I hadn’t. I had finally gotten up the courage to go to the community college and try registering—but on the way, Melissa’s little posse found me, dragged me back to Darnell’s place, and tried to beat me up for money. Apparently, the news that my new “dealer” had money had gotten around, and they wanted a piece.
Except Nate wasn’t a dealer and he wasn’t about to put up with their shit. He busted through that front door like the incredible Hulk, ready to yell at me. Then he saw them and completely changed tack. From what I had heard, once their bones had mended, they had left town.
That was the first night Nate and I made love. We’d had sex, we’d fucked, we’d played scenes, but when Sir busts a door like it’s made of paper to save his little subbie, things get very different. And I made up my mind to stay with him as long as he would have me. He had collared me the very next night. I was his.
The cement I was on was still warm from the hot sun, but it was kind of nice. I waited.
“Gianna?”
Abernathy was directly in front of me, waiting. I didn’t move, but I answered. “I am at the mercy of your heart, Sir. While I wear your collar, I do not have the strength of being your wife. But I will do my best to serve your child as a mother.”
I heard him suck in a breath. “Stand up, darling.”
I rose carefully, keeping my eyes downcast. I needed to be a perfect submissive, and I didn’t want to upset him. He tucked his fingers under my chin and raised my eyes to look in his. He suddenly seem to grow short—and that was when I realized he was down on one knee.
“I am at the mercy of your heart, sweet Gianna. And I want to give you the strength of being my wife. Marry me.”
“Yes, yes!” I practically crowed.
He slipped the ring onto my finger and pulled me down to his chest.
“You’re really pregnant?”
“Yes, I am. And you really want to marry me?”
“I’m in love with you. Of course I do.”
“I guess we all get a happy ending.”
Abernathy cocked his head and gave me his sexiest, most mischievous smile. “I’d call it a happy beginning.”
About the Authors
Moen * Rhodes * Walker
The three women behind the genius.
Moen:
https://www.facebook.com/authorjennimoen/
Rhodes:
https://www.facebook.com/katherinerhodesauthor/
Walker:
https://www.facebook.com/EmilyWalkerFans/
Come Fly With Me
Isobelle Cate
&
Katherine Rhodes
Prologue
Karim, Texas sweltered in the heat and it wasn't what I was used to. I came from a place where rain was incessant, where people experienced the four seasons in one day. Where my eyes were opened to a whole new way of living as a submissive. Problem was, I got burned. My master wasn't the Dom who sought my pleasure at the same time as his own. He only sought his own, convincing me I would find bliss when he came inside me even when I screamed my safe word. Sure, he got reported and banned. I received the help to face the demons he had placed inside my mind.
But the damage had been done.
I left England for a change of scenery. Even the surrounding nations that comprised the United Kingdom were not big enough for me to get lost and find myself. I needed to move to somewhere unfamiliar and maybe then, I'd find some semblance of peace.
I never thought that I'd find peace with the very person I ran away from.
A Dom.
This is my story.
Chapter One
“Gio, I'm taking a break. I'll be back in fifteen minutes.” Veronica untied her apron quickly, throwing it inside the office where she grabbed her battered leather tote. She needed to get to the supermarket before it became too busy in the restaurant. It didn't matter that she spent practically the entire day inside. Karim was getting the reputation of being 'the place' to be seen.
Since property development started booming and Karim was turning into a little Italy sheltered by mountains and a vista no different from Tuscany, it was becoming a mecca for those with money to burn. Gio's restaurant was always full every hour of the day, until he decided that the restaurant had to close for at least three hours in the afternoon to prepare for the evening crowd. A far cry from the days when he had to stay out under the Texan sun handing out leaflets with discount coupons attached to it, attempting to the few people who happened to pass by Karim en route to other tourist spots to try his restaurant.
“Ecco, Veronica.” Gio rushed towards me and slapped a Ben Franklin into her palm.
