His to Protect: A Fireside Novel (17 page)

I was sure it had something to do with me.

Possibly Kevin. But I didn’t want to think about him today, refused to allow him to spoil a good afternoon spent with even better people, so I turned away and found myself face-to-face with Aidan and Derrick.

They were almost mirror images of each other, with their square jaws and tall frames. Though he was only thirteen, I could already tell that Derrick was going to grow up to be just as tall, if not taller, than Aidan, who was clearly over six feet. Their black hair was exactly the same, as was the friendly sparkle in their rich-brown eyes.

“Hi,” I said, jumping slightly. I hadn’t realized how close they were to me until I almost smacked Aidan in the chest with my wine glass.

His gaze moved from somewhere over my shoulder to meet mine. “Looks like you had a good day today.”

I shrugged, still unfamiliar with having this many compliments tossed in my direction. “We’ll see if it brings repeat business, I guess, but it was fun.”

He nodded as if he understood, and his eyes returned to someone behind me. I didn’t have to look to know who he was looking at.

I sipped my wine and tilted my head to the side. “Been on any more dates lately?”

He coughed and shook his head. One hand scrubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, no.” He blinked and dipped his chin. “That’s not a frequent thing for me, Trina. I want you to know that.”

“It’s none of my business.”

“No, I suppose it’s not.”

“However.” I grinned slyly. “If you’re interested in one of my new friends, then I can promise you that not only will I not tell her how we truly met, or what you were doing that night, but that it makes me feel good to know that she’s not interested in a player.”

He blinked rapidly several times and then his eyes flickered back behind me. I laughed softly and regained his attention.

“Chelsea?” he asked, almost stunned.

“See, Dad?” Derrick said. “Told you she wants you. She always gets this funny look on her face when she sees you.”

I chortled into my wineglass.

Aidan speared his son with a glare. “Don’t you have a videogame to play?”

Derrick scowled. “You grounded me from them when I didn’t clean my room.”

“Right. Then call Shane and go skateboarding or something.”

Derrick’s scowl turned into a look of exasperation. “And how am I supposed to call him if you also took my cellphone?”

I laughed harder while Aidan shook his head. “Kids these days. They have the memory bank of a gnat,” he muttered and reached for his own cellphone in his back pocket. He handed it to Derrick. “Go do something that won’t end up with you in jail.”

I watched Derrick walk away, fingers clicking away on his dad’s phone, and turned back to Aidan.

“Excuse me for a moment, Trina.”

I was stunned by Aidan’s sudden departure, but I turned to watch him walk directly toward Chelsea, who noticed him as soon as he got close. But at the last moment, right after he nodded in her direction and her lips turned up in a shy smile, he walked around her and continued on to where Tyson and Declan were still talking at the far end of the bar.

Hmph. Perhaps both Aidan and Chelsea needed a firmer push in the right direction—that direction being toward one another.

I smiled into my wineglass and giggled to myself.

Look at me, happy with one guy, and already trying to fix up new friends.

“You having fun?” Declan whispered into my ear, and I swallowed the last of my wine. “Yeah, but I’m going to head out back and check on Boomer.”

“I fed him about an hour ago.”

“Okay. Then I might just take him for a quick walk or something.”

He reached for me, brushing his hand over mine, sitting on top of the bar. “Listen, Tyson said—”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Trina—”

“No.” I shook my head again. “Today has been really good, and I don’t want to think about anything else. I just…I’m feeling a bit tired and overwhelmed with all the attention and everything. I need a few minutes to catch my breath.”

He frowned, but slowly nodded. Leaning toward me, he brushed his lips against mine before he pulled away. “Stay close, though. I’m serious. We’ll talk about Tyson’s news later.”

I caught the seriousness mixed with concern in his expression. Doom and gloom settled inside my chest like a rain cloud. “Just a quick walk around the block. I’ll be back in five minutes, okay?”

He leaned forward and whispered, “Five minutes and then I’m coming looking for you.”

I showed him I was willing to comply with his request by rolling to my toes and kissing him firmly on the lips. “I’ll be back soon. Stop worrying.”

I sensed something wasn’t right as soon as the metal door to the alley clanged shut behind me.

