by Avery Flynn
Her gaze shifted from him to Keir and back again, a smile curling one end of her tantalizing lips. "So you're the brotherhood of the fighting toilet cleaners?"
"We should get T-shirts made," Keir said from his side of the kitchen island, no doubt only half joking. "Of course, I'd be the only one who could make that work. The ladies would love it on me. On you?" He gave Taz an up and down. "Not so much."
Without warning or clearance from him, the elevator binged it was on the way up. Reacting on instinct, Taz grabbed Bianca and thrust her down behind the island. He pivoted and grabbed the nine millimeter from the unlocked wall safe above the sink and had it pointed at the elevator by the time the doors opened.
A woman strutted out into the loft's living area like she'd just signed the papers to buy the place. Five-foot-nothing. Chinese. Long black hair with a thick teal streak in the front. A total bitch-please look crossed her face the moment she spotted him with the gun. Not that she stopped moving forward. Nope, she strode through the living space toward the kitchen island, her hands visible but not in any way held up in deference to the gun pointed at her head.
"Keir," she said in a voice that practically bled money and privilege. "Didn't you tell your friend I was coming?"
"Haven't you heard of a doorbell, Yang?" Keir asked as he waved his hand, signaling Taz to put the gun down.
Her gasp of surprise was as dramatic as it was false. "You want a delicate little thing like me to wait outside in the dark all by my lonesome?"
"Vivi?" Bianca vaulted up from behind the island like a sexy jack-in-the-box. "Oh my God, is it really you?"
The two women stared at each other for all of two and a half seconds before letting out a high-pitched squeal that must have had dogs howling six blocks away. Bianca sprinted around the island and ran to the other woman, pulling her into a hug.
Brain still trying to process what he was seeing, Taz pushed the gun's safety back in place and set the nine millimeter down on the island as he wondered what headaches this little pairing was going to cause him.
* * * *
Bianca's ribs were under threat of cracking from the power of the petite woman's bear hug, but she didn't care. Vivian Yang. Here. The weekend was turning into a St. B's reunion and the boldest, brassiest member of the old squad was in attendance. Things were about to get interesting.
Pulling away, she glanced back at Taz. He'd put the gun down, thank God. He'd gone all alpha protector as soon as the elevator sounded, which was bullshit. She didn't have a handgun hidden away in the waistband of his shorts that she was wearing, but she wasn't a damsel in distress either. There were a dozen beautifully sharpened knives in a chopping block on the counter and she could slice and dice with the best of them—or send the blades flying through the air toward their intended target. Catching Taz's gaze, she ignored the excited shiver that raced down her spine and glared at him. He shrugged, obviously not worried one single bit about his overreaction.
"Men," she huffed under her breath.
"You're telling me." Vivi accompanied her snark with an eye roll, but her focus was zeroed in on Keir.
"I can't believe you're the DEA agent who scares Keir."
Vivi turned to the tattooed muscle man, a predatory smirk upending her patented deceptively innocent smile. "Oh sweetie, do I make you nervous? Toughen up, bad boy." She blew a kiss at him and pivoted back to face Bianca. "That explains me, but what are you doing here?"
Where to start? She glanced down at the cotton ball still taped to the inside of her elbow. No. That wasn't the place. She needed to start at the beginning because, as they knew from watching The Sound of Music on constant loop at St. B's, it was a very good place to start. Her throat tightened. They used to sing those songs together all the time, with Gidget being the only one who could hold a tune.
"Gidget is missing," Bianca said. "I think the Davies-Smythes know what happened to her."
Vivi blinked several times, then she straightened and the don't-fuck-with-me-fella body language took over her casual stance. "Gidget Harms? What's your proof? What have you gotten yourself into? What's the connection to the Davies-Smythes? What kind of trouble are you in?" The questions came out rapid-fire, without a breath in between.
Holding up a hand to stop the barrage, Bianca walked over to the island and pulled out the fourth stool positioned around the granite rectangle. "Sit down. It's a long story."
