by Cynthia Eden
How long had they been at this? “It’s not like I can learn everything right now.”
“No, you can’t. You and I are gonna start daily lessons. Even after this case is done, we’re gonna stay at it.”
“Why?” She was certainly all for learning as much as she could, but Odin seemed particularly obsessed.
“Because you matter.” He didn’t blink. “Because I need to know that you are safe, always.”
“I like to know the same thing about you,” Maisey admitted. Did he understand that?
“I can defend myself.”
Obviously. “It’s one thing if it’s hand-to-hand, but what if it’s a gun or a knife? You’re not bulletproof.” She thought of the scars on him, and a lump rose into her throat. Odin had been hurt badly in the past.
What if…what if she’d never met him? What if he’d died on some battlefield and their paths had never crossed?
“I’m always armed.”
He was? “Since when?”
His lips curled. “Always, baby. I have a knife in my boot right now. I’ve got a concealed carry license, so I keep my gun at the ready.”
“I didn’t notice…”
“Because I didn’t want you to. Because I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
A light sweat covered her body. Not so for Odin. The man hadn’t even broken a sweat as they tangled together. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Good.” He rolled his shoulders. Exhaled.
“I should have a weapon.” Something more than her mace.
“If the perp takes the weapon away from you, you just went from bad to worse.”
Yes, she got that, and she also got that she was getting his down and dirty self-defense guide because he was afraid. It was almost sweet. No, correction, it was sweet. He was insisting that she learn these techniques before they left because he wanted her safe. If she didn’t know better, she’d think that big, fierce Odin was starting to care for her…
I don’t know better…because I hope that he does care. I hope this isn’t just some sort of standard Trouble for Hire package thing that they teach everyone. She bit her lip, then blurted, “Does Trouble for Hire provide these lessons to all clients?”
He’d turned away. Headed toward the counter in the kitchen. “I know War taught Rose. He wanted to make sure she could be as safe as possible.”
Yes, but Rose and War had married so…
He flattened his hands on the counter. “Are we going to talk about it?”
It? “Could you be more specific?” She peered at his broad back.
“Last night.”
Right. That was what she’d thought. He was referring to the sex that had left her in a melted puddle of bliss. “What, exactly, do you want to discuss—about it, I mean?”
He turned and looked at her. “Was it too much?”
She shook her head.
“Do you have regrets?”
Again, Maisey shook her head. Then, “Do you?”
“Only that I didn’t make love to you the first day we met.”
Oh. “I kinda regret that, too.” She offered him a smile. “But better late than never, am I right?”
His gaze fell to her mouth. His expression shifted. Became even more inscrutable.
“Odin?”
He gave a little jerk. “You stay with me. You follow my orders. You don’t go rogue for even a second, got me?”
A light laugh slipped from her. “As if I’m the going-rogue type.”
Now he quirked a brow.
“Fine. I’ll stay with you. Happy?”
“Not yet. But I think I know how I fucking will be.”
***
“All of Whitney’s files and belongings were boxed up and moved down here.” Maisey shoved her key into the lock on the storage room door. The storage room was in the basement of the Humanities building, and being down there again gave her goosebumps. She kept looking nervously over her shoulder, but each time she did, she just saw Odin’s reassuring form behind her. “I’ve actually been through her files at least four times,” Maisey confessed. “It’s not like we’re going to find anything new.” She shoved open the door and hurried unerringly through the towering shelves. “Her sister packed up her house, but I was the one to take care of things here. Her sister didn’t want the items from Whitney’s office on campus, so I secured them.” She rounded the corner.
Came to a quick stop.
Behind her, Odin swore. “Guessing things aren’t supposed to look this way?”
Papers were strown across the floor. Boxes had been overturned. Ripped apart. There was a smashed photo of Whitney in the middle of the wreckage. A photo that had been taken right after she received her Ph.D. Whitney was smiling broadly in the photo even as heavy cracks streaked across the image.
