Nobody_Does_It_Better_Kobo

by Lexi Blake

  Back to Josh for the last time.

  She opened the door and stopped in her tracks, realizing that perhaps she’d been the one to see only what she’d wanted to see. Because when things seemed too easy, they usually were exactly that—too easy. Too good to be true.

  Levi Green was standing in the doorway with three armed men. Before she could take a breath, he lifted his gun and shot Ezra Fain straight through the heart.

  Kayla watched him fall, Ezra’s eyes shocked as he hit his knees, hand going to his chest.

  Levi put a second one in his back. “For good measure, asshole. Bye, Fain. Gentlemen, don’t get blood on that dress. We’re going to need it. Hello, Kay. You ready to have some fun?”

  She started to fight, but someone shoved a needle in her arm. What was happening? The world went foggy and she couldn’t make her muscles work.

  Ezra was dead on the floor. Ezra…she’d gotten Ezra killed. Levi was here and that was a bad thing.

  Josh. Where was Josh?

  And then her eyes went wide because she saw someone she knew she would never see again. Someone she couldn’t see.

  That was the moment Kay knew she was dying, too.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Josh breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Kay walk back in the room. A few minutes later than he’d expected, but there she was whole and stunningly beautiful.

  He should have known she would pull it off.

  Somewhere deep down he realized he’d hoped she wouldn’t. Not that she would get in serious trouble, but that the op wouldn’t go off and they would need to try again.

  He wanted more time with her.

  “She is beautiful,” Hector said, passing him a glass of Scotch. “You’re a lucky man, Josh.”

  Kayla smiled at the man talking to her, snagging a glass of champagne. Now that she was done with the job, she would likely not be without a glass in her hand for the rest of the evening. Not that it would affect her. His girl could take down most men in a drinking contest.

  Not his.

  “I am indeed.” He wasn’t going to get into his relationship status with a drug lord. He took the glass, but he wasn’t going to drink it. It was a prop, nothing else. “I heard someone say you’re involved. I didn’t think you had a significant other.”

  There had been tons of rumors about Morales, and now that he was in on the secret he could see how all these people talked around the truth. It had been there, but he wasn’t very smart. How Hector must have laughed behind his back.

  He quelled the anger because Kayla was walking his way wearing that damn dress.

  He couldn’t forget the last time he’d taken that dress off her. It had been the day they’d gone shopping and he’d received the blackmail instructions and damn near killed that photographer. That was when he’d found out nothing on earth quelled his rage like dominating his sub.

  Kay gave him a bright smile. She walked right up to him, curling her free arm around his waist and leaning in. “Hello, Hector. This is an amazing party.”

  Her voice had gone low and husky, her flirty voice. It rankled a bit that she was using it on Hector. It reminded him of how good she was at her job. Had they flirted earlier in the day? Had Hector showed her around and thought about making a play for her?

  “Well, I have amazing company,” Hector practically crooned back at her. “I hope you’re enjoying yourself.”

  “I am. It’s been a truly fascinating party. The only thing that could make it better would be masks. A masked ball would be entertaining. You would never know exactly who you’re dancing with,” Kayla replied. “It’s fun to pretend to be someone you’re not. Isn’t that right, Josh?”

  This evening couldn’t get over fast enough. “I don’t know. I do it for a living so it’s kind of nice to just be me.”

  He was more him with her than he’d ever been in his life. Was he really going to be able to stand there as she got on a plane?

  “I suspect your boyfriend needs time off,” Hector replied. “I’m sure pretending can get tedious.”

  “Not when the role is right,” she said. “Not when it’s a role you’ve been waiting to play your whole life. I mean, I’m sure that’s how it is. Josh was telling me about how different it is to take a role for cash and one because you know it’s right.”

  He’d talked about it with her one morning over breakfast. He’d been contemplating whether he should take a small role for scale that he loved or the multimillion-dollar offer to play a superhero. She’d passionately advocated for the small role. It was funny because now there was something odd about her. She was saying all the right things, but there was something aloof in her tone, something that made him wonder if she wasn’t making fun of him. Not in the sweetly teasing way she normally did.

