My breath stuttered with relief from finding her as I pushed my way through the crowd. I needed to get her out of here, but I had to do it so no one would be suspicious. She had to get out without garnering any attention from any of Garza’s men.
I stared at her hips as she swayed them left to right, and even though I wanted to grab her arm and pull her out of here, I knew I couldn’t. So instead, I moved closer to her and placed my hands on her waist gently.
“What the hell are you doing here, Baby Belle?”
Her back straightened and her muscles locked. She knew exactly who it was behind her, but she kept on dancing as she turned around to face me. Her gaze locked with mine, and my muscles loosened.
Belle had been part of my family since the moment she was born. Everyone else in my life had always wanted or needed something from me. I’d had to save my cousin’s ass more times than I could count, and she was the reason I had gotten into the drug business in the first place. She’d crossed the top guy in our neighborhood—Hut—and the only way I knew she would get out alive was by making myself indispensable to him. That was how I met Belle’s mom, Lola. She was Hut’s stepsister, but she’d needed something from me too. She needed help to survive each day, and then along came Brody, who tricked me into becoming an informant.
I didn’t regret any of it, though. Because without Brody and Lola, I probably wouldn’t even be alive. Brody had given me a lifeline and let me create a life for myself, as well as welcoming me into his man-made family.
And then Belle came along. The sweet innocent girl who didn’t want or need anything from me, but I would give her everything she asked for. The last time I’d seen her had been just before I went undercover for this job, and I could have sworn she still looked like a kid. But right now, she looked like anything but.
Her makeup was minimal, and her wavy light-brown hair flowed down her back, but it was the tight clothes and the way she lost herself in the music that made her look older than she was. But then again, she was twenty. She was an adult, had been for several years, but it was hard for me to look at her as anything but the little girl who would run at me when I came back from being undercover and fling herself at me, knowing I would catch her, always.
She lifted up on her tiptoes, but even that wasn’t enough to bring her lips to my ear. “I came with my friends.” I gripped her waist tighter and glanced around us, making sure no one was watching.
“Come with me.” I didn’t wait for her to answer as I pulled her through the crowd, past the bar, and into the hallway the restrooms were in. No one knew there was a secret door at the end of the dimly lit hallway, which led to Garza’s office and the security center, as well as the drug packing facility he’d set up. It wasn’t his biggest facility, but it was the one that housed the block this club was on.
The music was a low hum now compared to the main area of the bar, which would mean I could talk to her properly. I pushed her against the wall and planted my hand above her head to cage her in. If anyone looked at us, they’d think we were just a couple of club-goers about to make out.
“You need to leave,” I ground out, flicking my gaze to the right to make sure the coast was still clear.
“Why?” she asked, and even though this wasn’t the time to argue, I could feel my lips quirking on one side. Belle was never afraid to ask what others wouldn’t, and she never backed down. I didn’t expect her to do that now, which would mean I’d have to at least tell her something. Her dad wouldn’t like it, but I didn’t have a choice.
“I’m on a job,” I told her, moving my gaze back to her and staring into her dark-blue eyes. They held so many emotions, but the one most obvious was relief.
“I missed you,” she murmured, and I stepped closer to her. All it would take was one sway of my body, and we’d be touching. “I was worried.”
“I’m fine,” I told her, swallowing against the lump in my throat. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
She rolled her eyes and puffed out a breath. “Whatever, you know I do.” Her gaze flicked over my shoulder, and her eyes widened. “There’s a couple about to have sex opposite us.”
I whipped my head around and saw the sight she’d witnessed. She wasn’t wrong, they were about to have sex. I cursed and pulled her farther down the hallway, knowing I shouldn’t have moved this close to the secret door, but also knowing if I didn’t, she wouldn’t leave, and I needed her to leave so she was safe—but also so she wouldn’t blow my goddamn cover.
She pressed her back against the wall, and I leaned closer to her, my hand now on her waist. I squeezed it several times to try and silently communicate what I felt I couldn’t say. “You need to leave. It’s not safe here.”
“Why is it not safe?”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Belle, can you just listen to me for once in your life?”
She raised a brow and tilted her head to the side. “You know I don’t respond well to being told what to do, right?” She paused, and I opened my mouth, but she didn’t give me the chance to speak. “I know you know that.”
“Fuck.” I slapped my hand against the wall, then leaned closer to her and whispered, “It’s the cartel,” in her ear. I felt her body tense, and a second later, her hand gripped the side of my T-shirt. Good, she was starting to understand why the hell she needed to leave. “You need to go—now.”
She turned her head to the side and then slowly brought it back to face me. Her eyes swirled as she whispered, “Someone is watching us.” I kept my body in the exact position and slowly moved my gaze to the right. I couldn’t see Garza’s face, but I recognized his shoes and the gold caps he had on every pair he owned.
“Fuck,” I murmured. My nostrils flared, and my stomach dipped. I had to make this look like every other couple in this hallway, which would mean I’d have to cross a line. I’d have to overstep my bounds, something I didn’t want to do but had no choice. “I’m gonna have to kiss you.”