“No. Not supposed to be this way.” Maisey dropped to her knees. She started to reach for the papers.
“What are you doing?” A woman’s voice. Sharp. Angry.
Maisey looked up and saw Heather Blass rushing toward her. Heather was an intern in the psychology department. She’d worked closely with Whitney. Been lost when Whitney vanished. The overhead light glinted off the glasses she wore. Heather’s short, blond hair was cut in a pixie style to frame her delicate face.
“Why did you do this?” Heather staggered to a stop and gaped at the sight before her. “This is Whitney’s!”
Maisey realized the scene appeared bad. How could it not? She was kneeling in the middle of the chaos. “I didn’t—look, I’m not the one who did this!”
“We just arrived,” Odin said from behind Maisey. “Found it this way.”
Behind the lenses of her glasses, Heather’s eyes bulged when she got a good look at him. “Who are you?” she whispered.
Maisey rose. She was gripping the framed photo. “He’s—”
“The boyfriend.” Odin’s arm curled around her shoulders. “I’m Maisey’s boyfriend. After what happened the other day, I’m sticking close to her.”
Heather’s body quivered. “I heard!” Now she scampered toward Maisey, darting through the files and boxes on the floor. Her hands fluttered in the air, as if she’d reach for Maisey, but she stopped herself. “Everyone is talking.” Her voice was an overly loud whisper. “You were almost kidnapped! And the truck was just abandoned and the bad guy got away and no one knows where he is…” A shudder. “My boyfriend is insisting on walking me home at night. And I know the other interns are making sure no one is alone, either. Using the buddy system.”
“Good idea,” Odin said. “Better safe than dead.”
A quick, bobbing nod from Heather. “That’s exactly what I said! Um, actually, no, I think I said better safe than sorry, but I see your point. It’s a good point. Very strong.” She looked back down at the floor. “What is going on?”
Maisey thought it was pretty obvious what was going on. Someone had been looking for something. Searching inside the boxes that belonged to Whitney. With the way everything was thrown and scattered, would they even be able to tell if files were missing? And that was where it seemed the culprit had focused. On Whitney’s case files…
Heather bent down. “I should clean these up—”
“I think we need to call security,” Maisey said.
Heather’s fingers were on top of two files. “Yes. Right. I should get Sandy down here.” She shook her head. “I was here last night. Everything was fine. Nothing was out of place.” She continued to crouch near the scattered papers. “Oh, God, what if…what if he was here, when I was?” She bolted upright. “What if he was hiding in the shadows…” Heather looked over her shoulder. “While I was inside? My boyfriend wasn’t with me. He was outside, and…would he have heard me if I screamed?”
Maisey reached for her hand. Gave it a quick squeeze. Heather had always been the nervous type. Very shy, too. But she was a great intern, at least, according to Whitney, she had been. Thorough. Knowledgeable. “Nothing happened. You’re safe.”
&nb
sp; Heather looked as if she might pass out.
“Why were you down here last night?” Odin wanted to know.
“Because Dr. Prescott asked me to pull some old books for him.”
Clay.
“He didn’t have time, so I came down and grabbed the books for him. Didn’t think it was a big deal.” She swept her stare over the floor. Squeaked. “Seems like a way bigger deal now.” A bracing breath. “I’m going to find Sandy. I’ll tell him what happened and get him down here to help.”
“Excellent idea,” Odin muttered. “You go do that.”
She bolted.
Maisey waited a moment, then sidled closer to Odin. “What are you thinking?”
“That there was something in these files that the perp didn’t want us to see.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too,” Maisey admitted. Damn it. She’d been through those files. What had she missed?
A door slammed. Heather must have left.
Odin assessed the scene. “He scattered the stuff to throw us off. With it so disorganized, we’ll have a hard time figuring out what was taken.”
Yes, they would. Her gaze darted to the left, then to the right. To the towering shelves that surrounded them. Those shelves had been there forever. Or, rather, for as long as the college had been in existence. Some of the thick boxes and storage items were covered with a heavy layer of dust and some of them—
Were weaving?
