Chapter Five
“I don’t think this is right,” Lydia said.
Henry stood in the corner of Caleb’s office while his friend told her what was going to happen. They’d spent the night together in his bed, and he didn’t know what to say to her. She was the first woman to be in his bed, and he didn’t even need to leave a payment as no services had passed between them.
She wore one of Donna’s maternity shirts and drawstring pants. The clothing swamped her and looked completely out of place. She looked maternal in the clothes even though there was no baby.
“You’re Donna’s best friend. I can’t let anything happen to you, and this is our fault that we’ve brought you into this. After Darren, I hoped not to draw you into any of our shit, but it happened and I can’t apologize enough.”
Lydia held her hand up. “I don’t care. It wasn’t something we knew was going to happen.” She looked behind her at him. “We made a mistake arguing like we did.”
“I know, but you’ve got to listen to him. I’m going to be the one to take care of you, Lydia. After what happened the last couple of days I don’t want you alone.” If any of the bastards started sniffing around Lydia, Henry wanted to be around to kill them. No one was going to help him take the men out. Henry wanted that privilege all to himself.
“If you’re happy to be with me then I’ll agree to it. I don’t want Donna worried either.” Lydia turned back to look at Caleb. “Thank you for responding quickly.”
“Henry can be a total bastard and piss me off, but I wouldn’t let anything happen to him either.”
Caleb stood as Donna entered carrying Luke.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“I’m going to take Lydia home so she can rest. I’ll deal with her job and take care of her.” Henry stood away from the wall, offering his hand to Lydia. He noticed this morning that she moved a lot slower than normal.
She joined him, smiling at Donna.
“Oh, you don’t have to leave immediately.”
“Yeah, I do, Donna. If I don’t go home now I never will.” Lydia pulled Donna in for a hug. “I’ll keep in touch, I promise.”
Henry moved toward Caleb. “I need to borrow the car.”
Caleb was already passing him the keys before he finished talking. “Take care and try not to find trouble or hurt Lydia. I don’t want to have to deal with Donna being pissed.”
Donna was rarely pissed with Caleb.
Taking the keys, Henry broke up the women’s hug and helped walk Lydia down to the car.
Both of their friends stood at the entrance waiting for them to leave. He secured Lydia into the car then moved toward the passenger side. Giving Caleb a wave, he got behind the wheel and started the car up.
“Would you take it slowly? Donna squeezed me a little too tightly.”
He took the drive slowly, easing out of the gates and taking off into the city. Henry missed the potholes in the road, making sure to go easy.
“Why didn’t you scream or yell or something?” he asked, annoyed that Donna hadn’t hugged her easily.
“I don’t know.” She tugged at the bottom of the shirt. “God, I can’t believe I’m wearing these.”
“They’re cute.”
“I’ve no intention of being a mother. Donna’s sweet. Motherhood suits her, but God, these are a nightmare.”
He laughed at the disdain in her voice.
“You better not tell her I said that.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t. If I said anything awful to Donna, Caleb would kick my ass and be happy while he did it.”
“She’s a lovely friend but doesn’t have the best taste in clothing.” Lydia sighed, running her hand down her legs.
“If it makes you feel any better, I think you look cute.”
He looked toward her, seeing her cheeks heat under his compliment. “Are you blushing?”
“A little. I don’t know how to take you right now.” She pushed her hair behind her.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve never been the nicest man to get to know. I don’t know. You’re coming across as being kind of sweet.”
He gasped, turning to look at her. “Don’t ever tell anyone that I’m being sweet.”
“Are you going to stop visiting your whores?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Jesus, woman, you’re going to give me fucking whiplash with the change of conversation.”
“Answer the question.”
Henry pulled into the parking lot for her apartment. The rest of the cars were not as classy as Caleb’s. Cutting the engine, he glanced over at her. She was resting against the door, staring at him.
“I don’t know. Why do you ask?”
“Last night you said that you hated going to whores. I just wondered if you were going to make a change or stick to doing what you clearly like doing.”
Was she jealous?
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ve not found a woman to look past the scars. I’ve got needs, and for a price whores fill them.”
Tears were shining in her eyes. “It’s, erm, it’s good to know.”
She scrambled out of the car, confusing him more.
Following behind her, it didn’t take him long to keep into step beside her.
Her movements were slow as she was still in pain. He didn’t rush her.
“What’s with the attitude?” he asked, opening the door for her to go through.
“Nothing is wrong. I’ve not got an attitude.”
They walked toward the elevator only to see that it was out of order.
Lydia cursed. “Great, this is not my day.” She pressed a hand to her head.
What was he missing?
They walked toward the steps, and he made sure to stand behind her. She lived on the fifth floor. He’d be having a word with maintenance and the landlord in the next couple of hours. By the time they made it up the first flight of stairs, she stopped, pressing a hand to her ribs.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t worry. Take your time.”
“How are you doing it?” She leaned against the wall and looked at him through hooded eyes.
“What?”
“Not hurting.”
He smiled. “I’m not the one with the cracked ribs. Come on, you can lean on me.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. Henry was careful not to jar her body or cause her any more pain.
