We head back to the kitchen island to find Blake and Gabe waiting on us. “We have wires en route,” Blake says and then changes topics. “Here’s what I know about the wife. She recently started a cosmetic company. The doorman at her building says that she hasn’t been home in a week. She’s not checked into a hotel or taken a flight or any other form of travel. We’ll have a man at her place of work tomorrow and find out where she’s staying, but I have a good guess based on her call logs. She’s been in heavy conversation with the CEO of Prevalin Industries for six months.”
“Mick Sands?” I ask. “I know Mick. He’s a good guy that I’ve done business with. In fact, I did a deal with him recently. The Mercury deal. We need to look that up but wait—isn’t he married?”
“Separated.”
“So we think she’s with Mick?” Carrie asks. “Then why would Elijah be focused on Reid?”
“He must think I’m the other man,” he says. “But I’m with you.” I scrub my jaw. “Get us where we need to go here, Blake. What are we missing?”
The doorbell rings. “That’s your wire,” Blake says. “And that’s all I’ve got before you leave, but I’m damn interested in what Tabitha has to say. But if she doesn’t give you answers, I’ll get them. I’m close.”
***
A few minutes later, with wires discreetly placed on both of us, one of the Walker crew gives us a ride to our apartment. Once bundled up and tucked in the back of the SUV, I ask for a moment alone with Carrie. With the heater on and the doors shut, I turn Carrie to me, my hands framing her face. “She was nothing but a one-night mistake. Do not let her fuck with your head or us.”
She covers my hands with hers. “Have faith in us, Reid. I do.”
My forehead lowers to hers, a knife of emotion in my chest. “It’s going to take me some time, baby. I’m living the past in spades. I’m living all the reasons I didn’t think I could do this.”
She jerks back. “You aren’t—”
“Don’t even finish that question. You know I’m all in. I just need you to understand, that this threat is a walk on the dark side for me.”
“I know. I’m right here, and Elijah doesn’t get to take me from you or you from me. We’re good. Let’s go deal with this bitch and get it over with.”
I laugh. “This bitch?”
“She fucked you, but now it’s turned into fucking us and I’m not into ménages. I’m done with this. I want it over. That’s why I wanted to meet her in the first place. I wanted to get you ammunition to do what you need to do. Or at least that validation that he’s not crazy. If we know he’s not crazy and about to shoot everyone up, you can leverage him.”
“That I can,” I assure her, stroking her hair. “Let’s go do this.” I knock on the window and our driver joins us, who just happens to be Savage.
“I couldn’t miss the party,” he says, glancing over his shoulder. “I love a cheating bitch as long as she’s not mine.”
We laugh, though it’s strained. There’s no way around the awkwardness of a woman I fucked whose husband is trying to fuck me, and her with me, in our path. The drive is about three minutes and Savage valets. “I’m staying close,” he says joining us for the walk to the building. “And so are a number of our men, just in case it’s a setup.”
“Well that suddenly made me more nervous,” Carrie says, as I give Savage a hellish look for saying what I’d been thinking, but didn’t want to voice. I knew Walker had us covered. Carrie didn’t need to think about guns and crazy men on top of ménages.
I pull Carrie closer and slide my hand in her opposite pocket. Once we’re at the building, Savage grabs the door. “I’ll stay inside at the door, but let me go in first. Give me sixty seconds. If I don’t come back out, you’re a go.”
I turn to Carrie. “You can stay out here. I can do this alone.”
“You and her, no. Not happening.” She grabs the door and opens it and here we go.
I follow her inside and quickly grab her hand, scanning to find Tabitha sitting on a bench to our right. “I didn’t know you liked gorgeous redheads,” Carrie murmurs.
“Obviously, I don’t,” I say. “I’m marrying a brunette ten times prettier with better brains, morals, and personality.”
“Well played,” she approves. “Well played.”
I’d laugh but Tabitha stands up, stuffing her hands in her expensive trench coat, waiting on us, which works for me since her spot is private. Carrie and I cross to meet her and Tabitha homes in on Carrie. “And you are?”
“His future wife. And you are?”
