Mine To Hold (22 page)

Trace brushed a kiss over Skye’s cheek. “I
didn’t see a ring on her finger, just plenty of flash around her
wrists. Those bracelets…were they supposed to show everyone that
she was chained to you?”

No, the bracelets had been designed to show
Claire that she didn’t have to constantly worry about her scars. He
hadn’t wanted her to worry about pulling down her sleeves to hide
the scars or finding ribbons to bind her wrists. “You don’t
understand my relationship with Claire.”

Trace shook his head. “I’m starting to think
you don’t, either.”

Noah’s gaze scanned the ballroom. “I need to
find her.” He should be talking to Claire, not Trace. He had to
make sure she realized that nothing had changed between them.
I’m not using her.

Trace motioned toward the exit. “Drake took
her upstairs.”

“Then, excuse me, but I have an elevator to
catch.” He hurried by Trace.

“And some groveling to do,” he heard his
friend mutter.

Noah’s jaw locked as he entered the elevator.
There would be no groveling. Claire would realize that an
engagement was perfect for them. The attacker had targeted him
once, so this would be like waving a red flag in front of the guy’s
face. He’d come after Noah again but this time—

I’ll be ready for him.

***

Claire scrambled back even as Drake surged
forward. Drake grabbed Austin and slammed the guy into the nearest
wall. “What the hell are you doing here?” Drake demanded.

Austin jerked in his grip, but Drake wasn’t
letting the guy go. “I-I just needed to see Claire!”

Her heart was about to burst out of her
chest. Her hands were shaking, her stomach churning, and Claire
couldn’t look away from Austin’s eyes—
it’s like I’m seeing Ethan
again.

Only Austin…he’d never been like Ethan.
Austin had been the good brother. The one who graduated at the top
of his class. The one who’d held the door open for her when she
used to work at the diner. He’d been the one who—

Came to tell me how sorry he was.
When
she’d been in the hospital, recovering from the suicide attempt,
he’d been there.

“How did you get past security?” Drake’s hold
on the guy tightened even more.

“I-I bribed a guy downstairs. I heard about
the party tonight and knew this would be my best chance to get in.”
Austin’s voice was tight. His gaze was on Claire—pleading? “I just
need a few minutes, that’s all.”

“You’re about to get an ass beating,
that’s
all you’re getting,” Drake snarled right back. “Then
the fool who let you up here is getting fired.”

Austin’s gaze narrowed on Drake’s furious
face. “I know you. You were at my father’s funeral.”

Drake just glared at him.

Austin’s skin paled. “You were there…and my
brother…his car exploded…
when you were there!
”

“Yeah, and stop looking at me like I did that
shit. His death is one that can’t be tied to me.” Drake dropped his
hold on the guy. “You’re one dumb bastard to come up here and—”

Austin knocked him back and ran toward
Claire. His hands grabbed her shoulders. “I just need a minute!”
His hold wasn’t painful. Just desperate. “I have to tell you—”

The elevator dinged behind them. Claire heard
the doors open. Awareness shot down her spine. Even though she
couldn’t see the occupant in that elevator, she
knew
who was
inside.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” Claire told
Austin, and she whirled just in time to see Noah step out of the
elevator.

His gaze went first to her. Then to
Austin—and the guy had just made the mistake of curling his fingers
around her shoulder again.

Rage flashed over Noah’s face, and he
attacked.

Chapter Eleven

“No!” Claire yelled. She grabbed Noah’s arms
and tried to push him back. It was like trying to move a brick
wall. “Noah, I’m okay!” She cast a frantic glance toward Austin.
Did the guy realize how close he was to danger?

“I’m not here to hurt her,” Austin said, his
voice breaking with what sounded like fear. “I told you…I
just—”

Drake locked his hand around the back of the
Austin’s neck. “You just need to stay away from her. That’s what
you need to do.”

Austin winced, and Claire knew Drake’s grip
had to be painful.

“I’m not like them,” Austin bit out.

No, no, he never had been.

Noah was still straining beneath Claire’s
hold. If he’d wanted, though, he could have easily broken free. She
knew that. He was staying still, for her.

