Inside Danger (Outside The Ropes Book 2) (36 page)

If I just gave him a part of me, the last piece, he returned so much more. I felt stronger, somehow more, because it was no longer just me.

And that’s all I needed.

THE SOUND OF RAIN FALLING ON THE ROOF and blowing against the windows enveloped the room. Letting in only a dim grey light, but also making the cocoon of sheets and man I was wrapped in feel even warmer. I didn’t want to move, but my arm was asleep and I had to pee.

As I pulled the sheet down and began to unwrap myself, Gage jerked awake and I froze.

He sat up, blinking away the confusion, as he looked at me and took in our naked bodies.

“Fuck,” he groaned and fell back on the pillow, one arm draped over his eyes, the other still under me, around my waist.

It was only then that I remembered the empty handle of liquor. He may not even remember last night, or worse, he may regret it. My heart was in my stomach as I went to slide out of bed again.

Strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back down. When I looked up at him, from my new spot on his chest, he had his eyes closed but a smile on his lips.

“Shhh, don’t move, don’t talk. Just lay with me,” he whispered.

So I did, for as long as my bladder would allow. When I returned from the bathroom, freshly showered and dressed, he was still in bed.

“How are you feeling?” I was a bit hesitant to ask as I ran a brush through my hair.

He sat up, sheets pooling around his hips as he stretched his arms out. His hair stuck up in all directions. “My head is fucking killing me, but I feel better than ever. Now get your ass back over here.”

I couldn’t resist the sleepy look in his eyes mixed with a lazy grin, but I went back into the bathroom to grab him two pain reliever and a glass of water first.

He strolled in after me. “What are you doing? You’re not listening very well this morning,” he teasingly admonished.

I turned towards him, giving him the water glass and medicine.

“Thanks.” He swallowed the pills and gulped the water, setting it on the bathroom sink when he was done. Then he pressed his naked body against me and wrapped his arms around my waist, lips slowly moving against mine.

Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead on mine. “Tell me last night really happened,” he pleaded quietly. “That you’re really not going anywhere.” He pecked my cheek, hands moving up my back. “That you love me.”

I nodded, tightening my hold around his waist. “I still don’t want to stay in the city though, I can’t.”

He kissed my forehead, hands sliding into my hair. “I understand. We can start looking for other places together.”

My heart stretched with relief and I brought my lips to his again, feeling every bit of him against me.

“Now let’s get you out of these clothes.” He smirked as he pulled away, lifting my shirt at the same time.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Gage slid under the sheets and scooted closer to me over the king mattress.

I sat up to face him, pulling my bottom lip out from between my teeth. It was time to talk. There was still so much unknown between us, too many questions casting a shadow over the security I found with him.

“Where did you go today?” I was testing the waters before diving in. Dexter had come over and “hung out” while Gage ran “errands.”

Acceptance crossed his features, he knew where this conversation was going.

“I had to see Anatoli, work out some plans, and then I went and met with a real estate agent.”

The first part twisted my stomach, but the second part was a surprise.

“What?” I turned myself on the bed to face him completely, sitting on my knees in front of him.

“If we’re going to move, we need an agent. She’s coming by tomorrow to look at this place to see about putting it on the market or possibly renting it out.” His hand spread over my knee. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Yes, but I didn’t know. I wish you would talk to me, include me on decisions.”

He raised his hand off of me. “So now you’re mad that I talked to a real estate agent without you?”

“No. I’m not mad.” I grabbed his hand. “I’m just saying, talk to me, include me in decisions instead of making them for me.”

“You said you wanted to leave the city. Do you not want me to sell my house?” He spoke slow, frustration running under the question.

I sighed, my own frustration rising, but this wasn’t supposed to be the conversation we were having. “I do and I’m happy you are willing to, for me.” I rose up on my knees in front of him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. “Thank you.”

He relaxed some, sliding his arms around me tentatively, and then he rested his chin on my shoulder. “I’ll talk to you first, keep you included.”

I hummed with relief as he turned his head and dragged his nose down my neck, his breath tickling the skin. I pulled away and stopped the moment before he could distract me away from the real conversation we needed to have.

