Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel (#1) (12 page)

“Room for one, please.” The small, round woman nodded before rummaging around under the counter. When she came back up, she produced a key with a le
ather tag on it. “This won’t do.” H
e shook his head, taking note of the room number emblazoned in the worn leather.

“Sir, that is the only room we have available,” she argued in broken English.

With a heavy sigh, Erias leaned in closer and locked gazes with her. “I need another room, please. Room 226
,
to be exact.”

She nodded, accepting the key back and returning it to a small box under the counter where several more like it resided. A minute later, she offered him the key and a large, weathered book and pen. He signed his name and date b
e
fore thanking her and making his way up to his new
room.

Cheyenne didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and the feeling of being watched had
finally
subsided long enough for her to relax
and
begin
eating.

“Chy?” Kris waved his hand in front of her face to capture her attention.

“Hmm?” Cheyenne blinked, then finished chewing the rest of the bagel in an effort to clear her mouth.

“I asked if you were okay. Are you?” he asked with a slight frown.

Her eyes flicked to the stairs where the man had disappeared and back again before answering. “Um, actua
l
ly, I’m not feeling well.” She took a quick drink of her w
a
ter to rinse her mouth out
,
then rose from the table. “I think I’m going to go back to my room and lay down for a bit.”

“You shouldn’t be by yourself right now,” Hadley said
,
making the rest of the group focus their attention on her again. “Why don’t you take someone with you so you can get some sleep without having to worry?”

“I’ll keep watch if you want me to,” Sebastian vo
l
unteered, already standing up to join her.

Cheyenne waved him back. “No, no, you all just sit down
and
finish your breakfasts. I’m fine, really. I just need a little nap to catch up on some of the sleep I lost last
night,
and then I’ll be good to go.” She gave them one last flee
t
ing smile and dashed off before anyone could
protest.

Cheyenne search
ed
high and low for him, but not
h
ing turned up. Frustrated and tired, she headed back to her room to take the nap she’d told everyone about.

Pulling the key from her pocket, she was just about to slip it into the lock when she heard the deep rumble of a man’s voice emanating from the room next to hers. It sounded as if he
was
arguing with someone, and being the nosey person she was, she tip-toed to the door and pressed her ear against it to
listen.

“I don’t fucking care
,
Seph. This
is my
assignment,
and I’ll handle it
how ever I  well
I please!” Erias cut the
connection and opened his eyes.
Talking to Persephone a
l
ways had a crazy way of making his skin crawl and his ball
s
tight. He hated what she did to
him.

Scrubbing his hands down his face, he looked around the room
,
feeling a stab of loneliness seep through him. Well, he knew how to shut that pesky little emotion up: a big bottle of scotch and a few choice beers to wash it down with.

Looking at his watch, he crossed the room and wrenched open the door. He heard a tiny gasp before his chest collided with a wall of flesh. Instinctively, he grabbed for what was in front of him.

“Well
, well, what do we have here?” h
e said, appr
e
ciating the
petite
woman he held firmly in his hands.

Fiery brown eyes met his and perfectly pouty lips curled, contorting her face into an adorable mix of feral female and snarling pussy cat.

“You!” she screeched, trying to pelt his chest with her tiny fists. Her efforts were almost
comical,
and he had to fight to restrain his laughter. “
Get your hands off
me, you
sleaze
ball!”

An old man poked his head out of his room a few doors down and peered at them. Not wanting to gain any more unwanted attention, Erias pulled her into his room and closed the door.

Now kicking and biting, Erias tossed her onto the bed and backed away, placing himself between her and the door to block her escape.

Leaping to her feet, she turned on him, her face mottled red and her hair mussed from their struggle. “So, you just couldn’t stay away
,
huh?” Erias asked, a slight smile tugging at the corner
s
of his mouth. “Miss me did you?”

At that, the female screamed in fury and launched herself at him.

Chapter 9

It had been nearly two hours since he had last seen or heard from Cheyenne and Kris was beginning to get a bit worried. It was irrational to feel that way
,
of
course. She
was no doubt still taking her
much-needed
nap, but
the way she had left in such a rush, the preoccupied look of fear and curiosity sparking behind her brown
eyes,
was a familiar one that he knew well.

She was up to something.

He had given it his best shot to control the urge he had to pry into her business and allow her to take care of herself like the big girl she
was, but
it was hard when every waking thought he had revolved around her. The fact that she had been attacked last night was just an added bonus
to
his already weighted
thoughts.

“Seriously, Bas, I don’t need an escort,” Kris said with some annoyance. Sebastian had insisted on joining him to check on her. The obvious torch he carried for Cheyenne was enough to burn them both and Kris hated the fact that he might have to consider the kid competition for something that he had in the bag just a few short months ago.

