Chapter 5 #2
He pauses and sets the empty bowl on the nightstand. “Reaper was too fast getting that preacher lined up for us. I think that man secretly loves love and playing matchmaker.”
There’s another pause. This one is longer. He leans forward, propping his elbows on his knees. Hair falls messily around his forehead, giving him a roguish look that screams bad boy you can’t help but love.
“He’s married off most of the damn crew. Even Viper. I didn’t think that man was capable of love.”
Cipher smiles, and I can see his worry coming through more tonight than I ever remember. There’s an aura of sadness surrounding him too.
“How is everyone?” I ask, unable to keep the longing out of my voice.
I became fast friends with everyone. But back then Cipher was only a prospect.
We were not treated differently but the hierarchy within the crew was there for a reason.
He had responsibilities, and I knew then like I know now that I came second.
Thinking on that for only the millionth time since he walked, maybe it was for the better that we didn't get married. I never want to be second in my man’s eyes. Instead of sharing this, I lock it away in my heart.
He tells me quick updates on everyone and details about Reaper’s woman. The book club she hosts is new to me and makes me smile thinking about Cipher or any of the crew sitting down to discuss romance books.
Cipher’s eyes soften when he mentions Kaylee, Venom’s baby girl he just found out about.
“She’s got the sweetest little smile and loves Christmas cookies.” The fine lines around his mouth and eyes soften. It doesn’t take a mind reader to see he wishes he could have a little girl of his own.
“Cute.”
He nods and then shifts his weight my way. “They all miss you, probably more than they’ll ever admit.”
He picks the bowl back up and finishes feeding me, wiping my mouth with a gentle thumb when a droplet of broth escapes the corner of my mouth. I can’t look at him without wanting to kiss him and beg him to fix what he broke between us, so I keep my eyes pinned to his chest.
“Harlow,” he begins. Look at me.”
Despite wanting to defy his softly spoken command, I lift my gaze to find him looking at me with so much love in his eyes, my heart can’t take the impact without shuddering under the weight.
“Cipher, what’s happening between us?”
He moves in and skims his lips over mine. “I don’t know but I like it.”
His phone buzzes, sharp and urgent, killing the mood.
“Hold that thought.”
Cipher moves to the end of the bed and grabs his phone from his pants pocket. He reads the screen but doesn’t show me the message. I see the shift in his face, though and I recognize the shadow that moves over his tight expression. The flicker of fear and fury have my heart seizing.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, suddenly scared.
He looks at me sideways. “A very bad man escaped from Savage cells. One of the prospects got jumped, and he was overpowered.”
Oh, no. “Who?”
He releases a line of curses. “Jax. He’s new or came in after you.”
“He’s not a good person, Harlow.” His voice is rough, quiet. “How many people know about this place?”
“None. It’s my secret place. I inherited it from an uncle last summer.” My heart pounds harder.
“And your place in the city?”
“Locked up for the season. I’m here until the new year, right?”
He nods, silent for a beat. “Why were you at the Den last night?”
“I needed some extra cash for the holidays.” I shrug, lying through my teeth.
“So you took up underground fighting?” He raises a brow, smirking.
“Bruises are easy to explain away in my line of work.”
He just grunts. “Liar.”
I look away, hair falling in my face. I shove it back, annoyed. “If you insist on leaving me cuffed, can you at least put my hair up? It’s driving me crazy. There’s a hair tie over there.”
He chuckles, gets up, finds my hair tie from the nightstand, and pulls my hair back into a low ponytail with those careful, brutal hands. His cock is still hard, and it’s impossible not to stare when he’s standing in my face.
And he knows it.
“Easy, baby,” he murmurs softly.
“Fuck you, Cipher.” There’s no heat to my words, and that just pisses me off more.
He brushes a few loose strands from my face. His fingers graze my scalp and right on cue my whole body tingles.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Harlow.”
“I know I’m on a list,” I cut in. I would rather he actually talk about us, but if he wants to suddenly keep it about business, fine.
“You already know I’m building a case against Veles Antonov and the Vultures. And I know you and your crew are trying to fight them from your end.”
His brows lift showing a slight surprise.
I shrug. “What kind of FBI agent would I be if I didn’t know what was going on around me? I also know the Vultures’ president went missing a while back. Maybe three weeks.”
He neither confirms nor denies my suspicion.
“Mm-hmm.” I jut a chin toward the phone in his hand. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the man who escaped is one Grayson “Grudge” Caine?”
Instead of answering me on that again, he shifts his focus and grabs for his jeans. But he doesn’t pull them on. Instead, he pins me with a hard look filled with worry.
“They are hunting you down because of the case you’re building. That’s why you’re here. You’re hiding out here and for some reason you think you’re safe.”
