I gave Lina’s door an official-sounding knock and waited.
Finally, the door opened a crack and she peered out at me, then smiled and opened the door a little wider. “Hey. I was just taking a bath.”
I brushed past her and stepped inside.
“Uh, come on in,” she said, sounding nonplussed. She was wearing nothing but a towel and a pair of fuzzy flip-flops. Her skin glistened with water droplets. I had to look away because I didn’t trust myself. I felt like a volcano ready to blow. Betrayal and need. Those two opposing forces mixed in my blood, fanning the need to explode.
I shouldn’t have come when I was this keyed up.
“Your ibuprofen is on the counter,” Lina said, her voice more tentative now.
The box of files caught my eye. It was open and there were papers lined up in neat stacks around it.
I headed for it.
“Nash. Wait!”
She caught up to me just as I picked up the first folder. Her front met my back and she reached around me, but I shrugged her off and flipped it open. My gut rolled in on itself. I absorbed it like I would a blow.
“I can explain,” she said quietly.
I slammed the folder down on the table with Duncan Hugo’s face staring up at me. “Talk. Now.”
“Nash.”
“You can start with what you were doing visiting Tina Witt in prison today. Or maybe you should start with why you’ve got the guy who shot me in your files. Your choice.” I wanted the cold, the dark. But she’d unlocked something in me, and instead of the nothingness I’d gotten used to, I was burning alive with rage.
She crossed her arms in front of her defiantly. “This has nothing to do with you.”
Wrong move.
“Don’t fucking lie to me, Angelina. This has everything to do with me. And I’m not leaving until you tell me why.”
“Is this an interrogation, Chief? Do I need a lawyer?”
My stare was hard, unyielding. “You tell me,” I said. I was spoiling for a fight. I needed it more than my next breath.
She met my gaze with her own anger.
I gave in to the need and wrapped my fingers around her elbow. Hating the way I reacted to the feel of her against my palm, I pulled out a chair and pushed her into it. “Sit. Talk.”
Her chin came up defiantly.
“If the next words aren’t an explanation of why the fuck you’ve been paying Tina Witt visits and looking for Duncan Hugo, then I swear to God I will haul you down to the station right now and you can sit in a cell in nothing but that bath towel for the rest of the night.”
“You’re making a big deal out of—”
“I trusted you, Angelina. I opened up to you and you played me.”
I saw the wince before she smoothed it over with indignant anger. “I didn’t play you. I’m sorry your feelings got hurt. It wasn’t my intention.”
“God, you’re worse at apologies than Knox,” I observed.
“I’m just doing my job! It’s not a crime.”
I slammed my hand down on the table. “Damn it! Why are you looking for Hugo?”
She should have been scared, but she wasn’t. She looked ready to deck me.
“What are you after that made you come here? That had you cozying up to me asking me about the shooting. That put you in my bed talking to you about fucking panic attacks and memory loss.”
“You’re gonna want to walk that back,” she said with an icy calm.
“Do not try to tell me what I can and can’t do right now, Lina. I’ve had a long fucking day and you’re making it longer.”
“I was going to tell you.”
I swept her from head to toe and willed myself not to be affected by the way her chest heaved with every breath she took. “That’s how you’re gonna play this?”
“I’m not playing. That’s why I texted you today, you idiot.”
“Oh, so you weren’t worried that Lucian was going to poison me against you with the truth?”
“He didn’t know the truth. And I stupidly felt like I should be the one to tell you.”
I shoved the paper with Duncan Hugo’s face at her. “Talk. Now.”
She was silent and I could practically hear her calculating her options.
“Have it your way.” I moved fast so she wouldn’t see me coming. I ducked my shoulder low, wrapped my good arm around her waist, and hauled her over my shoulder. Her furry slippers went flying in opposite directions.
“Nash!”
“I gave you the chance to do this here,” I said as I headed toward the door.
