UNTOUCHED (Midwest Alphas) (Book 1) Read online

  “I fucking love Europe!” Shawn exclaims again as he digs into another bread stick.

  I glance down at my phone to check the time. It’s half past eleven, but I am not tired. I’m far from it. Going back to the hotel and spending the night in the same room with Kai would be a huge mistake. That itch, it’s dug too far into me now. I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself with him. My skin burns. My sex throbs. There’s only one thing on my mind. One thing that will rid me of my desires for him tonight…

  And I know exactly where to get it.

  Chapter 12

  Kai

  I knock on the door with my duffel bag slung over my shoulder. Mandy opens it and she raises her eyebrow. “Shawn has officially kicked me out,” I tell her. “He’s summoned you for the night.”

  She chuckles and steps away from the door. “Come on in,” she says.

  Her own suitcase is stacked near the door, prepared for this exact exchange. Piper’s suitcase sits open on her bed with most of her clothing spilled out of it. “Where’s Piper?” I ask.

  Mandy’s eyes shift. “She went out,” she shrugs.

  “Went out?” I ask. “Where?”

  “I don’t know,” she mutters. “She said she needed to take a walk or something. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

  I sigh and glance around the empty room. “She didn’t say where she was going?”

  Mandy bends over and grabs her suitcase. “Nope,” she says. “She’ll be fine, Kai. No need to play protective brother on this one.”

  “Yeah, tell that to the giant bruise on her neck…”

  “Kai…” She steps closer to me. “She’s a big girl.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I step away and take a deep, angry breath.

  “I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” She opens the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I toss my duffel down on the empty bed and glare around the room. It’s pretty obvious why she isn’t here. Piper’s chosen to avoid me rather than deal with what happened on the train. Honestly, I don’t blame her, but I definitely don’t want to spend yet another night waiting up for her, peaking out the windows, hoping she’ll come back to me unscathed. And Italian television dramas can’t be any easier to understand than German ones.

  I wander over to Piper’s bed and bend down to grab her shirt off the pillow. It’s the same shirt she wore on the train all day today. I immediately smell her on the air, that same feminine scent that filled my nose in that small train bathroom. I bring it to my nose and inhale a bit more before tossing it back on the pillow. I can’t help it. I already miss her like a fucking puppy waiting on its master to return home from work.

  Something catches my eye on the bed, buried beneath her jeans. I reach out and push them aside to find Piper’s itinerary stashed beneath it. She has every bit of this trip mapped out, planned right down to the hour. This thing never leaves her side. If she was just going for a walk, she surely would have taken it with her to make note of all the sights she happened upon.

  I pick up the itinerary. It’s much thicker and heavier than the abridged version she gave her father. I do a quick scan of the room to make super sure that I’m alone before opening it. It has everything my bootleg copy has, but so much more. I was right about the map I saw on the train from Berlin. There’s far more locations marked on it than there should be, including London, Dublin, and Madrid, just to name a few.

  What the hell are you planning, Piper?

  I skip ahead to the section on Rome. There’s a few highlighted sections of restaurants, shopping centers, museums, and a bit about the Colosseum. I turn another page, hoping to find some clue as to where she would go tonight.

  And there it is…

  It’s a printed email from her (username: PopNLynch… really, Pipes?) to some guy name Dante, asking for information about a place named Fire and Ice here in Rome.

  An underground club.

  Secret password “seventh circle” for entry.

  Wear something revealing and easy to remove.

  I remember Piper’s outfit from dinner. That sleek, black halter top and tight skirt. It drives me wild just thinking about it and it fits Dante’s instructions perfectly.

  I can’t wait to stop by while I’m in Rome. -P

  We’re only spending one night in Rome before catching an afternoon train to Paris tomorrow. If Piper is as excited to see this place as she makes it sound in her email, then she could be there right now.

