Flames (A Special Agent Novel Book 3)

by C. P. Mandara

  When a skimpily clad waitress slithered around the door to take our drinks order, we both jumped.

  “What can I get you?” she purred in a sexy French accent that would have most men’s blood pumping double time.

  “A glass of bourbon and a bottle of champagne, and if you make it quick, I’ll tip generously,” Adie replied in his equally sexy accent. While my French was pretty good, I wasn’t a native like these two. It simply dripped off their tongues and sounded heavenly.

  “Bien sur,” she said, blowing us a kiss before she quietly closed the door behind us.

  “Now what?” I whispered.

  “Now we wait,” Adie said.

  “Do you think Alain will come?” I’d been itching to ask the question ever since the scene had ended, but had put it off. Now seemed like the right time to voice it.

  "Oh, he'll come alright. He's not going to take what James did lying down, either. When Alain gets his hands on him, that man is going to suffer." The look on Adie's face was grim.

  “Not if we get to him first,” I said, which I was kind of hoping was the plan.

  “You keep telling yourself that,” Adie said darkly. “We’ve been following ridiculous orders designed to get us all killed. We don’t have the manpower here to pose any kind of threat to Alain, so we’ve just signed up for a spell in the Lion’s den that will probably get all of us killed – and some will suffer more than others.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “I mean that James and Alain have a rather turbulent history together.”

  The door opened once again, and a large black tray bearing our drinks was ushered through it. The waitress wasted no time setting it down on our table, and she undid the bottle of Bollinger with a flourish before pouring the frothing liquid into two flute glasses. Settling the glass of bourbon down in front of Adie, she winked at him. "Was that quick enough?" she said teasingly.

  Apparently, it was because Adie got a wad of cash from his pants pocket and handed it to her. With a sultry ‘thank you,' she was gone. Giving me a flute, Adie knocked his whisky back in one and then moved to pick up the champagne.

  “What did you mean earlier?”

  Adie looked at me. "About what?" Sipping the champagne carefully, he smiled at me. "Remember when we first had champagne, Thirty-Eight? You were trying to have me believe you didn't like the stuff." He held his glass up in a toast. "Salut." We clinked glasses and took another sip each.

  "Yes, well, then I was trying to kill someone. Champagne tends to interfere with my reflexes. Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, James. What kind of history do they have?" This I needed to know.

  “You’ll find out soon enough, and that’s his story to tell, not mine.” Adie downed his glass and poured another one out. If he didn’t slow down, I figured he wasn’t going to be of much use to us tomorrow. Mind you, I guessed we wouldn’t start until later, so he’d probably be able to sleep most of it off.

  “What’s going to happen when you see James again? Will you be able to work with him after what happened back there?” It was an important question. If we had any chance of handling Alain, we would need all hands on deck, and I wasn’t sure that would be achievable after what I’d just witnessed.

  “You don’t understand what just happened back there, Lois. Alain is going to hunt us down. Whether I want to work with James is the least of my worries right now. We are all going to be seeing each other again very shortly, whether we like it or not.”

  I sat there, dressed in nothing more than a dinner jacket for the better part of an hour, making small talk with Adie. Most of what he said went around my head in cryptic circles, and no amount of wheedling from me would get any further details out of him. It was frustrating, especially as James was nowhere to be found, but I guessed he’d show up sooner or later.

  Meanwhile, Adie was trying his best to get pissed in the shortest amount of time possible. We were now on our second bottle of champagne, and I'd only had two glasses. I did not want to walk around this club in nothing more than a dinner jacket, absolutely wrecked. Trouble was, I had no money on me, no idea where the hotel was, and no idea how to even get out of this place. As Adie was becoming less useful by the minute, I either needed to be rescued, or I needed to take matters into my own hands. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, but as I'd already mentioned, I was mostly naked and in a sex club.

  "Hi, boys and girls." Speak of the devil. James popped his head around the corner of our booth and slid into the seat beside me. I wondered where the bastard had been hiding out this past hour.

