Chapter Fourteen
Chance or Con?
_____________
Dante’s firm hands pressed down, gripping my torso, his thumbs brushing the underside of my breasts. I sighed as he gradually touched his lips to my bare sin, working his way from my shoulder, to my collarbone and finally up my neck to my jaw and resting tenderly on my chin. His eyes were dark, tantalizing and, as he shifted his body to cover mine, twin sparks of desire and mischief flared.
He kept my gaze in an unbreakable hold and bared his teeth, drawing my upper lip into his mouth. My back arched unwilling, bringing my body into contact with his hard lines. His tongue swiped my captured lip before he released it and kissed me properly. The pressure of his mouth on mine made me lightheaded and a soft moan rolled up my throat.
I woke up sweating and shivering.
What the fuck was that?
I glanced around the large room, annoyed by the grandeur of it. My back was aching from the softness of the mattress and the numerous bruises I’d acquired during the daytime. And I felt extremely hot. I kicked off the blankets and quilts and breathed in deep. That dream had been a first for me, I’d never really thought about a guy while I was in my bed at night, unless that guy happened to be with me, and I’d never gone further than an intense make-out session. The scene with Dante seemed like it was about to go a whole lot further.
“Shit,” I muttered, rubbing my hand over my face as I shifted my legs off the bed. There was no sunlight seeping in through the curtain so it must still be night. I grumbled to myself and pushed myself up, holding back a groan as nearly every muscle protested.
I stumbled throughout the household for a while before coming across a room containing weights and exercise machines. Blearily, I picked up several dumbbells differing in weight and lay back on the bench press. I used the heaviest of the ones I’d gathered and pushing them out in front of me was murder, though I managed. I worked eight reps before my arms went jello and refused to work anymore. Then I moved on to leg weights.
I was just finishing up one of my reps when I heard a sultry giggle and a responding husky order. I rolled my eyes and set the bar onto the stand, stretching upright and rubbing the area where my ribs ached painfully. I swallowed past the swelling in my throat as a girl wearing a sports bra and spandex ran into the room, grinning cheerfully. She saw me, clearly illuminated in the only lights turned on in the room, and raised a finger to her lips, signalling silence. I glanced over her tanned skin and pristine blonde hair and shrugged, turning back to my weights.
I was halfway down into a squat when Rowan burst in wearing nothing but light grey sweat pants. I watched through the mirror as he grabbed onto the half-naked girl and bit into her neck playfully. I closed my eyes and supressed a groan. I didn’t know if I wanted him to see me, and therefore make the situation more awkward, or if I wanted him to stay unobservant, which could lead to another awkward situation in which he got a little more intimate with his friend.
Dammit. What were the chances of me running into him? Did he even live here? Did I have the world’s worst luck lately?
“Rowan!” a very feminine voice squealed and then laughed softly. “Stop, stop, stop, there’s someone else in here.”
I wish there was a dark corner I could hide in. I set the bar down with a clink onto the metal hooks and grabbed the towel I’d been using to wipe sweat off my forehead and hands, whipping it over my shoulders so that it hung around my neck.
“Jax?” His voice was deep and rough with arousal.
I wiped the sweat off my face, composed myself, and turned to him. “Oh, good morning sunshine. Getting it in before you go out?”
The girl’s face reddened at my crude comment but Rowan was unaffected.
“You shouldn’t be in here.”
I purposefully glanced at the clock on the wall for several seconds and then back to him. “I’ll take note that this area is your sex haven from five to six in the morning.” I moved to one side of the bar I’d been using and grabbed the disc, sliding it off to put it away.
Out the corner of my eye, I took him take a step toward me. “No, I meant that I’m fairly certain that I heard you say that Dante told you to take a week off.”
I rolled my eyes and slammed the disc down onto the stack.
“Laker is so close to exiling you. If you injure yourself further, you’ll have no use to him.”
I threw up my hands, finally facing him properly. “Thank fucking goodness! Exiling me would be like setting me free!”
