Retribution Boxed Set (Books One and Two)

by Stark, Cindy

  Sam didn’t fail to notice his emphasis on the word “me”, but he’d be damned if he’d let Christian goad him again.

  Chapter Eight

  Janie stayed in her bedroom until long after she heard Sam leave. She hadn’t meant to come across as rude. Truly, she was grateful for what he’d done for her. But the intensity of her attraction to him had caught her off guard, and it was one thing she couldn’t deal with at the moment.

  While she’d waited, she’d called her former job and then the restaurant in San Antonio, only to be told they were still reviewing applications and would get back to her later. She plopped onto her bed and turned on the TV, mechanically flipping through the channels. Even the cooking channel didn’t interest her today.

  She stood and looked out her window, sunlight cascading through the trees onto the lawn. It would be a beautiful day to be outside. Unfortunately, she was hesitant to leave the house. She needed to find something though. Solitude and lethargy were her enemies. She needed to be busy, or her fearful thoughts would drive her crazy.

  What she needed was to cook. Cooking calmed her.

  She wandered into the kitchen finding it and the attached living room deserted. She didn’t know why, but she felt like she needed to ask permission to use the kitchen. Must be leftover from the days she’d had to ask her mother before she could heat up a can of soup.

  The sounds of rock music wafted up from the basement, and she headed down the stairs in search of Christian. She found him in a brightly lit room with a weight bench, treadmill, and a punching bag. He was currently engaged in a deathly battle with the sandbag. She watched silently from the doorway as he punched, twisted and gave the heavy bag a swift kick, sending his foe swinging.

  He must have sensed her for his gaze suddenly shifted to hers and she startled, realizing she’d been gawking. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

  Christian grabbed a towel from a nearby chair and wiped his brow. “No problem. Everything okay?”

  “Yeah.” She glanced from him to the bag and back again, a new thought taking seed. “Is there any way I could train with you? She’d started taking self-defense classes, but hadn’t had enough time to perfect any skills before Paul had attacked her. If she’d had, she wouldn’t have needed a knife.

  “You want to learn how to fight? Sure. I can help.” He glanced pointedly at her clothes. “You’re going to want something you can move in easier, though, and I don’t know if you should be exercising with that gash on your head.”

  She touched her hand to the bandage above her brow. “It’s better than yesterday.” And she wasn’t about to let it stop her from getting stronger. “I’ll be fine.” She didn’t want to miss this opportunity. “I’m going to go change.”

  She hurried to her bedroom and donned her yoga pants and sports bra. Running had been her escape in the past, but now she was limited to the inside of a house until she left town. Punching a bag would teach her how to fight along with the added benefit of relieving her stress.

  She didn’t miss the look of appreciation when she rejoined Christian, but she chose to ignore it. Right now, she wasn’t interested in a man. She was purely there to kick some ass.

  For the next hour, he showed Janie how to throw a punch and how to block one. He let her punch on the bag for a while as he guided her technique.

  “Ready to learn how to spar?”

  “Sure.” She wiped sweat from her brow. “Anything that helps me get stronger is a good thing.”

  “Good attitude. I know Sam has boxing gloves here somewhere.” He rummaged through the closet in the room. “Found ‘em. We can practice the basic moves. Just don’t clock me in the head, okay? He handed a pair to her, and she stuffed her hands inside.

  “Okay.” She laughed and held up her hands. “Are these the same moves I’d make if someone attacked me?”

  “They’ll strengthen your upper body and stamina, and sharpen your reflexive abilities.”

  Good enough for her.

  They practiced in slow motion until she got the hang of things. Then he started going faster. She did her best to keep up, but his skills were far beyond hers. She got in a few good shots, but it mostly wore her out.

  “You’re killing me,” she said with a frustrated laugh.

  “I know.” He smiled. “Tell you what, I’ll only block. That will give you some good chances to hit.”

