Stripped- For The Very First Time

by Penn Rivers

  I stood on the stage, terrified and forgetting I had options. All I could think was… run. Run, Jemina. Run so hard and fast he never catches you. Run, run, run.

  You can’t hide. I’ll always find you.

  His words replayed in my head at the same time I spotted Kane pushing his way through the crowd. But they were wild, chanting and bucking for me to strip down and show them my tits, and Kane wasn’t getting here fast enough.

  Shit.

  Run.

  I’ll always find you.

  Kane’s words overrode Rafe’s. The best way to fight your demons is to stop running, turn around, and face them.

  I stared at my past where he stood, taunting me from the crowd, taking all of his hatred, all of the unspoken threats he communicated across the distance. Absorbing them, so they couldn’t frighten me anymore. So that they could strengthen me instead. This man hated me, and would ruin my son. The way people had tried to ruin Kane. If I ever wanted to stop him, if I ever wanted this to end…

  I’d made a commitment to quit running. Now was the time to follow through on it.

  Rafe pulled his gaze away, and I saw he had a cell phone in his hand. He frowned at the screen and then stared up at me with a smile that was pure evil. Chills dragged across my skin at the look in his eye. Like he had me, and I didn’t even know it yet.

  “Kane!” I screamed, trying to be heard over the music.

  I looked over to see him throwing people out of the way. The roused customers turned on each other and several fights broke out. As he struggled to get around them, he yelled for Jake and pointed toward the door.

  When I looked for Rafe again, he was making his way toward the exit, ballcap back in place. The distance between him and Kane was growing instead of closing.

  “No,” I breathed. “No.”

  Marcie ushered me off the stage and I heard the music change as someone else took my place, aiming to regain the attention of the crowd.

  The last thing I saw before the stage door closed, was Rafe, escaping past the ropes, with no one able to stop him.

  Chapter Seventeen

  KANAAN

  “You got you a piece of that, didn’t you?”

  Marco’s voice pulled my attention away from Gemma’s dance. My sexy little minx was trying to make things hard for me while I did my job. But I wasn’t mad about it. Sure, I didn’t like the way it made me want to goofy-smile like I was fucking Jake or something. But I could forgive that because she was mine now. She’d be leaving here with me. Returning to my bed in the morning.

  We were working on a plan for her to talk to Noah tomorrow. A burner phone Marco had purchased was delivered to her mother a few hours ago. Another one Sal had bought was given to Gemma. After work, when we were safely shut away in my home, she could finally call her son.

  I knew it was hurting her to go even a day without him. She loved him so much. Seeing that in her, and the insight she’d shared about my childhood, made me rethink my relationship with my mother. I’d never know if what Gemma thought about her was true, but the fact that it was a possibility helped.

  A mother’s love wasn’t always black and white. Like any love, there was a lot of gray. Gemma showed me that.

  But she and Noah needed each other. I would figure out a way for them to be together—and safe—if it fucking killed me.

  “Come on,” Marco pushed after he’d downed a shot and slid the glass to Sal for another. He tossed his gaze toward the stage. “Tell the truth. You hit that. I can see it in your eyes.”

  “I did not ‘hit’ that.”

  I did something else with Gemma. Lots of things actually. Naughty things, beautiful things. Things that made my heart hammer behind my sternum for how carnal they were. Things that melted me down like wax and shaped me into something new.

  But none of those things could be classified as a ‘hit’.

  Marco stared at me, but I wasn’t giving anything away. “You did something. You look different.”

  “I do not look different, asshole.”

  “You look different,” Sal agreed, pushing the drink in front of Marco.

  “Bullshit.”

  “I know what this is,” he said low.

  “Yeah? What then?”

  Sal took his time, leaning back against the bar, running a rough hand over his bearded chin. “You’re in fucking love, man.”

  That stopped me. Partly because it was no one’s business what had happened between me and Gemma. But also because his summation didn’t seem like enough.

  “Damn,” Marco whispered, gulping his drink and slamming it down on the counter. “Fuck. I think you’re right, Sal.” The boss didn’t seem entirely happy about the news, and I still couldn’t make my throat work. “Hell, I fell in love with my first pussy too though.”

