Undercover Attraction

by Katee Robert

  “You okay, Keira?”

  “Yeah.” She sounded a little shaky, but the glass hadn’t reached her spot.

  Charlie’s stomach lurched at the bullet holes in the wall above their table, though. If she’d been standing there …

  She wasn’t. None of us were. Stop worrying about what-if and move.

  “Stay down.” Charlie didn’t think the shooters would come back around, but it wasn’t worth the risk.

  Carrigan had her phone out. “Get back here now … Yes, I know I said you could grab food. Plans have changed. Now.” She hung up and immediately dialed again. “James. I’m fine.” Her eyes met Charlie’s, and she gave a wry smile at the lie. She was just as cut up, if not more so. “Okay, not totally fine. There was a drive-by.” A pause. “Yes, you’re right. The O’Malley house is closest. I’ll be there. Love you.”

  Charlie belatedly realized she should probably be making a call of her own. She winced as she grabbed her phone, the move pulling on half a dozen cuts. The phone had barely rung when Aiden picked up. “What’s wrong?”

  Of course he would know something was wrong. The only reason she would be calling was if plans had changed, and they never changed for positive reasons. Stop stalling and tell him what happened. She took a deep breath, but it did nothing to calm her racing heart or remove the shakiness from her voice. “There was a drive-by.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  “What? No. Aiden, you can’t. I’m okay. We’re all okay.”

  She didn’t know if she was telling the truth about the O’Malley men who’d been stationed out front. It sounded like Carrigan had let her security detail go get food, since it didn’t seem necessary to double up. She swallowed hard and knew without a shadow of a doubt that they hadn’t made it if they’d been in the last place she’d seen them—right outside the window. “I …”

  You can do this. You’ve faced down worse than this.

  It was a long time ago, though.

  She did her best to draw on her training about how to operate in an emergency. What had Carrigan said? “We’re coming back. We can get to the house faster than any other place—and it’ll be faster than it would be to wait for you and then turn around and go back.”

  “I’m coming with a group of my men to meet you halfway. Can you reach the car?”

  She started to say yes but stopped. Normal drive-by shootings—it was so sad that such a thing existed—were over as soon as the car drove away from the scene. But she couldn’t be sure there was anything normal about this situation. “I think so.”

  “Then get your ass in the car, bright eyes.”

  She hung up and looked around the room. “Aiden’s sending men to meet us.” They had to get out of here. The restaurant staff hadn’t ventured out, and she wasn’t in the mood to hunt them down. “Keira, come on.”

  The younger woman stood on shaky legs, her eyes too wide. “I’m going to kill that motherfucker.”

  Charlie didn’t ask what she meant, just turned to Carrigan. “Can you walk?”

  “Yes.” She shoved to her feet, teetering a little in her heels. She made a face at the blood running down her legs. “I guess that’s one way to ruin a pair of shoes.”

  “My least favorite way.” Charlie’s jeans had saved her legs from the worst of it, but Carrigan’s bare legs … “Do you have a doctor on staff?”

  “Keira can call Doc Jones as soon as we get to the car.” She sighed. “You’re a New Yorker, right? I guess that means I’m driving.” She pulled a gun out of her tiny purse, checked to make sure it was loaded, and nodded. “Let’s go.”

  They still had to get out of the restaurant. It made sense to leave the back way, into the alley, but Charlie had to know if there was some kind of body count.

  If we hadn’t left today … No. She couldn’t afford to think like that. The men knew what they were potentially signing up for when they took jobs as enforcers for the O’Malleys.

  That knowledge didn’t make her feel the least bit better.

  Carrigan’s phone rang before she took a step. She frowned. “Yeah?” Whoever it was didn’t have good news. Her gaze cut to Charlie. “We’ll go out the back and meet you at the O’Malley house. Take care of it.”

  Even though Charlie was certain she didn’t want to know, she had to ask. “What?”

  “The two men working your security detail didn’t make it. I’m sorry.” She glanced at the front door. “We have to leave now.”

