GirlMostLikelyTo

by Barbara Elsborg

  “I need a drink,” Adam said.

  He tugged her over to the bar. There was no sign of Tomas and she gave Adam an anxious glance.

  “He’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

  He bought two beers and steered Wren to an empty booth, giving them a view of the bar. They’d already agreed to be careful what they said in case they were overheard, though it was hard to hear or speak over the throbbing bass of the music. She sat snuggled with her back to Adam, who had his hand wrapped around her waist, his chin resting on her head.

  She people watched. There was plenty to look at now that more were dancing. Guys wearing cages around their cocks, women in dog collars being led by guys, guys in dog collars being led by women, people in inflatable suits and those wearing next to nothing. One man in tight black latex briefs with a built-in sheath for his cock was on his knees being pulled on a neck chain by a woman in a long filmy black dress and boots to mid-thigh. She carried what appeared to be a small oar and when she caught Wren’s eye, she changed direction and dragged her slave with her.

  “Oh my God,” Adam muttered.

  “Like to punish him? Take the paddle. He’s been a very bad boy.”

  Wren shook her head so hard she hit Adam’s chin.

  “She’s not allowed to play tonight,” Adam said.

  The woman nodded and moved on.

  “Whaaa…whaa…” Wren gave up trying to speak.

  Adam stroked her belly. “Try not to freak out. We’re supposed to be here to enjoy ourselves, so smile.”

  Wren twisted round to give him an exaggerated grimace.

  He groaned. “Pretend you’re my slave and they’ll leave you alone.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Why can’t we pretend you’re my slave?”

  “We don’t need to pretend that. You’ve ensnared the two of us.”

  She smiled but the bubble of anxiety in her stomach continued to grow. Glancing around the room, she wondered who was a police officer and what they’d do if things went pear-shaped. Wren wanted this over with before she threw up.

  “Tomas is there now,” Adam said in her ear. “Let’s dance.”

  She squirmed from behind the table and Adam took her hand. He pulled her into his arms and when she slid her hands onto his bare butt, his breath caught and his cock expanded to press against her belly.

  He nipped her ear. “You’re going to get us thrown out.”

  “No one can see.” She danced her fingers over his bottom.

  “They will when my cock finds a way out of this pouch and under your dress, and that’s what’s going to happen if you don’t stop.”

  She didn’t.

  His hands settled on her thighs, his fingers inched under the hem of her dress and lifted it. Wren let him go with a laugh and pulled free to dance on the spot. Adam circled her, a smile on his face, his body twisting and swaying with the music, his muscles rippling under the lights playing over his skin. She began to think less about what she was doing and more about him and how great he looked, until she realized they were dancing properly, shifting in and out of each other’s arms, bumping, grinding, sliding against each other. Adam never let her stray far. She was always in sight, within arm’s reach. If anyone came too near, he made it clear by word or gesture that she was taken, and she relaxed.

  Mistake.

  The tap on the shoulder almost made her go over on her ankle. She spun round to find herself facing Marco.

  “Can I cut in?”

  “No,” Wren said.

  Adam wrapped a possessive arm around her waist. “You heard the lady.”

  She wondered if Adam realized this was Marco.

  “I just want to talk. Come and have a drink with me.” He pointed to a table at the far end of the room.

  “She said no,” Adam snapped.

  She turned to him. “It’s okay. I won’t be long.”

  An opened bottle of champagne waited in an ice bucket in the booth Marco led her to. Tomas had told her not to drink anything she hadn’t witnessed being opened. Adam leaned against the wall nearby, his arms crossed, gaze fixed on her.

  “Is he here to keep an eye on you?” Marco asked.

  “No. To keep an eye on you.”

  He laughed. “I want to apologize for last night.” He poured the champagne and pushed a glass across the table.

  If she reached for it, even to pretend to drink, he’d see her shaking. Her hands stayed on her lap.

  “I upset you,” he said.

  “You frightened me.”

  He smiled. “Not into pain with your pleasure, yet you’re here at our BDSM party?”

