Five Card Studs

  “Yeah?”

  “I can’t really hear you, I think your phone is breaking up.”

  I frowned. “Shit, really?”

  “Are you inside?”

  “Yeah, sorry. It’s supposed to be decent reception where I am now. My mom heard me just fi—”

  “I can’t.”

  I worried my brow again at her bizarrely reserved tone.

  “Can you go outside, maybe?”

  I frowned, glancing around. My eyes spotted the circular iron staircase that curved up to the balcony level of the library that wrapped around the outside wall. And off of that, the double glass doors that led out to the big over-hanging porch that looked out over the estate.

  “Yeah, actually, I can. Hang on.”

  Andrea was silent as I climbed the stairs, unlatched the doors, and stepped outside.

  “Can you hear me now?”

  She sobbed, and my heart jumped into my chest. “Andrea?!”

  “Mia—”

  The phone went dead, and my gut sank. I swallowed, whirling to go back inside and—

  …And that’s when the bag went over my head, and I screamed.

  That’s when the hands grabbed me, and hauled me away.

  20

  Ash

  I smiled to myself as I stalked down the hall towards her room.

  Shit.

  I was grinning, and I was not the grinning type. Something about this girl got me…well, it got me grinning, for one. Something about her made something click inside of me. Something I’m pretty sure I’d forgotten about — the capacity to care like that. Growing up the way I had — the way all three of us had — without parents and in and out of the foster system most likely broke something inside of us. The absence of a family does that, I supposed, but then, that’s probably why we found each other, and Amy back then.

  But then, here I was, grinning as I approached Mia’s room.

  Because I had that itch. I had that nagging, pulling feeling of wanting her — to watch her face as I slid inside, and watch her mouth open in a moan as I filled her. Sharing her with Erik and Oliver was phenomenal of course. We’d shared plenty of women over the years, but they were faded imitations of whatever this was with Mia. Nothing in a million women could ever be as intense, or as perfect as it was with the three of us and her.

  But then, I also wanted a taste of my own, too. Of course, what we had was shared between all of us, but I also wanted that moment of just her and I.

  I rapped my knuckles on her doorframe before stepping inside.

  My grin faded — empty.

  Shit.

  I grumbled as I headed downstairs, through the huge living room, past the downstairs library, and the study, past the doors out to the gardens, and into the kitchen.

  I loved this place — big enough for all three of us, away from the city, and yet close enough to go when we needed. I rolled my eyes as I caught myself wondering if this place was big enough for four.

  Jesus, and I used to be a hard ass.

  Oliver was in the kitchen, and he grinned as I stepped in.

  “You were looking for her, weren’t you?”

  I shrugged casually. “No.”

  “Your shirt’s unbuttoned and I can practically see your blue balls from here.”

  “Ass,” I flipped him off with a grin.

  Oliver chuckled. “She went up to the east library wing to make some calls.”

  “Family and stuff, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  For a second, I could hear some sort of sound outside — something mechanical barely in the distance. I frowned, wondering if we had a gardener coming out today.

  “For what it’s worth,” I glanced back as Oliver cleared his throat. “I was looking for her too.”

  We both laughed as Oliver hit the brew button on the espresso machine. “Man,” he shook his head. “She’s—”

  “It.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, man. She is.”

  “Could we do this? Her, here, with all of us?”

  He shrugged. “What do you think?”

  “I think not having her here would kill me.”

  “Well, there’s your answer.”

  That mechanical noise outside got louder, and this time we both frowned at the sound.

  “The fuck is that?”

  Erik ducked into the kitchen. “You guys going into the city or something?”

  I scowled. “No?”

  He looked at me quizzically. “Well then why the fuck is there a helicopter landing on the—”

  We froze for one millisecond, before we bolted. Oliver’s espresso cup dropped to ground and shattered as we dashed for the stairs, blood pounding.

  “Mia!” I roared, charging ahead at the top of the stairs and running full tilt down the hall to the library wing.

  “Mia!” Erik went crashing through the doors to the library—

  …Just in time to see them carrying her to the ladder dangling from the copter.

  My world went black.

  “Mia!”

  I was somewhat aware of taking the metal stairs three at a time with Erik and Oliver right at my heels. Barely conscious of smashing through a side table and chair, and seeing white fury as I crashed right through the glass doors to the balcony as they bound her to the ladder and started to rise.

  I ran forward, roaring like a fucking animal as the helicopter rose, taking the women we loved and the men who’d stolen her away.

  The helicopter rose higher, and I watched through blood-tinged vision as it turned and flew away over the trees.

  Gone, and taking our Mia with them.

  21

  Oliver

  Cunningham.

  We knew who it was the second we realized what was happening, but our people confirmed it five minutes later when we went into full war-mode. Motherfucking Cunningham had taken her.

  The gun clicked in my hand as I chambered a round and clicked on the safety.

  I thought I’d hated him before. I thought I’d hated him more than I could hate anything for what he’d done to Amy.

  And then this happened.

