Lachlan: A Dark Irish Mafia Romance (Dangerous Doms)
Page 16
“Don’t bloody care if they did.”
“You should!” She gets to her feet and glares at me.
“Don’t you lecture me on what I should and shouldn’t do.”
She fumes and clamps her lips shut. “I will not argue with you here.”
“Fine, then. We’ll argue back at the hotel.”
“We bloody well will not,” she retorts.
I quirk a brow at her.
“I know how arguing with you there goes.”
Smart girl. She’ll end up with my belt across her arse and her knickers around her ankles. My cock stirs.
Jesus, she’s perfect for me. When we reach the cafeteria, she frowns. “Shite, I lost my phone.”
“Did you leave it back in class?”
She shakes her head. “No, I texted Megan literally while I was walking out of the building and coming to meet you. Slid it into my pocket…” she groans. “Oh, God, it must’ve fallen out when that guy knocked me over.”
I feel my body tighten. “Wasn’t an accident, then.” Maybe I shouldn’t have put my gun away.
She rolls her eyes, leans into me, and grabs hold of my shirt. “They’re not all enemies, Lachlan.”
She’s so fucking innocent. I could tell her stories that would make her toes curl about men that looked like innocents and the havoc they wrought. My own parents lie in graves because of people they trusted, I’m told. But I don’t argue with her.
“Let’s go back and see if we can find it,” she says.
But I know there won’t be any phone on the ground. The bastard took it.
I hate the knowledge that someone’s fucking playing with us. I hate suspecting anyone and everything of betrayal. There’s no rest when you’re in the Clan. Nothing but constant vigilance.
Aisling enters the cafe as we’re leaving.
“Tried to call you,” she says. “We need to talk.”
She looks to me and then raises her brows and jerks her head toward the door, like she wants to speak to Fiona alone.
Fiona looks to me. “Can we have a minute of privacy, Lachlan?”
“No. Anything she has to say to you she can say in front of me.”
Fiona purses her lips, but Aisling rolls her eyes. “And what if I want to talk to her about ordering a bra or when my period’s starting? Hmm?”
I shrug. “Nothing I haven’t heard before.”
Her eyes narrow on me. “What if I want to talk about the dildo I’m ordering or how I masturbated last night while watching bare-knuckled fighting on TV?”
I shrug again. “Have at it. Would be entertaining.”
Fiona sighs, but she doesn’t look too put out.
“Just a little privacy is all we need,” Aisling says.
“Privacy’s overrated, and I’m here to protect her. Maybe she shouldn’t have a friend who wants to fuck with her safety.”
Aisling glares.
I stand my ground and glare right back at her.
“Fine,” Aisling finally says. She flushes a little when we walk toward the garden. “Ok, ok, I’m giving him crap but girl, I would do anything for a man who looked at me like that. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you’d come with me to get a tattoo.”
Seriously, this is what was so top secret?
Fiona’s eyes come to mine, and my belly warms at the look she’s giving me, silently asking for permission. I shake my head. She takes a step over to me and whispers in my ear. “I’ve wanted your initials on my hip. It’s like a thing.”
I lean over and whisper back, “The only marks you’ll bear will be mine. Also a thing.”
I can see her nipples harden straight through her tiny top. She swallows hard, and her pupils dilate.
“Not this time,” she tells Aisling.
Aisling looks put out, but doesn’t argue. Good. “Are you coming back to the dorm at all?”
“No,” I respond for her.
Aisling sighs.
She turns to Fiona. “Do you do everything he tells you?”
Fiona rolls her eyes. “No.”
It’s true. She likes the occasional spanking.
Aisling finally takes her leave, and we walk back to where she fell.
“Does she always pressure you like that?”
“No, only when I’m being watched by an overly protective barbarian,” she says, but she’s grinning. “Is that right?” I tug her a little closer. “I can be a hell of a lot more protective and barbaric than this.”
