Chapter 29
Daniel
Jake and Cole were outside talking when I stepped into the bar.
The first thing I saw was Lydia being held by some guy she was clearly uncomfortable with.
I ran to her, ready to pull him away, when she punched him in the neck.
He lunged at her. I wanted to kill him—that was the only thought in my mind.
Because he touched her without her consent, because he held her, and because I knew Lydia enough to know what that could do to her.
I tackled him and punched him in the stomach.
Lydia shouted something. I couldn’t hear anything beyond the ringing in my ears—I was so angry.
“—Becca!”
Shit! Where’s Becca?
I dropped the guy and grabbed Lydia, but she pushed me away and ran.
Was Becca also in trouble? I’d never seen Lydia look so scared.
I ran after her to the other side of the bar.
She stopped for a second to look at a booth and then ran toward the back exit.
I tried to catch her when I got outside, but she bolted.
How is she so fast?!
When I turned the corner, I saw Lydia running at a man holding Becca by the neck, and every single thought left my brain. My body wanted to kill, so I let it. I could barely process Lydia headbutting the guy and grabbing Becca.
Becca was safe—the guy was not. I didn’t stop running, and slammed into him, dropping him to the ground and punching him in the face. His nose already looked broken from what Lydia did.
I’m going to kill you, motherfucker.
I wasn’t sure if I said that out loud. It was the only thought in my head until I felt a cold hand at the top of my shoulder, near my neck. The touch of her skin on mine froze me.
“Stop.”
Why? He deserves to die!
She looked at me with a determined look, clearly understanding what I was thinking, even though I couldn’t speak through the rage.
“Hold him.”
What?
She didn’t move her eyes from mine and repeated herself, slower. “Hold. Him.”
I lifted the man up and held him from behind so he couldn’t move his arms. His face was a bloody mess, but he was still very much alive.
Lydia pulled my sister by the hand. God, Becca looked… I needed to kill him.
She resisted the pull for a second and then gave in, standing next to Lydia in front of the man, who was now on his knees. Lydia put her hand on my sister’s shoulder, keeping her eyes on her. She nodded toward the soon-to-be-dead man.
“Take it back,” Lydia said plainly.
They both stood there for a few seconds, staring at each other, communicating silently. Becca’s whole body shook, and then she took a step forward.
I looked at Lydia, entranced by the violence and rage in her cold eyes, all focused on the man I was holding.
Becca screamed and punched him hard in the face. She took a deep breath and hit him again. Then again. Again. She stopped screaming and started crying, and Lydia pulled her back.
“Room 1501,” Lydia said before putting a hand around Becca’s waist, holding her other hand, and walking out of the alley with her.
I dropped the unconscious man on the ground to text Jake. He and Cole ran into the alley less than a minute later.
“Did you see a man when you walked in the bar? Knocked out in the left hallway at the entrance,” I asked.
They both shook their heads and looked from my bloody knuckles to the man on the asphalt.
“He attacked Becca. The guy at the entrance got Lydia.”
Jake paled. “Is—”
“They’re fine. Lydia took Becca to the hotel.” I looked at Cole, “You got somewhere to put him?”
He smiled and nodded.
“Do it and meet us in 1501. Keep him alive until we know what this is.”
Jake and I went back into the bar where I had seen the man attacking Lydia.
“Danny, what happened?”
“I don’t know. My head is spinning and I want to kill something.”
“Let’s go.” Jake pushed me to the door and followed me into the hotel.
Lydia opened the door for us and walked into the bedroom without saying anything, leaving the door open.
She lay down on the bed behind Becca, who had changed into black silk pajama pants and a matching buttoned shirt.
She was on her side with Lydia holding her from behind.
I could hear my sister crying. I wanted to go in and do something, say something to her, but Lydia was comforting her, and I felt out of place.
Despite how close Becca and I were, this was something I would never be able to understand.
I remembered how Lydia instantly knew what happened with Howard before Becca said anything—they understood each other, and it made something inside me burn with hurt and anger for them.
I poured a drink and sat with Jake silently on the small kitchenette stools.
At some point, Cole joined us and sat beside us.
He looked at Becca and Lydia in the bed but didn’t say anything.
We didn’t get a chance to update him yet about everything that had happened, so he still had no idea who Lydia was.
While he only met Becca a handful of times and wasn’t nearly as close to her as Jake was, Cole would do anything for her, just like he would for me, because she was family.
We both stood up when we heard the bedroom door close, and Lydia walked up to us. I stood in front of her with Cole and Jake behind me.
Her expression was cold and neutral, just like at work.
She looked at me. “Did you find the guy who grabbed me?”
Jake answered. “I’ll find him. Tell me what you can.” He was on edge because of Becca and used his authoritative voice.
Dammit, Jake, she’s not a soldier.
She answered before I could tell him to tone it down. “He said his name was Vince, but I doubt that’s true. He’s bleeding. I don’t know how bad because he covered it with his hand.”
“Where did you hit him?”
She stepped up to me and slowly put a fist to the middle of my neck.
“Punched him here…”
She took a step back and sighed, turning the ring around her finger and lifting her hand so we could see it. It had a flower at the top, which she turned and screwed off.
It’s a fucking defense ring.
There was a sharp point, like a screw or nail.
“... with this.” She covered it again with the flower.
I could hear Jake’s smile in his voice. “Any blood spray?”
“No, but he grabbed his neck pretty fast. There was a lot of blood and Daniel hit him at least once.”
She described what he looked like and then looked directly at Cole. Something changed in the way she looked at him.
“This was planned. They targeted her. You have the other one, Luthor?” she asked him, practically spitting out the name.
I turned around to see a wide grin slowly spread on Cole’s face. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to tell me everything I want to know.”
Lydia’s chest and shoulders were starting to move a little faster.
“Jake, Cole,” I muttered, my eyes still on her.
They didn’t say anything—they knew it was a dismissal. Jake was going to hunt down Guy Number One, aka Vince, and Cole was going to torture and probably kill Guy Number Two, aka Luthor.
When the door clicked shut behind me, I took a step forward, not sure what this look was on her face. The coldness in her eyes went away, and she put her hand on one of the stools.
“Dani-”
Her eyes rolled back. Her body crumpled and I jumped forward, just barely managing to catch her head before it hit the floor.
Was she injured?
I touched the back of her head, her back, stomach… I couldn’t feel any wetness or bumps. My heart pounded so loudly, I nearly covered my ears.
I pulled my knife out of my boot and cut off her top. There was nothing other than a few bruises on her arms. If she had any internal bleeding on her pale skin, there would at least be a mark.
Her pants were too tight to pull off, and I was already in a panic so I just cut them and checked her thighs. I could feel lines and bumps under the ink but they were old scars. There were a few more of them on her back and stomach.
Not now.
Her breathing was steady, and her heart rate was slowing down. A bruise was starting to form on her forehead, probably from the headbutt. Hopefully, it wasn’t enough to give her a concussion.
I picked her up and took her to the couch.
The large buttoned-down shirt she wore before was on one of the chairs, so I put it on her too scared and full of adrenaline to even register that I had undressed her.
The shirt was long enough to reach her knees, so hopefully, she wouldn’t kill me when she woke up, especially now that I knew she apparently had a violent side I wasn’t aware of.
I sat on the couch and held her on my lap with her body to the side and her head to my chest.
“Please be okay,” I whispered, stroking her hair.
I didn’t think it was possible with everything that had happened, but I dozed off.