Play Hard

by V. K. Sykes

  Please, God. Don’t let me throw up on him. That will really piss him off.

  “I’m not going to kill you,” he mused. “I admit I don’t want to because, like you said, I don’t need that kind of risk.” His hot breath wafted into her face, and she had to swallow hard to keep bile from rising into her throat. “But in the end I might have to, Maddie. It all depends on you.”

  “Do you really think I haven’t talked to anybody about this?” she asked through clenched teeth. “Jake Miller knows exactly what’s going on with Robbie, and he knows I’m following the story. Don’t you think he’ll be able to put this all together if I disappear?”

  Surprise blanked Nazarian’s expression for a few seconds. He obviously hadn’t thought of that, but he quickly recovered. “Then I guess we might have to deal with your Jake Miller, too. What do you think about that, Maddie?”

  Her anger flared like a blowtorch, incinerating her fear. “Good luck with that, asshole,” she sneered. “Jake will tear your greaseball head off.”

  Nazarian grabbed her arm, shaking her and almost dumping her on the floor, chair and all. “You bitch,” he yelled. “I’ll cut you up right now.”

  He brought the knife close to her face, about to slash her. Her stomach flipped over and bile surged up her throat.

  Fish bolted out from the wall. “Jesus Christ, Joey,” he yelped, grabbing Nazarian’s arm. “What the hell are you doing? You said we were just going to scare her!”

  The bookie tried to shake him loose. “Get the fuck off me. It’s too late for that now, you fucking moron. She’s not gonna back down.”

  Fish tightened his grip. “You know if you cut her up you’ll have to kill her. And I’m not covering up a murder, Joey. Not for you, that’s for damn sure.”

  Just when it looked like the two glaring men were going to start throwing punches over whether to kill her or not, they all heard an engine rumble and then the sound of tires digging into pavement as a vehicle stopped. Nazarian and Fish froze, staring at the door, then looked at each other.

  “Ah, shit,” muttered Fish.

  The cavalry had arrived.

  * * *

  Jake had careened through the streets of South Philly, barely missing a couple of parked cars. Nate had kept silent, although he did mutter a curse when Jake almost took out a newspaper box when he barreled around a tight corner.

  “Okay, this is the street,” Jake had said. “We look for a meat store on the left side, one with a green awning.”

  Nate shot him a disbelieving look. “Most of the stores in the Italian Market have awnings, and they’re all green or red.”

  “I think this one is it.” Jake pointed ahead to a narrow shop with Santucci’s Meats in big letters on the window. He braked hard at the next corner, and then wheeled into the narrow alley behind the row of stores. Dodging dumpsters and a parked truck, he spotted the meat store sign that Robbie had told him to look for and brought the Tahoe to a halt. Just as he got out, the back entrance to the meat shop flew open and a hulking guy came out, reaching into his jacket pocket.

  Instinctively, Jake threw himself at the guy, whose eyes popped wide just before Jake’s shoulder slammed into the man’s chest. Both men went down onto the pavement in a jumble of limbs. Cursing, the big guy rolled free, but as he tried to scramble back to his feet, Jake gave him a quick right that grazed his jaw and sent him lurching sideways.

  “You take care of this guy!” Jake yelled at Nate who had circled around the front of the Tahoe. “I’m going inside!”

  Jake charged into the meat shop, only to find another man waiting for him in the middle of the room. Had to be Nazarian.

  “He’s got a knife!” Maddie yelled from off to his right.

  He risked a glance. She was over by the wall, bloodied and tied to chair but struggling to break free. Suddenly, her desperate efforts tipped the chair over, sending her crashing to the floor with a yelp.

  A pure, hot rage flooded Jake’s body. His instincts screamed at him to go to her, but Nazarian lunged at him, knife extended, and he barely managed to spin aside in time. The blade sliced his shirt and grazed his left side, but he felt no pain. He knew the pain would come, but right now he had only one thought.

  I’m going to kill this son of a bitch.

