34. Artemis
34 ARTEMIS
Saint and Kade do not like each other.
And yet… well, they’re going to have to get along for at least today.
We go inside, which is just as bare as the last time I was here.
Kade has put on his shorts, rinsed his feet, and now we’re in his kitchen.
I tug off my sweatshirt and set it aside, then jump up onto the counter.
I grip the edges. Saint claims one of the barstools at the island.
I should have changed my shirt before Saint and I left.
It’s the one I wore to Olympus, then Bow & Arrow, and the one Saint shoved up to lavish attention on my breasts…
Stop that .
There are bound to be hickeys on my breasts from the way he bit and tugged at them.
Just thinking about it sends a rush of desire straight to my core.
Now is not the time to be thinking about sex.
But at least the ones Kade left on my neck from the dance floor have faded.
They got lost amongst the bruises after the bike crash incident.
I lean forward so the gold material isn’t stuck tight to my chest. My nipples feel sensitive, and I am braless.
The last thing I need is for either to spot them pebbling, or…
I should just put the damn sweatshirt back on.
But I don’t.
Kade grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and offers one to me.
I take it, setting it beside me.
When he doesn’t offer one to Saint, I take a quick sip from mine and toss it across to him.
Saint grimaces. But he drinks at least half of it.
Is he hung over?
“Well?” Kade asks Saint.
Not me.
I narrow my eyes at Saint Hart, who fucking flushes .
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the man so much as get a pink hue in his cheeks…
“Reese has been staying with Artemis and me,” he says after a beat.
“And last night, he was taken.”
Kade straightens.
He looks at me, and damn it, now my face heats without warning.
“You had him?” he says in a quiet voice.
Not a nice quiet. It’s downright sinister.
I lift my chin. “Yeah, I did.”
“And you lost him without telling me?—”
“You went behind my back.” I hop off the counter and ball my fists.
“You went to the sheriff . Why even ask me?”
He rolls his eyes.
“Artemis?—”
“Save it,” I hiss.
“Save it for after we find Reese. Did you know he was involved with the Cyclopes in Emerald Cove?”
He freezes.
“I’d take that as a no,” Saint drawls.
His chin rests on his hand, doing a great impression of being fucking bored.
“How do you know?” Kade demands.
He yanks one of the barstools around and sinks into it.
“He told me. That’s why he came up here…”
“Reese said that?”
I nod.
Pause. Did he say that?
In so many words?
“He said he wanted to stop them from settling in Sterling Falls,” I hedge.
Although I’m pretty sure when I guessed that, he just said, Something like that .
“Either way?—”
“We’ll table it,” Kade says.
His expression, which was already serious enough, turns downright terrifying.
“Tell me what you know about him being taken.”
Saint and I lay it all out on the table.
The video, the man coming from off-screen.
The fact that, besides the back of this guy’s head, we’ve got nothing.
Kade leaves the room, returning with a laptop.
I hop down from the counter and circle behind him to get a better view.
He pulls up my building on a map and jumps to street view, slowly panning the camera around.
“There’s a bank across the street,” he points out.
“Banks always have security.”
Saint frowns.
“What do you want to do, bulldoze in there asking to see their video feed?”
Kade considers it for a moment, then shakes his head.
“Nah.”
He types, then leans back.
A second later, a low ping makes Saint straighten.
“What did you just do?” Distaste and apprehension run thick in Saint’s tone.
Can’t say I blame him for it.
“I’ve got someone who will hack their system. We should have eyes soon.” Kade swivels in his seat and gets up.
“Anyone hungry?”
My stomach lets out an untimely growl.
I’m not even that hungry, but apparently my body has other ideas.
I find myself nodding along, my cheeks heating, while Saint grunts an affirmation.
Kade rubs his hands together.
“Tem, keep an eye on the computer, would you?”
I don’t hate that he calls me by my nickname.
Saint wouldn’t dare.
I take the stool Kade occupied.
He busies himself pulling stuff out of the fridge, laying out ingredients, then fetching a pan.
I glance at Saint, who seems to be torn between watching him and me.
Who took Reese?
And why?
Kade alluded to the fact that Reese might be running from someone—but Reese made no such mention.
Either he didn’t trust us with it, or he didn’t think it was relevant.
Maybe he tried to outrun his past, and it caught up with him.
Or Kade’s information is wrong, and someone else took Reese.
One of the Cyclopes, maybe.
But it still brings me back to the why —and what they’re doing to him.
“We don’t know who has him,” Saint says in a low voice.
“It’s no use panicking. Stay rational.”
“Easier said than done,” I murmur.
I focus on the screen.
There’s a chat window up, the relevant details sent, and a user with a long string of numbers in their name replying that it was possible.
“Who did you ask for help?”
