Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
VIOLET
Oh god. What have I walked into? At first, I’d thought he was at the place across the road. That’s where it showed him at in the ride here.
And I went in.
I waited.
I had a drink…Okay, two, because my nerves started getting the better of me, being naked under a coat knowing he’s there, somewhere, is titillating, a turn on.
The bar was busy, but Cade is someone I’m preternaturally drawn to. I usually know he’s around. But I didn’t feel him there.
So, I got out my phone to check, and horror hit when I saw the dot had moved. Not far. But his app is so good I could see where he was.
He’d moved across the street to the popular Barrel and Glass.
I’ve never been to the bar and restaurant, but I’ve heard about it. Lia and I have it on our list of places to go.
But I figured if Cade was in there…then I’d surprise him there.
Simple.
Except… as I pushed open the door the place was far from jumping.
The dark woods and brass place has a cozy feel, but the moment my foot set down on the floor beyond the door, I was anything but cozy.
The click of the door lock rings in my ears still.
There’s one table. Cade sits there in a suit with a man who looks rich, powerful, and the kind of cruel I don’t like.
He’s a man who’s used to getting his way, and he reminds me of Isaac, if Isaac had been richer and more powerful.
My heart thumps so loud, and the blood roars in my ears, drowning out the man’s words as one of the thugs takes my arm.
My gaze locks on Cade who looks to me like a stranger has taken him over.
Cold, detached. Like I’m nothing.
I glance around.
A girl stands there in skintight clothes, she’s by the back wall near the bar, like she’s waiting, and her eyes are locked on the man.
I swallow because he speaks again.
“Sit down, little girl. You’ve made me repeat myself once. Don’t make me do it a second time.” Then he gestures at the girl who scurries over, eyes still on me. “Would you like a drink?”
I hesitate, ice tumbling fast through my veins. I don’t know what I’ve walked in on, but it’s clear it’s important.
It’s even more clear that I shouldn’t be here.
This is a very high-on-demand place. It should be crowded.
We’re the only people here and every nerve end screams for me to get out, screams this is wrong.
And then through all that frantic noise in me comes one clear thought, like a high note. Is this the type of thing Cade does on the regular?
In the suit, he’s devastating, the kind of man I normally don’t look at, but one I think maybe I should.
The suit looks beyond expensive, and it’s a three piece, and yet he’s so utterly Cade, with The Ghost looking out from inside him, a deadly, quiet power that makes me want to drool.
I suck in a breath. “Yes. White wine, please.”
The corner of Cade’s mouth flickers up in a microscopic way, but I see it. Hug it to me.
What I should have said was I need to go, that I shouldn’t be here. Maybe I can get away with pretending I walked in the wrong place. That I don’t know Cade.
But I looked at him when I walked in.
The man clocked it.
Just by looking, it’s crystal clear this man is dangerous, and lies might get me killed.
So might the truth.
Problem is I don’t know exactly what to do. Do I make up a wild tale so Cade can claim I’ve escaped the padded room he keeps for me at his place?
Do I—
The girl turns to me. “Can I also take your coat?”
“Ye—” Horror streaks through me, and I rear back into the big man who just released my arm, clutching my coat tight like it’s my entire reason for breathing.
And Cade stares.
The man does, too, but Cade’s got my attention.
This time, the cool detachment is gone, and he’s just staring like I’ve grown another head, like he’s immediately interested in what’s beneath the coat, like he wants me the fuck as far from here as I can get.
Which isn’t about to happen.
Even if I agree with that last one.
The place is empty, there are goons and the powerful man who’s sitting with him, and a laptop is eyeing me up like he’s deciding how to have me killed and served up.
Oh hell, this has something to do with Gianna, doesn’t it?
Enzo isn’t here, just Cade looking like he makes millions every other minute and a man who definitely does.
A man who might be a very bad man.
I take another step back but get nowhere as the goon doesn’t move.
“Sit,” Cade says to me, softly, his gaze intense.
I break away from the goon and pull out a seat, sitting down the moment the wine is placed in front of me by the hostess.
“Thank you for the wine, but I thought…” I stop.
“Thought what?” the man asks. “Go on. I’m interested.”
“I thought the place was having a normal night. Not a private event.
My words are lame, even to my own ears.
“Well, you’re not dangerous,” the man mutters. “And you’re no creature of subterfuge or you wouldn’t be waltzing in with every expression you own flashing across your face, stating you know Max here.”
I frown before I can stop myself. But Cade’s just steady with his gaze on me, and it soothes a tiny part of me. The man’s waiting for something.
Thing is, Cade’s last name is Maddox, and I can see him using Max as some kind of fake name. But whatever the test is from the man, how the hell can I know what other name he gave him?
So, I focus on the man. “You have me at a loss. You are?”
“Thomas Allistair.”
He doesn’t offer me his hand.
I just… Should I have heard of him? “I’m…I’m Vi.”
“And who are you, Vi? Who are you to Max?”
Again, my gaze leaps to Cade, and there’s something there in his eyes, something that both pleads and makes me feel, for a moment, okay. “To Cade?”
