A safe life with Dempsey, was that Tuck’s plan? Shipping her back to the business she’d abandoned would return them to their previous state. Except now that she’d been a part of it, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to go back.
Curiosity about these strangers was growing. But she hadn’t stopped to take much time to think about what they knew of her. If Tuck had told Zara that she was innocent of this stuff, that suggested she’d come up in conversation.
Zara’s interactions with the men were certainly the most intriguing. She knew how to work them all and could get each of them to give in to her. Kadie had seen it throughout the night she’d spent with the team. From Caine handing her the remote and Raven giving her the last slice of pizza, Zara knew how to get what she wanted from them. Tuck obviously cared for her too, and there was something deep between the pair that Kadie couldn’t decipher yet.
That exact observation was showcased when Zara shuffled her chair over and grabbed Tuck’s arm, yanking him so that he leaned toward her. Kadie read his expression as Zara whispered in his ear, her plump lips just half an inch from the ear of the man Kadie loved. Tuck went from loose, to a frown, then a brow moved, and he exhaled when Zara sat back, still clutching his arm, waiting with an expectant expression.
“You actually need me to come with you?” Tuck asked her, and Zara just bobbed her brows. “Ok.” He got up, grabbed keys from the middle of the table, and looked at her. “I’ll be back soon. Do what Raven tells you. Everything Raven tells you.”
Everything. That was unnerving. Getting over her initial intimidation was taking time, but she didn’t want to beg Tuck to stay. Staying with Sikorski had taught her the value of exuding confidence, even when anxiety was all that was holding her together.
“He’s low maintenance,” Zara said, following Tuck to the door. “He won’t tell you to do anything unless it involves revealing your most intimate secrets and betraying everything you’ve held dear in your life.”
Tuck unhooked the alarm system before glancing back and giving Zara a shove. “She’s kidding, Toots, just sit tight.”
They departed and the sound of a motorcycle engine roared outside. Caine was the one who got up to reset the alarm, but Raven got there first. “Sit your ass down,” Raven said, and the men faced off for a few tense seconds that made Kadie wonder if Tuck had left her alone with the most dangerous elements of the current scenario.
“He’s insecure,” Caine said, driving his shoulder into Raven’s in a hostile shove as he passed to come in her direction. Raven set the alarm, and she stayed utterly still as Caine came over to sit on the bed beside her extended legs. “He knows I’ve got the right to even the score, making Swallow fair game.”
“In your dreams,” Raven said, returning to the table to continue his cleaning.
When the room had been full, Kadie had been ok with Raven not facing her, it gave her the chance to examine his movements without him catching her at it or observing hers. With Caine this close, she’d prefer it if Raven had her in his eye line. Intimidated or not, Tuck trusted Raven, he called him his best friend. Zara loved him. If anyone in this room was going to protect her, it was him.
“Raven’s in charge here, isn’t he?” she asked out of curiosity, but Caine bristled. “If you hate him so much, why are you here?”
“Because he has nowhere else to go,” Raven declared, without bothering to offer more than words. “The fucking loser dedicated himself to a woman and a job that got him this close to dead. He’s Zara’s puppy. Her pet project.”
“I’m no one’s project,” Caine said.
Raven shook his head and Kadie thought she heard a brief laugh. “Then why the fuck are you here, Caine? Still wanna suck my cock, is that it? ‘Cause sorry to tell you, that position’s been filled. It ain’t ever gonna happen.”
This wasn’t good. Tension ratcheted higher and Caine surged to his feet. Raven was up and halfway over to them before Kadie saw him move. She didn’t know who hit first, all she remembered was the sound of the table splintering when the men crashed together on top of it. For protection, she scrambled backwards off the bed, moving it enough to allow her to fit between it and the wall.
One man hit the other after they pounced back to their feet. One lunged left, the other grabbed fabric that ripped, and they both stumbled. Everything that had been on the table was scattered, being stomped and kicked without consideration as they pummeled each other.
