‘He was unhappy about you leaving the party,’ Mauri said. ‘I assumed from the bruising on his head that you and he had words.’
‘Not so many words, but action was taken. He puts his hands on my wife again and next time he won’t bruise, he won’t breathe either.’
‘I’ll talk to him,’ Mauri said. ‘Do you believe that he could be behind this bounty?’
‘He has the means,’ Dax said. ‘I’m not taking anyone out of the running, including you.’
‘Me? I thought we’d discussed this,’ Mauri asked. ‘Why would I want to harm Ivy?’
‘Could be that you think I’ll take you up on your offer if she’s not around, maybe you just want to take someone with you when you go.’
‘Well,’ Mauri said, examining the fireplace. If Dax didn’t know him any better, he would think that Mauri was hurt. ‘I’m sorry that you believe me to be so callous. I wouldn’t take your happiness from you. If I wanted to do that, I could have used the many other opportunities that I’ve had with Ivy.’
‘You wanted us around, in the beach house, spending more time in California, and you’ve gotten your wish, that’s a hard fact to ignore.’
‘Maybe,’ Mauri said. ‘But as you pointed out, I won’t be around for long. If you don’t have me, and you don’t have Ivy, what would you do?’
Dax would tear apart every person who had harmed his wife and anyone that those people cared about. He’d dedicate his life to avenging her, because he would no longer care about his own life. There would be no future for him because Ivy was his future. Without her, nothing else would hold the same value.
‘Like I said,’ Dax said, brushing aside those thoughts of revenge. ‘It’s hard to ignore that you got exactly what you wanted.’
‘What I wanted was for you to develop a relationship with your mother. If you’re running around in the city trying to track down the threat to Ivy you’re not spending time with her, are you?’
‘Why do you care about my relationship with my mother?’
‘I realised after the meeting we had, before you left to retrieve Ivy… I realised that telling you about Bruno, that he was your father, it must have raised questions for you. I can tell you everything that I know, but that doesn’t substitute what those in the relationship will tell you. Your mother will be a valuable source of information for you.’
‘What does it matter where I came from?’ Dax asked, propelling himself out of the armchair.
‘It matters because you have a future with Ivy, and you can’t embrace that until you understand where you originated. I worry… about you… I know how your temper can get you into trouble. The fighting, it seemed to give you a purpose and prevented you from getting into scrapes that could have landed you in jail.’
Dax spun around, Mauri was brighter now that he was discussing the past. ‘What are you talking about?’ Dax asked.
‘You used to fight, with the staff children here, then at school… it’s why we started to school you from here in the mansion. You were always quick with your fists. Your father, the man you believed to be your father, had trained you to release that energy in the ring. As soon as we allowed you back into that ring, you began to excel at school again, you got along better with the other children.’
Dax didn’t remember a time that Mauri had tried to stop him fighting, the ring had always been a sanctuary for him, a way to get rid of the fury he often felt toward the world as a teenager. ‘I don’t remember that.’
‘It was only a few months,’ Mauri said. ‘But it escalated quickly, Brad and Trystan feared you. That was why it made sense for you to live with the staff children in the back of the house, we kept you apart for their safety.’
The control he had over his urges to lash out was something he’d struggled with in his late teens and twenties, but he’d overcome that erratic side of his nature. ‘I’m going to fight tonight,’ Dax said.
‘I’m not surprised, you often need that vent when you’re feeling overwhelmed.’
‘I am not overwhelmed,’ Dax snapped. ‘Winlow described Ivy as Ravager’s girl, for someone to use my fighting name, in this city…’
‘They must know you from those circles,’ Mauri nodded. ‘Tell me where it’s taking place and I’ll have men there to back you up, in case things get out of hand.’
‘I can handle myself,’ Dax said, he’d called up his scout on the way over here, so he didn’t know where the fight would be yet. But he would in a couple of hours.
‘I understand,’ Mauri said. ‘You should take Serg at the very least. While you are in the ring others will be on the lookout for Ivy, someone should be watching for those people.’
