Colters' Gift cl-5

by Maya Banks

  She stared suspiciously at them, her hand still gripping the edge of the door.

  “Are you cops?”

  Noah shook his head. “No, ma’am. We’re not cops. I guess you could say we’re investigators of sorts.”

  “Like a P.I.? I always thought those weren’t real. Just stuff you see on cop shows and in the movies.”

  “We’re not private investigators,” Liam said gruffly. “We were employed to keep a woman safe from the jerk who beat on her. We want to find this asshole so we can put him away. We need your help to do that.”

  She blinked at Liam’s bluntness but her stance relaxed and she was clearly conflicted about whether to allow them into her building. Finally she took a step back, opening the door wider.

  “Come in,” she murmured. “My name is Susan, but my friends call me Suki. Long story, but you can call me Suki.”

  Noah could tell the woman was as nervous as a cat backed into an alley. He didn’t want to frighten her, but he had Liam with him and Liam was . . . Well, he was Liam. Blunt. Overwhelming. And growly.

  Especially when it came to Lauren.

  Once they walked up to her second floor apartment and were seated in the living room, Noah pulled out a photo of Lauren and slid it across the coffee table toward Suki.

  “Can you tell me if you’ve ever seen this woman?”

  Suki went completely still. Noah wasn’t even sure she was breathing. Her hands shook as she reached for the photo and fear crowded her eyes.

  Then she turned with a fake, too-bright smile and said, “No, sorry I haven’t. Did something happen to her? Is she . . . dead?”

  The last was asked fearfully and Liam frowned, leaning forward.

  “Now why would you assume she’s dead or that something’s happened to her?”

  Panic flared on her face. “I just assumed. I mean something had to have happened to her if you’re looking for her, right?”

  “We aren’t looking for her,” Noah said calmly. “We just asked if you’ve ever seen her.”

  Suki shook her head. “No. Sorry. Don’t know her.”

  “Why are you lying?” Liam asked bluntly.

  The woman vibrated with fear. Most people would have been pissed at blatantly being called a liar. Not this woman. She looked like she was going to be ill.

  “Let’s try another question,” Noah said. “Do you know who this woman was seeing? Know his name? What he looks like?”

  “I wish I could help you,” she croaked. “But he’d kill me.”

  Liam and Noah exchanged quick glances. Noah’s pulse sped up and he leaned forward, scooting to the edge of his seat in anticipation. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

  “Who, Suki? Who would kill you?”

  When she looked up, tears shone in her eyes. “He hurt her. We all knew it. He always kept her on a very short leash. He told her how to dress, how to act, where to be and if she didn’t fall into step accordingly, she always wore bruises the next day.”

  A low growl emanated from Liam’s throat. Noah shot him a warning look. The last thing they needed was to terrify Suki further and have her shut down and refuse to talk.

  “Who did this to her?” Noah asked softly. “I need your help, Suki. I want to nail his ass to the wall and make damn sure he never does this to another woman.”

  “Just give us his name,” Liam urged. “You don’t have to tell us anything else. Just give us enough to find him.”

  She laughed, a raw, hysterical sound that was abrasive to Noah’s ears.

  “You can’t stop him. He has cops on his payroll. He won’t ever be punished.”

  “There are other ways of getting justice that don’t necessarily involve cops,” Liam bit out.

  At that she went quiet and stared intently back at Liam. For a long moment she looked between the two men as if grappling with her decision to confide in them.

  Finally she drew in a deep breath. “His name is Joel Knight. It’s all I’ll say, and I won’t testify. I won’t give a statement. I’ll deny ever seeing you, talking to you or even that I know who the hell you are.”

  Liam’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Joel Knight? Are you sure?”

  Noah shook his head. He’d known that Lauren was holding out on them. What he hadn’t realized was that she’d blatantly lied. She’d made up some other name of some fictitious guy and they’d spent the last four months wasting their fucking time searching out nonexistent leads.

