Reign’s eyes darken, his lips flattening into a troubled line as he grips my chin with a firm grip.
“Men like him, are easily triggered. They justify the bad in their head, and after a while, they start to believe in everything they do. Better cards or not, he would never be as loving and good-hearted as you are. You’re a badass, but there is a kindness in your soul that can’t be erased. You don’t owe your brother anything, except for a bullet through his head.”
I stare at him, admiring the fire that washed over his face while those words left his lips.
“Do you hear me?” he presses.
I breathe in through my nose before I exhale loudly, knowing he’s right. Whatever happened to Junior, it’s not my fault. It never was.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Good,” he says while his thumb brushes my lower lip, slightly dragging it down with each stroke. “Let’s stop talking about brothers.” There is a finality in his voice telling me this conversation is over.
“I’m fine not talking about mine, but I still want to talk about yours. Is he hot?” I wiggle my eyebrows, keeping my gaze on his while I attempt to move off his lap.
“What the …” he growls, wide eyed before he roughly pulls me back into his arms. “Shut up before I make you watch Guardians of the Galaxy.”
“God, no,” I screech before I hide my face in his neck, giggling against his skin while he holds me in a tight grip.
“You’re a handful, Callie Reyes.”
I grab his face with both hands and guide his lips towards mine.
“You wouldn’t want it any other way,” I whisper against his lips before I pull him in to cover my mouth with his.
Sixteen
Kane
Present Day
I stroke her soft skin, enjoying the feeling of her safe inside the comfort of my arms.
“I always defy you. You love it.”
“You’re a pain in my ass. And this,” I begin, raising her wrist that has my watch on it, “is mine, you little kleptomaniac.”
“Oh, whatever.” She rolls her eyes, and I just kiss the top of her head in response.
I look around the shitty apartment. The humid air makes the sweat of our bodies linger in the air, but it doesn’t matter. I haven’t felt this content in weeks.
The balcony window is open, and suddenly, I’m aware of the fact that my entire team probably heard us yelling at each other.
And fucking like animals.
Well, shit.
I open my mouth to warn her when my brother comes bursting through the door like he owns the damn place. As if anyone would like to own this shithole.
“Well, I see you thoroughly interrogated her, jackass.”
“What the fuck!” Callie screeches while she tries to grab whatever she can to cover her bare ass.
“Liam,” I growl with force, “get the fuck out!” I jump up, dropping her on the couch so I can stand in front of her, shielding her from my asshole brother. She has a body that should be stared at, and I would love to see her naked all day, but it sure as fuck isn’t for my brother’s eyes.
“I’d love to, but you’ve got three minutes until they’re here. You’re lucky I let you finish your little fuck session in the first place.”
“What the fuck,” Callie mutters behind me.
“Shit. Baby, get dressed, we need to go. Now!“
“Why?! Who are they?”
My brother doesn’t move, his arms crossed in front of his body when Imogen comes running through the door.
“I thought we were on a tight schedule?” she snaps with an impatient expression on her face.
Oh, for fuck’s sakes.
“What is this?! A fucking party?” I scowl while Callie grabs her clothes from the floor behind me. “Get the fuck out so we can put our shit on!”
“I’d love to, stud.” She cocks an eyebrow then copies Liam’s stance, crossing her arms in front of her body, looking defiant as fuck. “But your brother ordered me to come up here and get my shit. And to change, since apparently, a polka dot dress isn’t the best attire right now.” Imogen shamelessly roams her eyes over my entire body, halting for a second when she reaches my cock. “You did good, Callie girl.”
“Shut up, Imogen,” Callie mumbles. “What the fuck is going on, Carrillo?”
“Jesus Christ,” I groan.
“Two more minutes.” Liam cocks an eyebrow, silently telling me to stop wasting time.
Aggravated, I run a hand through my just-fucked hair. I look around and notice Callie wrapping her dress around her body, her private parts finally covered. My hands move to the ground to pick up my jeans before I put them on, ignoring her question. She stalks past me towards one of the bedrooms while Imogen follows her, slamming the door behind her.
“You can fucking go now, Liam.” I glare at him as I put on my shirt.
“I’m not going to leave you up here with those two bitches while a Reyes team is about to come storming the stairs any minute now.”
“Don’t fucking call her a bitch!”
“Really?! That’s what you’re focusing on?” He rolls his eyes while he puts up his hands in despair. “Just hurry the fuck up, Kane.”
“Ninety seconds, guys,” Jeremy’s voice calls out from the hall.
“Fuck.” I rush to put on the last of my clothes, knowing every second counts. I’m ready for Junior Reyes to meet his maker, but not today. He isn’t the kind of guy who deserves to die in crossfire. Giving him a bullet in the head would be a job well done, but it wouldn’t be fucking satisfying in any way. I want him to suffer for everything that he’s done to my family. I want him to regret the war he started. And I want to torture him for whatever he did to my girl, even though I still haven’t figured out what went down between those two. Seeing and hearing the hate between the two of them—it sure as fuck wasn’t something that should be swept under the rug like most families do.
After pulling on my boots, I grab my shit, putting my gun between my waistband, then I walk to the bedroom door.
