“Sheesh, how much coffee did you drink this morning?” she asked. She opened the front door and tossed her bag in.
The person sitting in the driver's seat was not Lily.
Madison froze, staring down the barrel of a gun, held by her ex-husband.
“Get in,” Dustin said.
Could she run fast enough? Was Aiden secretly hiding around the corner? Would Dustin shoot her if she got in? What if she died with Aiden still angry with her?
“I said, get in.”
Madison dropped into the seat, staring straight ahead. She didn't even bother with the seat belt.
“What the fuck are you doing way out here?” Dustin tucked the gun under his left leg before spinning the car around.
“What do you want, Dustin?” Coldness swept her body, making her limbs numb.
“I want my fucking property, dumb bitch. Where is it?”
“I don't know,” she said automatically. It was an argument they'd had several times, and each time she had the same reply.
“You're going to remember.”
“Or what? Kill me?”
“That's not a bad idea.”
Damn it all to hell. Why did she have to open her mouth?
She glanced around, no idea where they were. The streets and businesses were unfamiliar. Where was Lily? Did he have her? Why hadn't she told Aiden where the drive was? If he had it, could he trade it for her? Would he?
Madison needed to get away. No one knew she was in trouble except Lily, and she might be worse off than Madison.
She placed her hand over her keys clipped to her hip. The pepper spray.
Dustin eased to a stop at a red light.
The gun was under his left leg. If she sprayed him first, could she get away before he drew it?
She slipped the plastic head of the pepper spray around, holding her breath. She tried to mute the
click
of it settling into place.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Dustin grabbed her hand, pulling it up.
Madison held on to the spray. Her worn belt loop snapped. She pressed the button on the bottle and the
hiss
of aerosol spray filled the car.
“What theâow, fuck! You bitch!”
She held her breath, squeezed her eyes shut and yanked her arm out of his hold while clawing at the lock. The passenger-side door opened and she tumbled out onto the pavement. Madison rolled, got to her feet and ran, blinking bleary eyes. Her face stung from the spray, and it hadn't even been aimed at her.
Madison dodged into a parking lot and ran between the cars. She glanced back, but Lily's hatchback was gone. Had Dustin left her? Or was he still around? What a time to not have a police shadow!
Her heart hammered against her ribs and fear pumped in her veins.
She crouched between two cars, with a light pole at her back, and squinted at her phone. She wanted to call Lily, but she needed help bigger and badder than she was.
Since she couldn't be certain Aiden would answer her distress call, she clicked on the other number he'd given her. The in-case-of-emergency number.
The line only rang once.
“Hello?” a woman said.
“Hi, this is Madison, Aiden said to call if something was wrong and shit is fucked up.” She hated how scared and frantic she sounded, but damn it, what about Lily?
“Madison, it's Roni. Take a deep breath. Where are you? What happened?”
Aiden's backup was . . . his mechanics?
“Lily was going to drive me to work, but my ex-husband had her car. I just sprayed him with pepper spray and jumped out. I'mâI don't know where I'm at. I can't see a fucking thing. I was at Aiden's house, but he left and he's pissed at me.” Her eyes were watering now, fat tears rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably.
“You're on your cell phone? Tori, come on. Gabriel, listen for your phone, find out where the fuck Aiden is.”
“Yeah.” The twin sounded awfully competent for just a mechanic.
“Tori, get Emery to track her.” A car's engine revved. “Madison? I'm going to be there in a minute. What's around you?”
Emery? But, Emery was Aiden's tech guy or something. Were these people all connected? What exactly was going on?
“I'm in a parking lot, one of those pay-to-park things.” She hissed as her skin started to burn.
“Okay, keep moving. You're out in the open, Dustin might still be around and we don't want him to find you.”
“Hurry, please, I don't know what happened to Lily.”
“Shit. Tori, find Lily's address and get Julian over there.”
Madison peered up over the hood of the car to her right. There was a building, but she couldn't make out what it said.
“I can't see.”
“You said you pepper-sprayed him? Dang. In a car the spray probably got you, too. The blurry vision will wear off in a minute or two. Unfortunately you're going to burn anywhere you got the stuff on you, but it's probably a lot worse for Dustin,” Roni said. “I'm getting closer, and Emery's given me an approximate location.”
“I hope that fucker crashes and dies.” Wait . . . Madison hadn't mentioned Dustin's name, had she? How did Roni know it?
