Choosing Rena (17 page)

“And I remember telling you that we
weren’t through, that I can share my subs with whomever I want.”
Louis’s eyes darted towards Jackson. “So why don’t you tell your
friend to leave, so we can discuss why you thought it was okay to
go out with another man.”

Her hands flew to her hips. “Like hell
I will. Leave! I told you weren’t welcome the first time. What
makes you think I’ve changed my mind?”

Next to her, Jackson growled and she
wanted to groan. This was the last thing she needed tonight. When
they’d briefly discussed her past relationship with Louis over
dinner, she had mentioned she’d run into him the last time she’d
met with Elizebetta, but had deliberately omitted saying anything
about the man coming to her home. Somehow she had a feeling Jackson
wasn’t happy about the omission.

Placing her hand on Jackson’s arm, she
drew his attention to her. “I’m sorry, Jackson. I forgot to mention
his visit. It was that unimportant to me. I tossed him out on his
ear after telling him I didn’t want him back. I sure as hell didn’t
invite him here. I honestly wasn’t expecting to ever see him
again.”

He lifted her hand to his
lips, his eyes never leaving Louis. “Don’t apologize for
him,
ma peekôn.
I
believe you.” Then he dropped her hand. “And since you haven’t been
invited, Mr. Vayarti, I suggest you explain how you got into Rena’s
apartment. I’m sure Security didn’t let you in.”

Louis shrugged. “When you
have a key to your own apartment, you don’t need Security to do
anything.” He smirked. “In fact, I happen to own the entire
apartment building. So if I want to come in and
check
on tenants like Rena. I have
every legal right.” He stalked over and tapped Jackson on the chest
with his crop. “And there isn’t a damned thing you can do about it.
Rena’s mine.”

A low rumble escaping Jackson was the
only warning Rena got before her new lover gently pushed her behind
him. Then he caught the wrist holding the crop as it drew back and
gave it a brutal twist until the other man dropped the weapon.
Blood spurted from Louis’s nose and mouth as, in a flurry of
motion, Jackson hit him not only in the face and stomach but also
the side of his neck. In mere seconds, the other man was out cold
on the floor while Jackson was barely breathing hard.

Rena couldn’t help but stare. She’d
known Jackson could be lethal and fast but had never expected him
to take Louis out in such a brutal manner. Worry niggled at her.
“I…was that really necessary? When he wakes up he’s going to be
pissed and will want revenge…”

Jackson slowly rubbed her upper arms
with his palms. “He can want revenge, Rena, but it doesn’t change
the circumstances. He came into your home without asking. Landlord
or not, he doesn’t have the right to enter your home without proper
notification. Then he threatened you. It’s not acceptable on any
level.”

“I can take care of myself, Jackson.
You do realize that?”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Of
course I do. You can kick him out time and time again, but until
someone bigger and stronger shows him it isn’t acceptable, he’s
going to keep doing it.” He pulled her into a hug. “Besides if
we’re dating, it’s my job to have your back and…” He pressed a kiss
against her fingertips. “I didn’t want you to ruin your pretty
nails.” A twinkle entered his blue eyes. “Because I remember what
you’re like if you break one because of someone else’s stupidity.
You’d have done more damage to him than I did.”

A slow smile tugged at the corner of
her lips. “That’s true.”

Chapter
Sixteen

“How long did you say it
would be until the cops get here?” Jackson nudged aside the bound
and gagged Louis, who was still on the floor when Rena came out of
the kitchen carrying a tray full with a coffee pot, cups, creamer,
and the biscotti she’d made earlier in the day. It had been nearly
twenty minutes since Jackson had knocked the other man out. Now
Louis was scowling and threatening everything, or would be
threatening everything in sight, if Jackson hadn’t gagged him over
ten minutes ago.
Evidently there are only
so many times one can threaten Jackson, before he’s had enough and
stuffs a sock or whatever is convenient into your mouth.
A lesson she idly wondered if she should remember.
Not that she minded being gagged under the right
circumstances.