The two of them fell to the floor. Raven landed on top of Caine, he punched again and again. Caine fumbled for a knife and swiped it around, catching Raven across the shoulder, and he seized the opportunity to roll Raven to his back.
The table was flat on the floor, the legs broken, another casualty of this brawl. With every kick and thrust of the men, the equipment was spread further and damaged more. Caine punched and blood spurted across the broken laptop nearest Raven’s face.
With a twist of his legs and superior strength, Raven got Caine off him. Before one could gain an advantage, Raven whipped a weapon from somewhere behind him and swung it around to land the barrel between Caine’s brows.
Their huffs and pants were as fueled by anger as they were by exertion. Kadie held her breath, clutching the edge of the mattress to just peek over it. “Do it,” Caine said, wiping a hand over his bloody mouth. “Years you’ve been waiting to pull that trigger. Do it.”
Raven cocked the gun and she believed he was going to shoot. The men were in profile to her, showcasing the rage on Raven’s face. But, Caine was loose, like he couldn’t care less how this moment ended.
“Worried about what your woman will say?” Caine asked, shifting to his knees and pushing closer. “Fuck her. Pull the fucking trigger, chickenshit. Not even you can miss this shot.”
“I could take you out from three blocks away,” Brodie growled.
Caine sneered. “Bullshit. My aim drunk is better than your aim sober.”
“You’re full of shit.”
“Prove it. Pull the fucking trigger.”
Raven’s lips narrowed, he squeezed them tight and a growl of frustration sounded but stayed lodged in his mouth.
“You owe me,” Caine said, a perverse smile that made her think of evil twisted his lips. “Your girl saved the day ‘cause of me.”
Raven bowed, shifting the gun to Caine’s throat so he could get in his face. “My girl nearly died because you sent her there.”
“I gave her the information, not my call what she did with it,” Caine said, slumping back to pull his cigarettes from his pocket. The gun was still trained on him, Raven could end his life in a flash, still, Caine didn’t muster any attempt to ask for mercy. “You didn’t pick up your fucking phone.”
There was more to that statement, something deeper behind it. She could tell from the way Raven tensed that Caine wasn’t the sole source of his torture. “You’re here because you fit right in with scum like Sikorski,” Raven snarled. “You’re not Kindred.”
“Wouldn’t want to be,” Caine said, tilting his head after lighting his smoke. “Long as you trust your lady, we don’t have a problem.”
Zara wouldn’t cheat on Raven, so Caine could make all the plays that he liked. Innuendo wasn’t going to be enough to tempt Zara away. Caine enjoyed playing with Raven. Kadie didn’t understand it. Holding the tiger by the tail was bound to end bad for him. But if what she’d just seen was any indicator, Caine didn’t fear death.
Caine took a long, slow draw on his smoke. “Course she’ll be less likely to trust you now that you’ve made such a good impression on your newest member.”
Caine’s eyes trailed over to her and Raven’s followed not too long afterwards. So they did remember that she was here. The three of them stayed quiet. She couldn’t claim that she wouldn’t tell the other two what had happened because the place was a mess. They were going to find out.
“Are you finished?” Kadie asked the men.
Unhappy as he was about it, Raven released the hammer of his
gun and dug it into his waistband then stood up. Bending over, he grabbed Caine and hauled him onto his feet. “We’re getting this place cleaned up.”
“She’s still going to kick your ass,” Caine said, holding the cigarette in his lips as he picked up the chair that had skidded away to the couch.
“No more fighting,” Kadie said, standing up and creeping around the end of the bed.
Raven’s hand went to the back of his head as he observed the mess they’d made. Crouching to pick up the pieces of the weapon he’d been cleaning, he tossed them to the bed she’d been on. “Get rid of the table,” Raven said to Caine who began to pick up the broken pieces. “Take the truck.”
“Want me to rustle up a new one?” Caine asked, shifting the heavy slabs of the top surface up to lean them on the wall by the door. The table-top was heavy, but the fold-away legs weren’t sturdy at all.
