Inside Danger (Outside The Ropes Book 2) (5 page)

Reaching under my pillow, I sat up at the same time, my hand wrapped around the ceramic wedge I hid there. I had carefully cracked the vase in the bathroom earlier to have something to defend myself with. Just in case.

“Fuck there’s no lock.” Gage’s hand fumbled on the knob of the closed door and my chest deflated with a relieved sigh.

“Only on the other side,” I explained and dropped the ceramic piece to the ground

I had given up hope of him coming; by the look of the soft glow in the room it was near morning. But here he was, and he had just walked on in, like he could.

His eyes pierced the dim room, connecting with mine in a flash of intensity. “They’ve locked you in here?”

“Not tonight. Rusnak told Demetri not to do that anymore.”

He crossed the space of the room in three long strides. He grabbed my hands and pulled me to the en suite bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind us. Dropping one of my hands, he turned the water on in the shower, his other hand kept us connected.

“What are you doing?” I wasn’t taking a shower with him.

He grabbed my hands again as he stepped close, cornering me against the counter. “In case someone comes in your room. This covers us, you. You’re in the shower alone.” His lips dropped to my ear as he whispered, “Just keep your voice low.”

A current traveled through me, knocking my resistance over like a line of dominos.

His lips moved over my neck in rough kisses that sparked my passion. He dropped my hands and lifted me by the hips, setting me on the bathroom counter. My fingers glided inside the back of his t-shirt, running over his heated skin. He had changed from his dress clothes earlier, but I didn’t dwell on it. The feel of him was like a drug, and I wanted more.

I rolled my head back so he could nibble at the sensitive skin at the base of my neck. He pushed himself between my legs, rubbing against me as he sucked on my collarbone and I let out a soft moan.

He broke away with a rumble and tugged his shirt off, whipping it over his head and tossing it to the ground. There was a hungry glint in his eyes and then his mouth was on mine, claiming me.

And my body was all too willing to submit. My back arched, pressing into him, and my hands traced over his muscles, recalling the pleasure they could give.

But when his tongue slipped into my mouth and I tasted him, my mind woke up, spinning with different thoughts. He tasted like alcohol and something else. My mind easily jumped to what that could be, recalling the stripper from the other night and the girls by his side tonight.

My stomach heaved, clenching in on itself painfully. I pushed him away, disgusted in myself and gasping for air while trying to still my traitorous body.

My push didn’t do much, but he got the point. He stepped back, wide eyed with shock. His eyes flicked around, searching my face.

“Baby, don’t do this. Let us have this moment.” Cautiously, he stepped back to me.

I closed my eyes as his hands slipped around my waist, but put my arms up, bracing them on his chest to keep him away. I could feel his heart pounding beneath my palm and it softened me. The beat traveled through me, keeping time with my own erratically beating heart.

His warm breath tickled my cheek, then his lips were there, and his forehead pressed to mine. “We don’t have much time.”

I had been weakening, about to cave in again. His body was an intoxicating poison, killing all of my common sense. But his words sobered me.

“Then we need to talk.” I reached behind me and pulled his hands from my waist, resting them in front of us. I didn’t let them go, I couldn’t bring myself to.

“What have you been doing?” I whispered, our heads still pressed together.

He let out a sigh and straightened. His eyes cast down, staring at our linked hands. He moved his fingers to lace them with mine and rotated our hands, then froze and his face hardened.

“What’s this? What happened?” He dropped my left hand and traced his finger over a raw line under my right wrist.

I shrugged one shoulder, watching his finger travel over the red skin. “Demetri used a plastic tie to handcuff me when he first brought me here. It must have rubbed off some skin.”

His eyes closed as he inhaled and exhaled and his hand locked around my wrist. “I’m sorry.” His icy blues popped back open. “What have they told you? Why do you think you’re here?”

I broke the stair off we had going, letting my eyes drop over him. All my air escaped in a painful rush when I saw the sick yellow and brown splotches marring his skin. Large bruises marbled his ribs and sides.

Pulling my eyes back up to his, my voice came out strained, “I asked first, what have you been doing?”

