Текст книги "Harrow Duet"

Автор книги: Scarlett Finn

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Текущая страница: 33 (всего у книги 38 страниц)

Chapter Nineteen

‘What’s going on?’ Carina asked, coming into the living room from the kitchen as Ivy came back inside.

‘Trystan fucking Stark is what’s going on!’ Ivy said, determined that she wasn’t going to take this lying down.

Going to Vegas with Trystan was the most stupid thing that Rosie could possibly have done. Ivy had no idea what Trystan had promised Rosie in order to get her to take the trip. Whatever Trystan had offered had to be better than the financial incentive Mauri had spoken about using to get Rosie here. By leaving the beach house, Rosie could be forfeiting.

‘What has he done?’

‘He’s taking Rosie to Vegas,’ Ivy said.

Marching to the stairs, she went up into the bedroom and into the closet. Tossing her and Dax’s things into their suitcase, she also retrieved the wad of money that she had hidden under the ottoman during her first stay here. Brushing her hair, she pulled it back and then stuck her feet in her shoes.

Almost ready to leave, she returned to the bedroom to see that Carina was in the room waiting for her. ‘What are you doing?’ Carina asked.

‘I’m going to get my sister back before she does something crazy… crazier than running off with a stranger anyway.’

‘They met at Mauri’s party,’ Carina said. ‘They were dancing later in the evening. Maybe they’re friends—‘

‘Trystan Stark doesn’t have friends,’ Ivy said, checking her purse then throwing it over her shoulder. ‘He has worshippers and groupies. If Rosie tries to deny him—‘

‘Do you think that he would force her into…?’

‘He will force her to do anything he thinks that she should do. She hasn’t used drugs while she’s been here and going there with him… he’ll get her hooked again and then when he’s bored he’ll just abandon her.’

‘Maybe he cares about her,’ Carina said.

‘Trystan cares about nothing except himself.’

Carina exited the room. Ivy lifted the case onto the bed and unzipped it. She grabbed what she needed from the bathroom and brought it back to the case, then she pulled a few bills from the wad of cash and moved them into her purse. If she needed money, then she couldn’t whip out a ten grand bundle and hope it would be inconspicuous.

With her purse on her shoulder and the case on its wheels, Ivy headed for the exit. Unsure if she should leave Dax a note or not, she hesitated at the bedroom door. Without any idea of whether or not Dax would come back here, Ivy chose not to leave evidence and instead decided to text him from the road. If she called or contacted him now, then he would tell her to stay put and that wasn’t something Ivy could do with her sister in possible peril.

Departing the bedroom, she got downstairs to find Carina waiting at the front door.

‘We don’t have a car,’ Carina said.

‘We?’ Ivy asked. ‘No. I’m going alone. If you want to leave here then do it yourself, tomorrow, Mauri will send a car and—‘

‘I came here because I wanted to get to know Dax. You said it yourself that you can be an ally. I want to show you that I can be trusted. If you leave here now, then you might not come back and… I’ll lose Dax all over again.’

‘Ok,’ Ivy sighed, she didn’t have the time to fight anyway. ‘Come if you want, but you have to do what I say.’

‘I will,’ Carina said, picking up her bag from the floor. ‘How do you plan to get there?’

Opening the front door, she clocked the single car in the driveway: the security guys’ vehicle. Making a beeline for it, Ivy opened the door and climbed in, happy to find the keys in the ignition. Pulling her case over herself she got it into the back seat at the same time that Carina got into the passenger seat holding her luggage.

‘This isn’t your car,’ Carina said.

‘Mauri’s men won’t call the cops,’ Ivy said, turning on the engine but keeping the lights off as she reversed and started to drive away from the house. ‘Keep your head down.’

The security men wandered around on the property and only checked in at the house periodically. She hadn’t seen anyone for a while; Trystan may have called them off so that he could stage his little escape with Rosie.

‘How did you know the keys would be in the car?’ Carina asked.

‘If someone came onto the property Mauri’s men would want to be able to chase them away, and then chase them down, so they’d want quick access,’ Ivy said. ‘They all arrived together, so this is a Stark company vehicle.’

‘I don’t understand why Mauri sent security, do you think that crime is a problem out here?’

‘Kidnap at least,’ Ivy said, switching on the lights when they got onto the road. But even if security saw them leave, they had no vehicle to follow. ‘Mauri isn’t worried about crime.’

‘So why—‘

‘There’s a bounty on my head,’ Ivy said, thinking that maybe she should have told Carina that before the woman got into a car with her.

