Killer Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 3)

by James, Marysol

  “OK,” Jax said feeling like he needed to sleep for a week. “What now?”

  “Now I call Dillon and fill him in.” King took out his cell. “Let him know that we have Gabi and that if Maria’s up to it, she should come to Denver.”

  “You think she will be? After killing that asshole?”

  “Dunno.” King sighed again. “What a fucking night for the Torres women, huh?”

  “You can say that again.” Jax tried and failed to imagine what Gabi and Maria were going through right now. “Hell on earth.”

  **

  That afternoon, the four men were sitting in the waiting room. Aidan was still shaking with rage after the most recent confrontation with that asshole doctor about the ‘family only’ policy and King, Jax and Mac were now eyeing him closely. He looked like a man on the verge of strangling someone and privately, they thought that one Doctor Lewis Walker deserved it… but they did want to keep Aidan out of jail, so strangulation was most definitely out of the question. At least for the moment.

  “Come on, man,” Aidan pleaded with Mac. “They know you here. Use your fucking influence, yeah? Get me in to see her?”

  “I tried.” Mac was gentle with him, careful. God, the man had been through it these past few hours and he was barely holding on. “Walker’s known for being a stickler for this rule, Aidan, no exceptions and no flexibility.”

  “Can we get a new doctor assigned to Gabriela?”

  Mac shook his head. “You don’t want that. Walker’s a prick with non-family members and no denying it – but he’s an excellent doctor. Gabi’s in great hands with him and that’s what really matters, right?”

  “Partly.” Aidan sucked in a breath. “She begged me to stay with her, Mac. You weren’t there, you didn’t hear her… she needs me, man. I need to be there. Instead, she’s all alone because her fucking doctor won’t bend and let a traumatized woman’s boyfriend in to see her. It’s bullshit!”

  “Look,” Mac said, trying to calm him down. “I already lodged a formal request with the supervisor, OK? He’s at lunch right now but he promised to consider it as soon as he gets back. I know Frank and I know he’ll agree with you… Gabi can’t be alone and we all know that. Frank will override Lewis Walker, I promise you. Just hold on another hour, OK?”

  Aidan clenched his hands, sure that he could take out the security guards when they came for him after he barricaded himself in Gabi’s room.

  “Aidan? OK?”

  “OK.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “I’ll wait an hour and then I’m going in to her, no matter what.”

  “Deal.”

  “Aidan?” King’s voice was casual.

  “Yeah?”

  “Come on with me for a minute.”

  Aidan looked puzzled. “Why?”

  “I’ll tell you out in the hallway.” King stood up. “Come on now.”

  Aidan got to his feet, shot Mac and Jax a look of consternation, followed King down the hall to a small kitchen. It was empty, so King stepped in and shut the door behind them.

  “OK,” Aidan said. “What?”

  “How you doing?”

  Aidan huffed. “Like shit, man. How do you think?”

  “No. I mean… do you need to talk to someone?” He paused. “Someone like Naomi.”

  “What do you – oh.” Aidan heaved a huge sigh. “You think I might crack under the strain and want to drink again.”

  “I don’t know.” King’s eyes were steady. “I’m just asking if you need some back-up of the kind that I can’t provide.”

  Aidan shook his head. “I’m OK that way.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I promise you. It hasn’t even crossed my mind once to do an escapist shot of whisky. I’m totally focused on Gabriela and I want to be here for her… present and aware. I’m not hiding from any of this, man, and I’m not going to.”

  King nodded. “OK, then.”

  “Thanks for checking in.” Aidan found that he was oddly touched. “And thank Naomi too.”

  King cocked his head. “How’d you know that she called me and told me to ask?”

  Aidan managed a weak grin. “Because it’s what I would do if she were in my shoes.”

  “You would?”

  “I would. I’d have her back if anything ever happened to you, I swear it. I wouldn’t leave her alone with her fear, Matt.”

  King paused, amazed at how relieved it made him to know that. “Can I ask you one more thing?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How the hell did you know about Ace and Spider?”

