Dirty Dealers

by Tia Louise

  Then don’t.

  The words appear like lights in the darkness. I don’t know yet what that means, but I know he’s here. As long as he’s here, I have a chance.

  “I still love you, Logan Hunt,” I whisper into the darkness, closing my eyes.

  Watching

  Logan

  I fucking hate this.

  I barely even remember having feelings for Zelda, and I’m standing in Ava’s office talking to her on Skype as if nothing has changed.

  Granted, it’s not all acting. I do care about Belle and I miss carrying her around the island. She’s a beautiful little baby, and I can only dream that one day I might be lucky enough to have that for myself. With Kass.

  The distance between guards and the royal family was much closer in the West Indies, but since I’ve reunited with Kass, I realize my feelings for Zelda were a clear redirect, a longing for something I’d lost. My mind drifts to images of Kass’s body changing, her belly growing round with my baby, and I want it so much.

  I want the woman currently standing behind me in the doorway listening to every word I say. It’s tearing me up inside, but I focus on the infant with a halo of blonde curls just learning to recognize the faces that love her.

  “Please come and visit us soon,” Zelda says to me.

  The warm breeze moves her blonde hair across her face, and she pushes it away. The baby pats her mother’s cheeks with chubby hands, and I can see the crystal waters behind them. I’d love to share that happy place with Kass, show her she has nothing to fear.

  Belle lunges forward against her mother’s mouth. It makes me smile. “I’ll see what I can do” is all I say.

  I hear it the moment Kass leaves. She bumps against the doorframe before practically sprinting from the room. My jaw clenches because I know she can’t see what’s happening here. I know all she can hear are our words and the way we say them.

  I fucking hate this.

  I say a quick goodbye and leave just as Ava joins us, launching into an animated chat with her sister. I follow at a distance, not wanting Kass to know I’m right behind her. Reggie convinced the rest of the team it would compromise her less if she didn’t know we’re using her for bait. I think that plan is as wrong-headed as it can be.

  Kass is strong and tough. She can play a part. I should know. We could tell her what we’re doing. Instead, I’m being forced to hurt her in this shitty way. I know we’re not together at the moment, but dammit. We were making our way back.

  Now it’s all shot to hell.

  She’s supposed to think I’ve moved on.

  Mission accomplished.

  I linger outside the kitchen listening to Reggie and Freddie’s story about Zika virus. They don’t name it, but they basically describe all the symptoms. It’s not a completely far-fetched lie. Cases of the virus have been detected in Florida, but if Kass had the disease, we’d know by now.

  Reggie exits the small room first and gives me an approving nod. He might be the king’s great uncle, but I’ve wanted to punch him in the face for going on eighteen months now. He’s not helping his case.

  Freddie takes several minutes longer to emerge, and when he does, he catches my arm and pulls me deeper into the house, away from Kass’s room.

  “Give me your phone.” I fish in my pocket and hand it to him.

  He spends a few moments pecking on the screen while I wait, watching. Finally he hands it back to me. “There she is.”

  I look down at the device, and on the screen is what looks like a common map of the city with overlapping red, blue, and yellow dots flashing right near the shore, right where Occitan is located.

  “Which one is Kass?”

  “All three.” He smiles with the pride of a techno geek. “We’re tracking the GPS in her phone, which is the red dot. The blue one is a bug I slipped into her purse, and the yellow is the chip I just injected right below her skin.”

  My eyebrows shoot up, and I confess I feel an enormous weight lifted off my shoulders. “You’ve got her covered,” I say.

  “And you’re determined to be there in person.” He pats me on the arm. “I’d say the chances of us losing track of Cassandra Kroft are slim to none.”

  All three dots start to move, and my eyes flick to Freddie’s. “Where is she going?”

  “I told her she could leave.”

  Even with all this technology, his words send a blast of panic through my insides. “Have we checked her apartment? Is it clean?”

  I’m moving fast to my room, Freddie’s right behind me. “We can get someone there ahead of her. The guys watching her brother are the closest.”

  “Jesus, Freddie!” I snap. “What the hell. You should have told her she had to stay another night. Tell Ava goodbye or anything.”

  “She was ready. If I’d told her to stay, she might have changed her mind.”

  It was the fucking Skype call that did it. My stomach twists hard, and I’m ready to punch all these assholes who don’t love her like I do. To them she’s a bridge to a goal, but to me she is the goal. She’s all I want.

  “Call the guys. Tell them to do a quick sweep, but let them know I’m on the way. If they need backup, I’m less than five minutes out.”

  “What about Ava?” Freddie calls as I grab the keys to my bike off the small table in my bedroom. “You’re assigned to guard the queen regent.”

  “Rowan changed my assignment when he decided to use Kass as bait.”

  “I’ll tell him you said that.”

  At this point, I don’t give a shit. I’m shooting out in the night on my bike, doing my best to beat that fucking Uber to Kass’s apartment. In the front of my mind is that stairway and the old man who didn’t even care that he let me walk right into the building that first day. If Blix has anybody watching her place, she’s as good as captured within the first twenty-four hours.

