Chapter 20
Black Out
CALLIE
“Wes! Wesley! Hawk!” I wrap my hands around Wes’s bicep in an attempt to hold him back from the beating he’s giving my father’s old colleague. As if I could stop him from continuing to pound Jones in the face.
Jones’s angry question repeats in my head: How much fucking money did your father leave you?
I was honestly confused at his reaction when I started telling him about my last fight with Shane and how we fought over Dad’s estate.
I told him too much, especially considering he was one of the people who stonewalled me when I asked about Shane’s location.
I guess for one stupid fucking second, I thought if I was right in front of him, Jones would care about me because of some leftover loyalty to my father or maybe because he’s a human being.
But the way his eyes widened at the mention of money?
It was wild. Then he lost his mind when I didn’t answer about the money.
Adrenaline courses through my veins as Wes pauses with his fist pulled back, appearing to register my voice. He turns, and the haze clears from his eyes. Jones deserves to be fucked up, but I don’t want Wes to accidentally kill him. Wes is not a murderer.
Wes fully registers my presence and drops Jones to the ground with a thud. There’s so much blood on Jones’s face. I tell myself it’s probably all from his nose and split lip. But from the way Wes was kneeing him in the chest, I bet he’ll have broken ribs too. At least he’s still breathing.
I thought Jones was going to beat the shit out of me to get an answer.
He’s never been a good guy and hardly said a word to me when Dad was alive and Jones managed another part of the business.
I didn’t love the way Jones looked at me then, but the violence with which he grabbed me from the hallway and shoved me into the restroom just now was terrifying.
Maybe he only stayed civil previously because he was afraid of my father, but now he’s dead, Jones is promoted, and both my brother and Shane work for him.
“Callie.” Wes focuses on me.
“Thank god.” I turn him away from the wall and lift my hands to his cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have gone off alone. It’s not Noah’s fault. It’s mine.”
“What do you mean?”
“I saw Jones duck down this hallway and made up a story to your brother so I could try to get Jones alone.” God, that was stupid. I slide my hands off Wes’s cheeks and let them hang by my side. “I thought I could get him to talk to me.”
Wes gently grabs my hands and pulls them up to his chest, holding them in place securely. My eyelids flutter.
“You did this on purpose?” Eyes wide and deep, crystal blue, so focused on me. There’s such an intensity there, but also anger.
“I thought that when I asked him where Shane is… but he got so ragey when I mentioned the inheritance…” I blink back the tears that sting my eyes. “He was screaming at me, and it was so fucking terrifying.”
“You can’t keep doing this, Callie.”
“Doing what?”
“Putting yourself in danger.” Wes clenches his jaw, and I can see him fighting for control. “This time, it wasn’t by playing stalker outside of my cabin in a fake scenario that I was monitoring the entire time. This was real. He could’ve hurt you. He wanted to hurt you.”
“Oh.” I flinch, emotions swirling inside me. The way Wes is struggling to not freak out is scary but also fascinating. He truly cares about me being safe. He’s tracking me, protecting me, invested in me. “Shane said some hurtful things to me before he left. I just want to prove him wrong.”
“What did he say?” Wes’s voice is low are dangerous.
“I think it was that I was a boring-ass good girl.” It sounds so ridiculous out loud. I need to get over myself. “So sometimes I try not to be one.”
“I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Don’t do that.” I almost smile, but Wes looks dead serious.
“Calliope. Promise me you won’t do anything like this again.” His thumbs sweep over the insides of my wrists, and tingles run up my arms. “I swear you are not a boring-ass good girl. Not if you don’t want to be.”
He’s so earnest, my chest tightens.
“I—I promise.”
“When I saw that you weren’t with Noah—” Wes squeezes his eyes shut. “So many bad things went through my head.”
“But you came.” It’s a reverent whisper. My chest is tight, and I focus on the feeling of his hands.
“I’ll always come for you.” He practically growls the words before reaching down and lifting me up by the waist, then turning me around to press my back against the cold tile wall. I whimper and instinctively wrap my legs around him. The sudden ache in my center is more than I can handle.
“Wesley,” I whisper. He’ll always come for me?
What does that mean? But at this point, I really don’t care what it means, I care how it makes me feel.
Safe. Protected. I wrap my arms around Wes’s neck, and the move brings his face so close to mine.
My throat tightens under his intense stare, and I can’t help but glance down at his lips.