  Nazarian’s wild lunge had propelled him into one of the desks against the wall. As he struggled to get to his feet, Jake whipped around and delivered a kick to the bastard’s ribcage. Nazarian gasped and Jake was on him in an instant, slamming the bookie down onto the desk and smashing his knife hand against the hard surface of the desk until the blade fell from his grip. Jake swept it away and rained a hard right that connected, but Nazarian—a strong guy—still struggled like a wild man and landed a couple of grazing punches to Jake’s head. Jake managed to lock his left hand on Nazarian’s right shoulder and put everything he had into a right to the jaw that ended it. The bookie collapsed back onto the desk and then slid down to the floor.

  Jake flung himself over to Maddie, carefully lifting the chair back upright. She was saying something, but he could barely hear over the pounding of his heart and the rush of blood through his veins. He muttered words of reassurance as he grabbed Nazarian’s knife off the floor and carefully sliced the plastic ties off her wrists and ankles. “You’re okay, baby,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “You’re okay. I’ve got you now.”

  “Thank God. Thank God, Jake,” she said, barely able to speak. “I prayed you’d come.”

  As he helped her stand, she threw her arms around his neck, and he wrapped her in a fierce embrace. She shuddered against him and he swore he could feel her terror.

  Jesus, he was never going to let her go.

  After a bit, Maddie pulled in a few loud sniffs and rubbed her face against his shirt. Despite himself, he smiled.

  “Took you long enough to get here, though,” she said in a watery voice.

  Damned if she didn’t sound almost aggrieved, and for the first time in hours he felt like he could breathe. He eased her slightly away from him, peering into her face. She was a mess, but the most beautiful mess he’d ever seen. Her normally smooth black hair had spiked out in messy points, she had raccoon eyes from smeared mascara, along with a dead-white pallor.

  Dead white but for the big smear of drying blood on her forehead, which pissed Jake off all over again. “Are you okay?” he rasped. “That shithead hurt you, didn’t he?”

  “He was going to, but, no,” she said, wincing as she touched her forehead. “I got this when I accidentally smashed my head into Fish’s dashboard. I was so out of it that I forgot to put the seatbelt on.”

  Jake frowned. “Fish?”

  “The other guy.” She jerked in his arms. “Oh, my God! He’s going to get away. We have to—”

  Unable to deny his need any longer, Jake pressed a ravenous kiss to her mouth, silencing her. She whimpered, than wrapped her arms around his neck, crushing her mouth to his. The kiss grew hot and urgent, and Jake hauled her off her feet and against his chest. She returned his embrace enthusiastically, clearly having forgotten about Fish.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Nate’s voice interjected.

  They broke apart. But when Maddie tried to move out of his arms, Jake held on tight. She muttered something, then subsided against him with a long, relieved sigh.

  Nate’s gaze wandered around the room before fastening on Nazarian’s crumpled body. “Well, I guess you don’t need my help in here. Unless you want help with the kissing part, that is.”

  “Try it and die,” growled Jake, pulling Maddie even closer. She snuggled into him.

  Nate let out a short laugh. “You okay, Maddie?” he asked, his voice turning serious. His gaze cut to her forehead.

  “I’m okay. Thanks to you and Jake.”

  She tilted her head back, giving Jake a smile so blindingly full of love that his heart turned inside out. Unable to help himself, he swooped down for another ragged, bone-melting kiss. Maddie was right there w
ith him.

  “Gee. This is really touching, guys,” Nate finally said in a dry voice, “but do you think maybe it’s time we call the cops?” He stared at Nazarian’s inert body. “Probably an ambulance, too.”

  Jake tucked Maddie against him and then pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “By the way,” he said, almost as an afterthought. “What happened to the other guy?”

  “Fish,” Maddie said. “Although I prefer to call him Mr. Goon.”

  Jake frowned. “Um, okay.” He reminded himself to have a doctor check Maddie for a concussion, and then looked at Nate. “You took care of him, right?”

