Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Some prick had Wren on the ground. His hand was tangled in her beautiful hair. He had a knife at her throat.
“ Wren!” Jake roared as he closed in. Oh, but that jerk was about to get the ass-kicking of his life. No one— no one hurt Wren in this world. His heart thudded hard in his chest.
The man had a hoodie over his head. He hauled Wren upright as she sputtered out sand from her mouth. Her sandals were on the beach. Her body trembling.
The knife was still at her throat.
“Walk away, hero,” the man ordered.
Jake stopped. He did not walk away. “You’re confused.”
Wren’s eyes widened.
“You think you get to touch her. To hurt her.” Jake shook his head. “You don’t. I’ll make sure you thoroughly understand the lesson before you leave tonight. And when you leave, you’ll be going to jail. With a broken hand.” Calm. Utterly truthful. Jake never liked to make a promise that he didn’t intend to keep.
“You think you’re gonna take me out?” A laugh.
“Yes.” Another promise.
“Take us both out?” the man added.
Hell. A second attacker. Jake had been so focused on this prick and Wren that he hadn’t sensed more danger. Could this night get worse?
Wren’s head jerked a bit to the right, and Jake realized she was looking behind him. The knife was at her throat, and she should have been statue-still with terror. Instead, she suddenly flew forward with a scream and leapt right at Jake.
Her body hurtled into his. He caught her, his arms wrapping around her, and they both tumbled onto the sand.
“Gun!” Wren gasped as she held him. “Gun, gun, gun!”
He rolled her, putting Wren beneath him even as the bastard in the hoodie raced away. For a moment, Jake couldn’t move. His body crushed down against Wren.
Stop the threat. Save Wren.
He heaved up.
“There was someone behind you with a gun!” Wren tried to heave him right back down. “It was aimed at you! I thought he was going to shoot!”
Both attackers had gotten away. Or, correction, they were trying to get away. He couldn’t let that happen. He had promises to keep. He broke free of Wren’s grip. “Get back inside the bar. Call the cops!”
“What? Jake!”
He took off after the fleeing attackers. Actually, he could only see one attacker. The bastard in the hoodie. He’d never seen the guy with the gun. The jerk must have seriously hauled ass because he was already out of sight. Jake picked up speed as he rushed after the SOB who’d put his hands on Wren. He’d promised the man broken fingers and a trip to jail, and that was exactly what the prick was going to get.
Except…
The guy wasn’t running blindly. He wasn’t heading back to the bar or a nearby beach house. He was rushing toward the little dock that waited in the distance. A boat was bobbing, someone already on the vessel.
What the fuck?
Jake had his own gun out. He didn’t even remember when he’d grabbed it. Carrying the gun was second nature to him.
The boat’s motor buzzed. The prick in the hoodie double-timed his escape toward the vessel. It had already been untied.
Shit. Jake knew a getaway scene when he saw one.
The asshole leapt onto the boat. It hurtled away even as Jake considered the jump that it would take to land him on that vessel. Too damn far.
The boat zipped into the night.
He stopped at the edge of the narrow dock. His gun up. Aimed. The prick in the hoodie was looking back at him. The man shoved the hoodie back. Too far away for Jake to see his face clearly. His face or the boat’s driver. Two sonsofbitches on his new hit list.
His eyes narrowed as he prepared for the shot. He was going to?—
“Jake!”
What the hell? Hadn’t he told the woman to get to the bar? Jaw locking, he whirled to see Wren creeping toward the dock.
“I thought you might need backup,” she said, voice breaking a little bit. “I-I was worried about you.”
Worried about him?
The boat was gone. For the moment. But he would be finding those two bastards. He would keep his promises. This was a delay. Not an escape.
Protect Wren.
Yeah, okay, fine, so Eb had not been bullshitting or being melodramatic when he sent out that order. Someone wanted to hurt their Wren.
My Wren.
Not happening. He stalked toward her.
Her hands twisted in front of her. Her eyes were on the boat. “Guessing the bad guys got away?”
Only for the moment. He would find them. Make them pay. Make them bleed. Break the hand that had touched her.
She rocked forward. “I, um, I did call the cops. Then I chased after you. Or maybe I chased after you and called the cops at the same time, and I?—”
He was right in front of her. Touching close. His hand curled under her chin. Tipped back her head.
“Jake?” Uncertainty. Fear.