I hear a noise and realize it’s a desperate whimper coming from my throat.
“Fuck,” he says. “Calliope.” My name leaves his lips and it’s magical, reverent, mystical.
A soothing word for my hurting soul. I search his face, and his eyes are so full of life and passion, but there’s also a battle going, and if it’s fighting the urge to kiss me, I really hope he loses it. I need him to lose it.
I open my mouth to say something, then close it again. I’m in the middle of my own battle. Everything just became so much more complicated. Hiring someone to track down Shane was never going to be straightforward, but I didn’t expect this.
I didn’t expect him.
Wes swallows, and I track the motion, his throat rippling.
Fuck it. Right now, I don’t give a shit if this makes things more complicated. I don’t care if we’re in the dirty bathroom of a fight club with a man unconscious and bleeding on the ground next to us.
“Fuck it,” I say. “Kiss me.”
Wes immediately presses his mouth to mine, like he was just waiting for permission.
The kiss is wet and hot and his tongue is inside my mouth.
I link my arms tighter around his neck, trying to get closer, more of him, anything he’ll give me.
In response, Wes presses me harder against the wall, his hands still cradling my ass, and pushes his groin up against my pussy.
I can feel the hard length of him, and it messes with my head.
But it’s not enough pressure, not enough friction, not nearly enough.
Wes pulls back and presses his forehead against mine, panting.
“Callie,” he growls, but I don’t let him stop.
“More.” Again, he doesn’t hesitate before kissing me. I’m dizzy, and I hope it never ends.
Noah bursts into the bathroom.
“Jesus Christ,” Noah says, relief and shock in his voice.
Wes moves his mouth off mine but doesn’t shift his gaze from my face. I look over at Wes’s brother, who is breathing heavy, his hands clenched into fists at his side.
“Thank god.” Noah says. Then he sees Jones crumpled on the floor. “Fuck. I’m so sorry, Callie.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine,” I say.
Noah looks despondent as he turns to Wes. He’s not scared of his brother, but he’s clearly remorseful. He wrings his hands together. “I was trying to give her privacy in the bathroom. Jones must’ve been in one of the rooms.”
Wes doesn’t say anything, but there’s a low growl from deep in his throat as he turns to stare at his brother.
“Sorry, Noah, I ditched you on purpose,” I say and touch Wes’s face so he looks at me. “Okay? I ditched him on purpose.”
“I’m sorry, Wes.” Noah’s voice is tight.
Wes glances briefly away from me, turning his head to look at his brother, and nods.
“Let’s get out of here. We’re not getting any more information out of Jones.” Wes doesn’t let me down from his arms or the wall.
“I’ll go check our exit,” Noah says and slips out the bathroom door.
“Are you okay?” Wes says in a calmer voice, his gaze flicking from my eyes to my lips. “I should kill Jones for touching you. Should I? I will do it without a second thought.”
I shake my head. “No, don’t.” But I believe he would, and between that and the hard length pressed between my legs, my body aches for him.
“I would burn the world down for you, Calliope,” he says to me in a raspy whisper, and everything inside me turns to hot liquid.
No one’s ever wanted to burn the world down for me.
I can’t respond. Not a single word forms in my mouth, but I stare at him, my gaze moving over his face, and I wonder what his thick lips could do to my body. I wonder what he would do for me. Would he really kill someone?
I move forward and press our lips together. This time, it’s slow and sweet and intentional, somehow even more intense than earlier. But before we can turn the world into an inferno together, Noah flies back through the bathroom door.
“Let’s go.” He gestures to the door, not acknowledging our compromising position.
Unfazed, Wes slowly lowers me, letting my body drag over his, staring into my eyes the entire time.
Jones moans next to us.
“He’s awake,” I say, fear cascading over me like a wave. For all my attitude and rage, I know I’m playing with fire for even looking for Shane when he doesn’t want to be found. Jones doesn’t want me to find him either.
Wes sets me on my feet and gently nudges me toward Noah.
Then he looks down at Jones, whose eyes are fluttering open, and kicks him hard in the ribs.
My father’s old colleague shrieks, and his sharp eyes land on Wes.
There should be more fear there, but there’s not.
And that’s as scary as anything I’ve seen tonight.
“You guys are fucked,” Jones says calmly and attempts to sit up, but Wes kicks him again, this time in the groin. The man screams and curls into a ball.