Now, he has my attention. I am glad for the interruption when William rolls in a tray with the main course as it gives me a moment to digest everything he just told me. I note that, this time, William doesn’t look at me or acknowledge me in the same friendly manner that he had just moments before.
Cash waits to speak until William is done serving and leaves us to our dinner.
“I want to train you, Johnnie. I want you to work with my team. I can’t have a normal relationship and I don’t want one built on lies and deceit.”
Now, he definitely has my attention. Not only that, but he’s piqued my interest as well. “Do you think I can do this?”
“Not now, no… but by the time I get done with you, I do. I’ve watched you for six months and I believe with the right training, you can do this.”
I can feel my heart race and the mental battle of wondering whether or not this man is for real begins to wage war within me. By the look in his eyes, I know he is dead serious. I can feel myself getting excited about the prospect of working with him, about making a difference. I like what I’m hearing and find myself wanting to agree to what he’s asking of me.
He had to have seen something in me because a man of his caliber would have stopped following me the first week if he hadn’t seen potential. Part of me is proud of that fact and wants to explore the possibilities but I also find myself wondering if I truly have what it takes.
“And if I decide I don’t want to?”
“I pride myself on the fact that I’m a gentleman with manners but you, young lady, have crossed a line. Let’s just say that for you, there is no turning back. You would do well to agree or you’re going to be leading a very cooped up life in a mansion with a man who is gone quite a bit.” He leans in and growls in my direction, “I have no intention of letting you go.”
Cash
After six months of watching her, I know her well enough to know that the little adrenalin junkie sitting in front of me is going to take me up on my offer. She’s a tomboy at heart and absolutely perfect for what I have in mind.
“It won’t be easy, having your lover as your boss.” I resist the sardonic grin trying to manifest itself on my face when I view the reddening of her cheeks. I continue speaking now that I have her attention. I’m going to seal this deal while I have her seriously contemplating my offer. This is the first woman I have ever come across who fits the bill and I’m not about to let her go.
“You’re already in shape. You work out like you’re part of the team. You’ll need sharpshooter training, interrogation training, debriefing classes, and you need to freshen up on your Spanish speaking skills. Your training will be mental, as well as physical, and you will be required to study and take classes. In many aspects, it will much like taking college courses.
“Johnnie,” I look intently into her eyes, assuring she understands the magnitude of what I’m telling her. “There are going to be times you hate me and I’ll still be in your face.”
“You’re kidding.” I chuckle as she rolls her eyes and answers me sarcastically. She can give as good as she gets. It’s one of the reasons she’s perfect for what I have in mind.
My expression changes to one of seriousness as I begin speaking again. “You’ll need a good night’s sleep to begin your training tomorrow so it’s time for you to head back to your bedroom. That is, of course, unless you want me to lay that fine ass of yours up on this table and lick your sweet, little pussy until you come all over my face.”
“You seriously did not just say that to me.”
“I damn sure did,” I counter, boring into her eyes as I dare her to deny me. I lean in and hiss in her direction, “You. Belong. To. Me. I will bend your ass over a table, car, desk, or anything else I can find. I’ll fuck you until you’re screaming my name, begging me to come. When it comes to you, I’m insatiable.”
“I haven’t said yes.”
I ignore her comment because it really doesn’t matter if she agrees to what I’m offering her.
“Now, take your ass to bed and be ready to meet your worst nightmare in the morning.”
I watch as she jumps from her chair and rushes down the hallway. It’s a good sign because it means that she knows, in her heart of hearts, that I mean business. She needs to take me seriously for her to make it through the training I have in store for her.
I have to push away thoughts of taking her on the table where we just dined or I won’t get anything done. Her training will begin tomorrow but mine has already begun. That means I need to head back to my office but before I do, I ring the bell and bid my waiter, William, back in.
“Sir, I meant no disrespect,” he begins speaking immediately, letting me know that he realizes exactly why I have called him back in the room.
“I take the ownership of the woman residing here very seriously. You would do well not to get too friendly with my woman. Are we clear?”
“Absolutely, sir.”
I toss the linen napkin from my lap back onto the table and push myself up from the chair. I know I’m overreacting and, yet, when it comes to this woman who is now not only my lover, but also my partner, I’m possessive beyond reason.
I make my way down the hallway with intentions of taking a shower and getting back to reading her journals. The documentation of her life and the emotions conveyed intrigue me and I find myself anxious to see how her story unfolds.
Johnnie
I rush to get undressed so I can sit down and put my thoughts into words. I eye myself in the mirror as I brush my teeth after putting on some comfortable sweats and a t-shirt. I study my face and I can’t help but wonder what draws him to me. I don’t have the face of a killer, an equalizer, or even a badass. I don’t know what he sees in me. I just know, at this moment, I’m glad he sees it.