“No,” Raven said. “We’re gonna be heading out soon.” Picking up one broken laptop, he pushed the other with it. “Swift’s gonna take this hard.”
Drawn in by the whisper of apology in his voice, she went over to kneel beside him. “If you give me a phone I’ll call him, break the news gently.”
His computers were like his children. To anyone else, they might all look the same, but to Tuck, they each had their own personalities, their own strengths and weaknesses. Only certain ones were allowed to be touched by others, even in their life together she’d learned how he valued them. At least she knew now that one part of his personality was the same no matter where he was or who he was with.
Caine was gone. She hadn’t seen him since he’d taken the pieces of table out of the room. When Kadie had called and told Tuck that his computers were gone, he panicked, not for the electronics, but for her. He started spouting instructions about staying with Raven, keeping her head low, doing as she was told. It took a minute to calm him down and explain that no external threat had caused the damage.
The terrifying performance could’ve ended worse than it did. She could’ve found herself dealing directly with a deceased Raven victim, not his first maybe, but it would be the first time she’d been involved in disposing of a body.
With the adrenaline dwindling, she was exhilarated. These powerful men could spin on a dime and it would be worth always remembering that. But now she was a part of the team. Those vigilant men had turned their backs on her to beat on each other and in doing that had revealed so much about themselves and their relationship.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed with a shirtless Raven when the door opened to reveal Zara and Tuck. Raven’s hand was on his weapon, which lay by his thigh. They hadn’t bothered to reset the alarm after Caine left the room, so he was prepared to respond to threats, which Tuck and Zara were not.
Taking gauze from the open first-aid kit, Kadie paused before cutting a strip when Zara marched over with a face full of ire. “What the fuck did you do?” Zara demanded, sparing a brief glance at the shoulder cut Kadie had just cleaned out.
“Sit your ass down, Swallow,” Raven said. The patience he’d had while she treated him was gone.
“I told you not to fight with him,” Zara said. Kadie gasped when Zara thrust a fingernail into the slash on his shoulder. Raven hissed when she twisted it. “Is that what you want, beau? You want pain? I can give you pain.”
Instinct made Kadie snatch Zara’s finger to pull it away. Tuck swooped in to get hold of her and drew her back. “She’s hurting him,” Kadie said, stumbling as he directed her to the opposite bed.
“Let them worry about them, are you ok? I can’t believe they got in a fight when you were—”
“It’s ok,” she said, shifting down the bed away from him. “Yeah, it was unexpected but, hey, they’re physical guys who have beef. I’ve seen plenty of fights.”
When she was a kid, fights were a part of her daily life. “They should’ve kept it together while you were here.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head and taking his hand when he tried to touch her face.
Zara shoved Raven and he snatched her hips, hauling her down into his lap where, despite her slapping protests, he kissed Zara hard.
“No?” Tuck asked, but Kadie was still distracted by the other couple in the room.
“I wasn’t in any danger,” Kadie said, watching Zara loosen and sink her hands into her lover’s hair to relish their kiss. “They had to get it out.” At least it wasn’t as awkward in the room after the guys had vented some of their pent-up friction.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked when he tried to sidle closer and she slid away again. “You won’t sit still. You won’t look at me. Are you pissed I left you? I won’t do it again if—”
“I don’t want to go back to Dempsey,” she said, forcing herself to look at him.
Since helping Raven put the room back together and carrying table legs out with Caine, she had decided. This was where she wanted to be: dealing with the mess and the missions of the Kindred. Their bond was undeniable, they were closer to Tuck than she was and she couldn’t love him all the way, not until he proved he trusted her enough to take her into battle with him.
Grasping his wrist when he tried to soothe her cheek, she straightened, taking his hands to her lap. “We can talk about that—”
“I don’t want to talk about it. I’m telling you. I’ve made my decision. I’m not going anywhere. You want to send me back to him because you think that it will be safer. I don’t want to be apart from you anymore. I don’t want you keeping me separate, or innocent of this.”
