“Fine.”
At the sound of breaking glass, she peered around Michael. “Hey! What’s he doing to my car?” She grabbed Jake because Jake was armed, and she wasn’t stupid—the guy had a bat in his hands—and ran toward her car.
The same man who had glared at her in court was slamming a baseball bat into the windshield of her ugly green Ford Taurus. “Die Bitx” was carved across the hood.
Strangely, she was more upset about what was carved on the hood than the fact that the guy was beating the crap out of her car. Did he mean “bitch”? She wasn’t a bitch. Well, not most of the time, anyway.
Another cop beat them to the scene and wrestled the bat out of the thug’s hands.
Dani slowed her pace as Jake rushed forward to help contain the man. The officer lifted a hand to stop him. “I’ve got him, Detective.”
Jake bent to pick up the bat, and the goon punched the officer in the stomach, slipped out of the cop’s hold, and ran right toward her.
Panic nearly stopped her lurching heart. He was on her in seconds, and she didn’t have time to run before he was directly in front of her. She flailed backward, tripping over a curb as the car smasher lifted a hand to strike her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Michael swinging his briefcase at the man’s head, but before it hit him, a fat open hand made contact with the side of her face.
She flew sideways, skidding across the hard pavement. It felt as though she’d been clocked with an anvil, and the skin on her scraped hands and legs burned as if on fire.
As she scrambled to get away, she hoped Michael or Jake would contain him before he could do more damage. She’d crawled a few feet before the sound of a low moan stopped her.
She took a tentative glance over her shoulder. The guy who’d hit her lay on the ground, with Michael’s briefcase beside his head.
Dani released the breath she’d been holding as Jake and the officer cuffed the man. Jake growled at the cop, “Now he’s under control, Officer. That’s my wife he hit!” Then he glanced her way. Using his cool, cop gaze, his eyes did a quick up and down, assessing the damage before he turned his attention back to the still-struggling assailant. The fact that he didn’t comment on her condition probably meant she’d live. But the ache in her head had her eyes stinging with tears.
When she tried to stand, the ground tilted, so she sank her butt to the hard pavement, waiting for everything to stop spinning.
Michael knelt beside her as she held her battered face. He whispered, “You okay?”
She cleared her throat and squeezed her eyes closed to contain her unshed tears. He was the last person on earth she’d cry in front of.
Lifting her chin, she opened her eyes and stared into his. She blinked in confusion at the genuine concern reflected in his gaze. If Michael was worried, then maybe she was worse off than she’d feared.
Before she could ask how bad the damage was, he laid a finger under her chin, gently tilting it. “If I were you, I’d postpone that photo shoot for your new business cards. A big red handprint on your face may be a little off-putting to potential clients.”
She shot him a weak grin as relief filled her. She’d be all right if Mr. Responsible was making jokes. “More sound advice, Michael? Be sure and bill my mother for it.” She accepted his offered hand.
After Michael tugged her to her feet, a wave of dizziness hit her, but his big hands were there to steady her. “Seriously, Dani. Do we need to take a trip to the emergency room?” He glanced down and surveyed the damage.
“You probably just want to go to the emergency room so you can increase your client base. I always suspected you were an ambulance chaser.”
“Damn, you’re onto me. But maybe we should make a trip over there, just for fun. I could use the extra money.”
When she chuckled, the worry lines etching his forehead relaxed.
“I’m fine, Michael. Really.”
“Okay.” He released her, but then her brain took a spin around the perimeter of her skull, and she tottered.
Michael quickly slipped his hands around her waist, pulling her firmly against his side, then turned toward her battered vehicle. “Is your Porsche in the shop?”
“No. It wasn’t practical for running families around to look at houses, so I sold it.” And paid off a big chunk of her debts in the process, but he didn’t need to know that. Michael thought she was a spoiled brat. It still pained her to think about how their relationship had taken a 180 in high school.
