25. Raegan
Chapter twenty-five
Raegan
“Thanks for your help,” I murmur to Kellan as we walk side by side out of the back of Hype and into the alleyway.
After the little girl fell asleep in Portia’s bed, we decided it was best for Portia to look after her while Aiden arranges for a trusted contact to come pick her up. Portia can keep her calm, if need be, until then. It also means I can avoid going to the safe house and having to face Aiden. Or Dane. Or Jackson.
Apparently, only Kellan is safe right now.
The thought makes me laugh at myself. None of them are safe for me. I’m in trouble with each and every one of them. In multiple ways.
Kell crosses his arms and eyes me like he can pry the secrets from me with one look. “We had to come all the way out here for you to thank me?”
“No, but I didn’t want to wake the girl up.”
“And the hallway wasn’t good enough?” he asks with a raised brow .
I shake my head. “I wanted privacy too.”
I can hear how weak that sounds when we both know that my room is right next to Portia’s. It would have been no trouble to go there if privacy is all I wanted.
But my apartment is still a mess from last night. Glass litters the floor, as does broken décor and whatever else had been on most surfaces in the living area. Then there’s the missing half of my headboard that would raise questions.
He doesn’t prompt me again with words. Just a look.
“You’re hiding something,” he accuses.
I grab his shirt, and he willingly shifts closer at my nonverbal request. “I’m hiding a lot of things,” I purr.
His hands smack against the building on either side of me as he leans over me. “Yes, you are,” he agrees roughly.
My fingers glide through his hair and then I pull his head down to close the distance between us. He’s hesitant in the kiss at first, like he might try to pull away to finish our conversation, but I bite his lip hard enough to taste blood.
He growls and grabs the back of my neck in a bruising grip. His other hand rips at the button on my jeans and he slams me against the wall, his hand coming up just fast enough to cushion my head from what was likely to be a concussive blow.
The jarring motion shoots a thrill of excitement through me, and I grip his hair tighter. The knot in it loosens and tendrils start to fall around his face and my hands. His beard scratches and tickles across my face, and I suck on his upper lip and shiver at the feel of his stiff bristles against my tongue .
Kellan cups my sex, and I drop my head back to gasp for air. His mouth travels down my jaw and neck, marking me with teeth and hickeys that I know I’ll pay for later. His other hand starts rubbing and then sliding between my already wet pussy. He hisses when he feels me.
“So fucking wet. Is this for the danger or all for me?” he asks in a husky tone as his facial hair prickles up my neck to my ear.
My cunt clenches in response.
“You. Both. I don’t know.” I jerk my hips into his hand to seek more friction, and he chuckles. He knows exactly what I need, but he doesn’t change pace or stop his steady strokes from my entrance to my clit. I might go insane if I don’t get more.
I grab his wrist and try to grind better against him. His hand leaves my pants, and I whimper at the loss. He grabs my wrists in one hand, then shoves my pants and underwear down just below my ass.
Kellan drops to his knees and drags his tongue across my slick, then circles and sucks my clit so hard that I convulse against him.
“Fuck!” I cry out at the overstimulation and melt back into him as his tongue works miracles. My legs tremble, and I begin to sink down onto his face.
He pulls away just as I’m about to come, and I almost sob. He starts wrenching at my boots to come off, and I rush to help him rid me of them and my clothes. It doesn’t matter that we’re outside and someone could walk out of the building or down the alley.
Kellan throws my legs over his shoulders and hoists me up and back against the building, then buries his face between my legs again.
My calves tighten, and I grip his hair as moans rip from my throat. My entire body is taut as a bowstring and then it snaps. The orgasm explodes through me, taking anything and everything with it in a riptide.
“Fuck, that was beautiful.” Kellan shimmies me down until I’m straddling his suddenly bare waist and my arms are around his neck. He kisses me hard and fast, forcing me back against the building until there’s nowhere to run from him as he devours my pleasure.
