Heart in Wire: A by a Thread Companion Novel (18 page)

After suffering through the entire wedding with Millie slurring in his ear every five minutes about getting married, he’d thought he would die of aggravation. Then, when they were leaving, the two drunk women decided they wanted to go to a strip club. Now, he wasn’t against strip clubs, but this night couldn’t get any longer. He was having a hard time seeing George’s hands all over El and Millie was a drunken handful.

The Town Car that George hired dropped them off a block from the club and Millie was leading the way, swaying back and forth, talking animatedly about Kayce, Billy’s new girlfriend.

“Millie, come walk with me,” Patrick demanded, trying to prevent an accident.

She ignored him and continued to walk ahead of them, turning back and forth to talk to them. Patrick turned to look at El when he heard Millie scream. He watched her fly through the air, stopping when her face hit the sidewalk. Millie’s dress flew up and showed her round ass and creamy thighs for everyone to see.
Fuck.
Her face had actually broken her fall; she was so drunk that she didn’t even attempt to stop herself with her hands. Millie didn’t move for several seconds as she lay splayed out on the sidewalk.

“Oh my shit, Mil!” El bent down at the same time Patrick grabbed her dress and pulled her to stand.

Her chin and face were scraped and bleeding. He wiped the blood off her chin and dragged his hands down his tuxedo pants. Millie turned her hands over, palms up, to show him they were bleeding too. He inspected her legs and her knees, which were cut open in multiple places, blood streaming down her legs. He sighed.
Fucking porn martinis
.

“Am I okay?” she inquired, stunned.

El tried not to laugh. “No, you’re bleeding.”

“You’re fine,” Patrick assured her. They’d have to head home and get her cleaned up.

“My face hurts. Is my face bleeding?” Millie asked, putting her fingertips to her chin.

“Yes,” El answered.

“You’re fine, babe,” Patrick glared at El. “Just hold onto my hand and walk with me.”.

“Well, come on,” Millie slurred, pulling him toward the strip club.

He shook his head in amusement at George and led them into the club. When the girls want to go to the club, the girls go to the club, regardless of blood. Though he wasn’t so sure either of them had been to a strip club before…

George paid the cover for all of them, laughing as the girls practically skipped in, arm in arm.

“This is going to be so much fun!” Millie shrieked, still touching her face where she was bleeding.

Patrick cringed. The beat of the loud music shook his entire chest and there was a woman in a very small thong walking around on clear, slut-type shoes on the stage. She bent over and showed her waxed asshole to the crowd. He had no idea how strippers could wear the shoes they wore and move the way they did. He led Millie over to a table in the corner as the same woman pulled herself upside-down on the stripper pole.

“We need to get you one of those,” he joked in Millie’s ear.

“The shoes?” Millie asked. “I think I would bust my ass,” she answered seriously.

“The pole,” he retorted.

“I need ice for my knees,” Millie whined as they sat at the table.

“We’ll get you some,
Grace
,” El yelled over the music, “don’t worry.”

Patrick scowled at the multiple men staring at El as she sashayed up to the bar. In response, Patrick pulled Millie on his lap and ran his hand up her thigh.
Dick move, Greer.

“You’re really turned on when my face is bleeding?” Millie asked as she ran her fingers down her cheek.

And there goes the good time at the strip club
. He pulled his hand from her thigh and held it up in surrender. He probably wouldn’t be getting any tonight anyway, she was too drunk. This whole drunk girls at the strip club was a disaster. Millie moved over to the chair next to his, her bottom lip hanging so low in a pout she looked like a cartoon character.

Their server came over and set an ice bucket with a chilled bottle of champagne down on the table with four glasses, then carried a bag of ice to Millie and placed it gently on her bleeding knee.

Millie smiled politely. “Thank you.”

