Page 40 of Arrogant Bastard

I’m relieved when nothing jumps out at me.

The other ghost from my past is keeping her distance. After three weeks, I’m beginning to wonder if our meeting was just a freakish coincidence.

Except there’s no such thing. Wasn’t that what Killian drummed into me the very first day of training? I think of that black site in Virginia with a mixture of awe and guilt. I loved the training, putting my brain through hell and my body through worse. I loved the clandestine meetings with Killian in the woods behind the facility even more. I discovered that being fucked against a tree, while seriously uncomfortable for my back, was still one of the hottest things I’ve done. And it was great while it lasted.

Until we were busted.

By her.

I frown now and shake my head. Her call out of the blue, after two years of silence, scared the shit out of me. But what scared me even more was running into her three weeks ago at the club. I was certain it wasn’t a coincidence until I found out she was there to see Axel. She hasn’t contacted me again. Because I told her to leave me alone? Yeah, when did she ever listen?

“Something’s wrong. What is it?”

Holy shit. The questions don’t stop coming. I stash my phone and roll my eyes at Killian. “Other than my need to get out of here?”

“Don’t give me that,” he snaps. When I remain mutinously silent, he points at me. “I’m going to get it out of you. You know that, don’t you?”

Sadly, that’s what terrifies me. “Have at it. I’m going to have fun watching you try.”

There’s no half-joking comeback this time. He’s all business as he folds back the sleeves of his dark blue shirt, worn over black pants. He’s run a brush through his hair at some point in the last half hour. I note its shoulder length. I note his designer stubble. Hell, I notice everything about him. And the package that is Killian Knight does something to my breathing that I’m sure scientists would have a field day with when I drop dead from the effect.

“Are you ready to go, or are you happy to stand there eye-fucking me all night?”

Heat singes my cheeks. I want to walk over and punch him. Then climb him and wrap my body around his the way I used to love doing.

Jesus. Get a fucking grip.

I yank my backpack—which had miraculously made an appearance when we returned from the roof—off the sofa and stalk down the hallway.

He follows, and we leave the apartment. The downstairs lobby is just as stunningly beautiful as what I’ve seen of the rest of the apartment building so far. It’s also completely empty, which is strange for such an upmarket place.

I wonder whether it’s by design or luck and then roll my eyes at myself. No such thing as luck.

The second we hit the street, Killian places his hand in the small of my back and hustles me to the black SUV parked on the curb. Before we slide into the backseat, I notice another SUV idling a few meters away.

Mitch is behind the wheel of ours, with another guy in the passenger seat. “That’s Linc. Say hi, Linc,” Killian says.

The burly man is almost a carbon copy of Mitch, save for the fact that he’s black and his head is completely bald. He turns and offers me a courteous smile. “Evening, ma’am.”

Killian doesn’t offer my name, and I realized he didn’t with Mitch this morning either.

“Hi,” I reply.

We merge into traffic. Killian is back to fiddling with the gadget in his hand, and I look out to get my bearings. Upper East Side, four blocks from Axel’s apartment. I keep that nugget to myself.

We don’t talk for a few streets, until I notice what’s happening with the stoplights.

I glance over at Killian. He’s busy working away at his little gadget. I frown. “Are you doing this?”

“What?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

He raises his head and looks over at me. “You’re talking about the lights? I remember you mentioning how it drove you nuts when you’re at a stoplight and it turns from green back to red in like five seconds.”

My eyes widen. “Yes…and?”

His smile turns into a grin and he waves his little gadget at me. “I found out that it drove me nuts too.”

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