by Voss, Deja
She kissed both my cheeks and walked out the front door, flicking off Kevin in the process.
“When’s Sabine supposed to get here?” Fawn asked. “There’s some stuff I want to talk to her about. She did such a good job disappearing for so long. I need some tips.”
Kevin looked at his watch and winked at me. “I think she’ll be flying in anytime now. You should probably give her some space to get ready. I know she gets jet lagged pretty easily. And you should probably get some rest, my sweet girl. Tonight is all about you and you need to be on top of your game.”
I gulped. This was fucking sick. If I was in a roomful of men who wanted to watch me murdered, I wouldn’t be able to keep my cool, even if it did mean never having to work a day in my life again. Not only did she have to play it cool, but she had to pretend like she wasn’t in on this secret.
“I’m starting to get nervous,” she stammered. Well, at least I knew she wasn’t a robot.
“Here,” he said, offering her a pill from an unmarked bottle. I didn’t even have time to tell her that wasn’t a good idea before she popped it in her mouth and swallowed it dry.
“What was that?” I asked. “You just take random pills from strangers?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked. “Kevin isn’t a stranger. I trust him with my life. He’s wouldn’t give us anything that would hurt us! I’m feeling better already!”
“Yeah, Lyndsay, what is that supposed to mean?” he asked, staring at me with fire in his eyes. “You don’t trust me? When have I ever done anything to betray your trust?”
Well, besides filming fake snuff movies in the basement and showing them to me without context, carrying around a bag of roofies, and trying to get me to lick some random guy’s boot so you could flex your power?
“I’m just saying, if she’s not used to whatever the hell that is, she could have a bad reaction. She doesn’t need to be all fucked up for the party. What if she freaks out?”
“I won’t, mom,” Fawn said mockingly.
“Yeah, see, they’re perfectly safe.” He poured two out into his hand and popped them in his mouth like candy. “Now you take one.”
“Hell no,” I said. It’d been a long time since I took anything besides smoking a little weed. I had no idea what they were, and I wasn’t trying to navigate the rest of the night tripping my ass off.
“If you don’t trust me, we’re probably going to have a very serious situation, my dear,” he said, dumping out another pill into his hand and holding it up to me. I knew exactly what he was implying. I needed to just woman up and take the damn pill if I wanted to be present for the party tonight. It was my last ditch chance at doing recon, and I couldn’t blow it.
“Yeah, Lyndsay, don’t be such a party pooper! You need to loosen up a little bit.”
“Peer pressure!” I shouted with a nervous laugh as I popped the pill in my mouth. I couldn’t put my finger on the taste of it. It definitely wasn’t a street drug like heroine or coke, and it didn’t have the bitter taste of ecstasy or molly. I chugged down a glass of water for safety, but two minutes later, I still felt the same.
“Why don’t you go prepare Sabine’s room for her,” Kevin said with a wink.
All of a sudden, I felt this warmth surge through my body, like I had chugged a bottle of wine and laid down next to a fireplace. It wasn’t a bad feeling as a whole, and I felt this overwhelming urge to laugh. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Fawn was fanning herself with the skirt of her dress.
Kevin spit something out into his hand.
“I need to go lay down,” I said, but I couldn’t stop giggling.
This was not good.
And yet it was all so hilarious.
Why the fuck did I do that?
“Cuz I’m a fucking idiot,” I muttered to myself before collapsing on the floor in a fit of laughter.
“Your headache gone?” Kevin asked.
“Bahahaha,” was all I could gather myself to say.
Don’t blow your cover, dude, the voice in my head reminded me. I reached for his hand and he helped me up off the floor. “Take me to Sabine’s room!” I demanded.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I was surprised that he willingly left me alone in here. I was a freaking disaster. My skin felt hot and my limbs felt loose and floppy. I knew where I was, I knew who I was, and I knew I needed to maintain my control, but everything was insanely hilarious to me. The little black piece of lingerie hanging from the clothing rack? So funny. The guy outside mowing the lawn? You would’ve thought he was bozo the fucking clown. I ran my fingers over the air on my arm and burst into a fit of laughter that was so hard I was nearly crying.
If ever decided to become a stand up comedian, I was going to have to figure out what that pill was so I could make sure I gave everyone in the audience one.
“You as a stand up comedian,” I said into the mirror, throwing my head back and cackling.
I knew I couldn’t keep going on like this. If I was going to be composed and collected for the party tonight, I had to figure out what was in my system so I could figure out how to make it stop. My purse had all sorts of handy first aid things in it disguised as essential oils. I could blast myself with narcan if it was absolutely critical, but my heart rate was already super high. I was completely present. I wasn’t showing any signs of overdosing. I was just warm. And happy. Really happy.
Like overly happy.
My nipples felt like hard little rocks underneath my sweatshirt. My pussy was throbbing. The fabric of my sweatpants was too much on my clit. Every time I took a step, I felt the warmth between my legs grow. Where the hell was Landon when I really needed him?
Fuck.
I shut out the light in the bedroom and closed the door, making sure it was locked behind me. I didn’t need to talk to Landon right now. I was supposed to be at work. I took my gun out of my purse and slid it under the pillow. I pulled out my cellphone and made sure there was no interception devices running in the room.
