No. There’s something else I need.
Something much more conspicuous.
The one thing I know she’ll miss if she does indeed have it.
My eyes catch on an ornate jewelry box sitting on top of her desk. Surely she wouldn’t have chosen something so obvious to hide what I’m looking for. But perhaps she never assumed anyone would come for it so many years later.
I quietly make my way over and lift the lid. The top layer reveals several pairs of earrings, but the bottom layer contains a small red velvet pouch neatly tucked in the center, and inside…
Ahhh, there it is.
I pull out the bulky gold ring that contains an oversized ruby center, encircled by a cluster of diamonds, and hold it up so it catches the glow of the moonlight. The ring is a family heirloom, antique and reeking of extravagance, with the crest inscribed on the inside.
They were right. She’s had it the whole time and never said a word.
Not only that, but there is no indication she touched it, if the dried blood encrusted in the cracks is any indication.
What a stupid, stupid decision.
I place the ring back inside the pouch and shove it in my pocket. It’s too late for her now.
A brightly colored object in front of the jewelry box catches my attention, and I unfold the crumpled paper. It’s covered with a slew of half-naked men and women cavorting about with the words “Valentine’s Day Singles Bash” and today’s date circled underneath.
Hmm. So it seems the girl wants a bit more excitement in her life, does she? Bodyguards and stalkers not doing it for her?
I reach again for the knife on my belt.
Wish fucking granted.
After stabbing the flyer to the desk with my knife, I turn and flee, without detection, the way I came.
THE THING ABOUT twenty-somethings was that they thought they were so fucking untouchable.
Jason watched from the hallway as his very stupid client accepted a drink from a very stupid boy that he’d also watched drop a very stupid substance into her drink when she wasn’t looking.
Isn’t this some classic frat party shit.
He’d let the nonsense go on long enough. When Katherine stumbled and the boy started moving her toward the back hallway, it was time to intervene. The crowd parted for him easily as he made his way through the room. Maybe it was the murderous look he knew was on his face, or maybe it was the decade he had on the oldest person in the room that made them shrink back in fear. Or, he thought as he caught the simpering expressions of several girls he passed, it’s something else entirely.
Two seconds after the boy had made his exit out the back door, Jason was there behind them, incapacitating the asshole with a kick to the back of his knees, causing him to fall face first on the gravel. Katherine tripped over her feet and dropped with him, but after a night of foolish decisions, she deserved a sore ass.
Jason’s fingers dug into the back of the boy’s neck as he held him down on the ground.
“What the fuck,” he grunted, struggling against Jason’s grip.
“I’m gonna ask you this one time, so you’d be wise to answer.”
“Get off me—”
Jason cut his words off with a chokehold. His voice was calm yet lethal. “Was the plan to rape her, or more?”
When the boy stayed silent, Jason stepped on his arm, digging his heel into the elbow, and then crouched down. The boy cried out in pain, and when Jason didn’t let up, he struggled to get his words out.
“Wasn’t…gonna…hurt her.”
Jason looked over at Katherine lying on the grass trying to open her eyes, and felt his temper flare.
“You know what pathetic little fucks like you deserve, frat boy?” he spat, turning his attention back to the immobile body underneath him. His voice lowered to a menacing whisper. “You deserve your cocks filleted and fed to each other while taking turns getting pounded by a three-hundred-pound prison guard named Big Johnny. I can promise you his name’s not referring to his weight. Your asshole ready for that?”
A whimper escaped, and he pushed down again on the boy’s arm.
“O-okay,” the boy said, gasping for breath.
“Okay, you’d like that? I’ll make a call—”
“No!” frat boy cried. “Please…can’t…breathe.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Is this hurting you?” Jason lifted his foot off the kid’s arm for a moment of relief before slamming it down on his fingers.
A string of curses left his mouth, and Jason felt a sick sort of pleasure at his screams. He reached into the boy’s back pants pocket, pulled out a small bag of pills, and held them in front of his face.
“You do this often? Drug and rape women? There a reason you need them impaired before you fuck ’em?”
Tears were starting to fall from frat boy’s eyes, and he squeezed them shut. “It was j-just…this…once. Swear, man.”
“A-huh. So, if what you’re saying is true, and I’m positive it isn’t, man,” Jason said, his lips curling into a sneer, “then I’d say you made a bad, bad decision tonight. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Y-yes, sir.”
He raised an eyebrow. “A little late for sir.”
Beside them, Katherine stirred. A moan escaped her lips, and she said his name, once, faintly. She looked so vulnerable in her sleep, and he felt a twinge of guilt at letting things get this far.
Even though she’d made the choice to cross the line and he’d wanted to see how far she’d let herself go, she was still his client. Still his responsibility. And still lying in the fucking grass outside a raging house party in freezing temperatures.
Sighing, he released his grip and stood up. “Here’s what’s gonna happen. Once we leave, you’re gonna get up, limp home, and when someone asks what happened to you, you’re gonna tell them you lost a training wheel on your bike.”
“But I don’t have a bi—”
“Kid?”
“Sir?”
“Shut up.”
