Kai slowed as we pulled up to The Pope, and I noticed Michael Crist’s new Rover parked along the curb. What was he doing here?
We turned, driving into the small alleyway on the side of the hotel, toward the back, and the car was suddenly seeped in darkness. The overhang blocked out any light, and I ran my hands slowly down my thighs, feeling a buzz all over my skin. The car seemed so much smaller now.
The darkness.
The confessional. The trunk. The Bell Tower. The grave. Small spaces with him. Always small, dark spaces.
Without giving me a glance or a word, Kai parked the car and opened his door, stepping out into the rain. I quickly followed and watched him reach in the back and grab the blueprints I’d brought.
He broke out in a jog, heading for one of the rear doors, and I noticed two dumpsters, some wooden pallets, and an overflow of cardboard boxes getting soaked nearby.
“What are you doing out here?” I heard Kai ask. I looked up to see him talking to Michael Crist and Will Grayson, who were waiting under an awning.
Will only wore a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, while Michael was dressed for the weather, looking eerily similar to what he looked like in high school in his hoodie. Splotches of water covered his jeans.
“Why aren’t you guys waiting in the car?” Kai asked them.
Michael’s eyes veered to me, narrowing, as Will pushed off the wall and took his gum out, tossing it out into the rain. “Didn’t want to miss you,” he said.
Kai held out his hand to me, and I handed him the hotel keys.
“Where’s Rika?” he asked the guys.
Michael turned as he approached, ready to follow him through the door. “Class.” And then he looked to me again. “It’s just us.”
A sense of foreboding swirled in my stomach, and I stood behind, letting them all enter before me.
We walked through a dark tunnel, and I couldn’t see clearly from behind the more than six-foot-tall men in front of me, but after a few moments, I saw some white. Bright walls came into view, and I noticed several freezers, refrigerators, and stoves. We’d entered through the kitchen. It was only visible, though, due to the poor light streaming in from the windows.
Each of the guys turned on their flashlights, and Will handed me one.
I took it, switching it on.
“So, Kai?” Will called out as all of us walked through the kitchen. “You wouldn’t need me to break in your virgin bride for you, would you?”
He started laughing and turned his head to me before Kai could answer. “Kai doesn’t like virgins. He likes women who know what they’re doing.”
And then he let his gaze move up and down my body.
I arched a brow. Yeah, I didn’t believe that. I was a virgin that night years ago, and it didn’t deter him from wanting quite a lot from me.
“But me?” Will went on. “I like ’em from scratch. I can teach them exactly what I like and how to do it the way I want.”
“You mean you like that they don’t have anyone to compare you to,” I said, “so they can’t tell how bad you are at it.”
Michael’s snort was small, but I caught it, and I could see the back of Kai’s shoulders, shaking with silent laughter.
Will turned back around, leaving me alone.
We all followed Kai, and I waited outside the control room as they flipped switches, trying to get the electricity on. After a few minutes, though, nothing.
“Good thing we brought flashlights,” Michael mumbled as he walked out of the control room.
Kai followed and stopped, all of us standing together.
“Well, at least the rooms will all be unlocked,” he told us. “Bad news is we’re taking the stairs.”
Up twelve flights. Excellent.
“Let’s split up,” he told us, starting to walk for the kitchen doors, which probably led into a dining room. “Take pictures of any rooms you go into and close-ups of any potential problems. Rodents, plumbing, leaks, any kind of damage…I’ll have contractors come in and get better estimates, but I want an idea of repairs and what we have to chalk up to losses.”
Michael and Will walked off, leaving the kitchen, and Kai turned to me. “See if you can find the generator,” he told me. “We can at least get a few lights working.”
Yeah, okay. I kept my vitriol to myself and headed for the stairwell access, turning on my flashlight as I descended to the basement. There were no windows down here in the stairwell, and my pulse started to race, remembering the stupid fucking horror flicks Damon watched when we were younger. I’d shine my flashlight, and all of a sudden a girl in a white dress and a mouthful of bloody fangs would jump out at me.
Opening the door at the bottom, I entered the basement and instantly let out a breath. It was a huge open boiler room with windows lining the wall at the top. I could just spot the feet of a few pedestrians walking by. A little natural light poured in, but I kept my flashlight on, since it was still pretty dim.
I strolled slowly down the aisle, shining my light on pipes and tanks, furnaces, and other machinery I didn’t recognize. Really, the hotel hadn’t been closed down that long. Most of this stuff probably worked fine still.
I spotted a generator near the wall and headed for it. I had no idea how these things worked, but I’d seen them, and I knew how to Google if I needed to.
Leaning down, I blew the dust off the switches, rubbing away the dirt. This thing wasn’t big enough to power much, and it definitely wouldn’t power the elevators, but maybe it would get the hallway lighting going. I flipped the Power button.
But nothing happened. Did it plug into something? Well, it wouldn’t plug into a wall, of course. If we had electricity, we wouldn’t need a generator.
Maybe it connected to a battery of some sort. I quickly took off my jacket, dropping it on the ground, and got on my hands and knees, shooting the flashlight underneath and around, searching for any wires or chords.
