by Ruby Vincent
“Easy. Bashed them over the heads and came in the back.”
“Ha. Ha. I told you joking about maiming people isn’t funny. Back to the original question.”
He plucked a skewer off my plate, ignoring my squawking. “I’m here because we’re going on a field trip. There’s a party at La Roche’s house tomorrow night. You need to be ready.”
“Tomorrow night? Why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”
“Mercer secured the time, but Cash had to secure the invitation. It was a whole thing of him pretending to run into the guy by chance, striking up a conversation, and dropping the right hints. The invite was delivered today. He’s got a plus-one. That’s you, Bunny.”
“Did you-know-who go to him to demand more?”
“He did. Pais’s rage has loosened his tongue. He told Mercer his demand for an eighty-twenty split was rejected. Enzo said there was no need because they were negotiating other deals to cover the loss, and he could fuck off. Whores are a dime a dozen.
“Enzo went to La Roche and said they were dropping the sixty-forty deal in his favor for sixty-five/thirty-five in theirs. Pais didn’t tell him what the response to that was, but I bet it wasn’t civil.”
I looked around. The serving staff checked the table arrangements for the final time. The band warmed up. No one was paying attention to us.
But this isn’t the place to talk.
“Okay. Our job was to cook and deliver the food. Williamson staff do the serving. Let me finish this and I’ll be ready.” I turned to leave. Back to him, I said, “Put it back.”
His chuckles followed me out.
I finished putting out the food, said my goodbyes, and met Saint in the hallway leading to the back entrance. He looked me up and down.
“You know, this uniform is working for me. We’ll fuck in the car before we go.”
“You say the most romantic things, baby.” I linked our fingers, secretly thrilled we left the days of leading me around by my belt loop behind. “Careful. A girl could lose her head getting swept off her feet five times a day.”
We walked out the back, bursting onto the two men lying unconscious half in the bushes.
“Dammit, Saint!”
“What?” He kept walking. “They left me no choice. I needed you. They were in my way.”
“When they find them, they’ll call the police and ruin this couple’s reception. Salvatore’s can’t be connected with a brain-bashing maniac who happens to appear on every job I’m working!”
I ranted at his back the whole way to the car. Saint’s response was to toss me inside, rip my chef’s pants off, and use them to bound my arms behind my back. I came screaming into the driver’s seat as he drilled me from behind.
“And I hope you learned your lesson.” I peeled my coat off my sweaty body and tossed it in the back. Underneath, I wore a simple purple t-shirt and jean shorts.
Saint chuckled, turning on the car.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Elmshire Woods. We have a cabin out there.”
“We do?” I lazily traced a tattoo on his neck. “When are you going to update me on the full list of marital assets? The hideaways. The finances.”
“Cash handles the assets. He’ll tell you what we own, and the bodies underneath them.”
“Are there actual buried bodies?”
“Only three.”
Again, I did not know if he was joking.
Sinjin drove us out of the city. An hour and a half to Elmshire Woods.
It was one of my favorite places on earth. I had to drive through the woods in Raul’s borrowed car the days Ryan sent me out to the organic farm. Trees hung their branches over the road, defying the barrier that split their natural oasis. I remember long walks in the woods with my dad. Giggling as he swept me up over tree roots. Taught me to listen for the sounds of different animals. Engulfed my small hand on the knife hilt and showed me the right way to strike, slash, and skin.
Saint turned off onto a dirt road. We rumbled over the path for what seemed like miles, leaving the city’s pulsing hum behind.
Through a break in the trees, I saw the beginnings of a wooden structure and a flash of red. The forest opened up, revealing a tiny pocket for four cars and a one-story cabin with a river stone chimney stack. Five steps led to a porch that wrapped around one side of the cabin. There was no furniture on the porch. No plants or a welcome-home sign. An impersonal space that served a single purpose.
Mercer climbed out of his car as we parked. Our arrival signaled Brutal and Cash to come out of the cabin. Both carried guns.
