Austin's Ward

by Lynn Burke

  My heart missed a beat, and I found myself smiling. “You like me?”

  She glanced up at me, one eyebrow cocked in a sexy as fuck look that swelled my dick. “I like your cock…”

  “Little vixen.” I yanked her up out of the chair, and she wrapped her legs around my waist.” That’s the first you’ve said anything that makes me think you might be caving to my charms.”

  Cadence laughed and ran her fingers through my beard as I palmed her ass, her focus on my mouth. “I do like you, Austin. More than I expected, more than I wanted to.”

  “You upset by that fact?” I asked, peering into her eyes when she lifted her gaze to mine.

  It took her long enough to answer that my stomach twisted. “No.”

  “You hesitated,” I said, my voice low, recognizing the wariness in her eyes.

  “I -- I just had bigger plans, you know?”

  Fuck. I untangled her body from mine and set her on her feet. Cadence had always been pretty frank, honest in what she wanted, honest about her past -- but I hadn’t been prepared for that fucking brutal honesty in putting me in my place. “I’m no senator with money and power, that ticket out you’ve been wanting,” I said, my voice more filled with anger than the hurt knifing my Goddamn chest.

  She didn’t say a word -- wouldn’t fucking meet my eyes.

  “I know I’m not good enough for an angel like you, Cadence,” I grumbled, turning for the door back into the shop. “But I sure as fuck didn’t need that verbal reminder. You’d have been better off just walking away once I fulfilled the order given by Gunner to protect you.” I slammed the door shut behind me, wanting whiskey. Wanting to fuck my woman -- the woman who would walk anyway just like I’d said once I took care of her problems.

  She liked me, all right -- just not enough to overlook the things I lacked. Money, power, and class.

  Set them free if you love them, people said. Why the fuck would I do that? She belonged to me -- with me. I just needed to find the way to show her, to prove my love and faithfulness was worth more than a dollar amount, worth more than that Goddamn bracelet she still wore around her wrist.

  I’d find a way -- after I downed a bottle of whiskey and beat the shit out of something.

  * * *

  Cadence

  Idiot.

  Tears stung my eyelids as the door slammed shut behind Austin, but the word whispered in my head was meant for me, not him. Austin had been nothing but kind and giving. Gentle when needed, rough when I’d asked -- when I’d begged like I had that morning when he’d nibbled my clit.

  I flopped back down in his squeaky office chair, eyeing the coating of dust on the areas of the desk I’d been dragging my feet over cleaning. I needed a break. Needed a breath of fresh air.

  Sure, getting away from the compound the previous couple of days had been awesome, but with the shop only being two blocks away -- and Austin hiding me in his damn truck to drive the short distance -- it didn’t really feel like getting out.

  I wanted to hit Starbucks. I wanted to hit the mall and find myself a new bag and matching shoes. I wanted to hang with my Goddamn friends and go dancing at a club to let loose. Blowing a breath from between my lips, I grabbed my cell and shot a text off to Hannah.

  Me: I’ve GOT to get out of here!!

  I chewed the inside of my lip while waiting her reply, refusing to look through the window and watch Austin work or do whatever he was doing in there.

  Hannah: You okay?

  Me: NO. Fucking stir crazy! Austin won’t let me go out -- won’t take me anywhere, and I’m ready to blow a fucking fuse!

  Hannah: I’ll talk to Bowie and see if he can’t get Austin to loosen up a bit. He just wants to keep you safe, you know.

  Me: Yes, I know, but STILL. I feel like a fucking slave.

  Hannah replied with a laughing emoji, but I didn’t find the humor in our conversation even though I knew she meant it from a sexual perspective -- and it could have been funny had I not just hurt Austin like the brutally honest fuck I was.

  Hannah: If you tell him you need “female” stuff, he might at least take you to the drugstore or something since most men won’t touch that shit with a ten-foot pole.

  She had a point, but…

  Me: He’ll just tell me to ask you to pick up what I need.

  Hannah: So lie.

  I narrowed my gaze, my mind set on a few moments of freedom, and shot off one last text letting her know I would do that exact thing.

