by Lying Eyes
Max twitched while they talked. He’d never been so incapable of harnessing his anger. His heart thumped harder inside his chest. He choked on dust one minute and pure hatred, the next.
“Yeah, he lost her in a poker game, around the same time he lost his wife and we always intended to collect, didn’t we Bone?” He looked over at his companion and Bone chuckled. “Yeah.” He laughed and the ignorance came roaring through with each chuckle.
Great, Bone was as dumb as he was strong which made Max all the more uneasy. Men like Bone didn’t have the good sense to know right from wrong.
Smoke didn’t shut up. “I’ve watched Audra since the tournament began. She’s like a rat in a little cage as long as she’s in that casino. You know how it is, Reynolds. You can pay off the right people at the right time and everything just falls in your lap.” He snickered. “The only place she goes that I don’t see her is your suite and hers, but there’s a reason for that. I don’t think I could stand it if I saw what goes on behind closed doors.” His mouth twitched. “I can imagine that tight little pussy but if I have to watch another man take it, I’m not sure I could let her finish out the tournament.”
“You son-of-a-bitch.”
“Yeah, that’s what her momma used to call me too, but she died taking care of me, let me tell you. It was a fair enough swap considering Audra wasn’t of age then.” He moved his hand across the front of his pants. “But she’s of age now, isn’t she Reynolds?”
Bone finally released Max. It only took him a minute to shake off the man’s touch and square his shoulders again but he reminded himself to let Smoke chatter. All he needed to do was get out of there alive, and it was very important for him because if he didn’t make it out of there, one day Audra would waste away with this guy.
“What’s wrong, Reynolds? Drives you nuts to think about my dick twitching up against that tight sugary snatch, doesn’t it?” He reached for the briefcases. “But that’s the way it’s going to be sooner or later. When a woman belongs to a man, it’s impossible to change fate and she’s known for quite awhile her pussy was going to close around this cock one day soon…and I think she kind of liked the idea.” He grabbed his manhood with a grotesque tug before he laughed outright. “Damn shame you had to get in there first. That’s going to cost you.”
Max saw his future and Audra’s unfolding far too fast. He was going to have to kill the guy if he ever wanted to have any peace of mind and be assured Audra was safe. If he could walk away from there, he was going to make it his business to send the men in front of him straight to hell. If he wasn’t handled appropriately, he’d take care of him in due time.
Smoke tossed the briefcases to Bone. “Count it.”
“You can’t be serious. It’s all there.”
“Max, I believe you. I swear I do, but a good businessman always takes the time to inspect his merchandise, whether it’s cash, jewelry, or even women.” He sneered. “I’m sure you can relate.”
“What’s it going to take?” Max hardly recognized his own voice. He glared at the sand and dirt beneath them and then caught a last glimpse of the sun now darting behind the mountains of Nevada’s Red Rock Canyon. “Name your price.”
“To get rid of me?” Smoke tossed another cigarette in his mouth and through clenched teeth, he told him what Max suspected all along. “More than you’ll ever earn and more than Audra will ever be worth.”
“Is that right?”
“Count on it.”
Max turned his back to him then. If he was going to shoot him in the back, then he could shoot him then but he had heard all he wanted to hear. He walked over to the car and Smoke never moved.
“Reynolds, I’ll look for you.”
Max started to step inside the limo. “The money is all there.” With his elbow propped against the car, he turned and added, “Let me give you a piece of advice, Smoke. I’m not a man who goes back on his word and I despise those who do, especially when they use a woman to do it. Tonight, your mole at The Rio will be thrown out on his ass—yeah, we already know who he is, and by the way, if you ever so much as look Audra’s way again, I’ll hunt you down and kill you myself.” Max drew a semi-automatic from his pocket and slid into the limousine.
Before the door closed, Smoke called out to him. “You think it’s just me you’re up against? Is that what you think?”
“Yeah, you piece of shit, I do. You’re nothing but a punk kid who dressed up in thug attire and bullied Audra and her family. My guess is, and of course I’m only assuming here, if you didn’t have your buddy there with you, then Audra’s father wouldn’t have been so quick to believe you were someone to fear.”
“Why you…” He turned around to look for his back-up then but realized Bone was still counting bills.
Max rolled the window down. His fist came crashing down on top of the car with three hard hits. The car inched forward. “That’s the money her father owed with interest. Go enjoy it and know this, come near me or Audra again and you’re the dead man.”
The window was secured again and Max locked eyes with Franco.
“Impressive. You know you’re a walking corpse now, right?” A bead of sweat formed over Franco’s brow. “You could’ve walked away. It’s not that hard, you know. She’s been doing it for years.”
“I know I’m going to protect Audra, at any cost.” He lowered the divider glass and glared at the man driving the car.
“Did you get everything you need?” he asked.
“I got it, but you shouldn’t have added the threats. It’s going to make you look bad once we pick him up.”
Franco looked at Max and then over his shoulder at the man behind the wheel. “You set me up?”
“I set Smoke and Bone up. I just used you to arrange it for me.”