His mouth took hers. Her lips were parted because she’d just breathed his name. His tongue thrust into her mouth, and he took. He tasted. He fucking claimed the way he’d always wanted to claim her but never had.
Instead of taking what he’d wanted—so many times—he’d held back. Stayed in the shadows.
Tried to be a good brother.
Screw that.
Wren had been attacked. A knife had been at her throat. And when she’d been terrified, she’d screamed for him. He could have lost her. If he hadn’t been on that damn beach, his Wren could have been taken.
Taken before he’d ever had her. Hell, the fuck, no.
No more holding back. Forget being a good brother. Instead, he was going to have what he wanted.
A moan built in Wren’s throat. Her body trembled against his.
She kissed him back. Kissed. Him. Back. Even after her attack, after having to feel completely terrified, she kissed him back.
He kissed her as if he had no intention of ever letting her go. Spoiler alert, I will not let go. You will belong to me, Wren. Only me.
But he couldn’t very well fuck her on the dock with the bad guys zooming away on their boat. His head lifted. “I will keep you safe.”
Her hands had balled up the front of his shirt. “What is happening right now?”
He was taking what he wanted. Protecting her. “Your time with Eb is over.”
“ What?”
He needed to get her off the dock. To a safe location.
His fingers slid down her throat. Touched something wet. Warm. “Wren?”
“What do you mean my time with Eb is over? Eb is my friend. I love him!”
The fuck you love him.
But he didn’t say those words because his fingers were wet and warm from touching her. “Wren. You’re bleeding?”
“Uh…” She stumbled back. “I think the knife cut me when I ran for you.”
When she’d barreled forward to save him from a potential gunshot blast. Only the second attacker had never fired.
Her hand rose to her throat.
He winced. Oh, shit. Oh, no. The thing about Wren…
She touched her throat. Squinted at her fingers as she stared at them. Wren had never, ever been able to handle the sight of?—
He caught her as she fainted. He scooped her into his arms. Not the first time Wren had passed out at the sight of blood. And not the first time he’d caught her so she wouldn’t fall.
His forehead pressed against hers. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ve got you.” He had no intention of letting go.
The blood was everywhere. Her fingers. Her arms. Her face. She could feel the stickiness on her skin, and it absolutely horrified her. She wanted it gone, gone, gone , but she had to just sit there. He’d told her to sit there. To not move. To not make a sound.
She had to sit in the blood and not move.
But it was so sticky. It was hardening on her skin. She could feel it. Smell it. Taste it. How long had she been there, covered in blood? How long would she be there?
A scream bubbled in her throat, and Wren knew it was going to break free. When the scream erupted, she would be dead.
As dead as the two people near her?—
The scream broke free even as her eyes flew open.
“Easy, Wren.” A light flashed in her eyes. “You’re good.”
I’ll never be good. A terrible truth that she kept deep inside. But…
Her gaze whipped around.
She was in an ambulance. On a hard gurney. A familiar face leaned over her. A handsome face. Boyishly charming.
Hayden Washington. His dark eyes held worry, but his expression was reassuring. Probably because Hayden was in his EMT mode. “You’re fine,” Hayden told her. “Just a little cut. Doesn’t even need stitches. I was worried when Jake brought you over and you were dead to the world, but he said you’d just had a bad fright.”
A bad fright. Check. She’d certainly had that. “Some jerk tried to—” Wren stopped. Frowned. Sat up. As she sat up, her fingers automatically went to her throat. Instead of touching skin, she felt the edge of a bandage.
“All taken care of,” Hayden assured her with a broad grin. Another old high school friend. Hayden had gone from being the star of the basketball team to being the hero who rode to the rescue as an EMT. “Though I can certainly take you to the hospital for observation…?”
“No.” No hospital. That would be another trip straight to nightmare land for her. Not that any of her friends knew about her nightmares. Not even Jake and Eb. She swallowed. “I’m good but thank you.”
“The sheriff is outside, talking with Jake. Wants to know about the guy who attacked you.”
But it hadn’t just been an attack. She replayed the scene in her head. The man’s words haunted her. He can’t fucking save you. You’re coming with me.
“Good thing Jake was there, huh?” Hayden continued as he bent over his med bag.
A very good thing. And not something that she was willing to chalk up to coincidence.
“You know the sheriff is freaked. Can’t have people getting the idea this isn’t a safe tourist spot.”
