Chapter Nine
Inferno
My phone lit up with Juniper’s name while I cleaned the garage for Tiny.
Did the garage need cleaning? No. But I’d been such a pain in the ass, Tiny had put me to work.
Since he was an officer and I wasn’t, I was stuck here while Knight worked on keeping an eye on Brett’s movements.
The visit to that open house hadn’t been to intimidate Brett.
I’d put a gadget Knight gave me on his car and Knight used that gadget to get into Brett’s phone via the Bluetooth when it connected to the car.
It might not help much, and only for a day before the battery died, but at least maybe we’d have a heads-up if he did anything stupid.
I answered Juniper on the second ring. “Hey.”
“Inferno.” The second she said my name, I knew something had gone very wrong. Her breathing was too fast and shallow.
“Juniper. What’s wrong?” I moved toward my bike at a run, leaving everything where it fell when I dropped it.
“I need help. Behind the b-bakery supply shop off C-Charlotte.” Her voice broke as she spoke. “The b-back parking lot. They took my k-keys and --”
“I’m coming. Are you hurt?”
A pause. “I’m fine.” The words came out on a little sob, which meant she was the opposite of fine.
I shot off a text to Knuckles and started my bike, my mind settling somewhat when the thing roared to life. On the bike, I was in control of my world. Right now, I needed every ounce of that control. The compound gate rolled open before I reached it, and I sped along as fast as I dared.
The little supply shop she always used sat in a strip of low commercial buildings with a gravel lot behind it.
I cut through the alley between buildings and found her standing beside her sedan, one hand braced on the trunk, the other holding a set of keys so tight her knuckles had gone white.
She was upright at least. Her hair had come loose from its bun and hung in dark strands around her face.
She didn’t look up when my bike growled into the lot.
I killed the engine and hurried to her side.
She looked at me and I saw more fury than fear.
A lot more. Her eyes were bright and hard and her mouth was set in a line so tight the corners had gone white.
There was gravel ground into the heels of both palms. A scrape ran the length of her right forearm where the sleeve had torn.
The bruise Brett had left on her skin was still there, purple fading to yellow at the edges, and beneath it fresh red marks where someone had grabbed the same arm.
“They took my keys,” she said, like she’d rehearsed them. “Two men in a white sedan, I didn’t get the plate. They were parked behind the dumpster.” She pointed without looking. “When I came out with the invoice and my order sheet, they were just there. One of them grabbed my keys out of my hand.”
I needed to make sure she was OK, and to hold her close for a long fucking time. I needed her in my arms like I needed to breathe, but as big a dumbass as I could be sometimes, even I recognized now was not the time. If she felt smothered again, I doubt I’d get another chance.
“He grabbed my arm and just…” She waved her hand in a frustrated motion.
“I don’t know. I fell to the gravel. I managed to hang on to his arm and got my keys back.
When he pulled me to my feet, I swung for his face and I got him.
” Her eyes were bright and wide with the adrenaline rush.
“I got him good. Right across the…” Her hand made a diagonal slash across her own cheek.
“He fucking screamed.” She was breathing hard now, her words coming faster.
“The other one pulled him off. They said…” She stopped.
Shook her head. “They said there’s an offer coming on the building.
On my building. The b-bakery. They said I’d be smart to take it.
That’s what they said. ‘There’s an offer coming.
You’d be smart to take it.’ Then they ran.
Got in the car and left.” I saw the confusion beneath her anger.
“What does that mean? An offer on the building? I own the building. My grandmother left it to me. There’s no offer.
There’s no…” She cut herself off. Swallowed.
“I called you. I promised I’d call you.”
“You did.” My voice sounded gruff. “Did you call 9-1-1?”
She shook her head, vehemently. “No. I just…” She swallowed, looking up at me almost helplessly.
“I didn’t think to call anyone but you.” I don’t think she’d even realized until that moment what she’d done.
And I knew better than to acknowledge the fact that, under extreme stress, she hadn’t thought to call anyone but me.
I crouched slowly on the asphalt in front of her and reached for her hands.
She let me take them. Turned them palm-up in mine.
The gravel had bitten deep in a couple of places, small stones still embedded in the fleshy part of her palm.
