by C. M. Owens
She eyes it then looks back at him.
“Not sure why your hacker couldn’t have dug up what we did.”
Her eyes flash to mine questioningly, but I shake my head. I haven’t said a word about her hacker. She relaxes subtly, not letting Drex notice that she was worried for a brief moment.
“My hacker is a good guy—or trying to be. Besides, I owe him too many favors as it is. You owed me.”
“Don’t feel like this makes us even for you saving Eve’s life,” Drex grunts.
Sarah’s eyebrows go up. “This isn’t for saving Eve’s life. I did that because I wanted to. And because those bastards shot my girl. Take care of Colleen, by the way. Don’t let them near her again.” She bends, keeping her eyes on Drex warily, and snatches up the file. “You owed me this for finding your thorn.”
Drex nods, but he remains stoic… expressionless.
“That file has everything we gathered on Adam Mason before we found out he was a fed working inside Benny’s crew. It has the ties to your father’s crew. Was it him that turned on your father instead of you or something?” Drex asks her, confusing me.
I might should have asked about that file. Are they talking about the fed Benny killed?
“Nah,” Sarah says nonchalantly. “Mason was dirty. He was working both sides, giving the feds just enough to seem legit, while playing in my father’s crew like an evil bastard. Just knew him from reputation. He went by Jeff at that time.”
“So why the file?” Drex asks.
“I want to know what he was really doing with the Hell Breathers. He was loyal to my father.” She looks up, and she flashes a smile at me again. “You look better. Glad to see you up and about, looking much stronger than what I left you.”
I nod, but don’t speak.
“Why the face-to-face?” Drex asks her, drawing her attention back to him.
Sarah smirks. “Herrin has pissed me off, but I know you boys have split up. I want to know if you share his interest in seeing me dead.”
Drex shakes his head. “You saved Eve. No beef with me.”
She nods like she expected that answer. “Also want to know if you want to eliminate Herrin yourself or if you want me to do it for you. Free of charge, of course.”
Drex mutters something under his breath, then shakes his head. “This is ours. Not your problem. What do you want with a dead man’s file?”
She hugs the file to her chest. “This is mine. Not your problem,” she says, echoing his words. “Just a warning, if Herrin comes for me, he’ll be my problem, and I’ll make him go away. Understood?”
She stares at him like she’s challenging him to object.
“Fair enough,” he says instead. “He’s more focused on me at the moment, though.”
Drex tugs my hand, backing toward the door, but Sarah speaks before we can leave.
“Does he hate me?” Sarah asks quietly, causing my heart to clench for her.
Drex tenses, and I realize this entire thing was more to find out about Snake than anything else. The pain she’s trying to mask is starting to bleed through, becoming visible.
“You should have told him the truth. He wouldn’t have cared, Sarah. He loved you,” Drex tells her coldly. “You know Snake has a major issue with trust.”
She nods solemnly, looking down. “We all have our reasons for the secrets we keep,” she whispers.
Pulling out of Drex’s grip, I walk over to her. She startles a little, but relaxes when I wrap my arms around her in a hug.
She returns the embrace with one hand, keeping the file clutched to her with the other. When I pull back, she winks at me, her chipper mask back in place. But I’ve seen it fractured. She’s hurting and trying her best to hide it.
“Bit of free advice,” she says, looking over at Drex who is keeping a wary eye on her, “Marshall has been having a couple of guys watching your girl’s childhood home. He’s looking for the mother. Her disappearance is what made him go underground. If you want to draw him out, now you know how.”
Drex cocks his head to the side, and he reaches out his hand for me, silently asking me to come back.
“Thank you,” I tell Sarah, watching as she smiles at me again.
“One more thing,” she says, winking at me as she skips by me, moving by Drex next on her way to the door, “teach your girl to shoot a gun. She sucks.”
Drex’s eyes dart to mine, widening in a little horror, as Sarah leaves that hanging in the air and walks out. I give Drex a tight smile.
