by Lexi Blake
Well, naturally he refused. His brother hadn’t met a good idea he didn’t refuse.
Javier glanced down the hall, but the woman was gone. He followed Derek inside and caught his first glimpse of his brother. Rafe was sitting in his chair, his face sporting a few bandages.
“What the hell happened? And where’s the nurse? Is she okay?” He’d been trying to get information about the young woman who’d shown up to take care of Rafe, but no one seemed to know anything.
“According to your brother, she quit two hours in and left long before the problems started,” Derek explained.
He turned to his brother. “She quit? She just started today. I find it hard to believe that she quit.”
Rafe shook his head. “She was a bitch.”
He felt his hands fist at his sides. “She was a young woman with excellent experience and credentials. What did you do? Because there’s no doubt in my mind that this was all about you.”
Rafe’s red-rimmed eyes came up. “I don’t need a keeper.”
“So you fired her?” He was going to beat his brother way better than the others had. They hadn’t gotten the job done right.
“I told you I don’t need a fucking babysitter,” Rafe growled. “I want to be alone.”
“You can’t be alone. You can barely get to the bathroom on your own right now,” he argued. “You had surgery and you won’t do the work it takes to walk again. Believe me, the minute you can get your own place to live, I’ll be more than happy to let the door hit your ass.”
“Oh, show me the way, brother,” Rafe replied with a nasty tone. “I don’t want to be here any more than you want me here.”
Derek held up a hand. “Could you two stop for a second? I need to know what happened tonight.”
Rafe shrugged. “I sent the nurse home and about an hour later, some guys broke in. I guess I didn’t lock the door after the nurse walked out. I already explained all of this. I told the officer what happened.”
“But you didn’t give me a reason for the attack. Two guys showed up and beat the hell out of you, but they didn’t take anything? They didn’t give you a reason for hurting you?” There was pure suspicion in Derek’s tone. “That doesn’t happen. People don’t randomly beat each other up.”
“You never been in a bar at two in the morning?” Rafe asked.
“Even then someone has usually done something or said something to push the assailant to break,” Derek explained. “According to you, you’ve never seen the two men before and they didn’t say anything, merely walked in and beat the crap out of you.”
Put like that, it didn’t make a lot of sense. “Why would someone come here to beat you up, Rafe? Come on. You have to know something.”
His brother’s eyes came up. “Fine. You gonna push me? I didn’t want to say this, but they weren’t looking for me.”
Javier’s stomach turned. “What do you mean?”
Rafe shrugged. “I don’t know who they were. I never saw them before. They came to the door and said they knew you and I let them in. I swear, brother, I wouldn’t have called the damn police at all. I don’t want to get you in some kind of trouble, but that busybody next door heard something and she called them in.”
Someone was coming after him? This was about him and not Rafe? “What did they say?”
“Something about a woman.” Rafe put a hand on his head. “I don’t know. I was getting my ass kicked. I’m sure it was some husband whose wife you screwed. I told you that shit would come back to haunt you.”
“I need a name,” Javier tried. “Did they mention a woman’s name?”
Rafe groaned. “I don’t know. Something like Mary or Maria. I don’t fucking know. Can you get out of my space, man? I’m tired. I want to go to bed, and yes, I can get myself into my own fucking bed.”
He turned and wheeled himself out.
Javier stared after him. “That’s my own fucking bed.” He took a deep breath and turned back to Derek. Embarrassment flashed through him. His libido had always been a joke, but since he’d fallen for Jules, it had become something more. “I’m sorry you had to come out here.”
Derek stood, his hand on his hips. “I’m not and I don’t know that I buy his story.”
“Story?”
The lieutenant stared at the door Rafe had disappeared behind. “I’ve been doing this for a very long time. I don’t think he’s telling the truth, Javier. He wouldn’t look you straight in the eyes.”
