by A. J. Macey
“Dammit.” The deep, harsh voice coming from Chase sounded nothing like him, and I immediately pulled my gun from its holster. An ice-cold stare met my suspicious one, the tension between us ratcheting up before Chase’s smile reappeared, only this time it seemed a bit forced.
“Hey, Kittycat…”
“Hi,” I greeted hesitantly, drawing out the word and wondering what the fuck was happening right now. “So, uh, what the hell was that?” I blurted out. Hey, no one ever said I was good at this whole being diplomatic thing, people, so don’t turn those judgy eyes on me.
“Well, that’s actually a funny story…” he started. I hummed skeptically and waited for him to talk. “I have DID.”
“Have the what, now?”
“Dissociative Identity Disorder. I have an alter. His name’s Ciar, and he’s not that friendly, so he likes to stay up here most of the time and sulk,” Chase rambled quickly, tapping the side of his head as he talked. “He doesn’t really come out, so you shouldn’t have to worry about him. So, yeah… how are you, Kittycat?” He tried to redirect the conversation, ’cause you know, when in doubt, reroute, but I wasn’t dropping something this big.
“Does it normally affect you? Like your everyday life? Because we can get you help, if you want?” I offered in an awkward attempt to show I cared. This whole feeling things and shit really was not my forte.
“No, he just hangs out up there, throwing around violent ideas when it suits his fancy,” Chase explained. The statement threw up a giant red flag, my grip tightening on my gun.
“Is he going to try and hurt me?” I asked. “Because I really don’t want to shoot you, my little assassin.” Chase shook his head violently before darting over to me and cupping my cheeks.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you, Kittycat. Not even him,” he promised. I looked up at Chase, my mind at war with my heart, battling on whether to trust him. Flashes of our time together over the last couple months flared in my mind, only one telling me he was a danger to me.
"That was Ciar, the night you came to kill me." It wasn't a question it was a statement. The cold gleam and deadly smile he had given me when we had locked eyes in the front hall were burned in my brain.
"Yes," he answered anyway, not even bothering to counter or make excuses. He stood still, his icy blue eyes focused solely on my face and nowhere else as he waited for me to make my decision.
“Do you have control over him?”
“No one has control over Ciar, but he doesn’t like people, so he lets me be the main. If you’re worried about him, you should know we agreed the moment you decided to let us stay that keeping you in our life was something we both wanted.” My cheerful assassin changed right before my eyes. A pair of cold, calculating eyes watched me, my heart pounding wildly in my chest as Ciar held my face in his hands.
One… two… three brushes of his thumbs across my cheeks in the softest touch I had ever felt from someone so cold slowed my erratic heart and soothed the adrenaline that had flared in my veins.
“All right,” I hedged, my gaze narrowing on Ciar, “but I will shoot you if you come after me.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he murmured. The happy tone of Chase’s words had turned to the gruff, hard, and deep of Ciar’s, but before he could say anything else he gave control back to Chase, the transformation obvious as day and night.
“Okay, my little assassin, I’ll trust you,” I stated, taking a deep breath to still the remnants of my flight or fight response.
“Good, I don’t want you to shoot us. Although, seeing you with your gun out and ready to kick some ass is making me pretty hot,” he murmured.
“Oh, really? Maybe we can go to the range and… practice… together,” I offered, my lips brushing against him as I popped onto my toes. His sinful smile was the only answer I needed.
Time to go blow some shit up and fuck until I can’t walk.
A cold breeze brought me back to the present before I slipped back into my seat and buckled up, turning the heat of the car up to chase away the shivers from the desert’s cool night air. The drive was quick, and we were home within a short few minutes. Checking my phone, I flipped through my messages, responding to the guys to let them know we were home, feeling warm when they said they’d be back in about an hour. After I walked upstairs and into my room to change, something felt off. I immediately stopped and glanced around, looking for anything that was out of place.
“What’s wrong?” Chase asked when he stepped into the room behind me, sensing the tension in my body as I scanned.
“I’m not sure,” I murmured, unwilling to speak too loudly and disturb the strange sensation that something was off.
“Let’s go check the cameras,” he suggested as he nudged my arm with his fingers signaling to follow him. I hesitated, making one last pass but coming up with nothing. Sighing, I turned and followed him down the stairs and through our living room. Keeping an eye out, I continued to scan the house as we made our way around to the hidden room. Now that I noticed it, something felt off in my house. The hairs on the back of my neck rose, and a niggle of suspicion wormed into my stomach and chest the more my eyes swept the spaces.
Chase opened the wall and stepped into the security room, immediately sinking into the chair at the wall of monitors. Typing at his normal lightning speed, he pulled up the time on the cameras from when we all left the house. Putting the feed on fast forward, I watched the boys leave in a row toward the compound before watching Chase and I go through a few hours of working in the basement. Finally, we hit the point where we were getting ready and eventually leaving the house to head to Euphoria.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing was on the cameras from when we left until we came home.
“Something is off,” I muttered leaning forward to place my hands on the desktop. Chase rewound the feed for me to watch, again and again.