“When the fuck did she see you shoot?”
I just shrug. “We all have our secrets, right?” I ask nervously.
He narrows his eyes on me, but when I step into him, he holds me against his body, brushing his lips over my head. Uncle Marshall is watching my house…
“I know what to do,” I tell Drex, leaning against his chest.
“Mm?” he mumbles, resting his chin on top of my head as he holds me.
“We use me as bait. It would out Ben or Marshall or both if we’re really lucky.”
He snorts derisively. “Fuck no. Never gonna happen.”
Chapter 41
DREX
Flowers. Lots of fucking flowers.
I can’t believe I let her and the guys talk me into this. I’m supposed to be keeping her safe instead of dangling her at the end of a hook like fresh bait for any shark that wants to take a bite.
I also can’t picture Eve sleeping in a twin bed that has flowers all over the comforter like a pre-teen. But I’m staring at her old bed, studying the very different past she has from her future.
Too bad I’m too much of a bastard to do what’s right for her twice. At least I can justify keeping her with the fact not keeping her almost got her killed.
Her walls have pictures full of her and her family, all of them smiling and laughing. Except for one. There’s one where she looks like her heart has been yanked out of her chest, and she’s a million miles away in it. Distant, cold, hurt… It’s the only one not framed, but it’s taped to her wall.
Curious, I pull it off, and flip it over, seeing the date. Doing the math isn’t hard. This is right around the time her sister died. It’s probably the moment something in her changed and shifted, something bitter that spread inside her like a disease.
Something that made her trust and love a guy like me.
The bubbly girl in all of these other pictures wouldn’t have ever been strong enough to endure what she has since coming to me. Losing her sister might have saved her life, considering Marshall fucked this family over, and would have no matter what the circumstances.
Then again, if her sister’s hospital bills and funeral costs hadn’t been so high, her father might not have been desperate enough to ever get involved with us. It’s all a row of dominos, remove one, and they can’t all fall. Everything was pieced together to bring her to me.
My eyes flit to the crisp white dressers that also sport flower designs on them. Cheery. Bright. Young. Carefree… This was her before she lost her sister.
Walking over to the dresser, I flip open a sketchbook. Every page is dated, all of them within the past year. Every picture is mildly disturbing, showing pain, grief, anger, rage… Nothing flowery or cheerful in these drawings. I bet I’d find butterfly pics in the sketchbooks prior to her sister’s death.
Eve wasn’t made for me, but life molded her for me later on. It’s pretty fucked up that I became her light. No one probably even noticed she was suffering. Add in her father’s supposed suicide, and you have someone bitter, resentful, angry… Someone like me.
Blowing out a breath, I turn to see Eve leaning against the doorway of her room, watching me silently.
“Please tell me you don’t want fucking flowers in our place,” I say, trying to lighten the air.
Her lips turn up in the faintest of smiles. “Our place? As in your warehouse room?”
I shrug, leaning back on the dresser and crossing my arms over my chest. “There and our house, wh
en I buy another one.”
“Our house?” she muses, smiling a little bigger.
“I think I made it clear I wasn’t letting you go again. So yeah… Our house.”
She looks down, smiling bigger, and her dark, shiny hair falls over her face.
“So how does this work?” she asks, looking back up as a flicker of fear tries to show itself, but she does well to act tough. I don’t like that.
Blowing out a breath, I glance around. “You stay here until he shows up. We drive away like we’re leaving you on your own. Snake spreads the word that I’m done with you. Since he’s the most bitter, he can sell it. Pop won’t make a move in the burbs. No worries. He’s smart enough to smell a trap anyway, and he’ll think it’s been set for him. He’ll avoid this entire situation. The only ones who will be drawn in are Ben Jr. and Marshall. Probably Ben Jr. only. I doubt Marshall is actually going to do any physical confrontation on his own. But once we have Ben, we can locate Marshall.”
