by Cynthia Eden
“Come and get me…” Her words taunted him when she broke through the surface of the water.
That was exactly what he planned to do.
Trace stalked into the water.
She won’t break.
Her laughter reached him once more, banishing the chill that had crept over him when he’d awoken to the sound of her screams.
Skye was stronger than most people realized.
Her arms reached for him.
He held her tight and knew that he couldn’t let her go.
***
Ben Sharpe hunched his shoulders as he turned and hurried into the alley.
He knew he was being followed. He’d known for a while now.
Death was coming. Stalking him with slow, certain steps.
He had a debt to repay before he died. His father had always taught him that a man had to pay his debts.
One way or another.
He owed Trace Weston. He’d pay him.
Warn him.
The faintest shuffle of a footstep reached Ben’s ears. His gaze flew to the mouth of the alley.
Death had been after him for years now.
After him. After Trace.
You could only run for so long.
The faint shuffle came again.
Before the past catches you…
His fingers curled around the knife that he always kept close. Death wasn’t going to have an easy time taking him.
He planned to fight for every moment that he had left.
And if he had to, he’d kill to keep living.
He knew how to kill. He was good at it.
Thanks to Weston.
And I’ll repay that debt…
Even if it was the last fucking thing he did.
Chapter Two
The limo pulled to a slow stop in front of the Chicago high-rise. The building stretched so far up that it seemed to blend with the clouds.
Skye glanced at Trace. “You just assumed we’d be going back to your place?”
He put down the papers he’d been reading. Some thick manila file. His gaze locked on her. “I want you to move in with me.”
She tried to keep her face expressionless. “And this is how you ask me? We were on a white sand beach for days, and you couldn’t find some nice, romantic moment there to—”
“I suck at romance, Skye.” He heaved out a hard breath and reached for her hand. His fingers smoothed over the big, gleaming diamond that she wore on her left hand. His ring.
He’d asked her to marry him after he’d saved her from Mitch. He’d never said they would move in together before they got married.
“Skye, look, we probably only have ten seconds before Reese opens that door and—”
They had less than five seconds. There was a soft click of sound, and Reese opened the door.
“His timing is shit,” Trace muttered, sounding disgusted.
Skye climbed from the car. Reese was frowning at her, more than a hint of concern on his face. Reese’s face was just as hard as Trace’s—maybe even harder. All angles and rough planes. Reese’s hair was cut brutally short, and his dark eyes glinted. “Is there a problem?”
Skye looked up at the high-rise once more. Trace’s penthouse waited all the way at the very top.
He’d sure come a long way in the last ten years. Once, they’d both barely had enough money for food. For clothes.
Now, it seemed that Trace could buy the whole world.
Is he trying to buy me? Sometimes she wondered if that could be the case. She was highly conscious of the weight of her ring around her finger.
“Have the doorman get the bags, Reese,” Trace directed as he exited the vehicle.
But Skye put her hand out, stopping Reese. “Not yet.” Because their living arrangements weren’t settled. She straightened her shoulders. There was something about this city that got to Skye. Chicago was home for her. The noise. The people. The activity.
She was starting to feel stronger already.
“Skye…”
She turned to face Trace. “Why?”
He blinked at her. “Why what?”
Skye sighed. “Why do you want me to move in with you?”
“Aw, hell,” she heard Reese mutter as the faint Alabama drawl in his voice deepened. “He’s right. Shit for timing…” He edged back.
Trace growled.
Skye didn’t move.
“Here?” Trace demanded as his brows shot up. “Now? This is where you want us to talk?”
Cars honked around them.
“You picked the place,” she pointed out. “Now tell me why.”
Trace was tall, easily hitting over six foot three, and his body seemed to dominate hers as he curled his hands over her arms. “Because I want you close. Always, right beside me.”
And that was where she wanted to be. His answer was also the one that she’d needed to hear.
“Then you can have my things brought over,” she told him as she turned away and headed for the building’s gleaming entrance. The doorman hurried to meet her.
“I already did,” Trace said. His words followed her.
Froze her.
Skye glanced back at him. “Confident, were you?”
His head tilted as he seemed to assess her. Then, taking his time, Trace headed toward her. His hand lifted, and his fingers slid over her cheek. “When it comes to you,” his voice dropped. “Yeah, I am. Because you were either going to spend the night with me, or I was going to move in with you in that little apartment over your dance studio. Either way, we were going to be sleeping in the same bed tonight.”
Blunt, wasn’t he? But, that was Trace. Dominant, fierce. Always in control. Always—
“Weston!”
Trace moved in a flash at that shout. He caught Skye and pushed her behind him. She saw Reese moving quickly, too. Reese had a gun in his hand in less than two seconds’ time, and he lunged toward Trace.
