Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Candy
I don’t want to say I wake up with a hangover, but as someone bangs on my door, my head throbs.
It’s probably the lack of sleep.
As tired as I was, when Sver left, it took me forever to fall back to sleep. I have no idea what time it is, when I bolt up, my brain sloshes around in my skull.
“Candy?” Knox calls from the other side of the door. “You in there?”
“Coming,” I call back, climbing out of the bed, only to realize I’m naked.
I open the closet by the door and find a hotel-supplied robe hanging inside. Pulling it on, I open the door.
“What is it?” I ask, rubbing the spot between my eyebrows.
“Rough night?” He cocks his head to the side as he assesses me.
I shrug. “I might have had one too many.” I don’t tell him about my hookup. It’s none of his business, and while Sver was amazing, I also have that vague sense that I shouldn’t have done it.
“I brought you some clothes.”
I blink in surprise. “Thank you.” Knox is not exactly a man I consider high in acts of service.
“Angel’s orders.”
That makes more sense. I take the bag from him, looking inside to find another toothbrush, a hairbrush, deodorant, and a cute little summer dress in orange and reds. “What’s this?”
“Thought it would match your hair,” he says with a shrug. “Want to get breakfast? I don’t want to eat alone.”
“Sure,” I answer with a nod. “Mind if I take a quick shower? It’ll only take me fifteen.”
“Totally fine. Can I wait in your room, though? Those elevators are hell.”
I open the door wider.
While Knox and I have never spent any real time together, I’m not afraid of him. Except for one of Angel’s brothers, Rock, all the Sinclairs are men that can be trusted around women.
Gunner’s crazy and doesn’t like to be touched, but he’s nice to the girls. And Knox is an MMF fighter, but he saves all his violence for men. I’ve never seen him mistreat any of the women at the club.
Axel races cars professionally and is really rich, hot women line up to be with him. He doesn’t mess with women like me.
Which is fine by me.
Knox is not my thing. He’s got this impress me attitude. I like a man who wants to take care of a woman.
So yeah. Daddy issues for the win.
I step into the shower, using the hotel shampoo, soap, and conditioner. Then I give my hair a quick blowout. I can make my hair look good with any tools, it’s my thing.
I don’t have makeup, but the dress looks good on me. I brush my teeth, and then step out, putting my strappy sandals back on as I sit on the bed.
“You look good, Candy,” Knox says as his gaze slides down me. He runs a hand through his spiky hair, his amber eyes coming back to mine.
“Thanks.” I finish buckling the strap. “Good job on the dress. It’s a nice fit.”
“I’ve never picked out clothes for a woman before. Guess I’ve got skill.”
“I guess so.” I stand, not really interested in feeding Knox’s ego. Maybe agreeing to breakfast was a mistake. What I’d like to do is replay every detail of last night over and over in my head. “Ready?”
But as I look around, I don’t see my key card anywhere. That’s weird…
And then I remember. I gave it to Sver.
Shit.
“We have to check out soon. Want to pack your clothes from yesterday in the bag I brought?”
“Good idea.”
I guess the key card doesn’t matter.
Picking up the clothes, we head down to breakfast.
But it turns out Knox is a decent breakfast date, picking a cute café, pulling out my chair, and picking up the check.
As I finish sipping my latte, I ask the question that I’ve been wondering about since last night. “How come you texted me last night?”
Knox grimaces. “The Smiths have this guy that’s been giving them a really hard time. He was in the casino last night.”
“Oh.” My eyes go wide. “Anyone hurt?”
“Nope. He was just spotted first on the casino floor and then in one of the hallways, I think. But they haven’t seen him since late last night, so he must have left again.”
My nose twitches as something tickles down my spine. Something isn’t right. “The Smiths have enemies that scare them?” They seem like they own the whole world.
“You don’t get that rich without making a lot of enemies.” Knox shrugs. “Then again, we don’t have a twentieth of their money and we’ve got loads of people who hate us.”
I sigh. Too true. I’ve got no money and somebody wants me dead.
“What time are we leaving Vegas?”
“Not until later,” he answers. “Want to do some shopping?”
I shake my head. “No. I don’t have money for that and—”
“My treat.”
