Fighting Back (Harrow #2) (23 page)

‘She won’t want to leave,’ Trystan said. ‘She came here with me, and she’ll stay here until I’m finished with her.’

‘Until you’re finished with her?’ Ivy said, remaining behind Dax. ‘Do you think that we’ll just walk away and let you hurt her? You’re forgetting who you’re dealing with. We know what you’re like. I won’t let you pass her around to your friends after you get her high.’

‘You can’t stop it,’ Trystan said, trying to regain the upper hand, but the arrogance he’d maintained when he came in was waning. ‘She’ll want to stay right here. I can show her a good time.’

‘A good time? For as long as it suits you,’ Ivy said. ‘We came here to get her away from you, and that’s what we’re going to do.’

Trystan wouldn’t take on Dax, so Ivy left her shielded position to stand at Dax’s side. The tension radiating between the men was so charged that she told herself to hurry in retrieving Rosie. A brawl wouldn’t end well for Trystan, and she didn’t know how they’d clear up the mess that would be left if Dax started on Trystan.

Proving her previous point, Ivy walked forward and passed Trystan with her head held high, and he did nothing to stop her. Ivy went to the bedroom but paused before entering to look back at the men. Dax and Trystan were frozen in their stare off again, if so much as a hair twitched they were going to snap and start working out some of that conflict burning between them in typical male fashion.

Pushing into the bedroom, Ivy closed the door behind her to make sure that Trystan wouldn’t be able to sneak up on her without at least some warning.

The huge room had a full wall of windows displaying the glitz of this artificial city in full widescreen. But it wasn’t the vista that interested her, Ivy was focused on the centrepiece of the bedroom.

Crossing to the white and gold sheets, which gathered in waves on the bed, Ivy began to pull them aside to uncover her sister’s naked body.

Slumbering with her face pressed into a voluminous pillow, Rosie was out cold. Being in a slumber this deep made Ivy believe that her sister must have been high last night. ‘Damn it,’ Ivy said, giving Rosie a shake. ‘Come on, Rosie, wake up.’

The room was a mess, and she scanned around to see if any of the scattered items might belong to Rosie. Clothes were strewn across the floor, so Ivy left the bed and began to sweep up Rosie’s garments. The mess wasn’t Ivy’s to tidy, but it was a reminder of just how inconsiderate Trystan Stark was.

Empty champagne bottles clattered around, hitting each other every time Ivy lifted something to check for Rosie’s clothes. Ivy found her sister’s underwear, but couldn’t find a dress or skirt to go over the top of it.

‘Rosie!’ Ivy called out, catching sight of the white powder scattered on the dresser nearest the bed. So cocaine had been on the menu last night, as had lobster and something with a red sauce that was smeared into the carpet beside the fallen room service tray.

A flash of green near the bed drew Ivy across the room, and she fell to her knees to try and pull out the fabric, which was tangled in an electrical cable under the bed. ‘God damn it, Rosie!’ Ivy said, still fighting the cord for the dress. ‘Get up, get out of bed!’

A mumbling reply came from the bed, so she was reassured Rosie had heard her. But she had to wrestle with the dress for another minute before it came free. Exhaling, Ivy came out from under the bed and fell back to sit on her feet. Bra, panties, and the dress, it was a start. She would look for Rosie’s shoes while Rosie was getting dressed.

For that, Ivy would need her sister to be fully awake, so that she could comprehend what was going on. Using the bed for support, Ivy climbed onto the mattress, coming at her sister from the other side she had initially sat on.

Shaking the slumbering form again, Ivy pulled Rosie onto her back. Her sister groped around for the sheet, so Ivy pulled it away from her reach. ‘No, Rosie, you are not going back to sleep. You have to wake up, we’re leaving.’

Rosie’s eyes opened the smallest amount. ‘You’re not Trystan.’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘Where is he?’

‘In the other room with Dax,’ Ivy said. ‘You have to get dressed.’

Putting Rosie’s arms into her bra, Ivy slipped it up to her shoulders, but Rosie rolled onto her front again. ‘Go away, Ivy, we’re having fun.’

‘Doesn’t look like fun to me. You trashed this place and if Trystan ducks out and leaves you with the bill, how do you plan to pay for the room and all of this mess?’

Ivy didn’t think that Trystan would do that, he had the funds to pay for whatever he wanted, and he liked to fritter that money away any chance he got. But making the accusation was enough to make Rosie flip onto her back.

‘He wouldn’t do that,’ she said.

Ivy smiled, pleased that Rosie’s eyes were open now though her face was smeared with makeup. ‘Get your clothes on and then we can go out and check that the men are still here.’

