by G N Wright
“Always.”
I feel his smile against my hair, “Always.”
He pulls back and turns his attention on Lincoln, walking over to him and handing him his own earpiece and microphone.
“You let anything happen to her and I’ll boil your limbs in acid while you watch,” he says in a serious tone and we both know he isn’t joking. His glare on Lincoln is more intense than I've ever seen before but I can’t understand why. The tension towards him is like a fiery rage.
“I’ll die before anything happens to her,” Linc replies coolly but also just as intense and his honesty shocks both Ash and I. Ash just nods in return so I motion for Linc to leave and I follow behind him silently until we are out of the house and in the car.
“Linc,” I start not really knowing what to say.
“I meant it Elle. I know we haven’t known each other long and we have only really interacted doing this bullshit, but I promise I’ve got your back. I won’t leave that little girl without a mother.”
I blow out a breath not really knowing how to answer him, so I just offer him a nod.
“Let’s cut the heart to heart, shall we?” Ash's voice hits my ear and Linc tenses before he turns back to the wheel and we make our way into town.
We are staying in the North Side tonight; Lincoln hacked my father’s emails, and we know him, and my mother are having dinner at some posh restaurant in town so we make our way there first.
We have been sitting outside the restaurant for over an hour waiting for them to emerge when I can’t take the boredom anymore.
“I’m just gonna grab a donut,” I say to Linc nodding my head at the shop across the road.
I walk up and down the aisle grabbing junk food until my arms are full and I am forced to head to the counter. While the cashier is ringing up my stuff, I feel eyes on me, I turn to find a guy around my age watching me but when our eyes meet he looks away.
I bring my attention back to the cashier and hand over some cash and turn to leave. I catch the stranger’s eyes again and I feel wary of him watching me but not unsafe, how strange.
I’m still pondering about him when I climb back into the car.
“Everything okay?” Linc asks.
“Yeah,” I say, shaking it off and bringing out some Milk Duds and passing them to Linc, one of his secret little guilty pleasures I’ve noticed. “For you, Superman.”
He looks at me and smiles when he sees what I am offering, shaking his head.
“For that sweet tooth of yours,” I grin at him.
He just nods and turns his attention back to the restaurant, but I keep my attention on him. We have spent a lot of time together since that first week and I have noticed a few things about him, not just his sweet tooth. He is always serious, his laughs and smiles are reserved only for his brothers and now me, he is insanely talented in what he does, and I never see him entertaining girls the way Marcus and Jace do.
“Why do you never have girls fawning over you like the others?” I ask him and hear Ash snort in my ear if I weren’t looking at Linc I would have missed the tug of his mouth into a smirk.
“Because I don’t indulge them like my brothers do,” he replies simply.
“Yeah, but why?” I ask.
“None of them are my type,” he shrugs, his stare still not wavering from where I should be watching too.
“What's your type?”
“Dark and unavailable apparently,” he mutters more to himself before he realizes he said that out loud. I take a big bite out of my donut while I wait for him to continue.
His eyes flash to mine and he lets out a sigh before adding, “I’m gay.”
My eyebrows practically hit the roof and I choke down the half-chewed bite in my mouth and then cough, “Wow, sorry. I just didn’t expect that.”
“It’s not really common knowledge,” he replies. “I’m not hiding it or anything I just don’t have a big circle of people that I share my personal life with,” he shrugs like it’s not a big deal, but I sense that it is.
I reach over and grip his hand in mine, “Well, thank you for sharing it with me,” I say and a moment of understanding passes between us and I just nod and take another bite out of my donut.
“If you two have finished gossiping,” Ash barks at us and I laugh causing Lincoln to smile.
“Sorry, Ash, forgot you were there,” I say sweetly, and he scoffs.
“Well, try to remember I’m not really interested in hearing about who warms the help’s bed at night.”
I go to yell at Ash for being rude when Linc beats me to it.
“And who warms your bed at night Dark Prince?”
“Like I’d tell any of my secrets to a fucking R ebel,” Ash grits back at him.
“I’m sure I’d be interested in a lot of your secrets,” Linc muses back and I’m impressed he is willing to go toe to toe with him.
I cut the conversation off when my father emerges from the restaurant alone on the phone and we see him look up and down the sidewalk before turning one way on foot and walking away.
“Shit,” I grab the door handle to get out, “We have to follow him.”
I hear Linc’s door open and close and he pulls me in close to him and puts his arm around me while checking our surroundings. To anyone watching us we would look like a regular couple just taking a walk.
We have been following him for a couple of minutes when I notice someone is across the road following a little behind us. I make a casual gesture of stretching and looking around and see it’s the guy from the store who was watching me. Okay I definitely don’t believe in coincidences.
“Someone is following us,” I whisper hoping I am loud enough for Linc to hear me.
“What!” Ash roars into our ears and I cringe slightly.
Lincoln turns around casually and checks out our tail then curses in recognition, “Fuck!”
“Friends of yours?” I query his reaction.
“More like friends of Marcus,” he replies firmly, and I blank slightly.
