by Alexis Anne
Two months later…
When the banging started on my door I knew instinctively who it was.
There was only one man who ever knocked on my door.
“What?” I hissed as I wrenched it open. Darcy stood with a hand on either side of the door, his head low and his eyes dark.
I’d never seen him like this. He was dangerous that was for sure, but there was also a vibration to the air around him—fear.
“Pack. Now.”
“Excuse me?”
“Theo’s in trouble. You’re coming with me. You have,” he flicked his wrist around to look at his watch. “Three minutes to pack whatever you need for the rest of the week.”
“What does this have to do with me?” After our little heart-to-heart my brother took his own advice and went for it with Allison. Tentatively, but he did it. He’d been disgustingly happy and I’d been disgustingly jealous of his ability to trust in the possibility of finding happiness.
“Pack. Now.” Darcy bellowed, the sound vibrating into my chest, leaving me breathless.
“No,” I replied just as loudly. “I’m sorry Theo’s got problems but it has nothing to do with me.”
“It has everything to do with you.” He stepped inside and grabbed me by the elbow, pushing me toward my bedroom.
“Toni?”
Darcy’s jaw ticked once. “He told you?”
“Yes.”
“Then you understand. Pack your bag.”
I pulled my arm free and, even though he could have held me for as long as he wanted to, he didn’t. “Stop bullying me around. I can pack my bag and Tad can take me wherever Theo is.” Where the hell was Tad anyway?
He took a deep breath, craning his neck and looking at my ceiling as if there might be some words of wisdom sketched up there. “Stop hating me for five minutes and listen. We don’t have a lot of time. Pack your fucking bag and get in my fucking car or else I do it for you.”
I let out a squeak of frustration and grabbed a pair of sewing scissors from my worktable. They looked deadly and they could be when used properly. “Touch me again and we’ll see how it goes for you.”
He threw his hands up. “Are you even listening to me?”
I held up the scissors as I backed into my room and slammed the door. “I’m listening, I’m just not understanding. Toni is your problem. This has nothing to do with me.”
“He went after Allison.”
I froze with a pair of yoga pants in my hands.
I opened my door an inch and peeked out with one eye. “Is she okay?”
He stood exactly where I left him with his hands fisted on his hips and a look of complete irritation in his eyes, but the scowl on his face told me exactly how worried he was.
I needed to stop being petty.
He held my gaze for a few moments. I think he was relishing the opportunity to actually look at me since I’d denied him that privilege for so long. “She’s fine but it wasn’t pretty, love. Theo got his knuckles bloody and they’re hightailing it back to London now. I’ve set up a safe house where you can all sleep without worrying.”
Back to London? Theo very rarely left the city. “Where were they?” I opened the door wider.
“The Keswick hotel,” he shrugged. “Romantic weekend getaway and all that.” He shuffled his feet. “Something we could have been doing if you’d talk to me.”
I slammed the door shut again.
A safe house? A house I was willing to bet Darcy owned. A house he was planning on sleeping in until this was over, no doubt. I couldn’t say no. If Toni was doing something this bold then Darcy was right. I was in danger and it would be stupid to think otherwise.
So even though the last thing I wanted was to sleep under the same roof with Darcy, I stuffed clothes and underwear into a bag along with sweaters and shoes. I opened the door again and shoved the bag at him while I moved into my workspace and found a clean sketchpad and my favorite set of charcoals.
“You’re taking work with you?”
I shrugged. “It’s not work when it’s part of who you are. If you think I can spend a week in a safe house without some sort of artistic outlet you’ve lost your damn mind.”
“Good point. Charcoals it is.” He took the stuff from me and turned toward the door. “Get your personal items and meet me at the car.”
It only took me another minute to gather my toiletries and purse, lock up my flat, and walk downstairs. Darcy waited with the door open. “You don’t have to do that.”
He leaned in as I stepped up onto the curb beside him. “I like to be useful.” His breath whispered across my cheek and old, familiar longings I’d tried very hard to forget came crashing back down around me.
I glared at him. “Watch it, mister.”
He held up his hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger.”
“You’re not a messenger,” I grumbled as I climbed into the passenger seat. “You’re the freaking bad news.”
* * *
Darcy’s safe house was incredibly boring, as all safe houses should be. It was a ground level flat in a decent neighborhood with absolutely nothing about it that stuck out. Basically, if you were walking down the street it wouldn’t even register in your mind that you’d passed it.
Martin, my brother’s personal bodyguard was inside. “Hello Nicki. It’s been a little while.”
I kissed him on the cheek as Darcy moved past us with my things, opening the last door at the end of the dark hallway and going inside. “Theo’s been busy and he made it clear a few months ago he’d prefer if I handled my own problems, so that’s what I’ve been doing.”
Martin had that same protective big brother vibe about him that I got from Theo. It always put me instantly at ease around him.
“Well, I’ve missed you but I’m glad you’re doing well.”
I didn’t correct him. I was never well.
“How’s Theo?”
