Chapter 5
The moment Delaney opened her eyes, she knew she wasn’t in her room at the Heritage Inn. No, she was in Josh’s bed, in his apartment, overlooking a spectacular view of the lake, wrapped in his blankets after a night filled with one unexpected orgasm after another. She had no idea sex could be that good.
Or that she’d want that much of it.
She blinked a few times, focusing on the blue water rolling gently against the dock, the sunrise turning the black sky to blue. Stretching, she smelled coffee, and sure enough, there was a mug on the nightstand, a packet of sugar, and a bottle of powdered creamer, with a note: I’m in the shower…
Josh was the man she’d been searching for in the men she’d dated over the years. He was perfect in every way. One of life’s cruel jokes.
She hiked the sheets up over her body as she reached for her phone.
One text from Gray Eyes.
Only 2 days left…
Bile hit the back of her throat as she stared at the case holding her phone, remembering how she had turned the camera on when they moved to the bedroom. She gagged.
It’s done. I’m going to go home today. You can get it then.
She rushed to send a reply then slammed her phone onto the nightstand, screen down, struggling to control the urge to vomit as she rolled her legs to the side of the bed.
Maybe she could duck out before he returned. All she needed to get was her computer from the Inn, and she could jump in her car and leave forever.
“You’re awake.”
She jumped as Josh stepped from the bathroom, steam following him into the room, carrying the thick scent of fresh, musky soap. He wore a white terrycloth towel draped around his waist. Water still beaded in his blond hair.
“I can make eggs, if you’re hungry.” He stretched out on the other side of the bed. “But that is about the only thing I can cook. Maybe French toast, but I tend to burn it.”
“I’m still stuffed from last night,” she said, holding the covers to her chin. She needed to get out of this apartment before she burst into tears.
“Cake at two in the morning tends to ruin one’s morning appetite.”
She tried to laugh naturally, but it sounded more like a high-pitched shriek. “I’m not the one who brought it to bed.”
“I needed the calories after the workout I had last night.”
“I’ve never met anyone like you before,” she said. “You’re full of good lines and could probably get any woman into bed. You’re a player, but you don’t really act line one.”
“Because I’m not one,” he said.
“But you don’t want a relationship, which means you, for lack of a better words, play the field.” Her stomach turned over. Making him out be a predator of some kind wouldn’t change what she’d done. “You use women.” But maybe it might help her justify the next step in saving her brother.
“Actually, I don’t.” He rolled to his side. His face tightened. “I don’t trust women. I haven’t dated since I got burned a little over a year ago. You’re the first woman since then I’ve even been remotely interested in.”
“You’re trying to tell me that you haven’t been with anyone sexually in the last year.”
“Until last night, that would be a true statement.” He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “I’m not using you, even though I’m not sure I’m capable of a deep, meaningful relationship. Then again, here you are, and I don’t want you to walk out the door.”
He covered her mouth with his lips in a hard, wet kiss. Her lips burned from the pressure, and she was sure he bruised them. “I don’t want just anyone,” he whispered in her ear, his tongue dancing on her earlobe. “I want you, but I have to be careful around you.”
“Why?” she asked, pressing her hand against his chest, tears burning the corners of her eyes.
“Because you’re the type of woman I could fall for, and I’m not ready for that.”
A long, agonizing moment passed as they gazed at each other. She couldn’t force her eyelids to blink, nor rip her gaze away. She had no idea how she was going to live with herself after this was all said and done.
He cleared his throat. “I have to be at work in forty minutes, so if we don’t stop this, I’m going to be late. I’d like to see you again tonight.”
“I’d like that, too.” She should have just told him she was going to write, or go out on one of those evening cruise boats. No matter what she told him, it would be a lie. She certainly had no intentions of seeing him tonight.
Or any other night.
“That’s my girl.”
“Please don’t call me that,” she said. “I don’t belong to you.”
“All right.” He cocked his head back, narrowing his gaze. “I don’t mean anything by it. Just a saying.”
“Okay.”
“I get home today at around six. Call you then?”
“Sure.” But she planned on blocking his number, otherwise she might be tempted to tell him the truth. Everything. Her brother. Gray eyes. Everything.
His tongue traced a path across her shoulder, up her neck, before landing on her lips. “I need to get dressed,” he whispered. “I’m sorry we don’t have more time this morning.”
