``Where am I?'' I choked, desperate for the answer while dreading hearing the voice again. My head felt heavy and confused, reminding me of the syringe they'd plunged into my arm when they'd taken me.
``Let's find out just what you know, shall we, Princess?'' The word turned my heart cold. Froze it to stone in two syllables. I didn't need to see the face in the door to know who it belonged to.
Him.
Bile rose in my throat as my eyes shuttered closed in my only mental defense. I was ready for a blow, a bat, maybe a crowbar. Guys like him liked to leave a calling card on your face. What happened in the following minutes would almost kill me. One fragile piece at a time.
``When did you call the Feds?'' John Ellis Walker, living embodiment of terror on the streets of Chicago, sneered at me with a crooked grin and chipped teeth.
``I didn't,'' I grit, my eyes remaining closed.
His hot breath washed across my face. ``Bullshit.'' He caught my elbow and tightened. Pain seared through my shoulder when he twisted my arm in warning.
``I didn't. It wasn't Hunter either,'' I defended lamely. This was not the plan. Think fast, Erin. ``He didn't have anything to gain by doing that, and neither did I. I don't know anything.''
``You had everything to gain.'' The pad of his thumb touched my chin and worked my jaw to the side before swiping his thumb across his tongue and smearing saliva down my cheek. ``Wouldn't want you dirty for when Prince Charming gets here.'' He stalked back to the doorway.
My prince. Could Hunter really get here? Oh God, JW had taken me to get to Hunter. Of course that was the reason. A sob fell from my throat as I made a sad attempt at shuffling across the damp concrete on my knees.
``Why the hurry to leave, Princess? Fun's only begun.'' JW hauled me up by my shackled wrists and plopped me in a rusted metal chair before his body was blocking the door and my escape.
I didn't have a chance at running; my fucking legs were still tingling from being on the floor for God knows how long. My vision blurry, my head still fogged from whatever they'd put in my arm. I winced at the memory of the shot, only now feeling its incessant throb in my bicep. I glanced at JW in the doorway, his head turned down to his phone, while another man I hadn't realized was there spoke in his ear, a man with a scar slashed across his cheek and bushy black eyebrows that looked like caterpillars on his face. I adjusted in my chair trying to get a better view. The man stood in profile, a gun in his left hand, a frown on his already angry face. I thought I'd seen that face before.
Snippets with Hunter raced through my memory before it clicked. The first night after I'd met JW, Hunter had taken me to the VIP lounge. Was that the man we'd met? Dressed up in a business suit with a leering grin and a bimbo on his arm, his image was fuzzy in my memory, but there couldn’t be two men with a face like that. My eyes widened for a moment before I glanced back to the floor, my thoughts racing with the fact that Hunter had walked me right into a room with this man, now my captor.
``Why am I here?'' Anger overshadowed sense.
``Wanted to have a little chat with you about a few things, but it seems lover boy has fucked up,'' JW growled and then averted his eyes back to his phone. I sucked on my bottom lip, desperate to keep him talking, desperate to see what had his attention so acutely.
``So let's talk. What the fuck could you possibly have to say to me?'' I said with false bravado. His deep chuckle echoed off the gray walls and I saw the wry twist that turned his lips.
``Where the fuck is the money?'' JW whipped around, taking me by surprise and pressing a hunk of cold metal at my throat before I could blink. His rough hand slid through my snarled hair and gave a sharp tug. He stuck his nose against my ear and inhaled, the chilled metal still dancing across my skin as he took his fill of my scent.
``No wonder Clu's puttin' it to ya. He's got a thing for the sweet ones.'' He tapped the metal at my jugular before pulling away. ``Where the fuck did that snake you married put the money?'' JW asked again, then released me with an angry jerk, taking a step back and tapping the barrel of the gun under my chin to raise my eyes to his. They fluttered open, my confidence boosted with the realization that if JW thought I knew where the money was, he wouldn't kill me.
``I have some ideas,'' I answered, holding his golden, serpent-like gaze. JW kicked at the legs of my chair causing it to wobble and tip to the cold floor, leaving me even more banged and bruised.
``Cut the games. Just like your slut mother.'' JW kicked at the chair again. ``I hope you don't know where my money is, Princess, because if I find out you do, I'm pulling your pretty teeth out one by one.'' His dank breath filtered through my nostrils and curdled my stomach.
