Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

LAINEY

B ody disposal was not fun. Then again, I hadn't expected it to be. The boys didn't object to my helping. Though Bodhi offered up the best descriptions of each step of the process.

Em made a face when he got a little graphic and the twins took her back to the hotel. For all that she'd held up, this had to be bringing up some really bad memories for her. We could go over her plans after this was done. The whole Karagiani reveal had derailed all of us.

Step one in the process involved getting rid of the clothes we were wearing, as well as washing up. Everyone had to scrub off any blood spatter that had gotten on their skin. I was a little sad about my outfit and shoes. But clothing could be replaced.

After, we put on some really terrible plastic outfits over our fresh clothes that reminded me of hazmat suits you see in the movies.

Step two, bag up the body. Despite the fact he'd been on plastic sheeting, the blood was everywhere.

"Keep the gloves on," Bodhi instructed. "The blood will clean up but it's going to be messy at first."

Milo returned with sand then. They used sand to help soak up the blood.

"Do I want to know where you learned to do that?" I kind of did want to know, but it was more curiosity than anything else.

"CSI," Bodhi deadpanned and a laugh escaped Ezra. A real one.

"I almost believe you," he quipped with a slow head shake at Bodhi.

The laugh was a good thing. Ezra had been a mess and he was blaming himself for everything. Wrapping the body took time and effort. Karagiani was also heavy. The guys didn't let me help with that part.

Once he was completely sealed up, we had to get him out of the apartment building. Bodhi and Milo debated whether to put him in a deep freeze for now, then we could dismember the body and it would be easier for transport.

What amazed me even more was how clear their understanding of the process was. Adam and Ezra added their own thoughts on what would work better. The biggest time constraint was getting the body into something before rigor set in. Eventually, the freezer was decided on. Bodhi had one here, but it was actually packed with food and supplies.

It meant offloading a big portion of it and trashing more. Couldn't be helped, but we got it down. They managed to get him into the freezer. It wasn't pretty and I was pretty sure bodies weren't supposed to fold the way they bent him.

Then again, he was dead, so it could hardly hurt the corpse. An hour after we packed him away and dealt with the debris, we finished cleaning up the little torture room and the contents, along with the plastic coveralls were ready for an incinerator.

"Food," Bodhi said and I frowned at him. "You're pale and this has been a long day. We also need to plan." Then he flicked a brief look at Ezra.

I would have argued about my so-called pallor, but one glance at the dejection and weariness on Ezra's face decided me. "I'm starving," I admitted. "Though, I don't know that I'll be able to eat without smelling all of this."

Ezra's throat convulsed once as he swallowed, then he lifted his eyes and locked his gaze on me. He gave me a small smile. "We'll find something, Kotyonok. But I know one thing that will work pretty fast."

"What's that?" I could play my part. Adam brushed his fingers down my arm and Milo touched my shoulder as I accepted Ezra's outstretched hand.

"Follow me." The flatness in his voice betrayed his continued discomfort. Still, he guided me downstairs with Bodhi, Adam, and Pretty Boy following. They were giving me the lead on this.

Ezra guided me all the way into the kitchen, he popped open the freezer then pulled out a bag of coffee beans. It was the rather delicious blend that Bodhi favored. I'd never heard of it before and I would bet he had a coffee plantation somewhere that grew these heavenly beans.

Opening the bag, Ezra held it up to me like an offering of flowers. "Take a deep breath." Light chased some of the shadows from his green eyes. Leaning forward, I filled my nostrils with the rich, heady scent of the dark roasted blend. "And again…"

I blinked my eyes open at the hint of laughter underscoring the words. The combination of scent coupled with the lightness in his voice soothed the battered edges of my soul.

It had been a long day before it even started.

Another deep breath and the lingering scents of blood and death faded beneath the earthier, bold flavor of the dark roast. Coffee was the perfect antidote, the smokier chocolate and caramel erasing the metallic taste of copper coating my throat.

When my stomach actually rumbled, it was the first time in the days since I found out Harper sold Andrea and my mother died. My appetite had all but died in the same time frame.

