A Little Harmless Lie 4 (18 page)

“I’m sure that’s what it was.” Evan rolled his eyes. “You might not have been the reason she stayed here to begin with, but I can almost guarantee that you are the reason she has stayed for the last few months. She might have made a mistake, panicked and put herself at risk. While you make sure that she understands what she did was wrong, just make sure she understands how you feel.”

Micah wanted to scoff at it, but he couldn’t. Anger and fear tightened his gut. His emotions were raw, scorched. He couldn’t come up with the words, didn’t want to embarrass himself. He wanted to pour out every worry he had, but it would do him no good. Instead, he gave Evan a hug and stepped up to the security line.

He had one thing on his mind by the time he made it through.

Micah would kill the man who dared touch her.

With bone- deep weariness, Micah walked down the hall of Caesar’s Hotel. Jesus, they were in a villa. He couldn’t believe that after two days of not sleeping, following every lead, making sure no one was following him, he had arrived in Vegas to find out his woman was hanging out in luxury.

He was going to beat her ass red.

Of course, that was after he broke a few major appendages on her brother.

He followed the bellhop he’d paid down the hallway. Damn, he got angrier with each step. He wanted to think she had been having fun. But knowing her family, he was worried what he would find inside. As he’d been searching for her, Evan had done some research, and what he had found had chilled Micah to the core. He was amazed that such a sweet, loving woman had survived the pit of vipers she’d grown up with.

“D- do you want me to knock?”

Micah looked at the man and nodded. He hesitated and then did it.

“Yes?” a male voice said from behind the door.

The bellhop cleared his throat. “I have a package for you.”

There was a pause. “Give me a sec.”

The door opened slightly a second later. Micah shoved the bellhop aside, pushed through the small opening in the door and came face to face with Dee’s brother. Dark hair, blue eyes, built like a fucking linebacker. Rage that had been building for two days rose up and took over. Before Micah knew what he was doing, before checking the room for more danger, or even looking for Dee, he wrapped his hands around the man’s neck.

He struggled against Micah’s grasp, his hands clawing at Micah’s fingers. He swung his legs trying to kick Micah. Her brother missed, but both of them went sprawling onto the marbled floor with a thud, a hard whoosh of air escaping from the younger man. Micah held him down with one hand and smashed his face with his fist. The nauseating sound of bone cracking when Micah made contact fueled his anger. He heard a shout from the bellhop but he ignored him.

“Micah.”

Someone was tugging on his arm. He ignored it for a few more seconds, as he hit her brother a few more times.

He turned to snarl when he realized it was Dee. All the hours of panic and anger welled up inside him. But he pushed it aside.

She was safe. She was alive.

He dropped her brother with a thump and rose to his feet. He grabbed her, pulled her against him and slammed his mouth down onto hers. Everything in him shifted. His heart warmed and the terror he had been riding for two days now drained. When he pulled back, he saw the tears in her eyes.

“Ah, baby, don’t cry.” He pulled her close and breathed in her scent. “I’m sorry. I didn’t kill him, just hurt him a little.”

“You broke my fucking nose.”

He gave her a squeeze and then shoved her behind his back. He faced off with her brother. Blood dripped from his nose and stained his T- shirt. It gave Micah a sick satisfaction to see it, to know that he made the man suffer.

“You’re lucky you’re breathing, Petey.”

His eyes widened at the name. “I’m not Petey.”

“You’re her brother.”

He nodded and opened his mouth to answer, but Dee stopped him. Slipping in front of Micah, she looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears and happiness. “It’s Mark. He’s alive.”

Dee couldn’t stop touching Micah. Since she’d woken up over the Pacific, she’d been so worried about what he was thinking. Worse, she had been worried that her father could have found her and then found Micah. After Mark explained the situation, that her father was busy killing off anyone who could have knowledge of what had happened, she knew she couldn’t go back. With each mile east, her heart had broken a little more.

Once Mark had paid off the bellhop to forget everything he’d seen, they had settled in the living room of the villa.

“Could you quit petting him?” Mark asked, disgust and embarrassment dripped from each word.

“I like it,” Micah said with an evil smile. “Now, pick up where you tell me just why the hell you thought it was a good idea to abduct your sister.”