Something took hold of my ankles, though, and I yelped as they pulled them, my knees sliding out from under me and my body being dragged across the floor.
“What the hell?” I barked, flipping around to see who had grabbed me. My heart pounded. Michael and Will stood in front of me, and I kicked at them. “Get off me!”
Michael reached over, grabbing me by the shirt and hauling me up.
Asshole. I looked around, but Kai wasn’t here.
Michael gripped my collar and planted me against the wall, releasing me.
I glared at him. I expected to get in it with them soon enough—I knew what they did to Rika last year, so I knew how they liked to throw their weight around—but for some reason, I kept still. He was going to have a huge problem with me soon, but I’d make my move when I was ready.
“I have no idea what Kai is thinking right now,” he said with a bite to his tone, “but I will give you one warning and one warning only.”
I lifted my chin slowly, bracing myself for his threat.
“If you fuck with us, we will make you disappear,” he growled. “The moment I start to feel the slightest bit concerned that you might have something up your sleeve, I won’t hesitate. Do you understand?” He thinned his eyes. “You work for him, and you take care of him, and you do whatever it is he wants you to do, and you do it good, honey. Just don’t give me a reason to sink you to the bottom of the fucking river, because that is just how fast you can end. You got me?”
Oh, yeah. I got you.
I started breathing hard. I brought my fingers demurely to my lips and faked a look of fright. What did I do? Oh, no, please don’t hurt me. Please? I let out a little whimper and pinched my eyebrows together in confusion.
And then I stopped my fake sobbing and broke out in a smile, looking at him with a quiet laugh.
That shit may have worked on Erika Fane, but he had another think coming.
“I will do my job,” I told him, “and you don’t scare me.”
His glower grew deeper.
“What can yo
u do?” I asked. “You’re an athlete, in the public eye, about to get married to the girl you’ve loved forever, with so much to lose. And this one”—I gestured to Will behind him—“is only sober from the time he drags his ass out of bed in the morning until the time he can make it to the beer cooler he keeps in his kitchen.”
Will scowled at me.
“The Horsemen are weak and dying,” I continued, feigning a concerned look. “Perfect time for enemies to strike.” I reached over and picked up my jacket, sliding my arms in. “Damon’s father would love to undo you, your father is trying to hinder a couple of your real estate deals, Damon is who-knows-where, Rika walks around every day, armed with only her little kung fu tricks.” I looked at Will. “And hasn’t that cop you went to prison for attacking been sniffing around you lately, itching for some payback?”
Michael’s eyes narrowed, and he shifted his gaze, looking taken aback. Yeah, you didn’t know about that, did you?
“You have so much going on, Michael, really,” I taunted him like he was five years old, putting my hands in my pockets. “And all the while you’re watching me, you’re not watching them.”
I pulled out both hands, and Michael caught the flash of silver in my right hand and grabbed my wrist, stopping me.
I laughed as he held the small blade away from his face and fixed me with a snarl.
But I let out my smirk and twisted the point of the blade in my other hand, the one he didn’t see, poking just above his groin.
He jerked back, a little snarl on his face.
“Not only are your ducks not in a row, Michael, but they’re shitting all over the place.” I stuck the blades back in my pockets. “You boys need a role model.”
Slipping to the side, I walked around them and headed out of the basement, hearing Michael’s angry whisper behind me. “What the fuck?”
“I was gonna tell you!” Will whisper-yelled back.
I shook my head.
What a waste of time.
After all the years of grunt work—cleaning, inventorying, drop-offs and pick-ups—I finally had a little respect. Now I was tasked with shadowing Kai and his little crew, watching them fumble to take five steps when they could get what they needed in one.
I pulled the front of my hat down farther, trying to resist the yawn that was pushing its way out.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out as I headed up the stairs.
Meet me on thirteen.
Kai. How did he get my number? And then I remembered I’d texted him that morning. Great. Thirteen, and I was in the basement. Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I
grabbed the railing and started vaulting up the stairs, jogging and skipping steps as I flew. Reaching each landing, I looked up and took note of the floor number, but on nine I stopped, my lungs now feeling tight and small. Looking upward, I saw the dim flights above me, lit only by the emergency lights.
Taking a deep breath, I jogged a little slower up the remaining flights, coming to thirteen and opening the stairwell door.
A stitch cramped my side, and I swallowed through the dryness in my throat. I thought I was in good shape, dammit.
I stepped into a dim hallway and looked left and right, the gray carpeting with a white filigree design slowly fading into the black voids down each dark hallway.
“Hello?” I called out.
I turned right, switching on my flashlight, but a draft hit my back, and I looked behind me. A subtle wind cooled my lips.
Turning left instead, I walked down the hallway, inspecting each door as I passed and finally noticing one that was wide open. I peered inside, seeing white sheer curtains on the other side of the room whipping in the wind.
The balcony doors must be open.
I walked into the room, looking both ways as I crossed, and finally noticed Kai’s form out on the balcony. Peeling back the curtain, I stepped outside.
“The twelfth floor balcony,” he said, leaning over the railing and turning his head to look at me.