“Fucked,” she says. “And so are you if you’re with him.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Reid
Tabitha’s “you’re fucked” comment aimed at Carrie sets me off. I read it like a threat and I react like it’s a threat. I grab her arm and pull her closer. “Are you threatening my woman? Because I promise you, that’s not a place you want to go.”
Tabitha’s eyes go wide and she grips my hand. “Reid. God. Stop.”
“Reid,” Carrie demands urgently, grabbing my arm. “Reid, let her go. Give her a chance to explain.”
“I came to warn you, not threaten you,” Tabitha insists urgently. “I swear to you, I’m not the enemy.”
“Says the woman who fucked me to fuck with her husband,” I growl.
Carrie turns around to face me and twists my T-shirt in her hands. “Let her go. The security guard started to come over here. Savage had to stop him.” There’s anger and panic in her voice and I let the little bitch go. For now, and for Carrie.
Carrie lets out a breath of air and faces Tabitha, her back to my front as if she’s blocking me from grabbing Tabitha again. If I want to grab her, I will, and next time I won’t let go until she talks or I’m arrested, or both. “I’m waiting, Tabitha,” I say. “Elijah came at Carrie today. He followed her. He put his hands on her. Why is he obsessed with me and my woman after all of these years?”
“I’ve been seeing Mick Sands, who I know you know. He hates Elijah. Elijah burned him on a money deal in a big way. I made the mistake of telling him about you. You know, we were just talking about ways I made Elijah pay for being so damn brutal over the years. Mick decided he wanted to take Elijah down and get his money back and that you were poetic justice. He’d get Elijah’s woman and his money. There was a plan. We’d cash out and leave.”
“How did he get fixated on us as the true villains?” Carrie asks. “I mean I get you used Reid, but he’s fixed on us like Reid was in Mick’s role. Does he think Reid knew and helped with active intent?”
“Elijah found out I was cheating and Mick’s name floated around,” Tabitha says, “I’ll spare you the details of how. They don’t matter. Bottom line, he knew Mick did that deal that you brokered, and that deal hurt Elijah in ways that aren’t obvious. He had huge money and business partnerships riding on that deal. It connected dots. He lost all of it with the deal Reid brokered. He went at Mick, confronted him and Mick turned into a little bitch that couldn’t own his own bad deeds. He said you brought the deal to him and he wasn’t with me. I told Elijah no one had an affair because what else could I do? He’s losing his mind and he hates you. He wants to believe it’s you.”
“This is nuts,” Carrie says. “Reid is with me. Elijah knows that.”
“He’s fixated on Reid,” she says. “And come on, Mick couldn’t do that deal without Reid. Reid was the brains.”
Carrie turns to face me. “Wouldn’t Elijah have known you brokered it before this affair talk?”
“I broker deals all the time and he and I have crossed paths casually as was the case in this deal,” I say. “I have no financial stake in the company in question. I just registered my standard fee and frankly, I don’t know why this deal wasn’t a throwaway to Elijah. It was big money to Mick, but not to Elijah.”
“I told you,” Tabitha snaps, sounding irritated. “It’s about a bigger picture. A full package he was putting together.”
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“Bottom line,” I say, flicking her a look and then refocusing on Carrie. “This is an issue, not because he lost the bid, but because the person who outbid him was fucking his wife. And thanks to Mick, and Tabitha who didn’t own it, he thinks I burned him.” I turn Carrie to face Tabitha, my hands on her shoulders as I demand, “Where is Mick now, Tabitha?”
“Europe,” she says. “If that’s even the truth. He decided to take an extended vacation without me. He doesn’t want any chance of Elijah turning on him again. Look, Elijah can be vicious and this isn’t about me as much as that deal you took from him. He really thinks you somehow know the ramifications it had on him.”
“Because he thinks you told him,” Carrie assumes.
“Yes, and I’m trying to make him see reason, but it’s not working. He kicked me out. I’m in a rental. He’s never kicked me out.”
“You sleep around,” Carrie snaps. “You deserve to be in a rental. You used Reid.”
