Deceit in Bloom (The Love Unauthorized Series Book 1) Read online

  “You have until the drive is up, and once again no promises.”

  “What do you mean by ‘an arrangement like this’?”

  “I’ve never paid for sex on the regular, and I’ve never gone back to someone who I’ve once paid to fuck. I basically give Stassi a weekly salary to be available to me when I want her. She has a certain quota she has to meet from the amount I’m giving her.”

  “What if she doesn’t meet your quota?”

  “I’m not an unreasonable man. I know she’s a person and that she has other clients. I don’t expect her to run when I snap my fingers, but I also expect to be given what I’m paying for. So far, our arrangement has been upheld well. I give her some notice, and she makes time for me.”

  “You talk about the crowd around you. At the party last night, people swarmed you guys like you were rock stars. What the hell is with that anyway?” He chuckles a little and rubs the stubble along his jaw.

  “You don’t know anything about us, do you?” I shake my head. “Burke and I run a couple businesses around town. They have become quite successful. With that comes the people that want a piece of us. We found out pretty quickly that most of the people surrounding us when we reached the top didn’t have pure motives. It’s another reason why my arrangement with Stassi makes sense.”

  “What do you and Burke do?” He stalls on this question. It seems he’s been honest so far, even though he told me he might not be. I wonder if his openness will continue.

  “We run a tattoo shop where he and Teagan are artists. Among other things.” He steps on the accelerator, and I’m pulled back into the seat by the force. I take that as my cue to end the questioning about his business.

  “Is Teagan your girlfriend?” His foot leaves the accelerator altogether, and he looks at me as if I’m crazy.

  “What? No! Are you kidding? Why would you think that?”

  “I don’t know. You all seem so close. It’s easy enough to figure out that Teagan and Burke are brother and sister, but I don’t know how you fit in.”

  “No, Teagan is not my girlfriend. Burke and I grew up together. Life threw us together, and we’ve all been close ever since.” This seems like another topic he doesn’t want to expand upon, so I decide I should end the twenty-questions game I have going on. We return to the comfortable silence for the rest of the drive home. Once we get there, Kai goes directly to find Brae in the bedroom. I follow in order to grab some clothes for my shower and then make a hasty exit. When I’m showered and dressed, I head for the couch and open a book. Rome wasn’t built in a day. I’m still going to spend my down time being the me I’ve always been, and that was a long, hard shift.

  I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I know I’m jolted awake by pounding on the door. I spring up and run toward the offending noise. The second I open the door, a large frame rushes inside. My first thought is one of Brae’s foul clients is here to cause some trouble. The shriek I let out hurts my own ears, and in a move I’m not proud of, I drop to the floor to shield myself from this person. So much for fight or flight. Looks like there is a third option: cower like an idiot.

  Relief hits me as strong arms gently lift me up. “Shh. You’re okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry I scared you. I need Kai. Now. It’s very important, and he’s not answering his phone. I need Kai, please.” It’s Burke, and he’s using a tone with me I didn’t even think was possible for him. It certainly isn’t the same tone he used to call me a whore or demand coffee with earlier this morning. My body shakes from the scare, and I’m mortified by my reaction. So much so that I don’t think forming words is possible.

  Burke’s face is soft for the first time. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still the most intense man I’ve ever met, but for the first time since I met him, his eyes are full of an emotion that doesn’t resemble disgust or anger. He takes stock of my trembling body as he cradles me close to his chest. He seems about as shocked by my reaction as I am. Kai and Brae must have heard my scream, because they both come running out of the bedroom to find Burke holding me like a baby doll, still trembling in his arms. I don’t know if it’s because he woke me so abruptly, but it seems impossible to get my emotions in check.

  “Burke. What the hell are you doing here and what did you do to her?”

  “I was looking for you. I scared her in my rush. We need to go. We have an emergency at the garage.” His voice changes, no longer holding that soothing element. Whatever he needs Kai for is important. Kai can hear it too and doesn’t stop to think before rushing out the door and throwing a, “Let’s go,” over his shoulder. Burke hesitates in the doorway, still holding me. Then he gently places me down on my feet and flees the apartment as quickly as he entered.

