Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Noel and Anne had the bulky furniture out and into the van first since there wasn't much of it, then focused on the essentials next. Things like dishes and bath towels, those could be replaced, so they prioritized things she couldn't replace or were expensive. He wanted her out sooner rather than later.

Right now, she had all of her essential paperwork in the front of the van, and they were quickly loading her wardrobe into the back. Noel was using anything at hand to cart clothes over. Hampers, boxes, what have you. He hurried over, dropped off one more load, mentally calculating how much more the van could take versus how much more there was to do. All her stuff wouldn't fit in one load, he hadn't expected it to, but even the essentials might not make it all in one trip.

Dammit, trying to fit two trips into a work day before boyfriend checked on her was pushing their luck—

A rough hand seized him by the back of his neck and roughly dragged him away from the van. Noel's balance was immediately upset and he almost fell, arms windmilling as his panic spiked. Fuck, they'd been caught already!

"You fairy cunt," a roughened voice he—unfortunately—knew growled against his ear. "I knew she was up to something. You're trying to get her away from me, aren't you?"

Noel turned, or tried to, but the hand holding his neck was strong, and it wasn't budging.

"You're not winning," Jet snarled. Due to his massive size, he towered over Noel, beer gut pressing in an unpleasant way against Noel's back. "You're not taking her. She's my bitch, not yours. Not that you'd know what to do with a woman, anyway."

"She's not your property," Noel bit out, still trying to wrest free. Damn, he could use a few more of those self-defense lessons right about now. He didn't know how to get out of a hold when a man had him seized from behind.

Jet threw him sideways with enough force that Noel landed against the side of the van, knocking the breath right out of him. He slumped against the vehicle, struggling to get air back into his lungs, and looked up at the hulking man towering over him. Jet was nearly purple with rage, black eyes snapping with fire.

"I'll deal with you in a second." Turning his head, he bellowed, "ANNE! Get out here before I break his legs!"

Too impatient to wait for her, Jet headed toward the apartment.

No. Hell no. He couldn't let Jet get hands on her. Noel snatched his phone from his pocket, calling Fernando and putting it on speaker before breaking into a dead run. The compound wasn't far from here, making Fernando the closest to him, and honestly? If there was ever a time needed for macho men prone to violence, it was now.

" Hello ?" Fernando's voice sounded relieved for some reason. " Noel —"

"Help!" Noel shouted at the phone even as he dove for Jet, trying to tackle the larger man. "Sunrise Apartments on—"

Jet whirled, throwing a punch that hit Noel squarely on the left side of his face. Pain exploded like stars, making him dizzy and sending him straight onto the pavement. He'd been hit before but damn, Jet's right hook had come in like a freight train.

The phone went spinning from his hand, skittering across the pavement, but he had no time to worry about it. Noel didn't stay down and scrambled back up to his feet, trying to get some distance between them. He had to buy time. No way in hell could he fight Jet to a standstill, but if he could just buy time, Fernando would at least send someone out to help him.

"Who the hell did you just call?" Jet snarled, advancing on him. "The cops?"

"No," Noel answered. His heart felt like it was in his throat, adrenaline racing up and down his spine. He edged backward, trying to think fast of where to go to avoid getting pinned. "Someone far better."

Fernando was riding shotgun toward Noel's house when the call came in. He heard Noel's panicked words, the meaty sound of someone being punched, and his blood ran ice-cold. It felt like someone had a stranglehold on his heart.

Noel was in trouble.

"Sunrise Apartments," Fernando snapped at Joe. "Floor it, NOW."

Joe didn't even need to be told. He pressed down on the gas immediately, making the SUV shoot forward, darting in and around traffic with skilled ease. He seemed to know where the apartments were as he didn't ask for directions and within five minutes flat, he was pulling into a parking lot, tires almost smoking as he slammed on the brakes.

Fernando saw the tableau through the windshield. Noel was trying to evade a much larger man, darting around the front of a van, but even as Fernando wrenched his door open, the man caught Noel in a chokehold and started squeezing.

Molten hot fury swept through his body, and he didn't even remember moving, pulling out his gun, anything. He just suddenly had the cold metal gripped in his hand, up and ready to fire, and as soon as he had a clear line of sight, he fired with merciless calculation right into the bastard's kneecap.

With an agonized scream, Noel's attacker let go. He staggered back before falling onto the pavement, cradling his injury with tentative hands.

"WHAT THE HELL MAN?" the attacker gargled out.

"Stay still and be thankful you're breathing," he snarled back, beelining for Noel. "That might not last long, depending on what Noel tells me." Fernando largely ignored the injured man after that, his focus on only one thing—Noel. He could take his time with that asshat later, when there were no cameras or witnesses, and all the time in the world to hear him beg for mercy.

Noel choked a little, gasping for breath, but his relief was apparent. "Your timing is amazing . Thank you."

Fernando wanted to say something, he did, but the words dammed up in his throat. There was a nasty bruise forming next to Noel's left eye, even more bruises forming on the pale skin of his throat, and he'd clearly been hurt elsewhere as he was slightly favoring his right side.

This bastard had beaten Noel before Fernando could get to him.

