Keep Me Close (Lazarus Rising Book 2)

  This time, Aaron wouldn’t be a weapon primed to attack someone else.

  This time, Aaron would attack…himself. Suicide.

  “It’s all because of you. I killed sweet Jennifer because she liked to frequent your ex-lover’s club. I knew her death would pull the FBI into the game. And, of course, Aaron wouldn’t investigate the Midnight Strangler without you. Everything is on you, Cecelia.”

  “Let Aaron go. Just let him go!”

  “Try and stop me,” Bryce dared her. “Because I can promise you, the special agent’s fall is gonna be killer.”

  Don’t!

  “See if you can get me…before I go after your other lover, too.”

  He hung up. Cecelia was shaking her head, trying to figure out what to do—

  “Tell me what’s happening!” Jay demanded. “I don’t have super hearing—”

  “Neither do I,” Elizabeth cut in, “but it’s obvious this is bad.”

  “Bryce has Aaron. He said…” She choked down the lump in her throat. Focus. Be strong. Keep it together. “He’s going to make Aaron kill himself.” Aaron had been at Sin, and Bryce had said he was going after her “other lover, too.” Oh, hell. “After he finishes with Aaron, he’s going to take out Benjamin Larson.” She’d known it was too much of a coincidence. As soon as she’d walked into Sin and seen Benjamin, she’d known the set-up was wrong.

  Two of her ex-lovers? Both back in her life at the same dark time? No, Bryce had planned so carefully. All along, he’d intended to use them in order to hurt her.

  Maybe…her head cocked as she thought frantically about Bryce’s motives. Maybe he’d pulled Aaron and Benjamin in his web not just to hurt her, but because he’d wanted to use the men against Flynn, too. Wanted to manipulate him. Make him jealous by showing him my ex-lovers? Dark emotions fueled the Lazarus subjects. Had Bryce wanted jealousy to enrage Flynn? To push him past his control?

  Only Flynn had held onto his control.

  Because he’s better than you, Bryce! He’s always been better!

  “Benjamin Larson? The crime boss?” Jay stared blankly at her. “I know the guy owns Sin, but why would Bryce go after—”

  “She’s gone.” Sawyer didn’t bother with the stairs. He just leapt from the second story down to the landing.

  West double-timed it down the stairs. “Must have jumped out of the window,” he called. “We didn’t even hear a sound. Not even the super soldiers heard her escape. That woman is good.”

  “No, she’s fucking bad,” Flynn fired back.

  Cecelia’s fingers tightened around the phone. “She knew my fear. She knew that I was afraid of something happening to someone I cared about. I don’t know when she first learned about it, but she must have told Bryce. He’s gone after Aaron.” She squared her shoulders. “Aaron and Benjamin. I have to help them. Bryce wants me to stop him, so I will.” She strode for the door. “I’ll find him, I’ll stop him, I’ll—”

  Flynn wrapped his hand around her waist and jerked her back. “The hell you will.”

  “They are my friends! You know—you know I have to help!” He would know better than anyone else.

  Flynn spun her around to face him. “It’s a trap. Jay was talking about using bait to lure Bryce to us…don’t you see that Bryce is doing the same thing? He’s using bait—Aaron—to lure you to him. When you get to that club—hell for all we know, Bryce will have control of half the humans there. We don’t know how his power works. We just know that it worked on Aaron, and if he can get in Aaron’s head—”

  “Then Aaron is dead!” Cecelia nearly shouted. “Do you get that? Bryce will make Aaron kill himself. And Bryce will laugh while it happens. I can’t stand by while Aaron dies. He’s my friend.”

  West stalked toward them. He wasn’t a super soldier, but the former Delta Force operative still moved with a deadly silence. “He’s the man who tied a rope around your neck and choked you until you nearly passed out.” West’s rough reminder.

  She flinched. “Bryce made him do that. So if Bryce convinces Aaron that life is worthless, that the guilt Aaron feels over what happened to me is too strong…then Aaron will end his own life. Bryce said…he talked about a fall.” Her breath heaved in and out. “He’s going to make Aaron fall…” Cecelia mumbled. No, fall wasn’t right…Her eyes widened. “Bryce will make him jump off the roof at Sin!”

