Killian’s Vengeance

13. Willa

Chapter 13

Willa

W e barely had time to shower and shovel down some bagels and coffee before being rushed out of the room. Fortunately, while I was in the shower, Killian found me a more appropriate outfit—A red “The Red Room” t-shirt and a jean skirt that was about a size too big. The skirt was loose on the waist and I still didn’t have a bra, but was a million times better than that short, transparent baby doll dress.

Cullen was ushering us into an office with several computers and a wall of security screens, presumably showing different areas of the club. There was a young man diligently typing away behind an elaborate computer setup. He had three huge monitors in front of him, and it seemed his focus never wavered from at least one of those screens.

I cast a confused look at Killian, which he understood perfectly. “We do security for the club, me and Cullen. This is our office on the premises. The guy behind the computer is Ian Novak. Ian, this is Willa. Ian usually works at our main office downtown, but since you’re staying here, Cullen decided it would make more sense if he worked out of this office.”

“Hey,” Ian said mindlessly. Ian wasn’t your typical computer geek. He looked to be in his early twenties and was covered in tattoos and piercings. He had dark blond hair shaved on the sides and long on top, like those guys on that Viking show. I looked on the table to his left and couldn’t believe my eyes. My cell phone!

I was relieved to see it, thinking it had been abandoned back at Lily’s apartment. It was hard to believe I’d lived without it for three days, when going without it for three minutes had seemed unimaginable. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about it. I needed to check my messages. Urgently. Vanessa must have been going crazy.

“Is that my cell phone?” I knew it was.

Ian glanced at the phone for a moment. “Yep.”

I rolled my eyes. “Can I have it, please?” I said tartly, holding out my hand.

Ian’s head finally swung from his computer screen to the phone. “Oh, right. Kill said to bring it. Here you go. Nothing much, just a bunch of texts from a girl named Vanessa and a guy named Andy,” he said, holding it out to me.

Killian’s head swung around, his eyebrows slamming together. “Who the fuck is Andy?”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the phone from Ian. “He’s no one.”

“He’s calling you an awful lot for no one,” Ian unhelpfully chimed in.

“Jesus Christ, you're jealous over a college kid,” Cullen sneered.

“I’m not jealous,” he snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t get jealous.”

“Andrew Larkin is a twenty-year-old sophomore at UIC, majoring in economics. He’s from Peoria and has two younger brothers, Jacob and Kyle. His father is a dentist, and his mother is a high school science teacher. Based on his online presence, you were right, Kill. He seems to be interested in Willa. He’s liked an awful lot of her stuff on Instagram, even her older pictures,” Ian cut in, still looking at his computer screen. He looked up to find us all staring at him and shrugged. “I checked out all the guys who’d texted you. I thought it was Lily’s phone.”

I frowned at Ian in aggravation while Killian frowned at me, his eyes glittering with validation. “I told you. What the hell does this guy want from you?”

“He’s just a guy from one of my classes.” Andy was totally harmless, but I was getting a kick out of Killian snorting like a mad bull over him.

“Who gives a fuck, unless he can tell us where Lily is?” Cullen barked out in annoyance.

I jumped at Cullen’s booming, irritated voice. I could tell that even though I wasn’t Lily, it didn’t make him like me any better. I periodically found him staring at me, a scornful expression on his admittedly attractive face. I’d had enough psych classes to understand that he was probably just using me as a substitute for Lily, that this anger and disdain was most likely meant for her, but it was unsettling all the same. I suppose it was possible that this was just Cullen’s personality, but I preferred to lean into the interpretation that his surly attitude was just a phase until we found Lily.

It was annoying to find yet another man so attractive in spite of their shitty treatment of me. Cullen had short, medium brown hair and dark blue eyes set in a face that would have been almost beautiful if it weren’t for the small imperfections, like the scar slicing through the edge of his left eyebrow and the slight misalignment of his nose. He had another scar cutting through his bottom lip on the left side. The perpetual scowl sadly did little to undermine his attractiveness, in spite of how much I disliked it focused on me.

“Okay, Ian, have you picked up anything since we realized that Willa is not Lily?” Although Killian directed the question to Ian, I couldn’t help but think he stated it that way as a warning to Cullen to lighten the hell up because I wasn’t Lily.

