by Kate Stewart
“I don’t get what it is about you two.”
“I don’t know what you mean, and frankly, I don’t care.”
“Oh, you care. You want to know why he’s helping you just as much as I do.”
“You should ask him then. I’m not the one with the secrets.”
“Angel keeps secrets to protect the ones he loves. What’s your excuse?”
I didn’t answer.
I was the one people kept secrets from, never the keeper. Lucas wanted an explanation that he wasn’t owed. That was his problem. Not mine.
Z came back with pizza that smelled and tasted just right for my empty stomach. I ate silently while Lucas and Z placed bets and argued heatedly about a football game playing on TV. After I was full, I fed Caylen and cleaned him up. I wanted to go outside for fresh air, but knew it would be with company or not at all, so I passed and settled for taking a long, hot shower. It was the only alone time I was going to get.
I was alarmed when the shower curtain ripped back as I was shampooing my hair. Z then stepped inside wearing only a smile.
“What are you doing?” I crossed my arms tight to cover my breasts and backed away from him. The shower was tiny, leaving only a small space between our bodies, and leaving me under the spray.
“Wanted to make sure you weren’t calling for help.” He lacked the menace his brothers’ wielded ruthlessly, but I had the gut feeling he was just as threatening and dangerous.
“In the shower?” I resisted the urge to knee him in the balls.
He shrugged powerful shoulders and reached for my soap. I watched him pop the top and take a sniff before waggling his eyebrows and squirting some in his palms. He then ran soapy hands over his body, but suddenly, stopped. His mocking gaze was trained on my arms still covering my breasts. “Are you shy, princess?”
“A little bit,” I replied sarcastically.
“I’ve seen you… and felt you.” His eyes trailed over my body slowly. “You have nothing to be shy about.”
“That may be, but privacy is well appreciated.”
He didn’t respond, and I hated myself when my eyes dipped to his hard abs as he ran my peach-scented soap over them. The light scars made him look enticingly rugged. “I can pose if you like.”
My gaze moved away to study the dingy shower curtain. “That won’t be necessary.” I turned my back on him to finish my shower as fast as I could. I could feel his eyes on me as I finished washing my hair and he continued defiling my soap.
“You didn’t have to run,” he blurted as I started running my sponge over my body.
“Yes. I did.”
“The senator is powerful and relentless, and so is Angel. You can’t run forever.”
I forgot modesty when anger forced me to turn and face him. “Angel was never going to let me go after he kills the senator.” Z glanced away, so I turned and finished my shower. I quickly wrapped my body in a towel and practically ran from the bathroom, but my escape was thwarted when I bumped into a very hard and hairy chest.
“Whoa.” Lucas’s hands closed around my bare arms. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“I was just going to check on Caylen.”
He looked back at my son blowing spit bubbles and babbling happily at the dirty, cracked ceiling. When he faced me again, his frown was deeper than I’d ever seen. “I’d never do anything to hurt him.”
“It’s not that,” I rushed to assure him. His face softened as he released me.
“Sorry,” he mumbled before stepping around me and closing himself in the bathroom with Z. I chose not to fixate on them closed in the tiny bathroom together and hurriedly dressed while I had the privacy. Z emerged minutes later with his feet and chest bare and his signature black jeans riding low on his waist. He was scrubbing a white towel through his hair as he moved around the room. I hummed to fill the tense silence while rocking Caylen to sleep. When his eyes finally drifted shut, I put him down for the night.
Through the thin wall separating the room from the bathroom, I heard the shower shut off and listened as Lucas moved around. He came out moments later wearing less than Z had. The white fluffy towel was wrapped around his waist as hot shower water dripped from every tanned inch of him.
“You should get some sleep,” he ordered when he found me sitting cross-legged on the bed.
“Afraid I’ll run away?” I pretended not to notice the way the water glistened on his tan skin. I was pretty sure he had a thing for my best friend, and I was definitely sure she was in love with him.
“We won’t be here past dawn.”
I slipped under the covers and hoped there weren’t any bed bugs or questionable stains. “Where are we going?”
He chuckled softly and shook his head.
“I can’t sleep without knowing,” I challenged.
His smirk made me realize my mistake a second before his hand moved. “Suit yourself,” he grinned and unhooked his towel. I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut. I could hear his chuckle followed by the sound of his towel hitting the floor.
Moments later, I drifted off.
Chapter 11
MIAN
I WAS FORCED awake in the middle of night, covered in a cold sweat and trembling from the terror that had followed me into my sleep and stole my dreams. It didn’t help when I realized I wasn’t in bed alone. “Why are you in bed with me?”
“You didn’t expect me to cuddle with Z, did you?”
“I don’t care who you cuddle with as long as it’s not me.” I huffed and sat up. I was ready to kick him off the bed when he gripped the front of my shirt and tugged me down onto his chest.
“What are you doing?” I struggled to free myself after he wrapped his arms around me and buried his nose in my hair.
“Making up.”
“I don’t want to make up. I want you—all of you—to leave me alone.”
“Be a good girl, or you’ll wake the baby again.”
