Lori Foster (30 page)

Instead, he’d rushed, grabbing what he knew he needed, because he missed Avery. He kept thinking of how stoic she’d looked when he mentioned her cutting back at work.

She read him so easily, knowing without him saying it that he wanted her to return to her safe, cushioned life.

Only...he didn’t. Not really. He wanted to keep her close.

He wanted her forever.

Would that be fair to her, though? She said she loved him. Could she really be content as the bartender in a neighborhood joint, living on a budget and married to a man like him?

Marriage.

He swallowed hard, for the first time in his life letting himself consider it—

When his cell rang, he was actually glad to have a new focus. Seeing it was Pepper, he answered with, “What’s up, kiddo?”

Instead of anyone replying, he heard background noise, like that through a speaker. At first the conversation was indistinct, and then he recognized Avery’s voice.

“This isn’t happening, so you can both forget it.”

A man said, “Can’t you shut her up?”

Meyer.

And Fisher’s voice, strained, replied, “I can, but I’m thinking we should go somewhere else.”

“Can you imagine the fuss she’ll kick up if we try to drag her out of here? Besides, how can I get her boyfriend if we’re not here when he arrives?”

A dozen emotions slammed into Rowdy, but overriding everything else was the pounding urgency to protect Avery.

With only a glance in the rearview mirror he made a sharp U-turn, sending the car into a skid before it righted itself back in the direction of his apartment. Brakes squealed, horns blared. He pressed his foot to the accelerator. “I’m on my way,” he whispered, just in case Pepper could hear him.

He turned his phone on speaker and laid it on the seat so that he could use both hands to drive.

His eyes went dry and hot, his throat so tight he couldn’t swallow. Every muscle tensed as he maneuvered the road, speeding up to pass a van, then punching it once he found a clear spot on the road, going well over the speed limit.

He heard Avery gasp, heard her cursing Fisher, calling him some choice names. Meyer demanded that she be quiet.

A slap.

He squeezed the steering wheel; for right now, she was okay, fighting back and more angry than terrified. He had to tell himself that or he’d drive through the front doors of his building.

It took him less than ten minutes that felt like an hour before he saw the building. Slowing, he pulled down an alley before he got too close.

He would park behind the bar and cross over on foot, just in case Meyer or Fisher watched the road. He needed to call...well, maybe not Logan. He was a good cop, but with Pepper involved, would he be able to keep his head?

Reese, then. Except that he’d have to hang up on Pepper to do that. He slammed the car into Park at the back of the bar and, praying he wouldn’t be too late, picked up his cell.

Cannon stepped out of nowhere, covered in sweat, almost like he’d been watching for him.

“I tried to call,” Cannon yelled. “As soon as I saw you, I ran to catch up.” He sucked in a deep breath. “Two men—”

“Keep it down.” Rowdy opened the car door and lifted his cell. “My sister is on the line.” And so that Cannon would understand, he added, “She’s at my place. With Avery. I think she’s hidden. She called so I could hear it all, so I’d know what was going down.”

Cannon clenched his jaw. “The two men?”

“Avery’s stepfather and her bastard ex.” Rowdy opened the glove box and got out a tactical knife in a sheath. He shoved it into the waistband at the small of his back. “Anyone else?”

“I only saw those two go in.” Cannon watched as Rowdy pulled his shirt over the knife. “You have a gun?”

“Yeah.” He left his car and started down the back alleys, going one alley up from the apartment building. “It’s in my apartment.”

“Fuck.” Cannon kept pace beside him. “Now I know why I couldn’t reach you.”

Rowdy put the phone to his ear to listen a moment. Some arguing, but still nothing from Pepper. “Long as I keep the call open, I can gauge the best time to move in.”

“I called your buddy, the cop.”

“Reese?”

“Yeah.”

Rowdy nodded. “If he gets here, let him know what’s going on.”

“Jesus, Rowdy. Shouldn’t you wait?”

“They’re going to rape Avery.”

Cannon shoved a hand through his hair. “Motherfuckers...”

