Want Me (6 page)

Her father had never left scars on her, not on the outside, anyway. He’d just liked to make her bones snap. Liked to twist until her wrist popped. Punch until a rib cracked. He’d—

Lex had gone completely still at her touch. But now, his head turned and he looked back at her. Anger flashed on his face, but then, as he stared at her, shock rippled across his expression. “Sophie…”

He turned toward her, and she made a mindless growl of anger.

“Sophie.” He put his hand under her chin. “Are you crying for me?”

And she was. Sophie blinked, stunned to realize that her eyes had filled with tears. Those tears slid down her cheeks, cooling the flushed skin. The tears wouldn’t stop. They just kept coming.

She didn’t often cry for herself. But seeing that Lex had been hurt, that he’d been a victim, it had cut her right to the core.

“No, sweetheart, no.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled Sophie closer to him. “That was a long time ago.”

Her breath was hitching. Her heart—breaking. “Who?”

His body stiffened, but his hold just tightened on her. “Who broke your bones? Who kept sending you to the hospital?”

She closed her eyes. “My father.” And her mother hadn’t stopped him. She’d just watched, with eyes that were weary. With a gaze long dead.
She watched.
Then, each time, when Sophie had come home from the hospital, her mother had sat on Sophie’s bed. Voice sad, she’d said, “You shouldn’t make him angry. I don’t make him angry anymore. It’s just you, Sophie. You have to stop being so bad. When the police come, don’t be bad. Be a good girl.”

A good girl didn’t tell on her father. A good girl pretended she’d fallen again and again. At soccer practice. At ballet. In gym. Anywhere. Everywhere.

His hand stroked her hair. “My mother left me when I was just a baby. I never knew her. I think she was running away from him.”

But she left you there?

“All of my memories of him…” Lex spoke softly and he kept stroking her hair. “They involve his fists or his belts. I know he had to be good. No one is always evil, right?”

Sophie wasn’t so sure of that. Her tears still weren’t stopping.

“The marks he left on me couldn’t be explained away by a fall.” Still, he stroked her hair, so carefully. “So when I was six, people came and they took me away from him.”

People. Child services.

“I never saw the bastard again. I never wanted to see him.”

When she closed her eyes, she saw her father. Not the enraged man he’d been, spittle flying from his mouth as he yelled at her.

But…her last image. Him on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood. Her mother beside him, with that big hole between her eyes.

Sophie shuddered. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you were hurt.”

“No one hurts me now.”

She believed that.

“And no one will hurt you.”

Her breath heaved out once more, then she pushed against his chest. His hold eased and she tipped back her head, staring up at him. She and Lex were far more alike than she’d originally realized. Survivors.

He’d grown from that past of pain and become a soldier. A protector. Not a monster.

And she…

Sophie wasn’t sure what she was.

“The past only hurts us if we let it,” Lex told her, voice gruff. “I buried that shit. It’s not me, not anymore.”

“I couldn’t get away.” Why was she telling him this? She’d never even told Ethan all the painful details.
As if not talking meant it didn’t happen to me.
“I tried to run away—three times—but he’d find me each time. And when he brought me back home, he just hurt me more.” Her right leg always ached in the evenings because she didn’t think it had healed properly. “He’d keep me locked up, in the basement.” That fucking basement that she hated. “And it was so dark there. If I screamed for help, he’d just come and hurt me again.” Her words came, faster and faster. “He’d tell my friends I was sick. He’d send a note to the school. They all just thought I was ill. No one ever checked on me back then.” No, that wasn’t true. “Ethan would check. He fought with my father once.”

“Sophie…”

“But when Ethan left, I had to pay the price.” The tears were still coming, like a dam had been opened within her. “I asked him never to confront my dad again. I-I didn’t think I’d survive if he did.”

“Your father was one sick son of a bitch.”

Yes. “He was a man who liked total control.” No, more than that. “He was a twisted bastard who enjoyed hurting those who were weaker.” First her mother, and then, when Sophie had come along…
me.

