by Dee Palmer
“Shh, angel…relax and just feel me…Can you feel that?” He repeats and I bite my lips in and nod. Not relaxing at all because that feels fucking amazing. Like a deep pressure and point of pleasure all focused on that one place his cock is nudging, pushing me closer to the edge. “Look at me.” His demand I obey…I would obey anything at this moment…tell him all my secrets, but I have decided to do that anyway. If I told him now he might stop and God. I.Do. Not.Want.Him.To.Stop.
I could lose myself in his eyes, the raw desire and purity of everything he feels is just there and it is why I feel safe with him. I couldn’t ever hold Cal’s gaze like this, it felt like too much, too intimate. I look at Ethan now and it couldn’t be more intimate, it couldn’t be more raw. This is how it should be no fear, no barriers, no secrets; just us. This is perfect. He rolls his hips and grips my shoulders giving me no reprieve from the full length of his gentle thrust. With my look of pure love reflected in his dark eyes I fall, hands gripped with white knuckle fury on his shirt. My hips buck and my back arches but he pulls me back or follows my every move, we are perfectly aligned. He follows my release with his own silent tremble of satisfaction.
“OH, FUCK, ANGEL!” I can’t help the strength of my grip even if I know my fingertips will probably bruise. I have to hold her this tight, I can’t get close enough. I want her plastered all over my body every second I am breathing. Fucking her, making love to her had been the best feeling ever until now–now I can’t believe I thought it was good before. This is pure fucking Heaven, she loves me and that makes this everything. Her heart beat is thrumming like a humming bird and her tiny rapid breaths heat my neck where she collapsed in ecstasy, which is mutual. I don’t want to move but I don’t really want to spend any more time in here than was needed. She flops her head and has a lazy satisfied smile with full swollen lips. She is stunning, perfect and the red patches on her shoulder are my fingerprints marking her as mine.
She is still giggling when she opens the door but she stops so unexpectedly that I crash into her sending her flying forward. She is caught before she falls, caught, and held. The man in question is tall with dark slicked-back hair, slightly too long at the back. A deep natural tan, possibly Mediterranean, and he has dark eyes that are fixed on Ada with such familiarity, my back instantly straightens with tension.
“You know, Arti, I was about to leave. I thought it was you but then you disappear into the toilets and I doubted myself. That isn’t exactly something my Arti would do.” His lips curl in a malevolent smile. “Had I known what a little slut… Urh!” I pull Ada effortlessly out of harm’s way and have this fucking arsehole pinned against the wall by the throat.
“Cal?” Ada looks with horror and the name rings like a toll. So. this is the douche who left her when she got pregnant. I push a little harder just to hear him choke. His eyes widen but he has a smug, knowing look smearing his lips into an ugly smile.
“Apologise…Now.” The menace in my tone is clear but his lips form a tight thin line. He struggles to swallow when I press a little harder on his neck. “I won’t ask again.”
He spits out a barely audible apology. “Artemis, I apologise, can you ever forgive me?” He slumps and rubs his neck when I relinquish my hold. Turning to Artemis…Ada…angel, she is like a ghost in colour and presence, her eyes are glazed with water. The look of desolation brought on by a nightmare memory made a hideous reality by this man. “Angel, are you okay?” I hold her cheeks and try to engage her gaze, but she is transfixed by the man behind me.
“I’ll never forgive you.” The purest hatred is heard in the venom of those words. She steps around me and walks up to him. “How could you, Cal…How could you?” Her voice catches and she reaches behind her for my hand. I give her more than that token, I stand flush against her back, my arms cradling her trembling body.
“I did what I had to do, Arti; she’s better off.” He stretches out his neck with casual disregard to the clear devastation of the woman in my arms. Someone he claimed to once love.
“Why you fucking piece of shit!” I lunge for his throat again this time with both hands around his neck.
“Ethan, no!” Ada is hanging off my arms pulling at me to release this lowlife. Really, I think I would be doing the world a favour.
“She miscarries and you think that’s being better off…for scum like you maybe, who walks out–”
“–Ethan, stop, please.” Her voice is suddenly filled with panic but her cries are drowned by Cal’s cold demonic laugh.
