Blind Fury (21 page)

Twenty minutes later, Mick stomped out of his room holding a green duffle bag, not even looking her way as he opened the front door. Kurt stood in the hall, phone in hand. He was tall like Mick, but with a stockier build—definitely solid—thick dark hair just long enough to lie over, and the darkest brown eyes she’d ever seen. Like black coffee. He was handsome in a mafia gangster sort of way, and she was glad she already knew him or she’d be seriously intimidated.

“Thanks for showing up on such short notice,” Mick said, shaking his friend’s hand as he backed up to let him in.

“No problem.” Kurt’s eyes practically danced with unspoken questions when he met Jenna’s gaze.

Mick stepped through the doorway, rattling his car keys in his palm. “I need to clear my head. I’ll let you know when I have a plan.”

“Actually”—Kurt snagged his upper arm before he could leave—“we have a problem.”

Irritation flashed across Mick’s handsome face, but he moved inside and shut the door, dropping his bag. “What is it?”

“Smitty’s dead. I figure you have about thirty minutes before the police come knocking.”

Jenna gasped and her limbs went cold. Mick hadn’t hit him
that
hard. Had he?

Mick stilled. “How?”

“Shot in the head.”

She sagged in her seat, nearly dizzy with relief. If the man had been shot, Mick couldn’t have killed him.

 
“Word on the street is that you got into it with him last night.” Kurt’s voice was sharp as a blade. He crossed his arms. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you where to find him.”

“You fucking think I killed him?” Mick reddened and stalked past his friend into the kitchen, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and popped the top with a bottle opener he kept in a drawer next to the sink. “I was here all night.” He gestured toward her. “Ask Jenna,” he said, his voice laced with anger.

Her cheeks heated under Kurt’s speculative gaze, and she could only nod in response.

“Are you sure he didn’t sneak out while you were sleeping?” he asked. “Or did you not sleep at all?”

Oh, God. Where was a hole to crawl into when you needed one?
 

“Hey,” Mick stepped forward, his free hand balled into a fist. “That’s uncalled for.”

Kurt stared him down. “You don’t think the cops are going to ask the same thing?” His voice rose. “I don’t care what you did last night, but if your alibi isn’t rock solid, you’re screwed.”

Mick scowled, but gave a resigned nod, still not looking her way.

In response to a raised eyebrow from Kurt, she swallowed and said, “I slept, but I would have noticed if he’d left the bed.” Wouldn’t she? Her face warmed again.

“But you can’t be one hundred percent sure, can you?”

She wanted to tell him he was wrong. She wanted to be able to say without a doubt that Mick had been next to her all night. She wanted to reassure him—and herself—that Mick was innocent.

But she couldn’t. Her shoulders slumped. “No.”

Could
Mick have killed Alan Smith? Yes. After seeing the rage on his face last night, she believed he could have. He could have killed Smitty in the heat of the moment at the bar. But he wasn’t capable of doing it in a cold, calculated way. He couldn’t have made love to her like that and then crawled out of bed to commit murder.

Could he have?

Mick forced himself to look at Jenna and then wished he hadn’t. He could tell she was wondering if he’d done it. “It wasn’t me, Jenna. I was with you all night.”

“I wish I knew for sure,” she said, her voice small, her eyes on the floor. “I want to be able to say you were, but I slept for hours.”

Unbelievable. “What man in his right mind would willingly leave his bed when you’re naked in it?”

Kurt made a strangled sound and Jenna flushed for about the thirtieth time in the last five minutes. Her gaze moved to Mick’s hands. Was she remembering how he’d run them along her smooth skin or picturing him beating the pulp out of Smitty at the bar?

“Uh, I’ll just go in the bedroom and return some calls,” Kurt said, practically running for the door.

Mick hardly noticed. He couldn’t take his eyes off Jenna. She really thought he might have done it.
Goddammit
. His chest ached with the realization that she trusted him so little. And apparently she had no idea how gorgeous she was, how addictive, how irresistible. Because he hadn’t been kidding about never wanting to leave her alone in bed.

