The Unfortunates (Unfortunate #1) (24 page)

“You did al
l right, Unfortunate.”

“He pressed a gun to my head.” I gasp breathlessly as I slap his hand away. “He could’ve shot me and you would’ve let him!”

“If I didn’t play bored, he’d have put a bullet through your head. I saved your life.”

My adrenaline begins to
drop and portions of their conversation come back to me. ‘
Caring for them makes you weak, Kaden, like your mother, and you remember what happened to your mother, don’t you?’

“He killed your mother?” I ask and Kade stiffens.

He can’t hide it from me and he can’t lie to me, not anymore. “Yes… when I was a child.”

“And she cared for Unfortunates?”

“She did. She looked after the Unfortunates in our house every single day… but she got reckless—stupid—she got stupid and she fell in love.”

I inch closer to him. Here I was thinking it’s not possible for a Fortunate to love anyone but themselves. “And your dad…
he shot you. Why?”

Subconsciously, I press my hand to his thigh, right above the scar I know is there. I keep my stare on his face, but Kade drops his to survey my hand against his leg. The silence that fills the air between us feels different, more meaningful than any other silence
until he snaps away from me with an exasperated sigh and storms to the bathroom. I watch as he slams the door without a glance over his shoulder and soon after, I hear the water run and the steady stream crash into the tiles. He isn’t going to answer me… he never talks about himself or his life and yet, I feel like I know him almost as well as I know myself.

I snuggle down under the blankets and chew my nails, going over everything Kade’s father said. What an evil man… to kill your wife and shoot your son requires a soul so black and dense, not even light can penetrate it.
I see where Vince gets it. He is Fortunate to the core, but Kade… he’s different. He has his moments, moments that have his father written all over it, but then I see someone else, his mother maybe? He has these tiny threads of compassion and kindness and I wonder what would happen if I pull them. Would they snap and be nothing, or would they unravel Kaden Sario, revealing to me his true nature piece by piece? I’m lost in my thoughts until the bathroom door opens once again. I remain quiet and don’t move. Instead, I watch him make his way around the bedroom, wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants. It seems they’re his ‘go to’ bed attire. He saunters over to his computer and touches the screen. No reactions register on his face as he flicks through various panels. While he’s occupied, I let my gaze roll down his clean form. From his chest to his hard stomach right down to the captivating ‘v’ shape that leads into his pants. It’s not fair, really. Fortunates have everything—from large houses and nourishing foods, to soft hair and beautiful bodies. To be stuck with a Fortunate as different and striking as mine is dangerous for me. He switches the computer off and I shift on the bed as he crosses the room and shuts off my lamp. In the darkness, my heart thumps painfully against my ribcage. I become acutely aware how hard my body hurts. The mattress beside me lowers as Kade climbs under the covers and lies down beside me. Instantly, I feel his warmth waft onto me, followed by a sweet cherry smell. Despite the warmth of his body and the smell of his skin, it isn’t enough to ease my growing fear of the dark. In the dark, I swear I can hear them hiding in the corners of the room… I can feeling them grinning at me.

I shuffle closer
to Kade, until my knees touch his thighs. “It’s too dark,” I whisper, afraid someone will hear me.

“I like the dark.”
He exhales softly. “Are you scared?”

“Yes…”

“Would you like me to move closer to you?”

His question puts steel in my spine. The last thing I want is to be put in another unwanted situation, but then again, if Kade were to kiss me, to be gentle and kind to me… would it be an unwanted situation? I’m not sure, my body isn’t sure.

“Yes.”

He shuffles closer, until his torso is pressed softly against
mine. My hands rest against my stomach, sandwiched between our bodies.

“You can relax
,” he says, sounding a lot more tired than I feel. “I’m not going to touch you. Not tonight.”

A tired silence falls and with every second I remain untouched by him, my body relaxes more and more into the mattress.

“You and your dad don’t get along, do you?” I mumble, unable to stop myself. I’m stating the obvious, but I’ll do just about anything to learn more about my Fortunate.

“No.”

“How can you live like this?” I say, nervously shifting my feet. “Knowing he killed your mother, how can you—”

“I’ll get my revenge
,” he states matter of factly, and strangely, eagerness comes to life deep inside me. “Will you help me?”

I freeze. It’s a question I wasn’t expecting. To help him hurt his father for killing his mother seems like a personal thing, one no one else should be involved in, but
as sick as it sounds, I want to be. I want to be Kade’s right hand man when it happens. I want to see the look of vengeance on his face when he finally puts his father down and I want to be the person who helps him dig the grave. He’s giving me freedom, to walk around in his house like it’s my own and I’ll do anything to get there.

“
What about Albert and the mine?” I ask, inwardly cringing as I recall his face in the hungry crowd tonight.

“Fuck Albert. I don’t want his business. Once I’m head of the Sario house and move into the city, I’ll take the mine from him.”

Relief washes over me. No longer will thoughts of his penis in my mouth plague me.
Fuck Albert.

“I asked you if you’d help me, Nine.” He pauses for a
brief moment. “You’re the only person I trust.”

A new determination settles inside me. If we kill Michael, Kade moves into the city and he’ll take me, too. In the city, there is no Vince. There is no one waiting in the shadows, just watching, praying that Kade leaves me alone even for a second. That alone is enough to convince me that I need to do this. Survival. I need to survive.
“I’ll help you, Master Kade.”

