Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Tink

After ten minutes of arguing, Meg finally allows me to see what Peter did to my things. They were stored in one of the rooms off the garage that the club uses for large shipments before they’re organized and sent up to their appropriate destinations.

My belongings are entirely ruined.

I stand in the doorway, conscious of Hook’s comforting warmth at my back, and take it in. Peter—or, more likely, his flunkies—went through the space with a vengeance. My backup sewing machine is in a thousand smashed pieces. My chest gets tight just looking at it. It was the first purchase I made for myself after I saved up from working at the Underworld. The first thing in this world that was truly mine that no one could take away.

Except Peter has done exactly that.

I drag my gaze away, taking in the bolts of fabric. They didn’t bother ripping or cutting them. They simply dumped some kind of chemical all over everything. It looks like Drano; something thick and blue and impossible to clean.

My actual clothes … They set them on fire.

Hook takes my shoulder. “Enough.”

I want to fight him out of the sheer perversity of doing it, but he’s right. Standing here a second longer will only be flogging myself with what I’ve lost. I can’t focus too closely on that. Not if I want to keep moving. “Let’s go home.”

“Tink.” A new voice behind us. I knew he was coming at some point. No way could something like this go down in Hades’s place without him making an appearance.

I take a slow breath and turn to face him. He’s as perfectly put together as ever in his black on black suit. Hercules stands at his shoulder, and a distant part of me is proud to see that the guy is finally taking my fashion advice and dressing in a way that shows off his impressive physique instead of baggy T-shirts and jeans. He’s wearing a suit I designed for him, slate gray over a lighter gray button-up shirt. Hercules opens his mouth, but Hades speaks first. “We will make amends.”

Not this again. “It’s fine.”

“Tink.” He sinks enough warning into my name that I have to fight back a shudder. Hades raises his brows. “You know how this works. Pick a fight with your husband if you need to assuage your bruised pride. It’s not my concern. This insult done on my property is.”

His rebuke stings exactly as much as he meant it to. Worse, he’s right. Hook’s offer to replace everything is surprisingly sweet, no matter the motivation behind it, but I know exactly how much money will be required to balance the scales. Hook has it. No question there. But if I’m really staying, that means looking out for the good of the territory the same way he does. That money can be used in a variety of different ways to benefit the people we protect.

Which means letting Hades foot the bill.

“Fine. I’ll send you an itemized list.”

“Much obliged.” He studies my face before his gaze flicks to where Hook’s hand rests on my shoulder. It’s an innocent enough touch, though it’s the only thing keeping me anchored in the here and now. Hook’s presence is a flame against the night that continues to seek hold inside me. I don’t want to check out, but the self-defense mechanism isn’t something I can fully control. It was the only thing that got me through being trapped with Peter, being able to disassociate enough that he didn’t break the last piece of me I held close.

Being in proximity to physical evidence of how he plans to punish me … I shudder.

Hook squeezes my shoulder. The barest press of his fingers against my skin, but it gives me the strength to meet Hades’s gaze. “If that’s everything?”

He nods. “Allecto will provide an escort to the border of the Underworld’s territory.” He turns and heads back toward the elevator.

Hercules steps forward and pulls me into a hug. “Good luck.” He releases me immediately as if he’s sure I’m going to bite.

Two hugs in one day, three if I’m going to count the one in Hook’s bathroom earlier. What the hell is this world coming to?

Meg gives me a brief smile. “Take care of your business, Tink. I expect to hear about it very soon over drinks.” Then she links her arm through Hercules’s and follows Hades through the parking garage to the elevator.

I barely wait for it to close before I turn to Hook. “Let’s go.” I have to keep moving or I’m going to fall apart. I may be farther from that breaking point than I was thirty minutes ago, but it’s still close enough to taste on the back of my tongue.

For once, Hook doesn’t have a snarky comment to offer. He simply falls into step next to me. We head to the waiting car and slip into the backseat. Colin’s driving, and he takes one look at our faces and apparently decides that conversation can wait.

