But he held the embrace a bit too long. I wasn't certain if it was because he seemed to be new to this whole hugging thing or if maybe I'd read the situation wrong somewhere along the line. Was Ron attracted to me? Because the hand gently rubbing my back didn't feel strictly platonic.
Not wanting to hurt his feelings in case I was wrong, I let him end the embrace and stepped back to smile at him. Rather than ask him if our wires had crossed somewhere, I decided to let it slide. From now on, I would be more careful around him so he wouldn't get the wrong idea about our friendship.
"Night, Ron." I stood in the doorway and bid him farewell.
"Good night, Bee."
Closing the door, I made my way to the bathroom. I wanted a nice, hot shower before bed so I started to strip. While I stood under the pounding spray, I began making mental lists of all the packing that needed to be done. The movers I had used were fantastic so I would definitely hire them again. Of course, I still needed to find a place, even if it was temporary. Coby and Hadley had offered my old bedroom back but I felt like I needed to stay on my own for a while.
Wearing only a towel, I left the bathroom—and froze stiff at the shockingly unexpected sight before me.
Lit candles had been placed all around my bedroom. The flickering flames spilled a glowing warmth around the room. Soft music played in the background and blush pink rose petals had been scattered over my sheets and the hardwood floors.
Panic squeezed my heart. What. The. Fuck.
And then I saw him.
Stripped down to his boxers, Ron stepped out of the shadows. "Good evening, Beatrice."
Clenching the front of my towel, I swallowed hard. "Ron, what are you doing?"
The question sounded so stupid to me. It was painfully obvious what he was doing—and what he was.
His eyes seemed different as he strode toward me. They had lost their usual warmth and friendliness to morph into such chilling, cold orbs. In one hand, he held some sort of lacy lingerie. In the other, he grasped my gun, the gun I knew for a fact was loaded.
"I waited so long for you to give me a sign." His creepy smile made the hairs on my arms stand straight up. "So long, baby."
Baby? I bit back the urge to call him a fucking nutcase because he had that gun in his hand. "You sent me those photos and the text messages."
"Yes."
"You put them in my backpack and on my car."
"I did."
Thinking of my housewarming party, I said, "You stole my panties during my party, didn't you?"
"Yes."
Remembering the mornings he had delivered coffee to my office, I inwardly groaned. "You put those phones in my backpack to get my guards to leave."
"They were standing between us. It was time for them to go."
Wondering how the hell I had missed what a total freak he was, I asked, "Why didn't you simply tell me how you felt about me, Ron? Why all the subterfuge?"
"I wanted to speak to you in the way you spoke to me," he said, as if I were the dumbest woman on the planet. "Your photos and your blogs," he added. "I knew you were speaking to me. I wanted to show you that I understand you, that I know what you need. I wanted our courtship to be a true courtship of the 21st century."
He was a straight-up psycho—with a gun. It occurred to me that if I wanted to survive, I had to do whatever I could to keep him calm and happy.
"Take off your towel, Busy Bee."
Clenching the damp fabric even tighter, I asked anxiously, "Why?"
"Because I want to see you," he said matter-of-factly.
The muzzle of the gun inched higher. I didn't dare refuse him. With trembling fingers, I tugged on the front of the towel and let it fall around my feet. Ron's hungry gaze raked my naked curves. I'd never felt so uncomfortable or so frightened. When I spotted the growing bulge in the front of his boxers, I wanted to puke.
Ron moved even closer. Wrapping the lingerie around his fingertips, he used the silk and lace to caress my bare breast. Somewhat breathlessly, he whispered, "You're so beautiful, Bee. More beautiful than I had imagined."
Even though his touch sickened me, I desperately wanted to keep him happy, especially with that gun so close. "Thank you."
His cloth covered fingertips glided toward my nipple. He brushed the puckered peek gently at first but then pinched it hard enough to make me gasp with pain. "You shouldn't have defiled your body with that Marine."
A tear slid down my cheek as the stabbing pain of having my nipple twisted amplified the terror I felt. He released my aching flesh and caressed the bright red splotch he'd created. "What's wrong, sweetness?"
