Best Kase Scenario (Hyde Series Book 2) Page 31

  “You actually think your man would let you?” he asked.

  “Since he doesn’t control me, it doesn’t matter what he says.”

  Again, my response seemed to please him. He studied my face carefully. “He’s looking for his drugs.”

  The sudden switch in conversation threw me. “Whose?”

  “Nash’s. And since your former boss and your man did time together, he’s connecting the dots and the picture they’re forming isn’t a good one. How else could a mechanic afford that house?” At my look of surprise, he smiled. “We did a lot of digging.”

  Kase had a shit ton of money. I wasn’t sure how much he had total, but I’d caught some glimpses of his bank account.

  He’d gotten a large inheritance from his parents’ death. And since Willa hadn’t met their stipulations to get her full amount, he got a lot of hers, too.

  He wasn’t Scrooge McDuck diving into a room full of gold coins, but he also wasn’t far from it.

  It never mattered to me. I worked, busting my ass at the bar to make good tips. I paid when I picked up dinner or went shopping. We just kind of let things fall naturally, and rolled with it.

  Like me, though, Kase worked hard at Hyde. Jake kept the shop on the small side, but they did a lot of costly work. They all made good money because Jake paid them well, but since Kase was his second in command, his salary was well above decent. With the level of skill and intricacy he brought to the job, he earned every cent of it.

  Staying guarded, I downplayed my knowledge of Kase’s finances. “I dunno. He’s lived there for years.”

  “Yeah, shortly after he did time for possession with intent.”

  Well, aren’t you a thorough douchebag?

  Reaching into his suit coat, my breath caught until I saw him pull out his phone. “It’s not a big jump to assume he’s still at it. The house is one thing. But the cars?”

  “He works at a garage and gets deals.”

  “The boat? The ring?”

  Even if I tried, there was no hiding my reaction. My eyes widened, stomach dipping and fluttering. My carefully controlled thoughts began to race again.

  His eyes dropped to my hand. “Of course, I’m guessing that wasn’t for you.”

  I bit my cheek, fighting my curiosity.

  “Months ago,” Rick said, answering my unanswered question. “He bought it months ago.”

  All my thoughts crashed and burned on the track, leaving me at a loss.

  I wasn’t starting Pinterest boards dedicated to becoming Mrs. Teo, but I figured a wedding was somewhere in our future.

  And I was super down with it.

  But he’d never even mentioned marriage. Family was crazy important to him, and he wanted his own. I’d just naturally assumed getting married fit into that.

  Holy hell, he bought me a ring? Months ago?

  His ego is even bigger than I gave him credit for.

  I tried to contain my excitement. For all I knew, Rick was lying out his stupid face.

  Returning to the imminent topic, I said, “I don’t know anything about drugs.”

  “We figured.” Rick tapped the edge of his cell on his thigh. “But Nash thinks Teo does.”

  “Where is Nash?” David asked, his obvious unease, and sweat stains, growing.

  “Waiting on my call. We need a complete picture, not an unfinished dot-to-dot.”

  With a hesitant nod, David resumed his silent stance in the corner.

  Fighting the urge to throw something at David, I looked back at Rick. “How would Kase have anything of Nash’s?”

  “Because David had them. Then Teo and his trailer trash buddies spent some time at his house, and, poof, they’re gone. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist.”

  My dad used to tell me that I got a new freckle every time I let my fiery temper out.

  Feeling my anger rise at Rick’s condescending and douchey words, it was lucky my skin wasn’t just red.

  Rick watched my mood turn, my hatred unable to be disguised or hidden. The small bit of warmth he’d shown me disappeared as his muscles tensed and lip curled up. “You really wanna stick—”

  “You had drugs in my house?” I yelled at David, transferring all, instead of just some, of my fury to him.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Rick sit back to enjoy the show.

  “Harlow—” David started, holding up his hands like that would magically placate me.

  “Where my little sister lives?” I shot up off the couch, almost tripping on my heels. “You know how Hadley likes to get into things!”

