“I told you it was him! I’ll destroy that upstart bastard. I’ll—”
“I’ll be paying him a visit in the next hour. Gwen wants the police brought in, so I’ll get in touch with my contact at the department before I head over to Ethan’s club. Be assured, I am handling this situation.”
“You’d better be,” Will snapped right back. “Because if anything happens to Gwen, you’re done in this town. Hell, you’re done in the whole country.”
The guy was confused. His threats had never worked on Chance before, so why would he think they’d work now? Chance didn’t speak, and he knew that Will would understand his silence for the I-don’t-give-a-shit that it was.
“She’s all I have,” Will mumbled. Those words surprised Chance. “After her mother’s death…it was just Gwen. I know half the time she hates me, but I need her. You keep her safe. Keep. Her. Safe.”
The guy hung up on him. Big surprise.
But then the bathroom door opened. Gwen stood there, looking so gorgeous she made him ache. Sure, she was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt and her hair was loose around her shoulders, but Gwen wore those clothes better than other women wore expensive gowns. They fit her body perfectly, showing off her curves and making him itch to touch her.
He put the phone back down on his desk. Chance cleared his throat. “I’ll change too, then we’ll have that chat with Ethan.” He sure wasn’t looking forward to seeing that bastard. Putting him in jail? Oh, yeah, that part he anticipated.
Gwen nodded.
“I’ve got some spare clothes, too.” He turned away from her. “Just give me a minute…” He was grateful her father hadn’t blown his cover, but Chance felt like shit because he was misleading Gwen. He needed to tell her the truth, but he was afraid that if he did, she’d doubt him.
He wanted Gwen’s trust. He needed it.
He looked back at her. Tell her. But he couldn’t. Because she was staring at him with trust filling her bright green eyes, and the last thing he wanted to do was wreck that trust.
She doesn’t need to know. But they did need to be clear on one thing. “You told your father you’d hired me to keep you safe.”
A light flush stained her cheeks. “Well, yes, I mean, since you have your own bodyguard business and—”
“You’re not paying me to keep you safe. No one is paying me.” He wasn’t going to take money from her father and he sure as hell wasn’t taking her money. He was protecting her because he needed to know Gwen was safe. If he didn’t, Chance would go mad. “I’m doing it because you matter to me.”
She seemed to absorb that a moment and then Gwen said, “Just promise, that no matter what happens, you won’t get hurt.”
He’d been hurt plenty before and he would be again. Lex had even called him an adrenaline junkie once. But then, Lex was the one truly addicted to the high. Chance had already found something he enjoyed more than the rush of danger.
“Chance? Please, I don’t want you taking risks for me.”
“If not for you, then who?” He smiled at her. “Baby, my life is all about risk. Just ask Lex or Dev. They’ve got stories that scare even me.”
She marched toward him. Caught his hand. Stared up at him with determination stamped on her face. “I’m not talking about stories. I’m talking about the here and now. You say you want me safe? Fine. I want you safe, too. So let’s make that happen. Let’s both stay safe, let’s stay out of any fires…and let’s just see what came happen for us. I want a chance to be with you.”
And he needed one with her. Needed it, more than he needed anything else.
But he didn’t promise her that he wouldn’t get hurt. There were already enough lies between them.
Chapter Five
At night, Wicked was a hotspot teeming with people. The line to gain entrance to the club usually stretched around the block. Music would blare. Laughter would fill the air.
But during the day…especially so early in the day, Wicked was totally different. Deserted. All of the lights were off and no bouncers guarded the doors.
Lex marched toward the doors. He lifted his fist and pounded.
Gwen kept her position near Chance’s side. She hadn’t seen Ethan in months, not since she’d woken and found him in her bedroom. Chance had come in like a wild fury, and she’d had to pull Chance off the guy. She’d been afraid that Chance would get hauled to jail with Ethan but…
That hadn’t happened.
Ethan hadn’t been charged with any crime. He’d said that she’d left a key for him.
Total lie.