“Boomer?” I called his name as I took a step toward him.

He stood with his whole body tensed, his ears back, staring at the large dumpster, making small, quiet whimpering noises.

“Boomer?” I said again and took another step toward him. He continued ignoring me. His tail stuck straight out behind him, not wagging in his typical easygoing manner. “What is it, boy?” I ran my hand along the top of his head when I reached him, and was surprised to hear him release a low growl.

My dog didn’t growl.

Except when he was being threatened.

Anxiety sparked in my veins and I wrapped my fingers around his collar, pulling him back toward the restaurant. “Come on, boy. Let’s go inside.”

Declan would be furious, but I didn’t care. I also figured he’d get over it.

I yanked Boomer’s collar again when he let out a fierce bark and lunged forward, but the leash that I’d installed for him jolted him backward.

A sickening laugh echoed in the alley and I immediately jumped back.

“Seems to me that your fucking mutt hasn’t learned anything in the weeks you’ve been gone, Katrina.”

My blood chilled as Kevin stepped out from his hiding spot.

My eyes widened and I stepped closer to Boomer, seeking protection from my husband. With his perfectly styled blond hair and narrowed blue eyes, he looked exactly like the man who beat me up just weeks ago.

Evil.

Sick.

Cowardly.

That’s what he was. Always had been.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice strained and my words thick.

My hand on Boomer’s back trembled with fear when Kevin began walking toward me, and I noticed the gun in his hand.

He had a gun.

“You’ll be coming with me.” He spoke as if we were talking about the weather, or an upcoming dinner. So calm and collected, but I’d seen the darkness that raged beneath his perfectly chiseled looks and designer suits. “I told you last week that this game of yours is over.”

I shook my head rapidly, pulling Boomer toward me while I stepped back, keeping him in front of me.

“You’ll stop right there.” Kevin lifted his hand, aiming the gun at Boomer, and I froze immediately. “I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“I’m not leaving with you. I told you over the phone, Kevin. I’m never returning to your home, or to Kentucky.”

He tilted his head to the side. “But you’ll stay here? Slumming it with a bar owner? You’re better than that.”

“I’m better than you,” I sneered, anger and fury beginning to replace the fear I should have been feeling.

I wasn’t afraid. Not of Kevin hurting me. Not anymore.

I had learned too much about myself, tolerated his abuse for far too long, to allow myself to be cowed by him and his threats.

“You’re nothing without me,” he said and began walking toward me again. “And if you won’t come with me willingly, then I’ll have to convince you.”

Without warning, he pointed the gun down and I jumped as a loud bang echoed in the alley.

“What the hell!” I asked as I watched Boomer fall to the ground. His whine pierced me and tore my heart in two. “No!” I dropped to my knees, wrapping my arms around my dog, and tried to lift him, but he was too slippery.

Why was he slippery?

I clung to Boomer, understanding but not admitting what I knew had just happened.

He’d shot my dog.

Tears spilled down my cheeks as I sobbed, pulling at Boomer, but he was so heavy. And wet.

“Enough!” Kevin shouted, and yanked me to my feet.

“You shot my dog!” I screamed, and then I felt the brick wall hit the back of my head as he slammed me against it. “You’re a fucking monster, Kevin, and I hate you!”

“I said enough!” His spittle hit my cheeks, and I squeezed my eyes closed.

I couldn’t believe this.

My eyes went to Boomer but Kevin was squeezing my throat, making it difficult to breathe. “I told you to never leave me, Katrina. I warned you what would happen, and your damn dog on the pavement there is only the first thing that’s going to happen. Now quit fucking around. We’re going home. You have apologizing that you need to do.”

My lips twisted and I cringed back against the wall. That small movement allowed me time to draw in a breath. “Never. You’ll have to kill me first.”

I barely got the sentence out before metal was pressed against my temple.

My eyes widened and I clenched my hands into fists.

Amazing, really. My life began just weeks ago in that alley, and at that moment, I felt as if it could end there.

“Tell me, Katrina.” Kevin leaned forward, so close I could smell his breath and his cologne. “Have you enjoyed yourself, whoring around and fucking a man who owns a sleazy joint like this damn local bar? Is that the kind of woman you’ve become? A slut who spreads her legs for any willing man?”

