In the resulting silence, Dade asked, “What happened?”
Roan turned to him, snarl still in place. “Sunshine here decided that she was going to visit Lasair on her own.”
Okay, Dade should have expected that. She’d known where the hideout was. Of course she would head back the first chance she got.
“She lied about losing the dealer,” Roan continued. “Then she decided to go rogue.”
“I was looking for Niall.”
“Who wasn’t there,” Roan yelled.
“But we know where he is now,” Arden said. “We know Crispin has him. So stop having a temper tantrum, and let’s go get him.”
Roan grabbed at his hair. “We can’t just go off looking for your brother without a plan, Sunshine.”
Arden bared her teeth. “Stop calling me that.”
Saben leaned in and whispered to Dade, “You need to de-escalate this. She’s looking for a fight.”
Dade found himself nodding. Arden was calculating above all. Her steady interpretation of events was something he counted on. Though he wasn’t so sure that a fistfight with Roan would do either of their agendas much good.
“Are we finished here?” Dade asked. “If you have a problem with what Arden did, bring it up with Mina.”
“Shut it, siskin, no one asked you,” Roan snarled.
Dade expected the epithet, letting it roll right off him. The last thing he needed was to become mired in this brawl. It was better to ignore it and extricate Arden, otherwise the goodwill he’d worked on with Mina would be blown.
“Roan,” Annem chided.
“Why are we protecting him?” Roan asked. “He’s one of them.”
“He’s one of us, dumbass.” Coco stepped back and rested against the tabletop. Obviously she shared Saben’s view that this was getting out of hand. She adopted a casual pose, but she kept her phaser at the ready.
Roan was too far gone, though, to be so easily calmed. He narrowed his gaze on Arden. “You like being kept by a siskin, don’t you?”
Annem sucked in a loud breath.
Coco grumbled, “Here we go.”
“That’s not fair, Roan. He’s not a Solizen anymore,” Annem said. A last-ditch effort to stop the apocalypse.
“He looks like a Solizen to me,” Roan said. “He still has the sunstar tattoo.”
Arden turned away. She started pacing in a short circuit. Her hands shook, and she loosened her limbs. It was an admirable effort to gain control.
Venz looked scared. He’d rolled his chair even closer to the visiscreen wall, putting as much space between himself and the other two as possible.
“You can take them out of the sky, but—” Roan’s words were cut off by Arden’s fist connecting with his mouth. Blood sprayed.
Roan shifted to return the punch, but she ducked and kicked her booted foot into his stomach. He flew back into the wall with a loud grunt.
Arden pulled her knife and threw it. The metal thunked into the wall, missing Roan’s head by a hairbreadth.
Coco let out a whistle that sounded like admiration.
Roan was slow to react. He turned to look at the knife, his eyes wide.
But Arden was already on him. She flipped Roan around and pushed him against the wall so that his face smashed into the unforgiving surface. Holding him with one hand, she pulled the knife from the wall.
As she held his arms taut behind him, she brought the knife to his throat. Arden leaned in and exhaled heavily in his ear. Her chest moved with each breath.
Still, like a complete fool, Roan didn’t back down. His eyes shone with a manic glee, and his lip curled when he taunted, “Do it, Sunshine. Go on, slit my throat.”
Dade thought she might actually do just that.
He immediately strode over. He couldn’t allow her to murder Roan. He wasn’t sure how they’d explain it to Mina. Though he admitted that he wouldn’t be that broken up about it if it happened. It just couldn’t happen now.
“Arden, enough.” He let his frustration leak into his voice. It made her pause. Then he said more softly, “Let him go.”
She took a deep breath. It was loud and rattled. A long moment passed before she stepped back. She said to Roan, “Watch yourself.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Arden left the room with the knife still gripped in her hand. Anger burned in her gut. It felt good to hold the knife, reminding her that she was capable of taking care of herself. That she was not a victim of circumstance. She carefully didn’t look back at Dade. Didn’t want to see his expression and read any disappointment there.
It was probably best that Dade had pulled her away. Her anger wasn’t really about Roan, even if he’d made himself easy to lash out at. Roan had every right to question her decisions that put Mina’s crew in jeopardy. If he called her Sunshine, it wasn’t the end of the world. She could have brushed if off.
Every emotion she’d struggled to contain for the last few months seemed to explode from her now. Arden couldn’t pretend anymore that she was fine. She hadn’t dealt with any of it: Colin’s death, Uri’s being a lying, backstabbing piece of crap, her brother’s death wish, or even working with Mina or her crew. It was no wonder she’d lost it.
Arden slid the knife back into its sheath, forcing herself to let go of her aggression. Pushed it down and sought out her calm center. She needed time to collect herself. To find a place where no one would bother her. But she knew Dade followed her, and she couldn’t continue to put him off.
He walked up beside her and reached out to slide his hand against hers.
She let her fingers run through his, but then let go. She didn’t want the comfort he offered. Didn’t want anyone to “talk sense into her.” She didn’t think she deserved his understanding because she knew she’d overreacted, and that sucked.
Dade wasn’t dissuaded. He stepped quickly in front of her. And while he didn’t stand directly in her path, it was enough to make her stop.