“Don’t be.” She cupped his face, pressing her lips against his in what she knew would be their last kiss. “I’ll see myself out.”
“I don’t think so.” He jumped from the bed, finding her clothing and gently placing it on the bed, before finding a pair of his own jeans and hiking them up. “My mother would be very disappointed if I didn’t walk you home.”
“Suit yourself.” She fumbled with her clothing under the blankets.
“Being shy after last night?”
She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “I’m…ahh…”
“You’re beautiful and should be worshiped. Admired. Appreciated. Now, let me watch you get dressed since I'm going to be stuck on a boat all day in eighty-degree weather…alone… Better yet…let me take a picture.”
“No.” She wiggled quickly into her panties, then struggled with her shirt.
When she got stuck, he came forward and smoothed it down across her middle. “I was kidding about the picture.”
Slipping her legs into her skirt, she stood. “You really don’t have to walk me back to the Heritage Inn.”
“I want to.” Lacing his fingers through hers, he tugged her out of the bedroom and through the living room.
All she wanted was to pack her bags and drive away as fast as possible. Before lunch. Never to come back to this area…ever. “My phone,” she said as they reached the bottom of the stairs leading to the restaurant’s side parking lot. “I left it on your nightstand.” Her voice screeched. How could she be so stupid?
“I’ll go get it,” he said. “Wait right here.”
She was about to run up the stairs for fear he’d see what she’d done when someone grabbed her arm, yanking her into the humid air and dragging her across the pavement. “Hey,” she yelled, but a hand covered her mouth while someone else punched her in the gut. She kicked her feet up in the air, trying desperately to break free and protect herself from the fist that came hurtling toward her face, landing on her right cheek. Crackling pain ricocheted into her head while the noise around her muffled out as if she had been submerged in water.
Another fist hit the side of her head near her eye.
“Listen carefully,” a man’s voice said.
She tried to get a good look at her attacker, but her vision blurred…and he wore a dark hat pulled low over his head, his face silhouetted by the dark morning sky. The sound of footsteps pounding the pavement echoed with her heart. The second man had left, leaving her with the one who had hit her. She squirmed, but he tightened his grip and yanked at her hair so hard she figured he’d taken out a handful.
“I’m going to walk away, and you’re going run to your hotel to call the police. When they get there, you’re going to tell them that State Trooper Josh Burdett did this to you.”
“What?” She stopped squirming. “You want me to do what?”
“You tell the cops that Josh beat you, and you spent the night with him. You tell them he got rough with you when you didn’t do what he wanted. Now, where’s the camera?” The man twisted her and slapped her across the face and shoved her head to the ground. Immediately her vision blurred and a sharp pain jolted between her temples.
“Police. Freeze.” Josh’s voice rang out from somewhere across the parking lot. “Put your hands up. Back away from the lady, then kneel.”
Tires squealed in the background as a loud bang rattled her already pounding head. She heard footsteps and a few cuss words, followed by another loud bang. She curled up in a ball next to something hard and metallic.
“Two men in a four-door Honda Accord. Dark blue,” Josh said, his voice getting closer. “License plate GBH1289. Heading south on Route 9. I also need an ambulance at The Boardwalk.”
“No… No!” She shook her head, squeezing her eyes tight, making her one eye hurt more, but she didn’t care. “You did this to me. You beat me! Get away from—”
“What are you talking about?” He knelt, grabbing her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “Do you know who those men were?”
“Let go.” She tried to shrug free from Josh’s firm grip, but to no avail. “Please! I need to do this. If I don’t, they’ll kill Liam!”
“Who’s Liam?”
“My brother. He’s being held…” She blinked, trying to focus, but crushing pain throbbed through her temple, and black spots danced before her eyes. “They are going to kill him.”
“Who and why?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know… I don’t know…” she whispered, cupping her face, feeling something wet and sticky on her fingers. “You did this to me… You hit me…”
“Let’s get you upstairs.” His strong arms eased under her legs and around her back as he hoisted her off the ground.
“No,” she said, but she didn’t have the resolve to struggle. “They are going to kill my brother if I don’t say you did this to me, and then they are going to kill me.”
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
* * *
Josh set Delaney on the sofa in front of the picture window, fighting the urge to interrogate her. The State Police were only ten minutes out, if that, and he needed to know exactly what he was dealing with.
“Take a breath.” He brushed her hair back, careful not to put any pressure against her swollen cheek. “Stay right here. I’m going to get some ice.”
