by Meghan March
“I doubt Bishop would let her go anywhere,” Yve drawled. “I know what possessive man in overdrive looks like, and he’s got it stamped all over him.”
Considering she was married to the very powerful, very notorious billionaire Lucas Titan, I assumed Yve probably knew what she was talking about.
Vanessa nodded her agreement. “Caveman mode has been activated. She’s screwed.”
This wasn’t news to me, and the feelings I’d been wrestling with for the last eighteen hours came to the surface again.
“How do you deal with that? I’m not fragile. I need to be able to stand on my own two feet. I don’t always need him coming to my rescue and then getting pissed when I tell him I can take care of myself.”
All the women laughed at me, except for Delilah, who just smiled and shook her head.
“Good luck with that one,” Valentina offered. “Rix would’ve killed anyone who tried to hurt me. Actually, he did, but that’s a long story. That kind of alpha instinct isn’t something you can turn off.”
Elle pointed at her. “You were the one who didn’t want an alpha. I believe I remember you saying that you wanted a beta. Someone to watch Masterpiece Theatre with and drink wine.” Elle’s laughing eyes cut to me. “And she ended up with a crazy badass motherfucker who wouldn’t drink wine if Jesus himself made it from water.”
Valentina rolled her eyes at Elle. “I was drunk and clearly misguided.” She turned her attention back to me. “This is what I learned, and you can take it or leave it. But if you want the guy, you get the whole package. There’s no picking and choosing between the parts you like and the parts that make you want to rip your hair out. If he’s alpha, he’s always going to be alpha. You can’t turn that off. You can’t tell him not to protect you, because it would be going against every instinct he’s got.”
“She speaks the truth,” Yve said. “But if you’ve got demons you need to fight on your own, that’s something you need to come out with and tell him. Men, despite our every wish and hope, can’t read our minds. That said, even if you want to prove that you can handle yourself, there are times when it’s okay to break. You can lean on someone and not be weak. Believe me when I tell you that I didn’t need any man to take care of me, and it took me a hell of a lot to realize accepting help when it was offered didn’t make me less. It just meant I had more in my life.”
I soaked up Yve’s words. It just meant I had more . . .
“But you were a badass bitch from day one. The fact that Lucas got through your walls was a freaking miracle.” This came from Charlie.
“I’ve never been a badass bitch,” I said without thinking. “I’ve never had the chance. I’ve been shielded from everything, and this was my one chance to experience life without watching it go by while someone stood in front of me to protect me from it.” As soon as the words were out, I knew they were a mistake. All the women looked at me.
“You want to elaborate on that?” Delilah asked.
Charlie shook her head. “You don’t have to.”
I chose my next words much more carefully. “Do you know what it’s like to live in a protective bubble?”
Charlie, Vanessa, and Valentina all nodded.
“Then you get that when you’re in the bubble, all you want is to get out. I can’t go back in the bubble. I need freedom.”
“Then tell him,” Valentina said. “Tell him exactly what you need, and if he can’t give it to you, then you know you’ve got a choice.”
Delilah kept quiet through this exchange, until she said, “He wants to keep you safe, and he’s got reasons, but there’s no way he’d want you to be unhappy. There’s gotta be balance.”
She was right. Balance was what I needed and hadn’t found.
“So, what do I do?”
“Talk to him.” This came as a chorus from the women.
“But before that, we all need coffee,” Yve said.
I laughed and nodded. “Deal. Give me your orders and I’ll get them going.”
CON CAME OUT OF THE back room as I sent my client on his way. “Van come back with my coffee yet?”
“She was here?”
“Nah, she went next door with the women to talk to Eden, but she was supposed to bring me back coffee when they were done.”
“What do you mean, they went next door to talk to Eden?”
“They were worried about her after last night. Wanted to make sure she wasn’t freaking about what happened.”
“I took care of it.”
Con shrugged. “You know women. They gotta do things their own way. Your girl has been adopted into the crew whether you like it or not.”
I did like it, actually. The more ties Eden had holding her here, the less likely she was to leave. Even though I hadn’t pushed it lately, it drove me fucking nuts that she didn’t have any kind of long-term plan. I had lived that life. Staying in a place for as long as it worked, and then moving on when it didn’t.
With no ties, it was easy. I didn’t want leaving to be easy for Eden.
“So, basically, they’re over there meddling.”
“Basically. On the upside, you might learn something from it.”
“Oh yeah, like what?”
“Like why she was so fucking unconcerned about the idea of being dragged off into a back room at a casino. I know she’s naive and shit, but that should’ve scared the hell out of her.”
I’d been stewing over that all day. Eden wasn’t stupid. She could recognize when she was in over her head, even if she was hell-bent on pretending she could get out of it herself.
“I don’t have an answer for that.”
“You want me to call my people and start digging around to see what we can find out about her?”
The offer hung between us, and even though I wanted to say yes, I was waiting for Eden to come clean with whatever it was she was running from by herself. I wanted that. I needed that from her.
“Not yet. I’m gonna give it some more time.”
