Page 24

CHAPTER 23

CRESSIDA

" Y ou're sure?" I bit my lip. I'd been burning the candle at both ends trying to drink from the firehose.

Atlas had been helping a little bit, but it was obvious he didn't care about any of the business stuff. Kim had been with me most of the time, but he'd still been pulled back into himself.

"We're sure," they chorused. They were humoring me. But at the same time, I didn't want all my work to go to waste.

"Fine, but if anything else happens that’s unplanned, we'll cancel." The words tasted like ash, but I had to be practical. "Now, what are we going to do as a next step to take down the Pescis?"

Kim grabbed my hips and spun me around, pulling me to sit on his lap. When I settled into him, he hummed his appreciation.

Lake blew out a breath as he paced the office. "We have surface-level intel, and we know there's a war breaking out between the brothers, but so far, they've been able to keep it under wraps from most of their organization." Lake circled the room twice more. "Rocco said he had information for me, but that's a dead end now. Somehow, they knew he was meeting me."

"Why weren't the Pescis there?" Joaquin asked. "If they knew they could trap you, why not go take care of you when they knew they had the advantage."

"I don't know."

"Wait." My fingers flexed over Kim's hands at my stomach. "You said he had a sister?"

"Yes,” Lake drawled. “But if they knew Rocco was a rat, then she's probably dead."

My heart squeezed. So much senseless killing. For what? To make Donnie and Danny feel like big men?

"We need to find out. If we can bring her here, maybe offer her a job, she can tell us what Rocco was going to tell you." It could work–

"No. Absolutely not." Lake slashed a hand down. "Even if she's not dead, she lives next to the restaurant in Pesci territory. There's a chance she doesn't know what Rocco was going to tell us, and are you crazy? You want us to employ someone in the Pescis' corner?"

"She's not in their corner, is she? Rocco was meeting you to save his sister. I bet she'll hate them. She'll want to take them down, especially when she finds out." I choked on the words. I didn't have any frame of reference of what it would be like to lose a sibling, but I could imagine, and what I could sympathize with was heartbreaking. "She’d want to help."

"Right." Lake laughed.

"I think we need to check it out," Atlas added.

"Yeah? Since when do you get involved?" Lake turned on Atlas.

Atlas stood up like he was two seconds from getting in Lake's face. "Since we were taken. Since we're fighting to get rid of all the threats. We need assurances that they aren't a threat. Which means dead, but before that, we need information. Which you don't have."

"Yet. I don't have it yet . I can keep working some of my contacts, and there's always Sonia–"

"Who’s already working on another job for us," Joaquin reminded them.

"We need the sister," I repeated.

Lake twisted, giving me a glare. "Is this what you all think is the right step?"

"Yes," resounded around the office.

"Fine. Fuck it. I'll see what I can do."

"We should go get her,” I said.

"Nope, that's my line in the sand. I'll hire out one of the PIs I've been working with, but that's it. If he can't find her or get her out, if she's even still alive, then we find another avenue. Got it?"

That was as good of a compromise as I was going to get. "Okay."

"I need to talk to Guy." Lake fled the office like he was afraid of what else he'd be forced to agree to if he stayed.

The door wasn't even shut yet when I stood. "I need to go talk to Holly and Andrea about the schedule."

"I'll go with you." Kim caught my hand as he stood. I looked at him, really looked at him.

As much as I hated myself at the moment for freezing, I'd seen how upset he was. He didn't freeze, and if I heard him right, he'd never done anything like that before either.

"Are you sure?" I asked softly.

"I'm sure."

"Okay," I said softly. There was no use trying to baby him. I didn't think he'd appreciate it and how was I supposed to know what he needed? Maybe he wanted to stay busy. Take his mind off of what happened.

I'd be lying if some part of me wasn't selfishly throwing myself into this, especially since the sight of Lake tied up on his knees kept playing through my head on repeat.

When I closed my eyes tonight, I'd be surprised if I didn't have nightmares.

"Atlas and I need to have a discussion. We'll find you later." Joaquin stood and clapped Altas on the shoulder. His gaze smoldered as they locked stares.

Atlas grunted, one side of his mouth twitching as he repeated, "We'll find you later.”

Out in the hallway, Kim continued to hold my hand like I was a lifeline. We neared Andrea's makeshift office, which was a glorified dressing room the dancers still used. She'd been asking for an actual office, but I didn't know if I wanted to use my newfound authority for that.

Before we reached the door, I pulled Kim to a stop. He angled his face toward me, cupping my hip. My eyelids fluttered from the sweetness and familiarity of the contact.

Since I told them how much I liked touch, they'd all made an effort to touch me as much as possible. Even Kim, who had always shied away from it whenever I'd seen him with anyone else.

The knowledge that I was different suffused me with a warmth that I wanted to hold tight to my chest. How long would it last?

No, Beasty. Stop that.

It would last, because things were different. We were different.

My sweet Kim was just as beautiful as ever. His golden skin was smooth, his hair was artfully styled around his face, but it was his eyes that worried me.

They were haunted. They had been for weeks, and maybe I was imagining it, but they seemed darker now.

"Kim." I stepped into his space. "Are you okay?"

He placed his hand over mine at his heart. He took a few seconds to answer, locking his gaze on my chin. When he raised his eyes to mine, he nodded.

