Jake turned his glare from Tiffany to Brianna. “Oh, and just what exactly are you gonna tell them, Brianna? How much you miss me and the things I do to your body? How you can’t wait for me to come to town so we can resume our little tête-à-tête?”
Brianna reached out to try and make Jake release his grip on Tiffany as she berated him, “I don’t miss a damn thing about you, Jake. Let her go, now!”
Jake released Tiffany so quickly she stumbled backwards, trying not to fall to the floor. When he traded his grip to Brianna, Tiffany started hitting at him.
“You have ten seconds now, or I’m calling 911!”
Jake yanked both women toward him, growling near their ears. “I’m not leaving here without Brianna. If you attempt to call the police, I promise you, I won’t be the one they take in for questioning. Do you really want to bring the police down on you both and your families?”
Tiffany wanted so much to hold her ground. To tell him to fuck-off and to pick up the phone and punch those three little numbers, but familiar dread clouded her judgement. If it was just about her, she’d call in a heartbeat, but there was too much at stake for more than just her.
Brianna hesitated, probably worrying about the same things, but then she spoke up. “I’m not going anywhere with you, Jake. Not again.”
Tiff wanted to reach out and wipe that wolfish grin off his face as he leaned in close to Bri. “I seem to remember you loving coming with me last time I was in town.”
Sheer panic seemed to be pouring from Brianna at the mention of what they both knew was the biggest mistake of her life.
Brianna lowered her voice as she spat, “Don’t you dare bring that up. It’s over. You need to get it through your thick skull. I’m done with you.”
“Isn’t that too damn bad, because I’m not done with you by a long shot,” Jake growled.
“Then we have a problem, don’t we? I’m happily married. I’m not leaving here with you. Period.”
“We’ll see about that.” Jake released Brianna as quickly as he’d snapped her into his arms. Tiffany glanced around the salon and realized they’d already gotten everyone’s attention. Employees and customers alike were watching the drama playing out with interest and they needed to get him out of there.
“Jake…” she started.
“What are you gonna do, Tiffany? Willing to bet your brother’s lives on this?” he taunted, and fear pierced her again.
Brianna spoke to her through gritted teeth. “It’s okay, Tiff. I don’t want you mixed up in my problems anymore. Let me handle this.”
Tiffany rounded on her. “This isn’t your problem, Bri. It’s our problem. And you’re not seriously considering going anywhere with him, are you? Not after last time!” Tiffany pleaded with her best friend.
“Of course not! I don’t want to go anywhere with him, but we can’t stand here in the middle of the shop arguing like this. At least if I get him outside, you can get things back to normal.”
“Fuck normal. You promised me. Never again.”
“I’m not gonna leave with him. I’ll just step outside and talk to him and make him leave.”
Even Jake laughed at that comment. “You can try, baby. But I’ve got money on you getting in my car with me within the next five minutes.”
Tiffany didn’t say it, but she was worried Jake might be right. Brianna was a smart woman in literally every aspect of her life except when Jake Davenport was involved.
Brianna started walking toward the exit, glancing over her shoulder at Tiffany as she left. She saw the same helplessness she felt to her core shining back at her from Bri’s glance.
Tiffany stood frozen until they were almost out the door. “Don’t do this to me!” she yelled as they walked out. Then, under her breath, she added, “Don’t do this to Markus.”
Tiffany ran to the door, keeping watch as Jake led Brianna toward the sports car parked in the handicap spot.
Figures the asshole would park there.
Tiff reached into the pocket of her smock to touch her cell phone, subconsciously making sure she was ready to call 911 if needed. She took up watch out the glass front door with dread. Good, Brianna yanked free of him. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were arguing. Brianna was a good foot shorter than Jake, but Tiffany almost cheered when her best friend shoved Jake hard enough that he fell back against his precious car and started heading back toward the shop.
“Thank God. I was so worried he’d haul you off once he got you outside,” Tiffany gushed, relieved when Bri came back in. It wasn’t until Bri went behind the counter and picked up her purse and unplugged her phone from the charger that Tiffany realized what was really happening.
Bri wouldn’t look at her, but Tiffany reached out to grab her wrist, ready to tie her up to keep her at The Beauty Box. “No. I’m not letting you go. You don’t have to do this. Let him try and take those tapes to the police. He talks big but he won’t do it.”
Bri’s shoulders slumped as a tear fell down her cheek.
Tiffany pulled her closer. “What did he say? You know you can’t believe anything he says…”
It was only then that Brianna held out something she’d had in her hand. Tiff reached for it and her world fell apart. She scrambled to make sense of it, to come up with a way out of the mess that was Jake Davenport — but the picture was damning.
“This proves nothing. It could have been taken years ago,” she offered up hopefully.
“He has over a dozen others, Tiff. I’m the stupidest person ever. You warned me. You can tell me I told you so now.”
“Dammit, Bri, I’d never do that. This doesn’t change anything. You can’t go with him.”
“He’s gonna send them to Markus, Tiff. If I don’t go with him and see what he wants, I’m going to lose Markus.”
“You already know what he wants, and you could lose Markus anyway. Hell, you could lose your life. Do I need to remind you about—”
“Stop! I don’t need a reminder. It’s not like I could ever forget.”
“Then how can you even consider going anywhere with him?”
Bri took a deep breath before answering. “Because I love you and your brothers. And I love Markus. This is the only way to keep from hurting all of you.”
“Bullshit. We need to call 911.”
“Oh yeah, and say what? What has he done that the cops will care about?”
“Are you kidding me? He’s—”
“I have no proof, Tiff. Nothing,” Bri said, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. “The time to call 911 came and went four years ago.”
“Fine. Then let’s call Markus. He’ll protect you.”
Brianna hesitated. For a moment Tiffany thought she might have gotten through to her, but with a sigh, Bri said, “I refuse to drive anywhere with him. I’ll have my own car. I’ll keep him in public. I have my phone with me, and I’ll be back as soon as I can. He said he’ll give me the photos on a hard drive if I go with him. I have to do this, for both of us, okay?”
“You know damn well he has copies. Going with him is only going to give him the chance to get more dirt on you.”