The boy shut his mouth and stayed where he was, not daring to move without permission.
“Now,” Jason said, bending down to grab the gun strapped to a holster at his ankle. Holding the shiny revolver up, he cocked it and watched the boy’s eyes widen, tremors racking his body before a gasping “Oh God.”
Jason shot him a terrifying smile. “You should consider yourself lucky I’m not in a foul mood tonight. I’ve got eyes on you now, Danny Riley.”
When Danny’s eyes darted to his with surprise and fear, he chuckled. “Oh yes. I know your name. Before tomorrow morning, I’ll know where you live. Where your family lives. The names and phone numbers of every female you’ve ever laid a hand on. I’ll know if you ever whisper a word of what happened tonight, and most importantly…I’ll know if you try this again. If and when you decide to test your luck and my patience, know that I won’t be far behind. And neither will Big Johnny.”
WHAT IS THAT bubbling?
Liquid was being poured over her forearm, and the aftereffect was the sound of fizzing, like her skin was being soaked in acid—
“No!” she shrieked, her eyes springing open as she sat up and jerked away from the source before she could be burned further. Cradling her arm, she examined the red abrasion that was foaming white on top. It didn’t hurt much more than a sting, and when she noticed the bottle of hydrogen peroxide on the coffee table next to her, she felt heat creep up her neck.
“Oh,” she faltered. “Not acid…uh…never mind.”
A pair of whiskey-colored eyes met hers, the expression in them hard.
“No, you chose to partake in an entirely different illegal substance tonight,” Jason said.
Her forehead scrunched up as she tried to remember past the incessant pounding in her skull. When she reached up to massage her temples, the sleeve of her shirt caught her attention. She wasn’t wearing the sweatshirt from earlier, she was wearing the top she’d worn to sneak out of the apartm—
She let
out a curse.
The party. He knows I was at the party. But how the hell did I get back home?
Jason cocked his head as if waiting for her to put the pieces together, but she could barely think past the hammer smashing her brains to pieces. Bree had been there. She vaguely remembered beer pong. Then she’d danced and seen Danny, who had gone to get her more—
“Punch,” she whispered.
He scoffed. “Is that all it was?”
“Um…” It hadn’t tasted right when Danny had given it to her, but the other drinks had caught up to her right about the same time. Was it more?
“I-I…don’t know. I think so.”
“Wrong.” He grabbed her arm and began dabbing at the wound with a cotton ball. “Do you know where you’d be right now if I hadn’t been there?”
When she bit her lip instead of answering, he stopped what he was doing and fixed her with a harsh stare.
“Underneath frat boy and about five of his buddies. Does that sound like a good time to you?” He didn’t bother waiting for her response, but instead muttered, “Hell, maybe it does.”
After pouring more of the peroxide on a fresh cotton ball, he wiped the long cut. It wasn’t too deep, but she could see remnants of what looked like gravel embedded.
“What happened?” she whispered.
“Casualty of taking care of business.” He ripped open a packet and applied the bandage with a gentler touch than she expected from him. “You really don’t remember anything?”
She shook her head. “I would remember seeing you.”
Like I could ever forget you.
He sat back in the kitchen chair he’d pulled up alongside the couch, and tossed the bandage wrapper on the table. “The short story, much of which I think you do remember, is that you decided it would be a great idea to sneak out to meet up with this little boyfriend of yours and have a few drinks.”
“He’s not my…” she said, but then shook her head. “Obviously you know he’s not my boyfriend if you were following me.”
The tight-lipped expression her bodyguard wore was one she hadn’t seen before. He looked pissed beyond all hell, which somehow made him look even more attractive, and she mentally kicked herself for going through with such a dumb decision.
It was only supposed to have been an hour to escape and breathe without one of them being within ten feet of her at all times. But as much as she missed her freedom, she would take it all back to never see the look on Jason’s face now. That look gave her chills.
He crossed his arms and leveled his gaze with hers without saying anything for a long time. It felt like minutes passed before he spoke, his tone deadly.
“Do you think I’m ignorant, Katherine?”
She gulped, taken aback by his question. “Of course not.”
“Do you think I would ever not cover my bases or think through every scenario when it comes to you?”
The only response she could manage was a shake of her head.
“See, this is what’s funny,” he said, with no humor whatsoever in his voice. “You seemed to think it would be easy to just come and go as you wanted. You never thought about the silent alarm on the doors and windows that connect to my phone when one is breached. You set them off the day before, but because I didn’t mention it, you thought you were in the clear. You also didn’t think I’d notice the way your eyes lit up when Bree approached you about the party. I could see your wheels turning then, as they continued to do ever since. I could go on, but I think you get the point. So.” He uncrossed his arms and placed his elbows on his knees before leaning forward until only inches separated them. “I can only assume that you think I’m a dumb guy. So I’ll ask you again, and this time I want the truth. Do you think I’m ignorant, Katherine?”
Her breath was coming short and shallow at his closeness, but she didn’t dare blink or look away. Even though his words were severe, there was a protectiveness there that she didn’t want to dismiss as his just being her bodyguard. She wanted it to be that he cared what happened to her. That he cared about her…
“No,” she said, barely above a whisper. “I don’t think that. It was stupid, and I’m so sorry.”