“What about Rusnak? How did that meeting go?” I spoke quickly, to stop Gage from grabbing me again and to force the words out before they got stuck in my throat.

He stilled, different thoughts crossing his features, and then he nodded and leaned back against the headboard, getting himself comfortable.

“We were only going over details for a shipment I’m in charge of next week. The reason I was going to have to leave.”

Goose bumps covered my skin and I wrapped my arms around my legs. “Are you still leaving?”

“I might have to for one night. I’m going to try to get back as soon as I can.”

“Where are you going?”

“Florida.” He met my eyes and I could tell he wasn’t willing to say more.

“Can I come too?”

“It’s not like I’m staying in a hotel. I’ll be at the docks the entire time, if I’m not on a boat in the middle of the gulf. And Nick will be there.” He leaned towards me, hands on my legs. “We’ll be in a new place by then. It might only be temporary, but somewhere else. You won’t be in the city.”

I tried to smile, to reassure him. Whatever he was doing sounded dangerous, he didn’t need to be worried about me on top of it. “Okay. It’ll be okay. I’ll be fine. But, what about you? You said Nick was going to be there? How can you trust him or Rusnak?”

His eyes searched my face. “Don’t worry about me. They won’t do anything. Maybe I haven’t said enough, but they need me. This deal that’s going down is a big one. And the,” he paused, searching for a word, “distributor is picky, OCD actually. He only wants to deal with me.” He smiled, like it was something to be proud of. “He doesn’t like Anatoli, doesn’t trust his methods, but he is willing to work with me. He only did small shipments when it was Nick and Anatoli. But since I took over those, he’s willing to increase his supply. It’ll make Anatoli a lot of money. It’ll make him the largest distributor on the east coast. This is what he’s wanted and I am delivering it.” He paused, watching me as the words sunk in.

“But when it’s done, what’s stopping them from coming after you then?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why do you think they would?”

I shook my head, unsure if I could put it into words. “Nick is mean, vicious. He hated me and wanted to hurt me, I know. And you helped me get away.”

His features dropped and hardened as his arms wrapped around my waist. I pushed on his chest to keep him back so I could finish.

“And Rusnak.” His arms fell back as I spoke his name. “I don’t know what to expect from him. Until the end, he was never mean, but he was…” I couldn’t find a word to express what he was. “Sneaky? I don’t know, I never knew what to expect, but he always seemed to have a plan and be in control. And he didn’t want me with you. I just—”

“What did he do at the end?” He interrupted me.

“I’ll tell you everything, but first, I need to know what might happen now. I keep thinking something has to happen, that it couldn’t be so easy to get away.”

“Easy?” He flinched. “Shit’s not easy.” His features softened, and he ran his hand through his hair. “But I’d do anything to keep you safe.” He sighed. “I told you from the start, the whole reason they kept you was to get to me. Except that shit you told me about your mom and him? That was something else. But Anatoli puts business first so I don’t think that will change anything.” He dismissed that confusion with a shake of his head.

“It started with them only wanting me to agree to throw my fight and some small jobs, but I knew those weren’t enough, not really. When I saw the opportunity coming with Xavier”—he paused, eyes flashing to me—“the distributer, I knew that would be the only real way to keep you safe. Because it’s not a one time deal. Anatoli is going to want to keep the partnership going and he’ll need me. He won’t want to mess that up by retaliating against you.”

It was starting to make sense. Sort of. Rusnak wouldn’t risk his money, and he made it clear at the end he was done with me. But it still sounded dangerous for Gage.

“And Nick, he’s paranoid. There’s something going on, we knew that when things went wrong with Demetri. Someone is leaking information to Rock, so we’ve had to close ranks, keep everything close. And Rock’s crew is doing the same. They’ve gone underground completely and we haven’t seen or heard from them since that night.” Concern was clear in his eyes and that worried me. He slid his hand to my hair. “Nick doesn’t hate you, but he doesn’t trust you. He doesn’t trust anyone. He won’t come after you, but I’m not letting you anywhere near him either. I’m not taking you anywhere near any of this. We should go look at places tomorrow.”

