The Life of Anna, Part 2: Entwined (68 page)

“Wha...?” she whispered as he came nearer.

“Shh.” He brushed her hair gently back from her face. “It’s all right, Anna. I’ll take care of you.”

Anna felt light headed and dizzy. She wanted to close her eyes and just go to sleep. She heard Greg and Jenna talking in urgent tones but their voices were going fuzzy. Blackness was overtaking her. Sweet, sweet blackness.

*****

Anna’s eyes fluttered open. She was still in the guest room of her apartment. Her neighbor, Greg, sat in a chair brought in from the living room, snoring softly. His black t-shirt stretched across his muscular chest and biceps. She had to admit that he was a good-looking guy.

A dark mark on the inside of his right forearm caught her eye. A tattoo? Something about it looked familiar. She sat up to take a closer look and he stirred.

“Good morning,” he said, yawning. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Anna said, still looking at his arm. She got out of bed and walked over to him, but he crossed his arms as she approached. “What’s your tattoo?”

He looked at her, stony faced. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Anna frowned. “Let me see it. Please.”

Greg shook his head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t need to see it. Now forget about it.”

Anna narrowed her eyes. Why was he hiding it? She suspected she knew the answer, and if it were true…well, she was not going to be happy. But anger wouldn’t get her anything.

Seduction would.

She smiled at him and went to sit on his lap. She was wearing a cami and shorts, and knew she looked hot and tempting.

“Anna, what are you doing?” He straightened in his chair.

“Nothing.” She repeated his words as she straddled his lap and nuzzled his neck. “Don’t worry about it.” She ran her hands up his chest and kissed his neck, then nipped at his earlobe. He groaned and shifted in his seat. Taking his hands, she put them on her breasts, and moaned as he caressed them with strong hands over the thin cotton. Her hands trailed down his biceps, then his forearms. She took his right hand and turned it palm up so she could see his forearm.

On it was a tattoo, about five inches long, of a red striped, crowned, double-tailed lion holding a sword. The Kunze family crest. The same tattoo that Seth had.

She stood suddenly and Greg blinked. “Why do you have Alex’s crest on your arm?” she demanded. Greg looked up at her dazed. Anna hesitated a moment before she slapped him across the cheek.

“Ow! What the fuck?” Greg looked at her with angry eyes. “Why’d you hit me?”

“Why do you have Alex’s crest on your arm?” she repeated.

“How did you…?” He looked down at his arm, which was still facing up. “Fuck. You seduced me,” he accused.

“You wouldn’t answer me,” she retorted.

“For good reason. You weren’t supposed to know.”

“Know what?”

Greg sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Alex brought me here to keep an eye on you. To protect you.”

Anna snorted. “Protect me? From what?”

“From…things that he would normally protect you from.”

“Things he’s incapable of protecting me from, you mean? He did a rotten job when he was here. Why do you think you can do any better?”

“I’m just following orders.”

“Orders? From who?”

“From….” He sighed again. “I can’t say. And don't you dare try and seduce me again,” he warned when Anna took a step closer to him.

Anna hesitated and then frowned, irritation rising to the surface. “Get out. And tell Alex I don’t need his protection. It’s never done me any good,” she added bitterly. She wouldn’t admit that he had protected her from many things in the past. If she wasn’t important enough for him to stay here, then she didn’t want to have anything to do with him. She glared at Greg, who hadn’t moved. “Get out. And stay away from me. I don’t need a useless babysitter.”

“I won’t stay away from you. I don’t answer to you.”

“This is
my
apartment.”

“Which Alex’s family pays for.”

She narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw. “So, that gives you a right to be in here?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.” She turned on her heel, stormed into her room and got dressed. As she packed the things she would need at the Manor, Greg came in.

“Where are you going?” he demanded.

“None of your business.”

“It
is
my business.”

She turned around and glared at him. “Then figure it out yourself.” She picked up her bag and went to find her car keys. Keys, purse and bag in hand, she stormed out of the apartment. A few minutes later, she was on the freeway, driving toward the Manor.

Why did Greg’s presence bother her so much? Because it reminded her of Alex. She didn’t want to remember Alex. Alex had abandoned her. She didn’t want anything to do with him. He hurt her too much. She’d thought that he was different from other men, but he wasn’t.

He was just the same as the rest of them.

*****

The ringing phone startled Alex out of his reading. It was Greg.

“Greg, is Anna all right?” he asked hurriedly in German.

“Yeah. I mean, I think so. She kinda…stormed out of her apartment.”

That didn’t sound like Anna. “What?”

“Anna had a visitor last night, and when she kicked Jenna out, Jenna knocked on my door and told me what had happened. Said the guy that had knocked hadn’t looked very nice and Anna seemed nervous. So we waited and listened for the guy to leave, and he left approximately two hours later. Jenna went to knock on the door, but Anna didn’t answer. I got the key and let myself in.” Greg sighed. “God, Alex, she was all torn up. I don't know what that bastard did to her, but she was in bad shape. Cuts all over her body. He had…raped her or something. Her pussy and ass were pretty fucked up, too. She passed out as soon as I walked into the room. I patched her up as best as I could and promised Jenna I’d stay with her.”

