Once I’ve used the facilities, I take a hard look at my face and flinch. I look tired and not just from the motorcycle ride out here. Not just because I’m growing a life inside of me, but I just look fucking tired. I am, too.
I’m tired of everything.
Coming back here was a mistake.
Reaching for my phone, I debate calling Dragon and asking if I can come back. Shaking my head, I drop it back in my pocket. I know what awaits me if I call him. Jaguar. Being under his lock and key, suffocated and controlled without hope of ever being anything but his, to be used the way that he sees fit.
Turning toward the door, I jerk it open and come face to face with, “Arlington.”
He smirks, looking like the mischievous boy that I once knew. He’s cute. Young and ambitious, bred properly and utterly boring. “You look good, but fuck me you look sad as shit, Della.”
“I shouldn’t have come back here.” I shrug.
“So, you weren’t away at school? You weren’t traveling Europe? Where were you?”
I snort at his question. Licking my bottom lip, my eyes scan his body. He’s just as fit as he was a few years ago. His suit is perfectly pressed and I want nothing more than to wrinkle him. Closing the distance between us, I press my body against his, looking up into his rich-boy eyes.
Slipping my hands between us, I unbuckle his pants, then unfasten them. Reaching down his trousers, I find his cock hard and feel the smooth weight in my hand. Touching my lips to the underside of his jaw, I stroke him.
“Doesn’t matter where I was, Arlington. I’m back, now fuck me,” I demand.
He groans, letting his head fall back against the wall with a thump. Wrapping his hand around my wrist, he spins me around so that my back slams against the wall.
“I’m engaged, Della. I can’t do this shit anymore,” he grunts while he reaches for the hem of my skirt and drags it up my thighs.
“I’m having someone else’s baby.” I shrug. “I still need to fuck and be fucked.”
“Where’s the father?” he asks as his finger shifts my panties to the side.
He groans when he feels how wet I am. He shouldn’t be impressed, my body has had so much sex in the months that I’ve been gone that a slight wind makes me wet. It doesn’t have anything to do with him or his abilities.
“Probably killing everyone in his path as he tries to hunt me down,” I rasp, speaking the damn truth.
Arlington must think that I’m joking. Without another word, he picks me up, turns me around wall and buries himself inside of me to the hilt.
“Fuck,” he groans. “You always feel so damn good, baby. How the fuck do you do that?” he says with a shiver.
“Kegels,” I snort.
He laughs softly, his lips touching mine as he fucks me against the hallway wall in the middle of the country club, just like old times. He groans against my mouth, his hips rolling as he searches for his release and attempts to give me my own. It doesn’t work. He’s too soft. Too gentle and way too vanilla.
“So good,” he groans before his tongue fills my mouth and he comes inside of me.
I cringe at the fact that I let him inside of me bare. I shouldn’t have. He releases me, his breathing coming out in pants as he adjusts himself. I smooth down my skirt and freeze when his hand reaches out and wraps around the side of my neck. It feels foreign, because it’s not a Beast’s calloused fingers.
The Savage Beasts have broken me.
“Can I come by late tonight? Do that again?” he asks, giving me his boyish grin.
Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I shake my head. Lifting my hand, I tuck some hair behind my ear. “I don’t think so,” I murmur.
“Because I’m engaged? Don’t worry about her, she’s replaceable, Della. You and me, with your dad’s business, we would be good together.”
I blink at his words. He’s ready to give up his engagement to be with me so that he can get some of my father’s business. I should have known. This is why I have always hated society.
Using and being used, though isn’t that what life with the beasts was like, too? I was used for what is between my legs and my willingness to give it away to whoever wanted a piece. This feels different though, this feels sordid and a little dirty.
Shaking my head, I clear my throat.
“I’m sorry, Arlington, but no. Stay with your girl.”
Turning away from him, I dig my phone out of my pocket and order an Uber. I should go back inside and finish my food, enjoy the spa facilities and just relax. I don’t want to do any of that though. I want to go back home, not to my parents, but back to Arizona. I miss that ugly desert.