  “I came because Tomas asked me to.”

  Marco leaned back and twirled the stem of the flute. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll pay you eighteen thousand pounds to sleep with me.”

  Oh fuck. She’d already steeled herself to show no surprise to anything he said, but that shocked her. He hadn’t plucked the figure from midair. It was the amount of her debt. How much did he know?

  “Just to sleep?” She hoped she sounded braver than she felt. “You don’t want me to wear a Zentai suit and do your ironing?”

  Marco raised his eyebrows. “I’d rather you did it naked. Fifty thousand if you let me fuck you for twenty-four hours.”

  Bloody hell. “No.” She glared at his expressionless face. “Why don’t you look surprised? Ask anyone else in here and they’d jump at the offer. That nice bald lady in the rags would suit you.”

  “I don’t want anyone else.”

  “You only want me because I’m with Tomas.”

  “That’s probably true. Are you going to come and teach my employees next week?”

  “No. I don’t want your money.”

  “Tomas does.”

  She frowned. “I’m planning on changing that.”

  “You see my problem? You don’t like me.” He clutched his chest in mock disappointment. “You disapprove of the business I’m in. You tried to persuade one of my girls not to work for me anymore. You felt so strongly about it you risked your own safety by getting in that punter’s car. You gave away the money I paid you so I wouldn’t be angry with Jovana. That didn’t work by the way.”

  Wren wished she dare slap the smile off his smug face. “Your point?”

  “How can I trust you to keep your pretty little mouth shut?”

  “Because I love Tomas.”

  Marco snorted. “You’ve only just met him.”

  “I love him. I don’t want anything to happen to him. I took that information from Ezispeke because he asked me to. And I’ve lost my job because of it. I don’t like him working for you, but he wants money more than he wants anything. Maybe even me. I can wait. When he’s got enough, we’re going to go abroad and start again.”

  Stop bloody improvising.

  “And what about him?” Marco nodded toward Adam.

  “He’s an old friend.”

  “Does Tomas mind him putting his hands all over you?”

  “I guess I’ll find out later.”

  Marco pushed himself to his feet. “Enjoy the champagne. Feel free to explore the club. You and your friend have access to all areas.”

  He walked away and Adam took his place, warning her with his eyes to be careful what she said. He tugged her back onto the dance floor and pressed his mouth to her ear.

  “Problem?”

  She repeated the conversation and Adam gripped her tighter. “How could he know about the money without knowing who you are? We should leave.”

  “No. If we go now, it will seem as if we’re running. We need to warn Tomas.”

  She stumbled as something collided with her calves. Adam caught her arm, steadied her, and she glanced down to see a woman on all fours being pulled on a chain by a guy wearing black leather pants and nothing else. His chest was a mass of tattoos. Dragen. She gulped. The woman’s butt was naked, her upper body enclosed in a formfitting black corset, her shoulders bared, but her head…

  Wren gasped. He
r head was entirely enclosed in a black leather hood, with straps and buckles around her neck, laces at the back. There were no eye holes, just one small open circle over her mouth. No way could Wren stand that. Maybe this woman liked it. But as Dragen pulled her on, Wren saw something that made her lurch against Adam. On the woman’s shoulders were tattooed names she recognized. Jovana.

  “Jesus,” Adam whispered. “That doesn’t look comfortable.”

  It looked like torture. She trembled in Adam’s arms. “I know her.”

  Tomas dried the same glass the whole time Marco talked to Wren, wishing he could lip-read. They’d planned for Adam to find a way to let him know what had been said before he took Wren home. It’d be some hours before Tomas could follow.

  As he’d served customers, his gaze kept wandering to the dance floor, crowded now with the weird and wonderful, and the two most precious people in his life. This was the end of his undercover work. He didn’t want to spend months away from Adam and Wren with them worrying about him and him worrying about them. He swallowed hard, surprised by the depth of his feeling. Not just surprised, scared. He didn’t believe the crap about love at first sight. Hadn’t believed. It had been easier to think his overwhelming feeling for them was mere lust, but this was more than that.

