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  Cutty, who had been leaning by the door, stepped forward. “I’m telling you guys, whatever went down, it wasn’t of her choosing.”

  Lars put his boot on the bench in front of him and rested his forearms on his raised leg, trying to appear calm about the whole matter. “But, Cutty, by your own words, you don’t know that for sure.” Lars looked around the room to the other guys. “Did she mention anyone besides Malokin to any of you? Any hint of a personal relation with someone in his employ?”

  “No, but it’s not like we actually asked, either,” Angus explained.

  “What the hell is wrong with you guys?” Fate snapped. “You’re hanging out with her all day and night and you don’t at some point slip in the most obvious questions?” Fate leaned back in the chair he was seated on. “She might still lie but at least we’d have something, which is more than we have now.” He let out a disgruntled sigh. “Either way, she doesn’t leave our sight. As long as they want her, she’s with us. Fuck those bastards.”

  Lars watched Fate as he tried to remain seated but then stood up, losing the battle between remaining calm and embracing the aggravation. He moved around the room, shoulders tensed.

  Lars got it. He knew what Malokin had just put Karma through. How he’d forced her to do things she didn’t want to, to help him further his objective. He’d dangled Kitty the Black Cat Lady’s life over her head. Malokin had monitored every aspect of her existence and fucked with her in a way that was just plain old creepy. Fate would use any tool he could to retaliate against him or his men at this point. And at this moment in time it was keeping Faith under their control. Right or wrong, Lars liked the idea of keeping her.

  The thought of Faith leaving here to go be with one of Malokin’s men made his breath stop in his chest and his fingers clench into fists.

  Maybe it was wrong to go along with it just because he didn’t want anyone else to have her but he didn’t feel like he had a choice. The idea of her with someone else was so repulsive it made him want to throw the tattoo bench he was leaning on through his own window.

  If Lars wasn’t going to sleep with her, there was no way in hell he was going to let anyone else do it. He thought of how close he’d come to doing just that, a few minutes ago, upstairs. Her sudden unease finally jarred him out of it but he’d almost grabbed her and thrown her on his bed. And whether she realized it or not, she’d been as ready as he was. He wasn’t sure she knew the kind of heat she’d been throwing off.

  “I agree with Fate. We keep her under wraps here until we know what we’re dealing with,” he said.

  Between both Fate and now Lars putting it out there, no one else would disagree. They were the de facto leaders. If they were in agreement, the matter was basically closed, unless one of the other guys had a seriously strong objection but it wasn’t likely. The other three were always the easier going of the bunch. It was decided. Faith wasn’t going anywhere. With a strange sense of relief, Lars straightened up.

  “Where you going?” Angus asked, as Lars made a move towards the door.

  “Upstairs.”

  “You going to wake her up to question her?” Fate asked. Lars shouldn’t have been surprised that the guys knew what he was about. They’d only known him for close to forever.

  It was burning Lars up to not put the question directly to her. He should’ve just asked her before but the shock of the bloody message had thrown him. Then he’d felt bad pressing her. But the idea was churning up his insides, and he needed to hear her response before he lost his shit completely. “She’s still up. Her heartbeat was beating too quickly to have fallen asleep yet.”

  Bic stood from where he’d been sitting on the counter. “I want to be there.”

  “Me too.” Angus took a step toward the door. Fate and Cutty looked ready to come as well.

  He’d wanted to do it in private but after how close he’d gotten to sleeping with her, maybe having the guys around wasn’t such a bad idea.

  Chapter 13

  Faith was awake when she heard Lars walk into the room. He kept coming until he was standing over where she lay in bed. “The guys and I need to talk to you.”

  She sat up, the only thing surprising to her was why they’d waited this long. She’d been expecting the questions to start ever since she’d woken to the message on the ceiling. She’d known her plan of pretending that everything was fine was stupid. She was almost embarrassed of herself for thinking she’d pulled it off.

  “Where are they?” she asked.

  “Waiting in the hall. I wanted to give you a minute,” he said.

  “Go get them. Let’s get this over with,” she said as she got out of bed.

  He took a couple steps toward the door and then stopped. He walked over to where jeans were laying folded on top of her bag and handed them to her. “Here.”

  The t-shirt he’d given her fell just below mid-thigh but she didn’t argue and just took them. To her, the guys seeing a little leg wasn’t a pressing issue right now. But who knew, maybe the guy who used to be the Evil Eye had become Amish or some shit.

  Jeans on, Lars finally went to the door, giving a holler down. The guys piled in a minute later.

  She didn’t know what to expect, and she wasn’t sure if she cared anymore. After waking up as she had, earlier in the evening, at first she’d felt like she was walking around in a state of disbelief. Horror had followed close behind, with fear right on its heels, and a strong instinct for self-preservation.

  After Lars left, and she’d lain there alone in bed, something had clicked inside of her. She’d been trying so hard to survive and come to terms with what was left of her life that she realized she’d been throwing away who she was all on her own.

  She hadn’t been herself since this had all begun and you could only be someone else for so long before your natural inclinations came back to the surface. Somehow, tonight had kicked her past fear into fuck it, if I’m going to go down, I’m going down on my terms.