  Aidan grinned now and King almost fell over at the surge of relief at seeing that smart-ass grin again.

  “Once a cop and agent, always a cop and agent, man.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means that more than once over the years that I was a law man, I found it very useful to know things about bad people even when I didn’t need the knowledge at the moment. It was good to have incriminating information to hand, you know, and stored away someplace secret. Ready and waiting and just in case.”

  King frowned. “So – what? You investigated the Fallen Angels? Gathered up some dirt and held on to it?”

  “Yep. And the Road Devils and a few of our customers at the bar.” Aidan shrugged. “Spider and Ace met in the back rooms of Curves for their… uh… trysts a few times. Also? One time Spider left his phone behind with some explicit and damning pictures on it and I just scrolled on through after cracking the password. I’ve known almost from the beginning of Ace’s VP-ship that he’s gay but I saw no need to say anything. Not until yesterday.”

  “Fuck, man.” King was staring at him. “You want to come work for me?”

  Aidan laughed. “I’ve got a job, thanks.”

  King shook his head. “OK, well. Let’s get back.”

  Just as they sat down in the waiting room again, Jax’s phone beeped with a text. He opened it up and looked at the others, a bit tense.

  “Dillon and Maria are two minutes away,” he said.

  “Oh, man.” Mac sighed. “How’s she doing?”

  “Dillon says she’s surprisingly OK,” Jax said, still amazed at that piece of information. “Shaky, but determined to be here for Gabi.”

  “Not the best circumstances to meet Dillon’s girl, huh?” Aidan remarked. “Drinks at Curves would have been way better.”

  “Agreed.” King ran his hands over the dark stubble on his face. “Drinks after a long, hot shower.”

  Down the hall, the elevator pinged and they saw Dillon step off. He was holding a woman’s hand and he looked fierce and furious. He spotted the guys and gave them his usual curt nod. He spoke to the woman and she looked down at them.

  They got to their feet and watched Maria Torres’ approach. She was much shorter than Gabi and definitely much curvier. She had long, dark hair and a sexy little mouth and eyes that were like dark chocolate. She looked gentle and kind, and to a man, they actually felt themselves melting in the sweet warmth of her presence. She looked a bit lost, a bit afraid, and they couldn’t forget for even one second that she’d blown Captain’s face off the night before, protecting herself and Dillon. But she was still walking the earth and she looked whole and they were immeasurably grateful for those two things.

  “Maria.” Aidan spoke first and the others were relieved to see his charming grin was back on his face. “How you doing, darlin’? I’m Aidan.”

  She shook his hand, staring up at him. God, Gabi hadn’t mentioned that the man was as bright and dazzling as a mountain sunrise, had she? And that accent? This guy was pure sex-on-legs and she longed to talk to Gabi about him and damn soon. Her eyes went to the bandage on the side of his neck and she paused, as if to ask about it, decided not to.

  “Hi.” Her voice was soft and a bit shy. “It’s nice to meet y
ou.”

  “This here is Jax,” Aidan said. “He scowls a lot but he’s OK, I promise you.”

  She fought back a grin as Jax scowled right on cue. As they shook hands, she considered that the man may have looked as scary as hell, but his touch was gentle and his green eyes were kind.

  “Maria,” he said in a low growl. “Dillon’s told me lots about you… all good stuff, I assure you.”

  She glanced at his numerous tattoos then looked up at him again. “Dillon’s said some good stuff about you too.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Uh-huh. Something about a big raise soon? For being such a model employee?”

  Jax stared at her, then laughed. “Yeah, right.”

  King stepped forward now and took her hand carefully. “How you doing, hon? After last night?”

  Pain flashed in her eyes. “I – I’m not sure.” She paused, holding King’s massive hand like she’d forgotten it was even there. “I’m still not sorry.”

  “Good,” Jax grunted. “None of us are happy you had to do that, but we are happy to have you two standing here.”

