Chapter 11
Collateral
Finn
I take the stairs. Fuck knows what Drew Young has gotten himself into, but for all I know, this is our problem biting him in the ass. At least he protected Sara first, which makes him good in my book.
When I step out onto the street, I look left and then right. My lips tug into a grin.
I hold my arms out wide. “Cormac Walsh, you dodgy bastard, get over here and give me a hug.”
“I’m in the middle of something, Finn, you fucker.” Cormac, Mac to his friends—which he doesn’t have many of—tips his blond head toward Drew. His blue eyes dance. “Gotta job.”
“In the middle of the street?” I shake my head and tsk him. “I thought Bast taught you guys better.”
“Stay out of this, Finn,” X growls. Xander Gray, which no one who values their life calls him to his face, presses Drew’s shoulder against the side of the building. He’s a huge brute of a man with dark hair and darker eyes. I’d hate to meet him in any alley, dark or light.
I rub my chin. “Now see, we’re going to have a problem if you don’t take your hand off my boy there.”
X’s dark eyes narrow. “He’s not one of yours.”
“No, but he’s one of my girl’s. So why don’t we take this off the street and into the apartment?
” I gesture toward the doors. Not that the general public is paying attention.
Occasionally someone will glance at the guys and then hurry on their way.
Eventually, a Good Samaritan will call the police and that would be a mess.
“This isn’t your business.” Mac steps forward like he’s going to stop me.
I just shake my head. “We can do this the nice way, or my guess is, you have about three minutes before Dante joins us.”
I hope I’m not bluffing, but Sara looked terrified enough to go into the office. As soon as she did that, Dante would be down here.
Mac swallows, but X just shrugs. Dante is as tall as X. For a big guy, X is nimble in a fight though. People would pay good money to see X and Dante face off.
Drew laughs. “Seriously, boys, we could discuss this over drinks in more comfortable surroundings.”
“Fine.” X grabs Drew’s shirt, but Drew escapes the hold faster than I thought he could move.
Drew smooths his hands down his shirt and smirks. “I can manage to walk myself. Thanks.”
When Dante opens the door, we all turn to look at him. He searches over each of us before opening the door wider and nodding for us to come in.
I head in beside Drew. “You good?”
“They’re not here to rough me up.” Drew smiles knowingly. “They tend to find me when they want information.”
“And as a purveyor of skin, you get more information than most?” I arch an eyebrow. Makes sense. With Veiled Vixen and the meets that happen there, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Drew trades in secrets.
Though these two are usually sent to help people remember things with their fists. If all they wanted was to talk, their silver-tongued leader, Sebastian Cross, would have led the charge and most definitely not on a busy street. He’s a sneaky bastard.
The elevator is large, but with all of us, it feels crowded.
“One thing, gentlemen.” Dante’s voice fills the tense space. “No fighting in front of the lady or I will take you down myself.”
“Yes, sir.” Mac nods and X grumbles.
Drew’s eyebrows lift as he gives Dante an assessing look.
I lean back on the wall of the elevator. “Dante fought professionally in college. He was undefeated.”
Dante gives me that look, like he doesn’t want to discuss it. He never does, but fuck if I’m not proud of my boy. He took no prisoners. Made a lot of money doing it too. Put himself through college and set up a nice nest egg for his mother and himself.
“She doesn’t know.” Dante’s cold eyes fix on Drew’s. Yeah, Tom kept that tidbit from Sara. We were away at college, so our paths didn’t cross frequently enough for her to see the bruises.
Drew chuckles. “I can keep a secret.”
Mac’s eyes narrow on Drew, but the elevator doors open before he can say anything. We file out to the apartment door.
Sara stops her pacing with Peabody following close behind her and glances up at us with wide green eyes. When she takes a step in our direction, Wyatt draws her back against him like we just let the hounds of hell through the door. Of course, Peabody growls at Wyatt for touching Sara.
I walk past our entourage to the bar and pour a few drinks. “Make yourselves at home.”
X leans on the wall next to the door as Mac joins Drew on the couch. Dante crosses his arms and remains standing. Fucking posturing.
“Peabody.” Drew pats his lap and the little dog stops looking at Wyatt like he’s going to tear him limb from limb and trots over to Drew before jumping up on his lap.
“Cute dog.” Mac snickers.
Drew just casually pets Peabody while giving Wyatt a triumphant look. “He’s a sweetheart.”
Wyatt scoffs. Sara looks torn between staying in Wyatt’s arms and going to Drew. Yeah, this is going to be the hard part about this relationship. And not getting butt hurt when she chooses someone else.
I pass out the drinks. When I hand one to Wyatt, I lean down and kiss Sara next to her ear before handing her one. Her cheeks flush and her eyes leap to mine in panic. But fuck it, if Wyatt is going to hold her, I’m going to claim her in some small way too.
Giving her a wink, I finish handing out drinks. These guys deal in secrets. They won’t tell anyone unless the price is right. And they’ll always give us the option to pay more to keep it.
Mac clears his throat. “As we were explaining to Mr. Young—”
“Drew, please.” Drew smirks as he leans back.
“That mouth is going to get you into trouble,” X mutters.
Drew’s smile says he knows and doesn’t care. “I can handle myself.”
I sit in a chair across from the couch. “Why don’t you just get to the point of this visit?”