She kept her gaze on Lex. “You aren’t anything like your father.” She’d never felt fear of Lex. Sure, he had plenty of power, but when she was with him, she felt protected. Safe. Not threatened.

“And you’re nothing like yours.”

A sob broke from her.

“Sophie, you are tearing out my heart.” He pulled her close again and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “What can I do to make it better? What can I do?”

Nothing. Because her monster was dead. And his was in the past.

She wrapped her arms around him. “I wish I could take away the pain you had.” He was such a good man, at his core. He hadn’t deserved what happened to him.

“Sweetheart, I’d give my soul to take away yours.”

Her heart stopped. He actually sounded as if he meant those words. Impossible, of course, but—

A loud pounding echoed through the house.

“What the hell?” Lex muttered and he pulled away. “Sounds like someone’s at the front door.”

She felt cold, too exposed, as he hurried toward the bedroom door. Sophie grabbed the sheet, needing it now.

Lex jerked on a pair of jeans. “Stay here, Sophie. I’ll take care of this.” He hurried from the room.

Who could be at his door that early? Dev? His other partner, Chance Valentine? She swiped her hand over her face, trying to get rid of those tears. She felt hollowed out on the inside, her heart raw, her emotions all over the place. This just wouldn’t do. She never broke apart. She couldn’t afford to do it.

But seeing the scars on Lex’s back, realizing that he’d been a victim, just as she had…that had changed everything for her. Lex wasn’t someone to be used and discarded. He was so much more.

“What are you doing here?” Lex’s angry voice carried easily to her because he’d left the bedroom door open.

“I need to see Sophie.” And that voice—a voice just as angry, just as deep—it had her stumbling toward the bedroom door.
Ethan Barclay.
If Ethan had tracked her to Lex’s place, then that could
not
be a good sign.

“Too fucking bad,” Lex snarled back. “Sophie is busy right now.”

Crap. She needed clothes, right then. Her frantic gaze flew around the room. Where had she dropped that bag?

“So why don’t you just haul your ass out,” Lex’s fierce voice continued. “And I’ll get her to call you later.” Then he swore. “Hell, how did you even find my place? How did you know she was with me?”

Based on that lethal tone, she didn’t have time to dress. She kept that sheet around her and sprinted through the bedroom door.

“I know
everything
about Sophie,” Ethan said, his voice far too knowing.

She ran down the hallway. She could see those two men—big, fierce, and looking as if they were about to come to blows at any second.

“Not everything,” Lex threw right back.

No, Ethan didn’t know everything, but he thought he did.

“You slept with her, huh?” Ethan drawled. “Then I guess she’s done with you now.”

Lex surged toward Ethan. Ethan jumped right toward Lex.

“Stop!” Sophie yelled. They stilled.

She kept running until she was close enough to grab Ethan’s arm. Then she jerked him away from Lex and toward her. “What are you doing here?”

His golden eyes—only Ethan had eyes that color—glared down at her. “I was worried about you. You weren’t home. I heard buzz about an attack…” His hands closed around her shoulders. “You should have come to me.”

Once, Ethan’s face had been eerily close to perfect.
Before
Daniel Duvato got hold of him. Now, Ethan’s high cheekbones were marked. A long, still angry red scar went down his left cheek and another sliced down his right. His dark hair was longer than before, and it looked as if he’d been running his fingers through the tousled mane.

“She came to me,” Lex said, stepping forward. “Now get your hands off her.”

Ethan didn’t. She knew Ethan wasn’t used to following orders.

“Get. Them. Off.” Lex advanced more, closing the last of the distance between them. “You’re in my house, asshole, and Sophie is—”

Ethan dropped his hands and turned to face Lex. “What? She’s yours?” He laughed, the sound mocking. “Don’t kid yourself. It’s obvious Sophie had her fun with you, but I know her. She’s done now.” He inclined his head toward Sophie. “Let’s go. We have things to discuss in private.”