  He wanted to know everything about them, what they liked, what they didn’t. He cared more about this pair than he did himself and could see no future without them in it. And while the thought of a future with the three of them together frightened him, it felt right. Instead of wondering when and how it would go wrong, he wanted to focus on how to keep it going.

  Wren’s collision with a woman being pulled by that bastard Dragen made him start, but Adam steadied her on those fuck-me heels. All-enclosing hoods like the woman wore freaked Tomas out. The idea of only being able to breathe through a small hole made his stomach lurch. He guessed it would be Wren’s worst nightmare.

  “Corona,” Adam said and Tomas snapped back to attention.

  “Where’s Wren?”

  “Bathroom with strict instructions not to come out until I go and get her.”

  Tomas reached for a bottle and twisted off the cap.

  Adam leaned closer. “He knows exactly how much money she had stolen.”

  Fuck.

  “She persuaded him her love for you would keep her silent about his business.”

  Oh God. He handed Adam his change.

  “Wren’s upset because it’s Jovana wearing that sensory-deprivation hood.” Adam narrowed his eyes. “I’m not happy about it either.”

  “We can’t do anything.”

  “If she’s made to talk? Marco knows Wren tried to persuade her not to go with the guy and that she gave Jovana the four hundred quid he’d given her.”

  Tomas zipped through the options. What could Jovana say that Marco didn’t already know? Anything dangerous for Wren or him? Her policemen brothers? If she told him she’d asked Wren about Lule Kona? Tomas hadn’t heard the name but it wouldn’t be a shock if Marco knew her.

  “How safe are we?” Adam asked.

  “Fifty-fifty. Marco’s ruthless. Leave. I’ll come as soon as I can.”

  As Adam walked away, it felt like part of Tomas’ heart went with him. Had they done enough to satisfy Marco? Even if they had, how long could this charade continue while the safety of Wren and possibly Adam hung in the balance? Every morning, Tomas would wonder if this was the day it would all come crashing down. The golden rule about working undercover was not to get involved. Wren needed to leave Leeds. Tonight. Right now. Adam could take her to London. Tomas should have come to that conclusion earlier.

  Wren lingered by the hand dryer, waiting for Adam, when the door of the bathroom opened and Jovana stumbled in, Dragen right behind her. Wren straightened.

  “Hi,” she said. “This is the ladies’.”

  “Help her take off.” Dragen nodded to Jovana, whose fingers fumbled with the laces at the back of the hood.

  Wren unfastened the buckles. Jerky gasps came through the hole over Jovana’s mouth. Dragen moved to her side and Wren thought he was trying to help until his hand clamped around her wrist. As she struggled to pull free, he slammed a needle into the crook of her elbow and pressed the plunger. Wren cried out and staggered back. The syringe fell to the floor and skittered under a stall door.

  “What…what…”

  Fear and panic flooded her body. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. Jovana pulled the hood off her head with an exhalation of relief. Her gaze moved from Dragen to Wren and as she started to speak, the door of the washroom opened behind Dragen and a woman entered.

  Wren staggered forward. “Hel…p.”

  Dragen’s fist struck under the newcomer’s chin and she crumpled. Oh God. Wren’s vision wavered. She couldn’t think straight. Her legs felt wrong. Her heart pounded. Get out. Get to Adam. But she didn’t move and she didn’t understand why.

  “Jo…vana…help.” Wren forced the words out as she tried to stay on her feet.

  Jovana stepped toward her but when Wren saw her face, she knew there was no help there.

  “Ad…” She tried to scream for Adam but his name locked in her throat and the floor rushed up to meet her.

  She lay on her side, looking up, lights dancing and shapes shifting. Dragen lifted her head by the hair and Jovana pulled the leather hood over her face. Wren tried to struggle, tried to scream, but she was paralyzed, nothing obeyed her as the world went black.

