by Amy McKinley
I flinched. She was probably right, but I could hope. Someday, I will leave this place.
“Don’t be expecting dinner. And your father will be home soon. I don’t want to see or hear you for the rest of the night.”
He’s not my father. I nodded and slipped into the only space that was sometimes mine. Aside from homework and hopefully sleep, I had nothing to do in there but think.
The door clicked quietly behind me, and I took care to step lightly and around any floorboards that squeaked. There were two spots. I avoided them like the blaring alarms they were.
My stomach growled, and I froze. Seconds ticked by. When no movement sounded by my door, I released the tension I’d been carrying. It was a never-ending cycle.
At school, I had access to food. And sometimes in the middle of the night or early morning, I could sneak into the kitchen at home and take something that wouldn’t be noticed. That wasn’t always possible. On occasion, there was bread and peanut butter. The fridge only had beer in it.
The emptiness in my stomach rarely eased since I kept growing. I was almost as tall as Mom now, but still no match for him. He towered over us. I was fast, but couldn’t escape if he got even one hit in. I’d learned many times to stay quiet and out of sight.
The area we lived in wasn’t much, and I wasn’t the only one dressed in clothes that were too small and had holes. Some kids didn’t have it great at home, either, but not too many were on their own like I was.
Sixth grade was different than the first few years in my school. Not everyone had enough food or two parents. I wasn’t the only one who had it rough. I recognized hunger, loneliness, and pain in some of the others. We kept to ourselves, mostly. Some would start shit with the kids who had more.
I looked over my meager belongings, contemplating what I could wash out in the sink when they were asleep. My shoes were too small again. I’d have to go over to the church and see if they had anything in the donation boxes in my size. I’d gotten lucky and found a sweatshirt, but shoes were the hardest to come by. I wanted to keep growing. Maybe when I was big enough, I could stop him from hitting me.
Carefully, I lay down on my sleeping bag, the floor hard beneath me. It was quiet, and I wanted to get some rest.
I had light-brown skin like both my parents. My coloring still passed for Cuban, which they were. If that had been it, they might have wanted me. It wasn’t. My eyes were what betrayed that my mom had cheated. No one in either of their families had blue eyes. To them, I was an abomination.
My eyes flew open, and I sat up and looked around, realizing I was still in the hotel room. Gun in hand, I stood, taking inventory. Nothing moved. The door was shut and the chain still in place. My instincts continued to flare. What is different?
I checked Stella’s room. A sliver of moonlight fell across her. Her hair splayed across the pillow as she slept. A small flare of light flashed from the main room. I strode back, ready to confront the threat. I grimaced at missing that. What had woken me wasn’t an intruder—it was a text lighting up the screen of my cell phone.
Jack texted. Landed. Be there after our place is secured.
They must have left later than they’d planned—maybe they’d waited for Hayden too. Jack would check out Stella’s place and what was done to it, and Keegan would go straight to our apartment. Luckily, we all have an app installed on our phones that allowed Chris to connect the feed from any cameras we planted. Keegan wouldn’t be taken unaware.
That wasn’t entirely true, because Keegan usually spoiled for a fight. He was fury walking. If an enemy showed up, it would be their disadvantage.
I sat back on the couch, intending to go back to sleep when I heard a phone ring. Not mine. Not the hotel’s landline either. Stella. In two strides, I was at the entryway to her room as she lifted the phone to her ear and uttered a sleepy hello.
A tic pulsed at my jaw. She wasn’t supposed to be on her phone. It changed things. We weren’t safe any longer.
Her eyes widened, and her mouth formed into a small o before she pulled the phone away from her mouth to whisper, “It’s Max. He said they know about us. We need to leave.”
Chapter 9
Hawk
A fierce wind slapped us in the face, plastering our clothes against us as we left the hotel. Dark clouds rolled overhead, and a few fat drops of rain fell, promising one hell of a storm. Bags secured over my shoulder, I grabbed Stella’s hand and pulled her along. Her hair whipped around her head in a fiery mass of loose curls, which had to challenge her ability to see.
The weather matched my mood. I couldn’t put my finger on what my problem was, whether I was being overly sensitive to the issues with her brother, or if it was about Stella powering up her phone.
Before we’d left, I’d texted Jack. Chris set up a hasty registration at another hotel, then Jack gave us those details. I recognized the name of the place. We tended to stay in better accommodations since our lives had changed so drastically. None of us wanted to live the way we used to.
“We’re not going far, just a few blocks.” I attempted to reassure her, but my irritation continued to spike. “You can’t be on your phone. It needs to stay powered off and in the bag I gave you.” The night before, I’d explained the significance of the soft phone sleeve. It was a Faraday case that would block all wireless signals and make her phone undetectable and untraceable.
“I’m sorry. I’m worried about my brother. What if he needs me? What if he’s hurt?”
She would do it again is what she wasn’t saying. I would too for any of the people who had become a family to me. “I’ll get you a burner phone.”
“Thank you.”
I sucked in air and worked on not being mad. She didn’t understand. Her life had been different than what I and the guys on my team lived. “You have to keep that one in the sleeve too. If they get your number from Max, you can be traced.”