Her eyes widened. “Gio, you just gave me my sala—”
He tutted, raising a finger to stop her from talking. His bushy brows looked like they should have been moustaches. His bald pate and and complexion flushed with the exertion of going back and forth from the restaurant long after the last lunch patron had left. “You have been slaving over the food in the restaurant and refuse to go anywhere or ask for anything.” He eyed me sternly. “Saying that you're going for a break is like the sun breaking through dark heavy clouds.”
Veronica couldn't stop the giggle bubbling up her throat. “How poetic.”
“I have employees, bella. Not slaves.”
She felt the heat rise up from her chest all the way to her face, her heart stuttering at the word 'slave'. She cleared her throat with another chuckle. “I don't feel like a slave, Gio. I've never felt so welcome in the nearly two years I've been here. I just like staying in the kitchen.”
Gio rolled his eyes and held his hands up in resignation. “You're not Cinderella either. I will not be surprised if eventually you turn into a sauce pan.”
Veronica giggled all the more. “I'll see you in a bit.”
She left the restaurant through the back door walking briskly and weaving through the people and cars along Gerome Street. Reluctantly, she pocketed the one hundred dollar bill. This was going to her emergency money. No way was she going to use it. Veronica didn't know when she'd have the need to run away again. She stopped midway, waiting for a car to pass and waved her thanks with a smile when the driver indicated that she should cross first.
She liked Gio. It was fortunate there had been a vacancy when she visited the town on her way to Arizona or Colorado or anywhere she could hide herself. A spur of the moment decision led to her being ushered by the bushy-browed proprietor and offered the job after his chef hied off with his girlfriend to places unknown. Veronica didn't take the bus out of Karim. That evening and Gio allowed her to stay in the apartment above the establishment. Veronica promised that she would get out of his hair as soon as she got a place of her own but the bushy browed proprietor wouldn't hear of it. She took over the apartment and Gio finally had a reason to go home to the family he hardly saw during the week since the town's boom.
Friday dusk in Karim was a kaleidoscope of colour. The sun swathed across the skies and behind clouds, creating a huge path between the shades of night. The facades of the bistros and shops along Gerome and Main Street were lit with tiny firefly lights while patio cooling systems made it a preferred place for patrons to people watch while enjoying the night. Car headlights added to the illuminations along the street, brightening Karim more than the street lamps did. Due to the rains that miraculously blessed the town the last two days, the heat at night wasn't as bad as it was during the day.
Veronica entered the supermarket with a huge sigh of relief when the air conditioning greedily lapped at the thin sheen of sweat from her body. Not many were doing their shopping, more intent on joining the crowd that steadily increased in the streets. She went around the aisles, leisurely checking out things that she needed for the apartment and for the coming weekend. With a burst of inspiration, she got a few oranges, honey, and a pack of chicken breasts. Her mouth watered at what her tongue imagined. Lunch the next day was going to be special.
“Ronnie!”
She turned with
a smile, Putting my basket down to hug her friend.
“Hey Bettina. Fancy seeing you here. Shouldn't you be somewhere else?” she teased.
Bettina's tinkling laughter brought the few shoppers' attention to them.
“Seriously?” Veronica muttered with a grimace.
Bettina covered her mouth, her pretty eyes widening. She mouthed a 'sorry'. Then in a puzzled voice. “I don't get you. Why?”
Veronica shrugged. Two years wasn't enough to escape the demon looking for her, the main reason why she wanted to remain invisible.
Bettina squeezed my arm. “You do know I'm here for you, right?”
“Yes I do. Anyway like I asked, aren't you supposed to be with the two men in your life?” Veronica squeezed Bettina's hand. The minute Bettina went out of her way to befriend her during the second week working for Gio, even going as far as entering the kitchen, they hit it off immediately. Veronica, however, was still not comfortable telling anyone why she was Karim. No one asked. No reason to tell.