“This is it,” I said. “You’ve finally decided to kill me and dispose of my body. Can we make love one more time before I’m executed?”
“Yes,” Saint agreed.
I hopped out, running up to Brutal and jumping in his arms. Our kiss curled my toes and pooled heat in my lower belly. I wanted that before I died too.
“Let me guess,” I said. “We’ve moved on from knives, and now I’m being taught how to shoot.”
He nodded.
“How does that get me ready for tomorrow night? Won’t La Roche have security checking if people are packing?”
“It’s not about tomorrow,” Cash said. “In general, you need to be able to defend yourself.”
“I know how to defend myself.”
He looked me in the eye. “Angelo.”
Jaw tightening, I replied, “I was outnumbered.”
“We’re outnumbered now and will be for the foreseeable future. At the hotel, you resisted taking a gun. That’s over. No more hesitation.”
“Brutal, Sinjin, and Mercer don’t use guns.”
“They’re lethal with or without them.”
“I’m—”
“You’re what?” He cocked a brow. “Easily capable of killing men without a weapon? Since when?”
Pull back, Addy.
“I was going to say, I’m willing to learn how to shoot, but I don’t see it being my weapon of choice. Or any weapon for that matter. Because as I explained, I’m just a cook. After you’ve secured La Roche and crippled the Kings, I’m done.”
“Oh, I see. We have a misunderstanding.” Killian swallowed the distance between us. “I assumed Sinjin made this clear. There is no done. There is no out. There is no sitting on the sidelines. Once I name you one of us, you do what we say. You take the jobs we give you.”
Fire blazed in his glare to match the heat singeing my veins. “And if I say no?”
“You’ll be relocated to a separate apartment where you can cook, and fuck Sinjin, Brutal, and no doubt Mercer to your heart’s content. Since apparently, that’s all you’re interested in.”
I climbed off Brutal, facing him head-on. “Are you saying I’ll be your kept woman?”
“Good. Misunderstanding cleared up.” His smirk was nasty. “We can’t have someone in our business who isn’t a part of it.”
I tore away from him, sweeping over the other guys. Mercer shrugged with a grin like it couldn’t be helped. Brutal’s expression was impassive.
Sinjin kissed my forehead. “Them’s the rules, Bunny. I still love you, though.”
I took a deep breath and trapped it. If it was me, I would do the same. Someone lurking in the background with as much information as I had was dangerous.
You could only truly trust a person when they were facing the same life sentences as you.
I understood this. Knew this. Agreed with this.
Still, I ached to punch him in the face. For one sentence alone.
Once I name you one of us...
Which meant, he hadn’t yet. Killian didn’t trust me. The impossible part was, attempts to earn his trust may destroy it forever. Brought on jobs and my life on the line, I couldn’t hold back. If he witnessed all I was capable of, Killian would know beyond all doubt I wasn’t who I claimed to be.
You have to be there if Kieran approaches Cash. You must get to the ledger first. That doesn’t hap
pen if you’re frittering away in another safe house.
He must’ve seen me make up my mind. Cash smacked the hilt on my palm. “Out back in five minutes.”
Cash went inside. I beat back the temptation to give him that punch and stayed out, crossing the porch to the backyard.
Wooden posts were staked in the grass about a dozen yards from the porch steps. Five cans and glass bottles rested on top of them. I peeked more at my side.
Glancing over my shoulder, I confirmed the guys were inside. I lined up my shot and fired. The middle can flew into the depths of the woods. Quickly, I replaced it and was almost to the porch before the boys filed out.
“Did I hear a shot?” Killian drawled.
“I tried and missed. How close do I stand?”
“Right here.” He pointed to the bottom step.
“That’s too far.”
“Believe in yourself.”
I flipped him off, gun and all. The guy lived on making fun of me. At least Saint’s teasing comes with sex. I went up to them and found myself in Killian’s arms.