Once they’d parted ways, it’d become her full-time job to avoid him because Michael’s mother had been Annalisa’s assistant at the time. He and his mom had lived in the guesthouse on her mother’s estate. But from ages ten to sixteen, Dani and Michael had been inseparable. They’d traveled the world together, teased each other constantly, and could always make the other laugh. They’d had the easiest relationship she’d ever had with a boy. But then somewhere along the line, her feelings had changed for him. He went from being her best friend to being the only man for her.
On the night before her sixteenth birthday, she’d lain in bed, staring at the ceiling as she tried to find a way to tell him how she felt about him. Unfortunately, she’d fallen asleep and had a dream that night. In it, Michael was walking down the aisle with a woman who wasn’t her. When she awoke, she’d felt devastated by the thought of Michael with another woman, and she’d parted ways with him that day. It had hurt too much to even look at him.
That dream was the clearest and most straightforward one she’d ever had. Like the universe slapping her in the face and laughing at the idea of a screwup like her ever being good enough for a great guy like Michael. Her heart had never recovered from that blow.
Shaking off her bad memories, she said, “This car makes a lot more sense than a sports car.” And it was butt-ugly, but it was all she could afford at the moment.
Michael nodded. “I suppose it does.”
Her face ached, and the scratches on her arms and legs stung, but they didn’t pain her nearly as much as the idea of coming up with the money to fix her car. The insurance deductible was five hundred dollars, and she had only twenty-two bucks that had to last until her next closing.
While the officer and Jake got the guy from the courtroom onto his feet and under control, she studied the profanity scratched into her car.
Nice.
The “Die Bitx” was etched deeply into the hood, and she doubted she’d ever be able to get rid of it entirely.
A soft sigh left her lips as she suddenly realized she was still snuggled up against Michael Reilly’s long, solid former-football-player body. It wasn’t a hardship. He obviously still worked out.
Afraid she was enjoying his comforting touch a little more than was wise, she quickly pulled out of his embrace and leaned down to pick up his scarred briefcase. “Sorry about this. It was probably worth more than my car.” Dani knew her leathers. She hadn’t grown up the daughter of one of the richest women on earth without knowing quality when she saw it. She just couldn’t have nice things like that anymore now that she was supporting herself.
He glanced at her car, then solemnly met her gaze again. “I think it’s still worth more, even battered.”
She snorted out a laugh and handed over the case. “Wait a minute. Did you just make another joke? That makes three in the last five minutes. Are you taking Prozac these days?”
He sent her a bored look, but the gleam in his eyes gave away the fact that he was fighting a grin. He reached into his pocket for his cell. “Since the blow to your head hasn’t affected your quick wit, I’ll trust you’ll remember to stop by my office at three o’clock today.” After punching their appointment into his phone, he glanced at her car. “Or, you could just ride back with me, and I’ll run you home after?”
As the cop led that vile man away, Jake slid beside Dani and wrapped his arm possessively around her shoulder. “Nope, Dani’s all squared away, Counselor. She’s going to help me with a case I’m working on, so I�
�ll take care of her.”
Obviously understanding Jake’s back-off gesture, Michael raised a hand for peace and said, “If you want to avoid jail time, I’ll see you at three Dani.” Then he turned and walked away.
“I’ll be there.” She turned to Jake. “Where are you parked?”
After Dani slid gingerly into Jake’s police cruiser, she laid her head back against the seat and groaned. “I can’t afford to get my car fixed until Friday, this was one of my favorite skirts—was being the operative word—and I feel like I’ve been in a bar brawl. Is it too much to ask to live an ordinary life without all the drama?” After she tilted her throbbing face toward his, she added, “I would’ve never had to testify against that insane man’s brother, and I wouldn’t have to go to some gruesome crime scene, if it weren’t for you, Jake.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, but you do it because you love me.”
God help her she did, but not as a husband. Sadly, they wanted different things from marriage, and it was never meant to be. After she and Jake had separated earlier in the year, a dream revealed a man her heart recognized as the one she’d always love.
