“Then when?” I wanted to growl like a pissed-off bear.
“I don’t know…in a few days.”
“In a few days?” I asked incredulously. “I don’t think so. Tonight. My place or yours?”
“Hunt—”
“Diesel. Don’t fucking call me that again.”
She retained her composure even though I was practically yelling in her face. “I’m not ready.”
“Don’t give a damn. I gave you space last night. That’s all you’re getting from me. And if you ask me, that was pretty fucking generous.”
“I don’t appreciate your tone, Diesel.” She warned me with the fiery look in her eyes.
“I don’t appreciate your secrets, Tatum. You never answered me, my place or yours?” I thought she might not want to have the discussion where she had her freak out. Maybe the place was tainted to her now.
She didn’t break eye contact with me, but her eyes wavered back and forth. “Yours.”
I left her office without looking back.
* * *
Time seemed to travel so slowly as I sat there on the couch. My glass sat in front of me, but it kept getting empty because I wouldn’t stop drinking it. My decanter of scotch constantly kept refilling it, the ice cubes continually getting smaller and smaller.
Where was she?
Finally, the lights above the elevator lit up.
She was on her way.
I rose to my feet and stood in the entryway, ready to greet her the second she walked inside. I wouldn’t bombard her with a million questions. She was there to talk. My job was to listen.
The doors opened, revealing Titan in dark jeans and a black t-shirt. It was an outfit I’d never seen her wear out of the house. She was casual, real. She obviously didn’t care about making an impression tonight.
Which meant she was vulnerable.
Tatum was here.
I suddenly felt like a jerk for being so harsh with her earlier. I couldn’t contain my frustration very well, annoyed I wasn’t getting my way. My motivation came from a good place, but that didn’t excuse my roughness.
I pulled her into my body and wrapped my arms around her, cocooning her from everything that haunted her. I was a man made of flesh and bone, but I had the power to protect her from everything—if she would just let me.
My lips brushed across her hairline, and I squeezed her into my chest, being the crutch she would never allow herself to have. I closed my eyes as I held her, and a second later, I felt her grip me with the same intensity.
I was grateful just to hold her, to finally be allowed to touch her. This was how I’d wanted to hold her last night, to cradle her like a child that just needed to feel safe. If she’d only unlocked that door, I could have fixed her.
Even though I’d never fixed anyone before.
Minutes passed until we’d been standing there for half an hour. I wanted to pressure her, to get the answers I was so anxious to hear.
But I had to be patient.
I finally pulled away and looked down into her face. She wore her Titan expression but with her Tatum eyes. She retained her strong posture but her vulnerable aura. While there were still walls erected around her heart, there were far fewer than before. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, I’m okay.”
“You wanna sit down?” I guided her to the couch, the best place to have this conversation.
She sat beside me, her purse falling to the floor. She crossed her legs and kept her back perfectly straight. Even when she was at her weakest, she held herself with such strength. She looked at the floor for several heartbeats before she looked at me.
I held my tongue, letting her start whenever she was ready.
“I… Now you must know why I don’t like to sleep with anyone.”
“Yeah…I pieced that together.”
“I have bad nightmares. Sometimes they happen a lot, and other times, they seem to go away.”
A hundred questions popped into my head, but I didn’t voice a single one.
“It’s been going on for a long time, about ten years. I’m sorry that I startled you. I know what you saw, and…I’m just sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” I whispered. “You don’t owe me one.” Her remorse stemmed from her perfection. She’d let someone see an ugly side of her, a side we all had. There was no need for an apology.
“I’m sorry anyway,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I didn’t open the door…I just couldn’t.”
I rested my elbows on my knees and leaned forward, waiting for the heavy stuff.
“It all happened ten years ago…when I met that boyfriend you’ve asked me about a few times.”
I knew that asshole had something to do with her coldness.
“Everything was normal when we met. We fell in love, moved in together, my business started taking off. He became really jealous and possessive. He got overtaken by greed. He wanted my money, but he didn’t like my power. He didn’t like the fact that I always excelled at everything I put my mind to, that I was more successful than he was. My success only reminded him of his failures. And that jealousy became more bitter and more hateful…”
I watched her lips move as she spoke.
“The relationship turned abusive at one point. I won’t go into the specifics because they don’t matter anyway. But he hurt me. And he would hurt me a lot.” Titan talked like she was in the middle of a meeting, like what she said had absolutely no effect on her. She had a hard shell that couldn’t be penetrated. “I contacted the police many times, filed restraining orders. The judge never considered my evidence sufficient enough, saying my bruises could have been self-inflicted. I was a just a woman with a sob story looking for sympathy. Every time I went to the police, he would only hurt me more. He would choke me until I passed out. The times he preferred to do it was when I was asleep…”
Fuck, I wanted to throw up.
I’d never been so angry and nauseated at the same time.
Titan had reached out for help, but the police turned her away. She wasn’t safe in her own home, being choked every time she shut her eyes. It made me so sick I felt a different emotion I hadn’t felt in a long time.
