Because He Plays Me (Because He Owns Me, Book Seven) (15 page)

The short man threw back his head and laughed. “Oh Alex, you haven’t told your beautiful fiancé about all this yet? You know, any good relationship shouldn’t start out based on lies.”

“Enough,” the taller man said. “We need to have a talk with you Alex, and since your fiancé is here, then she’s invited to join us.” He waved his hand toward the door. “Shall we go inside?”

Madden growled. “She has nothing to do with me. It’s all just a ruse. I paid her to pose as my fiancé, and our business is done. She leaves now.”

My body started trembling. What was happening? I needed Madden to tell these men that they were crazy and he was Madden Cross and that they were wrong. He said nothing.

“I’m sorry Alex, but she stays.” The tall man moved to my side and held out his arm. He smelled like cigars and expensive cologne. “If you would be so kind as to let me escort you inside.”

I looked to Madden but he wouldn’t meet my gaze. His jaw was hard and he clenched and unclenched his fists, but he didn’t move. I seemed to have no choice. I put a shaky hand on the man’s arm and he reached out and patted it. My heartbeat pounded in my ears.

“Very good,” he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

The short man went first and opened the door. I could feel Madden behind me, though he didn’t touch me.

I hadn’t seem him back down from anyone in the short time I’d known him, yet he wasn’t questioning the decisions that these men were making. He wasn’t standing up to them at all.

That scared the ever-loving crap out of me.

As I stepped inside, my arm firmly held by the tall man, I told myself that Madden had taken care of everything thus far, and he would take care of this situation too.

But a moment later, I wondered if I really knew anything about Madden, whom I’d trusted so quickly and so deeply.

And suddenly I knew that I didn’t.

I didn’t really know this man at all.

T
he two men
who’d ambushed us outside Madden’s home were now escorting us inside, making sure to stay as close to us as possible.

The air was thick with menace, and I knew something terrible was just moments away from happening.

As soon as we stepped inside the two-story foyer, Madden moved his body between me and the tall man, physically pushing us apart. The man glared at Madden but Madden didn’t back down this time.

“Go upstairs to the bedroom,” Madden half-whispered to me.

I looked at the grand staircase twisting upwards to a second floor. It was open all along one side, but I had no idea where to go. “I don’t know where it is.” My voice came out low and a little hoarse.

The air in the room vibrated with hostility and my heart pounded in my chest because I had no idea what was going on. One thing was for sure though, these men were dangerous.

“She stays,” the tall man said.

“She has nothing to do with this,” Madden growled.

“You know,” the tall man said, lifting one eyebrow at Madden, “it’s a shame that a billionaire such as yourself couldn’t even bother with a simple ring for his beloved fiancé. You’ve been given so much, so don’t you think she deserves a symbol of your commitment? To show you believe in your promises?”

Madden’s jaw hardened. I looked from him to the tall man who had purposefully emphasized those words. What did he mean? Had there been some kind of agreement between them? I couldn’t imagine someone like Madden needing anything from men like these.

“You’re not getting a cent more out of me,” Madden said in a low voice. I’d never seen him so cold, so completely emotionless. He stared at the tall man, but neither backed down. Then the man started to laugh and the sound of it sent chills down my spine. If I had any doubt before, I now knew that this man was evil.

“It’s time for a little reminder of who you really are,
Alex,”
the taller man said. “And since you refused to listen to us the first time we sent our request, we thought a little incentive might help you.”

Before his words even stopped echoing in the marbled foyer, the tall man grabbed my arm and yanked me toward him.

Madden shouted and lunged at the man, throwing a devastating punch that hit the taller man on his chin. The tall man fell down in an unconscious heap as I stumbled backwards and knocked into a table, sending a vase crashing to the floor in pieces.

The tall man was lying on the floor now, body twitching, jaw hanging open and blood pouring from his bloody lips. His eyes were rolled back in his head.

Madden had done that to the man with one punch.

One punch.

“Are you okay?” Madden rasped at me.

I nodded because my lips suddenly would not move. That’s when I saw the shorter man moving from the corner of my vision.

“Behind you,” I cried out.

