Mine to Hold (23 page)

Emotional overload hit Del. She melted against him, trembling in his arms. Tyler did his best to manage his raving frustration and pulled her closer, where she’d be safe. But over her shoulder, he glared with blatant hostility at Eric.

“Thank you,” Del breathed.

She shouldn’t thank him yet. His restraint was only going to last for so long.

Tyler eased her back and thumbed the fresh tears from her face. “Let’s find your flash drive and go.”

He almost choked on the words. He really just wanted to kill the motherfucker, but Del needed his comfort and protection more than he needed to unleash his temper.

She gave him a watery smile and slipped her hand in his. The trust she showed him now, especially after Eric had abused hers so wretchedly, floored him.

Squeezing her hand, Tyler let her lead him through the house. They stepped over broken glass, around toppled furniture, their feet wrinkling papers beneath them. Finally, at the end of the hall, they entered one of the spare bedrooms. Del had used it for an office at one point. Now, it held Eric’s weight equipment, all scattered across the floor.

She trotted over to the closet and opened the door. The house had been built in the 1920s, and the tiny closet was almost nonexistent. The dark hardwood floors gleamed, and Del knelt and shoved her fingernail into a little ridge in the floorboard, popping the wooden plank up with the first yank. The board clattered to the floor as she stuck her hand inside the little hidden cubby.

A moment later, she froze and looked up at him with wide eyes. “It’s gone.”

***

AS
soon as they left Eric’s house, Tyler folded Del into the car and pulled out his phone. Shit, she looked shell-shocked. Devastated. And his need to pound on the person responsible nearly pushed him beyond reason. He didn’t fucking know how to make this better for her. Eric claimed he didn’t know anything about her flash drive. Didn’t even know she’d ever hidden anything in that spot. He’d had some work done to the floors last month after the hot water heater had leaked and caused some flooding . . . right around the time Del had hidden the little device. And of course, someone had broken into the house. Anything could have happened. Anyone could have taken it.

Tyler didn’t like this shit. The urge to kill Eric still rode him hard. It had taken everything in him to leave the fucker alive. Now, dread gripped Tyler as well.

He grabbed Del’s hand. “We’ll figure this out. Who would have broken into Eric’s house? I doubt it was random or a simple burglar. You told your friend Lisa that you’d hidden the flash drive here?”

“Yes. I know what you’re thinking, but I can’t imagine that she’d betray me.”

“No one ever wants to imagine that someone they trust would willingly hurt them, but we have to look at every possibility. Who else knew where you’d hidden your information?”

“No one. Carlson must have decided to hit Eric’s place on the off chance that I’d hidden something there.”

Maybe. Maybe not. He’d keep working all those angles.

“I was trying to be clever, but Carlson’s mind works a lot more deviously than mine.” Del sighed tiredly. “Every bit of my research is gone. I’d been sketching a timeline, keeping track of contacts I’d made. I can probably remember some of it, but not phone numbers and exact dates and . . . I’d even started drafting a story. I never imagined that he’d blow up my laptop
and
that I’d have to start from scratch. That will take longer. I don’t know if I have that much time before he’s named DA.”

“You didn’t back up at the office?”

She shook her head. “A colleague had his work stolen about six weeks ago. He was working late at night, and some goons came in, roughed him up, and took everything he had on his story. The paper is supposed to be instituting new security procedures, but they haven’t implemented them yet. So I didn’t dare leave my stuff there.”

And home wouldn’t have been any better. In fact, Tyler bet if they went by her place now, they’d see that it had been violated, too. This fucker Carlson was thorough and seemingly one step ahead.

She blew out a deep, troubled breath, looking exhausted. “Maybe Seth and I should assume aliases and move out of the country. If I stay, there’s no way Carlson won’t hunt us down eventually and kill us. I don’t want to be always looking over my shoulder.”

Del covered her face with her hands. She didn’t sob aloud or shake with tears. But Tyler felt her desperation deep in the gnawing of his gut. He swore under his breath, even as he wrapped an arm around her. A deep sense of possession gripped him. No fucking way was she simply going to disappear. If she needed protection, he’d give it to her.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to help you.”

