by Nashoda Rose
She frowned. “Georgie? Deck and Georgie. That Georgie? I don’t understand.”
I brought her in closer and I told her everything. How Georgie became Chaos, about Tanner getting close to Connor so he and Georgie would trust Tanner. I revealed more than I had to anyone. I did it not to scare her. It was for the opposite reason, because fear came from the unknown. I did it so she could be prepared for anything. To give her power. And to give her what I’d never given anyone, even Ernie—my complete trust.
“Connor was the first to be tested with the drug. I don’t know the particulars as anything involving Connor was kept confidential, but he was in an elite task force—JTF2—when he was taken. He had all the skills necessary without the years of training children. But the difference between persuading children to do what you want and someone like Connor, he won’t mold easily. And some men will never break.”
“The drug.” I nodded. “But my father… why would he do that?”
“Your father would do anything to protect you.” There was no easy way to tell her what was next, but it was important she knew that her father did what he had to. “The fire you were in… I suspect it was Vault.”
She gasped. “But you’re Vault. You set the fire?”
“Fuck, no. But Vault knew your mother died in an accidental fire and then for you to almost die in one… I don’t believe in coincidences, London.”
“But if they wanted to kill me, why wouldn’t they tell you. You saved me from the fire.”
“I don’t kill kids.”
“I was eighteen.”
“True, and, baby, you were so fuckin’ beautiful.” I leaned over and kissed her forehead, lips, lingering as I closed my eyes, wanting to take the hurt away, but knowing she needed to hear this. “Your father was delaying. He didn’t want to continue making the drug, but then with the fire… he had no choice, London.”
I gave her time to accept what I’d told her. To try and make sense of it. Her hand stroked back and forth absently over my abdomen. She didn’t sob or break down, but quietly took in what I told her.
Her cheek glided against my chest as she looked up at me. “Mexico was them, wasn’t it? Another threat to my father?”
“Yes. And no.” I stroked my thumb over her lower lip, still swollen from my kisses. “They had you kidnapped and taken to Mexico, and it was a threat to your father. But it was meant to be more of a threat to me.”
She sat up, her body half-leaning over me. “What?”
“I spent several nights with you, but not in the way they wanted.”
She reached up and cupped the side of my face when I fell silent. “Oh, my God, you were supposed to hurt me.”
“Yes.”
Her hand flinched on my abdomen. “And instead you were going to walk away. Let me go.”
“Yes.”
“But my father—”
“Would’ve got the extra time he needed regardless.”
“But you let me make the deal?”
I raised my brows. “It was a deal I couldn’t refuse. I was a bastard for doing it, but I don’t regret it, baby. I’ll never regret a second I’ve spent with you.”
Her eyes narrowed and lips pursed together before she slapped my chest. “So, I didn’t have to sleep with you?”
“I recall you being very willing.”
“But I thought….” She stopped, thinking about what to say and I let her. Finally, she said, “Why?”
I flipped her over onto her back and lowered on top of her, grabbing her wrists to lock them down on the mattress on either side of her head. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her eyes steady on me.
Her heart raced beneath my chest as I moved in closer. “Braveheart, I’d wanted you for years. I knew it was impossible and safer if I stayed away, but when I saw you in the closet and I knew you saw me… I had to warn you. Scare you enough to not do anything about what you saw. But then you came up with that deal.” I touched my lips to hers and was disappointed that they were unmoving beneath mine. “I knew it was the only chance I’d ever have you.”
“It was wrong,” she said.
“Yeah.” I got off her, swung my legs over the side of the bed, then leaned over and grabbed my pants off the floor. Fuck, I never cared about wrong or right. I did what I had to do, but this mattered. It had been wrong because my decision cost her dearly. “I have to leave today.”
She sat up, taking the sheet with her. “Oh.”
I stood, yanked on my pants then picked up my shirt. “Not sure how long I’ll be.”
“Honey,” she whispered and it was as if she handed me the world with that single word. “When are you going to let someone save you?”
Fuck.
I still had my back to her as I did up the buttons of my shirt. My fingers stilled and my back stiffened. Didn’t she know? I was past saving; I had the marks to prove it and the history to confirm it.
“Don’t need to be saved, London.”
When she sighed, I looked over my shoulder at her. Everything inside me fought against leaving her, but I knew there was no other choice.
She sat on the edge of the bed, her hair in complete disarray, and fuck, she was beautiful.
“You were right,” she said as our eyes met.
I frowned, uncertain what she was referring to.
The sheet dropped and my cock jerked. This was why I’d protected her. Why I cared. It was right in front of me. London’s strength challenged my own. I’d just told her the worst sort of shit possible and she was looking at me with nothing but—
“I do love you, Kai.”
Fuck. I closed my eyes a second as her words sank into me. Love. I’d never been loved. Never wanted to be. I was undeserving of love.
I heard her bare feet walk across the hardwood floor and then she was undoing my shirt again. “Kai, you have good in you. I couldn’t love you unless you did.” Her hands slid down my chest as my shirt parted and my breath locked as I watched her kiss one scar after the other.
