by Tijan
Brooke’s mouth fell open. Even Jonah seemed startled, though I wasn’t sure the reason for their reactions.
Kai picked up one of the wine bottles, along with the two glasses.
“Hey!” Brooke sputtered, but she quieted after she looked at Kai’s face. “Never mind.” She swept a hand out. “Proceed.”
He inclined his head and moved forward, back out into the hallway. I followed, and he spoke over his shoulder.
“You want to hurt your father, but that’s all right now. You’re not ready for the rest.”
I thought we were going to my bedroom, but he turned left when he should’ve gone right. Where were we going?
There were stairs, back stairs, and we were going up.
“Where are you taking me?”
I heard a soft chuckle, and he held up the wine. “Keep following. You’ll thank me.” He glanced back with a cute grin.
Cute. I wanted to smack my forehead.
Kai wasn’t cute.
He was hot. He was sizzling. He was alluring.
He wasn’t cute.
But holy hell, there was a dimple, and my knees buckled. I’d never seen that dimple before.
I scowled. “Guys shouldn’t be allowed to have dimples.”
He barked out a laugh. “Come on.” He transferred the wine and glasses to one hand, reaching behind and taking my hand with his free one.
I had a moment. One moment.
Time slowed down.
I looked down at our joined hands, at his smile, at the wine in his hands, at where he was leading me, and a thrill spread through my body. It tickled me from the inside out, and I had to contain myself because it was like we were normal.
Like we’d been to dinner and a movie and this was the end of our date.
Or hell, maybe we were on the second or third date. We were going somewhere to drink wine and neck—like normal couples.
We were a couple.
Wait. Were we?
What was going on here? Where were we going? And I didn’t mean that literally, because I could see he was taking me to a room over the garage. The roof was slanted, with a skylight above. A large couch that was really a huge bed sat underneath, and as if all the romance movies had conspired against me in this moment, I saw it had begun raining.
It was officially the sappiest moment of my life.
Sigh.
I let go of Kai’s hand and stood in the doorway.
He turned, backing toward the couch/bed, holding the wine out. “What’s wrong?”
That dimple. He knew damn well the effect of that thing. It was a weapon.
He smirked. “Don’t like skylights?”
I growled, “Dipshit.”
He tipped his head back to laugh. “Come on.” He put the wine and glasses on a stand next to the couch, opening a drawer to pick up a remote. He hit a button, and I watched a partition on the slanted roof slide away. A television screen moved out. It was large enough to fill the entire ceiling, so lying down, it was as if we had front-row seats to our own movie theater.
“Here we go.” Kai looked at me, turning the screen on. “What do you normally watch?”
“Not politics.” I said with a straight face.
Actually, that was all we watched. We had to, in case a new ruling made our job harder.
Kai chuckled and turned to the movie channels. “Fair warning.” He paused on a romantic flick. “I’ve not watched a movie for…forever.” He glanced at me. “I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie.”
I snorted, shaking my head. “Do the latest action one.”
“Yeah?”
Another firm nod. “Yes. No chick flicks for me.”
“Okay.” He selected a movie that had just hit the theaters two days ago. How he got it here, I wasn’t going to ask. I wasn’t even going to be surprised.
I spread out on the couch and got comfortable.
Kai shut the door, casting the room in complete darkness except for the movie and the random flash of lightning above us. He crawled onto the couch with me.
“Did you want some wine?”
Instead of answering, I rolled over, grabbed the wine bottle, and moved back. I held it up in salute. “Let’s be a little dangerous tonight.”
Another soft laugh, and then he took hold of me. He lifted me up, scooted back, and deposited me on his lap. I could feel him hardening beneath me, and he stretched me to completely rest on him, my head nestled against his shoulder.
He skimmed a hand down my front, his fingers grazing the side of my breasts. He took the wine from me. “No glasses?”
“Nuh-uh.”
I felt his chest vibrate with a laugh before he tipped the wine back to take a sip. He handed it back after he was done, and I grabbed it, almost desperately.
I needed it. I needed it to ward against what was going on here, because I was crumbling more quickly than I wanted to acknowledge.
I shouldn’t have been this ridiculously happy for something as cheesy as a movie, a private room away from the rest, and a thunderstorm overhead, but I was. I felt so much that my throat was clogged, and I slurped that wine down, trying to push my feelings out of the way.
“Hey.” Kai ran a hand up my back, sliding deliciously around the front before he took the bottle from me. “What’s that about?”
“Nothing.”
He didn’t ask again, but he didn’t need to. He was watching me. He knew. Taking a sip himself, he settled back, his hand running down the side of my body, sending sensations in its wake.
Throbbing.
Building.
But I ignored them. I settled back in his arms, resting my head against his shoulder, and I tried to ignore the way he ran a hand down my arm, and how his palm smoothed over my stomach, how his fingers traced over my skin.
I moved, hoping the throb would lessen, but it didn’t.
I was beginning to pant.
Goddamn this man.
