My lips twitched at their little domestic spat. Carter had struggled to adapt when we first arrived in Taylor’s world. He’d been tough before, he’d had to be, but I wanted something better for him. There were twelve years between us, but he was my blood, the only blood I had left in the world. I’d told him to knuckle down when the tests revealed his intelligence, and he’d done exactly that. On reflection, at the expense of living.
I thought Nora might be good for him, kid and all.
My perspectives had changed since a certain wildcat had entered my life.
“At least tell me if she’s okay,” Nora said. “She went out to get the meds for Adam. We didn’t see her for three days, and then Sanctuary fell. I’d feared the worst. She’s not exactly street-savvy, not without Jodi.”
“Don’t mention that crazy bitch to me,” I muttered before I could think better. “She’s already chewed my ear out and issued a challenge for Ava.”
Nora chuckled. “Yes, that would be Jodi,” she said. “They’ve been together for a long time.”
“Blaine found Ava near Sanctuary,” Carter said. He reached his hand back between the seats. “I treated her after. She was fine, a little dehydrated, but fine considering she was on the streets.”
“I’m glad,” she said. “I’m so glad. She’ll be excited when she finds out about Adam. She loves him very much. Used to call him her honorary nephew.”
As I pulled into the underground garage, I realized I would need to tell Ava about Nora and my brother. It was clear that the two women were close. Minds greater than mine had determined that new arrivals could not make contact with former associates for a month. It was supposed to help them settle into their new situation quicker. I’d had no first-hand experience with it before, but now it felt cold and cruel.
As I pulled up into my space and switched the engine off, I stopped to hold a look with Carter. “You going to be okay?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Feel a little rough. I’ve felt worse.”
I let them leave first, watching the way he drew her into his arm as they waited for the elevator to arrive. I still thought of him as a kid, which was ridiculous since he’d grown up the hard way when society took a turn for the worse.
And now here he was with a family of his own.
Which brought me back to a frustrating conversation with Ava’s former girlfriend, and psycho bitch, Jodi. She had decked me this morning. Not a word passed her lips as she marched up to me and punched me in the jaw.
I can’t even lie to myself and claim it didn’t hurt. She reeled off a bunch of demands but eventually had calmed enough for us to have a conversation. She had been cagey, but it was clear there were things about Ava’s past that I needed to know.
With a sigh, I hopped out of the vehicle and headed on up.
Ava
I’d got a message from Blaine to say that tomorrow I would be allowed out. I greeted this news with a measure of excitement and trepidation. Yes, I wanted to escape the luxurious confinement of his apartment, the monotony of which was broken only by the arrival of his sweet cleaner or Blaine himself. But I was also nervous about this new community and how I would fit in.
He looked tired when he entered the apartment still in his combat kit. Usually, he cleaned up somewhere before returning. Today, he was a mess, reminding me of the life he led when he exited the door. With a brief lift of his hand, he headed into the bedroom en-suite. The sounds of the shower followed.
I hung back in the lounge, my stomach fluttering with the anticipation of him being inside me once again. Would this feeling between us ever change? Was it merely the newness of our relationship that made us turn to each other the moment he arrived and throughout the night?
I didn’t know. But I thought I was on the way to becoming addicted to the sweet escape I found when he was near.
When he returned to the lounge, he was dressed in a pair of loose sweatpants that hung low on his hips to reveal that arresting, finely sculptured upper body, along with the enticing V at his hips. It didn’t get any easier to be around him. The man was stunning in every way. He caught hold of my hips as he sat back on the couch, drawing me onto his lap with my knees to either side of his slim hips so that my pussy nestled close to that tempting bulge.
“Someone spent a lot of money on your enhancements,” he said, brushing the hair back from my face, I was sure, so that he could see any tells. “And no ownership mark? How did you manage to avoid that?”
So, that was where this was going. I wondered if he’d spoken to Jodi. She wouldn’t offer up my secrets easily… unless she thought it were necessary.
Did she think Blaine needed to know?
I wished I could see her. She was always better at reading places and people than me. Only I wasn’t with Jodi anymore. I was with Blaine, and I had no idea how it might feel when I saw her again.
“I lived far from the cities for a while,” I said. Removing the guardian tattoo had been a particularly dark moment. Without the use of a brander, that had meant cutting the skin away. Thankfully, my enhancements had prevented an infection. The skin had healed back flawlessly, like it had never been there.
I kept my lashes lowered, but I could feel Blaine’s silent study. He’d put me here on his lap, facing him in this vulnerable position for a reason.
“You expect me to believe that? What’s your real name?”
“My real name is not important.” I’d known this would come at some point, the questions about the lack of brand. My luminous eyes… “Would you rather I made something up?”
His laughter sounded cold. “I’ve been inside you every way a man can, but you still don’t fucking trust me.”
When I met his eyes, I found his expression indiscernible. That flutter was back again, the determination that I could and should trust him. Yet, trust was so hard.
“I can’t help you or protect you from whatever it is that you’re running from if you don’t let me in,” he said softly.
My chest felt tight. I wanted to tell him; wanted to get off the ride. “You can’t protect me from this,” I replied.
“Try me,” he said with bite, eyes glittering.
No one, and especially a man like Blaine, wanted to hear that they were inadequate, but it was so much bigger than he could possibly imagine or understand. I could neither run nor hide forever.
I was on borrowed time here, I knew that.
Like Sanctuary had been.
I thought Guilder City might be more fleeting as options went. My uncle had contacts here. In Blaine’s own words, I was a woman who drew attention. Perhaps, word of the woman with the unusual eyes had already spread. My uncle was a man of resources. He would never stop looking for me because that was the kind of person he was. Perhaps, someone at the hospital had provided a tip-off to one of his minions. Perhaps, Blaine’s innocent cleaner. Sanctuary had kept Jodi and me off the radar. Guilder City had the potential to thrust us back into the spotlight.
“Kiss me,” he said. “The kind of kiss that will make me forget all the secrets you’re keeping.”
My pulse picked up, throbbing at the base of my throat. Dark lust and burning need hit me: mine, his, and a potent combination of them both.