Page 32 of Reckless

I attempted to grunt out words, but they didn’t make it past the duct tape.

“Oh, right. You’re in the restaurant business.” She laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. “I bet you don’t even know how to cook. And now you get to find out about my penchant for hurting scum bags like yourself. You’re right. Dating is so much fun. But seeing as you disappeared and work for my arch enemy, I’m thinking it’s time we see other people.”

Scowling, I pulled at my restraints. She’d tied them so tight, I could barely feel my own hands and feet. It was clear we were in a warehouse of some sort. The windows near the high ceiling were filtering in slivers of light, meaning I’d been knocked out for a few hours now. The last thing I could recall, it was night and I was standing in her apartment. Did she move me all on her own? I wasn’t the biggest of guys, but on a good day I was pushing 200 pounds easy. It was impressive as hell if she not only managed to catch me unaware, but to drag me here as well. Though, in fairness, I was not at my best after being tortured by Carmine and Simon.

Fucking Simon. I still didn’t know what to think about him.

“It’s such a pity you turned out to be a liar. I was actually starting to like you. But maybe you can be of some use.” She pulled over a chair, turned it around, and sat backwards on it, arms crossed over it, holding onto a new knife. My eyes tracked her legs noting a few gaps missing where the previous knives had been. But then I caught the holster on her hip and realized she also had a gun. Stella wasn’t fucking around. And man did I find that so fucking hot.

“Wait a second… are you… are you fucking hard right now?”

I couldn’t respond but the raging hard on in my pants was answer enough.

“Men,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Do you not get that I could end your life right now?”

I knew that, but it did nothing to stop my attraction to her. The way she moved and the deadly accuracy of her throwing knives at me was a turn on. My tongue began to work around the seam of my lips, licking what I could of the adhesive. Not being able to explain why I concealed my job from her was more torturous than being strung up and beaten in the casino basement. Hurting her was the last thing I ever wanted to do, and I had to tell her that.

“My sister went missing a little over six months ago,” she said, turning that knife around in her hands again, looking at the sharp tip and not at me. “She was taken by the same scum you work for.” Her face morphed into a hateful sneer. “Now—,” those dark eyes lifted and stared me down with so much anger, I knew that no matter how much I begged, she would never forgive me for my deception. Especially now knowing that the very people I worked for were the source of her pain. “—you’re going to help me get her back, or I will do so much worse than a small cut on your ear.” She stood up and toppled over the chair. It clattered to the ground with an echo.

I thought I was protecting her by not disclosing my connections, but maybe the lie was only protecting myself. She deserved to know the truth, and now, Carmine and Simon had disclosed running an operation I’d known nothing about. The compound. And it wasn’t just Stella’s sister they’d taken either.

A small flap of the duct tape began to curl down away from the corner of my mouth with the help of my tongue. Stella caught me struggling and ripped the rest of it away. It burned, but now I could talk.

“What the fuck do you have to say for yourself?” She asked, straddling my lap and placing the knife she was holding directly at the base of my throat. My cock twitched in my pants as the metal pressed against my skin. Fuck, she was so goddamn hot. And slightly unhinged. My own personal wet dream come true.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I croaked out. My voice felt raw from disuse.

Her dark eyes flashed, and then I felt my skin give way beneath her blade, and a small trickle of blood began to trail down my neck.

“Oops. I didn’t mean to do that either,” she said. Her breath fluttered over my cheeks smelling of mint. She took the tip of the knife coated in my blood and licked. My cock was fully throbbing now. I liked this side of her. All in charge and dangerous. Fuck me. She could tie me up any day.

“I mean it. I thought if I kept my job from you, it would keep you safe. They found out about you anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Her eyes narrowed.

“I’ve been working for the Underwoods since I was twelve. They trained me to kill people for them.” I felt her legs flex over mine and her breath catch. “For the last five years, I was traveling all over Europe and Asia, carrying out their orders.”

“Like a James Bond villain.”

I swallowed around the tip of her knife that was still pressed tightly against my throat. “I’ve seen what they do to people who cross them. How they use those closest to them to manipulate people to fall in line. When I didn’t tell you who I worked for, it was because I didn’t want you anywhere near these people.”

“And so, I’m just supposed to believe you didn’t know about me? About my family? My sister?”

“I didn’t. Not until Carmine knocked me out and beat me for not finding Kenneth Carlisle’s killer fast enough.”

Her face twitched.

“That was your assignment?”

“Yeah, and⁠—”

She started laughing. I watched her, trying to figure out what was so funny.

“Oh my God. So, not only were you working for the Underwoods, but your assignment was to kill me. Wow. Fuck.”

Everything inside me stilled. She killed Kenneth? What the fuck?

“You did that?”