by Lexi Blake
“Enough to let me in on the secret? I’m not stupid. Something’s happening here that you’re not telling the rest of us.” He could feel it. It was there in the way Ian’s face went blank at certain moments, in how he and McKay whispered and shut up when anyone else walked in the room. It was something to do with this operation and why it was so important.
“Like I said. I’m grateful.” Big Tag nodded and walked out.
And that was all he was going to get.
Rush and the rest of the team filed out, leaving Kai behind with Eve.
“I’m here if you want to talk, you know,” she said as she gathered her things.
“I might take you up on that. Rush might be right and I’m too close to this to see it properly,” Kai admitted. “I’m having a very difficult time believing my brother has anything to do with this. What I want to do is sit his ass down and ask him what the hell he’s thinking traveling around the damn world with a serial killer. Women are falling down dead all around him and he’s probably been too involved in some Xbox game to notice. That I can believe.”
Eve straightened her suit. “Maybe that’s what you do then. Look, no one knows your brother the way you do. In serials there are almost always signs from youth. I find it difficult to believe that you wouldn’t have seen them. And kindness to strays—both animal and human—isn’t usually a part of the serial killer makeup. Your brother’s in trouble, Kai. It might be time to look at that relationship because if you don’t do everything you can to help him, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
This was what had kept him from finding any peace at all this afternoon. “It’s easy for me to see that in an intellectual fashion, but I can’t look at this academically.”
“Which is why my door is open if you need to talk.”
What he needed was a long night at Sanctum focused on a submissive. He could practically feel the pressure building.
What he was going to get was his brother in his face all night. He was going to be grumpy for freaking weeks.
He stepped out into the surprisingly quiet office. Grace wasn’t at her desk. Normally someone was milling about even this late in the evening, but tonight the halls of McKay-Taggart seemed quiet.
He stepped toward the lobby doors when he heard Big Tag’s voice. He was quiet, but Kai could hear him. From where the voice was coming from, it appeared that Ian was in the hallway that led back to the daycare. His girls would still be here, likely the last kids left along with Eve and Alex’s son.
“I don’t care what you have to do, Rush. I did not put my club and my people at risk on a whim.” Ian’s voice came out in a harsh grind. “My intel is solid, but I need your people.”
Yes, this was the point when he should stride right out the door because he was a good man and good men didn’t eavesdrop.
They could slow down though. Make sure they had everything. Had he left his cell phone in the conference room? He patted his pockets.
“I get that, Mr. Taggart. We’re doing everything we possibly can, but you could be wrong about this,” Rush replied.
No. He had his cell. He started to make his way toward the door.
“I’m not wrong. Find my brother.”
Kai stopped, his hand on the door as he saw Ian stride down the hallway toward the daycare. Rush disappeared into one of the empty offices, likely the one he’d been given while he was working in Dallas.
Find my brother.
Kai walked to the elevator, his mind on Ian’s words. Kai knew where his brother was, knew he was in trouble.
Find my brother.
The elevator doors opened and he walked inside. Eve was right. He had to at least try to figure out how deep Jared was involved in this mess. He pressed the button that would take him to the lobby.
It was only then that he realized what Ian hadn’t said. He hadn’t mentioned a body. He hadn’t asked the special agent to help him in recovering his brother’s body. The last time he’d talked to Ian about it, Ian had been certain Theo’s body had been dumped in the Caribbean.
Find my brother.
That wasn’t some verbal error on Ian’s part. If he’d meant body, he would have said body. He hadn’t and that meant something. It was what had been bothering Kai about this operation all along. Ian was private by nature, cautious by design when it came to his life, his friends and family. Big Tag wouldn’t put his family at risk in order to find a body. He wouldn’t open his club to a killer in some attempt to find closure.
There was only one reason Big Tag would risk everything. Kai thought about going upstairs and demanding answers, forcing his way into the inner circle.
Instead he walked to his car. If Ian wasn’t saying anything he had his reasons and Kai needed to honor them. That man had done more for the people around him than they would ever know. Ian didn’t need him to storm in. What he needed was for Kai to deal with his brother so Ian could find his own.
Theo was alive and that meant Kai couldn’t fail.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Oh. My. God. Is it true? Do you think it’s actually true?” Sarah was practically vibrating as she stood in front of Kori’s locker, folding the scrubs she’d been wearing. She’d worked the day shift at the hospital and driven straight from work. Normally they would have driven in together, but today Kori had been grateful for the privacy.
Kori had gone home after sitting at her desk for an hour. It had been nice to have the place to herself for a portion of the evening so she could sort through what had happened before coming here to Sanctum and throwing herself into the maelstrom again. She would likely have to watch Kai scene.
“What are you talking about?” She must have missed something because everyone was whispering and there was a definite vibe of excitement running through the room.
“The e-mail.” Sarah’s big eyes went wide. “Right before five, an e-mail from Big Tag came through about the fact that a movie is going to be shooting right here in Sanctum and Jared Johns is starring and he’s going to be here tonight. Jared—the hottest guy in the world—Johns is going to be here in Sanctum tonight. Do you think that’s real or is Big Tag fucking around with us?”
