There were so many possibilities for why he would be here that she didn’t want to get herself or anyone else into trouble until she knew why he’d chosen to visit her here instead of sending one of his men as he had the last time.
He came to a stop on the opposite side of her desk. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a while,” he said, fingering the pencil pot that stood next to her computer. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
From where, she couldn’t begin to imagine. Archer wasn’t much of a gossip when it came to his own life. Not that she knew of anyway. So Nya couldn’t assume that he had revealed the details of their relationship.
Tag had been avoiding this guy and as far as she knew they had no other mutual acquaintances. But Archer wasn’t the only one who could extract information. Hexam could’ve asked around, had his men question staff or neighbors. Hell, they could’ve been watching her or interviewing her exes for all she knew.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “The last time you wanted something from me, you sent your messengers.”
“That was before I knew who you were.” He lowered himself into the chair on the other side of the desk. “We have a problem.”
“Do we?” she asked, reminding herself not to say too much until he tipped his hand. “What problem?”
“Where is he?”
There was nothing in his eyes when they landed on her. She read no humanity, consideration, or sympathy. Not even any curiosity. Maybe a dim glimmer of expectation existed there, like he was challenging her to refuse to answer.
“Who?” she asked.
He actually smiled as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table to steeple his forefingers over his mouth. “Your boyfriend.”
Nya hadn’t imagined that she would ever be faced with this dilemma. Archer had told her that if anyone ever asked about him, she should be honest about his whereabouts. Except, she struggled to figure out how Hexam was unable to find Archer who’d been at his apartment last she’d seen him.
Maybe Hexam didn’t know where that apartment was, but it couldn’t be that difficult to find out when lowlifes like Jonno could find him. “I don’t know,” she said.
“Oh, come on, Nya,” he said.
The distance between his elbows didn’t change, but he straightened his arms to flatten his hands on the desk and although they were nowhere near her, they were still too close for comfort. Nya tried her best not to wriggle in her seat fearing that would betray her anxiety.
“I don’t know.”
“You know he’s been screwing my sister.”
Suddenly, his hands weren’t as intimidating anymore and neither were his eyes. “Tag?” she said, her mouth actually fell open. “You’re here looking for Tag? Again?”
Hexam had been looking for Tag on the night that Jamie died. “Déjà vu, right? I figure you’re pissed at him if he’s been screwing around on you… and he has been.”
Doing her best not to scream, she clamped her lips together and counted to three in her head before she spoke. “Tag. Is Not. My Boyfriend,” she said, enunciating each sentence, saying it slowly, nice and slowly, so he would hopefully never forget again. Then she made her bullet points by counting each of her next statements on her fingers. “He’s not my boyfriend. I know he’s sleeping with Farrah. I don’t know where he is.
Honesty was going to be the best policy here and there was no point in insulting the man by playing dumb when there were accepted facts.
“It’s a problem. A problem for all of us, you understand?”
But she didn’t want to be lumped in with this decision, so she shook her head. “It’s not my problem,” she said, and left her chair, but he surged up, grabbed her wrist, and hauled her back down.
“It’s your problem ‘cause I say it’s your problem. You’re gonna track him down, and you’re gonna bring him to me.”
If this had been anyone else, she would’ve laughed, or slapped him across the face. “I can’t force Tag to do anything. I told him that getting involved with Farrah would upset you. It didn’t change anything. I think they like each other.”
“Aww,” Hexam said, without an ounce of sincerity. “And your little heart went pitter-patter as the orchestra kicked in?”
“No,” she said. “I’m telling you that Farrah is going to meet and fall for someone eventually. Maybe that guy is Tag.”
His grip on her wrist grew tighter and she couldn’t stop herself from wincing. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”
As he examined the red welts that were forming on her arm, his sneer seemed pleased. When he shifted his grip to get a better look at the injuries, he noticed her brand and took a second to examine it.
“You’re a girl who knows how to work what she’s got,” he muttered, glaring at the scar on her wrist. She didn’t know what he meant by that statement. “Archer’s a good guy to get in bed with.”
“I didn’t realize we’d both enjoyed the pleasure.”
His smirk wasn’t amused and he ignored her quip. “Good for you and your buddy.”
She didn’t know if he meant that there was something Archer could do to prevent anyone from getting hurt or if what Hexam was saying was actually some sort of veiled threat. “You should update your records,” she said. “So next time you or one of your boys comes in here, you’ll know, I’m Archer’s property. He’s the only man in my heart and my bed. Any beef you have with me, you have with him as well.”
He circled his lips. “Quite a declaration,” he said, touching the mark that she loved, forcing her to try and yank herself away. “Shh… don’t flip.” Hexam pinned her wrist onto the desk again. “You want to keep Archer safe, don’t tell him I was here.”
Lying to Archer would be impossible at the best of times, but with all of the different strands of drama running through their lives at the moment, she couldn’t take the risk of being dishonest with her lover.
“Are you afraid of him?” she asked.
