Page 112 of Crush

After a brief nod of my head, I moved away. At the door, I turned back to face him.

There was a smile on his face but again, there was little humour in it.

“Welcome to the dark side, Hunter,” Kai Kinlan husked deeply.

My sense of humour got the better of me as I asked, “Can I ask a question?”

He huffed and folded his arms over his chest, his eyebrows inched towards his hairline. “What?”

“Is the kiss of death real? Or is that just another thing made up from the movies? And, how about the carnation thing?”

Kinlan rolled his eyes but I saw the hint of a smile touch his lips as he barked, “Out!” He motioned towards the door with a jab of his thumb.

My spine locked but I managed to leave the room with my head held high and a shit-eating grin on my face.

As I left the building, I realised I had just put Amber and myself in bed with the mafia.

The thought of Kinlan approaching Amber in any way made my blood run cold. I remembered the girl who had shot him that day. She had been one gutsy female. Would he be looking for her or would he let her go? Yes, he was a nasty bastard, but he didn’t come across as the type of arsehole who would hurt a woman, especially not a teenager.

I dashed the thought to one side, forget that shit, it hadnothingto do with me. I had my own girl to protect and without that fuckers help; I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that.

As Hamish escorted me downstairs, I glanced into one of the offices as we passed. I decided to keep the vision of the man I saw there tied to a chair frommy mind. I had just figuratively shaken hands with the fucking mafia, I sure hoped it was worth it.

Driving away from the compound, I realised that Kai Kinlan was a force of nature and that there was every chance he would fill his father’s shoes and then some. I decided as I steered through the busy London streets that once the shit with Harker was solved, I would cut all ties with the psychopath; the thought ofswimming with the fishesboomeranging around my brain.

Twenty

Amber

Max had been so supportive over the last few days. I had taken myself off shopping with Mia, as he had told me to stay away from work, as it had been a place Zander had visited me. It turned out that Max had seen me talking with Zander outside the site. I didn’t understand why he’d not told me that sooner. Again, that didn’t do great things for the level of trust I had in him.

I was sitting in the back of the limo on my way home minus any shopping bags. I’d been too nervous to try clothes on and my feet were still sore from the night of the fire, which meant I wasn’t in the mood to try on shoes.

That feeling of being watched was always there now, especially after Zander torched the barn and attempted to murder my horses.

“Stay in the car,” Dexter instructed in a brisk voice.

After firing off a reply to Mia, I looked up from my phone as his tone suggested something was wrong.

“OK. Why?” I asked, shoving my phone into my bag as I peeked outside the glass. The gates into our house must have jammed as they were open halfway but nothing else seemed amiss. It was probably a malfunction. That happened if the gates had been manually overridden and of course, they had been the night of the fire. They probably needed reprogramming.

“The gap is too narrow for the limo. I need to reset the gates. I’ll be back in a minute,” Dexter explained with a grunt of annoyance. There was a definite tone to his voice that I wasn’t used to, a sternness. I pushed my shoulders back against the leather seat as he huffed out of the car.

Releasing a sigh of impatience, I watched as his broad shoulders disappeared around the side of the gatepost. Dexter headed for the gatehouse and I turnedaway and rested my eyes. I was tired and needed to wake the hell up, I couldn’t wait to see Max and I knew I’d need all my energy. We hadn’t seen each other for a few days and there was lost time to make up for. My mind raced thinking of all the naughty things I wanted him to do to me. My father was away on business and I’d given Teresa and Marcel the night off. Therefore we were pretty much alone.

I glanced towards the gatehouse, wondering what was taking so long. It was an old building where the controls were kept, it had a small office and a toilet, but it wasn’t in use anymore.

The house once belonged to a member of the royal family and they would have had permanent security on that gate. Daddy had old black-and-white pictures of it in his study.

As I picked at my nails, I felt an unexpected urge to go after him and hurry things up. I wanted a shower and the chance to pretty myself before Max arrived. Folding my hands on my lap I started to become agitated. What was he doing?

I was just about to climb out of the vehicle when the flashing light on the gate post lit up to signify that they were in operation and they started to crawl open.

My phone pinged, and I drew it from my bag and swiped the screen. It was another message from Mia to say that Luca hadofficiallyasked her out. At last; I was so happy for her.

I was in the process of replying when I heard Dexter climb back into the car. He then started the engine and we drove in through the gates.

We slowly pass the charred remains of the stables. The horses had been taken to a neighbouring farm until plans to rebuild were approved. My heart squeezed as it did every time I saw the black rubble. Several worse-case scenarios always came thundering back. If Max and I hadn’t saved the horses, they would have died in that fire and if that had been the case, part of me would have died too.

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