  Perhaps she finally realized they were over and she didn’t have to be sweet anymore.

  “When the role is right, it fits like a glove. It’s kind of like you’re not even acting,” he explained.

  “Well, I’ll have to leave it at that.” Hector reached for his phone and frowned. “I’m afraid business calls. You two have a lovely time. I’ll see you for breakfast in the morning. And Joshua, I think you’ll like the checks my friends will be writing to the foundation tonight. We shall have to do this again and soon. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

  Josh watched as he stepped away. “I wonder what part of his business he has to take care of in the middle of a party.”

  Kay smiled up at him. “Probably torturing young ladies. He looks like the type.”

  Or murdering his competitors. But it didn’t matter because she was here now and she was safe. He couldn’t help it. He dragged her into his arms. “I was worried about you.”

  She chuckled and looked up at him. “I was only spending a little time in the ladies’ room. Nothing to get worked up about.”

  He frowned, confused. “Did you get it done?”

  She laughed and managed to look a bit taken aback. “Seriously, Josh? I don’t think a lady talks about that kind of thing. I’m good. I wanted to clean up my makeup a bit. Now I’m ready to dance the night away.” She went up on her toes. “Unless you would rather take this back to the bedroom. I know how insatiable you are.”

  She was merely being careful. It was a good thing and he needed to let it go. They still had eyes on them. She wouldn’t be relaxed if she hadn’t finished the job. If something had gone awry, she would be pushing him to leave, not offering to dance or teasing him about sex.

  Of course, he’d also expected her to be a bit more grim. She’d had an air of grief around her all day, as though some part of her had already let him go and was moving on to mourning him.

  Because she loved him. Because she’d meant what she’d said.

  But now she was so…content. Perhaps it was because the job was done. She had to be relieved she hadn’t gotten caught.

  “Let’s dance a while.” The faster they went to bed, the sooner the morning would come and with it all his decisions. Hard decisions.

  She took his hand and let him lead her to the dance floor.

  For a while at least there was nothing to worry about.

  * * * *

  Kayla came to, sputtering to breathe. She struggled but couldn’t do more than manage to make her body squirm. Water. When had she gone underwater? And when had the world gotten so damn cold? She’d been warm and in bed with Josh just minutes ago. He’d held her and cuddled her and tickled her because he thought it was funny to make her snort laugh. He would do it until she couldn’t breathe and threatened dire retribution.

  Cold water sluiced down her skin and she realized that had been a mere dream, a memory of something lovely, and this was reality. Her arms were over her head and she was dangling, held by some kind of hard point in the ceiling. But this wasn’t fun bondage. This was meant to hurt, to break down, to damage. Already she could feel her shoulders going numb.

  Someone had been thorough. Her ankles were tied, too. She was a wri
ggling worm caught on a hook, waiting to be devoured.

  God, Ezra was dead. The image of him hitting the floor and blood beginning to flow struck her forcibly. She didn’t know what they’d done with Josh. If they’d done anything with Josh. Had Riley gotten away? Fuck. Panic started to threaten because it didn’t matter if Riley and Declan had gotten away, they were literally walking into the arms of the enemy. They were meeting Levi Green in the morning and Levi Green had been the one to kill Ezra.

  There was something else. Something she couldn’t remember. Something important.

  “Ah, sleeping beauty awakens.” Levi approached her. “Thought I’d given you way too much for a minute there. Can’t lose my best girl, now can I? You know I was always upset that you got out of the game before I could be paired with you. I think we would have made an incredible team. You, the deadly quirky nerd girl, and me, the dashing handler.”

  She let her eyes take him in. He was actually dressed in a suit, a Cuban-collared shirt making the whole ensemble look on trend. He’d dressed up for her torture. And she could smell Acqua Di Gio. Asshole. Fucking metro douchebag asswipe.

