Little Bird (Caged #1) (4 page)

  "Oh. I got the invite. I figured since I'm living here now." I move even closer as the group behind me starts to grow and get a little too loud for my liking. This is perfect. She's right where I want her. "I'd get to know my neighbors a little." My breath is practically on her neck as I whisper the words meant only for her. 

She's not stupid. I see the color in her cheeks come to life at my nearness. 

  "Living here now?" A forced chuckle leaves her lips and she tries to take a step away but there's someone standing behind her. "I wouldn't call it living here. But I'm sure when you're gone in a week or two, the Milkey's neighbors will miss you." 

I wonder if people ever think that smile on her face is real. It's the fakest shit I've ever seen, but I'm sure she convinces a lot of assholes with it.

  "Yeah...  About that one or two week thing. I'm thinking it's going to be a little longer until I get what I came for." The words slip out before I realize what I'm saying and my hand, having a mind of its own, is already on her cheek.

It might seem forward to any onlookers, but the faster I break her and make her talk, the faster I can get out of this hellhole. I'm a good-looking guy. I've gotten a lot of bitches to melt just by that physical touch they crave. The faster she melts, the faster she tells me what I want to know, and the faster I can eliminate her.

Her fingers curl around to my palm. She's already receptive to my touch. Then the pointed fingernail on her middle finger jabs into the center of my hand while she stares me in the eyes and I realize she isn't trying to hold my hand, she's trying to hurt me.

  "I'm not sure what you came for. But you won't find it here." Removing my hand from her cheek, she then turns and meshes in with the crowd.

I look at my palm to see she drew blood with that nail.

Fuck, that shouldn't turn me on.

Growling, I grab a drink from a tray nearby and watch her as she mingles with some of the party goers. There's a young woman with a small child that just walked through the door and the look on Megan's face is priceless. 

Obviously mixing children in this little game of hers isn't something she's fond of. 

I take my time, finishing my drink and set it on a side table before making my way toward her. She's standing near the couple that lives three houses down from me, talking about lawn mowing or some stupid shit. 

  "This a party for all ages?" Letting my hand rest on the small of her back, I notice the rise of goosebumps on her arms before she spins and pins me with her stare. 

  "Mr. Milkey, you should learn to keep your hands to yourself." Her eyes flash down to the hand she drew blood on. "And this week, I will personally hire and pay for a moving crew to have your family's belongings moved out of the house and transferred to a storage unit where I'll also, gladly, pay first month's rent. I imagine you have your own house to be taking care of. No sense in prolonging your stay here." 

I chuckle at her forwardness. She really doesn't trust me. For good reason. 

  "I'm not sure, I'm starting to like this laid back lifestyle." I put my hands in my pocket and shrug. "Maybe I'll sell my place across town." I grin at her and holy hell, she looks pissed. 

Taking a step closer to me, she tilts her head slightly so she can look up into my face. Even in those heels she's only tall enough to be eye level with my chin. "I assure you, Mr. Milkey, you can't afford to live in this community. And also, your age breaks my second rule. It's nothing personal, but there are rules and standards that I maintain here. I apologize I can't help you and your residency needs or interests. Your aunt and uncle were over the age of fifty with an annual income level of one seventy five or higher." Her smile is strained while she tries to hold back telling me to go fuck myself. "If I made an exception for you, I'd have to do it for all my tenants and soon the community would be full of their children, and their children's children. You understand what I'm saying?" The smile is gone and she looks like she wants to kill me. "You need to be out in a week."

Holy hell. This game of cat and mouse that I thought would end in her devouring me and giving me everything I want has turned into so much more. She wants me gone, which makes me want to stay so much more.

  "I can assure you I understand completely, Ms. Porter." I inch closer and breathe in her scent of jasmine and honey. I turn to walk away but not before leaving her with one final piece to think on. Dropping the nasally bullshit tone, I tell her, "But I'm not saying I'm promising to agree to your terms." 

I don't wait to see her reaction, but I can only bet it's one of utter rage. 

A hand grabs my arm and tugs me until we're face to face. Her chest rising and falling with anger and there's a burn in her eyes that I'd love to see while I fuck her.

  "I rented to your aunt and uncle, not you, Mr. Milkey. If you don't leave my property, and yes, I own all fifteen hundred acres and every house sitting on every inch of land I posses, I own them too. You will not tell me you aren't agreeing to my terms. A week and if you're not gone, I will have you escorted off the property and I will make sure you never step foot back on it."

I almost laugh because I know she's threatening me with what Jasper will do for her, granted she doesn't know I understand what she's talking about, but she also doesn't know her threat is null and void because of who I really am.

  "Megan." An old man touches her arm and the rage burning in my direction is suddenly melted, gone in a split second before she turns to face him.

I stand idly by, waiting for their nonsense conversation to be over. The whole time playing through my head how this conversation could go. 

She doesn't know who I am. I have to keep low key about that and it's proving to be hard to keep the dominance down when she's being so fucking hot headed, but I have to. 

He walks away a minute later.

  "I understand you have a business to uphold, Ms. Porter." I nod at a couple passing by who I recognize from my block. "I'm just a little thrown off still by the sudden death of the only family I've ever known. My aunt and uncle practically raised me. I feel so bad I wasn't better to them after they moved in here, but college life and jobs... everything just got in the way. Now they... they're gone..." I shake my head. "I'd like to make it up to you, Ms. Porter. Let me take you out to eat. Have drinks with me. Something. Just give me a chance to prove to you that I'm not an asshole." I give her my saddest, most pitiful face I think I can conjure. It feels so unnatural to be so... weak, but that's what she's looking for so that's what I'm going to do. 

