by Hope Ford
I shake my head, trying to process it all. “So you’re telling me May was right. You dumped me because of some sort of protection thing.”
5
Colt
I know she doesn’t believe it, and I know she’s going to be pissed, but I’m tired of lying to her. And now, after seeing how the last lie I told her affected her, I can’t do it anymore. “I...” I start to tell her when my phone rings. I dig it out of my pocket and see Rogue’s name on the caller ID. I still don’t trust him, but thankfully, Riggs has put a block on our phones so we can’t be traced. “I have to take this.”
She nods and scoots off my lap to the other side of the couch. I stand up, intent on walking out of the room, but stop suddenly. I’m not going to let her out of my sight. I don’t know how she’s taking my little bombshell, but I’m not going to give her the opportunity to run. “Stone,” I say into the phone.
“I see you are making waves already and have only been in town less than two hours.”
He’s tracking me. Somehow he knows how long I’ve been in town. “Yeah, you said I had time. You told me twelve hours before anyone else would be notified. It was less than eight.”
“That’s a lot of money, Colt. It was leaked. People get antsy when that much money is at stake.”
“How many?” I ask, dreading the answer. “How many are coming for her?”
“Lucky for you, everyone is busy. There’ve been four people that have taken the job.”
“Fuck!”
He laughs at me, and I know that he’s probably enjoying this. He’s the type of man that enjoys seeing someone else in pain.
“Who put the hit out? How do I stop it?” I ask, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.
“There’s no stopping it. It won’t end until she’s dead. Cut up into tiny pieces in a body bag.”
My eyes meet Kinsley’s, and even though she can’t hear Rogue, she still looks worried. I grip the phone tighter in my hand. My whole body freezes, and bile starts to rise in my throat. “That’s not an option, Rogue.”
He cackles. “How did I know you’d say that?”
“Can you please try to find out who put the hit out?”
“Sure. I’ll be in touch.”
He ends the call, and I put my hands on my hips, taking deep breaths in and letting them out. “Colt?” she asks worriedly.
I hold my finger up. I need a second. I know she’s been through a lot, but just the image that Rogue put in my head is enough to make me sick. I usually can handle anything. But not this. Not when it comes to Kinsley.
“I’m fine,” I say and seeing the doubt on her face, I say it again. “I’m fine.”
“What did he say?”
“He doesn’t know who made the hit, but he’s going to try and find out.”
I pull out my phone and send the two pictures to Riggs. I wait for them both to go through and then call him. “Riggs, I need an ID for the two pictures I just sent you.”
I can hear him typing on the computer. “Sure thing, give me a second.”
Kinsley is standing with her arms wrapped around her stomach, and I motion for her to come closer. I know we need to finish our talk, but I need to take care of this first. As soon as she gets close enough, I pull her against me and wrap an arm around her. She’s tense, and I hate to think what she’s feeling right now. I hold her tighter, and eventually she melts against me, her arms going around my waist.
“Yeah, I’m here,” I answer Riggs when he comes back on the line.
“First picture is a Richard Gallo. Goes by Dick. He works at Gallo Towing in Los Angeles. He has no record, but intel tells me that he is a hitman for the Gallo family. Second picture was harder to identify because you blew off the side of his face. But I still was able to find him. He’s Harry Malone. His family owns Malone Pawn Shop, and it’s also a front for contract killing.”
“Were you able to find anything on who made the hit? Who else has taken it up? Rogue says there’s four people.”
“No, I’m sorry, bro. You were able to find out more than I did. I’m not giving up, though. Whoever took it out doesn’t want to be found, but I’ll piece it together. I promise you that.”
“Thanks, Riggs. I’ll call you tomorrow. If we don’t find out anything I’m going to get Jax to bring us home.”
“You bringing Kinsley?”
Without even hesitating, I say, “Fuck yeah, I’m bringing Kinsley. Talk to you soon.”
I pocket my phone and wrap both arms around the woman that I’m in love with. How I walked away three years ago and thought I would be okay is beyond me because I haven’t been okay one day since then. I can’t screw this up again.
“Kins,” I say with my chin resting on the top of her head.
She shakes her head and pulls back. “No. I can’t do this again, Colt. Not now. I’m not going back to Tennessee. My life is here now.”
I blow out a breath like I’ve been punched in the gut. She doesn’t want me. That hits me straight in the heart, but no matter what she thinks, I’m not leaving her in danger. “Until I can put a stop to all this, you’re stuck with me, Kins. Whether we stay here or go back to Tennessee, I’ll be right next to you until I know you’re safe.”
She’s pacing back and forth and stops suddenly. “I’m going to get cleaned up and lie down.”
Instead of waiting for a response, she starts off out of the living room, and I follow behind her. “There’s probably clothes. Let me look.”
I go to the bedroom and flip on the light. I pull a T-shirt out of the closet and a pair of jogging pants. “Here. They’ll probably be too big, but better than sleeping in that suit.”
She nods and mutters, “Thanks” as I hand her the clothes.
She walks to the bathroom, and I follow behind her only to have the door shut in my face. While she’s in there, I go into the kitchen and throw together a quick sandwich, grab an apple, and head back to the bedroom.
