Anxiety rooted in my stomach, but thankfully, less than a second later, I found her.
Or, more accurately, her foot found Walter Noir’s face as he lay unconscious on the driveway.
“I hate you!” she screamed, landing another kick before I could get to her.
Wrapping her in a bear hug from behind, I lifted her off her feet and dragged her back.
“I fucking hate you!” she yelled at him, fighting like a hellcat to get back at him.
A large part of me wanted to give that to her. She’d more than earned it. The other part of me needed to get her out of there before any of his men showed up.
“Chill,” I growled, but if she was even aware I was holding her, I couldn’t be sure.
The tighter I held her, the harder she fought. And I began to fear I was going to hurt her if she didn’t stop. Her face was already swollen, and God knows what the rest of her frail body looked like.
She needed to get to a hospital, not go another round with Noir’s limp body.
I placed her on her feet only long enough to wrap her back up, this time chest to chest, her arms pinned between us.
She twisted her head around to keep him in her sight. “I hate you!”
“Clare,” I barked.
Finally, her attention snapped to mine. Her body stilled, and she closed her mouth while she scanned my face in awestruck disbelief.
“I can’t believe you’re alive,” she said, her chin quivering.
Fuck. Me.
She was alive.
“Chill,” I ordered, holding her gaze, her left eye barely visible beneath the swelling. “We only have a minute before he wakes up. I need you to listen to me.”
She blinked but didn’t reply.
“You listening?” I asked just as I felt the tremble begin to work its way up from her legs.
“How are you here?” she whispered on a shaky breath.
She was about to crash. Emotionally. Mentally. Physically.
Fuck.
“Stay with me, okay?” I urged. “You’re safe. Tessa’s safe. And I’m gonna get you out of here. Can you walk for me?”
She vigorously shook her head as a sob tore from her throat.
She started struggling again, but this time, it was to get closer.
“Shh, it’s okay. I got you,” I soothed, loosening my hold and allowing her the space to move her arms from between us.
They quickly circled around my neck, her legs doing the same at my hips.
Holding her with one arm, I dug my phone from my pocket and dialed. “Tomlinson? I’ve got a woman and a child, both of which need medical attention. Tell me you’re close.”
“Our eyes on Brock Nolan say he is en route, Light. Get them the fuck out of there. I’ve got units on the way to head Nolan off, but you need to leave.”
My head snapped up so I could scan the perimeter, but I did not waste time before striding over to where my gun was on the driveway. “Roger that. I’m out.” I hung up and then tucked my phone away. Keeping a hand on her back, I leaned over to retrieve my weapon. I spared one last glance at Walter, who was still out cold, and then jogged with her in my arms over to the gate.
Roman watched us with haggard eyes as we approached. He had Tessa’s face tucked into his neck, one hand over her ear, her tiny body flush with his.
I rubbed a hand up Clare’s back and asked, “What’s the code, babe?”
“Eighteen-eleven-two,” she replied.
Roman went to work typing the numbers in.
As the gate came to life, the most amazing sense of relief fell over me.
It had slid open only a foot before I turned sideways and carried her out.
She was free.
They were free.
We were free.
With her in my arms and Tessa in Roman’s, side by side, we guided them from Walter Noir’s darkness.
And into the light.
Sometimes, when I dreamed, I’d travel back in time to the days when I’d thought my life was hard.
When paying bills and eating ramen noodles three meals a day had been my biggest challenges.
Back then, I’d feared I’d end up homeless. Now, I feared going home.
Back then, I’d balked at the idea of spending my life washing dishes and waitressing to make an honest living. Now, I worried I’d be ordered to clean up another hideout after Walt had murdered a man for crossing him.
Back then, I’d longed for designer clothes, jewelry, and expensive handbags. Now, I just wanted my heart to still be beating when I finally escaped.
Funny how things could change in the blink of an eye.
