by T. L Smith
“He’s collecting you ever so slowly,” she states with a tone of finality. “Do you know why they call him the viper?” she asks as we sit in the car outside my building.
“No, why?”
“Because, like a viper, he strikes, then waits until the venom hits before he collects. He is collecting you, and I’m not even sure you’re aware of it.”
“What will he do once he has me?” I ask.
She shrugs. “From what I heard…the last girl ended up dead.”
“That’s reassuring.” I balk at her words before getting out and reaching back in to grab my bag.
“I have high hopes for you. But to be safe, carry a weapon any time you’re near him.” I chuckle and thank her before heading inside.
When I get to the door, it’s unlocked. Pushing it open, I pause because what I see on the couch has my eyes flinging wide open.
“Brody? Merci?”
Both startle and pull apart at the sound of my voice.
What the actual fuck?
Kissing.
They were kissing.
I can’t…
I mean, I can’t…
“Merci, what the fuck?”
She stands and runs her hands down her dress.
“He started it.” She points to Brody, then runs out of the room.
As soon as she’s gone, Brody stands. “What? You knew I always had a crush on her.”
“Brody. She’s my age,” I reply in disbelief.
“I like them older.” He smirks. “Don’t say anything. I don’t judge you for anything, so don’t judge us on this.”
“Has this happened before?”
“No, that was the first time. But I know she’ll be hating herself about you finding out like this. You know how Merci is.” He’s right, I do know how she is, but what shocks me more is that he knows. “How was your weekend away?” Brody changes the subject. Lucky for him I’m not in the mood to argue, even if that came from left field.
“I went to Disneyworld,” I tell him with a smile that I can’t help. Even if the day ended terribly, it was a memory I’ll have forever.
“Are you joking? Your new boss took you?” He sounds surprised by the tone of his voice and his raised eyebrows that are almost touching his hairline.
“Lucas did,” I say, biting my cheek.
“Well, guess we both got something we didn’t expect today.” He chuckles as he walks away.
Variety Gossip
The City’s Bad Boy
* * *
A weekend away swirls with rumors.
It seems that where she goes, he follows.
I wonder how long it will last before he finds a new flavor, a new smell, he becomes fascinated with.
Because we all know it’s coming.
Nothing and no one ever lasts long.
19
Lucas
“Have you heard from your father?” Keir asks me. We left his house after the weekend, and he asked that I come visit him during the week. He’s sitting in his new office, which is not far from where he lives with his family, and waits for me to answer. “Lucas?” he bites out.
“No, I haven’t since last year.” It’s a lie, but I don’t want to tell him the truth.
Keir assesses me, like he can taste the deception in the air.
Hell, maybe he can.
“I heard he’s gone quiet,” Keir states. “Which we know is never a good thing for your father.”
“I’m aware.”
Where my mother is easy, normal, my father is the exact opposite. He’s dark, fucked-up, moody, and generally a bastard. I have a vivid memory of him hiring a prostitute for me when I was fourteen. He’d told me I was a man now and needed to know how to fuck like one.
My father is addicted to sex. He’s had issues all his life. Never was he faithful to my mother, and from what I had heard, he liked it rough. So when he deemed me old enough, he made a woman get on her knees and give me a blowjob. I knew what it was, but I had never been touched by a woman before, let alone had one give me head. Then my father instructed me to fuck her, and I was not to leave my room until I did.
I asked her to lie and tell him we’d fucked because I didn’t want to do it; I didn’t want my first time to be like that. She shook her head, then proceeded to take off all her clothes before she lay on my bed.
Naked.
My cock responded, and she told me to come to her. I only knew what to do from the few pornos I’d watched. After it was done, she was killed, and my father took me to Keir’s father, telling him I was a man now and I could work for him. From then on out, my world has never been the same.
I grew accustomed to hookers, love them, actually. They showed me a new world of pleasure. I became…addicted. Then I worked out and grew muscles as I got older. I didn’t need to pay for sex. I was attractive and had hit puberty, came into my own.
It was then my father started to resent me. You hear of stories where the mother hates the daughter for her looks, well, my father did that with me. Because he was always attractive growing up, he could reel women in with a simple smile, then would fuck them away.
I don’t hate my father for what he did to me, what he turned me into.
Sex and killing—it was all I was taught, and it’s what I grew up to think of as normal. So when I fucked a woman and killed her after, it was completely typical for me.
Until Keir became boss.
He showed me that it didn’t have to be like that, and that I didn’t have to do it that way. I still like to kill, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t kill my women so much anymore.
I collect them.
And I’ve collected a few.
Some are still breathing, some not so much.
Focusing back on Keir, I see him watching me.
“You can’t kill her…” He looks me square in the eye. “… You’re aware of that, right?” he bites out, leaving the topic of my father alone. “She’s my employee.”
“Why did you hire her?” I ask.