Right. Safe. That was the big word. The area was supposed to be safe. Her life was supposed to be safe. The past was dead and buried. The attack can’t be about my past. It can’t be. Her hand dropped. “Thanks for patching me up, Hayden.”
He looked back at her. Worry lingered in the darkness of his stare. “You sure you don’t want transport to the hospital?”
What she was wanted was Jake.
“I’m fine.” Liar, liar. But she had been far from fine for most of her life, and no one knew the truth. Well, Uncle Milo knew. Only he would happily carry her secrets to the grave.
She scooted off the gurney and eased out of the ambulance. Her first goal would be to find Jake.
“What in the hell are you doing?”
Found him.
She turned to the right. Surprise, surprise, Jake was already closing in and glowering at her. The sheriff followed right on his heels.
“Get back in the ambulance,” Jake ordered.
Someone was still as bossy as ever.
“You need to go to the hospital.”
Had he missed her glamorous bandage? There was plenty of lighting around them—and a crowd, too. He’d carried her back to the bar’s parking lot. Onlookers gawked. The parking lot lights—plus the swirling lightbars on top of the sheriff’s department cruisers—illuminated the scene. She motioned to her neck. “All better.”
“The hell you are.”
“The hell I am.” A nod. She squared her shoulders and stiffened her spine. “I’m not getting back in the ambulance.” Not on the agenda. “I’m going home.”
“Uh, hi, Wren.” The sheriff waved to her. But the worried lines on her face seemed even deeper than normal. “Heard you were nearly mugged tonight.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.” The guy hadn’t gone for her purse. In fact, Wren spun around and swiped the bag from the back of the ambulance. She slid the thin strap on her shoulder before facing the sheriff again.
The sheriff—a family friend named Honey Jackson—frowned. “You weren’t mugged? But Jake here was just saying that you were attacked on the way home.”
“Attacked. Yes. But the man who put the knife to my throat didn’t want to mug me.”
Honey ambled closer. Her voice dropped. “Sexual assault?” The words carried just to Wren. And to a still fiercely glowering Jake.
“No.” But she couldn’t know that for sure, could she? She didn’t know what the man had intended for after. After he’d gotten her away from the beach. “I-I don’t know.” Uncertainty. The hard flicker of fear.
Jake reached for her hand.
She pulled in a breath. “The attacker—the man said I was coming with him.”
“Oh, hell, no.” Honey cocked her head. The small, gold earrings in her lobes danced. “He takes you to a secondary scene, and your odds of survival in that situation plummet. We would have been lucky to ever locate your body.”
Once upon a time, Honey Jackson had worked at the Bureau. Every now and then, she’d scare locals with her stories of tracking down serial killers. She’d retired and become sheriff in the area about ten years ago. Said it was because she liked the beach. And because there didn’t tend to be serial killers in the picturesque town.
There usually wasn’t much danger at all in the area.
Until now.
“Jake saved me,” Wren said.
“So I hear.” From Honey. She squinted at Wren’s neck. “The attacker sliced you with a knife?” Her brown eyes had narrowed.
“I lunged away from him.” Had Jake already told the sheriff all of this information? “There was a second person there with him, aiming a gun. I was afraid Jake would get shot.” The lunge had been an instinct. She’d just had to get to Jake. Knife or no knife.
Honey glanced toward Jake. Her lips—painted a bold red—pressed together for just a moment, before she questioned, “Bet that pissed you off, didn’t it, Jake? When she got cut saving your hide.”
“It didn’t thrill me.”
Honey grunted. “Understatement, I’m sure.”
He edged closer to Wren. “I want her out of here. If she needs to come to the station tomorrow, I’ll bring her in. She can answer all of your questions then. Right now, there are too many people here. Too many unknowns.”
What was that supposed to mean? Her gaze cut around the crowd. Was he suggesting that her attacker could be in the crowd? Correction, her attackers could be there?
“Good thing you were on the beach tonight.” Honey’s hands went to her hips. Her badge gleamed. “Just what brought you to town, Jake? Not like you come around real often these days. Did you miss home?”
“I came for Wren.”
Automatically, her stare jumped to him. She found his stare locked and loaded on her.
“I came for Wren,” he repeated, a little rougher this time.
She shook her head. No way were those words the truth.
“Decided it was time to stop waiting in the shadows and finally take what I always wanted.”
This was not happening. Had she hit her head when she’d fainted? The sand should have been a safe place to fall. She didn’t actually remember connecting with the sand, though.