“Our employer needs information.”
“Doesn’t he always?” I lean back. Bast might be their ringleader, but even he answers to someone. Heath Duncan. Sebastian is the heir to a massive fortune but chooses to be Heath’s lackey as a fuck you to his old man.
Mac sets his empty glass on the coffee table. “We need security footage. We’re looking for a particular group who have been making waves lately.”
“You know I can’t just give you security footage, Cormac.” Drew’s voice is friendly but firm. “That’s not how we do business. You tell me what you’re looking for. I find it. I give you what I think you need. No more. No less.”
“We don’t have time for your games.” Mac’s fists clench. But Dante straightens and Mac holds his hands up in surrender. “What we’re working on is time sensitive.”
“Isn’t it always?” I fish the cherry out of my drink and pop it into my mouth. “With the five of us, we can find what you need faster than the two of you can. So why not tell Drew exactly what you’re looking for, or rather, who you’re looking for, and we’ll get you the footage.”
Mac glances at X, who gives away nothing. But it’s like they have their own telepathic link because Mac nods.
“Fine. We’re looking for a group of men who have been hustling a client. We know they frequent your club.” Mac pulls out his phone and scrolls through it before pulling up a photo. “This is one of their lackeys, Leon Johnson, visits a stripper there.”
Drew shakes his head. “Crystal quit. Her boyfriend, Leon, didn’t like her working at the club.”
“The guys he associates with still frequent it.” Mac blows out a breath. “We need footage and their pattern. How often are they going to your club? When? Anything so we can track them down.”
“What’s in it for me?” Drew looks at the beds of his nails like they’re the most fascinating thing in the room.
“How about we don’t rough you up?” X steps away from the wall.
Sara gasps and Dante lowers his head like a bull getting ready to charge.
Mac glances around at each of us before his gaze settles on Sara. “How about we do a trade? You give us what you have and we’ll tell you what your other boy has been up to.”
“Tom?” Sara steps forward, but Wyatt moves with her. “What do you know about Tom?”
Mac smiles. He doesn’t do it often because it shows how handsome he really is. And he doesn’t use his charm as often as Bast does to get things done.
“You get us what we need and we can tell you what we know.”
Sara
Once the deal was made and the others left, the guys grabbed their laptops and Drew called up a car.
The guys are tense as we head over to Drew’s place. My guys are big, but those guys give a new meaning to intimidation factor. Peabody sits on Dante’s lap in the back of the car. Everyone is quiet.
We pull into a garage under a building and the car stops.
“I’d hoped to show you my apartment at the end of one of our dates, princess.” Drew holds out his hand to help me out of the car.
My cheeks grow hot. “It wouldn’t have taken much to convince me.”
When I step out with him, he wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me into his side.
“Our next date.” He leans down and says quietly in my ear, “We’re going to spend the whole time in my bed until I have to return you to your bulldogs.”
Heat pools low inside me. His dark chuckle sends little sparks through my system.
“Let’s get this over with.” Wyatt passes us on the way to the elevator.
I sigh. He’s been like this since the two others left. A bit curt and a lot distant. He’s pulled away from me in a way that feels too much like a month, a year, five years ago. Drew’s warmth tries to chase away the chills, but I can’t shake them.
We enter the elevator and it takes us up to a single door that opens to a loft apartment. Spacious and open.
“Like my office, I’m the first to fuck Sara in this apartment.” Drew glares at the other three. I just shake my head.
“We need to find out what they know about Tom.” Wyatt sets his laptop down on the coffee table and gestures to a desk with a computer monitor on it. “That’s not your work computer.”
Drew smirks. “You think I’d leave my personal stuff out in the open? You should know better than that by now.”
“None of us really know you well at all.” Dante arches an eyebrow at Drew.
Drew laughs. “You’ve all seen me naked and fucking our girl. Trust me. That’s as open as I get.”
“Yeah, and we all know you have exhibitionist and voyeur tendencies.” Finn sighs. “So show us behind the curtain, wizard.”
Drew releases me and goes to a door that seems like it would be a closet. “Come on, princess. You’ll want to explore while we get to work.”
I lift an eyebrow but follow curiously. Drew punches in a code on the door and it unlocks. He pushes open the door and touches a panel, lighting up the room.
“Go on,” he encourages and taps my ass as I pass him into the short hallway.
My mouth opens and eyes widen as I realize Drew has a sex dungeon in his apartment.
“Nice.” Finn puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me into the space.
It’s all leather and dark wood. I’ve read about some of these things and seen them in porn but never in real life. Unfortunately, Madison’s stalker sent me her picture on a bench like this one. I run my hand over the supple leather.
A few benches. A St. Andrew’s cross. The room is set up similar to the suite at the Veiled Vixen. A platform bed takes up a corner with metal rings all over it. I run my hand over a curved bench, imagining what all we could do in here.
“Don’t get distracted, pip.” Dante’s heat covers my back, adding even more distraction. “We have a job to do first.”
My pussy throbs at the thought of later.
Drew nods to his desk in the corner. “I patch into the security for Veiled Vixen here and keep all the backups of the footage.”
He pulls out a drawer of small hard drives. “This might take a while.”
“I’ll order dinner.” Finn holds up his phone.
Sighing, I realize play time will have to wait.