by Dale Mayer
She shot him a hard look. “See? You brought those guys here for nothing. There’s absolutely nothing wrong. I probably just forgot to lock my door.” And she brushed past him, intent on getting into the house and relaxing for the first time that day. She dropped her purse on the table, kicked off her shoes and headed into the living room. There she stopped. Tears came to her eyes as she realized her apartment had been up-ended. She stood in the entrance to the living room and shook her head slowly. “Why would they do this?” she asked.
“They were looking for the drugs.”
“But didn’t the police tell them they had the drugs?”
“It’s also a warning.” Logan stood beside her, anger in his voice.
“We see this way too often. It’s a threat to say, ‘We know where you live. We know where you are. And we can come anytime.’”
She turned stricken eyes in his direction. “But why? Why do they care?”
“Seven of their men have died so far, and two more are locked up in the police station. I think they’re desperate. And maybe they already sold the drugs and now can’t deliver them.” Rory placed his hands on her shoulders. “You don’t need to stay here tonight,” he said gently.
She twisted to look up at him. “Really? And where do you suggest I go? They’ll still find me no matter which hotel I choose.”
“But there’s one place you can go where not only would you be safe but everybody would be more than happy to see them come and visit you.”
She frowned, not understanding, until she glanced at the other men and their wide grins.
Rory said, “Come to the compound. You’ll be safe there.”
*
Rory watched the conflicting emotions wash over her face. He’d already taken a good hard look at the apartment. It was certainly cleanable. This had been done more as a threat than to cause any permanent damage. If all four of them knuckled down, they could get it cleaned up quickly. Just the guys could do it pretty fast as Louise seemed a bit in shock still. Yet he’d rather have her back at the compound where she’d be safe.
He also knew he’d been pushing her comfort button since he first met her. She wasn’t ready to hide behind somebody else, and that just pissed him off more because the people at the compound were fully capable of looking after her. He didn’t want to do anything that would put her in harm’s way. He motioned to the living room and said, “If you’re serious about staying, then it probably wouldn’t take us an hour to straighten things up.”
He watched as she shoved her hands in her pockets and her shoulders hunched. Body language was so indicative of moods. In a softer voice, he said, “But that doesn’t mean you have to face this tonight. You’re already tired, and you’ve been through a lot today. Come back to the compound with us. There’s lots of space. Spend the night, and then tomorrow go to the clinic. We can come here afterward and straighten up. It looks to me like they did this more as a threat than anything.”
Logan nodded. “I’d agree with that. There’s no real damage. The couch has been flipped upside down, but it’s not broken. The seat cushions were tossed, but they haven’t been cut open. Nothing’s been spray-painted or burned. It’s just in disarray. A message.”
She frowned as she leaned against the wall, staring at the mess. Rory stepped forward and, with Logan’s help, uprighted the couch. Seconds later they had the cushions back on and rearranged and tidied up the living room. Rory knew it didn’t change the fact that the intruders had come once, and they would possibly come back. At least seeing her living room back to normal would reduce some of her initial shock. And that was all this was. If the intruders had been seriously looking for something, they would have done a much more thorough job.
Once they had the living room tidied up, she still hadn’t said a word. Rory motioned toward the bedroom. Again it was the same thing. The bedding had been pulled off, and the mattress sent askew. The chair was upside down, and her clothes were thrown out of the closet. It wouldn’t take long to put it back to rights.
“We can rehang everything in a few minutes. It won’t be back exactly the way you had them, but they’ll be off the floor,” Rory said, standing in front of the big double closet. He loved the fact she didn’t completely overwhelm the closet with her clothes. There was lots of space, particularly since no men’s clothing hung there. That made him feel good. “It’s certainly livable if you want to stay for the night.”
“Which would put you out the least?”
He turned to look at her. “Well, I’m staying with you regardless. If you want to stay here, we can stay here. It’s also easy to look after you at the compound.”
Her toes tapped the floor. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, if we stay here, somebody will be at the compound to answer my phone calls, waiting to see if we have any more problems.”
Logan picked up the conversation. “And we’ll likely set somebody outside on watch.”
“And if I’m not here? Isn’t it foolish to keep up the same surveillance?”
“Unless they see you leave.”
“Do we want them to see me leave?”
Rory gave her a slow smile, liking the way her mind worked. She had an agile intelligence.
“Why not set a trap? Is that feasible? I don’t understand much about all this stuff, but it would seem to me that, if they’re watching this place, then it’s me they’re after. So we should let them either have me or think they’re getting me and make sure we take them out instead.”
Logan gave a low whistle. “I like the way your mind works, Louise.”
She shrugged but pink stained her cheeks. “I want this over,” she said firmly. “The only way seems to be for us to come face-to-face with them and make them realize I don’t have the drugs anymore.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “And the people at the top need to get the message, not those at the bottom.”
