Kings of Chaos (Dirty Broken Savages #1)(41)

Seducing some guy and making him think I don’t want anything in the world as much as I want his cock in me is a great way to get close to the men I wanted to kill. It opened doors that would have been closed otherwise, and got me in rooms I shouldn’t have been in, so I could do the only thing that really mattered to me anymore.

But with Knox, there was something different. He wasn’t a means to an end, even if the whole reason I’m here is basically a business transaction.

With Knox, it was intense as hell, and he made me come harder than I ever have before. He didn’t hold anything back. Not pleasure or pain, and the combination of it was enough to bring me to the edge. He was right there with me, too. Not detached and aloof, but feeling everything he was making me feel, as lost in it as I was.

It’s not something I’ll be able to forget anytime soon, even when the ache goes away and the cut and bruises heal—the memory of the way he fucked me, the way he put his hands on me, the way he kissed me to within an inch of my life will definitely linger.

And surprisingly, I think I’m okay with that. This whole arrangement still pisses me off, but when it’s all said and done and these guys are out of my life for good, I don’t think I’ll mind hanging on to that memory.

Once I’m clean, I get out of the shower and towel off before throwing on some clothes and heading downstairs.

It’s late enough in the morning that all the guys are in the kitchen. Priest has a plate of toast in front of him, and I’m surprised to see it’s not just dry bread. Knowing him, he’d hold himself back from having butter or jam or whatever, just on principle.

He sees me looking at his plate and gives me a flat, cold stare. It’s even more chilly than the ones he threw my way when I first showed up here. Clearly, he hates me.

Well, whatever.

“That’s a hell of a look,” I shoot at him, raising one eyebrow. “It’s not my fault that you’re stuck with me, remember? I don’t have to be here at all. All you have to do is let me go, and I’ll be out of your hair forever.”

“No,” Gage says, cutting in before Priest can either tell me to shut up or ignore me harder. “We have a deal, and you’re not getting out of it.”

“Sorry, River,” Ash says, laughing as he sips his coffee. “I guess you’re stuck with us until you finish your mission.”

Knox laughs too, halfway through demolishing a plate of eggs and bacon. “I don’t think she’s too broken up about it.” He eyes me, and his gaze is hot enough to leave a lingering burn.

I just look back at him, a little smile playing around the corners of my mouth. Usually, I wouldn’t let a guy know how much he rocked my world after we fucked. Mostly because it’s never happened before, but telling them they’re the best at sex just gives them a big head. That’s only useful if I want them to be distracted by their ego and not thinking about why I might really have been there.

But with Knox, it’s different again. We were both down there in that room, and there was no acting on my part. All the noises of pleasure were real, and he knows it.

So instead, I just wink at him, hoping it’ll piss Gage or Priest off even more.

“What happened to the fucker you had downstairs?” I ask Knox. “Is he dead?”

“Nah,” he replies through a mouthful of eggs. He scrubs at the scruff on his jaw with one hand, his dark eyes gleaming. “Catch and release. Just a warning.”

“A good warning. He won’t be fucking around with anyone else with that memory in his mind.”

He grins at me and returns my wink. “You get it.”

I do get it, and I wonder if it pisses the others off to know that Knox was telling me their business like that. Whatever. It was happening in their house, the one they’re making me stay in, so I was bound to find out eventually.

I walk around the table to make my own toast, loading four slices into the toaster and setting the toast level the way I want it before pushing down on the lever. The hum of the toaster and the smell of warm bread fill the kitchen, and I go to rummage in their fridge for butter and jam.

When I have everything I want lined up on the counter, I look back to the guys, watching them as they finish up their breakfasts.

Ash has a deck of cards in his hand, and he goes from shuffling them in the most show off-y way possible, to flipping single cards in his hand with a speed that’s almost impossible to follow.

“What’s with the cards?” I ask him, curious.

He grins that rakish grin at me and flips a card in his hand, letting me see it’s the queen of hearts.

I roll my eyes at that.

“You wanna see a trick?” he asks, crooking a finger at me.

“Why not?” I reply and move over to the table.

He spreads out five cards in front of me on the table and tells me to pick one.

“How do I know you don’t already know what they all are?”

With another grin, he gathers them all up and makes a show of shuffling for a good thirty seconds. “Alright, Ms. Skeptic. You spread them out. Don’t let me see them.”

I do so, picking two cards from the top and three from the middle and putting them on the table.

“Okay, now pick one,” he says.

I go for the second to the end on the right-hand side, and to my surprise, it’s the queen of hearts again.