Hideaway (Devil's Night 2)

I watched Kai flip through the contract but then stop to pull out a pen from his inside breast pocket. That was to be expected. Gabriel knew he’d fight certain stipulations.

“Aren’t you going to introduce your friend, Kai?” a man on the other side of the table asked.

But Kai just cocked the pen, his eyes narrowing as he read.

And then I saw him shift in his seat and look up, eyeing me. “Is he kidding?” He points the tip of his pen to a bullet point on the contract, something about making sure Vanessa had children in a timely manner.

One of his eyebrows damn near touched his hairline as he looked at me like it was my fault.

I shrugged. “If you can’t get it done, we can give her to a better man. Just say the word.”

He just looked at me, not even the faintest scowl marring his statuesque face. He turned back to the document. Slicing his pen across the page, he crossed out the provision and moved to the next page, also X-ing out several others.

“So, it’s that easy in your world, huh?” he asked, keeping his voice just between us. “Just give one person to another person?”

“You should know,” I shot back.

I was given to him until the wedding, wasn’t I?

“This is Banks,” he spoke up again, louder, so everyone at the table could hear. “She works for Gabriel Torrance. How long have you worked for him now?” He glanced up at me, but didn’t wait for me to answer. “Kind of odd how such a young girl got taken into a millionaire scumbag’s mansion like that, don’t you think?” His pen moved swiftly across the pages, circling and jotting notes. “Does he know your family? Do they have connections to him?” A wisp of a smile softened his stern face as he looked over the rest of the contract. “It would be interesting to find out how that happened. What use a woman could be to a house full of men, I wonder.”

A few people around the table chuckled under their breaths at his insinuation.

“And how much does he pay you or…” He paused, drawing out his last words. “What did he pay for you?”

He looked up at me, flipping the pages back into place and slipping the document back into its envelope. He might’ve been thinking out loud, or he might’ve been hinting at finding out the answers himself. It wouldn’t be hard. A PI would only have to talk to my mother.

“Gotta be less than what I pay for a woman,” I heard Will toss out, followed by more quiet laughter from around the room. He shot me a look, letting his distaste scale up and down my appearance.

“Oh, please,” the woman in the corner interrupted. “Like I even charge you anymore. All you want to do is cuddle half the time anyway.”

One of the men at the table snorted, barely able to contain his laughter, while others didn’t bother trying to hide it.

Will turned to her with a scowl, whining, “Fuuuuuck.”

She smiled and winked at him.

That must be Alex. College student and over-priced escort from the sixteenth floor. Friends with Rika, and has Will Grayson as a regular customer.

Damon liked her energy. Didn’t like that she wouldn’t do everything he wanted, though.

“So many questions...” Kai held up the envelope, offering it to me. “Almost makes you wanna hire someone to find out the answers.”

I blinked slowly, trying to look bored, but my heart sped up just a hair. I’d expected this. Kai negotiated learning curves faster than most. I’d been researching him and his pals. He’d start doing the same with me, of course.

I’d have to pay my mother a visit.

Tomorrow.

“Have him agree to these changes, and I’ll sign it,” he said.

I grabbed hold of the envelope, but he didn’t release it. Instead, he pulled it down, bringing me with it.

“And by all means,” he whispered, his breath falling across my cheek. “Keep underestimating me.”

We both clutched the envelope, and I turned my eyes on him, momentarily frozen.

So close. I wanted to pull away but couldn’t. Something swelled in my chest, and his dark eyes turned black as he held me, locked.