Don’t Play With Odin by Cynthia Eden

Chapter Fourteen

Maisey’s breath choked out. Another box hit the floor. Another shelf. She heard a terrible groan, like metal screeching, and then the pounding of more boxes. The shattering of glass. The sounds seemed to echo around her. Over and over. And then—

Thuds.

Not her heart. Not boxes falling. But…like feet. Running away?

“Baby…” Odin’s voice. His breath blew lightly over her cheek. “Are you okay?”

No, she was not okay. The shelves had come falling down, and he’d thrown himself on top of her. He’d covered her with his body, and not a single thing had hit her because everything had fallen on him. “Forget me—”

“Fucking never.”

“How are you?”

With a heave, he rose up, and she realized that he’d just dislodged a ton of random crap that had fallen onto him. Books, equipment, half a heavy shelf. “Fine,” Odin snapped.

Fine? He didn’t sound fine. He sounded pissed.

She scrambled to her feet.

“When I catch that bastard, he will pay.” Odin curled his fingers with hers. “Come on.” Then he was kicking his way down the aisle. Shoving whatever the heck was there out of his path as he gave chase.

He’d obviously heard the fleeing footsteps, too. He knew that their prey had been in that storage room with them. The jerk had waited and then shoved those shelves onto them.

Now their attacker was running, but he was still close. We can get him.

Odin threw open the storage room door. Then almost ran straight into Clay. A Clay who had just spun toward them.

“Maisey?” Surprise sharpened Clay’s voice. “What’s going on? What’s—ah!”

Odin grabbed him. Slammed Clay back against the nearby wall. “No more,” Odin snarled.

Maisey glanced down the hallway. Didn’t see anyone else. Wasn’t Jinx supposed to be keeping an eye on Clay? Hadn’t that been his one big assignment?

“Were you in that storage room?” Odin demanded of Clay.

“What? No, no, I was going in there. Had to return some books. But I haven’t been in there yet.” His voice was strained. “Maisey? What is wrong with your friend?”

Maisey saw books scattered on the floor. She realized Clay had dropped them when Odin grabbed him. Old psychology texts.

“Maisey!” Clay was insistent. “Call off the guard dog! Tell him to get his hands off me!”

She eased closer. “Someone just attacked us in the storage room. Shoved shelves down on top of us.” She could see scratches on Odin’s powerful arms.

“It wasn’t me!” An instant denial. “Look, I don’t know what you think is happening here, but I just arrived! I was bringing back some books!”

“I will fucking end you.” Odin’s voice was low and lethal. “Do you think I will put up with this shit? Do you think I am going to let you hurt her? Do you think I will let you touch her?”

The stairwell door burst open. Sandy stumbled out, with Heather hot on his heels.

“Get him off me!” Clay shouted. “He’s crazy!”

“I will show you crazy,” Odin promised grimly. “You hurt Maisey. You hurt my Maisey, and I will show you how crazy I can be. I will rip you apart. There won’t be anything left of you when I’m done. You think you’re so good at making people disappear? I will make you vanish.”

Clay stilled. Then…went wild. He heaved and twisted and punched at Odin. “You don’t scare me! You don’t scare—”

“Just wait, I will.” Odin held Clay with ease. The same ease he’d held Maisey with back at the condo.

But Sandy was fumbling and grabbing for his taser. “You two—break it up!”

Odin leaned in even closer to Clay. “Different when you’re not going up against them, isn’t it? When you don’t have a woman who is smaller and weaker than you are, it’s harder.”

Clay’s face went absolutely white.

Sandy’s fingers were shaking as he lifted the taser. He cast a desperate glance at Maisey.

“Why are they fighting?” A loud shriek from Heather.

Because we think Clay is a killer. And I’m pretty sure Odin is trying to scare a confession from him.

But, again, dammit, where was Jinx?

The shaking in Sandy’s fingers was getting worse. She was afraid he was going to accidentally tase Odin. Carefully, she edged her body between Sandy’s taser and Odin.

