Raul released my wrist and his harsh fingers dug into my chin as he raised my head. “She is striking, no?” Raul forced my head to the side so my face was directed at Kai.
I slowly raised my eyes to Kai’s and everything stopped as our gazes locked. It was like when I’d last seen him in my loft, when nothing else existed except for us. No pasts. No pain. It was knowing that despite our beginning, there was more than the lust. More than a deal. It was the reason he walked away.
And looking at him now, I knew it was also the reason he was here. His words resonated, ‘I’ll always come for you.’
Oh, God, Kai. I wanted to fall to my knees and cry. I wanted him to pick me up in his arms and carry me away from this place like he’d carried me from the fire. I wanted Kai to save me because I couldn’t save myself. Not from this.
“Yes,” he drawled.
He sat with his legs outstretched, one hand curled around a frosted glass which he casually turned and the ice clinked against the sides.
My eyes darted to it and I swallowed. I was never given anything cold to drink. I was given room temperature water and at meals, Alfonzo would on occasion offer me a sip of his wine if I was good.
I’d do anything to slip an ice cube in my mouth. To have it clink against my teeth as it melted slowly on my tongue, the sweet moisture drizzling down my dry throat.
I’d have begged for it if I could.
God, how did I sink so low? How did I become a pathetic girl who had lost all dignity?
But my fairy tale had ended. Like a book thrown in the incinerator, pages of my life had been burned into ash then re-written into a girl called Raven.
Raul’s hand dropped from my chin. “Go to him,” he ordered.
I hesitated, unable to take my eyes off Kai. Not wanting to drop to my knees in front of him, but knowing I had no choice. Then I realized what bothered me the most about this. I didn’t want Kai seeing me this way.
I stepped toward Kai and began to kneel at his feet when his arm snaked out and latched onto my wrist. He tugged and I half fell into his lap, my palms landing on his chest.
His heart beat steady and slow under my touch and I wondered how he could be so calm, so in control. But this was Kai. He was fearless even when in some criminal’s compound, who I suspected had more power than the government.
And maybe that was because Kai’s friends were like Raul. Maybe Raul was a friend.
Kai turned me around, so my back was against his chest then settled his arm on my abdomen. His heated breath swept across the back of my neck and I clasped my hands together in my lap as the tears formed again.
Raul’s voice broke through the momentary silence. “She’ll have to be kept hidden, but it is always invigorating to have something everyone is looking for. Si?”
“Mmm, perhaps.”
I stiffened as his hand slid over the top of mine that were currently clasped together so tight the tips of my fingers were white. He gently squeezed, his entire hand encompassing both of mine.
I dropped my head forward, letting the small comfort of his hand settle over me and, for the first time in months, I felt safe.
The two men spoke about the upcoming fight between a guy named Sculpt and another man. From what I picked up on, that was why Kai was here. Raul had invited him to the fight and that meant they knew one another. I’d suspected Kai’s circles were dangerous, and maybe I was deceiving myself to believe Kai had good in him, but Raul… he was malicious and cruel.
“Touch her,” Raul said. “I’ve not tried her, but Alfonzo says she is tight.”
Kai’s comforting hand left mine and trailed slowly down between my legs.
I knew his touch. His familiar long fingers that had caressed every inch of me and made me ache and beg and shudder with release.
“Open for me, braveheart.” His mouth was against my ear as he whispered the words.
My spine straightened and I chanced a glance at Raul, wondering if he heard what Kai said and not understanding why Kai would take the chance that he would overhear. But maybe Raul knew Kai and I had been together. No, he’d introduced me as if it were the first time Kai had ever seen me.
I opened my legs knowing I couldn’t refuse with Raul watching. I closed my eyes as his fingers touched me.
“Beautiful, si? Alfonzo has told me she is one of his best. I suspect he’d keep her if he could.”