Good thing this would be a quick errand. A run to the boat shed and back. Then the skies could open up and the weather could do whatever it wanted so long as Matthias drove safely.
He’d stopped into the café for a quick visit and a takeout coffee earlier. She tried to ask where he was going between customers but settled for a kiss goodbye. He’d done that twice now. Two kisses in public. She had no idea what it meant. She knew what she wanted it to mean and how right it felt. But Matthias always struck her as a guy who’d have wheels on the bottom of his shoes and speed off as soon as she was out of danger.
The sex, holding her at night. The kisses. The sharing of information and promises of trust. All of it pointed to something bigger than a fake boyfriend. It felt very real to her. Her tie to him mattered.
She’d expected a text from him once he was on the road. That just seemed like a Matthias thing to do. So when it came, it filled her with a surge of happiness. The man did not disappoint. He told her he was on the road and would be back for a late dinner. Warmth flushed through her. She’d even caught herself humming.
But now the café was closed and she was one stop from going back to the inn. She turned to her bodyguard of the day, Garrett. “Where’s Matthias?”
He looked at the couple coming toward them and out over the water. “He had to run a business errand.”
The lack of eye contact gave him away. “Is that true?”
He glanced at her then. “Sort of?”
Kayla stopped at the end of the dock, right where the wood turned into loose rock and the trail went from clear to the type that only locals would follow. The chain-link fence and big keep out sign made an impression.
She studied Garrett’s face, wondering how much he would tell her about Matthias’s top secret errand. Not that she thought Matthias would hide the information. He seemed to have learned that lesson, but he didn’t exactly cough up unpleasant news without some prodding.
Speaking of unpleasant, this appeared to be about her least favorite topic. “So, his mother.”
Garrett winced. “He doesn’t really call her that.”
The title wasn’t the problem. Putting Matthias in the middle was. “I hate that he’s forced to make a choice between us.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
It wasn’t exactly a secret. Not now that Paul admitted talking to Mary and hearing her spew so much hate. Matthias had loyalties to Nick. Then there was the part where Mary kept poking around in Kayla’s life, which only highlighted her connection to Matthias and made things more stressful.
“She’s telling him one thing. I’m telling him another. We’re both tugging and pulling him.” The whole thing was a mess. Still, she didn’t want to lose him. Not before they got a chance to see what they were, or if they could even be a they.
“It’s not even a contest.” Garrett shot her one of those come-on stares. “He’s here for you, not her. He trusts you. Wants to be with you.”
“I still don’t . . .” Kayla didn’t hate the sound of any of that. “Did he tell you those things?”
“Right, because I want to say stuff that will make Matthias kick my ass. You do know he’s six-four and jacked. Bandage or not, I’m going to pass on that fight.”
Oh, she was well aware of Matthias’s body and what he hid under those clothes. She could catalog every muscle and call up the view by heart. Sometimes she did that during the day and it left her breathless.
“How long have you been friends?” she asked, because she’d been dying to ask that.
They finished the last stretch of open area between the end of the shops and the beginning of the hardcore fisherman area. The usually locked fence was open and the door stood ajar. The place didn’t look like the type kids and others would break in to, but it was. Rumor was teens thought this was the perfect makeout spot.
The fishermen were a bit more practical. This was the place where boats pulled in, still submerged in water, and mechanics could stand on planks and work from above, or dive and work from below. All of it happened under cover and away from the rest of the marina.
Lauren loved the shack with the peeling green paint and leaky roof. She called it a marina institution. Kayla had never been inside the fence. Until now.
“I’m not sure Matthias would call us friends. The relationship is pretty complicated, but I do think of him that way. And the answer is years.”
That was it. No more information, which meant she’d have to pull it out of Matthias. “You’re so specific.”
Now that she’d stupidly and unexpectedly fallen in love with him, the need to know more tugged at her. She understood his childhood and didn’t want to force him to mentally venture there. But she had so many questions about Quint and the group of men Matthias had trained with and been shaped by . . . and where Garrett fit in, because that seemed to be a mystery.
“I would never admit this to him, but your boyfriend scares me,” Garrett said.
That made two of them. But that wasn’t the part of the comment she focused on. “He’s not that.”
“The boyfriend thing? Are you trying to convince me or you?”
“Neither.”
“I’ll come back to that.” They stood just outside the set of double doors leading inside the shed. “How did we end up here?”
“Lauren texted that she got stuck doing some work in the boat shed. I said I’d bring food by.”
“You know this place is on water, right?”
Kayla’s stomach heaved at the mere mention of that fact. “It floats on top, which is a ridiculous architecture choice, but I’m aware.”
He looked over the marina and out into the sound, which dumped into the bay. “I see all kinds of water out here. You going to be able to do this without passing out?”
The chances were not great, but she didn’t want to admit that. “I’m tough.”
“No kidding.”
She motioned for him to open the door. They stepped just inside and she stopped. It took all she had not to slam her back into the wall and refuse to move. She held the brown bag filled with food in a death grip. It was tempting to hurl it at Lauren and race out of there. When the shocking smell of dead fish hit her, Kayla seriously considered the plan.
