by J. A. Huss
I’m not even gonna bother trying to justify the two pigtail braids I have my hair in today. I thought it was cute this morning. Now, standing in front of Mrs. Corporate, I just feel childish.
“Well, I’m all ears, Cindy. Give it your best shot.”
She’s intimidating. Definitely intimidating. I’m suddenly wishing my mother was here to say what I need to say. She’d know how to handle this woman. She’d talk circles around her and threaten to kick her ass if she stepped out of line.
But I’m not that talented in the tough-chick department. I’m more of a kill-’em-with-quirkiness kind of girl. I’m not sure that’s gonna work with Mrs. Corporate.
“I’m…” Shit. Get it together, Cindy. You’re capable, and smart, and very good at what you do. “I’m just a little worried about what happened out there on Pax’s islands in the Exumas.”
“Define worried,” Tori says, her voice smooth. Calm. Confident.
“Well.” I laugh nervously. “You almost got him killed.”
“He almost got us killed.” She takes a deep breath—and a moment—to compose herself. “So I’m not sure we have anything to discuss about that incident.”
“But the reason, Tori. Surely you can see the problem I’m having.”
“Not quite, Cindy,” she says, unrattled. “Why don’t you explain?”
“He was doing it to protect Weston, Tori. You know that, right?”
“Do I know that?” she says, a little bit of bitchiness leaking through in her tone. “All I know is that Mr. Mysterious set us up to be ambushed out in the middle of the ocean. They had machine guns, Cindy. Does that sound like protecting us?”
“Nobody calls them machine guns, Tori. Please. And from what I understand Pax had no choice. That Liam guy came to our house. Our office. He was relentless. I heard the entire conversation. It’s not like Pax did it for money. He did it because Liam threatened to hire someone else if he refused. And the reason Liam was so pissed off was because West had something he wanted.”
“Well, Liam Henry beat the shit out of West when he was a child, killed his father, and then sold him to another family. Does that sound like something a seven-year-old can control?”
“Of course not,” I say, backing down. “No. I didn’t mean…” Shit. “I didn’t know that part.”
Tori remains silent for a second.
“But you,” I say. “You don’t know the whole story either.”
“So tell me,” she says, gritting her teeth. “If you know what’s happening, then tell me. Please. Because West refuses to talk about it anymore. He says it’s behind us.”
“Clearly it’s not behind us,” I say.
“Clearly.”
And this is why I’m here. To fill her in. I’m the only one, aside from Mariel, who knows what’s really going on here. I’ve been mulling everything over all day. Willing it not to be true. Wishing I could just write off Mariel Hawthorne as some delusional rich snob who’s seen too many detective movies or read too many crazy books.
But everything she told me makes sense. Everything makes so much sense right down to the part that involves my family.
“And if you’d like a more accurate rundown on what happened,” Victoria snaps, “I’ll say this. I was running for my life. I thought West was dead at one point. I thought Paxton Vance was going to kill me. And that’s before all the shit went down. Imagine people you love being tortured in front of you. Imagine the one person you fear most being responsible for it. Imagine,” Tori says, the anger practically pouring out of her, “the worst possible outcome after all that happened.”
I swallow hard and take a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t care about apologies, Cindy. I have a plan.” She looks me dead on. “And West won’t even listen to me because he wants to think this is behind us. Well, I’ve got a child to think about. My son isn’t going to grow up with this shit hanging over his head. And so the reason we’re all here together right now had better include the words end and game. Because that’s where I’m at right now, Cinderella Shrike. End. Game.”
It takes me a few seconds to let all that sink in. Why are we here? Mariel gave me strict orders not to open my mouth to any of the Misters until she has a chance to talk to Pax about it, but she did want me to discuss it with Tori, since she is the only one of us girls who was there when that whole rape charge actually went down.
Plus, after hearing everything Mariel had to say about Tori, I’ve come to the conclusion that she’s badass. Victoria Arias is a Nikita. She reminds me of Five’s oldest sister, Sasha, for some reason. Capable, smart, and… dangerous.
