Page 13 of How to Hack a Hellhound (Hellhounds of Paradise Falls #2)

Chapter 13

Quinton

B liss on a Friday night was all energy and chaos. The music blared, the lights were dim, and bodies writhed on the dance floor. I should’ve been scoping out the bartenders, bouncers, and partiers, but instead I was staring at Liam.

Because… yeah. He was wearing another pair of dress slacks, but his button-up shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, showing off his sexy arms, and the top two buttons were undone, showing just a hint of chest.

He was hot as fuck, and we’d just come in our pants together. I didn’t know what was stopping me from grabbing my sexy stalker and riding him off into the sunset (or into an orgasm or two, anyway).

He was just so fucking sweet. He treated me like I was special. The fact that he just held me after orgasms—what the fuck was that? Even my brief forays into dating hadn’t had anything resembling cuddles. All the cuddles in my life had been friend-related and not sex-related. I think it was short-circuiting my brain.

Liam turned those piercing blue eyes back to me, because he was actually looking around, and I could see the faintest hint of flames as they landed on my neck. Because yes, I had worn tight jeans and a scoop necked shirt that showed off the love bite on my neck.

I didn’t even know I was into biting, but when my sexy stalker had sunk his teeth into my skin, my orgasm had rolled through my body like electricity. We were definitely not lacking in the chemistry department, that was for damn sure.

Yet I still hesitated on taking him to bed, and I had no idea why. Sex wasn’t a big deal. I’d had plenty of it. I knew he would treat me right, and I knew we’d have a fantastic fucking time (pun intended). But something was still holding me back, and it was frustrating. I wanted him. I wanted that dick in my mouth and my hands and my ass, and yet I couldn’t seem to take the step to get it.

My sexy stalker didn’t seem at all rushed either, and he certainly wasn’t pressuring me for sex, which would have made taking the dive easier. Nope, he was just being fucking sweet as can be, asking for aftercare, cuddling me, and sniffing me. It was confusing. Hot, but also confusing.

Liam’s eyes were getting more flamy, so I snapped, “Eyes up here, Sexy Stalker.”

He looked up at me and shrugged, and I swear to god he was making fucking puppy-dog eyes at me. What the fuck was I supposed to do with that? He was supposed to be the badass supernatural guy here, not the cutesy puppy-dog eyes guy.

“Well?” I asked, lifting my eyebrow. I knew I was being bitchy, but I couldn’t help it. Bitchy was my default mode.

Liam didn’t seem to mind, because he sniffed the air, then answered, “Lots of murk here, and a couple people who are very, very close to hellbound. No one quite there yet, I don’t think.”

“Alright, let’s go plant the seed with some of the murky ones,” I said, getting up.

Liam followed, holding onto my arm. We definitely looked like boyfriends as we made our way up to the bar, and lo and behold, the same bartender that James had asked to take over the bar when he took me was there.

“Hey, Scotty!” I shouted, grabbing his attention.

He came right over, looking slightly worried. “Hey, man! What the hell happened to you guys? You and James left, and he never even finished his shift!”

I looked at Liam, who shook his head no at me. Huh, so apparently Scotty wasn’t in on it.

“I was drugged,” I said flatly.

“Fuck, man—no way! Let me tell the bouncers, and I’ll let the bartenders know. We all try to be vigilant about that shit…” He was starting to swing his arm up to wave a bouncer over, but I grabbed his hand.

“It was James,” I said.

Scotty stopped and stared at me, disbelieving. I didn’t think he was faking it. “No fucking way.”

“Yup. He drugged my coke. He was trying to take me out the back door to do who knows what, and this beefcake here”—I motioned to Liam, who still held my arm—“managed to be in the right place at the right time. He saw it and hollered that he was calling the cops and was going to report James, and James just fucking dropped me and ran off. This guy took care of me, and we’ve been seeing each other since then. I guess James hasn’t come back?”

