Perfect Ruin (Unyielding #2)

by Nashoda Rose

  That moment played in my mind over and over again. Before I saw his face through the bars of my cell, I’d known it was him. His scent drifted in to me like a breeze of hope. Then it was like being punched in the gut when I met his hard, cold eyes. I knew then that he wasn’t there to save me.

  “I know,” I murmured.

  “And what I said.” Kai’s one hand rested on my hip, his other cupped my check. “Fuck, I needed you to live and the best way was for you to give in to them. I didn’t know when… or if I could get to you.”

  Kai never experienced love or trust, but I had. No matter what he’d said to me that day, no matter how crushed and angry I was that he walked away, I knew Kai and why he’d said it.

  I went dead inside and trusted he’d come back. I gave them what they needed to see, a girl lost and broken with no hope, and I quietly got stronger.

  “You never gave up.”

  He said it as if he couldn’t yet believe that I was in front of him.

  “I never gave up on us.”

  I saw the conflict on his face as he looked down at my hand resting on his chest. His heartbeat was steady and rhythmic like it always was. It was the comfort I needed because no matter how I felt about Kai, he would always carry in him a darkness that scared me. But when I touched him, felt his heart beat, it reminded me that he was real, that this man whether I wanted it or not, was inside me. A part of me. We were tied together.

  I heard a loud yowl come from the back of the SUV and he stood up straight, bringing me with him. We both looked over and saw the vehicle lurch side to side. Tyler went flying backwards and landed on his butt on the ground several feet from the back.

  Through the tinted windows, I saw Deck inside the vehicle kneeling on the back seat, his arm curved around Connor’s throat as he continued thrashing trying to break free. He was Georgie’s brother, the man they’d been using my father’s drug on, the man who took me from Kai’s house.

  “What are they doing to him?”

  “They started placing GPS chips in recruits, operatives, whoever they wanted to track or make certain never escaped them. When Chess was able to contact Tristan, she told him about them and their vulnerabilities. Tristan had someone develop a device to pinpoint its location in the body.”

  “There are lots of machines that do that, aren’t there?”

  “Yes. But not ones that won’t set them off.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He kissed me lightly on the mouth. My lips were dry and cracked and the sensitive flesh hurt even with his gentleness. “I promise you’ll be fine.”

  “He’s going to scan me?”

  Tristan walked toward us, his long strides eating up the ground. He nodded to Kai. “Found it. Bridge of his foot.” He held a small black box in his hand and it had a little green light flashing on the front edge. “Ready?”

  Kai nodded and moved to the side.

  “Just going to run this device over your body, okay?”

  “I’m not going to blow up?”

  Tristan chuckled. Kai didn’t.

  “Go for it,” I said.

  Tristan crouched then started at my feet then up my leg and down the other one. The machine started beeping and flashing red when he reached the right side of my pelvis. Tristan placed the machine on the hood of the car and reached for the bottom of my shirt to pull it up.

  Kai’s hand latched onto his wrist. “I’ll do it.”

  Tristan shook his head, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. He let me go then tossed a wad of gauze, a roll of medical tape and a bottle of disinfectant on the hood next to me. “Damage it while removing and both of you will blow up into a million little pieces of flesh.”

  “Fuck.” I stopped breathing.

  Kai ignored me and took out his knife. “Then we blow to pieces. No one is touching her with a fuckin’ blade except me.”

  “Kai?” Fear skidded into me. I had a ticking time bomb under my skin?

  Tristan shrugged and walked away.

  “Don’t move,” Kai ordered as he pressed me back onto the hood of the car. “I’d like to have a chance at sinking between your thighs again, braveheart.”

  “Jesus, Kai.”

  And then I saw his easy-going grin and a wave of comfort seeped into me. He poured the disinfectant over the blade of his knife then I leaned back on the hood and he lifted my shirt. His fingers palpated the right side of my pelvis. I’d never noticed anything there, but then again, I’d been more concerned about my next drink of water than any tiny, unusual lump I may have.

