by Lexi Blake
He was silent for a moment, and then his voice was deeply weary. “You can sit with me. Do you know how long it’s been since someone just sat with me? Since someone touched me and didn’t want a damn thing except to make me feel better? It’s been five years. Not since she died.”
She let her head rest against his broad shoulder, taking comfort from the closeness. There didn’t have to be anything sexual about it. “It’s been five years since I let Alex kiss me. I miss him, Ian.”
“And I miss Charlie. And if you ask me when I’m sober, I’ll pretend she doesn’t exist. I’ll pretend I never married her. I’ll pretend I didn’t hold her dead body in my arms.”
She felt tears fill her eyes for the second time that day. Something seemed to have opened up. “I am so sorry, Ian.”
His hand drifted to her cheek, and he swiped at a tear with his thumb. He held it up and stared at it. “Eve, you’re crying. You never cry unless it’s a scene.”
She pulled back and looked at him. “Yeah, well, apparently now that I’m walking wounded instead of zombie girl, I can cry again. Just a little.”
His lips curved up, and he was so beautiful when he smiled. “There’s my Eve.”
The music stopped entirely, the whole place going dead quiet in an instant. Then a cold voice spoke. “Your Eve? Is there something I don’t know about?”
She damn near jumped out of Ian’s lap at the sound of Alex’s voice, but she stopped herself because she hadn’t done anything wrong. It was her place as a submissive to offer kindness. Hell, it was her place as Ian’s friend to offer him comfort. How many times had she caught Alex snuggling with some sub whose Dom had left her or who’d had a bad day? They were touchy-feely people, but the way he was looking at her now made her want to cringe.
“I think you should move now.” Ian’s hands were held up and away as though showing Alex he wasn’t trying anything funny.
Eve moved off his lap, turning to face her ex. “Calm down, Alex.”
“Why don’t you two run along and fight this out in private. I have things to do.” Ian poured himself another Scotch. “And someone better turn my fucking music back on.”
“I’d like an explanation.” Alex practically growled the words. “I was told there was trouble at the club and I walk in and the only trouble I see is that you two didn’t get a room. There are privacy rooms in the back, though I do know that Ian doesn’t mind fucking in public.”
Ian stood, his big body still moving with grace despite drinking the majority of a bottle of Scotch. “You know I don’t, buddy. And you and Eve like to keep things private. Maybe then no one will see that you’re just like the rest of us when it comes to sex. It’s just a bodily fucking function, huh?”
“Is that what’s going on here? Are you scratching my wife’s itch?”
God, he was so gorgeous, but he could act like such an idiot when he got jealous. “Yes, Alex. After more than ten years of friendship, Ian and I have decided to become lovers. I couldn’t resist him. He’s so tender.”
Ian’s hand shot up in the air, his middle finger extended.
Eve stalked toward Alex, her voice a harsh whisper because Ian needed something more than Alex’s caveman act. “He’s upset and I bet you know the reason why. Does this date have a particular meaning? Is there a reason Eli Nelson would send him an anniversary card?”
The way Alex’s face paled told her everything she needed to know. He knew about Ian’s marriage. He knew that she’d died. “Yeah. I know what today is. I got a call and I forgot. I usually make sure he’s not alone today. I remembered the minute I walked in here and heard that fucking song, but then you were sitting in his lap. Damn it.” He turned around, yelling out. “Simon, get that music back on.”
Guns N’ Roses started wailing again, and Ian sighed and settled back down.
“We need to tell Ryan that the club is closed tonight. He’ll know who to call. Damn it. I have to work tonight.”
“I’ll baby-sit.” Liam put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “This about his wife?”
Alex nodded. “This is the day she died. He goes a little crazy once a year. I’ve been handling it. We usually go out to his place and get trashed and keep it out of the public eye, but I was involved in a case.”
Liam knew. Everyone knew but her. It hurt a little, but Ian was so private, she couldn’t hold it against the men for keeping his confidence.
