Watching Ember

by J B Reding

  “Great way to wake up.” He murmurs, biting into my shoulder the way I like. The speed at which we learned each other's bodies was ridiculous. However, when you add in the years of knowing each other and always having a connection, it makes sense that making love would be instinctual. Because we are making love, even if we haven't said it yet.

  Nixon pulls out and flips me onto my back before sliding back into me. This time slower, lazier. And I love it. It gives me the time to really feel him. To experience this for all that it is.

  Fuck, I don’t want to be that girl, but I can’t stop myself.

  “Nixon.” I murmur quietly.

  “Ember.” He whispers back, staring into my eyes and begging me to say what I need to.

  And with him still inside me, I utter the words I’ve felt since I first understood the meaning…

  “I love you.” A tear escapes my eye, running down my cheek as my emotions reach a pinnacle at the same time my body reaches its climax. My back arches in a silent orgasm, Nixon not far behind me.

  He gazes into my eyes, his walls completely decimated, showing all his emotions.

  His determination.

  His desire.

  His… love.

  “I love you, Ember. I don’t remember a time I didn't. I regret the way things have been between us in the past. But I didn't know any other way. I hope you can forgive me for the way I’ve treated you and for taking so long to make you mine.”

  Another tear escapes. “Of course, I do. I understand why things happened the way it did. I really do. It sucks, but it led us to where we are now, and I wouldn't change this for anything. Even with your caveman ways.” I smirk trying to lighten the mood. We’ve had enough sadness and heartache to last a lifetime. Although, I have a feeling we aren’t quite done with all the hurting just yet.

  He chuckles then presses a kiss to my forehead before sliding out of me. “I wish I could stay in bed with you all day, but there are things I need to deal with first.”

  “I know.” I smile, tenderly placing my hand against his cheek. “You forget I grew up in this life. I’ll be here waiting when you get back.” He rises off of me and makes his way into the bathroom. I watch his naked ass as he walks away. I’m unable to stop myself from getting up and following him. Which ends up with us having sex in the shower… again.

  We eventually make it downstairs where I proceed to make pancakes while Nixon takes care of a few things on his phone at the breakfast counter.

  I'm plating the last pancake when I see Nixon set his phone down out of the corner of my eye. I feel his gaze roam up my legs and to my ass which peaks from beneath my shirt. He watched me dress, so he knows I'm not wearing underwear. Hence why I am not surprised, in any way, about what happens next. He slips off the barstool and stalks towards me. I quickly flip off the stove and turn to face him. When he reaches me, he wastes no time in lifting me up and placing me on the empty counter to the right of the stove. He pushes between my legs, spreading them with his hips as he glides his hands up my thighs and to the edge of my shirt, bunching it up around my waist to give himself access to my neatly trimmed pussy.

  “I love that you’re not bare.” He growls as he parts my folds with his thumbs before dropping to his knees to eat me out.

  His tongue is fucking amazing. I come hard and fast, making a slight mess on the counter. Nixon stands and is about to unbutton his pants when we hear, “Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

  “Fucking Anton.” Nixon groans, leaning his forehead against mine. “Cock blocker.”

  I laugh and peak over Nixon's shoulder to see Anton and Liz standing in front of the kitchen. “Hey, guys.”

  Liz’s face breaks out into a huge grin that matches Anton’s. I’m sure neither of them misses the fact that I’m slightly breathless.

  “I do believe, Ember got some while we were away.” Anton teases in a sing-song voice.

  “Anton.” Nixon warns. I fight a smile at his possessive tone.

  “Ember, please tell me you have pants on.” Liz asks, ever the closet germaphobe. You wouldn't think so with how messy her room is, but when you add bodily fluids into the mix, it’s a whole other story.

  I don’t answer, refusing to discuss this with Anton right there.

  Nixon, thankfully, comes to my rescue.

  “Anton.” He snaps. This time putting more bite behind it.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll go wait in your office until it’s clear.” I watch as he sulks off behind the staircase.

  “I’ll be in the living room.” Liz informs us, walking backwards with a grin plastered to her face. She makes a lewd gesture with her hands before she disappears around the corner.

  I shake my head at Nixon. “How did you not know they were on the way?”

  “I was a little preoccupied. Must have missed the message.” He shrugs. “Now, go put some clothes on. I’ll be in the office with Anton if you need me. We shouldn't be too long, then I have head out to meet Maddox.”

  “Thank you for telling me. I'm glad you’re not the type who thinks because I’m a woman I don’t need to know anything. But you tell me just enough.” I smile up at him. I really do appreciate the way he treats me as an equal. Especially since, for so long he treated me like I was beneath him. But now I understand it was just to push me away and he almost succeeded.

  “You’re right and there’re several reasons. One being that I'm sure you would shoot me if I treated you like anything less than my equal. And two, I feel it's safer for you being somewhat in the know instead of completely in the dark. You were also right when you said being naïve is dangerous. It gets you killed in this world.” He says, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear before helping me down. “Now, go get dressed.”

  He swats my ass as I walk past him. I look back at him with a mock glare before rushing up the stairs and into the guest room. I quickly dress and head back down to catch Liz up on what's transpired.