  Guilt covered his face, his shoulders slumping. “They were in child proof bottles.”

  “Since when is anything child proof for her?” His words clicked together, penetrating my mind. “When did these go missing? Was it the couple bottles I threw out a while ago?”

  Rick’s attention shot to David, but he shook his head. “Those were mine. I have a lot of trouble sleeping—”

  I glared at him, cutting off his stupid excuse. “I took some of those!”

  Holy shit, Kase was right.

  I’d been high.

  I never even got to eat brownies or have the munchies or see what music synched up with The Wizard of Oz.

  “I’m sorry,” David said. “And I learned my lesson, I didn’t keep them inside after that.”

  “Then where? In the sandbox? Did you bury your stash in my backyard?”

  He rubbed his palm down his face. “In the garage, but I had them all spread out. Hadley rarely—”

  “It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t go in there much, she still did. I was kicking my own ass about all the dangerous garbage I found when I cleaned it out.”

  Realization dawned and the room grew quiet.

  Eerily so.

  David’s eyes widened, panicked and slightly crazed. “You did what?”

  “I didn’t know. I just cleaned out boxes of junk from the garage. It wasn’t labelled!” I argued stupidly, as if people color-coded and printed out lovely labels for their stashes of narcotics.

  “Harlow, look at me,” Rick said, his soft voice almost pleased as he stood and moved into my space. “Did Teo and his friends go into the garage?”

  I started to look around him at David, but Rick gripped my chin and forced my eyes to meet his.

  “Don’t look at him, look at me. Did they?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Good.” He loosened his hold on my chin, but still kept it in his grasp. His thumb stroked across my bottom lip. “That means you threw out thousands of dollars’ worth of pills.”

  Locking my knees, I tried not to fall over. My vision tunneled as the magnitude of what it all meant sank in.

  I’ve seen The Wire. The Sopranos. Law and Order and all of its various spin-offs.

  People get killed for a lot less money.

  Rick took his sweet time, savoring my panic and pain before finally easing it slightly. “That’s not on you, baby, don’t worry. That debt has already been added onto David’s previous one.”

  David made a strangled groan from the corner, though he said nothing.

  Rick curled an arm around me. “Didn’t know about his debts, huh?”

  I shook my head, too panicked to stiffen at his touch.

  “He hit a winning streak a while back at the casinos and thought he’d push it. His luck turned. Nash was nice enough to give him a loan.”

  “Which he lost,” I finished.

  He nodded. “And the next one. And the next one.”

  “I just wanted to be able to take care of you all,” David claimed, his voice a pathetic plea. “Your dad had so much money, and I wanted to give that kinda life to your mom.”

  “Oh, shut the fuck up!” I yelled, shifting to the side so I could glare at him. “My mom doesn’t care about any of that. Don’t you try to lower her to make yourself feel better. This is on you!”

  “Good news is,” Rick started, drawing my attention back to him
, “this all means Nash has no issues with Teo or his buddies from the garage. Since he’s not one to start a war, they’re safe.”

  Relief swam through me, loosening the tension in my body and relaxing the vice grip on my stomach.

  My mood upswing plummeted when Rick continued. “But we still need collateral to make sure David pays off his notes. That’s where you come in.”

  I wanted to leave David to fend for himself. And, if it were just him, I might’ve. I wasn’t proud of it, but I had no interest in playing the martyr and paying for his mistakes.

  It wasn’t about the money. I scrimped and saved it, but my bank account wasn’t more important than someone’s life.

  It came down to all the sleepless nights. The months I’d spent living off three hours of sleep. Working at Wicked, pushing my body and emotions to the edge of what I could handle and then going far beyond that.

  I’d worked hard just so David could gamble himself into a hole he had no chance of getting out of? And I was expected to provide the rescue ladder?

  No.

  Fuck no.

  But, with my knowledge of basic cable reruns, I had a feeling the choice wasn’t really mine. “And if I don’t help?”

