“I’m going to shoot you.” I waste no time in pulling the trigger, and though the gun fires, nothing comes out. Nothing but hot air. I pull the trigger again for emphasis before pushing the gun back into her hands. “That’s some dangerous weaponry you got there.”
“I’m going to kick his ass…” Her throat tenses with rage, as she sinks her teeth into her bottom lip. “I’m going back in there.”
“Please don’t.” I reach for her and grab her by the wrist. “Whoever that guy was, he’s a bottom feeder.” I push my tongue against my cheek and sway on my feet. I’m thinking that I’m about to make the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. “If you let me teach you how to use a gun, then I’ll give you one of mine.”
She swallows and narrows her eyes at me.
“And then I’ll leave you alone,” I say, in hopes of sweetening the pot just enough so that she’ll cave in.
“Fine,” she huffs and puts a finger in my face. “But you have to promise to not mention what happened at my place earlier today. And you have to promise to not try and force your way back into my life to try and save me.”
“Fine,” I agree, lying straight through my teeth. “Get in the car.”
She steps to the passenger side of my car parked right in front of the shop, but before she climbs in, she stares down the shop once more. She has some kind of connection with the guy inside, and by my calculation, whatever it is will be one of the easier secrets of hers for me to figure out.
I want to protect her, but I also want to know her secrets. I want to know more about her for logical reasons—and selfish reasons, too. I’m intrigued by her. She’s an enigma, walking a tightrope between absolute strength and total fragility, and I want to know why.
CHAPTER NINE
ELLA
I’m silent in the car, as he’s driving me further and further away from the city center. Gone are the skyscrapers. Instead, the buildings surrounding the roads have become more and more rundown and shorter in stature. Graffiti is painted on the sides of the brick buildings, and soon, residential neighborhoods give way to industrial parkways.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think he’s driving me out here to murder me. But I do know better. I know for certain that Luke King is a good guy because I trust my gut. It’s the same gut that’s always forcing me into a state of paranoia, so it’s telling then that it’s screaming the exact opposite when it comes to him.
He’d never risk endangering me, so I know I’m in good hands, but that’s not what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid that his involvement, no matter how short, is going to end up hurting either myself or someone I care about.
Headlights bounce off the mirrors of Luke’s car and my stomach sinks. My eyes peel to the passenger side mirror, as I watch the car following us. They’re driving faster than Luke and are coming up on our tail quickly. The engine roars and the tires screech against the asphalt as they pass us in the opposite lane.
I sigh out of relief and chuckle nervously to myself with my hand held firm against my chest.
“You’re not paranoid, huh?” Luke questions with a slight grin from beside me.
“Shut up,” I scowl and prop my head against my window. “Where are we going, by the way?”
“Do you usually do that?” He stares me down. “Get into cars with strangers and wait until you’re almost to your destination until you decide it might be a good idea to ask where you’re going?”
“You’re not a stranger,” I say while continuing to stare out the window at a series of chain-link fences surrounding old and broke-down industrial buildings. Many of them feature broken windows with shards of glass hanging from the oversized windowsills. The neighborhood is more than a little haunting, a sharp and painful reminder of my past.
Luke takes a sharp right turn onto a road where the asphalt bleeds into a sea of gravel, and up ahead, there’s an abandoned factory. I assume that’s where he’s taking me, but I don’t ask questions.
He pulls up to the factory and parks in a space between two black SUVs and kills the switch. Then he turns to me and throws one arm behind my head to rest on the seat. “I’m not supposed to be bringing you here.”
“Where is here?”
“This is the Ford Security hideout.”
I chew into my lip and roll my eyes to the side. “A hideout?”
“Yeah.” He shrugs with a slight grin. “We don’t exactly operate within the rules of the law, so this is our official place of business. Nobody really knows that we’re here.”
“Really?” I situated myself in my seat so that I’m angled towards him. “Do you tell that to all the girls?”
“Trust me, I’m not the one who’s been in trouble with the boss for bringing girls back here.” He reaches for the door handle to pop his door open, but he hesitates, his eyes lingering on mine. “We don’t have to go inside if you don’t want to.”
“I want to.” I comb one hand through my hair and look straight ahead at the old brick building. “I want to be strong.”
He nods and rolls his lips together. “Can I tell you something?”
“You can say whatever you want, doesn’t mean I’m going to listen.”
“Right.” He bows his head with an innocent chuckle, but I know he’s anything but innocent. In the limited amount of information I could find about him and Ford Security, I’ve read that he’s quite capable. Hell, I’ve seen firsthand the way he handled David back at the pawn shop. “Maybe you don’t think so, but you’re a strong woman.”
I lean in closer to him, almost as to tease him. “Are you really going to do that? Are you really going to pretend that you know me at all?”
“It’s not pretending.” He slides back in his seat and finally pops his door open, allowing a calm breeze to slip into the confined space. “I think you’re the one pretending, but that’s a conversation for another day.” He climbs out of the car and closes the door behind him.
