Montgomery Billionaire Series

by Michelle Love

  ‘Bay? Sweetheart?’ No answer. His heart started to beat uncomfortably harder. ‘Kym? Anyone here?’

  He walked into the house, stood listening for a second. ‘Bay?’ A haze hung around the apartment. Cordite. He’d recognize that smell anywhere. God, no, please…

  All he could hear was the pounding of his heart. ‘Bay, sweetheart, it’s me? You here?’

  He took a deep breath in and stepped into the house. The breath was knocked from his body when he saw the blood. Smeared across the wooden floor. It took his brain a few seconds to tell his eyes to follow the path of the blood across to the living room, he saw her, lying prone, facing away from him.

  ‘Bay? Jesus, Bay!’ He darted to her side and nearly recoiled at the sight of her bloodstained body, the paleness of her olive skin, the pain etched across her face even while she was unconscious. He could see straight away she’d been shot, the three tell-tale wounds in the center of her abdomen, the gunshot residue around the holes in her dress.

  ‘No. No. Nonononono, God, no….’ He gathered her into his arms. She was still breathing, barely, and Tomas fumbled for his phone while he stared into her still face. Quickly he gave the emergency response the details.

  ‘They’re on their way, sir, we already got a call about a disturbance. Hang on in there…’

  He dropped the phone, and pressed his hand against the wounds, trying to keep her blood from spilling out any further. ‘God, Bay,’ he whispered, ‘Please don’t leave me now…I just found you. Live. Breathe. Please…’ He choked back a sob, pulling her closer and burying his head in her hair, breathing her in. In the silence, he could hear her tiny gasps for air and his heart cracked wide open. ‘Jesus…who would do this?’

  He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to listen for sirens, trying not hear her desperate fight for life, trying to pretend, even as she lay broken in his arms, that she was merely asleep and not shot and dying. It was only when he opened his eyes that he saw it. In her blood, on the floor. She’d obviously written it before she lost consciousness, even then looking out for someone else, for someone she loved.

  Don’t let him hurt Kym

  Tomas’s heart cracked. Stu did this. Stu shot Bay. Of course.

  Of course.

  Emily groaned as she heard a knock at the door and when she pulled it open, she could barely believe it was Dash. Fury rose in her.

  ‘What the hell, Dash, I…’

  Dash held up his hands and she noticed how deathly pale he was. ‘Wait,’ he said in a broken voice, ‘this isn’t about us…it’s Bay. She’s been shot. Stu shot her and now Kym is missing. Jesus…’

  Emily, shocked to her core, lunged forward automatically as Dash began to collapse in her doorway. Her mind could not compute the horror.

  Her friend. Her client. Bay.

  Bay was shot and Kym was missing. Emily felt all of her anger drain away as she and Dash clung to each other. ‘Is she…?’

  ‘They’ve taken her to the hospital. Tom’s a mess. Emily, I’m so sorry.’

  Emily shook her head. ‘How bad is it, how many…’ she couldn’t get the words out.

  Dash tightened his arms around her. ‘She was shot multiple times. That’s all Roman said. Multiple times.’

  ‘They don’t know if she’s going to make it…’

  Crazy for You

  Quartet

  By Michelle Love

  Shae Groves clamped her hand over the microphone of her cell phone and cursed loudly. Count to ten, slowly, she told herself. It was the same old crap again. Jason was holding up the divorce again out of nothing but spite. Oh, he said it was because he still loved her, that he wanted to work things out, that he wanted to try counseling.

  Bullshit. Jason just hated to lose, hated to look like the bad guy. Then you should have kept your prick in your pants, jerkwad. Shae gritted her teeth and answered her lawyer.

  ‘You still there?’

  ‘I’m here. Look, he has half the money, the house, the car. If he doesn’t sign this time, take everything off the table and tell him he’ll get nothing from me and then in two years, I’ll sue for divorce and cite infidelity. In the meantime, I won’t stop talking about his infidelity to our friends, his work colleagues, hell, the press. That will show Mr Big Time Rock Star exactly how serious I am.’