“Don’t you dare!” she shrieked. She struggled against me and I slapped a hand to her ass to hold her still. My other hand locked around her bare thigh. I was instantly hard, and that pissed me off even more. But my dick didn’t seem to care about things like betrayal.
I made it all the way to the door before I heard what I wanted. “Okay! Jesus. You win, you gigantic asshole.”
“How’s that heart rate?” I asked her. I barely dodged the kick she aimed at my groin.
“I swear to God I’m going to have you singing soprano,” she said through what sounded like gritted teeth.
I started for the door again. “You’re gonna have to ride in the back and I’m definitely gonna have to cuff you,” I said conversationally. “I hope that towel holds up. Word’ll probably spread real fast. I can’t promise your mug shot won’t make it into the papers.”
“Okay! Oh my God!” She went limp against me. “Just put me down and I’ll tell you everything.”
“That’s all I wanted, Angel.”
I bent at the waist and let her slide off my shoulder until her feet hit the floor.
Her towel was barely hanging on at this point. One good breath or the lightest tug from me and it would be around her ankles. Her eyes sparking with fire didn’t do anything to alleviate the pressure building in my balls. “Fuck. Go put on a robe,” I ordered, looking away.
She spun on her heel and stormed toward her bedroom.
“It takes you longer than thirty seconds, I’m comin’ in there after you,” I called after her.
I looked back in time to see the middle finger she held over her shoulder.
For the twenty-eight seconds it took her to reappear, I fantasized about marching into that room, pinning her to the bed, and throwing that towel on the floor.
The robe wasn’t much better than the towel. It covered more skin, but the silky fabric didn’t do a damn thing to hide those insolent nipples that begged for my attention.
Eyes flashing, she returned to the table and sat.
I took the next chair and picked up Hugo’s file. “Talk.”
“Are you asking in an official capacity?”
“I’m sure as hell not asking as a friend. How many times have you visited Tina Witt, keepin’ in mind that I have her list of visitors, so don’t bother lying.”
She blew her breath out through her teeth. “Three.”
“What did you two talk about?”
“I was trying to get information on Duncan Hugo’s whereabouts,” she said to the brick wall across the table.
I plucked another folder off the pile and opened it. She reached for it, but I pulled it back.
“You can’t look at those without a warrant,” she insisted.
I raised an eyebrow. “You want me to go get one? ’Cause I will. Your old pal Marshal Graham might even help me. He wasn’t any happier than I was to see your name on that visitation list. In fact, why don’t the three of us meet up down at the station and clear this whole thing up while the judge approves a warrant?”
“Damn it, Nash!”
“Why are you looking for Hugo?”
“I’m not looking for him. I’m looking for something he took,” she said.
I leaned back in the chair. “I’m listening.”
The glare she shot me would have incinerated someone with thinner skin. “I’m never going to forgive you for this.”
“Back at you, baby. Now talk.”
I could all but see the steam whistling out of her ears. “You already know my company insures things for wealthy clients. When insured assets are stolen, we run parallel investigations with law enforcement. One of our clients lives in a DC suburb. His car was stolen a few days before you were shot. I was assigned the case and started digging.”
“A car. You’re hunting down an attempted murderer over a fucking car.”
“You’d be doing the same thing as a cop.”
“I’d be doing it to protect and serve. You’re doing it to save your company an insurance payout and to earn a bonus.”
“I guess we can’t all be heroes, can we?” There was fire beneath all the ice she was throwing at me.
“What makes you think Hugo took the car?”
“Process of elimination. There was a spike of grand theft auto cases within a ten-mile radius of Hugo’s warehouse. Six other cars were stolen the same day, two from the same neighborhood as my client’s. All those cars, or at least pieces of them, were found in Hugo’s warehouse after he got away.”
“So you show up to a hostage situation unarmed with a civilian to find a fucking car?” She’d arrived on scene with Sloane. I could still see her walking in the door in slow motion. She came straight to me. And the second she’d put her hands on me, I knew I wanted to keep them there.
Wasn’t that a fucking kick in the goddamn teeth?