“What?” Her brows flew high on her forehead, and I could have sworn her cheeks pinked. “No—”
“I don’t have a choice,” I gritted out. “He’s watching us, I need to make sure we look like every other couple in this hallway.” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, and her hand gripped my shirt harder. “I’ll kiss you, then walk you out and put you in a cab. You get out of here and never come back. Got it?”
Her chest heaved on a breath, and her whispered, “Got it,” was all I needed. I slammed my lips down onto hers and screwed my eyes closed, knowing this was what I had to do to make sure she was safe. But when her body pressed against mine, and her palm grazed over my chest and landed over my beating heart, I let myself relax into it.
This wasn’t me overstepping my bounds. This was me trying to make it look believable, so I swiped my tongue over the seam of her lips, and she opened up without any hesitation. My body pressed closer to hers, and one of my hands gripped her waist while the other held on to the side of her neck.
Our tongues met slowly, and a shiver rolled down my back. I’d never felt anything like it before, but it was her moan that made me realize what we were doing. It was meant to be for show, but I’d forgotten that somewhere between our lips touching and our tongues tangling.
I pulled back, breaking the kiss, and shook my head. “Let’s get out of here,” I said, my voice deeper than usual. She didn’t say anything as I grabbed her hand and walked her back out of the hallway. I wasn’t sure if Garza was still watching, but part of me didn’t care. There was no way he would have seen that and thought it was anything but me picking up a girl at his club.
My hand gripped Belle’s harder as we pushed through the doors and out into the darkened night. The doormen greeted me, but I ignored them. I was on a singular mission: to get Belle out of here.
“What about my friends?” she asked.
“Call them. Message them. Tell them you’ve left.” I held my hand in the air on the edge of the sidewalk to hail a cab. “Do whatever you have to, but you
’re not going back in there.” I couldn’t look at her as the cab pulled up.
“You’re so bossy,” she murmured, and my lips quirked on one side. She was right. I was bossy, but only when it came to her safety.
“Get in,” I told her, opening up the back door. I finally glanced at her and clenched my hands when my gaze immediately landed on her swollen lips. Fuck. I couldn’t go there. I’d kissed her because it was the only option, but now all I could feel were her lips against mine.
“Don’t tell your dad you came here.”
Chapter Two
BELLE
I could hear the collection of barks ricocheting out of the building before I even opened the door. If I hadn’t already known it was feeding time, I did now. Giving all the animals in the shelter their food was a two-person job, which meant I’d made it for my shift this morning just in time.
I’d had hardly any sleep because my mind was going around and around in circles, trying to piece everything together. All I could think about was every touch, every word, every single thing. I couldn’t get the image of Ford out of my head.
He was undercover on a job, so the club we were at wasn’t a safe space, and yet, I’d gone there without a second thought. My dad always told me it wasn’t the weird, shifty people you had to watch out for, but the ones who looked normal. The ones who fit into a crowd and smiled at you to make you feel welcome. Those were the people you had to be wary of, but the longer I was away from home, the more I started to relax.
But last night…
Last night Ford had made me realize I’d become so lax in everything around me. I wasn’t always aware of my surroundings, and I trusted people without fault. I’d grown up being taught to be cautious of everyone, while inside, I wanted to trust everyone until they’d proven otherwise.
“Belle!”
I jumped at the sound of Betty’s voice and slapped my hand over my racing heart. I’d been so inside my own head, I didn’t even notice the back door to the animal shelter opening and Betty appearing. “Sorry.” She blinked and pushed her white-blond hair behind her ears. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I waved my hand in the air. “My fault. I was off somewhere in my head.” I laughed and shook my head, trying to force my brain to concentrate on the here and now. Betty stepped back, and I followed her inside of the shelter and then made my way into the break room. It consisted of a sink, a couple of lockers, and a feeding station. We also stored things in here too. As a charity-run shelter, we had to make use of the little space we had, so each room was multifunctional.
I pulled my jacket off and stowed it away with my bag, then spun around. Betty had already gathered all the feeding bowls ready to be filled, so I put on my apron and gloves, and got to work. The dogs were first, their bowls being the biggest, and Betty flitted in and out of the room as she took the full bowls to their owners. The few cats we had were fed second, and then the birds and other random animals.
The rhythm of filling the bowls had my mind wandering. Seeing Ford last night had freaked me out, but what had me even more on edge was what he’d done. My hand started to drift to my lips, but I managed to stop myself halfway there. I couldn’t think about it again, not after going over and over it in my mind last night. It was on a constant loop—the way his hand curved around my waist, the way his palm felt against the side of my neck, but it was nothing compared to the softness of his lips. Damn. I was thinking about it again.
Growing up with a family like mine wasn’t easy. I was surrounded by men—men who protected what was theirs at any cost. My dad was a DEA agent who’d become the head of his department, and my “uncles” were all on his team. Uncle Jord was the guy I went to when I needed help with my computers. Uncle Ryan was the serious one, the one who I could talk about what I wanted to be when I grew up—spoiler alert, I still had no idea what that was. And Uncle Ky was…well, he was Uncle Ky, the womanizer of the group. All four of them had gone through the academy together and had known each other since they were my age.