“Of fucking course,” Ash mutters.
Fuck Marcus has got someone following me? How long has that been happening and why haven’t I noticed that before?
Linc senses where my brain went and answers my unspoken questions “We got into it this morning about our,” he pauses trying to think of the right word.
“Friendship?” I answer him questioningly and he smiles while Ash grunts.
“Yes, friendship,” he repeats. “He wasn’t happy about the fact I wouldn’t tell him why I was keeping things from him in concerns to you and -”
I interrupt him, “I told him I hired you,” he looks to me bemused as I continue, “What? It seemed fitting,” I shrug. “I couldn’t exactly tell him you like to stalk me into dark alleys, now could I?” he laughs as I wink at him.
“Not unless you wanted him to kill me.”
“I’d protect you, Superman, don’t worry.”
“Another fucking Rebel under your skin,” Ash mutters in our ear.
Linc just laughs at me and then turns serious and I can tell he has got his thinking face on. I look back to my father and see him enter a warehouse. He raps on the door three times before someone lets him in, what the hell. I see Lincoln saw it too and he nods letting me know he will check it out.
“Jonathan has entered a Warehouse on the corner of 5th and Middleton,” I whisper to alert Asher.
Linc pushes me towards the street on the right and as we turn down there, I see it's empty as he pulls me into a dark doorway and quickly puts his hand across my mouth to signal me to be quiet. We hear footsteps quickening and then someone whisper, “Fuck”.
Lincoln steps out and I hear a yelp of surprise and a scuffle before the guy from the shop and another guy I didn’t see drop like a ton of bricks at my feet. I look to Linc impressed and he just shrugs like it was no big deal.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ash shouts.
“Calm down, spawn of Satan, I’ve handled it,”
Lincoln answers him coolly.
“Linc just took down the two guys following us,” I answer him because I know he will lose his shit otherwise.
“Impressive,” he mutters sarcastically.
“I know how to handle myself,” Linc says, not even looking ruffled by any of it as he turns back to me and checks the streets surrounding us.
“I’ll bet,” Asher murmurs and if the street wasn’t so quiet, I would have missed it.
Linc clearly not listening to him speaks to me, “Come on let's grab the car and get these out of sight, I’ll scrub the cameras and look into the building Jonathan just went into.”
“I’ve already done both,” Ash answers him in a bored tone. “We can reconvene when your hands aren’t full.”
I nod knowing we need to be done for the night before our luck runs out and we are caught with two bodies at our feet. They might still be alive but still it doesn’t exactly look in our favor if someone stumbled across us.
Chapter 27
MARCUS
Ilie in bed staring at the picture of me and Elle on the shelf. I swirl the amber liquid round the glass as I contemplate my thoughts. All of which are consumed by the blonde temptress who has crashed back into my life. Everything I thought I knew has exploded in my face and left me with half-truths and soiled facts, I don’t know which way is even up anymore.
What I do know is, Elle left town without looking back but from what I have learned it sounds like she didn’t just leave but ran, escaped. What or who was she running from? It has to be Elliot and he paid her back by lashing out and murdering my father but why? How did my father become involved in a war between my little King and the devil himself? And more importantly why? Why would Elliot have an interest in Elle in the first place?
Which brings me to my next point, Elle may still be a King by name but no longer by blood, she left her parents just as she did this town but again why? What would make her cut the ties to the only family she has ever known?
More unanswered questions, not being bound by the Kings means she must have had other help to be able to hide her from someone as skilled as Linc. Linc the same guy who searched far and wide for her to help me locate her, now the one helping her keep running from me.
Then we have the biggest factor of all, she still has Asher fucking Donovan at her beck and call but not in her bed and I am more confused than ever. He treats her like she is the most valuable thing in his life and would lay down his life for her, why? Why if he isn’t in love with her would he do that? The only people I would do that for is Elle and my boys, the girl I’ve always loved and the family I chose. He said they were family. What does family mean to them, does it mean the same thing it does to me?
So many fucking questions and not enough answers. The closer I get to her the more red flags I find but is Elle just keeping things from me or is she a liar? The sad thing is I don’t care either way, no matter what the truth is I have already decided it’s irrelevant. Whether she believes it or not Elle King is mine and I will fight to get her even if that fight is against her. I won’t stop until I know her every thought, every secret, and every desire, until she belongs to me, mind, body, and soul.
I throw back the liquid and grit my teeth as I feel the welcome burn as it slides down my throat. It does nothing to ease the tension in my shoulders or the lust in my cock. A cock that has been rock hard all fucking day, ever since it was pressed against the angel that evades me.
I reach into my sweats and fist my hard length and hiss as I slide my hand firmly from root to tip. I close my eyes and imagine her here, remembering how it felt when she was on her knees before me. I wish she were here now, taking care of me in a whole different way. My hand moves faster as I imagine her taking me to the back of her throat as I grip my hand in her hair, the imagery is too much. I come with a harsh grunt as I shoot ropes of hot cum across my stomach.