He turned me to the targets. Killian held me to his chest as he nudged my feet hip-width apart. I inhaled a heavy scent of pine, honey, and musk. It led me to the skin peeking through his unbuttoned shirt. I nuzzled my nose inside, body relaxing into him.
“Focus.” He turned my chin—touch firm but gentle. “Get a good grip. Right hand on top. Left on the bottom. Take a breath, line up your shot, and pull. Don’t rush it.”
“Don’t rush it. You have all the time you need.” My father rang in my ears, recalling the days all those years ago when Gianna and I were learning how to shoot.
I took my deep breath, aimed my target dead center, and inched a micrometer to the right. The bullet flew past the can without a wobble.
If only Dad could see me now.
“Close,” said Killian. “Try again.”
I fired once. Twice. Eight times.
Miss.
Miss.
Miss.
The seventh time, I got cheeky and aimed for a tree two yards back. Nailed it bang on. The bottle not so much.
“Wow,” Cash said. “You suck.”
“I’m learning,” I protested.
“How did you kill that King in the Castian? Sinjin, did you make that up?”
“Nah. It was all Bunny. But I see now I owe my life to divine intervention.”
The four of them burst out laughing.
I flushed under a furious need to defend my honor. “Let’s see you guys do better.”
The challenge was hardly out of my mouth. Cash took the gun and the middle bottle blew apart. He passed it to Mercer who fired in quick succession, shooting both cans on the outside posts. Brutal’s bottle was gone between blinks. Then, it was Sinjin.
He didn’t bother with the gun. Claiming his knife from the holster, he sent the metal soaring through the air. It stabbed the can through the head of the German woman pictured. He got it and showed me.
Be still, my black heart.
I swayed, damp slicking my boy shorts. That was without a doubt the sexiest thing I’d ever witnessed men do. And the grins on their faces said they knew it.
“Don’t seduce me when I’m pissed at you,” I snapped.
The day continued in the same vein. The others drifted inside at some point, and it was just me and Cash. He made fun of me often and unashamedly. Even so, there was patience in his correcting my positioning, and calm as he repeated tips. He was content to be out there with me for hours.
Three times I gave in and made the shot. He’d smile at me and say, “Good.” Practically forcing me to forget secrecy and blow them all out. Anything for that smile.
“You’re not completely hopeless,” he said, taking the gun from me. “You’ll keep working on this. Brutal wants to teach you to box. I prefer you avoid close-contact fighting, and drop them with one shot.”
“Do you worry about me?” I slipped under his arm on the way inside.
“You’ve proven I need to.”
Brutal, Mercer, and Sinjin stretched out on the couch before an unlit fireplace. As I suspected, it was bare bones in here. A dining set, two couches, and a small kitchen were all the place had to say for itself. There were three doors I assumed led to two bedrooms and a bathroom. Otherwise, there wasn’t a television, rug, or decorations.
“Are we staying here tonight?”
“No, we’re going back to the city and sleeping at our place in Leighbridge.” Killian kept me under his arm, continuing to the front door. “We’ll pick some things up on the way.”
“We? As in me and you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“La Roche has had a man tailing me since the day after I ran into him. I let him follow me around and shook him off at night. Yesterday, I let him see me going into the Leighbridge loft. La Roche will want to know where I live. As will Kieran, if he decides to tip his hand,” he said.
Killian dropped this information like it was nothing.
“My new friend will be waiting near my supposed home for me to come back. That’s what we’re going to do, so they can begin digging into your history as well. By the party tomorrow night, we’ll all know everything we need to know about each other.”
“Well, that’s not creepy at all,” I mumbled. “Why is La Roche having you followed?”
“By law, con men don’t believe in coincidences. He thinks something’s up with our chance meeting.”
I goggled at him. “How do we scam the man if he already knows he’s being scammed?”
“You’ll see.”
CASH
A creak sounded in the space. My eyes drew open.
Soft footfalls. Then, a weight settled on my chest.