Mark sighed. No, Dee thought. His name was Devon now. She had to remember that. Dee and Devon. The names still tickled her.

“I thought it would be best. I’ve been watching Dillon for a while now. I knew he was looking for her. When his sister and business partner took a trip to Hawaii, that was no big deal, but when Dillon booked the flight, I knew something was up.”

“Dillon will be pissed when he finds out you were keeping tabs on him, and he didn’t know it,” Dee said.

Devon nodded. “But then I have the money and brains to do it.”

“Did I tell you? He is the inventor of Striker Force One, the reality game?”

Micah gave her an understanding smile and patted her hand. “Yes, you did, love. But your brother abducting you and taking you on a private jet wasn’t smart. Of course, holing up in Caesar’s at one of the villas is definitely worse.”

His voice was lethally soft, and she could tell from his expression he was barely holding on to his temper. Mark/Devon shrugged. “Not like anyone knows who I am. They think I’m Devon Striker. That’s it. Not like we’re going down to gamble every night. And I know for a fact my father still thinks I’m dead.”

“So you fly to Hawaii, scoop up your sister, then neither of you thinks to contact me, tell me what is going on? You didn’t think I would worry?”

“I wanted to, but M- Devon told me that it would put you in danger.”

“And I don’t like you.”

She sent her brother a narrowed look. “I was leaving that out.”

“That’s okay, Striker. I don’t like you either.”

Devon looked away, out the window. “I don’t know what the fuck Dillon was looking for, why he wants to find you so badly.”

“I wondered about him for years, but really? I mean, they think I’m dead. And from what Micah said, Dillon is the one who convinced the FBI to pretend that I was dead.”

Micah shook his head. “No, I got the same feeling.”

Devon looked over at him. “There’s something there. Something he doesn’t tell anyone. But there was a reason he was pulled off the case.”

She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “He was the one who gave me all the running options. He and John, but mostly him. He trained me to fight. Well, started it at least.”

Micah shrugged. “While it pains me, I have to agree with your idiot brother. We can’t trust anyone. And I mean no one.”

He yawned and she noticed the dark smudges under his eyes, the fact that his entire body seemed to be shutting down.

“Hey, why don’t you take a shower?”

He shook his head. “We need to discuss our options.”

“I agree. But you can barely keep your eyes open. You haven’t had sleep in forty- eight hours. Take a shower, clear your head and then we can talk some more. We need to get some food in ya too.”

He smiled, cupped her face and kissed her. It wasn’t the ravenous kiss he had offered earlier, but one of tenderness, sweetness... and love. She could taste it there, hoped she wasn’t fooling herself. When he pulled back, he smiled at her. “I’ll be right back.”

She watched him walk to her room.

“He’s not who I would pick for you.”

She turned around to face her brother. “I didn’t ask.”

He laughed. “You haven’t changed.”

She felt her smile fade along with the lightness of the moment. So many questions had not been answered. They’d been tiptoeing around the past as if it didn’t exist, or if one of them mentioned it, the other wouldn’t be able to handle it. “But I have. You can’t go through that without changing.”

Regret shifted over his face. “I’m so sorry. I should have never left you there.”

She waved her hands at him. “What? You were supposed to give up the opportunity to go to school early, get out of the house that drove you crazy?”

“I knew Dad was ruthless, I had no idea.”

She snorted. “Neither of us did. I think Petey was the only one who knew. Probably because he is as sick as our father.”

There was a beat of silence. “Was he there?”

Dee stood and walked away from the table, away from the feelings she still hadn’t dealt with. She stared out over the strip as the last rays of sun disappeared over the brightly lit casinos.

“Yeah.”

“Dee?”

She glanced over her shoulder at him, at the pleading in his eyes.

“What happened?”

She closed her eyes, that day rushing back to the front of her mind. “I was pissed at Dad. He had taken away my car keys because I’d been late on curfew again.” She opened her eyes and smiled. “That’s when I was dating Ken Totaro.”

“You dated him? God, Dee, you had horrible taste in men.”

She laughed. “He had a fast car. And he did whatever I wanted.”

“Probably because he wanted in your pants.”

