by Shayla Black
long-awaited meal.
“Were you in on the plot to kill Maddox Crawford?”
“Did you set fire to the brownstone yourself? Or did Bond?”
“Did Bond and Crawford fight a deadly brawl over you?”
“Are you in love with Gabriel Bond?”
Her panic ratcheted up, threatening to overwhelm her. She couldn’t breathe or think with all of them in her face, hollering personal questions at a rudely impatient clip, as if the public had a right to know about her sex life and her feelings.
The tabloid journalists continued to hover. More cameras flashed in her face, their lights blinding her. Once more, Everly tried to backpedal, but the horde had closed ranks, creating an even tighter cage around her. She felt like a trapped animal. She couldn’t breathe.
Suddenly, strong arms encircled and lifted her.
“Get back or I’ll have the cops arrest all of you,” a deep voice shouted behind her. Dax.
He’d come out of nowhere, but Everly sagged against him in relief. She could handle herself in a one-on-one fight, but this was a mob. She was willing to do almost anything to escape this terrible harassment. She’d believed she would be safe here, but apparently that was another lie Gabriel Bond had told her to keep her compliant.
“Are you having an affair with Ms. Parker, too, Spencer?”
“Back off,” Dax roared, throwing a few elbows.
Finally, the vultures moved, parting reluctantly for his powerful body and insistent shoves. The doorman held the portal wide, and Dax hauled her into the dark lobby seconds later. As soon as the doorman pulled the opening closed, the overwhelming buzz of the reporters’ shouts receded.
Dax spun her around and studied her upturned face with a frown. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”
Gathering herself, Everly straightened her hopelessly wrinkled skirt with shaking hands and told herself to use her head for once. She still faced the same problems she’d had before blindly walking into that mob. Dax might have been nice earlier, but he was Gabriel’s friend. He would always side with his pal. For all she knew, he’d helped put together the report on her.
“Leaving,” she answered finally, satisfied with the confident note in her voice. “You can’t keep me here against my will.”
Dax sent her a long sigh. “What the hell did Gabe do now?”
“Everly!”
She turned at the sound of Gabriel barking at her across the lobby. In that moment, she hated him with every cell in her body, and she still couldn’t help but think he was the most gorgeous man she’d ever known. When he stalked her way, her heart ached all over again.
She decided to talk to Dax. He looked like he would be infinitely more reasonable. Even though he would side with Gabriel, he wouldn’t break the law to do so. She hoped.
“I want to leave here.”
Gabriel huddled in beside her. The instinct to move away pressed down on her. She refused to give him the satisfaction. Instead, she focused on Dax. “I want nothing to do with that man. If I can get out of this building, I already have a ride out of the city.”
It was a little bit of a lie, but she didn’t care. Gabriel had apparently told her many. What did her one hurt? She could easily take a bus if Scott couldn’t drive her that far. She would head to her aunt’s house in Connecticut. Let the press try to find her in the ’burbs. She wouldn’t leave the house. In fact, she could hide for weeks, maybe months. Her widowed aunt would be thankful for the company. Then Everly would move somewhere else. The West Coast sounded good.
“What did you do to make her run?” Dax demanded, sounding pissed off. His eyes went to the folder in her hand and he cursed. “I told you that was a mistake. Why the hell does she have that report?”
“Connor left it on the dining room table and then she overheard a conversation I had with Sara,” Gabriel began. “My sister was upset, so I told her what she wanted to hear. She’s already come close to losing the baby.”
So Gabriel meant to play it that way? Really? She wasn’t buying a word. Sometimes the best way to win an argument was not to engage. If she meant so little to him, then she needed to treat him similarly. People only fought for something if they cared, and Everly wouldn’t allow Gabriel to think she did.
“I want to leave. If you don’t allow me to do so, then I’ll call the police and explain that you’re holding me against my will.”
Dax gestured toward the door. “There’s the exit. Good luck.”
“Everly, you can’t go out there. They’ll tear you apart. Come upstairs with me, baby. Please give me a chance to explain. What you heard wasn’t the truth. I was trying to keep Sara calm. She’s in a bad place emotionally. And I can explain that report, too. Please come with me.”
She turned away and considered the door. She’d been shocked and overwhelmed when she’d first stepped out there. Maybe she could handle it now that she knew what to expect.
“I won’t save you this time,” Dax explained. “If you get stuck, you’ll have to get yourself out.”
So she knew where he stood. “That’s very gentlemanly of you.”
“I’m not a gentleman when people I care about are getting hurt. You aren’t thinking straight.” Dax shot Gabriel a dark glare. “Neither one of you is.”
The elevator doors swooshed opened. Roman and Connor stepped out.
