by Marla Monroe
When there was no one in the shop at a quarter to twelve, Taylor decided to go ahead and lock up. She’d already counted down the drawer and locked up the deposit. All she’d left was enough to get started in the morning.
Just as she started to reach for the lock, the door swung open on her, and two men pushed in, slamming and locking the door behind them. They had ski masks covering their faces, and hoods pulled down around their heads. Taylor’s heart skipped several beats as she spun around to run for her office. If she could get inside, she could lock the door and call the sheriff’s office. She had them on speed dial.
A hand closed around her ponytail and jerked it so hard that she lost her balance and fell back against the man in the process. He grunted, and they both ended up on the floor. She scrambled away from him on all fours, but the other man just planted his feet in front of her and grabbed her hair again to stop her. Taylor swore she would cut her hair even shorter as soon as she got away.
“Bitch! Be still, or we’ll hurt you even worse than we’re supposed to,” the one holding her hair now said.
His raspy voice wasn’t at all familiar to her. Fear clogged her throat as he half carried, half dragged her toward the counter. Maybe if she gave them the money in the cash register, they would leave without hurting her. She scrambled to make it easier on him to get to the counter, but when they continued toward the door leading to the back, hope vanished. She resumed her struggle in earnest.
She managed to get one hand wrapped around the edge of the counter and held tightly in hopes it would give her time to catch her breath to scream. Her captor cursed, yelling for the other man to come back and help him.
Taylor opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she could before a beefy hand slammed across her face, stopping her scream and hurting her in the process. Tears formed behind her eyes as the pain spread across her face. She’d never been slapped before in her life. It fucking hurt.
Anger speared through her as the seriousness of her circumstances finally sank in. They weren’t there just to rob her. They were there to make a point. She remembered the guy’s first words.
Be still, or we’ll hurt you even worse than we’re supposed to.
Using all her strength, Taylor brought up her clasped hands into the man’s crotch, hoping she sent his balls into his throat. Then she stomped on his foot and raced for the cooler. She could lock herself in there until they left.
The high wheeze coming from the one she’d hit was music to her ears, but she wasn’t fast enough. The other guy made it to her before she was able to grasp the handle and pull it open. He slammed her face first into the cooler, cursing the entire time.
“He’ll kill you for that, you stupid bitch. All we were going to do was rough you up a little. Now he’ll make it hurt a whole lot worse.” She could feel the hot breath of the man holding her against the cooler door. Her face throbbed where she’d smacked it against the hard metal. She could not draw in a complete breath because the bastard had her pinned so tightly.
“Let me go. Please. I haven’t done anything to anyone. Take the money in the cash register and go.” Her words came out in sobbing gasps.
“Not going to happen.” The one she’d hit in the crotch walked slowly toward her. She could hear the slight wheeze in his voice as he neared.
“I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?” She sobbed as he grabbed her by the arm and wrenched her away from the other man.
“Because he paid us to. Don’t know why, and don’t really give a fuck.” Her attacker slammed her back against the cooler door again with enough force that she saw stars.
Dark brown eyes peered down at her out of the ugly, multi-colored sky mask he wore. Suddenly, her breast exploded with pain as he squeezed it mercilessly, laughing as she screamed.
* * * *
“We appreciate you coming out so fast to check on the alarm going off, guys. Thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be any damage outside of the spray paint. We can get that cleaned up in the morning.” Sawyer shook hands with Deputy Evan Luvalle, then Deputy Bradley Silas.
“I wish we hadn’t been on the other side of the county dealing with a bar fight, or we might have caught them,” Evan said.
“I doubt it. Once they heard the alarm, they were long gone. If anyone could have stopped them, it would have been us since we’re living in the building,” Max said.
Max figured it was the work of someone who had either been turned down as a member or a fanatical zealot who wanted to make a statement. Well, they’d made one, but no one would ever see it. They’d clean it up and refrain from making an issue out of it. The deputies would have to make out a report, but they promised it would be buried as much as possible to prevent it from making the local rag.
He and Sawyer walked the other two men out to their vehicles, discussing the possible suspects in the area. As the deputies started to climb into their SUVs, their radios broke into their conversation.
Evan! Brad! Screams heard at Rizzoli’s. The sheriff is on his way, but he’s still out handling the bar fight. Are you there?
“Gaye, we’re on our way. Fill us in.” Evan spoke into the mic on his shoulder, then climbed into the SUV without another word.
Brad was already in his and backing out of the parking lot.
It took all of two seconds for the meaning of those words to sink in. Taylor was in trouble. He pivoted on his feet and ran for the truck. He could feel Sawyer right behind him. No fucking way was anything happening to her. She was his. She might not know it yet, but she belonged to him and Sawyer.
He had the Escalade started and was throwing it in reverse when Sawyer slammed his door closed. Neither of them bothered to put on seatbelts. By the time they pulled up behind the sheriff’s department’s vehicles, both of them were wound tighter than a spring. When they jumped out of the SUV, it was to see Brad breaking the glass door to the shop.
“Stay where you are!” Evan yelled at them as he followed Brad inside.
“The hell we will,” Max barked with a growl.