  Then he’d come and torn our hearts out all over again, by snatching the one woman we’d ever thought of in that way. Men like us? Well, we’d given up on the idea of feeling the L word a long time ago. We figured we were too broken, too far gone, too dark for a word like love.

  And then we’d met Mia, and everything we’d known had changed in a second. In one single goddamn second, the construct we’d built around the place in our chests where hearts should have been went shattering to pieces. Because in that one single second, we knew we’d been wrong.

  Because it took one second for all three of us to fall in love with Mia Thorne.

  …And Ryan Cunningham needed only one second more to take her away.

  I slammed the gun down and grabbed a second, shoving the cartridge in with a sharp snapping sound.

  Cunningham had officially fucked with the wrong guys.

  He didn’t know about Amy — well, at least didn’t know our connection to her. That’d been part of our goal with getting back into the scene at the Auction House, in order to get close to him so we could take him out. But he knew about Mia alright.

  And he’s just hit our breaking point, whether he knew it or not. This was it — this was the line that snapped us over the edge.

  The plan to take him out was a long-term one, and there were a few months left before we’d planned our final move. But now? Well, now Cunningham had moved that deadline up.

  Considerably.

  Because today was the day we acted.

  Today was the day he died.

  They’d fucked with the wrong guys. For one, because we were past caring now. But for two?

  I smiled grimly.

  Well, for two, because we dealt fucking guns for a living.

  I glanced around the stockade — what we called the subterranean network of supply rooms, barracks, and garages that we’d buil
t beneath the mansion. I could almost laugh. Yeah, bad fucking move, Ryan. The place was a literal fucking arsenal that rivaled the armies of most small counties.

  And now we were locked, loaded, and ready to go.

  “Oliver.”

  I glanced up to see Erik looking grim as he slung a shotgun over his back. “Helicopter inbound. Let’s go do this.”

  “Let’s go get our girl back,” Ash growled, strapping a wicked-looking knife to his leg.

  I nodded.

  Because we would get her back.

  And then we’d kill every single one of the bastards that took her.

  22

  Mia

  “I’m a man of certain tastes, Mia.”

  I shivered at the cold steel of the blade, swallowing thickly as Ryan dragged the dull side of it against my cheek.

  Ryan’s midtown penthouse apartment was the entire top two floors of a building — all glass walls looking out over the twinkling city lights. It’d be beautiful, in another situation.

  One where I wasn’t tied to a chair in his living room while he breathed down my neck and teased a blade against my skin.

  “Now,” he said. “I know where you’ve been, and who you’ve been with.”

  He shook his head, eyes narrowing as he moved in front of me and leveled them at me.

  “You know, some might call you damaged goods, but me? Well, to me, you’re not.” He smiled wickedly as he twirled the blade in front of my eyes. “Well, not yet you aren’t.”

  “You let me the fuck go.”

  He grinned. “A kitty with claws, I see.”

  “Fuck you.”

  He sucked on his teeth, making a “tsking” sound.

  “I thought they’d break you in, those three. Guess they failed.” He chuckled to himself. “Guess they weren’t man enough.”

  “Believe me,” I smiled sweetly at him. “They’re definitely man enough.”

  He leaned down, eyes level with me. “I know those three shits have certain tastes — certain darker tastes.” He growled. But trust me.” He leaned forward, and I shriveled from him as his lips drew close to my ear.

  “Trust me when I say their tastes are nothing compared to mine.”

  The blade slid over my skin again, making me shiver.

  “Is your thing talking me to death?”

  His eyes narrowed as he whistled. “You really want me to make this hurt don’t you?”

  “You’re still talking.”

  I knew I was pushing him, but I also knew I didn’t care. Because I’d figured something out about myself, there in that house with Oliver, Ash, and Erik. And as strange as it sounds to have learned it through submission, and giving up control, it’s the truth.

  I’d learned a strength I’d never known I had.

  I learned about that hidden part of me, deep inside — the part of me that was stronger than I ever knew I was, and the part of me that gave me a power I’d never known.

  It was also the part of me that refused to cower to men like Ryan Cunningham.

  “You know,” he hissed, leaning close and hefting the knife. “I think we’ll start with your tongue. And then?” He smiled sickeningly as he traced the blade down over the font of my shirt, down lower as his other hand stroked the small bulge in his pants.

  “Then we’ll have some real fun.”

  There was a whirring sound in the distance, something mechanical and chopping that came through even over the distant sound of the city below. Ryan’s brow furrowed, when there was a knock at the door.

  “I’m still occupied in here,” he bellowed.

  The knock came again, and he hissed as he whirled again. “What?”

  Two men rushed in, looking grim. “Mr. Cunningham, sir!”

  “Oh for fuck’s sake, what is—”

  “There’s a helicopter approaching the building.”

  Ryan frowned. “What for? I didn’t call any—”

  “It’s not ours, sir, it’s—”

  The glass wall behind us overlooking the city suddenly shattered under a hail of bullets as Ryan and the other man screamed and dove for the floor.

  The helicopter pulled up, hovering even with the shattered window.

  And my jaw dropped.

