Make Me Sweat (9 page)

Jayce shuddered.

“I’ve heard your voice a million times. Your photographs don’t do
you justice.”

Eyebrow raised, Dak watched as Jayce’s gun hand shook. It wasn’t overly
noticeable, but he knew his best friend, and something was off.

He touched Jayce’s shoulder. “Why don’t you tell me something I
don’t know, Mr. Dumont?” He nudged Jayce and his friend’s gaze clashed with
Dak’s, confusion and bewilderment in their gray depths. Dak frowned, but Jayce
turned away abruptly, giving him his back.

“I know she loves you.” Westin drew Dak’s attention back to him. “She’s
not the Ghost, neither am I, but she’s doing all this for me.”

“Fuck. I need a drink if I have to listen to this bullshit.”
Jayce strode over to the bar and poured himself whiskey, downing the liquor in
one swallow.

Westin eyed him. “None for me thanks.”

Dak’s lips twitched. “Okay, start talking. Who are you to Ever?”

“I’m the man she’s putting before you. She’s choosing her love
for me over her love for you.’

Dak ached to punch him in the fucking throat.

“Explain,” Jayce barked from his stance in the corner. 

Westin shrugged. “There’s nothing to explain. Didn’t that say it
all right there?”

“Listen, you little shit, don’t play with me.” Jayce leaned into
his face, nose to nose. “Are you fucking her?”

Dak wanted an answer to that question, but apparently not as bad
as Jayce.

His friend stared into Westin’s eyes, looking angry, horny, and
lost all at once. The two men appeared on the verge of tonguing each other down
in a hot second. Westin’s gazed dropped to Jayce’s lips then climbed back to
his eyes.

“Would it upset you if I’ve been fucking her, Santana?” Westin’s
voice dropped lower, but Dak caught his whispered, “Would you rather I be
fucking you?” Jayce jerked away, Westin chuckled.

“Enough already.” Dak grabbed Westin by his collar. Jayce stepped
forward and Dak growled at him. “Stay the fuck back, Jayce.” He shook the man
in his hands. “I want answers. Where’s Ever?”

“That’s why I’m here.” Westin shrugged away from his hold and handed
him the binder. “These were taken from an accident about five minutes away from
your estate. Happened last night.”

Dak flipped through the gruesome pictures with a puzzled frown. A
black Mercedes had been totaled. Blood and glass littered the ground. Didn’t
look like the driver of the Mercedes survived, but—“What does this have to do
with Ever?”

“The Mercedes is hers.”

Dak dropped into his chair. “She-she was in this accident?” God,
he couldn’t breathe. “She’s not—she’s—”

Westin sat down next to him and placed a hand on Dak’s knee.
Jayce shifted over in his corner. “First responders said no one was in the car
or surrounding areas when they got there.”

“What?” What the hell was he saying?

“The cops saw drag marks and followed them, thinking maybe the
victim got out and managed to get away, but nothing.” Westin’s eyes filled and
he swallowed. “The marks ended at the road, they think maybe the victim flagged
someone down.” He looked away.

“But you think differently.” Dak clutched his hand.

“I think—I think the man she feared most, the person who
blackmailed us into doing this, has her.”  A neglected tear rolled down
Westin’s cheek. “He’s taken her, and this time, Simon, she won’t survive.”

“Who has her?”

Westin bit his lip, gaze sliding away.

“God damn it.” Dak jumped to his feet. “Westin, tell me.”

“Angus Brennan. You know him as the Ghost.”

“Her husband?” Jayce piped up.

“He’s not her fucking husband.” Westin swung around to snarl at
him. “The marriage, like everything else about our life in Ireland, wasn’t real.”

“Wait, hold up,” Dak said. “You were with her in Ireland?”

“We’ve been together since we were sixteen years old. Never been
separated.”

“Together how?”

“Damn it, Jayce. Not now.” Dak turned back to Westin. “You say
she’s doing this to protect you?”

The man nodded.

“Then tell me the story so we can get her back.”

Westin cleared his throat. “We met Angus at a bookstore in Ireland. She fell in love with his angelic looks and the brogue. A week later, they were
married by his brother, a priest.” He used quotations for priest. “I knew it
was too good to be true, but she loved him. So I stayed quiet when he raised
his voice a little or drank too much and slapped her around.”    

Dak growled low in his throat, fists clenched.

