by Tiffany Snow
That surprised me. “Really?”
Blane nodded. “He moved in for a while. Made me go out, do things. Normal things. Go to a baseball game, see a movie, have dinner. He didn’t pity me and he didn’t baby me. It was just matter of fact, as though he knew I needed to acclimate again. I think it helped our relationship that for once I needed him, rather than the other way around.”
I pondered this, unsurprised at Kade’s devotion to Blane. I also had to admit that I was jealous. Some times were harder than others to be an only child. “It must be really nice to have a sibling,” I murmured thoughtfully.
“It is,” Blane replied.
We went to bed shortly after that, the day wearing on me even with my power nap, and I was glad to get some sleep, snuggled spoon style with Blane. I slept sound until a slight whimper made my eyes crack open.
Bits was on the floor, staring up at me. He wagged his tail when he saw my eyes were open, then stood and turned around in a circle. I blearily looked at the clock. Five-thirty a.m. Sheesh. Three hours earlier than the schedule. The dog obviously couldn’t read.
Easing from the bed so I wouldn’t wake Blane, I slipped on some shoes and grabbed the leash. I hooked it to Bits and he danced excitedly by the door as I slipped on my coat.
The night air was frigid and woke me up in a hurry. I could see my breath as I walked the dog, hoping he’d do his business quickly. I took him around to the side of the apartment building where there was more snow covered ground than concrete. I brushed aside an area of snow down to the grass and whispered his code words. For a dog that woke me up because he had to pee, he sure was taking his sweet time, I thought sourly.
The scuff of a shoe made my head jerk up. No one should be out at this hour, and indeed the streets were still and silent. What had seemed peaceful before, however, now took on an eerie feeling instead. The moon had long since disappeared and there were only dark shadows filling the streets.
The noise came again from behind me and I spun around, my heart racing as I searched the darkness. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I wished I’d thought to bring Blane’s gun along with me.
Tugging on the dog, I turned back to my apartment building, wanting to go inside. Bits would just have to wait until it was light out. I’d taken two steps when I saw a shadow separate itself from the darkness around it. I froze. A spike of adrenaline rushed through my veins, its chill making my hands shake. I clenched them into fists as I thought furiously.
Making a quick decision, I grabbed up the dog, turned and ran. I didn’t know where I was running to, I just knew what I was running from. A glance behind showed me I’d been correct – there was someone following me, and gaining, from the looks of it. He didn’t bother to pretend anymore and I saw that he wore a dark hood as he passed under a streetlight.
Though I knew it was futile, that he would eventually catch me, I ran anyway. The only sound was that of my ragged breath and the crunch of my feet in the snow. I kept glancing behind me, but he wasn’t getting closer. Yet.
Turning a corner, I ran blindly down a dark alley between two buildings. I was getting further from my apartment building, but didn’t know how to double-back. I burst out of the alley, turning to look behind me once again, and ran full bore into a body.
I screamed, terror peaking in me. A hand quickly covered my mouth, stifling my scream, and I struggled. Bits jumped out of my arms onto the ground and I dropped his leash, using both hands now to try and break free.
I was suddenly brought up short against the man, unable to continue to struggle as his arm tightened around me. Jerking my head up, I saw eyes bluer than I remembered, framed by dark lashes and wickedly arched brows.
“Nice to see you, too, princess,” Kade said.
Chapter Six
My knees buckled in relief and Kade’s hold on me was the only thing that kept me from crumpling to the ground.
“Someone’s chasing me,” I gasped, struggling to regain control of my breathing.
Kade’s expression changed, his smirk fading as he looked at me, as though measuring my words. Whatever he saw must have convinced him, because the next thing I knew, his gun was in his hand and he was pushing me behind him. I scooped up Bits, who’d sat nearby, tongue lolling as he watched us.
“Stay close,” Kade said curtly.
“No problem.” He had a gun and I didn’t. That pretty much meant I was sticking to him like glue.
We backtracked the way I’d come, me close behind him. I clutched a handful of his leather jacket. I probably should have let go, but I couldn’t make myself. I knew I was far from Kade’s favorite person, but I also believed he would keep me safe.
There was no one around. The silence of the night was profound and complete. My heart rate slowly returned to normal as we came in sight of my apartment building. I wondered what the heck Kade was doing here anyway.
“There’s no one around,” Kade said, holstering his gun.
“I saw someone earlier,” I said, pointing. “Right over there.”
We walked over to the small knot of trees and bushes. Kade stopped, crouching down to look at something on the ground.
“What is it?” I asked, my voice hushed.
“Cigarette butts,” he said, holding one up, then stood. “Let’s get you inside,” he ordered.
He herded me up the steps, keeping close behind. With Bits in my arms, I couldn’t see very well in the near total darkness and missed a step. I braced myself for the fall, but Kade’s arm flashed out, hooking me around the waist.
I paused, realizing I was still shaken from what had happened. Kade no doubt thought I was a klutz since that was twice in the past ten minutes that he’d had to catch me before I ended up on the ground.