She curled herself up in a tight ball, pushing herself deep into the corner of the sofa.
Quickly, he found a small bag and filled it with ice from the freezer, then wrapped it in a dish towel.
“What did those men want?” he asked, gently pressing the cold compact to her bruised face.
“I have to do what they said, or Liam’s dead.” Devastation and shame laced her voice.
He tilted her chin, dabbing the blood trickling down her cheek with a napkin, ignoring all the warning signs that told him to run, and run fast. He carefully kissed her temple before sitting on the coffee table. “What did those men want? Whatever it is, tell me, otherwise I can’t help your brother or you.”
“I’m supposed to tell the police you did this to me.” She opened her eyes, but avoided his gaze and focused instead on the ground.
He sucked in a breath. “So, Craypo did send you?”
“Is that his name?” She lifted her chin, revealing damaged blue eyes, sucker-punching his sensibilities. “He told me his name wasn’t important…” A tear rolled down her black-and-blue cheek. “I just killed my—”
“You didn’t kill anyone,” he said. “We’re going to have company in a few minutes, so what do I need to know about those men?”
She let out a long breath, shaking her head. “Gray Eyes—”
“Who?”
“The guy who told me I had to do this, or they’d kill my brother. I don’t know his name. He never told me, but he had the weirdest Gray Eyes I’d ever seen.”
“Gray eyes, silver hair. Almost albino-looking?”
She nodded.
“That’s not Craypo. It’s his main muscle, Bobby Getz. Go on.” Josh inhaled sharply, then let it out slowly. His mind fractured between the young, beautiful victim and the demonizing woman who took him to bed.
“I didn’t know they were going to beat me,” she whispered. “That wasn’t part of the deal. I was only supposed to record us so they could use it to ruin you.”
“Record us?”
“I swear, I didn’t want to do it. They made me.” She stared at him with pleading, bloodshot eyes. “Last night, I… They gave me this recording device—”
“You recorded us having sex?” He fisted his hand, wanting to ram it through a wall.
“I didn’t have a choice. They had my brother. The only family I have left.” Her voice quivered, but there was a twinge of resolve in her words. “They showed me pictures of Liam being beaten. I can show you. They’re on my phone. What was I supposed to do?”
He didn’t have a chance to registered her words because his fellow Trooper, Stacey Sutten, waltzed into his apartment.
“Hey,” Stacey said. “We got a lead on the car, so hopefully, we’ll know something shortly.”
“That’s a start.” Josh continued to stare at Delaney, who dropped her gaze to her lap. Either she was truly terrified, or she had to be the best actress he’d ever met. “Stacey, this is Delaney. She was hired by Craypo—”
“I wasn’t hired.” Delaney snapped her gaze to his. Her blue eyes narrowed and turned dark and fiery. “They forced me. Look at the pictures and threatening texts on my phone before you go tossing accusations at me.”
“Point taken,” Josh said. Even if she was telling the truth, she hadn’t spent the night with him because she liked him. A betrayal he’d have to deal with after this shit-storm was over. “She was forced, by Craypo—”
“And I still don’t even know who that is.” Delaney continued to stare at him. Her lips drew into a tight line. Anger burned in her eyes. “Or why he wants to ruin you. All I wanted was to save the only family I have left.”
“So you’ve said.” He swallowed. Once again, he’d been played, but sadly, this time, he’d actually seen it coming.
“Josh, let me ask the questions.” Stacey sat, pen and notebook in her hand.
“I know the drill,” he muttered, unsure of who he was more pissed at: himself, or Delaney.
“What are you being forced to do?” Stacey leaned forward, sitting on the edge of the chair, acting impartial and empathetic.
“I’d rather not say,” Delaney said softly.
Josh held up his hand before Stacey could tell him to be quiet. “She was supposed to record us having sex, then these two guys showed up, used her face for a punching bag, told her she was to report I beat her, then I guess the sex tape would go viral, bringing down a Trooper decorated with the highest medal for public safety.”
“Delaney, is that true?” Stacey asked.
“Pretty much,” Delaney said, “but I was only doing it to save Liam. He’s being held hostage. They beat him. I have pictures.”
“Can I see them?” Stacey asked.
Delaney nodded. “They’re on my phone.”
Josh reached into his back pocket, pulled out her phone, then handed it to Stacey. “How does Craypo and Getz contact you?”