‘I’ll talk to him,’ Dax said. ‘He picked me up at the beach house, he’ll need to give me a ride back over there.’
‘You can take any of the cars here that you need. It might make sense for you to have your own mode of transportation, just in case any unforeseen circumstances arise.’
‘Security still at the beach house?’ Dax asked. Mauri nodded. ‘Any incidents?’
‘Not that I’ve heard about,’ Mauri said. ‘And I have had regular updates, last one was around an hour ago, and Ivy had just gotten into the pool.’
It was reassuring to know that Ivy was safe, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about other men watching his wife and reporting on her movements.
‘Good,’ Dax said, heading for the door.
‘Where are you going now?’ Mauri asked him. ‘Do you have more leads?’
‘Right now I’m going back to the beach house,’ he said. ‘I told Ivy that I would be back tonight, but if I’m fighting, I won’t be.’
‘So you’re going to break the news gently,’ Mauri smiled.
Dax reached the exit. ‘Gently and Ivy don’t go together.’
‘You know,’ Mauri said, rising from the chair and moving around it to rest his hands on the back. ‘I didn’t consider how you would change by finding the right woman. Brad has always been a serious person, and Trystan has always been wild. I hoped that he would settle down with the right woman at his side and some kids running around. But you… marriage and children weren’t things I considered for your future.’
‘I was supposed to die young,’ Dax said causing Mauri to frown. ‘I remember you telling me when I was in my twenties that if I kept tearing around on the damn bike and walking into the ring night after night that I was inviting death. Back then I didn’t care, I never considered my future.’
‘Until you met Ivy.’
Shaking his head, he took his eyes to his hand on the door handle. ‘I married her to stop Trystan from getting his hands on her. I knew she was special… that I… that I felt something for her but… it wasn’t about the future, it was a solution to my problem.’
‘And she knew this?’
‘She knew more than I did,’ Dax said. ‘I think now that… the Trystan situation just gave me the excuse that I needed to put my mark on her.’
‘So I did you a favour?’
‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ Dax said. ‘I’ll be in touch if I hear anything tonight.’
On leaving Mauri, his intended destination was the mansion garage. But as he descended the main stairs, he saw Brad enter with his entourage. As soon as Brad saw him, he stopped and said something to his colleagues, who glanced at Dax then all scurried away.
‘What do you want?’ Dax asked when he reached the bottom of the stairs. It was obvious from the way he’d dismissed all witnesses that Brad had something to say.
‘I heard about Ivy, about the bounty, I’m sorry.’
‘Are you?’ Dax asked. He and Brad had a relationship of avoidance in that they tried their best not to be around each other when either was in a sticky spot. Brad observed him with an interest that betrayed his true motive. ‘I’m not sticking around. You can keep your empire.’
Brad relaxed enough to smile, though the gesture was false. ‘Mauri is known for always getting what he wants.’
> ‘You and I both know that we’re incapable of working together,’ Dax said. ‘We don’t trust each other.’
‘No, we don’t.’
‘So I’d hazard that’s why you’ve kept your head down while Ivy and I have been around.’
‘I’m not going to encourage you to stay, although my father wants me to.’
‘You’d rather have needles stuck through your eyes,’ Dax said. ‘Don’t worry, Brad. It’s all yours.’
Mauri did have a talent for encouraging everyone around him to defer to his wants. Brad didn’t want Dax to stay, but he didn’t want to go against his father’s wishes by asking Dax to leave either.
‘If you find out anything about Ivy’s situation I’d appreciate a heads up,’ Dax said.
Brad might be on the suspect list, except Dax couldn’t fathom any motivation. Brad wanted them gone, and he’d know that Mauri would use this threat as a chance to keep the couple here. The possibility still existed that Mauri wanted Ivy gone with the belief Dax would fall into line without her, which was another reason Brad had no motivation to get Ivy out of the picture.