The man’s smile falters, and for a terrifying moment, I’m sure he’s going to order his men to kill me and then Cade.
But he doesn’t. He just turns to Cade and says, “She’s not lying, so that is your name. There’s one truth you told me.”
“There are a lot of truths I told you. I want that job. You’ve seen what I can do,” Cade says.
Thomas nods. “I have, which is why I should probably kill you.”
I gasp, I can’t help myself, and Cade closes his eyes for a long beat.
“Or just take her and make you do what I want for free.” Thomas leans in, looking at me and then at Cade. “What do you say?”
“I say that would be stupid.” Cade gives me a brief warning of a glance. “Very stupid. Take her, take anyone, and you won’t know if you can trust me. It goes both ways. I’ve come here, laid my cards on the table. But if you want to include threats, then I’m not playing.”
The man’s eyes turn cold and deadly on me. “But she walked in here. Into a private meeting. I’m trying to decide if she’s a gift or a distraction.”
A what?
My throat goes tight as adrenaline rips through my veins. “I’m neither.”
“Now, we both know that’s not true, little girl. You’re very much a distraction.”
His gaze slips down to the top button on my coat.
“One might say a honey pot, even.”
Cade sits way too still, eyes not moving from the man.
No, he’s not still. There’s a vibration in the air, like he’s ready to leap into action.
To protect?
What the hell have I walked into?
And what am I screwing up?
I swallow hard.
There has to be a way where we walk out, where I’m not taken, not handed around like a party gift.
The thought of that, in real life, makes everything in me shrivel.
“She’s not a gift for anyone,” Cade says low. “She—”
“I’m his partner,” I hear myself say.
Cade’s gaze snaps to me as does he man’s, and all it does is spur me on, no matter how clear the warning is in Cade’s eyes.
“In hacking. We hack together.” My gaze snares on the computer. “You think he’s good, he’s nothing compared to me.”
From the corner of my eye, Cade’s sending me silent pleas to shut the fuck up.
But I can’t.
My mouth has started, and I’m not even sure a bullet to my head could stop it.
“We’re elite criminals. And partners in crime. Cybercrime. And we’re partners in life.”
Shut up, shut up.
Cade’s gaze tells me the exact same thing.
Only…only I’m caught by the fascination in this Thomas’s gaze, like I’m on his hook and he’s on mine and my deluded mind seems to now think more words will save the day, but only if I hammer home that concept of ‘partner’.
“Yes,” I say, even though no one’s uttered a word. “We’re partners. Business, crime, hacking, life. We’re life partners. In the bedroom, sometimes in public. And the only thing my honey pot wants to catch is him.”
I don’t even know what it means.
From the lascivious expression on Thomas’s face, I’ve made it utterly dirty.
So, I spur myself on, stumbling past that. “But yes, partners in everything. Every. Thing. I’m his left-hand woman, I’m his life blood. The electricity to his computer, the Thelma to his Louise. Tom to his Jerry. Night to his day. The umbrella to his storm.”
I can’t stop.
Cade sends me a look of pure pleading. It’s so loud I can hear him scream in my head to shut the fuck up.
I’m in agreement. I want to, but the words keep tumbling out.
Finally, Cade kicks me under the table, and the sudden sharp pain brings me back to the world, slamming down into it.
I blink, look once more at Thomas. “We’re partners. In case you missed that.”
He doesn’t laugh.
He just eyes me and then Cade. “I think I managed to grasp that.”
“Just send her home.” Cade picks up his glass and takes a sip. “I’ll deal with her later.”
“Hell, no. I don’t think she’s lying, but even a man like me could be fooled because I’m pretty fucking sure she’s naked under there, and I could end this here and now by stripping off that coat and handing her to my men. Because she just might not be your partner, but a gift who won’t shut up.”
“I’m not a gift for anyone,” I snap.
Cade smiles, and it’s real. “Hear that? She’s no gift. She’s my partner, in life, and behind the keyboard. But this is a me deal, not an us deal.”
“But you’re partners,” he says to Cade. “So surely, it’s a deal for you both.”
Cade’s smile disappears. “You know what I mean. This job is my job, not ours.”
“Nonsense. I’d love to see her skills in action, too.”
Thomas opens his laptop and slides it over.
Cade makes a move to grab it.
Thomas glares at Cade. “Just her.”
The computer is placed in front of me, and I stare at it. I can barely operate my computer beyond the basics. So, what the fuck am I meant to do? Show him I can open an email or Google something?
But I can’t not touch it. I have to come up with something, anything. I—
“Fuck.” Thomas picks up his ringing phone. He doesn’t get up, but his expression changes as he listens.
Then he hangs up and snatches up the computer.
The girl rushes up and puts it in a bag that she slings on her shoulder. Still, she keeps her gaze locked on Thomas, and it gives me the major icks.
“I need to go, Cade.” There’s a beat that passes. “I’m sure someone like you knows the address. The password is Orchid. Be there tomorrow night at midnight.”
Cade nods, and I start to let out a breath when Thomas looks right at me.
The expression in his eyes is proprietary, wrong, intense, and he lingers on me long enough that Cade starts to tense.
And Thomas smiles. “Both of you.”