Savage (Park Avenue Kings #1)

28. Lachlan

28

LACHLAN

T HIS WAS BULLSHIT.

I didn’t bother objecting to King again. There was no point. He wanted me locked away while the plans were made, but why? I’d been in situations that would make his head spin, and he thought I couldn’t handle a simple scoping out of a location?

Again with the bullshit.

My eyes drifted to where Cooper poured himself a drink.

The resentment rising inside me wasn’t directed at him, but at the situation, because being tied down and unable to do the thing I was best at wasn’t going to work for me.

Telling me to “stay put”?

Fuck. That.

“Thirsty?” Cooper asked, still holding the bottle of soda.

I shook my head as I paced restlessly, staring out through the open curtains at the city below. From here, we faced the general direction of the warehouse, and wasn’t that just going to annoy the shit out of me?

Cooper sat on one side of the couch and leaned back casually, but there was nothing indifferent about his energy. He was so full of questions and comments that he was ready to pop. How could he not be after what he’d just seen?

I cracked my neck from side to side, trying to release some of the tension building up inside me, but it didn’t help.

“So, that was an intense meeting,” Cooper said, hoping to open up a conversation I wasn’t in the mood for.

It was a comment that didn’t require a response, though, so I let him talk while my mind began to run through how I was going to sweep the warehouse and get what we needed.

“Obviously, I won’t say anything outside this room, but holy shit, I have to at least say it once. I was just in the same room as Shepard O’Neil Winchester III—like, he’s American royalty. And don’t even get me started on the fact that you’re friends with an actual prince.” He shook his head. “That’s wild. You have to admit it.”

I heard his words, could even acknowledge his point of view was right, but I was already deep in planning mode, orders be damned. Being cooped up in this building for days already had me feeling caged, and I needed an outlet or I was going to go out of my mind.

“So do you think I’ll be able to play a part when it all goes down?” Cooper asked. “I mean, I know nothing major, but I’d like to help get these assholes behind bars.”

I almost snorted at that. Behind bars… That wasn’t my preferred method of dealing with the garbage in this city, or anywhere else in the world. King would likely have a problem with that too for this particular mission, though I’d never been discouraged from unleashing my own brand of justice before.

“You’ve done enough,” I said.

“Oh.” He paused for a moment. “Well, if I can, I’d like to be there.”

“Of course you would. It’s dangerous—where else would you want to be?”

Cooper’s forehead creased at the caustic edge to my words. “Are you okay?”

Fucking perfect. I felt like a ticking time bomb ready to explode, and if I stayed here another second I’d end up taking Cooper down with me. That was the last thing I wanted to do.

Decision made, I headed for the door and called out, “I’ll be back.”

“Lachlan—” Worry laced Cooper’s voice, but I didn’t stick around to hear him ask where I was going and why. He didn’t need to know. Didn’t need to be complicit in my plans.

I punched the button for the elevator, and the doors opened like it knew I need to get the fuck out.

Seconds later I was on the ground floor grabbing my coat, then I was out the door. The cold air slapped me in my face as I stepped out onto the street, and when one of the drivers on hand got out of the car, I waved him off.

“Not tonight,” I said, jamming my hands into my pockets, then I started up the street.

God it felt good to be outside again. Not that it was a hardship to spend time at Libertine, but being cooped up in there for several days in a row had left me feeling antsy.

I didn’t do well in enclosed spaces, and when it was against my will, it was even worse.

Maybe this was King’s way of paying me back for these last couple of weeks. I definitely deserved it. But even he knew the consequences of caging one who usually roamed free.

I booked it several blocks, running over everything we’d uncovered in the last few days, and I had to admit that without Cooper we probably wouldn’t be as close to nailing Mick as we were as of tonight.

Not only had he led us to the club where I’d managed to secure a deal with Mick, but that fateful night in the alley had gotten us more intel than we could’ve hoped for. That key card he’d “accidentally” come across had cut weeks of surveillance off low-end drug deals and instead led us straight to the source.

I turned down a side street, one I knew would knock a little time off my trek across town, and made my way toward the one place I’d been specifically told not to go.

But since when had I ever followed orders?

King couldn’t just dangle a plan in front of me and then tell me to sit and wait while the rest of them worked out the details. I was the security guy, for fuck’s sake. The one sent in to execute the plan. So this sidelining of me felt fucking petty, even for him.

As I turned back onto one of the main thoroughfares, I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye, someone making the same move, out of the side street and back onto the main, and while I wasn’t deliberately trying to stay hidden, if I found out King had set a tail on me, I couldn’t be held responsible for what I would do.

I quickened my pace, deciding to see if my sixth sense was on point—and sure enough, when I crossed the street, so did my new shadow. This had to be some kind of joke, right? King wasn’t dumb enough to think I wouldn’t notice someone following me. That was literally what I’d trained for, to follow people and know when I was being followed. That was the only way to be effective in my line of work.

When I spotted several stores with glass fronts, I decided to see who he’d sent to do his dirty work. Maybe I’d even snap a selfie with his guy so poorly trailing my ass over my shoulder, and send it as a reminder of my actual skills. But when I caught sight of a gorgeous face I’d recently committed to memory, I almost lost my footing.

Fucking Cooper.

Of course he’d followed me.

Which meant he’d not only ignored the rule about staying inside Libertine, but he’d also walked out the front door without a goddamn blindfold, meaning he now knew the exact location of the place.

Well, if King had been sidelining me for my previous transgressions, he just might kill me for this one.

