Naked Vengeance

by Sophia Rae

  Nick’s mouth twitched, only for a second. “It’s that or you don’t go at all. I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t want you for the job. Then we could think of another way to get this guy without using you as bait.”

  Eve took a step forward and placed a hand on his freshly shaven face. “Thanks for worrying, but I’ll be fine.”

  His jaw clenched beneath her touch. “Stick close to me. No matter what happens, I want you to remember I will always protect you.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked.

  “Just promise me you’ll let me help you,” he persisted as he brought his hand up to cover hers.

  “Okay, I promise.”

  He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something else, but shut it just as quickly. There was something new in his eyes she hadn’t seen before.

  Hurt? Maybe. Fear? Definitely.

  “Let’s go,” he said, still holding on to her hand, now down at their sides. “And don’t leave my sight. No matter what.”

  Just what the hell did he think was going to happen? If she’d had more time she would’ve called him on it, because if her instincts were right—and they usually were—he knew something she didn’t.

  ***

  Nick drove slower than normal in an attempt to put off the inevitable.

  There would be a meeting. Eve would meet his brother. She would hate him. End of the fucking story.

  He gripped the steering wheel until his hands cramped. All he could do now was pray Roman wouldn’t show up, Roman wouldn’t recognize him or Eve wouldn’t go ballistic when she found out the truth.

  The chances of that were about as good as an Eskimo laying out in a bikini for a nice golden suntan. Nick just knew all the prayers in the world wouldn’t change the inevitable.

  “You okay?” she asked from the passenger seat of the rental car Grady had had sent over to them under aliases.

  “Yeah,” he mumbled. “Just going over some stuff in my head.”

  Like how you are going to shoot me dead when you find out I’ve lied to you. No, that would be too quick. Someone like Eve would want to drag out the torture and make her victim suffer.

  She reached across the console and rested her hand on his thigh. “It’ll be fine. We’re together and I think we’ve made a hell of a team so far.”

  That was a major understatement. Too bad he’d gone and betrayed his partner.

  They remained silent for the rest of the drive. When Nick pulled into the club lot, Eve pulled her hand away and grabbed her black bag off the floor of the car.

  “You ready?” she asked when he parked.

  “If it’s my only choice.”

  “Do you have to wear that?” Eve asked pointing to his shoulder holster and gun.

  He nodded. “Yeah. Problem?”

  “You look like more than a jealous boyfriend,” she said as she closed the car door. “You look like a cop.”

  Nick shrugged. “Fine. Put my gun in your bag.”

  “I’ve already got one in here,” she replied, coming around to stand beside him.

  “Your father’s Glock?”

  Eve nodded.

  “That’s good enough, but I get to hold the bag.” Nick shrugged out of his shoulder holster and put it into the trunk. “Happy?”

  Eve smiled and handed over her bag. “Not really. Let’s just get this over with.”

  They held hands as they approached the main entrance. Nick tried to keep his mind off the fact half of Eve’s body was hanging out and his slimy brother would be staring at her like a prime piece of meat.

  It was just something he had to prepare himself for. Eve couldn’t help the fact her body looked like a walking wet dream, nor could she help the fact her father had gotten killed and she felt it her responsibility to find his killer.

  Eve opened the door and walked back toward Hank’s office. Even though the place sat deserted, the stale cigarette smell filtered through the dark room. Scuffed up tables were empty, save for the ashtrays. Various bottles of liquor behind the bar were lined up perfectly.

  A slant of light coming from Hank’s office spilt onto the cement floor. Men’s voices rose high enough so that Nick knew they were discussing Eve’s new position.

  “You’re hurting my hand,” she whispered.

  Nick didn’t realize he’d squeezed her so hard, but he let up. He had to control himself if he intended to keep her safe. To keep her, period.

  When Eve knocked on the door, Hank’s voice boomed, “Come in, come in.”

  She pushed the door open with her free hand. Nick stepped in with her and came face to face with Roman for the first time in years.

