The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy 2)

“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.