Bettina blushed, her face softening. When Veronica got the chance to take a peek at Gio's patrons, she often saw Bettina with two handsome men who went with her wherever she went. Veronica knew that one of Bettina’s men was a British doctor and that alone was reason enough to stay as inconspicuous as possible. But when Bettina had introduced her to Adam Hunter and Brock Jordan, relief replaced the anxiety she felt because Adam didn’t recognize her.
When the three ate at the restaurant, they always took the table enclosed by the profusion of plants and the wood and glazed glass divider. The way the men looked at her friend was as though they couldn't wait to devour and pleasure her to an inch of her life made Veronica long for something she knew she could never have. Her experience of pleasure would always be marred by physical pain. Pain before the pleasure was something burned in her mind.
“Brock is running late, something to do with a problem at the construction site. Adam is picking up a friend he's invited to join his medical practice here with him,” Bettina said.
“Karim needs all the investment it can get to make this a premiere place to go to. Property values will skyrocket and when people start moving in, they'll need a good hospital and good doctors,” Veronica said absently, picking out more fruits and vegetables, putting them in plastic bags provided by the side of the boxes of produce. “Eggs...I need eggs.” She got her basket and nudged her head. “Let's walk while we talk.”
“I didn't realize you were investor savvy. I'm impressed.” Bettina smiled, surprised. She trailed behind Veronica as they entered the section for baking products.
Oh shit, I nearly slipped there. Veronica barely hid the pause with a half shoulder shrug. “It's all over the news. Try Bloomberg.”
Bettina's cellphone buzzed and her mouth curved up slowly when she read the text. “Adam's here.” She searched the aisles from their vantage point.
Putting the egg carton in her basket, Veronica chuckled at the way her friend's face lit up.
“There you are.” A man's voice came from behind her.
“Adam.” Bettina moved away to greet him. A smile hovered over Veronica's mouth while she continued to peruse the shelves. But when she turned around to say hello the shock at seeing Adam’s friend call but wiped the smile from her face. Veronica felt the blood drain from her face at the same time Adam’s friend looked at her in shock. If Veronica wasn't used to staying on her feet for almost eight hours straight and knew how to lock her knees so she didn't fall, she would have collapsed in a swoon.
“Adam you know --” Bettina started.
“Sherri?”
Bettina’s and Adam’s surprised looks bounced between her and Adam's companion.
“You two...know each other?” Bettina had a bemused frown.
“No. I don't think we've met,” Veronica forced a puzzled look on her face though she couldn’t stop the thread of nervousness in her voice.
“Good God, Sherri. It's me, Nick,” he said, unable to believe his eyes. When he approached Veronica automatically stepped back. Adam placed a restraining hand on his arm.
“I think you have the wrong person.” Veronica made a sound between a huff and a laugh. “My name isn't Sherri. It's Veronica.”
Bettina's brows rose while Adam's forehead puckered.
“Babe, I think you should introduce them,” Bettina said cautiously, while she stayed by Adam's side. If Adam noticed anything, he didn't give it away.
“My bad,” Adam said smoothly. “Nicholas Travers, Veronica...” He suddenly looked rueful. “Forgive me. I don't know your last name.”
“It's Sullivan. Veronica Sullivan.” She offered her hand in greeting. She smiled. “Don't mind my cold hands. I always have them even in the dry heat of Karim.”
Nick's stunned look slowly gave way to an apologetic albeit a reluctant one. He took her hand gripping it longer. “I'm...sorry. You just look so much like my friend's dead wife. It's... uncanny.”
“It happens.” Veronica extricated her hand from his grip with a nervous laugh. She swung her tote over her shoulder once more and held her basket on the crook of her arm. “Sorry I don't mean to be rude but I have to rush. I told Gio I'd be back in fifteen minutes. I'll see y'all around.”
Veronica ambled away, looking at other produce in the frozen section. Taking deep breaths and not giving in to hyperventilating was difficult. She dug deep inside herself, to a place where she could let go and not feel. Her safe place while she absorbed the pain being inflicted on her body.
