Kyle's Return (29 page)

“Almost. I wanted to call and give you the Alex
update. Apparently, he’s in New Mexico.”

“Hmm, interesting. Does he think he’s coming
back?”

“He doesn’t know.”

“So, I’m assuming you want me to come over
tonight?”

I walked to a mirror and took in my messy state. I’d
need a damn hose down before he came over. “Maybe. You interested?
Although, you might be climbing over boxes to get into my
room.”

“How about we move some of those boxes to my house
tonight?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

“I think that sounds perfect. Just make sure your
closet is cleaned out.”

He chuckled. “Our bedroom is ready for you, and so is
the closet in the spare bedroom. I’ve seen the amount of clothes
and shoes you have.” Hearing him refer to the bedroom as ours made
me smile.

“Ha-ha. When you get done with Z, just come on
over.”

“I will. Be ready for me.”

I smiled. “I’ll be more than ready.”

***

WHEN I WOKE up the next morning, Kyle’s arms
were around my waist with him snug behind me. Late last night,
Mason called to let us know Alex was now in Oklahoma. Kyle and I
stayed up and celebrated our temporary freedom by making love all
night, but not before we transported over half of my boxes to his
house. I could actually walk into my room now. From lifting the
heavy loads and having sex all night, my body was sore, including
my nipples from where Kyle paid them way too much attention. It all
felt good though.

“What time is it, love?”

I groaned when I looked over at my clock and realized
it was midday. “It’s one o’clock. I guess we shouldn’t have stayed
up so late.”

He chuckled and nipped my earlobe. “I happened to
enjoy staying up late with you. Unfortunately, I have to meet Zane
and get him ready for his fight. You’re coming to it, right?”

Turning around in his arms, I smiled and kissed him.
“I wouldn’t miss it. Nic and I will meet you at the MGM. We’re
going to get the rest of our stuff packed.”

Groaning, he kissed me one more time and slid out of
bed. “I hate having to leave you, but I have to make sure Zane’s
prepared. He’s fighting against someone who’s undefeated.”

I sat up and stretched. “You want him to kick ass, I
understand that. I’ll see you tonight.” He put on his jeans and
T-shirt from last night and winked at me before disappearing down
the hall. Once downstairs, I heard Nic tell him bye before she
raced upstairs.

“It’s about time you got up, lazy ass.” She stood by
the door with her arms crossed over her chest.

“What can I say? I had a good time last night.”

She cringed. “Yes, I know. I
heard
. Now get
dressed so we can finish packing. I made you breakfast a couple
hours ago.”

My stomach growled and called to her as she made her
way back down the stairs, “I’ll be right there.” I threw on some
clothes and joined her in the kitchen.

She heated up my breakfast and I scarfed it down
while she told me about Zane visiting her at the restaurant the
night before. They stayed in the parking lot and talked until two
in the morning. Hence, the reason she came home and heard Kyle and
I in the bedroom. It was payback from all the times I had to hear
her rocking the bedposts.

After I finished eating, I cleaned up the kitchen.
“What movies do you want to split?” she called from the living
room.

I peeked my head around the corner and watched her
sorting. “You can take them all, Nic. I don’t mind.” She nodded in
response, but I heard her sniffling. So, I walked over to kneel on
the floor in front of her, grabbing her hands.

Lifting her head, she had tears streaming down her
cheeks. “I just realized that after so many years together, it’s
actually over. I always knew we’d go our separate ways, but I
didn’t know how much it would hurt.”

“Nic,” I cried, pulling her into my arms. “We’re
still going to see each other. You’re like my sister and you know
that.” I tickled her side. “You are more than welcome to cook
dinner anytime. Maybe I could hire you to be our personal
chef?”

“You’d do that?”

“Of course! The night’s you aren’t working at the
restaurant you can come cook for us. Although, I don’t see that
happening for long; especially when you and Zane start hooking
up.”

She blushed. “He asked me out next weekend since he
doesn’t have a fight.”

“What did you say?”

Rolling her eyes, she slapped me on the shoulder. “I
said yes, crazy woman.”

“Good. I think you’ll have a good time. He’ll be
happy to see you at the fight.”

“I hope so.” She glanced at the time and then looked
at me, scrunching her nose. “But you need to hurry up and take a
shower and get ready. I want to get there early.”

“Okay. I’m going, I’m going . . .” Sleeping in late
threw off my whole day; it was already late afternoon. Rushing to
my bathroom, I turned on the water so it could get warm. Gabby had
sent me a Team Kyle T-shirt in the mail so I figured I’d wear it to
show my support. She was infamous for her ‘team’ T-shirts.

After taking a long, hot shower I hopped out to the
sound of music blaring from downstairs; it was Avenged Sevenfold,
our favorite band. In my towel, I danced around the room and put on
my clothes, making sure to put Kyle’s knife in my back pocket. I
carried it with me everywhere. After I put on my makeup and fixed
my hair, I was ready to go. We had forty-five minutes to get to the
arena.

