by Flite, Nora
The changing rooms were quiet, lights brightening the space. In spite of that, I felt like I was creeping into a den full of monsters.
Anywhere Jacob went, there was always a bit of darkness.
Taking the dresses from him, I paused. This place was no better than his car, as far as being alone went. “I'll be right back,” I said, doing my best to imply that he should stay here and not try to follow me into the stalls.
Jacob leaned on the wall, checking his watch. “Alright. Shout if you need anything.”
What the hell could I need?
Swallowing my heart, I ducked into the stall. The box gave me breathing room, I sat on the tiny bench inside and put my head between my knees. What the hell is going on?
I asked myself this a lot, lately.
There were too many levels to this craziness. In my purse, I kept the photo of a man I wanted dead. Just a few feet away was from me was one of the men I'd hired to help me achieve this.
And, tonight, those same two people were taking me out to a fancy party.
A party where I was going to try and spot the murdered who'd chopped my family to bits.
In my fingers, the dress material felt sickeningly slippery. Playing dress up was... it just wasn't me. Blinking, I looked down at my hands, closing my fingers and flexing them so hard they cramped.
Get it together. Think of this as going undercover. You're not doing this for the luxury and fun.
And then I understood why I was so uneasy.
I was freaking out because doing this felt like a betrayal. In my head, I saw Cece's accusing eyes and flinched. She'd been the one who liked to play dress up.
Not me.
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to stand. I was too wrapped up in my guilt. I had to take control of my emotions, make myself see that what I was doing wasn't frivolous. If Jacob said this event was important, and that wearing these piles of money would get me inside, then I had to bite down my bile and do it.
This was all part of my purpose.
Steeling myself, I stripped down in the stall. In the mirror across from me, I caught sight of myself. There was a tiny mark on my shoulder, almost gone now, from Kite's teeth. My blush was furious.
Sliding the green dress over my head, I pushed all the pieces into place. Turning, I scowled. Wow, this is hideous. Jacob had been right to hand me more options.
My hair fluffed when I removed the outfit, eyes grazing over the other dresses. Gingerly, I rubbed the hem of a gorgeous looking crimson gown.
I squeezed into the tight little number. It clung to my curves, hugged the swell of my ass and dipped in around my waist. I had to give Jacob credit; even I thought I looked good.
Running fingers down my stomach, I noticed how second-skin the dress was. It was as if I had nothing on, nothing to save me from insistent touches and intentional legs that wanted to press against my own.
My shiver went from scalp to knees.
“Marina?”
His voice echoed, rocketing in my skull. “Uh, hang on,” I coughed. My blood had gone hot, sweat dancing down my back. I worked to get out of the dress, making sure my stall was locked. I doubted he'd randomly open my door, but... I still hurried.
With burning cheeks, I redressed and grabbed the outfits. Pushing the door open revealed the hitman standing just a foot away. If he'd crouched, he could have seen my feet in the stall.
His eyebrows went up, his mouth following. “You were taking awhile, did everything fit?”
Looking down at the dresses—of which I'd only tried on two—I nodded. “Yeah. Everything was fine.”
“Which of them do you want?” Tilting his chin, he let his powder-blue eyes roll over me. Was he imagining me in the clothes? “You can have all of them, if you wish.”
I coughed roughly. “No! Uh, no. I'll just take this red one.”
Smoke whirled in his stare. It suffocated me. “I'm glad. That one was my favorite.”
I needed to get out of here. Everything about this place—this event—had my brain convulsing. Jacob's wide smirks and hungry gaze had made me a pile of mush.
“Let's buy this and find Kite,” I said, shoving past him.
He followed me, tall enough that he could remain close and still bend in to talk. “Kite will be meeting us at his place. He finished shopping and left.”
Blinking, I hoisted the dress. “But I thought we were all going to meet up.”
“We will. It won't be long.”
Shooting him another eyeful of suspicion, I set the dress next to the register. The woman who rang me up did it with speed and efficiency. I almost didn't see the price blinking.