  “He’s having a little nap beside the dumpster. He’ll be good as new in a little while. Real tough guy—put up a good fight.” Nate looked down and examined the bloodied knuckles of his left hand. “I don’t think Ault is going to be too happy about this hand, though.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Maddie curled up in the back seat of Jake’s Tahoe, waiting for him to finish up with the police. Several squad cars and the paramedics had arrived at the meat shop within minutes of Jake dialing 9-1-1. Nazarian had been loaded into an ambulance and Fish into a police cruiser.

  She and Jake had done their best to explain the confusing situation to the detective in charge of the scene—not an easy task, given how the evening had snowballed into such a mess. The cops had made it abundantly clear they were unhappy with Jake and Nate for going rogue, but at least they were letting them go home instead of hauling them downtown. In return, all three of them had promised to report to the station first thing in the morning to file their statements. Despite that promise, Jake had still gotten his ass reamed out by one of the detectives, but even that fun portion of the evening seemed to be winding down.

  She rubbed her aching head, exhausted and ready to collapse into bed. Fortunately, she was pretty much okay. The paramedics had given her a thorough check, patched up her head, and offered to take her to the hospital to see a neurologist. She had declined, even though Jake had been weirdly insistent she go. Only after repeated assurances by the paramedics that she displayed no signs of concussion had Jake settled down. And fortunately, the gash in his side from Nazarian’s knife had turned out to be a non-threatening, though very bloody, surface cut.

  Nate joined her and took the wheel of the SUV, just ahead of Jake who was finally released by the irate detective. Jake climbed into the back with Maddie, pulling her into a sheltering embrace. She settled in with a tired sigh. They had a lot to talk about, but not until they had some privacy. After a short discussion, they decided that Nate would drive them back to Maddie’s apartment. Since it was late, he would then drive himself home in the Tahoe.

  As all three got out in front of Maddie’s building to say goodnight, Nate gave her a quick hug. “Thanks for a fun evening,” he said in a wry voice. “Don’t hesitate to call me the next time you get kidnapped by a dirt bag bookie.”

  She let out a strangled laugh as she hugged him back. “Honest to God, Nate. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough for what you did tonight. I swear I’ll never write a bad word about you, not even if you give up a dozen hits.”

  He laughed. “Then my fiendishly clever plot worked. Besides, I did have to keep my buddy here from getting his ass handed to him on a platter, didn’t I? As much as I hate to admit it, we do need his big bat.”

  Maddie pinched his arm, then stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth. Nate’s eyebrows shot up, and his eyes said he’d like some more of that, thank you very much.

  At another time and in another place, Maddie figured Jake might have slugged him for that kind of look. But now he simply shoved his buddy in the shoulder, then gave him a quick, back-slapping hug. They exchanged a few quiet words about who would call Robbie, and then team management, after which Nate got back in the car and took off.

  Jake turned an assessing gaze on her. “Let’s get you inside before you collapse in your tracks.”

  “I’m fine,” she protested as he steered her into the lobby of her building. “You’re the one who’s hurt.”

  He made a scoffing noise, but she didn’t bother to respond. She was exhausted, but felt shaky and restless, too. That was obviously the aftermath of the adrenaline overload. Once inside the apartment, she kicked off her shoes, almost falling over in the process. Jake grabbed her, holding her gently by the hips.

  “Bed, now,” he said in a firm voice. “You’re beat and probably still in shock. I’ll make you a cup of tea to get you nice and warm, and then after you’re in bed I’ll bunk out on the couch.” He paused, watching her as she began to undress. “That is, if you want me to stay.”

  Maddie furrowed her brow. “Did Nazarian hit you in the head? Of course I want you to stay with me. And you don’t have to bunk on the couch, either. I want you to sleep with me.” She pulled off her jacket and threw it on a chair, then started on the buttons of her blouse.

  He stood in the doorway to her bedroom, looking awkward. “Whatever you want,” he said in a carefully neutral voice.