“Oh, doesn’t that just paint you as the perfect victim princess? I guess whatever lets you sleep at night, eh?” He brushes the wrinkles from his sharp hand tailored suit, now that I have released my hold again. I am staring at Ada with utter confusion. Before I get to ask what the fuck…she looks from me to Cal, her tears flowing from broken eyes.
“I don’t sleep, Cal…I don’t ever sleep without nightmares. I only hope I suffer a fraction of what you will in Hell, because there is a special place reserved for you there.” Her voice breaks with the pitch of her cry.
“What is he talking about, Ada?” She looks at me with such desolation I can’t bring myself to demand the answers I need. I take her hand and pull her away. “We’re leaving.” I add but she doesn’t resist. It’s like I am pulling a shell of the woman, who only moments ago I held with such passion in her veins she burned under my fingertips.
“When you are finished with her, my boss seemed to take an interest, although now it is so much better. Now, I can tell him what a little whore you've turned into. What would Daddy say?” His tone is cruel and mocking, laden with implicit threat. I turn so quick to beat the shit out of him and finish the job, but Ada crumples to the floor and my only choice is to protect her. But the rage inside me is too fucking much, I scoop her into my arms and place her on an elaborate velvet love seat at the end of the three way corridor. Her hair is limp and stuck in clumps of sweat on her forehead, beads of perspiration dot her brow but she’s shivering. Fuck, I’m going to kill him. She sits huddled but unmoving. I stand and bolt full strength at Cal, who braces himself one hand tucked just inside his jacket.
Out of nowhere I am struck in my side and thrust against the wall. Daniel has his hand gripped around the top of my arms and is blocking my path with his body.
“Ethan, we’re leaving.” His quiet serious tone breaks my focus, but it’s not enough to stop my rage to finish this. I shuck out of his hold but he doesn’t move back. Daniel drops his voice, “See that hand in his jacket pocket…he is not reaching for his wallet, Ethan. Bethany is already in the car and we need to leave…now.” I can see Cal spread his jacket a little wider, enough so I can see the shoulder strap of a handgun. If he is brazen enough to carry an illegal fire arm, I am guessing he has no qualms using it and Ada is just opposite, like a little lost sitting duck.
“You can run, Arti, but you can’t hide and don’t think for a moment I’m finished with you.” Cal sneers, pointing at me but looking directly at Ada. I tense and prepare to end this but stop when a loud voice booms down the corridor, thick with an East European accent.
“Enough!” Such a short angry man with a deceptively intimidating voice appears behind Daniel. He is flanked by two much larger men. All of them are dressed in black suits and shirts, and have slicked black hair, slightly too long for that look to work. The two larger men are almost as wide as they are tall. The short man fires his lethal stare at Cal. The effect is impressive, Cal’s colour drains, his jaw locks tight and he loses about three inches in bravado. “Michal, don’t you dare embarrass me any more than you have.” His lifeless eyes level a stare so cold that Cal steps back and his shoulders twitch with the chill. “Put you fucking hands where I can see them. This is not how we conduct business. I thought you were learning, but every day more disappointment.” He snaps Cal’s hands away from his jacket.
Cal lowers his eyes but fails to look contrite; he just looks filled to bursting with evil fury. He narrows his eyes and fi
xes his deathly stare on Ada. His Uncle follows his line of sight, his lips curl into a salacious sneer. I step in front to block the view before I give a quick curt nod to Daniel. I agree, we need to leave. I walk back to Ada while Daniel follows me with his back never turned on Cal and the other men.
The back of Daniel’s car is eerily quiet, Bethany is curled against Daniel and Ada is still trembling in my arms. I break the silence because it’s suffocating. “What the fuck was that?”
“I was about to ask you the same question.” Daniel’s calm tone is at odds with his clenched, twitching jaw.
“You first, because I do not have a fucking clue.” I tighten my hold around Ada when I feel a fresh surge of tear induced shaking.
“I had no idea the owner was Vadim Krasnov. If I had, we never would’ve set foot inside.” Daniel informs me.