“He never does anymore. He hasn’t since the accident.” It was annoying. It was like his brother didn’t want anyone to see what he was thinking, what was going on behind his eyes.
“It’s more than that. Come down to the security office with me. I’ve got some questions about the tape,” Derek said. “We’ve got a fairly decent view of at least one of the suspects. I want to see if you recognize him. The guy on duty has a couple of things to say, too.”
Javier walked out with him, glancing down the hallway. No one was there. “Did you notice a woman hanging around Juliana’s door?”
“Juliana?” Derek asked as they reached the elevator. He pushed the button to go down.
Derek hadn’t been coming to Top as often as he had since he and his wife Karina had their baby. They’d moved out to the suburbs and the lieutenant hurried home after work. Since Jules hadn’t been to Sanctum, they’d never met. “She’s the new hostess at Top. She lives across the hall from me.”
“Ah,” he said as the elevator doors opened and they walked inside. “No, I didn’t notice anyone, though when I got here there were a bunch of people in the hallway. Your neighbors are interesting. I had to explain to the lady down the hall that I was married. Apparently she’s got single relatives.”
“Yeah, that would be Mrs. Gleeson. I’m sure she’s the one who called. She tends to know everything that goes on in this building.” His brain was still whirling. “Derek, I have no idea who would come after me. I’ve calmed down a lot in the last year, and you know I wouldn’t go after someone’s wife. I can admit that I might not have always been so picky, but I’ve never had an actual affair with a married woman. Hell, I’m not proud of it, but most of my hookups don’t even know my last name. How would their significant others even know where to find me?”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t be proud of that,” Derek agreed. “I assure you, if it was me and I wanted to slap you around a little, I could find you. But like I said, I’m not sure I buy that this attack was about you. Why would some upset husband beat on your wheelchair-bound brother? I would assume Rafe explained to the attackers that he wasn’t you. Given the fact that this was supposedly all about some crazy, kinky sex, these gentlemen should have been able to put two and two together and figure out Rafe likely isn’t chasing down married women for thrills.”
“Or they decided to hurt someone I care about. I know I’m upset with him now, but he’s still my brother. Maybe this guy decided that I’d taken something from him so he would hurt me, too.” The thought scared the shit out of him. Would they come after Jules? Would whoever these assholes were try to hurt her?
The doors opened again and they walked out onto the first floor. Derek seemed to know his way around. He went immediately for the manager’s office.
“Without leaving you a very specific threat? I doubt that. Men who are pissed that you slept with their wife tend to want you to know who’s kicking your ass,” Derek said. “Besides, you had that break-in last week. There were no other break-ins reported for the building. I think the two are connected.”
“You think it’s possible they’ve already sent me a message?” He’d been at Jules’s apartment or they would have found him there. Would they figure out he had a woman and take it out on her?
Derek stopped at the office and knocked twice before opening the door. “I think they were sending someone a message. Sometimes these people speak in their own code, and unless you’re on the inside, you wouldn’t have any idea a message had been sent at all. Hey, Harold
. Thanks for staying up. You have that video for me?”
Harold was the night security guard, though he was really more of the night super. He was an older man who was excellent at fixing a clogged pipe, but the thin man wasn’t going to scare anyone off. They’d given him a Taser and called him a guard. The good news was he slept through most of his shift.
Harold yawned and pointed to the monitor. “Got it right here. I made a tape for your officer, too. Just press that button. Been a busy night.”
It had been an amazing night right up to the point where it had all imploded.
Javier sat down, looking at the bank of monitors that took video of what went on in the hallways and the outer doors of the complex. When they were working.
“I backed it up a little,” Harold explained before he touched the button to start the tape.
The time stamp was ten p.m. The hallway looked quiet, but he watched as Mrs. Gleeson stepped out, looking right and then left before she locked her door behind her. She put her keys in the pocket of her gown. There was a bottle of something in her hand.
“Is that wine?” Derek asked.