I followed his lead, peering over the railing and looking down. Every floor had a balcony on it, and the one directly below us was no different. Intricate carvings in the stone, a thick bannister, everything wet from the rain…
I straightened, cocking my head at him. The twelfth floor.
Suspicion started to creep in.
“Did you really think I’d help you search The Pope if I thought Damon was hiding here?” I asked. “You’re not buying this hotel because of some story I told you when I was seventeen, are you?”
I saw the corner of his mouth lift in a smile. “A. Yes,” he stated. “I think you’d help me search it, if for no other reason than to point me in the wrong direction.” He pulled himself back up and looked at me. “And B, I’m not sure Damon told you where he was hiding.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I remember him being particularly possessive of you,” he said. “I think you know he’s in the city, but I think he might be watching you as much as he is us.”
I laughed to myself.
I’d heard about the twelfth floor after I moved in with Damon and my father. Gabriel fiercely protected his privacy and had built four hotels back in the day: one in Meridian City, San Francisco, St. Petersburg, and Bahrain—the places he traveled most. Privacy, security, and a need to be invisible were sometimes a necessity to someone who made at least some of his money outside the law.
But my brother wasn’t here. At least not the last time I checked. Kai was wasting his time.
“We already explored this place once, remember?” I told him.
He flashed his amused eyes to me, sounding cocky. “We didn’t get very far, remember?”
A blush instantly heated my cheeks, and I turned away.
Kai peered over the railing again, and I did the same, taking in the vast drop to the ground below. I looked back at him, studying the curiosity written all over his face. The way his dark eyebrows pinched together as if he were calculating his next move, and the way his neck stretched as far as it would take him for a better look. He seemed so young. Like a kid trying to find the courage to follow his friends off a cliff.
What was he doing?
Straightening, I unwound the scarf around my neck and pulled it off, out of the jacket. Kai watched me as I held it over the bannister.
Gauging the light wind, I lowered it as much as possible, finally letting it drift out of my fingers and float down to the twelfth-floor balcony. The fabric billowed as it sank and finally caught on the bannister spokes, the wind plastering it to the inside of the balcony.
Without looking at him, I headed back into the room. He had no choice but to follow.
Seriously, if he wanted to climb over the railing and kill himself, it was no skin off my nose, but…
He could be right. Damon wasn’t here when I looked for him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t changing hide-outs, either. He could be here, and I needed to buy some time.
Walking into the corridor, I turned right, heading toward the stairwell exit I came through.
Both of us quickly descended the stairs, but after taking two flights, we came to the next landing where a door should’ve been, marking the twelfth floor. The wall was bare, though. No door. No marking indicating what floor it was, nothing. Just a white wall.
I spared him a glance, an unspoken understanding passing between us. We continued down, both of us reaching for the knob of the eleventh-floor entrance at the same time. His hand brushed mine, and I quickly pulled away, an electric current flowing up my arm. He pulled the door open, and both of us raced through, heading straight for eleven-twenty-two, the room directly below thirteen twenty-two.
I twisted the knob and charged in, making my way for the balcony doors which I swung open, a gust of wind instantly hitting my face. Kai and I stepped over the threshold, looking around for the scarf.
It only took a quick survey, but there was nothing, as I knew there wouldn’t be. Nothing except a dead po
tted plant, a rusted, wrought iron table, and a leaf.
The scarf wasn’t here, of course, but…
I walked over to the right side of the balcony, hung my head over, and peered up.
And there it was. The black scarf whipped happily, a few inches hanging off the side of the balcony right above us.
“There.” I nodded upward.
Kai pinched his eyebrows together and stepped over, leaning over the side and turning his head up. He stared, either confused or annoyed, but I smiled a little all the same.
“What the hell?” he grumbled.
“We need to get up there,” he told me.
And how do you plan on doing that? The elevators weren’t working at the moment, and it’s not like we had rope.
I watched as he started to climb up on the railing, but I immediately reached out and pulled him down.
“It’s fine,” I said curtly. “It’s not valuable. Forget it.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You’re worried about me?”
“Yeah. Like the price of tea in China.”
He shook his head, smiling to himself. But again, he made a move to climb up.
I pulled him back. “I can’t spot you. You’re too big. You can spot me, so let me do it.”
Stepping around him, I hopped up on the railing, and he darted out, grabbing my arm to steady me. I knew if I looked right, I’d see the drop below that was only one mistake away, so I didn’t look.
My legs shook, but I curled my toes, gripping the thick bannister. Dammit. I didn’t need the fucking scarf back, but I didn’t want to find out if he was able to scale his way up there. Not yet.
Squeezing his arm with one hand, I held out the other arm for balance and slowly rose up to stand. My belly flipped.
“I’ve got you,” Kai told me. I glanced down, seeing his dark eyes holding mine as he wrapped his other arm around my legs. My hands went weak, and for some reason, that didn’t make me feel better.
I reached up with both hands and swiped for the frayed fabric, Kai’s embrace tightening. Unfortunately, though, I was still at least six-to-eight inches shy of touching it.