by Cynthia Eden
“It was the bastard’s own fault. Your dad was doing his job.”
She nodded. Yes, that was what she thought, too. But… “He went to the library. The only library in town. He knew my mom worked there, you see. The sheriff’s wife. He went there, and he shot her.”
“Fuck. Maisey.”
“His name was Jeremiah Harrison. He’d bought candy from me when I did school fundraisers. And he shot my mother.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“There was a standoff at the library. Biggest thing the town had ever seen. Jeremiah just wouldn’t give up. He would not surrender. He came out shooting. Pop stopped him, but Pop…he didn’t live long after that.” A ragged breath as the pain squeezed her heart. “He wasn’t wearing his vest. He should have been wearing his bulletproof vest, but I think he didn’t care about himself. Not after he knew what had happened to Mom.”
She could feel the tears on her cheeks. She hadn’t told anyone else about her parents. She’d moved away. Started fresh. Tried to leave the pain behind. But Odin wasn’t other people. She needed to tell him this. “I buried them both on the same day, and I never went back to that town.”
His fingers slid over her cheeks. Tenderly wiped away the tears that she knew he couldn’t see. “I want to take your pain away.”
“You do. You have.” That was why she had to finish. So he’d understand. “Pop said certain people fit you, and you know it.” Just say it. “You fit me, Odin. Fit me in a way no one else ever has. I’m scared because I haven’t felt this way before, but the truth is…I think I’m falling in love with you.” Then she held her breath because…
It’s too soon. He won’t feel the same way. I should have just held back. But once she’d started talking…
“Can you forget what I said?” Maisey blurted into the silence. “Sometimes, I overshare. That was obviously a major overshare. You don’t need to feel that you have to say anything back to me. I mean, you can just be like, ‘That’s nice’ and sort of leave it at that. There is no pressure. I don’t expect anything.”
His hand slid under her chin. “You should.”
“I should—what?”
“You should expect the whole damn world. And that’s what I want to give you.”
What was he saying?
“I don’t know what I feel, Maisey. I just know that I feel more for you than I ever have with anyone else. I like it when you smile. Sometimes, I think I’d do just about anything to see your dimples wink at me.”
He would?
His lips brushed over hers. He’d found her mouth—unerringly—in the dark.
“I like it when you’re excited about something that you’re telling me and your eyes get extra golden as they light up. You’ve got the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen.”
That was so sweet.
He gets grumbly when I tell him that he’s sweet.
“I like the way your body responds to mine. Like you were made for me. I was made for you.”
“I’m rather fond of your body, too,” she confessed.
“I don’t feel too big or rough when I’m around you. Everything feels just right.” Another kiss. “Like we fit.”
She blinked quickly so that more tears wouldn’t fall.
“I don’t know much about love. Didn’t have those teen romances in school. Most girls steered clear of me. Then it was battle after battle. No time for anything lasting.” His words were careful. “I would like to try something lasting, with you.”
Could he feel the frantic pounding of her heart?
“I want to try everything with you.” Odin’s voice seemed to fill the darkness around her.
“I would like that very much.” She was the one to arch up toward him. To find his lips in the dark this time. Happiness was blooming inside of her. When she’d walked into Trouble for Hire, she’d never expected her life to change this much. Now, she couldn’t imagine her life without Odin.
She was in his arms. Safe. Warm. And he wasn’t saying he loved her. She truly hadn’t expected the words back. But what he was saying sure sounded good to her. It sounded like a beautiful start.
***
A phone was ringing. The quick peal of sound yanked Maisey from sleep. She jerked upright, pulling from Odin’s arms.
“Yours,” Odin rumbled.
Hers. Her phone. Ringing on the nightstand. She squinted at the glowing screen of her clock. Two a.m. A late-night call again. She knew it had to be the jerk they were after.
“Keep him talking,” Odin ordered as he sat up beside her. “We’ll get the trace.” He jumped from the bed. Grabbed his own phone and sent out a quick text to someone.
