“I’m not playing any game. I hate games, but everybody plays them, especially with me.”
“Well, I won’t. But I guess only time will convince you of that.”
He won’t take a bite of my self-pity pie. As if this isn’t a game. “ES sold my little sister and me to some guy he owned big-time. I’ll skip the usual sordid story. Suffice it to say, they kept us drugged and shipped us around from motel to motel. Soon we had no clue who we were or even what day it was. Summer was a virgin. ES hadn’t ruined her yet. The guy had sex with us, you know, to ‘train’ us. That and the beatings broke her. She got hooked on coke. That’s how she coped.” I take a deep breath and try to swallow around the boulder in my throat. I fire up the vaporizer again.
“And how did you cope?” Jaden’s voice is gentle. I don’t want his goddamned pity. When I glance up at him, all I see is empathy and curiosity. I take another haul of the pot, letting its calming powers loosen my tongue.
“Oh, they fed me drugs, but there were a couple of fundamental problems with me. I have the good or bad luck, depending on your perspective, to take or leave drugs, and most don’t work on me. Problem number two is I wouldn’t obey, no matter how hard they tried to make me. I made it as tough as I could on the bastards.” I throw my hands up in the air. So what do you think of that, buddy? “And now it’s your turn.” I give him my most dramatic glare.
Jaden still sits forward, elbows on knees, hands tented in front of his mouth. For a guy who seems like an electrical fuse about to blow at times, he sure can keep quiet. He just waits. Oh hell. So many questions race through my mind. What did I want to know first?
“Why did you take me?”
“I told you, to get answers about Viper.”
“How did you find out about me?”
“I got a tip. It’s what I do.” He’s a cryptic son of a bitch.
“What do you want from me?”
“Information about Viper. What happened to your sister?”
I squeeze my eyes shut trying to block out the memory of her blank stare. “Nothing happened to her.” The tips of my ears burn from the heat of the lie. “She couldn’t take it. She hated having men paw her.” I took a breath. “Why do you want Viper?”
“He has something I want.”
5
Jaden
Don’t want to live my life that way; don’t want to waste away …
Rayne sits with her head thrown back, saying nothing for so long I begin to wonder how stoned she is. I just about reach my ping point when she speaks.
“How much do you know about Viper?”
“Not much. That’s where I’m hoping you can help me.”
She rubs her left deltoid and looks out the window. I reach inside for calm. Something I’ve perfected during negotiations with some of the powerful, and sometimes evil, men who hire me. I watch Rayne carefully as she curls up on the tan leather chair that almost swallows her petite frame.
“How long have you been looking for him?” she asks.
“About six weeks.”
She massages her deltoid again.
“Why do you think he can lead you to the guy in charge?
“We don’t know for sure, but all leads point to him.” I press down on my impatience at her barrage of questions. She doesn’t know me from a stray cat. It will take time to earn her trust.
“And what will you do when you find him?”
Pulverize him. “Find his lair. Question him, of course.” I know this isn’t what she means, but she has yet to earn my trust.
“That isn’t what I meant, and you damned well know it.”
She grunts, clutches her stomach, and rocks. It takes me three long steps to reach her. Milliseconds that feel like years. I put two fingers on her carotid artery. She moans.
“What’s wrong?” I try again to take her pulse. She swats my hand away. I prevail. Her pulse races. I crouch beside her.
“Where does it hurt?”
“Besides fucking everywhere, you mean?” She rocks forward again and takes in a huge breath. “Sorry. Bad cramps in my kidneys, and my shoulder feels weird.”
“Let me have a look.” I keep the panic out of my voice. What the fuck did I miss earlier? I didn’t want to wake her, so I wasn’t as thorough as I should have been. Now, she’s skittish, and I don’t want to spook her more. I know from experience how much damage could be inflicted on a sex-trade survivor. If they survived.
Rayne throws me a look that has skepticism written all over it before doubling over again. I pick her up and ease her onto the couch. She pants, and tears well in her eyes. I reach under her shirt and gently palpate her abdomen. When I reach her right kidney, she yelps.
