by Dark, Raven
“Me too.”
“Come here.” He rolled over and turned her on her back, kissing her long and tender. It was almost hard to believe this was the same man who had just savaged her. His lips kissed their way warmly along her neck.
“How did we get here?” Gwen said with a satisfied sigh. “Everything has changed between us so much.”
“Good, I hope.” His teeth grazed her neck.
Gwen moaned in agreement. “Yes, Sensei.”
Archer’s shoulders shook on a laugh. “Fuck. You’ll make me want you again.”
“No complaints here.” Lazily, Gwen stretched out under him, her head dropping to the side.
The audience was still there, but they were slowly filing out of the room. Hex flashed them a smile and departed, carrying his red-haired bombshell in his arms. Gwen was too spent, too sated, to wrung out to feel the self consciousness that should have flooded back on her now that Archer wasn’t driving her wild.
Gwen froze. Near the back door, where the light didn’t fully reach, a man with blond hair and thick glasses stood where Hex had been, watching her with an uncomfortable closeness. Her heart stopped. He was familiar. So familiar that the awareness of it, identity just beyond knowing, made her skin prickle with fear and her blood run cold.
Who…?
She blinked, and he was gone.
35
Endgame
Gwen rested her head on Archer’s warm chest with a satisfied sigh. After everything they’d done the last few hours, she should have been asleep in an instant. Instead, her thoughts buzzed.
Shortly after the scene, Archer wrapped her in a warm blanket, carrying her out of the medieval playroom. Hex had apparently already invited them to stay the night. His butler took them to a room larger than the biggest hotel rooms in Haven. A bag was already sitting on the bed. Clearly, Archer had packed a bag of stuff for them and left it in the trunk of the limo. Gwen smiled when she saw it. He and Nick really had planned this out.
Nick and Zoe had apparently also been given rooms, and so had Tony, his room right beside the one given to Archer and Gwen.
It crossed Gwen’s mind to tell Archer about having seen that strange man watching them from the audience, but she dismissed it. The likelihood it was the stalker was extremely small. Even if he knew where to look for them, he wouldn’t have gotten past the security without a pass. She was being paranoid. Besides, she wouldn’t let something so silly ruin the night, knowing Archer would worry.
“You’re still awake.” Archer stroked her hair, still damp from the shower they’d just had together.
She grinned into his shoulder. “I can’t sleep.” She turned her head, staring up at the teardrop chandelier hanging from the ceiling. With its mullioned windows and plush white carpeting, the house’s luxuriance made her feel out of her element.
“I can’t either.” His fingers made lazy circles on her shoulder. “Are you sore?”
“A little, but it feels good.” She nipped at his shoulder. “I feel… well used.”
“So you liked what I did to you?”
“Yes. But I wouldn’t want that kind of scene often. It’s like… I like when it’s just the two of us. You know?”
“I liked it too.” He turned his head, rubbing his nose along hers. “I like having you all to myself even if we sometimes play with others.” A long, satisfied sound rumbled from deep in his throat. “I’m so glad you came into my dojo, Gwen Stanton.”
Her heart swelled. “So am I.”
After a pause, she lifted her head. “Archer? If Master Tashita called and asked you to take the position, would you?”
He raised a brow. “You still want to go?”
She nodded.
He smiled at the ceiling. “I just don’t want you to regret it later when you see how much things change.”
“It won’t change everything. I’ll have what means the most to me. I can still do my art, and karate.” She traced his chest with her fingers. “And you.”
“Well, you can have that anytime.”
“You can’t give up your dream.”
“You’d move half way around the world for me?”
“Yes.”
He ran his hands into her hair. “No one’s ever been willing to give so much for me. I love you, Gwen. I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you, no matter where we are.”
She slipped her arms around his neck and settled against him. God, he felt so good. Like love. Like eternity.
Like home.
“Me too, Archer. Me too.”
* * *
Archer’s phone rang, pulling Gwen out of a deep, languid sleep. She lifted her head and looked at the phone still ringing. She nudged him beside her. Archer opened his eyes and smiled at her.
“Morning, sweet thing.”
“Phone.”
“Huh? Oh.” He answered without looking at the display. “Archer.”
Whoever was on the other end spoke for a moment. Archer sat up slowly. “Yes, Master Tashita.” His eyes flickered to Gwen. Gwen’s blood slowed in her veins.
While the Grandmaster spoke, Archer swung out of the bed and stood up. Gwen got a momentary fantastic view of his tight ass before he paced the room, forcing her to roll over in order to watch him.
“Right, I understand.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Oh? There is? I see.”
His eyes closed and he froze, as though he were suspended in time. Then a slow smile spread over his face. He looked like Chad had after his test, like he could have collapsed to the floor.
“Thank you, Master Tashita. Two weeks, I understand. I just have someone I need to talk to first before I gave you an answer.”
Archer said goodbye and hung up. He came across to the bed, lowering himself beside Gwen.
She sat up and laid her hand on his chest. “He still wants you for the job?”
