Shadow Bound (Unbound)

by Rachel Vincent

  “Go away, Vanessa. This isn’t social hour and I don’t need your fu—” I’m not sure why I swallowed the word. I didn’t give a damn about that stupid bet, and I’d consider us all lucky if Ian hadn’t already called Jake and told him what I’d said. What I’d done. “I don’t want to play group therapy.”

  “I understand. Just let me say one more thing, and I’ll let it go.”

  “If you say it wasn’t my fault, I’m going to punch you in the face.” And I meant it. I wasn’t in denial and I had no patience for stupid therapeutic clichés. Or for therapy at all, for that matter.

  “That’s true, but it’s not what I was going to say.” She leaned on the counter with both elbows and looked right into my eyes. “I was going to say that it will get better. Eventually, there will be days when you won’t think about it. Days you won’t see his face when you close your eyes.”

  “I don’t see his face when I close my eyes,” I insisted, pouring another inch of vodka over the melting ice cubes. My flashbacks were all pain and the stench of his sweat. His breath. The fact that I hadn’t been able to see well enough to focus on his face was the only mercy. “But I do see him when they’re open. I see him every day, and every day I want to kill him. And one day I will.”

  “Do you think that will fix it?” Van asked, and it took me a second to realize she was honestly curious. “Will killing him make you feel better?”

  “I don’t know. And I doubt it matters. If I get the chance to kill him, it’ll be the last thing I ever do.” Because Jake would have me killed for killing his brother. “But at least he’ll get to hell before I do.”

  * * *

  After Vanessa went back to bed—Kenley slept through our entire conversation—I lay awake in my room, trying to assess the damage I’d done to both my life and my sister’s. Based on the fact that no one had burst into the apartment to haul us out, I had to assume that Ian hadn’t reported the night’s events yet. But there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t, and I had to be prepared for that very real possibility.

  I needed a plan. Even worse than that, I needed a way out, if not for me, at least for Kenley.

  The next morning, after a scant four hours of sleep, I waited until I heard Kenley get in the shower—I could tell it was her by the off-key singing—then I hurried into the kitchen, where Vanessa was starting a pot of coffee.

  “How much do you love my sister?” I asked, sliding onto a bar stool in front of her.

  She eyed me from across the counter. “As tempted as I am to demonstrate how incredibly none-of-your-business that is…” She set the bag of coffee grounds between us and met my gaze head-on. “I love her enough to be terrified that her feelings aren’t as strong.”

  “And what if that’s true? Do you love her enough to protect her even if she doesn’t love you as much as you love her? Do you love her enough to fight for her?”

  Vanessa tied her robe at her waist and planted both hands flat on the counter between us. “Kori, my dad sold me into the skin trade as a teenager,” she said, and for a second, I couldn’t think beyond the horror that thought brought with it. “Your sister is one of only two good things to happen to me since I was fifteen. The other was Cam Caballero. I lost my best friend when he left, and Kenley is the only thing I have left. I would do anything for her.”

  I smiled in relief. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

  “Should I be worried?” she asked, pouring grounds into the filter.

  “Terrified. We all should be.” I took a deep breath, then launched into a quick summary of the trouble my sister and I were in. “If I can’t get Ian Holt to sign with Jake in the next couple of days, I’m under orders to…make sure he can’t sign with anyone else. And if that happens, Jake will have me executed.” Though I doubt I’d be lucky enough to score a simple bullet to the brain. “But not before he puts Kenley in the basement. He’s going to make her pay for my failure.”

  Vanessa dropped the bag and coffee grounds spilled out onto the counter. “I assume you have a plan?”

  “Not much of one. I need you to stay with her today and text me if there’s so much as a knock on the door. Text me if you guys go anywhere and let me know who he sends as security.” Because Kenley wasn’t allowed out alone. “And if her guard gets a text or phone call, let me know.”

  “Why?” Vanessa scooped most of the spilled grounds into her cupped palm, then dropped them into the trash. “Why today?”

  “Because last night I messed up, and if Holt tells anyone, we’re all screwed.”

  “Okay, so why don’t we just run? Or hide, if we’re not allowed to run,” she said, and I had to remind myself that Vanessa was unSkilled, and even though she worked for and was bound to Jake, she wasn’t as familiar with my world as she should have been. As she’d need to be, to help protect Kenley.

  “Because if Jake tries to get in touch with Kenley and can’t find her, he’ll know something’s wrong and he’ll send them after us. Why set off an alarm when we may not have to? Holt obviously hasn’t told anyone yet.”

  “Do you think he will?”