Veronica glanced sideways, a cynical smile hovering on her lips when she saw her friend follow her to the self-service till.
“Okay, let it rip.” Bettina cocked her hip, her arms folded across her chest.
“Let what rip?” Veronica continued to pass the groceries through the scanner, the beep registering the purchase.
“Adam's friend knew you and you knew him.”
“No, I didn't.” The oranges went into the bag.
“I know you're hiding something, girlfriend.” Bettina's southern drawl was more pronounced especially when she was mortified or pissed. Veronica was sure it was the latter seeing that Bettina wore a scowl on her face.
“What should I be hiding from you?” She rolled the Chardonnay through the scanner, the bottle slightly clicking against the glass surface.
Bettina huffed. “The reason why you wanted to get the hell out of Dodge? “
Veronica fished out money from her jeans pocket. Gio's hundred-dollar bill. Her lips pursed. There went her vow to put it into her emergency fund. However, at the rate her nerves were going, what was the difference between two one hundred dollar bills? All she wanted to do was to leave the supermarket as soon as possible.
“I'm not hiding anything,” she scowled, huffing that she couldn’t get away sooner from her friends prying. “I'm just rushing because I told Gio I'd be out only for a while. What other reason should there be?”
Bettina’s brow arched. “Oh the reason that you suddenly developed a really impressive Texan accent from your natural British one.”
Chapter Two
Nicholas watched Veronica with narrowed eyes. She was alive! It didn't matter that the woman had a Southern drawl and he had allowed her to bluff her way out. There was no doubt in his mind that Veronica Sullivan was Sherri Duffy.
“Mind telling me what that was all about?” Adam queried.
They both watched the women still talking by the self-service check-out, their voices muted.
“Sorry,” Nick said grasping Adam’s shoulder. “She just looked so much like Duffy's dead wife. It's bizarre.”
“Christopher Duffy, as in the neuro-surgeon?” Adam's brow rose. “I heard about his wife missing and then a few months after they found a body. Wasn’t she positively identified?”
“Yes, by the ring on her finger. The body had already decomposed when the police found her. Chris gave a sample of Sherri’s hair from a hair brush. It matched that of the dead woman’s.”
“
Nasty business.” Adam said. His face lost all seriousness and softened the moment Bettina returned. “I didn't get to introduce you two properly.”
Bettina waved her hand in friendly dismissal, smiling. “Welcome to Karim.”
“Thank you.” Nick's mouth quirked, his eyes warmly appreciating the dark blue eyed brunette with a body made for sin.
“Easy, Travers. I suggest you take your mind elsewhere.” Adam stated with humour, but his dark silver gray eyes reflected something else.
“Hunter, you cannot stop me from appreciating beautiful women. The operative word being appreciating,” Nicholas quipped.
Adam shook his head in mock resignation. “Right, we better go,”
They started walking to the supermarket's entrance. Nick watched Veronica Sullivan weave her way back to Gio’s as if the devil was pursuing her.
“We'll take you to Hotel Paradiso so that you can sleep off that jet lag or just relax on your first day here. The heat takes getting used to. I can take you to the practice tomorrow. In the evening, I'll take you to The Club,” Adam said.
“The Club?” Bettina looked at both of them with bemusement.
“Nicholas is a Dom.”
Nick's lips twitched at the way Bettina's mouth became an 'O'. But in his mind's eye, only one woman would do it for him. His mind was also in a turmoil. He definitely didn't imagine the shock and fear in Veronica’s green gaze.
If she was alive, who was the woman Christopher had identified as his wife?
Nick was quiet during the short drive to the hotel, grateful that Adam and Bettina left him alone. He was quickly ushered to the penthouse when management found out he was Adam Hunter’s guest because Adam partly owned the hotel. Once he was alone in his suite, Nick mulled over what had just happened.
The Fire Saga (The Club) Page 30