He presses against my entrance and I push back into him, needing him inside me so I can feel complete. He thrusts inside in one fell swoop, flattening us against the building until he might come out the other side.
My arms and legs cling to him at the rigorous pace he’s set.
It’s hard and fast and everything I need.
I feel like I'll be swept away if I don’t hold on tighter to him. My face drops to his shoulder, and I bite down hard.
“That’s right, beautiful. Mark me as yours. Because you’re fucking mine, do you hear me? I’m not making the same mistake twice. Now, come for me again and strangle my dick with your sweet pussy.”
His words work like a charm, lighting me on fire and then throwing me off the cliff to spiral once more. My inner walls clamp down on him, and he curses and pushes through it until he slams into me one final time for his release.
I remain curled up over his shoulder as I catch my breath. The afterglow buzzes under my skin, and I smile into his shirt until his last words and their meaning filter back through.
He sets me down, but his hands don’t leave me. “No. Not again, beautiful. If this is going to be a recurring thing, then out with it so I can put it behind us.”
I grab my clothes to start pulling them back on. “There is no us, Kell. This is just sex. No mine. No yours. I don’t belong to anyone. If you can’t handle that, then this isn’t going to be a recurring thing.”
Kellan slams his fist into the building, and I jump. “Bullshit! You’re lying to yourself if you think we’re just fuck buddies.” He crowds me and grips my arms. “You’re throwing your walls back up because you’re scared. I don’t know what you think I’ll say or do if you tell me the truth, but I’m not going anywhere, beautiful. You’re not going to scare me away. Let me in.”
His blue-green eyes lock on mine with such openness and determination that I can’t look away.
“I can’t,” I whisper. His grip loosens, and I take that opportunity to duck away and run back into the building.
Cleaning my apartment as a distraction from Kellan doesn’t work the way I’d hoped. First off, the apartment is small and barely has anything in it, so it’s primarily me sweeping the broken things into the trash. Anything that’s larger that I can’t save or easily toss, I use my gift to destroy and sweep up the rest. Which means I’m now down a bedframe and headboard, but at least the reason isn’t as obvious as before.
The second reason it doesn’t work is that cleaning doesn’t require much thought and my mind keeps going back to the conversation anyway.
If Kellan thinks we’re in some sort of relationship, then I need to stop being with him. As soon as I have the congressman and Elias is back to watch Portia, I’ll be gone. I can’t be with anyone like that.
Besides, I have a mission.
My phone pings, and I check it, assuming it’s Portia. Jack’s name fills the screen instead, and I open the text.
Claudia is picking up the girl. She’ll take care of her.
If that message came from anyone else, I might not believe them. But if Jackson says she’s good, then I won’t question it.
I text Portia that I’ll be over in five, then finish getting ready and let myself into her apartment. She’s sitting in her butterfly chair with a pack of Twizzlers in her lap and a pair of earbuds in.
I frown and tug one of her headphones free.
“Listening to music like that while alone in your apartment isn’t a good idea when we’re still on high alert,” I chastise softly.
She peers at me. “Then how should I listen to music?”
I snag a Twizzler from her pack and flop down on her couch. “Keep a headphone out of one ear. Or listen to it through a speaker at a low volume so it’s just background noise but not so loud that you can’t hear someone in the hallway.
She scrunches her face. “I wouldn’t be able to hear the music at all if it’s that low. ”
“Then make sure I’m here with you when you want to listen to music. Did you even hear my text?”
She snatches her phone up to check it. Well, that answers that. “Claudia? Have you met her before?”
“No, but Jackson says she’s good and I trust him. Has she woken up at all?”
“No. I’ve checked on her a couple of times, but she’s completely out.”
“Poor girl is probably exhausted after everything she’s been through.”
A gentle knock echoes from the door, and I hop up from my seat. “I’ll get it.” I wrap my hand around my gun and flick the safety off. I open the door just enough to fit my head through, then fix my foot on the floor behind it to block it from being opened any further.
