There were twenty different faces staring back at her, ranging from late teens to early thirties. Each of them had only a first name beside it. David, Samuel, and Lukas seemed normal, ordinary names even, but the men in the pictures were anything but.
They had hard, stoic expressions, but they also looked broken, dead, and devoid of emotion. She couldn’t help but worry about them, and about how far Rye had gone with them.
But they were no longer prisoners, and in fact Gage’s organization had relocated them to rehabilitation facilities, places they could start their lives again, rebuild what they’d lost, and, she hoped, try to have normal lives. But Neeka also knew that they weren’t “normal”, not with the drugs Rye had given them.
Her blood ran in their veins as well, helped them be the killing machines Rye had envisioned. How their lives would go was up to them.
She remembered Adaym, remembered the expression that had crossed his face when she’d looked into his glowing eyes back at that facility, at the prison. But what Neeka noticed was there was no photo of Adaym amongst the others, and Gage had told her they hadn’t found a man matching that description at the facility either.
Where are you?
They hadn’t gotten much information out of Theo, given the fact that he’d slipped into a coma shortly after they’d returned. They were still waiting for him to wake up so he could be questioned.
Since Gage had rescued her from Rye and Theo’s capture, she’d been staying at her father’s house. It was lonely, and she was reminded daily of her father being gone, but she liked being surrounded by his things.
She was in the process of selling her condo and was on a temporary leave of absence from work. Neeka and Gage had been seeing each other, their relationship like nothing she’d ever experienced. She was glad she’d been able to find him, that he’d come into her life and changed something inside of her for the better.
The pictures were scattered all over the table in her kitchen, each face seeming lonely and desolate. Gage had been the one to give her pictures, to update her on everything.
She walked toward the refrigerator, opening it and just standing there, the chill seeping through the thin layer of her clothing. Hearing footsteps behind her and smiling, she knew it was Gage without even turning around. The clean, masculine scent of him washed through her just as he wrapped his strong arms around her waist.
“I missed you, baby.”
She smiled to herself, Gage’s deep voice vibrating from her ear all the way down to her clit. Her nipples beaded up, and she straightened, her arousal instant. She turned around and was immediately embraced by him.
He smelled of fresh soap and wilderness, and the aroma of him washed through her. His hair was wet from his recent shower, and he wore only a pair of loose jeans. A gush of wetness slid out of her and coated her panties, her pussy lips tingling with arousal.
Before they’d gotten to this point in their lives where they were together, she knew Gage had struggled with being with her because he felt like he was crossing lines and going against his code.
He’d insisted she was better off without him, and that he wasn’t a good man, but she’d laid it bare for him, and explained that life was too precious to worry about anything else.
Because of the fact they hadn’t caught Rye, and he was still out there, she knew there was a possibility he’d come back for her, that she wouldn’t be safe. That wasn’t why she wanted Gage in her life, though. It wasn’t some selfish reasoning that he’d protect her.
She loved him more than she could ever fully explain.
The security around the house was doubled, and whenever she was out alone someone was with her. Neeka hated that her life was like this, but she wanted to be safe and cautious, not dead.
Gage moved her forward, and the fridge closed as her ass bumped into it. His erection pressed against her belly and sent heat through her.
“I missed you, too, baby.” He’d been gone for a few days while he got things sorted out with his organization, one she still didn’t know much about because when it came to Gage giving her information regarding the details about his profession he kept a wall up.
She was okay with that though, because even if she had an inkling of the illegal activities that went down concerning him, if he hadn’t done what he’d done, and been who he was, she’d still be locked away in Rye’s prison.
He slanted his mouth on hers, and she pushed out of her head all thoughts that didn’t have to do with this moment. Gage moved his tongue along the seam of her lips until she opened on a moan.