by Sam Crescent
She fell to the floor, and he wanted to help her, but instead, he played his role. “Make sure she doesn’t come to my office again.” He snapped his fingers, hearing Grace sob. Closing his door, he counted to twenty as he went to grab his gun.
This was his fucking castle and whoever had a grudge against him thought they could take him out here. They were in for a fucking surprise.
He had a damn good memory, and he scrolled through the list of his men. Caleb left his office, keeping the gun close to him, but not for anyone to see.
The man at his door nodded at him. They had the details and were on the alert. They would not react until he gave the signal.
Down the hall he went, and he decided to start from the outside and work his way into the main house. He passed two guards, one from the list, the other he didn’t recognize. Caleb stopped close and looked at the man who nodded at him, turning his neck. He noticed the ink on the back of his neck and attacked. He slammed his fist against the man’s face. Each person who didn’t work for him, they were the target of who could have taken out his sister.
When the guard pulled out a knife, Caleb twisted his wrist, taking the knife and jamming it into his neck, killing him.
“Holy shit, I thought he was one of us, for certain,” the other guard said.
“Shut it.”
“No, you don’t understand, I told him about the alert.”
Caleb thrust the knife into his shoulder. “You fucking asshole. You will never work for me again.” He twisted the blade as the man screamed. “When did you tell him?”
“Just, I just told him. Asked him what he thought when you showed up.”
Caleb pulled the blade out and stabbed him in the neck. He wouldn’t have gotten out of here alive.
With the two men now dead at his feet, he wanted to kill his guard again for being so fucking stupid.
Instead, he made his way outside of the house, coming into contact with his men. They were waiting for the signal. Entering his home, he found two more men, and as a third came rushing forward, gunshots rang out, killing him.
Four men were down, but that still meant a fifth.
He stared at the bodies just as he heard a feminine scream.
Caleb didn’t stop and think. He reacted. Rushing upstairs, he ran toward James’s room. The moment he got to the doorway, he saw James was on the floor, unconscious. Grace was pushed over the bed. A hand on her head was holding her down. Her hands were held at the base of her back. Then, he looked into his enemy’s eyes.
“So, you figured it out,” he said.
He didn’t know what he was expecting. A moment of clarity. To look at his enemy and to know exactly why this son of a bitch hated him. None of it came to him. Nothing at all.
This man was nothing more than a stranger.
A scar ran down his cheek to his lips. He had brown eyes. Was tall, built to fight. He shoved Grace across the room and she fell to the floor with a grunt.
The man laughed. “I never took you for a fat-girl lover.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Caleb tensed up, aware his men were waiting.
He sighed. “You know, Caleb, I’ve been watching you. You and I, we’re not so different. You hide behind these walls. Throw your weight around as if you own the place.”
“I do own the place.”
“It’s one of those areas that’s rather murky, don’t you think? You own the place, but do you, really? I mean, I was able to work for you, get paid, and kill your sister, all so easily.”
He still held the knife he’d taken from one of this man’s men. “Don’t you talk about my sister.”
The man laughed again. “She was so happy when she got that date. She had no idea it was with me, or that the moment she let me inside her apartment, she was going to die. She begged and pleaded with me, and I told her not to worry. She’d be seeing her big brother and son very soon. I’m a man of my word, but again, so are you.”
Caleb waited, watching.
The man pointed his gun at Grace. “I wonder how you’ll feel when I’m fucking your woman.”
“It’s funny you think you’re going to make it out of here alive.”
“Oh, I will. I’ve gotten out of tough scrapes. Right now, you don’t have a clue who you’re dealing with.”
“Then enlighten me,” Caleb said. “Tell me who you are.”
The man stared at him. The only sounds to be heard were Grace’s breathing. He wanted to go to her, but right now, he had to ignore her. She wasn’t important right now. This man was, killing him before he took another person from him.
“Let’s see, you’re an old man, but can you think back about fifteen years? You didn’t have this empire that you have right now, but you did have a partner back then. Someone who you relied on. Someone who helped you.”
Caleb stared at him. No one knew about Frank. Frank Caraway had been his best friend, or at least he thought he had been. They both wanted the same thing. Power, money, and to instill fear into everyone who said their name. Frank was the brother he never had. Only, his sister did warn him.
Frank had started out being the brother, only to turn against him. From the beginning, it should have been the two of them, but Frank had other ideas. He’d used him to get ahead. Caleb could fight. He was a vicious motherfucker and he had the anger to back himself up. Frank was older by ten years. He wasn’t a fighter, but a thinker. He’d been the brains. Caleb had the brains as well, but he knew where he was best suited at the time. Killing Frank hadn’t been easy. He hadn’t enjoyed the experience. In fact, it was one of the worst days of his life. That had only changed recently when he had to hold his dying sister.
Caleb vaguely remembered Frank’s son, Bernie. He’d been a dot of a thing. Frank hadn’t given two shits about him. Had spent most of his time trying to screw the kid’s mother over and not pay his fair share. Caleb didn’t agree with his friend’s methods, but he never got involved.
“Your father was a piece-of-shit crook.”