  I swung around to glare at him, but Sal beat me to words.

  “Don’t be an ass.”

  Marco shrugged, unapologetic.

  “I’m not in love with Gemma. I’m in everything with her. I hope one day you get to feel this way. Because it’s fucking breathtaking. And that’s all I’m saying about that. Fuck-you very much.”

  Both men frowned like they were actually trying to understand instead of giving me shit.

  That was new.

  Sal’s frown turned to fury in a blink, and I followed his gaze toward the stage where Gemma was dancing. One look at my girl and my chest went cold.

  She stood under the lights, staring into the raucous crowd, looking for all hell like she’d seen a ghost. Her face was terror stricken, eyes wide, as she faced off with… who?

  I followed her gaze to a man in the crowd. Shaved head, tall, but otherwise unfamiliar.

  “It’s him,” Sal growled, and I shook my head. The man didn’t look like Rafe Carlson.

  But Gemma’s look… the fear in her eyes. It was enough to have me going for the son-of-a-bitch.

  I ripped through the crowd, pushing customers out of my way, not caring if it stirred up trouble. I had to get to this guy and find out why he made Gemma white with terror. Shit.

  Shoving a burly college boy out of my way, I pushed closer, and caught a glimpse of the bald man’s face. The telltale scar on his cheek looked different because it wasn’t partially covered with his goatee. But I’d stared at every picture of that asshole until my eyes felt like bleeding. I knew who it was.

  “Rafe!” I called over to Jake. He looked like a fucking bulldog, scanning the crowd for anyone similar to the picture I’d passed around. “Shaved head. Going for the door!” Jake locked in on him just as I took an elbow to the gut. I shoved the brawling duo out of my way, but by the time I looked up, Jake was gone, and so was any sign of a bald head.

  “Shit.”

  I looked to the stage for Gemma, but she had disappeared. My heart hammered with worry. I had to find her. Fast. Had to put my hands on her and know she was okay. Jake could handle Rafe.

  Gemma was my only concern.

  Cutting across the crowd, I slammed through the side door that led to the dressing rooms and backstage area. My chest contracted painfully as I spotted my girl, running full speed at me. She’d lost her shoes at some point, but didn’t seem to care. Eyes wide, tears streaming over her cheeks.

  “Kane!” she shouted, and I charged forward, catching her in my arms. “Kane. Kane. Kane.” She didn’t stop saying my name. Like her mind hadn’t caught up to her body and was still searching me out.

  “Here, baby. I got you.”

  She clawed my shirt, trying to climb into me, and for the first time, I truly understood just how afraid this man made her. You feel safe. Her words from the diner hit me in the chest, once again ripping my heart wide open.

  “You’re okay, Gem. Right here, you’re safe,” I breathed into her hair while she sobbed against my neck. Shit, it killed me to see my strong Gemma shaking to pieces like this over that asshole. It made me want to raze the place just so he’d burn. It made me see red, taste fury like burnt dreams, dark
and throbbing like the blood in my veins.

  I was going to kill him. End of story. Jake was going to hunt him down, and I’d kill the fucker. Sal would help. I could count on him. It was the only way to make Gemma feel safe. And goddamn it, she deserved to feel that.

  Marcie rushed forward with a robe and draped it over Gemma’s shoulders.

  “Thank you,” I ground out.

  “The stage is covered,” she said. “Marco and Sal took to the parking lot to look for the bastard.”

  “Jake?” He was closest to Rafe. He must have kept eyes on him.

  Marcie shook her head. “Don’t know.”

  I pressed Gemma closer, trying to think.

  “H-He got a message,” she stuttered. “A… a… something on his phone. He… Kane, he’s going to do something. He smiled at me. Smiled. He’s going to hurt someone. I know it. He…”

  “Shh,” I soothed. “We’ll find him.”

  I’d barely gotten the words out when my phone buzzed. I maneuvered one hand to dig it out of my pocket. The number on the screen was familiar, and I clicked to answer.