“So, I did a sweep of the area when you were at Lily’s apartment…uh, picking up Willa,” Ian said awkwardly. Right, referencing a kidnapping with both parties there was awkward. “Lily was outside the building watching from across the street. I caught her on a bank camera.” He tapped a few keys and pulled up the video of Lily standing across the street from her apartment building.

I felt a stabbing in my chest as I stared at the screen, the time stamp corroborating that she had been there when I’d been grabbed by Killian. The camera lingered long enough to reveal a smirk of satisfaction on her duplicitous, hateful face as she watched. Tears welled up in my eyes and I didn’t even know why. I knew Lily had duped me, why was I feeling so torn apart when shown the evidence?

But I was torn apart, sickened and sad that my sister had not only set me up for god knows what fate, but she had delighted in her deception.

I felt a hand slowly rubbing my back and shot a surprised look at Killian who was watching me carefully. I shot him a grateful, watery smile.

“Could you follow where she went after?” Cullen asked as he leaned forward.

“No, she disappeared into the L. I looked up her credit cards and they’re all inactive. I checked out her previous addresses and known associates but got nothing.”

“Fuck!” Cullen yelled and then turned to me. “Okay, little sister, you’re up. Where the fuck is she?”

I stared at him in stupefied shock, then darted a quick, worried look at Killian. “Uh, I’m not sure. I’m not that close with Lily. Obviously,” I said, gesturing to the screen that showed her watching my kidnapping.

“Then why the fuck are you here?”

“Jesus Christ, Cullen, calm the fuck down. We’ve only been here for thirty minutes. How is she supposed to remember anything with you screaming in her face?” Killian said, pinning Cullen with a stern, chastising look.

Cullen took a deep breath and ran his hand restlessly through his hair. I guess that was his version of calming down.

Killian turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders, giving me a reassuring squeeze. “Willa, take a deep breath. Can you think of anything— anything —that might help us find Lily. Any place where she feels safe or goes out of habit to get away. Any person she trusts or would run to if she needed to hide.”

I stared into his intense green eyes and wracked my brain for any information I could give them to find Lily. We’d been estranged for so long, she felt like a stranger. It was like the longer he stared at me expectantly, the more the gears of my brain ground to a halt.

Thankfully, someone’s phone chirped and called attention away from my failure to produce even one clue about where Lily might be. I was even more thankful it was Cullen’s phone, as his stare felt like it was trying to penetrate my skull and pluck the information out.

“It’s one of my contacts from O’Hare. He thinks he saw Lily boarding a plane to fucking Brazil. He’s going to get me the flight information so I can track it. Ian, I’ll send it all to you so you can follow up.”

“Got it,” Ian replied, his face already buried in the screen and his tattooed fingers clanking away.

I heaved a sigh of relief that someone had come through. My phone buzzed and I looked down to find another in probably a long line of texts from Vanessa.

Vanessa: We have called everyone! It’s been days and we’re about to go to the police bc we think you’re dead! CALL ME!

“Shit, I have to call my friend. She’s freaking out. What am I going to tell her?”

Killian looked only half interested in helping me create an excuse good enough to get me out of the doghouse with Vanessa. He just shrugged and said, “Just tell her you were getting laid.”

I looked at him like he was crazy. “Is that what you’d say to your friends if you’d disappeared for two days?”

He gave me a wolfish smile and reached around to pinch my behind. “They wouldn’t even ask, they’d know.”

I yelped and swatted him on the arm. “You’re absolutely no help,” I grumbled, rubbing my posterior. It was still a bit tender after yesterday and last night. Just thinking about last night had my cheeks burning as I remembered all the things I let Killian do— begged him to do.

“What are you thinking about?” Killian asked, eyeing my bright cheeks intently.

“What? Nothing,” I blurted out.

He gave me a lurid smile. “Don’t worry, I already know. Don’t play poker, Willa. This face,” he said, rubbing my cheek. “It’s like an open book.”

I flushed even more and decided to ignore him. Instead, I focused all my attention on texting Vanessa back.

