My words only made her laugh more. “There is no more life for me. I’m finished. I won. You can play now. Simon says it’s your turn.”
The hair raised on the back of my neck. “Like the nursery rhyme, ‘Simon Says,’ or is his name Simon? Simon told you about me?”
She giggled. “Simon says to call him Simon. Simon knows who’s playing. You have to play if you want to survive.”
I lowered my brows. “Sorry, Angel, but I’m not playing any games.”
“Oh, yes you are,” she spoke over me. “You’ve already started playing with Dane. You went to him. You love sex, and he will train you to be good at sex. He’s the best trainer.”
I shook my head. “Dane’s not training me. He helped you and me.”
“I can see Dane all over you, you fucked him.” Her tone was blunt. “Simon says Dane’s real smart. He only picks the best. They still need to check your body; test you, get you to spill your dreams. He can become yours if you’re a good girl. You’ll spread and beg for all of them. It’s fun. They are good in bed. But stay free. They always want new toys. That’s why Dane traded me.”
My stomach soured. Somehow the man who had her, Simon had convinced her that Dane had traded her to them. They had poisoned her mind against him. I didn’t know if there was a way to convince her otherwise now. Still, I had to try: “Sorry, Angel, but Simon lied to you. The Agency and their men kept you away from Dane and all the people that cared about you, but not anymore. No one will hurt you now. Dane, the FBI, and the police will make sure they’re all brought to justice.”
“No, you have it all wrong,” she said sadly. “He lied to you. You talk like I don’t know nothing, like I’m dumb. You think you’re better than me. He’ll show you that you’re not. You’ll have no one else. You’ll need him, and that’s when he’ll have you.”
I shook my head. “No, Angel, Simon lied to you. Dane’s not the bad person here. He loves you and Melinda. Dane’s been looking for you for years. Since you left on your trip to Seattle and didn’t return to New York. He and Elliott, who’s in the FBI, saved you and me. You’re safe now.”
She shook her head, and her eyes darted around agitatedly. “Dane collects and owns. Elliott fucks and plays, too. You’re playing their game. I won mine. Melinda’s not Dane’s baby.”
My heart ached at her suffering. I gentled my tone. “I’m sorry you think that way. Really, I’m sorry for everything that happened to you.”
“Don’t you dare feel sorry for me,” she barked. “I feel sorry for you. They already taught you to not trust me. You think you’re smart, but I know things. I’m free. I won. I got to laugh in his face. Simon promised me I don’t have to play anymore. Simon loves me.”
“Simon traded you, is that love?” I asked.
“No, Simon didn’t trade me to be kept forever. Dimitri didn’t want to let me go, but he’s dead now. I killed him,” she giggled.
A chill went down my spine. “Is Dimitri the one who had you; the one who was sick? Didn’t Vincent say he’d send you back to him or was that Simon?”
She giggled. “The Santiagos are nobodies. Vincent was too proud. He tried to make his own fun. They sent me to play with him.” She pointed to her head. “I got a tracker. That’s how Simon found me…. he’s been gone too long, but I’ll help him. He’ll collect me where he first found me.” Her heart monitor started beeping rapidly.
The nurse came in and motioned for me to go. “You must leave now.” She went over to check Angel’s vitals and the machines to which she was hooked up.
I rose from my seat. I was unsure if I had obtained anything useful from the conversation. What she did share had my head spinning. Then again, Angel wasn’t mentally stable. She believed he was tracking her. However, everything couldn’t be a lie. Was there any truth in anything she said?
There couldn’t be. Whoever had her must have played with her mind and made her think everything happening to her was a game. “I’m sorry for what happened to you. I…I wish you well, and if you ever need someone to talk to...”
“Wait,” Angel called to me. “I need to say something else.”
“What is that?” I asked. She gestured for me to come close to her face, and I reluctantly did. “Tell my friend, Loren Blake, she can speak with you.”
I lifted my brows. “Okay.”
