Trouble in a Tight Dress (Six Points Security, #1) Read online

  “As well as can be expected.” She motioned to his phone. “Something going on?”

  “It’s not a big deal. Just an issue with one of our accounts.”

  She knew enough to realize issue meant problem, which meant he was blowing off his business to be by her side. And although that made her love him even more than before, she hated the fact she was hurting his company. “Sounds like a big deal to me. Do you need to go take care of it?”

  “No, I’ll handle it later.”

  “You can’t let your business suffer because of all this. Ty’s here; I’ll be fine.”

  He seemed torn over what to do, so she dug deep and summoned a smile.

  “Really, it’s okay. I’ll be perfectly safe in the hospital. And Ty’ll be here in case something happens.”

  He still didn’t look convinced, but he gave a reluctant nod. “All right, but I’ll be back as soon as I can. An hour, maybe two tops. Call me the second you hear any updates, okay?”

  “I promise.”

  He kissed her again, this time with more passion, and then he quickly brought Ty up to speed. As she watched him leave, she burned the image into her mind, and when he disappeared around the corner, she let out the breath she’d been holding.

  Nina waited a good ten minutes to make sure he was really gone and then turned her attention to Ty as she stood. “I need to use the bathroom. Be back in a few.”

  “I’ll go with you,” he said in a lowered voice as he attempted to get off the couch without waking Dorcas.

  She gestured for him to stay put. “Look, I appreciate you looking out for me, but I don’t need an escort to the bathroom.”

  “Austin will kick my ass if something happens to you.”

  “Good thing nothing’s going to happen.” She felt terrible about lying to him, and about how Austin would probably lay into him once he realized she was gone, but what else was she supposed to do? She had to do what was best for everyone. “Stay with Dorcas. I’ll be back before you know it.”

  Not waiting for a response, she went down the hall to the restrooms. But instead of going inside, she kept walking...and walking...and walking, until she was outside the building, waiting for the Uber she’d ordered to pick her up. A few minutes later, she was on her way to her apartment, her throat tightening at the prospect of what she had to do.

  “Thanks,” she told the driver as she got out of the car. For the third or fourth time, her eyes scanned the parking lot, searching for any signs of danger but finding none. Yes, she knew what she was doing was risky, but she simply couldn’t live with herself if another person got hurt because of her. If she disappeared, so would the threat, and even though it would break her heart to leave Austin, it was worth it to know he was safe.

  Blinking back tears, she climbed the stairs to her apartment. Each step felt as though there were ten-pound weights tied to her feet. The yellow-and-black police tape had been removed, and her hands shook a little as she shoved her key into the lock.

  Once inside, she leaned against the door and took a deep breath, her lungs filling with the metallic tang of blood. She looked around, and tears pricked her eyes when her gaze landed on the carpet where she’d found Shailene.

  Pushing the thought from her mind, she hurried to her bedroom and grabbed her emergency bag from the back of the closet. She inspected the contents to make sure everything was still there before she slung the bag over her shoulder.

  A wave of panic and regret surged through her, leaving her weak at the knees. No, not now, she repeated in her mind. There’d be time to fall apart later. She needed to keep her collective shit together, at least until she was far, far away.

  With a heavy exhale, she put a lid on her emotions and closed the closet door. She ran her gaze over the room one final time, mentally cataloging all of the memories and everything she was leaving behind.

  Jaw clenched, she crossed to the main living area...and stopped short at the sight of Austin by the front door, his arms folded across his broad chest and a pissed-off look on his face.

  Her bag hit the floor with a thud.

  “Were you planning to say good-bye?” There was anger in his voice, but there was also a hint of hurt, and it stabbed like a knife to her heart.

  Steeling her spine, she met his hard gaze. After all he’d done for her, the least she could give him was honesty. “If I told you in person, you’d convince me to stay, and then my brother would destroy everyone and everything until he finally got what he wanted.”

