Sunny

Unlike a lot of people, I liked Mondays. Usually after a weekend of alone time, I was ready to get to the shop and have some human integration.

Not this Monday.

Because my weekend hadn’t been lonely. It had been extremely . . . eventful. Which had included some amazing sex, throwing up (okay, that wasn’t so great), cooking with Zeke, talking with Zeke, going on surveillance, followed by a whole lot more amazing sex. And honestly, I wasn’t ready for it to end.

I heard him moving around downstairs and stared at myself in the mirror. This was it. The end. Where we said goodbye.

Neither of us wanted a relationship, right? Zeke definitely didn’t want one. So really my roller-coaster emotions were irrelevant. Pointless. I drew in a deep breath through my nose and shook my head. Enough, Sunny. I wasn’t some schoolgirl with a crush. I needed to get past this, get on with things, and put Zeke behind me.

I nodded at my pale reflection . . . then added more blush. I still wasn’t feeling the best, but sometimes stomach bugs stuck around. Nothing makeup couldn’t cover. I was leaning in, putting on lipstick when I felt Zeke’s presence, the intense weight of it. I turned to the door. He was leaning against it, looking at me, watching as I started packing everything up.

“You almost ready?” he said.

I forced a smile. “Yep.”

“Cage said your place is rigged up like Fort Knox. No one’s getting in.”

I turned fully to him. “Thank you, for everything. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t stepped in to help. I hope . . .” I bit my lip, contemplated my next words, and pushed on. “I hope we can still be friends, after . . . everything.”

His expression closed off and he pushed away from the door. “We better get going.”

Ouch.

So that was a “no” then.

“I’m right behind you.” I watched him walk down the stairs with my bags then glanced at the bed, remembering the way he’d held me last night. How good it felt waking up pressed against him.

I’d drifted off and when I woke next, I was alone.

Snatching up my purse, I rushed down after him.

I climbed in his car and Zeke drove me home. He followed me in and showed me the new additions to my already extreme security, then waited while I changed for work. He drove me to the shop as well and followed me in, checking the place before he made me promise to keep the security cameras on at all times and headed for the door.

He stopped before walking out. “Call me if you need to, if you’re worried about anything.”

I nodded.

His eyes were on mine, then they dropped to my mouth before sliding back up. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Then he left.

Tonight.

The way my heart soared at those four words had me frozen to the spot as I stared after him.

Not an end then, not yet.

Not tonight anyway.

I tried to shake off the buzz of excitement thrumming through me, because that rush of excitement, it was a giant warning that I was in serious trouble. That I needed to protect myself, my heart, but as it turned out, I was too damn weak to say no.

In an attempt not to think about any of this, I gave the shop a quick dust and ran the vacuum over the floor. I’d just opened the shop and was deciding what to work on this morning, when Julia walked in. I hadn’t talked to her for a couple days. But she’d been messaging me regularly, and I was tentatively optimistic about where our relationship was headed. She also hadn’t asked for money since then, either, and I hoped like hell that she wasn’t here for that now.

She walked straight to me and gave me a quick awkward hug. I hugged her back. She wasn’t a hugger. That she was now either meant she wanted to put in the effort and work on our relationship . . . or she wanted something.

I smiled at her.

She smiled back. “You’re looking a lot better.” Then she frowned. “Well, the scar is healing nicely, but you’re actually looking kind of pale.”

I sighed. “I’ve been feeling a little off. I’m sure it’s nothing, a bug I picked up or something.” I waved a hand. “Never mind me. You’re looking great. How are things?”

“Yeah, things are looking up. Bobby’s got a new job and he’s been spoiling me.” Her cheeks were flushed and she looked genuinely happy.

I was glad to hear this. I just wished she wouldn’t always rely on other people for her happiness. “That’s great, Julia. Really great.”

“I know, right?” She leaned against the counter. “What about you, are you seeing anyone? Because Bobby has some pretty cute friends if you’re interested.”

I took in my stepsister. All my life I’d wanted someone to confide in, share girl talk with. And right then, I wanted to share with her. Maybe that was another way we could connect? “Well actually, I am seeing someone. It’s nothing serious, just . . . fun.” I wasn’t sure fun was the right word for Zeke and me, especially not with all the drama lately. But I had no idea how to describe Zeke’s and my relationship. How to describe Zeke, for that matter.

Her eyes went wide. “Really? You’ve been banging someone?”

I laughed. “I guess you could call it that.”

“I’m glad. It’s about time you blew those cobwebs away.”

She was teasing and it was . . . nice, despite the subject matter. “How do you know I had cobwebs?”

“Am I wrong?”

I grumbled and she laughed.

We talked for a while longer, then she left—without asking for a thing.

Zeke

I sat beside Neco in Tomas Mendoza’s office. We were meeting in his strip club tonight. The crime boss had businesses all over the city, but he spent a lot of time here. The man across from me was hard and cold, ruthless, but he looked after his girls. No one touched them and got away with it.