Oh, that wasn’t a wine bottle. “Nope, I think Mrs. Gleeson’s poison of choice this evening is whiskey. Holy shit. She’s going to Mr. Cassidy’s? I thought they hated each other.”
Mr. Cassidy’s door opened and a look of pure joy hit his face as he let the woman in. He even tapped her ass as she strolled through the door.
Those two liars. He was so going to blow that up. Or maybe not. It was good to have some golden years sex and scandals.
“So she wasn’t next door?” That was the confusing part. The walls could be thin, but he knew he couldn’t hear what was going on across the hall.
“Wait for it,” Derek murmured.
As soon as Mr. Cassidy’s door closed, the elevator opened and two men walked down the hall, straight to Javier’s apartment.
Derek froze the frame just as one of the two men looked up. “Do you recognize him, Javi?”
Dark hair and eyes. Probably tall, muscular. “He looks somewhat familiar, but I can’t recall his name. I might be wrong about it, too. I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you something more.”
Both men were wearing dark hoodies. One of them knocked and Javier watched as Rafe opened the door. From the camera angle, he couldn’t see Rafe past the moment when he’d greeted the men. He wheeled back and the door closed.
Javier shook his head. “I’m sorry. Maybe if I think about it for a while, I can come up with a name.”
“I don’t think you can.” Derek pressed the fast-forward button. After a long while, he stopped the tape again as the door opened and the two men left.
12:36 a.m.
What the hell? “They didn’t beat on him for two hours. He wasn’t that hurt.”
“Yes,” Derek said. “That was my assessment as well.”
He saw Mrs. Gleeson open the door and she and her undercover lover watch the men leave. When they were far enough down the hall, she rushed over to her apartment.
“We got her 911 call four minutes later. I assume Rafe cried out or something and that’s what got her ousted from her love shack,” Derek said with a grin.
They’d been in his apartment for hours. What the hell had they been talking about because Derek was right. Rafe wasn’t hurt enough for hours of torture. Someone had smacked him a couple of times, blackened his left eye, but that wouldn’t take hours.
What the hell kind of trouble was his brother in?
To his left, he caught sight of what was going on at the front of the building. A familiar figure moved into the inner doors. Jules was standing there and she turned and waved at whoever was just out of camera range.
Kai and Kori had dropped her off.
He should be with her. He should run to the front doors and beg her forgiveness for leaving abruptly. He should tell her what was going on.
He should tell her he couldn’t be with her until whatever was happening with Rafe got sorted out.
“Yeah, between those two and that high-and-mighty lady come looking for the new girl, it’s been an exciting night,” Harold was saying with a nod.
That got Javier’s attention. “New girl? The one across the hall from me?”
Harold nodded. “Yeah, the one on 4.” He shook his white head and whistled. “The fourth floor is the horny floor. Lots of people slipping into each other’s places after hours.”
Apparently. “Who was looking for Jules?”
Derek turned to him. “You said you saw someone hanging out around her door, right? She’s got to be on camera.”
“She was wearing sunglasses and a scarf.” Was that woman a part of whatever the hell was happening? If this whole thing was about Rafe, why would anyone come after Jules?
Except if Rafe owed people money, some criminal elements would come after his family and friends if they thought it would work. Some wouldn’t care that they were bringing in an innocent woman as long as they got what they wanted.
“She showed up and demanded to know where Juliana O’Neil was,” Harold explained. “Never even took off those sunglasses. Very snobby, that one. I even offered her some ramen and she turned that nose of hers up and left in a snit. I’m getting too old for this job.”
“Try to talk to your brother,” Derek said, patting him on the shoulder in a sympathetic gesture. “This will go so much easier if he’ll tell us the truth. I can’t promise those assholes won’t be back. Unless they got what they wanted, they very likely will, and your security here is…it’s not the greatest.”
“Nope,” Harold agreed. “It’s me and I’m usually napping. I told them I wasn’t right for this job.”
