by Laura Kaye
Her mind was spinning, trying to reject the insanity of all this. “With what? Some kind of cheesy seduction scenario? This is my place of work.”
“What if it was more than that?” He came closer, his body loose, his mannerisms relaxed.
Still, she retreated further into the big bedroom, her scalp prickling. “Meaning what?” she asked, not sure she really wanted to know.
“What if this place was yours, ours? I know you’ve always loved it. My house is ours, of course, but I lived there alone first. If we moved here, it could be ours together from the beginning. A fresh start.” He said all this like it made perfect sense. And maybe a month ago, it would’ve. But too much had happened. Too much had changed, for her. Now it just felt . . . creepy.
Unhinged, she heard Haven’s voice say.
Get out of here! The thought shivered over her skin.
“I don’t even know what to say to you right now.” Shaking her head, she pressed her thumb to the fingerprint security button on her phone, bringing it to life. She opened her text messages to send the message already typed out there, the one she’d written just in case but never really thought she’d have to use. Her finger moved for the Send button—
Grant swiped the phone from her hand. “Focus, Alexa,” he said, slipping her cell into his pocket. “Focus on us. This is important.” For the first time, anger slipped into his voice.
“Okay, okay,” she said, her voice high and strained. She jumped back from his touch. Shit. Shitshitshit. Had her text gone through? If not, she was going to have to run for it. But where would she even go that he couldn’t get to her? The office. She could lock herself in and use the business line. But that meant she had to get him farther into the room to create an open path to the door. “Um, I’m just . . . this is a lot.”
“I know, babe. But I thought maybe a grand gesture would show you how serious I am, how much I want you back and in my life.” He came closer. Her legs hit the mattress and she stumbled, coming to sit on the edge of the bed.
Her ears strained for the sound of a car or motorcycle, but the bedroom was at the back of the house. She didn’t hear a thing. Oh, God, what if no one was coming to help?
“It’s a thoughtful gesture, Grant,” she said, her stomach queasy at sitting among the scattering of red petals. She tried to keep her words kind, her tone placating, unsure exactly what kind of man she was talking to and feeling like maybe she’d never known Grant Slater at all. “But too much has happened. You’ve scared me on multiple occasions. I can’t live like that and I don’t feel the same way anymore. You’re handsome, successful, and talented. You deserve someone who can love you with her whole heart. Who can be everything you want in a woman. That’s not me. And you don’t need it to be—women will be lining up to date you—”
“I don’t want another woman, Alexa. I want you.” He stood right in front of her, his knees almost touching hers.
Everything inside her screamed to flee. “Why? I’m nothing, just like you said. I’m a poor girl who was a lowly administrative assistant when we met.”
“You’re my fiancée. That’s all there is to it,” he said.
She was a possession to him, and that’s all she was. One he didn’t want to lose. Shaking her head, her thoughts swam. She had to get some space between them. “I, um . . .” She cleared her throat. “I could really use some water.”
His expression transformed from angered to pleased, like he was glad that she was asking him for something, anything, and not just rejecting his overtures. “Of course,” he said, making for the bathroom. “I knew you’d come around. I knew I had to try. Because I believe in making my own luck, securing my own destiny, not waiting for others to do it for me.”
So would she.
She shot off the bed and bolted for the door, time suddenly going all slow-mo even as she raced. Down the hall. Down the stairs. Footsteps pounded after her.
“So help me, Alexa!” Grant bellowed.
OhGodohGodohGod.
Her flat sandal slipped on the tiles in the foyer, but she regained her footing and kept moving. Grant was closing in. She’d never make the office.
She grabbed the front door handle and pulled. It swung open.
Something yanked her hair and she wrenched back. She crashed into Grant, and then they both went down. Pain exploded through her as she crashed in a free fall against the hard floor.
“Ungrateful bitch,” he groaned, flipping her over and crawling on top of her. “You’ll learn to do what I say.” He ground his erection against her thigh.
