Page 56 of Kneeling for Daddy
“Where do we find him?” Enzo snarls.
Wincing through the pain, he continues, “He’s running everything from a cabin in Orange County.” I watch for lies—his pupils twitch and sweat beads along his hairline—but the coward in him is honest. “You’ll never get near him. He’s too fucking paranoid. He only lets his closest men near him.”
“That’s you, isn’t it?” Cillian leans forward, a devious smirk pulling at his lips. “Then I guess you’d better get cleaned up, because we’re going for a fucking ride.”
Enzo tosses a tiny first-aid kit at him from behind the bar. He opens it and does what he can to wrap up Emin’s foot with the two tiny rolls of gauze and Band-Aids he finds within it as we quickly formulate a plan. It’s a haphazard one, based solely on questionable intel from a man trying to save his life. And his toes. But… better than losing a cock.
I pull my phone from my pocket and fire off a text to Hawk.
We are heading out of the city. All of us.
Please keep an eye on Madison and Eavan too until we get back.
HAWK
Of course. Anything you need.
When we haul Emin from the chair, he groans in agony as we shuffle him toward the door. The neon lights spill onto the wet concrete as we drag him to Enzo’s G-Class. We shove him intothe backseat, between me and Cillian, both of us keeping our guns fixed on him while Enzo grabs zip ties from the trunk.
Once Emin’s hands are secure, I tuck my gun into my waistband and pull my phone back out of my pocket. It is going to take us a few hours just to drive back and forth from Orange County, and I don’t want Ani to be worried when she wakes up and I haven’t made it home yet.
Sorry for not being there when you wake up. I’ll be home as soon as I can.
I love you.
The three words feel final. Like I need to say them just in case it is the last time I get the chance to.
My phone buzzes against the nightstand, and the sound slices through the silence of the apartment, abruptly dragging me from my sleep. I jerk upright in the dark, a mixture of panic from being woken suddenly and fear that something is wrong with my Nikolai, causing my heart to thud. I fumble for my phone in the dark and swipe open the screen. It’s blinding, and I blink at for a minute, desperately trying to get my eyes to adjust.
NIK
Sorry for not being there when you wake up. I’ll be home as soon as I can.
I love you.
I note the time.
3:12 a.m.
It’s about the time he’s usually crawling into bed, smelling extra woodsy from his soap. I stare at the message for a moment, my thumb hovering over the screen. I press call. It rings once beforehe answers. “What are you doing up?” His voice is low and gravelly, yet soft and tender.
I let out a humorless laugh. “Youwoke me.”
There is silence on his end, and when I close my eyes, I can see his smug smile, “So, how was your night, little pet? Netflix? Midnight snack? Dreaming things about me that I would enjoy hearing about?”
I roll my eyes in the dark. “Are you seriously making small talkandtrying to have phone sex with me right now?”
“Why not? I’m just in a car with my brothers, they won’t mind a little phone sex,” he teases.
“We would mind,” Alek’s voice carries through the phone. “We would minda lot!”
I can’t help but laugh.
“Fine,” Nik huffs. “No phone sex.” His voice is maddeningly casual, but I know him too well. That tone means he’s trying to distract me from the text that woke me.
“Nik…” My stomach tightens.
“Not a big deal,” he soothes. “My brothers and I are taking Alek camping.”
