Fighting Back (Harrow #2) (14 page)

‘My sister probably wouldn’t notice anyway, she’s not had the best luck in life… kind of like me I suppose, until I met you.’

‘You said she used drugs.’

‘The last time I saw her, she was staying with my aunt again, and she was with a guy… Rosie is always with a guy, but, yeah, this guy was bad news, and he got her mixed up in all sorts.’

‘Do you think that she’s cleaned herself up? She looked healthy enough last night.’

‘If she has, then being part of a family whose product is her vice might cause some problems. I can’t see the Stark world being good for her.’

‘I’m not sure it’s good for anyone,’ he said. His tune had changed so much in the time that they’d known each other, Ivy had to smile. ‘We’ll keep an eye on her.’

‘What about Bruno?’ she asked.

‘What about him?’ Dax asked.

‘Trystan said that he and Mauri had a fight, then Bruno took off. Do you think that’s true?’

‘I don’t give a fuck about him,’ Dax said. His form grew more rigid, so she encircled him in her arms.

‘Use this time with your mom, tough guy, see if her story matches Mauri’s. If we’re going to be stuck there anyway, then you might as well gain something.’

‘You see it as gaining something. I see it as nothing more than another hassle we have to deal with. My focus is on finding out who wants to hurt you, then I take the guy down, simple.’

‘You know… you can’t discount that Mauri is the one behind this.’

She didn’t like to be pessimistic about Mauri because she knew how much Dax respected him, so she was always expecting a negative response when she said anything less than favourable about the man.

‘I haven’t. I’m going to be keeping my eye on him. As long as you’re safe at the beach house I’ll keep investigating.’

‘He wanted us there, and now he’s getting what he wanted.’

‘Yeah,’ Dax agreed. ‘But if he wanted you dead he’s had plenty of chances. He could have done it last night, at the party, or while we were alone in the drawing room. He told his man to threaten you but not to harm you.’

‘Which was before we left there in the middle of the night without a word.’

‘He knows where I live, and he knew that we’d be here,’ Dax said, she closed her hands together at his spine. ‘He could have sent someone here as soon as I left to meet Serg, before either of us knew there was a threat. Putting out a bounty isn’t his style, there are plenty of guys on his payroll who would do that kind of work for him. He doesn’t need to put the word out to the world, he’d keep it quiet and get it done… if that was what he wanted.’

‘I trust you, Dax,’ she said. ‘But you are the only one I trust. You’ve trusted Mauri before and look how that turned out. If he was as reasonable as you thought, if he had been as understanding, then he would never have asked you to share me with Trystan, would he?’

‘What?’

‘Trystan told me. Why didn’t you tell me that piece of tantalising information? You didn’t trust me to deal with it?’ she asked.

No longer feeling like she wanted to be this close to a man she trusted with her life, she tried to walk away, but he caught her shoulder and brought her back. ‘Babygirl—‘

‘Don’t,’ she said, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. But her writhing prompted him to throw his arms around her and haul her body into his, giving her no choice but to accept his embrace because he was far stronger, so she had no way to free herself. Releasing her weight, she made no attempt to hold him as he held her, she just hung there in his arms letting him kiss her hair.

‘I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to upset you,’ he said. ‘What does it matter? I told them that was never going to happen. You’re mine, you know that. I don’t care what Trystan said, you know I would never share my female with another man.’

‘Do I get a say?’

Now his embrace did relax, he stopped trying to squeeze the life out of her. ‘You wanted to spend the night with him?’

‘No, of course I didn’t. But we’re supposed to make decisions together, I… I don’t know why you keep withholding information from me. What else aren’t you telling me?’

‘You know everything else,’ he said. ‘We don’t have to deal with Bruno or Trystan anymore, and I guarantee you that after I’ve dealt with this mess, you will never have to deal with Maurice Stark or Brad ever again.’

‘You’re so sure?’ she asked, trying her best to lean back and look up at him. ‘That you don’t want to take over Maurice’s enterprises?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘We’re going back to our lives on the East Coast as soon as this is over.’

