“Stuart?”
Where had he come from? Greg kept her close. She didn’t have a chance to say more when he positioned her behind him.
“LaPierre,” Stuart said, putting his hand on his waist belt next to his weapon. “I need to talk with Mattie.”
Greg’s handsome expression suddenly turned very dark and dangerous. Mattie stepped to his side, but he put his arm out. “You can talk to her from there.”
The men glared at each other.
“It’s a private conversation.”
“As private as your Sergeant Montgomery locking her in a room, stripping off her clothes and trying to scare the shit out of her tonight?”
Stuart’s gaze shot to her. “Mattie?”
She nodded. “It’s true. Greg and my other friends intervened before he did any real harm.”
“I really need to talk with you. Please give me a couple minutes.” He turned a leery gaze on Greg. “I won’t hurt her.”
“No knives behind your back tonight?”
Stuart’s brow flexed and held out his hand to her. “Please. It’s important.”
She looked up at Greg and his jaw was razor sharp with tension.
“I don’t have a lot of time,” Stuart said. “I’m on a ten minute break, and I told them I was somewhere else.” He reached out and took her hand, pulling her away from Greg.
Looking over her shoulder, she said, “I’ll be okay. Be right back.”
He stopped outside of Greg’s striking distance. “Did Raine really do that to you? And where did he do it?”
She nodded. “We were at the Dark Angel looking for a face I might recognize. Someone who might have taken Greg’s knife.”
Stuart bowed his head and shook it. “This is getting out of hand, and I don’t have enough to prove a thing.”
“Why did you have the knife behind your back the other night?”
Stuart smiled warmly and gently gripped her arms. “Because I was going to give it to you. I know you’re close with the coroner. I wanted him to have another look. I’m walking on thin ice here. I don’t know if Sergeant Montgomery is covering something up, but it sure seems like it.”
The heavy weight of doubt lifted from her conscience. “I knew you didn’t want to hurt me, but you said some weird things.”
“Like I wanted to keep you safe?”
“You didn’t mention the safe part.” Relief washed through her, knowing Stuart was still a good cop.
“What are you doing with LaPierre?”
“Trying to figure out who is responsible for the murders. Just like you. I thought Montgomery was somehow involved in the killings. Turns out, he just doesn’t want the good citizens of Victoria to know he dabbles in BDSM. He was afraid I’d put it in my column. He was trying to scare me.”
A vehicle drove into the pint-sized parking lot, and Stuart guided her out of the way. “I’m not convinced Montgomery doesn’t know more than he’s sharing with the task force.”
“The Dream Squad is staking out the Dark Angel. They think the Ripper uses the place to vent his darkness between kills.”
He held her hand and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “You know about the Dream Squad? Shit. I’m embarrassed.”
Mattie chuckled. “Because I found out, or because I found out you’re one of the members?”
Stuart rubbed his chin and cleared his throat. “The latter.” He glanced over her shoulder.
“Why do you keep looking at Greg?”
His expression curled with dislike. “Let’s figure this Ripper case out together. I know I’ll be breaking at least a dozen rules, but I want you close. Going to the club was a dangerous move, Mattie. What if the Ripper was there? Worse, what if he saw you there?”
She shrugged.
“No.” He shook his head. “Don’t shrug this off. Dump the sailor. He can’t keep you safe. Not like I can.”
A little spring released in her heart. It’s not that she didn’t trust Greg. She did. Completely, but Stuart was like family just because he was a cop, and it felt familiar and safe, except for the little fact that he’d put something in her drink.
“LaPierre’s a free man, and he should get the fuck out of here.” He lifted her hand and placed it against his mouth, giving it a quick kiss. “I wish I could take you away from here, but I have to finish this case. What I’m worried about is the look on his face. He doesn’t just want to protect you. He wants more.” Stuart gave her a fleeting smile. “I can’t blame him. I should have asked you out when I first saw you. I don’t know if it would have made a difference now, but maybe you’d be safe if you were…” He pinned his lips closed. “This is so fucked up.”
“Stuart, I know you dosed my drink the other night. Why?”
His brows shot up. “How did you know that?”
“Because I saw you,” she lied, protecting the Admiral’s presence at the restaurant.
