Wicked Need (The Wicked Horse Series Book 3) (25 page)

Twisting the knob,
Rand pulls the door open and I see both Jake and Bridger standing at
the bottom of the porch talking to Detective Blanton. Both their
heads turn our way, Jake’s
eyes going to Lorelei’s, where he does a quick up and down to
ensure she’s fine and then gives her a transparent look that
says,
I’m
so proud of you, glad you’re safe, and I’m going to kill
that asshole if I find him for even coming on to my property, but
before that, I’m going to take you inside and fuck you because
I love you so much.

Bridger looks
straight at me, his eyes also roaming over me quickly and coming to
stop at the bandage on my neck. His lips flatten out in a grimace,
his eyes coming back to mine where he gives me a sad look. He turns
back to Jake, claps him on the shoulder, and then turns to Rand as he
leads me down the porch steps.

When my feet hit the
bottom, Bridger reaches a hand out and grips my chin. “You
okay?”

“Yeah…
I’m fine.”

He nods and then
looks to Rand, nodding upward to his apartment. “We
need to talk.”

Rand

I didn’t
think I could be strung any tighter.

Cat was attacked on
the doorstep of our home and it was nothing more than a fortuitous
moment that Lorelei happened to come home at that exact time. I
shudder thinking about the alternative because that means I’d
have to imagine Cat laying broken, raped, and dead for us to find
when we got home later, and that’s not something I can handle.

But when Bridger
says
we need to talk, my body tightens even more and my teeth slam
together so hard I think they may have cracked.

“Come on up,”
I tell Bridger as I grip Cat’s hand tighter and lead her to the
stairwell. Bridger follows behind, and we easily navigate our way as
the police have a large ground lamp set up on the driveway as they
look at footprints and comb the area for anything that can assist
them in the investigation. I’m assuming that whoever attacked
Cat knocked out the security light because it’s not on.

The wooden porch at
the top of the stairs is empty, but there were some technicians up
there when I arrived a bit ago dusting for prints on the door. They
had confirmed it was still locked and the apartment was secure, but
they figured the attacker could have tried to get inside first before
Cat arrived. Black dust smudges the doorknob, but I ignore it as I
release Cat’s
hand to pull my keys out and open the door.

We’re
all silent as we walk in, and I quickly turn on lights in the living
room and kitchen. Cat goes to the couch and sits on it with a sigh.
Her plaid blouse is still open, the white camisole underneath
demurely hiding everything, but I don’t miss the fact the
buttons are missing with pieces of thread hanging from the places
they were once secured.

My teeth clamp down
harder and my jaw starts to hurt from the force of it. I want to kill
someone…
well, Kevin to be exact because I know damn well he’s behind
this. Then I want just a few minutes with the guy who dared to attack
Cat because he’s going to regret the day his sorry,
piece-of-shit mother ever gave birth to him because he’d rather
have not been born than what I intend to do to him.

I go to the cabinet
to the right of the sink and pull out a can of chicken noodle soup.
It’s
the best I can manage for Cat at this moment, and I go about making
it silently because I’m afraid if I open my mouth to talk about
the events of the last hour I’m going to lose my shit. Bridger
comes into the kitchen, takes a seat at the table, and watches me
silently. He said we need to talk and I’m not sure what he’s
waiting for, but I wait all the same. Not sure if he means he wants
to talk to me privately or if he’s just waiting until I can
feed Cat.

While the soup
heats, I pull an open bottle of white wine from the fridge that Cat
had put there. I also grab two beers for Bridger and me. Cat gets up
from the couch, walks into the kitchen, and accepts a glass of wine
from me as she sits down at the other chair I have at my tiny table.

“Why are you
here?” she asks Bridger bluntly after taking a sip of the wine
and setting it down before her. “How did you know this was
going on?”

“I didn’t,”
he says. “Shocked the shit out of me when I pulled up and saw
the circus. Jake and that cop filled me in.”

Pouring the soup
into a bowl, I set it before Cat with a large spoon. I almost expect
her to push it away, but instead, she starts eating it, taking the
time to blow on each spoonful she brings to her mouth.

