by Marie Force
“Stay.”
My eyes go wide as I stare at his arresting, compelling face. His eyes are dark and gorgeous, his cheekbones prominent and his lips just the right size. He’s often mistaken for the actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, which I can totally see, even if Sebastian says there’s no way he looks like him. “Why?” I feel like I did the time I fell off the slide at school and had the wind knocked out of me.
“No one would think to look for you here. If the piece of shit does something he shouldn’t, the press will descend on your place, Flynn’s, Hayden’s, Jasper’s, Kristian’s. They’d never think to look for you here.”
The possibility of Rafe releasing photos or anything else about me has my stomach turning with nausea. He wouldn’t dare. Would he? “That’s true.” It’s no picnic being a celebrity these days, no matter how great it might seem from the outside looking in. The internet and social media have made it a nightmare in many ways. “You don’t think he’ll release the photos, do you?”
“He’d be a fool to do that. It’d be career suicide for one thing. For another thing, revenge porn is illegal in California.”
“Obviously, he doesn’t care too much about his career in the first place if he’d do what he did to me. He has to know that Quantum will pull its business from his company.”
“I suspect that’s the least of what Quantum will do.”
A pounding sound echoes through the condo.
“Sebastian! Open up!”
“Speaking of Quantum.” He smiles. “That’ll be Flynn. You ready for this?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
He kisses my forehead. “If they get to be too much, let me know and I’ll kick their asses out.”
“I will. Thank you.”
“You got it.” He opens the door and stops Flynn from charging inside by putting his hand on Flynn’s chest. “Take it easy.”
Flynn starts to snap back at him, but then takes a look at Sebastian’s face, which must be set in that ferocious thing he does when he or someone he loves is threatened. I’ve seen it before and thought that I wouldn’t want to cross him when he’s wearing that expression. Apparently, it works on Flynn, too.
“I would like to see Marlowe. Please.”
Sebastian steps aside to admit Flynn and his wife, Natalie, who follows him in, moving a little slower than her husband due to her pregnancy.
Flynn gasps when he sees my bruised face. “Mo.” He drops to his knees next to me and takes my hand. “Oh my God. I’m going to fucking murder him.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I really am.”
Natalie places a hand on his head and gives a gentle tug of his dark hair. “Stop it.”
I love, love, love the way she manages him. And I love, love, love how much he loves me. I reach for him, and he comes to me, wrapping his arms around me.
“You gotta let me kill him.” His voice is thick with unshed tears.
“No.”
“Then let me ruin him.”
“Please do.”
“With pleasure.” He pulls back from me, brushes the hair from my face and takes a closer look at my bruises as well as the rope burn on my neck. A nerve in his cheek pulses with tension. “Where else are you hurt?”
“My ribs and back, but I’m okay.”
“Did he…”
“No, he didn’t.”
“When did this happen?”
“Night before last.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I needed a day to get my head together before I told everyone. Seb has been great. Please don’t be angry with him.”
“All I care about is that you’re all right. That’s the only thing that matters.”
“I’m pissed off, but I’m all right. I swear.”
“I’m glad you’re pissed off, because I’m fucking furious. That he would dare to lay a finger on you…”
“Seb said the same thing.”
Hayden comes rushing in through the door Seb left propped open. He takes one look at my face and Flynn on his knees next to me and lets out a roar that can probably be heard for miles.
Addie is behind him, out of breath from running to catch up.
Hayden spins around as if to leave, but Addie stands firmly in his way. “I told you not to do exactly what you’re doing.”
“Addie—”
“Hayden! Stop it. Right now.”
“Hayden, come here.” I extend my hand to him.
Flynn and Nat move so Hayden can get to me.
He takes my hand, and I give it a yank, bringing him down on the sofa next to me.
“I’m okay.”
“He… I can’t… I’m going to…”
I smile. “I’m okay.”
“Mo…”
“I know.” I reach for him and hug him, feeling blessed to have these incredible men as two of my closest friends, the brothers I never had. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do for me, which they’ve just proven yet again by the way they reacted to seeing me injured.
“I knew I hated that son of a bitch for a reason,” Hayden says.
“She says we’re allowed to ruin him, but we can’t murder him,” Flynn tells his partner.
Hayden scowls fiercely. “He’s going to be sorry he ever met us and that he ever fucked with you.”
“He texted me to say he has pictures and isn’t afraid to use them. I made him sign the NDA, but who knows what he’ll do.”
“Wait…” Hayden glances at Addie and then back at me. “This happened at the club?”
“Yes. I never should’ve taken him there. I know that now—”
“Marlowe.”
One word from Sebastian shuts me down.
His intense gaze connects with mine. “You did nothing wrong.”
I find myself staring at him, drinking in the words and the fierce way he says them.
“You did nothing wrong.” He says it more softly the second time, but his eyes give away the torment inside him, making me see how upsetting it is to him that I’d blame myself in any way.
“He’s right.” Hayden squeezes my hand. “There’s only one person to blame here, and we’re going to make him pay, Mo. You can count on that.”
