Page 91 of Twisted Trust
“Maeve! It’s me! It’s me, you’re okay. You’re safe.”
Naz saved my life. After ensuring I’m breathing regularly, he escorts me up to the next floor and ushers me into a room while carrying the dead body of my attacker. The body is dumped on the bed and Naz orders me to stay put, then he vanishes.
My throat is hot and raw, my head and jaw throb, and I’m suddenly alone in a hotel room with a dead body. This doesn’t feel real. I’m frozen to the spot staring at the door Naz left through, unable to look anywhere else.
What is happening?
My mind loops on the attack over and over with no other thoughts breaking through until the door flies open and Levi charges toward me.
“Maeve!”
“Levi!” I sag into his arms as his hands clutch at my shoulders, then my face.
He turns my face in multiple directions then lifts my chin to look at my throat. The empty pain from before seems to fade from his eyes, replaced with white-hot fury. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I croak. “I was just coming out of the bathroom and he attacked me and I just—Levi, no!”
The words are barely out of my mouth when Levi suddenly lunges at Naz. “Was this you?” he bellows, grabbing Naz by the lapels of his suit jacket and throwing him up against the wall. “Did you do this?”
“Levi!” I dart forward and grab his arm. “Calm down! He saved me!”
Through grief or anger, Levi’s clearly not thinking straight and he glares at Naz for a few long seconds. Naz keeps his arms up and defensive but he doesn’t fight back.
“Listen to her, my friend,” Naz gasps. “I saved her. It was him.” He nods to the corpse. “I saved her, Levi. I saved her.”
Levi very slowly backs away and lets Naz slide down the wall, then he turns back to me and repeats the frantic checking over me from before. My face, my neck and even my hands where one of my nails has torn free.
“Maeve, I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I give him a watery smile. “It was all so sudden and so fast that I just… I couldn’t do anything. He was choking me and then he punched me in the stomach so I couldn’t even gasp and then it was…” Tears well in my eyes as Levi pulls me against his chest. “Naz s–saved me.”
“You’re safe now, I promise,” Levi growls, wrapping both arms around me. He holds me for a long moment then breaks away and turns to Naz. They appear to share a silent apology and then focus on the body on the bed.
I can’t watch.
Turning away, I stare out the window at the glittering city of New York as it’s blanketed in another shower of rain until the sound of a fist hitting flesh jolts me back to what’s happening.
“The fuck is this?” Levi roars.
I turn to see him standing over Naz on the ground while the corpse on the bed, now stripped of clothing, shows a large wolf tattoo on his bicep.
“Levi!”
Naz is silenced by Levi punching him again and again. “That’s your ink! That’s yours! Fuck you, man! I trusted you and your people are here trying to kill my girl? This is the second time! Fuck you!”
There’s so much rage in Levi’s voice and the way he’s holding himself. It’s like every muscle has enlarged with his fury and he beats Naz over and over.
“Levi! He saved me, remember! He saved me!” Flying forward, I catch Levi’s elbow on the backswing and he very nearly hits me in the face, but he stops me just in time. “Please! You’re not thinking.”
“I don’t need to think,” Levi snarls.
“You do! Think, baby, please! He could have let that bastard kill me if that was his goal, but he didn’t! And why would he bring you here and let you strip him knowing you would find the tattoo?”
Levi’s muscle trembles under my hands but after a few long seconds filled with panting and Naz whimpering, Levi slowly lowers his fist. “What thefuckis going on?”
“It’s me,” Naz gasps, wiping his bloody nose and cautiously climbing to his feet. “I’m sorry, Levi. Truly. Today of all days is not when I wished to speak about this.”
“About what?” Levi positions himself between me and Naz.
