Tease Me (Teased and Broken Book 1)

by Ashley Black

  I said nothing as I sipped my whisky, and fixed him with an unblinking stare, the one I knew always freaked him out if he looked into my eyes long enough.

  “I worry about you, Elena,” he breathed. “We were having a lot of fun before, I didn’t want to say anything about this, because I didn’t want to be a downer. But I had a dream.”

  I blinked. “And what happened?”

  His gaze slid away from mine. “You don’t want to know.”

  “Come on!” I laughed. “Mr psychic abilities.” I had to roll my eyes. Aaron was convinced he was psychic because he had had a few dreams about Daniel and about myself that had come true. To me, I thought it was just purely coincidental, but Aaron felt otherwise. He insisted that a book smacking into the back of his head after it fell off a sloppily loaded stack atop a shelf in an antique bookstore had bestowed upon him this gift.

  “I dreamed that Brett died,” he said quietly. “It looked like he was strangled to death in his little studio.”

  I choked a little on my whisky. “Wow. That’s intense. Who did it?”

  “I saw a masked figure leaving the studio, he was dragging you away by the hair.”

  I almost laughed at how ridiculous that sounded. “You think it was Thornton?”

  Aaron shook his head. “I know it was Thornton. This is serious, Elena. I’ve had a rather awful feeling about that fucker, and would really appreciate it if we got out of here right now,” he shivered. “This place is really starting to give me the creeps.”

  “The creeps?” I was a little surprised at my friend. He wasn’t normally this paranoid, I had never seen him so uneasy during one of our pier philosophising sessions.

  “Aaron,” I said gently. “What’s wrong?”

  “You.”

  “What about me”?” I asked.

  “The dream,” he said quietly. “It scared the living shit out of me, the thought of losing you.”

  I hugged Aaron close. “That is super sweet of you to say, maybe I will consider increasing your bonus this year,” I purred. Damn I always acted like an asshole when I was overcome with emotion. I didn’t want to cry in front of Aaron right now.

  He pulled away from me, grey eyes flashing in outrage. “Elena, I say this as your fucking friend, not as your literary agent, but sure.” A small smile quivered on his mouth. “An increase in bonus would certainly not be unwelcome – just put it in the account Daniel doesn’t see – I can go and get liposuction in secret.”

  Aaron’s shoulders slumped in dejection as he stared out at the water that had begun to whip itself into a frenzy, the way it tended to do when the fishing boats or the rich boys and girls toys came in to moor.

  “Someone is watching us out there,” Aaron rubbed at his eyes . “Do you see?”

  I blinked into the murk. I couldn’t see a damn thing of course, my long distance vision had always been really lousy. “Nope, can’t see a thing.”

  Aaron was rising to his feet, and pulling me up beside him. “Someone’s definitely out there. Holy shit, this is beyond creepy.” He fished into his pocket for his phone, and flashed it on and off, shouting. “Who’s out there?”

  We both screamed when lights flared, burning bright not far from us upon the water, from a rather impressive-looking ink black boat that started to slowly glide toward us.

  “Fuck, no,” I heard Aaron groan beside me. “Do you see it, Elena?”

  At the sight of the Black Eagle, Thornton Darko’s rather expensive luxurious boat approaching us quietly across the water, I was convinced I had gone into some kind of shock. I was speechless. The crazy asshole had really done it. He had come for me, as promised.

  I made out a figure standing at the very tip of the bow of the boat. As it glided closer into the light, I saw the mask first – the familiar black death tears, the black line with the slight lift at the corner for a mouth, a long black coat fluttering, and shiny black boots. Mr. Cellrager himself. Thornton Darko.

  Behind him in the warm hue of the sleek cabin, my terrified gaze fell upon an elderly man who appeared to be driving the boat. Bob! For some reason the old man’s presence reassured me. I closed my mouth after I realized it had been hanging open.

  As soon as the Black Eagle got close enough, Thornton gracefully leapt to the pier and stood there, staring down at me, the mask, his height, his energy, all incredibly intimidating, and irretrievably terrifying. He then extended one black gloved hand.

  Dumbstruck, I thought it was in invitation, but no, I had underestimated Thornton again. After all, what Thornton Darko wanted, he tended to simply take; he didn’t fuck around asking. His cold leather-covered fingers flashed around my wrist, and he pulled me against him with such urgency it was as if his very life depended upon my body touching his at that exact moment. And who knows? Perhaps it did.

  “I’m going to take you away with me, Elena.”

  Six

  “Hell no,” Aaron protested. Loudly. “She is not going anywhere with you.”

  Thornton ignored him, his dark green eyes staring straight into my soul. I felt annihilated by that gaze. Fuck.

  I shivered, and forced myself to address Aaron who was losing his shit behind me, and had started pulling my hair, which hurt a lot. It seemed he had taken it upon himself to attack me instead of Mr. Cellrager. A strategy, I guess.

  “Aaron!” I cried, and visibly winced as Thornton’s grip upon my wrist only tightened when my friend set upon us.“Calm down! You’re hurting me!”

  Aaron released my hair at once, and Thornton pulled me away from my friend, slamming my back against him. His arm moved possessively across my chest to wrap around and grip the top of my right shoulder. I felt the blast of his frightening heat and intensity behind me, his heart thundering, and his junk pressing into my ass. He was much aroused by this situation. I, however, was not.

  Aaron scowled angrily into Thornton’s face. “Let go of her.”

  “Who is this person?” Thornton asked the back of my head instead.