  “Talk,” I barked into the receiver.

  Jake’s furious voice came through the phone. “I got the bastard, boss.”

  “Where?”

  I started for the front, dragging Gemma along with me.

  “Well, that’s the fucked up part. I’m following him. I couldn’t catch him as he left the club, so I grabbed my truck and followed him when he pulled out. He didn’t see me.”

  “Shit. Is he alone?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Stay on the line. And don’t lose him, Jake.”

  We arrived at the front just as Marco and Sal stalked back in, both looking murderous.

  “Fucker’s gone,” Sal seethed.

  “Shut it down!” Marco yelled, waving his arm at the bouncers guarding the door. “No one else comes in. Clear out the rooms.”

  I spotted a line of waiting people through the door. Probably how Rafe escaped so easily. Too many people, and he looked a hell of a lot different than his picture.

  “Jake’s on the phone. He’s got him. Following the bastard in his truck. We’ll find him. And deal with this.” I eyed Sal and he gave me a solemn nod.

  “Goddamn it,” Marco bellowed, shaking his head at me. “Two incidents in two weeks. We tighten this place up when it’s over. This can’t happen again.”

  “Agreed,” I grit out, pressing Gemma to my side and the phone to my ear.

  He muttered something angrily. It sounded like “shoulda let me kill him”, but he squeezed Gemma’s shoulder as he passed, barking out orders to clear the club.

  “Where are you, Jake?” I asked.

  Penelope had joined Sal and Marcie to listen in. She had clothes and shoes for Gemma, and I let go of her long enough for her to pull on the denim and flipflops.

  “Going west on the interstate,” reported back to me. “Shit, wait. He’s exiting. Looks like we’re headed for a residential. Crummy part of town. I’m on a side road. Hang on, there’s a sign up here… Cedar Valley Avenue.”

  I froze as the street name reverberated in my ears. “Cedar Valley. You sure?”

  “Yeah, boss.”

  My mind wanted to find another explanation, make this a close call instead of what it was becoming. A situation we might not come out of unscathed.

  But I knew where Rafe was going.

  “You’ll be turning left next. Two stop lights down, there’s an apartment building.”

  “Yeah. That’s right. I see it. Bastard’s heading right for it.”

  I met Gemma’s panicked gaze. “Noah,” she whimpered. “He’s found my son. I have to go. We have to go now.”

  “Boss, he’s pulling in.”

  My mind churned, looking for the solution that wouldn’t end with my girl broken. That wouldn’t end with her family destroyed. My… my family destroyed. If she was mine, so were they. Fuck.

  But that felt right. Felt real.

  It wasn’t just Gemma’s family in danger now, it was ours.

  Fiery panic crawled up my chest at the thought of that little boy ending up in the arms of a cruel, cruel man who cared nothing for him. He believed in heroes. In Hulk. In pancakes and dreams and his mother and nana. He deserved what every little boy deserved. What I never got, but still should’ve.

  What I could still have if I fought for it, and won this battle.

  He deserved—we deserved—happiness with the ones we loved.

  I pulled Gemma out the door and across the parking lot to my truck. “Call the police,” she told Penelope. “Call them, Vanilla, please. Send them to 1212 Jameson Way, Apartment 14. Hurry!”

  I pushed her into the truck cab, crawling in after and slamming the door.

  “Jake, listen to me. Gemma’s son and mother live in those apartments. I think he’s going after them.”

  “Shit.”

  “We’re on our way.” In the rearview mirror, I saw Penelope and Sal get into his Mustang.

  “Boss…” Jake’s voice had dropped, taking on a murderous edge. “He’s getting out of his car. He has a gun. Shit, just hid it in his coat. He’s heading for an apartment on the bottom floor.”

  I glanced at Gemma. She was viciously swiping tears from her cheeks but more kept coming.

  “Number 14?”

  “Yeah,” Jake confirmed and my stomach dropped.

  I pressed the gas pedal to the floor, sending my truck roaring over the pavement.

