Edge (Parker Reed #2) (3 page)

My eyes widened. “A w-what?”

Parker smiled softly and sighed, releasing his hold on me. He righted his pants and pulled me into his arms. “The CIA approached me years ago. I don’t know why. I still don’t know why.” He huffed. “But they told me that they needed help bringing down Devin. They needed someone that Devin trusted. Someone on the inside. My company is all a ruse. A shield for who I really am. I’m not a good man, Keely.”

I cupped his cheeks and placed a soft kiss on his mouth. “Yes. You are. You’re my man and I love you.”

He looked away, running his hands down my bare back. “After everything that has happened, I want Devin dead even more so than before. If I never would have met you, it would be a quick kill. But knowing what he did…” His gaze met mine. “I will make him suffer. For every time he hurt you, I will make the pain you endured a hundred times worse for him. I will avenge you. I will rip off every single piece of him that touched you.”

I swallowed hard at the coldness in Parker’s jade eyes. Knowing he was not kidding, I rose from his lap. “What happens now?”

“We go on like we never had this conversation,” he said casually, like it was no big deal.

“Really? Just like that, we forget that this even happened?”

Parker moved to the edge of the bed and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Keely, I don’t know what else to tell you.”

Kneeling in front of him, I placed my hands on his arms. “Parker.”

“I want to tell you everything. I want you to know me.” His shoulders slumped. “I want…”

“Tell me how you met Devin.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“You want me to know you. You think you’re a bad man. I think you just got caught up with the wrong people.” I shrugged. “I don’t blame you.”

“You should.” He rose to his feet abruptly and started pacing back and forth across the room. “I got in a fight with my mom. Some stupid shit about me not doing my homework or something. I don’t remember exactly but I ended up leaving our house and ran into him holding up a liquor store. He never got caught.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I remember being awed by the power he had.

“Watching the gun being aimed at the young man behind the counter. I can still see it. I can still smell the fear. The guy had no idea what to do. A part of me felt sorry for him but then another part of me wanted to be Devin.” He scoffed, shaking his head. “I wanted to be him.”

“Hey.” I walked up to him and stopped him in his tracks. “You were never and will never be him.”

“Keely.”

“No! I refuse to believe that you had no sense of morals. No goal in life besides bringing people down.”

“The only goals I had were being in control!” he shouted. “When I first fucked you, I had to hold back from ripping your body in half.” His mouth snapped shut, his chest rising and falling. He glanced away, his brows furrowing.

My eyes widened. We had been rough before but those words sent a flutter of unease roaring through me.

“I’m sorry.”

I wrapped my arms around myself and sat on the edge of the bed. “I had no idea.”

Parker knelt in front of me, running his hands up my thighs until he reached my hips.

Tears welled in my eyes when he rested his head in my lap. Swallowing several times, I took a breath and cupped his nape. “I don’t blame you. You are the one that told me not to blame myself for the shit I did. You
—”

“That’s not the same thing,” Parker snapped, trying to pull out of my grip.

“Yes, it is.” My hold tightened. “I may not have hurt anyone physically but I’m sure what I did was just as bad.”

“Keely.”

“No.” I pushed him back and cupped his chin but he only looked away. “Parker, look at me.”

He tried shoving his head out of my grip. “I’m warning you,” he said, meeting my gaze finally.

My skin tingled with newfound awareness but I ignored it. “Punish me after but right now, you are going to listen to me.”

His jaw clenched but he stopped struggling.

“I love you. You know that, right?” I asked, picking up his t-shirt that he had thrown on the floor and slipping it over my head.

“I do,” he said slowly, watching me. “Why did you get dressed?”

“Because the way you look at me when I’m naked distracts me,” I said, pulling him to his feet. I switched spots with him and stepped between his knees.

Brushing my fingers over a tattoo on his shoulder I sighed, trying to find the words. The black tiny dragon dug his claws into Parker’s muscle to the point it looked like it was holding on to him for dear life. It reminded me of myself, so much so that I couldn’t take my gaze away.

Parker grabbed my wrist, brushing his thumb back and forth over the smooth skin. His gaze took on a faraway look. The muscles in his jaw twitched, no doubt remembering the time he was forced to push me out of Devin’s limo several weeks before. “He’s accused me of only being with you to get back at him,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I know that’s not true,” I said, brushing my thumb along his bottom lip. “I know you love me.”

“Why did you forgive me so easily?” he asked, scratching his jaw.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“When I pushed you out of Devin’s vehicle…how could you forgive me so easily?”

