13. Artemis
13 ARTEMIS
I wake to someone touching my shoulder, and I swing before I am fully conscious.
My fist connects with something hard.
A light pain ricochets from my knuckles up my arm, into my elbow.
My eyes snap open, and I’m faced with a looming Kade Laurent.
I wish I didn’t know his last name, but my brother likes to meddle.
He’s rocked back on his heels, crouched next to the bed.
Even this way, at eye level, he seems bigger than life.
His dark gaze burns, and his fingers probe his cheek.
“Good to know how you wake,” he finally says.
I sit up and scowl at him.
My brain, for all the adrenaline in the world, is slow to catch up.
That he’s in front of me right now.
That I was, moments ago, sound asleep in my Bow & Arrow apartment alone.
But the door was locked…
“It’s time to help me,” he says.
My gaze goes back to his face, and I slowly push the blankets off my lap.
I swing my legs over the edge of the bed.
He doesn’t move, but I slide out around him and head to the bathroom.
My phone is still at the condo, leaving me clueless about the time until I pass the kitchen.
The glowing green stove clock informs me that it’s almost ten.
At night, judging by the darkness pressing up to the windows.
The faintest hint of music coming through the walls.
I lock myself in the bathroom and lean against the wall.
It’s time to help me.
Does he know I already found Reese?
Although, if we’re going on technicalities, he found me.
I brush my teeth and rebandage my arm.
It’s not too bad, the skin around the cut pink and shiny.
It’ll be healed in no time, with only a scar to serve as a memory.
Once that’s done, I brush out my thick hair and let it swing free.
I’ll braid it if he makes me get on another bike—but I’m not eager to do that.
I’m not eager for anything.
Dread fills me up, and the dead man attached to the club wall flashes in my eyes.
I left Antonio to deal with Nathan Bradshaw and everyone else.
I left him to open the club or keep it shut, and…
I think I should just go back to bed.
“Artemis.” Kade knocks on the door.
“Are you okay?”
A strangled laugh slips out.
I shake my head and rummage through my makeup bag.
Makeup usually helps me feel better.
It’s as good as my gold mask.
I swipe on mascara, then concealer and foundation and bronzer that deepens my already tanned skin.
Secure gold bow-and-arrow earrings in my lobes.
Paint my eyelids with kohl and shimmering gold powder.
A gold-hued highlighter on my cheekbones.
Deep-red lipstick.
There.
No one would think I was run off my bike last night, that I made a narrow escape through West Falls, or that I was awake for twenty-four hours before I crashed.
I look fine.
But when I open the door, Kade’s brows furrow.
“I’m going to work,” I inform him.
He sighs.
I go to the closet and pick out a flowing gold shirt and black leather pants.
My leather boots are by the door, ready to go.
Ignoring him completely, I strip off my shirt and drop it to the floor.
He’s so silent, he might as well not be here.
But his hulking presence isn’t that concealable.
Even if he’s quiet, I feel him in the doorway.
Watching, waiting.
I take off the sports bra next, my back to him.
I slide my arms through the straps of my new bra—tonight seems to call for underwire—and hook it behind me.
Then the shirt.
“You don’t have to watch me,” I call over my shoulder.
“I’m not going to climb out of the window.”
“And miss the show?” His voice rasps.
“Didn’t take you for a pervert.” I tilt my head, still facing the wall.
“Didn’t take you for anything, really.”
I change into my pants faster, then socks and my boots.
He trails me out the door, into the stairwell that takes me up to the offices.
Out here is louder. Not like inside the club itself, but definitely not as soundproofed.
Bussers with trays of glasses use this stairwell, along with managers and bartenders.
Dancers tend to stick to their dressing rooms on the lower floors.
Kade becomes my shadow, and I can feel his frustration growing.
“Maybe you should ask for something different the next time you fight,” I suggest. “Something from the guys actually offering favors.”
He growls.
“I just?—”
“I know.” I whirl around, two steps above him.
It puts us at eye level.
“You want to find Reese. He’s been missing for two years. You were in Emerald Cove before Sterling Falls, so I can only assume you’ve been tracking him for some time. But you didn’t say why , and quite frankly, you haven’t offered me anything in return.”
His expression…
well, I can’t lie about how handsome he is.
He’s clean-shaven now, but I feel like stubble or a beard wouldn’t be out of character for him.
He seems like the type to be perfectly fine surviving a year in the wilderness by himself.
Which is all the more strange that he can’t find Reese by himself.
“I’m not familiar with this town,” he finally says.
“I had a guide in Emerald Cove?—”
My eyebrows hike.
“Oh, really? Who?”
He just shakes his head, eyes narrowed.
“Reese is important, Artemis.”
I shrug.
