by Riley Ashby
I pushed myself into him with an involuntary moan, pushing my tongue past his lips and finally kissing him for once instead of the other way around. He slid his hands around my neck, cradling my head tenderly as he let me take what I needed from him.
My fingers splayed against his chest as he pulled back, still holding me as he gazed down at me.
“Why can’t you look at me without shame?”
He pressed his forehead against mine, tracing his thumbs across my cheeks.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever get over the guilt of taking advantage of you. No matter how much you try to convince me that what I’m doing is okay. I keep going over my crimes—I should be in jail for taking the bribes, but I got off because of my relationship with my superiors. I lied about where the money went. I took advantage of you when you were at your most fragile.”
I let my hands drift around his waist and up his back.
“It didn’t feel like you were taking advantage of me when I sucked your dick yesterday morning.”
As if on cue, the front of his pants twitched against my legs. I couldn’t help the wicked grin that stole across my face.
It fled a second later at the shadow passing over his eyes. His hands slid around my back to my ass, and he lifted me, forcing me to throw my legs around his waist.
“You sure like to carry me,” I muttered as he spun us around, pressing me against the wall.
“You’re so small,” he murmured, running his lips up my neck. His beard tickled the sensitive skin, and I giggled. Letting the wall support my back, he slid his hands through my hair.
“How was yoga?”
“It was fine,” I muttered, “but I don’t want to do that anymore. I’ll stay with you.”
“As much as I would love that, I still have enough sense to tell you that’s a bad idea. We both need to be around other people. I’ve let my friendship with Castel slip, and you need to be able to talk to someone besides me. Vail knows what you’ve been through. There’s going to come a time when you don’t want to talk to me.”
I shook my head. “No, you’re wrong. We just need each other. We can find out who’s stalking me, and we’ll go back to the apartment.”
He kissed me. “I’ve enjoyed keeping you to myself, but we can’t be like this forever. We already know it won’t be like this forever.”
It can be. It will be. I’ll make you see it.
He stepped back from the wall, and I reluctantly let my legs fall to the floor.
“Case in point, we have to find out who’s been sending you these letters. You’re not safe until we find out who it is and what they want. And I’m going to question that asshole in the basement until I find out.”
She was so troublesome, the way she seemed to know what I was thinking when I was still so unsure myself. I’d spent weeks tamping down my attraction, intent on keeping her at arm’s length as much as possible. Then I told myself I could give in if it meant she stayed in line. But she hadn’t stayed in line, and I was still bending over backward to please her and keep her calm.
She didn’t want me to go back to the East Coast.
Even worse, I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave.
*
I made her promise she would call one of the other women if she wanted to leave her room, and then I returned to the office to fetch Castel and Ellery.
“I want to talk to that asshole,” I said. Both of them jumped to their feet immediately. I knew Ellery had personally tortured people while he was looking for his sister, and Castel had the same training and sense of justice I did. They were itching to get their hands dirty.
The irritation Castel had been harboring toward me flowed away, a grin replacing his scowl as he cracked his knuckles. “Let’s go see how he’s feeling, then.”
Ellery led us through his maze of a house to a door hidden behind a curtain hanging off the kitchen. I never would have thought to check behind there if he hadn’t brought us, which only added to the ominous mystery behind what we were doing. Ellery might be above ground in his business, but he was smart enough to be prepared for every eventuality—including needing to securely store a would-be kidnapper in his basement.
The man had woken up the night before as Castel dragged him downstairs and had screamed himself raw all night. This basement—more of a cellar—was so far below ground, however, that we hadn’t heard a peep from him. Only the cameras trained on his bound figure told us about his complaining.
He was sitting on the ground against a pole with hands bound behind him with a zip tie. I crouched in front of him with a bottle of water.
“Thirsty?”
He didn’t answer, but his eyes kept flicking back to the water. Slowly, he leaned forward, seeking the lip of the bottle. I just let his mouth touch it before dumping the entire contents over his head. He hissed as the dried blood and sweat ran into his eyes.
“Are you ready to talk to me about who sent you after Josie?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know anything. I got the assignment online. They said it would be a joke.”
“I’m sure. That’s why we’re just hearing about it now.”
My cue came as Castel’s footsteps sounded behind me, and I stood and turned away. I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, looking unshaved and unkempt, but Castel was in a suit and tie with impeccably polished shoes. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the man’s face gently, clearing away some of the grime.
“My buddy here is kind of a dick, but I assure you we just want to make sure the girl is safe. If you can tell us the truth about who sent you after him, we can get you out of here today. On a plane to the other side of the country if you want. Whoever paid you will never be able to find you, and you can have a normal life. But we can’t do that unless you tell us what we want to know.”
Ellery watched us work with amused detachment. He and Castel had worked out their own process for extracting information when they were hunting Chase Reilly, but Castel and I had practiced this routine dozens of times, and it always worked. Only now, without the government breathing down our necks, we were free to tweak it a bit.