‘A what?’

‘It’s why there’s security at the house and why Dax has been gone all day, he’s trying to find out who wants me dead.’

‘That’s awful… But why…? Why would someone want you to be killed?’

‘That’s sort of what we’re trying to figure out,’ Ivy said.

‘You have a full life,’ Carina said, hugging her bag closer to her chest. ‘You and Dax must have quite the adventures.’

‘Not really, it depends what coast we’re on,’ Ivy said. ‘We prefer to keep to ourselves. But when we’re out here the trouble seems to seek us out.’

‘Are you afraid?’

‘No,’ Ivy smiled. ‘No one will be looking for me in Vegas, and I have friends out there who can help us. Rosie doesn’t have much of a head start, and Trystan Stark won’t be hard to find in Vegas. He’s a creature of habit, and he likes to make an impression. As I said, I have friends who should be able to help us locate him. I just hope we can before Rosie does something stupid.’

‘Like what? Marry him?’

‘Oh, God,’ Ivy groaned. She hadn’t thought about that, Mauri did want Trystan married and maybe if he got high enough he would be up for it. Rosie would probably say yes because her sister believed that any action taken in the name of a good time was justified. ‘Yes, like that.’

‘Weren’t you supposed to call Dax? Will he worry when you don’t phone him?’

‘I’ll phone him when we get there,’ Ivy said. ‘I’m more concerned about the welfare of the person who tells him we’re not at the beach house anymore… I was supposed to be there laying low.’

‘So he’ll worry for your safety,’ Carina said. ‘Maybe you should call him now.’

‘Wait until we’ve crossed state lines, that way we’ll be too far away for him to drag me back by my hair.’ Carina said nothing, so Ivy glanced over at the woman’s wide-eyed expression. ‘He’s a worrier… when it comes to me.’

Dax would be furious with her, but she hadn’t been thinking about that when she packed to go after Rosie. No one would find her in Vegas, the friends that she had would protect her if they had to. All she wanted to do was find Rosie, and once her sister was away from Trystan Stark, they would all return to the beach house. That was Ivy’s plan, and she’d do everything in her power to make it happen as quickly as possible.

Daylight was breaking by the time they got to Vegas. Ivy had tried to call her sister, but Rosie never picked up and after the tenth time of trying the phone started to go straight to voicemail without ringing first. Either Rosie had turned off her phone or the battery had died, and there was still a chance that Rosie had left her cell at the beach house meaning that calling was pointless anyway.

Rosie and Trystan would be at the GoldSpring Hotel because that was where the Starks always stayed when they were in Vegas. Ivy wanted to drive straight there to snatch her sister up, except she’d need a key-card or an invitation, neither of which she had. To get a key-card, Ivy would need to book a room, which would require a credit card. She couldn’t risk using her credit card or being seen in the hotel because anyone who might have tailed them from LA would find her in no time.

Trying to consider the bounty and be sensible about not walking into danger, Ivy drove to the next safest place, Saul’s house. Pulling into his driveway, she ran her fingers through her hair and checked to make sure her eyes weren’t too bloodshot in the rear-view mirror; the last thing Ivy wanted to do was scare the guy she was about to ask for help. Satisfied that her appearance passed muster, she reached for the door release.

‘Stay here,’ Ivy said to Carina and got out of the car.

She had to knock on the door a dozen times before Saul answered, but this was Vegas, the party had probably only ended for him a couple of hours ago. His hair was a mess, and he was wearing only boxer shorts. Ivy grinned when he opened the door, trying to act as though this was just a cordial visit.

‘Hey,’ she said.

‘Ivy…’ he said and cleared his throat a few times. ‘I thought you were… I didn’t know you were… didn’t you leave?’

‘I did,’ Ivy said, patting his chest and edging him aside. ‘I have a helluva story to tell you, can I come in?’

She was already inching around him, so he backed off while nodding. It was good to get him while he was still in a daze because it took him longer to realise that this was an inconvenient intrusion.

Working her way through the house to the kitchen at the back of the property, Ivy started making coffee to offer the pick-me-up as an olive branch. She was a good half-minute into the task before Saul came through to join her. Seating himself at his breakfast bar, he finger-combed his hair and coughed.

‘What’s going on? Why are you here so early?’ he asked.

‘I just got in,’ Ivy said, scooping more coffee than usual into the machine. ‘I just drove in from LA.’

‘Why? And where is Harrow?’