My head was down as I approached the table, a pen stuck into the back of my hair, a pad tucked in my apron, and an exhausted smile pulling at my lips. I’d been on my feet for well over ten hours, and if the crowd didn’t die down before the breakfast rush, it was going to be at least four more before I could go home.
“What can I get you?” I asked, placing two napkins followed by forks and spoons on the table.
A hand roughly caught my wrist as I started to pull it away.
It wasn’t the nicest of diners in Atlanta. Shit was actually the term that had come to mind when I’d interviewed six weeks earlier. However, I lived in a trailer two blocks over. I was more than accustomed to shit.
I jerked my attention to the guy holding my arm. Typical for this time of night. Young. Dumb. Broke. My tip would be whatever change was left after he’d paid his bill, assuming he didn’t dine and ditch.
Drunken brown eyes stared back at me as he slurred, “Well, hello there, gorgeous.”
“Dude, let her go,” his buddy laughed.
I snatched my hand back, but his grip stayed tight.
“You should really listen to your friend,” I warned.
“Clare?” he purred, reading my nametag. “Sweet name for an even sweeter ass.” He snaked his grimy hand around and grabbed my butt.
My body jerked. This wasn’t the first time some douchebag had put his hands on me since I had taken the job. At three a.m., the customers were always the same—intoxicated. But, if I wanted to keep my job, I could only do so much—well, besides rolling his dinner around on the bathroom floor.
“What can I get you, boys?” I gritted through clenched teeth.
“Oh, trust me. I ain’t no boy.” He gripped what would probably be the world’s smallest dick through his filthy denim.
I arched an eyebrow. “A eunuch then?”
He smiled, showing off a mouth full of crooked teeth. “Does that mean big cock? Because hell yeah.”
“It means no balls, you dumb fuck.” I pulled a steak knife from my apron and pressed the tip into the laminate tabletop. “Now, let me go before I make it your new reality.”
His smarmy grin fell flat, and his friend barked a loud laugh.
“Bitch has jokes,” he mumbled, finally releasing my arm
I smiled to myself, but it was short-lived. Not a second later, he caught me around my waist and dragged me down onto his lap.
“Hey!” I shouted, struggling against him.
A deep, raspy voice came from behind us. “Let the lady—”
He didn’t have a chance to finish before I slammed my elbow into the douchebag’s nose.
“Oh fuck!” the asshole yelled.
“Don’t you ever touch me,” I seethed, the busy restaurant getting quiet as everyone looked our way.
“Stupid bitch,” he growled, grabbing napkins off the table and trying to stop the blood pouring from his nose.
I snatched the rag from my back pocket and threw it at him. It hit his chest before falling into his lap. “You can call me stupid, but I’m not the bitch here. Clean up after yourself, and then get the fuck out of my restaurant before I call the cops.” I turned on a toe and marched back behind the counter.
When I heard the last of his curses and the bell on the door noting his departure, I allowed my shoulders to slouch forward. Jesus, I had to get a ne
w job. My bills were not going to pay themselves. I’d lived in my car for a few weeks after my dad had passed away the year before, and there was no way I was going back to that crap. But even the pits of Hell had to be better than this place.
I was wiping the counter down when a man’s large frame filled my peripheral vision. Out of habit, I didn’t even look up before setting a napkin and silverware in front of him. “What can I get you?”
“Your number,” he stated confidently.
I internally groaned. Not this bullshit again.
I glanced up, my mouth locked and loaded with an attitude that would probably get me fired, but not a single syllable came out.
Dear heavenly father, he was beautiful.
Wearing a fitted, black suit that cost more than my car and a smile so sexy that I nearly broke a sweat, he was nothing short of perfection. With thick, dark hair and eyes so green that I swear they glowed. I was awestruck.
His smile grew as I gaped at him. “You know, you really made the whole Prince Charming coming to a damsel in distress difficult on me back there.”
“Sorry,” I apologized breathily.
