Ripped (9 page)

“But that’s exactly why I’m worried.”

“No, I know,” he said. “But it’s late. We’ve done all we can for now.”

“No, that’s not good enough,” I said. “If something happens to Starling, it’s going to be my fault.”

“How do you reckon, love?” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Near as I can figure, Starling brought this on herself. Not that I’m saying that she deserves this, mind you. I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying, she’s the one who decided to have sex for money, with a known terrorist supporter, no less. She’s the one who babbled to every news channel in the universe. She might have been too innocent to understand what she was doing to herself, but it’s still definitely on her, not on you.”

I shook my head. He didn’t understand. “She didn’t used to be like this, you know.”

“Like what?”

“Trashy,” I said. “No respect for herself. I mean, I get that she’s making more money than I’d ever make servicing the prince and all, but some things are worth more than money.”

He furrowed his brow. “You think you’d be paid less for servicing the prince?”

I felt myself flush. “That’s not what I meant. I meant she’s making more money servicing the prince than I could ever make doing anything at all. Doing what I do now.”

He eyed me. “What is it that you do?”

I felt self-conscious. “I’m, um, an artist. I draw webcomics?” It came out like a question, as if I wanted him to confirm something. That he’d heard of webcomics, that I actually did it, that webcomics were art… I don’t know. “And I pick up some hours at a restaurant waiting tables to make ends meet. But the comics are taking off a little bit. I’m making some money at it.” I felt the need to protest this. Being paid for drawing validated it, elevated it to something higher than a sad little hobby.

“I wondered about the pictures in your bedroom,” he said.

“When did you see the pictures in my bedroom?”

He looked away, clearing his throat. “You showed it to me earlier.”

“I definitely didn’t.” I put my hands on my hips. “How’d you find me tonight anyway? You just showed up at the place where I was supposed to meet Ice. What were you doing there?”

He pushed away from the kitchen island and opened the refrigerator. “I’m feeling a little hungry. This pizza okay to eat?”

“No, that’s my roommate’s and don’t change the subject.” I squeezed between him and the refrigerator, shutting it with my back. “You were following me, weren’t you?”

He shrugged, flashing me a grin, his eyes twinkling. “What if I was?”

“You spied on me in my bedroom?”

“No.” He made a face as if what I was saying was crazy.

I glared at him.

He went over to one of the cabinets. He opened it. “I’m guessing that all the stuff on the shelf labeled
Celia
belongs to your roommate?”

“Stop trying to change the subject.”

“Your roommate has way more food than you.”

“She just buys it and doesn’t eat it. I’m home more than she is. I actually feed myself here. She works and gets takeout.” This was a stupid conversation that we were having. What did it matter whether I had more food here or not? “Look, if you’re hungry, I have stuff.”

“I’m looking at what you have,” he said. “It’s not much.”

“Why did you follow me?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. I… I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

Warmth rushed through me in spite of myself. “Really?”

He stepped closer to me, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I know that everything is insane right now. I know you’re worried about your sister, and I know that I haven’t been…” He swallowed.

I looked up at him, searching his eyes.

“But whatever this is between us…” He gestured back and forth and him and then me. And then he gave me his lopsided grin. “We should, uh, do something about it, don’t you think?”

I smiled back. I reached up to touch his cheek.

His voice went lower, gravelly. “I’m sorry about what happened between us earlier. I was just so wound up—”

The light in the hallway suddenly came on.

Cade and I turned to see that Celia was standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

“Oh,” I said. “Did we wake you?”

She grimaced a little—an expression that said we had woken her, but she felt bad for pointing it out, but was doing it anyway. “Kind of.” She was wearing her robe over her nightgown and her hair was up in a severe ponytail. I’d never actually seen her pajamas. That was how not close we were. We each had our own bathrooms, and she was always dressed by the time she got to the kitchen in the morning. Maybe not on the weekends, but I was always working on the weekends, pulling double shifts at the restaurant. Celia looked Cade over. “Who’s this?”

“Uh…” I didn’t know how to respond to that.

“I get that you’re going through stuff with your ex and your sister and being kidnapped and everything, and maybe that makes you want to go pick up random guys at the bar—”

“No, it’s not like that,” I said. “Cade’s helping me find Starling. He’s, um, a private detective.”

He raised his eyebrows at me, but he couldn’t contradict me without making it seem weird.

“A private detective? Really?” Celia gave him an appraising glance.

“He’s staying here to protect me,” I said. “On the couch.”

Cade gave me a vaguely annoyed look. “The couch, hmm?”

“I’ll just go get you some blankets,” I said.

Celia smiled at Cade. “Well, it is nice to have someone here in case either of us is in danger…”

Oh holy hell, she was flirting with him. I clenched my hands into fists.

Cade just smirked at me. He leaned back onto the kitchen island, grinning at Celia. “You aren’t afraid, are you?”

“Are you from… England?” She twisted the end of her ponytail around one of her fingers.

I was going to strangle her.

She looked at me. “Shell, I thought you were going to get blankets.”

I stomped off to do just that. Well, this was my own fault. Why hadn’t I simply claimed Cade was a drunken hookup? Then, maybe we’d be in my bed right now, and we could be—

But, you know what, maybe it was better this way.

