Make Me Sweat (6 page)

Dak snatched the card with Ever’s contact information printed on
it.

“I want a deep background run like yesterday,” Dak said into his
phone. He gave them Ever’s info. “I want everything. Like what she had for
breakfast last week, everything.”

Chapter
Seven

Ever crept into the house two hours after she left the police
precinct with Cruz. She’d dropped him off at his boat and drove around until
she found a park where she sat thinking of her next move. Did she have the
courage to get away from this business? And what would the repercussions be
from Angus Brennan? Whatever it was, it would be swift, horrific, and geared to
hit her in her most vulnerable place.

That much she knew.

“Wes?” She dropped her purse on the couch, and walked to the top
of the basement stairs. After she got the call from Cruz at the club, she’d had
their driver and security detail escort Wes back home despite his pouts. He
didn’t answer her call and she frowned. Was he still mad at her? Wes held a
grudge like no one’s business, but even he had to see she wanted only to
protect him like he tried to protect her.

“Wes?” She bounded down the stairs and stopped when she found him
sitting at his computers. “Wes, didn’t you hear me calling you? Are you still
mad at me from earlier? I told you—”

He lifted his head. Fear shone bold and bright in his eyes

“What’s wrong?” She stepped forward slowly, hand at her throat.
The only time she’d seen that look in his eyes was on tape when Angus’s men
held a knife to his throat, forcing him to read out their demands for her. “Wes,
tell me what’s wrong.”

“He’s a cop.”

“Huh?” She blinked. “Who’s a cop?”

“Ian Dakota is a cop!” Red-faced, sweating, he jumped from his
chair and kicked it aside. “Ian Dakota is a fucking cop hunting Ghost. He’s on
to us.”

“What? N-no. That’s-that’s impossible.” Words froze on her tongue.

“I heard him and his friend talking through the bug. They’re
undercover, hunting us.” He focused accusing eyes on her. “A cop, Ever.”

Body trembling, heart banging out of her chest, Ever pushed him
away and leaned over the computers. “Where? Where is it?” she demanded. “Play
it back, I want to hear everything.”

Wes brushed her fumbling hands away and punched some knobs.
Dakota’s deep timbre poured from the speakers, his words crushing her via
surround sound.

“…until I go back under cover again. Assume another identity.”

She gasped. One hand covered her mouth as tears slid down her
cheeks. Ian Dakota was cop. A cop she’d slept with, jeopardizing everything.

“We’re going down to the precinct to find out what we can,
discreetly, about this person they brought in—”

“Turn it off, turn it off.” She spun away with a cry. “Son of a
fucking bitch.” How could this happen now, with everything else on her plate?
Ian Dakota, a cop. But— “Who does he work for?”

“What?” Wes brushed a lock of hair from his eyes and stared.

“Who is he with? Feds?”

He shrugged. “Dunno. They didn’t say anything about that, and I
haven’t checked him out. I mean, really checked him out.”

“Why not?”

“Obviously, Dakota isn’t his name. Who am I looking for? I’ll
need his prints, DNA, to run.”

“Shit.” Ever tugged on her ear, searching her brain for answers. “What
about from me, I should have his DNA on me, right?’

“Ugh, gross.” Wes grimaced. “You’ve showered since you’ve been
with him, his saliva and handprint will be long gone. And let’s not discuss
anything else.”

Her lips twitched. “What else is there? How can we know who he
really is and why he’s here?” She muttered and paced the floor. This finally
put Dakota out of her life forever. She had to let him go.

“I can hack the major operations and run his face through the
databases.” Wes retook his seat and tapped away on one of the three keyboards
in front of him. “If he’s in one of them, I’ll find him.”

She nodded. “Send one to Cruz, too. He knows everybody.”

“Where is he, by the way?”

“Who, Cruz?”

Wes nodded with his eyes on his monitor.

“I dropped him at his boat, the second one, on the other side of
town.”

“Is he leaving or staying around?”

“Can’t say for sure. He didn’t give me any clues either way.” But
she hoped he stuck around. Right now, he and Wes were the only people she
trusted.

“All righty. Sent.” Wes pushed away from the desk. “The face of
the man known as Ian Dakota is scanning through all the different agencies. We
should know something soon enough.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her onto his
lap. His warm arms wrapped around her midsection. “How are you holding up?”

