by Jane Henry
Donnie carefully pulled his legs through the window, one after the other, setting his feet soundlessly on the bottom of the tub.
“Once you were here, he tried to keep away from me. But I knew we were destined to be together all along. I knew he just needed me to show him how good it could be between us. That’s why I made sure Carly got sick the day she was scheduled to do the demo. And sure enough, once he had my ass splayed out on that spanking bench, Donnie couldn’t hold back. I have never had someone take me to the places he’s taken me!” Her voice quivered with remembered longing, and Donnie felt his stomach turn.
Certifiable! Had the woman really lit the place on fire? For fuck’s sake, why?
“S-so, what? You’re going to shoot me, just to get me out of the way so that you can be with Donnie?” Grace demanded.
Julie snorted. “You sound so traumatized, precious. Next you’ll be telling me you thought you and I were friends.” She laughed again, but then grew serious. Her voice was quiet, and Donnie strained to hear it over the shrill alarm. “I didn’t want it to have to come to this, you know. If you’d left when I talked to you... If Carter had managed to take you this morning, like I paid him to—”
“You paid the man who grabbed me?” Grace was outraged. “Outside the coffee shop?”
Julie snorted again. “Yes. I’d been following you two all morning, and I took my shot the minute you stepped away from him. But my idiot cousin was no match for Donnie. God, did you like the show my Donnie gave you?” Julie’s voice rose in excitement. “The way he lost control? That’s the kind of man Donnie is. He shouldn’t have to keep himself in check the way he does with you. He shouldn’t have to hide. With me, he won’t!”
“H-he’s going to be back any minute!” Grace warned her desperately. “He just went to shut off the alarm and he’ll be back! He’s never gonna be with you if he knows what you’ve done.”
His hands and feet were cut to shit from scrabbling against the brick outside, his lungs still burned from exertion and the lingering effects of the smoke, and his legs could barely support him, but he pushed himself up from his crouch and stood. He braced a hand against the tile, steadying himself as his head swam.
“Oh, sweetie,” Julie crooned. “I almost, almost, feel bad. Hurting you is gonna be like hurting a sweet, little puppy! I really do think I’ll be traumatized.” She gave an unconvincing sob that turned to laughter. “Or I’ll play it off that way, anyhow. Once they find your remains in the wreckage, and Donnie’s precious club is gone, he and I will have to lean on each other more than ever! He’ll be all sad and mopey because he’s lost his club and his little fuck toy, and I… well, I’ll be as indispensable to him as I always am!”
“W-what do you mean wreckage?” Grace’s voice wobbled.
Julie giggled. “I mean, I lit a tiny little fire on the second floor. Can you smell the smoke? Fire for purity, you know? Burn it all down, and start new. That’s the way.”
Where was the fire department? Fuck.
God, he needed to get in there.
“You set fire to the building? With Donnie inside?” Donnie shut his eyes as Grace’s words flowed through him. Crazy-scared as she was, her first thought had still been for him.
“No, silly!” Julie argued. “I locked Donnie out. Secured all the fire doors so he can’t get up here and cut the landlines in the office so he can’t call out, even if he manages to get to the office somehow.”
“B-but that means you’re stuck up here, too!” Grace reminded her. “If you untie me… If you call the fire department right now? I’ll go, Julie. I’ll leave town, I swear I will. I’ll walk away and you’ll never see me again. I promise!”
Donnie tiptoed across the bathroom floor and paused in the open door to the hallway. The smoke was beginning to seep beneath the apartment door now, and he knew they had only minutes left to escape. He thought he heard the noise of sirens in the distance and prayed that the firefighters would get there in time.
He turned towards the bedroom in time to see Julie smile widely and lean down to stroke Grace’s face with the barrel of the gun.
“So, so sweet. You know, I can almost understand what he sees in you!” she mused. “No, honey, you see, I also know how to release the magnets on the fire door. I’ll stumble out the back exit into Donnie’s waiting arms, just grateful to be alive, and no one will suspect a thing. You’re the last loose end I need to tie up, Grace.” She stood back and aimed the gun.
