Maya Banks - Colters’ Gift

After a moment, Noah pulled out his cell and started to put in a call to his buddy who worked for the NYPD. He hesitated, Suki’s words floating back to his mind. Then he cursed and put the phone back.

She was making him paranoid. For all he knew she was talking out her ass.

“Problem?” Liam asked.

“I was going to call Johnny. See what he could dig up on this Joel Knight dude.”

“And? Why didn’t you?”

Noah grimaced, already feeling a little stupid. “Because Suki said he had cops on his payroll.”

He thought Liam would tell him what an idiot he was being. Out of the hundreds of cops in the city, what were the odds that it would involve their contact?

But Liam merely nodded. “Better to be safe. We can do some digging on our own, but I’d rather go straight to the source.”

Noah’s brows drew together. Liam pulled into a parking place that was half a block down from a pub they frequented.

“What do you mean by that?” Noah asked.

“I’ll tell you over a drink,” Liam said.

If Liam was actually going to hit a pub so they could sit and talk, this had to be serious. Liam was more of an act-now-think-later kind of guy. Elaborate planning wasn’t one of his stronger points. That was Noah’s job. Noah thought out issues. Liam carried out the plan. It was a combination that had worked well for them over the years.

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.