Lie to Me (11 page)

“Wrong person.”

Nervous by Stone’s unexpected appearance, she pushed up, drawing the covers to her chin to hide her nudity, and leaned against the headboard. Her fingers danced along the gun, but even if Stone revealed her identity, she couldn’t bring herself to harm him. Retro raced to him, weaving in between his legs, and Stone surprised her by crouching for a moment to give her kippy an affectionate rub.

Her heart took a direct hit. Where Stone was concerned, she was weak, but there’d been a time she’d trusted him, loved him, and he’d been her first crush. Okay, so he was her only crush. As an adult, she craved him still. He’d been attractive in his youth. But as a man, he revved her engines big time. And she
hated
her reaction to him.

Swallowing past her dry mouth, she said, “Reaper caught me up. Thanks for helping me.”

“You bet.” Stone’s watchful stare jangled her nerves, so Kella picked at the comforter. “Regent Jones has demanded I return you to him the moment you’re well enough to walk.”

For one heart-stopping moment Kella’s stomach rolled and she feared puking all over again.

“He’s unaware I healed you with my cyber doc, so I bought you a couple of weeks.” He settled on the bed beside her, causing the covers to cinch about her. The gun must’ve pressed against him because he shifted enough to shove the covers out from beneath him and delved his hand under the bedding. His hand bumped against her naked hip, and she gasped. Their gazes crashed and held for a couple of heartbeats, but their eye-lock felt like a lifetime.

Stone broke the spell by holding up the gun. Kella clung the comforter tighter beneath her chin, her fingers aching from how hard she clenched the bedding. She wasn’t usually bashful, but his presence elicited unnerving moisture at her core. And she feared she’d fall into his arms if he made one small sexual overture.

She wasn’t some vapid, starry-eyed girl. There’d be no fairytale ending for them. As far as prince charmings went, he fell short in almost every category.

A carnal grin stretched his lips, resulting in her nipples tightening to hard points. “I like a distrustful woman. Tells me she’s street smart and that quality is sorely lacking in most women.”

“Probably because you mingle with the wrong women.”

“Is that an offer to mingle with
you
, Miss Ellason?”

She had no delusions what type of mingling he referred to.

“No.” Dry swallowing, she hoped his effect on her wasn’t noticeable. He hovered his hand over her crotch and very slowly set the palm-sized gun in her lap. The weight of the weapon caused the comforter to sag between her legs. Kella pressed her thighs together, forcing the gun out of her crotch area. “I’m a lesbian remember?”

“You say that a lot. Are you trying to convince me or yourself of that lie?” Breath lodging in her lungs, her gaze rocketed to his. A smirk played about the edges of his lips, and his eyes crinkled with amusement at the corners. “If there’s one thing I know, Mack, it’s women, and I know you’re attracted to me.”

“Regent Emmerson,” she cleared her throat and squared her shoulders, hoping she could manage to bluff her way through this conversation. “If you believe making me nervous is attraction, feel free to be delusional.”

Wrong assertion. Stone took her statement as a challenge. One moment she was beneath the covers and the next, she was sprawled across his lap, the concealment of the blankets gone. One palm gripped her hip, holding her in place, while the other curled around her nape and drew her to him. His thumb smoothed along her flesh over her wild pulse.

“Your nipples are tight, an obvious sign of arousal. You want my mouth on them.”

Yes
! “I’m cold.”

“Allow me to warm you.” Holding her gaze, he bent his head and brushed his lips over hers. His hand slid off her hip, and his fingers pinched at a nipple. Kella’s entire body softened for him, and he chuckled at her response. “Spread your legs for me.”

The sound of his voice served as an aphrodisiac, and she let her eyes slip closed as she indulged in his touch. It’d been so long since anyone had touched her in this manner, as if they cherished her. The last man who fondled her intimately had paid her well, and she’d endured his painful prodding. But she didn’t want to think of him and the high price she’d paid to survive.

Stone used his hand in her hair to navigate her. He reclined her against his arm and dragged his tongue down her neck. A sage part of Kella’s brain whispered for her to push him away, but she ignored the warning. His tongue curled around her nipple, and he sucked her into his mouth. She gasped at the wet heat encompassing her. A hand against her knee pushed her leg aside. Fingertips trailed up the inside of her thigh as he nibbled on her nipple.