Cade was dangerous. I was attracted to him, but there was no way in hell that he was actually good for me. Honestly, I was behaving a lot more like Starling than like myself, being so forward. Kissing him, making out with him, giving him hand jobs. Letting him get me off… I stopped at the thought of it, all the breath rushing from my lungs. Fuck, that orgasm he’d given me…

But everything was crazy, wasn’t it? Because he was hot and cold. He’d be all over me and then all business. Maybe there was some crazy animal attraction between us, but that wasn’t what I wanted out of life.

When Austin came into my life, I think I was so quick to overlook the things about him that made him seem… less than perfect because I wanted to settle down. I had sowed my wild oats in college. I was in my mid twenties—soon to be my late twenties—and it was time. I was looking for a real relationship, not another series of one night stands.

And a real relationship with a hitman?

I snorted.

No, I needed to steer clear of Cade. He was only going to use me and leave me. And that was the last thing I needed.

* * *

Cade

I shifted on the couch, which was about five inches too short for me, meaning that I had to sleep with my legs bunched up. Not comfortable at all.

Tomorrow, we were going to have to find someplace else to stay, and her apartment was not the most optimal place.

Honestly, I didn’t even understand how I had gotten into this mess.

This girl was not my problem. I had a code and all, and I did my best not to kill people who didn’t deserve it, but that didn’t make me some kind of hero. I didn’t go around trying to right wrongs or save people or any of that kind of shit.

So, the only reason I was here was because of Shell.

Because I wanted to fuck her.

But seriously? I was going through all this trouble for a piece of ass?

How good could it be?

Even if it was phenomenal screwing her, even if her pussy felt like fucking a fountain gushing gold and rainbows, it couldn’t be worth all the shit I’d been through already.

Anyway, now it was personal with Ice.

I’d had beef with him for a long time. This was probably a long time coming between us.

So, it was about Ice, then. That’s why I was sleeping on this couch all alone in this apartment.

I rolled over onto my side and punched the pillow that Shell had given me.

Right.

Hell, this was stupid.

I should get up off this couch and go back into her room, where she was sleeping.

I could probably tie her hands and legs down to the headboard and the foot of the bed before she even woke up. I could have her there, right at my mercy, do whatever I wanted to her.

Then I could leave, go find Ice, beat the hell out of him, and all of this would be over.

I considered, trying to figure out which of the two scenarios I found most appealing. I pictured Shell completely naked, tied spread eagle on the bed, her legs wide, her pussy wet and hungry for me.

And that, of course, was why I didn’t do it.

Because I knew better.

I couldn’t sneak into her bedroom, tie her down while she was sleeping, and then expect her to actually be wet for me. For all the big talk that I made, I knew that women—especially a woman like Shell—couldn’t just be forced like that.

And I didn’t want her struggling and angry and frightened.

I knew that someone like Ice liked it that way. That was his idea of a good time.

But I didn’t like that.

I wanted to be in charge, that was true. I wanted to have absolute control, to be able to bend her to my will, to have her carry out whatever my dirty mind thought up for her.

I didn’t need props or scenarios. I didn’t need her to be tied down, I just needed her to be willing to do what I wanted. I needed her under my power.

And I wanted her to get as turned on from that as I did.

I knew it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. I brought home women like that, who would get wet because I ordered them around.

But Shell…

I didn’t get that vibe from her. She was much too defiant. She kept speaking up, and giving me shit. Even when I’d first taken her hostage, when she hadn’t known what to make of me, she’d been a little sassy. So, I didn’t think that she would appreciate what I wanted to do with her right then.

Still…

She’d been compliant enough against the wall over there, stroking my cock like a champ. Her tight grip around me, her little gasps of pleasure, and her wet little cunt…

Man, all of it was enough to get me hard again.

I groaned.

I rolled over on my back.

Go to sleep
, I told myself.

* * *

Cade

I probably only got about five hours sleep, because Shell’s roommate woke me up when she left for work early that morning. I rolled around on the couch a little longer, trying to go back to sleep, but the light was streaming in through the window, and it was a lost cause.

Instead, I stumbled into the kitchen to see what I could do about feeding myself.

I hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch yesterday, and I was starving.

I rummaged through the refrigerator and the cabinets, noting that everything was divided up and labeled. I thought that was kind of funny. Personally, I’d never had a roommate. Probably would have literally killed them if they pissed me off. But I thought that the two of them were being just a tad too anal about this labeling business.

I considered blatantly eating some of Celia’s food.

Then I figured that would only get Shell in trouble.

So, instead, I found some coffee and half a pound of bacon. I didn’t tend to eat bacon too often. Eating bacon tended to make me feel… heavy. I didn’t like it weighing in my gut when I was trying to haul ass after some mark that had managed to evade me—not that many marks got by me or anything. Still, in my line of work, I needed to stay fit.

I didn’t have a problem with meat or anything, I just tended to stick to leaner cuts of meat. I didn’t eat a lot of carbs either.

It wasn’t so much a diet…

Oh, hell, okay, I was anal about shit too.

Anyway, the choices were bacon and eggs or pancakes. Not only would the pancakes have been empty calories, they wouldn’t have stuck with me later.

So, bacon and eggs it was.

I got started on breakfast, hoping that Shell would wake up just from smelling it, even though it was early, and she hadn’t had much sleep either.

She didn’t.

So, I waited for a bit after everything was finished, and then I decided I’d just wake her up, considering the food was going to get cold otherwise.