Las Vegas Sidewinders: Drake (Book 2) (29 page)

She heard voices and
footsteps, and she let her body drop, testing the strength of the rope she was
tied to. It held firm and she let out a frustrated sigh. She tried to gauge the
distance to the nearest table of items, but even if she swung her whole body,
she probably wouldn’t reach it. Damn, someone was coming and she had no way to
defend herself. She made her mind go blank, focusing only on the voices. The
woman with the soft, childish voice was one of them, and a man. She closed her
eyes, listening intently but suddenly a door flew open.

“Sonya, what are we
doing down here?” Clay’s voice was easily discernable now.

“I have a surprise for
you,” the woman chirped happily. “Look what I found!”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,
Sonya—what on earth made you think I would want her?” he said distastefully.
“If I wanted her, I wouldn’t have divorced her!”

“But your mother said
you would like it!” Sonya sounded like a petulant child and Erin watched them
carefully.

“My mother?” Clay
rolled his eyes. “When are you going to listen to me? I told you to stay away
from her—how are we going to come down here and play if you tell my mother
everything?!”

“But I thought—”

“You’re not supposed to
think!” he snapped, irritated. “Dammit, Sonya! Now we’re going to have to
dispose of her!”

“But can’t we play with
her first?”

“No!” Clay scowled, his
eyes meeting Erin’s.

She wasn’t sure what
she’d expected to see there, but it certainly wasn’t regret. His eyes were
shrouded and glassy, but when he met her gaze he just looked sad. He gave her a
slight nod before turning back to Sonya.

“Did you tell my mother
she was here?”

“Yes.” Sonya nodded
slowly. “Wasn’t I supposed to?”

“God, I’m surrounded by
fucking idiots,” he muttered. He walked towards Erin and frowned slightly.
“What did you do to her, Sonya?”

“Nothing! I mean, we
blew out her window to take her out of her house but she wasn’t hurt!”

“Then why is she
bleeding?”

Erin glanced down at
herself in alarm. She didn’t feel any pain except for her raw wrists, and
nothing had hurt when she’d twisted herself back and forth.

“That wasn’t there
before.” Sonya looked confused.

Erin glanced down to
where Clay was looking and realized something now felt wet between her legs.
“Am I bleeding?!” she whispered, unable to fight the panic this time.

“Is it that time of the
month?” he murmured, standing close to her.

“No!” She felt tears
sting her eyelids as she thought of the baby she carried. “I’m pregnant!”

He was sweating
profusely and she could smell the alcohol and marijuana practically radiating
from his pores. But when he looked at her, he was completely lucid. He turned
to Sonya. “Go get my mother!”

“Now?” she whined.

“Now!” he insisted. He
pulled a knife from his pocket as Sonya turned to leave.

He quickly pulled over
a chair and climbed up, and though Erin cringed, she realized he was cutting
her wrists free.

“Mother’s already here,
darling.” Jan came into the room wearing a strange white ball gown, with a
tiara on her head. Clay froze, turning slowly. He’d cut the first rope, but he
could feel his mother’s gaze as she drifted into the room like a white cloud.

“What the
fuck
?”
he mumbled, glancing at Erin. He turned to his mother with a smarmy smile.
“Came to slum with the rest of the perverts tonight, Mother?”

“You were going to let
her go, weren’t you?” Jan said harshly. “God, such a disappointment. Two
beautiful boys, and neither one of you with the balls you were born with! What
is it about
this
woman that makes both of you completely pussy-whipped?
She’s not
that
attractive, is she?”

“Maybe not, but she’s
mine,” Clay shrugged, moving in front of Erin.

“She married someone
else, you idiot!” Jan rolled her eyes.

“Doesn’t matter,” Clay
said, folding his arms across his chest. “I want her.”

“Oh please,” Jan shook
her head. “You’ve wanted nothing but boys with big dicks since you were 14! You
can’t possibly think I don’t know about that?”

Clay actually laughed.
“How could you not?” he asked lightly. “You’re the one who paid them to come to
me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Who
told you that?”

“You think I didn’t
notice that the little girls all went to Shay’s room and nothing but young boys
appeared in mine? He figured out what you were up to, though, before you had
anything to hold over his head, didn’t he? That just left me for your games.”

Jan let out a laugh.
“And what good fun you’ve been!”

“Mother, enough. I want
Erin, so you can’t have her. I don’t know why you’re here, but you need to
leave.”

“I’m here to get rid of
her, once and for all. You’ll never marry Sonya as long as she’s alive, and I
want grandchildren, dammit!”

“Erin and I can give
you grandchildren,” he said mildly.

“She’s not going to
sleep with you!” Jan moved towards them briskly.

Erin couldn’t see her
because Clay was standing directly in front of her, his back pressed up against
her chest. She peered around him and saw Jan with a gun pointed in their
direction, and her heart started to hammer painfully against her ribs.

“Mother, this isn’t the
solution.”

“Move!” Jan raised the
gun and Erin opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She heard the
thwump!
thwump!
of the silencer and saw Clay go down on one knee as another shot
rang out, this one loud and explosive, making Erin jump. She watched in
disbelief as a gun fell from Clay’s hand and a dark red stain appeared on Jan’s
chest. Jan looked down in surprise as she sank to the ground. Somewhere, Sonya
started to scream.

Erin struggled against
the half-cut ropes, throwing her body as hard as she could until she felt the
rope starting to give.

“What have you done?!”
Sonya was screaming, running to Clay. “She shot you! Oh my God!” She fell in
front of him, turning him over. Two bright spots of red were bleeding into each
other on his stomach and he looked up at Erin sadly.

“Help Erin,” he told
Sonya. “Do it for me. Please.”

