“She found us. We’ve got to get the hell out of here now. No telling what she planned. And we can’t take the risk, especially with Casey. Straight to the airport, and lose that tail,” he ordered.
Christ, was he overreacting, or was there a real threat? Who would possibly harm them in a place so public? “Nick I can’t leave L.A., I have a job to do.”
He lifted his sunglasses, his gray eyes intense. “Casey, I wouldn’t ask you to, but this is serious. I’m sorry. It comes with the territory. I can’t protect you if we stay here. We need to get back to Dallas.”
It wasn’t like she had much of a choice. The car barreled down the highway at a ridiculous speed. She expected news helicopters or police sirens to surround them at any moment. This was insane. What—or who—the hell were they running from? Did all rich people have these kinds of problems? Well, when Aunt Teddie had been head of the company, there had always been tons of security around. It was one of the reasons Teddie had moved into the building Nick owned. The security was the best in the city.
The car swerved across lanes, in and out of traffic. Her stomach rolled uncomfortably and she wished she hadn’t eaten the steak and the Dreamsicle at the park earlier.
Nick wrapped his arm tighter around her as he barked orders to Mason and the driver. They moved so fast, she had to close her eyes and tuck her chin into her knees before she lost it. This ride was worse than any of the rides she’d gone on at the park. Only when the car stopped did she look up and see they were parked beside the plane.
“It’ll be another half hour before we can take off,” Mason said.
“You tell him twenty minutes or I’ll fly the damn thing myself,” Nick snapped.
“What about our stuff?” she asked. “My sketches are—”
“Everything is on the plane,” he said.
How did they do that? It had only been twenty minutes since they knew someone followed them, and there was no way anyone had beaten them to the airport.
Nick rushed her into one of the cushy recliner seats. “I need to talk to Mason,” he said. “I want you to drink this. It will calm your nerves.”
Calm her nerves? He was acting crazy! This wasn’t the first time she’d wondered if he was in the mob. She couldn’t stop the questions from forming her in mind. Did normal businessmen run around with people chasing them like this?
She took the glass the steward had given him and tasted it. Expecting liquor she was surprised to find tea. Odd tasting tea, but the effects were miraculous. Almost instantly her stomach settled. Something wasn’t right about it but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Her eyelids were heavy and she yawned again.
Casey drifted into a dreamless sleep.
…
“She’s going to be furious when she wakes up,” Linc said. He’d met them at the airport with the rest of the guard to help them get back to the condo safely.
“Only if you tell her what happened,” Nick said. They stood in Casey’s living room. He’d carried her to bed. He hoped that she’d wake in the morning and forget that he’d drugged her. “I couldn’t risk her seeing something that would scare the hell out of her.”
“She’s going to find out eventually,” Linc said. “You’ve got to tell her the truth and you have to do it fast. The decree came down this morning. You have seven days, or they choose a bride for you. It’s one of our unbreakable laws, and I think they are worried that you will try to get out of it somehow. They want to know that you are still in favor of peace. Once you have a wife and a family, they won’t be so worried that you’ll start a war.”
“It’s ridiculous,” Nick growled. “I’ve been brokering peace for two hundred years, hell, longer. I’m the last person who would turn on them, married or not.”
“Rules are rules. It’s been two hundred years, time to find a wife and settle down. My guess is that’s why the bitch was after you.”
Nick sighed. “Why didn’t I rip that woman’s throat out when I had a chance?”
“Because you would have been executed on the spot.”
“It would have been worth it if it kept Casey safe.”
Nick sat down on the sofa. Everything was so complicated. Casey would never believe him once she found out the truth. He wanted to marry her because he cared for her. Yes, he lusted after her, but he genuinely cared about her. That had become evident as they raced for the jet earlier in the day. He would have done anything to protect her and keep her safe. And it wasn’t out of some sense of duty because he’d put her life in danger.
Unfortunately, when he explained the truth about the deadline—her insecurities would pop up. He knew how her mind worked. No way in hell would she believe he cared about her.
To her, it would sound like a marriage of convenience. The last thing she’d ever want or deserve.
This was exactly why he’d kept her at arm’s length for so long.
“I told you the other night that you do this to protect her, or I will. There is no other choice,” Linc warned.
“You touch her and you die. I told you that the other night,” Nick growled. He’d been doing that a great deal when it came to Casey.
Linc shrugged. “When will you tell her?”
Nick drew a deep breath. “Tomorrow night. You’re right, if she accepts the situation, she’ll need time to adjust. A week isn’t much.”
And how exactly was that conversation going to go down? Hey, Casey, I have to marry you to keep us both alive. Oh, and I’m a vampire. Welcome to the horde.
“She’s tougher than she looks.” Linc stood. “You’re a lucky man because it’s obvious she cares for you.”
“I hope you’re right, brother.” The scariest part of all of it was that he couldn’t imagine a life without Casey in it.
Holy hell. What have I done?
Chapter Twelve
It was eleven o’clock before Casey turned off the light on her drafting table. Her office was in the corner of the large loft space. Everyone else left hours ago, but Casey had seven jobs that were due over the next two weeks. That was normal these days. She thrived when the pressure was on. Some of her best work had been created that way.
