The Men With the Golden Cuffs (29 page)

“You should shelve the innocent girl routine, though. Really, it gets old fast. The whole quiet and shy thing is a little boring, sweetheart. You would make a much better slut.”

Her hand came out in a vicious arc as she slapped him right across the face. Pain flared and something deep inside was satisfied that at least he’d gotten a rise out of her.

“Show me the tape or I will sue all of you. Do you understand me? I won’t stand here and let you talk to me like that. I know that I’m the one who put it in your head that I’m some sort of doormat, but I never did anything to deserve this from you. Now show me the tape.”

Her voice shook. Everything inside Jake told him that she was being brave, that she was holding some well of sadness deep inside, and it was taking everything she had not to break down here and now. If he followed his dumbass instincts, he would pull her into his arms and promise her that everything would be all right, and he would take care of her and beg her forgiveness. But fuck it all, she couldn’t explain away that tape.

“Here.” Adam held out a bag of ice he’d rolled in a dish towel.

“I’m fine.” Her voice was back to the flat monotone it had been before she’d slapped the shit out of him. “Give it to Jake. His face looks a little red.”

Adam’s eyes widened. “What happened? Holy shit. Did you hit Jake?”

“I took offense to him calling me a slut. I think he was looking out for you. He goaded me into smacking him. Now if I sue you like the greedy bitch I apparently am, he can sue me right back. Mutually assured destruction.”

Adam’s eyes closed, and he took a long breath before he opened them again. “Why don’t we all sit down and talk this out?”

Serena shook her head. “That option is no longer on the table. It was off the table the minute you looked at me like a piece of trash this morning. There’s nothing to talk about anymore, Adam. Just show me the tape and give me my phone and I’ll leave.”

It was exactly what Jake wanted. He wanted her out of his life. Except that the thought kind of made him want to vomit. The idea of not seeing her again was a gaping wound in his chest. He didn’t really want her to walk out. He wanted her on her fucking knees in front of him, begging his forgiveness. He wanted to force her to work for it, and while he would never really forgive her, he would take her back into his bed because he was fucking addicted to her. He would screw her until she didn’t have this hold on him, and then he would show her the door.

The trouble was he wasn’t sure he would ever get over her. Serena Brooks had proven to him once and for all time that he hadn’t been in love with Jennifer. He knew that now because he was sickeningly sure he loved Serena.

And he would just have to get over it.

He forced himself to turn and cue up the tape. Client. She was just a client who had lied and gotten caught. He had to think of her that way. He couldn’t think about how good it had felt to slide into the silky heat of her body or how she’d wrapped herself around him, clinging to him like he was the only thing that mattered in the whole world.

Jake forced himself to use his most professional voice. “So you know we got the CCTV tapes from two of the libraries where the e-mail messages came from?”

She nodded, her eyes on the screen. “Yes, you were looking for someone who was at the library at the same time the message was sent. You have two libraries and two messages. If you find the same person at both libraries at the right times, you’ll have a place to start.”

Adam put the bag of ice down, obviously unwilling to fight with her about it. He sighed and switched the feed to the large screen. The black and white tape began playing. The important tape had come from a library in Hurst where the camera was on patrons both entering and leaving the library. “You can see that the tapes are time stamped, so we were looking at the hours before and after the e-mail was sent. It can be hard to catch faces, but I set us up with some really advanced facial recognition software. It looks for similar facial structures based on math. I set it to run before we went to bed.”

He’d set it to run before he’d gone and fucked Serena’s brains out. Now Jake wished he’d been a little less giving. He could have forced his way in. Adam would have let him. He could have had one more night with her.

“Here it is.” He slowed the tape down.

“I don’t recognize that person.” Serena peered down, her eyes narrowing on the lone figure. The person, obviously female, walked into the library, a huge bag on her shoulder. She wore sunglasses, her figure hidden by a long coat. She stopped in the middle of the lobby and pulled out her phone. She pushed the sunglasses off her face. She smiled as she placed the call, her face turning right toward the camera.

Jake studied Serena carefully, and he felt a punch to his gut as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped.

“That’s Lara.” Her hand came up over her mouth, covering it. She shook her head. “You’re wrong. This doesn’t prove anything.”

“She showed up at the Irving library, too.” He held up her phone. “Would you like to know who she’s calling here?”

Serena had gone stark white, all the color draining from her skin. “I’m sure it was me. It has to be, right?”

“You don’t clean off your messages.” Jake pushed the button and the message played.

“Hey, Serena, babe, it’s me. Look, I know you’re worried about the promo for the new
Sweetheart
book, but I promise you I have it all taken care of. I did exactly what you told me to. It’s a little unorthodox as promos go, but hey, you’re not exactly writing sweet Regency romances. I think you’re right. This will work. I’ll set it all up. Talk to you later.”

Serena’s whole body seemed to droop. Her shoulders slumped, and her head hung a bit as though some force had been animating her and now it was gone. “You won’t believe me, but that message was about a signing I’m doing at an adult toy store to promote the new book. I had to talk her into it. She thought it would be trashy, but I thought it would be fun. I even talked to a friend who makes naughty cupcakes. She’s catering it. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll just go now.”

She started to turn away. Jake didn’t like the way she looked. He’d seen the same blank, glassy stare on victims of trauma. When he’d been in the service, he’d seen the exact vacant look in the eyes of men and women who’d just had their houses blown up by a bomb. It was as though they couldn’t really process the horror of what had just happened.

She seemed a little dazed and unsteady on her feet. For the first time since he’d seen that damn video, he felt uncertain about just what he’d witnessed.

