She noticed he didn’t ask Tyler if he wanted anything. He just slammed the cabinet door, then reached in the pantry for the liquor. Tyler leaned against the refrigerator, keeping his back covered, and watched with narrowed eyes. Suspicious eyes. They exchanged a glance. Eric was up to something; they could both feel it. Best to get what they came for, then clear this place.
“I actually just came by because I left something here a while ago for safekeeping.”
He frowned as he poured a shot of whiskey and downed it. “Before the divorce?”
This was where her explanation would get tricky. “No, after.”
Eric hesitated, thinking, pouring another shot. “You let yourself in with the spare key on the patio without my permission?” He didn’t even wait for her to confirm. “Why?”
“I’ve been working on a story, an exposé. I can’t say a lot now, but it’s really big. The person I’m writing about caught wind of my investigation. I had some of my research on a flash drive and hid it here a few weeks back, just in case. I didn’t think anyone would suspect that I’d keep anything valuable at my ex’s house. I never thought they’d hit your place. I’m really sorry.”
“You hid evidence in my house without telling me and dragged me into this shit unwittingly, but you won’t cough up who or what you’re investigating? Is that right?”
Del winced at his bitterness. “It’s safer if you don’t know.”
Eric’s dark gaze slid over to Tyler.
“But you dragged him into it? Because you trust him more or care about his safety less?”
As he tossed back the second shot and swallowed it, that question dropped between them like a bomb loaded with a ton of TNT. Either reply had the potential to turn this downright ugly. She bit her lip.
“No answer for that, huh?” Eric drawled, pouring a third shot. “How about I help you? You ran to him first because you trust him to help you, no matter how pissed he might be at you about the br—” He looked sideways at Tyler. “About Seth. How long was it before you let him back in your pu**y?”
She flinched. Del thought of lying, but Eric would see through that fast, and being dishonest would only make the situation worse.
“He’s already f**ked you?” Her ex-husband laughed bitterly, then sucked back his third shot of whiskey. “God, I’m a stupid ass. Of course he did. My old pal f**ks anything that moves, and you itched to take him for another ride, didn’t you? You tracked him down so he could shove that big, prized c**k of his right into your cunt—”
“Shut your goddamned mouth,” Tyler growled. “Now. Before I shut it myself. You begged her to have sex with me that night, just like you begged me to f**k her. We had never crossed the friend line before you suggested it. Don’t shove your baggage on us. Shit happened. If you couldn’t handle it, you shouldn’t have asked.”
Eric threw his hands in the air. “You know, you’re right. I should have realized you two were hot for each other. I should have thrown you out of my life the minute I suspected you had a hard-on for my wife.”
Before she could sputter a word, Eric charged Tyler, grabbing something from his back pocket. Handcuffs. Del tried to sputter a warning at Tyler. But with the refrigerator at his back and a wall of cabinets beside him, he had nowhere to go.
Eric hooked one cuff around Tyler’s wrist with a decisive click. Tyler punched him in the jaw with his free hand. Despite Eric’s head snapping back, he maintained focus and yanked on the cuffs. Tyler stumbled, close enough for Eric to snap the other cuff around the handle of the refrigerator, tethering Tyler in a blink.
Del gasped.
Like an animal of prey, Eric whirled on her and began stalking. A terrible smile spread across his face. At six feet two inches and with an active life, he was a wall of solid muscle. No way she could outrun or outfight him. Apprehension tightened Del’s stomach. What was he up to?
“Are you trying to intimidate me? Because this is stupid. Just let me get what I came for, then we’ll leave.”
Eric shook his head, his shaggy, dark hair moving with him. “I haven’t gotten what I let you come for. That night he f**ked you—” He nodded over at Tyler. “I saw a whole other side of you, babe. I saw a very naughty vixen. You’d have given him anything that night. You’d have let him come down your throat or shove his dick up your ass—all the things I never got out of you. I saw you come for him over and over. And I had to watch you not only take pleasure but demand it. I was f**king helpless to do anything.”
“You touched me,” she reminded him.
“And you screamed his name when you came.” Bitterness streaked across his dark features, the kind she hadn’t seen since early in their split. “You put on quite a show. Do you know what that did to me?”
Del could imagine. His self-confidence had never been the best. The resulting quirks were sometimes hard to live with. But everything had been much worse after the shooting.
Eric raised a dark brow at her. “Now, we’re going to put on a show for him.”
His words sent panic thrumming through her body. She didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Don’t touch me.”
“Stay the f**k away from her,” Tyler demanded, yanking so hard on his cuffs that the refrigerator rolled a few inches across the floor.
But it wasn’t enough. With Eric squarely blocking her path to Tyler, she couldn’t get to him. Even if she could run fast enough to escape her ex-husband, she wouldn’t leave Tyler here to take his wrath. She had to stand her ground and get them both out of this.
“I’m not going to hurt you, babe. I just want to make you come while he watches.”