Rosie sat up, and Ivy handed over the clothes she’d gathered from around the room. Leaving the bed, Ivy went to the bathroom and moistened the fluffy white face cloth she picked up from the vanity.

‘You should never have run off like that,’ Ivy called, wringing the water out of the face cloth.

‘Don’t start lecturing me,’ Rosie grumbled.

Ivy came into the bedroom to see that Rosie was in her bra and panties, but the dress was proving to be more of an ordeal.

‘I’m not lecturing you,’ Ivy said, sitting on the bed beside Rosie. Using the face cloth, she rubbed away the traces of last night’s makeup marring her skin.

Rosie put up no fight and flopped down to lie flat, she closed her eyes and let Ivy wash her face. Glad as she was that Rosie was accepting her help, Ivy recognised how tired her sister was. All the indicators suggested a come down, which led Ivy to believe that cocaine wasn’t the only drug they used last night.

‘You know, you should be careful,’ Ivy said, holding Rosie’s face as she washed it.

‘Trystan isn’t as bad as you think,’ Rosie mumbled.

‘He is,’ Ivy said. ‘But I’m talking about your recovery. You didn’t use drugs at all when we were at the beach house. You shouldn’t use them just because Trystan asks you to.’

‘He didn’t ask me, he offered them and I’m sorry, Ivy, but I like to have a good time.’

‘This is more than that. You can have a good time without running away with random men who you don’t know and using drugs again.’

‘He’s a good guy, and he’s not a loser, he has money and—‘

‘Just because he has money doesn’t mean that he cares about you. He’s using you.’

‘Using me?’ Rosie said, opening her eyes. ‘Using me for what? Sex? I don’t think so. We had sex at his father’s big fancy house, and Trystan still called me the next day.’

So after what had happened in the mansion bedroom, when Dax knocked Trystan out, Trystan had woken up and then gone on a mission to seduce Rosie. It shouldn’t surprise Ivy that he would be as callous as that, but she didn’t like to see her sister reduced to a piece on a game board.

‘He wants to have sex with you because he knows it will hurt me. He’s trying to lash out at me and Dax. We have history that—‘

Rosie swiped Ivy’s hand away and sat up. ‘You think that a rich, sophisticated guy would only be interested in me because he wants you? Are you jealous?’

‘No,’ Ivy said.

‘Do you want Trystan for yourself?’

‘Trystan attacked me,’ Ivy said. ‘The night he and I met, it was right here, in this suite. He was drunk and high, he was having a party with a bunch of friends and I was working here, I was the private attendant.’

‘In this place?’

‘Yes,’ Ivy said. ‘He tried to get me to drink and take drugs, I refused. Then he… he pinned me down and tried to force me.’

‘And Dax saved you?’

‘Not even close,’ Ivy smiled. ‘I fought Trystan off and I ran. I lost my job here because Trystan told management to fire me. He holds a grudge, and he’s a bad guy. I know that you think you’ve struck gold, but he’ll dump you as soon as he’s finished with you. I don’t want to see you hurt like that.’

‘It’s not like I’m in love with the guy,’ Rosie mumbled and returned to fumbling with her dress. Maybe they weren’t in love, but Ivy could hear the hurt in her sister’s voice.

‘He won’t make you believe he’s in love with you, maybe he’ll try and make you feel special, I don’t know what he does. What I do know is that if there comes a time when you want to say no to him, he won’t hear it. If he wants you to take drugs, he’ll make you take them. If he wants you drunk, he’ll force you to drink. And if he wants to have sex with you… he won’t hear no then either. He could hurt you, Rosie, and not just in your heart, but that beautiful face too… You see that?’ Ivy tipped her head back and angled it to point out the nick of a scar on the underside of her jaw.

Rosie touched the mark and lowered her hand. ‘He did that to you?’

‘Yeah, he did,’ Ivy said, taking Rosie’s dress and untwining the various straps that were meant to hang loose over the back. ‘And the mark on his face, that’s how I got away.’

‘You left your mark on each other.’

‘Yeah,’ Ivy said, opening the dress with wide splayed fingers she guided Rosie’s head and arms through the correct holes. ‘Every time I see his face I think about that night and how grateful I am that I got away from him before he could violate me. I can’t walk away from this room and leave you with a man who I know to be dangerous. I just can’t do it, Rosie. If he hurt you… I would never forgive myself.’

Rosie wriggled the dress down and pulled her feet out from under the sheet to swivel around and sit on the side of the bed beside Ivy. ‘Why do you care so much?’

‘Care so much?’

