Anarchy (Hades Book 2)

by Tate James

  "Gumdrop," Zed replied, and I rocked my hips. "Where's Dare? Why are you answering her fucking phone?"

  "Uh, she's just a bit busy," Lucas replied with a smirk. He carefully balanced the phone on the arm of the chair, then pressed a finger gently to his lips. The message was loud and clear. Stay. Silent.

  I nodded, willing to play the game, and he removed his hand from my mouth. It was only so he could grip my hips, though, and encourage me to ride him like I'd been about to do when the phone rang.

  Oh fuck. He wanted me to fuck him while he was on the phone with my best friend? That was... so hot. I mean, totally messed up. But also... fuck me, I was soaking.

  "What do you mean, busy?" Zed snapped. "What the fuck is she busy doing?"

  Lucas tipped his head back, his hips bucking up to meet me as I bounced lightly on his cock. Holy hell, there was no way I could come silently. And there was also no way I was lasting longer than a few minutes.

  "She's working out," Lucas told Zed, somehow keeping his voice totally neutral as I flexed my legs harder, fucking him faster. "What's up? Did something happen?"

  He dropped one of my hips and slipped that hand down my front to find my clit as I rode him. Because apparently Lucas woke up this morning and chose evil.

  Zed grunted a sound on the phone. "Figures. That sounds like she's hitting the punching bag. Just stay out of her warpath until she calms down."

  Oh god. I almost laughed. Almost. But Lucas pinched my clit, and I needed to clap a hand over my own mouth to stop myself from screaming.

  "Ah, I reckon she'll be okay," Lucas told Zed. "Just needed to work off a bit of steam." He shot me a wink, and I couldn't decide if I wanted to punch him or kiss him.

  It sounded like Zed had sighed on the phone, and I was about to detonate. My orgasm was so fucking close. So close.

  "Well, if she's not likely to gut you for getting close, can you hand the phone over? I need to discuss some legal shit."

  I froze. Lucas grinned.

  Frantically, I shook my head at him, and he just shrugged and picked up the phone once more.

  "Sure thing," he said, and I just about died. There went my orgasm. Poof. "Just give me a sec." He hit the mute button on the call, made a point of showing me, then tossed the phone onto the training mat.

  "Lucas," I murmured, suspicious as fuck. "What are you—"

  In a move that surely only a gymnast could pull off, he scooped me up off his lap and stood up, then sank gracefully to his knees and lay me flat on my back on top of the padded training mat.

  "I didn't believe you could be quiet for this part," he whispered back at me, his face pure mischief. Then he hitched one of my legs up so my knee touched my shoulder and slammed his monster cock back into me hard enough to make me see stars.

  He was goddamn right. He fucked me hard and fast, nailing me into the mat and making me scream like a fucking banshee when I came.

  His own release was only a split second behind, his hot cum filling me as I thrashed and moaned all over his dick like a strung-out junkie.

  I barely got a second to catch my breath, though, before he picked the phone up and unmuted it with a challenge written all over his sexy fucking face.

  "Zed," I snapped, my voice rough from screaming and my breathing still elevated. "What's up?"

  "I've got some guys looking into our insurance provider for 7th Circle," he informed me. "Just had a weird feeling about them denying the claim."

  Lucas eased out of me and collapsed onto the mat at my side where he pressed gentle kisses to my sweaty skin.

  "Okay," I replied, still breathless. "And?"

  "And the underwriter for Allied Host Insurance was bought out by a shell company six months ago." Zed's tone was grim, and I sat up sharply.

  "Bought out by who?" I demanded.

  He gave an irritated click of his tongue. "Not sure yet. I've asked Dallas to do some digging, though. Wanted to check if that was okay with you, first."

  I frowned, ruffling my fingers through my hair. "Yes, of course. Let me know the second he finds something."

  "You know I will. I'll let you get back to your workout, but maybe don't go so hard. You're panting like an old lady." He said it with a teasing laugh, and I groaned inwardly.

  "Bye, Zed," I growled, then ended the call. Then I shot Lucas a sharp look. "You're in so much trouble, Wilder."

  He grinned. "You gonna punish me, Hades?"

  Fuck if that didn't make my pussy flood with warmth all over again. I really was messed up.

