Elite Metal-ARE-epub (20 page)

He heard movement behind him and Steele joined him at his side. Chrome looked behind him and Poppy and Alayna stood right outside the door.

“I fucking hate that they had to pick her up.” Steele’s vehemence caught him off guard.

Something Chrome hadn’t even thought of popped into his head. “They didn’t drug her did they? If they hurt her so help me…”

Steele clapped him on the back and squeezed his shoulder. “I heard Poppy give the order. Cammie knew they were coming. As long as she followed orders they weren’t supposed to drug her, nor scare her. Well. At least not any more than she would be anyways when a group of men she doesn’t know shows up in fucking ski masks to haul her to a compound she’s not supposed to know anything about.”

“What’s the deal with them anyways? The guys in black. Lap dogs for Warbucks obviously, but who are they? Why the masks?”

Another ghost exited the van on the side closest to Chrome and Steele. The ghosts helped a blindfolded Cammie from the van. Her wrists were bound with what looked like black leather cuffs and Chrome’s dick couldn’t help but jerk in appreciation.

Concentration made him sweat to keep his reaction to seeing her bound in check.

He nearly cursed when the cuffs were removed.

Because they were being taken off, or that they weren’t his to begin with, he didn’t know. He shoved his lust down for the woman and stepped forward.

“No clue. I’ve pumped Poppy for info several times and she’s not giving up any info on them. Nothing. There’s something about them I don’t like though.”

Chrome didn’t have time to respond because one of the ghosts led Cammie over to them.

“She’s all yours,” his gravelly voice offered and then he turned around, got back in the van, the other guy had already climbed inside. That was it. They closed the door and left the way they came.

That’s at least what Chrome thought happened. He didn’t really care. Cammie stood in front of him. Her lips slightly apart. Breaths shallowly filling her lungs as she clutched her arms tightly across her chest.

Before he could stop himself he pushed the blindfold from her eyes.

Her lids fluttered and she swayed to one side.

Chrome steadied her by her shoulders and couldn’t help but hold on as she tried to clear her vision and focus on him.

Her gasp shocked him and he tried to convince himself to let go but just couldn’t do it. She took a half a step closer to him and he expected a slap across the face. Touching her wasn’t the best move he’d made in a while, considering he didn’t want her to have any clothes on. And looking down at her? She was something else. Gorgeous. But probably terrified. He didn’t want to scare her. Never scare her.

But she shocked the hell out of him instead.

“You?” she questioned with a nibble to her bottom lip. “From the plane?”

“Yes?” Yeah, it came out a question, but whatever.

“Thank, God.” And with those two words she stepped into his body and wrapped her arms around him.

He didn’t pause.

Didn’t think about it, overanalyze it, nor shy away from the contact—from her.

It was the most natural thing in the world to hug her back and put his cheek on the top of her head. So he did that. Just that.

He pulled her tighter into the protection of his body and she shivered.

“I’ll…uhh…give you guys a minute.” Steele backed off. Went back inside. Took the girls with him maybe?

Chrome didn’t know. Didn’t care. The woman in his arms was all that mattered.

She shivered again and he hugged her close. “You’re not wearing a jacket. Are you cold?”

Shaking her head against his chest was all she did. No verbal answer. And he honestly didn’t know if the shake was a yes or no.

That’s when he heard it. A tiny sniff.

Was she…crying?

Oh, God.
He didn’t know what to do with a crying female.

“Look at me.” It came out gruff and dominant. Fuck he was being an asshole. “Look at me, please.”

She shook her head again and hugged him tight.

He palmed the back of her head. To comfort her. That was it. Comfort.

Then he fisted her hair and physically tilted her head back.

No yanking. Just gentle force.

Tears tracked down her cheeks and her eyes were glassy orbs as she stared at him. There was some emotion there he couldn’t place. His heart kicked an extra few beats in his chest but he decided to tackle that subject later. Much. Later.

The need to lick her tears from her cheeks rose inside him so strong he barely suppressed the urge to do just that. Instead he thumbed them away. “I don’t like you crying. The last time I saw you in the airport you were crying.”

