by Nashoda Rose
“Emergency exit clear. Car waiting,” Vic said.
Deck slapped him on the back and they started for the door.
“London.” Kai stepped into me and lowered my gun. Then he slipped his knives in his holster and took my hand in his. “It’s just a word and I feel so much more than four fuckin’ letters. But you need to hear it from me right now, so I’m giving it to you. I love you, London.”
He didn’t give me time to respond and I don’t think I could’ve even if he did. He linked our hands together and we ran for the emergency door.
FIVE DAYS WE’D been idle at Tristan’s place after flying back to Toronto. This one was located on the outskirts of the city and had an elaborate security system protecting what looked like an extensive collection of art hanging on the walls.
As no one from Vault knew of his involvement yet, it was safe enough—for now. But when you were the hunted, staying in one place was never a good idea.
London was being my braveheart, insisting on going over her father’s files so she could find out more about the drug and help Connor. But at night when I held her in my arms, her tears soaked into my skin and her body shook as she sobbed.
There was nothing to say and I honestly didn’t know how she felt because I’d never experienced a loss like that. I was too young when my father died and we’d been thrown into survival mode at the farm. I remembered being sad and missing him, but it hadn’t lasted long.
When I was old enough to comprehend why he died and what happened, I didn’t grieve him. I blamed him. He knew my mother was a controlling, power-hungry bitch. He had to have seen what was coming. He had an affair and my mother had her excuse to make her move. It didn’t take long before I stopped blaming him because I didn’t care one way or another. I didn’t care about anything.
It was mid-afternoon and I’d come to check on London, but she was in the shower, so I headed downstairs to make her something to eat. If she ate anything in the last five days, it wasn’t enough and I was worried. Fuck, I was worried. That was what it was to care about someone, you worried about them.
Chess came barging into the kitchen, her hands on her hips and her cheeks red. It looked like she’d been arguing. Probably had been with Tristan.
“Why aren’t we doing anything? They’re going to move the farm, Kai.” Tristan strolled in, leaned against the archway into the kitchen, raised his brows and grinned at me. Obviously, he’d already heard this from Chess. “They could have already.”
I opened the fridge, took out the leftover piece of salmon Deck barbequed the previous night and put it on the plate. “We don’t have a location, Chess.” I popped two slices of bread in the toaster. “Can’t move on it without one.”
She moved in front of me as I went for the fridge again. She glared. It didn’t bother me. I was just glad she was standing before me and not in some prison. “And if they kill the kids? What then? Are you going to be able to live with yourself, Kai?” She snorted. “Yeah, you probably can.” That bothered me, but she was right to think that. I deserved it. “But I can’t. We should be out searching, not sitting here waiting for some prick to call.”
We were waiting for Dorsey to call me. We had the drug, the files, and Connor, who was much calmer after being given the drug. But it was the fifth day since we’d given him a pill mixed in the water we gave him and already he was beginning to show signs of rage again. Deck was hoping we could extend the length of time every week, add a few days until eventually Connor was off the drug.
Tristan pushed away from the wall and went to her. I moved back to the toaster and buttered the toast. I looked over my shoulder at them. He was gentle as he came up behind her and settled his hands on her hips. I saw her jerk to get away, but he merely moved in closer and tightened his hold.
“Dorsey may have the location of the farm,” Tristan said, his mouth close to her ear.
“What if he doesn’t call?” she refuted.
“We give him two more days,” I said. “If he doesn’t call, we go to him. I have someone on him, if he decides to make a move anywhere.” It was always better being the one approached than do the approaching, but Chess was right. If they felt the farm was threatened, they’d move it.
I slapped the salmon on the toast, sprinkled some sea salt and pepper then placed some sliced tomato and lettuce before putting the toast on top. I picked up the plate to take it up to London when my cell rang.