“That tells me nothing. Go away, Kade.”
I continue up the steps, to the top floor with the kitchens and offices.
Less noise, less bustle—especially now, with the kitchens closed.
I find Antonio’s office closed and locked up tight.
Same with mine, although that’s not unusual.
And I do not have my keys on me.
My stomach lets out an untimely growl.
“Dinner,” Kade rumbles behind me.
“And I’ll explain.”
I consider what awaits me if I head downstairs to find Antonio.
I’ll be immediately slammed, pulled in eighteen different directions by employees who need something, just want to prove that they know what they’re doing, or want to fucking gossip.
Just thinking about that makes me tired.
So…
Fuck it, right?
He sees the moment I decide, and before I know it, his hand is on the small of my back and he’s ushering me the way we came.
All the way to the exit, where I pointedly ignore the doors that go down there .
To where my nightmares reside.
A whole world resides under this club, and I spend a majority of my time pretending it doesn’t exist.
He doesn’t notice my avoidance, and then we’re outside.
We go to the street, and I glance down at the row of people waiting to get into the club.
Pride and satisfaction fill me at the want—no, the need—people have to experience Bow & Arrow.
To release their inhibitions, to dance…
And then I’m in Kade’s blacked-out SUV and he’s climbing into the driver’s seat.
He drums his fingers on the steering wheel, seeming to debate something, then shakes his head.
The engine purrs to life, and he heads away from North Falls.
Down the center, back toward the university and the government buildings.
But what’s surprising is that I don’t really know where we’re going, especially when he continues into South Falls.
There’s one main road that takes us into the industrial district.
Our view shifts from residences to warehouses.
Past it, the marina.
My brow furrows, and I glance from the road—which dead-ends into rows of docked boats—to Kade.
He parks and hops out.
Circles around. Offers his hand.
I glare at him, then take it.
He doesn’t release me when I’m standing, though, and instead leads me toward the locked gate that protects the boats.
The air is cooler than I expect, and I shiver.
He pauses, turning to face me.
Wordlessly, he pulls his sweatshirt over his head and pushes it into my chest. I can barely see him, his expression, but his teeth flash with a quick smile.
There are goosebumps on my arms, so I tug it on hurriedly.
It’s huge on me, falling almost to my knees, and his scent wraps around me.
Not entirely unpleasant.
No, in fact, a new hunger curls in my belly that has nothing to do with food.
He stares at me for another second, then takes my hand again.
Our boots crunch on the gravel.
He types in a code to the keypad, and the gate beeps quietly.
It swings open under his hand.
“I’m not getting on a boat,” I warn him.
He chuckles. “Of course not.”
“You promised me food.”
He inclines his chin.
There’s a path to the right, and he steers us in that direction.
It’s so dark, I’m suddenly glad he’s holding my hand.
I can barely make out the hulking shadow of him, let alone any features.
The sound of water lapping is the only noise around us.
He could do anything to me in this moment.
He could force me on a boat and take me far, far away from here.
Kidnap me, torture me.
Rape me.
Sell me.
A shiver coasts down my spine.
Why do I put myself in these situations?
I tug on my hand, but he holds fast. My dread is cold and sluggish, but the panic that begins to flare to life is white-hot.
“Just trust me,” he murmurs, like he can sense it.
It doesn’t help.
What sort of trustworthy guy says that?
And then we round a corner, and there’s a boat all lit up.
It’s a flat houseboat decorated in string lights, torches lit around the perimeter with real fire—a true sailor’s worst nightmare—and, inexplicably, the smell of cooked meat.
My mouth waters before the rest of me catches up.
“Bobby!” Kade calls.
“You still open?”
A sandy-blond head pokes out of the open doorway of the houseboat, and my confusion grows.
It’s not like I know everyone in Sterling Falls.
That would be ridiculous.
But?—
“For you?” the guy answers.
“Of course.”
He disappears back inside.
“What is happening?”
Kade laughs under his breath.
“Bobby runs a food truck of sorts.”
“A food boat…?”
“Yeah.” He snaps his fingers.
“I took a boat out to Isle of Paradise, and he was docked over there catering to some of the workers coming off the ferry.”
“You went to Isle of Paradise?” My tone is wary.
There’s an organization there that claims to be a trauma rehabilitation center, but they really just keep people for as long as possible.
Forever, if the money doesn’t dry up.
He shrugs. “Covering my bases when it comes to Reese. But Bobby and I got talking, and he said he’s open late. Sometimes he’s over in North Falls to catch the late-night drunks leaving your club.”
I turn another, speculative eye toward the lit-up boat.
From this angle, I can barely make out a sign that proclaims Bobby’s Eats .
But it solidifies what he’s saying.