“From the sound of it, I do too,” Roni replied. There was a deadly edge to her voice.
“I can see better now.” Madison straightened, looking around her. “I don't see Dustin.”
“Okay, I'm half a mile away. Look for a sky-blue car.”
Madison straightened and turned in place, her heart hammering in her throat. Her phone beeped, but she didn't have time to look at it. Instead, she jogged toward the street and started walking north on the sidewalk.
“I see you,” Roni said.
“I don't . . .” A blue two-door car zipped down the street. “I see you.” Madison dashed across the two lanes as the car pulled up.
Tori popped out and flipped the seat forward. She folded herself into the back faster than it took for Madison to find her balance.
“Get in,” Roni said.
Madison collapsed into the seat and Roni accelerated, the passenger door closing from inertia alone.
“We got her, Aiden,” Tori said from the backseat.
Madison's heart twisted painfully in her chest. Aiden.
“What about Lily?”
“We don't know anything yet,” Tori replied.
“The driveâ”
“Here.” Tori thrust her phone into Madison's hands.
She stared at the screen for a second before pressing it to her ear.
“The drive is in the garage, over in the red shelvesâ”
“Are you okay?” Aiden spoke over her, sounding more like a roaring engine than a human.
“I'm fine. I got pepper spray in my eyes and on my arm. It burns like a bitch.”
“I'm going to fucking kill him.”
Why was it statements of violence warmed her heart? There was clearly something wrong with her. A few too many knocks on the head in practice or something.
“The girls are going to take you to the garage. I'll meet you there. You are not going to work today,” Aiden said.
“What about Lily?” They'd talk about him assuming he could order her around later.
“Julian should be getting to her house soon. Let me talk to Tori.”
Madison handed the phone back, feeling even more adrift. He couldn't even talk to her? She glanced at her phone. One missed call hovered on the screen with a single name below it.
Aiden.
He had called her back.
Chapter Twenty
Madison scrubbed her hands and arms with soap and water in the garage bathroom, biting her lip to keep the curses inside. Why was it starting to burn worse?
“Shit, shit, shit.” She backed away from the sink, holding her hand to her chest.
“What are you doing?” Aiden filled the doorway. She was torn between relief at seeing him and dreading what he might say to her next.
He grabbed her elbow and examined her hand.
“You don't scrub pepper spray off with water. It only activates the oil again. Hold on. Don't do anything.”
As quickly as he arrived, Aiden darted out of the door. She heard another door bang against the backdrop of a radio playing the latest hits. Sunshine poured in through the open bay doors. Two men in coveralls were working on a blue convertible, not paying her much mind. She remembered meeting them the night before, but their names escaped her.
Aiden returned in a matter of moments with a towel and a carton of milk.
“Here. Give me your hand. Is this the only place you got it on you?”
“I got some in my eyes, but I think I blinked it out.”
“You'll still want to rinse them out.” He held her hand over the sink and poured a little of the milk over her skin, frowning so hard she thought it might split his face.
The burning subsided a little. She drew a deep breath and sighed.
“Better?” He ripped the top of the carton open and shoved the end of the towel in what was left of the milk.
“A little.”
“Good. This is going to take the burn away.” He wrapped the sopping wet towel around her hand and forearm, then doubled it up by using the dry half of the towel around that. He pushed her toward the toilet. “Sit.”
She sat on the closed lid, cradling her hand to her chest, and peered up at him. Was he still angry with her? Did he blame her for Dustin's stunt this morning?
“Did he do anything else to you?” Aiden crouched by her side.
“No, just a lot of talk. He had a gun though.”
Aiden's brows rose. “And you still pepper-sprayed him?”
“It was under his leg. I figured it might be my only chance to get away.”
Aiden closed his eyes and reached for her free hand. “That was my fault. I shouldn't have left.”
She let him lace their fingers together. Deep down, she couldn't find it in her to be angry at him still. True, if he hadn't left her, she'd never have called Lily.
“Do we know how Lily is?” she asked.
“Julian has her. Dustin left her tied up at her house. Julian thinks Dustin might have intended to use her as leverage against you if you didn't give him the drive.”
“Shit.”
“Madison, I'm going to take care of this.”
“Butâ”
“No.” He squeezed her hand. “This is going to end. I'm calling Dustin and setting up some time to meet with him. I've got the drive, we'll analyze it and figure out how to use it to make him go away.”
It sounded too easy. Was that all there was to it?
“Next time someone has a gun on you, don't get heroic.”
