by D. L. Raver
Let him underestimate me. It will be the biggest fucking mistake of his life.
I took out my phone and called T-bone.
“Z man. What up?”
I recapped what happened.
“Fuck, Zolt. That’s it; I’m assigning a detail to you and Irelyn.”
“Fine,” I agreed. “T, what do you think he meant by his reference to Franklin?”
The line went silent for a moment.
“Before the cookout tomorrow, let’s meet,” he said. “We can talk about it then. You said Irelyn and your brother are waiting for you. Go back to the table, have a drink and eat dinner. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Okay. Tomorrow.” I disconnected the call and went back to our table.
As we ate dinner, I tried to let go of what happened, but I was seething inside. The wheels in my head were spinning at warp speed. I needed to see the entire playing field in front of me, but I had a sense that not all of the players were in the open. Hopefully, T-bone would be able to shed light on the bigger picture.
Irelyn kept glancing at me with a forced smile on her pretty lips. She was worried about me. Her frantic toying with a lock of her hair betrayed her smile and worry lines marred her lovely forehead.
When we got home, she excused herself and went to bed. I was about to go smoke when Brody pulled me aside.
“What happened back there? When you came back to the table, there was a definite shift in both of your moods.” Brody asked, his hand on my arm.
“Her ex happened. When I went to check on her, I found her with Marcus. He had her pushed up against the wall,” I said through clenched teeth. Thinking about it made my blood boil again.
“What the fuck, Zolt? Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. I wanted to fucking kill him, Brody. If it wasn’t for Irelyn pulling me back, I might have.”
“You didn’t mention this guy was dangerous.”
“I didn’t think he was.”
“Is Irelyn okay?”
“I think so.”
Brody frowned at me. “What do you mean you think so? You need to find out. Go in there and make sure she’s okay. Quit thinking about yourself and tend to your woman.”
“You’re right,” I sighed and put my hands behind my head. “Fuck, Brody, I’m no good at being a boyfriend.”
“Right now, no, you’re not, but you can fix this. She looked really upset, Zolt.”
“I feel as if I’m going to lose it and do something really fucked up,” I confessed.
“You have a choice, Zolt. Whatever you do, you have to consider Irelyn. This isn’t just about you anymore.” Brody put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed.
“I hear you.”
“Go to her. I think I’m going to take the dogs out for a walk on your property.”
I turned on the perimeter floodlights, and then went into the pantry where I downed two of my special brownies and a bottle of water. I didn’t want to take the time to smoke, but I needed a fix. My leg ached like a bitch on the rag.
When I reached the bedroom, Irelyn was already in bed. I stripped off my clothes and climbed in next to her.
She turned over to face me and my heart fell. Her face was wet with tears.
“Why are you crying? Did Marcus hurt you?” I dried her tears and pushed her hair behind her ear.
“No, not really. But I’m afraid this is more than you signed up for. I should have known he wouldn’t just walk away from this.”
“Baby, I knew what I was getting into, but I’m afraid you traded one asshole for another. Tonight, instead of taking care of you, I let him get under my skin. I didn’t do right by you, and I’m sorry.” I stroked her cheek and kissed her lips.
“Don’t you dare compare yourself to Marcus, Zolt. You’re nothing like that man. I shouldn’t have underestimated him. He thinks you took what was his. It doesn’t matter that I never was his.” She dried her eyes with the back of her hands and turned on her side.
“I’m not going to lie, Irelyn, I’m worried about Marcus, which is why we’re going to sit down with T-bone tomorrow and make a plan before everyone gets here. I won’t allow him to get that close to you again.”
“How are you going to do that? Lock me up in your house?”
“Tie you to my bed?” I waggled my eyebrows at her, and she laughed, which was exactly what I wanted.
“Hmm, I think I might like that,” she said sheepishly.
“Yeah? I’m more than happy to play with you anytime you want, baby. I still have a few tricks left to show you.”
