Mysterious: Liam and Mia Duet Book 2 (NeXt 6) Read online

  MYSTERIOUS

  K.M. SCOTT

  CONTENTS

  Mysterious blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  About the Author

  Books by K.M. Scott:

  Books by K.M. Scott writing as Gabrielle Bisset:

  MYSTERIOUS

  From New York Times bestselling author K.M. Scott comes a sexy opposites attract romance about two people who couldn’t be more different yet couldn’t be more right for one another.

  Liam and Mia can’t help but be explosive when they get together, but no matter what happens, he never forgets his job is to keep her safe. Every day, that gets harder and harder, but now that Liam loves Mia, nothing will get in his way of being the protector she needs.

  Unfortunately, there are those behind the scenes who have different plans for the new couple, friends and enemies with their own agendas.

  They’re about to find out that once a man like Liam Jackson falls for a woman, he’ll move heaven and earth to keep her safe.

  No matter what he has to do.

  Mysterious is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  2022 Copper Key Media LLC

  Copyright © 2022 Copper Key Media LLC

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  Published in the United States

  ISBN: 978-1-955335-07-2

  CHAPTER ONE

  Liam

  Slowly, I open my eyes and see nothing but white. Definitely not my bedroom. I try to place where I might be, but nothing makes sense. What is that sound? It’s a constant beeping, but I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.

  My phone? No. Maybe my alarm? No, I’d never choose to wake up to that noise.

  I look left and right, but I see no one in this room with me. Did I change my bedroom to all white? No, that doesn’t sound like anything I’d do. I hate all white rooms. They feel so sterile, so much like hospital rooms.

  Then I remember I would be in my room at Mia’s house. No, that doesn’t make sense either because that room isn’t all white. What color is that room? Tan? Beige?

  Whatever color it is, I’m not there.

  The memory of Mia running into traffic flashes through my brain, and panic rushes through me. Did she get hit by a car? Is she okay?

  I sit up to get out of bed, and instantly, pain stabs down my entire right side. Fuck! What the hell is that? Turning to look at my arm, I see it wrapped in bandages and wires all around me.

  Awake after feeling like someone sunk a knife into my skin, I finally understand where I am. That explains the wires and the beeping.

  But why am I in a hospital?

  “Please remain still, Mr. Jackson. You’ve suffered a gunshot wound to your arm, so we need you to keep still so you don’t tear any of the stitches. The doctor will be in momentarily,” a woman’s voice says, and I turn my head to see a tall nurse with the palest skin I’ve ever encountered smiling down at me.

  “Where is Mia?” I ask, desperate to know she didn’t get shot too.

  Jesus, if the bastard who got me got her too, I’ll never forgive myself.

  “Mia?” the nurse asks like she’s doesn’t understand the question.

  Nodding, I answer, “Yeah. Singer. Superstar. She should have been with me when I was brought here.”

  God, I hope she was. The memory of her running away floods my mind, and all I can think of is Mia off on her own up to who knows what. Or worse, hurt by the son of a bitch who shot me and pulled over on some road bleeding to death.

  The nurse’s eyes open wide, and she smiles. “Oh, the young woman who rode in with you on the ambulance. Yes, she’s here. She’s been here the whole time. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to hear that you’re finally awake.”

  “So she’s okay?” I ask, suddenly fearful she needed to be in the ambulance like I did.

  The nurse nods as I notice her nametag that reads Theresa. “She’s okay, even if she is a little impatient. I’m going to assume she was just frightened that you might not make it.”

  I notice a hint of unhappiness filling the woman’s voice as she says that first sentence. Knowing Mia, she had some kind of temper tantrum when she couldn’t force them to make me better on her schedule instead of theirs.

  “If I’m not mistaken, you have an entire waiting room full of people very eager to see you. As soon as the doctor comes in and takes a look at you, we can bring some of them in.”

  My mind fills with the image of my family out there scared to death I might not make it. Not my father, of course, since he’s always of the belief that we Jacksons are indestructible, but I know my mother and she’s let herself worry that the last time we talked at my grandmother’s house that day when she convinced me to take the job with Mia was, in fact, the very last time she’d ever hear my voice.

  Abbi Jackson is nothing if not an overreacting mother when it comes to me.

  “Okay, thanks. I’m sure they’re just frightened. It’s not every day that you hear someone you know got shot,” I say, preemptively hoping to excuse whatever madness my family has brought to the hospital while I’ve been in here.

  Just as those words leave my lips, I hear Mia arguing with someone right outside in the hallway. “I don’t care what the rules are. I need to see him. He’s the person in charge of my security. Where he goes, I go, and vice versa, so please move so I can get in there to see him.”

