The Damaged, page 4
FIVE
Kash
I needed Bailey.
My body needed her. My soul needed her.
I wanted to hold her.
I wanted to be reassured by her, comforted by her. I wanted her to make the world go away, because right now all I could think was how hard the world was, but there was a need more primitive than the others.
I gave in to that need.
My body was primed, stark desperation strumming in my veins for her, because this day had sucked.
So when I got her in the SUV, I didn’t waste time.
The privacy divider was up.
She moaned into my mouth, pressing against me, and I pushed a hand up her shirt. My hand closed over her tit and I pulled. She gasped, her mouth opening, and I surged in there, too.
God. This woman.
She knocked me on my ass the first time I saw her, and her power had only grown. She knocked everyone on their ass, but it was different with me.
I was tuned to her.
When she ached for me, I knew.
When she moaned, it was my high.
When she was moving beneath me, her legs wound around me, her hips trying to pull everything from me she could get, I was addicted. That addiction hadn’t lessened. A snap of her fingers, a certain look, a certain sound from her and I’d vanquish anyone or anything I needed to make her ache with pleasure back for me.
I ran my hand down her back, enjoying how she trembled in my wake, and I pushed into her jeans, moving around to her front and undoing her buttons.
“God, Kash.”
Yes. I knew. I needed her more than she needed me, and instead of responding, my mouth took control. I loved her warmth.
She bucked in my arms so I pulled her onto my lap.
Our driver couldn’t see what we were doing, but I hit the button. He would know to keep driving until we were done.
I kept going, my other hand running down her front, between her breasts, down her stomach, all the way to her waist and around, as I picked her up. Her legs fell on both sides of me. I switched my hands, my fingers sliding back inside, and my other dipped into the back of her jeans, urging her to ride me.
She did. She didn’t need any assistance. Her hips were already moving, so greedy, and I loved it. I wanted more.
Her head tipped back, her throat exposed. I bent, finding her there, feeling her pulse skip a beat. My own body was raging. My dick was demanding to be inside of her, but I waited. I always waited. Her first. Always her first.
“Kash,” she moaned.
That’s it.
That was it.
She trembled as I felt her come.
My turn.
I didn’t wait for her to come down. I pushed her up, swept her pants down, yanked them off, and then she was back down and I was surging inside of her. Holy fuck. She was home. My home. My everything.
Her shirt was still on, but my hand moved up, shoving it to her shoulders, just enough. I wanted to feel her against me. She was gone too, her eyes closed. She was lost, and I was getting there.
She began moving with me, her legs tensing, and I relaxed back against the seat, feeling her feeling me.
Jesus.
Christ.
I moved us both, flipping her over, and I bent over, shoving inside, and shoving deep.
“Kash!”
“Bailes.” I kissed down the back of her neck, her spine. Her shirt was still over her shoulders, so I pulled it the rest of the way, reaching around and grabbing her breast. I tugged on her nipple, feeling her body shake, then I bent over, molding to her as I kept thrusting inside.
“Fuck, Kash.”
She was coming. I felt her.
Soon.
I kept going. Harder. Deeper.
I needed her to come again. I was waiting, holding off.
Come, baby.
So soon. So close.
I felt hers, and with a whoosh she exploded in my arms, and a second later, I followed.
SIX
Bailey
Walking into Kash’s apartment, I said, “I saw one of my classmates at Naveah tonight.”
Kash was coming in behind me, like he always did. We had guards waiting for us, so the apartment was safe. Kash came in last to have a word with one of them, then made sure the alarm was on. He finished programming it. “You did?”
I went into the kitchen, hearing him following me. “It looks like she works there.”
“What’s her name?”
“Hoda Mansour.”
Kash frowned. “Mansour? We have a Holden Mansour on staff. He works the IT department.”
I learned a month ago that my father owned Naveah, but I also learned a couple weeks ago that Kash was in the process of taking it over completely. And knowing Kash, because he knew Naveah was a popular hangout for Matt, and now for me, he would know all the staff names.
“Have you met him?”
“No.” He was on his phone a second later. “I had to let a manager go when I came on. He might’ve been the one to hire her. I’ll have Torie look into it. Is she a problem for you?”
This was sticky, so I didn’t answer. A second later, Kash’s eyes were on me. He finished his text, putting his phone back in his pocket. “So she’s a problem.”
I was still hesitant, but I said, “I don’t know. She’s connected in the program, but she looks at me like she hates me. She thinks I got in because Peter got me in.”
“What?” He laughed at that.
“She told me, said my name wasn’t in the pile of students. Peter called in, she answered the call herself, and the next day my file was on the pile. She’s adamant that he got me into that program.”
“You know that’s not true.”
He was moving around me, pouring a drink for me, and then one for himself.
The fact that he poured the same drink I’d been sipping at Naveah wasn’t lost on me. It was just a Kash thing to do, but with his, I knew he’d be sipping his bourbon for the rest of the night. I’d never seen him lose control with drinking. He would lose control fucking and fighting, but never with alcohol.
“How was the family dinner?”
“Good, except…” Again, I was hesitant.