  “You don’t have much faith in our abilities.”

  “Your abilities have nothing to do with it. My brother is ruthless. He doesn’t give a damn about the law. He won’t think twice about killing you, your brothers, your sister, or my roommates. One man’s already dead. Shailene’s clinging to life. I can’t take any more blood on my hands.”

  “So your solution is to run? To abandon your life, your job, your friends...us?” Pain tightened the corners of his eyes. “If you run now, you’ll be running for the rest of your life. You’ll never feel safe. Never. Is that what you really want?”

  “Don’t you understand?” Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her voice from cracking. “If I fight, people die. If I stay, people die. As long as he knows where I am, the people around me are in danger. Hell, people I don’t even know end up as collateral damage.” She picked up the bag and walked toward the door, but he continued to block her path. “Please don’t make this any harder than it already is.”

  He didn’t budge. “You might not be willing to fight, but I am.” His eyes pinched a little tighter. “I love you, Nina, and I’m not letting you go so easily.”

  Her vision blurred, and she blinked rapidly to clear it. “Don’t. That’s not fair.”

  “No, it’s not. But you know what? I don’t fucking care. This is too important. You’re too important. I love you.”

  “Stop saying that! You don’t mean it.”

  “Of course I do. Trust me, falling in love with you was the last thing I expected, and it’s not entirely welcome. But it feels right, like I finally found a piece of myself that’s been missing my whole life. I’m smart enough to know what I want. What I need. And that’s you, Nina. I love you.”

  “Don’t,” she said with a shake of her head. “Please.”

  “No. I can’t force you to stay, but if you walk away, I want you to know exactly what you’re leaving behind.”

  He closed the remaining distance between them and cupped her face in his hands. His touch was soft as he bent his head and claimed her mouth in a tender kiss. In her heart, she knew she should pull away, but she felt powerless to stop him.

  Taking his time, he worked magic with his mouth, and her body softened against him. God, how she hungered to answer the call, to shield herself in his strong arms and allow him to protect her from danger.

  Because yes, she loved him, and she longed to be with him more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life. But she could see the train wreck coming from miles away, and she refused to inflict that kind of pain on him and his family. She loved them too much.

  Steeling her resolve, she straightened her spine and jerked her chin up so her gaze met his. Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked them back, determined not to let them fall until she was at least a few miles down the road. “I’m sorry.”

  The muscles along his jaw flexed. “Yeah, me too.”

  He didn’t say another word, didn’t try to stop her as she picked up her bag, stepped around him, and walked out of his life.

  HOURS LATER, THE TEARS wouldn’t stop, and Nina wondered how long she could survive with the gaping hole in her chest where her heart used to be.

  It was stupid; she knew it, but she couldn’t deny the way she felt. She loved Austin, plain and simple. Walking away from him was the hardest thing she’d ever done, but what other choice did she have? If she stayed in Orlando, her brother would eventually do something awful to someone she loved, and the guilt would eat her alive.
/>   She’d run into traffic on the way out of town, but now that she was past it, she was back up to the speed limit, with the air conditioning cranked and the radio blasting so she wouldn’t fall asleep. Barring any more unexpected slowdowns, she’d cross into Georgia soon, where she’d find a hotel and crash for a few hours before she hit the road again.

  The sound of her ringtone nearly had her jumping in her seat. Flicking a glance at the screen, she winced at the sight of Dorcas’s number. Her first impulse was to let the call go to voice mail, but her conscience wouldn’t allow it. Besides, with the exception of her emergency bag, she’d left all of her belongings at the apartment, which meant her roommate probably wouldn’t even realize she’d left for another day or two. After turning down the stereo, she answered the call on speaker.

  “Hey, what’s up?” she asked, straining to keep her voice light.

  “Where are you?”

  “I went out for a drive to clear my head. Why?”