“Doesn’t mean we will catch the ones above that though,” Rory reminded her. “This is a decent-size organization.”
She nodded, took a deep breath and said, “I know you won’t like this, but …”
“Then don’t say it,” he snapped, already pissed because he knew what she was going to say. “No way are you going to be bait.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, almost in a mocking imitation. But the look on her face said she wasn’t trying to insult him. She was showing as much defiance and determination as he was.
Inside he was smiling. She really was cute.
“This can’t go on. So many people have been hurt already. I can’t let my staff or my animals get hurt.” She let her gaze roam from one man to the other.
Rory watched as she tried to give them all a bright smile.
Only it faltered when she added, “I trust you guys. I need you to let them catch me, and then you come after me and save me.”
“What makes you think they have any interest in capturing you?” Logan asked.
It’s a good thing he was talking because Rory was too furious to let any words out. That she thought he’d let her get caught by these assholes was beyond belief.
She pivoted her gaze to Logan. “What do you mean?”
His voice dropped to a very gentle whisper. “You do remember that, at the first opportunity, they shot everybody they could, regardless of who was there or what they may have had to say.”
Her skin paled. She nodded. “But they want something from me.”
“They might. Or they will give you two seconds to answer before they shoot you dead.” Harrison walked over and said, “You need to rethink that plan. I get what you’re trying to do. But there has to be another way.”
“So what is it then?” she challenged him. “As soon as you guys come up with an answer that makes sense, I’m all for it. But, right now, nothing makes sense. If I leave here, they will follow me. That means everyone at the compound is in danger. That won’t make anyone happy.”
> “It will make all of us happy,” Rory snapped. “There we’re fully prepared for an attack. Here you’re just a sitting duck.”
“What happens if they try to take me out on the way to the compound?”
“That’s a possibility.” He nodded. “Considering they shot the deputies and the other two men while they were driving. There’s no guarantee in any of this. But, if they know you’re here, they will come back.”
“Let them assume I’m here. Set up a trap, and catch them when they arrive.”
The men stared at her and then exchanged glances.
Rory said, “Or what if we don’t smuggle you out because they might realize what we’re doing. What if you stayed in another apartment in the building?”
“How will we do that?”
“We ask the manager if there’s an empty apartment and rent it,” he suggested. “And, no, I don’t know that it’s a possibility, but, if we do smuggle you out, we are taking the chance of getting caught in transit.”
“Or let’s just stay here, and you guys can protect me.” She gave him a very sweet smile.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” he said. “No using feminine wiles on me.”
She batted her lashes at him and laughed. “Why? Won’t they work?”
He shot her a look and turned his attention to the space around him. “It’s possible they are watching your place. Would having us here now be a change in pattern?”
“Yes, it would be,” she admitted. “I don’t currently have a partner. I’m not dating too often, and I work too much. So any activity at all is already going to be a change in my pattern.”
He nodded thoughtfully and glanced at Logan. “They wouldn’t have been watching her apartment before the delivery so not sure how much of an issue it is now.”
“Even a small issue is too much. I say she goes back to the compound.” Logan looked around and said, “Two of us can stay here just in case. Leave her vehicle here.”
She shook her head. “I could get shot on the way.”
“You could get shot anywhere,” Rory said, rubbing his temple. Just then his phone rang. He glanced down to see who it was. “Ice, we’re at her apartment.”
“What does it look like?” Ice asked.
“Trashed. Not completely as in the cushions aren’t cut open, and the TV isn’t broken. Just everything tossed in disarray.”
“Bring her here.”
“I suggested that, but she’s fighting it.”
“Why?”
“She wants to set a trap with herself as bait.” He glared at Louise while he walked around the living room, distancing himself from her so he could talk privately. “I told her that wasn’t happening.”
“But it is a good idea,” Ice said. “Just not necessarily with her being the bait.”
“You mean, put in a bogey? Set a trap but have somebody else take her place? Do we have anybody who can do that?”
“I am the same build, just my hair’s the wrong color. But, if I wore a wig, that’s a possibility.”
“She won’t like that idea.”
“Of course she won’t. Neither will Levi,” Ice said in a wry tone. “But, if we have plenty of security around, we’ll be fine. Bring her home. We’ll discuss it and set up a plan.” And Ice hung up.
“Forget it,” Louise said. “I’m not going.”
“She wants to talk to you. She likes your idea about setting a trap. But she wants you back at the compound where we can devise a plan. We have lots of men available. She wants to make sure we’ve got all the bases covered.”
He deliberately didn’t mention the use of somebody else in her place because he knew she would argue against it. She tapped her fingers on her arms, and he added, “Alfred’s already got a place set for you at the table,” he lied. But he also knew perfectly well Alfred would easily add a plate without a qualm.
She sighed. “Okay, but I want to come back, and I want to be heavily involved in this.”
He nodded and smiled. “Let’s go talk to the gang. See what we come up with.”