Cars with loud sirens flew passed them then and Franco shifted in his seat to watch one police car after the next head into the desert. “You set this all up?”
The driver chuckled and showed Franco his badge.
“I’m a dead man.” Franco certainly looked pale.
“Look at it this way, Franco,” Max seemed uninterested. “With everything those two men have done to your family and Audra, you’re going to have ten years of peace before you have to worry about it. They have enough to lock those guys up for a few years.”
“They’ll walk.”
“No, they’ll hang if I have anything to say about it.”
The agent looked up in his rearview mirror and studied Max and Franco. “With what we have on them, they should get ten years at the very least.”
“Gives you time to settle down somewhere. You’ll be fine.” Max stared out the window then and instantly ached for her arms. He couldn’t wait to tell her the news. She was saved from her past, she had nothing to fear in the present and her future had never looked brighter. But there would be time for all of that after one of them claimed the title and slid on the bracelet of champions. And if she claimed it now, at least it wouldn’t have a death grip on her—it would be hers to wear and no one would take it away from her.
Chapter Fourteen
It was late by the time he reached the decision. Separation didn’t work for him. He didn’t like the fact her door was secured and locked. He glared at his side, the one wide open and waiting for opportunity to present itself. He grabbed the phone and dialed. Sometimes chance meetings needed a swift kick to get the ball rolling.
“I want to come over.” He quietly made the request.
“Max, tomorrow is a big day for us.”
He stared out his window looking at the city lights. It was ten o’clock. So it was late but not that late. He still wanted to see her. She’d made it through the entire day without sitting at his table and at the end of the day, she still had her lead and he was right behind her. As always, only a few dollars separated them. He wanted to discuss it. Yeah, sure he did.
They were going to the final table because the significant jump ahead of the rest almost sealed it. They
would almost have to try and avoid the inevitable now. The top thirty remained and the first five all had very strong leads. The final table should’ve had reserved seating posted for them.
Just by taking a seat at the final table guaranteed everyone there would leave Las Vegas a millionaire. Just by being there meant the players were worthy of consideration. He smiled as he listened to her breathe into the phone. No one would ever underestimate her now. She knew her game and she played it like the sport it had become and she’d played so well, she kept him from stealing an outright lead more than once.
“Are you looking outside?” Even though it was a moment to savor and yes, celebrate, he heard apprehension in her voice.
“Sure am.” He sipped his scotch.
“What do you see?”
“The same things you see, I imagine.” He held the phone against his ear and shoulder while he unbuttoned his shirt.
“Tell me,” she coaxed.
“You first.”
“I see a city I used to loathe, but now everything is so different...” Her voice changed and confirmed what he already realized because he felt it too, and he’d visited Las Vegas more times than he recalled. Her voice trailed off before she added her heart-felt sincerity to it. “I guess now all I will ever see when I’m here…is you.”
“Let me in.” He dropped the phone and as quickly as he told her to expect him, he pounded on the door.
“Here goes nothing.” She said the words quietly but he heard them all the same and he never hesitated with his response.
* * * *
“No, Audra, here comes everything.” He looped his arms around her and started his kissing and he kissed her lights out. Literally kissed her until he saw stars and shadows and all the things a smarter man would’ve viewed as sensible warning signs. And if he saw those things, he felt confident she did too.
Maybe he was short on intelligence. He was certainly high on his abilities to woo a woman but he wasn’t sure about overall smarts when applied to understanding women. He’d wasted a lot of time and in their profession, it was unnecessary. He could’ve been with her anytime he wanted. All he had to do was follow in her footsteps and accidentally bump into her on the Poker Tour. It would’ve been easy but he made it difficult and he did it on purpose. He spent two years avoiding this. He realized why.
Because he knew he was going to fall in love with her.
He drew back to look at her and when he did, he couldn’t believe what he found staring back at him. He saw the love he wanted to see and why he wanted to find it, damn it all, he did not know. It would likely go down in history as forever unsolved, a crazy mystery. He pulled her to the window then and pointed outward. “Now, tell me what you see.”
“I’ll always see you.”
“I’m right here. Tell me what you see out there.”
“You,” she said it again. This time, softer.
“Why?”
“Because.” She turned around. Her hands went to his face and she kissed him with those sultry lips he just loved to feel against his skin and lips. Ah yeah, and he had a great idea of where he wanted to later feel them all the more but for now, for now he owed her so he would slip into Mr. Romance mode and give her a few minutes to indulge. He helped her create the fantasy she deserved. He kind of liked it, too.
“Because why?” He pecked her lips and really felt silly acting like a school boy with a hard cock waiting for her reluctant attention.
“Because you’ve ruined me for any other man and it doesn’t matter if I come back here alone or if I come here with anyone else in the future, you’re always going to be the man I see when I’m here.”
“Sweetheart, I didn’t ruin you for any other man,” he stroked her hair away from her brow and then kissed the last strand still pressed there. “I’ve only tried to convince you that you’re the only woman this man will ever need, or want.” He turned her back to the window and showed her the reflection found there. “What I want you to see now Audra, is us.”