“Thanks,” I said to Kade. His arm was still locked around my waist, so I tugged on it, letting him know I was fine. He released me and I bent to let Bits jump out of my arms. He trotted obediently to my door. Kade followed me inside, shutting and locking the door behind him.
Bits had curled up on his pink pillow in the corner, and to my surprise, Tigger was curled up with him. I shed my coat and shoes, pushing my fingers through my tangled hair. Kade stood in my living room, surveying his surroundings.
It made me nervous to have him here. His presence was just as palpable and overwhelming as Blane’s, but I knew Blane didn’t hate me. As it was, I had no idea why Kade was here, why he’d turned up at such an opportune moment, or what I was supposed to do with him.
“Would you like some coffee?” I asked politely, keeping my distance from him as I stood in the kitchen. He was looking at the tree but flicked his gaze to meet mine.
A flash of memories assailed me in that moment - Kade’s loathing of me, especially when he found out I was with Blane, yet rescuing me from Avery when I would have been raped and killed. Kade carrying me across a gravel parking lot when my feet were too torn up to make it on my own, yet also threatening to kill me if I didn’t cooperate and give him what he wanted.
Kade kissing me at The Drop before I had known he was Blane’s brother.
I wondered if Kade was thinking something similar, but it was impossible to tell. He could have been musing on the weather, for all that showed on his face. I fidgeted under his steady gaze, nervously crossing my arms and looked away from him to stare at the floor.
“Sure. Coffee,” he finally said.
I gave a jerky nod and started a pot of coffee. Escaping from Kade’s presence, I went into the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face and brushed my teeth and hair. When I was done, I just stood there, staring at my reflection in the mirror.
My face was paler than usual, the shadows under my eyes standing out prominently. For a few minutes, I just breathed.
It felt as though my nerves were a hair’s breadth from snapping. Whoever was doing this to me seemed unrelenting. Each day had brought a new terror and it was getting harder and harder to brush off the events. I didn’t want to go into hysterics and worry
Blane any more than he already was, but after being chased in the dark by the unknown man this morning, regaining my equilibrium was very difficult. And to take matters to another level of stress and anxiety, Kade Dennon was in my living room.
I knew I couldn’t hide forever, which was really too bad when I thought about it. When I finally came back out of the bathroom, the coffee was finished brewing and I poured two mugs full as calmly as my shaking hands would allow.
“How do you take it?” I asked, thinking I probably already knew the answer.
“Black,” he answered, confirming what I’d thought.
I dumped half-and-half and some sweetener in mine before taking the mugs into the living room. He’d sat on the couch while I’d been gone and had discarded his jacket. I noticed now that he had on jeans and a black Henley shirt layered over another t-shirt. His gun was firmly in his holster attached to his jeans.
I gave him the coffee, then sat at the far end of the couch, tucking my bare feet up underneath me.
“Why are you here?” I asked after a few minutes, breaking the stiff silence.
“Wondered when you’d get around to that,” he said, his voice rife with the condescension I despised. “What’s the matter? I can’t drop by for a friendly visit?”
I snorted in derision at this. “The last time you were here, you were going to kill me, so no, a friendly visit never crossed my mind.”
“That’s not precisely true,” Kade said, and the way he said it made my eyes dart to his.
He was talking about leaving the money, of course. I opened my mouth to say something, I wasn’t sure what, when he cut me off.
“Trust me, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be,” he said grudgingly, looking away from me and taking another swallow of the bitter coffee.
“Then why?”
He didn’t answer, just shot me a look that said volumes about what he thought of my intelligence. Then it hit me.
“Blane asked you to come, didn’t he?” I asked, knowing I was right, though Blane had said nothing to me about calling Kade.
“Ding ding ding,” Kade mocked.
I ignored him even as my face flushed. I considered this, abruptly remembering the overheard phone conversation Blane had made last night when I’d woken up. He must have been talking to Kade, which meant Kade had literally dropped whatever he was doing to get here at five-thirty in the morning from wherever he had been.
“Why?” I asked the question even though I was afraid I knew the answer already.
Kade didn’t bother looking at me. “I’ll let Blane tell you that,” he replied dryly. “Where is he, by the way?”
“Asleep.”
Kade didn’t reply, his eyes on the glowing Christmas tree. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke again. “It appears there’s no end to the trouble you cause my brother,” he mused sardonically.
I stiffened at the implication, which was grossly unfair, in my opinion.
“He put his life on the line for you once before,” Kade continued, anger edging his voice. “Are you going to require he do it again?”
I felt like I’d been kicked in the gut. He turned to look at me, but I was too stunned at his verbal attack to say anything.
“Find another rich guy to screw.”
I went from shocked to completely pissed off in two seconds flat. Any thoughts I’d had about thanking Kade for the money he’d left me or for being there tonight when I’d been so scared flew out the window. I had thought Kade and I had reached a truce in Chicago. It seemed that truce was over now.
“What’s between Blane and me is none of your business,” I spat angrily at him, hating the fact that my eyes had blurred with tears at his hurtful words. It was all I could do to not hurl my coffee mug at his head. “I don’t care about his money, not that you’d believe me or that I even care what you think! I don’t even know why you’re here. Why don’t you just get out? Go on! Get out!”
