Page 26 of Deadly Hands

The two of them emerged in an underground parking garage. Nikon pushed him into a waiting car, sliding in after him. As the car peeled out of the garage, Reuben finally found his voice.

“What the actual fuck?” His hands were shaking. Reuben clenched them into fists. “Was that—did you—?”

“Not here.” Nikon’s voice was ice, but his hand found Reuben’s knee, squeezing gently. “Wait until we’re back.”

The drive passed in tense silence. Reuben’s mind raced through the events. Ms. Simmons’s nervous ticks. Her too-tight smile. The way she’d flinched at his touch. All those signshe’d cataloged, thinking he was just being thorough, and then—gunfire. Blood. Chaos.

The sleek black car pulled into the private underground garage beneath Nikon’s casino, the engine’s purr echoing off concrete walls. Two security guards immediately stepped forward from their posts, their practiced movements speaking of a well-rehearsed protocol. The first opened Nikon’s door while the second took up position near the service entrance, hand resting casually on his concealed weapon.

Nikon guided Reuben through the garage with a firm hand on his lower back, bypassing the main casino entrance. Instead, they headed straight for the discrete door marked “Private Access”–the entrance Reuben had come to know led to Nikon’s personal elevator.

The moment the doors closed, Reuben rounded on him.

“Youknewsomething was going to happen.” It wasn’t a question. He’d seen too much of Nikon’s calculated planning to believe in coincidences. “That’s why you were watching from across the street?”

Nikon’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t deny it.

“All those warnings about being professional, about focusing—” Reuben’s voice shook with anger, with betrayal, with something deeper he couldn’t name. “You used me for something today. I just don’t know what.”

“I kept you safe.” Nikon crowded him against the elevator wall, one hand braced beside Reuben’s head. “That’s what matters.”

“Safe?” The word came out as a broken laugh that scraped Reuben’s throat raw. His hands were shaking as he shoved at Nikon’s chest, the fabric of Nikon’s suit bunching under his fingers. Nikon didn’t budge an inch, solid as steel, which only fed the anger building in Reuben’s chest.

“A woman got shot!” His voice cracked on the last word as the image of crimson blooming across Ms. Simmons’s shoulder flashed through his mind. The sound of shattering glass still echoed in his ears. “Jesus Christ, she was right there, and I just—I was sitting there like some kind of idiot while she—” He couldn’t finish the sentence. Instead, he ran a hand roughly across his face. “I could have—” Another harsh laugh escaped him, edged with frustration.

The perfectly tailored suit Reuben wore suddenly felt like a costume, a joke. Here he was dressed up like some corporate puppet while bullets tore through glass and people screamed and blood—there had been so much blood—and all because Nikon had sent him in there knowing, KNOWING something was going to...

“Could have what?” Nikon’s other hand grabbed his jaw, forcing their eyes to meet. “Nothing was going to happen to you. I made sure of it.”

“Why?” Reuben searched those blue eyes for answers. “Why send me at all if youknewit was dangerous?”

Instead of answering, Nikon kissed him. Not like their previous kisses—controlled, measured things that always ended too soon. This kiss was possession, pure and raw.

Nikon’s hands gripped Reuben’s hips with bruising strength, shoving him hard against the elevator wall. The impact knocked the breath from his lungs, but Reuben met the aggression head-on, his fingers digging into Nikon’s shoulders as he yanked him closer. There was nothing gentle about it–all teeth and desperation as Nikon pressed the full length of his body against him, pinning him in place with raw strength that made Reuben’s pulse spike with want.

Reuben fought back against the dominance instinctively, pushing off the wall to try to reverse their positions, but Nikon was ready for it. His hands slid lower, gripping the backs ofReuben’s thighs as he used his superior height and muscle to force him up against the wall again. The move left Reuben’s feet barely touching the ground, trapped between cold metal and Nikon’s hard body. Instead of yielding, Reuben grabbed a fistful of Nikon’s hair, dragging him into another brutal kiss that was more claim than caress.

The elevator doors opened to Nikon’s private floor. Without missing a beat, he lifted Reuben up and carried him out without breaking their kiss, somehow managing to navigate the hallway into his office. As he set Reuben on the edge of his desk, a phone buzzed in Nikon’s pocket.

Nikon pulled back just enough to check it. His expression darkened.

“What is it?” Reuben asked, still breathless.

“Alexei.” Nikon’s hands flexed on his thighs. “Today’s events will need to be addressed.”

“Will you tell me what really happened?”

“Later.” Nikon leaned in for one more bruising kiss. “For now, wait for me here.”

“And then?”

“And then—” Nikon stepped closer, his fingers trailing up Reuben’s throat to grip his jaw. The touch was possessive, almost cruel in its gentleness. His thumb brushed across Reuben’s bottom lip, pressing just hard enough to feel the sharp edge of his teeth behind it. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to that quiet register that made Reuben’s spine liquify. “We finish what we started.”

Chapter 10

Nikon stepped out of his office, phone already in hand. His fingers hesitated for a fraction of a second over Alexei’s number.

The line connected on the second ring. Before Nikon could speak, Alexei’s voice cut through, sharp as broken glass.

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