Hunted Love (A Dangerous Kind of Love Book 2) (13 page)

She wrapped her fingers around his wrists and smiled sadly. “You should have left months earlier then.”

“I know.” His thumb caressed her cheek. “I shouldn’t have left you.”

“I wish you hadn’t,” she said wiping away another tear.

His eyes started searching her face, for what she didn’t know. His thumbs caressed her cheek. “Sarah.”

She pulled his hands away. “So, will you be my bodyguard again? I pay well. I have some extra coupons in my purse. I don’t know how long it will take though.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have no intention of leaving you again.”

She started to say something but stopped and looked at him in surprise.

“I’m not leaving you, Sarah. I promise. If you want me, I’ll stay . . .” He hesitated a moment before adding softly, “with you.”

She cocked her head to the side. “For how long?”

“Until you don’t want me anymore. You mean more to me than anyone else,” he admitted with some difficulty, “and I’m not leaving you, especially not now.”

Sarah sat up straighter, her entire being focused on Jamie as hope started building within her. “Are you saying what I think you are saying?”

He slid from the bed to the chair. “Look, I can’t promise anything but I’ll try.” He rubbed his hands down his jeans. “If it’s what you want.”

“Of course I—”

“But first we need to figure out who’s after you.”

Sarah blinked, surprised by the sudden switch in conversation. She would have preferred to discuss this new relationship, which was a far more pleasant topic of conversation, but considering how skittish Jamie was, she didn’t want to push her luck. He promised he’d try and that was good enough for her. At least for the moment.

“Have you met someone new?” he asked. “Someone who might have taken an interest in you?”

“No, not that I know of. It all started on Valentine’s Day,” she said before describing everything that had happened since that night. When she was done, she added, “Kristen and Phoebe are scared to death.”

Jamie took her hand and held it tight. “Nathan must be freaking out.”

“Not really. In fact, he didn’t seem to take it too seriously.”

Jamie looked thoughtful. “That’s surprising.”

“Good morning,” Ashton called out, rapping her knuckles against the door. She froze when she noticed Jamie sitting in the chair. Her gaze swept past him towards her sister with a questioning look.

Sarah smiled as she gestured to Jamie. “Ashton, this is—”

“James Murphy,” Ashton finished for her. “I know. I recognize him from his mug shot.”

“Oh,” Sarah said.

“I have good news,” Ashton said. “I just spoke to your doctor and they’re going to release you soon.” She held up her hands as Sarah started to swing her legs off the bed. “Whoa, he wants to see you first. He’ll be here in a few minutes.” Her gaze fell to their joined hands. “Sarah, can I talk to you?” She gave her sister a look. “Privately, please?”

Jamie stood. “I’ll just be in the hallway.”

As soon as the door closed behind him, Ashton turned on her sister. “What is he doing here?”

“He came to visit me.”

Ashton dropped her voice to a whisper. “You don’t think that might be a bit coincidental? You get attacked and suddenly he appears out of nowhere.”

“He was worried about me.”

“So am I,” Ashton said, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

They both glanced at the door as it opened a few inches and Casey’s voice reached them.

“Oh, hey, Jamesy,” they heard Casey say. “You’re back. So, how’s the patient? She awake yet? Well, nice talking to you.” Casey pushed the door the rest of the way open. He smiled as soon as he saw Sarah. “Hey, pipsqueak! Brought you flowers,” he said, holding up a fist full of daises. “Could you ask your sister not to sue me?” He jumped in surprise when he walked the rest of the way in and saw Ashton standing against the wall. “Oh, hey there.”

“Thank you,” Sarah said taking the flowers from him. “Don’t worry, Casey, no one blames you,” she said throwing her sister a look.

“Don’t be so sure,” Jamie said, walking back in, glaring at Casey’s back. “What are you doing here?”

“I asked him to come,” Ashton said.

Jamie turned his attention from Casey towards Ashton. “What for?”

“Until that maniac that attacked Sarah is caught, I don’t want her to go around unprotected.” She turned to Casey. “Now I understand that you’ve sometimes acted as a bodyguard?”

Jamie snorted, cutting off whatever Casey was about to say. “How do you know he’s not the one who attacked her?”

“Because he was out in the gym talking to me when she was attacked,” Ashton said. “He was also in Ohio fighting someone called The Butcher the other night when Sarah was followed home.”

Casey looked at Ashton in surprise. “I didn’t know you were a fan.”