  “But—” She cut herself off. “You’re right.” There was more than her guilt to think about right now. Carrigan could clearly carry herself just fine in a crisis, but Keira’s adrenaline was obviously running rampant. She had to get the girl to safety.

  She pulled her own gun from her ankle holster. Should have pulled it before now. Apparently, her instincts weren’t as great as she’d thought. She took up the rear position in their little group.

  The back entrance let out through the kitchen. A chef and two servers were huddled near the walk-in freezer. Carrigan ignored them, but Charlie stopped. “Stay here until the police arrive. You’re safe.” They didn’t look like they believed her, but she couldn’t do much about that. She’d tried.

  Carrigan’s town car was two blocks over, and they made it there with no trouble—though everyone they passed gave them a wide berth.

  Not a single person asked if they needed help.

  Anger rose, pounding in time with Charlie’s heart. Three women, two covered in blood and limping, and … nothing. She jumped when Keira took her hand. “Deep breaths, Charlie.”

  She didn’t want to take deep breaths. She wanted to rail and scream at how fucked up the universe was. The longer she was on this earth, the harder time she had convincing herself that people defaulted to good. They didn’t. They defaulted to selfish.

  Every. Single. Fucking. Time.

  “I’m fine.”

  “I know.”

  Carrigan pulled a key out of her purse. “It pays to be paranoid and carry and extra key. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Charlie took one last look down the street in the direction of the restaurant and then climbed into the car. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

  * * *

  Aiden barely waited for his SUV to pull to a stop next to the town car before he jumped out of the passenger seat and rushed around the front of the car. It didn’t matter that they were at a red light in the middle of the street. All that mattered was the fear he’d heard in Charlie’s voice when she’d called him to tell him what happened.

  A drive-by.

  All he could think when he heard was, Not again. He yanked open the back door and stopped short at the sight of Charlie covered in blood. She blinked. “Get in the car before people start honking.”

  He slid onto the seat next to her and slammed the door shut. “Doc Jones will meet us at the house.” Carrigan and Keira were in the front, clearly visible, since the tinted glass was retracted. Carrigan seemed to be doing okay, since she was driving, though she was covered in as much blood as Charlie was. Keira alone looked unscathed.

  He gently took Charlie’s hand, his chest tight as he turned it to see the cuts littering her arms. “Did you see who it was?”

  “It was Romanov,” Carrigan said. “It had to be.”

  “No, it wasn’t.” Keira turned fully around to look at him. “I know you hate him, but it wasn’t him. If he hadn’t warned me, we’d all be dead.”

  He’d circle back to how Romanov had managed to warn her once they were safe and patched up. Right now, he had bigger priorities. “He could have set it up so you would think that.”

  “No, really?” She rolled her eyes. “But if he was behind it, he would have called it off the second he knew I was back in that room.”

  They were definitely going to have a conversation once things settled down.

  “You’re delusional.” Carrigan turned onto their block.

  Was she, though? A drive-by on a public street w
as hardly Romanov’s style. It was too … blunt. He had no reason to strike. By all appearances, Aiden was setting him up to get exactly what he wanted. Taking a shot at Carrigan would sever any alliance—and it would ensure that all three of Boston’s families turned their fury directly at him. To say nothing of Keira’s reaction.

  It’s something the Eldridges would do.

  Alethea and Mae had let him and Charlie walk out of the warehouse alive, but that didn’t mean that they were going to play right into his and Romanov’s hands.

  This whole thing had started when Romanov turned down a marriage alliance with Mae in favor of Keira. Put Charlie in the same room—another woman Mae couldn’t stand—and it was practically waving a red flag in front of a bull.

  He’d assumed that because they were in Boston and surrounded by O’Malley and Halloran men that Charlie and his sisters would be safe. He’d obviously been wrong. It was something he’d have to deal with. Later.

