28. Bash
Chapter 28
Bash
Stasia’s red hair glints under the building’s exterior lights that line the entire front, and I tuck a wayward strand under her hat. I was amazed she’d been able to twist up her thick crimson mane and hide it in the first place. So no surprise it’s trying to escape now. The loose strands are giving her a wild, untamed beauty that has my heart railing against my ribs.
I want to grip her jaw and force her mouth against mine, but frustratingly, she’s not even paying attention to me. Instead, she’s biting the corner of her lip, which is already red from her teeth, as she looks toward tonight’s target.
This is just one of the many companies the Everette family owns, something to do with data and electronics. Whatever it is, it’s under Matthias’s control.
I’ve been here multiple times when my older brother needed help, but as for the business side, I try to stay out of it. I’m more interested in things I can feel than anything computer-based. Give me an engine, and I’ll tear it down and put it back together again. Computers? Not so much.
Stasia’s fingers fumble with the buttons of her uniform. I catch her hands in mine, stilling them.
“Let me help?”
She nods. This is the quietest I’ve seen her, and I fucking hate it. I move her fingers out of the way, taking my time closing her jacket. Her body’s pulled taut, and her shallow breaths are coming out between us. Was she this nervous when she snuck into the Vault? How did a girl like this end up in these kinds of situations if she’s this worried?
The borrowed jacket is loose around her shoulders, giving away her lithe frame. “You’re tall, but you’re narrow. How did you fill out your brother’s robe?”
I tug at the fabric, trying to see if it’ll stand up on its own. It flops back down as expected.
“Bulletproof vest.” She says it so simply, like it’s a completely common thing to say. Like replying “have a good day” after saying goodbye.
“Where did you get a vest, Stasia? No, why did you even have one?”
“Relax, it was my brother’s, and now that I think of it, he said he did stuff for you…” Her finger pokes my sternum, and I fight back a wince. After what happened to Misty and Scarlet, we may or may not have requested help from some of the Saints to make sure no one else had any bright ideas. Rage burns through my veins at the thought of my sisters being in danger. We’d cleaned the house after that, and nothing has come up since. Still, even remembering what went down a few years ago has my hair standing on end.
Stasia’s fingers curl into my jacket as if she’s holding me close, but she doesn’t seem to notice what she’s doing. I love that my girl subconsciously reaches out to me, even when she’s not ready to recognize she needs me to. I swear I’m going to find whoever made her guarded like this and crush the fucking life out of them.
It’s dark, but I can still make out the glint of blue in Stasia’s eyes as she watches around us. She’s not focused on me, instead watching everyone who enters and leaves the front doors.
I use her distraction to continue touching her. I fix her collar for the fifth time, letting my knuckles drag up the curve of her neck, and I’m rewarded by the goose bumps that erupt in the wake of my touch. She’s so sensitive, always responding to anything I do, no matter how small. She has no idea how close I am to dragging her back to our place to explore all the ways her body will respond to me.
My thumb brushes her ear, and her attention snaps to me.
“There’s something I don’t understand. Why am I still pretending to be a guy? Wouldn’t it be enough that I have an access card to get in? It’s not like I look like the man who owns this uniform.” Her brows are pushed together, creating a crease between them. I’m tempted to smooth it out, but I let it be.
I palm the back of her neck and use my thumb to tilt her chin up. “Have you looked at yourself, Stasia? If you go in there undisguised, there’s not a single person who won’t remember you.”
“I know I started this, but I don’t actually look like a guy.” Her cheeks flush pink, and she makes the mistake of glancing away.
I use the opening to lower my mouth to her ear and whisper, “No. You look delicious, no matter what.” I run my tongue along the shell, and she squeaks, shoving me. I hold on to her as she fights my grasp. I keep my voice low so only she can hear. “We need people to look past you. That’s all that matters.”
Her eyes are sharp, nostrils flared as she somehow manages to stare down at me from several inches below. “If you don’t back off, I’m going to cut off that sly tongue.”
“That would be a real loss to you, Princess.” Amusement fills my tone, along with promise.
I ready for her slap and catch her wrist easily. “I had no idea you were into that type of thing. You’ll have to be patient and wait until we’re home though.”
Her rage is practically steaming off her in palpable waves. I’m careful to keep my gaze averted. I want to push her, not start a fight. My attention pauses where there’s a man looking our way. “Too many people around.”
Stasia freezes, her eyes shooting wide, halting whatever plan she was crafting to murder me.
I nod at the man as he passes. He leaves, not looking back.
“I can’t do this.” Her voice is raspy and fast, each word climbing over the previous.
I give her arms a reassuring squeeze. “Just act like you belong here.”
She takes a deep breath, steadying herself. She stands taller, chin higher, elbows pinned back. There’s a fierce look to her like she’s going into battle. If she were with anyone else, she’d have every reason to be agitated, but so long as she’s with me, not a soul would dare to touch her.
“I’m ready.” She nods and starts up the stairs to the entrance ahead of me.
I follow her, looking bored as usual, a little disappointed that she didn’t say anything about my own uniform.
