by Becca Van
Matt led her back to his car, and after seeing her seated and buckled up, he walked around to the driver’s seat. She heard the back door open but didn’t turn to look over her shoulder. She didn’t care who was in the car with them. She didn’t care about anything. Nothing mattered. Carly stared out the side passenger window until the blurring scenery began to make her feel nauseous. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the glass. She heard a strange sound but was too indifferent to care, but when the car swerved toward a tree, she sat up, opened her eyes, and turned to glance at Matt.
What she saw had terror coursing through her veins and blood. Sweat broke out on her forehead, her heart thundered in her chest, and she began to pant. Seemingly in slow motion, she turned even further and horror pierced her heart and soul. Scott Gold was sitting in the back seat right behind Matt. The smile on his face was full of malevolent intent, and the evil in his eyes as he turned his head to meet her gaze had her cringing.
Scott had something wrapped around Matt’s neck, and he was strangling him.
Carly reacted without thought. She unhooked her seatbelt, climbed to her knees and gouged at Scott’s face. He roared with pain and must have loosened his hold on the rope around Matt’s neck.
“You’re mine,” Scott yelled. “I killed him so you would come to me. You’re going to be my wife.”
Matt slammed on the brakes, the tires squealing as they gripped the road, and though Carly tried to grip the back of the seat to stop herself from being thrown about, the force was too strong. She flew back toward the windscreen and prayed that she wouldn’t go through the pane of glass and die. That was the second that she realized she wanted to live, right before her head whacked against something hard. Agony shot through her skull, and she passed out.
* * * *
Carly surfaced from a deep sleep to hear voices talking quietly and weird beeping sounds. Her whole body ached, and though she tried to remember why, she couldn’t. It was hard to force her heavy lids open since they were gritty and felt weighted, but when she did and blinked the haze from her gaze, she stared at the unfamiliar white ceiling.
“When will she wake up?”
Carly turned her head, moaned with pain, and squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to breathe through the deep, pounding, ache behind her skull.
“Carly, thank God.”
“It’s good to see you awake, young lady. How are you feeling?”
She squinted to see a doctor leaning over her. “What happened?”
“You don’t remember the car accident?” the doctor asked.
“No.” She licked her dry lips, and when she saw movement near the end of the bed, she turned her gaze toward it.
Memories hit her like a freight train, pain slamming in her skull as recollections pierced her mind. She held her head and cried out as she tried to stop the flashes from bombarding her. “Scott! He… Oh, god. No! Shaun!”
She sobbed and screamed as the loss over her brother washed over her again. The pain in her heart and soul was so excruciating she couldn’t bear it. Her hands tore at her chest, trying to get to the pain, but someone grabbed hold of her wrist and stopped her. She cried until she was ill, and after rinsing her mouth, she closed her eyes, wanting to block out the world.
“Are you okay?” she asked Matt as she opened her eyes again.
He shook his head and combed his fingers through his hair. She glanced at his neck and gasped when she saw a thick, red abrasion around it. No wonder his voice was huskier than normal.
The doctor glanced from her, to Matt, and back again, and after checking her over to make sure she was all right, he patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll be back shortly.”
“What the hell is going on?” Carly asked. “What was that bastard doing?”
Matt pulled up a chair and sat. “He was trying to kill me.”
“I got that, but why? I thought he was supposed to be your friend.”
Matt shook his head. “He’s insane, Carly. He was muttering while he was trying to kill me. He wanted me out of the way so he could get to you.”
Carly covered her mouth with her hand as tears welled and began to flow again as she recalled what Scott had said before she’d hit her head.
“He killed Shaun.”
Matt nodded.
“Do the police have him? Is he in jail?”
“He managed to escape, honey. The car crashed. There was another car that stopped to help out. He took off.”
“What…”
“The police are looking for him, but I don’t think he’s stupid enough to hang around. He’ll have gone into hiding. Changed the color of his hair and other things to disguise himself. He’s a trained soldier, Carly. He knows how to survive. How to blend in and, if needed, live off the land.”
