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“You do that.” I was still disgusted with the entire situation, barely able to stay patient as the bastards started to get ready to leave. I knew I was just in a cranky mood and shouldn’t blame the officers for anything. But I couldn’t help if my thoughts continued to drift back to the concept that if they’d done their jobs, Noel wouldn’t have gone through the shit she had.

As soon as the door was closed, I heard her sigh of relief just a split second before she let off a single racking sob.

That alone was enough to make me wish I’d killed the bastard.

“Let’s get our shit together and get out of here. This isn’t our life.”

Isn’t our life.

I’d been the one to say the words, not her. I’d also called Max our dog, not hers. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it was still better for her if I was out of the picture, but I was no martyr nor was I the kind of man to pay attention to anything rational.

I wanted her.

I needed her.

And in truth, I could tell she needed me.

Two fucking damaged souls and one fluffy broken dog.

Weren’t we a trio?

CHAPTER 26

“Avoiding danger is no longer safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.”

—Helen Keller

Noel

Fear shifting into terror into anger then rage. And finally, sadness and emptiness. I wasn’t certain if the strangled emotions were considered stages of grief or anything else, but I did know they were as debilitating as they were uplifting.

Boy, wasn’t I a strange combination of dichotomies. Somehow it fit the situation. So had the fact Kage had driven through a snowstorm toward Denver because he was determined to get me away from yet another horrific scene. While a few places had been harrowing, none were nearly as much as facing the man I’d met in a parking lot months before. Months.

Joel Baxter was just another evil man, perhaps more so that James had been since Joel had truly fit into society. When I’d called Zoe to let her know what had occurred, the shock of hearing Joel’s profession as well as his name remained like a lump in my throat.

She’d worked alongside the man for almost two years.

That went to prove that evil existed in every shadowed corner of the world.

I’d felt the heat from Kage’s constant checking on me every couple of miles, although I had to give him credit for driving safely down the mountainside.

I’d said nothing, not a single word. I’d done nothing more than keep my arm wrapped around Max’s neck, the eighty-five-pound pup finding a way to curl in my lap in the front seat. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now we were walking into the Four Seasons hotel, a location I was certain didn’t allow animals, but nothing was going to stop Kage. We were a bedraggled group, not taking the time to change. I had no clean clothes anyway. As he led us into the massive and stunning atrium-style lobby, I realized I had yet to stop shivering.

Nothing seemed real any longer and I wondered if and when it ever would.

Taking long strides, he became a man of power, wealth, and confidence as he headed toward the half dozen people standing behind the check-in area.

“Hello, sir,” the girl said immediately, the bright smile on her face reminding me of frozen plastic. “Are you checking in?”

Maybe I was being a little harsh, but I had nothing left to give anyone inside of me. When he plopped down a black graphite American Express, something I hadn’t even known he had, I could tell it had impressed the girl.

Especially since she’d given us a look as if we were homeless.

“I’d like a suite for three nights. Top floor and the one with the fireplace. Is it available?”

“Um, let me check, sir.” As her fingers flew, I could tell Kage was impatient as usual, flipping the card over and over again on the smooth marble counter surface.

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