Page 48 of Collide

He was the one who had a shaved head, was covered in tattoos andhad an angry looking scar down the side of his face. Where the hell he had appeared from I had no idea, it wasn’t like you could miss him.

“You scared the hell out of me,” I said, clutching my hand to my chestwhere my heart was pounding against my rib cage and looking guilty at being caught in the act.

The giant chuckled at my expense and then surprised me by holdinghis hand out for me to shake.

“The name’s Danny. And it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Riley,” hesaid, seemingly sincere.

Despite my better judgment, I found myself reaching out and takinghis huge hand which engulfed my tiny one. He gave me a firm but gentle shake, but I had a feeling that if he wanted to crush every single bone in my hand, he would be able to, no problem whatsoever. I quickly pulled my hand away before he had the opportunity.

“Kai said you’d probably try to get in to see your sister. He knows youwell,” Danny said, still chuckling.

“He’s only known me a day, he can’t know me that well,” I snappedback, irritated that Kai had indeed known the first place I would go was to Angel’s room. The giant frowned back at me and then sighed.

“Come on, your sister has just met her new tutor so best not todisturb them.” He turned and nodded his head, indicating for me to follow.

I gave one last look at the closed door but felt a little better knowingthat I at least knew where Angel’s room was if I ever needed to make a quick escape.

“Where are we going?” I asked tentatively to the back of Danny’shead where there were even more tattoos. He had already started walking away but he paused and turned back to face me.

“I’m going to show you around, unless you’d rather not know whereyou are living for the next six months?” He shrugged as if to say he wasn’t bothered either way.

I deliberated for all of ten seconds and then came to the conclusionthat yes, I did want to know where I was living. Knowledge was power after all, and I wanted as much knowledge as possible when it came to handling Kai Wolfe.

I had been wrong about the apartment. It wasn't just amazing, it wasfucking spectacular.

Danny showed me around the three floors that Kai had made home.The place was beyond insane. It had a rooftop terrace complete with a garden and pool which had a retractable roof cover in case it rained, there were seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, a cinema room, snooker room, library, wine cellar, although technically not a cellar, and a state of the art gym which we didn’t go into, but Danny said I could use any time I liked, and he would happily show me how to use the equipment. He laughed when I told him I was in no hurry to get my ass into the gym.

I learned Kai owned the entire apartment block and that Danny,Hendrix, and Miles had their own apartments within the block, as did the maids who kept Kai’s apartment spotless, and the chef who prepared all of Kai’s meals.

Danny, Hendrix, and Miles were the only ones who could come andgo as they pleased. Oh, and Jacqueline too. Apparently, she had worked for the Wolfe family from a young age and was in charge of all the other staff. When the maids and chef came on duty, they had to be let into the apartment by Jacqueline.

I still hadn't met Miles properly other than seeing him in the garage,and I supposed the same could be said about Hendrix, being carried over his shoulder was hardly an introduction.

I noticed Danny never showed me which room Kai slept in and forsome reason that kept creeping into my mind, but I was too scared to ask, I didn’t want to give off the wrong impression after all. It’s not like Ineededto know where he slept as I had no intention of ever going in his room.

The place was like nothing I'd ever seen before, nor probably wouldagain once Angel and I left in six months. The staff worked their asses off to keep the place in pristine condition. When I told Danny that I had only seen Jacqueline in my short time here, he told me it was unlikely I would see any other staff members, apparently Kai insisted they went about their work unnoticed, they were to act like ghosts, and if Kai walked into a room they were working in, then they were to leave and not disturb him.

I snorted when Danny told me that, thinking it was pretty darn rudeKai didn’t talk to his own household staff, but Danny shrugged and said it had been that way with Kai’s father and grandfather, and that the staff didn’t mind so much given how much they were paid by Kai.

The place didn’t seem so much of a maze once I started learningwhich hallway led to where. Once Danny had shown me around the entire three floors, he led me down a hallway which I now knew led to the kitchen. He was telling me he had worked for the Wolfe family for around twenty years and that his role was as an enforcer. I could see why, not only was he huge, but there was just something about him that screamed he was one heck of a dangerous man.

That said, the longer I spent with him, I came to think maybe hewasn’tallbad, he had made me feel nothing but welcome as he had given me the tour, and dare I say it, I even felt safe with him.

As I followed the giant into the kitchen, I couldn’t stop the little ‘oh’from escaping when I realized there was someone sitting at the island. The man had been staring at an Ipad that was propped up in front of him but when he discovered he was no longer alone, his eyes found mine before roaming my body, not in a creepy way, more like he was assessing me, and for the first time, I felt damn stupid for wearing my crappy clothes.

“Riles, this asshole here is Miles. Asshole, this is Riles,” Danny saidby way of an introduction. I’ll admit, Danny’s new nickname for me had sent a wave of warmth through me, one I wanted to ignore but couldn’t.

It made me feel like I belonged.

Dammit.

“Nice to meet you, Riley. Has this fuckface been looking after you?”Miles retorted with a slight tug of a smile on his lips.

There was something different about Miles when compared to theothers. He wasn’t as broad for starters, and although there were some similarities between his and Kai’s features, Miles had an air of nervousness to him like he couldn’t quite hold my eye.

His brown hair was longer than the others which right now was tiedback into a small ponytail. He was dressed casually too, from where he was sitting at the island, I could see he was wearing a t-shirt, whereas Danny was wearing a shirt, tie, and pants despite being at home. Or well, you know, Kai’s home.

“Course I’ve been looking after her, she’s our most important guest,”Danny joked or at least, I hoped he was joking.

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