“They didn’t give me an E.T.A. Just
said they’d be sending someone immediately.” As if her response
summoned them, there was a knock on the door. “Why don’t you answer
that for me? I’m assuming it’s probably the cops,” Rena asked as
she edged around Louis.

Jackson nodded and headed across the
room. He was just opening the door for the police as she leaned in
to set the silver tray down on the coffee table. Unexpected pain
broadsided her from behind, and she stumbled forward, already off
balance from the weight of the tray. Stumbling, she cried out as
the corner of the coffee table rushed up to meet her. Dark spots
exploded behind her eyes as the side of her head grazed the corner.
Instinctively she rolled into the fall, relaxing as she hit the
ground. She grunted as Louis’s weight suddenly was on top of her.
Inwardly she cursed as she rolled to her back, wanting a better
advantage. Lashing out with her hands, she managed to rake the side
of his face with her nails as he straddled her body. She could hear
his howl of agony from behind the gag while his weight against her
chest restricted her breathing. Fresh pain exploded in her temple
as he managed to club her with his tied fists.

“Rotten son of a bitch!” The curse
flew out of her mouth, but was barely heard over the raised voices
of Jackson and the cop.

“Rena!” Before Louis could hit her
again, he was yanked up by a furious Jackson, his substantial
weight lifting off her midsection. Sucking in a deep lung full of
air, she acted without thinking. Before Jackson and the cop could
stand him upright, she sat up and punched him with all her strength
directly in the groin. A scream slithered past Louis’s gagged lips,
barely muffled, as his face turned purple. His body crumpled
forward and would’ve landing on Rena again if it hadn’t been for
the restraining hold Jackson and the cop had on his
shoulders.

“Damn asshole!” Anger pushed aside the
throbbing ache located in her temple. Lifting a hand, she wanted to
do more than hit him in the nuts when it came away wet with blood.
“Shit, I’m fucking bleeding!” She surged to her feet, intent on
doing some serious damage to Louis when Jackson stepped in front of
her. Behind him, she could see the cop wrestling Louis to the door.
“Move, White Boy! I’m gonna castrate that son of a
bitch…”

“Calm down, sweetheart. He’s going to
jail, I promise.” Jackson caught her with one arm, jerking her up
against him as she tried to get to Louis, who by this time was
being dragged out of her apartment by two uniformed cops. “Shhh…”
As he pressed her head to his shoulder, she was tempted to bite at
it. She wasn’t a damsel in distress! She was a highly trained
security expert. She didn’t need him to coddle her!

“Let go, before I get blood all over
your pretty shirt.” She spoke through gritted teeth, wedging her
hands between them and pushing against his chest. By the time she’d
managed to pry herself loose, the door behind Jackson had closed
with a thud.

She narrowed her eyes up at Jackson
and contemplated kicking the man in the shins. He’d known she
wanted another piece of Louis. “What exactly did you think you were
doing, Levough? I could’ve handled him. I ought to kick
your…”

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”
His expression was calm. “Not unless you’re looking for an
ass-warming punishment. You’d have done the same thing I did if the
situation was reversed, and you know it.” He backed her up towards
the couch. A startled
oomph
escaped her as he gently shoved her onto the
suede-covered surface. “Now, let me take a look at your head.” He
parted her braids to look at the wound. A low whistle escaped him.
“Damn,
ma peekôn,
you’re going to need a couple of stitches.” Pulling out a
handkerchief from his pants’ pocket, he pressed it against her head
as one of the uniformed cops re-entered the apartment. “Hold it
right there. Keep pressure on it, while I’ll deal with
this.”

When she opened her mouth to protest,
he shushed her. “You’re hurt. Let me take care of you. You can chew
my ass out later, okay?” She gaped at him after he brushed a kiss
across her nose before standing. What the hell was she supposed to
do with him? He had a valid point and she knew it.