It was my disposable—Ernie. I put the plate back down, leaned against the counter and answered. “Yeah? You have anything?” Ernie was the guy I had in Vegas keeping an eye on Dorsey. If he were going to make a move, it would’ve been after what went down at the lab.
“Your man is rather stubborn,” a heavy, deep voice replied. It was like he smoked too much and his lungs were caked in a layer of black tar. I knew exactly who it was.
“Dorsey.” Chess’s breath hitched. “This isn’t a good time. Just about to eat.”
I didn’t have to look at my sister to know she was furious at my nonchalance. Tristan no doubt was keeping her from being in my face.
“Ah, well, my sharks are about to as well. They have a feeding frenzy once a week. Tonight they’ll have something special.” I tensed because I knew exactly where he was going with this. “Unless of course, you’d prefer to have him back in one piece?”
I glanced up as Deck and Vic came into the kitchen, giving me space, but listening. “What I’d prefer is for you to get to the point.”
He laughed. “I’ve always respected you, Kai. Even now, after killing your own mother. She was a cold-hearted bitch.”
I remained quiet and he continued, “Dr. Westbrook is dead and his files gone. You stole your mother’s files on the drug, you have Dr. Westbrook’s daughter, and I assume the famous test subject, Connor, as he’s disappeared.”
Again I stayed silent. No point denying, he was right on all counts.
“I have a job for you.”
It was my turn to chuckle. “As I’m sure you’re aware, I’m no longer doing jobs for Vault.”
He clucked his tongue and I wanted to reach through the phone and tear it from his throat. “But you’ll do this job for me because I know it’s what you’re after.”
“And what is that?”
“The other board member.” He paused. “You see, Kai, you killed your mother. You broke out your sister and Dr. Westbrook’s daughter, London. You’re making sure you have everyone out before you go after the rest of us.” He paused. “Or shall I call that girl Raven?” Jesus fuckin’ Christ. “A shame I didn’t have the pleasure of tasting some of that while she was in the… industry.”
Keep your shit together, Kai. I normally didn’t let words bother me. They were meaningless, but him talking about London was like a knife in the gut.
Deck moved in beside me and I tilted the cell so he could hear.
“Let’s get something clear, Dorsey.” Any amusement left my tone. “You bring my girl into this, there will be nothing in this world I won’t do in order to get to you. And when I get to you, it won’t be a quick death. Because like Vault says, death is a privilege.”
Dorsey paused, and for a second I thought he hung up, except for his crackled breath. “Feed his finger to the shark,” he said, but it wasn’t to me; it was to someone with him.
There was nothing I could do. I knew his game and giving in to him would only make it worse. Deck lowered his head and the vibration of anger emanated off him, but he knew it, too. He knew I couldn’t give in to Dorsey.
Ernie’s fate didn’t look good. Fuck. I should’ve gone myself.
“I’ll make you a deal. Give me the drug, the files and the girl, and you can have your man back in one piece. Well, minus a finger.” He laughed.
“How about this? I find you, then nice and slow like, cut you up with my knife. And I’ll do it for weeks, so your shark has meals for a while. And when you beg me for mercy, shit, right, I don’t have mercy. The farm made certain of that.”
/> He didn’t laugh this time; instead, I heard shuffling and then his words were muffled as he put his hand over the receiver and spoke to someone else. “You just killed your friend.”
“I don’t have friends,” I replied calmly.
But I did. I did have friends. I had Ernie. Had. Fuck, Ernie.
That made him pause and maybe he was getting that I wouldn’t give in to anything he said. But it could’ve been to the sacrifice of Ernie’s life. I wanted to lose my shit. I wanted to whip my phone through the window and destroy everything in sight.
The rage burning through me was putting me on the edge of doing something stupid and blowing this all to shit.
“Okay,” Dorsey said and it was yielding. “You want to head Vault, I can make that happen.”
I laughed. “I don’t need you to make that happen. I can do that myself. But that’s not what I want.”
