Black Listed (9 page)

His lips tugged up in a grin that could only be described as sadistic. “You didn't think the spankings were your punishment, did you? That was just to make you horny, so that I could give you the real punishment—no orgasm.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Fully clothed, he strode to her and tweaked her nose. “Bet you'll never hit me again.”

She growled as she pulled up her pants. “I'm thinking of hitting you right now.”

“Think it all you want. I can't punish you for that.” He laughed as he grabbed her purse off the floor and directed her out of her office. “Or could I?”

She hated him at that moment. Having a bit of a tantrum, she stomped all the way to his rental car parked in the lot across the street. “I really dislike this punishment.”

“Good,” he said as he slid into the driver's seat. “Then it's the right one.”

She settled into the passenger side and put on her seat belt, wincing from the soreness of her backside. If he didn't take care of her soon, she was going to have to sneak in a self-induced orgasm when they returned to the hotel, consequences be damned.

Heavy metal blared from the radio. Ugh. They'd always disagreed about what to listen to in the car. She preferred good old country music to the raucous hair bands. This kind of music made her head hurt.

He drove out of the lot and headed down Main Street. Thank goodness it was Sunday, so there wasn't a lot of traffic. Only fifteen minutes of suffering left before she'd find a way to convince him to get her off or do the job the one-handed way.

Sawyer slammed his foot down repeatedly, the noise of it somehow cutting through the screaming on the radio.

“What's wrong?” she asked, noticing his skin turning pale.

“The brakes aren't working.”

Ice cold fear gripped her, but she tried not to show it. She was surprised by how calm she sounded when she suggested, “Use the emergency brake.”

He glanced at her, his face deadly serious. “It's not working either.”

Just ahead, there were trucks in both lanes, giving them nowhere to go.

One way or another, they were going to crash.

As they got closer to the trucks and she screamed out Sawyer's name, she realized that everything she'd done to keep him safe was all for nothing.

Fate had caught up with them.

They were going to die.

L
ISA MOANED, REACHING
out to turn off the alarm. It couldn't be morning already. She felt as though she'd just fallen asleep. And that didn't sound like her alarm. Her alarm buzzed. Loudly. This was a steady beeping.

Rather than hit her alarm, her hand smacked a warm solid body. Startled, she opened her eyes.

“You're okay,” Sawyer said soothingly, taking her hand, his thumb sweeping across the soft spot between her thumb and finger. “It's just me.”

He sat in the chair next to her, a long red scratch on his neck, but otherwise looking unharmed. Awareness crept back in. Lights. Sirens. A ride in an ambulance.

She was in the hospital because they'd hit a tree after their brakes went out. She'd complained about a headache, and the doctor had insisted she have a CT scan to make sure there was no bleeding in the brain as a result of the accident. An hour later, with a good report from the radiologist, the nurse had given her something for the pain. Whatever she'd taken had knocked her ass right out.

“I hate hospitals. Can we get out of here?” she begged Sawyer as she quickly sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

She wondered how they'd get back to the hotel without a car. It was nearly impossible to find a taxi around these parts. Of course, Sawyer was wealthy. He'd probably have a limo pick them up and a nurse waiting back at his hotel suite to watch over her.

“You're not going anywhere until the doctor says you're ready to leave,” he said firmly.

“Please. If there was anything wrong, they'd have me upstairs in a room rather than here in emergency. Let's face it, I'm not a priority. They'll make me wait here the rest of the night while they do my paperwork for my release. They've got my insurance. I'm sure they won't mind if we get out of here so they can use this room for someone who really needs it.” She got to her feet and wobbled, woozy from the drugs they'd given her.

Sawyer shot out of his chair and steadied her, his hands on her hips. Staring intently at her mouth, he swallowed hard.

The curtain was pulled to the side, and the nurse walked in with a clipboard that hopefully had her paperwork attached to it. “How are you feeling, Ms. Smith?”

“Perfect,” she said, stepping away from Sawyer to show him she could stand on her own two feet without his help. The room spun, but she kept her mouth shut about it. “Ready to go home.”

“Not yet, young lady.” The nurse shook her head as she led Lisa back into bed. “The doctor wants to observe you for at least another hour before he'll let you go.” She wrapped the blood pressure monitor around Lisa's arm.

Observation? The man wasn't even in the room, and unless there was some video camera taping her unaware, no one was watching her other than Sawyer. And he could do the same thing at home.

