Sticky (10 page)

I
pull
into the lot outside my house and double over, breathing hard. It takes a minute for my vision to clear and my senses to return to me. When they finally do, I slide my cell out of my pocket and dial my brother.

He picks up on the first ring. “Sloan.”

“Come here,” I say. I hang up before he can reply. My brother knows me well enough not to stand me up right now.

That errand finished, I lock my car and drag my ass up the staircase to my apartment. Once inside, I don’t make it as far as the bedroom. I collapse face-first on the couch and scream into the pillow.

I didn’t really think that one through. That, or I underestimated how much muffling power the pillow would give me. A moment later there’s a knock at the door, way too quickly to be my goddamn asshole of a sibling. “What?” I groan.

Please don’t be Gage,
part of me, the sane part, prays.

Please be him,
the other part, the enemy half of my stupid brain, shouts.

“You okay in there?”

Lacey. Crap. “Yeah I’m fine. Sorry, long day.”

She laughs faintly through the wooden door. “I hear you, girl. Hey, you never told me how that date went the other night.”

My temples throb with a mixture of regret and sorrow. “Great, until the bastard pulled a dine and dash on me.”

“Shit, girl. I’m sorry.” There’s a creak as she leans against the door and sighs in sympathy. “You need company?”

It’s tempting. Standing up now, opening the door and unburdening my sorrows onto my poor, unsuspecting next-door neighbor’s shoulders. The girl does not know what kind of angst she just volunteered for. Because she’s probably a sane person. The kind who doesn’t fall head over ass for a guy she’s only met like three times. “Nah, my brother’s on the way over,” I tell her instead, because let’s face it, the only thing worse than dealing with Freddie’s probably illegal shit right now will be trying to deal with Freddie’s probably illegal shit with a witness present. “But thanks!”

She taps the door twice in solidarity. “Anytime, lady. You know where to find me. I’ll save some ice cream for you next time you’re free.”

I listen to her retreating down the hallway, and almost immediately regret not taking her up on her offer. I could use some company to distract me from myself right now. And some ice cream. Ice cream sounds awesome.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, I don’t have to wait long to get this over with. Ten minutes later I hear the crunch of tires outside my window, followed by the crunch of boots on gravel, a key in the latch. Freddie slinks into the apartment a few minutes later, not bothering to knock, the way we never do at each other’s houses.

He does, however, linger in the doorway, peering up at me from underneath a sad fringe of black hair across his eyes. Boy needs a damn haircut. He’s starting to look a little too much like me with the long hair. “Can I come in?” he asks after a minute, when I don’t wave him inside, but instead just glower at him from the couch.

“Unless you want my neighbor to hear all this,” I say.

He slips inside and shuts the door behind him. He does not join me on the couch this time. At least he’s that smart. “I’m sorry,” he starts, but almost immediately he seems to lose the thread, searching for a way to say what comes next.

“Explain,” I reply. I’m not forgiving him, one way or another, until I know the full story here. How bad is this, exactly. And what exactly he did.

“I never meant for you to get swept up in this. I should’ve realized that what . . . what I’m doing, there are consequences.”

“And what
are
you doing exactly, Frederick?” He flinches at my use of his full given name. I’ve called him that maybe five times in his life. They’ve never been pretty scenes.

“That . . . is a long story. Sloan, trust me, if I told you it would only drag you deeper into this mess. If there’s one thing in the world I want to avoid, it’s that. You’re the only person that matters to me right now. When I saw that creepfest trying to come at you in my parking lot, I . . . ”

“Gage,” I snap.

“What?”

“That creepfest’s name. It’s Hunter Gage.”

My brother frowns. “He told you that?”

“Yes, he mentioned it. In between the dates on which he tried to seduce me.” I narrow my eyes.

“Oh my god.” The color drains from my brother’s face. “You mean . . . the night you stood me up for the movies, the date . . . ?”

“Yep. That was him.” I set my jaw hard. “Three guesses why he picked me. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t for my lithe, sexy body or my fabulous personality,” I snap.