Chapter Three
JAGUAR
“This place is such a shithole,” I grunt as I hide with Mountain and watch Kade’s building for signs of movement. Something is up with him and we’ve been sent here to get to the bottom of it. Our supplier has been off the radar and that shit is never good.
Mountain makes a noise in the back of his throat. “Yeah. Something definitely isn’t right though.”
“Let’s go by his house, see what is happening out there,” I suggest.
Mountain nods, then together we leave Kade’s warehouse and head to his personal home. In silence. We’ve driven all the way down here in complete silence. I know that Mountain doesn’t agree with me wanting to bring Della back. He doesn’t agree with me and Della together in general, but I don’t give a fuck. She’s mine and I’m not going to let her go and I’m not allowing her out of my sight this time.
“She’s meant to be with the Beasts,” I say a few moments later.
He grunts. “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean with you.”
My spine straightens and I turn to look at him. He’s driving, his profile is in my view and he looks completely fucking unbothered by his words. He shouldn’t have said them. He doesn’t know a damn thing about me, about Della—about us together.
“That’s exactly where she belongs,” I snap.
He nods once, then his voice lowers. “I know you think that, but you’re obsessed, Jag. That’s not healthy.”
I snort, leaning back in the seat. “If that’s the case, then Dragon is obsessed with Bella. Wolfe is obsessed with Esther. Silver is obsessed with Presley. It’s not obsession, it’s love,” I point out.
“So, you love her?” he asks, sounding surprised.
“No other way to describe how I feel. I’ve never felt this way before. I can’t think of anything else but her. She consumes me day and night.”
“Obsession is not love, Jag.”
I snort. “How the fuck would you know?”
That shuts him up. He doesn’t say anything else and I’m glad for it. We pull up in front of Kade’s house, but Mountain doesn’t open the door immediately. Instead, he turns to face me, his hand wrapped around the steering wheel.
“I haven’t been in love, but I have been obsessed with a woman. Trust me when I tell you, that it will only hurt both of you, Jaguar. If she wants to be with you, then cool, be together. But if the only way you can keep her is to control her, force her, and use force on her then that shit is not love, man, and that’s all I’m going to say on it. Dragon told me to take you to her after we did this, so that’s what I’ll do. Even if I don’t agree with it. I know my president wouldn’t do something for no reason, even if I think it’s fucking stupid.”
I lift my chin. “Obliged,” I bite out as I push the truck door open.
Without looking back, I walk toward Kade’s front door. Mountain is behind me, his boots crunching in the dirt and gravel of Kade’s walkway.
Lifting my hand, I pound on Kade’s front door and wait about two seconds for him to open it. When he doesn’t, I lift my foot and slam my boot into the flimsy wooden door. I want to get this shit done and over with. This fucker is so damn stupid. For a man who is running a multi-million-dollar operation, you would think that his personal home would be locked tighter than a goddamn fortress.
&nbs
p; Stepping into his living room, my gun drawn, I look around. The place is dark, almost as if nobody is home, but I can feel his presence. Shifting my gaze to a chair in the corner of the room, I notice that it looks completely out of place. It isn’t facing the television, in fact, it’s facing me. I know that he has to be sitting there, watching and waiting.
My eyes finally adjust to the darkness of the room and I see a shadowed figure sitting in the armchair. “Kade?” I ask, though I can tell it’s him.
“Beast,” he growls.
Mountain closes the front door, then flips the light switch on. The first thing that I notice are the three empty cages sitting in the middle of the otherwise empty room.
“What the fuck, man?” I ask as my eyes move from the cages to him.
He’s sitting in the chair, still unmoving, but his face is beat to fuck. His eyes are so swollen I don’t know if he can even see who is standing here in front of him.
“I fucked up.” He shrugs.
“Where are your women? I’m not even going to comment on the cages,” Mountain says.