“No problem
,
man. Not like I have anything better to do.” The men narrowed their eyes on each other in a s
i
lent challenge that wasn’t lost on either of them. Cheyenne was fair game and there would be blood before either would let the other claim the prize.

Shoulder to shoulder, Kris and Sebastian walked down the hall together
,
coming to
a stop in front of room
225-Cheyenne's
room.

“I can handle this if you want to head down and grab us a table,” Sebastian offered none too innocently.

Kris wasn’t fooled in the least. He had been playing this game since Bas
was
in diapers. “Not a chance, kid.” Raising his fist, he rapped lightly on the door before tur
n
ing the handle and letting himself in.

The silence was deafening. Both noting
the
still made bed that had obviously not been slept in since Che
y
enne had left it this morning, Kris crossed the room, nud
g
ing open the bathroom door to see if she was in there.

“Where could
she
be?” Sebastian asked him.

Running his hand through his hair, something he did whenever he needed to think, Kris scanned the room for clues to her whereabouts.

“I have no idea, but I don’t think she ever came back here after breakfast this morning.”

“Yeah, me either.” Sebastian’s voice held a note of worry in it. “I think we should check the girl’s rooms, see if she’s with
them,
or if she’s stopped by or something.”

“Good idea.”

The men left the room in search of the rest of their team.

He had to
admit; the
woman could hawk a loogie like a pro. Her aim was dead on, lethal. Wiping his for
e
head with the back of his sleeve, Erias returned her glare with equal
rancor.

“You vile pig!” Cheyenne screeched.

“Me!” Erias bellowed. “I’m not the one spitting like some sort of boor! Honestly
,
woman, I don’t know who taught you your
manners,
but they should give you your money back.”

And he had no idea what he had been thinking when he had brought her into his room. He had intended to earn her trust, make her see that he really was a good guy and then talk her into abandoning this ridiculous need to di
s
cover what was on top of that mountain and go back home where she belonged. He couldn’t have predicted that she would turn into some rampaging beast with a bad case of rabies. For the last couple of
hours,
he had been forced to strong
-arm her several times
,
even going so far as to shield the room so her voice couldn’t carry to the rest of the
h
o
tel’s
occupants.

This woman was the
hardest-headed
thing he had ever had the displeasure of dealing with. As it was
,
he was getting tired of this little cat and mouse game they were playing and more than ready to get down to
business.

“What are you doing?” Cheyenne asked wearily, still panting from the anger of being tossed back onto the bed for the thousandth time. The man had been tossing her around for hours. Every
time
she tried to make a break for
it; he
would circle her waist and toss her back onto the bed. Her legs were so tired she wasn’t sure how she still had the strength to
stand, but
she was not about to go
down.

She had screamed at the top of her lungs until her throat was sore and her voice was hoarse
,
and still no one came to her rescue. What kind of place was this that no one would help a woman is distress?

It wasn’t until a moment ago that she had resorted to the vilest of acts. She had punched him in the
gut,
and he had asked her if she was a tranny because the only way she could have packed a wallop like that was if she were a man. Then he’d tried to grab her boob to see if it was real. That was when she had gathered everything she had and spat in his
face.

It was
sick; she
knew, but she could think of not
h
ing else and
besides; it
had worked. If only for a moment, he was staying away from
her, but
now
,
as she watched him reaching into the depths of the closet, she had to wo
n
der what he was up to.

“Well, since you refuse to calm yourself and listen for five fucking minutes, I have decided to do myself a f
a
vor and shut you up.”

It took two seconds for her to realize what he meant and another one for her to make her choice. She was out of there. With the pathway to the door temporarily unguarded, she ran. 

Erias smiled a second before he felt the air stir. R
e
ally, did she think he was that stupid that he would leave the door completely unguarded after everything they had been through without having put some sort of safeguard in place?

A second after she whizzed by him the air filled with an electrical charge, the hair on his arms stood on end and the air around him turned
fluorescent
blue before the familiar sizzle and pop hit his
ears.

No sooner did she touch the knob did she feel her fingers tingle and burn. The current zipped through her fi
n
gertips
,
raising every hair on her body. The air crackled around her and a second later she was blasted back, flying through the air
and
into the heart of the room where she slammed into the wall and bounced off, landing with a thud on the
floor.

Her teeth rattled in her
mouth,
and her head was pounding like someone had beaten her with a sledgeha
m
mer. Her eyes
burned,
and her tongue felt thick and dry in her mouth. Every part of her body
ached,
and she felt so tired she could barely open her
eyes, but
once she
did; she
felt a renewed sense of strength rush over
her.