Page 28 of Murder & Mayhem (Bloody Desires #9)

JAMESON

M y eyes fluttered open to the soft sound of voices. I stretched my legs, surprised to realize I had the room to extend them all the way out and the confines of the car didn’t trap them. Where was I?

I didn’t remember arriving or getting out of the car, but somehow I’d ended up asleep on one of those super comfy cuddle couches I always saw on TikTok. I never thought I’d have a chance to try one out myself, but they lived up to the hype.

I knew I should get up. I had no idea how long I’d been asleep or what had happened in the meantime, and the anxiety of not knowing exactly what was going on was starting to build to the point where it wouldn’t be bearable much longer.

But there was still enough haziness from a nightmare-less sleep that I allowed myself to drift in that luxury for a few minutes.

If I didn’t move, then none of the stuff happening was real yet. Or something like that.

Someone had taken off my shoes and covered me with an incredibly soft blanket that was a pretty blue color.

I brought it to my nose and sniffed. It smelled nice, like fabric softener, but nothing like Dominic’s sheets.

It made sense since I doubted he spent much time here, but I still liked the scent of his sheets better.

I was in a spacious living room area. From what I could see, the house was yet another place fancier than anywhere I’d ever lived. I had so many questions. Was this theirs? How could they afford all this?

“Great, so worst-case scenario, we’re gonna need backup, A.

I’m willing to admit when I’m in over my head.

” Dominic’s voice filtered in, sounding stressed and a little annoyed.

The reaction my body had to it was . . .

strange. Getting that confirmation that I was at the shore house and safe with Dominic was an immediate comfort.

Dominic was close. He hadn’t abandoned me.

Then his words started to filter in. Something was wrong.

“I’m three steps ahead of you. Luca’s got two of his guys scouting out the place now.

You’re not doing this alone. If you want my opinion, which I doubt you do, I think you shouldn’t handle it at all.

Since you both ignore all my good advice, I’m not holding my breath you’ll listen though,” Ari chimed in.

There was something tinny about his voice, like maybe he was on speaker phone.

“Personally, I think you’re underestimating us, but whatever.” That was Gideon, and it sounded like he was chewing something.

“Yes,” Ari snapped, sarcasm so heavily lacing the word, even I could hear it all the way from another room.

“The two of you can infiltrate a fully secure shipping dock funded by an international trafficking ring and rescue not one kid like we thought, but at least eight. And that’s what we’ve confirmed.

Totally underestimating your abilities. You’re not black ops, Gid.

You’re a middle school teacher who occasionally kills a deadbeat as a side hustle. ”

The full implication of Ari’s words finally hit me, and I jumped to my feet, the blanket falling in a crumbled ball onto the floor.

I followed the sound of their voices into an airy, open kitchen.

Gideon and Dominic were sitting on barstools around a large island.

There was a phone in between them, probably where Ari’s voice was coming from.

I staggered to a stop in the entranceway, torn between needing more information and feeling like an intruder.

Dominic glanced up. He didn’t seem surprised to see me.

“Hey, Jamie. How’re you feeling?”

I waved the question away. “Go back to the part where you think Bailey’s being held by a trafficking operation, and that he’s not the only one.”

Gideon snorted. “You have your hands full with this one, Nicky. I like him.” He had changed from earlier, wearing black Under Armour workout pants and a long-sleeved black shirt that was straining around his biceps and chest.

“Now that Jamie’s up, how about we fill him in on what we know and what the plan is?” Ari interrupted, all business.

Dominic pressed his hand lightly on the small of my back.

“Are you hungry, sweetheart?” he whispered, completely ignoring Ari and my previous question.

I wanted to be annoyed, but I remembered his earlier comments about being a caretaker, and it eased some of that initial irritation.

“Gid’s gonna pick up some pizza and wings later, but there are some snacks here if you need something to hold you over. ”

I shook my head. My stomach was too hollowed out to even think about food without getting queasy. “No, thank you,” I said back quietly. “I’m not hungry.”

Dominic seemed unhappy with that but thankfully let it go and guided me to one of the barstools .

“So, what the fuck is happening?” I asked once I was settled between the two brothers.

Dominic rubbed his face with his hands, looking stressed.

“Remember how we were talking about Slash’s connections to a trafficking ring and how we hoped that O’Malley hadn’t sold Bailey to her?

Well, Ari got confirmation. We believe Bailey and at least eight other kids, but possibly more, are being held in shipping containers on one of the loading bays at the docks.

I told you about Ari’s contact, Luca?” I nodded, trying my best not to freak out and compartmentalize all the information that was being thrown out to me.

“Skye and Brooks, two of his partners, are currently scouting the location.”

I swallowed, my throat bone dry. “T-too many people are helping. I can never pay you back. And don’t even say you don’t need me to,” I snapped at Dominic before he could.

“Actually,” Ari interrupted, “as far as Luca’s crew, we kind of did them a favor.

They were recently dealing with a job that ended up being much larger than they expected, and they adopted a teenager who had become a victim as a result.

Well, turns out, this group is connected to the people who held their kid.

They are more than happy to get involved now. ”

I hugged myself while processing. It was becoming too much, but I tried to focus on one thing at a time, think about the positives before I got too overwhelmed, where the only thing that would shut off my brain was pain.

“And these guys, Luca or whatever? They know what they’re doing? My brother will be safe?”

