by Sarah Fine
Asa paused halfway up a flight. His fingers closed around my bare calf. The silence made my heart speed. But then he laughed. “That’s what they all say, baby.”
I rolled my eyes as he resumed climbing, part of me relieved he’d let it pass . . . part of me disappointed for the same reason. I don’t want to choose. I’m not ready for this to end.
That was my silent chant as Asa reached the twenty-third floor, as he turned to keep climbing. I know he felt differently, having to huff up four flights of stairs carrying a heavy toolbox and a person on his back—not to mention the painful magic that had to be wearing on him—but I wanted it to go on forever. Me clinging to him for dear life, him solid and steady, fearless and lethal, practically immortal.
Asa reached the landing of the twenty-fourth floor, and I slid off his back. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath, but he kept his fingers entwined with mine. “It’s gonna be us, Mattie. Remember that.”
“Promise.”
He looked down at me. “I will if you will.”
My cheeks burned and my stomach dropped. Asa smiled and squeezed my hand, shaking it playfully. “Just kidding. Let’s go.”
He swung open the door and led the way, and I rubbed my chest as it started to ache again. “Do you feel anything?”
“The relic is in the boardroom, but I don’t sense naturals.”
The floor was virtually deserted, which I thought was really strange until we passed the elevators, where easels had been posted with signs on them that said, “Floor Closed for a Private Function. We Apologize for the Inconvenience.”
We followed signs for the Regency Club Boardroom, which was tucked away down a corridor opposite a path that led to an enclosed bridge connecting the two wings of the hotel. Asa’s grip on my hand grew firmer the farther we walked. His palm was clammy. I could tell he was feeling the Strikon relic, and it made me want to pull him back toward the stairwell. But then we were right there, and the door to the boardroom opened before he had a chance to reach for the handle.
The guy standing in the doorway had to be at least six and a half feet tall. His black hair was cut high and tight, and with his prominent forehead and lantern jaw, he looked like my mental picture of those Special Forces guys in the military. He wore a navy-blue suit and carried a briefcase. “Mr. Ward? Ms. Carver?” He grinned. “I’m Sean Hernandez, one of Mr. Brindle’s representatives for this transaction. Come on in.”
Asa shook his hand, frowning. Sean’s grip was hard as he shook mine and then stepped aside. Two other men were waiting on the other side of the room. One was middle-aged and thickly built, his skin leathery and tattoos marking the backs of his hands and the sides of his neck, ruining the effect of the suit he wore. And the other was Jack, who was dressed casually in slacks and a black T-shirt that clung to his broad, muscular chest. He didn’t smile as we approached.
Sean introduced us. We acted as if it were the first time we’d met Jack. I was suddenly glad he and Asa had done most of their planning while I was in the shower—I had no idea what exactly was going to happen, so I couldn’t give it away. The other guy was named Rob, another representative of Brindle’s. “We’re just here to ensure everything goes smoothly,” said Rob, his voice a gravelly growl.
Asa set his toolbox on the table and opened it, pulling out the metal box in which he’d packaged the Sensilo relic. “That’s our payment for Mr. Brindle.”
Rob briskly opened the case, opened the lead wrapper, and peered at the spherical locket inside. He opened the clasp, whipped out his phone, and took a picture of the gold-plated relic. “Getting verification. Hang on.” Less than thirty seconds later, his phone chimed, and he nodded as he looked down at the screen. “We’re good to go.” He pointed at Sean.
“We’ve brought the Strikon relic.” Sean set the briefcase on the table next to Asa’s toolbox.
Asa winced as he opened the case. Inside was another case, this one dull and gray—lead. “Hold it right there for a minute, okay? I need to get Mattie settled.”
Sean complied, giving me a lingering once-over. “Where are we putting her?”
“My eyes are up here, buddy,” I snapped as he stared at my (braless, argh) chest.
He gave me a cocky smile and slowly complied. “Yes, Ms. Carver?”
