by Ryan Michele
“It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.” I tried to absorb her fear.
Whatever in the hell this was. It couldn’t be about the other night, could it?
“Pack a bag,” Killian ordered me, and this time I didn’t put up a fight, not even a single word. My house had just exploded, and I couldn’t stay here. It wasn’t safe. Behind Killian’s steel windows and with Killian, we’d be safe.
“Bri’s coming with us.”
Killian nodded once, surprising me with no lip about it.
“Go!” he demanded. Obviously, patience wasn’t his strong suit.
“Come on. We’ll pack your stuff too,” I told my best friend. Bri nodded, holding my hand. I’d never had a mousetrap shut on me, so I had no idea what that felt like, but it killed a mouse, so it must have done something. “We’ll get you ice for your hand.”
“What’s wrong with her hand?” Killian asked as we made a move to leave the room.
“Mousetrap in the closet. She stuck her hand on it,” I explained as Killian had a clear look of concern on his face.
“It jumped out at me!” Bri cried, but I did see a hint of a smile on the corner of her lip. She was okay. Thank God.
“Right. Get packed. Cops will be here soon, and then we’re goin’ to my place.”
On a nod, we went to the bedroom and packed. It wasn’t easy, but I pushed down the fear and allowed the adrenaline to get me through.
Elliot was the first to arrive. I was still pissed at him for the other night, but none of that mattered because when I saw him in his uniform striding to me, I fell into his arms. He wrapped me up tight, and I let the comfort of my brother seep through to my bones.
I’d never in my life been shot at, and it was a feeling I never wanted to have again.
“What the fuck happened?” Elliot barked. I jumped, looking up at him, but he wasn’t addressing me. No, his hard gaze was set on Killian who stood behind me. Killian didn’t even hesitate or balk under my brother’s scrutiny.
“No ID yet. I’ll watch the video and let you know if I know them.”
“Video?” I asked, but Killian didn’t answer me.
“Had Diesel here watchin’ out. He clocked them, called me, and came in to get the girls.”
“Diesel?” My eyes darted around the room to the man who was all in black. His light brown hair was cropped close to his head, broad shoulders and arms that looked as though they could break someone. His tawny eyes hit mine, and I paused for a moment. There was something about this guy. Something deep inside him was all wrong. He definitely looked like a Diesel. Strong, determined, and hard.
Being curious, I wanted to ask, but I kept my mouth shut. Frankly, no matter my level of curiosity right then, all I wanted was to get out of my house.
“Want to tell me why the hell she was getting shot at in the first place?” My brother’s tone was clipped, and I pulled out of his arms, but he wrapped one arm over my shoulder and held me tight. Red and blue lights were flashing through the very open windows. We were in this awkward standoff with the tension radiating off my brother like I had never seen before.
It was at that moment I started looking around my place.
Destroyed.
Total devastation.
There was no other word for it. My furniture, walls, floor—all of it had bullet holes. There would be no saving a lot of it.
“Considerin’ those boys are still in lockup, it’s not them. Other than that, I’ll find out.”
My brother’s grip got tighter. “I gave you a pass night one. Now, we got problems. She hooks up with you, and suddenly she’s in danger. Don’t like that shit. Not a single thing about it sittin’ right with me. Thought you’d be the best for her. Only reason I stood down that night and let you take her home.”
“I didn’t…” I tried to speak, cutting off Elliot, but Killian talked over me once again.
“Brother, put a cap on that shit now. You know the play.”
I tried again. “Play? What play?” And I was ignored.
“Yeah, but that was before all this shit. You were supposed to keep her clean and safe,” Elliot accused. Clean? Clean from what?
“And I fuckin’ am!” Killian roared. “What I’m not doin' is explainin’ that shit to you.”
I pulled away from Elliot, getting in the middle of the two men and yelled, “Stop it right now! Whatever this is between you, isn’t for right now. We were shot at. I’ve had a day straight from Hell. I want to get out of here, not listen to you two go back and forth about shit no one seems to understand but, well, you two!”
Killian reached for me, pulling me into his body. It was so damn warm, and I found comfort in him. My eyes shut for a moment, breathing him in.
“I’ll take care of you,” Killian said into my ear, and I shivered.
“Ellie?” Elliot said, and I looked to my brother. He was still pissed off, but he wasn’t the only one. We’d iron everything out later. “You’re good, Ellie? With him?”
My head moved on its own accord. Even though I was truly far from good, I was determined I would be. Once this was sorted, we’d all be okay. I had to have that hope. Sometimes hope was the only thing to hold on to.
“You takin’ her to your place?” Elliot asked Killian, and I was getting tired of this ignoring me while I was standing here bullshit.
“Yeah. Bri too.”
“Good.” Elliot looked at me. “You’ll be good there.”
“Yeah. We need to talk about that, Eli.”
“Yeah, but not now.” With a deep swallow and blink of his eyes, Elliot switched from my brother to the cop. “Tell me what happened.”
After running through everything and Bri getting seriously embarrassed about the mousetrap in front of my brother, which was something I needed to ask her about later, we rolled out to Killian’s place. Bri was in a guest bedroom laying down, and I was in Killian’s room, waiting for him to get back. Killian locked us both up tight, put Ollie on the couch, and took off to unknown places.