“Serena, do you need help?” He wasn’t going to let her fall over no matter how angry he was with her. God, just looking at her was making his heart hurt, and for the first time he had to really consider the fact that he might have to forgive her. Really forgive her because she had become necessary. He started to reach out. She really needed to get ice on that wrist.

“Don’t touch me.” She stepped away, her jaw clenching. “Don’t ever touch me again.”

“Serena, would you like to explain yourself? I’m willing to listen.” Adam’s voice came out on a shaky breath, as though he knew he was walking a tight rope, and he was pretty sure he didn’t want to fall off.

“Listen? You’re willing to listen? Fuck your listening, Adam because I’ve been listening to both of you, and I don’t like a word I’ve heard.” Her fists were clenched at her sides, her face a deep red. She was crying again, the tears running down her cheeks. She looked young and vulnerable and so fucking fragile in Adam’s shirt and those glasses she hid behind. “You want the truth? I’m everything you’ve ever thought I was. I’m just a greedy slut. I used you both, and now I’m really upset that you found out because I haven’t hit the
Times
yet and I was really hoping to hit the
Times
. If you hadn’t found out, I was planning on faking my own rape and torture so I could move up on the best seller list. So congratulations to you both. You were right. I was always a wretched whore. Jake, you should go back to sulking, and Adam can go forth on his quest to find the perfect woman. It sure as fuck isn’t me.”

She turned, but Jake was faster. He moved in front of her, cutting off her retreat. “No, Serena. I think we’re all going to sit down and talk. I apologize for what I said earlier. I was overly emotional. Now please sit down and let’s discuss this.”

“Shove your apology straight up your ass, Jacob. Or you could have Adam do it for you. He likes to be helpful.”

Fuck, she knew where to shove a knife in. Jake watched Adam’s face go a polite blank. It was the same look he’d had when his father had thrown him out. “Serena, I’m willing to admit I might have been hasty, but you have to agree it’s compelling evidence.”

“I don’t have to agree with you. I have to go and get my things and leave.”

“I’m not going to let you do that.” Now that he was thinking a little more clearly, he had a few questions. He got the e-mails. He could even buy that Lara had paid someone to trash Serena’s car. But the snake? Really?

Adam’s cell rang. He pulled it out and answered it, his voice going to a quiet, professional tone.

“Let me go.” Serena stared a hole through him.

He couldn’t. He was panicking a little now. She couldn’t lie to save her life and the whole “I’m a whore” speech had been one long lie. What if she was telling the truth? What if she had no idea? He’d just fucked everything up, and if he let her go, he might never see her again. Might? Hell, if he took his damn eyes off of her, she would be gone, and he couldn’t let that happen. “No. Not until we figure this out.”

“There is nothing to figure out.”

But there was a whole lot Jake needed to figure out. He needed to know just how deeply screwed he was and how hard he would have to work to get out of the hole he’d dug. “There is and you know it. Serena, you are still under our protection.”

“No, I am not. You’re fired.”

“You’re not the client.”

A bitter little smile crossed Serena’s face. “No, Lara is. But guess what, Jake? She’s fired, too. If you’re going to keep me here, you’re going to have to do it against my will.”

He felt his whole body go on alert. She wanted a fight? He could handle a fight. “That can be arranged.”

He’d wanted to tie her up since the moment he’d seen her.

“Jake, we need to take her downtown.” Adam stood with the keys to the SUV in his hand. “That was Ian. He’s got Lara in his office. He wants to talk to all of us.”

Fuck, he’d dug a hole with Adam, too. Adam had wanted to wake her up and ask her about it. Jake had been the one to work him into a froth over the situation. And now he’d gotten Ian involved. Jake had called Ian after he’d listened to the message on Serena’s voice mail.

What the fuck was he going to do if Ian put a stop to the op?

“Go and get dressed, Serena. And I swear to god, I will hunt you down if you leave this house. The alarm is on, so if you try to hustle out a window, I’ll be on your backside before you can get to the gate, and I won’t give a shit if you call the police later.”

Her smile was a nasty little thing. “No problem, Jake. The cops think I’m a publicity-seeking whore, too. I think you’re safe. Let me go change. I have a few things to say to my ex-agent.”

He stepped out of the way, satisfied she wouldn’t run.

Not now, at least.

She disappeared down the hall, and Adam stepped up.

“She didn’t know about it.”

“I know.” Jake wasn’t sure how the fuck he was going to get out of this. He’d been brutal, his past informing his present in a way that almost ensured he had no future.

“She’s never going to forgive us.” Adam turned away. “I’ll go get the car ready.”

He walked out like a man who had already given up. Serena was a woman scorned.

But none of that could compete with a man on a mission. He wasn’t going to give up. Yes, he’d fucked everything up, but Serena was too important. He had a fucking future, and it was with her. He wasn’t going to allow his past to hold him back one second longer. He stared down the hallway, something opening up inside him. For so long he’d been closed off, maybe for most of his fucking life, but Serena had brought in the goddamn sunshine, and now he craved it.

He’d screwed up, but he wasn’t going back to the dark. He would have the life he wanted, and it was only possible with her.

He waited, a lion on the prowl. No matter what, he would have his prey.

Serena felt hollowed out, like someone had decided it would be a good idea to take an ice cream scooper to her insides. Or like one of those Russian nesting dolls. Yes. That was better imagery. She was like the largest of the dolls, a hollow thing who was only good harboring the smaller dolls which contained all of the great things about her. Someone had opened her up and broken her insides, and now she was a useless, futile thing.

Yes. That was good imagery. She could use that.

The floors ticked by, and she realized this was the rest of her life. Living inside her head. Deciding how best to put emotions to paper because that was going to be the only way she ever felt anything again.