Kian

  “It’ll be fine.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Wait for my signal.”

  A news van rushed down the street. As Kian made his way to the tree, jumping over and catching a branch, the van pulled onto the lawn. The media was going to catch us. Kian wrapped his legs around the trunk and then slid down in seconds. He was beneath the window, raising his arms. Before he said anything, I pointed to the front of the house. Seeing the media, he waited.

  A reporter and a camera guy rushed inside.

  Kian called out, “Jump. I’ll get you.”

  I took a deep breath and climbed onto the window frame. My eyes clung to his. “Are you sure?”

  His arms went higher. His voice was strong. “Trust me.”

  After a second breath, I pushed off and jumped.

  Kian caught me. A flutter filled my stomach. It rose to my throat, spreading to my fingers and toes, as I slid down his body. His hand took mine, and we started to head to the back.

  A man appeared in front of us, and Kian braked.

  “It’s me,” the stranger said.

  Kian shook his head, tugging me behind him. He grinned ruefully at the man. “Perfect timing.”

  “Yeah, well, we might still be screwed. Someone from the party must have alerted the media. There’s another news van in the back. I think they went inside already, but two more channels are heading to us. We have to move quick.”

  “Jo!”

  I looked over my shoulder. Jake was in the window, staring at us in disbelief. As his gaze touched on me, another wave of guilt swept over me. He looked to Kian, and then his eyes fell to our linked hands. A second wave crashed over me.

  I couldn’t think about that, not now. “We have to go. Now.”

  The stranger scanned a shrewd eye over me. His lips lifted into a slight smirk. “We’re aware. Follow me.”

  He turned and led the way. No one was in the backyard, but the stranger and Kian kept to the side of the yard. They hugged close to the neighbor’s fence and then paused when we got to the back alley.

  The stranger waved us ahead. “My car’s at the end. Go, and get in the back.”

  “They’re back here!” someone shouted from the house.

  I didn’t look back. Kian started down the alley, and I was right behind him. The news van didn’t look like anyone was inside, but the side door opened. I didn’t have time to react. Kian reacted for me. He caught my waist and pulled me behind a garage door. It blocked us from their view, whomever it was. He held us there. As we waited, he was pressed against me, shielding me.

  He nuzzled against my ear. “They didn’t see us. We’ll go when they’re gone.”

  I closed my eyes, inhaling the scent of him for a second. This was all sorts of wrong, all sorts of bad timing, but I grabbed the front of his shirt and pressed myself against him. It was a tiny gesture, but Kian went still, and he looked down, gazing at me under lidded eyes. His hand lifted to cup my cheek. His eyes darkened, and he started to bend down. His lips hovered over mine, breathing into me, but he didn’t touch them to mine. I wanted it. My hands grasped him tighter. Neither of us could look away.

  We heard a whisper, “Clear. Go.”

  Kian fell backward, back out to the alley. I fell with him. It was like breaking through cement to pull my gaze from his. Then, we were off and running for the car. Kian got there faster and had the back door open and ready for us. I dove inside, and he was right behind me, his hand going to my hip. He guided me down, all the way below the seat, and he flattened himself over me.

  His mouth was above mine. His face was right there. My heart was pounding— from the jumping, from the running, and now from the close proximity.

  “Jordan?”

  “Yeah?” My breath was stuck in my throat.

  “There’s a blanket underneath you. I’m going to grab it.”

  “Oh, yeah.” I moved as he reached underneath for it, lifting up my body so he could pull it clear.

  Kian spread it over both of us, and we waited.

  “You think they’ll see us?”

  “No, they won’t be looking here.” He grimaced. “I hope not anyway.”

  “Who’s that guy?”

  “Cal, my private investigator, but he’s my go-to guy for everything.”

  “What’s he doing?”

  “He’s waiting behind to see what they know. That’ll help us get a jump on damage control.” A second grimace from him. “I hope.”

  That made sense. A second question formed. “Kian?”

  “Hmm?”

  Erica’s face flashed in my mind again along with how Jake looked at us as I ran with Kian while we were holding hands.

  “What am I going to do now?”

  I was no longer Jo Keen.

  I was Jordan Emory.

  Cal didn’t stick around.

  He dropped us off—or he dropped me off. Kian remained in the car, and whatever they had to say, it didn’t take too long. I waited in the doorway before going into the hotel through the back way.