“We need to go. Now!” I bark before I open the door, clearly interrupting the two girls.
I ignore Imogen’s glare, not giving a shit about her as my eyes land on Callie who is dressed in dark jeans, putting a gray t-shirt over her head. She meets my gaze with a slight scowl, probably pissed about not knowing what the fuck is going on.
“Are you ready?” My voice is calmer but still demanding.
I don’t have time to explain shit right now. She can be pissed at me later.
“Grab that bag, Imogen,” she instructs, still ignoring me as she walks right past me.
Great.
I stare into the baby blue eyes of her cousin, giving her a dull look.
“She’s not like any other girl, you know?” She moves a little closer to me, crowding my space and holding my gaze with the same warrior vibe I’m used to getting from her cousin. She replaced the white polka dot dress with light jeans and a tank top that smells of flowery laundry detergent.
“I’m aware.”
“Good.” She tries to move past me, but I grab her upper arm with force before she can take another step.
“I’m keeping you alive because you’re important to Callie, but you don’t get my respect until you earn it, Imogen.” My voice is low and deep, a menacing whisper to make sure she gets the picture.
I’m tolerating her, I will keep her alive because that’s what Callie wants, but I will make her life a living hell if she gets in my way.
Her face falls a little, discomfort flickering behind her eyes before the defiance returns, briefly showing me that she isn’t as used to this world as her cousin is.
“That goes both ways, asshole.” She glowers at me as she jerks her arm free and walks into the living room.
“They’re here.” Jeremy storms through the room. “We need to leave through the back of the building. Is there a way to get there without using the front door?”
Callie grabs her bl
ack denim jacket off the coat rack as if we have all the time in the world, shooting me another scowl with her fire-filled eyes before she returns her gaze to Jeremy.
“Mrs. Delgado, down the hall. She has a fire escape that leads out to the back of the building. We can use that.”
“Great, let’s go.” Jeremy takes the lead, and we trail behind him. We haven’t moved two yards when we hear gunfire coming from outside, and Jeremy starts to jog towards the end of the hallway.
“Fuck.” I give the girls in front of me a slight push to their backs. “Get moving!”
Imogen doesn’t need to be told twice and starts to pick up the pace while Callie keeps walking, calm as fuck, twisting her head to sneer at me over her shoulder.
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, asshole.”
I place my hand on her back, letting out a groan as I make sure she keeps walking.
“Save it for later, Reyes.” Liam pushes past us, quickly running after Imogen.
Callie just rolls her eyes, pissing me off even more. I grab her neck and push her against the wall, my hand gripping her tight enough to make sure she takes me seriously.
We don’t have time for this shit, but I’m also not risking getting shot because her ego is too big to listen to me.
We can play that game later.
Preferably naked.
“Baby, this isn’t a fucking joke. I’ll tell you everything you need to hear, but right now we need to fucking go. I can’t keep you and Imogen safe if you keep working against me because you’re pissed.” Her eyes soften a little at my words before she takes a deep breath.
“Fine.”
Satisfied, I press a firm kiss to her lips just as I hear feet storming up the stairs.
“Go!” I shout.
I push her in front of me, and we start running.
I glance back every few feet while also keeping my eyes focused on Jeremy, Liam, and Imogen, who burst through Mrs. Delgado’s front door the moment she opens it. I pull out my gun as I run the last few feet before I’m looking in the startled face of the old woman. I slam the door shut behind me right before a gunshot fires, deafeningly close to us. Callie starts speaking in rapid Spanish, her gun hanging loosely in her hand, trying to calm the woman down until she points towards one of the bedrooms. Without a second thought, Jeremy stalks into the room, and we follow behind him at a fast pace. He quickly rounds the bed then opens the window, crawls through it, and steps onto the fire escape before he reaches out his hand to Imogen, helping her on the steel construction. My hand automatically pushes Callie behind her before Liam and I crawl on to it ourselves.
The humid air hits me even though it’s the middle of the night, and I suck in a breath before we start running down the stairs. Adrenaline laced with a hint of fear runs through my veins. It’s a weird occurrence because I haven’t been afraid of anything since I was a little boy, but storming these steps with Callie while her brother is chasing us, hoping to take her away from me, fucks with my confidence. I hear commotion above us before gunshots fly around our ears. I look up, aiming my gun before pulling my trigger multiple times, making one of the fuckers fall right over the railing in front of Imogen’s feet who just reached the ground.
“What the fuck!” she screeches before she freezes on the spot, shocked by the sight in front of her. Callie looks up, trying to shoot at any movement while Liam moves past her to tend to a shocked Imogen. He pushes her towards the SUV, ignoring the dead guy in front of him. Quickly grabbing her arm, he opens the door and pushes her in before he does the same with Callie. Then he moves his ass inside, followed by Jeremy and me.
“Drive!” he roars to one of our guys behind the wheel once we are all inside. The sound of all five of us panting fills the car as bullets leave small dents in the bulletproof glass. I glance behind me where Liam is seated with Imogen who has a face as white as snow.
“You okay?” I ask her.
