3. Lachlan
3
LACHLAN
T ONIGHT HADN’T BEEN the stay-out-of-sight surveillance I’d intended, that was for damn sure. But when had I ever been a play-by-the-rules kind of guy? It would’ve been more inconvenient to stand back and watch some innocent get his head blown off than it had been to get involved. Half of those idiots were cracked out on their own supply anyway, so incapacitating them didn’t give me any of the enjoyment I’d usually get from a challenge.
Good thing I’d gotten rid of Alessio’s voice in my ear. If I hadn’t, he’d be giving me shit the whole trip back to Libertine headquarters, and then I’d end up crushing the earpiece with my boot. Yet again.
I stared out the back passenger window of the car taking me back into Manhattan and wondered where the Boy Scout had run off to. His lack of street smarts screamed that he wasn’t from here, or he’d know better than to hide behind a dumpster to tail drug dealers.
Which raised the question, why was he there in the first place?
No, it was none of my business. I’d met my quota on helping someone out, and whatever happened to him now wasn’t any of my concern. Boy Scout would have to learn to make better decisions or at least be a bit stealthier about them.
Closing my eyes, I settled back into the leather seat, but I’d be damned if his face didn’t flash through my mind. The fear in his eyes as they’d latched on to mine, followed by the shock when he fell to his knees without a bullet hole piercing his body. The curiosity rearing its head again when he started to run away, but turned back to watch me. Were his eyes brown or blue? It’d been too dark to tell, but now I wondered?—
Wait, what the fuck. What color are his eyes? Jesus Christ, had I let someone hit me in the head tonight?
Annoyed at where my thoughts had gone, I shoved open the car door when it stopped at a traffic light a couple of blocks from Libertine.
“I’ll walk,” I said, and then slammed the door. Obviously I hadn’t burned off all of my adrenaline, and the cold air cleared my head as I hopped onto the sidewalk. The mask I’d slipped into my trench coat pocket after leaving the alley bounced against my thigh with every step I took, reminding me of what I’d risked tonight. If Boy Scout had gotten a glimpse of me without it, I would’ve been in much deeper shit than I already was.
That was one of the main reasons King had wanted me to send a team and not deal with those assholes myself—discretion. The number one rule when it came to Libertine was anonymity, and being caught disposing of a group of drug dealers in some back alley wasn’t exactly discreet.
But I’d been careful. My mask had held. Boy Scout had looked at me like I was some figment of his overactive imagination, and I had no doubt he’d be questioning what he’d seen for the rest of the night. Hell, maybe his life.
I turned down the street where Libertine’s headquarters were situated, made my way toward the nondescript black door of the main building, and gave a couple knocks.
Could I have taken my time returning to base and gone to grab a drink or five? Sure, but I had a feeling that would’ve made the impending ass chewing even worse. So I figured the best course of action was to get inside, track down Alessio, and see if we could do some damage control before the bossman showed.
A small panel in the wood slid open at eye level, and when security saw me it immediately slid shut, and the bolts inside were turned so the heavy door could be opened.
“Good evening, Mr. Stone.”
I acknowledged the greeting with a clipped nod as I stepped inside and unbuttoned my coat, handing it over so it could be hung in the members’ coat closet.
“Would you like me to inform anyone of your arrival?”
“I think I’m going to go with the element of surprise tonight.” Why not stick with the theme of the evening?
“Of course, sir.”
I glanced at the main entrance of the club, and while it was tempting to head inside and lose myself in whatever debauchery I could find, I knew I wouldn’t enjoy myself with the inevitable reprimand looming over my head.
Instead, I headed toward the imposing wrought-iron door at the far end of the entryway. Its impressive height and weight made it impenetrable to anyone who didn’t have the right key. Lucky for me, I wasn’t just anyone.
I pushed up the sleeve of my suit jacket and held my wrist to a scanner on the wall, and as soon as it detected the microchip under my skin, mechanical locks began to whir and jolt.
The mammoth door yawned open, and I stepped inside and headed underground, leaving behind the world outside.
Torches flickered along the stone walls as I descended into a place only seven of us could go freely. The heart of the Libertine society pulsed between the cavernous rooms that occupied our private space. The floors above served the needs and desires of all members, but down here, decisions were made that affected not only our domain, but the entire world.
That wasn’t an overstatement, either.
Tyrone “King” Kingston had assembled a handful of us, men he trusted, men of different backgrounds, specialties, and influence, to wield power for the greater good. Which didn’t always mean coloring within the lines.