She lightly pressed my shoulder, and I moved back. “Be good, or you really will be traded next time. If you do, your game starts over with someone new.”
I shivered at the thought but nodded at her before leaving the room. I’d wished I had more than the fractured conversation I had with Angel, but when I saw Elliott on the other side of the curtain, he looked as if he’d found a gold mine. He pocketed his recorder, and we walked out of the unit.
“She said a lot of things,” I murmured once we were outside the door.
I glimpsed him hating the doubt that her conversation raised in my mind. Elliott and Dane had saved me. Everything that happened, however bizarre, hadn’t been a part of an elaborate game, right?
He stopped me at the hospital exit. “Angel went through years of physical and mental abuse. She said a lot more to you than she said to any of us, and I’ll have to decipher the meaning. I know it’s hard, but try to put what she said out of your mind.”
I couldn’t explain why Angel was so against Dane or why she would warn me off him. She must’ve been poisoned by the man who had kept her. It hurts to think she didn’t appreciate all he’d done to find her. That was what I should have been thinking, but as we met up with Dane and left the hospital, my thoughts kept returning back to her words. They were quite fragmented and scattered, but there were warnings. I tried to discount the doubts she had planted in my mind though what she shared had residues that clung to me.
I seated first in the limo, and both men entered from either side such that I ended up seated between them. The door closed, and their hands went high on my thighs. I couldn’t help but wonder, was this to be how my game starts, or how it ends?
CHAPTER THREE
“We need to talk,” I said, moving both of their hands away. “I’m going back to Seattle today. Dane, you’re going to New York soon, and Elliott, you’re busy building a case. We won’t be able to see each other.”
“For a short while,” Dane replied. He lifted his hand to my chin and turned my head toward him. “Did something else happen with Angel?”
I cast my eyes downward. “No… I mean not exactly. I just met with my lawyers. You gave me Perfetto back, but there is so much more going on. I have a possible scandal; one I don’t really know the extent of. My ex-husband intends to sue me for the negative press. I don’t know how my father is doing. I can’t reach my friends. I just have a lot on my plate right now.”
“That’s why I don’t think it’s right for you to let either one of us go,” Dane lifted my hand and kissed my wrist. “We need each other.”
“You don’t need the both of us,” Elliott turned toward the window. “If you only want to be with Dane.”
My chest hitched. “It’s that easy for you to say,” I murmured.
Being with just Dane would make things less complicated, but I couldn’t help the sick feeling that rose within me at the thought of Elliott walking out of my life.
“No, but that’s what you want to hear, right?” Elliott replied dully. “I know you enjoyed sex with us, but honestly, could you see yourself with two men?”
“Stop pressuring her to choose,” Dane argued. “Trying a different type of relationship isn’t easy, we know, but we can be there for you, Gia.”
“As what? An experiment? Hell no,” Elliott gruffed at Dane. “We’ve been there and done that. The relationship doesn’t end well for people like us.”
“Meaning what?” I asked.
Elliott’s expression dulled. “Meaning the novelty will wear off, and being with two men will become too much. Which is why we should just enjoy the sex until we no longer want to and discard any other thoughts.”
/> I pursed my lips. “Is that how it works with you?”
“It has,” Elliott answered. “It’s one of the reasons why I don’t do attachments. It’s why taking this undercover job wasn’t hard for me. It wasn’t by accident that this case became mine. I didn’t keep my sex life private. People around me knew I belonged to adult clubs. I knew Dane and Angel from the East Coast clubs.”
“We met before the clubs,” Dane added. “Elliott’s father and my father, Walter, were in business together.”
“Yeah, but his dad fucked mine over,” Elliott said, and surprisingly there wasn’t a trace of malice in his tone. I had to ask why.
“Over and done.” Elliott squeezed Dane’s shoulder. “Dane didn’t forget us, and we made it through the hard times. We came out better than ever.”
Dane tilted his head downward. “I loathed my father for doing that to you all. I begged him not to. Of all the people I told about Angel’s disappearance, Elliott was the only one that believed me. He fought with the FBI to help build this case.” Turning to Elliott, “I’ll never be able to pay you back for all you have done for me.”
