Chapter Five
Keres kept her gaze on her opponent as they circled each other. She had pushed herself for days, working out every minute she could spare. Building her endurance. Ignoring pain. The almost botched hit on Peterson had taken its toll on her psyche, proving she wasn’t quite as strong as she thought she was. Or brutal enough. Davorin had blanketed the city with a demand on who killed his Deathmen. He was so focused on finding the identity of the killer, some of his businesses were being left unsupervised, and Darby had come up with a brilliant plan to strike a major blow. The almighty kingpin might be impossible to get to with a direct attack, so they had to figure out a backdoor.
Her sparring partner took advantage of her slight distraction to get in a kick to her midsection, hitting the healing knife wound on her side. Keres winced and bent slightly, which allowed her partner to slip behind her and put her in a headlock.
“Tap out,” Darby ordered.
Keres looked at him and shook her head. She didn’t want to yield. She’d prove to them all she was tough enough to kill every asshole in this city. Trying several ways to get out, she was brought down as the arm tightened more, slowly crushing her windpipe.
“Keres! I told you to tap out.”
Lack of oxygen was causing the edges around her vision to go grey. Still, she didn’t want to admit defeat. Didn’t want to cave to being bested.
“You’re so fucking stubborn,” Darby grumbled. He folded his arms across his chest and waited.
Fuck! She was stuck. Her one lapse of concentration caused her to fail. Reluctantly, she tapped against her opponent’s arm, and she was immediately released. Falling forward, she sucked in gasps of air, coughing as her lungs reinflated.
“You’re done for today,” Darby told her harshly. “Hit the showers and get the fuck out of here.”
Keres rolled over, still gasping air as she looked up at the industrial ceiling. Tears leaked from the outer edge of her eyes as she came to grips with the fact that she was still that frail woman who couldn’t protect herself. The man who just beat her ass held out a hand, and Keres grabbed it, rising to her feet. Giving a nod of thanks, she ducked out of the ring and headed to the women’s locker room. Her tank top was sweaty and probably stank to high heaven. Reaching her locker, she grabbed her duffle and took off her soaked shirt. Before she peeled off her sports bra, however, an awareness came over her. Someone was watching. Could feel the stare burning into her back. Slipping her hand into the gym bag, she grabbed her gun and spun, bringing the barrel up. The man from the bar and the loft was there, leaning against the doorframe.
“Don’t stop undressing on my account,” he said.
“What the hell are you doing here? How did you find me? And why the fuck are you in the women’s locker room?”
He held up one finger. “I came to see you.” He held up a second finger. “I followed you, of course. I wasn’t going to let you walk home by yourself. It’s a dangerous city, and I should know because I had my hand in that.” Finally, he held up the third finger. “Isn’t it obvious why I’m standing here? Because of you.”
“None of that answers why .”
He straightened and walked slowly toward her, seemingly unfazed by having a loaded weapon trained on him.
“You got distracted in the ring,” he said calmly, like he was discussing the weather. “Dropped your guard.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”
He stepped so close that the barrel of her gun came to rest against his chest. “Do you always pull a gun on a man?”
“Only if the day ends in Y.”
He smirked. “You’re not going to shoot me, Keres. The safety is still on.”
“You don’t have to mansplain to me how to fire my own weapon.” She stepped back and let her arm fall away. “How do you know my name?”
“I followed you, remember? Is the big guy out there your man?”
“I find it hard to believe if you’ve researched me that you haven’t researched the hell out of him.”
He shrugged. “I know he was married to another man so I’m curious where you fit in.”
They had a staring contest, one she tried to win but eventually had to blink. “He’s my friend.”
“Such a good friend that he helps you kill people?”
“Shh,” she cried. “Don’t talk about that in public!”
“You’re the only woman in this building right now, Keres. No one is coming in here.” He advanced, and she retreated, all the way to the wall. He placed his hands on either side of her, trapping her.
The telltale tingling of panic shot up her spine. Her breathing grew shallow, and her skin broke out in a cold sweat. In her head, she recited the capital of every state to prevent hyperventilating. A comping mechanism her therapist gave her. Montgomery, Juneau, Phoenix…
“You have a wild look in your eyes. Reminds me of a caged animal.”
He was too close. She pushed against his chest, trying to make him back away, but it was like trying to move a boulder. “Let me go.”
His gaze narrowed, and if possible, moved even closer. Hip to hip. Chest to chest. Touching, feeling, sinking. The simmering panic that constantly stayed under the surface rose, and though she tried to push it back down, it was too late. All the anxiety and terror she tried hard to overcome burst forth, but instead of going fucking psycho, she went catatonic.
“Keres?”
Her name echoed through a long tunnel that was slowly collapsing in on itself. The edges of her vision dimmed and her breath grew shallow. The world simply … vanished.
“Keres, look at me.” Fingers tilted her chin up until she stared into his light green eyes. “Can you speak to me?”