Liam and Scotty both looked at me, and I have to admit I was super impressed with my spur of the moment story. It nicely explained why James had disappeared. If James had thought he was caught, he probably would’ve bailed.

“Shit, man. What the fuck,” Scotty said, shaking his head. “James hasn’t been back since that night. No one knew what the hell was going on with the guy.”

“Yeah, and based on how smoothly he had it all down, it probably wasn’t the first time he’s done this,” I added.

Scotty looked around, then he leaned in closer. “You know, James was always the one to help the really drunk people. I just thought… I mean, he just always did it, and I didn’t think anything of it. I thought he was just getting people rides and shit. He always joked about being a good samaritan.”

“Yeah, well, that wasn’t what he was doing,” I snapped.

“Fuck.” Scotty rubbed his hands across his face, and I saw genuine regret there. “If you need me to talk to the police or anything, let me know,” he added.

“Nah. I think they’ve got it covered,” I said.

“I just can’t believe it. I’ll have to let people know. People were really worried when he didn’t come into work on Friday.” Someone hollered for a bartender, and Scotty held his hand up. “I gotta work, but you let me know if you need anything, ok?”

“Thanks, man, I appreciate it,” I answered, and Scotty walked off to take more orders, shaking his head sadly.

The guy sitting in the stool next to me turned to face me when Scotty was gone. He was a cute twink that I’d seen around, but we’d never really partied together. “James always gave me weird vibes,” he said. “Thank god your knight in shining armor was there to save you. It’s a great meet-cute.”

I laughed. “I’m Q. I’ve seen you around.”

“Yeah, you’re usually with a crew of regulars. I’m Danny.”

Liam nodded at him but didn’t introduce himself, and I just smirked. “Don’t mind him, he’s a wee bit feral. I’m still house training him.”

Danny laughed at that, taking a sip of his drink. He then looked at it. “Fuck, I better tell people to be careful, although I don’t think Scotty is shady. But you should have the police check out Todd.” He snorted. “That asshole ‘with the extra D’ is super tight with James.”

We both laughed at Todd’s awful line. I nodded, adding, “Wouldn’t surprise me. James I didn’t expect, but Todd is kind of an ass.”

“Yup,” Danny said. “And I’m not just saying that because we hooked up in the back room once. I know he’s into a new flavor every night, so it’s not like I was expecting much, but the asshole didn’t even give back.” He leaned closer, adding, “And he was a shitty kisser. He took some cute newbie back there a few minutes ago. I almost warned the guy that it wasn’t gonna be worth it.”

“Danny! Bring the drinks!” someone shouted from the dance floor, and Danny got up, adding, “Good luck, man. I hope the cops find James and bust him.”

We both nodded, and Liam led me away from the bar. “Back room?” he asked, and I nodded my head.

I led us over to the same door James had taken me through more than a week ago. Part of me hoped that Todd was up to no good, but part of me also really hoped it was a mutual hook-up, as Danny had implied. I didn’t want to see anyone assaulted by that asshole.

We walked through the door with no issue—not sure who was supposed to be watching it, but they clearly weren’t doing their job. Probably Todd. We made our way down the corridor with Liam occasionally sniffing. I heard the groans behind one of the doors before Liam even had to point at it. It was a room all the way at the back of the club, and when I tried the handle, it wasn’t locked.

It was some kind of office, with a chair, a desk, and a couch. Todd had some guy who looked barely legal pressed against the couch, and based on the mauling the guy’s face was receiving from Todd’s tongue, I didn’t doubt the bad kisser story.

I cleared my throat loudly, and Todd looked up, but the other guy just rolled his head drunkenly. He was probably wasted, but obviously that wasn’t stopping Todd.

“Time for you to head home, lover boy. Todd and I have business to discuss,” I snapped.

“Oh shit, are you, like, his boyfriend?” the guy slurred.

I couldn’t help the look of disgust that crossed my face. “I wouldn’t fuck him with a ten-foot pole,” I answered. “And you’re too drunk to be fucking anyone anyway. You got friends out there in the club?”