Tabitha glares at Carrie. “Don’t be a bitch. Elijah is volatile. You don’t know what I go through.”
“So you fuck Reid and make sure he finds out?” she challenges. “You made this happen, didn’t you? You play head games. You enjoy the power.”
Tabitha’s lips quirk. “You don’t understand powerful rich men yet, I see. One day you will. Or not. Because Elijah will ruin you to ruin him if he can.” She starts walking away and Carrie actually tries to go after her, my woman protecting me, but it’s me who is going to protect her.
I catch her and turn her to face me. “Easy, baby. It’s not worth it. I’ll handle this.”
“I don’t trust anything she said was completely accurate.”
“The part where Elijah thinks I stole his business and his woman and he wants to pay me back in spades,” I say. “That part’s pretty clear. How it came about, not so clear, but irrelevant.”
“We have this meeting recorded,” Carrie says. “That’s what matters. That should end this.”
With anyone but Elijah I’d agree, I think, as Savage steps to our sides. “What’s the word?”
“Bottom line,” Carrie says, “Mick and Tabitha tried to hurt Elijah financially and they blamed Reid and made it seem like he was still sleeping with Tabitha.”
A sudden thought hits me and I curse. “Reese. I was supposed to meet him.”
“I called him,” Savage says. “I told him you’d call him when you were on your way. I told him you had a problem that you’d explain in person. My involvement didn’t comfort him.” His gaze lifts and he eyes us. “As if driving home that statement, guess who just impatiently walked in the door.”
I turn to find Reese walking in our direction and Carrie grabs my arm. “Remember. He has something in common with you right now. An intense need to protect the woman he loves.”
I cover her hand with mine. “I know, baby, which is why I need you to give me a minute with him alone.” I kiss her knuckles. “Go check on Kesha. I won’t leave without coming up first.”
“You won’t leave without me. Say it, because I am going to be dying upstairs wondering what I missed, but I get it. You need to have a man-to-man, macho talk because that’s what you men do.”
“And then the smart men tell their women everything, I’ve learned. I won’t leave without you.”
She kisses my cheek. “Stay smart.”
I step away from her to walk toward Reese. Blake walks in behind Reese and in a matter of a few more steps, I’m huddled up with Reese, Blake, and Savage. I run down the entire conversation with Tabitha with everyone. Reese listens and asks specific questions, but as one expects from a world-class trial attorney, he doesn’t overreact. “Damn it, I hate that I have to go home and tell my wife this is happening,” he says. “But while I worry about her, you and Carrie, Reid, she’s not going to worry about herself at all. She’s going to worry about you and Carrie and I think there’s reason. I’m a criminal attorney. I’ve seen a lot of bad shit. Elijah might not be crazy, but when you hit a man’s pocketbook and fuck his wife, he can easily go over the deep end.”
“We have proof that Reid isn’t guilty,” Blake says. “I listened in. The wires you wore captured it all.”
“Then this ends quickly,” Reese suggests. “That’s good news.”
This is where I say what I haven’t yet said to Carrie. “You don’t know Elijah,” I say. “He won’t back off. He has hate for me that stretches back years.”
“If he doesn’t back off,” Reese counters, “then you hurt him, but be clear, Reid. That’s war and I know you’re good at going to war, but the world shifts when you’re no longer a loner. This war puts your woman, and my wife, on the battlefield.”
“I’m crystal-fucking-clear on that point or I wouldn’t have called you,” I bite out.
Reese gives me a direct look, his voice level, calm. “I know man. I just don’t want Cat upset right now. She’s had enough crap to deal with during this pregnancy.” He grips my shoulder. “Call me if you need me. I’ll help.” His eyes meet mine. “The way I know you helped us when we were being threatened by that crazy woman claiming she was having my baby.”
I nod and he turns away. “I’ll get you the tapes,” Blake says when Reese is out of hearing range. “But my opinion of Elijah is the same as yours. Not good. He could have found out the truth himself. He didn’t want to find it.”
I consider Blake’s words and then replay Carrie’s assessment of Tabitha’s story. “Unless he never knew about Mick at all,” I say. “Something doesn’t fit and we can’t believe anything Tabitha said.”