I lean my head on Hayden’s shoulder and release a deep breath. If I can’t look away from Sebastian, oh well. Who could blame me?
Chapter 7
Jasper, Ellie, Kristian, Aileen, Emmett and Leah arrive over the next half hour, and Marlowe has to go through it again for each couple. I can tell that she’s exhausted and emotionally drained, but she continuously assures each of our friends that she’s all right. She takes care of them when they should be taking care of her, but they’re so upset by what’s happened that they can’t pretend otherwise.
Leah is in tears as she sits next to Marlowe, holding her hand. The younger woman has fully embraced her position as Marlowe’s assistant and has made herself indispensable to Mo.
With Marlowe surrounded by the women, I head for the kitchen, in need of a beer. I’m taking my first sip when I turn to find Hayden has joined me.
“What the hell were you thinking keeping this to yourself for more than a day?”
“I was doing what she asked me to do, the same thing you would’ve done if you’d been the one to find her bruised, bloody, hog-tied and barely conscious in the dungeon.”
“Jesus.” Hayden runs his hands through his hair, tugging viciously. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to come at you. It’s just…”
“What? You don’t think I’m the right one to take care of your precious Marlowe? Here’s a newsflash for you, boss man. She’s precious to me, too. So back the fuck off.” He hates when I call him that, and I know it, but I do it anyway because he’s pissing me off.
I’m prepared for him to come back at me, because that’s what we do—what we’ve always done—but rather, he tips his head and gives me a weird look.
“What?” I rub my cheek, wondering if there’s something on my fac
e.
“What’s going on, Seb?”
Fuck. Proceed with caution… “Other than our mutual friend getting beaten up by her asshole boyfriend?”
“Yeah, other than that.”
“Nothing is going on.”
“Why’d you bring her here? Why not my house? Addie is one of her closest friends.”
“She wanted a minute before she had to face you and Flynn and the others. I brought her here so she could have some privacy.”
“From us? We’re her family!”
“And I’m not?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Isn’t it?”
Addie comes into the kitchen, loaded for bear. “She can hear you two fighting, so maybe you could table this argument and have it another time?”
“Sorry,” I mumble. “Your husband is being an asshole.”
“He gets like that sometimes.”
Hayden scowls furiously at his wife.
“What? You do. This is no time to be questioning why anyone did what they did during a crisis.”
“I’ll deal with you when we get home,” Hayden says.
Addie rolls her eyes. “Spare me.”
I snort with laughter as Hayden’s wife makes him her bitch. She’s absolutely perfect for him, and I would’ve hand-chosen her to tame my ferocious friend.
He glares at me. “Shut the fuck up.”
“You shut the fuck up.”
“Okay, children.” Addie gets between us, holding up her hands. “Make yourselves useful and order some food for this crowd. Hurry up about it.” She turns and leaves the room.
Hayden pulls out his phone.
“Whipped,” I say under my breath, earning an elbow to the gut from him.
“And proud of it. You oughta try it.”
I rub my poor gut. “That’ll be the day.”
“Tell me the truth,” he says without looking up from his phone.
“About what?”
“You got a thing for Marlowe?”
I owe this man my life, and I mean that sincerely. He saved me from myself. In all the years I’ve worked for him, I’ve never once lied to his face. Until now. “Shut up, Hayden.”
He glances up at me. “That’s not a no.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be ordering food?”
“Already done. I texted Diego’s and told them to send us everything, enough for ten, along with margarita stuff and more beer.”
“Good call. She’ll love that.” Marlowe’s adoration of Mexican food is well documented, and it’s the only thing she’s capable of cooking.
“Are you going to answer the question or continue to dodge, which tells me everything I need to know?”
I look him dead in the eyes. “I’m doing for her exactly what she’d do for me, what any of us would do for each other. Don’t make it into something it’s not.”
“I’m not. Are you?”
“I say this with all due respect. Fuck. Off. Hayden.”
The bastard cracks up laughing. “I see how it is.”
“You don’t see anything, and if you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to throw you out of my house.”
“Whatever.”
He knows I won’t actually do it, but he should know that I want to. I take a step closer so I’m right in his face. “Knock it off. I mean it. She’s very fragile right now, and the last thing she needs from her closest friends is unnecessary rumors or gossip.”
“Easy, killer. I’m not starting rumors. I was merely asking my friend a question.”
“Sure, that’s all you were doing. Rather than grilling me, why don’t you start thinking about what we’re going to do about the son of a bitch who hurt her.”
“Oh, I’m thinking about that. I’m definitely thinking about that, and I believe we’ll start with a call to his boss to let him know we’re more than willing to move Quantum’s business to another distribution company in France unless they get rid of him immediately.”
“That’d be a good place to start. Then what?”
“Then we go after him personally. I’m going to have Gordon investigate the living shit out of the guy.”
“Already did that,” Flynn says when he joins us.
The two of us stare at him in disbelief.
