Chapter Fourteen

Luke woke up the next morning groggy, which was unusual for him. His life had never been one where deep sleep and waking up disoriented were leisures he could afford.

But clarity came when he realized Claire was not in the bed beside him. A quick glance at the bathroom and around this small studio space confirmed his worst fears.

She was gone.

Damn it. His body was tired from yesterday’s trauma and then the three rounds of lovemaking with her last night. He hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her. And he wouldn’t trade a single second of it, except that it meant he hadn’t woken up when she decided to sneak off.

Khan.

He saw the note on the small table at the same time he saw Khan stretch out by the door.

His heart sank as he read her words.

Dear Luke,

I couldn’t stay. This was too dangerous for me to have involved you in—and now you’ve gotten hurt. I’m going to go to the police, tell them everything I know, and hope for the best. Maybe I can make them listen and give me a chance to prove my innocence. This lets me protect you for once. Please take care of Khan. I know you know how important he is to me. Thank you for last night. Thank you for everything, now and when we were kids.

Love,

Claire

Luke was already getting dressed, having to use one of the vet clinic polo shirts lying in a box since his was way too bloodied and he did not want to draw attention to himself. He grabbed Khan, knowing she’d never forgive him if something happened to the cat, and rushed out the door, praying he wasn’t too late to stop her.

There might come a time when her only option was to go to the police and hope they could find one who was on the up-and-up and would listen to her, but that wasn’t until they ran out of all their other options.

And it damn well wasn’t going to be because she wanted to protect him.

The closest precinct was about a mile away. Luke didn’t even bother trying to blend in with any sort of walk. There was no way he could blend in when carrying this giant cat anyway. He ran full out, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and the occasional cat claw hooked into his biceps. At least the cat wasn’t fighting him and trying to get away.

“Good boy.”

This thing really was more like a dog. Maybe he sensed his mistress was in trouble. “Not on my watch, buddy.” It was early enough on a Sunday morning that there weren’t many people out. All things considered, Luke made pretty good time. When he turned around the last corner that put the precinct in his sights, he let out a silent prayer.

Claire was standing just down the block from the station, pacing and talking to herself. Thank God.

Luke slowed to a walk; he definitely couldn’t draw attention to himself now. He kept his eyes trained on Claire. There was no way he was going to let her go in there.

He had just found her again after all these years, and he couldn’t lose her now.

He kept on the other side of the street from the precinct. She was so busy arguing with herself, preparing her statement or whatever she was doing, that she didn’t even see them.

Even in this dire situation, Luke couldn’t help but smile. This woman... She’d amazed him when they were kids, and she continued to do so now. Last night had just solidified that.

He crossed the street a little farther down from her so he was coming up behind her. Khan began to get a little restless in his arms as he saw Claire.

“I know, buddy. We’re going to get her out of here.”

Luke moved quietly up behind her and was able to see the two cops who walked out of the precinct and headed in her direction at the same time she did. She stiffened, and he knew she was about to make her move.

He dropped Khan and quickly stepped in front of her, blocking Claire from the cops’ view.

He pulled her in for a hug. “Hi, honey,” he said just loudly enough that the cops would be able to hear him but not so loud that it seemed unnatural. “Ready to go get our coffee?”

The officers never even slowed down, caught in their own conversation as they continued down the block.

Luke kept one arm around her and turned them to cross the street in the opposite direction of both the cops and the precinct.

“Did you get my note? I want to turn myself in.”

He didn’t stop walking and Khan stayed right at their feet. “That’s exactly what Ballard is hoping you’ll do. He’s prepared for that. You can bet he has some sort of plan. You turning yourself in without proof in hand will be a death sentence.”

She was still resisting. “You got hurt. You could’ve been killed. I meant what I said in the note.”

He stopped walking so he could turn and face her eye-to-eye. He brought both hands up to cup her cheeks and ran his thumbs over her delicate cheekbones. “Kitten, you have no idea what it means to me that you want to protect me, but this is not the way to do it. We find the proof and we get it into the right hands.”