“Shit!” Carly winced when she tried to comb her fingers through her hair, and they got snagged in the tangles. “How long have I been here?”
“A couple of days.” Matt sighed as he sat at her bedside again.
Carly saw movement near the door to her hospital room and noticed that there was a police officer standing to the side of the door. He looked really tense, and he turned his head this way and that, scanning everybody who got close to her room.
“What am I supposed to do, Matt?” She sobbed and covered her mouth with her hand as the tears welled and rolled down her cheeks.
“The police want to put you in witness protection.”
“No.” Carly shook her head and moaned as it caused her throbbing head to pound harder. “He’s not sane. Anybody associated with me, or even near me, is in danger.”
Matt nodded and closed his eyes as he sighed.
Carly studied the man and saw that he had dark smudges beneath his eyes and his face was pale. There was scruff on his face, as if he hadn’t shaved in days, and his clothes were creased and rumpled as if he’d slept in them. She frowned when he opened his eyes again and realized that they were so bloodshot that they had to be sore.
“How long have you been here?”
Matt looked away and shrugged.
She winced as she pushed herself further up the bed and felt bad when Matt jumped up from his seat to help her move and fluffed the pillows behind her back.
“You’ve been here the whole time?”
Matt didn’t answer, just shrugged again.
“You need to go home and sleep, Matt. I appreciate you staying to make sure I was okay, but now that I’m awake, you can go.” Carly winced when she realized how ungrateful that had sounded and hoped Matt didn’t take offense. She hadn’t meant for her words to come out that way. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out right.”
“Don’t sweat it, Carly. I know what you meant.” Matt rose to his feet and clasped her hand. “I’m going to take your advice and head home to sleep. I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”
Carly squeezed Matt’s hand. “Thank you, Matt. For everything.”
“You’re welcome, honey.” Matt surprised her when he bent over and kissed her on the forehead before releasing her hand and leaving.
She hoped like hell he wasn’t feeling anything for her other than being his friend’s sister. She liked Matt, but not in a sexual way. She’d begun to think of him as another brother. Carly was scared since Scott Gold was still at large, but as she recalled those horrid words he’d said to her just before she was knocked out, she was even more frightened for Matt, Glen, and Troy. Were her brother’s friends in danger because of her? Should she leave so that they would remain safe?
She glanced toward the young police officer and hoped that Scott didn’t decide to make a move while she was recovering. She had a feeling that the cop wouldn’t stand a chance if he had to go up against that fucker. He was a trained Marine and could probably kill in countless ways without ever using a weapon.
Chapter Four
Ridge was so angry he was shaking. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of Carly since she’d begun to explain, and though her voice had had no
intonation in it, he could see by the way her body tensed her muscles flexed that she relived every single instant of the nightmare, and it still wasn’t over. She hadn’t finished explaining and while he wanted to prod her to continue, he knew that she was beyond exhausted. Each time she blinked it took her longer and longer to open her eyes, and her face was so pale with fatigue he was scared she was going to pass out.
When she swayed in her seat, he decided it was beyond time to take control. He shoved his chair back, stood, bent down, and scooped her up from her chair.
She frowned but didn’t open her eyes, and when she rested her cheek on his chest with a sigh, his body tightened with desire. With each step he took toward the master bedroom, the more she relaxed, and before he was halfway down the hall, she was asleep in his arms.
He felt Rocky and Bull coming up behind him, but he continued on until he entered the bedroom. Ridge looked down to stare at her exquisite features and ground his teeth with anger as he saw how dark the smudges under her eyes had gotten. Maybe they just looked more pronounced because she was so damn pale.