I brushed them out gently, trying to give her a moment to get her composure back.
“Are you hurt anywhere else? Did they hit you?”
“No. Just where I hit the ground. And the one guy grabbed me over the other bruise.” She flexed her fingers in mine. “I’m fine, Inferno. Really. It’s just…” She gestured at the empty lot. “What the fuck was that?”
I didn’t have an answer for her. An offer on the building. I knew what it sounded like, but surely to God the man wasn’t that stupid. Then again, narcissistic assholes often thought they were above the law.
“I called you,” she said again, quieter. “I didn’t even think about the police. I just called you.”
“Yeah,” I said, not looking up at her. Instead, I continued to check her over.
She leaned against her car. The late sun caught the copper in her hair and turned it to fire. She looked small and furious. This Juniper I liked much better. I liked her fire. Her spirit. Knowing she had fight and hadn’t given up made me proud.
I stood up. Her keys were in my hand now. I unlocked her car and opened the passenger-side door. “Get in. I’m taking you to the compound.” She didn’t argue. That told me all I needed to know.
I crouched on the asphalt one more time, directly in front of her where she sat in the passenger seat, and I looked at her knees through the torn denim.
I put my hand on her calf, just below the knee, and felt the muscle tight and trembling under my palm.
She put her hand on top of mine. Her fingers were cold.
It wasn’t long until Tiny pulled around the corner in his big F-150. Zero got out and I tossed him the keys to my bike. Then I got in Juniper’s car and drove her back to the compound.
The second we got inside my apartment, Juniper locked herself in the bathroom. She was in there an hour before coming out, her hair still damp from a shower, wearing one of my T-shirts.
“I hope you don’t mind,” she said softly. “I just didn’t want to wear those clothes anymore.”
“You know I don’t mind, honey.” I stood from where I sat on the couch. I could see the bathroom door from there and I wanted to give her space.
“I don’t want to go back to my apartment tonight.” She glanced up at me before fidgeting and looking away. “And I don’t really want to stay with Darby or Hannah.”
“I can get you your own room, or you can stay with me. I’ll take the couch.”
She nodded. “Thanks.” Again, she seemed like she wanted to say more but hesitated. Then, she sighed. “Thanks for coming after me.”
“Juniper, honey. I’ll always come for you.
Always.” She must have seen the truth in my eyes because she nodded once, then, without a word, walked to my bed.
I let out a breath I’d been holding and rubbed the back of my neck.
I’d need to check on her in a while. She needed some time, but by her going to my bedroom I knew she expected I’d join her at some point for any number of reasons.
My phone buzzed. I glanced at the screen to see Knight’s text. Apparently, Tiny and his crew found Juniper’s attacker two counties over, holed up in a motel outside Lebanon. He now had a face that wouldn’t stop bleeding.
By the time I got to the old warehouse deep inside our territory, the bastard was already tied to the chair. Looked like someone had gotten in a few love taps to the guy if the swollen eye and fat lip were any indication.
The overheads were off and someone had rigged a work light on an extension cord above the man’s head. Knuckles stood against the far wall with his arms crossed. Hawk was closer, one boot propped on the seat of another chair turned backward. Zero stood by the door keeping watch.
The man in the chair was maybe thirty, thin through the shoulders and going soft at the middle.
The left side of his face was opened from temple to jaw in a ragged line where Juniper’s keys had caught him.
Someone had taped a gauze pad over it, but blood had soaked through and dried brown at the edges.
His hands were zip-tied to the chair arms.
I took a position opposite Knuckles, leaning against the wall where I could see the man’s face.
“Start talking,” Knuckles said. “I want to know who sent you to put your hands on a woman and threaten her.”
The man looked up. Though his right eye was swollen nearly shut, the left was clear and scared. “I don’t know who sent me. That’s the God’s honest truth.”
Hawk shifted his weight. The chair creaked. “Last chance. Then I start with your fingernails.”
“All I got was cash in an envelope. Left under the driver’s seat of my car while I was at work.
There was five hundred dollars and a note saying there was another five if I convinced her to take the offer on her building.
There was also a number to call when it was done.
I did what I was told and the guy told me where to find the second envelope. That’s it.”
“Describe the guy,” I said.