by Nana Malone
I picked up my pace, running alongside him. "I'm so sorry. I don't live to make your life easy."
"That's not what I fucking meant."
"You know what, just shut up."
We bolted through the back of the tavern, surprising one of the servers. East though, was quick with the lie. "Oh, sorry, my girlfriend wasn't feeling well. We went out to the back to see if she could, you know, exhaust it all up. Didn't though. I left my wallet at our table."
The girl nodded mutely. "Yeah, of course. If you don't find it, check with Travis at the bar. Someone might have turned it in already."
East beamed a smile on her, and she flushed deeply.
Yeah, of course, she did. Because why the fuck not? Inside the tavern, it was packed, crowded, with a lot of boisterous revelers. Someone's birthday maybe. It was difficult to get through. We were jostled and bumped. Then a big redheaded bloke wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close. "Ah, sweetheart, how about a kiss? Where are you heading off to?"
East whirled on him with a fury I hadn't seen since that day with Jameson. "Let her go, mate."
The redhead only laughed. "Easy, mate, we're just having a laugh."
East stepped up to him, his voice low and menacing. "Let her go."
Before the beef turned into something too difficult to outrun, I stepped between them. "Okay. All right, easy does it."
One of the redhead’s buddies said, "Chance, the lady decides where she goes, and right now, it's with him."
The Irishman frowned. "Oh, love, you're breaking my heart."
"Sorry to disappoint."
"Well, there's nothing disappointing about you, love."
The look East gave him was pure menace, and he automatically released me. "Just having a laugh. Wow, what's his problem?"
When I was free, I took East's hand again. It was warm and waiting. And it felt like coming home.
Stop it. You're not helping yourself.
I followed quickly behind him, nearly tripping through the clash of bodies. And then the relief of fresh air hit me in the face. I was free. East was tugging me with him. He walked briskly, speaking in a low murmur. "Bridge, have everyone check-in."
Ben swore he'd had a tail, but he'd lost him. Bridge too thought he might have had a tail, but he ditched him easily by hopping in a taxi.
Livy had better luck. She'd met up with Telly, did a girlfriend-hug thing, then ducked into a bar. "Yeah, whoever was tailing me ran right by the bar we were sitting in."
Ben breathed a sigh of relief. "All right, you two stay there."
"Drew. Drew, check in."
It took a long moment for Drew to answer. And when he did, he was out front. "Christ. I was still roaming about through the park. These assholes had me jogging for real. It's not even Tuesday."
Every Tuesday, the four of them tried to get together for a run. East had told me Drew was always finding some excuse to beg off. And just as we were about to duck onto a pathway that would have taken us to the next exit from the park, I saw him. Denning. And he was coming directly toward us. I didn't think he’d noticed us yet because he was busy cursing in his earpiece.
I grabbed East then and kissed him deep. He froze. And somewhere in my mind, I could tell myself that he kissed me back, but I couldn't be sure because as soon as Denning passed us, I pulled back. East’s gaze was lazy at first, and then it sharpened to hyper-focused. "What the—"
"Denning. They’re Interpol."
He muttered under his breath. I thought for a brief moment that we were free, and then I heard Denning's voice behind us. "Hey, you two, what are you doing?"
East wasted no time. He took my hand, and we darted down an alley. There were footsteps behind us, rapidly chasing. God, it felt like Monaco all over again.
Despite our pace, East muttered into the coms, "We're exposed. Denning Sinclair might have seen us. We won't make Long River’s point. We'll make the secondary rendezvous."
Secondary rendezvous. That was his penthouse. We made a sharp left and then another right.
We were along the river, when out of nowhere, a chip flew from a stone by East's head.
I shuddered as I gaped. "Fuck, was that a gunshot? What the fuck are they shooting at us for? They're not authorized."
"Fuck, authorized or not, you need to move your arse."
We made another sharp left down a darkened alley. It was another pathway that allowed people to get from pub to pub on that side of town.
"Jesus Christ."
