by Riley Ashby
“Why do you want to know?” I refused to look at her.
She blew out a breath through her nostrils, and her hands balled into fists. “You’re right. I’m the one who wanted boundaries, right? There’s no reason for me to know. Forget I asked.” She stood and turned around.
You’re losing her. The next words came out of my mouth without my permission. “I can’t read.” She turned around quickly, hair swinging. I sighed heavily and rubbed my eyes. “I mean, I can read, just not very well. I’m dyslexic.”
She sat down, a little closer this time. “Oh. That wasn’t what I was expecting.”
I snorted. “Which was…?”
“I don’t know, that your parents died and your house burned down around you in the middle of Harry Potter book six or something equally tragic.”
“You’re in my house. You know it didn’t burn down.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. I thought it was something much more dramatic.” When I didn’t say anything, she leaned in closer. “Gunner, being dyslexic is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Well, my parents thought differently. And we didn’t find out until I was out of high school anyway. Way too late to make a difference.”
“Didn’t you go to college?”
“I’m currently working for a mob holding a young woman hostage in my house. Why would you think I went to college?”
She sat back. I was jerking her around too much by opening up to her, then pushing her away. She couldn’t get a read on me. Did I want her to trust me or not? She wasn’t laughing at me. That meant something, right? “I don’t tell people about it. I think you can guess that my colleagues would be less than gentle with that information.”
“No, I don’t imagine they would understand.” She tapped her lips with one finger. “Not everywhere is like that. You can get e-readers with a special font to help you see the letters better. There are a lot of resources available to help you better navigate the world.”
“You sound like a motivational brochure.”
“Stop deflecting,” she snapped.
I closed my mouth and raised an eyebrow. That was quite the attitude change. “Yes, ma’am.”
She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “Whatever. Don’t listen to me. Spend the rest of your life watching sports and let this”—she gestured to the room—“go to waste.”
“You don’t know what I’ve dealt with.” I got to my feet. “I’m going to get a drink. Do whatever the fuck you want.”
“What is this game?”
She jumped to her feet and blocked my path. I could step around her easily enough if I wanted to, but her hand on my chest stopped me cold. If she could feel my heart racing, she didn’t give anything away.
“If you’re going to keep me here and demand I tell you everything, the least you can do is be honest with me. I know you aren’t like them. But if you’re trying to mess with me, you’re doing it really well.”
“Of course I’m trying to mess with you,” I growled. “That’s the entire reason you’re here and not with Vin.” She raised her eyebrows. Fuck. “If you had any idea how well it was working, you might think twice about trying to get me to open up more.”
“Stop playing with me.” She grabbed my arm. “Can you just be honest for twenty seconds?”
“Sure.” My other arm grabbed her around the waist and closed the distance between us. “That night in the back of my car was far and away the best sexual experience I’ve ever had, and I didn’t even get off. Every day here with you, I have to hold myself back from crossing the line.”
She wasn’t scared this time. “You want to fuck me, but you can’t.”
“The less you know, the better.”
“What would you do if the tables turned?” She rolled her hips into me, and I went light-headed for a second. “Would you hold yourself back if I told you to do it anyway?”
I grabbed the back of her neck. This was too much temptation. I had to steer her in a different direction. “You liked that spanking I gave you, right? Keep pushing, and you’ll see just how far I can take you without breaking any rules.” One of my hands slid between her thighs to that warm center where I so badly wanted to be. God, she was radiating heat.
She whimpered but held her ground. “Whose side are you on? I’m not sure it’s theirs.” Her hand on my chest closed into a fist, balling up my shirt. She might not have noticed my heartbeat racing, but she couldn’t ignore me pressing against her now. “You’re not being honest with them or me. Pick a side, Gunner. Pick me.”
“You couldn’t handle what comes with me choosing you.” I was talking too much, but the words didn’t stop. This was entirely unplanned and out of my control.
“I think I handled it just fine in the back of your car.”
“Why aren’t you scared of me?” My hand was in her hair again. I wanted it wrapped around my fist always. I dipped my head so our noses touched. “You should be running. Why aren’t you?”
“I don’t—” She closed her mouth before she could finish, then swallowed and licked her lips. “I don’t know.”
And then she kissed me.
I wasn’t leaning over far enough, so she had to push onto her toes, and the movement caused her chest to fall against mine. It caught me so off guard that I froze for a second, but one second only. And then I opened my mouth, turning the tables on her as quickly as she had turned them on me, and kissed her back.
She was just as sweet as I remembered.
I grabbed her neck and put my thumb on her pulse. I wanted to feel her heart quicken, see if what was happening truly excited her, or if she was just playing with me as much as I was playing with her. It didn’t take long for me to get my answer. Her heart raced beneath my fingertips, and I swore it was skipping beats.
She pulled back as I bit her lip, holding herself just out of reach as if testing whether I would draw her back into me. I took my hand off her neck and tilted her chin.
“Who’s messing with who now?”
She bit her lip, the look on her face telling me she knew exactly what that gesture was doing to me. “So it’s working?”
