Chapter 14
Dosimetry
Zoe
Max takes my arm as we exit the limo, and I’m stunned by the amount of camera flashes. I knew the Karma Boys were known for their philanthropy as much as organized crime, but I didn't know they’d be such a big deal at a wing opening for an art museum.
The cameras are flashing bright and there are people screaming for our attention.
I’m frozen in place. The flashing lights are triggering an old memory of my father shocking me during torture training.
I can feel my throat starting to close. As if Max can sense the panic, he signals for his brothers to shield us from the chaos.
“Breathe.” Max coos. The gentleness in his tone is what pulls me out of the drowning panic, and I look up at him.
Our eyes lock for a moment and I realize we are completely covered by the other three.
Dean is the one closest to me, ensuring that I am completely blocked from view.
“Breathe, Harpy. I know what PTSD is when I see it. We will talk about this later.” He speaks.
“But for right now, you just need to breathe. Focus on the mission and get your head in the game.” His voice is sterner now, making me feel less vulnerable than I did just moments ago.
I nod, “Okay, I’m fine.” I say, more so to convince myself than him.
“Great, now pull it together. We have a job to do.” He grips my chin and gives me a single nod with a tight-lipped smile.
I take a deep breath and nod back; I pat on Dean’s shoulder to get him to disperse with the other two. I can do this, I know I can. My father is dead. I killed him, and he can’t hurt me anymore. I was his destruction, and he will never touch me again.
I step out of the bubble they had created for me, arm in arm with Max.
With my new found confidence I square back my shoulders and lift my chin, giving each camera lens a bright smile.
I play into the dating role and give Max some doe eyes in a few photos.
That’ll hold over the paparazzi for the time being.
We finally made it into the museum. My heels click gently on the marble floor, and you can hear the hum of “Black Magic Woman'' by VCTRYS playing in the background. Almost at once I notice Jax standing at the bar with two other men I don’t recognize.
My body goes on alert immediately. Before we get too far Brandon pulls behind a pillar from any watching eyes.
“This is an earpiece; you shouldn’t be able to see it because, well, it is going to go in your ear.” He says as he grabs my left ear lobe.
“In? Ow!” I yelp when a sharp stab goes through my ear lobe. “What the hell, did you just pierce my fucking ear?” I smack his shoulder.
“Yes,” he only shrugs as he inspects his damage. “There isn’t any blood, your ear is just a little red. You’re good to go.” He smiles when he lands a light smack on my ass cheek. He saunters off with a wink.
Bastard.
I roll my eyes and make my way back towards Max when a low voice comes through the ear piece. “Testing, this is Dean. Can you hear us?” His voice makes me jump a little, but I correct myself quickly.
“Yes, do I just talk or?” I whisper, as I glance over to where Dean and Teddy are standing.
“There is a mic in the necklace. It'll record everything live so we can hear what you can hear. We are just in your ear so we can warn you if needed,” he explains.
“We can all talk to you, little devil.” Teddy’s voice comes through the earpiece, and I blush. So much movement has happened since what transpired in the back of the limo, and I haven’t had a chance to fully grasp the mess I just created.
“Remember, I told you to work on that poker face, Princess,” chimes Brandon, “How are we going to get this job done when you have fuck-me-eyes all night?”
I turn to growl at him, but he is no longer in sight. However, I can feel his eyes on me, they always are. Always watching, always learning, always observing. I should’ve known he could get off watching what Teddy and I did.
Now is not the time to relive what happened in the limo, focus you slut!
I link my arm back into Max’s as we make our way through the museum. He is unnervingly charming. Every woman we pass by is ogling at him, as if they could just melt for him. I can’t help but roll my eyes when a grown woman giggles over him barely even glancing at her.
“Jealousy looks good on you, Princess.” I hear Brandon whisper in a voice so low it sends shivers down my spine. But I try to ignore the tingles lighting on fire under my skin.
Okay, so getting off did not solve this problem.
Max chuckles and leans in to whisper to me, “Ignore them for now, Harpy. They can entertain you at home if your cunt is so needy.”
I freeze and blink up at him. I swear I can feel my jaw drop so hard there is a crater in this floor.
His filthy words awaken a pulse between my thighs that I can’t ignore.
I tighten my legs around each other, stopping our advancing towards the showroom.
“You cannot say things like that.” I grumble.
“Why is that?” He furrows his brows.
“Because I need to focus, and this is all very distracting.” I admit, pride be damned.
He only chuckles and tugs on my arm to continue our walking. We say brief hellos to another couple and Max brings us to a table with our names on them. He takes a seat but stops me before I do.
“Darling, can you grab me a whiskey from the bar please?” He asks.
I almost get offended when I realize why he is steering me away from him and towards the bar. Jax. I start to walk towards the bar when Jax’s eyes land on my body. He takes his time roaming from my heels, up the length of my legs and of course he just stops at my breasts, never meeting my eyes.
