The Keeper (4 page)

             
Donovan and Jed sat at the bar separating her kitchen and living room and listened for Lex.  She was apparently taking a bath.  Jed sighed.  “Well.  I guess that could have gone worse.”

             
Donovan smiled and looked to her bedroom door.  “Yeah.  She could have killed us both.”  He sighed and turned back to Jed.  “It could have gone better, too.  We could both be in that massive tub with her.”  The groan he heard from Jed pretty much
mirrored his own feelings
. 
Once Silas had called Jed back, he knew it would only be a matter of time before he had Lex under him and that was something he had been waiting for nearly as long as he had known her.  Though
,
it was probably best this way.  They were truly friends.  She was the only woman whom he had ever considered a friend and she was hot.  But she was so much more.  Lex was funny, smart and kind and she had a body that any
man would love to come home to.  She wasn’t one of those skinny broads.  Nope.  Lex was curvy in all the right places.  She had a five-seven frame and was one hundred and sixty pounds of perfectly proportioned woman.  “Mmm-mmm.” 

             
“You’ve got to stop.  I am going to explode here.”  Jed looked at Donovan
-his voice tight
.  Silently begging him to quit talking about and thinking about Lex.  “How long does she wait to get in the tub after she starts the water?”

Donovan debated lying and saying that he wouldn’t know, but it seemed important.  “She’s usually in it immediately.  Why?  You want to go in there?”  He was standing as he was asking the question, praying Jed was going to say yes. 
 
             
Jed shook his head.  “It’s not that.  She hasn’t gotten into the tub yet.”

“Fuck!”  Donovan already had the door open and was heading to the side of the room opposite the bathroom.  Pulling open the closet
door
as Jed walked into the bathroom and turned off the tap. 

Jed walked back to Lex’s closet where Donovan was kneeling over a hole in her closet floor.  He looked down.  It dropped into the stairwell.  There was no ladder and the square would match the ceiling
above the stairs
.  No one would ever know the trap door was there.  The woman had to have dropped ten feet onto the floor below. 

“She wanted another way out.  As far as I know she has never used it.”  Donovan said shaking his head, worry etched all over his face. 

“She never had a reason to.  She knew we wouldn’t let her out of here without one of us.  I can guaran
-damn-
tee you she’s on that
fucking
bike.”  Jed ran his hand through his hair again.  “She doesn’t know she’s in danger.”

Donovan dropped the door back in place, locked it and stood.  “We have to find her.”  Jed nodded and headed for the front door.  Donovan was close behind. 

They made it to the lobby as the door to Silas’ office opened.  He looked up, obviously surprised to see them.  “Where is Lex?”

Jed looked at Donovan.  Donovan looked at Jed.  How do you tell a Master Vamp that you just lost his daughter? 

“You lost
her?
  Damn it.  How in the hell do men with your capabilities loose one twenty-five year old woman?  A human woman at that.”

Donovan shrugged.  “We’re talking about Lex here
, Silas
.  Not some damn little wall flower.  You taught that girl things most Navy SEALs don’t know.” 

“She knows she’s in danger and she left anyway?  Damn, stubborn woman.”  Silas was running his fingers th
rough his hair. 

Jed finally found his voice.  “Yeah.  ‘Bout that.  We didn’t quite get that far before she took off.”

             
Silas looked at them both.  He wanted to wring both their necks, but he knew Donovan was right.  Even if the girl had known she was in danger, if she wanted to leave, she would have.  And not even he could have stopped her.  He threw Jed his keys.  “Take the Viper.  The windows are dark enough that the sun shouldn’t hurt Donovan.”  He turned to go back to his office and call in every favor he was owed.  “And boys.”  He spun back around.  “When you find her, do whatever you have to do to keep her safe.  Tie her down.  Lock her up.  I don’t care as long as she is safe
. 
Understood?”

             
 
“Understood.”  They said at the same time, stepping into the elevator.  They looked at each other. 

             
Jed spoke first.  “I know which one I’m voting for.”

             
Donovan smiled
and leaned back against the cool metal walls
.  “Yeah.  That option has my vote, too.” 

             
They rode the elevator down in silence.

             
“Can I have another cup, Sam?”  She raised her coffee mug in the air a little bit in case Sam hadn’t heard her request over the loud bump and grind music pouring out of the speakers.  It all sounded like noise to Lex, but that was okay.  It was distracting enough that she didn’t have to think about what Jed and Donovan had said.  She tried to think about it while she was on her bike, but the constant vibration
between her legs
while thinking about the two hottest men she knew was making her wet and more that a little uncomfortable.  It kept leading her mind down an unfamiliar path and everything along that path was very exciting and a little scary.  She felt a tap on her shoulder. 

             
“Hey.”   

             
Well, at least it wasn’t
the voice of
one of her men.  Huh.  That sounded more natural than she would have thought.  She turned to find the guy from Beans behind her.  He was kind
of cute in a boy-next-door sort
of way. 
He was taller than her with light brown hair and hazel eyes
.
 
“Hey.
  Seth?
”
  She grabbed the coffee cup
Sam slid her way. 

             
“
Yep. 
Where’s the blond guy you’re usually with?”  He said sitting next to her. 

             
She shrugged.  “I left him at work.”  It wasn’t totally a lie.  She worked in the building.  So did Donovan. 

             
“He your boyfriend?” 