“Because you look at her the way I looked at Sailor. Like I couldn’t work her out, but I wanted to.” He glances down at his cell. “Now, tell me you won’t kill her.”
I push up from the chair and walk to his door. “Goodnight, boss,” I say, smirking as I walk out.
“Lucas,” he warns.
I laugh at his tone as I walk to my car. As I put the key in the ignition, I hear the click of the safety on a gun and hate the fact I didn’t look in the back seat.
“I was actually hoping for the big man, but you’ll do,” a man says, and I recognize the voice immediately. “Drive, Lucas.” I start the car and push on the gas.
“Father,” I say while shaking my head.
“Seems Keir wants me dead.” My father’s voice floats up and into my ears from the back seat. “Heard he has men looking for me.”
That makes sense now about why Keir wanted to talk to me about him.
“What did you do?” I ask.
He pulls the gun away, and I look in the rearview mirror to see him relaxing on the back seat, one knee over the other with a smirk on his face. “I may have stolen from him.”
“Fuck,” I growl, hitting the steering wheel. “You don’t steal from Kier. Fuck.” I hit the wheel again. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I fucking wasn’t, obviously. I was low on cash, and I knew where they kept it.”
“You knew where they kept it because of me. Do you want me dead as well?” I yell.
“Have you done what I asked?”
I shake my head. “Things have been complicated.”
“They always are when women are involved.” My father taps my seat, and I pull over. He gets out and looks down at me, the same eyes as mine staring back at me. “I’ll get the money,” he says. “Keep him off my tail.” He pats my shoulder, and I want to lean out and clock him one right in the face. The bastard’s a sneaky asshole. Gets away with too much, and I’m always left cleaning up after him. I
’m fucking sick of it. “How’s your mother?”
I take off, leaving him standing there on the street.
No.
I will not discuss my mother with him.
Never.
Under any circumstances.
That’s one topic he is not allowed to ask me about. No matter what I do for him—protect him and help him—that topic is off-limits.
I grew up in what I thought was a good household until I hit my teens and realized how fucked-up my father really was.
My mother was fine, she still is—God only knows how.
But my father? I hate that I take after him and that I resemble him.
Especially the bad parts
The addictive parts.
It would have been good if I didn’t get those predilections.
But I guess not all of us are that lucky.
20
Chanel
We’re having dinner with everyone for Sailor’s birthday. I bring a large arrangement of flowers because I can’t afford those flashy shoes with the red heels she likes. When I arrive, Keir lets me in with a simple head nod, and I find Piper and Sailor at the table with two older ladies.
“Chanel, perfect timing. This is Keir’s mother, Bianca, and this is Judy, Lucas’ mother.” Both sets of eyes land on me. I offer them a soft smile and a hello before I walk over to Sailor and hand her the flowers. And try to not think that I am meeting Lucas’s mother, who by the way seems normal, and Lucas, is far from normal.
“Oh, gosh, they’re beautiful. Thank you so much, but you know you didn’t have to spend money on me.”
“I wanted to, to thank you again for everything.”
She waves me off. “It’s Keir and Lucas you should be thanking.”
“Oh? What did Lucas do?” Judy asks. She’s a short older woman, her silver hair tied back in a bun on top of her head. She has a little round tummy, but she is dressed immaculately in a pant suit and heels, and the clothes she’s wearing cover any other bulges she has. Her eyes are similar to Lucas’ and are the color of the forest staring back at me.
“Lucas found her, of course. It’s how Keir was able to hire her.”
Judy, studies me a moment, then offers me a small smile. “Oh, that’s nice. Haven’t heard of my son doing anything nice for a long, long time, unless it’s for his mother, of course,” she comments. “Come, you must sit near me.”
I glance over to Sailor to see her giving me a soft smile.
Wren runs into my arms, and I pick her up before walking over to where I’m to be seated, as all the boys file in with Piper. Piper heads my way and takes the seat next to me.
I spot Lucas straight away.
He’s hard to miss.
Where Keir owns a room, Lucas intimidates it.
“Missed you.” Wren’s little arms hug me around my neck. She’s usually not allowed to sit on our laps when we eat, but no one has made a move to take her, so I let her stay.
“Thank you all, so much,” Sailor gushes.
Keir leans in and kisses her passionately in front of everyone—tongue and all with absolutely no shame or care for who’s at the table.
“Okay, well, that’s not awkward. I think it’s time we eat,” Piper comments, reaching for the food in the middle of the table. A drink is placed in front of me and Wren reaches for it, spilling it all down my legs and soaking my jeans.
“This is why I require Wren to not be at the table,” Keir says, sitting down.
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” I kiss her little cheek as she hides in my chest. “How about you take my seat while I go clean myself up.”
I feel Lucas’ eyes tracking my movements, but I don’t dare glance his way.
“I have something you can wear. Go to the bathroom, and I’ll bring you a pair of shorts,” Piper says as she stands up.