  “So, I won the bet and now you owe me.” Is the first thing she says as soon as I sit down after grabbing us both a cup of coffee.

  “You don’t know that. We could have been on the precipice of it happening and you guys interrupted.” I laugh, taking a sip of my cup.

  “Nope. You have that just fucked look. And if I'm not mistaken, it was more than once if those bite marks have anything to say about it.” She grins wickedly.

  Goddammit, I didn’t bother to look in the mirror before coming down here. My hand instinctively goes to my neck, even though I can’t hide them from her. “Are they really bad?”

  She bursts out laughing. “Oh honey, that man marked you like a dog pees on a tree. There's no doubt about that.”

  I’m lady enough to admit that turns me on. Not the dog peeing part. But him marking me as his. Like I’ve said before, the whole caveman thing works for me. However, I just hope makeup will cover them up. Liz will have to help, I’m sure she knows the secret.

  ~***~

  “So, it finally happened, yeah?” Anton smirks as he takes his usual seat in front of my desk, propping his feet up on the edge, knowing I'm just going to push them off.

  “I don’t know what you're talking about.” I knock his feet off and take my seat.

  “Oh, come on. We all know you've been after Ember since she was legal. Sometimes I even wondered if it was before that, too.” The glint in his eyes telling me he's trying to provoke me. But he won’t get a reaction out of me. Maybe if it was before I had Ember, he might have succeeded, but all that frustration is now gone.

  I change the subject, refusing to give into his childish ways. “What did Charles have to say? And how's the other assignment I gave you?”

  “The dude said he can have it done by today.” Anton answers, finally becoming serious.

  “Good, I want him to keep it until everything is cleared away with Samuel. And Charles?” I prompt.

  “He didn’t really have anything to say. He knew this was coming. So, there’s not much to say. I'm sure
he would have a lot to say if he knew you were fucking his daughter, though.” He laughs like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever said. It's not.

  “Why do I even keep you around?” I ask, shaking my head. Him being serious lasted all of five seconds. I’ve come to realize it's how he survives this world though. Taking nothing serious is easier then giving into the fear and darkness that surrounds our business.

  “Because I'm awesome and if you got rid of me, you would have no one to do your top-secret assignments.” He crosses his arms and stares me down, daring me to disagree with him.

  I roll my eyes. “Did Maddox fill you in on what we found?”

  “No, the fucker was too busy fucking Liz. Man, why is everyone getting pussy but me?” He pouts.

  “He was not.” I scoff. There’s no way Liz is fucking him. She practically hates him.

  “How do you know?” He jests with a raised eyebrow.

  “Because I had him on a project and you know how he gets when he's determined to find answers.” Which is a partial truth. I’m sure if it was between pussy and something that could wait, he’d choose pussy like any red-blooded man. I think.

  “True, true. So, what's up?”

  “A few days ago, I realized that Ember became a target around the same time I read the letter from my dad. I can’t think of any other reason as to how they would know she had something they'd want. So, I had Maddox look into it while he waited for the encryption on the server to be decoded.”

  “Wait.” Anton interrupts. “What server?”

  “Do you know anything?” I ask. Somewhat frustrated with him knowing jack shit around here.

  “No, I’ve been stuck babysitting and running errands for Your Majesty.” He glares at me, but there’s no real heat behind it. It takes a lot to get Anton worked up.

  I sigh and fill him in on everything. "Maddox figured out that the paper was a link to a server. But it's encrypted and will take a little while to decode because the network is complicated. He said some stuff I didn't quite understand. Anyway, while waiting, he started looking into how someone would know about Ember being involved. So, we started with the footage of that day and found someone had gone in after me and read it. We assume he was reporting back to Samuel. It seems he only revealed personal things, or we would have had a lot more issues, but we’ll find out for sure when we interrogate him later today.”

  “So, you and Maddox are going to have all the fun while I'm stuck here babysitting. Again.” He crosses his arms and pouts. Again.

  I maul it over. If I leave Maddox here to watch the girls, he could also work on the server. Besides, Anton is handy when it comes to torture.

  “Fine. You can come with me.” I concede, hoping I don’t regret it.

  “Yes!” He pumps his fist in the air. Like I said, childish.

  I text Maddox to tell him to come here and to bring anything he needs to work on the server. Which is turning out to be a pain in the ass, but hopefully it will give us the answers we need. Not that Samuel isn't already on my kill list. However, knowing that he is in fact working alone and whether he's fucked us over any more than the obvious, is better than being blindsided. When we told Ember he might be working with someone, it was more to placate her. Samuel has made too many enemies over the years to have any real allies.

  I get some work done on my laptop while Anton plays on his phone. Sometimes later I get a notification that Maddox is in the garage and another a few moments later that he's on his way up. I close my computer and stand. Anton follows behind me as I walk out to the living room.

  I find Ember and Liz on the couch just as Maddox is exiting the elevator.

  Perfect, everyone is here.