His hand slid into my hair, cupping the back of my head. “Don’t worry about me. I’m here for you, to get you out, but I need to know what they’re telling you and what you’ve done.”

Swallowing my stray emotions, I began, “They say they brought me here for my safety, that Damien was after me, wanted me killed, and put me on a hit list to be brought to him.” I raised an eyebrow, “But you knew that, even before your fight. Silas told me you saw Damien that first night and he said things to you.”

“That’s bullshit.” His low growl from cut off my words. His hands gripped the counter on either side of me, knuckles turning white. “He said things, but I’m taking care of that already, and Damien’s not going to risk everything he has going on just to get to you.”

I squeezed his hard forearm, leaning towards him as fear squeezed my heart. “You don’t need to take care of this. That’s why I’m here in the first place. They are going to kill him, and I am going to keep fighting for Silas. You don’t need to do anything.”

“What the hell, Regan?” His jaw clenched and he stepped back, out of my reach. “You promised to fight for these people to get Damien killed? I was already fucking taking care of this. That’s why I’m here, doing more than just boxing for them, risking my fucking life to save yours, and then you go and do this!”

He seized me, gripping my shoulders tight, anger twisting his features. “You want to know what I’ve been doing? I’ve been Rusnak and Nick’s bitch, just so I can get to the big jobs that’ll get me close to Rock and his crew again. Close to Damien. You need to call it off. Tell them you’ve changed your mind.”

I flinched back. “No. Why should you be the one to put yourself in danger for me? You can stop doing what you’re doing, let them kill him.”

“You don’t fucking get it do you?” He dropped my shoulders as anger deflated from him.

“I guess not, but you never explained it to me. You just leave and expect me to know what to do.”

The room was filling up with steam, my clothes beginning to stick to my damp skin. But I ignored it all as he leaned closer to me, all signs of anger vanished.

“You’re right and I’m sorry. I’ve never been good about including people, never had to before. But you won’t listen to me without an explanation, so I’ll tell you.”

I SLID OFF THE COUNTER TO STAND in front of him. My movements were slow and cautious as if he were a timid animal I didn’t want to scare away.

He brought his hand up, caressing my cheek, stilling me. “Promise that you’ll listen to me. After I explain, you need to do this my way.” He pleaded and then added in a whisper, “Please.”

If it were anyone else I would have lied, I would have made the promise and took the information. But even after everything, I still wanted to believe that as much as he has kept from me, what he had spoken was the truth. I had to believe that, and if I wanted to continue to believe that, I needed to be honest too. And I sure as hell needed this conversation to be a truthful one.

“I can’t make that promise, not yet.”

His eyes narrowed and his hands dropped away from my face. His body tightened, making him appear taller, stronger, as he pulled away.

I reached for him, not wanting him to go, and wrapped my arms around his waist. I pressed my cheek to his bare, slick chest. The steam filling the room was choking me. “I’m trying to be honest. I will listen to you though. Every word, I’ll listen.”

One of his hands wrapped around me, stroking my hair, and I relaxed slightly. He kissed the top of my head. “All right.”

That one word caused a flood of emotions and I strained to breathe. Letting out a shuddering breath, I pulled away from him and flipped off the shower.

“I can’t take the steam,” I explained, moving to the door and unlocking it, I cracked it open and let the thick heat escape into the larger room. I stopped him from closing the door. “This way we can hear if someone comes in, but you’re still hidden.”

Picking up his crumpled shirt on the tiled bathroom floor, I handed it over without looking at him. “Put this back on.”

He took the shirt, threaded his arms through the sleeves, and pulled it over his head. “Ready?”

I nodded and walked to the far end of the bathroom, opposite the door. I dropped myself down onto the tile, legs crossed and back against the wall.

He sunk down beside me and gripped one of my knees. “I did see Damien that night.” His eyes narrowed as he watched his hand rubbing over my sweatpants. He pulled his hand away and looked up at me. “Why didn’t you tell me he was there? When they robbed the gym?”

My body broke out in goose bumps as an electric fear ran through me. “It didn’t seem all that important at the time.” He shot me an incredulous look, so I elaborated, “considering everything else going on.”