“I’m telling you the truth, man. We got some info from my boss, telling us to pick up a short girl with curly brown hair who would be waiting outside that building. That was it.”
As he spoke, I drifted around the side of our captive to his back. He twisted, trying to keep an eye on me, but Castel grabbed his face and pulled him back to front.
“Surely, they told you to take her somewhere.”
He shook his head. “We were supposed to get instructions once we had her.”
I slammed my foot down on the man’s hands, still bound against the pole. He groaned, and blood seeped out from below the zip ties. His fingers were purple.
Dropping to my heels once more, I whispered in the man’s ear, “You’re full of shit.”
He thrashed wildly, and Castel shot me a glare. “Back off, okay? You’re not helping.”
I turned and walked away while Castel spoke softly to the man.
“Look, we know these aren’t very well-organized operations. You heard something, even if you weren’t supposed to. And that’s what you need to tell us.”
The guy sighed. “It’s her sister, okay?”
I snapped my head up; Ellery had suddenly straightened from where he was leaning against the wall. Castel’s face lost all traces of camaraderie.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean her sister is the one who asked us to snatch her. She said it was for a bachelorette party, but … I knew that was bullshit. That girl looked so scared of me, even before we did anything. I knew she’d been through some shit. Her sister told me to grab her, then text confirmation, and she’d tell us where to take her.”
“And she said it was her sister?” Ellery asked.
“No, I guessed it. They gave me a photo, and she looks exactly like the woman who hired us. I figured they must be related.”
I shoved Castel
out of the way and put my face close to our captive’s. “We need to know how she contacted you. What days, the phone numbers, where you met.”
He nodded vigorously. “For sure, for sure. And then I can go?”
Ellery laughed. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying right here in LA where I can keep an eye on you. If I find out you put one toe out of line and decide to start stealing people again to make a little extra cash, we won’t bother with an interrogation. I’ll kill you myself.”
The man stared at us slack-faced.
“Spill,” I told him.
He did.
I washed my hands as soon as we got upstairs, eager to get that man’s grime off me. I was relieved to have some information at last.
“What are you going to do next?”
For the first time in days, Castel wasn’t giving me a death glare. He looked as worked up as I was, pupils wider than they should be and a definite glow to his skin. As much as he hated to admit it, he enjoyed eking information out of a suspect by any means necessary. Being off the grid with Ellery while they were searching for Vail had given him the opportunity to flex those muscles a little bit, and he clearly enjoyed it.
“I need to talk to the sister and figure out what her deal is, why she wouldn’t come talk to Josie herself. She’s clearly been following her movements, so why the weird letters? Why try to make her think it was the ex-boyfriend?”
Ellery was re-knotting his tie, which he had taken off before we went downstairs. “Maybe she was trying to make you jealous.”
I scowled. That had worked, but I didn’t want him to know that.
“I need to go talk to Josie. And by the way, let’s keep this information to ourselves for now.”
Ellery sighed. “I’ll keep my mouth shut, but that’s not a good idea. You need to be up front with her about this so she can process it. Otherwise she’s going to end up blaming you.”
“She’s not going to blame me for her sister stalking and harassing her. That’s ridiculous.”
“He’s not wrong,” Castel said. “It’s always a bad idea to keep things from your woman.” He frowned. “If she is your woman.”
I could not keep having this conversation with him. “Are we having another family meal for dinner?”
Ellery shook his head. “I’m taking Sophie out.”
“And Vail and I will eat at the cottage.” Castel was squinting at me again. “Can you behave yourself?”
“Can you stay the fuck out of my business?” Just like that, we were back. “We’ve talked about this to death. Why does it matter to you what she and I do behind closed doors?”
“Are you even bothering to address her issues?”
“You mean dragging her to therapy and forcing her to take her medication like she’s a troublesome cat?”
Castel looked shocked. “She goes to therapy?” He turned to Ellery. “Maybe he can work on Vail.” He turned back to me, not willing to let the subject drop. “Are you serious about getting a different job?”
I shuffled, wishing I could avoid this conversation. We’d been in the middle of discussing it when Josie interrupted us earlier. “If it means you’ll stop giving me shit about her, yeah, it makes sense.”
Castel nodded. “I’m not gonna stop giving you shit, but at least there’s a little less conflict of interest.”
“I’m not going to keep talking about this with you. I need to talk to Josie,” I said, walking out of the room as quickly as possible.
I walked as quickly as I could, but she wasn’t in the bedroom. My breath came a little short as my palms started to tingle. Did she take off again? She wouldn’t get far off the property unless she stole a car, and I doubted she would be able to get past whatever security was keeping those in place. I should have told her to text me too if she decided to leave the room, not just get one of the other girls to accompany her. I didn’t care how crazy it looked.
I forced myself to remain calm as I went room by room, struggling to keep track of where I was in this labyrinth of a house. Who the hell needed to live here? Ellery and Sophie could have twenty children and still have plenty of room for guests.