  “You don’t know that,” Flynn argued, “not for sure.”

  “Bryce will make Aaron kill himself.” Her heart was racing so fast it hurt as she met Flynn’s stare. “And that will be on me.”

  Flynn pulled her even closer. His golden eyes blazed at her. “No, that will be on Bryce. He’ll be the one who did the crime. Not you.”

  “We have to go. We’re wasting time—”

  “You aren’t going!” Flynn snarled.

  Her brows rose. “Yes, I am.”

  “No, it’s a trap. We all know it’s a trap. He wants you—”

  “That’s right.” And she was terrified but she knew what was happening. “He wants me. So if I don’t go to that club, Aaron is dead.”

  Behind Flynn, Sawyer swore. Low and vicious words.

  “She’s right,” Elizabeth said softly.

  Jay and West didn’t speak.

  “Bryce could have killed Aaron already.” Elizabeth walked closer to Cecelia. “But he hasn’t ended Aaron’s life, not yet. He’s keeping Aaron alive as a bargaining tool, as a way to get Cecelia to follow orders.”

  Bait. Jay’s plan…and, apparently, Bryce’s plan, too.

  She pulled away from Flynn. “We should have kept Aaron with us. Every moment.”

  Now Jay cleared his throat. “He’s a grown man, Cecelia. FBI. He had the ankle monitor on and he wanted—”

  “He wanted to go out and catch the bad guy.” Yes, she’d figured that out, too. Aaron wasn’t the kind of guy who sat on the sidelines. “Instead, he’s the one who got caught. But we have a chance here. He’s still alive. Aaron isn’t the target. Bryce doesn’t like killing men—he gets off on attacking women.”

  Flynn’s face twisted into lines of hate. “He wants to get off on killing you.”

  “Yes.” She wasn’t going to lie. They all knew this truth, anyway. “If I go, if Bryce can get me, then he might let go of Aaron. He might not attack Benjamin. He might—”

  “He will hurt you. You’re asking me to let that bastard get to you again.” Flynn shook his head. “No, no, no.”

  And this hurt the most. “I’m not asking, Flynn. I’m telling you—I’m going. I can’t hide while someone else suffers in my place. I’m going, and either you’re coming with me…or I’m doing it alone.” She turned on her heel—

  “I’d fucking follow you to hell and back.”

  His gravelly voice rolled right through her.

  “Hell, yes, I’ll come with you to Sin.” And he was there, not holding her back, but opening the door. Standing at her side. “We’re kicking his ass. And then…then I’ll go any damn place you want, baby. Because I told you before…”

  Her head turned. Their eyes met.

  “I love you,” he said simply. “For me, you’re just…it.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Trouble was back.

  “Shit,” Benjamin whispered as he stared down at the mass of bodies on the first floor of Sin. One of those bodies was uncomfortably familiar. The woman with the dark hair and the body built for sin stood out far too much in the crowded club. And when she looked up at him, there was no missing her bright blue stare.

  He turned to the bouncer at his side. “You see her?” Benjamin stabbed his finger down at the crowd. “She’s psychotic. Get her out of my club and get her out now.”

  “Uh…which her? There are an awful lot of babes down there—”

  Benjamin glanced back to the first floor with a snarl on his lips.

  But the woman who’d attacked him was gone.

  “Shit,” he said again. “Shit, shit.”

  He shove
d away from the bouncer and ran down the stairs. That woman was not going to cause trouble at his club. No freaking way was that happening on his watch. He pushed his way through the crowd, not stopping when people called his name or reached out to shake his hand. His gaze flew to the left, to the right, and dammit—there she was. Trying to get on the old elevator that his wait staff used.

  “Stop!” Benjamin shouted at her.

  Her shoulders stiffened. She turned and looked back at him.

  He motioned for his bouncers—at least two caught his signal and closed in. Benjamin crept closer to her. “Lady, get your sexy and psychotic ass out of my club.”

  “I thought you liked having women here.” She frowned and motioned vaguely to the crowd. “There are plenty of other sexy asses out there.”

  “You attacked me! You’re lucky I haven’t had you arrested.”

  She seemed to consider that. “I should…thank you.”

  “Damn right you should.” The bouncers were almost there. “Now get out of my club before there is trouble.”