Rowdy looked at the windows of his apartment. The angle would make it tough for anyone to see him now. He peeled off his jacket and tossed it toward Cannon. “Mostly they want to kill me.” He met Cannon’s appalled stare. “When I show up, that’ll buy Avery some time.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No. You stay here and watch for Reese.” Done discussing it, Rowdy jogged across the street and, praying he’d be in time, he went into the building and up the stairs.

He found the door unlocked and quietly slipped it open enough to slip in when the time was right. Flattened on the wall outside the door, he listened in, and he prepared himself.

One way or another, he would get both women out of there safe. If it meant killing Fisher and Meyer, he was fine with that.

And if it meant dying himself, it was a price he was willing to pay.

Just please, God, let Avery and Pepper be okay.

* * *

A
VERY
REFUSED
TO
give Fisher the satisfaction of cowering, or flinching in pain, even when she thought he might break her arm. She just glared her hatred at him, infuriating him.

“You think you’re a little toughie now, is that it?”

“No. I’m still me, Fisher, still a woman who is utterly repulsed by you.”

“Yes, you’re a woman.” He cupped her chin, forced her face up. “And I’m the man who will tame you.”

She gave him a twisted smile. “Poor, pathetic Fisher. I’ve had a real man, and I know the difference. You’re nothing.”

He drew back to slap her again and a noise sounded by Rowdy’s bed.

Meyer said, “Wait.” Leaving the table, gun held out, he moved to investigate.

Hide, Pepper.
Avery held her breath.
Please, please, hide.

Fisher caught her hair and turned her toward him, jerking her face up close to his. Through stiff lips, he hissed, “He is insane, you stupid bitch.”

“You both are,” Avery told him just as quietly, “if you think you’re going to get away with this.”

“Of course we won’t, so stop trying to goad me so I can figure out how to get us out of here.”

Right. He wanted her to believe he’d help her? Avery knew Fisher was not the heroic type. Meyer wouldn’t let her leave, and she didn’t care if Fisher got out alive. She cared about Pepper, about Rowdy.

Somehow she had to save them both.

Fisher pulled her head back farther, then glanced at Meyer. While he was distracted, she tensed—and brought her knee up hard into his groin.

For a split second, he looked merely stunned that she would do such a thing. Then his eyes widened, his mouth went slack and his hand loosened from her hair.

He wheezed, “Goddamn you, Avery—” and collapsed to his knees.

Avery tried to rush Meyer, but he said, oh-so-calmly, “Do it and I’ll kill her.”

He had his gun trained on Pepper, who had hunkered down on the other side of the bed. Avery froze.

“Come out, then,” Meyer said, gesturing with the gun. “Hurry it up before I lose my patience.”

Avery clenched her hands into fists. “Don’t you dare hurt her, you bastard.”

Pepper curled her lip, flipped her hair back and stood straight and tall as if she hadn’t been hiding from a madman and a pervert. She walked past Meyer with no regard for the gun aimed at her.

Meyer laughed, but the laugh held no real humor. He followed Pepper toward the table. “Who are you?”

“I’m Rowdy’s sister.”

“The devil has a relative? Interesting.” He pulled out a chair for her. “Sit down. Both of you.”

“So you can shoot us?” Pepper narrowed her eyes and walked to the other side of the table. “No, thanks.”

She had her back to the kitchen, facing the bedroom area. The door to leave was to their right.

On the floor blocking the way, Fisher showed signs of life.

Meyer lost his patience. “Get up, Fisher. I’ve had enough of your vacillating. If you can’t play your part then you’re useless to me.”

Fisher struggled up, his hand to his crotch.

“There are too many people here,” Meyer decided as he corralled them in the kitchen. “It’s getting impossible to keep track. So who should go?”

“You,” Pepper said.

Very slowly, trying not to push Meyer into a hasty move, Avery stepped in front of Pepper. She gave her a warning look, and to her surprise, Pepper subsided.

With cool command Avery faced Meyer. “You won’t hurt her,” she stated. She pressed back against Pepper, pushing her farther into the kitchen. If anyone started shooting, she could maybe get behind the fridge, or the stove. Or she could possibly grab a kitchen knife...something
, anything,
was better than being a standing duck.

“You think not?”

“If you even try,” Avery promised him, “you’ll have to kill me, too, and then what will you tell Mom?”

“That you ran away for good?”

