Club 22 (Hades Book 3) Page 31

  His other hand gripped a fistful of my hair, jerking my head back and lifting my whole body almost flush to his chest.

  "Lucas," Cass growled, his breathing harsh in my ear. "Make our girl come. She's being stubborn."

  A delirious smile curved my lips, but I didn't argue. Cass held me tight, his broad hand still lightly choking me as Lucas's talented finger found my clit. I was powerless to hold it off anymore, and I detonated like a nuclear bomb. Little splattered pieces of my consciousness hit every surface of the room while the guys continued to fuck me, their rhythms synced up scarily well.

  Lucas was next to come, his thrusts getting deeper and more forceful, and a long groan tore from his chest as he jerked and exploded within me. Then Cass picked me up with one arm around my waist, plucking me off Lucas and shoving me face first into the couch. The intensity that he fucked my ass with made me see stars, and as he started to come, Lucas snaked a hand under me and pinched my clit again.

  Fucking hell. I died. Le petit mort. Now I finally understood that phrase.

  42

  Despite how thoroughly exhausted I was after the three-way with Cass and Lucas, I struggled to get to sleep that night. I'd sent Lucas back to his room to study after dinner because I could tell how stressed he was about exams, and Cass had disappeared like a magician around the same time.

  Seph had come down and been less of a shithead than usual, so I extended the olive branch and turned Hart of Dixie on the TV for her to watch with me. She hadn't wanted to talk about school, and I hadn't pushed the issue.

  It wasn't until Zed got home—I’d called him with the security code earlier when he was held up at Timber—that I realized why I was so on edge. I'd been tossing and turning in my bed for ages, and when I heard his footsteps in the hallway, I sat up with a jerk.

  Just as I was about to get out of bed and go to him, my door cracked open and he slipped inside silently. Then froze when he saw me awake.

  "Hey," he murmured, sounding slightly guilty at being caught. "I thought you'd be asleep by now." He unclipped his gun holster and placed it down on my dresser, along with his phone and wallet.

  I grinned, lying back down into my pillows. "So you thought you'd sneak in? What if I was with Cass or Lucas?"

  Zed approached the bed, unbuttoning his shirt as he moved. "Then I'd have very quietly told them to fuck off. Or picked you up like Sleeping Beauty and taken you to my room." He carefully laid his shirt over a chair near my dresser, then undid his pants. "I'd have worked it out."

  "Mm," I hummed, enjoying the view of his shadowed form stripping down. "I bet." After a pause, within which Zed laid his pants over the shirt and slipped under my covers in nothing but his boxer-briefs, I added, "You checked Lucas's room first, huh?"

  Zed just chuckled and leaned in to kiss me. "A magician never reveals his tricks, Dare." His hands found my waist beneath the T-shirt I was wearing, pulling me close, and I shivered.

  "Your hands are freezing," I complained, but didn't pull away. Quite the opposite, I molded my body against his so I could warm him up with my own heat.

  Zed didn't need any further invitation; he fused his mouth to mine and kissed me with an edge of desperation. I knew he'd been just as tense as I'd been, feeling uneasy after the way we'd left things this afternoon. But he'd been telling the absolute truth when he’d said those girls were his past. I’d known about them all at the time, and no, he couldn't go back in time. I had no right to be shitty about it now.

  All that mattered now was that he was mine.

  Just as our kisses turned heated, Zed's phone vibrated on my dresser. We both froze, but Zed gave a tiny shake of his head. "Ignore it," he murmured against my lips. "This is more important."

  But then it was my phone vibrating on the nightstand, and I grinned against Zed's lips. "Sounds important." As I said that, his phone vibrated again, and he groaned.

  With a laugh, I rolled over and snagged my phone to see what was urgent enough to message both of us at midnight. The message was from Alexi, but when I clicked into it, my blood ran cold.

  "Get dressed," I snapped to Zed, leaping out of bed. "We need to get to Anarchy."

  He didn't need telling, already halfway into his pants and checking his own messages as he muttered curses. "I'll get the car; you tell Gumdrop."