"Come on, Nyla."
We were both moving as quickly as we could, neither of us willing to slow the other down, but we were still holding on for dear life to each other.
Into the coms, East muttered, "Liv, you and Telly should get out of there as quickly as you can. Get in a cab. Get to the secondary rendezvous. They're shooting."
Ben's curse was loud and clear. "Fucking hell. Who the hell is shooting at you?"
East’s breath came out in heavy pants. "I don't know. Go for the secondary rendezvous."
As we ran, we ducked. Then East pulled me to slow down. "Quick change."
He let go of my hand and we both shed our jackets and turned them inside out. My interior was red. His was a lighter blue. We both zipped up, no longer holding hands. I turned my hat inside out to match my jacket. So now, I had a bright red beanie over me. “I’m going,” I muttered as I made a move to go my own way, but East stopped me.
"Don’t."
"The plan is to go separately and meet at point two, right?"
"I don't like it. We should go together."
I knew what he was saying was only for the purposes of keeping Interpol off our asses. I knew that. But I still couldn't hide the warm rush of emotion it gave me. He didn't want me on my own. I nodded. "Okay."
There was a cluster of people up ahead. A street performer did a beautiful rendition of a song, and a crowd of onlookers settled around. East put an arm around my shoulder, nuzzling me. We moved into the back of the crowd to see if we could scoot around them, but they were too packed in. To my left, my gaze caught Bryant. He was an Interpol agent. We had been through training together.
"Up ahead, on your two o'clock."
East muttered. "Yeah, I see him."
Bryant searched out into the crowd, pushing people aside. There was another sharp crack on the stone above my head, and we ducked toward the crowd around us, So did the Interpol agent as he looked around in panicked surprise, wide eyed.
"I don't think it's Interpol that's shooting at us."
East dragged me into a doorway that had a vestibule just big enough to hide our bodies, and he covered mine with his. "Let's stay here for a minute."
The sounds of police cars in the distance sent the crowd dispersing. Everyone was running. Panicked. East looked down at me. "Breathe. We're going to get out of this."
Then Ben's voice was on the coms. "East exit?"
East muttered. "Yeah, east exit."
With his body, he acted as my shield, gave my hand a squeeze, took a deep breath, and then silently mouthed the words, one, two, and three. On the final number, I ran with him, joining the rest of the crowd. As we hit the east exit, there was a black Range Rover SUV waiting at the curb with Ben behind the wheel. The doors swung open, and East shoved me inside and followed right on my heels. Ben was already moving before the door slammed shut. If Interpol wasn't the one shooting at us, then what the hell was going on?
Chapter 12
East
"Would you hold bloody still?"
Nyla squirmed on the edge of the loo sink. "It's okay, I'm fine."
I glowered at her. "You're not fine. We were just shot at. You’ve got some bumps and scrapes. I’m just trying to make sure you’re okay."
"I'm fine, East."
I didn't even realize she was bleeding until we were in the car. She hadn’t had a direct hit, but must have caught some debris because she have cuts on har arms and on her neck. I hadn’t had time to fuss over her then because I had
to make sure that Ben's SUV was wiped from all the CCTV cameras. It wasn't until we reached my flat that I realized she'd likely been hit by one of the shards of stone caused by a bullet ricocheting off the wall. "Just sit fucking still and let me deal with this."
"Don't order me around. You are not my father."
"No, I'm not. How is the arsehole anyway?"
"I'd rather not talk about it." Then she winced. "Ow."
"An ow from the one who claimed she's just fine?"
"Shut up."
"Gladly if you’ll just stop bleeding all over my loo."
"I didn't ask you to patch me up."
"What, I was just going to toss some gauze and antiseptic at you so you could take care of yourself? Fuck, Nyla."
"Well, can't say you probably didn't think about it."
Okay, fine, there was a part of me that had thought that, but only in terms of self-preservation. That would have kept me from having to touch her and be close enough to inhale her honeysuckle scent. As it was, I was barely standing after being so near her the whole damn night. I was practically crawling out of my skin. God, why did she affect me like this? Why the fuck was I such a goddamn pussy? I couldn't just put her out of my mind.
