by Katee Robert
He didn’t sound like he believed it any more than she did.
Galen pulled a knife from somewhere and a second later she was free. She should have run. Should have screamed for help again. Should have done anything but sit there like an idiot as he examined her hands, massaging the feeling back into her fingertips. The gentleness was so at odds with the scrapes across his knuckles from the beating he’d just delivered that it made her head spin.
He just kept rubbing her hands as if his touch would make everything better, would send her an hour back in time before… She still didn’t know what those men wanted. Not really. Her pain, a message to Theo, something. She opened her mouth, but what was there to say? This changed nothing. It couldn’t.
“Come on.” He stood and tugged on her hand, pulling her effortlessly to her feet.
It would be so easy to go with him, to let him stand between her and whatever new threat arose. Because there would be a new threat. If Galen’s father sent those men, then… God, she didn’t know. She just didn’t know.
Shock.
Meg was in shock.
She dug in her heels, forcing him to stop moving. “What just happened?”
He looked around the bar as if seeing it for the first time. “You’re safe,” Galen repeated.
“I think we both know that’s a lie.”
He gave a short nod, ceding the point. “You need to come with me, Meg. You’re not safe alone right now.”
But she couldn’t just let herself be towed along by the current that was Galen and Theo. Meg pulled against his grip, narrowing her eyes when he didn’t immediately release her. “How did you know to be here tonight?”
Another hesitation, this one more pronounced. “I’ll explain once we’re somewhere safe.”
That sounded a whole lot like he’d find a way to distract her from her questions once they were somewhere “safe.” Or hand her off to Theo, who would no doubt dodge her questions with the ease of a career politician because that’s exactly what he was. Meg twisted her hand in Galen’s grip and grabbed his wrist. “Galen, I need answers. Now.”
“No, you don’t. What you need is to get out of here before the adrenaline crash knocks you on your ass.”
“Don’t tell me what I do or don’t need like you know what’s best and I’m a stupid kid. I said I need answers, and I mean it.”
He cursed long and hard. Galen shot another look toward the back of the bar, obviously weighing his chances of just hauling her out of here so he didn’t have to bother with her questions. He finally turned to face her, speaking in short, clipped sentences. “My father found out about you. That means Theo’s uncle knows about you. This was a test, putting out feelers for more information. I stepped in, which means they know you fucking matter. Now they won’t stop coming for you until they have the answers they want.”
“You tipped your hand when you stepped in. Why?”
His dark brows lowered and he stared at her for a long moment. “You know damn well why.”
It finally hit her that Galen’s father had sent those men. She ran her free hand over her face, trying to think past the fear coursing through her in time with her heartbeat. “Your father and Theo’s uncle are behind this?”
“For the last fucking time, we will talk about this when we get to the apartment.” He gave wrist another tug that nearly sent her off her feet and towed her out of the bar, barely pausing to let her lock up behind her. “You can’t come back here.”
“Oh, fuck right off with that noise.” She pocketed the keys and looked around. “You didn’t kill them and throw their bodies in the dumpster, did you?”
He blinked. “Give me a little credit. If I was going to pull off a double murder, I’d at least stash the bodies somewhere that wouldn’t link back to you.”
Meg couldn’t decide if that was actually comforting or just downright scary. In the end, it didn’t matter. She let him drag her along to the street. “I need to go home.”
“Wrong. If they sent someone to your work, there’s no doubt someone at your place.” He flagged down a cab and all but shoved her inside, following her in and crowding her across the seat with his massive body. He took up too much space, and her body tightened in response to his thigh pressed hard against hers.
She could say it was the adrenaline messing with her mind, but Meg tried not to make a habit of lying to herself. There was no one to blame for her riding Theo’s cock all night a mere three days ago except herself, just like there was no one else to blame for her wanting to crawl into Galen’s lap and have him reassure her that everything would be okay.
You know better.
You can’t afford to let someone else handle your problems. You know how that ends.
She cleared her throat as he gave the address to the driver. “I’m assuming that you’re going to make a call and assure your father that I have nothing to do with either you or Theo, and then I’m going to go home.”
He didn’t say anything, didn’t look at her. The only response was a slight tightening in his jaw.
Fear curled through her stomach and slithered outward. “Right?” The strength bled out of her voice, leaving her sounding weak and scared. “Right, Galen?”
“I don’t have an answer you’re going to like.”
“Then give me the one I won’t like.”
Silence reigned for several blocks. “My father has certain goals in place, and bringing me back under his influence is one of those goals. He’ll use whatever—whoever—he can in order to make it happen.” He turned a dark look on her. “Right now, he’s likely decided that he can use you.”
Why?
But then, Meg knew why. Galen had warned her, after all, and she’d ignored that warning just like she’d ignored the little voice inside her that said she would regret giving in to her desires. Lust and logic never went hand in hand, and after a lifetime of clinging to logic, she’d let lust take the wheel.
Now she would pay the price.
She should have kept pressing him, but the events of the last however-long bled through her, sapping what was left of her argument. What if she demanded he take her home and then someone broke in during the night? She had a deadbolt on her door, but that wouldn’t keep out someone determined to get in.