“Angus didn’t like our closeness. He was jealous of us laughing
and being ourselves. He threatened to send me back to the States more than
once, but she’d beg and plead and he’d relent. He hated that I was gay, called
me fag a lot.”

Jayce growled.

“Six months after the wedding, she told me she was pregnant.”

A breath shuddered in Dak’s lungs, but he kept quiet.

“She hadn’t told Angus yet, but she just knew he’d be thrilled to
be a father.” He shook his head. “She hadn’t told him because they got into a
fight. He thought she was sleeping with his twin.”

“He’s a twin?”

“His brother coveted what he had, even if Angus didn’t appreciate
Ever. She’s beautiful. Men looked at her. His brother wasn’t immune. Ever
ignored him, thinking he’d stop, but Andy didn’t. In fact, he decided to force
himself on her.”

Oh God, Dak couldn’t listen. He jumped up and paced the floor.

“I walked into the house to her screams. She was begging and
pleading, but he wasn’t listening, so I grabbed a rake from the front lawn and
stabbed him in the back.” A far away look came into Westin’s eyes. “Plunged
straight through to his heart, killing him. I’d stopped him in time.” His watery
gaze locked on Dak’s. “He didn’t get to do any real damage, but his brother
came in and didn’t believe our story.”

“Jesus,” Jayce swore.

“I don’t remember what he did to me. I only remember waking up
days later, my entire body in pain. Ever was next to me, locked in a tiny room,
black and blue. Swollen all over.” His voice shook. “Bleeding. I-I held her
hand as she lost the baby.”

Tears burned Dak’s eyes. His heart breaking for what Ever had gone
through.

“She promised we’d leave, she promised to protect me from him.
She owed me, she said.” Westin wiped his eyes. “I never cared about that. I
cared that she was hurting, in pain, and I couldn’t help.” He got to his feet.
“He let us out about a week later, said he was sending us back to the States,
and oh, they weren’t really married. His brother hadn’t
really
been a
priest.”

Fuck.

“I’d never been so relieved to arrive home, but we should’ve
known it wouldn’t be that easy. Two months after we came back, he called. No
idea how he found us, but he has friends in high places.”

“What did he want?’ Dak asked.

“He wanted Ever to meet with some business associates, take money
from one and give it to the other in exchange for a package.”

“Christ,” Jayce swore.

“Yep.” Westin chuckled humorlessly. “She said no, and no, and no.
Then I was grabbed while jogging one morning. I didn’t know who had me until
they removed my blindfold and forced me to tape a message to her at knifepoint.
Do what her husband asks, or the fag dies. She agreed and here we are.”

“But why bug me and all this?”

“He sent us a message—he stopped calling our phone, started
sending ‘friends’ with messages. A man named Ian Dakota wants in, get information
on him we can use.” He shrugged. “I have the schematics to your buildings,
including this one. Ever had properly cased you by the time you invited her
into your office. She had many ways to plant the bug without sleeping with you.
She did because she wanted you as bad as you wanted her. Nothing about what you
shared was false or made up. She wanted you and agonized over it.”

Dak rubbed a hand over his face. This was way too much to
process.

“You heard them having sex?” Jayce growled.

“I did and I chewed her out for jeopardizing us. When she
listened to the bug and realized you were a Fed, she was devastated. You
suddenly stood between me and my freedom. If Angus is arrested, he’ll turn me
over to Irish authorities for murdering Andy, and she wasn’t letting that
happen. She owed me or so she thinks. I only want her happy.” He stared at Dak.
“You make her happy.”

“We need to get her back.” Dak’s voice shook. “Do you know where
Brennan might take her?”

“When she didn’t show up I checked the GPS on her phone.” Westin
pulled his phone from his jeans pocket. “I tracked it until it went dark. Guess
Angus finally realized he could be tracked that way.”

“So where is she?’ Dak demanded. He clenched his wrist against
the itch to grab the talkative fuck by his throat.

“‘The abandoned wharf downtown.”

“Let’s go.” Dak grabbed his jacket and checked the clips in his
SIG.

“Wait.” Westin stared at him wide-eyed. “Just like that? What’s
the plan?”

Jayce laughed. “Kill Brennan, what else?”

“Okay, you two need to slow the fuck down.” Tiny lines creased
Westins fair features. “You can’t just run up in there blasting. You’ll get
Ever killed, then I’ll have to kill you.”

