by Lexi Blake
I happily got out of the shoes and was immediately reminded of how big Gray was. He towered over me. Marcus was a comfortable four or five inches taller than me. We were evenly matched when I wore heels. Gray had a foot on me and at least a hundred pounds. I always felt delicate and feminine around him. I averted my eyes as he got out of his pants and tossed them on the bed.
“Get out of the clothes, Kelsey,” Gray whispered directly into my ear. “They’re watching. They have eyes and ears everywhere, but they won’t be able to hear us in the shower. I promise it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
Gray walked into the bathroom, leaving me with a view of his spectacular backside. I reluctantly pushed the thong off. It hadn’t been all that good at covering me up, anyway. I rolled the thigh highs down and followed Gray into the bathroom.
Nudity doesn’t bother me. Not at all. Marcus would say it’s the wolf part of me. If Gray Sloane had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have the insane urge to cover up. My body was what it was—a tool to be used. Except it had been a way to express something with Sloane. For the first time in my life, I’d made love with a man and it had been beautiful and meaningful. We’d learned each other through kisses and touches, long nights spent wrapped in each other’s arms. He’d played my body like a finely tuned instrument.
Gray was already in the huge shower when I walked in. I watched his big body as he stood under the spray. Every inch of the man was muscled, from his broad shoulders to his strong legs. His back was to me, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t know I was there. His hand moved to his side, to the tattoo that now covered most of the left half of his torso. His head was down, as though he dreaded the coming conversation as much as I did.
“Does it still bug you? That dragon, I mean?” I opened the stall door and walked inside. He turned those nearly purple eyes on me, and I saw the wealth of pain there.
He frowned and his voice was way quieter than mine had been. “I haven’t felt it since the last time I saw you. It hasn’t moved. It hasn’t heated my skin. It’s been dead on me until the minute you walked into the door tonight. Now, it’s practically vibrating.”
I lowered my voice, following his lead. “It’s grown.”
“It does that sometimes. I don’t know exactly why. It grew, but I didn’t feel it. Well, not moving. I did feel something from it. It was overwhelming at times.”
“What does a tattoo feel, Gray?”
His stare nearly bore through me. “Loneliness. It was lonely without you, and now it’s trying to peel off my skin to get to you. Why did you come back?”
“My training in Italy was done.” I shivered because he was taking up all the hot water. I couldn’t help but stare at him. Grayson Sloane was a thing of beauty. “The king agreed to three months alone with Marcus, and then we had to come back.”
“Is it true?”
“Which part?” I had to ask because there were a lot of things about my new life that Gray wouldn’t like.
“Are you the Nex Apparatus?” The question ground out of his mouth like it was hard for him to even say the words.
I nodded slightly. He grimaced before slapping his hand against the marbled wall. I waited to see if he was going to put a fist through it. Things had a way of getting destroyed when Gray got angry.
“I should have taken you,” Gray swore. “I should have picked you up and shot my way out.”
“I wouldn’t have gone with you.” I wasn’t sure that I was telling him the truth. I had been pretty desperate that day. Even knowing how he’d lied to me, I might have followed him.
“Of course not. I’m so sorry, Kelsey. I wish you weren’t mixed up in all this. I thought Vorenus would protect you. I thought he would keep you out of this. It’s the only reason I was able to walk away. It seems to me he simply took what he wanted without considering what was best for you.”
“He didn’t have a choice.” I defended my lover. “Donovan wasn’t going to let me lounge around Europe. Marcus cares about me. He’s doing his best with what he’s got.”
Gray looked a little savage. His hand went to my throat, his thumb sliding down to my collarbone. And yes, I should have smacked that hand away, but it felt so good to connect with him. “Yeah, I bet he is. Tell me something, Kelsey. How long did he wait? How long were you out of my bed before he pulled you into his? Don’t try to lie. I can smell the fucker all over you. He’s been feeding off you.”