  * * *

  It was a full twenty-four hours before I found the nerve to ask Austin to take me to a drug store. He hadn’t spoken a word to me since the afternoon before when he’d dropped me off at his apartment after work and told me to stay put.

  He didn’t come home that night, and when he showed up in the morning with bloody fists and smelling like liquor, he brushed off my offer of help to clean him up. I almost went wild on his ass, hauling off and backhanding him, cursing him out for being a royal dick.

  I withheld, because I’d been the dick. I was the one who had set him off.

  Teeth clenched, I had obeyed his command to get ready for work. I seethed, bit my tongue, knowing I needed him to calm his ass before I asked him to let me out into public.

  When he told me to order pizza for lunch for the shop workers, I ordered pepperoni and sausage -- his favorite -- rather than mine. Three pizzas demolished, everyone full and seemingly happy, they filed back out the door into the shop. I caught Austin’s attention before he followed the pledges back to work.

  “I need some feminine products,” I said as the door closed us alone in the office.

  He stared at me like I had two heads.

  I crossed my arms. “Like tampons and shit.”

  He scrubbed a hand down over his face. “Can Angel pick some up for you and bring them over to the club tonight?”

  “I… uh, I need them now.” A lie, but he hadn’t touched me for twenty-four hours, and I wasn’t about to let him between my thighs again to find out the truth.

  “Like right now, now?”

  I nodded, hoping like hell he wouldn’t see the dishonesty in my eyes. “You’re out of lube, too.” Seeing as how he enjoyed fucking my ass -- and probably still had plans of continuing to do so once he got over his pissiness -- I allowed my desperation to let loose. Didn’t mean I wanted his big cock shoved back up my ass again. Ever. I inhaled deeply against the sudden ache in my chest.

  Austin let out a heavy breath as though annoyed. “Fine.” He began pulling off his coveralls. “There’s a drug store around the corner.”

  Yes!

  I fought to keep from grinning while bending to get my purse from beneath the desk -- on the only portion of the filthy floor I’d scrubbed.

  “You’re staying beside me the entire time.”

  “Okay.”

  “No wandering off.”

  “Okay.”

  Fighting like hell to keep my giggles contained, I followed him outside, his head swiveling left to right while stalking to his truck. Ever alert, ever observant, my protector, the one who had weaseled into my heart -- and I’d treated him like shit the day before, yet another mistake.

  Or had it been?

  I watched him in my peripheral vision as he pulled out onto the road -- away from the Outlaws’ compound. We hadn’t spoken about the future. Austin hadn’t mentioned anything beyond taking care of the threat on my life so I could move on. I’d thought for sure he’d fallen for me just like Shelby and Hannah had claimed, but what if it’d all been an act for a piece of pussy?

  Perhaps our fucking hadn’t meant anything to him beyond a release. If so, I’d be better off without him in my life anyway.

  Arms crossed, I forced myself to enjoy the view sliding by the passenger window rather than give into the sudden thickness clogging my throat. Even though cold had descended over D.C.’s northern suburb, I loved the dusting of snow that had fallen overnight. Pristine white clung to the tree branches, catching the noonday s
un in sparkling diamonds.

  I fingered the bracelet on my arm, thinking I ought to send the damn thing back to the senator along with a promise to keep my mouth shut in hopes he’d leave me alone. I also thought to take it to a pawnshop to see how much I could get for it once Austin let me go.

  As much as I thought I wanted more, the thought of Austin cutting me loose hurt ten times more than I expected.

  * * *

  My steps light, I followed on Austin’s heels across the parking lot, my hand swallowed up in his. In and out, he’d said.

  No problem, I’d agreed, just fucking happy for a change of scenery.

  Sour gummies… a bag of Chex Mix… I tossed in a couple other fun things into the basket Austin clutched in his other hand as we passed them.

  We came to the feminine products aisle, and Austin paused at the end. “Grab what you need.”

  I didn’t need to glance up at his face to see his discomfort -- I could hear it in his voice. Lingering longer than I usually would over buying tampons, which I didn’t need thanks to my birth control, I listened to the soft elevator music, the voices of strangers in the next aisle over.

