Safe With Him (24 page)

*  *  *

Draco was sitting at the table with Bree close to his side, his arm across the back of her chair and his fingers playing with the ends of her hair. Across from him sat Marco and Ellie. They had managed to clean themselves up and not look like they had just had incredible, hot as hell sex. Right before the doorbell rang, Bree was standing in the bathroom brushing her hair and at the sound of the ringing doorbell she looked at him, and whatever look he gave her caused her to bust out laughing. “Don’t worry, they won’t suspect we just had hot crazy sex in your
dining room
.”

He didn’t give a fuck who knew they were having, as she put it, ‘hot crazy sex.’ His only concern was for her. He wanted to be sure she felt comfortable around his family. He needed not to worry a bit about that. Not two seconds after Marco and Ellie had walked into his house, she was talking and jabbering on and on with them like she had known them for years.

He did have a moment of apprehension when Marco handed him a six pack of beer along with a bottle of wine. Before he could open his mouth to explain there would be no drinking tonight, Bree stepped in front of him, her back to Marco and Ellie, and just calmly stated, “You can put the beer in the refrigerator, but you might want to put the wine in the freezer to chill it faster.” Then just looked up at him as if to say it was okay and then smiled that gorgeous smile at him and all he could think was taking her back into his dining room for more hot crazy sex. Instead, he leaned in and kissed her lightly, turned and did just as she suggested. Even during dinner when both Marco and Ellie were drinking, he opted for water, while Bree of course had Mountain Dew. She seemed to be completely relaxed.

Now they were just finishing up eating when Ellie asked him, “Have you talked to Kade?”

“No, seen where he called but didn’t leave a message. So, I haven’t called him back. Why? Is somethin’ up? Is Kris doing okay?” Kade had been Lee’s former partner and Krista, or Kris as most people called her, was his new wife. She had been attacked some months back and it wasn’t sure if she would make it. Thank fuck she did, and she and Kade were married not too long after that.

“Yeah, she’s doing good. She came in the store yesterday to rent a few movies by herself. Well, she was by herself for about five minutes before Kade walked in.” Ellie laughed. Draco started to also until he glanced at Bree, and remembered what happened to Kris. Thinking about that shit, if that had been his Breezie, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight for five damn minutes… or ever!

“Anyway,” Marco spoke up, not laughing. Yeah, Draco thought, he also got it. “He was callin’ you cuz they wanna have one last mud run before it turns too cold. It’s supposed to be nice this weekend, so they’re thinkin’ maybe Saturday.”

Ellie spoke again, “Y’all should definitely come. Kade said this time it’s only going to be a few. He said too many people, too much ‘shit’ just happens.” She just shook her head. “Kade is so gosh darn protective over Kris.” She was looking at Bree, so both of them missed ‘the look’ that passed between him and Marco.

“Will this mud run be Saturday or Saturday night?” Bree asked.

“Night. Well, late evening and into the night,” Ellie answered.

“I have to work Saturday night,” Bree told Ellie, then looked at Draco. “But you should go. It sounds like it would be fun.”

Draco shook his head at Ellie as he leaned over closer to Bree, putting his mouth at her ear and whispering, “Not goin’ without you and you sure as fuck ain’t goin’ to work alone.” Then he kissed her cheek right before he sat back in his chair, his arm still draped over the back of hers, his fingers still playing with her hair. When she turned to face him, her eyes narrowed, he knew he was going to catch hell for that comment. But even still, she was
not
going to work alone. Her hell he could deal with—he hoped—something happening to her…that, he could not.

“That’s a shame,” Ellie commented, apparently oblivious to what was going on between Draco and Bree. “You and your guitar are going to be missed.”

Bree whipped her head to look at Ellie. “What?”

“Draco usually brings his guitar and plays sometimes. He’s really good too,” Ellie answered Bree, then looked at Draco. “You haven’t played…at all? I mean, I know you canceled out on poker night. Marco grumped half the night about that, but—”

“Ell—” Marco interrupted or tried to, but Bree interrupted first.

“You play the guitar?” Bree looked back at Draco, smiling.

He tugged lightly on her hair. “Yeah, a little.”

“A little? Don’t let him fool you, Bree. He plays amazingly.” This from Marco, which surprised the hell out of Draco. Marco was never known for compliments, so for him to just spit one out like that, yeah, it was shocking.

“Will you play now?” Bree was almost jumping out of her seat with that bright smile on that gorgeous face, then it fell and again that same fuckin’ unsure look replaced her smile. “I mean, only if you want to, or you can wait until later if you rather.” Was that anxiety in her voice? Before he even had the chance to ask or even answer her, she jumped up from the table. “I’ll clean up since you cooked.” She grabbed her plate and his and went to put them in the sink.