He frowned. “Shaken. Toni drugged one of our men so he could get closer to Theo and Miss Riley. Theo is…well he’s…”
I’d never seen Martin fumble for words. He was a straightforward guy who said things simply.
Darcy stepped out of my room and finished Martin’s thought. “Your brother has finally gotten his shit together. With Toni out of prison we have everything we need to end this whole fucking circus and Theo is finally on board.”
Martin cleared his throat. “I believe Miss Riley’s safety may be a motivating factor in your brother’s decision to move up the timeline.”
“I didn’t know there was a timeline at all.” As far as I could tell Theo had come to terms with the idea he’d always live with the shadows of the Christie gang and the Duncan Boys. He’d take up his position at Sutherland Industries as promised and be Father’s lackey until he died and the Duncan Boys passed on to the next in command. “Sounds like Allison has done a number on Theo.”
Martin smiled at that. Actually, he broke into a rather large grin. “That she has.”
Well wasn’t this interesting. “They’re good together?” My heart beat a little faster. I wanted Theo to be happy. I really and truly did.
Martin nodded. “Very.”
Well, if she had Martin’s seal of approval then she must be special. Didn’t mean I was going to be nice when I met her, though. I was finally going to get my sisterly revenge on my big brother and I was not going to pass up the opportunity to watch him squirm.
Martin turned to Darcy. “They’ll be here in an hour. You have the new number to call if there’s an emergency.”
Darcy held up a black phone. “Got it.”
“Good luck,” he said with a warning look at me.
I shrugged and waved him out the door, then turned back toward my room.
“Do you want a drink? Food?” Darcy asked.
I walked right past him. Honestly, I was a little surprised he didn’t stop me.
“Nik.”
I paused at my door, refusing to look back.
He sighed.
“I don’t expect you to fall back in love with me but I’d really like to see if we can learn to be friends. For Theo’s sake.”
Longing surged through me. A familiar warm ache that was both pleasurable and deeply painful. I wanted Darcy just as fiercely as I always had. When he was near I craved being in his arms. I wanted his gaze on my body and for his lips to smile because of me.
I didn’t have to learn to be his friend. He was my best friend. No one knew me the way Darcy did and I was willing to bet I knew him better than anyone else. The problem wasn’t friendship. It was safety.
“I’ll be in my room,” I murmured.
I closed the door and slid down until I hit the floor, my emotions spilling out all over the room. One thing was abundantly clear. He didn’t need to worry about making me fall back in love with him.
I’d never fallen out of love with Darcy in the first place.
And now that I was going to be eating and sleeping under the same roof I had approximately a one percent chance of keeping him from finding out the truth.
And once Darcy realized I was in love with him more than I hated him he would stop at nothing to get us back together.
I sucked in sharp breath of courage. It was time to give the performance of my life.
20
I could hear him moving around the house—mostly in the kitchen. My skin was alive with electricity just knowing he was a few feet away. If was as if there were little Darcy magnets implanted in my body and every single one of them had turned his direction and now followed his every move.
I didn’t know what he was doing spending so much time in the kitchen, but I did know the only thing I could do at this point was either throw myself into his arms or into my work.
So work I did.
In the course of an hour I managed to sketch a dozen different pages filled with nearly the same image. This collision of past and present was consuming my mind, filling it with image after image until I felt like my brain was on the verge of cracking open. I had no choice but to let it all out, giving my fingers and my mind’s eyes the opportunity to take the visions in my head and turn them into something tangible.
Heaven, hell.
Good, evil.
Right, wrong.
I sketched them all in duality with a two-faced devil-angel holding the two realms apart.
Had I done the right thing in turning Darcy away all those years ago? My mind said yes but my heart said no.
But I had to put my overactive brain on hold for a few minutes when I heard voices at the door. My brother was here, and so was the woman who had changed him. It probably wasn’t fair to tease her under these circumstances but I’d been waiting my whole life to give Theo a hard time.
And really? If he liked her this much she had to be amazing and someone who could take a little sister giving her big brother a run.
Knock, knock. “Nik, it’s me.”
I grinned. “Fuck off!”
I heard his sigh a split second before he opened the door. “Hey Nik.”
I glared at him. “I told you to fuck off.”
They came in anyway. Theo looked like shit from the bruised knuckles to the haunted eyes. Allison on the other hand, was lovely. Long blond hair and bright eyes that took me in quickly. She was smart, not that I’d doubted that for a second.
I focused on Theo while simultaneously studying everything Allison did.
“I’m in the middle of a project. A project you were ever so kind as to interrupt with your unending gift for drama. And now I’m forced to work here,” I pouted.
That was only partly true. I did have a massive installation I was working on and it was possible one of these sketches might become part of it, but my heart wasn’t in my work.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “We don’t have a choice.”
There was always a choice. Perhaps one that didn’t put me under the same roof as Darcy. I narrowed my eyes as I spoke so he’d know I meant business. “I. Don’t. Want. To. Be. Here.”
“I. Don’t. Care,” he spat back, then softened. “But thank you for listening to Higgins.”
The hair on my arm rose up at the mention of his name and I sat up. “He’s lucky he still has his balls attached.”
