Chapter 25
Goose bumps rippled up Vivienne’s arms. The cold, harsh landscape of the apartment complex before her was carved straight out of a Wes Craven flick—broken, silent and way too shadowed.
She put her car in park and zoomed in tighter on the app she’d used to track Callie. The blue dot pulsed a whole lot calmer than her heart, and was centered over the building to her left. It had to be right. All Callie had been able to give her was the apartment number B20, but that matched the faded white B painted on the side of the building.
Callie was out of her ever-loving mind coming here. Even drunk, Viv would’ve cottoned to the creep factor and run the opposite direction.
“You gotta hurry, Vivie. If they figure it out, it’ll be bad.” Beyond the apartment number and a whispered, “I’ve got to go,” that was all Callie had shared. No explanation on what might be figured out, or who Callie was in trouble with. Just the usual search and rescue call, and the utter confidence that Viv would march in, wave a magic wand and get them home safe and sound.
Viv killed the engine. The chill from the door handle matched the icy fear crawling down her spine.
You don’t have to do this alone. Not anymore.
The second the thought rustled through her mind, she released the handle and reengaged the locks. Jace’s tags clinked at the sharp movement, a ghost of blue from the dashboard lights reflecting off the matte platinum. She clutched them and let out a wobbly breath. The edges of her phone cut into her other palm, all but begging her to give in and ask for help. Jace would be mad as hell if he knew where she was, but he wouldn’t hesitate to come.
To keep her safe.
Her heartbeat steadied and the nasty landscape seemed to sharpen in focus. He would keep her safe. Always had. She punched in her passcode and thumbed through her contacts, a comfortable warmth radiating through her chest.
The line rang once before Jace’s gruff and deadly serious bark kicked through the earpiece. “Tell me your ass is still in the car.”
“What?”
“Gotta call from Danny, said you’re toolin’ around near the fairgrounds, so my guess is you got an SOS from Callie. Tell me your ass is still in the car.”
The warmth of seconds before blasted up to inferno and her checks burned. “You have someone watching me?”
“Told you, sugar. You mean something to me. That means I’m going to keep you safe, even if I’m gritting my teeth and keeping my distance. Don’t care right now if that also means pissing you off.”
She opened her mouth to bite back, but the words he’d given her boomeranged back through her head. His mom was right. She got to choose what kind of man she wanted with her in this life, and while Jace might be a high-handed, presumptuous cave dweller, he also cared enough to have her back. “I’m in the car.”
“Good. Lock the doors and stay put until I get there.”
“How long?”
“Ten tops. I’m halfway there already.”
Definitely a presumptuous, cave-dwelling type. “Then think on this while you drive. I. Called. You.”
She hung up before he could answer and let out a slow, steadying breath. On one hand, she wanted to curl up against him and show him how much it mattered that he cared. On the other, she wanted to choke the knuckle-dragging ape.
Hard not to understand his protective streak though, not after what he’d been through. At nine years old, she’d spent the bulk of her time playing with Barbies and My Little Pony. He’d been blasted with a cold, adult reality and killed a man. How could it not shape his life?
A loud crash sounded across the dark walkway followed by a masculine shout. Another followed it, this one a woman’s. A gunshot ricocheted between the buildings and a scream rang right behind it.
Callie.
Viv punched the locks and jumped out of her car, leaving the door wide open.
Hard footsteps pounded against concrete somewhere in front of her.
Following the sound, Viv jogged into the shadows and rounded the corner.
Callie sprinted her direction, a man with slightly balding black hair right behind her with a gun in one hand.
“Callie!” Viv reached for her sister and tried to guide her the right direction, but Callie stumbled and pulled Viv down with her.
A hand clamped around Viv’s ankle and dragged her against the cold concrete, her sweatshirt snagging so the cold gray stone scraped her bare back.
