3. Zeiden
THREE
zeiden
She hadn’t been in my plan for the night. She hadn’t been in the plan ever, but something about her screamed that I couldn’t leave her behind. I liked structure. I liked rules. I liked information. She might help with the latter, but not the other two. Except, when the assholes who thought they were untouchable broke the rules, it was my job to make sure justice was served. Stealing away something or someone that they needed? Priceless revenge.
The thing about this whole situation was the way she looked at me. It didn’t make me want to crawl out of my skin or hide in the darkest of corners, just like where I’d found her.
No, it was almost like she saw me for me, and without having ever realized it, I craved it. I could lie and tell myself it was all about balancing out those assholes and making sure they paid for their sins, but I don’t think I could let her go even if she begged.
I watched her eyes; I studied her mouth. I tried to understand what was running over her face, but these damn masks weren’t helpful.
“Alright, little dove. Welcome to hell.”
She smiled though, and that I could see. That was all the permission I needed as I grabbed her elbow and shuffled us out of the freight elevator back into an alley where my bike was hidden. Where Cas and X had come through the front door, I preferred my habit of making sure no one knew I was even here.
“Where is your car?”
I shrugged and kept walking.
“You mean like a driver and a car, I assume? Yeah, no thanks. I drive myself. My brothers have a car and one of our own drives them. But I’m leaving now and you wanted to come.”
I noticed the strange pull against my hand as she fell behind.
“What? Never had to drive yourself before?”
Her lips were pressed tightly together.
“It’s not that. I mean yes. But I don’t even see a car. Are you going to murder me and hide my body in the dumpster?”
I don’t know what she expected from me in response, but I was certain it wasn’t the smile or the roaring laughter that I couldn’t control.
“Princess, if I were going to murder you, I would have already told you my plan. I have work to do and you wanted me to take you with me. So you’re going with me. Now, as for the car…”
I stopped us next to the shadowed corner of a too clean alley. No one dared have a stinky, gross alley in this part of the city.
“I prefer to ride.”
I pulled off the mask and replaced it with my helmet, pulling it over my head and grabbing for the spare that I kept on the back of the bike because one never knew when you’d end up with a backpack these days. Mostly when someone would shoot at someone and you’d have to rescue them. I was the one that had specific rules and one was to always be prepared, because in this life, nothing was a given.
“You want me to wear that?”
I watched my little dove look at the helmet and turn it over in her hands.
“Yes. Safety first?”
She reached for her hair.
“Are you worried it will mess up those curls? Believe me, where we are going, it won’t matter.”
The look that she’d had earlier, the one when she’d asked if I was going to kill her, was there again. It was something in those beautiful eyes of hers.
“I take it that it does matter?” I asked. “Look. It hides your identity. If you’re worried about that hair, here.”
I pulled a handkerchief out of the pocket of the ridiculous suit jacket that itched just to be in and wrapped it around her head, creating something I’d seen women do with less fancy looking ones.
“Better?”
She rolled her eyes and finally took the helmet.
“Okay. But how exactly am I wearing this on there?”
This time I smirked at the thoughts that ran through my mind unbidden as she started to pull up the dress.
“How much do you like that dress?”
She looked at it, back up at me, then back at the dress, and back at me. When she noticed the light reflect off the blade I’d just pulled out, she gasped.
“Tell me now before I redesign it.”
She didn’t say anything, so I took the blade and bent down in front of her. The dress was long, floor length, and I hadn’t noticed that she’d been holding it up as I’d dragged her around. Oh well. I’d rectify the issue.
I slid my hand under the hem and brought the blade to it, waiting for a few more seconds. When all she did was gawk, I cut into the edge and then pulled, filling the alley with the sound of ripping fabric alongside the distant echo of the sirens and traffic of the neighboring streets.
I looked up from my spot on the ground and was surprised at the way she was watching me. She looked almost hungry, for lack of a better word.
I took the blade nearly a foot or two higher than the original length had been and sliced it sideways. I was amazed at how easily the thing ripped.
“There. Now you can ride just fine.”
My hand slid up her bare leg. I just wanted to touch her and had no plans to deny myself. I followed the line of her body up, loving the way her breasts rose and fell with every breath, and by the look of her now? She was anything but calm. She was fucking beautiful.
I don’t know why I even thought it, but the damn word seemed to bounce around my brain over and over. Mine. She was going to be mine.
Her body shivered and it was then I realized how little she truly wore and how chilly it really was. Standing, I slipped my suit coat off, damn happy to be rid of the restrictive thing.
“Here. Now get on.”
She grabbed for the jacket and then, with a scowl, leaned forward as I grabbed the helmet again and slid it down the silky scarf covering her head.
“Maybe you worried this would ruin your hair, but to be frank, you look fucking hot right now.” I kicked my leg over my bike and held my hand out, waiting for the princess that I’d just dragged down from her tower to get on the back.
My hand had a mind of its own as I let my fingers slide down her bare thigh before I grabbed her hand and wrapped it around my waist.
“Hold on, dove. No need to test if you have wings.”
Without a word from my backpack, I revved the engine and let the vibrations of the bike sooth my soul. For the first time all night, my body didn’t feel like I was ready to jump out of my own damn skin. I fucking hated rich people, even if we had somehow earned the financial security to run in this seventh circle of hell.
I revved the engine again, but this time to prove a point to my little princess, and she rewarded me with wrapping both arms around my midsection tightly.
My cock shouldn’t have enjoyed that, but hell, did it feel good to have her pressed up against me. I let my hand wander one last time over that exposed thigh of hers before finally forcing myself to think about the task at hand. I needed to start looking at recordings, but that made me pause and I suddenly felt stupid.
“Princess,” I shouted through the muffle of my helmet. “You got a phone on you?”
I felt her shift, and fucking hell if I couldn’t feel that hard plastic against my back as she pulled it out, leaving one arm around me.
“Yes, why?”
I grabbed it and looked at the expensive thing.
“I either toss this thing in that dumpster or you turn it off. If anyone tracks me, your little adventure won’t end well for them or you.”
She reached for it as I held it out, dangling between two of my fingers.
“Just toss it. I’d rather not be found. Not right now.”
I smirked even if she couldn’t see it and did as she asked, flipping the thing away from us and into the dumpster.
With that, I sped off, heading away from my house because I couldn’t trust a stranger there. No matter how beautiful she was.