Page 22 of Hideaway

“Just trying to save you from seeing something that might offend your delicate sensibilities,” Jace responded with false politeness, his hands raised as though in surrender.

“Get the fuck off of her,” Cade ordered sharply, his jaw tense with anger.

“Now why would I do that?” Jace asked with a smug smile as he splayed his fingers across the bare flesh of Kara’s stomach, enjoying the way she shivered beneath his touch. “She practically begged for me after you left her here alone.” Jace trailed his hand up to Kara’s lips. “Did you know she tastes like honey, or has she not let you sample her mouth yet?”

Cade stalked toward Jace furiously. “Wipe that goddamn smirk off your face before I do it for you.” He reached for Kara’s hand, pulling her roughly from beneath Jace and setting her on her feet. His careful eyes appraised the state of her, searching for damage or injury. His expression darkened when he caught sight of her reddened cheek and blood on her lips. “Are you alright?” Cade asked softly.

Not trusting the strength of her voice, Kara merely nodded. Not that she was in the best state of mind to answerthatquestion. Was she okay? She wasn’t entirely sure. All she knew was that she was better off than she would have been if Cade had arrived a few minutes later.

“You’re shivering,” Cade commented in concern, his voice deep and full as he touched her trembling lips.

“Am I?” Kara responded numbly, not quite sure that she was fully present in her body, her mind seeming to have drifted somewhere else entirely.

“You are,” Cade confirmed, his voice growing even deeper, almost hoarse. “And it’s no fucking wonder.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Cade’s hands fell to his shirt, hastily ripping open the buttons and sliding the white material gracefully off his well-formed shoulders. As if in embrace, Cade wrapped his arms around Kara, draping his shirt over her half-naked body and helping her arms into the far too long sleeves. The unexpected sight of Kara inhisclothes filled Cade with a possessive sort of tenderness, as though covering her in his scent—in things that belonged to him—somehow claimed her as his as well.

Instinctively, Kara wrapped Cade’s shirt tighter around her body, gratefully absorbing the lingering warmth and inhaling his intoxicatingly masculine scent. With her nakedness covered and her chilled shivers abated, Kara finally began to relax. In spite of what had nearly just happened, Cade’s presence lulled her into a sense of security. Though her circumstances hadn’t much changed—she still shared a room with the man who held her captive and the man who tried to assault her—Kara felt inexplicablysafe.

Satisfied that Kara was, for the moment, in a stable frame of mind and body, Cade once again focused his fury on the prick who had tried to force himself on his girl. In all honesty, Cade would have been pissed as fuck even if it was consensual. But the fact that the arsehole had been violent, torn her clothes, and held her down made Cade see fucking red. The bastard would be lucky if he made it out of that room alive, let alone in one fucking piece. Not wanting Kara to get caught in the crosshairs, Cade protectively tucked her behind him, pressing her to his bare back and using his own body as a shield. Reflexively, Kara wrapped her arms around his lower waist, resting her head against his shoulder.

“Now, I’ll ask you one more goddamn time—whatthe fuckdo you think you’redoing withmy girl?” Cade asked Jace, his voice shaking with violence. He was keeping the lurking monster of rage restrained, but barely.

“What the fuck do you mean,your girl?” Jace questioned, genuinely surprised by Cade’s words. “You left, remember? To fuck someone other thanyour girl, if I’m not mistaken.” Jace laughed, but it was cold and humorless. “You’ve got some fucking nerve getting pissed at me for just taking advantage of an opportunity. Sorry mate, if you leave yourtoyslying around, they’re gonna get played.” Jace flashed Cade a smug smile that practically begged for a punch to the face.

And that’s exactly what he got. Knocked on his fucking ass.

Cade reared back for another hit while Jace was still on the ground, but Kara tugged at his arm with a silent plea not to invoke more violence.

“Jesus, Ashford, what the fuck?” Jace exclaimed in shock as he spat the blood from his mouth onto the pristine white rug in the middle of the room.

“Sheismine, do you understand me? You do notfuckingtouch her.You don’t fucking talk to her. You don’t even fuckinglookat her. You’re lucky I’m allowing you to continue breathing the same air as her. And if you fuck up asingleone of those rules regarding her, you’ll forfeit that privilege as well. I’ll bury you on the grounds, six feet under, and you’ll be alive when I do it. At least, for as long as it takes for you to suffocate as your lungs fill with earth and you spend your last few miserable minutes of life contemplating why you should never fuck with me. Do I make myself abundantly clear?”

