23
Kane
On Borrowed Time
For the first time in years, I lazily hang out in bed after eight in the morning. Jess’ silky legs tangle with mine, her head rests on my chest, and her finger circles my nipple.
She broke me.
She officially changedeverything.
“You got what you wanted last night.”
Snickering, her hair tickles my shoulder when she nods. “You’ll find I can be a convincing woman. I had something you wanted, and I bargained with it.”
“You? You bargained with your own body?”
“Uh-huh. Totally worth it.”
I look up to the ceiling and sigh. It crushes me that she used us as a bargaining tool rather than a declaration of feelings.
For one evening, for the first time in my life, I got to touch heaven.
And it was truly divine.
“You have to go today, Jess.”
“No.” She hitches her leg higher on my thighs. “I’m not leaving, but we need to talk about you.” Distractedly, she slides the tip of her tongue over my nipple and snickers when my dick grows beneath the covers.
“I can’t leave, Jess. I literally can’t. They’ll kill me as soon as the thought moves through my brain. They don’t tolerate traitors in my business.”
“You’re not being a traitor. You’re not selling their secrets. You’re just saving yourself.”
“You said the cops know about the drop. If Abel is caught after I run, they’ll assume I narked.”
“They’d be wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter! Shoot first, ask questions later. I can’t leave. Plus, they know about you, Jess. And your bargaining last night made everything so much worse. They know you’re important to me – they’ve seen me choose you twice already – so they know I’ll choose you every time. You want them using you as a bargaining chip against me?Kill the cop, or the blonde gets it. Shoot up the school, or the blonde gets it. Fuck that woman, ignore her when she says no, or the blonde gets it.”
That gets her attention. Jess’ blue eyes come up and pierce mine. “They’d ask you to have sex with someone else? To rape them?”
“They’d ask anything they could think of. And they’d make each request worse until eventually I break. I’ll break for you, Jess. I’d do anything for you, but whether I could live with it afterwards…”
Lifting to her elbow, she looks down at me with bright eyes that swim with unshed tears. “I don’t want you to break. But I don’t want you to be Abel’s soldier, either. You want to get me out; well, I want to getyouout. I can’t run away and leave you here.”
“And I can’t run away and leave Abel exposed.”
“You care about him?”
“Fuck no. But I’m his protection. If I fuck up, that puts a target on my head. A target on my head is actually a target on yours. That’s so much worse.”
Frowning, she traces the eagle’s wings on my throat with the tip of her finger. “So maybe we need to think of a plan. Make it look like you’re there for Abel, but you’re not really.” Her eyes flash with an idea. “You could come with me to Alex.”
“No.”
“Yes! Just hear me out. Alex is family. He’sfamily. He was ready to shoot someone yesterday for speaking to me like shit.”
“Who spoke to you like shit?”