Chapter 14 #2
“Home?” She throws a glance at Cleo, who says nothing. “Um, what about Clee?”
Clee. Already.
Even though they barely know each other.
I don’t miss the way my little girl clings to Cleo’s hand or the way Cleo’s sitting, like her body can shield Kit.
The sight tears something loose beyond tendon and bone.
I grit my teeth together and breathe through my nose.
“I’ll stay with her until we figure something out. It won’t be long, no more than a couple hours. Hanging around this house isn’t an option. It’s been compromised. You’ll stay with Grandma and Grandpop until I’m done.”
“Okay.” She tilts her head, but Cleo gives her shoulder a little push.
“We’re good, sweet thing,” she murmurs. “Go pack.”
A headache gnaws my skull as Kit darts past and heads upstairs.
Cleo meets my eyes.
“You can stop beating yourself up now,” she says. “We’re still alive. No one got hurt.”
“Like hell,” I snarl, pinning my mouth shut. “I’ll have someone pick her up. I’m not leaving you alone here.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.” She gets up and steps forward, kneeling in front of me. Her little hand touches my knee and I wince, exhaling sharply. “It’s this, Holden. You. It would’ve been a lot worse if you weren’t around.”
“If you’re trying to make me feel better, stop. I let those assholes get away.” I tear myself away from her, pacing the room awkwardly.
All while my leg screams hellfire, more than I dare admit.
I hate looking weak. Especially in front of the woman I’m supposed to be protecting, who must smell it with every breath.
“I’m telling you the truth,” she whispers.
“You’re trying to make me feel better for a half-assed job. Thanks, but my ego will survive.” I stomp to the window and look outside.
The property is secure and the fog has lifted.
For now.
Ice cuts down my spine at the thought of what might happen next.
I lower my head, letting my forehead rest against the glass.
“Holden,” Cleo says behind me, closer now. “Nothing bad happened. You chased them out. We’re fine.”
I bite back the urge to tell her how not fucking fine it is.
She doesn’t need that.
What she needs is for me to snap the hell out of this haze and do my job just like I did when I was five years younger.
Like the time this punk who was upset over a real estate development in New York almost laid hands on Mr. Blackthorn. I had him on the ground just inches from the old man, tearing the knife from his hand.
I moved faster then. I neutralized threats swiftly and relentlessly. I didn’t leave loose ends.
“You’re so tense—and you really should get that knee looked at,” she says from behind me.
I say nothing.
I just stiffen as she slides her arms around my waist and presses her body against my back.
Damn.
She’s so small against me. If I were in a better mood, I might actually enjoy it despite knowing the risks with that very well.
“Cleo, what are you doing?” I whisper.
“Comforting you. What else?”
“Why?” I snarl.
“Because you’re stressed and tired and hurt.” She rests her cheek against my shoulder. “Because you deserve it for saving us.”
“I don’t deserve shit.”
“Yes.” Her arms never loosen. “Yes, you do, idiot. You can’t be perfect all the time with how unpredictable your career is. They didn’t get away hurting anyone or taking off with the Hera Egg. They lost.”
She shifts again, pressing her ample breasts against my muscle. Even though we’re both fully clothed and not facing each other, lust stabs through my pain.
God-awful timing.
I don’t need to be blueballed and horny on top of everything else.
“I’m fine, woman. Really. Start thinking where you’d like to go to get out of here and I’ll see if it’s an option.”
“You don’t feel fine.” Her thumb swipes my cheek.
I don’t know why she’s so determined to soothe me when it’s the last thing I want.
Hell, everything I want from Nile turns filthier by the day. Infinitely more devastating.
After I’ve tasted her—after I’ve had her mouthy lips on mine—I haven’t been able to pry her peach perfect ass out of my head.
Her lush thighs spread wide, grazing my cock like a feather.
My face between them.
Ripping pleasure from her lungs.
A prelude to pounding her through the nearest surface.
Fuck, I really have lost my mind in this shit show today.
“I have a thought,” she says, pulling back. “Come with me.”
“Clee—”
“Trust me.” She grabs my hand, wrapping it snug in both of hers and pulling. Going with her seems like a better idea than sulking in an empty room with the knee pain from hell, so I give in.
I also don’t think she’d take no for an answer.
She damn near drags me upstairs, not letting go for a second, not even when I have to gingerly take the steps up. I jerk free when she leads us through Leonidas’ old room, into the huge master bathroom.
“Nile, what the hell?”
“Strip,” she says.
I stare at her.
Whole lifetimes go by.
Am I hallucinating now?
She just stares back, two vast unblinking indigo skies. “I know your ears still work, mister. Do it.”
“What’s wrong with you—”
“Holy hell.” Rolling her eyes, she grabs my elbow and hauls me the rest of the way up. “Just your pants, Holden. Your knee, you’re bleeding.”
I look down.
Besides being a creaky bucket of rusty nails, my right knee is a mess of blood. I didn’t even notice.
Didn’t stop to look down when I changed before the cops showed up. Didn’t notice the dark stain slowly seeping through my pants.
“Let me help clean it. Sit down.” She walks over to fetch an old first aid kit from the cabinet that probably hasn’t been touched since her granddad was alive. “And stop glowering. I know you’re too stubborn to go to urgent care. If we just leave it, it could get infected.”
“I can clean a wound. Thanks,” I bite off.
She puts her hands on her hips and sighs.
“If you weren’t here for me, none of this would’ve happened. So let me help with the one little thing I can, okay? Humor me, Holden Hardass.”
I snort before I step into the massive walk-in shower and sit on the bench. Humor her, yeah.