“But you won’t be far away?” she asks hesitantly.
“Not far at all. Just down the road. Keep your phone on you at all times. The house is bugged, but I still want you to hit my number on your cell and drop the phone if someone shows up. Got it? We can’t be too close or they’ll figure shit out.” I groan deep in my throat. “Fuck it. I can’t go through with this. It’s too fucking dangerous, Eve.”
She walks toward me, and that determination spreads over her face, eclipsing every ounce of doubt she was wearing.
“I can do this, Drex. We can. It’s the only way to end it. We have enough to worry about with Herrin to have to worry about this as well.”
Brave. That’s one word for her. Stupid is the word for me.
“I don’t like this,” I grumble, watching the way she smiles up at me because she knows I’d do anything she asked. Pretty sure I’d fucking set the world on fire if she asked me to. “I also don’t like knowing this could take a few days or weeks. I prefer having you under me at all times.”
“I like being on top on occasion,” she quips, smirking up at me.
I grunt as she snickers softly, and I roll my eyes before peering out the window. Dash and Snake are waiting on me. The last thing I want to do is leave her here alone.
“So I can’t talk to you until this is over?” she asks, slipping her arms around my neck.
I may have fucked her twice this morning before coming here, but I really don’t want to go all night without having her again. It’d probably ruin the illusion if I stay much longer though.
“We have to guess they’ll be tracing any calls leaving this house. We have some tech toys, so I’m sure Ben does too. There’s a scrambler in here right now that is keeping any and all bugs from working, including ours. But once I’m gone, that scrambler will be deactivated and anything you say or do can be monitored. Cameras are in here too.”
“Will you be watching those cameras alone?” she muses.
My dick stirs in my jeans, and I narrow my eyes on her as her grin turns wicked.
“Don’t get naked anywhere but your closet. It’s the only place cameras can’t see. No, I won’t be watching alone.”
“What about when I shower?”
“The shower stall doesn’t have visibility, but the rest of the bathroom does. No one will be monitoring those screens when you’re in there, though. It’s just for when you’re not in there. That room has a window. We’ve locked every window in here and tested the alarm, but it’s just a precautionary measure. No one should be able to enter without triggering the alarm unless you let them in.”
She nods, biting down on her lip, and I lift her face back up by her chin and push my lips against hers. She kisses me back, hungry and desperate, and I groan into her mouth when her hands start roaming south.
“I can’t fuck you right now,” I grumble against her lips. “I should have left ten minutes ago.”
She sighs before stepping back. “Then you better leave before I don’t let you stop me.”
My lips twitch, and I bend to kiss her once more, keeping this one chaste, before walking out of her room. She follows and prepares for the scene she has to make. Our vacant house sets across from her, but we can’t watch from there. We’d be too noticeable. I really fucking wish I could stay here or just across the street. But we know there are other bugs in the house.
As soon as I step onto the porch, I turn to face her, and I see her angry mask in place. It’s a damn convincing mask.
“I’ll see you in a week regardless of what happens,” I whisper softly.
She nods, but her expression doesn’t change. Good girl.
As I walk toward my bike, she calls out the rehearsed line.
“This is the last time, Drex. You don’t get to pull me in and push me away anytime you feel like it.”
It’s just loud enough without being too loud and too obvious. The jogger across the street who is stretching is much more obvious. He’s been stretching for a while, showing no finesse.
As I toss my leg over my bike, I look back up at my girl who looks really sexy while pretending to be pissed.
“Got it,” I tell her. “Stay safe, Eve. And be smart. Don’t stay here. Get out of town while you can.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m sick of doing what I’m told. This is my home. Herrin isn’t going to run me out of it. Neither is Ben. Neither are you.”
So hot. So angry. So… good at making me worry she’s actually pissed at me. Not liking that part. She’s not too great of an actress, so it’s definitely disconcerting to see real anger directed toward me right now. I feel like I’m supposed to apologize.
