by Amelia Jade
There was no response. Glancing over her shoulder, Kylie frowned. He wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were focused elsewhere. Following his gaze, she walked to the side of her car.
Her tires were slashed.
“You have got to be kidding me!” She threw her arms up in the air.
Corde straightened and fixed her with a knowing look. “Are you still sure you’ll be okay?”
Chapter Seven
Corde
The sight of her slashed tires burned deeply.
He had gotten the message immediately, even if Kylie hadn’t quite clued in yet, but Corde knew. We can get to her in broad daylight. Knowing that someone had come back to the commuter parking lot and done this was an insult to his ability to protect his mate. They had thrown the challenge in his face, and he wanted to respond in kind so very badly.
A fireball to their hangout would suit him just perfectly. It would be so easy to track them down; he was positive he could do it that very evening. His mind’s eye showed him the image now, the flames reaching high as he stared with a happy smile.
But he couldn’t. Unless it crisped all of them, then his attack would only up the ante. While Corde had little to fear, he knew that Kylie was vulnerable. They would wait until the opportune time, and strike back at him by getting to her. His hands were tied; there wasn’t much he could do, especially with Kylie unlikely to want escalation. She would prefer to settle things peacefully. Which meant he needed to concentrate on protecting her, and not revenge.
Not to mention Colonel Mara would probably be unhappy if I started killing everyone who looked at Kylie wrong.
It irritated him to be effectively helpless, but the cards had been dealt and he needed to roll with them.
Kylie looked lost, her violet eyes looking wide and uncertain of what to do next. He needed to get her moving, thinking about next steps.
“You need to get some new tires,” he observed, trying to stay calm and not let his anger show through. She didn’t need that.
“Apparently.”
“I will accompany you home and ensure you arrive safely,” he stated, his eyes hardening when she started to protest. He wasn’t going to let her go home alone. Not after this.
“Okay. But I need to call a tow truck and get it taken to the shop.” She sighed.
“I will wait,” he rumbled, standing tall and looking as protective and strong as he could.
Kylie looked unsure, but she didn’t argue. Instead she pulled out her phone. Corde used that time to test the air as discreetly as possible, trying to pick up the scent of whoever was responsible. The air reeked of all sorts of chemicals, but he couldn’t get anything identifying. Too much time had passed.
Snarling silently, he walked around the vehicle to see if there were any other marks, but besides the rents in the thick rubber there was nothing.
“Okay, the tow truck will be here in about ten minutes,” Kylie announced, her voice breaking through the silence.
They waited in silence, Corde seething with anger.
“Can you stop that?”
His head snapped around, fixating on his mate. “Stop what?”
“Being so angry. I can feel it from over here. Something has you all riled up.”
“Of course something has me angered. They damaged your car because of what I did to them.”
Kylie frowned. “I highly doubt that. This is part of what they were saying earlier, that they wanted to teach me a lesson. Hopefully this is what they meant.”
Neither of them believed that, but Corde went along with it. “Perhaps.”
Just then the tow truck pulled into the parking lot, coming directly over to them. Corde stood back while Kylie told him where to take it.
He placed a phone call to the executive taxi company he’d been using, requesting a pickup. The military was footing the bill as part of his payment, so Corde didn’t blink at the cost. All that mattered was ensuring Kylie was as comfortable as possible.
The cab arrived shortly before her car was lifted onto the back of the truck, so there was no wait.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked as he opened the door for her, letting her in first.
“Of course. It’s not a big deal, I promise.”
Kylie nodded as he slid in next to her, the back seat tight with his massive frame, making the proximity between them feel closer than it actually was. She didn’t try to move away, which Corde took as a good sign, though he wasn’t about to push it. This cab ride was going to be his best chance to learn some more about his mate, and he intended to do just that. No more messing things up for today.
“Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“This. Earlier today. Everything, really.” She sighed, and he sensed she was about to tell him something meaningful. “I had you pegged as major trouble after yesterday. I thought I was punishing myself and you by docking you hours for being so lazy.”
Lazy? She’d thought he was being lazy? Corde wanted to tell her that he wasn’t being lazy, that he’d thought the work demeaning and beneath his status.
“I…did not make a good first impression,” he said awkwardly. “Thankfully I was shown the errors of my ways by a friend.”
Corde wasn’t overly interested in explaining how Vanek had torn a strip off him after he’d finished whining about it all. He was sure she’d hear the story in time, but not just yet.
“Yes, well, whatever they said to you, I’m thankful. You really saved the day today. In a bunch of different ways. Then with Jose and his ilk. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t intervened.”
“It was the right thing to do.”
“Perhaps,” Kylie mused. “But that doesn’t mean everyone would have stepped in.” She gave him a wan smile. “After all, aren’t you in the program because you didn’t know what the right thing was?”
Corde couldn’t fight that logic. “Sometimes, in the act of doing the right thing, we commit some wrongs.”
“And just what right act were you committing when you decided to threaten a whole bunch of people with something that could kill them?”
