Warped (The Mercenary Series Book 2) Read online

  Nicole stood with her tutor, his arm protectively around her shoulders. She stepped forward when she saw me, her eyes widening. “Vee, what’s going on?”

  “Someone’s shooting up the front of the house. We need to get out of here.”

  She caught sight of X behind me and her brows drew together in confusion. “Is that …?”

  I nodded. “Yes, he’s come to get us away from here. Now let’s go.”

  But frustratingly, she shook her head. “No, I’m not going anywhere. Tony is protecting us, remember? And besides, I don’t want to leave Mateo.”

  Mateo? The tutor!

  I stared at her in disbelief. “Tony is only protecting you because he thinks he can benefit from having you around.” I turned my attention to the tutor. “And as for you, she’s seventeen years old. I should put a fucking bullet in your head if you’ve touched her.”

  “I’m not a little girl, Vee,” she snapped. “I’m going to be eighteen in two days, and it’s not like you were some innocent at my age. Mateo and I love each other. I’m staying with him.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

  X’s voice came from behind me. “We have to go, Vee. We’re running out of time.”

  “Please, Nickie. Come with me. We will protect you. You can’t live your life under Tony’s thumb. It won’t end up well for you.”

  “Nothing’s ever ended up well for you, though, has it, Vee? I hardly think you’re someone who should be giving out life advice.”

  I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to smack her around the head and drag her out of there by her hair. Not since the day I’d been forced to choose between her and our mother about who was going to die had I been so torn. I didn’t want to go without her. But she refused to leave. I wanted to be with X, and I was sure Tony would kill me soon.

  I couldn’t stay.

  For the first time in my life, I did something for me.

  “I’ll come back for you, Nickie,” I said, a painful lump clogging my throat. “I swear I will. I hope you’ll have changed your mind by then.”

  She was staring at me, her nostrils flared, her eyes bright and shiny with unshed tears. It was as though she was amazed I was actually choosing to leave her. I’d never done that before. Maybe she’d thought I would always put her first.

  “Here,” said X to Mateo, crouching down to slide his gun across the floor, not so close that Mateo could snatch it up and use it on him, but close enough that he’d be able to grab it after we’d left. “We don’t know what’s going down out there yet. Protect her with it.”

  I was grateful to X for doing that.

  I gave Nicole one final pleading glance, but she wouldn’t meet my eye, so I allowed X to grab my hand once more and pull me out of the library.

  Chapter Seventeen

  X

  It felt strange to be finally holding her hand, to have her right next to me. She hadn’t flinched when I’d touched her, or acted as though she didn’t trust me in any way, even though she’d told me I’d been paid to kill her. I wished I could remember our story. More than anything else, that felt like the most important thing in my life. To have forgotten any of the times when I’d had the chance to touch her skin was sacrilege.

  “Come on,” I told her. “We need to go.”

  I could tell she was torn at leaving her sister. I was frustrated on her behalf. Did Verity not see the way her sister looked at her? I didn’t know what had happened between them, but the way Verity looked at her sister was not the way her sister looked at her. Her sister had glared at her with real hatred, and I couldn’t imagine what had inspired such feelings.

  “They’re distracted at the front of the building, so we need to go out the back,” I said.

  She looked up at me. “Please tell me you have a car.”

  “Yeah, it’s Harvey’s. It’s parked out back.”

  Harvey glanced back over his shoulder and nodded.

  “Thanks, Harvey,” she said, still holding my hand. “I guess I have you to thank especially.”

  “Let’s save the thanks for when we get out of here.”

  Tony the Hound’s place was huge—numerous hallways and doors leading in various directions. I was amazed we’d managed to run into Vee in the first place.

  “It’s this way,” she said, pulling me to the left.

  I shook my head. “I’m sure we came in from the other direction.”

  “No, it’s quicker this way. I promise.”

