He looked over at her chair. Empty. Fuck.
He jumped up and looked around the room. She wasn’t hard to spot, trolling the room, looking around for her contact. Xander had an eye on her, but Pimphead Warbucks was a lover, not a fighter. Tyler doubted he would be able to save Del if she needed help.
Throwing his chair aside, he stormed after her, catching up to her mid-aisle. He grabbed her arm. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Looking for Esteban.” She wrenched free of his grip and crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to look his way.
Tyler gritted his teeth. “It’s not safe or smart for you to do that alone.”
“You were occupied.”
“I didn’t invite her to dance on my lap.”
Del rolled her eyes. “From what I saw, you weren’t trying terribly hard to make her leave.”
Tyler’s ire rose. “Xander pulled that shit on me.”
“I know.” She kept strolling, looking everywhere but at him.
“I paid her to go! Seriously?” He planted himself in front of her. “You’re going to be mad because a woman I didn’t want danced on my lap?”
Del stopped, pondered. “I think I have to. I didn’t pay much attention to the other women around Eric when we were married. I thought he loved me, and their attraction was one-sided. So I let it slide. But after a while, a healthy twentysomething man not having sex with his wife for months . . . I can’t prove that he cheated on me, but—”
“He did,” Tyler admitted.
Fidelity would always be a concern of hers if he didn’t come absolutely clean. Now wasn’t the best time, but Esteban was looking like a no-show, and putting this off only left Del with a festering wound. As soon as everything was out in the open, he could reassure her that he wasn’t the same guy he used to be—and he definitely wasn’t Eric.
She sucked in a stunned breath, looking pale, as if the truth had flattened her. But she didn’t deserve more lies. In for a penny, in for a pound . . .
“I was seeing this one girl in particular. We didn’t have anything special, just a good time. But then I realized that Eric was . . . with her, too.”
“Destiny.” Del’s face closed off.
He hated like hell to hurt her. “Yeah. She wasn’t the only one.”
“Damn it!” she exploded. “I knew it. Deep down, I knew it and didn’t confront him.”
Some of the patrons turned her way. Attracting attention wasn’t a good idea, and he had a feeling that Del was too overwrought to hold all her fury in. When he tried to take her hand to lead her outside, she wrenched it away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Tyler scowled. “I’m not Eric, Del. I didn’t lie. I didn’t cheat on you. I never would.”
“You fucked every girl who moved, even after having sex with me. And you, one of my best friends, didn’t tell me that my husband was being unfaithful. Why? Because it didn’t occur to you that it was an issue? I’m leaving.”
She stalked off, forcing Tyler to follow. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Xander frowning, then beating feet to the door. He could accuse the bastard of a lot of things. Thankfully, being stupid wasn’t one of them.
Xander pushed outside first. Del followed, shoving the big red portal out of her way, leaving it to fly in Tyler’s face. With a curse, he slammed it against the wall and jogged until he caught up with her. “Think about what you’re doing. You’re supposed to be meeting a contact who will give you information you need to make all this danger go away.”
She stomped her pretty Christian Louboutin pumps onto his toes, and he reared back, clutching his injured digits with one hand and glaring at her. “What the hell?”
“You think I don’t know that? Esteban is now thirty minutes late. I doubt he’s coming.” She pulled out her cell phone, punched a few buttons on her prepaid cell, and shoved it up to her ear.
“Del . . .”
She turned her back on him.
A long minute later, she stabbed a finger at the buttons again and pocketed the phone. “He’s not answering. Maybe he’s spooked. Or in the middle of a big deal. I don’t know. I’ll call him again tomorrow. All I know is that right now, I want to get in bed and sleep. Alone.”
“Goddamn it, Del!” He turned her to face him again, ready to have it out.
Xander whacked him between the shoulders. “As entertaining as this little lovers’ quarrel is, I think we’re being watched. I’ve got a bad feeling. If this contact didn’t show, maybe someone else will appear in his place—and it might be one of the bad guys.”
That possibility washed over Tyler in a cold surge. He’d been too fucking tied up in his own drama to keep his head clear. As soon as he realized his mistake, he heard a gunshot out of nowhere whiz right between him and Del and strike the building. Stucco kicked up, then crumbled onto the sidewalk. They all ran, and Tyler drew his weapon, hoping like hell that they all made it to the car alive.
***
DEL could literally feel her legs shaking out from under her as she sprinted around the side of the club toward Xander’s car. Tyler popped off a few shots back. The men flanked her, ready to pick her up or help her, but she was determined not to be a detriment in platforms, no matter how pretty. Hard not to be scared as hell as more bullets whizzed past, coming dangerously close.
Shooters started coming from the opposite direction on foot, too. Somewhere in the dark parking lot, there were dangerous men with guns, intent on killing her.
She, Tyler, and Xander were all creeping low, ducking bullets, dodging shooters in between cars. Del’s heart pounded; terror ate at her. She hoped like hell that she got back to Seth alive. Beside her, Tyler reached out and grabbed her hand, as if telling her to hang on. As if underscoring that he was there for her.
She should be blazingly pissed at him now for keeping Eric’s infidelity from her for all these years. But right now was about life or death.
Del squeezed his hand in return.
A few feet from the car, Xander deactivated the locks. The alarm chirped and the lights flashed. The shooters immediately darted closer; Del could hear their footsteps pounding against the pavement. It was going to be a footrace to the car to see who got there first—and if anyone died.
Tyler reached the car first, opening the back door as he shot at the gunmen, then all but threw Del inside. As Xander dove into the front seat and started the car with a button, Tyler scrambled in, covering her body with his own.