Never Lost (The Dirty Heroes Collection Book 5)

by Tl Mayhew

  Parts of me want to find out everything, while my brain—which is what I should be listening to—is telling me to stay away.

  On second thought, she probably will.

  Swiping my phone from the counter, I swipe the contact list until I find her name and tap her shining face on the screen. It rings once before her cheery voice floats through from the other side. “Win! How’d it go today?”

  Just hearing her voice sets my mind at ease. I’m so ready to dump all of the day’s activities on her, but on the flip side some of it I want only for myself. “Jen, if I tell you, you’re not going to believe any of it.”

  “That bad? Just tell me who I should cut, and I’ll do it.”

  “And that’s why I love you.” I letting out a breath, my tone turns serious. “I take it you haven’t seen the video?”

  “Video? What video?” Her voice raises an octave. “They didn’t make you disrobe or anything, did they?”

  “What? No? Ew… Why would you ask that?” I counter, shaking my head and rolling my eyes. “Hold on, I’ll send it to you.” My fingers tap away at the screen and in seconds there’s a ding on the other end.

  “Watch it, then call me right back.”

  She doesn’t say anything before disconnecting the line; I turn my phone and stare at the blank screen. “Well, goodbye to you too.”

  It’s not but three minutes before she calls back. “What the fuck happened today? Are you okay?” she screeches into the phone. “I’m coming over.”

  “I’m fine. It was an interesting day for sure, but you don’t need to.” I tell her, while the growl in my stomach is a reminder the lunch we were supposed to be eating is probably sitting in a random trashcan right now. “I think I’ll just head out, grab some dinner, and then pass out in my bed.”

  “You know I’ll not take no for an answer,” she says matter-of-factly.

  My side of the line goes quiet because I’m trying to think of a nice way to tell her I’m not up for company, but I’ve got to tell someone this news. Deciding to spend some time with my best friend may be just what I need, so I ask, “Pizza night in?”

  “Done, I’ll be over in forty-five,” she says, clapping at the other end of the line before she excitedly responds. “I’ll bring the ice cream.”

  “Don’t take too long, I’m starving.”

  “Jen…Out,” she says and disconnects the line.

  Not having one thread of her energy, I drop my head back to the couch and close my eyes, but it’s only for a moment before the chime on my cell startles me. It’s probably Jen telling me she’s changed her mind, but when I raise the screen it’s from a number I don’t recognize. “Hello?” I answer.

  “Winsley.” His voice floats through the line like smooth caramel, instantly raising chill bumps on my skin. There’s no doubt who it belongs to.

  “Preston.” I relax my tone so as not to give away my excitement. “I would ask how you got my number, but I suspect a man of your talents has his ways.”

  “Ah yes, obtaining numbers and stalking women such as yourself are just two of my many talents,” he says, his tone lighthearted and fun even.

  “Is that humor I detect in your tone? Did Preston Pace just make a joke?” I ask, adding a bit of my own.

  “I have my moments. But in all seriousness, I’d like to get back to the question at hand. I haven’t been able to concentrate on anything else all day. Your taste has lingered on my lips and your scent on my clothes. It’s a fucking distraction.” He lets out a deep breath before continuing. “Have you given any thought to our earlier conversation?”

  His question is all I’ve thought about, but I don’t want to seem too eager. Even though that’s exactly what I am. “I have, I just haven’t made a decision yet.”

  “One thing I will not tolerate, Winsley, is deceit. I believe you have decided. Even if you’re not ready to admit it, I know,” he says, his tone hard.

  He has no idea. I want to admit it, but not now. Not until my full attention can be on him and talking through what this means for the both of us. “I need more time, Preston. It’s not something I’ll willingly jump right into, especially with someone who…likes the things you do,” I tell him, lowering my eyes to the red cocktail dress I’ve had on since this morning, picking at the material.