Ethan had been her best friend for more years than she could count. Her confidant. She knew the world saw him as some kind of villain, and sure, the guy wasn’t always on the side of the law abiding, but…

He loves me.
She knew that with certainty. She was Ethan’s only family, just as he was hers.

He’d paid for her college. Her law school. He’d gotten her away from the nightmare of her past.

But she wasn’t leaving with him.

Her gaze slid to Lex. Lex wasn’t staring at Ethan any longer. Lex’s green stare was on her. He was waiting. Waiting for her to make a choice?

She’d made that choice. “I’m not done.” She should have said something more profound. Lex’s gaze had just widened. Hell. Was she screwing this up? “I’m with Lex.”
I’m with Lex.
Why did that feel so right to say?

“What?” And Ethan reached out to her again. “Sophie—”

Just that fast—a blink—Lex had Ethan across the room and pinned against the wall. Lex’s arm was locked under Ethan’s jaw as he said, “I told you…don’t touch her. I get that you two are friends. Maybe even some kind of screwed-up family. But Sophie is naked under that sheet and when you get close to her, when you get all handsy, it really pisses me off.”

She pulled the sheet up a bit.

“Didn’t think I was the jealous sort,” Lex continued, his voice still that rough tangle of fury and possession. “Until her.”

Ethan wasn’t fighting, a surprise there. Because she knew he could be a vicious fighter.

And I have no doubt that Lex can be, too.
She didn’t want to see what would happen if those two ever really did go after each other. Right then, Lex was just holding Ethan back.

“Get something straight,” Lex demanded as he kept his focus on Ethan. “Sophie is mine. She came to me when the shit got bad in her life. Me, not you. And I’ll do anything she wants.
Anything.
”

Sophie inched forward. “Don’t hurt him.” She wasn’t sure if that warning was for Ethan or for Lex.

Ethan must have thought the warning was for him. “Loverboy…” Ethan ground out, “is the one choking me.”

Sophie put her hand on Lex’s shoulder. “Let him go.”

He immediately did. Then Lex swung to her. “If you want me sane, please just put on some damn clothes around him. You being naked with him isn’t going to fucking fly with me near. It’s not going to fly, period.”

He really was jealous. She didn’t feel some sort of power surge with that knowledge. She just shook her head. “It’s never been like that with us. It never will be.” She turned from him. Then Sophie realized something important. What she’d felt with Lex the night before,
it had never been like that with anyone.
Her heart was beating too fast as she said, “Don’t kill each other while I dress, got it? I’ll be right back.”

Then Sophie ran down that hallway as fast as she could.

They might not kill each other before she got back. But hurting each other? That could be a definite possibility.

He didn’t lunge at Ethan again. Lex was rather proud of his restraint, but he did glare at the asshole. He’d first met Ethan when VJS had been hired to protect Gwen Hawthorne. Pretty Gwen had picked up a very dangerous stalker—and all signs had pointed to that stalker being her ex-lover, Ethan Barclay. With Ethan’s shady reputation, it had been easy enough to imagine the fellow as the bad guy.

And Chance Valentine, well, he sure as hell hadn’t been keen on Ethan. Chance didn’t like it for any other man to get too close to Gwen.

Now I understand how he feels. I probably shouldn’t have given him such a hard time about the way he was twisted in knots over Gwen. I’m just as twisted up for Sophie.

Maybe even more so.

“So...are you planning to glare at me all day?” Ethan asked as he rolled back his shoulders.

“Not all day. Just until Sophie comes back.” He gave Ethan a grim smile. “She went to our bedroom to dress.”

Ethan didn’t take the bait and come at him to attack. The guy just laughed. Annoying, mocking laughter. Then Ethan said, “The fact that she slept with you means you
don’t
matter, man. Get that in your head. You’re one and done with her.”