She wouldn’t put it past Big Tag, but she happened to know this information was true. So Jared hadn’t been talking about some dance club earlier in the day. Well, he was likely going to be surprised to see her here tonight. “I saw him earlier today. He was visiting Kai, who in a surprise twist turns out to be his brother.”
Not that they were close. There was some serious tension between those two. She’d thought about it all afternoon, their relationship running through her mind like a script she was trying to write. There was the quiet, stalwart brother. Intelligent and serious. He was the hero of the story, but constantly eclipsed by his younger, flashier brother. Yes, she could work with those two. As they fought whatever the story would throw at them, they would also fight each other, trying to sort through a myriad of issues that would lead to their eventual reconciliation.
Sarah stood there staring at her. “Are you freaking kidding me? You work with Jared Johns’s brother and it never crossed your mind to mention that tidbit to your bestie?”
She’d met Sarah at Sanctum and they’d become fast friends. When Sarah had needed a place to stay after her divorce, Kori had offered her a room in her cozy ranch house. Sarah was exactly what she needed in her life. Fun and energetic, she pulled Kori out into the world.
Kori gently closed her locker door. “I didn’t have any idea. I thought Kai was an only child. He’s mentioned his mother a couple of times, but never a brother, and it’s not like he’s got a bunch of pictures in his office. Even when I used to go in and water his plants at his old place, there weren’t any mementos or photographs. I was shocked when I walked into his office and there was Jared Johns standing there talking to him. As for the rest of it, I don’t know much except what I looked up on the Internet after finding out about Kai’s Hollywood connections. Apparently a major studio is
doubling down on the Fifty Shades trend and they’re filming Serena’s book Love After Death. Jared Johns is starring. He’s going to be training here for a few weeks and then there’s six weeks principal photography in and around Dallas. So you’ll be able to drool all over him for a while.”
She’d pulled up some of the more accurate entertainment sites and gotten the info on the production company while Kai sat in his office doing yoga or some shit. It was obvious to her that he’d been totally thrown off his game by the appearance of his brother and that meant either meditating—which seemed like complete BS to Kori—or he was doing the downward pug or something. It was all part of the super serene Kai method of dealing with stress.
Now it was time to get some stress relief of her own. If she could find a Dom to play with.
What would Kai be doing tonight? Who would Kai be doing tonight?
Damn that was starting to hurt.
Sarah leaned in. “Hey, are you all right? Does this film thing bring back bad memories or something?”
Sarah was the only one who knew what she’d done before coming to Dallas. Well, Big Tag likely knew because of Sully, but she was certain no one else did.
“It’s all right. I looked into the production company. It’s fairly new. I don’t know any of the power players and that’s a good thing.” She hadn’t mentioned that she’d met Jared a couple of times. It was so long ago and they hadn’t truly been friends, so she didn’t feel bad about it. She wasn’t sure why Jared even remembered her name. “My main issue is Kai getting his panties all up in a wad. He and his brother don’t get along.”
“What did Jared do?” Sarah had gotten to know Kai.
Kori hid a smile. It was good to know her boss was well thought of. “Apparently he slept with Kai’s fiancée.”
“Bastard.” Sarah leaned against the locker. “Damn it. Now I can’t like him and that sucks because I was totally planning on sleeping with him.”
Kori had to give it to her friend. She was an optimist.
“Are we talking about Jared Johns?” Mia Danvers came around the block of lockers, a sparkle in her blue eyes. “Because I’ve heard they’ve put a salmon ladder and a whole bunch of free weights in a new scene space so he can work out before he films.”
Kori had taken to the blonde. Despite her penchant for smiling way too much, Mia was kind of awesome. She seemed to tackle even the most mundane tasks with an enthusiasm most people reserved for going to Disney World. Mia always seemed to have a smile on her face, a helpful attitude. In the couple of weeks she’d been training at Sanctum, she’d become an integral part of the club.
Sarah sighed. “I will watch that but now I’m going to watch it under protest. His abs didn’t cheat, did they? I’m choosing to believe his abs are pure of heart. And those notchy hip things that make women lose their minds. They’re definitely innocent.”
“You go for it.” Kori stepped out and glanced at herself in the mirror. She’d accepted long ago that she wasn’t the sleek and graceful type. Still, she looked pretty good in her corset and leather boy shorts.
“Charlotte Taggart is supposedly coming in here to give us a lecture on how to behave around the Hollywood types,” Mia said, joining her at the mirror. “Do you think he’s one of those actors who doesn’t want people to look him in the eye or talk to him?”
Sarah smoothed her dark hair down. She was looking lovely in a red corset and a mini. “Who looks at his eyes? I can’t get past that man’s chest.”
“He’s cool.” She seriously doubted he would walk in and make crazy demands. “If anyone tells you how to behave around him, it’s probably coming from his creepy assistant chick. Apparently he’s got an entourage, and one of them weighs five pounds and looks like she craps sadness. You won’t be able to miss her. Well, unless she turns to the side and then you might be able to. But Jared himself seems cool.”