I wanted to cry.
“Thorn tried to help me in whatever way he could. I’d stay at his place a lot. He would protect me, place his body in front of mine anytime Jeremy came near me. But Thorn had a job, and he couldn’t be with me all the time…”
Now I felt like an asshole for ever hating Thorn.
“So Jeremy attacked me one day in my apartment. But this time, it was different. This time, he wasn’t going to let me walk away with a few bruises…”
My eyes shifted to hers, needing to hear the end of this story.
“Thorn came in just in time and…killed Jeremy. He was the one who stabbed him in the heart. We both panicked and covered it up, making it look like someone broke in to the apartment and tried to rob us.”
I played out the story in my mind, picturing Thorn stabbing a faceless man and letting him die on her kitchen floor. I pictured Titan’s tears as she watched the blood spill everywhere. I imagined her remorse as well as her grief.
“The police never suspected otherwise. But I’ve always hidden that story away from the media because I’m afraid the world will dig a little harder…look a little deeper. They’ll look over the evidence again, see the restraining orders I filed…and figure out there was no burglar at all. That I killed him. Or worse, that Thorn was the one who did it.”
Now everything made sense. I understood why she was so restrained from sharing that piece of history with me. It was incriminating to her closest friend, the person who’d protected her when no one else did. Despite my jealousy, I actually liked Thorn.
He was a good man.
I wanted to say something to make Titan feel better, but I was in shock. I didn’t realize her past was so deeply disturbing…so painful. “I hope you don’t feel bad for him. That asshole deserved to die
.”
“No. I never feel bad about it.”
I looked at her, seeing the sincerity in her eyes.
“But I’ve never gotten over that feeling…” Her hands moved to her neck. “Of air being taken away from you. Of your lungs working to suck air down your windpipe, but two hands are obstructing your throat. I wish I would just get over it and move on, but I can’t. The idea of sleeping with someone in the same room terrifies me. It’s not that I think they’re going to hurt me. It’s just…it’s instinct.”
“No, it makes sense.”
“When you and I started sleeping together, I was so scared. But then the nightmares didn’t come. I slept well. I thought that horrifying part of my life was over. But I guess it’ll never be over.”
“It will,” I said with certainty. “You just need more time.”
“Yeah…maybe.”
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Thank you for telling me.”
“I’ve never told anyone else before…except Isa and Pilar.”
Now I felt even more special, knew this was anything but a fling between us. Whatever we had was real, it was true. I tugged her into my chest and positioned her on my lap. Sometimes I forgot how small she was because she projected a presence three times as imposing. I rested my face against her cheek and held her there, giving her all the comfort I had. I had a few questions I was anxious to ask, but I was sure she didn’t want to answer them.
“It’s a part of my life I just want to forget about. Even if people didn’t suspect I had something to do with his death, if people knew I had been in an abusive relationship…they would think I was weak.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because I was in the relationship at all.”
“But you tried to get out of it.” Titan shouldn’t have to feel ashamed for a bad relationship she had over ten years ago. She was young at the time, didn’t have a single family member to turn to. “If anyone actually thought less of you, they’d be completely insensitive.”
“Well…that’s how the world works. The higher your reputation, the further you have to fall.”
“I understand why you don’t want anyone to know, but I don’t think anyone would think less of you. I certainly don’t.”
“Really?” She turned her face toward me more, her eyes now looking into mine.
“Never.” I kissed the corner of her mouth as my arms tightened around her. I hugged her like letting her go wasn’t an option. Feeling her breathe beside me, her frame still strong and unbreakable, comforted me. She’d been beaten and hit, and I needed to know she was okay, that those bruises didn’t exist somewhere deep…under the skin. I wasn’t the one who had experienced such a horrible trauma, but I felt like the recipient of it. The idea of someone hurting Titan made me sick to my stomach. It made me want to murder a man who’d already been dead for ten years. “I still think you’re the strongest woman in the world…and I admire you.”
* * *
Thorn had a building here in Manhattan, one of his side businesses he ran. His tomato company was based in Chicago, but he had factories all over the country. He was a smart man and reinvested his profits into other companies. Now, he spent most of the time here—alongside Titan.
I checked in with his assistant then waited to see him. If this were anyone else, I wouldn’t be waiting in that lobby. No one ever made me wait. If Diesel Hunt ever stopped by, you took the meeting instantly. You stopped what you were doing, knowing my presence was something of a gift.
But Thorn made me wait.
No doubt, on purpose.
He stopped by my office like he’d been entitled to the visit, and now I was returning the favor.
His assistant finally led me into his gray office. He had black furniture and a black desk, his tastes similar to mine. There wasn’t a single item that countered his aura of masculinity. There wasn’t even a picture on the wall. He sat behind his desk, leaning back against his chair with his dangerous eyes on me. He looked affronted even though I hadn’t said a single word to him.
I took a seat, ignoring his hostility because my hatred for this man had ceased overnight. Every bad feeling I had toward him no longer seemed to matter. He won my loyalty and my respect the second Titan told me what he had done for her.