“I will put myself over there,” I said, pointing to half of the boardroom table. I gave Asa a quick glance and he nodded, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. With as much strength and grace as I could muster, I walked to the end of the table. Asa helped me up but let me do most of it myself, which I was grateful for. I was in a room full of men who were all staring, and suddenly I felt really exposed, conscious of my hard nipples chilled by fear and nerves and overefficient air-conditioning, of my bare legs, of the fact that I was laying myself out on a table like a buffet.
Jack settled himself in a chair next to me as I blinked up at the chandelier. “Slow and easy, right?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “Be gentle.”
He reached over and squeezed my upper arm. “You got it, Ms. Carver.”
Asa gave him an assessing look before busying himself securing me to the table. Instead of going with ropes this time, he had padded cuffs, which he connected to the table legs. They looked uncomfortably like the ones that I’d been drawn to at this magical sex-toy shop we’d been at in Bangkok, but fortunately, though the leather was soft and supple, it didn’t seem to be coated with Ekstazo magic.
Asa bent over me. Jack was on my other side. My heart was beating like a jackhammer, driving my pain deeper with every beat. “We’re gonna pull it slow,” he said to the two of us. “Jack, I’ll be giving you signals. You’re gonna have to stay alert.”
“Not a problem.” Jack had his game face on, his dark-brown eyes stern.
Asa pulled a pair of surgical gloves from his pocket and tugged them on. He yanked his toolbox over and pulled out one of the trays, revealing his defibrillator and other various tools. “Slide that relic over here.”
Rob pushed the briefcase along the table until it was within Asa’s reach.
And then he pulled a gun and aimed it at Asa’s head. Sean did the same, and I found myself looking up at its long black barrel. A silencer was screwed onto the end of it.
“Mr. Brindle was pretty clear,” Rob growled to Asa. “You try to turn on us with that pain relic, we shoot. You somehow try to reverse the transaction and drain the relic, we shoot. We might not be magical fairies like you people, but we’re both former Delta Force, Mr. Ward. Believe me when I tell you that you cannot move faster than we can.”
“I knew they were Special Forces,” I mumbled.
“Fucking mercenaries is what they are,” Asa said. “You got any other demands before we get started?”
“Only one.” Sean smiled as he lowered his weapon and leveled it at my head. “When this transaction is done, you’re coming with us—or we kill the reliquary.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Asa’s jaw clenched. “That was not the deal.”
“Mr. Brindle is a powerful man, Mr. Ward,” said Sean. “Better just give him what he wants. He paid me enough to be willing to shoot this pretty lady here. He can pay you enough to make you happy.”
I turned to Jack, expecting him to say something, but he just shook his head. “Let’s just get this done, man.”
“Yeah. Just get it done,” said Rob.
Jack’s eyes met mine, and he arched one eyebrow, as if challenging me to question him.
What if he was on their side? What if he let them take Asa? I already knew he resented him. And he wanted only the relics.
I stared up at my sensor, my body starting to tremble. “It’s okay, Asa.” I couldn’t make myself tell him to walk away and let them shoot me, but I could never live with being the reason he was caught.
He bowed his head and stared at the center of my chest. Unlike Sean’s leer, which had made my stomach turn, Asa’s stare made me feel as if I were rising off the table. It
wasn’t a sexual thing. But it was definitely a thing, just part of the thing we had, the thing I could never explain or unpack. It just was, and as his eyes rose to mine, I was waiting. “It’s okay,” I said again, hoping he would understand. Do whatever you need to do.
He glanced over his shoulder at the weapons aimed at us, and then he seemed to make some sort of decision. He climbed up on the table and stretched out next to me, his mouth curved into a seductive half smile. “Hey there.”
I snorted, even though my eyes were stinging with tears. “Hey.”
“You’re gonna be okay, Mattie. You know that, right?” He leaned over me on one elbow and caught a tear as it slipped from my eye.
“As soon as I let this go, they’re going to take you away,” I whispered.
He touched his forehead to mine. “Don’t think about that right now.”
“I can’t help it.”
“Do you want to be Eve?”