Avery shook her head. “She’s believed a lot from you, Meyer, but she won’t believe that. She knows I love her and she knows I’d never leave her for good, especially not now, while she’s being treated for her cancer.”

“You didn’t care before.”

“I didn’t know she’d been sick. But now I do. She and I have talked. We’ve mended things.” Avery crossed her arms and looked at Fisher, seeing him as the weaker link, as insane as that seemed. If she could just keep them talking, maybe she could think of a way out of this. “Why were you hanging around the bar again?”

“I wasn’t. As I told Meyer, you lost your appeal when you started sleeping around with a bum like Rowdy Yates.”

Avery put a hand back, letting Pepper know not to react. “Rowdy knows it was you, Fish.” Adopting Rowdy’s nickname for him worked; Fisher bunched up in impotent rage. “He’s told his cop friends, and even now, they’re checking up on you. If anything happens to either of us, you’ll be one of the first people they come after.”

“That lowlife ruffian is friends with law officers?” Meyer chortled with credible humor. “I don’t believe that nonsense.”

“It doesn’t matter, anyway,” Fisher insisted. “If you’d fallen back into my lap, Avery, then yes, I would have taken advantage by sleeping with you.”

“You mean raping me?”

He gave her a flat stare. “But do you honestly think I’d marry you after you slept with a bar owner?” Fisher shook his head. “Not likely.”

Fisher might not have noticed Meyer’s anger over that disclosure, but Avery saw it, and worried for an imminent explosion. “Then why were you hanging around?”

“I already told you that I wasn’t.” He scowled at Meyer. “Was it you?”

“Yes, but it no longer matters.” Using the gun, Meyer waved away the importance of the question. “The mayor is my friend. The police commissioner is a friend. I can discredit two low-level detectives without even trying.”

“Maybe not this time.” Again Avery backed Pepper farther into the kitchen. “Rowdy’s sister is married to one of those detectives.”

Fisher blanched.

“He’s a good cop,” Pepper added. “The best.”

Avery nodded. “He will never let it go if anything happens to her.”

“Meyer,” Fisher said, easing closer to him. “Let’s think about this. There’s no reason to make matters worse.” Casually, he came closer still. “I’m sure Avery can be reasonable.”

“Of course,” Avery said.

Fisher was only a few feet from Meyer now. “And the cops,” he suggested, “can probably be bought. Between us, we have more than enough resources to make this...breach in good judgment go away.”

Pepper said nothing, thank God. Neither Reese nor Logan could be bought, but if Fisher convinced Meyer otherwise, maybe he’d let them go.

Meyer narrowed his eyes. “I think it’s better if they all go.”

Fisher looked apoplectic. “You can’t be serious.”

“The girl, the cops.” Meyer shrugged. “If you no longer want her, what does it matter?”

Avery tsked. “That’s an awful lot of deaths adding up. Hard to hide that many bodies.”

“It’d be impossible.” And with that, Fisher lunged for Meyer.

It was ludicrous, given that Fisher was so much bigger, younger, faster, but Meyer had insanity on his side.

He squawked—and managed to shoot Fisher in the leg.

The noise was deafening, almost stopping Avery’s heart. Pepper, damn her, took advantage of the confusion and separated from her.

Fisher went down to the floor with a sharp cry, blood pumping steadily from his leg to form a quick puddle of red gore around him.

Wild-eyed and heaving, Meyer shouted, “Goddamn it! Now look what you made me do.” Straight armed, his hand shaking, he took aim at Avery. It felt like everything inside her shut down in that instant.

Pepper yelled, “No!”

And into the chaos, the front door slammed open.

Rowdy went down the steps in one leap. He looked larger than life, confident and in control.

He stared only at Meyer, his gaze so focused and so lethal that Avery’s knees almost gave out.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Y
OU
DIDN
’
T
LOCK
the door,” Meyer said to Fisher in confusion.

“I have my own key,” Rowdy reminded him, calm, even. “I would have gotten in anyway.”

“You knew we were here?”

“I’ve had you watched, both of you.” Not exactly true, but a lie didn’t bother Rowdy if it got him the desired results—which in this case, would be the upper hand. “You can still leave.”

Meyer shook his head. “No. It’s too late for that.”