  “That’s how I feel, I think,” Maria said. “I wish like hell that it hadn’t happened – but we’re alive. I’ll accept whatever comes my way, since it means we’re still breathing.”

  The men nodded, their tension and worry relaxing a fraction. If that was how Maria really felt about it, they were more confident that she’d be fine in the end.

  “How’s Gabi?” Maria said. “Is she doing OK?”

  The men exchanged glances.

  “How much did Dillon tell you, darlin’?” Aidan asked. “About what happened?”

  “Just that she was taken from your place and that they had her for a few hours.” She watched them all look at each other and she paled a bit more. “What did they do to her?”

  Suddenly, none of them knew quite how to break this news to Maria. God knows, she needed to know what had happened to her sister, but she was a woman who’d already been through hell. She was handling killing Captain fairly well and she was definitely tougher than she appeared at first glance – but this might break her. None of them wanted to be the one to make this woman shatter at last.

  “OK, you know what?” Her voice was hoarse now, like she was holding her emotions tightly in check. “Don’t tell me yet.”

  “Why not?” Dillon said, speaking for the first time. His friends saw his whole body leaning towards Maria protectively.

  “Because I want to go and see her and I’m suddenly getting the sense that I won’t be able to keep it together for her if I know the whole story. Just tell me – is she badly beaten?”

  “No,” Jax said. “No, they didn’t do too much of that. You should also know, Maria, that they didn’t rape her.”

  “Thank God.” She pushed her hair back and Dillon frowned when he saw how badly she was shaking. “So – which room is she in?”

  “Five-oh-two, but they’re making it hard for us to see her,” Jax said. “This one doctor is a real prick and he keeps saying family only.”

  “OK, well. No problem.”

  Just then, Doctor Walker showed up in the waiting room and Aidan, King and Jax glared at him. Dillon saw their hostility and he looked puzzled.

  Aidan was determined to keep things civil with this little prick, even if it killed him. He was Gabriela’s doctor and he was still in charge – at least until Mac’s friend gave Aidan the green light to trample over Walker and get in there to the woman he loved.

  “How were the results of the x-ray?” Aidan said now. He was pretty sure that nothing was broken, but he had to make polite conversation with the man. “Anything broken?”

  Lewis Walker glared at the large blond man who needed a haircut. “You know I won’t be discussing any of that with you.”

  Dillon shot Jax a look, astounded that the man was actually denying Aidan information. Fuck, if that were Maria in there and this doctor were standing between them? Dillon would be ripping the goddamn place up. He admired Aidan’s calm while not understanding it in the slightest.

  To all of their shock, it was little Maria who spoke up, who took the knees out from under the pompous asshole.

  “Why not?” she said, glaring at Dr. Walker like she was plotting his demise.

  “Why not what?” he replied.

  “Why not tell Aidan what’s happening with his girlfriend?”

  “Because we can only give patient information to family and people whom the patient has authorized us to speak to. Gabriela is not talking, so we have no way of being certain that she’d want any of these… gentlemen to know her private medical details.” The sneer on his face matched the one in his voice perfectly.

  Maria stared at him, completely floored by this whole thing. King watched her and he could practically hear her brain whirring around in that pretty head: she was slowly but surely thinking about losing her shit, he just knew it.

  “Then tell me,” she said.

  “And you are?” Dr. Walker’s face was closed and suspicious, his tone rude.

  Every other man in the room knew that he’d gone too far now, that Maria was done dealing with him and his bullshit. The sweet, shy woman who had walked in to the room just three minutes before was gone now, long gone, and in her place was the woman who had pulled the trigger last night. Strong, furious, cool. Steel and fire and ice. She narrowed those eyes like she was taking aim and to a man, they almost shivered.

  “I’m Gabi’s sister, you supercilious little dickhead,” Maria said in a gravely voice that would do credit to Clint Eastwood. “Tell me what the fuck is going on with her. And I mean now.”

  Dr. Walker’s mouth dropped open and he sputtered.

  “I – I’ll get your sister’s chart. We’ll go over it together.”

