“Okay.” She nodded slowly. “What do I have to do?”
“It’s not a sure thing, but Evan has an viewing of an office building scheduled with a client tomorrow at 11.00am, over the other side of town. Mark wants us to hit the street again. It might result in nothing, but at least if our photo guy shows up, we can say for sure it’s not Evan.”
“Unless he’s hired someone.” Quinn piped up.
I sighed. That was a scenario I was trying to ignore. That would make this whole thing far more complicated.
“I’m hoping he’s working alone.” I told her sternly.
“Oh well if that’s what you’re hoping…” Quinn stated dryly.
El snickered and I gave her a dirty look.
“What?” She shrugged innocently. “It was funny.” She was still grinning like a fool and I couldn’t help but join her.
“Why don’t you go and get the girls packed up? I heard Jemma talking about wanting to get back to her new husband.”
“Yeah c’mon girl.” Quinn stood and pulled El from my lap. I watched with longing as they headed out of the room.
“It’d be more effective if El was on her own, you know that right?”
I nodded. “I know, but there is no way in fucking hell I’m gonna let that happen.” Even just the thought had me seeing red and my body trembling. Mark had thrown the idea out there too, even knowing full well that I wasn’t going to go for it.
“I know man.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “And I’m glad you aren’t. I like that girl Lawson.”
I blew out a deep breath. “Me too.”
***
“How’s those ribs today?” I called out as I pushed the door open and walked into Josh’s room. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Stacey. Josh was laying on his back, and Stacey had quickly stood and moved her face away from his.
Sly old dog.
“Sorry.” I turned. “I should have knocked. I’ll come back later.” I called over my shoulder.
“It’s okay.” Stacey called. “I’m just leaving.”
I smirked as she scurried past me and out the door.
“So you fucked it out then?” I grinned.
“Huh?” Josh asked with a confused look on his face.
“I told El last night that the tension was gonna go one way or the other. Fight or fuck.” I chuckled.
Josh laughed and then grimaced as he held his ribs. “Shit that kills.”
Damn.
“Broken?”
“Yeah I’d say so.” He nodded and moved to rearrange himself on the bed. “And na, that little vixen was just checking on me.” He grinned.
“Uh huh. Sure she was, and I’m your new nurse.” I said sarcastically.
“I’m not sure you could pull off the uniform.” He chuckled again and nearly doubled over with pain.
“You’re going to hospital, you know that right?” The poor bastard was clearly in a lot of pain.
“Only if Stace takes me.”
Even with broken ribs, the bastard still only thought with his dick. I shook my head at his sly grin. “And I was worried about the girls playing up.” I muttered as I walked out.
***
In the end, Logan and Rome took Josh into the private hospital nearby. Logan planned to drop Rome home, pack his stuff and come back to stay with me and El. I’d gone with Quinn and Ells to drop the girls off at the airport.
I could tell they were going to miss each other, El had promised Jem that we would be at the reception they were having to celebrate their wedding in a few months. Quinn had made the girls promise to come back soon, and her and Ells had passed on hugs to give to Lexie.
I’d eventually dragged them out of the terminal and back to the car.
“Thank you for taking us.” El smiled and lightly squeezed my leg.
“No problem pretty girl.”
“Is Logan coming back tonight?” She asked me as she fiddled with the stereo.
“Yeah he should be back by dinner time.”
“I’ll cook for you all tonight. I want to say thank you for everything this weekend.”
“Sounds good baby.” I picked up her hand and brought it to my lips.
Quinn cleared her throat. “I really hope you catch this guy soon. I’m not sure how much more of this lovey dovey crap I can take before I puke.”
I chuckled.
Fucking Quinn.
70. Ellerslie
I had Lawson stop at the store on the way home and I loaded up. He had made jokes about me feeding an army, but come dinner time I hadn’t heard any complaining.
I’d cooked a lamb roast with all the trimmings, and I even made a chocolate pudding for dessert. I’d made sure to get French vanilla ice cream to go with it, which had earned me a cheeky grin from Lawson.
Logan had eaten so much he’d nearly made himself sick, and Quinn wasn’t much better. They had kicked Lawson and I both out while they cleaned up, and after, we’d all watched a movie together in the living room. I’d told Logan to choose the movie – then regretted it instantly when I realised I’d be enduring two hours watching some gruesome thriller. That was a mistake I would not be making again.
I climbed into bed and took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the scent of Lawson. I found it hard to sleep without his smell surrounding me now, I’d slept in his shirts every night that I’d been here. If I ever went back home, I was going to have to sneak out a stash of them.