Realizing I had to play along with his fantasy to stay alive, I said, "I'm just sad that you weren't my first."
He looked absolutely touched by my statement. "Oh, my love, that's all right. You didn't know I was waiting for you. That's my fault. I should have been clearer."
Leaning forward, he pressed his lips to mine. I forced myself not to recoil from his unwanted kiss. He seemed to buy my interest in him and petted my cheek. "Once I'm finished with you tonight, you'll never want another man."
He couldn't have been more wrong. As he took my hand and led me toward the bed, I had never, ever wanted Kelly more.
* * *
Smarting from the epic loss to Sergei and aching with discomfort, Kelly shifted in the front passenger seat of Jack's truck. He winced as the drive-thru attendant shouted through the speaker to confirm his brothers' order. His own stomach wouldn't allow him to eat anything right now but Jack shoved a cup of coffee at him anyway.
Scratching numbers on a piece of paper, Finn finally piped up from the backseat. "We should have maybe twenty thousand left over to put toward the debt to Bee. It's not much but it's a start."
At the mention of her name, Kelly experienced the deepest pang of longing. "Take me to the penthouse, Jack."
His oldest brother glanced at him as they passed through an intersection. "You think this is a good time to see Bee? You can barely walk, Kelly."
"I need to see her."
Finn leaned forward and cautiously touched his shoulder. "She's not at the penthouse."
"What?" Kelly tried to twist in his seat for a better look at his brother but the movement caused him to grimace with pain. "Where is she?"
"Back in her apartment," Finn said. "Hagen agreed to give her a few weeks to find a new place before he takes it over."
"And you know this how?" Jealousy raced through him at the idea that Bee had contacted Finn but not him.
"We've been keeping in touch," Finn admitted. "She was worried about you."
Gingerly rubbing his throbbing forehead, Kelly murmured, "I'm worried about her."
Without a word, Jack switched lanes. Grateful for his brothers' support, Kelly brought the cup of coffee to his lips and tried to figure out what the hell he was going to say to Bee. He didn't even know where to start. She had screwed up massively but he wasn't blameless in this situation.
The first sip of the scalding hot coffee made him gag. Pushing the cup into the nearest holder, he shuddered as he swallowed the bitter mouthful. "I've gotten spoiled by Ron's coffee. That shit tastes like swill."
"Who?" Jack asked as he turned at an intersection.
"Bee's friend," Kelly explained. "He owns her favorite coffee shop. She likes to go there to work in the evenings." Stretching his cramping fingers, he added, "He made deliveries to her office. Best damn coffee I've ever had."
As Jack and Finn debated the best place to get a late night breakfast in Houston, Kelly stared out the windshield. His fuzzy brain jumbled his thoughts together. Memories of the last three weeks flashed before him, melding together into a bizarre and incoherent stream of conscious.
Something about that first morning at Bee's building stuck in his mind. An image of that residue on the door raced before his eyes. Winn's voice rattled through his brain. Spike says it's a mix of cocoa, powdered sugar and coffee. Maybe it's someone who works in a bakery or rest
aurant…
"Or a coffee shop."
"What?" Jack looked at him like he'd lost his damn mind. "Are you okay?"
Kelly wasn't sure. He braced his head between his hands and tried to make sense of his thoughts. "There was a stain on Bee's door from that break-in."
"That wasn't a break-in," Jack reminded him. "She faked it, remember?"
"Did she?" Kelly's stomach soured as he considered that maybe it wasn't Bee who had played them. "There was brown residue on her door, just a smudge. Spike couldn't get a fingerprint but he said it was a mixture of cocoa, powdered sugar and coffee. We thought maybe it was from someone who worked in a restaurant until we found those phones in Bee's backpack. After that, we assumed she had left the smudge after eating some of that coffee cake she loves so much."
"And now?" Finn sat forward again. "What are you thinking?"
The memories of the night he had discovered the phones blasted his brain. "No one got close to her that wasn't vetted. She wasn't ever out of our sight. When we found the phones, we assumed she was setting up the stalker thing—but what if it was someone we had already been vetted."