I let out a shuddery breath, completely torn. Part of me, maybe Eve, screamed yes. It was simpler. It was easier. There was no guilt there, because everything was in the moment. It didn’t leave a mark.
But the rest of me was roaring no. If these were my last minutes with Asa, I didn’t want to give them up, no matter what came after. “I want me to be me. And I want you to be you.”
He moved close enough so that I could feel the pace of his breath. “Then do you trust me, Mattie?”
“With my life.”
“Will you do everything I tell you to do without questioning it?”
“Yeah.”
“Will you let go when I tell you to?”
But . . . letting this go meant letting him go.
He gave me a stern look when I paused. “Mattie . . .”
“I . . . I’ll let go when you tell me to.”
He nodded. And then he sat up and used tongs to open up the relic and hand it to Jack. When he returned to my side, his brow was beaded with sweat, and his muscles were twitching. He tugged off one of his gloves with his teeth and slid his bare palm under my shirt, up my stomach, between my breasts. Behind him, I heard Sean muttering something in a suggestive tone that drew me tight, made me wish I could curl up in a ball.
“Ignore him,” Asa said. “Look at me. Jack and I are the only ones here. You’re gonna listen to my voice and let it guide you. You see my eyes? You keep looking at them.”
“Ready,” said Jack. He wrapped his fingers around my upper arm. Immediately I felt the pressure, the brittle cracking, the danger.
But I wasn’t ready for this part to end yet. “What, no gag?”
Asa chuckled. “I got one if you’re feeling kinky, but I don’t think you need it this time. We’re gonna go slow and easy.” He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Not that I’d mind seeing it on you again.”
A hot shiver went down my spine, melting some of the tightness. If we actually had been the only two people in that room, I think I would have taken him up on it. But we were doing this for an audience, and I didn’t want to give Sean the satisfaction. Asa may have seen the conflict in my eyes, because his flared with amusement. “Are you remembering that first time?” he murmured.
“Are you, sir?”
“Well, I am now.”
“Any day,” grumbled Jack.
But the playfulness had unknotted me, stolen some of the terror. How did Asa know exactly what I needed every single time? I looked up into his eyes. “I don’t know what to do about you, Asa Ward.”
He laughed. “Ditto, honey.” His smile was soft, full of light despite the sweat trickling down his cheek. “Let’s figure that out after we get this done, okay?”
“You’re in charge.”
He closed his eyes, and I ached. When he opened them, he began to press on my chest. “I feel it right there. I want you to let go of it little by little. Don’t just let loose.”
I let my eyes go unfocused, seeing only the honey tint of his eyes as the center of my attention shifted lower and deeper. Quentin’s magic had dulled the pain, but now, as I imagined what lay inside me, the hurt rose up, twisting and jabbing, like a missile in search of a target. I gasped as it stabbed, half expecting to look down and see it protruding from my chest. My thoughts turned dark and twisty, and my vision went red.
“Oh, no, no, no,” Asa said quickly. “Jack, I know it hurts, but don’t pull that hard.” Asa kept murmuring instructions, to Jack and to me, all the while keeping his hand anchored on my chest. I know it must have hurt like hell, but he didn’t even flinch.
I moaned through gritted teeth. “It feels like it’s breaking,” I said in a quavering voice after one particularly awful stab that sent agony radiating along my limbs.
“It’s just coming loose. It’s been in there a long time.”
I grimaced as something burned in my throat, and Asa looked down at my lips. I watched his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed hard, but then a moment later he was pressing something soft to the corner of my mouth. I caught a flash of red as he pulled it away.
“Is she gonna make it?” I heard Sean say through my haze of pain.
“There’s no one else here,” Asa said to me, drowning Sean out. “It’s just you and me and Jack.” He muttered some more instructions to Jack, and the pain ratcheted up even higher, making my back arch as I cried out. Suddenly I was made of the pain. It bled through every part of me, liquid fire. Asa’s voice became an echo, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. His voice rose and fell, but his words were lost in my storm.
