Draw Blood

by Cynthia Rayne

  Aggie smiled brightly. “This is my friend, Tennessee Ross, the one who’s been helpin’ with this case.”

  Ten stood there awkwardly for a second and then stuck his hand out. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am, most folks call me Ten.”

  Aggie could tell he was making an effort for her and she appreciated it. Socializing didn’t come naturally to Ten. Polly shook it, though Ten flinched, so she must’ve been gripping him hard.

  “Ten ain’t a name, it’s a number.” Polly frowned.

  His face went blank again, and Ten didn’t reply.

  “She was kiddin’. Ain’t that right, Polly?” Aggie elbowed the older woman.

  “No. Where have you been? I must’ve called you ten times this morning.” She narrowed her eyes, glancing at Aggie’s shoulder. “And what happened to your arm? You’re favorin’ it like you got hurt.”

  “Right, um, there’s been a development.” And then Aggie explained what happened at her place. “Oh, and I also got shot, but Ten patched me up, and I’m right as rain.” She tried to make light of it. The last thing she needed was Polly in a panic state.

  “Did he now?” Sarcasm dripped from her tone.

  “He had nothin’ to do with my injury.”

  “So you say.” Polly didn’t look convinced.

  “It happened because of the case.”

  “The one I told you not to take?”

  Aggie closed her eyes. “The very same.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll protect her. She’s stayin’ with me from now on.” Ten stepped beside her, and she resisted the urge to lean against him.

  Aggie had never been the kind of girl who wanted a knight in shining armor to rescue her, and yet there was something tempting about being the damsel in distress, at least for the moment. It made Aggie feel sheltered, looked after. Although, Ten wasn’t quite a white knight, more like the villain of a fairytale. But who said scoundrels can’t be protective, too? Under certain circumstances, anyway.

  Polly snorted and turned pointedly to Aggie. “Like I already told you, stay with Coop and me.” She placed a hand on her hip. “Besides my husband’s got a shotgun and shovel if need be.”

  “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll be fine.”

  “You’d better be.” Polly lifted her chin, daring Ten to say a word, but he remained stoically silent. “I can’t talk you into droppin’ this case for all our sakes?”

  “No, I’ve gotta see this through, but promise me, you’ll watch your back.” Aggie was worried Polly might get caught in the crossfire.

  She nodded. “Coop’s got me covered.”

  “Police, open up.” Someone banged on the door. Loudly.

  Aggie gasped.

  There was another forceful knock.

  “I’m coming!” She hurried over and opened the door. A blond man stepped inside. Like Ten, he wore a nice suit, and they nodded to one another. Aggie wondered if the two had met before.

  Before she could ask, the newcomer pinned her with his bright blue eyes. “Well if it isn’t the lady of the hour, I’ve been lookin’ all over Hell for you, and I mean it literally.”

  He looked familiar, but she couldn’t quite place him. Although Aggie knew he worked for the police department, obviously. It didn’t bode well for her. She’d spent some time around law enforcement, but she’d never run into trouble with one of them before.

  She glanced at Ten whose lips settled into a thin line and then back to Mr. Blue Eyes.

  “And who might you be?” Aggie asked.

  “Detective Benjamin Frost and you’re comin’ with me for questioning.”

  And then he hauled her out of the office, over both Ten’s and Polly’s objections.

  ***

  “What happened?”

  Aggie glanced around to delay answering Frost’s question.

  As soon as they’d got to the police department, he’d dragged her into an interrogation room instead of interviewing her at his desk, or another neutral location. Evidently, she was a suspect in the destruction of her own home.

  Hell’s police department was a tiny, postage-stamp sized place. Like the old television show, Mayberry, they only had a couple of jail cells and a few desks. There wasn’t exactly a crime wave in town.

  “Miss Byrd?” he prompted.

  “My place got shot up.”

  “Yeah, thanks for statin’ the obvious, but who did it?”

