Edge (Parker Reed #2) (18 page)

“Leave us the fuck alone,” Ex snapped, pounding his fist against the table.

“Sounds like you have a full house.” Cross laughed.

“If you don’t tell me what you want, I’m hanging up, Agent.” I was sick of his shit. His games that he liked to play thinking that he could make me break. Well, no man would make me break ever again. The only person that could come close to it, was Parker. But for that to happen, he would make me into a stronger person. A powerful woman. And we would bring down Devin together.

“Keely, you still there?” Cross asked.

My cheeks heated. “Yes. Sorry.”

“Where are you?”

I glanced at Colin and waited for his okay before I answered.

He nodded once.

“I’m staying at a friend’s cottage,” I finally said.

“Fine. Meet me at the station tomorrow at 3pm,” he demanded.

“And if I don’t?”

Cross chuckled. “You may have all of these men wrapped around your little finger, but I can see right through you. Don’t test me, Miss Price.”

I jumped at the sound of the click when he hung up. Rubbing my hands down my face, I took deep cleansing breaths. Tomorrow I would meet up with Agent Cross again. How the hell was I going to be able to keep a straight face, pretending that I still haven’t seen Parker? Over the phone is one thing. Last time, I hadn’t seen Parker so I could play into it. But now? I was screwed.

“Keely,” Parker whispered in my ear, cupping my nape.

“I can’t do this. You need to come with me tomorrow. I won’t be able to hold back that I’ve seen you.” The words poured out of me in a desperate plea. I couldn’t do this on my own. I needed Parker there.

“You know I can’t go.” Parker frowned. “You’ll be fine.”

“No!” I shoved to my feet, knocking over the chair.

All conversation stopped and I could feel everyone in the room staring at me. Probably thinking that I was finally losing it. This was it. Keely Price was breaking.

“Keely. Sit down,” Parker said, his voice filled with warning.

 I shook my head. “No. I can’t do this anymore. I’ve already lied to Troy for God knows how long. Lying to Agent Cross doesn’t bother me as much but I know my acting is not that good. I won’t be able to hide the fact that you’re here. That I’ve seen you. And then everything will be ruined. He’s good, Parker. And…and…Devin knows that you’re alive. I just…”

“And exactly how does Devin know?” Parker bit out.

“I already told you that he knew.” I frowned. “Why are you surprised?”

“You told me that he’s alive but you never told me how he knows this.”

I glanced at Troy and he nodded, encouraging me to go on. The package. I completely forgot to tell Parker about it.
Shit
.

“Keely, what the hell is going on?” Parker barked.

“I received a package a couple of days ago. From Devin. It was a box of roses with,” I swallowed hard. “Blood on them. He told me that it was your blood. He was trying to break me. To get me to say that you were alive or something. God, Parker. I’m sorry.”

Parker’s jade eyes locked with mine but he didn’t say anything. His composure was cool, calm, collected even.

And I waited. For him to yell. For him to scream, demanding to know why I never told him but when none of that happened, it sent my nerves racing.

“Gentlemen, please excuse Keely as she’s tired and needs her rest.” He glanced at the group surrounding the table. “Whatever you do tonight or wherever you stay, meet back here tomorrow night.” He looked at me again. “Say goodnight, Keely.”

My mouth opened and closed. My brain was screaming for me to tell him off. To tell him that I was fine and that I wasn’t tired. That he couldn’t control me completely unless I gave him permission. But the darkness in his eyes stopped me.

“Goodnight everyone.” Before they could respond, I hightailed it out of there and headed to the room that Parker and I had shared since he helped me fly.

Upon reaching the small bedroom, I paced back and forth. My body vibrated, knowing that the next conversation was going to be a fight. I huffed, stripping off my clothes and made my way to the bathroom in desperate need of a shower. The warm steam soon filled the room and I stepped under the hot spray.

The sound of the shower door closing a moment later made me jump. I never even heard Parker come into the bathroom.

“I’m sorry,” was all I said.

“I understand that you had a life before me. I get that. Devin may have abused you but I know that a part of you loved him.” Parker ran his soapy hands down my arms. “Maybe that part still does.”

