He raised his eyes to meet hers as she spoke his name. It caused a thrill to run along every nerve in his body.
“Yes, love?”
Lily’s stomach flipped over the term of endearment spoken so softly on his lips.
“I... you’ve been great, really... and I was wondering if you would... I kinda need a favor.” She paused. His brow arched. “Can you help me?”
“Help you what?”
“Settle here... in New York. I don’t want to end up in some back alley cockroach infested motel.” She felt sick with nerves and anticipation as she asked, part of her fearing he would say no.
Cain thought that was the least of her problems. He was more worried about her winding up as a prostitute or dead.
“I can find you a place to stay and I have a mate who could probably give you a job as a waitress in his club. Anything else?” He kept telling himself it would be for the best. He’d find her somewhere to live and she’d be out of his life. Only it didn’t seem to be sinking in.
Lily looked awkward. He’d already offered her so much that she felt it was rude to ask for more but necessity forced her to speak up. “Clothes?”
“Right. Can’t have you wearing the same outfit forever.” Cain ran his eyes down the length of her body and parted his lips slightly, letting the cigarette smoke curl lazily out of his mouth.
“Cain?” Lily felt hot where his gaze was resting on one of her hands. She moved it off her knee and noticed his eyes followed it. Something about what he said next and the hunger in his eyes set her on edge.
“Here’s the deal.” Cain snapped himself out of his thoughts and stubbed his cigarette out, his tone becoming business-like.
She tensed and he chuckled.
“Nothing like that.” He cocked his head to one side. Her expression turned awkward. “I’ll lend you money for clothes, find you a place and get you a job.”
“What do I have to do in return?” Lily asked shakily. Clearly, she wasn’t convinced that he was being one hundred percent honest with her. He knew what she thought he was after.
He curled his tongue up against his front teeth and read the panic in her eyes. It would have been so easy for him to say what she was thinking, to tell her to go to his bedroom and wait for him, but the thought of her whoring herself, even to him, made his stomach turn. He wasn’t that type of man. He only wanted a woman if she wanted him in return. When it came to her, he wanted to protect her from reality, himself included.
“Pay me back. Whatever money I give you, I want it back. No ridiculous interest rates or tricks. Plain and simple. I’ll get you a job, each week you can pay me back whatever you can afford to.”
“Sounds like a deal. You’ll get your money back.” There was such a look of relief in her eyes as she smiled at him and then finished her muffin.
As he turned around and checked the coffee machine, Lily’s eyes wandered across his shoulders and down to where his waist dipped in. From the angle he was at, she could see the muscles in his right forearm working as he poured two mugs of coffee. They seemed to writhe under his pale skin, twisting with each move he made. When he turned back to face her, she moved her eyes up to his bicep and a smile played on her lips at the sight of it all tensed up. A long vein weaving its way down to his elbow caught her attention and as she followed it, she noticed he was holding something. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him. He was patiently waiting for her to take the mug of coffee from him.
“Sorry.” She reached over and took the mug out of his hand.
“No worries, sweetheart.” Cain used the time it took to drink the coffee down to steady his heartbeat. It had gone off the scale when he’d noticed her staring at him with a fascinated look in her eyes.
Placing the mug down beside him, he pushed off from the counter and started toward the living room. He listened to the sound of Lily hopping down and following him.
“Think you can keep yourself entertained?” He gave her a small smile.
She settled down on the couch and looked at him.
“Why, where are you going?” She looked confused.
“Got to see a guy about a job. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. There’s daytime telly and stuff to keep you occupied.” Cain glanced at the clock in the corner. “Frasier is on in twenty.”
“Frasier?” A stunned look settled on her face. “You seriously watch that crap?”
“Little more complex than you had me down as, eh?” He chuckled again.
“Little.” She grinned.
He couldn’t help smiling back at her.
He grabbed his long leather coat and slipped it on. His eyes scanned the apartment, and they settled on the spare room door. The last thing he needed was Lily getting overly curious about the contents of that room. She hadn’t been here twenty-four hours and he’d already caught her near it three times. It wasn’t like he could tell her to keep away from it, telling her that would only give her a more solid reason to be curious about it. Drumming his fingers against his legs, he realized that she was looking up at him. He looked down at her and pointed to the television, smiling as she rolled her eyes and picked up the remote control.
“If the phone rings, don’t answer it.” He began walking towards the door. When he turned around, he saw she was kneeling on the cushions and watching him, her elbows resting on the back of the couch. She looked so young when she did that, like a little kid.
He sighed at the smile she was giving him—like he was some kind of hero. It made him hate himself, and he realized the real reason behind why he was helping her. He was looking for redemption. Some part of him wanted forgiveness for the things he had done and it believed that if he helped the girl in front of him, then his feet would find their way back to the path that led to a normal life—one with love, a house, a regular job and all the small things he felt that he was missing out on in his existence.
“I won’t.” She smiled.
He wished he could smile back at her, but it wouldn’t come.
“If someone buzzes or knocks on the door...” he started.
“Wait... let me guess... don’t answer it.” She giggled and smiled wide.