  Nick cursed himself when the look on Roman’s face was anything but surprise. The little prick had known Eve would bring him along. It was all a trap, and Nick couldn’t believe the rookie mistake he’d made by sinking into it.

  His brother had always hated him, always wanted to see him destroyed. Roman had been jealous from day one when his mother welcomed Nick with open arms. Nick hadn’t thought Roman’s evil streak would run this deep, for this long.

  Roman probably had his sights on Eve from minute one, knowing she was Roger’s daughter. He’d played with her mind and her emotions. Ironic, considering Nick had done the very same thing.

  And now here he and Eve were in the lion’s den.

  “Eve, thanks for coming,” Hank said, keeping a watchful eye over her shoulder. “I assumed you’d be alone.”

  She smiled at her boss. “Oh, you know boyfriends. He doesn’t hardly let me out of his sight.”

  Nick and Roman continued to size each other up. How long would it take Roman to drop the bomb? Would he even do that here or make Nick sweat a little longer?

  He really needed to get Eve out of here.

  If Roman knew Nick had been protecting Eve, then Roman knew Eve wasn’t really a stripper. Fuck.

  “Are you Roman?” Eve asked as she turned to the madman in the expensive suit.

  “Yes.” Roman extended his hand, smiling when Nick cringed as Eve shook it. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Eve.”

  Roman’s thick, deep voice dominated the tension-filled room. It was nothing but a game to him. A game, Nick knew, Roman intended to win.

  That would only happen if Nick were dead.

  “I’m a little curious as to what kind of job you want me to do,” Eve told the devil in disguise.

  Nick leaned down to her ear. “Honey, could you step outside for just a minute?”

  Eve looked at him as if he’d just grown another head. “What on earth for?”

  “Man talk,” he replied with a shrug.

  “Darling,” she crooned, patting his face. “Don’t be rude.”

  Roman stepped forward and guided Eve to the seat across from the desk. “Why don’t we all get comfortable?”

  Nick wanted to tell his stepbrother to keep his fucking hands off her, but he kept his mouth shut. For now.

  Eve sat in a squatty orange arm chair across from Hank’s desk. Nick stood behind her, one possessive hand rested on her shoulder.

  He tried to tell himself he remained so close out of support for her, but in all reality the possibility of what his brother could do scared him shitless. What if Roman did something to Eve right in front of his eyes?

  Nick’s free hand tightened on the strap of the bag. The bag with the fully loaded Glock.

  “What I’d like from you, Eve,” Roman began as he came to stand behind Hank’s desk, “is a few evenings a week. Maybe two, just for starters. What you’d be doing is more private, but along the same lines as what you do here.”

  “A hooker?” she gasped.

  Roman’s lips thinned. “You’d be keeping the company of some very wealthy clients of mine who want professional women who aren’t looking for anything more than a little extra money. The clientele here is nice, but some men prefer their privacy.”

  Eve tensed beneath Nick’s touch.

  “She will not be whored out,�
�� Nick said. “She’s my fiancée and I won’t have her sleeping with other men, no matter how good the money is.”

  Nick thanked God Eve didn’t contradict his impending marriage statement. She didn’t even flinch. The cool composure came as a surprise, although he didn’t know why. Life had dealt this woman a shitty hand, but she always managed to maintain her self-control.

  At least in public.

  “I think what Nick is trying to say,” Eve cut in, “is that we love each other very much. I wouldn’t mind doing some bachelor parties or even private parties, but I’m not comfortable with the whole escort thing. Being one on one with a strange man outside the club sounds kind of dangerous.”

  Nick wasn’t sure how he felt at the big L-word coming out of Eve’s lips. It sounded too…perfect.

  “Perhaps you could take some time to think about it,” a nervous Hank suggested. “Take another week and let us know. The money is good, Eve.”

  Yeah, people die for it, Nick thought.