“You don’t get to talk about my father like that.” The gun was trained on Caleb.
“No!” Grace cried out, but Caleb held his hand up. The last thing he wanted right now was for Grace to get hurt.
“He didn’t care about you. He spent more time passing you off to other girlfriends he had.”
“You don’t know anything about my father or what he thought of me.”
Caleb burst out laughing. “Oh, really? All Frank cared about was lining his fucking pockets. He was going to rat me out. He’d arranged for me to get a beating. Were you ever told that? I won that piece of shit nearly fifty thousand, at least I thought I had. Your dad, he’d arranged for me to be killed. You want to know why? Because he couldn’t hack it having a partner. He decided to get me out of the way so he could have the whole thing to himself instead. Your father wasn’t a good man. He was a piece of shit, and I saved you a lifetime of pain, Bernie, but now, you took my sister, you came here, and you’re not going anywhere.” Without a second thought, he lifted his weapon and fired, taking Bernie out with a single shot.
This man had taken his sister and nearly took out Grace and James, but Caleb didn’t feel anything at killing him. He was completely empty. Dead inside.
Chapter Eleven
Grace took James for the rest of the day, giving Caleb all the space he needed. After he shot and killed Bernie, he’d sat on the edge of the bed, not saying a single word. She’d gone to James. She’d seen the emptiness inside Caleb and knew it was no place for a young boy to be. Whatever he was going through, she had to give him space. She couldn’t imagine what he must be feeling.
She had dinner with James. Caleb stayed out of the way. When she went looking for him and couldn’t find him, she went back to her bedroom and took a shower. She’d been sharing Caleb’s room for the past couple of days, and it had been a lot of fun, but right now, she wanted to give him time.
He’d lost his sister, and from the conversation she’d heard with Bernie,
he’d lost a lot more.
Stepping out of the bathroom, she came to an abrupt stop. Caleb stood there, watching her.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Taking a shower.”
“This isn’t your bedroom anymore.”
“You’ve been gone.”
“To my bedroom, now.”
She frowned at him. “Caleb, I get it, you need time.”
“No, what I need is my woman back in my bedroom so I can fuck her.”
She felt an answering pull between her thighs. She wanted him just as badly. “Caleb?”
“I will carry you back to my bedroom if I have to. Do you want to push me?”
She laughed. “You can’t be serious.” As she finished, she released a scream as he lifted her over his shoulder and carried her out of the room. “Caleb, stop. My towel. Anyone can see.” She tried to cover her exposed ass.
“Avert your eyes, boys. Anyone who looks at my woman’s ass will be punished.”
“Caleb, seriously!”
“I am being serious. Whenever it comes to you, that is all I can be.” He hit her ass for good measure, making her curse his name right out. “I love it when you talk dirty to me.”
They got to his bedroom, and he threw her on the bed. She didn’t get very far when she tried to scramble away from him. He had hold of her ankle and pulled her close.
She burst out laughing, which turned to a moan as he spread her thighs wide.
“You have no idea how hungry I am.” His mouth went to her pussy and he began to lick between her spread thighs. The pleasure was instant.
“Caleb.” She groaned his name as he plunged two fingers inside her, pumping in and out. She reached down, holding on to his hair, working her pussy up with his mouth as he licked and sucked at her.
She didn’t know how he could do this after what he’d been through, but as he swirled his tongue across her clit and down, she quickly decided didn’t care to know. What he did with his tongue was magical.
Thrusting up against him, she chanted his name as he spun his fingers inside her, stroking across the sensitive walls.
“I want to feel you on my dick when you come.” He pulled out of her, and in next to no time, his cock was out, and he was balls deep within her.
He grabbed her feet, spreading her legs, and pounded deep inside her, fucking harder than before.
“Watch me, Grace. Watch me fuck you.”
She lifted up and stared down at where they were joined. From this angle, she saw his cock, slick with her arousal as he worked in and out of her.
“Touch yourself. I want to feel you come all over my cock.”
She touched her clit in feather-light strokes, watching him. Caleb didn’t stop. He continued to fuck her. She loved every second, not wanting him to stop.
Her release took her by surprise. The sheer force of it made her want even more, but it was also different with his cock inside. The moment her orgasm subsided, Caleb dropped to the bed, grabbed her arms, and pinned them on either side of her head, keeping her in place. This time, he took from her.
Caleb used her and she didn’t care. Whatever demons he needed to chase away, she was there for him.
She wrapped her legs around him as he fucked her harder than ever before. When he came, he threw back his head and groaned, deep and guttural, before collapsing over her.
He kissed her neck and she smiled. Still, he kept her hands by her head, unable to move.
“I haven’t thought about Frank in years,” he said.
“He was your friend?”
“Yes, he was my friend.”
She didn’t know what else to say, so she stayed quiet.
“I don’t regret killing him. He was going to kill me.”
“There was no way for you to resolve it.”
