Chapter 22 #2
“Nin-a,” he whispered, a smile curving his face the moment we both re-entered the room. Warwick was against the wall, there to guard us but wanting to stay out of our way.
Rosie stiffened at the name. Inhaling, she rolled her shoulders back. “I told you, Nina is dead.”
“No, don’t say that, mon chéri.” Now I realized what his almost negligible accent was. French. “I’ve missed you so much. I can’t believe the gods have brought you back into my life.”
“No, the devils brought you back into mine.”
“Nina, my love—”
“You wanted me here. I’m here. Now tell them where the location of your gang is.” She folded her arms.
“Explain to me why you are here first.” He bristled. “How you could open your legs for other men, become a common whore?”
“Shut the fuck up,” she spat. His eyes went huge at her response, probably not used to her fighting back. “Do not call me that ever again. If you do, I will walk out of here and never look back. Let them do whatever they want to you.” She stood over him, her voice cold and direct.
“You left me in squalor with your debts and crimes to pay off like the coward you are. I was beaten, tortured, and raped by the men you owed before Madam saved me. Here I am safe, fed, and protected from assholes like you. I have friends and independence. I choose who I want to sleep with, have my own money, and do what I want. I have finally paid off your debts, and I continue to stay because this is my home. My family. I have more here than I ever had with you.” She sneered at him, the years of anger flooding out.
“So, you don’t get to judge me. You don’t get to say a fucking word to me unless it’s the whereabouts of your hideout. Do you understand me?”
He blinked, too stunned to move. The notorious, feared bandit was nothing more than a bully getting schooled. As if he were really seeing her, noticing the wife he knew, Nina, was nowhere to be seen now.
The English rose, the fiery bombshell, took the shambles he left her in and thrived. Grew thorns, becoming the strong woman she was today.
“I shouldn’t be surprised you became part of a gang who murders people for trinkets.”
“We are just trying to survive.” He justified himself.
“So are the people you attack,” she retaliated. “You are still a tyrant.”
“I’m not like that anymore. I’ve changed.” He tried to touch her again but drew back when she moved away from him. “I know it’s hard to believe, and I know the things I’ve done. For years, all I wanted was to see you again, to make it right. I thought I would never have the chance.”
“And you still won’t. You can never make it right.” Rosie sneered. “You don’t get to ease your conscience. Though, I don’t hate you. Hate means I feel something about you. I won’t give you power anymore. You are nothing to me.”
I saw pain and anger in his eyes. It was in that moment I knew.
She was his Achilles heel, his weakness.
He thrived off controlling her, manipulating her.
He could kill, rob, and terrorize others and come home and say he was doing it all for her.
That when he beat her, it was because she made him do it.
He needed his drug.
She did not need him. And it angered him.
His cheeks reddened, his expression locking down.
“You fucking ungrateful bitch,” he lashed out. “I gave you everything. A home, nice clothes, an allowance, flowers every day.”
“Except the most important thing—love.” She tucked her red hair behind her ear, looking powerful. As if she just discovered the monster in her closet was nothing more than a stuffed animal. “Where is your hideout, Vincent?”
“I’m not telling you shit. Fucking kurva.” Whore. Slut.
I felt Warwick move, but he was too late. The knife I shoved back in my boot was already pinned to Vincent’s throat.
“You utter one more insult at her, and I will cut off your dick and force you to eat it.” I pushed down on his wound again.
An anguished cry tore from him.
“Talk,” I ordered.
Spitting and snarling, he tried to breathe through the agony, his jaw grinding together. Perspiration ran down his face.
The blade cut deeper into his throat, my knuckle burrowing and twisting into the gunshot. Blood poured out of it, driving another scream from him.
“Fine,” he bellowed. “Stop!”
I stepped back, withdrawing my knife.
“Makin’ me hard again, Kovacs.” Warwick’s shadow rubbed up the back of me, his voice deep and gravelly. I sucked in sharply, feeling his erection pressing into me. For a second, the idea of him fucking me through the link, right here, heated my skin with a thrill.
No, Brex . . . bad, bad idea.
It took Vincent a few moments to control the loud grunting and breathing. “I’m bleeding out here.”
“We’ll get the doctor back in the moment you tell us something worth your life.” Warwick crossed his arms, leaning farther back on the wall.
“I won’t rat them out,” he wheezed. “I won’t tell you the hideout location . . . but . . .” he added in quickly, seeing my knife rise. “I’ll give you the location of where you can get a message to them. Trade me for the bag.”
“You think your buddies will really care enough about you?” Warwick snickered. “They left you there to die.”
“That is our decree. We understand the risks out there. And there are a lot more of us than you think. We split into small groups so it looks like a bunch of gangs in the street, none worth coming after because of their insignificance. In reality, we are a huge organization . . . even expanding into Prague.”
“Prague?” I blinked as a memory bubbled up. Mykel telling me about a gang terrorizing the streets there, reminding me very much of the Hounds. “Are you talking about the Mongrels?”
Vincent didn’t respond, but the tic in his jaw, the change in his breath, suggested I hit the mark. The gangs were connected? How many more cities and countries did they reach?
Clearing his throat, he added, “They will want to know I’m still alive.”
“Still don’t see why they’d care about a foot soldier.” Warwick shrugged.
“Because I’m not. I am the leader of the whole operation.”
Warwick summoned Dr. Laski when we exited the room, an encrypted note folded in his palm from the commander of the Hounds. Rosie had instantly disappeared upstairs, needing to be by herself.
“Stay here. I’ll go drop it at the location and come right back.” Warwick tucked it in his back pocket.
“How do we know this isn’t some setup?” I stepped in front of him, blocking his way to the door, worry etching my forehead. “That he’s telling them where we are and to come attack us?”