They both stared into the reflection for a few more minutes. She looked up at him with searching eyes. “For how long?” She swallowed back the fear. He saw it. She was afraid of loving him, terrified he would let her down in some way or leave her and damn it to hell, he still couldn’t find it within himself to tell her what she really needed to hear most.
“Sweetheart, don’t you know how beautiful you are?”
“You’re the only one I’ll ever need to see me as beautiful.”
His heart melted again and he pulled her closer. “I’m afraid I can’t help you there. You stop crowds and slow down the best of shows. I’ve witnessed it and I’m damn proud when you’re on my arm. If you think for a minute any other man is ever going to bring you to this city, then you don’t know me at all.”
“Planning on sticking around?”
“You’d better believe it.”
“Then I must’ve mastered the game.”
He winked. “Let’s just say you conquered one of poker’s finest.”
“The finest, huh?” She pulled his arms tighter around her waist and let her hands rest over his.
“I can still teach you a thing or two.” He nuzzled her hair.
“Wanna bet?”
“You’re on.”
She turned around and kissed him again and this time the woman smooched with pure unadulterated motive, and the way her hands touched him proved she had loving him on her mind. Her fingers lingered at his belly before dropping to his belt. She pulled the leather and pushed—clawed away really—the thin slacks covering him.
If she wanted to take him on a slow ride towards foreplay then the woman had a funny way of showing it. Her tugs and pulls at his cock left his balls tight and manhood erect from far too much excitement, but when her mouth dropped to the tip, he understood what it meant to lose a bet and still end up as a solid winner.
* * * *
Her lips were waiting. Her back—arching. Anticipating that first kiss, her mouth could only crave as much as her body, and oh how it braced with desire. He might have ruined the ending of their first time together when he bargained for a few more hours as an independent and single man but he wouldn’t do it again. Not now.
“Easy baby.” His hands rubbed over her hips but the strong caresses only kept her from taking him all on her own. His jaw twisted then and he purposefully moved lower, dropping his head to her center, he licked once, just enough to have her in his senses. More than once and she’d lose it. More than twice and he’d own her soul.
Whimpers filled the room as if she expected more and anticipated the full assault but the one she might have needed—the one that would destroy her—never came. To drop his mouth over her then would never serve the grander purpose he had in store. While his first attack on Audra was slow and pre-calculated, this one was anything but. He wasn’t going to rip her apart slowly this time because he had a need and making her wait only postponed his pleasure, and right now he wanted it.
His lips came crashing over hers. His tongue moved past her teeth and pushed forward in search of her need, the determining factor of how much she wanted, how much she craved, how wonderful she tasted. His kiss was slow and loving, but the long awaited thrust inside wasn’t going to be gentle. He wanted her wet and ready but once he entered, he planned to fuck her like a man who wants his woman to know he’s been there. He wanted her to feel him all the way to her heart.
His cock was thick, tough. Her breath was hot and short.
Her legs gripped his waist in a hold to forgive and forget. “Fuck me.” She mouthed the words but no sound came, no verbal blunder at all but the slapping of bodies enticed her into a belief system of understanding. He was able to fully meet the request no matter how demanding, and she was quite the little seductress.
“Now, Max. Please.” Her hands rested on his shoulders and her hips rose and fell in an effort to capture him and tug him right inside.
“Hang on, baby.” He kissed her mouth with so
ft kisses. Pecks then. “I have to—”
“No. You don’t.” Her eyes searched his then as if she was asking for permission and granting it all at the same time.
“I’m talking about a condom here.” His breathing remained even but hers was ragged. He swooped down and claimed her lip.
“Just once? You can slip inside just once. Please let me feel you without anything to separate us. Please, just a few times.”
“Audra…I don’t know if I can stop once….”
Her hands brought him down over her and she scratched and clawed her way to hold him there. Whimpers left her throat with the first and second stroke.
“Holy sweet woman…”
“Max…”
“Right here, baby…right here.” Another thump and another.
Claws across his chest, nails clinging to a little chest hair here or there.
“Max, please!” She was ready, oh so ready. He couldn’t let her drop yet, no, not now—not with the pleasure, not when he was taking her up so high—so fucking high. His bare flesh pressed deeper and deeper into her pussy and harder and harder he plunged.
* * * *
Her elbows hurt, ached, throbbed but she didn’t care. She had to see, wanted to witness the claiming, the branding, and the trademark she was going to rapidly become, all for the sake of one day carrying his name.
Stop! She had to stop the daydreams, the happily forever afters and the stars…Damn, they were so bright now…“Max, faster, don’t… ever…stop.”
But he had to and she understood why. It wasn’t his first ride and in case she forgot, this kind of entertainment often came with a heavy price.
He slid out then. “I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t leave me.” She mumbled into the back of her hand as he deserted her temporarily. Before she really felt the sense of abandonment, he was back.
* * * *
The foil ripped, the sheathing was complete and he moved over her again. This time looking into her eyes, he saw disappointment and felt too overwhelmed to pick right up where they left off.