. Because I could sure have used a distraction.
Two
Roman
“What is it you do, buddy?”
I grimaced. I wasn’t there to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to make friends. And I most certainly didn’t want people asking questions.
“I’m an insurance salesman.”
His mouth opened and closed again as he tried to think of something to say. I smiled to myself. Shitty as it was, I liked this place. I didn’t want to have to avoid it.
“Maybe I can tell you about some of our plans, in exchange for a bar tab.”
That sealed the deal. He mumbled something and walked to the other end of the bar. I smiled. That was exactly where I wanted him.
I watched as he started chatting with a girl midway down the bar. But it wasn’t that girl who caught my eye. It was her friend. I told myself to look away, but I couldn’t. She was talking animatedly with her friend now that the bar guy had gone to serve somebody else. There was something about her. Something I couldn’t put into words.
I snapped my head away and forced myself to stare at the small TV that was bolted to the wall above the bar.
I wanted to glance back; to look at her pale, smiling face. I could have watched her all day. I wanted to march down there and pick her up; to take her back to my apartment and tease her body until she begged me to fuck her.
But I knew I couldn’t allow myself to do that.
She was different to the others; different to the multitudes of nameless women I’d picked up in sleazy bars downtown.
I concentrated on the tiny TV screen above the bar, but it was no use. All I could think of was her sparkling eyes, her smile. I was hooked. I didn’t just want to fuck her, I realized. I wanted to protect her.
Which would have been fine if I’d actually been an insurance salesman.
You’re no knight in shining armor, I reminded myself.
That was the understatement of the century. Guys like me were the reason women fantasized about white knights.
But walking away was easier said than done. I glanced up before I could stop myself and found myself staring straight into her eyes. I almost jolted. I didn’t believe in instant chemistry, or whatever they call it. But I couldn’t deny the feeling of electricity that shot through me in that moment. Her eyes were sparkling, but there was pain in them too.
I shook my head. Walk away. There are thousands of women out there who mean nothing. Don’t get involved with this one.
But I had the sinking feeling that it was too late; that I was already hooked.
I threw a tip on the bar and shuffled off my stool. I’d catch the game at home, I decided. It was safer.
Icy air hit me as soon as the fire door slammed shut behind me. I glanced around. Usually, that alley was deadbeat central, but it was empty as I left. And I was in a rush to see the game. I could take a shortcut along the alley to my apartment: it’d get me home well before kickoff.
I walked the wrong way down the alley and turned onto D Street. I usually avoided that route and now I remembered why. The street was deserted even though it was still early. Well, the street looked deserted: I could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes on me from the alleyways and abandoned buildings that ran its length. I quickened my pace, sidestepping piles of trash as I made my way along the narrow sidewalk.
My heart sank when three guys shuffled out of an alley fifty yards ahead of me and blocked my way.
Why didn’t I go the long way? I thought. Now I have to deal with this shit.
In my mind, I urged them to turn and walk in the other direction, but they kept on coming. It was obvious as I got closer that they’d spotted me from an upper floor window and decided I was an easy mark. Idiots. That was the definite downside of being able to pass for a boring suit—people thought they could mess with you.
“Guys, you don’t wanna…”
The big one cut me off; cruel face twisting into a sneer. “What’s that, pretty boy?”
I sighed. If only you knew.
A chill breeze blasted past us. I shivered. His eyes widened slightly. I knew he’d mistaken the movement for some sort of weakness. I felt a fleeting urge to prove him wrong but it passed quickly. He was just some kid from a bad neighborhood. Just like I’d been.
My hesitation agitated
him. He lifted his sweatshirt and pulled what looked like a Glock 19. I didn’t flinch – I’d noticed an asymmetry to his stance as soon as he had blocked my path. I wanted to smile. Threaten me with a gun? You’d better be damn sure you know how to use it before you pull that shit on me.
I reached into my jacket. His eyes widened—I knew what he was thinking. But I wasn’t going for my wallet. Instead, I pulled my tie aside and slowly began to unbutton my shirt.
“What the fuuuuck?” He took a step closer to me, pointing the pistol straight at me.
Without saying anything, I pulled my shirt apart and stared at him waiting for realization to dawn.
His eyes bulged as he took in the tattoo that covered my heart. “Aw, shit. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t realize.” He held his hands up. “Please. I…” His friends had already begun to back away.
“Get out of here,” I grunted.
They didn’t need to be told twice.
Three
Cleo
I groaned and clasped my hands around my head. My brain was throbbing, and for the first time in five weeks it wasn’t because of the attack. This time, the culprits were vodka and tequila. I hadn’t even had that much to drink—four weeks of unconsciousness had made me a cheap date.
“Here you go,” Julia chimed.
I twisted around on the couch as she sauntered over from the tiny kitchen and sat beside my feet.
“Thanks,” I said, gratefully taking the cup of coffee she offered me.
She frowned and looked away.
“What is it?”
“Are you sure you should go back to work this soon?” she said, sheepishly. “After all you’ve been through?”
I shook my head as gently as I could. “I need to get back. I’ve been gone five weeks already.”
“But… are you sure you’re ready for it?”
I nodded. “The only thing that’s wrong with me right now is this goddamn hangover.”
She smiled. “Excellent. I mean, that sucks, but it’s better than amnesia and a head injury.”
“Yeah well I’ve still got those.” I put my cup down and threw my arms around her. “Thank you so much. I’ll get out of your space as soon as I can.”