  “Deal.” She started punching, and true to his word, he didn’t fight back. She caught him once on the chin, and he stepped back. She pressed on until she had him up against a wall.

  She laughed though her heart thundered in her chest. “You let me do that.”

  “Maybe.” He smiled. He opened his mouth to say something else and stopped, his gaze jumping to something behind her. “Sam.”

  “What are you doing? Sam didn’t sound particularly happy.

  Janie turned so she could see him. He didn’t look at her, but stared at Christian as though trying to convey an unspoken message.

  “She wanted to learn how to fight.” Christian slipped from her grasp and went to grab a towel.

  Her gaze connected with Sam’s as a trickle of sweat ran down her neck and into the valley between her breasts. He glanced down as though he followed the tracks, and her temperature increased twenty degrees. As much as she hated the chemistry between them, there wasn’t much she could do at the moment.

  Except leave.

  She headed toward him and the doorway. “Excuse me. I’m going to shower.” She pushed past him without waiting for him to move. Her elbow brushed his jacket, her skin burning from the contact.

  She could feel his gaze on her as she hurried away.

  At some point, she’d have to learn to handle the awkwardness with Sam if she was going to share a house with him for the next few days. But not right now.

  Back in her room, she checked her phone before climbing into the shower, dismayed to find she hadn’t received a callback from the restaurant.

  The waiting was killing her. She wanted to forget the charges against Paul and get the hell out of there. Maybe she should head to San Antonio regardless. In a city that size, she could certainly find some kind of a job until a better one came along.

  * * *

  Paul sipped water from the hospital cup, trying to ignore the burning pain in his chest. Normally, he was all for a good dose of drugs, especially ones administered directly into his bloodstream, but he needed his wits right now.

  Janie had betrayed him.

  That hurt almost as much as the fucking hole in his chest. He’d lucked out that her knife hadn’t killed him. A couple of broken ribs and a punctured lung were bad enough, but he’d survived.

  Unfortunately, the longer he stayed in that hospital bed, the more likely she’d turn traitor and start spilling to the cops. The tense hours of waiting and wondering when or if the cops would arrive ate at him. He was nearly certain she hadn’t ratted him out yet, or they’d be slapping his ass with some charges besides the assault ones they’d already laid on him.

  Wasn’t that a joke? He was the one in the fucking hospital, and yet the cops busted his balls. She was the lethal bitch with the knife. He should be suing her ass instead.

  He needed to get out and find her. A low growl rumbled from his throat as he slammed his head back into his pillow in frustration.

  Never in a million years would he have believed his little Janie would have stabbed him. He’d only been messing with her with the shower thing. Although he couldn’t stand the thought of that pig’s hands on his woman. But he wouldn’t have burned her. He loved her. She just needed to understand her place. That was all.

  His hospital door creaked open, and a greasy-haired kid with bangs hanging limp in his face peeked in. Paul nodded for him to enter.

  “Hey man.” Brent looked back into the hall as though checking for threats before he fully entered and shut the door behind him. “How you doing?”

  “Fucking great. How does it look like I’m
doing? If the kid hadn’t helped him out on numerous occasions, providing him with valuable information besides being a regular customer, he would have told the punk to hit the road. He didn’t need shit like him hanging around.

  The kid’s gaze jumped from his I.V. to his face, and it was obvious he was in the early stages of withdrawal. If they’d have been in Paul’s apartment, he’d have taken pity and given the kid a hit.

  “I gotta say, you’ve looked better.”

  “Yeah,” Paul answered in a no-shit tone of voice. “Fucking bitch tried to kill me.”

  Brent shoved his hands in his pockets and then removed them, rocking on his feet. “I saw her at your place after they took you away. She was grabbing her stuff.”

  “Bitch better run.” When he found her, she had a hell of a price to pay. She knew too much information and could no longer be trusted. She might not have told the police anything yet, but it was only a matter of time. “And she better not have taken anything that’s mine.”

