Archer (7 page)

He found her in the hallway after almost tripping over her. She grabbed his pant leg and tugged. He squatted and ran his hand along the length of her back.

“Oh God, you’ve got to help me.” She dragged herself up his body.

Fear that Carson had gotten to her pierced his chest. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her tight against him. He raised his other hand, the pistol aimed into the dark.
Show yourself, you stupid bastard. Come on.

K
age pulled Jane down the hall, through the house into the living room, turning on the lights as they went, without ever letting go of her. Jane fisted his jacket, shaking him. “Please, I know you want to keep me safe, but I need your help.”

All the times Scott had come after her, she’d managed to keep her promise to Bluff that she’d keep her safe and not let Scott hurt her again. She couldn’t screw up now. She blinked against the light and pushed Kage away.

He caught her arm and pulled her back. She landed against his chest.

“Talk to me,” he said.

“Not now.” She tried to step back, but Kage wasn’t letting her go. “I have to find Bluff.”

“Bluff?” Kage went rigid.

She nodded, scanning the room, under the couch, behind the wooden rocker. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. She’s missing.”

“You screamed because you can’t find the damn cat?” His voice took on a hard tone.

“Her name’s Bluff.” She pushed herself from him, ready to beg if she had to convince him to find the cat first before they tried figuring anything else out. “Please. I can’t let anything happen to her. She’s already been through so much.”

Garrett slipped his pistol into his waistband. “Sis? The cat will come out. Give her time.”

“Janie...” Kage began.

“
No!
” She shook her head. “You don’t understand. She hides or runs when she’s scared.”

“I’ll take care of this,” Kage muttered to Garrett.

She ignored the two guys and hurried down the hall. “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”

If Jane could keep Bluff safe, she’d do anything Kage asked her to do. She’d cooperate and stay out of trouble while he went after Scott. As long as she had Bluff, and they were both okay, she could push the real threat of Scott coming after her tonight out of her head.

Boxes filled the first spare room on her left. She squatted, looking between the stacks. “Bluff…I have tuna…”

She blew her bangs out of her eyes and moved to the next room. With only a chair and a couple of small toolboxes set against the wall, she quickly realized the cat wasn’t there. She checked the bathroom, the linen closet, the hall closet where the sliding door had been left partially opened. Bluff loved to nap in tiny, dark places.

She swallowed the panic. What if Bluff had managed to slip outside when Kage had gone out to look around?

“Kage!” She turned, colliding with him. “We have to—”

“Here.” He strode toward her and placed the cat in her arms. “She was outside, hunkered behind the bush by the front door. I found her after Garrett secured the premises. I’ve set the alarm.”

Relief swept through Jane. She clung to Bluff, holding the cat beneath her chin, and sank to the floor, rocking her. “I’m sorry. I’ll never let you out of my sight again.” She closed her eyes against the tears. “We’re okay, Bluff. Everything is okay. Kage saved you. He’ll keep us both safe.”

She stroked Bluff, who seemed undisturbed from their time apart. Jane continued to lavish the animal with attention, consoling herself as much as the feline. She opened her eyes and saw Kage’s boots planted right in front of her. Her resolve crumbled.

He slid his hands under her arms and picked her and Bluff up in one swoop. His jaw ticked, but his eyes remained focused on Jane. In her relief at having Bluff back and knowing everything was okay, she’d forgotten he was watching her.

“I’m…I’m sorry.” She broke his gaze. “Thanks for looking out for Bluff. If anything would’ve happened to her, I’d never have forgiven myself.”

“Jane. Look at me.” He relaxed his stance. “Everything is okay, inside and out.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Yeah, baby, that’s good.” He inhaled deeply. “It’s late. Let’s relax, maybe watch a little television before we go to sleep.”

She bit down on her lower lip and glanced behind her. “I need to clean the—”

“Jane.” He stooped to look her straight in the eyes. “You need to rest. Let me take care of you for a change. Go take a shower. While you’re doing whatever girls do, I’ll take care of all the food you made and load the dishwasher. Then I’ll check if there’s a movie on TV, and we can stretch out on the bed and relax.”