  Burke

  Someone is fucking with us. From what I saw, they mean business, too. What I need to figure out is who and what they want. The garage is trashed, and I don’t know how to piece the motive together. I’m a guy who acts first, questions later. Kai’s level head is more suited for the shit at hand today.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” We’re still standing outside of Kai’s whore’s apartment, and I’m ready to get the fuck out of here. Kai has questions, but I’d like to skip that part and show him.

  “Someone broke into the garage. Fucked stuff up and left us a little message. I think you need to see it for yourself. Come on, follow me over there.”

  “What do you mean? The tweaker? Did he get loose?”

  I don’t want to have this conversation here. “All I know is someone broke in after we left. I went back to check on our friend and handle some inventory, and the place was trashed. I found the junkie still handcuffed to the tree. Shot in the face. Get in your fucking car, and you can see for yourself.” Done with explanations, I turn away from him to get into my own car. He’ll follow. He needs to see this for himself, and I need to know who the fuck is behind this.

  A break-in during broad daylight. Hit when we weren’t there. Knew we had a guy handcuffed to a tree in the woods surrounding the warehouse. Our top-of-the-line, supposedly impenetrable security system was completely bypassed. The camera footage wiped. There is no sign of forced entry. None of the alarms were triggered. This was a well thought out attack.

  Twenty minutes later, I park at our storage garage, and Kai pulls up next to me. The storage facility is outside town in an area with very little commercial or residential population. High barbed wire fence surrounds it, and about twenty miles of nothing but trees stretch in every direction. Nobody knows the security codes besides Kai and me. Nobody has ever been invited here, not even Teagan. It’s private and secluded—perfect for an underground, illegal business. Inside holds all our expensive or large items from Unauthorized Thrift. They are stored here until they can be sold and transported.

  When I open the door for Kai to step in, shock lights up his face. He didn’t expect this, even with my warning. Everything inside that could be smashed to pieces is. The remnants lie scattered like dirt on the floor. Electronics have been thrown across the room like someone played dodgeball with them. Cars sit with the windows smashed in, the doors off their hinges, the upholstery torn to shreds, and the bodies scratched and dented. Three pool tables on the far side of the room look like someone took a chain saw to them, the legs detached from the tables being the mildest damage. All of the jewelry has been thrown into a steal garbage can and lit on fire, and a small blaze is still alive inside the can. Everything within the garage is ruined. We probably lost over one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise.

  Someone didn’t want to fuck us over. If that were what they wanted, they would have stolen and made money off all this crap. It doesn’t look as if they even took one thing for themselves. They wanted to send us a message without signing it.

  Three dummies lie in the center of the room. The first one is face down with a bullet hole in its head. That one has my name written in red paint across the back. The second, which is on its stomach, is r
iddled with bullet holes and has Kai’s name written in the same red paint across its torso. The third—the only one in the line that makes my blood run cold—is a plastic-and-cloth doll that has been slashed apart by what looks like a razor blade. The doll’s legs are spread, its private parts slashed to ribbons, and across its forehead is one word: Teagan.

  My muscles tense while my blood pressure shoots through the roof. Enraged isn’t a strong enough word for how I feel about this. Anyone planning to hurt Teagan has a death wish I’ll personally deliver. Let them come at me. They may have caught me off guard this time, but that was their mistake. Now, I’m ready. I’ve beaten men within an inch of their lives and taught hard lessons to people who tried to steal from us before. I’ve never crossed the line of killing a man before, but someone who threatens Teagan has no chance of survival.

  It’s time to come up with a plan. A plan to keep Teagan safe. A plan to fucking blow the head off whoever has any intentions of hurting her. The damage to the garage and everything in it is most likely the first act of what’s to come, but the display in the center is the final intention of whoever did this. There is work to be done.

