With a sly grin, she made her way to the juice counter and poured a large glass of cranberry juice for him. She used to cringe at the smell, knowing how tart it tasted, but now it made her think of how it tasted on him and caused her to salivate. Yummy Cran-Irish.
“Here,” a man said, “let me help you with that so you don’t spill.”
“Oh, no, that’s okay. I’ve got—” Shit!
The helpful gentleman who took the glass from her was a smiling Vinnie. He sipped the juice and made a face. “I’m more of an apple juice fan myself.”
Are you waiting for a fucking invitation, Katherine? Get the hell out of here! Go, girl, GO!
Heeding her subconscious, Kat spun on her booted heel to make a run for it, but Sully blocked her path. His smile was all teeth and no warmth as he held out the side of his suit coat just enough for her to see the holstered gun under his arm. Her mouth dried up and the room felt like it was closing in on her.
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s go for a little walk,” Sully said with a jerk of his chin toward the elevators.
“And don’t get any ideas that’ll get your boyfriend up there killed.” Vinnie grabbed her upper arm, his meaty fingers bruising her for sure as he steered her through the hotel. “Any commotion from you is the signal to cut our losses with him and split with you.”
Oh God oh God oh God, what now? Kat gave herself a mental slap. She had to remain calm, keep a clear head if she was going to figure a way out of this.
The elevator opened and they stepped into the car. Sully swiped a key card and punched the button for the penthouse level as the doors slid shut on the polished tile and chandeliers of the lobby. “I cut the tracker out of my arm.”
Sully glanced at the bandage on her arm. “Yeah, we figured that out. You got guts, I’ll give you that. Vinnie passes out when he gets cut.”
“Hey, Sul, why doncha blow me? I told you my blood sugar was low that day.”
Kat ignored Sully’s chuckling and Vinnie’s belly-aching and talked over them. “So then how did you find us?”
The laughter died and the men got serious again. Sully looked insulted. “We’re not small-time thugs, princess. Once we found your car nose-first in a swamp we had a BOLO out on his motorcycle and his buddy’s car. And with Sicoli’s PD connections in every Southern state, it didn’t take us long to get word on your location.”
Damn it. They should have kept driving last night. Drove until they reached Mexico and never looked back. But just because she left the country didn’t mean Sicoli would stop searching for her. She didn’t know much about him except that he was dangerous and extremely prideful. He’d never stop sending people after her. He had the funds to do it and by now it wasn’t only principle, but it was personal. The longer she evaded him, the worse she made him look.
Kat finally realized this would never be over. Not until Sicoli was satisfied that the debt owed him was paid in full. And that wasn’t Irish’s problem. It never had been. Still, she’d allowed him to insert himself in the middle of her mess and now he might end up paying with his life. She couldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t.
Before she knew it, the elevator granted them access to the penthouse and she was once again being ushered toward her room. Strange how fast things changed. Only a few minutes ago she’d been anxious to get here. Now she’d do anything to never reach that door.
Digging the heels of her boots into the carpet, she brought them up short. “Listen, guys, I’ll make you a deal. If you take me to Sicoli right now, I swear I’ll come quietly. I won’t fight you, and I won’t try to escape. Deal?”
The men gave each other sidelong glances, then Sully spoke. “Let me get this straight. You actually want us to take you to Sicoli now?”
She nodded emphatically. “Yes. But only if you leave Irish out of this from now on. I don’t want him involved anymore.”
“Well, then, I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news,” Sully said. “The good news is we’ll take you to Sicoli.”
Relief trickled through her just as a sense of dread began worming its way to her stomach.
“The bad news is,” Vinnie finished as his partner used the key card to open the door to her room, “we’ve already involved your boy some more.”
Sully entered first. His tall frame prevented her from seeing anything until the door slammed shut behind her and he moved off to the side.
“Oh my God, what have you bastards done to him?” She tried lunging for Irish but the men held her back while she struggled to break free.