  “Barb from the property management company called to thank you for pre-paying the rent for the remainder of the lease.” She paused. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Keeping you and Shailene safe.” A tractor trailer passed Nina on the left, and the backdraft made her car shudder. Before she left town, she’d dropped off a check to cover the next seven months’ rent. It was the least she could do after what happened to Shailene, and it would give the girls plenty of time to find another roommate or another place to live.

  Dorcas made a frustrated sound. “You’re being ridiculous. You know that, right?”

  “Am I? Shailene almost died last night. The doctors still don’t know how long it’ll take for her to fully recover. That’s on me. All of it. If I hang around, it’ll happen again. Or worse.”

  “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “Yes, I do. Last night was just a taste of what my brother’s capable of. Next time somebody might die, and it’ll be my fault for staying.” Nina cast her gaze to the sign on her right that indicated she was thirty miles from Valdosta.

  Dorcas made a frustrated sound. “Please come home. We’ll figure a way out of this.”

  “I wish I could, but this is the only way to keep everyone safe.”

  “And how about your man? Is Austin cool with this?”

  The sound of his name squeezed her heart like a fist. “No, but he’ll get over it and find somebody else.”

  “Will you?”

  Probably not. Just the thought of Austin with another woman made her want to throw up. But there wasn’t anything she could do about it. “I’ll be okay. Eventually.”

  Dorcas muttered something in Spanish. “Damn it, you’re tougher than this. It’s not like you to give up so easily.”

  “What, you think this is easy?” After checking her mirror, she swung into the left lane to pass a sedan with Jersey plates. “What am I supposed to do, Dorcas? Sit around and watch the people I love get picked off one by one?”

  “No, you fight back. There has to be a way,” Dorcas said. “Hell, you’re a demon when it comes to computers. Maybe you can unleash some kind of electronic voodoo on your brother and get him audited by the IRS or something. Isn’t that how they caught Capone?”

  “Yeah, but...” But what? The suggestion struck a chord with Nina. She’d been on the run for so damn long, she was conditioned to automatically play defense. Maybe it was time to turn that around.

  “Nina, are you still there?” A note of panic marked Dorcas’s voice.

  “Yeah, I’m just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ll call you back when I figure it out.”

  “No! Don’t you dare hang up on me. I swear to—”

  Nina ended the call before Dorcas completed the sentence. Mind racing, she got off at the next exit and pulled into one of those twenty-four-hour restaurants that looked a little grungy on the outside but had a bunch of cars in the lot. She parked near a light and walked inside, hoping for a hot cup of coffee and a quiet place to sit where she could plot her future.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “WHAT THE HELL WAS I thinking? I shouldn’t have let her leave.” Austin set his glass on the table with a thud. Four drinks—or was it five?—had dulled his senses, but they hadn’t done a damn thing to ease the ache in his chest.

  Even for a weeknight, the sports bar was quiet, with less than half of the seats at the bar taken and most of the tables empty. He and his brothers had claimed a spot not far from the window, where there weren’t any other patrons.

  “She’s a grown-ass woman,” Ryan said as he picked up his mug. “It’s not like you could tie her up and lock her in a room.”

  “She’d be safer that way.”

  “Yeah, and she would have hated you for it. And eventually, she would have gotten out.”

  The waitress stopped by to take away the empty bottles and see if they needed anything else. Wade ordered a Coke—it was rare for him to drink—while Ty asked for another beer. Nate looked as if he wanted to ask for her number, and Austin was willing to wager he’d have it by the end of the night.

  Austin didn’t speak again until the waitress walked off, and then he turned his attention back to Ryan. “She should have trusted me to keep her safe. It’s what I fucking do for a living.”

  “She’s scared, man,” Ryan countered. “I can’t say I blame her after everything that’s happened with her family. She’ll come back once she’s had a chance to calm down.”

  In his heart, Austin knew his brothers meant well, but he was getting to the point where he really wished they’d shut the fuck up and let him wallow. “She’s been running nearly half her life. At this point, it’s second nature to her. She’s not coming back—not in a week, or a month, or even a year.”

