Dark Mind (Dark Series Book 1)

by H. R. Owen

  “Nothing, man, just trying to sort some shit out. Let’s get home.”

  After a short drive, we arrive home. I make my way up the stairs to find Dahlia laying on the bed with the covers wrapped around her legs. She looks beautiful. I sneak over to the bed, lay down next to her, and place one of my big hands on her naked breasts. She moans as she rolls over onto her back, her pregnant stomach poking out of the blankets. I thought Dahlia was sexy before, but now with my daughter growing inside of her, she’s breathtaking.

  “Callen?” Dahlia mumbles.

  “Hey, darlin’, did you miss me?” I ask her.

  “I’ll show you how much I missed you,” she replies.

  The sheets come away from her body, and she places her legs on either side of me. Her pussy slides over my jeans as she rocks back and forth while she straddles me. Dahlia places her hands on mine and pushes them back above my head, pinning me to the mattress. Slowly sliding her body down, her face comes in line with my cock. The button and zipper on my jeans is down within a blink, and my cock is pulled free. Dahlia doesn’t bother pulling the jeans down any further as her mouth slides down my shaft. Fuck it feels good to have her mouth on me. The feeling is so intense I have to tell her to stop.

  “Darlin’, I love your mouth on me, but right now, I just need to feel that pussy of yours.”

  She slides back up, and her pussy comes straight down on my hardness. “Holy fuck, Callen… I’ve been waiting so long for this,” she says. Her body starts rocking, and I can already feel her pussy starting to tighten around me. “Callen… oh God… I’m going to come,” Dahlia screams out.

  “Not yet, sweetheart,” I demand as I pull my cock out of her.

  She rolls off of me and lays with her back on the mattress. “What the fuck, Callen?” she yells.

  “Don’t worry, darlin’, we’re not finished here,” I whisper in her ear as I roll on top of her. I want to control her orgasms, hold her off until it becomes painful, then let her explode all around me. I fuck her slow and hard for what seems like hours, stopping every time she’s just about to come. Once I feel like it’s becoming all too much for her, I look into her eyes and let her know it’s time. “It’s time darlin’, come for me now.”

  Dahlia’s orgasm rocks her so hard she falls back asleep as soon as she’s finished and sleeps for the rest of the morning.

  It’s just after one o’clock when Dahlia drags herself down the stairs to where I’m sitting in the living room. So much has changed with the baby coming. I need Dahlia to marry me soon. I have to go and find her a ring before I ask her to marry me this week. And if she says yes, then I guess we have to figure out where we’ll have the ceremony and who we should invite. Neither of us have a whole lot of friends or experience in this, but it should be relatively easy.

  “Hey, darlin’, how did you sleep?” I ask her.

  “Good. The best I’ve slept in a long time,” she assures me. Her lips brush on mine as she sits on my lap.

  “I’ve got a few things I have to do today. Will you be okay for a couple of hours?” I question.

  “I’ll be fine, Callen. But do you think you should be going out so soon? You only just got out of the hospital this morning,” she berates.

  “I’m okay. I feel great, and I’m not doing anything dangerous. I promise. I won’t be gone long at all,” I explain. “Okay, be careful and take Bates with you,” she orders.

  I nod and kiss her perfect mouth.

  Bates helped me pick the ring out for Dahlia, but he was a miserable mess the entire time. The ring has a thin gold band with a black diamond in the center. It reminds me of Dahlia. Petite with a dark center.

  She’s in the kitchen when we arrive back home, cooking something that smells a little bit strange.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” I whisper in her ear.

  Her whole-body jumps, and I realize she mustn’t have heard me come through the house.

  “You scared the shit out of me. You guys were gone for ages, dinner’s almost ready,” she explains.

  “Ummm… Dahlia. What exactly are you cooking?” I ask hesitantly.

  “Well, I’m not really too sure. I have a bit of a confession to make. I can’t cook for shit.” She laughs out loud.

  “Oh, darlin’, I can see that. Come on… let’s get dressed, and I’ll take you out for dinner. There’s a place near the lake house that fries up anything you can think of,” I tell her. Taking her hand, I lead her upstairs, and we dress in warm clothes. The restaurant I’m taking her to isn’t a fancy place, but I think it’s the best place to propose to her. It’s on the lake and has the perfect view of the moon, which just so happens to be full tonight.