But he had no time to stroke her ego. Nor did he want to. She’d slept with him because she wanted to know the truth about Rob’s death. He’d do well to remember that. “It won’t be long before the police show up.” They could be pulling up outside even now. “Someone’s setting me up. Obviously I wasn’t the only one who wanted Smitty dead, and the timing—after our fight last night—is a little too convenient.”

She nodded.

He really needed her to believe in him, because if someone had gone to all of this trouble to frame him, she was still in danger too. “Maybe the brakes on my car were supposed to fail sooner, and when they didn’t, the people who are after us got desperate.” He paced behind the counter while she watched warily from her perch on the arm of the futon. “Or maybe they needed to take out Smitty, and since I have a motive, they figured it would get me out of the way. It’s perfect if you think about it.”

“In that case, I have just as much of a motive as you do,” she said. “But you told him in front of all those people that you should have killed him when you had the chance.”

“Did I?” he sputtered, dropping his bottle to the counter with a loud
thunk
. Beer bubbled over onto the granite and spread into a foamy puddle. He snagged a dish towel off the oven handle to mop up the mess. Had he really said that? Probably. It was how he’d felt. Hell, he still did. But that was so not helping his case.

His head felt like it was about to explode. If he let the police arrest him, there was no telling what kind of evidence had been planted at the scene. If the big guys at Claymore were behind it, Mick was well and truly fucked. “I can’t go to jail,” he said. “I have to figure out who’s behind all of this and put an end to it. Otherwise, neither of us will ever be safe.”

“I thought you were done looking out for me.” The way she hugged her middle undermined the bravado she was trying to project.

He’d thought so too, but he couldn’t turn his back on his promise to Rob. And as pissed as he was at Jenna—for using him, for believing he could have killed Smitty—he’d never forgive himself if something happened to her. Plus the sad, desperate sucker in him wanted her around. Which made what he had to do even harder.

“I’d like nothing more than to cut you loose, but I owe it to your brother to protect you, whether you deserve it or not.”

Spots of red bloomed on her neck and cheeks. She crossed her arms and glared at him. “So what do we do now?”

“We split up.”

Split up?
Jenna narrowed her eyes. Hadn’t the plan changed? “But you just said you owed it to Rob to protect me.”

She knew she was being inconsistent. She had been telling him for days that he was absolved of his promise to Rob. But now the situation was more perilous than ever. They needed to stick together. And despite his unwillingness to cooperate, he was still her best chance for learning the rest of the story about Rob’s death. She was almost certain that everything she’d gone through since then was linked to that awful day.

“The best way to keep you safe is to get you away from me. The police are going to be coming after me, not you. I can’t get you involved.”

She gave an incredulous laugh. “Are you serious? I’m already involved. In case you’ve forgotten, the whole reason I’m hiding out is because someone is following my every move.”

“Which is why I called Kurt. I’d trust him with my life. He’ll keep you safe.”

“I’m sure he’s fine, but I don’t want to be stuck with a guy I hardly know.” Jenna kept her voice low. There was no reason to offend the man in the next room, especially if he was going to be her new bodyguard. “Maybe it will help to have me around. The police won’t be looking for a couple.”

Mick toyed with his beer bottle before dumping the dregs into the sink. “They will be if you suddenly turn up missing.”

“They can call me anytime they’d like.”

“Not if you come with me. I’m leaving my cell behind so that it can’t be used to locate me. And I’m going to hit the bank and pull out a wad of cash so that they can’t track my credit cards. I’m going off the grid, Jay. If you came with me, you’d have to do the same, and then Tara wouldn’t be able to reach you.”

Her stomach twisted into a knot. He’d found her weakness.

“I can’t take you along,” he said again, moving to the front door and hefting his bag. “By tonight or tomorrow at the latest, my picture will probably be all over the news. If you come with me, yours will be too.”

He was right. It made no sense for her to go with him. If she did, she’d become a fugitive from the police too. But there had to be a way for them to stick together, didn’t there? She couldn’t just let him walk away with all of this unresolved tension between them. She opened her mouth to argue again, but Mick cut her off.

“Kurt and his guys can protect you better than I can now, and if I take you with me, you’ll only slow me down.” His jaw hardened and he looked her straight in the eye. “I’m going alone. End of discussion.”

And that’s when it hit her. She wanted to be with him because despite his flaws he was an honorable man she could trust.