‘Yeah, I mean, it’s not like we’re close or anything. We haven’t seen each other for years.’

‘Yeah, but you’re still my sister,’ Ivy said, putting an arm around her. ‘I want you to be happy.’

Ivy wouldn’t leave any woman in Trystan’s clutches, much less her sister. She was too aware of his capabilities and how quickly he could turn on a person. Trystan didn’t understand the word “no” and any woman he set his sights on would have a tough time getting away.

This situation was worse because Trystan could turn his hatred and frustration onto Rosie. It didn’t matter that it was Dax and Ivy who riled him, Trystan would see Rosie as a way of venting those negative feelings.

‘Dax, does he…?’

‘Dax would never hurt me,’ Ivy said. ‘He and Trystan have history of their own, which is why I don’t want to leave them out there on their own for too long. Are you ready to go?’

‘Trystan might not let me just walk out of here,’ Rosie said.

In the sober light of day, Rosie was far more reasonable than she was when she was drunk. Until all of this was over Ivy would have to try and keep her sister away from the liquor cabinet in case she changed her mind and returned to Trystan.

Ivy had left the beach house to retrieve her sister, all she could think about was keeping Rosie safe and getting her away from harm. Ivy was grateful for Dax now, grateful that he had followed her to Vegas. It was only because of him that she could smile at her sister as they joined hands.

‘Trystan can throw all the toddler tantrums that he likes,’ Ivy said. ‘Dax is here, and he will have no problem taking Trystan down if he has to. Do you have anything here that you need to take with you?’

Ivy stayed on the bed while Rosie darted around the room to collect her things, there were just a few makeup brushes and items of jewellery, no real luggage. Rosie found her purse in the bathroom and stuffed everything inside, then tucked it under her arm.

‘Ok, I’m ready to go,’ Rosie said. ‘Wait, where are we going?’

‘Back to the beach house,’ Ivy said, joining her sister near the door.

With Carina gone it would just be her and Rosie, but Ivy was glad they would have the chance to get to know each other again. They hadn’t had a huge fight, they’d just drifted apart, each doing what they had to in order to get by. Ivy would like to hear Rosie’s story, and now she had the time for it, thanks to Maurice Stark and some as yet unknown bounty hunters.

A clatter from the next room startled the women. Ivy had known that leaving Trystan and Dax out there alone for too long would lead to trouble. She wasn’t concerned for Dax’s ability to defend himself, but she didn’t trust Trystan not to try and get Dax into trouble with the cops for doing it.

Grabbing Rosie, Ivy dashed out of the bedroom and came up short in the living room. Dax and Trystan weren’t the ones fighting. There were three other men in the room, two of whom were wrestling with a cursing Trystan on the floor, the other stood by Dax having a conversation as though the pandemonium on the floor at their feet was normal. That man, the one with Dax, was unmistakable, his height and stature gave away his identity; it was Serg.

‘What’s going on?’ Ivy asked. Serg and Dax turned. ‘Why are you here?’

‘Mauri sent us,’ Serg said. ‘We didn’t know that your man was here.’

‘You thought that I’d come here alone?’ Ivy asked.

‘Is he a bad guy?’ Rosie asked, pointing at Serg. The note of awareness in her voice was apparent.

‘I don’t know what he is,’ Ivy replied. ‘He’s never hurt or attacked me like Trystan has, but I wouldn’t say he’s warm and cuddly either.’

‘Mauri heard about the beach house exodus,’ Dax said.

‘He checked out Trystan’s credit cards and traced him here,’ Serg said. ‘We were sent to bring him back. Mauri’s not happy that he stole your sister from the beach house and caused you to leave.’

‘Does he know that I’m here?’ Ivy asked.

Serg shrugged. ‘No idea. I just go where he points.’

Making eye contact with Dax, she thought of when he had said something similar. ‘So if I hadn’t been here were you just going to leave my sister here with the check?’

‘It’s already been taken care of,’ Serg said. ‘We have to take Trystan to Mauri, Dax says that you’ll take Rosie back. But we can—‘

‘No,’ Ivy said. ‘I’m not leaving my sister with you guys.’

Serg, Trystan, and those two bulky guys lifting Trystan from the floor, might make for an interesting road trip, but it wasn’t a guaranteed safe one. Mauri usually put up with Trystan’s exploits and then chastised him for them afterwards.

‘Dax probably figured that,’ Serg said.

His men had Trystan up on his feet and despite the split lip, Trystan was unharmed, except he wore an expression of thunder. ‘You set this up, didn’t you, bitch?’ Trystan shouted at her.