Indebted (25 page)

We both get up, and Aaron seems a little nervous too. He hasn’t seen Tristan aggravated before. Even at Sam’s house, he was cool and collected.

Grasping his hand to reassure him, I turn to face Tristan. “What’s goin’ on, man? Who has your panties in a twist?”

“Sorry, guys, I have some shit on my mind. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I actually didn’t plan on coming by the gym, but Thomas has other plans. The asshole wants me to send you out on a job. I made the dumbass mistake of saying you were busy, and I got a rundown of his skills with a knife for my trouble. The fucker is lucky he didn’t touch me. He’s nothing without his goons by his side. I don’t care how many ways he can torture someone.”

Fuck! The last thing you want to do is go and do some stupid shit for Thomas. It’s supposed to be your night off.

“Well, thanks for trying to get me out of it. We both know there’s no way but his way, though. I guess I’ll head out. Can you do me a favor and take Aaron home and stay with him until Luke shows?”

“Sure thing. I’ll wait out in the car. Aaron, see you in a few.”

I walk him out and lock up the place. Aaron is doing the hand-wringing thing when I glance over at him.

“No need to worry, I’ll be fine. Hopefully, this will be something simple and I’ll be home before you know it.” Leaning down, I give him a gentle kiss and run the backs of my fingers against his cheek. “Mmmm, see you soon. Love you.”

“I love you too. Be careful.”

I
T
HAS
been hours since Lee left, and there is still no word as to when he’ll get home.

While Tristan relaxes in the living room, I decide to keep myself busy by doing the laundry. As I fill up the machine, my mind wanders to the past months.

Training with Liam was something I never knew I’d enjoy. The firing range made me feel empowered and I became quite good with a weapon. That surprised the hell out of me. I’ve always been the one using instruments to save lives and now I was deadly with ones made to take them. The physical training had been harder to get comfortable with. Liam and Tristan were both bigger than me and it was hard to gain confidence that I could take them down if needed. It was mind-blowing the first time one of the techniques they showed me worked. I had actually thought they had faked it to boost my ego. The proud expression on Liam’s face as he lay on the ground changed my thinking. I became more adept as time went on and eventually my abilities became almost second nature.

As I stuff my shirts into the machine, I see one Chloe had bought me and my thoughts turn to her. The first time we went for coffee with my new bodyguard in tow was surprising. I expected her to have some harsh words about me needing one; instead she seemed happy that Liam was “finally taking your safety seriously.” Of course it helped the guy was cute and telling her how adorable she was the whole outing. I’m glad that even though I’ve been absent more often with fewer trips to stores with her, we still text constantly and she seems okay with that. We have a long way to go to mend the damage both of our words have done to each other, but neither of us is willing to give up on the other. I’m confident it will work out. She still in no way is Liam’s biggest fan, but we’ve come to a truce of sorts. I know she means well with her concern, and yes some of it is valid, but I think she sees the love we have for each other.

Liam surprised me with saying he loved me. I knew by then I loved him, but was reluctant to tell him. I didn’t see him saying it first for some reason, and was blown away when he…. I guess, when he let it slip. Too stunned to really reply, I had to let the words sink in. Lying in bed with him, I finally came to the conclusion I wanted to tell him too. When I tried, though, the words wouldn’t come out right. So I went with the lame “me too.” At the time I felt a little bad, but the more I thought about it, the more it felt like it was actually perfect for us. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Tristan calls to me from the other room. He’s been quiet lately and not his usual relaxed self. He’s almost been moody. Way back, I was scared shitless of him, but found as long as you are someone he cares for, he is a great person with a bit of gentleness to him. Hard to believe, considering how cold he can be.

Looking at me with a serious expression, he says, “I have something I need to ask you and you can feel free not to answer.” He waits for me to nod before continuing. “Has Liam seemed off lately to you?”

Liam off…? No. You…? Yes.

“No, not at all. Why, has he seemed that way to you?”

“Hmmm, yeah, mainly at work, though. He just seems stressed. Maybe I’m imagining shit. I’ve got a lot on my mind right now.”

Now I’m concerned. I shift my weight and barely notice I’m still holding the bottle of bleach in my hand. I may not be a friend of Tristan, but I do consider him one of mine.

“Tristan, I know we aren’t as close as you and Lee, but I hope you know you can talk to me.”

He sits for a moment, debating something in his head, and then seeming to come to a decision, he says, “My Addison’s going to have a baby.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” I ask, trying to contain my excitement. I don’t think kids are for me, although I do love to play with them and hand them back to their parents.

Giving me a dopey smile, so big his dimples show, he replies, “It’s awesome news and I’m beyond excited about it. I’m nervous as hell, especially considering what I do. It’s one thing with Addison being around, but it’s a completely different thing to have an innocent baby involved.”

“True, but—” I’m cut off when the apartment door is suddenly thrown open.

Tristan jumps up and pulls his gun faster than I would have thought possible. What looks to be about eight men come rushing in. I’m stunned as utter chaos ensues. Tristan manages to get a few shots off, and a couple of them hit accurately. It doesn’t take long for him to be surrounded and the gun knocked out of his hand.

He turns to me suddenly and yells, “Run!”

