by Sweet, Izzy
And the ones we don’t own know to not fuck with us.
Frozen in shock, Sophia stares at me with wide eyes.
Shrugging my shoulders at the look on her face, I say, “Get Mitzy and Fluffers, and grab my bag. We’re leaving right now.”
Nodding her head, she swallows and doesn’t even argue with me.
Thank the fucking Devil.
Squatting down next to Trent, I stare at him for a moment before I slam my fist into the side of his mouth.
His head whips to the side before he looks up at me, quietly whimpering.
“Now normally I would go into some long diatribe about how you should pay more attention to who you’re fucking with… But I bet you know exactly who you’re fucking with. Or you will,” I say quietly.
“I’ll… I’ll fucking kill you, asshole,” he says, trying to sound hard and threatening.
It sounds a lot like whining to my fucking ears.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I grin at him. “Heard that before, and you won’t. So listen up, douche. Go fuck off somewhere else. Stay the fuck away from my girl, and stay the fuck on the right side of things.”
Reaching over him, I grab his gun as I stand up from the ground. He scrambles to reach it first, but I’m quicker and smarter than him.
Tucking the pistol in the front of my pants, I laugh at him. “I’ve got your department-issued gun, I bet, and that means I’ve got your firing pin. That should be an interesting conversation with your superiors. Though I doubt you’re dumb enough to tell them who has it.”
“Give it back, you motherfucker,” he demands as he slowly stands up, carefully cradling his broken elbow.
“Make me,” I say before launching a good kick between his legs.
I’d trot around the front yard and shout, “Goal!” if I didn’t think Sophia would kill me.
As it is, I hear her gasp behind me as Trent falls to the ground a second time today.
“James—” she starts to say before I shake my head at her.
“In the car. Will Fluffers flip out if we put a seatbelt on her?”
“What?”
She blinks at me, and I think I might have broken her beautiful mind a little bit.
“Never mind, we’ll figure it out.”
* * *
We’re almost thirty minutes into our drive when Sophia finally speaks.
“What… what did you do to him?” she asks.
I turn my head so I can fully look at her for a moment and see that she’s got Mitzy and Fluffers both bound up tight in her arms. Her eyes are still wide, and I think the realization of what just happened is finally dawning on her.
Did she just fuck a psychopath? Is she safe from me?
“I made sure he had enough incentive to stay away,” I say quietly before turning my eyes back to the road.
We’re almost home thankfully, and home is where I can keep her safe.
I’m pretty sure the guys who were patrolling around her neighborhood were trying to follow us out. My guys didn’t let it happen. But still… the longer we’re out in the world, the more likely they are to find us.
“But you…” she trails off, unable to finish.
I give her a small smile. “Sweetheart, he had a gun to my head.”
She tries to say something, her mouth opening and closing, but I don’t think her mind is done fully processing the violence she witnessed. I figure after her kidnapping she’s probably got some PTSD. You can’t go through the shit she did with the Russians and not come out fucked up.
What she just saw me do to Trent was probably bad for her…
But it was nothing compared to what I really wanted to do to the fucker.
Had we not been at her house, in plain sight of the whole world, I more than likely would have neutered the little bitch for daring to show up at my woman’s house.
Now that I think about it… I probably should have tossed the fucker in the trunk of my car.
“Take a deep breath in then out,” I tell her as I turn onto my road.
Not a lot of traffic comes out this far. I bought a house on the very edge of the city limits. There’s lots of land, and lots of space to play with my guns.
The closest neighbor is about half a mile away, and he’s an old Vietnam vet. Hearing gun shots doesn’t bother him one bit. Fuck, he even likes to come over and shoot from time to time. He also watches my place if I’m gone for a couple weeks.
He’s a good neighbor and he likes to keep to himself.
“Oscar lives down that way,” I say, slowing down when I reach his long gravel driveway. “He’s the closest neighbor and he enjoys his privacy. Anything ever goes wrong and you can’t reach me or our family, you go to him. He’ll keep you safe.”
Sophia looks at the gravel road then back to me. “Okay.”
Speeding back up, I turn onto my blacktopped driveway and make the quick drive up the hill surrounded by a small forest.
My house isn’t a compound like Lucifer’s, nor a mini-mansion like Simon’s, but it’s comfortable. Five bedrooms, four baths, and a mammoth basement.
The house keeps me happy, even if it was a bit oversized for just me and Mitzy.
Pulling into the attached garage, I glance at the empty spot next to us. It’s probably going to be filled soon with whatever type of armored car Sophia likes...
Shit, do I even want her to have the ability to leave the house? Or let alone her own car? I can’t imagine her driving somewhere and not getting into an accident.
Sharing any of my house and space isn’t something I feel odd about, strange as that seems. I was a mess without her, and something about this just feels like it’s right.
Like whether she wanted this life or not, she’s in it and mine for good.
Like I said, she’s my woman.
“Come on,” I say as I gently take Mitzy from her arms.