When she was all cleaned up, I stepped back, threw everything in the trash, and then washed my hands. I avoided her gaze on me. But before I could leave the confines of the loo, she whispered, "Thank you."
I shrugged. "Next time, don't get shot at."
"The last I checked, you were right there with me."
"Do you want to tell me what the fuck Interpol was doing there?"
She blinked at me. "Are you serious right now? I have no fucking clue."
I turned around slowly. "You expect me to believe that you didn't sell us out?"
"Are you insane? I need Theroux. What happened today probably spooked him, and now I have nothing to show for all this bullshit."
"What is he giving you anyway?"
She stared at me. "He said I can be the one to bring him in. He's my ticket out of cold storage."
"And you want me to fucking believe that you wouldn't sell me out to get your ticket out of cold storage?"
"Sorry, but you and your mates are not big enough fish compared to Theroux. Besides, this isn't just about getting back into Interpol for me. With a properly placed apology, I could have that tomorrow. This is about bringing in Theroux. Respect. The kind I've never had before. This has nothing to do with you. I didn't sell you out." She winced as she hopped down. "Have you heard from him yet?"
I shook my head as I grabbed my phone and checked. "He won't be happy."
"The question is, what the fuck was Interpol doing there and who was shooting at us?"
"I don't know, but I have to find out."
Out in my great room, the gang was all there. Drew had gotten a minor graze on his shoulder. "It looks worse than it is. I caught one when I was trying to cover you and Nyla as you left. One of those idiots saw me. I ran from Interpol and then caught the fucking slug. It's fine."
I frowned at him. "Let's call the doc."
He shrugged it off. "I've taken worse."
Ben glanced around the room. "Anyone else injured?"
Liv and Telly were fine. In fact, Telly seemed to think she was having some grand adventure. Bridge was fine, but he kept staring at Nyla. And I didn’t blame him.
Nyla didn't appreciate it though. "Do you have something to say, Mr. Edgerton?"
"No, not much. Except, what was Interpol doing there?"
Nyla sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Jesus Christ, like I told East, I have no idea. And since nothing is ever kept secret between you lot anyway, just so you know, what I’m getting from Theroux is that he agreed that I could be the one to take him in. I had nothing to do with this tonight because I needed it to work as badly as you did."
Livy frowned. "No one's suggesting that you did."
Bridge raised his hands. "Well, actually, I am kind of suggesting exactly that."
Livy scowled at him. "Oh my God, what is with you? It took you a while to come around to me too. She clearly wasn't shooting at herself. That had to be Theroux and his men."
I shook my head then. "But that doesn't make any sense. Theroux needs us. If he's been watching us, and I suggest he has, there have been a dozen times where he could have taken me out easily."
Nyla nodded. "Me too. It doesn't feel like him, and Interpol had no reason to shoot at us. Those were sniper shots. They were high-caliber weapons, and they were silenced. Something else is going on here."
I had to agree with her. "Yeah. As much as I hate to admit it, it doesn't feel like Interpol. This isn't their playbook."
Drew ran a hand through his hair. "Then whose playbook is it? Because I, for one, am tired of being behind the eight ball all the time."
Ben scrubbed his hands over his face. "Okay. Let's just all take it easy. Let's regroup tomorrow at a neutral location. Maybe the restaurant? Call up Lucas and Bryna. We need to get everything we can get on Warlow and Theroux. East, as soon as you hear from Theroux, let us all know."
I nodded. "Yeah, I'm on it."
Nyla inclined her head toward the hall, and I followed her. “So I’m going to go.”
"You should crash here tonight. I don't want you going back to your flat by yourself. Especially not with Denning and his penchant for breaking in."
She laughed. "Oh no. No can do."
"You want to be by yourself? We were just shot at."
"Yeah, and again, I have a license for a concealed firearm. I didn't give it back. I can protect myself. It's fine. You don't need to worry about me."
