Chapter 10
C onnor
An incoming text had me springing open my eyes.
Mick: All good.
Another appeared two hours later.
Mick: She’s at lunch now, sitting with people eating fancy fucking sandwiches and talking shop.
Our crew member, who typically worked security at the warehouse, was playing babysitter today and was under instruction to keep me posted, even when I was asleep. There was no way I could have walked away without someone watching over Everly.
After six hours, I’d rested enough and headed for a shower, no news to prompt me to rush to Town Hall for another couple of hours. In the bathroom, under the hot water, I closed my eyes and fucked my fist to thoughts of what I’d seen this morning. Everly with her hand between her legs, reacting to the realisation of what I’d done, I guessed. Or maybe hoped.
Then her surprise at me sneaking in.
She’d fucked herself so prettily for me to watch.
The lass wasn’t what I expected. Not entirely. That little flash of challenge both in using the vibrator I’d brandished at her and then in demanding I replace her top had sunk a deep thunderbolt of need through me. I’d pictured ordering her to call in sick, lifting her onto my kitchen counter, and burying my face between her thighs for the rest of the day.
I jerked my dick faster. Last night, the lights in my bedroom had been off. I wanted a repeat where I could see exactly what I was doing. Wanted to watch the skin of her chest flush pink. Her nipples harden under my tongue. My dick disappearing inside her cunt, her pussy lips stretched wide like they had been around her toy.
With a grunt of pleasure, I came hard into the hot water, my cum washing away, and my mind empty of all but fucked-up pleasure I shouldn’t be taking at thoughts of my ex-stepsister.
Back in my bedroom, I called Mick as I dried and pulled out black jeans and a stone-grey t-shirt. It was only four PM, but I needed another check-in.
“S’up, boss?”
“Status update.” I shrugged on my shirt, my back still slightly damp.
“Same-same. She did her speech, though I think it rattled her, then has been running the show all day. They’re winding up now.”
I scowled at the phone. “What do ye mean it rattled her?”
“Not sure,” he mused. “She was speaking away all confident-like, then something spooked her. Most people would’ve missed it, but I was tuned in. No other fucker moved, and no one came in that could have scared her, so I racked it up to nerves.”
Something wasn’t adding up. Everly could project calm with the best of them. She hid her stress well. “And since?”
“Not so happy, but I’m not about to ask why. Don’t want to scare her more.”
“Stay on her.”
“Sure thing. The cake here’s good.”
Fucking cake. I hung up and finished dressing. The centre of town was only a short drive away. Mick had said the conference was ending, so Everly would be able to leave earlier than she’d thought. On the other hand, the brothel downstairs would be opening in line with the end of the working day, though technically it didn’t ever really close, and there was always work to be done in the strip club and nightclub.
Yet for some reason, I found myself taking the stairs down, car keys in hand, and waving off attempts to talk to me.
Outside Town Hall, I parked in the only available space in their tiny car park—reserved for the mayor, which gave me an excuse to smile—then entered the building. A quick message to Mick would’ve given me Everly’s exact location, but I had a better solution.
Her tracker on my phone.
Ignoring security, I paced through the building, following the dot on a map.
Big doors opened to a wide room with expensive artwork on the wall and staff buzzing around, stacking chairs and folding tables. At the back, Mick was exactly where I’d ordered him to be, his gaze on Everly who was packing away equipment.
“Excuse me, sir. You need to sign in and have an appointment to be here,” a voice followed me.
I twisted around to find one of the security guards at my back. Gave him a shrug. “And yet here I am.”
“I’m going to have to insist. This is a government building.”
I tipped my head at Everly. “I’m with her.”
His expression shifted to wry amusement. “I sincerely doubt that.”
Cheeky fucker. I called across the hall. “Ev.”
She stilled then spun around, locating me immediately. Where the hell had Ev come from? I hadn’t called her that since…before.
Covering my reaction, I tipped my head at her security dude. “Tell him I’m here to pick ye up.”
Her hands fluttered at the object she was holding. It looked like in-ear headphones. “It’s true. He is. Thank you for bringing him to me.”
