Vigilante 01 - Who Knows the Storm (19 page)

“Enjoy your night,” he said, pushing Cade out the door.

He was very popular on the packed floor.

Three high rollers with no luck at the tables happened upon him at the bar. They didn’t try much wooing, just ordered him a drink and asked how much for all of them at the same time.

He barely got a number out when Rachel’s voice cut through the babble.

“Sorry, gentlemen,” she said, resting her hand on Cade’s back. “He has a previous appointment.”

“The Monarch,” Rachel whispered as he walked away, staying behind to soothe the hurt feelings of the trio.

Cade tried not to run, hoping desperately he was right and Nox was waiting.

The elevator couldn’t move fast enough, and Cade’s legs didn’t move as quickly as he wanted them to. He made it to the door of the Monarch Suite and pushed inside…

To find it empty.

Cade checked the bedroom, the bathroom. No one was there.

He came back to the living room to find Rachel sitting on the couch. “I thought you said—”

Rachel indicated the seat across from her by pointing the toe of her shoe in that direction. “Sit down, Cade. We need to have a chat.”

Interlud
e

J
ENNY
LOOKS
at the teenager across from her, holding that sweet little baby so protectively, and tries to remember what her job was in the first place.

Oh right. Get rid of the wife, take care of the kid, rendezvous with the papers from the safe at Carson Boyet’s house. Make a shit ton of money and get the fuck out of town.

Nothing has gone as planned, not a damn thing.

She tries to figure out where it shifted, where the big score stopped being her main goal and she changed the script.

Maybe it was when she realized Natalie was pregnant.

Maybe it was when they told her to kill a teenager and an infant because things had gotten “complicated.”

No shit.

So here is the new plan: She has the papers they want. She’s going to take the kids off the island, drop them off somewhere far, far away, then blackmail the shit out of these assholes until she gets her money.

Ballsy? Sure. But fuck them. Fuck all of them.

“We’re gonna pack up, go down to the ferry, and go somewhere….”

Nox makes a face. He doesn’t believe her.

“Somewhere safe, okay? I’m not going to hurt you.”

“You pulled a gun on me,” Nox snaps. “While I was holding a baby.”

Jenny rolls her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry? Oh my God.” Nox clamps his mouth shut as if he realizes he shouldn’t argue with the lady with the gun. “Whatever. When do we leave?”

“When it gets dark.”

She gets him to give her his school identification, tucks it into her pocket.

A
LARM
S
SOUND
outside. Emergency vehicles race down the street. The rain starts again in earnest. Jenny sits in a chair by the front window, watching and waiting.

Nox is on the couch, talking to the baby he’s now calling Sam. Jenny ignores the chatter because it’s annoying and she doesn’t want to care.

The lights go out.

Nox has battery-powered lanterns, which he gets from the kitchen.

“My mom was right” is all he says.

They sit in the dark. Jenny has the gun in her lap—and she grabs it when the front door rattles.

“Hide,” she murmurs, and Nox takes off up the stairs. Jenny raises the gun as the door opens.

Chapter Thirty-three

T
HERE
WAS
a police cruiser on the outskirts of the Old City.

Nox sat on the roof of the Museum of Natural History, now a disco catering to the young and hip who wanted to dance the night away instead of throw money down the toilet at cards. For Nox, it gave him a good vantage point to watch who was entering his part of town.

The police didn’t come to the Old City without good reason, and crime wasn’t a good enough one, hadn’t been for a long time. They were looking for something. Someone.

Music leaked out of the doors; drunk revelers tripped down the stairs, shouting and shrieking their way to the street. Gypsy cabs slowed, looking for fares in a place no self-respecting driver would be. Nox watched for a few minutes, saw the young girls tottering on too-high heels, so liquored up they didn’t feel the cold even in their skimpy dresses. He saw the men waiting in the shadows.

For a moment he considered leaving, but something pulled him back.

Nox walked to the edge of the roof and jumped to the church next door. He slid down the side, then walked boldly around to where the men were standing. Whispering.

