I cannot fucking believe this shit, I repeated over and over to myself as I lay on the cold tile of my abandoned new restaurant. Well, abandoned except for me and the piece of shit looming over me. Fuck! How that bastard managed to sneak up on me and crack my head open, I’ll never know. I couldn’t verify for certain that my skull was in fact busted open, but from the way it throbbed and observing the amount of blood spilled all over my white tile kitchen floor, it was a good assumption. Fuck that bastard.

“How’s it feel now, huh?” What? Am I in some horrible children’s after-school special? How do I feel? I feel like I want to pound your fucking head into the cement, you fucking runt!

But all that came out was a low moan. Goddamn, my head was going to explode, if it hadn’t already. The puke had a gun, so I had to play it cool until I could figure out what to do and how to get back to Harper. “Harrrrr—”

“Shut up, motherfucker! Don’t you dare say my wife’s name. She’s mine.” That’s the last thing I heard before he kicked me in the ribs repeatedly and the light slowly drained away.

I heard someone in the hall, so I rushed to open the door. “Oh, hi, Riley,” I said, disappointed it wasn’t who I thought.

“That was quite a welcome.” Riley snickered and sauntered up to me. “What’s up? You look worried.” She scoured my face. There was no hope in trying to fool her.

“Jack said he’d be back in time to take me to a movie. It starts in a few minutes,” I said, wringing my hands together. “The stupid alarm went off at the restaurant again. I mean, it goes off practically every other day, and it’s always some contractor coming in and forgetting to input the code.”

She looked me over again. “Can I come in?” Not one to wait for an invitation, she stepped inside and closed the door. “I can go with you. And Jack can meet us when he’s ready,” she suggested, swinging her keys on her finger.

“That’s sweet of you, but he’s not answering his phone or his texts. It’s just not like him to do that,” I told her and tried my best not to look concerned. Even though I was.

“He’ll turn up. Go make some coffee and we’ll hang out until he shows,” she said and made herself comfortable on the couch.

It was nice to catch up with Riley. It would have been even nicer if I hadn’t been out of my mind worried with where the hell Jack was. Half an hour later and still nothing.

“You can go home if you want. It’s getting late,” I said as I picked up our cups and plates from the coffee table. Anything to keep my mind off where my boyfriend was. “Don’t feel obligated to wait with me. I’m sure he just got caught up with work and turned his phone off or something,” I added rather unconvincingly and padded to the kitchen.

Riley smiled and grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch. “Nah, I’ll hang out here for a bit longer. Why don’t you go shower and get ready for bed? He’ll be crawling back with his tail between his legs soon enough.”

Man, I hoped so.

“I said, sit up, asshole!” the twitching lunatic standing in front of me said. Sitting seemed impossible, especially with my hands tied behind my back. Goddamn twit. I moved, and I was sure part of my brain leaked out. Dizziness and pain made me sick, but I’d rather die than give him the satisfaction of seeing me struggle.

Somehow, I managed to get to a sitting position. The warm fluid dripping down my neck must have been more blood. This was soon verified when my formerly white T-shirt turned red. Fuck, I was going to kill him. “Here, have some water. I wouldn’t want you to dehydrate before the show begins.”

Then the bastard started pouring water down my throat. I had no way to protect myself other than turning my head side to side, which hurt like a bitch. The plastic ties on my wrists dug into my skin when I tried to pull them apart. Not even the bleeding, raw skin stopped me from trying over and over again to get free.

The room spun while the psychopath laughed himself silly watching me choke and sputter. His laugh sounded like a bad episode of a brainless teenage cartoon. How did Harper ever stand this guy? Harper. I needed to keep it together so I could get back to her and Ava.

Where in the hell was that handsome hunk of burning love? Harper said the false alarms weren’t unusual, but she was clearly agitated. If he even thought about two-timing her, I’d remove his balls and feed them to him. But the question remained—before or after I kicked his ass? Just as I worked up a good torture fantasy, Harper’s phone went off. Now I liked to respect privacy and all that, but this was practically an emergency, right? I roamed over to her chair and peeked down at the illuminated text message on the screen.

Jack: Dear wife, I’ve got lover boy. Why don’t you come down to his new restaurant and get him?

Motherfucker of all the fuckers! Wasn’t that poor fucking timing. Harper’s ex had Jack’s phone as well as Jack, I presumed. I made up my mind quickly and went with my first instinct. It wasn’t always the right decision, but years ago, I learned to choose quickly and stick by it. In my work, you needed to think fast and move fast, not always in that order.

