Page 16

He inclines his chin. “He… yeah.”

“So you are going to clash at some point.” I move around the house’s footprint, toward the road. I’ll thumb a ride back to the beach or walk—it doesn’t really matter. The rubble blocks my view of the road and driveway.

Kade follows me.

“Presumably, yes, but I’d like to avoid that.” He sighs. “It’s not my choice.”

“What isn’t?”

“How this is playing out.”

I face him. Like this, I can’t help but flash back to our fight. I didn’t know him at the time, of course. Just the faceless Atlas , who remained silent during the briefing before the fights, who warmed up quietly in the corner on his own, who kicked my ass…

At some point in the future, I want a rematch.

No, need one. If only to prove that I can hold my own.

Kade examines me. “There are more moving pieces than meet the eye, Saint.”

Reese, Kade, Artemis. Jace and his friends. The sheriff? The Hell Hounds?

“So don’t let it play out the way it’s going,” I say.

He shakes his head and brushes past me. He follows the sandy path around what’s left of the house, and I trail after him. His burnt-to-a-crisp SUV is gone, replaced with a shiny new one.

“Some things are more easily replaced than others.” He opens the trunk, which faces the house, and unzips a bag. From it, he pulls out a pair of shorts.

Without warning, he drops his wet ones.

My gaze goes straight to his dick. I don’t know if the piercing is a magnet or the cock… It twitches to life, and I whirl around. I stand with my back rigid, until his low chuckle reaches my ears.

“It likes you,” he says. “Nothing to worry about, Saint. I won’t fuck you unless you ask for it.”

What the hell?

I spin back around, and he’s still naked. I ignore his lower half and stab a finger in his direction. “In your dreams.”

“Yeah. I’ve been cataloging your comebacks. I think they’re just suppressed desires. Biting…” His gaze heats. “Fucking.”

“No.” It’s actually laughable.

“Okay.” He shrugs. “Want a ride back?”

I stare at him. “I’m not getting in a vehicle with you.”

He waits. “You’ll chafe.”

“Maybe I’ll swim back.”

He scoffs. But the humor only lasts a second, and it morphs into something more serious. “Get in the car, Saint.”

“No.”

He raises an eyebrow.

I stare him down.

“Get. In. The. Car.” The corner of his lip ticks upward for the briefest moment. “Or I’ll force you into it.”

He seems serious. And a threat of being manhandled is worse than giving in, so…

I do it. I circle to the passenger side and reach for the door handle, and it flashes under my fingertips.

Locked.

“What the fuck?”

He’s followed me, a towel in his hands. “Strip and sit on that.”

I hold his gaze and do it.

And I feel a bit rebellious, actually, letting my soaked jeans and boxers fall around my ankles. His gaze flicks down, then back up. His expression is amused, and I am wholly unsettled. I grab the towel, wrapping it around my waist. When we get back to my car, I’ll…

I don’t have anything extra.

Whatever. It doesn’t matter .

A pair of briefs hits me in the face. I catch them and glare at Kade. Humiliation coats my skin like another layer, and my face burns.

He smirks. But instead of staring, he leaves me be. He circles around and gets in the driver’s seat, and I slowly loosen the towel enough to pull them on. I keep the towel, positioning it over my lap as I sit.

I need to hide my suddenly erect dick.

Why is it malfunctioning?

He doesn’t so much as glance over. He asks where I parked, his smile widening when I tell him Bow & Arrow.

By the time we get there, the sun has dipped below the water, and the line for the restaurant disappears around the corner.

He finds a parking spot halfway down the block and shuts off the engine.

Kade whistles. “We going in?”

“To…?”

“Talk to Artemis? That’s why you came here, right? And maybe you couldn’t get in or reach her so you…” He hikes his thumb toward the water. “Decided to go for a four-mile swim.”

Shit. Was it four miles?

I thought it was shorter.

He chuckles. “I wouldn’t mind using you to talk to her anyway.”

“To do what?” I eye him. “She’s…”

I can’t say fragile.

I can’t do that to her, not when she’s helped hide my self-destruction from Jace.

“She might not want to see you,” I finish.

“Obviously.” Kade reaches over and unclicks my seat belt. “I think I have pants that will fit you.”

He does. My freak boner has luckily subsided. I throw the towel at his face and quickly pull the sweatpants into place. He offers a shirt, but I decline. My car is just around the block, and I retrieve the rest of my clothes. Shoes and socks, shirt, sweatshirt. Wallet, keys, phone.

I have a missed call from Reese, but I ignore it. I’ll call him later, when I’m on my way back to the condo.

Kade and I skip the line. The bouncer, Barry, waves at me. He holds his hand out to Kade, though, and the big man beside me glares down at Barry.

“He’s with me,” I tell Barry. “Is Tem here?”

He narrows his eyes. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Okay. Are you going to let us in?”

“Any funny business, and the report goes straight to the top,” he warns.

“Understood.” I clap him on the shoulder. “Thanks, man.”

He unclips the red velvet rope barring the entrance, and we enter through the heavy metal doors.

We go to our right, straight up a set of stairs with a glass railing on the left.

It gives an impressive view of the dance floor below—which is better when the club is open—and the different levels with glass walls, both even with us and higher.

We get to the restaurant, which is buzzing. A hostess blinks at me, seeming to take a second to recognize my face. Her expression closes.

“Sorry, Antonio isn’t here,” she says. “And neither is Artemis.”

“I’m hoping we can cut through to get to her apartment,” I explain.

Kade watches passively.

The hostess seems to debate, then finally nods. She leads us in through the kitchen, which is a flurry of activity. Down a hall with closed doors that hide Tem’s and Antonio’s offices, then into a stairwell.

“You know the way from here?”

“Yeah, thanks.” I trot down the stairs and land at Tem’s apartment door. I’ve been here a few times, usually coming to seek her out and drag her back to the condo on Jace’s orders. Never because I wanted to be in the space…

Kade, however, seems perfectly comfortable kneeling and picking the lock when no one answers our knocking.

It swings inward, and he glances up at me.

Jesus, why is a glance erotic?

Why am I thinking about the word erotic and Kade Laurent in the same sentence?

I shake it off. He goes in first, flicking lights on.

Weird that she’s in the dark…

“Tem?” I call.

I never call her Tem.

I am seriously so off my game, it’s not funny.

“Artemis?”

Nothing.

Kade moves to her bedroom—I don’t want to know how he knows where it is, but I suppose it is a small apartment—and peeks in. “She’s not here.”

“What?”

I check for myself.

Bed is made. Clothes are on hangers, not spread across her floor.

What the fuck?

“Why do you look like you’ve just seen a ghost?” he demands.

“Because…” I cross to the refrigerator. There’s nothing in it besides a few condiments. Nothing in the trash except an old plastic wrapper. “I thought she was staying here.”

“When?”

“Last night.” I lick my lips. “And the night before.”

How the fuck did I lose Artemis?

And this isn’t even the first time.