The Dragon From Paris: A Sexy Dragon Romance

by JJ Jones

  “I wish I knew where my sister was.”

  “What? What did you just say?”

  “My sister,” Chase said with a faraway look in his eyes, “I wish I knew where she was. I don’t know why, I just get the feeling she could help us somehow.”

  “How come?”

  “It’s these dreams I’ve been having. I’ve been having them more and more lately and I just hate the feeling there’s a reason for it. Like she’s the one holding the missing piece to this whole god damned puzzle.”

  “Well, then let’s go see her.”

  “I wish it was that easy, Irish.”

  “Irish?” Aubrey laughed, caught off guard and more than a little bit delighted by his sudden nickname for her. “Why Irish?”

  “The hair. You’re Irish as sure as you’re standing there in front of me. Go on, tell me I’m wrong.”

  “No, not wrong. At least not about that. But you are wrong about your sister. It is absolutely that easy.”

  “How do you figure? I don’t have a fucking clue where she is. My family lost track of her a long time ago.”

  “You may not know where she is,” Aubrey took a deep breath, suddenly afraid of what his response to her was going to be, “but I do. I know exactly where she is.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Please, Chase! You’ve got to slow down, at least a little bit. I can’t keep up with you when you go this fast!

  “If you really want to keep up, you will.”

  “Chase! Can you just stop? Just for a minute. You’ve got to stop.”

  “Do I? You telling me what to do now? Is that how we’re gonna play this thing?”

  Chase turned on her much faster than she could have been expecting and he watched as she stepped back quickly, just a hint of fear in her face. God help him, he was happy to see it. He was happy to see her look frightened because that was proof that she was feeling at least a fraction of what he was going through.

  Everything he cared for had been turned on its ass in the last month, that was true enough, but things had started to go sour long before that. They had started to turn bad when his sister had left and his family had fractured. He had spent so much fucking time trying to figure out how it had all gone from Norman Rockwell to the gutter and his sister was a major part of that.

  He had given up on getting to her in any way outside of his dreams and then here came this pretty little redhead telling him that she had the key to what he had been trying so hard to find. Fair or not, it was infuriating and Aubrey was the only one there to feel his anger.

  “No, that’s not what I meant. I—no, you know what? I’m not going to explain myself to you. It’s not like we’ve known each other for a year and I’m just now spilling my guts. I’ve known you for about a minute, a good portion of which I spent half dead.

  “Now. Slow down and let me tell you a few things before we go any further. Please, just do it, OK? We can stand here and argue about it and waste even more time or we can just try and be civil, maybe keep in mind that neither of us has slept in way too long.”

  Chase wanted to stay angry, wanted to very badly, really, but what was the point? She was right, about all of it. It didn’t make one iota of sense to blame Aubrey for things she hadn’t even been around for. Shit, she was only trying to help him.

  He had already told her that he didn’t blame her for the choices she had made and the people she had aligned herself with before she really understood what it meant. Now he had to put his money where his mouth was. Did he want to be a man with nothing but empty words or did he want to be a good man?

  The latter was a much more difficult road to travel down but it was also the correct one. He knew it and so did she. It was written all over her stubborn face.

  “All right.”

  “I’m sorry? What was that? I must not have heard you correctly. It sounded like you might be on your way to agreeing with me.”

  “All right,” he laughed, enjoying her feisty nature despite himself, “I said all right. You’re right, I’m not being fair and this isn’t helping. So how about if I promise to stop? If I promise to listen, not be such a douche, will you tell me what we’re walking into?”

  “I guess. But you owe me a drink, if we ever get to a place where those are available and people aren’t hunting us down so they can kill us.”

  “Deal. Anything you want, I’m buying.”

  “That’ll do. I suppose.”

  “So, seeing as you’re the one with all of the information, will you tell me? Tell me about my sister? See, the thing is, I can tell by the look on your face that at least some of what you need to say isn’t good, but I’m going to have to hear it. I’d rather hear it from you than just walk into it blind.”

  “OK, but I honestly don’t know all that much. Just a location. A city. A city and the place where she works.”

  “So that’s it then. That’s the part you don’t want to tell me. It’s where she works. Just say it, OK? What is it that she does?”

  “She’s a stripper, Chase. I realize that’s the last thing you want to hear about your own sister, but it’s true. She works at a place called Babydolls.”

  “Here, in this city. Are you sure?”

  “I am,” Aubrey said with an apology in her voice. “I’ve seen pictures to prove it. It’s not too far from here, actually. Just a few blocks. If you really want to see her, if you’re sure this is the thing that will help, I can take you. All you have to do is say the word.”