  I nodded sharply, buttoning up my jeans, then pulling a tank top over my head. Fuck wearing a bra; there was no time for that shit. I hurried down to Lucas's bedroom while still buckling my shoulder holster—with my new gun to replace the Desert Eagle.

  Lucas roused as I entered his room, blinking at me like an owl when I crouched beside his bed.

  "Hey babe," he mumbled, his lids barely open a crack.

  "Zed and I have to go take care of something at Anarchy," I told him in an urgent whisper. "Seph's asleep, but Cass is still gone."

  He understood perfectly, nodding as he pushed himself to sitting. "Guard duty. Got it. Stay safe, okay?"

  I flashed him a grateful smile and leaned in for a quick kiss. "Always. We'll be back soon." Confident he would keep Seph safe, I raced back downstairs to meet Zed, only pausing momentarily to grab a pair of shoes.

  Zed's Ferrari was already in front of the house, and he took off before I’d even fully closed my door. But I sure as shit wasn't chastising him for it. The faster we got to Anarchy, the better. I could smell another setup, and this time I wanted to beat those douchebags at SGPD to it.

  "How long ago did Alexi find the break-in?" Zed asked as he navigated the streets between his place and Anarchy with ease.

  I pulled my phone back out, rereading the message Alexi had sent informing us that he'd found a busted lock on the door to the Anarchy underground storerooms—the same area that Chase had held and tortured Lucas not so long ago. Most of the tunnels had been permanently sealed up, but some were still accessible as they were useful storerooms.

  The fact that Anarchy had been vacant, thanks to the police shutdown, meant we had no clue when the break-in had happened.

  "He texted us the minute he found it," I replied. "I've told him to hold off on investigating in case it’s a trap. I wouldn't put it past Chase to have rigged the fucking tunnels with explosives or some shit."

  Zed flicked a sharp look at me. "Then why the fuck would we go down there?"

  I snorted. "Because Chase doesn't want me dead. So I'm the best insurance policy against him blowing shit up."

  Zed huffed in disagreement. "Tell that to your apartment building. Or 7th Circle, for that matter."

  I wrinkled my nose. "The apartment building was deliberate. He waited until I was within sight but not in danger. As for 7th... I actually think he fucked up on that one. I wasn't supposed to be there at that time, and I definitely wasn't supposed to have tissues stuffed up my nose to block the smell of the gas."

  Zed scowled. "Even so, I'd rather not experience any more fuckups. I just got my hands on you, Dare; I'm not losing you now. Not for anything or anyone. Clear?"

  A heady rush of love shuddered through me, and I clamped my lips shut before I started simpering like an idiot over how infatuated with him I was. Instead, I turned my attention to the window and smiled when Zed's hand found my knee.

  The twenty-minute drive to Anarchy was over in ten, and when we skidded to a stop beside Alexi's car, there wasn't a single other vehicle in sight. That was a good sign, at least. The main lights for the park were off, seeing as the venue was closed, but we knew where we were going and hurried to meet up with Alexi using nothing but the light of the moon.

  "Bosses," he called out as we drew close, stepping out of the shadows near the door in question. "You got here quick."

  "It seemed time sensitive," I replied, grim. "Have you gone in?"

  Alexi shook his head. "No, sir. As advised, I haven't moved from this spot."

  "How'd you find it?" Zed asked, his eyes narrowed at our head of security. Alexi had been with us since before I massacred two-thirds of the former Timberwolves. We'd kn
own him a long time, and I was confident in his loyalty to us. Or... I had been until Agent Hanson had gotten into my head with her suspicions.

  "Bulldog drove past here earlier," he told us, his expression serious. "Said he saw people with flashlights inside the park. He figured it was just dumb teens or some shit, but I came to check it out and found that." He nodded to the broken lock on the door that led to our underground storerooms. It wasn't just broken; it had been obliterated, like someone had shot the whole thing out with a large-caliber weapon.

  "Anything else we need to know?" I asked, my tone sharp as I drew my gun. It wasn't the same as my Desert Eagle. Lighter. I was going to have to get that gun back from Chase, sooner rather than later.