“How bad is the pain on—”
“A scale of one to ten. I know the drill. Nine.” She pulls her legs up to her stomach and hisses through her teeth. “Don’t worry. It will pass soon.”
I gently but firmly push on her thighs until she straightens her legs and continue my examination. One potentially cracked rib. Multiple contusions, some new, some older. Then there are the scars. The muscles of my face tighten as I struggle to keep my composure.
“We really should get you x-rayed. Any blood in your urine?”
“I’m not sure that’s any of your goddamned business,” she hisses.
I straighten and look her directly in the eyes. I sharpen the edge to my tone, pulling on my rusty medical skills. “Rayne, would you give me just one microscopic break here. I do have medical training, and it’s patently obvious you’re not well. I’m trying to help you.”
“Sorry,” she mumbles. She relaxes, slightly, but enough for me to examine her. There are no broken bones, but far too many lumps, bumps, and scars. I ease her shirt back in place and sit back with my elbow on the back of the couch. She stops panting, and much of the tightness caused by pain drains from her face.
She touches me. A jolt of electricity runs through me. She jerks back as if burned by the intensity of my rage. What kinds of bastards would do this to such a beautiful little dragon? I shake it off. The moment passes, and a dull glaze films her eyes.
“How are you feeling now?”
“Better?” Her inflection rises as her eyes slide from mine. Eyes the black-flecked golden brown of macadamia nuts. I can almost see her mind whirling behind those very expressive eyes. She’s one of the most assertive women I’ve ever met, yet everything about her screams Submissive. My cock stirs as the heat of her body sends her soft scent drifting toward me. Her short black curls scream for me to grab them, wrench her head back, and make her moan.
She looks from me to the tin holding the pot and back to me. I wait a beat. She says nothing.
“If you want something from me, you’re best to just ask.” I move toward my little tin of goodies, turning my back to her, and wait. It doesn’t take long.
“I’d be a lot better if I could have some more of that.” She sounds as if she begrudges asking me. What the fuck is up with this chick? I should have known better than to trade the sanctuary of my computer lab for human interaction. But curiosity still tugs at me.
“Why did Viper beat you so badly?”
“I told you already.”
Despite the raging war my gut is having with my brain, I’ve perfected the art of seeming patient. I call on that skill and hang on desperately with this woman. Could she just answer a fucking question directly? Yet it fascinates me, watching her mind work. I haven’t been this interested in another human being since … I shake the thought from my head. I watch and wait. She takes another long, drawn-out toke. Eventually, she sighs.
“All right, all right. I told him I’d never kneel for him. He could cripple me first. He said, wanna bet. He beat me. He lost. End of story.”
“Except that isn’t the end of the story, is it? Why was he going to mutilate you?”
“Look, you don’t get it, do you? I belong to no-bo-dy.” She drags out each syllable.
“When did your stepfather rape you?�
�
“Don’t call him that. My stepfather. He lost that right. I was fourteen.”
Oh, God. I pull my heart back from reaching out. A world of hurt rested behind the hardness peeking out from her swollen lids.
I simply cannot allow myself to become emotionally involved with anyone, never mind someone with a freight car filled with baggage. How the hell could you respond to that? Compassion makes her quills come out. Matter of fact, it brings out the bitchy.
“Did he live?” I asked. Where the hell did that come from?
She stares at me for a long moment, then barks out a laugh. Grabs her side. Throws back her head and laughs again. Laughs until tears run down her face. Laughs until the pain in her side sends her into a fetal position, panting for air. I hand her a box of tissues and wait while she mops up.
“Oh my God.” She takes a few gulps of air. “Thank you for that. I’ve never heard anything so funny in my life. No, I didn’t kill the bastard, but I did threaten his weak life with a knife if he ever laid a hand, or dick, on me again. I should have killed the bastard. Then he couldn’t have sold us and …” She swallows and turns her head away.
“And your sister would still be okay. I get it. But she isn’t, so what are you going to do about it?”