“So what’s
up?” I say as I lean back against the counter, crossing my arms
over my chest. I want Bridger to hurry up, say whatever he needs, and
then get the fuck gone. I have a woman who was attacked and I need to
check her over. I need to see with my eyes that she’s okay, and
I need to feel with my hands the same. I need to give her the
opportunity to tell me how fucking scared she was, and then I need to
reassure her she’s safe and that will never fucking happen
again. And then… if she’s still not exhausted and ready
to go to sleep, I need to take the time to let her know how valued
she is and that I want something more.

That was
made abundantly clear to me the minute Lorelei called me at the
hospital to tell me what happened. I always knew Cat might leave the
area and go back to Vegas, but tonight I came very close to losing
her and it made me prioritize a bit.

Made me realize
she’s
my top priority.

“Jenna went
through the entire trust agreement you gave me,” Bridger says
while tapping his index finger on the table. Cat pauses with a spoon
of soup halfway to her mouth. “Cat stands to inherit a bit more
than just five million and a house. That’s why I came here.”

“What?”
Cat says, dropping the spoon back down.

“Yeah…
the five million and the house was an immediate bequest to get you
set up, but later on in the document, he also gives you ten percent
of all profits from the hotels and subsidiary businesses under them
for the remainder of your life, and then that reverts to his kids if
you die before them.”

My mind quickly
calculates. Ten percent of a billion is one hundred million, and
that’s
just estimating Samuel’s worth. It’s probably more.

“Holy fuck,”
I say as I turn my gaze upon Bridger and he’s watching me
carefully. “Now
that
is something Kevin would kill over.”

“Yup,”
Bridger agrees and cuts a glance at Cat. “Did you know that?”

“No,”
she says in astonishment. “I mean… Samuel said he’d
take care of me, but I thought the five million and a house was more
in line with what he meant.”

I don’t
say it, but all I can think is,
Yeah…
that fucker must be showing his appreciation for all the times his
wife took someone else’s cock so he could humiliate her.

“I don’t
want that money,” Cat says bitterly, and I know she’s
thinking the same thing. What that money really represents.

But fuck if I’m
going to let her walk away from her due. “Yes, you do.”

“No—”

I cut her off with a
sharp, “Yes,
Cat. It’s yours under the law and you are not turning your nose
up at it. Your husband may have been the ultimate prick, but in the
end, he was looking out for you.”

Her mouth snaps shut
and she glares at me. I know there’s
more argument there, but we’ll worry about that later. Turning
to Bridger I say, “We need to go down, grab that detective, and
tell him this.”

“Already did
that when he walked out. He wants a copy of the trust agreement.”

“I’ll
get it to him tomorrow,” I say, but my mind is already racing
ahead, trying to figure out how Kevin could be connected to the
attacker.

But as usual,
Bridger is uncannily ahead of me. “Cop
told me a description of the guy that attacked Cat. Sounds like he
could be a member of Mayhem’s Mission.”

I nod because that’s
what I had been thinking. While plenty of people ride bikes in this
area, there’s a huge motorcycle club— Mayhem’s
Mission—and they are definitely shady. Without a doubt, Kevin
would get someone to do his dirty work, and I could see him being
stupid enough to approach a biker to do it.

“I’m
going to call my buddy, Kyle Sommerville, tonight. He rides with
them. I’ll see if he’s heard anything.” Bridger
stands from the table indicating that’s all the information he
has to share.

“Think he’ll
know something?” Cat asks him as she stands up too.

He turns to her.
“Maybe,
and if he does, he still might not tell me anything, but I figure
it’s worth a shot.”

“Well, thank
you,” Cat says as she steps into Bridger, wrapping her hands
around his waist. He seems surprised for a moment. The man is not the
huggy-feely type. But then his face softens, his arms come around her
upper back, and he gives her a quick squeeze before releasing her.

I walk Bridger to
the door, noting that Cat sits back down to continue eating her soup.
Still, to make sure she can’t
hear, I step out onto the small porch behind him and pull the door
shut behind me. He turns, knowing I’m here seeking a private
word.

“You think it
was Kevin behind this?” I ask to make sure we’re on the
same page.

