He grabbed the back of my head, pulled me into his chest, and dry-fucked me harder, both of us panting and grunting and finally kissing as we both came. An electric current jolted and spread down my legs, my pussy so warm as I got wetter.
“Mine,” he groaned.
I slipped my hands under his hoodie, feeling his wet back and buried my face in his chest as the orgasm faded away, and my heart pulsed in my ears.
We stayed there, still and hot, but unable to move. I hooked my legs around the back of his and just breathed in as seconds turned into a minute and a minute turned into two.
His fingers threaded through my hair, and he forced my head back and my eyes up as he leaned down and kissed me softly. Deep, long, and slow, I could kiss him forever.
“Meet me at the Bell Tower tomorrow,” he told me.
But I shook my head. “I can’t so soon. I’ll be on lockdown.”
“I’m not waiting.” He leaned down to kiss a trail to my ear as he reached between my legs to rub me. “You either find a way out, or I’ll find a way in. I don’t mind doing this behind another set of drapes if we have to.” And then he slipped his hand down the front of my sleep shorts and the tips of his fingers inside me.
“Ah,” I squirmed back. It hurt.
But I quivered, too. There was still so much to feel.
“I like chasing you,” he said, a hint of a smile on his lips. “I like our foreplay.”
I nodded. “I like it, too.”
“Hide with me, then?”
Hide from my brother? Hide from David, Lev, and Ilia and sneak around with Kai?
I nodded again. “Okay.”
He kissed me, and while I knew we weren’t being realistic—hiding each other wouldn’t last—I couldn’t help but be excited for the promise of more stolen moments. I just wanted to be with him. I wanted to feel him.
Lost in his lips, I didn’t notice the music at first. A sprinkle of raindrops all around, and I almost looked out the window to see if it was raining, but then I heard the tune quickly follow. The tinkling high notes of a xylophone or some such instrument that sounded like a haunted lullaby hung in the silence of the ballroom.
We both stopped and looked up and then around.
And I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Suddenly, a beautiful woman came twirling out from around the stage, onto the dance floor, her black ballet slippers laced up her ghostly white, but strong, legs, while her midnight hair danced around her. She stepped and spun like a dream to the eerie melody, her tattered, but fancy black costume like a swan around her, adorned with feathers and sparkles. She was dream-like.
“Do you see what I’m seeing?” Kai whispered.
“Yeah,” I replied, unable to tear my eyes away. “It’s the dancing woman.”
Kai
Present
“Hey, kid,” I called Banks as she walked past the office door. “Come here for a minute.”
She stopped, hesitating before she entered. I took in her clothes, all dry and back on her body, covering every possible inch of skin again. She just couldn’t wait to get Alex’s stuff off, could she?
I stood behind the desk and picked up a set of keys on a ring, tossing them across the room to her.
She caught them, studying them. “What are these?”
“Keys to the dojo. In case I need you to pick something up, drop something off... There’s also the showers, cots upstairs, laundry, food in the staff kitchen…” I drifted off, stuffing the month’s receipts in a folder in the drawer. “Come and go as you please.”
“I have a shower, a bed, and somewhere to do laundry.”
I looked up, meeting her stubborn eyes and not the least bit surprised at how clever she was. Yeah, okay. Maybe I was leaving a not-so-subtle hint.
But I blew if off. “I’m not saying you don’t. You need keys as part of your job. It’s not complicated.”
“How do you know I won’t rip you off?”
I closed the drawer, a smile pulling at my mouth as I stood up straight. “Because I’m a great judge of character and petty thievery doesn’t strike me as your style,” I told her.
She might need the keys on the off chance she had to get in here while it was closed, but her initial suspicions were also correct. Gabriel let her live like a rat—that was apparent in her attire—and I still wasn’t sure what her living situation was like. She said she lived in the city, but I couldn’t imagine her residence was the least bit safe or nice. I wanted to make sure she had another option should she want it. The dojo was secure, clean, and she would have everything she needed here.
Except a car. I should make sure she has one, so she doesn’t get caught in the rain like she did this morning.
She shoved the keys in her pocket and turned to leave.
“Clothes are dry, I see.” I let my eyes fall down the backs of her legs—legs I’d only ever seen the skin of once.
“I have some more provisions for the contract you can take to Gabriel,” I told her, clearing my throat. “It’s on the table.”
She walked over and grabbed the envelope, holding it at her side. “Anything else?”
No, not really.
But I didn’t want her to go yet, either.
“Yes.” I stuck my pen in the holder and raised my eyes to her. “No matter how you cover yourself, it’s never enough. You’re beautiful.”
She frowned, and then turned on her heel and headed out the office door as quickly as she could.
I shook my head, smiling to myself. The most stubborn woman I’d ever met in my life.
Alex crossed the open doorway, heading down the hall.
“Alex?” I called, turning and walking around my desk again.
She entered the room, a white towel over her shoulder and sweat glistening across her chest.
I dug in my wallet and pulled out a black card. “Take Banks shopping in the next couple of days,” I told her, handing over the credit card. “Will’s party is coming up, and she’ll need something to wear.”
