5. Orion
CHAPTER FIVE
ORION
I tug at my suit jacket, but it’s no use.
There’s no escaping the heat that comes with being in a room with a hundred other people, a hundred feet beneath the ground.
Killian stands beside me, his eyes moving over the room with practiced scrutiny.
I didn’t want to come tonight. I haven’t wanted to do much of anything for months. But there are things up for auction that I’m interested in. And more than that, there was a rumor she would be here.
The Thief.
Ember.
My little flame.
They’re all the same woman who stole my heart and ran for the hills. The woman who has managed to evade me at every single turn.
I tried setting up jobs for her under fake names, sending private investigators to track her, and even spent a few weeks in Las Vegas following bullshit lead after bullshit lead.
It’s so ironic that I’d find it amusing if it weren’t for the fact that every day she’s away from me, I sink deeper into despair.
I see it now.
Killian’s insistence not to care for anyone. Because caring means leaving your heart out on the table and hoping the other person doesn’t break it.
But if Ember thought three months was enough to make me give up, she couldn’t be more wrong. If anything, every day that passes only makes me more determined to have her back in my arms, and there’s nothing I won’t do to bring her home.
I may have wanted to do things the right way before, but now I’m more than happy to take matters into my own hands.
If she won’t come willingly, I have no issues with locking her up until she can behave, until she remembers how fucking good we were together.
I’ll spend the rest of my goddamn life reminding her that there is no me without her, and no her without me. We are two sides of the same coin. The same heart beating in different bodies. The sun and the moon.
We’re inevitable.
I glance over at the elevator again, desperate to catch sight of her in person after only seeing her in photographs for what feels like a lifetime.
But it’s not a lifetime.
It’s only been ninety-seven days.
“You need to keep your shit together,” Killian says softly, his eyes finally falling to me.
“I’m fine,” I grumble.
He scoffs. “You are certainly not fine, Orion. You’re practically fucking vibrating.”
He knows me far too well for my liking.
“Is Lucas here yet?” I ask. Just his name on my lips drags fresh anger to the surface.
That little fucker has been doing his best to stay out of our clutches, and so far, he’s doing a good job of it.
If all our focus were on taking him down, we probably would have had it done within the first week, but most of my efforts have been on my little flame, allowing Lucas to keep breathing.
Killian nods. “He thinks he’s done a good job with his mask, but the cocky son of a bitch is walking around here like his usual peacock self.”
I scan the room, taking in everyone’s disguises.
These events are strange for me because normally I’m the only one wearing a mask, but it’s also a nice change of pace.
My eyes settle on a man wearing a mask not dissimilar to my own.
Where the skull that covers my face is worn silver, his is shiny gold, as if that makes him better than anyone else in this room.
The asshole needs to die, but not tonight.
There are too many eyes here, too many people he could expose my identity to.
I don’t need confirmation to know he’s all too aware of who he’d find if he lifted the mask from my face.
And that’s just one of many reasons he needs to be taken out of the picture.
As if he can feel my attention on him, Lucas turns to me, and his eyes shine with hatred. He won’t make a scene here. Not because he doesn’t want to, but because he knows Killian would kill him before he could get a complete sentence out. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to taunt us.
He starts toward us, and Killian levels me with a look. “Behave.”
I smirk. “When do I ever not?”
“Literally every day.”
I chuckle, but don’t bother to respond as Lucas nears us. “Ah, the Hunter decided to show his face. You’ve been very quiet of late.”
I glare at him. “Some of us don’t need to make a lot of noise in order to make an impact.”
“That may be true, but from what I hear, you’re not making much of that either. Seems you’ve been distracted by something…or someone, perhaps.”
My entire body locks at the implication of Ember. To begin with, we were certain he had her, but when he didn’t parade her around like a show pony, we knew that couldn’t be the case.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” I grind out through clenched teeth. “Business is booming, as usual.”
The glare he hits me with would make a lot of men flinch. As annoying as Lucas is, he is intimidating. You don’t get as much power as he has without being able to scare the shit out of others.
Before he can get a response out, the elevators on the other side of the room slide open, and the entire world ceases to exist around me.
Because it’s her.
My Ember.
My little flame.
My everything.
Red satin clings to her every curve, and my mouth waters at the sight. Jesus, she’s a sight for sore eyes, even with the makeup that acts as a mask. There aren’t many people here that Ember would have dealt with in the past, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need to conceal her identity.
Her cherry red lips quirk up when she notices my stare, as if she’s completely unaffected by my presence, but we both know that’s not the case. Even from here, I can see the goose bumps that move up her arms, and I chuckle under my breath.
Ember may think she hates me, but that’s the thing. Love and hate are one and the same. She just needs to be reminded of how fucking good we were together.
Images of her on her knees in front of me, her red lipstick smeared, my cock between her lips as I fuck her perfect mouth, fill my mind, and I barely manage to swallow the groan that tries to escape.
Jesus, I should have known seeing her for the first time in months would have this effect on me, that I’d immediately want to fuck her against the closest wall.
But I can’t, and I’m even more pissed about that than I am not being able to kill Lucas.
Lucas doesn’t seem to notice the perfect woman who just stepped into the room, and I tear my eyes off her so I don’t draw attention to her presence. The last thing we need is him harassing her for money.
“Have a nice night, Lucas,” I say evenly before turning on my heel and walking into a crowd of people to distract him from where I’m headed.
Straight for my woman.