He felt as though the whole room had just been lit with a thousand candles. The brightness and warmth of her smile was dazzling.
“Right. Just... stay safe.” Opening the front door, he started to walk through it.
“I am safe... now.”
He heard her just before he closed the door, her words causing a smile to dance on his lips as another piece of his barrier came tumbling down.
Walking down the stairs, he wondered if she’d say that if she knew the truth about last night, if she knew just why he’d been in the alley in the small hours of the morning.
Moments before he’d run into her, he’d been up on the roof, settled into the corner and waiting for his target to make a move. A limousine had been parked up around the bend from where he’d met her. He’d been watching it, waiting for his mark to make an appearance. His job on this occasion was to take out the driver, allowing someone else to take his place so they could get information on the contract target—his movements, places he went to, his strengths and weaknesses.
It was recon, but with a twist since he’d had to kill the driver. He’d had no problem with that. It was just another contract and another pay cheque. The rain had caused a few problems with the gun. The silencer on it wasn’t playing nice, and he’d had to make a decision between whether to call off the hit or continue without it. He’d thought that no one would be around, that it would be safe to proceed. That was when things had gone really wrong.
Just as he’d taken his shot and watched the driver slump onto the wet floor of the alleyway, a man had walked past. At this point, he hadn’t panicked. It was only when the man turned out to be one of New York’s finest that he’d made a run for it.
He’d called off the rest of the mission as he’d pounded down the fire escape, telling his second that there was no way to finish the job and that
the contract target would know something was going on. Either that or they would believe the driver had been a victim of mugging. Cain still hoped it was the latter, because the pay on the main contract was big enough to set him up for life.
He had barely finished dismantling as much as possible of his Dragunov rifle when he’d dropped the seven feet to the floor in the alley. It had been at this point that he’d noticed the girl, standing in the pouring rain, half freezing to death and staring up the alley towards the bend. He’d been shocked at first but instinct had told him to move, and move he had.
Only he’d somehow ended up bringing her with him.
Cain pushed the main doors of his building open and stepped out into the bright sunshine as he slipped his sunglasses on. The clouds of last night had moved on, leaving behind a crisp and clear New York winter’s day. It was days like these he loved, days when he could forget all the bad things and lose himself in his beautiful city. He looked back up at the floor his apartment was on before setting off on his different kind of mission.
Or a beautiful girl.
* * *
Lily sat curled up on the couch and watching the television. She’d watched a double bill of Frasier and was now working her way through every channel on his cable. She felt as though she was being watched. Something kept drawing her eyes back to the locked room, and she cursed herself for being so curious about it.
“Leave it alone,” she said to herself as way of proving that she was above being interested in the contents of the room. “It’s a room. So, he locks it. Sarah used to lock her wardrobe all the time.”
She frowned at those words. Her sister Sarah did indeed lock her cupboards all the time and all the time she’d locked them, Lily had tried to find out what was in them.
Standing up, she stretched and looked around the room, and then at the clock. There were still a few minutes before Cain was due back at the apartment. She’d got the impression that when he said a couple of hours, he meant it. He looked like the type that was always on time.
She stared at the blinds and considered opening them, but something about the way he’d dropped them all last night made her stomach squirm and set her on edge. He seemed to have been under the impression that their being open was a very bad thing, as though it put him in danger or he was being watched. Standing near one of the sets of blinds, she peered around the edge of it, looking into the street below her. It seemed to be just a regular street with cars driving up and down it in the sunshine. Her hand instantly pulled on the string, letting the light come flooding into the room. The change was dramatic. It went from cold and dank to warm and vibrant in a split second. She smiled and sat back down on the couch, deciding to leave the other blind closed so Cain could only be half mad at her.
When he walked through the front door, she turned to look at him. He was carrying several plastic bags and had a cigarette perched on his lips. He frowned at the window, and for a moment she thought he was going to close the curtains.
Cain didn’t check her on the blinds. It would raise too many questions about his reasons for having them closed. Instead, he moved across the room to the other couch and sat down in a spot where he felt safe.
He stubbed out his cigarette and held a plastic bag out to her. She took it from him and peered inside. She gave him a questioning look and he waved his hand in a gesture that told her to open the two envelopes the bag contained. As she pulled the first envelope out of the bag, he took a box out of the bag he was holding and opened it. He lit another cigarette before proceeding to pull out the various bits of the cell phone.
He stopped when he realized she was just staring at him. When he raised his eyes and looked at her, she blinked as though she’d been in a trance. Her gaze fell back to the envelope and she peeled it open.
When Lily peeked inside the smaller of the envelopes, a wad of cash was staring back at her. Her heart fluttered at the amount he was willing to loan her. There must have been nearly a thousand dollars sitting in her hands.
“Cain, I can’t... it’s too much.” She saw a flicker of hurt in his eyes before he covered it up.
“Sure you can. You have to pay me back, so there’s no problem... I know you’ll be good for it.”
“How?” She couldn’t stop herself from questioning the level of trust he was giving her.
“Other envelope.” He nodded towards it and continued to fit the phone together.