By the time they'd gotten the whole thing out, Vivi had transformed from her partner in crime at St. B's to DEA Agent Yang. She slapped her notebook shut and capped her pen but didn't say a word.
For the first time since Vivi arrived, the number of years since they'd last seen each other added up. Nothing guaranteed she'd help. Taz had called it earlier. If she'd been such good friends with Gidget and Vivi, then how could she have lost touch so completely? And it hadn't been just with them. She hadn't talked to Lexie or Elisa since St. B's either. Her blood family ties were thinner than dental floss and she'd let the ties to the people who were her closest friends fray to almost nothing.
Maybe she should follow Taz and Keir's lead and create her own family with the women who'd helped her survive St. B's. They'd been the only people they could count on. They could be that again. They could even come in with her on the security and investigations business she was starting. Vivi had the obvious chops. Lexie was a computer guru. Elisa had been a born thief, able to get in and out of places no one else could. Then there was Gidget. She was the jack-of-all-trades and a master at spinning tales that opened doors to her that should have been locked tight. Together, the five of them could make a difference.
From her spot across the island, Vivi had scrunched up her face and was tapping out "Jingle Bells" with her nails on the granite. The sound bounced off the loft's high ceilings and echoed in the open, sparsely furnished space. Really, would it kill Taz to get more than a couch, TV, humongous bed and some barstools?
Finally, Vivi let out a deep sigh and straightened her shoulders. "Okay, you aren't hearing this from me and if it gets out I will remove your spleen with a dull spoon. Understand?" She glared pointedly at Keir. "There's been chatter among some of the bigger dealers that something new is coming down the pike, but we haven't been able to nail down with one hundred percent accuracy what it is or where it's coming from. I think it's Genie's Wish and it sounds like the Davies-Smythes. If they aren't the source, may be our way to finding it and shutting it down. Also, there've been rumors of the chemists working on this needing long-term subjects to test different variations of the drug's makeup. Rather than holding them at the drug processing location, they have them stashed around Texas. If the Davies-Smythes have Gidget, there's a damn good chance she's one of the test subjects."
Bianca's empty stomach roiled. If she'd eaten anything in the past six hours, she'd be fighting to keep it down. "So what can we do to help?" she asked.
"Forget it," Taz interjected, the vein at his temple throbbing. "We've done our part."
Anger whipped through her, reigniting all the fires she'd thought she'd put out long ago. No one told her what to do anymore, not since she'd survived the misery of St. B's. Spinning on the balls of her feet, she faced Taz, refusing to be intimidated by the muscles or the way he loomed over her like some kind of bad-boy protector. "Speak for yourself."
Unperturbed by her reaction, he crossed his sinewy arms over his chest and gave her a patronizing look. "Someone has to stop you from jumping into the total unknown."
"And you think you're the man for the job?" She snorted, putting every ounce of distain in the sound that she could muster.
One eyebrow went up in challenge. "Yes."
The sanctimonious prick. The bitches at St. B's hadn't broken her. The unlicensed clinic that followed, which had been more of a cult than anything, hadn't wrecked her spirit. Her family had come the closest, no need to call Dr. Freud to find out why, but she'd walked away from them and never looked back. Taz might make her knees weak and get her wetter wit
h a look than any man had before, even the most hung, but that didn't give him the right to decide her path. Only she did that.
"As amazing as this little display of dick swinging is, I need both of you," Vivi said, amusement woven in with her crass words. "The Davies-Smythes took a liking to you and you've already made the art connection. I need you to take them up on it right away. Like tomorrow morning right away."
"Why the rush?" Keir asked from his spot by the refrigerator.
"Informants say there's a big delivery coming in day after tomorrow and everyone is freaking out. If it's Genie's Wish, they'll flood the streets with it that night and by Monday it will be too late."
The pronouncement hung in the air and the now-or-never declaration sent a blast of adrenaline through Bianca. "What do you need done?"
