Claiming Honor (Bad Boys of River City Book 3) (8 page)

"And I live with him. So I between me and Mercy, I'm pretty sure we can refuse you entrance." I shrug. "Unless you have a search warrant?"

Of course, he doesn’t. If he did, he would have already used it.

His jaw clenches and he glares, but there's not a damned thing he can do as we enter the house and slam the door in his face. Damn, that is satisfying. Ryder goes straight to the security keypad and starts typing. After only seconds, he looks pretty freaking grim.

"Well?" Mercy asks.

"Someone was here a few minutes after midnight. You and Honor start upstairs. I'll be in the office. Lake and the others can look around down here."

Clearly, Ryder is in charge when Hunter isn’t around. We all scatter. Mercy follows me into Hunter's room--our room, I guess--and I look around. Nothing seems out of place, but I haven’t been here long enough to really know. I go into the closet and open a few drawers, but I feel weird going through Hunter's things so I don’t look at his stuff much. I don’t see anything missing in my jewelry or other things. Mercy ducks her head in.

"Anything?"

"Looks like nothing has changed."

"Jewelry here? Electronics?"

"My jewelry is. I left my laptop downstairs in the library."

She nods. "Go on down. I'll check through the other rooms up here but there isn’t anything valuable in them."

Downstairs I find Lake and Ryder in the library. Ryder nods at towards the desk. "The bag is yours?"

"Yeah."

"Where's your laptop?"

Shit. I rush over to look for it but I already know what I'm going to find. Someone's already unzipped the case so I spread the flaps. Chargers? Check. Planner? Check. E-reader? Check. Laptop? Vanished. I don’t have to say anything. I'm sure it's written all over my face. I start to tremble. Was it Cox? What the hell was he after? And who killed him? On second thought, I might not want the answer to that question. I really, really want it to not be Hunter. But shit…would he go that far for me? Killing someone? I think he probably would. I kind of understand his point of view, actually. He can't look weak and he's made it clear to fucking everyone that I belong to him. I kinda like belonging to him. I don’t like all this not knowing shit. Fuck.

"He didn’t take my desktop computer," I say. "This makes no sense."

Ryder looks…considering is the only way I can describe it. "Yeah, the desktop was left behind. Well, the case at least. I'll send Lake for it."

He nodded to the other man and he disappeared.

"You think he's looking for something I know? Something on my computers? There's nothing that isn’t my personal information and I'm sure as hell not rich."

Grace steps forward and her expression does not fill me with cheer. "Mark," she says.

I have an idea where she's going with this but it still doesn’t make much sense.

"What about him?"

"Did you think I didn’t check him out, Honor? It's what I do."

I'm trying to figure out how to respond to that when the front door bangs open. I rush to the hall to see what the hell is going on. Hunter stalks in and comes right to me. He kisses me and I forget every damn thing that worries me. When he releases me, I'm not sure what I'm thinking except maybe I don’t want him to let me go. No. That's a lie. I definitely don’t want him to let me go. I want him to convince me that this can work, and that isn’t fucking fair, is it?

"Are you okay, baby?" he asks.

I can't believe he's asking
me
that. He's the one who got handcuffed and taken down town.

"I'm fine."

"I'm not so sure about that," Ryder says. "Someone did use the codes to get in and took Honor's laptop."

I swear to God, Hunter gets a poker up his ass. The look he levels on me makes me sigh. I'm not scared of him anymore. Not at all. I know he'd never hurt me. Turn the world upside down to protect me? Hell yeah. Hurt me? Fuck no. Never.

"I'm okay, Hunter," I say. "I was with you when it happened, remember?"

"And you're staying with me so I can make sure it stays that way. No one is getting close to you," he says.

He doesn’t look convinced, though. He looks all crazed alpha male. I have to admit, there's a part of me that accepts it. The other part of me wants to laugh at this ridiculousness, to discourage the hell out of it. But I'm also really scared. I mean. Where did this shit come from? Who is after me and why?

"Let's assume it was Wayne," Grace says. "How did he get the code?"

"My guess would be from Kylie Davis. She owns the housekeeping service we use," Ryder answers.

"Pay her a visit. Let her know her services are no longer required and she owes me big," Hunter says, voice tight and grim. I can't believe he's going to let it go at just that. Then again, what do I know about his world? Maybe owing him is a huge deal.

Then he turns to me.

"Your boss. What is it he does, exactly?" Hunter asks and this question makes me very uncomfortable. It's that whole crime boss thing. Also, it's a secret. Though, Grace brought it up, too, or was going to. Fortunately, I really can't tell anyone much. Mark never talks about what he's working on.

"I don’t know," I lie. I can tell he sees right through me. His eyes narrow as he clenches his jaw. He doesn’t say anything though.

"He know anything about this? The stalking? The break-in?"

I shake my head. It's not the kind of thing you casually drop on your boss, is it?

"We need to talk to him, Honor."

Oh, shit. I really don’t want my personal life colliding with my professional life. Mark and Hunter do
not
need to meet. With my luck they'd start comparing notes and gang up on me. Mark's enough of a mother hen as it is. I shake my head.

"Not gonna happen, babe."

He cocks an eyebrow, but whether that's because of the slipped endearment or defying what is basically an order, I have no clue. He shrugs one shoulder as if to say whatever, I'll do as I please. Damn it. Lynn interrupts before I can argue.

"We're heading home. Let me know if you need anything, Honor."

She has her hand pressed to her stomach and looks a little wan. I've been wondering if there's something going on for a few weeks but don’t ask right now. The others either leave or scatter, too.

"What's that look for?" Hunter asks.

