Page 76 of Savage

Not that being careful in my line of work would ever get me anywhere.

But I was too nosy, had too much of a one-track mind to give a damn about anything but getting the story and getting justice. What would I have done if the masked man hadn’t shown up when he did?

I’d be missing a head in Queens, that was what.

So I had some mystery stranger to thank—though maybe I’d thanked him sufficiently when he snuck into my window. When I let him have full control over my body.

I pinched my brow asthosememories came flooding back.

How did I keep falling into bed with strangers? That wasn’t like me. Just like the people in those sex clubs, I seemed to have lost all my inhibitions and welcomed anonymous orgasms.

Well, Lachlan wasn’t really a stranger. I knew him, his name, his job, that he was a good guy. Or maybeprotectivewas a better word thangood. After all, I’d seen the way he twisted the guy’s arm at the club when the man tried to put hands on me. Anyone with moves like that had a reason for them.

He’s in security—of course he’s got a reason.

But how wild was it that I’d met two men, two badasses at that, they’d both rescued me when I needed it, and both were freakingincrediblein bed.

I glanced at Lachlan and felt heat hit my cheeks before averting my eyes.

While there was something forbidden and sexy about the stranger, I couldn’t deny that being with Lachlan was exciting in an entirely different way. Seeing him, being face to face, getting to know him…thatwas what made me interested. I wanted to reveal all those hidden layers of his, not for a story, but for me.

“What the hell is that?”

I jumped at Lachlan’s voice behind me and looked up to see him staring at the photo on the screen.

“Uh, nothing,” I said, closing the picture. “Just research. How’d your call go?”

He ignored my sad attempt at changing the subject. “Where did that photo come from? Did you take it?”

I had two choices. I could lie and risk Lachlan seeing right through me, or I could tell the truth and hope he didn’t ask too many more questions about it.

I went with option three: “Imight’vetaken it.”

“Try again.”

“Remember when I said I followed a guy?”

He nodded. “From the club.”

“Right.” I brought the photo back up on the screen. “Well, it was more like guys, and that little escapade took me to an alley in Queens.”

Lachlan leaned in, resting a hand on the back of my chair as he studied the photo.

“They were trying to move some product, but it got ugly, and—” How the hell did I tell him how I got involved without mentioning the mystery man? I didn’t want to get him in trouble, not when he’d saved my life. “Anyway, I managed to getaway, but I dropped my phone at some point, and I’m guessing that’s when I accidentally picked up the key card. I didn’t realize it until I got home.”

The muscle in Lachlan’s jaw twitched, and he nodded at the screen. “Show me the others.”

I clicked through the photos one by one and wondered what had happened to those men once I left the alley. I’d combed through the news, but there had been nothing to do with anything that happened that night. It was like it’d all been wiped away. If I hadn’t been there, if I didn’t have these pictures as proof, I’d wonder if I had imagined the whole thing.

“Go back to the last one,” Lachlan said, and then pointed at something in the far corner. “Zoom in on the driver.”

I did as he asked, as much as I could, anyway. It wasn’t the clearest picture of the background, but even I could make out that it was…

“That jackass from the club,” he confirmed.

The one whose arm he’d twisted. I definitely didn’t remember his being there, but then again, I wasn’t paying attention to the van driver when I had a gun pointed at my head.

“You said you got away,” Lachlan said. “Did anyone see you?”