I don’t say anything to him, I only lean into the bar to call out an order to the bartender.
“I don’t know you.” Jax says, and I finally turn my head his way.
He’s an attractive guy, in an Old Navy model sort of way. Not hard to look at, but not something I'm dying to jump on.
“No, you don’t.” I say coldly.
“Well, why not?” He smiles, accepting this challenge.
“I don’t typically attend events like this. Pretty stuffy and the view is never great.” I look him up and down.
“Damn.” Brandon says in my ear, and I fight back a smirk. “I’d simply crawl on my knees for you if you looked at me that way.”
Jax gives me a playboy chuckle, dragging me back to the current conversation, and his eyes finally land on mine instead of my breasts, “I see you came with the Karma brothers, what is a good girl like you doing with a group like them?”
“Who says I’m good?” I wink over my drink and take a fake sip, not letting the liquid hit my tongue.
I already saw him sneak in a powder while I wasn’t paying close attention. “Are you saying you like to be bad?” He asks.
I take a step closer to him, letting my breasts brush against his chest. Sneakily I let one hand cup him from the outside of his pants.
This distracts him enough that I can start to unravel the vile that Brandon gave me earlier.
“I’m saying that if you’re never bad, you never get punished.
And what’s the fun in that?” After I whisper my words to him, I lick a line across his neck as I pour the vile in his cup.
“Bingo.” says Brandon, and I can hear the pride in his tone.
“Let’s take this out back, for some privacy,” asks Jax.
I nod, but before we can walk off, he stops me and says, “Let’s not let our drinks go to waste. Bottoms up.” He says, downing his before I even bring my glass to my lips.
“I’m just a little dizzy is all.” I say, slightly leaning against the bar and holding my head. I can see the twinkle in his eye when he thinks he has me fooled.
“Then just finish your drink and we can head outside for fresh air.” He suggests and I nod. This time I bring the glass to my lips as I step to my left to cross paths with another party goer, who completely rails into me. Making me drop my glass and spill the tainted drink.
“Oh shit. I am so sorry!” I say clutching the woman who bumped into me and making sure there was no actual harm done to her. When I see she is all clear I look over at Jax who seems to be getting affected by the poison pretty quickly.
“Please, take me outside, I need to get out of here for a few minutes.” I whine, giving an Oscar-worthy performance as I subtly clutch my stomach.
Jax gives me a relieved nod and starts leading us toward the west exit.
“Dean is out that door, and the van that was waiting has already been taken care of. You just need to get him outside; Teddy is on the roof and Brandon will follow out shortly.” Max informs me in my earpiece, neglecting to tell me where the hell he is.
I slightly bob my head, so he knows I heard him.
“I am so sorry, I just don’t feel so good.” I fake wobble in my heels and lean onto Jax.
We reach the door, and he has me exit before him, “Don’t worry you’ll feel better real soon.” He coos.
“I’m sure I will.” I stand up straight and face Jax head-on, all signs of illness gone from my body. He looks confused and goes to turn back towards the door, but there is Max guarding the door. He followed behind us.
“Where were you planning on taking this lovely woman?” Max asks, leaning his head to the side.
“She didn’t seem so well, boss. I was just taking her out for fresh air.” Jax is sputtering over his words, and you can see the oral-paralytic in the poison starting to take effect as he begins to slur. “It’s not wh-what it looks l-like.”
“Are you sure?” asks Dean, making me jump because despite his size I didn’t see him lurking in the shadows. “Because it looks like you were bringing Miss Zoe out here to meet with known Cambions, not to mention the drug you dropped in her drink.” He tsks his tongue three times.
“That is what it looked like.” Brandon appears walking down the alley way.
“Do you know who Miss Zoe really is?” Max steps in close, hovering over Jax’s shorter frame.
“What d-do y-y-you me-eannn..” Jax is starting to realize that he himself has been drugged and his panic is almost palpable.
He stumbles to the ground and Teddy appears suddenly, dropping down from somewhere above us.
All I can do is shake my head at his crazy ass.
So much crazy in such a delicious package.
“Care to share with the class, little devil?” Asks Teddy. For a brief second, I thought he could read my thoughts, but I soon realized he was talking about my identity.
I love this part, so I kneel in front of where Jax has fallen and I whisper, “I’m the fucking Sparrow.”
I see the terror flash in Jax’s eyes, but I only get to revel in it in a second before Dean clocks him in the back of the head and he collapses.
I smack my lips and stand quickly. “So that’s how you knocked me out the first time, huh?” I ask, now slightly pissed. “And you took away my moment, did you see that? He looked so scared!” I stomp my foot, not caring how childish it comes off.
Dean ignores me and picks up Jax’s limp body, hauling him over his shoulder. Max and Brandon follow behind Dean, but Teddy stays next to me.
“Don’t worry, little devil. That’s how they look at me too.” He drapes his coat over my shoulders and wraps an arm around my waist. “Don’t be sad. We get to play with him all night.”