He squirmed. “Zara should never have said—”
“I like that you talked about me. It would’ve been better if you’d talked to me about them. But you didn’t. Telling them who I was, it made me real in this part of your life, even if I didn’t know anything about it.”
“I didn’t say anything bad,” he said and when he smiled, she let him have his hands back so he could grasp her face.
When he leaned in, she tried to lean back, but found herself pressed into the headboard, thus unable to avoid his kiss. Tuck didn’t restrain himself. Pulling her body to his, he opened her lips with his tongue and the weight of it tested and coerced hers. She couldn’t stay rigid while his mouth tormented her hormones, so she melted against him. The immediate impulse of her body to yield to his was unstoppable.
One of his arms insinuated itself under her thighs and he brought them up onto his lap. The bulge at his groin made her pull back. Raven and Zara were in the room, so it seemed sort of wrong that Tuck should be having this reaction to her when there was an audience.
“They don’t care,” he said, reading her mind and threading his fingers through her hair to join their mouths again.
She couldn’t deny that when she twisted to observe that couple enjoying a tug of war kiss that included Raven’s hands under Zara’s skirt. The door opened again and Caine came in, coming to a stop, he folded his arms. Both couples parted to look at his scowl but no one said a word. He spun around and walked straight back out, closing the door behind him.
Kadie made eye contact with Zara. “Do you think he’s coming back?” Kadie asked.
Zara shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“No one cares,” Raven grumbled, earning himself another shove from Zara. Seizing her in his arms, he squeezed her tight. “You gonna tell me you care about him? The guy held you at gunpoint. He threatened you. Cornered you in an alley. Why are you so hell-bent on me giving him a break?”
“Because he was used,” Zara said, not shrinking despite her lover’s annoyance. “Because that woman tormented him, made him believe in something that wasn’t true. She humiliated him for her own ends.” Opening her hands on his shoulders, she curled her nails into him. “Besides, I can understand how someone can be obsessed with you. I’m addicted. I’d follow your every move across the world, watch every breath you took. Only difference is, I keep you to myself, Caine shared you.” She scrunched her face and then licked his lip. “I don�
��t do that.”
Raven’s hands splayed flat on her back. “You can suck my cock any day of the week.”
Kadie got what he meant. He’d told Caine that he couldn’t have that privilege, Zara could. Zara was perplexed, but went with it. “Thank you, beau,” she said. “It’s an honor.”
Tuck let his linked hands rest on her hip. “You need to tell us everything about Howie, Toots. Everything you know about where he is and what he’s doing for Sikorski. Pinpointing his location before we go in is the only way we can guarantee to get him out. But he has to be there.”
And in Sikorski’s place, there was always the chance of last minute jobs or trips. She’d be honest about that and about everything else she’d learned while she was living there. Being one of the girls, she could move more freely about the place than these strangers could. Kadie would insist on going back with him and with Zara. After they liberated Howie, she’d do whatever she could to help the Kindred complete their plan, if they’d trust her with it.
TWENTY-TWO
“Somebody’s screwing around.”
Phoning Sikorski was better than going back to that house, and it was nice to hear the guy shocked. “Who…? Who is this?” Sikorski stuttered over the line of his own personal cell phone.
The choice had been made for him to leave the motel to make the call. In the unlikely event that Sikorski could trace the origin, they didn’t want to lead him back to the place Kindred had set up base. They could move, but this was easier.
So he was in the parking lot of the bar he’d met Sikorski in, Hell’s Waiting Room, without any intention of going inside. Far as he was concerned, this was as close as he’d ever like to get again to the room where he’d seen Kadie come so close to being violated.
“Swift,” he answered, because this would screw with the guy’s head enough and playing games wasn’t the point of making this connection. “And you’ve been playing dirty.”
Quickly getting himself composed, Sikorski’s tone went deep. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Swift (Kindred Book 4) Page 24