“I haven’t hurt anyone!” Clay yelled. The veins in his neck bulged. “If you’re talking about that bullshit story that used to circulate about me and my old girlfriend, you’ve got it all wrong. She left me. I didn’t hurt her! I would never hurt anyone!”

“Then you didn’t just shove those shelves onto me and Maisey?” Odin charged.

“No! But I wish I had shoved something on you—you are insane!”

“Push me more,” Odin dared. “Like I said, you’re not the only one who can make people disappear. You got away with it before, but it ends. You’re ending.”

Clay looked as if he might faint. “He’s threatening to kill me! Get the cops. Help. Help me!”

Maisey grabbed Odin’s arm when he drew back his fist to punch Clay. “Stop.”

His head turned toward her. She’d thought that he’d been deliberately pushing Clay, toying with him, but…

His eyes told her that she’d been wrong.

Odin’s eyes burned with a fury she hadn’t seen before. One that had her breath catching. One that almost made her think she was staring into the eyes of a stranger. “Odin?”

He blinked. Slowly lowered his hand. Let Clay go.

“He’s insane, Maisey,” Clay snapped. “Your boyfriend is out of his head. You need to be smart and get the hell away from him before he hurts you or someone else!”

“Shut up, Clay,” she ordered. Her fingers still pressed to Odin’s arm. His muscles were rock hard beneath her touch. This situation was going from bad to worse, and she wondered what could possibly happen next…

An alarm began to sound. A high, shrieking alarm.

Sandy backed up a step. “That’s the fire alarm.” His eyes widened as he glanced around feverishly. “Everyone, out, now!”

***

Chaos.

Odin was dead certain the chaos was deliberate. Students and faculty flooded out of the Humanities building in a thick crowd. There was no way to keep track of anyone. Anybody could have been in that throng that burst outside.

It was the perfect cover for a killer. The perfect way for him to escape.

“I had eyes on Clay until he went downstairs.” Jinx stood near Odin. “I knew you were down there, so I figured I should just hang back. That you had things covered.”

Odin turned his head to stare at him.

Jinx winced. “You’re looking a little crazy-eyed, my friend.”

“Maisey tried to shove me out of the way.”

“Okay.”

“She noticed that the shelves were falling before I did.” He was speaking between clenched teeth. “Then she tried to shove me.”

“The nerve,” Jinx muttered. “How dare she?”

Did it look as if he was laughing? “It’s not a damn joke.” Odin knew he had bruises all over his back from the stuff that had come raining down on him. He didn’t want to think about what that heavy crash would have done to her delicate body. “The shelves were massive, nearly touching the ceiling. They were stuffed with boxes, equipment, you name it. That stuff could have knocked her out.” Or, if something had slammed into her head…No, do not. Do not go there. But he was seeing red. Blood red. As in…I want Clay’s blood. I want to make that bastard pay. “She shouldn’t be trying to protect me. That’s not happening.”

“Maybe you should tell her that.”

He intended to. Loudly. Clearly.

“By the way, if we were trying to keep a low profile with Clay, I think that ship has sailed. He’s currently glaring at you, and I heard that blonde over there…” He motioned to the woman that Odin now knew was Heather Blass. “She was saying that you’d accused him of making people disappear. Is that true? You just threw that charge at him?”

“I was baiting him.”

“Is that what you were doing?” Jinx didn’t sound convinced. “And did he take the bait? Did he break down and confess his crimes?”

“No.” But there had been something in Clay’s eyes. A flicker, a break that showed emotion. Fear.

“You probably don’t want to hear this, but I think we have another problem.”

No, he didn’t want to hear about another problem. He had enough going on at the moment.

“If you look due south, you’ll find a friendly face.”

Odin took his time and casually glanced due south. Dammit. “How long has he been there?” Ramsey was casually leaning against one of the massive trees near the Humanities building. Like everyone else, he acted as if he was just watching the scene. A curious bystander.