  Nausea plagues my guts. Piper’s avoiding me. This much is obvious. That doesn’t bother me too much. Hell, I fucking deserve it. But her doing it like this? By going to some secret club in easy to remove clothing—

  Nope.

  I tear the page out of the itinerary, fold it up, and shove it into my back pocket.

  ***

  The Fire and Ice has definitely earned its claim of being an underground club. Even with my phone giving me accurate GPS navigation of the streets of Rome, it’s taken me far too long to locate it. Who knows what Piper is doing right now. She’s certainly had plenty of time to get into all sorts of trouble. Each minute that goes by gets me a little bit angrier at her.

  I finally find the bright red door described in the email. It’s tucked away in a dark alleyway and, ironically enough, sits not too far away from St. Peter’s Basilica. Makes me wonder what the Vatican would do if they stumbled upon it — if they haven’t already.

  I knock on the door and wait with my eyes on the rectangular peep hole. Finally, it slides open and I see a beautiful girl looking back at me. Red hair. Brown eyes.

  “Password, per favore,” she spits out with a scratchy voice, one that doesn’t match her flowery appearance in the slightest.

  I flinch and open my mouth to speak. “Uhh, shit—” I realize that this password is probably supposed to be said in Italian. I shake my head. “… seventh circle,” I say, chucking it out anyway.

  “Ohhh…” she grins. “Americano?”

  “Si, or whatever,” I say, pulling the word from my limited high school Spanish vocabulary. These romance languages all share the basics, right?

  She slams the peephole closed and I listen as the door unlocks loudly. A bright blue light hits me as it opens and the woman stands out of the way to allow me inside.

  “I’m looking for a girl,” I tell her as she closes the door behind us. Slow, ambient music fills my ears. The thumping bass pounds away below my feet. A thick brute of a fellow stands in the corner, guarding a black door. It’s pretty obvious what his job is.

  She glides ahead of me in a little red dress with long, thick high-heel shoes. I follow her through the entryway, where she pauses behind a black counter. She looks at me through dark eyelashes and smiles. “Then you’ve come to the right place, signore.” Her voice is thick with accent, but luckily, she seems to have a decent handle on English. I imagine it comes in handy at a classy customer service job like this one. She reaches below the counter.

  “No — a specific one,” I say. “She’s short, pale skin, black hair, blue eyes.”

  “This is Italy, signore,” she smirks. “We have a lot of that here.”

  I heave a sigh. “Never mind.”

  “Seventy euro, per favore.”

  “Seventy euro?!” I growl and reach into my back pocket for my wallet. The things I do for that little alabaster bastard. “What the hell is this place anyway?”

  The woman grins at me and sets two masks down on the counter in front of me. They’re simple, masquerade style eye masks with thick, black elastics around the back to hold them in place on your head. One is blue. The other is red. Each has intricate patterns sewn onto them, symbolizing various elemental themes. Fire and Ice, I gather.

  “The blue is for watching,” she explains. “The red is for everything else.”

  “Watching?” I ask. “Watching what?” The brute behind me laughs, low and quick.

  “You must wear one at all times, signore,” she continues. She presses her thick, red lips togethe
r. “You may alternate as much as you like. I would recommend starting with blue and switching to red once you feel more… comfortable.” She smirks at me with amusement.

  I pull out my credit card and slide it across the counter to her. She takes it with long, perfectly manicured nails and gives it a quick swipe at the register. I swear, if I get my identity stolen, I’m coming back here first.

  She passes the card back to me. “Have a good time,” she coos before pursing her lips and pecking the air between us.

  I take my card back and make sure it’s firmly inside my wallet before sliding it into my pocket. “Thanks,” I say. I grab the masks and turn around to face the brute between myself and the black door. I stare up at him and he reaches up and taps one finger against his temple. “Oh, right…” I take the blue mask and slip it over my head. “There. How do I look? Nice?”

  He says nothing, but his lips curl upward as he grabs the door handle and pulls it open.

