by Rucker, Shay
She didn’t know.
He had to get her to their home. Make her see. Make her believe in him again. The incident at her apartment had set him back. He’d lost two men who, in truth, deserved to die with the poor showing they’d made. They had left him facing his competition without protection. And that was what this Zeus person was, competition for Sabrina’s affection. It galled that his reunion with her had been marred. He’d given her the impression he was still weak. Still incapable of protecting her. And Zeus had shone like some avenging force, blocking him from what was his.
Reed walked back into the hospital room and sat down. He avoided looking at Maxim. Reed hadn’t agreed with the plan, hadn’t wanted Maxim to go to Sabrina’s apartment even with two members of his team accompanying him.
“If anything happens to her, you’re already at the top of the suspect list and will go straight to jail.”
“We’ll just have to make sure nothing happens to her, then, won’t we?”
“If they ever get any substantial evidence, they will arrest you, sir. Elias had to talk hard and fast even after dropping a hailstorm of powerful names indebted to you and your family.”
“And that’s why we have him on retainer.”
“Needless to say, you are prohibited from leaving town in the event they need to question you further. Elias is certain they will.”
Maxim shrugged. The amount of narcotics in his system stopped him from feeling any pain from the motion. “I wouldn’t leave without her, anyway.”
Reed ran his hand over his jaw, showing a rare display of frustration.
It was true; Maxim had made a poor decision. Anticipation had impaired his judgment, and Reed had been forced to witness it. Perhaps he shouldn’t have approached her so boldly. He’d underestimated his opponent, and it had resulted in the loss of his woman and disappointment from his loyal assistant.
“It was badly done, Reed. I promise you I won’t behave so impulsively again. I should have heeded your counsel, my friend, and this outcome is my punishment. Don’t make it worse by losing faith in me.”
“Never, sir.”
“So, where do we stand?”
“There are no charges either from the initial kidnapping or the visit that was made to Ms. Samora’s apartment. The crime scene investigative unit is done processing the apartment, but I’m sorry to say, sir, your butterfly is again in the wind.”
“With him.”
“Most likely. Our man in OPD heard that her protection has absconded with her. For her safety, of course.”
Maxim took a deep breath and rested his head on the pillows propped up behind him. “It’s okay. I have her scent. She’ll eventually attempt to reestablish her life. Make contact with her friends, go home, go to work. She’ll come back. She won’t be able to stay away from me too long knowing I’m here. Her memory will return once the trauma of the warehouse incident wears off.”
“Sometimes memories don’t return, sir. Sometimes inside, people don’t heal.”
“She’s strong. The good times we had won’t escape her forever, and if I’m there, willing to beg forgiveness, she will return to me.”
Reed remained quiet a few moments.
“Might I suggest you return to the hotel? Going back to the oceanside house may be a bad idea given the circumstances.”
Maxim closed his eyes. “To the latter, I agree. Do you think it would be best to find an appropriate hotel in the East Bay? The Claremont, perhaps?”
“No, sir. It’s best to be closer to the San Francisco airport. Just in case.”
“Your honest opinion. What do you think of my Sabrina?”
Maxim heard his assistant shift in his chair and opened his eyes to see the other man leaning with his elbows on his knees and his hands clutched between them. Reed stared at his interlocked fingers.
“I think she’s everything you said she’d be. Beautiful, intelligent, strong. None of the women I’ve seen you with have truly done her justice.”
Maxim couldn’t suppress the pride he felt in Sabrina and in himself for choosing her.
“All that said, I fear what she can do to you. I fear she’ll use your love, your history against you.”
Maxim waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t fear for me. Once Sabrina and I have spent time in our oceanside home, once we eventually come up for air, the last thing she’ll want to do is cause me harm. That’s what my room is for. Working out differences so love can flourish.”
“I can only hope what you say is true,” Reed said, standing. “I’ll go and see what’s happening with your discharge papers.”
Maxim watched Reed leave the room, knowing his assistant was displeased. Reed was protective of him, but Reed didn’t know Sabrina. A little time in her presence would lead Reed to care for her almost as much as Maxim did.
Chapter Twelve
“Where in the hell are we?” Sabrina asked, refusing to get out of the car. She was cranky and hungry and wanted the comfort of being in a familiar place. He’d said they would stay close to Oakland, but after an hour on the road she’d fallen asleep knowing their definitions of “close” were miles apart. She rolled down the passenger-side window, unbuckled her seat belt, and stuck her head out the window to get a better view of her surroundings.
Oh hell no. She wasn’t getting out of the car and staying in the run-down cabin in front of them.
“What is it with you and your friends buying these creepy-ass, dilapidated buildings? And wasn’t there this movie called Cabin in the Woods? Was this place the movie’s inspiration?”
Zeus remained silent.
“I’m not going in there, Zeus, so you might as well back the car up, turn us around, and take me back to someplace with people…and buildings. And graffiti. Someplace where I can fall asleep to the sound of sirens wailing through the streets.” She looked around the area—trees upon trees for as far as the eye could see. “I already miss the homeless couple who get into fights in front of my building every Saturday night.”