Con shrugged. “Offer’s on the table if you want it.”
“Thanks, man.”
The front door whooshed open and Delilah and Vanessa came inside, each carrying two cups of coffee. “Charlie said hi, but she was catching a ride with Elle, Yve, and Valentina, so she couldn’t deliver that herself.”
“You really did interrogate her with the whole crew, huh?” I asked, my gaze on Vanessa and Delilah, wondering who was the instigator behind this.
“We just wanted to make sure she was okay. She is.”
“And?”
“And nothing.”
“Bullshit, princess. We all know you got way more than that out of her.” Con raised an eyebrow at his woman, and I turned the same look on my sister.
“You’re gonna have to talk to her.”
“Thanks for the inside scoop, ladies.”
Con laughed. “Stubborn, both of you.” He accepted the coffee that Vanessa finally handed over and sipped. “But you got me the good shit, so I’m not complaining right now.”
“You better not complain. You like me stubborn.” She smiled up at him, and I wanted the easiness they shared.
Someday, I’d have that with Eden, but we had a hell of a lot to air out before we got there. It was kind of hard to push forward when we were both keeping so many fucking secrets.
I almost told her everything last night. I came close. But my secrets were tied up with the shame I carried. I hated that I’d been such a fucking selfish punk kid who thought he knew every goddamned thing. And then the fact that I’d run from it? Not exactly something I was proud of.
It occurred to me, while Vanessa and Con and Delilah shot the shit, that maybe whatever Eden wasn’t saying was the shit she wasn’t proud of. I wandered back to my room and pulled out equipment to sterilize before my next appointment.
Before Con and Vanessa left, Vanessa stuck her head in. “I’m not saying anything you probably don’t already know, but I think Eden’s dying to stretch her wings, and
if you don’t give her that chance, she’s going to be miserable.”
“I got that from her last night.”
“I’m not trying to get in the middle of it, but I get where she’s coming from. You can give her a world she never knew existed and still keep her safe while you do it.”
I nodded. “She say anything else I need to know?”
Vanessa smiled. “You’ll figure it out.”
“Come on, princess,” Con called. “Let’s get out of here before the rain comes and we both get soaked on that bike.”
“See you around, Bish. Good luck.” She winked at me.
Delilah stepped into the doorway as soon as the back door closed. “You sure you know what you’re doing with her?”
“Figuring it out as I go.”
“You might want to figure it out faster.”
THE MAN CAME IN YOUR Favorite Hole twenty minutes before the end of my shift, his dark hoodie pulled up and his hands in his pockets.
Every instinct I had said something wasn’t right with him. I fingered my phone in the pocket of my apron, the urge to call Bishop screaming at me.
But I was the one determined to stand my ground and take care of myself.
“Can I get you something?”
He looked up at me, and I could have sworn I’d seen him before. Somewhere. But before I could figure out where, he charged toward the counter.
“Give me all the money. Every fucking dime.”
Fear. Honest-to-God fear ripped through me. It multiplied when he pulled out a gun.
Oh my God. Who the hell holds up a donut shop?
I raised my hands in the air like any normal person would who had a gun pointed at them. “Okay. Okay. You can have it.”
“Open the fucking drawer.”
I lowered my shaking hands and turned the key, then pressed the button to release the cash drawer. The gun wavered in the air as I pulled each stack of cash from its slot and piled it on the counter.
“Don’t put it on the fucking counter, put it in a goddamned bag. What the fuck is your problem, bitch!”
I wanted to yell that I’d never freaking been robbed before so I had no idea what the protocol was, but I kept it in. After yanking a bag from underneath the counter, I stuffed the money inside.
The chime on the door sounded, and both our heads whipped toward the door.
Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. A visibly pregnant woman walked inside holding the hand of a toddler.
“I want all the chocolate ones,” the little boy said.
The woman looked up and saw the man and the gun and froze for a split second before turning to drop to her knees and shield the boy with her body. A uniformed cop walked by the front window, and the woman screamed for help.
The cop froze and tilted his head to see inside. The moment he saw the gun, he spoke into the radio on his shoulder and drew his weapon.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” the man bit out as he grabbed the bag. “Not fucking supposed to go like this.” He turned the gun on me. “Where’s the back door?”
I pointed to the hallway as the wail of police sirens became audible from outside and the cop pushed open the front door. The man with the gun shoved the paper bag of money inside his coat and fired off three shots at the front windows. Glass shattered everywhere, and the woman screamed before shoving her son toward the wall and curling her body around him.
The man ran to the back hallway and disappeared out the door as the front flew open again and the cop charged inside.
“He went out the back,” I yelled. The cop nodded and gave chase.
The front door slammed open again and I expected more cops, or even Bishop coming from next door, but instead I saw Angelo.
Angelo?
“Come on, E, we gotta get out of here. Now. Hurry. More cops are coming, and they’re going to have all sorts of fucking questions for you that you can’t answer. They’ll arrest you, and I can’t let that happen.”
