Paine shrugged. “Or find a way to take him out.”
“What? By myself? You said yourself, criminal armies have tried and failed, man.”
“Yeah, but the girl you got locked up... she's been looking into him... she's prolly got a lot on him. Stuff you can use. Ask her for access to it. See if you can use any of it to find a way to take him out.”
“And you expect me to be able to do this all fuckin' level-headed knowin' he's got Shoot and doing god knows what to him?”
“Ain't helping him by standing here talking to me now are ya?”
Well, he had a point.
“Go home. Get some sleep. Get that poor girl some food. Then get her to agree to let you look over her files.”
“Yeah,” I said, putting my glass down, suddenly feeling the weariness seep into my bones.
I couldn't bring myself to go home, instead grabbing a sleeping bag and sleeping at the top landing of the stairs leading to the train car. When I had checked in on her when I got back, I had found her burrowed under the blankets I had given her, lying on her side, hood up, hands under her face in prayer position, dead asleep.
On a cold, hard, dirty, bloody metal floor.
Feeling very much like the worst kind of savage, I fell into an exhausted sleep.SixAlexWaking felt a bit like death warmed up. Every bone in my body felt brittle. My skin felt frozen and the entire side that had been lying on the ground felt sore. I sniffled against the cold morning air, pushing slowly into a seated position, grumbling as everything creaked and objected to motion.
My hand went up and across my body, massaging the sore muscles of my shoulder.
“Sorry about the floor,” Breaker's voice found me and my head jerked up to find him watching me from beside the doors, leaning against the wall, looking very much like he had been there a while.
“Were you watching me sleep, you creep?” I asked, my words more than a little surly. I was not, in any way shape or form, a morning person. Least of all when I spent my night tossing and turning on a cold, hard floor.
“It's noon,” he said, shrugging.
“That's not an answer,” I said, slowly getting onto my feet, rolling my shoulders.
“Come here,” his voice called, sounding almost soft.
My brow went up. “Is that an order?”
“Christ, woman, how are you so moody the second after you wake up?”
“Maybe it has something to do with being held against my will,” I said, crossing my hands over my chest.
“Or maybe you're just a bitch,” he said, giving me a smirk.
I felt my eyes lower. “You're an asshole.”
“Yep,” he agreed, not the least offended. “Now come over here,” he urged, letting his hands drop down by his sides.
Alright.
It was crazy to go to him.
I knew that. On a rational level.
But someone did not tell my feet that.
Which may or may not have had something to do with the fact that the cold, hard floor wasn't the only reason I had been tossing and turning all night. No, that also had a little something to do with a dream I kept having involving the badass blonde-haired, bearded, Hulk of a man telling me to come to him.
Let's just say the dream was very vivid.
And very dirty.
When I was within a foot of him, his arms moved out, reaching for my shoulders, and sinking into them- wrenching a half-groan, half-whimper out of my mouth. At that, the humor dropped from his lips and his eyes got intense.
“Why are you massaging my shoulders?” I asked, having to lick my dry lips.
“Why do you have to question everything?” he countered, his hands simultaneously rubbing and pulling me closer, closing the gap between our bodies until there was just a breath of air separating us, giving his hands more free reign of my back. I genuinely had to concentrate to prevent myself from leaning against him. Like... it was a problem. “After I left here last night, I went to see a friend of mine.”
“You... left me!” I exploded, wrenching away from him, eyes bulging, as the heat spread across my body. He left me. Trapped in a train car. That was locked from the outside. Leaving me completely defenseless. Anyone could have wandered into the obviously abandoned building. Anyone could have found me and done... whatever the hell they wanted to do with me. While he was off gallivanting with his freaking buddies.
“Oh Jesus Christ,” he grumbled, looking upward, half-rolling his eyes. “Here we go...”
“Yeah... here we go. What is wrong with you? Anyone could have come in here, seen me all defenseless and raped and killed me!”
“Five seconds of listening to that mouth and they'd lose interest in the task, trust me.”
The... task?
Meaning... raping me or killing me?
Either way, it was kind of insulting.
“I hate you,” I said. Childish, I know. But he brought that out of me. What fun was it to argue with someone when all they did was answer in a perfectly normal, unaffected tone? It did nothing but further enrage me.
“That's unfortunate because you're about to be working with me.”
My mouth had opened to say something, then clamped shut as soon as his sentence ended, hanging in the air.
“I think I misheard you,” I said after a minute.
“Heard me just fine. You and me... we are going to find a way out of this mess.”
This... mess?
Meaning... me being killed (or killing myself) because of Lex Keith?
“Why?”
Breaker let out a long breath, leveling his eyes with mine. “Lex took someone who means somethin' to me. He did this because he wanted me to get you and he damn well knew I don't extend my... services to women.”
“Really?” I found myself asking, surprised.
“Yeah, doll, really. If your name didn't sound like a man, we wouldn't be standing here right now.”
I believed him.
“Who does he have?” I found myself asking.
Without even a hesitation, “My brother.”
“Your brother?” I asked, my voice a small whisper.