“Listen.” He squeezed her hands. “I knew you wouldn’t come home with me. I’ve been calling your house and you weren’t answering. Don’t have to go through the police academy to figure out someone else was watching over you. Montgomery is a hard-ass. He thinks you’re a threat to the case and he’s invincible. As a police officer, he almost is. But if you stay with me, you’ll be safe.”
Greg’s arm slid around her waist. The two men stared at each other. Male posturing at its finest.
“Time to take you home.” Greg gently pulled her away with him.
Stuart didn’t shift his gaze.
“Stay away from her,” Greg warned.
Stuart’s head jerked as if what he said meant nothing. “Take care of her, LaPierre, but don’t get too close. When this is over, you’re going to have stiff competition.”
“If you really cared about her, you’d tell her the truth so we’d know what we’re up against. But what you haven’t figured out is you’re up against me. I wouldn’t take that too lightly.”
“You’ll end up dead,” Stuart growled.
Greg stepped into Stuart’s face and Mattie’s adrenaline began to pump hard. “Come on, Greg. Don’t. Let’s just go.”
“There’s two things I hate in this world. A corrupt man who’s in a position of power, and the second is a fucking liar. If something happens to Mattie, you won’t have just me tracking you down, but the entire RCMP force on the island and about half the military in Esquimalt.” Greg lowered his head and got a little closer. “You tell Montgomery when a man thinks he’s untouchable, he’s made his last mistake.” He glared at Stuart hard enough to tear a hole in him. “And that goes for you too.”
Mattie yanked on Greg’s hand and he turned like some titan walking from the arena after slaughtering the lion. The power radiating off him scared her. It scared the hell out of her.
For the first time, she caught a glimpse of the JTF2 warrior hiding inside of him and immediately she thought of Kayla. How in God’s name had she stood up to his brother?
Mattie quickly got in the car and watched Stuart as they drove out. He hadn’t moved.
* * * *
Mattie excused herself as soon as he parked in his garage. Not what Greg had wanted, but he could understand her confusion.
He threw his car keys on the counter and pulled a beer from the fridge, flopping down on the couch. A few minutes later Kayla joined him. She sat beside him, tucked under his outstretched arm on the back of the couch and rested her head on his shoulder. They sat like that for about fifteen minutes. They’d done this since they were teenagers, kids still. When one of them was hurting, the other always felt it.
Finally, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and placed his head next to hers.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean for Mattie to get hurt.”
“I know you didn’t. We went for dinner. Everything was fine. Great, in fact. Then when we left the restaurant Constable Stuart Hellman decided to pay a visit.”
Kayla sat up and looked at him. “What happened?”
He relayed the conversation and she let out a pent-up breath.
“I don’t know. He talks in circles.” She leaned against him and stared at the patio doors and harbour beyond.
“Tell me about it, and it’s got Mattie all messed up.”
Mattie came in the room and stopped dead. “Sorry,” she said looking at them confused.
“For what?” Kayla asked.
“For interrupting.”
Kayla shrugged and looked over at him. “You’re not interrupting. Sit down.” She rose and crossed her arms. “One thing’s for sure, somebody is going to get hurt if we don’t figure this out.”
“The RCMP’s working on it too,” Greg mumbled, deep in frayed thoughts.
“Night, Mattie.” Kayla squeezed her shoulder on the way out.
“Join me?” he asked, hoping she would.
She did, but not the way he expected, sitting down across from him on the other couch. Guess their close encounter with Stuart doused his chances of turning up a fire under the both of them.
“Do you two always do that?” Mattie asked.
“Do what?”
She brushed her arm back and forth, more than a little perturbed which made him sit up.
“What?” he asked again.
“There, talking like you’re married or something.”
Perplexed, he shook his head. “I don’t understand?”
“Never mind,” she said and trotted to the kitchen.
He followed and trapped her against the counter as she filled a glass with water. “Explain why you’re upset.”
She gulped back the water, then poured another glass and downed that one too. She thumped the glass down on the counter and twisted to face him. “You and Kayla. You were all cuddled up together, talking, and I don’t know…never mind.”
When a woman said ‘never mind’, it meant pay attention. It also told him that she was bothered by it.
“Mattie.” He gripped her chin. “I guess we shouldn’t do that anymore.”
“Do what you want, but I’m sure the Admiral wouldn’t be impressed,” she said haughtily and traipsed back to the couch.