What the hell is he doing here? Confused, I stared at him. The normal suit I was used to seeing him wear had been traded for jeans and a leather jacket.
“How—”
“Come on, we ain’t got time for questions. We gotta go.”
My brain tried to make sense of what he was saying, but between being robbed at gunpoint and having my past show up, I stood frozen behind the counter.
“Eden, now! Your dad would fucking kill you if you talked to the cops.”
The sirens grew louder as Angelo hustled behind the counter to grab me by the arm and drag me toward the back door where the man and the cop had run.
“I have to make sure she’s okay!” I tugged at his arm, worry for the pregnant woman struggling to her feet shooting through me.
“You need to worry about your fucking self. We’re going.”
“No, I’m not going anywhere. You go. I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t make me hurt you, Eden. I don’t want to hurt you.”
I dragged my attention away from the woman to Angelo.
Hurt me? Why would he . . .
I saw something different in Angelo’s eyes. The easy camaraderie I remembered was gone, and in its place was crazy desperation.
“Let me go!”
Angelo’s fist shot out and slammed into my jaw. The pain didn’t even have a chance to register before everything went black.
GUNSHOTS. BREAKING GLASS. SCREAMS. I could hear everything through the wall of Voodoo Ink, and it was coming from Your Favorite Hole. I was out of my seat, tossing my tattoo machine on the counter and gone without saying a word to my client.
I pushed through the door in time to catch a glimpse of a man carrying someone out the back. A woman hunched over a little boy in the front, and sirens grew louder and louder. Scanning the store, I saw no sign of Eden.
The woman rose on shaky legs, gathering the boy against her chest. She pointed to the back door.
“A man took the girl who worked here. Out the back.”
Fuck.
I ran for the back door and shoved it open just in time to see a man carrying Eden round the corner and leave the alley. Her arm flopped lifelessly, and her head lolled backward in his hold.
“Stop right fucking there!”
I ran toward the man, my adrenaline pumping overtime. I reached the end of the alley and raced left. He was shoving her into the backseat of a Lincoln. She was clearly unconscious.
“Do not fucking move!”
He looked up at me for only a beat before slamming the back door and jumping in the front. I was twenty feet away when he gunned the engine and tore out into the street, narrowly missing sideswiping a cab.
I gotta get my bike. Follow them. I memorized the license plate number and grabbed my phone as I ran back to the alley.
“What up, man?” Con asked.
Between heaving breaths, I told him. “Find everything you can on Eden. And get your people to run this plate.” I rattled off the number before I could forget it. “Someone just grabbed her out of the donut shop and shoved her in a car. She didn’t look conscious.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.”
“No. Hurry. I’m grabbing my bike. I’m going to try to follow them. Call me when you get anything.”
I pushed open the back door to Voodoo and Delilah was standing at the front. “What the hell just happened? Cops just swarmed Your Favorite Hole. They wouldn’t let me go in.”
“Eden’s gone. Someone took her. I’m going after him.” I ducked into the break room and grabbed my keys off the desk, not giving a single shit about the person still sitting in my chair. Delilah could deal with them.
I ran out into the alley, intent on getting on my bike as fast as fucking possible, but three cops with drawn weapons stopped me in my tracks.
“Stop right there!” one officer yelled. “Who the fuck are you?”
“I work at the tattoo shop, and some asshole just grabbed my girlfriend and shoved her in a car. Get the hell out of my way so I can go after them.”
Rage roiled in my gut. “Did you not fucking hear me? Someone just grabbed my girlfriend and shoved her in the back of a car and took off. If you’re not going to go after him, I sure as shit am.”
“Come with us. Inside.”
Gritting my teeth at every second I was losing, I realized I didn’t have much choice unless I wanted to ruin my ink with the new addition of bullet holes.
The woman with the toddler was sitting in one of the chairs, rocking the boy back and forth. She looked up when she saw me.
“Did you get her?”
I shook my head, and the cop started asking her questions.
“Can you confirm what this man is telling us? His girlfriend was abducted?”
“Yes. Yes, he tried to get her to go with him and she wouldn’t, so he knocked her out and carried her away.”
“Now can I fucking go?”
The cop made notes on his little cop notepad as Delilah stepped into the doorway.
“Ma’am, step back,” another officer said to her.
“You can use the tattoo shop if you want to clear people out of here. We have room.”
The woman stood with her little boy and looked at the officer. “I want to get out of here.”
“Fine. We’ll move this next door.” He looked at me. “Everyone can move next door.”
I wanted to knock that fucking look off his face. Every second that slipped by made it less and less likely that I’d find Eden.
“Where is she?” Delilah demanded as I followed the cop out front. “Where the hell is Eden?”
The woman replied before I could. “He said she had to go. She couldn’t talk to the cops. Her dad would be mad.”
What the hell?
“Ma’am, if you could hold on until we’re ready to get your full statement, that’d be helpful.”
Delilah led the way into Voodoo, and the cop gave the woman the go-ahead to give her statement, but wouldn’t let me out of his sight.