“You would’ve been here yourself if you wanted me, so my earlier guess is correct. And I want the same thing, so I believe we can come to some sort of agreement.”
“I’m listening.”
“Not over the phone,” Dorsey said. “Meet me. In Vegas. Without the ex-JTF2 guy.”
“I’m alive today because I don’t meet my enemies where they choose.”
“Who said we’re enemies, Kai. We’re merely negotiating for what we both want. And I want the files for the drug.”
“Okay.”
“I give you the information you need and you give me Dr. Westbrook’s files.” I waited for him to include London, but he didn’t. “I can find another scientist, although the girl would’ve made things easier. But I know you won’t give her up. Not after what you’ve done to free her. But I want Connor and the pills you stole from the lab.”
I glanced at Deck, whose scowl was fierce, the lines around his mouth tight. “No Connor. And no Vegas. I’ll meet you tonight. Eleven. Should give you enough time to fly to Toronto. Twenty-four hour diner on Spadina at Niagara. Bring Ernie or none of this happens.” I hung up, opened the back of my phone, took out the SIM card, and smashed it with the edge of the phone on the counter.
“You trust him?” Deck asked.
“Fuck, no.” But Dorsey was all about power and money, which meant he’d probably be willing to give up the board member who obviously had more power than him. “But he wants the drug. If he controls that, he doesn’t need the farm. He’ll do what was done to Connor. Use it on men who are already killers. Make them into machines. Not sure about the conditioning though. That was Mother’s expertise.”
“And even more reason to not give it to him.”
I grinned. “My morals are more flexible than yours, Deck. I have no qualms about making a deal then reneging.”
Deck’s lip twitched.
“I want to come with you,” Chess said.
Tristan laughed to which she smacked him on the arm. He just laughed harder. “Not happening, babe.”
“I have to do something, damn it.” Where I had patience, I was learning Chess did not.
“Yeah, you can look after me.” Tristan bent, shoulder into her belly then had her up over his shoulder within seconds. She yelled. He ignored her and then they were gone.
“How is she?” Deck asked.
He was referring to London.
Vic poured himself a coffee, but I could tell he was listening by the way his head tilted slightly in our direction.
“Pretending to be good. She needs to be far from this.”
Deck nodded. “Georgie, too. Tristan’s idea, we need to make happen.” An idea that was coming into play if everything went as expected with Dorsey. “Girls won’t like it, but if we get what we need from Dorsey, then we have to act. Girls can’t be part of that.”
Deck and I had our differences, but we had one thing in common now—keeping the girls safe. I grinned. “Tristan is in for a war.”
Deck chuckled, a rare sound coming from him. “I’ve had time with mine. She knows when to fight and when there is no chance in hell I’m giving in to her.”
London picked her battles, but I didn’t think this was one she’d argue. She wasn’t a fighter, despite the fuckin’ battles she’d fought in order to survive. She stood her ground when she needed to and believed in something. But her softness and compassion always came through. I saw it with how she’d treated the homeless, the way she moved, quiet warmth emanating from her.
My cock jerked and I grunted, picking up the plate with the salmon sandwich. “Give me an hour,” I said to Deck and Vic. “Then we’ll go over what needs to go down tonight.”
Deck nodded. Vic didn’t do anything, but chugged back his glass of orange juice while leaning against the marble counter.
I made my way out of the kitchen and through the living room when I heard the water running through the pipes above. London was still in the shower? It was a fuck of a long time to be showering.
I strode through the living room, went up the stairs, two at a time, went into the guest room, put the plate on the dresser and continued into the adjoining bathroom.
The air was a shield of fog and it whirled around me when the colder air from the bedroom intermingled with the humid moisture. I shut the door.
I couldn’t see her, but I heard her. The soft sobs from somewhere to the right and not in the shower.
I made my way across the bathroom and I found her sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wall in the corner. Fuck.