I swiped Harper’s phone while she was still in the shower and left her a scribbled note telling her I had to take off for work and that I’d be back soon. Closing the door behind me, I silently prayed that Harper would stay put and not worry too much. Come on, Sharp. There was a sexy man out there who needed saving. I took a quick detour into my apartment to pick up supplies and headed out.

I heard my phone going off, but dickhole wouldn’t give it to me. He just stared at it, fascinated as he sat and did whatever dickholes did, chuckling constantly. What a complete psychopath. I tried to calm myself in hopes of stopping the constant stream of blood flowing from my head.

What little blood I had left turned cold when I glanced up and spotted him texting on my phone. Fuck, no. Not Harper. “Leave her the fuck alone!” I yelled as loud as I could with bashed in ribs. Christ, that hurt. The pain seared through my body, making it difficult to remain upright.

He laughed again and scowled. “Shut up, asshole. As soon as she sees how pathetic you are, she’ll come back to me. She needs a real man.”

I chuckled now, and the pain that shot through my head and chest was excruciating. Instead of leaving it alone, I had to put in what might be my last dig. “Real man? Tell me, Gabe,” I said his name as though it was poison. “Does a real man refuse to go down on his woman? Ever? I mean, I’m glad you didn’t, buddy. But what the fuck is your problem? Do you know how delicious that woman is? You couldn’t put down your video games long enough to find out?”

Not surprisingly, he didn’t take kindly to my soliloquy. Instead, he came over to give what few unbroken ribs I had left a good beating.

I answered back on one of my handy dandy burner phones after I screamed out of the parking lot and got a reasonable enough distance away.

Me: Coming. Other phone broken. I answered as vaguely as humanly possible.

Blech, it felt dirty talking to scum. I never quite got used it. You could wash all you wanted, but that shit stuck to you—your body, your mind, your soul. No way of ever getting rid of it. But people needed saving, and for some reason, I was good at that.

As I drove, I tried to remember how he acted the few times I saw him at the apartment and again when I escorted him out of the bar. I needed to get into this asshole’s head.

Luckily, I had paid attention when Jack mentioned the location of his new restaurant. Otherwise, I’d be screwed. The night was quiet, not much traffic, thank God. Anxious to get there, I pushed my foot down farther and sped off to take down my best friend’s ex and make him wish he had never been born.

Jack’s new place was still very much under rehab. Scaffolding surrounded the exterior that was in varying states of repair. I noted faint light coming from the back as I crept in through the squeaky front doors. Fuck. So much for the element of surprise.

I positioned my gun in front of me, aiming it into each room I passed in case the little asshole tried a sneak attack. The light shone brighter the closer I got to the back where the kitchen likely was. Maybe he was baking me a cake.

At the doorway, I observed Jack sitting on the floor—well, more like leaning lifelessly against the stainless steel shelves. He’d lost a lot of blood from the look of the surrounding floor. He needed medical attention, pronto.

Gabe stepped out from behind the door and pointed a gun at me.

“What the fuck?” he said and, boy, did he seem pissed. Somebody needed a nap. The jackass never saw me the brief time he lived at the apartment complex. I made sure of it. Despite that, I prayed his eyes wouldn’t register any recognition from the night I kicked his useless ass out of the bar all those months ago. I was positive he never made the connection between Harper and me that night. To Gabe, I was just some crazy bitch who bested him at a bar.

And let’s face it, men were fickle creatures. We chicks looked a lot different with a shitload of makeup on and a short dress and heels. Right now, my face was naked, hair back in a cap, and my body was covered to an inch of its life.

His gun shook so hard in his hand, it was almost comical. And it would have been fucking hilarious if he wasn’t a crazy lunatic who had just kidnapped and tried to kill my best friend’s boyfriend. Criminals just took all the fun out of shit.

“I’m here to help. Now, put the gun down, Gabe, and we can all go home. No harm, no foul, okay?” I motioned slowly downward with the hand that wasn’t holding the gun. My heart drummed inside my chest, but I loved the adrenaline rush of confrontation and the eventual takedown. And I would take him down.

“You stupid bitch. Where’s my wife, and how the fuck do you know my name?” he shouted like the madman he was. Part of me felt a deep sense of relief that he didn’t recognize me. It would make this a lot easier.

Anger fueled my desire to slam this idiot’s face on the floor. In time, Sharp. Not much longer now. “She’s somewhere safe. Now, put the gun down and we can talk about this and get back to our regularly scheduled programming,” I told him in the calm voice I saved strictly for madmen. But he just got more irate and Jack needed help. Now.