Head on his shoulder, she chuckled dryly. “You mean since I found
out I’ve fucked us over yet again?” This had to be some kind of record. From
Angus to Dakota, or whatever his name was. Both had the power to destroy her
life, in two completely different ways. Both she’d trusted with her body.
My
taste in men sucks!

“You cared about him. You still do.”

“It doesn’t matter, Wes. In the long run it’s always going to be
you and me against the world.” Her mistake was thinking she could have anything
else. Not after all she’d done in the name of love, and was now doing in the
name of hate.

Wes laughed softly. “Always, but you love him.”

“No!” She burrowed deeper into his chest, tears burning her eyes.
“I can’t love him, Wes. It was only a skin thing, a scratch-my-itch thing. It
was supposed to be nothing.”

“But it turned into everything,” he whispered in her ear. “Your
reaction to finding out about him says it all. Otherwise you’d be angry, but
not so obviously devastated.”

“I’m not devastated.” Heart-broken maybe, but not devastated.

Wes grunted but didn’t reply. He simply squeezed her tighter and
dropped kisses on her head.

She sniffed. “We’re so perfect for each other. Why do you have to
love cock?”

He burst out laughing. “Why couldn’t you be a gay man?”

“Hey.” She punched his shoulder. “There’s a gay man inside me.”

He raised an eyebrow and both giggled as her phone rang. She
picked it up off the table.

“What’s up?”

“How do you know the man in the picture Wes sent me?” Cruz asked.

“Uh. He’s the one hunting Ghost.” Cruz inhaled sharply and she
rushed on. “But I don’t now his real name or the agency he works for. Do you?” 

“Jesus, Ever. When you do your shit, you do it big.”

“What?” She scrambled off Wes’s lap. “Who is he?”

“He’s the man who questioned your husband five years ago, sending
him running back to Ireland.”

“What are you talking about?” Shocked by his words, she let the
‘husband’ thing slide.

“His name’s Simon Dakin.”

She repeated the name and Wes’s fingers flew over the keyboard.

“Angus put a hit out on him when Dakin hauled him in for
questioning about five years ago,” Cruz said.   

“Christ. Christ.” What kind of shit was this?

“Yep. Dakin questioned Angus about some illegal guns he sold an
undercover. He probably hoped to leverage that in order to have Angus give up
what he knew about Ghost. Angus called his bluff.”

“And high-tailed it back to the security of his homeland.”

“Yes. Angus wanted me to kill him, but I put him off by telling
him it was too soon. Surprisingly, he didn’t press too hard. Maybe he agreed
with me.”

Or maybe he’d been distracted by the American tourist he’d bedded
and wedded, all within a week. God, she’d been so stupid.

“So, Simon Dakin let Angus get away without knowing who he really
was. And after all this time he’s still hunting Ghost?”

“This was a big case back then, still is. They want Ghost, Ever.
Bad.”

“Yeah, well. Too bad. Thanks for the info.” She hung up on Cruz
and turned to Wes where he sat clicking away at the keyboard. “Find anything
yet?’

“Yep.” Wes turned the computer monitor so she could see.

There he was on the screen. Simon Dakin. FB-freaking-I. 

“I really fucked up this time, Wes.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

She grunted. Yeah. “All right. I’m going to take a bath,
brainstorm on some things, and maybe try to get some shut eye.” She leaned in
and pecked him on the lips. “I’d recommend you do the same, but I know you
won’t budge ‘til you’re good and ready.”

He grinned and stuck out his tongue. Ever started up the stairs
then looked over her shoulder. “Hey, did you have fun tonight with that
Italian? Got what you needed?”

“I got what I needed.” He winked.

She giggled all the way to the shower. Despite all the dark clouds
hovering, she could always count on Wes. The only man who’d never broken her
heart or fucked her over in some way. She had to keep him safe from Angus. No
matter the cost.

Her cell phone rang as she stepped out the shower, water dripping
from her body and onto the floor mat. She fumbled with the phone before
bringing it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hello, wife.”

Chills froze the water on her skin. The phone in her hand
trembled, yet she kept her voice steady, betraying no trace of fear when she
asked, “What the fuck do you want?”

