Home > No Escape From War (Trouble for Hire #1)(3)

No Escape From War (Trouble for Hire #1)(3)
Author: Cynthia Eden

His shoulders rolled back. The rolled back shoulders meant War was getting angry. Considering that Rose was more than a little angry herself, she didn’t care.

“And I’m not the one who made out with someone else.” War took a gliding step forward. He was big, but for all of his size, the man could sure move softly.

Because she was watching his sneaky movements, it took a moment for his words to register and when they did, her jaw dropped. She snapped it back up and fired, “Dylan kissed me. I didn’t kiss him. And I shoved him back and told him that if he ever did that crap again, I would have a sexual harassment case filed against him.”

“You—what?”

He was stunned. Thrown off balance. Good. This was her chance. Tears filled her eyes because what she was saying was true and because she was desperate, and this was her only chance. “You never gave me an opportunity to explain. You just acted. You raged. You accused. What about a little trust, War? A little faith? Would that have been too much to ask?” She whirled away from him and hunched her shoulders.

God, she still hurt. This man had gotten to her. Gotten past the guard that she used to keep everyone else out. Rose knew the score in this world. Only the tough survived. Trust family, no one else. Her mantra. But…

War had been different.

Or maybe she’d just wanted him to be different.

“Rose…” His hand curled around her shoulder. He was creeping closer and closer. This was it. Her chance to get away. And her chance to get a little payback. All in one lovely movement.

Leave me, will you? Gonna break my heart in a thousand pieces?

Her right foot angled back. With big guys like War, it was all a matter of…balance. Or rather, making him lose his balance.

“Are you telling me the truth?” he whispered.

She angled her body. “War…” Her head turned toward him just the faintest bit.

As he leaned his body toward hers…she struck. Her right foot swept hard against his ankle, and the mighty War went down with a bellow. “Go screw yourself,” she snapped at him. Then she was off. Racing as fast as she could through the night. When she wanted to be fast…

Rose was fast.

If tears fell as she ran away, at least War couldn’t see them.

***

He’d been played by a master. War jumped up. She’d pushed him into a stinking pile of garbage, and he knew that landing spot had been deliberate. Rose was one strategic plotter. He raked God-knew-what off his shoulder and bellowed, “Rose!”

She didn’t slow down. Snarling, he gave chase. His feet pounded over the ground as he flew after her. She was close to a waiting Jeep. Not her car. She always drove a convertible and it was currently sitting in her garage, but as he watched, Rose jumped into the Jeep and had the engine snarling to life. She whipped that vehicle into reverse, and gravel flew from beneath the tires. She started to shoot it forward.

War leapt into her path. His hands flew up. “Stop!” She might shove him into a pile of stinking garbage and rotting food, but he didn’t think she’d run him down.

Hopefully.

The Jeep’s headlights nearly blinded him.

“It’s over, Rose,” he yelled. She could hear him. The doors and roof of the Jeep had been removed. It was a beach town, and most of the Jeeps in the area looked that way. “I’m turning you in.”

She revved the engine. “Get out of the way.”

“No. You’ll have to go through me because I am not moving.” And she wouldn’t do it. She’d give in. She’d turn off the Jeep. Get out. Maybe rage at him again. But then he’d take that ever so sweet ass of hers to jail and laugh while she made her frantic explanations to the cops and—

The wheels spun. Gravel spit into the air. And the Jeep flew back. She reversed through the lot like a champ as he gaped after her. Too late, he realized she was heading for the little hill that wasn’t an exit, but a place that would still allow her to access the road. He surged after her, but by then, she had too much of a lead on him. With a happy little honk of her horn—a sound he was ninety-nine percent sure meant screw you—she whipped onto the street and raced away from him.

Sonofabitch.

His breath was heaving as he ran to the edge of the road and glowered after her…after her and after the license plate that he could see illuminated thanks to the lights on the back of the Jeep.

His hands slapped against his thighs. A smile stretched across his face. Oh, sweetheart, you can run, but I will find you.

Once he started a hunt, he never stopped.

***

She parked the Jeep in the back of the motel so that it would be hidden from anyone passing by on the road. Before going back to her little no-tell-motel, Rose had swung by Billy’s place, hoping against hope that he would be there.

The house had been deserted.

So she’d been forced to return to her current lodging spot. Not directly on the beach, but rather hidden on a back bay—the spot would have to do. For now.

She couldn’t leave the area. Not until she’d finished her job. Or until the job finished her. A grim possibility considering her last few days.

Sticking to the shadows, Rose made her way to room number one-oh-four. The light near the door flickered and pulsed to reveal the chipped wood along the frame. This place was far different from her beloved condo with its gulf view, and that was exactly the reason she’d taken refuge there. Until it was safe, she had to stay under the radar.

Her hand lifted for the door. She swiped the key and then slipped inside. The air conditioner was humming, even though she’d tried seven times to turn the thing off before she’d left, and the room was absolutely icy. The bored clerk at the front desk had told her he’d get a repairman in tomorrow. She’d hoped to be gone by that point.

Rose yanked off the blonde wig and tossed it on the little table that she knew waited close to the door. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders, and the pressure she’d felt on her head immediately eased. Her hand reached to the right as she prepared to flip on the light—

“Took you long enough to come inside,” a low, growling voice said from the darkness.

A scream tore from Rose’s throat, and she immediately grabbed the door to fly back outside. Terror clawed at her, and all she could think was…he found me. She’d tried so hard, but he’d found her. She yanked open the door, but a powerful hand shoved it closed. In the next breath, he’d spun her around to face him.

Rose immediately went to knee the intruder in the groin, but he moved too fast. He shoved one of his legs between hers as his hands clamped around her waist. “Not happening.” Another dark growl. Angry. Rough and—

Wait.

She froze with her hands hanging in the air. Her intent had been to dig her thumbs into his eyes. A vicious move, yes, but when times were desperate, one did vicious things to stay alive.

Except…her attacker wasn’t the man she’d thought. “War?” His name emerged as a croak.

“Who the fuck else would it be?”

Who else? Oh, just the man who wanted her dead. The killer she was both hunting for and hiding from. Before she could respond, there was a frantic knock on the door behind her.

“Hey! What in the hell is happening in there?” A thick drawl coated the words. “Y’all okay?”

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)