“She’s a good friend, Lach. She knows everything there is about me and still loves me. She has listened to me all these years. She’ll come around. I think she just had it in her head that when I came here, I’d be spending every minute of every day with her.” She sighs.
I squeeze her hand. “You alright, Fiona?”
She doesn’t respond. “No phone,” she says with a sigh. “And I have to go to my next class.”
“Fine,” I say reluctantly. “We’ll have to get you a new phone, and I’ll take you to class after we grab something quick to eat.”
She’s silent and sullen while we eat in the cafe, and leaves for class without a backward glance. I blame her friend, but something else is at play.
Is she too young for me? Have I taken her away from the life that she needs right now? I know I’m here for her protection, but I’m afraid the very fear I had about her being with me is coming to light. I don’t want her not to be able to have her friends and her dreams. But if she’s with me, I won’t let her make reckless decisions, either.
Keenan calls while I’m waiting for Fiona.
“What’s the story, brother?”
“Nothing much new here,” I tell him. I lower my voice. “Afraid I’m slipping, though. Some fucking bloke nearly knocked her over today and I had my hand on my weapon before I realized what I was doing.”
Keenan’s silent for a minute. “High strung, are you?”
“Aye.” I sigh. Jesus, but it feels good to talk to him. I didn’t realize how much I depended on his leadership and guidance until we were three thousand miles apart.
“I don’t blame you, Lachlan,” Keenan says. “Mam’s been sick now for days, and my first thoughts go to whether or not she’s really sick, or if something else is happening.”
I frown. “Fiona had the same thought.”
“Did she?”
“Aye.”
“Bloody hell,” he mutters. “Much easier to fight when you can see your enemy, isn’t it?”
“Aye.”
“I think it’d be easier if you were here,” he says. “You’d have the protection of the Clan. You’d have the brotherhood at your back.”
“Aye, and not the purchased protection of the Boston Clan.”
“Exactly. And you’ve no idea who could’ve targeted her?”
“Calum says he has ideas. Supposed to fill me in tonight.”
“Good,” Keenan says. “Update me, of course, will you?”
“Absolutely.”
“I don’t care what time it is. I’ll wait up. And Lachlan?”
“Yes?”
“They’ll come when you least expect it. I’ve been in this position too many times before and know exactly how they act. It’s never outright, but insidious and malicious. Watch everyone. Trust no one. And when your gut instinct says something’s wrong, listen to it. You’ve got that intuition for a reason.”
I nod. “Will do. Thanks for that, Keenan. And let me know how Maeve is, will you?”
She’s the mother of us all, and it breaks my heart that she’s ill.
“Of course,” he says warmly, clearly affected by my concern for his mother.
We hang up the phone, and I look ahead of me. I’m surprised to see the guy who knocked her over with his friend. Something silver glints in his pocket. He looks over his shoulder at me, and I swear he’s lost that boyish fear he had before. He looks almost mocking. I’m on my feet before I know it, walking after him. Did he take Fiona’s phone?
Bloody hell,
if I follow him, she’s inside with only Calum’s guard watching her. I can’t leave her, but I can’t pursue the bastard, either. I watch him enter the building and curse under my breath.
Chapter 15
Fiona
I practically fume though my entire class, which is a waste of time and energy. I’m not even sure why I’m so irritated. At first, I think it’s Lachlan that I blame, for being so controlling and bossy. But I know who he is. He’s in charge. He’s comfortable that way, and it’s in his blood. It’s why he was inducted as a high-ranking member of the Clan. At least that’s what Sheena’s told me.
Sheena. She didn’t sound good on the phone this morning. Is it just my imagination, thinking that someone is after the women of the Clan? It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Ms. Hurston?” I look up in surprise at my professor, as if I’ve just remembered I’m in class.
Thank God I studied last night and read the first selections chosen in the syllabus.