“What kind of plan?” I ask.
Tori looks away. Stares out the window like she’s trying to figure out if she can trust me. But I’m Cindy Shrike. I’m in this group whether she likes it or not, whether Paxton and I are a thing or not. My brother is involved, and by extension, my sister Ariel. Because they are in business—have been in business—since this whole thing started. And even though no one ever told me, no one needed to tell me. I know it’s the business that got Oliver involved in all this. Whatever happened to him at Brown is the reason he is the way he is today. He was never so standoffish before that rape charge. He was sweet, and funny, and charming just like my dad. And now Oliver is dark, withdrawn, and secretive.
I need to fix that. And I can fix that. I know enough now, thanks to Mariel, to get to the bottom of this and set things right.
Tori looks back at me. “I know how to kill them both.”
My gut clenches. I don’t want to hear this. I really don’t want to hear any of this. But I have to. Running away won’t fix this problem. I can’t fall back on my old habits. Sure, it’s great to walk out when things start to feel overwhelming. Sell your car, donate your clothes to a thrift store, and hit the road with a backpack and a bank account knowing you can replace everything you just walked away from with very little effort.
But if I want to fix Oliver I need to stay here and participate in the solution. And I can’t replace Paxton Vance. No matter how hard I try to talk myself into that plan, it’s not happening. Somewhere along the way these past two months, things changed. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment. It might’ve been that night we were jumping rooftops in Malibu. It might’ve been the first legit case we solved together. It might’ve been the day at the races. I’m not sure, but it doesn’t matter when. The only thing that matters is that it did.
So I suck it up and ask, “Both who?”
“Liam, the guy bothering you and Pax. And Lucio Gori Senior. The guy after me.”
“That’s who’s responsible for all this bullshit?” I make a face. That’s not what Mariel told me.
Tori nods. “They need to be taken out.”
“You’re going to… have them killed?”
She smiles. “That’s the best part, Cindy. I won’t have to do anything illegal myself. None of us will need to do anything illegal. Don’t you see? We can fix it. All of it. But I need help to pull this off.”
“Whose help? The Misters? I don’t want Pax doing this kind of thing anymore. I want him out of this crazy fixer business. I’ve got big plans for us and none of it includes putting his life on the line just to wipe away other people’s mistakes.”
“Oh, Paxton Vance has no role in this job,”
“Then who?” I’m getting frustrated now. I need answers and she’s being cryptic.
Victoria Arias smiles and wow, she really is the most striking woman I’ve ever seen. I’m no wallflower. I was born to a mother who puts the bomb in bombshell and I look just like her when she was my age. But Tori has another kind of beauty. Something timeless and elegant. She is Grace Kelly to my Brigitte Bardot. “Us.”
“Us? I’m not sure I like where this is going. You need to know more. I don’t—”
“Look,” Tori says, cutting me off. “I know how to fix this but I’m the only one who can do it. Trust me on that.”
“But you just said us
. As in me—”
“Listen, Cindy.” But there are voices downstairs and she stops talking to look warily at the door for a second before turning her attention back to me. “Whatever is going on with you and Mariel, that needs to wait. This is an immediate threat and I’m just lucky that Liam Henry and Lucio Gori haven’t struck yet. They will kill me. Do you understand? They will kill West and my newly adopted son Ethan and then they will come looking for all the loose ends like you, and Pax, and Ivy, for fuck’s sake. Do you want that sweet girl to be collateral damage? These people are dangerous. They do not give one shit about who they hurt as long as they get what they want.”
“Well, what the fuck do they want?”
“Something we can’t give them, Cindy. That’s the only thing that matters. What they want, they can’t have. And it’s not because we’re partial to it and won’t give it up. We don’t have it and we can’t get it. But people like this don’t care, do you understand?” She stops to take a breath because she was getting a little intense there for a second. “They don’t care. They will hurt us anyway, just because they can. Just to prove a point. Just to make sure everyone knows there’s no way out once you’re in.”
