Rachel Dyken - Entice

The hot water poured over my achy body. Being with Mil had been… amazing, effortless, obsessive. Already, I was eager for another round. My body flared to life at just the thought of touching her again, of kissing her, squeezing her flesh between my hands as I ran my tongue down her—

“You piece of shit!” Mil screamed. I stepped out of the shower only to find her standing in front of me, a gun aimed directly at my chest. “I trusted you!”

“Mil, put the gun down.” I lifted my hands into the air like a guilty ass and looked frantically around the bathroom for the reason behind her anger.

“If I didn’t need you so damn bad, I’d shoot you in the head.” She choked, tears running down her cheeks.

“Baby, what happened?” I took a cautious step toward her.

She shook the gun harder, this time pressing it against my wet chest.

“Mil?”

“No.” Her lips trembled.

“What the hell happened?” I whispered. “Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you?”

She nodded, dropping the gun onto the floor. It clattered against the tile making such a loud noise that I winced.

“Baby—”

“Don’t call me that.” Her voice was low, emotionless. “We have to meet Tanya in less than an hour. Grab your shit and put some clothes on.”

“Mil—”

“Here’s your phone.” She forced a smile that looked more like she was baring her teeth. “Hope you got all the information you needed.” She pushed the phone against my chest and stalked out of the bathroom. I grabbed it before it also crashed to the floor and looked at the screen.

“Shit.” I wiped my face with my free hand as I scrolled through the messages. Damn Nixon. Did he have to ruin everything? Seriously? Running after Mil would do nothing. She’d just think I was lying to her like everyone else in her life. So instead, I listened to her orders. I followed her out of the bathroom, put my jeans, grabbed my gun and wallet — or my shit as she lovingly called it — and stuffed my phone back into my pocket.

“Aren’t you gonna text Nixon and let him know what’s going on?” Mil asked, without looking at me directly in the eyes.

“Nah.” I felt like an ass, even though I’d done nothing wrong. “Some things should be kept just between us. Tanya isn’t much of a threat, you know? We’re just going to do a meeting in a public place. It’s not like she’s going to try to shoot us. Then again…” I sighed, things hadn’t gone how I thought they would, “It may be wise to have backup.”

“Fine, do whatever you need to do.” Mil’s voice caught in her throat.

“It will be,” I whispered, reaching for her hand.

She jerked back and shook her head.

“I didn’t betray you. I know you don’t believe me, but if you remember correctly, I was a little distracted these past twelve hours. When would I have had time to even look at my phone? And you know how iPhones work. If the message is checked, it doesn’t show up on the home screen anymore.”

Mil stared at the carpet, her fingers twitching at her side.

“I just wanted to say my peace so you’d know.”

Her head jerked up. “Know?”

“Yeah, Mil.” I stalked toward her and pushed her against the wall, nearly knocking off the artsy picture by the door. “I want you to know. I want you to freaking feel. I want you to believe me when I say I want you. I like you. I trust you. I live to protect you. And I only do what I want to do. My cousin can go to hell for all I care. I chose to be with you… I wasn’t forced, nor will I ever be forced. And if I am, I’ll take the punishment with open arms. So pick up the broken pieces to your tragically shattered heart. Let me glue them back together again so you can get that damn look off your face and let me kiss you.”

“Is that how this works?” she said, her voice thick with tears. “You kiss me then tattle to Nixon.”

I pinned her arms behind her back, exposing her neck and mouth to mine as I slowly leaned forward, my forehead touching hers. “I have given you absolutely no reason not to trust me, Mil. When this is all over with and I walk away, just know it won’t be because I want to, but because I could only handle so much rejection and distrust before you forced me to give up and I’m not a man that gives up. I’m it. I’m all you have. So stop being so damn insecure.”

She closed her eyes.

“Look at me.”

Mil’s lower lip trembled.

I kissed her mouth and whispered across her lips, “Trust me. I need you to trust in me.”

“Okay.” She opened her eyes. “But no secrets.”

“Mil.” I released her hands and gave her a sad look, tilting her chin so I could feel the smoothness of her skin. “I think we both know who’s harboring secrets between the two of us, and it sure as hell isn’t me.” With a sigh, I released her chin.

I pulled on a white T-shirt and my black suit jacket that could easily conceal a gun without looking too weird. Then I turned back to Mil.

“Where to?”

“The Golden Nugget Nightclub.”

My eyebrows arched in amusement. “Mixing business with pleasure, huh?”

Rolling her eyes, Mil snatched a knife from the table. She stomped over to her suitcase, and paused long enough to pull out a short black cocktail dress. With slow movements that I’m sure she did on purpose in order to teach me a lesson and get me so hot for her I was ready to forget about meeting Tanya anywhere, she let the robe drop from her body and shimmied into the tight dress. It was like a freaking second skin as it snaked around her body. It shimmered in the light with each movement; I seriously wanted nothing more than to remove the dress.

I licked my lips in anticipation. Damn, she was beautiful.

Mil walked over to me and turned. Shaking, I fingered the zipper and slowly zipped her dress up, fighting the desire to unzip the entire time.

“Ready.” She threw on a pair of red heels and then wrapped a holster around her thigh, strapping her knife in just in case.

“I’d say you were.” I whistled.

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m still pissed.”

“Good.” I focused in on her eyes. “Use it.”

I could tell she was nervous. She kept pressing her palms against the front of the dress, smoothing it down.

With a curse I walked over to her and grabbed her hands. “It’s going to be fine, I promise.”

“And if it’s not?” Her voice wavered.

