“He’s got a record, Sam. One that his old man worked damn hard to keep hidden.”
Her shoulders hunched. “Quinlan?” She’d wondered about that. Two of the other kidnapped men had been arrested for drug possession.
“No, Max.”
She blinked. “You sure?”
“Samantha?” Max questioned. The thick carpet muffled his steps “Who is it? What’s going on?”
She glanced over her shoulder. Had Luke heard Max’s voice? She shook her head but kept her eyes on his.
“He killed a man,” Luke told her. “Do you hear me? He killed a man.”
Her lips felt numb so it was hard to ask. “When?”
“Hell… years ago. He was fourteen. Ridgeway used a bat to hit some guy named John Dean. The courts tried Ridgeway as a minor, and he got kicked out of the system when he was eighteen. Then when his mom hooked up with Malone, well, some judge magically sealed his files.”
But the SSD knew how to unseal any file.
“Watch your ass with him, got me?” Luke pressed.
Max’s blue gaze bored into her.
“And Beth Dunlap isn’t who she says, either,” Luke continued. “Her real name’s Kailey Elizabeth Gentry. She was busted for soliciting when she was eighteen.”
No one was ever who they seemed to be. Not even me.
Her breath choked out.
“Samantha?” Max’s brows shot up. “What is it?” Worry darkened his eyes. “Is it Quinlan? Has something happened to him?”
She shook her head.
“He’s there,” Luke growled in her ear.
Yes, Max stood right in front of her now and crowded her against the wall. She still had her weapon, but it was in the purse on the desk and no use to her.
You don’t need a weapon. He hasn’t hurt you. He’s not even touching you.
Luke’s sigh carried easily over the phone. “Stay on guard, every minute. Don’t trust this guy. Don’t trust anyone there.”
Once upon a time, trust had come easily for her. Those days were gone. She didn’t need Luke’s warning.
Screwing a killer. Is that how messed up her life had become?
She’d thought Max was the toughest-looking guy in the bar. The strongest. The sexiest.
But had there been more? Had she been drawn to him because he was dark inside? Dark, just like she was?
Her stomach clenched. “I can take care of myself,” she told Luke.
“If you need me, you call me,” Luke ordered. “Fuck the case. Call me.”
Sam pressed the screen and ended the call.
Max reached for her, and she flinched—an instinctive reaction.
His expression hardened. “You know.” A wealth of understanding and a simmer of rage filled the simple words.
Then Max stepped even closer, and her back rammed against the wall.
Be strong. Don’t do this. Stop backing down.
“Guess that was your Special Agent on the phone.” Max’s lips twisted into a mirthless smile. “And let me guess; he’s been digging around in my past.”
“I-it’s procedure.” It was. “Family members and close acquaintances always have to be-be investigated.” Killer.
Max? No, he wasn’t a cold-blooded killer. He’d held her when she woke up screaming in the night.
His hands rose and trapped her against the wall. “Big tough agent,” he murmured. “But you’re so scared right now, you’re shaking.” His eyes held hers. “Does it make you afraid, knowing how close you are to a killer?”
“St-stop it.”
His lips grazed her jaw. “You said killers all belong in cages, right? But you let me touch you. Let me taste every part of you.”
She brought her hands up and pressed them against his chest. He didn’t move.
“You had sex with a killer,” Max continued.
Sam shoved him back. “Get away from me!” The order came as nearly a scream when it should have been a controlled order. But she was shattering from the inside out. Max didn’t know, couldn’t know. Her secrets were hers. No one had dug them up.
“You wanted me closer before.” How could blue eyes look so dark? “You all but begged me to get closer.”
She attacked. Her hands balled into fists. Sam slammed her shoulder into his mid-section even as she struck out with her right hand. Take him down. Take him out.
They crashed to the floor. Max grunted at the impact and his hands came up.
Fight back, fight—
He grabbed her wrists, rolled and twisted so that she was under him. Sam head-butted him and bucked, kicking out with her feet. No, not done yet, not out. She was strong. Stronger.
“You won’t hurt me anymore!” The words burst from her as the past tangled with the present. “I won’t beg. I won’t—”
“Shit, Samantha, for Christ’s sake, stop!”
A fist pounded on the door. “What the hell is happening in there?” Frank roared.
The doorknob rattled. She’d locked the door automatically to secure the room.
Max’s breath panted out as he stared down at her. No fury glittered in his gaze. Worry. A touch of fear. For her.
Broken. Oh, no, oh God, no—if Hyde found out what she’d just done—
“We’re fine,” Max yelled, but his hold on her didn’t loosen. “Just leave us alone!”
She could feel Frank’s hesitation, but after a few beats of silence, she heard the thuds of his fading footsteps.
Her eyes squeezed shut, and her head fell back against the carpet. What had she done? And why?
“You’re not what you pretend to be,” Max said, voice rumbling as the fingers holding her began to stroke her in long, slow glides. Trying to soothe. “You’re not the tough agent, are you?”
She wanted to be.
He lowered her hands to the carpet, but kept his caressing hold. “Someone hurt you,” he said with certainty and, finally, with the anger that she’d expected.
Her lashes lifted. “Let me go.” They’d make it through tonight. Somehow, some way, they’d make it through. After the exchange tomorrow, she’d tell Hyde what happened. She couldn’t protect Max—not when she was the one attacking him.
And Hyde would see that he’d been right. She shouldn’t be back on duty. She wasn’t ready. Not even close.
“Were you raped?” he asked with his body flush against hers, strong muscles tight.
Sam jerked beneath him. I-I’ll do any-anything! Just d-don’t… “No,” she whispered. The truth. That bastard hadn’t been interested in sex. Just fear. “Let me up.”