Chapter 16
Noa
I push the door open to Cipher’s shed, noting that it’s weird that it’s closed during the day.
I’m worried that we haven’t heard from Valli in almost a week after Cipher got her fired.
Though it really wasn’t his fault—I would have done a lot worse than punch the asshole in his face.
I suggested we go back and teach him a lesson, but Cipher vetoed that idea, saying that we would scare her away. He argued she needs time to cool down.
I stop walking, blinking frantically, while my brain catches up to what I’m seeing.
Cipher’s wrists are bound above his head, the rope looped over one of the ceiling beams. Cave is behind him, his large hands gripping tight to Cipher’s slim waist.
“Oh, come on,” I whine. “Why was I not invited to this party?”
Cave doesn’t stop; he continues to fuck Cipher with brutal force.
“Is it only a group activity when Valli is involved?” I ask. “Is that a rule? Because I want it known that I actually enjoy my butthole being touched. I didn’t think I would, but I have changed my mind after experiencing it.”
Cave growls.
“I’m just saying,” I continue.
Cipher moans, and his head drops forward. Whatever Cave is doing has him gasping, and I’m officially jealous.
“Oh god . . . Shit!” Cipher cries, and then he comes apart. A few seconds later, Cave finishes with a growl that vibrates through the entire shed.
I clap because that was great. “That was beautiful, really. I would give it a nine out of ten. You lose a point for not inviting me.” Cave shoots me a look I can only explain as murderous. “Anyway, Ares and Clay want to talk to us now-ish. And Clay used his serious voice.”
Cave’s posture changes; his shoulders drop a smidge, and his jaw goes hard. It’s almost as if the air around him stills. He reaches up and works the rope free from Cipher’s wrists and helps him down.
“I vote we use the rope for Valli next time. Wouldn’t that be fun? Taking turns—oh, and we could spin her around. Maybe you should both get dressed. As much as I enjoy looking at you naked, I’m not sure Clay and Ares would appreciate it.”
I play with the rope while they get dressed, tying it into a noose and slipping my head through the loop.
Cipher comes out and races over to me. He punches me in the arm and rips it off from around my neck. “Don’t even joke about that,” he hisses.
I rub my arm. Damn, the guy has a good fist on him. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to hurt myself, but asphyxiation might be something I want to try.”
Cave walks over and wraps his hand around my neck and squeezes.
“Yep,” I wheeze. “My dick is hard.”
Cave releases me and shakes his head.
“You are both insufferable,” Cipher mutters, but he’s smiling while he says it, then tugs his shirt down over his head.
“I prefer the term delightful, but I will accept insufferable as a close second.” I drop the rope, coiling it properly this time, and hang it back on the hook by the bench. I know Cipher will absolutely lecture me about proper tool care if I don’t. “So what do you think Clay and Ares want?”
“They probably have the information we need,” Cipher responds, pulling on his jacket.
Cave doesn’t say anything, but he’s already moving toward the door before either of us notice.
“Hey,” I say, falling into step beside him as we head out. “You good?”
He nods, and all three of us walk to Clay and Ares’s house.
They live with Brawley, Vero, and Kayla, though she only recently moved to the island when she was kidnapped and buried alive.
After that happened, none of them would let her out of their sight, and she has been here ever since.
I hope kidnapping is not a theme for how we get women to move to the island—that would look suspicious.
It’s a short walk from the shed to the residential area, but long enough for me to fill the silence with whatever is currently living in my head.
Today is a detailed theory on whether Vesper will kill Vero one day, and I am only two minutes into my evidence when Cave makes a sound that I recognize as him reaching the absolute edge of his patience.
“But I’m almost done,” I tell him.
“You are never done,” Cipher adds.
“That’s probably true,” I admit solemnly.
Cipher walks a half step behind us, and I catch him glancing sideways at Cave like he’s trying to read the same thing I am and getting nowhere either.
We’ve both learned the differences in Cave’s silences over the years—the bored one, the patient one, the one that means leave it be, and the one that means something is wrong.
Clay is on the porch when we arrive, and while I dislike the way he looks at Cave, I also don’t blame him.