Willa: Vanessa, I’m so sorry!! I have been dealing with a situation bc of my sister. It has been a total mess! Please forgive me!! I will call you and update you on everything soon, I promise.

I immediately saw the bubbles pop up that indicated she was typing. I cringed as I imagined how pissed she was going to be at me.

Vanessa: WILLA! WTF????? You can’t respond to a text bc your twat of a sister? Did she have you chained in a basement somewhere?

I snorted at her response. She was closer to the truth than she realized, except it hadn’t been Lily who’d had me chained in a basement. It had been the guy I’d had sex with last night— my kidnapper. Jesus, I was going to need all the therapy when this was over.

Killian shot me a curious look at my laugh, and I turned the phone for him to read her response.

Killian shrugged uncomfortably, then broke out into a half grin. “Your friend is pretty smart. Don’t worry, next time I chain you up, you’ll love it,” he whispered in my ear, giving me another little pinch on the butt.

I frowned at him, for some reason, his comment bothered me even though I’d laughed at Vanessa’s inadvertently accurate text. I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d just seen Lily, my sister, standing idly by while I was being abducted in her place or that during my time chained to the bed, I truly thought I was going to die. It left me feeling disoriented and thin-skinned at being teased about something so traumatic and so recent. “You know, you shouldn’t make jokes about that. I was really scared when I was chained in that room. I thought you were going to kill me.”

Killian looked distinctly uncomfortable at being reminded of my mistaken identity. He frowned at me. “I thought you understood that it was all a misunderstanding.”

While I knew I was being inconsistent as fuck, he was also being a little insensitive. I mean, I understood he meant no harm to me, but he did harm all the same. Was he really this dense? Yes, probably.

“Just because I know it was a misunderstanding, which, by the way, is the understatement of the century, doesn’t mean that I’m just completely over it,” I said sharply.

Killian rubbed the back of his neck, wearing the look of confused exasperation that men had probably worn for centuries, but before he could reply, another highly attractive, very muscular, heavily tattooed man walked through the open doorway. He was smirking and looking at Killian, so he’d likely overheard what I had just said.

“She’s pissed already, Kill? Sounds about right for you.”

“Fuck off, Logan.” Killian flipped him off, then pulled me into the hallway. “Look, Willa, I know the way we met was...unfortunate,” he finished awkwardly. “But, especially after last night, I figured you understood that I didn’t grab you and do that shit to you on purpose.”

“I do understand that. I just…sometimes this whole situation makes me feel like I’m crazy. What the hell am I still doing here? Why am I talking to you? Why did I have sex with you? What is wrong with me?” I blurted out, my doubts, fears and reservations exploding like fireworks in my mind and barreling out of my mouth.

Killian looked genuinely flummoxed, but I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t know how to answer my questions or because of the emotionally loaded direction I had steered the conversation.

Instead, he scowled. “You’re here because your sister is a lying, vicious bitch who set you up to take the fall for her bullshit. You’re here because she can’t be trusted not to do to you what she fucking did to Mac. Say what you will about me, Willa, but what your sister did is far worse.”

Even though I knew he was right, maybe because he was right, I couldn’t help lashing out at him. “You’re at fault, too, though. I told you I wasn’t Lily, but you didn’t believe me.”

I knew I was beating a dead horse here, that we’d already hashed this out, but I couldn’t help myself. I was filled with so many confusing, contradictory emotions, I was having trouble sorting it all out in my mind. Watching that video of Lily heartlessly watching me take the fall for her actions, knowing it could possibly— probably —result in my death had me suddenly spinning out.

“Are you fucking serious, Willa? I explained all that. You think I get off on tying up innocent women and hitting them with a whip?”

“Well, I know you’re into the tying up and hitting them part!”

He jerked his head back, seemingly surprised at my jab. I was surprised, too. It was a pretty low blow. Then, his eyelids dropped half-mast and a sensual smile crossed his lips. “Are you going to tell me that you’re not into it? Because I remember differently.”

I swallowed and stepped back, hitting the wall, and he saw it for the weakness that it was. He stepped toward me, his arms rising up to cage me against the wall. His clean scent washed over me as he dipped his head, his lips hovering by my ear. “Are you going to tell me you didn’t like when I pinched your clit, or spanked you, or fucked you so hard you were screaming?”

