Black bird a nevermore d.., p.16
Black Bird: A Nevermore Duet, page 16
He was so fucked. Of course, the universe would throw this on him. Right now, of all times. When the coven was plotting against him, and working with a crooked-ass politician to scope out the girl that fate paired him with. How could this get any worse? His freedom seemed farther and farther away, and if Dahlia found out about Sarah … what would she do to her? Christ, it was so screwed up. He decided the best thing to do for now would be to lay low and get as much figured out on the sly as he could. He’d try to protect her through all of this. When Rhaena found out, she’d lose it. He found himself wishing he’d asked Tony for one more before he mounted his bike and peeled out.
When he unlocked the door to his apartment, he was glad to find it empty, save for the screeching bird that was begging to be let out of his cage. He didn’t want to see Rhaena right now. He didn’t want to see anyone else. That was, unless some tattooed, hazel-eyed heartbreaker knocked on his door tonight. Even then, all that would accomplish was how far he could push his self-control. He’d never touch her that way. Not until she knew the truth about what he’d done to her. If she wanted him after that, which he knew was highly unlikely, then and only then would he allow himself the pleasure.
“Hey, bud.” Athan soothed, letting Poe step onto his finger as he reached past the door to his cage. “I’m sorry … you’re gonna have to get used to the new shift, too. I’m not giving it up … even for you.” Poe cocked his head and ruffled his feathers, hopping onto Athan’s shoulder when he raised him to it. He walked to his room, fishing out the figurine wrapped in brown paper and the bird watched intently as he unraveled it. “Look at that. Now you’re immortal, too.” Athan mused, holding the figure up in front of them. He placed it in an empty spot on his bookshelf across from his bed and turned it at an angle. Whispers from behind him started firing up and he turned his attention to his dresser. Poe squawked as if he could hear them too.
Athan stepped near it, pulling open the top drawer and staring at the small box. He knew what was in it. He’d been avoiding even thinking about what he’d stolen from her. Whose remains were sitting in an old dresser in a shitty apartment. They didn’t belong here. They belonged around her neck. He lifted the lid and reached in, dangling the pendant on his fingers from the thin silver chain that suspended it. Poe shifted uncomfortably and made sputtering noises as the whispers grew louder. Athan’s phone started buzzing in his pocket. He dropped the necklace back into the box and shoved the drawer closed, reaching into his pocket to answer. It was an unknown number.
He slid the call button over. “Kane,” he answered. No one responded, although he could clearly hear soft snickering and glasses clinking in the background. “Hello?”
“I didn’t think this through,” a woman’s voice sounded on the other end.
He lowered his brows. “I’m sorry?”
“I wanted to talk to you, but now that you’ve answered …” She laughed and paused. “I have no fucking idea what to say.”
Athan turned sharp on his heel toward his bedroom window. “Sarah?”
“Yeah, it’s me. I’m sorry … I honestly don’t even know if I expected you to answer.”
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Yeah! Yeah … I just—I don’t know what I’m doing here. I worked with Northwood all day today and now … I dunno. Now I found myself sitting at a bar by myself and I’m not really sure why I came.”
He had no idea what to say to this girl. They were both quiet for … shit, he didn’t even know how long, until he’d found himself in his living room perching Poe onto his stand. “Please tell me you’re not making my job harder and hanging out at a club full of naked goth kids.” Sarah busted out laughing.
“Dude, no. I wouldn’t go back there if somebody paid me. Honestly, I would be happy not to ever be on that side of town again. Wherever the fuck that is.”
“Where’s your friend?” he asked, shrugging off his jacket and pulling his cigarettes out of the pocket.
“Wren? I have no clue. Maybe still at work? I haven’t called her since she left this morning. She’s supposed to be going back home tonight, anyway. I’m flying solo tonight.”
Athan fired up a smoke. “You probably shouldn’t be. Not the safest thing you could do right now, you know.”
“I wonder if there’s someone who could come protect me?”
That fucking tug in his middle had him white knuckling the phone in his hand. “Northwood is probably off. Want her number?”