To get to her.
The man had said he wanted to have a conversation about Theo, but that didn’t make sense if Galen’s father had sent him… did it?
She didn’t know enough. Meg might as well have wandered through a magic mirror all she understood the rules here. In her world, men did not send muscle after women their sons fucked once or twice. They did not hurt people the way the man had seemed to insinuate they would hurt her if she didn’t give them the answers they sought.
She didn’t sign up for this.
She didn’t want this.
But Meg couldn’t help feeling like whatever mirror or wardrobe or method of travel she’d wandered into, the return path to reality was now closed to her. There was no going back, no matter how desperately she wanted to.
It took too long and nowhere near long enough to reach the apartment where Theo waited. Galen didn’t speak again and she had nothing to say. His answers were not answers, and if there was one person who would know how to fix this, it was Theo.
She hoped.
What if Theo doesn’t want to fix this? You’re a fly trapped in a web. Does it matter if it’s of Theo’s making or someone else’s?
You’ll be devoured either way.
Galen stepped out of the cab and pulled Meg after him. At this time of night, there was still plenty of street traffic—plenty of opportunity for his father’s men to blend in until they were close enough to attack.
They already had attacked.
He hustled her off the sidewalk, half carrying her in his rush. She cursed at him, but she could be pissed. At least she was still alive. He didn’t believe for a second that Dorian would order her killed, not when he would see her as a tool just waiting to be
used. But he would attempt to take her, and that Galen couldn’t allow.
He didn’t relax until the elevator doors opened into their apartment and he caught sight of Theo pacing back and forth through the living room. He’s okay. Meg’s okay. They’re safe.
Except they weren’t.
Shit had hit the fan in the most fucked up way possible, and there was no cleaning up this mess.
Galen released Meg’s arm and ensured the security system was booted up and the door was locked. “Trouble?”
“Not here.” Theo rounded the couch and stopped just out of reach. He devoured Meg with his gaze, no doubt taking in her tangled hair, her torn dress, and the way she shook like a junkie in need of a fix. Adrenaline letdown. Theo cursed. “I’m sorry, princess.”
Meg crossed her arms over her chest and slid back a step, shying away from him—from them both. “I… I need a minute. A shower. Something.”
Theo gave a short nod. “Take what you need.”
She headed for the bedroom and spun at the last second. “Alone.”
“No shit,” Galen growled. “Go. Take your time.” He considered her too-wide eyes and the way she wrapped her arms around herself. She wouldn’t take comfort from them, not when they were the reason she was in this mess to begin with, but he’d be damned before he let her curl into a ball. He just needed to hit the right button. He made a show of looking her up and down. “We don’t touch walking wounded anyways.”
Her spine went rigid and her hazel eyes icy. “Fuck you.”
There you are. Better she be angry than terrified. He could work with angry. The scared woman in the back of the cab, looking for reassurances that he couldn’t give her—that kind of comfort wasn’t in Galen’s skill set. He preferred the harsh truth to silken lies, and there was no truth he could give Meg that wouldn’t result in her terror.
He stared until she squirmed. “Already did.”
Meg raised a shaking finger. “I swear to god—”
“Children.” Theo’s voice snapped through the room, a sharp tone that a person ignored to their peril. Meg made a sound perilously close to a snarl, but Theo ignored it. “Go shower or do whatever you need to get your head on straight. You’re fucking terrified and you’re snapping at the biggest dick in the room just to prove that you’re not helpless. It’s wasting time we don’t have.”
“His dick isn’t the biggest,” she muttered.
Galen almost laughed. Even scared out of her damn mind, Meg still had a mouth on her, and hell if he didn’t respect her more for it. “Go shower. The adults are talking.”
She made a sound like an angry teakettle and stalked down the hallway. He waited for the sound of the door slamming, but a soft click was all he got. “Damn.”
Theo stalked into the kitchen and snagged the whiskey bottle. He took a long pull and then passed it over. “Tell me.”
“Two men. I didn’t recognize them, but they claimed Dorian sent them.” Galen drank from the bottle, letting the whiskey burn away the awful feeling in his chest when he’d walked through that door and found Meg tied to a chair with two men standing over her. He’d thought— It didn’t matter what he’d thought. He got there in time. They hadn’t done any lasting damage.
At least not the physical kind.
“She can’t go back.”
Galen stared at the bottle. He tightened his grip and put serious consideration into bashing Theo a few times with it. “You just couldn’t leave her alone, could you? It took them a grand total of three days to figure out she might matter and come after her. Fuck, Theo, this shit is on your head.”
“I know.” Theo watched him. Those blue eyes saw too much, just like always. “And yet I’m not the one who was skulking outside her work. You told me you were meeting a contact.”
Caught.
He opened his mouth, and then abandoned the lie before he gave it voice. “You put her in danger. I was ensuring she stayed safe.”
