by Susan Stoker
Cole turned back to Ryder. “She could be spooked because of everything that’s happened recently with the Inca Boyz.”
They both knew the man was grasping at straws.
“Maybe. But my guess is that her request for the fifty thousand coincided with whatever she’s running from catching up with her.”
Cole’s hands fisted. “Someone’s after her?”
Ryder shrugged one shoulder. “That’s my guess.”
“Why wouldn’t she tell me? Or Logan, Blake, or Nathan? We can protect her. She doesn’t have to run.”
“When all you’ve ever done is run, it’s easier to do what you know. What’s worked in the past,” Ryder said.
Cole went to step around the reception desk, but Ryder stopped him. “No. You cannot confront her about this.”
“The fuck I can’t,” Cole muttered.
Ryder stepped in front of the other man, physically blocking him.
“Get out of my way,” Cole bit out.
“I’ve got this.”
“Whatever. You don’t even know her.”
“I know her better than you do, and I’ve only been here a week.”
“Fuck you. You just want in her pants, and then you’ll be gone.”
Ryder ignored the barb for now. Cole would learn exactly what Felicity meant to him in good time. For now, he needed to stop the man from doing the one thing that would certainly make Felicity bolt.
“Underneath that badass exterior is a woman who is scared out of her mind. She’s smart, way smarter than she lets anyone know. She has a quote on her forearm that says, ‘We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.’ Do you know who said that?”
Cole shook his head.
“Albert Einstein. I looked it up last night. Why would she choose that quote if it didn’t mean something to her? Her black hair is cute, but it’s not her natural color.”
“I don’t even want to know how you know that,” Cole said, his eyes flashing over to the window once more.
“Stop being an asshole and listen to me. I haven’t slept with her. If you took half a second and paid more attention, you’d see it. She’s got bright-blue eyes. Pale skin. Light eyebrows. Not to mention blonde arm hairs. If that ebony hair was natural, it’s likely the rest of her would be darker as well. She’s trying to disguise the real her. Have you been up to her apartment?”
Cole’s eyes were on Ryder now. He nodded.
“And did you see it? Really see it?”
“She’s a neatnik. Everything has a place—that’s how she likes things,” Cole said.
“Right. But she has not one personal item in her place at all. It’s sterile. As though if she left, no one would know anything about her. There aren’t any pictures of her godchildren. If she and Grace are such good friends, where are the pictures of the two of them?”
“I . . .” Cole began to speak, but his mouth simply opened and closed as if he didn’t know what to say.
Ryder leaned forward. “I am not going to hurt her, Cole. I’d sooner cut off my own arm than cause her one second of pain. But she needs help, or she’s going to bolt. She’ll cut you and the rest of her friends off without a second glance, and you’ll never hear from her again. I’m going to figure out who she’s running from, and I’ll kill him if I have to. It won’t be the first time.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
Ryder smiled. “I’m Logan, Blake, and Nathan’s half brother.”
Cole shook his head. “No. I mean, yes, you are, but you’re in a whole different league from them. I shouldn’t be happy that someone who freely admits to killing wants one of my closest friends, but for some reason I believe you when you say you won’t hurt her.”
“I won’t,” Ryder told the other man. “And you should know, I’ve never felt like this before. Never. She’s special, and I’m going to do whatever it takes so she can live the rest of her life without fear. Here in Castle Rock with her friends.”
“You don’t live here,” Cole noted. “Assuming your job is down there in the Springs.”
Ryder simply shrugged. “I’m done with my previous occupation.”
“Just like that?” Cole asked with raised eyebrows.
“Just like that. The second I made the decision to come up here and meet my brothers, I knew I’d be making an occupation change. And meeting Felicity just solidified that. I won’t risk her, or my family, being exposed to the kinds of people I would have to deal with if I stayed. Not to mention, I’m not willing to spend weeks, and sometimes months, away from her.”
“You’re serious.”