Her impatient expression turned delighted as she snatched up the credit card.
“I’m a personal shopper?” she asked playfully. “Hoo-yah.”
“Bill me for your time.”
“Eh.” She shrugged. “Treat me to an outfit, as well, and we’ll call it even.”
She spun around and headed for the door.
“Alex?” I called. “Get her some clothes, too. Just everyday, average clothes.”
“And if she puts up a fight?”
I turned off the desk lamp and made my way toward the door. “Then buy whatever you want for her to wear. She’ll have some options if she ever decides to remove the stick in her ass.”
I opened the door wider, both of us walking out.
“How much can I spend?” she asked.
“I’ll call you when the text alerts start scaring me.”
I wrapped a rubber band around all the envelopes and grabbed my duffel bag. It was after six, and while we still had a steady flow of people coming in and out, I was done.
Will didn’t help, Rika was busy either teaching classes or going to school, and Michael was almost constantly gone. I was the only one who had absolutely nothing else to do with his day.
Not that I minded. I liked what we did here and where we were taking our other real estate interests, but I wanted to get over to The Pope. This time, alone.
Handing the stack of paychecks to Caroline, so she could dole them out, I waved goodnight and made my way out the front door.
Clouds loomed, rolling over the dark city like a flood of ocean waves, and it was unusually warm. Hot, even. I could smell the tar on the streets.
My phone rang, and I dug it out of my jeans pocket as I unlocked my car door and opened it.
“Hello?”
Tossing my duffel bag into the car, I took the phone with my other hand and switched ears.
The line was silent.
“Hello?” I asked again.
And then the voice
said, “Have you fucked her yet?”
I raised my chin, my spine straightening. Heat flooded my veins.
Damon.
I didn’t know what it was about his voice that rattled me. It always did in a way, but I hadn’t realized it until now. After going so long without hearing it.
Glacial. That’s what it was. He sounded like the point of a blade digging into your skin.
“She’s pretty when she sleeps,” he told me. “So many nights I watched her next to me, wishing I could sleep like that.”
My hand ached, and I realized my fist was strained around the door frame. I unclenched my fingers.
“It’s almost Devil’s Night. A few days,” he pointed out as if I didn’t know. “Any plans this year?”
My mouth stayed closed. I raised my gaze, slowly turning my head left and right, looking for any sign of him.
Have I fucked her yet? I assumed he meant Banks. Which meant he knew she worked for me now.
“You know I’m not stupid.” He wasn’t asking a question, emphasis on the word know. “You above everyone knows that. Do you really think you’ll find me at The Pope? You think that whole place isn’t wired, and I wouldn’t see you coming? That Banks would’ve let you in there if she thought for one second I was there? She will always be mine.”
Cars drove past as the hot wind whipped down the alleyway where I’d parked. Part of me hoped he was right. She might lead me to him.
“You’ve been so bored, haven’t you?” he taunted. “So bored, because having me around gave you an excuse to be the deviant you already were. To turn inside yourself and have a real good look at that monster. You’re not noble behind closed doors, Kai.”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Around.”
I twisted up my lips at his coy response.
“Rika’s alone too much,” he went on. “With Michael gone all the time, you really shouldn’t have positioned yourself so far away from her across the river.”
I barely registered the change in subject, closing my eyes.
“She slept in the most tantalizing white silk panties last night.” His tone was almost confiding, and I felt my hand tighten around the phone. “It was nearly unbearable, watching a body like that go to waste in that cold bed alone. God, I wanted to fuck her. Dark room, half asleep…she might not have even known the difference.”
He was lying. Fucking with me. There was no way he got in that apartment. Michael might have been gone at times, but he’d taken significant precautions. Increased security, changed all the passcodes, hired additional personnel…. He even tracked her phone and car. I should feel guilty about that, since she was my friend, too, but we knew she’d put up a fight, and it was pointless. Michael was right. It was necessary.
I was honestly surprised he hadn’t tagged her jewelry, too, since Damon wouldn’t take her in her own car and would know to ditch the phone.
“But I have to bide my time,” Damon said wistfully. “I’ve waited so long. I won’t rush it.”
Rush what?
“So much trouble you’ve gone to for nothing, buying The Pope,” he continued. “You won’t find me.”
“I wouldn’t say it was all for nothing.” I fixed my eyes across the road at the hotel. “Your little ruffian is far more pleasurable than I thought she’d be.”
Which was an entirely true statement. Let him infer whatever he will.
“I think I understand now why you like her so much. Why, without the skimpy clothes, make-up, and hair, you find her so alluring.” I inhaled, liking this side of the playing a hell of a lot more. The side where I was on the offense. “She’s so repressed. It’s captivating to see her let go and lose herself. To realize she likes being seen as a woman.” And then I dragged out slowly, “And that she likes doing things a woman does.”
I could feel his silence like it was his hands shoving against me. Only I wasn’t backing down.
“So quiet all of a sudden?” I teased.
“Nik is mine,” he stated, his voice clipped. “You will never be to her what I am to her.”
Nik? Was that her first name?