He nodded, but he looked worried. He took her hands. “Gwen, listen to me. I know what you said last night, but I want you to really think about this. Master Tashita’s given me two weeks.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He’s given me two weeks to decide. If I don’t choose to go within two weeks, the position will be filled. I lose my chance.”
Gwen sighed. She looked at his hand, interlinked with hers. She’d meant it last night, she’d been ready to give up everything for him. But now, with only two weeks to decide, her stomach tightened at the thought. It was just so much, so fast.
“Archer. I…”
He put his fingers to her lips. “I know. I get it. Don’t answer now. We still have time.”
“But…two weeks.” Her eyes stung. Her family would never let this go. Could she live with them hating her? She put her arms around him, suddenly unable to keep from holding him. “Two weeks goes by so fast.”
“I know.” He held her close and buried his face in her hair. His voice was soft. “I know.”
* * *
An hour later, Archer’s phone rang again, and Gwen glanced at the closed bathroom door. The shower shut off. Archer stuck his head out. “Who is that, sweetheart?”
She looked at the screen. “It’s the school.”
Archer’s brows winged down. He crossed the room, putting his wet towel over his shoulders and took the phone. “Yeah.”
After the pause, his face paled. “What? Shit. Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Dorian, don’t let anyone in the school. No, I’ll call the cops, just get the kids out of the area now.”
Cops? Gwen’s blood chilled. She stood up slowly.
“No, just stay there and wait for me.” He hung up.
“What’s happened?”
Archer let his phone drop on the bed and his face went even whiter. “Someone trashed the school last night.”
Gwen closed her eyes, heart racing. “It was him. It was the stalker.”
Archer opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when her phone pinged. Gwen looked at the screen.
I saw you last night.
*
* *
“Damn it!” It took everything in Gwen not to scream in frustration. Instead, she paced the room. They were back at the hotel, but Gwen felt like she was in a too small cage with no key for the lock.
If there’d been any doubt the stalker had been behind the break-in at Iron Fist, there wasn’t now. He’d smashed all the windows and left trails of orange peonies everywhere. No one was injured, but it would take time to get the school up and running again.
“Gwen.” Archer stood up from the couch, taking her hands. “Come here. Sit down, will you?” His voice was tender.
She shook her head, pacing back to the window. The last message from the stalker raced through her head. I saw you last night.
She rounded to face Agent Lassiter, who sat on the couch opposite Archer. “There was someone watching us last night,” she spat.
“What?” Archer snapped.
She gave a shaky sigh. “Last night at Master Hex’s, I thought I saw someone watching us too closely at the end of the scene.”
He must have been so pissed at what he’d seen them doing the previous night that he trashed the school in retaliation. He’d gone after Archer’s livelihood. Because of her.
Quinn’s eyes widened. “Hex’s parties are extremely secure. Fuck, who is this guy?”
It was a measure of Quinn’s anger that the normally stoic agent looked ready to hit something.
“Gwen, why didn’t you tell me?” Archer growled.
“Because I thought I was just being paranoid.” She swiped a hand through her hair. “Sorry. I should have said something.” Her hands were shaking.
“It’s okay.” Archer crossed the room to her with a sigh and rubbed her back soothingly. The protective anger in his eyes warmed her heart and calmed her panic. “Quinn, this fucker needs to be taken down. Now.”
“Archer, this is terrible. What about your school?”
“He didn’t do anything to it that can’t be fixed. Everything can be replaced. But I’ll have to call Nick. If he’s getting into places like Hex’s, Nick needs to know. And so does Hex.”
Quinn straightened in his seat, shaking his head. “He’s definitely not part of the lifestyle. This guy loathes anything to do with kink. It sets him off. Which means we have to figure out how the hell he’s getting into places like that.”
“Quinn, haven’t you gotten any leads?” Gwen hated that her voice broke.
The agent shook his head again, leaning his elbows on his knees. “Guy could be anyone, from someone who’s passed by you in a mall once; to someone you’ve known all your life. Huge suspect pool. Miss Stanton, tell me what this guy looks like.”
She looked at the ceiling, a feeling of violation washing over her. “It was just some guy with blond hair and glasses, watching us from the audience.”
Archer ran both hands down his face with a sigh. He squeezed Gwen’s hand. He’d never know how much safer she felt with him.
Lassiter set his sunglasses on the table and looked over the papers in front of him, lists Gwen had made of everyone she knew. “Chances are, the guy is on these lists. We just have to connect the dots. I’ll talk to Nick. See if there’s anyone who’s been acting suspicious on the scene of late.”
Gwen nodded. “So what do we do now?”
“I want you two to notify me the minute you see anything suspicious, no matter how small. And I know what I said about not altering your lives any more than necessary, but until this guy is caught, you two aren’t to do any more scenes.”
Gwen nodded her assent. She hated giving him the control, but after today…
Archer did the same, squeezing her shoulder.
“From now on, you don’t go anywhere alone, you don’t do anything sexual in public, and you avoid the club. He’s escalating by the day. All he needs is a final push and he’ll pounce.”
“Fine, Agent Lassiter, but I can’t avoid the club.” Gwen rubbed her hands on her pants. “I work there.”
“I know. But you aren’t to be there outside work. Is that clear?”
