The Kindred was built on mutual respect. Sikorski just wanted people to fear him, he wanted to be better than other people, more powerful. Tuck squinted at the man sitting beside him, wondering if he truly believed he might tempt Tuck into working for him. Why an independent contractor such as himself would sign on when he had no debts or addictions that needed to be tended, he couldn’t figure out. Still, if Sikorski wanted to treat him like a king, he’d take it. It would make putting a bullet in the guy so much more satisfying. Taking advantage of him only to screw him over was no less than the perverted tyrant deserved.
The drama in the car had been discounted by Sikorski when he didn’t want to be grateful. The situation had flipped and Sikorski wanted Tuck to think that he was valued. Tuck wasn’t falling for it and from the faint feminine giggle in his ear, neither were Zara or Brodie. Either that or his friends were getting busy, but he doubted they would when he was in the thicket of enemy territory.
“I’m eager to witness your talent,” Sikorski said, as though that was an explanation for why he’d suddenly decided Tuck needed a party to celebrate his bravery in averting disaster in the limo. “Tomorrow will allow us maximum time to explore this union.”
Tuck heard what he said but read between the lines. Staying the night here would be followed by a test, one that would be designed to test his patience before his talent—there hadn’t been a test compiled that he hadn’t aced. Sikorski would want to see what he was capable of, so at some point, Tuck expected a computer to be wheeled out and a command to be given. Except he wasn’t here to hack for the criminal, he was here to tease him with Game Time.
There was no indication that Sikorski understood how apathetic Tuck was to the seeming hospitality. But he’d let the guy go on for as long as he wanted to. Staying here had been discussed by him and his people, he’d rather have walked away, but with Kadie around, he didn’t mind sticking close.
Sikorski was still blathering. “You will have a suite here. Our cook will prepare you anything you wish to eat. I’ll have personal effects brought to your room to make you most comfortable. And, of course, female companionship will be provided.”
He said this like he was offering him a toothbrush. “I prefer my women willing,” Tuck said, because he wasn’t interested in Sikorski’s whole harem, one sole female was his only fascination.
“They will be,” Sikorski said, “willing to do whatever you wish. They will please you, that is guaranteed. We have various women on the grounds tonight, I can have them rounded up while you eat and you can select—”
He didn’t need to see a parade. Staying near Kadie wasn’t as appealing as staying on her and that was what Sikorski was offering tonight. They needed a chance to talk to each other and if she was in his bed then she couldn’t be in anyone else’s. “What about the women with us tonight?” Tuck asked, because if it took being direct then that’s what he’d be.
During their brief interaction tonight, he and Kadie had played it cool. As far as he knew, no one knew they were connected, no one had picked up on their chemistry. Given that she was the first one to approach him at the bar, he could use that initial contact as cover for his specific interest in her.
“Two of my newer additions,” Sikorski said, showing no suspicion on why Tuck had brought them up. “My more experienced—”
Tuck shook his head. “I’m not interested in the bottom of the barrel.” More experienced women, women who had been here longer, had been passed around to every employee and guest. While he wouldn’t be interested in them anyway, he dismissed the offer of women who had more experience under the guise that they were more damaged than fresher merchandise would be.
A grimace crossed Sikorski’s face. “Star speaks with a common tongue,” Sikorski said. “She’s sloppy, and shrill—”
“What about the other one?” Tuck asked, acutely aware that he was playing a dangerous game.
Singling Kadie out gave him the chance to protect her by proximity. But it also betrayed to Sikorski that he had a type, and if his interest in Kadie was used against him, it wouldn’t be a casual fuck they’d be exploiting, it would be the woman he loved. Know it or not, Sikorski already had the weapon in his arsenal that would persuade Tuck to do anything asked of him. Because to save Kadie pain, he would relent in a heartbeat.
“She’s… um…” Sikorski drifted from his sentence and looked past Tuck while he tried to find a single word to explain Kadie. There wasn’t one. Kadie was as complex as a woman could be and it was her ability to throw him a curve ball that kept him interested from the start.
“That’s the one for me,” Tuck said, happy to make it seem he wanted a puzzle. “I want exclusive rights for the duration of our business.” Confident that this wouldn’t be suspicious, Tuck knew that a lot of men didn’t like to share the women they were sampling. Some would get bored and move on to a new one after a few nights, but for those few nights, they wanted to be the woman’s only master.
“She has a temper,” Sikorski said.
Tuck didn’t want to know how Sikorski knew that, or what Kadie had to use her temper for. He also didn’t have to be told about her volatility. Riling Kadie was easy because her fuse was so short. That explosive passion had been his companion for years and throughout them all it had never diminished.
“I like my women to have some fire.” Being more specific, he liked his woman to have fire. Just one. He guessed that tonight he’d get burned by some of her heat, he could pray for it in bed, but it would more likely be her temper he’d test on this night.
“She’ll be prepared, and brought to you,” Sikorski said.
One thing taken care of, he needed another. “I’ll need a computer,” Tuck said, sliding to the front of the couch and watching wariness overcome Sikorski. Him with a computer, after what he’d just confessed to being capable of, Tuck didn’t blame the guy for being reluctant.