And before I join him on the gravel surface, I whisper under my breath, “That’s a conversation that’s never going to happen.”
# # #
The gears of the elevator turn as we descend underground. The shaft seems to go on for miles, but that’s probably just the anticipation reaching a boiling peak. It’s not often that a girl finds herself entering the secret lair of superheroes. I mean, sure, Luke and the rest of the men of Ford Security aren’t superheroes proper, but with the high-tech technology like retina scanners, one could be forgiven for being fooled.
The elevator finally comes to a halt and the doors slide open. Before I’ve even stepped foot out of the shaft, I’m taken aback by the sheer size of the place. It’s magnificent in scope, with an open space that seems to go on forever and ceilings that are impossibly high.
“Did you…?” I stutter. “Did you guys do this yourself? Build this, I mean?”
“The infrastructure was already down here, but it’s not public record.” His fingers tangle with mine, as he drags me out of the elevator. My eyes shift to his strong hand and I feel like he’s a magnet with a positive charge. We just fit together… No. I force those thoughts from my head.
My eyes search the span of the room taking measure of the space. There’s a row of oversized computer screens attached to a steel workspace, and just beyond that there’s a training mat with steel doors on either side of it. On the wall at the end of the space, there’s another steel door. I’m intrigued and I want to explore, but I realize that I’m here for one reason only.
# # #
With the gun—a real gun this time—held firmly in my hand, I stand with my feet squared with my shoulders. I’m aiming straight ahead at a white cutout target of a person, but my first twenty or so shots have missed the mark. And by missed the mark, I mean I haven’t even hit the damn thing.
I’m growing aggravated.
Luke stands behind me, and I think he’s aggravated, too. He sighs, as he reaches forward with one hand, holding one of my hands in place and steadying me.
“The problem,” he says lowly, his hot breath brushing against my ear, “is that you’re shaking when you need to be steady.”
“This is more difficult than I had anticipated.”
“It’s only difficult because you’re making it difficult.” He reaches past my body with his other hand to hold my aim steady with both hands now. “Just try to breathe.”
I shake my head away from his head in an effort to focus. I can’t focus when he’s practically breathing down my neck and not for the normal reasons. There’s something about him that makes me nervous, almost as if I’m afraid of disappointing him or something equally stupid.
My finger flirts with the trigger, but even with his hands trying to hold me steady, I can’t stop shaking.
“I can’t,” I sigh and drop the gun to my side. When I turn to him, he’s already taken a measured step backwards. “You were right. I have no business playing with guns.”
“First things first.” He steps back towards me and lowers his hand to take the gun out of my hands. “You’re not playing with a gun. Poor choice of words there.” He sits the gun on a stand beside him and crosses his arms as he leans backwards against that same stand. “I have a serious question for you. Are you afraid of the gun?”
“No,” I scoff. “Maybe.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“This isn’t easy for me,” I shriek and twist away from him, throwing my hands outwards. “I didn’t ask to be dragged into this world, but I’m trying to do the best I can do.”
“I’m going to ask you another question—?”
“Please stop,” I groan and roll my head. “Enough of the questions.”
“This is the last one.” He holds his hand against his heart. “I promise.”
“Fine.”
His eyes lower to meet mine, beautiful blue boyish eyes that look so out of place on his muscular and cut body. Again, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was innocent.
“Why were you even trying to get a gun tonight in the first place?”
“Shouldn’t that be obvious?” I point out, gesturing with my hand because the answer to his question shouldn’t be too difficult to discern. In fact, he shouldn’t even need to ask it.
He scratches at the back of his head and swivels on his feet. “You’re right, it should be obvious, but nothing seems to be obvious with you, so why don’t you give me a straight answer?”
“I thought if I had a gun, I could defend myself.”
“That’s a straight enough answer.”
“Good.” I fold my arms over each other and exhale softly. “Will you take me home now?”
He furrows his brow. “Are you sure you don’t want to finish your shooting lesson? Because I’m not letting you walk out of here with a gun unless you can prove to me that you can hit that target.”
“Keep your guns,” I say lowly and start to pace towards the door. “I don’t want anything to do with them.”
He flashes a mischievous grin. “But you were doing so good…”
I offer him a death glare with my head cocked over my shoulder, and I can’t help but to revel in the way he seems to sink into the cement. I’ve gotten my mojo back, and there’s nothing I love more in the world than the feeling of being in control, something that’s been stolen from me lately.
# # #
As Luke is driving me home—seemingly always the perfect gentleman—my phone vibrates in my pocket. A cold chill passes over my body, as I begin to think the worst. I begin to think that my stalker knows I’m with him again. I retrieve my phone as my heart pounds against my chest and sweat begins to bead along my hairline.
I check my notifications just as he pulls onto my road and see I have a message from Kara: Hey sweetie, I’m making a last-minute trip out of town, so I’ll be gone for a few days. Hope everything is going well and don’t forget, you’re not getting out of this reunion.