It struck her how much like a Dom he sounded when he laid down the law. She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”
Lassiter’s eyebrows raised, a hint of a smirk turning his mouth up.
Archer nodded.
“Sir, hang on.” Gwen looked between him and Archer, bracing for the likely reaction she’d get. “Sexual acts set this guy off, right? What if we use that as bait? We figure out a way to make sure he’s there when we do a scene, and when he shows himself, we catch him.”
Archer shot off the couch. “Absolutely not, that’s too dangerous, and you know it.”
“Archer, come on. I know it’s dangerous, but nothing else is working. We have to do something.”
“Something, but not that.” His voice softened. “Look, I get it, but I don’t want this guy getting that close to you. If I could make you stop working, I would, just to keep you safe. There has to be another way.”
“I agree.” Lassiter slid on his black leather coat. “It’s too risky. There’s no way to keep you safe without the police presence giving it away.”
“But…” She put her head back. “I should just hole up here and not go anywhere. Archer, my family. I can’t keep putting others in danger.”
“But you can’t hide, either. If you stop living, he wins.”
“Then what do I do?” She looked between the two men again.
Lassiter crossed the room to her. In a rare gesture of reassurance, he touched her shoulder.
“There is another way, Miss Stanton. And we will find it. You can’t give up.”
* * *
Gwen rubbed her fingers over her forehead and leaned over the papers on her desk. She swore she’d read the same forms five times and still had no idea what they said. Worse, a headache had begun to throb behind her eyes three hours ago, and it showed no signs of departing.
She supposed lack of sleep over the last week explained most of her lagging focus. Agent Lassiter hadn’t called back with any leads in the four days since Archer’s school was attacked, and she was seriously beginning to wonder if the stalker would ever be caught.
She sighed and picked up the pamphlet sitting by her phone. She studied the cover, as she had a hundred times, running her hands over the image of Tokyo’s skyline, lit up in the night.
Could I live there? God, with Archer… She smiled. Just over a week to give his answer. No. My family would never forgive me. She set down the pamphlet and leaned forward, resting her face in her hands.
Slowly, she let the past few weeks’ encounters with her family scroll through her mind. They don’t respect me. Archer does.
A soft tap on the door made her look up. “Come in” Tony probably wanted to go for lunch, which meant she’d have to go with him.
But it wasn’t Tony. Nick stuck his head in with a smile. “I have to stop off at the hospital. You want to come with? Get out of that chair for a bit?”
Gwen glanced at the pamphlet again, picking it up. Then she stood up, clutching it in her fist. She grabbed her coat. “Sure, Nick, but I have to make a call first.”
He nodded and closed the door. Gwen picked up her cell and dialed.
“Hey, sweetheart, everything okay?”
“Yeah, Archer, do me a favor?”
“Sure, anything.”
“Call Master Tashita will you? Tell him you’re taking the position.”
“You’re sure?” The inflection in his voice told her he was grinning.
“Positive.”
“All right, I’ll book tickets for a flight to Tokyo now.”
“’Kay.”
“And Gwen.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re fucking amazing.”
Archer pressed the end button on his cell. A crackling sound filtered through the phone. Archer crunched his brows. “What the…” He put it to his ear. The call should have disconnected, but it was still open. A faint clicking sound met his ears.
Static again, then a click, like s
omeone had hung up. He looked at the phone, baffled. He shrugged. A grin stole over his face. Gwen was coming with him to Japan.
A fucked up phone meant nothing to him now.
“What are you so happy about?” Nick shot Gwen a smirk from the front passenger’s seat.
Gwen shook her head, ignoring him. She wasn’t ready to tell anyone yet. Not until she knew the plans were final.
“You look like you just won the lottery.” Nick looked over the front seat at her while Tony headed for the hospital. “Or you got laid. And since Archer is too far away, it’s not the second one.”
Tony snorted.
“I’ll tell you later, Nick. I’ll have to, soon enough.”
He raised a brow. “Now I’m intrigued.”
“Live with it.”
He chuckled. “You’ve gotten mouthy. I like the new Gwen.”
Heat burned her cheeks. “So does Archer.” She took out her phone. “Do you mind if we stop and drop Archer some lunch at the school? He’s been working with the crew all day fixing the place up.”
“Sure. Where do you want to go?”
When they settled on a place, she called Archer. He picked up on the first ring.
“Hey. I got the tickets. A flight for next Saturday…”
Screeching tires made Gwen whip her head around to look behind her. A black Durango loomed toward them at top speed. “Tony, watch out!”
But it was too late. The Durango slammed into them. There was an earsplitting crunch of metal and Gwen screamed. Her head hit the front seat, there was another crash, and a horn blared.
When the blistering pain in her head dissipated a little, she lifted her head, turning it slowly toward the driver’s side. Her heart leaped into her throat. Tony sat slumped over the wheel, blood gushing from his forehead. He didn’t move.
“Tony!” She shook his shoulder, but he didn’t move. Horror bolted through her.
She leaned over to check on Nick. He lay slumped sideways in the seat, his head against the passenger window. Blood caked the glass.