Theo’s lips quirked, but his eyes went hard. “Lie to yourself if you need to, but don’t you dare lie to me. I know why you were there—the same reason I was a week ago. You couldn’t stay away from her any more than I could.” He bracketed Galen’s throat with his hand, his thumb caressing Galen’s pulse point. Theo leaned in. “I shouldn’t have paid the tuition with my own name, and I’ll be the first to admit it. But we are both moths to her fucking flame, and you don’t get to play the beleaguered bodyguard—not right now, and not with me. You want her.”
“Yes.” The word felt ripped from him, taken despite his best efforts to stay silent.
Theo’s grip tightened and his gaze dropped to Galen’s mouth. “We can’t stay in New York. They’ll have eyes on her place.”
“They wanted to take her, Theo. There was a van illegally parked near the back door. They might have set her up to answer questions, but they were going to take her.” If they had, Dorian would use her for whatever purpose he had in mind, a lever to get Galen to dance to his tune, and then he’d discard her like yesterday’s trash. Even if he didn’t kill her, there would be scars, and she wouldn’t be Meg anymore.
Theo pressed his forehead to Galen’s, grounding them both. One breath. Two. Three. On the fourth, he stepped back and released him. “You were there in time.”
“I might not have been.” If he’d managed to resist the siren call of Meg’s presence, if he’d had more control, if he’d really gone to meet his local contact instead of doing the skulking Theo accused him of.
“You were there in time,” Theo repeated. He glanced down the hallway to the master bedroom where they could still hear the shower going. “Make the call. I know for a fact you have a passport with her name already set up.”
Caught again. They’d survived this long because they anticipated and played out more scenarios than their enemies did. A month ago Galen had a passport for Meg created. He’d called himself a fool ten times over for doing it, but now it would save them all kinds of trouble with red tape.
“She’s never going to forgive us for this.” For dropping a bomb on her life and leaving destruction in their wake. The two grand was nothing compared to what came next.
Theo sighed. “I know. But better she’s pissed and alive than the alternative. Make the call, Galen. We need to be out of New York before dawn.”
6
Meg sat wrapped in one of Theo’s T-shirts and tried to make sense of the words coming out of Galen and Theo’s mouths. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to need to repeat that.”
They exchanged a look, one of those flashes of dark eyes meeting blue that telegraphed an entire conversation she wasn’t privy to. Theo rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth. “You aren’t safe here.”
“Then I’m going home.”
He crouched next to the bed, putting himself even with her. “Meg, I’m not talking about the apartment. You’re not safe in New York. If Dorian has people after you, he’s not going to stop just because Galen intervened once. Hell, if anything, that will only confirm his suspicions. He will send more, and they will be worse. And once they’re done talking to you, they will shove you into a car, take you to the airport, and deliver you to Dorian wrapped up like a Christmas present.” He didn’t look away, didn’t smile to lessen his words, didn’t soften his tone. “If he gets you in Thalania, we can’t help you, and no one there will.”
It’s not fair. The cry of a child faced with circumstances beyond her control. She wanted to kick and scream and throw things until the helpless feeling in her chest dissipated. She wanted to punish both of these beautiful men for bringing this awfulness into her life, for making her a pawn in a game so far beyond her that she wasn’t even a piece on the board. It didn’t matter if neither of them intended for this to happen—they’d known the stakes so much better than she had. How could she make an informed decision when she didn’t know everything at stake?
In the end, none of it mattered.
“How long?”
Another
of those loaded looks between the two of them. “We’re not sure.”
Her throat burned and she closed her eyes against the moisture gathering there. She’d had hard times before, and they hadn’t broken her. This wouldn’t, either. But, damn it, she was so close to reaching the cumulation of her plan and to have it snatched when it was only a finger’s breath away… It hurt. It fucking hurt and she was entitled to be upset. “I need time to process.”
“You don’t have much.” This from Galen where he leaned against the doorframe. “We have to move and we have to do it soon to get ahead of this.”
Meg took a deep breath and then another. “You have a plan.” They’d probably talked about it while she broke down in the shower. With the water cascading over her head, she could convince herself that it was responsible for wetting her face and not her tears. There could be no breaking down now, not when apparently the danger hadn’t subsided. If anything, it sounded like Galen helping her had only made things worse.
You should have just taken the money and let them walk out of your life.
If you had, this wouldn’t be happening.
Theo pushed to his feet and moved to stand next to Galen. They were so damn different, though they were both tall, dark, and gorgeous. Theo was the very essence of aristocracy—refined and sharp and changeable. Galen looked like he brawled in back alleys when he was looking for a good time. And they were both watching her with identical expressions on their faces, as if they expected her to dissolve into a puddle of tears and throw a tantrum that her life had just been shattered to pieces.
“I’m furious and scared, but I’m not going to shatter. Stop worrying about handling me and just tell me the damn plan.”
Theo nodded, almost to himself. “You’ll have to withdraw from college or push back to next year. For better or worse, this will be finished within the next nine months.”
“Nine months.” The words tasted of dust on her tongue. Deferring for a year wouldn’t ruin her life, but it would ruin her timeline. She could already picture the triumphant cruelty on her mother’s face when she heard the news, the croon in her voice as she whispered, I always knew you’d fail. Thought you were better than us, but you’re exactly the same. A failure. A fuckup. Blood always outs.