Kella hissed at the intimate stroke along her labia.

“You’re delightfully wet, sunshine.”

Sunshine
? That’s what Stone had nicknamed her years ago. In the beginning it’d been a sarcastic endearment, but had turned into something much different as their relationship matured. Hers into infatuation and his into friendship.

The single word served as a douse of ice water. Her eyes snapped open. His gaze locked on her, watching every expression.

Kella slammed her legs together, trapping his fingers. She shoved out of his grasp and slithered to the other side of the bed. Putting her back to him, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “I don’t know what game you’re playing at, but I’m not interested.”

He was silent so long she was about to give in to curiosity and peek at him over her shoulder. Then he spoke. “Tell me what your Regent wants with you.”

Not a request, but a demand. “What all Regents want.” Twisting to face him, she didn’t bother hiding her nudity. She gave him credit when his focus remained on her face.

“Care to elucidate what that is, Miss Ellason?”

The way he said ‘Miss Ellason’ with a hint of sarcasm gave her pause. What issue did he have with her surname? “Sure. Why not. It’s common knowledge among dregs anyway.”

“Please do educate me.”

“All Regents want to dominate and crush the powerless.”

“Not all Regents.”

“Name one that’s different.”

“Me.”

Kella rolled her eyes. “Shocker. You have an overinflated opinion of yourself.” Standing, she swiveled to face him. He took his fill of her nakedness this time. “Scandal sheets tell me you bought your wife. If that’s not dominating and crushing the powerless since she had no choice, then ‘
please do educate me
’, Regent Emmerson.”

He clenched his teeth, his jaw flexing from the move. At least she’d managed to get a rise out of him. “Scandal sheets make no such claim because my father—the Regent before me—covered up that information when my wife went missing.” He looked her dead in the eyes, his gaze going hard. “Care to explain how you came by that inaccessible information?”

She would’ve winced at her slip, but she couldn’t afford another error. “Your father, or whomever he paid to do the job, fucked it up because the information is very accessible.”

“Not accessible to the powerless
like you
.”

Kella winced at that jab. Folding her arms beneath her breasts, she held his stare, not willing to admit defeat.

“Jones wants to fuck you.” The change in topic came out of nowhere, flustering her to the point she had no idea how to respond. “What’d he say to you when he punished you?”

Licking her lips, she studied her toes. “He wanted me to say yes to being his fuck-toy. When I wouldn’t grant his desire, he promised to force my compliance or I’d die before he quit torturing me.”

Tired of running, tired of fighting for a meager existence, Kella blinked back tears. Oppression was an abysmal life.

Stone startled her when he cupped her cheek. She hadn’t even heard him move.

“Allow me to demonstrate my style of crushing domination and protect you from him.”

“How shall I pay for your services, Regent? By allowing
you
to fuck me instead?”

He lowered his hand. “Why do I offer to help you when you insult me at every turn?”

“One of the many mysteries of the universe.”

A grunt sufficed as his reply. “I cannot guarantee your safety outside these walls. Remain under my protection until I can locate a safe haven for you.”

Trusting him no more than she could throw him, she threw his offer in his face. “Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

Yeah, Stone hadn’t changed at all in eight years.

––––––––

T
he door slammed, jerking Stone awake. He went for his .38 snub-nose revolver, his fingers just touching the cool metal when James said in his all-business tone, “She’s gone.”

Stone removed his hand from beneath his pillow, leaving behind his favorite relic weapon. He tossed back the covers, and nudged Missy’s shoulder without looking at her. “Time to go.”

Using his other hand, he dragged his fingers through his hair, loosening the tangles from his bed-head. His abrupt command didn’t seem to bother the woman beside him. Bare-assed naked, Missy made a show of stretching. He wasn’t sure if the display was for him or James, but Stone didn’t much care.

“Had fun, lover,” she said mid-stretch.

They’d had a lot of fun the last couple of evenings, but last night had been about getting Mack Ellason out of his head. For all the good it’d done him since the termagant remained lodged heavily on his mind. At least the sex hadn’t been about getting the ghost of his wife off his mind. That was a first in eight years.