  Intermittent gunfire still sounded from the front of the house. It had been sheer good luck that whoever was firing on the house had turned up when they had. Harvey and I had been scoping out the place from the rear, when we’d heard the rattle of gunfire and glass breaking. Though perhaps running into the middle of a gunfight had been a moment of madness, I’d known it would be enough of a distraction to allow us to get in unseen.

  Getting out, however, wasn’t going to be so easy.

  “This way!” Verity said. “The door at the end of this hallway leads out onto the grounds at the back of the property.”

  I exchanged a glance with Harvey, and he led the way, holding his gun out in front of him. He pushed open the door, and sure enough, fresh air and moonlight greeted us.

  We were out of the house.

  “This way,” said Harvey, motioning with his head to the left. He wanted to take us around to the side of the property, so we could leave the grounds the same way we entered.

  We rounded the corner. A lone man was keeping lookout, a weapon drawn. I yanked Vee back, pulling her behind me to cover her, but Harvey had stepped out first. He got in the first shot, but missed. The other man fired back. Harvey returned fire, but a bullet from the other man’s gun caught him in the chest and Harvey flew backward and hit the ground.

  Fuck.

  I stepped out, still keeping Vee behind my body, and fired my weapon. The man who’d shot Harvey dropped to the ground, blood spurting from a gunshot wound in his throat. Looked like Harvey hadn’t missed after all.

  I didn’t have time to feel bad for Harvey. The gunfire would have caught someone’s attention. I crouched briefly beside him to check for a pulse, but I could tell without even touching him that he was dead. Even if he’d been injured, I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Trying to carry a deadweight like Harvey would get both Verity and me killed. Harvey probably had thirty pounds on me, and however strong I might have been before the accident, I knew I’d lost muscle mass when I’d been in the hospital. I almost got to my feet and continued, but then remembered something. I shoved my hand in Harvey’s pockets until my fingers found the jumble of metal. They were keys to both the car and his apartment. We wouldn’t have gotten far without them. I also found his cell phone, and then snatched up his weapon and shoved it down the back of my pants. I figured he wasn’t going to need it now. Another quick pat down revealed his wallet. I didn’t want to leave that either, knowing the address would lead Tony’s men straight to us.

  The other man was dead as well, and so I picked up the weapon he’d been using, too. I’d left mine with the tutor back in the house, and I thought we’d need as much firepower as we could get. So far, I didn’t see any signs of anyone else coming. Most of Tony’s men were caught up with whatever was happening around the front of the property. Tony the Hound obviously had plenty of people who would be happy to see him dead.

  He could add me to the list.

  I tugged on Vee’s arm, leading across the back of the property, toward the rear wall which we’d scaled to access the house. The rope we’d used to scale the wall on the way in was still hanging down, so I grabbed it and offered it to Vee.

  She cocked an eyebrow at me. “I’m not some little princess, you know. I don’t need taking care of.”

  I wiggled it at her again. “Just take the damned rope.”

  She grabbed it and jumped for the wall. I gave her a shove from behind, appreciating the firmness of her ass and thighs beneath m
y hands. I discovered that even when I was in imminent threat of being shot, I was still able to think of her in such a way.

  How did she think of me?

  Her fine butt and legs had vanished over the top of the wall, so I grabbed onto the rope myself, using the knots tied down its length as handholds, and pulled myself up as well. I traversed the top, swinging my leg over the other side. Vee was standing on the ground on the other side, staring up at me, impatience dancing in her dark eyes.

  A sudden memory hit me, the image of her standing in a motel room, spinning toward me as I entered, the look in those dark eyes. Of her shouting at me, asking me where I’d been, of me comforting her when she’d thought I had abandoned her. Vee, I always called her Vee, never Verity. The memory made me catch my breath, and pause, remaining sitting on top of the wall.

  “What are you doing?” she hissed up at me.

  “I remembered something. I remembered something about you.”

  Another gunshot came from behind and hit the wall right below me, brick and concrete pinging out, and I didn’t have time to dwell on it any further. “Shit.” Instead of pulling the rope up, I just jumped down the other side, as Vee must have done. I hit the ground and kept running, catching Vee’s hand again and pulling her with me.