“Nic, you ready?” I shouted, putting on my lip gloss.
The music was still playing downstairs which made it hard to hear.
Starting down the stairs, I tried to ignore the spidery feeling
crawling up my neck. “Nic?” I called out again. No answer.

When I got down to the bottom of the steps, I found
her lying on the floor with her arms and legs tied up, gagged. “Oh
my God,” I cried, racing over to her. Her eyes were closed and
there was blood on the floor coming from a gash on her head. “Nic,
wake up!”

“She’ll be out for a while,” a calm voice said from
behind. Gasping, I turned to see Alex, smirking with
my
gun
in his hand. His brown hair was covered by a baseball cap, making
his eyes seem darker as they bore into mine. “Surprised?” he asked.
“I bet you thought I was halfway across the country by now.”

When I didn’t answer, he stalked forward, his smile
fading. “Nice try having me followed by the way. And the breakup
with Andrews? Perfect. I had to admit I was hoping it would stick,
but as predicted, he ends up right back here.” He pulled out my
phone from his back pocket and searched through my texts. “I knew
it was all a ploy to get me to come after you.”

Shaking his head, he typed away on my phone. “I’m
sure he’ll be disappointed when you tell him you’re sick and can’t
make it to the fight. Or better yet, that you won’t be moving in
with him. Such a shame.” After he was done, he dropped my phone on
the floor and I jumped when he crushed it with his boot. Dread
settled in the pit of my stomach. What the hell was I going to do?
“Now you can’t call for help. Pity.”

“So it was Greg who left yesterday morning, wasn’t
it? He’s pretending to be you.”

He chuckled. “Sorry, but that fool won’t be doing too
much of anything anymore.”

I held onto Nic, feeling as if I was going to be
sick. “Did you . . . kill him?”

“You’re going to come with me. I’m done playing
nice.”

“We can’t leave Nic like this,” I shouted. “You do
whatever the fuck you want, but I’m not leaving her.”

Grabbing a handful of my hair, he jerked me to my
feet and I cried out in pain. “Yes, you will leave her, or I’ll put
a bullet in her fucking head.”

He had my gun pointed straight at her so I had no
choice. “Okay, I’ll go with you. Just put the gun down and leave
her alone.”

Pocketing the gun, he pulled my hair and trailed his
tongue up my neck. “Now that’s a good girl. Let’s go.”

Thankfully, he let my hair go, but my head throbbed.
Gripping my arm, he dragged me out the door. All I wanted was for
him to get far away from Nic. “Where are we going?”

“We just have one quick stop at Greg’s and then it’s
on the way to Mexico.”

“Mexico?” I exclaimed. “Why the hell are we going
there?”

He jerked me to a car I’d never seen him drive and
opened the door. “Because,
love
, isn’t that what douchebag
calls you? If you disobey me out there, it’s much easier to dispose
of you. A life with me is much better than being a sex slave.”

Tossing me in the car, I snarled. “I’d rather be
dead.”

“Just shut the fuck up,” he thundered, slamming the
door. I tried to get out but the door was locked from the inside.
He laughed as he got in. “You really want me to go back inside and
kill your friend, don’t you?”

Fuck.
“No,” I cried. “I’m sorry.”

Putting the car in gear, his smile brightened. “Oh,
baby. You can make it up to me later.”

“Ugh, gag me,” I mumbled under my breath.

Unfortunately, he heard and gripped the back of my
neck. “You really have gotten a mouth on you over the years. But
I’m going to tell you right now I’m not gonna put up with that
bullshit. I suggest you shut your fucking mouth before I put
something in it.”

He let me go, the fire boiling in my veins. I was
accustomed to pain and I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
We ended up back at Greg’s house and I knew without a doubt if I
got back in the car, my life was over. He came around to my side
and grabbed my arm to haul me out.

“Remember, if you so much as disobey me, you and
Nicole both will pay the price.”

Keeping my mouth shut, I walked inside and jumped
when he slammed the door behind us. Greg’s house used to be nice
and clean, but now it was all filthy and smelled like a sewer. “Oh
my God,” I choked. “What’s that smell?”

“Probably Greg’s rotting corpse.”

Wide-eyed, I slapped a hand over my mouth and gagged.
I knew Alex had no qualms with attacking me, but I didn’t know he’d
murder people on a whim. “Why?”

He dragged me to the study and confiscated the laptop
that sat on the desk. “He was a liability. The police were already
going to come after him and throw him in jail for hacking into the
system to get your information. I figured I’d save him the ass
raping. Prison isn’t for the weak.”

“There is something seriously wrong with you,” I
hissed.

Grinning wide, he pushed me out of the room. “And
you’re going to spend whatever time you have left with me. Aren’t
you lucky?”

***