He folded his arms and even from a distance I felt the disapproval of his glare. Just because he humped Boey’s leg didn’t mean that everyone else did.
He stood rigidly as I put the last weight away and then pointed to the door. “No more. I don’t care if you think you can get your body through it, you’re just making your injuries worse. Go back to bed or something.”
I smirked. “Okay, okay, I’m out of here. I know you can only keep it up for so long.”
He sneered at me. “Oh, orphan, don’t start a game you can’t handle.” He inched his sweats down, the vee of his muscular abdominals seeming to act as an arrow to what he was alluding to revealing. His muscles tensed and he arched his back, bringing his hips forward. “Why don’t you stick around and join us. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t enjoy yourself.”
The egotistical, idiotic cock-head. I shook my head in disgust and distaste, staying on track towards the door. It was way too early to deal with his fucked-up personality.
“Okay, I can wait for another time so that we can have more private action.”
Why wasn’t his little fuck-buddy sticking up for herself? Or did she not care that a guy was trying to proposition someone else just before they screwed each other…
I palmed a small medicine ball and turned back to him. He grinned cockily and covered his package. I ditched the weight at his face and wasn’t surprised when he blocked it. But that meant he didn’t see the tennis ball I threw in quick succession. It hit him in the jewels with a slapping sound and was followed by a sharp intake of breath and a loud expletive. I skipped out, more than a little bit pleased with myself.
“Give me an excuse not to kill you.”
Rowan’s harsh threat resounded through the empty hallway. I turned my head and felt my blood run cold at the sight of his muscles bulging as his hand gripped the door frame. I should’ve guessed he had a fierce temper. When I fought with him, verbally or physically, it made me feel childish but the look in his dark eyes was extremely serious. I hardened myself, using all the training I had to stay calm. It was like having a spitting, snarling wolf an inch from your face and not flinching. He may not be baring his teeth but the killing intent was fairly obvious on his face.
“An empty threat, Pierce,” I grunted. “Your boss would disapprove.”
“If you weren’t so goddamn hostile, you’d be so much further up than you are now. Now, you’re gonna be watching your back when the boss no longer needs you around.”
Why did everyone feel the need to have a go at my personality lately? At least I didn’t pretend to be happy with my situation.
“When the boss no longer needs me, I’ll be ten miles out of town and doing my own thing.”
He reeled in his temper, suddenly frighteningly calm. I couldn’t tell if he’d dampened the fire or just hidden it.
“That’s the second time you’ve hinted at leaving the gang. I know your mummy didn’t really get a chance to tell you but the only time you leave, Jax, is when you die.”
I glared at him. “At least being executed for leaving would involve me making a choice for myself.”
Honestly, I shouldn’t be revealing my insecurities and ideas to Rowan. It was like telling the boss I was about to kill his brother. He could have me locked up just for hinting.
He stared at me for a moment and then waved his hand, gesturing for me to leave. “I don’t know why I should even stop to care. If you want to get yourself killed, please hurry and do it soon.”
“Oh, okay, thank you for your permission.” I bowed mockingly to him.
He raised an eyebrow. “Anytime.”
**
Driving with Pulse to school was a relief. I didn’t run into Rowan after the 5am meeting but just knowing he was in the same residence made my skin crawl. After several minutes of silence, Pulse dropped me off at the gates before going to find a park. I walked into school and was immediately the centre of attention. Everyone stared and started up conversations in which the topic was obviously me. Despite the fact that I enjoyed being acknowledged, I was not comfortable with their smirks.
I found out why when Char snubbed me in class. I’d forgotten about our argument yesterday. It was better this way though, I wouldn’t have to skirt around her. She looked at my black bracelet with a ‘serves-you-right’ look. I didn’t know how to react so I just sat in my usual seat and waited. When my bracelet contracted with a loud beep I felt like burying my head into my arms with embarrassment. If I had my choice, I would repeat yesterday exactly the same as I had, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed the consequences. The damn thing didn’t even allow for bathroom breaks so I sat in frustrated wait until the end of the first lesson, scarpering to the nearest ladies when the chime rang.