“He’s my lover,” I returned just as savagely. “He’s a vampire. Do you believe I would allow him to feed from anyone else? And Gray, I was in his bed the night I left you.”
I was feeling mean. He’d been pushing me all night. It was time to get a little of my own back. I didn’t mention I hadn’t had sex with Marcus that first night. He’d held me while I cried over Grayson Sloane.
“Do you know what they’ve done to you?” Gray asked, his voice a low growl. “They’ve made you completely disappear. Any trace of you as a human being has been erased. You no longer show up on any computer system. You’re a ghost, Kelsey. According to official records, Kelsey Atwood was never born.”
“They don’t want anyone to be able to trace me.” Marcus had explained that the king would be taking me off the grid, so to speak. I had a fake license and passport under the name Kelsey Owens, but even she could disappear at the drop of a hat.
“There’s a wedding planner in your old office. They closed your bank accounts, and now your house is under a holding company’s name,” Gray explained.
“I have a new account. It has plenty of money in it.”
“And it’s at Quinn’s bank,” Gray pointed out. “Quinn giveth, and Quinn can take it all away. Face it, Kelsey. They own you. You have a Council appointed lover and a Council approved life. If you deviate from the script they will take it all away, and you’ll be left with nothing. I sit up at night and worry about it. I worry that one day you’ll simply disappear because you won’t be convenient anymore. You’ve gotten involved with people who can get rid of you in a heartbeat.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. I hadn’t considered the fact that Quinn had control of my money, my property, my everything. I didn’t even exist anymore. I wasn’t about to let Sloane know that scared me so I did what I do best, I shoved right back at him. “And you’re getting chummy with your father. I’m sure you know what you’re doing. You’re not in over your head or anything. Maybe you’re happy in the family business. Tell me something. You planning on dragging some other idiot female to Hell with you now?”
Sloane gripped my arm and pulled me close. I could see his fangs gleaming in the low light of the room. They only came out when he was emotional or horny, and they definitely made an appearance when he was both.
“No, sweetheart, the only woman I intend to drag with me is you.” He slapped at the marble again and growled as he rested his head against the shower wall. “How do you do this to me? I am not fucking like this. I know you’ll never believe me but I’ve never been a possessive asshole with anyone except you.” He turned to look at me, weariness stamped on his face. How many sleepless nights had he suffered since we’d parted? “Kelsey, I’m sorry. I had no right to make decisions like the ones I made. I thought I was doing what was best for us. I never intended to take you with me. I would never have allowed that to happen. Things got…crazy. I know you were under some powerful magic, but I wasn’t. I’ve had to deal with the fact that I lost you every day.”
He stared pointedly at me, and I knew he couldn’t say it. He loved me, but he’d given up the right to say it. He’d given up the right to have me say it back.
He shook his head as if to clear it. “You’re like a fucking drug, Kelsey mine. I can’t work with you.”
I pulled the towel off the rack because I was cold and sat on the bench. “Too bad. I told you before I’m on a case. Liv’s boyfriend is missing, and this is the last place anyone saw him. He works here. I have to talk to him.”
“No.” Gray ran a hand through h
is wet hair to get it out of his eyes. “If you go into the bar, I doubt you’ll walk out again. Someone will recognize you in there. Tell Liv I’ll handle Scott. I have no idea how, but I’ll handle him. Can’t you see we have much bigger problems than that idiot getting addicted to Brimstone?”
“He’s on the drug, too?” A pit opened in my stomach. I’d seen what it did to Alan. Scott wasn’t my favorite person, but Liv would be devastated.
“They’re all on the drug,” Gray said sadly. “Julius’s been testing it on his staff.”
“What’s in it?”
“I don’t know,” he said, frustrated. “Why do you think I’ve been trying to set myself up as a supplier? He’ll let me use it, but I haven’t gotten close to being able to take a testable amount off site. I would go ahead and use…”
“Don’t you dare.” I was shocked he would even offer to try. I didn’t want him using something like that. We had no idea how it would affect him.