He waved his phone around, which I could see had a ton of notifications on it. Good, they were looking for him. Todd was staring at us, and he surprisingly didn’t interfere when I grabbed drunk boy and led him to the door. I walked him back up the hallway and out into the club, leaving Liam to deal with Todd for the moment. I wasn’t out the door more than a minute when someone came over and grabbed drunk boy.

“Watch your friend. He’s wasted, and not everyone respects consent,” I yelled over the music. The guy looked concerned and nodded, grabbing onto his friend. I turned around and went back through the door leading into the back of the club.

When I got back to the room, Todd was sitting casually on the couch, still mussed, and Liam was standing there in the same place I’d left him. I got the impression no one had spoken a word while I was gone.

“We need to talk about James,” I told Todd, watching his face. He didn’t look surprised. He also didn’t look nervous, and I didn’t know what to make of that. Could he just be a normal asshole and not involved?

“Yeah, I guess we do,” Todd sighed. He got up, reached into the desk, and pulled out a taser.

“Well, that wasn’t on my bingo card for today,” I muttered. I saw Liam smirk out of the corner of my eye, but he didn’t look concerned. The taser was pointed at him, not at me, so I wasn’t sure why he looked so casual.

“You brought muscle, I see. That’s ok. I’m my own muscle,” Todd bragged.

“You’re such an asshole, Todd. And your lines are fucking corny as shit,” I added. Ok, maybe not the best response to someone holding a taser, but he was an asshole.

His face twisted a bit at that. “People are looking for you, Q, but no one said anything about your friend. Won’t be so hard to incapacitate him, though. Two for the price of one.”

“Are you gonna monologue now, Todd? Have you become a cartoon supervillain?” I sneered. “Please, go ahead and share all your evil plans with us. My guess, though, is that you’re just a low-level scumbag who doesn’t even know what you’re caught up in.”

Todd looked really pissed now, and he held the taser up higher. “It’ll be a pleasure to hand you over, Q.”

Liam stepped closer to the taser instead of away. “You really don’t want to do that, Todd.”

“Oh, I really do,” he said, and then there was a popping sound and two little darts shot out of the taser gun, hitting Liam square in the chest.

Todd looked gleeful as Liam fell to the ground. His hand was still holding the taser trigger, and I ran toward him to try and grab it. He pulled pepper spray out of his pocket with his other hand and aimed it at me before I could reach him. I stopped, since I would be no good to Liam if I was blinded. Plus, surely a taser wouldn’t have Liam down for long. I knew he would come and find me, too. I had faith in him. Even if Todd managed to take me, he’d find me.

I looked over at Liam, but he wasn’t moving. I fucking hoped he was ok.

“You think he’s dead? Maybe one more shot will do it,” he said gleefully, and I watched his hand press down on the taser trigger again.

Only at that Liam stood up, and we both turned to stare at him. He looked totally unaffected. He was even grinning a little bit.

“Fuck! What the fuck!” Todd said, pressing the trigger over and over. As Liam stalked toward him, he moved the pepper spray and took aim at Liam’s face, spraying out a stream of liquid straight into his face.

Huh. Pepper spray was actually red, and it came out in a stream. Who knew?

Liam actually smiled wider, and I think he licked his lips, tasting the spray. I just stood there like an idiot trying to process what the fuck was happening. Todd was yelling, and Liam caught him around the neck, cutting off his shouts, and lifted him up into the air.

Todd’s feet were flailing, his face was turning red, and Liam just casually looked over at me. “You ok, hellcat?” he asked.

“Well, I wasn’t the one tased and pepper sprayed, so yeah, I’d say I’m just dandy,” I snarked.

I wanted to facepalm myself. Yeah, supportive and empathetic were apparently not my strong suits in a crisis situation. But seriously, what the fuck? I thought I was pretty calm considering.