Instinct, overwhelming and unstoppable, had Donnie stepping through the door and into the room, dragging Julie’s attention—and the focus of her gun—away from Grace.
“Donnie!” Julie cried in confusion, her eyes pinging back and forth from him to the bed. “Donnie… it’s not what it looks like!”
Donnie took one look at Grace, who was still naked on the mattress, covered only by a sheet. He could see that she had twisted one hand loose from the t-shirt that bound her to the bed, and he was confident that she could get the other one loose, too, as soon as Julie was distracted. He gave Grace a small nod when Julie’s gaze swung in Grace’s direction.
He let his face settle in a sneer as he regarded Grace, and made sure Julie saw it. Then he drawled, “Oh, I think it’s pretty obvious what happened here… sweetheart.”
He turned his gaze to Julie and looked at her adoringly. Her face scrunched into a frown as she attempted to process his loving look and his tender words.
“You caught this bitch trying to sabotage The Club,” Donnie said with a smile. “God, I can’t believe I was so wrong about her, Julie. Thank God you were here.”
From the window, Donnie could see the flashing red and blue lights of the emergency vehicles, but Julie didn’t seem to notice. She licked her lips and watched Donnie avidly, her corners of her lips tipping up in a mad little smile. “Y-yes. Yes! I was here tonight doing the…”
“Stockroom inventory?” Donnie supplied, taking a step closer. From the corner of his eye, he could see Grace working her second hand free.
“Yes! Yes, the stockroom. And I saw her downstairs setting fires!” Julie accused.
Donnie widened his eyes as though this were news to him. As though he hadn’t just had to scale the outside of the building to get here. As though the smoke wasn’t, even now, seeping under the apartment door and slithering along the hallway. As though someone other than Donnie himself could have tied Grace to his bed.
God. The woman was truly lost to madness. He felt a flash of pity, but ruthlessly quashed it. Grace was his only priority. Julie’s delusions were something he’d have to use to his advantage.
He took a step towards Julie, eyes wide and concerned.
“Oh, Julie, sweetheart, that’s terrible! Are you okay? Did she hurt you?” He pasted a sympathetic look on his face and took another step closer to her.
Julie didn’t seem to know what to do with the gun. She swung it back and forth from him to Grace, unable to think clearly. She obviously wanted him closer, but she wasn’t sure she could trust him. He needed to push a little harder.
“Whoa! Sweetie, put that down right now!” He made his voice go stern and dominant, just as she would expect, but he let his eyes narrow and his gaze focus on her lips. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right, and give you a kiss!”
“A k-kiss?” Julie whispered, her eyes enormous. “You’ve never kissed me before!”
“That was before, when things were different and I thought I needed to keep my distance. Now I see how clearly we were meant to be together,” he told her.
Julie let the gun hang limply at her side as he approached the last few steps. He lifted one hand to cup her cheek, distracting her, while the other hand clamped around the wrist holding the gun. He squeezed her wrist slightly as he lowered his head to hers, and took the gun from her limp hand just before their lips touched.
Yes.
The hand he’d placed on Julie’s face moved back further to grab her by the hair, and he forced the woman face
-down to the ground before she had a chance to blink. Tucking the gun into his waistband, he grabbed Julie’s arms and pinned them behind her, holding her down with his knee to her lower back.
She wriggled against him for a moment, fighting his hold, but the reality of the situation must have finally penetrated the fantasy she’d woven. Her struggles turned to quiet sobs, and Donnie was finally, finally able to turn his attention to the woman on the bed.
“Up and dress, Grace!” he barked.
Grace had managed to untangle herself from the shirt, and as he watched, she threw back the sheet and reached for the clothes she’d discarded earlier. She looked supremely pissed off, but otherwise uninjured… and then he noticed that one of her cheeks was red, likely from where Julie had slapped her. He found himself applying just a tiny bit more pressure to Julie’s wrists in response. Crazy as Julie might be, he had zero fucking sympathy for anyone who laid a hand on his angel.
“You’re all right? Your cheek?” he rasped when Grace had shoved her feet into her shoes and raised her eyes to him.