  Alexi frowned. "Yeah. I thought I heard someone crying a couple of minutes ago. But... I dunno. Maybe it was a fox or something." He jerked his head toward the forest that butted up against one side of the old amusement park and shrugged.

  My insides twisted with apprehension, though. Somehow, I didn't think it was a fox. "Let's check this out. If it's another setup, then we can expect another visit from SGPD at any minute."

  "Hopefully, we got here in enough time," Zed murmured. "Chase wouldn't have expected anyone to come check on things at this time of night, and the venue is closed for another week and a half. He might not be in any hurry."

  I grimaced. "We can hope, but I don't think I'll rely on luck here. Stay alert."

  Taking the lead, I stepped cautiously down into the darkness while Alexi shined his flashlight ahead to light the steps for me. We didn't turn the main lights on, not wanting to announce our presence to anyone who might be lurking, but I sniffed the air continuously to check for gas.

  When we reached the bottom of the stairs, Zed took the flashlight from Alexi and swept the beam of light over every inch of the wall, floor, and ceiling in the tunnel ahead checking for explosives, now that I'd put the idea in his head.

  After he decided it was clear, we started down the corridor cautiously but quickly. I felt the clock ticking in my head, making me more anxious by the second, but I was determined to beat Chase this time.

  "There," Alexi hissed, making us all freeze. "Did you hear that?"

  I stayed dead still, tilting my head to the side and listening. A moment later, I heard what he was talking about, and a deep chill ran down my spine. "That's not a fucking fox."

  Panic clawing at my stomach, I took off running, totally ignoring Zed's shout to wait. I followed the sound of the crying all the way to one of the locked vault rooms. It was a room we kept for interrogations, and a heavy iron bar across the door prevented anyone inside from escaping.

  Zed reached past me, lifting the bar before I could get my hands on it. The sound of crying was louder now, and he met my eyes with concern as we shoved the heavy door open.

  Inside, my fears were confirmed. The small, dirty, bloodstained room should have been empty, but instead it contained over half a dozen people. Dead or sleeping, it was hard to tell, so I knelt next to the closest body and searched for a pulse. It was a woman, her skin still warm, and there was a steady pulse, which made me release a long breath of relief. Not dead, then.

  In the corner, one of the mystery occupants was awake and tucked up in a ball, sobbing. She looked young, from what I could tell. Too fucking young.

  "Shit," I breathed, looking back down at the woman whose pulse I'd taken. I rolled her over gently and groaned. She wasn't a woman at all. She was just a child. Horror rolled through me, and my skin broke out in a cold sweat. But I had to push aside all pity and personal feelings. There simply wasn’t the time.

  "Alexi, get me some transport here immediately. I need all of these girls moved to a safe house." The rest of that statement didn't need to be said. But they needed to be moved before SGPD showed up and charged me with human trafficking and sex slavery. Hopefully they were all alive. As an owner of brothels, trafficking wouldn't be a difficult charge to make stick, either. Chase had really stepped it up on this one. As the icing on the cake, I couldn’t stop thinking how close Seph had come to being one of these girls. They were just kids.

  Alexi was already on his phone in the hallway, barking orders to one of his team about getting a van here, brought to the south entrance. Smart call; the last thing we needed to do was drive right past the cops on their arrival.

  "Dare," Zed said softly, his hand on my arm like I'd just zoned out. "What do you want me to do?"

  I swallowed hard, blinking a couple of times to find my focus. Then I locked eyes with the terrified girl in the corner.

  "Call Nadia," I croaked. "Have her meet us at the safe house, the one on Wattle Lane. These girls aren't going to want a bunch of scary, tattoo-covered men around, and that's all I have who I can trust in the Timberwolves right now."

  Zed gave a tight nod, retreating into the hall with Alexi to make his call, and I cautiously approached the crying girl. She was the only one awake, but I had to hope that the other girls would all regain consciousness soon.

  "Hey," I breathed as I paused near her. I tried for my most soothing, nonthreatening voice, but I doubted I was fooling her. Everything about me screamed dangerous, and I knew it. "We're not here to hurt you. My friends are arranging somewhere safe for you to go, okay? We'll get you home to your family soon."