“I bet you do.” Her questioning eyes stared into mine “So, we’re okay? You were too quiet at dinner.”
“We are better than okay, Irelyn.” I ran my hand through her silky hair and watched her shiver. I knew she loved it when I did that.
“Zolt?” she said softly.
“Yeah?” I answered as I continued to play with her hair.
“Make love to me.”
She didn’t need to ask me twice. I knew we both needed this. I needed to take her, to reclaim her, to erase Marcus’s touch from her skin. Irelyn needed this for the same reason.
I moved my body over hers and gazed heatedly into the beautiful, expressive eyes of my angel, my seraph.
She gazed back at me through her tear-soaked lashes.
If I hated Marcus before, seeing the pain he’d caused in her eyes energized my anger. I shoved it aside; I didn’t want to make angry love to her. She needed me to be tender and caring. Truth be told, so did I.
My hands slid up the sides of her throat to the sides of her face. Our lips met in a sweet, tender kiss. Our tongues entwined and danced with each other, wanting and needing. Even after I’d seated myself deep within her, I felt like I couldn’t get close enough to her. Both of us had our eyes open, and our gazes locked on each other. We fit together like two puzzle pieces never meant to be separated.
I took my time with her, ignoring the demands of my body to speed up. She matched me stroke for stroke as we moved in perfect synchronicity with each other.
We explored, kissed, teased, and toyed, driving ourselves to the brink; then pulling back. When we finally gave in and let ourselves go, we came together, riding the most explosive wave of pleasure that I had ever experienced.
I held Irelyn close as she fell into sleep. Once her breathing evened out, I took the coward’s way out and let the words I’d been holding on to fall from my lips.
“I love you, Irelyn Wilkes,” I said and kissed her head. Then, I fell deeply asleep myself.
I reluctantly handed Chris’s laptop to T-bone. I had spent hours trying to figure out his password. No matter what I tried, nothing worked, and now the damn thing had locked me out completely. Though I knew giving it to him was right, I couldn’t help but feel as if I’d betrayed my brother.
“Don’t worry, Irelyn. My boys will take good care of it. As soon as we figure out the password, I’ll bring it back and let you go through his files.”
I let out a long sigh. “All right.”
I blinked my stinging eyes rapidly to thwart the tears.
Don’t cry! Don’t cry! Don’t cry!
Before this was over, I’d learn more about my brother than I wanted to know. I’d already resigned myself that Chris was probably in over his head and that Daddy was too.
I twirled a strand of hair around my finger, let go, and then started the process over.
“Irelyn,” Zolt grabbed my hand, halting my nervous hair twirling and pulling me from my thoughts.
“What?” I looked at my hand holding my hair. “Oh. Sorry. Nervous habit.”
Zolt kissed my knuckles, and then let go of my hand.
“Z man, did you and Irelyn decide on your safety words?”
“Safety words?” I sat up straighter on the black leather couch in Zolt’s office.
Zolt shifted, crossing his bad leg over the other so he could rub his knee.
I frowned at him. We’d been having a lot of sex, a
nd even though he’d never admit it, I knew it was hurting his leg. The problem was we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Just thinking about it made me want to straddle him and have my way with him.
“Are you all right?” I asked him, setting my hand on his knee.
“Fine,” he answered gruffly and removed my hand.
“Okay.” I put my hands in my lap and stared down at my fingers.
Zolt had been up and down today, his mercurial moods were tough to take, and I was finding it hard not to be offended by it. On the other hand, he’d warned me he’d have days like this. Though after last night, after he’d been so sweet with me when we made love, I thought he’d be in a better mood. But perhaps the situation with Marcus affected him more than I thought.
“So safety words,” T-bone repeated as he glanced down at his phone. “What are they?”
“I don’t know. Zolt didn’t tell me about them.” I glanced at him and cocked my head.
“Right. Sorry, it slipped my mind.” He grimaced as he uncrossed his leg. “We need to have two status words that when asked a question will illicit either of the answers. Say you find yourself in another situation like last night where Marcus has his hands all over you. Say I call because you’re missing or some shit. I’d ask you a question the answer of which would let me know whether you’re okay or not.”
