by Blue Saffire
“I’m so sorry about your phone. I’ll replace it. I can take you right now to get a new one. No trouble at all,” he says with a smile.
It’s not a creepy smile. Okay, honestly, it is a hot and sinful smile. His straight white teeth could give Nick a run for his money. I shake that thought off and hold my hand out for my broken phone.
“No thank you, I can take care of it,” I say politely.
“You have to at least let me pay for it,” he tries once more.
“No, really, that will be fine,” I place the phone in my bag. “I should have been watching where I was going.”
“I was the one not looking where I was going. I’m sorry. Did you just move in?” he asks looking at the door behind me and furrowing his brows.
“No, I’m visiting a friend. Listen, I need to go. Have a good day,” I say and push pass him to head for the elevator.
“Rick,” he calls from behind me.
I look over my shoulder and wrinkle my brows. “Excuse me,” I say in confusion.
“Rick, my name is Rick,” he says with that smile in place again.
“Oh, okay, nice to meet you Rick,” I call back.
“Nice to meet you too,” he pauses, waiting for me to give him my name.
I just nod and turn to be on my way. Not today Rick, not today. I step onto the elevator and groan to myself as I think of my broken phone. I’m going to have to do something about that. Maybe coming here wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Chapter 2
Past Hurts
Nick
Twenty-one hours after the hotel incident…
California
“She’s not answering her fucking phone,” Luke snaps and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to kill Jillian myself if something happens to my sister.
We have been taking turns calling Sephora’s phone since Luke found out she never arrived in New York. I have been trying to reel in my temper. I need to find her and hold her in my arms before I put her over my knee for doubting me.
In the back of my mind I am plotting my course of action for Jillian. She must think she is untouchable because of who her father is. I don’t need her old man as much as he needs me, so she is sadly mistaken with her false sense of security in her actions.
None of us have left my home, all hoping we find Sephora and get confirmation that she is safe. But this waiting is killing me. I keep thinking that we need to start from the beginning. I should never have left Seattle. I only left because I thought Sephora was on her way to New York.
I figured coming here would bring Lucian to me and he would tell me where in New York she is hiding. I curse myself for not thinking of the fact that Luke would know I would try to find her and would try to throw my team off her trail. My only thought was finding Sephora and understanding what had happened.
Luke arrived just as I thought he would, but neither of us factored in Sephora making a change in the plans. It is so unlike my little butterfly. I try not to believe that someone else caused her change in plans. I force myself to believe that she is not lying somewhere hurt because of me.
“Not if I get to Jillian first,” Mariah hisses from her perch on the loveseat as she rocks the baby. “She is such a psycho.”
“We have to find Sephora,” I say absently as I am pulled from my wandering thoughts. “I can’t lose her. This can’t be happening again.”
The whole room falls silent. I have a feeling Kevin has shared some of my past with Mariah. I don’t mind, she has become like family to me. I know she protects me as much as her husband does.
I feel like I am drowning. All of the memories I try so hard to escape start to come to the surface. The gruesome scene, the betrayal of it all. It is all consuming and I feel myself recede into the depths of the darkness Sephora once led me out of.
“Don’t go there, Nick. We are going to find her,” Luke says through clinched teeth.
“I have something; it isn’t much, but it’s a start. My team was able to get into the airport surveillance. The flight you booked her on left without her. We have Sephora at the gate up until about five minutes before boarding time. She took off. We have her on another camera getting into a cab,” Kevin says as he enters the room.
“So she’s in Seattle?” I say as I shoot out of my seat. Pushing my fingers in my hair. “Fuck, I should have never left.”
“I’ll call for the jet,” Mariah says pulling out her phone.
“I think I know where she is,” I mutter in frustration.
Luke is not going to like this. He isn’t supposed to know where Kimmie is, but I know that is where I will find Sephora. I also know that Luke is not letting me go alone.
“She’s with Kimmie,” I say as I watch Lucian’s face.
For about the third time today, I watch as the blood drains from his face. He nods somberly and runs a hand down his face. I watch as he rocks back and forth in his seat as his eyes become distant. He doesn’t say a word. He just nods again, but I need no words to understand my friend. I already know the hell he is in.
Sephora
“I tried to call you, but your phone has been going to voicemail,” Kimmie pouts.
“Yeah, I ran into your neighbor, literally. My phone became a casualty,” I huff.
“You mean 6G. Oh, he is so fine,” Kimmie grins.
I roll my eyes and laugh. “Whatever,” I snort.
“Seriously, have you seen those eyes. He brought over some mail that belong to me one day. God, he is sexy and smells so good,” Kimmie gushes.
“So what were you calling for?” I ask to change the subject.
“I realized that we need food. I’m all out,” Kimmie pouts.
“Really, how do you not have food,” I ask placing my hands on my hips.
“I got spoiled living with you. Someone was always feeding us or stocking the groceries. I have been busy with work and other things. I forgot to order groceries.”
I burst into laughter. “You only had to order them. Not go out and get them and you still didn’t manage that,” I tease.
