• Five •
· Five ·
“I’ve got better shit to do.”
Storm
With my arms crossed over my chest, I stared at the television, not truly watching the car race on it. My entire concentration was on the room where Briar was with Drew and Maeme. She’d barely made a sound. Mostly, Maeme was soothing her, and Drew was explaining what he was doing, but nothing from Briar. I’d have thought Drew had given her something to knock her out if Maeme wasn’t currently telling her it was almost over.
I refused to be impressed that she hadn’t cried out or even whimpered from the pain. My sisters would have been yelling the house down. It was hard to look at her and not forget that she wasn’t some stunning beauty that belonged on covers of magazines. The demons from her past had set up root in her and weren’t going anywhere. She was dangerous. There was nothing good inside her.
But damn if she wasn’t fucking tough as hell too. That must have come with the other bad shit inside her.
“I have to get home. I can’t stay here.” Her first words.
I turned to look at the door.
“You need to be looked after. Is there someone at home who can keep an eye on you? Help you?”
She said nothing.
“Then, you need to stay here. I have plenty of rooms.”
“NO!” she replied, sounding panicked. “I have to go home.”
“Well now—” Maeme started, then stopped abruptly.
“I have someone who can stay with me. He’s a friend. I’ll call him. I just need to go home.” She walked out the door, then stopped, grabbing the frame to steady herself.
I started to move and go to her, but stopped myself. If she wanted to be fucking stubborn, then she could see just how much she needed help. I was sure she had a miles-long contact list of men she could call to come help her. The thought soured my mouth.
“If that’s really what you want to do, then I won’t force you to stay,” Maeme said, but the worry in her face was clear. She didn’t want Briar to leave.
“It’s what I want,” she said, moving again. She only took three steps before she swayed on her feet.
This time, I moved because there was no doorframe for her to grab on to. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I pulled her against my side. I expected her to fight me, but she laid her head on me and let out a deep sigh. When her legs started to give out, I knew she wasn’t going to be able to stand, even with my help. Bending, I scooped her up in my arms and turned back to a very concerned Maeme.
“I’ve got her. I’ll take her home and make sure she has someone there to take care of her.”
“I’m fine. I can walk,” Briar argued but barely moved.
“Yeah, sure looks like it,” I replied, then headed for the stairs.
“I need to follow up on it in a week,” Drew called out.
“She’ll be here,” I told him. Even if I had to go to her fucking apartment and get her myself.
“I’m fine,” she muttered, but her eyes were closed.
I tore my gaze off her face. Dangerous. Lethal. Even with those eyes of hers closed, she could make a man stupid. I’d love to say it was her cheekbones or the thick lashes, but it was the mouth. The lips. Jesus H. Christ, the things I wanted to do with that mouth.
Not happening. NEVER happening.
“Dov waiting on me,” she slurred.
“She’s on some strong pain meds,” Drew informed me.
No shit. I’d figured that out. And what the hell kinda name was Dov? Was he some poor sap that didn’t have the money for her to date, but she kept around as a friend? She probably used him for things she needed done. Like fixing her car or changing her light bulbs.
“I need to get to Dov,” she said, fighting to open her eyes.
“I’m getting to him as fast as I fucking can,” I said, glaring straight ahead as I headed through the house and then out to the Escalade.
Jerking the car door open, I bumped her shoulder, and a small cry came from her.
“Sorry,” I told her, then laid her down in the back seat more carefully. I didn’t like her, but I hadn’t meant to hurt her either. I wasn’t a mean bastard.
Her face scrunched up as if in pain, but then it eased. “I like how you smell,” she said sleepily.
Shut up, Briar.
“I want some to spray on my sheets.”
I closed the door and took a deep breath. She was smoking hot and telling me she wanted her sheets to smell like me. I could not like her, but still want to fuck her. I wouldn’t do it, but I could jerk one off later, thinking about her in the shower. Or better yet, go fuck someone else and get her out of my head.