Liam smiled wider. “I’m glad it wasn’t a gun. Bullets are a bitch to expel. Electricity and pepper spray, though? That’s like a shot of espresso to the system. Yummy and invigorating.”

Okey-dokey then. Definitely wasn’t gonna forget that Liam wasn’t a human again.

“Let’s say we take him back to the house for a little interrogation?” Liam asked.

“Ok, first of all, you aren’t interrogating anyone and getting blood in my house. Second of all, I thought we couldn’t interrogate murky souls,” I answered.

“Oh no, we have a torture basement set up in the main house. I would never cause a mess in your house, hellcat. And as for Todd here”—he gave the flailing guy a rough shake—“he just tipped the balance into full rottenness. Sometimes it only takes one action. Trying to kill me and kidnap you just sucked out any hope for redemption. There’s no turning back for Todd, so he’s all ours.”

I wasn’t even gonna comment on the torture room. Nope. Not gonna ask. I guessed I’d see soon enough, anyway, so I gestured to my sexy stalker to lead the way. He did something to Todd—not sure what—and the guy went limp. He cleaned off his face with some napkins and a bottle of water, but the shirt was probably a lost cause. Then he threw Todd over a shoulder and peeked out the door, motioning me to follow as we headed out to the car.

Liam dumped him in the trunk, which quite conveniently had some duct tape. “Wanna drive?” he asked, like we were heading to the park or something. “I can erase the camera footage while you do.”

I nodded and got in the driver’s side, and Liam handed me the keys and grabbed a laptop from the back. He got to work on his magic, and I concentrated on driving exactly four miles over the speed limit to get home. I really did not want to get pulled over, and I thought I’d read somewhere that cops didn’t bother with less than five miles per hour over the limit, but they would get suspicious if you went too slow.

I didn’t doubt that Liam could handle the cops, but I really didn’t want to see it happen firsthand.

Liam was closing the laptop as we pulled up the driveway. “Done. All traces of our presence at Bliss tonight have been erased. Pull into the middle house driveway where the rest of the guys live. We’ll use that basement.”

“There’s more than one torture basement?” I asked.

He looked at me as we stopped. “Of course. There are five of us. Six if Wilder comes. We can’t all be sharing the same space. Not that we always bring hellbound souls here, so don’t worry about that. We usually take care of business in the field.”

Liam got out then, and I saw someone jump down off the porch as Liam walked around to the trunk. It was Corbin, who I hadn’t really spent much time with.

I guessed that was about to change. What better way to get to know someone than to watch them torture someone? I followed the hellhounds and the unconscious Todd into the house and down a set of stairs.

The torture basement was… not as creepy as I expected. It was clean. No dried blood everywhere, although apparently the windows were blacked out and there was a soundproof area. Todd got tied to a chair, still unconscious.

Corbin had a crow on his shoulder, and once Todd was secured, it hopped down onto the man’s shoulder and started pecking at his face.

“If that thing starts eating his eyes, I’m out of here. I’m squeamish,” I announced.

Liam walked over and put an arm around me, and Corbin smiled slightly.

“We’re just waking him up for you,” Corbin said. “Then we’ll leave you two to your date.”

I sputtered at the same time Todd started moaning and thrashing his head, and the crow cawed loudly in his ear before flying back onto Corbin’s shoulder. Corbin gave a little wave and started back up the steps.

“You guys are fucking weird,” I muttered.

Liam just shrugged, watching Todd. “How squeamish do you get?” he asked. “I don’t want to upset you, but I do owe Todd a little retribution. He did ruin my shirt with pepper spray.”

I laughed at that, leaning up to give Liam a kiss. “If you want to beat him up a little, that’s just fine. I have some questions for him. If more than that is required… Well, I may head upstairs for a break while you do the nasty stuff. Not that Todd doesn’t deserve it, but I don’t need to see anyone’s insides or anything.”

Liam smiled. “My pleasure, hellcat. Lead away with your questions.”

Todd started whimpering as we both walked toward him.