Lucius (Acquisition Series #4) - Celia Aaron Page 0,56
out ice into some Ziploc bags. He hands one to each of us.
“Super Smash Brothers?” Sin presses his bag to his nose.
“Fighting game. Nintendo.” Teddy leans over to inspect my side. “You’ll have another bruise to match the one on your chest. You may have broken a rib. Won’t know for sure without imaging.”
“Not a chance.” I tuck the ice pack under my arm, the cold stinging my hot skin.
Sin leans against the counter and sips his coffee, his eyes on me. “Since Evie is gone for the moment …”
I can tell he wants to say some shit, so I straighten. I will kick his ass as many times as necessary for him to respect my woman. Even though she’s gone. Even though she took my favorite car and didn’t say a word to me as she left. Not a wise move on her part. That psycho bastard Beau will come after her, if not the whole crew of Acquisition fans.
“Right. Evie is gone,” Teddy prompts.
Sin nods and continues carefully, “I want you to tell me everything that happened last night.”
“Umm, someone send me the notes later.” Teddy’s looking at his phone. “I’ve got to get back to the hospital.”
“Family dinner at home tomorrow night,” Sin calls as Teddy hurries down the stairs. “That goes for you, too.” He glares at me.
“Again?”
“Stella is making that pork tenderloin, the one everyone raves about.”
“Oh, shit. With the mashed potatoes? I’m there.”
“Glad we have that sorted out.” His tone is utterly taciturn. “Now tell me where the fuck you were all night and what happened at that party.”
“I can do better than that.” I walk into my office to grab the iPad I’d stolen from the greeter. “I’ve got the names of everyone at that shitty soiree. We can wipe them out for good.”
When I open the top drawer of my desk, it has the usual pens, liquor, stale cigarettes, and sticky notes. But no iPad. A sinking sensation creeps into my gut, and I open the other drawers. The iPad isn’t here.
Fuck.
27
Evie
My apartment is quiet. I creep in, my head on a swivel. The gun I took from Lucius’s nightstand is steady in my hand as I sweep the entire place. No one’s here.
I hurry back to my front door and change the code on the lock, then flip every deadbolt I have. When that’s done, I can finally let myself breathe again.
Leaning against the door, I try to put the jumbled night back together, to look for a way out of all this. But my mind goes back to one place. Lucius. A pang of guilt tries to take over. I stole his car, and—I turn the iPad over in my hands—I stole the one thing he wanted from that hellish scene last night.
I couldn’t leave it with him. Not when he could be playing me to get closer to the Acquisition. I have that stupid part of me, the one down deep, that believes he was being honest with me. That he loves me. And you said you loved him, my thoughts whisper.
All a ruse on his part. The same game a cat plays before it goes in for the kill. That’s all I am to Lucius. So why doesn’t it feel like a game?
“Ugh.” I drop onto my sofa and inspect the iPad. The screen is busted, sliced through when Beau tried to filet Lucius. Can it even be saved? I turn it over. The backside is dented, and the only thing that kept the knife from going all the way through was the metal case.
I shiver when I remember Beau’s arm around me, his hot breath on my neck. That’s twice Lucius has saved me from that big bastard. I glance at my door again. It’s strong, reinforced. Could Beau still get through it somehow?
I need to shower, to wash off the scent of Lucius. As I decide to do just that, I reach down and pull the fabric of his shirt up to my nose and inhale. Even though I’ve escaped, he’s still all around me.
Flipping the iPad back over, I try to power it on. Nothing happens. I didn’t expect it to. I’ll have to find someone who can get into it and pull that guest list—along with whatever treasures might lie within—for me. The sooner I know who I’m up against, the better. Those people will be coming after me now. They saw me leave with their number one enemy. I’ll never be safe.