  “Where have you been?” I demanded angrily.

  James pointed a thumb towards Adie and said, “Letting lover boy over there let off steam.”

  “Oh, he has been. I hope you don’t need him to do anything tomorrow,” I said testily, tapping my fingers angrily against the table.

  “Are you mad at me, too?” James raised his eyebrows and waited for my response.

  "Hell, yes, I'm mad at you. What on earth did you pull on us back there? I still can't believe you would actually do something like that." The anger that had been slowly simmering this past hour now came back full force, and I found my fingers curling into fists.

  James narrowed his eyes and turned towards Adie. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”

  Adie simply sneered at James and raised his champagne glass in the air. “You seem to be good at not telling people things. If you won’t help me out, why should I help you?”

  My head swivelled between the two of them, trying to work out what I was missing. “Tell me what?” I was utterly confused, but the two rutting beasts around me were only interested in themselves. They ignored me and carried on as if I hadn’t spoken.

  “Because you need to sort this little problem out just as much as I do, if not more,” James said softly. Adie’s dark eyes stared back at him, soulless, and full of murderous intent.

  "You'll get us killed." Adie swept the empty bottle of champagne off the table, and the sound of splintering glass made me jump up in my chair as if someone had been shot.

  "For Christ sakes, Adie," I said shakily and wondered what these two were about to do to each other. Nothing good, that was for sure.

  “He wants me, not you,” James said.

  “Then by association, both of us are done for, and you know that. Especially after what you just did. I should kill you now,” Adie murmured, and I watched his own hands curl into fists. The testosterone level in this room was now through the roof, and I didn’t think I would be able to come between them when one of them lost it.

  "You want me, come and get me," said James, sliding out from beneath the table and standing up. I'll be outside in the parking lot." He then disappeared from view without a further word, and both of us stared at the open door.

  “Don’t do it,” I whispered, shaking my head. “It’s not worth it.”

  Adie was already getting to his feet, though. Alcohol was fuelling him, and there wasn’t a thing I could say that would stop him. Crap. There was a shit-storm brewing this evening that was going to crucify us all.

  Leaning towards the door, and making a grab for Adie’s arm, I just missed him as he lurched through it.

  "Come back here," I demanded, but my request was met with deaf ears. Running after him as fast as I could, I found Adie handled his drink much better than most. He'd already made a beeline for the exit and was sprinting full tilt towards it. This could only end in disaster.

  Chasing after the pair as fast as I could, I probably displayed much more flesh than I would have liked, but I figured if I didn't go out there and supervise, there was a chance one of them might kill the other. Adie was unstable at best, and James was lethal. It wasn't a great combination. When I finally managed to push past a crush of people to reach the exit, I looked around frantically. As my eyes danced this way and that, I was dismayed to find no sign of them. There was a group of men smoking by the door, a couple that appeared to be joined at the hip and eating
each other, but no Adie or James. My pulse exploded. As all eyes turned towards me, taking in my rather odd outfit, I decided I'd better keep moving. Doing a quick circuit of the building, I hoped I'd come across them sooner or later. When I finally spotted them around the back of the building, it was with relief that I found them arguing, rather than punching each other's lights out. Stepping back into the shadows so they couldn't see me, I decided to eavesdrop, and see if I could learn anything of interest.

  “If you’re going to hit me, hit me.” James sounded bored. He had his hands folded across his chest as he stared down the man in front of him.

  “It’s no fun if you don’t hit me back,” Adie whined. “I want a fair fight.”

  “You aren’t getting one. You want revenge for me following orders back there? Then yes, you’re entitled to some, but I’m not going to hit you. There’s no point messing up that pretty face for our big night out tomorrow.”

  “You owe me a fair fight,” Adie snarled.

  “I owe you nothing,” James said very quietly.

  Adie swore. “Fuck you, Leveritt.”