I crouched in front of her, my hands settling on her knees that were bent and pulled close to her body. Her hair was wet and dripped onto her naked shoulders then slid down her skin to soak into the blue cotton towel she wore.
“I never should’ve run away after….” She stopped and I knew why because it wouldn’t have changed the outcome. As Raven, she could’ve done nothing to help her father. She couldn’t even help herself.
“Why did he do it? Why did he take the bullet?” Again, there was no need to answer and I didn’t think she wanted me to. These were questions she knew the answers to. He was dying and he wanted to do something he’d been unable to do ever since he became involved with Vault… save his daughter.
My thumb stroked back and forth over her knee while with my other hand reached forward and I wiped the tears on her cheeks with my knuckles. She finally looked at me with her red-rimmed eyes, and my heart, one I thought was so tainted and stained it no longer beat, hurt. It was as if someone were squeezing it so hard that it was in agony.
She lowered her head, her hair covering her face.
“He died knowing you’re the strong, beautiful woman he raised you to be. You gave him that. His final wish.”
She was quiet for a long time before she raised her head and said, “Thank you.”
I reached forward, tucked a few wet strands behind her ear and cupped her cheek, my thumb stroking back and forth. “For what?”
“For caring. About him and me.” She rested her hand over mine on her cheek then slid it to her mouth and kissed my palm. “They tried to take that from you, but they didn’t get it.”
They did. They took parts of me that I’d never get back, but she’d given me the greatest gift. The gift of caring for someone so deeply that it lived and breathed inside you. It was so much more powerful than any pain or conditioning Vault had done to us.
She consumed me and maybe it was dangerous feeling so much for one woman, but it was too late. It had always been too late to stop.
“I want you to take the pain away,” she whispered. “For a little while, make me forget.”
When I failed to move, she pushed to her feet, her hand in mine. I stood and she guided me back to the bedroom where she dropped the towel and lay down.
I stared at her for several seconds, this remarkable woman who I’d go to the ends of the earth for, who I’d kill for if anyone tried to hurt her. I was confident, never thought twice about doing what I wanted, but seeing her lying naked on the bed, her wet hair splayed out on the pillow, her lips still quivering f
rom crying, I was unsure.
And I was unsure because I didn’t want to hurt her and I wasn’t sure if this was what she needed right now.
“Kai. Take off your pants,” she said.
I raised my brows, with a mild twitch at the corner of my mouth. “And if I don’t think this is such a good idea?”
She pushed up on her elbows, which pushed out her breasts and my eyes flickered to them for a second before returning to her face. Fuck, she knew what it would do to me. I had been sleeping with her for five days. Held her. My cock rock hard, but not doing anything about it because she didn’t need that part of me. She needed a part I didn’t know I had. The one that held her close and soothed while she sobbed herself to sleep.
“You do.”
“London—”
She interrupted and she never interrupted me. “If I touch you right now and you’re hard, then I know you want me and so I get you to fuck me. If you’re not hard, then we can lie here until I get you hard and then you can fuck me.”
I grinned, shaking my head and she did, too, but I still saw the pain lingering in her eyes. And I wanted to take that away. I wanted to ease her pain. “No need to touch me to know.”
My hands went to my belt and I unbuckled it. It clunked to the floor. My pants soon followed and then I lifted my T-shirt over my head and within seconds, stood naked beside the bed.
Her eyes roamed the length of me, hesitating on my throbbing cock, so I reached down and fisted it. Her gaze tipped to my face. “I get hard just thinking about you, braveheart.” I kneeled on the bed then straddled her body. “That four letter word isn’t enough for me.”
“Why?” she asked, breathless, as I settled between her legs that quickly wrapped around my hips.
I leaned in as if I were about to kiss her then whispered, “Because you’re my everything.”
Then my mouth met hers.
I’d tasted every inch of her, felt her body quiver around me and heard her moan then cry my name. And I did it twice before I had to get up and meet Deck and the guys.
