“Did it ever cross your mind,” she continued, finding whatever she was looking for and tossing it on the bed, “that all the reasons you hate Leon are things he did to save me?”
What? I blinked a couple of times, letting that question sink in. But she didn’t seem to need any other response, because her laugh was all bitterness as she pulled off her yoga pants.
“Think it over a moment, Big Man,” she told me in a dry voice. “Everything Leon’s done since the moment you laid eyes on him… everything you hate him for. It has all been about me, hasn’t it?”
Why was she taking her pants off? Were we gonna hate fuck? I wouldn’t say no… oh damn. She was putting a skirt on.
Wait, shit, what was the question? Leon. Motherfucking Leon.
“The first time I saw that prick,” I growled, “he had his hands all over you at the Halloween party. You slapped him, because clearly you weren’t into it. What kind of man—”
“He was kissing me in an attempt to fuck my mission. He was trying to save me from you.” She zipped up the short black skirt—albeit twice the length of the one she’d worn to Meow Lounge earlier—and propped her hands on her hips. “Next?”
I scowled. “The ear piece.”
A smirk flashed over her lips. “He was listening the whole time. He tried to come and rescue me several times, and I told him not to interrupt because I was having fun.”
Fucking hell. “He killed Mauricio,” I snarled. “He chased Mo and shot at their car, and Mauricio died.”
Her expression softened, and she crossed over to where I leaned against the doorframe. Softly, she cupped my cheek and peered up at me with regret. “You’re an international arms dealer, Kai. Sometimes people get killed… and it doesn’t negate the fact that he was trying to save me.” She gave a sad shake of her head. “Your team means nothing to him—or me—and all he knew was that you had taken me captive.”
I swallowed hard, trying to digest that logic. Then I gritted my teeth, pushing on. “He fired a grenade launcher at my car in Brussels.”
Something way too close to amusement flashed through her eyes at that. “If he wanted to hit your car, he would have. I suspect it was a warning, and a way to spook you so he could trace you back to the island.”
The same thing had crossed my mind, but I’d still held it against him. My sister had been in that car with me, and if I’d been killed, who would have come back to save Danny from Sam?
Herself, obviously. But I didn’t know that then.
“He took you away from me,” I finally mumbled, all the gut-wrenching pain of watching her on that speedboat in Venice returning with vengeance. That was the moment I’d realized I was in love, right when I lost her.
She gave a soft sigh, tugging on my neck to bring my face down to hers. I didn’t resist when she kissed me gently, her lips caressing mine with sadness and regret. I hated those emotions from her. I wanted to wipe them away, replace them with all the admiration, respect and hope I felt when I looked at her.
“Leon never took me away from you,” she whispered, her lips still brushing against mine as she spoke. “I left. He just drove my getaway boat.”
Ouch. That correction cut deeper than a knife.
She kissed me again, then released her hold on my neck with a sigh.
“What are you doing?” I asked when she grabbed a pair of high heeled boots from the closet and sat down to put them on.
She quirked a brow at me, then crossed to the dresser to apply a quick sweep of eyeliner. The way she leaned forward to get close to the mirror should have been illegal, especially in that skirt.
“I need some space,” she announced, effectively gutting me. “This has all been… too fucking much. I don’t deal well with emotion, and I’ll be straight up with you, Big Man, I hadn’t prepared myself for this. Any of this.”
She coated her lips in a bold red, then reached for her sexy leather gun holsters, threading it over her arms to buckle beneath her perfect tits.
“Any of what?” I demanded, folding my arms. I was still blocking the doorway, so surely she couldn’t walk out in the middle of this conversation.
Danny gave me a long look, then tugged her gaze away. She pulled the hair ties from the bottoms of her braids and started loosening them. I couldn’t help myself, my feet carrying me across to her before I even finished formulating the thought in my brain.
She stiffened briefly, then quickly relaxed as I ran my fingers through her hair, gently releasing the tight French braids she’d been wearing. It left her normally straight hair all kinky and tussled.
“Any of this,” she finally answered my question, leaning back against me as I massaged her scalp. “I never thought it would hurt so much, to think I could lose you.”
My heart shuddered and thumped faster.
“Either of you,” she added, giving another heavy sigh as she pulled away. “I’m heading out for a bit. Don’t kill each other while I’m gone, and for the love of fuck, don’t follow me.”
Quick as a whip, she holstered two guns from the dresser and swept out of the bedroom without a backward glance. I followed, wracking my brain for a reason why she needed to stay but coming up blank.
She asked me not to follow, and my feet got that message even if my head and heart didn’t. I stopped dead at the front door of the house, watching as she strode over to the Stingray and climbed inside.
“We’re not seriously letting her run off, are we?” Leon asked, making me damn near jump out of my skin. He’d appeared out of fucking nowhere.
I scowled at him, still fighting my desperate need to cut his heart from his chest. But Danny’s words were sinking in, and I reluctantly found myself in his shoes. If the tables were turned, would I have done anything different?
“She told us not to follow,” I snarled, staring down the driveway at her taillights disappearing into the night.
Leon scoffed a laugh, pushing past me with car keys already in his hand. “Wrong, Ares. She told you not to follow. I wasn’t part of that conversation.” He skipped over to the Aston Martin with way too much pep in his step. “Have a nice night with your hand, Big Man, I doubt you’ll be getting back in DeLuna’s sweet cunt anytime soon.”
He laughed as he climbed into his car, and I just flipped him my middle finger as he drove away. It was that or try to shoot him, and I didn’t have my gun within reach.
Also, my siren asked me not to. And I was neck deep in damage control now, thanks to that fucking tragic lapse of judgment in the heat of our argument. Fuck. I had some serious ground to make up if I wanted to win her away from him. And I did. I wanted that more than anything… especially now that my team was in tatters.
36
Despite all of Leon’s warnings about not trusting the Guild, I knew there was only one place I could go. Not to mention, very few places would even be open at four in the morning. So that made it an easy decision, and ten minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot outside a club. Patrons were leaving rather than arriving, given how close to closing time it must be, and they were all beautifully dressed in Gatsby-era outfits.
The security guard on the door put out a hand to stop me when I approached, giving my drastically un-themed attire a pointed look, but I just stared him down. Then plucked a hundred dollar bill from my bra and handed it over before entering the club.