I nodded, dipping my head to rest on his chest, circling my arms around his waist. “Okay. I want that. I think I’m starting to understand, but what about Damien? If Rock has disappeared, does that mean Damien has too?”

He let out a breath, hands running up and down my back. “Yeah, we haven’t seen him. That’s how I know it was never about you with Nick and Anatoli. After Demetri, they never even tried to go after Damien and they never actually bet anything on your fights, it was just a game.”

A cold chill skittered over my skin, raising the hairs on my arm. That scared me the most, that they could be so cruel and terrorize me to that extent, over things beyond my control, over Gage. But I didn’t blame him, I couldn’t, not when I was laying in his arms, knowing what he would do to keep me from it all.

His hands trailed lightly over my skin. “Now you need to tell me what happened.”

I took a deep breath and pulled away. Sitting up, I stared at the covers twisted in my fingers as I spoke. I couldn’t stand to look at him or have him touch me while I told my story, I wouldn’t be able to continue if he did.

I told him everything. I told him about the guys on the motorcycle, I told him about Nick’s threats, I told him about Kiera, and I told him about Harrison. I only skimmed over some of the more intimate stuff with Rusnak. And he didn’t interrupt me till I finished.

“Jesus,” he breathed, tentatively reaching for me and I fell into his arms, burying my head in his chest. “I didn’t know. I really didn’t know that’s the way it was. I’m sorry I didn’t step in sooner.” I pulled away and he tried to press me back to him.

“No, don’t apologize. I didn’t let you do anything. I wouldn’t have. I was so scared it would be worse for you, that I would get you killed.” I choked on the word, eyes burning as I curled back into him. I needed the reassurance of his body and heart beating in my ear, assuring me that he was still here. “That still scares me.”

I could feel my story sinking into him, his body slowly tensing under me.

“Fucking Nick.” He scooted up to sitting. “He better not have been serious about…” his jaw clenched, teeth grinding. “I could kill him for even threatening it, for even thinking he could hurt you.”

I sat up on my knees, hands going to his face, forcing him to look at me. “I’m fine. I’m here. Please, don’t make it worse. Please, I don’t want anything more to go wrong and you have to work with him.”

He grabbed my wrists, pulling my hands away from his face. “You don’t get it. He can’t hurt me. He fucking has to answer to me now. And I’m going to make him pay for this, for what he would have done. He’s only lucky he didn’t go through with it.”

The determination and anger hardening his gaze made me breathless. I wasn’t sure if he had a right to be so cocky, if he was exaggerating his power, but it scared me how much it actually excited me.

He must have saw it in my face. Or maybe in the rise and fall of my chest, because he licked his lips as his eyes dropped over me and I inched towards him, core tightening with anticipation.

“Wait.” His voice was low and rough with desire already, but a different sort of need creased his brows. “Anatoli and you—you never—he never had you?”

I dropped back at the question, guilt punching me in the stomach. “Only because he didn’t.” I don’t know why I couldn’t have just told him we didn’t have sex, except, I don’t think I deserved to be forgiven for it.

Gage either didn’t notice the distinction I made or didn’t care because he released his breath with a groan and wrapped me back in his arms.

“Thank God.” He buried his head in my hair and neck, pulling me to straddle his lap. “Thank fucking God above.” His hands moved to my butt, cupping each cheek as he pulled me tighter on him. “You’re my fucking girl. Only mine, and that sick fuck will never touch you again.”

And I don’t know how he did it, but he made me believe the words. Then he made me scream his name, over and over.

We moved to an extended stay hotel an hour from the city while we looked for places to live. Dexter and his friends helped us pack and put stuff in storage. And we enjoyed several days in a fragile bliss, pretending to play house.

I knew Gage had to leave and it was a dark shadow over our time. I tried to reassure myself that he would only be gone for a day or two, and then he would be back. But the anxiety over his departure only increased as the time grew closer.

He would have to leave in the morning, so I tried to make the night before special. Focusing on cooking dinner for him helped to distract me from my fears.