“Deadly.” Ryder’s eyes flicked to where Felicity had been standing and saw that she was on the move. Toward them. He needed to wrap this up and make sure Cole knew how serious the situation was. “I don’t know who is after her . . . yet. But don’t let her out of your sight. If I’m not around, be on her like white on rice.”
“Your brothers know about this?”
“Not yet, but I’ll be talking to them too. Bottom line is that if she doesn’t feel safe, she’s not safe.”
Cole nodded. He didn’t look happy, but for now he seemed to be following Ryder’s lead. He’d take it.
“What are you doing here?” Felicity asked Ryder harshly as she came up to the two men.
Ryder didn’t let her prickly attitude faze him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into him. He kissed the side of her temple and said, “You’re here, so I’m here.”
She rolled her eyes and tried to push his hand off her waist. With no luck.
“I’m working.”
“I see that,” Ryder said.
“Cole, Mr. Hunt could use your assistance with the weights. I can take over here.”
“Sure. Later, Ryder.”
“Later.”
As soon as Cole was out of hearing range, Felicity turned to Ryder. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“I saw you guys. You were intimidating Cole. Stop it. You can’t act all he-manny around my friends.”
“He-manny?” Ryder asked with a laugh.
“Stop laughing at me.”
Ryder’s smile disappeared in an instant. “I’m not laughing at you. I would never laugh at you, love. With you, yes. But not at you.”
The uncertainty in her eyes almost did him in, but Ryder held her eyes with his, hoping she saw the sincerity in them.
She sighed. “I just . . . I need that money.”
Ryder moved then. Put a hand on either side of her head and leaned into her. “No, you don’t. You don’t need to run. I told you before, and I’ll keep saying it as often as you need me to in order to truly understand it. I’m going to fix this for you.”
“You can’t.”
“I can. And will.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as they stared at each other. As much as it hurt Ryder to see the tears in her eyes, he took solace in the fact that she didn’t yank herself out of his grip, but she didn’t lean into him either. She would. Eventually.
“I need to go and talk to my brothers,” he said.
She dug her nails into his biceps. “Not about me.”
“Love, they need to know.”
“No.” She shook her head wildly.
Not thinking, only wanting to reassure her, Ryder leaned forward and caught her lips with his own. She stilled under him and gasped. He was only going to give her a small kiss, but couldn’t stop himself from taking advantage of her shock. His tongue surged into her mouth, and after only a small pause, she hurriedly twined her tongue with his.
Ryder groaned at the first taste of her. He could taste the coffee she’d had that morning as well as a hint of her toothpaste. He wanted more, way more, but standing in the foyer of her gym wasn’t the time or place.
He reluctantly pulled back and grinned at the look of lust in her eyes. He much preferred that to the fear he usually saw. He pulled her forward and kissed he
r forehead. He held her to him for a moment. Then he eased back and said, “I know it’s hard letting people in, but I’m not going to run up and down the streets of Castle Rock with a sign that says, ‘Felicity Jones is in trouble.’ These are your friends, love. My brothers. I know you’ve been dealing with this by yourself for a very long time, but you aren’t alone anymore. You agreed to let me help you last night.”
“But . . . I didn’t . . .” Felicity stopped and took a big breath. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.”
“We won’t.”
“You don’t understand,” she protested.
“I do. More than you know. He hurt people you were close to in the past, didn’t he?”
Felicity nodded. The terror was back in her eyes. Ryder wanted nothing more than to replace it with passion again, but there was time for that later. “He’s met his match with me, love.”
“He killed my mom. I don’t have proof, but I know it was him.” Her words were tortured and whispered.
“Fuck,” Ryder said, then brought her into his embrace. Her reasons for wanting to run and not put anyone else she loved in jeopardy suddenly became crystal clear. He didn’t press for details because he sensed how difficult it was for her to share even that little bit. Hopefully later she’d feel more comfortable in telling him more. For now, she just needed comfort. His comfort.
