TENACITY

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

He slipped out of the bed and got on his feet, taking the bag sitting next to her feet. "If you think I'm going to sit back and watch you deal with it on your own, then you've got another thing coming."

He whipped out his clothes and pointed in the direction of the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower, which gives you a few minutes to gather your thoughts. When I get back, you will tell me, else I will draw it out of you."

*

She lay on the bed, eyes closed when he came back, freshly dressed in loose dark khaki pants with a black shirt, the sleeves folded up to his elbows and the first few buttons open—as usual.

She popped an eye open and smiled at how good he looked. Then she saw the murderous look on his face and her smile fell off. She'd hoped the shower would calm him but there he was, glaring down at her. 

She sat up slowly and looked right back at him. Then swallowed, looking away. "Are you going to tell me who else is threatening you or do I have to find that one too out myself?"

She flinched at his harsh tone. "You'll be mad."

He pulled her chin up to look her in the eye. "I'm already mad that you kept this from me. I was so sure we were going to be fine after this; after Ethan was gone out of our lives and you didn't bother telling me I was wrong.

"So, tell me. Who is threatening you? I don't want to have to resort to brute force to get my answers."

"There's two actually—"

"Two?! And you planned on keeping it to yourself?" His hand fell away from her chin as he stepped back away from her. He ran them through his hair. "Mention them."

"Please don't actively seek them out. They haven't made any advances and I'd like to keep it that way till we're done dealing with Ethan. Promise me," she pleaded.

"What do you mean by that?" he growled, lifting his head to look at her. "You want me to wait till they ruin things before I do anything? Of what use would that be?"

"Promise me," she insisted, looking at him with determined eyes. "And you can't tell anyone except Mitch and Billy."

"Even Melissa?" he queried.

"Yes. She doesn't know," she murmured, looking down at the bedding.

After a minute, Trey sighed and walked over to where she was seated on the bed, grabbing her shoulder. "Look at me," he requested. When she did, he cupped her cheek fondly. "I just want to know, and I promise, all I would for now do is keep an eye on them for your safety."

She returned her gaze to her lap. "It's your stepmother and ex girlfriend." Trey's breath caught. Nicolysse' involvement didn't surprise him, but he hadn't expected her to mention Valerie. "Are they working together? What do they want?"

"I don't know if they're working together—they approached separately," she responded. "Nicolysse wants you for herself and Valerie supports that."

Trey was fuming and his promise that he wouldn't act rashly stopped him from doing something stupid. He went back to her, grabbed the bag she'd brought and helped her down the bed. Then guided her out of the room, closing the door behind them.

"Where are you taking me?" she questioned once they were outside the room.

Mitchell stood too, helping Samantha up and asked the same question. "Yeah, where are you going?" He raised his brows at Trey. "Your doctor didn't give you the go ahead."

"I need to take care of something," he said simply, respecting her wishes to not have anyone told yet. He would tell Mitch when Sam wasn't around. He placed a hand on the small of her back and felt the shudder that went down her spine.

He gave her a smirk and watched as she blushed under his scrutiny.

Thing was, she wasn't the only one who had seen the smirk. The nurses going around had, and most were fawning over him and batting lashes at him, disrespectful of the fact that he had a woman on his arm.

When the four of them got into the elevator, Lexi leaned her tired body into him, grumbling into his chest. "What? I didn't hear a thing you said," he whispered softly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

She looked up, her chin on his chest as she held on to him as best as she could with her bump being in the way. "It's annoying how they always ignore the fact that you're with someone."

He smiled. "Ignore them. You're all I want." They were oblivious to Sam melting behind them because she thought their love beautiful.

He stepped outside in time to find Samuel pulling up at the entrance. "Good evening Samuel," he greeted out of respect though he knew it was far from good for him.

"Good evening sir," the older man replied, igniting the car. "I trust you're better now, or did you escape before your discharge again?"

Trey scowled at the fact that even his employees knew how much he hated hospitals, and Lexi made it worse when she confirmed it, saying, "You guessed right. He left without official discharge again. I'm not even going to say anything."

Samuel only chuckled while Lexi turned to look out of the window on her side. Trey closed the door to the backseat and whipped out his phone, ignoring the two that were ganging up on him to call Mitch—he answered immediately. "We're about to leave. Are you coming?"

"You can go ahead. We'll come with Melissa," he replied.

"I didn't know she came," Trey muttered, his brows knitted in confusion. Lexi had said nothing about that.

"I was told she wasn't home when Billy relayed the information so they left her a text. She just arrived," Mitch explained.

"Alright. I guess I'll meet you all at the house then."

"Sure. Be safe," he admonished.

"Yeah, you too." He hung up and pocketed the phone.

"What are we doing about what I told you?" she asked quietly. He'd been about to brush it off as his mind making things up when he saw her looking at him expectantly.

Then her question registered in his brain, and he sat up. "We? No, me. You're not getting more involved than you already are." 

When she opened her mouth to argue, he pressed his ring clad fingers to her lips. "I am going to take care of it while you go to bed as soon as we get home. End of discussion."