  The restaurant is fairly quiet when we arrive, so we grab a table on the balcony that sits right beside the water. The waiter takes our drink orders, and that’s as long as I can wait. I stand up from my chair and drop down to one knee. Dahlia let’s out a small gasp as I take her left hand in mine.

  Fuck… I hope she hasn’t changed her mind.

  I hesitate for a few seconds, then I continue with the plan. I pull the ring box out of the back pocket of my pants and look up to Dahlia’s face.

  “Dahlia… I told you once before that I would marry you under this very moon. I intend on making that happen very soon. Marry me, Dahlia, marry me this weekend,” I demand.

  Tears flow down her cheeks and she nods. “Yes, Callen. This weekend. I’m yours,” she replies with a sob. Applause rings out in the background as we kiss for a long time in the moonlight.

  We order every fried item on the menu and spend hours picking at our food and talking about how Vince found his end.

  dahlia

  Five Months Earlier

  Belle is becoming like a little a sister to me. We’ve spent the last two months at Vince’s house, and it hasn’t been easy. Most nights we sit at the table to eat our dinner, and Vince forces us to act like a family. He’s even more twisted than I thought he was. He hasn’t hurt either of us yet, but it’s only a matter of time until he does.

  Sandy was right about me being pregnant. Mack snuck out and bought a test for me about two weeks after we brought Belle here, and it read positive. Harmony has been keeping in touch and telling me all about Callen and how the doctors don’t think he’ll wake from his coma. I need to get out of here and see him. Talk to him. Fuck! Anything has to be better than living here with the most sadistic man out of all of us. My friends and I may enjoy a good kill, but we wouldn’t stoop as low as Vince.

  Belle helps me clean the dishes, just like she does every night. Vince say’s it’s a woman’s job to do all of the cleaning. I really hate this man, and I don’t know how much longer I can last here.

  After doing the dishes, I give Belle a bath and have a shower myself. Tucking Belle into bed, I kiss her forehead and say goodnight. She falls asleep within minutes leaving me to feel the loneliness. Finally, after tossing and turning for what seems to be an eternity, I drift off to sleep.

  A grunting sound wakes me from my deep sleep, and when I opened my eyes, Vince is jerking off, watching me as he stands over the bed.

  “Close your fucking eyes or I’ll rape you instead,” he moans out.

  Of course, knowing I have a life growing inside of me, I figure it’s safest just to close my eyes and pretend I’m asleep. It’s hard to fight off the tears that are so desperate to escape, but I force myself to wait until he’s done. He finishes up and storms over to the door, quietly closing it as he leaves the room.

  As I shower off any resemblance of Vince, the tears come hard and fast making me drop to the cold tiled floor beneath me. I’ve stayed strong for the last two months, and I’m finally broken. It’s not the first time I’ve woken up to Vince standing over the bed. He told me once that he gets off on watching me lay asleep in bed. He said he imagines me dead, and he can’t wait for the day that he can finally suck the life out of me. I’m scared every day that it will be the day I will never get to meet my child or see the man I
love again. Mack has promised me he won’t let anything happen to me, but he does get sent away for a couple of hours every night. I manage to pick myself up off the floor and rinse myself clean.

  Hopping out from the shower, I dry off and put on the ugly pink pajamas that Vince demands I wear. The man has a thing for shitty, pink, fluffy clothes.

  Knock. Knock.

  “Dahlia… quick, I think something’s happening, and I’m scared.” Belle’s voice is low and sweet. Running out of the bathroom, I hear men yelling.

  “Go and hide in the bathroom, sweetheart. Everything will be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise,” I tell the frightened little girl in front of me.

  Belle runs at me and wraps her small arms around my waist. “Aunty Dahlia… I love you,” she cries out. She’s never called me Aunty Dahlia before, and it makes me weak at the knees. Who knew that the love of a child could make you feel so special? Belle runs into the bathroom, and I hear the lock click over from behind the door.