Maisey reached for her phone. Swiped her fingers over the screen as she took the call and turned on the speaker. She wanted Odin to hear every word. “Hello?”
“Help me…” Whitney’s voice.
A pang shot through Maisey. All sleepiness had vanished. Her mind was ice-cold and awake.
“Come…help—”
“Stop it,” Maisey ordered bluntly as she shoved back hair that had tumbled over her eye. “I know this isn’t Whitney. You’re using a recording, and you’re jerking me around. Either talk to me for real or I end this call.”
Silence.
She stared fearfully at Odin’s shadowy form. Had she just screwed up? Would the caller hang up on her?
“You think you’re clever.” Not Whitney any longer. But still, not the caller’s real voice. Distorted. Robotic. “Solving the big mystery. Hunting the killer.”
She sucked in a breath that just seemed to chill her lungs. “What do you want from me?” Her hand fisted the sheets and pulled them against her chest.
“I wanted you to stop playing Nancy Drew. But you didn’t. I tried to warn you off, but you just couldn’t take a freaking hint.”
Her heart hammered frantically in her chest. “What did you do to Whitney?”
“She’s gone. She won’t be coming back.”
Dead. Whitney is dead. That was what Maisey had feared all along.
“Soon, you’ll be gone, too, and you won’t be coming back.”
“I’m not scared of you,” she said.
“Yes, you are.”
Her fingers were shaking as she clutched the covers.
“You think you can hide behind the boyfriend, don’t you?” A taunt from that robotic voice. “But you can’t hide behind a dead man.”
Her fingers stopped shaking. Her whole body stiffened. “Don’t you dare touch him.”
Laughter.
“Don’t!” Maisey snapped.
But he hung up on her.
“Got him,” Odin said with satisfaction.
Her head whipped up. Maisey realized she’d been glaring at the phone. He threatened Odin.
Odin had turned on the lamp. His phone was pressed to his ear, and he was listening to someone. One of his contacts? The cops? She didn’t know.
“You’re kidding me,” he snarled. His eyes turned to slits. “Hell, yes, I know the location. I’ll be right there.” He dropped the phone.
“Where?” Maisey leapt from the bed. Hauled the sheet with her.
“Armageddon.”
She had no clue what he meant. Frantic, she shook her head.
“That’s the name of War’s bar. The bar that is located right beneath the Trouble for Hire office. The caller is either at the bar or at our PI office.”
She dropped the sheet and ran for her closet. “If he’s there, then so are we,” she called out as she hauled on clothing as fast as she could. “We should call the cops. Get them to close in.”
A phone was ringing again. Maisey shoved her head out of the closet just in time to see Odin take the call.
“What is it, Jinx?” His words were snapped out. “Shit. Now? Are you serious? Yes, we’re coming. Hell, yes, you need to keep Clay alive. Keep Ramsey off him.” He shoved down the phone and hauled on his own clothes. In seconds, he was racing for the door.
Maisey ran wit
h him. She grabbed his arm. “Stop! Tell me what’s happening.” Though she had a scary feeling she knew.
“Ramsey just arrived. He’s storming for Clay’s door. If we don’t stop him—well, we both know what he’ll do.”
“But it’s not Clay.” Not if Clay was next door. Not if the call had come from the bar or the PI office. “It’s not him.” He couldn’t be in two places at once.
“We need to make sure Ramsey realizes that. Before he does something he can’t take back.”
Something like…killing Clay Prescott.
Chapter Eighteen
“Get the fuck out of my way!” Ramsey bellowed.
Jinx didn’t move. Odin knew he’d always been good at standing his ground. “Can’t let you go in,” Jinx said, his raised voice drifting to Odin as he barreled toward the house. “Because if you go in, you’ll do something stupid like try to kill the guy.”
“I won’t try.” Ramsey grabbed Jinx’s shirtfront. “I’ll succeed.”
The door behind Jinx flew open. Clay gaped at the sight before him as the porch light glared down on the scene. “What in the hell is going on?”