Draco caught Marco’s eyes and gave him a chin jerk to the living room. As soon as Marco started moving Ellie out of the kitchen, Draco went to the sink where Bree had already started the dish water. Again, before he could say a word, she spoke, and he could hear the unease in her voice. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that. You don’t have to play for me—”

“Bree, stop.” He turned her by her shoulders to face him and when she looked up at him there was sadness in her eyes. “Baby, I’ll play for you anytime you want. The only reason I haven’t yet is,” he bent and touched his lips to hers, “we’ve been distractin’ each other.” He felt her smile against his lips, so he had to pull his head back enough to see it. There it was. That gorgeous smile of hers. Seeing it, he had to kiss her. So he did.

Looking back at the sink filled with hot soapy water, Draco informed her, “You know, I do have a dishwasher.”

*  *  *

Bree was sitting in the living room on the sofa beside Ellie. Marco was on the other side of Ellie, while Draco disappeared down the hall to get his guitar. A few minutes later, Draco walked back into the room, guitar in hand. He pulled the coffee table out farther from the sofa, then walked around and sat down on it right in front of her. Looking right at her, he said, “This one’s for you, baby,” then winked.

He strummed at the strings for a beat before he started playing…and
singing
!!! Blake Shelton’s
Honey Bee
and
wow
could the man sing! It was so perfect, and he even replaced whiskey with tea, even though tea was already mentioned in the song. He remembered that she put tea in her
whiskey
bottle. That was so sweet that she actually got a little teary eyed. Okay, to be fair, he did not carry the note as long as Mr. Shelton did, but hey, not many could ever master that feat. With the last note of the song, he winked at her, then leaned over and kissed her.

With a smile that dang near split her face in two, she exclaimed, “That was fabulous! No, that was…was fabulicious!” That was when he busted out laughing, and seeing and hearing Draco laugh like that, Bree repeated it.

“Yes, most definitely fabulicious.”

Draco walked with Bree held tight to his side down the breezeway to Storm’s apartment. He hoped that Storm was going to tell Bree everything, and he hoped even more that he didn’t lose his Breezie because of it.

Storm had sent Bree a text earlier while Marco and Ellie were still there. She showed it to him, and he spoke right up and told them point blank that they needed to leave. “Me and Bree got shit to do.” He had texted Storm back and told him that he and Bree would be there in about thirty minutes. Bree griped a bit about being rude or some shit like that—really, he hadn’t heard much of what she was saying—because his mind was on what would happen next.

When they reached Storm’s door, instead of knocking or even opening it and walking right in, he moved Bree around so her back was to the wall beside the door. His eyes roamed her face, her hair, just soaking in all that was her.
Fuck, if things go bad and I lose
…
fuck!
He couldn’t even think about losing her.

Bree stood with her back to the wall, Draco close, oh so close, but not saying a word. His eyes kept roaming her face, and she could see…turmoil? Was that turmoil? What would cause him to have such confused pain? After all, they both knew what Storm wanted. He had promised to talk to her this evening, and Storm always kept his promises, no matter what. Even though she had told him that Draco read over that guy Marcus’s file, Storm said he still wanted to talk to her. So here they were, but now she was beginning to get a little nervous by the way Draco was acting.

She watched as he closed his eyes and laid his forehead to hers then oh, so very softly, she could just barely hear him groan almost painfully. “Miniera, Breezie. Miniera.” But before she had a chance to even emit a sound, his mouth collided with hers. He kissed her with so much heart-breaking passion, she could almost swear he was kissing her…goodbye? Was he? Had she disrupted his life so much that he just didn’t want to be around her anymore? Could he do that? Was the man she fell in love with capable of just turning her away just like that?
No
! No, he couldn’t, wouldn’t…would he? She didn’t get the chance to ask him anything. As soon as he ended the kiss with an almost violent jerk of his head, he pulled her from the wall and literally pushed her though the door he had opened.

“Ree.” She heard Storm call from his seat on the sofa. When she turned to look at him, he patted the seat by him and told her, “C’mer and sit. Need to talk to you ‘bout some stuff.”

She took a couple of steps toward Storm, but didn’t feel Draco behind her and when she looked back over her shoulder at Draco he was standing in front of the now closed door, arms crossed at his chest, feet planted wide, face so tight she could see the muscles twitching in his jaw. And he was looking at Storm like he could rip him apart. “What the hell?” she mumbled, apparently out loud, because Draco moved his eyes to hers and in less than a heartbeat his face went soft, then pained, then his eyes left hers as he again looked back at Storm with that same ‘rip you apart’ look back on his face.