Upon, ah, completion, I exited my stall and had to awkwardly wash my hands while a girl primped and reapplied make-up. As I was shaking my hands dry, I looked up and our eyes caught in the mirror.
“Jax.”
It wasn’t a question or a clarification. It was like she was some kind of captain about to riff off a briefing.
“Uh, yeah?” I stood uncomfortably with my hands dripping into the sink.
“Your parents. They were part of a rebellion, right?”
Oh fuck, was this chic a part of that crummy group? Did I have to start work now? I didn’t want to investigate and be all undercover while my hands were wet and I could smell all the shit that had gone down in this bathroom.
“Yeah.” I muttered, pretending to be a little irritated and embarrassed. “Sorry for not being a perfect groupie.” I slammed the faucet off and nearly grinned as she lifted her hand to stop me from passing by. I was a shit actor so what did that make her? Fucking gullible.
“I know you were a kid at the time, but they must’ve raised you right.”
Raised me right? I didn’t remember much of them, not that I spent much time reminiscing.
“We can’t talk to you out in the open, it’s obvious that you’ve slipped up enough times that the Boss has a close eye on you. We’d appreciate all the help we can get though.”
Okay, so here came the hard part… “You, you’re fighting back?” It was hard to sound excited when I wanted to laugh. Hopefully she saw it as me trying to control my enthusiasm.
She gave me a very serious look. “Of course. Life was a whole lot better in the days we had proper governments and laws. We were advancing as a race and now we’re reversing evolution.”
I thought about the Three Big Wars that occurred before governments were broken down. Decisions were made by the wrong people for the wrong reasons. At least Boey knew that if he made a bad decision, he’d be killed. Sure, it was majorly flawed, but resistances were idiotic. Sometimes the past should just be forgotten. Deal with what you have.
“You’re right, of course you’re right,” I gushed, suddenly pretending to wary of an invisible eavesdropper. “I’ve talked about it with… ah…” And now I was suddenly untrusting.
“We can continue this another time…” she trailed off.
“Yes,” I said, jumping on this chance. This was all rather too easy.
“Okay, so me and the guys will be waiting for you by the back gate after school.”
I nodded sharply. Was there going to be an initiation? A test? Was this perhaps a trap? The girl left and I dried my hands off. This was going to be fun, I could just sense it.
** **
“You’re pulling my fucking leg,” Pulse growled as he waited for me to clear my locker. He’d been breathing down my neck since I’d told him about the bathroom meeting.
“For the last time, Pulsifer, the girl just up and filled me in. You and I both know she’s got to be the world’s biggest idiot but this is an in and I am jumping on it, even if it is some kind of trap. I want to get this goddamn job over and done with so that I can continue my life.”
He snorted. “Your ‘life’…”
I swatted his arm and lifted my heavy backpack over my shoulder. He held his arm and gave me a pained expression but ruined it with a smirk.
“You can come or you can stay.” One of the first years kids began to approach me but froze when I glared at him. If you weren’t brave enough to ignore the look, you weren’t worth my time anyway.
“I’m not letting you go and bungle this, that’s for sure,” he muttered, sneering at the kid who had backed off.
I snapped my fingers together with a small smirk, an attempt to degrade him as he seemed to constantly do the same to me. “Well, come along then, pup.”
He simply chuckled and fell into step beside me. He pulled out his phone, fiddling with it for a moment before holding it out to me. I glanced at the screen and saw Dante’s contact details.
“What? I already have his number on my phone,” I said, confused. Pulse had a mouth, why the fuck didn’t he use it?
He pressed the ‘call’ button and shook the handset at me. “Tell him you won’t be at your residence on time today.”