Odin rushed up the porch steps. “Get back inside, Clay. Lock the door. Stay there.”
“I don’t take orders from you!” Clay snarled as he shoved Jinx to the side and strode onto his porch. “I don’t—”
That was as far as he got. Because Ramsey was on him. He drove his fist into Clay’s jaw and sent the man stumbling back. One hit. A second. Then Clay was down and Ramsey was crouched over him, holding a knife to Clay’s throat.
“What did you do to her?” Ramsey asked, voice hollow. “What did you do to my Whitney?”
“Stop!” Maisey’s frantic shout as she flew up the porch steps. “He didn’t do anything! I was wrong. We’re all wrong! It wasn’t him!”
A drop of blood trailed down Clay’s throat.
“Let him go,” Odin ordered. “I don’t want to have to hurt you, Ramsey. Let him go!”
“Nothing else can hurt me. She’s gone.” Ramsey stared down at Clay. “I don’t think you’re innocent. I looked at your past. Saw the skeletons. I see the lies beneath your skin.”
“The man who took Whitney just called me!” Maisey yelled.
The knife jerked. Clay whimpered.
“He just called,” Maisey added, voice softer but still strained. “We have his location. Odin and I are going there now. We don’t have time to waste because he could be gone if we screw around. We need backup. You can come with us.”
Odin’s head whipped toward her. “Uh, Maisey…” That’s a terrible idea.
“It gets his knife away from Clay’s throat!” she threw at him, as if reading Odin’s mind. “We can’t do this. We can’t just waste time. He called me. We have him, we just have to go. Now.”
Ramsey angled his head so he was looking back at Maisey. His grip on the knife didn’t waver. “Are you telling me the truth?”
“Yes. He just called. Odin traced the call. We have him.”
Jinx glanced back and forth between Ramsey and Maisey. “I don’t think she’s lying, man. And do you really want to slit the throat of the wrong guy? That shit will be hard to live with.”
“I’ve lived with worse.” Ramsey’s flat response.
Odin got ready to attack him.
But Ramsey pulled the knife back. “Give me the location.”
“No.” Odin reached for Maisey’s hand. “You follow us. And when we get there, you stand back until we know what we’re dealing with.”
Ramsey’s mocking laughter told him that wasn’t gonna be the case.
“Jinx,” Odin said with a quick incline of his head. “Stay with him. Keep him in check.”
“Are you kidding me?” Jinx demanded. “I have to ride with the obvious psychopath? How is that fair?”
“What in the hell is happening?” Clay shouted.
Odin stopped. Lasered his stare on Clay. “Maisey just saved you from dying. Now we’re going to destroy the man who took Whitney Augustine. Lock your door. Stay inside.”
“I’m calling the cops!”
“Good idea.” Odin started moving. “Send them to Armageddon, would you?”
***
No cops were at Armageddon. Actually, no one seemed to be there. When Odin pulled his Jeep to a stop near the bar, the street was empty and the bar appeared shut down. Closing time had been at one a.m., and it looked as if everyone had already cleared out.
“We’re too late,” Maisey said as she leaned forward to stare at the building.
No, they weren’t. The bar was dark, but the second level in the building wasn’t.
“There’s a light on upstairs.” In the Trouble for Hire office. A light that shouldn’t have been on. No alarms had gone off. No alerts had been sent to him. Someone disabled our system. “I’m checking it out.”
She grabbed his arm. “You mean we are checking it out.”
Not like he was going to leave her behind with Ramsey due to arrive any moment.
“Don’t worry,” Maisey rushed to assure him. “I will stay close to you. There is no other place I plan to be.”
He checked his gun.
“Please, be careful,” Maisey urged worriedly. “If you get shot right in front of me, I am going to lose my mind.”
“Not planning to get shot.” But he would be shooting at anyone who threatened them. “Come on.” They moved quickly across the street. There were exterior stairs that led up to the Trouble for Hire office, but if someone was up there—and it sure as hell seemed someone was—then Odin wanted to catch the perp off guard.
