Reluctant Suspicion Read online

  Confirmation that he was truly gone came when Molly entered the bar to find it empty, and her smile stretched her cheeks as she made her way to the register. A quick push of a button and ping it was open, giving her the access to reach for the bills filling each compartment. This busy night gave her a burst of optimism, because they needed more nights like this one.

  The thump of the bar door closing made an irritated growl scratch her throat. ‘We’re closed,’ she said, still counting.

  Blake didn’t have a key, and so he couldn’t have locked the door after his departure. If her wits hadn’t been shot, Molly would have locked the door herself when she came back down. But her thoughts of Blake had distracted her, or rather, her thoughts of Blake leaving had distracted her.

  ‘We know.’

  Chills went through Molly when she heard the snarl in the voice that addressed her, and her gaze shot up to see that there were now two figures in front of her. Both were broad males, tall, dressed in jeans and high neck sports tops. Those details weren’t the first thing that she noted though. The first thing she noted were the balaclavas and baseball caps on their heads, concealing their features.

  ‘What do you want?’ she asked.

  The smaller of the two threw a backpack at her. ‘Fill it up.’

  Molly’s attention was drawn by the second of the two, because the larger man was coming around the bar toward her.

  ‘Or what?’ Molly asked, pushing her shoulders back and ignoring the icicles that stabbed at every inch of her shaking body. Adrenaline might be bolstering her bravado, but the truth was she needed the chemical’s assistance.

  ‘Don’t ask twice,’ the second man said, when he stopped at her side and grabbed her hair. Molly’s screech was quickly silenced when she felt the sting of a blade’s tip in her ribs.

  Sucking in a breath, she pushed her head up. ‘Don’t even think about it,’ the man on the other side of the bar said. ‘Fill up the bag and we’ll be out of your way.’

  The one who had a hold of her pulled her body to his. ‘Unless you’re really lucky,’ he muttered into her ear. The smell of scotch and body odour that he emanated made her shudder, and when his damp breath moistened her neck, Molly almost wretched.

  ‘Now!’ the man opposite her shouted.

  Forcing her to the register at knifepoint, the one who had hold of her kept himself flush against her. Grabbing hold of the backpack they’d flung at her, Molly reached into the open register drawer. Her hands shook, causing her to struggle against the usually inconsequential weight of the springs in the bill compartments.

  ‘Faster!’ the man opposite said.

  ‘She’s nervous, look at her shaking little hands.’ The one against her growled with deep satisfaction. ‘Mmm, those hands could make a man do evil things.’

  When he pushed himself against her, Molly closed her eyes in disgust. He was hard and now digging into her hip.

  ‘Such a sweet little thing,’ he panted against her.

  His hand that had held her hair moved down her body and onto her breasts. Molly focused on her actions, ignoring his advances as he groped at her breasts with thorough entitlement.

  After throwing the last of the bills into the bag, she thrust it toward the man opposite her. The man with the knife in her side licked her neck, and in reflex Molly threw an elbow into his stomach. Though he was winded, he didn’t go far, and he pulled himself back to her, scratching the edge of the blade through her shirt to mar her skin.

  ‘Fiery little thing, aren’t you,’ he said, running his hand onto her breast again, and this time giving her a tighter squeeze.

  ‘You have your money, now go,’ she demanded.

  ‘Not just yet,’ the man against her said, and popped a button on her shirt.

  Swallowing away the bitterness from her throat, Molly closed her eyes. Then, without warning he was gone. When she opened her eyes, he was on the floor, unmoving, and her gaze flitted around to seek out the cause of his injury. She noted that the man on the opposite side of the bar was gone too.

  Molly heard him shout through a lot of scuffling and swearing, and she pushed herself onto her hands on the bar to levy herself up and peer over. The perpetrator was there on the floor under Blake. Blake! He had come from nowhere because Molly had been sure that he was gone.

  On the floor beside her, the previously unconscious man began to groan and move. But on scanning around for the knife, she couldn’t find it anywhere in sight. Getting away from this corner was her best bet, so she tried to step over the man with the welt forming on his temple. On her tiptoes she bounced over him, but his clammy hand clamped around her ankle and she fell face first to the floor beyond him.