  She walked over to the living room area, where they were all gathered, and sat down on the couch. No one else sat but she didn’t care.

  In less than two weeks, she’d died, been kidnapped by lunatics and saved by some of the scariest looking guys she’d ever met. Then she’d woken up with blood dripping on her, from a love letter a stalker who thought she was the one for him had put there. She’d finally hit her fuck it all, it is what it is point.

  “What exactly was the extent of your relationship with Malokin, and do you believe it was him who left you the message?” Fate, her favorite person in the world, asked.

  It figured that he’d lead the inquisition. He’d been the biggest bastard to her so far, so she wasn’t surprised. She’d give him a couple of points though, for his tactful way of calling the bloody words on the ceiling a message.

  All the guys were staring at her, seeming equally interested in how she’d answer.

  Cutty came and sat down next to her. “There was a certain feeling to it that gave the impression of interest on a deeper level.”

  She liked Cutty and wasn’t surprised when he tried to soften Fate’s interrogation.

  She hesitated answering as she looked at them, the guys who were supposed to be in her corner. They didn’t look so friendly and she was supposed to explain that someone who was with their archenemy, for reasons that still weren’t clear, thought that she was meant to be with him? No, that wouldn’t fly too well with this crowd.

  “I’m not certain who left the message.” Then the fuck it, I’m done with the act. It’ll be whatever it will be kicked back in. What were they going to do? Kill her? Torture her if she said it? Might as well get it out on the table now. “But I’m fairly certain it was Malokin’s second in command, Keith. He was introduced also as Despair, which I didn’t quite understand the significance of, initially. He thought I was the one for him. Is that what you wanted to know?”

  Cutty opened his mouth twice but kept shutting it. Angus scratched his head, Fate scowled, Bic
was nodding his head as if he was still digesting her words like a bad meal that gave him acid reflux. When her eyes landed on Lars, he looked like he wanted to kill someone. That she hadn’t expected, and her eyes moved quickly back to Cutty, who was still alternating between a forced natural look and gaping.

  “When you say the one, can you elaborate on that?” Cutty finally asked.

  “Sure. He said ‘You are the one for me.’ His meaning seemed fairly clear to me, but you guys should make your own interpretations. I don’t want to skew your opinions.” She thought back to that meeting and shuddered, remembering how Keith had run his finger along her cheek when he’d spoken to her, telling her that they were two pieces of a puzzle, meant to be joined.

  Lars looked like he was angrier than ever but the look on Bic’s face in particular had her holding back that nervous laughter that liked to creep up on her at the most awkward moments.

  “You said you were kidnapped?” Fate shot at her accusingly, as if he had caught her in a lie. The attack wiped the giggle right out of her.

  “I was.” She put as much force behind the words as she could and snapped when she saw the skepticism. “You think I saw this guy on Match.com and read his profile, ‘Life’s ambition, spread despair far and wide,’ and thought wow, this is the man for me?” She wanted to tell them all to go to hell but also wanted to get this over with. “Just so we don’t have to rehash this a million more times, I’ll tell you all the events now and then I’m done talking about it.” She didn’t wait for them to agree to her terms. They weren’t negotiable so she just started talking. If they wanted to kick her out after this, let them. Keith had almost gotten to her at Cutty’s, anyway. Maybe she was better off on her own.

  “I was at my art gallery in Seattle, hosting a show. I went out to my car. I was stabbed to death in the parking lot. I awoke in a moving car, sandwiched by two guys in the backseat. They told me I was dead, took me on a private jet to the other side of the country and brought me to a hotel suite, where Malokin and Keith were waiting for me.

  “There, Malokin informed me that I was some sort of experiment. Of what kind, I don’t know but that he would’ve taken me regardless because Keith wanted me. Malokin then left me alone with Keith, who declared his feelings and explained that my human life was over and forced me in front of a mirror where I saw the truth of it. The person I knew was no longer there staring back at me.

  “I collapsed on the floor of the bathroom. He lifted me up and took me over to the couch. He kept talking but I couldn’t tell you what he said after that point. I was in shock and completely disoriented, so when he got called into the other room, he probably figured I wouldn’t move.

  “At first, I didn’t. But then desperation and pure desire to survive kicked in. I remembered one of the other men coming in within the first few moments I’d arrived, saying that he left a memo on the desk. It was something that had been given out to all the men about the top list of threats and their locations.

  “I figured that list was my best shot of enlisting help. I got up and walked to the desk in the room. The name Lars and Dead Ink were listed and there was an address. All of your names were on it.” She motioned to the group. “But for some crazy reason, when I’d been driven to the hotel, as dazed as I was, I’d remembered seeing Dead Ink and I knew I could get there on foot.”

  As she talked, Bic walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer, clearly needing a drink. Angus and Cutty weren’t saying anything and she couldn’t tell what Lars was thinking at all anymore. Fate was scowling but he hadn’t stopped doing that since she’d met him.

  “I left and no one noticed me,” she continued and then grabbed the beer from Bic’s hand as he walked back over. “I think I need this a little more than you do,” she said to him, then took a swig and began again, keeping the beer.