"Good," Bodhi said. "Sit, we'll get coffee and food. Then plan."

Ezra pressed the bag into my hands and I cradled it as I let them nudge me over to the table. Like my penthouse, the kitchen at Bodhi's had a table and chairs in the corner. It was a lot cozier and we actually used it more.

Adam pulled out a chair and then I was seated. I wasn't the only one, Adam hustled Ezra over right next to me. "Park it, both of you. What do you want to drink? Besides the coffee?"

"Maybe a couple of shots of whiskey straight," Ezra said, scrubbed a hand over his face.

"We're out," Pretty Boy said as he crossed to the fridge. "So it's coffee, milk, juice, or soda."

"Out?" Ezra gaped. "How the fuck are we out?"

"Because I dumped it." Bodhi punctuated the sentence with the coffee grinder and Ezra glared until I put my hand over his.

"You don't need it," Adam told him, the command snapping beneath each syllable he spoke. I stole another sniff of the coffee beans as Ezra's expression darkened.

It had been a really long several days. "I get it," I said, smoothing my hand down Ezra's arm and pulling all the fire in his eyes toward me.

His temper had never frightened me. Nor would it begin to bother me now. The scowl on his face grew fiercer.

"Adam has a gift for making everything an imperious order, even when it's just him trying to show you he cares." Surprise rippled across Adam's face, but I ignored him for the moment. Ezra needed to hear this. "How many times has he bossed me around? Thrown me in a car? Or just picked me up and hauled me out of a place?"

"I don't know," Bodhi said slowly, his voice dropping. "How many, Reed?"

"Not the point she's trying to make," Pretty Boy interceded and it took everything I had to not smile. Because he was not defending Adam. "But I've seen that overprotectiveness up close. Sometimes it was necessary."

Now I did stick my tongue out at him and Pretty Boy winked as Adam scrubbed a hand over his face. Impatience? Irritation? Regret? Maybe some odd combination of all three?

As much as I'd like to poke at him, I refocused on Ezra. His scowl shifted to a more troubled expression. "You had no idea," he murmured. "I'm not a child."

"Nor am I…" I raised my hand to Ezra's cheek and he leaned into the contact. That was a good sign. "But Adam only knows one way to protect who and what he cares about."

"Still kind of sucks," Ezra muttered and I grinned. The anger was fleeting and there was more speculation in his eyes now.

"Maybe, but you're also still recovering and while I won't tell you that you can't drink, I will say you shouldn't. Not while we're getting this cardiac issue under control and not while we have so much else on our plates."

Guilt flared to life in his eyes and I shook my head.

"We need your brain, Ezra. We need you to be sharp and focused. I get it if you need the drink because it's a lot right now." Now I sighed. "I really do get that. But can you try, for just a little while, without? We'll see what we can do to distract you and blunt the edges?"

Ezra leaned forward and kissed me. It wasn't particularly passionate at all, but a fierce connection. His lips held mine as he cupped the back of my head. The move was all aggressive demand coupled with feverish declarations.

"I love you too," I whispered against his lips as he eased back. The long sigh of his tension releasing echoed through me.

"Thank you, Kotyonok."

"Always," I promised him. Bodhi told me to see the flaws, and I did. But it didn't make me love them any less.

"I'm still waiting for an answer, Reed," Bodhi said and I glanced up to find Adam wearing a thoughtful expression as he studied Ezra and I both. I got it, I really did. He was scared to death Ezra was going to get himself killed.

So was I.

But there were ways to do this that weren't quite so damn domineering. Even if he was hot as fuck when he got pushy.

"Tell you what," Adam said, dragging his gaze off of us to look at Bodhi. "Raincheck, you can kick my ass for stupid decisions later."

"It's a date." Bodhi nodded once, then looked to me eyebrows raised. Did I need him to do anything else right now?

I shook my head. "I am hungry and we still have a lot to talk about."

The words galvanized everyone. They made breakfast for dinner and it was fine by me. Instead of trying to help or retreating, Ezra stuck close to me. When the coffees were ready Adam delivered them. Pretty Boy claimed the chair on my other side while Adam took the one on the other side of Ezra.