I let her. I let her kiss each one before I held her shoulders and pulled her away from me. But what I saw in her eyes was more powerful than anything Vault had ever done to me.
It imprisoned me.
I didn’t know what love felt like, but what I felt for her was indescribable with a single word. It was more powerful. It was all consuming. “London, what we are can’t be explained with a word, only experienced.”
Then I showed her.
“Do they know you came to Mexico?”
“No.”
I was dressed and packed to leave. London fidgeted as she picked up her toast and put it down again. She’d spread jam on it twice and tried to put the peanut butter lid on the jam jar. Her legs crossed then uncrossed as she shifted on the bar stool for the last ten minutes.
“You’ll be careful?”
“Always careful, baby.” She closed her eyes, lips drawn together. I tossed my toast down. “London, someone is always after me. Like I said, I don’t have friends and I’ve made a lot of enemies, but I’m careful and know what I’m doing.” Then I softened my voice and stated, “You’re worried.”
“Yeah.”
Fuck, I liked that.
“What about Deck?” she asked.
Yes, what about him. There was no trust between us, more like a mutual understanding, until he discovered my little secret with his girl, Georgie. Then all hell was going to break loose. I was hoping that wouldn’t happen as it could force me to play my hand. Georgie thought I’d kill him, but I wouldn’t unless he tried to kill me first, which was a good possibility if he found out everything.
“He won’t hurt you.” Of that I was certain. Deck was a killer, too, but he had morals and values that rivaled my own. “But he isn’t a friend, London.”
“Kai, I want to call my dad.”
We’d already argued about this. Well, she argued. I simply said no. It was too risky for her to make any contact with him. “No. But when I get back, we’ll talk about it and I�
��ll teach you how to handle a knife.”
By the spark in her eyes, I knew she liked both those ideas.
“Okay. But maybe it’s safer if I go with you?”
I stared at her a second. After all I’d told her this morning, she still wanted me and yet… I was afraid she’d leave. And she’d need to understand why she couldn’t leave and why she couldn’t go with me.
I grabbed her around the waist, yanked her off her stool then had my knife to her throat within seconds. Her eyes widened and her breath stopped.
“Do you feel the trembling in your limbs, London? The blood rushing through your veins? The tightness in your chest as the edge of my blade rests against your throat?” She couldn’t nod because my knife would cut her. “That’s fear. And that’s dangerous.” I stroked my finger down her cheek. “You’re not ready to go anywhere with me.” And I didn’t know if she ever would be. But I couldn’t think of that. “I need you to do what I tell you. Stay here, eat a shitload so when I come back, I have some real hips to grab.”
I smirked. She didn’t.
“So I’m supposed to wait for you to come back or not come back because you’re dead?”
“I won’t die.”
She latched onto my wrist holding the knife, her grip harsh. She was pissed—good. She had to stand on her own and fight for what she wanted… except she’d never win against me.
“You’re not invincible, Kai.”
No, I wasn’t, but I excelled at staying alive. “Arguable.” I took my knife away from her throat then pulled her around so she straddled my lap.
When I saw her glare and that stubborn chin lifted, I couldn’t help it. I chuckled which caused her to punch my chest. “It’s not funny.”
“If I die, braveheart, I still won’t leave you.” And if I died, Ernie had instructions as to what to do about London—Deck. He was to be told everything and London taken to him.
“Death is pretty damn final. I don’t see you believing in the afterlife.”
I nipped the sensitive lobe of her ear. “Hmm, perhaps not.” I pushed her hair away from her neck with the tip of my knife then ran my tongue along her slender throat. Her breath hitched and her spine arched. Something about the rush of danger sent all the adrenaline right to my cock. I pulled back so I could see her eyes—flaming desire. I took hold of the collar of her shirt, which was one of mine, then sliced it down the center with my knife.
She gasped.
“If I die,” I slowly caressed her exposed nipple, not with my finger but with my knife, “a piece of you dies with me.” I laid the flat of my knife against her breast and pressed. “And you will never repair that part of you. But it goes both ways, braveheart.”
She moved closer to me, so the flat of the blade was pushed harder into her breast. She reached up and cupped the back of my neck. “I’d like to stay whole, so I’d prefer you to live.”
I placed my knife on the counter then undid my jeans and pulled out my throbbing cock. I reached around her and picked her up by the ass. She wrapped her legs around my hips, arms hooking my neck.
“Will you sleep naked when I’m gone so I can imagine you in our bed playing with yourself?” I pushed aside her panties and rubbed my cock through her wet pussy.
Her lips parted as she panted. “Yes.”
I jerked my hips forward and groaned as my cock sank into her tight warmth. She cried out at my harsh entrance, hands tightening in the strands of hair at the back of my neck. I buried my head in her shoulder as I whispered, “Don’t ever stop believing in me.”
Because I didn’t know what I’d do if she did.
THREE DAYS.
He’d left no phone, no computer access and no car. He knew I’d call my father or email him despite saying I wouldn’t.
So, I was left in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do except eat and watch movies then fall asleep every night on the couch.
I’d never been one to sit around and do nothing; even as a kid I was experimenting with different things to find out what would happen. It was my dad who insisted I learn to ride a bike when I was six years old when all the kids in the neighborhood were already on two wheelers.