I swallowed a moan. “If you had any idea how well, you might think twice about staring at me like that.”
She took a step back, and I forced myself to drop my hands. But I wasn’t done talking.
“You keep staring up at me with those ‘fuck me’ eyes and I might just give you what you want.” Consequences be damned.
I was hoping the threat … promise … of more would elicit some sort of response, but she only smiled with one side of her mouth as she continued to retreat until she was back in her chair.
“You can turn the TV back on,” she said quietly.
“I won’t be able to concentrate,” I said, not bothering to try to hide my laugh. If ignoring her presence was difficult before, it was completely useless now. “Why don’t you read it to me?”
I thought her eyebrows were going to stick to the top of her head with the number of times she had raised them at me today. The sexy look she was giving me disappeared completely, replaced with what I could only describe as pure glee. “You want me to read out loud?”
That was unexpected. Was it really so important to her that I know this book? I couldn’t even be disappointed that she’d closed the door on more physical contact. It had never made me so happy to see someone else happy. I planted myself on the couch, a little closer to her than I’d been before.
I shrugged. “Why not? So I can learn the source material.”
She bit her lip again but not teasing this time. She was trying and failing to hide how happy she was. And I couldn’t tear my eyes away. “Okay. Sure, I can do that.”
With another quick, furtive glance, she started to read.
Mr. Collins had just made his appearance when the dogs started to lose their mind. Seconds later, a car door slammed. Quinn started, and I jumped to my feet.
“Who is it?”
�
�I don’t know. No one was supposed to come today.”
She followed me out of the room, closing the door behind her with a click. Both dogs were inside now, Blanca by my side and Nicky between Quinn and me. The locks on the front door beeped, and a moment later, Vin and Colby were in my foyer.
“Gunner, downstairs,” Vin snapped.
I looked at Quinn. “Go up—”
“She’ll be fine down here with Colby. With me, now.”
There was no arguing with him. Something had him too far out of sorts. I barely caught her eye over my shoulder before I followed Vin to the basement, the door swinging shut behind me. Vin was pacing the length of the room.
“What’s wrong?” It had to be bad for him to show his stress like this.
“The FBI are involved.”
“Shit,” I spat, roughing my hair. “We told her to keep them out of it.”
“Someone went off script.” That had always been a risk we knew we couldn’t control. “We have to accelerate the timeline. Can’t give them a chance to catch up with us.”
I nodded, thinking hard. “We go dark. Take her off the map completely.”
“We send a finger.”
I physically recoiled at the thought. “That’s fucking nonsense, and you know it. It’ll burn our goodwill and kick the FBI into high gear.”
He shook his head, dismissing me with a wave of his hand. “We have to play differently now. Things have changed.” He folded his arms as he stared me down. “We should move her.”
My heart clenched. “Absolutely not.”
“They have a description of you now. They could track you down.”
“And they won’t. I’m clean, you know that. We had an arrangement to keep her here. Things are already out of hand. If she moves, we lose what leverage we have left. All you need to do is threaten it. That will be enough.”
He looked away as he considered this. I was talking too much but I couldn’t stop, couldn’t let this get out of my hands any more than it was.
“Tell them I talked you down from violence, but if they don’t get this back under control, then Quinn gets the same treatment as everyone else. No special favors. That will pull her parents back in line.”
Vin considered this for too long. Finally, he nodded. “You’re right.”
Of fucking course I am. He’d been second-guessing me the entire time, but at least he was listening when it mattered. I tried not to let the relief show on my face, but both of us jumped at the same time a moment later.
Upstairs, we heard a slam.
The dogs went wild.
The second the door closed behind Gunner, my entire body tensed. How could he leave me up here with this rat? By the time I had turned to look at him again, Colby had taken a step toward me. There was no way I could get up the stairs—he was in my way.
“Stay away from me,” I told him, my voice as firm as I could manage. I looked at Blanca and Nicky. They were both watching Colby closely but didn’t get between us like they had Gunner and me. I knew the commands Gunner had used, but would the dogs listen to me? Probably not.
Colby clucked his tongue and shook a finger at me as he took another step. The dogs didn’t move. “Your parents are causing a lot of trouble, you know that?”
I didn’t like the way he was looking at me—the same way Gunner had when he pushed me against the wall. But where Gunner had pulled back at the last second before he crossed the line, Colby would have no such misgivings. He tried to grab me, but I jerked out of the way and backed toward the library. I doubted he knew the code. How long would it take me to get there, unlock the door, and get inside? Was I fast enough?
“If you run, I’ll chase you down.”
He didn’t even give me a chance to move. I barely registered his smirk before he broke for me. I didn’t even have time to turn around.
“Get your hands off me!” I yelled as loud as I could, but he slapped a hand over my mouth.
“Shut the fuck up!” he commanded and pushed me against the wall. My head smacked the drywall, and the pain followed—lightning spreading from the impact point around my entire skull. I struggled to keep my eyes open and focus on my enemy, but white lights obscured my vision.
