Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel (#1) (15 page)

He couldn’t think of a plausible explanation.

Just thankful that she was alive, he had called the rest of the team to tell them he had found her and had r
e
mained steadfastly by her side ever since. He would not fail her again.

Turning to the rest of his friends who were lounged in every available corner of the room, he drew in a
long-suffering 
breath. “Why don’t you all go get something to eat and head back to your rooms for the night? There’s nothing much left to do here.”

“Are you sure?” Tim asked, though the twinkle of hope in his eyes belied the deep felt concern ringing in his voice. Kris knew for a fact that he was aching to go after Tabitha to try and patch things up since their break-up early that morning. Kris almost smiled when he thought about the reaction Cheyenne would
have when he told her the news that he’d won their bet.

“It’s fine. I’ll s
tay here and keep an eye on her.
”
H
e showed them
to
the door. Once they were gone and he was finally alone with Cheyenne,
he crawled into bed b
e
side her,
wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her hair. God, he loved her so much. The way she smelled, the feel of her slight yet curvaceous body fit against
his.

His chest ached at the knowledge that she most lik
e
ly wouldn’t return the sentiment
,
and so he took what little comfort he could grasp in
the small amount of
time he had to be with her right
now.

Pulling her so close not even a whisper of air would dare
to come
between them, Kris snuggled up to catch a little shut eye of his
own.

Waking up to an empty bed, Kris sat up, allowing his sleep filled eyes to rove over the room in search of Cheyenne. When he heard the shower running, he la
id back in the bed giving a cat
–like stretch. His night spent in her bed had been the best sleep he had had in a long while.

Pressing his nose to her pillow, he reveled in her lingering scent and remembered back to when they had shared mornings like this together laughing and smiling with one another.

He could still see her radiant face, the sunlight cu
t
ting across her peachy skin in a golden blaze. Her long
A
u
burn
hair trailed down her back
,
caressing her flesh the way he now wished he had done with his own
fingers.

The last morning he had spent in their bed before he had gone and screwed it all up, she had sat at the edge of the bed brushing her hair. He couldn’t even remember what he had sa
id to her, but whatever it
was; she
had turned to look at him over her shoulder, her big brown eyes warm and full of laughter. He had caused that. The memory of that one perfect moment was etched into his memory like a brand
,
and
was
just as painful because it was something that he may never have
again.

Emerging from the bathroom wrapped in her black silk robe, Cheyenne went to the closet to scrounge up a pair of jeans and a sweater.
Her first thought when she’d woken up was that she was in desperate need of a shower. Her hair was tangled and greasy, her skin
oily,
and she
hated to a
d
mit it, but she wasn’t smelling so hot either.

Once the warm spray was beating down, dispelling the chill in the air, a second thought presented itself:
What
happened last night? She had a gaping hole in her memory. Did she drink too much at dinner? Oh, God, did she sleep with Kris? That would explain why he’d been in her bed, snuggled up next to her, when she woke up. The last thing she wanted to do was go down that road again. Kris was a great guy, but she had tried the whole relationship deal with him and had gotten royally screwed in the
process.

No, she didn’t want to deal with the repercussions of a mistake like that. And she knew as she turned off the faucets and stepped out of the stall that she’d have to sit down with him to make sure that they were on the same page.

Still,
a little horrified at the amount of grime that
had been
on her, she looked bashfully at
Kris,
who lay sprawled across her bed
, an easy smile playing on his
face.

Even though they weren’t together anymore, the idea that he had even been that close to her funkiness was hugely embarrassing and brought heat to her face conside
r
ing what he must have been thinking while he breathed her in throughout the
night.

Even so, it warmed her heart to know that he cared enough for her to
withstand her griminess, even if it meant that he didn’t have any standards when it came to women and cleanliness.

“Hi,” she said when their gazes met. “I’m sorry if I woke you.”

“No,” he said quickly, rising up to rest on his e
l
bows. “Don’t worry about it. I just wo
ke up. All on my own. Yes ma’am…
” his voice trailed off.

If Cheyenne hadn’t been so intimately familiar with his outgoing, showoff, playboy personality, she would a
l
most think he was nervous. “Okay,” she said
,
elongating her response. She pointed behind her. “I’m just going to go get dressed real quick, and then you can have the bat
h
room.”

He nodded, but before she got far, someone knocked on the door. Leaping from the bed, Kris made a beeline for the door like someone had lit a fire under him. Cheyenne had never seen him move so fast in her life. Eyes wide with curiosity, she stood in the center of the room to see who it was.

Kris pulled open the door and had to look up to meet the visitor’s narrowed gaze. Standing at what must have been six and a half feet tall, the man was dressed in a navy sweater that clung to his body and did a piss poor job at hiding the fact that the guy was ripped like nobody’s business. His dark hair was slicked back into a pony
tail,
and his lips were set into a tight line. Cold as ice, his blue eyes burned him to his soul with an unwarranted fury that made Kris cringe back in fear.

