Skins & Needles (COMPLETE)

Tentative Cooperation Part 2

Arsen

"I don't know what the hell you've gotten yourself into, but you better get yourself out."

I frowned at Kase's words, but lifted his phone to my ear anyway.

"Hello?" I asked slowly.

"Volkov," someone hissed from the other end. "We caught your little girlfriend sniffing around our land."

"My who?" I demanded. As far as I knew, I wasn't dating anyone.

"Your girlfriend," they said unhelpfully. "About two blocks from our base today. Care to explain?"

"Sure," I snapped, my eyes on the trees as we drove off the Llywelyns' land and onto the highway. "I don't have a fucking girlfriend. There's my explanation."

"Oh please," they drawled, and I felt my scowl deepen. "We have a picture of you and your pretty little redhead outside her tattoo shop. Don't try and fool us."

"Who is this?" I asked then. "Lyle? Is that you?"

"Nice guess," the voice said, confirming my suspicions. I mouthed the word "Nathair" to Kase, who matched my scowl.

"I don't know what photo you think you have, but I am not dating Charlotte, or anyone for that matter."

"Funny, she said the same thing just now."

My blood ran cold. They had Charlotte. The fucking Nathairs had Charlotte. What the hell was she doing by their base, anyway?

I wanted to go burn the place down. Kill every last member of their traitorous circle. But I needed to remain calm. For one, if I acted immediately, they would suspect that we were, in fact dating. For another, Charlotte was damn tough, and there was a chance she would get out of this situation on her own.

"Maybe because it's true, Nathair," I told him. "I'm not dating her. She doesn't even know. Whatever you think you saw outside the shop was just an encounter between friends."

There was a moment of silence on the other end.

"She doesn't know?" he asked, and I smacked my forehead.

"No, you fucking idiot! She doesn't know anything, unless you've let it slip!"

"Of course not," Lyle said hurriedly. "But she doesn't have to know to be spying for you."

"I haven't even talked to her in a month! Ask her. She'll say the same."

"So if we killed her, you wouldn't care?"

A lump formed in my throat and my heart went into overdrive.

Don't freak out. Be tactful. Don't. Freak. Out.

"It would be unfortunate, as we are acquaintances, and she is a well-known tattoo artist to all the circles," I said deliberately, "but if you killed her, there would be no recourse on my part."

More silence.

"Just keep your eyes, acquaintances or otherwise, off our territory, dog." And he hung up.

"What the fuck was that?" Kase asked as I handed back his phone. Something told me Charlotte would be okay, something inexplicable deep in my gut, but the whole thing shook me the hell up, and I had to clench my fists to keep from punching something.

"Nothing," I growled. I punched the dashboard. Failure.

"Do the Nathairs have Charlotte Andersen?" Kase asked, watching my face out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes," I snapped, "but it's taken care of."

"Are you sure?"

"No."

"Then what are you going to do?" He said this pointedly, as if reminding me with his tone how little I could do.

"Just drop me at home. There's nothing to be done. It was a misunderstanding and those impulsive assholes can't do a single thing right. If anything, this proves there's definitely shit they don't want us to see."

"I suppose..."

Nothing else was said on the short remainder of the drive, and I was glad.

For the second Kase was out of sight, I was getting in my truck and driving toward Phoenix.

---

Sorry for the slow updates! I've been getting ready to publish His Unwavering and have been setting up a profile over on Inkitt (where S&N is posting now too!) and also getting ready to go back to uni while working lmao ANYWAY. Gonna drop a few chapters tonight to make up for it. I'm also going to try and finally finish this before the end of summer??? TRY

Happy reading!

-Haybails