  24

  Lucas had visited his mom almost every day since he'd gotten out of the hospital, and at first I'd gone with him in the hope that she'd tell me more about her history with my parents. But it’d quickly became clear that me being there stressed her out, so I started waiting for Lucas in the Sunshine Estate rose garden.

  Today, though, I was more on edge that usual. My foot tapped an anxious rhythm on the gravel path as I spoke with Gen on my phone. She'd handled everything with law enforcement with regards to my apartment building, but she wasn't optimistic about the outcome of my claims on the cars. I'd used the same insurer for all my properties, and the recent sale of the underwriter was starting to stink like a dead rat.

  The crunch of shoes on gravel made my eyes jerk up, and I spotted Lucas making his way over to me.

  "Gen, I need to go," I told her with an irritated sigh. "If you need copies of invoices, get in touch with Hannah at Copper Wolf. I'll authorize her access to the files now so she can get you whatever you need."

  "Understood, sir," Gen replied. "I'll be in touch."

  I ended the call and tilted my head back to look up at Lucas. "All okay? That was quicker than usual."

  A frown creased his brow, but he gave a small nod. "Yeah, fine. Let's go."

  Things were quite clearly not fine, but I didn't argue with him. I just stood up and wrapped my arm around his waist as we walked back the parking lot and the Audi I was still borrowing from Zed.

  Once we were inside, I gave him a raised brow. "Want to talk about it?"

  For a moment, I thought he was going to decline. But then he blew out a heavy breath and scrubbed his hands over his face. "I'm just really confused," he admitted with a groan of frustration. "I asked her today about why she left Shadow Grove."

  I glanced at him in surprise as I drove us back toward Zed's house. I'd filled him—and Zed and Cass—in on what Sandra Wildeboer had told me. But when I'd tried to talk to Sandra again after that day, she'd played dumb with me.

  "She got really angry at me for asking," Lucas confessed. "Told me that she'd left to keep me safe and the more I dug around in the past the more attention I'd bring."

  That phrasing seemed curious, and I bit the edge of my lip as I ran it through my mind. "That sounds like something to do with you, specifically, and not the Timberwolves," I commented, still thinking, "so maybe we were being too closed-minded. Maybe her leaving here when my mom died was just coincidental timing..."

  Lucas drummed his fingertips on the door handle, clearly irritated. "That's what I thought too. It would explain why she moved us around so much. I always thought it was because she couldn't keep a job and needed the health insurance, but now I'm wondering if she was running from someone."

  "Or hiding you from someone," I offered in a soft voice. "What do you know about your dad, Lucas?"

  He gave a bitter laugh. "I asked her exactly the same thing. Then she threw a coffee mug at the wall and started yelling at me to get out."

  My brows rose. "What do you think that meant?"

  He shrugged. "Either something suspicious… or she was just really offended that I basically suggested she'd lied about my father all these years and he wasn't the upstanding gentleman she’d told me he was." He gave me a wry smile. "My mom does have a flare for the dramatic; I don't put a whole lot of suspicion behind that reaction."

  I didn't respond to that. My natural instinct was to be suspicious of fucking everything, and the e
vidence was stacking pretty heavily in favor of Lucas's daddy being involved in something shady.

  "I take it that wasn't good news from Gen when I interrupted you?" Lucas asked, changing the subject. He'd met my new lawyer earlier in the week when I stopped for a meeting with her at Copper Wolf on our way home from Sunshine Estate, and he seemed to genuinely like her.

  I shook my head. "Nope." Then another thought popped into my brain. "Hey, yesterday when Cass suggested fighting in the event with Johnny Rock, you seemed to know more about that than Zed or I."

  Lucas grinned. "Um, yeah, because I clearly do know more." He gave a teasing laugh when I shot him a glare. "What? Let me have my moment of glory. It's not often I'm the one with the information."

  I rolled my eyes, but he had a point. "Fair call," I muttered with a sigh. "So, tell me what you know. Please?" I threw that polite addition on with an exaggerated flutter of my lashes, and Lucas snickered.