Stalking over to the driver’s side, I opened the door and climbed inside.
“You don’t like me,” she said so quietly that I almost didn’t hear her.
“I don’t,” I agreed.
“’Cause I date rich men?”
I backed up and then headed out of the driveway before responding, “You fuck rich, married men, then use it against them for a buyout to get money from them. It’s fucking disgusting.”
She didn’t respond, and I thought she’d finally fallen asleep. I tried to think about Jameson in the cellars under the Shephard property. What we needed to get from him and how we’d handle him. But images of Briar, naked in my bed with her head buried in my sheets, smelling them, were taunting me. I’d never seen her naked, but I already knew she’d be exquisite.
“You don’t know me,” she said, breaking the silence.
“I know enough.”
Why was I arguing with a drugged female?
“Yeah, you do. No one can ever know more.”
What the fuck was that supposed to mean? She’d been molested by her own father. That was fucked up. But she’d gotten away. She’d saved herself. I respected that. I did. I even respected the fact that she’d killed the sick bastard. But that didn’t give her an excuse to be some shallow, lying, cheating slut. There was so much potential. Even if she didn’t look like a centerfold, she was talented. Really fucking talented.
“I wish you liked me.”
I squeezed the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Why wasn’t she passed out? I didn’t want to talk to her.
“I was good once.”
Then, be good now.
I bit the inside of my jaw to keep from responding. I wasn’t going to do this with her. She was high on her pain meds. She’d probably remember nothing that she said tomorrow.
“You would have liked me back then.”
I reached for the volume and turned the radio up to drown out her ramblings. Listening to her be vulnerable wasn’t safe for my common sense. Not coming from that mouth. I had to get her to fucking Dov and get back to the cellars. Forget tonight happened and try to forget this woman.
If she tried to say more, I couldn’t hear her over George Strait. When I finally pulled into her apartment complex, I’d found without her help since King was still keeping tabs on her every move, I glanced back to see she was asleep. Damn, she was beautiful. The urge to pull her into my arms and just watch her sleep was tempting, which meant I had to get her away from me. Far away.
Getting out of the vehicle, I closed the door and then opened hers to ease her out until I could pick her up. She didn’t open her eyes, but she did nuzzle her nose into my chest and sigh contentedly.
Scowling, I stalked to the front of the upscale apartment building. A security guard studied me, then saw Briar in my arms and stepped forward to open the door. I started to go past him when I realized a card was required to get into the elevator.
“I need in the elevator,” I told him.
He held out his arms as if I were going to hand over Briar to him. I didn’t.
“I’ve been told to deliver Miss Landry to her apartment,” he informed me.
“I’m capable of taking her to Dov,” I replied, being sure to drop the man’s name who was supposed to be up there, waiting on her.
The security guard frowned. “Dov”—he paused, as if unsure about that name—“informed me that no one was to come up that elevator with Miss Landry. Just me. I can’t let you inside.”
Fucking hell. Why wasn’t this Dov down here to get her?
Holding on to her tighter, I realized I was ready to fight this man over something that wasn’t my damn business. I had no right to Briar or her safety, and I didn’t want it. What I needed to do was get the fuck away from her before she messed with my head any more than she was already doing.
“Fine,” I snarled, shoving her into the man’s arms. “Take her. I’ve got better shit to do.”
He was gentle as he held her, keeping her slightly away from his chest. She was safe. I could see it in his expression as he studied her with worry. I wasn’t needed here. I should leave. Walk away.
He lifted his gaze to mine. “I need to make sure you’re outside and the doors are secure before I take her upstairs.”
Of course he did. I might be some deranged man, obsessed with Briar, ready to chase him inside the elevator. Nope. Not that guy. I was the one who had saved her life and brought her home. Nothing more.
Turning, I walked outside of the apartment, deciding then and there I wasn’t the one who would come get her for that checkup that Drew wanted. One of the others could deal with her. I was done.