His spine snapped up. “You have no clue, do you? Not about her, not really.” She’d cried in his arms and Sophie had broken something in him with her tears. He was different now, he could feel it.

“I know plenty about Sophie.” Ethan’s gaze measured him. “But what I don’t know…that’s you. Why are you pushing so hard to get close to Sophie?”

Was the guy serious? Sophie was beautiful, smart, determined—

“Is this because you and your jerk buddies at VJS want to take me down? Are you still gunning for me after all?”

Ethan was delusional.

“I never hurt Gwen,” Ethan continued, “so you damn well better not have plans to hurt Sophie.”

He didn’t lunge at the guy. Didn’t shove his forearm against Ethan’s throat again. But Lex could feel the fury pouring through him. “Hurting Sophie is the last thing I intend. I told you already, she came to me.”

“And Sophie always comes to me!” Now Ethan was almost yelling as his control fractured. “I’m the one there for her! The one she can count on, the one—”

“Not this time.” Just saying those words filled Lex with a savage satisfaction. Whatever Sophie and Ethan had, this time… “She came to me.”

Ethan’s golden eyes glittered. “Sophie—”

“—is back,” Sophie called as she hurried into the room. She was bouncing a bit as she tried to shove on one of her high heels. The woman had dressed in real record time. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders and her face—free of makeup—was gorgeous. But…

He could see the faint tear marks on her cheeks.

Ethan was frowning at her now. Seeming to get a real look at Sophie. The guy stalked forward and his eyes narrowed on her face. “What did he do?” Before, Ethan’s voice had been hard with fury. Now, it was soft. Deadly. “Just tell me, and I’ll make it all better.”

Alarm flashed on Sophie’s face, then her hands immediately rose to scrub her cheeks. “Nothing! No, Lex didn’t do anything to me!”

Giving a guttural growl, Ethan whirled to face Lex.

But Sophie grabbed his arm and yanked him back toward her. “
Nothing!
” Sophie said again. “Look, I hired him to protect me, all right?”

So much for keeping that secret. Maybe she
didn’t
keep anything from Ethan.

That jealousy was back, pouring like acid through Lex’s veins.

“Someone broke into my home,” Sophie said. She was still holding onto Ethan’s arm. “A jerk with a knife. He said that he was there to make sure I was all right, but I didn’t buy that bull.”

“Because of the fucking knife.” Ethan’s voice was still that quiet menace.

“He told me that he was going to kill Daniel Duvato.”

Ethan blinked.

“I couldn’t come to you. I-I was worried…” Her voice dropped and her hand slipped away from Ethan. “About what you might do.”

“Sophie…”

“Lex is working on this case.” She nodded firmly. “He’s got this. VJS has this.”

Lex rather liked the confident way she said that.

“You don’t have to swoop in for the rescue, Ethan. I’m okay.”

Damn straight she was.

But Lex noticed that Sophie hadn’t mentioned the near accident in front of the courthouse. Since she didn’t mention it, neither did he. He wanted Sophie to know he could keep her secrets, too.

“I didn’t come here to rush to your rescue.” Ethan’s lips thinned. “I need you to come to mine.”

“What?” When Sophie shook her head, her hair slid over her shoulders in a gleaming black curtain.

“Daniel Duvato,” Ethan spat out that name. “He’s fucking trouble that I should have ended long ago.”

Lex’s stare drifted between them. He was pretty sure Ethan had just threatened to kill Daniel.

“A cop who owes me…that cop let me know that Daniel is planning to make a deal with the ADA. Seems they had a chat last night, and Daniel wants to see me locked in a cell right next to his.”

“That’s not happening,” Sophie said immediately.

Lex kept quiet, just listening and taking in as much as he could.

“I don’t know what kind of evidence the guy
thinks
he has on me—”

“He worked with you for years,” Sophie said.

Years of secrets. Of crimes?

Sophie’s gaze cut to Lex. She blinked and a mask seemed to fall, veiling some of the brilliance of her eyes. “Ethan is my client.”