I look out the window and sigh, then sit up straighter. Lachlan isn’t where he was a moment ago. Where’s he gone? I can’t text him since I’ve lost my damn phone. I frown at the paper in front of me.
I came here to find my way. I came here to get my education, so I wouldn’t have to be beholden to the Clan for any more than I already have been. But now, I’ve been claimed by Lachlan. I’m his.
His.
I hold the locket at my throat, clasping it in my fist as I stare out the window.
Was it a mistake coming here? I left the Clan, and the Clan followed me here.
Is there any escaping?
I shiver when I remember his words in my ear just before class. “The only marks on your body are mine.”
It seems like an eternity waiting for the bell to ring, and when it does, the idle chatter of the girls around me annoys me.
I’m worried about whether or not my mobster boyfriend’s alright, whether my adopted mother in Ireland’s still ill, and whether I’ve lost my phone or it’s been stolen from me.
It’s then that I realize. It isn’t just Lachlan that I’m angry with. It’s me.
I leave class on a mission to find him when I hear his voice right beside me.
“Fiona.”
I look to see Lachlan right by the door, the look on his face murderous.
“What is it?”
“The guy that knocked you down had your phone.”
“Are you serious?”
“Aye.”
“And you didn’t get it?”
“And leave you here unattended?”
I lower my voice. “I’m not unattended, Lachlan. There are three armed guards ready to defend me.”
He shakes his head. It isn’t good enough for him.
I should like that. It only makes me feel guilty.
We look for the man that took my phone but can’t find them. They’ve managed to shut off whatever tracking Lachlan uses, the bastards. Lachlan alerts Tiernan, but I’m not sure what he can possibly do about it. I go to my next class, my mind a million miles away. It feels odd not having my phone. My only connection to my family an ocean away.
We go back to the hotel room the way we always do. Back doors, private entrance, security lock on the door.
“Are you hungry?” he asks.
“No.” My tone is short, my temper barely in check. “You should’ve gone after the guy that took my phone.”
“And left you? Hell no.” He points an angry finger at me. “And don’t you go telling me what to do.”
I turn around and nearly stomp at him, my hands on my hips, daring him. “Or what? You’ll spank me again?”
His eyes narrow. “You bloody well know it. I’ll take you over my knee every damn day until I’ve tamed you if I have to.”
“Taming? Is that what you’ve been telling yourself? That’s what you think I need? Is this what I should expect, Lachlan? Hmm? A life of being trailed by you when I have to pee, asking your permission for damn near everything, and then you punishing me if I disobey you?”
He crosses the room to me but doesn’t touch me. He stands apart, his own hands anchored on his hips. “When your life is on the line? Absolutely.”
I open my mouth to talk back, to throw his words back at him, when he kisses me. I try to pull away, try to shove him off, but his hands wrap around the back of my head and he holds me to him fiercely. He walks me backward until he pushes me against the wall, and his hand comes to my throat. He flexes his fingers. A warning.
Even though I’m angry, a little trill of something like excitement roils through me. He’s been holding himself back from me. I can feel it. I can see it. And I want to unplug his reserve and let him come at me, full throttle. I don’t want reserved Lachlan. I want all of him.
He pulls his mouth off mine, and the words he grates out are hoarse and affected. His trousers are tented, his pupils dilated. “I won’t let them touch you. I won’t let them breathe the same air you do, and if anyone tries, it will be the last breath they take.”
“I love you, you merciless bastard,” I say, my own voice hoarse with arousal and need. His won’t be a gentle wooing and never could be. Mine won’t be a spineless submission and never could be either.
“And I love you, you little brat.”
He kisses me again. I’ve never been kissed with a hand around my throat, but he does it so well.
When he stops kissing me, he’s panting.
“You know you need me to punish you,” he says, his fingers still curled around my throat in warning. “You fucking know you do.” He puts his mouth to my ear and growls. “Admit it. You’ll climax to the thought of being over my lap.”
I moan and my core convulses.