Yes, yes, the boxes on the top of the closest shelf were weaving because—“Odin!” She shoved him, as hard as she could.
And it was like shoving a brick wall. He didn’t move. The boxes were tumbling down. The whole shelf was tumbling down, and it was too late. The whole thing was falling down on them.
She tried to scream even as Odin’s arms closed around her.
Chapter Fourteen
Maisey’s breath choked out. Another box hit the floor. Another shelf. She heard a terrible groan, like metal screeching, and then the pounding of more boxes. The shattering of glass. The sounds seemed to echo around her. Over and over. And then—
Thuds.
Not her heart. Not boxes falling. But…like feet. Running away?
“Baby…” Odin’s voice. His breath blew lightly over her cheek. “Are you okay?”
No, she was not okay. The shelves had come falling down, and he’d thrown himself on top of her. He’d covered her with his body, and not a single thing had hit her because everything had fallen on him. “Forget me—”
“Fucking never.”
“How are you?”
With a heave, he rose up, and she realized that he’d just dislodged a ton of random crap that had fallen onto him. Books, equipment, half a heavy shelf. “Fine,” Odin snapped.
Fine? He didn’t sound fine. He sounded pissed.
She scrambled to her feet.
“When I catch that bastard, he will pay.” Odin curled his fingers with hers. “Come on.” Then he was kicking his way down the aisle. Shoving whatever the heck was there out of his path as he gave chase.
He’d obviously heard the fleeing footsteps, too. He knew that their prey had been in that storage room with them. The jerk had waited and then shoved those shelves onto them.
Now their attacker was running, but he was still close. We can get him.
Odin threw open the storage room door. Then almost ran straight into Clay. A Clay who had just spun toward them.
“Maisey?” Surprise sharpened Clay’s voice. “What’s going on? What’s—ah!”
Odin grabbed him. Slammed Clay back against the nearby wall. “No more,” Odin snarled.
Maisey glanced down the hallway. Didn’t see anyone else. Wasn’t Jinx supposed to be keeping an eye on Clay? Hadn’t that been his one big assignment?
“Were you in that storage room?” Odin demanded of Clay.
“What? No, no, I was going in there. Had to return some books. But I haven’t been in there yet.” His voice was strained. “Maisey? What is wrong with your friend?”
Maisey saw books scattered on the floor. She realized Clay had dropped them when Odin grabbed him. Old psychology texts.
“Maisey!” Clay was insistent. “Call off the guard dog! Tell him to get his hands off me!”
She eased closer. “Someone just attacked us in the storage room. Shoved shelves down on top of us.” She could see scratches on Odin’s powerful arms.
“It wasn’t me!” An instant denial. “Look, I don’t know what you think is happening here, but I just arrived! I was bringing back some books!”
“I will fucking end you.” Odin’s voice was low and lethal. “Do you think I will put up with this shit? Do you think I am going to let you hurt her? Do you think I will let you touch her?”
The stairwell door burst open. Sandy stumbled out, with Heather hot on his heels.
“Get him off me!” Clay shouted. “He’s crazy!”
“I will show you crazy,” Odin promised grimly. “You hurt Maisey. You hurt my Maisey, and I will show you how crazy I can be. I will rip you apart. There won’t be anything left of you when I’m done. You think you’re so good at making people disappear? I will make you vanish.”
Clay stilled. Then…went wild. He heaved and twisted and punched at Odin. “You don’t scare me! You don’t scare—”
“Just wait, I will.” Odin held Clay with ease. The same ease he’d held Maisey with back at the condo.
But Sandy was fumbling and grabbing for his taser. “You two—break it up!”
Odin leaned in even closer to Clay. “Different when you’re not going up against them, isn’t it? When you don’t have a woman who is smaller and weaker than you are, it’s harder.”
Clay’s face went absolutely white.