He smiled slightly. “It would likely have no effect on me at all, sweetheart. I’m a demon. My blood is strong enough that something like this won’t harm me. Winter is trying to get supes hooked. I’ll know more once I can get my CTU techs to test it.”
“Henri Jacobs is testing a user’s blood.” I quickly told him what had happened.
“Jacobs is an academic. Dutch, I believe, turned sometime in the seventeenth century.” Gray was an encyclopedia of knowledge when it came to the vampires he considered close to the king.
“He’s also a doctor. He’s certain he can isolate the drug. I’ll let you know what I find out. If you can bring yourself to work with me…” I held a hand up because I heard the door open. It was the outer door. Someone was walking into the room we were in. “Someone’s coming.”
Gray picked me up, and suddenly my back was against the wall and he was arranging my legs around his waist.
“Moan,” he commanded as he gripped my ass and started to simulate sex.
I played my part. I buried my face in his chest and held on for dear life. I could feel his erection rubbing against my stomach. His breathing picked up and I couldn’t help but think about how good this had been between us. Gray had been the best sex I’d ever had. He’d been the first man to give a damn about me in bed.
I closed my eyes and thought about Marcus. Marcus was good for me, and I was good for him. Marcus and I worked. Gray and I would tear each other apart.
My hand went to his torso, running across his skin, feeling muscled flesh under my palm, and then an electric heat flashed through me.
Gray hissed and his head fell forward, and I could feel that dragon vibrating, begging for my touch.
“Please,” Gray said.
I couldn’t help it. I ran my hand along his tat, fascinated by how it responded to me.
Gray moved against me, his cock against my pelvis now, and I could feel the hard grind on my clit.
I heard the bathroom door open, and through slitted eyes I saw the servant from earlier sneak a peek in. When he realized what was going on, he gently closed the door and hightailed it out of there, most likely to report to Winter that the lieutenant was, indeed, breaking his celibacy.
After a moment, Gray let my legs slide down. I kind of wanted to punch him because I’d been close. A few more thrusts against my clit and I likely would have gone up in flames. I stood unsteadily as his hands shook. His forehead fell against mine, his hands finding my hips.
“They’re watching me, Kelsey,” Gray said. “If they think for a second that I’m lying to them, they will kill me. I don’t think I have a choice about working with you. Winter pretty much ordered me to bring you to dinner Sunday night. Tell Marcus I need to meet with him.”
“He’ll love that.” I didn’t even want to contemplate how that conversation would go.
“I don’t need the kind of trouble he can give me. He’s your boyfriend, your lover, whatever. You’re in a relationship with him. It’s not fair to him to lie about it.”
“He’s my trainer. He knows I’m here and he knows I came to look for you,” I said stubbornly. I wasn’t some loose woman lying to my boyfriend. I was a professional on a job. Sure the job ended up with me simulating sex and wearing a thong, but I was a professional all the same. “He trusts me. I’ll have him call you tomorrow.”
Gray shook his head. “No, all of my phones are tapped. I’ll contact him. And Kelsey, I’ll go down and talk to Scott. I promise. I’ll make sure he calls Liv. Okay?”
I nodded because it was all I was going to get tonight.
“Now, go get dressed,” Gray said. “I need to get you out of here.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked because he wasn’t following me.
He smiled, but there was no humor in it. “I’m going to do what I have to do, Kelsey mine. I’ll do what I’ve done since you left me. Walking around here with a hard-on the size of a Mack truck would probably raise suspicions. I’m supposed to be a satisfied man.”
I nodded and closed the door behind me.
Chapter Eight
I had on Gray’s coat as he escorted me through to the elevator. I’d cleaned up, but still had been forced back into the “clothes” Matt had given me. Only Gray’s big coat covered up my near naked state. It swallowed me, and I was grateful for the warmth. It was January, and I shivered at the chill. It was extremely cold considering it was Texas. As Gray walked me through the lobby, I noted a light snow had begun outside. I looked up at the chilly night sky in wonder as it fell all around me. I grew up here in Texas so I’ve rarely seen it snow.
