Chapter One
“She called the club, and they came and got me. We have to go. Our dorm room is on fire.”
I gape as I try to compute everything that just happened. Tristan’s words finally penetrate my mind as he reaches up to release Colton from the restraints.
“Your dorm room is on fire?” I ask and hurry to grab my coat, pulling it tight around my body. I look for my favorite knife, which I tossed somewhere—there’s no way I’m leaving that behind—all while trying to wrap my head around how I’ve been cutting Colton and their dorm room is on fire.
Shit, Gio and Vienna!
“Is Vienna here? What about Gio? Was he with Casey?” My heart races at the thought of my brother and my new friends being trapped in a fire.
“No, she stayed home tonight. She has a book she wanted to read, and Xavier stayed with her. Hurry,” Colton urges as Tristan struggles to release the cuffs. I grab my knife out of a wall and hurry back, slicing through the leather like butter. Tristan blinks, looking between the knife and Colton.
“Fuck, she cuts you with that?”
“Not now, Tris,” Colton snaps as he grabs his clothes from a chair and gets dressed.
“I sent my car away,” I say, remembering that I came in the limo and sent it back to the fortress. I pull out a phone and send an SOS message to Sage. He can bring my car and meet us at the university.
“Ride with us,” Tristan grabs my hands and drags me out of the room. I clasp the edges of my coat to ensure they stay closed. I don’t need anyone else seeing my tattoo and putting two and two together. Fuck, I can’t believe I forgot to cover it, and speaking of tattoos…
“Where’s your tattoo?” I ask Colton, remembering the rose he has over his heart that most definitely wasn’t anywhere I could see it, and I could see a whole lot of skin.
He continues moving through the club at a clipped pace. My heels click on the concrete floor as Tristan and I keep up with him. “You aren’t the only one good at using makeup,” he mutters tersely. I almost snap back, but then I remember his other two partners are in danger, and I decide to let it slide this time.
We pass the club’s changing room, but I pull him to a stop and gesture to my fur coat. “I can’t run around dressed like this. I have a change of clothes in my locker.” I drag them both into the changing rooms, heading for the one assigned to me. I always keep spare clothes in case I need to work after I finish a session here. Thankfully, the area is clear of people. I drop my coat, leaving me just in my straps as I dig around in my locker for clothes.
“Holy shit,” Tristan mutters, and when I look over my shoulder, he’s staring at me and biting his knuckle. “I understand why you decided to keep coming back, even before knowing who it was,” he tells Colton.
Colton just scoffs. “The package was just the window dressing. What the girl can do with a knife makes me so fucking hard.”
I can’t stop the smirk that crosses my lips as I pull a pair of black cargo pants on over my sexy lingerie. I find a long-sleeved, black shirt and shrug into it, then I search for a pair of shoes but come up empty. Fuck, I must have forgotten to return a spare pair last time I needed them. Crap. I’ll keep the heels on for now. I shove my feet back into them and wince at how uncomfortable they are. These are my play heels, not my work ones, and they are a lot less sensible than I would normally wear.
I dig around in my coat pockets, shove my gun down the back of my pants, and slip my knife into the holster sewn into the pockets, then I pull the fur coat back on. I won’t leave it here for it to suddenly go missing out of my locker.
“Okay, let’s go.” I spin around, and Colton stands up, having taken the time to tie the laces on his own boots while I was changing. Both of them are wearing tight leather pants and boots. Tristan has on a long-sleeved, silk button-up, and Colton is wearing a mesh long-sleeve T-shirt. Both look like they’ve been clubbing, so they don’t appear suspicious at all. If you don’t look too closely at my outfit, it could pass as club wear as well, especially with the heels.
None of us stop at the discrete reception desk on our way out. I have a membership, and they will charge my account directly. I’m assuming Colton and Tristan are the same. I’m annoyed and sad that I didn’t get to play with my sub tonight, even more so now that I know it’s Colton. I’m not sure how I feel about making him bleed anymore though. It will be a conversation we will need to have before we go much further, but that’s for another time.
A black Maserati’s lights turn on when Tristan points the fob at it, then he gets into the driver’s side while I slide into the backand Colton gets in the passenger seat. Tristan peels out of the Black Rose’s parking lot like a bat out of hell.
My phone starts to ring, and I look down at it, seeing Sage’s name on the screen. “Hey,” I answer, grabbing hold of the door as Tristan smoothly slides the car around a corner at top speed. Holy crap, he can drive as well as Sage can.
“Are you okay?” I can hear how worried Sage is. I’ve never sent him an SOS message before.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m with Tristan and Colton, and we’re heading to the college. Their dorm is on fire. Can you meet us there?”
“Tris and Colt? What are you doing with them? I thought you were going to the Black Rose tonight.” He doesn’t sound upset, just curious.
“Funny story. Turns out Colton is my new favorite male sub,” I murmur so neither of the guys in the front can hear, but they are both talking about the fire and not paying any attention to me.
“Huh,” Sage grunts. “They seem to be turning up everywhere we go. Is this fate at play or something else?” he muses, echoing something I was wondering myself.
“We can worry about it later. Right now, my focus is on Gio and if this attack on their dorm is an accident or a deliberate attack on him.” I look out the window and see smoke billowing into the air, and the red and blue lights from the fire trucks reflecting off the surrounding trees. The Black Rose isn’t far from school, so we made good time with Tristan driving.
“It’s been a while since there were any outward attacks on either of you. I was beginning to wonder if our enemies had given up,” Sage remarks as I hear him change gears in the background. He’s pushing the car as fast as he can. I hope there are no police between Banbridge and Suncity.
As we pull into a parking lot not far from the dorm, I can already tell most of them are here. Lots of people are milling about just outside of a taped off area, and there are police officers trying to keep everyone back. The fire seems to be contained to the top floor where Gio and the others had their apartments, but that isn’t making it easier to fight. There are two big trucks with ladders against the walls and firefighters aiming large streams of water into the windows.
