Zack couldn’t blame her for choosing Beau over Caleb. Beau could be intimidating but he did have a sense of humor and he was always cognizant of how his actions, words and demeanor often made the difference in gaining a client’s trust. Caleb, on the other hand, even on his best day, was intense and brooding-looking. He rarely smiled except when he was with Ramie or Tori Devereaux, the youngest of all the Devereaux siblings and the only sister to boot.

But then everyone was careful to shield the still very fragile and vulnerable Tori so she never feared the very people who loved her the most and protected her with their lives. At present, she lived with Caleb and Ramie, and from what little exposure he’d had with Tori, he doubted her living arrangements would change in the short term. According to Beau, Tori had made progress and was valiantly trying to do it on her own without her older brothers’—and now her two sisters-in-law’s—help. Unfortunately for Tori, she possessed three of the most over protective older brothers a girl ever had. Some brothers threaten someone—usually a guy—when it comes to their baby sister. But Tori’s older brothers wouldn’t make threats. Threats are a waste of time and only useful to cowards who have no intention of ever trying to back up their threats.

Beau looked startled by Gracie’s question, and for a moment, so too had Zack not registered it because his thoughts and focus weren’t where they should have been. Here. With Gracie.

Despite his initial reaction to Gracie directly addressing him, his expression eased into a reassuring smile and he stepped to the foot of the bed so Gracie could better see him. When he spoke, it was with gentle, soothing tones.

“I’m Beau Devereaux, ma’am. I work with Zack. I run a security company with my brother, Caleb. I don’t want you to worry any longer. We’re going to put one hundred percent of our time and effort into ensuring your safety and into finding the bastards who did this to you. I swear it on my life.”

She looked confused by Beau’s passionate statement. Her eyes flickered and then she turned them toward Zack. She seemed puzzled, as if she were trying to make sense of it all.

“But who’s going to keep me safe from him?” she whispered, staring directly at Zack.

ELEVEN

“WHAT are you going to do, man?” Beau asked in a hushed voice.

Zack ran his hand through his hair in a ragged, agitated motion.

The two men stood just outside the open door of the room Gracie had been moved to. Zack was leaning against the wall, exhaustion from two sleepless nights catching up quickly.

After Gracie had dropped her bomb of a question, one that Beau had been speechless to respond to, she’d drifted off under the influence of the meds and an hour later she’d been moved to a private room on the sixth floor.

“I don’t fucking know,” Zack said. “What the hell am I supposed to do? She hates my guts. She’s terrified of me. And I don’t know why. She keeps mentioning this ‘horrible’ thing I did. Said it was unforgivable.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, ouch. This runs deep, Beau. She had the same reaction at the gallery and the art studio. No way of faking that much fear. But Jesus, why? I don’t get it. I loved her, man. She was it for me. You know, the trite cliché that so many men, especially men like us, cringe over and roll their eyes? Not me. She was The One for me. And God help me but there will be no other woman for me.”

“I had our entire future planned. House, wife, kids. The American dream. I’d play pro ball for ten years if I were lucky. Bank the money and then retire and spend my time spoiling my wife and children rotten. Have a mini football team of our own if we were so blessed. She was on board. She said she loved me, and she did. No one is that good an actress. And she sure as hell wasn’t using me. If that were the case she would have stayed and milked me for every dime. No, she cut out before I even made the pros. I came home one day and she had vanished, leaving me to think the absolute worst.”

He blew out his breath and wearily closed his eyes.

“This is killing me, man. Think how you’d feel if you went home and Ari was just . . . gone. And you never heard from her again. And then twelve years later you find her, only she’s terrified of you, accuses you of some horrible betrayal and she hates you.”

“No thanks,” Beau muttered. “That’s some heavy shit you’re toting around, dude.”

“Tell me about it.”

Zack looked back in to the room to check on Gracie, but she appeared to be resting comfortably, devoid of the nightmares he was sure were haunting her.

Also encouraging was that the strain around her eyes and on her forehead had eased after the last injection of pain medication had been administered.

But as much as he knew she needed as much rest as possible, he was also impatient for her to awaken so that maybe, when she wasn’t in so much pain, and perhaps the horror of what she’d endured wasn’t burning as brightly in her consciousness, then maybe, finally, she’d talk. To him. And only him. No one to interrupt them. No one to come to Gracie’s rescue when she was already in the safest place she could be. And once she was discharged, he was taking her to an even safer place so she’d have time to heal. He only prayed that in that time, he and Gracie could talk about the past, something he knew caused her as much pain as he’d endured.

Please God show me the way to help her past this. Grant us both the courage to face our pasts. And for the both of us to heal. Together. So that we can finally live the dream we wanted so much instead of a twelve-year-long nightmare.

If only the beating of a few hours ago was the only thing currently causing her terror. Even if she did awaken better able to comprehend and put enough distance between the attack and where she was now, there was still the issue of her fearing Zack more than she had the assholes who had beaten her so brutally. And if that wasn’t enough to make him vomit in the nearest trash can, he didn’t know what was.

“I know it’s risky but . . .”

Beau’s unfinished statement was enough to break the stranglehold of panic and the litany of what-ifs and he glanced up to see what his partner was going to say.

Beau broke off, uncertainty flickering in his eyes. Beau was in no way indecisive. It wasn’t like him to hesitate. Zack cocked an eyebrow and mentally braced himself as he waited for his partner to continue.

“What’s risky?” he prompted when Beau wasn’t forthcoming.