Even with the raw feeling in her gut that plagued her throughout the day, she finished most of the art due in the next few weeks. For some reason her brain was on a creative binge, the likes of which she’d never experienced before. It must have been that she slept so much. The last thing she remembered was sitting in the car beside Nick. This morning she woke up to find Nick in her kitchen with a full breakfast prepared. He’d made her eat, then after a lengthy argument about why she had to go to work, he’d driven her there grudgingly.
How could she have forgotten an entire flight? She literally felt like she was losing her mind.
Nick had called her several times throughout the day, and was on his way to pick her up. The protectiveness thing was getting out of hand, but she didn’t want to fight with him, so she’d let him do what he wanted. And it had been a great day at work, so that mollified her somewhat.
The only thing left to do was to write up the actual presentations, which she could do in her sleep. At first, she’d been shy when talking about her thoughts and why she believed her ideas would work for various campaigns. But her boss and her co-workers had been so impressed by her talents in those first few months that her confidence had received a major boost.
The overhead lights dimmed automatically in the evening to conserve energy. Her boss Justin didn’t care about electric bills, but he was concerned about the environment. She’d always felt comfortable here. Even when she worked until the wee hours of the morning, she had never been scared.
Until tonight.
For the last hour or so, she had the feeling someone watched her. The windows in her office opened out to a once-vacant parking lot that had been turned into a flower and vegetable garden for the community. Yet another of Justin’s great ideas, and it usually gave her great pleasure to look down on it.
B
ut the creepy sensation intensified by the minute, and her body was on high alert. Once or twice, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. After the second time, she decided to call Nick to pick her up.
Too much caffeine she reasoned. Too many questions left unanswered.
Something screeched near the front of the building, and she nearly popped out of her seat.
“Who’s there?” she called out.
Her phone vibrated on her desk, scaring the crap out of her. “This is Casey,” she said shakily without looking at the number.
“The car’s waiting for you at the front door,” Nick said. His last words to her that morning were that they needed to talk about something important. It sounded ominous. She knew he’d decided to dump her. Even though he’d had a good time, she shouldn’t have forced him to go to Disneyland. He’d been weird ever since.
“Thanks,” she said nervously. Something moved in the corner to her left. She sucked in a breath and damn near dropped her cell.
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked.
“It’s silly. I keep hearing and seeing things. But I know I’m the only one in the building.”
“Damn,” he said harshly. “Listen to me, Casey. I want you to run to the front door as fast as you can.”
“It’s just my imagination,” she replied with a bravado she didn’t feel. No, something wasn’t right. The flight she couldn’t remember, Nick’s strange behavior, the sounds she heard, the feeling of being watched…
A nasty chill slithered down her spine.
There was another scraping sound behind her.
“Shit!” she screeched, dropping her cell and bolting from her chair. Running as fast as she could to the door, she skidded to a stop before she made it.
A dark figured hovered there.
“Casey, come on,” Nick waved as he stepped into the dull light.
Just before she reached him, something hit her back. The sting burned through her shirt and set her skin on fire. She screamed as she fell into his arms.
Before she could breathe, he stuffed her into a black SUV. The vehicle zoomed off. Through the pain and confusion, her mind tripped over itself to explain what happened. Nick moved…so damned fast. How had they…what the hell was going on?
“We need to call the police.” She gasped as the burning sensation intensified. Body shaking from head to toe, she wrapped her arms around her stomach desperately trying to hold herself together.
“Mason did.” Nick stared out the back window. His body tense, and his jaw set.
“Shouldn’t we stay to tell them what I heard?”
He glanced back at her, as if he didn’t understand what she’d said.
“No. They’ll investigate. If they have questions, they can call.” His tone was clipped.
Was he angry with her? “Somebody explain what is effing going on. How did Mason know to call them?”
“He’s in front with Cody, the driver,” he said.
“Oh.” She hadn’t even noticed. Pain, shot through her back and into her chest. The burning sensation radiating through her. Were they headed to the hospital? Jesus, it felt as though she’d been shot.
Casey’s body trembled. “We left the door unlocked. If anything is stolen, Justin will kill me. We have some really expensive equipment in there.”
Nick closed his eyes. “Listen to me, closely. We are not going back. The police were less than five minutes away. Cody!”
“I’m flooring it, sir, but they’re close.”
“Who?” The pain intensified and it was harder to breathe. “Nick, I’m scared.” She hissed as the pain burned through her neck and up her brain.
Nick’s eyes flashed wide. “Let me see your back,” he said roughly as he twisted her shoulders.
“You’re hurting me,” she cried out. “A wasp or something stung me right before I hit the door.
He didn’t let go, but moved her gently. “Sorry. I’m going to lift your shirt so I can see the…sting.”
As he shifted the fabric away from her, the excruciating sensation traveled through her body rapidly. Even her eyes burned. Her throat on fire but she couldn’t scream.
“You’ve been…” He paused for several seconds. “Bitten by something, and it’s creating a welt. Mason, I need the syringe.” Nick’s voice was calm, but even in her altered state she heard the underlying urgency there.