  "Cute. But I'm pretty sure Cass should be telling you about himself, you know, himself? I will say that I'm not against a bit of casual Google stalking when I want to know more about someone, and Cass seemed like he was important to you when we first met. So I did some searching." He gave a small shrug. "It wasn't a thorough background check or anything, just normal Googling."

  I was a little impressed. "And you discovered he used to be a fighter?"

  Lucas nodded. "A really good fighter. Like, I've seen some of Archer D'Ath's fights on TV, and Cass would probably flatten him."

  "Huh." I was a little speechless. I knew Cass could fight, of course. But I didn't realize he was actually good.

  Lucas grinned. "You should ask him about it some time. I bet he'd like to tell you all about his glory days. Isn't that what old dudes like to do?"

  I groaned but couldn't fight my answering smile at his teasing. "Say that to his face, Gumdrop, I fucking dare you."

  "Aw come on, not you too! Fucking worst nickname on the planet." He pouted and slouched back in his seat as I laughed silently.

  "Actually, I think he's over at Anarchy training with Alexi today," I commented, tapping the steering wheel with my index finger. "Want to head over there?"

  Lucas shifted in his seat, turning slightly so he was looking at me while I drove. It was both unnerving and flattering all at the same time. "Sure thing. Maybe you can work out why Cass has been all cagey and secretive this week."

  I flicked him a quick look. "You noticed that too, huh?"

  He inclined his head. "Hard not to. I mean, I'm more than fine with having you all to myself, but I'm a bit more realistic than that. I know you're not going to be happy with just me... not when you're already so invested in them, too."

  I frowned, guilt rippling through me at his words. Although he'd said he was fine with me and Cass, I hadn't exactly asked before jumping into bed with another guy. Did that make me a cheater? Fuck. I despised cheaters.

  "Lucas..." I started to say, then trailed off because I simply had no idea what the fuck to say. It wasn't that he wasn't enough. It was just... Cass had a very particular hold on my heart that I was tired of ignoring.

  "Hey." He reached over and linked our fingers together like he always seemed to do when I needed the emotional support. "I didn't mean anything by that comment. Please stop frowning like that. It was just a statement of fact, not a guilt trip, okay? I'm good with this, with the way we are. But I hate that Cass is being a secretive shit, and I can see it's getting under your skin."

  I gave a soft laugh at that because he was dead right.

  "So," Lucas continued, lifting my hand to his mouth and kissing my knuckles. "Let's go to Anarchy, and best case, you get some answers out of the big grump. Worst case..." He trailed off with a sly smile.

  I flicked him another suspicious glance. "Worst case what?"

  His eyes glittered with mischief. "Worst case, you get all hot and bothered watching Cass beat the crap out of Alexi in the training room, and I get to reap the rewards afterward. It's a win-win if you ask me."

  Well... when he put it like that, how could I argue?

  I’d barely wiped the silly smile from my face by the time we pulled into Anarchy, and Lucas managed to sneak a quick make-out session in before we exited the car.

  Walking into the training room, I was surprised to find Cass fighting Zed, not Alexi. I was also uncomfortably surprised at how fast my heart started pounding at the sight of those two shirtless, inked-up, and sweaty, trading punches like... well... like professionals.

  Lucas gave a low chuckle, swiping a hand over his mouth as if to hide his smug grin. "This ought to be interesting," he murmured, shooting me a knowing look.

  I glared back at him, refusing to pick up what he was putting down. "Don't stir shit, Lucas. We're not fucking up a good thing."

  He didn't reply, just smirked and turned his attention to the fighters locked in a sparring match that seemed a whole lot more serious than it needed to be.

  Folding my arms, I settled in to watch with him, analyzing Cass's form more than anything because it was the first time I'd really seen him fight. Zed, I could probably fight in my sleep, but Cass was an unknown entity. And holy shit, Lucas hadn't been exaggerating; he was a weapon, even if he was a little rusty.

  At some point Cass caught sight of me watching, but instead of being distracted, he just seemed to come at Zed harder and faster. Trying to prove something?

  Eventually the fight ended when Cass slammed a hard uppercut into Zed's diaphragm, knocking the air from him in a grunt, then nailed a right hook into the side of his face.

  They wore gloves, yes. But even gloves couldn't rein in the power behind those strikes, and Zed hit the mat like a puppet with his strings cut.

