Before the End (Beyond Series Ultimate Glom Edition)

by Kit Rocha

  "I thought badass heroes rode in on white steeds to save the day."

  "Surviving even one hour with one of Eden's counselors qualifies," Cruz said from the door. "Surviving five is damn near unheard of, outside of Special Tasks recruits."

  It was so quintessentially Eden that Jared rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised to learn they put their own men through systematic beatings?"

  Cruz shrugged. "It's easier when you know they won't kill you at the end. Of course, they know that, so they get a lot meaner."

  "Fine, you're both badasses," Ace grumbled as he smoothed the gel over Jared's wrists. "Panties fall off when you enter a room. Virgins swoon."

  "Don't worry, Santana," Jared said dryly. "You're still the king of disintegrating lingerie."

  "He doesn't care," Cruz said, curling a hand around the back of Ace's neck. "He prefers taking it off with his own two hands. Or his teeth."

  "See?" Ace grinned. "He gets me."

  Ace was doing his best to keep the mood light, but the unmistakable sympathy in Cruz's gaze was impossible to ignore. Jared looked away as Cruz leaned down to kiss the top of Ace's head. "I need a few minutes with him. Work stuff."

  "Sure." Ace rose and leveled a finger at Jared. "Don't mess up my masterpiece, or I'll kick your ass."

  "Yes, sir." Jared picked up the roll of gauze and began to loosely wrap his wrists.

  When Ace was gone, Cruz pulled something silver from his pocket and held it out. It was Jared's lighter, the one with Noah's data device secreted inside. He'd left it in his jacket back at Council headquarters, but it was no big mystery how Cruz had obtained it.

  He took the lighter and ran his fingers over the delicate raised filigree. "How long have you known Lieutenant Malhotra?"

  "I can't remember not knowing him." Cruz claimed the stool Ace had abandoned and took over wrapping Jared's wrists. "There are different classes of soldiers on the Base. I'm the kind prepared from birth to be the perfect weapon. I was elite. Ashwin Malhotra is the kind they started preparing before birth. He was...more than elite."

  "So he's your contact in the city." So many things about it made sense—especially Cruz's certainty that he could handle any trouble Jared ran into within Eden's walls. "He was very careful with me. But he wasn't about to intervene to save my life."

  "Soldiers like Ashwin don't get distracted by emotion. They have missions, and a sense of honor tied to their understanding of the mission. Ashwin won't save your life out of affection for me. I don't even know if he can feel affection."

  The thought was enough to make a man's blood chill. But Jared was too focused on what Cruz hadn't said to linger over Ashwin's capacity for love. "And if saving someone was the mission?"

  "You can't change his endgame. But if he thinks you could be useful to his goals…" Cruz trailed off and met Jared's eyes. "He respects you now, Jared. That doesn't mean he'll save someone for you, but it might mean he'd save someone for you—for a price."

  "What sort of price?"

  "A favor." Cruz smoothed the end of the gauze into place, his gaze fixed on his fingers, his eyes shadowed. "He's the reason Ace is alive. Someday, Ashwin will need something, and I'll have to hope it doesn't break me to repay. But I'd do it again."

  He didn't have to ask if it was worth it. The fact that Cruz and Rachel were still laughing, smiling, breathing—that was all the proof anyone could ever need.

  Cruz had traded his favor for Ace's life. Jared would gladly trade his for a promise.

  But first, he had to know. "And this is part of his honor system, delivering for these favors?"

  "Yes, but you need to understand what you're asking. Ashwin can be painfully literal." Cruz's lips tilted up, not quite a smile. "You can ask him to keep Lili safe if something goes wrong, whatever the cost, and that's what he'll do. Whatever the cost. Whether or not she fights him, whether or not it means leaving you to die. Even if he has to cut down enemies and friends on his way out of the city."

  "I can be pretty goddamn literal, too." Knowing there would be someone there to protect Lili if things went south meant the difference between being terrified of her being in the city and welcoming her help. And, if worse came to worst, that was all Jared cared about—nothing else, no one else, not even himself. "You know him. What would he want from me?"

