“Okay.” I filled my lungs and released the air slowly, sorry for what I was about to do. “I don’t know all of their names,” I said, lying. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about Sabrina. She was a girl. No one would suspect her. Who’s to say if I saw the driver’s face or not? She was in it to help my biker guys, and for some reason, I felt I owed her for that. “The three I do know, the three who are being blackmailed, are Michael, Eric, and Donovan. There are two more, but I don’t know their names. Oh, wait,” I said, rethinking that. Donovan had mentioned blondie’s name. “There was a blond guy named Edwards. He wants to take me out.”
She wrote down everything I told her. Without looking up, she asked, “Really? Is he cute?”
“No, I mean, like to keep me from testifying, he wants my head on a platter.”
“You just make friends wherever you go, don’t you?”
“It’s weird, right?” Then I leaned into her. “They’re not bad guys, Agent Carson. They were being blackmailed, for real.”
“You’ve said that, but no one held a gun to their heads in there.”
I knew she’d see it that way. She had to, and I couldn’t blame her, but I had to at least try to get the other guy convicted as well. He had just as much to do with this as my biker guys, if not more. No one except me blackmailed my friends and got away with it.
17
I meant to behave.
There were just too many other options.
—T-SHIRT
After giving my statement of events to Agent Carson, I fired Garrett, claiming irreconcilable differences, but told him to keep his schedule open just in case; then I headed home, craving sweet potato pie for some reason. That banana didn’t last long. And I felt dirty after eating it.
I started up the staircase to my apartment, then noticed I grew warmer with each step that led to the third floor. And there were a lot of steps. When I reached the landing, the heat emanating off Reyes was scorching, and I couldn’t tell if he was hot and bothered or just angry. Possibly a little of both.
The hallway sat in total darkness, and either the wiring had gone wonky again or Reyes had unscrewed the lightbulbs. I fished the keys out of my bag and walked to my door in the void of illumination. It’s not as though it was a long or particularly hazardous journey, although with Reyes Farrow waiting at the end of it, it could turn that way quickly. I felt for the lock and inserted the key.
“Do you have my money?” I asked, feeling like a mob boss. Or a pimp.
“I need you to stay in tonight,” he said, completely ignoring me.
My door gave, and I asked, “You coming in?”
“No. I just came to tell you to stay in tonight.”
“Is that an order?”
“Yes.”
I looked over my shoulder. I could just make out his shadow. “You should tread softly. The caffeine is wearing off.”
He walked up behind me. I felt him raise an arm over my shoulder and brace it against the doorjamb. God, he was good at that.
“Why?” I asked, dropping my keys back into my bag. “Why stay in tonight?”
“You know why.”
“Are they coming after me?” I asked, only partially kidding.
He leaned in until his mouth was at my ear. “Yes.”
I couldn’t decide if the shiver that ran along my spine was conjured because of the image his words had provoked or the heat of his breath rushing over my skin. He smelled like smoke and ash, thunder and lightning.
“Are you in love with him?” he asked, his deep voice soft with uncertainty.
I turned to face him in surprise. “Who?”
He lowered his head and looked at me from underneath his lashes. As dark as his eyes were, they still shimmered in the low light, the gold and green flecks like reflectors in the pale glow of a full moon. “You know who. The guy you were kissing today.”
“Which one?” I asked, teasing him.
But he didn’t bite. A sharp ache wafted off him, but I couldn’t tell if it was physical or emotional. Surely my macking on some guy in an insane asylum wouldn’t hurt him. He’d been living with his stalker, for heaven’s sake.
He curled one arm around my waist and pulled me softly against him. “I just came to tell you to stay in,” he said before leaning in to kiss my neck. He stayed there a moment, breathing me in, then dropped his arms and walked away. The air cooled instantly in his wake.
“Wait, Reyes.” I hurried after him, took the stairs two at a time to keep up with his urgent need to be away from me.
“I just came to tell you to stay in.”
“Reyes, for the love of Pete. And his dragon.” I grabbed his arm and turned him toward me. We were on the second-floor landing then. It still had lights, and I could see him more clearly, including the fact that he was carrying a duffel bag over his shoulder. Blood had soaked through the front of his shirt in streaks, and I was certain he was covered in duct tape again. “I thought that would heal faster.”
He examined his shirt and cursed. “It did. These are new. It won’t take long, though.”
I tamped down my alarm. It would do me no good. But my fear was uncontrollable. “Are they here?”
His head tilted in thought, measuring the energy around us. “I don’t feel them now, but I did before you got here. I think they’ve figured out where you live.”
“Wonderful. And as gallant as the intention is, you are in no condition to be hunting them down and going all ninja on their ass.”