UNPROTECTED: A Dark Bad Boy Baby Romance (Hanley Family Mafia)

by Zoey Parker

  I groaned at myself. It didn’t matter who he was with, because he didn’t matter that way. He had helped me, was still helping me. He had even protected me the night before when I was passed out. I couldn’t overlook that. I appreciated him. But that was where it ended, for the both of us. I was more of a nuisance to him than anything else now. I was already throwing things into disarray, causing the lockdown.

  I went into the bedroom and found my clothes, folded neatly on a chair. I smiled, wondering who had done that for me. Oh, jeez! Who undressed me? I prayed it was only Brett or one of the other girls. I felt very exposed all of a sudden.

  Sliding into my jeans and putting on a bra made me feel a little freer of knowing looks. I heard noise from the hall and knew it meant people were waking up. Good—the clubhouse was like a morgue when it was quiet like that. I felt creepy walking around when everyone else was sleeping.

  I took my time getting back downstairs and found Tyler and Sam in the kitchen. They were cooking up bacon and eggs, pancakes and coffee. “Let me help,” I said.

  “No! You go hang out somewhere else. You’re our guest,” Sam said.

  “Besides,” Tyler added, “you still have that camera to figure out. I think Brett’s idea about the knife was a pretty good one.”

  “I’m starting to agree with you,” I admitted.

  “Good thing you didn’t try last night,” Sam smirked. “You were in no condition, young lady!” They both laughed, and I blushed a deep red.

  “All right, all right. I got a little drunk.” They kept snickering, so I left them to it and walked back into the lounge. I hoped I hadn’t said or done anything to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I got the impression they would have told me if I had. They weren’t the sort of girls to bite their tongues.

  I wondered where the camera had ended up. I remembered having it at the bar, but it wasn’t there. I looked behind the bar, on the shelves. Nothing. I guessed somebody had to put it somewhere for safe keeping.

  Just then, I saw Vince coming downstairs. My heart gave a little flutter, and I cursed myself. There was absolutely no future for the two of us. He saw me as a pain in the ass. What good would it do to catch feelings for him now?

  Then, I saw Brett coming down behind him. My heart sank. Damn it, I thought. I should have known. The taste of bile came up into my mouth, but it wasn’t nausea that caused it. It was jealousy. I was crazy jealous of that sweet girl, all because she had slept with Vince, not me.

  “Good morning!” she chirped. “Looks like you survived the night.”

  “I did.” I managed to smile. “I guess I owe my change of clothes to you?”

  She grinned. “Well, it’s not my shirt, but I helped you get dressed.”

  “Thank you,” I said with a genuine smile this time. “I was hoping it was you and not one of the guys.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, like that would work out well.” She smiled at Vince, then went into the kitchen. This left just the two of us, face to face, with the bar between our bodies.

  I cut to the chase. “Do you know what happened to the camera? I don’t remember where I left it.”

  He smirked. “Probably because you were blackout drunk.” He didn’t sound snide, though. He sounded gentle. Friendly.

  I wasn’t feeling so friendly. “Where is it, then?” I had to get those pictures off and get the hell out of this place. I was starting to question my sanity.

  He frowned, jerking a thumb toward the office. “I put it in the desk drawer for safe keeping. Calm down.”

  “I’m perfectly calm. I just wanted to get back to work on what I came here to do.” Now there were more people walking into the room from upstairs, and I had to keep my voice down to avoid eavesdroppers. My eyes bored holes into Vince’s skull.

  “By all means,” he said. “Don’t let me stop you.”

  I turned in a huff, marching to the office. I heard his footsteps behind me, and he shut the door.

  “What’s your problem today?” he asked, following me to the desk.

  “Oh, let’s see. For starters, I was almost killed last night. I’ve been stuck here for over twelve hours with no end in sight. I have no idea how to get this damned camera open. I’m worried about my family. I’m worried about myself. And everyone here is in danger because of what I saw.” I smiled tightly at him, pulling the camera from the desk drawer as I did. “Think I missed anything?”

  He softened, his shoulders falling from where they were—up around his ears. He looked calmer now. “Listen. You don’t have to be worried. The lockdown was just a precaution, nothing more. We’ve done it before.”

  “Not recently,” I pointed out, feeling stubborn. I wanted to be in a bad mood, by God.

  “How would you know?”

  “Onyx told me.”

  “Onyx talks too much.” His face hardened. “He needs to mind his own damned business sometimes.”

  “All he said was that this doesn’t happen often. That’s all. I’m the one who asked.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” He smirked.

  “Listen, I don’t feel like fighting over this, okay?” Mostly because none of it was what I was really fighting about. It was the bitter jealousy I had felt when I saw Brett coming downstairs with Vince. It killed me, and I hated admitting it to myself.