  "The same thing everyone wants. Information." Cruz took a deep breath and glanced around Ace's studio, as if making certain they were alone. "I have a gut feeling. Bren, Dallas, and Lex are the only ones who know. But if Ashwin asks questions, pay attention to what he's asking. It may tell us if my gut is right or not."

  It raised the hair on the back of Jared's neck. "You think he's planning something."

  "I think the Base may not be under Eden's control anymore." Cruz rose. "And since soldiers like Ashwin seem to be putting their support behind men like Nikolas Markovic, I think the days of corrupt politicians running Eden into the ground may be numbered."

  "Then I'll tell him any damn thing he wants to know." Hell, he'd do that for free.

  "Good." This time Cruz's smile was unmistakable. "You may not be in as much danger as you think, you know. Apparently Markovic is clever under pressure. He called a meeting of the full Council before you'd even cleared the city, presented his triumph, and gave Peterson credit for figuring out a way to lend you the last bit of necessary credibility to infiltrate Dallas's inner circle."

  Which meant Peterson's star was now tied to Jared's, and pursuing his vendetta would hurt him. "Clever, indeed."

  "He and Dallas will have to meet someday. I hope I'm there to see it."

  "Let's hope we all are." Jared flexed his wrists, focusing on the slight ache of his freshly inked skin instead of the more profound ache in his chest. "Ace or Rachel—would you trust Ashwin with their lives in Eden?"

  Cruz hesitated for only a moment before nodding. "Maybe even before I'd trust myself, because I'd be distracted. Ashwin doesn't get distracted."

  "I see. Thank you, Lorenzo." He held up the lighter. "For everything."

  He nodded and laid a hand on Jared's shoulder. "Heal up, Jared. Now that you're openly an O'Kane, I'll be kicking your ass twice as often."

  Something told him Cruz had already made the same offer to Lili. "You sure the sexual tension won't kill us?"

  Yes, Cruz still blushed. But he didn't back down anymore. "I guess finding out is part of the fun."

  "If Rachel and Ace don't mind." And Lili, he added silently.

  If she would still have him, and that was one giant fucking if. The apologies he had to deliver—and the concessions he was prepared to make—might not be enough. It didn't make him wrong, not any more than her wanting to stand beside him in Eden was wrong. It simply was, and that was the hardest part of it all.

  In fairy tales, there were always ogres or evil queens or circumstances to be overcome. But in real life, you could give everything you had, everything you were, for someone, and still fall short.

  He closed his eyes—and wished like hell for the fairy tale.

  It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, but now that his plan was underway, odds were good Lili might murder him.

  He leaned against the wall in the empty spot where her piano had stood, slinky silk draped over one arm, and ticked down the minutes. Lex had said her kitchen shift ended at three, which meant she should be arriving—

  The doorknob clicked, and he straightened.

  Lili froze in the doorway, her gaze sliding over him. He had dressed deliberately, carefully, straight down to the slightly open shirt and the carefully polished shoes—and Lili looked flatteringly stunned.

  She recovered quickly and frowned. "My piano…"

  "I had it moved," he told her. "Don't worry, love. It's still yours."

  She closed the door and came toward him—tentative, skittish, but there was hope in her eyes and her slow smile. "Well, that's a relief." She nodded to his wrists. "You got your cuffs already?"

  "I did." He unclasped one cu
fflink and pulled back his sleeve to show her. "Ace fancies me some sort of knight in shining armor."

  Lili traced her fingers along the edge of the shield. "Ace sees people more clearly than they like to be seen, sometimes."

  "Usually." Jared flicked his cuff down and sighed. "I happen to think my armor of late has been tarnished."

  She swallowed hard and looked away. "I was tired. I shouldn't have pressed things when you were hurt and I hadn't slept in two days."

  If they got caught up in second-guessing and recriminations, they'd never make it out of her room. So Jared shook his head and held out the fabric draped over his arm. "Vintage silk. Bias cut. Trix said it would look like a dream on you."

  She studied his outfit again before reaching out to take the dress. "It's beautiful. Do you want me to…?"

  "Mmm. Put it on, Miss Fleming."