“Put your gun down!” A blessed angel showed up in the form of Officer Stone, gun pointed to Gabe’s rotten, demented head. Thank God. My gun never faltered as the imbecile pissed himself right in front of us and dropped his gun.

“I hate when they make a mess, don’t you? When I became a cop, I didn’t think it would include diaper duty,” I muttered as I stepped over Gabe’s mess and restrained him. “Hey, handsome. You got your handcuffs handy? I just polished mine. I’d hate to get them all uriney,” I said as I winked at the very good-looking Officer Stone.

He rolled his gorgeous bright blue eyes at me and threw me his cuffs. “Can you dial 911 for my friend over there? He’s got a bit of a headache.” I nodded toward the currently passed out Jack. Poor guy. His chest still rose and fell, but with increasingly more effort.

“I’m on it, sweetheart,” he said and dialed his phone.

“Oh, good, stud muffin,” I said and gave him a scowl. “In twenty minutes, call his girlfriend on that phone.” I pointed to Jack’s cell on the counter. “Her name is Harper. Twenty minutes, okay? No sooner,” I said, looking at poor hot stuff on the ground. Stone was using a towel for compression on Jack’s head wound. He’d be okay, eventually. I’d seen worse. Much worse. “One more thing. I was never here.” I pivoted around to leave.

He ran after me. “Izzy, hold up. What the fuck am I supposed to say?” he whispered in a panicked voice, his hand now red with Jack’s blood.

“Use your imagination, honey. You’re real good at that.”

I got back to Harper’s apartment just in time to help her look for her phone. She turned the place inside out. Guilt seeped into my brain for stealing her phone, but it was all for the greater good.

Twenty minutes to the second after I left all the fun, Harper’s phone rang. Stone deserved a reward for a job well done. Amazingly enough, she found it stuck in a crease in the couch, where she’d already looked a hundred times. Ahem. What could I say? Sleight of hand was my specialty.

I braced for the heartache about to unfold for my friend, and I was there to drive her to the hospital, then held her hand as they did a million tests on Jack. He’d be just fine—like I said—but his recovery was going to suck. My brain focused on the word recovery because it was always a good night when someone was going to recover instead of...not. This was a good night.

Harper wanted to stay in the hospital with Jack, and quite honestly, I was fucking bushed. There was no energy left in me to fight her.

When I dragged my ass back to my place, there was a very hot Officer Stone waiting for me, leaning his hot self on my front door. “Well, I didn’t know you made house calls, Officer,” I teased and batted my eyelashes. He didn’t say a word while he divested me of my keys, opened my door, and shoved me inside. Hmm. Guess he was coming in for a visit.

“What the fuck did you pull tonight? Huh? Being the hero again? Fuck, Izzy, it’s going to get you killed one of these days,” he exploded and threw my keys onto the couch. Anxiety swirled around me as I thought once again about everything that could have happened. Of course, we all thought about the different directions our conflicts might have taken. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t. But thinking about the past benefited no one.

“Look, she’s my friend. They are my friends.” I ripped my hat off, and my hair tumbled down in waves.

He glared at me like I was from Mars. “Friends? You’re making friends while you’re working a job? I don’t think so.” His eyes followed my hands as I shook out my hair, acutely aware of every move I made.

“It just happened. Her ex screwed her around, and I was there to sweep up the pieces.” Literally. That was one huge ass TV.

“That’s not your regular M.O. You get in and don’t get seen. You know how it works,” he said. Yeah, I knew how it worked, and I completely fucked it up.

“These are nice, honest people. Nothing related to the shit I’m doing.” I turned around and took a deep breath. No way was I going to break down in front of him.

I heard his loud sigh and hoped like hell he was done giving me shit. “Jesus, honey. Come here,” he said in his sweet, deep voice, so thick it covered me in warmth all the way across the room.

“Stone, I’m good. Really. I still have my cover.” I hoped.

“Izz, come here.” He stared at me with his demanding eyes. His thick, tanned arms opened for me, urging me forward.

I really wanted to kick his sculpted hard ass out of my apartment, but I also really wanted to feel him right now, so I switched off the bitch and plodded toward him. He caught my arm when I was close enough and pressed me hard into his chest. “Fuck, I’m so sorry. This job sucks sometimes. I’m just worried about you. Everything’s good.” He stroked my hair, making my body shiver in his arms. “Jones said it was mysteriously good timing that some burner phone just happened to accidentally answer Gabe’s text.”