He chuckled in her ear. “Now is that the way to treat your dear
husband?’ His thick Irish brogue, once so endearing to her, grated on her every
nerve.

She closed her eyes and prayed for calm, prayed for strength. “I’m
not your wife, Angus. I never was. Now kindly tell me what the hell you want.”

“You’ve been a bad girl, Ever Mine. And this is your final
warning. Feds are sniffing around you, get rid of them or your fag suffers the
consequences.”

Tears stung her eyes at the pet name he’d given her when they’d
first started dating. A lifetime of lies, pain, and betrayal ago.

“You can’t push me around like that girl you first met, Angus.
You don’t scare me, not anymore. If you touch Wes, I’ll find you and slit your
throat with a rusty fucking knife. Got me?”

He waited a beat then spoke softly. “Maybe you’re right, Ever
Mine. Maybe it’s not the fag I want, he’s the techie anyway. I’ll need him
alive for a bit. But what about you? Like you said, you’re not my wife, so why
are you still around?”

Click.

Ever slid to the floor and curled on her side, teeth chattering.
This animal was the man she’d promised to love, honor, and obey. He was the
same person she’d loved with all her naïve heart. The one and the same who’d killed
her baby.

The phone rang again, startling her into a gasp. She swallowed,
trying to ease her shaking. “Yes?”

“Ever?”

Her heart lurched. “Dakota?”
Fuck, how many more surprises can
my heart take tonight?
“How’d you get my number?”

“I have my ways, woman.” Humor laced his voice. “I want you,
Ever. In my bed. In my arms. Come to me.”

“I can’t.” Her throat clogged, and she pressed her suddenly hot
forehead to the cool wall. “I can’t, Dakota. Please, leave me alone.”

“Don’t. Don’t say no.” His voice deepened. “There’s something there,
between us, Ever. Let’s explore it, see where it leads.”

“Nowhere. It leads nowhere.” Except straight to more pain and
anguish.

“Why?”

“What the fuck is this, twenty questions?” She pulled herself to
her feet and walked into her bedroom. “
Feds
are sniffing around you,
get rid of them…”
Angus’s words, his threats, echoed in her head. “Shit!”

“What’s wrong?”

Fucking man. She grabbed some clothes from a drawer and hurried
out the room. “I’ll be there in an hour.” She hung up and called for Wes. If
she had any hope of stopping Dakota, or whatever the hell he was calling
himself, she needed some extra back-up. 

Chapter
Eight

To work off the nervous energy running through his body, Dak ran
on his treadmill for a few minutes while waiting for Ever to arrive. He still
couldn’t believe she said yes. She’d sounded different. Subdued, defeated.
Nothing like the fiery woman he’d come to know.

Ever Marcille. The woman who heated his blood and doubled his
heart beat. Tonight he’d find out much more. Later though. After he’d fucked
her every which way. Punishment for leaving him wanting for so long.

Jayce wanted his head back in the game, and it would be, once
he’d had Ever.

Five minutes after he stepped in the shower, Jayce announced her
arrival. Dak took his time, let her wait for once. He finally decided to have
mercy on her and entered the bedroom to find her standing at his window looking
out into the night. She wore a tight t-shirt and short denim skirt that barely
covering her ass. He recognized the thigh highs from her last visit.

A bottle of
Moscato
sat on his bedside table. Dak grinned
and tightened the towel on his hips.

“I love the view from here,” she spoke without turning around.

He pressed himself to her back and nuzzled her neck. “So do I.”
She shivered in his arms, her scent of peaches and cream filling his nose. “I’ve
missed this,” he murmured. “Holding you, touching you.”

She turned around and lifted her chin, staring into his eyes. “So
do it, but later.” She yanked away his towel and flung it aside. His cock
bobbed between them, hard and ready. “Right now I want you, Dakota.”

In answer, he grabbed her hair and kissed her, pushing his tongue
between her parted lips. She opened wider for him, tongue parrying with his,
lips and teeth grinding against each other. Dak pushed his hips into her,
rubbing his cock on her stomach. He maneuvered them forward until she was
backed into the window. Using one hand, he reached down, groping, seeking her
ass under the skirt.

She wrapped her legs around him, hands on his shoulders, and
rocked on the tip of his cock. Dak grunted, fingers trailing the crack of her
naked ass.