She couldn’t go home, because Nick hadn’t been captured. She blocked out this information when she’d been told, instead, focusing on the fact that Davis took care of Jace and Desmond—Ari didn’t ask how. He assured her they would never bother her, or any other woman, again. Assuming Jace was dead made her feel better, and Desmond was nothing more than a lackey. He’d fare okay in prison. Peter had called the police before Detective Bryson got to Ari, anonymously reporting multiple girls held captive at the house. The crew of boys left before the EMTs got there, slipping into the dark, climbing fences, leaving Davis, hooded and obscured as the face of the Vigilante. He pointed them downstairs to Hope’s cell and to the girls locked away on the second floor.
At night, Ari’s dreams were filled with the glint of Jace’s gold teeth. His hands on her body, and Nick’s manipulative grin. She woke, arms flailing, looking for contact—fighting her demons, but instead, warm soothing arms wrapped around her and she was calmed by Davis, who was there. Always.
“How did you know I’d need that knife?” she asked one night. She’d woken from another nightmare. Davis lifted her between his legs and comforted her from behind, letting her rest her back on his chest.
“I had a feeling you may need it one day.”
“A feeling?” She craned her neck to see his face in the darkened room.
“I knew you’d need it the same way you knew those girls needed your help. We’ve been over how my gift works,” he explained. “My father gave the blade to me when I was 13 to practice knife fighting. I felt better knowing you had something close by.”
“Even if I didn’t know it was there.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “You found, it didn’t you?”
“Yeah, barely.” She didn’t want to think about that day, so she asked, “Does Curtis have a gift?”
“He’s developing one. He has incredible speed. He was the one that took Jace down when Jace chased you out of the house. That kid launched at him like a rocket.”
Ari made a face. “You’re kidding. Curtis?”
“He lost it when he found out you were missing. He insisted on coming.” He laughed at her incredulousness. “I keep telling you, these kids love you.”
Davis pressed his lips to her neck and ran his hands down her arms to her stomach. She grazed her fingers over his tattoo and gathered the courage to ask the question she’d been so afraid to ask. “Do you think he’ll come back? For me?”
His muscles tensed. Ari knew it was because they barely spoke about him and because Davis was furious his brother managed to get away. Finally, he said, “I don’t know.”
“I think he will,” she confessed. “I don’t think he’ll give up, you know?”
“He vanished. Once I realized Nick and Reggie were the same, I searched his home and offices. He hid himself so well after my father’s death, I assumed he had moved on, unsuccessfully. I thought he was probably in the system somewhere. I didn’t think he could achieve success on his own. I underestimated him. I always have. That’s my flaw. He manipulated his enrollment into law school and into your circle of friends.”
“Why me? I knew him long before you and I ever met. He knew Oliver in school.”
“I suspect his affections for you were real. Or as real as he could manage. He’s so egotistical that he probably thought he could keep his two lives separate. When you and I got involved, that probably sent him over the edge.”
The idea that Nick and Ari could have been a serious couple while he kept a whorehouse on the side was disturbing. What if they had gotten engaged or married? She had considered it possible at one point.
“Where do you think he is now?”
“Shanna approached one of my men at the park, that’s how we discovered you were still alive. We still didn’t have a location, but she said the names Nick and Reggie and it all started to connect. He must have been afraid we were close to finding him and ran,” Davis said, shrugging. “He’s never been one for confrontation, unless he knows he has the upper hand. But I think, at some point, he’ll come back and settle his issues with me.”
“Did you really not know Nick and Reggie were the same person?”
“No, not until that night. I told you I wasn’t stalking you. I had no real claim to you—you could see other people.”
His words hurt even if that hadn’t been his intention. He seemed to sense this and said, “That day you went missing, I almost lost my mind.” He wrapped his arms tighter around her body. “You didn’t show at work or at the GYC. You didn’t return my calls. I knew something was wrong. The bouncer at the club confirmed you had been there that night but he didn’t see you leave.”
“The bartender drugged me.”
“Son of a bitch.” Davis kissed the side of her neck. “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you again,” he swore. “Not Nick or any of these kids or anyone else.”
She believed him. That he could and would protect her, but could he protect himself? Ari wasn’t sure. She also wasn’t sure if she could handle losing someone else. Those were deep thoughts for another day. Right then, she needed to heal, and Davis helped her struggle through each day.
“Thank you for letting me stay,” she told him, twisting so her arms could wrap around his back and chest. She drifted, back to a fitful sleep, tempered by his power and warmth.
***