She looked back at Noah, and, staring into
his eyes, Claire said, “I want to talk with him.”

Noah shook his head. “Bad idea, baby.
Anything he has to say—it’s just gonna hurt you.
I don’t want
you hurt.”

He couldn’t protect her from everything. “I
want to talk with him,” she said again as she eased way from Noah.
Claire shook her head. “But not here, in the hallway.” She inclined
her head toward the suite. “Let’s go inside, and, um, Drake, do me
a favor? Stop choking him.”

Drake eased his hold.

Silence fell over their little group, and
Claire marched toward the suite’s door. She was scared and this
could be a huge mistake, but…

Austin tried to help me.
When he’d
gone to visit her in the hospital so long ago, he’d given her
money. Told her to get out of town. To start fresh.

Noah didn’t know what Austin had done. She
was the only one how knew.

They filed into the suite. Noah stayed close
to Claire, and Drake kept a careful watch on Austin.

“Five minutes.” Noah’s golden eyes blazed at
Austin. “Then you’re done. If I ever see you around again—”

“I knew Ethan had a problem, long before he
met you.” Austin was staring at Claire. “He hurt a few others
girls. Roughed them up. One girl even wound up in the hospital with
a broken jaw. She’d made the mistake of trying to break up with
him.”

“Sounds like the jerk didn’t take rejection
so well,” Drake muttered, disgust obvious in his voice.

No, he hadn’t.

“I asked my dad to get him help, but
Harrisons…we don’t need help.” Austin swallowed. The click of his
Adam’s apple seemed loud in that tense moment of silence. “At
least, that’s the line my father always used. He’d tell us that no
Harrison needed help, and then, when we did mess up, he’d beat the
shit out of us.”

Claire stepped back. Noah immediately wrapped
his arm around her shoulder.

“No one knew about that, right? I mean, a
senator, beating on his kids. And it’s not like he did it that
often.” Austin’s stare turned distant. “Only when we screwed up.”
His voice dropped. “I learned not to screw up. So I didn’t…” He
cleared his throat. “I thought things were better as we got older,
but it turns out that things were just better for me. My father
kept hurting Ethan, and Ethan—”

“Kept hurting anyone who got in his way,”
Noah said flatly.

His face miserable, Austin nodded.

“The fact that your father abused him doesn’t
forgive the fact that your brother
killed,
” Noah shot back.
“Plenty of other people have hell for an upbringing and—”

“And we don’t hurt those who are weaker than
us.” Drake’s face was tight. His words echoed with bitter fury.

We don’t hurt those…

She looked at Drake with new eyes, but he
wasn’t staring at her. His attention was centered completely on
Austin.

“I’m not saying this to try and-and excuse
what he did. I just thought…” Austin’s hands fisted. “
It’s my
fault!”

She flinched.

“I didn’t help my little brother. I didn’t
stop my father. I didn’t—” Austin’s glittering stare found
Claire’s. “I didn’t stop Ethan from seeing you. Hell, I’m the
reason he even asked you out. He was in competition with me. My
father did that, put us against each other—made us enemies when we
should have just been brothers.” His breath expelled in a hard
rush. “Ethan took you because he thought he was taking something
from me.” He stepped toward her. “I am so sorry, Claire. So
sorry.”

Claire stared at him, lost. The powerful
Harrison clan was gone. Austin stood before her, and he was
crumbling right before her eyes.

“You didn’t do this to me,” she
whispered.

His gaze held hers.

“You didn’t shoot my parents. You didn’t,”
she had to take a steadying breath as the memories surged through
her, “you didn’t find me on that dock and put a gun to my head.
None of that was you. It was Ethan. Despite whatever else happened,
he
was the one. He chose to do it all.”

They all had the right to choose in this
life.

Austin’s eyes lowered. “I’ve been checking
through my father’s records. I know he caused you to lose your
jobs. He had that detective, Sloan, following you, and when you
came to New York, he even got the guy to trash your hotel room
here.”

“
Why?”
Noah demanded, and fury
vibrated in that word.