  The car was parked a couple of blocks away. I hoped Tony’s men wouldn’t chase us and shoot us in the street, but I wouldn’t put it past them. I also hoped they’d be more worried about the numerous people at the front of the property and would stay to deal with them before chasing after us.

  I stopped by the car, bent over, wheezing air into my lungs. My throat felt tight, my chest burning. I hated that I still wasn’t back to my full strength. There was nothing more frustrating than both my mind and body not working right.

  “You okay?” Vee asked, a line of worry appearing between her brows.

  I nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  Using Harvey’s keys, I unlocked the car. She jumped into the passenger side, while I got behind the wheel. I’d take her back to Harvey’s apartment. I couldn’t waste any emotion on feeling bad that we’d be using a dead man’s home, a man who’d only tried to help me. I couldn’t dwell on the fact Harvey would be alive now if he hadn’t helped me get Vee back.

  The street was deserted as I pulled the car away from the curb and drove the route back to Harvey’s place. My foot was heavy on the accelerator, wanting to push the car faster, but I knew we couldn’t risk being stopped by the police for speeding. I was driving a dead man’s car, and was armed. Putting the ‘killer for hire’ past I apparently had behind me, that would be enough on its own to get me arrested.

  I glanced over at Vee as I drove. She sat with her hand covering her eyes.

  “Are you okay?” I asked her.

  “I can’t believe I’ve left Nickie. What have I done? She’s never going to forgive me.”

  “I don’t know your sister, but she looked like she had her mind made up. Surely she’ll forgive you for making your own choice as well.”

  She removed her hand from her eyes and stared at me, her eyes searching my face. I saw sadness in them. “How much do you remember?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Not much. Though I’ve been getting flashes.”

  “I wish you remembered what I’d told you.” She gave a cold laugh. “I’ve never spoken to anyone about the things I’ve done, no one until you, that is. It’s kind of ironic that now you can’t remember anything I said.”

  I could tell she was hurt by the fact the one person she’d confided in hadn’t cherished her words enough to protect them. It hadn’t been my fault, yet I still felt responsible.

  I pulled over the car outside of Harvey’s apartment block, relieved to find a parking spot nearby, and led Vee through the lobby and up to his place. It was strange he wouldn’t be coming back here again. Had he wondered if he would when he’d left with me that afternoon?

  Shutting the door behind us, I went into the kitchen. “You want a drink?” I asked, pulling open the cupboards, figuring Harvey must have kept some booze in here somewhere. After being shot at again, I figured I needed it.

  Vee appeared in the open doorway. She leaned against the frame, the side of her head rested against it. “Yeah. I could use something strong.”

  I found a bottle of whiskey and a couple of glasses.

  Another memory struck me. Vee sitting on a step outside of a building, drinking an amber liquid from a glass while I hid across the alley and watched her. I’d been holding something—a gun. I’d been planning to kill her, I remembered that now. But something had stopped me.

  “That night when I was watching you and I was going to kill you, something prevented me. What was it?”

  She winced at me saying I was going to kill her. “You remember?”

  “Parts of it. Things seem to be coming back to me, but they’re in flashes. It’s like I’m watching a movie in my head, but someone has blacked most of it out.”

  She nodded. “Someone interrupted me. He came out of the bar and hassled me. I pulled a knife on him and threatened to gut him.”

  A smile spread across my face. “Is that why I never got to kill you? You did the same to me.”

  She bit her lower lip, but it was to prevent her own smile, not because she felt bad. “Yeah. You have knife wounds, right?”

  I nodded. “From you, I assume.”

  “You assume correctly.”

  I finished pouring our drinks and handed one to her. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was wearing sweat pants, a t-shirt, and sneakers, with her hair tied into a loose ponytail, but even dressed down and with no makeup, she was breathtakingly beautiful. Her mouth was perfect, her bone structure delicate. She was tall and slender, her limbs seeming to go on for miles. The tattoos running down one arm gave her an edge, as did the dangerous glint in her eye. Everything about her fascinated me, and I felt like I’d happily spend every day for the rest of my life with her at my side.