A flicker of warmth in his eyes had her heart skipping for a beat, but it was gone so fast it was possible she’d imagined it.
“There’s something else,” he said.
The silence was deafening as she waited for him to expound on that. Well, silence if you didn’t count Kirkpatrick’s snoring—
“Wait,” she said. “You didn’t wake up Kirkpatrick?”
Jason gave her a tight-lipped smile. “No, I didn’t. Should I?”
She fumbled with why he was asking her that. “Well…aren’t you supposed to?”
“There’s something I think you should see before I do that.”
She blinked. “Sorry?”
“The consequences of your actions tonight caused far more damage than I think you anticipated.”
More damage than humiliation and a gash on my arm?
“And what do you mean by that?”
“Come on,” he said, standing up.
“Are we going on a field trip?”
He ignored her question and held his hand out for her to take. Standing up on unsteady legs, she tried to read his face to get a feel for what was going on, but his expression remained impassive. He really did have the best poker face she’d ever seen.
Once she found her balance, he dropped her hand and headed down the hallway to her bedroom. At the closed door, he turned around, a finger to his lips, and then pushed it open, his eyes never leaving hers.
What is he getting at? She just wanted to go lie down again. Her head was throbbing, and her overindulgence at the party was starting to disagree with her stomach. But all thoughts left her mind when she stepped inside her room—if it could even be called that anymore.
Her sheets were scattered across the floor, the pillows ripped wide open, and feathers covered every corner of the space. Her clothes and undergarments were strewn about, and papers from her desk littered the ground. A bitter chill nipped at her skin from the window that was still open an inch.
And then she saw it.
A knife.
Stabbed to her dresser.
She blinked twice, not comprehending what it was she was seeing. No, this had to be a nightmare. It had to be. She was still asleep, this wasn’t real, and she’d wake up soon.
She rubbed her bleary eyes then held her palms against them and prayed that when she opened them again, everything would be fine.
The knife was still there.
A quiver began in her thighs and spread through her until her whole body was shaking.
Someone had been in her room. The same someone her father had told her broke into his office weeks ago.
“Oh God.” Her knees gave out beneath her, but before she could hit the ground, Jason caught her from behind and dragged her over to sit on the stripped bed. She bent over with her head in her hands. “They were here…in my room,” she choked out.
“You made it easy to enter without detection,” he said, nodding at the open window.
Lifting her head, she was about to respond when she noticed something else. Her jewelry box was open.
No. No no no no no, please no.
Jumping off the bed, she ran to the desk and saw that the top layer of the box had been removed, and the bottom compartment was bare. She rubbed her eyes again, hoping the effects of the drug were causing her to see things. Or not see things, rather. But no—it was empty. Her stomach dropped.
No pouch.
No ring.
Gone.
Her mind wasn’t working fast enough to catch up with what her eyes were seeing. It wasn’t possible. They hadn’t known for sure that she ever really had it, and she’d never taken it out since that night. Not once, ever.
Jason was still watching her, so she tried to swallow her rising panic and felt herself failing. Why had they come for it after all
this time? Why now?
It didn’t make sense, and neither did the knife stabbed to the opened party flyer. Clearly, they’d wanted to send a message. But what?
“Did they…follow me there?” she whispered, her eyes transfixed on the shiny weapon. Her hand violently shook as she reached for it—
“I wouldn’t do that,” he said, grabbing her wrist before she could touch it. “I’ve already swept for fingerprints, but that evidence needs to stay there.”
“Swept for…” She broke off, breathless, and tried to gulp in some much-needed air. That one foolish decision had led to the enormity of the aftermath it had sent a wave of nausea coursing through her, and she dropped to her knees, grabbing the wastepaper basket from under the desk. Tears stung her eyes as she emptied the contents of her stomach inside it, the burn of alcohol twice as harsh coming back up. She retched until there was nothing left in her body, leaving her hollow and trembling. Collapsing back against the bed, she curled her legs up to her chest and took the washcloth Jason offered to wipe her mouth.
He sat down across from her and leaned against the desk. “I know it’s a lot to take in.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, she nodded. Thank God he didn’t know what’d been lost tonight. What did it mean that they’d taken it? Were they still in danger?
Jason seemed to be reading her thoughts. “Regardless of where you were, you were never in any danger tonight. I was there.”
Her breaths were coming in pants, a full-fledged attack on the brink.
“Stay right here,” he said, and returned a few seconds later with a paper bag. Without hesitation, she took it, inhaling and exhaling until her breaths began to slow. When she dropped the bag down by her side, she kept her eyes on Jason instead of the destruction surrounding them.
“What happens now?” she asked, afraid to hear the answer.
“I wake up Thompson. We call it in and handle it from there.”
“You handle it. And what’s my punishment?” There had to be one. No way was she getting off scot-free.
“We’d most likely be relocated to your father’s estate for the remainder of our—”
“No. No, I can’t,” she said, then picked the bag back up and breathed into it again.
Flash Point Page 8