She looks at me in what I can only call sheer amazement. “Isn’t being abused, raped, and sold to a sex slaver enough?” She puts righteous indignation behind every word. This is probably where any other rescuer would let her get away with shit.
“Yes, and now you’re not being abused or raped, nor are you a sex slave, so what are you going to do about it?”
“And what the fuck exactly do you think I can do about it?” That little body radiates fearsome malevolence. I hide a smile.
“You can help me find the man who has your sister, and we’ll go get her. Simple.”
“They’ll find us and kill us. You can’t hide from them, you know. And now that you stole me, it’s only a matter of time until Viper finds me. Viper doesn’t like to be bested.”
I try not to be smug. “Not if we find him first. I’m very good at what I do, and I’m beginning to suspect you’re hiding a few other skills. If we work together, we’ll find him in no time.” What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t do partnerships.
She chews her bottom lip. “You said I’m free to go, right? I think I’ll just go.”
“If you think that’s best.” I keep my voice neutral and head for my lab. I’ve spent long enough away from my work. She’s going to help me, or she isn’t. Either way, it’s time to get back to business.
She walks through the sliding doors. In the garden, she takes a good look around before heading to the driveway. I head to the monitors and watch her make her way toward the entrance to the property. She sets a steady pace, stopping from time to time to look behind her.
The silent alarm goes off. Someone has breached the perimeter wall. Rayne hunches over, clutching her deltoid. I have her in my arms in less than a minute.
“What’s wrong?” I take her carotid pulse. It’s racing. “What’s wrong with your arm?”
“I don’t know. It started burning where they gave me the shot.”
“What shot?
“Birth control.” She moans softly and starts to rock.
The silent alarm pulses on my wrist band. The hair rises on the back of my neck. Someone tripped one of alarms set around my property. They found her.
“They’ve activated a tracking device.” I pick her up and rush toward my lab. This changes everything. Damn it. I should have thought of this. We don’t have a minute to lose.
6
Rayne
Wake up, to a new day come around you baby …
Jaden holds me effortlessly while he races through the solarium, down a long hall, and across the wide expanse of the library. My arm burns as if injected with acid that’s leaching through my veins and igniting each cell. I try to focus on the solid warmth from his broad chest, but it takes every thread of self-control not to scream. I know pain. This is agony. This is how Viper rules—with pain and fear. The day I met him, he brought me to my knees—brutally. He might ruin my body, but he will never own my essence. It’s mine.
I barely notice as we get on a hidden elevator and descend into the bowels of Jaden’s mountain. Okay, I may be exaggerating a tad, but it really does seem a long way down when my arm is a blazing inferno. The doors open into a large cave. Jaden carries me through a large room into another that looks like an infirmary. He set me on the gurney. I curl into a ball, clutching my shoulder. A long, unending fuuuuuuccccckkkkk screams through my brain.
Jaden clamps down on my bicep and pulls my hand away from the offending shoulder. I moan and thrash.
“Rayne. You need to keep still. I need to get this out now. They can’t find us here. You’re safe.” His voice takes on an authoritative tone. No nonsense. Yet something about it cuts through the fog of pain and makes me feel cared for. I groan something incoherent in reply. I don’t know what the hell I’m trying to say.
“I’ll take that as consent.” He turns away and loads a syringe. “This is a local anesthetic. We don’t have time to wait for it to take full effect, but it’ll help minimize the pain. I’m going to cut out the chip. This first cut’s going to hurt. I need you to keep still.” He picks up scissors and cuts away the sleeve of my T-shirt.
As he talks, Jaden plunges the contents of the syringe into several spots on my shoulder. I close my eyes and nod. At least, I hope I nod. I must have because I hear the snap of gloves before he grips my arm again.
“I’m going to make a small incision. Keep very still.”
I groan, grinding my teeth as he makes the cut. Tears leak out, but, goddammit, I stay still. Something about him makes me want to show him my best. And besides, it gives me something new to focus on.