Bull and Rocky skirted around him to the bed and pulled the covers back. Ridge sighed with resignation at having to put Carly down so she could sleep, but her health was more important than anything he wanted right now. He made himself take that first step toward the bed, finding each successive step easier, until his knees were touching the side of the mattress. He lowered his head, breathing in the fruity essence of her shampoo, the light floral scent of her skin and the underlying aroma of warm woman.
Wishing he could climb into bed with her, he reluctantly lowered her to the mattress and gently removed one of her shoes while Bull removed the other. Debating with himself about removing her clothes took up another minute of his time, and when he glanced up to meet Rocky’s gaze, his brother raised a quizzical brow at him.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I thought about removing her clothes for comfort but decided against it.” Ridge and Rocky pulled the sheet up over Carly. Bull was already at the window, checking the locks to make sure they were secure, and then he drew the blind down.
Ridge gestured to his brothers with his head, and then they all left the bedroom. On the way back up the hall, he flicked the light on and dimmed it, so it wouldn’t be too bright and wake Carly up. He glanced back over his shoulder and nodded at Rocky with appreciation. His brother had partially closed the bedroom door, leaving a wide enough gap so some light would get into the room in case Carly got up during the night to use the bathroom.
He was the first to reach the kitchen, and he headed straight for the fridge. Snagging three bottles of beer, he passed two of them to Rocky and Bull before popping the top on his own and slugging half of it down in one go.
“What the fuck are we going to do?” Bull asked after swallowing his beer.
“We go to work,” Ridge stated.
“I can’t believe Shaun’s gone,” Rocky said hoarsely as he ran his fingers through his hair.
Ridge shook his head in agreement and swallowed around the lump in his throat. All three of them used to hang around with Shaun when he was in his early teens, and though they’d been close to Carly’s brother, Shaun and Rocky had had an affinity that was special. If he hadn’t known better, he would have suspected that they’d been brothers.
Bull drained his beer, placed it in the recycle bin and then went to the fridge to get another three bottles. He passed Ridge and Rocky the full bottles and, as he opened his own, sighed. “I’m going to power up the laptop in the office and see what I can find out.”
“Careful where you look and who you contact if you decide to talk to someone for info. If this bastard is still looking for Carly, I don’t want him tipped off,” Ridge explained.
“I know what I’m doing,” Bull snapped. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Sorry.”
Ridge nodded his acceptance of his brother’s apology. They were all upset over what Carly had told them and he had a feeling that he wasn’t going to feel any better once they heard the rest.
The only good thing about any of this was the fact that they had Carly back in their lives, and if he had his way, she wouldn’t be going anywhere else for a very long time.
* * * *
Rocky spun on his heels and followed Bull into the study. He pulled a chair from the other desk over to where Bull was sitting and sat beside him. After crossing his leg over the other, he jiggled his foot as he waited impatiently for the laptop to load. The moment the machine was up and running Bull got to work. Rocky watched as Bull’s fingers pounded on the keyboard as he used the world’s most popular search engine and he held his breath while the page loaded.
“Fucking hell!” Rocky jumped to his feet and began pacing. Bull had used Shaun’s name in the search, and the amount of information that came up was astounding.
Rocky cursed under his breath and felt guilty as hell. If there was so much information on the internet about their childhood friend, why hadn’t they heard anything on the news about it? Had the cops tried to keep the media from knowing what was going on?
“Fucking motherfucker bastard,” Bull growled.
Rocky spun to face his brother. “What?”
“The fire at the apartment was arson, which we knew, but there’s more.”
“How much more?” Ridge asked as he entered the study and stalked across the room to stand behind Bull.
Rocky sighed, ran his fingers through his hair, and moved to stand next to Ridge behind Bull.
“That fucking bastard killed a cop and Shaun’s friends one by one,” Bull stated in a raspy voice.
“Geezus.” Rocky swallowed around the constrictive, emotional lump in his throat. “How fucking long has she been on the run?”
“Months, I suspect,” Bull answered. “The fire was over six months ago. Matt Hewitt, Troy Stanton, and Glen Winsome were all killed within six weeks of each other. Why the fuck haven’t we heard any of this?”
