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I wanted more.
More of him.
He devastated me.
“Oh, fuck.” Trying to catch my breath, shaking, I pulled him closer to me, kissing his neck as he buried his face in the pillow, our bodies sticking together.
“Yeah. That sums it up.” He pulled out of me slowly, raising himself up on his elbows, then rolled us onto our sides facing each other.
Reaching his hand up, he brushed my hair away from my face. “We’ll shower and clean up in a minute. Stay here with me.” Tugging me more tightly to him, he ran his hands up and down my back.
I curled into him, the aftermath of the orgasm leaving me sleepy and satiated. “Remember when you said you’d ruin me for anyone else? If you didn’t before, you definitely have now.”
I could practically feel his satisfied smirk against my forehead. “I always follow through on my promises.”
TWENTY-ONE
Back downstairs, Zayde had disappeared, and Cassius and Weston were in the middle of a heated discussion about code names. Again. Bored, waiting, I started scrolling through my social media on my phone, while
Caiden went to make another coffee.
Just when I was about to take a closer look at a photo that had caught my eye, my phone rang, Kinslee’s name flashing up on the screen.
“Hi, Kins. What’s up? How come you’re still awake?”
“Late night. My brother got home, and when I saw you were online, I wanted to tell you what I learned from him while it was still fresh in my mind.”
I leaned forwards in my chair, grabbing the notepad and pen I’d been making notes on earlier. “Okay. Tell me.”
“There’s not a huge amount to tell. He didn’t get to work on the Argo Navis; apparently whenever it turned up, it used to be as he was finishing his shift, and it was always in another part of the docks. But what he did tell me was that the dead guy—at least, it sounds like our man, going off the description you and him both gave me—his name was Vasily. According to my brother, he kept to himself most of the time. He was the security guy in charge on Tuesdays—he’d mostly either be in the guard hut at the entrance, or patrolling the docks.”
“Did he say anything else?” I scribbled down what she’d told me already, glancing up at Caiden and giving him a smile as he slid a mug of coffee in front of me.
“He mentioned Petr.”
“Petr?” Caiden raised a brow at me, and I mouthed Kinslee to him. He nodded and moved over to sink into the chair next to Weston.
“Again, he didn’t say much, just that Petr worked at the docks—mostly driving the cargo on to the warehouses or wherever. He said Petr was friendly with Vasily, though. That was pretty much it.”
“Okay.” I tapped my pen on the notepad. “Thanks for finding that out for me. I appreciate it.”
I could hear the smile in her voice. “What are friends for? Sorry I couldn’t be of any more help.” She sighed into the phone. “Anyway, listen, remember I told you we were going to be away for Christmas—we’re leaving tomorrow morning, early. Far too early. We’ll catch up properly when I get back, okay? Just try and stay out of trouble.”
“Ha. I’ll try.” It’s not like I went looking for trouble. Some of the time, at least. “Have fun with your family. See you for New Year’s.”
We said our goodbyes, and I recounted the information she’d given me to the boys. Weston immediately logged on to his secure chat, leaving a message for Mercury with the details, and then started going back through the Alstone Holdings employment records with Caiden and Cassius.
As soon as I unlocked my phone, a photo appeared. The image that had caught my eye when Kinslee had called me.
I studied it, fascinated.
It was simply captioned “Gone, but never forgotten.” Smiling at the camera was a younger-looking James, maybe around sixteen or seventeen, with his arm slung around the shoulder of a grinning red-haired guy. Next to him, laughing and clutching the arm of the red-haired guy, was a beautiful, ethereal-looking girl with shining blonde hair, and next to her was Joseph, a smile I’d never seen before on his face as he held one arm around the girl, and the other raised in a toast, a glass in hand. James had been tagged in the photo, which was how I’d seen the image, since even after everything, I’d remained friends with him on my social media accounts. Mostly to keep an eye on him, if I was honest.
Swiping through the tags on the phone, I tried to find out who the other people were in the image, but James and Joseph were the only ones tagged, and the photo had been posted from Joseph’s account, by the looks of it. I then scrolled through the comments, but it was full of hearts and kisses and messages of condolence, no details.
“Um. Who are these people?” I held up my phone in the air, turning my screen to face the boys.
Caiden turned around, and his eyes darkened as he took in the photo, storm clouds rolling in, his jaw set. He crossed over to me and tugged my phone roughly from my grip.