I wasn’t sure if it was my place to question her, but after what Quinn tried with me, I was thinking I should question everything.
He paused, with those eyes that seemed to see through me. “What is it, Bailey?” He said it so patiently, gently, like he knew I needed a little nudge.
It worked.
“What’s the deal with their aunt? She’s weird.”
He studied me a second before he said anything. “Because she looks like Quinn?”
I had put my drink on the table, and now I was wringing my hands together. “I … yes. There’s a mannerism about her that is Quinn. The same mannerism or something. I feel Quinn when she’s in the room.”
Kash was silent for a beat.
When he spoke, it was low, “Did you tell Matt this?”
Matt was fun. Matt was no drama right now, at least with family. He was trying to forget how he’d had an affair with the wife of the husband that Quinn was having an affair with, and how that same husband had been a decoy in helping Quinn get me kidnapped.
Matt was really trying not to be that guy, again.
So because of all that, I didn’t answer.
Kash sighed. “You didn’t want to worry him.”
It wasn’t a question from him. He knew.
I shrugged. There wasn’t much else for me to say.
Kash nodded, putting his drink down. He motioned for me to come to him, so I did, and he put his arm around me, holding me, front to front. His head lowered. He rested his chin on my head. “You can always say something to myself or Matt, or even one of the guards. Never feel you need to remain in a place if it makes you uncomfortable.”
I fisted part of his shirt in my hand, pressing my forehead to his chest. “Ser and Cy were there. I didn’t want to leave them.”
That was the gist of it. I could avoid the estate, even though Chrissy was still there. Marie had been sent away. Seraphina and Cyclone were in school now, but I missed my little brother and sister. I wanted to see them.
Kash understood this. His arm only tightened around me. “We’ll have them to the apartment one night, or we can do a day with them on Sunday.”
I tipped my head back. “Yeah?” Warmth spread through me at that suggestion, all the way to my belly.
He nodded, smiling down, a tender look in his eyes. “I can send Theresa out with Payton for a spa day. We can have Ser and Cyclone all to ourselves.”
I wrapped both my hands in his shirt at that suggestion.
“Thank you.”
He bent down, his lips touching mine, and he whispered back, “I love you.”
A full body tingle went through my body. All my nerve endings felt caressed, and my body melted into his. That was still happening at hearing those words, and I said them back, meaning them with every cell in my body. “I love you, too.”
Kash picked me up and took me right to bed.
We didn’t finish the rest of our drinks.
SEVEN
Melissa and Liam were waiting to greet me the next morning.
Liam looked like he was sleeping standing up. Melissa was bouncing up and down on the backs of her heels, her book bag clasped in front of her chest. Fitz opened the door for me this time. Erik was still with me, just assigned to the car. Kash asked if I wanted a new guard. I knew I should say yes, but my gut was saying to wait and hold off, so that’s what I told him. He was fine with it, and now I had Fitz dodging me in the hallways. He was tall, too, but a bit lankier than Erik. He also had dark hair combed to the side, jeans, a hoodie to fit in, and a backpack like the other students’.
However, when he led first into the building, a few students were ahead of me, and he held the door open for all of them. Melissa’s eyes were glued to him. Hearts were forming in her head and I swear I could see red and pink glitter bursting out of the top of her skull.
She was in love. So in love that when I approached, her hand clamped onto my arm and she breathed out, her eyes huge. “Who is that dreamboat?”
Liam’s eyes opened—so he wasn’t sleeping, just stoned—and he looked around me, then grinned. “That’s Bailey’s security guard.”
Screech! Everything ground to a halt.
“Why would you say that?” That came out in a half whisper, half squeak from me, as Melissa’s eyes just got bigger, if that was possible.
She squealed, “Really?”
Another burst of bouncing from her.
My gaze was glued to Liam. “What makes you think that?”
Liam barely blinked, that half grin still plastered on his face. “Because the guy’s got a gun strapped to his hip. His shirt lifted up when he pulled his bag on him, and no guy has to pull their bag on them. You’re a student, graduate or undergrad. You throw that shit on like it’s a part of your skin. The bag’s not a part of his skin. He forgot to be chill, and his gun showed. Then you walked in and he got all alert-like before remembering his cover, and now he’s pretending he’s not listening to us, but he’s totally listening to us.” He lifted his chin up in a nod and raised a finger in the air, a half-cool salute to Fitz. “What’s up, dude?”
Fitz was trying to keep with his disguise, leaning back against the wall, a foot crossed over the other and his phone out in front of him. But he was waiting for me; his gaze was on me.
I debated …
Then Melissa breathed out, “You mean he heard me this entire time?”
I turned to Fitz. “The jig is up. They’re onto us.”
He sighed, straightening from the wall, and walked over to us. “Had a lot of eyes on me yesterday. Erik, too.”
“Erik.” Another breath whispered from Melissa. “He’s yummy, too.”
My eyes narrowed. This girl was boy crazy.
Liam’s grin just turned lazier, if that was possible. “Girl. We’re IT. Not a lot of newbies that look like your boys in here that haven’t already been around for the last few years, if you get my drift. They know me, and I’m the closest-looking dude like your dudes.”