“Then at least we had tonight.”

She pushed against my chest, a smile playing at the corner of her lips. “Do you always have to be such an ass?”

“Yes. Especially when you look like you’re about to shit a brick. It’s going to be fine. I’ve got your back, and we’ll have Luca, Frank, Nixon, and Tex watching from the shadows. Or in Tex’s case, distracting the would-be assassins by dropping it like it’s hot on the dance floor.”

“Right.” Mil snorted. “Like that won’t get us killed.”

“It may get him shot.” I shrugged. “But it will be a good distraction.”

Mil checked her phone. “We have a half hour to notify everyone and get down to the club.”

“Alright.” I opened my own phone and began typing a group text. “I’m going to fill everyone in on the details via text. Something about us all meeting at a public place kind of rubs me the wrong way.”

“I thought it didn’t matter which way you were rubbed?” Her eyes teased.

“Aw, there she is. I knew you’d make a comeback.” I winked. “Like I said, use the fear. Think of it this way. The only reason Tex acts like a complete jackass most the time is because he’s scared shitless. He has more to lose than anyone.”

“Yeah.” Mil nodded, her eyebrows drawing together in concern. “Trace kind of told me.”

“Let’s hope this is about you more than it is about him,” I said sourly. “Because if Tanya Campisi recognizes the prodigal son, we may have a full-out war on our hands.”

“How do you figure?” Mil asked, wrapping her hair around her head into a tight bun.

Damn, I liked it loose and wavy, but loose and wavy meant some freak assassin could pull her hair and drag her away. Bun it was. Bun was safe.

I tried to look nonchalant, even though something in me twitched with fear. “Tanya never forgave the Abandonatos for taking away her sweet boy. She felt that we brainwashed him with our American ways.”

“Hmm.” Mil smeared or rubbed or whatever the hell girls called it — lipstick across her luscious lips and pouted in the mirror. Was her entire plan to get me so aroused before we went to the club that I was rendered useless?

“‘Kay, now I’m ready.”

“Me too,” I grumbled.

“Later.” She gave me a shy smile, pink gracing her high cheekbones.

“Promise?”

“Swear.”

“Pinky it.” I held out my pinky.

She stared at my pinky and let out a sigh. I tilted my head, waiting. With an exaggerated eye-roll she latched onto my finger with her own pinky. “I swear, sometimes it’s like I’m married to an adolescent.”

“Amazing how you can make a man lose his arousal with one sly comment. Thanks though. I needed that, like a bucket of cold water thrown on my body.” I chuckled and opened the door, looking down the hallway for anything suspicious. After I ensured the coast was clear, I let Mil walk in front. “After you.”

Nixon

“I don’t like it,” I mumbled to Trace for probably the tenth time as I toyed with my drink at the bar. The dance club was too loud, too dark, too everything. I still couldn’t see Tex, even though he’d promised he wouldn’t dance too far away from the crowd. Frank and Luca were sitting over in the corner looking more uncomfortable by the minute.

“There he is.” Trace nodded in the direction of the door as Chase and Mil made their way through the crowds to the opposite end of the bar.

Damn, Chase was earning points for looking so hopelessly in love. He trailed after Mil with wide eyes and a smile that said he’d just gotten lucky. Then he touched her ass, and she grinned and grabbed the hand and lifted it off of her with a smile and shake of her head.

“They look relaxed,” Trace said loudly in my ear.

“Yeah well, sex has a way of doing that to a person.” I couldn’t decide if I was frustrated that he’d let his guard down or proud that he’d done what it had taken to get answers out of her. It still felt wrong. Every damn thing felt wrong about the club, from the way my clothes were pressed against my body to the music they were playing.

Chase held up his hand and motioned for the bartender and laughed with Mil, every once in a while touching her knee with his hand.

His smile faded when a figure walked up to them. I didn’t recognize him; he was tall, clean-shaven, and had dark hair. His suit was expensive, from what I could tell, and he seemed distant but friendly.

Chase eyed me across the bar, lifted his drink one last time, and grabbed Mil’s hand as they were led to a back door.

“Shit.” I pushed away from the bar then, remembering Trace, doubled back and pointed at her face. “You. Stay.”

“Staying.” She raised an eyebrow.

I glanced up, made eye contact with Frank, and then motioned for Luca to follow me.

Trace froze and I turned back to her. Recognition flared in her wide eyes, but she was looking over my right shoulder. Something hard pressed into the small of my back, and the cold steel of a gun filtered through my shirt. Well shit, didn’t see that coming.

“Let’s go.” the voice said, the gun pushing harder into my back.

Grimly, I nodded and reached for Trace. She held my hand as we all walked out of the club. Nobody noticed — or if they did, nobody cared that there was a gun pointed at me. Just as it seemed nobody noticed my smile was tense or that Trace looked like she’d just swallowed a bug.

I caught Luca and Frank in the corner of my eye and stretched my neck to the left, which was the usual sign for them to follow. They slowly walked toward us but feigned disinterest. I couldn’t look directly at them so I wasn’t sure if they recognized who was escorting us out, or if they were getting ready to put a few bullets in our captor’s chest. Out of the corner of my eye, though, they seemed not to be interested.

Once we were out in the street, I was pushed into Trace’s arms and heard the click of a gun. Shit.

Turning, I guarded her with my body and looked into the eyes of our captor.

“You should have stayed in Chicago,” Sergio said, his voice sad. “Why, Nixon, is it that you can’t just leave things alone?”

“But you’re a ghost…” Trace’s voice wavered. “You help us!”