Well, she’d seen the back of him anyway. It would have been way too much to ask to actually see the man’s face rather than his backside, although a fine rear view it was. He had a strange jagged scar, like a long squiggle, on his right shoulder. Even she should be able to identify him when she finally met him.
Her mother, who was afflicted with similar prophetic dreams that no one knew about, insisted Dani would meet the man soon, but he was going to hurt her, because he’d been walking away in the dream, ending their relationship. He might not be the man she was meant to spend her life with. Either way, the man in her dream hadn’t been Jake.
Dani laid her hand on Jake’s forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I do love you, Jake, enough that I want you to be happy. You need to get back out there and find that one woman who actually wants to be barefoot, pregnant with your fourth or fifth child, and have a perfectly prepared meal on the table when you return home each night.” She sent him a stern look. “That is, if you can pry your dedicated little self away from work long enough to actually come home.”
He tore his gaze from the road and met hers. “I know I work too much. I can be better about that. And you say you don’t want kids, but you’d be a great mother. It isn’t certain if we had a child it would have extra abilities. You always seem to conveniently forget that your sister doesn’t have them.” He shot her a grin. “And look how well we’ve gotten along in the past few months. It shows we’re meant to be together.”
“That’s only because we haven’t lived together for the past few months.” She rubbed at the tension headache brewing behind her forehead. “Do you realize we’ve been separated almost as long as we were married?”
Jake shook his head, waving off the facts. “Actually, I just read an article on the Internet that said in the United States, there are three-point-eight million married couples who don’t live under the same roof. If they can do it, so can we. But I’d rather you come home and forget about the divorce.”
“Are you having a complete memory lapse?” Dani threw her hands up in frustration. “We drive each other crazy. You lost all your ability to cook, clean, and pick up after yourself when we were together. That is, when you decided to come home. And I distinctly remember you saying that I needed to grow up, stop taking handouts from my mother, quit spending money faster than you earned it, and pick up the damn books I leave stacked on the floor for you to trip over. If we had a kid, I’d probably get so lost in a book or on the Internet researching something that I’d forget to feed it. I was a lousy wife, and I’d be a horrible parent, Jake.” She crossed her arms and huffed out a breath. “And so would you. Your nurturing skills suck.”
Even Michael, who was constantly annoyed with her, had at least been kind earlier. Jake hadn’t even mentioned the attack she’d just endured because of his dumb case. Granted, he’d been a little busy containing the car-battering thug, but still.
“I can be nurturing just as much as the next guy.” He put a pathetically sorrowful expression on his face. “I’m extremely sorry you’ve been hurt, and wish I could take away your pain and make it my own.” He barely suppressed a grin before he added, “There’s a bottle of aspirin in the glove compartment.”
She shook her head in utter frustration, sending a whole new wave of pain to her face, and dug the bottle out. “A little ice would be nice, too.” She tossed back three pills and gagged as she tried to dry swallow them.
He glanced in the mirror and made a quick lane change. “It’s lunchtime anyway. How about we swing by a drive-through?”
“Whatever,” Dani groused, ignoring the acidic flavor coating her tongue.
“Honest, Dani, thanks for all your help, and I am sorry about today. You know I appreciate all you do for me. And I’ll bet you’re hungry because you spent your lunch money on something sparkly in lieu of eating. How about I buy you a supersize combo meal and a cup of ice as a reward for another of your good deeds?”
“My hero,” she muttered and leaned her head against the seat. She hated to admit he was right. That’s how she’d justified her new earrings. They were on sale and only cost as much as three or four lunches. Some women used Atkins or South Beach diets to keep their figures. She used the jewelry diet. It worked for her.
Jake sent her a cocky grin. “You’re going to think I’m a hero when I arrange for the department to pay for the repairs on your car. It’s the least we can do, since you won’t accept a consulting fee.”
