Chapter Six
IT’S BEEN YEARS SINCEI’ve been to a house with grounds, so I’m not quite sure what to expect. Will leads me out a French door in the kitchen to a balcony overlooking a vast back garden—hedgerows, blooming flowers, pool, hot tub, the works—but marches me past all of it towards a small gate on the other side of the patio.
It’s fully midmorning now, the sun more visible in this cleared part of the forest, and the last strains of nighttime dew swipe against the hems of my jeans as I trail him down a small path. I shiver a bit again as we enter back into the cover of trees, the air chilly without the warmth of sunlight.
“This is all the grounds?” I ask, darting a look to my left and my right and seeing nothing but tree trunks and underbrush.
“This and more,” Will answers. “The Locksleys are landed gentry in every sense of the word. You’d have to run for a good half hour in this direction just to touch the outer edge of the property.” He throws a glance back at me over his shoulder. “So I suggest you don’t try.”
I narrow my eyes at him but decide not to reply. As strangely enticing as it is to banter with him, with all of these guys, I don’t see the logic in antagonizing them, even as a joke. Who knows how much of that sense of humor is for show?
Up ahead, the trees part again, and we emerge into a small clearing, with packed dirt beneath our feet and a covered structure to our right—a sort of shed with one wall open, divided into stalls. Before I can peer inside and see what’s within, something zips through the air in front of us.
Chnk.
I startle in spite of myself, stopped dead in my tracks. My coffee cup tumbles from my grip and thuds on the ground, but I barely register it. After a dazed second or two, I look to the left, in the direction of whatever flew past, and see a target—taller than I am, bullseye on the front, and an arrow stuck right in the middle of it.
An arrow?
“Easy!” Will cries. “Jesus Christ. You almost hit me.”
“Please,” comes another voice. “My aim’s too good for that. If I wanted to hit you, I would.”
From the shadows of the shed, I see him emerge. Tall, slender but corded with muscle, a face that’s boyishly handsome and covered in a light stubble. His russet-colored hair is on the long side, but not styled like Will’s, and his piercing green eyes match a T-shirt that’s just barely dotted with sweat.
And he’s holding a goddamn crossbow.
Which, to his credit, he immediately unloads and sets on the ground when he sees us.
“Well, well, well,” he says, not unkindly. “What have we here?”
This must be Rob.
He’s not what I expected. Not the grizzled mob boss or the sleazy drug kingpin. But he’s still dangerous. I can tell that much even at twenty paces. I set my chin, determined not to show weakness.
But every step he takes towards me threatens my resolve.
Will, for his part, seems to ignore the question. “Not working?”
“I took the night off,” Rob says, not taking his eyes off of me. “Need a break once in a while. All work and no play, you know?”
A night off? I’m assuming he doesn’t work third shift at a factory. But what on earth could these guys do for a living?
Finally, Rob addresses me directly. “So, you’re our little troublemaker.”
“Excuse me?” I look at Will, then at Rob.
“Scarlet here—my security man—told me the system picked up a trespasser,” Rob goes on. “So I sent him and LJ down to investigate. I was expecting a poacher, maybe a tweaker taking shelter. Not anything nearly so lovely as you.”
I pull a face out of instinct. He’s trying to flirt with me? Now, under these circumstances?
Rob strides closer, and closer still, until he’s literally pacing a circle around me, sizing me up and down.
“Hey!” I say, in spite of myself. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
He darts his piercing green gaze to Will. “She’s shivering.”
Will shrugs. “It’s chilly out.”
“And you didn’t get her something warmer to wear?”
“I...” Will looks crestfallen. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me.” Rob nods in my direction.
“Sorry,” Will mumbles. I don’t know how to react, and settle for a shrug.
“I don’t think we’ll be dealing with you the way we normally do, then,” Rob goes on, looking at Will. “Wouldn’t you agree, Scarlet?”
Visions of torture, duct tape, ropes, fingernails being pulled out flash before my eyes. “You won’t get away with it,” I blurt out. “People are looking for me. They’ve probably gotten a search party together already.”
“Really?” Rob pauses, intrigued.
“Says her family knows the sheriff,” Will says. Rob raises his eyebrows.
“You don’t say.” He looks me over once more. “What’s your name, pretty lady?”
“Maren,” I say, realizing too late I might want to lie.
“Maren, it’s a pleasure. Rob Locksley.” He dips his head courteously. “I’d like to welcome you to your new home.”