  She ended the call and let out a low roar. She stood on the roof of the hospital and looked out over the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon. When she’d gotten here, two weeks ago, she had been used to the frenetic pace of Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles with its rotating intake of the rich and famous. Which is where she had met Jason Kline, the biggest star in country music. At first, she had been utterly professional, but over time, he had worn her down with his easy charm and thousand-watt smile.

  ‘I cannot date a patient,’ she said firmly but Jason grinned at her, a twinkle in his eye. His leg was still in plaster, fractured from when he had fallen off a stage in San Francisco but he was going home to rehabilitate. The horror of never seeing him again had overridden any last doubts and when he was released, they had dated, fallen in love and gotten married in the space of two months.

  Jason cheated on her less than a week later – and he wasn’t shy about it. She had walked into their bedroom, her shifts having been changed at the last minute, and found him being ridden by a girl who couldn’t have been older than twenty, who screamed as she bounced enthusiastically on top of Jason. Shae stood there, a sense of inevitability settling over her.

  Without a word, she went to the closet and pulled out her suitcase and started shoving clothes in it. It had still taken the lovers on the bed another few seconds to realize she was there – in fact, it wasn’t until the flash went off on Shae’s camera phone that they uncoupled with a shock, Jason staring in disbelief.

  ‘Baby, please…’

  Shae waved the phone at him. ‘Caught on camera, dillweed.’

  If she knew anything, she knew that Jason’s ‘good-guy reputation’ meant the world to him. Jason reacted by leaping from the bed and making a grab for the phone. Shae whipped it behind her back. ‘Won’t do you any good,’ she smiled, ‘Already sent it to the cloud.’

  ‘Fucking bitch.’ His spittle had misted her face. The groupie in the bed had whimpered.

  And just like that, it was over.

  Now, she was about to start a rotation under the mentorship of Otis Ford, the most renowned and respected orthopedic surgeon in America. She was surprised he hadn’t interviewed her, rather let his assistant, Helen, make the decision. Shae had liked Helen immediately, her warmth and efficiency calling to Shae’s sensibilities.

  She went back inside now and went to Helen’s office to see if she wanted to go for a coffee. Since she’d been here, Helen had become her confident, even, weirdly a mother figure in some ways. She soon discovered Helen was an activist as well as a surgeon, championing African-American women like herself in the medical world. Shae had to ask her the question.

  ‘Is that why you chose me?’ She looked into Helen’s warm dark brown eyes, so like her own, and saw nothing but genuine friendship.

  ‘No,’ said Helen, firmly, ‘I chose you because you were by far and away the best candidate. But,’ and she grinned, ‘if you hadn’t been the best candidate, I would have been on your ass until you were the best candidate.’

  Shae had wanted to hug her, tears springing into her eyes. She had missed this. Since her mother had died so suddenly – a simple fall turned to pneumonia – in her first year of medical school, she had deliberately squirreled herself away. She knew a lot of her cohort thought she was aloof and arrogant but she didn’t care. Jason had been the first person to get through to her for years. And look how that turned out. No, Shae Groves was all work, all of the time but her friendship with Helen was one she cherished.

  Otis Ford – well, she hadn’t met him yet. He was on vacation on his private island – no cell phones, no lap top, completely off the grid. Helen told her he did this a couple of times a year, j
ust to clear his head. Shae knew his work, of course, who didn’t in this field? Otis was a superstar. She had Googled him after the interview. Forty-three, twice divorced, olive skin and such thick dark eyelashes, he looked like he had eyeliner on. She squinted at his photo. Nope, they were his natural lashes. Jeez, I would kill for those, Shae thought, studying the rest of his devastatingly handsome features. He stared into the camera, with confidence and not a little arrogance, his expression showing his impatience with having to stand there, as if he had much more important things to do. Which he did. Shae read down his list of accomplishments and whistled. Badass mofo, she grinned to herself. She was surprised though, when she read that he was also a quarter partner in Quartet Records, along with his twin brother Roman and two friends. She hadn’t realized he was tied to the music business – ugh – she’d had her fill of that for a lifetime.

  She knocked on Helen’s door. The older woman was staring at the t.v. screen, a look of shock on her face, but she waved Shae in.

