Fallen from Grace (17 page)

When he looked up, Onis was laughing. Brynn led him toward a small bedroom near the entry, he let her, but as soon as Onis and his friends could no longer see him, Judas ran to the elevator and punched the button. He stepped inside and lit up the button for the parking garage.

He saw Brynn’s hands on her hips, and a confused look on her face as the door closed. Judas didn’t know how much time he had before Onis and his friends would realize he was gone. For a moment, he wished he would have taken the stairs, but when his body swayed, and he had to lean against the wall, he knew he wouldn’t have made it far. He probably would have fallen and broken his neck.

When the elevator stopped, he got out and searched for Onis’s bike. He found it next to a red Mercedes and got on. He heard someone yelling as he revved the engine, and looked up to see Onis and three of his clones come running from the emergency exit. He smiled and saluted them before he peeled out of the parking garage and onto the street.

The lights were too bright and made him dizzy.

Several streets down he got the feeling he was being followed—he turned right, and the car followed. Judas shouldn’t have been driving—he was reckless as he swerved between cars, cutting a few corners at forty miles per hour before he finally lost the car following him.
Where was he going?
Judas knew it was a terrible fucking idea, but he couldn’t control himself.

He
had
to see Grace.

F
OR
THE
SECOND
TIME
TONIGHT
, Grace was glancing through her peephole. A man she didn’t know was standing in the hallway. She hesitantly opened the door and took a deep breath, immediately wishing she had put some clothes on. The man looked up and down the hall, then inside her apartment toward the bathroom, and her stomach tensed.

“Can I help you?”

The man cleared his throat as he uncomfortably diverted his gaze to the floor; it made him seem like less of a threat, and slightly relieved her anxiety.

“My name is David Pearson. I work as a security detail for Congressman Randall.” He glanced into her eyes as if conveying his honesty. “If you would like to call and confirm what I say is true, I’ll give you a moment.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked. “Are you here to watch me?”

Clearing his throat, he pulled a phone from his pocket. “I believe it would be best for you to speak with the Congressman.” He pressed send with his thumb and handed her the phone.

Grace reluctantly took it from him and shut the door. The phone rang once, and Ellis picked up.

“So, I’ve met David Pearson,” she said bitterly.

“We talked about this.”

“No, you came up with the idea and never gave me a choice. I don’t need someone to watch me when I’m at home.”

“Yes, you do. You need someone with you at all times.”

“Wait a minute.” She snorted. “You want me to take Burke’s doppelganger to work with me? I don’t think so. It would make me
and
my patients uncomfortable.”

“I don’t have time to talk about this. I’m in the middle of something important, Grace. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

She felt the anger rising, but the last thing she needed to do was create suspicion—not when Judas was in her closet. “I was in the shower. When I heard a knock at my door, I thought it was you coming to apologize for the way you’d left.” It was sort of the truth. As angry as she was, Grace couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“We’ll talk about this tomorrow. I have a meeting in the morning. I’ll pick you up, and we can talk over lunch.”

“And what about the guy standing in my hallway?”

“He stays.”

She closed her eyes. Grace wanted to end this phone call amicably because she didn’t need Ellis to show up, but tomorrow at lunch, would be a different story. “This conversation isn’t going to end here, Ellis.”

“I’m positive that it’s not, but I need to get back inside.” Grace imagined the politicians surrounded by cigar smoke in some stuffy private club and drinking a top dollar liquor. “Goodnight, Grace.”

“Goodnight.”

She hung up and opened her door. Her first impression had been damn close. David could be Burke’s brother.

Grace gave him back his phone. “It’s confirmed.”

“Good.” He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his gray eyes. “I’ll be around if you need me.”

She nodded and shut the door. What exactly did that mean? This was too much.

Judas
.

Excitement shot through her belly as she walked into her bedroom and opened her closet. It was a walk-in with a rack on each side that ran straight back, and the far wall was a built-in for shoes and purses. Judas was sitting on the floor with his legs pulled up and his elbows braced against his knees; his hands were holding his head up, and his fingers were fisted in his black hair.

He mumbled something when she walked in, but didn’t look up.

“Are you okay, Judas?”

Grace crouched down beside him. When she touched his skin, she panicked. It felt feverish and clammy. It brought back memories of Cade; she had taken care of him when he was like this too many times. Judas needed her, and she wasn’t going to let him down. Tears filled her eyes as she swallowed the lump that threatened to crack her armor.

“Look at me,” she demanded.

He slowly moved his hands and looked at her. His pupils were huge, and his eyes bloodshot.

“What did you take?”

Shaking his head, he mumbled, “I didn’t
willingly
take anything.” His head fell back but was stopped by a stack of purses. “I was drugged.”

Grace wanted to know what he was given, but she was more concerned with his well-being. His dilated pupils and slurred speech provided her with an idea, though she hoped she was wrong. “Get up,” she said and grabbed him under the arms.

When he was standing, he leaned against her. “Mmm….You smell
so
good,” he murmured.

His breath tickled her ear, and it was hard not to laugh.

“You need to take a shower.” Grace ushered him into the bathroom, moved her clothes off the bench and made him sit down. She was surprised to find the running water still warm. “What are you on? Do you know?”

When he didn’t answer, Grace glanced at him. He was leaning forward with his elbows propped up and his head in his hands.

Grace kneeled down in front of him and lifted his face. “Come on, Judas. Please, get in the shower. It’ll help sober you up.”