She’d taken one glance, eyes rounding, then shut her expression down.
I huff, and she glances back at me as we walk in. I shake my head, and she turns forward, walking confidently toward the cattle gate–style security door, swiping her pass like she’s done this a million times before.
There’s a long pause, and I start to wonder if Larry fucked me over, but the light turns green, and she steps through. I didn’t bother stealing a pass, just using my own instead. The disguise is for the people who see me passing by; there’s no reason seeing my swipe log would raise any suspicion. Technically, I’m part owner of this building, after all.
I’m several steps behind Stasia as she walks down the hall to the right of the front desk. I’d drawn her a crude map for her to memorize so she wouldn’t be dependent on me if anything were to happen. She’d studied it rigorously, taking her time to fold it into a small square before tucking it into her pocket.
There are several workers still here, even though it’s well into the night. None of them pay any attention as we walk by. Just like I hoped, Stasia’s invisible to them.
I shift up to walk beside her as we travel down the hallway. The building is newly decorated with modern wood and steel elements.
A man walks toward us and slows to look at Stasia. She turns her face away, not slowing her steps. I position myself between them and say, “Long night?”
Any suspicion he had is washed away by the universal love of bitching. Stasia uses the opportunity to escape down the hall, not bothering to wait for me.
“Yeah, you know it. They work us like dogs.”
“Right.” I shrug. “Who knows, maybe you’ll get a bonus this year.”
He huffs a breath through his nose. “Like I stand a chance of having an Everette notice me.”
I smirk. “You might be surprised. Anyway, I better be off. This place doesn’t clean itself.”
“Yeah, I should get back. Have a good one.”
I wave him off and catch up to Stasia. She’s pale as a ghost under the fluorescent lights. No, it’s more than that. Her breathing’s coming out fast and shallow, and there’s a slight tremble in her arms when I grab hold of her. Fuck, my chest tightens as guilt rides me. There’s no reason she had to feel like this. I could have easily grabbed the code on my own. It’s my own selfishness that thought it would be fun to sneak in here with her. I’d listened to the part of me that saw the glint of excitement in her eyes at the thought of sneaking in. Even now, I’m not convinced I misread her.
I cup the back of her neck in my palm and slowly stroke her nape with my thumb. When she calms down, I tease. “Don’t tell me you’re more afraid of being caught here than when you broke into the Vault.”
Her laugh is light. “In my defense, my disguise was better, and it was dark.”
I choke on a snort. “It wasn’t that good.”
“It fooled you.”
“Not for very long.”
Her head tilts to the side as she studies my reaction. “Why did you follow me into the Vault that day? I could have sworn I stayed covered.”
“Stasia, even dressed as your brother, you’re fascinating. There was no way I was leaving without figuring out what you were up to.” I entwine my fingers with hers. It’s risky, considering our location, but I’ve never been good at telling myself no. “Plus, it was a nice surprise when I found you. Wasn’t it?”
There’s that blush again. Fuck, she looks pretty like that.
I lead the way toward the office. It’s down a long corridor that’s isolated from the rest of the building. There’s an atrium at the end; the windows look over a park, but it’s too dark to make anything out, the light pollution blocking out the stars from the sky. Suddenly, I want to take her far from here. Somewhere secluded where I can lay her down with nothing over us but the constellations.
Jesus fucking Christ. If my brothers knew what I was thinking, they’d never let me live it down.
I’m supposed to be the irresponsible baby Everette, not some lovesick puppy. I squeeze my fingers with Stasia’s, ignoring the way my hand engulfs hers.
I can feel myself dipped deeper than just possession, and there’s a hint of fear lingering around my chest.The overwhelming feeling that this girl is mine. I’m going to have to apologize to my brothers for giving them so much shit. Everything they did to get their wives seems completely justifiable now.
Stasia stays close to me, our arms brushing against each other with each step. Unable to resist, I move into her, forcing her to step back until her shoulder blades are pressed into the wall. My mouth hovers over hers, each of her breaths dusting over my lips. I could take her right here, devour her until she’s breathless, but I want her to be the one chasing me.
Her chest rises and falls, and her tight hold on my arms goes from pushing to pulling. She lifts on her toes, and I’m rock hard with the need to fuck her.
Not yet. I chuckle low in my throat, causing her lids to snap open.
“I like where your head’s at, but I’m not sure this is the right place.”
She’s all fire and ice when she spits back, “Screw you, Sebastian.”
If she knew what my full name on her mouth did to me, I don’t think she’d use it so freely like that.
Stasia swipes her pass, and the door beeps before swinging open. She freezes at the entrance, hesitant to walk in.
She snaps out of it when I take her hand, half-startled, half-furious, and tries to pry herself away. I chuckle low in my throat, not letting go as I drag her in. She gives up, choosing to ignore me and look around the room.
None of us spend much time here, not even Matthias, so it’s sparsely furnished. A few chairs are seated in front of a large wood desk with a giant window behind it. There’s a storage closet on one wall and a bookshelf on the other.
