Red Handed by Jessa Wilder
Irode the elevator back up to my room, alone. Rush had hurried out of the pool area, saying he needed to check on the motorcade before we left. Whatever that meant. I stopped short as soon as the doors of the elevator opened. Sophie sat on the floor outside my room, leaning against the door. Connor stood across from her, arms crossed over his chest.
“What are you doing?” I asked, striding toward them.
Connor’s gaze scanned over my skimpy black bikini and wet hair, undisguised lust in his expression. I tossed a damp towel at him, letting it smack him in the chest with a wet flop.
“Nico’s screaming about something,” Sophie explained. “Thin walls. It’s super annoying.”
My eyes narrowed. “He’s not yelling at Beck, is he? I’m going to fucking strangle him.”
“No.” She rubbed her temples. “More like venting to Beck, but first, I don’t care what crawled up his ass and died today. I don’t need to hear every word. And second, I have a headache.”
“Gotcha.” I stepped over Sophie to reach the door and unlocked it. “I should just have them make a second key for you.”
She nodded as she stood and followed me in. “Were you up at the pool with the guys?”
“Yeah.”
Connor made a noise in the back of his throat, which I ignored. He clearly didn’t like any of the guys, which I got. I mean, they hadn’t been super thrilled my dad had sent him with us, especially after the shooting. A tiny pang of guilt settled in my stomach. I had been kind of a shitty friend to Connor since we’d been here.
“What have you been doing all day?” I asked him.
“Hanging out with me, mostly,” Sophie answered for him.
“That’s my job.” Connor shrugged, frowning at me.
“Okay. Well, good, I guess.”
Something felt awkward, but I couldn’t quite place it. I’d have to look into it more later, but right now, I needed to get dressed.
I crossed the living room, throwing my other towel over one of the kitchen stools, and stepped into my bedroom. I still hadn’t really unpacked, but a lot of my clothes had now migrated to either the floor or the bathroom. I had never claimed to be neat.
“I’m going to jump in the shower,” I called. “Feel free to hang.”
I rushed through my shower, but didn’t skimp on the blow-dry and straighten that my hair desperately needed. Nico hadn’t said what we were doing, but getting out of the hotel was always exciting. If I was being honest with myself, I kind of wanted to look good. Both Beck and Rush had pretty much only seen me in baggy t-shirts and no makeup, or a bathing suit with wet hair. It’s not like I’d been gross, but I certainly hadn’t been trying as hard as I was the first night I broke into the hotel in my leather dress, or when they saw me at the gala.
Was it dumb to care? Probably. Did I put on eyeliner, anyway? Yes.
When I came out of the bathroom, still wrapped in a towel with my hair and makeup done, Sophie whistled. “I mean, I’m flattered, but you didn’t have to get all done up just for us.”
“Shut up,” I snapped, stepping behind the closet door to change. “I’m going out.”
“Where?” Sophie asked, incredulously. “We aren’t allowed to leave.”
“No idea.” I stepped back into the living room in high waisted black shorts and a white silk crop top. “Nico just said to get dressed because we had ‘shit to do.' It’s probably about the laptop, finally.”
Connor coughed meaningfully and stood to open my fridge. He rummaged around and pulled out a beer.
“What?” I snapped, my hands on my hips. “Do you have a comment?”
“I just never took you for someone’s plaything,” he snapped. “What? Does he have a magical cock?”
“Excuse me?” I spluttered.
“Or maybe I shouldn’t assume it’s the boss you’re fucking. Which one is it? Or all three?”
“Connor, stop it,” Sophie said sharply.
“You know they’re using you, right? You’re nothing but South End trash to them.” Connor practically spit at me.
“You know what? Fuck you Connor.” I turned on my heel and headed for the door. “I don’t have to listen to this. You can go right back to the compound and tell my dad I couldn’t stand to look at you anymore.”
“You know I can’t do that Rae,” he called after me as the door slammed. “You’ll see I’m right eventually, and then you’ll be glad I’m here!”