  “Of course I’m sure,” Suki said, an edge to her voice. “I’m one of his girls.”

  Noah lifted an eyebrow. “What does that mean exactly?”

  She pressed her lips together. “It’s time for you to go. I have an appointment in an hour and I have to get ready. I’d like you to leave. I’ve said all I’m going to say.”

  Liam opened his mouth to argue, but she’d already risen, her agitation evident as she stalked to the door to open it. Her hand gripped the edge of the door, and she was pale as they walked past. She looked like she was going to be ill at any moment.

  As soon as they were over the threshold, the door slammed behind them. Noah winced. “Damn, you get the idea we aren’t welcome any longer?”

  Liam made a noise that sounded like a snort, and the two men returned to the parked SUV.

  It was quiet in the vehicle as Liam drove away. Noah wasn’t entirely certain where he was going. He hadn’t gone back in the direction of their offices.

  After a moment, Noah pulled out his cell and started to put in a call to his buddy who worked for the NYPD. He hesitated, Suki’s words floating back to his mind. Then he cursed and put the phone back.

  She was making him paranoid. For all he knew she was talking out her ass.

  “Problem?” Liam asked.

  “I was going to call Johnny. See what he could dig up on this Joel Knight dude.”

  “And? Why didn’t you?”

  Noah grimaced, already feeling a little stupid. “Because Suki said he had cops on his payroll.”

  He thought Liam would tell him what an idiot he was being. Out of the hundreds of cops in the city, what were the odds that it would involve their contact?

  But Liam merely nodded. “Better to be safe. We can do some digging on our own, but I’d rather go straight to the source.”

  Noah’s brows drew together. Liam pulled into a parking place that was half a block down from a pub they frequented.

  “What do you mean by that?” Noah asked.

  “I’ll tell you over a drink,” Liam said.

  If Liam was actually going to hit a pub so they could sit and talk, this had to be serious. Liam was more of an act-now-think-later kind of guy. Elaborate planning wasn’t one of his stronger points. That was Noah’s job. Noah thought out issues. Liam carried out the plan. It was a combination that had worked well for them over the years.

  They ambled in and instead of sitting at the bar, they took a seat at one of the tables in the far corner, and Liam held up two fingers to the waitress.

  Nodding, she offered a hello in greeting and then hurried off to get their order. They were here regularly enough that the staff was well acquainted with their preferences.

  “So what’s going on in that head of yours?” Noah pressed.

  “I think we should go see Lauren,” Liam said in a low voice.

  Noah frowned. “That’s not what we were hired to do.”

  “Fuck what we were hired for. We can’t do the job unless we have all the information from Lauren. And we don’t have it. We’ve been chasing our tails because Lauren was too afraid to tell us or her brother the truth about who abused her. If we confront her, we’re less likely to get the brush-off. If we call her up, she’s not going to just offer us this information over the phone.”

  Noah sighed because . . . shit. This was going to open a whole damn can of worms.

  “You know this isn’t a good idea,” Noah said bluntly. “We both obviously have feelings for her. We can’t do our job if we’re too busy fighting over w
ho gets the girl.”

  The waitress appeared, and Liam clammed up while she plopped the cold bottles down on the table. Once she left, Liam took a sip before carefully setting it back down. Noah waited. There was definitely something on Liam’s mind.

  Liam stared directly at Noah, his gaze intent, jaw tight. “You ever wonder why I just let Lauren go so easily?”

  Noah’s brow crinkled. “Max came to get her and brought her home with him. What could you have possibly done?”

  Liam simmered with impatience. “Come on, Noah. Are you telling me you didn’t care when she left? That it didn’t bother you that we had to trust in the fact that her brother could keep her safe? That you didn’t want to tell him he was making a huge fucking mistake so that we could keep her close to us at all times so we’d make sure no one ever hurt her again? Quit pretending you don’t care. This is me you’re talking to. I know better.”