Madison stared at him, anger boiling up inside of her. This was her fault? He was the one who'd left her. If it weren't for him, she would never have been in this situation to begin with.
“Heroic? I was scared for my life. You were gone. He could have killed me before you got back.”
“I was already on my way back when the twins called me with a bike for you.”
She blinked. A bike? For her?
That red-hot anger fizzled out just as fast as it had risen.
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I said I would. When I tell you I'm going to do something, I'll do it. I told you I'd get you a set of wheels. I told you I'd take you to work. Believe me for once.”
“But you left.”
“Yeah, because I was pissed you didn't trust me enough to tell me about Evers already. I figured I needed to cool the fuck down before I said something stupid.”
It all connected back to Michael Evers. Why?
“What did he do that made you hate him so much? I mean, you said he does bad things, but you hate him. Why?”
Aiden stood and turned away from her slightly, staring at the concrete floor. Would he tell her? Or was this another of those things that had to remain a secret?
“He had my sister and her husband killed.” Aiden glanced at her. “Her husband was investigating another murder Evers was indirectly responsible for, and got too close or pissed off the wrong person. Whatever the reason, they're dead because of Evers. Someone's protecting him. It's why we can't get anything to stick to him. Problem is, we don't know if it's an outside source pulling strings or not. We should have had him a long time ago but . . .” He shook his head.
He'd told her of his sister's passing, but not the why of it. Aiden's family blamed him for that? Why? How could they?
The idea of carrying around that guilt made her stomach knot up. And he lived with that? Every day? No wonder he hated Evers.
“We know he's responsible because he put out a call for a hit. He wanted people to know it was him. I think that's when the cops realized he wasn't just a South Beach playboy, but now they can't seem to touch him. So yeah, it's personal and obsessive, but it's what I've got to do.”
She glanced at the open bathroom door. Tori and the two guys had their heads together, looking under the hood of the convertible.
“What about them? How are they involved?”
“They aren't,” he said too fast.
Madison stared at him staring at her. He wanted her to believe that? Or was it another of those things she'd have to accept not knowing the truth?
“Okay, if that's what I'm supposed to believe I'll pretend that's the truth.” The twins had treated her rescue like a normal thing. Way too pulled together for people who weren't involved in a vendetta against a bad guy.
She'd believed the easy truth for so long with Dustin, and look where it had gotten her. She was growing to care for Aiden, but she couldn't live that kind of life again. It was a sad realization that left her more than a little numb inside. If he couldn't tell her, she needed to prepare herself to walk away.
“Evers is flying in a big cargo plane tonight. He's got six cars on board. They're landing a little before midnight, and the plane will sit locked up in the main hangar until morning when customs can come check it out. He wanted his people to come unload it, which is unusual for this client.”
“Huh.” He blinked a few times, brows rising. A lightbulb went on behind his gaze, but he didn't say anything to her. “Let's get you washed up inside.”
Aiden guided her into the shop front and to the little kitchenette. He started the tap going before unwrapping her arm.
“You're going to want to soak this a couple times today with regular dish soap and water. Don't scrub it, just soak and rinse. Got it?” He submerged her arm in the sink filled with suds.
“What have you got here?” An older woman with salt-and-pepper shoulder-length hair came out from the back office. She had a pleasant smile, but there was steel in her gaze.
“Oh, nothing, Kathy. Just had a little accident is all,” Aiden drawled.
“Julian called, said he's almost here. Wanted to know where you were,” Kathy said over her shoulder as she headed back to the office.
“Did he say anything else?” Aiden asked.
“Oh, exterminator came by. No bugs.”
Madison stared at Aiden. Julian had Lily, wasn't that what the twins had told her?
“Rinse it and come find me in the garage, okay?” Aiden ignored her gaze and he pulled the stopper on the sink.
She wanted to shake answers out of him. It was so incredibly frustrating to know just enough for her to glimpse a bigger picture, but still be shut out. He wanted to talk about trust? There were a lot more secrets on his side that weren't being shared. She highly doubted he was doing this on his own. So what did that mean?
Madison washed her arm off and rinsed it a few times. Her skin still felt tight and a little odd, but the burning was gone.
She headed out to the garage, glancing toward the office. Roni and Kathy sat with their heads together, a black tablet between them. They seemed to be deep in conversation about something, and she doubted it was spark plug supplies.
There was something going on at Classic Rides. It wasn't just Aiden doing her a favor or getting even with the man who killed his sister. She couldn't put her finger on it though.