* * *
I exited the elevator on the parking level and immediately spotted Nico standing in front of a black bike, wearing his usual scowl. He wore another black-on-black suit, but he’d skipped the jacket, instead wearing a vest with his sleeves rolled up. He looked like the devil incarnate, and I wasn’t sure I could resist him corrupting me.
He had to ruin it by opening his mouth. “Hurry up. You’re coming with me and we don’t have all fucking night.”
I looked down at my outfit and back at him. Disregarding the fact that I didn’t want to spend any time with The Prince of Darkness, I was not dressed for a motorcycle. “Ah, no, I’m fucking not going anywhere with you. Where’s Rush and Beck?”
“They’re busy. You and I have an errand to run.”
“What the fuck? I thought we were all going?”
“Change of plans,” he said smoothly.
“Then I’m not going.” I crossed my arms over my chest. No way was I getting on a bike with Nico, especially knowing he’d been pissed enough to scream for the whole hotel to hear less than an hour ago. He’d probably crash just out of spite.
“Yeah, you are. Don’t make this difficult, Raegan.” He pushed a helmet into my hands and I eyed the bike warily.
“If you’re worried about people shooting at us, why wouldn’t we take a car.”
He snorted. “No one is going to shoot at me. You’re fine.”
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t understand him. To be fair, that was definitely not my fault. He was being intentionally vague, and it was getting old, fast.
Nico swung his leg over the bike and looked at me expectantly. Even on a bike, he was taller than I was. I stood directly beside him, and the soft fabric of his pants skimmed over my exposed thigh. He looked at me, eyes dark, his tongue sliding along his top teeth, and I felt a surge of power owning his attention.
“Don’t overthink it, Raegan.”
Goddamn, he may have been literally fucking evil, but if he were anyone else, I would’ve fucked him right there just for bragging rights. Then I’d take out a billboard with his picture and say, “Look what I did!”
I eyed him and he held my gaze. I knew I shouldn’t get on that bike, knew that we put a line between us and this would be dangerously close to crossing it. The hell with it. I did it anyway. “Fine.” I tucked my hair behind my shoulder, already pissed that it was going to be ruined, and slid the helmet over my head. My fingers fumbled underneath my chin. Where the fuck was the strap?
Nico’s powerful hands skimmed my neck. My skin tingled at his touch as he grasped the strap and secured it in place. He stared at me with intense eyes and opened his mouth as if to speak, but cleared his throat instead and gestured to me to get on the bike. The man sent mixed signals left, right, and center.
I swung my leg over the seat “Can you even drive this? I thought Beck rode the motorcycles.”
Nico snorted with derisive laughter and wrapped his hands around my thighs to pulled me tight against his back. I trembled, not entirely from fear. I wasn’t sure what to do with my hands. The idea of clinging to him was both appealing and disconcerting. I carefully grasped the fabric of his suit vest.
“You’re going to need to hold on tighter than that,” he said.
The bike roared, and we took off at a breakneck speed. My arms wrapped so tight around him he was probably struggling to breathe. Good.
We sped through the city, weaving in and out of traffic, and a steady buzz of adrenaline grew inside me with each swerve. A chill seeped into my bones as the cool air whipped by us. It was a stark contrast from the heat radiating off of him. I pressed myself further into his back, shamelessly stealing his warmth.
Nico's hand dropped to my thigh and gave it a firm squeeze before reaching back for the bar. He revved the bike hard, and I gasped as the friction between us mixed with the vibration of the engine. My bones went liquid and my body buzzed for an entirely different reason. He pushed the bike harder and the vibration nearly became too much. Shit. My cheeks heated at the realization I was rubbing into him mindlessly. There’s no way I’d allow myself to be this close in any other circumstance, but I was loving the hell of it. Loving it too much.
I went to put much needed distance between us, but he reached back and gripped my leg and held me in place. A traitorous thrill ran through me. Goddammit, if we didn’t get wherever we were going soon, I was going to lose my fucking mind.
“Where are we going?” I yelled over the wind, hoping to take my mind off of the vibration of the bike between my legs and his hard muscles—nope. Not going there.