Moving my seat back carefully, I get up and excuse myself to the bathroom. I pull my jeans off with some difficulty as they are stuck to me and place them on the counter. The door starts to open and I smile, thinking it’s Piper, but he ducks in and shuts the door behind him.
“Lucas.”
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I have a feeling even if I was trying to avoid you, you would find a way to see me.”
“Always,” he replies, as a knock comes on the door.
Lucas opens it and I hear Piper’s voice. “Where is Chanel?” she asks.
Before I can reply, he does and shouts, “Busy,” then slams the door in her face, but not before taking the shorts from her.
“That was rude,” I tell him.
“I don’t care. Now, if you want to wear something over your panties to dinner, tell me why you’re avoiding me. You don’t want me to fuck you anymore?” He leans in. “For me to bend you over my knee and spank that ass?” His breath tickles my ear and I close my eyes for a second, just listening. There’s something about his voice that does things for me—dirty things. “For me to taste that sweet, sweet cunt?”
“How come you never edged me?” I answer his questions with one of my own.
Lucas pulls back, and his brows scrunch as he looks at me. “So you’ve been talking about me.”
I cross my arms over my chest. His eyes drop to my cleavage for a second before they come back to me. “No.”
I technically never asked for that info, it was given to me freely, so I am not lying.
“Edging is something that makes a woman come…hard.”
“I know what it is.”
Thanks to Piper, but again, he doesn’t need to know that.
“Then why did you ask why I never did it to you? Because we have some free time and a spare bathroom…” He steps up closer. “Though, you couldn’t scream this time with my mother right out there.” He licks his lips, and I have to remember to not fall for it. For him.
I snatch the shorts out of his grasp and he lets them go easily.
“I take that as a no, then.”
“You are correct.” I pull them on and smile when I see they fit. “You are so hot and cold. You know that, right?”
“It’s only because I’m not quite used to you yet,” he replies, surprising me.
“What do you need to get used to?” I ask.
Lucas shakes his head, apparently having enough of this conversation, and walks out. I wash my hands before I head out behind him, and he’s now seated in my seat next to his mother. Piper is in his seat, and the only empty seat is next to him. I look for Wren who’s on Keir’s lap at the other end of the table. For all his hard rules, he sure does break them for himself.
Everyone is eating, so I make my way over and slide out the chair next to Lucas.
“Eat,” Lucas orders, not even looking at me, but I know he’s talking to me. I ignore him and pull out my cell to check that Brody hasn’t messaged when I feel his breath on me. “What on earth would you do with that thing?” he asks, looking at my cell phone.
“My phone?” I ask, confused.
“That’s a flip phone. Who even has one of those anymore?” I feel eyes fall on me. “How do you take photos?”
“What do I need photos of?”
He huffs and leans in close. “I have a photo of when you came. I pull my cock to it whenever I feel the need.”
My eyes go wide at his words. “You do not.”
“Oh, I sooo do.” He smirks.
I can’t believe what he’s saying.
It can’t be true.
Can it?
No way.
I put my cell away and turn so I’m fully facing him. “Show me,” I demand.
Everyone is talking, so I’m hoping no one is paying us much attention.
“If you insist.” He reaches for his cell and pulls it out. He opens his photos, there’s only one and it’s of me.
Me.
Naked, head back, mouth open.
I snatch his cell from his hand and stand, my chair toppling over with my movement.
Everyone quietens and looks at us
.
“Chanel. My phone.”
I gawk at the picture.
This can’t be real.
When did he take this?
How did I not notice him take the photo?
I wasn’t that drunk—I simply felt a little buzz.
“I…” I shake my head, and he reaches up to try to grab the cell from me, but I pull it away.
“What’s going on?” Keir demands.
I look to him, not even sure what to say, then to Sailor. She seems to read my expression and softens.
“Take the cell to the kitchen, I’m sure there’s a charger that will fit,” she says, trying to give me an out.
But Lucas isn’t having it.
“She’s trying to delete my photo,” Lucas pipes up, and I whip my head around to give him a warning look. Not that it’ll do any good.
“What photo?” Joey asks.
Sailor goes to speak again, but Lucas cuts her off.
“Of Chanel, on the bed.”
The room goes silent.
You can hear a pin drop.
Shit.
“Well, fuck. Delete it, then.” Piper gets up, and before anyone can stop her, she’s standing in front of me.
Lucas reaches for his cell, but I delete the photo before he can grab it.
“Move out of my way, Piper.” Lucas’ tone is dripping with malice.
“And the deleted folder,” Piper states back to me.
What the hell is that?
“You were warned.” Before I can even understand what’s happening, the cell drops from my hand as a gunshot echoes through the dining room.
“Fucking hell, Lucas! Wren is here,” Keir shouts, but I can’t look their way because I’m still trying to work out where that gunshot came from.
“Fuck,” Piper says.
I step around her to see blood oozing from her arm. “You shot me in the arm!”
“It only grazed you,” Lucas says, rolling his eyes.