“Yes,” I said, seething. I had nothing to lose. Blood rushed to my brain and my temples pulsed, but I refused to back down. “I like fucking him, Kevin, because it’s good. Best I’ve ever had. He doesn’t take what he wants, but he gives me what I need and—”

“Shut the hell up, you lying fucking whore!”

“What the—”

Kevin and I snapped our heads toward the intrusion and my eyes almost bugged out of my head.

“Go inside!” I shouted at Declan even as he opened the door further.

It took him a half second to take in the situation in front of him and his gaze fixed on me.

“Get out here,” Kevin said, taking the gun off my temple and waving it at Declan, who still stood in the doorway. “Now.”

Declan’s eyes dropped to where Boomer was lying on the ground. I saw him flinch before he obeyed Kevin and stepped into the alley.

“Don’t do it—” Kevin’s hand tightened on my throat, cutting off the end of my sentence.

Tears blurred my vision as Declan brought his eyes back to me.

“You hurt?” he asked, stepping into the alley and letting the door close behind him. He lifted his hands and took several steps away from us.

Away from me.

Away from the crazy guy with the gun. Not that I could blame him, but somehow it stung.

“Don’t talk to her.”

Kevin pressed the gun against my temple again, but kept his eyes on Declan.

“Here’s what is going to happen,” he said, enunciating each word. “My wife and I are going to leave and you’re going to stay there, doing nothing.”

Declan tilted his head to the side and smirked. “I am?”

Kevin grinned, a sick-looking, cold, twisted grin that made bile rise in my throat. “You are. Because if you so much as move a foot toward us, I have no problem shooting this gun at either you or her, or her dog,” he chuckled and looked down at Boomer. I couldn’t. A sob tore from my throat as he laughed at my dog, bleeding on the ground. “Again.”

“Take her,” Declan said, and I caught the tail end of his shrug as I looked at him. “You can have her.”

I searched his face for any clue that he was lying, that he didn’t mean what he just said. The he wasn’t just handing me back over to this sick prick I’d called my husband. He didn’t give anything away, and I closed my eyes after I saw nothing hidden in his dark eyes.

He looked like he meant it.

“Declan.”

“It’s been fun, Trina,” he said. I opened my eyes at the way he said my name. His lips were pulled into a tight line and his dark eyes were on me, expressionless. “But I didn’t sign up for this.”

“See?” Kevin sneered, shoving me into the wall to get my attention. “Just a whore who spread her legs.”

The reality of the moment seeped into my lungs and I choked out another sob as my knees buckled. Kevin gripped me tighter and pulled me toward him, my back to his chest and his gun at my temple, using me as a shield. “We best be getting on home then, shouldn’t we, darling?”

I stared at Declan, waiting for some clue that he was going to fight for me, fight for us…what I thought we were building.

What did he just say a little while ago?

Take the time to figure out you…we’ll figure us out together.

I recalled the way he looked at me, the way he spoke to me. How could he be so cold now? So unaffected?

I sniffed and licked my lips. “Don’t let him take me,” I whispered in a hoarse voice. “Please, Declan.”

“Shut up,” Kevin hissed in my ear. He jerked me to the side, and as I flinched, I caught it—a small tightening around Declan’s eyes. It was just a flash of a movement, but I saw it nonetheless.

He was not unaffected by this. He was just trying really hard to hide it.

I didn’t know what hurt more. That he didn’t care, or that he did, but was still willing to throw me away.

“Mr. Morgenson.” Tyson’s voice rang out from behind us, forcing Kevin to take a step away from Declan.

Kevin’s back was almost to Declan as he shifted to see someone new enter the alley from behind the dumpster.

“Fuck,” Kevin whispered, taking several more steps back.

“I wouldn’t move any further,” Tyson said, making himself seen.

A breath forced its way out of my chest. Tyson held a gun, aimed directly at Kevin and me, and in his other hand, he was holding out a badge.

Relief began to replace my fear.

“Who the fuck are you?” Kevin asked, pressing the gun harder into my temple. My body began to shake as adrenaline coursed through me, and I lifted my hands to wrap my fingers around his arm at my throat.