  “I can take a few days and discuss it with Nick,” Eve agreed. “I hope you won’t give this position away until I give you my final answer.”

  Roman smiled, turning Nick’s insides to ice in the process. “Of course not. You’re our first pick. But I do have one condition, though, if you agree to the job.”

  Nick knew. He just knew what would happen. This world he’d come to live in with Eve, the main focal point, would come to a crashing halt in about one second.

  Nights filled with passion and shared secrets. A partnership unlike any other he’d ever known. A relationship on the brink of something he couldn’t even fathom.

  It all ceased the second Roman spoke.

  “You’ll have to stay away from my brother.”

  Those damning words stopped time. The air in the room practically stilled and even though he felt Eve beneath his touch, he knew she’d just put walls between them.

  “Your…brother?” Eve asked with a shaky voice.

  Roman nodded. “Nick, or should I say your fiancé, is my long-lost stepbrother.”

  She whirled around in her chair. The look in her eyes confirmed Nick’s worst fear.

  He’d lost her.

  Chapter Ten

  Eve’s lungs felt as if they were filled with mud. The one man she’d chosen to trust had betrayed her in the worst way possible.

  She had to get out of here, but she didn’t want to give Nick the advantage of knowing how bad he’d hurt her.

  Hurt her? More like destroyed her.

  Once she felt like she could form a complete sentence, she looked back to Roman and Hank as she came to her feet. She extended her hand across the desk and smiled.

  “Thank you for meeting with me, but like I said, I’ll need to think about this. And if I decide to do it, I will definitely keep Nick out of the picture.”

  She wasn’t so dazed that she missed the gleam in Roman’s eye. Damn the man, he knew how his words had affected her. Had Nick been in on the scheme, too?

  Oh God…had Grady?

  Without another word, or even a glance in Nick’s direction, Eve willed her shaky legs to carry her from the room. From the club. From the whole fucking town.

  Once she stepped outside, she tried to inhale the fresh air. Instead, she dropped her hands to her knees and concentrated on not passing out. Just when she thought she wouldn’t be dealt any more damning blows, here came a sucker punch from out of nowhere.

  Footsteps crunched in the gravel behind her. Eve closed her eyes and begged to God she would die. If there had ever been a time when she wanted to give it up, now would be that time.

  She’d failed. Her father’s murder would go without justice served, she would never get her job back, but worst of all, she would never be able to piece back together her shattered heart.

  Damn her for allowing vulnerability to sneak into her life.

  When the footsteps stopped beside her, she opened her eyes to a pair of worn black boots and her large black bag. Eve gritted her teeth, letting the rage override any hurt she felt.

  “If you’re smart, you’ll get the hell out of my sight,” she growled as she snatched her bag.

  “Eve,” Nick began. “I know what this looks like.”

  She pushed off her knees and stood straight up. A wave of nausea rolled through her and she had to close her eyes for another second until it passed.

  All her strength came rushing back when Nick’s hand grabbed her elbow to steady her.

  “Keep your damn hands off me,” she snarled, jerking her arm away.

  “I want to explain. Let me take you somewhere so we can talk.”

  Eve dug into her black bag and pulled out her Glock. She glanced around, making sure no one could overhear. The parking lot was deserted. “Give me your cell phone.”

  Nick’s hands went up. “Eve, what are you doing? Put that away.”

  “Give. Me. The. Fucking. Phone.”

  He pulled the phone from his pocket with one hand, keeping the other in defensive mode. She jerked it from his hand, kept her eyes and gun on him, and dialed.

  “Prescott.”

  “Grady, it’s me.”

  “Eve, where the hell are you?” Grady asked. “I’m at the safe house and it would be a little helpful if I could talk to you guys about what happened. Since I’m the outsider here, I’m not getting too much information from the locals.”

  Nick kept his hands up as Eve talked. This could not be the same man who had saved her time and again. This could not be the same man who loved her so passionately with soft, loving words. This could not be the same man she’d chosen to give her virginity to.