Austin’s shoulders rolled in a helpless
shrug. “Even at the end, my father still wanted to find some
evidence to prove that Claire manipulated my brother. He was in
denial, and he wasn’t going to let that go. Not ever.” He shook his
head. “I think he wanted Sloan to find some kind of proof that
would show Claire was guilty. Maybe he thought there would be
something he could use against her in that hotel room.”

“There was nothing,” Claire said simply.
“Because I didn’t do it.”

Austin held her stare. “I know.”

Noah stepped in front of her then. “Your five
minutes are up.” He grabbed Austin’s arm. “Time to kick your ass
out.”

Austin didn’t fight Noah’s grip. “No more
investigators, Claire!” He called out as both Noah and Drake shoved
him toward the door. “No more lost jobs! No more trouble from my
family ever again, I swear!”

She took a tentative step forward.

“I know you never wanted money from me,”
Austin said, and he was right at the door now. “You didn’t take it
before, but if you need it—if you need
anything
—I want to
help. I want to make this right. I
have
to make it
right!”

There were some things that couldn’t be made
right.

“I’ll take him downstairs,” Drake said as he
once again curled his fingers over the back of Austin’s neck. “And
I’ll make sure he doesn’t get up here again.”

Noah leaned in toward Austin. “This was it.
You had your say. Now stay away, understand?”

Austin nodded.

Then he was gone. Drake hauled Austin away
and Noah slammed the door behind them.

He didn’t speak. Neither did Claire.

The sound of her breathing seemed overly loud
in that room. Her whole body was tense, and she pretty much wanted
to sink into a puddle on the floor and just tell the world to go
away.

But there were about two hundred people
waiting down in the ballroom. This was supposed to be an engagement
party. If they vanished for the rest of the night, what would
people say?

So she squared her shoulders. She lifted her
chin. Adjusted her bracelets. And she walked toward the door.

Noah didn’t move.

She slid around him. Reached for the
doorknob.

In a flash, he was behind her. His body
curved over hers and his fingers wrapped around her hand.

His touch seemed to electrify her. Claire
closed her eyes. She couldn’t handle the intensity between them,
not at that moment. “We…we have to get back.”

“Not yet.” He turned her around. Kept his
grip on her right hand. “I need to know that you’re okay.”

The laughter that escaped from her held a
ragged edge. “Okay doesn’t quite describe me right now.” She was
too raw for
okay.

“I didn’t want him near you.”

She shook her head. “Austin has never hurt
me.”

His eyes flickered. “He said he tried to give
you money.”

“He came to see me when I was in the hospital
after my—”
Say it.
“After my suicide attempt. He wanted to
give me money to leave town.” She could still see the stark
expression on his face. He’d been so pale and shaken. “But taking
money from his family, I-I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want anything
from them.”

I just wanted to get away.

“Don’t see him again, Claire. Promise
me.”

“He’s not a threat to me—”

He put his forehead against hers. “I don’t
trust him, and I want you to stay away from the guy. And when I
find out who let him up here, that jerk is done.”

Claire put her left hand on his chest. “I
don’t like games.”

His head lifted. His gaze gleamed.

“You should’ve told me what you had planned.
I nearly passed out when you announced to those people that we were
getting married.” She pushed against his chest. She needed some
space between them. Talking was too hard when he was that close.
Her body was hyper-aware of him. Too attuned.

Too weak where he was concerned.

“I was afraid you’d say no,” Noah admitted,
and his words had her stilling. “If you knew what I wanted to
do…”

She knew exactly what he wanted to do now.
“You think this killer is fixated on me, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

At least he wasn’t trying to deceive her
anymore.

“He’s picking off the people who’ve hurt me.”
She’d pieced this together. “And he wanted to eliminate you—”

“Because I’m standing between him and
you.”

Her voice lowered as she said, “You just put
a big target on yourself. Didn’t I tell you…
I don’t want you
dying for me?”

“I’m not, but I’m also not going to just wait
for the bastard to strike again. I pushed him, so now he’ll push
back. I’ll be ready.”

She was afraid he wouldn’t be. “We don’t know
anything about this guy.”

“Not true. He’s good with demolitions, he
uses a silencer when he hunts—”