  I glance up at the nurse as she turns to leave the room. “I’m sure she’s just scared. If you send her in, I can calm her down and probably make things better for all involved,” I say sheepishly.

  For a moment, Theresa doesn’t seem too inclined to give in and break whatever rule there is that says I can’t have visitors before the doctor sees me, but as Mia continues to berate someone out in the hallway, actually threatening the poor soul if they don’t let her in, the nurse with the pale skin gives in.

  “Just as long as she doesn’t upset you.”

  With a smile, I shake my head. “She’s just someone you have to get used to. Once you know who she really is, Mia’s a lot easier to deal with. I promise she won’t upset me.”

  As the nurse leaves, I think I hear her grumble under her breath something about Mia upsetting everyone else on the entire floor for the past two hours. That sounds like her.

  A few seconds later, the woman herself rushes into the room and stops dead at the foot of my bed. Staring at me with horror in her eyes, she shakes her head before starting to cry.

  “They wouldn’t let me in until right now. What kind of place is this? A person gets shot protecting someone, and then they don’t let the person you were protecting in to see you? I didn’t know if you were dead or what might have happened, Liam. These people are monsters! I hate th
em for letting me think all those horrible things all alone out there.”

  “I don’t think they meant to scare you. They had to focus on making sure the bullet didn’t do any huge damage. At least that’s what I assume all these wires and machines are about.”

  The horror in her eyes transfers to the rest of her expression when she looks up and sees what’s commonplace in a hospital room all around me. “Oh, my God! Did you have to be on life support? What are all these machines doing here? Oh, Liam, it’s bad, isn’t it? You got shot because of me, and now you’re going to be laid up for God only knows how long.”

  I hold my good hand up to stop her before she completely unravels. Thank God I have experience with a mother who overreacts or dealing with Mia right now might be too much to handle.

  “It’s going to be fine. It’s not like I’m actually on anything to help me breathe or anything like that. These machines are standard in most hospitals. It doesn’t mean I’m dying or anything.”

  Mia stares at the wall behind me for a long moment before returning her attention to me. “You’re really going to be okay? You’re not just lying to me to shut me up?”

  With a smile, I shake my head. “Well…”

  Hurt replaces fear in her expression, so I quickly add, “I’m not lying, but you have to be nicer to everyone here, Mia. They’re just doing their jobs. They have rules about visitors, especially when someone’s not conscious yet. That’s why they didn’t let you in to see me before. Take it easy on them. They’re fixing me up, so I’ll be fine. Don’t you worry.”

  “Do you promise?”

  For the first time since she barged into my hospital room, I see real sadness in her eyes. I don’t want her to feel that way, so I quickly smile as broadly as I can and hope she sees I’m going to be okay.

  “I promise. You aren’t going to get rid of me that easily.”

  And in a flash, whatever happiness she felt when I said I promise disappears. Tears well in her eyes, and then she covers her face with her hands and sobs, “This is all my fault. You would have never been there to get shot if it wasn’t for me trying to leave the estate without any bodyguards. I’m so sorry, Liam. I wasn’t trying to get rid of you. That’s not what I wanted at all.”

  “It’s okay, Mia. This isn’t your fault, so don’t think that way. Whatever happened, I’m going to be fine.”

  Just as I hope I’m convincing her, the doctor comes in and looks at Mia still crying at the foot of my bed. “He’s going to be fine, miss.”

  Mia drops her hands and sniffles as she stares up at him with genuine hope in her eyes. “He is? Really?”

  “Really,” the man says as I try to figure out if he’s old looking with dyed dark brown hair or just someone who’s spent too much time out in the sun and has the deep wrinkles in his face to prove it.

  “Okay,” she says, wiping tears from her cheeks. “Because he’s very important to me. I need him to be one hundred percent or I can’t do what I need to do, which will mean a lot of people will be unhappy.”

  He seems confused by her explanation for a few seconds, but then a look of appreciation comes over him and he nods like he finally understands what she’s talking about. “You’re Mia, the singer! My wife loves your music. We played one of your songs for our dance at our wedding reception.”

  The center of his attention, she beams her happiness at being recognized. “I’m so happy to hear that. So you see, I need Liam to be able to go out on tour, and if he can’t go, I can’t go, so I need him to go or thousands upon thousands of fans are going to be disappointed every night when I have to cancel my tour.”

  My doctor turns to look over at me, but I have nothing to add. Mia seems to believe she can’t go out on tour without me, so I’m just going to have to be well enough to do my job so she can do hers.