“And I will kill you in front of her,” he added.
“Well, come on then. Why wait until Devil’s Night? Let’s get this over with.” I slammed the car door, walking toward the street and the sprinkle of rain that floated on the air. I had no idea if he was in The Pope or not, but I faced the building as if I was talking right at him. “Or you can run again. Either or.”
“But that’s not what you want,” he said, the sly mischief back in his voice. “I told you, Slope, I’m not dumb. I know what you’re after. And it isn’t a showdown, it isn’t revenge, and it isn’t even Banks.”
I leveled my eyes on a window above, willing him to appear.
“Go ahead,” he challenged. “Ask me. Ask me what only you and I know that you don’t want Will, Michael, and Rika to find out about.”
My chest heaved with silent breaths.
“Ask me where I buried the body when I cleaned up your shit six years ago.”
I closed my eyes, my heart dropping into my stomach.
He hadn’t forgotten. He would never forget. Did I really think he would?
Going to prison for three years, because I assaulted a police officer wasn’t the worst thing I’d ever done. I hadn’t even begun to pay for my crimes.
“Don’t tell me,” I choked out, completely deflated as I stared ahead, but I tried to be stronger. “Because if you do, I’ll bury you with her. And I know you’d hate that.”
I hung up, standing in front of the alley and still facing the hotel as that nightmare of a night played back in my head.
How we were having fun and everything got away from me. How I was confused and angry and couldn’t seem to stop myself, and how the rage consumed me. How I wanted to hurt her, even though I didn’t really know her, but I hated her.
How I loved Damon once, and how I knew Gabriel Torrance was wrong. I would do anything for his son. I have done anything for his son.
I killed for him, and last year he turned around and nearly killed me.
I looked up, back at the hotel, wondering if he was right. Had I wasted my time? Maybe I should’ve been following his precious little girlfriend instead?
Two things were certain, though.
He was here, in the city, and he still wanted Rika. Anticipating him hadn’t been a mistake.
I’d call Gabriel tomorrow and relinquish my claim on the hotel. I hadn’t signed a contract, so there was no deal.
I moved to turn around, the light sprinkles turning heavier as they fell on my head, but then I stopped. Looking into the alleyway across the street, I spotted Banks climbing out of an SUV alone. She looked around her, not seeing me, and raced to the same back door we’d entered just days ago.
What was she doing?
The thunder cracked overhead, splitting across the sky, and I dived across the street, racing as a car’s headlights shone through the mist.
Reaching the back of the building, I dug out my keys and looked down, realizing I’d given Banks the hotel set. But I still had the code memorized. Punching in the seven digits on the keypad, I stuffed my keys back in my pocket and opened the door, quickly slipping inside.
I didn’t tell her to do anything at the hotel today. She wasn’t here for me, I knew that much.
Taking out my phone, I turned on the flashlight and made my way out of the kitchen and through the dining room and the lobby. Stepping into the open space, I turned my head right and left, searching for her. Where did she go?
But then I heard a dull hum, a noise buried as if in the walls or under the floor. Following the sound, I turned my gaze left and spotted the numbers above one of the elevators lighting up.
As it ascended higher and higher.
They were working?
Reaching out to press the up arrow, I paused and then pulled back. What floor was she stopping on?
I watched the numbers light up?
??eight, then nine and ten…And then they kept going—eleven, twelve…
And it stopped. The light didn’t go any higher.
Twelfth floor.
I quickly punched the top button, jamming it several times as my blood started to boil.
You got to be fucking kidding me. The elevator did go to the twelfth floor.
I waited for it to descend again, keeping my cell phone handy in case I needed light.
How the hell did she get the elevators working?
As soon as the doors opened, I stepped inside, punched the twelve and then the button for the doors to close.
She knew he was here the whole time. She’d been seeing him, watching us fumble about and listening to our conversations. I mean, I knew she wasn’t on our side. She never made any secret where her loyalties laid? So, why did I want to throttle her more than him right now?
I clenched my goddamn jaw so hard, my teeth ached. If she liked ruthless men so much, I’d show her how ruthless I could be.
I slammed my hand into the 12 again, so angry I barely noticed that it wasn’t lighting up.
Or that the elevator wasn’t moving yet.
What the fuck? Wasn’t it just running a minute ago? Why wasn’t it working now?
I hit the button a few more times, looking around for any lights to show the elevator registered where I wanted to move, but nothing.
The fluorescent lighting was dank inside the elevator, and I looked around for any other buttons to push or anything else that looked unusual. Anything to indicate how to get where I wanted to go.
The elevator went to the twelfth floor. A twelfth floor existed. I knew that now.
I pushed the 11 just to see if it would work.
And it did. The 11 suddenly lit up, and I felt the cables shift around me and gravity weigh me down as I began to ascend. The doors opened on eleven, and I glanced up long enough to see the dark hallway in front of me before I hit the 13 and quickly closed the doors again. I rose higher once more, stopping on 13 as the doors opened, allowing me entrance to the floor.
I closed the elevator doors again. How was she getting the elevator to stop on twelve?