He fights mercilessly with three of them. I take off running as I see Tristan go down after someone jabs a huge knife into his back and chest several times. Seeing me run, three others give chase. It doesn’t take them long to catch up to me, and I try and get my mind to unscramble and think.
Use what’s around you and fight dirty.

Turning on my assailants, I throw the bleach at them, aiming for their faces. I manage to hit one of them and he starts to scream. The other two tackle me to the floor, and try as I might, I can’t get them off me. I can’t think of any way to get out of it. I start crawling as best I can, but to no avail. They won’t let go of me.

This is it. You’re not going to be able to fight them off. You may as well give up.

With that thought, I slacken my body and feel myself being pulled toward them.

I’
M
BEAT
when I slip into my car, and all I want is to get home and curl up with Aaron on the bed.

As I put it in gear, I think back to the little scene I walked in on, and it still pisses me off. Thomas was in quite the mood when I arrived. He had that aura of suppressed anger about him that always gave me chills down my spine. John was by his side as usual—I’d swear he was blowing him if I didn’t know any better.

Stretching back in his chair, Thomas sighed. “So, your daddy here tells me you’ve been taking a lot of early days and not working weekends at all anymore. You need to learn you don’t work at a damn bank and this isn’t a nine-to-five job. I have some assignments for you to deal with tonight, and I want them handled by you personally, not handed off.”

So, John was running his mouth about me again. I didn’t know what his problem was. It was almost as if he were jealous, like he was afraid I would show him up. Fuck, maybe he just wanted to make me as miserable as he was. He could fool himself that he had all he wanted, but I knew true happiness now, and what he had wasn’t it.

Wanting to get it over fast, I replied, “Yes, sir.”

“Oh, and by the way, even though I think Jeremy needed a nose job, you don’t get to fuck him up over your little fairy boyfriend. If I want something done to him, I’ll do it myself. I don’t need any of you assholes out of commission, especially not over who gets to fuck your little queer.”

Vibrating with fury at his words about Aaron, it took everything I had to keep from throttling him. He smirked at me, knowing exactly what he was doing. Thomas loved to play his little game: let’s see how far I can push them so I can show them my skills. Asshole. I wasn’t going to bite and I wanted to be finished with whatever he was sending me out to do. The thought of being done and home was the only thing keeping me from amusing him.

“So, what is it you want me to do?”

He appeared a little put out that I didn’t entertain his toying with me, but sucked it up and answered. I nodded after I’d heard his instructions, then left as swiftly as possible.

The jobs he ordered me to do were terrible, and several were the things I hated the most—like beating up some guy who was just trying to feed his family. I always felt about two inches tall following one of those meetings, after hearing a man beg me not to hurt his family and seeing the fear in his kid’s eyes.

Now, to top that feeling off, I’m sore and my fists are swollen. It’s beyond ignorant to send me out on those duties by myself. None of my guys or myself ever goes alone, so Thomas is definitely trying to make a point with me.

I’m so relieved when I see Aaron’s building come into view, I practically sink into the seat. Knowing I can’t stay in the car, I head in and up the flight of stairs to reach his floor. As I step into the corridor, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I feel goose bumps on my arms.

Quickly, I reach for my gun and ready myself. I don’t know what I’m in for, but I’ve learned to trust my gut over the years, and it’s served me well. I know something isn’t right. As I get closer to Aaron’s door, I can already tell it has been busted open. My heart thunders in my chest as all the scenarios I could be walking into flood my head. For a moment, I just stand there frozen, not knowing exactly what to do.

Snap the fuck out of it. You need your shit together if you’re going to be any help to him.

Edging my way down the short hallway, I make it to the doorframe. I stand there for a few moments, take a deep breath, and enter, weapon drawn and ready.

What I see takes the air from me, as if I’ve been punched hard in the chest. The living room is a complete disaster: furniture knocked over, area rug pulled up, two bodies lying on the floor, and blood everywhere. Frantically, I glance around. There is no sign of Aaron anywhere. Almost in a fog, I go through the rental, sweeping each space in case Aaron or someone else is there hurt.

My heartbeat picks up even more, making my ears ring. Where the fuck is Aaron, and why didn’t Tristan protect him? Tristan should have stayed with him. He knew Luke couldn’t make it. I had texted him as much.

You need to get down to business and figure this shit out. You can worry later. You need to take action. Now get your dumb ass moving.

First things first, so I rip my phone from its holder and call a few guys down here. I have the others handle the cops that may have been alerted after hearing gunshots. Many of them are on our payroll, so that’ll be an easy fix. They will make the reports disappear or come up with some shit about it being kids with firecrackers. They know the drill.

My next move is to check out the guys on the ground to see if they are dead. If I am lucky enough to get one alive, maybe I can get some answers. Leaning over each still form, I survey methodically for any signs of life, but of course, there is none. I do, however, recognize both of them as members of The Natives. That means a little visit to Sam is in order, and he is going to be one sorry son of a bitch. It’s low to come after Aaron when their beef is with me, although they’ve proven before that they can sink to this level.

Then my addled brain catches up with me and realizes there are two dead bodies on the floor. Tristan must be here. What the fuck are you thinking? Where is he?