I shake my head again. “Knox. I don’t take gifts from men. It’s just asking for trouble and—”
“It’s a good fucking policy. But I’m not a man, I’m one of your bosses. And you can wear the clothes to work if you it makes you feel better. I don’t feel like spending the day alone. My brother getting fucking married has me twitching.”
I cock my head as I consider his words. “Why’s that?”
“We’re a unit. A team. Have been since the adoption. Letting a woman into the inner circle…” He blows out a breath. “Never mind. You want to shop or not?”
“All right,” I answer, knowing I won’t buy anything.
We pass the day pleasantly enough. But I’m relieved when it’s time to board the plane. I want to be alone with my thoughts.
As the plane takes off, I watch Promise and Angel talk quietly, the intimacy that wraps around the two of them enough to actually make me jealous.
I twirl a piece of my orange hair around my finger.
Maybe it’s time to change the color and my vibe. I’m always going to be me. But maybe I could go with a dark brown and red ombre. Something that doesn’t stand out quite so much.
But I don’t get to finish my thought when Promise approaches. I get why Angel likes her. Not only is she the sweetest ever, but she looks like a Barbie doll or a princess.
“Are you all right?” she asks, nipping at her lip.
I sigh, reaching for her hand. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” Not that I don’t appreciate her concern.
“I am worried. Yesterday was…”
“I drowned my sorrows in alcohol and bad choices. I’ve got a whole system of coping with my shitty taste. I just rinse and repeat.”
“Bad choices?” She cocks her head closer.
“You know how I told you I have terrible taste in men?” I don’t know why I’m confessing, but I just need someone to know what happened. It’s starting to feel like I imagined the whole thing.
“Yeah.”
“Well, I picked up the worst one yet.” Or the best. Still not sure.
“What made him the worst?” Her eyes are wide. “And how did you manage to pick up a guy at the reception with like ten people?”
I let out a snort, shaking my head. “He was at the bar right outside the reception room.” I drop my voice to a low whisper. “Best sex of my life.”
Her eyes go wide. “Really?”
I pick at one of my nails as I try to put my thoughts into words. “Really. He was older and he was just…magnetic. Which definitely means he’s bad news. He left right after, barely said a word before he was gone.”
“Ugh,” she murmurs sympathetically. Which I appreciate.
“On the plus side…” I settle back in my seat again. “I realized that if the sex was that good with some random guy, Vinnie was never the one for me.”
“I see,” Angel says into the phone, his voice grim. “Send me the pic.” And then he hangs up. But he’s caught both Promise’s and my attention as we both turn to him.
“Everything all right?” Promise asks.
Angel frowns. “That was Jake Kincaid, head of security for the casino. He just wanted to tell me that they’ve lost Sver again. They did capture him on camera, however, and they’re forwarding me a picture so that we’ll know what he looks like.”
The name Sver hits me square in the chest. What are the odds…
“But we’re going back to New York. Why should we be concerned about Sver?” Promise asks, sounding equally worried.
Angel scrubs a hand down his face. “He worked for a Russian Bratva family before he went rogue. He’s highly dangerous. And since he was seen just outside our wedding reception, Jake is worried he knows who we are.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. My heart is hammering in my chest as I try to breathe. Right outside the reception? Highly dangerous? Offered to kill my ex-boyfriend? My hand comes to my throat as the blood drains from my face.
“He wants us to be prepared just in case Sver surfaces in New York.” Angel’s phone dings. He opens it, looks at it, and hands it to Knox. “Show Promise when you’re done.”
What are they looking at? But I can’t ask, my tongue frozen in my mouth.
Finally, Promise hands me the phone.
It’s a picture of one of the hotel hallways, a single figure walking down the hall. He’s tall, well-muscled, graying at the temples.
His T-shirt reveals thickly muscled arms, with tattoos dancing down them. I gasp in a breath, worried I might faint.
Because I didn’t imagine anything. Last night was real.
My super-hot hookup.
It was Sver…
I blink several times, just trying to focus. When I can finally see, I meet Angel’s gaze, his stare narrows, and I know that he knows what I’ve done.
I slept with the man who is the Smiths’ enemy.
Who is Angel’s enemy.
There is no way I’m keeping my job at the whorehouse. And it’s the one place in the city I was safe…