Sam threw the car door open before the limo had stopped. Scott hot on his heels, he raced to the front door, which opened seconds before he could open it himself.
Fredriksson stepped into the doorway; Sam tried to cannonade past him. The floor rushed up to meet him, his forehead hitting the tile with a resounding thud. When he tried to roll to his feet, more than one body held him down and the cold steel of handcuffs bit his wrists.
Fighting them, he shouted for Scott to call the police. Restraints were fastened around his ankles. An unseen force tugged on one leg, the other moving with it. Shackled, goddamn it.
“That should hold him,” Scott said from behind him. “And there’s no need for the police, Mr. Watson.”
“What the hell… Are you in on this too, Phillips? How much they paying you? Because I’ll double it.” And then I’ll rip off your fuckin’ nuts with my bare hands.
A pair of legs came into view, then hands slipped beneath his arms and he was hauled to his feet.
Chad, arms folded across his chest, nodded his approval and murmured to Cooper Davis who stood beside him.
Coop eyed Sam’s restraints dubiously. “Are you sure they’ll hold him?”
“Should do. I tested ’em myself,” Andy replied from one side of Sam, Scott bracketing his other side.
“You sons of bitches,” Sam spat out. “Where’s Rosie? If you have harmed one hair of her head…”
“Calm down. Rosie’s fine,” Chad said. “You’ll see her in a little while-you got here faster than we expected. But first we want to talk with you.”
Sam struggled against his restraints to no avail. “I want to see her for myself. Make sure she’s okay.”
Cooper made noise in the back of his throat. “I hate to point this out, Sam, but you’re not in a position to make demands.” He glanced at Andy and Scott. “Bring him up to my suite. No point in giving the members any more to gossip about.”
It took three of them to wrestle him into the elevator and down the hall to Cooper’s private suite. He managed to elbow Andy in the chin once, and Scott took a blow to his chest, but they still managed to clip a chain to his handcuffs. That chain was then fastened to a block and tackle attached to a hook in the ceiling and his hands were hauled over his head until his feet barely touched the ground.
Goddamn. He forced himself to relax. As Andy and Scott flanked the door, Chad and Cooper had positioned themselves on the opposite side of the room.
Hmm. That was interesting. The curtains were open on either side of the mirrored window leading to Cooper’s private room. Was Rosie in there? Watching? But was she there voluntarily? Was she in on whatever scheme they had planned? Or were they holding her hostage too?
His fingers curled around the chain as he wondered if the entire affair with her had been orchestrated. If she’d been playing some sort of game with him.
For what purpose? Blackmail?
Sam let his entire weight transfer to the block and tackle unit overhead. When it creaked, all eyes trained on the hook in the ceiling. Good, there was a slight possibility of freedom there. Maybe a couple good tugs and he could get free.
“Relax, Sam. We just want to talk,” Cooper said.
“So talk.” And while they talked, he’d plan his escape. Because sure as shootin’ there was no way he was gonna be found in another guy’s suite trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey.
In the adjoining room, watching Sam through the one-way mirror between them, Rosie spoke over her shoulder to Mark Rodriguez.
“Why do they have to tie him up like that? Why can’t they just tie him to a chair? Let him have some dignity?”
“A chair wouldn’t hold him,” Mark said. “And from what I’ve heard, Sam broke through several restraints during his training. Thalia says this is the only thing strong enough. Plus she says she trained him this way. So she’s hoping his training will kick in and he’ll listen to her.” He chuckled. “Besides, it’s fitting considering what he did to me last summer.”
Rosie pulled herself away from the unfolding drama and focused on Mark. “Last summer? What exactly did he do to you?”
He cleared his throat, his smile dimming as he shot her a sideways glance. “He tied me up. Amongst other things. Said it was the only way he could make his point. But he had way too much fun doing it.”
“Are you sure your part in this is completely altruistic? Or are you exacting a little revenge?”
“As satisfying as the payback is, Rosie, Sam needs to let go of his guilt. He loves you but the stubborn ass is fighting it. If this is the only way to get him to realize that, he deserves whatever Thalia does to him.”
She couldn’t deny Sam had been an ass lately. But did the means justify the end? She paced the room twice before facing Mark again. “How do you know he loves me? Did he tell you?” Because he hadn’t said anything to her.
“He’s not said it in so many words, no. Sam’s the type who thinks actions speak louder than words,” Mark allowed. “But we talk every week. Last night in fact. When he says your name, I can hear it in his voice. It changes somehow.” He tilted his head toward the mirror where Sam was straining against his bonds again. “Plus you’d have to be blind not to see it.”
Then someone had put a leather hood over her eyes.
“You don’t see it, do you?” Mark said quietly. “Sam’s not worried about what they’ll do to him, or why. He’s only worried about you. You’re all he’s asked about since he arrived. You’re the reason he’s here.”
Maybe. But he’d also gone out of his way to put distance between them over the past week. Even though she’d moved out, he was staying late at the office, even falling asleep at his desk from what Kris had told her.
It had taken Thalia, and Chad, to open her eyes about why he’d been pushing her away. It wasn’t that he was ticked off that he was being stalked and that she’d put herself in harms’ way the way he’d claimed. It wasn’t a fear of commitment like she’d thought it might be. He felt guilty about falling in love with someone other than Jill.
