After the Storm (KGI #8)(105)

She struggled to right herself so she could at least shove herself up to a standing position so they’d see she was alone when they entered the sales area. She could lean against the counter if she could just manage to get there!

It took considerable squirming and leg bending to achieve her goal, but she was finally able to hoist herself, nearly falling just as she gained her feet. She pitched herself sideways so the counter would break her fall and winced when the edge hit her squarely in the ribs.

Sucking in a breath to steady herself, she called out again. “I’m here and alone. I’m standing behind the register.”

A few moments later, Sean appeared from the back. He cut the corner sharply, his gun raised. He quickly glanced in Rusty’s direction and she saw a flash of relief in his eyes before he rapidly did a thorough sweep of the area, gun still up and grasped tightly in his hand.

Evidently satisfied that there was no danger, he strode behind the counter, fury registering in his eyes as he saw she was bound hand and foot.

“What the f**k?” he growled. “What the hell happened, Rusty? Are you hurt? Did that son of a bitch hurt you?”

“I’m fine,” Rusty said in a calm voice. “But, Sean, I need you to hurry. Eve is in terrible danger.”

Sean’s brow furrowed even as he started yanking away the ropes that secured her wrists. As soon as her hands were free, he knelt and untied her legs as she rubbed feeling back into her numb fingers.

When he was finished he grasped her shoulders, forcing her to look squarely at him.

“What happened? I want to know everything, and don’t leave a single word out.”

He paused a moment and stared harder at her.

“Are you sure you’re all right? Goddamn it, Rusty. You scared the ever-loving f**k out of me. I thought . . .”

He broke off with a shake of his head. As if he had said too much or was going to.

“It’s a long story and we only have time for the abbreviated version, but yes, I’m all right. She didn’t hurt me.”

“She?” Sean asked incredulously.

“Eve,” Rusty murmured, cringing in advance for the explosion that would surely follow.

Sean’s eyes darkened with fury. “Are you telling me Eve tied you up and left you in the store? How? And why?”

Then his gaze lighted on the still-open cash register and then down to the safe that was wide open.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No f**king way. She robbed you?”

“At gunpoint,” Rusty muttered.

Sean went white. For a moment Rusty worried he might do something crazy like hit the floor. His knees buckled and then he reached out to touch her again. He feathered a hand over her face, his fingertips softly grazing her cheekbone.

Then he closed his eyes and when he reopened them, his gaze was haunted and filled with regret.

“This is going to kill Van,” he said quietly.

Rusty blew out her breath. “There’s a lot you don’t know. Hell, that I don’t know, for that matter. But we have to get in touch with Donovan like now. He’s going to lose his mind when he hears this story. I know he was going to deal with Eve’s stepfather today and I hope to hell he’s already done whatever it is he was going to do because if not, Eve is in a lot of danger.”

Sean’s gaze narrowed. “You sound awfully worried about a woman who held a gun on you while she robbed the store of all its cash.”

“It’s complicated,” Rusty said with a sigh.

“Then uncomplicate it and tell me the whole story.”

She gave him a quick, condensed rundown of the morning’s events, starting with when she walked into Donovan’s house and found Eve pointing a gun at her. But when she got to the last, she paused and grabbed Sean’s arm.

“She thinks he betrayed her, Sean. I have no idea how in the hell she got that idea, but you didn’t see her. You didn’t hear her. And she kept apologizing, for f**k’s sake. For taking my Jeep. For stealing money from a man she hadn’t even met.”

“Whoa, wait. Back up a minute. Eve thinks Donovan was going to turn her in to her stepfather?”

He sounded as aghast as Rusty had felt when she’d listened to Eve’s accusations.

“She believes it,” Rusty said quietly. “God, Sean. I hurt for her. She was devastated. Completely defeated. She loves him and yet she thinks—she knows—he betrayed her.”

“That’s crazy,” Sean refuted.

“To you and me, yes. But Sean, she absolutely believes it. I don’t know what happened to make her think it, but I saw the conviction in her eyes. I heard it in her voice. She was destroyed, and even more destroyed that she was leaving Travis and Cammie behind. And yet she trusted that Donovan would protect them. She thinks that she was just the means of Donovan getting what he really wanted. Kids. A family. One that didn’t include her. I’m telling you, Sean. If you could have seen and heard her, you wouldn’t be pissed over what she did. I knew she had no intention of shooting me. I was more worried that she would do it accidentally. I offered to help her. I wanted to help her. Because I couldn’t stand to look into her eyes and see so much pain that it took my breath away. And you know what she said?”

“What?” Sean asked gently.

Rusty hadn’t even been aware that he’d pulled her closer to him and that even now his hand was stroking up and down her back in a gesture of comfort. She had the ridiculous thought that she’d like it if he pulled her into his arms. But she shook off that moment of insanity and refocused on the matter at hand.