‘Still in LA,’ she said, closing the coffee machine and spinning around to smile at him again. ‘I sort of need a place to stay, just for a day.’

‘A day?’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I was staying in LA with my sister and she did something crazy… She took off with this guy, who is bad news, and came here to Vegas.’

‘Your sister?’ he asked. ‘You never talked about her.’

He kept blinking and yawning, following the conversation must be difficult when you were still half asleep. ‘No, because I haven’t seen her for a while.’

‘Then why do you care about what she does?’

‘This particular guy could get her into a lot of trouble, and I just can’t let that happen. So I had to come here and stop it.’

‘Why didn’t you go to a hotel? You did that last time you showed up.’

‘That’s the thing,’ she said, creeping across the kitchen. ‘There’s a bounty on my head.’

His eyes landed on her, the yawning and blinking stopped. Ivy smiled, hoping to encourage his understanding, but it still took a few seconds for him to react.

Licking his lips, Saul spoke in a dull tone. ‘Let me get this right,’ he said. ‘You were staying with your sister?’

‘Yes.’

‘She took off with a creep, and you followed her here to Vegas?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you can’t go to a hotel because there’s a bounty on your head?’

‘That’s right,’ Ivy said.

‘Hmm,’ he said and pushed up to his feet. ‘I’m going back to bed.’

‘What? No!’

‘This is obviously a dream or I’ve slipped into a coma or something.’

‘No!’ Ivy said. Leaping past the breakfast bar to grab his arm, she pulled him around to face her. Just then a tiny brunette wearing a man’s tee-shirt entered.

‘Oh,’ the brunette said. ‘Who’s she?’

‘This is Ivy,’ Saul said, pushing Ivy’s hand away from his arm. Realising that touching him didn’t look good, Ivy let go and moved away. ‘Ivy, this is…’

No need to worry about breaking up his deep and meaningful relationship if he couldn’t even remember the girl’s name. ‘Brittany,’ the brunette said.

‘Right,’ Saul said. ‘This is Brittany, Ivy, Brittany.’

‘Nice to meet you,’ Ivy said, reaching over to shake the girl’s hand. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt your morning, but I… Saul and I are old friends.’

‘Whatever, I’m going to shower,’ the brunette said wearing a scowl, then she spun around and disappeared back the way she’d come.

‘She’s cute,’ Ivy said.

‘I have great taste in women,’ Saul said.

Ivy laughed. ‘Yeah, I suppose that you do.’

‘Look, Ive, I’m sorry that you’re mixed up in some shit, but Harrow will kill me dead if he finds you here.’

‘I imagine that he’s already on his way,’ Ivy said. She hadn’t checked her messages, but had read Dax’s name twice on her phone screen, so he’d certainly texted her. Ivy hadn’t gone so far as to open the texts because she was sure they weren’t just random, “thinking of you” messages.

‘Exactly my point,’ Saul said and tried to walk away, but Ivy put herself in front of him.

‘He’ll be grateful,’ she said, and he glowered at her. ‘No, really, Dax knows about the bounty, he’s been trying to figure it out. I can’t go to a hotel because it’s not safe, but if you kick me out, then that’s where I’ll have to go. If Dax finds out that you’ve sent me into danger, how happy do you think he’ll be?’

Saul thought about this for a second then lifted his hand and growled out loud. ‘Ok, fine, damn you, stay if you want… Let me go and talk to Brittany.’

‘Ok. I’ll get his mom.’

She turned, but Saul snatched her shoulder to pull her back. ‘Whose mom?’

‘Dax’s,’ she said. ‘It’s a long story and not important right now.’

‘You want to move in here with your mother-in-law?’

‘I’m not moving in, don’t be dramatic. We just need somewhere to freshen up and make phone calls. It would be great to sleep for a couple of hours too. But the sooner I find out where Rosie is, the sooner we can get out of here.’

‘The sooner, the better,’ he said. ‘And don’t accuse me of being dramatic, you’re a fucking wanted woman, I’m one step away from harbouring a fugitive.’

‘Don’t be stupid, the cops aren’t looking for me.’

Saul folded his arms. ‘Yeah? So this bounty, someone wants you dead, right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Is it a big bounty?’

‘Half a mill.’

Saul whistled. ‘So every gangster and his bitch are going to be looking for you… I’d rather hide you from the cops.’

‘They won’t look here. I’m wanted in LA.’

‘Yeah, ‘cause that’s a million miles away.’