I want to do this. After a lifetime of being tossed around from home to home, basically because nobody wanted me, I have the opportunity to make my life count for something.
Though Cash took me against my will, he did it because he sees something in me. Well, there’s that and the fact that for some unknown reason, the man is obsessed with me. I don’t believe in love. I do, however, believe in obsession. He is probably the closest thing I will ever have to a real relationship. We won’t have a normal relationship where he woos me with flowers and chocolates, but it works for a girl like me. We’ll bond by working together to help those who can’t help themselves. Who needs roses and champagne when you can have knives and Glocks?
Chapter Six
Cash
I quickly shower and throw on a pair of jogging pants. I want to get back to her story. I need to get in her head so, once again, I begin reading her private journals.
My eyes peered through the dirty window of the public school bus as it pulled into the parking lot.
The imposing, dirty edifice that loomed before me would be my school for the next year.
I had literally been thrown into what the government termed “Bussing” and it would forever alter not only my future, but my psyche as well.
The one thing I had going for me was that I was a survivor. I always have been. The circumstances of my life have seen to that, even from a very young age.
I learned early on that there would always be fear and that I would have to learn to do it afraid. Whatever the task at hand was, I would have to forge on and do it afraid.
The noise jarred me from my thoughts as I was shuffled through a herd of loud jeers and taunts. “You are going to get it the last day of school and every day in between!” These were not empty threats. They were promises of impending judgment for crossing territorial lines.
My days would not be spent studying or learning. They would be spent surviving, literally surviving.
This was just the beginning of a year that would be spent avoiding guns, knives, fights, and verbal abuse.
The proverbial “School of hard knocks” was now my new reality and I would carry the lessons throughout my life.
The things and the people I saw here would stay etched in my memory and I would use the lessons I learned to make a difference for years to come…
It didn’t take long for me to learn the ropes.
Things like being in class by the time the bell rang were now a necessary behavior for survival. I had no thoughts of obtaining brownie points with my teachers; that was irrelevant. Now it was about my day-to-day existence and not getting hurt. The thought of good behavior, or being the teacher’s pet, never entered my mind.
Even the teachers feared the students. Why wouldn’t I?!?
Things like getting caught in the halls, or worse yet, in a stairwell, now held threats of physical or sexual assault.
Missing the bus due to daydreaming was no longer an option.
It could literally cost me my life in this neighborhood.
Each day was the same routine of running through the hallway while juggling an armload of books in order to make it out to the bus on time.
You see... I not only had to be on time for one bus, but now two.
The first bus leaving the school would usher me back into safer neighborhoods and then a second bus had to be caught to take me home.
The four walls of our home, in the safe, suburban neighborhood could not protect me from the effects of what my eyes were seeing and what my ears were hearing on a daily basis.
If I was going to survive, then I was going to have to make friends and those friends came in a most unexpected way.
I had sauntered into the bathroom and walked right into a pack of girls who were bullying a fellow student.
Today is no different than my school days. The insults of choice remain the same for girls: hair and clothing, of course.
“Look at her hair! What are you doing to make it look like a rat’s nest?” they taunted and jeered.
I, in my ignorance, joined them to try and establish some sort of pecking order in the crazy mob.
I remember when, once they were gone, she looked at me and asked, “Why are you doing that? You don’t even know me. You are just trying to fit in like I am. We’re no different. You and I—we’re the same.”
She went by ‘Dee’ as a nickname and from that day on, we became best friends.
It would help us to navigate our way through the next three years of hell.
It was a hell we would have to endure for the sake of the education we were not really receiving.
I finally just quit school in order to avoid the stress of it all.
We were inseparable and as the years went on, we adapted.
We learned a different culture and a different language as far as communication with our peers. We learned a different way to dress and do our hair. We learned to eat different foods.
We learned an overall different way of living.
Ironically enough, those years of hell cultured me.
Life has a way of making its path known and I would need the gift of being a chameleon and being able to adapt to different cultures, people, languages, and worlds.
Those years of being immersed into an unknown world have served me well.
From Prince to pauper, from Princess to servant, I am able to relate to all different types of people.
From the inner city to the rural country, from the USA to the jungles of Guatemala, I have adapted and, yes, I have literally been there and done that.
There is no culture I do not feel comfortable in and I credit it to being thrown out of my element and being forced to adapt to the unknown time after time…
Though Dee was my friend, I had another friend that held a much bigger piece of my heart—books.
I would find myself wrapped in the pages of a book, being soothed by its words until I finally had to reluctantly dog ear its pages due to some responsibility demanding my attention.
I can remember sitting, huddled in the hallway next to the bookshelves encased in glass, staring reverently at the treasured sets of encyclopedias.
Hours upon hours, I would sit and read, letting the words and literature soothe me. Its soothing balm would be something that I would pass on to others in the form of my storytelling.
