Chapter 22
VIGO
I set the plate of enchiladas in front of Cassie on the outdoor table and took a seat next to her.
Hawk and Jagger were already sitting with their food — we’d argued over who got to serve Cassie because apparently we were all pussy whipped and wanted nothing more than to wait on our mouse — but I’d won, mostly because I’d refused to give in.
Hawk had called me a child but I was a child who got to serve Cassie her dinner so as far as I was concerned I still came out on top.
“Thank you,” Cassie said, feeling on the table for her fork. “It’s nice to eat outside.”
She was so fucking pretty it made my heart hurt, and I hated that she couldn’t see the candlelight at the center of the table, the plants around the patio illuminated by the soft landscape lighting.
“Sure thing.” I couldn’t take credit for that one — it had been Jagger’s idea — but we were all trying to think of ways to mix things up for Cassie now that she couldn’t see.
“How’d it go with Rafe?” Hawk asked just as I bit into one of my tacos.
“Good. We’re adding a camera at the back of the house and one on either side, plus two more on the driveway.” I finished chewing. “Turns out, he had a brush with the trafficking thing too.”
Cassie froze. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know all the details,” I said. “Those guys are like fucking black boxes but— ”
“Which guys?” Cassie asked.
“Rafe, Nolan, and Jude,” Jagger said. “They live on the mountain, used to be special forces.”
“Do they know something about the missing girls?” Cassie asked.
“I don’t know, but when I told him about your parents and the wire transfers to Aventine— ”
Hawk scowled. “Why’d you tell them anything?”
“Because of what happened to Cassie.” I didn’t want to come out and say that we were worried whoever had run Cassie off the road might come back for her, not when Cassie could hear. “I wanted him to understand our… security challenges.”
“What did he say?” Cassie asked, her food forgotten. “About my parents and the wire transfers?”
“He said he wasn’t surprised, that a lot of shady shit had been going down in Blackwell Falls for a long time.” I leaned back and took a swig of my Corona. “And he said he’d never been completely sure it wasn’t still going down.”
Cassie sat up straighter. “He said that? That something might still be happening here?”
I nodded. “Said they’d had a brush with some of the assholes who were involved.” I looked at Hawk and Jagger. “Apparently they were part of that cult bust last year.”
“I was just thinking about that!” Cassie said.
I didn’t love that this was the first time she’d sounded excited since her accident. She was leaning forward, her green eyes shining like we were talking about puppies instead of sex trafficking.
“Do you think it had something to do with the sex trafficking ring at the Cantwell hotel?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Rafe was pretty closed lipped about it, but he did say that Lilah had gone undercover with the cult before it got busted.”
“Wait… Lilah is with Rafe?” Cassie asked.
“You know Lilah?” Jagger asked.
“I know of Lilah,” Cassie said. “Maeve has talked about her. I just didn’t realize she was with Rafe, Nolan, and Jude.”
The fact that there were so many poly relationships in Blackwell Falls was only one of the many reasons it had become the perfect home base for Hawk, Jagger, and me.
Especially now that we had Cassie.
Or while we had Cassie at least, which I didn’t want to think about because I didn’t want to think about the fact that it was temporary.
“It’s weirder than you think,” Hawk said.
Cassie turned her head in his direction. “What is?”
“That Lilah is with Rafe, Nolan, and Jude,” Hawk said.
Cassie’s brow furrowed, like she was working to solve a puzzle. “What does that mean?”
Hawk shook his head. “Nevermind. Not important.”
Cassie turned her gaze on me, and for a minute, I could have sworn she could see me. “So? What did Rafe mean that something was still happening in Blackwell Falls?”
I set down my beer and reached for another taco.
“He just said from what they’d learned last year, the corruption was deep and wide.
Said they’d had to step back because Lilah was really in the shit and she has some kind of heart condition.
And then he got the fuck out of here like he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
” I laughed. “Even told me to be fucking careful.”
Jagger laughed. “Rich coming from Rafe.”
I grinned. “Right?”
Rafe, Nolan, and Jude weren’t exactly known for being careful.
Cassie pushed her food around her plate, clearly deep in thought.
“We should talk about something else,” Jagger said, a worried frown on his face as he looked at her.
“Agreed,” I said.
Cassie didn’t need this shit right now.
That I cared at all about that was just one of many reasons I knew I was fucked.
“The worst of the heat has passed,” Hawk said, standing. “Let’s get wet.”
I rubbed my hands together. “I’m so down.”
Getting naked with Cassie in the hot tub was just what we needed, and whether she realized it or not, it was what she needed too.
“I think I’ll just go to bed,” Cassie said, getting to her feet.
“No, you won’t.” There was a hard edge to Hawk’s voice. “You’re getting in the hot tub.”
“I don’t want to get in the hot tub.”
Cassie did this sometimes: refused to do things that scared her, things that were easy when she could see but harder now that she couldn’t.
Hawk had been patient — more patient than I’d expected — but I’d sensed that his patience was coming to an end, probably because he knew I’d already fucked her and he wanted his turn.
Jealous fucker.
“I didn’t ask if you wanted to get in the hot tub,” Hawk said. “You can either come quietly or we can carry you.”
She pouted. “You did this on purpose.”
“Did what on purpose?” Jagger wanted to fuck her too, but he was a lot more patient at baseline than Hawk.
“Set up the patio for dinner. You just wanted to get me in the hot tub.”
I stood and took her hand. “You got us, mouse. We want you naked, wet, and ready to fuck. Now let’s go before Hawk tears off your clothes.”