Chapter 30
BLAIZE
Hunter and Hawke walked into my office after everyone was gone. Two days passed since Kadence came back and started bartending. She was good at the job, but I still didn’t like it.
“I want you to pull everything you can find on Kadence,” I told Hunter, who cocked her brow.
“She hasn’t done anything to raise any alarms, and trust me, I've looked. That girl’s a ghost.”
“I don’t like feds poking around my shit, and my hotel burned down the moment she started working for me.” I looked at Hawke. “This is your fault, you know.” He trusted innocent eyes and a sob story without looking into the details.
Hawke crossed his arms and glared at me. “Blaize, that kid is running. I don’t think she’d have time to torch your hotel or Google West’s gang symbol. Besides, she's twenty-three. Five years ago she would’ve been in high school.”
“And? I was robbing men dry by age sixteen. Age is just a fucking number when it comes to petty crimes.”
“Hawke, did she mention anything to you? She didn’t give an ID. Who knows if Kadence is even her actual name,” Hunter pointed out.
“She has a New York accent. She tries to hide it, but it slips out. I didn’t tell you because little darlin’ trusted me, or maybe she just wanted to talk, but she got hurt.
I’ll let her tell ya what the bastard did.
” The sincerity in his voice already told me what happened.
“I’m sure her dad’s a cop ‘cause he killed the guy.”
“Why here? Why my fucking town?”
“Someone knew you needed to get that stick out of your ass.” I flipped Hawke the bird as he smirked. “When and where, boss? I told you years ago to ride my dick. Fallon has been dying to watch it.”
“Only way that’s happening is if you take my strap up your ass.”
He cringed, and Hunter laughed. “Thought so. This is serious. I need to know ASAP. I won’t have to deal with her for the next two nights.”
Hawke looked at me. “You like her.”
I narrowed my eyes as the two of us kept silent eye contact. “I do not want anyone else. I only sleep with people when I need information. That’s it.”
“I’m not stupid, Blaize. You're doing this to mask the emotions thawing in your stone-cold, icy heart,” Hawke chimed.
“Get out of my office and find out who's trying to ruin Hell’s Reapers.”
I knew that bastard was up to something when he sent her to me in that skimpy, emerald- green floral set. Who knew he actually listened to me nine years ago when I told him my favorite fucking color. He was going to be the next person I put a bullet in.
Hunter looked at me with a shit-eating grin plastered on her face. “I give it a few days before she’s bent over your desk, screaming your name.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. Why does everyone want me to fuck her?”
“Because. You. Need. To. Get. Laid. Sex is very calming; the aftercare is spectacular, if I remember.”
I rolled my eyes and rubbed my temples. “If she can’t handle men grabbing her at the club without bashing their face in with a tray, she can’t handle being in my bed for one night.”
“Hey, she doesn’t like men. Doesn’t mean she doesn’t like rough sex with a woman.”
I narrowed my eyes on her. Hunter was talking from experience. “I’m not sleeping with her. End of story.”
“Uh huh, yet you eye fuck her from the shadows. You know, I see you watching her. Imagine when she finds out about the darker side of Hades.”
“She won’t.”
Hunter folded her arms across her chest and cocked a brow. “She’s living with Annika who gets fucked five ways to Sunday by her three grizzly men every weekend in front of our patrons.”
“I really despise you sometimes.”
“Yeah, but you love me, and you know I’m right. Anyways, I talked to Drew.” I looked at her, waiting for her to continue. “She’s still having nightmares and she’s jumpy, but by your hard staring, you already know that.”
“I’m watching her to learn,” I deadpanned.
She looked at me with a smirk. “Sure you are. Drew also said she went to Annika’s therapist. Dr. Williams doesn’t ask personal questions related to names and she has payment plans for the uninsured, so Kadence got lucky there.”
“Think you can hack into that system or fuck her doctor into submission?”
Hunter folded her arms across her chest. “Are you really that desperate to know her history? Maybe you decided to bury your trauma and forget about it, Blaize, but for some people, it's necessary.”