  “I think she just took clothes.” He paused as though judging whether or not to impart his next words. “She had a cop with her. He went all ape-shit crazy when I showed up, pulling a gun on me.”

  A cop? “What did he look like?”

  Brent glanced to the sides as though someone might have snuck up behind him. “I’ve seen him before. He was in on that bust against Tony. Blond-haired dude. Thinks he’s God’s gift to the police.”

  Damn it. It had to be that fucker Holden. “Did they search the place? Did they find anything? He didn’t keep a ton of stuff at his house. He wasn’t that dumb. But he did have his hidden reserves. Hopefully, the couple of joints he’d planted as a decoy nearby would make the cops think that’s all there was. Jesus. He didn’t need this kind of stress.

  “I don’t think so. Like I said, it looked like they were just getting her stuff. A couple of suitcases. One of those teapot things. That’s all.”

  So, Holden was after his woman. Other than her gorgeous body, what use would he have for her except to extract information about him? He had to find her and now. “I want you to get a hold of Lou for me. Have him call me. I don’t want him to show up here in case anyone is watching me.”

  Brent shot up straight from his slump at those words. “Are they watching?”

  What an idiot. “No. I’m pretty sure they can’t see you standing here in my room. Is there a detective outside? Maybe.”

  “Fuck.” His reply slid out in a long whisper. “I was going to hit you up for some…”

  “Jesus.” Paul leveled an incredulous look at the kid. “You think I have that shit here?”

  “I just…” He shrugged and gave a little twitch.

  “God. Just go.” If the cops said one word to Brent, he’d confess everything. It seemed everyone was becoming a liability. “Ask Lou when you talk to him. Jesus.” Paul turned away, hoping the kid would leave before he had to kill him right then and there.

  When the door shut behind him, Paul picked up his phone and dialed his attorney. He couldn’t sit there in bed and not do anything.

  * * *

  Several days passed with pretty much the same routine. Sam would come home from work to find Janie enjoying Christian’s company. She’d take one look at Sam and retreat to her bedroom with any number of excuses. She needed a shower. She wanted to read. She was tired and was going to bed early. Christian would head to his bar, and Sam would spend the rest of the night alone. Sometimes, she’d come out and grab a snack, but she never stayed.

  There had been no news regarding Paul until today, no specific reason to talk to Janie, so he’d left her alone, figuring she needed some time to sort things out.

  But three nights was ridiculous, and her avoidance was starting to feel personal.

  Tonight, he waited until nearly seven before he conceded Janie wasn’t coming out for dinner, and she certainly wasn’t going to cook for him. He wasn’t sure what the hell he’d done to make her so angry or annoyed or whatever she was, but for some reason, she didn’t want anything to do with him. But enough was enough. They weren’t enemies. Hell, he’d saved her ass. She could at least talk to him.

  He threw together some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup before he went looking for her.

  He knocked on her door. When she answered, he shoved the tray of food at her, forcing her to take it or drop it.

  “When you’ve decided you’re grown up enough to talk about whatever’s bugging you, I’ll be in the kitchen.”

  The chair made a grating sound as he moved it away from the table and fell into it alone. He dunked a corner of his sandwich into the soup and had it halfway to his mouth when she walked into the kitchen, tray in hand. She eyed him with an unreadable gaze, and he half expected her to shove the food at him and walk away.

  He hadn’t been nice, and maybe he deserved it. But she hadn’t been nice, either.

  She set the tray on the table near him and began unloading her dinner. When she finished, she sat in the chair next to him.

  “I’m sorry.” She stared at her soup bowl for a moment and then met his gaze. Anxiety flickered in her beautiful blue eyes, but she didn’t glance away.

  This was what he’d hoped for, but he hadn’t expected it would really work. A smile built inside him, but he didn’t let it show. “You don’t need to be sorry.”

