Page 63 of Seeking Vengeance
The aroma of steak and onions floated out to her, and she smiled.
“There’s nothing like a great steak. Wouldn’t you agree?” the man at the stove asked without turning around.
Nicki recognized him immediately. Taking a deep breath—she hadn’t thought it would be this hard—she smiled.
“Taser, you devil. I’m honored. I thought they’d send Fish. He’s been wanting to off me for years.”
The Chameleon leader laughed, a hearty, genuine rumble that filled the cabin. He had long, straight hair the color of milk chocolate hanging out from beneath the do-rag that capped his skull. A neatly trimmed patch of facial hair appeared above and below his mouth, giving him a very sophisticated, bad-boy look. Intense amber eyes, almost golden, turned to smile at her.
He took in her sculpted, bronzed flesh meticulously, scanning her from head to toe. Nicki didn’t bother feeling self-conscious. Taser was just being Taser. It was said that he had gotten the nickname from the effect he had on people simply by looking at them.
Nicki joined him at the stove, plucking a mushroom from the pan.
“Make yourself useful,” he commanded, his voice as compelling and hypnotic as his eyes. “Start on the salad.” He waved a skewering fork in the direction of a grocery bag spilling over with various green and fresh vegetables.
She thought it was a little tacky for him to ask her to help prepare her own last meal, but what the hell?
“How are Fisher and Brookes?” she asked, pulling out a colander and breaking lettuce leaves into it.
“Like lost puppies.” Taser chuckled.
Nicki smiled too. It wasn’t true, she knew, but it was kind of him to say so. Taser was nothing if not a psychological genius. He knew what people needed to hear and had no qualms about saying whatever was necessary to suit his purpose. And Taser would make this as pleasant as possible.
That was okay. Nicki had a similar gift, only hers allowed her to see through bullshit and hear what he was really saying.
“I had to send them off to Seattle just to get some peace. They were driving me nuts.”
Nicki’s translation: Taser didn’t want them to know when or where it would go down.
“Yeah,” she agreed, “they do that. They’re good agents though. The best.”
It was her way of letting Taser know that neither of them had had a hand in what she’d been up to. Surely, he already knew that, but she was confirming it for good measure.
Taser nodded, amused.
The silence wasn’t terribly awkward as they prepared the meal together, but it had been quite a while since she’d had the chance to speak to another human being. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it.
“This place is awesome,” she said after a while.
“Thought you’d like it,” he said. “It’s my own personal therapy. I come here when things get to be too much.”
Too much for Taser? The thought was almost unimaginable. Taser was the embodiment of knowledge, power, and control. She said as much to him, evoking another round of laughter.
“You make me feel like a god, Nix.”
“Aren’t you?” she quipped. “You’ve been insinuating as much for years.”
“Demigod,” he corrected with a smile. “There’s still a touch of humanity floating around somewhere. I’ve been trying to quell it, but it’s elusive as hell.”
Nicki, for one, was grateful for that touch of humanity. Without it, she wouldn’t have had the last six weeks. She wouldn’t be sitting here now, laughing and enjoying a delectable meal. She told him that too.
They talked, keeping the subjects light. Nicki thought Taser might slip something into the food or drink at some point, but hours afterward, she still felt no unusual symptoms, just a pleasantly full belly and a sense of the inevitable.
Taser insisted she stay in the bedroom; he would take the couch. She half-expected him to offer her a chance of one last night of passion, but he didn’t, brushing only a chaste kiss across her forehead when he bid her a good night. It was just as well. She wouldn’t have accepted. Then again, he’d probably already known that, just like the prescient bastard knew everything else.
As Nicki lay in bed, she stared up at the ceiling and did something she hadn’t done in a long time—she prayed. She asked for forgiveness and for God to watch over her brother and Sean. She thanked him for these last few weeks of peace. And she asked for special consideration for Taser, who was only doing his job. When she was finished, she closed her eyes and drifted off, never expecting to wake again.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