“Just Gray Eyes—I mean Getz, or whatever his name is. He texts me.”
“Is that on your phone, too?” Stacey asked.
“Yes,” Delaney said.
“Did you actually record us last night?” Josh asked.
She tilted her head, lifting her gaze. The tears still rolling down her cheek said it all. “I honestly don’t know if it worked. I’m sorry, I only—”
“I know. Your brother. I get it.” And he did. If her story turned out to be true.
“I have two days, or they’re going to kill him...” she said, letting her words trail off.
“We don’t know that anything happened to Liam,” Stacey said, handing the phone back to Josh. “The images of her brother and the texts look authentic, but we’re going to need to check on them.”
“You think I’m making this up?” Delaney turned her attention to Stacey.
“You could be. Craypo threatened to kill Josh a few times, so anyone associated with the man, I’d find suspicious.”
“I’m not associated with him! I hadn’t even heard his name until today. You have to believe me.”
“When did Craypo’s man contact you?” Stacey asked.
“Couple of weeks ago.”
“Did they give you any information on Josh? Lay out a plan for you to follow? A script?”
“Gray Eyes, Getz, whoever…gave me the name of a hotel, said I had a reservation. He said I had a week to deliver the recording.”
“Who paid for the hotel?” Josh interjected while he continued to study Delaney and her reactions. He didn’t want to believe her, but something about the way she spoke, her pleading eyes, told him there was truth to her words.
“I did,” Delaney said. “I was given Josh’s picture. I refused at first, but then they ran me off the road, threatened me, and then showed me a video of them beating Liam while he begged me to save him.”
“Knock, knock.” Tristan’s voice rang out across the room. “I heard there was some excitement here this morning.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Josh said. “Got anything for me?”
Tristan stood in the middle of the room, glancing between Delaney, Stacey, and Josh. “You want me to do this here? Now?”
“I do.” Josh didn’t care what Delaney thought of him looking into her background.
“Okey dokey.” Tristan sat on the sofa, his eyes narrowed. “As you know, the basic background check on Delaney didn’t uncover anything.”
“You’ve been investigating me?” Delaney’s shocked expression made Josh want to laugh.
“I told you. I don’t trust women.” Josh arched a brow.
“He doesn’t,” Stacey said, “and with good reason. The last—”
“No need to get into that.” Josh’s pride couldn’t handle letting this woman know about the last one who played him. “Find any connections to Craypo or anyone in his organization?”
“Not with Delaney,” Tristan said, “but Liam, her brother, is an entirely different story.”
“How so?” Stacey asked.
“Let’s just say Liam has been seen recently with Craypo,” Josh said.
“What?” Delaney sat upright, her gaze darting between Josh and Tristan.
“I got this surveillance camera from the downstate office,” Tristan said. “It clearly shows your brother in a nightclub with some of Craypo’s men, and he certainly doesn’t look like he’s being held hostage.”
“That can’t be true.” Delaney lifted the tablet, shaking her head.
Josh gritted his teeth, keeping his mouth in a tight line, otherwise he was going to do or say something he’d regret later.
“Is that your brother?” Stacey asked.
Delaney nodded.
Josh leaned over her shoulder, looking down at the video. “I think I know that dude.” He wished he could turn back the clock just a day. It still would have hurt, but maybe not as bad…for either of them.
“My brother? From where?”
“I saw him when I was undercover in Craypo’s organization.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Afraid not,” Tristan said.
She glanced between the tablet and Tristan. “Liam’s not in danger? He’s not being threatened?”
“Not based on what I’ve gathered so far,” Tristan said. “I’m sorry, but your brother is hanging with some very bad people.”
“You have to be wrong,” she said with wide eyes. “Maybe he’s being forced to be there… Why would they use me like this?” She continued to stare at Josh as if she searched his face for answers.
“That’s a good question,” Stacey asked. “What’s your relationship with your brother like?”
“It’s not great, but I can’t just write him off. He’s all I have,” Delaney said. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m afraid it gets worse,” Tristan said. “Liam visited Craypo in jail.”
Delaney shook her head harder. “Are you telling me my brother used me? That he did this to me?” She touched her cheek, wincing.
“I’m not saying he sent you here, but he didn’t stop it, either,” Tristan said.