Sonya whirled around,
her eyes wild. She used the chair to climb up and cut Erin’s hands free. Erin
felt her legs give out and she landed on the ground with a soft thud. She knew
she was going to vomit, and she turned her head, heaving like she never had
before.

“I’m sorry,” Clay
whispered. “I tried to protect you, but she was just too far gone. Bipolar
disorder and schizophrenia runs in her side of the family. I finally got
medicated and realized she was crazy.” He winced as he spit up blood. Erin
looked around for something to put on his wounds, while Sonya sat in the corner
and began to rock.

“What the hell is wrong
with her?” she whispered, glancing over her shoulder as she pressed her hands on
his wounds.

“Crazy bitch…” He
closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you really loved him. I would have
picked someone else if I’d known, if you’d just told me...”

“Clay…” She was
fighting another bout of nausea and felt darkness looming; she was so
light-headed. “Do you have a phone?” she managed to whisper, her hands falling
away from his wounds.

“Pocket,” he said as
his head lolled to the side. Erin groped him looking for the phone and took it
out, her hands shaking. She pulled up the key pad and dialed Drake’s number but
it went straight to voicemail. Tears pouring down her face, she couldn’t sit up
anymore. She lay on the cold, hard concrete and pictured Drake’s face. She
forced herself to focus; one more phone call. She dialed the number and heard
Kate answering with annoyance.

“Do you know what
fucking time it is, Dickhead?!” she demanded.

“Kate, help me…” Erin
couldn’t fight the sleepiness that was overcoming her. “Clay’s house,” she
whispered before she could no longer stop the darkness.

Drake turned on his
phone as soon as the plane landed. He had a dozen missed calls and saw that
Clay had called him back, as well as four calls from Jason and several from
Kate. Cursing, he called her back first.

“Kate?”

“Drake!” Her voice was
frantic. “I’m on the train to Washington—where are you?”

“We just landed in
D.C.”

“Call Jason! He’s been
dealing with police and the hospital—”

“Hospital?!” Drake felt
his mouth go dry; if Erin was hurt he was going to kill someone.

“I don’t know the
details, but Clay and Jan are both dead and they found Erin unconscious.” She
told him as much as she knew.

“Shit—what time do you
arrive? Do you need a car?”

“I’ll be there in less
than an hour and will get a cab—don’t worry about me, just get to Erin.”

Drake disconnected and
called Jason. “Are you in Washington?” Jason answered immediately.

“Yeah, getting a cab
now. Where’s Erin?”

Jason gave him the name
and address of the hospital.

“Do you have an
update?”

Jason paused. “She was
bleeding vaginally. When she woke up she told them she didn’t think she was
raped but she blacked out when they set off a flash bomb. They aren’t sure if
she’s having a miscarriage or if she ruptured some blood vessels from being
thrown around and tied up.”

“
Tied up?!
”
Drake’s pulse was quickening as they sped through the streets towards the
hospital.

“We’re still
investigating. I have a man outside Erin’s room—the password is Dickhead.”

Drake snorted in spite
of himself. “Yeah, okay. Thanks.” He put the phone down and leaned back against
the seat. He was exhausted; Karl had dozed on the four-and-a-half-hour flight,
but Drake had paced almost the entire time.

“Coach has left a bunch
of messages,” Karl told him. “Plus two from Cody and one from Dom. Do I call
anyone back?”

“It’s still really
early in Calgary,” Drake shook his head. “Leave it alone for now.”

They rode the rest of
the way in silence. Drake bolted out of the taxi when they pulled up to the
hospital and ran inside, looking around wildly.

“My wife,” he said to
the woman at the desk. “Erin Riser. She was brought in a few hours ago.”

“Yes, sir. Third floor,
room 368.”

“Would you tell that to
the big blond guy coming in, please?” He turned and ran for the stairs, taking
them three at a time. Damn good thing I’m in shape, he thought, sprinting up
the last few steps and pulling open the door. He knew Erin’s room immediately
by the humongous man standing outside it, tattooed arms crossed across his
chest. He approached him warily.

“Password?” the man
looked at him.

Drake smirked.
“Dickhead.”

The man gave him a
small smile. “Hey, man. She’s doin’ good.”

“Thanks for watching
out for her.” Drake stepped inside and took a deep breath when he saw her.
There was a dark bruise on her forehead and she seemed to be hooked up to a
dozen different monitors and IVs. “Oh, baby.”

Her eyes opened.
“Drake.”

“I swear to God I’m not
letting you out of my sight ever again!”

She smiled. “That
sounds like a good plan.”

“Fuck, Erin. What
happened?”

“Jan somehow got Sonya
to kidnap me, under the guise of being a gift to Clay. Clay didn’t know
anything about it. He tried to protect me, but Jan showed up with a gun.” She
swallowed, frowning as she looked at him. “She shot her own son in her quest to
kill me.”

“Jesus Christ.” He sank
into a chair next to her bed.

“But Clay had a gun
too. He took two shots in the abdomen and then shot her right in the heart. He
made Sonya untie me and I called Kate with his phone. Is he dead?” She was so
tired.

“Yeah, he died in the
operating room.”

“And Jan’s definitely
dead too?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Erin wasn’t sure if it
was the medication they were giving her or her military training or what, but
she was completely numb. She didn’t feel anything at all emotionally; it was
almost like nothing had happened. She looked over at Drake and bit her lip. “I
don’t have any feelings about anything that happened,” she whispered. “What’s
wrong with me?”

“Shock. Medicine.” He
leaned over and kissed her. “Did you feel that?”

She smiled. “As a
matter of fact I did. I keep looking at my hot, sexy husband and wishing we
were on a beach somewhere, naked, making love.”

“We will be,” he
promised, his beautiful amber eyes finding hers. “Bali or Hawaii or wherever
you want to go—as soon as the doctor says it’s okay and the season is over.”