“It’ll only be too late if you hurt anyone else.” Arms out to his sides, Rowdy advanced on Meyer. “If you want to leave now, I won’t touch you, I swear.”

Meyer laughed. He looked at the women, then back at Rowdy and he laughed some more. “You think it’ll be that easy?”

He didn’t dare look at his sister or Avery. If he did, fury would take over and he’d be on Meyer, gun or not, in seconds. “I think you value life. I know you love Sonya.”

“My Sonya.”

“Think of her, Meyer.” Rowdy counted on Avery’s mother being Meyer’s one weakness. “Where will she be if you die today? If you go to jail for life?”

“She’s all I’ve ever thought of!”

“Good. That’s good.” Sanity was such a fragile thing. Had Meyer always been nuts? “You know she loves you, too.”

“She wanted her fucking daughter back,” Meyer spat. “But Avery was too selfish—”

Adrenaline pumped through his blood.
“Look at me, Meyer.”
Rowdy steadily approached. “That’s over now. Avery understands how much Sonya needs her. But she needs you, too.”

“No.” Meyer caught Pepper trying to stray closer and his face contorted in rage. “Stupid bitch, you will back up right now.”

Pepper froze.

“She’s not going to do anything, Meyer. You have the gun. Now look at me.”

“I will when she backs off.”

Instead of Pepper doing the reasonable thing, she held her ground. And Avery, damn her, crowded in next to Pepper.

Rowdy had lost far too much in his life. He would not lose Avery or Pepper. “Meyer, does Sonya know where you are?”

“She hasn’t a clue.” He eyed the women. “She’s so busy being stoic, pushing forward with a smile intact. She’s beautiful.”

“Yes, she is.” Rowdy only had a few more feet to go. Then he’d be close enough to rush Meyer. “Beautiful and smart and kind. You’re a lucky man.”

“You’re not.” Meyer eased the gun from Avery to Pepper and back again. “Which one should it be, Rowdy? Your little sister or your lover?”

Fisher said, “Jesus, Meyer.” Face pale with pain and blood loss, he squeezed his leg. “Let it go.”

“You are a disappointment.”

Fearful, Fisher glanced at Rowdy, but Rowdy looked only at Meyer. “I want you to put the gun down.”
Put it down before I jam it down your goddamn throat.

“Not until you choose.”

Holding on to the pole, Fisher tried to stand. “We’re not getting out of here if you don’t stop. Let’s go now.”

“We have nowhere to go,” Meyer told him.

“I could use a fucking hospital!” Fisher got mostly upright, slumping against the pole. “Be reasonable.”

“You’re not as smart as I thought, Fisher. There’s no cleaning this up. I know it even if you don’t. So let me have my fun. I’m not going down without taking one of them with me.” He smiled. “I’ll be generous, Rowdy. You can keep one. Which is it to be?”

Before Rowdy could come up with a reply, Avery stepped forward. “Let Pepper go.”

Rowdy’s heart stalled. In his head, he whispered
no.

Then his sister joined Avery. “Screw that. I’m not going anywhere. Let Avery leave.”

Cursing low, Rowdy gave up subterfuge and strode forward. “You won’t hurt either of them, you miserable fuck. Before you get off a shot, I swear to you, I will rip out your twisted heart.”

Just a few more steps, Rowdy thought. And then he’d be close enough to jump the bastard.

Meyer must have realized it, too. Panicked, he turned the gun on Rowdy. “Stop!”

Relieved to again be the focus, Rowdy kept going. “Fuck you.” If Meyer didn’t manage a killing shot, Rowdy would disarm him. Either way, Pepper would know to react. She and Avery would find a way to get safe.

Meyer took aim, his finger squeezing the trigger.

Rowdy braced himself, ready to lunge—and a bullet hit Meyer in the chest. For a split second Rowdy stared, dumbfounded, as the force of the shot sent Meyer stumbling backward. He tripped over one of the kitchen chairs and landed flat on his back, a blood blossom expanding over his shirt.

On instinct, Rowdy launched himself at Avery and Pepper, hastily pushing them both to floor behind him. He had no idea who had fired the shot, if Fisher was now armed, as well. He twisted to survey the danger.