  Her stomach took a sickening flop as she stared back at him. “Jake, don’t you want to stay with me?” she said, forcing the words past her tight vocal cords. Oh, God, maybe she’d been misreading this all along. Just because he’d come to her rescue didn’t necessarily mean he wanted to be with her again. They’d both said some truly harsh things to each other, things that might still be standing between them.

  The hard set to his jaw seemed to ease, and a few quick steps brought him to her side. “Maddie…sweetheart, of course I want to stay with you.” He took her into his arms, hugging her against his powerful body before loosening his grip. “And I really do want to give you whatever you want. Whatever you need. But you’ve got to tell me what that is. I’m just a dumb hick from farm country. Smart city girls like you are way above my pay grade,” he said with a wry smile.

  Maddie wrapped her arms around his waist, reveling in his warmth and the comforting strength of his love. She knew now it was the most precious gift anyone had ever given her. “This is what I need, Jake. You, right here with me.”

  “You’ve got me,” he said in a husky voice. “All of me, for as long as you want.”

  She sighed and snuggled in close. “I think I want it forever.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Forever sounds about right to me.”

  They held each in that easy yet powerfully heartfelt embrace as they let the nightmare of the last few hours fade away. Maddie was tempted to avoid everything else she had to say to him until the morning. But that would be the coward’s way out, and she was done with being a coward.

  “I need something else, Jake,” she said quietly.

  He heard the somber note in her voice, pulling back slightly again to inspect her face. His brow creased with a worried frown. “Tell me.”

  She met and held his gaze. “I need to apologize to you. For not listening when you tried to warn me about Robbie and Nazarian.” She shook her head. “You could not have been more right about them. But I was so pissed off, so righteously outraged, that I ignored what you were saying to me. That was disrespectful and stupid, and it wound up putting us both in danger.”

  “Yeah, well, if you’re stupid then I’m a complete and utter moron,” he said with a bitter smile twisting his mouth. “You were totally right about Robbie. He’s a scumbag, and he was using me. You tried to make me see that, but I was so damn convinced I could control the situation that I didn’t listen. If I’d done what you said and gone to management, Nazarian would never have gotten his hands on you.”

  He shuddered and pulled her in close. “When I think what could have happened…”

  “Well, it didn’t happen, thanks to you,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest. “I guess we were both idiots in our own ways. I had a lot of time to think while I was stuck in that dark little room, and my mind kept turning back to you, no matter what. Not to my job, not to how great a story this was going to be if
I could escape. None of that mattered.”

  She twisted back a bit so she could see his face. His gaze burned bright and fierce with love, and her entire body trembled with the joy of it.

  “Only you mattered,” she said softly. “And I realized that I was tired of holding back, tired of not taking risks when it came to my own life. It’s not that I don’t love my work. I’m crazy about it. But work isn’t going to hold my hand when I sit by my mother’s bedside. Work isn’t going to be there for me when I come home at night, or be beside me when I wake up in the morning. But I think you could be, if I give you—give us—a chance.”

  He stroked her cheek, his eyes full of emotion. “When I realized you’d been taken, I made a promise to myself that if I got you back safe and sound, I’d never let you go. I’ve always had to be in control of everything—my career, how I lived my life, all of it. But being with you has made me realize that I can’t control everything, and I don’t need to. As long as I have you.”

  She smiled up at him even as she blinked back tears. How stupid to cry when she was so happy. “Then I guess we’re in agreement,” she said. “We’ll find a way to make this work between us.”

  “Deal,” he whispered.

  Jake was lowering his head to kiss her when Maddie unleashed a huge yawn, suddenly overcome with exhaustion.

  He laughed. “What, I’m boring you already?”

  “Oh, hell,” she groaned. “I’m sorry, Jake. It’s just that—” She broke off as another yawn took her. Her spirit might be more than willing to make love to him all night, but her body was obviously giving up the ghost.

  “Time for bed, girl reporter,” he said. “No more talking tonight.”

  She gave him a sheepish, sleepy smile as he helped her undress and climb into bed.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled as she snuggled down under the sheets. “You know I want—”