“Um.” C
learing his throat
, he fumbled for words. “Can I, uh…C
an I help you?”

“There was a woman here last night,” he said in a thickly accented voice so deep it rivaled James Earl Jones as he peered over his shoulder into the room.

More than a little unnerved
,
but
more
concerned with protecting Cheyenne, Kris
moved
to block his view, pulling the door slightly closed behind him. “Look
,
man, the only woman here is
my
woman, capiche?”

Bearing down on him, Kris could have sworn he heard the man growl at him.

After several long, freaky ass seconds, the feral look dissipated and the man’s face turned somewhat pleasant. In his thick
accent,
he held out his hand to him.
“Sorry for the misunderstanding. Wrong
room.”

Kris shook his hand. “Been there
,
my man. Rough night last night?”

He flashed a cunning smile. “You have no idea.”

“The name’s Kris,” he introduced himself
,
feeling more at ease.

“Erias.”

After their introductions, Kris returned to the room. During their brief talk, he had learned that the man was a native to the
area,
and that he knew of their presence and why
he,
and his teammates were
there.

A bit of an adventurer himself, he had asked to tag along on their expedition back up the mountain
,
and seeing
no re
ason to deny someone with first
–hand knowledge of the
terrain; he
had agreed. Besides, he seemed like a pretty cool guy once you got past the hard outer shell. They were supposed to meet up for breakfast in an
hour.

“Oh
,
man, you wouldn’t believe what just ha
p
pened,” he started. Taking one look at the horrified look on Cheyenne’s face, his words died in
stantly.
Rushing to her, he enveloped her in his arms. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

She was shaking like a leaf and muttering incohe
r
ently against his chest. Holding her back so he could see her face clearly in the dim light cast from the open bat
h
room door, Kris asked her again. “Cheyenne, tell me what’s going on?”

“It’s…it’s…” Tears streamed down her face in
to
r
rents.

Giving her a sharp shake, Kris bent down to her level bringing their faces in line with one another. Hooking her chin with his finger, he forced her to look at him. “Tell me,” he demanded.

“It’s him,” she whimpered. “He’s the one who a
t
tacked me last night.”

“Who? The guy at the door? Erias?” he asked, his heart racing a mile a minute.

Her fingers clutched desperately at his collar before she nodded, her eyes welled with tears as she stared back at him pleadingly.

Impotent fury coursed through him as her words washed over him.

He was going to kill him.

Chapter 12

She couldn’t even believe that Erias had been there.
The second Kris had opened that door it was like the floo
d
gates had been shoved
open,
and the black hole in her memory was instantly filled in. Initially, s
he
tried to talk
herself into
believing
it was
all
just a dream. A
really
horr
i
ble
nightmare complete with a devastatingly handsome boogeyman that she wouldn’t mind taking to her
bed, but
she knew better, of course. She’d been kidnapped, tortured, and then…she’d woken up in her
bed.

How as that possible?

One thing she did know, she hadn’t slept with Kris. Thank God for small favors, she was relieved to have at least one problem
solved, but
that left her with one monster of a problem to solve. A psychotic killer was in the hotel with her, and he was clearly after
her.

He had been right there, just feet from her, a
flimsy door and Kris—
who looked like a waif next to his burly frame
—
the only things standing between them.

God what would she have done had he shoved Kris aside to get to her? Probably nothing, that’s what. The m
o
ment she heard his voice her body had stiffened, gluing her to her spot in the middle of the room. And as terrified as she was, she was ashamed to admit that another part of her–some very, very distant part of her,  the sickest part, the o
ne that clearly needed mental help
–had wanted him to come for her. 

Kris had stormed from the room right after she told him about her encounter with Erias. His eyes were blazing with rage that he barely held in check. She wanted to ask him to stay,
not to
get killed, but she couldn’t make the words come
out.

Numb, she waited for him to return. Though, she had no real hope of that happening bec
ause from the cold, calculating
brutality she had witnessed, Erias would rip him to shreds.

Kris sat at the small table across from the man Cheyenne had claimed attacked her. In her state, the way he had found her, he could understand how a story like that could be believed.

She’d
looked
like she’d been attacked.

The
thing was, and as Erias had explained, they had met the first night their crew had arrived, talked a bit here and there in passing, and last night, when she appeared at his door, he had welcomed her in.

According to him, after a few drinks one thing had led to another. Knowing Cheyenne like he did, he didn’t actually believe that she would make up a story like that and drag a good man’s name through the mud, but he did know she closely guarded her virginity like a national
treasure,
and she wasn’t much of a
drinker.

He could just imagine the horror she must have felt waking up in some stranger’s bed after a night of drinking to realize that she wasn’t pure anymore.