“Shit…How do you know that for sure?” My head is fucking spinning that Ada has anything to do with Eastern European criminals. I only know of them because they have been buying up large chunks of the premium property market in London, as a way of laundering millions of pounds. We were approached last year with one particular development. The client wanted to buy the whole scheme unseen, and before we had even laid one brick. They pay well over market price and push property prices sky high.
“He came over and asked if I was checking out the competition. He made an offer for my clubs a few months ago but after a background check, I chose not to deal with him. He has a rather unsavoury reputation and that man with the…” He pauses but Bethany looks up to see why he is censuring himself, he kisses her nose, and offers a tight smile. “That man you were speaking with is his nephew, Michal, and I believe he is being groomed to take over the empire. Since I have never seen you so much raise an objection, other than to me of course, do you want to tell me what got you so heated? Is there something that someone hasn’t been telling you? ” His understatement is ironically comical and I snort out an incredulous laugh. Ada’s whole body tenses and she curls tighter into my arms.
“Daniel.” Bethany’s warning tone is welcome and he shrugs it off, not pursuing an answer that after all is not his problem.
I kiss Ada’s hair and whisper so softly I am not sure I want her to hear. “I love you, Angel, but you have to talk to me.” Just a quietly she whispers back.
“I know.” Her eyes search mine out in the darkness, illuminated sporadically by the passing street lamps. Such unbearable sadness, it claws at my soul, she has to let me in.
She was silent for the rest of the journey, which took no time at all but dragged at a glacial pace because of my need to be alone with her. She was silent walking into the apartment and she was silent when we showered. Although, she did let out a sigh when I massaged her hair, taking my time with the pressure points and again when I rubbed jasmine body lotion over every inch of her skin. I wanted to remove every trace of her encounter tonight and replace it with my touch, a sweet scent, and my love. She crawled under the covers and curled into the smallest ball, impenetrable and a blatant desperate attempt to disappear. I climb in and slide up next to her, uncurling every tightly flexed limb until she is aligned with my body. My fingers trailing soft strokes from her hip, over her tummy. I do this until I feel her relax, her muscles soften, and her breathing is calm. My fingers dance over her belly button and down, but this time I slowly trace the indent of her scar, above her pubic bone. She places her hand over mine holding me there. I wait…I’m going nowhere.
“I loved him…a first love to end all first loves, I thought. I sacrificed everything to be with him and it was no sacrifice at all because I loved him so fucking much.” Her voice wobbles but she sucks in a deep breath and continues. “My father beat the shit out of him when we told him I was pregnant…offered to pay him off but he told my father to go to Hell. No one had ever spoken to him like that, ever. I loved him for that more than anything, I think. My father kicked me out and Cal picked up all the pieces. He found us a home, got a job as a courier for his uncle, took care of me, and when Pip was born he took care of us.” It’s my turn to hold my breath and she freezes because she can feel my whole body tense. She had the baby! What the fuck! She didn’t miscarry; she lied to me. “I’m sorry I let you believe otherwise, Ethan, but the truth…the truth is it doesn’t matter now.” Her voice is thick with pain and I don’t have to see her face to know it’s soaked once more. I should stop her, I should comfort her and say none of this matters, but she’d lied to me. I want the truth…I want it all. I know there’s more, I can feel the pressure of it like a hair-line fracture in a dam wall, so I just wait.
She shakes her head and I don’t know if that is to clear unbearable thoughts or to get her story straight. My stomach knots and aches, I push down the notion that her deception has caused that seed of doubt to sprout and fester. “Pip was born on the twenty-first of April; I was seventeen. She would’ve turned four this year and I have no idea where she is.” Her body racks with sadness and all I can do is hold her and it feels like a drop of comfort in an insurmountable ocean of pain.
“What happened, Ada? What happened to your baby?” I coax softly after a long time just rocking her, waiting for the sobs to ebb.