Firefighters had rushed inside.

Odin hadn’t caught even a whiff of smoke.

“Noticed him right after everyone else came scrambling out. Interesting, isn’t it? That he’s here at exactly the same time someone attacked you?”

Not interesting. Infuriating. Suspicious.

Ramsey lifted his hand.

“Did that guy just wave to you?” Jinx demanded.

“No, I think he flipped me off. Better get your vision checked.” Ramsey had turned away and was casually walking from the scene. “Maisey is talking to the security guard and the cops. Make sure your vision is clear enough that you see her every second until I get back, got me? Do not let her out of your sight.”

“On it.”

Odin grunted and gave chase. There was no way he was letting Ramsey leave that scene without having a talk with the bastard. In moments, he and Ramsey had left the crowd behind. Ramsey was heading for a dark SUV.

He opened the door. Started to slide inside—

“Don’t make me drag you back out,” Odin warned.

Ramsey’s shoulders stiffened. He turned. Slowly. “You truly think you could?”

“With minimal effort.” Fury infused his veins. “You don’t want to test me right now.”

“Why? Because your Maisey almost got hurt today? Feeling a little bit tense, are you?” Ramsey closed in on him. “Then imagine how I feel. My Whitney wasn’t just hurt. She was taken. Killed. That means I feel a million times angrier than you do. So I will tell you…you don’t want to come at me.”

As if Odin would ever back down. “Maisey thinks you should know about a phone call she received last night. I think you might have made the phone call, so I wasn’t exactly rushing to contact you but then I looked, and surprise coincidence, here you are.”

Ramsey frowned. “I didn’t call Maisey.”

“No?”

“No.”

Odin measured him.

“I don’t have time for this.” Tension blasted in Ramsey’s words. “What the hell was the phone call about? Did you get a lead?”

“Whitney.”

Ramsey’s jaw tightened. “Do you know how annoying it is when someone gives you a one-word answer? Nothing pisses me off more.”

“The caller was Whitney.” He dropped this bombshell and waited.

All of the color drained from Ramsey’s face. He staggered. Caught himself. “Don’t lie.”

That reaction was real. Hell, Ramsey hadn’t been the caller. “The voice on the line was Whitney’s. Maisey confirmed it.”

The pain that flashed in Ramsey’s eyes was so intense. There was no denying the obvious. He really does care about her.

“What did she say?” Ramsey rasped.

“The caller asked Maisey for help.”

Ramsey grabbed him. Fisted his fingers in Odin’s t-shirt. “Then we help her! We do anything necessary to get Whitney back!”

“The call was probably fake. You take a breath for a second, and you’ll remember how easy it is to fake someone’s voice with those cheap apps that float around.”

Ramsey’s grip tightened. “You don’t know it was fake.”

“And you don’t know it was real.” He looked down. “You’re wrinkling one of my favorite shirts.”

Swearing, Ramsey let him go. “If you think it was fake, what was the point in even telling me?”

“To see your reaction.”

Ramsey stalked back to his vehicle. Jumped in. Before he could swing the driver’s side door shut, Odin caught it. “Why were you here today?”

Ramsey turned his head. “You’re wasting your time with me. Cross my name off your list. I didn’t hurt Whitney, and I haven’t done anything to Maisey.”

Odin just waited. Ramsey hadn’t answered his question.

“You should be afraid of me,” Ramsey suddenly said. “Smart people are afraid. Dumbasses, too. You don’t want me for an enemy.”

“Well, I don’t want you for a buddy, either, so…”

“You’re fucking insane.”

Odin considered the situation. “You are the second person to tell me that today. Funny thing is, I feel completely sane. It’s the rest of the world that’s crazy.” He paused. “Why were you here?”