  Almost normal, I told myself while picking up a box of panty liners.

  Austin’s cell rang, and scowling, he pulled it from his back pocket.

  “What’s up?” He held my gaze for a few seconds before pointing to where I stood. “Stay there,” he mouthed at me. Austin actually turned away and moved back the way we came, his rumbling tone low enough I couldn’t hear what he said.

  I wanted to run. Wanted to jet and never look back. I also wanted him to take me back to his place and tie me to his bed, spread eagle and at his disposal.

  Arousal, hot and heavy, rose between my thighs, and I put the box of liners back on the shelf, shifting my purse from one arm to the other. Lube…

  I turned, and ran smack into a hard chest. “Oh! Excuse --”

  A hand closed over my mouth, and I caught a glimpse of a stranger’s face. I thought to bite his hand, scream and kick like a banshee -- but a knife pricked the skin of my throat, and I froze before my thoughts could send my body into action.

  The threat in his eyes was enough. I went willingly but slowly, hoping like fuck that Austin would show up at the end of the aisle again before the goon hauled me off.

  No such fucking luck.

  We neared a door stating “Employees Only”, and my survival instincts kicked in.

  I bit. Hard. Fucking screamed behind the hand that hadn’t lessened its grip. Something smashed against my temple, and blackness swept my fear away.

  Chapter Eight

  Austin

  “Whatcha got?” I asked Breslin, moving off a bit from other consumers roaming the store, my gaze on the entrance and those coming and going.

  “Not a hell of a lot, but I’ve narrowed down that Shawshank guy to one of two possibilities.”

  “Shoot.”

  He told me both names, and that he’d keep digging.

  I hung up and called Val while heading back toward Cadence. “Val -- I got two names for ya.”

  He jotted them down and said he’d have something for me soon.

  Thank fuck.

  I shoved my cell back in my pocket, so damn ready for a break, ready to end the shit, so I could talk Cadence into moving forward with me. If she refused, I considered tying her up -- never letting her leave my damn apartment until she relented.

  What a fight that would be.

  The beginnings of a grin twitched my lips, and I rounded the aisle’s end.

  No Cadence.

  A frown dented my brow, and I hurried to the next aisle where two older ladies browsed vitamins.

  “Cadence?” I called loudly, rushing back to the entrance, my head jerking left and right down each aisle as I passed. “Cadence!” I hollered, pushing through the door. A quick scan revealed she hadn’t exited.

  I spun back around and strode back in. “Is there a back entrance?” I asked the cashier on my right.

  Eyes wide, she stared at me, nodding and pointing to the far left of the store.

  I sprinted, jostling past a woman holding a toddler, ignoring her curse or the heads swiveling my way.

  A door marked for employees only met my shoulder with almost enough force to rip it off its damn hinges.

  The exit sign above a metal door on my left got the same treatment.

  “Cadence!” Heart slamming in my chest, I pulled up, head jerking left and right -- nothing. “Fuck!”

  Curses poured my from my lips as I pulled out my cell, and hands shaking, dialed Val.

  “Someone fucking took her!” I hollered, hurrying around the side of the building, scanning every Goddamn car, every Goddamn person on foot shuffling through the two inches of snow.

  “Where are you?”

  “Corner of Elm and Davidson -- the drug store.”

  “Give me a few minutes.”

  I hung up and sprinted back in the front entrance, hollering Cadence’s name a few more times, hoping like fuck the fear lodged in my gut amounted to nothing. Memories of my sister flashed in my head, the fact as a gangly teenager, I couldn’t protect her from her asshole boyfriend.

  Being beaten, a broken leg keeping me on the ground as he’d kicked the shit out of her -- and her Goddamn life as well. He’d shot himself once he realized what he’d done, but he hadn’t taken me out of my misery along with him.

  I wouldn’t fail again. Couldn’t.

  A man in a shabby suit approached me as I pushed through the employees only door again. Wariness filled his eyes. “Can I help you, sir?”