“That was important. He threw it in my face that night to try to get the upper hand, but it didn’t work. I would’ve killed him right then, except one of his friends hit me in the back of the head with their empty gun and he got away.”

That explained his bruised ear that night. I circled my arms around my knees and pulled them into my chest. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—” I stopped myself and changed directions. “There’s plenty you haven’t told me though.”

For one brief, intense moment he held my gaze, a fire growing, and then he broke away and looked forward. “He didn’t— Did he—” He took a gulp of air and my stomach sunk, anticipating his question. “What did he do to you?”

“Nothing—”

“Bullshit.” He grabbed my hand, angling his body to face mine. “He said… fuck what he said, I want to hear it from you.”

I dropped my head to avoid his eyes, but he grabbed my chin and lifted my face.

“It’s not your fault, none of this.”

I flinched away, stiffening with anger. “Isn’t it though? I chose my path, just like you chose yours. We’re all guilty.”

“Stop avoiding the question.” His tone was sharp, but his hands were gentle as they trailed along my arm.

“He held a gun to my head, forced me to watch them beat up Dexter.”

“But what did he do to you?” His whisper was strained with something. He was imagining it worse than it was, I had to tell him. But I hated him for making me say it

I shook his hands away. “He licked my neck.” That alone burned to say, my stomach gripped thinking about the rest, but I forced out the acidic words with my eyes closed against Gage’s probing glare. “And he put his hands down my pants, but nothing happened.” I popped my eyes back open. “Another guy there stopped him, the one that seemed to be in charge, real tall guy, but I didn’t know him.”

When a few seconds passed without him saying anything, I looked up. His jaw was clenched but that was the only sign of anger, otherwise his expression was blank.

“Now it’s your turn to share what you’ve been keeping from me,” I prompted him.

He snapped out of the daze he was in and looked towards me with doubt. “That was really it? That was all that happened? I need the truth.”

I glared back at him. “He said other things, like I chose the wrong side or he’d give me a job. He also told me to ask you, ‘who can’t fuck with who now?’ but otherwise that was it. Nothing happened.”

He let out a large sigh. “He told me something different, something that made me want to rip him apart, slowly. But still, that’s not nothing, I should have never left you after court.”

I gave him a hard look. “There’s lots of times you should have never left, but that wasn’t one of them. We couldn’t have known. But what’s been happening since then?”

His hands were back on my knees, it seemed to steady him so I let it go.

“Rusnak and Rock have worked out a weak truce. Rock’s made a deal to get Rusnak back the drugs that were taken and punished the person responsible.” When his eyes met mine, I knew the punishment was death. “Rusnak’s letting him have the marijuana connection he made since that’s not really one of Rusnak’s markets. But for all other drugs, Rock has to go through him.” His grip on my knee tightened. “That’s what I’ve been doing, organizing a shipment that’s coming here to get distributed out. That’s why I can be here now with you. I’m staying downstairs.”

I placed my hand over his. “What about boxing? What about you not winning in the third?”

He laced his fingers through mine and scooted closer to me, his legs on either side of me. “You saw the bruises. They were fucking pissed, but we’re working it out. We’re in negotiations now about what to do for future fights.”

“Future fights?”

“Silas is setting up a fight between me and Ray Bridges and when I win that, I’ll be in a good position to fight for the IBF cruiserweight title.” This should have been great news, but he said it with such weight that it seemed doomed.

“They want me to win the title, then throw the next fight to one of their other boxers. I don’t want to fuckin’ do that. It’s different when they want me to win in a certain round, I still get my win. But this… this is my record.” His sad eyes focused on me. “I think that’s the real reason they have you here, as leverage to get me to agree.”

His hands slid around me, cradling me into his chest. “I can’t let them know how much you mean to me, but I won’t let them hurt you either. I’m playing it safe for now, but if it comes down to it, you have to know, I’ll choose you. Can you trust that?”

In his arms, I could believe his words. I felt safe with his strength surrounding me and ignored the voice in the back of my mind that warned he didn’t have that power, he couldn’t protect me. It didn’t matter anyways, I wasn’t with him for protection. I just wanted him and I wanted to keep him safe too.