Chapter 21
C assie
I bounded down the stairs, Riordan’s fingers entwined in mine. “So, sex with me, did ye like it?”
His grip tightened. “What sort of question is that?”
“One ye should answer way quicker.”
“Then yeah. Holy fuck, yeah.”
I preened. “I’ll get better, but that’s good to know.”
“You don’t need to change a thing.”
“Oh, I intend to learn tricks from any of the women here who are willing to teach me. After I’ve hung out with Bad Boy B, I need to finally get the staff rotas done or Everly’s events aren’t going to get off the ground. I’ll also start planning out our revenge plot. It’s going to be a busy night, but I’ll have details to run past ye later.” I peeked at him. “No decisions made on your behalf.”
With his free hand, Riordan mimed his brain exploding. “It should not be so attractive to think of you making a man bleed then carrying on your daily admin.”
A grin stole over my face. “Then I get to come home to ye. That’s the best part.”
Reaching a landing, Riordan stopped up. “Still in love with me?”
“Holy fuck, yeah.” I copied his words.
He groaned. Drove his fingers into my hair and laid his lips on mine. I was two steps higher so a perfect height to meet him. My belly fluttered with butterflies, an explosion of happy little wings beating lust through me. The kiss turned heavy in a heartbeat. I clawed him closer then looped my arms around his neck at the same second he picked me up, winding my legs about his waist.
Our mouths fused, a scorching hot kiss taking over every thought. This, I was quickly getting addicted to. His big body. His devotion to kissing the hell out of me.
Something clanked in the stairwell above us.
Neither of us stopped.
Riordan walked me backwards and opened a door in the wall behind me, and I blinked my eyes open to find him shutting us into a supply cupboard.
Darkness surrounded us.
Turning us, Riordan hit a shelving unit, something rattling and falling over that I didn’t care enough to wonder at.
“Are we going to have sex in here?” I asked.
He kissed my cheek. “I just need to hear you say it again before the night gets busy.”
My heart squeezed, tenderness boosting my certainty. “I’m in love with ye, Riordan.”
He made a gruff sound then hugged me. “Call me Rio when we’re alone.”
“Rio. Rio, Rio, Rio. Why do I get the impression that’s a privilege?”
“No one else calls me it, aside from my family occasionally, and this is very different to that. I like it on your lips.”
His tone changed. I inched back and found his mouth with mine. Coaxed another kiss from him in the dark. For this evening, I’d chosen a cute, black playsuit with black boots, both of which would hide the blood if I got spattered. The wide-legged shorts made easy access now for Riordan to feel up my thighs.
We’d had sex under an hour ago. I still wanted more. I hadn’t minded being a virgin. Not once I realised I’d been waiting for the right man to lose it to. Now I had him, I didn’t want to waste a minute of our time.
His tongue tangled with mine, and my insides clenched. I drew my hands between us to his waistband, fumbling to open his jeans. Riordan let me, notching his forehead to my temple at the first caress of my hand to his dick. I palmed him and gave him a stroke, his strong arms holding me away from his body so there was space. This was the first time he’d let me touch him, and I thrilled at the exploration of something new and fascinating. In a romance book I’d read, I’d heard it described as velvet over steel, and that was close. What that didn’t convey was the uncontrollable joy at how his grip tightened on me when I got something right in how I touched him.
My breathing came harder. I wanted more.
“Put me down,” I ordered. “I’m going to try this with my mouth.”
He shivered. “We don’t have time to play, and when we do that, I’ll need to reciprocate. A lot.”
I pouted, but he was right. Shade had summoned me with a thirty-minute warning, and I’d taken most of that time over my makeup. I had to be downstairs in ten or risk missing out.
Riordan nudged my face to receive his kiss again. “I’ll fuck you hard and fast. Will that do?”
Thank the gods. “For now.”
He supported me with one hand and wrenched my shorts and underwear to one side, taking a moment to feel me up. “Do you hurt from earlier?”
“A little. Don’t ye dare stop.”