She turned to say something to Garrett in time to see him finish a text and pocket his cell in the jeans he wore today. “You’re attached to that thing.”
He shrugged. “It’s work.”
“Now you sound like Matthias.” She was pretty sure they’d both work round the clock if they could manage it and not fall over from lack of sleep.
“Take that back.” Garrett stepped away from her. “Wait here.”
“Yeah, no problem.” It was bad enough she could see water, smell it. The slip under the shed was empty.
Without a boat docked there, the inside of the shed consisted of a walkway that wound around the open water and a wall full of tools on the opposite side. Off to her right were stacks of crates and a few tarps. Garrett studied them before looking back at the water again.
Everything was there except Lauren.
Garrett walked right up to the edge and peeked over into the water. “You sure she said here?”
“Let me look at her text.” Kayla would rather stare at her phone than watch him hang so close to the edge.
She scrolled through the messages. Yeah, here. It wasn’t like Lauren to get things wrong or mess with Kayla. Not where water was concerned.
She was about to point that out when she heard a crack and glanced up. Garrett’s head jerked forward and his eyes rolled back. In another second, his body slipped boneless to the ground.
Her mind went blank for a second, then she spun into action. Dropping her phone, she went down on her knees beside him. “Garrett! What happened?”
She saw blood on the back of his head. Then she heard footsteps and shoes appeared in front of her. When her gaze traveled up, she saw Elliot looming over her. Preppy, relatively charming Elliot, holding
what looked like a pipe.
She stared, not understanding what was happening or what to say. Finally she spit out his name. “Elliot?”
“I really wish you wouldn’t have brought him.” Elliot shook his head. “I’ve only been paid for one.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s time for you to take a swim.”
Matthias skipped the shirt and the bag. He reached for Mary’s arm and forced her to turn and look at him. “What happened to the mortgage money?”
She looked at his hand and frowned. “So, instead of spying on her, you’ve been spying on me?”
His head caught fire. It took all his control not to explode. He wanted to rush her words and get the answers—now. “I’ve been investigating, as you asked me to do.”
“Then you know.” Her voice had turned singsongy. All traces of fury had been replaced with an odd sense of peace.
Whatever she planned was already in motion. It could already be done. And that scared the shit out of him. Panic raced through him. He hadn’t felt so helpless since he was a kid.
He wanted to shake her. “Tell me about the money.”
She had the nerve to shrug at him. “What about it?”
“I am not in the mood for games.” He forced his fingers to let go. It was either that or risk squeezing her arm. She had him on the edge of reason. “Your mortgage. You still have one and shouldn’t.”
“Paying for this was more important.”
“Where did the money go?” Possibilities bombarded his brain, each worse than the one before it. Without resources she’d wreaked havoc on Kayla’s life. He hated to think what she could do with the power money provided.
“Let this happen.” She patted his arm.
The condescending garbage had his nerves firing. His instincts switched to high alert. “What are you talking about?”
She’d morphed into a different person, calm and almost grandmotherly. “Nick would want this.”
“Nick is dead.”
Anger flared in her eyes, but only for a second. She visibly swallowed before starting to talk again. “Because of her.”
“What did you do?” The cell in his pocket buzzed but he ignored it. Whatever this was, whatever Mary had done, trumped everything.
She lifted her chin and did not blink. “I used the money you gave me. My plan was to come check then leave the area before it happened, but it looks like that friend of yours will not allow that to happen.”
“What exactly did you use the money for?” He’d keep asking until he got a real answer. His heart hammered hard enough to block out any other sound. His sole focus was on the woman in front of him. “Tell me.”
“I couldn’t do anything on my own, but with your money I could.”
Dread nearly drowned him. He swam through a thick soup of it as he struggled to imagine what she’d bought. Even as he mentally catalogued the options, he discounted the worse. There was no way. “What are you saying?”
“I hired the gun, but you paid for it.”
The world crashed down on him. A killer stalking Kayla. Someone with skills and weapons. Someone who would shoot through an apartment window.
He looked at the woman who had given birth to him and felt nothing but revulsion. “You’re fucking sick.”
“Resourceful.”
“You set Kayla up.” He’d never thrown up on a job in his life but he almost did right there.
“Actually, Matthias”—Mary smiled then—“you did.”
Chapter 29
Kayla silently begged Garrett to move. His body was so still. Blood oozed from a wound at the back of his head and his hands lay against the dirty floor. Not even a muscle twitched.
She reached over and checked his neck for a pulse. A harsh breath punched out of her when she felt the steady thump under her fingertips. She hoped his luck held.
“Move away from him.” Elliot lifted his leg. “Now.”
She couldn’t let this happen. Her instinct jumpstarted and she threw her body across Garrett’s. Closed her eyes, waiting for the incoming kick. Any attack would nail her first, but she didn’t care.
The sound of crunching glass broke the silence. She peeked up to see Elliot repeatedly slam his heel down on Garrett’s cell. For the first time she noticed the prep school clothes and sunny smile were gone. His all-black outfit was out of place here. It wouldn’t help him fit in or slide behind the scenes.