  I step around him and pass through a metal detector on my way down the stairs to the main floor.

  What the fuck…

  The air is thick and the lights are dim, just bright enough to make out what’s going on. Music pulses even louder in my ears as I step deeper into it all. Men. Women. I stare at them through the blue holes of my mask, trying to make sense of it all. This can’t be what it looks like…

  Yep. It is.

  Many of them wander about the black room with their blue masks, just like I am, watching with eager eyes. The others, the ones in red masks, they’re scattered about, too. Their moans of pleasure fill my ears as I pass by. I look at their naked bodies and tremble. A blonde-haired woman lies spread-eagle on a table. A light shines down on her, the bodies of men casting shadows all over her body as they do what they please to her willing flesh. I watch as a man pushes through the crowd of spectators and slides his blue mask off and his red mask on. He drops to his knees in front of her…

  Blue is for watching. Red is for everything else.

  Where the hell are you, Piper?

  I scan the dark faces with frustration. She has to be here. Anger flurries through my veins. I still can’t wrap my head about her wanting this, but I have it printed out in my back pocket. I can’t wait to stop by while I’m in Rome. Those are her words. She came all the way to Europe for this. I ball my hands into fists as I push through the strangers in masks. And of course, she came here alone. Anything could happen to her in a place like this. What the hell is she thinking?

  “Ciao—”

  “No.” I spin away from a woman in a blue mask. In any other situation, I would stop and talk to her all about her beautiful, round ass, but not right now.

  I round a corner and nearly trip over a woman’s ankles. She’s on her knees, hunched over the lap of some Italian pissant. It’s pretty obvious what she’s doing as her head bobs up and down on him. Blonde-hair beneath the red mask. Not Piper.

  I move along, my eyes scanning the rest of the sitting area, until I finally spot her. She stands with her back against the wall in the corner. A red mask covers her eyes. Her dark eyes are closed, locked shut as she trembles in desire against some fucking guy. Some suave motherfucker in a black suit has his hands on her tits, tucked up beneath her blouse. He pushes down her body, his nails scratching up her thighs to pull her tight, black skirt up, giving him access to her everything. And she fucking lets it happen. I hear her moaning from all the way over here.

  Her eyes flutter open as he drops to his knees in front of her. She looks down at him and laughs as he pushes his face between her thighs.

  I can’t fucking watch this.

  I tear the mask off my head. Rage boils just beneath the surface. I see others in the chairs around them, their hungry eyes staring at them through their blue masks. The urge to blind each and every one of them courses through me. I force myself to look at the floor instead, but I can’t fight the need to look at Piper again.

  When I do, I see her stunned eyes locked on my face.

  Chapter 13

  Piper

  Kai.

  Every time I look up, I see his face. I’m lost in a sea of strangers, their faces constantly cloaked in shadows, and still, he’s all I can see. I thought it was just a mirage in Munich, a one-time surge of psychosis brought on by shame and guilt, but I was wrong.

  Pleasure aches through my body. I raise my left knee and rest my toes on the man’s back as his tongue burrows between my folds. His face looked like Kai’s as well when I first set eyes on him. Now, I see that he shares no real resemblance with my stepbrother. I’m not sure if I’m happy or disappointed with that.

  I open my eyes and look about the dark and warm room of the Fire and Ice club. It’s exactly how I imagined it’d be — and plenty more. I can’t wait to get back and tell Mandy all about what she missed in the morning. I’m sure she’ll be pissed she skipped it, even with Shawn Monty rocking her against various motel beds all week.

  I catch sight of a man several feet away, his eyes locked on mine behind dark shadows. He shifts into the light and I’m once again met with Kai Casablancas’ face. I blink once. Then again. This usually makes the mental trickery go away, but as he drifts closer to me, the mirage refuses to disappear. This man, whoever he is, looks exactly like Kai.

  Oh, fuck.