  Not even really thinking about what he was doing, Chase slung his arm around Aubrey, wanting her warmth, both physical and emotional. He liked the way she put him to it, he thought of it as her trying to shoulder some of the burden for him, and he felt a wave of affection for her that was uncommon at this stage in his life.

  He was well aware that he didn’t know her at all, not in a real world sense, but he thought that maybe she was the type of woman he could really settle down with, or at least make a go of it. Ironic, really. It took a special kind of asshole to need an ongoing life or death battle to make him see a woman for what she was really worth.

  That was something he would have to take a real good look at later (if there was a later). He liked the feeling of her slender body standing so strong beside him. It felt good, which made the situation even more confusing. Because as sweet as it was for her to say, it was never going to be as easy as her just saying the word. There were so many more layers to it that he couldn’t even begin to explain, not even to himself. But there was no time to open that particular part of Pandora’s Box at the moment.

  Chase had enough mystery and intrigue to last him for the rest of this lifetime and well into the next. All he wanted now was to find a way to neutralize this, to maybe figure out who was behind it and then get the fuck out of Dodge.

  Even if he didn’t like the idea of seeing his sister like this, even if he wanted to hold onto the picture he had of her in his head and never have it sullied, he still knew in his heart that this was where he needed to go. He had to do this and so he kissed Aubrey on the top of her head, smiling to himself when she gasped and then blushed all over, and then nodded.

  “All right then. Let’s get it over with. Let’s go see my sister. Let’s go talk to Katie.”

  * * *

  “You sure she knows who you folks are?”

  “Look, I already told you, ma’am, we’re family.”

  “Aw shucks, I don’t know the last time somebody called me ma’am. Maybe never, come to think of it. So you’re family. I gotta tell you, that don’t always mean a hell of a lot in a place like this. So the next question is, is she gonna be happy to see you, or is this gonna be one of those things where I wind up having to call the cops?

  “Cuz if I gotta do that again, I’m gonna be in danger of losing my job. Already had it happen twice this week. That ain’t exactly good for business, you know what I mean?”

  Chase nodded, willing himself to stay calm. Sure, he knew what she meant. He coul
d practically smell the illegal all over this place. Babydolls, what a top dollar, premium place of business his sister had landed herself in, provided that she was actually there.

  Currently, he and Aubrey were talking to a girl going by the name of Candy (almost definitely a fake name, just like all of the other women in this god forsaken pace), trying to sweet talk her into pointing them in the right direction. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy before he ever stepped foot through the front door, but that was OK with him.

  Compared to where he had just come from, where he and Aubrey had both come from, this place was like Disney World. And it wasn’t like dealing with the ladies had ever been a big problem for him, especially not women like this.

  He had a way of making them feel related, too. He saw them as the people they were, outside of their profession and that was just about the best compliment they could get. It was the same with most people, really. People just wanted to be seen; really, deeply seen.

  “No Candy, I would bet a shit ton of money on the cops being just the opposite of good for business. But you don’t have to worry about us. No cops. We just need to talk to her, OK? We just need to talk to Katie.”

  “All right then, she’s back there, in the back. She’s taking a dinner break, I think. Trying to get it in before the crowd hits.”

  “Thanks, sugar. I appreciate it. Truly, I do.”

  He nodded and Aubrey gave her a sweet smile before they made their way into the club. That had been the amateur shit, like hanging out at the ticket counter of a concert and not going in. Now they were really in the thick of it. Now they were inside and Chase was struggling to keep his shit together in a big way. When he looked at the women writhing and gyrating on those stages, all he could see was Katie.

  His beautiful sister, sitting underneath table tops with him, playing hide and go seek or reading him a bedtime story. So sweet. She had been so god damn sweet when they were kids and now she was here, working in this place. Suddenly the gravity of the situation hit him and he felt afraid. Could he do this? Could he really see his sister in a place like this after so many years had passed?

  He didn’t want to. Simply put, he didn’t want to do it. He was getting more and more agitated with every step he took, like he was getting a contact high from all of the cocaine that had passed through this place.

  The only thing keeping him cool in any way, shape or form was the feeling of Aubrey by his side. He could feel her heart. He knew that it was calm, that it was strong enough for both of them. Again, he was struck by the magnitude of the connection he had formed with her when he had given his blood to heal her.

  It was hard to say whether or not he would have even done it had he known what it would be, what it would mean. But he had done it and so the connection was there and at the moment, it was his lifeline to sanity. It was a good thing, too, because he could feel his sister here. He could feel her and then he could see her, sitting in a cracked leather booth right in front of them.

