Fever by Maya Banks Page B

staring at him. “And you don’t think those are very good reasons to help her now?”
    “If you were only helping her, no,” Ash said. “But you and I both know you aren’t just helping her.
    You’re fucking obsessed with her, Jace. I’ve never seen you like this. You need to snap the fuck out
    of it. We fucked her, yeah. We’ve fucked a lot of women. Not sure why this one stands out from the
    rest.”
    Jace surged upward, ready to take Ash’s head off when his cell phone rang. He yanked it up,
    checking the incoming number, but it wasn’t familiar and wasn’t tagged in his contacts. Normally he’d
    ignore it, but he hadn’t ignored a single call since he’d been searching for Bethany.
    “Jace Crestwell,” he said shortly, still glaring at Ash.
    “Mr. Crestwell, this is Kate Stover from St. Anthony’s Women’s Shelter.”
    Jace’s pulse accelerated and he dropped into his chair, shutting Ash out. “Yes, Ms. Stover, how
    are you?”
    “She’s here,” Kate said bluntly. “She just came in. She’s . . . hurt.”
    His stomach bottomed out and fear was thick in his throat. “What? What happened?”
    “I don’t know. As I said, she only just arrived. I have her sitting down and I’m making her a cup of
    hot chocolate now. She doesn’t look good, Mr. Crestwell. She’s clearly frightened and exhausted and,
    as I said, she’s injured.”
    “Sit on her if you have to,” Jace growled. “I don’t care what you have to do. Do not let her leave
    before I get there.”
    He shoved the phone into his pocket and surged out of his chair. As he passed Ash, his friend’s
    hand shot out to grab Jace’s arm.
    “What the fuck, man? What’s going on?”
    Jace jerked his arm from Ash’s grasp. “I’m going to get Bethany. She’s hurt.”
    Ash swore and shook his head. “This is a bad idea.”
    Jace left his office and entered the hallway. He could hear Ash hurrying up behind him as he
    reached the elevator.
    “I’ll go with you,” Ash said in a grim voice.
    Jace stepped onto the elevator and when Ash would have followed, Jace put his arm out to block
    his friend. With his other hand, he punched the button for the bottom floor and then pushed Ash back.
    “Stay out of this, Ash,” Jace warned in a soft tone. “It doesn’t concern you.”
    Ash’s nostrils flared and his eyes blazed a moment. Jace knew it was a shitty thing to say, but then
    Ash had been pretty shitty himself.
    “Yeah, you’re right. You don’t concern me at all,” Ash said, heavy sarcasm laced in his voice.
    He pushed back from the elevator allowing it to close, his lips tight as Jace disappeared from
    view.
    chapter nine
    Jace ordered his driver to the shelter and told him to step on it. He couldn’t be certain that Bethany
    would stick around, and he wasn’t about to take any chances. Not when she’d already disappeared on
    him once.
    Kate had said Bethany was injured and his mind was filled with images, none that were good. They
    hadn’t gotten into specifics. Jace had been too impatient to get to her. How the hell had she gotten
    hurt?
    A woman alone on the streets . . . There were 1,001 ways for her to get hurt and every one of them
    made Jace’s gut clench.
    When his car pulled up in front of the shelter, he directed his driver to wait. Hopefully he wouldn’t
    be long, but he was prepared for anything.
    He strode toward the entrance, the wind biting through his coat. When he opened the door, his gaze
    immediately swept the room, searching out Bethany. Then, finally, he saw her. In the back. Off to one
    side, away from the others. She was sitting in a chair, pale and looking lost. Still, he drank in the sight
    of her, relieved beyond words that she was here. He could see that her pants were torn at the knees
    and on one side. He could also see the bloodstains on her clothing and the raw scrapes on her
    elbows. What the ever-loving hell?
    Before he could start over, Kate stepped in front of him, her face creased with