27
“Are you in the firing squad or are you in the lineup”
MAC
Being invisible in a closed elevator with Barrons and Ryodan is quite possibly one of the most stressful experiences of my life. It nearly ranks up there with being tortured by Mallucé.
You don’t think about the many ways your body has of announcing your presence until it’s absolutely essential you remain one hundred percent silent. I could sneeze. Hiccup. Pass gas. If I forget to walk with my feet slightly apart, my jean-clad legs will swish against each other. One of my joints might pop. I may be young but my bones keep getting broken and occasionally my knuckles remind me of it. A single belly growl would out me in an instant. These are men with dangerously acute senses.
I make a mental note to forgo eating when I decide to go sleuthing next time so I won’t have to worry about my stomach gurgling as it digests. Then I realize if I don’t eat, it might growl from hunger. I conclude I’ll have to eat frequent, small, easily digested meals to minimize the likelihood of either from happening while I scout the restricted half of my world.
I press back in the far corner opposite them, trying to be as small as possible, holding my breath and praying it’s a short ride.
Although it feels interminable, we stop after only two levels. Ryodan stalks off the elevator with Barrons behind him. Again I have to run to keep up.
A few doors from the end of the hall, Ryodan slams his palm against the wall and roars, “Get the fuck out here now, Lor!”
I catch up to them as the door whisks open and stand behind them, peering in.
Ryodan storms into the room. And stops. Mid-step.
I lean forward and—Oh. Wow. Oh. Looks like Jo took my advice. Plunged into it with alacrity and abandon.
I wonder irritably how many times I’m going to have to watch Lor have marathon sex this week. The universe seems to be taking some kind of perverse pleasure rubbing my face in his carnal abundance and my lack thereof.
The three of us stand, staring.
Jo and Lor are frozen, staring back. Then again, Jo’s pretty darned well restrained so I’m not surprised by how immobile she is.
Barrons laughs softly. “Didn’t see this one coming.”
Jo is tied to the bed, spread-eagled, with Lor straddling her. They’re not actually having sex at the moment, but by the tangled sheets, how sweaty Lor is (gotta love a hardworking man), and Jo’s bed-head, it’s obvious this isn’t their first go-round.
I’ve seen way too much of Lor naked lately. I scowl at Barrons, wishing we’d had sex more recently. Like five minutes ago.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Lor growls.
“You’re a dead man,” Ryodan says softly.
Straining futilely against the scarves—even from my limited perspective I can see Lor knows how to tie knots right—Jo says, “Ryodan, it’s not his fault! It’s mine. He didn’t want to sleep with me, I forced him—”
“Where the fuck do chicks get that phrase?” Lor growls. “No man wants to sleep with a woman. He wants to fuck her. And nobody forces me to do shit.”
“—to do it. I heard he was Pri-ya. I took advantage of him.”
“He’s a dead man because he lied to me, Jo. Not because he fucked you. Though I’d rather not have seen it.”
I peer at Ryodan from the side. He’s watching Jo through narrowed eyes and I realize it really does bother him seeing them together but it’s not emotional. It’s purely territorial. Still, that’s something and I’m glad Jo got the satisfaction.
Jo meets his gaze and says quietly, “I didn’t mean for you to see it.”
“He’s not Pri-ya. He’s faking. That’s what he lied about.” Ryodan drops the bomb casually and watches it detonate.
Jo blanches and her gaze flies back to Lor’s face. “Is that true? You’re not Pri-ya?”
“What the fuck’s the difference? You wanted to fuck me. You asked me to get the boss’s taste out of your mouth. I did.”
“Taste out of your—” Ryodan says. “Christ, Jo.”
“It’s not like I thought the idea up all by myself,” Jo says defensively. “Mac’s the one who—”
“Get off her, Lor,” Ryodan orders.
Great, now Ryodan has one more reason to dislike me.
“—told me to do it because she thought it would be—”
“Don’t go getting pissed about it now,” Lor cuts her off. “I’m the one that should be pissed. This didn’t have a damned thing to do with me. Just my dick. You know how many times you told me how glad you were I wouldn’t remember this? Well guess what, Jo? I remember every goddamn detail. Etched into that puny-ass little brain you think I have.”
“She thinks you have a puny-ass little brain. And she told you that,” Barrons marvels.
“Apparently. She also thinks I’m not dangerous.”
“Ah. I see why you tied her up.”
“You’re faking?” Jo says again, like she just can’t wrap her brain around it. “The whole time I’ve been saying and doing anything I felt like because I thought you were—”
“Been right here with you, babe,” Lor says with a savage smile. “Whole. Time. Every bloody word, every confidence, every howl of pleasure. Want to tell me some more how perfect my dick is and how hot I am?”
I study Lor, realizing I might be seeing a little more than a mere territory dispute on his face. Did Jo get under his skin?
Jo pales. A parade of expressions stampede across her fineboned features: embarrassment, fear, self-consciousness, wariness. It takes mere seconds for her emotions to march to the beat of a different drum as she concludes the thought she began a few seconds earlier. “Wait a minute,” she snaps. “Does Mac know you’re not Pri-ya?”
Aw, shit. That was never supposed to come out because no one was ever going to learn about our little pact. Glad I’m invisible.
“Sure does,” Lor says flatly.
Why does everyone rat me out so fast?
“Get the fuck off Jo. Now,” Ryodan says.
“Jealous, boss?”
“Don’t push me. In the corridor. Unless you prefer we air our business in front of Jo. In which case she dies.”
Jo gasps.
Ryodan turns and stalks from the room so suddenly I almost don’t get out of the way fast enough. I flatten myself back against the wall outside the door and hold my breath again, but not too long because that can result in a huge, noisy exhale. I ease it out slowly when Jo demands, “Untie me.”
“Not a chance,” Lor snaps. “I’m not done yet.”
Then Lor joins us in the corridor. Naked. Still hard, too. He slaps a palm against the door, and as it slides closed, I hear Jo yell, “Hey! I said untie me! I never would have come here if I’d known you weren’t Pri-ya!”
“Not scoring any points with me, honey,” he says over his shoulder.
“You can’t leave me like this!”
“Sure can,” he says. “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll be back to finish what I started.”
“That’s not what I—” The door closes, cutting off the rest of Jo’s words. The rooms around here are seriously soundproofed.
“The fuck you will,” Ryodan says.