“Would you stop harassing me for one damn minute?” I swallow my pride and bite hard into my lip. “I’m sorry for raising my voice.”
“Go ahead, get back to your tall tales. I find them fascinating.”
“We can’t go to the police now. We’re already in too deep, but that’s beside the point that I think this is about something bigger than a simple kidnapping.” I look away and exhale; he’s not going to want to have this conversation. “Do you remember Mason Cartwright?”
“I remember,” he grinds out slowly.
“I can’t help but to feel that he’s connected to this.”
“What would Mason Cartwright want from someone like that girl?”
“Her sister has a lot of money.”
“Yeah, well Mason isn’t into the small picture, and unless this girl has millions stashed away then it has nothing to do with anything.”
“We located a garage where the car parked after they left the mall parking garage. The car was left behind but the girl was nowhere to be found. While I was inspecting the car, I heard a clicking noise and then it exploded.”
“She’s already down here. She already knows about the operations that go on here, which, may I remind you, are illegal operations. That’s on you now.”
“Why are you changing the subject?” I shake my head, stunned that he can’t even hear what I’m trying to say. That he can’t recognize the similarities to this situation and the situation with Mason all those years ago. “We need to talk about this. We need to talk about Mason.”
“We don’t have to talk about anything.” He laughs, but I don’t think he finds anything particularly funny. He laughs because he’s nervous. It’s written all over his severe-looking face. It’s like he’s seen a ghost or something and he has no desire to dig up old graves. “Mason Cartwright is a relic of the past.”
“You don’t think this it’s suspicious that—?”
“I don’t care.” He pushes a hand firm against my chest. “Leave it alone.”
“Fine,” I huff and twist away from him, heading towards my room to decompress and get my head on straight.
“Take care of your situation,” he calls out from behind me, and though I’m listening, I don’t turn back to him. I just keep walking. “And you better make sure that girl is who she says she is, because if she goes to the wrong person, we could all go down.”
I finally stop in place and turn around.
He continues, “And this is the last time I’m going to even come close to tolerating you bringing some pretty girl down here.”
I exhale softly as he turns and walks away, heading straight for the elevator. I suppose he’s done working for the day or something. The hell if I know. I’m just happy to have him off my back. It’s my assumption that he’ll be fine once this is all over, because that’s the thing about Dom and I, and the rest of the boys for that matter.
We’re a family.
And I’m reminded of that when I look over to Luke standing across the room hiding his amused smirk behind an oversized water bottle. If I had the strength, I’d wrestle him to the floor and smack him upside the head.
But I don’t.
I’m filthy and I need a shower.
Nothing like hot water on my back to bring me back to life.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SUMMER
After a short, uneventful nap, I finally muster the energy to climb out of bed. And by a short, uneventful nap, I mean I lied face down on a pillow with my eyes wide open for the better part of an hour.
I make sure the bedroom door is locked before undressing. There’s nowhere to put my dirty clothes so I just toss them onto the bed before heading into the bathroom.
It’s small and boxy. For someone as claustrophobic as myself, it’s a bathroom right out of one of my worst nightmares. Or second-to-worst nightmare anyway, considering the worst thing that’s ever happened to me has happened.
No. It could always be worse, but I don’t let my mind go there. More than using this shower to cleanse my body, I’m hoping it’ll clear my head. It hasn’t shut up since this all began and it’s only gotten worse since the explosion.
I could have died in the parking garage earlier today. I could have died in the parking garage just a little while ago. Parking garages have always scared me on some level, they’re dark and dingy and they’ve always given me a severe case of the creeps. After today, there’s no way I’ll ever set foot in one again.
I unhook my bra and toss it onto the vanity sink in the bathroom and then step out of my panties. Sitting on the edge of the tub, I palm my hand around the knob and turn it all the way to the right, but nothing comes out of the faucet. Annoyed, I crank it to the halfway point and still nothing.
I’m at the point of breaking, the smallest thing could send me over the edge and once I start crying, I know I won’t be able to bring myself to stop. It’s taking every bit of power I have to keep the waterworks at bay, but about a minute passes as I sit in silence and the bath water still won’t run.
Taylor and I share just about as many traits with each other as we share differences. She’s always been motivated by money and power and those are two things I’ve never cared about. However, we’re both easy-going women who don’t handle stress well. She’s been in the lucrative position lately to suppress her stress with retail therapy while my go-to therapy involves a bottle of wine and trashy reality television.
Here, I don’t have those luxuries and I don’t want them. All I want is a hot damn shower and I can’t even get that. Frustrated, I let out a dry huff before rushing out of the bathroom and wrapping a not-so luxurious scrappy towel around my naked body. I crack open the bedroom door and peek outside.
The coast seems to be clear so I rip the door all the way open and dart across the open space, cut through the training grounds and head straight for Chase’s room. Without so much as knocking, I pull the door open and jet inside.
He’s not here.