“Inside,” he grumbles, and we all follow him in. Ares is seated at the kitchen table, waiting for us.
“Steedy’s men have been tracking Valli for the past week,” Clay says, jumping straight to the point. “They have been watching her house and tracking her car. We only picked it up because they’ve been careful, but not careful enough.”
“From what we can tell, they are targeting her over her brother and will strike soon,” Ares adds. “Steedy wants leverage on Rowan, and he thinks that’s her.”
“How soon is soon?” Cipher asks.
“Could be tonight, could be tomorrow morning.” Ares folds his arms on the table. “We don’t have an exact window, which is a problem. We just know it’s close.”
“And Rowan?” I ask. “Does he know any of this?”
“Rowan is the reason this is happening,” Clay says. “Whether he knows specifics doesn’t matter. Steedy doesn’t care about him anymore, not really. He cares about leverage, and Valli is easier to get to than her brother.”
Cave makes a sound which vibrates through his chest. He crosses the room before anyone can speak and grabs my face between both of his hands, then stares at me with an intensity that pins me to the spot. “Go,” he says.
Cipher is already heading toward the door when Ares tosses me a set of keys, which I catch out of pure reflex.
“Take my car,” Ares says. “The hearse is easily recognizable, but mine isn’t tied to anything, not even the island. Do not let her bring her own car—it’s being tracked.”
“Copy that,” I say as I head out the door.
Behind me, Clay says something low to Cave, and his answer is a single word that echoes throughout the room, which I hear clearly even from the doorway.
“Mine.”
We reach Valli’s house in record time, Cave’s knee bouncing chaotically until I pull onto the curb, then he jumps out.
He doesn’t knock; instead, he brings his foot up and kicks the door open.
The frame splinters with a crack loud enough that I flinch, then he storms inside before Cipher or I have even left the car.
By the time we are through the front doorway, Cave has already lifted Valli into his arms, straight off the couch.
“What?” She blinks up at him in confusion. “Cave? What’s going on?”
“Valli!” I push past Cipher into the room. “This is going to sound dramatic—or maybe not, considering Cave’s entrance—but Steedy’s men have been watching you all week. They are coming for you, and we need to leave right now.”
“No, I’m not leaving my house,” she says, squirming in his arms as she starts to cough. She looks rough and must be sick.
I glance at Cave, who has her wrapped tightly in his arms. “Honestly, Valli, I don’t think the big guy is giving you a choice.”
“Cave.” She places a hand against his chest, her expression somewhere between annoyance and exhaustion. “I have a fever, have used every tissue in this house, and cannot fight off armed men right now. I can barely stand up without the room tilting.”
“You don’t have to fight anyone,” Cipher says gently, moving closer so he’s at her eye level, since Cave shows no sign of putting her down. “That is the entire point. We’ll fight, you rest.”
“That’s not how I operate. This is not your problem—it’s mine.”
“It is today,” I say, grabbing the throw blanket off the back of her couch and draping it over her since Cave clearly won’t set her down.
She lets out a breath in irritation. “Fine. But I need my phone.”
“I’ll grab it,” Cipher says, already moving toward the kitchen counter where her phone is charging. He is back in seconds, tucking it gently into the blanket burrito she is wrapped inside.
Cave carries her out the splintered front door like she weighs nothing at all, and I jog ahead to pull the back door of Ares’s car open. If there is one thing I know about Cave, it’s that he is not setting her down voluntarily until he decides it’s safe to do so.
“My medication is on the kitchen counter,” Valli says weakly. “The orange bottle.”
“Got it.” Cipher doubles back without being asked, reappearing a moment later with the bottle, which he hands off to me.
“Buckle up, sick girl,” I say, sliding into the driver’s seat once Cave finally straps her into the back beside him. “We’re about to be very protective of you, and I think you’re going to love the attention once the fever breaks enough for you to appreciate it properly.”
“I hate all of you,” she mutters, but lets her head drop against Cave’s shoulder.
I pull away from the curb, glancing behind us at her front door hanging open on its broken hinge. I make a note to call a handyman to fix it ASAP and replace it with a stronger door.