I headed to Alessio’s “office,” which was a strict “look but don’t touch” zone. Computer monitors took up the entirety of one stone wall, along with tech gadgets meticulously stored in a way that only he understood. He was methodical to the point of OCD, and it was terrifying what he could do with the click of a button. For that reason, he was the one we all went to in order to get us out of any… situations that arose.
None of the offices had doors, just wide, curved openings, so I had a perfect view of Alessio as I went to place a bottle of whiskey on the corner of his desk.
“Not. There.” Annoyance laced his voice as he turned in his chair to face me, and I handed the bottle to him instead.
“Fine. Here. Consider this my peace offering.” I crossed my arms and nodded at the bottle in his hand as I leaned against the entrance. “There. We’re even now.”
“That would be true if you hadn’t cut off all communication.”
I reached into my pocket, grabbed the earpiece, and tossed it in his direction. “It fell out.”
“Bullshit. You took it out. Question is, did you break it this time?” He inspected the earpiece with narrowed eyes.
“I was tempted, but no.”
He grunted in response, but set the earpiece carefully in its place. Then he looked me over and tucked a long strand of his hair behind his ear.
“How the hell does your suit look like you just took it off the hanger after the shit you’ve been through tonight?”
This coming from a man who considered boots, jeans, and a black shirt appropriate for any occasion.
“Skill. It’s all about skill.”
“Uh huh. Yet you’re down here handing out gifts like Santa fucking Claus, so I’m assuming your skills only go so far. Seems like you might need something from me.” Alessio leaned back in his chair and propped his booted feet up on the desk. “I wonder what that could be? Wiped video? Audio? The sudden disappearance of any evidence that you might have single-handedly annihilated the very people we needed to get closer to the head honcho bringing laced drugs into our city?”
When he put it like that, I could see why he might’ve warned me against getting involved. But what did he expect? For me to stand by and let some passerby get caught up in that shitshow?
We weren’t about that, and Alessio knew it. So did King, for that matter. So if I could wipe the videos before he showed, then maybe when he found out in a day or two I could explain it was for the greater good and all that he held dear.
“Can you do it?” I pushed off the wall and stepped further inside Alessio’s cave.
“Are you tryin’ to piss me off?” He dragged his feet off the desk. “Can I do it…”
The next thing I knew, the screens filled with the playback of the trash-filled alley, the assholes I’d taken down, and the terrified bystander. The audio cut out at the exact moment Alessio was trying to talk some sense into me, and then all hell broke loose.
All in all, the sequence of events went by much faster than it’d seemed when it was actually taking place, and when it started up again on a loop, I interjected.
“Okay, that’s enough, I don’t think we need to see it again?—”
“Ooh, see what again? Are you two hiding a secret?” The smooth, lyrical tone, practically salivating at the idea of gossip, told me exactly who was standing behind us without my even turning. But a glance over my shoulder confirmed the cashmere-covered man strolling into the room was none other than Benoit Olivier.
“Not a secret,” Alessio said. “More like a fuck-up. Lachlan’s, to be precise.”
I tried to give him a quick uppercut to the back of the head, which he dodged.“I didn’t fuck up. I just overextended myself.”
“In a way that you now need to erase?” Benoit tsked. “That sounds like a fuck-up to me, mon cher .”
“It’s nothing that will exist in a matter of seconds.” I shot Alessio a meaningful look.
But he proved to be a true asshole, shooting me a wink as he hit play on the video.
“Oh my,” Benoit said, his mouth curving as he watched the replay. “I take it acting like some superhero of New York wasn’t officially on tonight’s agenda?”
“That’s not what I was doing,” I grumbled.
“Oh, you’re right. You did let the driver get away.”
“Well, in case you missed it, I was kind of busy saving a life .”
Benoit cocked his head at the screen. “Hmm, yes, I do believe that attractive man’s head looks much better on his body than blown clear across the street.”
Alessio snorted. “Attractive? Of course that’s what you notice first.”
“It would’ve been a shame to ruin such a handsome face.” Benoit glanced at me. “Don’t you think so, Lachlan?”
“Like I give a shit.” It wasn’t Boy Scout’s good looks that made me get involved.
Though, seeing him onscreen now, I could see why they’d make that leap. He was more attractive than I’d noticed in the moment, but I was a little busy then.
“Wipe the fucking cameras before King gets here or I swear to God I’ll?—”
“You’ll do what, exactly?”
King’s deep baritone came from directly behind me, and I closed my eyes and sent up a litany of curses.
When I opened them again, I saw Benoit’s lips pressed into a thin line, like he was trying not to laugh that I’d just gotten busted.
I slowly turned around and met King’s gaze. His commanding presence made him feel so much taller than his six-foot frame, and those dark eyes betrayed nothing, making him incredibly hard to read most of the time.