  He shrugged and then she realized she’d said the words out loud. “I’m fine with the name calling. You see, I’m perfectly confident in my sexuality. It’s a trait among us younger men. Men like your old handlers needed to show the world they were straight. They did it by dressing poorly. You know it wasn’t always like that. Back in the olden days, men took fashion seriously. I blame democracy. When the blue-collar shits took over they tried to make it so you weren’t a man if you knew a little bit about how to dress. Not a man’s man anyway. I don’t care that people question my sexuality. I like to leave a little mystery. And hey, I rock these Gucci loafers, sweetheart.”

  “You’ll rock them from your anus when I’m done with you,” she managed to spit.

  “Tsk, tsk, now dear. You’re showing your hand far too soon, and yes, I am completely interested in all your perversions. So many women hide them. Not our Kayla. You just let that freak flag fly high, baby girl. I’ll love it.” Levi moved in, taking in her body with a leer. She was wearing a thin white T-shirt, the kind men wore under dress shirts. It was soaking wet and her nipples were stiff against the fabric. “Damn, but you’re pretty like this. It makes me understand why you’re interested in all that pervert shit. It looks good on you, Summers.”

  “Touch me and I’ll kill you, Levi. I swear I will.”

  His lips curled in a malicious grin. “Somehow I think I’ve got the upper hand here. You know for years I’ve heard about you. The whole time I was coming up in the Agency. How smart you are. How amazing Ten and John Bishop were to see your potential. I wish they could see you like this. I wish they could see the look on your face when you realize what they did to you. Well, Bishop at least. I kind of think Ten is nothing but a massive himbo who couldn’t come up with an evil plan to save his life. But Bishop, oh, there was an evil genius.”

  Every moment she kept him talking, he wasn’t murdering her. “You aren’t going to convince me Bishop is working with you.”

  Levi laughed. “Oh, god no. I would rather slit the man’s throat than work with him. I only work with people I understand, people I know how to motivate. Bishop is an enigma. Besides, he’s got something else going on now and I can’t quite figure out what the game is. I think he’s somehow managed to get an entire team of ex-agents on his side. From what I can tell he’s working with a couple of ex-DEA agents, three ex-FBI, a former member of the Bratva, and a guy whose file is so top secret not even my boss can get into it. Trust Bishop to be the one to finally convince a bunch of intra-agency guys to work together, likely for their common and lucrative good.”

  Why was he wasting time talking about Bishop if he wasn’t in this particular game? “Where’s Josh?”

  “Well, of course you need to know where your sweetie pie is. Tell me something, did you take the job because you wanted to sleep with him?” Green paced, making sure to keep those Gucci loafers away from the puddle of water under her feet.

  “I thought it would be fun.”

  “You owe me a hundred, Morales. I told you she took the job because we dangled that piece of man meat in front of her. Like the gorgeous sexual predator she is, she sank her teeth right in. Lucky boy should have paid me for the privilege.” He threw the words behind him, but Kayla couldn’t see anyone except Green. There was a light in her eyes, blinding her to anyone behind him.

  “Well, you knew what a whore she was,” a dark voice said. “It wasn’t a fair bet.”

  Green’s eyes narrowed. “She isn’t a whore any more than I am. She’s open minded, and thank god for that. I don’t understand your generation, Morales. You try to judge people on a morality that makes no sense. Sex is pleasurable. There’s nothing wrong with using your body for exactly what it was made for. You know for someone who makes his money off what most people would call sin, you’re quite judgmental.”

  Now Morales moved into her line of vision. “That’s because it takes a devil to know what true sin is. Are you simply going to talk to the bitch or are we going to get down to business? I don’t care. I’ve been paid handsomely. I’d just as soon slit her throat and bury her in the backyard.”

  “There’s the real man.” She looked at Morales, all his charm gone and replaced with a coldness she’d seen only on the most seasoned of sociopaths. They could act like humans for small periods of time, but they always came back to this place, the one where they were a mere shell without a true soul to illuminate them. “Tell me something. Do you sample your own product?”

  “On occasion. I am proud of my product. I stay away from the opioids. Those are for you pathetic Americans, but I’ll have a line of cocaine from time to time. You should try it. Perhaps if you’re a good girl, we’ll let you forget the pain for a bit.”