  “Trouble is already here. It’s up on the roof. I was trying to help…” Her words trailed away. “Why are those men moving toward me so quickly? And why is one reaching for his gun—”

  “It’s a taser. Not a gun.”

  “He’s…going to tase me?”

  “No.” Maybe. But she’d attacked him. She was crazy. And she wants to hurt Cecelia. “Get the fuck out,” he growled, “and no one has to get tased.”

  Instead of getting out, she stepped forward. Her hand touched his chest. “I know what you fear.”

  “What? What do I fear? Hot women who are absolutely insane—”

  “I knew what Aaron Barrett feared. I met him one day, you see. Brushed against him in a crowd. He didn’t want to be like his father. And becoming like his father…that will push Aaron straight to death.”

  “Lady…”

  “You fear being the killer everyone thinks you already are. You fear…” A single tear slipped down her cheek. “You fear the day when you turn on the people close to you.”

  Fury poured through him. “Who the hell have you been talking to?” But only Cecelia knew…only Cecelia.

  And in a flash…

  He could see Cecelia. She was in front of him. Standing right in front of him. The woman with the dark hair and bright eyes was gone. Cecelia was in her place. Cecelia’s red hair swept over her shoulders. A red circle bloomed on her chest. She stared at him, her eyes wide and scared and filled with pain.

  “Cecelia?” Benjamin whispered in absolute shock and horror, and then, as she fell, he screamed her name.

  ***

  “Cecelia!”

  She heard the bellow of her name as soon as she entered Sin. The cry was so wild and desperate that it rose above the music and the other voices. It…quieted those other voices.

  “Why the hell is Benjamin yelling for you?” Flynn demanded.

  “We’re going up the stairs,” Sawyer said in the same instant. “West, Elizabeth and I will search the second floor. Flynn, while we take that level, you, Cecelia, and Jay try to find that bastard Bryce down here—”

  Cecelia and Flynn were already pushing through the crowd.

  “Cecelia!” Again, that was Benjamin’s bellow. She shoved away two women in red dresses and saw Benjamin on his knees. His hands were stretched out in front of him, as if he were reaching for someone. Two burly guys—bouncers from the look of them—were staring down at him in confusion.

  “Ben?” She grabbed his arm and shook him, hard.

  “I didn’t mean to do it! I didn’t mean to kill you! I didn’t mean—”

  “I’m not dead!”

  “What in the hell is wrong with him?” Jay demanded.

  Cecelia knew. Or at least, she had a really, really good suspicion. “His worst fear.” She was right in front of Benjamin, but he wasn’t seeing her. She glanced at the bouncers. “Take him to his office. Get Ben away from all these people gawking at him.”

  The bouncers didn’t move. Jay did, he reached for Benjamin.

  But Benjamin slammed his fist into Jay’s jaw. “No!” Benjamin bellowed. “She’s my friend! No!”

  “I’m right here,” Cecelia said. “Ben, look at me!”

  But he’d gone wild. He dove for Jay, his face twisted in fury. His fists were flying.

  Flynn punched him. One hit, and Benjamin hit the floor, out cold.

  “Flynn!”

  He shrugged. “Baby, I couldn’t risk his fist hitting you. He was out of control and had to be stopped.” Then he glanced up at the bouncers, his hand still fisted.

  “I-I don’t know what happened!” The taller bouncer started talking, fast, as he backed up a step. “I saw that the boss was chasing some babe—they talked and then he freaked the hell out.”

  “He was signaling us though, man,” the other bouncer blurted as he frowned. He cast a worried glance at Flynn’s fist. “He wanted that lady out of Sin.”

  “The lady,” Flynn snapped, “was she about five-foot-eight, long, dark hair, blue eyes—”

  “Yeah!” The bouncers replied in unison.

  “Where did she go?” Cecelia demanded.

  They pointed to the elevator.

  “Stay with him,” Flynn ordered Jay curtly. “And whatever you do, don’t let your girlfriend get close to him again.”

  “My what?” Jay’s mouth dropped. “Willow? No, dude, no, she’s not my—”

  “Jay, we need you to watch out for him,” Cecelia cut in, not having time to waste. Actually…

  Her gaze swung around the club. The absolutely packed club. Sin was filled with so many people…people who could be influenced by Willow. People who could be turned into weapons by Bryce.