And come to think of it, I have seen a crazily illuminated boat around Bow & Arrow’s closing time.
“Come on,” Kade murmurs.
“He doesn’t bite.”
Sure.
He easily steps up onto the boat, swinging his other leg over the railing.
Straddling it like that, he extends his hand to me.
Not a chance.
I copy him, hauling myself up and climbing over.
There’s a picnic table on the big front.
The house part looms over us, probably only one story but seemingly taller.
Maybe one and a half.
I peer in through the still-open door.
Bobby has shoulder-length blond hair tucked in a hair net.
An unbuttoned floral Hawaiian shirt exposes his bare chest. Pink jean shorts and matching boat shoes.
You know what?
It’s not the weirdest thing I’ve seen today.
If you can call a dead person weird.
“So?” I tear my attention away and find Kade.
He’s taken a seat at the lone table, once again watching me.
“So,” he repeats.
“What’s he making?”
He shrugs.
“I’m not picky. Are you?”
It’s a dare.
I’ve had enough dares from Saint to last a lifetime.
But unlike Saint, this one doesn’t have malice attached to it.
Just curiosity.
I take a seat across from him.
“Sometimes I’m picky.”
“Good,” he murmurs.
“Standards.”
“High standards,” I correct.
“Which leads us to why you need my help.”
He inclines his chin.
“Reese is important to me, and we had developed a system over the years. Even if we weren’t close. But two years ago, he stopped communicating.”
“So you started stalking him?” I raise my eyebrow.
Reese didn’t mention Kade.
I didn’t ask…
“No.” He shakes his head.
“He wouldn’t just stop. Something is wrong. At least, I thought he was in danger, so I broke our protocol and went to his apartment. It was already a crime scene—absolutely trashed, the door blown off its hinges. A neighbor had called the police. But no body, no blood.”
“No Reese.”
He shakes his head.
“At that point, I started my search in earnest.”
Our conversation in that house comes back to me.
“You said he wanted to send a message through me?”
He lifts one shoulder.
“He once mentioned you. Well, he mentioned Olympus and a goddess named Artemis, and I thought he was off his rocker. It wasn’t until I got to Emerald Cove that I realized it wasn’t out of Greek Mythology. He was talking about Sterling Falls.”
“And—”
“That photo,” he continues.
“Taken in the bank in Emerald Cove. He had drawn an arrow on his arm.”
I scoff, but then he reaches into his back pocket and removes it.
Smooths out the creases, sliding it across the table.
He taps the view of the underside of his arm.
Sure enough, an arrow.
“Not exactly a scientific conclusion.” But my throat is tight, and the queasiness from earlier returns.
“He could’ve just gotten a tattoo.”
He raises an eyebrow at me, and I acquiesce.
Reese Avery is not the type.
And he definitely wouldn’t have gotten a hipster arrow on his forearm.
He’s not in a boy band.
“Okay,” I allow. “That led you to me.”
“It led me to Bow & Arrow. And then Olympus. And then you.”
“Ah.”
He stares at me.
Do I tell him I’ve seen him?
Do I trust him?
Besides—Reese might’ve left town.
If he was smart, he would’ve already.
The sheriff has his picture, Antonio and my brother are up in arms about him.
He was found with a bomb under my club.
And while nothing bad happened, it could’ve.
Scary shit.
Untrustworthy shit.
Whether or not I trust Kade is beside the point, because I don’t trust Reese.
“Dinner is served!” Bobby announces, striding toward us with two paper bowls.
He sets one down for me, the other for Kade.
From one pocket come napkins.
From another—his two back pockets—come two bottles of beer.
The meal: burgers and onion rings.
My stomach growls again, and I don’t bother with formalities.
I’ve never been so fucking hungry in my life.
Kade eats slower, alternating between bites and watching me demolish mine.
Bobby cracks our beers and leaves us, wandering away whistling under his breath.
Juice runs down my chin.
And before I can get it, Kade swipes at my face with a napkin.
Saving either my pants or shirt from stains.
“Thanks,” I say after a swallow.
He makes a noise in the back of his throat.
“Least I can do after your strip show earlier.”
I scowl.
When my basket is empty, I eye his onion rings.
My brother would never share—not that it would stop me, per se.
Saint would rather stab me than offer something from his plate.
But Kade wordlessly slides it into the middle of the table, still eating his burger.
Okay, fine.
Finally, the food is gone and we sit satiated.
I sip the beer, swinging one leg over to get a better view of the water.
Bobby has parked this mammoth on the last dock slip.
The marina is more protected by natural rock formations, while the harbor on the other side is more open for larger ships.
It just means it’s peaceful.
“I’m not going to help you,” I say.
He doesn’t reply. Doesn’t try to convince me.
Because I think we both know I’m lying.