Grace nodded, but as her eyes raked over his body, her angry expression crumpled and her eyes filled with tears. She took a step toward him as if she couldn’t help herself. “Oh my God, Donnie! Your poor chest is burned! And your feet!”
Donnie shook his head, cutting her off. “Not now, angel. Open the window and yell out to let them know we’re here. And tell them we have a mentally unstable woman in here who confessed to arson and attempted murder.”
She did as he commanded, and seconds later, the rescue squad was hoisting a crane to the window, so Grace wouldn’t have to jump from the fire escape.
The smoke was rolling thicker now, filling the room as the flames no doubt engulfed the hall outside. Still, as the firefighter’s face appeared outside the window and he held out a hand for Grace, she paused, turned to Donnie, and somehow, impossibly, found it in her to smile.
“Love you, Donnie,” she said, as she stepped over the windowsill.
Again, he marveled at his woman’s strength, but for once in his life, he also had to wonder at his own dumb luck. The building he’d designed and helped renovate was burning down around him, his future was uncertain, and he had no idea how he would get Grace free of Mikey and Salazar, but at that moment he couldn’t find it in himself to be anything but thankful. He knew how to build a life from the ground up. God knew, he’d done it before. He could do it again. As long as Grace was safe and happy and by his side, he had everything he needed.
“Brother, you are not gonna believe the phone call I just got.”
Donnie glanced up from his sprawl on the couch in Slay and Alice’s comfortable family room and regarded Slay with eyes that still burned from the smoke. Despite showers he’d taken, first at the hospital and then again when they’d arrived at Slay’s house, Donnie was pretty sure he was gonna smell, and feel, like barbecue for the next few days.
“Slay, if there were ever a time to get me to believe the unbelievable? It’s right fucking now,” Donnie grumbled and his right arm, which held his sleeping woman firmly at his side, tightened around her involuntarily. Some of the shock seemed to have worn off, and as it had, Donnie’s anger had returned. He couldn’t believe all that the devastation Julie had wrought through her delusions, and it turned his stomach to think how close he’d come to losing Grace forever. Still, he told Slay, “Lay it on me.”
But Slay didn’t answer right away. He handed Donnie a mug of coffee and perched himself on the coffee table next to Donnie’s bandaged feet. “You doing okay?” he asked.
Donnie snorted softly, not wanting to wake Grace. “Yeah, Marine. I’ve got two broken toes, a couple tiny burns, and the skin on my hands and feet are torn to hell, but it ain’t fatal. I’ll live.”
Slay nodded, but when still he didn’t continue, Donnie prompted. “So? The phone call?”
“It’ll keep for a minute. Drink first.” Slay lifted his chin in the direction of Donnie’s coffee cup.
Donnie rolled his eyes. “Jesus. Give a man a couple of kids and suddenly he tries to parent every-fucking-body?” he grumbled.
“Fuck you, Don!” Slay snapped. “Just… give me a damn minute to be glad you’re okay, yeah? I get a call from the QPD in the middle of the night that our building is a total fucking loss, and oh yeah, one of our employees was a psychotic bitch from hell who lit the place on fire after oh right, attempting to murder my friend’s woman, and just for kicks, that friend was taken by ambulance to the goddamn hospital for smoke inhalation and broken bones because he had to scale the side of the burning building like he’s some fucking Irish-Surfer-Boy-Spiderman with a death wish!” A vein in Slay’s forehead throbbed by the time he finished speaking.
Donnie blinked. He wasn’t sure he could remember ever seeing Slay this worked up about something that wasn’t a Patriots playoff game or Chalo Salazar, but damn. He bit back a smile, then raised the mug to his lips and took a sip. “Real good coffee,” he told Slay mildly.
Slay snorted and shook his head. “Asshole,” he replied affectionately.
“Seriously, though,” Donnie continued. “You hear anything from the fire inspector yet? Is the building…”
Slay shook his head. “Way too early for that shit, bud.” He tipped his head towards the large French doors that led to the backyard, and Donnie could see that the sky was still orange-and-pink tinged with sunrise. “They need to get inspectors on the scene in daylight to really see anything, and the official report won’t come back for a few days. But unofficially, there’s nothing we didn’t expect. Julie knew where the painters kept their paint thinner and she spread it all over the center lobby on the second floor, as well as the office and the staircase. By her own admission, she’d been monkeying with the sensors all along. She flirted with Villi’s freckle-faced little assistant, Gil…”
“Gib,” Donnie corrected, and Slay nodded.