  “Winsley, those things are for you as much as they are for me. I would be honored for you to give yourself to me, and I don’t only mean your innocence. I mean your whole self. You would have the power, just like now. But don’t take that as I’m a patient man, because I’m not. I’ll only wait so long before the decision is no longer yours.”

  I’m not sure what that really means. Would he take me by force? I’m about to ask when there’s a knock at the door. It’s both a relief and a concern. Jennifer can’t be here already.

  “Are you still there?” His voice now low and gravelly.

  “Yeah, someone’s at the door. One sec.” Taking the phone away from my ear, I head in that direction and glance through the peephole. “What is she doing here?” I mutter.

  Flipping the three deadbolt locks, I work my way down to the knob and pull the door open. When there’s only enough space for a hand do fit through, she shoves the heavy steel against me and steps into my home, uninvited.

  “What are you doing here, Tinka?” I ask, still holding the door open, hoping she’ll get the hint and leave.

  “Well…” she says, glancing around the room with a scrunched nose before her eyes meet mine. “I’ve come here to warn you to stay away from Preston.”

  She has nerve, I’ll give her that. “I’m not too fond of anyone forcing their way into my home and warning me to do anything. Plus, if I remember correctly, the last time we talked you admitted the two of you were no longer together, which means he’s fair game. So tell me, Tinka, what makes you think you have control over anything he and I do?”

  “I’m glad you asked.” She glances behind me.

  I turn, following her gaze. My eyes go wide when I see Rook standing behind me.

  He’s gripping a piece of lumber and before I have a chance to react, the wood connects with the side of my head and blackness instantly spills into my vision. I drop to the floor.

  15

  Rook

  I slink in from the bedroom with a small wooden beam. One she’d used to prop her window open. Her mindlessness has given me the opportunity to sneak in and wait for her return. She should’ve known better, especially in this neighborhood.

  Ascending the fire escape had been risky. It wasn’t just because I was out in the open for anyone from the ground and any of her neighbors to see, but it was also unstable. There’s no telling the last time it’d been serviced.

  Thankful for the stable ground when I’d climbed through the window, I’d expelled a breath that could’ve blown out a thousand candles and had even been tempted to kiss the floor, but after looking at it, falling three flights of metal stairs seemed safer than catching who knows what from the carpet in this dump.

  I squat down next to her, brushing a piece of blonde hair from her face and listening for her breaths.

  “Oh the fun we’re going to have with you,” I whisper to her lifeless body. Once the infamous Preston Pace finds out what we’ve done, he’ll want nothing more to do with her. That’s just the type of man he is. For me, it will be the sweetest revenge.

  “How long will she be out?” Tinka asks, sauntering farther in the room.

  “I have no fucking idea, which is why we need to get her somewhere before she wakes up and before anyone notices.” Flipping her onto her stomach I pause a moment, relishing how the red dress has ridden up over her ass. The thong she wears exposes bare cheeks of a perfectly round ass and I reach out my hand, hovering for only a moment before I’m eventually hit in the face with cloth and a rope.

  “You can fuck her later. As you said, we need to do something with her before anyone realizes.”

  I focus a narrow stare on her before turning my
attention back to the beauty lying motionless on the floor.

  There’s really no comparison between the two.

  Tinka is beautiful, but her values are all fucked up. In everyone’s eyes, she expects to be treated like a princess, and most do. But Winsley, even after only knowing her a short period of time, it’s clear there’s beauty both inside and out.

  And now, she’s mine.

  Gathering her hand hands behind her, I weave rope in and out between her wrists then do the same with her ankles. Just as I’m about to tighten the last knot, I notice the phone by her head. It never disconnected. Cautiously I lift it to my ear. It’s a stupid move but feels robotic, almost like I want to talk to him. Like I want him to know it’s me taking the girl he obviously wants. “Hello, Preston.”

  “Rook? You motherfu…”

  Launching the phone across the room, it crashes against the wall and shatters into broken plastic and glass. It’s the best feeling in the world, not listening to any more of his constant demands. Something I hadn’t missed while I was away.