If he thought he'd been furious before, it didn't compare to the murderous rage that swamped him now. Fernando lifted his gun again, aiming for dead mass on this waste of space.

Noel leapt for his arm, pulling the gun off target. "Wait, wait! Don't kill him!"

He met Noel's eyes levelly but his voice, his voice was rough with emotion. "Anyone who hurts you is a dead man walking."

"There's security cameras on this building; please don't kill him in front of those," Noel pleaded. "I don't want you in jail over this."

Dammit. As mad as Fernando was, the voice of reason lurking in the back of his head agreed that Noel made a good point. In this case, with two humans involved, human laws would assert themselves. Clear-cut case it would be ruled he had no right to kill the man. Unless Noel was his spouse, but…he wasn't. Fucking hell. It wasn't what Fernando's anger or protective instincts wanted to hear. He had to wrestle with himself for a full five seconds before he found the willpower and finally lowered his gun. He mentally promised himself he'd deal with this asshole later when there were no witnesses. Or a Noel to stop him. "Joe—"

"I'm on it, Boss." Joe already had a gun trained on the guy and was gesturing toward Crammer to take care of things.

He was glad he'd brought these three. North was assisting Crammer somehow and Fernando left them to it. He had different priorities since Noel wouldn't let him kill his main point of frustration.

Holstering his gun, he gently touched fingertips to Noel's chin, looking him over more carefully. "How bad?"

"It's okay, I just need an ice pack and some painkillers," Noel assured him. "Eye's the worst of it, I think, or at least it hurts the most. How does it look?"

"Like you got on the wrong side of a boxer." He hated that bruise so much and there wasn't a damn thing he could do to erase it. Well, maybe later he could convince Noel to accept a small amount of his blood, to accelerate the healing. Scratch that, Fernando would make sure that happened.

The wounded man continued screaming in pain and gibbering while Joe kept a gun pointed at him. His whimpers of agony were music to Fernando's ears just then. He noticed movement ahead, and a slender, petite girl whom Fernando didn't recognize tentatively approached, taking in the whole situation before quickly heading toward Noel.

"Noel! I heard the fighting, but it seems like it's stopped. Who are these guys? Are they your friends? What's— Holy shit! What happened to Jet?"

This must be the friend Noel was trying to help. Noel might take it as a win that he'd protected a friend, but to Fernando, seeing her untouched and well was just pouring salt into an open wound. Well, he couldn't say "untouched" as she had healing bruises on her arms, so he could tell in a glance why Noel was here. Still. Noel was his priority.

"Anne. Um, this is my boss, Fernando. That's Crammer, Joe, and North. They're guys I work with." Noel gestured to each in turn. "I called them for help when Jet arrived."

"Oh. Well, amazing that they came so fast." She gave Fernando a nervous smile that disappeared just as quickly. She seemed intimidated by him and was trying to edge closer to Noel while avoiding contact with Fernando, which was both comical and impossible. "Thank you."

He didn't do it for her, but Fernando wasn't about to say so.

"Um. Noel, you okay? I hid, like you told me to if he showed up, but…" Anne's eyes roved over Noel and she winced. "That doesn't look good."

"I'm okay. I've had worse." Noel was hurt and still trying to reassure her, but hearing those words didn't do anything to calm Fernando's protective instincts.

All right, how to get Noel out of here quickly without protest? He took in the moving van, the boxes he could see through the open door, and put two and two together before asking, "You're moving out and your boyfriend showed up to stop you?"

"Yeah. Noel came to help. I was afraid Jet would, um…" she trailed off with a grimace. "Well, I was afraid of what he'd do if he found us moving my stuff out."

She'd been right to be afraid, as it turned out. Noel was kind to help her, but she hadn't called on the right person, either. Noel wasn't strong enough to protect the two of them. A point that Fernando would bring up at length when they were alone.

For now, he had different priorities. He snapped a finger at Joe. "Where's Crammer?"

"Hacking security cameras and deleting the footage," Joe answered promptly. "North's called a wagon to grab this guy."

Ah. An excellent solution. "Good. Deal with things here and then help her move out completely. Anne, you have a place to go?"

She blinked at him. "Uh, yeah. I signed for a new apartment this morning."

Then she could be settled today. Fernando wouldn't normally care about strangers, but he knew this was Noel's friend, and it would make the rest of his day easier if he wasn't arguing with Noel on top of everything else.

Anne pointed at Joe. "What did he mean by ‘wagon'?"

Noel answered her with a reassuring wave. "My boss has a private clinic that treats everyone. The wagon's kind of like an ambulance."

All technically true. Jet wouldn't be taken in for treatment, of course. Instead, he'd be on a table by afternoon to have all his organs harvested before being dumped into a river somewhere, but Fernando wasn't about to explain. His men were also protective of Noel, and they had the right to exercise revenge too. Fernando would buy them something later for a job well done.

For now, he could focus all his attention on Noel. He called for a taxi, since the guys would need the SUV, eyes centered on Noel all the while. Noel seemed to understand the weight of his stare and gulped, looking nervous. He should be, too.

Fernando was not happy.