  “I don’t know. And it may be worse if he doesn’t.” After what I’d told him, I couldn’t imagine Ian being willing to sign with Jake, no matter what he hoped to gain in the negotiations. And him refusing to sign would be much worse than just tattling on me. “But either way, if someone comes for Kenley, I need you to take her and run. Don’t look back and don’t stop for anything. Don’t use public transportation or credit cards. And destroy your phones. Steal whatever you need, and get out of town, then call me from a pay phone. If I don’t answer, call my brother. Kenley knows his number.”

  “What if he doesn’t answer?”

  If Kris didn’t answer, that would mean Jake had already gotten to him, too. He wasn’t syndicate, so he’d be harder for Jake to find than I would be, but Jake would find him, and he’d use Kris to get to Kenley.

  He’d use anything and anyone to get to Kenley.

  “If Kris doesn’t answer, keep running and don’t look back.”

  Vanessa nodded solemnly. She looked scared but determined, and I felt a little better knowing that I’d made the right call in enlisting her help. Other than me and Kris, no one would work harder to protect Kenley.

  The shower stopped running in the bathroom, and I leaned closer to Van over the counter. “Don’t tell her about this unless you have to run,” I whispered. “She’ll put herself in Jake’s path if she thinks it’ll help me.”

  Vanessa nodded again, and this time she wasn’t just watching me, she was studying me. “I never had a sister…” she said, and I wondered how her life would have been different if she’d had someone to look out for growing up. Or someone to look out for her.

  The bathroom door opened and Van blinked, then slid the filter into place above the coffeepot.

  “Hey,” Kenley said, and I turned to find my sister standing in the doorway wrapped in a towel, her hair dripping on the floor. “You staying for breakfast? I’m thinking omelets.”

  “Can’t. I gotta grab a shower, then head out.” I brushed past her into the hall, then stopped and tugged her into my tiny bedroom with me. “Why didn’t you tell me about Vanessa?”

  Kenley frowned. “That I’m gay, or that she’s my girlfriend?”

  “That you’ve been together for three months. How could you get so serious with someone without even telling your sister you’re dating?”

  “We’re not really dating, exactly.” She flushed and glanced at the ground, where her toes had curled into the carpet, a nervous habit she’d had since she was a kid. “And I didn’t know if it would go anywhere at first. Then you disappeared, and I couldn’t tell you.”

  “I’ve been out for two weeks, and you never mentioned it.”

  “Yeah, I don’t have an excuse for that part.” Kenley shrugged, holding her towel closed at the seam. “And I really don’t know how serious this is. It still feels new.”

  I exhaled slow
ly, trying to decide how much I had a right to tell her. “She really likes you, Kenni,” I finally said. “And she hasn’t had it easy, so don’t hurt her. If you’re not serious, you owe it to her to tell her.”

  My sister eyed me skeptically. “This coming from a woman who loses interest in a fling before the sweat’s even dry.”

  “We’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you,” I said, but she wasn’t listening. She was too busy trying to catch a glimpse of Vanessa around my door frame.

  “Did she say that? She said she likes me?”

  “Just trust me. And trust her, if something goes wrong.”

  “What does that mean?” Kenley frowned up at me.

  “Nothing. I gotta get going.” I stepped around her and into the bathroom before she could argue. Twenty minutes later, clean and dressed, I stepped through the shadows in my room and into the darkness in Ian’s bathroom, my hair still damp from the shower.

  Heart pounding, I stood there for nearly a minute, listening for voices, or snoring, or footsteps. Anything to tell me where Ian was and whether or not he was alone. But I heard nothing.

  My pulse roaring in my ears, I pushed the door open and stepped into the suite. The bedroom and living room were empty. Had he left? Just completely bailed on Jake’s offer? If so, I was dead.

  I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms on my jeans, then walked silently down the hall and back into to the bedroom, intending to see if the sheets were still warm, and on the way, I glanced into the bathroom. I’d left the door open and the room was still empty, but his toothbrush lay on the counter.

  When I got to the bed, I threw back the comforter—and nearly shrieked in surprise.

  Ian was there, sound asleep, so motionless he could have been comatose. If not for the soft rise and fall of his chest, I might have thought he was dead.

  Ian groaned and reached down for the covers in his sleep, and I backed silently away from the bed. When he couldn’t find the covers, his eyes opened and he sat up slowly, one hand rubbing his forehead. He winced, then his eyes opened. He blinked. Then he turned and looked right at me.

  I froze, but he managed a smile. “Hey,” he said and flinched, like speaking hurt. Which made sense, considering the half-empty full-size bottle of whiskey on the nightstand. “You’ll have to give me a minute here. Gravity’s a real bitch this morning.”

