by Faye Parker
I knew when Ellie had fallen asleep, I’d felt it rather than seen it. The tension in her body gradually eased. I’d never enjoyed sitting with a woman before, it had felt forced. Idle chit-chat. But having Ellie snuggled into the crook of my arm, sleeping peacefully as I supported her, made me feel like a king.
I wanted this woman in so many more ways than to just be between her legs. We had the rest of our lives. I wanted to tear Alexander limb from limb to prove to her that no one else would ever harm her - or those she cares about.
Before he left, Da said that Barney had already been under orders to get into a fight with Ryan. He’d been instructed to do just enough so that Ryan would be taken to the hospital wing to be checked over medically. He’d be there already.
Since the Doyle’s would now know the connection now between Ellie, her grandmother, and Ryan. The safest place for Ryan was in the medical unit and having one of our boys throw a couple of punches his way was far better than the Doyle’s getting hold of him. He'd just been a minion before this, and his risk had just become significantly higher.
I had decided that I would tell Ellie about it in the morning, rather than giving her one more thing to worry her tonight. He'd be fine anyway, bruised and a bit sore, but better than the body bag the Doyle’s would have put him into.
As I sat there, holding Ellie close to me, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket - Ellie didn't even stir when I lifted it to look. Louise must have found out about everything because she'd sent a text.
All will work out. U & B keep safe.
After an hour with my thoughts, I decided it was time to take Ellie to bed. No spare room for her this time, she'd sleep in my bed tonight, with me beside her to keep her safe. As I scooped her up from the sofa she frowned in her sleep. I didn't like that one fucking bit. The woman I loved should never have a reason to frown, awake or asleep.
Once this was over, she'd be my princess… no, she'd be my queen; if she'd agree, that was.
But who was I fooling? In my head she already was.
The guys would have had a field day if they'd knew I’d fallen asleep spooning a woman. Daniel Anderson: the guy you warned your daughters about liked to spoon.
Ellie must have started to awaken before me because it was the feeling of her stretching her body against me that brought me back to consciousness. The feeling of her ass rubbing against my crotch as she stretched her back felt wonderful. I stiffened further as the material of her clothes rubbed against my boxers once more.
I moaned in pleasure, reaching to touch her instinctively. Maybe she was half asleep too as she wiggled her body back towards me, obviously feeling my erection. It was a bolder move than I’d expected and fuck if it didn't turn me on.
I leaned over and slid her hair away from her shoulder to kiss it and was rewarded with the sound of a moan from her own lips. She turned around and started to kiss me, her hand moving along my arm and up to knot her fingers into my hair as she deepened her kiss.
The air sizzled and I needed to be inside her.
I hadn't undressed her last night before getting into bed - it hadn't felt right. But now I was helping her out of those jeans. Seconds later she was pulling at the waistband of my boxers, her eyebrows shooting up in delight as my cock sprung free. She moved her hand to cup my balls as she kissed me again, but as she went to start stroking me I lifted her hand above her head. "I need to be in you, pet."
I felt the shiver of excitement that went through her, she wanted me too.
Her eyes found mine, "I missed you so much, you're all I thought about. I'm so sorry..."
I quietened her with another kiss. She did not need to apologize. I had been a bastard to her. I was the one who should be apologizing for the rest of my days.
"Shhh," I whispered into her ear as we were both gasping for air after another kiss.
"You never need to say sorry." I felt her legs spread wider beneath me. "You're mine, pet." I felt her ass lift up for me, with one quick thrust I slid home. She was already so wet for me.
It took every fiber of my being now to pound her into the mattress. I knew I didn't have the right words so I wanted to show her how I felt, make her understand how I needed her. An errand thought passed through me, you should wear something, the last thing she needs is your child inside her on top of everything else.
But would it really be that bad?
I kissed her forehead as I listened to her breath hitch each time I stroked her from within. It killed me to say it, but I needed to do right by her: "Baby, I should put a condom on."
She spoke breathlessly, her tone urgent, "No need, I'm clean." she bit her lip as her eyes rolled. "Trust you’re clean too. Can't get..." then she kissed me desperately.
That threw me… that piece of shit had beaten her so badly that she'd lost the only child she could ever bear. Those scars would not only be a constant reminder of the child she’d lost, but of the potential for any more.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine how she lived with that. The pain she had endured. I would take all that pain away, the best and the only way I knew how.
I reached for her leg, pulling her thigh up and intuitively, she wrapped herself around me. I could go deeper this way. My hand grabbed her ass cheek to pull her even closer and I felt her buck beneath me, the sensations of me filling her so completely clearly overwhelming her.
I watched her face. I wanted to remember every detail of the first time we'd made love. The expressions that flickered over her face, the smile that crept over it, and the way she tilted her head back as she got close to her release. I slowed to almost a stop, taking pride in the little pout that formed on her lips… my sweetheart loved me being inside her as much as I loved filling her. She rocked her hips to try to satisfy her need, and it was then that I drove home, making her gasp as she took everything of me.
"You’re mine," I growled, my body looming close to the edge.
"Aye," she groaned, "And you're mine too."