They looked at each other.
He was steady, calm. His face was clear of judgment. She saw only concern and acceptance. It offered her a moment to reset.
She took a deeper breath.
He was her compass. He made her world click into place. She needed to learn to trust in that.
Dade must have felt her relax incrementally. He stepped in, closing the distance, and lowered his face to hers. He brushed her temple with a light kiss. “It’s okay.” The whispered words were like an endearment or maybe a promise of something better.
His body covered hers like a blanket as he leaned her into the wall. She shivered against his heat, wanting more.
Arden exhaled. She let herself sink into him. Her head dropped forward so that they rested forehead to forehead.
Dade ran his hand through her hair, his other hand on her cheek. His thumb brushed her jawline. “It’s not a big deal. It will blow over tomorrow.”
“I know,” she said, even though she doubted her own words. She could almost believe him when he spoke with such conviction. The truth was, Mina’s crew were right not to trust her.
Dade brushed his lips against hers. “Whatever is wrong, baby, we’re going to be okay.”
“How do you know that?”
“Well, it can’t get much worse.” He grinned and winked.
Arden strangled the snort of amusement she felt. Why couldn’t she stop worrying and let her life be this easy?
She liked Dade close. He was tangible, real. She liked when he pressed his body against hers. Her hands slipped up to his hips and held them there.
Dade pulled back to look into her eyes. “It’s not your fault we’re here. You don’t control everything. If anything, I got us into this mess.”
The words made a knot in her belly. She had guilt about a lot of things. But Arden didn’t want to talk about the issues she struggled with.
“Roan annoys me,” she said. “He expects me to take his crap.”
Dade frowned. “He’s jealous. It’s how he deals with it.”
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“Why?” Arden didn’t think that jealousy was likely. “He’s got the life he wants. His crew respects him.”
“Because I have you, and because he wants something like that. He needs to feel wanted in a different way than as just another team member.”
That she did understand because she felt the need for connection too. It made her feel a little more lenient, though Roan was still an idiot.
“You and I are not like that. I’m not your ‘Sunshine.’” She rolled her eyes, completely disgusted with the whole thing.
Instead of arguing, he leaned forward and brushed his mouth against hers.
Honestly, she was okay with that kind of answer. It was what she’d rather do anyway. Not worry about Roan, or Mina, or her brother. Not think about Uri the backstabber.
He smiled when he pulled away. “You’re not my Sunshine?”
She grunted. “No.”
“What if I want you to be?” He kissed her again, light and playful.
She laughed, teasingly biting his lip. When she opened her eyes, she asked, “Why did you meet with Clarissa without me?”
Dade paused.
For a moment she thought he wouldn’t answer. Then he said, “I asked her if she’d be able to have a new Ghost mask made for me. I didn’t bring you with me because I wasn’t sure if you’d be okay with my returning to being the masked vigilante.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to resurrect the Ghost?”
He was selfless, so that didn’t surprise her. It was only a matter of time before he’d get back into the game. He was right, though. She didn’t know how she felt about it. Not that she really cared. There were just other pressing concerns.
“Why her?” Arden asked. “You could have told me, and we could have figured it out together.”
“Because she’s my friend, and she has the resources to make it happen.”
“She’s also a Solizen.”
“So am I.” Dade hissed out a breath. “You sound like Roan.”
Arden startled back. “I’m just trying to say that we don’t know who we can trust. Old friends could be enemies now. We have to be careful.”
The thought cut through her, making her remember her own emotional wounds. She knew all about betrayal firsthand.
“I trust her,” he said. “You want me to support your decisions, then you need to back mine as well. I promise I won’t do anything that compromises you.”
She nodded slowly. “Okay.”
His words rang true. Trust was not a one-way street. It was unfair to ask him to give her what she was not willing to reciprocate.
“We’re still going to figure out how to make a life together, right?” She needed reassurance they were still a team, even if they sucked at it.
Dade nodded.
“I feel like I’m losing you,” she said. “All we wanted was to be left alone, and they keep sucking us back in. I don’t know who to trust anymore.”
Defeat made her tired. Made her limbs feel like lead. Arden couldn’t figure out that next step. Or even if it was worth pushing for freedom when someone was inevitably going to pull them back into the fighting.
“I’m here, Arden. I will never cut and run. I’m by your side for the long haul.”
He was too good a person, and she adored him for it. Others would take advantage of that softness. They would never see that inside, Dade had a core of strength, and that core was probably stronger than hers for all her prickly shell.
She felt remorse that she had dirtied him with her world. He would always be heroic no matter what situation they were in, yet now he was forced to make messier choices. She wanted to keep him from that darkness as long as she could.
Arden needed to do something for him. To stop being so selfish when he was clearly thinking about them both. She needed to help him too. He was right. A relationship needed to work both ways.
If this was what it took to make Dade feel like he was whole, then she would do everything in her power to help him. She wanted to be a part of it. “I want to help you resurrect the Ghost.”
His eyebrows rose, but he didn’t argue. “We need to figure out who has a supply of VitD that we don’t mind pissing off when we steal it.”
