Monster (7 page)

Paine
sighed. “Just hide her somewhere, man. Give her some food and
cash and a burner and tell her that if she doesn't hear from you in
two weeks,
to take off. She's a hacker... she can
get herself a new identity. She can disappear.”

“Then what, man?
Wait for Lex to drag me in and kill me?”

Paine shrugged. “Or
find a way to take him out.”

“What? By myself?
You said yourself, criminal armies have tried and failed, man.”

“Yeah, but the
girl you got locked up... she's been looking into him... she's prolly
got a lot on him. Stuff you can use. Ask her for access to it. See if
you can use any of it to find a way to take him out.”

“And you expect
me to be able to do this all fuckin' level-headed knowin' he's got
Shoot and doing god knows what to him?”

“Ain't helping
him by standing here talking to me now are ya?”

Well, he had a point.

“Go home. Get
some sleep. Get that poor girl some food. Then get her to agree to
let you look over her files.”

“Yeah,” I
said, putting my glass down, suddenly feeling the weariness seep into
my bones.

I couldn't bring myself
to go home, instead grabbing a sleeping bag and sleeping at the top
landing of the stairs leading to the train car. When I had checked in
on her when I got back, I had found her burrowed under the blankets I
had given her, lying on her side, hood up, hands under her face in
prayer position, dead asleep.

On a cold, hard, dirty,
bloody metal floor.

Feeling very much like
the worst kind of savage, I fell into an exhausted sleep.

Six

Alex

Waking felt a bit like
death warmed up. Every bone in my body felt brittle. My skin felt
frozen and the entire side that had been lying on the ground felt
sore. I sniffled against the cold morning air, pushing slowly into a
seated position, grumbling as everything creaked and objected to
motion.

My hand went up and
across my body, massaging the sore muscles of my shoulder.

“Sorry about the
floor,” Breaker's voice found me and my head jerked up to find
him watching me from beside the doors, leaning against the wall,
looking very much like he had been there a while.

“Were you
watching me sleep, you creep?” I asked, my words more than a
little surly. I was not, in any way shape or form, a morning person.
Least of all when I spent my night tossing and turning on a cold,
hard floor.

“It's noon,”
he said, shrugging.

“That's not an
answer,” I said, slowly getting onto my feet, rolling my
shoulders.

“Come here,”
his voice called, sounding almost soft.

My brow went up. “Is
that an order?”

“Christ, woman,
how are you so moody the second after you wake up?”

“Maybe it has
something to do with being held against my will,” I said,
crossing my hands over my chest.

“Or maybe you're
just a bitch,” he said, giving me a smirk.

I felt my eyes lower.
“You're an asshole.”

“Yep,” he
agreed, not the least offended. “Now come over here,” he
urged, letting his hands drop down by his sides.

Alright.

It was crazy to go to
him.

I knew that. On a
rational level.

But someone did not
tell my feet that.

Which
may or may not have had something to do with the fact that the cold,
hard floor wasn't the only reason I had been tossing and turning all
night.
No, that also had a little something to do
with a dream I kept having involving the badass blonde-haired,
bearded, Hulk of a man telling me to come to him.

Let's just say the
dream was very vivid.

And very dirty.

When I was within a
foot of him, his arms moved out, reaching for my shoulders, and
sinking into them- wrenching a half-groan, half-whimper out of my
mouth. At that, the humor dropped from his lips and his eyes got
intense.

“Why are you
massaging my shoulders?” I asked, having to lick my dry lips.

“Why do you have
to question everything?” he countered, his hands simultaneously
rubbing and pulling me closer, closing the gap between our bodies
until there was just a breath of air separating us, giving his hands
more free reign of my back. I genuinely had to concentrate to prevent
myself from leaning against him. Like... it was a problem. “After
I left here last night, I went to see a friend of mine.”

“You... left me!”
I exploded, wrenching away from him, eyes bulging, as the heat spread
across my body. He left me. Trapped in a train car. That was locked
from the outside. Leaving me completely defenseless. Anyone could
have wandered into the obviously abandoned building. Anyone could
have found me and done... whatever the hell they wanted to do with
me. While he was off gallivanting with his freaking buddies.

“Oh Jesus
Christ,” he grumbled, looking upward, half-rolling his eyes.
“Here we go...”

“Yeah... here we
go. What is wrong with you? Anyone could have come in here, seen me
all defenseless and raped and killed me!”

“Five seconds of
listening to that mouth and they'd lose interest in the task, trust
me.”

The... task?

Meaning... raping me or
killing me?

Either way, it was kind
of insulting.

“I hate you,”
I said. Childish, I know. But he brought that out of me. What fun was
it to argue with someone when all they did was answer in a perfectly
normal, unaffected tone? It did nothing but further enrage me.

“That's
unfortunate because you're about to be working with me.”

My mouth had opened to
say something, then clamped shut as soon as his sentence ended,
hanging in the air.

“I think I
misheard you,” I said after a minute.

