For the Taking Read online

  She didn’t need to take a moment to remember the intense pain of the beating she’d taken.

  Touching her face, she felt a bandage over it.

  “It’ll heal.”

  She turned to the masculine voice. The room she was in, she didn’t recognize. The sounds outside of moving cars had her thinking it was a hotel. Motel, maybe? Her memory right now was a little foggy.

  “What?”

  “Your story checks out. I happened to hear on the street of a woman being taken. I even went to your place of work, asked a couple of questions,” he said, throwing down her ID badge onto the bed.

  Everything was moving too fast.

  She remembered who he was. He’d killed all of David’s men. She didn’t have a problem with that.

  “You drugged me.”

  “Are you in pain right now?”

  “Of course I am!”

  He sat down on the edge of the bed. This man, whoever he was, she couldn’t help but notice how sexy he was.

  No!

  She shouldn’t even acknowledge his looks.

  “You drugged me. Why?”

  “You’re in a great deal of pain, and it would only get worse, Meghan.”

  “Don’t call me that. It’s not my name.” She hadn’t grown up in the system and not learned a thing or two. Like, don’t tell complete strangers your name.

  It was high on her list, and something she never did.

  Until now, it would seem.

  He smiled. “You can lie. Doesn’t change the fact you’re called Meghan.”

  Gritting her teeth, she wanted to slap the smug smile off his face, but lying in this unknown bed, and after he’d saved her when he really didn’t have to, she didn’t want to make a bad impression.

  “Okay, fine. You’re right. My name is Meghan. I’m sorry I was going to lie to you.”

  “You don’t have to worry about a thing right now.”

  “Where are we?”

  “You’re safe.”

  “Doesn’t answer my question.”

  “You’re going to have to accept that I won’t be answering any of your questions for a really long time, if ever.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  This wasn’t what she wanted. Not even a little bit.

  “Let’s see, I’m the one in charge, and I can still kill you,” he said.

  There was no laughter to his voice. No jokes. This man, he sounded dead inside.

  For some strange reason, this didn’t scare her. It should. Did she hit her head or something?

  She laughed.

  “What’s funny?” He stood by the window and now she noticed the gun, but with the laughter, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice.

  “It’s nothing, really.” He gave her a look. One that terrified her and she didn’t have a choice but to tell him. “Okay, fine. You can kill me, but you would have already done that. Clearly, during my medically induced knockout, I’ve seen a doctor, been taken care of. Bandaged up, and now we’re in some motel or hotel or hideout. You’ve done a lot to take care of me to just kill me now. I bet this cost you a pretty penny.”

  “You after money?”

  She rolled her eyes. This guy … was going to be a pain in her ass.

  “David Peace is your enemy?”

  He was still silent.

  “Look, you really think I’m working for him right now, don’t you? Even after everything you’ve seen. You believe this.”

  “I know what David’s capable of.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter what he’s capable of. I’m not working for him. I don’t have a death wish here. I want him dead.” Why was she still talking?

  The man in front of her laughed. “You think you can kill him?”

  “No. I don’t think I can kill him. What I want to know is why a stranger I’ve never seen or heard of before would save me. Have a vendetta against one of the most feared men in the city, and still help me?”

  “I didn’t help you.”

  “Look at me, whoever you are. I’m alive. My face looks like it has been a punching bag, but I am alive.” She licked her lips. Why couldn’t she just stop talking? It didn’t seem to matter what advice she gave herself, but there was this need to know who this man was. To at least find out if she could help him or he help her.

  He dropped the curtain and stepped away from the window.

  She watched as he put the gun toward his back, and she’d noticed the silencer. All he’d have to do is put a pillow over her face, and with one bullet, finish the job that had been started on her. He probably didn’t even need the pillow.

  This man, whoever he was, she needed to remember was still dangerous and could kill her without even blinking.

  “Who I am, you don’t need to know.”

  This wasn’t going to get them anywhere.

  “You know my name. I should know yours.”

  “You’re not going to be getting any details out of me. Don’t even think of trying.”

  He stared at the door.

  Silence filled the room.

  Pulling her legs up against her chest, she stared at him, wanting more answers. Getting them out of his back would be useless.

  This was all … useless. Resting her chin on her raised knees, she kept watching him, hoping something would happen.

  “What did David do to you? Could you at least tell me that?”

  Silence.

  There was a time she would have craved the peace of silence, and now, she just wanted it to be gone. How ironic.

  “They were beating me up. Making me hurt so when he arrived, he could rape me,” she said. “I know you don’t trust me. I get it. I guess I wouldn’t trust a total stranger either. You have no idea what I’m capable of or who I am. Thank you.”

  “Why are you thanking me? That makes no sense.”

  “You saved me. You could have walked away. Left me to rot. David was coming to that warehouse to finish the job. You didn’t. You’ve given me a chance. When we leave here, and if you send me on my way, I’m going to my apartment, getting my things, and running like hell out of this city.” There were plenty of towns and cities she could go. Each one would have a David, but at least she wouldn’t be near the one that wanted to fuck her, or in this case, rape her.