I don’t quite remember when it happened but one day my fingers touched the keyboard of a computer and they have not ceased.
I literally felt the life pouring out of me and onto that computer screen.
The grammar police, the naysayers, the critics, and the book reviewers could not be heard because my imagination had been given an outlet. I had found a way to tell my story and tell my story, I would.
You see… that is what I do. I weave a tale, I tell a story, and I pull my reader into my world. They see, feel, and understand the story being told to them and then they connect. The ‘ah ha’ moment grips them. It’s the moment that says, “I am understood…”
The journals confirm what I already know. She has an innate love of literature. This will actually speed up her training process. I am bonding with her as I read and I’m learning what motivates her.
It also reveals that she has the ability to be a chameleon. In my line of work, that can mean the difference between life and death. She‘s learned from an early age how to deal with not only emotional adversity, but physical discomfort as well. Things like pain, hunger, and withstanding the elements are all part her new job. Unlike many trainees, she is already trained in many of those areas; her hard life has seen to that. I have every intention of utilizing her personality traits for the good of the operation.
I set the computer off to the side and make my way to her room. I suddenly have this inexplicable need to see her and want to peek in on her while she’s sleeping. Her eyes flutter open as she wakes. I wonder if she can feel the presence of someone in her room. If so, it’s a good sign.
“I can’t sleep,” my voice comes out raspy, thick with the lust I’m feeling for her. I pull down my jogging pants and straddle her, pulling her clothing off in the process. She looks at me like she is studying me in the dim light the moon provides for us. She’ll have her hands full; I’m not an easy man to figure out. I’ve spent years learning how to hide my emotions.
“No matter what happens, you need to remember I’m dedicated to you and only you.” She nods her head and bites at her bottom lip. I grip her hips and lift her up, hooking her legs under my arms. “I want you to remember my dedication towards you and keep it mind because, right now, I’m going to fuck you like I hate you.”
I plunge my cock into her, purposely trying to hurt her to make my point. Her hands attempt to push against my chest, as if she is trying to get away from my assault, but her hips betray her true motives as she raises them to meet my thrusts.
“Oh fuck, baby girl, you feel so damn good. You’re made for me, made for this line of work. We’re going to be so good together. We are so good together.”
My thrusts become more insistent as her pussy locks down around me, pulling an orgasm from my body as she climaxes. I collapse onto her, using my hands to prevent my full body weight from crushing her. I soothe her, running my hands through her long, blonde hair. I have never slept with a woman after sex before but I will sleep in here tonight because she is so much more than just a random fuck to me. She is my partner.
Chapter Seven
Johnnie
Once again, I wake up to Cash sitting in the chair and watching me sleep as he rubs his thumb over his full bottom lip. I watch him back, completely mesmerized until he chuckles, pulling me from my thoughts.
“As much as I would love to subject myself to your scrutiny, we have a job and I need to go over the details with you.”
I jump from the bed, excited at the thought, and grab a pair of underwear from the dresser. If he keeps ripping them off of me the way he does, it’s going to cost him a fortune replacing them for me.
I go through my morning ritual and hurry back out to where he’s sitting. This morning, he has a woman serving us and I can’t help but wonder if it’s on purpose. I wait until she leaves before I speak, looking
at him over the rim of my coffee cup.
“I hope you didn’t fire the poor waiter you reprimanded for no reason.”
“When it comes to you, I’ll not tolerate anyone else becoming intrigued with you.”
“There’s no need to worry; I don’t bond.”
“Oh, you’ll be bonded with me before it’s over. It’s time to discuss business. We have a job coming up. There’s a black market baby ring we need to take down in Guatemala. You need to eat breakfast and then meet me in the gym to work out. After that, you’ll start with your Spanish studies.”
“I already speak Spanish.”
“You’re rusty.”
“How do you know?”
“I know everything. Now, do as I asked and we’ll go over the details of the operation later over dinner.”
“Did you fire the waiter?” I ask as he makes his way to the door.
“No, I did not.”
The beeping of the door tells me that he still doesn’t trust me to not run away or escape. I jump up to put on workout clothes and then walk over to the small table where my breakfast was prepared for me while I was out of the room. I’m excited to get started. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about anything.
Chapter Eight
Cash
I leave the room, feeling good about the excitement I witnessed in her eyes when I told her about the job. Her knowledge of Spanish from growing up in Puerto Rico will definitely come in handy for the upcoming assignment we have. She’ll be in her element and that’s important for what we’ll be doing.
I chuckle to myself as I think about the way I’m going to kick her ass in the ring today. She won’t be getting any mercy from me because she won’t be getting it from any of our enemies. My enemies are now hers and they are ruthless.
Shattered Pieces (Undercover Elite Book 1) Page 4