Page 5 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
The guy turned around with a huff. “You should try dating someone your own age,” he muttered under his breath, and I surged forward.
Chaos leaned back into me, forcing my momentum to stop unless I wanted to bowl her over. “Easy, Evan. This guy is obviously sad since neither his wife or his mistress will fuck his tiny peepee. Let the sad man have his moment.” She spun, turning her back on the guy, grabbing my chin until I was forced to look down at her. “And when we get out of here, I’ll suck your soul out through your cock, and that guy can just go home and masturbate to the thought of it, okay? Everyone’s happy.”
I couldn’t help the half-grin I gave her. She was a weapon with that mouth. Luckily for the guy in front of us, we finally started to move down the aisle. The flight had been nice, and I hadn’t even minded being pressed between Aviva and the window, my legs curled up nearly to my ears.
We thanked the flight attendants as we walked out the door, then headed up the cattle chute to the arrival gate.
“Okay, Mr. Action Man, what do we do first?”
“First, you go home and see your parents.”
Her feet stumbled but she quickly recovered, her spine straightening beneath my hand. “You’re right.” We’d landed in NYC; I don’t even know why, but it had just seemed logical. Viva could stay with me for a couple of days, until she was ready to head home, and then I’d take her where she needed to go.
Who was I kidding? I knew exactly why I’d arranged the flights to land at JFK—I wanted her close to me. When I wasn’t guarding Sampson at the St. Regis, I had my own apartment in Astoria. It wasn’t fancy, but I owned it outright, and I felt like that meant something. It meant something to me anyway.
I stroked my hand up and down her spine as we walked through the gate lounge and down through to baggage claim. “Will you go and see Sampson, Hendrick, and Otto while you’re in town?” I kept my tone gentle and neutral.
“No.”
I frowned. “Not even Otto?” She shrugged, ignoring the question.
We picked up our luggage and waited in line to head through customs. It was always arduous because of my weapons. We went through the necessary checks, and the TSA frisked me like they enjoyed touching my balls, but the whole thing took hours. By the time we made it out of the airport, we were both exhausted.
“I’ll get us a cab,” I said, kissing her temple because I couldn’t help myself.
“Aviva Robinson?”
I froze. Spinning, I recognized the other man instantly—Tobias Lecter, Sampson’s lawyer. He was dressed in what I always though of as corporate Kevlar: an expensive gray three-piece suit, hair slicked back in a style that looked natural but probably cost five hundred bucks, and a tie-clip with a real diamond—just so you knew he was successful as fuck.
“Evan?”
“What are you doing here, Tobias?”
Sampson’s lawyer was a shark, but he was good at what he did. No one had come for Sampson’s companies after his grandfather died, and the cutthroat nature of Tobias Lecter was definitely a contributing factor in that.
“I need Miss Robinson to come down to the police station with me.”
I grabbed Aviva’s arm and pulled her slightly behind me. Not because I was worried Tobias would hurt her, but I knew the look on his face. It was fierce. That was his battle face; something bad was going on.
“It happened, Evan.”
I sucked in a breath. Fuck. I should have known. That slimy fucker.
“What happened?” Aviva asked, trying to step around me, but I held her tightly to my side. I wanted her where I could protect her at all times. She looked up at me, her eyes wide with worry. “Evan,whathappened?”
I was trying to think of a way to lie without really lying, but Tobias took it out of my hands. “Mr. Rubio is being charged with your abduction, as well as human trafficking.”
Viva gasped, and I blinked. “That fucker.”
Tobias made a noise of agreement. “Yes.”
Aviva spun toward me, frowning. “You need to start talking. But in the fucking cab on the way to the police station.”
She stormed off, and Tobias raised a single eyebrow. “I kind of get it. I mean, I’m gay as fuck, but I kind of get it.”
I huffed, jogging to catch up to her. “Tobias will have a car.” The man in question lifted a set of keys and pointed at an illegally parked BMW, and Aviva paused.
“Oh. Okay. That sounds better.”