  “Here.” He pinched my skin an inch away from my hip bone. He raised his head and looked at me. “Try and refrain from moving and killing us both.”

  I raised my brows. “Maybe you should ask someone who knows how to handle a knife.”

  He chuckled and I sighed as the familiar sound washed over me. He lowered the blade and sliced into my skin. I bit the inside of my cheeks as Kai carefully stretched my skin apart with his fingers then the tip of his knife sank into my flesh.

  I didn’t watch, but felt a slight pop when the microchip came free. “Got it.” He held up his blade, the tiny device sitting on the flat edge of it.

  I pushed down my shirt and sat up. “Now what?”

  “Tyler and Josh will take them on a little ride. Should keep any Vault operatives busy for a few days. Then they’ll destroy them.”

  Deck approached us and nodded to me. “Good to see you’re okay, London.” I doubted that. Our last encounter, I’d been Raven and I’d held a gun on Georgie’s friend Emily. He took the microchip from Kai and walked back to the SUV.

  Kai took the bandage material and tape Tristan had left and gently lifted my shirt to dress the wound. When he was done, my hand settled over his and heat flared inside my belly. “What’s going on, Kai? Your sister is free. You’re here with Deck and his men. Who’s Tristan? I don’t understand.”

  He caressed the side of my face. “I killed my mother.” I gasped. “She was a real bitch.”

  “Kai….” I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.

  “Been living in a world of black and white. Not caring about anything. Death. Torture. Pain. None of it mattered.” He moved in closer, looped his arm around the back of me, and tugged me closer. “Then I met you, braveheart.” He lowered his head and kissed me. It was firm yet slow as his lips moved over mine in a deep caress. “We’re ending this, baby. We’re taking down Vault.”

  I tensed. Holy shit.

  That was why Deck and his men were with Kai. He’d always said he didn’t have friends and that he didn’t trust anyone, but he was putting an awful lot of faith in Deck. “Is that possible?”

  He slid his hand down my arm until his fingers linked with mine then helped me off the hood of the car. “I’m making it possible.”

  “What about… well, my father?”

  “Don’t know yet.”

  A wave of fear crashed into me. “We have to help him, Kai. They’ll go after him, right? They’ll kill him or hide him or… Kai, we have to help him.”

  He cupped the back of my head, fingers bunching in my hair. “We will.”

  I gripped the front of his shirt. “Oh, God. Kai, he’s all I have left.”

  He stared down at me, eyes hard and concerned, fingers tightening in my hair. “Yeah.”

  There was something in his eyes, but I hadn’t seen it before. I thought it was concern, but it was more than that. Worry? But Kai never seemed worried about anything.

  Kai grabbed me and lowered his mouth to mine and said, “You’ll always have me.”

  He kissed me again. It wasn’t gentle and sweet. It was a promise.

  I fell asleep in the car and when I woke, it was on a couch with my head on Kai’s lap. His hand slowly caressed my hair.

  “No. Forget it.” I heard Deck saying. “Don’t push me, Georgie.”

  Georgie? She was here? Of course she was. Kai told me in the car before I fell asleep that she was with Deck n
ow. Then he told me about Tristan and Chess. Their story was crushing and beautiful at the same time.

  “Vic. Please, talk to him,” Georgie said.

  “Don’t need Vic talking to me, Georgie. I said no,” Deck said in a grated tone.

  I opened my eyes and Kai must have sensed I was awake as his hand stilled.

  “Kai?” Georgie said. “Tell him. I can reach him. I can help.”

  “Jesus Christ, Georgie, no. Not fuckin’ happening,” Deck said. “I don’t want you seeing him like that.”

  “He’s not who you think he is,” Vic stated.

  “I don’t give a shit,” she shouted, her voice quivering and on the edge of tears. “I want to see him.”

  I sat up and Kai passed me a bottle of water, the cap already off. I chugged it back, the liquid sliding down my throat like cool silk. The plastic crackled as I finished it off and set it on the coffee table.

  “Georgie. Stop. Now.” It was Deck and his tone was seriously pissed.

  I looked over my shoulder just as Georgie went for a door handle on the other side of the kitchen.