Ashton looked at him in amusement for a moment before turning back to Jamie.

Jamie relaxed somewhat. “You’re sure?” he asked Ashton.

“Positive,” Ashton said. “I have no idea where
you
were at that time or last night for that matter.”

“Ashton,” Sarah said in annoyed tone, “Jamie didn’t attack me and I don’t need Casey’s help. Jamie’s going to watch out for me.” She looked at Jamie for confirmation. “Just like before.”

Jamie looked thoughtful as he looked at Casey. “But I can’t protect you all the time, Sarah. I’m going to need help,” he admitted reluctantly.

“So, that settles that,” Ashton said. “Casey will watch out for Sarah until we figure out what’s going on.”

Sarah looked at them in exasperation. “You haven’t even asked Casey if he wants to guard me.”

They all looked at Casey expectantly.

“Aw sure, why not?” Casey smiled. “It’ll just be like the last time. I’ll stay close to you, and Jamesy here can follow us around like a creeper.”

Jamie gave him a look before turning to Sarah. “I’ve got to go.”

Her brow furrowed. “Why? Where are you going?”

“To visit some old friends.” He started to turn away but then stopped, bent over, and kissed her lightly on the lips. “I’ll see you at your place in a couple of hours.”

“Okay.” She watched him leave with a giddy expression on his face.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Ashton whirled around. “I’m not happy about this, Sarah. He’s all wrong for you.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows. “I don’t remember asking for your opinion.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m your big sister. You know you don’t have to ask. I give it freely.” Ashton reached into her black leather purse as her phone beeped. “I have to go back to court,” she said staring at her phone. She leaned over and kissed Sarah on the cheek. “I’ll see you at home tonight. Until then, please keep Casey with you and Jamie away.”

Sarah sat back with a sigh as Ashton left and Casey slid into the chair next to the bed.

“Looks like it’s just you and me again, Chickadee,” he said with a grin.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jamie walked into the pub, ignoring the surprised looks Moose and Danny were giving him.

Emily’s mouth dropped open as he approached the bar. “Does Sarah know you’re back?”

He gave her a curt nod before asking where Nathan was.

“In his office,” she said, pointing behind him.

Jamie turned towards the back door, only to find Moose and Danny blocking the way.

“Move,” he ordered.

Danny smirked. “Do you have an appointment?”

“Danny, I don’t have time for this. Get out of my way.”

Danny’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, would you listen to that.” Dropping his voice to a threatening note, he leaned forward. “You don’t give me orders anymore, or have you forgotten?” He straightened and glanced over at Moose. “I don’t think Jamie has an appointment, Moose?”

“Doesn’t sound like it,” Moose said. “Why don’t you go have a drink, Jamie? Nathan’s kind of busy right now.”

“Yeah,” Danny said, smiling, “go get another drink. Maybe when you’re done in a few hours—”

Jamie tried to shove his way through only for Danny to shove him back.

“Looks like Jamie’s got a little of his spirit back,” Moose said in amusement. He cracked his knuckles. “Let’s see—” He doubled over in surprise, gasping for breath as Jamie sucker punched him. Before he could get his breath, Jamie kicked his legs out from underneath him, sending the big man to the floor before turning on Danny, sending the smaller man head first into the door.

Less than a minute later, Jamie was standing in front of the door to Nathan’s office.

“About time you showed up,” Nathan said sharply. “Where the hell have you been?” He tilted his head to the side, looking past Jamie towards the door leading into the dining room. Moose sat in the doorway, half in the dining room, and half in the hallway with his hand pressed against the back of his head, struggling to get to his feet.

Nathan made a sound of disgust as he looked at the big man. “Moose! I don’t pay you to sit around. Get up and watch the door. Don’t let anyone in either.”

Nathan gestured to the chair in front of the desk. “Welcome back, Jamie. Anything I can do for you?” he asked sarcastically.

Jamie closed the office door. “You can tell me what’s going on around here?”

“You would know that if you had stuck around.” Nathan pursed his lips together. “You know the only reason I kept you around here is so you could provide a little bit of protection. You know, for the ones who’ve supported you for the last seven years.”

“Supported? News to me. I didn’t see any of you while I was in prison.”

“Yeah, and whose fault is that? You didn’t want to see us.” He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Have a seat, Jamie. It’s time we had a nice long friendly chat.” When Jamie didn’t move from the door, Nathan pointed to the chair in front of his desk. “I said sit! Now!”