Neco had worked for the guy once a long time ago, when they’d both lived in our old neighborhood. The same neighborhood my family had moved to when my father had been transferred. Not a great place to grow up in, not after coming from Roxford, but it’d been all we could afford at the time. That’s how I met Van and Hunter, then Jude and Neco.

Tomas sipped his whiskey. “You know I don’t give anything for free, yes?”

Neco stiffened beside me. He’d been against me coming here as soon as I’d suggested it. But one of Tomas’s guys had been talking and I heard through one of my contacts that Tomas had recently turned down someone trying to pay his debt in jewelry.

I jerked my chin up. Short of murder, I was willing to do whatever it took to find the fucker who hurt Sunny. At this point, I didn’t have anything, and I was getting desperate. So yeah, I knew I’d have to repay him some day, probably soon, and I was prepared to do it. My soul was already blacker than black. What was one more mark when I was already going to hell?

Tomas nodded his approval. “The guy’s small time. Borrowed money from me. I don’t usually deal with that trivial shit, but this guy is young, bloodthirsty, the kind of man that will do pretty much anything and not lose sleep. I hoped to bring him into the fold when he failed to meet his payments. I can always use men like that.” Tomas took another sip of his drink. “He tried to pay me in jewelry first. I sent him away. Cash or nothing. He came back with the cash, so I assume he found a buyer for it.” He shrugged. “You win some, you lose some.”

“You have a name,” I asked.

Tomas sat back in his chair. “Kyle Miller.”

Neco glanced at me. “You ever heard of this guy?”

“No, but we’ve got nothing else. Let’s check him out, see what we dig up.”

Neco dipped his chin and we both stood.

“I’ll be in touch, Zeke,” Tomas said when we headed for the door a short time later.

I didn’t doubt it.

Sunny

I walked around the counter and picked up my ringing phone.

Julia.

“Hey Julia, I was just closing up . . .”

“Please, help me,” she whispered.

I went on full alert. “What’s going on?”

“Bobby, he’s drunk. H-he gets mean when he’s like that, and he . . . he got rough this time. I’m scared, Sunny. He’s passed out now, but he won’t be for long.” She sobbed softly. “I don’t want to be here when he wakes up. I don’t have money for a cab. Please, come and get me, please.”

I was already grabbing my purse. “Let me call the police . . .”

“No police. Promise me no cops.”

Crap. “They can help . . .”

“He said he’d really hurt me if I ever called them, that he’d make me pay. He will, Sunny, he’ll do it. Promise me you won’t call them, promise me . . .”

“Okay, Julia. I promise.” I grabbed my bag. “I want you to get out of the apartment, wait downstairs where there are other people.”

I heard a rustling noise. “Okay.”

“I’m on my way. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I quickly locked up and rushed out to the street to hail a cab. I’d always disliked Bobby, had from the first day I met him, but I’d never suspected physical abuse. I felt ill, imagining what Julia had been through with that asshole. How many times had this happened and she’d kept it hidden?

I was outside Julia’s place fifteen minutes later. She was leaning against the side of her building. She had a hoodie on, zipped up, hood yanked down to cover her face. As soon as she saw me she rushed over, almost collapsing in my arms. I hugged her tight. “It’ll be all right now. Let’s get you away from here.”

She didn’t have anything with her, and clung to me as I led her to the waiting taxi. I was climbing in when I heard a shout. Bobby came stumbling out, looking furious and charged toward our car, yelling Julia’s name.

“Drive,” I yelled at the driver.

He saw Bobby coming for us and put his foot on the gas.

Julia was crying beside me, shaking, and I put my arm around her and pulled her against me. “How long has this been going on?”

She looked at me and I sucked in a breath at her black eye and split lip. “Years.” She shook her head. “I can’t do it anymore, Sunny. I can’t do it anymore.”

I wished I was strong enough to beat the shit out of that asshole in that moment. Make him feel what it was like to be hit by someone physically stronger than you. “You don’t have to. He’s not going to touch you ever again, I promise.”

We clung to each other the rest of the ride back to my place, and as soon as I got her inside, I secured the house and set the alarms. Then I led Julia upstairs and cleaned her up. We were in the kitchen making coffee when someone knocked on the door.

Julia jumped and there was no mistaking the fear in her eyes. “Do you think it’s him?”

I walked as quietly as I could to the front door and peeked through the peephole. I breathed a sigh of relief, and shook my head. I unlocked the door quickly, and let Zeke in.

His eyes moved over me as soon as he stepped inside and as always, didn’t miss a thing. He took in my harried expression and frowned. “What the hell’s going on?” Then his gaze moved beyond me to the kitchen.

“Who’s that?” Julia said, sounding kind of panicked.

“This is Zeke . . . my friend.”