“Thank you,” she said, taking the steps slowly.
“No problem.”
Together they made their way up to her apartment. Nothing had changed since the last time he came here. He had the keys and eased them into the lock, opening the door with ease.
“I don’t like how little you take care of yourself. There should be a lot more security here for a woman living alone.”
“I rarely cause problems, Henry. The only problem I see is the fact I hang around with a woman who has criminals for friends.”
“We’re not all bad criminals.” He locked the door, looking at the flimsy piece of metal keeping other people away. “This is not going to do at all.”
“What do you mean? I’ve never had any problems before. This is my place, and I’ve never had any problems with it.” She lowered herself onto her ratty sofa.
Her space was small yet filled with so much personality. It was vibrant, like the woman. He was shocked by how feminine her space had become since he last visited. The last time he visited being when he killed her then-boyfriend. It was not a good idea to bring that up. Staring at the lock he knew he needed to take their safety in his own hands.
“We’re not staying here.” He moved from the sitting room and opened the first door across the room. He found the bathroom, and the door next to that was a store room.
The only door left led him straight to her bedroom.
Pulling out his cell phone he dialed Caleb’s number.
“You’ve only just gone. Are you having trouble already?”
“No. Change of plans. There’s no way she and I can stay here. It’s unsafe, and there’s no way I’m not sleeping just to keep us alive.” He opened doors to her wardrobe finding a suitcase. “I’m going to take her to my condo.”
“Seriously? Is there something going on that I don’t know about?”
Henry paused. There was nothing going on between them even though every time he saw her all he wanted to do was kiss her. “No, nothing is going on. I’m trying to keep her safe. She doesn’t deserve to be hurt.”
Glancing at the door, he saw her watching him. Her lips were formed in a perfect O as she stared from him to the bed.
“I’ve got to go. If you need me I’ll be at the condo. Find out everything you can from Drake.”
“You’re not hiding, are you?”
“I’m not hiding, but I’m not leaving her alone for the next couple of weeks. It’s what the doctor said for her. You wouldn’t want Donna to be pissed at you.”
“No. Fine, I’ll let Donna know that you’re taking care of her friend. Nothing better not happen to her or I swear it will be you dealing with my wife.”
“Unlike you, Donna doesn’t scare me.” He hung up the phone and started going through her wardrobe, grabbing sweat pants and shirts.
“What are you doing?” She stayed by the door watching him.
“You need rest so you’re all better. If it wasn’t for me being a total bastard to you, we wouldn’t be in this situation. We’re going to my place. It’s a condo within the center of the city. It’s nice and quiet. We won’t be disturbed there.”
“What’s wrong with my place?”
“You’ve got a tiny lock that I could take down with one kick. Anyone can get to us and I don’t trust the new business deal we’ve set up with Bill and Leon.” He threw underwear into the suitcase then looked at her women’s perfumes. Scooping them up, he placed them on the suitcase as well.
“We’re leaving right away. I suggest you grab anything you want. We’re leaving.”
She didn’t put up a fight and moved past him to kneel on the floor. He watched her ass thrust up in the air as she delved under the bed and pulled out a shoebox. His curiosity got the better of him. He looked over her shoulder in time to see the gun glinting up at him.
“What the fuck did you get a gun for?” he asked, taking a step back as she picked it up.
“After Darren, I got scared. I don’t want to die. I’ve been practicing how to shoot.”
Henry stepped out of her way as she pointed it off in another direction.
“Fuck. Baby, put that gun away. You’re going to shoot my dick off if we’re not careful.” He stepped closer, extracting the gun from her fingers. “Right, I’m going to have that.” He checked the gun and swore as he saw there was no safety on. She’d been storing a gun with no safety on. “This isn’t worth thinking about.”
“You better give me my gun back.”
“I’ll give you the gun back when I think you’re good enough to fucking shoot. Until then, you’re not getting it and I’m not going to stand here and argue about this.”
Once the safety was on, he slid the metal into the back of his jeans. “Let’s go.”
****
They were in the car again, and she didn’t even have her gun. Lydia placed a palm over her side that hurt. The doctor had bound her ribs up tight so she could only just move.
“I can’t believe you got a gun. If you were so scared why didn’t you say anything to Donna?”
Resting her head on her hand, she stared at the man who was turning her entire world upside down. On the outside he was this scarred man with a rude attitude that pissed her off. Within a weekend he’d become something else, someone else. She saw a side of him that she didn’t even think he was capable of possessing.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” he asked.
“You’re always worried about something.”
“Tell me. I want to know. Has someone been threatening you?”
She saw he gripped the steering wheel tightly. Letting out a sigh, she glanced out of the window. “Nothing and no one has been threatening me. For a long time after Darren, erm, I went a little crazy when you tried to warn him. I had a lot of nightmares about what happened.”
“You’ve never talked about it?”
“No, not even with Donna. Caleb, he’s very … protective of her. He wouldn’t let me near her until he knew I wouldn’t hurt her.” She rubbed her nose recalling the fear that filled her when Caleb came to visit her. “It was strange being used as a shield. You saved me when you didn’t have to. It would have probably been easier to kill me.”