"Probably nothing."

He half snorts half laughs. "I know you better than that, baby."

"I was just speculating. I don’t think I've seen Lynn have a drink in several weeks, not even at her wedding. And she looked pretty pale when they left."

He takes my hand and pulls me into the living room to the couch.

"You think she's pregnant?" He sounds intrigued and maybe a little jealous.

"The thought's crossed my mind."

"You don’t sound happy for her."

"Of course, I am," I say and that's true.

"But?"

I'm not sure how to answer that without pissing him off or insulting him. He just waits me out though, eyes intent on mine, hand still holding mine. How something so innocent can have me tied in such knots is a mystery.

"Things are a little uncertain with you guys."

I don’t have to point out today's events to make my point. His gaze softens and he releases my hand. He lifts his free hand and strokes his fingers down my cheek.

"I'm very careful. I wasn’t gone much more than an hour. And Trace will be fine too. Hell, if Serenity is pregnant he'll be extra cautious."

I can see he wants to say something more but he kisses me instead. Unfortunately, it ends all too soon. When he steps back he looks determined.

"Come on. Let's go see, Mark."

I open my mouth to argue, but he stops me. "You aren’t going to win this one, Honor."

Fuck. Mark is going to be pissed if I just show up with some guy he's never met. I send him a quick text telling him I need to talk to him and I'm bringing my boyfriend. His response is typically short: no problem. Yeah, he thinks that now.

Hunter drives. Of course. Mark's house is hidden by trees, so it's always a  surprise to me going down the long drive and taking the final curve in the road to the gate. A huge Georgian mansion is visible surrounded by an eight foot wall. The gate is heavy wrought iron that slides off to one side after he inputs the security code. Knowing Mark, he'll change it as soon as we leave. Hunter looks impressed with the whole set-up. I suspect I'll be seeing walls and gates going up at our place soon. Whoa. Wait. I haven’t made that decision yet, have I? To stay?

I'm shaken from my thoughts when the car stops. Mark is waiting in the open doorway. I make the introductions quickly and we go into the house, back to the kitchen where he gets us coffee. When he joins us at the table he's wearing his poker face, which means he knows exactly who Hunter is. If I don’t get fired, I'll definitely be getting a lecture later.

"So what's up?" he asks.

"Someone's been following me a couple of weeks. A local guy. I thought he was stalking me." I pause, unsure how to continue, and Hunter takes over.

"It's not nearly that simple, though. He broke into her house and stole her computer hard drive, then my house and stole her laptop. He was murdered sometime after that last night."

The poker face is gone, replaced by one of anger and concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mark. I would like to know what the hell is going on."

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

Ah, part of that pissed off is at me, huh? I should have guessed. Hindsight and all that.

"He was a local drug dealer. I thought if it had to do with anything other than me it would have been…" I trail off.

Hunter gives me a disgruntled look. "Me."

"Have you noticed anyone else following you?"

I shake my head.

"We ran into that guy in Destin," Hunter says.

Mark cocks an eyebrow.

"Neil Cusack."

"So tell me, Mark," Hunter drawls. "Is someone after your work? That's the only reason I can think of someone would steal her computers."

I stare at him a second. Neil should know I don’t have anything, but I can't think of another explanation. "You think someone hired Wayne. He was watching me to learn my schedule so he'd know when to break into my house."

"That's exactly what I think. I thought maybe it was about me, but there would be no reason anyone would think they could find anything about me on your computers."

Mark leans back in his seat, thoughtful. "And you ran into Neil. He has to realize you wouldn’t have proprietary information on your computer, though."

"What's he after then?"

Mark shakes his head. "Nothing he could find on her computers. The companies I work for are very particular about their systems staying private, of course. My work isn’t on any computer that can be hacked," he says. "Neil is a genius, but he's a little crazy. I got the last couple of contracts he wanted and he really doesn’t like me."

"You think he's capable of murder?"

Mark huffs. "I don’t know. You never really know what even stable people are capable of." He looks worried when he glances my way. "You shouldn’t go anywhere alone."

"Don’t worry, she won't."

Great, exactly what I was worried about. "Hold up, you two. Wayne is dead and we don’t know if anyone else was involved, least of all Neil. No need to go overboard."

I know I'm probably wasting my breath arguing. Even if there wasn’t still the possibility of a stalker, if I stay with Hunter--and I can't imagine leaving now--he'll insist on a bodyguard because of who, what he is.

"I'm not taking any chances," Hunter says.

"Honor, you know you're not going to win here," Mark jokes. "It's two against one."

I roll my eyes.

"I think you should work from home for a few days," he continues. "I can handle any errands that come up."

Oh fuck, no. I can't be stuck in that house all week while I'm still trying to figure things out with Hunter. I shake my head. "No way. I'm sure you have someone in mind to drive me around," I say to Hunter.

Mark looks back and forth between the two of us, then the smooth poker face is back. "In a week, Honor. You've been through enough lately."

I sigh. A couple minutes later we say goodbye and go back to Hunter's. Neither of speaks again until we're inside. He takes my hand and leads me to the living room, pulling me down next to him. He wraps his arm around me and I snuggle up.

"Your boss seems like a nice guy."

I nod. "He is."

There's a long stretch of awkward silence. "You're not going to argue about the bodyguard?" he finally asks, in a voice that is much too even. I tilt my head back to look at him.

"Would it do me any good?"

"None at all."

I put my head back on his shoulder. "Well, there ya go."

My stomach chooses this moment to grumble loudly and he chuckles. I smack him in the stomach. "Shuddup. I was too nervous to eat much for awhile."