“Keep the mask on until you’re sure no one’s followed you.” Gray surveyed the area around us, his whole body tight with anxiety.
I hesitated. I felt like I hadn’t done what I’d come to do. Scott was right there. “Are you sure there’s no way…”
“I am not taking you into that part of the club.” Gray pulled me along as he crossed the street. I could see his pickup in the distance. “It’s full of outliers—all the criminals who don’t want to deal with Donovan are regulars in that club. Most of them are now addicted to Brimstone. You probably haven’t met them, but I can’t take the chance that one of them will know your scent or have seen your face. I don’t trust Scott anymore, either. He’s in too deep.”
“I can’t leave him there.” I had no idea how I could go back to Liv without doing everything I could to save that asshole she loved. She couldn’t help the fact that she had terrible taste in men. She also had wretched taste in girlfriends, and I would hope that wouldn’t stop someone from saving me.
“I told you I would handle it, sweetheart,” Gray insisted.
“And stop calling me that.” It was hard to be around him. “Marcus won’t like it.”
Gray laughed for the first time that whole evening with genuine mirth. “He would prefer cara mia, I suppose.” He grinned and it softened the hard lines of his face. “I might have a little fun with this, Kelsey. Vorenus can dish it out all day. It’ll be fun to see if he can take it. The man isn’t famous for keeping his hands off other men’s women. Your boyfriend is quite the player. Ask the king.”
“I’ll take a pass, thanks.” I didn’t need to hear stories of how Marcus chased after Zoey Donovan-Quinn.
We were comfortably out of sight of the club. I slipped the mask off my face. Gray clicked a button on his keys, and the security alarm chirped on his truck. Something to his left caught Gray’s attention and his head turned. He smiled, and I followed his eyes. My brother Jamie walked out of the abandoned building across from the club. He had a camera around his neck, and I had no doubt there was a gun in a holster under his coat. I smiled broadly and rushed to hug him.
“Kelsey Jean Atwood.” Jamie picked me up and whirled me around. I hugged him tight. Most of my life, any positive male influence I’d enjoyed had come from this man. My brother. I loved him unconditionally. He might be my half brother, but Jamie Atwood had my whole heart. “I thought we’d never get you back in the States.”
I smiled up at my big brother, who was six years older than me. “They had to drag me back kicking and screaming. I’m so international now.”
“And you’ve stopped wearing pants,” Jamie pointed out, looking at my bare legs with a fierce frown.
Gray sighed and reached out to shake my brother’s hand. “That was not my idea in any way. I’m just as surprised as you to see her. Can you get her home?”
“Of course,” Jamie replied, slapping his friend on the back. “I’ll e-mail the pictures to you tonight. I got a lot of good shots, but I’ll need someone to ID all those faces. I’m doing surveillance on Winter’s place tomorrow.”
“We’re going in Sunday night, so get me everything you can,” Gray requested.
“We?” Jamie asked, looking between the two of us.
Gray nodded, not looking pleased at the situation. “Yes, she’s on his radar. He requested I bring her along to our business meeting. I have no doubt he’s told my brother to come with Tristan. You know Julius. He wants his business partners to have wives or lovers. It gives him someone to threaten when he needs to keep us in line.”
Jamie snorted. It was a family trait. “He’s going to threaten my sister? He has no idea.”
Jamie had seen me fight. He was a true believer now.
“The fact that he has no idea who she is, is the only reason we’re still alive. Take him seriously, Jamie. He’s a duke. His human form might be non-threatening, but he could kill her. Don’t underestimate him. And I’ll figure out what’s happening with Scott. I don’t want you going into that bar.” Gray backed up toward his truck. “Take care of her, Jamie. And Kelsey, tell Vorenus I’ll call him in the morning.”
Gray got in his truck and with a final nod my way, turned the engine over and took off into the night.
Jamie stared at the truck as it sped away. “He’s making a man-date with your boyfriend?”