She nodded then worried her lip. “I don’t like this. You’re doing so much for me, and you don’t even know me.”
“This is our job. We’re used to protecting people, and we’ve been doing that since even before we got into the military. I stayed here longer because I sensed something going on with you and your brother, and I’m glad I did.”
Stella shivered and inched closer. I wrapped my arm around her despite the bags I was carrying. My hand curled around her hip. We weren’t in the clear. My team was back at the apartment, sweeping all traces of us from the inside. When the money collectors broke in—there was no doubt in any of our minds that they would—they wouldn’t find a thing.
In silence, Red and I hurried down several streets until the hotel came into view. I scoured the streets and buildings with her tucked close to my side. Lucky for me, she was tall. I often found it uncomfortable to walk with a woman against me, since I was just over six foot two. Red was close to the top of my shoulder. I didn’t have to hunch to the side to wrap my arm around her waist.
She fit.
I ushered her in and pointed to the elevators. One of the guys had run over, checked us in, and handed me the keycard at the previous hotel after Stella had gone to sleep. That eliminated the need to go to the front desk.
We rode the elevator in silence to the top floor. The guys knew I would want easy access to the roof. I kept thinking that the hotel should be a safe place for us to wait out what would happen next, but that could change. Stella slid the keycard in and pushed open the door while I kept an eye on the hallway. Once inside, she seemed to deflate.
“You okay?” I dropped our bags to the floor before I grasped her shoulders.
“Yeah, it’s just crazy.” She wrung her hands. “I never thought I’d have to run from people my brother chose to get involved with. I’m so scared for him.”
“It sucks. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this, but I’m here to help you.” I locked my gaze on hers. “You’re not alone in this.”
A sad smile curved her soft lips. “I know.” She flattened her hand
on my chest just as my cell vibrated in my pocket.
Not wanting to, but needing to get eyes back on her place, I dropped my hold on her, and her hand fell away. She turned to the windows as I pulled my cell out and answered it. I said hello then opened one of our bags and pulled out the laptop. Chris’s voice was sharp in my ear as the computer booted up.
“We’ve got a hit on a few of the enemy.” I could hear Chris’s fingers flying over the keyboard as he filled me in.
“Anyone we know?” With the laptop powered up, I clicked on the app for the camera feed just as Stella walked into one of the adjoining rooms.
“Not yet. Two of the three guys were tagged in several pictures with Tridel. They’re big as fuck, Hawk. They own several casinos in California.”
Not what I wanted to hear. “We’re going to have a hell of a fight on our hands, aren’t we?”
“Looks that way.”
“Who else is available to head out here?”
Chris cleared his throat, the click of the keys stopping. “I’m leaving now. Jack, Keegan, and Mike are already there. I’m going to see if Hayden is free. The rest of the guys are tied up with other jobs.”
“Who will stay with Liv and Mari? You’re not leaving them on their own, are you?”
I heard Stella snort in the other room, and I grinned. I got what she thought, but she had no idea what we’d gone up against. Liv’s nightmare alone was enough for all of us to be extra wary about leaving them unprotected.
“Don’t ever let Mari or Hannah hear you say that. Can you imagine?”
“Hey, I didn’t say anything about Hannah. But yeah, they would crucify me. Jo too, since she’s one of us.” Jo and Matt were married and had adopted two kids. Even the kids were badasses, but that didn’t stop my protective instincts from flaring at the thought of leaving any of those we called family vulnerable. “I still don’t like it.”
“I know, man. Hannah and Mari can hold down the fort. Jo and the kids will fly here too.”
It was Liv who we all worried about. She could shoot, and in a pinch, she could defend herself, but she didn’t have it in her to do what the rest of us did. It was endearing, really. Besides, she took care of us. She had a sort of ingrained intuition for when we were hurting the most but refused to tell anyone. That alone was worth all of our weight in gold.
I glanced at the screen. Movement in one of the apartment’s windows caught my attention. “They’re in.”
“Yep. Looks like the same guys,” Chris confirmed.
We stayed on the phone in silence for a few minutes, watching as three large men strategically tore apart Stella’s apartment again. That sense of unease I’d had from the moment I heard her and her brother arguing tripled. “Send me what you’ve got on the Tridel Corp. I feel like there’s something I’m missing.”
“You got it.” Tapping resumed on Chris’s end. “I’m heading out in a half hour. We’ll all meet you at the hotel this afternoon.”
I mumbled a reply and ended the call. Chris’s email arrived, and I clicked it, revealing pages of documentation and pictures of the loan shark’s operation.
“Hawk?”
The tension in her voice pulled me from what I’d been doing. She came up behind me and then pointed to the screen where the men were systematically trashing her place.
“They’re in my place—again? Now, they’re destroying my stuff.” An edge of hysteria had crept into her strained voice.
I whirled around and stood tall, effectively blocking the screen from her view. I steadied her with my hands on her shoulders. Large blue eyes swimming in tears met mine. “But you’re safe. It’s just stuff. You got out what was important to you.”
“I know, but…” A tremor ran through her body. “Nothing like this has ever happened before. I mean, why would they go after me?”