“You’re so wet. Some of that is from me. I don’t know how I’m going to deal with you walking round wearing my cum all night.”
Fresh heat struck me down, and I moaned, kissing him again until he stopped teasing and lowered me onto his dick. His thick length speared into me. I gasped, and Riordan made a masculine sound of pleasure that was louder again. With his hands on my thighs, he lifted me up and down him.
I adored the way he filled me. My body gave way to his, and it was the most perfectly intense feeling because of his size. My sensation of helplessness made the pleasure a thousand times greater. I could do nothing but hold on. Later, I intended to spend a lot of time getting to know his dick. I wanted him in my hands. Between my lips. I needed to know how he tasted.
I also suspected I was going to get addicted to him fucking me very fast. Riordan worked in and out of me, delighting my pleasure zones and stretching me good. He adjusted his hold on me to bring his hand to my face, gripping my jaw so he could kiss me some more. While he kept the kiss slow, his hips worked faster.
Pretty quickly, I was breaking my mouth away to suck in air.
“You were made for this. Made to take my dick. You do it so well.”
I whimpered at the praise and tucked my head against his broad shoulder. One final thrust, and pleasure burst through me. I clutched on to him, possibly losing consciousness for a second, as next I knew, Riordan had crashed us into the shelving unit and was slamming into me. More things fell from the shelves, clattering to the floor. If anyone was passing outside, they’d have no doubts what was going on in our dark little hideaway.
Dizzy, I held on for dear life.
Then I remembered my magic words.
Putting my lips to his ear, I whispered, “Hey, Rio? I’m so in love with ye.”
He groaned and thrust into me a few more times, each rigid, each pushing in as far as he could go. Then he held still and came.
Fresh heat broke over me. “God. That sensation of ye pulsing inside me nearly breaks my brain.”
It took him a minute to answer, a kiss preceding it. His chest inflated on heavy breaths.
“Same as when I feel you, wild girl.”
His lips met mine for another long kiss, easier now we were getting acquainted. I was learning him. Maybe he was teaching me, because prior to him, I had exactly no skills.
Seemingly reluctantly, Riordan set me down then used his phone for light. In a corner of the small room, there was a box of paper towels above a sink, and he snagged me some then handed them to me to clean up the cum trickling down my inner thigh.
My cheeks flamed. “Stop looking.”
“Can’t. I’m getting hard again at the sight.”
“Rio! It’s embarrassing.”
“You can ask to get on your knees for me but you don’t want me to see you leaking my cum? Too bad. One day, I’ll lick it out of you.”
“That is so fucking hot.”
He crowded me. Kissed me. I let him, my resistance crumbling to nothing. Especially when he captured my hand to show me what it felt like between my thighs.
It took another minute until we broke apart.
He kissed my cheek. “Question. It’s somewhat late to ask, but are you on the pill?”
“What if I said no?”
“Then I’ll take responsibility. But I get the impression you’ve already thought this through. If you wanted a baby, you’d have one.”
I chuffed amusement. “Of course I’m on contraceptives. No babies for me.”
He squeezed me. “Thank fuck for that. I didn’t want to give up going bare. The feel of it is unbelievable. I need a lot more of it.”
“You’ve never gone without a condom?”
“Never. I should’ve told you.”
“Then I took your virginity, too. Everything else before me doesn’t count.”
“Agreed, wild girl.”
Outside, we emerged into the light, and I grinned at him. “My lipstick is on you.”
He let me clean him up, his gaze sliding down to my cleavage.
My heart thumped. “I’m going to be torturing a man tonight. While thinking about what we just did in that cupboard.”
“While soaked from me.”
“That turns ye on,” I confirmed.
Slowly, he nodded. Pressing up on my toes, I kissed his cheek, in total wonder of all things Riordan-shaped. And the love thing only expanded deeper in my chest.
Down on the entrance level, Shade emerged from Arran’s office. Inside, Arran sat behind his desk with a group of men in my eyeline. Tyler, Manny, and Jamieson, others I didn’t know. I glowered at my brother, and he scowled back.