He spun around just as the short man pulled his arm back and then darted forward in an attacking motion, and there was a flash of silver in the smaller man’s hand that caught the light from a chandelier above.

Madden grunted and stumbled back a few steps. He was right next to me now. When he looked up, I saw pain in his eyes and then...I looked down.

A knife handle protruded from his side and blood already seeped through his jacket, dripping onto the white marble floor.

All sensation drained from my body. I was numb.

“Oh god.” I lifted my hand but didn't know what to do.

“It’ll be okay,” he said, his voice filled with pain.

Madden wrapped his fingers around the hilt and yanked. I screamed. He swayed on his feet but then seemed to regain himself, dropping the bloody blade to the floor with a clatter.

The short man was watching him with black, cold eyes, like a snake waiting to see if it’s prey was ready to die or not.

Madden suddenly reached out and grabbed the shorter man by the lapels of his coat, pulled his arm back and drove his fist into the man’s face, sending him to the floor. Madden turned toward me. His chest rose and fell with each harsh breath.

“Get out of here,” he said, his breath wheezing. “I’ll handle them.”

The smaller man was trying to get up. His cheek was swollen and his eye was closing already.

I shrieked and pointed when I saw him getting to his feet, terrified of what he might do next.

Madden jumped on top of him and began raising his fist and bringing it down, again and again, crashing into the smaller man’s face.

I screamed again, covering my face to hide the sound and vision of the violence I was seeing.

Finally, it was over.

Madden had collapsed atop the small man and they were both motionless.

There was a pool of blood beneath them, sinking into the edges of the Oriental rug. I moved slowly toward where Madden lay, unconscious now.

My ears rang, and my hand shook as I reached down and pressed two fingers to Madden’s neck.

His skin felt warm but clammy and there was a heartbeat.

Carefully I rolled Madden off the smaller man and onto his back. Madden’s breath was shallow and his eyelids flickered open and closed. His jacket was now soaked with blood.

He needed help or I was afraid he’d die. I had no experience with this sort of thing and the only thing I could think to do was put pressure on the wound like they always did on TV.

I pulled off my cardigan and balled it up, then pushed his jacket aside and set it over his blood soaked shirt. He grunted but his eyes didn’t open. I gingerly reached into the inside pocket of his jacket where I knew he kept his phone. My fingers were coated red when I pulled it out and I wiped them across his jacket while trying not to vomit.

“911, what’s your emergency?” a female voice asked.

“There’s been a stabbing. I think he’s dying,” I babbled. “We need an ambulance. Oh god…there’s blood everywhere. He won’t stop bleeding.”

Madden finally opened his eyes and groaned. “No police,” he murmured before his eyelids fluttered closed. My heart leaped into my throat and I pushed two fingers against his neck again. There was still a pulse.

“Ma’am, what’s your address?” the woman asked.

I froze. Panic built inside me. I had no idea where I was.

“I...I don’t know.” What if Madden died because I didn’t know where he lived? A frustrated sob broke from between my lips. “I don’t know.”

“Do you see a landmark or a street sign?” she asked.

“I’m inside...a house. His house, the man who was stabbed.”

“Does he have ID on him?” she asked calmly. “Something with his address? A driver's license?”

I fumbled inside his pocket again until I found his wallet. Once more blood coated my hand when I pulled it free and lights danced in my eyes. I sucked in several gulps of air. If I fainted, Madden could die.

There were a dozen credit cards and a thick fold of cash inside, but I ignored it all and fished out his license. In his DMV photo, his lips were quirked up in a smirk and my stomach tightened. What if I never saw that arrogant ass smile again?

Tears rolled down my cheeks.

“Ma’am? Are you still on the line?” the calm voice asked.

“It’s...552 Hemlock Grove,” I said quickly.

“Perfect. I’m sending an ambulance now. Is there anyone else who’s hurt?” she asked.

I looked at the two men lying unmoving on the floor next to Madden. God what if they were dead? What if Madden killed them? It was self-defense. They attacked him. If I had to I’d testify to that.

“Yes, there are two others. Men. They attacked my…my fiancé…with a knife and he fought them off, and they’re not moving.”