  Another harsh curse came from the corner.

  “Don’t worry,” Rick said, his smile not at all conveying that same message. “We won’t kill him.”

  Unlike the sigh of relief from the peanut gallery, I waited for the other sadistic shoe to drop.

  His hold on my chin tightened again, bordering on painful. “Dead men can’t pay, so I’d be forced to go after what, and who, he loves.”

  And there it is… A whole sadistic shoe store.

  I mentally reviewed my bank accounts and tried to calculate the total. “How much does he owe?”

  “Seventeen thousand.”

  If I’d been drinking, I would’ve done a spit take. “Seventeen thousand?”

  “That’s just what he owed Nash. The supply he had from me was worth another ten.”

  Twenty-seven thousand dollars.

  I’d been able to save a few grand, but not that much.

  “Why the hell did you have ten grand worth of drugs in the garage?” I screeched at David, pulling away from Rick’s hold.

  David rubbed his eyes, the strain and stress making him look much older than he was. “It wasn’t a lot, it’s just really expensive.”

  “What is it? What did I take?” I ignore the turning in my stomach at the thought of how bad it could’ve been.

  “It’s a trendy new variation of Oxy. A bunch of men from work take it because it makes them feel young. And the tech guys like it, so when we buy whatever they’ve developed, and they have all that extra cash…” He finished with a shrug.

  “You sold drugs out of my home?” Looking around for something to throw, there was nothing. I was tempted to go ‘daytime TV’ and attack him with my heel or a chair. Instead, I inhaled deeply and looked back to Rick. “I’ll need a couple of days, but I’ll get it.”

  Somehow.

  “We don’t want your money.”

  I raised my eyebrow, waiting.

  “Nash wants to put you to work.”

  “I’m a decent enough dancer, but I can’t make that kind of money in any realistic timeline.”

  “He doesn’t want you to dance. He wants you to handle the more… personal side of his business.”

  “No!” David yelled, shaking off his victim act. “She’s not gonna be a whore. I’ll get the money; I’ll find a way.”

  As David finally found his big boy undies and tried to do the right thing, something Rick said swirled around my brain.

  He only told me what Nash wanted.

  I cut off whatever nonsense David was spouting. “What do you want?”

  Rick’s eyes went hooded. “You.”

  “No, no, no,” David repeated, stepping forward.

  “Nash likes to shoot them up until their hooked, then turn them out.” Trailing his knuckles down my cheek, he let his hand rest on my throat. It wasn’t a sweet and tender touch; it was a reminder of his power. “Seems like a waste.”

  “So you do want me to be a whore?”

  “In a manner of speaking, yes. But only for me. All that fire, that attitude? I want to break it.” He paused for moment before shrugging. “Then Nash can have you.”

  I can do this. I can do this.

  Swaying closer, I looked up at him through my lashes. “Submission isn’t my thing.”

  His voice was husky. “And that’s what’ll make it that much sweeter when I have it.”

  “This isn’t what we discussed!” David yelled, panic setting in. “Nash said either Kase would hand over the drugs or him and his buddies would pull together the cash. She was just incentive.”

  “Yeah, well, he lied. Nash has the tendency to do that.” Going over to the door, Rick opened it and spoke to the guards. “Take him next door. Try to keep him alive in case she needs incentive.”

  David started to bug out until a big, shiny gun was aimed at his face. After that, he trudged along quietly, not even glancing in my direction.

  I seriously knew I hated him for a reason.

  I wasn’t going to be a whore, personal or paid. I didn’t have the ability to be a submissive because that wasn’t my kink.

  What I did have was a strong sense of self-preservation, the ability to read people, and a give-‘em-hell attitude.

  I also had a sweet man who could be scary as fuck. At finding an empty house, I had no doubt that a pissed off Kase was on the warpath. My only hope was that I could successfully stall until he found me.

  And I had no doubt he would.

  But that didn’t mean I wasn’t gonna try my hardest to get out before then.

  Compartmentalize. One thing at a time and block the rest out.