  Sixteen

  Ian

  “You’re hungover,” Kori said, but there was no accusation in her voice. She sounded…relieved.

  “Little bit, yeah.” I ran one hand over my hair, then scrubbed my face, trying to wake up.

  “We have to talk.” She sank into a chair in the corner and sat with her hands in her lap, alternately staring at the floor and at me.

  “I don’t think I can manage more than single syllable words without some coffee. And maybe a shower.” And definitely a toothbrush.

  “I’ll make coffee.” She stood and looked at the open bathroom door, then headed for the hall.

  The shower felt good—dual massage heads—but I did not. I hadn’t been that drunk or that hungover in a long time.

  Soaked, dizzy and nauseated, I stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, and only then realized that my suitcase and all my clothes were in the living room. With Kori. Fortunately there was a fresh white terry-cloth robe hanging from the back of the bathroom door.

  Wrapped in the robe, I followed the scent of coffee into the living room to find Kori leaning against the counter over the minibar. I reached for the suitcase against one wall. “Just let me get—”

  “Did you tell him?” she interrupted, setting an empty coffee mug on the counter.

  “Did I tell who what?”

  “Jake. Did you tell him about last night? About what I told you?”

  I set the suitcase down, resisting the urge to close my eyes and slide down the wall to sit on the floor. “Think about how hungover I am now and how drunk I must have been last night and see if you can follow that thread of logic to its natural conclusion.”

  Kori rolled her eyes, and just watching that made me dizzy. “Quit talking like an asshole and just tell me. Please. Did you report me to Jake?”

  I crossed the room slowly, drawn as much by the thread of fear in her voice as by the promise of caffeine. “No. I haven’t spoken to anyone in the syndicate since we left the restaurant last night.” And frankly, I was a little insulted that she thought I would tattle on her, even though logically, I knew she had no reason to trust me.

  Kori took a deep breath, then met my gaze. “What will it take to keep you from reporting me?”

  I frowned and gripped the back of the couch for balance. “Are you trying to bribe me?”

  “I’m negotiating.” She opened the cabinet next to the minibar and pulled out a sugar dish full of packets of artificial sweetener. “And it’d be a lot easier if you’d give me a starting point.”

  “Why?” I sank into an armchair across from her, acutely aware that I was nude beneath the robe, and tried to catch her gaze again. “Why are you negotiating? Why do you live life like you’re constantly volleying for position or looking for an advantage? Life isn’t a contract to be negotiated, Kori.”

  “Mine is, and you’re only making that harder.”

  “Okay, if you don’t mind, I’m going to offer an amateur diagnosis.” I’d come into the room for underwear and wound up playing shrink instead. “But please keep in mind that I’m extremely hungover at the moment. Either the room is spinning around me, or I’m actually tilting in this chair.”

  “You’re tilting.” Kori tore open a sugar packet and a million tiny crystals spilled onto the counter. “What is it you think you’re diagnosing?”

  “Your life. Your problems. Because frankly, I think those are one and the same.”

  “Well, you got that much right.” She poured coffee into a second mug and dumped a packet of powdered creamer into it. “What’s your diagnosis?”

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes until the room stopped spinning. Then I met her gaze. “I think the reason you value the truth so highly, even when it hurts, is that you don’t experience much of it. Syndicate life seems to be lie after lie, strung together with cruel manipulation and brutal compulsion. So let me be completely honest with you for a moment.” Well, as honest as I could be without getting us both killed. “I like you. I like you a lot.”

  Her eyes widened, and I couldn’t tell if she was surprised by what I was saying, or by the fact that I was saying it at all.

  She started to reply, but I cut her off. I wasn’t done. “Yes, I wanted you to stay for a while last night, but not because I was playing some kind of sadistic game. I wanted you to stay because I like your company.”

  Kori stuck a stirrer in her coffee. “Now I know you’re lying.” But her grip on the mug was tense, like she didn’t want to believe her own words.

  “Why? Why is it so hard for you to believe that someone could want to be with you with no ulterior motive?”

  “Because it’s never happened.” She set the full pot on the coffee table in front of me, along with an empty mug. “Everyone wants something. Even my sister needs me for protection.”

  “Okay, but I bet she’d do as much for you as you’ve done for her, if she had the chance. Every now and then, someone may just want to be near you, Kori. Or do you honestly think Kenley would kick you out if you were no use to her?”

  “No. But she’s my sister. You’re…”

  “A job. I know.” And even hearing it from my own mouth stung a little. “But even if that’s all you see in me, that’s not all I see in you. I have no intention of reporting what happened last night to Tower. Nor will I report anything that happens today. I won’t tell him anything you don’t want me to. I swear on my life.”