“Help will be there in just a minute. You’re doing fine Ms…”

“Kinsey. Skylar Kinsey,” I murmured. I reached out and took Madden’s hand. His skin felt clammy. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

“Okay Ms. Kinsey, the police have now arrived. You should see them any second.”

As if on cue, two uniformed men came through the door.

“They’re here,” I said.

“I’m going to hang up now and they’ll take care of everything. You did great.”

“Thank you.” I set the phone down and leaned in close to Madden’s ear but he was no longer responding.

“Help is here. Everything’s going to be okay now.”

But as I said the words, I wondered if it was really true. I wondered if anything would ever be okay again.

T
welve hours later
, Madden stood at the nurse’s station in a pair of jeans and a loose button-down shirt, arguing with the doctor about going home.

I still couldn’t believe he was alive, let alone standing and arguing with anyone about anything. How Madden had come through the violence and horror relatively unscathed was a miracle.

Only he didn’t seem to see it that way.

His face was drawn and pale and he gripped the edge of the counter with white knuckles. They’d sewn him up and given him pain medication, and I could see it in the long blinks he took.

“I’m going home, with or without your consent. You’ve done your damned job so go help someone else now,” Madden said between gritted teeth.

“I am recommending against it,” Doctor Henries said. His eyebrows were drawn down and he was frowning at Madden. “There was no damage to internal organs, but you
were
stabbed, Mr. Cross, and we would like to keep you under observation for a full twenty four hours.”

“I’m fine,” Madden rumbled. “Give me the damned papers so I can go.”

I stepped to his side and he glanced down. I could see the pain behind his eyes. I wrapped my arm around his, more so to make she he didn’t fall over than anything else. There was a slight sway to his body I didn’t quite trust.

“Are you sure?” I whispered. “One night won’t be so bad. I can take you home first thing in the morning. A compromise, right doctor?”

The doctor reluctantly nodded.

“I don’t compromise,” Madden growled. “I’m leaving now.”

A hundred different things that could go wrong flashed through my head. I still hadn’t recovered from seeing him get stabbed or all the blood. I wasn’t sure I could handle another emergency if anything happened.

The police had taken my statement after we got to the hospital and they spoke with Madden for a few minutes after he regained consciousness. The two men were alive and had been brought to the same hospital. At least Madden hadn’t killed anyone, though their fate was up to some public prosecutor because Madden refused to press assault charges.

I didn’t understand why and when I asked, he refused to answer.

After the police left, the pain pill took over and he fell back asleep for a few hours. At some point when I was grabbing some sleep, he must have called his driver to bring him a change of clothes. I didn’t know that until I returned to his room after grabbing some coffee in the hospital cafeteria and saw him struggling to put on his clothes.

No amount of pleading to get back into bed had changed his mind.

“I’m going home. And unless this is a prison,” he glared at the doctor, “I’d like it to be now before the damned press gets ahold of all this. If they haven’t already.”

The doctor stood up straighter and cleared his throat. “We take security here very seriously Mr. Cross, as I’ve said. You can be sure of complete discretion during your stay.”

Madden scowled. “There will be no stay, I’m leaving. You have two minutes to give me the paperwork to sign before I’m walking out without it.”

“Very well.” The doctor set his clipboard on the counter and slid it toward the nurse. “Have Mr. Cross sign the paperwork stating that he left against my advice. If there is any change in your condition, Mr. Cross, you must come back immediately. I’ll have the nurse give you a prescription for painkillers that you should take every eight hours for the first twenty-four. Then you can take as needed. You will be sore for some time, Mr. Cross and again, if there is any excessive bleeding, you need to come back right away.”

“I’ll make sure he does,” I said. Despite what Madden wanted, if it looked like
anything
was wrong, I was calling for another ambulance. His wishes be damned.

Madden signed the paperwork and I took the prescription.

“There’s a pharmacy on the first floor so you can fill that before you leave,” the nurse said. “And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call.” She glanced appreciatively at Madden. Even pale and weak, he was imposing and still very handsome. Especially with the dark shadow of stubble that covered his jaw. I tightened my arm through his.

“Thank you, we will,” I said over my shoulder as we walked away.