Bodhi brought the plates of food over and honestly, it was probably the kindest meal I'd ever eaten. Between the coffee, eggs, and bacon, I was able to push all the cloying scent of death away.

Gradually, through the meal, Ezra relaxed. "Kotyonok," he said. "I am sorry…"

"Nope, nothing for you to be sorry about," I told him but the mutiny in his eyes told me this was going to be an uphill battle.

"Ezra, Mayhem is right. This isn't your fault. You hired him to do a job. The fact he was also working for your father is just another strike against him . Not you." Pretty Boy laid it out like it was fact. "Betrayal sucks. We've all faced it on some level. The problem is solved, for the moment. If you really need to beat yourself up for it, we can do that, but it won't help you or Mayhem right now."

"You can take a raincheck with Reed," Bodhi offered and if I hadn't been watching him, I might have missed that hint of a smile. "I agree with Milo and Lainey. The betrayal was not yours."

The trouble frown he'd worn through the whole meal eased, but it didn't go away. "I hate… I hate that my father took advantage of me protecting you to put you in more danger."

Not shying away from it, I nodded. "I hate that your father does anything to you at all." I didn't have to focus on Adam to see his hand clench or the muscle ticking in his cheek. Wallace Graham needed to go.

Sooner rather than later.

As long as he was out there, Ezra was in danger. As for his mother, Dinah, I would make that decision when we got there.

"Right… " Ezra sighed again. "I'll stop. What did Em have for us?"

He wasn't ready to let this go. He may not ever be ready to but he was making an effort. I wouldn't ask for more. Not yet.

"She has a plan…" Pretty Boy began and I could already tell, he wasn't a fan. Two sentences in and I got it exactly.

Em knew a lot of people. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that she had traveled the world with her performances. That some of those places included sleazy types that dealt with human trafficking shouldn't have surprised me.

"We won't let anything happen to her. Though I don't doubt the Vandals will be right there if anything tries to happen to her." It wouldn't be happenstance. It would be deliberate. But Milo nodded, he did understand, though he would never like it.

"Then we need to make our plans. The memorial service has to be observed." Despite what I'd said on my way in to see Tally… "We need to deal with Graham and King before we go too."

I didn't want to leave a single dagger behind to knife us in the back.

"Do you want to talk about Tally?" Adam asked, and I would give him points for the rough sympathy there. Of everyone here, he and Em were probably the only two who really understood how much that friendship had meant to me…

"She didn't know," I said. "While I don't agree with her willful blindness or letting her sexual obsession…" I grimaced because thinking of King in any sexual situation, much less with Tally, was not an image I wanted in my mind. "I believe her when she says she didn't know about the connections. She believes everything about who Julius King is supposed to be."

"Which means she could be in for a world of hurt if Jeff Hardigan has to deal with her." Milo shook his head. "Will she warn him?"

I'd been asking myself that question since I left her. "I don't think so, but we'll handle it if she does. She doesn't know enough of our current plans to sabotage us and what she betrayed already… " I shrugged. "That's done."

Milo pressed a kiss to my shoulder and then wrapped an arm around me. "I'm sorry, Mayhem."

The silence ballooned around us, because what else was there to say. Bodhi had already offered to deal with her for me, but I'd declined the offer. I didn't want to kill her. I might never trust her again and I would mourn the loss of that friendship…

But I didn't want to see her dead.

"We could always make arrangements to relocate her for the next few months so that she's safe while we deal with things," Bodhi said and I summoned a smile for him.

"No," I said with another slow shake of my head. "She's an adult. I wouldn't thank you for removing me from a situation, I won't do it to her. I gave her enough information to remove herself."

One by one they nodded.

"Do we really think Andrea is still okay?" Every moment we delayed leaving made me sick. I wanted to be there already. But we were still going in blind and we weren't doing nothing .

"We're going to find her," Adam said. "No matter what else happens, we will find her and we will make this right."

That didn't mean she was okay now .

It meant she would be.

She had to be.