She nodded, needing the escape. The tenderness emanating from Kage unsettled her. She wanted him but had no right to become involved with him. Her judgment needed realigning. She’d fallen for Scott because he’d made her feel safe at one time. Maybe she had a thing for possessive, dominant men.

Kage studied her and she melted. No, Kage was different. He was confident and supportive where Scott chewed her up and spat her out. Kage never made her feel stupid the way Scott did. She hated those feelings she lived with for so long. “Okay.”

“Good.” He stepped aside, and she hurried past him into the bedroom. After depositing Bluff onto the bed, she grabbed her pajama shorts and camisole off her pillow and shut herself in the bathroom, eager to settle in beside Kage for the night.

In the shower, she scrubbed her hair extra hard, quickly lathered her body, and then stood under the spray of the water only long enough to rinse the soap off. She couldn’t scrub away the terror she’d felt watching Kage walk away, thinking he might never come back.

What if he found out the truth about the stolen money and left her to face Scott alone? She lowered her chin to her chest and let the water wash over her. Kage promised he’d help. She’d have to find a way to make sure she was there if Scott showed himself.

Scott’s agenda had been to keep her around to have someone handy to abuse. He’d want Kage out of the picture, so he could make her pay for leaving him. If anything happened to him, it’d be her fault. And that was something she couldn’t face.

The only way to prove to Kage that she could handle this on her own and get him and the other boys to back off was to get stronger. She’d show him that she could take care of herself. She wouldn’t allow Scott to hurt anyone else. But first, she needed a gun.

She stepped out of the shower, dried off, and put on her nightclothes. She toweled the drips out of her hair, leaving it uncombed and wet, and went out into the bedroom. She let out a relieved breath. Kage was still cleaning.

Seizing the opportunity, she snatched her phone off the dresser and checked her messages. If Scott had sent her anything, maybe she could delete it before someone at headquarters noticed and transferred the message to Kage. To stay one step ahead of the boys, she’d have to think like them.

Sabrina had left another message. The urge to see her friend outweighed the embarrassment of coming clean. She texted Sabrina, setting up a lunch date at the garage for Saturday, hoping her friend wouldn’t hate her. They hadn’t seen each other in four years, except for a brief time at her dad’s funeral. It was safer that way.

Maybe when all her troubles no longer existed, the friendships she’d had before could return to normal. A pang of regret over lost time never went away. Who was she fooling?

She hated how she’d allowed herself to fall into an unhealthy relationship, stripping her of all her confidence. Scott’s rants were all too true. She
was
pathetic.

There were no messages from him. She set the phone on the nightstand, shut off the light, and stretched out on top of the bed.

And waited.

In what seemed like hours, but by her phone was only thirty minutes, Kage still hadn’t returned to the bedroom. Yawning, she turned and pulled his pillow to her. She hugged it to her chest and inhaled, eyes closed.

Her stomach fluttered. She couldn’t even describe the scent. It was just Kage. The man who offered her comfort, security, and more stubbornness than she knew what to do with. And most of all, he was familiar.

There were many nights she’d lain in the same bed as Scott, reciting the phone number Kage had given her, wishing it was he who had fallen in love with her. Afraid Scott would find out, she went to great pains never to mention anyone from her past. Kage was her lifeline. She could handle one more day with Scott, because she knew in her heart if things got worse, Kage would be there for her if she called.

But she hadn’t called. She could never find the strength to admit that she’d failed.

Kage’s strength overshadowed her. She wasn’t good enough for him anymore, and she couldn’t understand why he’d kissed her earlier—kissed her as if he never wanted to stop. If only she hadn’t met Scott, then maybe she’d stand a chance, maybe she could let herself go and fall for Kage.

The bed dipped. Too tired to move, she lay there until Kage tugged his pillow from her grasp and pulled her against his side. Her head lay on his bare chest. He was warm and solid. She threw her arm across his stomach and snuggled in. Several minutes passed, and she felt herself slipping into sleep.

“Janie?” he whispered.

Her body seized and now she was fully awake. “Don’t call me that.”

“You’ll always be Janie to me.” He kissed the top of her head.

“Janie doesn’t exist anymore.” Immediately after uttering the words, she regretted them. She sighed and laid her head back down. Why couldn’t he understand that the person he’d called Janie so many years ago no longer existed. “This is humiliating.”