  His voice could still bring color to her cheeks. She turned and laid the dress on the bed and, with her back still to him, began to undress.

  Her shoes first, and then her shirt. Her wrists bore new ink as well, the O'Kane logo framed by intricate, lacy fractals. She eased down the zipper on her skirt and glanced back at him as the fabric slipped to the floor.

  The look in her eyes could bring a man to his knees. He had to touch her, so he stepped closer, close enough to lay his hands on her hips and stroke his thumbs over the top edge of her panties. "These, too."

  "Help me," she whispered.

  Jared twisted his hands in the delicate fabric, but only long enough to hear her breath catch. Then he eased his grip and guided the lace down, off her hips and ass. "Better?"

  She laughed softly and covered his hands with her own, sliding them both down. The panties joined her skirt, and she stepped out of the discarded clothing and lifted the dress.

  It slid over her like water, settling into place as if it had been made to steal his breath. She stepped back into her heels and turned back to him. "It's perfect."

  "Yes, it is." He retrieved her coat and held it up and open for her. "If you'll do me the honor of accompanying me tonight?"

  She stared at him forever with those big eyes, still wary. But she slipped her arms into the coat and wrapped it tightly around her body. "Always."

  He had a car waiting—one of Dallas's finds, though after all the hours Bren and Finn and now Hawk had put into it, it could safely be called a recreation. A Corvette from the early years, all sleek round lines and whitewall tires, in a color Hawk had glowingly called Venetian Red.

  Jared held the door for Lili, then climbed behind the leather-wrapped wheel.

  Lili ran her fingers over the lovingly restored dashboard. "This is incredible. Nessa told me Hawk fixes up cars, but fixes up doesn't quite do this justice."

  "Dallas is very happy to have him in the garage."

  He fell silent, and stayed that way for the drive to the gates. His bar code was still intact, surrounded and framed by his new ink, and he'd prepared a bribe to hand over for Lili's entrance into the city.

  But when the guard at the checkpoint waved his scanner over Jared's bar code, his brow furrowed. Then his eyes widened, and he took a hasty step back. "Sorry, sir." He raised his voice to the other guards. "Clear!"

  Well. Nikolas Markovic certainly was a useful man to know.

  The streets were nearly empty at the edge of the city, in the darker, rougher spaces that the city leaders liked to pretend didn't exist. Jared pulled to a stop outside his building and shut off the car. "This is it."

  Lili twisted her hands together in her lap. "Your bar?"

  "Come inside and see."

  Her hand was shaking when he helped her out of the car. By the time he unlocked the grate and the door and flipped on the lights, so were his.

  He'd had her piano placed along the wall near the bar, beneath one of the newly replaced chandeliers. Light sparkled off the crystal and danced across the surface of the wood, and Jared held his breath.

  "Oh…" It was barely a word, more of a sigh. She crossed to touch the keys, her face alight with wonder. "You said it's still mine."

  The expression on her face hurt to see. "It is. And if you want to play when we're not here, we still have the baby grand at home."

  She didn't respond. Instead she moved to the bar, running her hand along its surface before moving to one of the tables. Her lips quirked up, her smile growing as she peeked behind the bar and examined one of the booths. "You did all of this in a few weeks?"

  It was just money. Enough of it could buy damn near anything, and he told her so. "I could have found another piano to bring here instead of taking yours. I need you to understand why I didn't."

  She turned, and the carefully constrained hope in her eyes hurt even more. "You said we."

  "I did." He took off his jacket and draped it over one of the barstools. "I haven't changed my mind, Lili. I still can't bear the thought of you here in the city, in danger. But there is a way you can be looked after, so if danger comes for us, then you'll be safe."

  She dug her teeth into her lower lip, as if holding back her immediate response. After a moment, she tilted her head. "Cruz knows someone, doesn't he? He didn't quite say it…"

  "Yes. Someone who can protect you if my cover's blown, or if the Council decides I'm a bigger liability than asset." His hands wouldn't stop shaking, so he shoved them into his pockets. "I need that assurance, love. I always will. I need to know that, no matter what else happens, you won't be hurt because of me."