Millie’s face fell when the woman put a shot glass in between her tits and straddled Millie’s lap, careful not to sit on her knees. Millie looked at Patrick, her eyes wide with panic, urging him to help her. Instead, he laughed and gestured toward the shot glass with a wink. Millie’s face read shock, but then she dipped her head down toward the stripper’s tits and put her mouth around the shot glass, grabbing it with her lips. She leaned her head back and took the shot like a pro and then sat back to watch the blonde gyrate on her lap with a smirk on her face.

“I hate you!” Millie yelled at El over the music.

“You should’ve seen your fucking face!” El yelled back, crying with laughter.

“Fuck you!” Millie’s melodic laughter rang through the air. “Hey, my face hurts. Is it okay?”

Monday after the wedding, Patrick left Millie in his bed and ran to El, like he’d been doing for weeks. It wasn’t right, he knew it wasn’t right, but he couldn’t quite help himself. There wasn’t anything going on, but if El ever even hinted they had a chance, he’d tackle her immediately. El hadn’t been staying with them as much lately; she said she was getting more comfortable staying home alone, but Patrick knew she didn’t want to bother them. He still couldn’t believe that George took a job that left her by herself during all this. If she was his girlfriend, he wouldn’t leave her to deal with all of this by herself.
But she wasn’t by herself.
She’s with me
.

When he was about a block away from George’s house, he saw El and Cooper waiting for him. His heart soared, like it did every time he saw her.
Fucking blasphemous heart
. Cooper began hopping up and down when he saw Patrick and pulled on the leash for El to start moving. They joined in with his run; he’d already got his pace down and her steps matched his perfectly.

“So. What’s the plan?” El asked after a couple of silent blocks.

Patrick was toying with not telling her anything, but knew he couldn’t do that to her again. Now he was just trying to tell her enough without making it necessary for her to fight him on it. “I’m trying to get close with someone he trusts at the agency,” he said. “I’m hoping to drop a few hints here and there. Maybe we can find a way to get something going.” Patrick kept the information cryptic; he didn’t want her to know any details so when it went down and she was interviewed during the investigation she’d be fine.

“Okay. In the meantime, I’m meeting him for dinner Wednesday.”

Patrick almost tripped. “What? Where?”

“I sent you that text on Saturday,” she answered evasively.

“I was a little preoccupied with my girlfriend getting shitfaced and you buying her lap dances,” Patrick explained with a scowl. “Thanks for that by the way.”

“You’re welcome.” El pulled on Cooper’s leash. “How’s her face?”

“Scabbed over. She had Neosporin on all day Sunday.” He shook his head; his girl was a clumsy drunk.

“Damn. Is she going to work today?”

“To be determined; she threw up all day Sunday too. I’m pretty sure that was her first and last time at a strip club,” Patrick said as he checked to see their time. He was also calculating how he was going to be in two places at once Wednesday. “What’s the setup for Wednesday? Has Harris given you all the details? Are you recording as well?” He needed as much information as possible if he was going to protect her.

“It’s fine, Dad! We’re meeting at Chadwick’s.” El looked back at Cooper, who was lagging behind today. “You okay, Coop?”

“Does George know you’re doing this?” Patrick slowed his pace for her and Cooper to keep up. “I don’t like you meeting him alone and George didn’t seem like he knew anything about it this weekend.”

El keeping this a secret from George surprised Patrick in a way, but it let him know he was still the closest to her. He enjoyed the feeling of her leaning on him, letting him into her world in a way she didn’t even let her boyfriend in.

“No, George doesn’t know. I don’t want this touching him. He left last night none the wiser. I’m not going to be alone; the FBI will have me covered. It should be fine.” El was trying to hide her unease from him, but he knew her better than that.

“I’m just saying,” Patrick shrugged, “he’s going to be pissed.”
I would be
.

“I’ll be fine.
Really
.” She checked their time on her phone. “Agent Harris will make sure of that.”

Patrick looked straight ahead and started plotting getting to Chadwick’s. “You trust him?

“I sort of have to, don’t I?”

“No, El you don’t. You shouldn’t trust him. He isn’t concerned about your safety, just getting the arrest any way he can.”

