by Nana Malone
"I need you to sit forward a little bit so I can get your suit jacket off."
"It hurts to move. Help me, please."
I pulled him forward, and that motion somehow had him planting his face right on my chest. He sniffed deep. "God, can I fuck your tits? You don't have to hop on. You could just bend down, bare them, and I will figure out how to rub my cock between them. Just, please..."
"Oh my God. Really?'
"I will point out you are the one who has my face in your tits."
And that was how Bennett James Covington and Bridge Edgerton found us. Bridge paused in the doorway, met my eyes, slid his gaze down to East’s face, laughed, and then made himself at home. Covington was next. He didn't even register any surprise. "Mate, if you're trying to tell us that you're shagging Nyla, we pretty much figured that out already."
East groaned. "She was trying to smother me with her tits. You came just in time to save me."
I scowled down at him. "No, he's an idiot. He won't sit forward so I can take off his jacket and see how bad the wounds are."
Ben's brows snapped down, and I caught that movement. He started shouting orders about first aid kits and ice. But I shook my head. "You idiots are late. I've already done that."
Both of them lifted their brows. "Oh, right."
Bridge chuckled low. "What part of the first aid are you on now? I’m sure I could point out where East has the most pain…”
I narrowed my gaze, and he laughed. I was struck dumb for a moment. Because I'd never seen so much as a photo of Bridge Edgerton smiling. We hadn't interacted much, honestly. But his smile, it was like sunshine. Wasn't it a shame that he didn't smile more?
"Idiots. You're all idiots. Grade-A idiot number one right here," I said, pointing at East.
And then East did the thing that made my pussy clench; he planted a kiss right in the center of my cleavage, and I gasped. "What the—?"
He mumbled against my skin. "I'm sorry. It's just, I don't know if I'm ever going to get the chance again, and you smell so good."
To be fair, I had just told him I’d come there to shag him.
I glanced up at his friends. "You lot, come help me."
They were both huge. Just as big as East was. And they eased him forward, helping him out of the suit jacket. Then I unbuttoned his shirt and winced when I saw the ugly purple bruises already rising up. "Jesus Christ, I'm going to need more ice." I nodded at Bridge. "Please."
Luckily, he didn't argue. Ben eased himself next to his mate. "So, what happened to the fancy alarm system?"
"The alarm system wasn’t functioning because my fucking phone is dead."
Ben cursed under his breath. "That's a low-tech situation."
East grumbled. "You think I don't fucking know that? The real question is, how the fuck did they get in?"
Ben's brows drew together. "We need to go ask the staff. Is it possible that it was Todd? His key card has been revoked, but what if he had someone else's?"
Todd Spivey had been Ben’s sometime driver and security for Livy, but then he’d attacked her in Ben’s flat. Since we’d opted to deal with him legally, he was out on bail. There was something to be said for dealing with things the not so legal way.
East shrugged. "I don't know. I'll look into it.” He winced as I did finger palpations. I asked, “Do you think he needs a doctor? I’m worried."
Ben's brow furrowed. "How bad is it?"
"I mean, from what I'm seeing here, he's taken a couple of kidney shots. The stuff on his pecs, that's superficial. He might have a broken rib. I’m worried about internal bleeding."
Ben pulled out his phone, and before I knew it, he was mumbling something at someone and then turning his phone off. "Doctor is coming."
I blinked. "What, just like that?"
He nodded. "Yes, just like that."
I shook my head. "Who are you people?"
East shrugged and then groaned. "Long story."
Bridge came back with the ice, and we strategically placed the packs around him, using an ace bandage to wrap them in place.
Ben gave me a nod. "Thank you for looking after him, but Bridge and I have it now."
I laughed. "Ah, I think not. I'm not leaving. So you three better get used to me being here. I'll wait for the police too."
East groaned. "Jesus Christ, Nyla. I am in no mood to argue with you right now. I'll have the security work with them on the break-in in the morning, okay?"
