Claim & Protect Read online

  “Not like you’re probably thinking. He only struck me once, and it was after I’d goaded him pretty hard.”

  “No excuse for hitting a woman. I don’t care if you went after him with a baseball bat.”

  “Maybe not for a man like you, but Wyatt’s got a sizable ego to go with his MD. It’s bad enough when a wife questions his judgment, but when I called him out on something as a nurse, he flipped.”

  “Called him out on what?”

  She shrugged, hating the topic now as much as she had back then. “I found some bootleg pharmaceuticals in his office. Designer injectables from God only knows where. I pushed him to fess up and he hit me.”

  The loose hold of his hand on her shoulder tightened and the mood in the room shifted to something dangerous.

  She propped herself up beside him.

  His mouth was tight and his gaze lasered onto the ceiling.

  God, how stupid could she be? He’d told her abuse was a trigger for him, but she’d gone and red-flagged it all over the place. “The scar is from a tummy tuck,” she added, hoping the distraction would take his mind off wherever his thoughts had gone.

  He shifted his attention to her and frowned. “A what?”

  “A tummy tuck. Women get them when they’ve got loose skin around their middle and want to get rid of it. Levi did a number on my belly and Wyatt didn’t like it. I didn’t want the procedure, but I was so damned eager to earn back even a little of the man I’d married, I finally agreed.”

  He smoothed her hair away from her face and cupped the back of her head. “You were smart to run when you did. Someday Levi will thank you for it.”

  “I should’ve gone sooner. I just got too lost. Too hung up on trying to get back what I thought we’d had, but the more I tried, the worse it got. By the time he hit me, I’d lost so much of myself it was hard to function.”

  “But you found your way.”

  Her voice dropped to a whisper, the reality of how far she’d sunk before she ran a weight she couldn’t shake. “Not before he hit Levi.”

  “No, but you took action as soon as he did. That’s something to be proud of.” His voice hitched. “Trust me.”

  There it was again. That hint of something raw and vulnerable he kept tightly guarded. More than anything, she wanted to take it from him. To ease the burden if only for a moment the same way he’d done for her. “You say that like a man who’s got his own secrets.”

  “Not secrets. Regrets maybe, but not secrets.” He toyed with her hair, winding one strand around his finger while he studied her face. “Not all women get out. Some of them live it their whole life. Worse, some of them die young never knowing they could have had better.”

  “Anyone in particular?”

  He hesitated, pain flashing behind his beautiful blue eyes for one defenseless second. “My mom.”

  The room’s quiet roared and her heart squeezed. No wonder he’d reacted like he did. Why he’d been so willing to step in and help her. She laid her head on the pillow and cuddled beside him. “Is it too much if I ask what happened?”

  “The same thing that happened almost every day in some form or fashion. Dad was in a mood and he took it out on Mom. The only difference that day was he took it too far and killed her. He used his pistol and took his own life when he’d realized what he’d done. Fucker was too much of a coward to face the consequences, I guess.”

  “Where were you?”

  “At school.” His expression hardened. “I found them when I got home.”

  Desperate to comfort him, she ran her fingers along his strong jawline. His morning stubble rasped against her fingers. “I’m sorry.”

  He rolled to his side and faced her, a little of his tension eking back to wherever it was he kept it hidden as he studied her face. “Don’t be. It sucked watching my mom go through that, but their deaths brought me Frank and Bonnie. It took six foster homes and more trouble than my social worker could handle to get there, but I made it. Frank helped me get my shit straight. Gave me a home and taught me what a family’s supposed to look like.”

  “They adopted you?”

  “Yep. Best day of my life when my last name changed to Raines.”

  “Smooth sailing after that, huh?”

  He grinned and rolled to his back, some of his playfulness rebounding. “Uh, no. Up until I graduated maybe, but I took sowing my wild oats after high school to a whole new level. Damn near threw away all the upbringing they gave me before Axel found me.”