  Most of the time, the police responded to minor emergencies. Her Swiss-cheesed house must feel like a Law& Order moment for them. They’d probably celebrated with a round of donuts from Sugar Daddies.

  All that’s missin’ is yummy Detective Stabler.

  Although, Benjamin Frost was a hottie in his own right. He had short strawberry blond hair, a layer of stubble on his chin, and those soulful eyes. He wore a pinstriped blue suit, and it was pressed. He was a dapper dresser, and he seemed out of place in this tiny town. Yes, the man was handsome, and she’d have to be blind not to notice. Although, she was too preoccupied with a certain mobster to take it a step further.

  “I have no clue.”

  Aggie knew better than to point the finger at Santiago. If she did, the police would start digging deeper into the case, and then things would unravel. Immigration and the Feds would get involved. They’d find out about Diego, too, and she’d be in seriously deep shit.

  His brows cinched together. “So you didn’t get a look at the shooter?”

  “Nope, not with all the runnin’ and screamin’. Besides, he wore a ski mask, so I didn’t see his face.”

  “What about his weight and height?”

  Aggie shrugged. “Average weight and height.”

  “Thanks, that’s very helpful.”

  “Yeah, I try.”

  “And you don’t know why somebody would want you dead?”

  She shook her head. “Well, I’m a private eye and I have plenty of pissed off husbands who’d like to shoot my ass after I’ve helped their wives.”

  “A philanderin’ husband who happens to own an AK-47, accordin’ to ballistics?”

  “I appreciate your skepticism, but I’m as puzzled as you.” Aggie kept her focus and made her answers breezy.

  “And yet you don’t seem shaken up.” He leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head. “Most people would be hidin’ underneath their beds.”

  A long pause ensued.

  “I’m sorry. Were you askin’ a question? Or makin’ an observation?”

  “Consider it an offhand remark.” He scribbled a note to himself.

  “Well, I’m not most people. Due to my job, I’ve been in plenty of sticky situations.”

  “So you get shot at a lot then?”

  “No, but I’m prepared for the worst.”

  “And you don’t seem broken up about the property damage either.”

  “I have insurance. Besides, it’s only stuff.”

  He leaned forward, his gaze locked on her. “Are you okay?”

  She shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, why does everyone keep asking me that?”

  “I’m just tryin’ to make sense of all this.”

  Good luck with that.

  “And how does Tennessee Ross figure into this?”

  “He doesn’t. Ten’s a friend of mine, and I’m stayin’ with him until I can get an insurance payout.”

  Actually, they hadn’t discussed the length of her stay, but she doubted he’d toss her out on the street, at least while madmen were gunning for her.

  “Fine, if that’s the way you wanna play it.” He rubbed his forehead. “I can’t make you talk.”

  “So we’re done here?” Aggie wanted to check in with Vick and then her clients.

  “Not yet. I’ve got my eye on you, and if I see somethin’ I don’t like, I’m gonna charge you with impedin’ an investigation.”

  “I haven’t—”

  “I’m gonna stop you right there. I know you’re lyin’ to me” He sniffed the air. “I can smell it.”
r />   Aggie clammed up.

  “I know you’re in trouble.” His expression softened. “Whatever’s goin’ down, I can help.”

  “No, you can’t.” Aggie stood.

  “I didn’t say you could leave.”

  “Am I bein’ charged with anythin’?”

  His lips pursed. “No.”

  “Then I’m free to go.” And she walked out.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Do you need anythin’?”

  Aggie shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

  Later on in the evening, Aggie was seated on Ten’s bed once more. They’d had a quick supper at Poison Fruit. At his insistence, she’d bought a couple of burner phones. Ten told her the cops might get a warrant to pull her records, and she shouldn’t give them any more ammunition.

  After she got the new phone, she called Sofia and Alejandro and gave them a progress report. She’d warned them the police might come sniffing around but stopped short of telling them to lie.