“If you’re concerned, Kittycat, I can send it to one of my contacts to see if there was any tampering,” Chase suggested after I glared at the same empty house for the fifth time.
“Do it,” I commanded, stepping away from the monitors. “I don’t know what, but something happened in our house, and I want to fucking know what. Or who,” I bit out the last part, thinking about all of the enemies who could have entered our home.
“Let’s try and get some sleep, Kittycat,” he murmured softly after sending the feed to whoever he was having analyze it. I sighed but obliged him anyway.
But when I find out who was in my house?
They’re dead.
Chapter 11
May 22nd
Wednesday Early Morning
Kiera
Chase was on his way to the compound, and I had just gotten a text from Brooks and Garrett saying they would be here in a little while. So, currently in the bar? It was me, myself, and I. Well, it was until I heard a familiar set of thudding footsteps.
“Good morning,” I sign-songed to Stone who was glaring at nothing in particular. As per usual. “How are you?” His ebony eyes finally shifted to me, his head bowing to look down at me from his standing position.
“Why are you so cheerful?” he grouched.
I popped up off the stool and before I could think about what I was doing, I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. Why did I just do that? my brain screamed at me. In an attempt to save face, I moved around him as if nothing was odd about kissing him. It shouldn’t be, I mean, he agreed to date me.
“Because free alcohol?” I tried to joke, waving the bottle of whiskey I had just picked up to refill my glass making sure to set one on the counter for Stone. He gave me a skeptical eyebrow raise but didn’t push. “You never answered my question, how are you?” He might not be willing to push, but I sure as fuck am.
“It’s fucking seven in the damned morning, how do you think?” he muttered, taking a sip of his drink. “Thanks, by the way,” he mumbled, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from widening at him. “What?” he huffed, sett
ing his glass on the bar.
“You… you just said thanks…” I think my brain had broken, finding myself unable to string a full sentence together at Stone thanking me. I suddenly understood Abby’s reaction to seeing me at the cafe, it’s a fucking shock to the system when people act out of character. “I… uh…” I stumbled over my words.
“Well, you poured me a drink, so yes I thanked you,” he said softly, confused as to why I was so dumbstruck.
I finally regained my ability to think, but I couldn’t stop myself from blurting out, “Yes, but you hate me.” Stone’s hand came up and rubbed his head which was more scalp than short cropped graying hair.
“I don’t hate you.”
Holding his gaze, I realized he wasn’t bullshitting me and that he actually meant it.
Wow.
Never thought that would happen.
“It’s because you want all of this, don’t you?” I teased wanting to move away from such intense conversation as I waved my free hand toward my body. When in doubt, reroute the conversation.
Expecting Stone to scoff or roll his eyes like I was used to, he surprised me yet again. A heated gaze dragged down my body leisurely, taking in every inch of my tattooed skin and curves. My blood sparked at the intense eye-fucking he was giving me, my pussy throbbing at the sexual waves that poured off him instead of his usual frustration and annoyance. As his eyes drifted back up my body, I leaned forward to put my hands on the bar, my tits arching toward him at the movement.
“All you have to do is say so,” I whispered, desire thick within my words. “Although, if you storm off next time, I’ll stab you.” At that he chuckled, leaning forward to match me, the rough tips of his fingers barely brushing mine.
“Next time, I plan on taking my sweet time with you, Brat.” I couldn’t hold back the slight moan that bubbled up at his declaration. Unfortunately, before I could drag him over the bar top to do just that, the door to the bar opened to reveal Brooks, Garrett, Nate, and Chase all streaming in.
“No one has been stabbed this time, right?” Brooks asked with a stern look at both of us.
Glancing back at Stone, I smirked, my mind still in the gutter at our previous banter. Not this time.
“Nope, but the day is early, I could feel stabby at any time,” I piped in, flashing everyone a bright smile. Brooks snorted skeptically as his eyes darted between us, but he let it go when he realized I was telling the truth.
“Hey, Kittycat.” Chase practically laid his body on the top of the bar to give me a kiss. “Good to see you making nice. Didn’t think you had it in you,” he teased with a happy smile, a hint of laughter in his steel eyes. I groaned and shoved him off the bar, his laughter filling the space as he righted himself.
“Can I get some, Kiera?” Nate questioned pointing toward the bottle I had next to me.
“Sure.” I obliged and poured him a quick glass before doing the same for the rest of my guys. Garrett took his quietly, his dark circles slightly less prominent this morning as he gave me a tiny grin. “All right, so what did everyone find?”
“That you have the patience of a god if you can stay and stakeout a place like we did yesterday,” Brooks responded with a groan, his hands digging around in his pocket. I perked up at the compliment.
“Damn right I do,” I said proudly before I caught sight of what Brooks just laid out on the bar top. Napkins. A shit ton of napkins with scribbles on them. My jaw dropped as I gingerly picked one up and looked at it. There was a bulleted list of notes I told them to take along with times and general locations. “Napkins? What are you, five? Do you not have normal people paper?” I huffed, shaking the scraps of paper in the air at them.
“It was the best we had,” Brooks defended himself, his hands coming up in a disarming fashion.