  ‘Bitch!’ he screamed, and clambered over her to hold her weight down with his own. ‘You fucking bitch!’

  While trying to thrash free, Molly wasn’t sure what to expect, that was until she saw his clenched fist draw back. Closing her eyes on an inhale, she had no escape, so before his fist found her face she brought her knee up between his thighs. On hitting her mark, he howled and the fist fell to the floor unused. Then Blake reappeared above them. He hauled her assaulter away and literally threw him over the bar. With one hand and a lightening leap, Blake was then on the other side of the bar in pursuit.

  When she clambered to her feet, Molly saw the first perpetrator was hogtied in the middle of the floor with electrical cable that must have come from one of her lamps. Blood was spattered across the wood of the floor, showing just what a fight these men were putting up. But Blake had control; he pinned the man that had been on her side of the bar and began to tie his wrists and feet with more electrical cable. Before Blake got the cable around his ankle, the perpetrator brought his foot up and caught Blake across the side of the head.

  ‘Blake!’ Molly shrieked, while she ran around the curve of the bar. Blake pounced back to his feet and brought his own foot swiftly across the perpetrator’s face. His head lolled and then fell back to the hard wood.

  Blake crouched and finished tying his ankles, then he bounced back up to his feet and wiped blood from his lip. ‘Wrapped up to go,’ he said.

  Molly stood by the entrance hatch to behind the bar with her hands resting on either side of her. Unable to close her mouth, she couldn’t blink or breathe. In taking in the sight before her, warmth rushed to her skull, making her lightheaded. Blake stood over two tied men who had just tried to rob her and had had ideas of worse. He had blood on his hands, and on his face, but he appeared totally nonplussed. There was blood on the front of the bar and on the floor, and both culprits were unconscious.

  Stars danced in front of her vision and her knees gave way, so she collapsed onto the floor in a seated position, using the bar to support herself. Blake appeared in her line of vision a second later. One rough hand cupped her cheek, and she flinched back, but his other hand found the other side of her face to support it.

  ‘Mol, it’s me, you’re ok.’

  ‘I… I—‘

  ‘I know,’ Blake whispered. ‘Are you hurt?’

  Molly just shook her head in long strokes and finally closed her mouth. ‘I,’ she said again. ‘I—‘

  ‘Just breathe,’ he said. ‘Just try and breathe. It’s ok. It’s over now. You’re safe.’

  Her lower lip quivered and she blinked her way up to his gaze. ‘I told you to leave.’

  The concern in his expression evaporated into a smile until he exhaled a laugh, and then he pulled her forehead to his lips. ‘I disobeyed orders. You’ll just have to fire me,’ he said, pulling her into his arms.

  ‘Fire you,’ she mumbled into his shoulder. ‘You’re getting a raise.’

  ‘Just part of the job.’

  She sat here on the step into the bar with Blake crouched in front of her, holding her in his arms, and she sighed as she enjoyed the feel of his heavy hand in her hair. It twined through her locks, and his other hand swam in the ends of her hair on her shoulders. Burying her face deeper into the groove of hi
s shoulder to his neck, Molly inhaled him. He smelled of man, blood, and soap, with a whisper of cologne.

  He provided everything that a woman needed in a moment like this, the security of strong arms around her, and words of comfort being whispered into her hair whilst she nestled between his bent knees. She wanted to wrap her arms around his waist and hold herself against him forever.

  ‘You could have walked away,’ Molly said. ‘Where did you come from?’

  ‘That trapdoor you never use,’ Blake said.

  Molly breathed out a laugh and forced herself to glance up. Propping her chin on his shoulder, she relaxed her cheek against his neck, and stared at the men who lay in the middle of the floor. If Blake hadn’t appeared, God only knew what would be happening to her right now.

  ‘Don’t think about it.’

  ‘How did you know I was—‘

  ‘You stopped breathing,’ he said.

  ‘It’s not a big deal,’ she said, and swallowed away her fear.