“No. But if you’ve got him good, he’ll sacrifice your boy, Tag, to save your ass and his.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about—”
“I don’t give a fuck about your relationship with Archer. I give a fuck about your ex’s relationship with my little sister and you’re gonna put a stop to it. You’re gonna tell him it’s over, he’s gonna break her heart and then you’re gonna bring him to me on a platter.”
She’d been right about his strength; her whole arm was throbbing, right up to her shoulder. “And if I don’t?” she asked, wincing at the pain caused by his increasing grip.
“Let’s just say you’re a valuable source of information. But that value drops to zero if you don’t give me what I want. I don’t waste my time with trash. I toss it out.”
So much for veiling his threats. “Is that the real reason you don’t want me to tell Archer? ‘Cause if he finds out you were here, I’ll bet he knows a couple of things about you and your business that could cause all kinds of shit in your life.”
The force of his gaze winded her. “Let me worry about my association with Archer. You just worry about opening your legs for him.”
Being crude wasn’t going to upset her. “If you leave bruises on me, he’ll know,” she said. Though the truth was her arm was already bruising, there was no way to stop it. “And he won’t be happy about it.”
“I’m sure he loves putting it in your pussy or up your ass… doubt he gives a fuck about the rest of you.”
“Think again.” The voice from the door was unexpected and when she turned to see her man just inside the room, she almost didn’t recognize him wearing the hate and anger that twisted his features. “Take your fucking hands off her, Hex, or we’re gonna have a problem.”
The last thing she wanted was for them to fight at all, let alone here. The place was swarming with security guards who would back up Archer. But she didn’t want to start a war in a place she was trying to clean up.
“Archer,” Hexam said.
>
Hexam’s grip loosened and when he let her go, she snatched her arm to her chest and pushed her chair away from her desk, letting it roll back as far as it would go. “You ok, Sweets?” he asked, but he was still fixated on Hexam.
“You weren’t supposed to see this,” Hexam said, rising from his chair. “But now you’re here, you’ve saved me a trip. She says she’s your property, is that right?”
“That’s right.”
“Your girlie and I have an understanding. I expect you’ll help her hold up her end of the deal and if she doesn’t… you know what happens.”
“You don’t come near her again,” Archer snarled. “Any shit you have that’s connected to her, you bring to me.”
Hexam glanced at her, and then took his dubious eyes to Archer. “She said that too.”
“I’ve got her well trained,” Archer muttered.
If only that were true. But for the purposes of the moment, she let it go. Hexam nodded once and sauntered toward the door. “I think I’ve made my point here,” Hexam said, drawing his eyes from Archer to leer at her one more time. “I’ll give you to the end of the week. Get some ice on that arm.”
Archer didn’t give Hexam any space to get out the door, meaning the man had to shuffle out sideways. Instead of looking awkward, he managed to maintain his dangerous edge, though it wasn’t half as dangerous as Archer’s look when he put a hand on the door to throw it into the frame.
“What the fuck was that?” he demanded.
He was angry with her? She couldn’t figure out how he managed that. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? What the fuck is this understanding? You don’t make any deals, with anyone, under any circumstances. Period. Understand? If you’ve got a problem, you let me handle it.”
This seemed to be the night for men to state the obvious and infuriate her. “Well, duh!” she snapped. “But, he spoke, I listened. I didn’t agree to anything.”
“What did he want? Is this about Tulio?”
So Archer wasn’t clear on the motivation for Hexam’s trip either. Misery did love company. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “He didn’t mention him at all. I don’t think he knows about our plans. But he knows about Tag and Farrah.”
“I know,” Archer said, coming to loom over her desk. “Kristof told me that Hexam was back in town and he’d found out about Farrah. Taggert’s been lying low. Your friend seems to be good at that, running and hiding.”
The last thing she needed to do right now was listen to snide comments about her friend. Reaching beneath the desk, she picked up her purse and jacket. “He scared me, you know,” she said after she tugged on her jacket and threw the strap of her bag over her head to straighten it diagonally across her body between her breasts. “You could give me a hug, and make me feel better, be a good boyfriend and all that.”
“I’ll do that when I stop seeing red,” he said. “I’ll squeeze the life out of you if I get my hands on you now. That fucker should never have come near you. I can’t believe he had the balls—”
“Like he said, he was making a point.”
“And I heard it loud and clear,” Archer said, grabbing her arm to pull her out of the office.
She recounted the conversation in the car on the way home, telling him everything that Hexam had said and how she’d refused to bow to his threats.
Kristof had only been a temporary visitor, because he was gone when Archer tossed her into his apartment.
“This isn’t finished,” he said and while she considered whether or not she was hungry, she was surprised when he seized her arm again and began to drag her through the apartment.
She couldn’t imagine that he wanted to have sex right now. But he pulled her past the dinner table, the couch, and down the hall. Except instead of taking her into the bedroom, he took her into the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” she asked, he still had a hold of her arm, and she wondered if maybe he was planning to treat the bruises left by Hexam.
He pulled open the closet, perpendicular to the bathroom door. He fumbled around for something. She wasn’t paying much attention, or thinking about what it might be, until she heard the metallic jangle.