Ryder lowered his head so his lips were at her ear. “I’m so sorry, Felicity. So sorry. But that’s all the more reason for me to end this. You know who I am, what I’ve done. I told you last night. So trust that he’s not going to hurt me. And if I tell my brothers, Grace, Alexis, and Bailey won’t be hurt either.”
Felicity pulled back and looked up at him. She didn’t say anything for several seconds. Finally, she nodded. Once.
That was all he needed. “Good.” He kissed her forehead once more, then stepped away from her. “Stay here. You’ll be safe here with Cole.”
“You talked to him?”
“Some. Not a lot.” Ryder knew she wanted to protest, but she bit her lip instead and nodded. God, the trust she gave him was intoxicating and humbling at the same time. “I’ll be back for lunch.”
“Okay.”
He turned to leave.
“Ryder?”
He craned his neck around to see her. “Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“You don’t have to thank me, love. I’m doing this for me as much as I am you.”
Her brows came down in confusion. “You are?”
He smiled them. “Yup. The sooner I get this taken care of, the sooner I can get you to agree to marry me.” And with that bomb, he spun around and left the gym with a huge smile on his face.
Joseph Waters walked slowly on the treadmill in the back corner of Rock Hard Gym. He’d learned a lot from his father and uncles over the years. How to track people, how to intimidate and use threats to get what he wanted, but most important, how to blend in and not be seen. He’d perfected the art of makeup and disguises to go almost anywhere undetected. As long as he looked like he belonged, he could go anywhere. Be anyone.
Disguised as a much older man, he kept his head down, but his eyes were up as he watched Megan. He needed to gather as much information as possible before he made his move.
His father had told him time and time again to forget about her, but he couldn’t. He’d waited too long to find her, wasted too much time and money tracking her down. He should’ve gotten rid of her stupid mother years ago. It had been so easy to stake out the old bitch’s funeral. He knew Megan would show up. It was easy to spot her, despite the tattoos and black hair. He was a master of disguises—hers didn’t even give him a second’s pause. He’d been waiting too long to get his hands on her for a simple disguise to work.
Joseph watched as Megan warily glanced around the room, and he grinned. Yeah, he’d spooked her with the little note and newspaper article he’d left her. Good. She should be spooked. When someone dropped a weight and she jumped, he couldn’t stop the chuckle from escaping. Making her miserable was so much fun.
His grin disappeared when she stalked out of the room to the front reception area and began to talk to two men there. He knew who Cole Johnson was, and he didn’t even register on his give-a-shit meter, but he didn’t know who the other man was. At first glance, Joseph knew he was going to be a problem, though. As a man who dealt with violence on a daily basis, Joseph recognized a kindred spirit when he saw one.
When the man leaned in and kissed Megan, Joseph actually growled.
“Are you all right?” a man in his twenties asked from nearby.
Joseph forced himself to smile and waved at the concerned bystander. “Just caught something in my throat, young man. I’m good. Thanks.”
“Sure thing.”
Joseph looked through the windows on the other side of the room once more. He saw how Megan clung to the mystery man. How she looked up at him, trusting him to keep her safe. Oh hell no. She wasn’t safe. Not even close. Joseph turned off the treadmill and picked up the small towel. He carefully dabbed at his face as if he was perspiring, making sure not to smear his makeup while hiding his smile. Maybe he’d fuck with this man first. Fucking with him would mean fucking with Megan. Two birds with one stone.
He liked that. Liked it a lot.
Chapter Six
Ryder sat at the table in the back of Ace Security and looked around at his half brothers. He didn’t exactly have a lot of information to share with them about Felicity’s situation, but he was hoping they’d agree with him that she needed watching over. As much as he wanted to be with Felicity twenty-four/seven, he knew that simply wasn’t going to be possible. She’d hate it, and the last thing he wanted was to make her feel as if she was suffocating.