* * * *

She wanted to strangle him.
That’s what she was going to do with him. Rena was going to wrap
her hands around his tanned throat and squeeze until
he
was the unconscious
one. Sitting in the emergency exam room, she was ready to brain the
fool. After all their talk about this ‘over protective, do as I say
crap outside the bedroom’, what did Mr. Macho do? Turned into such
a tyrant that she was surprised the emergency personnel hadn’t
kicked him out.

As he paced back and forth next to the
exam table while the nurse cleaned her wound, she prayed for
patience. The wash of the cool liquid cleaning out her wound had
her catching her breath and Jackson stopping to glare at the
nurse.

The nurse, an older Greek lady,
finally put her hands on her hips. “If you won’t sit down, Mr.
Levough, I’m going to have you escorted from the E.R.”

“Fine.” He gave Rena’s hand a squeeze.
“I’m going to go out and see if your sister’s arrived,
sweetheart.”

She winced as the nurse checked the
wound once more by wiping away the blood and saline solution. “I
can’t believe you called her. This is nothing – just a minor wound.
She’s nearly ready to pop out a kid and doesn’t need the extra
worry right now.”

“She’s your sister and deserves to
know if you get hurt.” He lifted her hand to his lips, brushing a
kiss across her fingertips. “What exactly are you afraid of? That
she’ll see you with a white guy?”

A short time after the nurse left the
room to get the doctor, there was a loud noise, followed by some
very colorful swearing before the curtain separating Rena from the
entrance was ripped back. Keisha stormed into the room in full
swing as only a very pregnant woman could. Then she proceeded to
chew Rena a new asshole about the dangerousness of her
job.

“Enough!” Rena winced as
the sound of her own loud voice echoing off the exam room’s walls
made her head ache even more. “I’m going to survive.” She glared up
at Jackson. “This is why I don’t
ever
call my sister when I’m hurt.
She becomes a god–awful shrew who’d drive the pope to
drink.”

“I heard that, Rena Marie!” Keisha
planted her hands on her hips and the curtain rustled again as
Eddie came into the room. A tall attractive man in his late
forties, he was only a few years older than Rena. The emergency
room lights bounced off his shaved scalp. For a man of his age, he
was in remarkable shape.

“I wasn’t trying to keep it from you,
so of course you heard it.” Rena turned her attention to Eddie.
“Can you please take her out while the nurse finishes working on
me?” Her plea seemed to appeal to the better nature of her
brother-in-law until he caught sight of Jackson.

“Who’s this?” His tone was sharp. “I
thought you told me you were giving up that nonsense, Rena. Is he
the reason you ended up in the Emergency Room?”

If a hole would open up
under me, I’d gladly dive into it,
Rena
thought as the two men in her life faced off. The only thing that
could have been worse was if her father showed up. Ralph
MacAllister was very protective of his daughters, including
Rena.

“Stop it, Eddie. This is my date and
friend, Jackson. He’d never hurt me like this.” She gestured to her
head. “This is because of Louis. He’s in town and wouldn’t accept
my refusal to resume our previous relationship. If anything, he
deserves your thanks. He pulled the idiot off me.”

Eddie stood stiffly. “Well, I guess I
should thank you, Mr. Levough.”

Rena winced. She’d
deliberately left off Jackson’s last name in hopes that Eddie
wouldn’t recognize the name of the man who’d sent her fleeing from
her job at Larson’s Security.
Evidently
it’s too much to ask for.

Jackson gave a short nod. “It was
nothing. Only a fool allows a woman he cares about to be abused.”
He picked up her hand. “I’m hoping I can convince her to press
charges against him, and get a protection order…”

Rena wanted to growl at the words.
“How many times have I told you, White Boy, I don’t need a
restraining order? If the ass is foolish enough to come after me
again, he’s taking his own life in his hands…”

Eddie burst out in laughter, while
Keisha shook her head in exasperation. “Unbelievable.” She turned.
“Perhaps Louis should be the one taking out a restraining order,
not her.”

The arrival of the doctor saved Rena
from responding. A distinguished man in his fifties glared at the
number of people in the room. “Out! There’s a two person limit and
you’ve exceeded the number allowed.”