by Kit Rocha
Ashwin was still watching him, unblinking, so Cruz nodded his understanding. "Any other pertinent details?"
Ashwin finally looked away, his gaze tracking over the room. "I'll run it down if I can do it quietly, find out who's behind it. But if O'Kane figures out how they're getting it in, that's just as good."
"I'll pass it along." Cruz hesitated, hyperaware of the ink wrapped around his wrists and the promise it entailed. Dallas trusted Cruz to keep O'Kane secrets while trading for intel, but he probably had no idea just how highly placed--and dangerous--Cruz's contact was. "Anything you need to know?"
Ashwin spared a quick smile for Coop, then nodded. "What are O'Kane's plans for Sector Three?"
"Short term? Cleaning it the hell up."
"Long term," Ashwin corrected. "Someone's been talking to the Council. Hinting that your new boss might be planning to rebuild the factories in Three."
Not too difficult to draw the lines there. Mac Fleming ran the Sector Five factories that produced drugs--medical and recreational--while Jim Jernigan had a chokehold on all other manufacturing in Sector Eight.
Both had necessary relationships with Eden, but only one possessed the subtlety to hint instead of accuse. "Jernigan has nothing to worry about. Dallas is interested in expanding Four's current businesses, not dumping money into infrastructure that won't pay out for years."
"If he did, the Council would move on him. Fair warning."
"Understood."
The man vanished without another word, and Coop shuddered. "Makhai. Freaks my shit out."
Cruz had grown up on the Base with them, sometimes working and training alongside them, and he couldn't disagree. "They should. Ashwin's pretty much as personable as they get."
"I believe it."
The front door rattled open, followed by Tammy's cheerful greeting, and Cruz grabbed at the chance to change the topic. "I heard she moved into the spare bedroom."
The old man's cheeks reddened. "Spare bedroom is right. Didn't make sense for her to keep paying for another place, not when I have plenty of room."
And not when the shadier parts of Eden were getting more and more dangerous for a woman living on her own. After all, Ashwin Malhotra had gotten his new gig after the previous head of Special Tasks was caught kidnapping Eden's poor to sell as forced labor. No doubt Coop slept better knowing Tammy was safe under his roof.
Which didn't make pestering him any less fun. Cruz grinned as Tammy clattered around in the kitchen, the noise loud enough to cover his teasing whisper. "I'm sure your intentions are honorable."
Coop's smile softened his harsh reply. "Fuck you, Lorenzo."
No, Cooper's intentions weren't innocent, but Cruz was all out of stones. Dark or not, wrong or not, all he wanted was to get back to Sector Four, to Ace and Rachel. Back to the moment where they were naked and open and his.
Fuck the brakes. If it was too late to stop, all that was left was to see how fast and far they could go.
Chapter Eight
She had always been comfortable in the distillery, with its shining copper and steel pots and its familiar smells. It reminded her of home. Maybe that was why Dallas had let her carve out a corner of it as her own, even though the beer she produced wasn't distributed and didn't pull in a fraction of the revenue earned by Nessa's barrels of delicately aged whiskey.
Rachel counted on brewing to help center her. She'd been handling the grains, yeasts, and fragrant hops for years, and experience left her plenty of room for distraction. So she relaxed enough to let half her brain focus on what had happened with Ace and Cruz--
No panic assailed her, none of the worry or second-guessing she'd expected in the cold light of day, only the pleasant ache she carried with her like a secret.
Rachel lifted the lid of her mash tun and smiled at the earthy steam rising from the bubbling mixture. Part summer wheat, part caramel malt, raised by a man out in the communes just for her. Not even her father could get it. This batch would be light, almost sweet, nothing like the darker brews Dallas preferred.
But she was working on that, too. She checked the fermenter next, climbing the short wooden ladder to peer in at the steeping liquid. Its gentle bubbling had slowed, so she grinned and called out, "Hey, Nessa! You get the stuff I asked you for?"
"Yup, just a sec!" A clatter came from the far side of the room seconds before Nessa popped out of the room she'd claimed as an office. "I had a couple bottles left from the summer we got too much corn. It's a little more sugary than our usual bourbon, but it should work for your recipe."