Ten minutes goes by, and she’s walking out of the bathroom. She has on the T-shirt, and her face is clean and shiny. She’s adorable in the clothes that are way too big for her. She bends down and rolls up the bottom of her pant legs. When she rises, I shift in my sitting position, trying to hide the fact that I have a hard-on just watching her.
I point to the plate on the dresser. “There’s some food. I’m going to shower real quick.”
She nods, and I start to leave, but I stop myself. “Can I trust you not to leave?”
She rolls her eyes as she takes a bite of the sandwich. She moans, and my dick twitches again. “Yeah, I don’t have a death wish. I’ll be here when you get out.”
I nod, and with one last glance, I leave her to the bedroom and go for a quick shower. I’m in and out in five minutes. I know we’re in a safe house, but I still don’t like being away from her. Which brings me to the next problem.
6
Kinsley
Colt comes out of the bathroom and goes straight to the chair in the corner of the bedroom. He has boxers on, but besides that, he’s naked. His black hair looks even darker with it being wet. There’s water dripping off his back, and I can’t take my eyes off his bulging muscles and tattoos as he runs the towel through his hair and finishes drying off. He walks to the side of the room and sits down heavily on a small chair. “Are you sleeping there?” I ask. I haven’t been through the house, but I know there’s more than one bedroom in it.
“Yes. And it’s not up for discussion, debate, negotiation, whatever. There’s no way I’ll be able to sleep in the next room.”
I blink and nod at him as I sink lower on the bed and pull the covers up my chest.
“Wow, you handled that well. I was sure you were going to argue with me.”
I shake my head and turn off the light next to the bed. “No, honestly, I’m a little shaken up so I appreciate you sleeping in here.”
He sits on the chair, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. He’s watching me, and when I look away and stare up a
t the ceiling, he sits back. I roll to my side, facing him. The chair looks even smaller with him in it, and guilt starts to eat at me. I can’t let him sleep there all night, but I don’t want to suggest he sleep somewhere else either. I wasn’t lying. I want him close. I feel safe with him here.
“Colt...”
“Yeah?”
I sit up on my elbow. “Will you come and sleep next to me? And that’s it, I’m not asking you for anything else, just to sleep next to me.”
I can hear him breathing, and I know he heard me, but it seems like it takes forever for him to respond. When he doesn’t say anything, I lie back on the bed, rolling to my back.
It sounds like he’s gritting his teeth when he finally responds, “Scoot over. I need to be closest to the door.”
He stands up, and I hurry and scoot to the other side.
The bed dips when he lies down, and I see a glint of metal in his hand. “Is that a gun?”
“I sleep with it every night.”
I watch as he moves it under his pillow. “Do you have to tonight?”
He turns to me. “Probably more than ever.”
I take deep breath and blow it out to try and calm myself. “Right.”
He’s silent, and I can’t take my eyes off him. “Thank you for coming, Colt. I mean, to save me.”
“I’ll always come when you need me.”
I swallow because I know he’s telling the truth. “Can I move closer?”
He nods his head, but I don’t move. “I just want you to hold me. That’s it. I can’t – I won’t – let anything else happen. I can’t live through another morning of you walking away.”
He grunts. “I won’t –“
But I don’t let him finish. I slide across the bed until I’m right next to him. I put my hand on his stomach and rest my head on his chest. He tenses underneath me until I feel his arm come around me and his hand rests on my back. “I don’t want to talk about the past, Colt. It’s done. We’ve both moved on. Let’s just try to get through tomorrow.”
It’s a lie, and I know it. I haven’t moved on. I haven’t gone on one date since the day he walked out of my apartment. But there’s no reason for him to know that. We lie there for so long, I finally start to drift in and out of sleep. I want to fight it. I want to stay awake as long as possible because I know I won’t have this opportunity again. Heck, I shouldn’t even want to be in this position after everything he put me through, but obviously I’m a glutton for punishment. I burrow deeper into his side until the whole front of my body is touching the side of his before I finally let sleep take me.
Colt
I hear the noise and know the sound. Someone has used a key to open the door. I start to move, and Kinsley protests next to me, holding me tighter. Fuck, I would give anything to stay in this bed right now. It’s been torture of the sweetest kind to lie next to her all night. I turn my head and kiss her forehead, hating that I have to wake her up and the reason for it. I push her to her back and put my hand over her mouth because I can’t risk her screaming. Her eyes pop open, and she stares at me. “There’s someone here,” I whisper to her, and her eyes get even bigger. “I’m going to go-“
She quickly shakes her head side to side, and it guts me how scared she is. “I’ll be fine. No one is going to hurt you. I promise you that. I need you to get under the bed and don’t come out until I come get you.”
She starts to shake her head, and I hear a sound from the other room and know I’m wasting time. I pull her from the bed and shove her underneath it. I lean down and touch my lips to hers because I can’t resist it. “I’ll be right back.”
She nods, and I stand up, grab my gun, and tiptoe out of the room. I get to the kitchen when I see the shadow. I know it’s not anyone with me or my team. They would never just show up at a safe house unannounced. Whoever is here is here for all the wrong reasons. I cock my gun, and the man turns his head toward me. “Who are you?”