She probably shouldn’t be pleased to hear that, but she was. Dax had a chance to get to know his mother, to find out where he came from, but whether or not his mother would be a part of their lives after this mandated vacation remained to be seen.

Dax would dedicate his time to getting rid of the person who had made Ivy a pawn in a very dangerous game. It might be selfish of her, but she was looking forward to returning to the life they’d built together. Though at the moment, that life seemed incredibly far away and in more than just distance.

The first time Ivy had come to this beach house, she had been carted there in the trunk of Bruno and Dax’s car. When she was hauled out, she’d been bound and blindfolded. So this was her first chance to get a good look at the place, except it was dark, and there were internal lights blazing, which obscured the façade.

The waves crashed against the cliff far below, reminding her of how secluded the property was. Set out on a clifftop, they were surrounded by the ocean on three sides and were so far from the road on the other side that it would be a trek just to get there. During her first stay, the isolation had terrorised her, it kept her prisoner, away from the world, against her will. Now it was a blessing, and she needed the seclusion to keep her safe against those who wished her harm.

They’d been chauffeur driven to the beach house this time. The motion of the car, coupled with the drama of the day, sent Ivy rocking to sleep in Dax’s arms during the journey. But when the car stopped, and she was jolted awake, the crashing reality made her extremities tingle.

They exited the vehicle, and she stood beside her husband on the driveway while the chauffeur gave Dax their suitcase, and then they turned toward the house.

‘You want me to knock this guy out and steal the car?’ Dax mumbled into her hair as the driver went around to his side and got back into the vehicle.

‘Why? So we can run off together and get married? We’ve already done that, remember?’

The lights that were on downstairs in the house displayed an empty room, and the light upstairs came from behind a curtain, so as yet, they didn’t know who was here or where the occupants were located within. But she would assume that her sister and Dax’s mother were already present because they would have been brought here straight from the Stark mansion after the party.

‘He shouldn’t have picked this place,’ Dax said. ‘He has a place in Washington too.’

‘Are you kidding?’ she said. The car that had driven them here reversed and turned, leaving them alone in the moist sea air. ‘He picked this place on purpose.’

‘Yeah, does it bring back memories?’

Recalling her first arrival here hadn’t been a pleasant memory, but Ivy didn’t want to bring Dax any further distress by telling him that. ‘It makes sense for us to be here,’ she said. ‘It’s close enough to LA for you to do your digging and still come home to me every night. I wouldn’t want to be isolated from you that wouldn’t make me feel good… Do you think Rosie and your mom know what’s going on?’

‘Let’s get inside and find out.’

The nearer they got to the property, the tighter his arm around her shoulders became. Dax couldn’t protect her from her own mind, but his tight hold reminded Ivy of what they were now in spite of what they were then.

‘At least you don’t have to give me instructions this time,’ she said, trying to help him relax.

Putting down the suitcase, he opened the front door. ‘I don’t?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘I’m used to being naked in bed with you now.’

Dax lifted their luggage, then ushered them inside without responding to her quip. The abode looked the same, smelled the same, felt just the same, and her subconscious made her body tense. The sound of the door closing made her gasp. Spinning around, Ivy opened it to reassure herself that it hadn’t automatically locked as it had done when she was first here.

‘You’re ok,’ Dax said, kissing her head and linking his fingers into hers while he closed the door.

Once that door was locked, there was no way out. Ivy was all too aware of that fact because she’d tried to get out of here before without a key, and it had proved impossible. The positioning of the house on the cliff meant there was no way around from the back deck and pool area, which was reached by the kitchen on the other side of the house. Ivy felt better knowing that because the front door was unlocked, she could get out; she wasn’t a prisoner this time.

‘Hi.’

Whirling around, she saw the slight woman just inside the room, having come from the kitchen. It was the woman that Mauri had identified as Dax’s mom. Her dyed blonde hair matched her complexion and wasn’t garish as Rosie’s hair was.

