Fight for Me

by Jessica Linden

All three groups of them. It was bad enough when they just had Kent’s men and X’s men after them. Now the goddamn police were their enemy, too.

  “How did they find us?” Natalie asked. “We’ve been so careful.”

  Knox thought about the chatty clerk at the convenience store. Or hell, the employees and other patrons at the burger joint. Maybe even the hotel clerk. Now that their pictures were plastered all over the media, neither one of them could safely show their face in any part of town.

  “Oh, shit.” Natalie paled and covered her face with her hand.

  “What?”

  “The guns. They’re still in the drawer at the hotel. I didn’t get them.”

  Fuck.

  He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, trying to keep himself from punching a hole in something. They needed those weapons. They’d been on the wrong end of several guns lately, and it was only a matter of time before their luck ran out. Shit, it already had. Knox’s shoulder dully ached from where the bullet had grazed yesterday.

  It felt like a lifetime had passed since them.

  His phone vibrated in his pocket and he propped it on his shoulder while he continued to tend to Natalie’s wounds.

  “Knox, man, did you kill someone?”

  “No.”

  “Everyone’s saying you blew some guy’s head off. A bodyguard.”

  Shit. With everything else, Knox had forgotten all about the guard Natalie had killed. But it was better that they were pinning that on him. If shit went south, he didn’t want her taking the rap for that.

  It should have been him making that kill.

  “I didn’t kill anyone,” he said, and Natalie paled, no doubt also remembering the guard. “Do you have anything for me?”

  “I found a guy who can get you a car, but probably not for a few days.”

  “Shit, Tony. I can’t wait that long.”

  “Sorry, man.” Tony’s remorseful tone told him the words weren’t just lip service. “Is there anything else I can do?”

  “I could use a gun.”

  “Fuck, Knox, that’s more trouble than a damn car.” Tony sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Knox disconnected and ground his teeth. He hated having to rely on someone else for this shit. He liked taking care of things himself, but all of his contacts were connected to X, making them worthless.

  Knox pocketed the phone and paced the length of the room. It was an abandoned barbershop, with one remaining chair and gaping holes in the floor where two other chairs used to be. It looked vaguely familiar. Perhaps in another life he had gotten a haircut here.

  He continued to pace, trying to come up with a semi-permanent place they could hide while they figured out what to do. He had nothing.

  Things had gone from bad to worse in a fucking hurry.

  “Fuck!” He punched the aging drywall, leaving a fist-sized hole.

  Natalie approached him apprehensively, wrapping her arms around his slumped shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Knox. I didn’t mean to drag you into this.”

  He turned and wrapped his arms around her, immediately feeling calmer. “None of this is your fault.” He needed to keep himself in check. Losing his cool wouldn’t do them any favors.

  “We can’t stay here,” he said. “The cops will find us eventually. But I’m out of ideas.”

  That was probably for the best. His previous ideas hadn’t worked out. They’d been run out of the last two places he’d found for them.

  Natalie furrowed her brow, then her eyes widened and a smile erupted on her face. “I might know a place.”

  Natalie hadn’t seen Amelia North since her mother’s funeral. Her father had never approved of Amelia and Natalie’s mother’s friendship, and in turn, Amelia hadn’t approved of Anna Farrington marrying Gerald Kent. Amelia was one of the few people who saw through her father’s smooth veneer, which was why Natalie hoped they could trust her now.

  It took them several hours of weaving through the city to make it to the gates of Amelia’s estate on the far north side of town. As they hid across the street to scope out the premises, guilt snuck up on Natalie.

  They were bringing peril to Amelia’s doorstep.

  Though she didn’t think they’d been followed or seen, X’s men would probably consider Amelia collateral damage. An acceptable loss.

  She didn’t know about her father’s men. She knew a lot of the guards, and she’d hate to think they’d kill an innocent woman . . . hell, she hated to think they’d kill anyone, but that wasn’t something she could rely on anymore.

