Breathe

by N. M. Catalano

  She already suspected.

  Good. Saves me the trouble of breaking it to her.

  "By all means then, let's go. Wouldn't want to keep the peasants waiting."

  I laugh as I walk to the door with Raven behind me. Opening it enough to peer both ways down the corridor, when I see the hallway is clear, I open it all the way but keep her behind me. As we head to the elevator, I tell her, "We ordered breakfast to be delivered at seven. We didn't know what you liked, so we got a little of everything."

  "So all of you planned this hostage takeover last night?" she asks.

  Standing in front of the metal doors, I look at her in the reflection, and I start to get hard all over again. She is so much trouble, she’s probably going to be the biggest pain in my ass, but fuck, I've got it bad for her. I'm not sure if she's angry, surprised, relieved. The thing with Raven I'm starting learn is she doesn't show her real emotions; she only shows you what she wants you to see. Manipulation and control, that's her game, and she plays it well.

  "We did, yes. When we found out about...your situation," I give her a crooked smile in the gold metal as the doors slide open, "we discussed it. We agreed that this would be the best course of action." We enter the empty car and I press the button to the top floor.

  "Thank you so much for making decisions for me," she snaps.

  "You're welcome for saving your ass. Don't be a bitch, Raven. There wasn't time to talk to you about it."

  "Excuse me?" she shoves her arms down, fists clenched.

  I'm not going to placate her or grovel at her feet. She doesn't need that. She needs honesty, she needs the truth. She doesn't need someone who will bullshit her. Neither me, Summer, or Rock have time for that. Nor do we want to. We don't play that.

  The elevator dings our arrival. I slip a hand to her back to guide her out. "You heard me. We had to act fast, as you saw this morning," I glance down to look at her face. She looks uncomfortable, and that doesn't surprise me. She's probably never had anyone step in on her behalf to help her in a situation of this magnitude before, probably no one's helped her ever, she probably doesn’t know how to react. She doesn't comment, doesn't deny it, but she won't agree I'm right either. Stubborn ass devil. "I'm sorry. But yes, we decided for you." I stop her at the door to our suite. "Because we care. We knew what was going to go down, we were able to intervene, so we did."

  We stand there for a moment. She doesn't look into my face, and I don't press her. She's shuffling nervously from one foot to the other. When she finally lets out a breath and her body relaxes, I swipe the card over the window of the door handle. The green light shines.

  It's go time.

  CHAPTER 15

  Raven

  We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

  That's my first thought as Snake opens the door to the opulent suite and I enter.

  It's not the rich modern decorations or the sheer size of the apartment, because that's what it is really. It's the luxury and comfort, the fact that these unpresuming people travel in this kind of style. Well, spank my ass and call me bad.

  The entry opens to a full kitchen with an elaborate table that seats four on velvet covered high back chairs, a living area with a huge tufted white sofa, (what fucking hotel has white furniture?!), and two matching chairs. There are high polished black end tables and a coffee table, a huge desk off to the side, and a rich matching armoire that must hold the television ties everything together. To the left are two doors. One is open and inside the room I can see two queen size beds draped in silver silk bedspreads and tons of pillows, both of them still made and covered with suitcases. The other door is closed. Where all of them must sleep. Together.

  There you have it.

  Images of the things that have gone on behind that door flood my mind, makes my heart pound, and my insides quiver.

  To be a fly on the wall.

  Buzz, buzz, buzz.

  What the hell are they going to do with me here?

  My breath catches. Wouldn't I like to know?

  Why, yes, I would like to know.

  Pulling my attention away from the vivid thoughts, I step deeper into the living area, being careful not to make too much noise with my heels. I don't want to wake anyone if they're not already up. To be honest, I need a minute to get my shit together. This whole morning has been pretty full already and the sun's just barely coming up. I want a minute to land before I have to deal with Rock's intensity and Summer's...niceness. Is that normal? I have no fucking clue. Not from where I came from.