“You’re the only nurse I want tending to my wounds,” Madden murmured in my ear. When I glanced up at him, I saw that familiar smirk drifting across his lips. God, even on potent painkillers he was still sexy as hell. And he knew it.

“You almost died tonight. I want to make sure you’re taken care of, and if that means a dozen nurses tending your wounds, then so be it.” I pushed the button on the elevator and tapped my foot impatiently.

Madden threw back his head and laughed. Despite my irritation, the sound was music to my ears. It meant that he really was feeling okay.

“It’s just a cut,” Madden said. “I’m all stitched up. The fucking hospitals and doctors and insurance companies just worry about liability. Covering their asses, that’s all.”

I looked down at the rust colored smudges that were all over my clothes and shuddered. There was dried blood under my fingernails and I could smell the metallic tinge every time I took a breath.

“Now if I could just change out of these clothes and have a shower,” I murmured.

Madden’s hand tightened on my arm. “I’m sorry about all this. I never expected…” He stopped and shook his head. When he looked at me his eyes were too guarded for me to see anything in them. He leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Thank you. I don’t think I’ve said that yet.”

I didn’t know what to say, so when the elevator dinged open, I leaned my head on his arm. “Let’s just go home.”

M
adden was
asleep in the master bedroom and I had managed to take a very long and very hot shower, scrubbing my skin raw to get the feeling of the blood off me.

I pulled on a pair of leggings from my own bag that had been sitting in the foyer, now devoid of blood and the Oriental rug.

My favorite University of Maine sweatshirt hung past my thighs and I twisted my hair up and slid a large clip over it. Clean and in my own clothes, I felt a thousand times better. The house was quiet as I went down the carpeted stairs to find the kitchen. I avoided looking at the spots where the floor had been covered bright red as I moved through the room. I had no idea who had cleaned it all up, but I was grateful.

I’d seen enough blood to last a lifetime.

My stomach rumbled loudly. It was eight in the morning and I didn’t really remember the last thing I’d eaten. After last night, I wasn’t even sure I could eat again, but the gnawing pain assured me that I could.

I needed to get something for myself and for Madden when he woke. The marbled hallway led toward the back of the house and there were paintings on the walls that seemed more like a third grade art project than anything else. There were similar works hanging in the Cross building and I was sure that whoever had done them was someone of note.

The whole house was a showpiece but there wasn’t a single thing in it that made me think of Madden. There were no pictures, no souvenirs or personalization. It was very beautiful, stunning actually, but it was cold.

So it is like Madden
, a voice in my head chided.

No, that was only a part of him. There was so much more to his life and I’d caught glimpses of it—enough to know that Madden Cross only got deeper and deeper the more you learned, like a lake that turned out to be deeper than the Mariana Trench.

I found the kitchen and grabbed a few fancy bottled waters from the enormous fridge and made myself a quick sandwich.

A search of the walk-in pantry turned up some sea salted wafer crackers for Madden, since the doctor advised against heavy food right away.

I carried it all back upstairs and set the waters and crackers on the nightstand, in case he needed them when he woke. I was exhausted but sleep refused to come, so I finished my sandwich and pulled a blanket over my legs, and settled into the oversized chair next to his bed and watched his chest rise and fall.

It seemed that every time he pushed me away, something pulled us back together. It was a roller coaster ride with him and right now he needed me, so with him was where I’d stay.

“
W
ell hello there
, sleepyhead,” I said with a smile, uncurling myself from the chair. I grabbed the bottle of water from the wine chiller I brought up to keep it cold and opened the cap.

When I handed it to him, he sat halfway up on one elbow and guzzled the contents. When he winced, I reached for his pain pills. It had been over ten hours since we left the hospital, so it was safe for him to have more. I shook out two into my palm.

“Just one. I hate feeling so fucking helpless,” he said in a sleep-deepened voice.

I gave him one and another bottle of water. After he finished it he lay back down with a deep sigh. I brushed the hair back from his face. He caught my hand and brought it down over his heart, hiding it there where I felt the beating under my fingertips.

“About those two men,” he said. “You should never have been involved in any of that.” He sounded truly sorry, his voice even breaking a little.