The woman standing there is tall and thin. Her long, dark hair reaches past her hips. She’s wearing jeans and a simple boat neck shirt. And while she does have some light makeup on, it looks natural and friendly. Her eyes twinkle when her lips lift into a smile.
“Hello there! I’m Claudia.” She extends her hand out to me.
I take it slowly. She gives me a firm, but short handshake. “May I come in? Aiden sent me and I think it’s best if we talk about what you need with some privacy. Are you Raegan or Portia?”
“Raegan,” I answer. “Did Aiden tell you what this was about?”
“He did.” Her eyes sweep over the apartment as she enters. “Is she here?”
“Isabel’s sleeping right now,” Portia says from her chair. “Are you going to be able to help her? ”
Claudia smiles warmly at her. “You must be Portia. You know, we could really use someone with your talents at the Guild. I heard how you were able to get the girl here without any trouble or causing more harm to her. That’s a real gift you have.”
Portia perks up in her seat. “What’s the Guild?”
The woman looks at me, but I shake my head. I don’t know much about it either, aside from Elias mentioning it that one time.
Her brow furrows, and she taps her finger against her chin as she seems to study us from a new perspective. “How do you know Aiden? I assumed you were prospective Guild members.”
“It’s a long story.”
“I see.” She nods. “Well, you could call the Guild a community of gifted people. It’s where we can be around others like us. It—Well, up until last night, it was a safe place where we didn’t have to worry about being hunted or used.”
“You mean the building that was attacked last night?” I ask to confirm. I thought it was a coincidence the guys lived in the same building that Elias had pointed out as the Guild. Businesses fill the first few floors and then apartments in the stories above.
“Yes, that’s right. Everyone who lived there is a part of the Guild.”
So the building was a hot spot for GE to attack and steal as many people as they could. “Where did everyone go after the attack?”
Claudia studies me for a moment. She must decide I’m trustworthy for some reason, because she tells me. “The bunker. There are floors underground that are more heavily guarded and can still fit everyone, though it’s tight. They will stay there until it’s safe to return to the Tower. Which won’t be long, I hear. Just a few more security precautions will be put in place.”
“So, what does Aiden have to do with the Guild?”
There’s a long pause before she answers. “He’s the Guild Master.” Portia and I stare at her blankly, and she adds, “The leader of the Guild. He runs it.”
Oh.
“He created it?”
“Well, not exactly. He took over when the man who started it was killed two years ago.”
Ah. “Gifted Enterprise?” I guess.
Her face pales. “No. Uh, you should really talk to Aiden about it. It’s not my place.”
“What's your place in the Guild?” Portia chimes in. I’m still trying to figure out why she’s so worried about telling me how Aiden became the leader of it. Did he kill the founder? Like a coup d’état? Is that how they have so much money for cars, a safehouse, and that fancy Loft? And where do the other guys fit in with this Guild?
“I’m the head of the rehabilitation team for gifted who were brainwashed or are suffering in any way from their time with GE.” Her smile returns while directing it to Portia. “Your gift would be really great on the team if you’d be interested.”
“Um…” Portia looks my way and then back to Claudia. “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”
“Of course. If you’re just finding out about the Guild now, then I’m sure you have more questions you’d like answered first. If you ask Aiden, he can fill you in or direct you to one of the board members.”
“Why isn’t Aiden staying with the Guild if he’s the leader? Are you sure he didn’t abandon you?” I cut in.
Her expression hardens. “Of course not,” she replies crisply. Like my insult to Aiden offended her on his behalf. “He recognized that they’ve become a target and is distancing himself to protect the rest of the Guild.”
Hm. Sure he is.
I know firsthand that he’s not above abandoning others to protect himself and his brothers.
“We all know that it’s a dangerous time for us now. GE isn’t the only group or people who are a threat to us. He’s doing his best to keep us all as safe as possible and we’re doing our best to support each other,” she continues. Then her voice lowers to a more serious tone. “I don’t think it’ll be long before the rest of the world knows about us at this point.”