Hook leans forward between the seats. “They’ll provide escort.”

A calculated risk—an escort could be translated into us being too weak to protect ourselves—but as long as we’re on Underworld territory, we don’t have the ability to refuse Hades. Especially when it’s a reasonable request.

Still.

The thirty minutes it takes to navigate the traffic back to Hook’s building are some of the tensest in recent memory. It’s everything I can do to keep my eyes forward and not rubberneck around, looking for an attack. I know it’s coming. Peter destroying the majority of my worldly possessions is as much a declaration of war as sending a signed letter. Not knowing when he’ll strike? It’s enough to drive a person mad.

I jump as Hook laces his fingers through mine. He’s not looking at me, his dark gaze intent on the street outside his building. We make it into the parking garage without issue, but he still doesn’t relax. Why should he? Peter infiltrated Hades’s parking garage just hours ago.

Hook waits for Colin to shut off the engine. “Sweep the place starting from the ground up. I don’t want anyone in the building who isn’t meant to be here. No girlfriends, no boyfriends, no fuck buddies, no delivery people. No one.”

“Will do.”

He squeezes my hand, and I obey the silent command to follow him out of the car. It’s not until the elevator doors slide silently shut that I realize he kept his body between me and the entrance to the street the entire time. Protecting me. I look at our linked hands and tell myself to release him, but my body isn’t obeying my mind.

Or maybe I just flat out don’t want to.

“This is going to get ugly.”

He finally looks at me. “It was always going to get ugly. The only way to eradicate an infection is to lance the wound and dig it out so it can heal cleanly. Peter is a wound in this territory, and I have to bear the burden of letting him live five years ago.”

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say to that. He did let Peter live and, yes, that’s put a number of people in danger now. But what’s the other option? “You’re not a cold-blooded killer.”

“I wasn’t then.” His smile is empty and cold. “People change.”

The doors open before I can come up with a response to that. We barely make it a single step out before Nigel waylays us. “There’s someone here to see you.”

“Now’s not a good time.” Hook shakes his head, already turning away. “Colin is organizing a sweep. I want everyone who isn’t ours out.”

But Nigel doesn’t budge. His expression is more serious than usual. “It’s Gaeton.” The barest of hesitations. “The Man in Black is dead.”

“What?” The word escapes before I can wrestle control of my mouth. The Man in Black rules—ruled—the largest slice of Carver City. He’s the only one strong enough to manage that much territory without incident, and he’s sure as hell the only one capable of holding both Gaeton and Beast’s leashes. He’s also Isabelle’s father.

Hook touches the small of my back. “Send him up in five minutes.”

I manage to keep my mouth shut until we’re in his room, and then I spin on him. “This is a mess. He’s a cornerstone of Carver City. Knock out that leg and the entire thing topples. If someone gets it in their head to test his untried eldest daughter—and they will—it could be a domino effect to send us all to war.” The only reason the power structure works in this city is because it’s perfectly balanced. The small internal squabbles and changing of leaders doesn’t make a difference in the overall city because it doesn’t affect the overall territory boundaries, so everyone has approximately the same amount of power. There hasn’t been a territory grab or a war in … I don’t even know. Decades, at least. Since the Man in Black fought and killed the leader of the territory to his eastern border, and brokered with Hades to create the neutral territory in the city center. If someone decides to get greedy now, none of us are safe.

For the first time in a very long time, Hook looks tired. Well and truly exhausted. He scrubs his hands over his face. “We should send Gaeton on his way. We have enough to worry about without getting pulled into whatever the hell is going on in that territory with the old man’s death.” The words seem to bring him no pleasure. He speaks them because it’s the smart thing to do.

Neither of us has been all that good at doing the smart thing.

I cover Hook’s hands with mine and lace my fingers through his. “He’s your friend. He’s my friend, too.” Admitting that someone is my friend gets easier every time I do it. Gaeton may not be on the same level as the ladies in the Underworld, but he is a friend.

“Yes.” The word comes out as a sigh.