I arched my brow. “You’re being mighty holy, Hunter. Don’t talk to me about repressed trauma.”
She shrugged. “My trauma has nothing to do with this. Kadence is a good kid. If she wanted to hurt someone, she would. She is scared and trying to live her life. You remember how I was when you met me.”
Westhaven was an odd town, but it was our home now.
Olivia was sleeping peacefully, finally, and I wanted to explore the community.
I would reign over this place in a few years, so I needed to get a good head on my shoulders.
Olivia would give birth soon, and I needed to make sure the hospital here was suitable for her.
The streets were dark, but there didn’t seem to be any red flags until I got closer to an alleyway by the pier. There was a feminine voice and a man grunting. Something told me I shouldn’t go, but if a woman was in danger, I needed to protect her.
There was a young girl, maybe eighteen hovering over the body of a pastor.
He was gasping for breath with multiple wounds.
She went in for the kill shot when her eyes met mine and she froze.
She was like a deer caught in headlights.
Her mouth fell open, but no words came out as she looked back at his body.
I learned at a young age that police were useless unless they were in your pocket. Working on buying the police here would be my next goal. I walked to her, taking the knife from her hand and slashed his throat.
“Why did you do that?”
“A pretty girl killing a member of the church. I’m sure there’s a story behind it. I’m not a cop, I have my own skeletons, and I’ve done worse. Why don’t we get you cleaned up and you can tell me what he did?”
“Why should I trust you?”
“It’s your choice, but it looks like you need a friend. You can let them control you or you can live. Don’t let your demons take over who you are.”
And then I noticed it. In the nine years I’ve known Hunter, she learned to cover her trauma with a mask and kink. Hunter never lowered her shields, but something was throwing her off, and I knew it couldn’t be Kadence. She had a soft spot for the girl, but there was something behind it.
“What’s going on?”
She sighed. “Drew is investigating Holy Trinity.” Holy Trinity was the cult they grew up in where Hunter’s assault happened. The priest, if he could even call himself that, used religion as a scapegoat to manipulate his followers.
Hunter and Drew were twins, but only a few people knew unless they asked.
They loved each other, but they didn’t want people to know they were related in case the members of the church tried to put two and two together.
Drew didn’t change his name, but he didn’t look the same.
Hunter no longer looked like the girl they destroyed.
If people looked close enough, they would see the same caerulean blue eyes and sharp facial features.
“Didn’t Drew burn it down?”
Hunter sighed, running her hands through her blonde hair. “Isaiah survived. Bastard is a fucking cockroach, and he rebuilt. He made sure they had their treaty, and now he’s untouchable.”
She knew I would do anything for her, but I made the leaders a promise.
They had power over their territories without fear of me diminishing them.
The only things I didn’t allow were sex trafficking and certain drugs.
I didn’t want anyone using paralytic drugs because I knew what they could be used for, but ecstasy, cocaine, and marijuana were on the table.
Leaders of their territories were in charge of making sure their people were safe when distributing.
“I’ve been dealing with this trauma for ten years, Blaize. It doesn’t matter, but Drew is going to get himself killed...”
Hunter didn’t let much scare her. She turned her trauma into kink, but I knew if there was a possibility of the man who brutalized her so violently getting his hands on her again, she wouldn’t be the badass I’d come to love.
Hunter liked to pretend she was an emotionless void, but she wasn’t. And her reaction to Kadence proved it.
“I’ll talk to Drew and see if I can knock some sense into him, and then I’ll talk with Damon. I know he can’t retaliate because of their agreement, but if Isaiah is doing anything, even behind the doors of the church, I’m sure Damon would want to know.”
Hunter shrugged. “Isaiah doesn’t do anything where people can see or hear. Damon won’t do anything because Isaiah won’t let him find out.” She let out a shaky breath before plastering a fake smile on her face. “Okay, I’m going to find a pair of thighs to get lost between. I’ll see you tomorrow.”