“I’m going around back,” Sawyer said and took off running around the side of the building.
Max slipped through the opening in the door, his boots crunching the glass beneath him as he eased deeper into the room. The lights were all still on. It emphasized to him that Taylor had definitely still been there. He saw chairs turned over and wondered if her fighting had left them that way or if the two deputies had done it in their haste to locate her. The door to her office was wide open, the light on as well. He eased around the counter, his heart in every step.
He heard shouting coming from the back and couldn’t stand it any longer. Max burst through the door to find Evan on the floor holding a sobbing Taylor in his arms. He threw up one hand, aiming a gun at Max until it registered who it was.
“Fuck, Max! I told you to stay out there. I could have shot you.”
“Taylor?” He ignored Evan and crouched down to look at her. “Are you okay?”
“I called for an ambulance,” Evan said in a softer voice.
“Where’s Brad?” Max asked.
“Went out the back after them.”
“I’ve got Taylor. She knows me. Go make sure Brad’s okay. Sawyer went around the back as well.”
Evan cursed under his breath but slowly released Taylor into Max’s arms after a second’s hesitation. It was obvious he felt conflicted, but the need to check on a fellow officer won out.
“I’ll take care of her. You said the ambulance is on its way,” Max added.
Evan hurried through the door, yelling into his mic the entire time. Max gently cradled Taylor in his arms, her slowly quieting sobs tearing at his gut. Where was she hurt? Evan wouldn’t have called an ambulance if she wasn’t injured somewhere. He needed to check her over, see to for himself that she was going to be okay.
“Taylor, honey, look at me.”
She shivered in his arms but slowly pulled back enough that he could see her face. She had bruising all over her foreh
ead, across both cheekbones. Her nose and lips had been bleeding as well. She wasn’t looking at him, so he wasn’t sure how much of the swelling around her eyes was from being hit or from crying.
“Easy, baby. I’m going to let go of you so I can pull off my coat. Hold on to me, Taylor.”
He wasn’t surprised when she latched on to his waist like a terrified kitten, claws extended. She’d gone to a place inside of herself that operated solely on instinct. Her will to survive had shut down everything except what was needed for her to stay alive. Anger that someone had reduced her to this roared through him, but he tamped it down so that she wouldn’t see it in his face and become scared of him. She needed him to be calm, a steady rock for her to anchor herself to in the chaos that had taken over her life.
As soon as he had his coat off, he draped it around her and settled her move securely in his arms to wait for the ambulance and the others to return. He wasn’t surprised that Sawyer made it back first. His friend would be worried about Taylor and more interested in seeing that she was okay for himself, leaving the bastard or bastards who had attacked her to the law. That decision might change though when he saw her face.
“Max?”
“She’s hurt, Sawyer, but she’s alive.”
The blaring sirens of the ambulance rounding the corner and screeching to a halt outside put a stop to any further discussions.
“I’ll go lead them inside,” Sawyer said and hurried out front.
“Don’t worry, Taylor. We’re going to take care of you now,” he whispered as she hiccupped trying to catch her breath.
“M–Max?” she asked in a ragged voice.
“It’s me, baby. Just relax, and let us take care of you.” He thought he felt her sigh and tighten her hold on him, but it could have been wishful thinking.
The sound of crunching glass let him know that the paramedics would be in soon and take her from him. Letting them see to her would be the hardest thing he’d had to do in a long time. Somewhere between hearing that she was in trouble and finding her in Evan’s arms crying as if she were dying, Max had made the decision that she would be theirs. Not just for now, but forever. He planned on marrying her, and if she couldn’t acclimate to his lifestyle, he’d give it up for her. He never wanted to hear her cry like that again.
Never had his control been tested like it would be with her. The things he wanted from her, the things he wanted to do to her, weighed heavily on him with her curled in his lap like a lost child. For her, he would conquer his fear and his needs to be whatever she needed him to be.
Chapter Seven
No matter how hard she argued with them, Max and Sawyer refused to let her go home. Taylor wanted to scream, but her throat hurt from screaming earlier. Arguing with them had only made it worse. She was so hoarse that she sounded like she smoked two packs of cigarettes a day now.
Her battered and bruised body ached all over. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d hurt this badly. She was worried about the shop, but Sawyer had assured her that it was being taken care of. It wasn’t the same though. She needed to make sure everything was cleaned up and the glass in the door replaced. She needed to call Betty and Darla to tell them not to bother going in to work that morning.
Sheesh, it was already almost time for them to get up to get ready for work. She’d been in the emergency room for hours before they’d finally discharged her.
“I can hear you thinking and worrying over there, Taylor. Stop it. Everything is being taken care of. All you have to do is relax and heal,” Max said, gently patting her knee.
“I have to call my employees to tell them not to open up the shop this morning, and I need to call my insurance agent, too.”
“Shhh, taken care of. Evan said he knew everyone and would handle notifying them. You can contact your insurance agent after you’ve had some sleep. Nothing is going to change while you rest.”
Sawyer pulled into the back lot of the large building she knew was a private club. She knew they lived there, but she hadn’t thought much about it or what that meant for her now. She couldn’t stay there with them. How had she let them talk her into this in the first place? She hardly knew them.
