Page 95 of Under the Ink

Naomi just hoped Sage would do all the talking. Her stress levels were already through the roof.

And, for the first time since she’d gotten all her tattoos, she was thinking about doing the one thing that had always helped her cope.

The blade that hurt and healed at the same damn time.

Today, the security guy was wearing street clothes, probably ready to enjoy himself outdoors—just a plain blue t-shirt and jean cargo shorts—but the muscles all over his body were impossible to ignore. Naomi imagined the crewcut was part of his tough image, because it made him look like an army guy. “What’s the situation?” he asked Sage.

“Andy—uh,Greg—attacked Naomi in her room.”

“You’re Naomi?”

“Yes.”

Sage added, “She’s my drum tech.”

Lex gave him a short nod before turning his attention back to her. “Tell me what happened.”

She was going to keep it as short as possible. “When I tried leaving my room a little bit ago, Andy was standing outside the door and he shoved me back inside. He said I belonged to him and let me know in no uncertain terms that he planned to rape me.”

“What did he say?”

This guy was making her feel worse. While it was comforting that he was here, he hadn’t actuallydoneanything yet. For all they knew, Andy was poised and ready to kill the next person who came through the door. Or maybe he’d figured a way out through the window. No…that would be impossible.

But why couldn’t this Lex guy just do what he’d been called up here to do?

“I can’t remember exactly what he said. I know he called me someone else’s name. And then he said lots of other stuff—about mating with me and a bunch of horrible things I’d rather not repeat.”

“I’m just trying to assess the situation, miss.”

“He kept grabbing me and kissing me on the neck—even after I’d made it clear I wasn’t interested. And so when I had the chance, I grabbed the lamp by the bed and hit him over the head with it as hard as I could.”

Lex’s face was like granite—but there was something in his eyes that made Naomi feel like she’d never escaped the room. “Did you kill him?”

“What? No. I mean…I don’t think so.”

Sage continued to be her hero. “Why don’t we check?” After all, wasn’t that why he’d asked the guy up there in the first place?

“All right.” Lex got down on his knees and looked under the door before standing back up and trying to look inside the peephole. “You have the card?” When Sage showed him, he nodded. “Okay.” Grabbing from his pocket a Kubotan—something Naomi carried on her most of the time, even though recently she’d really let her guard down—he said, “You open the door, but I’ll enter in first.”

“Yeah, sure.” Sage unlocked the door but backed up quickly while Lex pushed against it before assuming a defensive posture, poised to fight at a moment’s notice.

When he entered, from her vantage point, Naomi couldn’t see anything—and the bed blocked the area where she’d left Andy anyway. “He should be over on the other side of the bed.” Then to Sage, she added, “I’m not going in there.”

“No problem. I’ll be back. Call the cops if you hear anything.”

“Okay.” But all that did was put more responsibility on her—so she held the door, but she leaned her back against the wall in the hallway so she wasn’t looking inside. She just couldn’t.

But when she heard Lex and Sage talking, she had to peek. Both men were leaning over what had to be Andy’s body.

Oh, shit.Hadshe killed him?

Her stomach filled with acid, churning and roiling as if there were a stormy ocean inside, and she let go of the door, allowing it to close. There was no stopping her brain from collapsing in on itself—and so she did the one thing she could right then and there to save herself.

She grabbed her phone and texted Ginny.Hey, Gin, you around?

There was a fifty-fifty chance her friend would respond in the next five minutes. Between the woman’s part-time job as a paralegal and finishing up wedding preparation, she didn’t have much free time. Naomi completely understood that, having given her friend as much room as she needed—but she just prayed Ginny was available.

But there was no response from her friend by the time the door to her room opened.

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