“But—”

“You’re not in this alone anymore. We’ll figure it out together, okay?”

He thought she might argue, but she nodded. “Together.”

He slipped his arm back around her shoulder and they began walking again. They needed to get as far from here as possible.

T HEY USED THE last of the cash to take a taxi across town. Luke needed to talk to his brothers and couldn’t take a chance on anything being bugged.

Claire donned the brown wig, and they walked a couple of miles before calling a cab at a hotel. If Ballard was smart, he would have the media put a picture of Khan all over the TV. He was much more noticeable than either Luke or Claire was. People would be recording them left and right if they needed to look for the giant cat.

Luke and Claire talked as little as possible in the cab. He didn’t want the driver to have any reason to remember them. He had the driver take them to a small mall a couple of miles away from the San Antonio Security office. He hated to make her walk more, but it was better this way.

He knew she was surprised when he led her into an underground parking garage a couple of blocks from his office. They took the elevator back up to the ground-level floor, then walked down the hallway and out the back door.

It led out to the alley that led between the two buildings. It gave him and the guys a second hidden entrance into their office. It was one of the primary reasons they chose this particular space to rent.

If someone were watching their building, they would still never know Luke and Claire were inside.

The relief on his brothers’ faces was apparent as soon as they came in through the back door.

“Thank God,” Brax murmured.

Weston and Chance immediately closed the blinds on the front window. The glass was tinted, but this gave them an extra measure of privacy.

Brax sat down and switched on the signal blocker. That would block anyone attempting to use audio surveillance equipment to listen in on their conversations.

“Are you guys all right?” Brax asked. “When we heard about the Wars Hill library fire, we immediately got over there but we couldn’t find any sign of you.”

Luke led Claire so she could sit on the small couch in the corner of the waiting room. Khan immediately jumped up into her lap.

He gave Weston a look, who immediately nodded, knowing what they needed. Weston headed toward the small kitchen and dug up something for them to eat and drink.

“We hid, then sneaked out a bathroom window. I got quite a few stitches for my trouble.”

Claire winced and he reached over and grabbed her hand, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles.

“If you thought everyone was looking for you before, it’s definitely worse now that they think you shot a cop.”

Both Luke and Brax shot Chance a look when Claire let out a shuddered breath. Chance didn’t mean any harm by his words; he just didn’t pull any punches. Luke was gruff in the same way, and actually prided himself on it.

But not when it came to Claire. He didn’t want anyone to do or say anything to upset her. She’d been through enough.

“Sorry,” Chance muttered.

“No, you’re right,” Claire whispered. “Did he die?”

Brax shook his head. “Weston put in a call to see what he could find out. It’s still touch-and-go, but there’s a chance he’ll pull through.”

“Any chance he would be able to identify who shot him if he makes it?” Luke asked. It wouldn’t solve all their problems, but at least they wouldn’t be after Claire as a cop killer.

Chance shook his head. “It seems unlikely given the trajectory of the bullet that hit him, and we only know that because of what Weston was able to get from his cop friends.”

“My vote is for you to turn yourself in.” Weston walked back in the room and handed a plate of sandwiches and a couple of water bottles to Luke, who nodded his thanks. “There are good cops in the San Antonio PD. You two can back up each other’s statements. Otherwise, they are going to be after you in full force after what happened at the library.”

“That’s what I wanted to do.” Claire sat up straighter on the couch. “Luke has already gotten hurt—”

All three of his brothers stiffened.

“How bad?”

“Do we need a doctor?”

“Status.”

It was impossible to tell who was saying what with them talking all over one another.

“I’m fine. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed by breaking in at a local vet’s clinic. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“And if I hadn’t been there to hit that guy in the head with the skateboard? He would’ve shot you.”

Luke picked up half of a sandwich from the plate on his lap and stuck it in Claire’s mouth.