  “They were too busy in the next room over doing…things.” She shivered, thinking of how Keith had been literally hammering someone’s hand as Malokin had stood close by, both too involved to notice anything beyond that room. Another poor sucker had been lying on the floor nearby, curled into a ball and looking like he’d already had his turn. She could still hear the screams.

  “I made it out of the hotel and got to a convenience store on the corner. I asked some guy in the parking lot if he could drive me down the street a ways, claiming I lost my purse and just needed to get back to my house. When he dropped me off, I headed into the woods and started towards here on foot. I ended up stopping because I got sick. Once I felt better, I started walking again.”

  Fate was the only one that started asking questions. “So you were in the woods alone?”

  “Yes. I was in the woods alone.” Her mind ran back over those days. They were a blur of pain she didn’t want to think of. She’d lain in the dirt, wishing whatever she was now would cease to exist. It was the only time she’d ever truly wanted to give up. “I’d never felt so horrible in my life,” she said, more to herself than them.

  “How did you eat?” Cutty asked.

  “For the most part, I didn’t. When the pain finally started to subside, I drank water from a nearby creek and started making my way here again.” She caught a flash of pity on Cutty’s face and her spine straightened. “You don’t need to feel bad for me. Live long enough and we all have shitty days,” she said, playing it down and shrugging off his noticeable reaction. “Any other questions?”

  She looked at all five of them but no one said anything. “Good. Because I’m tired.” She got up and walked back to the bed and climbed in, jeans and all. She rolled over and gave them her back.

  “Okay then, I guess let’s call it a night,” Cutty said, and no one argued.

  ***

  Lars lay on the couch, trying to get an hour or so of sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could do was remember how Faith looked when she’d shown up at his shop. The way she’d devoured the sandwich she’d been given. The way he’d scared her.

  She could be lying. He turned onto his side, his gaze finding its target across the dark room. The small figure burrowed in the blankets on his bed. He could tell by her breathing she was sleeping but it was fitful, and she tossed often.

  Giving up on sleep, he stood up and crossed the room to stand over where she lay. Her hair was spread out on the pillow her head rested upon, and he picked up a lock and ran it through his fingers. Her lips parted as she sighed softly in her sleep. Why couldn’t he look at her and not want to possess her, to cover her body with his and claim her as his own?

  He knew he shouldn’t sleep with her. It would just cause entanglements. She was living here. If he slept with her, he’d still have to see her every day.

  She was beautiful but he’d had gorgeous women. What was it about her? When she’d sat there tonight, in front of the guys, he’d really seen a glimpse of her for who she was. All he’d wanted to do was kick the other four guys out and throw her on the bed.

  Yeah, she’d shown she had some spine but he’d been with spunky chicks before. It wasn’t that either. So it wasn’t her beauty or her spunk. Then what was it? Why was he drawn to her?

  It had to be that she was forbidden fruit. That was all this attraction was. He dropped her hair back onto the pillow and headed toward the shower, giving up on sleep.

  Chapter 14

  Faith woke up as Lars was walking out of the bathroom, a towel slung low on his hips, his hair soaking wet. He seemed to be more of a drip-dry type, as water still beaded on his skin. She kept her lids mostly closed, feigning sleep as he moved about the room, his smallest movements setting off a ripple of muscles.

  He walked over to the dresser, where it sat against the wall, and dug a pair of jeans out of one of the drawers. He took a few steps back toward the bathroom but then stopped. The towel dropped, revealing every masculine inch of him. She should’ve stop looking but didn’t. He tugged the jeans up over a perfect ass as she noticed he also wasn’t the underwear type.

  He turned back toward her and
she pressed her eyes shut.

  “I’ve got coffee on.” He didn’t bother with a shirt as he headed over to the kitchen area.

  She didn’t need a mirror to know her cheeks were flaming red. He’d known she was awake and obviously that she’d been watching him, too. “Thanks,” she said, not wanting to compound the situation by hanging on to the pretense of sleep.

  She opened her eyes and sat up as if she hadn’t been caught peeping, or maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal she had been. It wasn’t like he was modest, after all. She debated letting the matter drop completely but her curiosity got the better of her. “How can you tell when I’m sleeping or not?”

  “I hear your heart rate quicken.” He smiled ever so slightly. “Does it bother you?” he asked in a way that made her think he already had the answer to that question but enjoyed teasing her.

  She’d never seen him smile before. It smoothed his harsh edges, the ones that normally reminded her to keep her distance, like warning signs on a ride that went too fast and rough for comfort.

  “That you can hear my heart beating? No, why would it?” Of course it did, and especially if he could hear it now when it felt like it was trying to bang its way out of her chest like a kid jacked up on sugar, bouncing around on a pogo stick. It wasn’t going to calm down, either, until he stopped looking at her like she was his new playmate.

  “Just curious.”

  He moved about the kitchen, completely at ease with his partial undress, and she wondered if the jeans were for her benefit. She wished his face would get that irritated look it so often had but warning signs or not, she still knew what kind of ride he’d offer up.

  “Will I be able to hear people’s heartbeat?” It would be nice to think she wasn’t the only one revved up but she didn’t hear a thing from him. He was as calm as ever.