Brad nodded and turned to depart the foyer in the direction his staff had gone. Dax continued his journey to the Stark mansion garage where he got a car and drove off the property to head for the beach house. It would take an hour or so to get there. Serg was still back at Mauri’s, but there would be plenty for him to do while Dax dealt with Ivy and tonight they would all need to be at their best to pick out the threat.
After lunch Ivy had needed another distraction, so she went for a dip in the bathtub in the downstairs family bathroom, it was the only tub in the place. With waterfall taps and recessed lighting, the gleaming tile was dazzling, but the water had felt good seeping into every crevice of her body. After an hour or so in there, she was beginning to prune, so she climbed out, drained the water and wrapped a fluffy white towel around her body.
She ducked into the kitchen for a drink of rehydrating juice and washed her glass then went into the living room with ideas of going upstairs to the bedroom. When she was halfway across the room the front door opened, and she froze. Wearing nothing but a towel she wasn’t in much of a position to defend herself against danger.
But when Dax came in, her hackles fell, and her shoulders went down as her smile rose. ‘You have never in the history of the world been early in coming back to me,’ she said. With outstretched arms, she altered her path to aim for him.
‘You’ve been in the pool all this time?’ he asked, scrutinising her body.
‘I was in the tub,’ she said, opening her towel to flash him. Tucking it back in, he blinked his eyes and smiled when she wrapped her hands around the back of his neck. ‘Does this mean that you’ve found what you were looking for?’
He kissed her and brushed some damp tendrils of hair from her forehead. ‘You naked is actually exactly what I’m looking for.’
Tossing his keys into his opposite palm, Dax twined their fingers and led her up to the bedroom at such a pace that she had to hold onto her towel to prevent herself from losing it. He closed the bedroom door, dropped his keys then pulled her towel out of her grasp to whip it away across the room.
‘Hey!’ Ivy objected, but he was already taking her to the bed.
‘Take that stuff out of your hair,’ he said, lifting one foot and then the other to pull off his boots.
She had her hair up so that it wouldn’t get wet in the bath because she’d already washed it after being in the pool. Doing as he asked, Ivy flipped her head forward to shake her locks loose, and when she flipped back, he was shirking his jeans.
‘I thought you had work to do today,’ she said. Taking appearances as they were he’d come home to have sex with her only a few hours after leaving her with promises he would return that night. Either he’d deciphered the threat already or something else was going on.
Dax enveloped her waist and walked her backward. Taking her weight off her feet, he laid her on the bed and lay on his side beside her. Scooping her hair up, away from her face, he began to kiss her neck. The attention of his hand went to her breast, massaging her, he kept on kissing, bringing his mouth over her jaw to her mouth, he opened to tease her tongue, but her eyes hadn’t closed yet.
‘Dax,’ she said, turning her head to the side to break their kiss. That didn’t put him off, he slipped one of his legs between hers and began to nudge her ankles apart then drove his thigh higher to press into her simmering centre. ‘Dax, what’s going on?’
‘Hush,’ he said. Removing his mouth from her breast, he forced a hand around the base of her skull, holding her in place to receive his kiss.
The press of his erection progressed inward from her outer thigh, trailing its path with beads of his passion, he seated his pelvis between her thighs and kept on kissing her. Sometimes Dax just needed to be active, and if he was frustrated, then this action might help to bring him clarity.
So opening her arms and closing her eyes, she gave him his kiss back, surrendering to the want of her husband because explanations would come after. His hips rose then he was sliding into her, the occupying length of him took its time to reach its hilt. But he drew back and plunged in, the easy entry wasn’t a prelude to soft love making, now that Dax had softened her to his will, he found her wrists and took them in his hands.
Forcing them high above her head, he kept hold of her and elevated his torso. The fast pace of his hips matched the ferocity of fever in his focus which drilled into her. Ivy might have touched his face or tried to soothe him if she had the use of her hands, but his fingers remained locked around her wrists. Exerting dominance over her body was something that her husband did well, when he needed something from her he took it, and that was what he was doing now.