“I don’t want him calling the cops.” Then she looked at Zeke. “This isn’t any of your business, just go, would you?”

“I’m not calling anyone,” Zeke said lifting his hands, gaze moving over Julia, no doubt taking in her bruises. “I just came to check on Sunny.” He looked down at me, and yeah, he wanted answers. Now.

“This is Julia, my stepsister . . .”

“Julia!” Bobby’s voice came muffled through the door at that moment, followed by him kicking it.

Zeke looked at Julia again. “That’s your man?”

She bit her lip, but then nodded.

“He did that,” he motioned to her face. “He hit you?”

A tear streaked down her cheek, and she nodded again.

“You want me to get rid of him?” he asked, but going by the expression on his face, the way he was now holding his body, that was about to happen whether Julia wanted Bobby gone or not.

“I . . .” she shook her head. “I don’t want to see him. Please, make him go away.”

“Wait here,” Zeke said to us, then opened the door. Bobby charged forward, but Zeke stopped him with a hand to his chest and shoved him back.

Bobby started swearing and lashing out, screaming for Julia. Zeke had him face first against the wall outside the door in a couple of moves. They were a similar height, both lean, but Zeke was all muscle and strength. He was also an ex-Navy SEAL. Bobby didn’t stand a chance. And I had to admit seeing him like that, being overpowered, made to feel small, made me want to jump up and down and clap my hands. He deserved that and a whole lot more.

“You like to hit women?” Zeke said, low.

“This has nothing to do with you, man,” Bobby said through gritted teeth. “I’m here for my wife. That’s it, then I’m gone.”

“She doesn’t want to go anywhere with you.” Zeke tightened his hold on Bobby. “You’ve got two options. Either you walk away now, or you leave here in an ambulance, understand?”

“Julia!” Bobby yelled again.

Zeke jerked him back then shoved him into the wall.

Bobby gasped. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“He’s a badass Navy SEAL, that’s who he is,” I said from the safety of my front door. “He can kick your ass, Bobby, you worthless piece of shit.”

Zeke’s eyes lifted to me, and I thought I actually saw them sparkle with humor. My lower belly fluttered.

Bobby tried to jerk free of Zeke’s hold then pointed to me. “This is all your fault, you rich bitch. Waving all that fucking money in front of us. You cheated Julia out of what was hers . . .”

“That’s enough,” Zeke growled in his face. “What’s it going to be?”

Is that really how Julia felt? She’d said similar things to me over the years, now I wondered if they were her words or his.

“I’ll leave,” Bobby spat.

Zeke shoved him back toward the steps, and Bobby stumbled down them to the sidewalk.

“This isn’t finished,” he said. “You hear me? This isn’t finished.”

Zeke stayed at the door watching until Bobby was gone, and I pulled a sobbing Julia into my arms.

Later that night, I was lying in my bed, Zeke beside me, both of us still breathless from the way he’d just made me come, from the way he’d come, and feeling kind of guilty about it, since Julia was down the hall and more than likely heartbroken. Zeke turned to me in the darkness and I felt his eyes move over my face.

“She going to be okay?”

I nodded. “I’ll make sure of it. I should have known something was up . . .”

“It’s not your fault, Sunny. None of this is. You can be there for her, but it’s up to her now.”

He was right. Didn’t stop me from feeling guilty, though. “She’s worried about him showing up here again. I wish there was somewhere I could take her, somewhere Bobby won’t find her.”

“Not a bad idea. You’ve had enough shit to deal with.”

I sighed. “She needs me. We may not have had the best relationship, but I’m all she has.”

His hand slid over my hip. “Leave it with me. I’ll put some feelers out, see if I can find her somewhere safe.”

I turned to him, moved by his offer. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t,” he said.

I didn’t know what to say. That’s exactly what she needed. “You really are a good guy behind all those growls and fierce looks, aren’t you?” I said by way of a thank you.

He was quiet a few seconds. “I thought I was a badass Navy SEAL.”

I didn’t miss the humor in his voice and it did funny things to the center of my chest. “Are you making fun of me?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

He most definitely was, and I loved it. I rolled into him and slid my hand down his abs. They tightened as I glided over them, then down farther. I curled my fingers around his hardening cock. “No, I don’t think you’d dare, not when the woman you’re not teasing is lying here contemplating the best ways to make you moan.”

“Is that right?”

“Mmmhmm,” I said.

“What’ve you come up with?”

His voice had dropped low. I shivered. I loved it when it did that. “Well, since you’re not making fun of me . . .”

“Never,” he said.

God, my face hurt from smiling so wide. “Which is good, because if you were, I would have been too snippy to do this.” I leaned in and pressed my lips against his, rolling onto him more, then I slid down his body, trailing more kisses as I went. I looked up at him when I reached his hips and smirked. “Prepare to moan, badass.”

I was rewarded with a chuckle.

Then I got my moan.