I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t ask for help. All I felt was hurt.
And . . . Asa’s hand on my chest. Warm and real, heavy and constant. I couldn’t hear him now, but I knew he was there. I knew he hadn’t left. I knew he wouldn’t abandon me. I clung to that touch, the only sliver of my awareness that wasn’t alight with agony. Even as it burned brighter, even as my muscles locked, even as it felt as if I were being torn right down the middle, I knew Asa was still with me. Still fighting for me. His hand over my heart.
Don’t let me go. My mind started to flicker, everything going black.
Please don’t let me go. My body went numb. Was he still there? Oh God, had I lost him?
“Don’t let go,” I whispered. “Please don’t let me go.”
“I’m right here,” he said in my ear, his voice a harsh rasp.
“Don’t let me go.”
“You did it.”
“Please. Don’t let go.”
“Mattie, open your eyes.” He smacked lightly at my cheeks. “Come on. Let me see those baby blues.”
My eyelids blinked open. “Are we done?”
His eyes were bloodshot, and there were dark circles beneath them. “Are you hurting?”
I took a deep breath, amazed at how easy it was. “No.”
He grinned. “Then we’re done.” His thumb stroked over the top of my chest. His fingers were still spread over me, his palm still pressing. “I don’t feel a thing in there except your beating heart.”
I took in his face, his crooked nose, his high cheekbones, his knifelike smile.
I loved the view.
His smile faded as he took in my spacey, adoring stare. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, feeling tears starting in my eyes, but for a completely new reason. I blinked fast, trying to push the new, fearful truth from the front of my mind. “And Jack?” I turned my head. He wasn’t in his chair.
“He’s fine.”
“Actually fine, right? Not dead fine?”
He chuckled. “Yes, he’s actually fine. He’s walking it off right over there.” He inclined his head toward the hallway. And then he abruptly leaned down and kissed me, fast and firm, maybe impulse, maybe sheer relief. When he raised his head, we just blinked at each other.
More. It almost came out of my mouth.
But then Asa glanced at something over his shoulder and cleared his throat. “I’m gonna untie you now, okay?”
I nodded, stun
ned, glancing around to see a bloody cloth next to my face. “What the—”
“It got a little dicey there for a minute.” He whipped the cloth out of sight. “You scared the shit out of me. But it stopped as soon as we got all the magic back in the relic.”
“And it’s time to go, Mr. Ward,” said a voice that jerked me out of my dazed, floaty reverie.
“No,” I said, abruptly remembering Sean and Rob and what they were about to do.
Asa took my hand and pulled me up. “It’s gonna be okay, Mattie.”
“No.” My feet hit the floor, and I wobbled over to Sean, who was standing in the doorway. Behind him, out in the hallway, I could see Rob leaning nonchalantly against the wall, texting as Jack paced. Our conduit looked ashen in the wake of our transaction, but his strides were steady.
Sean watched me with amusement as I approached. He was holding the briefcase they had brought the Strikon relic in. “Looking better already, Ms. Carver.”
“Frank Brindle is getting two original relics today, including the Sensilo. Why would he need Asa when he has that?”
“Not really my job to figure that out. I just follow orders.”
“You are not taking him,” I said shrilly.
“You gonna stop me?” He checked his watch and then leaned forward to look down my shirt before I could reel back. “I guess that could be kind of fun.”
“She’s not gonna do anything.” Asa slid his arm around my waist. He turned me around and took me by the shoulders. He looked sick, his cheeks hollow, sweat dripping from his chin. “Eat some french fries for me tonight, all right? And take good care of Gracie. Tell her I love her.”
I glanced down at his pockets, praying he had a secret weapon stashed in there. “Tell me what to do,” I whispered.
Asa glanced at Sean, who had one hand tucked behind his back—probably on whatever weapon he had holstered back there. “Be good,” he said as he turned back to me. He started to reach into his pocket but had a gun shoved against the back of his head in the next second.
“Seriously?” snapped Sean. “Now you’re just pissing me off.”