I opened my mouth to argue, but I could see he was in pain. I popped two Paracetamol out of their silvery packets, put them into his palms and handed him a glass of water.
He sipped and swallowed. "You know, you make a half decent nurse. I do love a woman in uniform."
I lifted a brow. "You know, I might take back what I said earlier."
He flashed a grin. And even though he was battered, bruised, and injured… God, he was still so sexy. I looked between him, Ben, and Bridge, and the other two stood.
"Okay, Bridge and I are going to go deal with security,” announced Ben. “We'll also deal with the cops and let them know that you will file a statement with them in the morning. In the meantime, are you all right, mate?"
East nodded. "Yeah, if someone would bring my iPad over here, I'll change the security protocols now. So this place will be secured for the rest of the night. And then when all is said and done, we'll try to find out who broke in."
Bridge brought it over, and East nodded a thanks.
Ben was already headed to the door, and Bridge turned to glower at me. "The doctor will be by to check on him later. Make sure that tomorrow we find him in better condition than he is now, yeah?”
I met his dark gaze but didn't back down. "I'm going to make sure he gets in bed and that he gets to rest."
Bridge gave me a nod. It looked something akin to a thank you. They weren't just business partners. They were mates. Actual mates. The London Lords were a family.
When his two friends were gone, I studied East closely. "You ruined my perfectly good evening plans. So let's get you to bed so you can rest, and I’ll take a rain check."
"Woman, I see you. Always trying to get me naked. You should buy me dinner first."
"You should buy me dinner."
"What, I'm injured and an invalid, and you just want me for my body."
I couldn't help but giggle. "Come on, off to bed with you. I'll stay until the doctor comes and leaves."
I slid down next to him and helped him lift his arm over my shoulders as I helped him onto his feet.
"Stay, please. Please don't leave." His voice was so soft, so pleading, and I got the impression that he wasn't used to asking for anything.
I also was worried that he would need much more than the two Paracetamol. I nodded at him. "Yeah, okay, I'll stay."
He groaned as we shuffled toward his bedroom. "If I had known all it took for you to come spend the night was to get my ass kicked, I would have hired somebody to do it ages ago."
East
It was dark in the initiation room. Everyone wore their robes and their masks. The dark red silk hanging off of our frames, obscuring our bodies, making us all the same. The masks obscured our faces, and the only thing visible were our lips and jawlines. If I looked closely, I could make out my mates. I knew their faces as well as mine. The only lights were the lanterns built into the walls from initiations long ago.
I climbed out and was made a brother. It was the one thing my father wanted. The one thing I willingly gave him. But I only gave it because of the lads. Ben was here, Bridge was here, Toby, Drew. We were all together. So I could acquiesce on this. Because if it had been just solely for my father, I wouldn't have done it. I would have fought it tooth and nail. But it was too dark. Something was wrong with the lantern. And suddenly everyone's robes were black, no longer the dark red I was used to. Why were they black?
The images in my mind changed and everyone stood around a coffin. Masks came off. Drew, Ben, Bridge all standing, surrounding me.
My mask was still on. But there was one coffin still shut. It was Toby's coffin. I glanced around at my mates. "Open the coffin. Open it. What are you doing?"
None of them answered me. None of them looked at me. And they were hoisting the coffin onto their shoulders. No. Not Toby. Please, God, not Toby.
I screamed. No. Not Toby.
I tripped awake, thrashing, and the hiss of pain hit me on the left side. "Fuck."
There was a female voice. Soft. Quiet. "Shh. You're going to hurt yourself."
"Nyla?"
"Who else?"
"Sorry. What are you—” Had I come home with her? The sheets smelled like my sheets. And the smell of fresh linen and vanilla or flowers. Had I brought her home? Smart on me. But why did I feel like I was blissed out?
I tugged her closer to me, and she was soft and naked. I frowned. No, not naked. She had knickers on. No way in hell would I have taken her to bed with me with knickers on. I slid my hands up her smooth, flat belly and palmed one of her breasts. She moaned. "East. You're supposed to be taking it easy."
