Page 22 of Dangerously Deceptive

Hating the awkward silence that is filling the air, I can’t help but interrupt them to hopefully draw them back into the now, rather than whatever past they are dwelling on. I try to be as inconspicuous as possible—cough—trying to make it look real, but also to get their attention. Both sets of eyes travel to me immediately and Kellan smiles at me like he knows what I was trying to do, I just hope he was grateful for it.

“You must be the reason I was called here. I’m Finn, this reprobate over here is my brother,” Finn says as he holds his hand out for me to shake. My mouth flops open like a fish, I thought they were brothers, they have a similarity, it’s not obvious but there’s something there.

“Finn, this is Shayla. Shayla, Finn isn’t my real brother. He is Liam’s older brother, although everyone has always treated him as the baby of the family,” Kellan replies.

Without thinking about what I was about to say, my hand reaches out to clasp his and out comes the word vomit. “It’s probably because of his boy band good looks.”

Fuck, did I just say that out loud? Someone please kill me now, I don’t think I can take much more. These good-looking assholes are frying my brain cells.

Luckily both boys seem to think it was hilarious, and Kellan full-on belly laughs. It’s actually quite a beautiful thing to see, watching him be so free.

“Sorry, I should have just said that I’m Shayla and it’s nice to meet you,” I mumble, looking down at the floor as I pull my gaze away from him.

“Don’t apologise, Shay. This asshole knows he’s good-looking. It’s how he pays the bills. So don’t be embarrassed for noticing,” Kellan explains as he indicates for us all to take a seat.

Walking over to the tatty motel sofa, Kellan and I sit, while Finn takes the chair. Despite not being an overtly muscular guy like Jamieson, he still isn’t small, and he looks even bigger in the small chair, but he doesn’t complain. The smile never wavers from his face.

“Oh, before I forget. I circled around a few times to make sure the coast was clear before coming in, which it definitely isn’t. You are okay in the immediate vicinity, but as soon as you get a block away, the streets are scattered with not so subtle bikers. I thought this was a job. Why the hell are there Reapers after you, Kel?” Finn asks, and I can’t help or hide the shocked little gasp that leaves me. As if they are here!

“Erm…they’re for me,” I mumble as Finn’s far too beautiful face looks at me in complete and utter shock.

“You know the Reapers? How?” he asks. His eyes glance around the room, and danger is clearly written on his face. He is assessing all the exit points, checking where we can go if they breach. What he doesn’t realise is if they wanted me dead, I would be. They have had plenty of time, but even if they had decided they wanted to kill me within the last few minutes of me meeting Finn, they wouldn’t knock the door down, or engage in hand-to-hand combat. They would throw Molotov cocktails in, one after another, and rain down heavy machine gun fire until the entire room, and most likely the adjoining ones too, are blown to smithereens.

“Relax, Finn. Shayla is the Reapers’ Princess, but before you lose your shit, just listen. The job she is doing, with our help, is to earn her freedom away from them. We have to help her.” Kellan’s ever gravelly yet kind voice melts my heart.

“I don’t know, Kel. You never told me those crazy fuckers are involved. If this plan goes sideways, they will take out everyone involved.”

Sadly, Finn is not wrong, and I start to reassure him, but don’t really have the right words. After two failed attempts at words, Kellan steps in. “They won’t know you are involved. As far as they know, you are my brother that came to visit because it’s the first time I’ve been nearby in a while, and I had news from Liam for you. I’ve already texted Whiskey, our link in the Reaper MC, to let him know who you are, to make sure nobody comes near the building. I promise you, your life is in no more danger than it was before you walked through this door. I don’t think you need an incentive to help your brother, but if you do, then how is this as an incentive?”

Kellan reaches over and before I can stop him, he simultaneously pulls up one side of my t-shirt and rolls the sleeve of the cardigan I am wearing over the top. I try to push him away, not wanting my skin exposed to this complete stranger, but then I realise what Kellan is doing. He is showing Finn exactly why we are doing this. As his shocked gasp and sharp intake of breath fills the air, I know it has had the desired effect.

Looking down to see what he sees, my skin is a variety of different stages still from blacks and blues to dark yellows. There are even some translucent white patches where you can see scars from previous incidents. I look battered and bruised, and that’s just the surface wounds. I can only imagine what the bones look like. Although, I wasn’t thinking too much about how much it hurts to move when I was contorting my body into all kinds of positions and letting Kellan fuck me last night. Truth is, of course I could feel the pain, but this isn’t my first rodeo—great, now I’m thinking about riding him like a bull—I have been in pain before, and still have to get on with life. So that is exactly what I did.

Finn’s eyes cast over my mottled skin, and this awful, sad puppy-dog expression covers his face. I never want to see such a sad face on someone so bright and beautiful, it is a waste of a face. “They did that to you? Didn’t Kel say you’re their Princess?” he asks, the shock and confusion evident.