  “So what?” Noah snapped. “What the fuck was I supposed to do? I couldn’t damn well make a move on her. Not after that shithead did what he did to her. We were strangers to her, and we scared her shitless.”

  “It brings me back to my original question.”

  “No, I don’t damn well know why you let her go so easily,” Noah said impatiently. “Do enlighten me.”

  “The few times we got her to actually talk to us, she spoke about the family her brother married into. That her sister-in-law had three fathers—all married to the same woman—and that her brothers were also hooked up with the same woman.”

  Noah nodded. “Yeah, I remember it. Sounded a little bizarre, but whatever.”

  Liam’s eyes gleamed. “I wanted her to go back with Max because I wanted her to be around that kind of relationship. See how it worked. Become comfortable with it. Maybe even be able to view it as not so unorthodox.”

  Realization crept into Noah’s mind, grabbed hold and shook him until he was staring at Liam in astonishment.

  “You aren’t saying what I think you’re saying are you?”

  Liam cocked one eyebrow.

  “At what point were you going to ask me how I felt about it?” Noah demanded.

  “Are you saying you’re against it? Are you saying you’ll back off if I tell you I want Lauren?”

  Anger nipped at Noah’s heel. It prickled his nape until he was gripping his beer bottle so tight, he feared it would break.

  “Think about it, Noah,” Liam said softly. “Think real hard about it. We’ll get on a plane and go talk to Lauren about the guy who beat her up. After you see her again, you tell me what you want to do. Because I’m not backing off. I’m going to wait for as long as it takes, but when she’s ready, I’m going to be there.”

  CHAPTER 3

  LAUREN finished tidying the tiny living room of her efficiency apartment and stared around in satisfaction. It was small, but it was filled with furniture and knickknacks, and was decorated to look homey and cozy.

  Max had been so helpful in her getting back on her feet, but she owed the most to Holly, Lily and Callie. The three women had dragged her shopping and they’d spent a tireless amount of time making sure Lauren’s apartment was one she was comfortable and happy in.

  It was her day off from the diner, and while she had standing invitations to drop in on her brother and sister-in-law or any of the Colters, today she just wanted a quiet day in her apartment reading.

  Later she’d take a walk down Main Street and do some windowshopping. It amused her that window-shopping in Clyde consisted of looking into the one women’s boutique that sold everything from lingerie to accessories and everything in between.

  There was a small, used bookstore at the end, and she always looked forward to scanning the new stock to see what struck her fancy. Callie had been after her to buy an e-reader so she could just download books from the online retailers without ever leaving her house, but there was something about the trip to the bookstore and returning home with a bag of books she couldn’t wait to dig into.

  And there was the simple fact that she couldn’t afford the e-reader right now. It had taken every penny to move in and buy what was needed for the apartment. If she splurged and bought the reading device, she’d be uncontrollable with buying e-books.

  For now, she’d have to stick with gently used and savor every book. Besides, she couldn’t trade in a digital book when she was finished.

  She perused her bookshelf and finally selected the newest Jaci Burton book she’d purchased. Just as she settled down to indulge, there was a knock at her door

  Frowning, she pushed herself up from the couch and went to the front door. It was probably one of the Colter women. It could even be Max, but he was usually better about calling to let her know he was stopping by, whereas the Colter women—especially Holly—just dropped by whenever they got the urge.

  But when she opened the door and saw who was standing there, her jaw went completely slack as she gaped at Noah Sullivan and Liam Prescott.

  They didn’t belong here. They represented a part of her past she wanted to forget. They were a world away, in a city she’d fled.

  “Lauren,” Noah acknowledged with a tight nod. “You’re looking good.”

  “You look great,” Liam amended softly.

  She still couldn’t find her tongue. What were they doing here?

  “Can we come in?” Noah asked. “We need to talk to you.”

  “A-about w-what?”