  I'm a bitch, I own it, and I wear it proudly. It's not by choice, but necessity, just another stitch in the shield I've created. That and ruthlessness, calculated, emotionless, and unforgiving. Emotions are a luxury, just like that elaborate bed. Who needs them? They only make for complications, and complications lead to carelessness, and carelessness leads to death.

  No thank you very much.

  Walking around the living area, I trace a finger along the expensive fabric of a chair as I approach the window overlooking the parking lot.

  That's strange.

  If you're going to spend all of this money for what is I'm sure the best accommodations the hotel has to offer, why would you ask for a room with a view of the parking lot? I assume they requested it. Snake and Rock strike me as the type of men who take every detail into consideration, especially with the comment Snake made about someone might die this weekend.

  Seems to me like they're watching who's coming and going.

  What's their story? Who are these people and what exactly are they all about?

  I spare a glance at him over my shoulder. He's watching me, I'm sure he's studying me, trying to read my mind and what I'm thinking, and my reaction to being here with him. With them. If he's smart, which he is, he's trying to figure out my next move. Because he shouldn't trust me. Here. With them.

  He's right. He shouldn't.

  I wouldn't trust me.

  But do I trust them?

  Hell to the no. But I don't trust anyone. Look at what that shit brought me with Batman. I came this close to eating a bullet this morning. If it weren't for Snake and Rock and Summer, because they all agreed to bring me here, right at this moment I might've been hog-tied in a trunk on my way to some MC compound to be repeatedly raped, beaten, and God knows what else before they finally killed me. I'm not naive, people are too fucked up to allow the luxury of naivety. I hit the biker club where it hurt, and I bruised the big bad biker's ego. They'd have given it to me good, made an example of someone who tries to screw over the Steel Brothers. And fucking Joey was going to walk away with the million bucks for fixing that.

  When this shit is over I might just have to pay my old friend a visit.

  Fury burns inside me. I wanted to cut his tongue out of his mouth so badly, just so that I'd never have to hear his bullshit again. But business comes first. If I'd have done that, then the mafia would've been after my ass as well.

  I might be crazy, but I prefer only one vile club after me at a time.

  "I'm going to get our room ready, hellion. Make yourself at home. But if you step out that door, I'm going to burn your ass up. Understood?" Snake tells me with that mischievous grin he wields as a weapon.

  Which do I address first, sharing the room, or him and my ass?

  I smile right back at him. "You can certainly try," I reply feigning sweetness and propriety and everything nice.

  Then comes the extra ammo he throws out for good measure. He winks at me. With any other girl, she’d be swooning. I’m not any other girl. "That does sound very interesting. We may just have to do that. Nothing like a little chase to get the blood pumping." If I were normal, I'd be all over him like a bitch in heat.

  For a guy, he's definitely easy on the eyes with his platinum blonde hair, gorgeous ink, and built, sleek body, and that smile that should be illegal. Rock is too. Snake can kiss, that much I know. So well in fact, I reacted. I never react. I don't feel. I programmed myself not to. It was either th
at or live in a constant hell. Which was fine because most men are all talk and absolutely no follow through, I wasn't missing out on anything. But I felt that kiss, my entire body felt it with shocks and pulses and throbbing. I didn't know how to react, the whole thing was so foreign, it was disturbing and completely pushed me off my game. After watching Rock mouth-fuck Summer last night, and how she reached over and worked Snake's cock under the table, I think it's pretty safe to say these two men certainly are practiced at delivering the goods. Rock's mouth wasn't even on mine, but I felt that kiss as well. I felt it like Summer was feeling it. Then I'd gotten the real thing at my door, and when Snake left and took his mouth and everything it promised with him, I was not happy. I've never come across anyone like her or any of them. I had the very distinct impression she wanted to swap spit with me too, amongst other things. Sucks I could give two shits. About anything.

  Anything but me.

  "Please do clarify, you said 'our' room?" I ask.

  "Yes," the snarky bastard.

  "The one with the two beds?"

  "Yes. One for the luggage, one for us."

  In his dreams.

  "You do like living on the edge, don't you?" It's my turn to wink at him.

  "We all do," his grin turns sly. "Wouldn't have it any other way, little bird. I have a feeling with you it's going to get a whole lot more exciting."