  Molly sat back and released her grip on his tee-shirt, having been unaware that she was gripping him so tightly. But his tee-shirt was wrinkled in the pattern of her clenched fists. Forcing a smile to her lips, she pushed herself to her feet, but she wobbled and so had to grab for the counter beside her.

  ‘Take your time,’ Blake said from beside her, where he stood with a hand on her abdomen and back, respectively.

  ‘Honestly, it’s fine, I’m fine.’

  ‘Mol,’ he muttered, and swept her hair from her shoulder to her back. ‘It’s ok to be scared and shaken up. Just give yourself a minute.’

  ‘You don’t need a minute,’ Molly said. ‘You’re standing there as though you just answered the door to the pizza delivery guy. If you don’t need a minute, why should I?’

  ‘I’ve been in fights before,’ Blake said. ‘It’s not the first time I’ve been beaten up.’

  ‘I think you did the beating,’ Molly said, and peeked past him. ‘How long before they wake up?’

  ‘A minute or two,’ Blake said. ‘I’ll call the police, but I should clear out before they get here. I don’t want to leave you, but—‘

  Molly was shaking her head. ‘No. I don’t want them here.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Just a couple of rowdy patrons,’ Molly said. ‘It’s nothing worse than that.’

  ‘Molly, you have to call the police. You have to give a statement. You can’t let men like this back out on the street. What do you expect me to do? Let them go?’

  Molly didn’t have to alter her expression to convey her determined resolution. Blake drew in a breath, and she was curious as to the reason for his torn expression, because it really appeared as though he was pained to follow her wishes.

  ‘I can’t… I can’t have them here, not after everything else tonight,’ she said.

  ‘You need to make sure these lowlifes can’t hurt anyone else. Do you want them to be loose on the street? They could come back here. Or go after some other innocent business woman. Is that what you want?’

  Molly’s brows dropped. ‘You said you should clear out before they got here… Why would you do that?’

  Blake dug his teeth into his bottom lip. ‘If you want me to be here, I will. Go upstairs, and I’ll deal with it.’

  ‘No,’ Molly said. ‘You said you should clear out before the police arrived, why would you say that?’

  ‘The cops aren’t exactly my biggest fans,’ Blake said.

  Molly took a step back, removing herself from his touch. ‘What did you do?’

  ‘Nothing, it’s nothing like that,’ he said. ‘I’m not a wanted man… I’ve just been involved in some altercations in the past.’

  The side of Molly’s mouth tipped up. ‘You make a habit of this?’

  ‘Not this exactly,’ he said. ‘I just don’t take any shit.’

  ‘You don’t want the police here. I don’t want the police here.’ One of the men groaned. ‘Let them go, Blake… please.’

  He stared at her for a moment before lifting his shoulders. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Get yourself upstairs, and I’ll deal with getting rid of them.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Go,’ he said, and kissed her forehead again.

  ‘Thank you, Blake… for everything.’

  Chapter Six

  As Blake watched her open the door, she glanced over her shoulder and offered him another brief smile. After the door closed, he listened to hear her footsteps ascend the stairs, and another door close on the upper floor before he jumped to action.

  Going straight for the men on the floor, he pulled his phone from his jacket and used speed dial at the same time he searched the pockets of the perpetrators.

  ‘Keane,’ came the voice on the other end of the phone when it connected.

  ‘Get your butt down here,’ Blake said. ‘Ashton’s just got held up.’

  ‘You’re kidding,’ Jason said. ‘Why are you whispering?’

  ‘Because Mol wants me to let the idiots go.’ Blake tutted, as he took the wallets from the pockets he was searching. ‘Amateurs,’ he said to the groaning bodies on the floor.

  ‘What?’ Jason asked.

