Page 103 of Passion and Payback

“That was all your hard work.”

“Mmm, but the hard work I put into making you do some hard work is what really paid off.”

“I love when you’re well fucked.”

“And I love being well fucked.”

I chuckled, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him close for a kiss that took me no time to deepen. Even if I was utterly drained, a part of me still couldn’t help but perk up its head whenever I kissed him. Maybe one day, it would calm down, and I could do it without trying to calculate when I might be able to fuck him again, but today was not that day.

“Takeout?” he asked against my lips.

My stomach rumbled, and I smiled. “Only if we can eat it on the couch and curl up to watch one of the movies I know is on the list you have somewhere for me to watch.”

“Even if it’s horrible?”

“Even then.”

“Aww, you do love me.”

“Yes, I do,” I said, pulling him closer and not caring that there was a mess on the floor that had already scared off the cats because of the strong smell. All that mattered was that despite the chaos that had filled our lives for the past few weeks, there were moments like this, eyes in the storm that let us breathe and be together as ourselves. It was a kind of peace that was bound to break eventually. I had lived too storied a life and seen too much to believe otherwise.

But for now, it was just the two of us, and I was going to savor it for what it was worth.

HUNTER

The warmth of the evening and night shared with Kai filtered its way into my sleep. My dreams were hazy, which was a relief, but the peace and comfort I felt was a real relief. It didn’t hurt that once in a while, I would drift closer to the surface of consciousness and find I was wrapped in a strong body that smelled faintly of the most soap-smelling soap ever.

I had always teased Kai when we had just been friends that he was allowed to smell like something other than soap and occasionally sweat. Now though? Now, I could breathe in without being consciously aware he was there and find my body relaxing immediately. I found myself curling into the warmth and strength he represented and wanting to stay there forever.

I always meant to tell him how much comfort he brought me with his presence, the simplest of touches, but it was always lost somewhere along the way, and I’d get distracted. But in the coziness of my shared bed, I found a peace I hadn’t felt in over two years. It probably didn’t hurt that I’d started literally fighting the demons that had plagued me for too long, but I doubted it would be quite the same if he weren’t around. Thethought made me smile and dive back into the murky abyss of sleep, content that our lives were on a good path.

The next time I awoke, it was without the comfort I’d felt falling back asleep, and instead, it was filled with a disquiet I couldn’t quite name. It was enough to pull me out of a sleep I’d enjoyed so much as my mind became more aware of my surroundings. The smell of his soap was still there in the comforter on top of me, but the warmth of his body and the dip in the bed from his weight were absent.

With a grunt, I rolled over and frowned when I found the bed empty. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. Even now, weeks after returning from his final deployment, there were nights when Kai woke up and could not fall back asleep. It had always been his attitude that if he wasn’t going to sleep, there was no point lying in bed agonizing about it. He usually got up and did something peaceful for an hour or two, confident sleep would eventually find him.

And yet there was a distinct discomfort that refused to leave my chest, a weight bearing down on my lungs enough to make me nervous. There was nothing else in the room to suggest why I felt that way, but the feeling wouldn’t go away, no matter how much I told myself it was normal. His side of the bed being cool wasn’t a bad sign, the silence in the apartment wasn’t bad, and even though it was still a couple of hours before I should have been awake, it was all perfectly normal.

And yet.

With a grimace, I slid out of bed and searched for my clothes, frowning when I saw the outfit from the day before wasn’t on the floor where it was supposed to be. Kai must have picked them up, but that didn’t fit. Despite his tidy nature, he never did anything more than tease me about being messier than him. He knew full well I would get up in the morning to put on theclothes from the night before to make coffee before eventually showering and changing into fresh clothes.

The unease settled sourly into my stomach, and I gathered clothes from the drawers even as I tried to unsuccessfully tell myself it was perfectly fine to walk around naked in my apartment with Kai around. That didn’t work, so I pulled on my underwear, jeans, and a shirt, wishing I had my shoes in my room. Again, there was no reason to think I needed to flee, but there it was all the same.

My mind drifted to the knife hidden in my closet, along with the gun under the bed. Feeling foolish, I unlocked the gun box but didn’t remove the gun, telling myself it was stupid to walk out with a gun when I would probably end up waving it at Kai unnecessarily. The knife, though, still gave me some comfort as I tucked it behind me in the waistband of my jeans.

With that done, I forced myself to take a deep breath and walk toward the door, opening it slowly. I could feel a tremor in my hands and ignored it as I stepped into the hallway, looking around and finding the next thing out of place. Despite the numerous cats allowed to roam free as they pleased, there wasn’t a single one in sight. They could all have found places to hide, but with all the cats I had in the building, it was odd that not even one of them was lying on the island in the kitchen like they weren’t supposed to.

I opened my mouth to call for Kai and then stopped. The warning bells in my head were too loud to placate. Despite the lack of obvious danger, I knew something was deeply wrong and reached behind me, placing my hand on the knife handle before stepping toward the living room. As I approached, I could see shadows moving on the wall...more than one shadow. The smell of iron was thick in the air, raising the hairs on my arm and the back of my neck.

I heard an unknown voice murmur something, and a moment later, an all too familiar voice filled me with alternating waves of hate and fear. “We know you’re out there. Did you have a good night’s sleep?”

Clamping my mouth shut, I refused to let him have the immediate gratification of making me speak. It didn’t take a lot of thought to figure out why Callum had decided to hunt me down or what he was here for. Kai’s absence weighed heavily, and I prayed with all my being that the hauntingly familiar smell of blood in the air wasn’t from him, and if it was, then he wasn’t injured too badly.

God, please don’t let me lose another. I couldn’t handle it if I lost Kai as well.

“There’s no point in pretending,” Callum said softly, his voice radiating the calm and confidence I remember initially drew me to him. “Step around the corner, hands up. Or I’ll have to send someone to drag you out, which seems messy and dramatic.”

“Where is Kai?” I asked, hating that I found myself responding to him before I was ready but knowing there wasn’t much else I could do other than what he wanted. There was no way out of my apartment other than the main door, which would put me in full view of Callum and whoever he had with him. There were no good solutions, but maybe I could get some information before everything went to hell in a handbasket.

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