I couldn’t find her. She wasn’t here.
I was ready to call in the cavalry and enlist the rest of the household to help track her down. She couldn’t have gotten far. But when I burst out onto the lawn, she was sitting in a chaise next to Vail.
“I know it’s unorthodox,” she was saying, “but he makes me feel safe.”
“That’s a good quality,” Vail replied. “We just want to make sure whatever relationship you’re in is a healthy one.”
I slunk back into the doorway. I knew I shouldn’t eavesdrop, but they were talking about me. Us.
“I didn’t lose all my good sense just because I got kidnapped for a few months. He doesn’t hurt me. He protects me better than anyone in my life, including my own fucking family.” She picked up a wine glass sitting next to her and took a healthy sip. She had no idea how true that statement was. “Didn’t you ever feel like people were making all your decisions for you?”
Vail nodded solemnly. “Everyone seems to think they know what’s best for me.”
“I wish I could just get some leeway here. I know things are flawed. I need to have other friends besides him—he said that himself. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to push him away to make someone else feel comfortable.”
“You should have dinner with us tonight, then.”
“I don’t know. I can’t leave him alone.”
“He’s a big boy. He’ll be all right. He might even want some time by himself.”
Josie was silent while she thought. “It didn’t occur to me that he might be sick of me. We are spending every waking moment together … and some sleeping ones too.”
They giggled like schoolgirls.
Leaving them to their conversation, I finally went inside. I could talk to Josie a little later. She was bonding with someone else, and I should be glad. But there was still a little pang in my chest as I walked away.
I didn’t want her to pull away from me. I wouldn’t have brought her here if I’d known everyone was going to be sinking their claws into her to turn her against me.
I shook my head. This wasn’t some grand conspiracy against us. Castel and Vail were genuine people who saw a problematic relationship—and I couldn’t say they were completely wrong. I wished they could see the truth of it all, even things I didn’t admit out loud.
The words I didn’t say to her earlier rattled around my head. How she commented that I was always lifting her, taking her in my arms, wrapping her up.
You’re so small. You inspire these protective feelings I can’t beat down.
Not just protective. Watchful. Possessive. Selfish.
She looked up at me when I lifted her, the delight so evident in her eyes that it was difficult for me not to run off with her any time I held her. She’d wanted to stay with me, and I wanted her to stay. I hated that we were separate, even now.
I don’t know how to let you be on your own. I can’t let you out of my sight for a few minutes without feeling this tightness in my chest. I worry about you while you sleep. I hated watching you go with the girls this morning.
I was trying to avoid telling her never to walk off without me again. No more yoga on the lawn or anything else where I couldn’t supervise. Convince her as much as myself that we needed to be apart, that we had become too accustomed to leaning on each other for every emotional need. Even if I was lying about mine.
Archer was lying on the bed watching TV, but when I opened the door to our bedroom, he sat up so quickly I thought he’d get whiplash. “I thought you were eating with Vail and Castel.”
I ignored him as I pushed into the room and set the food I was carrying on the floor. I spread out a blanket I had stolen from one of the unused sitting rooms. “I knew you were listening. I could hear you breathing.” I looked at him as I pulled the tinfoil off the plates holding a colorful m
ixture of summer vegetables. “I wasn’t about to leave you alone.”
He walked over to the blanket but didn’t sit. “We could eat at a table, you know.”
“This is more fun. It’s like a picnic. Here.” I handed him one plate and picked up my own, trying to avoid how much my hands were shaking. This was ridiculous. We had eaten together alone dozens of times. Why did it feel so different now?
He reluctantly settled onto the floor, sitting across from me but not so far that I couldn’t touch him.
“What did you do all day?”
“I spoke with our friend in the basement. Where did you run off to earlier?”
“Vail wanted to give me a tour of the grounds. She showed me their garden.”
I tried my best to make idle chitchat as I dished out the food, but all I could think about was whatever he had found out from the man in the basement. I simultaneously wanted and didn’t want to know everything that had happened, so I settled on not asking about it. I was sure he would tell me whatever I needed to know.
Archer had poured us both wine, but I barely touched mine. I already felt drunk enough when I was around him. Archer, on the other hand, was on his second glass by the time he finished eating.
“Thirsty?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, affecting indifference.
He held my gaze as he drained the glass once more. “Are you not?” he asked as he poured himself a third glass, nodding at my almost full cup.
“I had some earlier,” I said. He shrugged one shoulder, staring at me expectantly.
I picked up the cup by its stem and held it to my lips, holding back from actually drinking. “Are you ordering me to drink?”
The air in the room had turned heavy under his gaze, and my pulse raced too fast in my neck. He nodded.
Tilting up the bottom of the wine glass, I let the entire contents spill into my mouth and down my throat. I wasn’t neat; wine slipped out the corners of my mouth, and as I set the cup aside, I had to reach up to wipe away the trails of red I was sure were running down my cheeks.