But she had managed to get a restraining order issued against him. She hadn’t seen him since that night, but it seemed as if he’d still been seeing her. Videoing her movements.
The door opened. A tall, broad-shouldered guy with dark red hair glared at them. She recognized the man as Ethan’s driver and sometimes bodyguard, Daniel Duvato.
But Daniel’s attention wasn’t on her. His glare was all for Chance and Lex. “The club is closed, dumb-ass. Come back at midnight.” He tried to shove the door closed again.
Lex threw up his hand and stopped the movement. “I’m here to see your boss.”
The red-haired guy’s eyebrows shot up. “Too bad for you because my boss isn’t looking to see anyone right now.”
Chance stepped forward. He shoved open that door, sending the redhead stumbling back. “He’ll see us,” Chance said, his voice strong and commanding. “Go find Ethan and tell him that Chance Valentine is here to see his sorry ass.”
Daniel laughed. “You are making one big mistake, asshole. But if you want Ethan as your enemy…” He waved his hand to indicate the empty bar. “Come inside. It’ll be your funeral.”
“I doubt that,” Chance muttered.
Gwen caught sight of Lex’s smirk. The guys didn’t look intimidated, but her stomach was in knots. Chance’s home had been torched. This wasn’t some alpha guy social call. This was life or death shit. This was scary.
So, yes, maybe she did inch a little closer to Chance. And she did wish that she had a can of pepper spray with her. Or maybe a stun gun or…
“That way,” Daniel said, pointing toward the bar. Then his gaze shifted and he finally locked his stare on her. Daniel gave a low whistle. “Oh, but he’s gonna want to see you, pretty lady.”
Chance growled.
Daniel smiled. “He said you’d come back,” he told Gwen. “Sooner or later.”
Chance took Gwen’s hand and shouldered past the guy. Daniel’s mocking laughter followed them.
The bar was familiar to her, unfortunately. When she’d stumbled into Wicked with her friends, she hadn’t rushed for the dance floor. She’d gone to the bar, wanting to drink up a little dancing courage. She’d met Ethan at that bar. She’d thought he was just a bartender at first. Later, she’d learned he owned the whole place—and a few other bars in town. He’d had that tall, dark and dangerous vibe and after her rejection from Chance, Ethan had seemed like a temptation she shouldn’t pass up.
Too late, she’d learned that the tall, dark, and dangerous label was all too true for him.
Chance strode toward the bar now, and she could see a man standing behind the gleaming, wooden counter top. A man with dark brown hair and broad shoulders. She knew by the cut of his hair, those faint curls, that she was looking at Ethan even before the guy turned around.
But he did turn around right then. He had what looked like a glass of whiskey in one hand, and when he saw them heading toward him, Ethan’s face tightened with fury. “What. The. Fuck,” he snarled. Ethan slammed the glass down on the bar. “The place is closed. Get the hell out!”
She froze, an instinctive reaction, but Chance and Lex just strode forward.
Ethan’s eyes glinted with fury. “Didn’t you hear me, Valentine?”
Ah, right, like he was going to forget Chance.
“I said get out!” Then Ethan’s gold eyes—tiger eyes—locked on Gwen. For an instant, the fury on his face l
essened and something else—something that looked a lot like fear—flashed across his face. But in the next instant, all emotion was gone and he was gazing coldly at her. “Gwen.”
She shivered.
“Violating your own restraining order, are you, Gwen? I guess some women just can’t stay away…”
Chance’s hands slammed down on the bar top. “I know what you’ve done. Did you think no one would find the cameras you set up at Gwen’s place?”
Ethan’s eyelids flickered. “Cameras?”
“We traced the feed back here. To your place. The cops know, and they’ll be here any minute to haul your ass in to the station.” Rage growled in each word.
Gwen inched a little closer.
“You torched my home last night,” Chance continued, his voice sharpening even more.
“The hell I did!”
“The home can be replaced…but you sonofabitch…” His hands fisted on that bar top. “Gwen was inside.”
All of the color drained from Ethan’s face. “Wh-what?”