"I'm not worried about you."
"Oh, that's right. You don't care about me at all. I remember. You made it perfectly clear."
"That’s not what I meant, damn it."
"Um, you know what? I'm too tired for this conversation. I really am. So, let's just forget what happened. I need to soak in a hot bath and catch up on about three days of sleep. The adrenaline coursing through me was more than I had planned on tonight.”
"Nyla…"
"No, I get it, East. Persona non grata. Honestly, I even understand why it has to be like this. I just... I'm tired. God, I am so fucking tired. I want to know who was shooting at me. I want to know why. I want to know what I've done to deserve this. I want to know why Interpol is after me, or Theroux, or whoever the hell it was. I want to know it all. But I'm not going to get answers tonight, so I'm going to go and have a bath then get to bed."
"At least let me get you a car home."
For a moment I thought she was going to argue. But then her shoulders sagged, and she nodded. "Yeah, that would be great."
She looked tired. Worn out. The instinct to hold her hit me hard and strong, and the words tumbled out before I could stop them. “Look, why don't you head to the guest loo to take a bath. My tub is bigger than yours and has jets. You really look like you could use it.”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to call them back. What the hell was I thinking? I was inviting her to strip down naked, in my penthouse. The words my brain couldn't ignore were naked and wet.
How the hell was I supposed to concentrate knowing she was just down the hall wearing nothing?
Walk away mate.
As dumb as I was, as shattered as my mind was, there was no way in the world I expected her to say yes.
“I’m… You know what? I’ll actually take you up on that. Have a good cry in private.”
My brows furrowed and my gaze pinned to hers. “Nyla…”
“Oh relax. I’m only taking the piss. I’m going to have a soak then go home and not wake up for two days.”
What I should have done was walk her to the first guestroom down the hall and show her where everything was. What I did instead was incline my head in the general direction of the loo. “You know the way.”
Her sigh was soft and exhausted. The full weight of the day was evident on her sloped shoulde
rs. “Cheers.”
I swallowed hard, my mind offering up all sorts of images of Nyla naked and wet, with her thighs spread, her fingers under the water on her sweet pussy, taking away some of the tension of the day.
I swayed toward her and had to lock my jaw before I said something truly daft. She smelled so damn good. Her honeysuckle scent made me weak. With a sharp snap of my head, I lurched back. “Brilliant.”
Real loquacious. But still I forced my body around her. One step in front of the other. I could do this. I was walking away. I was choosing sanity. Another step. Wasn’t I a grown up? So impressive.
Except on the third step, when my brain gave the command, I couldn’t follow. With a deep breath I tried to concentrate again.
You’re pussy whipped. You might as well do what you want.
But it wasn’t about what I wanted; it was about what I needed. There was no staying away from her. With a feral growl, I turned around.
East
It was automatic, this need to take care of her, this need to make sure that she was safe and happy and cared for.
Because you are a glutton for punishment.
Son of a bitch.
I had extra towels and a robe for her. When I knocked lightly on the door, Nyla called out, "Yes?"
"I've got a robe for you. Extra towels, too."
"Just a sec." When she opened the door, she already had a towel wrapped around her, and I could smell her skin. With the bath already running and the steam filling the loo, the scent of honeysuckle was strong. Oh God. I could do this. I could hand her this robe and walk away. That part would be easy.
Lies.
I quickly averted my eyes because that was what you were supposed to do. But what I wanted to do was pin my gaze directly to her tits. To the soft swell of skin pushing up over the towel. I knew all it would take was one small shift and I'd be seeing nipple. And if I saw nipple, it was going in my mouth. So there was that.
"Oh, uh, thanks."
Like an idiot, the sound of her wary voice had me automatically shifting my gaze to her.
Rookie mistake.
Her eyes were wide, dragging me into their hazel depths. And Christ, all I wanted to do was lick her. Kiss her. Make her mine. All I wanted to do was sink into her and never come back out.