  She flinched hard when I said the word family, and my heart sank. These girls—or this one in particular—likely hadn’t been stolen. They’d been sold.

  "You know what?" I dropped the soothing bullshit and gave her a dry tone instead. "Fuck family, they're usually a bunch of assholes. We'll get you somewhere safe and just work it out from there, okay?"

  The girl's head lifted slightly at that, her crying slowing to silent tears, and I knew I'd struck the right chord. But now that I could see more of her face, I could see just how young she was. Maybe seven or eight at best.

  Swallowing down all the horror at what might have happened to her, I mustered up my very best nonthreatening smile and held out my hand to her. "Will you come with me? I want to take you somewhere safe."

  She hesitated, and I didn't fucking blame her. But the ticking in my head was getting more urgent with every passing second. The unconscious girls would be easy to move, but I didn't want this one screaming and fighting if we forcefully moved her. Not only would the sound attract attention, it'd also scare the crap out of her, and I suspected she'd been through enough already.

  "Look, I'll be real with you. The people who brought you here? They might be coming back, and I don't know when. I want to get you out before they do. Will you trust me?" It was a huge ask—I knew that better than most. But sometimes you just needed to take a chance and hope for the best.

  The girl's brow creased, and her eyes shifted to the unconscious girls. "What about—"

  "Them too," I promised with another encouraging smile. "I want to get you all out safely. Please..."

  After another hesitation, she sniffed heavily and reached out to take my hand. The relief that rushed over me was enough to make my knees weak, but I just pulled her out of the corner as gently as I could and hurried her into the corridor where Alexi and Zed were both on their phones.

  Seeing them, the girl gave a scream and cowered behind me. I instantly cursed at myself for not seeing that coming, but I crouched down to wrap my arms around her on instinct.

  "It's okay; these two are my friends," I told her, trying to be soothing as she clung to my neck. "No one is going to hurt you anymore. I promise. No one."

  How the fuck I was going to follow through on that promise, I had no fucking clue. I could protect this child while she was in my territory but what then? More to the point, why was I making it so damn personal? I should have just called in my Wolves to handle it all, and yet here I was hugging a dirty, tear-stained child.

  "Boss," Alexi softly called out. "Transport is incoming. ETA two minutes to south gate."

  I gave him a nod of understanding, my stomach a mess of anxiety as I thought about what
would happen if these girls were taken in by the dirty SGPD. They'd never make it to any kind of child protection agency. They'd be handed straight back to Chase's slimy associates to be sold on the flesh markets.

  "What's your name, sweetheart?" I asked the girl softly, feeling the tug of her fingers twisting my hair. She was locked around my neck now and didn't seem willing to let go.

  "Diana," she whispered back, her little face tucked into my neck. "But my sister calls me Deedee."

  Cute. Diana was the Roman version of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. I wonder if Deedee knew that.

  "I don't like it though," she added in a small, angry voice. "My sister is mean."

  A smile curved my lips, and I sighed. "I'm taking Diana down to meet the cars," I told Zed and Alexi. "Get those girls in there moved as fast as possible. We cannot be caught off-guard again. Anything less than flawless on this job will be your last strike, Alexi."

  It was unfair of me; he was racing the clock just like I was. But fuck fair. People worked harder when they were properly motivated, and Alexi badly needed to impress me right now.

  He jerked an understanding nod, and I scooped Diana up in my arms as I stood. She was light as a feather, and I'd be able to get us out a crapload quicker if I wasn't waiting for her to keep up.

  "Dare..." Zed started to follow, but I put out a hand to stop him.

  "Stay here and help. There are eight more girls in there who need saving. Save them." My tone was hard, but Diana just clung tighter. Crap, I was scaring the kid.

  Zed nodded tightly, and I hurried back toward the stairs we'd entered through. As we got to the top, I whispered to Diana to stay silent.

  Somehow, I managed to wiggle my gun free and holding the child with one arm, I swept the area, ensuring we were alone before I raced across the complex. I sent a silent thanks to fate for making me pick up sneakers instead of heels when we left the house, because it made the run a hell of a lot easier with a passenger around my neck.