Elliott grinned at Dane. “I will always have your back. I’m just sorry we couldn’t have saved Angel sooner.”
I could feel their bond. It wasn’t just a bromance. There was true friendship there.
Elliott sighed heavily. My skin tingled as Elliott removed a few errand hairs that had fallen in my face. “What I’m saying is that the two of us have already gone through the growing pains of the lifestyle. What Dane usually reminds me, which I now need to remind him, is that we don’t put our interest above what someone wants for themselves. You tried different sex than you’re used to, and it was fun, but you know anything beyond that is too much for you. We get that and won’t stand in your way now that you’re ready to leave.”
Dane frowned. “I don’t think we should just give up without trying. It’s true that Elliott and I both no longer hide our interests from those close to us. My business partners work with me because I’m the best in my field. I built my brand on my work, not on my bedroom preferences. It can be that way for you too, Gia.”
“I don’t know… I don’t know what I want,” I stammered, then took a deep breath. “This is all new to me. I don’t know what to do.”
“It’s new to us too,” Dane pointed out. “We have had threesomes and swapped partners before, but we haven’t been interested in the same woman until now. I won’t pressure you, but I don’t want to give up what we started. You have an open invitation to come to New York and spend time with me. If Elliott can be a part of us together, I’m fine with that, but if you choose to be with Elliott, I won’t stand in your way.”
Elliott shook his head. “We say all that now, but honestly I don’t think this will work. None of my past relationships have worked.”
“Neither have mine,” I told them. “How about you stop telling me how I feel and what I think for a change?”
And just what did I think or feel for that matter? Thrilled. Desired. Overwhelmed. Most of all scared. I was drawn to them. If I became more attached—what if it didn’t work out? I’d be alone. This needed time and I said just about as much, leaving out my feelings for now. “I need time and some space to figure everything out.”
“I can give you time, but not space,” Elliott said. “For all Angel’s ramblings, she did warn someone else may be in play and even if she’s wrong, I won’t risk you. You’ll be guarded by my new private investigation company crew if I can’t be around. You’ll also check in with me daily. I want to know everything no matter how little, agreed?”
“I expect the same,” Dane added. “While you’re seeing both of us, I want you to stay in contact with me as well.”
I chewed my lip. Dating two men was way out of my territory or comfort zone, but I didn’t know what else to do right now. I wasn’t ready to decide, and the two of them didn’t seem to be forcing me right now either. Someone might be after me, the added security wasn’t overreacting, though I didn’t know how I’d handle it. “Fine. I’ll agree to all of it. I would also like to be a part of the investigation if I can help. You know. Angel had mentioned her friend, Loren Blake. Maybe I can talk to her next?”
“Loren’s a dead end,” Elliott replied. “Over the years, we have all spoken with Loren, and she had nothing.”
“Angel probably doesn’t realize that Loren gave all of her things she had left behind to me a long time ago,” Dane said.
I shrugged. “She said I needed to ask. If you’re too busy, I’ll go by myself, and maybe she’ll share something she hasn’t yet.”
“No,” Dane replied adamantly. “If any of The Agency members are still after you, I don’t want you in danger.”
“I’ll only go see her to ask a question,” I offered. “Would it help the case, Elliott?”
“Maybe,” Elliott answered taking the glare Dane shot over to him. “Let me think it through first. Let’s just get you back home now.”
“I’m not staying at home. I had enough of doing nothing in the hospital,” I told them. “I’m going to work tomorrow.”
Elliott rolled his eyes, but I had already seen the smile he was trying to suppress.
“Let’s just leave all this discussion of the case for now,” Dane griped.
I pursed my lips. Yes. Let’s do that.
They switched the conversation to light chatter about nothing for the rest of the ride to the plane. When we reached the small runway next to the airplane, I turned to Dane. “Thank you.”