“You two some kind of couple now?” Honey wanted to know.
“No,” Wren denied.
“Hell, yes,” Jake affirmed.
Wren’s mouth could not hang open more.
“What does Eb think about this?” Honey asked. One hand rose to lightly pat her short, dark hair.
“I don’t really give a shit what he thinks.” Jake smiled. Wren caught the shark’s grin in the flash of swirling lights from one of the cruisers. “Now I’m taking my Wren home. You’ve got my number if you need to reach me.” He let go of Wren’s hand, but only so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders and haul her against him. “Let’s go, baby.”
Baby? What alternate universe had she fallen into? Wait. If she was having auditory hallucinations, then maybe she should take Hayden up on the offer of a ride to the hospital.
Honey stepped into her path. “I need a description of the attackers.”
An important point. Definitely. But… “I never saw the man’s face—uh, the guy with the knife, that is. He was big. Maybe around six-foot-two? Three?” Hard to say for certain. He’d been close to Jake’s towering size, though. “He had on a hoodie. The hood covered his head. It was big and billowing so I couldn’t see much about his body. Certainly not his face. And when he held me, he was mostly behind my body.”
A grunt. Honey always grunted when she wasn’t pleased. “And the other bozo?”
“I saw even less of him. My eyes were locked on the gun.” She’d been freaking out. Her only thought had been of getting to Jake.
“One guy had the knife at your throat when you lunged for Jake?” Now Honey whistled. “You’re lucky he didn’t cut you from ear to ear.”
Ear to ear. Blood pouring down. Covering everything. Covering me. Dripping, dripping, dripping… Her body swayed.
“Wren?” A sharp bark from Jake.
She blinked. Sucked in several, quick breaths.
“You look like you are about to pass out on me again.”
“It’s the champagne.” Total lie. “I think it’s hitting me too hard.” She’d lied for so long. “Take me home?” He’d said that before, that he’d take her home. Wren desperately wanted to get out of there.
Jake nodded. But instead of heading toward the beach and walking toward her uncle’s house, he led her toward a waiting Jeep. He opened the passenger door. Moving on autopilot, she climbed inside. Whispers and stares followed her. When the door closed, she actually managed to pull in a deep breath.
He jumped in moments later and had them wheeling out of the lot. Her head tipped back against the seat. The drive to her uncle’s house would take longer than a walk because of the way the streets snaked, but after her last trip on the beach, she could certainly appreciate the safety of the vehicle.
“Don’t ever do that again.” Low. Lethal. Very growly.
Her head turned toward him. “Do what, specifically? It was kind of a big night.” Did he mean… Don’t kiss me in a crowded bar. Don’t run out into the night. Or don’t ? —
“He could have killed you right in front of me. You’re lucky his arm dropped when you lunged forward.”
A tired smile pulled at her lips. “I was happy to save you from getting shot in the back. That’s what friends do. They save friends.”
He braked at the light. A hard brake that had her shoving forward against her seatbelt strap. “We aren’t friends .” A fierce denial.
Well, now that was hurtful. “I’ve had a really crappy night so far.” Oh, the things on her list. Why not just cycle through them? “You didn’t kiss me back. Some jerk came at me with a knife. I passed out on a beach. And now, after I save you , you have the nerve to say we’re not friends. That’s just rude. Total jerk move. Typical.”
The light changed. Green.
He didn’t move the Jeep.
His hand did reach up and curve under her chin. “We will never be friends.”
Why did tears fill her eyes? Right. Because he was being a mean asshole. “Now I get why everyone likes Eb better.”
His jaw hardened.
Someone honked behind them.
He let her go, and the Jeep surged forward. Then he turned to the right.
Unease stirred within her. “Uh, my uncle’s place is to the left.”
“I’m taking you home, Wren. As in my home. You know I own a place in town. Might not use it much, but it’s mine and it’s safe. You’re staying there with me tonight.”
Oh, no. “That is way unnecessary.” And so very problematic. For so many reasons.
“It’s completely necessary. You were targeted on the beach, Wren. The men who were after you both got away. That means they can damn well strike again.”
Hello, new fear. So glad he’d unlocked that terror for her. “Why would they want to do that?”
“I don’t know why they targeted you in the first place. And until I know more, I’m not letting you out of my sight.” His hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Better get used to having me close, Wren. Because there is no way you are going to get away from me.”