Burn (The Sinclair Falls Novels Book 1)

by Shae Mallak

  "As I said," Jonah replied hotly. "She's not being held against her will."

  "Prove it," Kinney said and jutted his chin in my direction. "Tell me, sweet cheeks," Kinney addressed me.

  I stared at him with wide eyes, frozen where I stood. Jonah still stood a few feet away from me; I wanted to reach out to him and cower behind him or run from the room in blind panic but my feet didn't move. I just stood there and stared dumbly at Kinney.

  "Why are you with Carson?" he pressed. " You're not the kind to get swept up in all this, so tell us honestly—and we'll know if you're lying," he warned, shaking a finger at me like I was a child. I shifted my gaze to Jonah, looking to him for answers.

  "Joe can't answer for you, love," one of the other men muttered. "Spit it out, then."

  Still, I stood there frozen in place, staring at the back of Jonah's head. He told me not to talk—even if they addressed me, he said, don't speak. I promised....

  "She doesn't answer to you, Kinney," Jonah muttered. "She's not one of your puppets you can order around," he nodded to the half-naked woman in the chair, still waiting patiently for Kinney to either dismiss her or put her back to work.

  "Obedient little chit," Kinney chuckled in apparent approval, eyeing me again. "You sure she's taken, Carson? I could use another—"

  "You touch her and I will kill you," Jonah seethed, banging his fist on the desk and making everything on top of it jump. Even I flinched a little.

  "Touchy," Kinney whistled, shaking his head at him. "Only a little joke, Carson. I'm plenty satisfied with my harem."

  He snapped his fingers and the woman moved quickly to stand in front of him, head bowed, waiting for directions. Kinney slid his hand between her thighs, pressing his fingers up into her. She bit her lip but didn't cry out or make any other show that what he was doing was either welcomed or objectionable.

  "Mmm," Kinney moaned. "You know blind obedience turns me on." He smiled at me, giving me a look that made my skin crawl.

  With his other hand he tugged the woman forward until she was close enough for him to suck on her nipple. He untied the skimpy bikini top she wore and tossed it aside, making her completely naked in a room full of people. Kinney made a show of biting on one of her nipples and then sucking it like a baby desperate for milk. He smacked her ass again, his other hand still fingering her as the rest of the room watched. I looked away, embarrassed for her.

  One of the men moaned, eyeing me like a starving child before a feast, one hand palming the front of his trousers. Disgusted, my feet finally found the ability to move and I stepped closer to Jonah and slid my hand back into his. I felt safer in an instant as his warmth once again started to work its way through me.

  Kinney laughed from behind the desk, pushing the woman away from him again. "Alright, Jonah," he grinned at me. "She's proven herself well enough for now." He nodded at my dad in the corner. "Leeson, Reedman, let Aberdeen go. He's Carson's problem now."

  The two dogs standing guard between us and my dad moved immediately, one jumping into the chair and the other stationing himself by the door, still snarling in our direction.

  Dad stood on shaky legs and I was once again torn between anger and concern for him. I gripped Jonah's hand tighter and he tugged me a little closer, leaning down to press a soft, chaste kiss to the top of my head. My scalp felt branded where his lips touched me and my eyes closed in pleasure, forgetting my surroundings for a fleeting moment.

  "Come on, Otto," Jonah muttered, then turned back to Kinney and gestured to the briefcase. "I think you'll find the rest of the debt is more than compensated," he said. Kinney spun the briefcase around to peek inside and his eyes widened in surprise and approval.

  "So it is," he nodded in agreement. "We're finished then, Carson. Lovely doing business with you."

  "Can't say I agree," Jonah said honestly. "Evening, Kinney."

  Jonah started for the door, hand on the knob, when Kinney spoke again, stopping him. "Mark your girl, Carson," he warned. "Do it soon or dealing with me will look like child's play."

  "Thanks for the advice," Jonah replied without looking back, then we left. I heard Kinney snap his fingers and the woman patter across the room to him again before the door shut behind us.

  Minnie was passed out on the torn sofa where we left her and the three of us swept past her without a word, speeding down the hallway and back up the stairs. No one said anything until we were outside again and only to tell Dad to get in the back seat of the car. Dad started to protest but quickly shut his mouth again. I didn't understand most of what happened inside, but I knew Jonah had just saved Dad's life. The least he could do was ride in the back seat.

  TWELVE

  "What happened?" I asked my silent companions in the car. No one spoke for several minutes and when I asked again, I wasn't nice or calm about it. I kept my mouth shut the entire time we were inside Kinney's Den and I wasn't going to be quiet any longer. "What happened!?" I shouted.

  "I threw money at the problem," Jonah muttered, gripping the steering wheel as he drove through the residential side of town. He was taking my dad home and in the back of my mind I hoped he would let me stay and see Addis and Ava. "That's all you need to know."

  "No!" I protested. "It's not! You quite literally dragged me into this, Jonah, and you're going to explain it to me," I insisted. "What happened? Dad, what did you do?" I twisted to glare at my father. When he didn't answer and turned to Jonah for guidance I groaned in frustration. They were both hiding something from me and it was driving me crazy. "One of you is going to talk or neither of you is going to like the consequences," I threatened. "What the hell was that place, Jonah? Who were those people? How do they know you? How do they know you?" I shot a look at Dad. He swallowed hard and averted his eyes.

