Chapter 16
sixteen
Matias
Do not stare.
Do not stare.
“Do I look okay?” Natalia slides a hand along her hair, the freshly styled bob shining in the passing streetlights on the passenger seat of my car.
She turns, giving me a wide-eyed look that that belies her outfit.
“You look good,” I say casually, keeping my eyes on her face, and not a centimeter lower. Lying, like my tongue didn’t nearly fall out of my mouth when I saw her walk down the steps of her little duplex.
Natalia looks very different these days.
Her gaze remains soft. Gentle. But there’s something about the way she carries herself these days…something about the sharp hair and grown-up makeup that presents a confounding image.
Soft, but sexy. Gentle and sharp.
Somehow more irresistible than she ever was.
I clear my throat, cranking up the air conditioning to ease the heat creeping up the back of my neck.
She glances around the new car, her fingers ghosting over the wood detailing.
“It’s new.” I supply. “Some asshole set my car on fire.”
She presses her hand to her mouth in shock and stares at the passing scenery.
“Your Bentley?”
“Yep. Emptied a canister of gasoline on it and lit it up. In Pandemonium’s parking lot.” I say darkly, still thinking of the scorch marks on the gravel lot that piss me off every time I drive past it.
“That’s awful. Did you catch who did it?” She shakes her head. “What’s wrong with people these days?”
I sigh. “No. Maybe after all of this is over.”
She nods, the fabric of her dress wrapping around her neck. “Yeah, I guess we have bigger fish to fry right now.” Her hair sways as she turns to look at me. “So…what are we doing tonight?”
“I’ll give you a tour of the club. Westfall’s main office is there, too. His computer is air gapped—and he’s got the night off. I want you to start looking through his records.”
Natalia fidgets, her fingers dancing on the hard shell of her clutch.
“Okay.”
“I’ll be with you the whole night.” I say quietly, relaxing when she gives me a small smile and a nod.
I want her to be prepared for what she’s about to walk into.
But as it turns out, the only one that needs support when she gets out of the damn car, is me.
Her stilettos crunch on the gravel as she gets out of the car. I stand beside her, holding the passenger side of the door her shapely leg comes into view.
Wide hips…
Nipped in waist with a soft curve around her stomach…
I stop looking when her tits come into view.
“Where did you get that dress?” I ask—hating when my voice comes out like a growl.
Natalia walks towards the club, glancing down at the dress that leaves very, very little to the imagination.
I’m not sure how it’s possible to love something and hate it at the same time, but here we are, I think, watching her ass sway with each step towards the nightclub.
“My friend let me borrow it.” She calls over her shoulder. “Is something wrong?”
I eat up the distance between us in ground-eating strides, making it very clear to the men standing outside the club that she’s with me.
“It’s just a little…” Hot. Sexy. Absolutely fucking mouth watering.
“It’s a little short.” I say instead.
She snorts. “It’s a club. And we’re supposed to look like we’re here on a date.” She says, dropping her voice and giving me a coy look.
This is not the Natalia I used to know, a fact that becomes painfully real when she falls into step beside me and laces our fingers together.
The sensation of her soft, warm hand in mine turns me inside out. I can’t remember the last time someone touched me—let alone a woman.
Let alone this woman.
We walk into the club, hand in hand. I nod at the bouncers and guards posted up at the entry way, glad to see they’re all paying attention to their job and not the woman beside me.
But all that ends when we enter the club.
Eyes fall on us immediately—on Natalia. They eat us up, and I know that come morning, everyone in the city is going to know.
It’s exactly what we planned, and still, cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck. I move instinctively, ushering her towards the section Santos keeps in the back of the club, planting my hand on the curve of her ass when some random man tries brushing his body against her.
The look on my face sends the fucker running for the hills, and Santos is pointing at me and laughing when we finally reach him.
“You look like you have high blood pressure right now.” He shouts in my ear when I clap him on the shoulder, letting out a maniacal laugh that tells me he’s enjoying this. In so many ways.
Natalia peers at my best friend around my shoulder, tucking her chin shyly when he makes a grand gesture at her outfit.
“You look like a dream.” He tells her, and I snort.
She looks like a dream, alright.
A wet dream.