  Lucas sucked in a sharp breath, cringing. "I'll go find some ice," he suggested, shooting me a worried glance.

  I just smiled back at him and nodded in the direction of the locker room. "There's a freezer just inside the men's changing room. Should be ice packs in there."

  Lucas hurried off to do that, and I strolled over to where Cass was helping Zed up off the mats. My second still had a distinctly dazed look about him, the one that confirmed Cass had definitely turned his lights out for just a few seconds.

  "Nice moves, Grumpy Cat," I commented, giving him a slow clap. "Who'd have thought a retiree such as yourself had skills?" Yeah, I was just taking my stick and smacking it straight into the hornet's nest. Danger and I liked to flirt on a regular basis.

  Cass tossed his gloves aside and scooped me up with one strong arm around my waist, lifting me clean off my feet. "I'll fucking show you skills, brat."

  "Ugh, spare me the show," Zed groaned, rubbing the already bruised bridge of his nose and glaring at the two of us. "You're adequate, Saint. But you'd better put in the fucking hours if you want to beat Johnny Rock in three weeks."

  Cass flipped Zed off, then kissed me with a level of primal possession that made my insides turn to jelly and my nipples hard against his hot chest. Fucking hell, there went another few brain cells.

  Reluctantly, I pushed away from Cass and relocated the floor with my toes as Lucas came jogging over with an ice pack in hand.

  "Thanks, Gumdrop," Zed grunted, taking the ice from Lucas. He headed over to the well-worn couches at the side of the room ,sat down with a groan, and clapped the ice to his face as he leaned back in the seat.

  Cass sat on the edge of another chair and meticulously unraveled his hand wraps, rolling them back up on themselves rather than letting them spool all over the floor like wet spaghetti—like I did. "How was your mom?" Cass asked Lucas, shooting him a curious glance. He, like the rest of us, was suspicious about Sandra's past.

  Lucas gave an uncomfortable shrug and sat on the couch beside Zed. "Same as usual," he replied, keeping it vague. As well as the three of them seemed to get along, not one of them trusted the others as far as he could throw them. To be expected, I guessed. It could have been worse.

  "Jesus, Zed," I muttered, crossing over to him and s
natching the ice pack from his hand. "You didn't even have it on the bruise." I reapplied it directly to the rapidly swelling mark on his cheekbone where Cass's knockout blow had landed, and Zed hissed in pain.

  "What the fuck, Dare?" he growled, grabbing my waist like he wanted to push me away.

  I just snickered. "You're such a crybaby." I pressed the ice harder against his face, and he glared death at me. Instead of taking the ice from my hand, though, he yanked me into his lap and let me hold it there while he ground his teeth together loudly enough to hear.

  "Lazy shit," I muttered, but kept the ice on his face anyway as I rebalanced myself on his lap with my foot up on the sofa near Lucas.

  My sexy stripper just grinned at me like an asshole and fanned himself with his hand. "Is it just me, or is it hot in here?"

  Death glare didn't even begin to describe the look I sent in his direction. Lucky for him, he was saved by the interruption of my phone ringing.

  Keeping the ice on Zed's face with one hand—none too gently, mind—I fished my phone from my jacket pocket and answered the call.

  "Rio," I said, greeting the contractor assigned to Lucas's house renovations.

  "Boss," he replied, sounding nervous. "I think you better come over here to the Wildeboer house."

  I frowned, confused, and switched the call to speaker so I wouldn't need to relay the information like a parrot. "Is everything okay there?"

  "Yes, boss," Rio replied, his accent stronger than usual. "But, uh, we found something you're gonna wanna see, you know, in person and shit."

  I locked eyes with Lucas, questioning, but he seemed just as lost as I was about what Rio might have found.

  "Fill me in a bit, Rio," I demanded, my voice sharp. "What did you find?"

  He cursed softly in Spanish, then returned to the call. "Guns, boss. Fucking shitloads of guns. More than I've ever seen in one place."

  My eyes widened, and Lucas jerked like he'd been electrocuted.

  With my spine stiff and my shoulders tense, I stood up from Zed's lap and drew a deep breath. "I'll be right there, Rio," I snapped. "Don't touch a single fucking thing, you hear me? Seal the house up until we arrive."