Claim (Fury Brothers #5)

31. Beau

31

BEAU

W hen we rejoined the party, it was pretty obvious I’d fucked Bell. Her dress was rumpled, her hair was no longer smooth and sleek, and her cheeks were pink.

But she was smiling. I watched her as she nodded at Mila, and accepted a cocktail. My brothers’ women were all around her, chatting and laughing.

Accepting her.

They’d miss her when she was gone.

So would I.

My hand fisted beside my thigh. I couldn’t keep her. It wasn’t an option.

Memories of my parents, and that rat-infested house that reeked of sweat, drugs, and trash hit me hard. What they were ended with me. I wouldn’t pass it on.

Yet you just fucked Bell without a condom.

My gut twisted. I’d never gone without a rubber. Having kids wasn’t ever going to happen.

It was just once, so hopefully we’d be okay. I wouldn’t drag Bell down with my baggage. I wanted her safe and free to do what she wanted. To fly high. Without the weight of Chandler Carr on her shoulders. Then she wouldn’t need to learn to fight anymore.

She wouldn’t need a scarred, tattooed, former foster kid who came from trash.

I knew what I was. Who I was. And I was comfortable with my life.

Then why do you like knowing it’s your come inside her right now?

Fuck .

Ignoring the voice in my head, I took a large swig of my whiskey.

“Great fight, Beau.” Kav appeared. “I won good money on you from Zane.”

I glanced at Roth and his wife.

The businessman held up a hand. “I knew you’d win, but I was happy to lose knowing that the money goes to charity. Well done, it was a great fight.”

“It was an excellent fight,” Ambrose Langston said. “You have a hell of a right hook.”

“You box?” I knew better than to assume that because he was rich and handsome he was the stereotypical billionaire that just sat behind a desk. Kav had taught me that.

“Only a little. I move around a lot with work, to wherever my latest acquisition is. But I can always take a punching bag with me.”

“You ever want to work out here in New Orleans, drop by Hard Burn.”

He inclined his head. “Thanks.”

I looked over at Bell again. She and Macy were laughing at something. I was glad she was having fun.

The others moved on, leaving me, Colt, Reath, and Dante cradling our whiskey glasses.

“So, Bell looks…rumpled,” Dante murmured.

I grunted.

“You’re head over heels for her,” he said. “When are you going to admit it?”

My fingers tightened on my glass. “I told you, it’s short-term.”

“Does she know that?”

Anger felt like a hard knock to my gut. It made me feel like punching something. “Yes. When I get her free of Carr, she’ll go back to Texas.”

“She’s falling in love with you, Beau,” Reath said. “As a man who’s just been through it, I know the look.”

Now, I felt… Hell, I didn’t know what I felt. “I…can’t.”

“Can’t what?” Dante said. “Keep her? Claim her? Love her?”

“Goddammit.” My arm snapped out and I gripped the front of Dante’s shirt.

My brother didn’t react, his gaze trained on my face. “You’re already in love with her.”

“I’m not inflicting my history on her.”

Dante made an angry sound. “Not this again. Fuck your parents. You’re a good man. Hell, Beau, if we go with your logic, none of us deserve the women we’ve claimed.”

I shook my head.

“You can’t have it both ways,” Colt said. “Either we’re trash with bad bloodlines, or we’re the men we made ourselves into.”

For a second, I let myself imagine my life with Bell in it.

Imagined my seed between her legs taking root, and imagined her round with our child.

Shit. Fuck.

Then across the room, I saw Bell stiffen. She was looking through the crowd, frowning. What was she looking at?

Then she set her glass down, and started shoving her way through the throng of people.

“Something’s wrong.” I shoved my glass at Dante, and charged after her.

I lost sight of her, and my chest squeezed. Where the hell was she?

Had she seen Carr? I knew security was tight. PSS was running it, and Reath only hired the best. Carr couldn’t be here.

“Beau?” Ro Langston materialized next to me, his brow creased. “Is everything all right?”

“I’m looking for Bell.”

“I saw her before. Maybe she went through that doorway?”

Without a word, I wrenched the door open. I was barely aware of Ro following me down the long corridor. There were some offices and storage rooms, but no sign of Bell.

“What’s wrong?” The hotelier’s tone was no-nonsense. A man used to dealing with problems.

“Bell has a serial killer hunting her. Chandler Carr.”

“Jesus.” The billionaire sounded shocked.

“She wouldn’t follow him or disappear for no reason.”

My cellphone rang. Dante’s name flashed up on the screen. I pressed it to my ear.

“Beau? What’s going on?”

“I’m in a service corridor with Ro. Bell came this way. I think she must have seen Carr. Tell Reath to alert his guys.”

“On it. Beauden, be careful.”

I turned the corner and still saw no sign of her. “Bell!” My bellow echoed off the walls.

We passed through a doorway and came out onto a loading dock. There were huge roller doors where the trucks would come in to load up the whiskey. They were all closed.

“Bell!” I called again.

The place was silent. The kind of silence that raised the hairs on the back of the neck. My gaze skimmed several racks of empty whiskey bottles, clearly ready to be filled at some stage.

Beside me, Ro was alert, scanning the shadows.

Suddenly, a shadow flew out of the darkness. He swung an empty whiskey bottle at Ro.

The billionaire dodged.

The attacker whirled, and I noted that the man was wearing a server’s uniform.

And a creepy clown mask.

“Carr,” I growled. “Where is she?”

He darted out of reach, and I followed, swinging my fist. I landed a blow to the man’s head, watching with pleasure as it snapped back.

This was the man who’d traumatized Bell. Who’d murdered her friend, and hunted Bell like an animal.

“Beau, watch out!” Ro cried.

A glass bottle was swinging directly for my head. I threw myself sideways, and Carr and the bottle brushed past me. But the bastard whirled, smashed the bottle against a rack, and the end of it shattered. Then he threw it at me.

This time, I was too slow to move. It slammed into my chest.

I staggered back, pain reverberating through my torso. The bottle hit the ground and splintered. The asshole darted away, disappearing into the darkness. I felt blood bloom on my shirt.

“Bell.” Panic gripped me. What had Carr done with her?

“Beau, I’m here.” She ran out of the doorway we’d come out of, out of breath. “I thought I saw Carr, but I didn’t follow him. Dante said you’d come this way.”

She was safe. He didn’t have her.

I strode to her and pulled her into my arms. “You didn’t follow him?”

“Of course I didn’t follow him. I was looking for you. He was wearing the same uniform as the servers.”

I hugged her harder.

“Beau, your chest’s bleeding.”

“Carr threw a broken bottle at me.”

She froze. “It was him? He’s here?”

I nodded.

“He went out this way,” Ro called out.

I saw the billionaire standing at an external door beside the roller doors.

“Beau?” Reath, one of his men, and my brothers rushed through the doorway.

“Carr’s here,” I said.

With Bell tucked close to my side, I walked over to Ro.

Reath and his security guard went first. They opened the door and glanced outside. A security light cast a weak light around the external loading dock.

“What the fuck?” Ro muttered.

Reath muttered a curse.

Bell pushed forward and sucked in a sharp breath.

A dead cat lay sprawled on the ground. With its eyes gouged out.

Fuck .

And beside it, was a red boxing glove that had been torn to shreds.

Bell’s face drained of color. “No,” she whispered.