She still had youth about her, though lines around her eyes and mouth betrayed her real age, which had to be at least in her fifties, though Ivy didn’t know how old she would’ve been when she had Dax. Ivy doubted that Dax knew either.

‘I’m Carina,’ she said, examining the couple. ‘I don’t know if either of you knew my name, we’ve never been introduced… Rosie and I are outside on the deck by the pool having a drink if you’d like to join us?’

‘We’re going to go upstairs first, get settled in, you know?’ Ivy said, looping her arm around behind Dax, using their physical connection to reassure him. ‘We might join you later.’

Dax didn’t speak. He kept his arm around her and guided them both down the hallway and up the stairs into the bedroom they’d shared when they were last here. It stood to reason that Mauri would want them in this room, or maybe this was just the room that Dax always chose when he stayed here, not that it mattered.

He took her into the bedroom, and she closed the door while he disappeared into the closet to stow their suitcase.

‘We have to talk about this,’ she said to Dax when he came back into the room.

‘About what?’

‘What do you want from her? If she wants to make the effort, you could get the chance to get to know her.’

‘Mauri admitted that he gave them a financial incentive. She is here to collect a check, then fuck off again and that’s fine by me,’ Dax said. ‘We’ll just avoid each other. You and I managed to keep each other pretty occupied the last time we were here.’ He stripped down to his jeans and crossed to sit on the side of the bed. ‘Come and stand here.’

This was a serious conversation that they had to have, but that serious expression on his face loosened to a brief smile before he adopted it again. He had said that to her, sat in that place and said those exact words to her, all those months ago.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Pick up right where we left off,’ he said. She sashayed toward him, slipping off her shoes and untying the halter of her dress on her journey. ‘Good.’

The purr of arousal in his voice stalled her, and she held the ties of her dress straps over her shoulders so as not to reveal any of her flesh. ‘What do you think is going to happen here?’

‘Whatever the hell I want,’ he said, leaning over to grab the fabric of her dress, he dragged her nearer to him. So as to keep her breasts concealed, Ivy had to snatch the dress over her chest.

‘I’m not going to have sex with you,’ she said unable to keep the smile away from her face.

‘Oh, I think you will.’

‘I will not,’ she said, curling her fingers around his shoulders, which gave him the opportunity to pull down her dress. She wasn’t wearing a bra tonight, so when he pushed the apparel down over her hips, all that covered her was the pale silk of her panties.

Flattening his inverted hands on her waist, he drove his fingers south to scoop her thong down her thighs, leaving it around her ankles. He kissed one nipple, then still with a hold of her hips, he leaned back, forcing her to kneel on the bed astride him.

‘Dax,’ she said while he enjoyed her breasts. ‘Is the ottoman still in the closet?’

‘Yes, it is,’ he said, his mouth curled in a smile.

‘Just in case, you know.’

‘I didn’t forget.’

That ottoman held the money he’d given her when they were here before. ‘You still haven’t taken me to a fight.’

‘I think you’ve seen all the fighting that you need to,’ he said.

The sound of his jeans being unbuckled carried to her ears. They wouldn’t make it for drinks on the deck tonight, Carina and Rosie would have to entertain themselves. After the day they’d had, this wasn’t a night to play catch-up with long-lost relatives. This was a night for man and wife to enjoy each other, to reassure each other, tomorrow would be their chance to start over if that was what Dax wanted to do.

When Ivy woke up, she was alone, just like the old days. She sat up in bed and the light streaming through the high windows to her right made her eyes hurt. Dax liked to sleep in, usually she had to roll him out of bed in the morning with promises of giving him the world each day. So the fact that he was awake now meant either he hadn’t slept at all, or he’d had a message earlier that told him he was needed somewhere else for something else.

Crawling to his side of the bed, she reached for his phone and flopped back in the sheets to scroll through and see who had sent him a message.

Got a lead on Winlow. Pick you up at nine.