``He's here,'' the man I'd met at the VIP lounge only weeks ago boomed. He must have recognized me. How could he not? But then again, I probably wouldn't recognize myself after lying on a grungy concrete floor, my body caked with grime and bruises.
``Perfect.'' JW stalked from the room, slamming the heavy door as he went. I heard the scrape of an industrial lock announcing my dim fate. I looked around the room, spotting a window filtering a minuscule amount of daylight in. But the walls were at least ten feet tall, no way could I reach. I swallowed the ache in my throat as my gaze cast around the room. Nothing. There was nothing. My stomach turned, and just as I thought they could have at least left me a waste basket to throw up in, a gunshot echoed through the long tunnel of the building.
``Oh God.'' No. No. No. My stomach dropped and I bolted to the steel door and pressing an ear to it. ``Hunter. Please. Not. Hunter.'' I sobbed and prayed in equal turn, waiting for anything to betray the truth of the situation.
Nothing. Cold, empty silence. My stomach burned and rolled before I slumped to the floor on my knees in reckless sobs.
Please, not Hunter.
two
Some time later, cold metal rattled and I felt the jangle of the lock before a steel-toed boot kicked the door in and jolted me from my pathetic huddle on the floor.
``Get the fuck up.'' I looked up into the cold eyes of the man I'd seen that night at the VIP lounge. I sucked in my bottom lip and peered up, looking for any recognition on his part. His eyes flicked down and away again in disinterest before he heaved me up and through the doorway. I sucked in a breath of cool air, thankful to at least be out of that room. One step closer to freedom. Just maybe. ``Will you tell me your name now?'' I huffed as he yanked me down a dark corridor and into another room. His eyes cut to me and then back again. He remembered me all right. Bastard.
We turned a corner and my view opened up into a wide loading dock, dozens of trucks parked in stalls, wooden crates stacked the walls. A small group of men huddled at the opposite end.
My knees shook and my palms tingled with fear as I fumbled on awkward feet across the concrete, my mind racing with the possibility of running. Any crack of daylight and I would fight out of this brutal goon's grip and run for it.
I didn't even have my pepper spray, but then again, why would I ever really think I was in danger? Despite all of Hunter's warnings, I'd never imagined I could find myself in this situation. Kidnapped and bruised with little chance of rescue in sight, fearing for my life.
The guard pulled me through the room before we came upon a pile of dark clothing on the floor. I squinted my eyes in the dim light and caught a flash of golden hair.
``No,'' I sobbed and ripped away from the bastard at my elbow to land in a heap at Hunter's still form, my eyes unblinking as dark maroon stained the concrete beneath him.
``Hunter,'' I sobbed. ``Hunter, please, breathe,'' I whimpered and dropped my ear to his barely parted lips. The lips I'd pressed to mine tenderly, the lips that had roamed my skin and caressed my body.
``Hunter--'' I choked on the words, my body trembling so fiercely I couldn't focus long enough to tell if he was breathing.
I can't feel him. He's gone.
``Hunter,'' I whispered and tried to still my misfiring heart.
``He's as good as dead, Erin.'' A voice
echoed over my shoulder and sent chills racing down my spine. No. NO. ``No!'' I turned to find empty pits of burnt amber assessing me.
``What did you do?'' I shrieked.
``Don't fuck with me.'' The familiar eyes tore into mine as I hunkered from his imposing force. His grip tightened around my elbow painfully, ripping a grunt past my lips.
``No,'' I moaned, ready to collapse at Hunter's slouched form and give up. Nothing mattered--the world would cease moving if Hunter's heart stopped in his chest.
``Let's go.'' John Walker lifted me from the concrete. ``Get the fuck up.'' He yanked on my arms and was towing me sideways. My thoughts all of a sudden bolted to the thought of the unborn baby tucked inside my belly. I hadn't taken the test yet, but I felt now more than ever that the little guy lived there all the same. I'd been denying it, but now I felt only the need to protect it.
I stumbled to my feet, conscious now of protecting what was mine to protect, and sucked up the emotion that echoed in my heart at walking away from the man who lit my bloodstream with wildfire. ``Tie her to a chair.'' JW threw me into the arms of a new guard. ``And you deal with him.'' JW gestured to the VIP bastard that'd dragged me in here and my eyes caught his briefly. I tried my best to plead without words, but his cold gaze averted and nodded at JW before turning to go to Hunter. When the bastard was close enough, he landed a kick squarely in Hunter's stomach.