She came as she spoke, her cunt milking me. The sensation bringing me to my own climax as my balls clenched and my cum spilled inside her. Stars appeared before my eyes for a moment, the release more intense and intimate than I’d ever experienced.
I looked down at her, sweat beaded her forehead. As gently as I could, I leaned towards her, lifting her chin up so I could kiss her lips.
It was a sweet kiss, a tender one between two lovers who shared more than just a good time.
She was mine, and I was hers.
A slow shy smile spread across her lips as she looked at me. "I should wake up like that every day."
We lay together in peaceful silence until I heard a fraught breath escape her lips.
"I'm such a whore. My grandmother was kidnapped and what do I do?" her hands pointing up and down her body, "Spread my legs for some mafia guy."
"Hey!" I took her in my arms, maybe a little roughly, but there was no way she should be so hard on herself. "One: you are not, nor could you ever be a whore. If you call yourself that again I will put you over my knee and smack that sweet ass until it is raw. Two: we're getting your grandmother back today - everything is being done that can be."
I rubbed her shoulders, trying to ease the tension that had returned to her. "And three: I'm not just some mafia guy. I'm the next in line. I'm the Under Boss." I said it with mock pride and was rewarded with a small dry chuckle.
"I didn't come back last night just to jump into bed with you. I'm not like that, you know."
I knew she wasn't, but I could see she had a dry wit, and being cheeky seemed to make her laugh. I wrapped my legs around her and wiggled my eyebrows, "Yeah, you did. How could you resist me?" She smiled and playfully slapped my arm.
"Self-praise is no recommendation." She joked.
I heard my phone vibrate from the bedside table. It would be Da.
I kissed her again, "We need to get ready."
Chapter Thirty-Five
Ellie
I really hadn't planned
on sleeping with Daniel. A hidden, deep part of me had wanted to, but the good-girl within me kept denying that was the real reason why I'd come back. The bad-girl had the hope and foresight to pack a couple of overnight essentials into my rucksack. By the time Daniel was finished on the phone with Carrick, I was dressed and ready.
His face betrayed the fact he was not happy with the plans his father had made. The meeting with Alexander was planned for this morning, with a dozen Kindred Sons already scoping out the venue and keeping watch.
When Carrick arrived with us, there was a convoy of three cars. Carrick was in the first car, being driven and accompanied by two of the men I recognized from the night before. The second car was filled with the other guys that were here last night too, Daniel was to go with them. The third car was driven by a man who was introduced as Andy - the man who'd watched and followed as my grandmother went with the Doyle’s.
Louise was to accompany me in Andy's car.
If the kitchen had felt cramped the night before, it was positively claustrophobic now. I watched distractedly as each one checked and holstered their guns. The sight was surreal to me: this was a country where carrying any firearm was basically illegal and owning ones like they had certainly was.
Louise tried to keep me focused on mundane things, asking if I had breakfast yet and whether I wanted some tea. I knew exactly what she was trying to do and I loved her for it, but it didn't stop me worrying. With all those guns, someone was going to get hurt… I just prayed that no one I cared for, my gran, Daniel or Louise, got caught in the crossfire.
In fact, all the men stood before me could be going to war to save an old, frail woman that until yesterday, most didn't know existed. That made them people I cared for too.
They would do this for her because of one thing: family.
Blood and Loyalty, I mused to myself.
What a good way to live.
"Thank you." I stood as I spoke. I held all of their attention. "Thank you for going to help my grandmother." I wrung my hands with the worry. "I'm sorry that don't know most of you. You'll never know how thankful I am that you're doing this…" tears threatened and in the second it took me to swallow them back, Carrick spoke.
"Ellie, dear, no one fucks with my family. And you are family now." Serious faces nodded in agreement. "And if someone fucks with you, they fuck with all of us."
I felt Daniel beside me, his hands rested on my shoulders, lightly rubbing some of the tension away.
Carrick reached a hand towards me, which I took, unsure of what was happening. He pulled me into a fatherly embrace. "My eldest son is soft on you, and that makes you special to us. You're part of the Kindred Sons family now. Alexander is going to regret so much as speaking to Eleanor."
He gave me a final tap on the back, which I instantly took to mean our hug was over, and as he released me from his embrace I stepped away. As I did, I caught the look of approval between father and son. Any remnants of distrust in me was gone.
Carrick looked around to his finest, "Let's get this over with."
As the cars drove to the meeting point, Louise withdrew into herself. When Andy spoke, I saw that his eyes met hers through the rear-view mirror, an unspoken conversation going on that I didn't understand. Louise seemed to resign herself to something. She pulled something from her coat pocket, "I'm sorry." she said, simply, before stabbing me in the leg with what had been a concealed syringe. I felt my legs turn to lead as my body went to jelly. In the distance, I was vaguely aware of someone handcuffing me to the handle inside the car door. Something went over my mouth and I heard a muffled woman trying to talk… was that me?
Then everything went black.
When I came back around I was alone in the car. Not only was I handcuffed and my mouth taped shut, but my legs had also been taped together too. In the distance, I could see several people meeting in the center of the disused car park. The warehouse was derelict, completely abandoned and in the middle of nowhere.