  "I told you," Jonah said slowly. I could tell by the clench of his jaw and the white knuckles gripping the steering wheel he was forcing himself to stay calm. "It was Kinney's Den of Sin. The disgusting piece of shit behind the desk," Jonah spat, "was Travis Kinney."

  "I gathered," I moaned, rolling my eyes. "But why does Sinclair Falls' mafia boss know you two?" I pressed. "You seemed rather chummy with them, Jonah," I noted.

  "Hardly how I would phrase it," Jonah scoffed.

  "Spill," I demanded hotly. I was practically fuming from the ears I was so mad at both of them.

  "I'm supposed to protect you," Jonah said. "Not telling you is protecting you."

  "I'm not a child!" I cried indignantly. "You can't just leave me in the dark and expect me not to notice the monsters!" Dad snorted in apparent amusement in the back seat. "And what do you know about all this, Dad?" I yelled, twisting in the seat again and pointing a finger at him accusingly. "Kinney said he was going to kill you because you knew secrets. What was he talking about?"

  "He was gonna kill me for it," Dad pointed out, "He'll kill both of us if I tell you," he said logically.

  "Kinney isn't touching either one of you," Jonah grunted.

  "Then tell me!" I groaned. "For heaven's sake, you can't hide this forever, Jonah," I told him. "We live in a one room glass house. Secrets are bound to come out eventually!"

  "One—One room?" Dad choked. "What do you mean—"

  "Not the time, Otto," Jonah growled. Dad promptly shut up. "Look, Evelyn, I will explain all of this to you eventually, but not now. Not while you're still in danger."

  "Danger from what!?" I demanded loudly. "From Kinney and his goons? He already told you he didn't want me and if his men are as obedient as that woman, they won't touch me either! So what exactly am I in danger from?"

  "It's..." he hesitated, glancing at me briefly before turning back to the road. "Complicated," he finished with a sigh.

  "Well, we got the rest of our lives, Jonah, so you better start un-complicating it," I insisted. "Or I will become extremely hard to live with," I threatened.

  "She ain't kidding," Dad warned, leaning forward to stick his head between us. "I've had to live with her for twenty-thre
e years," he muttered.

  "Not now, Dad," I snapped. He sat back with a scowl but didn't comment further. "Jonah?" I prompted. "Are you gonna share or do I need to start planning ways to make your life miserable?"

  "It's already miserable," Jonah muttered under his breath. I punched him in the arm, surprising him enough that he swerved on the road, barely dodging a parked car before centering in the lane again. "Hey!" he cried. "Do you have a death wish?"

  "Do you?" I sneered back at him. "Don't underestimate me, Jonah!" I warned.

  Jonah hit the brake, sending me flying forward, only stopped from hitting the dashboard by the seatbelt locking in place. He threw it into park and unlocked the doors. "Get out," he growled. I gaped at him, my hand automatically moving to the handle. "Otto," he clarified. "Get out of the car!"

  Dad started to protest but was silenced by a nasty snarl from Jonah and he quickly let himself out of the car, stumbling over the curb to the sidewalk before Jonah sped off. He didn't stop or slow down until we cleared city limits, turning off the main road and stopping the car in the middle of an empty dirt road.

  I stared at him like he'd lost his mind. He practically vaulted out of the vehicle and stalked off into the woods, disappearing behind a couple of fir trees. What was his deal with running away when he was mad?

  Something bright flared in the distance then extinguished just as quickly. Curious, I unbuckled and climbed out of the car, peering over the hood where Jonah disappeared into the dark and where I'd seen the bright light.

  "It was probably just his phone," I rationalized to myself, but then spotted his phone buzzing and vibrating in the center console. "Or...not." Goosebumps prickled my skin and a nagging sense of danger twisted my stomach and made my shoulders tense. The moonlight dimmed and I glanced up to spot something incredibly large flying in front of it, blocking out the moon like an eclipse. No bird was that big....

  "J-Jonah?" I called out, fear shaking my voice as whatever it was glided lower and closer. "Jonah!" I shouted louder, but there was no sight or sound of him. What the hell was his problem? Wasn't he supposed to be—

  "Crap!" I screamed, and started to turn and run as the large flying creature swooped right overhead, large black claws coming way too close to my head, then curved back up into the sky.

  I didn't stop or turn around to see if it was leaving, I just kept running. Whatever it was, it was huge and black and terrifyingly unfamiliar. It flew around and dove at me again from the other side, cutting off my escape path and making me scream, then I darted for the trees where I saw Jonah disappear, shouting his name on the top of my lungs and hoping the woods would give me a little cover from the large, deathly claws of the creature.

  Then suddenly the sky lit up above me, and I craned my neck to see a huge flame streaking across the night sky out of the creatures mouth. I had to be seeing things! Either I'd gone completely insane or I was being chased by the Ash Mountain Dragon! Where the hell was Jonah!?