I pull on my helmet and go through the routine of turning on my ride, revving it a few good times. Eve bites down on her lip, and I wink at her, since she’s the only one who can see my eyes. As I turn the bike around, I feel her eyes on my back. I don’t even glance at the jogger, making sure not to let him know we’ve spotted him.
I wait until I see her front door close in my side mirror before I drive off her lawn, and I floor it down the street. As soon as we reach the warehouse, we’ll be taking the tunnels out and driving back around in dark SUVs. I don’t like leaving her unattended for even that long.
There’s a sick feeling in my stomach about all of this. I really hate that fucking feeling too.
Chapter 42
EVE
Five days without seeing Drex… Yeah. It sucks. It feels like an actual breakup. I haven’t left the house. In fact, I’ve been so paranoid that I’ve ordered my groceries and had them delivered here, which fits in with my act. I’ve barely showered, since I’m worried I won’t hear someone enter while my head is under the water—I’ve watched horror movies before. I’m glad no one I want to see has dropped by, since I probably don’t smell too pretty.
Drex left me with a gun, but let’s face it, I can’t hit a blind man from five feet away, so a gun doesn’t make me feel powerful at all.
I’ve had nothing to do but binge watch TV shows and think. Lots of thinking. But mostly I’ve thought of one thing: Drex never told me he loved me. He seemed fine with me telling him, but he didn’t say it back.
Do men like him even say things like that? I don’t know. He shows me how he feels about me. Even without him saying it, there’s no doubt he feels the same way. Actions speak louder than words and all that.
It’d be nice to hear the words out loud though.
Sighing, I let my eyes flick to the eyeball of the teddy bear in my room. It’s hiding a camera. I think I’ve subtly found all of them, and I hope they all belong to Drex. It’s creepy knowing a group of them are hanging out and watching me.
But it also feels good to know that Drex is most likely watching me as well.
I bite down on my lower lip, and debate putting on a show. If he’s watching, he won’t let anyone else see it. If he’s not watching, though… nah. I better not put on a show. I’d rather no one got hurt, and I don’t want to put on a show for anyone else anyway.
<
br /> My eyes flit over to the daisies on my wall. Yep… I wrote “cocksucker” on them just because I was missing Drex. Drake finally gave me the full story when we were in the hospital, and I regret not teasing Drex about it.
As my mind drifts through an array of more random thoughts, I shift my gaze back to the window, staring at the house that is twenty feet away. I wish Drex was closer. Maybe we could tunnel underground or something.
Boredom is an annoying thing, but I stare out the window like I have for most days, while lying on my back. It’s not until I catch a flash of blue that I jolt up. Maybe I’m seeing things…
I try not to go press my face against the window and give myself away, but I do jog out of my room and head toward the backdoor while pulling Drex’s number up and letting my finger hover over the “send” button. Looking out the large, back bay windows, I see nothing but some trees and my brothers’ sandbox.
My eyes move around the yard, expecting something to pop out and yell, “Boo!” Fortunately, that doesn’t happen, and I put my phone back in my pocket. I’m officially paranoid. Besides, there are cameras outside too. If something ran by, Drex would have—
My breath seizes in my lungs when a shadow falls over me from behind. Slowly, I turn around and my mouth turns into cotton.
“Hello, Eve.”
My eyes fall on the sandy blonde in front of me, and I swallow despite the dryness in my throat.
“Uncle.”
Chapter 43
EVE
Uncle Marshall doesn’t look as preppy and sophisticated as he normally does. He looks haggard and unkempt as he stares at me.
“Been trying to get ahold of your mother,” he says, standing a bit away with no weapons in his hand.
“She left town. I… got into some trouble,” I tell him, stalling, waiting for Drex to show up in his shiny armor and all that. So much for no one being able to get in without the alarms sounding. “How’d you get in?” I ask him, trying not to act like I want to stab him with the butter knife that’s on the table.