  When Kian approached, he took his cap off and gave it to me. With a guiding hand on my back, he walked beside me. I kept my head bent down as we maneuvered to the private elevator. Once inside the penthouse, I went straight to the liquor cabinet.

  Kian pulled his phone out, but he held it in his hand as I poured a healthy shot of whiskey. It burned but not enough. I switched to tequila, and three shots later, some of the storm started to ebb. I was hoping to be numb.

  Kian moved, so he was leaning against the counter, right behind me. He lifted an eyebrow. “Better?”

  I swallowed. Nope, I could still feel it. I poured another. “Getting there,” I rasped out.

  “Jordan.” He reached for the bottle.

  I held it away, using my hip to check him. He would have to reach around me to get it. Our eyes met and held.

  I winced, seeing the sympathy in his gaze. “Stop it,” I ground out.

  No sympathy. No pity party. No I’m sorry. None of that shit would do. My life was done, but I was going to get drunk before I had to face it.

  I reached for the phone. His fingers tightened on it, but he used the touch to move closer to me. He was now crowding me against the counter. Desire pooled inside me, and I swallowed, licking my lips, as I reacted to the smoldering in his eyes.

  I murmured, “One night. Give me one night before you call in the cavalry.”

  His fingers moved, so he was holding my hand as I was holding his phone now. “One night?”

  I nodded.

  The tequila was finally working. I felt the world slipping away. The flames he’d lit inside me were getting higher and higher. They were scorching me from the inside out, and I was so close to forgetting why I was asking for one night.

  A tear slipped down my cheek. I wanted to forget. I wanted it all to be pushed at bay. “Kian,” I whispered, “they all know.”

  He cupped the side of my face. “That just means they’ll know the truth.”

  Maybe. Maybe not. I was too scared to hope.

  I put his phone on the counter, and my hand went to his side, and I held on to him there, as if he were going to slip away.

  “I need to call my lawyers and my publicist.”

  I pressed against him.

  He raked a hand down the back of my hair, soothing me. “But it’s just to tell them where I am. They have to get everything ready and fly here. They’ll be here by morning.”

  Morning.

  I wasn’t ready. When they came, the small hideaway we had would be gone, but I nodded, letting go of his side. “Call them.”

  He didn’t move away. His hand still clasped me to him as he took the phone and dialed the number. He pulled me to his chest.

  I could hear his voice through him as he called the lawyers first. An Ethan person wasn’t allowed to come. The lawyer on the phone was fine with that. The second call was to Laura and her publicist team. She asked about Felicia. Kian hesitated and then said he’d call her later. His thi
rd call was to Cal, and he only relayed that his team would be coming.

  When he was done, I expected him to put the phone on the counter, but he didn’t. After dialing another number, he held the phone to me.

  “What?” I took it.

  “Call Snark. Tell him whatever you want.”

  I was dumbstruck. I had no family and no friends now, but he was right. Snark would be concerned.

  When he answered, he grunted into the phone, “I’m already on my way. Where is she?”

  “It’s me.” I smoothed a hand down my hair, turning sideways but still in Kian’s arms.

  My shoulder and side rested against his chest. One of his hands fell to my hip, anchoring me in place.

  Snark was silent and then asked, “Are you okay?”

  “I’m drinking tequila.”

  “That’s a no?”

  I snorted. “I’m at Kian’s.”

  “I’m already on my way.”

  “You are?”

  “I was coming to have a word with him anyway. You’re at the hotel? I’m pulling into the lot right now.”

  Kian felt my tension and murmured into my other ear, “What’s wrong?”

  Covering the phone, I replied, “He’s downstairs.”

  A curse left him, and he straightened away from me. While he was still holding my hip, his eyes didn’t leave mine. “I need to call my lawyers one more time. Can you stall him?”

  I nodded.

  My eyebrows pinched together, but I hung up and gave him the phone. He went into the back with it as I went to let Snark inside from the elevator. He rushed past me, looking all around. He was wearing a brown trench coat, and his hair was sticking in the air, like he’d been grabbing at it. Worry lines surrounded his eyes and were at the corners of his mouth. He seemed to have aged ten years. The smell of cigarettes and cologne clung to him.

  “Where is he?” He started for the living room and then the first opened bedroom door.

