Chapter Four
I WAITED in a police station for Brent to come get me.
At least, that’s what they said after they determined I wasn’t in need of medical attention.
They had bustled me off in a police cruiser ten minutes after the lights turned back on inside the building on the first floor.
It had been an S.W.A.T. team member that had carted me off and tried to calm me.
Only after they had assured me that the few that I knew at the party were fine, had I stopped fighting to get back upstairs.
They, oh so kindly, allowed me to wash the blood from my face and I was now sipping the last remains from a hidden flask of the gentleman copper next to me.
I did so discreetly after he asked me not to make it “so fucking obvious”.
I had been here now for three hours and was getting ready to ask for the tenth time if he was sure everyone was fine when I saw Brent walking down an aisle with a determined stride and fiercer gaze.
He was scanning the area. My heart surged. God, he was okay. He was really okay.
I started to jump up and stopped myself. I couldn’t run to him. I couldn’t let my heart break even farther. He hadn’t waited.
I handed the flask over and told the cop.
“Thank you.” I stood calmly and waited. His eyes landed on mine and it was so hard to stay still.
I saw relief, joy, and anger simmering in his dazzling green gaze.
Oh, yes. He was still very angry. Well, good for him.
I had my own anger that had simmered to a nice boil, too.
Brent talked briefly to the cop – they seemed to know one another – before he grabbed my hand in a crushing grip and dragged me out of the cubicle and down the aisle.
He didn’t say a word and I didn’t speak, either.
Both of our jaws were clenched and he barely managed a halfway polite wave to anyone who tried to stop him and say hi. Obviously, he was well known here.
He pulled me out the front door – no papers signed, it’s good to know people in high places – and down the stone steps of the precinct where a black Lexus SUV idled.
He opened the front passenger’s door and tossed me inside, yanking the seatbelt over me and buckling it before slamming the door shut.
I glanced behind me as he crossed in front of the SUV to the driver’s side, and low and behold, D&D, Velvet, Cole, and Ally were in the backseats with piles of luggage all around them.
No one spoke.
Cole was sitting directly behind the driver’s seat. Head resting back, his frost eyes gleamed from a street light fighting to shine through the tinted glass. His stare was a mask of emotionlessness. Nothing. He gave away absolutely nothing of what he thought.
A hand gripped my chin and jerked my face away from Cole’s trapping gaze. Enraged green eyes flashed at me. Okay, he might be even more ticked than I was. His hand fell away only when Ally delicately cleared her throat.
He slammed his door shut and buckled himself, then peeled out. I grabbed the safety bar and hung on. The car was silent until Brent put a cd in. NIN blared through the speakers and I rested my head back and closed my eyes wishing I had more tequila. That little flask hadn’t been nearly enough.
***
We arrived at an apartment building – I noted the address as Brent’s - with underground parking, which we turned in to.
Brent took the downward curves hard enough to make someone grunt from the backseat, but other than that, no one complained.
Furious energy tornadoed back and forth between Brent and me.
It was so intense, it was almost tangible.
Tires squealed as he pulled into a parking space. Doors flew open before he even put it in park in an effort to escape the pending storm brewing between us. I couldn’t blame them. If I were them, I would have run for the hills, too.
I hopped out, slamming my door and practically barreled right into Velvet.
Or, at least, the suitcase he held out for me.
It was mine from Ally’s place. I glanced where she was slinging a carry-on over her shoulder and pulling a larger suitcase out of the SUV with rough jerks. She looked mighty ticked off, too.
“I’m Stash Bailey.” Velvet held out his hand. “You are?”
“Ember Lerrus.” We shook in greeting.
“Nice name.” He pointed at D&D, who nodded at me. “That’s Zane Harris.” Stash’s lips twitched as he tilted his head toward Cole. “I believe you’ve already met Cole Donovan.”
“Yeah, we met,” I murmured, blushing.
Stash coughed over a laugh, turning his attention to Brent, who was wrenching a suitcase out of the SUV.
Brent gnashed his teeth. “Here’s your bag, Cole.” He chucked it right at Cole’s head.
Catching it, Cole glared. Quick hands.
Stash pulled another bag out, lifting the handle so he could roll it. He eyed Ally where she stood tapping her foot, waiting for us. I could almost see the smoke bellowing out of her ears. “What’s her name?”
“Ally Sue Fields.”