  “We need them all out,” she said, glancing around. “Every single one.”

  Then she saw it. Right there, on the back wall. The alarm was so close…

  She ran for it.

  “Cecelia!” Jay cried.

  Flynn was right at her side.

  She grabbed for the fire alarm. Pulled down the handle and a loud blast filled the club. A shrieking blast, then absolute panic ensued. People began running for the doors.

  “That’s one way to clear a room,” Flynn murmured.

  It was also one way to make sure those people wouldn’t be used because they were too close to Bryce.

  “What in the hell is happening?” West bellowed from upstairs. He was leaning over the railing and peering down at them. Sawyer and Elizabeth were standing right next to him.

  Instead of shouting back up at him, Cecelia grabbed Flynn’s arm. “Do your psychic thing. Get Sawyer to tell the others that we have to get the civilians out of here. Willow is on the roof, and I’m betting Bryce is with her.”

  He nodded and she knew he’d sent the message to Sawyer when she saw Sawyer lean toward West’s ear and speak to him.

  She whirled to rush back to the elevator. Jay had thrown Benjamin over his shoulder. “I got him,” he said grimly. His gaze slid to Cecelia, then to Flynn. “Watch out for each other. Don’t trust what you see.”

  She nodded. Flynn pushed the button for the elevator.

  “Sawyer and the others are clearing out the civilians from the second floor, and then they are taking the stairs up to the roof,” Flynn said. “We’re going to trap Bryce. We’ll get him this time.”

  But would they trap him before or after Bryce convinced Aaron to take a leap off the roof? The elevator doors opened. Cecelia and Flynn jumped inside.

  ***

  “Step to the edge, Aaron.” Bryce smiled as he stared at his prey.

  Aaron Barrett was an absolute wreck. Shaking and sweating. Trying so hard not to follow his directions. Poor guy. It was too late to fight. Bryce had been in Aaron’s head a long time.

  “Don’t do this.”

  Now that was surprising. Bryce turned his head and found Willow staring at him. She’d been there a few moments, watching. And fear had been rolling off h
er. But this was the first time she’d spoken.

  “It’s not right.” Willow inched closer to the edge of the roof, closer to Aaron. “He hasn’t done anything to you.”

  “He’s prey, Willow. He’s prey, and we’re the predators.” Simple enough to understand.

  “We’re people. That’s all. And he’s an FBI agent!”

  Yes, and that made this all the more fun. “He hunted me, did you know that? Before Lazarus. This fucking bastard—the shaking dick over there—he tracked me down like I was an animal. He went on the news, telling the world how screwed up in the head I was. Telling everyone that I was a monster. I had to leave my home. He was closing in on me. I had to give up my life!” His hate focused on Aaron Barrett. “I had to die because of him.”

  And that was why he’d used Aaron. Why he’d searched the bastard out after he’d escaped Lazarus. Why he’d gone into the man’s head. Shoved dark emotions at him again and again…until Special Agent Aaron Barrett had broken.

  “You were a killer…” Willow’s voice was hushed. “Before Lazarus?”

  He laughed. “Oh, darling, we all were. Why do you think Lazarus wanted us? Not like they were recruiting Boy Scouts. They wanted subjects with the killer instinct.” He pointed at her. “Hate to break it to you, but I bet your past is darker than my own.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t remember my past. How the hell do you remember yours?”

  Bryce just shrugged. “We all need a key to remember. A trigger. My key was Dr. Cecelia Gregory. Right after our first session, I started having flashes. Visions. In another life, she was hunting me.” He smiled. “It only seemed fair that in this life, I hunt her.”

  She stared at him as if Bryce were the very devil himself. Maybe he was.

  Then her gaze darted to Aaron. “Let him go,” Willow ordered.

  Bryce tilted his head, listening to a shrill cry that had come from deep within the club. “Someone set off an alarm.” Not part of the plan. He bounded to the edge of the roof and looked over. “Fuck. The humans are running out.”

  “You’re human.”

  She’d moved right behind him. Moved so fast. He spun around, just as her hand came up. He caught her wrist, freezing her—and the gun that Willow had mistakenly thought he didn’t know about.