  “On the phone.”

  He smirked, rounding back to me. “With his lawyers?”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah. Why?”

  He rolled his eyes, grabbing at his hair. He surveyed me and then gestured for the door. “Come on. I want you to come with me.”

  “With you?” I stepped back against the counter.

  Kian was still in the back room. The door was closed shut, but the thought of leaving him sliced me up inside.

  “No.”

  “This is enough!” His voice rose. “This romantic bullshit you have going on with him is going to put you in prison. I don’t care what he’s said to you, but his team is behind the leak. They’re his team, not yours. You are not their client. They want you front and center for the public, and they are willing to crucify you. He’s going back up before a jury, and it’s out there. He’s let the world know that he killed Edmund—”

  “That was never in debate,” I cut him off.

  The party. The look on Erica’s face. Hiding again. Running. The tequila.

  All of it was rising together in one angry tornado in me. My voice started to shake but not from fear. “He has only said that he defended me. Edmund was torturing me. I fought and threw a book at the curtain. Kian was there. He was right outside and got a glimpse of what was going on. The right place, the right time. A second later, and he wouldn’t have seen a thing. Just one second later. But he was there, and he saved my life.”

  “Good,” Snark clamped out. “And you can testify to that when you’re called to the stand because he is going back on trial.”

  “No.” Kian’s voice was low, smooth. He moved from behind Snark, rounding to stand beside me.

  Kian’s face was like granite, closed off but so strong. His shoulders were tense. His hands were in fists as they folded over his chest, and he narrowed his eyes at the FBI agent.

  “I’m not actually. The district attorney just got off the phone with my lawyers. The case has been dropped. It borders too much on double jeopardy, and”—he skimmed over my face from the side of his eye—“they’re not going after Jordan either.”

  Snark flung his hands in the air. “But the media knows who she is now!” A nerve bulged out on the side of his neck. “They know her name. They know her new face. She’s ruined, Maston. There’s no going back for her.” He jerked forward, but his body rocked backward just as quick. He was shaking his head, glaring. “Why did you release the note? Why did you release her name?”

  “I didn’t.” Kian’s voice rose, but it was still low. It was still deadly.

  A shiver racked down my back. He was becoming colder with each accusation Snark flung at him.

  “Did you not want her to live without you? That’s what would’ve happened, right? You would’ve had to let her go. Can’t be with her when she’s got a different name and face. Can’t be with her when she should be with some other guy.” Snark kept shaking his head. Disgust filled his tone. “That’s why, isn’t it? It’s not to throw her to the wolves, try to pin Edmund’s death on her. It wasn’t to save your own ass. It was about her, and you’re not doing the right thing.”

  My heart was sinking lower and lower. I closed my eyes and started to turn away.

  Snark continued, “You couldn’t let her go. That’s what this is about. Why were you the one to save her from her foster father? And again, you saved her a second time. Why? Both can’t be coincidental.” He stopped, letting his words hang in the air.

  “You’re right.”

  Snark fell quiet, blinking at Kian.

  I moved forward, my heart lurching up to my throat. “He’s right?”

  Kian swung those dark eyes my way, making my chest feel punched.

  He said so quietly, “It wasn’t a coincidence. I mean, the first time. I wasn’t just walking by your house that day.”

  “You weren’t?”

  My heart was thumping hard.

  “Justin Cavers.”

  My head cocked to the side. “My ex-boyfriend?”

  His eyes were pinned to mine, so intense and so hypnotic. “I was coming to warn you about him.”

  My mouth was suddenly so dry. I licked my lips. “Why? He and I broke up a few weeks earlier.”

  “Because he was going to ask you out again.” He glanced in Snark’s direction, as if gauging his reaction. When there was none, he looked back to me. “Justin was an asshole to you.”

  I almost snorted. He didn’t have to tell me that. I fully knew.

  He added, “He was bragging to a lot of guys at a party the weekend before. He was going to ask you out again, but he had plans for you.”

  A second shiver slithered down my spine. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but I had a feeling that I already knew. Justin hadn’t been the most sensitive or gentlest of boyfriends.

  “The guys were teasing Justin that you’d gotten away.” Kian’s voice dipped low once more.

  My head lowered. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to even hear what he had to say.

  “He said he was going to rectify that at a party the next weekend. He told my best friend that he was going to ask you out