Liam sent her a tight smile of encouragement. He knew what she was planning to do tonight. “I think you have something more to handle tonight, mate. Go and talk to Evie. I’ll make sure he gets home in one piece. If you like me at all, take the Brit with you. Please.”
Alex frowned. “I don’t know. All right. Just watch out for him. I really do have something I need to get done. Call me if you need me. And have Simon drive Ian’s car back to the office. You’ll have to take him home with you tonight. Eve, do you need a ride home?”
“I actually hoped we could talk.” He had just been an asshole, but he’d always been possessive. She was willing to give him a little leeway. The first time she’d caught him hugging another sub, she’d wanted to snatch the woman’s hair right off her head. “Do you have time for dinner?”
He stopped, his eyes widening. “You want to have dinner with me?”
“Yes. I think we should talk.” They rarely spent time together that they weren’t working or doing exactly what Ian had accused them of—having empty sex. It had been a very long time since they just sat down and talked, and she knew that had been her fault. “How about Thai? My treat.”
His jaw squared and a stubborn look came into his eyes. “I have to work. I really want nothing more than to take you up on that and I will eventually, but I have a case I’m looking into and timing is of the essence.”
“You need me to run the background check on the girl?” Simon asked. She hadn’t noticed him leaning against the bar. “I can certainly handle finding out if the girl is who she says she is. Now making sure she’s got the connections to Evans is another story entirely.”
Eve felt like the ground shifted underneath her. “Evans?”
It was a common name. It could be anything because there was no way Alex would get involved in any case having to do with Michael Evans without letting her know what was going on. He wouldn’t do that to her. Not again.
The flush on his face told her a different tale. His whole stance stiffened as though he’d just gone on the defensive. “It’s nothing for you to worry about, Eve. I’m going to Florida for a couple of weeks. I’ll talk to you when I get back.”
He walked out of the dungeon toward the lobby, and Eve sank into a chair, her hands shaking. She’d been ready to start again, but nothing had changed.
Nothing at all.
Chapter Four
Alex stalked out of the dungeon, cursing under his breath. Why the fuck had Weston felt it necessary to mention Evans’s name? He was a fucking idiot who had just screwed up everything.
“Hey!”
Alex stopped in the middle of the lobby but didn’t turn around. He knew exactly who was coming after him. Weston wasn’t the only idiot Euro he had to deal with. “I don’t need to hear from you, Liam.”
“I bloody well think you do,” Liam shot back, rounding on him. “What the fuck was that about?”
When Liam was angry, his Irish got up and his statement sounded more like “wha de fook was dat aboot?” Yeah, he was pissed. Alex filled his lungs with air and prayed for a little patience because he was the one who had handled that poorly. Weston had spoken out of turn, but had he really expected that Eve would never find out? He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Eve had picked the worst possible time to decide to relax the rules a bit.
“Would it do me a damn bit of good to point out that it’s none of your business, O’Donnell?”
“She asks you to go and have dinner with her and you turn her down over a case?” Liam shook his head. “I’ll handle the bloody case. Just give me the details
and stop acting like an ass. Eve’s got some things to talk to you about.”
“It doesn’t matter. She won’t talk about it now.” What the hell did she want to discuss? Was she finally going to tear up their contract and split them up permanently? Bitterness welled up. It would just have to wait.
What the hell was he going to do if Eve finally let him go?
Liam calmed a bit. “She will if you just apologize. Just walk back in there and talk to her, mate. You can’t imagine how hard it was for her to do this. Just walk back in and take her out to dinner. You can still make this right.”
But he couldn’t. He’d lost that chance a long time ago. “I can’t, Liam.”
Eve walked by them. She’d replaced her shoes and put her jacket back on. Just for a brief moment, she’d been as soft as she was all those years ago. It was why he’d nearly taken his best friend’s head off. She’d looked soft and sweet in Ian’s arms. There had been none of the coldness of the last few years, and he’d ached that the warmth hadn’t been for him.