I sighed as I watched Lawson swagger in, shirtless. That man…
So fucking hot.
“You’re staring again baby.” He sounded amused.
“Mmmmm-hmmmm.” I hummed without taking my eyes off his tattooed chest.
“My eyes are up here Ells.” He teased.
“Mmmmm-hmmmm.” I repeated.
God that was sexy.
“Do you ever think about getting another one?” I asked him.
“Tattoo?” He asked.
I nodded in reply.
“Yea sometimes... They’re kind of addictive. I’ve always wanted my family name or crest.. what about you?”
I cocked my head to the side. “Yeah maybe… I’ll get one, one day.” I smiled as he hopped into bed next to me. “No family crest for me though.”
“Can I ask you something?”
I met his gaze. “Sure.”
He was serious all of a sudden and I started to get worried about where this conversation was going.
“Why did you never change your last name? You know, when you got married.”
His question took me by surprise, Not his desire to know – Lawson always needed to know everything about me, but the question itself.
“Umm…” I paused to think. “I guess it just wasn’t something Baxter talked about. He never asked if I wanted to change it… and he didn’t seem to care if I carried my name or his. So I never changed it.” I shrugged casually, as though it didn’t really bother me.
It had bothered me though. Call me old fashioned, but I always thought of it as a man taking pride in his woman. I’d been excited to tie myself to Baxter in every way, but when he didn’t seem to care either way, it had lost its appeal.
I could see Lawson was thinking hard. “So… if you… if you got married again, you might change your name?”
Where the hell is he going with this?
“Umm… maybe?” I wasn’t really sure what he wanted to know. “I mean I guess it would depend on what kind of man he was and what he wanted.”
“What if he was a man like me? What do you think I’d want?” He asked quietly.
My heart rate picked up speed and slammed into my rib cage. “A man like you?” I whispered. “It wouldn’t even be a question. A man like you… you possess… you own… you brand.” I shuddered at the thought of him. “A woman doesn’t marry a man like you if she doesn’t want to wear your name.”
“You’re damn right about that baby.” He growled in my ear. “Just making sure you knew what you were in for.” He added quietly
before kissing my forehead and closing his eyes.
Sweet. Baby. Jesus… what the hell was that?
***
I leaned back in my office chair and spun around to face the sparkling water. I couldn’t wait to see summer in Boston. I was looking forward to exploring more of the city.
I glanced down at my phone.
11.40am. Still no message.
Lawson and Logan had dropped Q and I in this morning. The Hulk was waiting in the reception for us. Quinn’s eyes had just about popped right out of her head when she saw him – he really was massive.
Lawson was taking Logan to the job site and giving him the run down on the job this morning. He’d assured me that he would be back by lunch time. Logan was an experienced project manager and Lawson knew he’d have no problem being thrown straight in the deep end.
We knew for sure that Evan was at work at the moment – Mark had some of his guys watching outside. Now we just needed to head out and see if we were followed.
I got up and stuck my head out the door. “Have you heard from Lawson?” I asked Brody.
He shook his head. “No ma’am.” He replied without so much as a glance in my direction.
I looked over to Weston and rolled my eyes.
He stifled a giggle.
I made a gun from my fingers and held it to my head in a mock gesture.
West lost it, he tried to hide behind some files but failed miserably. Seeing him dying in a fit of laughter sent me over the edge too.
I looked back at Brody and seeing the corner of his mouth turned up ever so slightly egged me on even further.
I heard a deep chuckle. “It seems I missed a good joke.”
Lawson.
I leaned back against the door frame and tried to catch my breath as Lawson and Brody shook hands.
“Thanks man, You can take a break, I’ll call you back in an hour or so.”
Brody nodded and left us to it.
“I was worried you weren’t coming.” I sighed and wiped the last of the tears from under my eyes. “Is Logan managing okay?”
He leaned in and kissed the top of my head. “I love watching you laugh.” He whispered. “And yeah pretty girl, Logan is an old hand. It’s like he never left.”
I was glad. Lawson didn’t need any extra stress at the moment. “Lunch?” I asked. I’d been half expecting him to pull out of our plans to go out and eat.
But he just nodded and linked my arm through his.
“See you soon West.” I called back over my shoulder.
“You kids have fun now.”
***
“I guess it’s a good thing right?” I looked up into Lawson’s eyes. Lunch had been uneventful. Well, other than the great food and my handsome date. No sign of a photographer. No suspicious behaviour.