“You did not.” Hayden keeps his voice down so we won’t be overheard.
“You bet your ass I did. I knew there was something wrong with that guy. I knew it. I asked Gordon to look into him months ago.”
“What did you find?” Hayden asks.
“His ex-wife accused him of roughing her up during their divorce.”
I’m incensed. “And you never said anything to Marlowe? What the fuck, Flynn?”
“I was afraid she’d be pissed I had him investigated. I blame myself for this. I should’ve told her.”
“It’s not your fault, Flynn.” Hayden looks at me as he tries to comfort Flynn. “You were looking out for her.”
Flynn runs both hands through his hair, frustration coming off him in waves. “I thought the guy was a jackass, but I never thought he’d have the audacity to hurt someone as powerful in the industry as Marlowe is.”
I have to acknowledge that I felt the same way. “None of us thought he’d have the balls to mess with Mo.”
“She seemed so happy with him. I didn’t want to fuck with that. And now look at her.” Flynn’s voice breaks. “I want to find him and do the same thing to him that he did to her.”
“So do I,” Hayden says, “but we’re not going to do that. Do you hear me?”
Flynn looks down at the floor, every muscle in his body tense.
“Flynn. Do you hear me?”
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.”
“Do you?”
“Yes! I won’t do it. But I want to. Very badly.”
“We all do, but we can’t let him have the upper hand by damaging ourselves in the process of damaging him. There are other ways.”
“What kind of photos does he have?” Flynn asks.
I tighten my grip on the countertop behind me. “Of her after he beat her up. He sent her one to make sure she keeps her mouth shut.”
Flynn sucks in a sharp deep breath, and I immediately fear he’s about to take back his promise not to personally go after Rafe.
“He signed the NDA before she took him in,” I add, “but he has the photos and told her he’s not afraid to leak them if she decides to come after him. Right after he sent that text, we blocked him.”
Flynn crosses his arms and silently seethes. There’s no other word for it. I start to worry that he’s going to actually blow a gasket. “If he’s already left the country, and he probably has, we’ll be hard-pressed to enforce that NDA, which, of course, he knows. We need to move fast to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
Kristian comes into the increasingly crowded kitchen, cell phone in hand. “I want to call Pierre Marchand.” He’s the president of Cirque, the company Rafe works for.
Hayden nods. “Do it.”
I check the time. It’s almost five o’clock here. “It’s the middle of the night in France.”
“Who cares?” Flynn asks. “We need to put a lid on this before he does something with those photos.” He looks to Kristian. “Make the call.”
As Kristian puts through the call and waits for Pierre to answer, the rest of us coexist in tense silence. From the other room, we hear the others talking to Marlowe. The sound of her distinct laugh calms me somewhat. If she can laugh after what she’s endured, then I can calm the fuck down and help do what needs to be done to protect her.
“I know it’s the middle of the night,” Kristian says, “but we’ve got a situation that requires your immediate attention.” He goes on to tell Pierre about what happened between Rafe and Marlowe, providing chilling details that make me sick all over again. “Yes, we’re sure it was him. She said it was him, and don’t you dare even suggest that she’s lying. He’s texted her with photos of her after the assault and threatened
to release them to the media, despite the fact that he’s under an NDA. What you need to be doing is telling me, right now, what you’re going to do about it—and I encourage you to think before you speak if you’d like to continue working with our company.”
Quantum is Pierre’s most profitable client, and Kristian’s statement has the desired effect. Kristian ends the call with assurances that Pierre will immediately meet with Rafe, who he confirmed is back in France, to terminate his employment and to make clear that if those photos are released, Pierre will see the man prosecuted and his name ruined in the industry. Perhaps that ought to happen anyway, but it would require Marlowe pressing charges, which she’s indicated isn’t going to happen.
“We need to report this to the authorities here,” Kristian says.
“I agree,” Hayden replies.
“No.” The three of them look at me. “Her privacy is more important to her than seeing him charged, and she has the right to make that call, even if we don’t agree.”
My comment is met with total silence that puts me immediately on edge. They may be my closest friends, but they’re also my bosses. Though they never pull rank on me, I have no idea how they’ll react to my line in the sand on Marlowe’s behalf.
“He’s right,” Hayden finally says. “It’s not our call. It’s hers.”
“And she made that call yesterday when she refused to be transported to the hospital or call the cops,” I tell them. “We have to respect her wishes.”
“What’s going on?” Marlowe asks when she comes into the kitchen.
The rest of us have to squeeze closer together to make room for her.
No one says anything.
“Whatever you’re planning to do, stop it right now. I’ll take care of it.”
“We already did one thing,” Kris says.
“What?”
“I talked to Pierre and told him the scumbag has photos he’s threatening to release.”
“That’s fine, but nothing else. I want to do this my way.”
“You can’t let him get away with this, Mo,” Flynn says.
“I have no intention of letting him get away with anything, but you have to back off and give me room to breathe and think. I know it’s very upsetting for all of you to see me hurt, especially after you tried to warn me about him.”