"Who said?"
Despite the throbbing pain in my left rib, my dick was ready to go, happy to go, more than ready to say good morning to Nyla.
She shifted in my arms, onto her back from her side. And her gaze met mine. She blinked. It took me a moment to see the whiskey in her beautiful hazel eyes. "There you are. Good morning."
She shook her head. "It's not morning. It's about four o’clock."
I winced. "Four o’clock? What an ungodly hour."
"I know. I've been checking on you every hour or so. I didn't mean to wake you when I got back in the bed."
"Um, thank you."
"You were having a nightmare."
I sighed, wanting to go back to that moment where I was fondling her and she was filling my big palm. Overflowing even. Could I make love to her without pain?
What's a little pleasure without pain, right?
My cock twitched again, and I groaned. "Maybe we can talk about it later. Right now, I really want to suck on your tits."
She stroked a hand down my face, and I kissed the inside of her palm. "Welcome to my bed. Why don't I remember you coming in here?"
"Because the doctor gave you a massive pain pill. You should feel better."
I frowned. "Pain pill?" And then it came rushing back. The god-awful dinner. Leaving her at home because I knew that emotionally she was wrecked. I should have stayed. I should have picked her up and shagged her against the door, making her forget everything. But instead, I had come home and been jumped in my own flat. Bloody fantastic. And then she'd come to play my nursemaid. And fucking hell. I remembered the doctor, the poking and prodding. The assessment that I did not in fact have any broken ribs. They were just bruised and would hurt. And no internal bleeding. I would recover. I would be significantly less pretty for a while, though.
And then he'd given me something for the pain and left. He told Nyla to check on me every hour or two, to make sure I hadn't hit my head and gotten a concussion. Fabulous. That's why I felt so groggy. "I had hoped that you were in my bed naked for another reason."
"I have underwear on. And I had a T-shirt. I just got up to get some water and then spilled all over it. So I came back in without it."
"I am not complaining, I promise."
She rolled onto her other side so that she faced me. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness. And I could see the outline of her face better. Those gorgeous cheekbones. The curtains were open, so I could see the hints of dawn in the sky over a slumbering London. "Tell me what happened in your dream."
I didn't want to do this. But I'd been dreaming of Toby a lot lately. "You know how we talked about the Elite?"
Her voice was quiet and soft when she nodded and said, "Yes."
"We had a friend. Me, Ben, Bridge, Drew. You haven't met Drew yet, but you will. His name was Toby. Tobias."
"Okay. Is he in London?"
I shook my head. "He died on our initiation night."
She didn't move a muscle. No wilted brow, no sitting up, no nothing. But I could feel the tension slam into her shoulders. "What happened?"
"The official story ten years ago was that he had a massive heart attack. Which none of us believed. But it was so quick. We all emerged from our coffins, reborn so to speak. Except he did not. Ben clawed the damn thing open. And he was lying in there so still."
"Do you know what happened?"
"Not then. We were all so shell-shocked. The senior members who were doctors tried to revive him with CPR, and he was taken to a hospital, but they pronounced him dead on arrival, and then the ceremony had to go on. At least that's what they told us. They shuffled us through, and we went through the routines for our initiation. I was so dazed. Numb. I couldn't feel anything. For a long time I was convinced I would never feel anything again. And it was slow to come back, the sensation, any emotion. I was just completely clicked off, I guess."
"Makes sense. You lost a friend."
"And the thing is we all swallowed the lie. We didn't stop to think about why Toby would have had a heart attack. The guy was a runner. Had done several half marathons. There was no reason for him to have a heart attack. He was perfectly healthy."
"I'm so sorry, East. People have heart attacks all the time. Even young people. Athletes. It happens."
"I know." I nodded. "It does happen. And so we believed it. But about six months ago, at the ten-year anniversary of our initiation when we all joined the Elite, we were leaving and ran into Emma Varma."
She frowned. "Who's that?"