It was good to know everyone agreed.
Javier watched Jules as she made it to the fourth floor. She stopped at his place and he watched as she thought about knocking. Finally, she simply put her hand on his door and sighed before making her way to her own apartment, her shoulders slumped.
“Oh, is that the way it is?” Derek asked, that sympathy creeping into his tone.
“I have to keep her safe.”
“Yes, but be careful how you do it,” Derek offered. “If you care about this woman, be honest with her. Don’t pull the martyr thing or it won’t go well. I’ll work this from my end and see if we can figure it out as quickly as possible. You take care of your lady.”
He was beginning to wonder if he was the problem in his lady’s life.
Chapter Eight
Jules walked toward the kitchen, adjusting her black dress. It was concert night and Top had been transformed. The small stage in the bar had been expanded and there were already record company people in the front of house, taking pictures and changing what they didn’t like.
They treated her and the serving staff a lot like interns, ordering them all around and not caring that they had other things to do. Yes, Jules remembered this particular work style. She preferred Top, where everyone respected their fellow coworkers. Not so in her mother’s world. There was a hierarchy and it must be followed.
Not that this was precisely her mother’s world, but it was close enough.
Of course, everyone wasn’t an asshole. She’d been introduced to the singer they were featuring this evening. Her name was Emily Young and she’d been kind and very accommodating to the entire staff. Blonde and tiny and gorgeous. She was in the early stages of her career, having been plucked from a bar by one of country music’s hottest male singers, Luke Berry. The record company was sending her on tour and one of the ways they intended to roll her out was giving her small, exclusive venues to play. Tonight, Top was only open to a select crowd who would enjoy dinner service and then the concert.
Jules moved past the last of the tables, unable to get her mind off the singer. Emily Young had her whole life ahead of her, her dreams just starting to come true. What must that feel like? At her age, Jules had known she wanted to cook, but hadn’t known how she wanted to do it. There had seemed to be one and on
ly one path ahead of her, and the expectation had been enormous.
Now that she was settled and knew exactly what she wanted, the choice had been taken away from her.
“Exciting night, huh?” a familiar voice asked.
Jules looked down and there was Suzanne. The petite brunette had a menu in front of her despite the fact that the evening’s menu was fixed.
Jules gave Suzanne a polite smile. “Yes, it is. Are you with the record company or the network?”
“Aren’t they all one and the same these days? The network Chef Taggart sometimes works for is owned by the record company that recently discovered the sweet and talented Emily Young, straight out of Bell Buckle, Tennessee. Isn’t it funny the ties we all have? We forget how small the world is and how easy it is for our lives to cross over and entwine.”
“Yes, it is.” Her mother worked for that network, though Jules hardly thought Annaliese O’Neil would care that a tiny restaurant in Dallas was hosting a singer for the night. “I hope you enjoy the show.”
“How are things with you and the handsome sous chef?” Suzanne asked, leaning forward. “I’ve been out of town for a bit, but I missed this place.” Her eyes trailed over to the bar.
Was she staring at the bodyguard? Declan Burke was going over some protocols with his fellow security for the evening. Now that she thought about it, the brunette only seemed to show up on nights when the bodyguard was here.
She felt for the man. Apparently he was having issues with cluster headaches. She’d found him lying across a table earlier, a cold cloth on his face. Now he looked like nothing was wrong, but there was a tightness to his eyes that made her wonder.
“We work quite well together,” Jules said with what she hoped was a content tone. She didn’t want to get into her fucked-up love life with a virtual stranger, but she also didn’t want to be rude to a customer.
Suzanne’s smile dimmed. “Oh, well. It’s good to have a nice working relationship. Please tell the staff that it all smells delicious. I’m looking forward to the evening.”
Something about the way she’d lost that high-wattage smile made Jules stop. Why would the woman be disappointed? She didn’t know Jules or Javier, but Jules could see plainly her answer bugged the lady.
