Maya Banks - Theirs to Keep

Until her memory came back and she could decide for herself, she was staying with him and Merrick, and fuck anyone who said differently.

“YOU MAY AS WELL SAY what’s on your mind,” Cade said, without looking up from the stove.

Merrick had walked into the kitchen five minutes ago, slid into one of the chairs by the bar but hadn’t said a word.

Merrick wasn’t much of a talker, at least on a deeper level. He could bullshit with the best. He also managed to get his point across with no problems. But Cade always knew when something was eating at him, because he always went all quiet and brooding.

He and Merrick went way back. They’d been friends since grade school. Dallas too. The three had been inseparable even when life had taken them in different directions after high school.

Cade had known he wanted to go into business for himself. Dallas had gone to medical school and after residency had opened his clinic. Though he was loyal to Merrick, Dallas had a calling to provide health care for disadvantaged families. But then they’d all grown up poor and knew what it was like to have little or nothing.

Merrick had gotten his MBA in order to help Cade with the business, but his heart had been with a career in mixed martial arts. After getting his degree, he’d devoted his efforts to training and working his way up the food chain.

He’d started in local gyms and on local fight tickets. He worked hard and would fight anyone willing to enter the ring. As a result, he’d been offered a contract with an international fighting association, and now he was one fight away from the possibility of a title bout with the current heavyweight champion.

Cade handled the bulk of the business, but Merrick helped when he wasn’t training. When Merrick traveled for a fight, Cade and Dallas always accompanied him. In a lot of ways, Merrick was the glue that held the friendship together because Merrick was the common denominator. Without him, Cade would be busy with his business, and Dallas would be immersed in his clinic.

Cade’s dad was involved in the business as well as Merrick’s training. He was an invaluable source of support whether it was building Merrick up or helping Cade when Merrick wasn’t available.

They owed a lot to his old man, and Cade knew that Merrick considered him a father every bit as much as Cade did. And to Charlie Walker, Cade, Merrick and Dallas were his boys. It didn’t matter how old they got to be. He still threatened to tan their asses when they got out of line.

Cade would need to fill him in on Elle in short order. He was surprised the old man hadn’t already popped in this morning to find out why the hell they weren’t in the office.

He flipped another pancake then added it to the hot stack that had accumulated on the platter to the side, and then he turned to Merrick, who hadn’t responded to Cade’s statement.

Shaking his head, he turned the burner off and carried the platter over to the table, where he’d set three places. He wanted to let Elle sleep as long as she wanted, but he also didn’t want her to be awake and afraid to come out. He’d put her in his room. He’d been quite adamant about it. He’d slept on the couch, but he’d wanted her in his space, and he couldn’t exactly explain why he’d been so set on it.

He could always warm her pancakes back up. Right now he wanted to air out whatever was on Merrick’s mind.

“You going to talk, or do I have to sit on you and pry it out of your tight ass?” Cade asked mildly.

Merrick scowled and forked three pancakes onto his plate. After drenching them in syrup, he cut into the stack, and for a moment, Cade thought he was going to ignore him. Then Merrick sighed and set his fork down.

“I don’t even know how to say what all I’m thinking,” Merrick said. “I feel like a complete dickhead for half of what I think, and for the other half, I think I’ve lost my goddamn mind.”

Cade’s lips twitched. “Okay, we’ll start with why you’re a dickhead.”

Merrick made a rude noise. “It’s all the same. I mean, what I think makes me a dickhead who’s lost his mind.”

“Do tell.”

Merrick’s shoulders heaved. “It’s about Elle.”

Cade rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I figured. What about her?”

“I want her,” Merrick said bluntly. Then he grimaced. “Oh my God, that sounds so fucked up. Especially after what she’s been through. Shit. It’s not like I’m wanting to jump her bones. I’m not having stupid inappropriate thoughts. It’s just that there is something there. A connection I don’t even understand, but I know two things. I’m not going to let anything else hurt her, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Okay,” Cade said slowly.

Merrick eyed his friend with a piercing stare. “Don’t think I don’t know that you feel the same damn way, which is why I didn’t want to have this conversation. We have a woman in there who’s been brutalized. She likely doesn’t trust any man at all, and who could blame her? And she doesn’t even know who she is or anything about her past. Hell, she could have a husband and kids somewhere for all we know.”

Cade shook his head. “You tell me something. If she belonged to you, wouldn’t you have turned this city upside down looking for her? She obviously doesn’t belong to anyone because only a damn fool would just let her disappear.”

“Maybe,” Merrick said grudgingly. “That doesn’t solve the issue between us, though. I’m not letting a woman come between us. We’ve never let it happen. We may as well be brothers. We’re family. And I’m not ruining that. But…”

The corner of Cade’s mouth lifted. “But you aren’t backing down either, right?”

“Yeah,” Merrick muttered. “I’m not backing down.”

Cade remained silent a moment. He wasn’t certain what to say. He understood Merrick’s reaction. It was much the same as his own reaction to Elle. And no, he sure as hell didn’t understand it either. His instincts screamed that she was his, and apparently so did Merrick’s, which really muddied up the damn waters.

They were both jumping the gun in a serious way. Elle was fragile. They knew nothing of her past or present. They were taking a damn lot for granted.

But yeah, he was going to protect her just like he knew Merrick was, and neither of them was going to walk away from her, and they sure as hell weren’t going to let her go without a fight.