He opened his eyes. “I feel so ashamed. I’m sorry to show up here like this.” Grace stood and turned away. She heard a sharp intake of air. “Your brother. I’m so sorry, Grace. I didn’t think.”

“Obviously.” She spun around. “How did you get here, Judas?”

He leaned forward. “Honestly, I have no idea how I got here in one piece. I should have died. Several times.” He paused, looking at his hands. “I wish I would have.”

“I can’t believe you would say that.”

“Why?” Judas stood, and it made Grace’s heart lurch in her chest. “This feeling in my chest,” he rubbed the area, “
hurts
. I can barely breath, Grace. I don’t want to live like this. Nothing matters without you. I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t see you or touch you.”

He walked toward her and stopped less than a foot away. His hair fell in a haphazard mess that she found incredibly sexy, and it made her want to lace her fingers through it and tug his lips to hers.

“I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t kiss you,” he continued as if reading her thoughts. “I’m better off dead.”

“I would never forgive you.”

The words left her mouth before she could think about it. Judas stood in front of her, dripping sex appeal in his fictitious bad boy form. This was the person he pretended to be—a reckless, wild child who didn’t care about anything or anyone.

Grace took the single step separating them, threaded her fingers in his hair, and pulled his lips to hers. As soon as she was touching him, she felt alive. It made her want to cry, and she felt the tears burning for release.

He hugged her against him as his tongue slid into her mouth. Judas moaned and deepened the kiss as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Ripping the sash away, he exposed her bare body and snaked one arm around her waist as the other gripped her left thigh. Grace held onto his arms as Judas trailed kisses across her cheek and down her neck.

Her eyes flew open when he picked her up and plopped her on the bathroom counter. He leaned in to kiss her again, but she caught a glimpse of something red on his collar. Grace put her hands on Judas’s chest and stopped him. His hooded gaze moved from her lips to her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

She pushed him away and pushed off the counter. Pulling her robe together, Grace looked into the mirror and saw the perfect, red lips imprinted on his neck and smeared across his white collar. Judas looked into the mirror and met her gaze, then saw it too.

His eyes flew to hers and he started apologizing. “I swear, I didn’t sleep with anyone, Grace. I didn’t even know her.”

She laughed and crossed her arms. “Well, isn’t that a relief.”

He was about to continue, but stopped and gave her a hopeful look. “Really?”

“I was being sarcastic, Judas.”

The hopeful look in his eyes died. “Of course. Do you want me to leave?”

Grace grabbed a towel off a rack behind her. The defeat in his voice was gut-wrenching, but she was angry. Angry at Ellis for taking away her choices, and angry at Judas for turning her life upside down and making her break every rule in the relationship handbook.

Don’t cheat.

Don’t lie.

Don’t have a gorgeous man in your bathroom when you’re half-naked and kiss his face off.

“Unfortunately, leaving is not an option right now.” She threw him the towel, and it hit him in the face. He caught it, looking genuinely confused. Grace couldn’t look him in the eye. “Ellis has somebody here, watching me.”

When she finally looked at him, she wish she hadn’t. He looked furious. “It’s for my own protection,” Grace added, but her voice lacked the certainty it required to convince him. How could she when she didn’t even believe it was the real reason behind David Pearson’s presence.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better. Take a shower, Judas.”

Grace walked past him, out of the bathroom, and closed the door behind her. When she heard him open the glass shower door, she turned the tv on and looked for something big enough for him to wear. She also picked out a pair of pajamas for herself, ones that covered everything but her hands and feet.

Thinking about another woman touching Judas made her want to scream, but she knew she shouldn’t care. She was getting married. She had made her choice.

She tore through her drawers and closet. On the top shelf above her shoes was Cade’s box—the contents were all she had left of him. Neither her mother nor her father knew she still had them as her father believed any attachment to such
personal
items only hurt a person, but Grace didn’t care; her entire life was in this box. Cade was her brother, her best friend, and she couldn’t just throw everything away.

She took the clothes out and put the lid back on before she saw anything else. Grace put the box back on the shelf and walked out of her closet. Judas was standing in her bedroom with a towel hanging loosely around his hips. Her eyes followed the muscled V that dipped beneath the towel. When her gaze trailed back up, she saw Judas was staring at the clothes she was holding.

“These were my brothers,” she said, handing them to him. “They should fit.” Even after the shower, she could smell the whiskey on him, and the taste was still on her tongue.

“Grace, I’m really sorry I upset you.”

“What exactly are you sorry for?” She glanced away and shook her head as she cited each thing he
could
be referencing. “For showing up here drunk and on drugs? For almost dying in the process? Or for wishing that you would have died?” She glared at him.

“I’m sorry for everything. I know I shouldn’t have come here. I was...” His voice broke. “It was stupid, I know. I could have hurt someone.”

“You could have hurt yourself,” Grace murmured. She couldn’t look at him. “I’m going to make you something to eat so you can get dressed.”

He put his right hand on her stomach as she passed, but when her gaze zeroed in on it, he dropped it to his side. “I don’t think I can eat anything. I just need to sleep this off.”

Her hands were clammy, and everything inside of her was begging her to rip the towel away from his body so that nothing separated her eyes from one single inch of him. “You can sleep in the bed. You’re too tall for my couch.” Grace turned to the door.

“Where are you going to sleep?”

Her gaze met his.
Wherever you’re sleeping
. “The c-couch,” she stammered, and immediately flushed. After everything Ellis had told her, she should hate him, so why did this man make her feel like this?

“No, I’m not letting you sleep on your sofa. This is your home, and you have to work tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday, Judas.”