Suddenly, it dawned on me that we were molded together in the middle of the bed and my baby was nowhere in sight. I drove the back of my head into his chest, but it didn’t free me. His pain-filled groan was muffled by my wild bed hair. “Where is he?”
“I put him in bed with Z,” he growled after untangling his face from my hair.
“What if he rolls over because he doesn’t know he’s there? He’ll crush him!” I hissed. The blanket slipped from our bodies and off the bed as we struggled. I was forced to stop fighting him when I ran out of breath.
He, on the other hand, had no trouble breathing as he said, “He’s fine. Z’s a sound sleeper.”
“Lucas,” I said slowly to allow patience to sink in. “Get out of my bed and give me my son.”
“I heard him crying and found you thrashing in your sleep,” he replied. He allowed me to turn in his arms after I relaxed. I could only see the silver of his eyes in the dark as he gazed back.
“Did I hurt him?” Worry was etched in every syllable. My fingers dug into his bare shoulders, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“He’s fine,” he repeated. “He hung out with his favorite uncle for a little while until he went back to sleep.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t hear him cry.” My biggest fear had finally been realized.
I wasn’t the mother Caylen deserved.
“You were doing quite a bit of crying yourself, girl. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” He pressed me tighter against him, and then I felt his lips brush my forehead. Hours ago, we were at each other’s throats, and now I clung to him while he kept me safe from the demons that chased me from my sleep.
After a while, Lucas rolled to his back, and my head fell comfortably on his chest. I listened to his heartbeat in the dark, afraid to go to sleep and face once again what could very soon become my reality.
“It was just a dream.” I was startled by his whisper, thinking he had fallen asleep.
“It felt real to me,” I whispered back. Suddenly, he rolled us over until he was leanin
g over me.
“There is more than one life he’ll have to take before he can get to you, girl.”
I wasn’t a girl who swooned. Especially over words whispered by a man whose feelings were tangled with my best friend’s, but he made it impossible not to.
“I’m not asking you to die for me.”
His smile was leisurely, and he no longer appeared to be the brooding man I came to be wary of. “You don’t have to.”
“You wouldn’t be doing it for me. You’d be doing it for Angel, and I’d still have to live with it.”
“Well, then, I guess I better not die.” He fell on his back again. “But I’ll still do whatever is needed to protect you.” He then ordered me to sleep.
I HAD AWAKENED once more in the early hours of the morning by a different nightmare.
I was asleep in my bed, safe in the home I shared with my parents when I was awakened by Angel holding in the rotting flesh of his hand the bloody knife I used to kill him.
Z had been the one to wake me with tender kisses on my lips as he pulled me gently from my nightmare.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked.
“No.”
We hadn’t shared pillow talk like I had with Lucas, but he’d held me until Caylen had woken up with a hungry cry. Lucas was nowhere to be found as I fed and changed Caylen, and I found out why when he came through the door carrying breakfast and coffee.
Lucas handed me the largest cup after he set the food down. “Figured you might need a kick after last night.”
My attention slid to Z sprawled in the room’s only chair. He had been busy taking large bites of the burrito Lucas had handed him. When he noticed my worried looked, he mumbled around a mouth full of food, “Heard the entire thing, princess.”
I groaned and wondered if these two had any sense of decorum.
“You shouldn’t hide from us. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t care.”
My eyebrow quirked as I regarded them. “You mean your loyalty to Angel isn’t the reason you hunted and kidnapped me?”
“We’ve never had a little sister,” Lucas answered with a shrug and a mouth full. They had the worst table manners.
“Well, then, word of advice, big brothers don’t touch their little sisters the way you two have touched me.”
I happily watched them choke on their food as I sipped my hot coffee slowly. I rolled my eyes at their wide grins once their throats cleared. Perverts.
An hour later, we were checked out and on the road. I wasn’t hysterical this time, but I did grow nervous when Z steered Joey’s bullet-riddled car north.
“Where are we headed?” I tried to keep the tremble from my voice and failed.
“Indianapolis.”
“But the city’s mainstream. He’ll find me.” I was feeling the beginnings of a panic attack.
“Not if you know how to blend in.”
I felt frustration bubbling to the surface. Instead of placing more distance between Chicago and me, they were dragging me closer to the senator’s reach. I needed a way out of their clutches before they got me killed. “Angel’s got bigger problems than me, don’t you think? Victor is dead, but the book is still missing. Why is he so concerned with the senator when his precious legacy is still out there?”
“Angel decides what his priorities are, princess.”
“Then why isn’t he here?”
“He’s keeping an eye on the senator while we keep you hidden.”
“Why doesn’t he just kill him?”
“The senator’s murder would raise too many questions. The Knights have thrived as long as they have because they don’t believe in sloppy work.”
“How can I protect my son if the senator lives? You said it yourself—I can’t run forever.”
“He’s going to die, princess. But it won’t be murder.”
My head spun. I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t know what any of this meant. How could Angel kill the senator without killing him?
I stroked my sleeping baby’s cheek as tears fell. “I’m sorry I got you into this,” I whispered to him.