I snatched the phone out of Pulse’s hands with a glare. First Dante declares he’s my boyfriend and now his brother labels him as some kind of watchdog? Would he be waiting at Laker’s gates, his tail wagging right now?
“Hey dipshit, you on your way home?” Dante’s unamused voice came through the speaker as I held it up to my ear.
“You gotta help me,” I said softly into the mike, narrowing my eyes at Pulse. “Your brother has fucking kidnapped me and I have no idea where we are going…”
Pulse snorted but didn’t seem nonplussed.
“Jax? So, you’re on your way home?”
I rolled my eyes. Okay, so it had been a pretty obvious prank but he could’ve played along for just a moment.
“No. I’m not. I will be late. I hope that the delay won’t piss you off.”
His sigh floated through the speaker. “Well I’m glad Pulse had the sense to make you call. Are you going to do something stupid?”
“Yes.”
There was silence for a very long time. In fact, Pulse and I were close to the back of the school by the time he said anything.
“Put Pulse on.”
I opened my mouth to argue mindlessly with him, just because I was in that kind of mood, but decided against it. I moved my shoulders in a shrug he couldn’t see and tossed the phone to Pulse.
“What’s up big brother?” Pulse glanced at me. “Noo, big brother… Later… Yes… Love you too.” He winked at me and hung up, tucking the handset into his pocket. “Well, let’s do this thing.”
I was curious about the one-sided conversation, and maybe if I were fitter at the moment, I would have tried to force it out of him, but right now I had to settle for not knowing.
After this morning’s rude awakening, I’d been thinking about Dante a little too much. It was damn infuriating and it was all because of that first stupid kiss.
I saw the bathroom girl. We made eye contact. She nodded us over. Or just me. She was frowning at Pulse and I could understand why.
“Look, I know that you approached me and me alone but I don’t trust you…” I narrowed my eyes at her. “And Pulse is the only person I trust around here.”
“We know nothing about him.” She bit into her lip and glanced at the back gate. It took every ounce of my inner strength not to follow her gaze and search out the contact she was eyeing. “He’s new.”
“He left his old gang for a reason,” I whispered, looking around for eavesdroppers.
“I get that I’m an unknown but the only reason I came to this gang was because the biggest resistance occurred in this area and I know that there are more survivors hidden around the neighbourhood that can help me.” Pulse rested his forearm on my shoulder and leaned forward, no doubt giving her a desperate look.
He was heavy.
“It doesn’t matter.” I didn’t jump and neither did Pulse but he did lean on me a little harder when the deep voice sounded from behind us. “You two won’t be meeting anyone important anywhere secret. You gotta work your way up but that’ll take a long time. We’ll have more information on him by then.”
I turned, relieving myself of Pulse’s weight in doing so, and came eye-to-eye with a frightfully pale skinned man. Boy. Man. He had to be at least on the verge of adulthood but that did not explain the yellow school bracelet wrapped around his wrist which was obvious to me as his arms were folded over his chest. He was built, block and barrel-chested and the lightness of his skin gave him the look of a statue, his frosty blue eyes the only real colour in his features. Even his hair was near white.
“I’m not risking myself in this group just to be made a runner or errand girl,” I said with a scowl.
He grinned, more of a leer really, and leaned towards me. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep you out of the spotlight. No one will know about you. It’s not like you’d be able to handle yourself in an open fight.” He pointed to the bruising around my neck, a reminder, and I grimaced.
“We want to be doing something,” Pulse growled.
The ghost-man glared over at him. “You can join us, or you can continue doing your own little duet and dream of bigger things.” He looked over our heads to the girl behind us. “Mary, hand them their tech.”
Mary. Shit, I bet her parents were the reason she was so out-dated, believing in governments and all that crap. Who named their kid Mary?
She pulled out two baggies from her backpack. What the…? Did they come prepared or what? I mean, it would’ve been plausible if they had one bag in there for me, seeing as they’d have likely talked about recruiting me earlier, but two? Did they recruit people at random? Was this some kind of practical joke the boss was setting up with me?