“She could have died!” Chance lunged across that bar, moving faster than a striking snake. He grabbed Ethan’s shirt front and jerked the guy close. “Are you just one of those sick bastards that can’t let a woman go? Would you rather see her dead than with someone else? She doesn’t want you anymore. Get it through your head. Stay the hell away from her!”
Gwen wrapped her arms around her stomach.
Lex was pacing near Ethan’s side. “I bet the computer equipment is in the back. This is going to be a slam dunk for the cops.”
It looked that way.
Ethan’s gaze cut to Gwen. “I didn’t do it.”
Gwen’s lips parted.
“Bullshit,” Lex threw out. “The signal tracks back to you. What? Did you get jealous ‘cause you thought Gwen was hooking up with someone else? You put a camera in her place so you could watch her. You needed to see her, right. Twenty-four, seven. You—”
“I want to protect you,” Ethan said as he gazed at Gwen. His words were rough, raspy. Just like the voice on the phone? “Gwen, listen to me. You’ve got this whole thing wrong!”
“Chance lost…” Gwen stopped and cleared her throat because her voice sounded too weak. “He lost his home, Ethan. The fire was everywhere. Why would you do that? Why?”
Ethan jerked away from Chance’s hold. “I didn’t! Why the fuck would I want to torch this jerk’s home?”
Lex laughed. “Because you thought the jerk in question was screwing Gwen.”
She could feel heat staining her cheeks.
Ethan glared at Lex. Then at Chance. “You think I didn’t know, even back then, how much you wanted her?” He shook his head. “Gwen was the blind one, not me. I could see how you looked at her. Like the lust was tearing you apart. But I got Gwen, not you. She would have stayed with me, if you and her dick of a father hadn’t poisoned her against me. Gwen would have stayed—”
Chance leapt over the bar. He just cleared that thing in an instant. He grabbed Ethan and shoved the other guy into the wall of glasses to the right. Chance lifted his fist and drove it into Ethan’s face.
“No!” Gwen screamed. Chance couldn’t do this, not again. The cops were coming. He’d get hauled to jail with Ethan. She didn’t waste time running around the long bar. Gwen climbed right over the thing. Sure, she didn’t clear it nearly as gracefully as Chance had, but Gwen managed to stumble over the thing.
Ethan wasn’t fighting back, and Chance was gearing up for another swing.
Lex was just watching. No help at all!
“No!” Gwen yelled again. She threw herself against Chance and held on tight. “Don’t do this! Let the cops take care of him!”
Chance had busted Ethan’s lip. She could feel the fury vibrating in Chance’s body. The guy needed to back away. If he didn’t, she knew this scene was going to end badly.
“Please, Chance,” she whispered. “Use some of that famous control of yours.”
But Ethan laughed. “Don’t you get it, Gwen? He doesn’t have control, not when it comes to you.”
She sucked in a sharp breath when Chance tensed. “Stop it!” Gwen ordered. And she meant that order for both Ethan and Chance. But she stared hard into Ethan’s eyes even as she held tightly to Chance. “It’s over. You’re not going to hurt me or anyone else that I care about.”
Ethan flinched. “I would never hurt you.”
Chance dropped his hold on the guy. He stepped back, and his arm curled around Gwen. “Really? Then what the hell were you doing in her bedroom all those months ago? The night you snuck inside? You broke into her place, you—”
“I want to keep you safe, Gwen,” Ethan said. He was staring straight at her, and the guy looked sincere. He was a master actor, obviously, so maybe it was no big surprise that she’d fallen so easily for his smooth lines. He’d seemed to care about her. He’d injected just the right amount of sincerity into his voice when they’d been together before…just like he was doing right then.
“I’m safe,” she said softly, flatly, “when you’re away from me.”
His eyes widened. “No!” He tried to reach for her.
Chance shoved him back. “You just don’t learn well, do you?”
“Gwen, Gwen, listen to me!” Now Ethan’s voice was rising. “I didn’t start any fire. And, yes, okay, maybe I did have some cameras set at your place, but it was just so I could watch you! You don’t understand the danger you’re in. Danger I put you in!”