  I have to cut the speed considerably as I maneuver my way through the narrow city streets. My only comfort is I’m pretty far ahead of the Uber, and Freddie said he’d send the boys from Cameron’s watch over to check out the place. I don’t like leaving her brother unguarded, but I won’t risk anything happening to Kass.

  It’s after eleven when I pull the bike into that same alley where we’d been together that last night. The rain has left everything wet and smelling of copper and water. The air is cool, and the dampness makes it even cooler. There’s no moon tonight, but I can still see Kass’s beautiful body arched against my chest in the dim light of the alley. My hands covered her small breasts, thumbs circling, moving down her smooth skin. Moonlight glistened off her hair, and she was just so fucking mine. I have to shake the memory away and focus.

  Checking my phone, I see the three dots are five blocks away. My bike is hidden in the dark alley, and I pause, unsure if I want to chance going to the front door. Blix has had long enough to recognize Rex and Stefano, the two guys watching Cam.

  If they’re keeping tabs on us at all, they won’t think twice about them coming here to check on Kass’s place. My appearance, however, moves her return to a whole new level. It gives everything away. Yes, I get now why Rowan doesn’t want me here, but I’ll be damned if I trust Kass’s safety to anyone else.

  I open the app and type a quick text to Stefano: I’m in the alley. She’s getting close. Finished the sweep?

  Pacing the narrow space by my bike, I wait for his reply. It doesn’t take long.

  The place is clean. We’re heading out the fire escape.

  I walk all the way to the back of the alley, where it ends in a wooden fence that would otherwise open onto the next block. Looking up, I can’t see them, but I hear the groaning of metal and the crash of a ladder rolling up. Two sets of shoes click on the damp pavement, growing more faint as the guys blend into the night.

  Walking to the front of the alley again, I’m only mildly appeased. All of this is happening too fast. I haven’t had time to process what we’re doing. I didn’t have time to plan. I’m pissed that I was
left out of the discussion, but I’m even more pissed I didn’t get to see her once more before she left.

  The hum of a car engine sounds on the street out front. I pull up the app, and sure enough, the three dots are right with me. My chest squeezes, and I place a finger on top of them. She’s here. Leaning against the wall, I rub one hand down my face, pushing back on regret. I have to be here for her now. If this scheme works, none of that shit will even matter.

  She walks slowly to her door, no doubt letting the car disappear. Her keys weren’t on her when we found her in the villa. I’m not sure how she’ll get inside. I slide to the front of the alley, pressing my back against the wet wall. She’s pressing the buzzer. Seconds pass and the lock clicks loudly. He didn’t even ask her to identify herself.

  Now I’m really pacing. She could have been anybody just then, and from this distance, I wouldn’t have time to catch an intruder before he was on the other side of that door. Without hesitating, I dash to the wooden fence. It’s sheer planes with nothing to serve as a foothold or provide assistance getting over it. Stepping back, I leap, grasping the top of the boards. The wood cuts into my palms, but I use all my upper body strength, swinging my legs to the side and pulling myself over the barrier.

  My muscles burn and my palms are bloody when I make it to the other side, but I’m unable to care. The fire escape is my next obstacle to overcome. The ladder has retracted three meters over my head. Pushing my wounded hands in my pockets, I walk up a block, looking around for anything I can use to pull that ladder down. It’s late enough that most of the businesses are closed. I’m two blocks up when I come across a florist shop with a ladder propped in the alley along the side of the building. It’s not ideal, but I’ll take what I can get.

  Pressing my back against the wall, I look down the street where I came. Only streetlights shine in rainbow puddles on the pavement. Grabbing the metal ladder, I hustle back to the fire escape. Once I’m on the landing, I kick the ladder back and aside, doing my best to hide it in the shadows.

  It’s only a two-story building, which makes it easy for me to access her room. Again, it’s too easy. Anyone could do this, get here, hurt her… Without making a sound, I creep to the small window outside her bedroom and drop low, sitting in the dark shadows.

  Her interior lights are off, and the streetlight silhouettes her body as she stands in front of her dresser. I watch as she reaches around and unfastens her bra. It falls away, and I have to swallow the lump in my throat as her lovely breasts are revealed.

  “Kass,” I whisper, just as I realize the window is lifted a quarter.

  My breath stills, and I wait to see if she heard me. She never responds, and I let out a slow exhale. Her hands cover her small breasts, and she tilts her beautiful head to the side. I imagine my lips touching the skin just behind her ear. She would shiver in response. I would replace her hands with mine, caressing her breasts and tweaking her beaded nipples.

  Her fingers would thread in my hair as her back arched against my chest. I know her so well. The light touches her fair hair, her dark lashes, and I see she’s been crying. It twists that old pain in my stomach.

  “I did have you,” she says, the longing in her voice palpable. “For a little while you were mine again.”

  My eyes scan the space, and it’s empty. Who is she speaking to?

  She turns and goes to the bed, pushing through the sheets in only her panties. I want to meet her body between those sheets and hold her through the night. I watch her a few moments longer. I want to be sure she’s asleep before I slip into her room to spend the night. I’m just about to enter when her voice touches me once more like a brand.

  “I still love you, Logan Hunt.”