"Thanks." Rachel took the bottle and rattled it. "Oak chips?"
"Yup. Put 'em in the day after you asked."
"Sweet." The oak would enhance the flavor of the bourbon enough to offset the vanilla and chocolate. "Happy birthday, Jasper."
"He's gonna love it." Nessa picked up one of the empty bottles she'd collected. "Maybe Ace would make a label for it. He does it for my small runs sometimes, so I can trade them to Eden."
Rachel's cheeks grew hot. Of course Nessa hadn't heard, because she spent most of her time holed up in the distillery. "I'll ask him."
"You can charge as much for the packaging as--" Nessa turned back to her and stopped abruptly. Her eyes narrowed. "Oh my God, what happened? What did I miss? No one tells me anything!"
"What? Nothing. We're working some stuff out, is all."
"Yeah, whatever. Last time you turned that pink, you'd been all up in between Lex and Dallas in the porn adventure of the century. A good friend would let me live vicariously."
True, except Rachel wasn't used to being the one with tales to tell. "When they finished their run last night, Ace and I went back to Cruz's place."
"Wait, you went--" Nessa blinked, then broke out into a triumphant grin. "Fuck yeah, Riley. Okay, get your ass off that ladder. We're breaking out the good shit."
Still blushing, Rachel followed her over to the sitting area in the corner, dropped to one battered couch, and covered her face with her hands. "I know O'Kanes aren't shy about sex, but I can't help it. Maybe I have more Eden left in me than I realize."
Nessa made a sympathetic noise and swung an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, it's me. It's not like I'm gonna ask all the dirty details, because Lex would probably glare at you for telling me anyway."
Nessa had been there for years, practically since childhood. It made it hard for some of the older members to see her as anything but the gangly thirteen-year-old girl she'd once been.
But that wasn't Rachel's problem. She shook her head. "It isn't that I don't want to tell you. It's just so new, and I don't even know what to call it. And I mean, the sex was good--really good--but it feels like..." She struggled to find the words. "Like it's not the most important thing that happened last night." Or that morning.
"Then call it fantastic." Nessa squeezed her again before leaning forward to snag a bottle of bourbon. "I mean, there's no way it was just sex. If Ace was gonna just sex you, it would have happened years ago."
"Maybe."
"Totally. There's zero Eden in him." Nessa hesitated and tilted her head, studying Rachel's face. "Hell, do you need me to shut up? The last time I saw someone looking this dazed was the morning after Flash went all caveman on Amira for the first time."
Rachel shook her head and opened her mouth to reassure her friend, but what came out instead was a desperate confession. "I don't know if this is the best or worst idea ever, and I don't think I care. Is that bad?"
"No. Fuck, no." Nessa laughed as she poured two generous shots and offered one to Rachel. "Someday, the right hot bastard's going to show up here, and I'm gonna get every bad idea I can think of all over him. Anything awesome that doesn't kill you is worth the risk."
Except that wasn't exactly true, was it? An ugly blowout between two--or three--O'Kanes could be worse. It could have everyone else choosing sides, squaring off against one another, shaking the very foundation of the brotherhood that was vital to the gang's existence.
&
nbsp; But it didn't matter. This was worth it. Rachel would walk through fire just for a chance to make it work, would risk everything, because the moments she spent in their arms made it all...
Perfect.
"Damn," Nessa whispered. "It can't be a bad idea, not if you get that look on your face just thinking about them."
Rachel touched her flaming cheeks again. "You know how Mad always says he loves everyone he can, for as long as he can?"
"Yeah."
"This is different." It was the one thing she knew with certainty. "It's about the three of us. I don't think it'd work any other way."
Nessa nodded. "It makes sense, kind of. I mean, Ace has never really been like Mad. I don't think he's ever fucked another O'Kane one-on-one. Well, except Emma, but it was already happening before she got ink, and it stopped pretty fast after she did."
"He hasn't been looking for anything permanent. I know."