Callie scrambled to her feet and took off, screaming toward the parking lot as the man leveled a nasty-looking gun in Viv’s face. “You get your girl and my drugs back or your face won’t stay pretty long.”
The words were barely out of his mouth before his head reefed back and an even-nastier-looking gun pressed against his temple, Jace towering over the man like a God out for vengeance. “Your fucking head’s gonna have a hole in it before that happens. Now get that gun out of my woman’s face.”
Jace tightened his grip on the son of a bitch’s hair and dug the gun’s muzzle deeper in his temple. Whoever he was, he was on something, his trigger finger way too jumpy for Jace’s tastes. “I’m twitchy as hell and looking for a good excuse to get bloody. Drop the fucking gun.”
The man’s heavy breaths came out in short puffs against the cool winter night, and his eyes darted around the walkway as though looking for help. When all he found were shadows, he tossed his piece to the concrete and held up his hands.
Jace tugged the man off his knees and shoved him away from Viv, snatching the discarded gun and stuffing in his jacket pocket. “Get to the car, sugar.”
The thug sneered at Viv over his shoulder. “Hope your friend doesn’t mean too much. Know lots of people in her crowd. I’ll find her sooner or later. She doesn’t have my stash, or money, she pays in blood.”
“Jace,” Viv whispered behind him, way too much fear and desperation in the sound for something barely heard.
He never should have let Viv leave Haven. Hell, at this rate, he was gonna lock Callie up, too. “Then I guess I’d be better served to put you down now and make sure she doesn’t pay at all.”
“You think I give a shit?” the man said. “I don’t get my hands on that stash, or let my man know it’s been handled, I’m dead either way.”
Vivienne inched in tight behind him, her hand creeping under his jacket to fist his T-shirt at the waist.
Jace loosened his stance but kept his gun ready for business. “Who’s your boss?”
The man gauged the distance between Jace and the nearest safe zone. “You really think I’m gonna spill with some jackass I don’t know?”
“I think if you want help getting that target off your back, you’d better.”
“Yeah, who the hell are you?”
“Doesn’t matter. You don’t want to spill, that’s your deal. You’re the one who seems to be short enough product to get you killed.” Jace urged Viv toward the parking lot, keeping his gun steady.
The man lurched forward as if to stop them, but threw up his hands and froze when Jace firmed his aim and braced to fire. “Moreno.”
And the hits just keep coming. At least Hugo liked cash more than grudges. “Call your boss. Tell him someone will make contact and handle the payoff.”
“That’s not gonna buy me shit.”
“It’s what I’m offering. He’ll get the call before morning, but if the girl so much as gets a splinter before or after, Moreno will be the least of your problems.”
Fisting his hands, the man scowled and took two steps back. “Twenty-four hours. You don’t make contact, I start tracking.” He stormed off into the shadows, never looking back.
Jace backed up, staring into the darkness and nudging Viv toward the parking lot. “Which part of, ‘stay in the car,’ didn’t you understand?”
“I heard a gunshot.”
“Which is
why you should have stayed put.” Only when their feet hit asphalt did Jace turn and practically drag her toward his truck parked cock-eyed in the middle of the lot with the door still open.
Viv reared back and dug in her heels, her eyes trained dead ahead on Danny rooted right next to her car with a similar hold on Callie. “You left me.” As fast as she’d stopped, Viv jumped back in motion and stormed her sister. In under four paces she was nose to nose. “I went after you, and you left me there with a gun in my face. That’s what I get for helping you out? Again?”
“Vivie, it wasn’t like that, I—”
“Enough.” Jace held out his hand, palm up. “Keys.”
“I’m fine,” Viv said.
“Wasn’t asking how you were. I want your keys before our pumped-up friend comes back with more assholes. Now, give me the damned keys.”
Viv got as close to a snarl as he’d ever seen her, eyes still locked on Callie, and slammed them in his palm. “Fine.”