A lump formed in my throat at the sadness that dripped from his words. Devin was the biggest asshole but he wasn’t always like that. He wasn’t always abusive. He loved me at one point. But the power and control took over and I faced the brunt of that wrath.

“Parker, he was only trying to scare me. I’m used to it. But I sometimes forget that I don’t have to deal with this on my own.” I turned in Parker’s arms and grazed my fingers down his hard torso. “After everything that I’ve been through with him…I guess a part of me wants to help him.”

Parker stiffened. “Keely—”

“I know. It’s crazy. Trust me, I so know this.”

He pinched my chin, tilting my head to meet his gaze. “If it came down to it, could you kill him?”

“Yes.” I gasped at my quick response. Guilt twisted at my stomach, eating its way through the pit of my being.

Parker didn’t say anything else. He just nodded and went back to washing me.

I frowned, confusion settling in the confines of my chest.

“What?” he asked when he caught my look.

“I’m just surprised. I thought we were going to have a fight,” I said softly.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because of the Devin shit. Me meeting with Agent Cross tomorrow…”

“I’m not going with you, Keely.” His tone of voice dared me to argue with him and I shouldn’t have. I knew that. But there was no way that I was meeting Cross without Parker.

“I’m not going alone tomorrow. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.”

I stepped out of his embrace. “No. I’m stronger with you there. We can get Cross to meet up with us at a motel or something.”

Parker rolled his eyes. “You’ve been watching way too many movies.”

“Parker.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” he snapped.

Now
we were fighting. I took a deep breath. “Then I will call Cross and cancel because I’m not doing this again. You’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming first,” I said through clenched teeth.

“You
will
go.”

I shoved past him and left the heat of the stall. Drying myself off, I threw the towel on the floor and headed back into the bedroom.

The shower shut off and Parker joined me in the room a minute later. “Keely.”

Ignoring him, I got dressed and threw my wet, curly hair up into a messy bun.

“Where the hell are you going?” he asked when I left the room.

“I’m done,” I said. I couldn’t take this anymore. I was running. I knew this but if Parker really wanted me, he would run with me.

“You can’t fucking leave.” He grabbed my arm, spinning me towards him.

“Stop!” I pushed out of his grip.

“Bring her upstairs.
Now.
”

We both paused at the deep boom of the voice coming from Colin. He stood at the doorway, his eyes dark with fury.

I shoved out of Parker’s hold and followed Colin upstairs. Parker was hot on my heels as we made our way into the office.

My gaze landed on Troy and Patrick sitting alone at the dining room table. Troy looked up, a small smile splayed on his lips. Things still weren’t perfect between us but I couldn’t expect anything else at the moment. Time was what he needed and I would give it to him.

Colin stopped once he reached a floor to ceiling bookshelf in the large room. His fingers grazed over a book before he removed it from the shelf. “Now, I understand where you both are coming from. I do. But Parker? Keely is right. Go with her tomorrow and get Agent Cross to meet you somewhere remote. Not in the city. Or if you meet in the city, we will all be there.”

“But that fucking defeats the purpose of me being dead.”

“He’s talked to you on the phone,” Colin snapped. “He knows that you’re alive. Just because he can’t see you doesn’t mean shit. Now get your head out of your ass and give up some of that damn control. Save it for the bedroom or else it will destroy your relationship. It’s already rocky as it is.”

“Our relationship is fine.” Parker grabbed my hand and kissed my knuckles for added affect.

“Is it, Parker?” I asked, pulling from him. “Are we fine?”

His brows narrowed. “Yes.”

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms under my chest, turning away from him.

“Roll your eyes at me again, brat, and I’ll bend you over, spanking your ass so hard, you come instantly,” he growled in my ear.

My heart raced at the underlying tone of lust and anger. “I just want things normal,” I whispered.

Parker sighed and kissed my head. “I want things to be normal also. I want to spend my life with you. I want…”

I looked up at him when his words trailed off.

“I want you. That’s it. If I only have you, than nothing else matters.” He cupped my cheek, grazing his thumb over my bottom lip. “Nothing.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “You have me.” I wrapped my arms around his middle. “I promise.”