"Go to the house. Take a look around. Plant a few small listening devices. Report back," Vivi said. "That's it. Easy as pecan pie at Thanksgiving."
"Count me in." She didn't need to think about it. Unlike some people, she believed in helping when she could. "What about you, Mr. I'm Only In It For Me?"
Taz closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, but instead of sending up a prayer, he was having a mumbled argument with himself. The words he muttered under his breath sounded a lot like "crazy woman" and "about the dumbest thing I could do." Still, when he opened those soft green eyes that were incongruously perfect with his tawny skin and the hard curve of his obviously-been-broken-a-time-or-a-thousand nose, his answer was plain to see even before he opened his stubborn, bossy mouth.
"Fine." He practically spit out the word. "But I'm on the record for not liking it."
Inexplicably pleased with his change of heart, no matter how grudgingly given, Bianca did her best not to preen.
"Sweetie, we all do shit we don't like. Welcome to life." Vivi shrugged. "You two stay here and get the meet with the Davies-Smythes set up." She pointed at Keir. "Let's go hit the lab with those blood samples."
"Lucky me," Keir muttered as he pushed off the fridge and sauntered toward the elevator.
"I've seen your arrest record," Vivi said. "You have no idea how damn lucky you are."
The bickering duo were still going at it when the elevator closed and started the descent to the garage level, taking with them the human buffer between her and Taz.
Now? He seemed to fill the huge loft with his presence. She'd grown up a Sutherland with more oil money than some Middle Eastern princes and more connections than the best politicians. No one gave her pause—not until Taz. Something about him cut through her defenses. It would be nice to be able to blame the drugs, but that wasn't it. She'd felt it the first time she'd walked into the Devil's Dip Gym and had nearly forgotten her own name when he handed her the membership form to fill out. The drugs only brought everything to the surface where she couldn't deny it.
"Why are you so determined to do this?" he asked, filling in the silence between them as he typed out a quick message on his phone, no doubt setting up tomorrow's meeting at Bisu Manor. His phone buzzed and he glanced down. "We're on for nine tomorrow morning."
Needing to put space between them so she could concentrate on putting together a plan for tomorrow instead of the sexy way he smelled, she rounded the island and sat down opposite him. "Because not everyone is so concerned with only themselves. It's not the worst thing in the world to stick your neck out for someone else, you know."
Taz gave her the narrow-eyed look that she was getting to know too well, the one that seemed to lock in on exactly what she wasn't ready to reveal. "It's not just that you think Gidget is tied into this. You'd do it no matter who was involved."
"Yeah, I would."
And there it was. She'd spent her life avoiding responsibility for anything, but that Bianca wasn't her anymore. It wasn't that she was bulletproof. It was that she knew what she needed to do with her life; she just had to find the right outlet to help.
Everything about it seemed to be a foreign concept to Taz as he stared at her like she had six tits and a goat tail. "Why?"
"You wouldn't understand." And she wasn't sure how to put it into words without sounding like a total sap.
He shrugged those broad shoulders of his as he grabbed a skillet from the hanging rack above the island. "Then use small words while I make dinner."
"You cook?" Keeping the surprise out of her voice wasn't an option.
"It was either that or boxed mac and cheese every day growing up." He turned away from her, set the skillet on the stove, and took out a package of chicken breasts from the fridge.
"That takes me back to the bad old days at St. B's." The forced R.W.O.D. (retiring without dinner) was a favorite punishment for the girls. She'd learned early on how to hide a hotplate and boxes of dried pasta and powdered cheese under the floorboards.
"What? Your rich girl school didn't offer fresh sushi and foie gras?"
"Not St. B's. You don't end up there because your parents want to make sure you're well taken care of. It's the modern day equivalent of getting rid of the family bad seed in a nunnery. It didn't matter what happened to you as long as you stayed out of sight."