Lily stared down at the other, larger, envelope on her lap. Picking it up, she opened it and tipped the contents out. The only thing in it was a business card. On the front of it was written ‘Club Infinity’ and on the back, someone had scrawled tomorrow’s date and a time. She looked at Cain, and he smiled as he finished putting the phone together.
“There’s your new life, sweetheart. Bloke who runs the place is a mate of mine. He’s a good man. He’ll take care of you. It’s a waitress job, but it’s better than nothing, and you’ll be safe there.”
Her insides warmed through at his words. His wide smile and the tender look in his eyes told her that he was being sincere, and she got the feeling that he genuinely cared about her welfare.
“Right...” He held the phone up and her eyes moved to settle on it. “This is for you. My number is in it along with the club’s number. Take it with you everywhere. Right now, take it shopping... get yourself some clothes. I’ll drop you in town.”
She’d been happy until he’d said the word ‘drop’.
“You’re not coming with me?” She took the phone from him and toyed with it nervously. She wasn’t exactly sure why the thought of him leaving her had her so scared, but it did.
“I can’t, you have your new boss to thank for that. He’s just moved into a new place and was looking to rent out his old one, so I’m going to check it out. Bastard will drive a hard bargain, though. When I get it, I’ll call you and give you the address. You get a cab to it and I’ll meet you there. Okay?” Cain tilted his head to one side as she smiled at him, her lips softening into a curve.
“Sure. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s shopping and getting cabs... but... Cain...”
“Mmm, love?” He stubbed his cigarette out and raised both his eyebrows at her as she chewed her lower lip. He stared at it blankly as it turned red.
“Thanks... for everything... you don’t know me and I can’t believe you’re doing all this, for me, for a girl you only met yesterday, it’s incredible. I feel like the luckiest girl on earth to have met you. I just wanted you to know this means so much to me... a new start in life, being around someone who cares about what happens to me.” She blushed as his eyes narrowed on hers.
“Anytime, Lily. When you’re in the new place, we’ll see about getting you furniture and stuff so your new life is the best it can be.” He couldn’t stop himself from feeling drawn to her as she smiled again, her eyes sparkling at him as he looked into them.
“Well, it’s off to a pretty amazing start. Thanks.”
He cheeks burned as he averted his eyes.
“Best get going,” he mumbled and stood.
He felt like a teenager with a crush, not the cold-blooded killer that he was. She seemed to bring something out in him that he’d not felt in so long. She made him want to feel. When he was around her, the world was warm and colorful, not cold and blank. He swallowed hard as he watched her stand and put the money in her purse. She was going to spend money, his money, blood money, and she didn’t know it. She thought he was sweet and kind, just a nice guy, and now he wished he was, because avoiding telling her the truth about himself got harder every time she smiled at him and knocked another of his barriers down.
* * *
Chapter 3
Lily stretched and yawned, feeling tired and sated from her afternoon of shopping in New York. She’d never realized that there were so many good shops in Manhattan. It was like being back in the malls of Los Angeles, only outside in the fresh winter air. All afternoon as she’d shopped, she’d continually checked
her phone. She’d played with it as she’d sat in a café drinking cappuccinos and stared at it when she’d walked in the park.
Two hours ago, he’d finally phoned her. She’d been staring at the window display of Tiffany’s at the time and had jumped when her cell had rung. Taking it out of her bag, she’d smiled as she’d seen his name on the caller ID and flicked it open to answer it. Now she was at the apartment building. One of her new neighbors had let her in, and she’d found the key where Cain had said it would be.
Now, she was waiting for him to show up.
Her phone chirruped and she grabbed it.
“Hi.” She beamed into the phone as though he could see her.
“Hello, love.” His voice was low and gruff as he answered her.
Her chest ached again over him calling her ‘love’.
“Where are you?” She placed both hands on the phone and clutched it to her ear as she waited for his answer.
“Stood outside the bloody building. I’m buzzing but nobody’s home, either that or you don’t want to let me in.”
Lily leaned over the edge of the roof and yelled down at him, a wide smile on her lips as she giggled internally. “Cain!”
He looked up and squinted, his hand coming up to shield his eyes from the low evening sun.
“Bloody hell, Lily, don’t lean over. I don’t think I’d be able to catch you if you fell.”
She moved away from the edge and bit her lip. He’d sounded so concerned about her safety that her stomach had flipped and she’d not been able to stop herself from obeying.
“You coming up?” she said quietly.
“Sure thing.”
She peered down at him as someone came out of the building and he disappeared inside.
“Hurry then.”
Lying on her back on a sun recliner, she waited for him to appear and watched the sky rapidly changing colors, going from blue to green to orange as the sun slowly set.
Cain pushed the door open and came to a halt as soon as he saw her. She’d tied her hair up loosely, twisting it around a pair of chopsticks, and her lips shined red with gloss. She was dressed in a camel colored roll neck sweater and dark brown jeans. His heart ran away with him as his eyes roamed over her body, from the tips of her black boots to her honey blonde hair. He swallowed hard at the impact she had on him and reeled his feelings in.
Killing Game Page 3