Kade glances over his shoulder at me.
“An old friend.”
“Like how Reese was an old friend?” Saint asks.
Kade huffs. “Yeah, he knew Reese and I from the same place. Except when we got out, Reese went his own way and I stayed close with some of the guys.”
“Military,” Saint guesses.
Oh, shit.
“Reese said he was a former Marine.” I narrow my eyes.
“Is that where you two met?”
Kade nods.
He doesn’t even look at us anymore, fixated on whatever he’s making.
His broad shoulders block my view.
Saint taps the table.
“How long ago?”
“Few years.”
Saint and I meet eyes, and for once, I think we’re on the same page.
“Now isn’t the time to hold back,” Saint argues.
He steals the words right from my lips.
“Especially since we’re trusting you with this.”
“You could’ve done this already,” I add.
“Why ask me for help if you have someone who can hack into security feeds?—”
The laptop pings as a message comes through, proving my point.
Saint gets up and circles around behind me.
Kade comes to the table with three grilled sandwiches stacked on a plate.
He puts it down and leans in, clicking the link his friend sent.
It downloads a file, which pops up as soon as it’s done.
Security footage. The street is visible, as well as the front door to my building.
“He sent the whole night,” Kade says under his breath.
He plays it double time until I grab his wrist. He slows it down, and the three of us watch Reese come out the front door.
He weaves, clearly not super steady on his feet.
This image is much sharper than my building’s.
Wonder who I have to bribe to update them…
Reese punches the wall.
He shakes out his fist and faces the street, giving us a clear view at his face.
Someone moves out of the shadows behind him, and he catches sight a moment too late.
The stranger raises a pipe and smashes him in the head.
Reese falls. The stranger picks him up.
I want to check Kade’s expression, but I’m too fixed on getting a better look at this guy.
He’s not as big as Kade, that’s for sure.
And if it was Kade, he wouldn’t have gotten us this video.
He crosses the street toward the bank, and recognition stabs at me.
I gasp and grab the edge of the counter, leaning forward.
He goes to a car and pops the trunk, folding Reese’s long limbs into it.
Slam .
There’s no audio, but I hear an echo of the trunk shutting nonetheless.
He glances around, then straight at the camera.
Kade hits a button and freezes it.
The hood is up, obscuring his hair.
Clearly male, though, just from the build and his face—which is uncovered.
I wet my lips. “I know that face.”
“Who is it?” Saint demands.
“Someone from Sterling Falls?”
I meet his gaze, doing my best not to flinch.
“Not really. He left town years ago… But I think I know why he came back.”
“Who is he?” Saint asks.
Just say it. Say where you know him.
Say his name .
“His name is Gabriel.”
There’s so much more to it, though, because just speaking it out loud shoots a weird mix of guilt and fear straight down my spine.
Gabriel was imprisoned in Terror for so much longer than me.
Not weeks or months— years .
He was my first rescue from that web, and my biggest failure.
“How do you know him?” Kade asks.
“I got him out of Terror.” I face them, confused about their confusion.
Or lack of horror. They haven’t heard of Terror?
Or if they have, they couldn’t know the extent.
I wave them off, feigning indifference, and make up a lie about Terror just being a club.
When we were fifteen and sixteen—no big deal.
I don’t mention our ages, or the innocence ripped away from both of us at different times.
And in vastly different ways.
Kade still eyes me with suspicion, while Saint moves right along.
I ignore the questioning expressions.
Kade and I trade places, and I take the chair beside Saint, picking up one of the sandwiches.
They watch the video again.
They ask me if I’m sure, to which I nod.
My thoughts turn to Gabriel.
It’s been years since I last talked to him, although I assumed Antonio kept up contact.
He’s better about that than I am.
He likes to keep tabs on everyone and everything.
It eases his conscience.
Antonio was involved in Terror in a different way, and it’s caused him different scars than it left on me.
But back to Gabriel—why would he take Reese?
Why is he back in Sterling Falls at all?
Sandwich polished off, I leave Kade and Saint squabbling over the best way to find Gabriel and Reese and retreat upstairs.
There are no beds, which is peculiar.
Kade has been here for over a month, hasn’t he?
There’s a cot in one of the rooms, though, with a nest of folded clothes around it.
Only the essentials, I suppose.
The room has balcony doors of glass thrown open wide, allowing the sunshine and salted air to sweep into the room.
The cot is positioned in prime space right in the opening.
It’s like sleeping outside, almost.
I drag the drapes across the opening, leaving the doors open.
A breeze still slips past the heavy blackout fabric, but the room is now considerably darker.
I am so fucking tired, and we’re nowhere closer to finding Reese.
Climbing onto the cot and closing my eyes is automatic.
I’m asleep in seconds.