No more words are exchanged. I lie in the darkness, listening to the steady rhythm of his breath. I feel it
skitter across my cheek, so warm and gentle. I feel safe in this moment. I feel safer than I ever have, even when I was surrounded by my own people in the camp. The Unfortunates in this house… they don’t talk to me. They’d hurt me if they were ordered to, that was proven tonight. I’d never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it, ordered to or not. Kade is more my people than the others are… he understands me, protects me when no one else will, and for that, he has my full loyalty and trust. Screw everyone else.

On a whim, I angle my head upwards and
unexpectedly, my lips brush against his. His entire body tightens, hardens like concrete, and I pause, leaving my lips barely grazing his, allowing it to register with my body. My heart races rapidly, begging for me to kiss him, but my stomach twists painfully, desperately pleading with me not to start something I can’t finish.

“Go to sleep
,” he utters against my lips. “This is not what you want tonight.”

“Isn’t it?” I ask, wondering how he can tell. I don’t think it is…
my head swims and my body aches, but I’m confused. Lying in here in bed with the man that saved me—that killed for me—is confusing my system.

He brushes a finger along my side, from the base of my rib to my hip
, and my entire body tightens painfully. Goosebumps that seem almost excruciating erupt over every inch of my skin and silent tears well in my eyes.

“No,”
he says, kissing me ever so softly. “It isn’t.”

He pulls his bod
y away from me and turns around giving me his back. I take note of the way my body relaxes, almost sighs, as it realises it doesn’t have to give him anything and I fight a smile. There he goes again, assuring me that he’s different. That he’s not selfish or out to hurt me. He killed for me. I have his unwavering loyalty, his trust, his protection and maybe, I even have a small piece of his heart, too.

∞

(A few short weeks later)

Weeks pass and we make no move to hurt his father, in fact, we’ve barely spoken of it since the night Michael pressed the barrel of his gun to my temple.
Kade has forbid me to leave his room at any time unaccompanied by him. If he leaves without me, he locks the door from the outside and I’m stuck, locked up in the massive room all by myself. It gets a little lonely… especially when he doesn’t come back until well into the night. In those moments, when I hear the door unlock and see him step in, it highlights my entire day. I’m not sure I like the way butterflies run rampant in my stomach when he comes back, or the way my heart beats at a quicker pace, but it happens anyway.

Sometimes we show
er together and all of the time we cuddle until we fall to sleep. We don’t talk about it. He refuses to discuss anything that hints to any emotion or memory and I’m content with that for now. He has yet to touch me again like he did the day he blindfolded me and I wake up in the middle of the night, finding myself craving it, craving his touch, but he refuses to put his hands on me. It’s me that usually pushes him for more, desperately wanting him to do something to me, anything, but he never does. He’ll kiss me until my lips swell, until I’m grinding my hips into him, but he won’t take it further. God, I want him to. I want him to so badly. As stupid as it sounds, there’s no one I trust more in this world than him.

This morning, Kade left in a huff and came back just as quick. I sit on the couch, trying hard to ignore him as he storms around the room, cursing under his breath and raking his fingers through his hair.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, knowing better.

Kade pauses and peers at me from underneath his brow. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Michael found out about the mine and he’s pissed. He’s going to pull me as
supervisor and second in charge and give the role to Vince.”

I lift myself off the couch and step closer to Kade. “That’s not fair… did you tell him you were going to fix it
?”

He shakes his head. “I can’t tell him that. He can’t know I was going to use you to purchase a mine off of Albert. It’ll embarrass him
, make things worse.”

I make my way across the room to Kade
, who stands by his desk. “What do we do?”

His black irises search mine, flicking between the two. “We have to kill him… before he goes back to the city to make the changes next week.”

My heart stops beating.
Kill him?
We’re actually going through with that?
“It’s been so long since we’ve spoken about it… I assumed you didn’t want to do it anymore.”

“I never
change my mind,” he states and I swallow hard.

“Okay… how do you want to do it?”

“You’ll distract him, like you would Albert, and I’ll kill him.”

My stomach churns and rolls, forcing my hands to clench into fists. He wants me to seduce his father, distract him so he can kill him?

“He will see me coming, Nine. I never allow myself to be alone in a room with him and he knows it. If I try, he’ll see right through me. I need you to get him alone in his bedroom.”

“Why would you make me do that? I thought we—”

“You thought we what?” he snaps, daring me to continue. Problem is, I don’t even know what I was going to say.
I thought we had an understanding? I thought we were something?
I shake my head, hating the way my shoulders slump. “You said you’d help me.”

“And I will, I just thought
those
kinds of requests were behind us… after everything that has happened.”

“Regardless of what has happened, you
are still my Unfortunate.”

“Unfortunate?
” I can’t help the offended gust of air that spills from my mouth. “You are an assh—”

He snatches my face in one quick hand and I wince at the pressure as he draws it to his
, digging his fingers into my cheeks. His smell flows over me and my knees wobble…
God.
“If you let the rest of that word roll of your tongue, you’re going to regret it.” I clench my jaw and cringe as Kade’s fingers dig in. “You keep expecting me to be sweet and kind, but I’ve never been either of those things in my life. You’re lucky I don’t bend you over my desk and fuck you like the meaningless possession you are.”

I flinch at his
fallacious words and watch as his eyes drop to my mouth and his lips part as a heavy breath flows through them.

“Why haven’t you?”
I ask, throwing caution to the wind. He cringes imperceptibly. “Why haven’t you hurt me? Taken me against my will?”

He ponders
my question, his face serious and hard. “Because I—”

“Because you care?
” I challenge him. “Because I’m not just the meaningless possession you believe I am?”

“Don’
t be so imprudent, Unfortunate, it might come back and bite you on the ass.”