She gives me a wide-eyed nod, even though she clearly isn’t. My eyes move to my brother who’s glaring at me, and I agitatedly purse my lips.
“That was a close call, brother.” His jaw is clenched, and rage heats his eyes, telling me he really wants to punch me in the face.
I don’t blame him.
We agreed to be smart about this, knowing Junior is always right behind us. The smart thing would have been to snatch the girls and get the fuck out of this godforsaken country. The smart thing would have been to wait until we got to the safe house before I stripped my girl naked. The smart thing would have been to ask her the questions I needed answers to instead of covering my mouth with hers in that damn alley. But I’m not fucking smart when it comes to Callie fucking Reyes.
I ignore him, turning my head to look in front of me, but not before my eyes meet the angry eyes of the girl who holds all of my problems and solutions in her hands.
I sigh as fatigue hits me, and I give her a pleading look.
“In the air, okay? I’ll tell you everything when we are in the air.”
She narrows her eyes at me before she turns her gaze away, staring out the window. I sigh in relief even though I know she won’t be any happier once I tell her about all the shit I found out.
Well, fuck me.
Seventeen
Callie
Present Day
My hands are sweaty from the unexpected ambush we just barely escaped, and my lungs are still recovering when we arrive at some deserted airstrip. I shouldn’t be surprised, but my eyebrows raise up nonetheless when I look at the jet waiting for us.
“Where the fuck are we going?” I turn my head towards Kane whose silence is really starting to piss me off.
He slowly meets my gaze before shooting me a glare that matches my own.
Excuse me?
He was fucking my brains out when, apparently, we should’ve been moving our asses out of there, yet he doesn’t even want to fucking tell me what the fuck is going on. He has no fucking right to be pissed right now.
“You’ll see.”
I growl in response, then move my eyes back towards the jet. A man is running down the stairs of the small aircraft, moving quickly towards the back of the car when it stops in front of the jet.
“Let’s go.” Kane gets out of the car and we all follow him out.
I walk up the steps, every step feeling angrier than I did on the first.
“Where the fuck are we going?” Imogen mumbles from directly behind me, loud enough for only me to hear.
I don’t respond because I don’t know. However, I have every intention to find out in the next two minutes.
When I walk through the door, I look around the jet. After that damn yacht, I shouldn’t be surprised, but since I’ve never flown on one of these things, I’m amazed by the site in front of me.
There are two comfortable looking couches with a coffee table in front of it, standing on cream carpet. On both ends of the tables are leather armchairs that match the carpet. I see a small hallway leading to another room, but I don’t feel like exploring any further. With an attitude as high as the sky, I drop myself into one of the armchairs that face the door and wait patiently until everyone is seated. Imogen sits next to me in the other armchair while Kane and Liam place themselves directly in front of us. The four of us are in some kind of stare off when Jeremy flops onto the couch between Imogen and Liam, his eyes moving back and forth between us all.
I fold my arms in front of my body, staring at the man I just declared my love to. He keeps my glare like the fearless asshole he is, waiting for me to start spitting fire at any moment now, but I’m waiting until I feel the airplane move.
Luckily, I don’t have to wait long. We all buckle up when the seatbelt light turns on, then the captain tells us that we are ready for takeoff.
“Okay, now which one of you assholes is going to tell us what the fuck is going on?” I glance between Kane and Liam as I finally feel the aircraft taxi down the runway.
“Not sure you want to know, baby.”
Kane takes a deep breath before he blows out a breath, then looks at the ceiling in frustration.
“Know what, Kane?” I growl out his name, feeling an itch to slap his handsome face. He wants me to be honest, well, that goes both ways. Here I was, thinking he was my biggest concern, but apparently, the fucker dragged us in to an even bigger pile of shit.
“Your brother wants you back.” I snap my head towards Liam when I hear his voice, even though I am struggling to process the words that came out of his mouth.
I would’ve expected him to give me a look of disdain, an evil glare, or maybe even a devilish scowl. But to my surprise, Liam actually looks sympathetic.
“Junior?”
Why the fuck would my brother be looking for me? He never gave a shit about me, and he should know I don’t have the stones.
The fuckers in front of me do.
“Why does Junior want her?” Imogen asks with a hand on her chin after she quickly glances at me.
Kane leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His messy hair, flopping in front of his forehead, gives him a look of nonchalance, but the look in his eyes tells me that what he’s about to say is serious. His gaze is solely reserved for me, giving me the feeling that I’m not going to like whatever comes next.
“Your father left you $1.5 billion. When you die, it will go to your closest relative.”
So in general, I don’t consider myself to be dense. I pickpocket for a living, so I’m supposed to be able to read people. But right now, I feel like he’s talking in fucking Mandarin.
“My father is worth 1.5 billion dollars? Holy hell.” I know my father is a multi-millionaire. It’s the reason why I’ve never understood why he couldn’t just retire and enjoy his life. Why he thought jobs were more important than my birthday. Or anything regarding me, for that matter. But him being a billionaire? Well, fuck, I didn’t see that one coming.
“That doesn’t make sense, though. If I die, Junior would be the first in line? What does Junior need me for?”
Catching Fire (The Fire Duet Book 2) Page 12