“Hmm, strange,” I mumbled into his muscular chest. His strong arms supported my weary body, and I soaked in his TLC like a sponge. It had been forever since I’d laid eyes or hands on this man.

“You give me the phone when I leave, okay?” he said into my hair. “I’ll get rid of it.”

“It’s my problem, Stone. I’ll deal.” I gazed up into his face. His crystal blue eyes stared down at me, hypnotizing me like they always did. Whoever heard of a purebred Italian with such blue eyes?

“Izzy, you’ve had enough today. I’ll take care of it,” he said and grabbed my shoulders. Shit. It was nice when he looked out for me.

“Fine, if it means that much to you,” I said, and he kissed my forehead. I’d like him to kiss me a bit lower, but we’d have to see about that.

“And your friend with the headache told me he thought his girlfriend’s neighbor was at the restaurant tonight.” Stone traced my bottom lip with his rough thumb, then looked into my eyes. “I convinced him you hadn’t been there and strongly advised not mentioning it to the police.” See? I knew Stone could handle it.

“What the hell were you doing at the restaurant? You scared the living shit out of me, popping up out of nowhere like that.” I frowned at him, but didn’t let go of his body, the only lifeline I held to the past.

He started laughing, and his hard body shook against mine. “Yeah, I scared something else completely out of that guy. Damn, that was funny.” He focused down on me and explained, “Officer Miller was giving McCallister and his girl a hard time at the station. They came in a couple of times to report that asswipe of an ex-husband, and, of course, Miller wouldn’t give them the time of day.” Ugh. The only thing Officer Davis Miller cared about was Officer Davis Miller. He liked his days quiet and would do anything to get out of doing extra work. Lazy ass. God, that guy needed to retire. “I took over and dealt with Harper the last time she came in to report him, and some of the officers and I have been doing drive-bys to check up on things. Tonight, when I saw your very hot ass running into the joint, I figured you could use some backup.” His eyes got lazy, and his hand traveled down my back to grab my behind and give it a slow, seductive squeeze. “I told the captain I was doing a perimeter check when I heard yelling and got suspicious.”

“How’d you get through the back door? I checked, and it was closed up tight because of the construction,” I asked, curious as to how he got in.

He chuckled and gave me his naughty smile. “I’m good at getting into tight places. You should know that by now.”

He was a good guy. Way too good for me. If I were a better person, I’d send him on his way. Lucky for me, I wasn’t.

“A true protector of the innocent,” I said to him as I moved my fingers into his gloriously thick, wavy hair and forced his head down closer to mine. He widened his stance and moved in. “I’m so glad you found me,” I said against his soft mouth that spread fire through my body. That’s all I got out before he crushed his lips against mine.

“What a time for me to lose my phone,” I yelled at him, again recounting the night of horror we just had. Jack looked like he had been in a boxing match without the use of his arms. And his spineless opponent wasn’t wearing gloves or a conscience.

“I’m fine, but I need you to keep it down. My head is killing me,” Jack said as he squinted in pain and held his head. He made me close the drapes. The light was hurting his brain.

“Okay, okay, shit. Okay, I’ll shut up,” I said and claimed his hand. “I was so scared, Jack. I knew something was wrong. You always get right back to me.”

“I’m fine. Just really sore. I need a few days to recover, then I’ll be good as new.”

Ha. Yeah, right. Mr. Immediate Blood Transfusion with Multiple Broken Ribs and a Severe Concussion was going to be out of here in a few days, all back to normal. I didn’t think so, but I was willing to let him live in the land of denial while he healed.

The officer who interviewed us in the hospital room said I was lucky I didn’t get Gabe’s text. Right now, I wanted to concentrate on Jack getting better. Not thinking about what would have happened if I’d received that text and driven down to the restaurant myself.

Or if that police officer hadn’t been passing by at just the right time.

I also didn’t know how to deal with the fact that I married a psychopath. Sure, most women called their exes that at one time or another, but I actually did marry a freaking, bonafide psycho. The officer was really kind and gave me some pamphlets and names of counselors to call. Maybe I’d call someone after Jack got better.

“I know you’ll be fine. I just feel awful that all of this is because of me.” The bed squeaked when I leaned my elbows on it to hold his hand.

“It’s not because of you. The man is certifiable. That’s not your fault. We already discussed this.”

We did, at length. But I needed to hear him say it another thousand times or so before I believed him.