  “There’s a camera.” Knox pointed to the corner of the gate.

  Natalie nodded. She’d already spotted it. The setup here was similar to the one at her house, so she shouldn’t have much trouble disabling it. There were probably cameras in the trees in the yard, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that. Nor would she be able to disable any possible motion sensors from outside.

  Natalie’s gaze traveled the length of the wrought-iron fence. She pointed to the far right corner where a barely visible wire went into the ground. “There,” she said, pointing. “That’s where I can disable the gate alarm.”

  Knox shook his head. “That’s out in the open. You’ll be too exposed.”

  “It’s the only way. If we don’t disable that alarm, then the minute we open those gates, a call will go out to the police.”

  “Will she let us in if we ring the buzzer?” Knox asked.

  “Probably. But more than likely a guard or a servant will answer. And if they’ve been watching the news . . .” Natalie trailed off.

  Knox cursed and crossed his arms. “This woman is a friend of the family, right?”

  “Sort of. She was my mother’s best friend before my parents got married. My father hates her, and the feeling is mutual.”

  “Would he suspect that you would come here?”

  “I don’t think so.” Natalie’s tone was confident, but honestly, she wasn’t so sure.

  When she was a very young girl, she’d spent long afternoons with her mother and Amelia having “girl time.” They’d end with dinner at a fancy restaurant, where her mother would always order her a Shirley Temple while the older women drank cocktails. She’d felt so grown up sipping her fizzy pink-tinged drink and swinging her feet that didn’t even touch the floor. Her memories of those times were hazy, but they were always filled with smiles and laughter. The older she got, the fewer and further between those dinners became. And the less her mother smiled and laughed.

  At the time she didn’t understand why they no longer visited with Aunt Amelia who always gave her Blow Pops, the kind with the gum in the middle that she wasn’t normally allowed to have. It wasn’t until she was an adult that she realized the hold her father had had over her mother. To appease her husband, her mother had forsaken her friendship with Amelia, one of the few people her father couldn’t manipulate.

  Amelia had always been an uncanny judge of character. Perhaps that’s why she’d become a recluse in recent years.

  Now, Natalie was counting on her father’s prejudice blinding him to Amelia being their potential ally.

  Knox scanned their surroundings, and then gave a satisfied nod. “Okay. Go.”

  Natalie grabbed her wire cutters out of her backpack, then walked swiftly down the street, keeping her head down. Knox was right behind her.

  When she got to the correct place in the fence, she crouched down, then cursed. “I don’t know if this is it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think this wire is old, which means her system might be wireless. Shit. I didn’t even think of that.”

  Her heart sunk. She’d gotten cocky, thinking she’d be able to get through this security system as easily as she’d escaped her own. But she’d neglected to take into account that not all security systems were hardwired like the ones at her house.

  “So you can’t turn off the alarm?” Knox asked, his hands on his hips.

  She shook her hea
d. “I don’t think so.”

  “What about the cameras?”

  “Now those I can take care of, but I’ll need a boost so I can reach them.”

  “Don’t you think that will be a little suspicious?”

  She sighed. “Yes. I don’t know what else to do, though.”

  “Let’s continue around the property and see if we can find another way in that won’t automatically trip an alarm.”

  They continued along the length of the fence. The wrought iron continued along the street, but everywhere else was solid stone with no gates. There was one way in and one way out. It was a fortress.

  Natalie wondered if Amelia was simply overly paranoid, or if she had a reason to need so much security.

  She shrugged helplessly. “Should we take our chances and ring the buzzer?”

  Knox shook his head. “There was a tree around the back. Can you climb it?”

  She gulped and nodded. Her ribs were screaming at her and her arm had already started bleeding again under her bandage. But if that was the only way in, then she would put on a brave face and get it done.

  They returned to the tree in question, and Knox studied it. “I’ll go first to make sure it can hold the weight. When I get to the top, you follow my path, okay?”