“You’re such a killjoy, detective.”
Athan chuckled through his nose. “I get that a lot.”
“So why don’t you do something about it? Come have a drink with me.”
“And get my picture snapped again? Are you trying to get me fired?” He opened the fridge and rustled up a piece of raw chicken for Poe, slinging it through the breakfast nook and watching the bird dive for it.
“You make a valid point. But I bet I could get you out of it. Your captain likes me.”
“If you want him to continue to like you, then staying outta trouble should be high on your list of priorities.” He dragged on his cigarette and heard her light one on the other end.
“So, I guess that’s a no, then?”
He leaned back against the kitchen counter, glancing over to where he’d pounded Rhaena just yesterday and sighed deeply. “Look, Sarah … I—under different circumstances I would, but … we can’t do that.” She quieted for a second.
“So … you’re saying if I’d been single and came and spoken to you at the club … you would have danced with me?”
His stomach nearly hurt, and a nervous fluttering started ravaging it. “Maybe. It doesn’t matter now. But since we’re on the subject … I heard you asked about me that night after I left.” He was being stupid. He should never have said that shit and he knew it. The smart thing to do would be to find a way to end this conversation and go to bed. But that issue of his self-control where she was involved …
“I most certainly did. The cute bartender tell you that?”
“Cute?” He clenched his teeth and she giggled, some of it muffled by her glass as she drank. “Why ask about me if you were with Stratford?”
Another pause. “I don’t really know how to answer that.”
He did, if Tony was right about the possibility of them being— “You’re not driving, are you?”
“No. I took a cab. So, are the rules different for lady cops?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said Northwood was off. Why can she come hang out, but not you? I could just as easily snuggle up with a chick, couldn’t I? Imagine the headlines on that.” She laughed.
“I—it was a joke.”
“I know what it was … I’ll stop torturing you. I at least got one thing I wanted, anyway.”
Athan shifted. “What’s that?”
They were both quiet for a moment and something in his chest tightened. “Goodnight, detective.”
He looked down at his screen. Call ended. In less than ten minutes she’d successfully shattered his whole perspective on his life. What he wanted from it. Where he thought he was heading with it.
“Fuck …” He mumbled under his breath.
She shouldn’t have called him. She knew that. Sarah stared down at the phone as she laid it flat on the bar, silently praying that maybe it would light up with a text … a call back. But she knew he wouldn’t. She was putting him in a really hard place. The way he looks at her, it was obvious there was something. What that something was, she had no idea. When she’d touched his mouth at her apartment, she could swear he wanted her to. If he were any other guy, he’d find ways around the paparazzi and the rules of the 12th precinct to score one in her bed. But Athan Kane wasn’t any other guy. It was hard to tell exactly what kind of guy he was, really. They use the term “tall, dark and mysterious” to describe men, but this time … that was about as accurate as you could get with this one.
She didn’t want to be alone here, but at the same time … she did. Sarah had been pushing everyone away, and she knew Wren had been right when she said it was out of character for her. The only one she really wanted to be here was someone that wasn’t coming. Even though she knew somehow that he wanted to. If the bartender really did tell him that she’d asked about him that night, then he must have been thinking about her enough to talk to him about it. Unless of course … he was there just doing his job. Yeah, that was it. She’s delusional. Although when she’d mentioned the bartender being cute, he seemed awfully jealous. Sarah smiled to herself.
“You look lonely. Can I buy you a drink?” Some half-obliterated, greaser offered from beside her. Sarah flinched at the intrusive invitation and leaned back at the strong smell of alcohol on his breath.
“Why don’t you save the money and go buy yourself some mouthwash.” Sarah shot back, holding up a palm and gesturing for him to back up a step.
“Why don’t you come with me, and we can get a box of trash bags while we’re at it?” He grinned drunkenly, bracing one hand on the bar top, and the other on the back of her stool.
“The big black ones for yard trash? I think I could fit your body into that.”
