Seven minutes later, Sean screeched to a halt in front of the restaurant Hope had indicated. The sound of police sirens at his heels filled him with a sickening sense of déjà vu.
Get out of the car. Now.His brother’s voice shouted in his head. A voice from another night. Another time.
He shoved it aside as he jumped out of his truck. Ivy needed him. He had to stay focused on that. He rushed to Hope, who was running to meet him.
“In the alley!” she cried breathlessly, terror lacing in her voice and face as she pointed down the street at an alley.
Sean darted past her, a fist gripping his gut. He turned the corner into the dark alley and saw a man twice Ivy’s size gripping her by the neck, pushing her backward against the building as she struggled. He held her with enough force that she almost came up off her feet.
His heart leaped into his throat.
“You fucking bitch! Who do you think you are? This is none of your goddamn business.” A woman came up beside him.
“Bradley, stop. Don’t hurt her. Let’s just go,” she pleaded, her voice shaking, tears streaking down her cheeks.
With his free hand, Bradley gave the woman a rough shove.
Sean saw Ivy struggling to defend herself, but she couldn’t get her breath, and it was slowing her reaction.
“Ivy!” he barked, schooling his voice to sound menacing—and not laced with the fear that was shooting through every vein in his body.
His shout drew the man’s attention, as he’d hoped it would, giving Ivy the opportunity to get her feet under her. In one swift, clean motion, she kneed her attacker hard in the groin, and pride shot through Sean as he ran toward her. Bradley dropped his hands from her throat to cup his family jewels, a string of profanities bursting from his mouth. Ivy didn’t relent, she reacted as Sean had trained her to react. Lifting a leg, she push kicked him right in the chest, making him stagger backward, giving her enough room to execute a perfect roundhouse kick that crumpled the bastard on the concrete just as Sean got to them.
He didn’t hesitate, didn’t waste a single second as he gathered her into his arms and pulled her tightly to his body, breathing her in. The scent of honey and roses an instant comfort.
“You gave me a fucking heart attack. What were you thinking?” He muffled into her hair.
But there was no time to answer, because they were immediately swarmed by several police officers. The commotion and chaos of the next few seconds pulling them apart.
After Sean released her, Ivy made her way over to the woman hunched against the brick wall, and spoke to her in a low, firm voice. The woman nodded, then laid her head on Ivy’s shoulder. Looking a little stunned at the reaction, Ivy gently wrapped her arms around the woman’s shaking frame and hugged her.
It was then, as she held the sobbing woman in her arms, that Ivy lifted her gaze and locked eyes with him.
* * *
For a half an hour Ivy answered police questions, then sat beside the woman named Ali, at her request, as she made her statement. Sean hovered close by the whole time, like a bodyguard, watchful but stoic.
When she’d ascertained that Ali had a safe place to stay for the night and had given the officers all the information she could, she hugged Hope long and hard before reassuringly shoving her into Gabe’s car and waving them off. Then, and only then, did she do what she had been dreading since she’d seen his silhouette in the mouth of the alley—she walked toward Sean where he’d been waiting by his car. Time to face the real music.
He maintained his deceptively calm facade, arms folded across his chest as he leaned a hip against the hood, but Ivy knew better. His eyes were lit with a swirl of emotions that ranged from anger to fear to relief. It was that last one she clung to as she approached him.
Her body was still shaking with residual emotion and adrenaline. All she wanted was ten minutes with a punching bag. Anything to relieve the remaining tension in her body before she had to calmly confront Sean. Obviously, he’d disapprove of her going after Bradley, and she could admit, in hindsight, following an angry, violent male into a dark backstreet wasn’t the smartest thing she’d done recently. But she’d saved Ali from another assault, and she couldn’t bring herself to regret it.
“Hey,” she greeted, aiming for a casual voice that matched his stance.
His eyes glittered ominously in response. He pushed off the hood and opened the passenger side door. “Get in.”
She briefly considered commenting on his tone, but if roles had been reversed, she’d have been mad too. And if she didn’t say anything, she might get a silent ride home, with time to gather herself before she had to go a round with him. Enough time to stop her trembling.
He slammed the door the second she was seated and rounded the hood to his own side. The car ride was silent, but home wasn’t their direction. A few minutes later he pulled up in front of Thompson Kickboxing. It was dark, the gym long closed, and only the outside lights illuminated the pathway in front of the building. The darkened windows loomed like glass giants in front of her.
“What are we doing here?” she asked quietly.
Sean looked at her a beat, gaze traveling over her body in hischecking for injuriesway, then got out of the truck and walked to her side. He opened her door, held out his hand, which she accepted, and tugged her out of her seat.
No words were spoken as he linked their fingers and led her to the gym’s entrance. His manner was easy as he turned the key in the lock, reset the alarm panel, and flipped on the lights, but tension radiated from him. Jaw set tight, he walked with her through the gym to the back, where the ring stood in the center. The overhead light shone down on it, making it look big and daunting.
He couldn’t possibly mean—