Eight hundred dollars.
My dress had cost eight hundred fucking dollars.
“Where would we go for jewelry?” Jacob asked, knocking me out of my daze.
“Oh, just across the way,” the clerk said, pointing. “Hidden Stones, they're a wonderful shop. I'm sure they'd have something to go with this dress.”
Jewelry? I had the sudden paranoia that Jacob was trying to buy me. A dress for tonight made sense, but anything beyond that was... what? Him showing off?
I wanted fresh air, but instead I found myself tailing after Jacob.
He was a gentleman, carrying the shopping bag for me. That was good, because I might have thrown it over the third floor banister. This didn't feel like a mission, or part of the plan.
This felt like a date.
The threads holding my heart together began to fray. If Jacob was trying to woo me, I didn't know how to fight back.
A cheerful, older woman faced us as we entered the store. She swayed our way, instantly looking at the logo on the shopping bag. She could smell money. “How can I help you two today?”
Opening the bag, he showed her the contents. “We'd like to buy some jewelry to match this dress. What would you suggest?”
Clasping her hands, she waggled her eyebrows at me. I didn't appreciate that. “Oh! I think I can find something to fit. Should I show you some of our more special items?”
“Yes,” Jacob said.
“No.” I spoke over him, our answers blurring together.
The clerk stared at us, inching towards the glass case. “Ah. Well, let me grab a few things.”
Turning, I leaned up on tip-toe and hissed into Jacob's ear. “We don't need anything 'special' for this! I don't need jewelry at all!”
Tilting towards me, his breath tickled me and made me shiver. “We do, and you do.” Straightening, he grinned at the tray the woman held towards him. “These look wonderful.”
Putting the box on the counter, she stepped back and waved us forward. I didn't move an inch, but Jacob scooped up something shiny. The necklace looked heavy, weighted with green gems and silver filigree. It was beautiful.
It wasn't meant for me.
It couldn't be.
His shadow cloaked my face, lips tilting up in a smile. “Lift your hair,” he instructed.
Breathing in tiny, tight bursts, I curled my hair up and exposed my neck. The backs of my eyeballs throbbed, his presence becoming more encompassing.
This vibe of his was crushing me. By the time he'd swooped the necklace around, his fingers skimming the nape of my neck, my bones were dust. How was I still standing?
“Look up,” he whispered against my temple.
I did, spotting us in the mirror. Jacob hovered behind me, his fingers holding the clasp of the necklace. I was a queen. And Jacob was my warrior.
No, I reminded myself. He's more villain than warrior. I have to remember that.
His razor smile and piercing blue eyes made that a challenge.
I was staring into another world. A place where Jacob was allowed to be this close to me, and it was okay if I wore expensive things. A universe that only existed in a mirror.
“It's beautiful,” I hushed, my own voice strange to me.
“Yes,” he said softly. “It is.” Jacob didn't tear his attention from me the entire time. Was he even ta
lking about the necklace?
The clerk said something. I don't know what, but it shattered the moment. Jacob pulled away, handing the emerald necklace back. “Could we get matching earrings, please? We'll be taking this set.”
The transaction was a blur. I saw the money exchanged, watched Jacob add the box to the dress bag. Then he was moving, taking my wrist to encourage me from the store. It was a possessive grip. He held me like that until we reached the evening air.
In the parking lot, I found my resolve and tugged away. I think he frowned, but that was all.
What do I do about this? How did I even explain what 'this' was? Jacob was digging into my mind, my heart, and carving a space for himself. I'd barely had room for Kite in there, and he had broken through my defenses like a grenade.
Jacob had taken his time, worming bit by bit.
Now, his spikes were flexed and I feared ripping him out would kill me.
This was going to end in someone—maybe all of us—getting hurt. Which was funny, when I mulled it over.
I should have been scared of them murdering me.
I was more terrified of exposing my emotions.