“Haven’t heard that name since you kids used to shit-talk me behind my back.” I touch her face as she kneels next to me again, unable to help myself. “Clee, this isn’t your fault.”
“Maybe not, but I’m still responsible. It’s my inheritance and I accepted it.”
Fuck.
I scrape a hand over my jaw again. After this, I need an icy shower to kill this hard-on.
The second I take my pants off, she’ll know.
Maybe she already knows I want her, but I don’t need to broadcast it like a full gun salute.
“Pants off, my guy,” she insists. “You can keep your shirt on if you want, but someone needs to check out that knee. I can get a better view than you can. Deal?” She holds the first aid kit out of reach so I can’t grab it.
“Deal, damn you.”
It’s not like I have much choice.
I drop my pants and try to stare through her.
Good fucking luck with that.
She sucks in a breath and manages not to focus on the tent in my boxers. Somehow it feels more obscene than if I was butt-ass naked.
“That looks painful,” she says, dropping to her knees in front of me.
My knee.
She means my knee, for fuck’s sake.
Is there anything this woman can do that won’t turn me on?
I grit my teeth. “It’s not that bad,” I mutter.
I look down at the raw patch of skin, this ugly lattice with red clay blood oozing through small cuts.
“You’re lucky it’s not, but we’re not taking any chances. Hold still.” She rests a steady hand on my other knee as she cleans the scrape.
Her fingers feel my other knee, the one that’s not howling at me.
I wish it would.
Might stop the parade of despicable thoughts crowding my head.
The way I see her back under me.
Her sassy mouth engulfing my cock, sucking like it’s a chocolate strawberry.
I need to gag her, to make her deep throat me until her eyes roll.
My hands ball into fists at my sides. I force my fingers to release, splaying them against the cool marble.
“Sorry. This is gonna sting.” Her eyes flash as she dabs on disinfectant.
I welcome the way it foams, like someone spraying down the dumpster fire in my brain.
I hiss through my teeth, grateful it stops me from picturing her naked for ten whole seconds.
“Any swelling?” She gently touches my left knee, then the busted one.
Woman, are you blind?
I’m hard enough to drive fucking nails, thanks to you.
How she hasn’t commented on my dick straining tells me she really could’ve been a nurse. She prods at my knee gently and I flinch.
“Easy,” I snarl, shifting my leg away.
“What’s wrong? Is it deeper than the cuts?”
“Fucking arthritis,” I rasp, wishing I could manifest that word and choke it to death. “It’s been coming on for a little while now. Probably hereditary, my mom has it bad. Little pains. Random flare-ups. It’s been worse the past couple years, but never like this.”
Her brows pull together, and she still has her hands on me, stroking slowly. “I’m sorry, Holden.”
“It’s not your problem.”
“Is there anything you can do?” she asks softly.
“I’ve gotten a couple steroid shots, but they only help so much. They wear off fast in my line of work.” I shrug. “It’s just one of those things you push through. Until today, I managed.”
She cocks her head as she looks up at me, all bright cotton candy eyes and long lashes.
“It bothers you,” she whispers.
I hate the way she sees right through me.
“Unfortunately.” I clench my jaw. “It means I can’t do this job forever.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. I’m not useless yet, woman. I’ll still make sure I keep you and that treasure safe if it’s the last thing I do. Duty and all.”
“You need to stop saying that.” She reaches for the bandages. “I’m going to wrap this up.”
“Cleopatra. Shit, I can—”
“Don’t even think about it.” She pushes my hand away.
I’m silent as I watch her bind my knee. Her fingers feel so cool against my skin I don’t want her to stop.
Fucking hell.
With my hand over my face, I tilt my head back so I can’t see her, which makes the pressure of her fingers worse.
Every sense fires on high alert.
I don’t even know how my system does it after a night of little sleep and lingering adrenaline, hollowing me out.
Though I’m not feeling the side effects much now. I force my muscles to relax.
“Holden,” she murmurs.
“Yeah?”
“What are we going to do?”
Finally, a distraction.
I exhale a long breath before I answer.
“I don’t know.” I glance back down at her to find her still on her knees, staring up at me. “I need to get Kit home first. I can’t leave you or the egg. Not now. Then we’ll have to figure out a hotel, a rental house, something.”
“Yeah,” she agrees miserably. Her eyes go distant. “What if I just come with you?” she asks suddenly. “It’s closer and we’d be together. I doubt anyone knows where you live, at least not yet. You said we had to move, right?”
“It has to be somewhere secure. I take precautions at home. Got a basic Home Shepherd system installed, but hell, it’s not up to par for this.”
“Sounds overrated. All the fancy cameras and systems didn’t stop those guys from trying to break in.
The vault could’ve slowed them down, yeah, but if they came after us instead for the codes…
” She stands, rocking back on her heels.
I’ve never seen her look so serious. “Wouldn’t it be better to go somewhere they don’t know about? ”
I want to argue against it, but there’s no good counter when she’s right.
The crew that came after us knew about Leonidas Blackthorn’s main property, but that doesn’t mean they know about mine.
Also, it’s an old house in a dense neighborhood. Harder to stage a hard break-in without somebody else noticing.
Plus, I’ve deliberately kept my details hidden, out of public records as much as I can.
It would also save Kit from my mom’s subpar cooking. I hate that she still puts the effort in and too many meals turn out like crap.
Cleo sees me give in before I know it.
“Okay.” She smiles and nods politely. “I’ll go check on Kit and get packed too. Look after that knee, Holden Verity.”
Then she’s gone, sailing out of the bathroom.
I watch the switch and swish of her hips, wondering what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.