Maya Banks: Colters' Gift

They ambled in and instead of sitting at the bar, they took a seat at one of the tables in the far corner, and Liam held up two fingers to the waitress.

Nodding, she offered a hello in greeting and then hurried off to get their order. They were here regularly enough that the staff was well acquainted with their preferences.

“So what’s going on in that head of yours?” Noah pressed.

“I think we should go see Lauren,” Liam said in a low voice.

Noah frowned. “That’s not what we were hired to do.”

“Fuck what we were hired for. We can’t do the job unless we have all the information from Lauren. And we don’t have it. We’ve been chasing our tails because Lauren was too afraid to tell us or her brother the truth about who abused her. If we confront her, we’re less likely to get the brush-off. If we call her up, she’s not going to just offer us this information over the phone.”

Noah sighed because . . . shit. This was going to open a whole damn can of worms.

“You know this isn’t a good idea,” Noah said bluntly. “We both obviously have feelings for her. We can’t do our job if we’re too busy fighting over who gets the girl.”

The waitress appeared, and Liam clammed up while she plopped the cold bottles down on the table. Once she left, Liam took a sip before carefully setting it back down. Noah waited. There was definitely something on Liam’s mind.

Liam stared directly at Noah, his gaze intent, jaw tight. “You ever wonder why I just let Lauren go so easily?”

Noah’s brow crinkled. “Max came to get her and brought her home with him. What could you have possibly done?”

Liam simmered with impatience. “Come on, Noah. Are you telling me you didn’t care when she left? That it didn’t bother you that we had to trust in the fact that her brother could keep her safe? That you didn’t want to tell him he was making a huge fucking mistake so that we could keep her close to us at all times so we’d make sure no one ever hurt her again? Quit pretending you don’t care. This is me you’re talking to. I know better.”

“So what?” Noah snapped. “What the fuck was I supposed to do? I couldn’t damn well make a move on her. Not after that shithead did what he did to her. We were strangers to her, and we scared her shitless.”

“It brings me back to my original question.”

“No, I don’t damn well know why you let her go so easily,” Noah said impatiently. “Do enlighten me.”

“The few times we got her to actually talk to us, she spoke about the family her brother married into. That her sister-in-law had three fathers—all married to the same woman—and that her brothers were also hooked up with the same woman.”

Noah nodded. “Yeah, I remember it. Sounded a little bizarre, but whatever.”

Liam’s eyes gleamed. “I wanted her to go back with Max because I wanted her to be around that kind of relationship. See how it worked. Become comfortable with it. Maybe even be able to view it as not so unorthodox.”

Realization crept into Noah’s mind, grabbed hold and shook him until he was staring at Liam in astonishment.

“You aren’t saying what I think you’re saying are you?”

Liam cocked one eyebrow.

“At what point were you going to ask me how I felt about it?” Noah demanded.

“Are you saying you’re against it? Are you saying you’ll back off if I tell you I want Lauren?”

Anger nipped at Noah’s heel. It prickled his nape until he was gripping his beer bottle so tight, he feared it would break.

“Think about it, Noah,” Liam said softly. “Think real hard about it. We’ll get on a plane and go talk to Lauren about the guy who beat her up. After you see her again, you tell me what you want to do. Because I’m not backing off. I’m going to wait for as long as it takes, but when she’s ready, I’m going to be there.”

LAUREN finished tidying the tiny living room of her efficiency apartment and stared around in satisfaction. It was small, but it was filled with furniture and knickknacks, and was decorated to look homey and cozy.

Max had been so helpful in her getting back on her feet, but she owed the most to Holly, Lily and Callie. The three women had dragged her shopping and they’d spent a tireless amount of time making sure Lauren’s apartment was one she was comfortable and happy in.

It was her day off from the diner, and while she had standing invitations to drop in on her brother and sister-in-law or any of the Colters, today she just wanted a quiet day in her apartment reading.

Later she’d take a walk down Main Street and do some windowshopping. It amused her that window-shopping in Clyde consisted of looking into the one women’s boutique that sold everything from lingerie to accessories and everything in between.

There was a small, used bookstore at the end, and she always looked forward to scanning the new stock to see what struck her fancy. Callie had been after her to buy an e-reader so she could just download books from the online retailers without ever leaving her house, but there was something about the trip to the bookstore and returning home with a bag of books she couldn’t wait to dig into.

And there was the simple fact that she couldn’t afford the e-reader right now. It had taken every penny to move in and buy what was needed for the apartment. If she splurged and bought the reading device, she’d be uncontrollable with buying e-books.

For now, she’d have to stick with gently used and savor every book. Besides, she couldn’t trade in a digital book when she was finished.

She perused her bookshelf and finally selected the newest Jaci Burton book she’d purchased. Just as she settled down to indulge, there was a knock at her door

Frowning, she pushed herself up from the couch and went to the front door. It was probably one of the Colter women. It could even be Max, but he was usually better about calling to let her know he was stopping by, whereas the Colter women—especially Holly—just dropped by whenever they got the urge.

But when she opened the door and saw who was standing there, her jaw went completely slack as she gaped at Noah Sullivan and Liam Prescott.

They didn’t belong here. They represented a part of her past she wanted to forget. They were a world away, in a city she’d fled.

“Lauren,” Noah acknowledged with a tight nod. “You’re looking good.”

“You look great,” Liam amended softly.

She still couldn’t find her tongue. What were they doing here?

“Can we come in?” Noah asked. “We need to talk to you.”

“A-about w-what?”

She clutched the door tighter and pulled it so it narrowed the gap.

Liam frowned. “Lauren, we aren’t going to hurt you. We just need to talk to you. It’s important.”

Her pulse was racing fast enough to make her light-headed. She knew Noah and Liam posed no danger to her. Or at least she thought she knew. It wasn’t them she feared as much as why they were here.

“Open the door, Lauren,” Noah said in a quiet tone.

Realizing how much attention they were likely attracting, she finally opened the door and let them walk into the living room.

If it had seemed small to her before, now it was tiny with the two big men filling it.

She had a love seat and an armchair, and she quickly took the armchair so the two men would be left with the love seat.

Perched on the edge, she waited while they made themselves comfortable. Or at least as much as they could, trying to fit their large frames on her small piece of furniture.

She balled up her fingers together and stuck her hands between her knees to prevent them from shaking. Their presence unnerved her for too many reasons to list.