  “Good girl… don’t come out until I tell you to. Don’t open this door for anyone but Mack or me… okay?” I wait for her reply, and then I head straight for the door and out to where all of the yelling is coming from.

  Hunter’s standing in the living room with a gun in his hand yelling at Vince and two other men.

  “Where the fuck’s my sister and my friend?” Hunter yells.

  “She’s my fucking daughter, and I will never let you near her. As for my beautiful little murderous whore, she’s too smart to try and cross me again. Aren’t you, Dahlia?” he asks.

  Fuck! He must have seen me come in. I have no idea what I should do. Mack doesn’t seem to be here, and Hunter’s outnumbered. We won’t get out of here alive if I make the wrong move.

  After pausing for too long, Vince cuts in, “Don’t worry… the only reason you’re here is to look after my house and care for my child. As long as you’re doing that, then anything you have to say can wait for your goodbyes. Which are getting closer by the day.”

  “Fuck you, Vince. Dahlia, are you okay?” Hunter asks me.

  “I’m fine, Hunter, but you need to leave,” I reply.

  Bang.

  One loud shot rings out, and I realize what’s going on.

  This is the day we’ve been waiting for.

  This is our escape.

  I wait for a few minutes for Mack to come storming in, but he doesn’t.

  Fuck! That means that either Mack is dead, or Hunter came here unaware of our plans to have Vince locked away. If so, then Hunter wouldn’t have been wearing a vest to stop the bullet from killing him. Running over to where his body’s splayed out on the living room floor, I notice a pool of blood swimming around him.

  “Hunter? Shit! What were you thinking?” I question his limp body.

  He doesn’t reply, so I assume he’s dead. Heat runs through my body as I charge toward Vince. That’s it, I’ve had enough of this man trying to hurt the people around me. I tackle Vince to the ground and pull his gun from his hand on the way down. I have him pinned to the floor beneath me, and the gun he shot Hunter with is placed against his forehead. I hear his men closing in, and I cock the gun.

  “Vince, call your men off, or your brains will be a part of the carpet,” I yell at him.

  He puts his hand up to tell the men to stop where they are. I have no idea how to get rid of them without getting myself killed. I sit over Vince for a while deciding what to do, when I hear someone walk through the door.

  I look over to see Mack with his gun pointing at me. What the fuck?

  “Stop there, Mack. I won’t let this bitch win,” Vince explains to him.

  Bang. Bang.

  Shots ring out, and I take the opportunity to shove the gun down Vince’s throat and pull the trigger.

  I shoot him three times, even though I know that the first shot kills him straight away. Blood splatters all over the carpet and sprays back over me.

  “Dahlia… what the fuck! We had him. You’ve just fucked up years of me trying to take the fucker down,” Mack spits out.

  “I’m so sorry, Mack. I thought you were going to shoot me. I freaked out,” I apologize as I stand to my feet, trying to wipe the blood from my face. It’s all a lie. I trusted Mack, but I wanted to see Vince die, not locked in a cell somewhere. Mack looks defeated, and it makes me feel really guilty. Tears start to flow from eyes until the wet drops are streaming down my cheeks.

  “I’m sorry, Mack. I’m so sorry,” I cry out. He comes to my side and wraps an arm around me.

  “It’s fine, Dahlia. I guess this way we know he can’t hurt anyone anymore,” he assures.

  “Shit,” I yell. I forgot about Hunter bleeding out. “Call an ambulance and tell them to hurry. I don’t think Hunter has too much longer. I need to go check on Belle,” I demand.

  I arrive back to the bathroom door and knock lightly.

  “Belle, honey, it’s me. You can open the door now.”

  Nothing.

  No answer, and no movement.

  I turn the handle and find it’s unlocked. Dread passes through me as I slowly push the door open.

  There stands Belle, blood covering her pajamas, and a pair of scissors in her tiny hands. The body of a man lays on the tiles in front of her.

  “Belle… oh my God. What happened?” I ask running toward her.