Reese stepped in, gun drawn as he searched the scene. “Rowdy? Are you hurt?”

Rowdy drew a breath, still with a death grip on Avery and Pepper. “No.” He sounded hoarse, and took a second to breathe. He stroked a hand over Avery’s hair, ran his other hand over his sister’s back. “Fish is bleeding like a stuck pig, but we’re okay.”

Logan, the one who’d taken the shot, came in next, his gun still at the ready. He went straight to Meyer, disarmed him and then said, “Pepper?”

Cannon stood in the doorway, taking in the destruction.

Safe. They were all safe.

Rowdy was still hugging Pepper on one side, Avery on the other, when Pepper struggled away from him and ran to Logan.

Logan caught her up with one arm, squeezing her hard. For only a moment, Logan closed his eyes in relief.

He’d misjudged him, Rowdy realized. Logan was a cop through and through, and no matter how personal things might get, he had a cool enough head to do what needed to be done.

Pepper stuck her face in Logan’s neck and damn, the way her shoulders jerked, Rowdy thought she might be crying.

A suffocating pressure squeezed his chest. He’d never felt anything like it, but now, knowing Avery and his sister were both okay, it should have eased.

It didn’t. It got worse and worse, painful, frightening.

Until Avery gulped in air, once, twice, then gave a soft sob. Everything inside him turned to mush. He pulled her up and into his lap, cradling her close. “You’re not hurt?”

She shook her head, her hands on his face, big tears tracking down her cheeks. She had a bruise on the left side of her face.

“Who did this?” Rowdy asked, brushing gently with his thumb.

She shook her head, letting him know it didn’t matter. Not now. “You scared me so badly.”

“Oh, babe.” He pulled her in, kissed her forehead. “Scared doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

Going from soft and shaken to furious in a single beat, she slugged him. Hard. Right in the shoulder. “What the hell do you mean, Rowdy Yates, daring that maniac to shoot you?”

“I didn’t.” Not really. His only thought had been to keep Avery and Pepper safe.

Suddenly Pepper was back, her expression mean as she dropped to her haunches to give him a shove.

Rowdy almost toppled backward. “What the hell, Pepper.”

“You bastard!”

Rowdy stared at her. Never had his sister cursed him.

She reached past Avery, who still sat on his lap, to grab his ear. “You could have been killed!”

“Jesus.” He caught her wrist—gently, because he loved her more than life—and freed his ear. “He was going to shoot you.”

“I wouldn’t have let that happen,” Avery said around another sob.

“And you!” He pulled Pepper down beside him again so he could give his attention to Avery. “I had it under control, honey. You should have stayed back instead of—”

“Doing what
you
did?” She struggled up and away from him.
“I love you, damn it.”

Rowdy stared up at her. Half the neighborhood had probably just heard her shout.

“He’ll live,” Reese said as he checked on Fisher. “But he probably won’t be walking anytime soon.”

Cannon came to stand by Avery. “Ambulance will be here soon. I can already hear their sirens.”

Rowdy thought about sprawling back on the cold floor, taking a minute to get himself together, to come to grips with all he felt. Avery stood there heaving, Cannon looked expectant, his sister openly cried while clutching his arm and Reese and Logan were handling everything.

But it was his apartment, so he manned up and stood, then pulled two chairs away from the table. “Sit down,” he said to Pepper.

“We’re going to talk about this,” she insisted. “About this warped way you have of putting yourself at—”

“Sure, kiddo.” He got her to sit, then messed up her hair. “Whatever you want.”

“And don’t you patronize me!”

“Wouldn’t think of it.” He glanced toward Logan, but his brother-in-law looked carved from stone—probably his way of keeping his shit together until he got done doing his job. Rowdy leaned down to Pepper’s ear. “I think he needs a little comfort, kiddo.”

“He needs to work first,” Logan said. “She can comfort me later.”

Yeah, he didn’t want to know about that. Rowdy didn’t quite look at Avery yet, but in every fiber of his being, he was aware of her standing there, shaking, upset. “Do you need me for anything?” he asked Logan.

Reese glanced up at him, then at Avery. “At the moment? No. But don’t take off.”

Where the hell would he go?