Her eyes went wide. “But I didn’t cry in the airplane. Took everything I had to tamp it down. So how did you know I cried afterward?” Her brows drew down. “I didn’t see you after I left the plane.”

“No, but I saw you. You came out of the bathroom upset. Why were you crying?”

“I knew you were military. Knew it. But this.” He let go of her hair and she eyed the house. Down the road. “It’s something out of a movie.”

“You’re telling me,” he added under his breath.

“I wanted your help getting my kids back. Getting them away from those horrible men who have them. They must be so scared. Hungry.” She wiped away another tear and shivered again, biting her lip hard enough to leave a mark. “When Poppy approached me a week ago I was terrified out of my mind. Still am. They’ve already been gone ten days. Ten. They could be dead.” She looked up at Chrome.

Knowing what she was looking for, some kind of reassurance that she was wrong, that her siblings were fine and she’d be with them again unscathed made it so hard for him to stay silent. But he wouldn’t lie to her. He couldn’t.

More tears fell and he thumbed them away.

He hated seeing her upset. Hated it. It ate a hole in his gut he didn’t know how to get rid of.

“They could be dead.” She said it again. Soft. For herself that time he was sure. Probably the first time she really took a moment to believe that as a possibility.

That end game had already entered his mind. Rolling it over in the time before she showed up didn’t sit well with him, but he had to face all the options. No matter how unacceptable they were. “Come with me. Let’s get you inside. Out of the cold.”

The fact that he was burning up had nothing to do with her body pressed so close to his. Nothing to do with the fact that he hated seeing her cry. Anger boiled up inside him as he took her up the stairs. They were free of nosy people so he took her inside. The foyer was not free of nosy people. Steele, Poppy and Alayna stood huddled in a group on the other end of the entryway. They thankfully took the hint and moved further into the house when Chrome glared at them.

He turned Cammie to face him to make sure she heard what he had to say. “I hope you know how important it is that you not talk to anyone about this. No one. Other than our group. No one can know about this.”

“That’s what made no sense at the airport. Talking about this. I can’t do it. I get panicked and shut down. I can’t talk about it. It’s been awful talking with the others about it.” She looked toward the other side of the entry where the others had just been. “Which made it that much harder not to tell you about it on the plane. In the terminal. I wanted to tell you everything that was happening and ask you to help me. The urge was overwhelming.”

“But I’m nobody.” The words were out before he could call them back. Not that he would have stopped them. It was the truth.

She tilted her head to look at him as if he’d said something ridiculous. “You’re not nobody.” She fisted his shirt and closed her eyes. Fresh tears slid from beneath her eyelids. “You’re not nobody.”

Chrome settled, hearing those words. He had no idea how badly he needed to hear them.

And those tears? They belonged to him. So he could do what he pleased with them. Namely making them disappear.

He licked one cheek and then the other. A slow lick to make sure he consumed every molecule of moisture.

Her spine straightened beneath his hands as he pulled her closer. But not to get away from him. She moved into his touch. His hands. His body. And she moaned.

Not tasting her wasn’t an option when she responded to him. He backed her into a wall but kept his weight off of her. The last thing she needed to know is how fucking horny he was for her.

Distraction. That’s all this was. Distraction. Pure and simple.

“What are you—“

His mouth came down on hers, silencing whatever she was going to say. He kept it brief. Light.

Mostly.

It was a kiss.

A simple. First. Kiss.

A simple first kiss shouldn’t knock him stupid.

Feeling her breath on his lips when he finally convinced himself to stop shouldn’t have jacked his need to take her to bed into the stratosphere.

But it did.

He opened his eyes and looked down at her.

Her head was tilted back against the wall. Her little fists tight in his shirt. Her lips parted. Her small chest rising and falling with her quick breaths.

Shock had changed her features.

He hadn’t wanted anything so badly in as long as he could remember.

Rough was how he liked his sex, what got his motor running. Tenderness could bite his ass. But one simple kiss from her. Close-mouthed—

Okay that was a lie. He’d wanted to taste her. Needed it. A real taste. And he took it. She tasted like home. Like everything he’d ever wanted.