He chuckled. “It’s okay. I really like that you can handle yourself.”
My cheeks heated as his gaze dropped to my mouth.
“So, your number?” he prompted.
“I, uh, don’t have a phone,” I admitted, more than a little embarrassed.
His eyebrows shot up in disbelief, but his smile never wavered. “Okay, then I guess we’ll have to set up our date now.”
“Our date.” I had intended for it to come off as a mocking question, but I’d failed. It had been spoken in total agreement.
“How about this?” he said, pulling a card from his wallet and sliding it across the counter. “Call me when you get off. I’ll meet you up here and then take you out for breakfast.”
I worked at a restaurant and got free food at the end of every shift, but there was no way I was turning down an offer from a man like him—money and power oozed from his gorgeous body.
I was dead on my feet, but as I took his card, our fingers brushed, awakening me with a single touch.
“Okay…” I drawled, asking him for his name.
“Walt.” He paused, smiling salaciously as he grazed his brilliant, white teeth over his bottom lip. “Walter Noir.”
“Sounds like a plan, Walter Noir,” I replied breathily.
That was the moment my world tilted on its axis and everything I thought I knew about myself was thrown off balance.
And, as the days passed, I feared I’d never find solid ground again.
“Mrs. Noir? I need you to stay with us,” a woman’s voice called to me.
My aching body refused to cooperate, and my sluggish brain honed in on one word.
“Clare. Not Noir. Just Clare,” I mumbled lazily, forging through the darkness that had constricted my thoughts.
“Okay, Clare. Stay awake, okay?”
I felt hands under my arms, lifting and jostling me, before I found myself horizontal.
What the fuck happened to me?
My mind scanned the memories, but it felt as though I were searching for a word resting on the tip of my tongue yet still completely out of reach. The thoughts floated through my mind, but I couldn’t grasp any of them.
With one sound, a lifetime of memories crashed down like a tidal wave.
“Mama!”
My entire body came alive.
I bolted upright. “Tessa!” I screamed, slapping the hands of doctors and nurses off as I scrambled toward her voice.
Chaos broke out around me. A police officer appeared, grabbing my wrists to restrain me.
“Mrs. Noir—”
“Tessa!” I rose to my knees and searched over his shoulder, but she was nowhere in sight.
“Get your fucking hands off her.”
I heard the familiar voice just as his strong, muscular back separated me from the officer.
Oh, thank God.
I lurched toward him. “Luke! I need Tessa. Please help me.”
He guided his hand back and patted my leg. “You lay a hand on her again and I’m gonna rip them off your wrists, yeah?” he told the officer.
“Light, calm down. I was just—”
His body angled forward as he growled, “Your only warning. Do. Not. Test. Me.”
Another of her cries assaulted my ears. “Tessa!” I grabbed the back of his shirt. “Luke, please. Where is she?”
He spun to face me, pure wrath filling his strong features. I jerked in surprise. Never had he appeared even remotely menacing at the gym. Sure, he was always big, but he had worn such a kind smile that I couldn’t help but be put at ease.
But, right then, with the hard set of his jaw and murder dancing in his eyes, he looked flat-out terrifying.
“Luke,” I whispered, swaying away.
His face softened and his wide shoulders curled forward as he lifted a hand to cup my jaw.
I dodged it on instinct.
Shaking his head in frustration, he lowered his hand back to his side and turned his gaze to the floor. “She’s safe. She’s with Roman.”
That wasn’t enough. If Walt wanted his daughter back, no one—not even a man like Roman Leblanc—could stand in his way.
Panic spiraled within me. “No. I need her!” I fisted the front of his tight, black T-shirt, pulling him toward me.
His gaze jumped back to mine.
“He…he’s going to come for her. She has to stay with me. Walt…. He…” My voice broke. “He’ll take her. He’ll find us, and he’ll take her. Luke. Please.”