No, not toward Trace. Toward the man who was rushing down the street and heading straight for Trace.
“Weston!” The guy cried out again.
His hair was long, brushing his shoulders, disheveled, and a dark beard lined his jaw. The man was tall, with broad shoulders. He ran toward them, his gaze intent on Trace.
“Ben,” she heard Trace growl.
Reese lifted his weapon. “You need to stop right there, Sharpe.”
The guy staggered to a stop. His jeans were dirty, torn. His shirt was black and ripped at the side. He ignored Reese and the weapon Reese had pointed at him. The man’s eyes focused on Trace with a feverish intensity. “I owe you,” he mumbled, shaking his head. “I’m here to pay.”
Skye’s heart raced in her chest.
“Reese,” Trace’s voice snapped out, “I want you to take Skye inside.”
The doorman peeked out at them, eyes wide. Henry. Skye had met him a few times before Trace had whisked her to the Keys. Henry was a nice guy, but totally not equipped to deal with the situation out there.
“Take her inside and stay with her every moment,” Trace ordered.
Reese glanced back at him, hesitating. “You sure, boss?”
Skye wasn’t sure what in the hell was going on. She reached for Trace. “What’s going on?” Who was this guy—this Ben?
At her words, the man’s gaze jerked to her face and his stare locked on her.
“She’s the one,” the stranger whispered. He shook his head, “Weston, she’s going to destroy you.”
What?
Trace caught Skye’s hand in his. “Go to the penthouse. Unpack. I’ll be there soon.”
Reese hurried to her side. “Come on, Skye.”
She was just supposed to leave Trace there?
“No!” The cry came from the other man as he leapt toward Trace. His fingers grabbed Trace’s shirt. “It’s not safe out here. He’s watching.”
A chill skated down Skye’s spine. She’d been stalked before. Hunted. She knew just what it was like to feel as if someon
Every minute.
She studied the man again. This time, she clearly saw the fear in his brown eyes. “I think we should all go upstairs,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t show her own fear.
But she wasn’t just going to walk away and leave Trace alone in that street. Something was wrong, very wrong, and she didn’t want to abandon him.
Trace’s jaw locked, but, after a brief moment, he gave a hard jerk of his head.
They all headed for the gleaming doors. The doorman’s eyes were huge as he studied them all. “Uh…Mr. Weston?”
“Have all the bags brought up.” Trace had an unbreakable grip on Skye’s arm. He barely spared the doorman a glance but he did push a very nice tip toward him.
“Y-yes, sir.”
Maybe the tip would help Henry get over the fact that he’d just seen Reese draw his gun.
The doorman’s gaze flickered to Skye. “Good to see you, Ms. Sullivan.”
“Hi, Henry,” she whispered back.
They all loaded into Trace’s private elevator. It seemed to fly up to the penthouse. She tried to glance over at the man Trace had called Ben, but Trace had put his body in front of hers. Shielding her or blocking her view—she wasn’t exactly sure what his intent was.
The ride was over quickly, and the group strode toward the penthouse door. Trace led her inside, but then, before the others could follow, he spun back around. “I’ll be needing your knives, Ben.”
Wait, knives? Plural?
The man bent and pulled a knife from his right boot. Then his left. He put them in Trace’s open palm.
“All of them,” Trace snapped.
Ben pulled another knife from his waist. The sheath had blended perfectly with his belt, and Skye would’ve never even noticed the weapon.
“You remembered,” Ben said, giving a little nod. “Can’t stop being a soldier, can you?”
Reese took the knives and shoved them all inside a drawer in the den.
Skye stood there, uncertain, as the others filed into the den.
“He can’t watch us up here,” Ben said as he glanced over at the large windows that overlooked the city. “Fuck me…” he marched toward the glass on the right. “You’re a damn rich bastard now, aren’t you?”
Trace’s fingers brushed against Skye’s jaw and she jumped. She hadn’t heard him move toward her. Sometimes, he did that—moving so soundlessly that she didn’t know he was there until he touched her.
“It was a long flight,” Trace said, his gaze searching hers. “We’re all secure up here. You should go rest, baby. I know the trip back wasn’t easy for you.”
Because she was still afraid of flying. No, it wasn’t so much fear as the fact that she just hated it.
While there might have been a hint of sympathy in Trace’s eyes, she knew he wasn’t just trying to get her in the bedroom because she was tired.
Trace wanted to get rid of her. Too bad. She wasn’t in the mood to be dismissed. If Trace was in some kind of danger, she wanted to know about it.
She glanced over at Ben once more. His gaze was on her. That brown stare was unnerving. The fear was gone but…
Her breath caught.
I know that look.