Allison snorted and grinned. I think I decided right then I liked her, but I wasn’t ready for her to know that. So instead I glared at her for interrupting and swung my gaze back to Theo. “I told you I didn’t want to see him. Ever.”
“I wasn’t in town. I couldn’t stop him.”
“You could have sent Martin,” I grumbled, swinging my legs off the side of the bed.
“You think I could have stopped Darcy Higgins from bringing you here?” he laughed. “You really don’t know the man, do you?”
Oh, I knew him all right. And the idea that Darcy would stop at nothing to keep me safe sent me right back into another tailspin.
So I changed the subject entirely. “So this is her?” I very specifically didn’t use Allison’s name or look in her direction because I wanted to see how she reacted to being treated like less than a person.
Because I was twisted like that.
To my great delight she spun on her heel and marched right up to me, sticking out her hand. “Hi, I’m Allison.”
I had to fight a smile off my face. “I know who you are.” I only gave her my attention for a moment before I turned back to Theo. “Let me guess, brother dearest, you want us girls to talk while you ‘manly men’ plot and plan how you’re going to be dastardly and protective of the womenfolk.” This was going to tell me where Theo stood and who exactly Allison was as a person.
She grinned and crossed her arms, giving Theo a sassy look. “Well?”
Oh yes. “I like her,” I grinned. I liked her a lot. Not only was she going toe-to-toe with Theo, but, I realized, it was really freaking nice to have an ally.
Theo rolled his eyes. “I don’t think I like the two of you knowing each other.” Then he turned and waved us into the kitchen, letting us into his world and the situation affecting all of us.
* * *
I waited until Theo and Allison left for work before I crept out of my room to make breakfast. Darcy wouldn’t be up for hours since he’d always essentially been a vampire, working nights and sleeping days. I’d be able sip coffee in peace.
“Good morning sleepy head.”
I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of Darcy reading the paper at the kitchen table. His hair was a mess but his body was…well, it was not. It was kind of perfect. At least from what I could tell through his skin-tight white tee and flannel pajamas.
I tried not to shiver but damn it. He looked good.
“You’re awake,” I said, stating the obvious.
“I am.”
“Why?”
He flipped back to the front page and checked his watch. “Because it’s the morning?”
“But you work late and sleep late.”
His eyebrows rose. “I did…eight years ago.”
Well, crap. “Okay then…”
“There’s coffee in the pot and jam.”
I froze with my hand on the coffee pot. He remembered what I liked for breakfast, the sweet bastard. “Thank you.”
“I’m not the enemy.”
I knew that. I did. “When do you go to work?”
“When it pleases me.”
That was not an answer. I poured my coffee and placed two pieces of bread in the slots to toast. “When are you leaving for work today?”
“I’m working from here today, but Tad will pop by with sandwiches for lunch.”
So I was stuck with him. Awesome.
Last night Theo had explained how he and Allison were attacked by Toni. Toni had somehow managed to get one of the men on Theo’s security team to turn and now Theo had no one to trust except Martin. He was spending the day combing through everyone who worked for him while Darcy put the first pieces of a plan in motion.
And that plan was to eventually kill Dan Chris
tie. Oh, he hadn’t said it in so many words, not with Allison present, but I knew. There were only so many ways to end a blood feud in our world and Theo had run out of time and options.
This meant that we were all stuck living under the same roof for a few days until Theo could go back to business as usual. Which brought me back to the man sitting causally in front of me.
“You can afford to skip work?”
“I’m not skipping work.” He flipped the page and kept reading. “It might surprise you to know that I’m not the same man I was when I walked out on you. I run my life now and I run it how I see fit, when I see fit.”
I busied myself in the kitchen while I thought about what he said. Plate, knife, butter…businessman? I knew Darcy owned three clubs and I knew he’d been busy, but that was precisely where my knowledge ended.
He didn’t say anything else or try to fill the silence while I sipped my coffee and made my breakfast, but when I sat down across from him he folded the paper and looked me in the eye.
I was very uncomfortable.
“This is my house. You are here under my protection, not Theo’s.”
Since Theo could only trust a handful of men it made sense that he’d hide under someone else’s eye.
I just never thought it would be Darcy’s.
There was an energy around him—nervous energy.
“You look like you’re about to explode,” I sighed. “Out with it. Tell me whatever it is you’re dying to tell me.” I shoved a piece of jam-covered toast in my mouth.
“I already told you what you need to know, you just weren’t listening. Your father has been waiting for the right time to force Theo into working for him and bring you home. You’ve never been out of his grasp and I vowed to make you safe. I couldn’t beat Donald, so I became a better version of him.”
I snorted. “You became my father? But better? What does that even mean, Darcy?”
He leaned forward and snagged my hand as it was on the way back for another piece of toast. “The only way to beat men like Donald is to play their game. I had to get in the game but without becoming him.” He threaded his fingers between mine and tugged. “He can’t hurt you ever again and he can’t touch us. I promise you, Nicki, if you give me a chance, we can be together.”