I squeeze his hands. “The Man in Black was like a father to him. He’ll be grieving.”

“You’re grieving right now.”

He’s not wrong but focusing on Gaeton’s pain is so much easier than dealing with the fight barreling down on us. I manage a small smile. “Then it sounds like comfort is the name of the game tonight.”

Hook frowns, but there’s no time to question me further, because the door opens and Gaeton walks in. He barely looks around, just walks straight to the kitchen and finds the liquor cabinet. He’s been here before, that Hook trusts him enough to let him into this inner sanctum of sorts. It confirms I’m right about what we need to do.

Gaeton considers the bottle and apparently decides that he’s not quite gone enough to drink without a glass. He pulls out three and sets them on the marble counter with a clink. “You heard.”

“We heard.” The exhaustion is gone from Hook’s face. He doesn’t quite have his charming rogue mask in place, but he’s pulled back. I didn’t realize how much he allows me to see until I watch him tuck away bits of himself.

He pauses to give my hand a squeeze that could mean absolutely anything and then tows me to the kitchen. Gaeton pours steep shots into each glass and sets the bottle down hard enough that I fear it might shatter. “We knew he was sick, but we’d half convinced ourselves that the old bastard would outlive both of us.”

No need to read between those lines. Gaeton and Beast. Beast and Gaeton. A hostile and yet strangely symbiotic relationship if ever there was one. I can’t pretend to know Beast’s mind, but the best I can tell, Man in Black looked at both of them as the sons he never had.

“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what to do with my hands. I might have crossed into being a person that accepts hugs as comfort, but I don’t know how to offer them. I’m not even sure Gaeton will accept that from me. Or if it would actually help.

Hook doesn’t have my confusion. He simply takes the shot with Gaeton and pulls the big man into a hug. “I’m sorry, too.”

I stare at them, at this man who cares so fucking much about the people he considers his. It might not always be the right thing, but the way Gaeton holds him, It’s the right thing right now. My heart lodges in my throat and, yes, no matter how strange it feels to admit it … This is love, isn’t it?

I love Hook.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with that information, so I shove it down deep to inspect later and take my shot.

Hook shifts away to take Gaeton’s face in his hands. “What do you need?”

Gaeton tries for a smirk, but it doesn’t quite stick. “You sure I’m not here for political reasons?”

Hook’s lazy grin has my heartbeat picking up. He traces the other man’s cheekbones with his thumbs. “You’re here because you need to stop thinking, and you trust us to make that happen, so stop dicking around and answer the question. What do you need?”

Gaeton’s breath catches. “I can’t turn my fucking head off, man. I just want some peace for a little while.”

“Tell me your safe word.”

“Rose.”

“Good boy.” Hook releases him and turns to me. Tenderness filters into his dark gaze, and he takes my left hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles next to my ring. “And what do you need, beautiful girl? Watch or participate?”

I can’t quite take a full breath. “You’re asking what we need. But what about you?” I don’t know if I’ve ever asked a Dom that question before. It never occurred to me that I should, but Hook isn’t just any Dom. He’s mine.

He gifts me with a soft smile. “I want to fuck Gaeton’s ass while he eats your pussy, and then I want to sleep.” He lifts his voice the smallest amount. “You’re invited to stay until morning, of course.”

“No promises. Let’s just see where the night takes us.” He glances at me. “Depending on if Tink is cool with it.”

Fondness wells up in my chest. Gaeton might be a full-fledged asshole most of the time, but he truly is a friend. What a novel concept. I lean around Hook to shoot him a look. “Only if you’re not a cover hog.”

He grins, a little of his normal arrogance appearing. “I’m as hot as a furnace. You won’t need any fucking covers with me in your bed.”

“Promises, promises.” I switch my attention to Hook. “I want what you want. I trust you to get us there.” Does he understand the implication of what I’m telling him? I’ve always trusted him within a scene, but this feels different. Because it is different.

He’s silent for a long moment, studying me as if he can see the very answers written on my soul. Finally he leans down and presses a soft kiss to my lips. “Then let’s begin.”