  I wasn't running long when I came upon a large clearing that had been burned and crushed flat, several trees felled and broken in half like something incredibly large and heavy had stomped on them. I had no doubts what could've done such destruction.

  I was slowed only a moment from having to go around a tree in my direct path but it was enough. The dragon swooped down and landed in the clearing in front of me, its thick tail swishing behind it for balance and knocking over a few more trees like dominoes, one falling into the other. I screamed and turned the other way to run back toward the car but the dragon leaned down, curling its long neck around to stop my escape.

  I was literally face to face with the large, black dragon from the legends of my childhood. I was barely tall enough to reach its nostrils, which were still smoking from its fire-breath display across the night sky. I backed away slowly, all too aware that there was literally nowhere else for me to run.

  The dragon snorted, its gray smoke surrounding me like a sudden warm fog, but it didn't make me cough or sputter like normal smoke, it just made me feel...warm. And safe. I had the strangest feeling I was being hugged by a dragon...

  The smoke swirled around me, twisting between my fingers like Jonah's hand earlier in the night, then it curled around my neck and up my cheek like a tender caress. When it faded away and my vision cleared again, Jonah was standing in front of me, watching me with a look on his face like he was waiting for me to blow up at him or run away. I honestly wasn't certain which one I preferred.

  "What the hell, Jonah? Where have you been?" I cried, opting for anger. He frowned at me. "Did you see the—" I shook my head. He would never believe me; more likely, he would think I lost my mind completely. "Never mind," I grunted. "Where've you been?" I repeated hotly.

  "Proving a point," he muttered.

  From the corner of my eye I thought I saw something move and my gaze was drawn to his left arm where his dragon tattoo stretched from shoulder to wrist. For a moment or two it looked like the tip of its tail was twitching, curling a little too much at the end, then unfurled again. I blinked a few times and when I refocused the tattoo was just as it'd always been.

  "I've gone insane," I murmured, tearing my eyes away. "It's a big fucking dream," I told myself, "and I'm going to wake up in my own bed with the twins screaming and—and my dad plastered on the couch and...and...." I faltered, seeing a trailing wisp of smoke curl around my ankle and up my thigh, swirling once in the air before fading away. "I wanna go home," I whispered.

  "Ev—" he began to protest.

  "Please," I pleaded, cutting him off.

  I didn't care about whatever excuse or explanation he was about to give me. I didn't even care anymore about whatever happened at Kinney's Den. I was beginning to think there were a lot of things better left unknown. Maybe I was better off not knowing about the monsters in the dark.

  "Just take me home," I said desperately. "I wanna see the twins. Just take me home." Two tears dripped onto my shoe and I quickly wiped at my wet cheeks. "Please, Jonah," I whispered, finally looking up at him. He looked like I just stabbed him in the chest.

  "Okay," he agreed quietly, then he turned and started walking back to the car, not even glancing back to see if I followed. I watched him walk away until he almost disappeared again in the shadows of the woods before I started to follow after him.

  THIRTEEN

  I was admittedly surprised when Jonah agreed—and actually followed through—on my request to go home. He stopped outside in the driveway with no sign anyone was home. It made me uneasy seeing it so lifeless. I was partway up the sidewalk when I realized Jonah hadn't followed. He was still sitting in his car, watching me through the window.

  "Aren't you coming?" I prompted with a scowl. His mouth dropped in shock and was about to protest. "Come on, idiot," I grumbled. "Ava will never forgive me if I make you stay out here."

  It was easier to use my little sister as an excuse than to say the truth—that I felt safer with him next to me. After the nightmare of an evening I was having I was still shaken by everything I saw; my mind didn't want to truly process it all. Jonah was my night-light, my security blanket to keep the monsters at bay. It didn't matter if it was merely a false sense of safety, it was all I had.

  Jonah's lips twitched in a small crooked smile before leaping out of the car toward the house, trailing after me like a proper shadow as I searched for my family. It was late but I half-expected and half-hoped to find the twins still awake. I wanted to hug them. Make sure they were fed. I wanted to mother them as I always did. It was my default setting.

  Dad was nowhere to be found and I guessed he was still finding his way back on foot or had found his way to the nearest bar.

  Our steps echoed up the stairs as we headed for the twins' bedroom but I stopped short on the landing, finding a large sleeping man slumped against the wall across from their door. He didn't rival Jonah in size by any means but he still looked like a man I didn't want to cross.

  "Um..." I hesitated. Jonah stopped
behind me, his chest bumping against my back and his breath tickling my neck.

  "Just the babysitter," Jonah said softly, nudging me forward with hot fingers on my waist.

  "Babysitter?" I repeated dumbly, still not moving any further.

  "Yes," he said.

  He nudged me again with both hands pushing at my hips, sending heat shooting up my spine and down between my thighs at the same time. After everything, how was it he could still affect me so much? I stumbled forward a few steps and shot a glare over my shoulder at him in an attempt to hide the betrayal of my body. He returned with a crooked grin.

  "I told you," Jonah reminded softly. "I would take care of the twins."

  "So you hired a babysitter packing heat?" I asked a little indignantly, eyeing the unconscious man's gun holster.