“Look at me,” he almost whispered and squeezed my hand. I looked into his bloodshot eyes, and my heart broke again. “The whole time he had me, I was just so pissed off I couldn’t get to you. I kept trying to think of ways to get out, but nothing was working. Then something that pissed me off even more was that I’d wasted so much of the short time we’d had together working. Always fucking working. It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to Ava. Things are going to change, and I wanted to live long enough to apologize.”

I launched myself at him. Concussion be damned. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me in tight to his broken and bruised body. Knowing I caused him pain, I pushed away just as quickly. “I understand why you’re gone so much, and it’s okay. You’ve got important things to do. Spending more time with you would be awesome, but I don’t want you to change your whole life around just for me.”

His red eyes and face full of multi-colored bruises stared deep into my soul. “I want to change my whole life around just for you.”

I gave the big guy a few days to heal before going to visit. My hope was not only that he’d be feeling better, but also that he had enough time to talk himself into believing I wasn’t there at his attack.

Hospital smells assaulted my nose as soon I walked in. Cleaning sprays and roast beef. Not exactly complimentary. The elevators creaked and strained on the ride up. Jack was only on the third floor, which was a good sign. Mom always said that the higher the floor, the closer they were to Heaven’s gates.

He had a private room, of course. The curtains were only half-drawn, and Jack’s rainbow-colored welts showed on almost every inch of exposed skin. In the academy, they called me the Ice Princess because I rarely let shit get to me. I mean, I was human, but in times of high stress, for some reason, it was easier for me to compartmentalize danger, injury, and reaction than it was for most people.

Seeing Jack in the bed, barely recognizable, knocked the wind out of me. Christ, that idiot did a number on him. Harper had assured me Jack would be fine, but in that moment, I had my doubts.

“How’s it going?” I asked when his eyes met mine.

“Fantastic,” he grunted as he tried to hoist himself up to an almost sitting position.

“Can I help you there, big guy?” I asked and fluffed up some pillows behind him.

He lay back with a loud sigh. “I’m glad you came. I need to thank you for saving my life.” Aaand there we had it. He remembered me being there.

“No need for thanks. I didn’t do anything that you or anyone else wouldn’t have done.”

What sounded like a strangled goat trying to laugh came out, and he winced something awful, clutching his ribs with one arm. Ugh. Poor handsome devil. “You did a hell of a lot,” he said before settling back down again. “More than any normal person would have or could have done. We both know that, Riley. If that’s even your real name. Is that your real name?” he asked an impossible question.

“Why wouldn’t it be? How hard exactly did you hit your head?” I smiled, hoping to instill some doubt. He wasn’t biting, though.

“Not that hard. I passed out before you left, but I was more than conscious for the first part of the show.” A few moments later, he let out a resigned sigh and said, “I don’t know if I want the woman I love hanging around with,” he raised his chin, “whoever you are.”

My chest tightened with fear, and my stomach knotted. He wanted to take the only best friend I’d ever had away from me. Slowly, my fists clenched and then opened. Hands up in front of me in surrender, I said, “That’s probably a wise decision. But you know I’d never do anything to hurt Harper. She’s my best friend.” My eyes welled up. I had stated my case. “It would kill me not to have her around.” I took a deep inhale to calm myself. “But I get where you’re coming from. In your shoes, I’d likely say the same thing. What you don’t know is that I also keep tabs on her. Always have.”

He looked me up and down, assessing. “That’s the thing. It’d kill Harper, too, not having you there. She doesn’t have that many people around her who genuinely give a shit about her like you do. You’re family to her. If I cut you out of her life, she loses. Big. But if your shit somehow finds her, then I lose. Big.”

“Do you really think I’d allow anything at all to happen to that woman? I’m careful. None of my shit finds Harper. Ever. I’m the one who watches out for her in ways you can’t.”

His eyes bore into mine like he wanted to verify if every word I said was true. “I’m not going to say anything to her, but if I get so much as a feeling that she’s in danger, I’ll change my mind pretty fucking fast. You hear me?”

Waves of relief rippled through my body. I let out a harsh breath and gave him a mock salute. “Loud and clear. None of my shit finds the woman you love. Gotcha. Thanks, Jack. Hope you feel better soon.”

I glided through the door and got about halfway down the stairwell before my legs gave out. I collapsed against the cold brick wall, holding my head in my hands, sobbing. I couldn’t remember the last time I allowed myself to cry. Years. It had been years.

Tears flowed for the friend I’d almost lost, for the lies I’d told and all the reasons I had to tell them.

Maybe one day I’d have a normal life. A bungalow, white picket fence, the works. Hysterical laughter bubbled up and out of my mouth before I could stop it. Get ahold of yourself, Sharp. That will never be you.