“Tell us what you found out about Felicity,” Logan ordered, getting right to it.
For the next fifteen minutes, Ryder went over what he knew about her situation, which admittedly wasn’t a lot. He told them Cole was watching her at the moment and was briefed on the basics of her situation as well.
When he was done speaking, Logan asked, “Are you sure about all this?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why?” Blake asked. “I mean, you don’t know her. You’ve only been here a little over a week. What makes you think you know Felicity better than we do?”
Ryder did his best to keep his anger in check. The question was valid, but it was the defensive way Blake delivered it that made his hackles rise. “I know I’m younger than you guys, but I’ve seen way more in my twenty-eight and a half years than you ever will in your entire lives.”
“Me and Logan were in the Army. We were deployed,” Blake barked out. “Don’t treat us like we’re innocent little boys who don’t know anything about the world.”
Ryder fixed his gaze on his brother. “Have you ever broken the lock on a CONEX container to find fifty-three naked women inside, locked in cages stacked on top of each other? Have you ever had to kill a woman by breaking her neck because it was more humane than letting her bleed to death from the rusty coat hanger that had been shoved between her legs by the so-called abortion doctor she’d been forced to go to? Have you ever raided a Korean brothel and had to carry out bleeding and traumatized little girls age five to ten who had been raped every day, several times a day, for as long as they could remember?” Ryder leaned forward over the table, not taking his eyes from Blake. “Have you ever had to tell a mother that you found her kidnapped twelve-year-old daughter—dead from a bullet to the head after a rescue attempt went bad?”
The room was deadly silent after Ryder stopped speaking. The only sound was the ticking of a clock on the wall.
“I’m no stranger to evil, or fear,” Ryder said flatly. “And I absolutely will not hesitate to kill anyone who tries to, or has, hurt the innocent. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again in a heartbeat. The look in Felicity’s eyes reminds me of the women I’ve seen who have been traumatized so badly they’ve pushed i
t deep inside to try to deal with it. Felicity’s good at hiding that trauma, but it’s there. I suspect something’s happened recently to bring it back to the surface. To make her want to run again.”
“Again?” Nathan asked.
Ryder tore his eyes from Blake’s to look at his other brother. “Yeah. She’s been here five years. I’m guessing she wasn’t planning on staying here as long as she did. But she met Cole, and Grace, and decided to stay.”
“A few months ago, she took a trip to Chicago,” Blake said quietly, his tone much less acidic than it was a few moments ago. “She wouldn’t tell Grace or Alexis or anyone why she was going.”
Ryder brought his gaze back to Blake. “Chicago?”
“Yeah. She drove there and back,” Logan said. “Grace begged her to fly, as it would be faster and safer, but she refused. Said the drive would do her good. Let her clear her mind or some shit.”
Ryder’s mind raced. “It takes an ID to fly nowadays. She have one?”
Logan nodded. “Of course. A driver’s license.”
“You’ve seen it?” Ryder asked.
“Uh . . . well . . . no, but she has to have one. She’s got that PT Cruiser she drives everywhere,” Logan said.
“She’s currently living above the gym,” Ryder mused. “She didn’t need an ID for that, as Cole knows her. She doesn’t use credit cards, does she?”
“I’ve never seen her with one . . . have you?” Blake asked his brothers.
Nathan and Logan shook their heads.
“Right. She could’ve bought the car with cash, and she doesn’t fly.”
“Grace always complains when Felicity drives them somewhere. Says she drives like a ninety-year-old half-blind grandma,” Logan said.
“I think, based on that, we can assume she’s never gotten a speeding ticket. She lives under the radar, totally,” Ryder concluded.
“Fuck,” Logan swore. “How could we have missed this?”
Ryder immediately shook his head. “You had no reason to think she was in any trouble, and you’re not around her all the time. Besides, you had your own women’s situations to deal with. Felicity has had years of practice hiding in plain sight.”