Page 58 of Knight's Desire

She crawled back to her initial spot, curled up on her side, and sobbed until her migraine became too intense for her to continue. She fell asleep in the midst of a silent prayer that she wasn’t sure would be heard in time.

Lord, please help Brick come for me. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to take.

∞∞∞

The squealing of tires and smoke billowing up from the skid marks announced Brick’s arrival at the Leonard and Son Realty office. He didn’t bother to jerk his keys from the ignition. Pushing the gear shift into park, he threw open the SUV’s door and stormed through the realty’s door. The receptionist jerked in surprise, her chair rolling backward as if putting as much distance between her and Brick as she could.

“Bexley,” he spat at her, and her arm instantly shot out, her finger indicating a door in the middle of a short hallway just beyond the lobby. His eyes narrowed as his legs ate up the distance in little time.

“You can’t go in there,” the receptionist called after him in vain. “He’s meeting with a client.”

“Screw that,” he muttered. He twisted the doorknob only to find it locked. Taking a step back, he planted his heavy boot in a weak point on the door, effectively busting the lock and pushing the door ajar. He barreled through without announcing himself. His white-hot anger only grew at what he saw.

The black leather desk chair creaked as the weight of the two people occupying it shifted in an alarmed reaction to Brick’s arrival. Naomi Brown raised her arms to cover her bare breasts, but she couldn’t hide her ass since her skirt was hiked up to her waist and her underwear laid in a torn mess on the floor.

“What the hell!” Parker Bexley lifted his co-worker off his lap and scrambled to push his dick back inside his pants and zipped them up.

“Didn’t take you long to get back in her pants, did it, asshole?” Brick growled at Bexley just as the receptionist skidded to a stop behind him and took in the scene.

“Oh,” the woman exclaimed, frozen to the spot.

“Get out!” Naomi shouted at her, straightening her skirt as she scrambled to find her bra and blouse.

“Lady, if I were you, I’d forget my clothes and get the hell out,” Brick snapped. “Trust me, you don’t want to be here for what I have to say to your boyfriend.”

Naomi whirled around, her body flushed bright red with fury. “Get out of here, or I’m calling the police.”

“You just do that, sweetheart, but do that as you hustle your ass out of here.Now!”

With one last withering glare that had no effect on Brick, Naomi ran passed him. Bexley awkwardly jumped to his feet and moved to confront Brick before stopping, apparently thinking better of his decision.

“Why the hell are you here?”

“Hope Robertson.”

“What about her? I haven’t seen her since I found the two of you in her house the morning after your night together.”

Brick took two slow steps closer to Bexley, much like a tiger sizing up its prey before striking. “I was protecting her, you jackass, which is what you should have done. Only at the time, you knew there was no reason to, didn’t you?”

“I suspected that she was making up the whole stalker thing. It’s nice to know I was right.”

Brick closed the distance in a flash. He fisted Bexley’s shirt and tie in his large hand and shoved Bexley up against the window. “You know damn well she wasn’t making anything up. You were messing with her, weren’t you, Bexley? But it backfired. So you had to act, right? You had to show her she made a mistake breaking up with you, didn’t you?”

Bexley gasped as his tie tightened against his throat. “I…d-don’t k-k-know… what… you’re…t-talking about.”

“Where is she, you son of a bitch? If you’ve hurt her, I swear to God—”

“Brick!”

Brick was grabbed from behind around the chest and yanked away from Bexley. Knowing Jay would never let him beat on Bexley as he wanted, Brick reluctantly released the realtor, keeping the man in his sights.

Bexley coughed and sputtered. “H-hurt her? Why w-would I hurt her?”

“She dumped you!” Brick shouted, lunging for him again, but Jay pushed him back.

“Let me handle this,” his friend murmured low enough for only Brick to hear. “I can get him to talk, but if you keep on, he’ll clam up.”

Brick closed his eyes against his rising frustration. Jay was right, but it pained him not to beat the answers out of the man he believed not only tormented but also kidnapped the woman he loved. He’d known the first time he held Hope in his arms that she was the one for him. She may be his opposite in every way, but he could think of no one more perfect for him than her. Twenty-four hours had passed since he was with her, and he didn’t think he could take another twenty-four hours of not knowing if she was alright. Did she know he was doing everything possible to find her?

---