  Tightness seizes my throat, and it takes all my willpower not to answer. My lips are sealed, but my heart aches. I’ve never wanted to be free so badly. I could take her away from this place. We wanted to go to Campania…

  My head is in my hands as I wait. Minutes like hours drift by and eventually I hear her breathing level out. I reach out and push the window open all the way, slipping through it into her bedroom. I’ll crouch against the far corner out of her line of traffic and out of any chance of detection. I’ll stay until dawn, when I’ll slip out again.

  “I still love you, Cassandra Kroft.”

  Explanations

  Kass

  Close your eyes.

  Fall in love.

  Stay there.

  ~Rumi

  Logan’s thumb slides across the line of my jaw. My eyes are closed, and his face is so close to mine, our noses touch. The heat from his lips causes mine to throb. His rich, masculine scent is all around me, and I know he’s here. It’s so intimate and perfect, my entire body lights up like a flare. I never want to open my eyes.

  BAM BAM BAM! I bolt upright in my bed with a little squeal, dream shattered.

  “Kass? Are you in there?” It’s Ava. She’s outside my door banging on it. “Kass! Let me in!”

  I’m only wearing panties. “Hang on!” I shout, sliding out of my bed and grabbing a shirt from my middle drawer. What the hell is she doing here?

  The long-sleeved Henley is over my head, and I swipe a pair of boxers off the floor. Pausing a moment, I turn my head around the room. It’s bright from the morning sun, and I don’t detect anything out of place. Still, his scent… It seems like…

  I shake my head. “Vivid dream,” I say.

  Logan isn’t here. Although, if Ava’s outside… Quickly, I rake my fingers through my hair, hoping it doesn’t look like a bird’s nest. I slide the chain and twist the dead bolt open.

  “Ava?”

  Her voice is exasperated and she storms into my tiny apartment. “You totally disappeared! Worse—you ran off without even saying goodbye!”

  She’s fills my room like a glamorous tornado, and my mind scrambles for an explanation. I can’t tell her the real reason I left—I couldn’t bear watching the man I love falling for her superhero sister.

  “I missed my brother,” I stammer. “I missed my things… and my neighbor’s dog, and I just… Freddie said I wasn’t a prisoner.”

  For a moment, I wait for her answer. She takes a few steps around my tiny studio apartment. “I’m sorry you felt that way.” She sounds hurt, and I feel awful, considering what else Freddie said about her not pressing charges. “I thought we were having fun. I didn’t want you to feel like a prisoner, but you were sort-of… being watched. And protected.”

  I nod. “I know. I don’t mean to be ungrateful—”

  “Don’t put it like that,” she huffs, dropping onto my bed. “That makes it sound so formal—like we weren’t even friends.”

  Pressing my front teeth together, I try to think of the right words. “It was a strange setup from the start. You know this.”

  “My whole life is strange,” she sighs. “I don’t even notice anymore.”

  Walking toward the sound of her voice, I take a seat beside her on the bed. I chew my lip a moment. “I’ve never really had a close female friend. I started working right out of school, and then my eyes… and then my aunt… I guess I’m not very good at this.”

  We’re both quiet, and the noise from the street below echoes through my window. Vendors shout at deliverymen, and metal chairs scrape across flagstone pavements as the cafés set up for business.

  “I’ve always just had Zee,” she says. “I’m not very good at this either.”

  “No, you’re great,” I argue.

  “But you were uncomfortable.”

  I can’t argue with that. I’m not even really sure what I’d say other than it wasn’t her fault. “I have an idea.” Standing, I walk to the dresser and pick up my phone. “Remember how much you wanted me to meet your sister? I’d like you to meet my little brother.”

  “The musician?” She’s looking up at me, curiosity in her voice.

  “He’s playing tonight at this little club down by the water—the Café Steele?”

  “I’
ve heard of it!” She stands then and walks to where I’m standing. “What time? I can meet you there.”

  “He usually goes on at ten.”

  We step to the door, which I realize now is still open. Ava strides out onto the landing, pausing just before she descends.

  “What are you going to do today?”

  I take a few steps in the direction of her voice, although I can’t see anything in the hallway in this light. “I thought I’d see about finding a job.”

  “Let me know if I can help you.” I hear her descending the staircase, and I reach out to place my hand on the bannister. Instead my fingers collide with what feels like a warm wall of granite covered in soft cotton.

  “Oh!” I start to pull it away, but two larger ones I recognize at once cover it. “Logan…”

  He doesn’t speak. He only lifts my hand, pressing his lips against the back of my fingers just below my knuckles. My stomach tightens. His scent of clean ocean breezes, warm fires, and him is all around me. I recognized it in my room earlier, only now I can’t remember if that was before or after Ava entered. Of course, he would be with her. I want to say more. I want to say anything to make him stay, but he releases me, heading down the stairs after his royal charge.

  I’m still at my door, and I lean my head against the jamb. The downstairs door closes with a metallic slam, and my eyes close with it. My dream floods my memory, and I can’t wait for tonight.

  * * *

  The day passes quickly with me spending the entire time searching for jobs I might be able to perform. Most of the hotels are seeking maids and housekeepers, but that’s no good.