             
He
wasn’t looking at her and he
had a hopeful sound to his voice.    “Not exactly.”  It was the best she could come up with at the time.  It was infinitely better than.  ‘No.  I am the Keeper and he is one of my Protectors.’  She snorted.  Like anyone would believe her anyway.   Not unless they were one of the Immortals.  And even then, from what her father said, it was unlikely any of them would believe her either.  There had been another Keeper once.  She had been killed before the Protectors had found her.  They took their own lives when they discovered her body. 
That had been over a thousand years ago.
 

             
“Sooo…   You wanna get out of here?”  He asked innocently enough that she had to look over at him to decide exactly what he was asking.  She didn’t like what she saw.  He wasn’t an immortal, but he had a dark side.  She saw it for just a second.  It was just a flash in his innocent-looking hazel eyes.
  She had to get out of here
-away from him
, but she was afraid she wasn’t going to be able to do it without making a scene. 

             
“No.  I have to be at work early tomorrow.”  She smiled at him, hoping he didn’t know that she knew he was evil. 
Funny
she didn’t pick up on that before
.  It must have been the reason Donovan didn’t like him. 
She rose and dug into her pocket for her cash.  She threw enough to cover her tab and a tip on the bar and yelled goodbye to Sam.  Sam waved without turning around. 

             
Seth’s hand clamped down on her wrist as she turned to go.  He stood and whispered into her ear.  “I’ll walk you to your car.”  He smiled at her then and her warning bells went off.  “Just walk.  Don’t wanna cause a scene in here now do you?” 

             
L
ex
wondered briefly if Seth had read her mind.  She
looked around, smiled
and turned to face him. 
Figuring it was probably better to make a scene here than leave with Seth, she shrugged her shoulders. 
“Here’s as good a place as any I suppose.”    She brought her knee up hard into his groin.  He
fell to his knees but didn’t let go of her wrist.  If anything he tightened his grip
.  She twisted her wrist trying to break free, but it was no use.
 
 

             
Lex sighed.  This was going to get ugly.  She looked around again.  They didn’t even have anyone’s attention yet.  She swung with her free hand and caught him in the ear. 
That did it.  He released her to grab the side of his head and she stepped back and kicked him in the chest.  Damn, he was tougher than he looked. 
She could shoot him, but that would be very bad.  She could stab him, but that probably wouldn’t be much better.  The
last time she had stabbed a guy
her dad took her bike for a month. 
He stood and grabbed her by the hair.  She yelped and grabbed at his hands.  That got Dwayne’s attention. 
Thank you God!
 

             
Dwayne was six-six and over three hundred pounds of muscle
and meanness
all rolled into one scary looking bouncer. 
His skin was the color of dark chocolate
.  His eyes were
black as coal and
he had
a smile that could light up a room.  His smile alone transformed his face from menacing to angelic.  Yeah, he didn’t smile much here. 
Dwayne was working his way over, but Seth was dragging her toward the back door. 
Dwayne
wasn’t going to make it through the crowd in time to help her.  Oh, well.  She put on the brakes and fell to the floor, forcing Seth to release her or go down with her.  She swung a leg out and caught him in the knee.  He yelled and grabbed a guy in a cowboy hat to keep from falling.  From there Seth was pushed into a blond woman with a linebacker for a date.  The linebacker went after the cowboy.  Someone broke a beer bottle on the bar and it was an all out riot.  Lex debated sneaking out the back, but felt a little bad for Dwayne.  She decided to stick around a little longer.  Dwayne might need help.  He would never hit a woman.  Lex didn’t have that little problem.  She had pulled more than one woman off Dwayne’s back through the years. 

             
Jed was starting to get worried.  Lex wasn’t answering her cell phone and he had left about a dozen messages.  Donovan had been on his phone from the time they pulled out of the garage.  Every cop in
Sin City was looking out for Lex.  They all knew her. 
Most
of them liked her.  Donovan hung up and looked at Jed.

             
“Nobody’s seen her, man.  You don’t think she would have left town, do ya?”  Donovan was rubbing the back of his neck again. 

             
“I don’t think so, but she did seem a little freaked out so…”  Jed trailed off as Donovan’s phone rang.

             
Donovan hit the talk button.  “Carter.”

             
Jed could hear the voice on the other end.  He whipped the car around even as Donovan was getting the location and the specifics. 

             
“We’re on our way.”  Donovan hung up and turned to Jed.  “You catch all that.”

             
Jed nodded.  “It has to be her.  Kid was dragging a redhead out of the bar and she knocked him around and started an all out braw
l
.
”
  
Jed smiled.  “
That’s definitely
our Lex
.”  He shifted
gears
and pressed the pe
d
al all the way to the floor. 

Chapter Four

             
Lex was sitting on the bar watching the action.  Making sure she didn’t need to help Dwayne.  Damn, the man was impressive for a human.  He had pulled a man off his back while knocking another guy out.  He looked like he had it all under control
and was enjoying it more than he probably should be
.  Sam had already called the cops and was standing behind the bar watching all the commotion along with Le
x.  Anyone who got close enough
got whacked with Sam’s bat.  Everyone knew it and kept the
fighting
contained to the dance floor.  It at least looked like a
controlled
riot.  The guy that had busted the beer bottle was unconscious on the floor and everyone else just seemed to be using fists.