“White tablet, chewable, no discernible taste. Intense giddiness, possible arousal,” I texted to Omar. Possible arousal. What the fuck was that even?
I sat in the middle of the bed in the dark, trying to monitor the growing speed of my breathing, feeling for my pulse so I could monitor my heart rate.
The three dots on the screen let me know he was texting me back.
“New street drug. GHB hybrid. Peak effects one hour after ingestion. Induce vomiting and start flushing your system ASAP.”
I pried myself up off the bed. The walk to the little bathroom attached to the bedroom seemed much longer than I knew it actually was. Nothing was funny anymore. Everything was painful.
“Do you need backup?” he texted, as I bent over the toilet, trying to make myself throw up.
“No. Should be okay.” I texted back. I couldn’t risk anything suspicious ruining my investigation. I was sure security was going to be insanely tight tonight considering the caliber of people who were set to attend the party. I was certain Kevin was on high alert, he seemed awfully suspicious back there in the kitchen. I wouldn’t have taken the drugs in the first place
if I wasn’t trying to keep things running smoothly.
After a long bout of dry heaving with nothing productive coming up, I turned on the faucet and just started chugging water. The ice cold liquid nauseated me as it went down my throat. All of a sudden, my ears started ringing.
The room was spinning.
I tried to use the sink to prop myself up, but it felt so slippery.
I needed a nap. Right now. I needed to sleep whatever this was off.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Law:
“Well this party looks like the most boring shit I’ve ever seen,” Athena said, bouncing baby Harley on her lap. “Bunch of suits standing around drinking champagne? Definitely not the route I’d be going if I was trying to fundraise.”
We were watching the party from a camera on Miles’ ja
cket. All the guys were there running security, but at Sage’s request I hung back. I knew I needed to let her do her job without being a distraction, and I knew she’d fucking kill me if she had any idea I was spying on her, but after the shape she was in yesterday, I didn’t feel even kind of okay about letting her out of my sight. Something big was about to hit the fan, and I wanted to be prepared to back her up if she needed me.
I still hadn’t caught sight of her yet.
I didn’t recognize any of the guests there, no known ties with any terrorist organizations I’d personally rubbed elbows with, but I could tell there was a lot of money in that room. There were helicopters landing all day at the mansion, and it was obvious that a lot of people in attendance were international based on their attire.
The girls were dressed in elaborate evening gowns, and everyone was on their best behavior, quietly sipping champagne with big fake smiles. Everyone in the crowd turned to the steps and looked as a young redheaded woman in a long white dress came floating down. She couldn’t have been much older than twenty, and she smiled and bowed her head as she reached the bottom of the stairs. This must have been Fawn, the alleged guest of honor.
My skin crawled at the thought that all these people in the room were here to pay for a private viewing of her brutalization. Everyone in that room was a straight up sick fucker, and that thought alone made my skin crawl. Sage was going to be rubbing elbows with some of the slimiest people in the world and I was here sitting on my hands, hoping my brothers would do what they needed to do to keep her safe.
Of course I trusted them with my life, but with hers? That was questionable. I had asked Miles to track her down first thing, but it appeared he hadn’t found her yet.
Come on, dude, I thought. Where the fuck is she?
“I understand why you didn’t get invited Mr. Clingy, but what about me? You think they’re just humoring me letting me hang around? You think they just feel bad for the old broad who threw away her entire career?”
I rolled my eyes at her. “I don’t have patience for your existential crisis right now, Athena. You’re not fucking old. You’re perfectly fine. Did you ever think the reason why they didn’t want you there was because something shady was going on and they didn’t want you to find out and blast it to your friends?”
“I love you, Law,” she said, laughing. “You always tell it like it is. So is there something shady going on?”
“Of course there’s something shady going on. You really think they put Sage on missions just for the fun of it? You know how much this shit costs to coordinate?”
I was being short with her, but I wasn’t in the mood for small talk. I needed to see Sage, and I needed to make sure she was alright.
Miles turned back to the steps and my stomach nearly belly flopped over on itself when Kevin came walking down dressed in a black tuxedo, grinning from ear to ear. I wasn’t prepared for what I was witnessing. No wonder she didn’t want me there. My fists instantly clenched as I caught sight of Sage dressed in nothing but a bunch of black leather straps fashioned together like some sort of leotard. It covered her nipples and pussy just barely, but the black leather against her white skin only drew attention to the things it was hiding. Her face was covered in that black glittery mask, and she had a silver chain around her neck. Kevin was holding the leash attached to it.
“Well, that’s certainly a way to make an appearance,” Athena said, her eyes wide open in shock. I knew whatever she was doing was for the mission, but this was taking it too far. These men, these monsters, they didn’t deserve to see her like this. That fucking scumbag Kevin didn’t deserve to have her leashed up like that.
The round of applause that erupted from the crowd set off my rage like nothing ever had before. “Fuck,” I could hear Miles muttering into the microphone. “I swear, Law, I’m not looking.”