  “I do. You’ve been nothing but good to me, and I’ve treated you badly.” She picked up her spoon and stirred her soup before lifting it to her lips. “It’s good.”

  He chuckled, grateful the tension between them had disappeared. “It’s from a can.”

  She smiled, her expression brightening his world, making him warm from the inside out. “It’s still good. Thank you. I haven’t had someone cook for me in a long time.”

  “No problem.” He dunked his sandwich again and took a bite. He hated to ruin their suddenly good evening, but they needed to talk. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  Her happiness evaporated, and he regretted stealing it from both of them. “It’s...hard to explain.”

  “Give it a try.” He’d gotten her this far. He wasn’t about to let her off the hook.

  She put down her spoon, then met his gaze. “I’ve been spending some time considering this.” She paused again as though getting her thoughts in order. “I know what people think about battered women.”

  “What’s that?”

  “That they’re dumb. That they should grow a backbone and walk away. Why would anyone stay in a situation like that?”

  He wasn’t about to admit it, but he’d had similar thoughts. Instead, he gave her space to continue.

  “But people who’ve never been in that situation don’t understand. Walking away isn’t easy.”

  “Staying is?”

  “See? You’re judging.” She picked up her sandwich and sunk her teeth through the crust and into the cheese as though she was taking her anger out on it.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to judge. But I do have a hard time watching people allow others to hurt them. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “That’s because you’re only seeing the surface.” She gave him a hard look. “You have no idea what’s going on underneath.”

  “Then enlighten me.”

  Chapter Nine

  Janie didn’t want to share all of the details of her life with this man who’d helped her and yet tortured her with kindness. But if she didn’t want to be viewed as a weak helpless woman, she didn’t have a choice. Sam had set down his sandwich and given her his full attention.

  She took a drink of water, giving her a moment to compose her thoughts. “On the outside, it might look like I was a helpless woman, but I’m far from that.”

  “Obviously. Look at Castell now.”

  The side of her mouth quirked in a small grin. She had to admit, now that she hadn’t actually killed anyone, it felt good to have defended herself. “Most people don’t go into these relationships knowing they’re going to be ab
used, you know.”

  Looking back now, she could see the signs that Paul might not have been the person he said he was, but she couldn’t see it then. “When I realized how bad it was, I started making plans to leave, but I couldn’t up and walk away. Paul would never let that happen. Before you say I should have gone to a shelter, know that he would have found me there. I had to get somewhere safe, but I needed a new job. I needed money. I stayed because I didn’t want to be homeless, but it wouldn’t have been for much longer, regardless.”

  The way Sam watched her with such intensity, totally taking in every word she spoke, unnerved her. It reminded her of the night she’d been questioned about Paul’s stabbing. Sam must make a very good detective.

  “Why didn’t you go back home or ask your family for money?”

  She nearly laughed out loud. The thought of her parents sending money or supporting her in anyway was a joke. “Not an option.”

  He sat quiet, obviously internalizing her words. “So, you were, what, waiting for the right opportunity?”

  “No.” Her answer came swiftly. “I was creating the right opportunity. First off, I wanted to see Nicole get married. And I couldn’t walk off my job, or I wouldn’t be able to use them for a reference. But I’ve been making plans to leave for a while. I’ve saved up some cash. I’ve been applying for other jobs. Even as we speak, there’s a restaurant in San Antonio who’s considering me for a sous chef position. If I get it, I’m gone.”

  “Texas? That’s a long way away. If Paul fights the charges, you’ll need to go to court.”

  Now that she’d made the break into freedom, she refused to allow any more roadblocks to stop her. “If I don’t?”

  His probing gaze sharpened. “Like I told you before, there’s a good chance he won’t have to answer for what he did.”

  She picked up her spoon and started eating again. “I guess I can live with that.”

  “Are you serious? His words nearly exploded out of him. “He needs to pay. He nearly scalded you. Who knows if he would have stopped there?”