I started to get heated, both emotionally and physically, but I was still trying to resist some of the uncomfortable truths he’d thrust into my awareness since meeting him. Truths about my sister, truths about myself. But there was something in his tone— smugness. He sounded so superior about me and my reaction to him, I had to rebel. I put my hands up and pushed him slightly away.

“That doesn’t matter! You should still show some sensitivity,” I said, folding my arms over my chest.

His scowl returned. “Look, Willa, I realize?—”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we do have a business to run,” Cullen voice cut in from the doorway of the office, his face wreathed in disapproval. “I just got a text from Abbott Steel and they said they're having issues with break-ins and vandalism. We need to put a small team on it.”

Killian's expression ran the gamut from relieved to conflicted to annoyed. “Fine, give me a minute,” he muttered, then turned to me. “Willa, go back to the room while I deal with this shit then we’ll finish this conversation. Then I’m going to give you a little reminder of exactly how enthusiastic you were last night.”

His eyes were filled with heated promise and I felt my thighs clench at all the dark and dirty things he might be thinking. Instead of responding, I flew out of the room, fearful I would jump him before he got his work done. A minute ago, I had been offended by him talking to me sexually and now I was turned on by it.

I was all over the place.

I ran back to the room, still holding my phone. I looked down, shocked to see it was eight o’clock at night. I had lost all track of time while down here and there were no windows to indicate day or night.

My phone buzzed again, reminding me that I needed to call Vanessa and calm her down.

I hit her number and it only gave a half ring before she picked up.

“Where the hell are you?” she burst out.

I sighed. I was going to have to navigate this very carefully. “I’m so sorry, Van. It has been a crazy couple…few days,” I stumbled. I had no idea how long I’d been here. Two days? Three?

“What happened? Where have you been?”

“It’s my sister. She’s in a bunch of trouble and I had to help her out. In fact, I’m still helping her out.” I didn’t exactly answer her questions, but hopefully she’d be satisfied with the answer.

“Why are you bothering with that bitch? And why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“Uh, I lost it for a day or two, then the battery died, and I couldn’t find a charger. I definitely would have answered if I’d had it.”

“You lost it and then the battery died?” she repeated skeptically. “Where are you again?”

“I’m…I’m in, uh, Wisconsin. I left my phone at a rest stop and didn’t realize it, so we had to go back and get it and then we didn’t have a charger in the car, so it died.” Oh my god, that was the most insane, preposterous story ever.

“You drove to Wisconsin with your sister for two days and didn’t have your phone charged? What the fuck part of Wisconsin are you in?”

“She’s on the run from some bad guys, so we had to drive all over to get away. It’s been a total mess, let me tell you,” I ended woefully, hoping to stoke her sympathy and distract from her interrogation.

Vanessa blew out an aggravated breath. “Your sister is such an insensitive asshole, Will. Why would you let her drag you into her bullshit?”

I let out a sigh of relief that my strategy had worked. “What can I say? She’s family. She needed help and I couldn’t not give it.” I nearly choked on my lie, knowing the help I’d given her had been involuntary and nearly fatal.

“Put her on the phone right now! I want to give that bitch a piece of my mind.”

“Oh no, not right now, Vanessa. She’s sleeping anyway. Look, I’ll give you a call when I get back to Chicago and fill you in on the whole crazy story.”

“Hmph, fine. Please take care of yourself, Willa, and don’t let your bitch of a sister put you in danger.”

Too late for that. “Okay, Vanessa. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Call the minute you’re back.”

“I will.

“Love you, girl. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Me, too. Love you,” I said, smiling and feeling a little choked up as I ended the call. After what had happened with my sister in that room, it was nice to be reminded that some people actually loved me and worried about my wellbeing.

I wondered if I could count Killian among those people who cared about my wellbeing. Killian. Jesus, what was I going to do about him? I sat down on the bed and felt antsy. What was I supposed to do? Just sit here and wait for him to come back? It could be minutes or hours—I had no idea what his business entailed. I guess I could watch Netflix on my phone or find a game to play or something, but just the thought of that made me feel even more restless.

I was sick of being in this godforsaken room, staring at these four walls.

