Conned (16 page)

He had been naked except for the towel wrapped around his
hips and held in a fist to keep it closed when she ran into him. She got a
better look at the tattoo on his chest and could only make out the Celtic
symbol for family and the beautiful vine that looped through it before he
quickly stepped away and cleared the door so she could enter the bathroom.

She already knew that the Brannock's were close, but his
sense of family and the love shared between them was much deeper than she could
ever know. At least to him.

When she hadn't moved into the bathroom right away and stood
like a statue staring at his naked torso, he placed his hand on her back and
gently pushed her in before shutting the door behind her. No man should be that
sexy. It had to go against nature or
something
.

She finished seasoning the chicken, her mind jumping back
and forth from Conall to Rayce. Two completely different men in more ways than
one and both of which meant more to her than she wanted to allow.

She was opening the oven when the sound of footsteps
approaching their apartment made her pause. Was he coming back? Was he thinking
along the same lines and decided he couldn't take it anymore?

Yeah, because you're just that lucky, Em.

Maybe it was paranoia, but she stopped what she was doing
and strained her ears, holding her breath when the footsteps stopped right
outside the front door.

One breath, in and out. Two. In.

The door burst open and crashed to the floor and it took her
an embarrassing second too long to realize that it wasn't Conall and she was in
danger. She needed a weapon and flicked her eyes back and forth across the kitchen
in search of one. The only thing that would be effective was the butcher knife
in the sink… five steps away.

She didn't have a chance to move before a man who looked
like he belonged in a motorcycle club stepped into the kitchen with a gun
pointing right at her. The pounding of her heart stopped altogether and bile
started to rise up her throat. This was it. They had found her and she was
dead.

"Don't move," he growled, his voice like
sandpaper.

She stayed frozen, but her body began to tremble like a leaf
as her eyes locked on his. Muddy brown and cold and, oddly, so very familiar.
His face was covered in a thick dark scruff and his dark hair was long and
pulled back into a low ponytail. A jagged scar ran across his cheek at an angle
and it looked somewhat new, still red and slightly swollen. Her mind was too
jumbled to flip through the images of people from her past and when he stepped
closer, it took all her effort to concentrate on not passing out. She couldn't
place him and immediately stopped trying.

"W-what do you want?" she stuttered, her voice
weak and shaky.

He smirked, so unlike the smirk she had started to look
forward to every day. Conall's was warm and teasing. This man looked like he
was going to rip her to pieces, but only after he took what he wanted.

"Now that I've seen you, I can understand why he wants
you alive." He licked his lips and looked her up and down slowly with a
tainted smile.

She felt dirty under his perusal and the bile in her throat
was burning more with every passing second. He wasn't going to kill her, but
dying would be a mercy compared to all the other things he could do to her.

Her only thought was that Conall might still be close or
Luke should be able to see the broken door and would come to check on her. She
had to bide her time until one of them could get to her. If she could just get
passed this disgusting bastard, she could make a run for it.

Maybe Conall was still in his truck going through the radio
stations like he always did. If she could get outside and yell for him…

She glanced toward the door and back before she could stop
herself.

"Don't even think about it," he sneered and took a
step closer.

Her back hit the counter behind her as she moved away from
him. He waved the gun, gesturing for her to come closer to him.

"You're coming with me. You fight? I stop you. Got
it?"

A flash in the doorway made her breath catch, but she nodded
her head and kept her eyes on the gun still being aimed at her.

"Don't move, asshole," Conall's voice growled and
she was finally able to focus on what was behind her attacker.

Conall's blue eyes zeroed in on the back of the guys head,
exactly where his gun was aimed and she bit her lip to stop from crying out in
relief. He hadn't left yet and he wasn't going to let anything happen to her.
She wanted to burst into tears of happiness.

The man didn't drop his gun, but he stiffened and his eyes
darted around from side to side looking for an escape. She suddenly worried
that his desperation wouldn't bode well for any of them and she stayed frozen
against the counter, staring at the two men before her. The slightest movement
from anyone could end in a gun being fired and any one of them being killed.
She wasn't about to make a move to get away when the risk was too high.

Conall's eyes moved to her and warmed when he met her stare,
making the tension in her body ease just a little. He was there to protect her
and she trusted him with her life. How could she not? His eyes roamed her body
quickly as if he was making sure she didn't have any injuries and it took
everything she had to keep her feet planted firmly where she stood and not run
to him.

Those fierce blue eyes moved back to the man in between them
and the warmth she saw in them disappeared. "Drop the weapon and put your
hands on your head," he demanded.

"You're making a big mistake," the guy chuckled.
"Either way, you're both dead. Ripley won't stop."

"We'll see. Now drop it."

The man slowly lowered his arm as if he was going to drop
the gun to the floor and Emily relaxed a little more with every inch. Just
before the gun touched the ground, he crouched down further and lunged for her,
locking her in his arms and spinning her in front of him before she could get
out of his reach. She sucked in a breath of surprise, the man was huge and shouldn't
have been able to move
that
fast. When she felt the barrel of the gun
press into her temple, her knees buckled and the threat of tears was back,
burning in the back of her eyes. For the first time in her life, she felt pure
terror.

Oh God, I'm going to die.

Conall jolted toward them quickly, his face a mask of fury,
but his eyes looked just as fearful as she felt. He stopped abruptly when the
man tsked in her ear and his hot breath slithered down her neck.

"Ah, ah, ah. Drop your gun or she gets one in the
head."

She saw another flicker of panic in Conall's bright blue
eyes and her stomach dropped. If he was unsure, she was totally fucked.

"Please," she whispered.

The voice at her ear chuckled evilly. "So polite,"
he muttered.