‘Go and talk to your woman and then call the GoldSpring for me, find out if they have a reservation for Stark.’

‘I’m playing secretary again?’ he asked.

‘Not so much fun when someone else is calling the shots, is it?’ she asked and spun around to get Carina from the car.

Saul was being nice, and he didn’t have to be. He could’ve kicked them out, though what she had said about Dax was true. If she got hurt in an unsafe place because Saul hadn’t offered a sanctuary, then Dax would visit his wrath on the nearest person and her husband was just looking for an excuse to beat on Saul anyway.

After retrieving Carina from the car, Ivy took her into the spare bedroom and set her up in the adjoining shower room. While Carina was busy freshening up, Ivy sat on the bed and opened the first message on her phone.

I’m thinking about collecting the bounty myself. Are you fucking insane? Where are you?

Someone had to have told Dax that the cars had left the beach house. Either he was told by phone while he was investigating in LA, or he showed up at the beach house and got the skinny when he discovered that the place was empty.

Much as Ivy knew he’d be mad no matter how he found out, she hoped he’d been called in LA. If he’d gotten all the way to the beach house before he was told it would be worse for everyone involved. He would already be tired and hoping to slip into bed with his willing wife, so finding out that everyone had fled would have riled him.

She was holding her breath when she opened the second text.

Vegas. Again? On my way.

So what she had said to Saul had been right on the money: Dax was on his way, and he was pissed. She fired off a quick message to tell Dax where she was; he’d been to Saul’s before so he knew the route to get here. Holding her phone, Ivy waited for it to ring, Dax wouldn’t be happy that she was hanging out with an ex-boyfriend.

The timestamp on Dax’s second message was two hours ago, meaning he was probably still a couple of hours away if he was driving. Through the wall, Ivy could hear the muffled voices of Saul and Brittany. Ivy decided that if her cell phone hadn’t rung, she’d give the couple another two minutes then she would go through and apologise to Brittany, hopefully distracting her for long enough to let Saul make the phone call that Ivy needed him to make.

If Saul confirmed that Trystan and Rosie were at the GoldSpring then Ivy could ride over there and persuade her sister to come back with her, meaning that by the time Dax arrived the problem would be resolved, and they could all go back to LA as one happy family.

As Ivy predicted, her cell phone began to buzz in her hand, and she widened her smile before she picked up.

‘Hey, sexy man, how are you?’ Squeezing her eyes shut, Ivy braced herself for his reaction.

‘You know I could do a lot with half a million dollars,’ Dax said. ‘Maybe I’ll kill you myself and pick up the bounty, then I could find myself a nice easy woman who’d be happy to stay chained to my radiator for the rest of her life.’

‘You’re a true romantic at heart, Dax,’ she said.

‘I can’t fucking believe that you did this. I told you that you wouldn’t be safe in Vegas.’

‘We don’t know that. I came to Saul’s because no one will look for me here. We’ve figured out that whoever put up the bounty knows me through you, through the fighting circuit, so there’s no way that they’ll know anything about Saul.’

‘He’s an ex, all they have to do is ask a few questions and—‘

‘We had to come. I couldn’t leave Rosie here with Trystan, you know what he’s like…’ Ivy got up and wandered to the bedroom window, which looked out on Saul’s pool and shed. ‘Who told you we’d left?’

‘I was at Mauri’s when he got a call that security at the beach house had been left stranded. Someone had to go pick them up because someone else stole their car. That was when they said Trystan had come to the beach house and taken off with one of the women.’

‘You know what he’s like, Rosie was already drunk, and now he’s brought her here to Vegas. If he asks her to take drugs… I don’t want her to get mixed up in that again, he’ll drop her as soon as he’s bored.’ Ivy lowered her voice. ‘Rosie only came here, only met Trystan because of us. God only knows what he’ll do to her, she’ll have sex with him, Dax, and he’s never struck me as the missionary position type.’

‘I get why you’re worried,’ Dax said. ‘Why didn’t you call me?’

‘You’re already dealing with one drama,’ she said. ‘I knew you would tell me not to follow her, but this is my sister, Dax. I can’t leave her to a guy like Trystan, I had to act. You don’t have to come out here to Vegas, I appreciate that you’re on your way, but I can handle this. You stay in LA and—‘

‘And what? Track down the person who wants to kill you?’ Dax asked. ‘Keeping you safe is the priority, remember? I could only be sure that you were safe at the beach house because security was there keeping an eye on you. But you ditched them and took off, again! Not every mess can be fixed, and I’m sorry, but your sister getting fucked up because she screwed the wrong guy is not my problem, you are my problem.’