Kade shrugs a shoulder. “Part of my fucking up means they were taken from me,” he announces.
“Dude, you’re going to have to tell me something that I can give Dragon. This shit, it’s not going to fly. He won’t just accept a fuck up and move along like nothing has happened. We had to come down here because you aren’t answering your goddamn phone,” Mountain points out.
Kade stands slowly, letting out a hiss of pain when he does. Taking a step toward us, the anger boiling just below the surface of his skin is apparent.
“I’ve been buying directly from the Columbians. I got tangled up in some shit with them. I went behind Gavino’s back, he found out. I’m lucky to be breathing,” he grinds out.
“Fuck,” I grunt.
“Fuck is right,” he snaps.
“What happens now?” Mountain chances asking.
Kade shakes his head. “Nothing. I got this. I’ll have to do all of the packaging on my own, but you’ll get your shit. It’ll be ready on time.”
“How?” I ask.
Kade’s lips press together in a flat line. “I’ll make it happen.”
“You got it all with you?” He jerks his chin as his response. “Can’t remember the last time I packaged dope, but how about we help you this go around.”
“You’d do that?” he asks, his voice not hiding his surprise.
“Yeah,” I snort. Honest to fuck, I just want to get it done and get my woman.
Mountain and I help Kade into our pickup truck and together the three of us package fucking coke for distribution. I want to get to Della as soon as possible and I know without this job being completed, we won’t be able to leave Kade.
Also, I want to find out as much as I can about his dealings with the Columbians and how he fucked over Gavino Santoro and the Italians, something that I have a feeling not many people live to talk about. We need to know everything and report back to Dragon, I have a sick feeling in my gut that Kade isn’t going to be breathing much longer.
DELLA
I shiver as I look down at the grounds. Yes, my parents’ home has, grounds. It’s stupid, it’s lonely and I regret coming back here. I should have stayed in Arizona. Even though being with Jaguar wasn’t what I wanted, it felt a lot better than being here again. I should have just suffered through his obsession, one that I’m sure will eventually fade in time anyway.
There’s a knock on my door. Slowly, I turn around to see my father standing, watching me, leaning against the jamb.
“Daddy?” I ask, not moving from the window.
His eyes scan me, stopping on my stomach before they lift to my face. “Are you going to tell us why you really came back? I’m not naïve enough to think it’s because they just let you go. I have a feeling it’s because you’re no longer able to provide them a service. Am I right?”
Dropping my gaze to my stomach, I place my hand there and lift my eyes back to my father’s. I can’t control them when they water, and I can’t control the tears when they fall.
“I could have stayed. The president didn’t mind. They didn’t force me to leave,” I whisper.
“But you wanted to come back home?” he asks, sounding almost hopeful.
Shaking my head, I press my lips together to keep them from trembling. “I felt like this was my only choice for the moment.”
“What happens next?” he asks.
My father can be very kind, especially when my mother isn’t around, but she controls him. If she doesn’t want something to happen, he will turn his back on whoever she demands. She is in charge and maybe that’s why I don’t want to be Jaguar’s, because he reminds me so much of her. His hold is just as suffocating as hers. I don’t want to lose what little of myself that I’ve been able to hold on to over the years.
“I don’t know,” I whisper. “I only have a few months to figure it out.”
“You can stay here, the both of you, for as long as you need,” he offers.
Shaking my head, I know that’s not what I want. I can’t stay here, not with my mother. I can’t expose this baby to her, to the life I was raised in. I wouldn’t, couldn’t, do that to an innocent.
Maybe I should just give the child up for adoption. God knows it would be much easier if I did. Then nobody could have a claim on it, or me.
While contemplating the future, I forget that my father is still standing in my room, his assessing gaze still very much focused on me. That is, until I hear my mother’s screeching from downstairs.
“Shit,” he sighs.