“Okay. What question?” I glanced at Zolt with my eyes narrowed. His explanation had been a little snarky. It wasn’t like I wanted Marcus to touch me.
“I suggest you ask a question where the answer is either red or green. If the answer is red, then you know something is going on. If the answer is green, then everything is cool,” T-bone added, still not looking up from his phone. I had to wonder if he felt the tension between Zolt and me, as well.
“What do you want the question to be?” Zolt asked me. His voice was all business. It felt like the longer we talked with T-bone the further his mood deteriorated.
“I guess what color is your shirt? Or something to that effect.”
“Fine,” Zolt answered.
“Fine,” I agreed. “If you don’t need me anymore, I’m going to go check on dinner.”
I kissed Zolt on the head and left the room, praying when he and T-bone were done, his mood wouldn’t be worse.
“Z man, what’s up your ass? You’re being a dick to her.” T-bone said, putting his phone on the coffee table.
“Fuck!” I ran my hands through my hair. T was right. I’d been in a foul mood all day.
“Well?” T-bone rubbed his bald head and gave me a ‘what the fuck’ look.
“I told her I loved her last night, but she didn’t hear me.”
“Why didn’t she hear you?”
“She was asleep.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re upset because she didn’t hear you, or because you didn’t have the balls to say it to her while she’s awake?”
“Both. Yes. I don’t fucking know. I should tell her, but I can’t. I have a feeling, deep within my bones, that something major is about to go down, and I can’t shake it. I thought it would go away after the shit with Marcus, but now it’s worse. Every time I open my mouth to tell her, nothing comes out.”
I got up, walked to the window, and stared out. The dogs were playing with each other, romping this way and that, and they looked so happy. Right now, I kind of wished life could be that easy.
The door opened, and I turned to see Brody come in and shut the door behind him. My pulse raced. Nonchalantly, I leaned against the sill, pretending like I had control. “Why did you call in Brody, T?”
“Come sit, Zolt,” Brody said.
I shook my head. “Don’t handle me, Brody. Fucking tell me already.”
T-bone sucked in a breath and rubbed the back of his neck. He was nervous—T didn’t get nervous.
My gaze darted from Brody to T-bone. “Say it!”
“One of the first things I did after creating my security agency was to start looking into who bankrolled the bounty program that took out your leg. Every time I got close, I’d hit a wall. Two weeks ago, the wall started to crumble when you asked me to investigate Marcus Xavier.”
“Joe Franklin sends his best wishes.” Marcus’s words slammed into my head, and I grabbed my leg. “That fucking bastard!”
Marcus was behind the bounty program! Marcus Xavier was responsible for the end of my NFL career!
I took a seat, and sat there stunned, holding my throbbing leg. Suddenly, I understood his snide comments and the way he’d looked at my leg. My shadow-self roared to life, demanding to be freed.
I stood and headed for the door. I needed her right now. Only she could make this go away, and bring me back to center, back to Zolt.
“Stop!” Brody yelled. “Don’t, Zolt. Stay here. You’re in no condition to go out there. Stay away from her.”
“I need her.”
“Not like this you don’t. Irelyn isn’t one of your one-night stands that you can fuck every which way to Sunday. You care about her.”
Brody’s words filtered into my head, but I was having a hard time processing them. My brain buzzed with too many emotions, many of them I didn’t even recognize. I was seeing fucking red, and it wouldn’t be long until I lost it all together.
“You need to calm yourself, Z man,” T-bone said and put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t let her see you like this.”
I jumped at the sudden contact. For such a big man, he sure could sneak up on people.
Sighing, I shook off his hand and played with the hem of my shorts. They were both right. Even so, neither of them understood the power she had over me. I knew Irelyn didn’t either. One word from her, one kiss, even the softest glance in my direction undid me.