“Fuck, yes, I get it. I don’t have a fucking death wish.” Jace got to his feet, noticeably less cocky than he was a few minutes before. “No pussy is worththatmuch trouble, no matter how good it is.”

“Shut your goddamn mouth and get out of my sight. I’ll deal with you later,” Cade ordered, his last words ominous and laced with the threat of violence.

“Sure thing, boss,” Jace answered obediently, suddenly very focused on self-preservation. Pissed as hell, Jace stormed toward his wing of the manor. Being hyped up, fucked up, and having nothing to stick his cock into left him feeling itching for a fight. What the fuck was wrong with Ashford? He’d never been territorial about women. Ever. Bitches meant just as little to Ashford as they did to him; it was one of the reasons they got along so well. And then that fucking prude showed up and had Ashford salivating for a taste of something he couldn’t have. Ashford might enjoy working for his fuck, but Jace only enjoyed playing the game of hard to get for so long. Eventually the girl would give it up, whether she wanted to or not.

A large obstacle blocked Jace’s path as he turned down the hall on the lower level toward his room. Jace looked up to see the hulking mass of Ashford’s security guard glaring at him angrily. What the fuck was Ortega’s problem? Did Jace accidentally lay the moves onhis girltoo?

“Bro, what the fuck are you doing? I’m not in the mood for this shit.”

“You hit her,” Ortega answered angrily as he aggressively threw his hands into Jace’s chest, shoving him backward.

“What the hell?” Jace asked, shocked that the man was picking a fight with him over a girl. He and Ortega had never butted heads before. “I don’t know what—”

“Don’t fuck with me,pendejo. Isawyou hit her.” Ortega appreciated the look of concern that crossed Jace’s face when he remembered that there were security cameras in the library. And he had all the proof he needed to put Jace in an early grave. “And ifheever watches that security footage, you better get on your goddamn knees and pray because Ashford willfuckingkill you.” Ortega grabbed ahold of Jace’s collar and jerked him closer, his size and muscle utterly dwarfing Jace. “And I promise you, I will help him destroy you with joy in my heart.”

“Fuck you, Ortega,” Jace spat angrily, ripping himself from the other man’s grasp.

“Watch your back, cabrón,” the massive man warned before stalking away.

Jace swayed as he continued toward his room, the alcohol reeking havoc on his nervous system. That and being threatened by a scary fucking bastard who was very believably rumored to be part of the Mexican drug cartel before Ashford got him in his pocket. Ortega had lost his shit. Ashford too. The damn bitch was making everyone in the house go fucking crazy. Someone needed to take her down a peg or two, and he knew just the bastard for the job.

CADE led Kara up the stairs and down the hall in silence. Kara noticed as they passed her room and continued down toward where she knew Cade slept, but she said nothing. She also noticed the smooth contours of Cade’s bare back, the way his muscles rippled as he walked in front of her, the way his pants hung low on his hips, the delectable divots at the base of his spine—she definitely didn’t comment on any of that either. Cade stopped in front of his room, opened the door, and entered. Subconsciously, Kara stopped at the threshold, fearful that she was allowing herself to walk into yet another precarious situation with a man, having just escaped another. In spite of her misgivings, a gentle tug of Cade’s hand had her standing in his bedroom, the door shut and unmistakably locked behind them.

“Cade, I really hope you’re not about to try the same moves Jace just did. Because it’s not going to happen,” Kara admonished in a tone that she hoped was assertive, but she was fairly certain she just sounded desperate as hell. Because she was. Having downed a fair amount of alcohol, had her clothes ripped from her body, been possessively claimed by her equally sexy and scary criminal captor, and been subjected to Cade’s half-naked body for far too long, she was undeniably down to fuck.

“Well that is good to know, as I wasn’t really planning on putting out tonight,”Cade responded, lightly scoffing at her presumptuousness.“Just let me put a shirt on so my substantial pectorals don’t tempt your mind further into the gutter,”he added cheekily.“In your defense, I understand how having both of us half naked in my bedroom might have given the wrong impression.”

---