“Yup. Same as
you.”

“Then I’m
going to pay him a visit after Cat goes to sleep tonight,” I
say with a nod. “I’ll get the truth.”

“Yeah, you are
absolutely
not
going to do that,”
Bridger says gruffly and steps into me. “You’re going to
let the police handle this.”

I might not have his
bulk but I stand eye to eye with him, so I lean into him rather than
back. “That
fucker hired someone to kill Cat. Someone who didn’t intend to
just do it easily. He was going to rape her first. Not going to let
that slide.”

Bridger doesn’t
physically back away, but his voice softens a bit. “I get it,
man. You care for her and you want vengeance. But it’s not
going to make anything better for her. If you go there tonight and
beat the shit out of him, the only one who that is making feel better
is you. Trust me… you’re best served to go back in there
and hold that girl tonight. She needs that more than you running off
on a fool’s errand.”

In that moment, I
hate him for being right, calm, and wise. I hate he can take the high
road and still be able to sleep tonight, but if I do as he asks and
take the high road, I’m
going to burn from the inside-out with my failure to protect her.

Still, I can’t
disagree with him that at least for tonight, Cat needs me by her
side, not running off to avenge her. So, I nod at him curtly and turn
to head back inside.

Before my hand
touches the knob, Bridger asks in a low voice that’s
sure not to filter down to the cops pacing around the yard with their
flashlights. “You ever coming back to The Silo?”

I look over my
shoulder at him.

His face is
inscrutable.

I shrug and say, “No
immediate plans, but if I do, it will be with Cat.”

Bridger lets out a
deep chuckle of understanding as I walk back into the apartment where
I find Cat at the sink, washing out her bowl. She doesn’t
turn to face me but instead asks, “Everything okay?”

“I’m the
one who should be asking you that,” I say as I walk up behind
her. Reaching around with my hands, I take the bowl from her and
place it in the sink, then turn her around to face me. She does so
easily, looking up at me with curiosity. Her eyes are wan, but still
she smiles at me.

My eyes drop to the
bandage and with slightly shaky hands, I peel the tape and gauze back
so I can see for myself.

A thin, red line
about three inches long, about two inches above her left collarbone.
The air wheezes out of my chest as I realize just how much worse it
could be. Placing the bandage back in place, I press the tape onto
her skin and look up at her with an encouraging smile that takes all
my willpower to give her.

“Not bad at
all,” I say. Her eyes shine with amusement at me that I’m
trying to downplay what happened, just to take the weight and
magnitude off her shoulders a bit.

“You need to
eat,” she says, hands sliding up to my chest. “And you
still haven’t told me if Tarryn’s okay?”

My hands capture
hers, and I hold them in place right over my heart. “Tarryn’s
fine. She’s having surgery tomorrow on her ankle, and I’ve
asked her to stop contacting me.”

“Rand,”
Cat says in a censuring tone.

“Don’t,
Cat,” I warn her, still trying to gentle my words as she’s
had a shittier day than I have. “You let me handle Tarryn and
trust I’m doing what’s right and I’m doing it in a
way that’s not intentionally hurtful, okay?”

Immediately, her
cheeks turn pink and her gaze drops. “I’m
sorry… I shouldn’t have…”

“Cat,” I
say softly but firmly to cut her off, and she looks back up. “Let’s
talk about you, okay?”

“Me?”

“Yeah…
and me.”

“And you?”
she asks hesitantly.

“Let’s
talk about us and if there’s a concept of us,” I clarify
with a smile, taking her by the hand and walking her into the living
room. My desire is to walk her right into the bedroom so I can
undress her, examine her fully to make sure I’m not missing
anything, and then pull her into bed where I’d also really like
to fuck her but know that I’ll ultimately just end up holding
her.

But this
conversation needs some boundaries, so it’s
to the couch I lead us. She takes a seat and rather than sit beside
her, I plop my butt on the coffee table instead where our knees bump
together.

She frowns and says,
“Uh-oh…
this is serious.”

“Yeah,”
I admit.

“You want me
to leave?” she asks softly, her eyes shining at me with some
understanding she thinks I need but totally don’t want.