“In a nutshell. I brought all my case files with me and I am determined to go through it all and find that one piece of evidence that will take them all down.”
“And yet you risked showing up at my underground fight club for what?” He inhales deeply, filling his chest with calm, I imagine. The sight is beautiful all the same and I can appreciate the way his shoulders rock back and all that taut muscle ripples as he exhales.
“Why, is what I want to know? These men aren’t bothered with the law. They normally don’t bat an eye at badges. Nah. You have something else they can’t risk you knowing about. What is it?”
Their chemist, my mind sing-songs. I have their chemist feeding me tiny details here and there but nothing solid.
But I place that in my mental vault and go with, “Veles has a hard-on for me for a while now. We’ve been hunting him and those nasty Vultures for a year now. Nothing we have can slam the cell door closed on them permanently. I’ve been working to get all the dirt on them I can.”
“That is what last night’s fight was about? What did the big guy you fought last night have that you wanted?” he asks.
I hesitate, chewing my lip. “I was challenged. The behemoth said if I beat him in this fight club thing he knew about then I’d earn the location of the Vulture president.
At the time, I needed that information,” I lie.
It takes a crap ton of effort, but I manage to keep my tone breezy, hiding the pounding of my heart.
“But, like I said, you already know where he is. Or did. He just escaped from your cells, didn’t he? ”
Cipher grins, all wolf and pride. “You always were fast on your feet.”
“Now tell me what you were really after.”
Fuck. Busted.
I guess I see no harm in giving him a few details of what I have. I’m not giving my source away or putting her life in danger. Maybe by giving him enough information where he thinks he has what he needs, he’ll uncuff me and I can kick his ass for denying me another orgasm.
That puts a smile on my face.
“Not many women smile about getting knocked around.”
Not why I’m smiling, but I keep that to myself and opt for, “Yeah, but did you see the other guy by the time I was done?”
Cipher nods with pure pride sitting on his expression.
“Now, answer my question and I might give you this.” He holds up the key to the cuffs and I play along.
“They have a chemist who’s been feeding me information.
Sometimes it’s a picture of one of them making a deal, sometimes it’s part of the formula she uses to cook up the Euphoria batches.
But what she sends me is all blurry and with no faces or only parts of the formula.
There’s nothing I can use. It’s like she only has seconds to herself to get the information and send it my way.
It’s never enough to build a solid case that will lock anyone up. ”
A dark smile spreads across his face and it’s filled with dark delight and pure…well, euphoria, for lack of a better word.
“What’s her name?”
I shake my head. “Nope. I’m not giving you my source.”
“Her first name then.”
Fine. “Layla.”
“And you were really in the ring to find out what?”
Damn this man. “I was in that ring to learn the last known location of the Euphoria cook. I’ve been out of communication with her for two weeks.
They’ve either moved her again or killed her.
And the behemoth from last night swore he knew, but he wanted to get me in the ring.
That was the only way he would tell me. If I won.
Which I did. But a big brute kidnapped me before I could get the information. ”
His phone rings. He takes it, stepping away into the shadows of the cabin. The fire crackles behind me, snow tapping at the window, the whole world closing in until it’s just me, the fucking cuffs around my wrists.
I start working on the cuffs. Silly man.
He should have known better than to leave my hands so close together.
I rip the loosened seam and slip out the key tucked inside my hair tie.
It doesn’t take three seconds before I’m free.
There are a lot of tricks an agent learns about getting out of jams just like this one and carrying a spare cuff key is crucial to staying alive.
I work the tumblers with quick, efficient fingers, and click. The cuffs clatter to the floor, victory tight in my chest. Boom, baby! Freedom. I tie my hair back for what I know comes next.
I’m a damn good agent for a reason.
Cipher’s footsteps thump back down the hall and then I hear him return to the living room.
I toe my bedroom door open to find him talking on the phone. He’s talking about the Den, some money he’s won, and I hear my name dropped a couple of times. He must be on the phone with Monies. I make a mental note to find out if Cipher made a bet on me tonight. If he did, I want half the proceeds.
I knock the thought away for now and focus on the task at hand.
My skin is flushed, sweat cooling along my stomach, every inch of me humming with righteous fury.
He’s turned away with all that muscle bunched and gleaming in the firelight.
I know I should run. It would be the smart thing to do.
True. But the urge to make him hurt a little, to let him see what he’s missing, is too sharp to resist.
I eye his guns, but if I take one of them in hand, I might actually use it on the asshole.
Nah. I don’t want to dig a hole tonight.
I have one chance to remind him that no matter how much he thinks he owns me, I’m nobody’s to keep.
And I take it.