  “So Mr. Jackson, you seem very important to this young woman. I’ve taken a look at your injury and it wasn’t too bad. You bled a lot, which probably made it look worse than it was, but I was able to sew you up with no problem. The bullet exited out the back of your arm, so you have stitches on both sides, but that’s it.”

  I push myself up so I’m sitting instead of lying down and smile at the good news. “Great! See, Mia? No problem.”

  “But I do want your right arm in a sling so you have the least amount of movement possible for at least three weeks. Other than that, you can resume whatever your duties are.”

  Quickly, Mia explains, “Liam is my bodyguard. He’s essential to my being able to perform, so just hearing you say he’s going to be okay is the best news ever!”

  “Well, he’s going to be fine, so let the show go on.”

  The nurse who left just before the doctor showed up pokes her head into the room and asks, “Can Mr. Jackson see his family? They’re out here very worried about him.”

  No doubt my mother has pestered every person at the nurses’ station since the minute she walked into the building. It’s my broken wrist in third grade all over again.

  “If the patient is up for it, I’m fine with him having visitors. I’m going to get the process moving to get you released, but until then, you’ll be in a holding pattern for a little while, so enjoy the visit from your family.”

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Liam

  When he and the nurse leave, Mia rushes over to the right side of my bed. “Does this mean I get to meet the people in that picture you showed me?”

  “I think so. I’m guessing at the very least my mother and father are out there, although the nurse mentioned something about the waiting room being full of my family, so some of the cousins and aunts and uncles might have come too. My mother probably made my injury sound way more serious than it actually was.”

  Gently pressing her palm to my chest, Mia shakes her head. “It was very serious, Liam. You got shot. Somebody put a bullet into your body. I don’t care what that doctor said about it looking worse than it actually was. It was terrible. I thought you were going to die right there on the street. I don’t ever want to feel that way again.”

  For the first time since I met her all those weeks ago, she sounds like she was genuinely concerned about me. Now as I look at her, it’s hard to see the petulant client and the overwrought woman I chased into the street last night.

  I cover her hand with mine and sigh, knowing I shouldn’t be touching her like this, not even to show my kindness and gratitude for getting the ambulance to take care of me. Mia is the woman I protect. We’re not supposed to be anything more.

  The problem is it’s clear to me that we both know we are something more than merely client and bodyguard.

  With a gentle smile, she says, “I’m just so happy you’re going to be okay.”

  Before I can respond, my mother, father, and Wilder come walking into the room, and I immediately see my mother’s a mess. Her eyes are red like she’s been crying, and her cheeks are all flushed.

  “Liam! Honey, the nurse just told us you’re going to be okay. I was so worried. When we got the call that you’d been shot, I felt like I was going to pass out right there in the kitchen,” my mother says breathlessly.

  She never disappoints when it comes to being emotional about her children.

  “I’m fine, Mom. Honestly.”

  Hoping to direct the attention away from my injury, I smile and say, “Everyone, this is Mia. The woman I work for.”

  The way the words come out sound odd, like I’m trying to hide something, but none of them were a lie. I do work to protect her. That I don’t want to share with anyone, including Mia, how I feel about her isn’t a lie.

  Well, maybe a sin of omission.

  My family members all look over at Mia in unison as if they rehearsed the move, and I see my father raise a single eyebrow before looking back at me. I know what he’s thinking. It’s written all over his face.

  What’s written all over my mother’s face is utter adoration. “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you!” she g
ushes. “I’ve seen your picture a million times, but you’re so much more beautiful in person.”

  “The same with me, Mrs. Jackson. When Liam showed me the picture of you and your husband, I thought you were so pretty, but in person, you’re just stunning. I guess that teaches us not to believe what the media shows us,” Mia says sweetly, instantly charming my mother with her compliment.

  Patting under her eyes, she says, “Oh, thank you. That’s so nice of you. I was worried I looked terrible after crying so much. I was so scared when we found out Liam had been shot.”

  As they enjoy their mutual admiration society, my father asks, “So do you know who shot you?”

  Typical Kane Jackson. He noticed how beautiful Mia was and where her hand was on my chest, and then he immediately moved to wanting to know the details of the crime.

  I shake my head, wishing I did know who the son of a bitch was who thought it was okay to take a shot at me. Assuming it was me he was aiming at, of course. I can’t be sure of that yet, but I’ll find out who did this to me. That’s a given.

  “No idea. We were downtown and there was some traffic, so I didn’t notice anyone odd and certainly no one aiming a gun at me.”

  My father frowns and lets out a heavy sigh. “I hope the police find this person quickly.”

  Interrupting all this seriousness, Wilder walks around the side of my bed and sits down in the chair to my left. “So does this mean you’ll be coming back to your place sooner than you expected?”