The movie was on. Someone was speaking. I couldn’t care less. I was way past trying to follow, so I turned, my mouth half on his neck, and I asked, “What did you mean before about how Tanner didn’t have a semblance of a life and the others do?”
He stiffened beneath me, pausing the movie.
“Really? You want to know now?” His eyebrow dipped.
I was half crazed and desperate from feelings I really couldn’t afford to be feeling for him, so I nodded. “Yep.”
“Okay.” He leaned back, and I did what I’d been fighting against.
I moved to straddle him, but I sat back, leaving some space between us. I could feel him beneath me, and though he was hard, it was as if he didn’t even know.
“There’s a council in Canada,” he said.
“A council?” I echoed. My mind raced.
God. I’m falling for him.
I can’t fall for him.
He nodded as if I was listening, as if I totally understood every word he said, as if my world wasn’t crumbling to pieces inside of me.
“There was a mafia war years ago, and it was so bad that our ancestors decided it’d never happen again. Too many innocents died.” He ran a hand down my arm, grazing the inside of my wrist. He circled it, feeling my palm. “So they made a council instead.”
“A council?”
I was repeating myself, and my heart jackhammered away.
“Yeah.” He frowned, his eyes narrowing. “And because our father was a jackass and soulless and ruthless, he became the leader of the council.”
Oh. Wait a minute.
I shifted up, my eyes flying to his. “So that means…”
He nodded again, his thumb running over my palm. “I’m the leader of the council. It was put together not just to end the war, but to help fight against the government.” He paused, his hand tightening briefly over mine. “Or fight against the US because they always want to know what we do up there too.”
Of course. That made sense.
I bit my lip. “And Tanner was mad beca
use…” I had no idea why he was mad.
“Because he’s second in line.” Kai shifted. Grabbing my waist, he picked me up and pulled me to sit higher on him. Only a few inches separated us again, and I could feel his dick throbbing, hard and demanding entrance. I felt him twitch below me, and I had to bite back a groan because I wanted to give in. I wanted to let him sink inside me.
“So you…” I couldn’t talk. I didn’t even know why I was trying.
“Yes, me.” He was teasing. I heard it in his tone. He knew exactly how he was affecting me. His hands fell to my hips, tipping me into him even more.
He leaned forward so his mouth grazed over my throat. “Yes. Me. I’m the head of the council because I’m the head of our family.”
“And if you fall, then Tanner…” I was dazed. My pulse thundered in my ear. I felt him begin to kiss up my throat.
What were we talking about?
His arms tightened around me. “Tanner takes over, and if he falls, Brooke is next in line. She’s a Bennett. One of us has to maintain control over the council. If we don’t, that won’t be good. At all.”
Yes. The council. Of course.
Good God, he started to kiss my chest. He began to move south, licking all the way between my breasts.
This was never going to get old.
Ever.
I cradled the back of his head as he lavished his attention over me, and I knew this was never going to go away. I’d want him kissing me, licking me, tasting me, sliding inside of me until I was long past being old and about to hit my grave. Even then, I had a hard time imagining I wouldn’t crave the feel of him still.
“Kai,” I moaned, damn close to telling him all of it.
“Mmmm?” He lifted his head, those torturous lips pulling away from my skin, and I gazed down at him.
What was I going to say?
Need. Want. Desire. Those were the only things in my head. I didn’t know anymore. I couldn’t think right now
“Nothing,” I rasped. “Nothing at all.”
He lifted his mouth, and I brought mine down to it.
The movie began playing again. The rain continued.
And we were both soon groaning.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
I had five days.
Five days of feeling Kai inside of me all night long. Five days where I’d wake and reach for him, where he’d roll inside of me or I would straddle him. Five days where we didn’t leave the room until a late lunch. Meals were spent around a table, laughing, hearing stories from his siblings. Even Tanner began smiling halfway through the first day. Brooke loved cooking, so we enjoyed her gourmet meals—apparently she’d always wanted to be a chef.
Jonah left first, returning to his residency. He only had a few days’ leeway, and his time was up.
Tanner was next, needing to return to the Vancouver home for the family business. I didn’t ask what he did for them. No one offered that information.
Brooke, Kai, and I were left now.
Sitting up in bed, I glanced at the clock. It was a little after four in the morning, but I knew the other side of the bed was empty without looking. Rolling to the edge of the mattress, I tucked the sheet around my naked body.
Kai stood at the window, an arm braced against the wall beside the window frame. He wore sweatpants, which hung low on his hips. The full moon outside bounced off the lake, and I could see every muscle in his shirtless back. The shadows fell over them, gracefully showing me a path along his spine.
I moved to his side, the sheet trailing behind me, and he brought his arm to my waist, tucking me next to him.
“I woke you?”
I rested my head against his shoulder, feeling content and secure. “I don’t know what woke me. What woke you?”
He was still gazing out the window. His hand tightened on my waist for a second. “I never fell asleep.”
Something was wrong. “What’s going on?”
Now he looked down, and I saw regret before he masked it. “I’m going to Milwaukee today.”
We were still tucked in the northern end of Minnesota—only lakes and forest forever.