His eyes turned dark—ominous, even—as he held my gaze so deeply that I feared he could see the holes Walt had carved into my soul.
“I’ll go get her,” he replied softly. “But call me Heath. Not Luke.”
I nodded multiple times. I’d have called him Rumpelstiltskin as long as he got me my daughter.
He pointedly looked down at my hands, which were still clutching the front of his shirt. “You gotta let me go, babe.”
But, as much as I wanted Tessa, I was terrified to let go.
I’d been alone in my fight against Walt for so long, I couldn’t bear the thought of going back to that. For seven years, he had bled me dry of my desire to live. I had nothing left to give. The tiniest taste of having someone to share that burden with made me an addict.
“You’re coming back with her?” I asked weakly.
“Yeah, Clare. I’m coming back with her.”
“You…you’ll stay with me?” I pushed in case he had misunderstood the question.
One side of his mouth lifted in a sad smile. “For as long as you want.”
I caught sight of his hand flexing at his side.
“Let go, Clare.”
I wasn’t sure I could. “I’m really scared right now,” I admitted on a whisper.
His body jolted, and he leaned against my fists, his chest pressing into my hands, but he made no further move to touch me.
“I know,” he said. “And that’s okay for you to feel. But I swear I’m not going anywhere. I just gotta get your girl. Settle down and let the doctors take a look at you while I’m gone. And I’ll be back in a flash.”
I swallowed hard, willing my hands and legs to stop shaking, but they refused to obey, and it wasn’t long before the tremor had worked its way up to my chin.
“Hey,” he soothed. “No one’s gonna hurt you ever again,” he assured as if it were an absolute fact.
I didn’t agree. Walt would never quit until he destroyed me.
“Okay,” I whimpered.
He kept his gaze locked with mine. “You’re still holding on.”
“I am,” I confirmed without releasing him.
He nodded in understanding. “Then we’ll wait until you’re ready.”
“I don’t know that I can do this.” I bit my lip as twin rivers dripped from my chin.
“You don’t have to do anything anymore, Cla
re. You already did the impossible. You kept yourself and that little girl alive. I swear on my life, from here on out, I’ll keep you that way. You just let go and trust me to get Tessa. I’ll handle the rest.”
I was genuinely confused when I first felt the warmth. His hands remained at his sides, so I knew he wasn’t touching me. But, as I stared into his promising, blue eyes, a blanket of security wrapped around me.
“Luke,” I breathed, dropping my forehead to his chest.
“Heath,” he corrected.
“Heath,” I repeated.
“Jesus,” he whispered, inching even closer so his front became flush with mine, forcing me to move my head to the crook of his neck. He didn’t embrace me as he stood there, allowing me to desperately cling to his shirt—to hope. However, his promise meant more than anything he could have ever physically offered me.
I didn’t need a man to coddle me.
I needed help.
And, somehow, someway, after what felt like an eternity of living in Satan’s lair, God had finally heard my prayers.
I felt his cheek on the top of my head, but it was the warmth of his skin against my battered face that offered the most comfort. I’d been cold for too long.
A man’s voice interrupted my breakdown. “Can we at least move her out of the hallway?”
Heath’s hand flew out to the side, snapping him to silence. “When she’s ready,” he declared gruffly.
The fact of the matter was I was never going to be ready.
But I needed my baby girl.
And I needed Heath’s blanket of security wrapped around us both.
Drawing in a ragged breath, I released him and settled back on the gurney. When I finally took in my surroundings, there were at least three doctors and nurses waiting against the wall. We were in the middle of a hallway, barely inside the doors of what I imagined was the emergency room, two uniformed police officers hovering nearby and another guarding the door.
The sense of alarm hung heavily in the air around us.
They, too, were waiting for Walt to show up to reclaim his family.
He would.
Absolutely.
I only prayed that Heath’s blanket would be thick enough to hide us all.
“Right back,” he assured.
The Complete Retrieval Duet Page 19