  Maddox comes over to stand behind the couch, crossing his arms over his chest and waiting. Anton plops down in between Liz and Ember, who I'm glad to see has put some pants on as well as a bra. I just now notice the marks I left on her neck. I smirk as my inner beast pounds his chest in triumph. She catches me looking and glares. I can tell by the look in her eye that she’s trying to be mad but can’t quite get there. Probably because she likes the marks just as much as I do.

  “Maddox will stay here to watch over you girls while Anton and I take care of some things.” I inform the group.

  Liz groans but doesn't protest, Ember smiles at this, her grin not quite as big as Anton’s, though, who looks like he just ate the fucking canary. I guess it has been a while since he's let his monster out to play. Maddox doesn't show any outward displeasure at the change of plans, but there's a twitch in his jaw letting me know he’s not pleased with being on babysitting duty.

  “Maddox, a word.” I turn and walk over to the windows, looking down at the city below as he arrives at my side. “I need you to focus on getting that information more than watching them. They should be fine as long as you monitor the cameras now and then. Having Anton here wouldn’t be proactive considering he’d just sit around. You being here will accomplish more, plus I think Anton needs this more than you do right now.”

  Maddox nods, and I can tell that he understands my reasoning.

  Some Bosses don’t see the need to explain their reasoning to their Underbosses. But I find it makes them more receptive to my demands and like we're on equal grounds, which Anton and Maddox are, at least more than what some would say is normal for the hierarchy we have. But when these men are also your best friends, it's hard to always stick to the norm. Being Boss gives me the ability to bend the norm. They know their place when others from the business are present. But they don’t always have to be on their best behavior with me. This is obvious based on pretty much everything that comes out of Anton's mouth. While some may think Maddox is staying silent out of respect, in reality it's just who he is. Even before I was Boss, and we were working the shitty jobs together, he never complained or protested.

  “You get any closer to figuring it out?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I should have all the information in a few hours.”

  “Good. Text me when you’re in.”

  He nods.

  I leave him there and head over to Ember. Reaching out a hand, I lift her off the couch and press a quick kiss to her lips. “Behave, yeah?”

  She smiles up at me softly. “Always.”

  I lean down and whisper in her ear. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” She whispers back.

  I step away from her before I end up throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her up to my bed. “Let's go, Anton.”

  He follows me into the elevator and as soon as the doors are shut, he starts singing a stupid children's song about kissing in a tree.

  I punch him in the arm, and he cracks up laughing. Shaking my head, I try to hold back my smile but fail.

  Soon, everything will be taken care of. Samuel will be dead, and Ember will be safe.

  And then I can officially make her mine.

  ~***~

  Another scream echoes around one of the rooms in the basement as Anton continues to torture the rat. It wasn't hard to find him since he was on security today. It seems he wasn't working the night of the party. I don't believe in coincidences. He probably didn't want to bring attention to himself if we went over security footage. We found no need to interrogate our guards that night, due to the several being shot and the gate rammed down. We don’t believe Samuel had inside help. But that doesn’t save this guy, since that’s not why we're here.

  I check my phone to see if Maddox texted me, but there's nothing. Not even a text from Ember. I put my phone away and take a step towards Anton, nodding at him to back away from breaking this guy's bones with the Morgenstern bat.

  “Just tell us everything you know and what you’ve passed on to Samuel and we can end this. It’s that simple. Either way, you’re dead. Just depends on how much you want to suffer. I promise Samuel would never show you this much loyalty.” I state firmly, getting fed up with waiting. I just want to get back to Ember and this man is stopping me from getting what I want. Th
at doesn’t bode well for him.

  “Or don’t. I'm quiet enjoying this. I have more fun tools in my bag, too.” Anton’s smile is a rare one. It’s a smile he gets when blood is spilt. It would scare anyone else shitless if they saw the deranged look in his eyes. If the smell is anything to go by, I think this guy was.

  “Okay, okay, okay. I’ll tell you.” He bows his head in defeat, but I don’t blame him, pain is a great incentive, it's why torture works so well.

  “Man, I was just getting started.” Anton grumbles as he goes over to place his bat back into his bag of toys. He’s right, though. Usually the bat is the first used before we move on to bigger and better things. This guy didn’t last very long. I’m almost disappointed considering he was one of my guys. But it works out for me now.

  “Samuel approached me one day while I was off duty. He said he’d pay me to report anything personal happening in the house to him. Never business, though.” He looks hopeful as if this information will spare him. But he should know that sharing personal information makes shit personal. Which just makes the torture worse.

  Dumbass.

  “He’s probably cocky enough to think he can handle the business side with no help.” Anton throws out. “Too bad that didn't work out for him.”

  “Well, he did blow up our shipment that came in.” The rat provides.

  “Our shipment?” I inquire. “I don’t believe you can say that anymore. You were working with the enemy.”

  “I only ever told him that one thing and I didn’t think it was a big deal. It just seemed like a stupid letter. I guess it wasn’t.” He looks down in defeat.

  “No, it wasn’t. You put one of the most important people in my life in danger. And you know what that means.” I state but don’t elaborate further. There’s no reason to tell him what will happen to him. I’m sure he’s been in the room for at least one torture session before. We demand it of every guard to see if they can handle this life. One of the many tests they go through before becoming a guard. It also serves as a warning. Guess he didn't heed it.