“Yes. Luca and one of his partners, Wes, are former SEALs. They all have some kind of training, and this is literally the shit that they do. As much as I hate to admit it, their new hacker, Diego, is better than I am. Trust me when I say your brother is in safe hands. If anyone can get him out, it’s them. ”

That made me feel better. My brain was a contradictory mess, which honestly wasn’t new.

It could never fucking settle on anything.

Most of me understood I had to trust these people because I couldn’t do it on my own.

But there was still that voice in my head screaming to run far and fast. That I’d never be able to pay all these people back and that maybe both Bailey and I would be better dead than wracking up these debts.

I shut down that voice fucking quick. I wouldn’t say I’d never considered ending it all, but then Bailey would grab my hand and offer me a small smile, and I would remember I had something worth fighting for.

And Bailey? He had his whole fucking life.

I would do everything, sacrifice anything to make sure he had a chance to live that.

Someone squeezed my knee, and I smiled up at Dominic.

Then, there was this man. I had no idea what to make of him or the feelings that were brewing for him.

The stuff he was talking about, the Daddy stuff, it intrigued me more than I could ever have expected.

I was a little scared, but something about it sounded so right, and if I was exploring it with Dominic, I knew I would be safe.

I had no right even thinking about something like that in this situation, but maybe it was okay to have a selfish thought now and then.

I wouldn’t act on it, not till Bailey was found and safe, but thinking about it, fantasizing, well, there was nothing wrong with that, right?

I turned to the phone so I could look at Ari. He had his head down, doing whatever he was doing, but I knew he was listening. “So, what do we do now?”

“Unfortunately, we have to wait till we hear from Luca or for Ari to get more information. Then we can make a plan,” Dominic told me, annoyed.

That sucked, but I got it. I blew out a breath, slumping in my chair. I still felt so tired, and I didn’t get it. I hadn’t done anything, yet I was so fucking exhausted. I yawned .

“Let’s finish up here, and then we can get some rest,” Dominic inserted. “There’s nothing else we can do anyway.”

I shrugged, having no energy to do anything else but secretly relieved Dominic had suggested it. Hopefully, he was willing to cuddle in the bed with me. That sounded really nice.

The four of us talked a little longer before Ari hung up, promising to call us if he had any other news.

After that, Gideon left to run some errands and get us food.

I was worried that he would get followed again, but the brothers seemed confident that the Wraiths had lost our trail and had likely turned back home.

Flame was known to be cautious and was willing to admit when he was in over his head.

It always made me wonder how much he’d known about Joey’s side business.

He never got involved with kids, and I saw him firsthand deal with Wraiths who’d been caught messing with them.

But I guessed since Joey had always been on the outskirts, he either hadn’t tracked what he’d done or hadn’t wanted to get involved.

Dominic stood with a groan and an exaggerated stretch. “Let’s go up to the room for a while. I think we can both use some rest.”

I accepted his outstretched hand, loving how well mine fit in it, and let him lead me out of the room.

Since there was finally a lull, it seemed like the perfect time to get some of the questions I had answered.

“So, how do you guys know all this shit? You know, the killing and the hacking? Weren’t you foster care kids?” Generally, kids like that didn’t get access to the kinds of things that would lead to the skills they had, especially Ari.

“We were,” Dominic started. “After we killed our foster dad, we were on the run for a while.

Living on the streets and squatting in abandoned buildings.

We worked odd jobs under the table, saving up until we could get an apartment.

Ari was working at this restaurant, washing dishes.

But the owner accidentally downloaded a virus on his computer and it shut down everything in the fucking place, leaving them frantic.

Ari just walked right up to it and fixed it.

The owner was so impressed, he paid for Ari to take all these IT classes and helped him get a much better job.

“He kept working odd jobs too,” Dominic continued.

“But then they were all tech related. It didn’t take long for him to be able to transfer the skills he got from the IT courses into other things, and he became skilled at hacking and cybersecurity.

One of the people he worked for ran an underground fighting ring.

Gid and I would always tag along with Ari to make sure he was safe.

I don’t think his clients liked it, but we didn’t give a fuck.

He didn’t go alone, period,” Dominic asserted, sounding firm, like he was right back in the past while they’d struggled to get control of their lives.

“So, we’d often watch the fights while Ari did whatever the fuck he did.

One of the trainers took one look at us and asked if we wanted to learn to fight for real. We said yes.”

Dominic laughed. He led me to the stairs, and we started up them. “Ari was so fucking pissed. But it ended up being a good skill to have, once we started our side business.”

This time, it was my turn to laugh. It was hysterical that they considered murder a side business.

“Gid and I fought for a while. We were fucking good too. A lot of our initial winnings, we used to get started in this life. It paid for both Gideon and me to go to college after we got our GEDs. We got our first car with it too. But once the whole murder thing started, we both agreed to stop. It was too risky. We needed to keep a low profile and stay out of the cops’ radar.

With everything we’ve managed up to this point, it’s in our best interests to keep it that way.

We still train regularly, often with Adam, the guy who trained us as kids,” he added almost as an afterthought.

That explained a lot. Dominic brought us down a hallway and opened a door that led to a nice bedroom that was decorated very similarly to the one at his apartment.

Dominic’s eyes widened and he halted. “This is my room. I don’t know why I brought you here.

I mean, I do. But I should’ve asked. If you want your own, there are two guest rooms here.

I can set one up for you. I shouldn’t have assumed you wanted to share a room with me—” He was rambling, and it was fucking adorable.

It was kind of nice not to be the hot mess for a change.

“Dominic?”

He stopped and looked at me with a sheepish expression on his face. “Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him, hopefully erasing the worry right out of his brain.