Fuck even my own imagination of that girl has me coming undone. I need her more than I need my next breath and I will do whatever it takes to make her mine.
I grab tissues from the nightstand and clean myself up just as I hear Lincoln’s voice bellow through the loft.
“Marcus!” his tone is serious as always but something about it has me moving faster than usual.
I enter the living room and he is waiting by the door that leads down into the garage, as soon as we lock eyes, he nods his head behind him and turns to go. I follow after him and find him next to the trunk of his SUV. Once I reach him, he nods and then flicks open the trunk revealing to me Jack Hanson and Kai Buck. This is literally the last thing I would have expected to find, and I am sure the shock is displayed as clear as day on my face as I look back to Linc for an explanation.
“I told you I had her back,” he says simply and then it clicks in my head what he means.
I sent Jack after Elle and clearly, he found her, but she wasn’t alone.
“Busy evening at work?” I say through gritted teeth as he remains stoic beside me like it’s every day, he brings home two unconscious bodies.
“Call them off.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you will keep receiving these gifts,” he says smugly. It’s a side I have never seen of Linc aimed at me before, usually this bravado is saved for anyone we are up against. People are usually quick to dismiss the smart, quiet one of our trio, but they shouldn’t, he is as lethal as Jace and I.
I’m proud and pissed at the same time.
“Linc,” I start but he stops me.
“Marcus,” he says in exasperation, “I need you to trust me, brother.”
“Why?” I try to implore as much emotion in that one word as possible.
“For her,” his reply is instantaneous, and he knows my reaction to those two words are inevitable. I would do anything for her.
He pulls me close, so we are almost chest to chest.
“It’s worse than we could have ever imagined, and she needs us,” he speaks slowly like he is trying to remain calm.
“How can I be there for her if she won’t let me?”
“She just needs time, give it to her, show her you’re there, bang on the walls she has up until they crumble down around you and I promise you she will let you in.”
I have never seen Linc so adamant before.
“I told you I want you to know what is going on but I won’t be the one to tell you,” he pauses slightly and I can see he is thinking about how much to say. “That still stands but I need you to listen to me and trust me, can you do that?”
I nod before he even finishes his sentence, we are brothers and we always have each other's back. The fact that he has now got Elle’s back and is keeping things from me pisses me off, but it also just cements him as more of a brother to me. The fact he would do anything for my girl and yeah, I have decided she is my fucking girl that just shows me how much I can trust in him.
“What do you need?”
“First, call off these two fucking morons,” he rolls his eyes, and he shuts the trunk on them, and I have to smirk. “She needs eyes on her, but those eyes should be ours and no one else’s,” he adds.
“I can do that,” I say wondering where he is going with this.
“Second, you need to push her. She thinks she is better off keeping you in the dark but I think she's wrong, but I won’t disrespect her wishes.”
He rubs his hands down his face and I can see how tired he is. I think about how I've barely seen him the last few weeks and it makes sense now knowing he’s been working for Elle.
“Third, forget everything you think you know because it’s wrong and when you learn the truth, I need you to dissect it. Don’t forget who the real enemy is and don’t overreact.”
I frown at his instructions, what the fuck does that mean?
“I never overreact,” I try to start and he fucking snorts a laugh. “So, what now?” I add as the fucker is still laughing at me.
He turns serious, “Now, we protect her with everything we ha
ve,” and the words pierce my heart with both love for him and panic for her.
What the fuck are we getting into?
He turns to get into his car.
“Where are you going?”
“To tuck these little boys in their beds,” he says with a smile.
-------
On Monday I am anxiously awaiting Ells’ arrival, Lincoln told me he would handle it and I have to trust him. Jace and I are leaning against his Dodge awaiting his arrival, a few people tried to approach us from our usual group of followers but Jace quickly deflected them, we don’t have time for hierarchy bullshit right now.
It isn’t long before I spot Linc’s SUV driving along the road, he pulls into the lot and parks a few spaces down, his tinted windows don’t allow me to see inside until his door opens. I’m surprised when I see the passenger door open too.
Elle stomps around the vehicle clearly pissed off and halts when she spots me and Jace staring her way.
She turns back to Linc, “Seriously?” she snaps at him in exasperation and he just shrugs, I look to Jace and he is just as confused as I am. When Linc said he would handle Elle I didn’t expect this.
“You can’t follow me everywhere,” she looks at him and actually stomps her foot on the ground like she used to when we were kids. I used to find it cute, now it’s kinda hot.
“Elle, we talked about this.”
“Yes,” she shouts, “We did and nowhere during that talk did we agree to dumb, dumber and dumbest being on my ass,” she gestures to the three of us and Jace laughs.
“Hey, princess, I’m all for being on that ass,” he teases, and she gives him the death stare the same time I do and he just laughs more. Fucker.
Linc takes a deep breath, “Just remember who the real enemy is here, Elle,” it’s the same thing he said to me last night and I see Elle tense slightly when he says it but I can see he’s got her.
“Fine,” she grits out, “but follow me to the bathroom and I’ll fucking gut you,” she adds with a smile before turning to leave.