He poured some olive oil into the hot skillet, letting it heat until the scent filled the loft, and then laid the thin-cut chicken breasts in it. "I'll cook and you'll talk to pay for your supper."
* * * *
It was almost midnight and he was still dressed in his tuxedo shirt and pants, but keeping his hands busy with the food was the only thing Taz could think of to stop himself from either wrapping his hands around her or shaking some sense into her. He flipped the chicken breasts and grabbed the butter, lemon juice, pre-chopped shallot, white wine, and chicken broth. He'd learned to make chicken piccata early on and it had always been his version of comfort food.
Even though his back was to Bianca, he could feel her gaze on him. For most of his life people had watched him. First so they could cross the street when he was walking toward them, then to see him pummel his opponent in the match, and now to see if he'd implode like he had that last time in the ring after he'd all but killed his mentor and manager Freddie Atlas. No matter when they looked, though, there had always been fear in their gaze—but not with Bianca. No. Hers was always curious, hungry, challenging.
It was fucking addictive.
He shifted the pan, sliding the chicken around in the oil. "So, St. B's?"
Maybe it was because he had his back to her. Maybe it was because they'd formed some kind of adrenaline bond. Hell, maybe it was because she was starving and he was making her dinner, but she did the one thing he wasn't sure she would. She started talking.
"After the fifth time I got caught shoplifting, the very expensive lawyer my parents hired persuaded the judge to let me go with a slap on the wrist by promising I'd be attending St. Bernadette's Academy for Young Ladies the next day." The bravado in her tone couldn't cover up the underlying sadness and shame. "So I went straight from the juvenile holding cell to the private airstrip. No stop at home. No last hug from my parents. No parents at all. They were skiing, the French Alps I think, so it was the lawyer who took me to St. B's in Vermont. I was eleven."
Damn. And he'd thought living in the big houses was nothing but cream puffs and servants. "Your family's loaded, right?"
"Totally."
He slid the chicken out of the pan and replaced it with the lemon juice, chicken broth, chopped shallot, butter and wine, scraping the bottom to get up the browned bits. "Why shoplift?"
"After my older brother died, my parents...changed." She paused and he could imagine her pressing her lips together and inhaling a deep breath through her nose to steady herself. "They stayed away from the house as much as possible and when they were there, they were inebriated ghosts. My mother would drink and cry in the library where my brother hung himself. My father would drink alone in his study until he passed out. The only time my parents seemed to remember I was around was when the cops picked me up." Her voice shook on the last few words. "
I guess they'd finally had enough of remembering, so off to St. B's I went."
He turned the stove off and poured the sauce over the still-warm chicken. Food didn't solve the past, but it helped the present. Take the win when you can get it, that's what Freddie had taught him. He grabbed two plates from a cabinet and carried them along with the tray of chicken piccata to the island, where he laid everything in front of her.
"I'm sorry," he said.
She gave him a half smile that trembled around the edges as she took the plate he offered. "Shoplifting was a stupid thing to do. I just didn't know how else to get their attention. Thanks to that idiotic plan, I ended up at St. B's, where attention was the last thing you wanted."
"Sounds like a prison camp." He put a piece of chicken on her plate and spooned some extra sauce around it.
"Not a bad comparison," she said. "We lived in bunkhouses of ten, wore uniforms, worked on the on-site farm in the mornings and went to classes in the afternoon and evening. That wasn't what made it bad, though. It was the administrators who saw St. B's as their own little dictatorship and enforced corporeal punishment along with more creative things to keep the population submissive. I don't know what I would have done without the other girls in the B squad dorm. We saved each other."
Knowing how creative cruel people with power over another human being could be, he clamped his jaw shut before he offered to track the fuckers down and kill them. Slowly. It wasn't his fight. She wasn't his girl. And no matter how nice this scene of domestic tranquility was, like everything else in his life, it was temporary. With more force than necessary, he yanked the center drawer in the island open and took out silverware and napkins.
He handed her a napkin, fork, and knife. "You never told anyone?"