  Right now, all he could see was the blood on Charlie’s pale skin. Even though they were obviously all surface wounds, he couldn’t help connecting the sight with the night Devlin was killed. She could have died. If things had played out differently, she would have—the same way his youngest brother did on that night three years ago, shot down like a dog in the street.

  A shudder worked its way through him, and he tried to fight it off. Now wasn’t the time for his control to waver. There was never time for his control to waver. He realized his hand was shaking and went to let go of hers, but she tightened her grip. Charlie shifted closer, lowering her voice. “I’m okay, Aiden. We’re all okay.”

  Twice now, she’d dodged being hurt severely. Who was to say she’d be so lucky if this happened again?

  “I’ll find who did this and I’ll put them in the ground.”

  Carrigan snorted. “You’re going to have to arm-wrestle James for the right.” She parked, and the man in question appeared as if by magic at the side of the car. He yanked open the driver’s door and stopped short. Carrigan held up a hand and then seemed to realize that all the blood made it look worse. “I’m okay. I promise.”

  “Lovely, we need to have a conversation about what okay means. This?” He pointed at her. “Not okay.”

  She climbed out of the car, glaring at him in the same way she used to glare at Aiden when she was a kid and would skin her knee, almost daring him to make an issue of it. “If you try to carry me, I’m not going to take it well.”

  Aiden half expected James to override his sister’s protests, but he just cast a critical eye over her. “You collapse, I’m carrying you.”

  “Deal.” She turned back to the car. “Hey … Charlie.”

  Charlie smiled, as if sharing some joke Aiden wasn’t party to. “Yeah?”

  “We’re having a fundraiser tomorrow night. I’ll make sure you and Aiden are on the list.” Then they were gone. Carrigan might be an O’Malley still, but she was now a Halloran first. James would have his own doctor on staff to get her checked out.

  By the time they all made it inside, Doc Jones had arrived. She’d intimidated the shit out of Aiden as a child—she was tall and broad and had flame red hair streaked with gray—and his impression of her hadn’t changed much as he got older. He paid her very well to be available when they needed her, but there wasn’t enough money in the world to ensure that she had a good attitude while she did it.

  She propped her hands on her hips and looked them over. “Well, hell. I’ve never seen a more motley crew, and in my line of work, that’s saying something.”

  “Doc Jones.” He touched Charlie’s back, urging her forward, the warmth of her body through her clothes reassuring him as he shadowed her, sure that she was going to drop at any moment.

  The good doctor, naturally, called him on it. “Let the girl breathe. Back off or you’ll wait outside.”

  Aiden instantly took a step back. As hard as it was to put distance between them, being forced out of the room while she worked on Charlie would be even worse. He watched like a hawk as Doc Jones examined her arms and huffed. “Did a number on yourself, didn’t you?”

  “I have a deep desire not to be shot.”

  She chuckled. “Don’t we all? You’re miles ahead of this idiot’s siblings.” She jerked a thumb at Aiden. “Though he, at least, hasn’t called me up because of a bullet wound yet.”

  “He’d better not.”

  Doc Jones went to work, cleaning the worst of the blood off and then carefully prodding the wounds in search of glass. Aiden gritted his teeth every time Charlie winced. She put a brave face on it, but then she would. She was too tough for her own good.

  He wanted her to be able to let down her guard around him. It was such a foolish desire—to be her safe harbor—that he didn’t know how to deal with it. He wasn’t safe for Charlie. He’d never be safe for her. Asking her to be vulnerable around him because he craved the ability to take care of her was selfish in the extreme.

  Knowing that didn’t do a single damn thing to detract from the desire.

  Watching her tough it out when she was obviously in pain, scared, and pissed off broke his fucking heart. It took every ounce of control he had to sit still and offer silent support, when all he wanted to do was shove Doc Jones away and carry Charlie up to his room.

  By the time Doc Jones was finished, Aiden was shaking nearly as much as Charlie. The doctor adjusted the bandages on her arms. “It could have been a lot worse.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m giving you pain meds. You had better damn well take them.” She continued before Charlie had a chance to answer. “No one likes a heroic idiot. Take the pills and slow down enough to give your body a chance to start healing. You don’t have a cock, so whipping it out to prove yours is the biggest is going to waste everyone’s time.”