Specifically mine, I think, when she leans around me to give Santos a hug and brushes her round, soft ass against my hips.
From now on she wears a potato sack.
“I’m giving her a tour of the basement.” I tell my friend over the music, desperate to get Natalia out of the crowd. I enjoy the handful of desperate men envying what’s mine, but I don’t like the idea of putting her in unnecessary danger.
I greet the guards posted along the employee wing, wrapping a hand around Natalia’s waist and escorting her into the cordoned off area leading into the basement.
Fluorescent lights gleam off her hair as we descend into the concrete basement, where a handful of people trail around as they work.
Natalia walks two steps behind me, curiously watching as one of my employees counts clean money before it leaves the club.
In the distance, a woman organizes kilos delivered from the warehouse, readying them for delivery.
I lead her to Westfall’s office, swinging the metal door open and freezing when the accountant jumps in his seat.
“What are you doing here?” The reedy MBA dropout stills in his seat, hair falling over his reddened face.
“I just needed to run some last minute numbers before…” Natalia shifts, and his gaze drops to her, throat moving as he looks between the both of us.
He wasn’t supposed to be here.
“We need the room.” I say quietly, jerking my chin to the woman behind me. I feel her warmth, radiating into the side of my arm, distracting me so much I almost miss the bewildered look Westfall gives me.
“There’s other rooms down here…” He says lamely, looking at his screen.
What the fuck?
On any other day, Westfall is jumping to attention. Doing my bidding with haste. I was so certain of his efficiency—his commitment to his job. Now, I’m not so sure the rumors are made up…
Natalia pokes out her head from behind me, my heart dropping when she plants her delicate hand on the center of my chest and trails it down.
I’m not ready for the look she gives me. Half-lidded and horny. She nudges me before turning to speak to my accountant.
“We’d like some privacy. Do you mind?”
Westfall’s brows hit the roof. He watches Natalia’s hand trail lower, and lower, until she’s above my?—
“Get out of here.” I bark, placing my hand on top of hers and stilling it before we give the accountant a free show.
Westfall stammers out a weak reply, gathering his jacket and stumbling out of the room a moment later.
Natalia flips when the door slams shut, going from sultry-eyed vixen into a wide-eyed, breathless princess.
“Did you see the look on his face?” She giggles, and if I had enough blood flowing in the top half of my body, I’d be smiling, too.
She takes a turn around the room, her hands sliding over the two leather armchairs in front of the desk, and the large monitor across from them. In the corner, a tall lamp illuminates the curve of her shoulder, her skin sun-warmed and glistening as she turns to watch me.
“Should we begin?”
I walk around the computer and enter the password, freezing when she comes around the desk to stand beside me, the fabric of her dress brushing against my arm.
“Do you have anything you want me to look for, specifically?” She opens the last spreadsheet Westfall was entering numbers into, cocking her head. “It’s going to take a bit to get acclimated with his system.”
Natalia leans over the desk, her mini-dress riding up so high my mouth goes dry.
“Have a seat.” I push the rolling chair at her, damn near stuffing her into the seat and dropping into the armchair across from her.
I’m almost too busy answering messages on my phone to notice the moment she reaches into her little purse and comes out with a pair of reading glasses.
Almost too busy.
She freezes when she catches me staring at her, a blush creeping into the sides of her face.
“I need them when I look at computer screens.” She says sheepishly, motioning at the little black frames perched on her nose. “They don’t match my outfit, at all?—”
“You look good.” I tell her quietly, and this time, I don’t say it casually.
She stills under the words, such a tantalizing mix of young enthusiasm and grown-up intelligence that I give up looking at my phone and just…watch her.
At some point over the past three years…she’s grown up. There’s this grit to her—this edge that comes from loss and struggle and pain. Everything I tried to shield her from.
And somehow…she seems all the better for it.
“Tell me about your boyfriend.” The words are more an accusation than a question, but it has the desired effect.
Her eyes stop flying across the screen. “I already told you he’s not my boyfriend. Dom is a friend. We met during Sylvia’s case.” She says casually, giving me a one-shouldered shrug.
A friend? But what kind of friend? I want to ask her to elaborate, but we’re playing a dangerous game. It’s not just about pretending not to care—the less I know, the better.