Stasia’s fingers tighten around mine, and I can feel the tension running through her. My brave girl is pushing her boundaries with each step she takes.
I want to push her down on the desk and make her forget her worries, filling her mind with only my name.
Unfortunately, I don’t think she’d be up to that. I reluctantly let go of her hand and round the desk, taking a seat in the leather chair. The computer’s the newest model, not older than a year. Matthias is constantly changing them out, saying it’s for some kind of security reason.
If he only knew it was me breaking in. Actually, if I explained the entire situation, he’d probably be down. It’s not like my brothers give a shit about what belongs to the Order of Saints. We inherited our positions as Lords, and we all have a twisted relationship with it.
The screen flashes on when I press my thumb to the pad. Any encryption on the files is lifted by my login. My brothers would know it was me if they checked, but I’m counting on the fact that there’s no reason they’d be suspicious without signs of tampering.
If they do find out, they’ll be happy I already have plans to settle down with my “fake” girlfriend. My family might not have been fooled that Stasia’s with me, but it was clear from how they took her in that they approve.
I started to think they might like her more than me.
Being able to open the files is only the first step, and it’s not long before I’m going cross-eyed and rubbing my palms over my face. Finding this fucking password is like finding a snowflake on a mountain. No wonder Matthias looked so amused when he told me. Bastard.
Stasia’s soft chuckles pull my attention, and my words catch in my throat at the way her eyes sparkle at me. She’s wearing a mischievous grin I can only hope she’s gotten from me.
“What?” I croak.
“You look helpless.” She’s biting the corner of her lip, mirth written on her face. She’s seconds away from full-on laughing at me.
“You try?” I stand and gesture to the chair, expecting her to hesitate, but she takes it easily, like breaking into files is just another day.
Matthias probably has some form of monitoring on this system, but if we get caught, I can easily get us out of it. Then this little game will be over, and I’m not ready for that. I need more time to make her see she wants me back.
Stasia’s focused as her fingers fly over the keys, navigating through the system easily.
I roll back on my heels as I watch her work. The blue computer light casts over her cheekbones. She may be dressed like a man, but my cock doesn’t give a shit. If anything, it’s just urging me on further to rip her hat off, grip her hair, and bring her lips to my tip.
Will she moan when she takes me between her sweet lips and tastes me on her tongue?
“Got it.” She beams with pride.
I’m yanked back to the present, and I stare at her, astonished. It took less than five minutes to find something that Matthias obviously buried.
I can’t help myself from leaning over and brushing a nonexistent strand of hair from her face, grazing my knuckles against her ear. Her gasp is barely audible, but that doesn’t stop it from going straight to my dick.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
“What?” she asks.
“Nothing.” I can’t tell her that her aptitude has me turned on.
Stasia, clueless to my thoughts, starts to explain. Her words come tumbling from her mouth like she feels like she needs to say this. Like, she’s been holding it in.
“When my mom died, my dad sort of fell apart. I was young then, so I didn’t really understand, and Nikolai took care of most things, but once I was ten or so, I noticed he absolutely sucks at computers.”
There’s a nearly invisible curve to her lips as she thinks about him.
Fuck, is it weird to be jealous of her brother? Probably.
“I just sort of learned out of necessity, and luckily, it came easy to me. I handled our bookkeeping and pretty much anything else that needed to be tracked.”
She pauses for a second, and any sign of a smile vanishes. “I think that’s why it bothered me so much when I found out my dad had spent all of our money. I should have known. It was my job to know. I honestly thought he was just moving through life on autopilot, so I never once questioned him on where he’d go.” She lets out a dry chuckle. “Turns out he got into debt with some seriously under-the-table loan sharks. No paperwork, no trail that he’d been betting our lives and we’d been descending into poverty.”
There are tears in her eyes when she says, “I should have stopped him. I want to hate him, but it’s all my fault. Everything is always my fault.”
I pull her into my arms, and she buries her face into my chest. Her small frame is shaking with each breath she takes.
Fury burns through me like an out-of-control wildfire. If her father wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself.
Her hat falls to the ground, and I stroke my fingers through her hair, murmuring calming nonsense. I know what to do with pissed-off Stasia, the one that can give it right back to me, but this sadness she’s showing me has my heart ripping open. She’s been carrying a guilt she hasn’t earned, but I have a bone-deep certainty that her debt isn’t the only thing torturing her. There’s a rawness that speaks to years of pain.
“It wasn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself, Princess. Your dad fucked up, then left it on you.” I reassure her again and again. I palm her neck and stroke it with my thumb, back and forth, until she relaxes in my arms. I’m happy she’s showing me this now. I’ll wait for the rest.
The clacking of high heels and low voices approaching from the hall has us pulling apart. Stasia’s looking around, eyes wild like she’s an animal about to be trapped. The look of prey on guard nearly has me coming undone.
There are only a select few people who would dare come this way, and I have no desire to be caught by any of them. The closet descends into darkness as I close it behind us, just in time for the office to beep open.
Matthias’s deep voice is muffled through the door.