“Jacob,” I said, the instant we were shut inside the car.
He set the bags behind him, glancing at me in mid movement. “Yes?”
“We need to... talk.” Speaking was hard, I struggled to stay a step ahead of my rolling mind. “I think there's been some misunderstanding between us.”
His attention narrowed in. He didn't blink. “In what way?”
“Whatever you're doing, or trying to do with me, it's a mistake.”
Fuck, that smirk he wore had my blood raging. “I don't make mistakes.”
The edges of my eyes hurt from straining. Jacob touched his keys, the doors locking around us like a thunderclap. “Jacob, you and I—if you're trying to make something out of us, it can't happen.”
He barely shifted, but it was as if he'd climbed on top of me. His hands rested in his lap. I imagined his nails on my neck, where he'd closed the necklace earlier.
The memory was vivid.
“I'm wondering why you think that,” he whispered.
Hanging my head, I fought to keep my voice steady. Denying Jacob was taking everything I had. My heart was slicing away, fragment by fragment, as I went through the motions.
I did want something to happen between us.
But I couldn't.
So I latched onto the one good reason I could come up with. “Because I don't want you and Kite to fight. He's already made it clear he likes me, Jacob. I refuse to come between you two.”
Jacob chuckled, and I felt like an ass. My mind tumbled with a million paranoid questions.
Had I made a mistake? Did he not want to get involved with me?
Was Jacob flirting for fun, never intending to take it further?
Did he now think I was stupid, or full of myself for assuming what I had?
“Marina,” he said seriously. “Let me make this clear. Nothing you could do would ever make us fight. Nothing. Not even the fact you and him had sex.”
He was so factual, so casually blunt. My face was a furnace, getting hotter by the second. “How do you know that?”
Jacob shrugged, smoothing his shirt as he spoke. “Kite told me. And it's fine.”
“It's fine?” I asked lamely. I was too shocked to feel angry at Kite for spilling the truth.
Those long fingers paused, hanging on the rim of his sleeve. “I would have preferred to have had my way with you first, but it doesn't matter.” In the shadows, his eyes were oddly bright. “I'll have my turn.”
My tongue was weighing me down. It would have been easier to talk without it.
He's telling me he's going to fuck me.
“And Kite doesn't have a problem with that?” I blurted out.
“Of course not.”
My whole face was red, my hands aching to hit, to scratch, to show him—both of them—that I wasn't a fucking taxi for everyone to ride.
Did they really not care who slept with me? Was sex such a casual, no-strings thing for these men?
Before I could say a word, he spoke first. “I missed you, Marina.” Lifting his eyes, Jacob was pure, raw emotion. I didn't know what to do with this, he had me stumbling to keep up. “The days I was gone, I thought of you constantly. When I slept, when I woke, you ran circles through my mind.”
My throat felt too small for the wall of air that begged to burst out. “You missed me,” I said, “But you just told me you're willing to give me away to Kite.”
His dark brows lowered. I didn't see his hands move, but I felt them like fresh embers on my cheeks. He had me, he fucking had me.
“Marina.” His voice was shredded. It sent thorns into my lungs, made my breathing ragged with holes. “It's not giving you away! I'm telling you, I want you bad enough that I'm willing to share you. To be able to reach you—even this much—is worth any struggle, any consequences.”
He was going to kiss me.
I knew, if I let him, this would be over. I'd forget everything and never say my piece.
He wanted to be with me, even while letting Kite do the same? What was I supposed to do with this information?
He wants you, a small voice whispered. Isn't that enough? Who cares if he's fine with passing you back and forth between another man?
I cared. Me.
“Tell me why,” I croaked. My mouth was barren. “Why would you do this, share me with your friend? How can you be so sure it won't tear you two apart?” And me, was my unsaid final thought.
Nothing shimmered in his gaze but liquid fury and desire. Jacob was letting down his calculating walls, and I was terrified to see what lay behind them.
