Oh dear God.
My knees lifted higher, squeezing his hips involuntarily. He jerked, like I’d slapped him again, and it disappeared, the softness I’d briefly witnessed, vanishing without a trace. Then his weight was gone.
He stood between my still parted thighs, staring down at me. “Do your fucking shorts up. We need to get going.”
Shit. I scrambled off the bed and did what he said. I couldn’t look at him, mortification scalding my cheeks all over again. He was messing with me, taking great pleasure in making me feel worthless, and succeeding exceptionally well. I knew Hunter wouldn’t hit me—he’d never hit a woman. His father had had a different idea about that, and Hunter and his brother had hated their father because of it.
Since he obviously wasn’t going to kill me, and roughing me up was out of the question, messing with my head, my body, was apparently his chosen form of retribution.
I crossed my arms. “Where are you taking me?”
Hunter didn’t answer, just took my wrist and led me from the bedroom, his rough, warm skin giving me more of those tingles that started at the back of my neck. He carried on through the living room and out the front door. My heart did a nervous little flip. Was he taking me home? He locked up and took me to his car. He didn’t cuff me in this time, but locked the doors so I couldn’t get out.
“Where are we going?” I tried again.
He started the engine and turned on the radio. I guess that meant he wanted me to shut up, that I’d find out when we got there. It took a while before we left the forest-lined road and hit the freeway. I didn’t recognize where we were, had no idea if he was taking me back to the city or somewhere else. Finally, after driving for about an hour, I started to recognize some familiar landmarks.
We were going back.
I wanted to ask if he was taking me to Sara. If he was letting me go. But I kept my mouth shut. The vibe coming off him did not invite conversation. Those fingers had been gripping the steering wheel in the same white-knuckled grip he’d had on the drive to the cabin.
I found out fifteen minutes later that he didn’t intend to take me to my aunt’s or to my car. Instead, we drove into an underground parking lot and pulled into a reserved spot. His name was painted on the wall.
I knew where we were.
And I sure as hell did not want to be here.
Shit.
My hand automatically went to the door handle and I yanked, forgetting it was locked in my panic. Hunter ignored my obvious distress and climbed out, leaving me trapped inside. He walked around to open my door. His fingers curled around my biceps when I climbed out, and he led me to the elevator.
I wanted to shrink into nothing, dissolve. The last person I wanted to see was Hunter’s brother Van. We’d always gotten along. He’d liked me, but most of all liked me with his baby brother. I’m sure he felt I’d betrayed him, too.
We climbed in and the door slid shut. Hunter hit the fifth floor and we rocketed up, toward my doom. “Why did you bring me here? Just take me home, goddammit.”
“You’re here because I want you to be here. And you’ll go home when I say you can.” His voice was flat, back to emotionless and cold. He’d regained complete control, that intense vibe coming off him in the car gone, along with every other emotion.
“Will you let me use the phone?” I didn’t need to mention Josh to my aunt during the call. If Hunter had his people listening in, I’d have to be careful, but I had to warn her. “I just want to call my aunt.” I thrust my hand into my hair, frustrated and scared shitless for my son. God, if my mom had told Pierce about my visit to the hospital, if Pierce found out about Josh . . .
I didn’t want that bastard anywhere near my little boy.
Hunter didn’t answer.
The anxiety sitting low in my belly, burned away with my rising anger. I wasn’t just scared, I was pissed the hell off.
Then the doors slid open.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Of course Van was standing at the reception desk, talking to the woman sitting behind it, when we walked in. She spotted me first. Shoving her black-framed glasses higher on her nose, she took me in from head to toe. I knew I looked like shit. Like I’d just rolled out of bed and, the way her eyes flared at the sight of me, as if I’d been recently fucked by the cold bastard beside me. Fantastic.
She dropped the pen in her hand. “Holy fuck, what the hell did you do to her?”