“We were tipped off where the laptop is held and you and I are going to get it.” His words were flat and procedural, but the roughness of his voice was a dead giveaway. He wasn’t as unaffected by my presence as he wanted me to think he was.
I blinked, his answer sinking in. What. The. Fuck?
There was prep work that needed to be done before going out on a job. You didn't just show up and get it done. Unless you were crazy…or desperate. I somehow got the feeling that Nico was both right now, but I had no idea why.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I glanced down at my outfit. “I’d have worn something more appropriate for B&E.”
“I assumed leather and heels were your uniform. Or is that only for special occasions?”
Bastard. He was right, I’d worked in worse and I could do it again, but images of flashing my ass at him while I climbed up a building skated across my vision. Goddammit. Maybe I would get lucky and someone from the other gang would shoot him. I grinned at the thought.
He revved the bike again, almost as though to get my attention and flexed under my fingers. “Time to earn your keep.”
Was this guy for real? Earn my keep? It wasn’t like I chose to move in with him and his merry band of male models. The whole reason I was even in this mess was because he insisted. I scoffed. “Nice. As though I had much of a choice. Do you often trick women into indentured servitude, or am I a special case?”
He ignored that comment.
In less time than I expected, we pulled up outside an industrial style warehouse, with metal siding and no distinguishing features. There were no cars in the gravel lot, and only a single flickering street lamp fifty yards down the road provided any light.
The exterior doors to the building were all guarded. The guards looked tired AF, but heavily armed. As we passed, one glanced up at us. Shit.
Nico sped up, doing a circle on his bike in the deserted lot, and headed back in the opposite direction. Like we were just kids out for a joyride.
“Okay, no doors. What’s plan B?” I asked over the roar of the bike.
“You tell me, Raegan. This is your job, right?”
I rolled my eyes, but glanced around as we sped along a back road behind a row of identical industrial buildings. “We need to ditch the bike. It’s loud.”
“No, shit.”
I directed Nico to park on the opposite side of a building to the right of the one we had just scoped out. Silently, I pointed to the unguarded fire escape leading to the stairs. Clearly, whatever was in this building wasn’t as important as whatever we were going to steal.
I whimpered when Nico hopped off the bike. His wicked grin told me the bastard knew exactly what he’d been doing to me. I wasn’t sure what game he was trying to play, but maybe it would be worth it to find out. I straightened my hair and tried to focus. If we were going to do a job, I needed to be completely clear headed. This was why we did fucking prep work…and didn’t ride motorcycles or hang out with murderous assholes who looked like GQ models, but whatever.
Nico followed close behind as I crept up the fire escape, glancing over his shoulder at the adjacent building which was teaming with guards. “It’s nice to know you can get on a roof but that’s the building we need to get to,” he spit, condescension coating his tone.
He wasn’t wrong.
“Patience, grasshopper.” I made a mock bow. “If you want me to do this on the fly, you need to let me work.”
He grumbled something unintelligible and wandered a few feet away to peer over the edge of the building.
I assessed the distance between the buildings. The one we needed to reach was slightly shorter, meaning I could probably give myself a couple of feet of slush room. It looked impossible to get over there, but I was used to doing the impossible. You could say it was my specialty.
Without warning, I backed up and took off at a run, picking up speed the closer I got to the ledge. I had to time this perfectly.
Nico turned a second too late to stop me. “No!” he shouted, apparently forgetting we were trying to be quiet.
My foot pressed off the very edge and I launched myself through the air, easily landing on the opposite roof.
I spun back to Nico, flashing him with a cocky smile. “Are you coming?”
His face had gone slack, but he recovered quickly. His expression morphed into something beyond anger. Rage. Even from the opposite roof I could tell he was literally shaking.
I made big eyes across the gap. What the hell was his problem? I’d expected a thank you, or at least begrudging respect. Nico judged the gap, then followed my lead, landing catlike several feet to my right. He stood and dusted off his suit pants, then turned to me, eyes murderous.
“What?” I said with a half-smile.
