"This is some quality work, Nik," Turo said as he read over the copy of the printouts of her dossiers on de Silva and Cavendish. She rolled her eyes. "Meaning you're surprised a woman could do such work?"Turo smiled, shook his head. "Not at all. I simply appreciate a job well done. No matter the gender of the person providing said job."Nik's face lost the hard edge. Her chin dropped slightly. "Then you're welcome."Turo nodded, smiled. "We have copious amounts of pictures of Cavendish. I'm assuming since none are included in the files, that none could be found on de Silva." He made it a statement instead of a question. Nik nodded. "The only picture I found, and it still wasn't a solid match, was a group of girls, maybe four or five of them altogether. Her name was on the tag, but no face to one of the girls."Turo smiled. "Then we shall work to uncover de Silva's identity.""Brea-brunch is ready," Willow called. Everyone stood up. The men all went to the far side o
I dabbed my napkin at Ryker's wrist. Angry at the drop of blood. Angry for my part in drawing it from his body. But I was also elated. Never had I felt more cherished or accepted than when he finished the oath. I knew that he'd done it for me. For us. Before I could do anything about the feelings that were trying to swamp over me, I felt his phone vibrate in his pocket under my hand. I jerked a little at the unexpected sensation. He chuckled as he reached into his pocket.Pulling out the phone, he glanced at the screen without putting it above the line of the table. I looked up into his face. Where I expected annoyance, I saw terror flash. "Ryker?" I asked. All conversation around the table stopped. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I watched my man. "There's been a hit," he said softly, his voice threatening to break. "I need a TV. Now."I pushed up, ignored the pinch in my leg. I tried to race across the room, but was soon overtaken by Mas. He hit the button on th
Angelo pushed me to the side as he and all of his children rose to their feet, guns drawn. "Show your hands or die," Turo shouted. Two hands slid through the opening in the door. "Seriously?" I heard a familiar voice say. "I'm just here for Ryker.""That's not a good thing at the moment. Step through," Turo ordered. The shockingly white hair of one of my few friends peeked through the opening. His fierce blue eyes were narrowed as he pushed the door open slowly. "I'm Foster Ambright. I've got a meeting with Ryker.""Stop moving, Foster Ambright," Turo said as he took a step closer. He looked at me. "Know this guy?"I nodded. "That is his name. And we do have a meeting." I turned to my friend. "How the hell did you get up here?"Foster's brow furrowed. "I walked? Was I supposed to run? Or fly?"Turo sneered as he put his gun away. "Where were the men? Did you get stopped on your way up?"Foster shook his head. "Like a victory tunnel? No. No bouncers, no shylocks, no
Ryker slid into the driver's seat. I had no idea where we were going, but I did know no one was happy about abandoning the lofts. Momma and Papa were in one of the cars with Nik, Turo, and Mas. Tali, Rafe, Nico, Jessa, and Foster all crammed into another car. Ryker had demanded Foster ride in the other car even though we had plenty of room. He pulled Foster aside and spoke directly into his ear. When he pulled away, Foster nodded and went to the other car without argument. "What's going on?" I asked. Terrified of the answer. Terrified to not know. Ryker swallowed. The sound thick in the silence. "We're going back to the bunker."I pulled on the door handle. I couldn't go back there. Couldn't. Nothing in this life or the next would make that a place I could ever go. Ryker pulled the car over. Yanked me into his arms. "He's not there. He can't hurt you. I'll protect you, baby. I promise. Nothing is going to happen to you."I shook my head against his chest. My thoug
I eased her against the console as my inner demons woke. They blasted through the vault I kept deep inside. I'd been done with true pain. The pain to hurt others with. The kind that crippled and damaged.And I just used it on the love of my life. I stomped on the gas pedal. We had to get there. I had to get her to Jessa to make sure she didn't suffer too much damage. I hadn't done it in so long, I just prayed to her goddess that I hadn't bungled it. The body was such a tricky machine. One wrong move here, a little too much pressure there...it could be catastrophic. "Please be alive. Please be alive. Please be alive," I chanted it as I raced towards my own destruction. She was going to hate me. Push me away. And I wasn't going to be able to let her. I couldn't let her go. Not now. Not after everything that had passed between us. I hadn't been lying that there would come a time when she would probably hate me. I just hadn't imagined, even in my worst nightmares, that it would
I choked back the bile at seeing the room again. Seeing the blood stains on the floor from the last girl was trying to turn me into a slavering mess on the floor. I pushed it aside. I had bigger fish to fry and his name was Ryker Fucking Penn. Tali helped me push the loaded up hospital bed out of there. I didn't care where it went, I just couldn't have it in here. Jessa came running in. "Whatever he did, whatever he's trying to do, don't let him get away with it, Willow. You can do thi-" she stopped talking. Looked around. "What are you doing?""I'm getting my man back, that's what. I need a clear space that he can't escape." I shoved equipment at her. "Take this to Nik. Surely she can use it for something." Jessa nodded, gathered up more gear. "Can't escape? Does the door lock? How do you know the door locks?"I shook my head. "I just do. Make him come in here."She nodded. "I will." She grabbed my free hand. "You can do this, Willow. If anyone can get through to him, i
She was a goddess. Stretched out before like a gift I hadn't earned, I knew my mistake had been in letting her withdraw in the car. We were born for each other. Made and crafted to be the missing piece the other needed. I wasn't going to spit in a deity's face. Not again. I would lay out my cards, force her to accept them, and then we could skip, walk, dance, race each other to hell. I smirked as she glared at me. I could almost hear her shrill voice as she spat more angry words. "You know my father was an asshole." She went still beneath me. "He beat me. Beat my mother. What you don't know, is that he forced me to beat my mother." I voiced the words that condemned me to hell. "If I didn't do it, my beatings and hers were ten times worse. He became more sadistic the older I got. Seemed to think that because he could cow me into hurting her, that he was a big strong man."I looked into Willow's eyes. Saw the acceptance. The willingness to listen. To absolve. To comfort.
The predetermined knock Tali and I had set up-the same one we used in the hospital a couple weeks ago-sounded against the door. "All good, Tali. He came to his senses," I called out. She sighed again, the sound heavy even through the door. With a grating shhh noise, the key appeared on the floor on our side of the door. Tali thumped the outside of the door. "Dammit. I want to shoot someone! Why is everyone stealing my fun?" I grabbed the key, unlocked the door. Pushing it open, I looked in her eyes. "I don't know, babe. Does Foster need a good cap in his ass? I'll help get him running in the right direction."Her bottom lip sticking out, she shook her head. "No. He was actually really nice on the way over here. He called the news station." She looked at Ryker. "They didn't run a story about your mom."His fingers clenched into my waist. "Thanks, Tali."She nodded. Narrowed her eyes as she glared up at him. "Get a shirt on, for crap's sake. I don't know what happened on t