Jamie’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He reached for the doorknob behind him and locked the door before obediently moving to the chair and sitting down.

“Good,” Nathan said approvingly. “It’s time for you to start earning your keep, old friend. You owe me.”

“I do?”

“How do you think you got out of prison so early?” Nathan leaned back in his chair and waited for Jamie’s response.

“Um, good behavior?”

Nathan snorted. “No, no, Jamie, not for good behavior. Kristen and I pulled some strings for you. It wasn’t easy, you know. We spent a lot of money on your worthless hide.”

“Well, gee, thank you, Nathan.” Jamie leaned forward, balancing his elbows on his knees. “And just why would you and Kristen do that for me?”

“Kristen did it for Robin’s sake, because she knew how much her sister loved you.”

“I see, and why did you do it?”

“Because I knew there would come a time when you’d pay me back.” He tapped his finger against the desk. “That time is now, buddy boy.”

“What do you want?”

“First, you’re going to sign some papers.”

“What sort of papers?”

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing that will get you into trouble. You’re just going to agree to give your life story to some friends of mine.”

Jamie leaned back in his chair. “No, I’m not.”

“I’m not asking.”

“I’m not taking part in some stupid TV show.”

Nathan slapped the table with his uninjured hand while pointing his broken fingers at Jamie. “Now, you listen to me. You are going to do exactly what I tell you to. You’re going to sign whatever papers I want and you are going to say whatever I want. If they want to know all about your sordid little love affair with Robin, then you’re going to give it to them.”

“Or what?”

“Or maybe someone here might put in a call to your probation officer and tell them you haven’t been a good boy. Or maybe Danny might pay Sarah a visit. He’s real sweet on her. She could probably use a good man—” Nathan screamed in pain as Jamie grabbed his broken fingers.

“That was really impressive, Nathan. There was a second there, I was almost afraid.”

“Let go! Let go!” Nathan slapped at Jamie’s hand. He yelped as Jamie twisted his wrist and pulled him half way over the desk.

“Now, what did you say about Sarah?”

“Nothing! Nothing, I swear. I didn’t mean anything by it. I swear. Let go!”

Jamie let go of Nathan’s fingers. He shoved the man back into the chair, watching as Nathan held his hand protectively against his chest, beads of sweat pouring down his red face.

“Patrick would be really impressed, Nathan.” He thought about it for a moment. “Or amused. Have you been practicing your tough guy act in front of a mirror?”

“Shut up,” Nathan said grimacing in pain.

Jamie chuckled.

Nathan’s eyes flashed in anger. “You know none of this would have happened if you had stuck around. When you got out of prison, I expected you’d come here and I’d give you a job, but oh no, you just want to sit around, eat my food, drink my alcohol and flirt with my waitress.” Nathan shook his head, cursing softly under his breath. “I give you a place to stay but you don’t want it. I let you spend hours here doing nothing but wasting my employees time and you don’t even appreciate it. After what you did to Robin—”

“I didn’t do anything to Robin. I never touched Robin.”

Nathan blinked back tears of pain. “Oh, relax, you’ve done your time. There’s no need to pretend you’re innocent.” He blinked back tears of pain as he held his hand.

Jamie’s gaze shifted to Nathan’s broken fingers. “How did you break your fingers?”

“I tripped and fell.”

“Yeah? Who helped you on the way down?”

Nathan swallowed hard. “Oh, you care now?”

“Not really, unless of course it’s related to what’s going on around here. You better start talking, Nathan.”

“Someone’s messing with the girls.”

“I heard. Sarah told me that you didn’t seem too concerned about it, which I thought was kind of odd.”

“The creep returned a pair of shoes. Big deal. He didn’t try anything else. Didn’t sound too sinister to me.”

“Yeah, well he’s upped his game in the last twenty-four hours. He attacked her last night.”

Nathan arched an eyebrow. “Is she dead?”

“No, she’s not dead,” Jamie snapped. “She’s safe and she’s going to remain safe.”

Nathan’s brow furrowed as stared off into space. “Why would they go after, Sarah?”

“They? Who’s they? Nathan, I swear if you don’t start giving me answers, you’re going to be tripping and falling all over this office. Now, who broke your fingers?”

“A couple of Wade Hogan’s boys.”

Jamie rolled his eyes. “And here I thought you had turned into a respectable businessman.”

“I am a respectable businessman,” Nathan snapped. “It’s Hogan who’s following in his grandpa’s footsteps.”