“Look, my parents are middle class. They do well enough, but your family takes things to the next level. I can’t help it that our friendship has spoiled me a bit,” Kimmie rolls her eyes and flips her pin straight brown and red weave over her shoulder.
“Whatever,” I roll my eyes and shake my head.
I hand her the pint of chocolate chip ice cream I bought for her and a spoon. I also start in on my own pint of vanilla bean. It almost feels like back in our dorm before life got complicated.
“Oh my God, this ice cream is so good,” Kimmie smirks around her spoon.
“Yup, it is. Now, are we going to keep this up or are we going to start being straight with each other,” I say as I watch Kimmie devour her ice cream.
Her smile falls as she starts to stir the ice cream around with her spoon. She looks at it with disgust, then looks up at me with tears in her eyes. I feel bad now and wish that I at least let her finish her ice cream before I started to dive in.
Kimmie looks up to the ceiling and blows out a breath as the tears start to spill over. I knew things were bad when I first got here and she hugged me extra tight as we sobbed against each other.
Kimmie has always been my rock. The one to slap me out of my funks. I have never seen her like this. Okay, maybe that one time when her mom called to say the family dog died, but even then it wasn’t this bad.
“I love your brother so much,” Kimmie starts through a lump in her throat. “I don’t blame him. I knew better. I think I know Lucian better than anyone else, so what I did was so wrong on so many levels.
“I spent a lot of time on being trained in the life. I have been to all types of meetings and seminars. I have spent money I shouldn’t have on my curiosity. So I know very well how this life works and my role when acting as a sub as well as when I’m a domme.
“It is all about trust. Luke trusted me and I broke that trust,” she pauses and swallows
hard. “There are things about your brother that he has never told you or Ettie. Things he has shared with only me and the crew. I told you before we are all alike. It was why Luke gave in and took a chance on us.
“I can read Luke like the back of my hand. I know him inside and out. It’s the reason I knew he was in that dark place that day. It was the anniversary of your father’s death. Lucian was more brooding than usual.
“I thought…I thought if I could distract him, I could make it better. Any normal woman would have just tried to make love to her man, but I know that wouldn’t be enough for Luke. He wouldn’t be able to shut his mind down with just love making.
“Luke thrives on the act of dominance; on the control it provides him in his life. The more out of control things seem to him the more in depth our play used to get. God, he took me places that night he finally confronted you and Nick,” Kimmie tries to joke with a wobbly smile.
She wipes at her eyes before absently shoving a spoon of ice cream in her mouth. A few seconds go by as if she is trying to gain courage for her next words. I just wait, giving her the time she needs.
“He told me no, but I pushed him. I saw it in his eyes, he didn’t trust himself, but I ignored it. When he caved, he only wanted to do something light, but I knew he would need more to free himself so I insisted on the whip…” Kimmie breaks off when I gasp.
Nick and I have never used a whip. I am wary of anything that will cause me any type of pain and Nick has respected that much. I’ve often eyed them with curiosity but not enough to push to use them. I look at Kimmie as if she has lost her mind.
Kimmie shakes her head. “When done right a whip can be used to bring so much pleasure. You can’t knock it until you try it,” Kimmie says with a weak smile as she absently rubs her arm, as if trying to console herself. She continues. “Everything was fine at first. Luke restrained me on the suspension bar in the same position we’d used dozens of times. Luke has mirrors in his playroom. He likes to watch.”
I groan. Kimmie is always much too detailed with telling stories of her exploits. I want to know what happened, but not to the point that I want to hear so much detail. I frown and Kimmie smirks at me.
She shrugs, “It’s important to the story. The mirrors provided me with a view of Luke’s face. I saw the moment he lost it. The moment he became lost in the past. I should have safe worded right then and there.
“I didn’t. I saw the danger in his eyes. I saw he wasn’t seeing me anymore. I…I thought…I thought that I could handle it. I thought I could take it,” She shakes her head and wipes at her tears. “By the time I come to my senses and whimpered our safe word it was too late.
“Luke was stunned when he came to. I watched his face in the mirror as he looked at my body in horror of what he’d done. I could see he was disgusted with himself. He couldn’t even look at me. He wouldn’t touch me. He called Craig and Nick to help him. Luke knew I’d played with Craig once before, before I knew about him or the guys.
“Craig came and cared for me. Nick arranged the move here and everything with the job,” Kimmie says and looks at me sadly. The tears start to fall again. “He is blaming himself. He sent me away to keep me from himself. I went willingly because I was hurt and broken, but I know it was my mistake. I knew when I reached my limit. I knew how bad it could be.
“Now things are so messed up. I…I,” Kimmie wipes at her nose. Her next words break into the room as a sob. “I’m pregnant. I fucked up so bad Soph.”
My eyes widen and bulge out of my head, my mouth drops open. That is the last thing I thought Kimmie was going to tell me. My eyes drop to her belly and I try to see if I can see the difference.
Kimmie has only been gone for two months. My brain starts to wonder how Lucian is going to feel when he finds out that Kimmie is pregnant. Surely he will want her to come back home. Whatever his demons are he’ll just have to suck it up and deal with his mess.