“Well, then we both want the same thing,” she commented stubbornly.

“I can’t tell you how much I worry about you.” When he realized he’d said that out loud, he added, “It’s kinda weird.”

“Well, you’re weird, so I guess that works.” El smiled, her cheeks flushed from the cold.

“Oh, you love me.” He nudged her with his elbow. He wished she loved him.

“I do.” El nodded like it was nothing, but it was everything to Patrick.

She did love him.

Chapter Fifteen

LIES AND FALSE REALITIES

Patrick was pacing, knowing El was with Jamie. It took all he had to stay in this house and not rush to Chadwick’s just to make sure she was okay. He’d talked himself off the ledge; he knew the FBI wouldn’t let anything happen to her while they were there, but it was hard to sit back and not do anything. He loved her. Every day it was becoming more apparent. He needed to get the fuck out of dodge and start over without her in his life. The problem was he couldn’t imagine having a life without her in it.

Millie and Billy were watching TV and talking while Patrick paced the entire length of the kitchen. They all knew what El was doing and they were waiting on her to get there, to see that she was okay. Patrick heard a car door slam and he rushed to the front door. He opened it to let Cooper out and stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, doing inventory of her body, her face. She looked…happy. He felt Billy behind him and they both looked out to where El was coming up the sidewalk. She beamed at them and then walked into Patrick’s arms. He enveloped her, his heart slowing a bit with her in his arms.

Millie came running back through the house from their room, having just put on one of Patrick’s sweatshirts over her workout gear. Millie’s doe eyes were wide in anticipation. Cooper’s tail hit his leg on every wag and he loved it. These were Patrick’s people. He wished he could stay in this moment. She belonged in his arms.

“You okay?” Patrick spoke into her hair. His lips against her soft waves made his dick twitch, it had a mind of its own.
Fuck.

El pushed herself back from Patrick and looked at everyone with a smile he hadn’t seen in a while. “I’m fucking better than fantastic. Let’s get some alcohol flowing and then I’ll tell y’all all about it before we watch this clusterfuck of an interview.”

Billy brushed past Patrick and gave El a high-five and then pulled her in for a hug. He held her out at arm’s length, he couldn’t believe she was really okay. He half expected her to…he didn’t want to think about what he was expecting.

“Steaks are almost done,” Patrick announced, not allowing any of the emotion he felt to show, and walked toward the grill in the backyard.

“I’m so proud of our little liar!” Billy called over to Patrick. “I knew you’d do great, El!”

“I’m brilliant. Everyone just admit it now,” El quipped.

Patrick needed to get his shit together—she was
not
his. Millie was his, for now. He was already planning to leave, so that’d at least give them to opportunity to end things on a good note. He took several breaths before he went back into the house, smiling as he put the steaks on the counter where Millie had roasted squash and onions. She took each steak and placed it on a bed of sautéed spinach, and then finished off the plates with garlic bread.

“You guys are so lucky to live with Mil,” El commented.

“Damn right,” Billy said. “I mean, our last roommate sucked, she only cooked…once.”

“Whatever, asshole.” El hit Billy on the arm with a grin on her face.

“I’m just stating facts, right, Patrick?”

“Actually, I think she cooked for me three times, right, El?”

Everyone turned to face him, curious.

“What? Christmas, Thanksgiving, and then the roommate sorry-for-being-an-asshole-dinner.” He ticked off the dinners she’d prepared on his fingers.

“I only got the sorry-for-being-an-asshole-dinner.” Billy fake pouted.

“Well, Millie is a much better cook, that’s for sure,” El said, her mouth full of steak.

“So, tell us all about it,” Millie prodded.

El smiled a broad, genuine smile again. “I got him to admit to everything, Mil.”

“Like what?” Patrick asked.

“Like he kidnapped me, shot me, and bombed the office in Montana, killing three agents.” El popped a piece of bread in her mouth, satisfaction written all over her face.