  Cue the close-up.

  He turns to leave laughing quietly, and enters the bedroom to get 'our' room ready. I'm standing alone in the living room, and he's still wearing that panty melting smile.

  The man rubs me all kinds of ways. I don't like it. It bothers me. It unsettles me. It pisses me off.

  I want more of it.

  I'm filled with all this energy, it's sizzling inside of me, and I can't stand still. So I roam around and pick things up, turn them this way and that way, but if you asked me what these stupid little things are, I wouldn't be able to tell you. My focus has decided to take a vacation and left me to sort all this crap out on my own. The thing that has got me gripped by the throat and holding me captive is the sound of Snake. In the bedroom. Moving around. Where he and I will be sleeping. The scrape of a zipper pricks my ears, the soft scratch of fabric rubbing against fabric whispers to me, even the sound of his muffled footsteps have me picturing where he's at.

  This is not good.

  Get a grip. Control. Now.

  Right.

  That thought is shot to shit when the other bedroom door opens and Summer and Rock step out. And Jesus Christ, they've got the just fucked look going on.

  "Hi!" Summer squeals, runs over to me, and throws her arms around my neck.

  Whoaw, slow it down sister!

  Just what in the hell?!

  "I'm so happy you're here, Raven. I was so worried about you," she squeezes me tighter.

  "Princess," Rock's gravelly voice breaks my stunned state, "you're going to choke her."

  "Gaahh, I'm sorry," she laughs, pulls back and takes my hand, then leads me to the table. "I was just happy to see you're okay."

  Apparently social decorum is flushed down the crapper and we're going to address the fact that I almost got offed by bikers.

  "I'm fine," the small talk gets stuck in my throat.

  "Snake got there first?" she goes on.

  Shit. Are we really doing this right now?

  "Yes, he woke me up banging on the door."

  "Tell me everything that happened," she sits down next to me and clasps my hand.

  My eyes dart to where our hands are connected. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that. I'm sure she's just being her, being nice, but I have no concept of the whole 'being nice' thing. She must feel like she's holding a dead fish in her pretty manicured hand.

  "Tinkerbell, give her a minute," Snake comes out of the bedroom. "We just got here. Let her get settled."

  "I'm sorry. You must be overwhelmed. I remember when the guys got me out of the house when Steve took me," Just what the fuck? Who's Steve? Did she just tell me she was kidnapped? "I was a mess."

  My, my, my, there appears to be a lot more to sweet Summer than meets the eye.

  She sits back in her chair, her hand still clutching mine, and she gives it a squeeze. A whole new sensation seizes me right in the middle of my chest. My empty hand flies up and lands at the area in question. What was that?

  "Enough," Rock cuts in. Looking at me, he asks, "You good?" I nod. He gives me what I think is a nod in response. "Coffee?" I nod again. "Good." He bends, brushes Summer's hair to the side and kisses long and tenderly on the curve of her neck. She looks drunk, stoned, and what I think is completely in love.

  It seems I'm not capable of lengthy conversation. Giving one word answers seems to be something Rock and I have in common. We might get along just fine.

  All this, what's happening here, is so far out of the realm of the world I live in, I can only observe and take it all in piece by piece. Summer, intoxicated on love and lust. These two men? Hard but gentle, dominating but giving, dangerous but tender. And me? I don't know what the hell I am. I did, but now I'm feeling things, things I thought were killed years ago, and I’m not sure I can deal with it right now, it’s pissing me off.

  “I’ve got the bed ready, hellion. Do you want to take a nap?”

  Snake is at my side, his hand is on my shoulder, his thumb is grazing my cheek. The contact should bother me. But it doesn’t. Why not? Why does he affect me like this? Why am I not claustrophobic with these people? Why do I feel okay? Here. With them. That’s how I’ve always been when confined with people I don’t know, especially in a place I’m unfamiliar with. I’ve always had to know my surroundings, the quickest way to get out. But I’m not suffocating, I don’t feel like the walls are closing in on me. Why the hell not?

  I want to bolt, get the hell out of here. At the same time, I don’t.