“Agent Blackwell, FBI. I’m going to suggest you drop your weapon and you won’t get hurt.”

“Take another step and I’ll blow her fucking brains out.”

“No you won’t,” Tyson said, with all the confidence in the world.

My gaze leapt to Declan and, as our eyes met, he quickly mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

I saw the pain in his eyes and relief strengthened my resolve. I realized what I should have known earlier.

He wasn’t willing to let me go, he just knew Tyson was coming.

A sob bubbled in my throat as I tried to stay in the present.

Kevin wasn’t going to hurt me. Not again.

I gasped and pressed my fingernails into Kevin’s arms.

“See, we have a problem here, Kevin Morgenson III,” Tyson said, and my gaze went back to his to see him smirking.

He looked like he was enjoying this, calm and collected with his gun still trained on Kevin. “Seems to me that you wouldn’t want to be charged with first-degree murder, which would surely be added on to the embezzlement charges that you’re currently being investigated for.”

What?

My eyes widened as I listened to Tyson.

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“I do.” Tyson took a small step forward. Kevin must have been too focused on what he was hearing, too fearful, because the gun at my temple began to shake and his hold loosened around my throat. I inhaled a deep, much-needed breath and closed my eyes. If I pushed forward, I could shove him off me.

Could I do it before he shot me?

“See, it pays to have friends who owe you favors, and I have loads of them. And since we’ve come to know Trina, and knew you were looking for her, I’ve been trying to find you. In doing so, I’ve uncovered a slew of charges from your past that have been dismissed. Unfortunately, I don’t think stealing over five hundred thousand dollars from your current law firm is going to go over well.”

“Lawyers,” Declan muttered, shaking his head. “Always a bunch of assholes.”

Tyson snickered.

“You assholes don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know if you don’t take that gun off Trina in point five seconds, you’re going to end up with a bullet between your eyes,” Tyson said. I saw muscles tense on his arm as his hold tightened on the gun.

He wasn’t kidding.

“You aren’t taking me in,” Kevin snapped. The gun returned to its painful position at my temple.

I squeezed my eyes closed, knowing this could be it for me.

He adjusted his hold on me and I snapped my eyes open. He put me directly in front of Tyson and began tugging me backward, toward the street.

In the distance, I heard sirens, but they were all background noise.

Kevin continued jerking me backward, so roughly that I almost tripped over his feet, but I righted myself. Tyson followed us, but kept his distance.

“Mr. Morgenson,” he called, but Kevin didn’t stop. “This will end easier for you if you give up now.”

Kevin laughed. He sounded maniacal. When had he become so crazy? My mind was swirling with the accusation Tyson had thrown at him when Kevin laughed again and said, “You don’t know anything. You’ll never take me in. I won’t allow it.”

The sirens grew louder as we moved closer to the street.

Hope unfurled inside my chest. There was no way Kevin was getting out of this. I just had to survive it.

Forcing myself to go limp, I relaxed into his hold and whispered, “Kevin.”

My eyes darted to Declan, walking behind Tyson. Muscles were bunched in his shoulders and his hands were balled into fists. The intensity in his expression scared even me.

“Let me go, Kevin,” I whispered. “Do it, and I swear I’ll be with you.”

It was my Hail Mary pass, the only thing I could think of to promise him. If I left with him, if I agreed to, if he didn’t see me as a threat or a hindrance to getting away, perhaps I could buy myself a chance.

“I know you will, darling,” he said, loud enough for Tyson and Declan to hear. “No man is getting you. Remember? You’re mine. Always.”

I swallowed down the bile I felt rising in my throat and nodded. “Always. I know.”

Declan flinched and I knew he’d heard.

I didn’t care.

I was doing this for us. For me.

We reached the street just as the sounds of sirens and squealing tires surrounded us.

A door slammed and I tensed in Kevin’s hold.

I turned to Declan and, without thinking, mouthed, “I love you.”

His eyes widened and his lips parted.

“Freeze!”

It seemed as if a dozen voices shouted at once.

Kevin jerked me around and it felt as if time stopped, or we were moving in slow motion.