I thought a moment. Troy had asked me the same thing. “Because I love you and I trust you. I knew even when I saw you come into the limo behind Devin, although I had my doubts, a part of me, that part that has remained strong through my whole entire life…that part was the thing that latched onto you. That knew you would never really hurt me.”

“But I could.”

“But you won’t,” I argued.

“Keely
—”

I silenced him with a kiss. Just a peck. But that small touch meant so much more than our words could ever say.

He leaned his forehead against mine. “I wish that I could bring you with me.”

My throat burned. “I wish you could stay.”

“You know I can’t,” he said, gripping the hem of my shirt. “Take this off.”

I pulled out of his grasp. “No.”

“Keely.”

I spun on him. “No. We need some sort of barrier between us or else I’ll lose control.”

“That’s the point.”

“Not when we need to talk. You look at me like you want to eat me alive. Like you want to get under my skin.”

A smug smile formed on his face. He rose to his feet and closed the distance between us. “Eyes on me, pet.”

I met his gaze, my stomach tumbling at his firm voice. Meeting his heated stare, I licked my lips.

“I don’t want to get under your skin.” He pinched my chin. “I want to fuck you so hard, you’ll feel me in your soul.”

Desire unfurled deep in the pits of my very being for the man standing in front of me.

He placed a soft peck on my mouth, a sense of calm washing over us. “You don’t need to be naked for me to distract you.”

I shook myself and glared up at him. “Ass.”

He chuckled, his eyes saddening. “Thank you,” he said a moment later.

“For what?” I asked softly.

He sighed. “For making me feel somewhat normal again.”

SHIVER ran down my spine as the cool mid-afternoon air brushed over my skin. I didn’t know how long I had been walking for but when the muscles in my legs started burning, I could only assume it had been a while.

“Miss Price?”

“I’m not ready,” I told Jones. It was a daily argument between us. He would drive. I would walk. He would demand that I get in the limo. After an hour or so, I would usually give in and join him in the front seat. The idea of getting in the back scared the shit out of me. Anxiety crept along my bones at the mere thought of it. Remembering when my ex held me captive for a brief length of time in the back of his limo, I couldn’t help the acidic bile that rose to my throat. Jones had offered to get a new vehicle to drive me around in but I refused, needing to get over my fear. But what I really needed was Parker. He would help me. To get out of my head. Away from the very nightmare that threatened to consume me. Away from myself.

My throat burned, my eyes welling. I missed Parker so damn much. All I could think about was him. His touch. His voice. The musky scent of his skin. The rough caress as he drove deep into my soul. I needed him to help me move on. To get me away from this hell that I called my thoughts.

Leaving the FBI station, if you would have told me weeks ago that I’d end up there in the first place, I would have brushed it off. I was Keely Price. Hacker extraordinaire. Untouchable. Or so I thought.

Having The Mist for a father, I learned a thing or two about the government. Agent Cross may have had information on me but his threats only went so far. He didn’t have proof. And without proof, he had jack shit. He had tried scaring me but after being with Devin Tate for years and enduring his abuse, I could handle anything. I scoffed at myself. I was such a liar.

My phone vibrated, startling me from my thoughts. “Hello?”

“Hey, baby girl,” my best friend, Troy Danvers, greeted me.

“Hi, Troy.” I smiled. Finally. It had been so long since I had felt that upward pull of my lips that I thought my face would shatter into a million pieces.

“Where are you?” he asked, concern coating his deep voice.

“Out.”

“Are you walking?”

I sighed. “Yes, and Jones is following me.”

“Good. That’s…good.”

“Troy—”

“A package arrived for you.”

I stopped in my tracks. “From who?”

“Keely, I think—”

“Tell me,” I demanded.

“It’s from Devin.” 

“ARE YOU going to open it?” Troy asked, sitting across the table from me.

I didn’t answer, staring at the long, rectangular package that he had placed in front of me. The box was black, made of some sort of dark wood that I couldn’t place.

“Keely…”

“Please.” I met Troy’s gaze. “Just give me a moment.”

“Let’s leave her alone,” Patrick West, Troy’s boyfriend, offered gently.

“But—”

“Teach me how to make those delicious cookies of yours.” Patrick cupped Troy’s cheek and placed a soft peck on his mouth. 

“Patrick.” Troy looked at me, his blue eyes saddening.

“I’m fine,” I said, softly.

Patrick smiled at me. “She’s strong, baby. Come. Let’s give her some time alone. I’m sure if she needs you, she’ll let us know.”

“If I need either of you, I will let you know,” I corrected.

Patrick’s eyes warmed and he blew me a kiss as he and Troy headed into the kitchen. Their voices were low and muffled and I tried ignoring them but couldn’t; their words jabbed into my heart.