A loud thump from above brought my attention to the ceiling. Wait a minute—I was in the basement of a sex club . Surely, now that I was on their team, no one would mind if I wandered up there and took a look around. I hopped off the bed and ran to the bathroom to make sure I looked okay. Okay was about right. Just okay. I didn’t have any makeup with me, so I guess it was au natural for me tonight.

Now that I had a plan, curiosity started burning inside me. What would a sex club be like? What kind of people would be up there? I headed for the door and was relieved to find it unlocked. I looked down the hallway and saw several doors. I knew one was Killian’s security office. I took a guess based on the likelihood that the last door at the end of the hall would lead to a set of stairs.

Fearful I’d be caught and sent back to my—Killian’s—room, I practically ran down the hallway, my flip flops treading silently on the cement floor. Fortunately, someone had closed the door to Killian’s office, so they never even knew I’d passed by. I opened the door and happily found a set of stairs going up to the club. I looked down at my outfit, feeling some chagrin at how casual it was. I looked like I was going to a freaking barbecue. Well, a kinky barbecue considering the logo on my shirt.

I ran up the stairs and took in the room. I’d always imagined a sex club two different ways. Dark and sexy, with low lighting and pops of color as heavy hypnotic music played in the background or a dingy, creepy shithole full of equally creepy perverts.

I was happy to see that The Red Room was the former and definitely lived up to its name. The space had a lot of dark nooks and was filled with low, blood red lighting. There was a large bar in the middle of the room with one half of the room filled with various types of seating, from tables and chairs to couches and loveseats. The other half had the same type of equipment that was in Killian’s room, which was being used in any number of curious ways by the moderate sized crowd that was in attendance.

I stared at the bar longingly, dying for a drink after the last couple of days, but I had no money. Maybe Killian had a tab. I wandered over and sat on the stool, still taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the heady, decadent environment. I was more than a little self-conscious about my outfit, since most of the women were wearing much sexier, much scantier clothing than me.

I rubbed my sweaty palms against my oversized denim skirt and headed for the bar. The man behind the bar looked at me and did a double take, staring at me like I was a ghost. Did I know him? Then I glanced down self-consciously at my clothing. Was he shocked to see someone like me in a place like this?

A sudden, horrifying thought occurred to me. Did he know that Killian had me locked in the basement? My cheeks filled with heat at the thought and I hesitated at the bar stool. Should I go back downstairs?

The man shook his head slightly and grinned. “Can I help you, sweetheart?”

I cocked my head. He wasn’t acting like he knew me now, so maybe I’d read him wrong. “Uh, yeah. Do you know Killian?”

“Sure.”

“Can I get a drink and put it on his bill?”

His eyes widened slightly. “You want to put your drink on Killian’s tab?”

“Yes, if that’s allowed.”

The man frowned slightly, dark brown eyebrows over light gray eyes. He was actually pretty attractive now that I studied him. “Yeah, I guess you can do that. He won’t be mad?

“Uh, we’re sort of…friends,” I finished lamely, considering that we had the weirdest friendship in history.

He smirked. “Right, friends. Who are you?”

“My name’s Willa,” I said and reached out my hand to shake his.

“Hi, I’m Martin. I’m the manager of The Red Room.” He’d said his title with the same gravity someone might use to declare they were President of the United States.

“Oh, hello, Martin. So, can you get me a Cosmo and put it on Killian’s tab?”

“Sure thing,” he said, replying with an easy smile. Yes, the smile made him very attractive. “Where did you get the t-shirt?” he asked conversationally, gesturing with his chin toward my shirt.

“Killian gave it to me. My other shirt got…damaged.” Ripped off my body.

“Hm, he tell you there’s a dress code here?”

Of course, he didn’t. He’d kidnapped me and brought me here. I looked around at the various risqué outfits displayed around the room and looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. “Seriously?”

He snorted. “Well, yeah, it’s not your typical dress code. Your outfit is a little out of the norm in this environment. Especially the flip flops,” he said disdainfully. “You know how much people pay to come here?”

I shook my head. I had no idea.

“About two grand a month, depending on what kind of membership you have. If you’re a couple, it costs more.”