  ‘They’ve got their wallets on them. I’ve got their ID.’ Beyond being trained not to let scum get away with wrongdoing, Blake wouldn’t let these guys go on principle. They had hurt Molly, and who knew who else they would hurt. Molly had had only one personal experience with the police force in her time and it had flavoured her opinion of them, which Blake could understand. There were cops out there who were inept and just wanted to pick up a pay check as opposed to doing actual police work. He’d hazard a guess that those were the types Molly had dealt with back when she was a teenager. Men drunk on the power of their job with what they believed were better things to do with their time than listen to the ramblings of a wound-tight teenager like Molly. She must have begged them for help, begged them to listen, and they dismissed her without displaying any compassion.

  ‘So you want me to pick them up? Can’t I send a patrol car?’

  ‘No,’ Blake said. ‘They are the most indiscreet bastards on the planet, and I’m trying not to blow my cover here.’

  ‘Ok, I’m in the car,’ Jason said.

  ‘As far as Molly is concerned, I’m cutting them loose. Catch them round the corner.’

  ‘You want me to catch them?’

  ‘I don’t imagine they will run away, Keane. I’d be surprised if they could walk to the end of the block.’

  ‘What you got them on?’ Jason asked.

  ‘Put them in holding cells tonight. I’ll deal with the paperwork tomorrow. There’s a list of charges, armed robbery, sexual assault, assaulting an officer, resisting arrest—‘

  ‘Did you actually arrest them?’ Jason asked.

  ‘No,’ Blake said. ‘But I have a feeling they will resist when you do.’

  ‘Ok, I got it,’ Jason said. ‘Where’s Ashton? How did she react?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Blake asked.

  ‘You said sexual assault. I’m guessing it was her they were feeling up and not you.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Blake said, while he cut the feet of the perpetrators loose, though he left their hands bound behind their backs. Hauling one up, he propelled him toward the exit.

  ‘Did she react like a serial killer would react? Did she get angry? Did she say anything? Did she lash out?’

  ‘She…’ Blake started, and dropped the man just outside the door. While wiping his hands on his jeans, Blake stared out into the park. ‘She reacted like a woman would react…’

  ‘Don’t go soft on me now, Carson,’ Jason said. ‘She wasn’t going to reveal herself to scum like that. You never know, maybe she gets off on it.’

  ‘Rape,’ Blake said, on going back into the bar for the second guy. ‘You think she would get off on being threatened with rape by a hideous, stinking hulk of a loser?’ He nudged his foot in the perpetrator’s gut.

  ‘Some women do,’ Jason said.<
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  ‘You’re not well,’ Blake said. ‘You know that? There is something really wrong with you if you believe that.’

  Dumping the second guy outside, Blake watched them scramble away down the sidewalk. ‘I’m around the corner, where they at?’ Jason asked.

  ‘They’re heading for Winston,’ Blake said. ‘Text me when you’ve got them tucked up.’

  ‘Will do,’ Jason said. ‘You get back to your serial killer girlfriend. Give her one for me.’

  Blake shook his head, re-entered the bar, and threw the bolts on the front door to secure it. ‘You actually are sick,’ he said. ‘I’m going to ask psyche to have a word with you.’

  ‘They’ve had one, in fact they’ve had quite a few.’

  After hanging up the phone, Blake turned his attention to the bar and took a few pictures of the scene on his phone before he retrieved the mop and bucket. Doing his best to clear up the mess, he put the money back in the register, knowing that it would be better to secure it in the safe. He would also have to get the keys from Molly to properly lock the door.

  In the kitchen, he washed his hands, then lowered his face to splash it with the icy liquid because he needed a wakeup call. Anything to rid himself of the anger that he felt toward the men who had scared Molly.

  Just as she’d told him to, Blake had left. He bundled his tools into the truck, and got in to sit and argue with himself about the merits of complying with her request to leave. He had a job to do, but it was more than that. His desperation to return had more to do with his reaction to Molly than his curiosity about the case, and that was dangerous.

  He had thrown the car into gear and roared round the corner, intent on going home. But Blake hadn’t even left the neighbourhood, he found himself parked outside again less than five minutes later. By that point, there had been no doubt in his mind that he had to return to Ashton’s – one way or another he had to know if she was Choker. So on jumping out of the car he had resolved himself to the seduction. He had to seduce her, for his job… and for his own sanity.