The man gave me a scowl of disdain that I returned. I knew how it looked. The tattooed mobster and the mayor’s pristine daughter. Everly in her smart clothes and confident poise, and me in dark clothes and my ink work on display.
All I needed was my skeleton bandanna and I’d give the guy a coronary.
He left me alone, and I stalked to Everly’s side.
“You’re early,” she observed.
“And you’ve had a long day already. Time to leave.”
“I can’t just go. There’s so much to do.”
A cable she was trying to wind up snagged and knotted, and Everly tugged at it, frustration showing in her aggression at the piece of wire. I stilled her hands with mine and took over, untangling the mess and finishing the job of packing up what must’ve been the conference’s audio system.
When I raised my gaze to Everly, hers was down. She appeared broken. Not just tired but upset. Mick had said something was wrong, and now I could see it for myself.
“Did something happen?”
I was only asking in case she’d been scared by something Mick had missed. I didn’t care.
To my surprise, Everly took a shuddering breath and turned away, stomping across the hall to stack some more chairs. I took over. She wouldn’t meet my gaze.
Something was definitely wrong.
A man in overalls passed us, wheeling two of the big tables, and I grabbed his attention. “Are ye in charge of shutting this place down?”
He stopped and darted his glance between me and Everly. “Can be.”
I gestured at Everly. “Ms Makepeace needs to leave. Can she trust ye to finish up?”
At his ready agreement, Everly flew her gaze to mine. I gestured at the man.
“Give our friend here a list of all that needs to be done. I know ye have one in your head.”
She sighed but rattled off a checklist, ending with, “The audio equipment needs to be checked back in with IT.”
“Got it.” He closed and locked the box Everly had been packing and carried it from the room.
She watched him go. No, correction, she watched the box go. Then her attention returned to me. “I still have so much to do. The minutes to type up and send out. Emails to chase people for actions they agreed.”
“All of which can be done from home. We’re going.”
I gestured to Mick who’d kept his position in the hall, good man, then led Everly out by the elbow. She came with me, letting me guide her, and only paused to grab her bag. Outside, she blinked at where I’d parked but climbed in without a word.
I pulled into Deadwater’s city centre traffic with Mick in his car close behind.
Silence pressed in around us. I was the first to break it.
“What happened today?”
Everly didn’t answer, lost to her thoughts. She stayed like that all the way back to the warehouse, distant and resigned. In my apartment, she set herself up with her laptop at my kitchen counter, politely thanked me for the ride, then put in headphones and got back to work.
My attempts at talking to her fell on deaf ears, and frustration built in me, so much that I left the apartment to find Mick downstairs.
On the way, I stopped at Arran’s office. He raised his head at my knock, and I answered his silent enquiry.
“I’ve been dreaming up ideas to make Convict as appealing to the Four Milers as possible. It involves ye, and tonight’s the night.”
He listened to my plan. Approved it. Then gave up his thoughts.
“What if this goes wrong?”
I’d considered the same. Convict had readily taken grunt work for the gang, but we were asking him to walk straight into the lion’s den and seek out knowledge.
“Ye mean what if they unmask him?” I said. “We’ve kept him locked up for weeks. Are ye suddenly saying ye care?”
Arran pressed his lips together, whatever emotion he felt for our former crew member actively being suppressed. I knew because I was doing the same.
I fucking hated how it burned.
Jumping up, I left him with a parting comment. “We have a plan and we’re sticking to it. Don’t second-guess it without something real to say.”
Mick sat in the operations office with Manny, the head of security and his line manager. Rows of monitors displayed security feeds behind the two men.
I threw myself into a sturdy seat. “Everly’s upset. I want to know why.”
Mick inclined his head. “I was just debriefing Manny on everything. Like I told you, Miss Makepeace was fine until the speech. Midway through, she faltered then recovered. After that, it was like she was working on autopilot.”
“Talk me through everything from the setup to your take on the peanut gallery watching her.”
Mick gave me a blow-by-blow of all he’d seen. For a man who was ready with his fists, he made a good spy.
Everly’s speech was the problem. Her glance at the in-ear headphones was another clue.
Pretty quickly, I had an idea of how to tackle her.
And on repeat, I stormed back upstairs, telling myself it was only for the purpose of keeping her safe.