  “I don’t want to fight about anything at all.” He smiled, and I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe he was the good guy the girls told me he was. I wanted to believe he wouldn’t use a sweetheart like Brett, who was clearly in love with him.

  I wanted to believe he didn’t share her feelings.

  He turned to leave the office. “I’ll leave you to your work. And I’ll tell you when breakfast is ready.” His hand was on the doorknob when I just had to speak, or else lose the moment forever.

  “Be careful, okay?”

  He turned to me, a confused smile on his face. “With what?”

  “Not with what. With whom.”

  Confusion touched his hazel eyes, and they narrowed. “Fine, then. With whom?”

  I sighed. “Her.”

  He smirked. “You were sleeping in my bed,” he said, shrugging. “What was I supposed to do? Climb in with you?”

  I blushed. “No.”

  “I mean, I could have dumped you in another bed. Axel’s, maybe, or Joe. If you wanted it that way.”

  “Stop it,” I said, shaking my head. “Don’t make jokes about using that poor girl.”

  His face hardened. “That’s none of your business.”

  I shrugged. “She’s a nice girl is all. Be careful with her.”

  He turned from the door, walking to the desk in a way that reminded me of an animal stalking its prey. “You don’t need to tell me the kind of girl she is. I know how nice she is. And face it. If you met her on the street, if none of this happened and you just crossed paths out of nowhere, you wouldn’t give her a second glance. Just like me. We’re trash to you. So don’t pretend like you give a shit about any of us.”

  I froze in place, feeling the color drain from my face. I must have looked like I saw a ghost. I knew from the satisfied smirk on Vince’s face that my action pleased him. He left the room, closing the door.

  Was that true? I sat in the chair, going over his words. Yes, he was right about one thing: I wouldn’t have given any of them the time of day. They weren’t like the people I knew. I couldn’t help it. Just because they were nice people didn’t mean we had to be friends.

  And we wouldn’t be. Wasn’t I planning on leaving and never looking back the minute I was given the all-clear? I had no intention of forming relationships with any of them, so what right did I have to tell Vince how to live his life?

  Because I wanted him. The thought, sharp and plain, hit me like a bolt from the blue. I wanted him badly. It was no use telling myself I didn’t, that it was just a stupid crush or that I was tricking myself into thinking I liked him because he saved me. I just wanted him. In my arms, in my bed. The sooner, the better.
/>   Oh, this was no good. I folded my arms on the desk and rested my still-aching head on them. Still, somehow just admitting that I wanted him felt like a load was lifted from my shoulders. It was easier to come clean with myself.

  He was sexy. A magnet, like the girls described him the night before. They sure seemed to have a good idea about him. I guessed they probably all went through phases at one time or another when they liked him. I couldn’t blame them. I was dangerously close to falling myself.

  I shook my head. No way I could let this happen. I couldn’t fall any farther. So what if his eyes were so beautiful I could hardly keep from staring into them? Or if his arms were so strong? Of if the thought of him protecting me made me a little bit wet? I couldn’t let him get into my head. It wasn’t right.

  Back to the camera. I needed to get out of there, fast.

  I thought back to the idea of wedging something inside. I couldn’t pull the outer case apart far enough to un-jam the switch, and I couldn’t manage to push it open with my bare hands. I had to try something new.

  I looked around the desk for something to use and found a letter opener in one of the drawers. I took the rounded handle, which was just thin enough to slide in, and wedged it inside. Then I twisted it slightly. No use. I would need another pair of hands.

  As much as I hated doing it, I stuck my head outside the door. There was Vince, sitting by the bar, talking to a couple of the guys. One of them saw me, the big guy—Axel? He got Vince’s attention and nodded toward me. I thought I saw a bit of a smirk on his face, but it seemed good natured enough, so I let it go.

  “Could you come here for a minute? I need your hands.”

  Bad choice of words, and I knew it almost as soon as they left my mouth. I heard a lot of whistling and jeering when I slinked back into the office, my face flaming hot. When Vince came in, he was biting back a smile.

  “You needed my hands?” I looked at him sharply, and he laughed. He had tried, at least, to keep it inside. I had to give him credit for that.

  I showed him what I was trying to do, and he understood quickly. “So I’ll sorta pull the two sides apart, to give you room to slide the switch back.”

  “Exactly,” I said. The only problem was, the work required us to be very close to one another. He took the camera in his hands, placing it on the desk. I bent over, wedging the letter opener into the slot. He smelled incredible—aftershave, soap, leather. It was such a heady combination, I could hardly think straight.

  “Got it?” I asked, and I saw the front and back halves of the camera’s case pull slightly apart as his large hands made easy work of it. I turned the letter opener, forcing the switch back with a satisfying click. The memory card was there! I pressed it in, and it popped out at me.

  “We did it!” I looked up at him, and our faces were so close I stopped breathing for a second, and I took in the nearness of him. It felt like my heart stopped beating. All there was in the world was him. I thought I would drown in his eyes.