“Heard me just
fine. You and me... we are going to find a way out of this mess.”

This... mess?

Meaning... me being
killed (or killing myself) because of Lex Keith?

“Why?”

Breaker let out a long
breath, leveling his eyes with mine. “Lex took someone who
means somethin' to me. He did this because he wanted me to get you
and he damn well knew I don't extend my...
services
to women.”

“Really?” I
found myself asking, surprised.

“Yeah, doll,
really. If your name didn't sound like a man, we wouldn't be standing
here right now.”

I believed him.

“Who does he
have?” I found myself asking.

Without even a
hesitation, “My brother.”

“Your brother?”
I asked, my voice a small whisper.

I knew nothing of
siblings. Hell, I knew nothing of friends. But I could imagine. I
could imagine that bond. I could imagine the kind of gut-twisting
horror you would have inside when you realized someone you loved was
at the hands of Lex Keith.

No wonder he was
willing to go through with the deal even though he didn't deal in
women.

I looked back up,
knowing there was a small piece of my heart in my eyes. “What
do you need from me?”

“I need to know
what you have on him,” he answered immediately.

I nodded, reaching up
toward the collar of the sweatshirt and reaching in, grabbing the
chain I had worn around my neck for so long that I barely even
realized it was there anymore. I slipped it over my head, holding it
out and watching as Breaker's big, scarred hand took it.

“A key?” he
asked.

“Locker key,”
I answered, nodding. “To that gym on Willow.”

At this, his brow went
up. “The gym on Willow?” he repeated, a smile starting to
tug at his lips. “The gym owned by the Mallick's?”

“Yes,” I
said, nodding.

There weren't many
organizations that refused to kowtow to Lex's demands. So far, from
what I could tell, the only ones who didn't line his pockets were the
Henchmen MC, Lyon the cocaine king, the people of the survivalist
camp called Hailstorm, and the Mallick family- a group of notorious
loan sharks who didn't seem to have any alliance whatsoever to any of
the other crime organizations.

I could have hid my
information with the Henchmen. But, to be honest, they scared the
hell out of me. And I knew Richard Lyon would have forced me into
some kind of trade. And I didn't want to owe anyone.

And Hailstorm, well,
survivalists were weird. I half worried I'd walk in there to make a
deal and never walk out because they like... brainwashed me or
something.

So, in the end, the
Mallicks were the safest bet. I went to the gym, asked for Shane, and
asked if he could give me access to a private locker. After about ten
minutes of his shameless brand of suggestive flirting, he finally
agreed to let me use a locker in the staff room in back for fifty
bucks a month.

It was safe even if it
was a little steep... so I agreed.

“You're smarter
than I was giving you credit for,” he said, slipping the chain
into his pocket.

“Gee thanks,”
I said, rolling my eyes. “You'll have to bring me.”

“Why?”

“Because Shane
and I have an arrangement.”

“
You
,”
he said, his head ducking, making it clear he wasn't quite buying it,
“have a deal with Shane fuckin' Mallick?”

I felt my shoulders
push backward. Was this another 'because I have tits' thing? Just
because I was a chick meant I couldn't have strong connections with
some of the local bad guys?

“Does this deal
involve you fuckin' him?”

I jerked back like he
had slapped me. Surprised, sure. Offended? Definitely.

“Excuse me?”

“You met him. You
know what he's like.”

“So the only way
he would help me would be by extorting sex from me?” I asked,
my voice getting snippy. “Just because you're a pig doesn't
mean everyone else is.” There was that weird crinkling by his
eyes again and I felt myself suck in a deep, steadying breath, before
just... exploding, “Don't you dare eye-smile at me!”

At this, I got a
surprised chuckle. “Eye-smile?”

“Yes, eye-smile.
Like when your eyes go all crinkly but your lips don't turn up.”

“Been paying a
lot of attention to me, huh, doll?”

Oh my god.

Seriously.

He was the most
obnoxious person I had ever met.

And arrogant.

Even more than Shane
Mallick.

Which was really saying
something.

“I have nothing
else to stare at but your ugly mug,” I spat, hoping it sounded
convincing, knowing damn well it was as far from the truth as you
could get.

“Ugly mug,”
he mused, his lips pressing together. “Got a problem with how I
look, Alex?” he asked and I felt a shiver run through my body
at the sound of my name on his lips. All I could hope was the shiver
was an internal one and he couldn't see.

That hope lasted about
one-tenth of a second when a satisfied smirk toyed at his lips and I
knew it had been a
body
shiver.

Damn it.

But I didn't have to
suffer long in my humiliation.

Because one second, I
was just standing there, arms crossed over my chest, trying to focus
on not blushing.

The next I was slammed
up against the wall where he had just been standing. His body crushed
against mine, both his hands cradling my jaw. And before I could draw
in breath to object, his lips crashed down hard on mine.

My entire body jolted
in surprise, a stab of desire meeting at the contact and shooting in
a straight line down my stomach to between my thighs.