“I was following orders. Caleb didn’t want me to kill you. He only wanted Darren to be given a warning. It was just luck that he’d fucked with enough people. I’m sorry you had to witness what happened.” His grip didn’t loosen from the steering wheel.
“Either way, you were very soothing to me during that day, which is strange. You helped me a lot.”
“I helped clean up the mess. I didn’t do anything else.” He stopped at traffic lights and turned to look at her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I will be fine when everything gets cleared up and we don’t have to worry about anything.” She stared out of the window for the rest of the journey.
What else could she say to him?
He dealt with the traffic while she kept thinking about life. She needed to phone the hotel to let them know she wasn’t going to come in. The moment she made that call she was going to be unemployed.
The time passed, and he put some music on the radio. She hummed to some of the tunes that she knew.
By the time he pulled up outside of a building she’d never seen before she was starving. The building looked like a new one and was surrounded by a steel gate. There were a couple more cars parked within the facility.
“Is this where you live?” she asked.
“Yeah.” He climbed out of the car and moved to her side. She watched him open the door then reached out to grab her waist. His hands were so large as he helped her down from the vehicle. When she was around Henry, he made her feel small by how big he was.
Slowly, he lowered her to the floor as if she didn’t weigh a thing.
He grabbed her suitcase, and together they made their way into the building. On the outside next to a wall she watched him press a card inside then type in a number.
“Are we entering a bank or something?” she asked.
“Nah, this is just a really secure building.”
A man sat at the reception desk.
Staying by Henry’s side, she followed him to the lift. The sterile, clinical feel of the building unnerved her.
“Is this where Caleb lives?”
“No. We both had an apartment in one of the blocks over there.” He pointed to one of the tall building that didn’t look too far as they travelled up the glass elevator, but she imagined was far enough to walk. “This is where I go when I want to relax, get away from everything.”
“How long has it been since you came here last?” she asked.
“A couple of years. The building has a cleaning service that makes sure nothing is wrong with the place.”
“Why has it been so long since you came here last?” She was curious about him. When she’d first met him, he had come across as a brutish man who had no consideration for women. He threw in her face the fact he slept with whores, and there was no filter between his brain and mouth.
“There are a lot of memories here.”
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. She followed behind him as he moved to the end of the hall and turned left. He stopped and used another key to get into his apartment.
Henry dropped her bag on the floor and allowed her inside.
Staring around the space, she stepped into his world. He closed the door, and she wasn’t afraid. She was learning fast that Henry wasn’t the kind of man she first thought. He was a killer, but he wouldn’t kill just anyone.
“This is going in my safe.” He pulled her gun from his back.
“Hey, I need to learn how to use that.”
“I’ll teach you how to use it soon, but I’m not doing it while you’re hurting.” He disappeared, and she stayed still within his space. She didn’t know what to do. This was his apartment, not hers.
“There, I feel happier having you here with your gun safely away.”
“You’re overreacting.”
“I’m not. You’re completely insane. I can’t believe you bought a gun and don’t have the first clue how to use it.” He picked up her case. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”
She moved behind him looking at everything she saw. His apartment was clean, completely clean, but then she remembered there were cleaners who took care of the apartment.
The walls were white, and he had black furniture. From what she saw his space was normal for life as a bachelor. Nothing was out of place, and there was nothing personal to the rooms.
“This is my room. There is a connecting door between the two rooms, but you don’t have to worry about me hurting you or taking advantage.”
She glanced down at her awful clothing. No, she didn’t imagine he’d take advantage of her. He’d need to be attracted to her, and there was no chance of that.
“Hey, what’s the matter?” He tilted her chin back.
“Nothing. I know you won’t take advantage.” She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her. Lydia liked the touch of his fingers way too much. He made her think about how good it would feel to have those fingers playing with other parts of her.
“You’re thinking something completely different from what I am,” he said.
She shook her head. “It’s okay, really, I understand.”
He pressed her against the wall, locking his fingers with hers and keeping them by her side. “No, you’re not thinking right, baby. The only reason I won’t be taking advantage of you is because of your cracked ribs. I can’t bear the thought of causing you more pain, and I will never hurt you.”
Lydia went to say something else to dispute his claims.
“The shit I said to you on that night was exactly that, shit. I don’t think you’re fat, and you’re exactly what I love about a woman.” He released her hands and slid his own across her waist, over her rounded stomach. “I spend too much time imagining these curves and how you’d look on my bed.”
She stared up into his eyes, drawn to him.
He pressed closer until his lips were a breath away from her. “I stay away because I know you can do a hell of a lot better than me or Darren.”
His words shocked her. She didn’t know he thought that much about her, and yet, he did. He pulled back.
“It’s time for you to get some rest.”
Henry placed her case on the floor then headed toward the door. “Leave your clothes. I’ll help you with them in a little while.” He closed the door behind him leaving her alone with her thoughts.
There was far more to Henry than she first realized.