Perfect, I thought. Just perfect.
I heard a scream and my eyes moved in time to see Louise being pulled by her hair out of one of the other cars.
Confusion, as well as nausea, swept over me.
She'd been here a minute ago.
She was putting up a fight until a man I recognized from earlier backhanded her and used the moment to overpower her. He held something to her throat, it glinted in the sunlight and I realized it was a knife. With her head slumped, she complied with him by walking in the direction she was being forced.
The men started a heated discussion then, with lots of swinging arms and shouting. A sliver of light amongst the weeds behind their argument took my attention.
Then everything slowed down. A man slumped to the ground as I heard a gunshot.
The guys who had dragged Louise moments earlier had now pushed her to the ground. Her hands hadn't been handcuffed as they'd looked and she pulled a handgun out, shooting one, two, three of the Doyle men.
Carrick and most of the others had run for cover, but another Kindred Son was still near Louise, covering her as she reloaded.
Where was Daniel?
Where was my grandmother?
Two cars sped off, Doyle's I presumed, given that the Kindred Sons where firing shots at their tires. The second careered and sped straight into a tree. A thin trickle of smoke started to trail up from the car - but no one got out. I tore my eyes away when the smoke thickened.
I screamed when the tap on my door came. Andy was pulling open the door that I was handcuffed to. With the tape around my ankles, I landed awkwardly on my ass. He un-cuffed me quickly, slicing the tape from between my ankles with one stroke of a stubby knife. He forced the handcuff keys and the knife into my hand. "We've got your granny out - she’s already on her way to a safe house, but there are a few more fuckers that want to play. It's too dangerous here for you. Go to that car there," he pointed to another of the convoy, "and let Daniel out. I'll cover you from here."
Adrenaline surged through my body and I ducked as I heard the whistle of a bullet close by. It was followed by several coming from where I’d just been. Andy was true to his word because no more bullets came near me. When I opened one of the car’s front doors I found Daniel in the same way I had been in the back of the other car.
Thankfully they hadn't taped his mouth. I spoke to rouse him and only then realized the tape was still over my mouth. I didn't even feel the sting as I ripped it off. "Daniel! Wake up!" I needed him conscious, he was too big to open his door without him carrying his own weight.
Nothing.
"Daniel! Wake UP!"
Still nothing.
They must have given him a really heavy dose.
Carrick clearly didn’t want either of us to know his real plan to use Louise as bait.
Having seen the close relationship between Daniel and Louise, I couldn’t say I was surprised at that.
She was a trained fighter, every bit as lethal as any other Kindred Son.
What had surprised me was Carrick’s willingness to allow his niece to be used as bait. I didn’t doubt her willingness to do it.
I reached back and started shaking Daniel, which brought him back almost instantly. I crawled through the seats and reached over him to release his handcuffs before slitting the tape around his ankles as Andy had done for mine. The look of confusion on his face would have been comical if it wasn’t for the situation.
“What the…”
"Andy says they need you," I spoke quickly. "He says Gran's ok, but they could do with your help."
The warrior within him rose. "These cars are bulletproof, stay here." he reached under the seat and pushed a handgun towards me. "The safety's off, just point and pull the trigger if you need to." He looked at me with crazy eyes before kissing me roughly. "I love you."
And then he ran towards them.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ellie
I’d never seen a firearm in real life before - except for the ones the cop
s carried. I did the only thing I knew how. I crammed as much of my body as would fit onto the floor of the car and closed my eyes, praying the Kindred Sons would be alright. I didn't know that everything was over until Daniel came back to the car, shouting as he did.
It was a good idea because, in my panicked state, there was every chance that I would have shot the first person who came anywhere near me.
Cautiously, he pulled the half-shut door open and lifted me into his arms.
"It's over, baby." He held me so close, and so gently. I swore it felt like I was made of the most delicate crystal.
Andy ran over to us, "Daniel, one car almost made it away, but our guys further along the road got them." He spoke proudly, "We knew all the other faces, except for one guy - thought you'd wanna take a look in case you can place him."
I didn't want to go, but Daniel refused to let me out of his sight. As we walked, I tried to cast the images of the blood and the fallen bodies from my mind.
This isn't real.
I tried to convince myself, but I already knew there’d be nightmares over the small part of the fight I’d witnessed.
I recognised a face, "Denver." I stated.
"No, honey, but that's his brother." God forgive me but I was disappointed.
I had wanted the guy to pay for the things he'd tried to make me do - the things I knew he'd blackmailed so many other vulnerable and desperate women with.
He spoke with pride, “Denver is over there,” he pointed to a bundle laying further away, “Piece of shit. I made sure to give him your regards.”
We walked to the corner of the warehouse, where a bullet-ridden car had been driven into the building. What once might have looked like an empty place to me now seemed to be a space for… encouraging someone to talk.
Wrenches, hammers, and an odd chair lay strewn inside the vast echo-y structure. When I walked around the car, I saw two guys on the other side of the building preparing to do just that. They had their backs to me and appeared to be tying the arms and legs of a man to a chair. The guy was putting up a fight - it just wasn't enough.