With Harrison leading the way, she stepped out the door. As Rory followed, Logan grabbed his shoulder and said in a low voice, “Do you think she will go for it?”
He thought about it for all of a second, then shook his head. “Hell no.”
Chapter 11
As she pulled into the parking lot at the compound, she admitted it felt weird. She’d always been here in a professional capacity as a vet, not as a client. She didn’t like the change. Knowing she was here because it was a safety net—and spending the night—felt wrong. She was bad at asking for help, and, at this point, it felt like she was in the uncomfortable position of needing a lot of help.
It wasn’t her style. She’d always been fiercely independent. At the moment her relationship with Ice and Levi was getting a tad too complicated.
As for her relationship with Rory, she didn’t understand what was happening, yet obviously something was blossoming. She wasn’t against it. He was a good man, and he’d certainly been a huge help.
He was also a strong alpha male, and that in itself was incredible sexy. Even better he seemed unaware of it. That there was a physical attraction was obvious, and that was good too. But it was hard to imagine any kind of a relationship at the moment with so much stress involved. At the same time it was also almost impossible to ignore how very much her heart and soul were susceptible to his particular brand of charm.
She also hated that she was connecting to Rory over this nightmare. She’d love to get to know him more, but it worried her that maybe what she felt wasn’t real. Although it felt real. More real than she’d felt in a long time.
When she got out and closed the truck door, he walked around and held out his hand. “Don’t be nervous,” he scolded.
“You know them as equals,” she said quietly, willing him to understand. “This feels different.”
At her words, he stopped and studied her for a long moment. “I can understand that,” he said. “But just because you’re here and need help doesn’t make you any less than them. Everybody has a particular skill set. Yours is with the animals. Theirs is with security.”
She considered that for a long moment, then the door opened, and puppies cascaded toward them. She bent down to scoop up one particular wiggling ball of energy and buried her face in his fur. “My, look how big you’re getting.”
The puppy wiggled so hard trying to reach her face that she couldn’t resist him and let him clean one cheek. Then she hugged him tightly again. Rory gently stroked her back, offering comfort, somehow understanding on an altogether different level what she needed. Then she handed the puppy to him and said, “Your turn.”
She reached down to snag another one and saw Alfred at the door with a puppy in his arms. “I guess it wasn’t a bad deal to bring them?” she asked.
Alfred smiled and shook his head. “No, we’ve all fallen in love with them.”
“Anna was afraid of that.”
Alfred beamed. “You mean, Anna was smart enough to know that,” he corrected.
Louise chuckled softly at first and then in great rolling waves of laughter as she realized just how sneaky Anna had been. Because, between the men who had their separate living places here and the others who lived within the actual compound, there was a good chance not one of these puppies would end up adopted anywhere else but here. The doors beside her opened, and Ice stepped through.
She took one look at Louise, her arms full of puppy, and grinned. “I don’t know how you can possibly not keep every animal that comes through your clinic,” Ice said with a big smile. She held out her arms, and Louise passed her the puppy.
“It’s hard,” Louise admitted. “It’s one of the reasons I do a lot of work for Anna. Whenever I get strays, we work out a deal where she takes them until we can get them adopted out. Otherwise I’d keep them all.”
Ice ushered her into the kitchen. “Alfred is ready to serve dinner.”
“Thanks for t
he invite,” Louise said a tad more formally than normal, still uncomfortable with her reason for being here.
“You’re part of us. Don’t be formal. Alfred’s always happy to feed somebody else. Besides, we need to make some plans. We have to pull the plug on the drug crew and get the control back in our hands.”
Louise liked the way Ice thought. And she was right. “You’re correct. I feel like a victim. A puppet whose strings are pulled by somebody else. It’s really frustrating. I want it to stop, but I don’t know how to make that happen.”
“That’s where we come in,” Levi said. He leaned back in a big chair at the table. Louise stopped and contemplated the massive table in front of her, set for what looked like several dozen people. “How many people is Alfred serving every night?”
“Well, right now, counting only those in the house, I think we’ve got sixteen.”
Louise shook her head. Alfred walked in just then, pushing a large cart. He took one look at her standing there and motioned for her to take a seat. “Hurry up and sit down,” he said. “Bailey is coming with the other trays.”
She took a seat beside Rory and watched as Alfred emptied the cart by putting heaped platters of food up and down the table. “Alfred, you’re a dream to be able to cook for this many all the time.”
He chuckled. “It’s what I do. You do what you do. I do what I do.”
How very true. These men couldn’t set bones or fix tomcats, and she couldn’t possibly cook a meal like this for this many people or set up security or bait a trap for some assholes making her life difficult. It really was about everybody having their own talents and contributing where they could, doing what they could do. She watched as everybody served themselves from the platters, even as Bailey came around with another cart. She had vegetables and salads and buns. When she got to Louise, she grinned and asked, “Are the puppies okay?”