  The man, he stared at her.

  He had pretty brown eyes. Dark, intense, scary. It was kind of exhilarating to look at them. She wasn’t afraid of him, even though he’d given her every single reason to run from him, what with all the killing.

  She didn’t want to.

  “Get some rest. Your hand will take time to heal.” He stood up and went to guard the window again.

  “I don’t suppose when you went to question my job, they gave you my paycheck.”

  “No. They wanted to know where you were. My advice, don’t contact them. They’re working for him. You’re his enemy now, and he will do what it takes to get rid of you.”

  “How do you know so much about him?” she asked.

  “I used to work for him.”

  ****

  Riley knew he should have killed her.

  The woman currently asleep on the bed should be dead by now. He’d taken her, and that meant David would know she was alive.

  So far, no one had showed up at the motel. This was a busy place, and it would be the last place his crew would look. He could guarantee it.

  He’d been trained all of his life by David on how to survive. In the last ten years, he’d turned all of those instincts around, and now he learned to survive in the opposite conditions he’d been trained.

  With one hand on his gun, he stared out of the window, keeping an eye. A family, a husband, wife, and three children had arrived last night. He’d watched them. The three kids, which they carried between them, had been completely conked out asleep. Clearly, their drive had taken it out of them. He’d watched them check in, and now check out.

  The three girls were all laughing, each of them looking
so happy as they held each other’s hand. The woman he now saw was heavily pregnant. As the husband came back out, he put his hands on the woman’s swollen stomach, kissing her neck.

  Were they as happy as they portrayed, or did they have a secret?

  He could have been this happy.

  Bethany.

  He gripped the curtain tighter as he heard a feminine moan. Closing the curtain, he turned toward the bed.

  One of her eyes was open. The other one Stephen had put a bandage over to help it heal.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  The moment he did so, he wanted to curse himself.

  “I knew there was a real human being in there somewhere.”

  “I’m being polite.”

  “Considering you did drug me, I accept. I feel okay right now. I worry if I move, I’ll be hurting.”

  “Did they hurt you anywhere else?” When Stephen began the exam of her body, he’d given them both privacy as he didn’t want to be the kind of guy to look at a woman’s passed-out body.

  Stephen was a gentleman. If he didn’t trust him, he wouldn’t still be going to him.

  “Yeah.”

  She slowly lifted up off the bed. He watched as she winced.

  “Just everywhere.”

  “Let me see,” he said.

  “Excuse me.”

  “You’re clearly hurting, and if there is any internal bleeding, I’ll be able to see. My doctor could only do so much with the time I gave him.”

  “You’re not going to tell me his name or yours.”

  “You don’t need to know either. The less you know, the better.”

  “Could you do me a favor and forget mine then?”

  “Of course, Meghan.” He loved the name. It was pretty, and it did suit her. She was a sexy woman. He could see it.

  She rolled her good eye.

  “You’re not trying to take a peek, are you?”

  “I’m not that kind of guy.”

  “Sure. So said all other guys.”

  This time he did chuckle. She had fire and spirit. He liked that. Again, it made no sense to him why David would want it. He liked women who were broken, submissive, and didn’t cause him any trouble. Unless, he’d upped his game and now wanted to break women like Meghan.

  Still, it was against his MO, so why did he want her?

  She unbuttoned the shirt Stephen had given her. Underneath was a plain white T-shirt, and she let out a little wince as she lifted it up. He couldn’t stand the sound of her in pain, so he helped her. She didn’t complain and made no move to release her bra.

  Stephen hadn’t exactly given her anything sexy.

  It was a plain, old sports bra. Grey. It had seen one too many times in the washing machine. Now he had to wonder if this was Stephen’s wife’s old bra.

  Nope. He wasn’t going there.

  “You’re staring at my breasts,” she said.

  “Sorry.”

  “The bra is a little tight. You think it’s causing me problems?”

  No. Her tits were just beautiful. The bra couldn’t hide those, no matter how ugly it was.

  This woman, she was all curves, and he’d not been with a woman in a long time. His cock was more than happy to see a semi-naked woman.

  He had perfected control in the last ten years, so, he got himself to focus on the woman, and not on what he wanted to do, which was push her to the bed and fuck her.

  That wasn’t going to happen.

  He’d not been with a woman since his wife.

  Empty sex held no appeal to him.

  Before he’d found Bethany, he’d fucked everything with a vagina. No woman had meant anything to him. They had been things to use, held no meaning to him. Then Bethany came along, and all of his thoughts toward women changed.

  She’d made him a better man.

  When she’d been taken from him, no other woman would ever match up. This was the first time he’d ever felt any kind of arousal.

  Reaching out, he put his hand on Meghan’s side, beneath her tits, touching her ribs. There was slight bruising, and as she winced, he saw she was tender.

  No broken bones.

  Nothing to cause concern.

  She looked fine.