Everything he’d never hoped to dream of because it wasn’t in the cards for him.

“You kissed me.”

“Yes I did. You okay with that?”

“But… Why did you kiss me?”

“Umm… You were crying. Apparently I don’t like to see you cry.”

“So you kissed me to stop me from crying?”

“Yes I did.”
Among other reasons.
He had no fucking clue what else to say. Being out of his element freaked him the fuck out. He always knew what to do, what to say, or growl if the occasion called for it. Normally, silence was better and suited him just fine. So he went with that.

Some emotion flitted across her face. Hurt maybe? She stared up at him, nibbling her bottom lip.

He eyed it, wanting to do it for her. She distracted him so easily and he had no idea how much time had passed. But when he looked up at her again whatever emotion had been there was gone. Replaced with something akin to resolve.

“Okay.”

Her word was breathy and she shuddered through a long exhale he felt from the bottoms of his feet to the pit of his gut. That one word was it.

Simple.

Her answer?

It was an “is”.

Her instant trust in him filled something up in him he didn’t want to admit was empty. A void he’d lived with so long it was a part of him.

A big part.

“We’ll get them back.” The words came from him. He didn’t even remember his head telling his lips to move. But they were the truth and he stuff by them.

“How can you be so sure?”

He admired that she didn’t just take him for his word. This was too important to bluster over.

“These men—the ones who took your siblings—are the lowest of the low. No conscience, no remorse. It makes them cold and calculating. But money and power don’t keep you warm at night. We have reasons we’re fighting. We have reasons why we’ll win. Fate. Karma. Those ass holes are going to be meeting both. Soon. And I’m going to personally make sure they’re introduced.”

She still seemed uncertain.

Then and there he made a second promise to himself that he’d take down Korovin and Red Wolf in the process. On his fucking own. The world would be a better place without them. He palmed her cheek. “And one other reason.”

“What’s that?”

“I promise. And I never break a promise.”

Chapter Five

“Sounds like congratulations are in order.” Steele’s voice cut into the room like a bucket of ice water.

Cammie stepped away from Chrome, wiping the rest of her tears off with the back of her hand.

Chrome folded his arms across his chest and glared at his friend, who he wanted to punch again. “Congratulations for what?”

“Taking the mission. Officially.” He didn’t even try to hide his smug smile. “I’m not certain if I can claim winning the bet though.”

“I didn’t sign on the dotted line before. You didn’t win.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t bail by sundown either. I thought I was going to have to duct tape your ass to the chair again to get you to see reason. I guess we’ll call the bet a draw.” He shrugged and Chrome caught sight of Cammie out of the corner of his eye as she stepped closer to him once again.

“What’s he talking about?”

“Nothing,” Chrome mumbled as Steele smiled at him.

Poppy cleared her throat. “If you’re done gloating we can carry on with business at hand.”

“By all means. Carry on.”

She focused on Chrome again. “If you take the mission—“

“I am.”

“Then you both have to keep up appearances. How she works, her schedule, where she lives, etcetera. As I mentioned before we already planted the info that she has a new boyfriend. We leaked your pictures from the plane and doctored up a few more.”

Chrome glared at her, not liking to be used. “You didn’t know I’d take it.”

“Take what?” Poppy asked.

“The mission.”

“I did,” Steele answered for her with another shrug.

“And what if I’d told you to blow me and walked?”

A slow smile curled Steele’s lips. “Then I would have taken Cammie on myself and played the role of her…”

Whatever else Steele was going to say was cut off by Chrome’s honest to God growl.

Poppy cleared her throat again. “Charming. As I was saying. So you’re going to have to go back with her to her place and stay with her until this is handled.”

“Excuse me?”

“What?” Cammie and Chrome asked at the same time.

“That’s just the way it is and the only way to alleviate suspicion.” Poppy focused on Cammie and her demeanor warmed a couple degrees. “This is the best way to lull them into thinking you’re defenseless and they’re still running the show. We don’t want to tip our hat that we’re onto them, nor that we have a team in place to take them down.”