  Deck was up off the bar stool and behind her before the door was all the way open. He latched onto her arm, dragged her back, then bent and in one swoop had Georgie over his shoulder. He did it so fluidly that it was like it was a usual occurrence.

  “He’s my brother. He’s my goddamn brother,” she shouted.

  “I know. And that’s why I can’t let you.” He carried her kicking and screaming into another room then the door closed. There was a loud thump, a smack and a few short abrupt words from Deck before silence.

  Kai stood and held out his hand. “You need a bath, baby.”

  I did. Desperately. “How’s your shoulder?”

  He didn’t reply; instead, he lifted me off the couch and set me on my feet. I was guessing it was good then.

  “Where are we?”

  “One of Deck’s safe houses. Although, I don’t know if I’d call it safe after seeing the basement.”

  He didn’t let me think too much on that as he urged me in front of him, past Vic who was stirring something that smelled like tomato basil sauce on the stove. He nodded to me and I half-smiled. Vic was super scary and I wasn’t sure about him even though he’d helped me escape Alfonzo and Jacob.

  We went into a bedroom at the end of the hall and Kai shut the door. The house wasn’t decorated and looked rather average, one you’d find in a newly built subdivision. There were no personal touches though; nothing hanging on the walls, and minimal furniture.

  Kai walked into the adjoining bathroom. I heard the shower curtain pushed aside on the metal rings and then the water turned on. I walked in to join him and he was leaning over the tub, his hand testing the temperature of the water.

  “Close the door.”

  I did.

  Within seconds, the bathroom began to fog up and I closed my eyes, breathing in the heated moisture. I’d been cold and damp for so long, that I feared the feeling of being cold would never go away.

  I leaned up against the bathroom door and sighed. It was like I was being clothed in a blanket of warmth that was heating my blood. I felt the moment Kai moved in to me and I opened my eyes. His hands went to the bottom of my long over-sized shirt. He then slowly lifted, the tips of his fingers trailing a path along my sides.

  I raised my arms and he pulled it all the way off and tossed it on the floor. I was naked underneath, and my nipples, despite the warm moist air, erect. Goose bumps scattered over my skin.

  God, I wanted to succumb. I wanted him to look after me. I wanted to be heated and warm and… I wanted to feel loved.

  Kai’s hands slid down my body to the edge of my panties. His heated breath swept over my skin as he lowered while slowly dragging them down my legs. I held on to his shoulders as I lifted each foot to step out of them. His warm palms glided back up my legs, over my thighs to my hips as he stood straight again.

  I stood naked in front of him, but his eyes weren’t on my body. He was watching my expression. My chest rose and fell faster as I anticipated his touch.

  He scowled. I was hoping for that amusing charming grin instead. His hands went to the bandage on my hip. “We’ll re-bandage it after your bath.” He peeled back the tape and gauze, tossed it in the trash, then reached to take my hand.

  He stopped. Then his eyes darkened as they landed on the scar on my shoulder. “That’s from a fuckin’ bullet.” His eyes darted to mine. “They shot you?”

  “It was minor.” Connor had been right. I hadn’t bled to death, but I’d passed out in the car and when I woke, my shoulder was bandaged.

  “Who?”

  The man currently in the basement. The man Kai had no issue killing. And the man Deck and his men would do anything to protect. He also happened to be Georgie’s brother.

  I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and pulled his hand away from the scar. “It doesn’t matter.”

  His eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to ask me again, but I stared him down. I saw the moment he gave in to me and I think he knew it had to have been Connor, but if I told him, we both knew what would happen.

  “Okay, London. I’ll give you this.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  He slipped his hand in mine and guided me over to the tub. “Don’t worry, it’s warm water.”

  I snorted at his reference to the ice water he’d made me sit in. “That was cruel.”

  “And necessary.”

  “Necessary in your way of thinking.” But it had been. He’d been trying to find a way to break through to me, yet not hurt me.

  His hand smoothed over my hair and he was silent. Despite his teasing about the water, there was seriousness in Kai that hadn’t been there before I was taken by Vault.