“Can I help you?” Thorn asked coldly. “If you’re here to discuss my future wife, a phone call would have sufficed.”
Hearing him refer to her so possessively didn’t even bother me. Not right now. “It is about her…but I needed to say this to your face.” I gripped the armrests as I sat in the tall chair, my legs crossed and my suit button undone.
His eyebrows arched.
“She told me what happened with Jeremy.”
Thorn stiffened in his chair, and his eyes narrowed in a menacing way. He looked like he wanted to stab me in the eye with his pen. “What did I tell you about that?”
“I didn’t ask her.”
“You expect me to believe she just told you?”
“She had a nightmare a few nights ago…so she explained where it came from.”
Thorn’s anger dimmed, but only a tiny bit.
“She told me he was abusive and he wouldn’t leave. And you were the one who protected her…and you were the one who killed him.”
Thorn didn’t confirm it, but he didn’t deny it either. He dropped one elbow on the armrest and placed his knuckles under his chin. He kept up his poker face, hiding every single thought from my knowledge.
“I came here to thank you.”
“Thank me?” he whispered.
“Yeah. You were there for her, you looked after her, you did the right thing…I would have killed that bastard too.”
He lowered his hand and returned it to the armrest. The ferocity in his gaze softened as he slightly cocked his head.
“I apologize for giving you shit all the time. If I’d known you’d done that for her…I wouldn’t have said a single word. You deserve my respect, so now I’m giving it to you.”
His expression softened even more until I was looking at a different version of Thorn. He wasn’t the ferocious competitor that didn’t deserve Titan. He was just a man, a human being. His suit and office no longer mattered. His wealth and reputation didn’t matter either. Now we were just two men who cared about the same woman.
“I just wanted to thank you for what you did. I’ll go now.” I rose from the chair and buttoned the front of my suit.
“I don’t know what to say, Hunt. I’m surprised she told you…and I’m more surprised that you’re standing in front of me right now. You’re thanking me for something I did before you even knew her.”
“She’s a good person. She deserves to have someone look out for her the way you did.” I didn’t want Titan to marry Thorn, but in the end, he was a good candidate. He was loyal and protective. When it came down to choosing a partner, she couldn’t find someone more committed.
“I’m glad you’ve finally come around.”
“I believe you earned my respect. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Even so, I’m glad you’re handling this so well.”
“Handling what so well?”
“That you lost.”
I hadn’t lost anything. When our three weeks were over, everything would be different. I was even more confident than I had been before. Now that Titan saw me as one of her closest friends, Thorn didn’t have much over me. “I haven’t lost anything, Thorn. I still have time.”
He examined me with suspicious eyes, his brain working furiously. His eyes shifted back and forth slightly, and then a slow smile crept onto his lips.
“What?”
He sat up straighter but didn’t hide his grin. “Nothing.” He came around the desk and extended his hand. “Since Titan is the woman connecting us, I don’t mind moving forward in a new direction. Perhaps we could be associates. And maybe someday…even friends.”
I knew there was something more behind that smile. He knew something, but he
refused to share it with me. Unlike with Titan, I wouldn’t be able to pull it out of him with excessive questions. Thorn didn’t owe me anything.
I didn’t want to shake his hand, but I knew he deserved the gesture. I took his hand, and we both shook hard, gripping each other’s hand with iron-hard clasps.
He looked me in the eye and nodded. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re a pretty good guy, Diesel Hunt.”
“And for what it’s worth, I think the same of you.”
8
Titan
As soon as I walked in the door, Thorn called me.
“Hey, what’s up?” I slipped off my heels as I sat on the couch. The five-inch stilettos were pointed at the ends, where they squished my toes together. I never cared about the discomfort because they looked amazing with every outfit I wore. They were fairly comfortable, as comfortable as they could be for a shoe like this.
“Your boy toy stopped by my office today.”
“He did?” I massaged the bottom of my foot, but I was only half paying attention to what I was doing. “Why? What did he say?”
“He told me you told him about Jeremy.”
That was the first thing he did after I told him my secret? Ran off and opened his mouth? “What else did he say?” Why would Hunt tell Thorn about all of that when Thorn obviously knew the story—he was there.
“Said he wanted to thank me for protecting you.”
I stopped rubbing my foot and sat back into the couch, suddenly breathless. Hunt and Thorn were always hostile to each other. I couldn’t picture Hunt going out of his way to be even remotely nice to Thorn.
“And he said he respected me for doing the right thing…for killing that asshole.”
I still didn’t know what to say. I was touched that Hunt went over there and thanked Thorn for what he did. He dropped all of his jealousy to say something nice. That was impressive for a stubborn man like him. And one who was psychotically jealous. “I’m surprised he did that.”
“I’ve always known he was a good guy. Most men are crooks or perverts. Diesel Hunt isn’t one of them. He stands on his own two feet, protects those who can’t protect themselves, and he truly admires you. I don’t have anything bad to say about him…but that doesn’t mean I like him.”
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