  “Naw, this is shit,” Jake murmured, almost to himself. “I’m going in. Not sitting out here while he hurts some fucking innocent child.”

  “Jake…”

  I ran the backend of a stoplight, not caring if they sent me the damn ticket in the mail.

  “Fuck you, boss. You’re not telling me to hang back. I couldn’t live with that. I took your pledge to protect our girls. Well, this is protecting Gemma. Because she’d be destroyed if anything happened to her boy. She’s good like that. He’s almost to the door. I’m going in.”

  “Jake…” I couldn’t catch my breath. I was so close to being free. So damn close. I had everything I wanted in my grasp, and one dickhead was about to cause it all to slip through my fingers. Noah. Rosa. Gemma. My girl. How many lives would be ruined tonight if Rafe succeeded? “You keep them safe. Okay. You do what it takes, and keep them fucking safe. You do this, and I’ll owe you my life. Understand? My fucking life. It’s yours. Hear me?”

  Jake’s breath was heard through the phone, and the soft slam of his truck door. “Got it, boss,” he said.

  And the line went dead.

  Chapter Eighteen

  GEMMA

  A million scenarios played out in my head, each of them choking me so hard I could barely pull in air. Noah and mama were in danger. Rafe was going to get to them before I could, before the police could. I was going to lose them. Lose everything I’d been struggling to keep since finding the guts to leave him in the first place.

  Losing my son would kill me. My circumstances had made me stronger, I knew. I’d come so far from the beaten girl who laid on the floor feeding her baby in the dark. I’d become a badass. Kane taught me that. But if anything happened to Noah? No, I wouldn’t make it through that.

  Another violent sob wracked my chest.

  “How did he find them?” I croaked. “How? I left. I was careful. I did everything right. Didn’t even call. Took every precaution. How did Rafe find them?”

  Kane said nothing. Just jerked the wheel to send the truck around a corner. I swear we went up on two tires, but I didn’t care as long as it got us to the apartments faster.

  We took the interstate several miles and then exited onto Cedar Valley, and turned left on Jameson Way. It was the most direct route from the Sapphire.

  The route I never ever took.

  “How did he know?”

  We pulled in behind Jake’s truck. It was parked along the alley where the dumpsters were, and he’d left it running. Sirens blar
ed in the distance, still too far away to matter.

  I jumped out of Kane’s truck, ready to run for my apartment. Ready to put myself in front of my son. Drag him from Rafe’s arms. Beg, if that would sway him. Whatever the fuck it took, I’d do it.

  “Gemma, wait!” Kane called, and he caught me before I crossed the packed down gravel to the sidewalk. But all I cared about was getting to Noah.

  Sal pulled in behind us, distracting Kane long enough for me to break free. I ran around the dumpsters, spotting a car too nice to belong in this part of town. It was parked along the road outside the lot, too far away for me to make out the plates. A black Cadillac sedan. And instinctively, I knew it was Rafe’s.

  The figure of a man popped up from the ground beside the car. Tall and familiar, but my frantic mind couldn’t make the connection, and who he was didn’t matter now. He paused as he caught me staring, and watched me run around the entrance to the parking lot.

  Somewhere behind me, I heard Penelope yell, “Over there! The asshole from the Champagne room.”

  Vaguely, I thought about the Hannibal Lector wannabe. That couldn’t be him. Here. At my… with Rafe…

  Oh, shit.

  The sirens grew closer.

  And I pushed myself forward, needing to get to Noah.

  But as I ran through the parking lot, I saw a bloody Rafe charging toward the rear exit, and I skidded to a stop. He was going for his car. His car that I had just passed. It was a distance away, but if we ran around the way we came, we could beat him there. I knew it.

  We had to. If Rafe got away now, we’d never be free.

  I turned, almost smacking into Kane and Sal.

  Turn around. Face your demons.

  “The car, the car!” I screamed. “He’s heading for his car.”

  Rafe didn’t have Noah with him. And he was hurt. This information gave me enough courage to go after him.

  As I raced for the road, it struck me that the tables had turned.

  I was no longer on the run. I was on the chase.