She smiled and returned to the bed. ‘You’ve told me that before.’

‘And nothing has changed,’ he said. ‘I am coming there, to you, stay where you are, don’t go outside—‘

‘But Trystan—‘

‘Is a problem that I will take care of because you’ve forced my hand, understand? You can’t go to The Strip, you can’t hang out in bars and clubs looking for them. Someone will see you, and you’re more recognisable there because you lived there, people in Vegas know you. All it takes is for one person to say your name and you’ll have every criminal in the state parked on Saul’s front lawn, get me?’

‘I know you’re worried about me, but you’re overreacting, I know that I’ll be safe here—‘

‘Ok. Fine. If you think you’re safe at Saul’s, then stay at Saul’s until I get there. I’ll come and check on you, get the story and then I’ll go after Trystan. What are you planning to do with him anyway? Do you think that he’ll just hand over your sister and admit defeat?’

‘What if she says no to him?’

‘You just told me that she wouldn’t,’ Dax said. ‘She’s a party girl, so she and Trystan are a perfect match. She’ll be fine until I get there. I’ll go to the GoldSpring and find her then I’ll bring her back to you. After that, I’ll be driving you back to the beach house and if I have to crack open the cell in the basement to keep you there, Minx, I will fucking do it.’

His worry might be understandable, but that wasn’t a threat that she took kindly. ‘Don’t even joke about that, Dax. I’m sorry that I upset you, but… that’s not funny.’

‘I wasn’t joking,’ he said. ‘I don’t give a damn about your memories or about your fears. If I have to do it to keep you safe, to trust you to be safe, then I will do it, and I don’t care how loud you scream. You’re my wife, and it’s my responsibility to ensure your safety. No matter what lengths I have to go to, I will keep you safe, Minx.’

Pushing up from the bed, she rolled her lips and tried to calm her seething, but it was no use. ‘You fucking jerk, you would, wouldn’t you? You would let me rot down there.’

‘No, I’ll come back for you when I’ve taken care of the threat. But it’s the only place I know where there are chains attached to the concrete foundations.’

‘I won’t go, I won’t go back there if—‘

‘If you go to Trystan now alone, he’ll bait you. He’ll ask you inside and rile you, he’ll take pleasure in seeing you upset. He’ll ask you to have a drink, you’ll say no, but he’ll make you a deal, you drink, and he’ll send Rosie home with you.’

‘Fine, then I’ll have a drink.’

His laugh startled her. ‘That’s what he wants, then it’ll be “have another drink, take a line of coke, take off your shirt, dance,” where do you stop? You gonna get naked for him? Kiss him? Suck him off?’

‘Stop it,’ she hissed. ‘I won’t do any of that. I can’t stand the guy. I wouldn’t be able to touch him or—‘

‘Then he’ll force you, you’ve seen it before. You’ve fought him off once.’

‘And I’ll do it again if I have to, Dax,’ she said.

Angry as she was, she knew that facing Trystan would be difficult for her, and she wouldn’t hold up well if Trystan tried to ruffle her. Having Dax at her side was the only way to be sure that she would come out of the scenario intact and unviolated.

‘I don’t know what drugs he has, he could have anything,’ Dax said. ‘If he injects you with something then he could do whatever the fuck he wanted with you while you were unconscious. Do you want that?’

‘No,’ she whispered.

‘For all I know he’ll kill you and collect the bounty for kicks, you don’t know him like I do, Minx. Please, just wait there, and I will deal with Trystan.’

‘And if he hurts you?’

‘I’ve been looking for an excuse to kill the guy for a long time, maybe today he’ll give it to me.’

‘I don’t want you to kill anyone,’ she said. ‘I’ll wait here, and then we’ll go over there together.’

‘Wait there,’ he said. ‘That’s what I want you to do.’

Whether or not they went over there together was a fight they’d reserve for when he was here. For now, Ivy had given him what he wanted, and they would both have time to recharge their batteries and rethink their arguments before they were together again.

‘Drive safe,’ she said, worrying that Dax on the road in a rage might not end well. ‘I’ll be here, at Saul’s, I won’t go anywhere, I promise.’

‘Good,’ he said. ‘Try not to get into any more trouble.’

‘I’ll try my best.’

They hung up, and Ivy returned her phone to her purse. She wouldn’t go looking for trouble, but for some reason it always managed to find her.