Irish sat on the bed, his body slumped forward as much as his outstretched arms allowed with his wrists cuffed to the bed posts. His bare torso was covered in red where it was obvious he’d been beaten—drenched in sweat and marked with bleeding cuts. She knew that whatever they’d done he’d fought them the whole way. It’s who he was. He was a fighter. Her fighter.
My fighting Irish. He lifted his head from his chest and her breath left her. His right eye was swollen shut and his lower lip had been split open again. A torn piece of the bedsheet worked as a gag. It was more than she could stand. “Let me go!”
“It’s all right, boys.”
She heard the third voice come from the corner of the room, but she didn’t spare it a thought. The moment she felt her freedom she raced across the room and leapt onto the bed. Irish hissed from the jostling. “I’m sorry, baby,” she whispered, gingerly crawling the rest of the way to him. Kneeling before him, she pulled the gag from his mouth and held his face in her hands. “Jesus Christ, I’m so sorry.”
“Did either of those motherfuckers touch you?” His voice was hoarse but no less deadly. The animal he claimed lived inside of him was starting to surface. Muscles bunched and released and he looked ready to walk through hell if he had to.
“No, I’m fine.” Every cut, every drop of blood, every bruise they’d given him was because of her, and still the man’s first concern was if she’d been harmed. It was too much. Tears fell unbidden, blurring her vision and frustrating the hell out of her. As terrible as he looked, she didn’t want anything preventing her from seeing him clearly. “God, look what they’ve done to you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I feel much worse than I look. No, wait.” His brow furrowed in concentration before he added, “I mean I look much worse than I feel.”
Something between a sob and a laugh burst from her as she smoothed back the sweat-plastered hair from his forehead. “Now I know you’re hurt bad. You can’t even be sarcastic right.”
“Nah. I’m golden,” he said with a weak grin. “Just so long as I know you’re okay.”
Holding his face, Kat pressed her lips to his. She couldn’t help it. She was desperate for the connection and to reassure him of her love. It probably hurt his cut, but he leaned into the kiss anyway, seemingly just as desperate.
“All right,” she heard from behind her. “That’s enough. It’s time to get down to business.”
Looking over her shoulder, Kat found the unidentified third man sitting in the wingback chair in front of the desk. Dressed in a charcoal gray suit with red tie, he sat with one ankle resting on the other knee and hands steepled in front of him. He looked like a therapist listening to a patient as opposed to what he really was, someone who’d obviously at the very least watched a man get handcuffed and beaten.
“Who the hell are you?”
A deceptively charming smile spread over his face. “I’m the man who is here to make sure your debt is collected and the hassles you’ve caused are well compensated for.”
Kat was so sick of hearing about the debt she supposedly owed to some asshole wannabe Godfather. Sick of dealing with the hired thugs he kept sending after her to make her life a living goddamn hell. It was bad enough when they’d threatened her pathetic existence back in Tennessee. But now she had a man who made her life a fairy tale in comparison to what it was before. Someone to live for and love. And she’d be damned if she was going to let them t
ake it away from her without a fight.
Climbing off the bed, she stood with fists on her hips. “And what makes you think you’ll do any better than those two?”
“Because, my dear, I’ve decided to subscribe to the old saying, ‘If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.’”
Chills raced over her scalp and down her spine as her arms fell limp by her sides. The proverbial monster had stepped out of the closet. “Antony Sicoli,” she whispered.
“The one and only.”
…
Aiden vibrated with fury. He’d been careless and now Kat was in the middle of an extremely volatile situation. All he had to do was keep her safe until he could figure out how to put an end to everything. But he hadn’t even been able to do that. He’d let how he felt for her cloud his judgment.
Maybe alcohol hadn’t been his problem all those years ago with Janey. Maybe he just didn’t have the ability to think clearly when his emotions were involved. How fucking ironic was that? The more he cared for someone, the less he kept her safe. But when it came down to it, the reason why didn’t matter. All that mattered was that people close to him always got hurt. And this was no exception.
