“With any luck, he’ll leave you alone now.” He jerked his head down the hall. “Follow me.”
The floor we were on had the feel of a hotel. A long, quiet corridor with several solid doors either side. We bypassed them all to a coded exit. Kane rumbled the number, and I tapped it in, the lock giving way to allow us access to another corridor beyond, half a dozen doors in its shorter reach.
Kane gestured back. “The section we just walked is where paying guests sometimes spend the night with their man or woman of choice. Don’t linger for long. This side is for crew only. Arran allows us the use of the rooms if we need them. This one’s mine.”
Another code unlocked the room marked with a ‘5’, and he made way for me to go inside.
Though it wasn’t Kane’s actual home, just like with his Manchester flat, I took in every detail. The grey bedding on a huge bed. A stone floor and padded headboard. The automatic low lights springing on in the bathroom. The bags he’d taken from his car and stuck neatly under a small desk next to a fridge.
“Don’t go home. Stay here, please?” he asked.
My heart squeezed, and I peered back at him. I’d never heard him use that soft tone before. He could have made it an order. He didn’t. That tiny difference undid me. “I will. I’m working with your sister. It suits me better to be here tonight. She said you stayed with her during the interview.”
He leaned on the wall, his gaze travelling my form. “All the better for getting a closer look at your stalker.”
“Your conclusion?”
“He wants me dead. Though that could be because your father wants it more. His disgruntled glare at Convict then me said he knew I’d been the one to bust him out.”
Which meant my father would be a dick if he saw me with Kane. I’d already known that, though.
I changed the subject instead of dwelling on the consequences. “Does the press attention worry you?”
Kane gave a slow shake of his head, his focus sliding down my form, over my skeleton girls’ t-shirt.
I sank onto the mattress, my body coming alive under his scrutiny. This was what I wanted. A bed and a locked door. The opportunity to explore him and for him to take his time over me. I craved the intimacy we hadn’t yet reached, though we’d had sex twice.
I rested back on my hands, presenting myself better for him. His magnetism and the low-lit room was only leading in one direction in my mind. My core ached from what we’d done barely an hour ago, but still I needed more.
“Ye make a pretty fucking picture in my bed, Lovelyn.”
“It would be better with you in it.” My voice trembled. I wanted him so badly.
He pushed off the wall, the lust in his eyes shifting to something else. Desperation. Sharp, all-encompassing need. Then every hint of emotion disappeared as he slammed down the walls I recognised all too well.
“Tyler’s waiting on me. I’m heading out.”
Rejection stole my words.Fine. Go.
My heart hurt when he did.
Chapter 26
Kane
Tyler’s intercept crew set out in four cars from the skeleton crew’s warehouse, leaving the clubs and their party atmosphere behind us.
In my case, leaving Lovelyn in my bed.
The image of her sitting there with those pretty eyes on me was branded into my brain.
We timed our departures so we wouldn’t be in convoy on the road and plugged into a group call so Tyler could talk to us as we travelled.
His calm, patient voice in my ear was the backdrop of my drive over the border and northwards into the night.
“Trafficking happens daily. Arseholes sell seats in Transit vans with the interior door handles removed and bring countless folk across the channel then hide them in cities. Glasgow is a hot spot. They also bring them over via established routes like Belfast to Stranraer, all of it illegal, all unsafe. Those, the police attempt to manage, but it’s a dam with too many holes. Too often, all they do is nab the trafficked people and throw them into detention centres for deportation.”
One of the Atheron brothers muttered a quiet, “Fuck.”
