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I’d lost some muscle during recovery and stamina. I couldn’t afford to be without either. At two miles, I hit the incline button and increased the speed. The punishing pace demanded focus on my breathing and at least helped to bring some of the more tangled thoughts into sharp focus. I kept it up until I hit mile five and then allowed the treadmill to slow down and the incline to return to level.
Sweat soaked my shirt. The muscles in my back, my abdomen, and my legs burned with protest. When I finally stopped, I actually slid a hand to my lower back to check one of the old scars to see if it had reopened. When my fingers came away with only sweat and not blood, I shook my head.
Like the shadows of the half-remembered nightmare, the feeling of the steel biting into my flesh, driving in deeper and deeper while I fought to get to Ivy lingered. All at once, I wanted Mayhem in front of me, but she was at her charities.
I could go—she’d left me info on how to get there but I also couldn’t smother her. She wouldn’t tolerate it. Considering the shit she had to put up with from Graham…
Thoughts of the night before lit a match on the temper the run had attempted to sand down. I was going to beat the shit out of that little prick. He didn’t get to keep doing that to her.
Part of the reason I had to resist my own urges to keep Mayhem within my line of sight at all times, that’s what those assholes had done. To the point they’d practically tried to shut her out of everything and keep her shut away.
It would never work.
She was too goddamn independent. Draining my water, I left the gym and retreated to shower. I didn’t take as much time under the jets as I could. The fact they pulsated from four different directions was downright hedonistic. I liked the privacy even more, that and the fact I wasn’t remotely cramped in the shower. It would fit me and Mayhem just fine.
I shaved, then checked the scars briefly in the mirror while I toweled off. Doc warned me that I’d need more therapy, but I’d blown him off. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t do the exercises. I wanted him focused on Ivy though and not me. After I dressed—jeans and a long-sleeved shirt that was probably a lot more Braxton Harbor seaside than New York high-rise, I headed down to the office with the bottle I refilled in the bathroom.
After Marlene finished, I’d head to the kitchen to get—
Speak of the devil, she stood at the entryway to the library with a tray in her hands. The smell of bacon, eggs, and coffee greeted me. “I thought you might want something to eat after your workout, and Miss Benedict has told me that you prefer black coffee.”
Not quite gritting my teeth, I summoned a smile. “That I do, thank you, Marlene.” The words “you really didn’t have to” danced unspoken on my tongue. I opened the door to the library for her and she inclined her head.
“Danke schön,” she murmured, the light German accent didn’t appear all the time but it was definitely there.
“Bitte schön,” I replied and her smile widened.
“You have been practicing German?” She carried the silver tray over to the desk where a stack of folders waited alongside the promised laptop.
“A little,” I admitted. “It seemed the polite thing to do.”
After placing the tray, she removed the lid on the food, which was steaming hot. It was more than just bacon and eggs. There were fried home potatoes with onions as well as a slab of ham. “You are a good boy, Mr. Hardigan. You also have a lot of homework—so eat your breakfast. I’ll bring in more coffee in a little while and pick up your tray.”
“I could bring it back to you when I finish,” I offered and she merely gave me an angelic smile. “Or,” I said, accepting that answer because I’d seen that same expression on Ms. Stephanie. This wasn’t open to debate. “I will wait for you to get it while I work.”
“It is good to understand these things. Now… I will leave you to it. And I will see you in a half hour.”
I swore she was laughing at me as she closed the doors. Alone, I turned to the food and my stomach rumbled at the rich scents. Everything looked perfect. One sip of the coffee told me it was. Not that I needed the confirmation, Marlene had prepared all the meals we’d had at the apartment since coming to stay here. Even the ones that Mayhem simply took out of the warmer.
“Right…” I looked at the stack of folders and the food. Eat first. Then deal with what she’d dug up.
Julius King was still out there, and he was the other reason I was here. Not the only reason, no, he was far from that. But he was still a potential threat and one I needed to make sure didn’t touch Ivy, the guys,orMayhem.
ChapterSeven
ADAM
The downstairs buzzer sliced through the dark at three in the morning, yanking me to wakefulness. The insistence had me rolling over to slap the answer button with one hand, even as my free hand closed around the grip of the gun. The comforting weight and coolness of the handle erasing the lingering web of sleep.
Jock Colville had night duty on the front desk and I kept him well-paid for his service as security for the building in general as well as for me specifically.
“Yes?” It had better be his fucking voice that responded.
“You have a visitor, Mr. Reed,” Jock said, his tone conveying warning and apology. “He is not quite himself.”
“Let me talk to the son of a bitch myself,” a slurring, yet familiar voice demanded. “Took you too fucking long to call him as it is.”
Goddammit. “Is he alone?” I sat up.