Intense counseling was in his foreseeable future.

She leaned across the bed and paused...he guessed she waited for a goodbye kiss. Stone kept his focus centered on James, ignoring her. After a prolonged minute, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. His indifference flustered her, and she pulled on a thin, cotton robe, her quick movements jagged. She cleared her throat twice.

“Visit me again.” There was just enough emphasis on the sentence that he suspected she asked, rather than suggested.

“You’re overstaying your welcome, sweetheart,” James offered his unsolicited advice, amusement in his voice.

Missy gave him a sharp glance before fast walking to the door. She shut the door, a quiet snick when she exited.

“You’re a coldhearted bastard.”

“I learned from the best.” Stone elevated his eyebrows.

“I hope she fucked with more enthusiasm than she showed with her offended exit.”

“She was willing.” Really what else mattered when you banged a stranger? Stone climbed off the bed and stood. “We knew Mack would run. Neither she nor Reaper trusted me.” Snagging his leather pants off the chair, he tugged them on. It excited him that she fled. Now he had an excuse to chase her down and impose his influence on her. When a Regent gave an order it was obeyed. Didn’t matter that he wasn’t
her
Regent. Simple directives by
any
Regent were to be followed by all citizens so long as it didn’t interfere with her commitment to her own leader. “I’ll boot up the tag.”

He ran his fingertip along the small elevated spot behind the back of his right ear. Without touching that spot, he wouldn’t be able to boot up his computer. It was a failsafe in case someone stole his laptop. Technology was illegal for citizens, but not for Regents or those they chose to give it to. That made the tech a hot commodity and a lucrative business for bootleggers.

A few keystrokes later and the tracker he’d tagged her with came online. The red dot that represented Mack Ellason pinpointed her whereabouts, with the topography of her location. He sent the information to James’s handheld data-stream.

His friend snagged it out of his back pocket and took a peek. “What’s she doing out there in the goddamn badlands?”

It kind of frightened him how little she cared for her own life. Kella died in the badlands. At least that was the story his dad told him. “She’s running. That’s what she’s doing in the badlands.”

James flipped him off.

“She’s a relic hunter. That’s where her current dig is located.” That meant she spent a lot of time in danger.

“I bet she lied about not carrying weapons.”

“Maybe.” Stone shrugged. “She might only carry when she’s looting.”
Or when left alone with me.

James dragged his knuckles along his shaven jaw. “We chasing her now or giving her a little while to feel safe before we crash her party?”

“Later.” Grinning, Stone selected a shirt and dragged it over his head. “A false sense of security is just what she needs before we show up.” They’d give her a day or two before they followed. He snagged his boots and began to lace them up. “You get the data we talked about on Mack Ellason?”

“Yeah. She has legit papers.”

“Or someone on the inside crafted them.”

James agreed with a one-shoulder shrug. “She’s resided in Quad2 for almost eight years. She moved from Quad8.”

He just barely managed to refrain from adding the timeline aligned with Kella’s desertion. Instead Stone said, “Quad8 isn’t southern enough to account for her accent.”

“Stone.” His friend sighed, and Stone could tell his buddy grew weary of the Kella-Mack debate. “If she
is
Kella, and I’m not saying she is or even saying I think she might be because I damn sure don’t think she’s Kella, but I did some research. Most archeologists take more than a decade to build a clientele. Shit, most dig with a more established pirate all their life. Only a handful ever became reputable. She’s twenty-two and established. That’s a huge feat for a woman, much less someone her age. Is that level of success even possible with the eight-year timeline? Maybe she inherited it from someone? Maybe Jones is so pissed because he backed her and she’s ungrateful. Fuck, I don’t know. There’s so many maybes I’m sick of them.”

Stone pondered the information. Kella had always loved relics. She’d become fascinated with them when he showed her the first wind-up toy—
Holy fuck
!

How’d he miss the obvious? Mack Ellason had a metal wind-up dog on her desk. That couldn’t be a coincidence since he’d given Kella the same toy on her thirteenth birthday. Was it the same toy? He couldn’t remember. It’d gone missing when she did.