“You don’t get any say in what goes on here,” he said, licking my face. His voice, normally so dull, was not emotionless now; it dripped with malice and threat. He pushed his body against mine, pinning me against the wall. “Maybe you need a reminder of your role here.” As he pushed his hips even closer, I felt his erection and shuddered.
“That’s right, you little cunt,” he whispered, taking a step back but still holding me against the wall by my shoulders. My nails scratched at his neck and shoulders, but he was unbothered. “If you can just admit who owns you, who’s really in charge, this will go a lot easier for you. Now”—he jerked me back upright and kissed me again—“be a good girl and hold still.”
“What are you making up for?” I spit in his eye. “You think you need to hurt me to prove some point. Are you trying to impress Vin?” I dared to lean closer, hoping I could piss him off enough to just hurt me instead of rape me. “Is he the one you want to slip your cock into instead of me?”
“Fuck you!” He wiped away my spit on his shoulder rather than let go of me. “I’ll make you bleed for that. You think Gunner would want you then, broken little thing all torn to shreds?”
He bit my cheek, and I tried to scream, but his forearm slipped against my neck and cut off my air.
“You’ve got too much of an attitude. I knew Gunner would be soft with you.”
I shoved him back enough to give myself some air, and though he had his hands on my shoulders again a moment later, at least I could breathe.
“You should pray he doesn’t come back up here because he’s going to kill you.”
Before he could respond, I grabbed his head with my hands, ducked one shoulder, and slid to the side as I directed his head into the wall. His skull made a sound like an egg cracking on the side of a bowl, and when he pulled back, blood gushed over his face. I scrambled backward, trying to get away but afraid to take my eyes off him until I finally met the door, and I had to turn to put in the code.
The dogs were going mad, breaking my concentration as I tried to remember the combination. Was it two-zero-three or three-two-zero?
Colby was growling something, and it didn’t matter that I couldn’t remember the code because he had slammed me against the door with his entire body. I could barely move, but I threw my elbows as hard as I could to try to create some space between us.
And suddenly, he was gone. I whirled in place, surprised I was able to shrug him off so easily, just in time to see Gunner throw Colby into the main room, sending him flying across the coffee table.
“You fucking piece of shit.” He crossed the room in less than a second, threw aside the heavy table with one hand, and kicked Colby in the stomach. His voice was remarkably level, considering how heavy he was breathing, but he didn’t stop there. He leaned down and heaved Colby to his feet with one hand, then put him back down with another punch. Colby’s nose started to bleed, only adding to the gush from his forehead. He sputtered on the floor, sending flecks of blood flying across the hard floor. “You didn’t think I’d kill you with my bare hands when I got up here?” Gunner dropped to his knees over Colby’s body and slammed his fists into the man’s face, again and again. Colby’s head hit the floor each time with a resounding thud. “You aren’t shit. You’ve never been shit.”
“Let him up, Gunner.” Vin watched the whole thing from the basement doorway. I would have expected him to be angry that his guard dog was getting his ass kicked, but his voice was amused, almost admiring. “You’re getting blood everywhere.”
Gunner pointed at him as if aiming a gun as he rose to his feet. “I fucking told you I didn’t want him here.” Colby pushed to his knees, but Gunner wheeled on him and delivered another kick to his stomach, and he fell back to the ground. “Now it’s over. I don’
t want this rapist asshole anywhere near my fucking home.” Colby rolled over and tried to crawl away, and Gunner stomped on his kidney. Colby cried out and coughed up blood. Gunner sneered and spit on him. “And now my fucking floor is dirty.”
“We get it,” said Vin, moving across the room and putting himself between the two men. “Colby, get your sorry ass to the car. You”—he put his face very close to Gunner’s—“get yourself under control. You are not in charge here.”
“My house, my rules,” he said, glaring right back.
Vin ignored him. “And you …” He started toward me now, and I cowered back against the wall. He halted and smiled slowly. “I don’t think the lesson Colby was trying to teach has been lost on you.”
“GET OUT!” Gunner roared, grabbing Vin’s arm and shoving him toward the door. My heart stopped. Vin would kill him for that, for sure. But watching Gunner nearly kill a man had seemed to put Vin in a good mood, and he only smiled as he followed Colby outside.
With the slam of the door, the last of my strength fell away. I dropped to the floor, retching. Gunner dropped to his knees next to me, reaching to grab my hair but being careful not to touch me anywhere else.
“Fuck,” he muttered as I emptied my stomach on the floor.
“I’m sorry,” I whimpered, embarrassed. Embarrassed by the vomit, by the fact that Colby overpowered me, by my stupid desire for sex that got me into this situation in the first place.
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “This is my fault. I should have put my foot down with Vin. Colby should never have been here.”
Tears dripped off my face. “You said I was better off with you than with them.” I wiped my mouth. “But what’s the fucking point if they can come here any time they want? If he can pull you away with one word”—I snapped my fingers—“like that?”
“Colby won’t come back. I won’t let him.”
“How can you guarantee that?” I moved away from the puddle of vomit, squatting on my toes with my head in my hands. “I’m no better off here than with Vin.”