(Penny)

“Yes.”

One word. It completely changed everything. I was too far away from the door to make a run for it. Noah had at least told me the truth. He killed Erik’s brother. And now Erik wanted revenge on him.

And I was dragged through the middle of it all.

“Who told you that?” Noah asked.

“This is bad,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have gotten involved with this story. With the idea of these fights. Of anything.”

“Then go,” Noah said. “Make a run for it.”

“I can’t!” I yelled. “He’s going to kill me.”

“Who?”

“The detective. He’s doing this off the record. He wants me to find out all I can about you. He wants to hurt you bad, Noah.”

“And Marcos wants to hurt you,” Noah said. “So we have something in common here.”

I watched as Noah closed in on me again. I put a hand out and stopped him. “Did he deserve it?”

Noah just stared at me. I hated that he wasn’t answering me. What kind of man was he really? I shook my head, not wanting to believe any of this. I preferred to meet up with Noah after a fight, in the bathroom, and have fun. The smell of man and sweat. The touch of his slippery skin. The strength of his muscles. The way his heart raced with the adrenaline still flowing. That was what I had wanted out of this.

“So we’re stuck together for now,” Noah said. “If you’re not leaving, then neither am I. You stay here until I figure out where we can go hide. If Marcos finds you, he’ll kill you. Then he’ll kill me for protecting you.”

“You never answered my question,” I whispered.

“Erik is a detective now?”

My heart jumped. “You really know who it is. What it’s about.”

“Of course I do. The only other person who can answer your questions is Seth. Last time I saw him, the front of his head was fucking missing. Want to keep asking me questions?”

I stared down Noah. “How do we get out of this then?”

“Is there someone you could call to bring you clothes?”

“Yeah. I could do that.”

“Then do it. Get clothes here. You’re staying put until I say so.”

“So, what, I’m kidnapped again?”

Noah moved at me. He put a hand to my waist. “At least you’re not tied to a chair, right? Don’t push at me, Penny. My best friend is dead because of whatever you stepped into. And now there’s people after me. People after you. I’m supposed to be a fighter and nothing else.”

“You’re a murderer,” I said. “And if you don’t tell me everything, then I’ll just leave.”

“You want to leave?” Noah asked. “Then go through me.”

I could have fought or wrestled him or something. Truthfully, he was my only hope at the moment. He was willing to let me stay at his place. He was willing to protect me. So I had to suck it up and stay.

“I’ll make my phone call,” I said.

“You do that. And don’t try anything funny. I’m not the bad guy, Penny. No matter what you think.”

“And I didn’t do anything to kill Seth,” I said. “No matter what you think.”

The pain moved over Noah’s face. His lip started to curl a little. His hold to my waist grew tighter. I touched his wrist and pushed. I couldn’t fall to temptation again with him.

“I need a beer,” Noah said.

“Got anything stronger?” I asked.

“As strong as you fucking want,” he said.

His eyes devoured me.

I sucked at this resisting temptation thing.

* * *

“Are you okay?” Dani asked as she plopped a bag on the floor outside the apartment.

“It’s a work thing,” I said. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

“Whose apartment is this?”

“A friend’s. I’m working an angle. You know how Andy is, right?”

“He’s an asshole. My father is still pissed at me that I took the job.”

“Well, you’re kind of rich, Dani. You don’t need to work.”

“It isn’t about working. I want my own life, Penny. You wouldn’t understand it. People see me and they see my father and see money.”

“Thank you for doing this.”

“Sure. I grabbed all I could fit. How long is this…”

I touched Dani’s shoulders. “Hey. If you have any time off from work, you should take it. Things with Andy have been getting weird. I don’t know what’s going on with him. That’s kind of why I’m staying away right now. I think you should do the same.”

“Penny, are you in trouble?”

“No,” I lied. “It’s just… it doesn’t matter. Thanks for helping me.”

“Hey, where’s your car?” Dani asked.

“I have it somewhere else. I’m sort of hiding out here.”

“Wow,” Dani said. “What kind of story is this?”

“It’s deep. So you better get going.”

Dani tried to read me up and down and I did my best to just stand there with a smile on my face.

She walked away and I went back into the apartment.

I heard the shower running and rolled my eyes. Just what I needed. The temptation of Noah being naked. In the shower. Water rushing all down his perfectly cut body. Water dancing along his muscles.

I was suddenly jealous of water.

Of water.

