Chapter 17 Rob
ROB
“There are no trackers on us,” I said as I paced the latest hotel. We were in Vegas now, and the hope was that no one would be stupid enough to attack us in such a nice building.
I highly doubted that was true, but I’d run with the theory until proven otherwise.
“You can’t be sure,” Sinner said.
“We checked. Every fucking inch is clear.”
“Hairline?” Derek asked.
“Checked.”
“Scrotum?”
I rolled my eyes. “That was the first place I looked.”
“What about—”
“Every fucking inch,” I reiterated. “I’m telling you, there’s no tracking on us.”
“Then how do you explain how the hell they’re finding you?” Derek snapped.
I ran my fingers through my hair, gripping tight to feel the pain burn through my scalp. “I don’t fucking now. None of this makes sense.”
“You need to call Cash again.”
“He can’t tell me anything,” I told Sinner. “He only saw us running out.”
“Then we have to assume that Krista was part of the trafficking ring. You somehow found her and got her out.”
I thought about it, but that didn’t ring true. “There were no markings on her. Nothing that would indicate she’d been kidnapped.”
“Other than the massive memory loss,” Derek retorted.
“But I have that, too. Do you really think they drugged her, and then as I rescued her, they shot me with a dart of drugs?”
“Did you have a tox screen run?” Sinner asked.
“No.” Sighing, I slumped down on the couch. “At the time, I thought I just drank too much. Now, nothing will show in my system.”
“That you know of,” Derek said. “Only one way to know for sure.”
He motioned for me to sit up, then walked over with the med kit. Better than any hospital, this device could run blood cultures faster than any lab. It was James Bond-level shit, and we now equipped them in every vehicle.
Rolling up my sleeve, I waited as he jabbed me with the unusually large needle, taking way too much pleasure as I winced in pain.
“Suck it up, buttercup.”
“Maybe if you didn’t stab me with so much glee, it wouldn’t hurt so much.”
“Stabbing you is the only pleasure I’ve had in days. Your woman walked in on me just as I was about to rescue Claire. It totally killed the mood.”
The machine beeped, and Derek’s eyebrows went sky high as he looked at the results. “Somebody’s been a bad boy.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t know you were into drugs. Rohypnol, benzos, and a host of other illegal drugs that are sure to fuck you up. Do you remember coming down from anything?”
“Anything, like what?”
“PCP, meth, GHB…”
“I think I would know if I had been on any of those.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me. “You can’t tell me where you were for days.”
That was true. “I don’t remember anything except waking up with a massive headache. And it hasn’t gone away yet.”
“At all?”
“Still pounding. Still fucking with my head,” I grumbled.
“That’s not normal.”
I glared at him. “Thanks for the heads up. I had no idea.”
“Hey, I’m just saying—”
“Could be a new cocktail,” Sinner cut in, his feet propped up on the table as he stared through a kaleidoscope. “We are in Vegas. God knows what they have on the streets.”
“We should retrace your steps,” Derek suggested.
“Don’t remember,” I said slowly. “How the hell do we retrace our steps if neither of us remembers anything about being here?”
“Something has to trigger a memory. We’ll start by asking at the front desk. You’re the one who picked the hotel. Maybe it was your subconscious telling you to remember being here.”
It was worth a shot. “Krista stays behind.”
Derek huffed out a laugh at that. “Sure. I’d like to see you tell her that.”
“It’s safer. This is Vegas!”
“Yeah, and if they came after us everywhere else we stopped, they’ll come after her here. Only you won’t be there to protect her.”
God, I really fucking hated that he was right. “Fine.”
“Go take a shower. You smell like a burning building. I’ll have a suit sent up for you,” Derek said.
“I fucking hate suits.”
“Suits help you blend in. It’s Vegas. You need to play the part.”
“And Krista?”
A wicked grin crossed his lips. “Don’t worry. I’ve got the ladies covered.”
I didn’t like the sound of that at all, but he was right. We needed to look like we were supposed to be here as opposed to tourists wandering around. Maybe it would make whoever was after us second-guess who we were.