"No, it's not just that. I think..." She shrugged. "Ace talks a dirty game, but sometimes I wonder if he really believes it. He tries too hard, you know? Like he's scared being himself isn't enough, which is stupid. He's fucking irresistible when he's being sweet."
The rare glimpses she'd had of Ace, unguarded and uncensored, had left her grasping greedily for more. "I haven't helped matters on that count. But I'm going to, because no one should ever think it, least of all him."
Nessa passed the liquor to Rachel and flopped back with a groan. "Ace is cute and all, but I'm dying of jealousy over Cruz. I can't even look at his cage fights straight on. I might get spontaneously pregnant or something. Tell me he's that hot in bed."
"He's..." Cruz was Cruz, focused and intent. Himself, only more, somehow. Open, maybe, to all the things he usually bottled up to hide.
"Lord save me, it's so dirty you can't even say it." Nessa nudged her leg. "Don't you dare feel bad about this. Be smug. I would be."
She planned to--once she'd wrapped her head around it. "Trust me, it's fucking awesome. But my brain's still playing catch-up."
"Then I'll have mercy on your brain. Tell me someone else's gossip."
Rachel's humor vanished. "The run last night? They found another still."
Nessa swung upright, her boots slamming into the floor. "Fucking hell. I hope they burned those bastards to the ground."
The fake O'Kane products were a financial threat to them all, but the sting was much more personal for Nessa. She poured her heart and soul into crafting her liquor, and for someone to take that brand over... "Only ashes left."
"Motherfuckers. I'd love five minutes alone with whoever's pouring toilet swill into our bottles." Nessa rolled her eyes. "Which'll happen when the world stops spinning. The guys won't let any of us near them."
"Only to patch them up so they can kill them some more."
"Some things are the same on both sides of the wall."
"No doubt." Rachel considered the bottle on the table in front of them before retrieving it and knocking back a bracing gulp. "You going to the party tonight?"
"For a little while, anyway." Nessa reclaimed the bottle and swirled the liquor in it. "Gotta be there when Six and Jade drink in. Especially Six. I promised to lend her some clothes."
"Clothes, not hair dye?" she teased, reaching out to flick a purple-hued lock of Nessa's hair.
"Give me time." Nessa grinned. "She'd look badass with bright red streaks in that hair."
"Agreed." Rachel hesitated, then forged ahead. "Is it so bad here? With everyone thinking of you as little Nessa, I mean."
"Bad compared to what?" The younger woman leaned back, the bottle still cradled between her hands. "Pop and I had to get here from Texas. The shit we saw on the way... Hell, being everyone's little sister isn't the worst thing."
Uncertainty lurked beneath the words. "But?"
Nessa half-smiled. "But I guess sneaking out to screw some hot piece of cage-fighting ass feels kinda lonely sometimes. Stupid, huh?"
"Not to me." Sometimes, there was nothing more isolating than being untouchable in a group defined by a whole hell of a lot of touching. "Be careful?"
"What, with the hot pieces of ass?"
Rachel took the bottle. "You wouldn't be the first to get burned." Plenty of the fighters who dropped into the warehouse on fight night were looking for ways in, and wouldn't hesitate to think that romancing an O'Kane woman was an easy ticket.
"I'm careful." Nessa's voice grew serious. "Shit, I was fifteen the first time someone tried to find the secret to O'Kane whiskey inside my pants. I let Bren take a pass at anyone who wants to get to second base."
Rachel almost choked on the whiskey. "That'd scare off anyone who wanted to do anything more nefarious than pin you to a wall."
Nessa's good humor never stayed quiet for long. Laughter lurked in her eyes as she leaned into Rachel. "Hey, if I'm stuck with all these big brothers, they can fucking well earn their keep."
"It's their solemn duty," she agreed, unable to keep her own grin in check.
"And your solemn duty?" Nessa rose and snatched the bottle, holding it out of Rachel's reach. "Get your head around the dirty details, baby, because I am dying for some girl talk so filthy those boys start blushing and don't even know why."
"Hey, if you really want to know? Stick around after Six and Jade drink in. You know Ace isn't shy at parties."