“We need to get this shit over with,” Colin said, pulling a key from his pocket. “We need Devin brought down before any of us can have a normal life.”

I watched as Colin stuck the key in a lock on the bookshelf. My eyes widened when the shelf moved, opening to another room.

Colin smirked. “Ready?”

“Yes,” Parker responded. “She needs to see this.”

“See what?” I asked, looking between them both. I had seen enough lately. I didn’t know if I could handle any more surprises.

Parker placed his hands on my shoulders. “You trust me, right?”

“Of course.” I glanced at Colin. “I trust you both.”

“Good.” Parker led me towards the room that I never knew existed until now. “I meant to show you your surprise earlier.”

Colin stepped aside.

My eyes widened when the lights flicked on. “Holy balls on a cracker,” I said in awe. The room wasn’t big by any means but the stuff it held were some of the most powerful pieces of equipment I had ever laid eyes on. The far wall held four computer screens. It was like a nerd’s wet dream. God, it was a wet dream for me! My inner geek wanted to come out and play. The hacker in me stirred. My fingers tingled, wanting to brush the tips over the smooth black keys of the keyboard.

I stepped further into the room, my gaze dancing over everything, taking it all in. It was like a dream come true. I felt the need to memorize every single detail before the fantasy popped like a balloon in my face.

“Every single item in this room has been handmade. Handcrafted for a computer genius like yourself,” Parker explained, coming up behind me.

“Genius? I’ve never been called that before.” Computer hacker, yes. But genius? I didn’t think so.

“The way you move around a computer…” Colin grunted. “If only I knew half of the stuff you did. It would make my life a whole hell of a lot easier.”

“Why are you showing me this stuff?” I asked, grazing my fingers over the keyboard. A soft whimper escaped me when the screens came to life.

“Because we need your help.” Colin came up beside me. “This is all yours. You can take it home with you once this is all over. I also don’t know shit about computers but Jones and Parker insisted that we have this set up. This gives you access to everything that Devin has done for as long as I can remember.”

My eyes widened. “Seriously? Does that mean…” I swallowed hard.

He nodded. “Yeah. It means that you’re in here too.”

I looked at Parker before turning back to Colin. “I will do whatever I can to help but I can’t see that part of my life again. That girl no longer exists. You have to understand that.”

“I do.” He pulled up a chair and sat down, scrubbing a hand over his face. “But we need to go back to the beginning. We need to find out how he started this shit in the first place.”

“He started off with drugs.” I paused when I felt Colin and Parker staring at me. “What? You didn’t know that?”

“Keep going,” Parker said through clenched teeth.

“Okay…well…he started small. Weed, crack, mushrooms. But of course you would never see the drugs go from his hands to the customer. No. Not Devin.” I shook my head, memories from my past invading my mind. I didn’t want to go back. Back to the darkness that had clouded my world. Back to when I was only a child, a sixteen-year old little girl that was caught up in the moment. Devin was only a couple of years older than me. An older boy interested in me? I was shy. Awkward. And Devin played into it like the bastard that he was. He called me his princess and I found myself doing anything for him. “I used to run for him,” I said finally.

“Shit.” Parker leaned against the counter, gripping the edge until his knuckles turned white. “I knew you hacked for him but I had no idea that you did more. I assumed and I shouldn’t have.” His eyes saddened.

“I should have told you but I think a part of me wanted to forget. I never even thought to tell you. I’m sorry.” I rung my hands in my lap. “I remember the first time I made a delivery for him. I was small. Cute. A girl. He had filled my head with all of these lies, telling me that I would be fine. That I was safe.” Tears burned my eyes. “I reached the customer’s house and…the guy attacked me. Hit me a couple of times because I wouldn’t give in. I was lucky that someone else showed up but when I got back to Devin’s, he lost it. Told me that I must have done something to deserve the beating. He…” My breath hitched. “He said that only his marks were allowed on my body and that’s when the abuse started. It let everyone know that I belonged to someone else. No one hit me again except for…for Devin.” My chin trembled as I fought back the sobs. The nightmares that had threatened to destroy me ate at my soul. They broke at my sanity until I was a ball of shame and despair.