I considered myself physically challenged with having played no sports. I’d been forced to play baseball as a freshman in gym and after my first throw, which was underhand and pathetic, I was benched most of the time.
Now, I wished I’d had some sort of natural talent at throwing, but for hours, I’d attempted to hit my mark with the knife. I’d hoped to impress Kai by practicing before he got back and being half decent. With the way it was going, there wouldn’t be any impressing.
He said he might be a couple weeks, so I was hoping by then I could at least hit the stupid tree trunk. I raised my arm and threw the knife again. It bounced off the surface of the tree and landed in the long, unkempt grass.
“Damn it all to hell.” I trudged across the field at the back of the house, the long grass swishing as the breeze ruffled the tops. I bent and picked up the knife then stabbed it into the bark. “There.”
I was frustrated, my arm muscles hurt and I missed him already. I slept on the couch because the bed reminded me of him, the sheets smelled like him and yet I took his pillow and curled up with it on the couch wearing one of his shirts.
I was worried. I didn’t like waiting. I’d felt helpless and weak for years and hated every second of it.
But Kai bringing me here had not only released me from that shell I’d been hiding in, he’d made me stronger. I never wanted to be defenseless again. I wanted to be like Kai—fearless without the constant barrage of emotions slamming into me.
Not cold, but controlled.
I walked back to the clearing of trampled grass twenty feet away, raised my arm again, and whipped the blade and it arched through the air in a precise hard line.
“Yes,” I yelled as it pierced the tree and wobbled a bit like it was going to fall. I clapped my hands and jumped up and down.
“Impressive.”
I spun around so fast I stumbled in the long grass. My eyes hit the man who spoke. He stood with his arms crossed, leaning up against the back door. Everything inside me stilled for a second and then the very reason I was here and not with Kai slammed into me.
Fear.
The man’s expression was dead, no smile, no scowl—blank. The strict curves of his face made him appear jagged and harsh. Eyes a brilliant blue, sharp and cold that left no assumptions as to what this man was capable of.
He didn’t hide the fact that he had weapons attached to his belt, although none were in his hand, but I was betting he’d have one out before I took one step.
“Who are you?” I was going to ask if he was a friend of Kai’s, but I remembered what Kai told me—he didn’t have friends and I was never to believe anyone if they said they were.
“I’m here to take you home.”
I tensed at the deep, gravelly tone in his voice. A voice that caused the fear to escalate because there was no question whoever he was, he was just as dangerous as Kai, but Kai wouldn’t hurt me, this man would.
My fingers curled into fists at my sides. “I’m perfectly fine where I am.” I inched back a step and he didn’t move. I took another step back. Could I outrun him? Would he shoot me in the back?
“I see that.” He pushed away from the door and my heart felt as if it lodged in my throat. God, his arms were huge and if he got hold of me, I’d never get free. I wasn’t a runner, but I was small and—
“Please. Do run, little rabbit.” My breath hitched and I froze. “My orders are to bring you home alive, but wounds are optional.”
“I’m not going anywhere without Kai.”
“Ah, yes, Kai. The loyal Kai who is hiding a girl he was supposed to bring in to Vault.” He was? “In a house we didn’t know about.”
“Who are you?”
“Does it matter?”
I glared. “Yes. I’d like to know the name of my executioner.”
Hi
s brows rose at that. “I told you I won’t kill you.”
I smiled. “Well, you’re going to have to. Because the only way you’re getting me to leave is in a body bag.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I thought of what Kai said. A body bag was too polite. He’d cut me up first.
A mild breeze ruffled the tops of the long grass surrounding me and the flimsy stems swayed back and forth. I straightened my spine, raising my chin a notch. I’d been afraid of death for so many years, but now… I wasn’t afraid of it. I was afraid of never seeing Kai again. Never tasting his lips. Never feeling his arms around me. But most of all, I was afraid of him getting hurt. It was kind of stupid maybe, considering who he was and what he was capable of, but Kai’s confidence unnerved me because he was so casual about it, as if his life being taken had no meaning.
But it did. It did to me.
He started toward me, arms dropping to his sides, close to his knife on one side and his gun on the other.
I had to run.
And from his mild shrug and lifted brows, he knew it, too.
I took off, darting to the right and headed toward the side of the house. My feet pounded in my head as I zigzagged across the yard. I couldn’t hear him behind me and I didn’t dare look. I just ran. I made it to the front of the house. My only chance was the road and hope someone would see me.
I hesitated a second when I saw his black SUV parked in the driveway. I thought about checking for the keys, but he didn’t look stupid. Shit, everything about him was the opposite. Cold. Calculating. Unfeeling. A machine.
My feet skidded in the gravel as I hit the driveway and I chanced a glance behind me, but he wasn’t there. He hadn’t even chased me.
What the hell? Where was he?
I ran as fast as I could, the road only a hundred feet away now. I was going to make it.
The impact of the bullet hit me in the shoulder and took me down. I fell face first into the gravel.
Excruciating pain ripped through my body as I struggled to get to my feet again, my hand holding my shoulder as blood seeped through my fingers.