“No reason for it,” he murmured. “You’re not responsible for what someone else is doing to you.”

“I could’ve stopped him.” She grimaced. “You should really let me go back home. Garrett can watch out for me.”

“No.” His arm tightened around her. “You don’t get it. You’re here. You’re in my bed. You’re not leaving.”

She wasn’t going to argue. Tomorrow she’d figure a way out of this mess and out of Kage’s life. She could deal with him being mad at her. It was the kindness, the concern, the warmth, the kiss—those things, she couldn’t handle.

“Why Bluff?” he asked.

She opened her eyes. “What?”

“Why were you scared when you thought Bluff was lost?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she mumbled.

She pushed away from him, rolled, and gave him her back. He turned with her, tagging her waist and pulling her back to spoon. She held her breath, waiting for him to make a move, but he only held her.

“Why Bluff?” he whispered, not giving up.

She swallowed. “Bluff’s a stray. When I found her, she was all scratched up and had a big gash on her neck that was infected. I took her in, cleaned and treated her wounds, and have had her ever since.”

“For how long?”

“Two years,” she said.

His fingers sprawled on her stomach. “You’ve kept her safe.”

She nodded.

“Why does she need to be protected?” he asked.

The last thing she wanted to do was try to explain to Kage how much Bluff meant to her. Yes, Bluff was a cat, but she was also so much more. At times, Bluff kept her sane. During the worst periods, Bluff loved her even when she knew no one else would.

“Answer me, Janie.”

His tone left little choice but to respond. “Scott. Bluff needed protection from Scott.”

“Fuck,” he bit off. “What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She turned onto her back. In the dark, she could face him.

His body went tight. “Tell me what happened.”

She could handle the fighting, the broken things Scott hurled across the room that she’d brought with her into the relationship, and the words he threw at her. Even the shoves and broken ribs. She’d never forgive the times he attacked Bluff because he knew it would hurt her worse than any beating.

“He used her against me. He thought nothing of kicking or throwing her across the room if he caught me holding her on my lap when he got home. He was jealous of the attention I gave her. I tried to be so careful. I’d lock her in the basement with my robe, so she could sleep in peace and still be able to have a part of me. But I never knew when Scott would show up at the house. One time he locked her outside.” She inhaled deeply. “I thought she’d run away, because really, no one wants to live where someone hurts them. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she wanted a new home, and honestly, I wanted her to run. I hoped she’d run far away and some little girl, with loving parents, would take her in.”

She smiled. “Bluff would love a little girl to take care of her and dress her up. She’s very easygoing, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, baby.”

She lowered her voice. “Bluff hid behind the bush by the front door. For some reason she stayed for me, so I promised I’d protect her.”

“Bluff loves you.” He stroked her hair away from her face. “Sometimes it’s as simple as that.”

“If anything happens to me—”

“Nothing is going to happen,” he said.

“Listen to me. Please.” She grabbed his hand and linked their fingers together, holding tight. “If Scott wins, you have to promise me you’ll take care of Bluff. Please. That’s all that matters. She’s had a rough life. She doesn’t deserve to be homeless again.”

Kage leaned down, put his head beside hers, his mouth on her ear. “I promise, but nothing will happen to you.”

She nodded, swallowing down the tears. She would not cry.

Instead, she snuggled closer. “Can you just hold me?”

“You never have to ask me for that, babe. It’s a given.” He kissed her softly. “Close your eyes and rest.”

That light brush of his lips. The softness she had never experienced broke something inside of her. She rolled back toward him and put her head on his chest, her arm around his stomach.

He curled his arm around her, his hand landing on her hip. The flutter in her stomach returned with a vengeance, and she tilted her head. “Kage, about the kiss…”

“Yeah?”

“We shouldn’t do that anymore,” she said.

“Trust me, we’ll do more than kiss.” He found humor in her suggestion, because his chest quivered under her cheek. “Now go to sleep, Janie.”

“Stop calling me that,” she whispered.

“I’m not going to give in to you about that…Janie.” He propped himself on his elbow. “The woman I knew is still in there. I see her. You feel her. I’ll be damned if I’ll let you throw her away as if she’s not important. There was a time when I gave up on myself, and if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t be here with you now. I want you, and I know you to want me. And it will happen soon.”