Nausea rolled through her as she pushed and twisted with her whole body. “No, Grant. Get off of me. This is crazy. You’re being crazy.”
He pinned her wrists to the floor, squeezing tight. Pain shot through her fingers. “Don’t call me that,” he growled. “And don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
He kissed her. Hard. Their teeth knocked, making her mouth throb. He pressed in, trying to force her jaw open. She worked to draw up her knees, to brace the flats of her feet on the floor, to turn her head away. But he held her so tight.
Click.
Grant froze and Alexa’s eyelids flipped open. The barrel of a gun dug into Grant’s temple.
Alexa nearly cried in relief.
“Get. Off of her. Right now. Before I blow your fucking brains out.” Maverick. Maverick was here. Oh, God, Maverick.
When Grant didn’t move fast enough, he suddenly flew off of her.
On a groan, Alexa pushed up onto an elbow to see Mike and Blake holding Grant by the shoulders and arms in the doorway. She hurt everywhere.
Maverick crouched at her side and gently helped her stand, his gun still aimed at Grant. “You okay?” he asked her, maybe never looking more fierce in his entire life.
“Yeah. Um, yeah.” She was shaking so badly it was hard to think. “I just um . . .” She swayed.
Maverick caught her. “Sit him down and keep him secured,” he bit out at the other Ravens. The men manhandled Slater over to the bottom of the stairs and forced him down. “Let’s get you outside.” Mav helped her onto the little porch.
She sagged down onto the top brick step, unable to do anything else. “If you . . . if you hadn’t . . .”
“I’m here. You’re good. I’ve got you.” His gaze ran over her face, his expression equal parts enraged and concerned. “Just rest for a minute, okay?” He rose.
“Don’t hurt him,” she said, her teeth chattering. “Don’t do . . . anything that will get you in trouble. He’s not worth it.”
Maverick scowled but nodded. “Much as I’d love to beat the shit out of him, I have a better plan.” He whipped out his cell, swiped his finger over the screen, and put it to his ear. “Yeah, I’d like to report that I’ve just interrupted an attack on a woman. I have the attacker restrained and need immediate police assistance. And an ambulance.” He eyeballed her and moved the phone away from his mouth. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Alexa. This time, Slater’s fucking done.”
Alexa gaped. As if it wasn’t miracle enough that Maverick had showed up just when it mattered, his self-restraint in dealing with Grant was frankly a miracle, too. Maverick still had a temper, but five years ago, he’d have solved this problem with his fists first. Now, he was thinking strategically, thinking long-term, which meant he’d grown up a helluva lot in the past five years. But she actually had lots of evidence of that, didn’t she? She saw it in the care he took of his house, the way he kept himself in check, the way he was taking care of her and her mom.
It made Alexa feel calmer. Safe. Secure.
Which was all she’d ever wanted.
MAVERICK’S BLOOD WAS boiling, but he wasn’t giving Slater the satisfaction of seeing it.
Standing in the front doorway where he could keep an eye on both Slater and Alexa, Mav was doing everything he could to keep himself reined in. Blake and Renner stood on either side of Slater, keeping him from moving a muscle. Renner had ensured that by pulling down
some sort of cord from the dining room curtains and tying Slater’s hands to the bannister.
“I am going to sue you each individually and then take your little club for every cent it’s got. And then I’m going to bulldoze every inch of the Raven Riders property until no one remembers you even existed.” Slater chuffed out a chilling laugh. “I will ruin you and everything you ever cared about. You don’t know who you messed with.”
Maverick tuned him out. His words just made him angrier, but Mav was already savoring the sweet satisfaction of watching Grant Slater get arrested. That would have to be reward enough.
Instead of taking Slater’s bait, Maverick kept his gaze on Alexa. Except for the occasional, random shudders, she sat shock-still on the stoop, her arms around herself.
Jesus, what if he hadn’t gotten here when he did? What if he hadn’t left the track way earlier than he had to? Knowing Alexa would be seeing Slater at her meeting, Maverick had come to hang with Blake and Renner until it was over, and then he’d planned to drop by here to check on her.