"Like who?" Jack asked, his voice tight.
"Ron," Kelly said, as the pieces fell into place. "He had access to her office every morning. He could have easily dropped them into her backpack." Cringing at his stupidity, Kelly added, "She would never have noticed him putting things in her bag while she was at the coffee shop either. He's her friend. She trusts him."
A blue glow lit up the backseat as Finn tapped at his phone's screen. "Shit. She was at the coffee shop earlier tonight. She tagged it in an update of hers."
Kelly swore under his breath. "I told her to stop doing that. It's not safe."
"What if she was trying to draw her stalker out?" Jack shot him a worried glance as he punched the gas.
Kelly's heart raced. "She wouldn't do that. She's way too smart to do something so risky."
"Normally, I'd agree with you." Jack swiftly maneuvered around a car slowing their pace. "But she's backed into a corner, Kelly. You didn't believe her. She has no bodyguards. She's on her own."
"And you gave her a gun," Finn interjected. "It might give her a false sense of security. Sure, she knows how to shoot it, but that's only a small part of self-defense."
Panic clutched Kelly's heart. What the fuck had he done? If something happened to her, he'd never forgive himself. He had sworn to Jeb he would look after her but he'd abandoned her. Some hero you are, he thought angrily.
When Jack squealed around the corner and Bee's building came into view, Kelly immediately spotted their father's silver clunker parked down the road.
"What the hell is Pop doing here?" Finn asked, incredulous.
"I think he's been following Bee." Kelly flicked off his seatbelt as Jack slowed to a stop. "How else would he have known Bee visited Hagen?"
"Hopefully, the old man finagled his way inside and is babysitting her," Jack muttered as he slid out of the front seat.
Out on the sidewalk, they hustled to the side entrance of Bee's building. The sight of the door propped open with a rock made them break into a sprint. Without a word, they rushed into the building and headed straight for the elevator.
Realizing it was malfunctioning, Kelly hurried to the stairs. The prospect of climbing eight flights after the beating he'd taken wasn't one that thrilled him but he had to get to Bee. Thinking of his brother's prosthesis, Kelly glanced back at Finn who waved them on.
"Go," he urged. "I'll call the police and catch up with you."
Ignoring the agonizing pain that accompanied every single breath and every single step, Kelly mounted the stairs as if the fires of hell nipped at his heels. He thought only of reaching Bee and whisking her away to safety.
Just as they cleared the fifth floor, a gunshot cracked upstairs. A soul chilling shriek tore through the building. A few seconds later, another gunshot blasted their eardrums. There was another scream, this one longer and even more frightened.
Sheer fucking terror clutched his heart. It was Bee. Someone was hurting his Bee.
And someone was about to die.
Chapter Eighteen
Nervously eying the bed, I clutched Ron's hand and offered him my most flirtatious smile. "Ron, there's no need to rush this."
He dropped the lingerie onto the mattress and cupped my face. "You don't need to be nervous, sweetness. I'll be gentle with you."
The cold metal muzzle of the gun nipped at my hip. I tried to suppress the panic threatening to overwhelm me. I couldn't fake interest or attraction to him if he started to touch me intimately. He would know that I was lying and then what? Would he react violently?
"Close your eyes, baby." Ron's fingertips touched my eyelid. "Let me make you feel good."
Not daring to deny him any request, I clenched my eyes tightly shut and choked back the sob threatening to erupt from my throat. When his lips touched my neck, I flinched and bit my lower lip. He misinterpreted my flinch as excitement and flicked his tongue against my skin. The sensation sent shivers of absolute disgust through my core.
My eyes fluttered open—and I nearly fainted at the sight of a man's shadowy figure in the doorway of my bedroom. The man stepped forward and revealed himself to me.
My God! It was Nick Connolly!
Kelly's father gripped a baseball bat in one hand and brought a finger to his lips, urging me to be silent. I didn't know how the hell Nick Connolly had gotten into my building but I really didn't care. He was my only chance to escape being raped and murdered by Ron.