He pulled me to straddle his lap and kissed me deeply. When we stopped to catch our breaths, he said, “I want to do so much to you right now.” He kissed my neck. His hands moved down between my thighs and inside my underwear to stroke my clit between his fingers. I moaned and moved in his touch. Elliott’s groan let me know he was enjoying watching us and that turned me on even more, but just as quickly as Dane had me in his arms, he untangled himself gently letting me go.
“It’s not fair to get me all worked up and stop,” I complained.
“I’ll make up for it when I see you in New York,” Dane whispered.
I grinned. I admired his persistence.
Dane’s expression took on a serious glint. His eyes bore into mine, and the warmth caused a tightening in my chest. “I already miss you. Take good care of Gia, Elliott.” He kissed me tenderly.
I scoffed. “I can take good care of myself.”
Elliott suddenly clasped me around the waist and buried his face in my neck. “Ballbusting badass.” We laughed.
I turned to Dane and found him staring at the two of us. I raised my brows and Dane waved me away dismissively.
Elliott and I got out of the car, and he placed his arm around me again. We watched Dane leave and waited as I stood staring after the car until it was out of sight.
***
I was relieved, though admittedly uneasy when I walked inside the house. I hadn’t thought much of the kidnapping in the hospital, but now that I was soon to be left alone, it weighed on me along with Angel’s warning. I didn’t want to live in fear, but how could I prepare if I didn’t see what was coming?
I thought on all of this as I followed Elliott through the rooms. He offered to check each one to help ease my nerves. We found nothing. The place was still cold and empty as it had been when I left. There was no sense of home, and from what I had come to understand, that was the main reason I had been feeling uncomfortable living here. I’d been feeling unsettled for years. Sure, work had, for the most part, satisfied my life, along with spending time with friends, and Patrick when we were working together on his election campaigns. After the separation and divorce, I had thought I had been missing sex. Although it was part of it, what I really missed was love and intimacy. The warmth that came from being with someone special, and the closeness of sharing a home. I hadn’t understood how much I wanted both until Dane and Elliott. It was kind of sad that those few days alone with them and my stay in
the hospital had been the most satisfying experience I had with a man since the early years of my marriage. When they were there, I wasn’t alone. I had a unique bond with them.
“Everything’s clear,” Elliott announced cutting into my thoughts. We had returned to the bedroom I used as an office. “My security guard, Tove is on his way over,” he reached inside his coat for a pen and paper and wrote as he continued to speak. “Here’s his number and mine, my FBI team contacts, police, and my address here if anything happens. Keep them in a safe place.”
I went over to turn on the laptop, scanner, and printer on the desk. “You have to go now?” I hated how small my voice sounded. Being vulnerable was something I tried my best to fight all my life. I had never let my guard down, not even with Patrick. It was something he admired in me until he didn’t, but with Dane and Elliott, it was different.
“I don’t want to leave,” he said in a gentle tone, hugging me. “But I need to go over what Angel said with my team. See if we can decipher it to help the case so we can hold the man that kept her responsible. I’ll come back tonight.”
I nodded against his chest. I wanted space, but more than anything, I didn’t want to be alone. I also wanted progress on the case, though I still had a hard time imagining Elliott being a part of law enforcement. “It’s still weird to think of you as a secret agent.”
“Yeah for me too, but that’s where I ended up, though I think I’d have made one hell of an interior designer,” he said and chuckled and sat down on my chair, then he lifted his arm.
I scooted over and placed my head on his shoulder. It was surprising how natural this act came between us.
“The injury I told you about wasn’t physical,” he went on, his voice low. “It was to my soul. What I told you earlier about Dane’s dad screwing over my dad and getting away with it? That got to me. My mom died, and my dad, who’d been the best fucking dad ever, became a shell of himself. My little sister never had the chance to see him as he was back then….”
He sucked in air, and my heart expanded in my chest. I took his hand and squeezed it. The hero worship he had for his dad was something I had for mine.
Dauntless (The Agency Dark Affairs Duet Book 2) Page 3