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Scrubbing my palms over my face, I tried not to stress over it. All I needed to worry about was Piper. Nothing else mattered. She was the only one who counted. As long as I could make this up to her, then everyone else’s opinion was pointless.
A pounding on the door had my head snapping toward it. It wasn’t a friendly kind of knock, but one a person on a mission used. The cops. A John. Maybe even some local cartel. Fuck, it was Mexico. I had no idea if I was in someone’s territory or what. For all I knew, Erica might not have even been on the phone with a client, but some hit man.
The pounding came again. “Open the fucking door!”
At the sound of Barrick’s voice, I jumped to my feet and was across the room in a few steps. Swinging it open, I saw Barrick, Jarrett Dawson, and my best friend standing on the other side. Jagger pushed past the others and gave me a back-pounding hug.
“You look like shit,” he grumbled.
“Believe me, I feel worse than I look.”
As he released me, I spotted Erica standing nervously in the doorway to the kitchen. “Guess I’m not getting that hundred grand now,” she muttered to herself.
Barrick and Jarrett filled up the space behind me, their menacing presence overflowing the apartment. “Money is the least of your worries,” Jarrett clipped. “What happens to you from here on out depends on how willing you are to assist us.”
“With what?” I asked as I watched the blonde’s face pale.
“She’s going to help us get all the dirt the Feds will need to put Smith away for a long time,” Jagger explained. “And if she doesn’t help, we’ll drop her at the police station and collect the bounty for skipping bail on an involuntary manslaughter charge. She allegedly overdosed a John, who just happened to be a politician.”
“How was I supposed to know he had a heart condition?” she said with a huff, clenching her hands together to keep anyone from seeing how badly they trembled. “His wife just wanted me to set him up so she could get a bigger piece of the pie when she divorced him. Her dumb ass signed an airtight prenup. The only way she figured she could get it voided was with a few blackmail photos.”
“I don’t even give a fuck,” I said. “Do what you want with her. I need to get home. Piper is going to kill me. Fuck, fuck, fuck. She’s going to kill me, Jags.”
“Doubtful,” he said with a ghost of a smile. “Who do you think alerted us that you hadn’t made it home Saturday night?”
“Yeah, but she’s not going to believe any of this.” I waved my hand around the room. “They took my phone, man. And Erica said Smith took pictures while I was out. I didn’t fuck her, I swear. But Piper isn’t going to—”
“Bro, you need to calm down. Piper has been all over this shit. Don’t worry about her. Right now, the only person she’s raging at is Asher, and if she could get her hands on Smith, he’d be in a hole somewhere. Pretty sure her brother would be in there with him too, from what Shaw told me earlier.” He slapped me on the back again. “Come on. Let’s let these two get your friend here sorted out. I have coffee and energy drinks in the vehicle. We haven’t slept since Piper called me Saturday night, man. You hungry? We stopped for some tacos at a place a few miles from here. I got extra in case you needed to eat.”
We sat in the back of the huge SUV, and I scarfed down four tacos before even reaching for one of the energy drinks. The grease and carbs from the food helped settle my stomach, and the caffeine pushed the headache back enough that I could think a little clearer.
“I’m going to kill Smith,” I announced, crushing the empty can in my hand.
“Can’t let you do that,” Jagger said with an apologetic sigh. “We lost track of you after Smith and Asher crossed into Mexico. They turned off their phones and disabled their location so we couldn’t track their movements, and we were just wandering around down here, searching for any signs of you or Smith and Asher for hours. Then Asher turned his phone back on and went to see Hymn. From what Shaw and Mia told us, things got really messy after that. Hymn called Piper and let her hear their conversation, and then suddenly, Piper just got up and left everyone sitting in your kitchen. Shaw said she heard Piper beat the fuck out of her brother.”
For the first time since waking up that morning, I felt a smile spread across my lips. “That’s my girl.”
Jagger smirked. “You got yourself a real spitfire.” But then he sobered. “Asher and Smith live in the same apartment building. Ash knew Smith would drug women to get them back to his place. That was one of the reasons he went to Smith for help in ruining the wedding. After Piper cracked Asher’s head open and beat the shit out of him, she gave him an ultimatum. He could confess everything to their parents himself, and then make sure Smith never had the chance to victimize another woman, or she would go to the cops herself and tell them everything she knew. About both Smith and Asher.”
I was stunned by this new piece of information. Piper loved her brother. She was protective of him just as he was of her. “She would have sent him to jail?”
“Dude.” Jags looked at me in total disbelief. “She just found out that he’d drugged and kidnapped you to try to ruin the wedding. She didn’t know if you were safe or sick or fucking dead. From what everyone said, they heard a crash and thought Piper had killed him. Literally killed him. Do you even understand why she did that?”
A lump filled my throat to the point I couldn’t breathe, let alone speak, leaving me with no choice but to shrug in response.
“Because she fucking loves you, dumbass.”
“But…” I swallowed hard before continuing. “We had a fight before I left the other night. She was so mad and hurt. I did that. All I do is hurt her.”
“Whatever you two were arguing about, I don’t think it matters. And even if it does, Piper doesn’t seem to care right now. All she wants is for you to get home safe. If you need to fix something, it can wait.” He grabbed my shoulder, and I met his gaze. “She loves you,” he repeated. “Don’t you ever fucking forget that.”
Chapter 6
Cannon
I didn’t have my keys, so I had to knock on the door. My knuckles had barely touched the surface before it swung open, and Piper was throwing herself into my arms with a sob that made my knees weak.
“You’re here,” she rasped, burying her face in my neck. “You’re okay.”