Van spun around, gaze locking on me instantly, slicing me from head to toe with a lethal glare. He looked at his brother for a few beats then back to me. Yeah, he did not look happy to see me, not one bit. The feeling was mutual.
Van glanced at his receptionist, still eyeballing me from behind her desk. “Ruby, take her downstairs, clean her head, and give her some food.”
The door opened across the room and Neco Malik walked in. Perfect. This day was just getting better and better. Tall and gorgeous with unusual green eyes and beautiful dark skin, Neco was a head-turner. He was also Hunter’s best friend. Which meant he knew me, knew what I’d done, and was another member of the I Hate Lulu Fan Club.
The door clicked shut behind him. He pulled up short when he saw me. “Fuck,” he said under his breath.
He managed to convey a whole hell of a lot in that one word. None of it was good, and all of it made me want to crawl under the reception desk and disappear. That just made me angrier. They thought they had my number, thought they had the whole story. What they didn’t know was their story was missing a few vital pieces of information. Information I wasn’t willing to give. Not if I wanted to keep Josh a secret, keep him safe. Anyway, they wouldn’t believe me at this point. The wound cut too deep, too much time had passed. And honestly, I was getting sick to death of this shit. After the last couple of days I’d had—packing up and driving eleven hours to get to Sara’s, saying goodbye to my mom, being kidnapped and held against my will, worrying about my son—I was ready to explode, completely goddamn lose it.
If it weren’t for me, Hunter would be dead. No one felt worse than me about what happened to him or what he went through. But I’d lived my own hell for the last three fucking years.
I forced a tight smile. “Nice to see you, too, Neco.”
He crossed his arms over his wide chest. “Are you fucking serious?”
Jesus. “What do you think?” I quipped, too angry now to hold my tongue.
He growled, an honest to God growl and shook his head slowly. His lip curled and he gave me a head to toe like Van just had, and his expression told me he found me lacking in every way he possibly could. These guys truly were masters at making me feel like the dog-shit they’d just stepped in. And yeah, I got it.
Still didn’t feel great.
I held his hostile gaze, which was not easy. “I’d rather be anywhere but here. But I think that’s obvious. Now, have we finished with the macho bullshit?” He just stared at me. My knees started to tremble. “Excellent. How about you take me down-goddamn-stairs?” Then I yanked my arm free of Hunter’s hold. “Ruby?” I called. “Take me away from these assholes.”
Hunter would never forgive me. I was tired, exhausted, and right then, I didn’t care that they thought I was a heartless bitch. I wasn’t going to change their opinions of me anytime soon. I may as well play the part of the villain they believed me to be. It took a lot less energy than trying to convince them I wasn’t some monster.
I felt three sets of eyes on me, daggers and lasers firing at me from all sides.
“Ruby,” Van barked into the silence.
The girl shot to her feet, like he’d startled her. “Jesus. Chill the hell out,” she fired back.
Van scowled at her.
She rolled her eyes, which I didn’t think was a great idea, but she didn’t seem fazed in the slightest. Tucking her purple-highlighted hair behind her ear, she strode toward me.
“Right, let’s go.” She flicked a finger toward the door Neco had walked through and headed in that direction.
>
I followed, eyes trained forward, ignoring those hard stares burning holes into my back. Ruby led me down a flight of stairs to a room at the end of a short hall. She punched a number into the keypad by the door and pushed it open. There was a bed in the middle of the room, and nothing else. She shut me in and I stood there, not sure what the hell to do.
I was sitting on the edge of the bed when she came back with a drink, a sandwich, and a first-aid kit tucked under her arm.
She dumped everything on the bed. “There was only ham and cheese left. The guys nabbed all the good ones.” She opened the first-aid kit, and moved to stand in front of me. Ripping open a packet, she pulled out a sterile wipe and started cleaning my forehead. “What happened to you?”
I took a bite of my sandwich. “My head got friendly with the roof of a car.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah.”
“So you’re the wicked witch, huh? The evil cow who got Hunt put away?”