“You could come at the thought of a proper belting.”
“Stop,” I whisper, my eyes closing. He’s turning me on, and I’m trying to fight him.
“Tell me, Fiona,” he says in my ear. “Tell me what you really want.”
“All of you,” I say without censor. “I want you to stop holding yourself back from me.”
He freezes, his hand still on my throat. I go on.
“I bloody well know you aren’t giving me all of you. And how’s that fair, Lachlan? Hmm?”
“Is that why you defy me so?”
I don’t know, so I don’t answer.
He shakes his head. “I have to hold myself back from you.”
I shove at him angrily. “Why?”
His fist pounds the wall next to my head, and I jump. “Because if I don’t, I’ll fucking hurt you!”
I shove him again. “Then hurt me. I can take it. You hold yourself back because you don’t trust yourself. And yet you want me to trust you! How can I trust you if you don’t trust yourself?”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Don’t you bloody give me that! No! You know exactly what I mean!”
He’s back in my space, caging me in, his hand on my throat firmer now. “That’s what you want, Fiona? All of me? You don’t want me holding back all the things I want to do to you?”
The carnal craving in his eyes makes me nearly whimper with need.
He spreads my knees apart with his, and his hand clamps between my thighs. I whimper when his touch sends electric vibes of need coursing through me.
“Tell me,” I beg. Maybe having him voice what he wants will help. “Tell me everything you want to do to me.”
He groans. His muscles are taut, his body vibrating with heat. I don’t know if he’s angry or aroused or both.
“I’d tie you to the bedpost,” he says in a harsh whisper. “Strip you. And lay you bare with a strap until your body was striped pink.”
My pulse spikes. I swallow hard. “Go on.”
“I’d clamp your nipples until they ached and plug a dildo in your pussy, and when you were right on the edge of climax, I’d suck your clit until you came.”
My belly dips low and a thrum of need makes me whimper. He cups my pussy and I throb.<
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“I’d lube your tight hole and take you there, fuck your arse from behind until you lose your fucking mind. I’d make you come and scream my name until you lost your voice and fell asleep with my come leaking from you.”
“Oh my God.” How can someone be simultaneously terrified and frantic with arousal?
He isn’t finished. “I’d blindfold you and shove you to your knees,” he grates, pressing his body to mine so I feel the length of his erection against me. “Tie your hands behind your back and make you suck me until I came. I’d hold your head back and make you swallow Every. Fucking. Drop.”
I’m heady with arousal when I whisper, “Then do it.”
“Do what?” he asks, as if he misunderstood me.
“Fucking all of it.”
It seems I don’t need to ask him twice. He releases me, only so he can lift me straight up in the air as if I weigh nothing at all. I wrap my legs around his body and he holds me to him, walking me toward the bed.
“Don’t tempt me, lass.”
“I’m not tempting you. I want all of you, Lachlan. I love all of you, not just the sensitized version. I love the filthy one. The angry one. I love every facet of you even when you make me furious.”
He lays me on the bed and bends to kiss my cheek. “And I love all of you, even when you make me furious.” His gaze narrows on me. “Even though I don’t like your cheek.”
I give him a look that dares him to punish me. To my surprise, he lifts the hem of his shirt and yanks it up over his head. He twists it into a rope and ties it around my head. My world goes dark.
“Stay right there.”
I nod but don’t speak. I underestimated being blindfolded. Deprived of the ability to see, my other senses are heightened. I hear him walking around the room. Drawers open, the squeak of a closet, his heavier breathing. He’s aroused by the prospect of his plans. I feel his heat as he draws near, his footsteps muted by the thick carpet. Something cool graces my wrists, before they’re secured above my head. I open my mouth to speak when something rough drags across my lips. He ties it behind my head. I try to speak but my voice is muffled.
His masculine scent invades my senses, his rough hands run the length of my body as he strips me. I’m already ratcheting closer to the edge of needing to climax when he palms my pussy.