Not that it took a genius to know he wasn’t going to like what I was up to.
Oh fucking well. It wasn’t like I had regrets.
I crossed my arms and said, “I interfered in tonight’s reconnaissance. Things were about to get ugly, I intervened, and then I tried to buy off Alessio to wipe the cameras so you didn’t find out.”
King didn’t bat an eye. “Looks like I got here just in time, then.”
“Come on, I wasn’t gonna do it,” Alessio said from behind me, but every one of us knew that was a crock of bullshit.
King looked at Benoit. “And you? What’s your part in this deception taking place?”
Benoit held his hands up. “ Moi? I’m just an innocent bystander. You know me, anything messy is a nonstarter.”
“Messy?” King’s jaw locked as his focus shifted back to me. “What does he mean by messy ?”
There was no point in lying, not when my actions were right there on screen. But before I could form an answer, King held a hand up and nodded to Alessio.
“Play it back.”
I knew there was no way in hell Alessio was about to take my side. With the chain of command, we always deferred to our leader—or as we’d recently started calling him thanks to his new boyfriends, our “King.”
“Yes, my King.”
I groaned inwardly as Alessio turned to his screens, his sarcasm not helping me out here. Especially with the way King’s jaw was keeping time like a damn metronome.
Everyone in the room was so still we could’ve been carved out of the stone surrounding us, then the screens lit up with the playback for yet another time and I took the lead role in my silent film.
Several agonizing minutes later, the feed ended and the screens went dark.
I could practically hear the wheels turning in King’s head as he continued to stare at the blank screens, and I knew the smart move would be to apologize. I should swallow my pride, admit my insubordination, and let him know it wouldn’t happen again. But we’d both know I was lying.
I didn’t do well following orders or hanging back in the shadows—it had always been the hardest part of this role for me. But I tried to curb my baser instincts out of respect for Libertine’s rules. I succeeded for the most part, too—usually.
But tonight I hadn’t cared whose orders I was following. The whole point of tracking down those dealers had been to stop more New Yorkers from ending up in the morgue. So how the hell had King expected me to allow one more—one who didn’t deserve it?
“You were supposed to stay under the radar. Remember the motto of ‘don’t get fucking caught.’”
Okay, that chafed. “I didn’t get caught.”
“No?” King slowly turned toward me and took a step into my space. “Then what the fuck am I looking at on that screen, Lachlan?”
King’s fierce stare held me in place. This wasn’t a man you dared mess with—not even me.
“Alessio doesn’t count.”
“And what if someone else had cameras? What about the driver? This was sloppy, unplanned, and reckless.”
“No one saw my face?—”
“But they could have,” King growled, the sound ominous like thunder. “One fuck-up, that’s all it takes. One fuck-up and you risk us all. This was careless, and you’re better than that.”
I cursed under my breath, but didn’t argue, because he was right.
“Wipe it,” King said. “Then do a grid search and make sure there’s no city cameras we’re missing floating around. Send a message to the ground crew to look for any kind of home surveillance that might’ve spotted anything. As for you”—he spun back to me—“stay the hell away from me until I’ve calmed the fuck down. Is that clear?”
“As crystal.”
King turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, and I looked at Benoit, who let out the breath he’d been holding.
“Good thing he’s not the ‘off with his head’ kind of King or yours would’ve been rolling, mon cher .”
No doubt. But I wasn’t about to let it bother me. It wasn’t the first time I’d been on King’s shitlist, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.
“I just love getting my ass chewed out because of someone else’s fuck-up. Thanks for that.”
I rounded back on Alessio. “That’s what you’re worried about? My balls just got busted because you dragged your damn feet, asshole.”
He snorted. “If your balls were busted you’d be crying on the floor, so quit your bitchin’—I don’t have time for it. I have to get to work erasing your…indiscretions.”
He spun back to the screens, and when he pressed a button on his keyboard and the feed came back up, a still of Boy Scout appeared front and center and I said, “Wait a second.”
Alessio glanced back at me, his hand frozen above his keyboard.
“Can you find out who that is?”
“Why do you care? He’s fine, you saved him, there’s no reason to?—”
“Just find out who the fuck it is, would you?” I cocked my head and said the one thing I knew would spur Alessio into action. “Unless you don’t think you can …”
His eyes darkened at those fighting words, and just as I’d predicted, he cracked his knuckles and turned back to his keyboard.
“You’ll know within the hour.”
I smirked and turned to leave, but as I made it through the entrance, I heard Benoit chuckle. “But he didn’t notice how attractive the man was…”