“Ree,” Storm called her again. She turned back to face him, then walked the rest of the way into the living room to Storm and sat on the sofa beside him.

“Okay, what is going on?” She looked back and forth from Storm to Draco—who didn’t even look at her that time—then back to Storm.

“Nothin’s goin’ on. I just got some shit to do, and I’ll be gone a few days. Wanted to see my sister before I left, is all.”

Bree sighed a breath in relief. “Oh, okay. You want me to call you before and after work like I normally do?”

“Uh, well, see, I’ll kinda be unreachable. So I want you to promise me you’ll stay with Draco until I get back.”

“Unreachable? What do you mean? I’ve always been able to at least text you.”

“I know, sis, but—” Storm started to explain but at the word ‘sis’ Bree’s whole body tensed up.

“Sis?” The only time Storm ever called her ‘sis’ was when things were bad. Really. Really. Bad.

“Ree—”

“No, Storm. You just said ‘sis’ to me. Now tell me what the hell is going on. This
shit
you got to do has to do with me, doesn’t it?” Her mind was running all the information Draco had told her about Marcus what’s-his-name and the little Storm had told her about Hugo what-the-hell ever.
He had the one guy’s police file
.
Did he have the other one also
?
What the hell would Storm be doing mixed up with lowlifes like those two
?

“Ree,” Storm called her name again, but she was processing the information she had, so him calling to her was more like background noise than anything else.

She knew Marcus, the one that came after her twice, worked for Hugo as his henchman or something of the sort. So it probably had more to do with Hugo.
Had Storm or Draco mentioned anything about drugs
? She couldn’t remember.
Was Hugo mixed up with drugs
? Only one way to find out.

She looked Storm in the eye and asked, “Is Hugo involved with drugs?” Since she was looking him right in the eyes, she saw the eye twitch a second before Storm turned his head from her.

“Ree, that’s not even the issue—”

She turned to Draco, looking straight at him and asked, “Is Hugo involved with drugs?”

Draco nodded. Storm growled.

Still looking at Draco, she asked, “Is he a drug dealer?”

Again Draco nodded. Storm growled louder.

Looking at Draco, she needed to asked him one last question, and if he nodded, then she knew the why Storm was mixed up in this, and it didn’t have a damn thing to do with her. Closing her eyes, taking a breath, and then opening her eyes looking right at Draco, she asked, “Is Hugo part of a drug cartel?”

“Fuck!” Storm yelled and jumped up, trying to move to block her view of Draco. “Do not fuckin’ answer that.” She heard him boom across the room at Draco, but it was too late; she had seen Draco nod.

Bree stood. She moved from behind Storm, then turned to face him. “This isn’t about me. It’s never been about me. How I got caught up in it, I have no idea, but this…” She raised her arms, spread out wide. “This is about Lizzy. Why—”

“Don’t, Ree.”

“Storm—”

“Get her the fuck out of here!” Storm barked at Draco, and she saw him start to move across the room toward her.

“Why can’t you let this go?” Bree pleaded with Storm. Storm turned to her and the anguish on his face and in his eyes, it all became clear. All this time he blamed himself. “There was nothing you could have done.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know a damn thing. Just go, Ree. Just go!” Storm snapped at her at the same time she felt Draco at her back.

“I do know. I know if you could have, you would have saved her.” Bree felt Draco’s arm wrap around her middle and pull her backward as he moved back toward the door.

“You don’t know, Ree, you don’t. You weren’t there. You didn’t—”

“I was,” she quietly confessed.

Storm looked at her for a beat. “You’re lyin’. You have to be. I told you to run, to hide, and you did. You didn’t see. You didn’t hear.” Storm spoke so quietly, like a wish, or a prayer, that if he said it quiet enough it would make it true, even though he knew she wouldn’t lie.

She stepped out of Draco’s hold, taking a few steps toward Storm. “I didn’t run. I didn’t hide. I was there. I saw, I heard, and I know Storm. If you could have saved her, you would—”

“Shut up! Just shut the fuck up and
get the fuck out
!” Storm roared, taking a step to her at the same time Bree felt Draco’s arm again come around her and pull her back to him.

“Don’t.” It was Draco’s growl, but Bree wasn’t sure who he was talking to.

“Don’t,” Draco growled again, his eyes glued to Storm. He didn’t have a clue what was going on between the two of them, but he was for damn sure, nobody was going to hurt Bree. Not even her brother.

“Just get her the hell out of my place,” Storm repeated.

Draco started walking backward toward the door, with his arm wrapped around Bree’s middle, her back to his front. But, when he took a step back and she didn’t, the gap was just enough for her to wrench herself free from his hold.

“No.” She took one step toward Storm. “I know, Storm, I know what—”

“You don’t know a fuckin’ thing, Breezie!” Storm fired back at Bree, and Draco not only saw the impact of Storm calling her Breezie, but he literally caught her body when it slammed backward into his. For all intents and purposes, Storm just sucker punched his Bree in the gut.
Fuck that!

He went to move Bree behind him after he felt her body almost collapse into him, then jerked and turned to the door. She was halfway out the door with Draco close behind her when he turned back and looked right at Storm. “Gonna pay for that shit.”

Draco stepped out of Storm’s door and saw Bree had already started running back down the breezeway. “Baby,” he called to her and watched as her body jerked then turned to face him. She took one step toward him, then ran to him. Without giving pause, she jumped right into his arms. Her legs were wrapped around his waist, her arms around his neck so damn tight he almost couldn’t breathe. He wrapped his arms around her, held her as tight as he could without hurting her. “It’s okay, baby. You’re gonna be okay,” he murmured to her, and she cried. Her face buried in his neck, she just cried as he carried her all the way back home.

When they were back in his house he walked over to the sofa and sat with her still wrapped tight to him, still crying. He just held her, rubbed her back, and murmured nonsense into her hair. He didn’t even have a clue what he was saying, but he just wanted…no needed…for her to be okay.
Fuck, has she felt that same ‘punch’ every time I’ve called her Breezie
? He tried not to—at least out loud—he knew she didn’t like it. Hell, Storm had even said she hated it.
But damn, I love her name
. Why did she hate her own name so much that just to hear it caused her physical pain?

When her crying seemed to slow, then finally stop, she shifted in his arms, looked up at him and damn, her face streaked in tears broke his heart. “Bree.” He barely managed to say around his too tight throat.

“I need to go back. I need to see Storm. To apologize.”

“What?”
Is she serious?
After what Storm did to her and she thought she had to apologize?
That sure as fuck is not happenin’
.

“I should never have told him what I did. I should have just let him think—”

“No, Bree. You did nothin’ wrong. You told him the truth. What he did to you…” He laid his head to her forehead, closed his eyes and just took a second to regroup. He knew she loved her brother beyond words, and he didn’t want to say anything bad about him to her. What he wanted to do was knock the fuck out of him. And he would. He would sooner or later. He would get his chance, and Storm would feel the punch he gave Bree, only difference was, Storm’s punch would be coming from Draco’s fist. But for now his only concern was for his Bree.

“Tell me,” he asked as he pulled his head back from hers. “When I call you…when I’ve used your name…does it make you feel…like…fuck, baby, have I hurt you by calling you by—”

“No, Dra, no. You don’t know. You don’t understand the why, so no, you haven’t.”

“Will you…can you tell me why you hate it so damn much?”

She laid her head back on his shoulder, her arms back around his neck. For a long moment she stayed just like that, not saying a word, not moving, just…still. So still for so long he thought she wasn’t going to tell him at all. Then he felt her take a breath. “I told you before that my mother hated me. She hated me from the day I was born. No, even before I was born. Why she even had me, or kept me for that matter, is anyone’s guess, but for whatever reason she did. The day I was born, when they handed me to her she looked down at me and she just knew I would never amount to anything. I would be nothing but a stupid slut, an easy piece. So she named me Breezie, as in ‘easy breezy.’ Know how I know this?” She stated it like a question but didn’t wait for an answer. With her bitch of a mother he didn’t need an answer. “She told me. All the time. Or at least when she remembered I existed. When she did, she only ever called me easy Breezie, or sometimes bitchy Breezie, but most of the time it was easy Breezie. My name was said with so much disgust and hatred that you could feel it crawling on your skin.” She took a breath, then mumbled, “An easy piece, just like you, easy Breezie, just like you.”

Draco’s whole body tensed up as he heard her mumbled words and his mind flashed back to when he had said that ‘just like you’ to her. He only meant her name was cute like her, but he had used those same exact words. Words her mother had used to taunt her. “Fuck.” He nudged her up, needing to see her face. “I’m sorry, baby. So fuckin’ sorry. I didn’t know. I swear I never said that about your name to hurt you.”

“What?”

“When I told you I liked your name. The day you ran out of here so upset. I didn’t know. I—”

“I know. You didn’t hurt me, it was just…just I think with everything that happened, I mean, me and you...I think I just got a little over emotional with everything. My first time, you not wanting me to leave, the ruined sheets because of me…it was just all…too much at once.” She tilted her head a little, looking at him. “Does that make sense?”