Immediately tensing, she pulled at her arm. “No!” she screamed and tried to get away from him, but he hadn’t let her go. Using his body to block her, he crowded her into the corner, and then he forced her onto the floor. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Archer, you can’t do this to me. This is me. Look at me. Look at me!” But he was already winding the chain around the pipe. “Archer, please don’t do this to me. Why are you doing this to me? I didn’t do anything wrong! I’ll tell you anything you want to know! Anything at all!”
“This isn’t about information,” he said, stopping what he was doing to grab her chin, coercing their gazes to clash. “This is about your safety now. He’s seen you. He knows you. Any of his men could come for you. Any minute. You’re gonna pay the price for Tag’s dick sniffing around pussy it shouldn’t. I won’t let you be taken down for that. I’m gonna keep you safe.”
“Ok,” she said, so desperate to be free that she’d probably say anything. “So keep me safe. You don’t have to put me here. I’ll stay in the apartment. I promise. I won’t leave.”
But he was shaking his head. “I can’t take that chance. If you think it’s ok just to run out to the store—”
“I won’t! I’ll stay.”
“No,” he said. “I can’t know that unless I make damn sure you can’t move.”
“You don’t trust me? I’m your girl! You love me.”
His fingers dug in so deep she could feel their bruising force and it made her jaw ache. “And that’s why I won’t take the risk.”
“You don’t have to leave me in here,” she said. “Haven’t these last few months meant anything to you? Haven’t I earned the right to have a place better than your bathroom floor?”
At least that got through to him because after a second of his eyes flicking back and forth between hers, he pulled her onto her feet. Almost sagging in relief, Nya thought it was over, that she’d broken through, and was about to kiss him in thanks and to calm him down.
But he wasn’t done.
Pulling her out of the bathroom, straight across the hall into the bedroom, he threw her to the bed and grabbed hold of her wrists to wind the same chain he’d dragged from the bathroom around them until it was padlocked in place locking her wrists to his headboard.
Her protests were ignored and although she shook her hands, making a terrible noise, she couldn’t free them. “Please don’t do this! Archer, just get into bed and we’ll go to sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”
“No,” he said and stormed to his closet. Throwing it open, he pulled out two individual knives that she hadn’t seen before. One he clipped to his belt, in addition to the one he always carried. The other he put in his pocket. “I’m not done and I’m not waiting for him to ambush us. I’m gonna get this cleared up tonight.”
Panic about her own situation evaporated when she thought about him walking into danger alone. “You’re going after him? Please, Archer, you don’t have to do this. Let him think he’s won! What harm is there in that for one night?”
“One night too many,” he snarled.
He was so angry, he wouldn’t be thinking straight and he wouldn’t be concentrating on being smart. “Please don’t go and confront him! If you leave me here then go and get yourself killed—”
“I’m not the one who will get hurt,” he said. Coming to the bed, he bent over her to force their mouths together in spite of her spitting and cursing. “I’m keeping you safe, Squirm. I don’t care what it costs. I don’t care if you leave me in the dust when this is all over. That’s what your life means to me.”
Producing a length of material from the nightstand drawer, he tied it tight around her mouth. Then he pivoted and marched for the door. She tried to call out and kept on trying until she heard the front door clos
e. Only then did she let her body go slack. All she’d produced were muffled shouts, and dampness on her gag. He wasn’t coming back for her yet.
This was a kneejerk reaction. This was what he did when he panicked. Nya couldn’t begin to put words to how pissed off and upset she was that he’d chained her up again and hadn’t trusted her enough to keep her word. But she would rather be here, in his bed, than stuck on that bathroom floor.
After grumbling to herself for a while, Nya closed her eyes and tried to sleep. But her worry for Archer was so great, she doubted she’d be able to give in to slumber.
twelve
Nya heard noise coming from the apartment and assumed that Archer was coming back. It was about bloody time, she thought, and wriggled again. Battering the chain off the headboard, she hoped to convey her irritation and anger. He’d probably ignore her, he was good at that.
Being used to keeping people captive, people who screamed and made a racket, Archer was no novice, which would be why he’d put the gag around her mouth because he knew she wasn’t beyond calling his name on repeat until he was forced to address her.
Just as she suspected, there was movement in the apartment, footsteps, except they weren’t as heavy as she expected from Archer and now that she thought about it, no one had slammed the door. There was no scuffle. Whoever it was, they were alone. But she couldn’t figure out what the entrant was doing. Sound didn’t carry well in here with the doors closed.
“Archer!” A female called out from the living room. “Are you home, honey?”
Oh God, here she was, strapped to a bed, helpless, and one of his exes had probably just rocked up looking for a good time. Nya could handle whoever it was under normal circumstances, but her dignity was in the toilet right now and first impressions were everything when trying to scare off the competition.
Staying quiet, she hoped whoever this woman was, that she would disappear or maybe that serendipity would be shining on her and Archer would come back before Nya was found here.
Scarred (Branded Book 2) Page 12