  “Axel?”

  “One of my brothers.”

  She frowned at that. “One of the men in the picture?”

  “Yep.” He knifed up and prowled over her, pressing his hard body against hers in a way that promised all kinds of decadent distractions. “But that’s a different story, and you’ve gotta get to work.”

  “I can be late.”

  He cupped the side of her face and gave her more of his weight. “Got plenty of time to learn all my dirty laundry. This week’s about us having fun and me keeping your nights distracted. Now are you good with me crashing here with your mom on the other side of the living room, or are you packing a bag and staying at my place?”

  Her mind hitched and scrambled to reprocess. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “Distraction, darlin’.” As if to remind her what his special brand of distraction was, he rolled his still very erect cock against the core of her. “I’m keeping your nights busy until Levi’s back. I promised I’d keep it light, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be boring.”

  “You can’t be serious. You’ve got two different companies to run.”

  “Yeah, and feeling your heels digging into my ass while I’m driving my cock deep is fan-fucking-tastic stress relief. Now what’s it going to be? Your place or mine?”

  She opened her mouth.

  “A word to the wise,” he said before she could speak. “You’re loud when you come.”

  “I am not!”

  “Are too.” He smiled and nipped her lower lip. “Fucking love it, too.”

  Her cheeks burned and it was all she could do not to duck under the covers. Still, it had been forever since she’d had even the slightest inclination to do something so spontaneous and fun. To throw her schedule out the window and live like she didn’t have a thousand responsibilities hanging around her neck. “Okay you win. I’ll pack a bag. But if I do, you’d better give me something spectacular to scream about.”

  He chuckled low and bit his lower lip. His eyes smoldered with wanton promise. “Darlin’, you won’t just scream. You’ll beg.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  What a fucking day. Not bad so much as chock-full of unexpected curveballs and challenges—starting with the shock of how much he’d liked waking up next to Natalie. That alone had been enough to rattle Trevor’s cage and keep him off balance for days, but learning that Wyatt was using non-FDA-approved drugs? That had shaken parts of his reality he hadn’t cared for, enough so he’d perked right the hell up and decided it was time to take action.

  Trevor turned into Haven’s long driveway and killed his headlights as soon as he got close to the house. At one o’clock in the morning, the guys might be up and waiting on him, but Sylvie and Ninette rarely stayed up past the ten o’clock news. If either of them had an inkling their boys were gathered for a late-night rally, they’d pry their butts out of bed no matter how tired they were and make sure there was an endless supply of coffee and food.

  Aside from the porch light and the pendulum fixtures above the massive kitchen island, the house was dark, but a sweet, buttery scent lingered in the air that said Sylvie had concocted one of her wicked desserts before she’d turned in for the night.

  He kept his footsteps as light as his boots would allow on the dark wood floors and stalked through the k
itchen to the basement door. The second he opened it, light and his brothers’ voices rumbled up in greeting. He closed the door behind him and jogged down the steps. “Sorry I’m late.”

  Jace and Beckett jerked their chins up in silent greeting.

  “Yo.”

  “Hey, brother, what’s up?”

  “You want a beer?”

  This from the rest of the crew already in their seats and waiting.

  From his place at one end of the table, Axel rounded out the chorus with a grin. “‘Bout time you got here.” Unlike the rest of the guys who favored jeans and T-shirts, he was gussied up in his fancy slacks and a cashmere sweater that probably cost as much as Trevor’s Luccheses. While he normally kept his wild russet hair knotted up and out of the way, tonight it was loose, blending with his full beard to make him look like a Scottish warlord who’d battled and conquered the entire GQ staff.

  “Sorry. The Den was packed when I left. Never seen a Tuesday night like this one.” Trevor snagged a bottle of Bud from the full-size stainless steel fridge in the corner and popped the top. Thank God, Natalie was on the closing crew or he’d have felt like shit for planning the late-night rendezvous at his place later. “I knew shit would get busy before the holidays, but I didn’t factor it would ramp up a full week early.”