Nessa solemnly lifted a hand, and Rachel hit her with a high-five. Maybe it wasn't much, but it still felt like a small victory for the untouchable girls.
As proud as he was about always rolling with life's punches, there was one thing Ace wasn't sure he'd ever get used to.
Sentimental Bren.
Not that the man looked like he'd gone soft. He was sprawled in Ace's chair, his face as stony as ever, but the simple tattoo Ace was finishing up on the inside of Bren's left forearm screamed its own sappy message. Today's date--the date Six was drinking in as one of them--under a single word.
Hope.
Truth in art, man. If Brendan Donnelly could fall cross-eyed crazy in love, maybe there was hope for all of them. "Almost done. Is your fighter-girl excited about her big night?"
"Oh yeah." He smiled. "She's going for double shots. Can't let the men show her up."
Rachel was the only woman who'd ever done the full sixteen shots, and Ace had fallen a little in love with her that night. "No wonder you got stupid, brother. That girl's as crazy as you are."
"I know." Bren eyed his fresh ink. "It's gonna be one hell of a party."
Ace rolled his tray closer to retrieve a tube of med-gel and savored the potential of a party. Rachel got off on a crowd, and tonight's onlookers would be perfect. They'd be O'Kanes, men and women who would protect Rachel with their lives and revel in her pleasure.
In their pleasure. Because she sure as fuck wouldn't be the only one getting off.
"How's Cruz doing?"
Bren was watching him with a too-observant look, the one that saw everything. "He's good. He had another meeting in Eden today with that secret contact of his."
Bren nodded. "Six said Rachel was upset he got himself shot."
His heart rate spiked before he realized Bren wasn't talking about something that had happened in Eden, but during the raid last night. The memory of Rachel's initial concern had been drowned out by what had followed.
Christ, half of Ace's life to date had been drowned out by what followed.
"She got over it," he said wryly, and because Bren would find out soon enough, Ace grinned. "Nakedness will do that."
"I bet." The other man flashed him an appraising look. "Is that how it is now?"
"I guess so." Ace smoothed some gel over the finished tattoo and barely managed to keep the smug fucking smile off his face. "Serious enough about it that I paid a visit to Stuart's shop and bought some jewelry from his sister."
Another rare smile curved Bren's lips. "Congratulations, man."
"Yeah, I'm a lucky bastard. And you're all done." Ace rolled his stool back. "Let me grab you a bandage,
and then you know the drill. Should be able to take it off before the party."
"Thanks." Bren flexed his arm, his smile lingering. "Did you ever think you'd see the day?"
"Which day?"
"This one. Me, with a woman's name on my skin."
Ace studied the tattoo again before placing the tightly woven gauze over it. Hope. Not just a feeling, then, but Six's mysterious real name. It was almost tragic when you knew the sort of shit the girl had survived to make it to Sector Four--or maybe that made it all the more appropriate. No one lasted in hell for as long as she had without hope burning in their gut.
And hope spread. Bren had touched the spark of it, and now he burned so bright it hurt to look at him straight on.
Taping the gauze into place, Ace returned Bren's smile. "Just had to find the right one. You know you're hot stuff, Donnelly."
"Uh-huh. What about you--buying a collar?"
Ace caught movement out of the corner of his eye--a glimpse of blonde hair through the barred window--and threw Bren a wink as he smoothed down the final edge of tape. "You know I'm hot stuff, too."
"Yeah, you're--" The bell on the front door jingled, and Bren snapped his mouth shut as Rachel walked in.
"Uh-oh." She leaned over the chair to kiss Bren's cheek. "My ears are burning."
"They should be." Ace patted Bren's shoulder as he rose--and got his first good look at Rachel.
The dress she'd picked wasn't fancy. It could have been--God knew Jasper had damn near kick-started a new trade in ruffles and lace, buying Noelle all the pretty things she liked--but Rachel had gone for something plainer. Something...her.
Simple white knit fabric, and it could have looked like she'd stolen one of those muscle shirts Cruz liked to wear when he worked out, except she would have been drowning in that. This gorgeous thing clung to her breasts and skimmed her curves like it had been made just for her.