Jace pulled her house key off the ring, tossed the rest to Danny, and spun Viv by the shoulders. “Take Viv’s ride and get Callie to the compound. I want every damned detail out of Callie by the time I get there.” He jerked open the truck door and all but pushed Viv in. By the time he climbed in his own side, she’d buckled up tight, but glared daggers out the windshield.
“She left me.”
“Told you how it is with people like Callie. Nothing changes, nothing changes.” He revved the engine and flicked the headlights to bright. Not a soul stirred behind the black and broken windows ahead.
Viv clenched a fist near her sternum, her breath huffing like a marathon runner, trying to act normal, but failing bad.
“You hurt?”
“Not on the outside.” She snapped to attention when he veered on the highway, and scanned the side streets around them. “Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you home.”
Four solid minutes she glared out the windshield, her gaze so stern it was a wonder the glass didn’t shatter. She still didn’t lower the fist from her chest. Either she was puzzling seriously big shit together in that head of hers, or she was plotting to cut off his nuts. Maybe both.
I. Called. You.
Hardly anything else had taken up space in his head since she’d uttered the words, their impact freight-training deep in his gut over and over again.
He pulled up in front of her house and shoved the gearshift into park.
The locks snapped opened.
Nothing.
Maybe she was in shock. Not an unreasonable response considering she’d gotten up close and personal with the wrong end of a gun. Christ, just visualizing the scene again made him want to punch something, or hurl, and he’d been on the opposite side.
He hopped out and strode to the other side. Popping open the door, he unlatched her seat belt and held out his hand. “Come on, sugar. Let’s get you inside.”
She flinched as though the words, or his voice, snapped her out of a trance. Her gaze lifted to meet his then shifted to her front door behind him.
“Gonna ask you again. You okay?”
Uncurling her fist, she rubbed her palm over her heart. No, not her heart. His tags.
She shifted so fast, he had to jump back to keep from getting plowed with a knee to the nuts. “Give me the key.”
He handed it over, and she jumped from the cab and stomped to the door.
A sick, nasty churn started up in his stomach, and a fine sheen of sweat coated his back and neck. This was bad. Bad as in deadly storm brewing and “I’m done” kind of bad.
Fuck.
Yeah, he’d been pissed. What man in his right mind wouldn’t be, seeing his woman with a gun in her face? He scrambled for arguments, reasons she’d understand, but all his head could process was the cold, powerless fear clambering up his throat.
She threw the door wide and let out a sharp whistle.
Ruger was already there, the back half of his body wagging to make up for his stubbed tail and nudging Viv’s hand.
She snapped and pointed to the truck, shutting the door and locking it in one quick flick of her wrist. Yanking open the back door, she motioned Ruger up in the back cab and slammed it behind him.
“Viv, what the fu—”
“You made a mistake tonight. This isn’t home.” She swallowed so big he felt it in his own throat, and her eyes widened with such vulnerability he nearly hit his knees. She palmed his tags and squared her shoulders. “My home’s with you. I choose you.”
Chapter 26
Viv had a lot to learn about family. In the span of minutes, her own blood had left her to face an armed man alone, and the man she’d dubbed as trouble had not only thrown himself between her and a gun, but been willing to spill blood to keep her safe. Yeah, she had a lot to learn.
Jace pulled into the old, affluent neighborhood he’d taken her to weeks before, the sprawling houses on either side of the street dark but for the discreetly placed landscape and porch lights. A full moon slipped in and out between the tree canopy overhead, and stars sprinkled the winter sky.
Punching a gate controller on his visor, he slowed and pulled into the compound’s circle drive, two hot rods, another truck, a Jeep, and her Honda turning the space into a poorly planned parking lot.
An almost maniacal giggle wrangled up from her belly, shaking her shoulders so hard it jarred her wound.
Jace put the truck in park and cupped the back of her neck. “I like that laugh a whole lot more than the silent bit, but damned if I know what there is to laugh about.”