  Natalie nodded, and Knox strapped his bag to his back before beginning his ascent. He scaled the branches easily. His climb could also be considered graceful, Natalie noted with surprise. She wouldn’t have expected that from someone with his bulk.

  Although Knox had done nothing but surprise her since they’d met. If she had seen him in her former life, as she’d come to think of it, she would have thought he was nothing but a common street thug.

  And she would’ve been dead wrong.

  At the top of the stone wall, he motioned for her to start climbing. She said a quick prayer and reached for the first branch. Even as a child, she’d never climbed a tree, but there was a first time for everything.

  She was experiencing a lot of firsts lately. Her insides tingled with the memory of this morning in the hotel room, and she closed her eyes. Focus, Natalie, or you’ll fall out of the damn tree.

  She made it to the top, though it took her twice as long, and Knox helped her onto the wall before jumping down. He reached up to help her, his hands around her waist to steady her.

  “Whew.” She smiled. “We made it.”

  “I thought you said you could climb.”

  “I did,” she said sheepishly, “but that doesn’t mean I’ve done it before.”

  His hands lingered on her waist, and she instinctively stepped closer, tilting her face up. His lips grazed hers, and the tingles in her body returned.

  They were in the middle of breaking and entering—sort of—and he still affected her this way. And though it seemed backward, for the first time she felt like she had her priorities straight. She wanted nothing more than to be in his arms.

  A low growling sound came from behind Knox. He pulled his mouth away from hers and turned his head.

  Natalie gasped and stiffened, fear spreading throughout her body.

  Oh, no.

  Two huge Dobermans had their ears pinned back and their teeth bared. And they were staring right at them.

  Chapter 6

  Knox shifted so that Natalie was behind him, his adrenaline pumping. He’d fought many types of men before, but he’d never fought an angry Doberman. Times two.

  The dogs stood about ten feet away, crouched and ready to attack at any moment. He took a step back, pushing Natalie, but there was nowhere to run. Their backs were against the wall, literally.

  His regret at not having a gun doubled as the dogs took several slow, controlled steps.

  “Can you reach the top of the wall?” he asked.

  “No. It’s too high.”

  Fuck. He’d have to keep both of the dogs occupied long enough for her to run away. There was no way he was getting out of this with all his skin intact.

  But she would if he had anything to do with it.

  “If they attack, you run. I’ll keep them busy.”

  He heard the swish of her hair as she nodded mutely.

  He still didn’t trust that she’d follow instructions, though. “I’m serious this time, Natalie. Run.”

  Suddenly, the dogs’ ears shot straight up, like they were listening to something. Then they did an about-face and ran off. What the fuck? Knox frowned, keeping Natalie safely behind him.

  Moments later, a handsome woman with gray-streaked light brown hair came into view as she walked across the lawn, the dogs trailing behind her like they were ducklings and she was the fucking mother duck.

  Behind him, Natalie let out an audible sigh of relief. This must be Amelia.

  “I was wondering if you’d show up here,” Amelia said, stopping a few feet in front of them and putting her hands on her hips. The dogs sat to either side of her, their tongues lolling out of their mouths, as if they hadn’t been in attack mode just seconds earlier. They looked almost friendly.

  Knox narrowed his eyes at them.

  The woman chuckled. “Bambi and Lula won’t hurt you.”

  Amelia looked Natalie up and down, inspecting her. “You look like your mother. Luckily, you have more sense than she did. Although it took you long enough to leave that godforsaken man. And you . . .” She turned her sharp gaze toward Knox. “You don’t trust me, do you?”

  This woman was throwing him for a loop. She was unlike anyone he’d ever met.

  “I don’t know you,” Knox replied evenly.

  “Good. You’re right not to trust me. You can’t trust any of the blue bloods in this town. Come on.” Amelia gestured for them to follow and turned to walk toward the house. “Let’s go inside.”