  Wren had never been as frightened in her life. In desperation, she sucked through the hole over her mouth, her breathing rapid and shallow. Not enough air. She struggled against the drug racing through her system, fighting to stay aware. Adam will come. Adam will save me. Hands stripped the dress from her body, rough fingers pinched her nipples and the pressure on her head increased as straps tightened, laces pulled. No, no, no, no.

  “Is tight?” Dragen asked.

  “Yes,” Jovana whispered.

  I helped you. Oh God.

  “Quick. Clothes.”

  Wren was being dressed in something. She struggled to concentrate.

  “Help shift woman to cubicle.”

  When no one lifted her, she realized they meant the woman Dragen had hit. After that, nothing made sense and she stopped trying to work things out, thought only of breathing.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  When Tomas saw Adam racing in his direction, his face etched in fear, adrenaline flooded his body. He ignored the customer talking to him and rushed out from behind the bar.

  “She’s gone,” Adam shouted above the music. “There’s an unconscious woman slumped in a stall, a syringe on the floor, but no sign of Wren. Christ, how could I have been so stupid?”

  Tomas scanned the room and his gaze snagged on Marco sitting in a booth with Veton, half-naked women on their laps. Almost as though Marco sensed him looking, he turned his head and met Tomas’ glare. One step in their direction before Adam snagged his arm.

  “Think,” Adam snapped in his ear.

  Tomas jerked out of his grasp and strode across the room. “Where is she?”

  “I have no idea,” Marco said.

  Tomas slammed his fists on the table. “Tell me where the fuck she is.”

  Veton rose to his feet, tipping the woman off his lap and shouldered Tomas to one side.

  “Please.” Tomas moderated his tone. “Where is she? What you want me to do?”

  Marco leaned back. “I honestly don’t know where she is. You should have taken better care of her.”

  “I don’t believe you.” He wanted to strangle the truth out of him. His entire body trembled with fury.

  “Tomas.” Adam tugged at his waist.

  “She here somewhere.” His heart pounded.

  Marco opened his arms. “Look for her. I’ve nothing to hide.”

  Tomas almost took a swing at him. There were more lies to this guy than truth.

  Adam dragged him away. “For fuck’s sake, you’
re not helping.”

  His hands curled into fists. The urge to hit Adam roared inside him. How could he let her out of his sight? Fuck. And yet when they’d talked at the bar, he’d known Adam had left Wren in the bathroom. He could have done something sooner. Adam wrapped his fingers around the leather strap crossing Tomas’ chest and yanked until they were outside.

  “I need to get back in there and find her,” Tomas said.

  Adam dragged Tomas’ phone from his pocket, shoved it into his hand and hauled him farther from the entrance. “Call your boss.”

  He retreated to a doorway and called Julia. Adam walked back to the guys on the door. Even if they’d seen Wren, they wouldn’t talk.

  After he’d blurted everything, Julia put him on hold. He began to pace and Adam pushed him back into the doorway.

  “You’re attracting attention,” Adam said.

  He gestured at Adam’s pants. “And you’re not? Get anything out of the doormen?”

  He shook his head.

  “Shit,” Julia hissed in Tomas’ ear. “Those stupid idiots couldn’t watch paint dry. No one saw anything and my only female in there isn’t responding. How the hell am I going to tell the DCS his daughter is missing?”

  Bile surged into Tomas’ throat.

  “Has Marco figured out who you are?” she asked.

  “Don’t know. Have to go.” He cut her off and looked at Adam’s grim face.

  “What are we going to do?” Adam asked.

  “Got a light?” A guy spoke behind them.

  “No,” Adam and Tomas snapped together.

  The man kept coming and Tomas recognized him as the one who’d disarmed Sanjay in the alley behind Cirque. Tomas put a hand on Adam’s arm.

  “Dark-haired guy dragged a drunken woman out about ten minutes ago,” the man said quietly. “Got in a silver BMW. She was wearing some sort of short black outfit. Sensory-deprivation hood over her head. Didn’t flag it because—damn, sorry. Didn’t look like the woman you arrived with, though the hood makes me wonder.”