I mouthed one word of warning to him—gun. He nodded his understanding and started to slowly stalk toward us. Desperate to buy him some time, I slid my arms around Ron. Though it made me sick to encourage him, I surrendered to my survival instincts. I would do anything to walk out of here alive.
"Kiss me," I whispered with faked need.
"Oh, Bee," he murmured against my lips. I managed not to stiffen when his tongue touched the seam of my mouth. Eyes wide open as he kissed me, I watched Nick inching closer and closer. I shut my eyes and shifted just to the side, clearing my body from the danger zone of that gun.
Ron suddenly went rigid in my arms. Had he felt Nick's approach? Or was it the subtle pulse of air as the bat swung toward his head?
It didn't matter. My stalker had no time to react or evade the oncoming assault. As the bat connected with his head, Ron's finger jerked against the trigger. The weapon fired into the wall behind me as Ron sagged forward against me. Shrieking like a teenager in a horror flick, I jumped back and let Ron hit the ground.
"Come on! Move!" Nick Connolly grabbed my wrist and hauled me forward roughly.
Not caring that I was bare-ass naked, I raced out of my bedroom. Clothing seemed like such a trivial thing when a gun-wielding psycho had just tried to rape me. I had just cleared the edge of the kitchen when I heard Ron snarling at us.
Glancing back over my shoulder, I could barely make out his silhouette against the flickering backdrop of candles in the bedroom. The boom of the gunshot and the muzzle flash registered at the same time. Behind me, Nick gasped and crumpled forward, slamming into my back as he fell.
With another scream, I dropped to my knees and tried to help Kelly's wounded father. Blood gushed from a hole in his belly and spilled onto my hands and the floor. I pressed hard against the wound, desperate to slow the bleeding, but Nick shoved me away. "Run!"
Torn between saving myself and saving Kelly's father, I hesitated a moment too long. Ron stumbled into the living area and pointed his gun at me. Blood poured down the side of his face and onto his chest. "You bitch! I thought you loved me!"
"You shot at me! How can I love someone who shot at me?" I hated how hysterical I sounded and tried to rein in my panic. Pressing one hand to Nick's gut wound, I held up the other and begged my stalker for help. "Ron, please, put down the gun. Let me call an ambulance for Kelly's dad before he bleeds to death."
"Screw Kelly and screw his fa
ther!" Ron waved the gun at me, and I flinched. "Why him, Bee?"
"I don't understand."
"What does Kelly have that I don't?"
Was he really going to ask me that now? Fully aware that no answer would truly appease Ron, I said the first thing that came to mind. "My brother's love."
Ron's face slackened for a fraction of a moment before hardening toward me. "Your brother's love wasn't worth much if he kept all those secrets."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Ron."
"Don't I?" He gestured toward us with the gun. "I saw the photos and emails Trevor had recovered. I know exactly what your brother was."
Taken aback, I asked, "When did Trevor show you that information?"
"After I broke into his house and killed him," Ron coldly replied.
My heart stuttered in my chest. "Trevor is dead? But the paperwork for our deal arrived—"
"Consider that his last will and testament," Ron said with a frightening smile. "He promised to leave you alone if I would just stop torturing him. You have no idea how good it felt to make him pay for all the pain he caused you over the years. I tried to make him understand that sabotaging ReadIt was his warning but—"
"You sabotaged ReadIt?" I gawked at Ron. Who the hell was this man?
"Sweetness, I was writing code before you were out of braces." He puffed up a little. "I had my first hacking arrest at seventeen. Breaking through your company's layers of security to tamper with Trevor's project wasn't that hard. He deserved to be hurt for causing you so much trouble after you hired him."
Reeling with shock, I could only stare mutely at Ron and wonder what else this crazy man had done to interfere with my life and my business. Now I understood why Spike had been unable to find any evidence of my stalker entering or leaving my building on the security cameras and logs. Ron would have easily manipulated the security protocols.
"Ron, put down the gun."
Staggered by the sound of Kelly's voice, I snapped my attention to the front door of my apartment. Looking like absolute hell, Kelly filled the open frame with his battered body. He held up both hands in surrender but wouldn't meet my desperate gaze.