  Although he thinks so, I wasn’t the only reason Brothers Reunited tanked. He knew I hadn’t been acting long, yet he still insisted everything we did had to be perfect. If that meant working past midnight for a scene then that’s what we did. But once he’d been coined “The King of the Big Screen” nothing I did was ever good enough for him.

  I needed a mentor, not a micro manager, and definitely not an asshole for a costar. It left me in a dark light; one I didn’t need right out of the gate in this business. Now it’s my turn. I’m taking the limelight. If that’s by the media as a kidnapper, then so be it.

  Ensuring her eyes are hidden beneath the cloth, I tie the ends off and take a step back.

  It’s ironic really, looking at her now. She’s helpless. All this time I’ve been judging Preston’s need for tying women up, yet all I can think about in this moment is I could do whatever the fuck I wanted to her right now.

  “Rook, we really should go,” Tinka says, breaking up my thoughts.

  “Go? We’re not going anywhere,” I tell her. “He’ll show up eventually and when he does…” I glance back down, imagining all the things I have planned for her. Her ass is where I should start but then decide that’s something I’d like to save for last. And the only way I’ll get anything from that mouth is if I have some help.

  I lift my eyes to Tinka.

  “And when he does, then what? He’ll not have anything to do with us.” Her brows furrow and her arms cross. “Why are you looking at me like that”

  “Close the door,” I demand, taking my gaze from her head to her six-inch heels.

  She’s yet to recognize my intentions. “Why should we wait for him, let’s just get the fuck out of here.” She bitches the entire way to the door and back. “And I’m not sure where you get off giving the orders.”

  “Can you carry her?” I ask, glancing at her from my position on the floor.

  Tinka looks from Winsley to me. “Fine, just next time try being a little nicer.”

  “Fuck, Tink. This isn’t about pleasantries. We’re kidnapping a person.”

  Perfect, it’s now or never. Flipping her back over, I place my hands behind her shoulders and legs and prepare to lift, but when I do her body stirs and she groans. Not fully awake now but once she is, her awkward position will make carrying her to the bedroom a challenge.

  No sooner than the thought enters my mind, she realizes her hands are bound, and she struggles—hard.

  “A little help here,” I tell Tinka, barely balancing Winsley on my arms.

  “What do you expect me to do?” She narrows her stare on the squirming pile of flesh.

  “Grab her feet, we’re taking her to the bedroom.”

  Tinka creases her face as she grabs the rope-covered ankles, and I reposition myself around to Winsley’s shoulders. She’s almost fully awake now and bucking like a wild bronco. It was a good idea for Tinka to suggest the gag because she’s a screamer.

  We toss her on the bed like you would a child and I begin looking for ways to strap her down. “Go lock the door, I think I’d heard her chatting with her friend on the phone. With it broken, we’ve no way to convince her this one…” I glance at Winsley moving about on the bed, “is off doing other things.”

  She leaves the room and it’s my chance to get a closer look at the feast beneath the little red dress. I grab the hem and begin sliding it up her body. She’s rolling to her side and away from me. But what she doesn’t realize is this view is just as good as when she’s lying on her back.

  She bucks some more and I rise to my feet whispering, “If you don’t stop moving, the Buck knife sitting on the nightstand is going straight in your kidney.”

  It works; she stops in an instant. There is no Buck knife but she doesn’t know that. If there were it would make getting her out of that dress all that much easier. Instead I grip the material and rip it from the top to its hem. Now the only thing she should worry about is the sword in my pants. The one getting larger with each glance of her exposed skin.

  Reaching out, I skim my fingertips over the smooth skin of her back and my dick hardens more, if that’s even possible.

  Taking her like this wasn’t the plan. The plan was only a scare tactic, one Tinka had concocted as a sick way of keeping Winsley from that piece of shit Preston. But now in her compromised position, I have other ideas.