Zeus reached for his door, and she reached for him, grabbing his biceps to stall him. “I’m serious. I’m not staying in that place tonight. I want to go home. I…”
He opened the door and stepped out of the car, pulling free from her hands. He walked to the trunk, taking out her battered, hastily packed suitcase and two duffel bags he apparently kept in the trunk for himself, and walked toward the creaky-looking porch.
She folded her arms over the top of the open window and rested her head on the back of her hands as she watched him fish out another set of keys from his duffel bag. He opened the front door to shadow and darkness. She couldn’t see what awaited her on the inside, but Zeus, the big idiot, picked up the bags, walked over the threshold, and slammed the door shut with his booted foot.
“Asshole,” she muttered, sitting back in her seat and facing forward to look into the trees.
He isn’t going to just leave me sitting out here, she thought. A much more rational and accurate thought followed. He’s Zeus; of course he’d leave her out here. As a matter of fact, he just had.
She looked back over at the cabin. A dim light glowed behind thick curtains. Thinking of how badly she’d misjudged K.C. and Dominic’s house, she acknowledged that maybe Zeus’s hideout would be cozy, modern, and warm inside. Maybe it was as comfortable as her home.
Something skittered through the fallen leaves on the ground, and it didn’t sound like the small squirrel-like somethings she was used to in her neighborhood, either. She didn’t see anything when she looked out the window, and it freaked her out. She wasn’t the scared type, but she bit back a shout as the sound moved closer to the car. Flinging her door open, she sprinted toward the cabin and up the stairs, barreling through the front door only to freeze when it shut behind her.
“I’m damned,” she muttered, looking around the room. Cobwebs hung from the ceilings like translucent harem veils. Dust coated the floor and furniture coverings. The cabin had high ceilings, which made the room fe
el cavernous, especially furnished with only two pieces of furniture. The sheets covering both items might have once been the pure white of clouds, but they were a dark grimy gray that made the sidewalks in downtown Oakland seem pristine. One item sat against the wall opposite her, in the shape of a sofa, and the other was to her right, in front of the curtained window.
“Zeus?” she whispered, only to have her voice swallowed by the gloominess of the place.
He didn’t respond.
Sabrina reached for the gray-stoned blade sheathed at her back. Maybe she didn’t know how to use it like a professional, definitely nowhere near the level of skill Zeus displayed, but if someone—or something—came at her, she would start slicing. And if she had to fight Zeus to get the keys to his car and get the hell out of here, she would. Hell, he could be a real-life Leatherface for all she knew, and like a fool she’d willingly accompanied him to his killing fields.
Attempting to rein in her paranoia, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, Zeus was standing in front of her with a bucket in each hand—one held supplies and the other steaming hot water.
She flinched and took a step back.
Zeus held the items out to her. “Place needs cleaning.”
She snorted. “Then hop to it.”
He stared, continuing to extend the items out to her.
“You can look at me all you want, but I do not work for Merry Maids. You want your cabin cleaned, I may help you, but I won’t be the only one doing all the cleaning.”
He shrugged and dropped the buckets, water sloshing over the side of one. “You clean this room, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
If she was an ungrateful person, it wouldn’t matter that he had helped her clean her place without being asked, without complaint. The truth was, she was grateful to him for it, and if doing this one task helped him out, she should welcome the opportunity.
And after it was done, she was leaving.
“Fine. I’ll help, but you better have some real food around for me when I’m done. Or else.”
“Threats. Cute,” he said, nodding at the blade dangling limply against her thigh. He shook his head and offered a shadow of a smile before turning and walking down a wide hallway that appeared to connect to the kitchen.
Sabrina resheathed the blade and looked around the room again. Stepping to the window, she pulled the mustard-yellow curtain back and frowned as she peeked out. She wasn’t afraid of what crept around out there. Darkness had descended over the forest at a faster pace than it seemed to in the rest of the world. She’d left the car door open, and the interior light illuminated her brown leather backpack sitting right there on the passenger-side floor. Opening the front door, she walked onto the porch. Except for the occasional crunch of leaves from forest creatures skittering around unseen, this place was cocooned in silence. When she took a step in the direction of the car, things called out to each other from the high tree branches. They didn’t sound like the small, lively sounding birds inhabiting the spindly limbed trees in her neighborhood.
Sabrina gauged the distance between the porch and the car.
About fifteen, maybe twenty feet.
The noise in the trees had quieted. She reached for her blade again, ignoring how automatic the motion was becoming. No more than forty steps and she could make her way to the car and back.
Just forty steps, Bree. You’ve survived two of the most insane days of your life; you can’t let an overactive imagination defeat you.
She bounced on the balls of her feet, knife clutched in hand, and sprinted forward. Reaching the car, she grabbed her bag and felt something brush against her leg. She screamed—she did; she was woman enough to admit it—as she leaped up and balanced on the edge of the open doorway of Zeus’s car. Zeus would probably kill her if he saw how she was misusing his stupid car. She’d almost impaled herself in the throat as she tried to hold on to the blade and the roof of the car.
The things in the trees screeched, and the things on the ground were stalking her; she knew they were. If they were scared or intimidated, they would have remained silent and still. But the forest was a cacophony of sound. She was being hunted, and the loud creatures were the audience of cheering fans waiting for her to be taken down.