“You’re driving?”
He shook his head. “There’s a little airport thirty minutes away. We’ll leave from there.”
The moon cast half of him in shadow.
“You and Brooke are going to drive north, back to Vancouver.”
“What? But—”
“It’s safer that way.”
Cord.
The plane accident.
He didn’t want to risk us.
Fine. On that matter. But something else remained.
“I told you I would help with my father. Remember?”
He lifted his head back to the window. His jaw clenched. “We talked about this.”
“Wha—”
“You.” He rounded back to me. “Us. That changed everything.” He pointed to the bed.
I fell quiet. How could my heart plunge in one second and soar in the next?
“He knows I’m alive. I want to see him.”
“I’ll bring him to you.”
“Why are you going to Milwaukee?” I pulled out of his arms and faced him, folding my arms over my chest. The sheet rustled as I adjusted it.
“That’s family business.”
Which meant it wasn’t my business. But I knew better.
“You’re going to deal with my father, aren’t you?”
He began to move away, but I grabbed his pants.
“You can’t do that without me. It’s my right.”
“I said I would bring him to you.”
He didn’t get it. Or maybe he did. Suddenly, it felt so important to be there, to see him, to be the one to walk into a room when he wasn’t expecting me. I wanted to make him feel unbalanced, to have him feel a small portion of the fear he’d put me through, put us through.
“Why are you doing this?” I choked out.
Kai’s hand came to my arm, but I shrugged him off, stepping out of reach.
His tone was apologetic. “There are too many factors up in the air. I need Brooke away from Milwaukee. I need you away from Milwaukee. Your father knows about you. He’s already tried once to get you. I can’t run the risk—”
I shook my head. “This is total bullshit. You never said a word, but I know you caught the guy, whoever he’d embedded in your organization. You wouldn’t have come back to me if you hadn’t. It’s safe for me again. You have a million guards. Your security team is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You think twenty steps ahead. Don’t tell me it’s unsafe for me there, that you can’t risk me—”
“Because it’s the truth!” He got in my face, backing me up. “I cannot risk you. I won’t. I’ve had my mother taken from me. My brother. I won’t risk anyone else, and I won’t apologize for that. I care about you. Whether it’s rational or not, I won’t chance losing you.”
That stopped me cold.
I was angry, determined, I wanted to fight to go with him, to have my own vengeance, but hearing this, hearing him—I blinked back sudden tears.
He gentled his tone. “If there’s even a chance he could get to you, do you know what I would do?” He moved closer, his hands finding my arms, circling to my back. He pulled me to his chest and tucked my head under his chin. I felt his voice vibrate through his chest. “I would rain hell over everyone connected to your father.”
A shiver went down my back.
“I am not the good guy here. I am everything you’ve ever called me. I’m a murderer. I’m a bastard. I’m ruthless. I’m calculating. I will kill everyone your father holds dear, everyone who has helped your father, and I will relish it.” He pulled back, tipping my head to meet his gaze.
What I saw there doubled my shiver.
Death.
He was promising it to me.
“I will not gamble with the lives of those I care about, and you’re one of them now.” He stepped back, his hands leaving me, and I was suddenly chilled
to the bone.
His head lowered, and his eyes locked with mine. “You are not coming with me.”
Got it? I felt the sentiment, but he didn’t say the words.
He didn’t say anything else as he went to the closet and pulled on a shirt, then a sweatshirt. He didn’t say a word as he finished dressing and picked up the phone by the bed.
“I’m ready,” he said into the phone.
He paused, looking at me.
I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t fight him. He wasn’t going to budge on this matter.
The door clicked shut behind him, soft but final.
• • •
The door opened again ten minutes later, but it was Brooke who slipped through.
I tightened my hold on the sheets. “Wha—”
“We have one hour, literally one hour.”
“What are you talking about?”
She moved inside, and I was able to see her better—hair pulled into a low ponytail, dressed all in black, even her runners. Brooke always smelled of perfume, but today she smelled of nothing. Not even soap.
She pulled her backpack off and opened the front pocket. Dumping passports, phones, and money, she pointed at it. “Kai is leaving for Milwaukee, and whether Levi is going too or if he’s being shipped in a different vehicle, I don’t care. I just know my man is with him, and whatever move he’s making with the man I love, I’m going to be there.”
She looked at me. “You can make people disappear. It’s your turn to disappear, and you’re taking me with you.”
“But…” I was already looking through everything she’d dumped on the bed.
We had different IDs. Plenty of cash. I stopped counting after I saw ten rolls of hundreds. I picked up one of the phones. “Burners?”
“You got it.” She folded her arms over her chest, raising her chin.
My mind raced, but I wanted to go.
Something sparked inside of me.
This. This was right.
This was what I did.
“Your brother has people in the Network. We can’t call them.”
“Already on it.” She pulled out her phone and showed me a screen of text messages.
I recognized an alias Blade had used one time. Just once. It’d been him, Carol, and me, and we’d snuck out to a nightclub and didn’t want the Network to know. He was a goddamn genius.