  “That her?” Aubrey asked quietly, taking his hand into hers and holding onto it tightly.

  “It is. That’s Katie. Damn, I never saw it being like this.”

  “We can just go, you know? Seriously, Chase, we can turn around and walk out right now and figure something else out. It’s your call.”

  “I appreciate you saying that, but we can’t. This is what we have to do.”

  “OK,” she said without another question, “then let’s go do it.”

  Strong. She was so strong, and in all of the best ways. He was going to buy her a drink, all right, when all of this mess was through. He was going to buy her a whole bunch of them for as long as she wanted his company. He squeezed her hand, taking comfort in the feeling of her soft fingers intertwined with his, and led the two of them forward. He had only gotten them a couple of steps forward before Katie, never once looking up at the two of them, spoke.

  “Brother. It’s about time. Where’ve you been?”

  “Katie, nice to see you, too. And I might very well ask you the same question.”

  “That’s true,” she said, looking up with tears in her eyes, “you might.

  “Hey! Bring us a round, will you, babe? You can put it on my tab.”

  “You’re tab is going to be as high as the national debt if you don’t watch yourself, Kate.”

  “Ha ha, I know. But do it anyway.”

  The guy behind the back bar rolled his eyes, but he moved to make the drinks all the same. Chase grinned and shook his head.

  “What’s so funny, baby brother?”

  “Nothing much.”

  “Nah, don’t think I can’t see you smiling over there.”

  “Nothing, really, Katie. It’s just funny. I see you’re every bit as in charge here as you were when we were growing up.”

  “What he’s trying to say is that I’m very bossy. Don’t let him fool you, though. He’s just jealous.”

  “Ha! Jealous? What would I need to be jealous of you for?”

  “Easy. Because I always got my way.”

  “Well, that’s just not true and we both know it.”

  He hadn’t meant to, but somehow he had cut through all of the levity in the room and gotten down to the gritty substance of what had happened in their family to break it apart. Because she didn’t get her way all of the time, did she? He knew without having to ask that she remembered that showdown with their parents just as well as he did.

  It was branded on them. Just because other people couldn’t see its damage, well, that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. He watched Katie now, unable to look away, afraid that if he did, she would vanish into thin air. He watched her stay silent while the bartender (who now seemed much more interested in looking down Katie’s barely there top than he did in being put out by having to make the free drinks), watched her stare into the drink like she could see the future in it. Finally, after what felt like forever, she looked up at him and spoke.

  “So things must have gotten really bad, then, is that it?”

  “Why do you ask that?”

  “Because, they would have had to for you to be here.”

  “Do you think I haven’t wanted to see you all of this time? Do you think I haven’t thought about you every fucking day since you left?”

  “I didn’t say that, now did I? But I didn’t make things easy and I know it. If you’re here, then things have gotten bad.”

  “Yes.”

  “Like how bad?”

  “We’re being hunted.”

  “And that’s why she’s here. She’s one of them.”

  Now Katie was looking at Aubrey with stormy eyes, and Aubrey in turn was trying to make herself disappear into the booth they were sitting in. There was something about that look of Katie’s that was unnerving.

  Chase guessed that it was the kind of look she had always given, only when they were young it hadn’t seemed like much of anything to him because he saw it all of the time. Now he had to wonder; when she looked at someone like that, what exactly was she seeing?

  For example, how did she know that Aubrey had been “one of them”? There didn’t seem to be any reasonable explanation for her knowing that.

  “Come on, Katie.”

  “Come on what? Is she or isn’t she?”

  “It’s not that simple. She is and she isn’t. She was and now she’s not.”

  “Interesting. I bet he didn’t see that coming.”

  “Who, Katie?” Chase asked with poorly hidden exasperation. “Who are you talking about?”

  “What do you mean, who? I’m talking about the Commander.”

  Chase didn’t really understand a word that was coming out of her mouth and he was about to tell her to cut the cryptic shit and just talk like a person with some semblance of sense in their brain, but the look on Aubrey’s face stopped him cold.

  Hell, it wasn’t even the look. How about the fact that she had spit her drink out all over the table the moment she heard the term 'commander'? This was a bunch
of bullshit, that’s what this was. Was she doing this on purpose?

  Looking at his sister sitting there beside him, Chase knew two things for sure. One was that he still loved her, loved her dearly. The other thing was that he did not know her at all; not any more, anyway. Her face, her skin, her eyes, everything about her looked harder now. How did he know that he could trust her?

  Was she just playing with them the way a cat toyed with its prey? He didn’t know and he was getting to the point where he wasn’t sure he cared to try and wade through all of the bullshit any more. He just needed to know what she knew.