Page 33 of Murder & Mayhem (Bloody Desires #9)

“Nicky’s not giving up on you. Right now, I’d bet my Harley, which, ask my brothers and they’ll tell you I love that thing more than them, but I’d bet my bike that’s he’s pacing the room, tearing his fucking hair out while overanalyzing everything that went wrong and how he can fix it.

He’s not mad at you, and if he was, it wouldn’t be for safewording.

I promise you that. But I doubt he’s mad about what happened before either.

You said he even admitted he couldn’t figure out what you were upset about.

He can be dense, but that doesn’t mean he’s disgusted or walking away.

Nicky’s a fixer and has a bit of a hero complex.

He always has. If he’s upset, it’s at himself because he doesn’t know how to make this better. ”

I sat back, processing what he was telling me. In some warped way, it made sense. Nicky had even said something about not knowing how to fix it. It had pissed me off at the time, but that had been because I’d been so deep in my own self-loathing, I couldn’t think about anything else.

“But what I did. I didn’t have his permission. I . . . in his sleep!” I kind of whined the last word, anxiety building again.

“Jamie, you were asleep too. It’s not your fault.”

“I should’ve realized or something. Who fucking does that?”

Gideon sighed and stood up. I thought he was leaving, but instead, he grabbed another one of the chairs and dragged it over.

He plopped into it, so he was sitting directly in front of me with a small space between us.

There was enough room to run if I wanted to, but the need to understand what was happening was strong, so I stayed where I was.

“Has Nicky talked to you about his . . . inclinations?”

I wasn’t expecting that question. “Kinda. You mean the Daddy thing?” Gideon confirmed with a nod. “He did a little. I can’t say I totally understand it. It’s intriguing. After . . . After we find Bailey, I told Dominic I wanted him to show me more. But that’ll never happen now.”

Gideon shook his head, a sad half smile gracing his face.

“If you listen to anything I tell you, make it this. Talk to him. Don’t assume and make decisions based on those assumptions.

One of the cornerstones of kink is good communication.

Let that be the first lesson you learn about it and talk to the dumbass.

I know you two don’t know each other well, but I can see the chemistry.

I can see how happy you make Nicky. Don’t blow it for both of you because you’re scared of how he’ll react. ”

Well, I’d never felt so fucking called out.

I wanted to bury my face in the sand and pretend none of this had happened.

I didn’t deserve nice things, and the desire to run and hide from all I was feeling was strong.

But I didn’t want to run from Dominic. It scared me how much I wanted him, how much I wanted to trust him.

It was dangerous. This giant Viking of a man was challenging me to stay and fight. Did I have the strength to do that?

A phone buzzed before I could formulate a response. Both of our eyes drifted over to where it was plugged into an outlet on the island. It took me a minute to realize it was mine. I had forgotten all about it, but Dominic must’ve plugged it in when I’d been sleeping.

My feet dragged as I walked toward it. I didn’t get many calls, and getting one now left a feeling of dread deep in my gut.

It was an unknown number. Gideon was right behind me and gave me the go ahead to answer when I looked at him for guidance.

“Hello?”

“Jamie?”

I nearly dropped my cell at Bailey’s voice. He sounded terrified, but okay.

“Bails? Bailey? Are you okay? Where are you? We’re coming to get you. We?—”

“Jamie,” he cut me off with a hitch in his voice. “They’re making me call you. I didn’t want to. Please believe I’d never—ahh!” Bailey screamed in pain, followed by a crashing sound.

“Bailey! Don’t hurt him!”

“Nicky! Get your ass down here!” I heard Gideon yell as he pulled out another phone. “Keep them talking,” he mouthed to me before typing rapidly.

“Bailey! Bails, can you hear me?”

“Y-yeah. I’m here.” He sounded out of breath now, and I could hear him sobbing.

My heart cracked in two as I held the phone so tightly, I was lucky it didn’t crack.

“Bailey, where are you, bubs? I’m coming. I’m coming to find you.”

“They want you too!” Bailey sobbed. “That’s what they want!”

Someone was in front of me then. A massive wall blocking my pacing. Big hands landed on my shoulders, the warm, spicy scent I was becoming addicted to surrounding me. Dominic.

Intense eyes met mine. “Breathe, Jamie.” He took a breath, and I automatically followed it.

“Good boy,” he whispered. “Ask him who they are.”

“Who’s they, Bailey?”

“I-I don’t know. They have masks. I was with a bunch of other kids.

They said they were taking us to Europe or something.

T-then three of them pulled me out. Told me to call you.

They said I was damaged, that no one would want me.

The woman, she was pissed, yelling at O’Malley for being a dumbass.

They said I need to get you to come here and trade places with me, otherwise they’ll lose a whole bunch of money and the woman said she’ll kill O’Malley and someone else. I-I forgot the name. I’m sorry.”

My hands were shaking so badly, I was hard to maintain my grip, but Nicky was there, holding them steady.

“Ask him where they want you to meet.”

“Where, Bails? Where am I supposed to meet them?”

“No! Please don’t come. It’s a trick! They’re gonna sell us both. It’s a— Ahhh!”

I flinched at the sound of knuckles hitting flesh.

“Stop! Stop hitting him!”

“I’ll send an address and a time to this phone.” This was another, deeper adult male voice instead of Bailey’s. “The Sullivan kid comes alone or all the kids we got die. Every single one of them. Slowly.” Then he hung up, and the phone slipped out of my hands.