Again, he followed, just because he liked the look of barely concealed jealousy on her. Spicy girl was a good name for her. It also meant his thoughts about Stuart owning Mattie’s heart might be premature, and he wasn’t going to let her stray to his side of the fence if he could help it.
When she sat down, he sat right next to her. And when she tried to shift, putting space between them, his arm crossed her shoulders and drew her back.
“Talk to me.” He’d made the mistake of not being open with Diana. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“It’s like Kayla has two husbands. You and the Admiral.”
“Three actually. My brother was the original.” She curled around and glared at him as if he mocked her. “What’s burning a hole in that mind of yours? Whatever it is, I’ll tell you.”
“What if I don’t want to hear it? I mean, you said you don’t love her like, well, it’s kind of weird. I mean, you two are so close and you were together-together,” she said, starting to talk with her hands at the same time. “How long were you together, together?”
He chuckled. “You mean, how long were we lovers?”
She nodded.
“About nine years.”
“Nine yearssss! You gotta be kidding me.”
“No. Off and on. I was away on deployment for a lot of those years. Seven deployments to the Middle East. Between those, short term missions.”
“You never lived together?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He chewed on his cheek. This is where things could get sketchy.
“Because,” he stalled but she was all ears. He ran a hand around the back of his neck and thought about it. “For one thing, she was still married to my brother, although he was in prison.”
“That didn’t stop you from—”
“No, it didn’t stop that. Kayla was a mess after she survived Daniel’s final attack. She recovered, though the doctors said she wouldn’t make it for the longest time. There was trauma to her brain. Kayla didn’t want to get help. She needed it, but refused to go. In the years following, I was there for her when I wasn’t away. Eventually, being so close, sharing what we shared.” He shrugged. “It became physical. But it was Austen who really helped her. He forced her to seek professional help. She hid her anxiety from him for the longest time, but with the Shark on her tail, she had a meltdown.”
Mattie’s expression changed from perturbed to interest. “Your brother thought you were having an affair with her before he almost killed her.”
He nodded. “We’d always been close. I was her confidant. During the first ten years of their marriage, I took her to the hospital after Daniel beat her, or burned her, broke her arm too many times to count.” He scrubbed his forehead, tension building inside him with the nightmares in his personal Pandora’s Box hammering at the walls to be released. “Because we spent time together, my brother thought we were having an affair under his nose.”
“But you weren’t?”
“No. When I was home, Kayla and I relied on each other to get through those years.” Greg sighed. “After my brother was in prison…” Fuck, he never admitted this to anyone before, and he wasn’t proud of it. “The truth is, Kayla was my victim too. I seduced her, and I kept seducing her.” He bit his lip. “I asked her to divorce Daniel and marry me many times, but she wouldn’t, and she was right. We’d never be able to totally get on with our lives and not feel some kind of guilt. Over the years we both had bouts of it. Then Kayla fled to the States when Daniel was released from prison.”
“Would he have hurt her again?” Mattie asked, totally absorbed in the story.
“Worse. He wanted her back, and I knew in my heart she’d forgive him. Daniel got help while he was in prison, but he was the same man deep down. One day, maybe not then but some day, he’d hurt her again. Maybe kill her. Her loyalty is something I’ve never seen in anyone else, except the Admiral.” He removed his arm from around her shoulder and clasped his hands. “I told her a lie. I told her Daniel blamed her for his imprisonment. Wanted revenge. She fled to San Diego while I was overseas.”
“You really have been together for a long time. Some of it as lovers. Some of it as family.” She fiddled with the hem of her pant leg. “It really is complicated, just like you said.”
“Not for us. Not anymore.”
“I have a question.”
He nodded, not surprised her journalistic talents would kick into gear. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you really believe in your heart that you don’t want her anymore, that you’ve moved on?”
“It’s not one thing, it’s two that makes me certain.” He reached for her hand and drew her closer. “Our past is one, but the other is about the future, finding someone who intrigues me. Someone I can laugh with, make love to, take care of.” She’d leaned a little closer, her eyes unblinking. “Know anyone like that?” The lowest part of his belly clenched tight with yearning. The one that always stirred to life when she was close to him.
“I might. If I met someone who was…unattached.” She gave him a shy smile.
A growl of hungry desire rolled from his chest. He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and head upstairs, but not if she still had reservations. Greg would have to do his part to reassure her that his history was buried and new grass had begun to grow over old bones and ghosts of the past.