I shake my head to clear it. My problems seem so small now. I lick my lips as if I can taste the words I am about to say next. This is going to take some finesse.
“Does anyone else know,” I prod.
“No, you are the first person that I’m telling,” she whispers.
“How far along are you?” I ask gently.
“Three months, when Luke finds out that I was already pregnant that night it is only going to make things worse,” Kimmie says on a shaky breath.
“Kim, I understand that things got out of hand that night, but you can’t hide something like this. Lucian deserves to know,” I reply.
“I know. I’m not hiding it from him. He needs time and so did I. I…I want to go home. I’m so lonely here. I’ve only stayed away because I know Luke is not ready to face us, but we don’t know how to stay away from each other. He doesn’t even know where I am.
“The crew has a pack for things like this. They take care of each other and each other’s interests, you can say. Luke asked them to keep me away from him and I agreed to stay away,” she says with a weak shrug.
“Well, I think it is time that an agreement is made null and void. We have to stop running from our problems, Kimmie. We’re going home and we will do this together. If Luke can’t get his shit together, you and I will raise my niece or nephew together,” I say with a sage nod.
Kimmie gives me a watery smile. “I’d like that.”
“Fine, it’s settled. I’ll book us a flight out,” I say and then frown as I remember my broken phone.
“No worries, I’ll call in a favor,” Kimmie sighs heavily and rolls her eyes. “God, the morning sickness is the worst. This is the longest I have gone without my face in the toilet in weeks,” she huffs. “There is no way I’m getting on a commercial flight.”
I laugh. “You think Craig can get us on a flight,” I ask assuming that is who she plans to call.
“Probably, but he said something about flying to Belize this week. I was planning on calling in a favor from Braxton Black,” she shrugs.
“Oh my God, you still talk to Brax and Ry,” I laugh. “You talked about those two for at least three months straight after we ran into them that one time.”
“Soph, when you know guys that hot you never lose contact. Besides, their firm uses some high tech equipment. I was going to apply for a job there before Nick offered me a job at FLI,” Kimmie replies.
At the mention of Nick’s name and work, my heart sinks and my mood turns somber. “So are you going to tell me why you are here,” Kimmie asks as she picks up on my change in mood.
“We’ll have plenty of time on the flight. Let’s go home,” I sigh.
Chapter 3
Crossing Paths
Nick
Twenty-three hours after the hotel incident…
Seattle
“This cannot be happening,” I growl into my palms.
We are in the apartment I secured for Kimmie two months ago. It looks like she packed up and left, which means Sephora is probably with her. This is fucking unbelievable.
“Did you try Kimmie’s phone,” Luke asks uncomfortably.
“It is going to voicemail as well,” I reply in frustration. I flop down on the couch and run my fingers through my hair. “Kev, please tell me you have a hit on one of them. They have to have used a card or something by now. Damnit, I’ll pay extra to have a team just sit on camera footage until they find them.”
“Relax, Nick, we’ll find them. The neighbor confirmed that Sephora was here,” Kevin sighs.
I snort. The neighbor’s tongue almost fell out of his fucking mouth when we presented him a picture of Sephora. I wanted to snap his fucking neck. We now know why Sephora hasn’t been answering her phone. The asshole told us he ran into Sephora and she dropped and smashed her phone.
When I find Sephora I swear I am cuffing her to my fucking bed. My hands shake as anger consumes me. I have been so close to her not once, but twice and missed her. I chide myself again for leaving and going back to Cali.
“What do you wa
nt to do now,” Luke sighs.
I don’t miss the disappointment on his face. Something tells me it is not just because we missed his sister. I watch Luke as he looks over the apartment with longing. Kimmie left the place as neat as it was when I set her up here. The building is another of my properties.
I wanted to make Kimmie as comfortable as possible, especially during her first few weeks here. Luke’s jaw tightens and he runs a hand through his hair. Once again I note that my friend is hurting as much as I am.
“We go home,” I sigh. “This time I am pretty sure that is where they are headed. I’ll have Winston sit on their apartment. He’ll see them when they arrive.”
Sephora
Twenty-three hours after the hotel incident…
En route to Cali
“You know what I miss,” Kimmie sighs beside me on the private jet.
The plane is just as nice as Nick’s. The seats are so welcoming I can feel myself relaxing. I’m not sure what is going to meet us when we get home, but this plush seat is making up for it in advance.
Kimmie called in a favor alright. One call to Brax and he had his family’s jet fueled and sent our way. A smiling Brax and Ry were on the plane when it arrived to pick us up. They are more gorgeous than I remember. You can find yourself lost in their dreamy golden eyes.
Kimmie went to high school with the Black brothers. From what she has told me they are all gorgeous. Can you imagine seven fine as sin brothers all in one high school? Granted Kimmie said Brax and Ry are the youngest, so I don’t believe she went to high school with all of them. I wasn’t much on boys in high school, but they would have earned some drool from me.
“What’s that, Kim,” Ry asks with a sly smile.
“Remember the little parties we would throw in hotel rooms. There were always someone’s parents willing to put up for us to have those little get togethers,” she sighs wistfully.
