Release Me

Part 11

Kade leaned against his motorcycle, arms crossed, as he chewed on the end of a toothpick. I glanced back, but the club door was closed and there was no doubt that my submissive didn't find his way here on his own.

"Kade," I acknowledged with a light nod of my head.

"I don't trust that guy." He nodded toward the club door and pushed off the seat of his bike. "What did he want, anyway?"

I lifted the hefty envelope in my hand and shrugged.

"Business. We've known each other for years. He thought I'd be interested in a business arrangement that might help me out of my fiscal issues." I tried to keep my tone neutral, but Kade was as observant as they came, which was perfect for a submissive and a bodyguard, but irritating when it came to secrets.

"So he just happened to have half a million dollars lying around?" He gave me a dubious look and spit out the toothpick. "What's the catch?"

"Two million, and he wants me to run a company. Consider this something like an employment contract."

He let out a low whistle and scowled.

"Sovereign Society?"

I bit my bottom lip and nodded.

"Yes, but it's not what it looks like."

"Oh? Well, from here it looks like poor decision making."

"It looks like that already happened when I called you that night and ran away from Dominick. This is..."

"More poor decision making," he interrupted. "You left because you were done. Something about a life-changing decision you couldn't do and it was worth ruining your life to leave it all behind. I might not know everything, but I know you're hiding way more than a simple business offer."

I stepped over to him and leaned against his chest. His arms automatically engulfed me and I breathed in the musky scent of his cologne. For a moment, the world disappeared while he held me. Far too soon, he grasped my shoulders, caging me with his hands, and pushed me away until he stared down at me.

"What keeps us together is built on trust and loyalty, but right now, I only have one of those. If you can't trust me enough to let me in, then I'm not sure what we have between us will survive."

His words were like stones tumble down on me from surrounding cliffs. Right when I thought a lifeline was forming to fix all my problems, the very foundation of it crumbled instead.

"Don't say that, Kade. You know I can't discuss Society business. You chose to remain outside of it, rather than taking Dominick's offer."

His disappointed expression was the last weight I could handle in the downfall of the day. I pushed against his chest, taking a large step backwards.

"You're going back?" The accusation in his tone was clear.

"No. I'm not going back."

"But you admit it is a Society contract."

My mouth hung agape at my misstep, and I internally cursed him.

"It's a business arrangement."

"Is that we are? A business arrangement?"

"Stop this. You're blowing a simple meeting out of proportion."

"A meeting that prick in there told me about, but you didn't." Now the answer to the question I should have started with became clear - why was Kade waiting out here for me.

Parker's phone call raced through my mind at his insistence that I leave him out of the loop. It was a classic manipulation, but I'd learned long ago that life was all about those subtle moves when you were playing with the physical and mental spaces in other people. It seemed I'd under estimated the importance of this contract, but now I was more paranoid than ever that the Society would pull me back in at any cost.