Ten
“Sorry,” she whispered quickly, hand up, sounding serious. “Continue.”
And they did. Dane yelling, pointing at Sam, Sam with his fingers laced on top of his head, Dane attacking, Sam defending, both just livid. I had never seen Dane so mad.
“Wow,” Aja whispered, talking into my hair. “The man really loves you, Jory. I’ve never seen him this way. I hope he never gets this mad at me.”
I grunted.
“But I will say…it is sexy as hell. Look at those beautiful dark gray eyes,” she purred. “I can’t wait to love all that right out of him.”
“Gross,” I groaned, slouching down farther beside her.
But it was funny watching two grown men yell at each other.
And while Dane had an inch of height over Sam, being six-five, Sam had the muscle over Dane.
My brother, with his jet-black hair and gray eyes, was built tall and lean like a swimmer.
Sam, with his copper-colored hair and slate-blue eyes, had the big, muscular frame of a defensive lineman.
He had, in fact, played football all through high school.
Aja giggled, returning my attention to her before she leaned sideways on the couch and kissed my temple. “May I say that I used to think Aaron Sutter was a gorgeous man and I loved you guys together? I was sad when it was over.”
“Yeah, well,” I sighed. “Sometimes things don’t—”
“Let me finish.” She pointed at Sam. “That man, however, is beautiful. He’s the kind of man I would have gone after myself, all tall and carved and fine… Look at his arms—damn.”
“Shut up.” I grinned in spite of myself.
“I bet he’s solid all over.”
“Quit.”
“And his ass is—”
“Stop.”
“I’m just saying…I get it, and the way he looks at you and touches you… Aaron had it bad, but that man there is head over heels in love with you. I wouldn’t let that go either, not for anyone. Not even for Dane.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence here before I die.”
She giggled again, careful not to be too loud.
“The thing is, Sam loves you, but so does Dane. And before I met Sam, I wanted you as far away from him as possible too. I thought he brought whatever it is back into your life, but from what I’m hearing, this has nothing at all to do with you being a witness. ”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“So Sam’s just trying to keep you safe, and since Dane wants that too, when they get tired of arguing over who knows what’s best for you, they should come to some kind of mutual agreement and understanding.”
I wasn’t convinced. As I was sitting there, I noticed her wedding ring. “God, that thing is huge. What is that, like, a carat or something?”
She grunted. “You, my darling, know nothing about diamonds. That is five carats of icy goodness.”
“Icy goodness?” I teased her.
She smiled wide. “It’s my only bling.”
“Yeah, it’s enough.”
She made a low noise of appreciation. “Yes, it is.”
“So-owww,” I groaned, having shifted so that my shoulder hit the back of the couch. I was being so careful to keep the pressure off it.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. It’s a surprise for Sam. I figured he’d need the pick-me-up after this.”
“What is it?”
“I put his name on the back of my right shoulder.”
“You got a tattoo?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, today at lunch. He had to go to work for a little while, so…I went and did it.”
“How very Hollywood of you,” she teased me. “May I see?”
“Wait, I wanna know how your dad is.”
“Oh, thank you for asking, honey, but he’s good. Doctor said he’ll be just fine.”
“I’m glad.”
“Me too. He didn’t even have to spend any time in the hospital.”
“Good.”
“So, again, may I see the tattoo?”
“You wanna go to the bathroom with me?”
She waggled her eyebrows at me, and we got up.
“Do me a favor,” Dane barked at me. “Order us all something to eat and have it delivered.”
I looked at him, and his eyes were cold and dark. Sam appeared much the same, his brows furrowed as he stared at me.
“Sure.”
“C’mon, Jory,” Aja said gently, walking over to Dane to take his hand for a second, her eyes suddenly on Sam. “We have to go to the bathroom. You two play nice while we’re gone.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said quickly, his voice low and husky. His eyes softened when he looked at me, and I got just a slight curl at the corner of his mouth.
Aja patted Dane’s ass, then grabbed my hand and tugged me after her.
Once we were in the bathroom, she looked at the tattoo under the clear bandage and said how simple and tasteful it was.
“I was picturing something much more scary,” she confessed.
“Thanks a lot.”
She shrugged.
I called a Thai place I had been wanting to try and quickly found out they delivered, which worked out great since Sam’s mandate that I go nowhere without him was in full effect. I ordered, with Aja adding things because she was hungry.
At the door, once I opened it, Sam yelled, “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“Just downstairs to wait for the food,” I told him. “I won’t leave the lobby.”
“Have the driver drop the food by the door and don’t go out until he leaves.”
“But what if something’s wrong?” Aja asked him.