“Right, Gib. She flirted with the kid, who probably thought he’d won the damn lottery, and he explained all the inner workings of the system to her. She wanted you good and pissed off by the system malfunction, so that she could swoop in and save the day and get your attention.” Slay shook his head in disgust.
“Yeah? Well, she’s got my fucking attention now,” Donnie spat, his teeth locked together and his hand clenching around the handle of the coffee mug.
“No shit,” Slay agreed darkly. “But then Grace came along, and Julie felt she needed more than just a distraction, she needed to get Grace out of the picture entirely. When Andy mentioned to her that Villi had disconnected the alarm from the central terminal, and it wouldn’t alert dispatch… she decided the time was right to make her move. She figured you’d go down to reset the alarm, so she locked you out of the floor. Then she went for Grace.”
Donnie blew out a breath and tried to calm himself. Anger right now would do nothing. There was still so much more to be settled, so much more he needed to do to protect Grace.
“Listen,” he told Slay. “I appreciate you letting us stay here last night, to get our feet under us. But the last thing I wanna do is bring trouble to your door. More trouble besides Julie,” he amended. “Salazar was scheduled to be released yesterday from prison. That means his homecoming party is tonight. Clock’s run out, man. They’ll know within the next few hours that Grace is gone, if they haven’t figured it out already. And since we haven’t come up with a plan to solve that problem, the safest thing for us to do is get out of town. Just for a while.”
He winced as he looked down at Grace. He knew how important it was to her to get free of Mikey for good, so she wouldn’t have to constantly be looking over her shoulder and waiting for the other shoe to drop. He would never give up until he’d done exactly that, but he would make sure the woman understood that her well-being was his first priority. He would get her safe and then he’d finish up with Mikey.
Slay frowned. “Okay, hold up. First off, you didn’t bring Julie to our door, Don. I talked to Andy this mornin
g, and he says you were the only one who saw through Julie’s act. He says he’s sorry he ever doubted you.”
Donnie snorted, remembering Andy’s defense of Julie and Donnie’s instinctive mistrust of the woman.
“And second of all, why don’t you wait a couple of hours before you make any plans for getting out of town,” Slay said mysteriously. “I got some news this morning that… well. Just table this decision for now, yeah?”
Donnie narrowed his eyes. “Spill.”
“Nope.” Slay folded his arms over his chest, and his eyes twinkled.
“Slay.”
“Donnie?”
“Fucking talk, Slater!”
Slay bit his lip and pretended to flip his nonexistent hair. “Oh, Master Nolan,” he trilled, falsetto. “Order me around some more! You’re so hot when you get all dominant.”
Despite himself, Donnie snorted. “Jesus.”
Slay smiled. “Spoiler: Blake, Elena, Dom, Heidi, Matteo, Hillie, Paul, and Diego are all on their way over.”
Donnie felt his mouth drop open. “All of them? On a work morning?”
Slay nodded. “Family emergency.”
There it was again. Family. He’d worried, at one point, that he had nothing to offer Grace. That the various pieces of his soul: the shitty father who’d raised him, the psychotic cousin who’d molded him, the sadistic fantasies that spurred him, the nomadic adventures he craved, made him too damaged for a woman like Grace. But he’d forgotten this incredible family that he’d become a part of.
“What, Tony and Tess were busy?” Donnie joked weakly.
“Nope. They, along with John, had to stop at Cara first for supplies. The way things are going, the fucking zombie apocalypse might strike tomorrow, and we don’t wanna be low on tiramisu, do we? Especially not with a pregnant Tess on our hands.” Slay winked and stood. “Get some rest, bro. Hold your woman. Allie and I are keeping the kids on the other side of the house, so no one will bother you. I’m gonna make breakfast and get the boys off to school, then we’ll talk more when everyone gets here.”