"What the hell do you want?" Conall growled, his
gun still pointed at the guy and his eyes darting back and forth between him
and Emily. The mask slipped and his face crumpled for just a half a second
before he schooled his features and pointed that intense glare back at the man holding
her.

She knew he wouldn't fire. He wouldn't risk her life like
that and this guy had just told her that he needed to bring her back alive. An
idea flickered through her mind and she took a deep breath and focused on
Conall and the determination on his face. No way was she going to let this guy
take her to Lucien Ripley, so she had nothing to lose. She would rather die
than be taken from Conall so there really was no other choice.

"I'm no good to you dead," her voice shook and she
bit her cheek to keep her tears from falling. Her breath was coming in quick
but wavered with every exhale and her hands trembled uncontrollably.

The grip around her tightened and squeezed the breath from
her lungs. "I would shut that pretty mouth of yours quickly before I find
something to fill it with," he whispered in her ear. He had meant for
Conall to hear it and she knew he had when she saw the ferocity in his eyes.

"He's not going to kill me," she said to him, her
voice stronger than she thought it would be. "He has to take me back alive
and they'll probably kill him the minute he hands me over."

"Shut up!"

"Emily…" Conall said with a warning.

He looked like he wanted to throttle her for egging the guy
on, but she had to distract him enough to give Conall a shot.

"I'd rather die anyway," she whispered, her eyes
pleading with him to take the shot.

"Shut the fuck up, whore!"

She stared into Conall's eyes and the slight twitch of his
lips told her he knew exactly what she was doing.

"What? You don't work for him right? You're just a
hired goon to clean up the loose ends. He has no need for you once the job is
done."

The hold around her waist was painful and the gun pressed
harder against her temple. He was upset and only getting angrier. Any second
and he would lose his control.

His hot breath blew in her ear and his gravelly voice made
her cringe, "I have nothing to do with Ripley and the people I work for
might want you back alive, but they never said anything about untouched."

That's when he made the mistake she had been waiting for.
His hold on her loosened and his hand moved to her breast and squeezed it…
hard.

A disgusting shiver ran straight down her spine and made her
stomach roll. She shot a hard look at Conall, gathered all her strength and
lifted on her toes before dropping down hard with all her weight. The gun slid
through her hair before pressing against air and she crashed to the floor as
Conall fired. Before she could crawl away, the man landed on her back, sending
her sprawling and forcing out the scream she had been holding in, certain he
was about to get the upper hand once more.

The weight of the man was like a car and she couldn't get
away from him no matter how hard she pushed, but she couldn't stop trying.

"Hold on, Emily," Conall said as he moved toward
them.

She relaxed at the sound of his voice and realized why the
man wasn't grabbing her
at all
and why his weight was so immovable.

Conall had shot him in the head. He was dead.

And on top of her.

His blood was streaming down her back and over her shoulder.

She started shaking violently now and was about to vomit
when suddenly the weight was lifted off of her and she was able to drag herself
away.

The feel of Conall's arms wrapping around her waist was like
being reborn. He pulled her into his chest and sat down hard on the tile floor,
dragging her with him to lean against the door of the oven. He held her tightly
and buried his nose in her hair while she sobbed into his chest.

"It's alright. I've got you. You're okay," he
whispered into her hair and it only made her cry harder.

Sirens sounded in the distance and the smell of blood was
overpowering, but the only thing she could focus on was Conall's hard chest and
the iron band he had formed around her body.

"I've got you, baby. You're safe now," he mumbled
softly.

She raised her head to look at him and his sapphire eyes
were anxious as he stared down at her. He moved a hand to her cheek and pushed
the hair out of her eyes before cupping her jaw and running his gaze over every
inch of her face.

A catch of her breath was all she heard before his lips
crashed against hers. The kiss was demanding but gentle and she didn't hesitate
to kiss him back. When he ran his tongue along her bottom lip, she opened for
him and he greedily accepted her invitation, her tongue eagerly meeting his.
Strong fingers tangled in her hair and pulled her face closer, allowing him to
consume her the way she wanted him to since that first kiss they shared weeks
ago. She reached up and raked her fingers through his hair at the nape of his
neck and he groaned, the sound causing the heat inside of her to flare into a
raging inferno.

"Please," she begged, not sure why she was
begging, just that she needed to.

He continued to kiss her, his fingers tugging her hair
before moving over her jaw and down her neck. She was only vaguely aware that
this was extremely bad timing. She didn't care.

"Con! Talk to me!"

He tore his lips away, both of them gasping for air, and
pressed his forehead against hers for a moment before turning his head to shout
toward the open door.

"He's down. We're good."

In the next moment, Luke came charging into the kitchen with
his gun raised. When he took in the body lying in the middle of the floor, he
lowered the gun and turned to look at them.

"What the hell happened?"

Emily turned her face into Conall's chest once more and took
deep breaths, not wanting to look at the man who would have taken her and done
things she couldn't imagine if it hadn't been for Conall. His arm held her
firmly against him as he spoke to Luke, but Emily couldn't process any of what
they were saying and by the time she looked back, there were three more
officers that had entered the apartment.

"Emily."

She looked away from the hard faces of the men standing
there staring at her, and up into Conall's eyes. "Yeah?"

"We need to get you cleaned up and out of here. He may
not be the only one around," he said gently.

She nodded and started to pull away, but his arms
constricted around her and he spoke quietly into her ear.

"Let me carry you, please."

Her response was the tightening of her fingers around his
broad shoulders and he shifted to lift her into his arms and stand. Her head
immediately fell against his shoulder and the adrenaline that had been pumping
through her minutes before was now long gone, leaving exhaustion in its wake.

Luke stepped right up to them and spoke in a low voice,
"Should I call Ash and have her meet you at the house?"