  She took a step closer, a different kind of skittish now. Big-eyed and shy and staring at him the way she had the first night he'd kissed her. Overwhelmed and nervous but willing to trust. "But I'd still be here, in Eden. Playing dangerous games with terrible people. Can you handle that?"

  He wouldn't like it, but she'd been right before. He'd been asking her to deal with the same thing since the moment he'd first kissed her. "It won't be easy," he admitted, "but you'll have me. We'll have each other."

  "I'd like that." She took another step. "We'll both have to learn how to let someone else protect us."

  "Which might be the hardest prospect of all." He took a deep breath and released it, forging ahead. "But I want you, Lili, more than anything else. I want you so much it's killing me."

  One more step, and she was close enough to touch him. But she didn't. "Do you want me enough to let me love you?"

  That was the real question, wasn't it? The only one that mattered. "Yes." He reached out and grazed one blonde curl with his knuckles. "If you'll have me, Lili Fleming."

  "I'm already yours." She lifted her hand to his, twining their fingers together. It pushed their wrists together as well, fresh ink bright on their skin, and Lili smiled. "And you're mine. Dallas will have to endeavor not to be too jealous."

  "Jealous?" Jared wrapped his other arm around her, drawing her up against him, almost off her feet. "Noelle and Jasper. Bren and Six. Ace, Rachel, and Cruz. I think Dallas knows how this goes by now."

  "Good." Her lips were so close, her breath warm and teasing. "Because I can be dangerous when it comes to you."

  He couldn't kiss her—not yet—or he'd never stop. "You need a cover story. Can you pretend to hate Dallas and the rest of the O'Kanes while also pretending to hide it?"

  "I'm sure people would believe it." She smiled against his mouth. "Finn killed my father and my husband, and Dallas rewarded him for it. They don't have to know I want to buy him a present for it, too."

  He framed her face with his hands and brushed his lips over hers. "If it ever gets to be too much—"

  "Then we'll talk about it." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing even closer. "Neither of us can do this alone. But together we can do anything."

  He did lift her then, relief and desire mixing until they were one incandescent emotion that lit him from the inside out. Holding her to his chest, he crossed the room until he could set her down on the closed lid of her piano.

  She laughed and broke their kiss, her hands busy with the
buttons on his shirt. "Are you trying to make sure I can never concentrate again? I already can't go into your kitchen without thinking about what you did to me on the counter."

  "I have plenty of other places to ruin forever." He tugged her dress up, careful not to snag or stretch the silk. From now on, whenever she wore it, he would remember this moment. "The car outside, for instance?"

  "Is there even room?"

  "No, but I—" His words melted into a groan as she pressed her open mouth to his chest and bit him. "I wouldn't let it stop me."

  He felt her smile against his skin. "Where else?"

  "Your bedroom. The kitchens back at the compound." He grasped her hair and pulled her head up until her eyes met his. "The next O'Kane party."

  Her breath caught. Her eyes went impossibly wide. "With everyone watching?"

  "Everyone." The silk cleared her hips, and he gripped her ass. "You remember what they're like—skin and sex. And the sounds?"

  She whimpered and tugged at his belt, trying to pull him closer. "Remind me. Make me make sounds."

  He tugged her hands away from his belt and placed them on the piano, then moved the piano stool and sat. "You sure about that?" he asked, looking up at her from between her parted thighs.

  She stared down at him, disheveled, gorgeous—and not at all nervous. "Yes."

  Jared guided her legs over his shoulders and grasped her hips, pulling her just far enough off the solid wood surface to leave her balanced precariously—and completely open to his mouth.

  She was wet already, and he tasted her slowly, gliding his tongue until he reached spots that made her gasp, tremble. He lingered over those, drawing out even more desperate reactions—a jerk, a moan—until she sank one hand into his hair, fingers tangling tight.

  "Oh, God—"

  "Slow," he whispered against her skin. "Is that what you want?"

  She shook her head restlessly, thighs trembling. "I want to feel you."

  He turned his head and bit her thigh.

  "Jared." She pulled his hair again, a little more command in her grip. "Don't tease. I need you."