  His mouth was so close to mine. It wouldn’t take anything for me to lean toward him so slightly and brush my mouth against his. What then? What would we do? Maybe he would lay me out across the desk and take me here. Maybe we would sink to the floor, tearing each other’s clothes off. Maybe we would never come out of this room.

  I heard my heart thudding in my ears and wondered if he could hear it, too. So close. I felt his breath on my face…

  Then there was a crash from the bar, and a smattering of sarcastic applause. It was enough to stop the moment in its tracks. I pulled away, feeling a little woozy. Like I’d just woken up from a long nap. I took a deep, shaky breath.

  “Here you are,” I said, handing the card over. “Use it in good health.”

  He looked at it, so small in his hand. “Come on,” he said, pulling out the laptop he’d given me. “Let’s find out who we’re dealing with.”

  I balked. “Me? You’re sure you want me here when you look at those pictures?”

  “Why not?” He popped the memory card into the machine. “Don’t you want to know who’s been causing you all this trouble?”

  A grim smile came over my face. Trouble wasn’t even the word for it. “Yeah. I do.”

  Chapter Ten

  Vince

  Erica came around to my right side, leaning over as I clicked through to the memory card.

  “Thank God it made it through without breaking,” she murmured. “Those things are strong. I have a few shots on there I’d like to save. You know, once this is all over.”

  I started going through them, but I didn’t see anything helpful. Some kids playing jump rope, dogs at the park. “Where’s the stuff I’m looking for?”

  She snorted. “They would be the last files, Vince.” She pulled the mouse from my hand and started navigating. I didn’t even care that she was so rough with me. I was intensely aware of her so close to me. She smelled like powder and shampoo and perfume, even though she’d spent the night here and hadn’t showered yet. She still had a clean, fresh smell. She was warm. I looked up out of the corner of my eye and saw the pulse beating in her throat. I was almost overcome by the urge to kiss her there.

  I gave myself a mental shake and turned to the screen. Now she was going through the photos she’d taken the night before. They were all in black and white. “Wow,” I said. “You’re pretty good.”

  “You think so?” she asked, glancing down at me before looking at the screen again. Her face went pink.

  “Definitely. You see things. Not everybody sees things. Like, opportunities for photos. I would see a homeless guy, some kids eating pizza, whatever. But you see something totally different.” I admired her eye, having never had any talent myself. Even though I didn’t have it, I could appreciate it.

  “Thanks,” she murmured. Then she clicked over to the next image. “Okay,” she said. “Here’s the alley.”

  I looked at the photo, and right away I saw what she meant about them being perfectly lit. Why did they have to practically pose under that light? She would have walked past them.

  “See? That’s the guy,” she said, pointing. “He’s the one who chased me.”

  “Yeah, that’s him, all right,” I said, remembering his face in front of me. “Before I broke his goddamned nose, the fucker.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, before that.” She clicked over to the next photo. “This is a better one. You can see both of them.”

  She was right—I could see them both. And it felt like the bottom dropped out from under my world. My stomach had that weird rollercoaster feeling, though I was sitting still.

  “Wait.” I put my hand over hers, holding the mouse still. “Just wait.”

  “I think I got a better shot…”

  “No!” I didn’t mean to shout, and she jumped back when I did. It was just… “I’m sorry,” I whispered, staring at the screen. “You have no idea what I’m looking at here.” I couldn’t believe it myself, and hoped I was making a huge mistake.

  “Who is it?”

  “Somebody who’s supposed to be dead.” I heard her gasp, but still couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen. It made no sense. How could it be?

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  “His name was—is—Lance.” I looked at her, finally out of shock enough to look away from the picture. “Probably was, again, by now. If he was stabbed, like you said.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said, moving closer again. “What do you mean he was supposed to be dead?”

  “He was one of my men who were supposedly killed last week,” I explained. She gasped again. “There was an explosion in a warehouse where my guys were picking up a shipment of drugs. Three bodies were found, charred beyond recognition. One of the bodies had this big, old class ring on its finger. Lance’s ring. We assumed it was Lance, and didn’t ask for dental records. He didn’t have any family.”

  My world was spinning out of control. The implications of this were disastrous. If Lance hadn’t been killed that
night at the warehouse, it meant he was working with the Wolves. They probably killed the other two and staged it to make it look like an explosion. The third body was some random person with Lance’s ring on his hand. And the building was blown up.

  “He had to be laying low,” I said, pacing the room now. Erica watched, and I could tell from the way she chewed her cuticles that she was scared to death. “They must have found somewhere else for him to live, some safe house. God, he was with them the entire time. How long? How much did he tell them? What did they offer him?” I was close to one of the walls, and punched it. My fist nearly went clear through the drywall. Erica yelped.