What the hell did Cooper think he was doing? Following me? It was almost laughable, really, considering how the two of us had begun. The only difference was, I knew he was there behind me. In the coffee shop, he’d been absolutely clueless I’d been trailing him for days, that I was his masked man in the alley, on his fire escape…in his bedroom that night.

So maybe it was time to teach him a lesson.

I continued on, not alerting him to the fact I knew he was there. Going to the warehouse now was out of the question, because there was no way I was letting him get close to that place.

At the next corner I made a right, walked a block, then took another right. If he wanted to be nosy and get his steps in, I’d work his ass out. It was bitterly cold today, not the kind most people could handle for too long, but Cooper kept pace, following me through all the twists and turns.

He was persistent, I’d give him that. Usually that was something I admired in a person, but at this moment I wanted to tie him up and take all my frustration out on that hot, rebellious body.

At the next side street, I made a left, moved into the alcove of a storefront, and waited. A few seconds later, Cooper followed, but confusion crossed his face when he didn’t see me up ahead. He walked faster, and that was when I made my move—I darted out of the shadows, grabbed him from behind, and covered his mouth to keep him quiet.

His entire body seized, going rigid, and a muffled sound came out of him as I shoved him toward the brick wall.

Cooper was breathing hard, and I hoped for one goddamn second this made him think twice about putting himself in such reckless situations in the future. I didn’t have high hopes for that, considering his penchant for trouble, but maybe he’d surprise me.

“Did you really think you could follow me and I wouldn’t know?”

Instantly, his shoulders relaxed, and I wanted to curse at the fact that I had that effect on him. Did I like it? Yeah, I fucking did. And I didn’t need to.

Irritation had me spinning him around to face me. Those blue eyes met mine, and it was a good thing he was still showing some alarm or I would’ve considered getting his head examined.

“What the fuck are you doing, Cooper?”

“I… You didn’t answer me before you left.”

“I didn’t answer you?” I lowered my head, shoving my face in close to his. “You’re here, sneaking around in the shadows, because I didn’t answer you?”

He licked at his lip nervously. “Well, yes. So much happened tonight, and instead of talking to me you just left.”

“So you decided to follow me.”

“I wanted to make sure that you were all right. That nothing bad happened to you.”

He had to be joking, right? He was out here following me around in case I got into trouble? Now that was a laugh.

“And what exactly did you plan to do if something bad did happen? I’m supposed to be looking after you, remember?” I gritted my teeth, frustration riding me as the image of Cooper with a gun to his head flashed before my eyes. “You’re the one whose apartment was tossed, the one who stumbled on a drug deal gone wrong. Your self-preservation instincts suck.”

“Yeah?” Cooper shocked the hell out of me, shoving me hard in the chest. “Well, I’m sorry I give a shit.”

“No, you’re not. You’re just sorry you got caught.” I shoved a hand through my hair and turned away from him. “And now you’ve fucked up my plans.”

“Which were what, exactly? To go to the one place you were told not to?”

I whirled on him and took a step forward so Cooper’s back was against the brick wall again. “That’s none of your business.”

“It is if it means you could get hurt.”

My chest tightened at his words, warmth flooding me at the emotions I could see swirling in those blue eyes of his, the sincerity in his voice—and that just pissed me off even more.

How dare he put himself in danger, for me ?

I grabbed his shirt and pulled him in close. “ You were supposed to stay at Libertine.”

If Cooper was intimidated by me in any way, he sure didn’t show it. “So were you.”

I sighed and let him go, irritated. This was getting us nowhere, and since my plan was now shot to shit, the best thing I could do was get him somewhere safe.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him out into the main street.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

I didn’t answer. I was too annoyed to deal with conversation now. Anything I did say would likely get me in trouble.

“Are we going back to Libertine?”

The fact that we were indeed going back to the club without any subterfuge or visual impairment because he now knew where it was—that was a whole other fuck-up I wasn’t even going to think about right now. Otherwise I might just turn around and strangle him myself.

Ever since I’d laid eyes on Cooper, he’d been nothing but trouble. But apparently trouble was exactly what I’d been looking for, because I couldn’t get him out of my fucking mind.

Annoyed by that little revelation, I took the necessary turns and side streets to get us back to Libertine.

“Should I shut my eyes?” Cooper said as we rounded the final turn, and I glared at him over my shoulder.

“No fucking point now, is there?”

“You know, you’re a real grump when you don’t get your way. That’s interesting.”

I grunted, figuring that was better than telling him what I thought he was right now.

“Oh, for God’s sake, I signed an NDA. It’s not like I’m going to post the address somewhere.”

I marched up to the nondescript door and banged on it a little harder than necessary.

The narrow panel slid open and our doorman saw me, then unlocked the door.

Cooper trailed in after me, and as the door shut behind us, I whirled around on him.

“Do yourself a favor. Go back up to the room.”

“Is that where you’re going?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about where I’m going or what I’m doing.”

“Why? You’re so concerned with my whereabouts.”

“Because you lack the ability to keep yourself out of danger. You run toward it, and for someone like you, that’s going to be a death sentence.”

“Someone like me? Wow. You really think highly of me, don’t you?”

That was half the problem—I thought too highly of him.

“What I think is that if you can’t stay inside the walls of this building, I will lock you back up in that penthouse where I know you won’t get into any trouble.”

“Trouble? What am I, a five-year-old?”

Christ he was stubborn. He’d literally come to me for help, called my goddamn number because he had drug dealers up his ass, and now he was arguing with me about his safety?

“You know what? Fuck it.” I marched over to the elevator and punched the button, and when the doors opened, I stepped inside. “If you want to leave, go for it. But just know I won’t be there to save you again.”