I exhale. “Well, what do you need me for?”
“Backup,” she says immediately. “I need you for backup, Cindy. You’re a Shrike and I know what the Shrike family is capable of.”
All the hairs on the back of my neck prickle and take offense. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you’re one tough bitch, Cinderella. That’s what it means. And I need you. Ellie is not like us. She’s not street-smart the way we are. And Ivy is pregnant, so even if she had it in her, she can’t help. I need you.”
A knock at the door makes us both look at it.
“Hey,” Pax calls. “You guys in there?”
“Come in,” we say together.
I nod to Tori and she mouths, Talk later, as Pax opens the door.
Chapter Twenty-Six - Paxton
I need you? What could Victoria possibly need with Cindy? I knock on the door to Nolan’s office. “Hey. You guys in there?”
“Come in,” they both chime at the same time. Like they’re nervous. Hiding something.
I look at Tori and squint my eyes. “Victoria,” I say, greeting her with cold suspicion.
She squints her eyes right back. “Paxton,” she says. “Who are you supposed to be? Dick Tracy?” She huffs some air. “Well, you and Sparkle Plenty here have a good time. I have to get back to my family.”
Victoria pushes past me and leaves before I can say anything else.
I look at Cindy and sigh. “I’m sorry.”
She looks me up and down and tries to suppress a smile. “Are you Dick Tracy?”
I look down at my trench coat and then take off my fedora. “I didn’t mean to be gone so long. We just… ran into a few problems.” Cindy says nothing and I get a bad feeling about what she and Victoria might’ve been talking about. “Did… did Victoria fill you in?”
“No,” Cindy says sweetly. “No. I was up here looking out the window waiting for your car to arrive and she came up with your mother to introduce herself.”
“Hmm,” I mumble. “She’s wild and dramatic. So it’s best to take anything she says with a grain of salt. Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
Cindy twists one of her long blonde braids. “I got rid of my phone. I was mad.”
“Are you still?”
“How can I be mad when you show up here just in the nick of time, Detective?”
“Cute but Psycho, Miss Cookie?” I ask through the smile as I nod at her outfit. Goddamn. Her tits look spectacular in that tight t-shirt. “On anyone else I’d chalk that declaration up to a quirky sense of style, but on you it makes me nervous.”
Cindy takes a step towards me, her boots thudding on the hardwood floor. Which makes me notice the rest of her. The long, tanned legs peeking out from that short flirty skirt. The jingle of her bracelets that remind me of all the times she showed up at my house in that zipper-clad leather jacket.
It makes so much sense now, how didn’t I see it before?
“Cinderella Shrike,” I say. And then a chuckle comes out. “It’s every bit as sexy as Miss Sugar Cookie.”
“I’m sorry,” she says, like it’s her turn to explain. “I shouldn’t have lied about who I was. But I knew you’d never look twice if you found out.”
“Everyone looks twice, Cindy. Everyone.”
We stare at each other for several long seconds and I can’t help but wonder if things have changed now that I know.
They haven’t for me, that’s for sure.
“I love you,” I say, taking off my ridiculous fedora and holding it to my chest. “But it makes me nervous.”
“What does?” Cindy says, crossing the distance between us and placing her hand on my arm. She is heat. Even though my trench coat costume, I can feel her touch like we are skin on skin. “Me? Because I’m Oliver’s sister? Or because you’re involved in something bigger than you thought?”
I scowl. “What did Victoria tell you?”
“Is that what you want this conversation to turn into? The jobs? The work, Pax? What you do? What I do?”
“I just want to know how much I need to say right now.”
“About where you were? What you were doing? Or how it turned out?”
“Cindy—”
“No,” she says softly. “Don’t. You don’t need to protect me, OK? I’m Cinderella Shrike. I grew up with this shit, Pax. Do you really think I don’t know what my family was into before I was born? I do.”