I could feel eyes on me and looked up to find Z watching me. “You’re a great mother, princess. If my mother had half the instinct you do, I wouldn’t be screwed up.”
I hesitated to enter dangerous territory but found myself more curious than afraid. “Tell me about her, Zachariah.”
His jaw flexed. “She was a crack whore. There’s nothing to tell.” I was surprised at the venom in Z’s tone.
“Was she always on drugs?”
“No.”
“What about your father? Couldn’t he have helped her?”
His laugh was dry. “He’s the one who gave her the drugs, princess.”
“He was a dealer?”
He shook his head, and when he turned his head to face me, his green eyes were nearly blackened with pain. “He was her pimp. He used drugs to control her. When she was strung out, he got bored and ditched her.”
And you.
I couldn’t help but feel pity for the man with an easy smile and anger for his mother who couldn’t fight hard enough to keep him protected.
“No one’s called me Zachariah since her.”
My stomach ached at the thought of causing him pain. “I’m sorry. Does it hurt?”
“No.” He turned to stare out the windshield. I wanted to ask if she was dead, but his wall was already up again, so I turned to Lucas.
“What about you, Lucas?”
“What about me?”
“Where are your parents?”
He snorted. “My dad already had a family, so he had no use for me, and my mom didn’t either when she realized I wasn’t enough to break up a happy home.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“Nine years ago.”
I frowned, not expecting the answer to have been so long ago. He was only eighteen the last time he’d seen his father.
“What happened?”
“He hired Art to kill my mother.”
I couldn’t catch my gasp of surprise before it slipped. “Why would he—”
“He paid her to make us go away. After she had collected, she ran and left me behind. I was found on the streets, placed in foster care, and eventually, a group home after I caused too many problems. When the money was gone, she wanted more, but my father refused, so she threatened to expose their affair to the rich heiress he married unless he paid to keep her quiet.”
“So Art killed your father?” How much hate could Lucas hold for his father to work for the man who killed him?
My question was forgotten when Lucas’s ringing phone interrupted. “Yeah,” he answered gruffly as he steered with one hand. “Fuck!” he suddenly exploded. I had trouble following the questions Lucas shot at the caller rapidly. He handed the phone to Z and pressed on the gas. Z listened for a few seconds before cursing and pulling out his own phone and tapping quickly.
“Not a glitch. The tracking’s stopped. He must have found it.”
I felt my heart race as I tried to piece together what was happening. Z hung up and promptly smashed his fist into the dashboard. He then turned his green glower on Lucas and said three words that made my heart drop into my turning stomach.
“We’re going back.”
I wanted to scream at them not to take us back. Instead, my eyes shut tight as Lucas accelerated and drove us back to Attica.
Chapter 12
ANGEL
MY PLAN TO keep Mian and Caylen safe and far away from Chicago took a nosedive when the senator wormed his way from under my thumb and disappeared off the grid. The unsettling feeling in my gut wouldn’t ease long enough for me to predict his next move. Calling Z only confirmed what I already knew, so I ordered them back to Attica. Without eyes on the senator, Mian was more vulnerable than ever.
Bringing her back to Chicago would draw him out. Using them as bait turned my stomach even more than the senator’s disappearing act, but it was my only opti
on. They were what he wanted.
It would be hours before they arrived, so I used the time to tighten security and figure out a plan. I had guards placed on almost every inch of the Knight estate. No one was getting in or out without my say.
I was barking orders at my men when my phone rang. The private number made me hesitant to answer, but instinct drove me to do just that.
“Knight,” I growled into the phone.
“Mr. Knight, I’m glad to know you’re doing well. I tried to stop by the hospital and wish you well, but the reception was a bit… tense.” The senator chuckled as if we were old friends sharing a joke.
“That’s disappointing to hear. Why don’t you stop by now? I promise this time the reception will be a bloody one.”
His tone was less pleasant when he spoke this time. “Your father was a business man and one I respected. He knew how to separate business from pleasure.”
“I guess this apple fell too far from the tree. What can I do for you?”
“I want to make a deal.”
“I’m not interested.”
“You should really hear me out.”
“My time is precious, Senator. You have ten seconds.”
“I only need five. You want your book back. I want the girl and her kid. I’ll call you back for your decision.” The line died a quick death unlike the senator would when I finally caught him.
I calmly pocketed my phone and lit a blunt to keep me company as I waited out the final hours until the girl who complicated life arrived.
MIAN AND THE baby were fast asleep when they arrived after night fell. I had Lucas and Z wait while I put them both to bed myself. She didn’t stir as I put her in my bed. I then laid Caylen in the crib I had brought from my father’s home. The crib was placed by her side of the bed so the moment she woke she’d know he was safe.
I memorized the peaceful set of her face because when she awoke, we’d be at war again. I lied to her, and she claimed my life for the betrayal. She would never agree to trust me without answers and possibly never trust me again when she had them. With a heavy feeling in my chest, I left them to sleep in peace, but I couldn’t walk away before locking them inside. I told myself it was to keep them safe, but I knew it was to keep her from leaving. Mian was more resourceful than I would have given her credit for three years ago. She wasn’t any easier to cage than she was to set free.