Roman heaved a big sigh as he spotted them. “Thank fuck you caught her before she darted outside.”
Dax shook his head. “Nope. I was too late to prevent that. I was getting a cup of coffee—that’s now cold, I’m sure—because I thought my responsibility was simply to keep people out. No one mentioned that we’d have to keep them in, too.”
Connor frowned at her. “What were you thinking? Have you forgotten that barely twelve hours ago someone tried to kill you?”
She would never forget last night’s terror. She would likely go to her grave remembering her relief at taking her first smoke-free breath, and how good it had felt afterward to sleep in Gabriel’s arms. Too bad that amazing feeling would always be entwined with this morning’s humiliation. “Somehow I think I’ll be safer the farther I get from Mr. Bond. This is about him. Not me.”
“I disagree, Ms. Parker. And this is a conversation better conducted in the penthouse. So, if you’ll come with us . . .” Roman gestured to the elevator.
She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere except away from here and Mr. Bond. If you won’t help me, I’ll take my chances with the reporters.”
She turned away from them all. The last thing she wanted to endure was a lecture from these four men. They didn’t have anything close to her best interests at heart.
Someone caught her elbow. Everly glanced over her shoulder to see Gabriel with his hand on her and determination stamped across his face as he started to haul her back.
She had to stop treating him like her boyfriend. It was long past time to shut all the girly love shit down.
“Get your hand off me.” She forced every word out between clenched teeth.
“You can’t go out there. It’s dangerous,” he insisted.
“Last warning. Let go.”
“Everly, listen to me, baby . . .”
No, she was done listening. Instead, she plowed a fist right to his gut. Her street-smart dad had taught her how to defend herself. The time to be her father’s daughter again instead of Gabriel Bond’s stupid sex toy had definitely come.
Gabriel groaned and staggered back, clutching his stomach.
“Touch me again, and I’ll make it hurt worse,” she threatened.
Dax chuckled, looking almost impressed. “That must have stung, buddy. She’s had training.”
“Don’t let her leave,” Gabriel eked out as he hunched over.
“If Dax tries to stop me, I’ll give him the same treatment,” Everly shot back, then sent Spencer a warning glance.
Dax frowned. “Come on, Parker. Be reasonable.”
Roman held a hand ou
t as though placating the lion he found in his midst. “Let’s talk this out. There are things you don’t know, Everly. You really are in danger.”
“As your friend there so recently found out, I can handle myself.” Besides throwing a mean right hook, she had a permit to carry concealed. She hadn’t carried since Maddox’s funeral, but as soon as she got out of here, she would grab her Beretta and defend herself if necessary.
“Come upstairs and listen to what Gabe has to say. If you still want to leave after hearing him out, I’ll escort you out of the building undetected and get you where you need to go,” Roman vowed.
“She can’t leave,” Gabriel argued, still clutching his sore stomach.
They were giving her a choice, but she couldn’t allow Gabriel another chance to deceive her. Roman and Connor both lied for a living. Dax maybe not as much, but to navigate military politics, he’d probably told a fib or two. And Gabriel . . . Don’t get her started. The whole lot of them were excellent at getting exactly what they wanted. She was too straightforward to play this game. She said exactly what she meant. There was no way she could play games with these men and expect to come out on top.
“I’ll take my chances alone.” She turned to leave.
At some point, Connor had worked his way behind her and now blocked the exit.
“Get out of my way.” She was done being intimidated. And honestly, Connor was leaner than Gabriel. If she could incapacitate him, she doubted Connor would be any harder to take down.
“Connor, don’t hurt her.” Gabriel held up a hand, his face and voice projecting calm, as if he placated a wild animal.
Connor’s face was perfectly bland. “So you want me to let her go?”
She really didn’t like the look on his face. Instinct told her to take a step back, but she had already proven that she had terrible instincts. “Get out of my way. I’m not staying here. If you want to detain me, you’ll have a fight.”
His smile wasn’t pretty. “It won’t be much of a fight.”
A prickle of fear snaked up her spine.
“My father was a cop. He taught me how to defend myself.” Adrenaline pumped through her system. She had to stay confident. After all, she sparred regularly with the Crawford building’s guards. They’d learned very quickly that if they went easy on her, she handed them their asses. After she’d taken out a couple of the big ones, they’d treated her like an equal.
“He didn’t teach you how to fight me.”
“Connor, buddy. Be gentle.” Gabriel sounded downright worried.
She was done playing. Hell, she was done altogether. Most men just talked a good game, and she was no longer in the mood to chat.
Everly pivoted to walk around Connor. When he reached for her arm, she would twist it out of his grasp, then she’d either go for his solar plexus or aim a little lower and make him wish he hadn’t been born a man.