Sandy’s fingers were shaking as he lifted the taser. He cast a desperate glance at Maisey.
“Why are they fighting?” A loud shriek from Heather.
Because we think Clay is a killer. And I’m pretty sure Odin is trying to scare a confession from him.
But, again, dammit, where was Jinx?
The shaking in Sandy’s fingers was getting worse. She was afraid he was going to accidentally tase Odin. Carefully, she edged her body between Sandy’s taser and Odin.
“I haven’t hurt anyone!” Clay yelled. The veins in his neck bulged. “If you’re talking about that bullshit story that used to circulate about me and my old girlfriend, you’ve got it all wrong. She left me. I didn’t hurt her! I would never hurt anyone!”
“Then you didn’t just shove those shelves onto me and Maisey?” Odin charged.
“No! But I wish I had shoved something on you—you are insane!”
“Push me more,” Odin dared. “Like I said, you’re not the only one who can make people disappear. You got away with it before, but it ends. You’re ending.”
Clay looked as if he might faint. “He’s threatening to kill me! Get the cops. Help. Help me!”
Maisey grabbed Odin’s arm when he drew back his fist to punch Clay. “Stop.”
His head turned toward her. She’d thought that he’d been deliberately pushing Clay, toying with him, but…
His eyes told her that she’d been wrong.
Odin’s eyes burned with a fury she hadn’t seen before. One that had her breath catching. One that almost made her think she was staring into the eyes of a stranger. “Odin?”
He blinked. Slowly lowered his hand. Let Clay go.
“He’s insane, Maisey,” Clay snapped. “Your boyfriend is out of his head. You need to be smart and get the hell away from him before he hurts you or someone else!”
“Shut up, Clay,” she ordered. Her fingers still pressed to Odin’s arm. His muscles were rock hard beneath her touch. This situation was going from bad to worse, and she wondered what could possibly happen next…
An alarm began to sound. A high, shrieking alarm.
Sandy backed up a step. “That’s the fire alarm.” His eyes widened as he glanced around feverishly. “Everyone, out, now!”
***
Chaos.
Odin was dead certain the chaos was deliberate. Students and faculty flooded out of the Humanities building in a thick crowd. There was no way to keep track of anyone. Anybody could have been in that throng that burst outside.
It was the perfect cover for a killer. The perfect way for him to escape.
“I had eyes on Clay until he went downstairs.” Jinx stood near Odin. “I knew you were down there, so I figured I should just hang back. That you had things covered.”
Odin turned his head to stare at him.
Jinx winced. “You’re looking a little crazy-eyed, my friend.”
“Maisey tried to shove me out of the way.”
“Okay.”
“She noticed that the shelves were falling before I did.” He was speaking between clenched teeth. “Then she tried to shove me.”
“The nerve,” Jinx muttered. “How dare she?”
Did it look as if he was laughing? “It’s not a damn joke.” Odin knew he had bruises all over his back from the stuff that had come raining down on him. He didn’t want to think about what that heavy crash would have done to her delicate body. “The shelves were massive, nearly touching the ceiling. They were stuffed with boxes, equipment, you name it. That stuff could have knocked her out.” Or, if something had slammed into her head…No, do not. Do not go there. But he was seeing red. Blood red. As in…I want Clay’s blood. I want to make that bastard pay. “She shouldn’t be trying to protect me. That’s not happening.”
“Maybe you should tell her that.”
He intended to. Loudly. Clearly.
“By the way, if we were trying to keep a low profile with Clay, I think that ship has sailed. He’s currently glaring at you, and I heard that blonde over there…” He motioned to the woman that Odin now knew was Heather Blass. “She was saying that you’d accused him of making people disappear. Is that true? You just threw that charge at him?”
“I was baiting him.”
“Is that what you were doing?” Jinx didn’t sound convinced. “And did he take the bait? Did he break down and confess his crimes?”
“No.” But there had been something in Clay’s eyes. A flicker, a break that showed emotion. Fear.