“Are you…” Her voice catches, fingers hovering above the keyboard. “Seeing anyone?”
I press my lips together and stare at her. We’re both circling a dangerous game, it seems.
But Natalia doesn’t blink.
The undercurrent between us grows thicker when I finally answer.
“No one.” In the four years since we ended. Women have tried—but no one’s inspired as much as a spark of interest.
Her gaze goes from challenging to thoughtful, pining me in place. And then she blinks, and goes back to inspecting the monitor before her.
“Matias? Matias!” The moment is broken by a cacophony of discordant voices down the hall.
“I’m in here.” I say calmly, taking a deep breath and shoring myself up when Santos and Toledo storm the office.
Santos curses, slamming the door shut behind him. “You freak.”
Toledo doesn’t hesitate before flipping him off over her shoulder. For all that her face and features are soft and feminine…she is mean as fuck.
“Freak-ier than you, you boring vanilla bitch. I’ve heard the girls in the club talking about you.”
Santos ignores her, plopping into the seat across from the desk. “She’s got some government agent chained up in the basement.” Natalia jerks, her eyes flying to the other woman in the room.
Toledo glances around the room, coming to a screeching halt when she notices the new face behind the desk.
“We got a new accountant?” The psychopath of a woman cocks her head. “You’re a lot prettier than Westfall.”
Natalia blinks. “I…thank you?” She looks at me for help, and I lean forward, swiping a hand between them.
“Natalia, this is Toledo. She’s in charge of…” Killing people? Getting her hands dirty when no one else wants to? I settle for: “Security. She’s in charge of all the guards.” That much is true, at least.
“Toledo, this is Natalia.”
Toledo snaps her fingers. “I knew she looked familiar. You cut your hair. It looks really cute.”
Natalia gives me a puzzled glance, and my head starts aching at the task of explaining exactly how Toledo knows what she looks like with long hair.
“Hello? Did no one hear what I just said? This psycho’s got someone chained up.” I turn and give Santos an interested look, moving the conversation back to the both of them.
“He handcuffed one of my girls and stuffed her in a port-a-potty for an ‘integration’ where, spoiler alert—he took advantage of her. I’m going to cut off his balls and force feed them to him.” Toledo says proudly, rolling her eyes when Santos gags.
“Matias, you have to stop this madness.”
They fall into another round of bickering, distracting, grating—and stealing from what little time I have left with Natalia.
I hold up a hand to silence them.
“Toledo.”
“What? You know how I work, man. I’m not letting him go.”
“Why would you? He’d just turn around and arrest us at this point.” Toledo cheers up at that.
“Do you want to guess which agency he works for? You’ll like it. I swear.”
I give her a bewildered glance. “No? Just go kill him and call the cleaner when you’re done. Jesus Christ.”
“Fine.” She says. “Be boring. I’ll put a tarp down so I don’t make a mess.”
“You crazy bitch.” Toledo blows him a kiss, practically skipping to the door and slamming it shut behind her. Santos turns to Natalia with a look, half terrified and outraged.
“You see that? That’s what a lack of medication turns you into. Don’t be fooled by her smile—she’s got more bodies than the both of us combined.”
Natalia turns to glance at me for confirmation, and the only thing I can manage is an exhausted nod. For all my friend likes to exaggerate, he’s not lying about that.
“I didn’t know what the word misandrist meant until her.” Santos says, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “If you look it up in the dictionary, you’ll see her mugshot.”
“Toledo is a little rough around the edges,” I tell Natalia. “But she hasn’t let us down yet.”
Santos lets out an unconvinced hum before turning to face me.
“Has she found anything?”
“Not yet.” I say, glancing at Natalia as she goes back to the computer. “We just got Westfall to leave the office.”
“Hm. Seems like you’ll be here for a while.” Santos winks at Natalia, clapping me on the shoulder. “Come with me to the security room, will you? I have something you’ll want to see.”
I doubt it. All I want is in this room right now, but I force myself to climb to my feet. To leave Natalia in the office, even though it’s the last thing I want to do.
“You have your phone, right?”
She waves the phone I got her in the air before going back to the computer. Like she’s not the least bit worried about me.
Funny, how that makes me crave her attention all the more.