He caught enough words to understand the plan. He waited until the girls turned away before striking.

The blackjack took out the first man before the second could react. With three quick blows, they were out, piled at his feet like garbage. He left them in the shadows for the junkies who lingered near the barrier and the baby gangbangers with something to prove.

Unaware of their potential fate, the girls got into a cab.

Nox watched them go, then continued on his way.

A
T
S
ERENDIPITY
Towers, Nox became Patrick Mullens, a man in a nice suit holding an all-access key card. He tried to forget Cade’s apartment was here, sticking to his mission.

Break into Alec’s apartment. See if he could find anything.

So far none of his contacts at the other casinos had panned out. They knew of Alec, knew where he worked, but no one had seen him for at least a week. So with a pass from Brownigan, Nox walked right through the front door of the towers and then up to Alec’s door.

No one was in the hallway, which made this easier; he slid the card into the reader and waited. And waited. When the green light flashed, Nox got into the apartment as quickly as possible.

He took a small flashlight from his pocket, shone it around the room.

Empty.

Not just empty of an inhabitant but empty of personal belongings. Aside from a few pieces of basic furniture—most likely included in the rent—the place had been picked clean.

The smell of bleach, the lack of rugs. Nox sighed as he surveyed the space.

Cade’s friend wasn’t missing, he was long gone. Whether he was alive or dead, Nox couldn’t say.

Chapter Thirty-four

C
ADE
SAT
down across from Rachel. He watched her expression, his own nerves subsiding as he realized she was unsettled.

He’d never seen that before.

“Cade, I’ve always liked you,” she started, tapping her heels on the floor. “You have a good head on your shoulders.”

She stopped—and he waited.

“A very long time ago, I made some mistakes. I was young and I listened to the wrong people, let them manipulate me into doing things I didn’t want to.” She shuddered. “What I told you about where I come from and where I was during the Evacuation—that wasn’t true.”

Cade’s breath caught in his throat.

Nox was right.

“My parents died when I was very young, and I was taken in by some family friends.” Rachel’s expression turned dark, as bad as he’d ever seen her when someone fucked up. “Their business was—let’s just say it makes what we do now look like church camp.”

Cade nodded, pressed his palms against the sofa.

Nox—Jesus Christ. He had to let him know.

“I went to work for them because I didn’t have a choice.” She stopped again, her eyes flashing with anger. “You understand that. I didn’t have a choice.”

“I understand, Rachel,” he answered because he knew she needed to hear it.

“And I did things I regret, but—at the time, they seemed to be my only chance to survive.” She looked away, staring at the door. “I reached a point, though, where I couldn’t—I wouldn’t do the last job required of me. I could have walked away with a lot of money, Cade. More money than I could have imagined when I was that young, but I couldn’t do it.” She stressed each syllable. “I let that person I was be erased and I… I remade myself.”

Rachel turned again, and he saw tears in her eyes. “I became Rachel Moon, and I became successful on my own terms. That girl I was before—she’s dead. It’s not a lie, it’s not a cover-up, it’s the truth. Jenny is dead.”

Cade nodded, leaning forward even as he wanted to bolt out the door. “I get it, Rachel. I do,” he said gently.

“Tell him Jenny is dead,” she repeated as she stood up. “That’s the truth.”

Chapter Thirty-five

N
OX
LEANED
against Cade’s door, checking his watch a few times as he waited. He could go inside—he had a pass—but something held him back. Cade’s shift should be over by now. He was about to leave, feeling ridiculous for standing there for so long, but God, since this morning, this afternoon—he could still taste Cade in his mouth, and the need… the want. It was in his head so deeply he couldn’t leave without seeing him.

Down the hall, the elevator dinged, and like he could sense it, Nox turned to see Cade stepping off.

Their gazes met, and the grateful smile on Cade’s face was everything he wanted to see.

They didn’t talk. Cade opened the door and Nox followed. A single light flipped on.