“Yep. That’s me.”
“Cold.”
“The coldest.” At this point, I didn’t give a shit what these people thought of me, especially not this oddly direct woman. Though she’d called me cold, she seemed more annoyed with having to get me a sandwich than what I’d done to Hunter. I just wanted to get out of here, get to Josh, and put New York in my rear-view mirror. There was nothing here for me. Not anymore.
“What are they gonna do with you?”
“No idea.”
“Huh.” She ran the wipe carefully across my skin. “Glad I’m not you.”
She cleaned me up, then packed everything away, shoved it back in the bag, and pulled something from her pocket.
“Here.” She handed me a phone. “Hunter said you can call your aunt. You’ve got two minutes. Don’t tell her where you are or who you’re with. They’ll be listening.” Then she flopped back on the bed, obviously instructed to stay with me.
Hands shaking, I dialed Sara’s number and waited. The phone rang twice and then her soft voice echoed down the line.
“Sara?”
“Oh thank God! I thought something terrible had happened.”
Something terrible had happened, but no way was I sharing the ugly details. “Please tell me you haven’t talked to the police?”
“I promised you I wouldn’t.”
I sagged in relief. I could tell she wasn’t happy about that. I could also tell she was worried out of her mind. “I need you to listen to me. I don’t have much time. I’m going to be away for a . . .” I looked at Ruby for some indication of how long they’d keep me locked up. She shrugged. “ . . . A few days. I need you to go to a hotel until I get back. There’s a jar of money in Jo . . .” Shit. I glanced at Ruby. She was staring at the ceiling like she was studying Michelangelo’s handiwork in the Sistine Chapel, but I knew she was listening to every word I said. “ . . . In the green, uh . . . froggy backpack.” I inwardly winced.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“I know I’m asking a lot. But please, just . . . would you do that for me?”
Her silence said it all. She had a good idea who the players in my current nightmare might be, and what that could mean.
“It’s going to be okay. Just, please do as I ask. Please.” I wanted to ask after my son so badly it hurt. I missed him. I’d never even been away from him a whole night before. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
Sara wasn’t stupid, and she would never take any risks with Josh. “I’ll pack now and move to a hotel. Everything’s fine here, baby. Just fine. I’ll take care of everything. Don’t you worry. I’ll find somewhere to stay and wait for your call.”
“Thanks, Sara.”
“Time’s up,” Ruby said.
“I have to go,” I said to my aunt.
“Okay . . .”
Ruby snatched the phone out of my hand and ended the call.
“Hey!”
She shrugged. “You had two minutes, no more, no less. I take orders, I don’t dish them out.”
Then she stood, walked out the door, and locked it behind her.
Fuck.
CHAPTER SIX
Hunter
Light glowed from the surveillance monitor, casting light across the darkened office. Neco had tried to get me to leave, had offered to watch Lulu tonight, but I’d sent him home. I’d sent everyone home. I didn’t want to think too hard about why it had to be me.
Jesus, being alone with Lulu in that cabin had been a phenomenal mistake. The chemistry between us was as strong as ever. Shit, stronger. Which was messed up, all things considered.
She’d been more than willing, though—the woman I’d once trusted, once cared about beyond reason—and I’d lost my head, my control.
But when she looked at me and I saw the old Lulu, my Lulu, staring right back, I had to lock it down, close it all off. And fuck, I got angry, so fucking angry. She’d done that, she’d destroyed what we’d had, and I’d never forgive her for it. For taking the only good thing I’d ever had away. The one thing I’d thought was all mine.
Cursing, I watched her stand and pace away from the bed and then back. She was chewing her fingernails. Obviously agitated, distressed, which was to be expected. It was also the reason Lulu was here. Maybe some time to cool her heels would loosen her tongue. If not, I still had the meeting with Pierce in a couple of days. Would be good to get the jump on that asshole, though. Find out where he was beforehand and ambush the motherfucker.