Good. She concentrated on that possibility. This could be a matter of timing. Hold Elliot off until reinforcements broke in.
Elliot swept the broken pieces of phone into the water with the side of his shoe. “I have to give you credit. You are a smart one.”
“I don’t understand any of this.” He’d shown up days ago, right around the time Matthias did, to take boating lessons. He didn’t lurk around or ask her probing questions. There was nothing suspicious about his behavior. She didn’t even see him some days. So, what was happening now?
“This thing generally happens at a distance. No contact. But you, well, there’s something about you.” He reached down, grabbed her arm and yanked.
Pain shot through her from neck to wrist. She swallowed a scream. She would never let him know the manhandling hurt. She refused to make a sound when he dug his fingernails into the fleshy part of her arm.
“With the big bodyguard hanging around, I had to rethink my plan.”
She tried to jerk out of his grasp but he held on. With every shift he just tightened his grip. She stopped moving and tried to think. Stall him. Find something to slam into him. He still held the pole and there was no way she could wrestle that away from him. But the shed had tools and she could run.
She forced her body to relax. It proved almost impossible with the adrenaline shooting through her. “Who are you?”
“My name doesn’t matter.” He shoved her away from him. “You kill three people, maybe four, and go on the run. You have locals helping you. No one turns you in. It’s amazing, really. Not the way I do it, but it’s interesting to see your way.”
The shove had her off balance. Her feet tangled but she managed to stay up. She could hear the water lapping near her. One peek over her shoulder and she realized she stood just a foot from the edge of the water.
She tried to inch forward but he moved in front of her and shook his head. Because he knew. She’d told him about her thoughts on the water. Disclosed her greatest fear.
Inhaling, she tried to slow her heartbeat. It thundered in her ears, making it almost impossible to concentrate. “I didn’t kill anyone.”
“If that’s true it’s a real shame, because that’s why I’m being paid to take care of you.”
Money? This was about money . . . but why? “By who? That doesn’t make any sense.”
The revving up of a lawn mower sounded in the distance. She listened for other sounds, tried to pick up on noises or the sound of people talking. The shed sat away from the rest of the dock and over by the gas tanks. She could hear the clanking of boats as they bobbed in the marina. That didn’t answer the question about how fast he could shoot compared to how fast she could run or duck.
But it wasn’t just her. She wouldn’t leave Garrett behind, which meant handling this on her own. Finding the right makeshift weapon and hoping Matthias was either close enough to help or far enough away to be safe.
“The reasons behind this kind of thing normally don’t matter to me. I collect the cash and do the job. The emotions don’t mean shit.” He threw the pole onto the stack of crates and far out of reaching distance. “Lucky for you, my benefactor wanted you to have the information right before you died. She wanted to know what your reaction was to finally being caught.”
She. There was only one dangerous she trying to track her down. “Mary Patterson.”
“Not just her.” Elliot made a show of checking his gun. “You’ve been sleeping with the enemy. Her big-money partner.”
Kayla had been so focused on his hands and
the gun that she almost missed the comment. Her head shot up. “What?”
“Your fake boyfriend.”
Fake boyfriend. Those were the words Matthias used. Doubt spun through her. But it couldn’t be. He would never . . . she would know. “You’re wrong.”
“He’s with her right now.” Elliot laughed and his voice changed. Gone was the easygoing draw and soft-sell charm. He was all business and violence now. “Hell, he’s up there having a mother-son chat about what’s happening to you right now.”
Her brain cells misfired. Memories bombarded her—how he’d acted that first day they met, how he held her at night. She tried to merge the two and her mind rebelled.
Not Matthias. He was the one she could trust. Bigger than that, she thought he was the one. “No, he’s—”
“He’s got her stashed in a hotel in DC.”
The trips to DC. Not secret. He admitted talking with her. He never said she was nearby or Kayla might have run. “This is coming from Mary and she’s out of her mind with grief.”
“You can blame her, but think about it. Who do you think really funded my trip here?” Elliot shrugged. “Hey, it was a surprise to me at first. I thought your guy and I were on opposite sides, but no.”
She couldn’t breathe. She wanted to double over and scream. Needed to get away from here. From everywhere and every person. “I don’t even know who you are. Why would you do this?”
“I’m the one who makes problems disappear.”
“And I’m a problem?”
“I tried to make it easy with that shot through the window, but Matthias moved. I figured he was trying to draw it out, sleep with you a few more times first.” Elliot smiled. “Hey, there’s your proof. Don’t you think I would have taken both of you out right then if he wasn’t in on it?”
She beat back the awful words. “Stop talking. I don’t believe any of this.”
“You don’t need to, but it’s happening.” With his gun still aimed at her, Elliot squatted down. He patted his free hand over Garrett without ever breaking eye contact with her. “Let’s get started.”
He moved with lightning speed then. Stood up, put his foot on Garrett’s thigh and pushed. Shoved him into the water with a loud splash.
The Enforcer Page 24
