Chapter 21
Chadwick
Brandon
Zoe had fallen asleep soon after we drove off from the first warehouse.
Teddy dozed off for about thirty minutes when Zoe leaned into his body for comfort.
Subconsciously or not, she seeks us out for little comforts like that, especially Teddy.
I’ll admit it, I’m jealous. I see the way she looks at my brothers, and I can’t help but wish she’d give me just a sliver of that attention.
There hasn’t been a ton of interaction between her and Dean, but their heated glances tell me that there is definitely something boiling under the surface for one another.
I could be reading it wrong, and it may just be some sort of unwarranted hate for each other- but I’m not naive enough to think that.
They want to fuck, but they don’t want to admit it.
They will put up this fight for a while, I really believe they’re challenging one another.
Dean and Zoe, both see each other as a threat, not in the sense that they are physically threatened, but that they know they are matched competitors.
It’s a glorified pissing contest, neither of them wanting to cry uncle first. However, when they do finally give in to their urges, it’ll be explosive.
Lethal. And there might be casualties if anyone is too close by.
The way she looks at Max is heart stopping.
She respects Max, despite being a thorn in his side with her interruptions and the hilarious nickname for him, she will bend to his rules.
I think that is what she seeks in him. She has been in control for so long, she is looking to let go.
And Max is such a control freak that his energy calls to her, she can just let things be when he’s around.
She doesn’t have to think, or calculate, or think five steps ahead- he does it.
She’ll still do some of it out of habit, but she can loosen the reins because he lives to control.
Zoe’s head has made it to Teddy’s lap, and she is snoring quietly as he runs his fingers through her hair. I wanted to jump for joy when she willingly put her legs in my lap, and I took it upon myself to stroke little circles around her knees.
“We need to get into Kahl’s old house, and then we need to look at the old safe houses.” Max breaks the silence, and I shush him harshly.
“Zoe is sleeping, speak softer.” I whisper.
He sighs, but compiles, “Zoe was saying that she was kept in the basement under the house. I think she thought it was the family home, but I think it may have been an unmarked safe house.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Think about it,” he turns to face me, “We were in that house countless times. We have seen almost every inch of it, how could we have missed a whole basement that he was experimenting on his daughter in?”
I looked down at Zoe and my eyebrows furrowed, “How could we have missed a whole daughter?”
“I don't know, B. I’ve been asking myself the same question.” His eyes look sad for the first time in a long time.
He has never worn his emotions, but I don’t think he can control it when it comes to Zoe.
That’s why I think he is drawn to her the way she is, she’s seeking his control, and he’s seeking something uncontrollable.
“Did she ever say how she escaped? Because we found his body in the living room of the actual family home? Why would she run from a safehouse to kill him somewhere else? That doesn’t make sense.” I shake my head.
“There is a lot of her story that doesn’t add up. I think our little sparrow needs to share more.” He turns back to face forward and looks back at his phone as always.
I only sigh and look back at her sleeping form. This is the most peaceful sleep she had gotten in days. I watch her every night, and even the night Dean knocked her out she had the nightmare twitches. She seems content being held by Teddy and me.
I often think back to the first day she was in the manor. When we were in the theater, she was able to analyze all of us so well she could assign favorite movies to each of us. Granted, she had been watching us for years before we even knew The Sparrow existed.
I sit back and try to break apart the reason she always pushes me away. From the first interaction in the theater, she has always told me to keep my hands to myself, then in the limo, then hundreds of times between those instances. I think the princess likes to be chased; then chase I shall.
Because if this woman asked me to beg on my knees for her I would.
If she asked me to crawl to the ends of the earth for her I would.
It’s sudden to feel this way so soon. In what?
In a matter of days? I’m not a good guy, and I never claimed to be.
I have killed hundreds of people, and I’ll probably kill hundreds more.
However, if this vicious woman wanted me dead, I’d hand her the knife.
If she wanted my heart, I’d carve it out myself.
We pull into the second warehouse and a part of me is disappointed because this means we will need to wake her.
Ever so gently I tap on Zoe’s thigh and whisper her name, she does not respond nearly as gently though.