“What?” Will and I say at the same time.
“You heard me,” Rob says. “We’re going to keep you here, Maren. For as long as I see fit.”
I jump back like he’s brandished the crossbow at me, holding my hands up to keep him at arm’s length. “No. Please. I don’t want trouble, I just—”
“Rob,” Will cuts me off. “What exactly—”
“We’ve got the space, now don’t we?” Now Rob interrupts Will. Will grimaces.
“That’s not the point, Rob,” he says. “We can’t just have some...woman staying here with us.” He casts a sidelong glance at me, and I bristle in spite of myself. Would I really be so terrible as a houseguest? “That’s your rule, remember? Not ours.”
“The rule is more a guideline,” Rob says. “Jealousy’s a slow poison. I don’t want a woman coming between me and my men, you know?” This, he says to me. I give him a bewildered look.
“No,” I say flatly.
Will rubs his forehead. “Rob, please, what would we even—”
“I don’t know yet, exactly,” Rob says, surveying me again. “But from the sounds of it, she might be worth something to have around. A bargaining chip.”
A chill runs down my spine. Shit. Maybe my hyping up how much my nonexistent family missed me backfired.
“I’m only going to say this one more time,” I declare. “They’re looking for me, and—”
“And if they find you, they find you,” Rob finishes for me, like it’s just a statement of fact—which I guess it is. “Cross that bridge when we come to it, I say. In the meantime, I have much more space here than I need, and from what it sounds like, you don’t have a proper place to sleep. So your staying here seems like a fairly logical course of action.”
Except for the part where you’re four strange guys involved in some kind of shady operation that clearly involves ungodly amounts of money, I think. I cross my arms.
“So you’re, what, kidnapping me?”
I realize how ridiculous it sounds as soon as the words are out of my mouth—too late to take them back. Rob laughs, a rich, warm sound, and shakes his head at me.
“I wouldn’t put it that way.” He folds his arms, nodding at the trees around us. “You’re free to go, if you really want to. The forest is wonderful if you like camping. Although it doesn’t sound like you came prepared.”
I glower at him. “Yeah, well, left my tent at home, unfortunately.”
Rob chuckles. “Maren, look. Ideally, you’d recognize that it’s in your best interest to stay here, where—and I promise you this—you’ll be safe.”
“Safe?” At that, I have to laugh. “You’re kidnapping me, and want to tell me I’m safe?”
Will spreads his hands in the air in a whoa whoa whoa kind of way. “Seriously, Rob, kidnapping? Because—”
Rob waves him off. “Y’all two need to calm down. First off, yes, safe. Because what would we gain from hurting her?” He throws a meaningful look at Will. “Second, kidnapping is such an ugly word. Can we not?”
“I...” I give my head a little shake. “Okay, so what, you’re holding me prisoner?”
Rob blinks. “I really wouldn’t call this place comparable to a prison.”
“Like you would know,” I mutter.
“I would.” The words are harsh, clipped, and I’m stunned into silence.
“Sorry,” I say, for some reason feeling like I should apologize. So he’s an ex-con.
“Like I said,” Rob goes on. “You were out there, sleeping in your car, with no food or water or real bed, all of which I have here. So if you have any kind of head on your shoulders, Miss Maren, you’d realize you really should stay here. But if you resist, then I’m going to have to insist. Because now that you’re here, I’m not letting you leave us.”
His green eyes are hard on mine as he speaks, the joking tone dissolved into something firm and unyielding. I swallow against the dryness in my throat, suddenly and acutely aware of how close he is to me, the warmth of his muscled body and the light, spicy scent of him.
“I guess...I just...” I look from Rob to Will to Rob again, searching for an answer I have a sinking feeling isn’t forthcoming. “What are you going to do with me?”
Will looks at Rob. “I’m wondering the same myself.”
Rob, though, looks at me. “Nothing you don’t agree to.” The corner of his mouth twitches. “And if the price is right, we’ll probably let you free. Probably.”
I try, one last desperate, time. “Please. If you just—”
“Maren.” Rob’s voice is hard and sharp, so unlike what I’ve seen of him so far that I’m stunned into silence. “When I say leave it, I mean leave it. We’re keeping you here, with us. You were trespassing on my land, and I don’t take kindly to trespassers. But fortunately for you—to hear you tell it, anyway—there’s plenty of somebodies out there who want you back safe and sound. And we’re not monsters. We’ll oblige, in time. Until then, all your needs will be met and you will be safe. We will keep you safe. Do you understand?”
