13. The Messenger, of Sorts
13
The Messenger, of Sorts
Matt
I manage to make it back to my room without being seen.
I burst into the room, immediately startled by Kaian sitting in the goddamn chair in the corner, obviously waiting for me.
“And where have you been, Matt?” he asks sarcastically.
I ignore him and immediately start removing my clothes as I make my way into the bathroom. I’m completely bare-assed by the time I get to the shower, and I flip the taps on, not waiting for the water to warm before I step under the spray.
Of course, ignoring him doesn’t deter Kaian one bit, and I hear him from the doorway say, “You know ignoring me won’t work, Shields. Fucking spill already.”
“There’s nothing to say, Kai,” I reply impatiently. “I went to the gym and now I’m back.”
I’m met by a long moment of silence until, finally, curiosity has me peeking out to see that he’s no longer in the doorway. I take my moment of reprieve, even knowing he won’t have actually left the room. He won’t be that easily deterred.
I wash myself quickly, turning off the water and grabbing a towel, and I’m half-dry as I walk back into the bedroom. Sure enough, Kai is back in the chair, waiting patiently.
I throw my wet towel at him and then walk to the chest of drawers, pulling out clean clothes and dressing myself quickly.
I go and sit on the bed across from the chair he’s sitting in and look at him intently, but I say nothing. I stare at him long enough that he starts to squirm, and after another few moments, he mutters, “What the fuck are you looking at?”
“Shut up. I’m trying to see something.”
He frowns, sitting up straighter in the chair but closing his mouth as I asked. I continue to stare at him, not entirely certain what I’m looking for, but if nothing else, I enjoy making him uncomfortable.
After a few more moments go by, I finally respond, “I’m trying to decide if I can trust you.”
He snorts and shakes his head. “Can we really trust anyone?”
I incline my head in agreement. “My point exactly. The other part of it is that I don’t want to cause trouble for you.”
He shrugs as he responds, “Nothing but trouble in this business. Sometimes, it’s nice to make my own trouble rather than accepting everyone else’s.”
I stare at him again, and finally, I sigh, realizing I don’t really have a choice but to hope that he won’t fuck me over. “I need you to do me a favor.”
His eyes narrow and he leans forward in the chair as he says, “Well, what is it, then?”
“I need you to deliver a message for me to someone in the city.”
He frowns, giving me an incredulous look. “You can’t just go and do it yourself?”
“I have other things to attend to right now. And I can’t be seen anywhere near these people.”
“And I can?”
“Yes,” I reply. “You have no ties to these people, and I’m sure you have ways to make it either look like an accident, a coincidence, or just something that’s funny.”
He sits back in his chair and says, “Okay. Who am I delivering the message to?”
I pause, knowing that this will be the moment where he either gives himself away as being a problem or confirms that he’s going to be helpful. I clear my throat, not really wanting to say it but knowing I have no choice, and it comes out as more of a croak than anything else. “The Beast.”
His eyes bug out of his head quite comically, and then he shakes his head and says, “Nope. Not a fucking chance.”
“Why the fuck not?”
He gives me a bland look. “You know why not.” I shrug, unsure what he’s insinuating and not wanting to give my hand away too much. After a few moments, he adds, “You don’t just go looking for the Beast, man. You actually spend most of your days hoping to never have to see that guy.”
I hide my smile behind my hand, always amused when other people talk about Darius with such horror and awe. “Oh, come on. He can’t be that bad.”
“Can’t be that bad?” Kai exclaims. “Even the tamest stories of the Beast will make your blood run cold.”
“You really believe all that shit?”
He nods emphatically, and so I continue, “You know that 90% of that shit has got to be made up. There’s no way someone that infamous hasn’t been taken down just out of principle.”
He laughs. “They’ve tried, and eventually, everyone gave up.”
I don’t bother hiding my smile this time when I say, “Well, I can tell you the best place to find him and what to say so you won’t get yourself killed before you get in the door.”
He looks at me thoughtfully, and then, after a few moments, he responds, “So it’s true, then?”
“What’s true?”
“You are friends with the Beast.”
I shrug, one hand coming up and waving in the air. “Yes and no.”
“There is no yes and no, Matt. Either you’re in good with the Beast, you don’t exist to the Beast, or you’re dead by the hand of the Beast.”
“I may have seen him a time or two.”
Kaian laughs boisterously, and he leans forward in his chair and slaps his thigh with his hand a couple of times as he crows, “I fucking knew it. People told me I was crazy, but I fucking knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“That you two were thick as thieves.”
“Well, I don’t know about thick as thieves,” I reply dryly.
“And frankly, I don’t know who is more frightening?”
I give him a questioning look, shaking my head, and then he says, “The Beast or Mrs. Beast?”
Now I laugh loudly, truly going to enjoy the day when I get to tell Antoinette that she’s known as “Mrs. Beast” because that’s going to piss her off. “I wouldn’t call her that to her face.”
Kai puts his hands up defensively as he quips, “Don’t look at me.”
I sigh. For a moment, I don’t feel as out of control as I have for the last few hours, and I say, “So, you’ll do it?”
He doesn’t answer at first, and I eye him speculatively, as I watch the wheels in his head turning. But then he nods. “Well, fuck it. I may as well.”
“You’ll have to remember the location and what you have to say. I don’t want anything in writing, no text strings, nothing.”
He nods and then stands and states, “Make sure you keep the message short then because my memory isn’t what it once was.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I reply with a snort. “It will be short and sweet.”
He raises his brows as he asks, “Well, what is it then?”
I smile. “Fuck around time.”