T-bone pulled out three beers from the small fridge and brought them to the table. He opened his and downed it in one gulp.
“Once I had the name Xot International, all the pieces fell into place. Apparently Marcus and Joe Franklin went to school together at Penn State. From what I’ve been able to discover, he and Joe started the program while Joe played college ball. I’m guessing Marcus paid Franklin a large sum to take the fall. All those years ago, I remembered hearing rumblings about a bounty program, but I ignored it, thinking it was small time. By the time it happened to you, I knew I’d made a huge mistake in writing it off.”
“It’s not your fault, T.” I glanced up at my friend and saw guilt in his brown eyes. Though I carried the ugly red scar on my leg, T carried his own scar from that day. What killed me most was knowing that Marcus had left deep scars on Irelyn, as well. That alone put a death warrant on his head.
“I’m going to fucking kill Marcus,” I growled.
“Believe me, Zolt, nothing would make me happier, but we have to be patient and take Xavier down in the right way. The shit he’s into now is much worse than what he did to you.”
“Irelyn,” I whispered.
“Yeah, Irelyn,” T agreed. “He thinks he’s unstoppable, and we can use that to our advantage. Listen, Zolt, you’re going to have to keep your shit together for her. There is no way her brother didn’t know what was going on, and I suspect the same will be true for her father. My gut tells me this laptop is the key. I’m pretty sure it’s why he’s dead now.”
I stared at the computer and groaned. There was no way to protect Irelyn from what we’d find out. Again, T was right; I had to keep my shit together for her. I couldn’t add to this by losing it. The playing field and its players were coming into focus. Time to fall back on my strengths and not give into my weaknesses.
“We’re going to take him down. I promise. But we can’t underestimate him. The fact he found it acceptable to approach Irelyn and you in a restaurant tells me his balls are big. Let me do my job, Zolt. I promise you, I’ll keep you and Irelyn safe this time. Marcus Xavier is going down.”
I nodded and rubbed my leg again. Keeping her safe was the number one priority and that meant keeping her safe from me, as well. All I
could do was pray for control, because at the moment, I teetered on the razor’s edge. Any moment, I would fall. Hopefully, I wouldn’t take Irelyn with me.
Zolt came out of his office with a hungry and desperate look in his eyes.
I took two steps back into the short hallway that led from the kitchen into the pantry. With a slam and lock of the door, I found myself alone with Zolt in the pantry. He prowled after me until he had me trapped against the wall. His needful eyes never left mine.
I gasped, wondering what the hell he had in mind. “Zolt? What are you doing? We have guests out there.”
“I don’t care. I’ve been a dick to you all day, and I need to make up for it.” His lips curved into a wicked grin.
“An apology will suffice,” I said and swallowed.
“Oh, I’m going to apologize all right, and I’m not going to stop apologizing until you scream my name.” He took my wrists and pinned them behind me as he kissed me, stroking my tongue with his.
I couldn’t help but react, kissing him back. We couldn’t get enough of each other—we were insatiable.
He left my mouth, releasing my wrists and began a slow path down my body, stopping at the crook of my neck where he sucked hard. I knew he’d marked me, and I didn’t care.
“Take off your shirt and shorts, Irelyn. Now.”
I didn’t hesitate. I pulled my T-shirt over my head and undid my shorts, stripping them off, revealing my black lacy thong.
“Mmm,” he cooed and nipped at my breast through my bra. “Raise your hands and grasp the shelf above you. Don’t let go.”
Oh, fuck! I did what he commanded, wondering what the hell he had planned. But my body didn’t care. My panties were already soaked through.
“You are so fucking hot, Irelyn. You have no idea.”
Zolt dropped to his knees, and grasped my hips, pulling me to him. My legs shook as he kissed me between my legs.
“Oh, you naughty girl, you’ve soaked your pretty panties. I guess we’ll have to get rid of them.” With one yank, he ripped them from me and dropped the lacy material to the ground. “Spread your legs for me.”