Shade closed the door on them, shutting us on the outside.
I pointed my chin at the room. “War council?”
He didn’t answer, instead, walking away with a gesture for us to follow.
“I wanted to talk to Gen and Everly,” I called after him.
“No time. Our subject is awake.”
Subject . Heh. Bronson was about to be subjected to a grilling, the likes of which I’d never been part of in the past.
We descended the steps to the rear exit of the warehouse. Another group of skeleton crew waited, all big men, all with serious scowls and lined foreheads.
“Jeez, anyone would think we were heading to a funeral,” I quipped.
Seven pairs of eyes slashed to me.
I giggled. Extended my manicured hand to the door. “Shall we?”
Shade exited, the crew moving with him. Riordan held back. Tugged me in for a quick kiss, the same solemness infecting him.
“Be careful,” he grumbled.
I stalled. “You’re coming with.”
“Manny assigned me to the brothel tonight.”
I took a quick breath. No . I needed him.
Shade reappeared in the door. “What’s the delay?”
“Riordan stays with me.”
“Need him to hold your hand?”
“Yes! At all times, preferably, if I don’t need it to wield a blade. You’d better understand emotional literacy if you’re going to keep Everly.”
The enforcer raised an eyebrow.
Riordan grumbled. “Bronson targeted Cassie. I need to know why. If she was random or selected. I want to hear it from his lips.”
Shade gave us another appraising look then shrugged. “Tell Manny I’ve reassigned ye. Now get in the fucking car. Ye ride with me.”
Outside, rain darkened the evening, falling in fine threads across the yellow streetlights.
I settled into the back of a matte black warehouse 4X4 Shade had chosen over his own ride. Riordan slid in the other side, tapping out the message he needed to send. I summoned my thoughts.
I’d expected to have longer to prepare. At least time to grab a snack. Ah well, it was probably better done on an empty stomach when I was hangry, and at least I’d already spent time at home researching one or two things.
Shade pulled out of the car park and spoke. “Now we’re out of any potential earshot, I’ll prepare ye for the different approaches we can take to getting information out of Bronson and the start I’ve made.”
“Ye mean torture techniques?”
He took a corner, other skeleton crew cars ahead and behind. “Exactly.”
My stomach fluttered. “So, my mind goes first to psychologically terrorising him in order to disorientate—a pitch-black room, sensory deprivation. Fuck with his head over where he is and how long he’s been there. Ye could also have used pain as a teacher, leaning into physical intimidation, but Bronson is a seasoned gangster. Chances of him squealing over an electric shock or two are small, so that would be saved for when it’s meaningful. Emotional leverage would be limited—he’s single, an only child, and has no kids that anyone knows of, plus with him over fifty, his parents are either dead or ancient, so he’s less likely to give a shite. Bribing him won’t work. He probably won’t take a bargain. Drugs could help, but I think he’s an addict so will be suffering withdrawal. Further drugs would react unpredictably and might kill the arsehole.” I cocked my head. “I guess that’s why ye had to delay the interrogation? Your knock-out drugs fucked him up?”
Shade’s mouth fell open. “Fucking hell. Correct. Continue.”
“Seducing him is unlikely to work, same with offering any kind of emotional connection. We don’t have time for some cute little thing to tend his wounds and pretend to sell us out. Next on the list is exploiting rivalries. My money would be on that, because it’s where I think he started. We tell him his gang sold him out. Red wants him gone. That kind of thing. Lastly, we break his sanity and torture him until he’s exhausted. Never quit.” A cold smile broke over my face. “That will be sweet.”
Silence followed.
Riordan choked. “Where the hell did you learn all of that?”
“I’ve been researching this for a while, but when ye locked me in my room, I searched up a list of torture techniques and went through each in turn. Shade, did I miss anything? I’m right about how ye started, aren’t I? He’s in a stress position in a dungeon with music blasting? It’s the best approach to break his hostility on waking.”
“Aye, that’s exactly what I’ve done. Jesus.”