“Shit. Oh shit, I never . . . Sloan, oh my god, I had no idea Aaron would stoop so low.”

My frown deepens. Aaron. “Aaron . . . like that casino CEO guy Aaron? The one you claim isn’t a casino owner at all?” I lean forward, drawn in despite myself. I want to know exactly what brand of fire I’ve been playing with here. “Who is he really?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Then uncomplicate it, Freddie. I fucking . . . ” I swallow hard past a sudden lump in my throat. I
do not
want to share details of just how badly I’d been duped, not with my brother.
Think fast, Sloan.
“I fucking went out with this guy, okay? If he’s working for this Aaron person, I deserve to know at what.”

Freddie collapses onto my kitchen counter stool and drops his head into his hands. “A little bit of everything, really. Blackmail, extortion. Off-book loans, under-the-table deals. Probably drugs too, I don’t know. He’s bad news, Sloan, that’s all you need to know. Really bad news. And that guy . . . Gage? He’s one of his henchmen. Sent out to do his dirty work.”

“Including seducing the sister of a client who owes him big?” I ask dryly.

Freddie massages his temples. “I’ll fix this. I’ll tell him to stay away from you.”

“No worries on that score,” I mutter. “I made my position on ever seeing his face again pretty clear this evening.”

“If he ever bothers you again, though, you’ll tell me?” Freddie manages to meet my eye now, and I’m surprised at the amount of angry fire in his gaze. “I mean it, Sloan. Tell me the second he tries anything, even just talking to you on the street, texting you, anything.”

“I don’t owe you any kind of promises. I can take of myself, thank you very much.” I stomp across the room and fling my door open.

“Sloan, this is serious, these people are dangerous criminals who—”

“Get out, Freddie.”

For a minute, he looks like he wants to protest. He must realize from the look on my face that it will be a bad fucking idea to keep trying to talk to me right now. Finally, he raises his hands in surrender and shoves to his feet. “I’m going to fix this,” he says as he passes me. “No matter what it takes, Sloan, I promise you. I’m going to make sure these people never hurt us.”

Too late,
I think. Then I slam the door in his face.

T
wo days
. Two days since the night in the parking lot, when she drove away from me. Two days of drinking myself to sleep and waking up to the live-stream of her apartment every morning.

Watching her hurt isn’t doing me any favors. It’s clear exactly how much she’s aching. She tossed and turned all night after the confrontation with her brother. I notice he didn’t tell her everything, but gave her enough details that she knows by now exactly how bad an idea it is to hang around me.

I can’t blame him. If it were my sister, I’d have done the same thing. I am bad news, after all. All kinds of bad news. She deserves so much better than me.

That’s the only reason I’ve been able to force myself to stay away. I know exactly how dangerous my line of work is, and Freddie is right, even if he’s the asshole who landed her in Aaron’s crosshairs in the first place. This situation is no place for a woman like Sloan, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.

Even if it means never seeing her again. Never seeing her, never kissing her, never wrapping her voluptuous body in my arms and licking every inch of her pale, perfect skin. Never fucking her senseless, never listening to her moans as I thrust into her, never hearing her scream my name as I tongue her into oblivion. Never feeling her perfect, bow lips fold around my hard cock again, never feeling the warm, soft tug of her hands at my balls, the way she touched me last time so confidently, squeezing just hard enough to make stars spark in my veins, not hard enough to stop me coming hard, her swallowing it all, because when it comes to each other, we are both insatiable.

Goddamn it.
I’m hard again just remembering it.

I swear to god, I’ve been hard since the moment I first met her.

But it doesn’t matter how right it feels to hold her against me. It doesn’t matter how she makes me feel. All that matters is Sloan, and her safety.

I shut off the camera with an effort and roll up my sleeves. Back to business. Frederick Casey texted me an hour ago.
Let’s finish this. Saturday. Tell me where to meet.