  Aiden stepped up and plucked the pill bottle from the doctor’s hand. “I’ll make sure she takes it.”

  Doc Jones managed to look down her nose at him despite the fact that she was sitting. “I should give you some damn Xanax, because, God knows, you aren’t going to sleep tonight. But I know better.”

  He managed a small smile. “Yes, you do.” The closest Aiden got to pills was ibuprofen, and even then he had to be seriously hurting to take it. He knew damn well it was his control-freak nature, but that didn’t mean he was about to change.

  “Should shoot you with a damn horse tranq.” Doc Jones shook her head and stood, her gaze narrowing on Keira, who was sitting meekly on the couch. “And you. Don’t get me started on you. That shit you put in your body is going to kill you, girl.”

  “Not if a stray bullet gets me first.”

  Aiden turned to tell Keira not to joke like that, but Doc Jones boomed out a laugh. “At least you’ve got your sense of humor.” She packed up her stuff and headed for the door, pausing next to Keira. “Eat something, girl. Suicide, whether it’s fast or slow, is the coward’s choice. Find something to live for.” Then she was gone, the door shutting softly behind her.

  Keira barely waited for her heavy footsteps to disappear down the hallway before she jumped up. “I need a hit like nobody’s business.” Then she was gone as well, though her exit was much quieter.

  Alone at last, Aiden finally moved to crouch in front of Charlie. She didn’t say anything as he took her hands and extended her arms, turning them this way and that, examining Doc Jones’s bandage job. It was impeccable, as always. “How are you doing?”

  “Terrible.” She sighed. “It’s been a while since I was in the middle of a crisis like that. I forgot how hard the adrenaline spike is afterwards.”

  There were half a dozen things he needed to be doing right now, starting with having Liam smooth things over with the Boston PD, but he didn’t give a damn. She was hurting and shaky, and he wanted to be the one to hold her until it passed. “Let’s get up to our room. I have one call to make and then I can help you get settled in.” His men deserved that much.

  Aiden would figure out if the Eld
ridges were responsible, and if they were, he’d make them pay. That was his job. He took no joy in it. This shit never ended. Even as he took steps to secure their future safety, some other threat would come along and pull the rug out from beneath his feet.

  There were several smaller organizations who weren’t too keen on the hold the O’Malleys had over central Boston, but this drive-by was a bold move. Colm Sheridan’s massacre of the MacNamara family was the stuff of nightmares, and no one was willing to push either the O’Malleys or the Hallorans hard enough to risk an outcome on that level.

  No, the Eldridges were the only ones crazy enough to attack this boldly.

  He put that all on the back burner, to think about after he got Charlie relaxed enough to sleep. He stood, letting go of one of her hands but maintaining his grip on the other. “Are you hungry?”

  “No.”

  He’d still call and have some food brought up—something that would go easy on an upset stomach and would keep overnight. She might not be hungry now, but in an hour that could change. If she managed to sleep, she’d definitely wake up hungry.

  She must have seen something on his face, because she gave a wry smile. “You’re something of a mother hen.”

  “I’m worried about you. Let me fuss.”

  They made it back to his room without running into anyone, a small miracle, and he locked the door for good measure. “Sit. I’ll grab you some clothes.”

  It was a token of how shaken up she was that she actually did what he told her instead of insisting she was capable of doing it herself. He headed for the bathroom to grab a washcloth to finish cleaning off the blood, then paused in the doorway. Charlie looked so small sitting on the end of his bed, her head bowed and her shoulders shaking, just a little.

  He didn’t know how to do this. Aiden was the sword and shield that stood between his family and the rest of the world. He wasn’t a nurturer. It was so much easier to fight than it was to comfort.

  For Charlie, he’d learn. “I’ll take care of you, bright eyes. I promise.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN