Unwritten (3 page)

Evie really was going to be sick. “Is that true, Kian? You’re using me as bait?”

“I—”

“Never mind. I don’t want to hear it.”

Taggert spoke up. “We would never do that, ma’am. However, we do need evidence Paine will come here before permission is granted to put either or both of you in a safe house. In the meantime, you will have protection.”

She nodded at Taggert’s explanation and noted her ex-husband’s tight-lipped expression. He had made no attempt to comfort her fears. She spun away from him and strode with as much dignity as she could muster from the bar to through the front door and around to the side of the building. For some odd reason, whoever had designed the place had made the entrance to the apartments on the second and third floor at the back. She occupied the second floor while Leo lived at the top. They had to pass out into the elements to get to work, even if it was only a few feet. Leo kept saying he would get a contractor in to remedy the design, but he hadn’t so far.

She let herself into her apartment and kicked the door shut, then tossed the keys onto an already cluttered table. The tiny one-bedroom place was a far cry from the home she’d shared with Kian. He’d owned the three-bedroom house in Ballantyne when she met him, and when she filed for divorce, she had refused to take anything of his, including alimony. Leo had called her crazy, but she never told him despite the court ruling that abided by her wishes, Kian sent her monthly checks anyway. She sent all of them back except one when she needed it most, but the stubborn man continued to send them.

Now that she’d reached the sanctuary of her apartment, her stomach settled down. She gazed around, taking in the worn but still in good condition couch and loveseat, the thirty-two inch flat screen TV, and the coffee table she’d picked up from a second hand store. She had enough money in the bank to upgrade it all, but decided not to, not yet.

Books littered the table, the floor, and the corners of the room. She’d neglected to take plates she’d used days ago into the kitchen to stick in the dishwasher. Her laptop lay buried beneath a few magazines she’d subscribed to but never did anything with other than to flip through the pictures. The entire state of her apartment contrasted how she used to love making sure the home she and Kian shared was always in pristine condition. Now it was as if she didn’t care, and she hated it, but she had neglected to make a change so far. Her life seemed to be in a holding pattern.

The knock at the door made her jump. Leo had finished early downstairs. She considered pretending she had already showered and gone to bed, but it was better to just get rid of him. He never stopped trying. She walked to the door yawning and opened it. Instead of Leo, Kian stood there.

The frown he had worn downstairs might be stuck in place, she mused. “Why would you open the door without checking to see who knocked?”

She put her hand on her hip. “I looked through the peephole.”

“You didn’t. I heard your footsteps. You didn’t pause for a second.”

“The FBI gave you bionic ears now? What do you want, Kian?”

He pressed his lips together in a straight line. She had trouble dismissing thoughts of him kissing her, and rather than wait for his answer, she turned away, leaving him standing there. She couldn’t keep looking at him and not do something stupid. Too late, when he walked in and shut the door, she realized the stupid part was not telling him to go away and locking him out.

“Your door wasn’t locked either.”

“We’ve never had a problem.”

“We?” His gaze took in every nook and cranny of her apartment, and she cursed in silence that she hadn’t cleaned up. “You don’t live here alone.”

“Is that a question?” She sighed and shoved books and magazines off the couch. Kian caught the laptop before she sent that flying too. Damn him for making her a blundering idiot.

He took a seat without her inviting him to and checked a notebook. She had the feeling he did it either out of habit or to fool her. Kian’s mind, in her opinion, was the robotic part. He remembered everything he saw.
There was that one time with my makeup…

“I live here alone. Leo lives upstairs. Again, why are you here?”

“I want to talk to you about your cousin, who he knows, where he would go.”

No apology for using her. “Doesn’t the bureau already have that info?”

“Are you refusing to cooperate?”

A curse trembled on her lips. “I’m not harboring a felon, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“You did it before.”

This time, she smacked him as hard as she could. Her palm stung, and the pain went straight up to her wrist. His cheek reddened, but he hadn’t even flinched. “Bastard! Go ahead and arrest me.”