“She said she thought someone was following her,” Ramsey muttered. “I didn’t mention it last night, but Whitney—she said that she thought someone was following her one night when she left campus.” A muscle flexed along his jaw. “I wanted to put a guard on her right then and there, but she laughed. Told me that I was being too protective. That she probably had just imagined it, but that she’d be sure and exercise more care in the future.” His jaw hardened. “Said she’d get the security guard to walk her out if she stayed late again.” His fingers curled around the steering wheel. “I let it go. Some creep was following her, and I let it go. If I’d just put one of my men on her, she’d be safe right now.”

“She told you that she’d go to the security guard?” As far as he knew, Sandy hadn’t mentioned anything about Whitney needing protection.

“Yeah. That’s why I was here today. Wanted to have an up close and personal chat with the guy. Turns out he’s pushing ninety and couldn’t protect a damn fly. Whitney never told me that.” His knuckles whitened.

“You mean you came to threaten his ass then realized that if you used your usual tactics, you’d probably kill Sandy in minutes.”

Ramsey didn’t respond.

“Who’s next on your hit list?” Odin asked.

Ramsey angled his head so that he was looking at Odin. His smile was ice-cold. “Thanks to you—and a helpful blonde who talks very loudly—I now know the identity of your other chief suspect. I think I’ll see how long he can hold out against my, ah, ‘usual tactics,’ I believe you called them.”

Shit. The situation had just gone from bad to clusterfuck.

“Let go of the door,” Ramsey directed.

He didn’t. “Leave him alone. I’ll deal with Clay.”

“After I’m done with him, have a freaking field day.” He started the car. “Let go, or you’ll get dragged along. Your choice.”

The sonofabitch—

“Odin!” Maisey’s voice.

He let go. Ramsey shot away with a squeal of his tires even as Odin spun to find Maisey running toward him.

Jinx was trailing a few feet behind her. “Got eyes on her!” he called in his cheerful voice. “Perfect vision.”

She hurried to Odin. Her breath rushed in and out. “You were interrogating him without me!”

Guilty. He tossed a glare back at Jinx. “Couldn’t you keep her away for a little longer?”

“Didn’t realize that was part of my job. Thought I was just supposed to have my eyes on her. You need to make sure you’re clear when you give orders.”

Maisey’s hands flew to her hips. “Keep me away? Odin, why do you have such trouble understanding this is a partnership?”

He surged toward her. Loomed over her. “Ramsey is dangerous. Whether he’s tied to what’s happening or not, I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

“I can handle some danger. Haven’t I proven that?”

Why didn’t she understand this? “I don’t want you around danger.” You’re too important. And too vulnerable.

“Yes, well, I don’t want you running off and leaving me in the dark.”

“I’m the damn PI! I’m supposed to investigate.”

“And I’m the one who just realized why Whitney’s files were ransacked in the storage room.” Her lips tugged down. “It wasn’t her.”

He slanted a hard glance at Jinx.

But Jinx shrugged. “I have no idea what she’s talking about. Maisey just came running up and said she had to talk to you, ASAP. I pointed in the general direction you’d taken, and the game was afoot.”

Seriously?

One of Maisey’s hands flew up and pressed to Odin’s chest. “The caller last night wasn’t Whitney.” Sadness whispered in her voice. “You were right about that.”

“How do you know?”

“Because there were a few old tapes in those boxes of hers. Interviews that she’d conducted a long time ago. I remembered them when we were running out and the fire alarm was shrieking.” Her hand was right over his heart. “I told Sandy about them. He went back in as soon as he had the all clear. He searched, but said the tapes are gone.”

Jinx positioned himself beside Odin. “It would be easy enough to take a recording of Whitney talking and splice pieces together in order to make that call to Maisey.”

Yes, it would be. Too easy.

“It wasn’t her,” Maisey said once more. “He’s jerking me around. Trying to manipulate me.”

“More than that, sweetheart.” Her touch seemed to burn through his shirt. “He’s trying to kill you.” He hadn’t just wanted to injure her with the “accident” in the storage room. Or with the attempted abduction. The bastard’s goal was clearly to take out Maisey.

And that shit was never gonna happen.