  Kai reaches down to the man in front of me and grabs the back of his jacket’s collar. With one quick jerk, he brings him up and tosses him away. The man stumbles back and lands on the lap of a lonely man at the far end of the sofa.

  “Kai?!” I gasp.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Piper?!” he shouts above the music rattling the walls. His face, red with anger, gives a sour expression. The vein in his forehead looks ready to explode. I open my mouth to speak, but he grabs my arm before I ever get the chance. “I’m getting you out of here.”

  “Kai — stop!”

  He squeezes me harder as I try to pull away. We plow through the crowd, bumping shoulder after shoulder as he drags me towards the exit.

  I give my arm a sudden jerk and it slips from his grasp. “I said — stop!”

  He whips around and bends over to pick me up.

  “Kai!” I shout in frustration as he throws me over his shoulder. I try to wiggle free of him, but that just makes him hold me tighter. “Let me go!”

  My shrieks catch the attentions of most nearby, but no one budges as he takes me away. My cheeks turns red from embarrassment, but mostly rage, as he we ascend the stairs to the front entryway.

  “Let me go!” I shout again as we reach the entrance. I see the bouncer immediately stand up from his stool by the door, but he’s not fast enough to stop Kai from kicking the door down and walking outside in the alleyway. “Put me down, asshole!”

  Kai finally bends down and I slip off his shoulder to the ground, barely able to keep myself upright. I take in a large breath, preparing to rip into him with very unkind words, but I fall silent as the bouncer suddenly hovers over Kai’s shoulder. He grabs Kai and knocks the wind out of him with one, firm punch to his stomach. Kai doubles over and the bouncer strikes him again, this time in the face with a perfectly closed fist.

  “Stop!” I shout to the bouncer. I step in front of him as Kai topples to the ground below. “Mio fratello.”

  The bouncer pauses above me and slowly relaxes his fist. He reaches into his front suit pocket, withdraws a white handkerchief, and tosses it at Kai’s crumpled form.

  “Grazie,” I spit. I bend over and grab the handkerchief as he bounds back into the club.

  Kai rolls over onto his back and stares up into the night sky. Warm, red blood pools out of his nose, dripping down his face onto the concrete below him.

  “Well…” I say to him as I cross my arms. “Are you pleased with yourself?”

  “Yeah…” he chokes. “Very.”

  “Come on…” I hold a hand out to him, but he ignores it as he sits up on his own. “Just take my freakin’ hand, Kai. Come on. Please.”


  Kai begrudgingly grips my fingers and I help him to his feet. I flinch as he immediately yanks it back and stumbles away, walking slowly towards the street. I follow him closely until we find a bench on the deserted street corner.

  “Sit down,” I tell him. He does as he’s told and I raise the handkerchief to his face.

  After a few moments of avoiding my gaze, he finally looks down at me. “You don’t seem nearly as pissed off as I imagined you’d be,” he mutters as I wipe the blood off his cheek.

  “Oh, don’t let my calmness deceive you, Kai,” I say. “I’m actually quite pissed off right now.”

  “You and me both,” he says.

  I sigh and fold the handkerchief to a new angle not covered in blood. “You told me I wouldn’t have to look over my shoulder for you.” I put the handkerchief against his upper lip to stop the blood still seeping out of his nose.

  He snatches it from me and holds it steady against his lip. “Yeah, well. I lied.”

  “Obviously.” I shake my head. “How did you even know I was here?”

  He lets out a quick sigh, then leans forward to pull something from his back pocket. “Here,” he says as he holds the folded paper out for me.

  I take it from him and unfold it. I seethe on the inside. The email from my itinerary. “Of course…” I crunch it up in my palm and toss it to the ground.

  “Piper, what the hell are you doing in a place like this?” he attacks.

  “I’m having fun,” I shrug. “Letting loose. Like I told you I was here to do.”

  “When you told me you came here to let loose, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, Piper…”

  “That’s not my problem, Kai.” I scoff at him. “What the hell were you thinking in there?”