“Are you kidding me?” Dak glared at him. “How much longer can she
hang on with Brennan? We need to get her out. She’s been in an accident, she’ll
need help.” He shrugged on his jacket. “I’m going with or without you.”

Jayce walked over to the door and held it open with an eyebrow
raised in Westin’s direction.

“Do I get a gun?”

“Fuck no.” Dak and Jayce spoke in unison.

“If anything happens to me, Ever will be very upset.” Westin
grinned. “That’s why I’m looking out for you when I say ta-da!” He pulled a .38
from his waistband and waved it at them. “Carry on, gentlemen. Let’s go save my
best friend.”  

****    

Loud voices pulled Ever from a dark, painful void. She shifted
her body, a deep moan shuddering past her burning lips. Pain sliced through her
body, stealing her breath and reminding her of the car accident and—

Angus.

She opened her eyelids slowly. Bright light blinded her. “Umm.”
She snapped them shut and tried calming her breathing. She lay on her back on
some kind of bench, the hard wood poked into her shoulder blade. She couldn’t
move her left hand and foot; the two were shackled to something. All those
things registered, along with the knowledge that Angus had tried to kill her
last night…or whenever. How long had he been back in the States?

Wes! God, did he hurt Wes?

Tears burned her eyes, the hot liquid sliding out from under her
lashes. She should’ve confided in Dakota—Simon. If she’d confessed, maybe he
would’ve been able to help. Done something, anything, to keep Angus as far away
from her as possible.

“I know you’re awake, wife.” A cold boot nudged her leg and she
jumped. “Go on, open those pretty green eyes for me. Look at your husband.”

She did, gritting her teeth when the left side of her face
throbbed. The face of the man she’d once called husband came into view. Same
eyes, skin, and hair. He was, as always, impeccably dressed in an expensive
looking suit and tie.

He snapped his fingers in front of her face. Ever flinched and
shot a glare at him. “Yes, that’s it. Did you miss me, Ever Mine?”

“Don’t call me that.” Her dry lips burned when she spoke. “You’re
not my husband.”

“No?” He grabbed her hair and yanked her upright.

She cried out as her body protested. The pain in her head and
back blurred her vision.

“I was your husband in Ireland,” he snarled. Spittle flew into
her face and eyes. Ever grimaced. “You called me husband then, shared a bed
with me.”

“And you pissed on it.” She coughed, chest aching. Her vision
cleared and she made out the nasty cuts and bruises on her arms. She remained
clothed, but her boots were gone, and with them, the information she’d stolen
from Simon. Tugging at the shackles on her hand, she spat, “You were a monster
then and you remain a monster today. I pity you.”

Angus backhanded her. The force sent her neck jerking. Ever cried
out, water filling her eyes.

“You pity me, bitch? I own you, and I hold the freedom of your
little fag in my hands.” He grinned evilly. “You really should’ve thought of
that when you were spreading them for the Fed.”

She blinked. He knew about her and Simon? How? She pulled harder
at the chains holding her.

Angus’s laugh sent chills down her spine. “Yes, I’ve had eyes on
you from the start. And if you’d continued like you had been, I doubt we’d be
here. But you had to fuck Simon Dakin, of all people.” His voice rose. “I saw
the pictures of you two together, inside his club. Disgusting, Ever. You were
someone else with him. Someone I didn’t recognize. He turned you into a wanton
whore.”

“He loves me!” she screamed. “He loves me. Something you know
nothing about, you crazy bastard.”

“Love?” He lowered is face to hers, his nose bumping hers. “Love,
Ever Mine?” Voice overly soft, he said, “I loved you. My evidence of that is I
didn’t kill you for seducing my brother. I didn’t kill your pet fag for
sticking a garden tool through my brother’s heart.” He brushed her hair from
her nape. Soft fingers dug into her flesh. “I showed you my love by sending you
back here to run my operation.”

“You blackmailed me, you bastard. I didn’t have a choice after
you kidnapped Wes.”

His cold fingers sank deeper into the back of her neck. “Wes.” He
spoke the name as if it tasted foul. “I think Wes’s usefulness to the Ghost has
run its course. He’ll be made to pay for killing Andy.”

“No.” Ever struggled against his hold. “Don’t hurt him. Please.
You have me.”

“And I intend on keeping you, but I have to avenge Andy.” Angus walked
away. Ever remained tense and on alert until his heavy footfalls faded away.