His eyes narrowed dangerously and he abruptly moved close so that his body loomed over mine. A shot of fear went through me and before I could quell the impulse, I shrank away from him. His face was inches away, his blue eyes boring into mine, and when he spoke, his voice was deceptively calm
“Don’t...push...me,” he said slowly, enunciating each word.
The tension grew thick as we stared angrily at each other, neither one backing down.
The door to my bedroom suddenly flew open, startling me. Blane stood there wearing only his jeans, both his feet and chest were bare. I would have gone to greet him, but his gun was in his hand and his expression was cold and hard. When he saw me and Kade, his body relaxed slightly and he tucked the gun into the small of his back.
I jumped up and hurried over to him, feeling immeasurably better now that he was there to be the buffer between Kade and me.
“Please don’t do that again,” he said seriously, wrapping a hand around my arm and tugging me towards him.
“Do what?
“Leave without telling me,” he clarified.
“It was Bits,” I explained. “He needed to go outside.”
“You went outside?” Blane asked incredulously. “Alone?”
I chewed my lip, looking at him uncertainly. I had a sinking feeling this was going to be one of those she’s-too-dumb-to-walk-upright moments.
Blane took my silence as confirmation. His lips pressed into a thin line. “And I doubt you took the gun with you.”
“I thought about it,” I said quickly, then had to add, “after I left.”
“She was running,” Kade interrupted, speaking about me as if I weren’t standing right there. He had stepped into the kitchen and leaned back against the counter, arms and ankles crossed in a pose very much like the one Blane frequently adopted. “Said someone was chasing her.”
“Did you find anyone?” Blane asked, his attention now on Kade. His arm curved absently over my shoulders and I moved closer, sliding my arms around his waist so I could rest against him. His skin was warm despite the slight chill of the apartment. I was still furious with Kade, but Blane’s touch took the edge off.
“No,” Kade replied, his eyes flicking briefly to my arms as they hugged Blane. “Just some cigarette butts. Looks like whoever it was had been there a while with a good view of the apartment.”
“Why is Kade here?” I asked Blane pointedly, looking up at him. “He said you asked him to come.”
“I’ll step outside for this,” Kade said, the corner of his mouth twisting upwards in his telltale smirk. “Take a better look around now that it’s getting light.”
Blane and I watched him go and when the door shut, I returned my attention to Blane.
“Well?” I asked. “Why did you ask him to come?”
Blane looked down at me, and the look in his eye made me think I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.
“I can’t be around you,” he said. “You’re a target because of me. I asked Kade to come and help keep you safe.”
I was right. I didn’t like that at all, not one little bit. “You asked Kade to come babysit me?” I said angrily, stepping out of his reach.
“No one said babysit,” he said. “I need you safe and can’t be the one to do it. Kade’s the only one I trust.”
“Well I don’t!” The words fell out of my mouth before I could think better of it.
Blane’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t trust my brother?”
I quickly backpedaled. “It’s not that I think he’s not capable,” I said, scrambling to put my feelings into words, “we just don’t really...get along.” I finished lamely.
“You don’t have to get along,” Blane said flatly. “He’s here to keep you alive.”
“Maybe you’re overreacting,” I said in a last ditch effort. “You’re the one who needs protection, not me.”
“Overreacting?” Blane said, his voice a low growl. He stepped into my personal space and I retreated until I was backed up against the wall. “Need I remind you that y
ou would be dead right now if I hadn’t spotted the rifle sight on you last night?”
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t overreacting, and no, I really didn’t need reminding, but that didn’t mean I wanted Kade hovering over me. I couldn’t even sit in the same room with him and drink a cup of coffee, much less have him dogging my every move, especially when I knew he wouldn’t be all that torn up if something did happen to take me out of the picture.
“He hates me,” I finally said, praying Blane would understand.
His eyes softened, but his voice was still implacable. “I doubt that, but it doesn’t matter anyway. I trust him.”
It didn’t appear I had much of a choice in the matter. I chafed under that, despite the logic behind Blane’s argument. I hated the thought that I wasn’t safe by myself, that I needed someone to protect me. Then another, even more unpleasant, thought occurred to me.
“Where is Kade going to stay?” I asked, afraid that I already knew the answer.
Blane didn’t reply, his eyes just glanced at my couch.
“Oh no,” I protested. “He is not staying here. Absolutely not.” It was such a bad idea, I had trouble comprehending why Blane would even consider it.
“How else is he going to protect you?”
“I don’t want him here,” I said, adamantly shaking my head to emphasize my point. “We’ll kill each other. He thinks I’m nothing but a trailer-trash, money-grubbing slut-”
“Don’t say that.” Blane’s words interrupted me, harshly spoken and angry, and I instinctively recoiled. His voice gentled immediately. “You are many things,” he said, his fingers combing through the hair by my face, “but not that. Never that.”
Our eyes locked and the coiled anger and fear inside me relaxed, his words warming me. I could stand Kade thinking the worst of me so long as I knew Blane didn’t believe it as well.