His hand came up and gripped the back of my head, fingers tangling in my hair, hard enough to hurt. “Never do that again,” he growled, inches from my face. “You hear me Raegan? Never fucking again.”
A sly grin pulled at my lips as blood pounded in my ears. “No promises.”
I pulled away, and he released me abruptly, hand still in the air. He looked half-lost. Like he both wanted to throttle me, and wasn’t quite sure where he was. I wasn’t going to wait around for him to pull himself together. I took off across the deserted roof toward the access door. The door was locked, but not alarmed. I guessed no one was expecting a breach from up here. Idiots. It took all of three minutes to pop the lock with Nico’s heavy black credit card and good old fashioned brute force.
We stepped into the dim hallway beyond, and I put my hands on my hips. “Please tell me you know what room we’re looking for. This place is gigantic.”
“I’m not a fucking idiot.”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “You didn’t have much of a plan for getting in here.”
He closed his eyes as though praying for patience. Him and I both.
“Most of the guards are on the outside,” he said. “There should be only a few in here, and the room we want is on the top level. Come on.”
Thankfully, he hadn’t been lying. He did seem to know where he was going, even without many lights on in the empty halls. Nico pushed open the door to a normal, if drab, office. Desk, chair but no window. The usual.
“This is where The Hatter keeps top secret stolen information?” I asked, glancing around. “I don’t buy it.”
Nico rolled his eyes, looking more normal than usual. His expression gave me the sudden impression that he had probably been a very angsty teenager back in the day. I wondered idly if he’d ever owned a guitar.
“What better place to hide something than the least interesting office.” Nico ran a hand over the large filing cabinet.
“Fair.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened my very handy—and very illegal—alarm jamming app. “Hold on, I’m just going to disable any—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Nico had turned back to the filing cabinet and yanked open the nearest drawer.
“No!” I shouted at him but, too late. As soon as the doors to the cabinet opened, an alarm sounded through the building.
“What—” He jumped back, startled by the sudden screech of sound.
“Fucking rookie,” I murmured under my breath. “I was going to disable any alarm system. Are you new?”
“If you weren’t fucking yapping at me and being so distracting, I wouldn’t have forgotten,” he snapped back, a plain black laptop now in one hand.
“Nice. That makes sense,” I shot back. “If I wasn’t talking about disabling the alarms, you wouldn’t have forgotten about the alarms. Kay.”
Nico reached into his waistband, pulled out his gun, and shot the deafening fire alarm twice. It exploded overhead in a shower of sparks. “For once in your life, shut the fuck up. I can’t hear myself think.”
My lip curled. “Whatever. Just take the laptop and let's go.”
I ducked into the hallway without waiting for him, knowing he’d easily catch up. Or maybe he wouldn’t, but that would serve him right for being such a Goddamn amateur. Jesus. How did he run a fucking business making mistakes like that? Someone was seriously off his game tonight. I just hoped it didn’t get us killed.
I dashed down the service hallway, checking every door along the way. Everything was locked. Anxiety rose in my throat. Shit. They couldn’t lock the doors remotely, right? Was this building high tech enough for that?
A door finally opened, and my stomach flooded with relief. It was short lived, though. I froze, staring at the contents of the room with wide eyes.
“Raegan!” Nico hissed from behind me. “What are you doing? Move!”
I couldn’t move. I was glued to the spot by my horror. Inside the room were crates upon crates of guns. Not handguns either—military grade assault rifles. Holy shit. They were preparing for a war.
Nico wrapped one arm around my waist, lifting me easily with one hand, and dragged me into the room. I barely moved, still too shocked to protest. He found a small open gap between the crates and we squeezed through, wedging ourselves into an approximately four by four foot space. It was a tight fit, but we were hidden.
My breath came in quick, erratic pants. Oh my God. I couldn’t breathe. I was going to pass out.
Nico pulled me onto his lap, and his eyes bored into mine. “Breathe, Raegan. Take a breath with me.”
My eyes snapped to his. So incredibly dark and intense. The hundreds of fire alarms around the building continued to sound, turning into a dull roar in the background. He breathed in slowly, and I followed his pace, his breath feathering across my face.