Alex gritted his teeth. He was going to have words with Devin. This had to be something of his doing.

“I’m sorry, Alex. I fell asleep and she woke up before I did and saw my tat. I tried to keep her from seeing any more, but damn if she seduced me and made me lose my mind. Then she slapped me.”

“She slapped you?” What was going on in that girl’s head?

“She’s pretty strong. It hurt.” Greg chuckled. “Anyway, she knew that I had something to do with you and she got all mad about it. She, uh, wasn’t very kind when she talked about you. Claimed you abandoned her and wouldn’t protect her.”

Alex’s heart ached. God, couldn’t he do anything right with that girl? No wonder she was angry with him.

“Alex?”

“What?”

“I asked what you wanted me to do.”

Alex ran his hands through his unkempt hair and across his scruffy chin. He had barely been out of the library in days. “Stay there. Stay out of sight, don’t upset her, but keep tabs on her. I’m going to call and have words with Devin.”

“She, uh, met my neighbors, Ben and Matt. Remember them?”

“Yes.”

“They saw her and Jenna in the hallway and wanted me to introduce them.”

“What happened?”

“She and Ben seemed to have hit it off pretty well. We all went out to dinner and he asked her out on a date afterwards.”

Alex didn’t know how he felt about Anna dating someone. Devin would only stand for her attention to be drawn away from himself for so long. Alex liked the idea of her being happy, but didn’t like the idea of another man touching her. Not that he had much choice in the latter area.

“Is he a good guy? Ben, I mean?”

“Yeah. He is.”

“All right.” He couldn’t do anything about it right now. He would just have to hope that she’d be over him by the time he got back to San Francisco. Or at least that he’d be able to woo her away from him. “Just…keep her as safe as you can without her knowing about it.”

“Yes, sir.”

They hung up, and a few minutes later Alex called Devin.

“Why are you allowing men to go to Anna’s apartment and abuse her?” he demanded as soon as Devin answered the phone.

“What are you talking about, Alex?” Devin sounded bored.

“Someone went over to her apartment and tore her up real bad. Was he sent to punish her?”

“Oh, that must have been Zach. He has…unusual appetites.”

“And you let him satisfy them with Anna?”

“Why not? She can handle it. Did she call you and complain?”

“No, of course not. My man told me.”

“The babysitter?”

“Devin,” Alex growled, “you better tell this Zach to treat Anna with more respect or I will have Greg tear his head off the next time he tries to touch Anna.”

“You can’t do that,” Devin sputtered.

“I can and I will. You have Red Girls. Have him use them.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

Alex gritted his teeth. “If you allow men to go over and hurt Anna like that again, you will start having a tremendous number of unsolved murders in your city. I may not be able to kill you, but I
can
kill a fuckload of other people that you need in your life.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Alex let his tone reflect the hardness he felt. “I would. Having Anna does not mean you have the right to arbitrarily abuse her.”

Devin was quiet for a long moment, and then he huffed. “Fine. I’ll tell Zach to back off.”

“Good.”

“Anything else?” Devin asked sarcastically.

Alex made him wait for it, then spit out a single word. “No.”

“Good.” Devin hung up.

Alex ran his hands through his hair again. If he hadn’t been making so much progress, he would have given up and gone to steal Anna away. But he was finally getting somewhere in his studies. Finally. The very fact that he had been able to threaten Devin successfully was encouraging.

Alex smiled. Very encouraging.

########

Thanks for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won’t you please take a moment to leave a review at your favorite retailer?

Thanks!

Marissa Honeycutt

Marissa's story of Anna began with a dream about being kidnapped with Adam Savage from the
Mythbusters
(Yes, really). Over the next year and a half, it morphed into the story you just read. She has several other stories in progress, one of which is based on her kidnapped dream.

When she's not writing or editing, Marissa is taking care of two young boys, training to be an astronaut, running her household, wrestling with gorillas, playing around on Facebook, promoting whirled peas, and busting her tush for her accounting degree. She enjoys chocolate, air conditioning in the desert's summer heat, really good strawberry margaritas, sleeping, and shopping.

Stalk Marissa
:

on
Facebook
at
https://www.facebook.com/MarissaHoneycuttAuthor

on
Goodreads
at
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8306428.Marissa_Honeycutt

On
Twitter
@Marihoneycutt

Reader’s discussion & support group for Part 1:
http://on.fb.me/1qlo0Iq

Reader’s discussion & support group for Part 2:
http://on.fb.me/1szorn9

Deleted scenes coming soon to Marissa’s blog:
http://marissahoneycutt.wordpress.com/