The message was from Serg and the time on his phone read eight forty-nine, so Serg would be here soon. That was providing that Serg knew they were here, and he wasn’t planning on picking Dax up at their apartment, in which case, he would be here a lot later than nine.

The bathroom door opened, and she tossed the phone onto the nightstand while rolling onto her side. ‘You’re going to leave me here alone so soon?’ she asked.

‘Beats playing happy families, doesn’t it?’ he said, plucking the towel from his waist to rub his hair. With a quick towel dry, he lobbed the damp towel across the room to land near her chest.

‘Can I come with you?’

Though she already knew the answer, she was here to be safe from the threats that lurked everywhere, but that didn’t mean that she liked surrendering or that she relished the idea of being here without him, while he could be getting into trouble.

‘Are you kidding?’ he asked. ‘You’re staying here until I’m sure it’s safe for you out there.’

‘You can keep me safe,’ she said. ‘I’ll just sit in the back of the car and not say a word.’

‘You don’t know how to be silent,’ he said, sitting in a corner chair to lace his boots. ‘You wouldn’t be able to help yourself.’

‘If it’s the difference between being alone here and being out there, I think I could manage to be quiet. It’s in my best interest, right? If I stay quiet today, then you’ll have to take me with you tomorrow and so on.’

‘This is a safe place, Mauri has security on the property already.’

‘How do you know?’

‘I called him when I got out of bed,’ Dax said, sitting back to examine her. ‘You’re safe here.’

‘Maybe it’s just being locked up again, it makes me uneasy.’

‘You’re not locked in. I’ll talk to security and make sure that the front door stays unlocked at all times. Will that make you feel better?’

‘Maybe,’ she shrugged, dragging her gaze around the room. ‘Who thought we’d ever come back here by choice.’

‘Yeah,’ he muttered. ‘Wonders never cease. This is a temporary arrangement, don’t get used to it.’

‘No chance of that. Who is Winlow?’

‘Winlow is a sonofabitch who has a thing for knives. He also has ties to some of the LA gangs. I don’t want to threaten anyone while you’re around, I don’t want them to know your face. I’m guessing you don’t have much of a reputation around LA, you’ve never lived there. So tracking you will be hard if they don’t know what you look like.’

‘But it’s ok if they know your face?’ she groaned. ‘What happens when these people who are out to get me find out that you’re my husband? They’ll use you to get to me.’

‘You think I’ll let them hurt you to get myself out of a jam?’

‘No,’ she said, lifting handfuls of the sheet then flopping her arms down. ‘They might hurt you, I don’t want that to happen. I know you’re too stubborn to tell anyone anything about me. But I’d rather you handed me over than you got yourself killed. Am I supposed to sit around here with my sister and your mother and sip tea while you get yourself into trouble?’

‘Go for a swim, work out downstairs. Avoid them if you want to. I don’t give a shit.’

Dax went into the closet, and she lay on her back again, bringing his towel to her face, Ivy inhaled the scent of clean man and enjoyed how it blocked out the light.

‘What’s wrong with you?’

Dax’s voice betrayed that he was back in the room with her, so she pulled the towel down. ‘Wrong with me?’ she asked.

‘Usually you’re up as soon as the sun hits the horizon.’

That wasn’t even close to being true because she could enjoy a nice lie in just as most of the population could, but that was Dax’s assessment of her because he was never awake himself to see how long she slept.

‘I’d think my troubles were kind of obvious,’ she said.

‘You never let the bastards get you down, never show fear or—‘

‘I’m not scared, I’m bored,’ she said. ‘Well, I know that I will be anyway. There’s no hurry to get out of bed, you’re leaving, I have no job to go to. I just have to stay here for maybe ever and do nothing. Maybe I should call Bri, find out if her and Blaser want to come for a vacation?’

‘Are you going to explain how we got here? Why there’s a bounty on your head? And who those women hanging around are?’

No, she didn’t want to explain that and she wouldn’t want to put her friends in danger, which they could be if Mauri decided that he didn’t like having guests here whom he didn’t invite.