Hospitals always reminded her of her father. He'd picked many of their marks in them, preying on people's vulnerability. He pretended to care about their well-being when all he cared about was what they could do to make him a buck. There were all different schemes. At one small-town animal hospital, he even sold a bogus cryogenics policy to a widowed elderly woman that would allow her and her dying dog to be frozen together, preserved for all eternity until doctors could bring them back to life.

The scams were bad enough. But he'd used Lisa and her brothers to help reel the marks in. She'd been the one to tell that poor woman in the animal hospital that her very own grandmother had been frozen with her poodle and that someday soon, she'd get to see them both again.

Lisa had been only six years old.

Who taught a six-year-old to lie?

“Blood pressure is normal. Any headache? Dizziness?” the nurse asked, reading off a list in front of her.

“She was dizzy when she got out of bed,” Sawyer offered up just as she answered no.

Lisa glared at him and then smiled sweetly at the nurse. “A little bit, but it was from the drugs you gave me.”

The nurse peered up at her from her clipboard. “Perhaps. But to be on the safer side, why don't you follow the doctor's orders and hang out here with us a little longer.”

Between Sawyer and the nurse, she wasn't going to win this argument. When the nurse left her room, she turned to Sawyer. “Do you really think someone tampered with the brakes on the car?”

“Think?” He dropped into the chair. “I know someone tampered with it. Someone was trying to kill us.”

Her thoughts went straight to her father. But he was dead. “Why do you assume they were trying to kill us both? It's me they want.”

He kicked out his legs, playing it casual, even while his body radiated his tension. “And yet it was my rental car they messed with. Whoever it was had to have done it while I was at your office. Which means they not only know their way around cars, they did it without anyone seeing them.”

“It's not exactly like there were people hanging out in the parking lot on a Sunday. No one was around except us.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “And your brother. Don't you find it strange he shows up and this happens?”

Her chest tightened in anger. Asa would never hurt her. “Well if I did, I'd also have to find it strange that it happened after you showed up at my office, too. Should I also consider you a suspect?”

“Do you really think I'd harm you?”

She sighed. “No. I don't know what your plan is with me, but I do trust that you'd never harm me. At least not intentionally.”

“You keep mentioning this plan of mine. There's no plan, Annaliese.” He leaned forward, placing a hand on her thigh. “I wish you'd trust me.”

It didn't make sense to her. What did he have to gain by spending a week with her other than sex? “Don't take it personally. When you spend your entire life lying, it's hard to believe in honesty.”

“Then stop lying and start believing.”

Her eyes burned from unshed tears. “I wish it was that simple.”

He scooted his chair closer, the sound of metal grinding on the floor. “It can be. I—”

The curtain opened again, and the nurse peeked her head in. “Think you're up for some company? I have a couple of concerned friends outside who'd like to come back and visit.”

Frowning, she racked her fuzzy brain to remember if she had made any calls to her friends about the accident. She turned to Sawyer and raised a brow in question.

“Logan and Rachel,” he said, standing.

He'd called them? She loved Rachel, but the woman was a nosy journalist. If she got an inkling of a story, she'd want to track its scent like a bloodhound.

With a donut in her hand and a smear of chocolate to the left of her lips, her friend came rushing into the room, Logan right behind her. “Are you okay? I was so worried when Sawyer called and told us about the accident.”

“I'm fine,” Lisa said, surprised at how normal she sounded despite the fact that the room was now spinning.

Rachel lowered the guardrails on one side and plopped herself down beside Lisa. “What happened?”

“It was just a little accident,” she said, waving her hand as if they'd gotten into a minor fender bender with a parked car.

She slid her gaze to Sawyer, begging him with her eyes to corroborate her lie. It's not that she didn't trust Rachel. She trusted her more than she trusted almost anyone—which unfortunately, wasn't that much.

Rachel wasn't malicious, and her need to uncover the truth of a story had more to do with her compulsion to help innocent people than to further her career. But that was the problem.

Lisa wasn't innocent.

Sawyer waited a beat, seemingly considering her silent request, and then spoke directly to Logan. “Someone cut the brakes.”

She sighed. So much for keeping it secret.

“Guys, out,” Rachel said, shooing the men with her hands like she was herding cattle. “Lisa and I need some girl time.”

Surprisingly, Sawyer and Logan listened.

Logan slapped Sawyer on the back as they left. “Time to call the reinforcements?”

“They're already on it,” Sawyer replied, sliding the curtains shut to give her and Rachel some privacy.

With Sawyer out of the room, Lisa decided she no longer needed to lie in bed like an invalid. Although she remained dizzy, she lifted her head from the pillow and swung her legs over the side to sit beside Rachel. “What reinforcements?”