They want the treasure. “We’ll figure it out. I promise.” I slipped an arm around her shoulder and led her over to the couch. Sitting next to her, I flipped on the TV and surfed the channels until I found a show I knew the other guys’ wives liked.
Lightning pierced the sky, and thunder crashed seconds later. The storm had rolled in fast. Hopefully, the heavy rain and winds would slow down the men after Red. I clicked on a weather app on my phone to see what we were in for. The live radar showed a red cell above us, moving quickly.
Stella settled next to me, pressed up against my side. I liked it. I wanted to offer her comfort. For once, I didn’t mind someone in my space, leaning on me. Her vanilla-and-cinnamon scent teased the air, relaxing me.
The guys were a part of my world, and I would always be grateful—they were family, more than blood had ever been or shown me. Still, I kept to myself, and they’d always understood. With Stella, part of me didn’t want to. I didn’t want to let her go, even after the problem she and her brother were in was sorted. I was in uncharted territory.
With her leg against mine, I reopened the email on my phone. Chris had included details about Max, Stella’s brother, and all the connections he’d been associated with—Tridel, the loan-shark organization he owed money to.
I’d heard the name before. Where and in relation to whom, I couldn’t remember. It was on the cusp of a memory just out of reach. It would come. Part of me worried about what would follow when it did.
Chapter 10
Hawk
I’d left Stella sleeping in our hotel room with a note on the counter, telling her where I would be in case she awoke before I returned. I worried, knowing the panic she could experience if she woke up alone in the room, especially given all the stuff she was trying to deal with. Not wanting to be gone long, I did a perimeter check. There hadn’t been signs of anything to be concerned about. With care, I closed the stairwell door and turned to go to our room. The door opened, and Stella rushed out with coffee in hand.
“Oh.” She halted, extending her arm with the drink. “I was bringing you coffee.”
I took it from her and followed her inside. The warmth of the mug seeped into my chilled hand. The perfume of her hair trailed behind her. She smelled so good, and everything about her looked soft and inviting. I wanted to draw her close and breathe in her scent, but I couldn’t. My feelings for her wouldn’t help us stay focused on her problems.
“Thanks for the note.”
I nodded, but my thoughts returned to what we would need at some point, backup. We didn’t need it yet, but I had no doubt the men after her brother would come for us. My team had been at our apartment late last night, taking anything—all personal effects that would trace back to us—out. There had been some pictures and fingerprints, of course.
It wouldn’t have been a lot, but Keegan didn’t take any chances, and he had wiped the place clean. Not only that, but they would remain there for a day to see if anything happened to her apartment. An interrogation could go a long way.
Too bad the guys after Stella had trashed her place before my team had arrived.
She curled up on the couch, tucking her legs under her. “Since we’ve moved to another hotel, they’ll lose interest soon and leave me alone, right? I mean”—she spread her hands out before her—“what could they possibly get from coming after me? I don’t have anything of value.”
But she did—her life.
I leaned against the kitchen peninsula in our suite. “They won’t give up. It’s not their way.” The fragile hope that’d danced across her features crumbled with the slump of her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Stella. They would find a way to use you to get to your brother. Not only that, I’m pretty sure they’re pursuing you so hard after learning about the treasure your grandmother left you.”
“But she didn’t leave me anything… Nothing of monetary value, anyway.”
I hated doing this to her, but we needed to be fully prepared. If she didn’t know the level of danger coming at her, she could make a mistake and put herself in danger without even knowing she had, such as when she accepted the call from Max. I was starting to hate her brother
. “You said yourself that your brother didn’t believe that. If he thought you might have something that could save him, it’s possible he told the people after him to try to get them off his back and maybe buy some time.” So they wouldn’t break or kill him.
Her brows furrowed over those gorgeous eyes, amazingly blue with splashes of green. “Max wouldn’t tell them about me. He may be difficult, but he’s my brother, and I know he loves me. If he told them, it would put me in danger, and that’s not something he would risk.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. The way he’d argued with her about money and how she’d said he’d already taken anything of value told me something very different.
She held up her hand to stop me from saying anything. “He used to take care of me. When I got teased in school, he would always defend me. It’s not easy having red hair as a kid. And dating? Don’t even get me started on how protective he was. That’s my brother. He wouldn’t throw me under the bus.”
Maybe, but that was then. The man he had become was a different story. “From the little I know about your brother, it’s obvious he has a problem. Not only that, but he’s in a bad situation and desperate. While I’m sure he loves you and wants to protect you, he could’ve been in a tight spot. Your name might have slipped out in connection with whatever treasure he thinks you have.”
“Maybe.”
The pain in her voice had me crossing the room to sit next to her. “We’ll figure this out.” She pressed against my side, and I lifted my arm around her shoulder, pulling her close.
Stella leaned against me, seeking comfort. My heart rate picked up, and I struggled to keep my hands still. Everything about her drew me in and made me want things I never thought I deserved or could have. To prolong our contact, I asked her to tell me more about her life growing up with her brother.
Her hand settled on my thigh, and little electric zings shot from her touch. I played with the ends of her hair, unable to not touch her. I wanted to kiss her.
