Club Ties (4 page)

“It was my fault. I should’ve had Mox share the hide-a-bed with me, but he reacts just as violently to my cuddling.”

“It’s the prodding that got you punched,” Mox reminded him dryly.

Eva barely smothered a surprised giggle at that mental image.

A dark blush colored Rhys’ face. “I was dreaming.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not my type, pretty boy.”

“Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.”

“No worry of that. I have plenty of other reasons.”

“I’m wounded.”

“You’ll survive.”

“Seriously, I am sorry,” Rhys said, standing to straighten the wadded sleeping bag.

Eva shrugged, shyly tucking her hair behind her ears. “I’m sorry. I was having a nightmare and I just panicked.”

“Why don’t we trade places,” Mox offered, picking up his blanket and pillow.

“You sure you want to risk that?” she asked, a smile playing around the corner of her lips.

“Unless he wants it chopped off, he’ll keep his morning wood to himself,” Mox said with a grin.

Untangling her legs, Eva scrambled to the couch. It took a couple minutes for everyone to get settled. She lay in the dark, listening to the squeak of springs and hiss of breath. It took effort to force her muscles to relax. Exhausted, she focused in on the soft hum from the space heater until it blocked out everything else. She drifted off to sleep, wondering what the morning would bring.

Morning brought more brotherly bickering, this time over who was going in search of food and coffee. Eva lay still, loath to crawl out of her warm cocoon. Her eyes must have drifted closed because a touch to her hair startled her. Mox smiled down at her.

“Did you sleep okay?”

She nodded, burrowing her nose in the soft blanket she’d been cuddling.

“I’m going to go get sandwiches and coffee. Do you drink coffee?”

“If it’s doctored up with enough cream and sugar,” Eva whispered.

“Would cappuccino or hot chocolate be better?”

Eva blinked at him. Why would he care what she wanted? “I don’t want to be any trouble…”

“It’s no trouble.”

“I can’t wait for The Lantern to reopen,” Rhys grumbled, standing up to stretch.

Mox must’ve seen her confusion.

“The Lantern is Ginny’s pub downstairs. This building was torched this summer. The restaurant is almost ready. When it opens, it will almost be like living at home. We can just go down for breakfast.”

“Shit. Grab me some cigarettes while you’re out, would you?”

Mox caught the empty cigarette pack his brother threw at him, unfazed. 

“Okay, do you want cappuccino or hot chocolate and bacon or sausage on your croissants?”

It took a moment for Eva to realize he was talking to her again. “Oh! Either is fine.”

“You’re too easy.”

“That’s yet to be determined.”

Mox rolled his eyes at Rhys’ flirtatious remark and pulled his coat on. “I’ll be back.”

Eva listened to Mox’s thundering foot-falls as he descended the stairs. Apprehension settled in her chest like a lead weight. She breathed a little easier when Rhys disappeared into the bathroom. Had his comment been a simple jest? The expectation of sex for food and shelter certainly wasn’t a new concept. If that was what Rhys had been insinuating, who was owed? The question made her stomach churn.

Biting her lip, she slipped out of her sleeping bag. Rolling it up neatly, she turned to do the same with the others. She was folding the hide-a-bed away when the bathroom door opened. Picking up the rich leather cushions, she hastily set the couch to rights, eager to stay busy.

Her ears strained, trying to track his movements behind her. She stroked a suede throw pillow. Her heart leapt as he flopped down on the couch. Stumbling back a step, she tried to nonchalantly put the furniture between them. It was a flimsy deterrent.

“So where’re you from?”

The question startled her. Her mind raced. Why did he want to know that? She felt her cheeks color, mentally kicking herself. It was a common enough question among strangers. Maybe she was over thinking things. “Sandusky.”

He nodded, and she let her breath out. It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“We’ve been there for bike week several times. Mox and Garrett love Cedar Point.”

“But not you?”

“That’s not really my thing,” he said, shrugging. “But they’re both roller coaster freaks.”

Eva couldn’t help smiling at the tiny insight into her giant. “I worked there for a couple seasons.”

“That’s what Mox wanted to do when he grew up.”

“Did he decide it was too long of a commute?”

“Nah, we’re still waiting on him to grow up.”

