Perfect Chaos(69)

“Jesus Christ.” Tyler got up and walked away, his hands in his hair as if he was pulling it.

I didn’t say anything. I fuckin’ couldn’t; my throat was locked up tight.

Kai stood and the scrape of the chair against the stone echoed. “And just so you know how serious these people are.” I noticed his jaw clench and his hands curl into fists at his sides, not gestures Kai usually displayed. “The girl, London, who I asked you to find in New York … is now theirs. They didn’t like it that I hired you guys to find her.”

Fuck. That was why Kai wouldn’t try to find her himself. Why he brought us to New York and asked us to look quietly for London and then, if we found her, to hide her until he contacted us. He didn’t want whoever he worked for to know he was looking for London. Shit, was that why he’d left her in Mexico when he could’ve easily gotten her out himself? “Why do they want her?”

Kai shrugged.

But I knew why. I knew how people like this worked. Kai showed a weakness for the girl, and that wouldn’t be taken lightly. Weakness led to failure.

There wasn’t much of a choice here. Whoever he worked for was more powerful and had more contacts than I did. There was no chance I could begin to put a dent in some organization that faked the death of a JTF2 officer.

“I won’t keep this from her, Kai.”

“And I won’t kill you.”

I snorted and shook my head. “Why tell me this? Georgie seemed to think if she told me anything, you’d try to kill me. Was that a lie to keep her in line?”

“No. I would’ve. But now I want something.”

“London,” I said beneath my breath.

Kai nodded. “Yes. But if there is any indication I told you about them … that Georgie knows more than she should, we’re all … I’d like to say dead, but it will be more wishing we were dead.” Kai’s hand smoothed down the front of his shirt and the scars accentuated through the material. “And it won’t be pretty.”





HALF AN HOUR later, Deck came in the bedroom. He nodded to Vic who’d been silent the entire time I was pacing the room and shooting him dagger eyes. The guy had the gall to laugh at me then dared me to try him when I eyed the door.


I didn’t, of course. No matter that Deck and I were together now, I wouldn’t have put it past Vic to tie me up and throw me in the closet. After he’d shut me up by putting my head in the toilet.

Vic did, however, smile at me when he left, but his smile reminded me of a hot boogey man.

Deck shut the door behind Vic and I didn’t waste any time. “So, you going to tell me what Kai was talking about?”

Deck took his time before he answered. “Yes.”

I waited.

Deck didn’t look happy—at all. Actually, he looked uneasy and tense. Shit, something was off. Badly off. I preferred when he was angry because then I could easily sass him and try and get him to bend. This … this was a Deck I didn’t know. I started for him and didn’t stop until I was pressed against him. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

He tilted his head down, lifted my chin with the tip of his finger and met my eyes. They were soft and gentle, the warmth of milk chocolate swirling in the depths. “I can’t fix this.”

“Deck—”

“Georgie.” Shit. Just the way he said my name made me tear up. “I can’t fix this,” he repeated. Then he leaned closer, snaked his arm around my waist and kissed me.

It was a beginning of something new between us. A truth lay in the way our mouths met and became linked. It was nothing like how he’d ever kissed me before. No, this was purity and it made me his that much more.

“I can’t fix this,” he said again between kisses.

I wrapped myself into him, feeling the pain in his words. Knowing that whatever he couldn’t fix was bad—really bad, because Deck thought he could fix everything.

He pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. “We need to sort this shit out.”

Yeah, I figured that, but feeling the torment in Deck was like I was being pulled apart, limbs left hanging weak and unable to bring him into me. I needed that. I had to have that before whatever torment he was dealing with became mine.

“Do you love me?”

His eyes closed and it was as if he was letting go when he sagged against me and I held him. “I’ve always loved you, Georgie. Always.” In one swoop, he picked me up in his arms and carried me to the bed. He laid me on the mattress and followed so his weight was on top of me. Then his hand tucked my blue strands behind my ears. “You’re my rainbow. The brilliant colors of you make me whole. Without your colors, I’m just a man living in the dark.”