Sophia gets out of the car and slowly follows me through the door. At first, I’m not sure why she’s gawking at her surroundings. Then I grin. I bet she’s never seen a pantry or kitchen as nice and well-stocked as mine. I take personal pride in my house, especially my kitchen.
“This is where fifty percent of the magic happens,” I tell her as I let Mitzy down near her water fountain.
“Um, fifty percent?” she asks almost like she doesn’t want to ask.
“Yeah, the other fifty is in the master bedroom,” I say with a grin, showing all my teeth.
Narrowing her eyes, she grumbles something too quietly for me to catch before finishing with, “You wish.”
“What?”
“What?” she snaps right back before moving past me, clutching Fluffers tight to her chest.
“So, does Fluffers have any dietary restrictions?” I ask as I follow behind her, admiring her delicious ass.
“Uh… no?”
I watch closely as she slowly takes in the dining room and the living room. “Okay. Mitzy doesn’t do corn, gives her awful indigestion.”
Not gonna lie, I may talk a lot of shit about Lucifer getting married and causing all the guys problems with women, but having Lily around to help me decorate has been a huge boon for me.
There’s surprise on Sophia’s face as takes her own self-guided tour. She probably expected me to live in a filthy bachelor pad. But there’s no ratty recliners or pizza box coffee tables to be found here.
No, with Lily’s help, the place is fully decorated and furnished. The décor is modern but not science fiction modern. The color scheme done in cool tones with a warm splash here and there.
And everything, from the built-in shelving to the high-tech kitchen, is fully functional.
My phone starts buzzing in my pocket when Sophia reaches the master bedroom. Turning, she smirks at me when she sees I have a pillow on my king-sized bed with Mitzy stitched on it.
Laughing at her lifted eyebrow, I say, “She’s a princess, what can I say?”
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I put it up to my ear. “What’s up?”
“Lucifers house, one hour. We need to have a meeting,” Simon says.
“Yeah, and I need a replacement car. Mine’s too hot,” I grumble and disconnect.
Now normally, I would blow the meeting off, but I’ve got a feeling with all the shit that’s going on, we’ll need to get a lay of the land and find out who’s all playing on the field.
There’s too many unknowns out there, and together we need to figure out who’s who.
Plus, Sophia is safe. Nothing can get in or out of this house without my permission.
Tossing the phone on my bed, I yank my shirt up and over my head as I head toward the master bathroom.
“What are you doing?” Sophia asks as my pants drop off my ass and hit the floor.
“Gotta shower. Wanna join?” I ask and throw my clothes into the dirty clothes hamper.
“No,” she says easily, too easily, and it pisses me off for a moment.
It pisses me off that she so easily dismisses happy naked shower time.
Stopping and looking back at her, I frown. “You’re staring at my ass.”
It’s all good though, ‘cause I’ve got one hell of an ass.
* * *
“Let me see your phone for a second,” I say to Sophia after I’ve gotten fully dressed.
Meetings like the one I’m heading to are one of those dress clothes required type of deals, so I’ve put on a tie and suit.
Sitting on the couch with the fur babies curled up around her, she asks, “Uh, why?”
I make my face blank. “Just need to check it for a moment.”
When she finally hands her phone to me, I put it up against mine while walking toward the kitchen. Syncing it up so everything from hers transfers to mine.
She jumps off the couch and chases after me. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“Syncing your information so you don’t lose any of your contacts and shit,” I explain.
“Why?” she demands, trying to take it from my hands.
Ignoring her and turning my body so she can’t reach around me, I walk up to the kitchen sink and turn the faucet on full blast. Thrusting her phone under the water, I hold it there for a few seconds.
Once the screen fritzes and goes black, I pull the phone back.
Sophia just stares at me at first, her eyes growing wider and wider. Then her face darkens with anger.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she shrieks.
“Too easy to track you and too easy for you to do something stupid,” I say as I pull the steel hammer I use to tenderize meat out of a drawer.
Setting the phone on the counter, I slam the hammer down twice on the screen before calmly putting the hammer in the sink to wash later.
“I—” she yells at me.
“Beth,” is all I have to say to silence her instantly.
“That...” she sputters.
“Was just as serious as this. I’ll get you a new, secure phone while I’m out,” I say before grabbing my keys off the kitchen counter and heading for the garage door.
She fucked up when she led Beth’s father and his men to Johnathan’s house. Those men took Beth away from Johnathan.
I can’t leave without knowing Sophia won’t make the same mistake twice. Intentionally or unintentionally.
By taking away her phone, I’ve completely cut her off from the outside world.
Pushing the lockdown button right after I open the door to garage, I glance back at Sophia. She’s still livid.
A livid, sexy little goddess.
Fucking hell. I want to turn around right now and kiss those lips hard enough to bruise ‘em. I want to bend her over the counter and fuck her so hard my hips are sore for weeks.