I need your help at the model home right now.
The memory of all three of them receiving that message at the same time still made Maverick’s blood run cold.
Sirens sounded in the distance. Closer. Until, finally, three cop cars turned onto the street and parked haphazardly in front of the house.
“Now you’re going to pay,” Slater bit out. “Home invasion. Carrying a weapon. Assault. False imprisonment. You’re done, Rylan. All of you.”
“Do you ever shut up?” Maverick muttered, and then he stowed his handgun in a holster against his lower back and went into the yard to meet Martin.
“What happened?” Martin asked, rushing up onto the grass. Davis came running up beside him, a glower covering his weasel face. A rookie cop joined them—Eckstein, his name tag read.
“First, I need to tell you that I have a concealed carry license and I’m carrying at the small of my back,” Maverick said, wanting to play this a hundred percent by the book.
Martin nodded. “I know, but thank you. Start talking.” Davis threw scowls at both of them.
As an ambulance pulled up, Maverick recounted Alexa’s text message and what he’d seen when they’d arrived—Grant, pinning a crying Alexa to the floor of the model home, forcibly kissing her while she struggled and said “no.” Saying the words brought the images back to life in his mind’s eye, fueling the lethal anger vibrating inside him.
“We tied Slater up inside until you could arrive to arrest him,” Maverick said. Davis blanched. They all moved toward the house, following a pair of paramedics who stopped in front of Alexa and started asking questions.
Slater began ranting louder, but Martin didn’t pay him any mind. Staying out of the medics’ way, the cop sat next to her. “Hey, Alexa. Can you tell me what happened?”
Maverick was torn—he needed to hear it. Every word of it. But no part of him wanted to hear it. None of this was about him, though, was it? It was about taking care of Alexa, whatever she needed.
She blinked at them and frowned, her expression almost confused. “Um.” She let the paramedics check her vitals, and then she peered at Martin again. “I came back from lunch and found Grant in the master bedroom upstairs. He’d put rose petals on the bed and lit candles.” She licked her lips, the sound thick. “He said a bunch of stuff about giving me this house to get me back, and then he took my phone when I tried to text Maverick for help.”
“We got the message,” Maverick said, trying to send her encouragement through his eyes. And thank fuck that they had. If Mav had waited to come to the house until after he thought the meeting would be over . . . He couldn’t even finish the thought.
“He refuses to accept my decision on calling off our engagement. He just kept trying to convince me that we could start over. The whole thing felt very creepy. When I had the chance, I ran from the room and down the stairs. I managed to get the front door open, but he caught me in the foyer and threw me to the floor.” She shuddered.
Slater was a sick fuck, that much was for sure. Between planting the tires and oil on their property, blackmailing her, and now this, the guy was either losing touch with reality or was pure evil. Maverick wasn’t sure which was worse. Jesus, this could’ve been so much worse than it was, and it was already damn bad. He could’ve lost her. God, he could’ve lost her.
Emotion welled inside him. Something bigger than the anger and the desire for vengeance. Something brighter. Something far more powerful.
Love.
But more than that. He didn’t just love Alexa Harmon; he was head over fucking heels in love with her. He’d known he had feelings for her, of course—hell, they’d never gone away despite their years apart. But what he’d thought he’d felt before this moment was the dim sliver of the moon compared to the burning midday sun that he knew for sure he felt for her now.
If he’d have lost her this time, she would’ve taken him with her.
“Did you hit your head, miss? Can you tell us where it hurts?” one of the paramedics asked.
“Here,” she said, gingerly touching the left side of her head. “I fell flat and hard. Everything kinda hurts, but I don’t think anything’s broken.”
“What’s this?” the medic asked, taking her hand. Bruises. Her wrist was ringed with bruises.
Rage flashed like molten lava through Maverick’s blood. “Sonofabitch,” Mav bit out.