He slipped inside Armageddon, using the keys War had given him. Then Odin and Maisey accessed the private stairs inside and crept up to the second level. But as they climbed, he heard shouting. Distorted at first. Damn. Whoever was up there didn’t seem concerned about staying quiet—
“Help!” A sudden, sharp shriek that was clearly discernable. A woman’s voice. Terrified. “God, please, help—” The words were choked off.
Odin glanced back at Maisey. “Stay here,” he ordered. “I’ll see what’s happening. Jinx will be running in any moment.”
Another high-pitched cry. Pain-filled this time. Gripping his weapon, Odin stopped creeping up the stairs and flew up them. He kicked open the door to Trouble for Hire. Rushed through the small hallway and turned to find a woman standing in his office. Her back was to him, and her shoulders were shuddering with sobs. He recognized the short, blond hair, and his gaze swept around the room as he looked for threats. “Heather?”
She jerked. Turned her head to look at him. He could see the tear tracks on her face.
“What’s happening?” Odin barked. “Are you hurt?” He took two fast steps toward her. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach.
“I’m hurt so badly,” she whimpered.
He didn’t see her attacker. Was she holding her wound, was that why she was hugging herself so tightly? He began to lower his weapon.
“I’m hurt…” She slowly angled her body toward him. “But, not as badly as you’ll be hurt.”
He stiffened and aimed his gun at her. “What the hell are you talking about?”
With tears on her cheeks, she smiled at him. “Just where is Maisey? Did you leave her all alone?”
Fuck. He spun and ran for her. “Maisey!”
But when he got to the stairs, when he peered down them as fear twisted inside of him, Odin realized he was too late. The lights were on in the stairwell, shining brightly when it had been dark moments before. Maisey was still on the stairs. She’d followed his instructions. Stayed where he’d thought she’d be safe.
But Maisey wasn’t alone.
Steve was with her. The asshole boyfriend? He had a gun pointed at Maisey’s head.
Steve lifted his brows. “I’ll need you to ditch the weapon or I’ll have to shoot her.”
***
“So, this will be hard, but I’m going to need you to not be a psychopath, ok
ay? For just like, ten minutes or so.” Jinx turned to Ramsey. “Do you think you can handle—”
Ramsey jumped out of the car—Ramsey’s SUV, though Jinx had been driving—and ran toward Armageddon and the PI office.
“Wonderful,” Jinx sighed. “Obviously, ten minutes was too much to ask for. I should have just gone with five.” He leapt out of the vehicle and gave chase. It was apparent that Ramsey wasn’t stopping, so Jinx launched at him. Tackled the guy to the ground. “We have to play this scene right,” Jinx snarled at him, trying to keep his voice low. “You go in there all crazy, and who knows what the hell could happen.”
Ramsey heaved Jinx aside. Mostly just because Jinx let him go.
Lightning flashed overhead in the dark sky, and in the distance, thunder rumbled.
“I know what will happen.” Ramsey’s hands fisted. “Someone is going to die.”
“Yes, well, I don’t want that someone to be a friend of mine. Calm your ass down. We’re handling this the right way.”
“There is no right way!”
“Debatable.” Why had he gotten stuck with the hothead in this scene? He tried to figure out how to calm the crime boss down.
A gunshot rang out. One followed by a shattered, desperate scream.
Jinx lunged for the building, leaving Ramsey in his dust.
***
“What in the hell are you doing?” Heather fumed. “We have a plan for this scene, and that plan doesn’t involve you shooting random shit!”
Maisey’s breath shuddered out. They were in Odin’s office—the same office where she’d met him just a few short days ago. Steve had forced Odin inside first, after Odin had dropped his gun in that stairwell. Then Steve had dragged her inside.
He’d made Odin take up a position near the wall, then the guy had raised his weapon and fired. Maisey had grabbed Steve’s arm and shoved as hard as she could because he’d appeared to have been aiming at Odin. The shot had blasted and a broken scream had torn from her.