"I am. I think I was shocked that I did it . Everything happened so fast." He tipped his head up briefly to the ceiling. "But I'm glad it happened, Beasty. Now that I've had some time to think about it, that's all I was doing on the car ride back and in the office." One side of his mouth curled up. "I know that man was dangerous to us. He would hurt Lake without a thought. I can't allow that, and I'm glad I could do something about it." He licked his lips. "Lake, and sometimes Atlas, have always done that kind of heavy lifting. Mostly Lake, though. It felt good to know I can protect him just as much."

Shit, that hit me square in the chest. When I had the chance, I couldn't kill to save Lake. Atlas took care of the man who had been directly in front of me. He'd had a split second to understand what was happening, and he’d started to turn toward us. That was when Atlas shot him.

If that had played out differently, he could have shot Lake. He could have shot at us, but he was surprised.

We were lucky.

"Now I'm going to ask you, what are you thinking?" Kim ducked his head to catch my gaze.

"That I couldn't do it," I whispered. We were alone in the staff hallway, but I couldn't speak the words any louder. "I wanted to. I should have, but I couldn't."

"No one asked you to, Beasty. We don't keep score like that. I don't. But if you do, of all of us, you're the one with the most points. You saved us as kids and you saved us when Lucas took us. You have eight points to my one." He grinned and some of the shadows lifted from his eyes. "I've already spoken to Joaquin and the others. We're having a painting made of you in battle regalia, and we're going to hang it over the mantle in the living room. I'm going baroque in my next redecorating kick to match it."

I squinted at him. "You're lying."

"Am I?" He pressed his lips together, but it didn't diminish his smile.

"I can tell now. That's a joke."

Kim lit up even more at that. He slid his hand around my neck and pulled me in for a breath-stealing kiss. "Let's get this meeting done with."

As much as I wanted to linger with him in our own bubble, I really did want to get everything ironed out for this Showcase night.

Andrea and Holly spoke in hushed voices, pouring over schedules spread out over the table.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Yeah, well–" Andrea started in a snotty voice, but when she glanced up and saw Kim on my heels, she blanched. "It's fine."

"Do tell, Andrea, is that the tone you speak to Beasty in?" Kim pushed his hands in his pockets as he strolled around me. He pulled out my chair, and when I took a seat, he leaned over me, placing a hand on either side of me on the desk, making his unhappiness clear. The heat of his body engulfed me and my cheeks warmed.

Andrea's mouth opened and closed a few times as she stared at him. "No, sorry, I'm just frustrated about some cancellations."

"Hmm. I'll let it slide this time, but I've already got a stack of choreographers' resumes on my desk just waiting for you to fuck up. If Beasty isn't happy, scratch that, if I'm not happy with how you're treating your boss, then there's no place for you here."

"Boss?" she squeaked.

I twisted so fast. I had stepped in, sure, but I was no one's boss. That wasn't who I was.

"Semantics. Everything that's ours is hers." He met my gaze and winked.

Stupidly gleeful butterflies erupted in my stomach. Every time he stood up for me like this, it healed a piece of my soul. It was everything I'd wanted as a child.

But I couldn't bask in this how I wanted. I needed to get this meeting done and get back to the others. Regardless of how okay Kim said he was, I was shaken up, and I wanted to have them all surrounding me.

"Andrea, Holly, what's been finalized and confirmed." I wanted their attention back on me. Holly stared, slack-jawed, at Kim with a little hero worship in her gaze. A slight twinge of jealousy bit my ass, but I ignored it.

"Um, right." Holly pulled out a few papers and spun them around to face me. "The Masked room, Feral room, and Whips room all have a fantastic lineup, both with our own performers and with headliners coming in." She pointed out several names on each timetable as Andrea sat there seething in her anger.

Fuck her.

The more I got to know her, the more I didn't think she was the right fit for the club. I just hadn't said anything since the club wasn't mine.

"What's wrong then?" I asked, glancing at the papers that were still on their side.

"The main performer for the big stage canceled. We're days away. I don't think we can find anyone of the caliber we're looking for on such short notice." Holly plucked one paper in front of Andrea and handed it to me.

My stomach dropped. That was the highlight of the night. I didn't have any connections or know anything about performers to be able to help in any way.

"Andrea? Do you have any thoughts?" I asked, keeping my tone even.

She glanced at me with fire in her eyes before she blinked, and her expression leveled out. "I've already reached out to the suitable candidates in my network. None can make it for this because they're traveling or have other bookings."

Shit, this was going to be bad. I bounced my knee, staring at the headliner crossed out.

Maybe we should reschedule–for six months from now. That way the boys didn't get embarrassed in the media for having a shit show.

"Kim..."

"I have an idea." He tapped the fingers of his right hand on the desk.

I glanced up. He did? "What is it?"

"We can perform."

"Who's we?" My voice climbed in pitch.

He smirked, and his gaze traced my mouth. "You and me. There was a fashion show we did one time that I think would be a great idea for a performance."

"You have to be joking. Neither you nor Beasty have any training, and a themed fashion show is not the same as an artistically done dance performance," Andrea exploded.

Kim cut his eyes to her. "What I have in mind won't require that much skill. It will be reliant on the dark and neon paint. But that's where you come in. You want to save your job? Put together a choreography for Beasty and me that will wow the crowd with our lacking talent.” He sneered and I shivered. “That's what you wanted to say, right?"

Andrea pressed her lips together. "Fine. We'll work on it. But if it's shit, don't come yelling at me. You literally only have days." She rose from the table and stormed out.

Holly watched me with wide eyes, but I had nothing to say.

Kim wanted us to headline? Shit.