I beamed. Impressing Shade was important to me. I wanted to do what he did, and he was the key to that world. “Sorry for speed talking at ye, but the slow delivery of information I already know kills me. So we enter and silence the music then stick a spotlight on Bronson. Flip him the right way up and tell him Red refused to bargain him out so he has to answer questions to save himself. It’s his only option.”
“That was the approach I considered. I’m on the fence about which technique to settle on for information gathering. Any one of them could be our way in. Everyone is susceptible to one, and your assessment is good, but it’s a paper exercise. Ye don’t know the man. For example, in your research, did ye turn up that he came to Deadwater after serving time with a man who became the previous Four Milers’ leader? They established the gang together. He loves the life.”
“He’s loyal,” I mused.
Shade nodded. “To the Four Milers. Not to Red. He’s different to my usual bodies. I don’t know for sure yet that he’s guilty.”
“Right. The only evidence we have is the girl who told Riordan that Bronson uses sedatives.”
The dark night sped by our windows. We’d taken a route back over the bridge to the Scottish side of Deadwater and out towards an industrial area of delivery warehouses and manufacturing plants, all closing down for the evening.
Shade tapped the steering wheel. “There’s something else. Arran and I saw him take down one of our crew. He said that Red was out of town, and I got the impression he was hostile to his boss. This was the night Alisha died.”
“Who did he take down?” My mind supplied the answer as I framed the question. “Convict, right?”
“Aye. He throttled him then somehow knocked him out. It was too dark to see.”
Riordan shifted in his seat. “Is Convict still alive?”
“Unknown.”
The two men swapped an expression of disquiet.
My mind raced. “I’m going to make a quick call. I’ll put it on loudspeaker. Then ye can tell me how I need to behave.”
To his muttering about who was running the show, I dialled my Skeleton Girls Detective Agency group with a voice call. Genevieve and Everly both answered.
I told them where I was and who with, then asked my question. “I just wanted to go over the deaths one more time so I can work out what I want to get from tonight.”
Genevieve snorted. “An admission of guilt would be nice.”
“He’s hardly going to do that,” Everly said. With measured consideration, she walked me through all the facts we knew about the murders. How each woman was discovered. What was in her post-mortem. What we knew about her background.
Cherry, Natasha, Amelia, and Alisha. They wouldn’t be left unavenged.
When we were done, I hung up and let my thoughts simmer. Tyler’s words surfaced.
“If Bronson is discontented with Red,” I mused, “his motive could be a hostile takeover of the Four Milers with the murders his proof that he can lead them successfully.”
Shade turned off the road, into the car park of an industrial building. Grey sidings. No company name on the front. “Exactly where I landed. What approach would ye take?”
The car stopped inside the wide frontage of the building.
I wrangled my fingers together.
“That we only give a fuck about Alisha. We can’t tolerate the slight to the skeleton crew. He owes us for her alone, and he has an opportunity to make amends. Therefore, for him, he still has a chance to take over from Red. Behind that, we test him on the other killings. There are details we know that never made it to the press.”
Shade killed the engine and twisted in his seat. “Good. Now for your behaviour in the room. I’m the lead. I do the work and I call the shots. He’s my prisoner. Ye can listen in but you’ll stay out of his eyeline, at least until we know why he’s interested in ye. Say one fucking word, and you’re gone.”
I bristled, filled with energy, ready to go. “Fine.”
Riordan stalled us. “I have a theory. Moniqua told me Red went to her flat to try to recruit her. What if she named you as a target? She could’ve acted in desperation. Given a name of someone she’d recently heard of. She didn’t seem that pressed about me, but she knows who you are, and the bitchy move fits.”
I chewed on that, because a similar thought had occurred to me. I’d only been on the Deadwater scene a couple of months. The people in the club knew me, but I’d had no interactions with the other gangs in the city. Not like Alisha would’ve done. My name on their lips made no sense, unless it was given to them.
Shade directed my thoughts. “There’s only one way to find out. Let’s go slice and dice Bronson.”