A Real Bad Boy(34)

Greyson raised an eyebrow. "You gonna bitch all day or can we get down  to business?" He dismissed his pretty secretary and she scurried out of  the office, but not before throwing me a smile.

I'd been meaning to ask her out. Maybe I'd do that tonight when I got back from whatever errand Greyson sent me on.

It had been a while since I'd had a good lay, and she seemed keen on me. She was always smiling at me. That would do just fine.

Hell, I might even take her out for dinner. Who knows?

"Sit down." Greyson crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. For the  first time, I could see just how little sleep he was getting. The bags  under his eyes, the worry etched into his face.

This war was getting to him. Fighting with the in-laws on top of civil  unrest in the city wasn't doing him any favors. He needed all the sleep  he could get.

"You look like you haven't been getting any rest," I said. I was concerned.

"I haven't. But maybe you could help bring me some peace." He ran a hand over his face and looked up at me, his eyes bleary.

I knew I was the only one he let his guard down with. I had a feeling that even Joanna didn't know how stressed he was.

He had a baby coming soon.

Real soon.

"What do you need?" I asked. I'd been busting his balls, but I was ready for anything.

"I need you to make a little trip. Got a lead on our runaway. She's holed up in some kind of 'collective' over in Chicago."                       
       
           



       

Kathryn. His little sister. She'd taken off as soon as she graduated,  the very night of, actually, and no one had heard from her since.

"I thought they weren't pursuing her," I said. Her father had said, multiple times, that she could rot for all he cared.

"They aren't. I am. She's my little sis, Janson. You know how important  that is." I saw just the hint of vulnerability in Greyson's eyes. He may  have been heir to the throne, but he was nothing like his old man. He  loved his family.

"I do. Which is why I took all the pleasure in the world when it came time to beat your ass for sleeping with mine."

"Yeah, I deserved that shit." He shrugged it off like it was nothing. I  had respect for the man. He did things he shouldn't have, and he knew  it. But he always made up for his mistakes.

He always made it right and took the punishment. There was a reason he was my best friend.

"So what do you want me to do, haul ass to Chicago and get her?" I  asked, crossing my arms. I'd have to ask Lily out when I got back. Even  if I did, though, I knew it was going to be an exercise in futility.  Most women were afraid of who I was. Of what I liked.

She'd probably be no different.

"I wish it was that complicated. Kathryn has always been a lot more  stubborn that that. She won't just come without a fight. You'll have to  use force, if necessary. But try everything else there first."

I knew he was right about Kathryn. I remembered watching over her as she  grew up. She was always feisty, even as a teenager, but now that she  was legally an adult, I couldn't imagine her being so easily swayed.

"This might take a while. I'm going to have to figure out a place to stay," I said as I ran my hand over my fist.

"Call your cousin up, what's his name?"

"Declan," I answered.

"Yeah, call Declan up, see if you can use his penthouse. Tell him the  family would appreciate it, and that I'll compensate him for his  inconvenience. I don't want anyone else there, though, Janson. This  needs to be done quietly."

I nodded, and he continued, "Take your time. Convince her. Even then,  that might not be enough." He chuckled. "Remember that time I came in  with a black eye because she punched me? I wouldn't let her go to the  junior high Halloween dance that year. Mom and Dad were out of town, and  she hadn't finished her homework. She knows how to hit, I'll say that  for her. Kathryn's always been very assertive. You might just have to  hogtie her in order to bring her back."

He'd taken her under his wing early on, and she was his favorite. I  watched his heart break as she left, thought she'd come back, but she  didn't. Greyson must've been searching for her all this time.

"You think you can do this for me?" he asked.

"Of course, but I need a favor."

"What's that?" he asked.

"I need you to send someone over to release Henry." I cleared my throat.

"O'Caughlin?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's the one," I answered.

"Say no more." He knew I'd been ordered, knew exactly what was going on. "You just do what you need to."

I nodded. I understood exactly what he wanted.

I was to convince her, and then, if not, I was to steal her away.

I had a feeling it wasn't going to go over well at all.





Kathryn



I threaded my way through the sea of bodies and hazy mist of smoke in  the little row house. The smell of marijuana, alcohol and shit I  couldn't even identify was so suffocating that it was threatening my  senses.

It was always like this. Every damn night. I couldn't remember a moment  where I got any real peace in all of this shit. I couldn't sleep unless I  was high or the music drowned out the noise.

Lately, I'd been high all the time, if not from my own pot, then from contact.

The days, now those were beautiful. Just me and my fiddle in the studio.

That's why I came out here. One of the best music collectives in the  damn country. I thought I'd belong here. That it was a going to be a  seamless transition.

But I was alone. Alone in a strange city with people who were more concerned with their high and their art than other people.

I was still invisible.

The cool night air hit me as soon as I emerged onto the back stoop. No  one else out here, everyone was more concerned with the jam session  going on in there.

It was my moment. So I did the thing I'd been aching to do all evening. I  grabbed the joint out of my pocket and stuck it in my mouth, searching  for my lighter. Fuck. I didn't want to go back in there.

I looked around the back stoop area, hoping someone left one around here.

"You need a light?" a deep silky voice asked from behind me. I turned to  accept, my bottom lip sagging when I realized exactly who I was looking  at.                       
       
           



       

Janson.

I should've known by the way his deep timber lit up all my senses, but  it couldn't be. Not here. Still, his rock-hard form stood solid and real  as he quirked a lip into a dirty smile. I shoved the joint back into my  pocket.

I'd had a crush on the man ever since I was old enough to know what a  crush was. It was silly, just a schoolgirl thing, following my big  brother's best friend around. Dreaming he might feel the same way. I'd  moved on from it as soon as high school hit, but it would always be  there in the back of my mind.

Even when I was furious that my brother sent someone for me.

"What in the hell are you doing here?" I asked, more like hissed, as I took a step back from him.

I didn't need the joint. I already had a pretty good buzz going from all  the pot smoke and the whiskey I'd been shooting. I tripped over my  feet, and he reached out, catching me and pulling me to him.

"I came to get you," he said as he looked down at me, that chiseled jaw so close.

I could lean in. I could see what his stubble felt like on my lips. I could taste the salt on his skin.

But that would be wrong. He wouldn't like that. I wasn't that fucked up.

"So what, you just going to pick me up like a caveman and carry me out  of here back to Baltimore?" That sucked all the fun right out of the  night.

"Would you stick around if I did?" he asked.

Smart man.

"Fuck no."

"Didn't think so. I'm here to protect you, not kidnap you. Not yet,  anyway." He released his hold on me, and my heart skipped a beat. I  didn't want him to let go. It was the first time I'd been touched like  that in forever. "I want you to come home with me."

"Home?"

"Back to my place, my cousin's place. Got a condo off the lake."

I should've guessed it would've been something fancy like that. Humboldt  Park wasn't fancy, hell, it was halfway to being a fucking cesspool. It  was the kind of place that people had been calling "up and coming" for a  decade, but there was nothing "up" about it. It was a slum with hipster  appeal. The kind that made me feel comfortable. I might've grown up in  the suburbs in Severna Park, but I was an alien there. I'd always  gravitated towards the grungy neighborhoods in Baltimore, and Humboldt  fit that description here in Chicago.

But I was getting tired of the scene.

Maybe a fresh place and a shower would do me good.

A place that wasn't so filled with people, they were sleeping on the  floors and in the broken down tub of the once-vacant tenement house.