That gives me five days. Five days to scout out the perfect drop spot and secure the area, make sure the handoff of $500k goes as smoothly as possible. Aaron’s already chomping at the bit, asking me if we can’t talk him into meeting sooner. I told him to cool his heels for five more days. This will be my last job for him, the last risk I ever have to take. We’re going to do it right. By the book, because damned if I’m going to get nabbed on our last gig ever.

I snap my laptop shut and grab my phone instead. One quick call later, I’ve got permission to head to the site I’m thinking about, the roof of a dirty businessman’s offices downtown. It’s remote, it’s inaccessible save for the few people who already work in the building, a short list that will be easy for us to vet. Plus, since we know the owner and his predilections, we can be reasonably sure no cops are going to bust in in the middle of our deal.

“Set it up,” Aaron tells me when I call him to make the suggestion. “But remember. No mistakes this time. We need to be absolutely sure this Casey kid is going to follow through. Do whatever it takes to make sure.”

Whatever it takes.
The threat rings in my ears long after I disconnect the phone. All I can think about is Sloan, and the last time I spoke to Aaron, when he threatened to sic another operative on her if I couldn’t follow through.

As I climb into my car, checking the closest route from my place to the building, I realize it will pass right by Sloan’s street. A fist clenches around my chest.

Resist, Gage.

But her brother is right. I’ve put her in danger by association. And yes, Freddie has agreed to play ball with us for now, but I wouldn’t put it past Aaron to try and secure his investment by threatening the target’s sister.

After all, he threatened to send in someone else if I couldn’t get this done. I have been getting it done, and yet . . . I just have this nagging feeling at the back of my mind. His words ring in my ears.
Whatever it takes, indeed.

I really will do whatever it takes to make sure Sloan is safe. Even if it means breaking the unofficial restraining order I’ve given myself with regards to coming near her.

It doesn’t take me long to reach her block. I roll down the street at the slowest possible speed I can without raising suspicion. No light in her windows. No one in the parking lot outside. Only a few stragglers day drinking in the bar beneath her. Three cars in her lot, all of them empty, all of them plates I remember seeing there before.

Nine cars parked on her side of the street. Four look familiar, the others could be people at the bar or visitors to the area.

Except . . . 

My eyes catch on one of the cars. Black, tinted windows, expensive SUV. Exactly the type of obvious car that Aaron’s thugs prefer. I drive past it and slow just beyond it, studying the rear view mirror. The windshield, by necessity, is not tinted as deeply as the side windows.

Sure enough, lounging in the passenger side seat, a cigarette in hand and earbuds in, his head bobbing to the music, sits Topknot.

My stomach churns.
What the hell is he doing here?

But the answer to that is obvious. Staking out Sloan. Guarding Aaron’s investment. Making sure that Freddie pays us the $500k . . . or else.

“Fuck,” I swear under my breath. I can’t go near her place, not right now. For all I know, Aaron has had Topknot tailing her for days already. He’d already know that we had a falling-out. It would look suspicious if I ran to her the minute Aaron told me the end-date for this little game.

If she’d even let me inside the building, that is. I can’t blame her if she wouldn’t.

But there is one person who can get in. One person who can still protect her. I open my cell and tap on recent contacts. Stare Topknot’s car down as I wait for the line to connect.

The moment it does, I don’t even wait for him to say hello. “Casey, this is Gage. We need to meet.” I shut my eyes and force myself to take a deep breath. Then continue driving past, not stopping at Sloan’s, even though every instinct in my body screams at me to run in there right now and make sure she’s all right. To stay with her until I know for sure she’s safe.

“We need to talk about your sister,” I say.

Less than ten minutes later, I’m parking beside Fred Casey’s car outside the site I plan to use for our drop. If Aaron asks questions, I’ll just say it’s better to show Casey the joint now. Make sure it’ll work for both parties. This is, after all, an amicable exchange of bribe money. At least, as far as Freddie knows.

Me, I have my suspicions of what Aaron plans to do, exactly, the moment he’s got his greedy fucking hands on the cash he’s owed.

Fred slams his door hard and leans against it, studying me as I squint up at the rooftop far above us. Six stories of offices, and a scenic completely empty roof above that. I pull open the door to the lobby and hold it for Fred, who shoots me a suspicious glare as he crosses inside.