“Well, the recordings solve that issue if that’s the case,” Savage interjects.
“Yes,” Blake agrees. “I think he’ll want a place to project his anger and if you’re the only one around that means you and Carrie. Sleep on this tonight. Let me do some more fact gathering. I’ll be here for coffee in the morning and I’ll know more about Mick and Tabitha.”
My need to be with my fiancée right now makes me far more easily agreeable than normal. I part ways with the Walker crew and call Gabe on my way to the elevator. Once he knows the plans, I waste no time making my way to our apartment. I enter to find Carrie on the couch with our cat in her lap. She kisses Kesha, which is absolutely adorable and sets her on the cushion before standing up. I can’t explain how watching my future wife kiss a cat brings me to my knees, but it does. I love this woman. I will protect her at all costs.
“Is Reese okay?” she asks as I cross to join her.
“He’s worried about us,” I say. “Blake is updating us in the morning.”
She rushes toward me and those are all the words I have left. The minute she’s in my arms, I kiss her, drinking her in, needing the taste of her on my tongue. I need and need and right now; her in my arms, her on my tongue, her naked and me inside her.
Elijah—gone.
I need that man gone.
And soon, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
He will be gone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Reid
I’m angry with Carrie.
I don’t realize just how much until I’m kissing her, standing here in the foyer of our apartment with her and that damn adorable little cat, now like my family. We’re good, really damn good together, and that means she needs to fucking stay safe, not poke the bitch of a bear that is anything Elijah, or tonight, Tabitha.
I press her against the door, my legs caging hers, hands at her waist. “You, woman, need to learn to listen. I didn’t even want you to be down there with Tabitha and what did you do? You pushed her.”
“She deserved to be pushed.”
My hands slide up and down her waist and under her shirt until I pull it over her head. I unhook her bra, shoving it open, my gaze raking over her breasts and lifting to her face. “You deserve to be punished.”
“Punished? Careful, Reid. You might be the one who gets punished.”
“I don’t think so, baby,” I say, turning her to face
the door, and stepping into her to pull her bra away. “You put yourself in the line of fire with Tabitha.” I cup her breast and drag her against me. “I told you not to let her get to you.”
She twists around to face me and grabs my shirt, her eyes blazing hot now, her temper burning in their depths. “You got to me. You grabbed her. You—”
I cup her head and kiss her. “Don’t give me reasons why, Carrie, or I swear I’ll spank your pretty little ass.” My voice is low, rough, my mood darker by the moment with a flashback of her confronting that crazy bitch. “I do not want you hurt.”
“You can spank me all you want. I’ll come and you can do it again, but you won’t do it like it’s punishment. Who’s going to save you if I leave you?”
“No one,” I breathe out. “That’s the point.”
“Stop being so paranoid. You’re suffocating me with worry.”
My anger spikes all over again and I tangle rough fingers in her hair. “You want me to ease up? You want me to stop worrying so fucking much?”
“Yes,” she declared. “Please. Yes. Now.”
“Then listen to me when I tell you someone is dangerous. This isn’t paranoia. My gut is right. This is dangerous. Blake feels it too, so you need to fucking listen to me, Carrie. Do not poke that bear. Do you understand?”
“Reid—” My mouth closes down on hers, and that need to just feel her is back, expanding, clawing even.
My hands are all over her, my mouth on her mouth, her neck, and while her anger has her holding back, it’s a fast snap before she’s right there with me, kissing me, touching me, feeding off my emotions, because that’s Carrie. She’s always right here with me, always all the way in. It’s a wild rush of heat and fire, on the verge of desperation and it’s not long before we’re both naked and she’s pressed against the door, one leg at my hip, and I’m pressing inside her. The feel of her around me, all warm and tight, centers me right here in this room, in our apartment, our home. This is all I want to think about, all I want to feel, all I need and that all comes back to her. I cup her backside and lift her. Her legs wrap my waist and it’s a pure eruption of need that follows in the form of ten shades of grinding and fucking against the door that doesn’t stop there. It’s not enough.
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