“Yeah I guess. It doesn’t look good for Evan though.” Lawson huffed and ran his hand through his hair.
We walked back into the reception area and had nearly reached the elevators when I heard my name called. “Miss Rush!”
I turned and saw one of the girls from reception gesturing for me to come back.
She held out a small box. “I’m sorry Miss Rush, this just arrived for you.” She said as I approached the desk.
“Where did it come from?” Lawson growled at her.
She shrank back slightly. “Ah… um… I think it was just a courier Mr. Pierce. A few moments ago.”
Lawson grabbed the box from her before I could and turned and pulled me towards the elevators again.
“Thank you.” I called back to her as Lawson dragged me into a waiting elevator.
Poor girl is terrified.
“Jesus Lawson, you didn’t have to scare her.” I scolded him.
“Sorry El. I just know this is going to be bad news.”
I nodded and frowned at the small box in his hand. “Open it.”
He shook his head. “In your office.”
West and Brody were nowhere to be seen when we got to my office and I was grateful. Lawson was borderline to having a meltdown. I pushed the door shut behind me. “Open it.”
Lawson placed the box on the desk and slowly worked the lid off. His whole body visibly relaxed as he looked inside. “False alarm baby. Did you order some beads?”
Beads?
“No.” I shook my head. “What kind of beads?” I wondered aloud as I moved to look for myself.
Oh no…
“Oh no.” I whispered as I saw what was inside the box. It was an assortment of black and silver beads. I sank awkwardly into one of the armchairs. “No, no, no.”
Lawson was crouched down in front of me in a flash. “What is it Ellerslie?”
“The club… my dress… it got ripped.” I stammered. “The beads are from my dress.” I added in choked out whisper. I looked straight into Lawson’s eyes as I spoke. “He was there Lawson. He had his hands on me.”
I could visibly see the rage spreading throughout Lawson’s body. He sprung to his feet and grabbed the box. He threw it across the room, sending beads flying everywhere. The box hit the window with a loud thud and fell to the floor.
“Lawson.” I whispered. He ignored me and paced the floor backwards and forwards. “Lawson.” I said again, with more force.
He stopped pacing and fell back to his knees in front of me. He wrapped me tightly in his arms.
“He had his fucking hands on you.” He muttered quietly.
“You need to check the reception’s security footage.” I told him quietly.
He released me from one of his arms and pulled his phone from his pocket. I sat quietly and listened as he called Alex and demanded to see the footage from the reception desk from the past last hour.
“He’s sending it through now.” He told me in a rush of breath.
“Call Mark.” I prompted.
He did.
“He wants to see the tape too.” Lawson told me after he hung up. “He’s got eyes on Evan, it wasn’t him personally. But keeping two men on Evan from now on – we’ll follow anyone he meets with.”
“It doesn’t mean it was him Lawson, he wasn’t the only person in that club.”
Lawson wasn’t listening to me.
“I going to kill him.” He muttered over and over again.
71. Lawson
My phone rang, I checked the screen before I answered.
“Logan.”
“Hey Law. I’m having trouble with one of the suppliers-“
I interrupted him. “I’m really sorry man, but we’ve had a set back with this bullshit here. Can I get you to call Jesse? He’ll know what to do.”
“What’s wrong?” The construction noise cut off as he shut a door. “Is El okay?”
“She’s fine. She got sent a box filled with the beads that were ripped from her dress at the club.”
There was silence on the line. “Well shit. That’s not ideal.” He finally said.
I huffed out a dry laugh. “No. Not ideal at all.”
“I’ll sort things out here. Keep me in the loop.”
“Will do, and thanks – I appreciate it.”
I looked at Ells as I hung up. She was typing out a message at a furious pace.
“Quinn?” I asked.
She nodded without looking away from her screen.
Shit. This was not good. I couldn’t believe I’d messed up so badly by leaving her that night.
I should have kicked Evan’s ass while I had the chance.
“Ells.” She looked up and into my eyes. I saw how vulnerable she was, how exposed she felt. I looked right into her soul and saw the trust she was putting in me. Trust to keep her safe.
I opened my mouth to apologize for doing such a shitty job, but was cut off by Quinn barging through the door. She stopped and stared at the mess of beads all over the floor. “Ah crap.” She hissed. “Why can’t we catch this asshole!”
Quinn started ranting and raving and went to sit next to El as my phone rang. “Quinn. Shut up.” I pointed to my
phone.
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