Chapter 20

twenty

. . .

Bishop

A ll I wanted to do was check in on River before bed, but with Bear visiting and Walker insisting he was ready for his wheelchair, I knew she had her hands full. I could wait a few more days.

So instead I'd headed to my room and planned to settle in with my laptop and some work. Wilson had sent me some encrypted files I hadn't gotten a chance to check out. I was hoping whatever he'd found might be the key to solving the riddle of River's parents' deaths. Or if not that, perhaps it would point me in the direction of whoever was sending her those packages.

As soon as I opened the computer, though, every plan I'd had went out the window. A notification flashed on my screen, making excitement burn in my belly.

Voices detected: Cross Jr. bedroom

While I had research for River to do, I also had my own assignment, and hopefully the bug I'd planted in Cross's bedroom would finally give me something I needed. I checked the recordings once a week before archiving them, but this was a live feed, meaning whatever I was about to hear was happening right now.

His voice came over the speaker as soon as I clicked the play button. "That's my good girl. You come so pretty."

"Fucking asshole. Who do you have in there with y?—"

"That smile for me, sparrow?" he continued after her breathy moans and sighs subsided.

Sparrow. So he'd finally gotten River under him.

I'd expected a pang of disappointment or maybe jealousy, but both emotions were oddly lacking. If I was jealous, it was only because I wasn't in there with them. I kept listening, desperate to hear her arousal-soaked voice. My dick was already hard and straining behind my sweats, a wet spot visible on the front of the fabric. Jesus, the things this woman did to me with nothing but her sighs.She really was a siren.

"Maybe . "

Her voice had me shoving the computer off my lap and reaching into my pants without a second thought.

"We'll have to do something to make sure the answer is yes." Cross sounded as hungry for her as I was. I understood exactly how he felt.

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"Motherfucker," I hissed, pushing my pants down around my thighs and stroking my throbbing length slowly, a bead of precum collecting on the tip.

I could picture her splayed out on the bed, hair fanned across the pillow like a golden halo. If she was with me, she'd be kneeling in front of me. Bound with silk rope, knees wide apart and held in place by the ties connecting her wrists to her ankles. Christ, she'd look beautiful like that. At my mercy. Her pleasure mine to command.

"Fuck," I groaned alongside Cross and River as they both made needy sounds.

"Fuck, sparrow. Look at you, taking my dick like such a good fucking girl."

She was my good girl. He was just lucky to get her first. I'd make up for it as soon as I could.

My phone rang on the bedside table, an insistent vibration I wasn't interested in seeing to. Not now. Not when I had River's moans to keep me company.

With each rustle of fabric or whimper from her, I fell deeper into my fantasy. One with me in place of Cross. Or maybe her between us again.

My siren would beg for us to touch her all over, and we would, but we'd tease her first. I'd bite her ripe nipples until they were red and swollen while Cross sucked her clit until she was nothing but a quivering plaything for the two of us. Pliant, warm, wet, and open. And only when she was trembling and praying for release would I shove Cross aside and sink my fat cock inside her. He's had her before. He could feed her his dick or come all over those tits for all I cared. As long as I was the one buried to the hilt this time.

"God, Cross. I can't . . . it's so good."

"You're close, aren't you?"

I needed her to come so I could. My hand shuttled along my cock, faster than I wanted, but I couldn't miss her orgasm. I may not be the one inside her, but I wanted mine to happen with hers. Reaching between my legs, I grabbed my balls and held tight, the pain usually a solid way to keep me from coming too soon. But I was too far gone. Especially once her breaths came in sharp gasps.

"Yes. Cross, I ? —"

"Come for me. Milk my cock, baby. Show me how good it feels when I love you."

I groaned as her strangled cry of pleasure filled my room, and I erupted along with her, my release splashing over my hand and belly. I hadn't made a mess like this in years. My siren had turned me into a fucking teenager.

I vaguely heard Cross murmur something as I came back to my senses, but I slammed the laptop closed, wishing I could be the one with her right now.

You could be. All you have to do is go in there and stake your claim.

The temptation to do just that was real. My cock was stirring again at the thought of joining them for the next round, of being the one making her cry out.

He owes you after you shared her with him earlier. She'd let you stay. She'd want you to.

I hadn't been so driven by desire for a woman in... maybe ever. All I needed was her. All I fucking craved was her.

She'd ruin me if I let her.

Let her? Buddy, you'd fucking beg for it.

I grabbed a tissue off the side table and tried to clean myself up, but it was no use. Just the thought of her, combined with her needy moans, had made me come like a fountain. I gave up and headed to the bathroom. Pulling off my clothes and tossing them in the hamper, I turned on the shower and washed off the remnants of what River did to me.

That sorted, I wrapped a towel around my hips and went back to my computer, intent on actually getting my work done. But once again, my good intentions were thwarted. My phone was going off like a damn vibrator.

Grumbling, I snatched it from the table and stared down at the seven missed calls.

"Jesus, Wilson. What could be happening this late that you can't wait until sunup?"

But I knew in my gut what this meant. Something big had happened. And I'd ignored it.

"Bishop," I barked, a less than friendly greeting, but at this point, we were in a no-nonsense situation.

"What the fuck is going on with you? You answer when I call, Agent Bishop. Every. Fucking. Time."

"What part of undercover do you not understand? I am not always going to be at your beck and call, Wilson. Not without risking my mission."

The assistant deputy director grunted. He couldn't deny the truth of my words, even if rubbing one out didn't exactly fall under the umbrella of ‘covert ops'.

"Your mission objective is shifting. At least for the time being."

"What?" That was a huge breach of protocol. Undercover agents didn't just get reassigned on the fly.

"Girls are going missing within a hundred-mile radius of Twisted Cross Ranch, Agent Bishop. And you are in a unique position to do something about it. We send anybody else in now, we risk not only blowing your cover but tipping our perps off. It has to be you."

"Missing? How many?"

"Fifteen so far have disappeared in the last two weeks. No trace of them to be found."

"Ages?"

"Between sixteen to thirty-five. All pretty loners, with small families or just a few close friends or work colleagues."

"Someone to miss them but not enough to draw serious attention."

"Exactly. And they just vanish off the street. Like they never existed."

My gut churned. He could've been describing River. "And there's nothing to indicate they're already dead?"

"Hard to say without the bodies or even a crime scene."

"So we aren't thinking this is a serial?"

"No. Not yet, anyway. Intel says that the Russians look good for it."

My stomach sank. "You think they're getting ready to sell them."

It wasn't a question. Volkov was known for this very thing, but we hadn't had a way into his exclusive auctions so we could make arrests. And I happened to know for a fact he was in the area. He couldn't keep that many girls hidden for long. This was happening soon. Weeks if we were lucky, days if we weren't.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Keep your ear to the ground for any rumblings about an auction, a gala, a meeting at the fucking Russian bathhouse."

"What about Cross?"

"Until you hear otherwise, Agent Bishop, consider this your sole priority. You and I both know what will happen to those girls if we don't find them first."

A chill raced down my spine. I'd seen this before, but we found them too late with no way to tie their sales to anyone aside from the men who'd bought them. Most of them were dead by the time we tracked them down. Used up and thrown away like broken dolls. Not this time.

"Is Cross involved in this?" I asked, thinking of the woman I wanted so badly being wrapped in his arms right now.

"We have no evidence to suggest he is."

I relaxed a little at that.

"But we don't have anything suggesting he isn't either."

Fuck.