  Someone is letting it be known this is only the beginning.

  Paisley

  It’s been a week since Burke came looking for Kai. Brae has seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood, while I’ve been slipping farther down into a depressed state. My nightmares have been more persistent than ever before. Even more vivid if possible. I hate that they keep me awake, haunting my nights. What I hate more about them, though, is that I have no idea where they stem from or what they mean. They have been a part of my life as far back as I remember. Every night, within my mind, I’m locked in a small, dark room. There is something familiar about it, but even after all these years, I can’t place it. It drives me nuts. It has to have some significance. Many mornings I lie in bed, trying to recreate my visions from the dream. I focus on everything I can remember, attempting to piece together why this haunts me.

  It’s a room about the size of a large closet that has a small mural on the wall. A field with colorful wildflowers and the sun bright and beautifully displayed over the green grass. This mural is the only thing within my nightmares that brings me any peace. I’ve been trying to recreate the dream for hours, still only able to see the mural, but then Brae comes bouncing into the room, distracting me.

  “Get up!”

  I roll over and pull the thin cover over my head. I don’t want to be disturbed by anyone today, and Brae isn’t an exception.

  “Get up! Up, up, up! I don’t know why you’ve been sulking around, but I’m in a good mood. So I’m taking you out for a girls’ day. My treat. Now get up! We’re going for some pampering.” With that announcement, she pulls the cover I’m hiding beneath off with one quick, hard tug. My eyes remain closed in silent hope she’ll go away. Besides being depressed, I’ve been in an awful mood, plus I just worked six days in a row. Today I want to stay in bed and do nothing. Is that too much to ask?

  Of course, I lose this fight. She’s a force to be reckoned with when she wants something. Thirty minutes later, we are in a car on our way to the nail place for manicures and pedicures. Brae’s car. A car I didn’t even know she had.

  “Where the hell did you get this car?”

  “It’s mine. I bought it three days ago. Isn’t it nice?”

  “Yeah, but where did you get the freaking money for it?”

  Before she can respond, her cell phone chirps from its spot in the cup holder. She leans forward to grab it and answers.

  “Hello?”

  “No, I’m not home.” Twenty bucks says this is a client looking for her. Meaning she’ll probably abandon this plan and go make some money. I can’t say I’d be mad.

  “I can’t. I’m on my way to the nail salon with my sister.” There is another pause as she listens to the other person on the line. Is she really going to turn down a job? Braelyn doesn’t do that.

  “Fine. I’ll see you in ten minutes.” She hangs up. I knew she wouldn’t turn down the money. We can go back home. A client coming over means my day moved from my bed to the couch. I’ll totally live with that.

  “We’re stopping by Kai’s before the nail salon.”

  “Um, what? What do you mean we’re going to Kai’s?”

  “Listen, Paise, I don’t want to go either, but he’s already paid me for the week. I haven’t seen him once. He’s had some shit going on or something. I can hardly tell him no when so far I’ve been paid for doing nothing. You’ve seen the house. I’m sure you can sit in the living room and watch television for an hour. It’ll be fine.” I thought that phone call was getting me out of this girls’ day. As it turns out, it made it worse.

  The town is split into two sides: the affluent side, which is filled with big houses and manicured lawns, and the impoverished side, which is filled with trailer parks and run-down apartment complexes. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what side of town Brae and I live on. We’re heading to that other side. Great.

  This time when we arrive at the house, the front gates are closed. Brae has to ask for permission to enter at an intercom. Kai’s voice booms through the tiny speaker in the center of the security device, and a second later the gate opens, quickly snapping shut behind us once we make it through. Also unlike last time, the driveway is free of cars and music can’t be heard echoing throughout the property.

  Kai is standing outside the front door to meet us. He seems distracted as he frantically types something on his phone. He doesn’t look up once in the time it takes Brae to park the car and for us to walk up to him. I wonder if he’s still distracted by whatever happened to cause Burke to burst into our apartment last week. An uncomfortable amount of time passes before Kai looks up and sees us standing before him. His face looks tired. He has dark circles under his eyes to match mine. For the first time since I met him, he isn’t wearing a playful smile. Even so, he’s still handsome.