And this was what Nox was thinking about all damn day. He groaned into Cade’s mouth, sliding his hands down to the small of his back, tugging him in even closer.

He kept a tight hold on him and edged him back toward the bedroom, struggling to get Cade’s shirt off without breaking the kiss.

Cade moved in complete cooperation with Nox’s aggressive hands—shirt off, walk backward, navigate hallways and furniture. By the time Nox got them to the bedroom, both their shirts were gone and Nox had unbuttoned Cade’s pants. “Everything off,” he said, his voice a low growl.

Cade took a tiny step back and reached for his waistband as he toed his shoes off. Everything was fast and slow at once—Cade watching Nox watching him, drawing out each second of anticipation, and then he was naked, completely stripped in Nox’s space.

“Cade,” Nox murmured, and so help him, he actually licked his lips like Cade was a steak dinner and he hadn’t eaten in a week.

“Come here.” Cade tugged him closer. “My turn.”

Cade lowered his eyes and went to work, quickly and effectively stripping Nox out of his clothes. No more touching than necessary—just the occasional brush of fingers against Nox’s skin until he was naked.

Nox gave in for a few long moments, letting them both look their fill, then reached around Cade and pulled him in, nice and snug against his body, hands low on his hips. “Suck me now. Then I’ll fuck you,” Nox murmured, leaning in closer, lips brushing his neck.

Cade’s smile was smug and dirty. He opened his mouth, teasing and drawing out the anticipation before he whispered, “That sounds like a good plan.” He stroked his hands down Nox’s back, then around his hips. “On my knees or….”

“Mmmm, yeah,” Nox sighed and Cade laughed.

“You really like to play boss, don’t you?”

“You’re so distracting,” he said, tightening his grip on Cade’s hips. “If I had time, I’d chain you to that bed and fuck you until you couldn’t walk.”

“Big talker.” Cade slapped Nox’s ass hard, and the sting propelled Nox to start moving again.

“I need—” Nox started to say, but Cade bit his lower lip, sucking slowly before pulling off.

“I’m a professional, son—nightstand, top drawer.”

Professional. Right. This was sexual relief. This was an understanding between two adults.

The detour was blessedly short thanks to the compactness of the room. He caught Cade around his waist, kept him close as he leaned over to retrieve what they needed.

And then, after he’d tossed the condom and lube bottle onto the bed, Nox took Cade down and pinned him to the mattress, kissing him hard and growling into his mouth as he did so. “Where were we?”

Cade moved underneath him, an echo of that moment against the wall on the first day they met. But this was so much better—skin to skin, the full expanse of Cade’s gorgeous body for Nox to use and take.

“I can’t suck you like this,” Cade said, kicking at Nox to get off him. “Come on, put that cock in my mouth.” The words were breathless and practiced, but there was nothing fake about the hard-on pushing against Nox’s thigh.

He scrambled up, knee-walking over to Cade’s muscular chest until Nox straddled his shoulders. Something dark flitted across Cade’s pale eyes, and Nox moaned as he grabbed his cock to stroke.

“Mmm, that’s mine,” Cade moaned, opening his mouth. He laid his tongue against his bottom lip, begging with his eyes and the urgent tugs of his hands against Nox’s hips.

Nox fed his cock into Cade’s mouth, teasing against his tongue then pushing in deeper.

It was slow and torturous. Cade sucked on the head, flicking his tongue against the vein just under the cap. His wet mouth was heaven as Nox slid his cock deeper.

He couldn’t keep upright.

Nox dropped his hands to the bed and watched, felt, as Cade seemed to cease breathing or moving anything but his mouth and tongue and back of his throat.

Cade dug his nails into the muscled flesh of Nox’s thighs, slowing his thrusts enough for Cade to slide his mouth even lower at his own practiced pace, until he swallowed around the cock in his throat.

“Oh, oh,” Nox panted, stilling his hips as Cade did all the work even with limited movement. Nox gripped the sheets with both hands, sweating and aching from every suck. Nox groaned, yanking at Cade’s hair to pull him off slowly.