Vincent told us his men would only take a secret coded message as legitimate. Of course, not letting us in on the cipher, he shakily wrote it himself. The problem was, we had no idea what he was really telling them.
“We don’t.” Warwick tipped his chin down, our bodies close, his gaze heavy, his physique immersing mine.
The craving to touch him, to never stop touching him or kissing him, had my lungs compressing with anxiety.
I never felt possessed like this before.
And I needed to own him as much as he seemed to dominate me.
“But I have a feeling he really doesn’t want to start a war with me.
” He leaned down, his lips brushing mine.
“One he knows he won’t win. I am the legend, Warwick Farkas, after all. ”
“Having some trouble fitting that ego in this universe?”
“No, but I am having trouble fitting my dick in these pants right now.” His mouth claimed mine with force, his fingers threading through my hair, devouring me with need.
“I’ll be back soon,” he muttered, breaking away from me sooner than I wanted.
His mouth remained an inch away, his forehead leaning into mine. Not moving.
“I’ll be here. Probably in the bath.”
“Make sure you are.”
“Te geci!” Son of a bitch! A man’s voice shouted behind me, spinning us to the doorway, instinctively tugging out our weapons and pointing them at the intruder. “You two are assholes!”
“Faszszopó.” Cocksucker, Warwick hissed, lowering his gun. “I almost fuckin’ shot you.”
Ash stood at the entrance, wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday. He was dirty, with scratches on his neck and face, his hair tangled, appearing exhausted.
“I was scared out of my mind, thinking you were dead, searching the streets and alleys for your bodies. And here you are . . . csókolózás!” Kissing. His arms flung out, relief turning to anger.
“You didn’t think to check here first?” Warwick lifted one brow.
Ash’s mouth opened and closed, as if he were now wondering the same, then his lids narrowed.
“No, I was too busy following tracks from where I found your bullet-ridden bike and pools of blood!”
“Ash.” I walked over to him, hugging him. “Sorry we worried you.”
It took him a while before he exhaled, his arms wrapping around me.
“When you guys didn’t return to the base, I got so concerned,” he muttered, squeezing me before he leaned back.
“Though I should have known you two were not only all right but fucking each other’s brains out.
I mean, out of nowhere, I got fucking horny as hell, felt it in the air, the earth. I should have figured it was you guys.”
“Yeah, and probably in the middle of searching for us, you took a pit stop at Kara’s.” Warwick snorted.
Ash’s eye twitched, his head turning to the side.
“Holy shit, you did!” Warwick pointed at the marks on his neck. Now I could make out they were fingernail scratches.
“You know how tree fairies get when we’re horny! I had to take the edge off.”
Deep laughter roared from Warwick, his head tipping back, eyes squeezing shut, hands clapping together.
The sound penetrated through my skin, hitting every fiber of my being. It stroked a fire through me, warming every inch and spreading an instant smile over my face. His laughter was the sexiest thing I had ever heard.
“What?” Ash peered between us. “It’s not like I could help it. I blame you guys.”
I shook my head, chuckling as he tried to defend himself.
“Well, thank you for looking for us between your sexual romps.” I patted his arm, making him huff and try to explain. “But you could have asked Scorpion. He’d know we were okay.”
Realization dawned on his face, probably forgetting the link between Scorpion and me. “He’s been a bit busy playing warden to your friend.”
“Hanna? Is she okay? Is Caden? Lukas?”
Ash nodded. “They’re fine. Lukas and Caden are both awake now.”
The urgent need to get back to base to check in on them, talk to them, unsettled me, knowing it had to wait.
“Actually, glad you showed up.” Warwick patted his shoulder with a smirk. “You can come with me. Also, procure another bike for me.”
“This the eighth one this month!” Ash snorted, both men about to step to the door.
“What can I say?” He winked back at me. “I ride hard.”
“Warwick, can I speak to—” Kitty came striding into the room, coming to a halt, her mouth still open, but no other words followed. Her gaze locked on the new arrival.
And he stared right back.
Tingles brushed over my skin, the tension robbing the room of the easy humor it just contained.
“Jan—Kitty,” Ash corrected himself, his voice low and cracked.
“Ash.” She replied with almost no emotion, but her throat bobbed, her hand fluttering slightly. “It’s been . . . a long time.”
“It has.”
Awkward silence pounded in my ears. I knew there was a history between these two. Feelings, unrequited or possibly requited, but whatever happened separated the lifelong friends.
“You look well.” Ash motioned down her. Tall in her heels and formfitting black knee-length dress, she reminded me of a fashion model, not the madam of a brothel.
“As do you,” she replied.
Silence.
“Fuck, if we have to wait for you two to get through a full sentence, we’re going to be here forever.
” Warwick gestured between them, irritation furrowing his brows.
“You both are sorry—apologize and move on. You two have avoided each other over hurt feelings for years. We are a family. The only one I ever really had. No matter if things got messed up for a bit. Don’t fuckin’ let go of what we’ve been through.
What you are to each other. I’ve had it with you guys and being in the middle of this stupid grudge. ”
Ash scowled, glancing away, Kitty doing the same.
“So . . . figure it out! Before I decide to kill you both for my peace of mind,” he grumbled, stepping for the door. “But not right this second. Ash, come with me.” He banged through the front door, his massive frame clomping angrily down the path.
Ash hesitated for a moment, glancing at Kitty before he followed Warwick out the door.
Kitty spun around and marched out of the room, a door down the hall slamming.
I stood there alone in the room, feeling the years of pain, anger, and embarrassment they stubbornly built between their friendship.
In a short time, they had become like family to me too. And I hoped they could work it out. In this world, family, trust, and love were scarce. You held on to these and fought like hell to keep them.
A család nem egy fontos dolog. A család a legfontosabb. That was a phrase my dad said a lot.
“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.”