He turned away, gazing out the window, unable to answer. Now was not the right time to put even more worry on her shoulders. Kylie wasn’t ready to deal with the knowledge of what was coming.
“Why did you get involved in this world?” he asked, changing the subject.
“What world?”
“You know, working with people who have committed offenses or crimes.”
It was Kylie’s turn to glance out the window. “I guess I wanted to help,” she said at last. “To make a difference.”
Corde watched her face in the reflection, noting the stress lines as she spoke.
“And?” he prompted.
“And what?” She continued to stare outside as they drove through city streets to her house.
“Are you helping? Are you making a difference?”
“I…”
Whatever else she was going to say was lost as the cab pulled to a halt.
“Kylie? What is it?”
“My house…”
Corde looked past her out the window at the house. The single story affair was in rough shape. Beige paint peeled off the front in huge strips. The shutters hung at weird angles, and the roof was partly tarped over on one side. The lawn was overgrown and hadn’t been cut in far too long.
But none of that was what caught his attention. The huge bay window out front was smashed, and the front door was hanging from a single hinge. As he watched a stray cat hopped out and took off down the street.
“Wait here,” he said, speaking to both Kylie and the driver.
A quick check of the premises confirmed them to be empty, but not untouched. Everything had been ransacked. Tables flipped over, drawers emptied, curtains ripped down. Her entire life was strewn across the house. If it could be broken, it had been.
“Kylie, just hold on,” he said, coming out the front door.
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She was already coming up the walk however, and there was no stopping her from seeing that it was just a pair of broken windows. Her beautiful eyes filled with sadness and tears, one lovely pale hand coming up to cover her mouth as she took in the devastation.
Even now, when she was at her most vulnerable, he couldn’t help but see the beauty in her pain. It spoke to him, made him want to reach out and hold her. That was his job after all, to protect her, to be her rock and to see the best in her in every situation.
Without thinking he reached out and pulled her into his arms. She didn’t fight him, but her head looked past him at the ruins of her house.
“It wasn’t much,” she whispered. “But it was mine.”
Fury hotter than the sun surged through him at the hurt in her voice. The fear.
He was responsible for this too. First her car, now her house. His actions were tearing apart his mate’s life in real time. It was all happening so fast that he wasn’t sure how to make it stop. Could he even fix it? Or had it gone so far beyond him that it was past saving?
Would Kylie even want him to do anything about it though? Every way he’d turned so far had simply made things worse for her. There was little doubt in his mind that her life would have been better off if he’d never become involved in it. Maybe he should just exit it.
She might be his mate, but that didn’t mean it was a guaranteed thing that she would love him. Corde had to prove to her that he was the right fit, and so far, he’d simply demonstrated his uncanny ability to screw things up. He was lacking, and it was obvious that Kylie could see it. Just like others had seen it before.
The tiny form in his arms looked up at him. “What do I do now?”
Corde looked down, noting the fear in her eyes. Leaving would be the best thing, but he couldn’t do it just yet. Not until she was safe. Once Jose’s group was dealt with, then it would be appropriate for him to exit her life, leaving Kylie to live a better, safer life without him around.
Decision made, he answered her question. “We call the police. Then I’m putting you up in a hotel.”
Chapter Eight
Kylie
She blinked her eyes open, feeling the tacky pull of sleep that had mixed with her tears and formed a glue holding them shut. Balling her hands into fists, she rubbed at the lids until they were clear. Her eyes opened, revealing to her an unfamiliar room. It was a light gray color.
It wasn’t her bed. “Where am I?”
Looking around, she noted the bag of stuff on the dark-stained hardwood floor, packed haphazardly and strewn about from when she’d ransacked it the night before. All at once it came flooding back to her.
Her car. Destroyed.
Her house. Ransacked.
Her life. In shambles.
Kylie frowned as her eyes started to burn, but nothing came. No tears. She’d literally cried out all of the tears the night before after Corde had taken her to one of the nicest hotels in the city and put her up in one of their suites.
He’d said she needed the amenities of it, since her house wasn’t available. A regular room didn’t have the kitchen, and he’d been rather assertive that she needed to eat regularly. As if she didn’t have enough spare food packed away in her body to sustain her for a time.
Against her better judgment, Kylie had allowed him to take care of her. Groaning, she fell back into the sinfully luxurious pillows, clamping her hands over her face and wishing it would all go away. It was just a dream, a horribly, terribly, painfully realistic dream. That needed to end. She pinched herself hard enough to leave a red mark, but nothing changed. She didn’t magically wake up.
“Why is this happening to me?” she moaned. “What did I do to deserve this? I was just trying to help people.”
She’d gone wrong somewhere, that much was clear. But Kylie didn’t know where.
Beside her the alarm on her phone started going off, letting her know it was time to get up. Angrily she shut it off, tossed the covers aside, and started getting ready. Everything was telling her to just quit, to sell everything, and take off for parts unknown. New city, new job, new life. It was time.
Which is exactly why she was going to dig in and show everyone that she wasn’t a quitter.