  Kai knew me better than anyone. He was in me. I didn’t know when it happened. Maybe over time. Maybe the night he’d saved me from the fire. Maybe our nights together at my loft. It didn’t matter when, or how or why. He just was and, no matter who Kai had been and who he was now, I fell in love with all the parts of him.

  I grabbed his hand before he turned to leave. “Don’t leave.”

  He stared at me for a second then his eyes trailed down my body and my belly whirled. “I can’t stay without having you.”

  “Then have me. They didn’t rape me, Kai. I’m not fragile Raven. I’ll never be like that again.”

  His brow furrowed. “London. Fuck.”

  And then something in him broke. It was like a tree branch under so much pressure that it could no longer resist and snapped then crashed to the ground. He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into his arms, his hand on the back of my head, pressing me so close I could barely breathe.

  There was nothing steady and calm about Kai right now as his mouth took mine in an uncontrolled frenzy. It was so unlike him, a feral need as he forced my mouth open before I even had the chance to react to him.

  He whirled me around and shoved me up against the sink and without a second’s hesitation, lifted me up to perch on the lip of it. “Legs,” he growled.

  I hooked my legs around him.

  His hands slid down my spine to my lower back, finger stroking the crease in my ass. I put my head back, eyes closed, moaning when he lowered his head and took my nipple in his mouth. It was tender and sweet, licking, suckling. Then his teeth grazed it and I gasped at the sensation coursing through me.

  Wildfire. Pain and pleasure. The pearl of ecstasy.

  My nipple slipped from his mouth and his hand slid up my body to my neck where his fingers curled around it, not tight, but firm. “No one takes you from me and expects to live.”

  Something I didn’t recognize lingered in his eyes, a rage or maybe it was a hint of fear.

  I leaned forward and kissed the corner of his mouth then did the same on the other side.

  His grip on my neck tightened as he kissed me again, this time soft and caressing like a silk feather caressing my bruised lips.

  “I
want you inside me,” I murmured.

  He groaned then picked me up by the ass. I looped my arms around his neck as he carried me to the tub. “Soon, baby.” He placed me on my feet in the bathtub.

  I was confused because something had changed in him. He was stiff as he peeled my arms from his neck. “What’s wrong?”

  He leaned to the right and picked up a facecloth and passed it to me. “Don’t like that place all over you.” Then he walked out.

  I stood in two feet of hot water, staring at the closed door.

  Kai had control all his life. He owned it. He was confident at whatever he did because he had nothing to lose. But I felt his loss of control with the way he kissed me, with how he touched me.

  He had risked everything to free me from Vault. Free his sister. He was trying to trust Deck and his men when he’d spent his life not trusting anyone. He had his sister back. He killed his mother and was going after the farm. A place that made him into who he’d been for most of his life.

  Kai was spiraling into unknown territory. He cared. He trusted.

  The reality was Kai had always been the Amur leopard, the solitary hunter, and now he wasn’t and he had a vulnerability—me.

  WE STOOD IN the kitchen going over the possible fall back, one of them being police involvement with Vault’s insiders. Deck had already put a call in to the chief of police and a few buddies he knew within the different precincts.

  “We take out their strengths,” I said. “The farm and the drug. Unfortunately, I have no idea where the farm is or who oversees it, but there may be someone who does. A board member.”

  “Who?” Deck asked.

  “Peter Dorsey.”

  “Fuck,” Vic said, shaking his head.

  “Won’t be easy getting near him,” Deck said. “Take time.”

  We didn’t have time.

  Dorsey owned two hotels in Vegas, one in New York and several more across the States. He didn’t trust anyone and was a bastard with a dirty hand. I’d met him a few times, even done a few jobs for him a number of years back. He’d also know that I’d turned.

  “His weaknesses… greed and power. He wants it all and pretty much has it, except for one thing—he doesn’t call the shots with Vault. Mother controlled the drug and another man runs the farm. Dorsey is a minion and if he has an opportunity to change that, he will. Mother’s dead. He’ll want the control of the drug.”