Lex was sure that been handy in the past, especially if Sophie saw Ethan’s less-than-legal activities.

Sophie gaze a quick nod. “I need to get down to the station right away. I’ll talk with Clark and figure out just what the hell is going on.” She started a determined stride toward the door.

Lex stepped in her path. “You mean
we’ll
be going down there.”

“Lex—”

“What are you planning, Sophie? A little sit-down with Daniel Duvato?” He threw that out there because suspicion had knotted his gut.

She didn’t so much as blink. “If necessary. No deal will be made. Ethan isn’t going to be incriminated.”

“Then maybe Ethan shouldn’t have broken the damn law!”

She flinched.

“Watch it,” Ethan warned softly. “I get real particular about the way people speak to Sophie.”

Lex turned his head and met the guy’s glare with his own fury. “And I get real particular about people putting her in danger. Daniel tried to kill her and you! So what, you just expect Sophie to go in there and have a little friendly chat with the guy? Show him the error of his ways?”

“I’ll handle Daniel,” Ethan said confidently. “I just need Sophie to take care of the ADA. Convince the guy that Daniel is just spouting bullshit.”

Lex’s temples were throbbing. “Sophie, seriously, this is a bad idea.”

“I have to do my job.” She held his stare a moment longer, then glanced toward Ethan. “Don’t say anything else in front of Lex. You’re my client. He has no ties to you at all.”

The woman was telling Ethan to shut the hell up before he incriminated himself.
Too late, sweetheart.
Lex had already realized that Ethan was a killer.

He’d put all of the pieces together. The fierce way Sophie protected the guy. The bond that was so strong between them. Sophie’s father had hurt her, over and over, and that abuse had only stopped once the man was dead.

Lex knew exactly who’d killed Sophie’s father. The cops might not have a clue, but he knew. He suspected that Daniel Duvato did, too.

Ethan Barclay had saved Sophie from her nightmare, and Lex realized that—now—Sophie was determined to protect the other man, at all costs.

***

Sophie had been at the police station more times than she could count. Some days, the trips there were to talk with cops—informants that she had carefully cultivated on the force. Other days, she was there to sit in on interrogations as she did her best to protect her clients.

Today, she was there for one very basic reason.

To save Ethan’s ass.

Lex was at her side. He’d insisted on traveling with her, and she had to admit, she was glad he was there. After that near run-in with the black SUV the night before, having a bodyguard at her side really eased the fear.

“I guess you heard about last night…”

At that feminine voice, Sophie glanced to the right and found Detective Faith Chestang strolling toward her. Faith was smart with a hard-edge that Sophie respected. The two women didn’t always see eye-to-eye, mostly because Faith was usually trying to get Sophie’s clients locked up, but the lady was a good cop.

Faith’s skin was a warm caramel, her hair a perfect black. She was pretty, but Sophie knew that Faith tried to downplay her looks at the police station. Like that was going to work. Sophie used the opposite tactic. She tried to let her looks distract as much as possible. If men didn’t take her seriously enough, that was their own idiotic fault. It made moving in for the kill so much easier.

“Last night?” Sophie repeated carefully. She often liked to let the cops talk first because they tended to overshare that way.

Faith nodded grimly. Her gaze slid to Lex, then back to Sophie. “When Daniel Duvato killed a guard and drove a fountain pen into his lawyer’s throat.”

Lex swore.

Sophie rocked back on her heels. “No, no, I didn’t hear about that.” She was suddenly very glad that she’d convinced Ethan to wait outside. If he’d busted in there with her and heard this news…
Or does he already know? Is that the real reason he came looking for me?
“I’d been told only that Duvato and Clark Eastbridge were talking about a deal, a deal that might impact my client, Ethan Barclay.”

Faith glanced away. “I might’ve heard that too.”

And had she been the one to tip of Ethan? Sophie hadn’t thought that Faith and Ethan were close, but maybe Ethan had been holding back on her.