Neither of us speak until we’re through security, who take one glance at me and wave us on inside, clearly having been prepped by the owner already. In the elevator, he finally turns to me, his jaw clenched tight.

“What about my sister?” he spits. “Are you here to threaten her?”

“The opposite.” I turn the full force of my anger on him. On this punk ass who put his own flesh-and-blood in danger. “You’re the one who got her into this mess, Fred. Now there’s people gunning for her.”

He tenses, his face visibly paling, eyes going wide. At least he still appears to give some small shit for what he’s done. “What do you mean? It’s me they want.”

“Yeah, and it’s insurance that they’ll get your cash that they need. What better way than by threatening your beloved sister?”

“Says the guy who they hired to threaten her.” Fred actually has the audacity to roll his eyes.

I slam my fist into the side wall of the elevator, hard enough to make the lights on the console blink. Fred jumps, but otherwise manages not to react. “If it was just me, you’d have nothing to worry about,” I hiss through clenched teeth. “I care about Sloan. More than you probably do, considering how she wound up threatened this way.”

He opens his mouth like he’s about to contradict me, but I bowl right over him.

“I want to protect her. Understand me? I might work for Aaron, but I’m not like his other thugs. Those other thugs, however, are currently scoping out your sister’s house. Probably watching her shower in there, for all we know. I just spotted one of them lurking out front half an hour ago, and he’d clearly been there a while.”

“Why should I believe you?” Fred mutters.

“Because you know I’m telling the truth.” I meet his gaze, and I’m sure he can see it in mine. The weak spot I’ve developed. The sincerity of my feelings for her. “She cannot get hurt in this, Fred. I don’t give a shit about you, but she doesn’t deserve this.”

He clenches his fists. “Fair enough. We’re agreed there.”

The elevator dings at the top floor, and we disembark, crossing an empty office floor to a staircase marked Emergency Exit Only. “The fact that Aaron’s got multiple guys tailing her is bad,” I explain. “When it was just me, I could control the situation. Now? I don’t know. Either Aaron doesn’t trust me, which is entirely possible, or he’s doubling down on the asset because he plans to do something sooner than later. Last time I talked to him, he was pretty pissed about having to wait five days for the drop.”

Fred shakes his head. “I can’t swing it any sooner. Believe me, I’ve tried. It has to be Saturday, not before.”

“Why, got to win your gambling money back before then?” I scowl.

“I just can’t, okay? What are our other options?”

“Watch her,” I say simply. “Tail her. Every minute of every day, if you can swing it. God knows you spend enough time moping around on your computer. Do you even have a day job?”

“You’re one to talk. What’s your day job, intimidations, or do you specialize in anything else? Threats? Seducing women?” His expression turns wry.

“I’m multitalented like that,” I respond. Let him suck on that one. Let him imagine all the things I did to his sister, all the ways I claimed her. She is mine, after all, whether he likes it or not. What Sloan and I have can’t be torn apart. After all this is done, after I’ve made sure she’s safe, I will find a way to win her back.

That, or die trying.

Fred seems to decide this argument is one he doesn’t want to pursue. He steps away from me, hands tugging at his jacket sleeves. “She’s not even speaking to me right now. She’s pissed about this whole situation.”

“Do you blame her?”

His frown deepens. “Not at all. But I don’t know if I’ll be able to tail her like that. To be with her all the time. She might not let me.”

“Then find a way to convince her. Make her, if you have to. Understand me? Aaron is not someone you want to fuck around with.” My jaw tightens as I scan the rooftop once more. Three exits, two buildings near enough for sighters, if Aaron wants them on this drop. Or worse, snipers, if he wants to go that far. I’m not sure exactly how much this Fred kid has pissed him off.

Whatever else he might be, Fred at least appears to be reasonably afraid of Aaron’s people. His hands shake at his sides, though he thinks I won’t notice the way he has them clenched in tight fists. He nods, once, though. “I understand.”

I leave him to it. I’ve got work to do.