More importantly, she wanted to be with him because she loved him.

Before she lost her nerve, she walked up to him, stretched up onto her tiptoes and kissed him, pressing him into the wall next to the door. His bag fell to the floor with a thud and his arms cinched her waist, crushing her to him. He was warm and hard and he returned her kiss with total abandon.

All thoughts fled her brain as he consumed and caressed her, stoking fires deep within. She could have stayed like that for days, but without warning, he pushed her away, depriving her of his warmth and his roaming hands.

He studied her with a fierce gaze, his chest heaving as if he’d been running. “What was that for?”

Tears burned behind her eyelids. He thought she was trying to play him again. “Just goodbye.”

Jaw tight, he picked up his bag and peered through the peephole before opening the door a crack to scan the corridor. Looking over his shoulder at her, he said, “I’ll call Kurt with my plan in a few minutes. Do whatever he tells you, Jenna. He’s here to keep you safe.”

She nodded in defeat.

He held her gaze, and for one shiny moment she thought he might kiss her. But then, for the second time that day, he shut a door in her face.

Jenna rested her forehead against the cool, metal door and closed her eyes. Now what?

“Did Mick leave?” Kurt asked from behind her, his voice full of disbelief.

She took a fortifying breath and turned. “He said he’d call you in a few minutes with a plan.”

He scowled, but then nodded after a moment. “Fine. I’ll line up somewhere to take you.”

She frowned. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in a hotel room with a bunch of brooding bodyguards.

The jingle from her cell phone made her jump. She didn’t recognize the number, but she answered it anyway, thinking it might be Colin’s phone.

“Jenna? It’s me.”

“Tara, thank God! Are you okay? I’ve been so worried about you.” Jenna sagged against the wall as her throat tightened. She hadn’t realized how much Tara’s disappearance had been weighing on her. Her body trembled and she fought back tears. Her best friend was all she had left, especially since Mick was headed God knows where, and losing her might be more than she could handle.

“I’m fine,” Tara said brightly. “Colin asked me to go to the beach with him, so I told Wanda I wasn’t feeling well. I feel bad lying, but I’ve been such a good employee. I think I deserve a little break, don’t you?”

Jenna’s heart skipped a beat. “Uh, yeah, sure.” Something wasn’t right. Her friend’s voice was even more cheerful than usual, almost manic. “Wanda wasn’t pissed, though? I mean, come on, this is the lady that chews you out if you’re two minutes late even
after
you call in about being stuck in traffic. She didn’t sound happy when I talked to her.”

“Oh, no,” Tara said. “She’s such a pushover. We can pretty much get away with anything in that department.”

Okay, Tara was definitely trying to send her a message. She was in trouble. “Oh, well, good. So, this trip sounds exciting. Where are you guys going?”

“We’re in Virginia Beach, right near that place you and I stayed last year for my birthday. I’m excited. In fact, I need to get going because I promised Colin we’d hit the water before it gets too late.”

They’d never been to Virginia Beach together. And the only place they’d ever gone to for Tara’s birthday was The Ranch House Grill in Leesburg. Her favorite restaurant.

“Got it,” Jenna said. “Call me later if you can.”

“I will. Thanks.”

Reluctantly, Jenna let her friend go, the leaden weight firmly back on her shoulders. Looking up, she met Kurt’s dark-eyed gaze.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“I don’t think so.”

After shutting the door on Jenna, Mick sprinted along the corridor, quickly picked the lock on the fifth door down, and slid inside. No one would think to look for him so close to home. He stood in the living room of his neighbor’s condo for a full minute, his brain still fuzzy from Jenna’s kiss. His dick, however, was wide awake.
Goddamn
. He didn’t know what her game was, and he had no time to figure it out. Had she wanted to prove he couldn’t resist her? Or maybe she’d just been hoping to guilt him into staying.

Either way, she didn’t seem so immune to him herself.

“Tori?” He checked the unit, thankful that neither Tori nor her husband Damon had come home for lunch. Moving into the kitchen, he picked up the handset of the telephone hanging on the wall.

Kurt answered after several rings and Mick laid out his plan.

“Tara just called, but Jenna is positive she’s being held against her will,” Kurt said.