“We’ve been busy,” Rocky answered Bull’s and his own earlier question. “All we’ve done for months now is live, eat, and breathe the ranch. We haven’t sat down to watch the news, or TV for that matter, in I don’t know how long.”
“Yeah,” Ridge sighed. “Shit, we haven’t even turned the radio on. We’ve been listening to our own lists of music.”
“Fucking shit.” Bull leaned back in his chair, snagged his beer from the desk, and downed the contents.
“We can’t change the past,” Rocky said. “But we will do everything we can to protect her from now on.”
“Yes, we will,” Ridge agreed.
“Amen to that,” Bull said.
“We need to call the sheriffs and pass the word around town to keep an eye out for strangers,” Rocky said as he moved around to take his seat again.
“It’ll have to wait until morning.” Ridge clasped Bull’s and Rocky’s shoulders. “It’s too late to disturb them now, and I’m sure that Luke and Damon will want to talk to Carly straight away. Why don’t we all head to bed and get some shut eye? We’ll deal with things as soon as we wake up.”
“I don’t want to leave her alone,” Rocky stated.
“I agree.” Ridge nodded. “We’ll delegate more work to the hands, and one of us will stay with Carly twenty-four/seven.”
“Do you think we should get Luke and Damon to keep everything hush hush?” Bull asked as he shut down the laptop and stood.
“Definitely,” Ridge said as he, Rocky and Bull headed toward the door. “The last thing we want is for that fucker to get a lock on our girl.”
Rocky sucked in a breath and met Ridge’s gaze as he turned to face him and Bull. “Do you mean that?” He held his breath and tensed as he waited for his older brother’s answer.
“I sure as shit do,” Ridge replied. “Why? Aren’t you two attracted to her?”
“You know we are,” Rocky answered quietly. He didn’t want his voice carrying down the hall and waking Carly. Plus, he suspected she�
��d be pissed if she knew they were talking about her and what the discussion involved.
“She’s a fucking sex goddess,” Bull said in a near whisper as he adjusted the fit of his jeans.
“That’s settled then.” Ridge turned his gaze to Rocky and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t go pushing her or being too impatient. She needs time to rest and get to know us again.”
Rocky scowled at Ridge. “I’m not fucking stupid. That poor woman has been to hell and back. I’m not going to pressure her, but I will do everything within my ability to make sure she recovers.”
Ridge nodded. “Sorry, but sometimes you rush in before thinking about what you’re doing, and I don’t want you fucking this up for the rest of us.”
“Shit, Ridge. When was the last time I did something impetuous? I’ve matured, and yes, I get impatient, but so do you two. The last time I did something rash was when we were in Marine training.”
“Actually, that’s not true.” Bull grinned.
Rocky raised an eyebrow and clenched his fists as he waited for Bull to continue.
“The last time you cut your hair with the clippers you were in such a hurry you forgot to attach the comb and ended up bald.”
Rocky sighed because what Bull said was true. However, he’d also been half asleep and his brain hadn’t been functioning, but at least he hadn’t hurt anyone. Including himself. Not that he’d ever hurt anybody on purpose, but sometimes he rushed in where angels feared to tread and ended up regretting his actions.
The first time he had been out on a mission with his brothers and their team, he’d been so excited as well as nervous. It had been hard to keep his emotions under wraps, and they’d been under enemy fire. He’d been about to race ahead and duck behind cover so he could return fire, but Ridge had stopped him by grabbing his arm, thank fuck. He’d been feet away from stepping on a land mine, and not only would he have blown himself up, but probably his brother and teammates as well. That had been a hard, yet very necessary, lesson. From then on, he’d been cautious and kept his emotions closed off. He, his brothers, and his team had become coldhearted killing machines. It had been necessary so that they would survive. Word had got around about how good they were, and the top brass had started using them for covert missions.