Which was damn sure going to put them at odds in a way they’d never been pitted before.

“You going to sit there like you aren’t having the same damn thoughts?” Merrick interjected. “You don’t come to me demanding I start talking and then clam up when I tell you what I’m thinking.”

Cade sighed. “What do you want me to say, Merrick? That I want her too? That I look at her and something just clicks and I know that I’m going to be front and center in her life from now on if I have any say? That I’m going to make damn sure nothing ever hurts her again? That I want her no matter how long I have to wait for her? And yeah, you’re right. It makes us both out of our goddamn minds. We only just met the woman. This kind of shit just doesn’t happen.”

“Tell me about it,” Merrick muttered.

“I’m going to go get Elle so she can eat,” Cade said. “We understand each other. For now… For now, she’s going to need us both to get her through her recovery and whatever else comes up. For now, we’re going to have to put aside whatever crazy-ass thoughts we’re having and focus on what’s best for her.”

Merrick nodded. “Yeah, in that we’re agreed.” But then his gaze met Cade’s. “Don’t let this fuck us up, man.”

“Yeah,” Cade said quietly. “I hear you.”

ELLE FLINCHED, AND A SMALL whimper emerged from her throat. Fear knotted her insides, and she strained to see her pursuer. She could feel him, could feel how powerful he was. Knew he was right there, waiting. But she couldn’t pierce the thick cover of shadows to see his face.

She ran faster, even knowing it was inevitable that he would catch her. She felt the sweat that drenched her shirt, felt the heat enveloping her. The sun.

She tripped and fell face first in the dirt, her hands sprawling out to break her fall. And when she turned, he was there, looming over her, but the sun blinded her.

As he moved, the sun’s rays caught on something clipped to his side. It was a badge. He reached for her, and she let out a scream, knowing it was her last chance to escape.

“Elle, Elle, wake up. You’re safe. It’s okay. Open your eyes, honey. You’re safe.”

Her eyelids fluttered, and confusion filled her. None of her surroundings were familiar. She had no idea where she was, and then her gaze found the owner of the voice.

A man was a mere foot away, and she was still so ensconced in the terror of her dream that she couldn’t differentiate it from reality.

She rolled away with a cry of fright, ignoring the stabbing pain through her body. She fell off the bed on the other side, and she hastily scrambled upward, trying to gain her footing so she could flee.

But the man blocked her pathway.

He didn’t make a move toward her, though. He just stood there, his expression calm, but his eyes were murderous. She shivered at the darkness in his gaze.

“Elle, take a deep breath and calm down, honey. Remember where you are. You were having a bad dream, but that’s all it was. You’re safe here. Remember last night? You’re here with me and Merrick, and we’re going to take care of you.”

She stared back at him as the previous evening came back in bits and pieces. Cade. His name was Cade. He’d helped her. He and Merrick. They’d found her in the shop she’d broken into, and instead of turning her into the police, they’d taken her to a friend for medical help and then they’d brought her home.

“Cade,” she croaked out.

“Yes, honey, that’s me. Cade. I’m not going to hurt you. I came to see if you wanted breakfast. I made pancakes, and if you don’t hurry, Merrick’s going to eat them all.”

She blinked at the lighthearted joke, and some of the shadows clinging to her mind melted away as she stared at the man standing a few feet away.

Where before he’d seemed so menacing, he now appeared gentle and kind. He was a big man. Tall, lean but very well muscled. He and Merrick were both dark-headed, but Cade had lighter brown hair where Merrick’s was nearly black. Cade’s eyes were blue, and she frowned as she tried to remember what color Merrick’s eyes were.

Brown. Dark brown. Adding to his dark appearance. He had shoulder-length black hair, chocolate-brown eyes, and he was rugged and tanned. He was broader and taller than Cade, which said a lot because Cade was no small man.

Her rescuers should by all rights scare the holy hell out of her, but they’d been nothing but kind and gentle with her, and she desperately needed someone to trust.

Her past was a scary blank sheet that made her break into a cold sweat every time she tried to look back and remember. Someone had tried to kill her. According to Dallas, she’d been raped.

The mere thought of something so horrific happening to her and not being able to remember was a blessing and a curse all wrapped into one.

That she’d been violated made her stomach clench into a ball. Panic swamped her at the image of being so helpless while a man held her down and forced himself on her.

The other part of her was relieved she couldn’t remember because she wasn’t sure she could deal with the horror of a rape on top of everything else she’d endured.

“Elle, are you all right?”

She glanced back up and realized sweat had beaded her forehead and that her breaths were coming in rapid spurts.

“Dallas said I’d been raped,” she blurted.

She recoiled in disbelief that she’d just put it out there that way, but her thoughts were a scattered mess, and that was the one thing prevalent on her mind. She’d been violated, couldn’t remember it, but she knew it had happened.

Cade’s eyes grew stormy again.

“I know, honey,” he said in a soft voice. “He told us too. I’m sorry. I’d like to catch the son of a bitch who did this to you. I’d cut off his balls and shove them down his throat.”

Whatever response she tried to formulate came out as a low sob, and then suddenly Cade was right in front of her, pulling her into his arms.

At first, she stiffened, but his strength and warmth bled into her, giving her comfort she desperately needed and wanted. She melted into his chest, closing her eyes as he held her. He rubbed a hand up and down her back and murmured softly into her ear.