  Unfastening the button of my pants, I prepare to do what I’ve wanted to ever since I first met the sassy young woman at a casting call.

  Preston doesn’t know her, not like I’m about to, but it’s obvious he is into her. Which means he’ll do whatever it takes to be the hero.

  What he doesn’t know is, I’ll be waiting for him and by then it’ll be too late for her.

  16

  Preston

  The officers left an hour ago. They’d let me off with a warning, agreeing that once Rook had his hand on Winsley, I’d done the right thing, albeit with excessive force.

  Now in the seat next to me, Garret is frantically trying to reach those same officers again.

  I’m driving at top speed to her apartment. Her address had been on the forms when she applied for the extra’s role, making it easy for us to get.

  “Heard anything yet?” I ask Garret, while keeping my eyes on the road and weaving through traffic.

  “I wasn’t able to reach Sergeant Galloway but…” He pauses.

  “But what?”

  “One sec, I’m texting JR.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I can see his fingers working frantically over the keys of his phone. JR is our head of security. While we have no intentions of bypassing law enforcement, he has contacts we may not be able, or can, reach out to.

  “Okay, while I wasn’t able to reach out to the same guys you’ve already talked with, JR was able to get me in touch with a detective. They’re doing some investigating and will meet us at the scene when they can.”

  “You know she’s not going to be there, right?”

  “I know that. But they need to do their jobs.”

  I pound a hand on the steering wheel. “Why didn’t she listen? Why didn’t she stay away from him like I’d told her?”

  “Even if she would’ve stayed away, I suspect it would’ve been the same result.” He clears his throat as if he’s going to say something, but doesn’t.

  “If you have something to say then say it.”

  “It’s just it seems, for someone who’s admitted to taking women places they’ve never been before, you’ve not realized such a simple human reaction yet.”

  His vague responses and assumptions about me are annoying as fuck. My response comes through gritted teeth. “Enlighten me.”

  “It’s common knowledge, maybe even an unspoken rule, sometimes when you tell someone to do something, it makes them want to do the opposite.”

  The urge to pull the vehicle over and shove Garret out onto the street is overwhelming, but it would be preci
ous time wasted, so I keep driving and defend myself verbally instead of with the fists I’d like to use.

  “I believe you underestimate me on multiple levels,” I say, glancing at him briefly and then back to the road. “Yes, I understand people’s tendencies but there’s always a reason why they choose to disobey. Finding out her reason is what I had planned to do. If she were mine, she would’ve listened when I told her to do something. But she wasn’t. If we get her back in one piece, I’ll make sure that’s exactly what she’ll be, even if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

  “You’re missing the point, my man.”

  This debate could go on and on, but it’ll have to wait because we’re here. Stopping in the middle of the street, I drop the luxury sedan in park and jump out. “What apartment number?”

  “302 A.”

  I jump out of the car and rush to the door of the building. There’s a keypad. “Do you know the code?” I shout at my sidekick.

  He shrugs, shaking his head.

  “Well, find someone who knows. Push every goddamn button on those intercoms until someone answers and lets you in. I’m going in that way.” I point to the fire escape.

  “How do you know which one it is?” he says, looking at the rows of four-story windows.

  “I guess I’ll just have to check each one until I find her.”

  17

  Preston

  It’s a stupid idea. He knows it and I know it. I’m not even sure if the rickety steel will hold my weight but I must try. There’s no telling what he’s doing to her. Revenge is a strong emotion. One that can make a man do things he’d never do.

  Unlatching the ladder, it comes free and slides a foot shy of the ground. I’m no religious man, but when I place my right foot on the first rung it seems like the perfect moment to utter a lifetime of prayers. “We’ve had our differences, but as you know, I’m trying to do a good thing here. If you can ensure I survive this death trap of metal, I’d surely appreciate it.” It’s nothing traditional but it’ll have to do.