Sicoli hadn’t yet divulged his plans—he’d been a little preoccupied with beating the living shit out of him—but Aiden had a pretty good idea of some possibilities. And none of them were good.
When he’d woken up to Sully and Vinnie cuffing and gagging him, he’d been so relieved that Kat hadn’t been in the room. He’d had hope that she’d stay gone long enough for Sicoli and his goons to make their threats or do to him whatever they had planned and then leave before she returned.
But then Sicoli ordered his men to go find her and, for the first time, Aiden prayed like hell that Kat had finally gotten smart enough to leave him. That she’d taken the keys to the Nova and skipped out on him and never looked back.
Unfortunately for her, she’d only gone down for some breakfast. And here he was, failing to do the only thing he’d wanted to do since he’d discovered Kat was in trouble: protect her.
Kat took a step forward, placing herself between Aiden and Sicoli. “Listen, I’ll pay you back however I have to, but you have to leave him out of it. He has nothing to do with any of this.”
“The hell I don’t,” Aiden ground out. “I’m the one who fucked up the new agreement, Sicoli. Consider her debt and whatever else as mine now and cut her loose. She’s not gonna make you the kind of money I can.”
“Oh, don’t be so sure of that, my friend.” Sicoli’s gaze slid over Kat’s body like a wolf admiring a lame sheep. “I could make quite a deal of money on her with the right customer.”
The chains on the cuffs rattled as he yanked on them until he felt the metal bite into his flesh and the trickling of warm blood on his forearms. Glaring at him with his one good eye, Aiden promised, “Over my dead body, asshole.”
“Yes. It will be,” the man agreed. “Because I’m giving you one more chance to make me a shitload of money, O’Brien. You fuck up again and not only will I kill you, but I’ll be forced to use your girlfriend to settle the debt for both of you.”
Aiden watched Kat pale even as she squared her shoulders and faced the demon threatening to send her into her worst nightmares. “Then why wait when you can skip all that and go for the sure bet? Take me and end this fucking thing already.”
“Kat! Shut the hell up!”
She swung her gaze to him, her blue eyes swimming in the tears he knew she prayed wouldn’t fall. He hated yelling at her, but if Sicoli took her up on her offer, she’d be lost forever. He’d have no way of finding her. No way of saving her.
“This was never your fight,” she said to him. “I can’t let you risk your life for me anymore. I love you too much.”
Behind her, Sicoli got to his feet and crossed to the foot of the bed. “This is touching and all, but you’re both forgetting that I’m the one making the rules here. So this is how it’s going to work.”
Sicoli gave a signal with his hand. Sully drew near with a roll of duct tape while Vinnie grabbed Kat by the arms and hauled her away from the bed. Shit was about to get real and he had no idea how to stop it.
“You’re going to fight the championship fight in the Four by Four on Saturday. This time you will go down in the third round. And to make sure you do, I’ll be holding on to the girl until it’s over.”
“Don’t worry, Irish,” Vinnie sneered as he dragged a meaty paw down Kat’s neck to her breast and gave it a hard squeeze. “I’ll take good care of her for you.”
Kat elbowed Vinnie in the solar plexus then back-fisted his face when he instinctively hunched forward, just like Aiden had taught her in the barn that day. Before Vinnie knew what hit him, he’d had the breath knocked out of him and a swollen lip. Unfortunately the hit hadn’t been hard enough to incapacitate him. He recovered from the shock quickly and backhanded her across the face, knocking her to the floor.
Aiden saw red and struggled against his restraints as he roared with an all-consuming rage. “You motherfucker, I’m gonna—”
Before he could describe his plans to choke Vinnie with his own intestines, Sully landed a cross-punch that damn near snapped Aiden’s head off. He heard Kat scream his name and beg them not to hurt him anymore as the pain lanced through his skull and the coppery tang of blood flooded his mouth. He’d just barely spit it out when Sully slapped a length of tape across his lips.
Aiden felt like a pressure cooker about to explode. The beast inside him raged. His nostrils flared and his chest heaved with rapid breathing. If it wasn’t for the metal cuffs restraining him, he’d have torn each of them limb from limb for making Kat cry, much less trying to take her away.