Because Cannon looked like he wanted to help, Rowdy said, “Get her something to drink, okay? Stay with her until Logan finishes up.”

“Sure.” Cannon rubbed the back of his neck. “Jesus, what a mess. Tonight, whatever I can do to help out at the bar, just let me know.”

“Thanks.” Rowdy gave one last kiss to the top of Pepper’s head. “You did great, kiddo.”

“My phone is still under your bed.” Bracing her feet on the edge of the chair, she pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her shins. “It was the only way I could think of to let you know what was happening.”

“It was perfect.”

“
She’s
perfect,” Logan said. Then he announced, “This one’s dead.”

Rowdy glanced toward Meyer, and his only thought was of Sonya. She’d have Avery in her life to help her through the loss, and personally, he thought that was more than the woman deserved.

Preparing himself, because he knew it wasn’t going to be easy, Rowdy turned to Avery. She was a terrible crier. Mascara tracks ran down her bruised face and her nose was already redder than her hair. Her skin had turned blotchy, her eyes swollen.

God, he loved her.

He stood there, staring at her, drinking it in, accepting that he loved her and that no matter what, he needed her. With him. In his life. A part of him.

Day in and day out, whatever life dealt.

She wiped her tears, sniffled. And waited.

She’d been waiting on him for so long that he felt like a complete and total bastard. And a coward.

In two long strides he reached her and drew her in. That got her sobbing pretty good again. She clutched at him, forgetting his stupid stitches, his injury, as she burrowed closer.

“It wasn’t you,” she told him brokenly. “This happened because of me. Because of my life.”

“Yeah, I know.” He’d been so worried about Avery deserving more than he could give her. He didn’t want her put at risk because of him, because of where he lived and the business he owned, the associations he’d made.

“It was my background...and it endangered you and your sister.”

“Shhh.”

From the kitchen table, Pepper said, “Avery?”

Avery drew a gulping, shuddering breath, then said, “Yes?”

“Cause a scene.”

Half laughing around her tears, Avery squeezed him close again.

Rowdy had no idea what that exchange meant, but he picked her up and went to the couch. On the way, he managed to kick Fisher, who groaned weakly.

The prick.

Avery sniffled another laugh. “Did you do that on purpose?”

Amazing, unique, wonderful Avery. He didn’t know any other woman who could find humor in the situation. “If he wouldn’t get more blood all over my apartment, I’d take him apart for slapping you.”

“I’d help you.”

“Maybe we’ll get our chance yet.”

“I was so afraid,” she said, her voice going high and thin again. “But...but I tried to hide it from him. I wanted him to know what a sick and weak...
nothing
he is.”

“I heard.” Rowdy rubbed his face against her hair, his heart so full that it hurt. “Pepper called me. I could hear you talking. You were incredible.” He hugged her tighter. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Proud.” She wiped her eyes on his shirt. “Great. I feel so much better.”

Sarcasm at a time like this was almost as amazing as the humor. Rowdy couldn’t take it a second more. “And I love you.”

She went perfectly still, then jerked back to see him.

Rowdy touched her face, so blotchy from her crying jag. “I love you so damn much, Avery, it scares me. But losing you scares me more.”

From the kitchen table, Pepper said, “There, you see? My brother is a very smart man.”

Cannon said, “Yeah, I know.”

Paramedics arrived along with some unis. Reese and Logan ran the show, so Rowdy didn’t have to do anything but hold Avery.

When she sat there staring at him, he asked, “What did my sister mean about you causing a scene?”

Her eyes were round and watchful, as if she didn’t quite believe him yet. “I told her if you asked me to leave, I wouldn’t. Cause a scene I mean.”

“But Pepper likes you enough that she’d want you to, huh?”

Pepper chimed in, saying, “I love
you
enough, brother, that I wanted her to do what was right for you.” Then she thought to add, “But yeah, I like Avery a lot, too.”

Rowdy smiled, easing Avery’s untidy hair away from her ravaged face. “Do you want to go in the bathroom?” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “You’re kind of a mess.”

She slugged him again, but she was smiling. “Yes, please.”

Again, he lifted her.

One of the EMTs asked, “Is she okay?”

He waited, but Avery didn’t answer, so he said for her, “She’s just upset because I love her.”