In an instant she has jolted from her sleeping position, drawn her gun, and is crouched in my lap holding the barrel to my chin.
“If this is your idea of foreplay, I’m going to need a safe word with you, princess.
” I try to make it come off jokingly, but I’ll have to admit this I was not expecting.
My hands are up and visible, for her to see that I wasn’t trying to hurt her, but I can see that it isn’t really Zoe that is looking back at me. This is The Sparrow. The Numb.
Teddy tsks his tongue three times and grabs Zoe’s chin to gain her attention, “Little devil, if you wanted to play with guns, you should have asked me.”
The look in Zoe’s eye is still harsh until she looks back at me, as if she is realizing that she is holding a gun to me for the first time. She doesn’t move it at first, she looks around the car to make sure nobody is threatening her, verifying she’s not in danger.
Slowly, she pulls the gun away from my chin and rebolsters it, “Sorry.” She mutters, so quietly you’d think she was saying it to herself. However, she doesn’t move from my lap that she has settled into in a straddle position.
Now, I know. The heat of her body, and the intensity in her eyes sends blood rushing to my groin. “Princess, I’ll need you to get off before I attack you back.”
“You wish.” She scoffs and scoots off of my lap and back into the middle seat, but I don’t miss the way her eyes lingered at my rapidly hardening cock.
Dean, Max and I get out of the SUV to do a quick scan of our surroundings. Zoe and Teddy of course, don’t follow directions again and get out before we have given them the all clear. I see Max ball up his fists and clench his jaw, but he doesn’t say anything as he turns to the warehouse.
This one isn’t a traditional warehouse in the sense of a big square building, no. This warehouse is an abandoned church. It’s huge and slightly rotting on the outside. From the outside you wouldn’t know one of the most prolific organized crime rings ran their gun trade out of it.
It's really a beautiful scene; the once sunny day has turned foggy again and it’s covering the widows peak tower at the top of the church.
We go about our normal routine and fall in line of Dean, me, Max, Zoe, and Teddy taking the rear.
We’ve only taken this stance once before with Zoe, but it has already become natural.
The hustle of the cathedral freezes the moment we cross the threshold.
Darren, this warehouse’s overseer greets us instantly.
“Good afternoon, Boss.” Darren nods to Max. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine, Darren. Just wanted to check on the troops today.” Max brushes past Darren and looks over the assembly lines.
This warehouse is for our weapon trade, mostly guns, sometimes explosives if the price is right, and occasionally rare metals.
We did have a special order that I know came through today on a few explosives, which would explain why everyone is already tense.
Sometimes the explosives, like grenades, can just go off. It’s only happened once, but it was an antique and some dumbass didn’t know how to handle a live explosive. He only killed a few of our men with him, and we’ve moved to this location since.
I notice now what Zoe means by the Numb, I see it the moment she shifts from our laid-back bratty Zoe to this machine of destruction.
It’s as if someone takes over her body, even her posture shifts and her eyes glaze over to this emotionless predator.
I see when her focus zeros in on one man in particular, and to my surprise it’s not an average worker, it’s Darren.
She shifts on the balls of her feet, like she is preparing for a fight. Darren is different from Mark. Darren is actually large, about the same size as Dean and he’s ex-military. Darren was actually kicked out of the Marine Corps after killing the assistant commandant about fifteen years ago.
I don’t see anything off about Darren, his stance is the same, and he isn’t showing any uneasiness. But I do see an expression that can be described as shocked when his eyes land on Zoe, but this could be just because other than the museum outing, not many have seen her in our company.
Zoe gives a single nod to Darren as a greeting before she walks away from him and towards an assembly line that is currently boxing ammunition. I follow behind her and hold a hand up to have Teddy stay back. Something is wrong and I’m going to figure it out.
“Zoe.” I whisper to get her attention, and she hums in acknowledgment.
“What did you notice?” I prod.
“Not here, Brandon.”
Concern washes over me. Because I just saw her kill a man point blank, no hesitation, and no questions asked. She didn’t show an ounce of resistance when she saw something wrong at the first warehouse, so what is different about this one?