  “Come in.”

  The house is clean and free of shoulder-to-shoulder bodies. The surfaces are completely devoid of dust, let alone the powdery white drug that decorated furniture tops like candy dishes last time I was here. Sunlight pours in through the windows, bringing light inside what looks more like a family home instead of the den of sin it resembled last time I was here. The change in appearance rests my nerves about being left to my own devices while Brae services Kai.

  Brae is in professional mode. Her nose is held high while she struts through the rooms of this giant house directly behind Kai. The gleam in her eye sparkles. She looks completely unaffected by the grandeur around her or the man she’s about to sneak off with. She grew up dirt poor like me, but she looks much more like she belongs in a place like this. The dress she wears is designer and the shoes she’s rocking clack on the floor as she takes confident steps. One day, I envision she really will have a home like this of her own, either from marrying rich or from a successful con that’ll get her here. I can’t picture Brae married, so my money is on the latter. Marriage would take away the control she loves so much. However, if anyone could have their cake and eat it too, it would be her.

  Kai finally stops moving through the house when we reach the open space of the living room. A large dark gray couch sections off the space. Above an entertainment center sits the biggest television I’ve ever laid eyes on. Girly touches are pulled into the otherwise masculine room in the forms of colorful, decorative lamps on side tables and throw pillows on the couch. Candles adorn an accent table. Kai turns on the large television and hands me the remote. “You’ll be okay for a bit?”

  What could I really say—no? “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

  He nods his head and walks back to the other side of the couch. “Bathroom is right through there, and help yourself to anything in the fridge. I won’t keep her long.” Without another word, Kai leads Brae down a hallway out of my view.

  Curiosity gets the better of me, and instead of sitting and flipping thro
ugh channels, I investigate the room. Pictures set in frames grace the walls. Every picture contains Teagan, but some include one or both men in them as well. There are pictures of her from a little girl all the way until today. The walls of this room showcase her birthdays, her first car, a graduation, and other important milestones. It seems that, despite what I saw the other night, this is a family home. A non-traditional family but definitely family. Traditional family never works out great for most of the people I’ve come across in life anyway. I lift a frame from the wall and inspect it as a small smile tilts my lips. Then a feminine voice yells through the house.

  At first, I think it’s Braelyn and that she’s in trouble. But as it gets louder, it’s clear that it’s not her screaming. It isn’t someone in trouble even, but someone who’s angry. Loud stomping comes from a section of the house that, from my vantage point, I can only assume is where the stairs to the second story are. The yelling gets louder. Long, straight hair and exaggerated flailing limbs storm by me. It’s Teagan. Burke follows behind her in a more controlled gate, but aggravation is clear on his face. Neither of them notices me.

  “I’ve been locked up in the house for a week, Burke. Only allowed to leave with my new security detail. I’m going crazy. You won’t even let me go to work without you. I have appointments I need to keep at the shop. You’re going way overboard. This is insane.”

  “I’m not going overboard,” Burke screams back so loudly it practically shakes the walls of the house. Then, in a much calmer tone, he continues, “This isn’t me trying to control you, Teagan. Do I need to describe to you again the scene in that garage? Someone is threatening your life, and we need to be careful until we figure out what the hell is going on. Kai and I have this under control. This lockdown won’t be forever, but for now, you need to deal.”

  He sighs heavily with frustration that she isn’t seeing his point of view. I don’t know what they are arguing about, but it’s clear enough that they wouldn’t be having this conversation at all if they knew they had an audience. The only problem is, I’m not quite sure how to extract myself from the room without them noticing. I’m stuck, so instead of letting them go on about whatever it is Teagan has a problem with, I decide to let them know I’m here. I’m about to clear my throat or make a noise, but Teagan’s eyes meet mine.