I didn’t know how to handle a gun, but I wasn’t stupid and I had been around Deck all my life. Guess I was getting a lesson earlier than I thought.
I moved to the other side of the room behind the door and peeked through the crack. I did still have an issue with following instructions.
WHO THE FUCK was breaking into my loft and how the hell did they get past the concierge? I slipped into my office, grabbed my spare gun and crept down the hall.
Tyler was on his way over, but he’d have knocked. Never had he just walked in my place even though he had a key. My house cleaner I’d cancelled for two weeks until all the shit settled.
I crept into the spare bedroom, which was closest to the front door. I didn’t hear anything. Nothing. Fuck.
I waited another two minutes and then slid along the hallway wall again, peering around the corner into the living room. I noticed the front door wide open and …
I felt him behind me a second too late and by then he had the cold, sharp edge of his knife on my throat.
“And you’re supposed to be the best.”
Fuck. I dropped my hand to my side and took my finger off the trigger as he took the knife from my throat. Jesus, I was too focused on Georgie and not on what the fuck I’d been trained to do. “You owe me a new lock.”
“What lock? All I did was click and turn. Ever hear of security? My girl is a rather valuable asset—”
I swung around and punched him in the face, although I was rather disappointed he didn’t go down. I would’ve punched him again if Tyler hadn’t come running in the door and grabbed me. I think I would’ve actually killed him and the bastard knew it.
My finger, however, was back on the trigger of my gun and pointed at him.
“Easy.” He lowered his knife, leaned over and put it in a holster strapped to his leg. Kai stood up straight and nodded. “Guess I deserved it—once.”
“Deck, man, we need him.” Suddenly I wished I hadn’t called Tyler to come by this morning. Bad timing. Another two minutes and I’d have a dead body to help get rid of.
All I could think about were the cuts on Georgie. Her words, ‘I asked him to’, ravaged through me, eating up my control like termites. I knew why she’d done it, as a way to deal with her past. To feel the pain and walk away strong, not weak like she used to feel when she was sixteen. It was a classic way to cope with shit fucking with your head. Feel the physical pain in order to deal with the emotional.
Fuck. I should’ve been there. I should’ve been the one to help her and fuckin’ Kai was there instead. I was filled with fury, but I did lower my gun.
As soon as Tyler stepped away from me, I swung again, this time catching Kai unaware and landing him flat on his ass. He shook his head as if to clear it then came to his feet and our gazes clashed. “You done now?”
The guy had no fear. I was the one with the fuckin’ gun. Christ, even worse than dangerous was not caring whether you lived or died.
Kai was a lethal weapon in the sheep’s clothing of a rich gentleman. Pretending to be someone he wasn’t, just like he made Georgie do. His slight English accent was the final touch to his bullshit persona.
Kai strode across the room and opened the sliding glass door as if he owned the place and was a welcomed guest. Cocky son of a bitch. When we talked last night, I’d told him we’d meet today, although I hadn’t intended it to be here or with Georgie around. Kai obviously had other plans.
The bastard headed out onto the terrace, completely at ease. I followed. “Where’s Chaos?”
I raised my gun and pointed it at him, my hand steady as a rock as I tried to stop myself from killing the asshole.
She was sixteen when Kai met her. Sixteen when he pressured her, a vulnerable girl who was being abused by a boy at school and had just lost her brother. The fucker deserved a bullet between the eyes. My finger twitched on the trigger.
“Deck.” Her voice came up behind me and her hand settled on my waist. I lowered the gun. I tried to keep her safe from shit like this all her life, and the irony was she was around it the entire time anyway. “Hey, Tyler.” She paused, her gaze on Kai and she raised her brows, cocking her hip. “Ever think of knocking, asshole?”
I felt the pull at the corners of my lips. I wasn’t sure how Georgie would be with Kai, whether she’d fear him or sass him. The latter was a point for me.
“I like the dramatic,” Kai said, pulling out a chair from the patio table and sat, stretching his legs out. He grabbed Georgie’s coffee mug from earlier, sniffed it then took a sip and set it down.
She huffed. “That’s bullshit.”
“More like traumatic,” Tyler said and yanked a chair out across from Kai and sat.
I kept my hand on my gun resting at my side. Kai glanced at it and a mild smirk emerged. “Not very trusting, are you?”
“I find out my girl has cuts on her caused by you. No, I want to blow you to pieces at the moment.” But that was too clean; first, I’d torture him and make him suffer for oh, about ten years. I felt Georgie’s hand leave my waist. Okay, she had her reasons for letting him do it, but I didn’t have to fuckin’ like it. It sure as hell wasn’t happening again. I had demons, too, except I beat them out by killing the scum of the Earth. Well, I’d fuck her demons out of her.
“Why?” I knew Kai would know exactly what I was asking. Regardless of how much I hated him at that moment, we thought alike.
“If you’d stuck around, you’d know.”