Chapter 20 #3
I flick him again and then open the door, sliding out as Georgiy follows behind, the four of us grabbing the suitcases and walking into the hotel.
We’re greeted by a woman behind the counter who hands us our keys before we even need to ask for them.
She must have been expecting us, or at least was notified of our arrival by Senator Ruiz or Anthony.
Either way, I’m glad to be able to get upstairs.
The ache in my stomach is worse now.
I just want to be alone with Georgiy for a while.
“Guess I’ll take my own room after all,” Casey says, approaching us at a leisurely pace, grabbing a key and flicking it between his fingers. “Meet back in an hour to go to Henry’s place and then the casino?” Casey asks, and we all nod, heading to the elevators and riding up in silence.
When we finally make it to the room, I flop onto the bed, curling up on my side and closing my eyes.
The plug is still inside me, but the nauseous feeling I have is making it uncomfortable.
“Let me take the plug out,” Georgiy says softly. “And I’ll run you a bath. You need to relax.”
I let him strip me down, and as I lie there naked, I hear the water turn on in the bathroom. Moments later, the plug is gingerly being pulled from me, and Georgiy is leading me to warm, bubbly water.
I sink into the tub, inhaling the lavender scent as he kneels next to me.
“You were fine on the plane. What changed?”
“I don’t know. Can’t put my finger on it.”
He cocks his head and runs a hand over my shoulder, making me lean into him.
“Perhaps it’s something in your past? Something you’re remembering?”
“I don’t know.” I sink into the water a little further, the bubbles hitting my chin. “I don’t know, Georgiy.”
He stares at me and then rolls up his sleeves. I watch it, the revealing of his forearms, and wet my lips. What’s he going to do to me?
But he only grabs a washrag and begins to bathe me, cleaning me just like a mother would her young. It soothes something inside me. It calms my nerves.
It’s only when I have to get out and get changed that the bad feeling is back again, and Georgiy offers me a pill.
“To help with the anxiety,” he tells me.
I don’t question him, just swallow it down.
Within twenty minutes, I’m feeling slightly better, the ache almost entirely gone. And now I can focus, trying like hell to figure out why this city is getting me all flustered.
It has to do with something I can’t remember. It must.
Ara. Henry. San Francisco.
Why can’t I fucking remember!?
When we meet Casey, Jax, and Kit back in the lobby, the three of them each wearing jackets, the bulge of guns obvious beneath the fabric, I’m swallowing back bile. Georgiy wanted me to stay back, but I refused.
I have my knife—a sharp one—hidden in my pocket. Georgiy has…well, who knows? I’m sure he’ll be fine and can take care of himself.
But even still, I worry about it, about whether we’ll get hurt.
No, I’m not worried about myself. I’m worried about them. I don’t want any of them injured.
I don’t usually fret about this kind of thing, not to this degree, but it’s eating at me. I can feel it in my stomach, in my chest. It’s almost hard to breathe. My vision narrows, and I lean forward, trying to find the air.
“Blyat. Stop the car,” Georgiy barks, his hand landing on my back, moving in soothing circles, but it doesn’t help. Something is wrong. Something’s really fucking wrong.
“We can’t go there. We can’t,” I wheeze. “Turn around.”
Casey does neither. He just keeps driving. I don’t blame him. He has a job to do, and we are on a freeway with nowhere to pull over.
“He’s having a panic attack,” Kit says. “Let me help.”
He clambers over the front seat into the back and touches my knees gently, walking me through what I can hear, see, and feel. It’s only several minutes later that I come out of it. But I’m shaking and tears blur my vision.
“We can’t go there,” I whisper, and Georgiy holds me tightly.
“Why?”
“We just can’t. We just can’t.”
Kit peers over at Jax and swallows. Casey says nothing, still driving toward the house Ellery identified. He’s not listening to me. No one is listening.
“Something bad is going to happen. I just know it. And I can’t live with myself if something bad happens to any of you.”
Kit rubs my knee and shakes his head. “We’re armed. We’ll be okay.”
“No, I don’t think you will be.”
Jax grumbles under his breath. “Do you know something we don’t?”
“What are you suggesting?” Georgiy says.
“Nothing, just…this is fucking ominous. We’re going to a place we know nothing about, and we don’t know what we’re walking into. And now Bane is saying that something bad’s gonna happen.”
Kit frowns, still rubbing my knee. “He’s just worried. He’s been through it.”
“I have. So much has gone wrong because of me. First, Tatum loses a finger, and then Luca and Viktor get burned. If anything happens to you and I didn’t warn you first, I don’t know if I could live with myself.”
“Nothing will happen,” Casey says confidently.
“We’ve got this. And we’re not walking in blind.
We’ve had local law enforcement check out the house.
From what Lex has told us, we know it’s safe.
And we also know that this casino is somehow related to whatever shit is going down with the Costellos.
Someone is after Anthony, and we don’t know why.
So we go in there, and we go in knowing that whoever runs it knows something and is possibly behind the attacks.
We just need to figure out why that is.”
“Without getting hurt,” I add.
“Without getting hurt. And if anyone touches any of us, Bane, you get first dibs.”
Casey winks at me in the rearview mirror, and my lips twitch.
“I did bring my sharpest knife.”
“Then you’ll be able to use it.”
And with that, the car falls silent as we continue our trip up to what is hopefully Henry’s hideout.