I take a look around the room. It’s the same size and layout as mine with all the same furniture. I make an educated guess that he doesn’t live here—hell, I doubt anyone does. But there are a few personal touches that provide me insight into who he is.
On the dresser are two photos. The first is a picture of Chase in his army uniform. There’s a dry, blank expression on his face against a blue background. He’s much younger and skinnier though he still has visible muscle tones. His face is clean shaven and there are no bags under his eyes. Beside that photo is a picture of five men all standing huddled together with their arms thrown around each other.
I recognize three of the men; Chase, Dom, and Luke. The other two look identical with the same haircut, same deep blue eyes. Identical twins. I wonder if the twins are a part of the security team.
I grip my towel tight around my breasts and take a seat on the edge of the bed. His is more comfortable than mine, softer. He’s obviously spent quite some time in this bedroom even if he’s not living here. Glancing around the room once more, I notice his wallet sitting on the nightstand. Curiosity wins and I reach for the wallet to see if he’s who he really claims to be.
There are a few credit cards and some loose change, but there’s no ID. I search through the wallet looking for a hidden compartment or something but find nothing, so I place the wallet back onto the nightstand. Just as my bare feet land on the soft carpet, the bathroom door clicks open and hot steam rolls out like a scene out of a Dracula film.
I panic and freeze in place as Chase steps out of the bathroom in his birthday suit. I’m staring right at him, at every little square inch of him. From his chiseled face to his muscular chest and smooth stomach. Teardrops of water pool at his belly button, dampening a happy trail that leads to his…
“Oh my God,” I shriek and twist on my feet to turn away from him. In the mirror I notice my reflection, my cheeks turning strawberry red. I throw my hand over my face trying to hide from him. But I just can’t manage to quell the curiosity.
I catch a glimpse of his face, a cocky grin hitched across bitable lips. He reaches for a towel from the bathroom behind him and wraps it around his body, the soft fabric pulled tight around his torso.
“I’m decent now, so you can turn back around.”
I exhale a breath of hot air as I twist around to face him. Though I can feel the towel loosening around my stomach, it happens too fast for me to do anything about it. It falls to the floor and coils at my feet and it’s my turn to be standing bare naked and exposed.
His eyes give me a once-over before he pivots on his feet and stares into the depths of the bathroom. An embarrassing yelp slips from my throat as I reach down to swipe the towel off the ground. I wrap it tight around my body and hold onto it as I race out of the room.
I cut across the training grounds and out of the corner of my eye, I see Marcus sitting back at the computer station. His eyes drift to meet mine for a brief second. Just when I think things couldn’t get any worse I’ve managed to expose myself to two different men who are mostly strangers.
I rush into my room and slam the door shut behind me with the intention of staying glued to my bed until this nightmare is over. I stare blankly ahead into the mirror affixed above the dresser. My feet tap out a nervous song against the carpet and with that very brief exception, the only thing I can hear is the pounding of my heart and my own stunted breathing.
The door clicks open and I don’t even need to look to see that it’s Chase standing there. The door closes behind him, his shadow falling over my head.
This is not happening, I think to myself. Just close your eyes and it’ll all go away.
I do just that, force my eyes closed and slow my breathing. But when I open my eyes, he’s still standing there. I finally manage to cock my head to him with a nervous swallow.
He must’ve gotten dressed in a hurry, wearing a tight fitting shirt that clings to the muscles of his slick, freshly showered chest.
“I… I’m sorry.” I force an apology from my lips and then turn away from him to catch my reflection once more—the only way I could be any redder is if I were covered in blood. “My shower isn’t working.”
“Huh.” He bites into his lower lip and steps into the bathroom. I don’t know how he’s able to do it, but he acts like nothing has happened. He acts like we hadn’t just seen every square inch of each other. It’s almost maddening. Inside the bathroom, he kneels in front of the tub and fidgets with the knob.
Seeing what I’ve seen all ready, I can’t help but to stare at his round butt, trapped tight in a pair of dark denim. He finally rises and wipes his hands on his jeans as he turns to face me. “So that’s why you were creeping around in my room?”
My eyes widen. “Creeping?” I shake my head violently. “No, I wasn’t creeping.”
He cocks one brow and folds his arms over each other.
“Seriously?” I scoff and roll my eyes. “You can clearly see that the shower isn’t working so my story lines up.”
His brow rises even higher. “Story?”
“I really hate you right now,” I scowl and throw myself backward onto the bed. As I do so, I feel the towel loosening once more but since I have no plans on moving from this bed, I’m not really in any increased danger of exposing myself again. He’s seen it all though, so it wouldn’t matter either way.
“It’s okay,” he chuckles darkly. “You don’t need to be such a prude.”
I thrust upwards in bed, clinging tightly onto the towel with one hand. “I am not a prude.”
“You went running out of my room so fast, I thought you might trip and bust your head on something.” He laughs again and takes a seat on the bed beside me. The mattress sinks slightly. “It’s not that big of a deal though.”