Except it had been there when she’d asked him to dinner. Her eyes had lit up with a spark he hadn’t seen in forever. Had she met someone? How would he take that? Could he watch her be happy with someone else?
“I would like a ride home, please.” Eve didn’t look back, merely went to stand by the door. It was obvious that all of her softness had fled the minute she’d heard Evans’s name. He’d been right to keep her out of this. He just wanted to protect her. Why couldn’t anyone see that?
Liam stepped up. “I’ll run you back to the office then, love. Alex, stay with Ian until I can get back.”
Eve held a hand up. “I would like Alex to take me.” She turned, and he’d been right about the softness. There was none of it now. Her face was a careful, perfect blank. “I think he can manage to drop me at my car before he goes back to work. You are going back to the office, aren’t you?”
She didn’t wait for an answer, merely stepped out into the afternoon light, moving toward the parking lot.
“I’ll handle her,” Alex said.
“She was going to ask you to revise your contract,” Liam said with a frown. “Why would she be so upset about you working? Can’t you put if off for a couple of hours?”
She was going to ask him to revise the contract? How? To give them more freedom? Or less? Fuck. She wouldn’t answer him if he asked now. There was nothing to do except plow ahead. “I’ve got a lead on Michael Evans.”
Liam cursed under his breath. “Were you going to tell her?”
“No. She can’t do anything, and she’ll only worry.” It could bring her nothing but pain to talk about this again.
Liam shook his head. “But it’s her worry, Alex.”
Liam didn’t understand. He’d been through a lot, but he’d never seen his love torn apart by a monster. “I’m going to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly. If some man had raped and brutalized Avery, would you want revenge?”
“Hell, yeah, I would.”
At least someone understood. “Good, then.”
He had his hand on the door when Liam spoke again. “But I would want my wife more. If it came to a decision between the two, I would always pick her.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t get that choice.” Revenge was really all he had left, and even if Eve wanted him back, he wasn’t sure he could give up looking for Evans. As long as he was out there, Eve wasn’t really safe. He remembered the way Evans had looked at him when he’d been hauled into the courtroom for his bail hearing. He’d smirked and mouthed the words, “We’re not through.”
No, if Evans was out there, it was only a matter of time before he came after Alex, and the only way to come after Alex was through Eve.
He turned and walked to the lobby door, the music still pounding through the club. He’d thought Ian had some closure. He knew Charlotte was dead, had held her body in his arms. He knew nothing else would come from it, but it seemed he was still haunted. Every year, Alex hoped he wouldn’t hear that fucking song and every year on this day, it was all Ian played until he passed out and showed up to work the next day with red eyes and a closed mouth. They would spend the next three hundred and sixty-four days pretending she had never existed.
But Alex’s ghost stood at the passenger door of his truck, a frown on her gorgeous face. He strode out into the heat of the day and opened the door for her.
“Liam said you wanted to renegotiate our contract.” He had to try.
She settled into the seat. “That doesn’t really matter now, does it?”
“What did you want to negotiate, Eve?” Hell, it might be easier on him if she wanted to cut him off entirely. At least he could focus on the job at hand.
Her eyes shifted toward him. “I want to see the file, Alex.”
“There isn’t a file yet. Warren is going through the proper channels to try to get it to me.” He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side of the truck. He got in and fired up the engine, grateful that the drive wasn’t a long one.
“Fine. I want to know what you’ve discovered. Is he in the States?”
This was the last conversation he wanted to have, but she had to know at some point in time. “I think he’s a regular visitor. He seems to be setting up some kind of business connections here, a series of clubs that he’s using to sell drugs through.”
“He’s probably using the clubs to launder the money, too,” Eve said, her eyes on the road ahead of them. “And he would also see them as another form of the commune he had built up. He very likely has a female in every one.”