“Cal made a deal with my father. He took us to this house one day. He sold our baby to my father, who had arranged for Pip to be adopted. I was completely blindsided. How could I possibly know the man I loved was capable of such betrayal; I didn’t have a clue until it was too late. Even then I didn’t believe it until my father took great delight in telling me what a lowlife Cal really was.” Her voice is a broken whisper, laden with insurmountable sadness. “I didn’t get to say goodbye…I didn’t get to say goodbye.” Oh, sweet Jesus, no…I climb over her so she is facing me, even if her face is now cupped and hidden in her hands. I feel impotent against such pain, my arms hold her broken soul in a trembling body. I hold her all night. I am not sure if she sleeps but I can’t, my mind is filled with unanswered questions. All of which boil down to why hasn’t she got her baby back now? At a guess it has something to do with her father or maybe not having the money to pursue a legal case, but it still doesn’t account for why she hasn’t gone to the authorities…What the fuck is she waiting for? Her baby could be anywhere…She could be with a good family, yes, but she could be somewhere worse. Shit, she could be just like me at that age…I swallow back the rise of bile and feel a sheen of heat coat my skin. I unravel her limbs and slide from the bed.
In the shower the hot water pummels my skin, I hang my head and endure the scorching needles slicing into the back of my neck. So many questions but none of it really matters. She’s telling me the truth now, which mean she trusts me and coming from what she’s been through that is a huge fucking deal. So, I may not understand but it really doesn’t matter…I love her…she is mine and together we will get her baby back. There is a sudden gap in the steam when the door to the shower opens and the air is sucked out. Her whole demeanour is timid, not like her at all. I hate the reticence, the doubt. She squeals when I pull her roughly to me and slam her hard against the slate grey tiles. Her wide eyes darken and when she gasps, I swallow her cry with my urgent kiss. I need to fuck the uncertainty right out of her. I need to make her understand, she is mine now and nothing else matters. My hand grabs the supple flesh of her arse and I hoist her up my slick body, positioning the tip of my cock at her molten entrance. She makes me so fucking hard, all the damn time, maybe she should doubt herself more often. This is one thing I am certain of us; our amazing fucking chemistry, her love brings me to a whole new level of ecstasy I didn’t know existed in this world–Heaven maybe, but not on Earth.
Her hands thread into my hair and she tugs and grips, her hips wriggle and she tries to sink onto me. I have her pinned and she is going nowhere until I say so. She lets out a frustrated whimper into my mouth that I just suck down, my tongue teasing hers. She pulls my bottom lip between her teeth and holds, her intention to cause pain is a wild sparkle in her deep blue eyes. I groan
when she starts to bite down but she lets go when I let her sweet body drop hard onto my cock.
“Ah, God…yes!” Her breathy cry makes my balls ache, and I slam back into her, harder, deeper and she meets every thrust with greedy fervour. Her legs wrap high around my waist, but I don’t feel close enough. I push one leg down and hitch the other over my forearm. Oh fuck that’s better, one hard grind of my hips and every muscle in her body contracts with the depth of my intrusion inside her heat. She pants out little breaths and her palm rests on my hip, a cautionary, if futile, manoeuvre to hold me back. I tilt and press a little deeper still–like I said, futile. I own this woman and I want her to feel just how much, from the inside out.
Her moment of hesitation is obliterated by my relentless drive to consume and draw every ounce of pleasure from her body. Faster, harder, and so fucking deep, at that point when there is no air between us, we are one–body and soul. She gasps wordless cries, quakes and shudders, falls to pieces in my arms and I come like I have never before…Oh, God, this woman!…She fucking owns me.
Ada is quiet through breakfast and I can’t wait to get her in the car for the five or six hour drive back home. Undivided attention with no escape and we can sort all this shit out. She can give me the whole unabridged story. Only then can we move forward and figure a way to get back the baby who was cruelly taken from her. Daniel’s stern tone breaks the easy silence.
“Not negotiable, Bethany…Patrick is going with you. I have to be here for this meeting tomorrow but if you want to go back with them today. You are fucking taking Patrick.” Bethany slumps next to me and rolls her eyes. but I am with Daniel on this. What they went through last year would make anyone paranoid about safety and they have Luca now.