My eyes peel sideways at the very limited amount of space left between us. I’m in nothing more than a towel and he’s a mess. And he’s hot, both figuratively and literally, and also because I think there’s still steam rolling off his body.
“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to disagree. I do think it’s a big deal to expose yourself to a stranger—”
“You were the one who came into my room.”
“I’m not talking about that.” I pull the towel tighter around my body and jump to my feet. “I mean I am, but I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about me. I’m talking about the fact that you saw me and I haven’t been in the gym for months and—”
“Stop,” he says sternly and holds out his hand in front of him. “It’s not that big of a deal.” He shrugs with a cocky grin. “Besides, I liked what I saw.”
I drag both palms over my face trying to muffle a scream that’s fighting its way up my throat. “What are you talking about?”
He rises to stand in front of me, purses his lips just before he speaks. “Did you not?”
“Did I not, what?”
He takes a step towards me and I have no choice but to retreat, taking a short step backwards towards the door. “Like what you saw?”
“That’s not the point.” I rip open the door and hold it open for him. “If we’re going to continue this conversation, then I’m going to need to get dressed first.”
“That’s understandable.” He steps past me, and in the rush I get a whiff of strong masculine cologne. “I’ll be right outside the door.”
“Okay.” I force a smile before closing the door on his face. When I’m alone, I sink back onto the mattress and exhale softly.
# # #
When I’m dressed—and trust me that when I say I took my time, I’m telling the truth. I needed as much space between us when it comes to both time and actual space to shake off the embarrassment running hot through my blood.
When I feel like I have the strength, when I feel like I can actually face him without turning into a bumbling idiot, I steady one hand on the doorknob and exhale. When I pull the door open, he’s standing there with his back to me.
He cocks his head over his shoulder first and then turns to me with a serious look on his face. “I was starting to think you passed out or something.”
“I couldn’t get that lucky.” I gesture with my hand for him to come back into my room and stare at the carpet as he passes me.
“You know, you could use my shower.” He pivots to me, his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans. “The cold water doesn’t exactly work, but it beats not having a shower at all.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” I chuckle. “No cold water?”
“Yeah, it’s steaming hot in there but I spent so long with cold showers overseas that I enjoy the steaming hot showers now.”
“Yeah, there was a lot of steam.”
“That’s the way I like it.”
I can’t help but to feel as if that’s a double entendre, but I’m too much of a prude to point that out. Note the sarcasm. “So, uh, your boss,” I say as I take a seat onto the bed, “he seems like he’s wound a little tight.”
“What are you doing, Summer?”
“I’m changing the subject.” I’m being blunt. “Because despite your nonchalant attitude about us seeing each other naked, I’m deeply uncomfortable with it, so let’s talk about your boss.”
“What do you want know about him?”
I shrug. “Why is he so uptight?”
“That’s a long story.” He wags his finger at me and leans back against the dresser with his arms folded over each other. “And he’s already pissed enough at me right now. If he found out I was telling his life story, he’d have my head on a platter.”
I smack my lips and grimace. “He sounds like quite the charmer.”
“He’s a good guy,” he says dryly. “You just have to know him, which hopefully you never will.”
“Hopefully?”
“Yeah, hopefully.” He brushes a thumb across the underside of his lip. “Because hopefully this is over soon and you can go back to living your life and—”
“It’ll never be over.”
“I know y
ou might think that right now, but this will all end and though it might seem impossible, you’ll get back to the way things used to be.”
“How?” I sigh and sink deeper into the mattress. “What’s happened already and what’s still to happen, I’m sure, has already changed me. I can feel it, like there’s something in the wind. Like there’s danger at every turn. I don’t think that’s ever going to go away now.”
“It will.” He nods contemplatively before stepping forward and taking a seat beside me. This time, I don’t flinch away from him even though he’s closer than before and when he speaks again, I can feel his hot breath on the skin of my neck. “You’ll be afraid for a while, and every time you see someone dressed in black you’re going to wonder. That’s normal and for a while, I’d say it’s even healthy, but one day you’ll be walking down a dark street alone at night and there will be someone behind you and you’ll just know that they’re not a threat because you’ll remember that most people in this world are good.”
“After everything you’ve been through…” I stop and clear my throat. “I assume you saw things in the war, things that have stayed with you.”
“Yeah.” He smiles, but it’s beyond forced. “But that’s different.”
“Different, how?”
“Different in that it was my job, and that it wasn’t a solitary incident. It was day after day, night after night. I was always looking over my shoulder and I lost people.” He reaches out and places a palm on my thigh. “You’re not going to lose anyone.”
“Don’t promise that if it’s a promise you can’t keep.”
“I never promised anything.”
“Then why does it sound like a promise?” I question softly, almost in a whisper, almost in a cry. “I feel safe with you,” I say, a confession that wasn’t planned. “And because you make me feel safe, for whatever reason, I want to trust you.”
“You trust me?” He arches one brow and pulls his hand away from my leg. “Some people would say that’s a dangerous mistake.”
“Some people are idiots.”
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