Adeline tucked herself between me and the couch, laying her head in the crook of my shoulder. I held still, waiting.
When she spoke, her whisper hardly reached me. “You wouldn’t really put me up in some apartment, would you?”
“I would.”
“But I work for you.”
“We both know why Sinjin wanted you close. It wasn’t to make his crepes.”
“Those reasons haven’t changed.”
“They have.” My tone was hard. It had to be. “You can’t be half in and half out. If you don’t want in our world, you’ll get your wish.”
“Why are you doing this, Killian?” Those big, brown eyes captured me in their shining pools. “Do you distrust me that much?”
“No.” The confession surprised me. “I believe you won’t reveal who we are, or betray us.”
“Then why? Is it because you—”
“This isn’t about me! Angelo attacked you. Let his men do what they did to you because we dragged you into this war. Why can’t you see I’m giving you a way out? You want to be a chef at Salvatore’s with friends, family, and a normal life. After we end the Kings, this is how you have it.”
She was quiet for so long, I thought she fell asleep.
“Normal boyfriends too?”
“What?”
“If you’re forcing me out of the Merchants to protect me, it’d be dangerous for us to have contact. Rivals could just as easily track me down alone in that apartment,” she said. “I’d have to move on completely. Meet new men. Have their babies—”
“Careful,” I leaked through clenched teeth.
“How can you be jealous?” Adeline laid her forehead over mine. “You said Sinjin, Mercer, and Brutal will come to see me. Not you.”
My grip on her thighs would leave marks. Evidence of my eternal battle to bring her closer or push her away.
“Tell me you’ll come to me, Killian,” she whispered. “Hold me on your lap while you share how you see the world. Trace patterns on my skin when you think I’m sleeping. Keep me under the covers, promising everything will be okay as I put myself back together. Tell me you will.”
I won’t.
When you’re gone, your smell will fade from my pillows. I’ll
stop drifting downstairs in the morning to listen to you hum over a steaming pot. I won’t leave my office open a crack, waiting for you to peek inside. I won’t need your taste on my tongue. Your body warm and willing in my hands.
When you’re gone, I’ll stop falling in love with you.
“I won’t.”
Adeline kissed me—light and soft and over too soon. “Then, I can’t go. You need me, Killian. I won’t leave you in pain.”
“Go to bed, Adeline.”
“Okay.”
She padded across the room, her footsteps light where mine were heavy. I closed the door behind us.
Adeline reached for my boxers. I grasped her hands, leading her back to fall on the bed. She rested her feet on my chest—hands splayed above her head. The shirt she helped herself to, held together by one button.
The back of my fingers glided down her bare legs. Adeline was open and waiting for me. Trusting—though I gave her no reason to be. Relaxed—though our first time was a fight, and we had yet to declare a winner.
I slid beneath her lace panties, drawing them over her knees and flinging them somewhere behind me. Adeline’s legs fell open, laying her bare before my eyes.
“You said I had to see your dangle game when you were playing,” I said. “Show me.”
For a moment, it seemed she didn’t know what I meant. Then, she unbuttoned that final button, rising out of my shirt like a siren from the sea. I bent to meet her. Her lips were salty-sweet like she snuck a treat after lights out. I explored the depths of her mouth. Tangling with her tongue. Naming the candies I stopped eating at fourteen, and swearing she was sweeter than all combined.
Adeline fell back, grinning to proclaim her victory even as she spread her pussy for me.
She teased her clit with light, stroking fingers.
My boxers joined the rest on the floor. I stroked in time with her. Picking up the pace as she did. Slowing as she dipped inside, eyes fluttering shut.
Adeline spread herself as if to say, “This will all be yours, when you get your head out of your ass.”
I even heard it in her voice.
The urge to do just that welled in my chest, pushing to break through my ice calm. I lost control with her in the bathroom. I swore I’d never reduce to that state. A raging, possessive beast that wanted nothing, and no one, but her.