Martin held up a hand to him and said in a low voice, “Let’s get a picture of that.”
“I told him to get off of me but he pinned me to the floor and kissed me and told me not to make it harder than it had to be.” Maverick tilted his head as she spoke, noticing how flat and monotone her voice had gone. God, why hadn’t he killed Slater when he’d had the chance again? They all could’ve lied. Called it self-defense. No one would’ve known otherwise.
The paramedic checked Alexa’s eyes, examined her head, and asked her more questions.
“I’m gonna check out the bedroom,” Martin said, rising. Davis made for the door as well.
“I’m going, too,” Maverick said.
Martin frowned. “Mav—”
“Slater has the mayor, that asshole”—he pointed at Davis—“and at least one judge in his pocket, so if you think I’m not going to see what happened up there with my own eyes before evidence starts disappearing right and left, you’re out of your mind.” He arched a brow.
Davis put a hand on Martin’s chest. “Martin, he can’t—”
“Can it, Davis. He’s coming. Just don’t touch anything, either of you.”
Mav could do that. He nailed Davis with a stare that challenged him to do something about it until the fucker finally looked away. Then the three of them went upstairs. Eckstein stayed with Slater, who was getting more and more outraged by the minute because no one had yet spoken to him. Or untied him.
The master bedroom was just as Alexa had described. The rose petals were like blood droplets on the floor and bed, sending a chill over his skin. “Every single thing she said checks out,” Maverick said. “She sure as fuck didn’t smash her own head against the floor or bruise her own wrists. And Blake, Mike, and I saw him forcing himself on her when we got here, so you’ve got three witnesses. I don’t care how goddamned prominent Slater is in this community, do your jobs.” He nailed both cops with a hard stare.
Martin nodded and placed a call on the radio attached to his shoulder, then he looked at the two of them. “Out of the room. I need to take pictures.”
After a few minutes, they all made their way back downstairs, and Martin paused in front of Slater. He patted the guy down and found a cell in his pocket.
“That’s Alexa’s,” Maverick said, recognizing the watercolor graphic on the case.
Martin set it aside and nodded. “Grant Slater, you’re under arrest for the sexual assault and battery of Alexa Harmon. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You ha
ve the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. Do you understand your rights as I’ve presented them to you?”
Red-faced, Slater just shook his head like he couldn’t believe this wasn’t going his way. Martin cuffed Slater, then worked to untie the ropes.
Maverick had seen enough. “Can I get Alexa out of here?”
Martin nodded. “I can follow up with her if I need to.”
Outside, Mav found the paramedics packing up their bags. “She’s refusing transport to the hospital,” one of the men said. “There’s a possibility of a head injury, though. She may have a headache, sleepiness, or feel nauseous. Those would all be expected. But if she loses coordination and balance, gets dizzy, or starts vomiting, take her to the emergency department immediately.”
“Why don’t you go, Alexa?” Maverick asked, crouching down next to her. “Just to be sure.”
Just then, Martin hauled Slater out and down the steps. Her ex glared at Alexa, and Maverick put his body between them until he was out of sight, working like hell to keep his own anger under wraps.
Alexa shuddered. “I just want to go home.”
“Okay,” Maverick said. He gave the medic a nod. “Then let’s get you home. This is all over now. Slater can’t hurt you anymore.”
CHAPTER 27
Sitting on the couch in Maverick’s house, Alexa hung up the phone. Telling her mother what’d happened was the only way to make her understand why they couldn’t move her tonight. But going through the story and answering all the questions again left Alexa feeling utterly drained.
Never in a million years would she have thought Grant would get that violent . . . or twisted. And who knew what more he would’ve done if Maverick and the guys hadn’t shown up?
Maverick sat down beside her and held out a steaming mug and two little pills. “Here, Al. Try a little of this.”
“What is it?” she asked. The ceramic was warm in her hands, and the heat felt good.
“Just chicken noodle soup and some ibuprofen. I thought . . .” He shrugged. “I don’t know. It might help.”