  “I meant the little boys you peddle, you sick piece of shit,” she shot back.

  Her head snapped around at the force of his hand.

  Green was laughing. “I told you she was smart. Or maybe it was Ezra, but I knew one of the two would figure it out eventually. By the way, Kay, thank you for bringing him back out here. I was worried I would have to find a way to have him assassinated in the field. This way is way messier, and I don’t simply mean what he did to that rug in Hector’s office.” He moved in close. “But it was far more fun than letting someone else do it. Thank you, sweetheart. I forgot how good it feels to pull that trigger when the man on the other side of the bullet deserves it so richly. They teach us not to make things personal because they don’t want us to know how good it fucking feels. I’m seriously jacked up after offing that motherfucker.”

  She spit right in his face, right on his lips.

  He stared at her for a moment and then his tongue came out, taking everything she’d given him. “That won’t be the only taste I get of you tonight, sweetheart. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll leave here with me and you’ll be happy to do it.”

  “You’re fucking insane.”

  “Again, the name calling doesn’t work on someone who truly knows himself.”

  She was genuinely at a loss. “What the hell is this about, Levi? Are you really so desperate to cover up Hector killing one of our operatives?”

  He moved around her and she realized she was in some kind of bathroom. Now that her eyes had adjusted she could see the mirror behind that horrible light they were shining in her face. There was a dual sink and a massive ornate mirror that showed her Levi walking around her, his eyes on her half-naked body.

  “My dear, I killed that operative myself when I realized what I needed to do. You see when Bishop resurfaced, I knew we could be in trouble. If he’d stayed dead like a good boy, I would have taken a bit more time. Not much because I see vultures circling around my prize and I’m not going to let some indie contractor steal it out from under me.”

  “What prize? I don’t work for the Agency anymore. I know absolutely…” But she did know s
omething. She knew something a lot of people would love to know.

  What a fool she’d been. She’d seen what he wanted her to see—the mission he’d laid out. It had made sense, and he’d baited his trap with a gorgeous piece of man knowing she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity.

  He smiled at her. “There’s my smart girl. Tell me what I’m after. I want to hear it from you.”

  He was one sick fuck. “I don’t know where the Lost Boys are.”

  It was the only explanation. In fact, he’d practically declared himself that day outside the café when he’d told her what would happen if the Agency didn’t claim Hope McDonald’s research before someone else did. It was precisely why Big Tag and Damon had hidden the soldiers she’d done her work on. Their bodies were valuable to anyone who wanted to continue her studies.

  A finger slithered down her spine. “Very good. I knew you would figure it out if you were properly motivated. Yes, I want them. One will do, though I’d like a full set, but the only one who’s out in the open…well, I’m not about to piss off Ian Taggart by stealing his brother. Even I’m not arrogant enough to do that.”

  “You don’t think he’s going to get pissed off when he realizes you stole his employee. Big Tag might be sarcastic, but he takes his role as overlord pretty seriously. He will come after me.”

  “Only if he realized you were gone. You see, love, there was a reason you were the only person in the entire world who could do this job,” he said. He moved in front of her again, his eyes serious on her as though this was some sacred moment between them. “You’re the only one in the whole world who can get me into The Garden. That’s where those boys are.”

  He knew way too much, but she wasn’t going to confirm it for him. “I don’t know where they are. And I’m not ever taking you to The Garden.”

  “You will. You just don’t know it yet. You will walk into The Garden and smile that breathtaking smile of yours and convince one of them to go for a walk with you. According to your phone, you’re close to someone named Tucker. I happen to know that was one of the names she gave to her ‘boys,’ as she called them. Did you know the sick bitch had them call her Mother? Weird and creepy. I’ll be a much better big brother to them. I’ll show them the world and all they’ll have to do is a few routine medical exams. After the first one, maybe we won’t even have to vivisect the rest of them. I don’t know. I’m leaving that up to smarter minds than mine. I’m simply going to accept the paycheck and then do the next job my boss has for me.”