Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)(7)

Felicity turned to her friend and looked up at him. He was standing near her, his tattooed arms crossed over his chest. He was frowning down at her, but his eyebrows were raised as if daring her.

She opened her mouth to lie, but the words got stuck in her throat. She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t lie to him.

The words that came out of her mouth were soft . . . and tortured. “It’s time for me to go.”

“You can’t go!” Grace exclaimed.

Felicity’s shoulders slumped. Leaving would tear her heart from her chest, but she wouldn’t put Grace, or her sons, in danger, not when her friend had just started living free for the first time in her life.

The walls began to close in on her. Closer and closer. It got harder to breathe, and she began to pant. Air. She needed air.

As if he could read her mind, Ryder put his arm back around her waist and pulled her into his side. He led her over to a small couch in the corner of the office and sat with her. He put his hand on her nape and forced her to lean over and put her head between her knees.

“Breathe, love. Breathe.”

Felicity could hear the others expressing their concern, but only peripherally. She concentrated on the feel of Ryder’s large calloused hand on the sensitive skin of her neck. She reached out with one hand and grabbed hold of his jeans at the calf as she tried to suck oxygen into her starved lungs.

She heard the shuffling of feet and Cole warn, as if he were a thousand miles away, “Don’t hurt her.”

Then Ryder’s emphatic response: “Never.”

Then a door shut, and Felicity couldn’t hear anything but her labored breathing.

“Relax.” Ryder’s hand moved from her neck to her back as he caressed her. “In and out. Slow down your breaths. You can do it . . . there you go . . . good. I’ve got you . . .”

It was ridiculous, but his words helped. A lot. She felt her lungs expanding with precious oxygen, and as the man she’d just met for the first time today continued to murmur nonsense in her ear, she got control over herself.

Sitting up, Felicity ran a hand through her short hair. She hated her hair, but cutting it off was what she needed to do in order to hide . . . at least she thought it had been. But she supposed now that she’d been found, she’d have to pick a different color and grow it back out. She’d gotten used to her black hair, but it didn’t matter anymore. Black, red, purple . . . apparently she could be found no matter the color.

“You okay now?”

Felicity nodded her head automatically. No. She wasn’t better. She’d never be better. “Yes, I’m better,” she lied.

Ryder chuckled from beside her. “Your mouth is saying one thing, but your eyes are saying something else.”

She turned to face the man next to her for the first time since her panic attack had started. “You got them all to leave . . . can you please get Cole to give me my money?”

“No.” His answer was immediate, and final.

Felicity’s eyes closed in despair. Why she’d thought this man would help her, she had no idea. But the crushing disappointment spread through her chest.

“Look at me,” he ordered.

Felicity shook her head.

“Please. Look at me,” he repeated. “As I told Cole, I’m not going to force you, but I’d like to look at your beautiful blue eyes when I say what I need to say.”

Goose bumps broke out on Felicity’s arms at his words. Taking a deep breath, she brought her eyes up to his and braced for whatever it was he felt he needed to say.

“Thank you, love. I’m going to help you. I want to know who has frightened you so badly that I can see the fear shining out from your eyes. I see right through the image you project to the world. To others you’re a take-no-shit chick—from the tattoos on your arms to the sassy attitude you throw. But I see a woman who is scared to death, one who needs someone to hold her and tell her everything will be all right. I’m going to fight those demons for you, love. Not only fight them, but obliterate them.

“That’s why I’m not going to tell Cole to give you the money you need to run. Running won’t solve your problems. But I will. I’m going to make it so you’re free. Free to be whoever you want, not who you think you need to be.”

Felicity could only stare at him. His words were conceited, but spoken with a conviction that she desperately wanted to cling to. For some reason, she believed him. If she let him, he could probably take down the monster after her, once and for all.

But that was a big if.





Chapter Three

Ryder sat at a table in the coffee shop across from Rock Hard Gym and sipped his coffee. Black. No frou-frou shit for him. His eyes were glued to the door across the street as he listened to Logan.

He’d been staying in a local hotel for the last week, but that was going to end soon. It wasn’t a matter of money, but because of the itch on the back of his neck. Felicity was in trouble. He could feel it down to the marrow of his bones. But he couldn’t help her if she didn’t talk to him.

Ever since he’d told her he would take care of her problems, she’d been avoiding him. Wouldn’t meet his eyes and fled his presence as soon as she could. But he wasn’t deterred. No, the best things in life came to those who waited.

And he would wait her out. For as long as it took.