Chapter 9
SABLE
"Woody picked that?" Leif asked, looking me up and down.
"Yeah, I did, so what?" Woody narrowed his eyes at him. “Something wrong with it?”
"Nothing's wrong with it. It’s perfect." Leif slapped him on the shoulder.
"It really is," I said. "Look, it has pockets." I tucked my hands into them. They were perfectly stitched to sit flat against my hips.
"It'll do." Forrest nodded and stepped over to me. "We'll be able to hide a microphone in the neckline. We'll put a tracker in your pocket and one in an earring."
"You can never have too many trackers," Leif said.
"How many are you going to wear?" I asked him.
"At least three," he replied easily. "One in my pocket, one on my watch, and one attached to the end of my cock."
"So it doesn't get lost," Woody said, as if he was planning to do it himself too.
"Exactly," Leif said. "If my cock and I are separated, I can track it down."
"If you're quick, you might be able to have it reattached." Woody didn't seem impressed with this line of conversation.
"Right, I have it all thought out." Leif dropped his hands to his side. "You two might consider doing the same."
"I have no intention of becoming separated from my cock," Forrest said.
"If anyone tries cutting mine off, I'll end them," Woody said darkly.
"I'm sure no one's coming for any of your cocks," I said. "Except me."
"You want to cut off our cocks?" Leif teased.
My eyes dropped to his groin. "That depends on my mood.
I prefer to leave them where they are for now.
" Of course I wasn't going to cut off any of their body parts, unless it was somehow necessary.
What circumstances that might be were best not contemplated right now. I was anxious enough as it was.
"I'm pretty attached to mine," Leif said.
My face heating a little, I said, "I'm pretty attached to yours too." I didn't want to change the subject, but my smile faded. "You haven't found out anything about Savannah yet?"
"Nothing," Leif said. His expression also turned serious. "The only thing I've been able to find is that the auction is going ahead. Even if it doesn't involve her, we need to shut it down. If it isn't her, it's other innocent women."
I nodded, but my gaze dropped to the floor. Of course I understood the importance of rescuing other women, but I hoped like hell we'd find Savannah before it was too late.
"Hey." Forrest placed his finger under my chin and turned my face toward him.
"We're not going to let anything happen to you or her, okay?
This is what we do. We tracked down the bad guys.
Now we shut them down. When we're done with them, they'll be in pieces and no one will dare to hold another auction again. All right?"
He seemed so sure. I wanted to believe every word he said. I did believe them, but I knew it wouldn't be that simple. Was anything ever?
Take me walking away from Wolfgang, for example. I wanted to, badly, but I couldn't. Looking back, I knew there were opportunities, but I wouldn't have made it more than a handful of steps. He would have found me and I would have suffered the consequences.
Not to mention at the time I didn't think I could rely on anyone to help me. Not even Savannah. Not without risking her safety too.
I didn't know men like these existed. If I had, I would have reached out to them. They would have been the ones to kill Wolfgang instead.
That was romantic in a twisted sort of way. Thinking they'd kill him so I could be with them. Freeing me from him and the nightmare I woke to every morning. It seemed so simple. Clean. Easy.
Ending an auction for rich, powerful men? That wasn't going to be simple or easy. Nothing worth doing ever was.
"Do you trust us?" Forrest locked his blue eyes on mine.
I slid my tongue across my lips.
"Yes, I trust you," I said after a moment.
I wanted to respond faster, but I was still cautious.
I probably always would be. If not about them, then about other people.
Other situations. Trust wasn't something I could give away like it was a handful of candy.
Trust was more valuable than money, prestige or power.
It was a currency that would never devalue.
"Then believe me when I say we've got this," he said. "We'll be with you every step of the way, watching and listening. If anyone tries anything, we'll be right back there before it gets out of hand."
"Can I say that for the record, I still don't like this," Leif said his hand in the air.
"You can say it," Forrest said.
"He's gonna ignore it." Woody jerked his head toward Forrest.
"I'm yet to hear anyone come up with a better idea," Forrest drawled.
When neither of them had anything to say to that, he stepped over to a bag on the table and pulled out a smaller bag.
He opened it, revealing what I assumed were tracking devices.
That is to say, one looked like a tracking device.
Beside it was a pair of diamond earrings.
Real diamonds, unless I didn't know my diamonds, which I did.