He stood up, taking his time. When she hit him, she’d felt like she held her own, standing above him, not backing down despite how he intimidated her with his presence. Now he dwarfed her, big and imposing, his eyebrows low, jaw pulsing with controlled anger.

“I’m not going to file charges against you.”

“Why not? Oh, right. You want to use me to catch my cousin. I forgot.”

“I am not using you, Evie.”

Her heart constricted at his use of her name. Why couldn’t she feel nothing for him? Why when she caught Leo cheating, her feelings for the man had faded fast, but Kian treated her like gum stuck to his shoe, and she ached for him? He didn’t deserve her love.

She put her hands on her hips and raised her chin. “That’s funny because it looks like you and your partner came by to tell us you’re going to wait around until Anthony shows up to kill us and then put him back in jail.”

Kian stepped closer to her. All the air left the room. He didn’t touch her, but he might as well have the way her body responded. “First, I doubt he will try to kill you. As much as I hate to admit it, it’s more likely as Mr. Vitali surmised. Anthony wants you with him. He’ll try to exact revenge first and then take you away. Second, if I had come here asking you to go straight into a safe house, would you accept it or refuse my help just like you’re refusing my money?”

His argument made sense, and she hated him for it. “Why do you insist on calling Leo Mr. Vitali? The two of you have known each other as long as you and I have known each other.”

Kian’s nostrils flared. “Not by choice. Anyway, he also calls me Special Agent Sloane.”

“Just as stupid,” she commented, and moved away before she ran fingers over his chest and undid the buckle on his belt. “You’re right. I don’t want or need your protection.”

“Because you think he can take care of you.”

She glanced back at him, but no hint of jealousy appeared in his expression. His tone portrayed a mild inquiry. He pissed her off. She hated not knowing what he thought, wanting on one hand to think he had feelings for her, and hoping he didn’t so she could crush hers. “You lost the right to question me about my private life.”

“You’re the one who walked away from our marriage, Evie.”

She made a rude noise. “Before I was physically gone, you were gone emotionally, and you know it.”

“You never gave me a chance to recover. I’d just lost my best friend. We’d been friends since we were both thirteen, over twenty years.” At his words, she turned and started to walk away, but he closed the space between them in two long strides to grab her arm. “You don’t get to walk away from this argument, Evie.”

She jerked from his hold. “And you don’t get to dictate what I accept.”

They stood there staring at each other. After a moment, she swung away. As much as she understood what he said and how he felt, she couldn’t take it anymore, and no amount of arguing would make it right. He’d let her go, and he’d signed the papers without a word.

“It’s after two in the morning,” she said on a sigh.

“I had to come according to your schedule. You work most nights, don’t you?”

She frowned at him. “Yes, but I don’t stay in bed all day.”

“We needed to move fast.”

“When did he break out?”

“This morning.”

Evie sank into a sitting position, glad the loveseat was behind her when she did. “H-how?”

Kian studied her face. “He sustained an injury. One of the inmates stabbed him with a shank. When he was being transferred to a medical facility, he was able to slip away by killing the guard assigned to him as well as the ambulance personnel. We believe he had outside help, and the entire escape was orchestrated ahead of time.”

Evie jumped to her feet. “I had nothing to do with it!”

“I know.”

“Do you? Because you accused me of a lot at the beginning. Well not you, but your colleagues did, and you all screwed me over good. I couldn’t go back to my previous job.”

“You were never charged with anything.”

“No, I was just the cousin of a cop killer. Bad for business.”

Kian stared at her. “We were together six months after Brad died. I knew you left your job, but you didn’t say…”

“There was a lot we didn’t say to each other then. Whatever. It’s water under the bridge. Leo gave me a job, and when I decide what I want to do long term, I’ll do it.”

“You need to talk to me, Evie.”

“You think I’m still protecting Anthony, don’t you?” When he said nothing, she continued. “He’s a murderer. Contrary to what you and your people think, I didn’t know he was capable of it. I grew up in the same house with Anthony. I knew he liked to dip into stuff that wasn’t exactly legal, but I thought it was only penny-ante stuff.”