I sighed and collected the giant stack. Note to self: get the boys big kid notebooks. I flipped through them, reading quickly and memorizing everything they had noted. I had to bite my lip when I came across two different little doodles of the compound, each clearly had been drawn by two different people. Okay, I admitted to myself, that was pretty cute, and for newbies, they were pretty thorough.
Don’t tell the assholes I said that though.
“Here’s some photos of what we could see,” he offered, handing me his cell.
“What about you guys?” I asked Stone and Nate since I knew they had been on different tasks yesterday.
“Contact thinks they can get it all set up in time. Got news, about half of the Alloy Kings plan on hitting the drop including their president and VP,” Nate offered. His bushy beard had grown longer making it shake even more as he talked.
“I got some blueprints,” Stone said, pulling out a folded piece of paper with a miniature version of their compound’s blueprints, “but I couldn’t find much in terms of rumors or anything like that. Their security is half-ass too.”
I nodded. Not surprising. Taking the sheet from his outstretched hand, I scanned it quickly, something on it catching my eye. Pulling up the photo of the compound, I placed it next to the layout.
“What is it?” Garrett leaned forward realizing I had found something.
“How old is this blueprint layout, Stone?” I glanced up at him pointing at the paper.
“It’s from their original plans back when it was built in the 1970s,” he offered.
“No updated plans or anything?” He shook his head. “Because this building right here,” I tapped the building to the left on the blueprint that coordinated to Brooks’ photo, “is not the size specified in the plans. It’s at least fifteen feet longer.”
“How do you know that?” Brooks joined Garrett at looking at the photo and map before giving me a questioning look.
“I have to know distances and spatial awareness well enough to calculate it in my sleep,” I teased. “This building—the one Bryce and Ronnie boy went to and from a lot—I’d bet my vaults that that is where their office is at or where their shit is kept.” They were silent for a brief time, their eyes attempting to see what I could, but eventually they both gave up and nodded.
“I’ll take your word for it. What did you guys find?” Brooks looked between Chase and me.
“Got the layout and security notes for Euphoria,” I offered unwilling to share the rest of the night with them yet. We had enough problems right now to worry about my weird Spidey senses going off. “We can get that figured out, but first, what’s the plan to handle the Alloy Kings?” I listened carefully to their ideas, my brain moving a thousand miles a minute flipping through timing, possible problems, essentially anything that could go wrong, and I did not like the odds we were facing.
“So essentially it’s hit it now or lose the chance?” Chase summed up for everyone, the Aces’ officers nodding in answer. I sighed. This was a terrible idea, but if what I had in mind worked it would cut at least half of the issues from the plan.
“Stone.” I waited until he looked at me to continue. “Do you know someone in the police department?”
“Yes.” His answer was hesitant as his eyes narrowed on me. “Why?”
“Would you be able to set up something with ’em?” I was met with silence as all five men eyed me with curiosity.
“You want to… contact the police?” Nate questioned slowly as if he didn’t think I’d really just said that.
“Right now, it’s almost forty Alloy Kings and sixty Aces not including Chase or me,” I outlined. “Do you really like those odds?”
“Of course not, but I don’t exactly want the cops sniffing around,” Brooks scoffed.
“I didn’t say they’d be sniffing around, Boss,” I huffed before turning to Stone. “If he were to, I don’t know, get tipped off about the Alloy Kings getting a merch drop, would he be able to pull together an ambush?”
He must have gotten where I was going with this because he gave me a tiny smile. “You want to set up half the Alloy Kings.”
I flashed a smug smile. “Why risk our numbers whe
n there are cops who are dying to take down a local motorcycle gang?” I laughed. “It’d be a score they wouldn’t want to pass up.”
“Where would the merch come from?” Garrett asked, glancing between us.
“We did just steal a bunch of drugs and weapons from them.” Chase took over in an excited tone. “Why not just put a portion of that toward it? Even half of what we got from them is enough to put them away for life.”
“Damn.” Nate exhaled a laugh looking cheerful. “That’s fucking brilliant.”
“That will just leave the half at the compound to handle,” I added, selling the updated plan. “Think you can get that set up?”
“It’ll be tough, but he wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity like this.” Stone nodded.
“The other half is basically just us coming in and getting them to disband?” Chase joined in, his question directed at Brooks who nodded.
He glanced between us until we both agreed. “I don’t see how they would want to go up against Skill Shot and The Cat while they’re backed by The Aces.”
The officers spent the next little while chatting about random things I wasn’t paying attention to, my brain too lost in calculations for any and all possible issues. After a few moments, I turned my attention to Chase who was tapping his fingers on his jacket sleeve lightly and staring aimlessly at the bar.
I knew that motion.
When he glanced up I was looking at the cruel smile of Ciar, his eyes promising blood, pain, and death.
I would hate to be the Alloy Kings.
May 22nd
Wednesday Night
Stone
The sun had long since gone down as I leaned against my bike, the cool night wind biting against my bare arms. The only lighting where I was parked was the ambient glow from Reno and the stars in the sky. Checking my watch, I noted I only had a few more minutes before my police contact showed up. Right on the top of the hour, an unmarked black SUV rolled up next to me.