"Those must have been expensive," I said as he stepped over to me and started to slide them into the holes in my lobes.
"They were." He fastened them in place, then stood back to take a look. "They'll do for now."
He opened the bag and took a velvet box from inside. Opening it, he pulled out a diamond necklace to match the earrings.
"That's at least a million dollars worth of diamonds," I said, eyeing the way they sparkled under the light.
"It is." Forrest stepped around beside me and draped it around my neck. "It contains a listening device."
I placed my fingers over the cool stones and made a mental note to donate even more to charity.
The necklace was beautiful but it was a lot of money to spend on stones, even pretty stones.
The fact they were functional as well made up for it to some extent.
I didn't feel so ostentatious when I was keeping myself safe.
"Let me guess," Leif asked. "The biggest stone in the centre contains pepper spray?"
Forrest glanced at him. "No, it's just a diamond."
Leif clicked his tongue. "Shame. That would have been cool. Like something out of a James Bond movie."
"You need to watch fewer movies," Woody said. "How would you fit pepper spray in there anyway?" He peered at the stone.
"Like I said before, if I can think of it, someone's found a way," Leif said easily. "Maybe bigger stones next time."
"My stones are big enough," Woody said, smirking at Leif.
"Do they contain pepper spray?" Leif asked, glancing down pointedly.
"Nah, they contain something better than that." Woody became even more smug. "For the record, Sable liked the taste of it."
"I did," I agreed. Now I was thinking about being on my knees, sucking him dry. The taste of his cum on my tongue. I was tempted to do that now, but I'd wrinkle my dress. That would destroy the illusion we were carefully trying to create.
Next time.
"Do I need to do anything?" I asked, directing the question to Forrest. "Tap the third stone to the left to turn it on?"
"If you tap the second stone to the left, you'll turn me on." Leif grinned. "The one on the right works well too."
Forrest rolled his eyes at both of us. "We'll turn the listening device on remotely," he said. "You don't need to do anything. I'll be listening in to everything. These two clowns won't be too far away."
"Did he just call us clowns?" Leif whispered loudly.
"I think he did," Woody agreed, scowling at Forrest with less heat than if he was actually irritated.
"Are we going to let him keep doing that?" Leif cocked his head at Forrest.
"I don't know," Woody said. "Seems offensive to me. Except in your case, it’s offensive to clowns."
Leif flipped him off. "For a minute there we were on the same side. I should have known it wouldn't last."
"And they wonder why I call them clowns." Forrest sighed but his eyes were shining with amusement.
They gave each other shit, but I suspected there was nothing they wouldn't do for each other.
"Does that make you the ringmaster?" I asked.
"No." Forrest gave me a wolfish smile. "I'm the lion tamer. Or lioness tamer."
"And I'm the lioness?" I guessed. Was I badass enough to carry that off?
Lions were the epitome of badassery, weren't they? No one would ever poke fun at a lion.
"You can be a lioness if you want to, Cupcake," Leif said. "Strong, fierce and sweet. That's you." He stepped over to place a hand on my bicep and swipe his lips over mine.
"Don't ruin her makeup," Forrest warned. "Until we're finished with this. Then we can ruin it all we like."
His nose almost touching mine, Leif grinned. "I look forward to ruining all of it. Especially your lipstick and mascara."
My pulse raced, pumping between my thighs.
Could we stay here and do that instead of leaving my apartment to hunt predators? No, we couldn't. Savannah was relying on us.
We're coming for you, I told her silently. We'll get to you before anyone can hurt you.
I hoped like hell that was true. I didn't like breaking my promises to my friends.
"She's not a lioness, she's a butterfly," Woody said, looking at us from under his dipped eyebrows. "She looks fragile but she's not."
"Are you sure about that?" I asked, looking at him past the stubble on Leif's cheek.
"Absolutely certain." Woody was unmoved. "You're like me. We've been through shit, but we came out the other side better than ever."
His expression softened for a moment before he pushed his bad-guy facade back into place. That's all it was, though, a mask. Underneath, he was a regular guy, with regular feelings and vulnerabilities. If I sliced a knife across his chest, he'd bleed as much as anyone.
Forrest cleared his throat. "We should get out of here."
No one moved for half a minute, then we all did. Picking up bags, pushing feet into shoes, checking phones and keys. All of us acutely aware we were vulnerable. All hoping like hell we made it through this tonight.
We had to. We may never get another chance.