Chance still had one hand locked around Ethan’s shoulder. “Understand this, Gwen isn’t for you. You stay away from her. You don’t think about her—”
“Gwen!” Ethan’s voice was frantic. That emotionless mask was gone. It had splintered right before her eyes. “I can’t let it happen again,” he shouted.
Again?
“You have to listen to me. I didn’t set the fire. It wasn’t me!”
Lex’s fingers tapped on the bar. “Then who was it?”
Ethan didn’t look his way. “You can’t trust the people near you. They’re working their own agendas. You can trust me. I can keep you safe.”
Lex laughed. It was a rough, angry sound. “Wow, you are a ballsy bastard, aren’t you? Chance, now I see why you beat the hell out of him before.”
She didn’t want anyone getting the hell beat out of them. Where were the cops? Chance had put in a call to the police department before they’d left his office.
“I beat the hell out of him,” Chance said, his voice grim, “because he broke into Gwen’s room in the middle of the night. She’d told him they were done, and the guy wouldn’t let go. He snuck into her place. Into my Gwen’s bedroom, and he was going to—”
“Your Gwen?” Ethan demanded. “Is that what this is about? You’re just trying to get me out of the way so you can finally be with her?” Ethan shoved hard against Chance. A fast, frantic move.
Chance didn’t budge.
“She doesn’t know what you’re really doing, does she?” Ethan snapped as his cheeks reddened. “Because if Gwen knew, she wouldn’t be standing with you now, would she? Her father’s fucking guard dog. You think I don’t know? I’ve been watching, I’ve been—”
“Shut up,” Chance gritted out.
She could hear other voices then. Rising and falling from the entrance to Wicked. The cops? Finally.
“And the cops are here,” Lex said, voice mocking. “I’d hoped for a little more one-on-one with this guy first.”
Her heart was racing, her breath heaving, and she was really, really glad the cops had arrived.
Before Chance or Ethan started brawling right in front of me.
She grabbed Chance’s hand. “Come on,” she told him. “Let’s go.” Then she looked at Ethan. “Stay out of my life.” That was the only thing left to say.
She and Chance started walking around the bar. Lex came to her side.
“You can’t trust him!” Ethan yelled. “Do you know why he suddenly looked for you agai
n? Months passed, right, and nothing?”
He’s been watching me…so Ethan knows everything about my life. That terrible twisting in her stomach just got worse. Yes, she’d felt uncomfortable a few times—out in public, not in her apartment. She’d felt as if someone was out there, watching her.
She’d never imagined that the eyes were on her because someone was watching from inside her place. Gwen felt violated. Angry. Scared.
Chance’s fingers tightened around hers.
She kept walking. She wasn’t going to look back at Ethan. She didn’t want to see his lying eyes again. She didn’t want—
“He’s with you because your father paid him to be!”
She shook her head. That was such bull.
Only…
She happened to be looking right at Lex when Ethan threw out that accusation. And Lex…winced.
Why?
Gwen drew up short.
“Gwen, I’m the one who always wanted you…you, just as you are. I didn’t give a shit about your father. He wasn’t going to stop me from being with you, not like he stopped Chance.”
She spun around to fully face Ethan.
“Nothing was going to stop me.” Ethan stood there, glaring at Chance. “So this bastard fed you bull about me. He turned you against me.”
She could hear the thud of approaching footsteps.
“He fed you lies because Chance wanted you, but he couldn’t have you. You were right in front of him, but the guy couldn’t touch you. You got tired of all that looking, but not touching, didn’t you, Chance? You got tired—”
“I touch plenty now,” Chance said, his voice low and cutting.
And Ethan attacked. He snarled and came at Chance with his fists flying.
Chance pushed Gwen back, but Ethan hadn’t been aiming for her. Ethan swung and drove his fist at Chance’s jaw.
Chance didn’t dodge the blow. He could have moved. Could have deflected. Gwen knew what his reflexes were like. Instead, Chance took the hit.
And the cops swarmed. The uniformed men grabbed Ethan and shoved him back.