He laughed obnoxiously and leaned toward her. Sarah couldn’t move any farther back. “I like your style, but I was talking about protection.” He winked.
“Yeah … so was I.” Sarah smiled, winking back.
“There’s a bathroom back that way.” His eyes went straight to her tits.
“Why? Need to puke?”
“I need you to spread those legs and wrap ‘em around me.”
Now she wanted to puke. Sarah pressed her hand against his chest when he moved closer. “How about I wrap them around your neck? Would you like that?” Sarah soothed, inching closer.
“Yes, ma’am … I think you would too.” He grinned, swaying a little. Sarah’s fingers drifted to her phone, swiping across it and activating her recent calls.
“How ‘bout I squeeze these thighs around your face until it chokes off your air supply? That get your little dick hard, bud?” The drunk groaned and she leaned closer, blocking his view with her shoulder as she tapped on the phone to ring her last call.
“Why don’t you hop off that stool and come find out just how little it is, love? I’ll make you scream … one way or another.”
She could faintly hear Athan’s voice pick up the call. “You think so? And if I said I wouldn’t touch your greasy, drunk ass to save my own life?” He huffed a laugh and placed a hand on her thigh. Sarah looked down at it and then back up at him.
“I got two friends with me that say you’ll reconsider.”
Sarah wasn’t sure where the guttural growl came from that edged her voice. “Get. Your. Fucking. Hand. Off of me.” She glanced over at the phone. Call ended.
Dammit.
It could only mean two things. He either heard none of it, or … he heard all of it. Sarah hoped it was the latter. She looked around seeking help, growing increasingly angry when his hand slid further up her thigh. The bartender was busy at the far end, and the only ones who seemed to be watching them were the two sweaty bastards that she was sure had come with him, both of them smirking when she caught their eye.
“Be a good girl, and we’ll pay you well. We’re not gonna hurt you too bad. You might like it.” He gripped her thigh in his hand and squeezed the side … way too close to her ass.
“I’m not a hooker. Last warning, pencil cock.” She grabbed his hand, and he slapped his clammy fingers around her wrist, turning it, and leaning so close to her face that his hot, nasty breath fanned across her chin and up her nose. She wanted to vomit.
“Play nice, bitch. Or I can add a few bruises to that neck before they find you in a dumpster somewhere uptown.”
“You’ve got two seconds to stand down before I roundhouse the shit out of you. Although, that’s not gonna save you from the charges I’m about to pile on for communicating a threat like that during an ongoing investigation.”
Sarah’s head darted to the right to find Rhaena Northwood with her fists curled, ready to strike. He smiled at her and the two henchmen he had in the corner raised from their chairs.
“Aren’t you pretty. I wonder if that mouth will be just as sassy when it’s wrapped around my—” His insult gurgled in his throat when Rhaena’s fist plunged into his Adam’s apple and he grasped at it, staggering back, and gaining the attention of the entire bar. Sarah lunged forward, grabbing him by his collar and turning him toward the detective just as she started driving her fists into his midsection and jaw. Patrons from the bar started forming a circle around them, and the two assholes started to try and shove their way past the throng of people watching as Sarah grabbed the prick by his greasy brown hair and thrust his head into the bar. He dropped like a stone, Rhaena flipping him onto his front and forcing his arms behind his back while she slapped cuffs on him.
It was almost a blur. A black smudge across her vision. The kind that haunted her nightmares from that night in the alley as it crossed the bar, and she realized Kane was storming towards the two other men. The look in his eyes ignited a heat between her legs as he glanced at her on his way to possibly end their lives. They made to run towards the back of the bar, and he chased after them, jerking one by the back of his jacket, and slamming the other into the wall. She’d never seen someone handle two men like that at once. Neither of them were able to get one hit in before he had them both bleeding from every place on their faces. Sarah could swear she heard bones break over the sounds of gaping onlookers as Athan cuffed them both and started dragging them toward the bar. He jerked one of their heads up by his hair and forced him to look at Sarah.