My eyebrows jumped. “Whoa.” I looked around at all the people. They must be pretty loaded. And pretty kinky. “So, everyone here must be pretty rich, huh?” At least I was unlikely to run into anyone I knew.

“Definitely. It’s considered very exclusive,” he said with a definite air of self-importance, which I found weird for an employee. It wasn’t like he was the owner.

“Are you a member, too? Do you get free membership working here?”

His lips pressed together. “Not free but discounted.” By the tone of his voice, it seemed like Martin didn’t have a lot of money either.

“Well, regardless of the cost of membership, I don’t have any other clothes here. I guess your rich clientele is going to have to suffer looking at my sexless, low-class flip flops for one evening.”

He smirked, then cocked his head. “You know, we have some clothes for women here.” He ran an appraising eye down my body. “I’m certain we have things that fit you.”

I shook my head, remembering all too well what Killian had chosen for me to wear last night. “Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with my picnic wear.”

He shrugged. “The offer stands if you change your mind. You might find yourself a new partner and want to wear something a little more…alluring. Then again, you might end up wearing nothing at all.”

I was gulping down my Cosmo when he said the last part and it caused me to choke on my drink. “I’m not walking around naked in a public place!”

He smirked again. “There have been a lot of ladies who have said the same thing and have ended up bare ass naked in here.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t fathom any circumstance where I’d agree to take off my clothes with fifty other people standing around next to me. No way. I knew Killian had awakened some unexpected urges inside of me, but I can safely say exhibitionism wasn’t going to be one of them. “I wish I had a hundred dollars to bet with right now because I would definitely be making two hundred dollars by the end of the night.”

“Lot of ladies said that, too.”

I snorted. “Not this lady,” I said, jerking my thumb toward myself and finishing my Cosmo. God, I’d needed that, the burn of alcohol, the pleasant haziness slightly blurring the edges of the bizarre reality I had somehow slipped into.

He shot me a speculative look, then broke out into a sensual grin as he rounded the bar. “Care to give me the chance to change your mind?”

My mouth dropped, not anticipating that this guy, the manager of the freaking club, was going to hit on me. “Aren’t you working?” I asked, confused and uncomfortable at his sudden interest.

He slid a finger up my upper arm, causing me to flinch away from him. “There are some benefits to being in charge,” he murmured, moving his arms to cage me against the bar.

“Uh, I think?—”

“You bitch!” I heard a female voice screech.

I craned my neck around Martin to see the girl who had stopped by Killian’s room earlier, Cara, standing there with her hands on her hips, a look of disgust on her pretty face. “What are you doing? Whoring your way through the entire club staff? First you take Killian from me, and now Martin?”

Martin rolled his eyes, looking exasperated as he stepped back from me. “Cara, calm down.”

“How can I calm down when it looks like both you and Killian are into this dumpy train wreck.”

Dumpy? I looked down at my flip flops and shrugged. Fair enough. Cara looked like she was teetering on the edge of breakdown, so I tried to scoot myself away from the both of them.

“Jesus, Cara, you fucking work here. Act like it,” Martin snapped. “You don’t fucking berate guests about who they’re sleeping with at a fucking sex club. If she wants to fuck Killian then fuck me, she can.”

I shot a bulgy-eyed look at Martin. He had deeply misinterpreted our interaction. While I agreed with his sentiment in theory, I wasn’t remotely interested in having sex with him.

“Actually—” I started.

Cara gave me a venomous look and looked back at Martin, her lush lower lip jutting out into a full pout. “What do you even see in this bottle blonde slut? Since when are you into Killian’s sloppy seconds?”

Okay, now she was going too goddamned far. I couldn’t believe the irony of being slut-shamed in a sex club! I put my hands on my hips and shot her a ferocious scowl. “Maybe everyone blowing you off isn’t a ‘me’ problem, but a ‘ you’ problem. If you can’t keep a man, that’s not my fault,” I retorted as I stepped toward her aggressively. I was getting pretty sick of this woman calling me a whore.

“You fucking bitch!” she screeched, stepping toward me, menace flaring in her amber eyes as she flung ten taloned fingers in my direction. Before I could react, a strong arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me off the ground and to the side.

“What the fuck is going on here?” A deep, familiar voice boomed behind me.