  And I couldn’t even remember the vast majority of the time we’d spent together.

  I handed her the drink, our fingers brushing, sending sparks firing across my skin and heading directly down to my cock. My palms itched with my need to touch her. I wanted to push my fingers through her hair and press my mouth to hers. I wanted to be inside her, to claim her, to make her mine again. We had a space between us which I didn’t feel belonged there. I thought I’d been the type of man who’d always taken what he wanted, but for some reason I didn’t dare push Vee until she gave me a sign she was ready.

  She took a sip of the whiskey, grimaced, and put it to one side.

  “Not a fan of hard liquor?” I wondered if this was something else I’d forgotten, and why she’d not mentioned it when I’d poured the drink.

  But she shook her head. “I am normally. I’ve not been feeling well for the past few days. The whiskey isn’t agreeing with me.”

  I made her some hot tea instead, feeling strangely domesticated. She took it from me with one hand and smiled gratefully, then she reached up with her other hand, her fingers running through the scruff of my beard, her nails scraping the skin below. “I like it. It suits you.”

  “I didn’t have it before?”

  “No, you were clean-shaven. Or at least you were when I first met you.”

  “Should I shave it off?”

  “No. Keep it.”

  Then she leaned into me and placed a kiss, soft and warm and sweet, against my lips.

  I took her cup from her, not breaking the kiss, reaching blindly to place it on the counter. I pulled her into me, our kiss deepening. Her hands were around the back of my head, her fingers lacing in my hair. The soft swell of her breasts pushed against my chest. My hands found their way around her body, sliding down the long line of her back to the curve of her ass. My fingers tightened, squeezing her flesh beneath the sweatpants, dragging her closer. My balls tingled, tightening low in my groin as my cock swelled for her. Her tongue pushed into my mouth and I gr
oaned, wanting to tear her clothes from her body. Our kiss deepened and I sensed the same urgency in her as there was in me.

  I remembered the scarring on my body. Had she seen them already? I couldn’t remember telling her about it—in fact, I would need to ask her myself if she knew, see if she could fill in that part of my past. I didn’t think the story would be a pleasant one.

  I broke the kiss to snag her t-shirt and lift it upward, pulling it over her head.

  I stopped, frowning. A combination of the t-shirt and loose strands of hair from her ponytail had covered them before, but now I saw she had bruises, like fingerprints, around her neck.

  I placed my fingers to the marks and she flinched away. “What are these?”

  Her eyes slipped shut and she shook her head. “You didn’t think I’d get out of there completely unscathed, did you?” She took my hand and pulled it away. “It’s fine. We’ll deal with it later.”

  Then she guided my hand to her breast, and though I hated the idea of someone hurting her, my lust for her won over. She wore a black lace bra, and I palmed the weight of her tit before slipping my fingers beneath the cup and pulling it down. I rolled her nipple between my thumb and forefinger, feeling it crinkle and harden. She moaned and pushed against me.

  Wanting to feast on her, I reached behind her thighs with my other hand and scooped her up, lifting her so her ass slid onto the counter behind her. Ducking my head, I squeezed her breast and slid my tongue over the hardened peak, loving the taste of her skin. I sucked her nipple into my mouth, and her fingers laced through my hair. Pulling the cup of the bra down on her other breast, I moved my oral attention to that one, feeling the nipple pebble on my tongue. I sucked the peak deeper into my mouth and then drew back, my teeth gently catching and nibbling as I did so.

  “Ah, fuck, X,” she moaned above me, her words making my dick rock hard. I wanted her so badly.

  Leaving her bra so it was half on, the cups pulled down which served to push her already perky tits right up at my face, I got to work on her sweatpants. She toed off her sneakers, and then lifted herself slightly so I could pull the material of the pants and her underwear off in one go. I yanked it from her slender thighs and threw them to the floor.