  The reality is I can’t. There’s no running away now. I have to stay here with them, whether I want to or not.

  And I do.

  Which makes me want to run.

  Confusing? Imagine how I feel, I’m all kinds of screwed up.

  “Yes,” I quickly stand, needing some space, some time to get my head screwed on straight, I need to get my control back.

  Summer lets go of my hand. “We’ll keep breakfast for you. The doors open at the expo at ten. You’ve got plenty of time to rest.”

  The damn convention, that’s right. I promised her I’d go with her. Maybe that’s a good thing, it’ll keep us busy, get us out…What the hell is it with the us thing? What’s wrong with me? Ugh, I need to get out of here.

  I’m starting to stress.

  “Come on, angel,” Snake holds his hand out for me, and I take it.

  I fucking take it and I don’t know why.

  I let him lead me to the bedroom. And just like he promised me, the suitcases that had been piled on the beds are mostly gone except mine and one more. His. It’s got to be. These are on the floor to the side. The covers are pulled down and the pillows are fluffed, all four of them, two on one side, two on the other. The other bed is untouched except for clearing it off. I turn my head to face him, one eyebrow raised.

  He laughs. “Don’t worry, you’ll be all by your pretty little self. I’ve got some business to take care of before we go down. All of us.”

  My head is beginning to settle now that it’s just me and him. And fatigue is starting to set in now that the adrenaline rush is gone from the confrontation with Joey. Fuck face.

  “I’ll wake you in a couple of hours.” His smile is genuine. Not that fake crap he was giving creampuff, but the one that was with the laugh, his real laugh.

  Shit, I need sleep.

  I must be exhausted; I’m noticing his smile. And everything else.

  “Listen,” I begin. I don’t know how to say this; I’ve never had to do this before. Not with someone like him. Not with anyone in years. The last person was Joey and that was when our pubic hair had started coming, that�
��s how long ago it was. “I, uh,” I’m fumbling for words. I take a deep breath and start I again. “I just…” He’s staring at me waiting, a pleased smile on his face. “Could you not look like that?” I snap.

  “Like what?” he grins.

  “Like that, all smug,” I wave a hand at him, “and pleased with yourself.”

  He crosses his arms in front of his chest. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help that I’m enjoying this.”

  “Your such an ass, do you know that?” I glare at him.

  “I know. As you were saying,” he drawls.

  “Okay, fine. Thank you, okay? Thanks, you know, for everything. Happy now?”

  Then he does something I don’t expect.

  Snake cups my cheeks in both of his hands, and kisses me lightly on the lips. My body is ramrod stiff. The kiss is innocent, but so intimate and so genuine, it throws me completely off balance.

  “You’re welcome,” he whispers against my lips, then kisses me again.

  “Okay,” I say stiffly. “Now get out.” I pull away and start to yank off my clothes.

  What difference does it make? He’s already seen me practically naked.

  He laughs again, and it…makes me want to smile. UGH.

  “Sweet dreams, hellion, you did good today.”

  A compliment. Shit.

  I turn my back on him and take off my boots, and don’t reply. Fuck him for being…nice. Nice is a lie, it always has been.

  The door clicks behind me, and suddenly the room feels empty.

  Sleep. I just need some sleep.

  Striping down into my camisole once again, I slip into bed. It’s comfortable, but it just feels too big. And empty.

  Fuck you, Snake. Just. Fuck. You.

  CHAPTER 16

  Snake

  She’s here. With us. There’s no turning back now. Things have been put into motion. I would have preferred to have gotten Raven out of there before Bat Boy showed up to avoid the confrontation, but it is what it is. What’s done is done and there’s no changing it now. In my experience, the mafia doesn’t want unnecessary complications. Raven had a very valid point in that Bat Boy was probably acting on his own in order to collect the money. If he’s smart, and I highly doubt he is, he’ll let it go in order to avoid any backlash from his bosses. The guy’s just a foot soldier, no one of significance in rank. But he’s stupid, and greedy, that makes for a volatile combination. He’s not going to let the fact he got bested go so easily.