  Rick the Prick walked toward me, slowly stripping off his suit coat. He loosened his tie and unbuttoned a couple of buttons on his pristine dress shirt. “What’s it going to be?”

  I looked down and picked at my nail polish. Glancing up at him, I let a little of my fear show through before returning my attention to my hands. “I dunno.”

  Using his finger under my chin, he tilted my head back. His short brown hair was playfully messy. A five o’clock shadow darkened his square jaw.

  He looked like a business exec at happy hour.

  Except he wasn’t happy.

  His brown eyes were bitterly cold, almost emotionless. They only flared to life, warming with an aroused heat as his fingertip trailed from my chin down my throat. Resting over my beating pulse, he seemed to take pleasure in the erratic pounding.

  “I’m not going to force you to stay,” he whispered. “Just if you aren’t our collateral, someone else will be. And since David isn’t close to many…”

  His words caught me off guard. With the kidnapping, threatening, and armed goons, I’d kind of assumed it was a hostile situation. I hadn’t even thought to just leave.

  “But I don’t have to stay?” I asked.

  I wasn’t selling my mother down the river. If I was able to leave, though, I could hurry and get help. Kase could get together the money, offer it to Nash, and then maybe it would all go away.

  Like Rick the Prick said, Nash didn’t want to go to war.

  He shook his head. “No, but just know what that means.”

  Even knowing I could and would find a way, I hesitated. I didn’t want to risk anything happening to Mom. The stress alone could hurt her.

  If I stayed, she’d find out and have the same reaction. Maybe worse since she wouldn’t know why.

  Without a word, I walked to the door, turned the handle, and pulled. I wasn’t all that shocked when the thing didn’t budge.

  I felt Rick move in close behind me. His hands went to the frame on either side of my head, boxing me in and making me feel exactly what I was.

  Trapped.

  “You surprise me.” His tone was filled with disapproval. “I thought you�
�d give in to save others, but you barely hesitated before throwing them to the wolf.” His tone became sharp edged, his words clipped. “Is staying with me really that bad?”

  I should’ve known better. With the amount of ego and arrogance the douchebag carted around, he wanted me to want to stay. At the very least, to not fight it like it was the most horrendous thing imaginable.

  Which, it kinda was. But I couldn’t show him that.

  Read. Adapt. Roll with it.

  Boxing up my fear, anger, and frustration, I softened my expression and turned around. “I wanted to see if you’d really let me go.”

  He didn’t move out of my space. “You’re willing to stay?”

  I raised my shoulder, my lips tipping up in a small smile. “Maybe. I dunno.” At his look of skepticism, I continued. “Why do you think I danced? All the eyes on me, the desire?” Suppressing a skeeved out shudder, I went up on my toes and lowered my voice. “I like being wanted.”

  He moved back suddenly, dropping down to sit in a nearby metal folding chair. “So dance.”

  Shit, what did my big mouth get me into?

  If I took off my jacket, there was no way to hide the stun gun hidden in the sleeve. It’d already inched down my arm, limiting my range of motion. I couldn’t just whip it out and attack. I wasn’t that fast. Or strong, for that matter.

  Even in the guise of sexiness, I doubted he’d let me blindfold him. I wasn’t even sure he’d let me walk behind him without turning around.

  I had one chance to do something, anything. I had to make the most of it.

  At least I’m in a sexy dress and heels, not yoga pants and a novelty tee.

  Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply. Opening them on the exhale, I slipped my Flame mask into place.

  My heels clicked across the floor, my strides long and leisurely. Swaying, I stopped in front of him. Blanking out his face, I began rolling my hips, rotating myself around as I went. Facing away, I used my available hand to push my jacket off my shoulders, letting it drape.

  Let’s hope this looks provocative and teasing, and not like I’m hiding something.

  Like, oh, I dunno, a stun gun.

  When I lifted my arm away from my body, the stun gun slid to my wrist. I gripped the ends of my sleeves, keeping it from falling.