“Thanks.” She sighed with relief, hoping he wasn’t going to engage in another argument about her taking money for his use of her visions and dreams. If she took payment from the police, it’d be public record, but her mother insisted that no one know of their extra abilities. It might not be so good for her mom’s ticket sales.
Being the daughter of a celebrity sucked sometimes. Like the time she’d been kidnapped for ransom at the age of four but, luckily, hadn’t been harmed. Because of that, she’d had annoying security guards following her every time she set foot outside her mother’s gated compound, until she’d graduated from high school. Having constant tattletales sure curtailed her adolescent fun. But worse, it was hell living with a huge secret your whole life, with only a handful of people who knew the truth. Because of that, she had to decipher her visions and dreams, trying to arrive at the scene of the crime in time so that she or the police could witness the act, thereby, keeping her secret. But she was going to stop sharing what she saw . . . soon.
Jake was blissfully quiet for a few moments, and she’d almost fallen asleep when he said, “Michael wants you. What’s up with that?”
Dani shifted slowly to meet his stare, her head still pounding. “Michael thinks I’m a ditz. He doesn’t want me.” Anymore, but she kept that part to herself. She took pride in the fact that Michael had been the first of only two men she’d been with before Jake. Her mother was notorious for sleeping around, and because of it, Dani was very selective with her bed partners.
The muscles in Jake’s jaw twitched, indicating he was being serious for a change. “Trust me, he wants you. Bad. But there’s another man you need to worry about more than the tight-assed Michael Reilly. His name is Carlos Watts.”
At the gravity of his tone, Dani forgot all about Michael. “Is that the guy who attacked me?”
“Yeah. He’s no criminal mastermind. He showed that when he beat the crap out of your car in front of a courthouse swarming with cops. I don’t know how long I can keep him locked up. Maybe forty-eight hours, tops. The fact that he hit a cop will help, but his grandparents have money and have been bailing him and his brother out of trouble their whole lives. He may cool off after a few days and forget about you, but then again, he may not. We need to come up with a plan to keep you safe.”
Chapter Two
Michael rubbed his shoulder as the elevator doors slid closed. His damaged
rotator cuff throbbed, bitterly reminding him of the reason he’d retired early from the NFL. Clocking that guy with his briefcase had irritated the injury, but it took him down, so it was worth it.
When the doors parted, he lifted a hand in greeting to the receptionist, then headed down the long, quiet hall toward his office. The light scent of Dani’s perfume clung to his jacket just as thoughts of her lingered in his mind. What kind of a case could she be helping Jake with?
Maybe there was a piece of art or jewelry that needed identifying. Besides being rich and having luxuries growing up, Dani had been a full-time college student since high school, earning four advanced degrees. No one could call the lady stupid—she’d always been a genius with computers—but her degrees were all in incredibly impractical subjects like history, art, philosophy, and some sort of cinematic-appreciation thing. Being a professional student had probably been her way of keeping Annalisa’s money coming so she could put off the inevitability of growing up and getting a real job.
As soon as he entered his office, his assistant’s voice rang out through the intercom. “Ron wants to see you right away.”
Swearing under his breath, he tossed his beat-up briefcase onto his desk, and then headed down the long hall adorned with leather furniture and expensive art. He’d partnered with Ron because Ron was the most successful lawyer in town, and because Ron was his stepfather. But as the years passed, Ron’s true colors had shone through, so Michael was actively seeking a way to end their partnership.
Knocking on Ron’s doorjamb, Michael stuck his head inside, dismayed to see his stepbrother, Chad, there, too.
Ron, a vain, sandy-haired man, looked up from his desk. “Ah, Michael, there you are. Come in.” When Ron forced a smile, there was barely a wrinkle on his face. He’d gone under the knife to hold off the ravages of aging one too many times. He looked as fake as his spray tan. “We need to discuss Annalisa’s latest request.”
Seeing Double (A Heartbreaker Novel Book 1) Page 3