And now they were trying to convince him-while he was bound and forced to listen-to let go of that love? Could you force someone to do that?
Tying Sam up couldn’t be the way to convince him. If someone did that to her, she’d dig in her heels and stop listening, convinced she was right and they were wrong. Unable to think in any more depth, she shook her head. “So how come you waited eight years before trying so unselfishly to help him.”
A frown flickered over his face. “I didn’t realize he was still mourning Jill. I thought he’d let go of it years ago. But then Thalia realized what was going on, especially when Sam asked Rosie to move out. That’s when we knew we had to take action.”
“Action.” Rosie snorted. “Why couldn’t you have just phoned him and told him to get therapy?”
He snorted in response. “Come on, Rosie, you know Sam as well as I do. Or at least you should if what Chad says about you is true. Can you see Sam voluntarily going to a therapist?”
No, she couldn’t. He’d have to be bound and gagged and… Oh, right. Except for the gag, that’s exactly what they’d done. “Then why couldn’t you have just… I don’t know, told me right from the start that it was a scheme?”
There was a moment’s hesitation, as if he was considering whether to tell her the truth. “We had to make sure that you wanted Sam as much as he wanted you. And that you were with him for the right reasons.”
Her lips firmed. “You mean that I wasn’t after his money.”
Mark nodded. “There is that.”
Uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, Rosie returned to her position of spectator.
“Just bring Rosie out here. I don’t have time for whatever game you’re playing.”
“Don’t you understand, Sam?” Thalia asked. “It’s not a game.”
Sam’s voice was flat when he replied, “Why don’t you tell me, Thalia? Get this damned charade over with but let me make sure that Rosie’s okay.”
Wait a minute. If Chad and Thalia were his stalkers…what the hell was this about if not revenge? Why were Cooper and Scott and Andy just standing around helping them?
“You want to tell me what the hell’s going on here, Chad? Scott found the undoctored photos on your computer.”
“Jesus, Sam, you got some of the highest scores in Quantico, and you haven’t figured it out yet?” Chad rolled his eyes. “It’s all been a set up, Sam. All of it. There’s never been a stalker. There’s been no threat. And Scott found the photos there because I told him where to look so you’d come running to us.”
What the fuck? “Is it money you’re after? Or do you think I owe you part of Hauberk? What is it, Chad, because frankly I haven’t got a clue what this is about if not revenge?”
“Oh, Sam.” Thalia wheeled over to him and put her hand on his thigh. “It’s never been about revenge. It’s been about you getting on with your life.”
Thalia sighed. “Sam, you need to move on. You need to put the past behind you and not hide out here. You need someone permanent in your life. Any woman with half a brain would consider you a good catch.”
“That’s about sums up the type he dates,” Cooper rumbled. “Half a brain.”
Sam sneered. “Maybe you should take a look in a mirror, Coop. Or is this not your suite we’re in? And you could at least let me down from here? I’m starting to lose circulation to my hands.”
“I don’t think so, Sam, not until you’ve listened to us.” Thalia wheeled herself back in front of Sam, her head tilted back to look up at him. “Everyone knows you loved Jill. And no one would ever try to take her memory away from you or deny your feelings for her. But she’s gone-through no fault of your own, she’s gone. It’s time for you to accept that and move on.”
Why don’t you stick a hot poker in my gut? That would hurt less.
He tested the tackle again. A smattering of dust floated over his shoulders. One more good jerk, maybe two should do it.
“You think you should have been able to save Jill. Well, guess what. You couldn’t. It wasn’t your fault. People get killed, Sam. You can’t save them all. People have car accidents, they get cancer, they get shot. You can’t save everyone, and you can’t shut everyone out for fear of losing them. Let yourself love Rosie. Accept her love too. Don’t destroy this chance at love, Sam. You may not get another one.”
Damn, she wasn’t just stickin’ the poker in his gut, she was slicing his whole damned intestines out with it. “In case you haven’t heard, Thal, that boat’s sailed. Rosie moved out.”
“Rosie moved out because you ordered her to.”
“Because she threw herself over me to protect me. If Robert had been an assassin she’d be dead. We both thought I was being stalked, remember? I figured she’d be safer if she wasn’t in the line of fire. I was trying to protect her, not lose her.”
Like I lost Jill.
“Just like Jill.” Chad walked up behind Thalia, put his hand on her shoulder. “Thalia’s right, Sam. I understand that you want to protect Rosie, I do. And maybe we’ve gone about this the wrong way…”
“Ya think?”
“We couldn’t think of another way to get you two together after the date we’d arranged went nowhere.”
He’d wondered why it had been Rosie who had bid on him, but Jodi had said Mark didn’t think it would be proper for Thalia to bid. “How many times do I have to tell you, Chad, Rosie’s my employee. You know I was trying to protect Hauberk from a lawsuit.”
“It doesn’t matter now. If you didn’t know you weren’t being stalked, if Rosie worked for a different security firm who was protecting you, you’d have still found a way to push her away.”
“Bullshit.”