Finding clothes from the suitcase she’d packed proved a challenge, but in the end she managed to put together an ensemble that was mostly appropriate. Apparently in her shocked state she’d grabbed mostly bar clothes. Oops. Thankfully the white shirt covered her, even if the built-in choker and form-fitting fabric gave it away that it wasn’t an everyday outfit. The last thing she needed was to show up to work with a bunch of cleavage for all the boys to stare at. No thank you.
She sucked in a deep breath of air, unlocked the door, and strode out into the hallway.
“Hey!” she shouted, dodging to the side as she nearly slammed nose-first into the brick wall that was Corde’s chest. “What the hell are you doing?”
She spun around, back to the far wall as the huge mountain of a man turned to look at her, his eyes focused on her with an intensity that she shouldn’t be comfortable with, and yet somehow was.
“I told you last night, you’re not safe until the gang is dealt with. I will protect you until then.”
Kylie ignored the last part of his statement because she had no idea how to address it.
“Why do I get the impression that you mean to deal with it yourself?”
Corde didn’t meet her stare, looking off to the side. “I would, but I can’t.”
“Why?” She was curious why he would handle the street thugs instead of letting the police do their job. Corde, however, interpreted the question differently.
“You have said you don’t like violence.”
She blinked several times, readjusting her mental process to adapt to the different direction the conversation had gone in.
“Well of course not. I don’t like bullies, and I definitely don’t like people who threaten or hurt other people.” Her eyes narrowed into a glare. “Especially those who do it with weapons.”
She turned and headed for the elevator without waiting for him to respond.
“You’re talking about me,” he said, appearing next to her suddenly, his long legs easily keeping pace. “That was completely different.”
Kylie laughed sharply. “Oh Lordy, I’ve heard that one before. They all say that.”
She sensed more than saw his head rotated to look at her. “They?”
“Yes. They. Them. Criminals. You know, all the people I deal with on a daily basis. Almost all of them insist that they are innocent. That it wasn’t what it seemed. That it was a misinterpretation. That they didn’t mean to commit a crime.”
Corde bowed his head. “I didn’t know it was a crime,” he grumbled just loud enough for her to hear. “I’m not a criminal,” he added forcefully.
She snorted, memories of her ex-husband coming back to her. He’d said the exact same thing to her for six months, and she’d believed him every time. Naïve little Kylie, never once doubting him, never suspecting that she was being manipulated the entire time. Until the police showed up in the middle of the night breaking down their door.
Shaking her head, she pushed past that hurt. It was behind her, and Corde was certainly nothing like her ex. That didn’t mean she believed him when he said he wasn’t a criminal, but the differences were too noticeable to compare the two of them.
Maybe that’s why she was giving Corde a chance. Maybe he could be saved…
“I’m not,” Corde restated. “How many criminals have you known that have cared for your well-being like I have?”
Kylie bit her tongue. He was right on that front. None of them had given a lick about her, except perhaps for wanting to get her alone. Otherwise, it had been all about them. They were innocent. They were misunderstood. They just needed a second chance. It was never, “How are you Kylie?”
“Fine,” she grumped. “You may have a point there.”
To her surpri
se he didn’t gloat in his victory. Instead he remained silent while the elevator descended, until the doors opened. “The cab is waiting,” he said politely.
Kylie glared at his back as he opened the door for her, just another example of his gentlemanly actions. Come to think of it, he’d been nothing but chivalrous to her. Her mind had been out of it at the time, but now it replayed how he’d gotten out of the car and explored her house to make sure it was safe, and then how he’d held her while they waited for the police, never once letting his hands wander or trying to do anything inappropriate.
He’d simply been there for her in any way she needed, without complaint.
For a moment she let herself wonder if perhaps he wasn’t like the rest of them. He’d complained his first day in her program, but the next he’d shown up and worked twice, no four times as hard to prove he was sorry! Then he’d stepped in and stood up for her against Jose. After that he’d escorted her home, and then paid for the ridiculously expensive hotel room that she didn’t need.
Who are you, Corde? she thought to herself as she got in the cab next to him. He was a mystery, that was for sure. Whatever he was, Kylie was starting to think there was a lot he wasn’t telling her. The curiosity and intrigue pulled at her immediately, tempting her to ask, to probe him with questions and find out just what made him tick.
Experience told her that no, she shouldn’t do that. She needed to keep him at bay, to not go down that path and to keep things uncomplicated. Kylie knew all too well what that would result in. Hot, passionate sex that would eventually morph into tears, heartbreak and pain. No, she was done with that, thank you very much.
Corde could keep his mysteries. For now.
He settled in to his seat, and despite the fact that his size made the interior cramped, she didn’t feel intimidated. In fact, she felt secure, knowing he was next to her.
“So, what’s the plan?”
She looked at him. “Huh?”
“Your car, the house? When do you plan to get those fixed? I need to know how long to book the hotel for.”
Kylie avoided his gaze, turning her head so she could look out the window as the cab pulled out of the hotel’s valet parking and into traffic.