Something curls in my stomach, a warm, not unpleasant feeling.
We will keep you safe.
“Do you understand?” he asks again, barely any gentler.
The warm feeling unfurls fully, and I let it, careful not to let my expression change.
Because no one’s ever actually said that to me.
No one’s ever cared whether I’m safe or not.
Not since my parents died.
“I understand,” I say.
“Good.” Rob relaxes his posture just a touch. “Now—”
“Wait,” I cut him off. “What will I do in return?”
Rob pauses, considering. “What do you mean?”
My mind is spinning out a million miles an hour. But if there’s one truth that I took from my dad before he died, one unshakeable reality about the world, is that you can’t get something for nothing.
And if they’re going to put me up, give me food and shelter, then I want to be the one setting the terms of my end of the bargain.
Because I’m a young woman on her own out here and these are four guys—criminals. There’s one big use I can see them getting out of me and I do not want that to happen.
“In return?” Rob asks.
“For staying here,” I explain.
“You can’t mean you’re going to pay us rent, greasemonkey,” Will says, amused. “With what money?”
Not my college fund, I think. Not yet, anyway.
“No,” I say. “But I’m not just going to let four strange men keep me in their house for free. I just don’t want any...misunderstandings about what I’m doing here, or anything like that.”
“Misunderstandings?” Rob says, rubbing his jaw. Now he sounds amused, too. “Like what?”
“Well...you know.” I shuffle my feet from side to side, suddenly self-conscious, even though I think it should be obvious what I’m alluding to. “I’m not going to be your, um, housekeeper or anything.”
“No,” Rob agrees. “Because we already have one.” He takes a few slow, careful steps around me, circling me like I’m prey he’s stalking. “Or anything?” he prompts.
A few paces away, Will chuckles.
“You know,” I say again. “Like...like a sex thing.”
There. I said it. And for some stupid goddamn reason, my face flames hotter than a furnace when the words tumble off my lips.
“Oh, really?” Rob clicks his tongue. “More’s the pity, then.”
“As if you could handle us,” Will mutters.
Us. Something about the plural there sends a hot shimmer straight to the core of me. I swallow hard and stand up straight.
“I just want that clear,” I say, tipping my chin up defiantly. “You’re not going to traffic me, or whatever. I know how that works. It’s all free now, right? Then in a week or so you demand payment and there’s only one form you’ll accept. So up front, I want to earn my keep here, and I don’t want it to be that way.”
I don’t know what I expect from Rob, but it’s not...laughter.
“Well, so be it.” He shakes his head. “Not that I’m not flattered you’d even envision something like that. You’re quite the vixen, Maren, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
I open my mouth to say that maybe I do mind—even if I’m not sure I do—but Rob keeps talking. “But as I said—I don’t want jealousy. I never want a woman coming between us. Right, Scarlet?”
“Hmm? Oh. Yes.” Will rests his chin on his fist, staring me down, his lip curling. “And certainly not without Maren’s permission.” He all but rolls his eyes as he says it.
Well, fuck you too, I think.
“So, you want to earn your keep,” Rob says. “Fair enough. What were you thinking? Because like I said, we don’t need a maid. And Tuck’s a better chef than any mere mortal could hope to be.”
I think back to my arrival here, to the driveway crowded with vehicles. “Your cars,” I offer. “Anything need fixing?”
At that, Will bursts out laughing.
“What?” I say hotly. “You’re the one who came to my garage, remember? You know I can do it.”
“No, no, it’s not that.” Will smirks at Rob. “It’s more like...does anything of his not need fixing?”
Rob sidesteps to Will and gives him a shove in the shoulder. “You know I’ve been busy, you bastard.” He swoops hair out of his eyes and stares me down. “Sure. I’ve got a fleet of project cars that are yours to improve. The Camaro for sure, the Bimmer, the Mercedes—”
I’m practically salivating as he lists off the rest of his toys. My pulse had barely slowed down after the brief mention of sex only for it to ramp back up again at the thought of all those cars.
“I’ll do it,” I say quickly.
“Good.” Rob flashes me a smile and turns to Will. “Scarlet, for crying out loud. She’s shivering. Would you get her inside and show her her room?”
“Sure,” Will says, exhaling like he’s relieved the whole thing is over. “C’mon, greasemonkey. Let’s warm you up.”