“I can’t ask you for more. You’ve already dropped your life to help me, been so supportive . . .”

“There’s no asking. It isn’t negotiable. I
will
help you. You and Seth will be safe. Put that worry from your mind for now. You start thinking about who you can talk to in order to rebuild your story. I’ll see about making sure we have a safe place to stay for a while. Now, how much did Eric hurt you? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“He scared me and hurt my feelings more than anything. I . . .” She blinked away fresh tears. “I feel betrayed. I loved him once. If I hadn’t talked him down, I don’t know how far he would have gone.”

No question in Tyler’s mind that Eric would have pinned Del to the floor and done his worst. He didn’t even know the bitter, vindictive bastard Eric had become since the shooting—and the divorce. Just thinking about it made him violent again.

“Don’t worry,” Tyler whispered. “Deep breaths. Sit back. Let me handle this.”

With a soft touch, she reached up and cradled his jaw. “I’ve been alone for so long, it’s nice to have someone to lean on. I’ll miss this.”

When she’d gone. That was her intimation. Tyler tightened his jaw. Yeah, fuck that.

As if she had no clue that his tension was escalating, Del leaned back in the passenger’s seat. Tyler started the car, and a soft ballad drifted from the speakers, and though he hated the song, he didn’t touch the radio. If it brought her peace, he’d deal.

As he flipped a U-turn and gunned the car down the street, he looked back and saw Eric watching them from the front window, his gaze following until they turned out of sight. He gripped the wheel with white knuckles, wishing it was the asshole’s neck.

Reaching for his phone, he punched in Jack’s number. His pal and new boss answered on the first ring. “What’s up?”

“The flash drive is gone.”

“You saw the ex?”

“Yes.”

“Think he’s involved?”

Tyler hesitated. Del likely thought Eric was just lashing out. But Tyler couldn’t rule out the possibility that Eric was trying to sabotage her story, or worse, get her killed, for his vendetta. “Possible.”

“Is he dangerous?”

Now, Tyler didn’t skip a beat. “Very likely.”

“Can’t talk? Del near?”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll add him to my list of people to look into. You might have another problem. Del’s friend, Lisa? She’s had a bit of trouble with credit cards. She’s awfully fond of Nordstrom, Coach, and Prada. Has had a few maxed-out credit cards for a while. Transferring one balance to another card for lower interest rates, blah, blah, blah. She paid most of that off this morning, to the tune of thirty thousand dollars. I want to know where she suddenly got the money.”

Tyler wanted that answer, too. “Any record of interesting phone calls?”

“Nope. Squeaky clean. But that just means there may be a non-traceable, prepaid cell somewhere in the mix. I’ll keep running it down. There’s an answer, and I’m going to find it.”

Great. Another fucking traitor. That made Tyler’s mood even peachier.

“Anything else?”

“Digging into Carlson has been interesting. A lot of chatter. A lot of rumor and innuendo. If I had to bet, the guy is crooked as a dog’s hind leg. There’s a whole lotta people around him either toeing the company line or saying nothing at all. I don’t like the way it smells.”

“Me, either. Especially since someone broke into Eric’s house and trashed the place, but apparently didn’t take anything, except maybe her research.”

Jack hesitated. “Who knew you were going to see him?”

Tyler was intensely aware of Del’s eyes on him and couldn’t say a damn thing.

But Jack was intuitive, as always. “Let me guess, Lisa?”

“Yep.” He’d bet she’d sold Del out to Carlson for thirty grand. Tyler didn’t like where this conversation was going. His frustration ratcheted up another notch. “We’ve been in this car too long.”

“I was just going to suggest a change of vehicle. Xander is on the ground in L.A. now. I’ll have him call you to arrange something. Got a place to stay?”

No, and night was coming in a few hours. Del was exhausted and needed somewhere she could feel safe. “We could go to a motel.”