Then again, probably not, but it was worth a shot.
Opening the door to our wing of the suite, I came to dead halt the moment I saw Krista in a silk robe, rubbing lotion on those gorgeous legs. Fuck, every time I looked at her, I just wanted to fuck her. Which was bad. We were here to find out who was after us, not get our rocks off.
Clearing my throat, I strode inside, pretending to ignore her. “Derek is sending up clothes for us. We need to walk around, see if anything triggers a memory.”
“Okay,” she shrugged, rubbing lotion into her hands.
Groaning, I walked over to her, refusing to touch her. “I need you to stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Doing that!”
She glanced down at her hands, then back at me. “Putting on lotion?”
“Putting on lotion enticingly.”
She looked at her hands again. “All I’m doing is rubbing it in.”
“And you’re doing it temptingly! Don’t you see what you’re doing?”
“Um…not really.”
I turned and stalked away from her, shoving my fingers through my hair in frustration. This woman, she was going to be the death of me.
“Look, you’re a very…tempting woman. You look…hot. You can’t just walk around doing sexy things!”
“Like putting on lotion,” she said slowly.
“Like doing anything. Every fucking thing you do makes me want to bend you over the couch and take you!”
She was as quiet as the dead, but me? I was a wreck inside, desperate to fuck her again.
“Is that all?”
“Is what all?”
“I mean, you just want to bend me over the couch. Is that all?”
“Isn’t that enough?” I snapped. “Do you have any idea the havoc you’re wreaking on my cock? There’s no thinking straight when I’m around you!”
A little line of wrinkles appeared between her eyes as she cocked her head at me. “When you’re with me…do you think of other things?”
“Like what I’m going to do to you next? All the fucking time.”
“No, I mean…” Frustrated, she turned away from me. “I mean, do you think of other things. Besides sex.”
“Never,” I swore. “All I think about is being inside you.”
God, was that my voice? It sounded so rough and desperate.
What I thought was the perfect answer seemed to disappoint her. She almost looked sad, and I didn’t understand that. Wouldn’t she be happy that I was only thinking about her, and the next time I could fuck her?
“We should get ready, I guess,” she smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She looked sad, but I didn’t get it. Why would she be disappointed that I wanted her all the time?
“So, where are we going?”
Right, down to business so she could get back to her life. It made sense. She would want to get back to her small town, with her small town gossip and all the trappings that went along with it.
And that sent a shot of pain through my chest. Not that I expected her to want to be with me.
After all, I was just some IT guy she met one night in Vegas.
We had great sex, but I wasn’t the kind of guy she wanted.
I didn’t ride a horse or know anything about a ranch. I liked adventure and excitement.
But there was a part of me that looked at the guys around me every day and wished that I could find the same thing they had.
A woman to come home to at the end of the day.
A family that I could spend Christmas with.
Little kids jumping on me first thing in the morning, nailing me in the balls because their little knees land in just the perfect spot.
That was the fantasy, the thing every one of my friends had that I had yet to find. And I was beginning to doubt I ever would.
“What?” Krista asked, her brows pinched questioningly.
“Nothing. I was just…trying to figure out how we met.”
“Well, clearly, we met at my brother’s wedding.”
“It just wasn’t memorable,” I smiled, though it felt half-hearted.
Just like every other woman in my life, they took one look at me and moved on. I wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe I sent off some kind of vibe. Maybe all they saw was muscle, and assumed I was an idiot.
In fact, I was a fucking geek when I was a kid, more interested in computers than anything else. I had glasses and braces…and I wore suspenders. But I grew into my gangly arms and legs, started working out in the gym, and eventually ditched the glasses for contacts.
I became someone I was happy with. Women started noticing me, and for once, I had dates. Got my first blowjob. Had sex with a beautiful woman.
But that’s where it all ended, because no one ever wanted more from me.
And it would be no different with Krista.
“I should take a shower,” I muttered, moving past her.
“Sure.” She grabbed my hand as I passed, her face pulled down in a frown. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course,” I grinned.
And then I walked away because staring at something you could never have was just depressing.