Theirs to Keep

“What was the dream about?” Merrick asked gently.

“Him,” she croaked. “The man who…raped…me and tried to kill me. In my dream, I’m running and I know I can’t escape. I saw a badge attached to his jeans, like at his pocket or belt loop or somehow at his side.”

Cade and Merrick exchanged dark glances, their lips tightening.

Then something else occurred to her, and her eyes widened.

“It was hot,” she blurted. “I mean, here it’s cold. But in my dream, I was sweating, and the sun, it was bright.”

“That’s good,” Cade soothed. “You’ll get it back, Elle. Don’t rush it, though, okay? Don’t try to force yourself to remember before you’re ready. Merrick and I will be here for you. I don’t want you to be scared at any time, and you can tell us anything. We’ll always be here to listen.”

“You can’t be planning for me to stay with you permanently,” she said in bewilderment. “You know nothing about me. I broke into a building, for God’s sake.”

Merrick lifted an eyebrow. “Can’t we? Where else are you going to go, Elle? Do you honestly think we’d let you just walk out of here knowing you have no memory, no money, no place to go?”

She stared back, having no idea what to say to that. Most people would just turn her over to the police and be done with her. But these two men knew of her terror, knew she didn’t trust any cop, and they not only took her in and didn’t push her to go to the police, but they made her a promise to be with her…long term.

“You guys aren’t real,” she whispered.

“The hell we aren’t,” Cade bit out. “I made you a promise, Elle. Merrick made you a promise. Neither one of us is going back on our word. We aren’t letting you go, and we’re damn sure going to protect you.”

She closed her eyes, soaking in the firmness of his words, how determined they both sounded. A haven. Sanctuary. They were offering something she desperately needed. She’d be a fool to turn it down.

“Okay,” she said in a shaky voice, taking the plunge.

If she couldn’t trust them, who could she? There was no one else. She had no other options. Cade and Merrick were all she had.

She jumped when a loud bang exploded in the kitchen, and suddenly an older man appeared, staring over at Cade and Merrick.

“Where the hell have you two been? I’ve been at the office an hour waiting for your lazy asses. You pick today to sleep in?”

C H A P T E R E I G H T

“DAMN IT, DAD,” CADE EXCLAIMED as he reached to keep Elle from bolting from the room.

Charles Walker glanced between the three, his eyes narrowing suspiciously, but then his gaze settled on Elle and he frowned.

“You blew off work for a one-night stand?”

Merrick groaned. “For God’s sake, Charlie. Shut the fuck up for two seconds.”

Elle was standing, her arm outstretched where Cade had caught her wrist to keep her from bolting. She was staring at Cade’s dad like he was the antichrist. And, well, he couldn’t exactly fault her suspicion. Damn old man had no filter whatsoever. He said what he liked when he liked and didn’t much give a fuck what anyone thought.

“What the hell happened to her?” Charles demanded as he stared harder at her. It seemed to have finally sunk in that she was obviously injured and scared out of her mind.

Merrick stood and walked around the table to take Elle’s hand. He glanced back at Cade. “You deal with him. I’ll take Elle in the other room.”

Cade sighed as Merrick herded Elle out of the kitchen, and then he turned to his dad.

“What did I say?” Charles asked, raising his hands, palms up.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Cade muttered. “What do you ever not say?”

Charles slid into Merrick’s vacated chair. “What’s the story on the woman?”

Cade leveled a stare at his dad. “I’m only telling you if you keep quiet, and I mean you don’t say shit to anyone.”

Charles shrugged. “Whatever you say.”

“I’m serious, Dad. This is deep. I haven’t said much to Merrick about this aspect of it, but we have to keep this quiet because he can’t afford to fuck up his chance at a title shot. This could get twisted around and reflect badly on Merrick if we aren’t careful.”

His father’s expression became serious. “What’s the matter, son?”

Cade ran down the story from the time he and Merrick had responded to the breach in security to the present. By the time he was finished, Charles was wearing a scowl that rivaled Merrick’s worst.

“Son of a bitch,” Charles muttered.

“Yeah.”

“So you’re going to keep her?”

The incredulous tone to his dad’s words rubbed Cade the wrong way.

“What do you want me to do, Dad? Toss her out? She’s hurt. She’s been raped and God only knows what else. The son of a bitch shot her twice. It’s a miracle she’s alive. And she’s terrified of the police. So you tell me. What would you do with her?”

Charles sighed and rubbed a hand over his balding head.

“And you’re a damn liar if you tell me you’d toss her out, so don’t even try that shit with me, old man.”

“Think you know me so damn well,” Charles grumbled.

Cade cracked a grin. “I know you’re a grumpy-ass huge marshmallow.”

Charles flipped up his middle finger, and then he stared in the direction of the living room. “So seriously, Cade. What are you going to do with her? You and Merrick have enough on your plate between the business and his training and career. And the job doesn’t run itself. You know I’ll help in any way I can, but you’ve still got a huge problem on your hands.”

“She’s not a problem,” Cade said quietly. “She needs to rest and recover physically, and she needs a place where she feels safe in order to do that. That’s going to be with me and Merrick. When she’s able, we’ll take her into the office with us so she isn’t alone. We’ll figure it out.”

“I’m reading a lot more than just a white knight in action here,” his dad mused. “You’re interested, Cade. I’d swear that you and Merrick are both sniffing around the same female.”

Cade didn’t answer.

Charles sighed. “That’s never a good idea. This can’t end well. You have to know that. You and Merrick go way too far back to let a woman come between you now.”

“We’ll deal with it,” Cade said tightly. “Right now, all we’re concerned with is getting her well and back on her feet. She has an entire past she remembers nothing of.”

“That’s a hell of a lot of baggage she’s sporting, son.”

“Nothing so heavy I can’t help her carry it,” Cade said in a quiet voice.

C H A P T E R N I N E

ELLE SAT ON THE WORN, WOODEN bench and watched as Merrick sparred with Cade in the ring. Cade held a large punching bag, and Merrick ducked and feinted right and left before landing punches that pushed Cade back.

It had been three weeks since the night they’d found her. The bruises had faded. The gunshot wound was nearly healed. She looked and felt better, but her past was still a huge shadow in her mind, an impenetrable veil of darkness.