But Ford…
Ford was different. Ford had had a rough life, and you didn’t need to be aware of his entire history to know that. He had an edge to him, an edge which only ever seemed to soften when he talked to me. But the older I got, the more I realized I didn’t look at him in the same way I looked at Jord, or Ryan, or Ky. My stomach fluttered when Ford showed up, and my smile would almost break my face when I saw him for the first time in weeks after he’d been away on a job.
It was different with Ford. So different. But I’d never acted on it. I’d known him all my life. He was part of the family, part of my dad’s team, my mom’s best friend. So I pushed it aside. And I’d managed to not think about it, not since I was a pre-teen with braces. But last night had brought it all bubbling back to the surface. One touch of his lips, and I was helpless to stop the flooding feelings consuming me.
“Feeding is done,” Betty announced, once again making me jump. My fingers were wrapped around a scoop inside the dry biscuits tub, and I had no idea how long I’d been standing here. Betty pulled off her plastic disposable feeding apron. “I’ve got to head out to the library.”
I nodded as I cleared my throat. “Sure. Who’s taking over from me tonight?”
“I think it’s Lou, but you’ll have to check the schedule.” Betty removed her apron and smiled wide at me. “I’ll see you around campus?”
“Yep.” I nodded. The shelter had around ten volunteers, seven who were college students. Some did it so they could add it as extra credit, but I did it simply because I liked to be able to cuddle the dogs and stroke the cats while they purred in my arms. It was such a simple reason, but no one ever believed me—not that I cared.
I washed my hands in the sink as I heard Betty exit through the back door, and pushed my shoulders back. It was time to go and show these animals some love, and I knew my first stop would be Lottie. She was gentle and loving; always tilting her head to the side as if she didn’t understand what anyone was saying. Stroking her and making her feel safe was a universal language, so we managed just fine.
The smile on my face now was genuine, and the closer I got to the cage Lottie was kept in, the bigger it got.
“Hey there, beautiful lady.”
I undid the lock on her door, and she sat in the middle of the cage, her tail wagging in excitement, but otherwise, she was deathly still. I opened the door and stepped inside, then closed it behind me. As soon as my knees hit the floor and I opened my arms, she came running at me. She was a Belgian Malinois; she was a big dog, but she managed to not knock me over.
I laughed, the sound echoing off the concrete walls. “I missed you too,” I told her, pushing my fingers into her soft, short fur.
I liked to think I showed all the dogs the same attention as Lottie, but the truth of the matter was, I didn’t. From the moment a stranger brought her in as a stray, and I’d looked into her eyes, I knew there was some kind of connection. It sounded insane, especially as my family wasn’t big on pets, but there was just something about Lottie that had me wanting to protect her.
I’d taken her home a couple of times toward the beginning of her stay, but Justin—Stella’s boyfriend—was allergic to dogs, so he wouldn’t come around to see Stella. Which, in turn, meant I had to stop bringing her home.
I pushed my face into the fur of her neck as her paws rested on my shoulders and just breathed her in. It was only a matter of time before she’d have to leave, but I didn’t want to think about that. I’d rather she left having been adopted than…
A lump formed in my throat. I couldn’t bear to let the thought enter my mind. I’d do anything to make sure Lottie had a home to go to because the alternative wasn’t an option.
After having a significant amount of snuggles, and giving her two extra treats I’d bought myself, I stood and wiped the fur off my dark-blue T-shirt. “I better get on with cleaning the cages out, Lottie.” She stared up at me, her ears perking up at my words. “I’ll co
me back before my shift is over,” I told her, backing away toward the door. Her tail stopped wagging, and she watched me with rapt attention as I moved out of her cage and back into the pathway between the two lines of kennels.
I hated having to leave her little home, but I didn’t have a choice. I had a certain amount of jobs I needed to get done before I could go, and one of them was checking the emails. We were also an adoption center, and we got to vet the people who would become their owners. I’d had hundreds of people walk through the kennels and choose their new pets, but each and every time, they’d look at Lottie and then walk on by.
Shaking my head, I opened up the emails and went through them one by one, setting up several visits. I was just replying to the last email when my cell rang on the desk next to me. Mom’s face flashed on the screen, and my stomach dipped. Had Ford told Mom and Dad that he saw me last night? What if she was calling to tell me off? I mean, I could have destroyed his undercover operation, but…
My fingers drifted to my lips, and I could have sworn I felt Ford’s gentle caress against them. As a kid, I’d imagined so many times what that would feel like, but nothing compared to when it actually happened. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach just thinking about it, and—
Crap. The cell.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Belle.” Her sigh rang out over the line. “I thought you were never going to answer.”
I chuckled, the sound uneasy. “Sorry, I was…” I stared around the room and swallowed. Neither Mom nor Dad knew I volunteered at the shelter, and they certainly didn’t know I worked a couple of shifts at the coffee house each week. I had a scholarship, and they were paying for my off-campus apartment, so they assumed that I was all set, but I wanted to have freedom. I wanted to be independent, explore everything I could, and that included working for actual money but also giving back to the community.
Torn Bond: Bonded Duet: Book One Page 2