He hadn’t even given me time to ask about what was going on. Killian had been on a mission. Get us locked behind his fortress and head out. I didn’t like the loneliness. On the flip side, I didn’t like the way I was craving him for my comfort. I wasn’t used to relying on anyone else. This was all so foreign to me.
The plush chair in the corner of the room would have a very nice view of the back yard, but with the damn shutters down, the only thing to look at was the room and fireplace. It wasn’t cold enough for a fire, but I wanted it all the same. Therefore, I had it.
Flames crackled as the reds, yellows, and oranges dance around.
We were shot at today. My home was uninhabitable. The bar was being run by Corey. And I was sitting in this room thinking one thing—I wished Killian was here. In that jacked up twisted brain of mine, all I wanted was for Killian to wrap me in his arms and kiss it all away.
I blamed it on the life and death situation. Plus, Killian was hot and great in bed.
All of this from going to get Bri from that house. At least that was what I'd figured. There hadn’t been any problems other than that. Even with this, there was no reason for anyone to be after us. I’d really hoped Killian was okay. My mind was racing and all over the place. I didn’t know what he was going to do or where he was, but I sent up a silent prayer that he’d be safe.
Lord knew we definitely needed help.
8
Ellie
The hair on my face was swept away, and I jolted awake. My legs were tucked underneath me, head resting on my bent arm in the comfy chair. Looking up, Killian stood there. He was different than earlier.
At my house, he was hard.
Now, he wasn’t. That shield he showed the world was down. I could tell it in his eyes. He said nothing, just scooped me up like he would a bride and carried me over to the bed. He didn’t lay me down; instead, he set his back against the headboard and held me on his lap. His legs were stretched out, and I fit perfectly in the c
rook of him.
“Well, I can see you’re not covered in blood, so you didn’t find whoever it was. Am I right?”
His body shook just a bit, and I knew it was from laughter. I loved that I could make him laugh even in these situations. “How do you know I didn’t hose off outside?” he returned.
“Then you’d be wet. You’re not.”
He gave me a squeeze. “Observant.” He let out a small sigh. “The guys from the other night are still in lockup. Their boss has gone to ground, and the video showed men in masks. So we’ve got nothin’ right now.”
I had to admit I was surprised at his honesty with me. I figured he would be vague with sharing whatever he knew since I clearly had no clue what it was he even did for a living to have men like Diesel to assign to watch me. I shifted to look up at him. “Who do you think would do this, Killian? I don’t have any enemies. Who would want to shoot up my living room? Those guys in jail shouldn’t even know who I am.”
“I don’t know, but I’ll fuckin’ find out.”
“How?”
His sapphire eyes turned a bit scary. “Leave that to me. I will find them.”
From his tone, I believed him. He was absolute, like not finding them wasn’t an option. While I loved that, I also feared that he might get hurt. That wouldn’t fly with me. “Promise me you won’t get hurt.”
His sexy grin came out. “Ellie, you comin’ to terms with bein’ with me?”
“No. I just don’t want you dead,” I bit back.
“That’s good to know. And I’ll consider it a step in the right direction.”
He shifted me so I was on my back, and he was on top of me. My heart thumped rapidly in my chest. “What are you doing?”
“Kissin’ you.” Then he did as he said—hard, rough, deep and lots of tongue.
Once again, in his magical ways, I forgot everything around me. No shootings. No bars. No friends. No one after me. Nothing. My whole universe revolved around Killian.
Turning in his arms, my hands threaded through his hair as we both got lost in the kiss. Legs on either side of him, his erection pressed against me in just the right spot. My hips moved on their own accord, searching for more friction, release … just more.
Killian’s hands came up my back and pressed me tighter to him, deepening the kiss even more. We kissed for long moments, each of us touching and petting the other.
My mind completely shut off, living in the moment and not thinking of the consequences. To hell with those.
His warm hands came under my shirt, his touch turning me on. Grinding my hips more, I let loose and grabbed the edge of his shirt, tearing it from his torso. Lips to his neck, I kissed down his body and took my time to explore.
The pulse point in his neck jumped as I reached down to cup his erection through his jeans. He was hard and ready for me, which only made me wetter.
One squeeze of him and I was up. He flipped me around, unbuttoned my jeans, and pulled the clothing off of me. My shirt was next, but he didn’t bother with the bra. Instead, he pulled my breasts out of the cups, leaving the fabric and wires to hold them up pert.
Killian kissed down my body, stopping at my nipples and giving them a torturous lick and suck. My back bowed off the bed, hands going behind to his head.
He moved down my body, kissing the entire path until he reached between my legs, and his eyes were locked on mine. They bore into me as he licked, nipped, and sucked my aching flesh.
As sexy as it was to watch him kiss my most sensitive region, my body wasn’t having it. My core tightened, back arched, and eyes closed as I pulled his hair and came hard.
The orgasm raced like fire through me as Killian moved quickly, pressing himself inside of me. This only revved me up once again.