Faith shrugged her shoulders as her gaze slowly returned to Sophie. “They were having a little deal talk last night, right before Duvato showed the ADA just how much of a menace the guy is.” She shook her head. “The ADA is crazy on this one. No one should offer Duvato a deal. The guy needs to stay locked up forever.” Her head cocked as she studied Sophie. “I’m sure you, of all people, feel the same way.”

She’d tried to style her hair during the ride over. Worked to make it look like less of a night-after-tangle. She’d also used her hair to hide the scar that Daniel Duvato had given to her when he smashed a lamp over her head. “I think Daniel has nothing useful to offer anyone. A swift trial and a trip to a maximum security prison should be the only thing in his future.”

Faith pointed down the hallway. “Instead of maximum security, he’s in holding back there. Two officers are with him. He’s cuffed, hands and feet. The bastard isn’t going to be making another attempt to hurt anyone.”

Good. That was good.

“Where’s Clark?” Sophie asked. She had to stop him from going in that room and talking with Duvato. Or at least, she had to convince him that anything Duvato said was total bull.

“He’s with Duvato now.”

Dammit, no. “Then so am I.”

Lex grabbed her arm. “Sophie…”

She tossed back her hair. Tried to look like she had this situation totally under control. “I have a client to protect.” Surely he didn’t notice that her knees were shaking.

He leaned in close. “And I want to protect you.”

The last thing she wanted to do was go in that holding area. “I’ll be right back,” she promised.

“Sophie…”

She pulled away from him. Her heels clicked on the tiled floor. Her knees were still shaking.

***

“I think that woman might have balls of steel,” Faith said as she turned her head and watched Sophie stride away.

She’s got a protective streak. She’s doing this for Barclay.
Right then, Lex could have cheerfully beat the hell out of that guy. “I want back there, Faith.”

She laughed. “Right. Cause you’re a cop and all…”

“Come on, get me back there. Into an observation room. We both know there’s one back there. I just need to be close to her.”

Her face held a bit of suspicion as she studied him. “I heard about that hit and run last night outside of the courtroom. I also heard that—all of a sudden—you two are real close.”

He stared back at her.

“Bodyguard?”

He didn’t confirm or deny.

“I told her she should get someone to watch after her. Glad she listened to me.”

So was he.

She crept a bit closer. “If I do this, VJS totally owes me. And so does Ethan. Make sure he knows that. I’ll be calling in these debts.”

He knew she would, but Faith wouldn’t want money. She’d never been on the take. Never had, never would be. In her business, knowledge was power. VJS and Ethan Barclay had plenty of knowledge to give her. Contacts that she could use.

He nodded.

“Then come this way because I wanted to keep my eyes on that bastard, too.”

***

“Clark.” Sophie had just thrown open the door to that holding room. The cop outside had let her march right in—he knew her well.
A handy contact.

Clark’s head jerked up at her voice. “Sophie, what are you doing here?”

“Sophie…” Daniel jumped to his feet. “Sophie, I’m sorry.”

What? She turned her furious stare on him. Daniel was dressed in garish orange, and the wanna-be beard that he was growing looked like shit. “Sorry? For trying to kill me? And Ethan? For killing his fiancée? For—”

“For hurting you,” Daniel said, his shoulders slumping. “You’re the only part I regret.”

This was insane. No, Daniel was insane.

“You’d been hurt enough,” he added.

Her chin shot up. “Clark, I need to talk with you outside. Right now.”

Clark was already closing in on her. “You can’t be in here. The cops should
never
have let you inside. This is private, against every code—”

“He killed a guard last night. Attacked his lawyer. And you know what? I bet Daniel doesn’t care that I’m here at all. Do you, Daniel?” Sophie challenged, raising her voice.

“You can be my lawyer, Soph,” Daniel shouted back. Two guards were shoving him back into his seat. “You can hear everything I’ve got to say about Ethan!”