“Yes, Ballard and his men are dangerous. Deadly, even. And that’s why you can’t go to the cops.” He turned to his brothers. “Ballard would’ve already thought of that. He has to have a plan in place if she goes running to the cops and claims her innocence.”

“I should’ve done that from the beginning. I should’ve walked out of Passage Digital and gone straight to the police. I don’t trust cops. I don’t like people. I’m so stupid.” Luke took the sandwich back out of her hands.

“Hey.” He cupped her cheeks with his hands. “Maybe... Maybe you might’ve been able to catch Ballard before he could get any stopgap measures in place, but probably not. He’s too wealthy and too well-connected to not have been able to handle that. The most likely thing that would’ve happened is that you’d be dead right now and my whole world would be crushed without me even knowing it.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

Luke could never have been much of a poet. No one had ever accused him of being in touch with his sensitive side. But suddenly, he had a very clear understanding of what drowning in someone’s eyes meant. He couldn’t have escaped the hypnotic pull of Claire’s baby blues even if he had wanted to.

And he very definitely didn’t want to. What he definitely did want to do was kiss her, but he couldn’t with his brothers staring at them.

“So, we need a plan that involves Claire not going to the police,” Brax said. “Anybody got one of those?”

“Not yet.” Luke forced himself to look away from Claire. “We’re going to go to ground until we figure out a way to get the proof we need.”

Weston leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “That works as a temporary measure, but unless you plan to be on the run for the rest of your lives, it can’t be permanent. They’ll be after you, too, soon, Luke. Right now, there’s no ties between the two of you but once there is, you could be arrested for aiding and abetting.”

“That could affect...things,” Brax said, his usual charming smile nowhere to be found.

Luke nodded. He knew exactly what his brother meant.

“What things?” Claire asked, feeding a piece of chicken to Khan. “Bad things?”

Luke didn’t want to tell her.

“In this together, remember?” she whispered.

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “If I’m charged with aiding and abetting, or any crime really, it could affect a lot of things with our business. The licenses we’re able to hold, our relationship with law enforcement...”

“Oh.”

He wanted to tell her it was worth it to him, all of it...even if it meant losing everything. But it wasn’t just him this affected. San Antonio Security was part of all of them. And he loved his brothers.

“I think you do need to go to ground. Get out of Dodge,” Chance said.

Luke turned to him. “What about the business?”

“Go to the cops first. Clear your name and distance yourself from this.”

Luke could almost see Chance’s strategic mind working.

“Tell the cops the truth, but the selective truth. Tell them that Claire came to you, a pretty lady all big eyes and sad story. You two knew each other as kids. She was broke, but you put her up at a hotel and were supposed to meet the next morning but evidently, she took off in the middle of the night. Next thing you knew, her photo was all over the news.”

Luke caught Claire’s flinch out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed her hand. “None of that is true.”

“All of it is true,” she scoffed.

“Hey.” Brax smiled at her. “Those statement may be true but they’re not all the facts. We know all the facts, and that’s what matters.

Claire didn’t look very relieved.

They all turned to Weston. “Would this work?” Luke asked. “You have the most experience with law enforcement.”

“Maybe. Probably. You keep it as general as possible, giving the cops what they already know. We have a good reputation—you have a good reputation—so there’s no reason for them not to believe you.”

“We’ll get your truck out of the vicinity of the library so nothing is traced back to you,” Brax said.

“Is it possible that they’ll arrest me? Maybe I shouldn’t go at all.”

Because he damn well wouldn’t be able to protect her behind bars. She’d be on her own.

“Think about your life, Luke. This company. You can’t ruin your reputation.”

“San Antonio Security is not more important than your life, Claire. I don’t want to leave you alone unprotected.”

“We’ll keep her safe if something happens to you,” Brax said, and both Weston and Chance were beside him, nodding their agreement. “You’ll probably only be with the police for a few hours, tops. But however long it is, we’ve got your back.”

“Both of your backs,” Weston said.