Damn this man. In and out of me, he pistoned his hips. Our eyes locked, and breathing labored. Something inside squeezed hard at the passion for me centered in his blue orbs. When we came, we did it together, but this time Killian didn’t clean me. Instead, he stayed inside me, pulled the covers over our bodies, and we fell fast asleep.
Screaming. I heard it, and my eyes flipped open, but Killian was already out of bed. I heard the rustling of his jeans, and I reached over and flipped on the light just as I heard the screaming again.
It was Bri. I threw off the covers, found my clothes, and tossed them on. Killian was already gone.
“Don’t!” Bri screamed as I ran down the hallway to where Killian was standing in the room, light on. A panicked Bri sat up in bed, her eyes ravenous.
I rushed over and wrapped my arms around her. “You’re fine, Bri. Just fine. You’re safe here. Remember, I showed you the security and the shutters. You’re okay.”
Bri whimpered in my arms as I rocked her back and forth, cooing in her ear. “It’s my fault,” she cried out, and I felt my body lock.
“What’s your fault?” This couldn’t be good. What happened wasn’t good.
“Khloe swore me not to tell anyone. She said she could get in a lot of trouble if I said anything.”
My body started to get hot. Bri didn’t keep things from me, at least I didn’t think she did. That was what best friends did; they told each other everything. We always shared every secret.
I could feel Killian’s eyes on us, and I looked over. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his elbow was against the door. He was studying us, and I wondered what he saw.
“What?” I pushed Bri, wanting to know what was going on here.
Bri took a deep breath, and my heart skipped a beat when she spoke. “She stole two diamond bracelets. She was behind on some bills and was going to pawn them for the cash.”
Panic and anger consumed me. “She obviously got caught, and we’re stuck in the middle of all this shit. Is that what’s going on here?”
“She say anything else about jewelry?” Killian asked. “What did they look like? Were they full-on diamonds or other gems? Was there a design on them?”
Her head shook. “No. Just that she shouldn’t have done it, but she didn’t have any other choice.”
“Right. Get some sleep, and we’ll figure it out in the morning.” She nodded, wiped her face, and the tears receded. I always hated seeing her cry.
Killian grabbed my hand and pulled me through the room. The vibe coming off of him had me alarmed. Relaxed Killian, who just made my body hum, was gone, and in his place was Killian on a mission. I just wasn’t sure what that mission was.
“What do we do now?” I asked Killian as he shut the door to his room.
His eyes locked on mine, searching. “You didn’t know any of that?”
My head shook. I sincerely knew nothing about Khloe and her financial problems.
“Alright. I need to make some calls. Climb in bed, and I’ll be back.”
I barely stopped myself from asking who he was going to call. He and I were in dangerous waters. The emotional upheaval was causing my brain to shut off when it came to Killian. He and I didn’t have a relationship or, if we did, it was sex. Maybe friends. That was still up for debate. There were things I knew. One, I loved that he was trying to protect Bri and me. Two, he was warm, hard, and strong. Three, he was the best I’d ever had in bed. Four, it genuinely felt like he cared about me.
He rubbed his nose along my jaw, which was incredibly sweet, and then he was gone.
And again, I was left in his room with a mind filled with emotions and thoughts I couldn’t process. What did one do when they had far more questions than answers?
9
Ellie
“What’s up with the hunk of man?” Corey asked, standing next to me at the bar top. Big badass Diesel sat only two tables over, his focus on the entire room; not just us, and there were a lot of people. The Drunken Monkey was the place to be.
Great for business, but I had to admit, I was a bit on edge. So much so I let Killian talk me into having people checked and scanned for weapons at the front door before they were allowed inside. It was probably overkill,
but I didn’t want anyone hurt because of this mess.
Especially here.
I readily gave into Killian’s request to have a man on me visibly at all times. Apparently, he had his people watching me from a distance before, but after the shootout at my house, he wanted the presence of his people known.
“That’s my bodyguard, Diesel.”
At the sound of his name, which I had no idea how he heard over the music, he turned to us and lifted his chin in that silent greeting that badasses did.
“Okay. Why do you need a bodyguard, and how do I meet him?” She winked at me.
I hadn’t had time to tell Corey what went down yesterday. Truthfully, I didn’t want to talk about it. At least for a while. My mind had raced all night, and it needed a break. One of those mental timeouts. Corey was a chill kind of woman. She was also the kind of woman who analyzed, compartmentalized, and then moved the fuck on. I respected the hell out of her, but right this moment, I was too exhausted to break it all down.
Before I bought the bar, I worked at a doctor’s office. He let us take mental health days all the time, saying if we didn’t have our heads on straight everything would get screwed up. Between the other two ladies and I, we didn’t take but maybe four days off between all of us.
It was a great job. Honestly, back then and even now, I enjoyed working. The drive, the reasons to keep pressing on. I had only felt the need for the timeout once while working there.
There was a saying if you loved what you did, you’d never work a day in your life. That was how I felt at my bar. This wasn’t work—it was home. Only right now, I was checked out.
Right here and now, I was beyond ready for my mental health day.
“This is the short version because I have to get these orders in and approve the others for you. Yesterday some shit went down, so Killian put that big man on me to make sure nothing happens to me. Now I gotta…”