I dropped my bag and took a deep breath. I reminded myself that outside the apartment there were people waiting to kill me and Noah. The worst part? Different people. Erik wanted to kill Noah because Noah killed Erik’s brother. Marcos wanted to kill me because I was writing a story about underground fighting. Or maybe it was more. Maybe Marcos and Erik had a history together.

Shit. I was tied to the police now. To a detective. To a rogue detective.

The more I thought about it, the deeper it all seemed to go.

The bedroom door opened and there appeared Noah.

He wore nothing but a black towel. He had a beer bottle in his hand. The towel hung way too low on his body, barely balled up on the left side. The sides of his body were wide up top and then cut together, meeting at the edges of his stomach muscles. They all worked down into the towel.

He was the hottest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I’d already slept with him a handful of times, but my body felt like I’d never been touched. A warm rush moved through my body, my fingertips tingling, along with between my legs.

“I’m jumping in the shower,” he said. “Everything okay?”

“Got my bag,” I said and pointed.

“Good. Put it in the bedroom. Relax. We have nowhere to go, for now.”

Noah walked to the bathroom.

“Noah?”

“What?”

“Can I sit in the bathroom? I just don’t want to be alone right now.”

“Sure.”

He disappeared and I grabbed my bag. I carried it to the bedroom. The last time I was in the bedroom with him we were sleeping together. He took care of every need I had, right down to holding me as I confessed to him about my father. Something I never did with anyone. I felt like I had dragged him into this as much as he pulled me into it.

Had I really gotten Seth killed? That wasn’t my fault. Seth kidnapped me. Then he got drunk. And Noah saved me. Noah saved me because I had been fucking him. So, maybe it was my fault.

I went to the bathroom and it was full of steam. I shut the door and instantly heated up. Not just from the steam either, but because of what I knew stood behind the shower curtain.

“You coming in?” Noah asked.

I sighed and bit my lip. My knees bent as my heart and mind battled between right and wrong.

“No,” I managed to say.

“Your loss.”

I know.

The bathroom was silent except for the running water. I could hear the water hitting Noah’s body. The way it collected and crashed to the floor harder.

I was so turned on, it was insane.

“I’m sorry for what I said,” I said.

“What?”

“About you being a murderer. I… I’m scared, Noah.”

“I know.”

“I’m sure whatever happened… if you had to do it…”

“Penny,” Noah said. He pulled the shower curtain back enough to show his face. The water dripped from his hair and off his chin to the floor. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. I’m more worried about finding a way to get you to safety.”

“Why? You don’t know me, Noah. What if I’m the one who is doing all this to you? Stirring it all up?”

“I shouldn’t trust you, but I do,” he said. “I don’t want you to end up dead in all this. You don’t deserve that. You were telling me the truth about your father. I could tell.”

He shut the shower curtain.

I made fists and shook my head.

One second he’s pinning me against the wall, ready to threaten me. The next, he’s dripping wet in the shower and saying he trusts me.

“He said something about my father,” I said.

“What?”

“There were two sets of reports. One report said he was beaten to death. Just something random. Tragic. The other report says he had drugs and was shot before he was beaten to death.”

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

“He’s using it all against me,” I said. “He’ll help me find out the truth if I give up information about you. He wants to hurt you.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Noah said. The water turned off. He grabbed the black towel. A second later the shower curtain opened and Noah stood there, dripping wet, the towel back around his waist. “Yeah, he does want me dead. But he wants more. He wants a revenge he doesn’t understand.”

“Noah, if you do trust me…”

Noah grabbed his beer from the sink and drank. He then stood a few inches from me. The heat pouring off his beautiful body. The steam filled my lungs, making the room feel really small.

“Do you have anywhere you can go?” he asked me. “Out of state?”

“No. I have nothing. Dani’s my only friend. She brought me my bag. I hinted to her to take off. Go spend time with her father. I’m worried Andy might lean on her if I don’t check in.”

“Makes sense,” Noah said. “I’ll get you out of this. Give me a chance to figure it out. If you’re gone and stay gone, then Marcos…”

“He’ll kill you. You said that.”

“Probably.”

I reached forward, unable to resist touching Noah’s body. My hand moved over his chest, feeling the hardness of his muscle.

“I don’t want you dead either.”

“If we stay together, we both could die.”

“I don’t like any of our choices, Noah.”

He touched my face. “Neither do I.”

Our eyes burned for one another. My instinct took control.

I reached forward and grabbed at his towel.