  The dogs pranced after her, their black little nubs wagging.

  Knox put his hand on the small of Natalie’s back, wanting to keep her close.

  They followed Amelia into a side entrance of the grand house, which took them through a mudroom and then into an enormous kitchen outfitted in outdated industrial appliances. The room was bigger than Knox’s whole damn apartment.

  So this was how the other side lived.

  With a start, he realized that included Natalie. Her house was probably even grander than this one.

  “I don’t cook,” Amelia said, “and I don’t believe in servants, but I can put a pizza in the oven for you. I usually just eat frozen meals.”

  “Thank you,” Natalie said. “That’s very kind.”

  “So there’s no one else on the property?” Knox asked. He found that hard to believe.

  “Just me and the pooches.”

  He met Amelia’s eyes, studying her. “You said I was right not to trust you. So why should we stay?”

  “Knox . . .” Natalie started, a warning in her tone.

  “No, it’s all right. You’ve found yourself a good partner here. He’d take a bullet for you, I can tell.” Amelia gestured between the two of them. They exchanged a look. “Or have you already?” Amelia asked with raised brows. “Let me put it to you this way: I take care of my own business. I’m not about to call the cops on you. I said Bambi and Lula won’t hurt you. I didn’t say they couldn’t. Now do you prefer cheese or pepperoni?” She turned the knob on the oven to preheat it.

  Knox crossed his arms over his chest, not ready to let down his guard. But damn if he didn’t like this woman. She didn’t take any shit, and she called them like she saw them. He didn’t trust easily, but his gut said they could trust her.

  Though, after the last twenty-four hours, he was starting to doubt his gut. It seemed every move they took was a wrong one that put them in more danger.

  Although Natalie was the one who’d suggested they come here, so perhaps it really would be okay. At this point, they were out of options.

  They sat at a scarred wooden kitchen table, and Amelia placed tall glasses of water in front of them.

  “So tell me what you’ve been up to,” Amelia said.
>
  “I’m not sure what you’ve heard on the news,” Natalie began.

  “Oh, quite a bit. You two are the hot topic. But you can’t trust what the media says in this town.”

  “Who can you trust in this town?” Knox asked.

  Amelia smiled. “Now you’re getting it. It doesn’t look to me like this is an abduction.”

  She looked back and forth between him and Natalie with a knowing look, leaving Knox to wonder if the heat and electricity in the air between them was palpable.

  He leaned closer to Natalie and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.

  Natalie leaned into Knox and smiled tightly. “The only person who’s ever kept me prisoner is my father.”

  “And now you’ve broken free of that prison,” Amelia commented.

  “Yes, but nothing went according to plan.”

  “Things rarely do,” Amelia said, getting up to put the pizza in the oven. “Things rarely do.”

  It was such a relief to sit around the table eating dinner with a friendly face, someone they didn’t have to worry would turn them in to the cops, her father, or X. As soon as Amelia started talking, Natalie knew they’d made the right decision in coming here.

  Natalie was so stupid. If she’d thought of Amelia when she was planning her escape, she might have been able to avoid all this.

  But she hadn’t considered reaching out to anyone for help. She’d wanted to do it on her own because she’d never done anything on her own before. As she looked over at Knox, though, she realized that depending on someone else didn’t have to be a weakness. With the right person, it could be a strength.

  She reached for his hand under the table and squeezed.

  “What was your plan?” Amelia asked.

  “I have a great-aunt in Florida. That’s where I was going.”

  “It’s probably a good thing you didn’t make it,” Amelia replied. “Your father would have looked there.”

  “Will he look for us here?” Alarm filled Natalie, not only for her and Knox, but for Amelia. The last thing she wanted to do was drag the other woman into this.

  “He knows better than to mess with me,” Amelia reassured her. “Besides, what’s he going to do? I knew the minute you two were outside my gate, and I’ll know if he sends anyone here. As long as you stay inside, you should be safe.”