  ‘Isn’t this awful?’ Helen’s voice was shaking and Shae glanced at the screen. Helen turned the sound up.

  Once again, this just in, the lead singer of The 9th & Pine, the hottest band on the iTunes chart, Bay Tambe, is in a critical condition in a Seattle Hospital after being repeatedly shot in a home invasion. The twenty-four year old was attacked at the home she shares with her fiancé, Quartet Record’s head honcho Tomas Meir. A suspect has been identified and police will issue a statement shortly. This is a breaking story, stay tuned for updates…

  Helen groaned and Shae looked at her. Helen’s eyes were filled with tears and Shae got up and went around the desk to hug her. ‘I’m sorry, Helen, do you know her?’

  Helen shook her head. ‘I know Tom but I’ve never met his fiancé but god, this is dreadful.’

  ‘Listen,’ Shae held her hand, ‘the guys in Seattle are great, they’ll take good care of her, I’m sure.’

  Helen nodded. ‘I know, but this would have to happen when Otis was incommunicado. Damn, I better called Roman.’

  Shae left the room to give her some privacy. She felt sorry for Helen. It was an awful thing to happen, especially to a young kid like that. Twenty-four…jeez. At thirty-two, Shae still felt like a kid herself. She hoped the young woman would pull through.

  The expression on Tom’s face was one Roman Ford would never forget. Utter and complete devastation. His friend’s clothes were stained with red, his face and hands soaked with his lover’s blood. Tom, all six foot five of him, was crumpled in a chair in the waiting room, his head down, his eyes closed, waiting for news on Bay. Emily Moore sat beside him, rubbing his back, her own face drawn and gray. Dash was slumped opposite them, staring into the middle distance. Pete, Bay’s friend and band member, was being comforted by his husband, Hank, who was as wide and tall as Pete was. The couple stood at the far end of the waiting room, and Roman could see that Pete had been crying. It looked so wrong on the big man that Roman’s heart went out to him.

  When Emily had called him, told him, he hadn’t been able to process the news at first. Stu Lawson had shot Bay, kidnapped Kym. The police were looking for him. Bay was in a critical condition. Tom had found her. It was that last sentence that had spurred him into action, his need to be there for his best friend a desperate thing.

  Now, as they waited to hear from the surgeon, Roman cursed his own brother that he was down in the Caribbean, out of reach on that damned private island he’d bought. We need you, I need you, Bay needs you.

  He went to Tom’s side and sat beside his friend. Tom seemed to have aged a hundred years in the space of a few hours. His finely angled face was hollow-cheeked, the fear in his eyes raw. Roman could not imagine what he had gone though in the last few hours – the last few hours when he should have been celebrating his wedding to his beautiful girl. Bay had been shot while she wearing her wedding dress. The thought made Roman want to hurl; the heartlessness of it, the cruelty.

  ‘Tom?’

  ‘His friend looked up and Roman tried not to recoil from the heartbreak in his eyes.

  ‘Hey buddy. Look, I’m going to fly down to the island, haul Otis’s ass back here. Bay needs him.’

  Tom nodded gratefully. ‘That would be good. Really good.’ He looked at his watch. ‘They’ve been operating for hours,’ he said softly and shook his head. ‘They can’t save her, can they?’

  ‘Don’t think like that,’ Roman said fiercely, ‘don’t. She’s in the best place, Tom, if they’re taking their time, they’re doing everything they can.’

  He hoped he was right.

  Now, on the private jet hurtling towards the Caribbean, Roman closed his eyes. Damn it all to hell…Why hadn’t they gone to the police the last time Stu had attacked Bay, had beaten Kym? Because Kym wouldn’t let them. Roman wondered if the blonde guitarist, Bay’s best friend, was even still alive. He found himself hoping she was, wishing she was, because when they found her safe and well, he wanted to drag her to Bay’s bedside and say ‘Look. Look what you did by not letting the police have Stu.’

  He knew it wasn’t fair, that Kym could never have known the lengths Stu would go to, that she was just a scared kid too but hell…one phone call and Bay might not have three bullets in her belly right now.