  “Weather’s been good and people are ready to blow off steam,” Jace said from the opposite end of the table. “Crossroads has been up a good fifteen percent over last year. I say take it and run while you can. Come January, everyone’ll be moaning over their holiday credit card statements.”

  “Can’t remember you ever calling rally,” Knox said to Trevor. It was rare to see his brother without some kind of electronic device within reaching distance, but around this table Knox gave his brothers his undivided attention. “Something wrong with Frank?”

  Trevor pulled his chair out from its place to the left of Axel’s. Rather than trick the basement out in high décor the way Jace had with the rest of the house, the basement was raw and filled with memories of where they’d each come from. Every man picked their own chair, something that stood for a piece of their past or a hope for their future. Compared to the rest of the guys, his was simple, a ladder-back chair in green enamel paint that had come from Bonnie’s kitchen when she’d bought a new dining room set, but it grounded him. Reminded him of the sacrifice his biological mother had made and the good life she’d given him, even if it had taken her death to do it.

  “You didn’t tell ‘em?” Trevor said to Axel.

  Axel shook his head and sipped his Scotch. Outside of Frank, the wily brother had been Trevor’s biggest champion and go-to confidant, including this morning when he’d strolled out of Natalie’s apartment with an uneasy edge he couldn’t shake. “Your instincts. Your story. I just told the guys you’d run across a complication.”

  Meaning he suspected there was more to Trevor’s concern than just protecting his business interests, but Trevor wasn’t going there. This thing he’d started with Natalie wasn’t safe for either of them long-term. They’d scratch their itch, have fun and move on.

  Trevor swiveled toward Jace and Zeke. “You two remember the waitress with the cell phone problem about three weeks ago? Natalie Jordan?”

  Both nodded.

  “Well, turns out the reason she was running the thing ragged was she was fielding panicked calls from her mom. Her ex is a piece of work. Keeps badgering Nat and using her kid to get her back. Nat doesn’t want to go because he hit her and her kid. She bailed without anything more than a car and their clothes. I had a hunch and followed her home that night. Ended up jumping into the middle of an altercation that was brewing its way up to ugly.”

  Jace spun the toothpick perched at one side of his mouth with his finger and thumb. Being the one who’d helped Axel cover Trevor’s tracks after the bloody altercation that had put him on the road to being a brother, Jace knew the extent of Trevor’s penchant for fists firsthand. “Jumped in the middle how?”

  “Not like you’re thinking,” Trevor answered. “The last thing I wanted was to cause problems for Natalie, so I stalked up and pretended like she and I were an item. Told her ex I didn’t like coming to check on my woman and findin’ her trading insults with him outside her front door.”

  Beckett chuckled low and leaned into the table, crossing his huge forearms in front of him. “Now there’s a little detail you left out before.”

  “No shit,” Knox said, grinning huge.

  Danny planted his beer bottle on the table and scowled at Knox and Beckett. “You knew about this shit and didn’t fill me in?”

  Zeke cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t share with me either.”

  “It wasn’t a big deal,” Trevor cut in before Jace and Axel could chime in too. “I went to Knox and asked him for more info on the ex. Just a precaution in case the guy decided he wanted to start a pissing contest at The Den. Natalie had on her work clothes, so there’s no way he’d have missed the logo.”

  Axel zeroed in on Knox. “You find anything?”

  “Not much beyond what I got the first go-round digging into Natalie. His practice makes bank, he dabbles in a shit-ton of side investments and he likes to gamble, but never more than he can afford to lose. Everything Trevor said about the divorce was spot-on. She got a Lexus SUV, their personal effects and nothing else. Bastard got joint custody even though Natalie’s lawyer claimed abuse.”

  “How the bloody hell does that happen?” Axel said, the growl in his voice reminding Trevor of a nasty bulldog.