Without a word, I watch as he turns around and scurries away from my room. I smile, watching him. A sadness washes over me knowing that this is his life, but it’s also the one that he’s chosen. Sure, he feels like he can’t leave her or maybe he just thinks it’s too hard. Whatever the case, he’s chosen to stay with her for life.
I snort, kind of like the way I thought it was too hard to turn Jaguar down. It’s so much easier to just accept him, accept the way he needs me, craves me, controls me instead of being firm with him. So, I ran away and it solved absolutely nothing, because I have no doubt that he will come to get me one day—soon.
Closing my eyes, I decide to take a nap. Maybe sleeping a little will make me feel better. Walking over to my bed, I lay down and within seconds of my head hitting the pillow, everything goes dark and I fall into a deep sleep.
Something cold and wet lands on my face, I open my mouth in surprise and end up with a mouthful of water. Sitting up, I cough as I attempt to catch my breath when another wave of water washes over me.
Lifting my head, I look up to see my mother standing in front of me with an empty bucket in her hand. She smirks, her eyes evil and calculating as she watches me.
“You’re a lazy whore, get the fuck up,” she barks.
Lifting my hand, I wipe the excess water off of my face, and I attempt to calm my breathing. My heart is racing from the way that I was woken from a deep sleep. My hands are shaking and the rest of my body trembling.
“What on earth?” I whisper.
“Your father told me why you’re really here. Pregnant with some degenerate’s bastard. Not in my house,” she snaps.
Inhaling a deep breath, I lift my eyes to clash with my mother’s. “What are your plans then?” I ask.
Her lips turn up into a wide, evil smile. She’s excited to tell me, I can tell. “My plans are this. You either get rid of it, leave, or you can have the kid and give it to me.”
I knew it.
I didn’t even have to ask her to know that she would want my baby. Never. I would rather die than give her my child to abuse, to mold into a carbon copy of herself. Fuck. That. I open my mouth to respond when I hear shouting from downstairs.
My mother freezes, her head turns to the side and then before I realize what’s happening, two men barge into my room. I gasp when my eyes collide with the ones that I ran away from. The eyes that belong to the man
that wants to hold me down, control me, and own me.
Never before have I been glad to see this man standing in front of me. Not until this day. I’ve never thought that I needed a man to save me, never wanted one to, until this moment. I needed a savior and here he is.
“Jaguar,” I whisper.
His eyes find mine, I watch as they flash with something unreadable before he takes a step toward me. My mother faces him, squaring her shoulders as she stands between us.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Jaguar asks me, ignoring my mother. Her legs are wide and her feet are planted as she refuses to move out of his way.
“She’s lazy,” my mother announces.
Jaguar growls, but it’s Mountain that speaks. “She’s pregnant,” he says.
My mother snorts. “She’s always been a lazy little slut and she won’t be pregnant for long. Get out of my house, you aren’t welcome here.”
Jaguar snorts. “Bitch, if you want to continue breathing, you better step out of my goddamn way.”
My mother doesn’t even flinch, at least I doubt that she does, judging by the way Jaguar’s nostrils flare in anger. I gasp as I watch what he does next in complete shock. Slowly, he lifts his hand and wraps his fingers around her throat. He walks her to the side of the room, until her body slams into the wall beside my bathroom door.
I can’t move.
I’m completely frozen in shock as he chokes my mother right in front of my very own eyes. I don’t feel a single ounce of remorse at watching him assault her. In fact, if I wasn’t so shocked, I might have smiled at the sight of that bitch getting what she deserves.
“Jaguar,” Mountain grumbles. “Down.”
Without a word, he releases her, and I watch as she slides down to the floor, her eyes wide as she gasps for air. Jaguar turns his head slowly, his eyes finding mine and he shakes his head once.
“Get your shit. You’re comin’ home,” he growls.
Nodding, I shift my gaze from him to Mountain whose brows are furrowed as he takes in everything around us. Scooting to the edge of the bed, I run over to my closet and find my cut-off shorts and baggy t-shirt that I wore here. The maid laundered them for me and brought them to my room this morning.
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