He gave her a slow perusal. “She single?”
Even angered, that was freaking funny. “You’re not her type. Sorry.” I patted his arm in bogus sympathy before pulling out my own duffle I had spied on the backseat.
“So, how do you guys know Brent?” I inquired while the remaining bags were unloaded.
“We own a security business together. We’ve known each other for a long time. Army, and all. Funny that we never heard about you.” Stash, along with Zane, watched for my reaction.
I didn’t disappoint. My eyes closed and I groaned softly. Cripes. So not good.
I deflected his pointed curiosity when the last door was slammed, by none other than Brent. “Do you normally drive around with a car full of luggage and a woman you don’t know?”
Zane answered, his voice cold, “No. The woman insisted on coming. We’re flying out for a different job tomorrow and because of the special circumstance of tonight,” he thought a gunfight was special?
, “we’re going to stay close to one another.
The norm. Protection in numbers.” He paused.
“So how do you and Ally know our man Brent?”
“Let’s go people,” Brent ordered, interrupting through clenched teeth. I wondered how long until he exploded. Then, these men, who thought they knew him so well, would see a whole other side of him.
Trudging toward the elevator Brent tried to take my duffle from me. I yanked it away from him. “I’ve got it.”
“Give me the bag, Ember.” He glared down at me.
“No.” I kept on walking.
“Darlin’, let me carry your damn bag.” His arm reached out.
I skirted away. “No.”
With both our mouths open to argue, we didn’t notice Ally come up behind us.
She smacked us upside the back of our heads. “Save it, you two.”
Zane and Stash watched on in amazement. Cole watched the play-by-play like he was learning trade secrets. I got the impression he was scary intelligent. And I’d had sex with him. Luckily, I was distracted enough not to think too hard on that.
Brent and I shut our mouths and walked on in silent fury.
That seemed to surprise Zane and Stash even more while Cole just tilted his head, still scrutinizing us, and pressed the up button for the elevator.
Ally’s tapping foot was the only sound echoing throughout the garage as we waited.
It probably would have felt awkward if I wasn’t contemplating everything I wanted to yell at Brent for.
Ding.
I snapped out of my red haze as the elevator doors opened. Thank goodness it was a large elevator, but even at that, it was a tight squeeze. I ended up plastered against Brent’s hard chest and the elevators buttoned wall. I tried not to melt into him too much. He had Supermodel for that.
They were all watching us as Brent snaked his hand around my waist to the buttons. I turned my head away and stared at the wall. I didn’t particularly enjoy being stared at. And they were examining every move Brent and I made.
He leaned his head down and asked softly, “That asshole hit you hard. Is your stomach all right?”
Nice of him to finally ask. “I’m fine.” I wasn’t sulkin’ or anything. I also wasn’t going to put any stock into him worrying, either, even though he was mad. That would be pure foolishness.
He nodded and lifted his head to watch the numbers ticking away above the doors.
When they opened, we ended up in a lobby where we shuffled to another elevator.
The lobby was real nice. Much more fancy than Ally’s.
She had obviously been here before because once we loaded up in the new elevator, she opened her purse and pulled out an access card.
Being closest to the buttons, she held it up to the sensor and hit the button for the eighth floor.
Stash’s eyebrows flew up. Zane blinked. Cole rubbed his jaw.
“I’m so glad I kept your card active,” Brent murmured sarcastically.
“As if you would have disabled it.” Ally didn’t even look at him in pure haughty fashion.
Brent huffed, but didn’t comment. The three of us knew he would never deny her.
Once we unloaded on the eighth floor we followed Brent down a hallway with only two doors.
One on each side. Brent stopped at the one on the left and slid his own card into the slot, opening it – kinda like a hotel’s card, instead of a regular key.
He walked in first, turning on lights. Cole’s large hand landed on the small of my back, gently ushering me in before him.
Brent turned around just in time to notice. “Don’t fucking touch her.”
Cole lifted an eyebrow and dropped his hand, but didn’t move away.
Brent, scowling, was ready to say something else when Ally interrupted, “We need to talk.” She glanced back and forth between Brent and me, her intentions clear.
Brent irritably brushed back a blond curl and turned on his heel. He opened large, wooden French doors on the right side of his spaciously tiled foyer. He swept his arm grandly for us to enter. Flawless, ticked off mockery.