Speak to him? She couldn’t even take a breath. He cupped her face, leaned close, and then … he started to hum. The sound completely shocked her, not only because his warm breath tickled her ear and fanned across her cheek, but because the musical cadence in his voice hypnotized the dread pulsing through her soul. Slowly, the numbness melted, and her vision came back into sharp focus.
“That’s it,” he murmured, smiling at her. “Welcome back.”
Keres drew a shuddering breath, letting it out slowly. The stiffness in her muscles unclenched. “Y-you sang to me.”
“Not quite,” he murmured. “Long ago I discovered music helps settle my mind when it goes into the darkness.”
It seemed odd to think this gorgeous man had a condition so mundane like panic attacks. “Y-you have anxiety?”
He grinned. “You thought all us hitmen sat around polishing our knives and eating nails?”
“I didn’t realize there was a club.”
He chuckled. “That’s funny in more ways than you know. My name is Ronin.”
She turned that over in her mind. “A samurai without a master. That explains the tattoo. The name fits you.”
“Because I’m wicked deadly?”
“Are you flirting with me?”
“Yes.”
She wanted so badly to flirt back. To giggle and pretend she was an ordinary woman, but she wasn’t and would never be again. The monsters had ripped out her innocence and blackened her soul.
“You should leave,” she mumbled, then cleared her throat. “You need to forget about me.”
“I tried,” he admitted. “But then I said fuck it, and here I am.”
There he was all right. Every hard plane, every bulging muscle, including the one between his thighs, currently nestled against her abdomen. A fluttery sensation erupted low in her belly and warmth bathed her cheeks. With disbelief, she realized her body was responding to his. That she found him attractive, and that scared her more than anything.
“Please back up,” she whispered.
He studied her for a moment longer, then slowly retreated. Giving her enough space to tamper down all the emotions his nearness had caused. She could breathe freely once more.
“Thank you.”
He inclined his head. “One thing I would never do is force myself on someone.”
She recoiled as if hit. He frowned at her response.
“What did I say?”
“Nothing,” she replied. “I have to go. Actually , you have to go.”
“Wait,” he said and studied her face intently. “Someone hurt you.”
“I’m not discussing my personal life with you,” she said crisply. “Goodbye, Ronin. I fully never expect to see you again.”
“I don’t have that same premonition.” He backed up even more, and his hands fell away. “But I’ll concede this time. There’s much we have to talk about.”
“Uh, pretty sure we have nothing to talk about.”
He gave her a mysterious smile that irked her. “We’ll see. Until next time, Keres.”
Then he was gone. Vanished like some sort of ghost. Only the warmth of his hand lingered.
****
Of course, he didn’t fully leave. Ronin watched the building from the shadows across the street, trying to figure out the complex woman named Keres. He recognized a panic attack when he saw one, but how does a stone-cold killer succumb to something so basic? And what was the trigger? Him? His little assassin was turning out to be more interesting than he realized.
From his research, he had known she lived with the ex-Marine, Darby Monroe. Other than that, he knew absolutely nothing about her. Not even a last name. The gym closed and the big guy locked up. A moment later, a light turned on in the apartment upstairs. He didn’t think she was leaving that night to commit more death and mayhem, nonetheless, he checked her phone messages. Before she had entered the locker room, he made sure to clone her phone, as well as place a tracking bug so he always knew where she was.
Why did he do this? He wasn’t quite sure. It was a compulsion he didn’t question.
“Blah, blah, blah,” he muttered, noticing she had no friends in her contacts. The only person she ever texted was Monroe. No family, no acquaintances. Her background remained elusive. “Who the fuck are you, Keres?”
He needed answers because he thought she was a calculated hitwoman, but the girl who froze in his arms wasn’t the same person he saw in that damn bar. Only when the light faded from her window did he turn and head home.
When he arrived at his loft, he saw the red light above the door was on. He had safeguards in place, like scanners and motion sensors. If they weren’t deactivated in time, the red light above the door told him his fortress had been breached. Holding his gun securely, he cautiously made his way inside, up the stairs to avoid the sound of the elevator, stopping only when he got to his door. He listened intently before kicking the door open and leveled the gun. Ares and Hunter waited for him inside and Ronin lowered his weapon, sliding the safety back on.
“Fuckers, I could’ve shot you,” he grumbled. “Why are you here?”
“Brim’s a little worried that he hasn’t heard from you,” Ares replied.
“Sent us to make sure you weren’t dead or something,” Hunter said. “It’s not like you to be unable to complete an assignment.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m fine. Tell Brim I’m researching something.”
“Well, that’s not cryptic as shit,” Ares muttered.
“Get out of here,” Ronin told them. “I’m gonna be off the grid for a while. Have Ghost pick up my slack.”
Hunter saluted him. “Brim will kick your ass if you wind up dead.”
“I’ll kick my own ass if I wind up dead.”
He watched Ares and Hunter leave, before turning off his warning light and locking up. After showering, he slipped into bed stark naked and scrolled through the data on Keres’s phone once more before shutting it off.
Who the fuck is she?
That was the million-dollar question. Unfortunately, nothing yielded through his scrolling. She remained just as elusive as before.