“I can’t believe that he’s brothers with Kai,” Mia said, leaning against the counter.
All around them the other ladies were getting ready for an evening at Sanctum. Dommes and subs chatted while they primped. There were a couple of distinct groups. There was the McKay-Taggart cluster. Those were the female employees or the wives of the male operatives. They tended to stick together, but they were always friendly, if a bit mysterious. There was the hardcore Sanctum group that consisted of the Paxon sisters, who had helped run the club for a few years. Jill’s husband had been the Dom in residence before his company had taken off. They were joined by what seemed like a never-ending stream of Will Daley’s sisters. They all were fun and sweet and came with L names that Kori got confused. And then there was her little group. She and Sarah and Vince and now Mia.
Sometimes Kai joined them afterward. After they’d all finished playing, they would go out to an open-all-night diner and get waffles and try to come down from subspace. Except Kai, who had to come down from his superhot sadistic topspace. She’d had a fantasy about him taking her to the bathroom and twisting her nipples until her eyes teared up. He would dominate her fully. When they went to join the others, only the two of them would know that she could still feel the ache he’d given her.
Why was she fucking everything up? Kai wasn’t into her and it wasn’t going to happen, so why had it felt so damn good to hold his hand? Why had she sat outside his office door like a fucking golden retriever waiting for her Master?
“Can I hang with you guys tonight?” Mia asked. “My training Dom won’t be here until midnight which means if I want to be out in the club, I have to be with a member who won’t let me do stupid shit. Seriously, it’s written into the contract.”
“But doing stupid shit is so much fun,” Sarah complained.
“Yes. Everyone knows I don’t do stupid shit. You can hang with me.” Sometimes Kori had to step up and be the mom of the group. Like the time Vince thought it would be fun to let the new Domme put a nail through his ball sac. Yeah, she’d gotten in trouble over that one, but that particular Domme also got kicked out since she was using rusty nails. A masochist had to be sensible.
Kai would be careful. He would always take care of his sub, always ensure that whatever pain he gave her was safe and completely consensual. A masochist could let go with a man like Kai.
And lose herself all over again to a man who didn’t really want her.
“I’ll go grab us some seats for the talk,” Mia promised with a wink.
“Hey, are you all right?” Sarah asked, her voice going low.
“I’m fine. Why?”
“Because your shoulders aren’t usually located around your ear lobes. So either that corset is way too tight or you are stressed out. Is it Kai?”
Sarah saw way too much. “We had a moment today. That’s all.”
“You two have a lot of moments. You’re practically an old married couple, complete with never having sex. You’re both too stubborn to see it.”
Just because they knew each other’s habits didn’t make them an old married couple. “We work together. We can’t play together.”
Sarah’s dark eyes rolled. “Why?”
“Because we’re professionals.”
“No one is more professional than nurses and doctors and we fuck like bunnies when we think no one is watching because life is way too short. Well, I don’t fuck like a bunny because none of the doctors do it for me, but everyone else is doing it like they’re on Grey’s Anatomy. The girl who created that show must have worked in a hospital because she knows what’s going on.”
“Kai and I are different.” Mostly because she was way too scared to jump into the deep end of the pool again and Kai wasn’t attracted to her. But they were also way more professional. Kai would never fuck like a bunny. He would be in control. Always.
Had he fucked his fiancée like a bunny? Had he loved her so much he couldn’t wait to have her?
“How are you different? With the exception of the fact that you’re both lonely. You both come into this club week after week and neither on
e of you has connected with anyone.”
That was patently untrue. “I play all the time.”
“And you’ve had sex with how many of the Doms you play with?” Sarah asked.
“One and it was awful and I’m not interested.” She’d had a brief involvement with a lawyer and the whole time she’d thought about Kai, so now everyone she played with knew they wouldn’t be getting any at the end of the night from her. She’d been surprised at how many of the Doms seemed relieved that she was so upfront. Some of them simply wanted to play, too.
“Everyone is interested in sex. We’re biologically wired that way, so I think if you’re not having fun and playing the field it’s because you’re hung up on a guy. Since you spend all your time with Kai and Vince, and Vince is a lovely nut job, I have to think it’s Kai.” Sarah’s eyes narrowed. “Unless you really like nut jobs.”
Vince was a sweetie, but she could never be with another sub. That boy needed a firm hand in and out of the bedroom. “I don’t and you know it. Look, things got all messy today, and you know how I hate messy. Let’s go out and play and forget about all this crap. We can watch Jared from afar. I’m sure he’ll have twelve subs on him the minute he walks onto the dungeon floor.”
They would be all over Kai, too, because she was certain Jared would try to hang with his brother. Groupies. They would be everywhere and Kai would likely have his pick. They would put their hands all over him and rub up against him.
“That’s your murder face.” Sarah nodded at her in the mirror.
“I do not have a murder face.” Although she did look fairly unhappy. When had she gotten that crease between her brows? She tried to rub it away. Relax. She needed to relax.