She knew that look because she’d seen it in her mother’s eyes before.
Insanity.
Skye instinctively took a step back.
“She’s the reason, you know…” Now Ben seemed almost musing, but his eyes burned with an intensity that frightened her. “You revealed too much with her. The story was splashed in all the papers. It was on all the TVs. She’s your mistake, and she’s going to destroy you.”
In a flash, Trace was across the room. He’d shoved Ben back against the big, picture-frame window behind the couch. “You sure as hell had better not be threatening her.” His forearm thrust under Ben’s throat.
“Trace!” She rushed forward, but Reese stepped in her path.
“Not…me…” The words wheezed from Ben.
Trace lifted his arm.
Ben sucked in a deep gulp of air.
Trace’s shoulders tensed. “I let you up here because of the past. Reese told me you’d come by before. That you had a message for me. Deliver it, now.”
A rough bark of laughter escaped Ben as the redness slowly faded from his cheeks. “The past…that’s what we have to worry about. It’s not dead. It’s coming back, and it’s going to burn us all.”
The man wasn’t making any sense.
But Reese’s body had turned to stone beside her. So maybe the cryptic words made sense to him.
Skye could be the only one in the dark.
“Do you believe in ghosts?” Ben asked as he blinked up at Trace.
“No.” Trace’s response was instant. “The dead are in the ground. They can’t hurt us anymore.”
“Don’t be too sure.” Ben’s lips twisted. “You took from him, and now he knows what to take from you. He’s coming after us all, and he won’t stop, not until he’s destroyed us…the same way we tried to destroy him.”
“Ben…” Now Trace’s voice had roughened. Deepened. “Have you been taking your meds?”
At that question, Ben’s eyes flashed angrily. “I don’t need them! I don’t need the fuckin’ things!” He shouldered past Trace and staggered across the room. “I know what’s happening. He’s here. Watching. I know!”
Skye bit her bottom lip to hold back the instinctive cry that wanted to break free. The way this Ben was acting…it’s so familiar.
“Have you been hearing the voices again?” Trace asked.
Tears stung Skye’s eyes. This was too much like her own past.
“Sometimes,” Ben said, his voice hoarse, as he turned back to stare at Trace. “But they’re just trying to warn me. Death is coming for us, Weston! We have to be ready.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Kill or be killed. Just like in the old days.”
Trace hadn’t told her about his “old days” in the military. He hadn’t talked about the military at all.
“You need to take your medication,” Trace said.
Her heart was aching.
Trace paced steadily toward Ben.
Ben shook his head. “It makes me…weak. Dulls my senses. I have to be ready.” He jabbed a finger toward Trace. “You have to be ready. He’s gonna make you suffer more. You’re the one who killed her. I-I wasn’t.”
Her?
Trace put his hands on Ben’s shoulders. “You’re confused again. The past is over. You need to let it go.”
Ben sucked in a sharp breath. Then he jerked away from Trace. His accusing finger pointed right at Skye. “She’ll die.”
This was not the homecoming that Skye had anticipated.
“No, she won’t.” Trace was certain. “Because I will destroy anyone who ever tries to hurt her.”
Goosebumps rose onto Skye’s arms.
“And that includes you,” Trace told the man. “Don’t ever come near her again, do you understand?”
Ben blinked. “I-I was warning you.” Confusion seemed to thicken his words. “Paying my debt.”
“Consider it paid.” Trace’s gaze flickered toward Reese. “Now Reese will escort you out. He can take you back home—”
“I don’t have a home. Don’t got nothing.” Again, a lost tone had entered Ben’s voice. “Maybe…you ever think you should’ve just let me die? Instead of dragging me out—”
“Reese will make sure you get set up at a hotel tonight. We’ll contact the VA.” Trace’s expression was grim. “They’ll get your meds going again.”
Ben’s mouth tightened. “Then I’ll be a dead man.” He turned on his heel. Hurried for the door.
Reese was right behind him.
But, before Ben left, he cast one last glance toward Skye. “You still look the same,” he told her. “Just like the picture Weston kept. An angel in hell…”
“I-I don’t understand,” Skye began.
“I hope you don’t die,” Ben said. “He’s coming and you need to be ready.”
“Out.” Trace snarled, his patience seemingly gone.
And…just like that…the mysterious Ben was gone. Reese followed him out, and Trace secured the door behind them.
Skye was left alone with Trace.
Only…
Trace was different.
He stalked toward her, his steps sure, but his eyes shone with an emotion that she couldn’t decipher.
“Wh-what was that about?” She hated the stutter in her voice as much as she hated the nervousness twisting her guts in knots.
“Ben Sharpe had a…hard time during his enlistment. The last mission went wrong, and he came back—”
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