I opened mine up when it was handed to me and took in the cell phone, headset, palm computer and several bugs. I looked up at Mary and then raised an eyebrow at the ghostly manboy.
“You know where I’m staying at the moment, right?” I asked drily.
The ghost frowned. “Yes, we’re not stupid.”
“You know that if Laker finds these bugs on me, or anywhere around the house, not only am I dead, but he will trace this shit back to you.”
He shook his head. “First of all, it won’t be traced back anywhere but some warehouse in Japan that is very abandoned right now. Secondly, you won’t be so stupid as to get caught with them. Wire yourself, or find a damn good hiding spot.” He glowered at me like I was the stupid one.
“Boey Laker is meticulous,” I hissed. “There is no damn good hiding spot. And I’m not walking around with a bug up my ass just so that you can hear shit.”
He poked me in the chest. Like, actually touched the tip of his finger just above my cleavage. I am going to kill this fucker.
“You’re telling me that he’s gonna know you got one of them bugs attached to your bra? You that close to him, huh? He’d notice even the slightest bump around that area, huh?”
With every huh he poked me again. Before his death, I would break every small bone in his hands.
“He has sensors around the house,” I muttered, trying not to show my intent.
His fucking finger moved upward and he lifted my chin. “Then you find out where they are and you avoid them. Think smart now, girl. I was hoping you’d be a bit more eager.”
I was angry enough that I didn’t have to act. “What I hope is that I’m not making a fucking mistake teaming up with a bunch of amateur dipshits who think they have a chance of eavesdropping on the boss in his own fucking house!”
His hand moved down and for a second I thought he was going to be stupid enough to trail his fingers across my bruised neck. Luckily for him, Pulse knocked his hand away.
“We’ll work on getting some recorded conversation to you,” Pulse muttered coldly. “And we’ll do it in a way that won’t get us caught. But you make sure to tell whoever you take orders from that he needs to send someone else to be our contact. Because I wanna see someone who can keep their temper in check-” he glanced at Mary, “-and someone who isn’t passive.”
“Well good-fucking-luck,” jeered the pale guy. “You can’t deal with us, you keep to yourselves.”
“Just fucking tell them,” glowered Pulse, slinging his arm over my shoulders. “And we’ll get something for you to talk about.”
He pulled me along and I let him. I was insanely close to hurting someone and I was in no way in the right shape to start something.
“If we don’t meet anyone else,” he whispered in my ear, “I am calling this off with just those two as leads. We’ll get nowhere with that stubborn jackass and that timid girl won’t have the balls to give us an opening.”
I grunted. His words were penetrating my rage but I was barely registering them. I needed to find out that transparent freak’s name and then order a hit on him. And then carry out the hit myself. With a fucking baseball bat. He dared to fucking touch me and poke me.
I felt Pulse push me into the car, ducking my head in time to avoid a blow. I folded my arms and slumped in the seat. I couldn’t even work off the anger for fear of Dante’s wrath. He’d probably kiss me to death. Oh damn, I wanted that.
There was something wrong with me.
Pulse turned the car’s engine on and swerved away from the curb in seconds. He glanced at me and shook his head.
“We’re lucky you held back. I don’t know why Laker would want you on this case. I mean, you’ve said it yourself several times. All you do is shoot. Why the fuck is he training you up for undercover shit? You need to be at a distance, not up close.”
“Don’t ask me,” I spat harshly. “Maybe he wants me to fail just to give me a ginormous boot up the ass. So I know my true value.”
Pulse was driving pretty recklessly but I didn’t care. I was relieved when we pulled up to the massive gates of the boss’s house. I didn’t even say goodbye, just wrenched the door open and stormed up to my room. Dante was sitting at my desk and that was fucking perfect. I strode up to him and grabbed him by the collar. It was his fault I’d been so amped up today and he was going to help me work it out.
Before he could say a word, I tugged him toward me and crushed my lips into his.