As Vinnie yanked her back to her feet, Sicoli adjusted his shirt cuffs under his suit and doled out parting instructions. “If I were you, O’Brien, I’d focus on what you need to do this weekend in the fight. You do that, and all this will be over. I’ll take my money and my associates and neither of you will ever have to see me again.”
Placing his fists on the mattress, Sicoli leaned in, staying just far enough away that Aiden couldn’t head-butt him into next week. Cold gray eyes revealed the black soul of a man who viewed others as pawns he could use and manipulate to his advantage.
“You even think of double-crossing me and I’ll toss that bitch to the wolves until there’s nothing left of her. Understood?” Aiden gave the barest hint of a nod. “Good,” he said with a couple of pats on Aiden’s cheek. “Then I’ll see you Saturday. The key to the cuffs is on the desk. Housekeeping will make their rounds in a couple of hours.”
Sicoli turned and signaled to the other men. As they prepared to leave the room, Kat tried desperately to keep eye contact with him. She apologized to him over and over as she cried. He cursed the tape over his mouth that prevented him from telling her it was going to be okay. That he would save her. But all he could do was watch as they took her away from him.
It took three hours before a woman from housekeeping entered the room. Thankfully she didn’t scare easily. Instead of running screaming from the room as he’d expected, she muttered a few choice words in another language and rushed to help him.
Once he was free, he hurriedly dressed—which wasn’t easy, since his arms were numb—and grabbed his wallet and keys from the room safe. He took out two hundred dollars and gave it to the maid for her help and her discretion, then gathered the rest of their things and prepared to hightail it out of there. But before he could start the drive back to Alabaster, there was one thing he had to do.
Picking up the phone, he dialed a number and held his breath while it rang. After four rings, he was about to give up when a voice as familiar as his own came over the line.
“Patterson.” Aiden’s throat constricted, making it hard to answer. “Hello? Anyone there?”
He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Hey, Joey. It’s uh—”
“Jesus Christ,” he cut in. “Aid? That you?”
Aiden peered over his shoulder. He was uncomfortable enough making the call; he didn’t need an audience to add to it. But the maid was busy stripping the bed of bloody sheets while humming to herself. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“It’s been, what, five years? You were wicked good at dodging me. I didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again.”
He tensed his jaw and immediately regretted it when a sharp pain struck him like another punch. Between his injuries and talking to his ex–best friend, Aiden needed some Vicodin and a Glenlivet. “I know. I was a huge coward. Believe me, you couldn’t have done or said anything to punish me more than I did myself,” he said, gazing out the window. “But I still shouldn’t have denied you the opportunity to try. It’s your right.”
“You’re such a fucking asshole, you know that?” Finally, the anger Aiden expected had seeped into Joey’s voice. “You think I don’t know that what happened to Janey was an accident? You loved her like a sister. You woulda never hurt her on purpose.”
Aiden frowned. “So then why all the attempts at getting ahold of me?”
“Because I’d just lost my sister, and I needed to grieve with my best friend, you selfish fucking prick. I needed you, but all you could think about was yourself and your guilt.”
Holy shit. Aiden reeled. Joey was right. He’d been a selfish coward, only thinking of himself—his guilt, his pain—when he should have been concerned for the man who was like his brother.
Regret stung the backs of his eyes. Pressing his thumb and forefinger against his closed lids, he strained to get his words past the lump in his throat. “Joey, I’m…I’m so goddamn sorry, man. You’re right and I don’t deserve it, but I hope that someday you can forgive me.”
A sigh came through the receiver. “I forgave you forever ago, Aid. You just never gave me the chance to tell you.”
Aiden felt like he’d finally broken free of the steel band that had been slowly squeezing the life out of him since the night of Janey’s death. He took a deep, cleansing breath for the first time in forever and vowed to himself to be a better man going forward. “Thanks, man. I’m gonna make it up to you, I swear.”