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“Will do,” Trent replies as Nick pulls the man up by his collar and fastens his hands behind his back with ties of some sort and pushes him toward Liam. “Zip ties. Easier to carry than cuffs and good for a lot of things,” Nick states, observing me as I watch Liam haul him away.
“You okay?” Nick asks. “I would have taken him down sooner, but I had to be sure that we didn’t spook him. A lot is riding on the information that he can provide for you and Lexie and a lot of other women.”
I nod, swallowing. “Makes sense. Let’s get back to the apartment. I’ll clean you up and take a look at your knuckles. They’re a mess.”
He grins. “Now, how am I supposed to pass up such a sweet offer, Nurse Allie? How about we make up some time getting back. I have some things to do now. You up for a little race? A wager?”
I narrow my eyes at him because his ruse to get my mind off the fact that someone is out to kill me is not working in the slightest, but with the nervous energy flowing through my body, it may be just what I need. “What do you want to bet?”
“You win—your choice at the club next time. I win, mine.”
“Condition, not outside my limits.”
“Of course.”
“Go!”
We both push off, initially keeping stride with each other, but he’s a hell of a lot faster than I’ll ever be, and that’s evident after only a few minutes of a flat-out run. I push hard and finally have to admit that I can barely keep up with his wind. I can tell when he slows, probably not wanting me to get too far behind him, especially after what just happened, and for the rest of the run home he keeps that pace so I can run along his side. He slows again before we get to the apartment building, allowing us a distance to walk and recover before we head up the steps.
“Damn, you’re fast!” I unzip my jacket and hang it over the kitchen chair. “Let me see your hand.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I narrow my eyes at his sass, turning his wrist this way and that to assess the damage. “You’re damn lucky that you didn’t break anything. Why don’t you shower first? I’ll get us some coffee, fix some breakfast, and then take another look at those knuckles.”
“Sounds good,” Nick agrees, grabbing his bag from the living room and heading down the hall to the bathroom. I rummage in the freezer for the strawberries I packed away for smoothies and toss them into the microwave to defrost while I whip up an egg mixture for French toast. When he comes back to the table, he sniffs the air dramatically. “Breakfast food for lunch. It smells sinfully delicious and better than any five star resort I’ve ever stayed at.”
I laugh, because it’s barely turned eleven o’clock. I dish him up a plate of the French toast and pour the thick and bubbly strawberry mixture over it and sprinkle it with powdered sugar.
“Let me see your hand.”
He takes a drink of his coffee while offering his other hand. I take it in mine, and the familiar electrical currents heat my skin as I look over the grazed areas and try not to think of those same hands on my body. “You’re lucky. It looked worse than it was.”
He nods, and I swallow in embarrassment as my nipples pebble underneath the thin material of my running shirt, giving him his hand back. “A couple of scratches that will be healed in no time.”
“Breakfast looks and smells great, Allie.”
“Thank you.”
“I need to take a shower. I can barely stand myself.”
“Hurry and then come and eat. We have a lot to talk about, and you’re not going to like a thing I have to say.”
Chapter Nineteen
Nick
My chest is still poundinglike a fucking freight train with a fit of anger that won’t resolve itself. If Darwin weren’t already dead, he would be now. But his friends are coming out of the woodwork from every direction like he’s orchestrating it from the grave. I send a message to Sheldon to make sure he knows what happened.
Sheldon:Roger that. Lex is under wraps with me. I’m on the phone with Chase: will call shortly.
If Chase or Brian are involved, there’s no doubt that after Marenah talked to them, and our entire team will be expanded in some capacity. I pound out a message to Marenah to see if she’s free to take a call. My phone lights up with her contact picture almost immediately. “Liam called me and told me what happened. I’m so sorry they went after Allie. Is she okay?”
“She wasn’t physically hurt, but she’s going to be far from fine when she hears what I have to tell her about the situation. I wish I could keep her sheltered, but she has to know just how deadly these people are and how determined they’re going to be about getting to her and Lexie.”
“Agreed. They both need to hear it. The trafficking business is too lucrative for these people to leave any loose ends. They’re going to come after the ladies with everything that they have. But they can’t be as tenacious as you are when you set your mind to something. And, I happen to have heard that Allie means something to you.”
“We’ll make sure the ladies are safe,” I reply, intentionally stepping around Marenah’s comment about my feelings for Allie. I glance down at the vibrating of my cell, catching a message from Trent letting me know that Tommy and his team are on the way to a warehouse where they had Trent leave the fucker who attacked Allie, while Marenah keeps talking.
