He chuckled and I sighed as the familiar sound washed over me. He lowered the blade and sliced into my skin. I bit the inside of my cheeks as Kai carefully stretched my skin apart with his fingers then the tip of his knife sank into my flesh.
I didn’t watch, but felt a slight pop when the microchip came free. “Got it.” He held up his blade, the tiny device sitting on the flat edge of it.
I pushed down my shirt and sat up. “Now what?”
“Tyler and Josh will take them on a little ride. Should keep any Vault operatives busy for a few days. Then they’ll destroy them.”
Deck approached us and nodded to me. “Good to see you’re okay, London.” I doubted that. Our last encounter, I’d been Raven and I’d held a gun on Georgie’s friend Emily. He took the microchip from Kai and walked back to the SUV.
Kai took the bandage material and tape Tristan had left and gently lifted my shirt to dress the wound. When he was done, my hand settled over his and heat flared inside my belly. “What’s going on, Kai? Your sister is free. You’re here with Deck and his men. Who’s Tristan? I don’t understand.”
He caressed the side of my face. “I killed my mother.” I gasped. “She was a real bitch.”
“Kai….” I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.
“Been living in a world of black and white. Not caring about anything. Death. Torture. Pain. None of it mattered.” He moved in closer, looped his arm around the back of me, and tugged me closer. “Then I met you, braveheart.” He lowered his head and kissed me. It was firm yet slow as his lips moved over mine in a deep caress. “We’re ending this, baby. We’re taking down Vault.”
I tensed. Holy shit.
That was why Deck and his men were with Kai. He’d always said he didn’t have friends and that he didn’t trust anyone, but he was putting an awful lot of faith in Deck. “Is that possible?”
He slid his hand down my arm until his fingers linked with mine then helped me off the hood of the car. “I’m making it possible.”
“What about… well, my father?”
“Don’t know yet.”
A wave of fear crashed into me. “We have to help him, Kai. They’ll go after him, right? They’ll kill him or hide him or… Kai, we have to help him.”
He cupped the back of my head, fingers bunching in my hair. “We will.”
I gripped the front of his shirt. “Oh, God. Kai, he’s all I have left.”
He stared down at me, eyes hard and concerned, fingers tightening in my hair. “Yeah.”
There was something in his eyes, but I hadn’t seen it before. I thought it was concern, but it was more than that. Worry? But Kai never seemed worried about anything.
Kai grabbed me and lowered his mouth to mine and said, “You’ll always have me.”
He kissed me again. It wasn’t gentle and sweet. It was a promise.
I fell asleep in the car and when I woke, it was on a couch with my head on Kai’s lap. His hand slowly caressed my hair.
“No. Forget it.” I heard Deck saying. “Don’t push me, Georgie.”
Georgie? She was here? Of course she was. Kai told me in the car before I fell asleep that she was with Deck now. Then he told me about Tristan and Chess. Their story was crushing and beautiful at the same time.
“Vic. Please, talk to him,” Georgie said.
“Don’t need Vic talking to me, Georgie. I said no,” Deck said in a grated tone.
I opened my eyes and Kai must have sensed I was awake as his hand stilled.
“Kai?” Georgie said. “Tell him. I can reach him. I can help.”
“Jesus Christ, Georgie, no. Not fuckin’ happening,” Deck said. “I don’t want you seeing him like that.”
“He’s not who you think he is,” Vic stated.
“I don’t give a shit,” she shouted, her voice quivering and on the edge of tears. “I want to see him.”
I sat up and Kai passed me a bottle of water, the cap already off. I chugged it back, the liquid sliding down my throat like cool silk. The plastic crackled as I finished it off and set it on the coffee table.
“Georgie. Stop. Now.” It was Deck and his tone was seriously pissed.
I looked over my shoulder just as Georgie went for a door handle on the other side of the kitchen.
Deck was up off the bar stool and behind her before the door was all the way open. He latched onto her arm, dragged her back, then bent and in one swoop had Georgie over his shoulder. He did it so fluidly that it was like it was a usual occurrence.
“He’s my brother. He’s my goddamn brother,” she shouted.
“I know. And that’s why I can’t let you.” He carried her kicking and screaming into another room then the door closed. There was a loud thump, a smack and a few short abrupt words from Deck before silence.
Kai stood and held out his hand. “You need a bath, baby.”
I did. Desperately. “How’s your shoulder?”
He didn’t reply; instead, he lifted me off the couch and set me on my feet. I was guessing it was good then.
“Where are we?”