Eva giggled. “He looks like a big boy to me.”

“Looks can be deceiving. He’s a big kid.”

“There can’t be that many years between you two.”

“Just five and a half months,” Rhys said and then chuckled watching her forehead furrow in confusion. “It’s a long story.”

Eva wisely shut her mouth. Hugging herself, she moved to peek out the window at the nearly blinding winter wonderland. She searched the street. The sun had come out and its rays danced over the ice-covered town. It was beautiful, and yet she found herself missing the obscurity the storm had offered. A chill crept down her spine and she tilted the wood slats closed.

The storm would have slowed them, but Rocco would have his thugs out in full force now. Contacting her grandparents in Atlanta would just paint a target on them. Even if she had money, Rocco’s men would be watching the airports, bus terminals, and motels. She bit her thumbnail, doubt worming in with the fear. If she crawled back now… She shook her head. Her stomach twisted. There had to be another way. If there was one thing she was certain of, it was that Rocco would kill her this time.

Chapter ~ 4

The Weather Channel droned in the background as Ginny finished loading the dishwasher and closed the door with a bump of her hip. Hitting the button, she looked expectantly at her husband, or at least the newspaper that hid his face.

“So?”

“Breakfast was great.”

Rolling her eyes heavenward, Ginny reached across the breakfast bar to bat the paper down. “Seriously? You think I’m fishing for compliments on my French toast after twenty years?”

Hazel and blue locked over the crumpled paper until a slight twitch of Zeke’s lips gave his deadpan stare away. Ginny smirked in triumph and he gave her a sexy wink before sobering.

“I think you need to remember that, regardless of some similarities, this girl is not you.” Zeke held up a hand to stall her protests. “I’d known you your entire life, before that night behind The Lantern. You knew me enough to trust that I would deal with your father. We had history. Mox doesn’t know anything about this girl. We don’t even know who or what she’s running from.”

“So, Mox should’ve just left her to freeze to death next to the dumpsters?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m just cautioning you that this isn’t a stray puppy. Don’t get your hopes up on keeping her.”

“We can’t just throw her out in the snow or call the pound.”

“I’m looking into it.”

“What does that mean?” Ginny asked in exasperation.

“It means that, she came out of Cleveland, running from someone that not only scares the shit out of her but also can afford cashmere. I think it would be wise to talk to a few people and see what I can find out about who we’re dealing with.”

“Nice catch on the cashmere, Detective.”

“My wife has expensive tastes,” Zeke said, acknowledging her teasing with another wink.

“Do you think Eva being there is putting the boys in danger?” Ginny asked. She bit her bottom lip as her husband’s head tilted to the side in thought. It belied his casual answer.

“They’re big boys.”

“Which means yes.”

“It means that I won’t know what we’re dealing with until I look into it.”

Tamping a cigarette on the counter, Ginny mulled over the previous night’s events, wondering if she’d made a mistake. She shook her head. There had been something in the girl’s eyes, something that had dredged up old memories and formed a tenuous bond between them. Like her, Eva had found the strength to run. She deserved a chance at a new life.

Zeke caught her hand and pulled her around the end of the counter and into his lap. “I know you want the fairytale for this girl, but I can’t promise that.”

A smart-ass comment died on her lips at the understanding in Zeke’s stare. “You’re right. Not everyone can be as lucky as me,” she said, wrapping her arm around his neck to play with the short hair on his nape.

He smiled, his eyes drooping closed in pleasure as he muttered, “We’re going to have to watch Mox. He has your need to fix things.”

“Maybe he has your need to play knight in shining armor.”

Zeke cocked an amused brow.

Lifting her shoulder with a little smirk Ginny wiggled in his lap. “You got the lance for it.”

His eye roll didn’t mask the swell of male pride, or anatomy.

Catching her toes on the barstool rung, she shifted to straddle him. Color darkened her features as he stiffened underneath her, and not in the way she’d been hoping. Tension hummed between them. She rolled her hips, taking a perverse delight in the catch of his breath. His hands landed on her hips almost apologetically, and her heart sunk. She longed to feel the familiar clamp of his big paws on her ass, grinding her down against him.