  She clutched the door tighter and pulled it so it narrowed the gap.

  Liam frowned. “Lauren, we aren’t going to hurt you. We just need to talk to you. It’s important.”

  Her pulse was racing fast enough to make her light-headed. She knew Noah and Liam posed no danger to her. Or at least she thought she knew. It wasn’t them she feared as much as why they were here.

  “Open the door, Lauren,” Noah said in a quiet tone.

  Realizing how much attention they were likely attracting, she finally opened the door and let them walk into the living room.

  If it had seemed small to her before, now it was tiny with the two big men filling it.

  She had a love seat and an armchair, and she quickly took the armchair so the two men would be left with the love seat.

  Perched on the edge, she waited while they made themselves comfortable. Or at least as much as they could, trying to fit their large frames on her small piece of furniture.

  She balled up her fingers together and stuck her hands between her knees to prevent them from shaking. Their presence unnerved her for too many reasons to list.

  And yet she drank in the sight of them, unable to tear her gaze from the two men who’d once been hired to protect her.

  They were the complete antithesis of Joel, and maybe that was why she’d allowed herself to relax around them and trust them. In the beginning she’d thrown up every barrier she could, anything to prevent them from getting close.

  But they’d broken every wall she’d placed between them. They’d bullied her mercilessly, making sure she ate, that she took care of herself. They couldn’t possibly know just how much she’d softened toward them, because she’d been too intent on shutting them out and treating them indifferently.

  When Max had arrived at her apartment, determined to take her home with him and Callie, part of her was hugely relieved while the other part of her was reluctant to let go of the two men she’d come to rely on.

  Having them near her just made her feel safe in a world where she was anything but. If they knew what she’d done and all she’d kept from them, they’d be pissed as hell.

  She’d made some horrifically stupid choices. She could admit that now. But at the time, she’d been a scared-out-of-her-mind woman who desperately wanted a way out of her situation. She hadn’t been thinking straight. But who could blame her?

  She blamed herself enough without anyone else knowing the extent of her stupidity.

  “Lauren?”

  She looked up quickly at the sound of Liam’s voice. She realized that one or
both men had been talking to her, and she had no idea what they’d been saying.

  “I’m sorry,” she blurted. “You should have called. You caught me completely off guard.”

  Noah’s eyes narrowed. “And would you have been here if we’d called? Or would you have been conveniently somewhere else?”

  Heat scorched her cheeks. He couldn’t possibly know that’s what she would have done. And yet he’d called her out on it as if he’d reached right into her head and plucked out her thoughts. Was she so easily read?

  Liam cleared his throat. “We’re here to discuss Joel Knight.”

  The blood rushed from her face. Her stomach knotted into a tight ball. She swayed precariously in her seat before making a grab for the arms with each hand so she didn’t humiliate herself.

  “I want you to leave,” she blurted out.

  Liam leaned forward, those vivid blue eyes pinning her in place. His hair hung to his shoulders, in varying lengths, as if he didn’t worry too much over how it was cut. It had a slight curl, making it look unruly. The ends flipped up this way and that. She could remember her fingers itching to reach out and smooth it.

  It suddenly occurred to her why she’d eventually grown to trust these two men. Why she’d relaxed her guard toward the end of their business relationship.

  They were nothing like Joel, and while she’d always recognized this, it really hit home with her now.

  Joel was polished. Never a hair out of place. Expensive clothing. Only the best suits. A tie. Perfectly shined shoes. Fake tan. He never walked out of his home unless he looked his best. He’d never be caught dead with men like Liam and Noah.

  Liam and Noah were . . . Well, they didn’t give a shit. With them it was either take it or leave it, and your loss if you left it.

  They both had dark hair, though Liam’s was more of a true, midnight black and Noah’s was such a dark brown that it was nearly black. Alone one might think his hair was black, but standing next to Liam, it was obvious that Noah’s hair was lighter.