  “Connections,” Knox answered before Trevor could. “The judge on the case is a member of Wyatt’s country club.”

  Jace leaned to one side of his battered banker’s chair and anchored his elbow on the arm. “So that was three weeks ago. He make a move?”

  “Not yet.” He hesitated a second and glanced at Axel.

  Axel dipped his chin, a barely perceptible nod of encouragement. “Tell ’em, brother.”

  Slouching a little in his chair, he splayed his knees wide and let out a heavy breath. Now was when the real razzing started. “Ever since the altercation, Wyatt’s been quiet. Not what you’d expect with the narcissistic type. I should have caught it earlier, but my gut says he’s spent that time up to something.”

  “Up to something how?” Jace said.

  “I don’t know. But Natalie’s been antsy since she dropped her kid off for his week at Wyatt’s. Said he was acting shifty in a way that usually spelled problems for her.”

  “Probably another legal claim,” Knox said. “He’s used the system to keep her hopping for the last year.”

  “That’s what I thought too,” Trevor said. “But then she said something this morning that tweaked me. It’s probably nothing, but if it is, I need to watch my back.”

  Beckett smirked and rocked back on his chair’s hind legs. “Why do I get the impression this conversation went down while you were curled next to her in bed? Or has your spunky waitress left her insurance claims job for a full-time gig at The Den?”

  Trevor scowled and kept going. With a little luck he could gloss over the timing and they’d let shit drop. “What’s got me tweaked is she was telling me about how things went down the first time Wyatt hit her. She mentioned something about him using non-approved drugs on patients.”

  The room got quiet, two and two adding up just as quick for them as it had for him this morning.

  “Same kind of product you’ve been hauling?” Danny asked.

  “It sounded like it.”

  Jace’s eyes narrowed in a way that didn’t bode well for Wyatt Jordan. “You think he might be one of your buyers?”

  “Maybe. If his practice is doing as good as Knox says, it’s possible he’s luring them in with cutting-edge product.”

  “Can your middleman give us buyer names?” Knox asked.<
br />
  Zeke shook his head. “He won’t do it. I’ve never met the guy. At the time, I figured that was in our best interest and let it ride.”

  Beckett shrugged his shoulders and scanned the rest of the guys. “Then we need to give him a reason to change his mind.”

  “You’d have to find him first,” Trevor said. “All Zeke and I have is a contact number, and I’d bet good money it’s a burner with no GPS.”

  Axel reclined back in his tattered club chair and anchored one Hugo Boss-clad foot on his knee. His usual laid-back tone came out grated and dangerous. “Then we ferret out the scunner another way.”

  Trevor fought back a chuckle. It usually took a lot of Scotch or a particularly challenging woman to get Axel’s more colorful words to come out and play. “Are we talking about Wyatt or my middleman?”

  “Your woman’s ex,” Axel fired back quickly. “You’ve got another haul you’re workin’ on now, right?”

  Trevor dipped his chin, purposefully ignoring the part about Nat being his woman. The last thing anyone needed was more encouragement.

  “Then see if he bites this time around.” Axel’s gaze shifted to Beck. “Your team can run a tail once word gets out and see if he’s a purchaser.”

  Beckett frowned. “I’d like it better if we had someone on the inside.”

  “No way we’d pull that off on this short of notice,” Knox said. “It’d take at least a month to get someone on his payroll.”

  “Not as an employee,” Beckett said. “As a patient. You said he does big business, right? People talk. Word of mouth is everything, especially in that line of work. We’re better off getting someone to go in and say they’re after the latest and greatest.”

  Danny snickered. “Not thinking anyone would buy one of us shoppin’ for some bootleg Botox.”

  Jace huffed out a sharp chuckle and lifted his Scotch toward Axel. “I don’t know. Our dapper Don Juan might need to look into those wrinkles setting up shop on his forehead.”

  “You’re just jealous you can’t carry my style.”