I grimaced. “We’re first-year grad students.”
“We’re IT.” Liam said it like it made perfect sense.
Melissa was nodding, so maybe it did.
I growled, “I’m IT.”
“Yeah, and we all know about you.”
Again. Perfect sense from Liam, except I wasn’t getting his wavelength.
“It’s fine.” Fitz scanned the hallway before nodding to Melissa. “How’s it going?”
“Hi.” Her cheeks were pink.
Fitz thought it was cute.
Liam just kept grinning that half grin.
I was getting restless. I needed to be working codes, getting lost in that world. “I’m going to the lab.”
“Sweet.” Liam fell in step beside me, his hand holding his bag’s strap over one shoulder.
Melissa fell behind and we could hear her. “How long have you been a security guard? Did you go to school to be a guard? You look young. Have you had to shoot someone? Kill someone?”
The questions kept going, and I glanced back, but Fitz wasn’t paying her any attention. He had his finger to his ear and he was talking to Erik, or someone else, his eyes continuously scanning as we went. It didn’t seem to bother Melissa. She just kept talking.
When we neared the lab, Fitz touched my arm and passed me.
I’d already stopped, remembering the rules, but Fitz said anyway, “I go first.”
He did, and came out a second later, nodding to me. The room had been cleared.
Each of us took a seat behind a computer. I hadn’t gone to this class yesterday and there was a new professor to meet.
Melissa leaned over, gesturing to Fitz in the hallway. “Is he going to be out there the whole time?”
Liam leaned forward from my other side. “It’s his job. Why wouldn’t he?”
She frowned, her little forehead wrinkling. “Because what if something happens to her in here? How would he know?”
Both Liam and I looked around the classroom, but there was only the one door. No windows. Just brick walls, desks, and computers. And chairs.
“And where would the attack come from?”
She shrugged, turning back to her computer and letting her bag fall on the floor. “I don’t know. Maybe one of the other students.”
Liam snorted, mirroring her and facing forward. “Then we’re her guards and we got it. One shout and that motherfucker is barreling in here, gun drawn. Chaos everywhere. Panic. Screams. We don’t want that shit, so on the very low chance one of our own classmates tries to get her, we keep it tight. Okay?”
Melissa and I shared a look.
Neither of us knew what he was talking about, but I lifted up a shoulder. “I’ll be fine. He’ll still be out there when we’re done.”
Her head perked up and she grinned. “Nice.”
Hoda came into the room then, her eyes searching. Finding me. Narrowing. Then moving clear across the room. The other guys were either already seated or were coming in, and once the hour started, we all sat back and learned the fundamentals of information technology.
It was after class when Hoda came over. She avoided my gaze, only responding to Liam. A few of the other guys were with us, and apparently there was a special eating area for graduate students. It was still a café-style eating area, but it wasn’t as big as the undergraduate eating section.
I let Fitz know our destination.
He moved ahead of me, off to the side, but within arm’s reach.
Hoda kept glancing at him, but she was more discreet than Melissa.
Melissa was gawking. And that was when I first really felt surrounded by the typical IT geeks, because none of the guys—Liam was the exception—noticed. They were talking about the newest version of Logitech, which was scheduled to come out in a month. Some of the guys were speaking as if they’d already been using it for the last six months, and I tuned in, not because I fully believed them. They were saying they’d been given early review access and I knew that wasn’t true. Peter was on the board of Logitech, and the review access did not go to grad students from Hawking University. They went to established professionals in the field. So were these guys bluffing for some reason?
Something clicked back in place with me, and I couldn’t hold off a faint grin.
They were bluffing to impress the others.
I was walking among my people.
This was my world. I’d been the outcast, now a novice in my father’s world and Kash’s world, but in this world I was totally a warrior. A kick-ass warrior, to be more specific.
I was thinking this, feeling happy about this, when we walked up to the eating area and noticed the crowd. Or the guys did.
Hoda stopped first, frowning. “What?”
Liam stopped next. His half grin just diminished, so it was a quarter of a grin. He said nothing.
Melissa’s eyes never moved from Fitz. Had to give her respect for her devotion.
It was the others’ reactions that worried me.
“The fuck?”
“Is there a celebrity here today?”
I didn’t know the guys who asked that, but all were watching the crowd, and as we stood there, the crowd seemed to get bigger.
“Those aren’t students.” This was from Hoda. She took a step forward. “Those are reporters. I recognize a few bloggers.”
“Bloggers?” From one of the guys.
The crowd was moving, forming at one end of the court and slowly heading across in front of us. Among the heads moving around, I saw an official-looking older man walking in the middle. A middle-aged woman was with him, and I saw that Busich was with the group.
Someone high up was at Hawking, and it was then that I felt Fitz on my other side. His eyes were hard, focused on the crowd heading toward us. He spoke from the side of his mouth, quietly. “We need to go.”
“Why?”
Melissa jostled into me. “Is something going on?”
Fitz pressed a hand to my back, gently but also assertively, guiding me away from the crowd. I started to go with him when my phone rang.