“I don’t—”
“I can’t offer you reassurances,” Tuck said, being honest, but not backing down. “It doesn’t matter what condition the thing is in. I’ll admit if I wanted to, I could do damage.” Because it would insult both of their intelligences for Tuck to play down his ability, he was direct. “But right now that wouldn’t serve either of us. Attacking you from inside when I’m alone is beyond risky. I can do my work from a thousand miles away, why would I attack you from your own house?” He wasn’t alone and it might be fun to poke the guy from inside his safe, little bubble. But he wouldn’t, Kadie’s presence made him more careful. “You can have it back tomorrow.”
Sikorski wasn’t convinced. “I really don’t think…”
It didn’t matter what Sikorski gave him, so long as he gave him something. “Fine,” Tuck said. “Have you got a phone? A tablet? Anything with Wi-Fi or a hard line?”
“Who do you need to contact?”
Tuck stood up and straightened his jeans. “My computer,” he said. “Do you think a man like me wouldn’t have a dozen contingencies? If it doesn’t receive my signal…”
“What?” Sikorski said, leaping to his feet.
It wasn’t like him, but Tuck enjoyed panicking the man who was exploiting his ex. “Why don’t we wait and find out?” Tuck said with steel in his voice to remind Sikorski that he was still dangerous, even if he was playing nice in this minute.
Sikorski conceded a nod. “I’ll have it brought to you.”
“I also want all recording devices removed from my room,” Tuck said.
Insult made the Russian’s mouth fall open, but Tuck wasn’t fooled by the innocent act. “I don’t know what—”
“I’ve been in this game a long time,” Tuck said. “I wasn’t born yesterday.”
In the technology age, everyone was monitored almost everywhere they went. Even McCormack Manor, the Kindred base, one of the most secure and mysterious buildings on the planet, was covered from various angles by cameras and recording equipment. He knew because he’d placed most of them himself. “Yes, but—”<
br />
“I’ll find them if you don’t,” Tuck said, making his opponent believe that he had nothing to lose and no patience for being dicked around. “Then I’ll take my business elsewhere. Don’t insult me.”
His expression cleared. “I’ll see to it.”
“Make sure that you do.”
Sikorski nodded again and went for the door, he disappeared and Tuck was left alone. He had been at this game a long time, all of this was going through the motions, posturing, the same old song and dance. Except his woman was in this house somewhere, hurt, possibly being subjected to… it didn’t bear thinking about.
Keeping Kadie out of the Kindred and away from this part of his life protected her, but it protected him too. The stakes had never been higher and so much about Raven’s relationship with Swallow became clearer. Having your woman in the field clouded your vision.
All the training in the world didn’t prepare him for this and planning was impossible when he had no idea how the scenario would play out if anyone ever found out what she meant to him. If Kadie ended up in the line of fire, all bets were off and that could mean disappointing the Kindred, something he’d vowed to never do.
Until she was in his arms, he’d be tense. Coercing her into playing along might be difficult if he had to withhold some of his own answers. Whatever he did, it would be to protect her. He just had to pray she’d be willing to see it that way because whatever had happened between their break-up and now, Kadie wasn’t as pliant as she once was, nor as forgiving, but he only had himself to blame for making her what she was and putting her here, and it was his job to get her out, no matter what it cost him.
THIRTEEN
Kadie didn’t know how he had swung it, she didn’t even know why he had bothered, but she found herself being escorted to the suite that Tuck was apparently in. When they reached the wide double doors, the guard knocked and opened the door, stopping just short of shoving her inside.
The room was dominated by the huge four poster bed on the facing wall. A long desk stood under the side window next to the door for the large en-suite. Another two doors led off on the other side of the room. Tuck stood beside the window and looked up when she entered. Clocking her, he tossed the black device he was fiddling with to the desk, then strode to the end of the bed with the audacity to be wearing a faint smile.
“What do you want?” she asked his sock clad feet, clutching her bag in front of her.
Trussed up like a Barbie, her hair had been teased and fluffed into a high up-do. Uncomfortable bones from the corset she wore dug into her ribs but they succeeded in spilling her breasts over the top of the siren-red, strapless leather dress she wore.
She felt like an idiot. She’d never dressed up for Tuck like this. Throughout their relationship there were times they played games and she had plenty of nice lingerie, but he’d never asked her to don anything like this and she was disgusted that he might have requested her to gussy up like this through Sikorski.
“If I told you to stand on one leg and bark like a dog, would you do it?”
Glaring up at him, she quelled her desire to scream. “I might,” she snapped, resenting his enjoyment of her embarrassment. “But you’d only enjoy it long enough for me to come over there and bash in your skull.”
“Temper, temper,” he tutted, how could he be enjoying this? He didn’t even want to have sex with her, he’d refused her in the motel and not much had changed since then. She couldn’t fathom his motive for calling her here to his room, dressed like some Vegas hooker, just to jeer her. “Come here.”
Narrowing her eyes, she tried to see into him because he was softer and the smile was gone. “Why?”