“Oh, my God.” Delaney tried to stand, but the moment her butt left the sofa, she fell over backward. “I thought everything I was doing was to protect… I wouldn’t have done… I wouldn’t have come here and…” She covered her mouth, dropping the tablet to the ground as she ran from the room, slamming the bathroom door closed.
Josh heard her gagging and coughing as he picked up the tablet, sitting in the seat she’d occupied just a few seconds ago, looking at the images on the screen.
“Want me to talk to her?” Stacey asked.
“Might be best if you all leave now. Let me talk to her alone.”
“I’ve got to file a report,” Stacey said. “Not going to be able to keep what happened under the rug.”
“I know,” Josh said. “Do it right. That way, when we do catch Craypo and his dipshits, it will be airtight.”
“What are you going to do?” Stacey asked. “Craypo is going to come after both of you.”
“I’m painfully aware.” Josh rose, making his way toward the bathroom. “I need a couple of hours to think.” He also needed to figure out what he was going to do about Delaney.
And how to keep her safe.
“Don’t do anything until you’ve talked it through with us,” Stacey said. “Touch base in an hour or so.”
“Will do.” Josh shut the front door, twisting the lock. The only thing he knew for sure was that this wasn’t Craypo’s only plan. He always had a back-up or two in case one failed.
He also knew that if Delaney failed, it wasn’t her brother that was going to pay the price, but her.
And maybe with her life.
For the next five minutes, Josh tapped on the bathroom door. Nothing.
“Open the door, Delaney.” He pounded harder this time. “I have a key, and I will use it if you don’t let me in.”
“Go away,” she whispered. “I’ll leave when I know you’re gone, and you’ll never have to see me again.”
“Just open the door, please.” Part of him wanted to rip into her, telling her exactly what he thought. Yell at her. Make her feel even worse than she did. But the other part of him wanted to take her in his arms. He understood what it was like to be betrayed by someone you loved.
“I don’t want to see anyone,” she said.
“I’m the only one here.”
Silence. Another two minutes ticked by.
“You’re going to have to come out sometime.” He rattled the door. “Last warning before I use the key.”
He held the key in his hand, but didn’t have to use it. She tried to scoot past him, keeping her head lowered, but he laced his hand around her bicep. Her body stiffened.
“Please.” She closed her eyes. “I just want to get my things and go home before everyone in this town knows what I did.”
“I’m not going to go around telling people, and neither is Stacey. If there’s anything on the recording device, we can delete it,” he said, “and you’re not going home.”
“Yes, I am.” She jerked her arm free, but he grabbed it again, this time stepping in front of her.
“You’ll be dead within a day if you go anywhere, so you’re staying here.”
She turned her head when he tried to touch her chin.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
“No,” she whispered. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
He loosened his grip. “I’m pissed. I’m hurt. I’m an entire list of things right now, but first and foremost, I’m a cop. My job is to protect people, and I’m not letting you walk out of here knowing that Craypo, his men—your own fucking brother—are going to want to kill you. So…” He let go of her arm. “If I can set all the other shit aside, and I’m the one you wronged, I think the least you could do is look at me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, tilting her head, her blue eyes filled with sadness. Her swollen cheek had a few small cuts, and her eye had started turning black-and-blue.
He shouldn’t have left her at the bottom of the stairs alone after he’d seen the car and the suspicious-looking men the night before.
“What you did was pretty shitty.” He let out a long huff of air, tracing his finger gently over her bruised cheek.
“It’s way past shitty, but what would you have done in my shoes?”
“I’m a cop, so I would have done something entirely different, but I do understand why you did it,” he said. “Tell me something. All that talk about the guys you dated. Those things. Not ever having an orgasm with a man before. Was all that a line? Or bullshit to get me to sleep with you?”
“The only thing I ever lied to you about was why I was here. Everything else is true. Everything, but I wouldn’t believe me if I were you.”
“I want to believe you, but the only reason you ever flirted with me was to hurt me.”
She shook her head. “No. To save my brother. That may be semantics, but I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I get the logic, but it doesn’t change what you did.” He glanced around the apartment. “Where’s the key to your room at the Heritage Inn?”
“In my purse. Why?”
“I’m going to bring all your things here.”
“What? No. I’m not staying here with you.”
He palmed her cheek. “Those assholes are going to come back, and I’m not going to let them kill you.”
“It’s my problem, not yours.”
“You made it my problem when you decided it was okay to record us having sex.”