“What are you talking about?”
Cindy shuts up as her eyes widen.
“Cindy?” I say. “What does that mean?”
“You’re my brother’s best friend, right? He never… talked about us? My mom and dad?”
“I’ve met them, of course. Nice people. Your dad is cool as fuck and your mom is… well. It’s probably not appropriate to say anything else about your mom.”
She stares at me and for a second I think she’s going to get mad at how I might perceive her mother. But then she laughs loudly and looks down at those adorable boots on her feet. “They call me the Baby Bomb. I mean, you’ve seen my sisters, obviously, so we are all little baby bombs. But I am so much like her in so many ways. Rory was such a princess—”
“Princess Rory,” I say, smiling. “Aurora. Why the fuck didn’t I figure this out?”
“But we’re so opposite. My sisters are classy and I am…” She looks down at her outfit. “Well… not. I’m nothing but an explosion waiting to happen.”
“I want to fuck you.”
Cindy laughs. “Why, Detective,” she says. “That’s not what this conversation is about.”
“I don’t care, Cindy. I don’t give a fuck whose sister you are. I don’t give a fuck what Oliver thinks. And even if I’d known that first time you came to my door with my food, there’s no way in hell I’d ever look at another woman again.”
“He’s coming here, you know.”
“I know. And I don’t care what he thinks. I’m good for you. I am. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, Cindy. Or put you in danger. You’re not part of this, OK? You’re not going to get mixed up in this whole Mister world. You won’t. I can keep you safe. No one,” I say, pulling her into my chest and wrapping my arms tightly around her, “will ever hurt you as long as I live.”
She rests her head on my shoulder and hugs me back. I can smell her hair, and her skin, and her clothes. And everything about her is sweet and good and delicious. “It’s cute that you think I need protecting. We’ll be fine. We’ll figure this out and take care of it. We’ll—”
“No,” I say, pushing her back a few inches so I can look down at her face. “No. You’re not understanding me. There is no we in this Mister problem. Yes, the other guys and I will figure it out, but you’re staying here with Ellie, and Ivy, and Tori. Oliver really would kick my ass if I dragg
ed you into this.”
“Paxton,” she says, grabbing hold of my biceps with both hands. “He’s my brother. What happened to him happened to me too. And yeah, I was too young to understand what it all meant at the time. But I get it now. I understand. I’m as much a part of this as anyone. I’m not going to just sit back and let these people put him in danger. Or you, for fuck’s sake.”
I want to shake her right now. Ask her what the fuck Victoria Arias said. What little plan she might be hatching and how she might’ve tried to involve Cindy. Because that’s the kind of woman Tori is. But I don’t want to fight about this bullshit now. “I haven’t seen you in weeks, Miss Cookie.” My hands slide down to her ass and lift up that flirty little skirt until they are cupped against her cheeks with only her silky panties holding me back.
“The first time I walked in his office I wanted nothing more than to have him bend me over his desk and fuck me from behind.”
“Jesus,” I say. “Yes.”
“I wanted the window shades wide open so anyone passing could see us.”
“Fuck,” I say, my dick getting hard. I have a feeling she’s just trying to change the subject away from our real-world problems but I don’t really care.
“I wanted him to slip his fingers under the elastic of my panties and pull them down to my knees—”
I drop my hat on the floor, turn her around, and push her face first onto the desk, lifting her skirt up, as I grab her panties. “Like this, Miss Cookie?” I tug on them. Hard, making her gasp as I drag them down and kick her legs open with my foot. “Spread ’em, ma’am.”
She giggles, but complies, so her panties are stretched taut at her knees. “I hope you have a warrant for this illegal search, Detective.”
“I don’t need a warrant, Miss Cookie. You’re mine now. And I’ll search you whenever I want.” My fingertips lightly trace her inner thigh as I bend down. She shivers and arches her back, sucking in a breath at my soft touch. “I think you might be hiding something.”