“I can help you with that. I found out today that I need to deliver some favors.” She practically ground her teeth flat as she said it. Her anger at Uri flared. The rawness in the pit of her stomach got impossibly wider.
Dade reached out and cupped her face. “Tell me.”
She took a deep breath and said, “I found out who betrayed Lasair. It was Uri.” The words nearly stole her breath, stabbing deep. She forced herself to continue. “I don’t know if Mina knows, but she’s dropped hints. This whole situation—Uri, Mina, my brother—is interconnected, and I’m not clear how. I don’t trust anyone.”
“Eventually you’re going to have to have faith other people besides me. We can’t navigate this city alone. And Mina isn’t that bad.”
“She’s the one who warned me that there was a mole in Lasair. If she knew that person was Uri and didn’t tell me—” She let that thought go. It was pointless to think of the “what ifs.” How she could have stopped the mess if she’d been better prepared. She had to move forward with what she knew now. “I don’t want this disconnection to continue to grow between us.”
“You know you’re the thing that means the most to me,” he said.
The words burrowed themselves straight into her heart. “I know.”
“And I meant it when I told you I love you.”
She nodded. “You and I.”
“Forever.”
They moved at the same time. Their bodies pressed tighter against each other. She felt his heat against her skin, his lips a scant breath from hers. Her thoughts skittered away. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, willing herself this moment of peace.
His breath caressed her face as he said, “Arden, please.”
She didn’t know what he was asking for. And honestly, at that point she didn’t care. She tilted her face up, and her mouth met his.
Their need flared to life. It was hot and desperate. Her hands grabbed at his shoulders while his gripped her hips.
She jumped up, wrapping her legs around his middle. Moving herself closer to take the kiss deeper. Wanting him with a consuming need.
He pinned her to the wall. Leveraging her so that he could kiss her harder, make her feel wanted and special. She needed this connection to ground her. To remember there were other things to fight for.
A throat cleared.
No, no, no. Arden kept kissing Dade, refusing to let this end. Forget whoever it was. They could leave and come back later when she was much less busy.
The throat cleared again.
Dade pulled away first. Arden almost chased his lips. But instead, she growled and turned to glare at the jerk who thought this was the perfect time to interrupt her.
Mina stood in the center of the hall, her hands on her hips. She looked angry.
Arden groaned and banged her head back against the wall. Why now?
Dade set her on her feet.
“Arden, can I speak with you?”
She wanted to say no. There was nothing she wanted to talk about anyway. Still, it was probably best to get it over with. Arden looked to Dade, who nodded once before turning away.
Arden waited until the hall was clear before she asked, “When did you get back?”
“Just now. I heard you’re causing problems.”
Arden grunted.
“I know you don’t want to be a part of our team,” Mina said.
That was an understatement. “If you’re here to yell at me, save it. I should have let you know what I was doing.”
Mina frowned. “I want you to know that no matter what happens, you can come to me for help.”
Arden raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like you think I’m gonna take off as soon as possible.”
The corner of Mina’s lip twitched.
“The statistical possibility is high.”
That made Arden chuckle. But still, why was Mina seeking her out to tell her this? Mina was a mystery Arden felt sure she’d never understand.
“I just want to make sure you know that,” Mina said.
Arden was silent for a moment—staring at her. And then eventually she nodded. “Okay.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Arden stood to the side of the room, leaning against the wall with her arms folded. It was the middle of the night. Not much time had passed between getting Mina caught up on who had snatched Niall and the decision to go get him.
There wasn’t a plan. That alone made Arden anxious. She liked a well-organized op. Going in blind was the best way to get killed. She ignored the feeling of doom because she wanted this. Knowing that she’d missed her opportunity to rescue Niall the night before only made the need to go in with phasers blazing that much more powerful. In spite of knowing it probably wasn’t the best course of action.
Arden and Saben were dressed in black running suits. Saben worked through the evening’s logistics with Venz, Nastasia, and Mina while Arden watched. They discussed which tech supplies might be needed most to break in, and then packed them into slimline backpacks. Various items were strewn all over the table. Since they couldn’t carry in everything, each item became a protracted negotiation.
Mina looked over to where Venz sat at the computers. “Pull up all the schematics we have on Crispin’s business. Let’s go over the most likely areas they’ll hold Niall.”
A loud shout from Roan interrupted the otherwise productive work they were doing. He’d been sent from the room about fifteen minutes before because he could not stop himself from arguing with Mina, much to Arden’s amusement. Now he was in the kitchen, doing who knew what. The yelling was then followed by loud banging and then a crash. It sounded as if he’d knocked down the entire shelf of pots.
“Can you calm him down?” Mina asked Annem. “I don’t need my kitchen destroyed.”
“Sure thing.” Annem slid off the table where she was perched.
“I’ll help,” Coco said, following her out.
Arden’s gaze went to Dade when he stepped past the girls and into the room all suited up. The synth-suit fit him like a glove. She bit back a sigh. He looked so good, and she wished they had more time to continue what they’d started in the hall. But for now, she’d have to make do with the eye candy.
The Stolen Sky (Split City Book 2) Page 16