A black car zipped around the parking lot. She'd seen that one at the race night with Aiden. Julian's car? She pushed the door open in time to see the car come to a stop behind the garage. Tori and Aiden were already ahead of her, striding toward the car.
Julian popped out of the driver's side, moving faster than any of them. He opened the passenger-side door and Madison's heart dropped.
“Lily!”
Madison sprinted toward the car, brushing past Aiden and shouldering Julian aside to wrap her best friend in a hug.
“Careful,” Julian practically growled at her.
“You're okay,” Lily said into her hair, clutching her tight.
“I was worried about you.”
“Me?” Lily leaned back, swaying slightly. “What about you?”
Julian stepped behind Lily, clasping her shoulders gently.
“Oh no.” Madison glimpsed the goose egg growing on Lily's forehead.
“It's ugly, isn't it? I'm going to have to get bangs to cover this up.” Lily pulled her hair to the side, but there was no hiding the bump.
“You're not going to be skating for a couple of days.”
“Let's go inside, we've got a lot to figure out.” Aiden grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the garage.
Lily followed, sticking close to her side.
“What's going on?” she asked.
“Iâdon't know.” Sure, Madison knew the gist of it, but she wasn't stupid enough to think that was all there was to it. In the beginning she'd seen Aiden as this one-man powerhouse, but now she realized he wasn't alone. For some reason, that made her feel even more alienated.
* * *
Aiden leaned against the red service bench in the empty bay. He could feel Madison's stare, but he couldn't look at her. Every minute she spent putting more of the pieces together put her life at greater risk. And he'd thought for a minute they could have something after this? What was he going to do? Disappear for weeks at a time? Tell her not to worry about the smell of gunpowder or a little blood? That was the stupidest thing he'd ever thought. Madison had lived with too many secrets to not be able to figure it out. And he couldn't ask her to put herself at risk like that.
That meant today was good-bye.
Once they knew what was on the drive they'd know how to leverage it against Dustin. Put the prick away for a hell of a long time. It would make life safer for Madison, but only if he put distance between them.
He could already feel the hole in his chest where she'd taken up residence.
The last bay door shut, closing the majority of his team in. They were free to talk here, especially since CJ had swept for bugs.
“What the hell is going on?” Lily glanced at him, then Julian. She seemed to be getting some of her fire back. Figuring out how to explain everything to that one was going to take some tact.
“Lilyâ” Aiden squeezed Madison's hand.
“Your friend's in trouble. We're helping her. That's what's going on.” Julian was hovering around Lily, looking none too pleased about her presence. And yet, he hadn't shoved the derby girl at the twins or anyone else to take charge of. Interesting.
“That tells me nothing. Why did Dustin take my car?”
“Dustin wants something from Madison, he thought he could scare her, or use you to get that.” Aiden didn't like telling Lily anything. Hell, Kathy was scowling at him for saying that much, but the girls were going to figure some of it out. Besides, Madison would end up telling her best friend that much at least. Better if he controlled what she knew.
“Lily, why don't you come with me and we can get something for your head? Madison, can you help me?” Kathy stepped forward, a motherly expression painted on her face. She smiled at Lily.
Lily glanced at Madison, who nodded.
The three women exited to the office, no doubt where Kathy would evaluate Lily's concussion and keep Madison occupied while he and the crew made a plan. There were serious upsides to having someone like Kathy around. Not only was she amazing with computers and surveillance, but she had more experience as a combat medic than Aiden had time in the service.
“I think it's best if Lily stays here.” Julian thumbed at the cinder-block apartment that was little more than a bed and a couple of lockers. “We can stick a TV in there, take turns making sure she stays awake and out of sight. Dustin won't know where to look for her.”
“Good. We can tell Madison she needs to stay here to watch Lily and for her own safety.” Aiden nodded.
Truth was, he hadn't spared Lily much thought. His world had seemed to end the moment Julian called to tell him the twins were going to pick Madison up from a botched kidnapping. He'd been calling her name, pacing through his barn looking for her. A bad feeling hadn't helped things, but there you had it.
“We need a plan,” Aiden said.
“Let's catch everyone up real quick.” CJ wiped his hands off on a rag. “The Miami-Dade PD is giving us some space. There are a few officers who have been informed about our operation, one of them is Detective Smith. I would not expect a lot of help from the boys in blue. They aren't exactly happy with us.”