Softly clearing her throat, she paints that fake smile back onto her face. "No need, Mr. Milkey. I understand at times our emotions get away from us. Please enjoy the party and unwind a little." 

I can't believe she shot me down after that pathetic display, and she's walking away!

  "Right." I chuckle. "Sorry about that." It's so fucking hard playing this nervous kid! "My offer still stands, Ms. Porter. Any time. In the next week, I guess..." I give her a sideways grin and enjoy the glare she's giving me way too much.

Apparently she's tougher than I thought though, because the grin she gives me has me backing up a few steps. 

  "A young, fit man like yourself shouldn't have any problems clearing out that place in a week. My offer to hire the moving company still stands. I have to put the house on the market, Mr. Milkey, and they don't usually sit long. You understand?" It sounds more like she's telling me than asking and she's most definitely avoiding my offer to take her out.

  "I absolutely do," I say giving her the end. "I'll still be here all week though." 

  "We established that." That fake smile appears again as she gives me a nod like I'm getting on her last nerve. "I've allowed you to take the week so I imagine you'll be here all seven days." She nonchalantly steps closer and glances around. "I'm not much into the dating scene, Mr. Milkey. And a man like you wouldn't know what to do with a woman like me. Trust me when I say I'm letting you off easy here."

  "We'll see, Ms. Porter." I lean in and brush my lips to her cheek before backing away.

I'd say that's enough for tonight. I've seen her hands starting to tremble ever so slightly the longer I take up her time. I think it's time to back off and see just what she's doing here tonight from a safe distance. 

After grabbing a drink from the open bar, I find a seat in the corner near the piano player. He's good too, because when I walked in I swear I thought it was a recorded track. Sitting here, watching people, I see her every now and then but she's like a bird, all over the room as quick as can be, only staying in one spot for a short period of time. There were a few times I wish I could have heard her conversation just from the look on her face, but nothing tonight tells me she's doing anything illegal outside of Jasper's realm. There have been a few trips to the bathroom with other women. There were a few times she had to go to the back area, but she always seemed to go alone. I know she's up to something, but whatever it is, she's good at covering her tracks.

It's midnight before I head home to a dark house and pass out for the night. 

***

By the next week, I've spent every fucking day learning more and more about this woman and I can honestly say she's one of the most boring people I've ever thought about fucking, and if she's planning on stealing from the empire, she'll be fucking up any minute. Her approach to life is weak. 

Don't get me wrong... I still want to fuck her. Hard. Just the thought of having her underneath me, screaming out has me hard as a fucking rock. I can't do that though, until the time is right. The most important thing right now is to figure out just what she's planning. If anything at all. So far I know she doesn't do business out of her house and only leaves the neighborhood twice a week. That's it. She spends her time holed up in her house on the corner, probably reading or some shit, just waiting for something to happen. She talks with a couple of the neighbors on a daily basis but that's only for about three minutes at a time while she's getting her mail. She doesn't have any friends that I've noticed other than some chick that was at the party the other night with the kid, but even then they don't ever go out and do anything. 

Megan isn't like what I was expecting. I thought I'd be walking into a hot mess of lazy and find everything right out there, but so far she's been good at keeping shit hidden and under the radar. 

Way too good. 

Tomorrow is one week since her practical eviction notice and I've got nothing on her other than a partial pity party because she really doesn't have a life. She has a bird... that's about all the insight to her life that I've been able to get because she keeps to herself so much. The trackers and cameras have done nothing to help with my search of intel. 

Walking outside to get the last of the mail, hoping that today brings something new, I notice a car driving into the neighborhood that I shouldn't ever see near me when I'm on a job. Standing by the road, the black Rolls comes to a stop in front of me and when the window rolls down, I have the sudden urge to punch the face staring at me. 

  "Way to put this entire mission on the line, man," I grumble as he smiles at me.

Smiles! What the hell is he doing here?

  "Lucas..." Jasper trails off and looks around the block then pulls into the Milkey driveway.

Getting out, I notice he's dressed just as any normal day, which means this is either a check in trip or a purely personal trip... Unfortunately, both make me uneasy being as that they both mean something's wrong. 

  "How's the little issue going?" He's still looking around as he gets out of the car, probably because he knows no one needs to see him here.

  "Let's get inside," I mumble letting him follow me into the house.

After locking the door and closing the blinds, I'm almost past the initial rage over him just showing up here. He's never done this before... but I've also never been on a case like this before. Typically I take care of issues quickly and efficiently, no questions asked. This is a little different, but that doesn't mean it's okay for him to just show up here. The second she sees him, my cover's going to be blown and all of this will have been for nothing. 

Fuck. 

  "What do you need, Jasper?" I hand him a glass of vodka and sit across the room from him.

He swirls the alcohol in his glass before watching me take a drink of mine. 

  "How's it going with her?" 

  "Megan? She's fucking boring as shit, man. I don't think there's anything to worry about."

She is, too. She might be running this ring, but however she does it is beyond me.

  "I saw some of the young kids at the party last week and my only guess is that she does her business there and uses the party as a mask to get these people in, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary there so that's just assumption. I've been watching her all week, and aside from having a motherfucking bird that talks to her, there's nothing at all to be worried about with this one."

He sets the glass on the side table then sighs before turning his gaze on me. Cracking his knuckles, he grins at me then checks his phone for something. Watching him sometimes feels like looking in a mirror. He's just an inch or two taller than me, and only five years older, but growing up with him, we've adapted the same characteristics. For the longest time he was all I knew. We took care of each other.