“I'll tell you this much, Marina. You should know, it's your right to understand.” He refocused on me, gripping my cheeks harder. “Kite and I have an oath. A bond that goes deeper than our blood. Because of it, to keep us from ever harming each other, we have a strict rule.”
My brain, already a coiled mess, struggled to absorb this.
“The rule,” he went on, “Is that we must share everything.” His smile wasn't sad, but thoughtful. “That includes you, Marina Fidel. If either of us wants you, if we both crave you, then this is our only option.”
When had I last blinked? “Say it plainly, Jacob.”
“It's both of us.” His thumb trailed over my lips. “Or neither of us.”
Frozen in his grip, I trembled with a new burst of desire. My reaction blurred the lines between being offended and being turned on. Kite and Jacob, together? It was perverse and... intoxicating.
No, stop it, I told myself weakly. Don't think about it.
Right. I shouldn't think about Kite's hot mouth, or Jacob's skilled hands. Their firm bodies, their warmth and their warring, raging erections that wanted me.
Did I want them?
I didn't—or I shouldn't.
Sitting there with Jacob's palms cupping my jaw, I searched his eyes for any hint that he was lying. That this was just a game.
He was as steady as a winter mountain.
Running would have been logical. Slapping him across the face? Understandable. Anything that let me break free would have made perfect sense.
But I'm not perfect. Or sensible.
Leaning forward, I pressed my lips on Jacob's and shivered. It was a soft kiss, a whisper among all the shrieks in my skull. You're a fool, I told myself.
And I knew I was right.
How awful it felt to be right.
His fingertips crept along my flesh, curling against my temples like he wanted to drill into my brain. He was latched on, mouth spreading open to swallow me whole.
Before he could take it beyond a simple kiss—and I could tell he wanted to—I put my hands on his wrists and leaned away. My frantic gasp filled the car. “Wait,” I panted. “I need time to think about all of this.”
There was a dragon living in his eyes. It was starving, eager to eat me up. The energy
crackled between us, his power a constant threat. Jacob could have taken me down, conquered me without a whisper of argument.
In a reluctant motion where he lingered on my chin, he let me free. Promptly he choked the steering wheel, like he needed to touch something. His chest swelled, a great gulp of oxygen. Our encounter had left him frazzled.
When I darted my eyes down, I spotted the hard shape of his bulging erection.
Dammit.
The sight had my thighs squeezing, heat rippling into my core. I was wet, I could feel it.
His nostrils flared, like he smelled my arousal, then he settled into his seat. “I understand. This is a lot to throw at you at once.”
My laugh was frail. “Yeah. Just a bit.”
Glancing away from me, he started the car. Just like that, the moment was over. “I'll drop you at Kite's,” he said. “We need to leave by seven for the charity ball. Be ready.”
Ready. What a ridiculous word.
Once, I'd thought I was ready for anything.
But not now.
Not anymore.
- Chapter 18 -
Kite
Lars Diani.
That was the name of our target.
Jacob had told me everything when he'd returned to the bar. Then, he'd requested we not tell Marina. Not yet. We needed every bargaining chip we had to keep her in our pocket.
He'd printed a mugshot of Lars he'd found online. That was what he'd handed Marina, wanting to confirm he was our man.
Of course, he'd given her the zoomed, cropped version of the image. If she had seen the rest of it, she'd have seen his name. It was just too soon for that.
Sipping my whiskey, I flicked through my laptop, scrolling through a number of news articles. The Dianis were a large mafia family. They knew which pockets to butter, which palms to rub. It made a lot of sense, now, why the police had never solved the murder of Marina's family. Without a doubt, the Dianis had bribed them.
Money is great for corrupting people, I thought cynically.
My door shook, the knob turning. Marina pushed through, her cheeks glowing from the cold. Sitting up, I quickly closed the laptop and beamed at her. “Welcome back! How was shopping?”
She took one look at me, then bit her lip and stared at the floor.