  “I refuse to believe that.” Nate took another drag off his bottle of beer. “She loves you, man. That’s pretty fucking obvious. And that love’s going to bring her back to you. Just wait and see.”

  Austin shot him an incredulous look. “Since when did you become a walking Hallmark card?”

  “Say what you want—I know women. And I saw the way her whole face lit up every time she saw your ugly ass. That woman’s got it bad. Trust me, she’ll be back. I’d put my next paycheck on it.”

  “How about you?” Austin asked Wade. “You’ve been awful quiet tonight.”

  Wade shrugged. “Didn’t think you wanted conversation. Besides, Nate hasn’t fucked up yet. I figured I’d wait until he did.”

  With a snort, Nate gave Wade a one-fingered salute.

  Shaking his head, Austin picked up his glass, only to realize it was empty. Well, shit. He should have ordered another when the waitress stopped by. But when he raised his hand to get her attention, Nate gripped his wrist and pulled his arm down.

  “No can do, big guy. You’ve got work tomorrow. Remember, you’re meeting with Pasco in the morning.”

  “Aw, shit.” So much for drinking Nina away. Pasco Technologies was their largest account, and he couldn’t afford to go into their meeting with a hangover.

  Wade tossed a few bills onto the table and pushed back his chair. “You ready to go?”

  “I thought you just ordered another drink.”

  He shrugged again. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s get you home.”

  Thankful his brother had insisted on driving, Austin stood and headed for the door.

  He still couldn’t believe Nina left like that, even after he’d spilled his guts and told her exactly how he felt about her. On some level, he understood where she was coming from, but it still stung to know she didn’t trust him to keep her safe.

  “You want company?” Wade asked a short time later as he pulled into Austin’s driveway.

  Austin shook his head as he cracked open the door. “Nah, I’m good, but thanks.”

  “If you change your mind and want to talk, let me know.”

  The offer struck Austin as particularly ironic, especially considering how
Wade refused to speak about what happened to him and his partner. “Thanks. Same goes for you.”

  Wade frowned. In the dim light of the car, his scars were barely visible. But then again, the worst of his wounds were buried far beneath his skin. “We’re not going there.”

  “It might do you good to get it all out.”

  Wade shook his head. “Not going there.”

  “Well, you know, after what you said about Carmen the other day—”

  “We’re definitely not going there.” The bite in Wade’s voice made it perfectly clear that the subject wasn’t open to discussion.

  The last thing he wanted was to alienate his brother, so Austin let it go. For now. “All right, I’m just putting it out there. If you change your mind, let me know. Thanks again for the lift.”

  Not waiting for a response, Austin turned toward the house and entered through the garage. As he opened the door separating the garage from the interior of the house, he noticed a light in the living room.

  He’d turned off all the lights before he left.

  In an instant, his buzz evaporated, and all of his senses kicked into overdrive. Moving through the kitchen without making a sound, he snatched a knife from the butcher’s block and crept toward the other room. Whoever it was, he hoped they put up a fight, because he really wanted to take his frustrations out on something.

  When he rounded the corner, he froze in his tracks when he spotted Nina on the couch. As if sensing his presence, she turned her head in his direction, and the tightness in his chest loosened a fraction.

  He set the knife on the counter. “I thought you left.”

  “I did. Almost made it to the Georgia border.” She stood but made no move to come closer, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “I...well...the farther I drove, the worse I felt, like something inside me was dying. I kept telling myself I was doing the right thing to keep you and everyone else safe. But then I talked to Dorcas, and she got me thinking about how I want to live the rest of my life.”

  She glanced away and dragged a hand through her hair. When her gaze swung back to him, there was a fierceness in her eyes that he’d never seen before. “I’ll probably end up hating myself for this, but I’m tired of running, tired of hiding, and I love you too much to let go.”