  “You want a repeat of earlier already?” James’s arms didn’t falter as Adie came forward swinging. He dodged out of the way of one swinging fist and then swiftly escaped another. “Feel better?” he asked sardonically.

  “I’ll only feel better when I actually hit something,” snarled Adie, already going back for round two.

  This time he aimed for his stomach, and James let the fist connect when I knew damn well he could have avoided it. Was he trying to placate Adie? It certainly looked like it. As he took the brunt of punch without a flinch or murmur of pain, Adie swore again.

  “You’re an absolute bastard, Leveritt.” Adie shook his right fist, tightened his jaw, and took aim once more. Sinking several punches in a row to James’s stomach, he was met with much the same response as before. The unwavering tower of muscle before him refused to budge an inch, nor did he make any moves to retaliate. It appeared James was trying to let Adie get it out of his system.

  “Tell me something I haven’t been told before.”

  “Can’t you at least pretend to be hurt or something?” Adie looked up at him with animosity, both fists raised in the air as he prepared to go again.

  “No, but Lois is watching you if it makes you feel any better.”

  Sonofabitch, I thought sourly. How had he spotted me in this light? It obviously did make Adie feel better, though, because he began pummelling James with his fists over and over again as if he was a punch bag. James stood his ground, unmoving, while Adie let off steam. When the poor guy finally sank to his knees, exhausted, James yanked him up, and they walked back over to where I was standing.

  "Why don't you try and get rid of that excess energy another way?" His eyes flicked over to me, and if I was in any doubt as to what he was saying, his expression confirmed it. My eyes darkened, and my jaw tensed. I did not like the game he was playing.

  “She only has eyes for you, Leveritt,” Adie said, rubbing the sore knuckles of his right fist as he approached me.

  “Not anymore. After tonight, I don’t think I’m very high in her estimation, so you should press your advantage while you can. Now unless anyone’s got a better idea, we need to get back to the hotel. We have a big day ahead of ourselves tomorrow. Feel free to kiss and cuddle on the back seat all the way home.”

  James then strode off, leaving me standing there red-faced and seething. Right now, I despised him with every fibre of my being, and I wanted to torture him the way he tortured me. Did he give a fuck if I slept with Adie? Probably not. Goldfish had a greater range of emotions than James Leveritt. The man couldn't even bring himself to fuck me today while following orders, and for some reason that made me madder than hell. Perhaps I was holding a torch for the wrong guy. Maybe Adie and I would make a better match.

  Getting into the back seat of the car with Adie, I let my anger simmer gently, as I recalled everything that had happened this evening. When Adie reached for my hand and grasped it tightly, I squeezed back. When he put his arm around my shoulder, I leaned into him, and when his hand reached to turn my face towards his, my lips crashed into his without a moment's hesitation.

  Pulling back for air a few minutes later, Adie murmured, "Ahh, Lois, you're such a sweetheart. You still don't understand this game we're playing, but you will soon enough." He rubbed his index finger over my bottom lip and then seized it again for a second onslaught.

  All thoughts immediately left my head as his hand snaked underneath the dinner jacket I was wearing, but his sentence would come back to haunt me later that evening, over and over again.

  Chapter Twenty-Four - James

  I did my best to ignore the pair of them in the backseat, though it was harder than I'd anticipated. Right at the moment, I didn't want Lois anywhere near me, especially if we were due to cross paths with Alain tomorrow. If she appeared all doe-eyed and loved-up with Adie, that might just save her ass tomorrow – although there were no guarantees.

  Right now, I just wanted to crawl into bed and try my best to forget the horrors that were waiting for me tomorrow if everything went as planned. I'd endured them once and swore I'd never go anywhere near him again, and I'd meant to keep that promise. Training Lois had been my first mistake. There was no way you could live under the same roof as someone for a week and not grow to care for them. Well, unless they were a complete self-centred asshole, and Lois was anything but. When you coupled that with plenty of skin on skin contact, several monumentally amazing blowjobs, and Lois's fantastic sense of humour, I was pretty much doomed from the start. Throwing Lois to the wolves when she entered Carte Blanche had been difficult enough. I figured I could let her go, give her a wave, and never look back. I'd been wrong. As soon as the van had arrived, my stomach had been in knots. When it had left, I'd wanted to throw up because I’d known exactly what was in store for her, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Lois wasn't going to recover from that in a hurry, and hot on its heels loomed another episode with the devil – this time the real one.