I was looking. Glued to that monitor, trying to get any indication of what was going on with her. I couldn’t see her eyes well enough to tell if she was alright. She was wearing these high heels that made her legs wobble as she walked, and the way Kevin was dragging her around with a cocky smile on his face made me want to hit something.
“Something ain’t right,” Athena said. We watched as Sage grabbed Kevin’s arm and said something to him. I couldn’t hear it over the crowd. “Get closer, Miles,” I urged, knowing he couldn’t hear me, but hoping he could feel me, friend to friend.
Her knees buckled and she started to fall to the ground. Everything looked like it was going in slow motion. She tilted over face first towards the marble floor and Kevin jerked back on the leash like she was a fucking dog trying to run away.
“He drugged her,” she said. “I know it.”
“Sage knows how to handle her drugs,” I said. Lord knows they force fed us everything in the book during our training. It’d been a long time since training though. Who knows what he fed her. “I’m going over there.”
“You promised her you wouldn’t,” she said.
“I promised I wouldn’t put her in danger. I promised I wouldn’t get in the way of her investigation. If she’s all fucked up there’s no way she can even do her investigation,” I said. “Who knows what the fuck could happen.”
“You know your guys wouldn’t let anything bad happen,” she pleaded, grabbing my wrist.
“Athena, I’m fucking going. I can’t sit here and watch this.”
She pushed a button on the computer monitor, and the screen went black. “Then don’t.”
I knew she was trying to be a good friend to both Sage and me, but this was too much for my heart to handle. I didn’t care if she was undercover or not. There was no reason why my woman should be treated like that.
I jumped up from the chair and ran to the door.
“She’s going to fucking kill you,” Athena called after me.
“I’ll worry about that later,” I said, sprinting out into the darkness.
Chapter Thirty
I didn’t even bother with getting on my bike. The house was less than a mile away, and I took off running through the dark. When I hit the first gate, Sharky just stood there shaking his head.
“You know you’re not supposed to be here chief,” he said.
“You ever want to wear that patch or you alright with being my bitch for the rest of your life?” I growled. Poor Sharky didn’t deserve my ire. He was an alright kid. I wasn’t fucking around though. I needed to get to Sage as quickly as possible.
He hit a couple buttons and the gate opened in front of me.
The driveway out front was completely empty, and I could see movement through the floor to ceiling windows. The place was packed with men in tuxedos and the sound of classical music drifted through the air. These fancy fuckers were the scariest kind of criminals. They knew they could buy their way out of pretty much any situation they found themselves in, and they liked to find themselves in some pretty messy situations.
“Law, what are you doing, bud?” Rosey’s voice whispered from behind me. “You trying to get yourself shot?”
I stood there and stared at the shadows moving behind the sheer curtains, trying to make out the lay of the room, making sure I had a clear path directly to Sage when I walked in.
“You want me to have one of the guys make a distraction?”
“Nah,” I said. I spotted her and Kevin standing there talking to a man. Kevin’s hands were moving a million miles a minute while he told this asshole a story, and every time he flicked his wrist, Sage’s neck jerked.
“Law, come on, dude. It’s going to be fine,” he shouted as I ran up the steps.
“You look at that shit and tell me it’s fine,” I called after him. “You think that’s an okay way to treat a woman? No wonder your ass is single. Hope you stay that way forever.”
“Oh good lord,” he gasped when he spotted Sage. He charged after me, nearly beating me to the door.
Nobody seemed to notice as we walked inside the mansion. The rest of the brothers were
posted at the various doors, except Miles who apparently had been tasked with walking Fawn around to talk to the various clients.
I tried to blend in with the crowd to get closer to Sage, but Kevin’s eyes caught mine.
“Why aren’t you watching the back door?” he asked.
I didn’t hear anything else he said. I was too focused on Sage’s lips. Behind that black mask, there was what looked like foam coming from her mouth. She began gagging, her eyes rolling back in her head.
“Are you listening to me? Excuse me,” he shouted as he walked closer to me, letting go of Sage’s leash.
She fell to the ground face first before I could get to her. Everyone in the crowd was gasping and shouting. Not one person ran to help her. Everyone was too busy trying to find their way to the doors. Kevin stood there with his hands in the air like he was trying to absolve himself from any guilt.
“I’m a medic,” I shouted, dropping to the ground next to her. I carefully flipped her over on her back.
“I’m okay,” she she whispered the instant she fluttered her eyes open, her voice low. She reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Trust me.”
My first instinct was to rip the mask from her face, to make sure she didn’t sustain any major head injury. She was bleeding from her nose. She turned off to the side and spat out a huge glob of blood and phlegm onto the floor. I grabbed her wrist and felt for her pulse. It was slightly elevated, but nothing concerning.
“You know where you are, miss?” I asked.
“I’m in the living room,” she said. “It’s September fourteenth approximately eight thirty pm. The last thing I ate was macaroni and cheese.”
I knew that was code for ‘leave me the fuck alone,’ but the way everyone was just milling around pretending like nothing happened had me pissed off. My brothers had gathered in a circle around us, and Kevin just stood there off to the side, trying to assure his guests that everything was alright.