Unfortunately, Connor didn’t reach for her arm. Before she could even take another breath, he hooked his arm around her neck and braced his free hand against her temple. She tried to figure out what he was doing, but that didn’t give her a spare second to fight.
“I think you need a time out,” Connor rumbled. “Nighty-night.”
Damn it. He meant to perform a sleeper choke hold. Everly squirmed and fought, but he was too strong, holding her immobile as he pressed on her jugular, stopping the flow of blood to her brain. Her vision blurred. The folder slid from her hand, all her dirty secrets on the floor for everyone to see.
“Let her go!” Gabriel dashed in front of her, concern swimming all over his face.
“She’s all yours, buddy.”
Gabriel caught her in his strong, secure arms. Then the world blinked out.
• • •
You nearly fucking killed her. You didn’t have to do that,” Gabe gritted out as he settled Everly onto the sofa.
She looked so pale as she lay there unmoving. Jesus, maybe he should call a doctor. Then kill his friend.
“She’s fine.” Connor waved him off. “Do you know how often I use that move? I haven’t killed anyone yet.”
“Yes, you’re an expert because the analysis you do is so deadly,” Gabe shot back. He was tired of Connor pretending he sat behind a desk all day.
Connor shrugged, obviously unwilling to explain further. “Danger is everywhere these days. And she really was going to walk out. Do you know what the press would have done with her? They could help her fuck you seven ways from Sunday if she chose to play the woman scorned. All she’d need is one national interview where she implies that you killed Mad in a jealous fit, and you’d find yourself indicted by a grand jury and being held without bail.”
“Connor is right. He had to stop her,” Roman seconded.
Dax grinned down at him. “Well, I’m glad Connor was there because after what she did to you, Gabe, I think I’ll avoid pissing her off. That was one mean move she pulled. You’re lucky she didn’t try to take your balls.”
“The day is still young,” Gabe replied with mock enthusiasm.
But once the silence fell, a thousand thoughts crowded his head. If Connor hadn’t stopped her, she would have gone. Would she have ever given him a chance to explain? Had he really touched her for the last time? Everything inside him rebelled at that thought. He’d never been denied much in his life, especially a woman. Gabe hated to think that his luck had run out when it finally counted.
Swallowing, he knelt beside her and brushed a lock of reddish-blond hair from her face. Despite her pert nose and stubborn chin, she looked so fragile. Gabe knew that appearances could be deceiving. Her anger certainly hadn’t been a delicate thing.
“How long until she’s conscious?” he asked Connor.
“She’ll be awake and fighting you in a couple of minutes. Be prepared.”
Roman paced, raking a hand through his hair. “That doesn’t give us much time to decide our next move. How the hell are we going to keep her here?”
“Lock her up.” Connor pointed to the floor above them. “The third bedroom is small. The window is sealed shut so she can’t do anything stupid. There’s one way in and one way out, and it happens to lock solely from the outside.”
Gabe stared at him. “Do I even want to know why?”
“No. You do not.”
Dax shook his head. “We can’t lock her up.”
“Sure I can,” Connor replied.
“We are not going to put her into some sort of prison.” Gabe wouldn’t give Everly another reason to hate him. “I’ll talk to her when she wakes up, make her see reason. She has to understand that I requested that report before I knew who she was. And what I said to Sara upset Everly, but she’ll calm down once I explain my logic.”
Everly’s eyes fluttered open. “Wha . . . what happened?”
Maybe whatever Connor had done to her had induced short-term memory loss. Gabe sat on the edge of the sofa beside her and cupped her cheek. “Hey, baby. How are you feeling?”
She sat up and shoved his hand away, then surged to her feet. He moved in to balance her in case she hadn’t quite recovered. She let him hold her arms in a steadying grip for a moment, but the minute she seemed stable, she jerked away.
“Everly, please let me help you.”
She shook her head, her strawberry waves brushing her shoulders decisively. “You’ve ‘helped’ me enough, Bond. Now I’m feeling like a walking, talking bitch on wheels. I think the police would be interested to know that your friend almost killed me.”
Gabe winced. Obviously, the short-term amnesia had been wishful thinking. She remembered everything.
“Why doesn’t anyone have faith in me?” Connor asked no one in particular.
“I have faith that you’re an asshole,” Everly muttered. She strode to the other side of the room with a pissed-off glare that nearly dropped him.
“How’s your head? Your vision?” Gabe asked, easing closer. “Do you need a doctor?”
She held up a hand to stop him.
“Don’t pretend you give a shit. I read enough of that report to know you don’t. Now someone said something about a back way out of this place. A friend is