But Tyler didn’t love the idea. Carlson would expect that in L.A. He had too many eyes and ears in this city. Motels were public. It would be too easy for Carlson to get a dirty judge to issue a warrant for their arrest and a SWAT team to come after them.

“I don’t think that’s wise,” Jack said. “If you’ve got eyes on you . . .”

Clearly, Jack was thinking right along the same lines, and Tyler wasn’t about to put Del in more danger.

“Any other suggestions?”

“Leave it up to Xander. He’s from that neck of the woods. Money can buy you a lot of security, and Logan says he has a shitload of it.”

“I’m not looking for a handout or a babysitter, just a little help.”

Jack laughed. “Xander likes playing at the edges of this dangerous shit, so if you want his help, you’re going to have to suck it up and take it all.”

Just fucking dandy
. “All right. We’ll try to find someplace to lay low until he calls.”

The line went dead. For all Jack’s good-ol’-Cajun-boy routine, he still had a lot of Special Forces and suspicious bastard in him. Tyler related.

He tossed the phone on the dashboard, aware of Del’s stare. “Now what?”

Before he could shove his rage down again and find an answer, his phone rang.
PRIVATE CALLER
displayed.

“What?” he growled into the phone.

“Tyler?” a man asked.

“Who wants to know?”

The man on the other end of the line laughed. “All you sons of bitches are cautious. It’s Xander.”

He relaxed. The cavalry had arrived—damn quick. “Yeah. Thanks for the vehicular assistance across country.”

“No sweat. Your truck is making its way back to Lafayette as we speak. May likes driving it. She’ll drop it off with Alyssa. I guess they know each other.”

“Really?” Tyler frowned.

“Same profession, at least once upon a time.”

In other words, they’d both been strippers. “Thank May for me.”

“No worries. I have something really special in mind.”

Tyler heard the playful lechery in the other man’s voice. “Great. Spare me the details.”

Xander laughed, something robust and genuine. “I’m not great at sharing anyway. Ask my brother. But that’s another subject for another day. Tell me where you are and what you need.”

“A new car. A place to stay, if you’ve got one. We have to start tracking down some people and information.”

“Done.” Xander didn’t hesitate. “Can you meet me at the little regional airport in Santa Monica in thirty minutes?”

Tyler gauged the number of miles to the destination versus the traffic. “Yeah.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”

“Since we’ve never met, how will I know you?”

“You got a pretty girl with you?” Xander asked playfully.

He gnashed his teeth and gripped the phone. “Yeah, but I don’t fucking share at all.”

Xander laughed. “I’ll find you.”

Ending the call, Tyler frowned. He had no idea how to take the bastard. A prankster or a player? With a shake of his head, he tossed his cell back on the dashboard. God, more shit. It all just pissed him off.

Del’s brow furrowed. “That didn’t sound like it went very well. How well do we know this guy?”

“Jack says he’s rich, knows L.A., and has connections.”

“What is he, a drug dealer?”

“Logan wouldn’t make friends with a criminal, guaranteed. He’s as true-blue as they come. Xander apparently helped him save Tara from something really dangerous before they were married, and they’re tight. Logan says he’s a stand-up guy. I have to guess that Xander likes yanking people’s chains a bit.”

“Great.”

They spent the next few minutes in silence, Del using Tyler’s phone to send Alyssa texts to check up on Seth and finding that all was well. Knowing that seemed to calm her. He was glad one of them was coming down from the rush. Tyler still felt like a ticking bomb.

“Thank you,” she began. “For everything you’ve done. You didn’t have to—”

“Stop there.” Tyler sent her an unyielding glare. “Yes, I did. It’s your problem, and Seth’s problem. Therefore, it’s my problem. Because I care. Don’t act like I’m doing you a huge fucking favor. I want to take care of you, and you know it. I’m trying to prove it. After watching Eric damn near molest you, I’m not really in the mood for the distance you’re trying to put between us. You say you just want to fuck until we sort all this out, and no way am I turning that down. But don’t pull this overly polite shit and try to keep walls between us.”