  “We have a more important matter to address,” she explained.

  “What is it?”

  “Nick is working for the enemy,” she told him.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Eve sighed. “His brother, Roman, is the man I had to meet with at the club. He’s the man who I believe has taken all the women, threatened me and killed my father.”

  Silence answered her on the other end of the line. Eve waited for Grady to explode with a fury that matched her own.

  “Is Nick with you?” he asked instead.

  “Yes.”

  “Let him explain,” Grady told her. “He’s not working with them, Eve.”

  The gun nearly fell from her hand. “You knew?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I knew. But neither Nick nor I knew before about a week ago.”

  Eve stepped backward, keeping the gun on Nick, until she felt the bumper of the car. She leaned against it, fearful she’d fall if she didn’t. “And between the two of you there was no time to tell me in these past seven days?”

  “It wasn’t that easy,” Grady persisted.

  “The hell it wasn’t!” Eve dropped the gun to her side, her eyes to her black sandals. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Just let Nick explain. Better yet, let him bring you here and we can all sit down and talk this out.”

  Eve glanced back up to Nick. He’d dropped his hands to his sides, but still remained rooted in place. Hurt swam in his eyes…Eve steeled her heart. She didn’t care if got down on his knees and professed his undying love to her.

  She never made the same mistake twice.

  “Sure,” Eve conceded. “Why not? It’s not like my life could get any shittier at this point. But just because I agreed to meet you and listen, don’t get your hopes up that I’ll ever forgive you for betraying me.”

  She eyed Nick. “Both of you.”

  Eve snapped the cell shut and got into the car without a word to Nick. She scooted over against the door, as far away from him as possible in such a confining space.

  When he got in and started the car, he paused to look over at her. “Eve…”

  “Just drive, Nick. I’m not in the mood to be lied to anymore.”

  In actuality, even though she was so angry, she felt her eyes burning. No way in hell would she ever let him see her cry over him. Not
again. He’d caught her once, she wouldn’t be vulnerable again.

  “I’m not going to lie to you again,” he told her softy. “I wanted to let you know when I found out—”

  “But you didn’t.” She turned in her seat to face him. “You chose not to, you chose to keep the most important piece of information from me. And I am the only one to blame for letting it happen. I let myself trust you when I knew I shouldn’t. I let you cloud my judgment and I let myself start to feel something for you.”

  Eve’s head fell back against the seat as she closed her eyes. “Damn it.”

  “What did you feel?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Just…drive.”

  Nick stared at her another second before looking ahead and starting the car. “It matters more than you think,” he muttered as he pulled out of the lot.

  In a pissed-off-induced state of numbness, Eve kept her attention on the guardrail alongside the road, on the small fields, farm houses, other cars they passed.

  Basically, anything to keep her from reaching over and strangling the life out of him.

  Anger had become her closest ally. If she didn’t focus on the fury, she’d do something really stupid.

  Cry.

  Nick had already seen her shed tears over him—she wouldn’t allow him the satisfaction of seeing it again.

  When they pulled onto the long gravel drive to the “safe house”, Eve nearly laughed. Safe. Nothing had ever been safe for her. She hadn’t even found safety in the comfort of the man who’d taken her virginity…the man who still held onto her heart.

  Eve hardened when her eyes locked onto the only other man she’d ever trusted with her life. Grady. He stood on the porch, examining the gaping hole where the window had once been.

  Wide, broad shoulders filled out his white dress shirt. His sleeves were rolled halfway up his forearms, his hands on his hips. When Eve slammed her car door, he turned and glanced over his shoulder.

  The grim look on his face did nothing to ease her state of mind. When she’d first met Grady, he’d not been an easy man to read. Thankfully, she knew him well enough now to know exactly what he felt.

  Worry and anger, but most of all concern. For her.

  Damn. She did not want to feel guilty. She would not let Grady or Nick make her feel like any of this was her fault. If they were truly concerned for her safety, they would have been upfront from the beginning.