Sabrina steeled herself. After the life she had lived, she would not go down easily. She would fight Bambi and Sasquatch too if it meant she lived to see another day. She strapped her backpack around her shoulders and jumped away from the car, twisting around and landing in what she decided was her battle stance, waiting for the first challenger to appear. The sounds of the creatures continued to taunt her, but none came.
“That’s what I thought,” she said, closing the car door and sauntering back to the house. Something big and black flew at her, its soft wings grazing her forehead, and she hollered again and sprinted the last few steps to the front door, yelling even louder when she saw the black figure standing just outside the door. Of its own volition, her hand swung the blade in a wide arc. She felt a blow to the wrist that sent the blade skittering across the wooden porch floor.
“What are you doing?” Zeus’s voice rolled over her, low and flat.
“I was attacked,” she gritted out, looking back at the forest. “Bastards,” she yelled as the noise only grew more exuberant. They were laughing at her.
She growled and stomped into the living room. She would have slammed the door, but Zeus was there to gently close it behind them. She heard a click, and a low-wattage bulb came on overhead. When she looked at Zeus, his face was expressionless, but she knew that glint in his steel-colored eyes. The bastard was laughing at her on the inside. He’d probably witnessed the whole thing and chosen to watch instead of help her.
“Bastard,” she said, wanting to punch him in the stomach but opting not to, because in the end, it would hurt her more than it hurt him.
“You have a great ass. I loved how it bounced when you hopped on the car after the rabbit brushed up against your leg.” She heard both lust and humor in his voice and shivered. She chalked the reaction up to the adrenaline rush.
“Did you plan to hot-wire my car and escape back to Oakland?”
“I needed my bag. I wanted my iPod, so I could listen to my music as I cleaned your house.”
Zeus shook his head and rolled his eyes as he walked to the object in front of the window. He pulled the dirty cover off, causing a plume of dust to rise in the air. She covered her mouth and nose with the sleeve of her jacket and stood, dumbfounded, when she saw the tricked-out entertainment center. Wide-screen TV, surround sound stereo system, a gaming system with DVDs and games stacked to the side.
“In the middle of nowhere, Zeus? Really?”
He nodded. “You can put your music in the docking station and play whatever you want. I’ll be in the back.” He paused as he turned to leave, dangling her blade between his fingers. “And, Sabrina, remember lesson one. Hold on to your weapon, or you might find yourself being stabbed with it.”
He left the room, and she was alone. The sounds outside were barely muted by the walls and closed windows. It was like being the hated contestant at the Thunderdome out here. Fucking animals.
Placing her music in the docking station, she opened the “oldies #2” folder that had a compilation of Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Bobby Blue Bland, and other R&B singers.
She sang and cleaned as her skin and clothes became more soiled than the room she was cleaning. When the water in the bucket was as black as muck, she lifted it and made her way to the back of the cabin. The kitchen on the other end of the hall was tidy, stark, and spacious. She walked to the right and peeked into a spotless bathroom. Farther down there was a medium-size bedroom. Walking in the other direction, she found Zeus in a much larger bedroom, reclining on a California-king-size bed, watching a rugby game. There was no sound because a pair of headphones was plugged into the TV on one end and straddled Zeus’s rock head on the other.
His mouth cocked up
on the side when he noticed her standing in the doorway.
She almost threw the bucket of water on him. “You bastard,” she muttered when he slid the headphones forward, resting them in his lap.
“Don’t know why you’re constantly bringing up the facts of my birth.”
She dropped the bucket and took a step forward. He continued to grin, far from being intimidated.
“I have been working like a slave in there, and you’re in here watching TV?”
“There was nothing to do back here. Cleaned it on my last visit.”
“So why didn’t you come help me up front?”
He waved toward the television. “Because the match is on. My team’s playing in the quarter finals.”
She just stared at him because, one, she was at a loss over what to say, what to do. Of course in Zeus’s world it made perfect sense to let a guest clean his filthy-assed living room while he lay on his butt and watched his team play a rugby tournament.
By the way he kept watching the bucket at her feet, he must have sensed she was about to snap, and he was trying to figure out in which direction she would do it.
“I got steaks and potatoes on the grill out back. That’s got to be worth something.”
For a moment all Sabrina could do was stare at him. She took a few deep breaths and left the room before she did something that would force him to pull his blades. Even though he was likely the most qualified to do so, she would not let a crazy man drive her bat-shit crazy.
She walked to the bathroom and stripped, too upset to appreciate the clean simplicity of the space—claw-foot tub, a wide, shell-shaped pedestal sink, and cold stone floors. She bathed with his soap and used his lotion to moisturize her body. She wrapped a large blue towel around her because her clothes were in the small suitcase in his room.
Opening the bathroom door, she jumped, suppressing a shriek when she saw Zeus standing inches from the doorway. He stared at her in that intense, gray-eyed way of his. Without meaning to, her gaze strayed over him, taking in the hard length of flesh pressing against the crotch of his pants. She wondered how long he’d been standing there but couldn’t find enough saliva in her mouth to ask.