Without my say-so, my gaze slid over Lulu’s curves, the way her tank hugged her tits, the way those shorts displayed her round ass to perfection. Her red hair was down, tumbling over her shoulders in thick waves. My cock surged behind my zipper and I hissed.
I used to fist it, wrap my fingers around the soft, warm length, and hold tight while I drove into her. Lulu had loved it.
Or maybe I’d just told myself that, saw what I wanted to see.
Maybe she was a better actress than even I gave her credit for.
An image of big gray eyes staring up at me, soft fingers gliding over my cheek, cupping my face. I love you.
The lie echoed through my head and the knot in my gut tightened unbearably. “Fuck.” I shot to my feet, tearing my eyes away from the monitor. Why the hell was I doing this to myself? Why was I torturing myself like this? I hated her. Fucking loathed her. So why wouldn’t my cock get the goddamn memo?
I stalked to the workout room. I didn’t want to look at her any more. I didn’t even allow myself to look at the door she was behind as I walked by.
I needed to run, to burn of this messed-up hunger inside me, this almost desperate need to go to her, throw her on her back, and have her again. To make her scream my name. To make her beg my forgiveness as she clawed at my shoulders. I cursed again, scrubbing my hands over my face, and went to the locker room. Stripping off, I tugged on a pair of shorts then hit the treadmill. Cranking up the music, I let it drown out the noise crowding my goddamn head. I don’t know how long I ran, but I didn’t stop until I was dripping with sweat, until my legs were close to giving out.
I dried off on my way to the break room and downed a bottle of water. We always had food in here, so I grabbed another bottle and couple sandwiches and headed back down to the holding room. Yeah, I wanted to avoid her, but she had to eat, right? I told myself that was the only reason I was going to her, why I couldn’t even wait the ten minutes it would take to shower and change.
Lulu shot to her feet when I shoved the door open and strode in.
Her eyes slid over me, lingering on my bare chest and arms, before dropping to my abs. I took a sick kind of satisfaction at the way her eyes flared. I didn’t want to think about why that pleased me so damn much either.
I threw everything on the bed. “Brought you some food.”
Her eyes snapped back to mine and stared at me, like a deer in headlights.
I knew I should go, should turn around and walk back out, but I couldn’t make myself leave, not yet. She was nervous, mayb
e even scared, and being the sick, angry individual I was around her, I liked that. I liked that she understood just how close to the edge she had me.
So, I leaned against the closed door and crossed my arms.
She lifted her chin slightly, defiance creeping in behind her eyes, overtaking the wariness but not the heat. That was still there. “You can go now.”
I shook my head slowly, pleased when she swallowed nervously. “I think I’ll stay for a while.”
“I want you to leave,” she fired back.
“I don’t really give a fuck what you want.” I stepped away from the wall and she backed up a step. I liked that, too. I also fucking hated it. Jesus, I was messed up over her, and that just pissed me off even more. “It’s just you and me here, and I’ve got nowhere else to be.”
She bit her lip and my cock stiffened in response. It knew exactly what it wanted. I ignored it. Not happening. Not again.
“You ready to talk yet, Lulu?”
Her fingers curled and uncurled at her sides. “I told you, I have nothing to say.”
Silence engulfed the room, apart from our breathing. Hers choppy, mine rough. The light was off, but the streetlights shone brightly enough though the high window that I could see her clearly, the way her cheeks had colored, the way her gray eyes were locked on me. I hadn’t planned to question her again tonight. I was going to leave her to stew for a day, take advantage of her fear, her worry over what happened next.
I sure as fuck hadn’t planned for the next words out of my mouth, or the bitter edge to my voice that gave far too much away. “So did you . . . laugh? You and Pierce, when they locked me up, when they believed your lies? Did you celebrate? Go out for a meal maybe? How about a bonus? You get one of those, Lulu?”
She shook her head, keeping her mouth clamped shut.
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