She sounded like they were talking about a regular case, but every time he glanced over at her, he could see the scar on her neck. It was the worst of her scars. That cut had been deep and was still thick on her skin, but there were more scars on her back and belly. They were faint now, faded to whispery white lines, but he remembered them fresh and bloody.
“Eve, you don’t have to do this. I’m checking out the source tonight. If she checks out, I’m going to Florida to see this club for myself.”
“She?” The question was coated in ice.
At least she could still feel a little jealous. “Yes. Her name is Kristen, and she’s an investigative reporter. She’s just a source, angel. She’s tied Evans to narcoterrorists in South America.”
“Why doesn’t she call the feds?”
“Because they can’t work as quietly as I can and they don’t have the same stake in this.”
“Oh, so the people with stakes in a case should be the ones working it? Excellent. I’ll be going to Florida with you then,” she explained, her mouth in a stubborn line.
“Absolutely not.” He didn’t want her on the same continent with Evans much less the same city. “Eve, be reasonable. It’s probably nothing. I’ll go to the club, check it out for a couple of days, and report back.”
But something told him this lead wasn’t nothing. Every instinct in his body told him that this was the lead he’d been waiting for and Evans was close. He just needed to get into the right place to lay in wait. Adam could bury faked records so Alex could pass any background checks. He would change his hair color and wear colored contacts. Most of the time, he would hide behind sunglasses. He was older now and his body bigger than it used to be. He spent more time in the weight room now than he used to. He could pass for long enough to get in the same room with Evans and after that, it wouldn’t matter if the fucker recognized him.
“Would it change anything if I asked you not to go?” Eve asked in a perfectly calm voice, as though the outcome didn’t mean a thing to her.
He pulled up to a stoplight. “Why would you do that?”
“Because we can’t move on if you keep bringing Evans in between us.”
“What?”
She smoothed down her skirt even though it didn’t have a wrinkle on it. “He’s always there.”
“Because you can’t forget,” Alex replied, his voice low and sympathetic. “I understa
nd that, angel. You’ll be able to sleep at night if I can take him out.”
She laughed, a deeply bitter sound. “I’m not the one obsessed with Michael Evans.”
He felt his jaw clench, his fists tightening on the steering wheel as he eased the truck forward and turned onto the freeway. Downtown was in front of him, the Omni hotel blinking its symphony of lights as day began to turn to evening. They were surrounded by concrete and facades and lights. He glanced at the sidewalks with their small patches of perfectly kept grass in neat little boxes. The late-afternoon commuters hustled to get to their train stops or parking lots. They were moving, but Alex felt like he was stopped. He and Eve hadn’t really moved in years. They were still having the same old argument. “He’s kept us apart for five years. If that’s not obsession, I don’t know what is.”
“I admit that I was hurt in the beginning,” Eve began. “But he isn’t the one who kept us apart. We both had a hand in it, and until we acknowledge what we’ve both done wrong, we can’t even think about being together again.”
She was dangling the only bait that might be able to lure him away, but he had to be strong. They hadn’t been able to make it with Evans between them. The only way to move forward was to end Evans permanently. “You’re trying to stop me from going after him. That’s the only reason why you’re saying any of this.”
Her fingers tightened on the handles of her purse. “I don’t want you to investigate him. Let it lie, Alex.”
“I can’t. He’ll come after you again.” He saw it every night in his nightmares. Evans would come after her, and she would be alone and vulnerable.
“No. He won’t,” Eve replied, her voice tight. “He has no reason to. He’s moved on to bigger and better things. You’re the one who’s still playing the game. Give the information to Warren.”
“No.” He couldn’t trust anyone else to handle it. Kristen was right. This required a small, very quiet team on the inside. Warren couldn’t put that together in time.
“Then we’re done, Alex. Drop this or we’re done completely.”
His stomach turned over. “We’ve been done for a long time, Eve.”
