Page 72 of Mimic

Kytten froze. Her head dropped back and she faced the ceiling, and her eyes slid closed. Everyone around the table sat quietly as we listened to one side of a heated conversation.

“We don’t pull jobs without Val’s approval, Magyk,” she growled into the phone. “So who did the new IDs? Does he know Val doesn’t know?” Kytten continued pacing as she listened to Magyk. “No more fucking secrets, Magyk. Okay, I love you, too. Bye.” Kytten disconnected the call and turned to face King. “Val only gave one person permission to deal with the Trick Pony.”

A tear ran down her face, and Cash rushed to her side. He pulled her into his arms and lifted her off the floor. Cash turned cold, dead eyes on King.

King closed his eyes. “Syrena.”

Mimic’s hand tightened around mine until I winced. “I’m sorry.” He brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed where he crushed my fingers.

“King,” Cash rasped.

“Go. I’ll fill you in later.” He waved him away, and Cash strolled out of the room with Kytten in his arms.

“Is Kytten okay?” I asked Mimic.

“She will be.” He turned to King. “Now what?”

“We need to know whether the information in the files is true. Then we need to find out who knows about it. I’m guessing Vulture knows, and that’s why he wants her back.”

“What information?” I asked, looking between King and Mimic.

“Indie,” Nav began. “When the Trick Pony was shut down, all the files were stolen. We have those files.”

“Nav,” King warned.

“She has to know, King. If this shit is real, there is no keeping it from her once it’s activated.”

“What shit?” I asked again.

“Indie.” Mimic called my name, and I turned without question. “This is going to sound fucked up, but living at the Trick Pony, I guess you already know how fucked up Devlin Scott was. Nav has files on you, and the other eleven girls that were rescued with you.”

“Oh my God.” I dropped my face into my hands. “He kept records, didn’t he? Of all the men and women I...” I couldn’t bring myself to say the words out loud. Not in front of these men.

“He did,” Nav confirmed. “But that isn’t what we’re talking about.”

My head popped up, and I looked at Nav. “What else is there?”

I followed Nav’s gaze to King. He stared at me with his head cocked to the side, as if he were trying to answer a riddle but he didn’t have all the information.

“What can you tell us about your time there?”

I narrowed my eyes at the man. “Did you want a play-by-play? Maybe a blow-by-blow? Maybe a demonstration of what I learned while I was there?”

“Actually, I do.” King had a smug grin on his face.

“Well, fuck you,” I shouted, jumping up from my seat. Mimic and Gunner followed. Mimic pulled me into his arms as I struggled to get away from him.

“You can be a real asshole sometimes, you know that, Prez?” Gunner growled.

“Indie, please stop. Just listen.”

“Listen to what? Your president tell me I have to submit? Maybe treat the men to a little taste of everything I learned from Devlin Scott and his son? Maybe the old ladies would like to get in line too. I can show the men everything I learned about how to really please a woman.”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” Mimic snarled. His hands were vise grips on my biceps as he shook me. “I don’t care what the fuck they made you do. It wasn’t your fucking fault. And you won’t be doing any of that shit with anyone but me.”

I huffed out a laugh and opened my mouth to say something nasty about teaching him everything he hadn’t learned yet, but Mimic slammed his mouth over mine, shutting me up immediately.

Mimic’s kiss shut out the world around us. I forgot about the men in the room, about Kytten and how upset she was. I forgot about Magyk and the Trick Pony. My head was an empty vessel being filled with the scent of the man who held me in his arms.