Rachel looked pensive. “If I had to guess, it means your husband has Oz, Hunter, and Rowan putting their computer skills to work.”

That meant three more people would know about her criminal history. Three more people had the power to use that information against her. Like this room, her life was spiraling out of control. “He should've spoken to me before getting them involved.”

Her friend shook her head, a slight smile on her lips. “I'm still having a difficult time dealing with the news that you're not only married, but married to Sawyer Hayes.”

“Surprise.”

Rachel bumped her knee against Lisa's. “I only know what Logan told me, but he said Sawyer was pretty wrecked after you took off without a forwarding address.”

She let out an unladylike snort. “Obviously not too wrecked about it. After all, he did have an entire sex club at his disposal.”

“Yeah. Paradise Found is quite a club,” Rachel said with a sigh, as if remembering it quite fondly. She hadn't given the girls all the details about what kinky experiences she'd partaken in at the club, but she'd told them enough that Lisa knew she'd enjoyed herself. Rachel's eyes widened as she realized Lisa wasn't exactly pleased about her husband's business. “Not Benediction, but it has its appeal.”

She let her friend off the hook. It wasn't her fault that Lisa's husband had felt the need to fuck his wife out of his system with half of Vegas. “Right.”

Rachel frowned, her head tipping to the side. “But you know what was odd? The time I spent there, I never once saw Sawyer participate in any of the offerings there. He was all business.”

Lisa cursed the small burst of hope that bloomed in her chest. Because even if her husband didn't own a sex club, there was no chance that he had remained faithful to her all these years. “You were only there for a couple days, and he was busy helping you.”

“Maybe,” Rachel said slowly, as if not really believing that. “All I'm saying is I wouldn't assume anything until you hear it straight from his mouth. And their friends? You can trust them. They won't judge you, and neither will I.” She gave her a quick pat on the leg. “So are you going to tell me why Sawyer called you Annaliese?”

It was so strange to hear her name come out of Rachel's mouth. Other than her family and Sawyer, no one had ever called her that.

She paused, contemplating how much she should tell Rachel. Could she trust her friend? Maybe it was finally time to find out.

“It's my real name,” she admitted, her hands sweaty from nerves. “Annaliese Hunt.” No, that wasn't right. She corrected herself. “I mean, Hayes.” She angled her body toward Rachel, awaiting her friend's reaction. “But I've gone by at least a dozen others. Before I moved to Michigan, I made my living as a con artist.”

Rachel shot up from the bed. “You're serious? So it is true? You stole millions of dollars from him?” Lines of worry formed on her forehead. “Did you even love him?”

She answered without hesitation. “Yes. I loved him. I still do.”

When Rachel began pacing, Lisa could almost see the hamster spinning the wheel inside that mind of hers. “Then why? Why did you steal from him? If it was about the money, you could have stayed with him and had billions of dollars at your disposal.”

Lisa stood, holding onto the chair in front of her so she didn't fall. “Please, Rachel. I know the reporter in you wants to sniff out the story, but I'm asking you to leave it alone.”

“You're wrong.” Rachel stopped her pacing. “Well, you're not entirely wrong. But I'm not asking you as the reporter. I want to know as your friend.”

At that moment, Lisa knew she had made the right decision confiding in her. She blew out a breath, relieved. She didn't have to suffer in silence anymore. When Sawyer filed for divorce at the end of the seven nights with her, she'd have her friends to count on.

The room tilted, and her legs trembled as if they couldn't support her weight. Guess she was still too woozy to stand. She dropped into the chair and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you, but I owe it to Sawyer to give him the truth before anyone else.”

Rachel's lips pressed into a straight line. “Does it have something to do with the break-in at your condo and your brakes getting cut?”

She wished she knew. “Maybe? There's a lot of people who'd love to see me dead.”

Rachel walked over and sat on the bed so that their knees touched. “Well, there's a lot more people who just plain old love you. Whatever you did in the past won't change how I and the other girls feel about you. If you need our help, don't hesitate to ask. In fact, I've got a suitcase of clothes out in the hallway for you.”

Lisa took Rachel's hands. “Thank you.”

The curtain slid open, and Sawyer stuck his head inside. “Is it safe to come back in?”

“It is,” Rachel said, standing. “We're going to let her rest now, but there's a suitcase filled with clothes for her to take with her when you leave.” She put her hands on her hips. “Sawyer, I'm only going to say this once. You're one of Logan's best friends and you saved my ass before, so I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. But Lisa's one of
my
best friends, and I'll always choose her over you. So please don't do anything to fuck it up. Are we clear?”

Sawyer turned to Logan. “Is she taking Domme classes or something?”