I shrieked and nearly fell to my knees again before the new guard at my elbow pulled me into an office with one large window that overlooked the rest of the loading bay. He tied me to one of the chairs along the wall, before JW slammed the door and closed the blinds with a quick flick just as the VIP cocksucker was landing another blow to Hunter, boot connecting with chest this time. So much for loyalty to friends. They'd seemed perfectly cordial at the VIP lounge, and now here he was, stealing Hunter's life. The streets are a dog eat dog world.
``Please don't kill him.'' I sobbed.
``Shouldn't have interfered with his work, Princess. You should have stopped him from running, all to save your ass.'' JW's grip tightened at my throat.
Choking on angry nerves, I thought of the innocent life I had to protect inside me. I had to get both of us out alive. I would do what I could to save Hunter, only I was afraid there wasn't much that could be done.
One more gunshot echoed through the warehouse, causing me to jump with panic. ``He's dead, Erin.'' JW's eyes glanced to the guard at my side with a slick smile. ``I tried to play this fair, but Clu always gets in over his head. Now tell me where the rest of the money is,'' JW snarled just as the office door burst open and Hunter rushed into the room. A shot tore through the silence before the guard at my side dropped to the ground.
``Back the fuck off her,'' Hunter warned, his eyes iced and focused on JW's. The older man's long, cold laugh floated on the air in the room.
``So fucking smart, huh, boy?'' JW cackled, ratcheting my fear another deadly notch. ``You turned out good, I'll give you that. Much better than that good for nothing crack whore would have raised,'' JW huffed as his gaze cut to Hunter. ``I did you a favor when I got rid of her.'' JW's eyes burned through Hunter's.
``What the fuck are you talking about?'' Hunter grit, his gun wavering slightly in his white-knuckled hands.
``She knew too much. When we parted ways, she started slipping secrets between the sheets. Didn't take long before I realized there was only one way to shut her up. The pills, the whoring--she made it all too easy.'' JW winked, his yellowed canine tooth gleaming in the fluorescent light.
``You son of a bitch.'' Hunter pulled the hammer on the gun, the click echoing through the stifling room.
``Then you went and pulled this one into it.'' JW's rough fingertips connected with the tip of my chin and steered my gaze to Hunter. ``Collateral damage,'' he tsked with a disingenuous shake of his head. ``Not in the game plan.''
``Get your fucking hands off her.'' Hunter took two steps forward and aimed the pistol at JW's forehead.
Just shoot him. Just shoot him, I pleaded on repeat, knowing it was our only way out. Our only way to stay alive. The only way for Hunter, for all of us, to really be free.
``Don't forget who saved you, son. Who put clothes on you, a roof over your head, gave you your first job. I was there for you. You don't betray family. Bad move, boy.''
``Family? You murdered my mother, you useless cocksucker,'' Hunter snarled and took another measured step forward. I clenched my eyes, preparing for the blast that would soon follow.
``I saved you from a life on the streets. I did nothing but good for you, even let you run with this photography bullshit like a bitch.'' JW's fist connected with Hunter's jaw milliseconds later and they were both on the floor scuffling, Hunter's gun scraping across the cracked linoleum at my feet. Without thinking twice, I kicked it across the room and ripped at my ties, hoping to find some slack that hadn't been there before, to no avail. I glanced back to the men grunting a few feet away; JW had pulled a knife and was rearing back to plunge it into Hunter's flesh. I lunged and spun, the metal chair clattering along with me, throwing all my strength into JW's body before his cold steel blade could pierce the man I loved. I landed with an awkward slump, registering almost instantly as my eyes opened that there was bright red blood everywhere. Calloused hands shoved me across the floor into the old wooden desk, banging my head and causing a wave of dizziness to overtake me, before the faint pounding of boot steps brought me back to reality.
``Fuck!'' Hunter roared before my blurry vision crystallized and I saw him clutching at his arm, crimson gushing from a gash in his bicep as he leapt across the floor to reach for JW's gun.
``Where is he?'' I breathed, unsure I'd even said the words aloud through the incessant pounding in my skull. Before Hunter could reply two law enforcement agents in Kevlar rushed into the room, weapons drawn.
``Where's JW?'' one officer shouted.