I’m met with an instant wave of relief knowing that she’s far away from this and now the anonymous threat I received earlier isn’t so threatening, considering the person I care about the most in this world isn’t in the city right now. Hopefully, everything will be resolved before she returns.
Luke parks the car against the curb and kills the ignition.
We walk up the steps of my suburban home, and once we reach the front door, I pivot to face him. “Thank you for escorting me back to my place. That was very kind of you.”
“And?”
“And…” I sigh. “Thank you for attempting to teach me how to use a gun even though I’m a worthless cause.”
“You’re not worthless.” His lips hitch into a beautiful smile that I’m sure has been responsible for dropping many girls’ panties. “Don’t ever say that about yourself. Don’t ever think that about yourself.”
“Just the same, thank you.”
“And?” he questions again, this time with a little more oomph.
“And goodnight.” I offer him a final nod before turning and twisting my key in the door, but I still feel his shadow hovering over me. I can still feel the heat of his impossibly hot body lingering so close behind me. I know that I shouldn’t, but it’s almost like I can’t help myself. I know by asking the following question, I’m inviting danger into my home. “Do you want to come in?”
“That’s what I was waiting for.” He laughs, but I’m not sure why it’s funny.
I push open the door and hold it open for him. He pushes past me and moves to stand right in front of the doorway with his hands tucked into his pockets. “Is there anything I can get you?”
He doesn’t answer immediately. Instead his eyes drift first to the coffee table and then the mantle place. “I dropped the letters off to my friend at the warehouse. If there’s anything on them, he’ll find them.”
“That’s none of your concern anymore, remember?” I cross my arms over each other and sigh. “And I’ll need those back.”
“Seriously?”
“I don’t know what else to say to you, but to tell you that there are reasons I do everything I do, and though I can’t explain them to you, I just need you to back off of this.”
“That’s a little cold, don’t you think?” He wags his finger at me, like he disapproves of my decisions, but what else is new? “If you won’t let me help you, then at least go to the police. That’s better than nothing.”
“That’s not an option.”
“Why the hell not?”
“It’s just not,” I stammer. “And can we leave it at that?”
His lips roll over each other as if he’s holding something back. “What if you’re not the only one receiving these letters?” he questions, and I get the feeling that his line of questioning is a little pointed.
“That’s not my problem.” I look away from him, realizing how cold that came off, but I catch his eyes lingering on me. “You’re looking at me like you want something from me.”
“I’m looking at you because I want to protect you.”
“How do you expect to do that?”
“Well, I could start by being rehired.”
“Absolutely not,” I scoff.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“I don’t think you know me well enough to know how I’m being one way or the other.”
He takes a measured step towards me. “I think you’re getting awfully defensive.”
“It’s called being scared.”
“And I want to help you not be so afraid,” he says, continuing to pace towards me with slow, deliberate steps.
“Look, I can’t shake the idea that there’s someone always watching me—”
“Exactly!” He’s right in front of me now. “You pushed me away earlier because something happened, but you won’t tell me what.” He points squarely at me. “So just tell me what happened and stop being so stubborn and just realize that with or without me here, you’re in danger either way, and I’d feel better if you’d just let me do what you hired me to do.” He chews
into his bottom lip and places a hand on each of his hips. “You don’t even need to pay me.”
“Why would you do something like that?” I shake my head in disbelief and stare him down, trying to get a good read on him. “You know it’s not about the money, right? I could pay you.”
“I know.” He nods and forces a smile. “But I also know that I’m invested in you, and I can’t stand the thought of something happening to you because I left.”
I purse my lips in faux contemplation. Though I’ve already made my mind up, I can’t let him know that. “Fine,” I huff. “You can stay here. You can watch after me. You can do whatever it is that you do, but you have got to stop pressing me for answers that I don’t have—and you have to be careful as to not be seen.”
“Did you say, stay here?”
I swallow nervously, though it’d make me feel safer having him around, I hadn’t actually meant to say that. “It’d make me feel safer, I guess. I don’t know. You don’t have to…”
“Deal.” He reaches out to shake my hand, but I don’t meet him halfway because I want to make sure we’re on the same page.
“Is it that simple?” I question with a cock of my head.
“It’s that simple.” He reaches forward and grabs my hand, obviously running out of patience. He’s so strong; it’s like his grip is made out of actual steel. Our eyes meet, but he doesn’t let go. He cocks his head slightly, watching me intently.
He’s got the kind of grip that screams power, but it also screams something far more intimate. I barely know this man, but he makes me feel safe…and that’s an absolute first for me. Nobody in this world has ever made me feel safe.
And for that alone, he’s worth keeping around.
I break away from our mutual handshake and offer him a polite smile. “Goodnight, Luke.”
“No.” He stands firm in his resolve and crosses his arms defiantly over each other. “Now that you’ve hired me back on, I’m going to need you to be honest with me again. So, tell me, why did you push me away?”
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