I wasn’t sure if it was the meds talking or not, but I gently climbed onto the bed next to him and settled against the side that was not hurt. I laid my head on his bare chest and ran my fingers up and over his shoulder.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “You could have died today.” I fought back the sick feeling and tried to focus on the fact that he was okay and lying next to me. Impulsively I pressed my lips to his chest. Madden tightened his hold on me and pulled me even closer.

“Who were they? Why did they call you Alex?” I finally asked.

He tensed under me and I wanted for him to tell me that it was none of my business. But then he exhaled and relaxed. He ran his fingers over my hair and the thumping in his chest sped up.

“Alex is the name I used to go by a long time ago.” I waited for him to go on and he was quiet for so long that I thought he might have fallen back asleep, but then his chest rumbled and he started talking again. “I’ve never told anyone about my past.”

I pulled the blankets up over us and rested my hand on his neck, softly stroking along his jaw. He seemed so vulnerable that I wanted to make sure he knew he was safe. That he could tell me anything.

After some more time passed, he continued speaking, his words growing more eloquent as he went on. “I grew up in LA. I didn’t know my father and my mother wasn’t really around much. Drugs were more important to her than a kid I guess. We moved around a lot and I didn’t have a lot of friends. When I was fourteen, I met this man who sort of took me in. Paulie Sciarrino. He became like a father to me,” a dark laugh barked from his chest, “as if I even knew what the fuck a father was supposed to be like. But he gave me delivery jobs and paid me more money than I’d ever seen in my life. It took awhile for me to realize that I was running drugs, but at that point I was taking care of myself and I wasn’t hungry or cold or getting my clothes at some second hand store.”

The bitterness in his voice made me hold him tighter. I knew what it was like to basically raise yourself, but at least I had someone in my life to care. My Gran was everything to me when my parents didn’t want to be.

“When I turned eighteen I decided that I wanted a different life,” Madden said. “I had this grand idea that I wanted to go to college except I never even graduated from high school. Paulie said he’d help me, that he’d make it happen. I just had to do one last favor for him.”

Madden’s body went tense and I could hear his heart thundering in his chest now. I leaned up and brushed my fingers over his rigid face. His eyes were closed but the hard lines of his face betrayed his state.

“You don’t have to go on,” I whispered.

His eyelids flickered open and in his eyes I saw so much agony that it took my breath away. He glanced at me. “There was this rival mob guy, a really sick bastard, that Paulie wanted me to take out. That’s all I had to do to earn a new life. Easy right? I’d seen a lot of death but it was never by my hand.” Madden inhaled raggedly. “I sat on it for a few days and talked about it with a few of the boys. In the end, I just decided I couldn’t kill a man who’d done me no wrong. So I called it off, told Paulie I couldn’t do the job.”

I watched him struggling to tell his story and my stomach churned for him. I wanted to stop him because it was horrible to hear about what he’d gone through. But I knew he needed to continue to tell the truth.

Madden opened his eyes and looked at me, smiling grimly. “I guess some of my so-called friends were not as good at keeping secrets as I’d given them credit for, because about a week later, that same man tried to kill me when I was on my way home one night.”

“The man you were supposed to murder?” I asked, my heart pounding in my chest.

Madden nodded weakly. “I still can’t believe he tried to do it himself. He must have loved the bloodshed, because he did it alone, at night, and he still almost killed me. It was going to be him or me that night and I wanted to fucking live. He got close enough to fire off a shot at close range, but by some stroke of luck, I moved just in time. Pulled my own gun and fired. I didn’t even know where I hit him,
if
I’d hit him, until he fell to the ground. I heard voices shouting so I ran. Later that night, Paulie came to tell me that I was a free man. He gave me a new identity and paid my way through UCLA and even grad school. I’m where I am today because of him, because of what I did. My success has this fucking black cloud hanging over it. If anyone knew what I did, I‘d end up with nothing. That’s why the plagiarism charge was such a big deal. If anyone looked too hard, they might find out I wasn’t who I said I was.”

I lay still for several moments, trying to take everything in. I was angry at his parents who didn’t care, sad for the boy who had to take care of himself, and heart-broken that in the end he’d had to use violence to have a chance at a real life.