Insatiable (The Edge of Darkness, #1)(50)

I’ve been in places like this before with Chris, but there were never weapons or a threat to life. Booze, drugs and sex. Pain, forced kisses and paid pleasure.

I thought those parties were the den of Satan; I didn’t know there was a place deeper than the pits of hell.

There’s a foul stench when we reach the bottom. More gang members are standing around a table when we enter a room full of boxes and overhead lamps. Illegal plants. White powder. Pills. A glass screen that looks onto a lone chair in the middle of an interrogation room.

Fear claws at my bones, seeping into my blood and threatening to stop my organs.

“Nāve,” one of the gang members says. He has a long white beard and gold teeth. His hands rest on the table between us, where a brown envelope with Kade’s nickname on it sits. “We didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow.”

“I’m aware, Crawley.”

I’m standing behind him again, my arms crossed as I stare at the ground.

“I’m here for the contract and fifty. ”

“Only fifty? The last time you wanted three hundred.”

“Fifty,” Kade says again. “Put it into a suitcase.”

My skin crawls as two guys smelling like beer come up beside me.

“Is your whore here as entertainment?” one says as the other hums and adds, “I’d have a piece of this.”

I yelp as he slaps my ass.

“I—”

His words are cut off as Kade’s arm snaps out, his elbow slamming into the nose of the guy closest to me, breaking it in a bloody crack. His gun is pointed at the other one, and he seems unbothered by the multiple weapons now aimed at him.

“Touch her again and I’ll blow your fucking head off.”

Oh God. We’re going to die.

Kade doesn’t blink, doesn’t lower his gun.

I rest my hand on his back. “Please…”

Please stop. Why are we here? Why do you have a gun? Where is the Kade I grew up with?

“We’ve heard the stories about you. I’m not afraid of you. I’ll take your whore off your dirty hands, and you’ll never see her again.”

Kade sighs, as if this isn’t traumatic or terrifying in the slightest. “Last chance.” His voice is clipped. “Back off.”

He laughs before baring his teeth. “Or what? I’m one of five leaders here, and I—”

Kade pulls the trigger.

I jump with a strangled gasp as the blast rings in my ears. The man’s body falls to the ground, lifeless – dead – while red trickles from the hole between his eyes.

My palm crushes to my mouth to muffle my scream, bile rising in my throat.

Unfazed, Kade tucks his gun into his waistband. “None of you will lay a finger on her – are we clear?”

Dark and intimidating, his tone feels like an arrow glazed in ice shooting through my chest, poisoning me with liquid fear.

“You want my business, none of you will touch her, look at her or even acknowledge her presence.”

To my surprise, they all agree and lower their weapons with hands raised in surrender, and I stay in shock as they continue their business. The man’s blood puddles on the floor at my feet, and I try not to vomit.

If I run, I have nowhere to go.

I grip Kade’s left arm tighter as they discuss drugs, weights of bags they pack into a suitcase, and a contract that should apparently be easy for Kade, considering his experience.

My eyes burn, but I struggle not to look at the dead man next to me.





18




KADE

FLASHBACK 3

Ihaven’t seen Stacey in three days, and I’m debating asking my sister for her number.

It would be way easier if I had it. Or… she’d ignore me and say it was a mistake and that I forced her to kiss me.

Wait. Did I force her? Technically, I barricaded her against the kitchen counter and dared her to kiss me again. Oh shit. That’s not good. Maybe I should apologise? Would she even hear me out?

Dad told me a few nights ago to chill out, because I kept thinking I imagined the kiss. He told me to take a deep breath and name three things I could see, two things I could touch and one thing I could smell. It worked. My lungs filled again, and my blurry vision lessened.

Then he told me to get out of my head and speak to her.

Safe to say I’m still in my head.

Nicotine infiltrates my lungs as I watch the water of the loch rippling, the small boat rocking side to side against the wooden pier, the soft glow from the lights illuminating the outdoor pool.

I still find it ridiculous that we live in Scotland – where it rains almost every day and we get a week of summer a year, if we’re lucky – and have an outdoor pool. I’ve been in it four times, and each one resulted in shrivelled balls and left me close to catching fucking pneumonia.

Luciella and her friends are in it a lot. Not that I intentionally stand exactly where I am now and stare at a certain black-haired beauty for hours on end. Base sat with me once, and I was in my head again, thinking he was looking at her too.

Regardless, he can’t have Stacey. I’ve claimed her and no one else can have her but me.

Kind of. I think. Probably not, but I’d like to.

Wait. How does one claim a person?

If I spoke these thoughts aloud, she’d flee the country and I’d be locked up with Dad. And I can’t have that, because I need to kiss her again. Or speak to her. Or have her attention for longer than one minute while my virgin hands shake.