“Lying to me will be the last fucking thing you do. Tell me what you planned to do with her.” He growled, holding tight to the other one when he tried to break away. “Move again, and I’ll snap your fucking neck.” The man stilled, and the one Athan had by the head spit at her feet. Athan bashed his face into the bar top and pressed his cheek against the counter. “Talk!”
“Aaaagggghhhh! Fuck!” The man groaned, heaving ragged breaths. “We were gonna tag team her! Make her squeal and then leave her somewhere! We weren’t gonna kill her!”
The asshole that Rhaena had picked up off the floor whirled at his companion. “You fucking idiot … you stupid fucking idiot!” He looked back at Sarah and clenched his bloody teeth, baring them at her. “I would have … I woulda burned the little witch. Right after I tore through that tight little ass!”
Sarah moved before Kane could react, flipping open her butterfly knife and holding it to his throat. “Sarah!” Rhaena yelped, pulling the man back. “Stop, before you catch a charge! Put it up! Put it up, now!”
She could feel it. Something dark and powerful. Something foreign that she couldn’t control. That rage from the hospital had turned into something bigger. She wanted to gut this piece of shit. The blade shook in her hand and the man smirked at her, silently begging her to make a move. Rhaena’s continued warnings drowned out, and everything around her began to spin and blur. Something cunning and sinister whispered for her to kill.
Kill … slit his throat. He was going to do so much worse to you.
Firm hands slid around her, causing her to flinch before an overwhelming calm took over and her knife dropped from her hand, clattering to the floor. Rhaena kicked it away with her boot and Sarah was spun around to find Kane peering down at her. Several uniforms surrounded them, towing the bastards away and he just stared at her.
“It’s alright. You’re safe, it’s alright.”
She nodded deliriously, slowly blinking as if she was in some trance and he held her steady. The rage turned to the deepest ache in her chest, and it started to sputter up and down with uncontrollable sobs. Sarah hid her face in her hands, and he pulled her into him, wrapping his arms tight around her. She gripped his white t-shirt that was spotted with someone else’s blood and cried into it, unable to find the strength to control herself.
“I’ve got her stuff. Take her to my car.” She heard Rhaena mutter as he guided her out of the bar. Rhaena’s SUV was parked by the curb, several patrol cars surrounding it and blocking off some of the street. The flashing lights nearly blinded her as Athan walked her toward them. She chose not to look at the man she almost killed as his muffled insults sounded from the rolled-up window in the back of one of them. Sarah wiped her nose on her sleeve, tucking her arms around herself as Rhaena opened the passenger side door for her and he helped her inside. All of them noticed other flashes that didn’t belong, then. Rhaena’s head snapped over and Sarah spotted several photographers shamelessly taking pictures of her and everything else. “Kane … block her.”
Athan stepped between her and the angle of their cameras. “Get down.” He soothed, taking his leather jacket off and covering her with it as she leaned over her lap. He slammed the car door shut and she could hear a bunch of commotion and arguing outside it as she breathed in his scent and tugged the material closer around her.
The driver’s side door opened and Rhaena’s voice got louder. “Yeah, well consider that your fine for the next time you try to take photos of somebody who doesn’t want you to, or when you try to throw mud at the Boston Police Department. Get the hell out!” She slid into her seat and shut the door, cranking the truck and placing a gentle hand on Sarah’s back. “Sit tight, Sarah. I’ll let you know when, okay?”
“Okay,” Sarah answered hoarsely. The truck started moving and she heard a motorcycle start up. She wasn’t sure how far down the road they’d gotten, but he kept close to Rhaena’s vehicle until they finally slowed to a stop.
“It’s safe now,” Rhaena said, patting her back gently. Sarah lifted the jacket off her head and sat up, not recognizing the nice neighborhood they’d stopped at. Kane was parking his bike across the well-lit street.
“Where are we?” she asked, meeting Rhaena’s eyes.
“We’re about five blocks away from your place. I wasn’t sure where to take you. You wanna call someone?” She rolled Sarah’s window down as Athan approached.