  “Someone took my woman,” I said, hands fisted, rage, guilt, and fear a nasty brew in my stomach.

  “Where?”

  “In the Goddamn tampon aisle!” A though flitted through my brain. “Security? Do you have cameras in this place?” I asked, swiveling around to study the drop ceiling and its water stains.

  “Are you sure --”

  “She’s fucking gone! I told her to stay put.”

  The man held up his hands as though to calm me, and I pushed past him, rushing out the exit once more. Every second wasted was one more the fuckers had to hurt Cadence -- fucking slice her neck or put a bullet in her brain if they hadn’t already.

  “Fuck!” As much as I wanted to tear the place apart, that damn manager had probably called the cops the second I rushed out the door. My cell rang, and I stormed back to my truck, my attention flitting back and forth, praying like fuck to find Cadence had slipped past me unintentionally. “Whatcha got, Val?”

  “Traffic light cam -- blue box van tore out of the building’s back exit two minutes ago.”

  He rattled off the license plate number, but I didn’t give a shit. “Address!”

  “467 Tyburn Ave. I’ll have Bowie and Brewer meet you there.”

  “Send along a tactical bag, and keep an eye on this Goddamn store in case I’m wrong!” I tossed my phone aside and tore out of the parking lot.

  I’d promised my dad as he lay on his deathbed that I would be the man of the house, that I would watch over and protect my older sister and mother. Failing him in the worst way possible had fucked my head up for years. Becoming the Outlaws’ Sergeant at Arms had given me back some of my self-worth I’d lost all those years ago, had given me the opportunity to protect my brothers, but Cadence had stolen my damn heart.

  She fucking owned me, and I’d failed her, too.

  Teeth clenched and body strummed tight, ready to tear a few fuckers to shreds, I fought to keep to the speed limit. Fought to keep from acting an asshole and end up pulled over. I couldn’t afford to lose any more time, any seconds while Cadence might still be breathing.

  * * *

  Cadence

  A shiver racked through me, bringing consciousness back.

  My breath caught at the cold against my cheek -- hard and grating -- cement. Eyes still shut, I focused on being alive, the heartbeat kicking up in my chest, the ache in my head.


  Tampons and lube.

  Austin and some stranger with pale eyes.

  The memories flitted around in my brain, and attempting to reach for my temple met with resistance. Zip ties or rope -- I couldn’t tell, but something held my wrists bound behind my back, tight as fuck with as much give as Austin’s ropes.

  My throat tightened, and I swallowed, not wanting to allow a single sound to escape me and bring attention from my captor -- and whoever else had been in on my abduction. Straining my ears didn’t bring any noise other than a drip of water every few seconds.

  I cracked an eyelid upward enough to peek around. A high window, glazed and barred, allowed enough light in I could make out what lay directly in front of me -- a cement wall. No shifting feet or squeak of a chair suggested anyone was with me, so I rolled onto my back, the cold floor seeping through my shirt.

  The fucker had taken my coat before binding me up and tossing me into a basement room. Cool air fingered at my face like a zombie’s decaying flesh, and I breathed through my mouth to hinder the stench of something long dead that I hadn’t realized until that moment coated the air.

  A door lay on my right but didn’t have a handle.

  How long have I been out? I struggled to push up into a sitting position, my head pounding, dizziness swaying me. The empty room around me offered nothing as to where I was, but the window hinted at failing light rather than the early afternoon when I’d been nabbed in broad daylight, in a damn store of all place.

  Who the fuck had balls like that?

  Someone who considered themselves untouchable, above the law.

  A click sounded, catching my breath, sending my racing heart into overdrive, and the door pushed open.

  Mr. Pale-eyed Asshole slipped inside, and the awareness of danger, of violence, clung to him and sent me scuttling back until I bumped the wall.

  “Who are you? Where the fuck am I?”

  He ignored me, his empty gaze roaming over me as he drew closer. Squatting down put him on eye level -- a good two feet too many into my personal space.

  I held my breath as he studied the side of my head, his hand lifting to move my hair and probe at the bump. A wince twisted my face as pain radiated behind my eyes.