``Ran,'' Hunter choked as a few more agents crowded the office.
``EMTs are on the way. Did you see which way he went?'' I could see more bodies swarming outside the office before a medical team poured into the room, their sights on Hunter, and then me. Another one checked the vitals on the guard that had been shot standing next to me before pulling a thin blanket over the body.
``He's lost a lot of blood. BP's down. He'll need a liter at least.'' The medics evaluated Hunter as agents freed me of my binds and the paramedics were free to assess my damage. I sat, brain fogged and in fear, unable to utter a single answer to any of their questions.
``Hunter,'' I whispered, eyes burning when Hunter was lifted onto a stretcher and taken away, a small group of men scurrying off with him.
``Does this hurt?'' The medic pressed at a soft bruise on my upper arm causing me to wince. I swallowed, tears pricking my eyes before water finally unleashed in rivers down my cheeks. ``Anything else?'' The woman's dark eyes held mine.
I nodded, finally able to form a full sentence as my stomach churned with panic. ``I-I'm pregnant.''
three
I was released from the hospital that night after being treated for a few sore ribs and a sprained wrist. The Feds had questioned me about the minute to minute details of my abduction and the proceeding shootout that had apparently resulted in an armed and dangerous JW at large. I twisted my hands back and forth and told them I knew nothing of JW and Brant's arrangement or the money laundered, I didn't even know that they knew each other. The men nodded and made a few notes, overly polite and thanking me for my time, reassuring me that despite media reports, I had never been a ``missing link'' in the investigation.
Stepping into the hospital lobby, I found a silently sleeping Hunter hunched in a waiting room chair. I smiled, my heart filling my chest with gratitude and love at the sight of him. He was bumped and bruised, looking like he'd rolled in shit all night. I must not have looked much better. Stepping up to his large, hunched form, I ran a palm over his hard shoulder and up to the hot skin at his neck. His eyes flew open and landed on mine
, a sad smile gracing his face. Both his hands reached for my own before he stood and wrapped me up in his big body.
Right where I liked to be.
``Let's go home,'' I mumbled into the cotton that smelled all Hunter, spicy and mouth-watering. My mind floated to a place in the not-far-off future where we would be a family of three. I didn't know if tonight was the night to tell him, but I would. I had no idea what he would think, but I didn't want to overthink it. I wanted a warm bath in his arms as soon as possible, and if then the time felt right, I would share the news.
``Fucking worst day ever.'' Hunter threw an arm over my shoulder, tucking me into him as he walked with a cool stride out the sliding doors and into the dark night.
We slid into an idling taxi and Hunter rattled off his address before pulling me across the vinyl. ``How are you, Princess?'' he murmured into the crown of my head.
``Bruised. Tired. How are you?'' I turned and dusted careful fingertips across the tightly wrapped bandage at his bicep. The memory of the jagged gash there had a shudder racing through me.
He shrugged before answering, ``Been better.'' He pulled me to him and snaked his nose along the skin at my neck, inhaling deeply. I settled into him, my arm across his broad chest, grazing the dirty cotton that hung loose with tatters from his time spent on the floor tonight.
``How did you escape? I thought you were dead.'' The words I hadn't wanted to face finally shattered through me.
Hunter sighed and pulled my trembling form against his. ``They stabbed me with a fucking paralytic,'' Hunter said and rubbed at his shoulder blade. So they'd used it on him too. He was never dead, JW had only wanted me to think that so I would give up what I knew. Which was nothing. Anger boiled in my veins at the violence this man had brought into my life for no reason at all. ``I was awake when they dragged you past me. Still numb as the shit wore off, but it fucking killed me when you dropped to your knees, Princess. I would’ve lost it right there and given up the whole fucking plan to pull you into my arms and tell you I wasn't fucking dead, if I could’ve fucking moved.'' Pain choked his voice as his hands kneaded at my neck and shoulders, his body pressed to mine as if he needed to feel every inch of his body against mine. ``When I finally thought it'd worn off enough that I could move, I yanked the guard's gun from his holster. Gave him a flesh wound and ran to that office. When I opened that door and saw you tied up like that...'' Hunter trailed off, one fingertip tracing the shell of my ear while his eyes glazed with violent fear. ``Just really glad you're safe.''
Blindsight: The Series (Complete Erotic Suspense STANDALONE) Page 17