“Why is he after you?” When Nathan didn’t answer, Jamie leaned forward with a warning look in his eye.

Nathan pushed his chair back, cradling his hand protectively against his chest. “Revenge, he wants revenge.”

Jamie snorted. “Why wait all this time? Why now?”

“He’s been in prison. He just got out.”

“Months ago. If he wanted revenge, he would have done something before now.”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense. Everyone knows Patrick put a hit on Hogan’s grandfather.” He looked at Jamie. “Of course, I don’t have to tell you that. Well, you probably know that better than anyone.”

Jamie didn’t respond to the unspoken question in Nathan’s voice.

“He’s insane, Jamie. He’s going to kill us one by one unless we do something about him.”

Jamie narrowed his eyes. “Nathan, you’re not telling me something. There’s more to it than what you’re saying.”

Nathan held up his broken fingers. “Look at this? Do you see what he did to me? I’m telling you he wants us all dead.” He paused before admitting softly, “He told me he was going to kill Kristen and Phoebe.”

“When?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like he gave a deadline.”

Jamie closed his eyes. “No,” he said in exasperation. “When did he tell you that?”

“Oh,” Nathan shrugged, “at the Valentine’s Day party we hosted.”

“What was Hogan doing at your party?”

Nathan waved his hand dismissively. “Kristen invited him.”

“Kristen invited Wade Hogan to your party?” Jamie asked in disbelief. “Since when does an O’Malley invite a Hogan to a Valentine’s Day party?”

“Things have changed,” Nathan said.

“Clearly.”

“She thinks he’s turned over a new leaf since he was released from prison. He’s active in the community. He’s on the board of the country club. He’s even the head of a charity for abused animals. He’s reinvented himself as an upstanding citizen.”

“Yeah, I’m sure prison made him all warm and cuddly now. Lord knows it did wonders for my personality.”

“Yeah, well, we thought we could all bury the hatchet with Hogan and start over. You know, put the past behind us. The only problem is Hogan wasn’t interested in making peace. He had an ulterior motive for befriending my wife and me. He wants to destroy us. He wants everything we have. He came in here just before Christmas and told me that he’d let us live if I gave him the deed to the pub. I thought he was joking at first, but…turns out he was serious. He said that this place belonged to his grandfather and Patrick stole it from him and he was here to take it back. I threw him out and now he’s not only going after my wife and my sister-in-law, but my employees as well. The man’s crazier than his grandfather. I don’t know what to do.”

“Give it to him.”

Nathan looked at him aghast.

“It’s not worth the hassle,” Jamie said. “It’s certainly not worth anyone dying over. You remember this place used to belong to Charlie Hogan before Patrick stole it out from under him. That’s what started the whole war between the two in the first place. Let Wade have it if he wants it so bad.” Jamie jerked a thumb to the door. “How much money are you really making here anyway? The place was deserted when I walked through a few minutes ago and it wasn’t exactly a hubbub of activity before the shooting, I can’t imagine that it’s gotten any better since.”

“Don’t worry about my business. I have some promotions going on. Come by tonight, you’ll see. The pub will be packed.” Nathan glanced around the dingy room. “But even if it weren’t, I can’t give up this place. There are too many memories here.” He gestured to the photo of Patrick O’Malley. “Ole Patrick might rise from the grave and haunt me if I handed over his pub to Wade Hogan, especially after what he went through to get it. I can’t do that to his memory.” He tipped his head back and closed his eyes. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to,” he said bitterly.

“Why not?”

“It’s not actually mine,” he said turning his attention back to Jamie. “Kristen and Phoebe each own fifty percent. I can’t do anything without their approval.”

“Do they know that he’s threatened to kill them unless you hand over the deed?”

“No, and I don’t want them to know. They’re already freaked out as it is. I’m just trying to keep them calm until this problem has been resolved.”

Jamie narrowed his eyes. “And just how do you plan on resolving this problem?”

Nathan closed his eyes. “I need your help, Jamie. I need you to make this all go away.”

Jamie’s eyes widened in surprise. “You are out of your mind.”

“Wade Hogan is dangerous. If you don’t take him out, he’s going to kill us all.” He pushed his chair closer to the desk. “Don’t forget you owe me. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be sitting in prison right now.”

“Don’t start that again.”

“The least you could do is take care of this problem.” He blew out his breath in frustration. “If you don’t want to do it for me, then do it for Sarah. He’s after her too.”

“Why would Hogan target Sarah? I doubt they even know each other.”