Passing His Guard

Every man had his breaking point, and today, Aiden had hit his when he’d slipped out of bed and snuck from his room, avoiding Rya

Unfortunately, his father was right: He had no proof, just his suspicions—oh, and the confession of a cold-blooded killer. The lawyer in him knew the evidence he had would never stand up in court—it was his word against his father’s.

“You know what, Aiden? You were always too smart for your own good. Someday”—his father tapped his temple with his index finger—“all those smarts are going to catch up with you if you aren’t careful.”

“Are you threatening me?” It took every last bit of restraint not to leap across the desk and shake some sense into his father before it was too late. But truthfully, the man was too far gone into his hole of self-destruction for Aiden to help him climb out of it now. Someone had to stop him before anyone else got hurt. He just wished it didn’t have to be him.

“Christ, you’re an ungrateful shit, you know that?” Be

Aiden saw red. Every muscle in his body strung ripcord tight as rage suffused every cell of his body. To keep from saying something he’d regret, he bit the inside of his cheek until the coppery tang of blood touched his tongue. As well placed as those verbal jabs were, Aiden refused to take his father’s bait.

“I can’t believe you did it,” Aiden spat with contempt. “By some miracle Rya

“You’ll tell her nothing!” his father yelled, slamming his fist onto the desk. “Axel Andrews was a man with a death wish—one that I granted him.”

“Why was he investigating you? Who hired him?”

“No one! The bastard was blackmailing me. He built a case co

Oh, my God . . . Aiden stared at the man sitting across from him, realizing for the first time in his life he was in the presence of a monster. What in the hell was he going to do? How was he going to tell Rya

I’m going to lose her . . .

I’m going to lose him . . .

This was the only thought that played through Rya

Though there seemed to be no love lost between him and his father, still the decision he faced was monumental. Once decided, it wasn’t something he could go back and undo. She refused to ask him about it. When and if he was ready, she hoped he would talk to her about it. But until then, all she could do was support him any way she knew how. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to want comfort from her. He’d withdrawn into himself, falling back into a pattern of coping she suspected had sustained him all these years—physical exhaustion. Even Nikko had tried to talk to him last night, but Aiden had responded by telling him to either spar or get out of his gym. The flurry of activity she heard coming from the gym had gone on well into the night.

“You okay?”

She looked up from her oatmeal, long gone cold, as she stirred random designs in the mush with her spoon. Nikko shuffled past her on the way to the kitchen, wearing nothing but a pair of black sweats with Cage Fighting Association ru

“I think I should be asking you that,” she said, nodding at the dark purple bruise over his left cheek. “It sounded pretty intense in there last night.”

Nikko shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Disco just needed to blow off some steam.”

“Have you noticed he’s been acting different these past few days?” she pressed.

“Of course I’ve noticed, but you gotta understand, Gingersnap, we’re guys. This isn’t The Vagina Monologues. We don’t talk about our feelings.”

“Well maybe you should.”

“Uh-uh. That’s what you’re here for. I fight with him, you fuck him. That’s just the way it works.”

“Well, it’s not working,” she grumbled under her breath. If he heard her complaining, he didn’t press it. She was just glad Nikko was talking to her again. At least whatever dark place he’d slipped into had been a short-lived trip. He’d pulled himself out and brushed himself off as she suspected he’d done many times before.

“What are we doing today?” he asked, changing the subject.

“I’m finishing the dossier for Aiden on Lucas Machio. You want to watch some MMA videos with me?”

He gave a wicked smile that would someday melt some lucky lady’s panties. “Hell yeah, let’s do this.”

The afternoon passed uneventfully, and by late evening when Aiden had yet to come home, Rya

“You’re pacing.”

“Am I?” She halted midstride and glanced at Nikko, stretched out across the couch in a lazy sprawl, his silvery gaze following her as she trekked back and forth in front of the Manhattan skyline. But tonight she was too anxious to appreciate the view. “How can you sit there and be so calm? It’s almost ten o’clock and Aiden isn’t back yet. He should have been home hours ago, and he’s not answering his phone.”

“Relax. Disco’s a big boy, not to mention a world-class MMA fighter. He can take care of himself.”

Nikko’s negligent attitude gave her no comfort. It did, however, piss her off. “What if something happened to him?” That was the closest she would come to voicing her truest fears. Nikko didn’t know about the flash drive. She and Aiden had agreed that the fewer people who were aware of its existence the better.

“What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know!” She threw up her hands in frustration, never feeling more helpless. “I’m going to go find him,” Rya

“Sorry, Gingersnap. I can’t let you do that.”

“Let me? You can’t let me?! I have news for you, Nikko, you do not get to tell me what I can and can’t do. If I want to walk out that door I’m going to, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

His brow rose, the oh, really? an unspoken challenge she wasn’t sure she wanted to test. There was some serious I’m not fucking around determination flashing in those silver-hued eyes. But she’d never been one to back down from a fight, and Rya