Focus was impossible.
What the hell? Bitten? Mason handed him something, but if she twisted it would only hurt more.
“Casey, I’m ripping the back of your shirt so that it doesn’t touch the wound.”
“Wound?” she said hoarsely.
“I need to give you a shot to counteract the poison.” He ignored her question.
“Wait, how do you know what stung me?” What if it wasn’t the right antidote? She remembered an episode of Hollywood Med where a guy came in with a snakebite and they gave him the wrong medicine. It killed him. At the time, she thought it was weird there were snakes in Hollywood. Well, the real reptile kind.
“It’s like a wasp sting. And this is like an Epi-pen that will counteract the poison before it makes difficult for you to breathe.”
Casey’s head began to throb so hard she couldn’t understand a word he said. “It’s already hard to breathe,” she gasped. “Owww,” she said as she grabbed her head.
“Fuck! You’re going to be okay, Casey. I won’t let anything happen to you. Mason, hold her still.”
Hands wrapped around her shoulders and something sharp stabbed her in the back, but it was far less painful than the fire consuming her brain. A weird numbing sensation spread through her as she shook uncontrollably.
Nick scooped her into his lap and held her tight.
“Nothing’s going to happen to you, baby. I promise. You’re safe now.” He kissed the top of her head.
Closing her eyes, she tried to sort out her thoughts, but it was all a jumble. Car chases, stinging wasps, and creepy things at the office.
“Sir, we’re two blocks away, but they’re still on our tail,” Cody informed Nick.
“The team is ready, once we pull into the garage, they’ll seal it off,” Mason said calmly. He seemed to be the only one who didn’t seem worried.
“Is it mafia hit men?” Casey whispered. She hated to keep coming back to that, but what else could it be? The security, the secrecy…and all the other unexplained crap that had been happening ever since she and Nick had become closer.
Nick lifted her chin. “No. It’s far worse. I promise I’ll explain everything soon. But I need you to do me a favor. Go with Mason. He’s going to take you up to my condo. It’s the safest place right now.”
Far worse than mafia hit men? She started to say something, but he placed a finger against her lips.
“Do you trust me Casey?”
No. Yes. Crap. She’d trusted him from the day she met him, even though she was aware he had secrets. She nodded grudgingly.
“This will be over soon. I swear.” He hugged her again and kissed her head. Then he sat her back in the seat. “When I tell you to move, you run as fast as you can with Mason. Do not look back.”
Oh, hell. This was bad. No way would she leave him to fight whoever these people were. She wanted to help. Though, her body was numb at the moment.
“I don’t want to cause you trouble, but I can’t exactly feel my legs right now. My body is numb from the middle of my back down. Unfortunately, the burning in my brain is still there. Though not as bad.” She rambled, but she couldn’t stop.
Nerves. Nick’s life might be on the line, and she was complaining about her health.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
Nick lifted her chin with his fingers. “I’m the one who is sorry. You were hurt because of me.” His voice faltered. “I will make this right.”
She gave him a weak smile. “It’s okay. If it didn’t hurt like a son of a bitch, this would be kind of exciting. Well, except for the part where you might get dead by
the bad guys.”
Nick grinned. “Casey, the bad guys are in a lot more danger than I am. Do what I asked and go with Mason. Do you have feeling in your legs?”
Her body seemed to return to normal almost instantaneously, though she still had a wicked headache.
She nodded.
They neared the parking garage for the condos.
Whomever chased them had to be dangerous if they were all so worried. Nick could get hurt, or worse, he could die.
What if she never saw him again?
Pulling her knees under her, she put her hands on Nick’s face. “Please be careful,” she said. Then her lips met his and in those few moments she put everything she felt for him in that kiss. Whatever he was involved in, they would work it out.
His eyes flashed wide, but he deepened the kiss. Her tongue slid across his lip, and he hissed in a breath.
The SUV hit a parking bump and jostled them apart.
He tightened his arms around her, and then released her. “Get ready to run.” His eyes were on hers.
“Don’t die,” she said. “I’ll get really pissed if you do.”
“Casey, after that kiss, you don’t have to worry. I’ll see you soon.”
The door opened and someone yanked her away from him.
“Run,” Nick shouted as he bolted out behind her.
Mason had a firm grip on her hand, and he could run much faster than she could. She tried to keep up.
They passed three groups of about ten men on the way to the elevator. They were moving fast, but she could have sworn she saw Linc. Visions of him helping her undress and rubbing her feet flashed in her mind.
Nick shouted, “Now!” A chorus of growls and grunts followed.
She tried to turn back to see, but Mason shoved her into the elevator and punched in the code.
“When the doors open, there’ll be two security guards. Please do what they say,” Mason instructed. “It’s for your safety, as well as theirs, that you let them protect you.”
“But, Nick.” She took a step forward, but Nick shoved her back as the doors closed. Her heart pounded inside her chest. It wasn’t until that very moment that this threat Nick kept talking about became real. He hadn’t sugarcoated it at all. There were so many security men around…what the hell was happening?
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