  Thankfully, they’d taken her advice and were staying with a friend, so Frost might not even find them. They’d also been worried about ICE getting involved, and Aggie didn’t know what to say. It was a very real possibility, especially because Frost might decide to pressure them into cooperating.

  “Are you sure?”

  Ten stood in the doorway and Smokey whirled around and around his legs. He leaned down to pet her, and she arched her back. She purred as he stroked her and then trotted off to the corner of the room to lay down in her pet bed. Ten had tucked cozy kitty beds in every room for her use.

  Aggie liked watching him with the cat. He seemed more at ease around Smokey. Aggie hoped he’d let his guard down with her, too.

  “Yeah, I think so.” Aggie was a bit worse for the wear, but she’d survive.

  Ten lingered in the doorway, and she could tell he was working up the nerve to say something by the way he kept shuffling his feet and glancing around.

  “What is it?”

  Ten rubbed the base of his neck. “Earlier you talked to me, shared somethin’ important.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Uh…”

  “Are you thinkin’ about returnin’ the favor?”

  “I think…no, I’m sure I want to do the same thing.”

  Her breath caught.

  Once more, Ten sat on the end of the bed. She got the feeling he always gave himself an escape route. Ten put his back to the wall, and sat on the edge of furniture, ready to bolt if necessary.

  “I don’t know where to begin.”

  “We’ll take it slow.”

  “I’ve been holdin’ some stuff inside for a long time. It’s hard to let go, take the walls down.”

  “You know how you dismantle a wall, right?”

  His brows pulled together.

  “Brick by brick. If you pull them down one by one, it won’t seem so dauntin’.”

  Ten was silent as the grave for long moments, and just when she thought he was about to call the whole thing off, he cleared his throat.

  “I’m just gonna say it. My mother sold me, at least I was told she did.” Ten shifted on the bed, clearly unable to get comfortable.

  Aggie winced. “You don’t remember?”

  “No, I was only a toddler at the time.”

  Aggie bit the inside of her cheek. No wonder he didn’t know his own birthday.

  “Why did she do it?”

  “From what I heard, she was a prostitute and needed the money for drugs.”

  Aggie recoiled. She’d been upset with her mother, but Aggie knew Melinda had loved her and would never place her in harm’s way, not deliberately at least.

  “I’m sorry.” Although, the words seemed woefully inadequate.

  “I only have a hazy memory of her, but I don’t know if it’s real.”

  Early memories were difficult to recall. She had one of being on a rocking horse, but she couldn’t be sure it had happened.

  “Tell me anyway.”

  “I was in a high chair crying. There was some cartoon on the television, but I can’t think of what it was. I just have a vague impression of bright colors.”

  Ten fell silent once more, so Aggie spoke up.

  “Um, do you know why she sold you?” She laid a hand on his shoulder, and he flinched. Aggie started to remove it, but he clasped her fingers.

  “No, it’s okay. I want you to touch me.” He inhaled and blew out a slow, steadying breath.

  “To buy drugs, although I can’t be sure.”

  What kind of monstrous childhood did he have? No wonder Ten was so closed off.

  “What about your father?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. I never met the man or heard anythin’ about him. And you were right.”

  “About…?”

  “When you said I had a personal stake in this case.” He turned to her and Aggie wished for the millionth time she could see his eyes.

  “Somebody hurt you?”

  “No, lots of somebodies did.”

  She gasped. “What did they do to you?”

  “I could tell you, but it might be easier to show you.”

  And then Ten stood. He took off his jacket and then his necktie before he undid the first few buttons on his shirt.

  Then he hesitated.

  “Ten, you don’t have to do this.” He’d already come pretty far today.

  “Yes, I do.” Ten stiffened and then spoke in a low whisper. “I’m broken, shattered, and nothin’ will make me whole, but I want some of those pieces back. It won’t happen until I let my guard down, trust someone again.”

  “And you trust me?”

  “Yes.” He’d said so without hesitation.

  “Thank you.” Aggie was humbled by his belief in her.