“Come on, Toots,” he murmured, so quietly it was almost like he was talking to himself, as if she wasn’t actually here. Pleading with a gentle whisper meant to soothe her and convince him that they were actually together here. “Please.”
Tossing her bag down, she took a step toward him. “I’m here for whatever you need,” she said. “Nic—”
“Don’t say his name,” Tuck interrupted. “This is us, just us here. If I’d lost you tonight—”
“You saved me tonight,” she said. “You saved us all.”
It was difficult to be too grateful given that his people were the ones who had endangered them. But she couldn’t’ ignore the risk he’d taken by allowing himself to be put into that position and no matter how they got there, he had been the one to get them out of the situation.
The tick in his jaw reminded her of how he hated to be dubbed a hero. Changing the subject was his way of preventing her from gushing too much about his bravery. “This is a dangerous place. You keep very dangerous company.”
“How did you do this?” she asked, taking another step.
His ability with computers was undoubtable, but she’d had no idea that he and his crew were capable of subterfuge like this. By working together, they’d orchestrated the limo accident, which got Tuck here and by another miracle, he’d managed to persuade Sikorski into letting her stay the night with him. She supposed Tuck might have been honest and just said that he wanted to keep her away from danger, which was the only reason she could guess as to why she was here.
“It wasn’t that difficult,” Tuck said, uncomfortable in a way that made her want to ask more questions.
“Why am I here?” she asked, curious about what else she didn’t know he could do. “I mean what… how did you…?”
“Shh,” he said, holding his hand out to her. “Come here.”
Moistening her lips, she crossed to eliminate the last of the space between them. He took her face in his hands to lift her gaze from his chest to his eyes. “I want to hold you,” he said. “For a minute, or the rest of the night, your choice. I want to just start over, can we do that?”
Erase the last six years of their life, no they couldn’t do that. Forgetting the last couple of days might be easier, but it wouldn’t change anything. “No,” she said. “You can’t erase this, not any of it. Our history is what makes us who we are.”
Tuck might have been through trauma of his own and his meeting with Sikorski couldn’t be easy, but she couldn’t be picked up and put down, not anymore. “I don’t want to erase us,” he said. “I want to forget all the shit for a minute, forget that you’re here in trouble and that I have no idea how to persuade you to come with me. I want to forget the fear on your face in that car. Will you let me hold you?”
So it was comfort he wanted and she had to admit that she wasn’t averse to the idea of a little TLC herself. “He’ll be watching,” she whispered.
They had to be aware of eyes everywhere in this place. The building itself wasn’t that old, but it felt haunted, like someone was always looking over shoulders and listening in. The hallways were monitored, even bedrooms were bugged. There was no privacy in this place.
Though his smile should be familiar to her, his confidence made her cautious. Her uneasiness wasn’t mirrored by his. Feeling vulnerable while under surveillance must be foreign to him. “Me? With my gadgets? Do you think I’d share you?”
Reminded of the device he’d been fiddling with when she came in, she guessed he’d already checked the place for bugs. He wouldn’t appreciate her questioning how thorough he was, but he wasn’t the one who would have to stick around here when this was over.
“I don’t know what—”
He sank a hand against her styled hair. “You’re mine,” he said. “Exclusively. We can talk freely, I told him to take out the bugs and the cameras. I checked it out myself too.”
“If you’re wrong…” The potential information Sikorski could gather about them and their relationship could damage them both.
“I’m never wrong,” he said. “And I don’t care if he watches. I don’t care if he knows. You’re mine.”
Getting Sikorski to agree to that must have taken some negotiation. Only the most influential of associates got to pick a girl and tag them as their own, according to wha
t the other girls had told her. So far, she’d been spared that particular pleasure, but keeping to herself had kept her safe.
If Tuck had to give something up for Sikorski in order to get her here, Kadie had to know what it was. “How did you get him to agree to—”
“I’m not talking about any agreement,” Tuck said, opening his fingers to drive them deeper. “This is me talking to you and I’m telling you. You’re mine.”
He’d said that several times already and she still didn’t get what he meant by it. Had Sikorski sold her to Tuck? If he had then she’d have to fight it, not because she wanted to be here with Sikorski or away from Tuck, but because she hadn’t done what she came here to do. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
He took a breath and widened his stance which nestled their hips closer. “When I left I thought I was saving you from me.”
Addressing their relationship breakdown here was either very smart or very stupid. They couldn’t row like a long-term couple and she couldn’t storm out on the man she was supposed to be pleasing for her boss. But for nine months she’d wanted to know what had caused him to turn his back on her and now she was getting the chance to find out. “Saving me?”
“Except,” he said. “That left no one to save you from yourself.”
Oh, that made her feel like a burden again, like the naughty child who’d gone too far. True as that might be, she didn’t want to be deadweight around his neck slowing him down. “I don’t need saving,” she said, trying to move away but he kept hold of her and wouldn’t let her go.
“You have a story,” he said, and she read how calm he was. “I don’t know what you’ve been through. But I want to know.”
Swift (Kindred Book 4) Page 15
