“I’m the one doing that. I’m the one fucking Piper. You hunting her lover? You want her lover to pay? It’s me. Me. Not Ben. He’s never been her lover, so you stay the fuck away from him, you stay—” Eric’s words ended in a snarl as he yanked the phone from his ear. “Bastard hung up!”

“Eric?”

He was already calling someone else. “Simon, you at the station? Hell, yes, I need you. I need you to get to my brother’s place, now. The perp just called. He’s got Ben. Get Layla and more cops and come in with guns freaking blazing because that is exactly what I’ll be doing.”

***

“Is it true?” The low hiss filled Ben’s ears as he fought to stay conscious. The piece of shit had attacked him from behind. He’d slammed something big and heavy into the back of Ben’s head, and when Ben had fallen, the guy had grabbed Ben’s head and rammed his face into the floor over and over.

Ben suspected his nose was broken. He didn’t much fucking care.

What he cared about was stopping the bastard behind him.

Ben had blacked out once. His head burned and bled, but he knew if he passed out again, it was over.

“Are you Piper’s lover?”

He’d known her stalker had attacked him. There was even something about the guy’s voice that was familiar to him. “N-no.” He was her best friend. Her family.

“Were you?” Something sharp pressed against his back. The guy had a knife.

Wait. So do I. But he’d lost his knife when he first hit the floor. His fingers scrambled out, scraping across the wooden floor as he searched for his weapon. “No…”

The knife sliced into him, a white-hot pain that had him gasping.

“One.”

One? One what?

“Is your brother her lover?”

Ben shook his head and his fingers touched—

The handle of my steak knife.

“Your brother said he was her lover.” The attacker’s blade bit into him again. This time, it sliced into his side. “Two.”

Ben clenched his teeth.

“Why would he lie? Why would he—”

Ben used his last bit of strength to roll toward his attacker. He felt pain blaze across his side, but he ignored it. “He’d lie to fuck with you! To protect me!” Ben tried to yell those words even as he shoved up with his knife, aiming for the guy’s chest.

The bastard had on a ski mask. A bulky black shirt and some kind of thick vest. Black pants. What did he think? He was some freaking ninja?

The guy let out a scream when Ben’s knife flew at his chest, and the attacker jumped back.

Guess you don’t like being the one who gets stabbed.