  “After I locked the door behind me, I looked for something to keep me safe, and I found some scissors. Paul came through the window and told me to go with him. I don’t like Paul, he always scared me. He pulled on my pajamas, so I just… I stabbed him with the scissors. He kept trying to hurt me, so I just kept going, then he fell over, and he didn’t move,” her frightened voice shakes while she tells me the story. I take her in my arms and pick her up. “Come here, honey. It’s all going to be okay. It’s time to go home to your mother, now,” I tell her.

  Mack runs into the bathroom, and his face drops. “Dahlia, we need to talk,” he orders.

  I carry Belle out of the bathroom and close the door behind us. I walk her over to her bed and place her down on it.

  “Stay here, I’ll just be standing right there,” I tell her pointing to the other side of the room. She nods, and I pull Mack to the other side of the room, not taking my eyes off her the whole time.

  “What the fuck happened in there,” Mack asks.

  “Paul attacked her. She killed him,” I explain.

  “She won’t get over this. Once you take a life, it haunts you.”

  “Don’t I know it,” I reply.

  We both look over to Belle hugging into her blanket with blood covering her. I need to find her some clean clothes and get her showered before I take her home. I think I will leave it up to Belle to decide if she wants to tell her mother what happened.

  “Come on, Belle. Let’s get you cleaned up,” I demand. “Oh, and Mack, tell me the ambulance is on its way?” I ask.

  “They’ll be here in a minute. I’ll go sit with your friend until they get here,” he states.

  Watching the blood wash down the drain has me kind of excited. I think I actually enjoy shooting people now. Wait until I tell Callen that, he’ll be super proud that I’ve strayed from my wires. He thinks it’s too dangerous trying to sneak up on people, and it probably is. I’ve come pretty close to getting myself killed a few times. I can’t wait to get to the hospital and wake Callen up. I know that if he can hear me, he’ll fight this coma and come back to me.

  He was such an asshole when we met, but within days, he became my prince charming. A bit of an evil prince charming, one who likes to fuck and kill, but I guess that’s the kind of prince that’s perfect for me.

  “Aunty Dahlia?” Belle’s cute voice breaks me from my thoughts.

  “What is it, honey? Are you okay?” I ask her.

  “I’m okay. I just want to know if I will ever see you again after I go back to live with Momma?” Her question brings tears to my eyes.

  “Of course, you will. We�
�re family now. I will always be here for you,” I reply.

  Rinsing the remaining body wash from my skin, I ask Belle to pass me a towel. She quickly hands it over and sits back on the vanity looking at herself in the mirror.

  “I don’t look any different,” she says. “I thought that after you kill someone you’re supposed to be different.”

  I have no idea what to say to her, so I wrap a towel around me and hug the girl in front of me. She really is a sweetie, and I hope this doesn’t affect her in the future.

  A knock sounds on the door.

  “Dahlia, are you finished?” Mack yells out.

  “We’ll be out in a minute,” I reply.

  After dressing myself in clean clothes and brushing Belle’s long, wavy hair, we make our way back to the living room. Paramedics are kneeling over Hunter’s body, and I can hear Mack talking to them, but I can’t understand a word he’s saying.

  “He’s going to be fine, Dahlia. The medics will take him back to the hospital and get him fixed up. His heartbeat is fighting strong, so they think he will be fine,” Mack assures me.

  “What was all that other stuff you were talking about with the medics?” I ask him.

  “Nothing you need to worry about, Dahlia. He’ll be fine, and that’s all that matters,” he replies.

  The medics lift Hunter onto a stretcher and wheel him outside to the van.

  “Wait,” I yell running outside behind them. I need to thank Hunter for sacrificing himself for us, even if he can’t hear me. Running over to the stretcher, I grab hold of his hand and place a soft kiss on his forehead.

  “I was hoping to get that mouth of yours on me,” I hear Hunter mumble, as his eyes open just a touch.

  “Thank you, Hunter.” I giggle out.

  Hunter’s loaded into the van and Mack pulls me back inside the house.

  “Why weren’t you here? Hunter was supposed to be wearing a vest,” I yell in his face.

  “We didn’t know he was coming. I just got back from a run and found you all here like this,” he explains.

  “I need to go. I have to get Belle back to her mother and go see Callen. Remember our deal? Me and all of my friends will not be locked away in a cell,” I demand reminding him that whatever happened, we would all be safe.