Page 109 of Watched

I finally take a full breath once Blade disappears back down the hall, and Rain closes the door, wedging a chair underneath the handle.

I’d bought that estate for my grandparents. My grandmother passed from a heart attack in August, and my grandfather is the sole occupant. I co-signed the deed to ensure it would never be lost. Rain appearing in my life a week after I signed isn’t a coincidence.

“Did you know?” I whisper, watching him place the gun on the opposite side table. “That your father had a plan to kill me and my grandfather?”

“No, baby.” He takes a seat on the bed, reaching for me. I pull back, shaking my head. “I had no idea this is what he was planning. I understand now why Dad chose that specific time to take me to your game. He knew you were doing an interview. He knew I’d take one look at you and be captivated.”

“Let me leave.”

His stare hardens. “The only place you’re safe is with me.”

“Fuck you.”

“I won’t let him near you.”

I was an idiot for wanting him just because he was the first person to not make me feel ashamed of any aspect of who I am. I was starved, and that made me stupid.

I watch his bloodied hands coat his hair as they slide through it.

Is he telling the truth? Did he really not know what his father was planning? I’m dead anyway, aren’t I?

Chapter forty-two

RAIN

“How exactly did you get invitations to this?” I ask Blade as we move through the bustling nightclub. “We were kicked out of here a year ago.”

When you beat the house every time you’re here, they don’t particularly want you back. I guess there’s a lesson here about the events that transpired with my uncle and the aftermath they produced, but I need this over with. Rome is currently safe at home watching his team play with Xander for company, so I know a kidnapping event won’t repeat itself.

“What’s one way to get in anywhere?” Blade cocks a brow as we stalk down the dimly lit hall to the guarded door at the back of the club.

He either bribed someone or fucked someone for these invitations; considering the only person he’s been sexually intimate with for the last five years is me, I’m assuming it’s the former.

I take the card from my breast pocket and show the guard, who has more piercings visible on his face than skin. Airport security must be a bitch.

He looks at the invitations before narrowing his eyes. “Blade Wilder and Rain Weston, I believe you’re on the permanent get fucked list.”

Blade smiles. “Bridget Holt. Get her, and we promise to be good.”

While he talks into his radio, I take out my phone and pull up the camera feed in the living room. Rome sits with his knees to his chest, looking nervous as shit. Xander lounges at the opposite end, squinting like he’s trying to locate a single thought.

I check the score next: a draw of 4-4 with fifteen minutes to go. His team better win, or Rome’s bad mood will only spiral further. He spent the day ignoring me and training in our gym, running through drills and going through game play, and then he video called his sisters and mother for over two hours. I think he refused to hang up, because if he could see their faces, he knew they were okay.

I slide my phone away when the door opens. Her burgundy hair whips over her shoulders as she steps out. “Gentleman.”

“Ma’am.” I smile.

She eye-fucks Blade for a good minute before stepping aside and motioning us in. We follow down the hall and through another door, the copious amount of thick cigarette and cigar smoke limiting visibility. Blade, of course, beelines for the bar. He’s been drowning himself in alcohol more often than not. Lately, he has a whiskey in hand before midday.

He orders one while I opt for water. I can beat any fucker in here completely intoxicated, but after what I discovered last night, I’m beyond irritable, and alcohol will only make it worse. Plus, if a certain blond God finds it in his heart to forgive me while I’m out, I want to be sober and ready to shove him against a wall, to feast on those insatiable lips.

I scan the room slowly, not catching sight of who I was informed would be here as we take to two vacant leather chairs in a quieter corner. I watch the smoke bellow from Blade’s mouth, my own watering.

Rome, Rome, Rome. I repeat his name to myself in an attempt to push away the want to snatch the addictive stick from Blade’s mouth.

“I’m starting to think Dad’s even more manipulative than you,” I mutter against my glass.

“Not possible, brother. I am simply elite.”