"She's Toby's sister. When we were at school together, our group of friends was so tight. We'd spend holidays with the Varmas. Summers. When we didn't go to their house, Toby came home with one of us, and sometimes she came along."
"Okay. What does she have to do with this?"
"She was there to confront the Elite. She was there to confront them about what they'd done to Toby."
Nyla's brows furrowed. "But you said he had a heart attack."
"I said we thought he had a heart attack. Emma insisted she was certain that there'd been no heart attack. We found out that Toby's death had been no accident."
She moved then and shifted back just half an inch. Her gaze roamed over mine. "What do you mean not an accident?"
"No one killed him or anything, but there were three who contributed to his death. Bram Van Linstead, Garreth Jameson, and Francis Middleton. Van Linstead was supposed to be on watch. All the coffins were fitted with cameras inside. So we were all watched and monitored. We all had heart monitors on as well. He was supposed to be making sure everything was fine. Jameson was the ears. He listened in to the auditory feeds. Was checking to see who was losing their shit. They could hear everything. And then there was Francis Middleton. His part came after the initiation. We insisted that something wasn't right. We didn't believe he’d had a heart attack. So we begged them to look into what had happened in the autopsy. But everything came back normal. There was whole campaign about the unfortunate situation, and money was donated to the Varmas for the tragic loss of their son. Everything was neat and tidy, and the Elite wasn't mentioned in any of it. That was courtesy of the Middletons. They are crisis managers. The whole family. For generations. They are the ones who tell the lies. They speak no evil."
She gasped. "They covered it up?"
I nodded slowly. "Yeah, they covered it up. Toby hollering. Screaming. Begging to be let out. He couldn't breathe in there."
"Oh my God, I am so sorry."
"Deep down, we knew, but we swallowed the lies."
She frowned. "Bram Van Linstead, his sudden rash of misfortunes… That was you?"
I didn't know how much to tell her. I'd already said way too much. "Yes."
"You found the corruption. And you fed it to me."
"Yes. But you were already on the path. You were just looking at the wrong Elite members."
"Oh my God."
I didn't know how mad she was. "I
'm sorry. We didn't know you then. We had to protect Ben."
Her brows snapped down. "I'm not mad about that. I'm horrified that you had to go through that."
"Someone left Emma a video showing that if they had just opened the coffin, just let him out, he would still be alive."
"There was video evidence?"
I nodded. "Yeah. And they left it for his sister if you can imagine that."
"That's horrible."
"Yeah. So anyway, we essentially pulled an illegal burn on Bram. But it took some time. We wanted to prevent him from being Director Prime."
"What's Director Prime?"
"It's our leader. Each Director Prime holds the seat for ten years. They can be reelected by consensus of the membership. Or they can be challenged. And a Van Linstead had sat in the Director Prime spot for thirty years, and Bram thought he’d be next."
She whistled low. "His father, his cronies, the things that they did."
"They used the Elite under cover of propriety. They used us all."
"So that's what it was. That underlying, I don't know, but I could sense it… hate."
"I didn't want to be in the Elite. I didn't want to be in any organization with my father. But I did it for my mates, and it turned us all into something else."
"So why won't you let me take them down?"
"Because we already have a plan for that."
"Oh no, no, no, you're not vigilantes. You're going to get yourselves hurt."
"We took down Van Linsted."
She shifted but not out of reach. "How? What did you do?"
"Doesn't matter. The point is that a Van Linsted no longer sits on the proverbial throne. Ben does. And when we deal with Jameson and Middleton, then we're going to dismantle the Elite."
"You're serious?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I am. We've rooted out the Van Linsteds and anyone doing dirty deals with them, but there's so much more corruption we probably don't know about."
"Let me help."
Oh hell. "No, Nyla. There's a way that this is done."
"Vengeance for your friend."
I searched her gaze and said simply, "Yes."
"East, this is a recipe for disaster."
"I'm going to do it whether you want me to or not." Someone had come for me, but they’d made the fatal error of leaving me alive.