Except that she felt strangely safe with them. It didn’t make sense.
“Here we are, Taylor. Let’s get you inside so you can rest.” Sawyer cut the engine and opened his door.
She started to unfasten her seatbelt, but Max beat her to it. She didn’t know what to do with her hands, so she just held them up. Then he opened the door and helped her scoot to the edge of the seat. When she would have gotten down from the cab, Max stopped her.
“Don’t move, Taylor.” He quickly picked her up before she could protest.
Her bruised breast burned with the close contact, but Taylor wasn’t about to make a sound. Both Max and Sawyer went crazy when they thought she was in pain. Again she tried to make some sense out of everything. Why were they so concerned with her? Why had they even been there in the first place? She shut that line of questioning down because she was grateful they had been.
When they paused at the entryway of the building, she realized Sawyer was punching in a security code. Maybe she needed to figure out a way to add one to the shop, not that it would have done her any good with how she’d been attacked. A shudder swept through her, and Max pulled her tighter against him, whispering shhh into her hair.
As soon as Sawyer had the security system turned off, he turned on the lights. Max stepped inside, and she heard the door close behind them and a series of locks snap into place. The sounds comforted her, making her feel another degree of safe. She had no idea what she was going to do when the time came for her to go home. Right now it held little appeal to her knowing she would be by herself.
Max carried her across the small room and started up a set of stairs. Horror that he would get tired and drop her halfway up had her clinging to his neck despite the pain it sent screaming through her body.
“Easy, Taylor. I’m not going to drop you. Not unless you choke me to death and we both fall.”
“I’m too heavy for you to carry like this. Put me down and let me walk,” she whispered frantically.
“You’re not heavy at all. Where did you get that idea? Are you saying I’m too weak to carry a woman up a flight of stairs?” Max asked, a definite smirk in his voice.
Taylor desperately wanted to hit him but was too afraid she’d throw him off balance and they’d roll down the steps backward. Instead, she made a growly, exasperated sound in his ear. She hoped it hurt his eardrum. Then worrying that it would upset his equilibrium had her stiffening in his arms again.
When they reached the landing, Max walked through a doorway where Sawyer held the door open for them. She could see the outline of chairs and couches but not much else. Since they hadn’t gone into the main part of the building, she hadn’t seen any of it either. Taylor still had no idea what sort of club it was.
She realized the men had been talking between themselves and worried that she had missed something important being said. She was so tired, and the medication they had given her at the hospital seemed to be working now. She was so sleepy. Her eyelids kept drooping down in the way.
“Here we are, pet. Let’s get you comfortable and in the bed,” Max said.
“No!” She realized that she’d shouted that out and cringed. “I–I want a shower. I can’t stand the smell of them on me. Please.”
Max and Sawyer exchanged glances before the other man walked out of the room. Max carried her over to the couch and sat down with her in his lap.
“He’s going to run a bath for you. I don’t want you standing up in the shower by yourself, and Sawyer and I don’t think you’re ready for one of us to help you in there yet.” He gently brushed aside the hair that had drifted over her face.
Even her scalp hurt. She felt the tears begin to build once again and ruthlessly pushed them back. She wasn’t crying anymore. She was alive and relatively unharmed. She had a lot to be
thankful for. Crying was useless and a waste of energy now.
Then it hit her what he had said.
Sawyer and I don’t think you’re ready for one of us to help you in there—yet.
“Max. I need to go home. I can’t stay here.” She tried to scramble off his lap, but he held firmly onto her.
“You’re not going home as long as these guys are still out there, Taylor. Calm down. Nothing is going to happen to you. Sawyer and I will protect you,” he said.
“And who is going to protect me from the two of you?” she asked.
He stilled. The only indication that he was even alive was the slow, even breaths he took. He didn’t say a word, just stood up and carried her across the room toward the door Sawyer had disappeared through earlier. Her heart jumped into overdrive at the realization that it was a bedroom with an enormous bed on one wall.
When he didn’t stop in there but continued into the equally spacious bathroom, Taylor began to calm down. She was jumping to conclusions was all. She’d misunderstood him earlier.
Max sat her on the bathroom counter, keeping one hand cupping her hip, as he turned to face Sawyer. The other man knelt next to a Jacuzzi large enough for at least two people.
“Water about ready?” Max asked.
“Yeah. I think it’s just about right. I added some Epson salts to help with the muscle soreness.”
Max nodded and turned around to face her again. He slid his hands under the scrub top they’d given her to wear since they’d taken all of her clothes. When he started moving it up her waist, she grabbed both his wrists in a deadlock.
“What are you doing?” Her voice came out in a squeak.
“I’m just helping you undress so you can soak in the tub for a while. Nothing else, Taylor,” he said.
She stared into his dark eyes, looking for something to warn her of what to expect from him, but all she saw was a quiet calm. A slight tick at the corner of his right eye was all that gave away the fact that he wasn’t as composed as he would have her to believe. Taylor looked past him at where Sawyer still knelt next to the tub, watching them, watching her.