“Is it?” With a nod from Thalia, Chad walked behind him. The rope holding Sam’s hands above his head slackened and he lowered his arms with a groan of relief.
Thalia caught his hands with hers, chaffing them as the blood flooded back. But instead of undoing his handcuffs, she turned his wrists until his right hand was face up and rubbed his ring with her thumb.
“Then tell us why you still wear this, Sam. The wedding ring Jill bought for you? The one you’ve put on and never taken off since you got out of the hospital.”
Jeezuz, what more did she want? His entrails spread over the floor like a goddamned rug so she could roll over them? “You know it is, Thalia. Leave it alone.”
“I can’t. You deserve to find happiness, Sam. You lost more than I did that day, and it left you as crippled as me. But you have the ability to get up and dust yourself off and move on.”
“In other words,” Cooper said, “it’s time to get off your ass and stop feeling sorry for yourself.”
Damn it, why couldn’t they see what was going on? “I’m not keeping Rosie away because I feel sorry for myself. I’m doing it because she’ll be safe that way. I won’t see her hurt because of me.”
“Don’t you see? You are using the stalking as a way to keep Rosie at arm’s length. The same way you use the club. It’s a crutch, Sam. You don’t want to get hurt the way you were when Jill died, and you know that the women you meet here aren’t looking for long term involvement. So instead of taking a chance and meeting someone special, you spend your time here and avoid commitment.” Thalia paused, shaking her head. “Marriage, children, commitment of that type anyway. And the women you date…” she waved her hand toward the door, “…out there. They’re no better. I swear half the ones you date couldn’t find their way out of a hall with one door.”
“What in the hell makes you think I was looking for commitment? I’ve been coming to the club because I enjoy it. I love havin’ sex without my partner complaining that I’m too kinky. That’s the whole point of the place, isn’t it?”
“But Rosie’s different, isn’t she? You can see a life with her. And that makes you feel like you’re disloyal to Jill, doesn’t it?” When he didn’t answer, Thalia lowered her pitch assuming her Domme persona, the one that made him respond without thinking. “Do you love Rosie, Sam?”
“Yes,” he shouted. “Yes. I love her, all right? But that doesn’t mean she should stick around me. That doesn’t mean she should throw herself in front of a goddamned bullet for me. I don’t want to lose her like that. I won’t lose her like that. I’d rather she stayed safe. That she stayed alive.”
The door to the back room opened and Rosie appeared, her arms jammed on her hips. He relaxed to see her unharmed, unbound.
“Rosie, thank God you’re safe.” Desperation mixed with relief filled his voice. “I’m sorry if I got angry the other night.”
This morning she would have accepted his apology at face value. But she couldn’t now she knew the significance of his ring. That awareness created an ache in her heart, in her soul. Chad moved Thalia back to where Cooper stood so they no longer blocked her from Sam, but Rosie stayed where she was.
“Now that we know there’s no real stalker, you can move back in and we-”
“No. Sam.” The ache in her heart became a knife sharp pain. She blinked away the tears and held her head high. “I’m not moving back in with you. At least, not yet.”
Not while you wear that ring. Not until I come first.
He shook his head and tugged at the restraints then gave up with a sigh. “Look, I know I’ve been an ass lately. I know I reacted badly the other night but-”
“I’m not prepared to spend my life with someone who doesn’t love me as much as I love them.” She wrapped her arms about her stomach. Andy put his hand on her shoulder, steadying her. “It hurts too much, Sam. Even if it’s only us in the room, I feel like there’s still going to be another person between us.”
“I don’t think of Jill when I’m with you, Rosie. You have to believe me, I love you.”
Why couldn’t you have said “I love you” last night. When you weren’t handcuffed and shackled and under duress?
“When we were making love,” her voice wavered so she took a couple of breaths before she felt steady enough to continue. “Sam, when you touch me and you’re wearing that ring, are you thinking of her?”
“No.”
“Then why do you still wear it?”
He looked away from her. “I couldn’t get rid of it. It’s all I had left of her.”
“Oh, Sam. Thalia is right. I hoped she wasn’t, but she is, isn’t she? Jill’s been between us every minute of every day. She’s been in every conversation we’ve had and every decision you’ve made.”
“What do you want of me? I can’t just stop loving someone like you’d flip off a light switch. What would that say of how I feel about you?”
What did he feel? she wanted to scream. Where am I in your life compared to Jill? Will I always be second? How much longer before you let go of her and see me standing right in front of you?
“I’ve never lost anyone I care about like that, Sam, so I can’t begin to understand how much losing Jill must have hurt. I’m not expecting you to forget her. But she died eight years ago. If we’re to have a chance, if that’s where we’re headed, you’ve got to put the past in the past. And if you can’t, well, I’m not prepared to come second to a ghost in any relationship.”
“What are you saying, Rosie?”
“I’m saying I love you, but I’m not convinced you’re ready to love me the way I deserve to be loved, the way I need to be loved.” She drew another deep breath, shuddering as she did, conscious of how quiet the room had become, of everyone’s eyes on her. “I’m saying good-bye, Sam.”
Before he could say another word, before she could change her mind, she walked out of the room. Out of his life.