“I’m an idiot.” She shook her head. The grand home with its ivory stucco walls and wrought iron accents glared the same judgment she’d given Jace all those days ago back down at her. “The first time I saw this place, I never considered it could be yours. I assumed it belonged to someone different. Someone in a suit with a pedigree and a sterling education.”
“Yeah, well, one out of three ain’t bad.”
Her heart clenched and her cheeks burned. “Like I said. I’m an idiot.”
He guided her face toward his. “You’ve got your own demons, sugar. Shit that taints your past like all the rest of us.”
“But I—”
“Doesn’t matter.” He kissed her forehead and sucked in a deep breath that sounded a whole lot like relief. “You see me now,” he muttered against her skin. “That’s all I want.”
Pulling away, she cupped his face. His beard prickled against her palms, soft despite the harsh appearance it lent his face. The moon reflected off his nearly black eyes and accented the stark scar at the corner. “I see you. I see it all, even the parts you hide from everyone else.”
“Viv...” His eyes locked onto her lips and his warm breath fluttered across her face.
Safe. With him she’d always be safe, or as safe as any person could be with another. She dragged her thumb across his lips, her own tingling with the need for contact. Closing the distance, she pressed her mouth to his, the contact no less powerful now than it had been the first time she’d tasted him. Their lips and tongues tangled, a perfect dance that flowed natural and wild between them. If fire had a flavor, this was it. Bold. Fearless. So damned consuming, it pressed in on every side and swallowed her whole. No more waiting. No more second-guessing everything. Jace was hers, and she’d claw anyone or anything that tried to keep her away.
He pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers. “Jesus, sugar.”
God, she loved his voice, especially like it was now. Deep and rumbling so low it resonated across her skin.
Sitting up, he opened his door. “You hold that thought. I gotta deal with Callie’s shit before I get more company than I want.”
She jumped to the patchwork tile drive, slammed her door shut, and opened the crew cab for Ruger. As soon as Jace rounded the back of the truck, she started
digging. “What does ‘deal with it’ mean?”
“It means Hugo’s gonna want payment for the stunt your girl pulled.” He guided her to the front door with a hand at the small of her back. “Seeing as how he’s already pissed I pushed him out of a steady income stream at my clubs, patience won’t be high on his list.”
Viv halted just shy of the front door. “You mean pay for what she stole?”
“They’re not inclined to give that shit away. They also tend to send a stout message with those who steal from them.”
“You can’t pay for her.”
“You choose me?”
Viv froze. “Yes.”
“You see me?”
“Yes.”
His lips curled for a grin guaranteed to make ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the female population drop their panties on sight. “Right. So, you’re mine. Callie’s yours. That makes her family and I deal with family.” He threw the door open and guided her across the threshold. “Though you may not like the way I deal after about ten more minutes.”
“What’s that...” Viv’s forward movement trailed off along with her thoughts. Zeke hunkered in front of Callie on the couch in the center of the room, checking her over. Danny stood sentry beside her with his arms crossed and a scowl that promised he’d take her down in a heartbeat if she tried to bolt. What she hadn’t expected was the rest of the crowd gathered off to one side, Beckett, Trevor and Knox each nursing a different high-end beer. Though with the knot of cars out front, she probably should have reasoned they’d all be there.
Jace grabbed her hand and ambled to his brothers, Zeke and Danny following close behind. “You talk to Axel?”
“Yep,” Knox said. “Too close to closing time to head this way, but said he’d be here as soon as he wraps up. You’ve got his proxy.”
Pulling a toothpick from his pocket, Jace popped it in his mouth and focused on Zeke. “How bad is she?”
“Bruise on her face looks worse than it is,” Zeke said. “Another goose egg on the back of her head to match the one from New Year’s Eve, and a probable cracked rib. Considering the stunt she pulled, she’s lucky the tally’s that small.”
Rough & Tumble (The Haven Brotherhood) Page 25