“Then you’re screwed because neither one of you is allowed to open the door to do anything but grab the bag.”
“That seems reasonable,” Dane chimed in.
“Neither one of us?” Aja asked Sam, arms crossed, daring him to continue.
“Yeah.” He scowled at her. “You’re not allowed to get hurt on my watch either.”
“Oh,” she said, deflating. “It’s nice of you to worry.”
“Why wouldn’t I worry? You’re Jory’s family just as much as Dane is.”
Tentative smile from her before we left the apartment to get on the elevator. Inside, she turned to me.
“What?”
“Why don’t I mind him telling me what to do?”
“Because under the bluster, you know he’s doing it because he cares.”
She nodded. “I think that’s it.”
We waited in the vestibule, standing opposite one another, her on the side with the mailboxes, me with the umbrellas for tenant use, the outgoing mail bin, and a trash can. We both smiled at people who came in and went out. They probably thought we were weird.
“Oh,” she said suddenly, “I’ve got something to tell you.”
“What?”
“I saw Clarissa Connelly on the plane to New York.”
“Really?” I smiled wide, remembering the woman who had been fluttering around Dane the night he met Aja. Clarissa had invited him to the benefit, but they hadn’t been on a date. Regardless, she’d told everyone that she would be the one to get him to the altar.
“And?”
“I made sure she saw the ring.”
“Evil.” I snickered. “You’re just wicked mean.”
“What? I can’t help it if she wanted what she couldn’t have.”
“True,” I agreed, watching a guy come toward the outer security door, then stop, change direction, and walk away.
“Crap. Did you see if that guy had our food?”
“I didn’t,” Aja replied. “Let’s just peek outside and see if he’s there.”
“Sam will murder us if we leave the building.”
“We’re just going to lean out and yell.”
It seemed reasonable, so we both walked to the front door, opened it, looked, and saw no one carrying food, instead only other residents needing to come in. Moving to let them by, we stepped too far out, and the self-locking security door closed tight.
“Well, crap,” she grumbled. “Now Sam’s never going to trust me again.”
I was standing on the other side of her, near the door, when she moved to the keypad and punched in the number for her apartment to call Dane to let us back in.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about—Aja!”
I yanked her back against me as a van came to a squealing stop beside us on the sidewalk and the side door was hurled open. We both saw the gun at the same time.
“Get in the van!” the man yelled at us.
And it was stupid, but my movement was instinctive. I grabbed Aja’s hand and ran. I heard the gunshot, and then we were behind the van, next to the rear right tire.
“Jory!” she screamed as the back doors flew open. I yanked her sideways, and a guy jumped out but missed us.
“Go-go-go!”
We ran across the lanes of cars, heard the blaring horns, squealing tires, and the crunch of metal.
We didn’t stop and look, we ran. Stopping to look was never a good idea.
There were more gunshots, but we kept running.
I took her down an alley, across another street, then through a parking lot, and we huddled together behind a trash-filled dumpster.
“Call Dane,” I ordered as I kept lookout.
“Ohmygod, Jory, they’re really trying to get us.”
I would have laughed at any other time. “Just call him. Hurry up.”
“Baby, we’re really in trouble here.”
She was obviously in a little bit of shock.
“Hurry,” I said and heard my voice get panicky.
I saw the van streak by on the street, and I stopped breathing. Alone, I could outrun them, but not while worrying about Aja.
“Dane,” Aja almost shrieked. “No-no-no, listen-listen—somebody just tried to grab me and Jory. Listen! We’re on the street, we’re running, and I don’t know what—”
“Stop,” I yelled as I saw the van suddenly reverse in the street and start racing down the alley toward us. “Run!”
I grabbed Aja and ran. I took a chance, and we dove across the alley to the opposite side.
We hit the bagged garbage and rolled off under wooden stairs that ran around the back of an apartment building.
I scrambled to my feet, and a bullet hit the stairs behind me.
Ducking down, I tugged on Aja’s hand and pulled her around the corner of the building.
“Dane, tell Sam we’re—shit! I can’t see the—ohmygod, there’s a white van and—”
“Shit,” I yelled, because I saw the van and yanked her the other way, doubling back, heading for the L. “Aja, stop talking and run!”
I felt the change instantly: I was no longer pulling her, she was right beside me, her feet pounding the pavement in time with mine, dropping my hand and keeping pace with me as we both ran as fast as we could.
We flew by so many people and crossed behind an apartment building, but then the van was suddenly there and I had to pull up fast or slam into the side of it.
Aja grabbed me as the door flew open and the gun was inches from my face.
I put up my hand. “Just me, not her.”