“Yeah, the President, Mack Callahan, he is my father. But by name only. He’s never really treated me like a dad should. I was left alone until I turned thirteen. Then I was made to help out around the house and the compound, like the other Sweetbutts. But I didn’t officially become one until I was sixteen, and even then I was relatively lucky that they let me stay out of the way and finish school. From thirteen, I still got to experience the beatings, but it got bad when I turned sixteen. It got even worse when I turned eighteen. I have lasted just over a year as an official Reaper Sweetbutt, and for me that’s a year too long. I need out. So, I went to Church. I asked them to give me an exit plan, and for months they declined. They didn’t want to lose their Princess. But, all that changed when I presented them with an opportunity too good to lose. If we succeed today, it will be a miracle. But, even if I fail, the outcomes for me are either life in prison, or death, and quite frankly both of those are a walk in the park compared to life with the Reapers. Although they did say, if I don’t succeed and somehow don’t get captured or killed, then I will marry Whiskey, and become his Old Lady. An Old Lady, whilst still being the very bottom of the ladder in the Reapers’ eyes, still has an element of protection, depending on how much Jamieson chooses to protect me. So, yeah, my chances are bleak, but they are still better than failing.”

I don’t know why I just blurted all that out, to a perfect stranger, and given the way he looks at me, Finn is just as shocked by my candid confession. But it’s all true, and hopefully whatever he is here to help with, he will agree to.

“Well, we better make sure this mission doesn’t fail. I know you only brought me here for the Special K and the dress, Kel, but I can help with so much more,” he replies directly to Kellan, before turning to face me. “Let me help you get dressed and then we can go over a few techniques for how you can seduce, and make him think he isn’t being seduced.”

“Thank you, but we have a really good, well-practised plan. I’m not sure I want to add in any new and confusing techniques,” I reply honestly. I already have so many eventualities in my head and I don’t need more. Besides, what does Finn know about seducing people? I'm sure women just fall at his feet.

Kellan starts to laugh and I realise I must have said that last part aloud instead of thinking it in my head. Fuck! My cheeks flush and heat as humiliation spreads through my pores.

“Actually, I can relate to a lot of your story, because it’s what I live every day. I have a father who cares more about what I can bring to his business than he does me. When we were born, Desmond, our father, decided at a very young age what we would do with our lives. Liam was the baby, but even as a kid it was impossible to miss how laser focused and precise he can be. So Dad trained him to be an assassin. My eldest brother, Evan, always had an air about him, and wasn’t afraid to stand up for his younger brothers. He’s the smartest and most cunning out of us all, which is why he was chosen to train with Desmond, to become a mini version of himself. But, finding a role for me was more of a problem. I wasn’t a fighter, I didn’t run into trouble blindly, or break the rules just to see if I could. I had no discernible skill, no matter what Desmond tried to train me in. He even tried to get me lessons on hacking, which I was shit at. If he had known he had a world-class tech geek living under his nose the whole time, he would never have let this one go,” he explains, pointing to Kellan as he does.

Finn sags, his whole body seems to deflate and my heart breaks for him. I can see the similarities in our stories. We both had fathers who couldn’t see our true potential, so they forced us to do things we didn’t want to do. If his story is anything like mine, when he continues, I know it will get worse. Kellan obviously knows it will too, because he reaches over and takes hold of my hand that was resting on my knee.

“By the time I was around twelve years old, I had tried my hand at almost every illegal enterprise, and I failed miserably at them all. Desmond was getting more and more pissed, taking out that anger with his fists on occasion. It wasn’t until one of his business associates, a sick, disgusting excuse for a man, asked him if I were for sale, did my dad finally realise what my unique selling point is, it’s my looks. That’s when he decided I would become a catfish, a honey trap, whatever the hell other name they have for that sort of shit. Basically, I con people using my looks. It might be for the short term, so they spend a night with me and I take what I want from them before leaving. Or a more long-term project like I’m on now. Without going into too much detail, I am currently trying to seduce an elderly woman to fall in love with me, marry me, and sign over all her possessions to me instead of her children. Then, ensuring she has the right life insurance in place, we wait for her to die, or Desmond helps move things along. Or, if she has no insurance, I divorce her, taking all the money because there will be a clause in the contracts that she didn’t see. So, I do things like that. I even seduce women with the sole purpose of causing their marriage to end, usually so her husband can benefit in the divorce, but it will always have a benefit to Desmond. Normally to his bank account. So, yeah, I can offer you advice because I whore out my body for a living, and I have more tricks up my sleeve than I would care to admit.”

Holy fuck! I was not expecting him to say any of this! I mean, yeah, the guy is the right kind of gorgeous for that type of work, but he doesn't look like he has the personality of someone who is capable of breaking people’s hearts. As a slight blush spreads across his cheeks, I realise he is a bit embarrassed by the confession he just shared. I want to make him feel comfortable again, he is, after all, like a brother to Kellan. Besides, even from just the small amount of time I have spent with him, I can already tell he is a good person.

“Well, we better get a move on then. If I have new things to learn, as well as getting myself ready, we are going to need to get started now.” A smile spreads across Finn’s face as I speak, and I’m glad he wants to help.

“I didn’t know how much I would need to help you, so I brought all my kit. I have some foundation in the car that will cover all those bruises and scars. As long as you don’t sweat heavily or shower, it will stay in place,” Finn adds, and my eyebrows draw together over my nose in confusion.

“What?” I ask, and Finn just chuckles.

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