He pushed in and began to bob himself in her, keeping the oscillating movements short he edged no more than in inch of himself in and out of her meaning he remained deep. But the fountain within her gushed around him, easing his motion and aching for him to move with the same speed as he had before.
She was close to the climax he always delivered. She didn’t want to lose this brimming swell of pleasure aching to burst and send her surging into bliss.
‘Get to it, big boy,’ she breathed, wheezing out the oxygen occupying her lungs. ‘Come on, give me what I want.’
‘What you want,’ he hummed and sucked in a breath before plastering his mouth over hers. His tongue drove into her mouth, the penetrating suction matched the mire of their joining and when he retracted his mouth she gasped for breath. ‘You want cock, you just lay there and took it, no questions, no permission, you just want it.’
Rocking his hips high, Dax shoved the head of his dick into her cervix, and she winced. ‘I’ve got to let a guy like you get his rocks off,’ she murmured. ‘No lies here, the way you fuck me tells me everything about you.’
‘Yeah?’ he snarled.
‘Yeah.’
‘Or you’re just a horny minx.’
‘Yeah, or that,’ she said, trying to wrench her hands free, but he didn’t give her any wiggle room. ‘What do you want, stranger? Come on, give it to me!’
Her burst of volume made him grin, and she tried to free herself again. ‘Oh, she’s getting testy, doesn’t like it when she’s not being satisfied.’
‘Don’t bait me, you asshole, just fuck me!’
‘Warm in here and tight, feels good, Minx. Squeeze me, go on,’ he said, grinding himself down into her, massaging her insides with his invader, increasing the need of her release.
Sucking her lips in around her teeth, Ivy closed her eyes and began to writhe up to match his provocative squirm. Giving him what he wanted, she clamped her pelvic muscles, and he groaned. Movement began again and the more she clenched the harder he tried to force his way into the passage she was closing around him.
Yeah, her orgasm was coming now, it was coming again and still with her eyes closed Ivy pushed out to try and expel him only to have him slam in with such pote
ncy that she screamed. Her climax followed and with a satisfied grin she opened her eyes to witness his reaction to the clamp that sucked his dick into her so deep that he swore down at her.
Her release prompted his and from how he gnashed his teeth she knew that his ejaculation was involuntary, he’d wanted to torment her some more, but her body had bled from his what it wanted, and while her cervix consumed his offering she loosened to smile up at him.
‘That was unexpected,’ she said.
‘I always come in you,’ he replied, letting her go and climbing off the bed.
‘Not that, your arrival, the fact that you’re here at all. I thought you were going to be gone all day.’
‘Change of plans,’ he said, taking his phone from his pocket to check it. When he didn’t see what he was looking for, he tossed the handset onto the nightstand.
‘What’s going on? You don’t seem like a guy who located his man,’ she said, switching position so that she was lying the correct way on the bed. ‘Did you find out who put the bounty out or why?’
‘No,’ Dax said, sitting on the edge of the bed. ‘But I did find out that whoever is behind this knows me from the circuit.’
‘The fighting circuit?’ Ivy scooted over in the bed to stroke his back. ‘What makes you think that?’
‘It doesn’t matter, it’s a step closer to where we want to go.’
‘Progress isn’t enough for you. You want results.’
‘Yeah,’ he said, tipping his head down to peer at her. ‘This is important, babygirl, probably the most important job I’ll ever do. If I fail…’
‘You won’t fail,’ she said, sitting up to kiss his shoulders. ‘You don’t know how to fail. You won’t stop trying until you get what you want, and that’s all you can do is try your best.’
Dax exhaled a laugh and twisted to take a handful of her hair so he could join their mouths. ‘Thanks for the pep talk, mom.’
Disregarding his mocking, Ivy referred to the real parental situation. ‘I asked your mother about Bruno this morning, but she clammed up. Whatever is going on, or whatever went on, it affected her deeply. Just the mention of his name was enough to make her blanch. I haven’t seen a reaction that visceral since… well, for a long time.’
Fighting Back (Harrow #2) Page 17