“It’s a Bentley Continental GT,” he says, bored.
“Were there no normal cars left to rent?”
“It’s not a rental.”
My eyes widen even more. “What exactly do you do for money?”
This aggravates him. “Shut up and get in.”
The first two hours of driving with Kade’s playlist are relaxing, to say the least. The seats are comfortable and heated. The car drives smoothly as “Digital Bath” by Deftones plays. I absently watch him, the way he turns the wheel with his palm heel, grips it as he speeds, his elbow resting between us while he smokes .
He stops to get us food, a bottle of water for me and an energy drink for himself. I fall asleep near the end and only wake when he pulls into the car park of an old warehouse.
“Where are we?” I ask, rubbing my dazed eyes with my knuckles. My mascara must be a riot. “Is this the hotel?”
“No. I need to do something then I’ll take you. This was on the way. Just stay here,” he tells me. “Keep the doors locked, and don’t you fucking dare follow me.”
My chest tightens with instant anxiety. “Where are we?”
“I have business to deal with. Just lie in the back seat. No one will see you.”
There’s a knock on my window. I flinch and look to see a man with a brow piercing and a tattoo of a gun down the side of his face. He’s missing nearly all his front teeth to devastating and disgusting decay. He wears a denim coat with badges all over it.
Stay quiet, Kade mouths to me as he rolls down his window.
The man stands tall and walks to Kade’s side, where he’s joined by a second guy. “Mr Mitchell. Welcome back.” He taps the other man’s shoulder. “They call him Nāve in other countries, because he is a man of no heart. Deadly, merciless and always finishes the job.”
Kade rubs a hand down his face in annoyance. “Sure.”
Huh?
“We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow.”
I haven’t the slightest clue what the hell is happening.
He waves to someone behind him, and the warehouse doors open to reveal more people. They look like a biker gang.
“I see you brought a different whore this time. Where is the blonde you brought before? ”
Um, excuse me? Whore?
Kade doesn’t bother with a response. “Let’s get this over with,” he says, then turns to me. “Stay here.”
“And risk all the scavengers getting her?” The man bellows a laugh, his hand slapping the top of the car. “Don’t be ridiculous. The more the merrier.” Toothless turns his back to us and waves to his friends. “Nāve is here. Let Crawley know.”
Four others appear by the car, and Kade groans. “Fuck’s sake. Stay behind me,” he warns. “Don’t speak to any of them. Don’t look them in the eye. Keep your head down. Got it?”
I gulp. “You’re scaring me.”
“Good,” he retorts. “You don’t fuck with these guys. I should’ve dropped you off at a hotel.”
“You still can.” The panic in my voice is obvious, my heart racing. I don’t want to go inside, not with all these people who look like they’d put a blade in my back without hesitation. “Please take me to a hotel, Kade. Please.”
He turns the car off, his window sliding up. “They’ll follow me there and have someone watch you. Just stay behind me and don’t speak a word. I don’t have time to have my team come for you.”
Kade gets out first and comes to my side, opening the door then leaning in to open the glovebox.
I gasp, covering my mouth. “Why do you have a gun? I thought you were joking when you said you had one!”
His tanned skin and abs show as he pulls up the hem of his top and tucks the deadly weapon into his waistband.
“Do you even know how to use that?” I ask quietly.
He gives me a look as he unclips my belt, and I feel cold metal on my leg as he slides a blade up my outer thigh and tucks the handle into the side of my underwear. His voice is low, and even though I’m scared, my pulse is racing from the touch of his hand on me. “A precaution.”
“Kade. Really. I’m scared,” I admit slowly as his palm slips from my thigh, and he wipes a tear from my cheek. “Do you know these people?”
He offers me his hand and helps me out of the car. “Yes. Stop asking questions.”
I instantly regret wearing a short dress, but at least it’s long enough to conceal the small blade trapped under the waistband of my panties.
He drapes his jacket around me once more, and I clutch his arm as we walk towards the warehouse. More men appear as we go in, and I wish I waited for the commercial flight.
I’m uncomfortable as dozens of eyes watch me walk down metal steps barely lit by flickering lights.
Cameras follow our actions, and the frigid air creeps over my skin.
“I don’t like this,” I whisper to Kade. “Can I please go sit in the car?”
We get in an elevator, and someone stands behind me, far too close for comfort.
Kade glares at the man and yanks me in front of him, my back to his chest, and snakes an arm around my waist. “Stay calm.” A murmur against my ear that doesn’t settle the rapid palpitations of my heart. “If they see you’re afraid, they’ll feed on it.”
I manage a nod. Having his arm around me doesn’t shoot zaps of pleasure to my core as it should, but it feels good. Safe. I want to stay here forever – his breath hitting my neck, lacing our fingers, his body cocooning around me as the elevator descends – even though I know he’s just pretending I’m his whore and safeguarding me.
“Breathe, Freckles,” he whispers. “You’re safe with me.”
The gun tucked into his waistband is digging into my back, the blunt side of the blade is pressing into my thigh, and I’m terrified as I shake in his hold.
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.”