Bitterness entered Kian’s expression. “His bank account said different, and when Brad’s informant tipped him off about possible racketeering with your cousin at the center, I asked him to wait for me. He thought he had a handle on it and was murdered.” Evie pivoted and started toward her bedroom. Kian moved swiftly and caught her a second time. “I’m sorry. Forget the past. Look, I want you to trust me. Tell me whatever you know.”

“Get out.”

He stared at her, and she folded her arms under her chest.

“If I tell you I don’t know anything, you won’t believe me. Instead, we’ll stand here all night, and you’ll bully me trying to get me to tell you what I don’t know. I’m not your wife anymore, Kian, so unless you have a warrant, you can get out of my apartment.”

She marched over to the door and wrenched it open. He hesitated and then walked over to her and pushed a business card into her hand. “Call me if you need to.”

She kept herself from telling him she remembered his cell number. Kian left, and she slammed the door behind him and sank against it. Just when she thought her life was getting on point, this happened to drag it back to emotional turmoil. Well, she would not be a party to it. With any luck, Kian would find Anthony and put him back where he belonged, and then her ex-husband could leave her alone. With the same grit she’d used to get on her feet the first time, she would survive. That was a promise to herself she would keep no matter what hell came her way.

Chapter Three

Kian unstrapped his holster and laid it along with his glock on the bedside table. He removed his clothes and stepped into the shower with the water setting as hot as he could stand it. Why had he thought seeing Evie again would be easy? All he’d been able to think about was dragging her into his arms and taking her, feeling her warmth around his cock, and hearing her moan as he came inside her. Instead, he’d been reminded that she had run to
him
, her ex-boyfriend. Current boyfriend now, he supposed. He despised thinking of that bastard touching Evie because he still thought of her as his, but he’d let her go. That’s what she’d wanted or she wouldn’t have left him.

Of course he had enough training and discipline not to let it show how much he’d missed her. He’d thrown up the past as a shield, but shortly after she’d gone, he realized his mistakes in how he had treated her and why she left. Not to say he was over it entirely. He wasn’t. Brad had been like a brother to him, and it killed him inside to lose him to murder. He hated Anthony, and for a moment, he had felt like he hated Evie for not telling him about her cousin’s illegal activities. She’d had a responsibility as his wife to uphold the law along with him, but she’d chosen Anthony over him. For awhile, he couldn’t forgive her, and he knew he’d punished her with his attitude, with his words, and his actions—until she had no choice but to leave.

“Ouch.”

Kian stiffened. He had been so deep into his thoughts, he hadn’t heard the bathroom door open or pay attention to Meghan stepping into the shower behind him. Irritation prickled his skin.

“The water is too hot,” she complained.

He turned the nozzle to a cooler setting. “It’s all yours.”

“Hey, where are you going? I thought we could shower together…after some fooling around.”

“I’m tired.” He didn’t even try to sound regretful, but toweled off and headed out of the bathroom.

Too soon, she joined him in bed. He kept his back to her, pretending to have dropped off already, but she wouldn’t be denied. An arm encircled his waist, and her breasts flattened against his back. He resisted shaking her off.

“Kian, when are we going to have the discussion?”

He feigned a yawn. “What discussion?”

She sighed and whined, making him grit his teeth. “You know, about me moving in here. I mean, I already have a key, and I’m here so often. Shouldn’t we make it official? I don’t have a lot of stuff, and my lease is up in another month. I can let my apartment go.”

“No.”

He sensed her offense, and he shut his eyes. “No, you don’t want to discuss it now?”

“No, you’re not moving in.”

She flew off the bed and clicked the light on. He rolled to his back to find her naked, rage rolling off of her in waves. “Excuse me?”

Kian searched for words to placate her, but found none. His mind weary as well as his body, he had no energy to let her down easy. In fact, he regretted giving Meghan a key to his house and allowing her in this bed. The house had become his and Evie’s the day he brought her home as his wife, and they had planned to raise their children there. While he’d been sleeping with Meghan for a year, he could hardly call what they had a relationship. She had assuaged his physical desires, and he never told her he loved her. Maybe he was the bastard Evie thought him to be.