The freezing starts to take effect, enough so I relax my arm a little. Slowly, I let out a deep breath and try to chill against the hard mattress. Jaden grabs some instrument that looks like a cross between tweezers and tongs and plunges the tip into my arm. But instead of looking at my wound, he gazes off into the distance. Hey, buddy, watch what you’re doing. Following his gaze, I see my shoulder outlined on a large monitor. Cool! Jaden carefully maneuvers the twongs toward a small white patch. He closes the ends around the patch and slowly withdraws it. Then, he smiles.
“Got it.”
“That’s so cool.” The throbbing in my arm drops to a dull hum. It bleeds, but I couldn’t care less at the moment. Maybe it’s the pot. Or something he snuck into the injection? I drag my mind back from the gutter. Why do I think the worst of everyone, anyway? Because …
Across the room, Jaden drops the patch into some kind of small cylinder. He puts the cylinder in what looks like a mechanical spider, slides it into a large tunnel, and lets it loose. He crosses back to the gurney and snaps on a fresh pair of gloves.
“Okay. Let’s get you stitched up. First, let’s give you a little top-up for the pain.” His rich baritone voice is ripe with overtones as he gives me another injection, this time in my ass. I coast on the pleasure wave of his voice as he talks me through what he’s doing while he stitches. That voice alone …
What the hell is wrong with me? Here I am alone in the Batcave with some random stranger—albeit a very hot stranger—who is a hacker and somehow associated with human trafficking, and all I can do is drool over his perfection and the fact that he’s touching my arm. All right, all right; so he’s sewing my arm, but there’s delicious skin contact where it isn’t numb from the freezing.
Oh God, can I really be this shallow? Yes. I sigh inwardly, determined to become a better person … as soon as I get out of this latest fix. Jaden expertly threads more catgut through a bent needle. At least that’s what they always call stitching thread in the movies. And right now, everything about this reminds me of the movies. It’s totally surreal. Like, we’re in a modern-day Batcave filled with all kinds of high-tech gadgets. Who lives
like this?
“What is that thing? A drone? Where’s it going? Where are we?”
“Keep still.” Jaden’s voice sounds forbidding, but I’m sure a quirk of a smile tugs at the corners of those gorgeous lips. You’re losing it, girlfriend. I’ve let this man cut me, drug me, and basically manhandle me. He could hurt me … badly. And I’m mooning over the way his tight butt fills out his jeans. As Jaden stitches, I’m mesmerized, studying his small, precise movements. The only sound is our breathing and the dull hum of the equipment.
“That thing, as you call it, is a drone. It’s going on a long trip.” He stays silent as he ties the knot in the last stitch. “All done.” He bandages my arm. “We’re in my lab.”
“How will you get it back?”
“I probably won’t, especially if Viper finds it. That’s the plan.”
Jaden places his hand on my back. I jolt as pain shoots through my torso.
“Are you in pain?”
I shake my head, careful not to look at him.
“Rayne.” With that one word, his tone changes from sunlight to a little bit of storm cloud. I shake off his hand.
“Okay, okay. Yes, it hurts. It usually does. Don’t they say day two is always the worst?”
Jaden smiles a bit. “Actually, it’s day three or four that’s the worst. Come on, let’s have a look.”
He has his nerve. Probably just an excuse to cop a feel. I carefully wrap my arms around my torso. “I’m just fine.”
Jaden gives me a gentle poke in the right kidney, and I double over, huffing air.
“As I thought. Now, let’s have a look.” He helps me straighten before sliding up my T-shirt to survey the damage. He winces as he examines my chest and abdomen. I’ve got deep bruising covering from ribs to waist. Viper laid a beating on me but there’s no way I’ll let the pain get in my way.
“Let’s have a look at the rest of you.” Jaden gestures to my pants and steps back giving me space.
I reluctantly take off my pants. The undies stay on. Belt welts pepper my buttocks and thighs. Jaden looks grim.
Rage (A Jaden Rayne Adventure Book 1) Page 4