  A muscle worked in his jaw as he undid the buttons and then slid his shirt off, placing it on the end of his bed.

  There were marks all over his body—deep cuts, grooves in his skin, which had turned pink and faded. She tried to keep her face neutral but probably failed miserably. Regardless, he dealt with her scrutiny and turned around, without being asked so she could survey the damage done to his back.

  Aggie had trouble locating even a square inch of skin that hadn’t been abused. Lines marred his bag, crisscrossing all over the skin like train tracks. And yet there was something beautiful about his scars, they were evidence of his resilience.

  Granted, he was damaged, but Ten hadn’t fallen completely apart.

  Other than the marks, his body was hard, muscled, and he must spend a lot of hours at the gym working out. Or maybe the muscle came from his time working in the vineyard.

  “What…?” She didn’t even know the right questions to ask.

  Ten turned to face her once more. “Like the girls, I was bought and sold by pedophiles. Only they did it many times over—again and again.”

  Now Aggie knew why he’d wanted to help her. Ten understood what the girls were going through firsthand and he didn’t want them to suffer the same fate.

  “You mean you went from one child molester to the next?” Aggie couldn’t even fathom the horror of it.

  “Yes, pedophiles are attracted to a certain age, and once I matured out of their window, they had to move on to a new victim. And then I was passed along to another man.” He sat once more and wrapped his arms around himself. “I got traded like a used car.”

  Her heart ached for him and she blinked back tears.

  “How long were you held against your will?”

  “Eighteen years.” Ten said it matter-of-factly.

  She stifled a sob. He’d spent nearly two decades under the control of men who sexually abused him. How in the world had he survived?

  “How did they get away with it?”

  Ten cleared his throat. “If you think about it, I was the perfect candidate. My mom lived off the grid in some ways. It’s not like she worked in an office with other people who’d notice her child went missin’. And from what I gather, she liv
ed in a scary part of town, where people deliberately don’t notice what’s goin’ on around them.”

  “No one searched for you?”

  “No, as far as the world was concerned, I didn’t exist. I’ve looked for my real birth certificate, but didn’t find it. I’m not sure I even had one. Prostitutes don’t have health insurance. For all I know, she had me at home. I don’t even know who my father really was. A John? Her drug dealer?”

  Aggie didn’t even have the words to convey what she was feeling for him, but she wanted to help, bear some of the burden.

  She licked her lips. “May I touch you? I don’t mean in a sexual sense. I just need to be closer to you.” As stupid as it sounded, Aggie wanted to heal him through her touch, connect with him on another level. She had to let Ten know he wasn’t alone, not anymore.

  “Why?”

  “Because I like you.”

  He smiled at her and then nodded.

  Ten inhaled deeply when she placed a hand on his back. His skin was a patchwork of scars, a living quilt of pain and perseverance. His shoulder blades clenched and then relaxed as her fingertips glided over his blotchy skin.

  “I’m not as attractive as you.”

  “Someone doesn’t have to be flawless to be good-looking.”

  His wounds only made him more interesting, in her eyes. They were evidence of his bravery, tenacity and in a twisted way, they gave her hope. Maybe she would come to terms with her shortened lifespan and get past it.

  When she laid her cheek against his back, he hissed, but not in pain, at least she didn’t think so.

  “Did I go too far?”

  “No, I like it.” His voice was achingly soft.

  “If you want me to stop, say so and I will, no questions asked. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  ***

  Ten was lost, almost drugged by the feel of her hands on his body.

  Aggie made him feel peaceful, replete, and almost sleepy. Being touched with kindness by someone who had no agenda was a new sensation. Aggie didn’t want anything from him, and it wasn’t a prelude to sex. She cared about him, he could sense her concern, and it was a balm to his black soul.

  Normally around other people, he was hypervigilant, worried, wary. Not with Aggie. Sure, he was nervous, but not fearful. Somehow he sensed she’d never do anything to hurt him and Ten felt the same way about her.