This made him laugh. “You’re so sweet and innocent. One day, it’s going to get you killed.” He dropped a kiss to her lips, lifting up enough to be able to look her in the eye. “We were going to take over the world together. He was the only person I ever allowed myself to trust. He was the only person I allowed near my sister, and I was always so protective of her.” He pressed his lips together, his gaze looking past her shoulder. She knew he wasn’t gazing at the pillow, far from it.
“He betrayed you.”
“Yeah, because someone else wanted to take me out. Offered him a shit ton of money. It was a fight to the death. I didn’t like doing them much as they took it out of you. We were young when we started to make a name for ourselves in this city. I thought fighting was my key. Frank was all talk. He opened his mouth, people listened. We were the duo that no one could touch.”
“But it wasn’t enough for him?”
“You got it. Nothing was ever enough for the prick.” He pulled out of her and she rolled onto her side, reaching out to touch his heavily inked back.
“Do you miss him?”
“Frank? No. I didn’t even give his kid a thought.” He shook his head and stood.
“And you feel responsible for your sister’s death because you forgot one little detail.”
He stopped and turned toward her. “It’s not a little detail when it costs someone their life, Grace.”
He continued to walk away.
Lying in the bed, she stared up at the ceiling, hating this feeling of emptiness. She climbed out of bed and followed him through to the bathroom. He stood beneath the spray. She went to him, stepping into the stall.
“You’re right, it’s not a little mistake, but it’s also not your fault.”
“Get out of here, Grace.”
“No, you don’t get to speak to me like that.”
He wrapped his fingers around her neck. “I can do whatever the hell I want to. When are you going to learn you’re nothing more than a puppet at my demands?”
“You’re being cruel and that’s because you’re in pain. You think I don’t know pain? You think I don’t know loneliness? I get it.”
“Fuck off, Grace.”
She clenched her hands into fists but rather than leave, she wrapped her arms around him, not letting him push her away. He could throw all his verbal temper tantrums. She didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let him down like so many others had. He wasn’t on his own, not with her.
Holding on to him, she refused to let him go.
“Grace?”
“I’ve got you. I’m here.”
He didn’t cry, nor did he push her away. Instead, he pressed a delicate kiss to her shoulder, and that was all she needed.
****
Christmas came by in a daze. Caleb was there to help James celebrate. When it came time to remember his mother, though, Caleb was silent. He couldn’t say a prayer. No matter what Grace said, there was blood on his hands for that one accident. As for Grace, he didn’t fucking know what to do with her.
She was like this beacon of light.
The sex was out of this world and no matter what he tried to tease or dirty her up with, she held her own. He also loved watching her thrive under his tutelage. Seeing her come was one of his favorite pastimes. Even with his men close by to listen or watch, he brought out the devil in her, and in return, she did something to him that he wasn’t entirely sure of.
He was determined to get rid of her before the New Year. Only that came and went. At midnight, she was the person he kissed and saw into the new year.
The whole of January came and went, and before long, it was Valentine’s Day. Again, he intended to send her back to the life she had before. He didn’t. Instead, he took her out to a fancy restaurant. They had a delicious meal and afterward, he took her to a motel. He’d hired a babysitter to take over for James, who had been thriving with Grace’s constant care. There were times he did find himself jealous. His work pulled him away from her and he didn’t always have the luxury to spend as much time with her as he wanted.
She hadn’t run when he gave her the chance. At the restaurant, she hadn’t even tried to get a waiter to h
elp her.
Grace was proving to be difficult to be disappointed in.
Now, as he sat in his office, staring across his desk at two police officers over an incident in one of his clubs, Grace entered with a platter full of cookies and coffee. He hadn’t sent for her, but he’d told one of his men to get the drinks. He didn’t like having cops in his home, but this was one of those times he could truly test Grace. If she failed, he’d have to take drastic steps.
His gut twisted as she offered a smile.
“Thank you,” one of the cops said. His name was Owen, and out of the two, he was the one on his staff. The other one, Brian, was not.
Caleb glared at him. “Sweetheart, I’d like to introduce you to Owen and Brian. They’re investigating an incident that was reported in one of my clubs.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, you mean the drug one you told me about?”
He had in fact told her what had gone down in one of his clubs. Some asshole had been peddling another’s product and it had resulted in a few ODs. It had pissed him off as the finger of blame had been pointed at him. He didn’t deal the kind of shit that killed people, but no one would listen.
Owen had called to warn him that they were investigating and he was the next person they intended to contact. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him. Most people seemed to want to screw him over. He was always the bad guy. The beast, as most people called him. Sure, he had connections in drug peddling and guns, but so far, no one had died on his watch from the drugs.
“Do you want to make a statement?” Brian asked.
Grace frowned. “Why would I want to make a statement?”
“You know, we had a woman come in the station lately. She claimed she wanted to make a missing person’s report. What did you say your name was again?”
“Why does it matter? I’m not lost.” Grace moved behind him, her hands going to his shoulders and massaging out the tension.
Caleb waited for her to take the opportunity that was opening up.
Brian pulled out his notepad, flicking back a few pages. “Grace Page. She was suggested to be missing.”
“I’m not missing,” Grace said. She leaned down and brushed her lips across his ear. “I’m going to take care of James. Enjoy.”