“Now, now,” he says in a voice like an oil slick as he drags me toward the building, even though I’m not resisting. “A pretty girl like you shouldn’t have gotten yourself involved. That bastard, Fleming, should have kept you out. Selfish douchebag.”
But he had tried to keep me out of it, hadn’t he? He’d kept his distance. He’d stopped replying to my calls when things started going wrong and then tried to get me to leave the warehouse.
I bite my lip, my eyes going blurry. He hesitated to open up to me, to show any feeling toward me, trying to shelter me from this. But I stayed because I was falling for him.
Crap, I shouldn’t have run. I should have stayed to see if he’d apologize. If he said anything else. I think… I see how it all looked to him when Raylin brought him to me, and I showed him the test. He’s right. I’d cried on his shoulder about not being able to have kids and then suddenly…
I resist the urge to touch my stomach again. Can’t give these guys any more ammunition against Hawk. Because if he tried to shelter me, that means he cares. And if he cares, today’s fight can’t be the end, right?
It can’t. I love him. No matter how he hurt me today, he’s the man I want, and the father of my baby, and I’ll keep it together.
For all of us.
***
The first thing I notice when I am shoved into the apartment is Dorothy. She’s sitting on the sofa, her eyes red-rimmed, her face pale, her dark hair a mess on her shoulders, her clothes in disarray.
Then she notices me and squeals, jumping to her feet. She throws herself on me, hugging me tight, and I hug her back, relieved beyond words that she’s okay.
“Dodo.” I pull back to check her over, afraid I missed some injury. “Did they hurt you?”
“No. Just some scrapes and bruises.” She’s looking at me like she can’t believe I’m standing here. Her dark eyes are round as saucers. “What’s happening, Lay? Are these people nuts? Why would they want to kidnap you? Does it have to do with tall, dark and mysterious? Is he in trouble?”
Hearing her referring to Hawk like that makes my throat close up. So much has gone down since the last time I spoke to her. And how can I talk to her? How can I be sure nobody is listening in?
When the silence stretches, she grabs my hand and drags me to the sofa. I curl up beside her and try to figure out what I can tell her.
“How did they find you?” I whisper, glancing around. I can’t see cameras, but there might be bugs hidden anywhere. “I’m so sorry. I was so sure I left nothing that led to you.”
“I called your phone,” she says, “and got back a text, telling me where to meet you.” She wipes at her eyes. “How did they get your phone?”
Oh crap. My cell. “They took it from me back when they found me together with Hawk.” Her eyes widen even more, and I’m still not sure how much to tell her. “Look, Dodo…”
“You won’t believe how worried I was.” She’s still gripping my hand as if afraid I’ll vanish if she lets go. “When I got that text to meet you for coffee I didn’t think anything of it, but then… then they grabbed me and locked me up and said you’d be joining me soon, and I was so frigging afraid!”
“Shh.” I stroke her cheek. “I’m so sorry for this. I wish they’d never taken my phone. I wish I hadn’t pulled you into this.”
“And w
hat is this?” She waves her other hand around. “Who are these people? What do they want with you?”
“It’s not me they want.” I sigh, pull my hand from her hold. “It’s Hawk. They’re the bad guys, Dodo. He’s trying to take them down, and they don’t like it.”
She lets out a choked laugh. “What, he’s like a vigilante or something? Like Spiderman?”
“No, he’s just trying to make right what his parents broke. It’s complicated. I’ll explain later, okay? I promise.” I lean closer. “Did you overhear anything? About their plans with us, with Hawk?”
She shakes her head, then brings a lock of dark hair to her mouth and chews on it, like she always does when she’s stressed. “They don’t stick around much. They bring food and water and leave again. I was just the bait for you, and you… you’re the bait for Hawk? Is this what this is?”
“Looks like it,” I say miserably.
“Oh God.”
“Yeah.”
“So…you and Hawk are like, together-together now?” Letting the chewed-on lock fall from her mouth, she peeks up at me from under lowered lashes, smiling, and trust Dorothy to be more interested in my love life rather than the kidnapping situation we’ve found ourselves in.
“I… I don’t know.” I curl my hands in my lap, turning everything Hawk told me over in my head. “It’s complicated.”