  “You have nothing to worry about.” He gripped her shoulders and turned her so her back was to him, and he inspected more of her.

  Still fine.

  “You’re fine. You’re stiff. Soon you’ll be back to your old self.”

  “Yay, you’ve just told me I’m going to be very much alive.” She clapped her hands and then gasped. “Shit! Ouch! Yeah, don’t do that.”

  He raised a brow. “Are you okay?”

  “Are you showing concern for me?”

  “I need to know if I have to take you back to my doctor.”

  “Will I have to be given a shot of your special medicine?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I am more than fine.”

  “You don’t like drugs?” he asked.

  “Who does?”

  He laughed. “You’d be surprised.”

  “Do you?”

  “No.”

  “Well I’ve seen what happens to men and women who take drugs. Or kids. Let’s not forget the kids.”

  “You have?”

  “I grew up in the system. From time to time, living on the streets was a lot safer than living in the home. Believe me, it would have been easy to give myself up to the few minutes of peace the drugs provided.”

  “You never did?”

  “Nope. I had no wish to. They controlled you. I already had no control over my life because I was told where I was going to go. No one asked me. I figured I would have control over every single other area, and guess what, I did.”

  “And now?”

  “Now, I still have control.”

  “Is that how you ended up in the warehouse about to be raped and killed?”

  “Don’t forget beaten.”

  “You’d already been that.”

  “True. I had an error in judgment. I won’t let it happen again.” She pulled on her shirt, and he helped her with it. “No, I don’t want drugs. I avoid them at all costs. I’ve shared a little detail about my past. Why don’t you give me something?”

  “I’m not the sharing kind of guy.”

  “Look, you clearly have some kind of vendetta against this guy. I could help.”

  He laughed. “You think you could help me?”

  “Yes, why not? You’re the one that also has the issue as well. We could work together.”

  “I don’t work with anyone.”

  “You’ve never even given it a shot. It could be fun.”

  He stared at her. “You’re not trained. When I leave you, I advise you get the fuck out of this city.”

  “Are you going to make the city bleed?” she asked.

  Riley was getting tired of her sarcasm and just talking. He didn’t like being around noise unless he was the one creating it. Screams of pain. Pleading. Begging. He could handle all of that. Her incessant chatter, not so much.

  “I don’t intend to live after what I do. My life ended years ago. I’m merely settling a score. You, Meghan Short, are a survivor. You don’t have what it takes to be by my side. You will slow me down, and I don’t have time to babysit. You will do as I say, or you will die. Plain and simple. It’s up to you.”

  He stared into her eyes, noticing the sharp green. She was beautiful.

  Every time he looked at her, he could see why David wanted her. She was mesmerizing.

  Pulling away, he went back to the window. It would be safer for the two of them if he just focused on the war he intended to create. He’d already started it on the streets. One day he would stand before David Peace, and then he would know the true meaning of suffering.

  There was no wife to kill or children to hurt.

  David had all of them, wife, women, whores, children. He cared for none of them. No, the way to David was to take his power away, one street at
a time.

  It was the only thing Riley was going to be able to do to finally get his revenge. Only, he wasn’t going to take over.

  Riley planned to kill himself taking out the enemy. It was the only goal he had.

  A man with nothing to lose was dangerous.

  He didn’t have anything.

  David had seen to that.

  And soon, David was going to realize his biggest mistake was putting a bullet in the one thing taming the monster inside Riley.

  Chapter Three

  One week later

  With a single piece of paper, Meghan’s hero was gone. He had stayed in the motel long enough for her to heal somewhat. Her face still had a lot of purple bruises, but she could see out of both eyes now. She didn’t need to wear any kind of bandage, which was a relief.

  The motel had been paid for, and now she was alone.

  Wrapping her arms around her waist, which was kind of awkward with the cast, she held onto her bag, and she’d purchased a cap so no one could really see her face.

  She wasn’t totally stupid.

  Going back home probably was.

  She had nowhere else to go, and even as she screamed in her head what she was doing was fucking stupid, she had to grab some stuff.

  The motel had been on the outskirts of the city. In her apartment, she kept a tiny safe with her savings inside. She didn’t trust a bank, and with Peace possibly after her, she had to keep a low profile.

  There was no way he’d keep watch on her apartment, was there? Either way, she had to risk it.

  There was nearly ten grand worth of savings. She put a small amount in the bank every single week, and most of it went in her tin.

  After nearly ten years of savings, she was more than impressed with what she had put aside.

  Outside of her building, she kept her distance, looking around, checking for anyone who stood out. The expensive blank cars of criminals who wanted to kill her.

  She didn’t see anything.

  Kids played in the street, getting a little too close to passing cars for her liking. There was nothing she could do about it.

  If she ever had kids, she hoped to be able to afford a small house with a yard for them to play in.

  Yeah, ideals and dreams. She was all about living in fairy tales.

  When she was convinced no one was following her, she crossed the street, grabbed her keys, and took off toward her apartment.