  When we reached our hotel, I got out of the car, slammed the door, and left them to it. I'd managed to stop myself looking in the rear-view mirror for most of the drive home, and now I needed to get to my room as fast as possible and shut the world out. Grabbing a crystal glass from the kitchen, I filled it half-full with whisky and knocked the lot back. It wouldn't help me sleep, but the burn was comforting.

  Minutes later, I was in bed, the lights were out, and all was quiet. It wouldn’t be for long. I knew that I was going to lay here for at least the next hour or so, and suffer the sounds of Lois screaming out, over and over, as she climaxed while riding Adie’s cock. If it kept her safe, it was worth the sacrifice. Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, I thought. Shoving a pillow over my head, I cursed every which way at the misfortune I’d suffered from ever having met Alain Dumortier in the first place.

  “Want some breakfast?” When Lois made her way sleepily through to the kitchen in nothing more than a t-shirt the next morning, she looked thoroughly fucked and utterly exhausted. My stomach tightened, but I breathed in and out, counted to ten, and schooled myself not to display a flicker of what I was actually feeling. Over the years I’d become well trained in the art.

  “Umm, I’d just come in for a glass of water,” she said, yawning, her hand going over her mouth.

  “Sit down and let me cook you something. By the looks of you, you need to go back to bed for a few hours, so you might as well as eat something now.”

  For a moment, Lois dithered, wondering whether she should dine with the enemy or not, but finally, her stomach growled and rolling her eyes, she gave in gracefully. "Fine. Just something small, though." Grabbing a glass, she then filled it full of water and sat down at the table in silence. Although I was still public enemy number one, at least she was talking to me.

  "I didn't fuck him, you know. That was just for show." I felt the need to get that out there because I k
new damn well that Adie would never say anything. Laying three rashers of bacon into the frying pan, I cracked two eggs into a cup. No fancy cooking was needed this morning.

  Lois didn’t respond to my statement, and I wondered what was going through her head. Keeping my eyes trained on the bacon frying in front of me, I waited to see if she’d say something.

  Eventually, she put her glass back down on the table with a dull thud and said quietly, “Why didn’t you tell me that last night?”

  “Adie was pissed enough with me as it was. If I’d have stepped in to make you feel a little less sorry for him, I might have copped it big style.”

  My excuse didn’t pass muster. “Liar. You could handle Adie and me with your eyes closed. Lois stood up, and her expression was murderous. "What is it with you? You refuse to get close to anyone. Actually, it's worse than that because you even scheme to push them away."

  I didn’t look at her as I poured the eggs into the pan. “It’s not that I don’t want to get close to you, Lois. I can’t. There’s a difference.”

  “Bullshit. Are you going to give me some drivel about how you’re emotionally incompetent? Man up, James. Everyone in our job is faced with the same issues.”

  “I don’t see you running head first into a serious relationship after Kiel,” I snapped before immediately apologising. “I’m sorry, that was a low blow.”

  Lois stood up, her chair scraping against the floor as tears glistened in her eyes. Fuck. How much of a heel did I feel right now? “Sit down, Lois,” I said gently. “I don’t want to fight. If you don’t want to speak to me, I’ll leave you alone as soon as I serve this up.” She needed to eat. If Alain got hold of us, the last thing we wanted to worry about was food.

  “I don’t understand you, James. I’ve never had a man get so close to me, only to push me away. Sometimes I wonder what’s going on inside that head of yours, and other times I figure I’m better off not knowing. Anyway, you’ll be pleased to know that I no longer think about you in that way. I know where we stand.”