She nodded. “So I snuck into Dad’s Brooklyn office. I knew he wouldn’t keep the keys at the house. I would find them there. I was searching his desk when I heard them coming up the back stairs.”

She could see it as if it were yesterday. Hear the grunts, the cursing as they dragged that poor man up the stairs.

“I heard Dad’s voice, and I knew he would punish me for being in his office. So I hid in the closet. I thought they would be gone in a few seconds.” Tears welled up in her eyes as the man’s screams filled her head. “It took over an hour, still not sure exactly how long.”

She felt strong arms surround her, knew it was her brother. Not the man she needed, the one who knew just how to soothe her soul. But that would come later. “You know who it was, right? It was that sweet man who did the bookkeeping, Sam. He and his wife had just had a baby. They were just starting out in life.”

“Marjorie,” her old name slipped from his lips and she knew it pained him to hear, to know what she’d gone through. If he had been there, not away in England at school, would she have gone to him? She wasn’t too sure. Not because she didn’t trust him. But she wouldn’t have wanted him dragged into it.

“They were accusing him of stealing from Daddy. And you know how he was about things like that.” She leaned her head on his offered shoulder. “God, he was horrible. I saw the first fingernail they pulled and then... I closed my eyes. But no matter how much I covered my ears, I could hear him screaming. He begged for his life, begged without any kind of shame. Then... toward the end... he begged for them to kill him.”

She felt his lips touch her temple. “I am so sorry. I can’t... ” His words trailed off as he swallowed. “After it happened, after all the news, I came home.”

She nodded, knowing. She pulled away, grabbed a tissue and looked at him. Remorse and pain filled his expression. “I tried to find out just what was going on. I couldn’t. Dad and Petey stonewalled me. I couldn’t get to anyone. And then when you disappeared, the first time when you were in custody, that agent Dillon showed up. He told me that I should be watching my back. I sent him away, but the next day, the brakes went out on my car.”

“You weren’t hurt?”

“I wasn’t in it. Rosalie was.”

“Oh, no.” His first love, his high school sweetheart, the woman he had planned on marrying. She squeezed him tighter. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded. “After I got the report about the brake lines being cut, I faked my death and disappeared. I tried to keep tabs on you, but I couldn’t seem to find you. Even after they said you were dead, I had a feeling you were still alive.”

She nodded, feeling much older than twenty- seven. She didn’t want this. She wanted to go back in time, to three days ago, snuggled up to Micah in his bed, feeling his body next to hers, his heart beating beneath her hand.

“Why don’t you get some more rest? We can’t do anything right now.”

She nodded and leaned back to look at him. “How did we not turn into something sick like those two? Why are we so different?”

He shook his head. “I think because once he had his first born, he didn’t give a rat’s ass about us. All he cared about was Petey.”

“Well, thank God for that.”

He laughed. “Yeah.”

With a smile, he rubbed his hand through her hair. “Still can’t get used to this.”

“I changed a lot.”

He nodded. “But you’re still a pain in the ass. Go take care of your bodyguard in there.”

“You really don’t like him?”

He sighed. “A guy doesn’t want to think about his sister and the guy she’s with. In the case of you and Ross, it’s worse because of what he does for a living.”

“It’s not like he performs anymore.”

Devon closed his eyes then opened them. “Listen, I don’t care about that, much. But knowing who he is, that he has a large business based on his sexual needs, I know what he likes in the bedroom. And you’re the one in there with him.”

She chuckled as she walked toward her room. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Tell Ross I’m going to take first watch.”

She paused and looked at her brother. He was the same in so many ways. He was good, honest, smarter than he should be, and dependable. But there were edges there. Ones she understood, ones she felt in her own life now. Their lives hadn’t afforded them many good things in life. But despite that, what he had suffered, the way he had to live now, he was still a good man.

“I love you.”

He glanced back at her, his gaze softening. His nose was swollen and his lip was puffy, but he attempted to smile. “I love you too. Shorty.”

She smiled, his regular name for her when they were kids warming her heart. She slipped into the bedroom and found Micah passed out on the bed. It had seemed huge when she’d arrived, but now that he was stretched across it, it seemed so tiny. His hair was still wet and she knew without a doubt he was naked beneath the covers. Her body yearned for his. She had discovered she didn’t like sleeping without Micah by her side.