“The house is on lockdown. No getting out and no getting in,” I say then point to the little touch screen monitor on the wall next to the door. “Me, Simon, Lucifer, and Oscar are all in there. Jude is too, but don’t call him. If you’re in danger, call one of us then go to the basement. Behind the bookshelf is a safe room. Pull the Tom Sawyer book to get the door open then pull the bookcase closed behind you.”
“What the hell?” Sophia gasps as I pull the door shut behind me.
Dammit all, I don’t want to leave right now. I want to be in bed, putting my dick so deep inside her she chokes.
8
Sophia
James closes the door to the garage behind him after giving me the little speech about the house being on lockdown mode, and the first thing I do is try to open it.
Grabbing the handle, I twist and pull, but nothing happens.
Scowling at the door, I flick the lock to the side and try again. But no matter which way the lock is turned, the door refuses to budge.
I hear his car start up then the sound of the garage door rolling up.
Abandoning this door, I head to the front of the house.
Through the front windows, I watch his black BMW pull out of the garage followed by the garage door sliding down behind him. Slowly, he rolls past the front of the house, and even though I can’t see them, I feel his eyes on me.
Burning into me.
Always burning into me.
Then he guns the engine and his car disappears down the driveway, swallowed by the trees.
Gritting my teeth, I’m not totally convinced the house is locked down like he said.
Because, who does that? Prisons?
I try the front door. Twisting, unlocking, yanking, then kicking it in frustration.
“What the hell is going on here? How is this even possible?” I ask out loud as I run my hands along the smooth surface, searching for whatever mechanism is keeping the door locked against me.
When I fail to find it, I turn away from the door to see little Mitzy staring up at me with her glossy black eyes.
Totally judging me.
Shaking my head at myself, I move to the closest window, still determined to find a way out.
The lock for the window is easy to find, but just like the door, the window is stuck. Something else keeping it sealed against me.
After searching the window for a couple of minutes, I give up, moving on to the next one. Then the next one. My panic growing by the second.
I have to get out of here. I have to.
I wasn’t able to get a text off to Beth and Amanda before James took away my phone. I was too twisted up and couldn’t figure out what to write without totally freaking them out.
I should have totally freaked them out, dammit.
Without a way to call or text anyone for help, this might be my only chance to escape before he comes back and does something awful.
Like kill me…
Or worse.
Kiss me.
God, if he kisses me again, I don’t think I could handle it. The first time was a mistake. A complete fucking mistake I don’t plan on repeating.
I was weak, and I let him get under my skin. The jerk has a way of doing that. Has some magical way of knowing exactly what buttons to push to turn me into a complete psycho mess.
He turns me into someone I don’t recognize.
Someone who makes terrible decisions.
But I only used him. Yes, I only used him to ease some of this pain…
It was nothing. It meant nothing.
But why did I immediately want to do it again?
Why, even now, do I want him to kiss me like he’s trying to devour me? His lips consuming my soul as his tongue claims me completely?
Why do I want his weight crushing down on me and his cock filling me? His heart beating against mine as he drives us to the brink of death…
It’s the pain. It’s only the pain that makes me want to die and be reborn in his arms…
Or is it?
I wasn’t lying when I told him I know exactly who he is. After my kidnapping, I made it my mission to find out more about the men behind my rescue. Going as far as digging through my father’s classified files and making copies of them.
I know everything the po
lice know about Lucifer and those that work for him. They’ve been under surveillance off and on for years, though nothing has ever come of it.
I know Lucifer himself is rarely seen in public these days. Ever since he married, he spends most of his time with his family, sending his men to act in his stead.
His right-hand man, who happens to be the man who drove me home the night I was rescued, Simon, is a computer genius. He’s suspected of being behind dozens of state and federal system hacks, but there’s little concrete evidence, or evidence a jury would understand, to actually prosecute and convict him.
Gabriel, Simon’s brother, was recently released from prison. Somehow pardoned for several first-degree murder convictions by the Governor.
Which is completely mind-boggling but shows the true extent of their power and influence.
There’s little information known about the other men, like Beth’s husband Johnathan, because they keep low profiles. Staying off the radar.
But James has an entire folder dedicated to him.
A folder filled mostly with surveillance photos of him with all the women he’s slept with.
He’s a fuckboy. A fuckboy who’s slept with half the women in Garden City.
CEOs, actresses, waitresses.
He’s an equal opportunity manwhore. No woman too rich or too poor to escape his attention.
There are pages of notes, pages of detectives trying to find a pattern or a reason behind his actions. But ultimately, it seems, the only thing the women have in common besides their dark hair is him.
When I first stumbled across the folder, I was shocked. Then hurt. But in the end, everything finally made sense.
How quickly I melted when he kissed me back…
It was from his years of experience seducing women.
The reason he ultimately pushed me away when Simon showed up...
He did it because he knew he couldn’t get away with using me for a quick fuck because of my father’s position.
But now my father’s dead. There’s no one to protect me, besides the other police officers.
And look what he did to Trent…