  Roman hissed in frustration. He hated this, hated feeling helpless, useless. As the plane began its descent onto the tiny island runway, he leaned his head back against the seat. At least, this is one thing I can do. I can do this.

  Shae woke to find her beeper going. She had only been in bed for an hour after a long forty-eight-hour shift and groaned as she picked it up. 911, call Otis Ford. She picked up her phone and dialed, suddenly wide awake, her heart thumping.

  ‘Groves? Good. Pack a bag, say for a week. A car will be by to pick you up and bring you to the airport. You’re coming to Seattle to assist me. See you in a couple of hours.’

  The phone clicked in her ear and she hadn’t said anything but ‘Yes?’ Shae grinned in bemusement. Well, hello, nice to meet you too, Doctor. She rolled out of bed and went to the shower. She knew what she was headed for – Otis was flying in to be Bay Tambe’s guardian angel and he was asking her to help him. She was flattered but at the same time, she’d be around music industry people again. Gross. She drew in a deep breath. All that mattered was that Bay Tambe was okay. The rest she would have to deal with.

  Emily Moore rubbed her eyes; they felt gritty and raw. Dash Hamilton draped an arm around her shoulders. ‘Look, you should get some sleep, baby.’

  She moved enough that his arm was left hanging. ‘I’m fine.’ Awkwardness hung in the air between them and she hated it. A few days ago, Bay had been fine, Kym was safe and she and Dash were happy in love. But that was before Stu decided to kill Bay, before Dash had tried to blackmail Emily’s rock star sister Paige into giving up custody of the son she had previously left in Emily’s care. Emily knew Dash had meant well but he’d risked not only her relationship with her sister – as fragile as it was – but Henry’s happiness. For that alone, she couldn’t forgive him.

  Emily got up, moved away from him to grab some water from the fountain. She hated that she still wanted him, still yearned, especially now, to curl up into his arms and just sob. This was horrible, just so godawful. She needed him to be the man she thought he was but if he couldn’t…

  She looked up as Tom approached them. ‘She’s stable,’ he said, his voice scratchy and rough. Emily hugged him.

  ‘That’s good news, right?’

  Tom seemed to have trouble speaking. ‘In a way. But she’s in a coma and they have no idea how much damage the bullets…’ he choked on the words, ‘the bullets have done until she can wake up and communicate with the doctors. God, she must be in so much pain.’

  Dash was at his side, his hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘Otis is on his way. Roman called; they’ve just landed at SeaTac.’

  Tom nodded. ‘They’ve got Bay in ICU now – they’ve said I could go in but they don’t want t
oo many people around. I’m sorry, guys, you’ve been such a comfort to me but maybe you should go home for now. I’ll call you with any news. But thank you, I mean it.’

  Dash drove them back to his apartment. ‘Look, forget everything else, get some sleep. You can have my bed, I’ll take the couch. Grab a bath, shower, whatever you need, Ems. Whatever has happened between us…we’ll put a pin in that. We have work to do.’

  Wearily, Emily agreed and soon they were in his penthouse and she was standing under a hot shower, feeling the ache in her bones being soothed. Afterward, wrapped in Dash’s bathrobe, she wandered out to the kitchen. Dash was flipping pancakes onto a plate. ‘Eat up, Ems. Carbs are the way to go.’

  She smiled at him. ‘I never knew you could cook.’

  Dash smiled. ‘Enjoy. I’m going to grab a shower now. If you’re asleep when I get out, I won’t wake you.’

  He started to walk away but turned when she called him back. ‘Bay will be okay, won’t she?’

  ‘You bet your…’ Dash started but then sighed. ‘I don’t know, Ems. I just don’t know. All I can promise you for real is that Otis will do everything he can.’ For a brief second, he smiled. ‘He’ll do it in a way that’ll make you want to punch him but he is the best.’

  Emily nodded. ‘Thank you,’ she said softly and when he touched her cheek, she leaned into it for a just a second, before turning away.

  Dash went to the bathroom and Emily picked at the pancakes. She wasn’t hungry even though they were delicious. She waited until she heard the shower running then tipped the food into the trash can, carefully covering it up with some paper towel. She didn’t want to offend him.