  It was them.

  More men poured into the room, guns blazing. Oliver and Ash returned fire from the open doorway of the helicopter, scattering the men as bullets raked the walls.

  In the chaos of the moment, I lurched to one side, slamming over onto my side and feeling the wind knock out of me. But I also felt my arms slip free of the ties holding me. I scrambled, kicking free of the ties holding my legs as I made a dash for—

  One of Cunningham’s men suddenly hefted a large pipe onto one shoulder and leveled it at the chopper.

  I froze.

  Not a pipe.

  A rocket.

  Oh God.

  The explosion deafened the room, shattering the shelves behind the man as the rocket thundered out of the launcher. The helicopter jerked up, pulling hard away, but it was too late. The tail erupted in fire as the rocket clipped it, fire and shrapnel ricocheting through the shattered windows as the chopper started to veer up and spin.

  And then I did what I swore I wouldn’t in front of Ryan.

  I screamed.

  23

  Erik

  Alarms screamed through the chopper, lights flashed, and sparks and smoke belched from the control panel against my face. I roared, jerking the stick up and hauling us up away from the windows as we started to spin.

  I could hear the screech of shattered metal, and started to choke on the acrid smoke pouring into the cockpit. I glanced behind me, my face grim.

  “We’re going down.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” Ash hissed.

  I slammed the sick left to right, fighting the loss of control as we started to veer wildly around the rooftop of Ryan’s penthouse.

  I’d gotten one look at her — one fleeting glimpse of her tied to that chair in there before we’d been hit. And her face was the only thing flashing through my mind as the whole thing started to spin out of control. Not the fortunes we’d made, not the life we’d built.

  Her, and the life we could have had with her.

  I gritted my teeth, muscles straining as I yanked the stick hard, keeping us away from a neighboring building.

  Mia.

  Mia who was everything, for one quick flash of a second.

  And then something in me snapped.

  Fuck this.

  Fuck going down like this. Fuck her tied up and in the hands of that monster being the last image I had of her.

  I whirled back to my friends. “Fuck it. You ready to make this count?”

  Ash grinned like a maniac, as Oliver nodded. “Fuck yeah.”

  The helicopter veered wildly as I yanked the rotors down. “I’m gonna try for the roof!” I bellowed behind me.

  “If we miss?”

  I glanced back at Ash. “Then it’s been an honor—”

  “Shut up.”

  I grinned. “If I miss, it’s gonna be a long drop and a quick stop at the street thirty stories down.

  He nodded grimly, and Oliver leaned forward. “Here’s a wild idea, what if you don’t miss?”

  I laughed, feeling the rush of this — the danger and the adrenaline pulsing through me.

  The helicopter started to disintegrate around us as I aimed us right at the roof at an insane angle.

  “It should go without saying that this is going to be a rough fucking landing,” I roared at them as the city lights blurred around us and the roof came screaming towards us.

  I jumped from the cockpit, lurching for the open side door along with my friends.

  “Lock and load,” I muttered to myself.

  It was go time.

  24

  Ash

  The crash is still a blur to me, even now.

  We hit like thunder, the rotary blues shredding up the roof and shattering t
he other windows. The whole damn thing flipped, and that’s when the three of us jumped free, tucking and rolling away.

  We came up firing.

  Honestly, I wish I could say there was this big fire-fight, but that shit was fast. No one expected that entrance, for one. That and the helicopter itself took out about half of Cunningham’s guys as it went skidding and rolling across the roof.

  The rest were just shocked that we were alive as we quickly made them very much not alive.

  Gunfire raked the side of the wall next to me, and I roared as I darted out, dropping to my knees and leveling two more of the guys.

  “Ash!”

  I flattened as Oliver fired over me, dropping another goon with his shotgun.

  The three of us shot our way past the last three of them before we went barreling into the stairwell and racing down the stairs to Cunningham’s penthouse.

  “Not a step closer!”

  We froze. There in the doorway of his place, all three of us bristling at the sight of Ryan brandishing a knife at her.

  “Not a step,” he hissed, eyes darting around like a man who knows he’s cornered and just about out of options. “I mean it!” he squealed.

  We kept walking.

  The thing is, I knew Ryan Cunningham — we all did. We’d studied him and pieces of shit just like him like it was our religion, preparing for his take-down. And men like Ryan — men who enjoyed hurting women — were easy to figure out.

  They were all weak, and when push came to shove they broke.

  All of them.

  Because it doesn’t take a strong man to beat on or force himself on women, it takes the weakest fucking kind of man there is. It takes a spineless piece of shit to do that.

  Which is exactly what he was. It was also exactly why we knew he wouldn’t do it. It was why we knew he was a man of backing away, not a man of action.

  Like us.

  Because when push came to shove, Ryan Cunningham and men like him were really just big pussies.

  He screeched as we rushed him, letting go of Mia in his haste to scamper away. I roared as my fist got him in the teeth, bloodying his mouth. Oliver’s swing got him across the face, breaking his nose and making him scream, and Erik’s elbow to the ribs most certainly broke a few.