The guy lifts a gun and without another thought, I take aim and shoot. I walk over to him and kick away the gun he dropped. I flip on the kitchen light. Even though it was dark, I made a perfect head shot.
I walk back to the bedroom and grab my phone off the end table. “Kins, come on out. Get dressed, we gotta go.”
She comes out. “I heard a gunshot. Is he—?”
I nod. “Yeah. Three down, one to go. Get ready.”
I walk back to the kitchen and take a picture. I can’t help but think that Riggs is going to be really upset because the man is missing part of his face, and that is going to make his job harder. I take the picture and send it with a request for clean-up before walking back to the bedroom.
Kinsley is standing in her bra and underwear, reaching for the clothes she had on yesterday. She stops midmotion, and so do I. I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s breathtaking. She’s tempting me in more ways than one. I should look away and give her privacy but I can’t.
She holds her pants up in front of her. “I know, I look different than I did.”
I stalk across the room and feel like I’ve been running a marathon instead of just walking across the room. I know she’s talking about the extra curves she has now, but to me she looks perfect. “You’re beautiful.”
She shakes her head. “I’m cute. Pretty maybe. But no one has ever said I’m beautiful.”
“You are beautiful.” I grip the pair of pants in her hands and pull her to me. She loses her balance and falls against me. “Don’t ever doubt that. If we had more time, I’d prove it to you.”
She stares up at me, opens her mouth, and closes it again. She tenses in my arms and puts her hands on my chest to push away from me. “But we don’t, right? Plus it’s not a good idea.”
“No, we gotta go. Our safe house isn’t very safe now.” I hand her the pants she dropped and pick up her blouse. I know I should look away, give her some privacy, but I don’t. I stand and watch her get dressed, wondering how come it’s even sexy when she’s putting clothes on. I adjust my cock in my shorts. I don’t think I can handle watching her take her clothes off.
7
Kinsley
This is way too much to deal with. The whole thing of having killers after me, Colt showing up to save the day, and the way that he’s been looking at me since he caught me getting dressed is just too much to process. He drives me to my rented apartment, and I don’t even ask how he knows where I live. I’m learning that Colt knows a lot more about me than I thought he did, but I don’t want to even examine that thought right now. He broke your heart, Kinsley, and most likely he’ll do it again.
With that thought in my head, I walk up the three flights of stairs and put my key in the door. Colt is right behind me, and I get more and more nervous because I can tell he’s on edge. No doubt, waiting on hitman number four to show up. I push open the door, and Colt crowds me into it, one arm around my waist and another with his gun in his hand. I close my eyes when I walk in because I’d already prepared myself the whole way over that my house is going to be trashed. I still can’t figure out why anyone would want me dead, and I figure it’s going to be like the movies, where the person’s house gets trashed because they’re searching for something. So I’m surprised when we walk in and everything is in place. It’s literally exactly how I left it.
Colt must have thought the same thing, because he “hmmms” before releasing me and closing and locking the door behind us. “Pack a few bags.”
I turn with my hand on my hip. He’s crazy. I’m not just packing up and leaving. “No.”
He laughs and shakes his head. “I can see you’re back to your old self now. Not going to let a few hitmen keep you down.”
“That’s not funny, Colt.”
He sighs and reaches for me, but I take a step back. He crosses his arms over his chest. “Look, all I meant was I’m glad you’re fighting back. Don’t let this get to you. We’re going to end this, and you’ll be back to living the life you want. But until then, I’m keeping you safe,
and the only way to do that is to take you back to Tennessee with me.”
I tremble just thinking about it. “I haven’t been back to Tennessee...”
He nods. “I know. Since you moved six days after that morning I left you. I know exactly how long it’s been since you’ve been home, Kins.”
“How do you know that?”
He takes a few steps away from me and looks out the window. No doubt he’s looking for anything suspicious in the parking lot, and I’m afraid he won’t answer. When I’m about to walk away, he says, “Because as soon as I got done with that first mission, I came looking for you. I knew I’d made a mistake.”
I nod, knowing that Colt is above all else a good man. I knew he would regret the way he ended things. If nothing else, I know he wouldn’t want to hurt me. “You were coming to apologize?”
He shakes and drops his head. He takes a deep breath and turns around to face me. “No, I was coming to beg for your forgiveness. I was coming to see if there was any chance you would be with me.”
His eyes meet mine, and I can see the truth in them. “Three years ago, Colt. Three years and you never thought to come and find me.”
“I didn’t have to find you. I knew exactly where you were. I know about the man that lived in the apartment above you and kept asking you out, I know about the student that caused you problems when you gave him a failing grade. I know about your coworkers and the one that I thought you went on a date with. By the way, he’s only breathing because I found out you were trying to help him get sober. He’s in a rehab facility in Texas right now. I may not have come and disrupted your life, but I’ve been with you this whole time, Kins.”
I shake my head, staring at him. “What? I don’t even know what to say to that, Colt. We’re over. It’s too late for us. I’ve built a life here, and I’m not giving up my dreams because you suddenly decide you want to be in my life.”