  “You do that. And just by the way? Since I am her family, I’ll decide who can visit Gabi – and Aidan is at the top of the list and no discussion. We clear?”

  He nodded. They watched him hurry out of the room and Aidan turned to Maria.

  “I like you,” Aidan said. “I like you a lot.”

  “Yeah.” Dillon ran an affectionate hand over Maria’s back. “Don’t mess with a Torres woman, huh?”

  “No shit.” King’s gray eyes were amused. “Way to put the fear of God in him, honey.”

  “He’s an asshole,” she said, surprising them all again with her odd combination of sweetness and bad-assedness.

  “Indeed he is,” Jax agreed. “But you can put him in his place, yeah?”

  “Damn right.” Maria sat down now. “So let’s see what he has to say about Gabi and then Aidan, you go in and see her. I’ll wait.”

  “Oh, no, darlin’. You go visit your sister.”

  “No. You first. I’ll go in later.”

  “Thank you.” His voice was soft, almost broken. “You don’t know what it means to me.”

  She blinked up at him. “Of course I do, Aidan. You love her.”

  “Yeah.” He smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ten minutes later, Aidan was sitting with Gabriela. She was still sedated, thank God and according to the doctor’s notes, she hadn’t been fully awake or aware since she’d arrived at the hospital that morning. The one time that she’d woken up, she’d been damn near hysterical and they’d immediately put her under again.

  He stared at her, wanting her to open her eyes but afraid of what would happen when she did. Physically, she checked out just fine which was amazing: some bruising on her chin and cheeks, a bit of dehydration, some damage to her knuckles where she’d obviously been punching the lid of the box. But Aidan wasn’t so worried about the physical.

  What had she gone through down there for almost twelve hours? Trapped and in darkness, alone and unheard? Knowing that she was buried alive, that her air was slowly but sur
ely depleting with every single breath that she took? Torn between wanting to scream and kick for help and wanting to stay silent and still to make the oxygen last as long as possible as she prayed for rescue?

  Gabriela had been close to death – mere breaths away from it. She’d been in a casket, in a tomb, and she knew it. She may well have given up at some point, he thought. Maybe she’d just closed her eyes and welcomed the blackness with open arms. She may have even begged for it, just to end the terror and escape the suffocating, unforgiving dark. She may have been seeking a quieter, gentler blackness.

  Suddenly, she jerked on the bed, twisting and clutching the bed sheets and Aidan jumped to his feet.

  “Gabriela?”

  She turned in the direction of his voice.

  “Baby?” His hands were shaking when he touched her face. “You hear me?”

  Those incredible eyes opened now and Aidan almost groaned. They were blank, empty dark holes in her face. She just – she wasn’t there. He didn’t see any of Gabriela’s spark or sass, her warmth and humor were gone. She gazed at him as if he were a stranger and that was when he fully understood what had been shining bright in her eyes when she’d looked at him before: pure love. Its pointed absence cut him deeply, all the more so because without it his own life was blank and empty.

  She’s still down in the ground… she’s trapped in the dark.

  “Gabriela?”

  She turned her face away from him this time, stared at the wall. She was silent and unmoving and her hand was limp in his. He clutched it tighter and his heart swelled with every single thing he’d ever felt for her. It swelled until all those things worked their way up his throat and then came out of his mouth in a flow of honeyed, heated words.

  “Baby, I know you can feel what I’m saying even if you can’t hear me… so just feel me, OK? Feel how much I love you, angel, and know that I’m right here. I’m here and I’m staying with you.”

  She blinked slowly at the wall.

  “You’re out of the ground and the dark now, Gabriela. You’re up in the air and the sun and you’re safe… you’re with me and the boys are outside and Maria is here. We’re not going to let anyone or anything hurt you ever again. I’m going to spend the rest of my life keeping you safe, just keeping you, baby, keeping you in my arms and close to me. You’re going to be warm and happy and loved. So fucking loved. You just don’t know yet… but you will be.”