“Good,” Nico said, “Come on Rae, one more, in and out.”
We sat there in the tiny space between boxes for what felt like hours, breathing. Finally, my cheeks heated with embarrassment as I realized, fully, where I was and who I was with. I ducked my head and made to climb off his lap, but his hold on my waist tightened.
“Stay still,” he whispered, so close I felt it against my ear.
A moment later the door opened, and a guard walked through the room, checking the stacks. I trembled and Nico’s arms tightened almost painfully, as though he could physically keep me quiet and still through sheer willpower.
The guard walked by our small gap but didn’t stop. “All clear!”
The door closed behind the guard and I let out the breath I’d been holding. We were alone. For how long, though, who knew? There could be people in the hallway or downstairs. Especially once they realized we took the laptop. There was no way we were busting out of here alive. We’d be lucky to take a few guards with us. Nico rolled slightly onto his hip, adjusting me in his lap, until he could pull out his phone. Then he settled me back down as though there was nothing out of the ordinary about me straddling him. “What are you doing?”
“Calling in the cavalry.”
* * *
I blew a strand of red hair out of my face. Nico wrinkled his nose as the same strand hit him in the mouth. Shockingly, he didn’t comment. He’d kept his eyes shut for the last twenty minutes, breathing evenly, almost like he was meditating. Out of some unspoken agreement, we had decided not to talk, which was perfectly fine with me.
If we burst out of here and got shot and died, I could go into the ground reconciled with the fact that I had spent the last thirty minutes in a confined space straddling Nico’s lap. I could deal with the fact that I had a panic attack and, even if it was probably out of a desire to keep me quiet, he hadn’t been a dick about it. I could even accept that every few minutes I got distracted by how stupidly attractive he was, and then had to bleach my brain. I wouldn’t have been able to reconcile with forced, polite chit-chat. What the fuck would we even talk about? “So, remember when your brother killed my brother in cold blood? How was that for you? Sorry about my boobs in your face, can’t help it!”
A loud bang shook the building. Nico grunted as I rocked forward and slammed against his chest, taking our proximity from “too close for enemies” to “illegal in some states.”
“What the hell was that?” I asked breathlessly.
Nico blinked at me for a moment, his pupils blown wide. Then he stood abruptly, pulling me with him. “Our distraction. Thank fuck.”
We didn’t waste precious distraction time, just raced for the exit. I swung around a corner, then came to an abrupt halt.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Strong arms came out of nowhere and lifted me off my feet.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Cold metal pressed against my temple as the guard shoved his gun to my head. “Give me the laptop,” he said to Nico. “And I’ll kill her fast. If you make this difficult, I’m going to draw it out and you can watch.”
Nico turned, his furious eyes connecting with mine. He stood twenty feet down the hall, the laptop under one arm. Realistically, he could just run. He didn’t owe me anything. I half expected him to do it.
Fuck this, I wasn’t helpless. I reached up and grabbed the guard’s wrist and pulled hard in the wrong direction. It broke with a sickening snap, and he howled. His gun clattered to the floor.
Without missing a beat, Nico shot him between the eyes, coating the entire side of my face with blood. “Move,” he commended.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. We busted through the exit doors, where the black Range Rover waited with the back door open. Relief flooded me, even as my heart pounded with adrenaline. As soon as Nico closed the doors behind us, Rush peeled out of the parking lot, gun fire chasing us out. I ignored the bullets hitting the car, paying them as little attention as rain against the window. I really needed to get one of these cars.
Beck took one look at my blood splattered face and paled. “What the fuck? Nico, what the fuck!” He screamed. “Where did you take her?”
Nico looked at me sideways, his expression assessing. Like he was trying to work out a complex math problem, or the solution to world peace. “Nowhere she couldn’t handle, apparently. Shut the fuck up, I’m tired.”
Nico lay his head back against the side of the car, closing his eyes. I followed his lead, closing my eyes as well. My last thought, as I fell asleep, was I should probably tell someone about the war room. If a gang war was coming, I wanted to make sure my family was on the right side.