Humiliation warred with a deep seated fear. What if he never got over his guilt and revulsion at what Kramer had done? Years of law enforcement seminars assured that all the correct words and reassurances passed his lips, but their love life told a different story. Two weeks had passed since the doctor had pronounced her fully healed. Fourteen days in which Zeke had shied away from resuming the sexual part of their marriage.

Pushing his hands off her hips, she slid from his lap and snatched the paper up from the floor. Crumpling it against his chest, she stalked out of the dining room. The slam of their bedroom door echoed through the house. Pacing the room, she raked a hand through her hair. He was winning. That little rat bastard Kramer was reaching out from the grave to drive a wedge between them.

She caught her reflection as she paced. She looked like a mad woman. She stared. Her chestnut locks fell in tumultuous waves with no rhyme or reason. Rage twisted her features until she was a caricature of herself. The light glinted off shiny, new scar tissue marring her cheekbone. A scream tore from her throat as she cleared her dressing table with a swipe of her arm. Jewelry, cosmetics, and perfumes scattered with the tinkle of broken glass. 

Swallowing a sob, she stumbled blindly for the closet. She had to get out. She shoved bare feet into boots, unwilling to take the time to find socks. Zeke stood in the doorway when she exited the closet, but he gave way to her shoulder, allowing her to storm down the hall while he trailed behind.

Savagely wrapping a scarf around her neck, Ginny shoved her arms into a black biker’s jacket.

“The roads are still shit out there.”

Grabbing her keys from the hook, she ducked under his arm and headed for the garage. She heard Zeke give a low growl behind her and didn’t give a shit.

“Where are you going?”

“You’re the detective. Figure it out,” she snapped, sliding behind the Charger’s wheel. He stepped behind the car as she turned over the ignition and hit the garage door opener. She met his gaze in the rearview mirror, and the powerful engine roared in the close confines. The glow of reverse lights bathed him for a moment, and with a curse she couldn’t hear, he stepped aside.

The tires barked on the garage floor as she smashed the gas pedal to the floor. The brakes didn’t respond as well when she hit the icy road, and the Charger’s rear end jumped the curb across the street. Glancing up at her husband, now walking down the drive, Ginny didn’t give him another chance. Wrenching the stick down, she hit the gas with a little more finesse and, steering through the fishtail, swung around the corner and down the block.

Her cell phone started ringing before she even made it to Kat’s. Silencing Zeke’s ring, she tossed the offending piece of equipment into the backseat.

Zeke’s hand tightened dangerously around his phone, and it took every ounce of control he had not to shatter the damn thing against the nearest wall. What the fuck was her problem? Lately she went from normal to psycho in sixty seconds. He was trying hard to cut her some slack after everything she had been through, but she was pushing her luck. Putting herself needlessly in danger was a big no-no, and she knew it. Her stunt with the car wasn’t going to fly. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he made another call.  

Kat opened the door before Ginny even reached the front porch.

“Are you crazy?”

“I’ve been called worse.”

“Your old man is pissed,” Crux said with a pointed look.

Ginny made a face at him. “He’ll get over it. He’s on my shit list too.”

Crux pursed his lips, as if weighing his next comment. Kat stroked his arm, shooting Gin a look as she hastily interjected, “He wants you to call and let him know you made it safe.”

“I want him to stop treating me like spun glass and fuck me, but you see where that’s gotten me.”

Kat sucked in a breath at her friend’s bitter comment. Crux gave both women a hard look and disappeared into the other room.

“Jesus,” Kat hissed when he was gone. “Are you trying to get us both killed?”

Ginny slumped. “Right now I’d like to draw any passion out of Zeke, even if it is anger. I’m just so tired of him tiptoeing around me like I’m going to break at any moment.”

Kat grimaced in sympathy and tugged her friend towards the sunny breakfast nook off the kitchen.

“He loves you,” she said, the words sounding lame even to her own ears.

“Oh, I know he does. He’s really trying, Kat. He’s been so patient and…and protective. It’s just that I want my damn husband back.”

“You should enjoy the pampering while you can. I’m loving it,” Kat said with a little giggle as she waited on the cappuccino.

Ginny shook her head. “It’s not the same. You’re prego. You deserve it. This is pity pampering. It’s like I’m not even me. What if he never gets over it, Kat? What if things never go back to normal?”