It was official. My instincts were gone. I couldn’t see through a leggy temptress with secrets in her eyes.
“First of all, I didn’t know Duncan Dumbass Hugo was into kidnapping in addition to running chop shops. But I’ve been in high-stakes situations with and without law enforcement. And if I hadn’t gotten in Sloane’s car, she would have driven there herself and probably put herself in danger.”
“You didn’t just come here and coincidentally end up in the middle of Hugo’s crime spree.”
“The thefts happened less than an hour from here. The plan was to swing through town and see my old friend on my way. I was going to stay in town long enough to catch up, and then everything went to hell the next day when they took Naomi and Way.”
“Why should I believe that?” I asked.
“I don’t care what you believe,” she snapped.
“Yeah, I got that too, sweetheart. You get all your sources to tell you things the way you did with me?” I asked.
“Subtlety doesn’t become you, Chief.”
I leaned forward. “I trusted you, Lina.”
She crossed her arms defiantly. “You’re acting like a scorned lover when the only thing we are is…”
“What? What are we, Angelina? You want to say neighbors? Acquaintances?” I slapped the file down on the table in a display of temper. “You know my darkest fucking secret. You let me tell you.”
She threw her arms up in the air. “You think anyone besides my family knows about my history? You weren’t the only one opening yourself up, Nash.”
“Then you’re either a cold piece of work or at the very least that made us friends.”
“Made?”
“I told you I don’t tolerate liars. Anything that we had or could have had is gone now.”
Her jaw ticked.
“You deliberately lied to me,” I said.
“I didn’t lie. I omitted part of the truth.”
“You used me being vulnerable against me.”
“Oh please,” she snapped. “I was walking your dog when I found you on the floor. I didn’t give you a panic attack.”
“No, but you sure as hell took advantage of it.”
“How?” she sputtered. “Did I pump you for law enforcement secrets? Am I blackmailing you with your secrets?”
“Maybe not. But you made sure to get access to me, my place. You started pushing me about what happened that night,” I pointed out, fitting the pieces together.
“For your own good, ass. If you want to block it out forever, it’s none of my business. But you’ll just keep ending up on the floor if you don’t eventually work your way through it.”
I shook my head. “I’ve got a hunch of my own. I think the only reason you pretended to care was you thought you could get something out of me. Something that would lead you to Hugo and that damn car.” I picked up another folder and opened it, but my gaze was on her. “I bet you couldn’t help but take a look at those files I have on my table, could you?”
Her face turned to stone, but not before I saw the flicker of guilt.
“Yeah. That’s why you agreed to our little sleepovers. The more access you had to me, the more time you’d be able to spend at my place.”
Lina stared at me with fire in her eyes. She laughed bitterly. “And here I thought Knox was the asshole brother.”
“Guess it runs in the family. You’re gonna want to stay away from all of them from now on,” I warned her.
“That’s gonna be a little tricky since Knox asked me to be in the wedding party,” she shot back.
“I don’t trust you and I don’t want you anywhere near my family. You’re reckless and you use people to get what you want. You’re going to get someone hurt.”
She blanched but covered immediately.
“My brother might be an asshole,” I continued when she said nothing. “And we might not get along all the time. But do you really wanna go up against me when it comes to testing his loyalty? Because I won’t hesitate to make sure you lose your oldest friend.”
“Get out,” she said on a whisper.
“I’m not done with you,” I warned.
She slammed her palm down on the table. “Get. Out. Now.”
I sat for a beat and studied her. “I catch wind of you hounding my family for information or interfering with an official investigation, I won’t hesitate to throw your ass behind bars.”
She said nothing but stared at me stonily until I rose.
“I mean it, Lina.”
“Go home, Nash. Leave me alone.”
I went, but only because looking at her made my chest hurt. Like she’d managed to do more damage than the two bullets I’d taken.
When I opened the door, Piper wasn’t waiting for me. She was under the table, looking at me like it was all my fault somehow.