  “My literary agent,” I said, breaking into nervous laughter. I couldn’t help it. I always laughed at the most inappropriate times. Times like realizing your muse was actually certifiable. Holy shit, he had come. He had actually come.

  “Oh.” Thornton relaxed his grip on me, his gloved hand released my right shoulder, and he even backed up a little. Unbelievably, I saw his head bend a little deferentially. “I am sorry, man – you went insane, and you started pulling my Elena’s hair.”

  My Elena. I turned the phrase over in my mind and shivered.

  “I’m insane!” Aaron practically screeched at him. “How about you? You setting upon my friend like that just now! Trying to take her away from me.”

  “Elena knew the price for coming to the pier tonight,” Thorn said, sounding faintly amused, his arms behind his back as he stared fixedly at my friend.

  Meanwhile, Aaron was blinking in stunned amazement at Thornton, a little taken aback at his reaction. “Yeah, well, I am also Elena’s bodyguard,” he went on a little shakily. “I am extremely protective. And she is not going anywhere with your crazy ass.”

  Congratulations, Aaron! I rejoiced inwardly. I had never seen him so fierce or protective as he was now. He was really standing up to Thornton, and I fucking loved it. Best bodyguard ever!

  “Bodyguard?” I heard the dubious tone in Thornton’s question.

  I pulled him to my side, wrapping an arm around him protectively. “Yes, he is a man of many talents, my friend Aaron.”

  Aaron’s shaking arm slid around my waist as he nodded in agreement, but said nothing more. He was terrified, I realized. Absolutely thunderstruck at having Thornton Darko standing there before us, in all his masked glory no less, on the pier in little seaside Ashby. It was perfectly surreal, and yes, a little insane.

  “You seem a little out of shape for a bodyguard,” Thornton went on. I saw his eyes turn up a little at the corners behind the mask, which meant one of his deadly smiles were flashing behind the t
hing. “Particularly if you are going to protect Elena against the likes of me.”

  Aaron shrugged, and I felt him bristle against me. “The likes of you, shithead, don’t scare me much.”

  Knives went up in Thornton’s eyes. He snarled, a flash of white teeth, and then in a blur of black, he launched the extreme and frightening physicality of his body squarely at us.

  I screamed. Aaron screamed. It was a clusterfuck of screaming.

  It happened all so fast. One moment, I was standing screaming on the pier, the next, in one foul manic swoop, Thornton had me and my friend over his shoulders - Aaron on the left, me on the right - and was running toward the boat. The man must have had superhuman strength to bear us both like that. He gracefully leapt onto the Black Eagle, and deposited us both on the bow. He turned toward Bob, who looked quite startled in the cabin, and raised a gloved finger in a gesture I didn’t recognize.

  Bob nodded, flashed an uneasy smile at us, and then the boat thrummed to life and pulled swiftly away from the pier. Holy shit, this thing was fast. Ashby was becoming a distant memory within nanoseconds. Was this was really happening? We were on a boat with the devil himself, Thornton Darko.

  He nodded to us again, his gaze lingering a breath too long on me, and then he retreated to the cabin to speak with Bob.

  Aaron and I simply stared at each other.

  “Well, that was intense,” Aaron breathed out, I believe at about the same time I did.

  I was giddy from the lack of oxygen.

  I nodded and clutched his shoulders, staring deep into his eyes. “I am sorry about all of this shit, Aaron. Part of me thought Thorn was just joking when he said he was going to turn up at the pier tonight, but most of me hoped it was true.”

  “And how are you feeling about that now, Elena? “ My friend sounded disgusted. “Has the fantasy caught up with the reality of Mr. Psycho?”

  I would not cry. I would stay strong, as Aaron had been when he stood up for my lousy ass. I took a deep shuddering breath. “It’s pretty fucking terrifying, actually.”

  Aaron sighed. “I know, hon. Holy shit, though - what are you going to do with that man?”

  I was speechless. Extreme stupidity always confounded me.

  “Does he know about Brett?”

  I racked my brains, thinking back to our conversations. Probably not. I shook my head. “No. No, I don’t think so.”

  Aaron groaned. “Well, it was nice knowing you, Elena. Don’t you think you should have said something, I mean –

  I shook my head. “Don’t.” My voice fell to a whisper.

  “You sound scared,” he told me with a raised eyebrow. “You should be. My dreams are having a terrible habit of coming true, Elena. Brett looked very much dead in that dream I had.”

  “Who is Brett?”

  Shit. Thorn. Standing there before us mask less, his beauty heart smashing in the moonlight.

  “Her fiancé,” Aaron answered. “Except he left her.”

  Shit. Damn him. “Aaron!” I fixed him with a look. I could not breathe for my rage. I didn’t want Thorn to know about Brett’s existence. Of course, there was every chance he knew of him, anyway. Brett had his own fame. Clearly, not on Thorn’s level. But fame, nonetheless.

  Thorn was silent for a breath. He seemed to be absorbing what Aaron had said, his dark green eyes staring at his feet.

  He looked so vulnerable, I thought, and when he looked up again, he looked straight through me. “Then he is a fool to have let you go,” he breathed. “I am sorry to hear of this, Elena. I know what it’s like to lose someone.”

  He sounded oddly genuine.

  I nodded; I couldn’t speak, my elbow was buried in Aaron’s squishy side, and he was near whimpering beside me. I relented, hoping he had got my signal loud and clear to say no more about Brett.

  Aaron glared at Thorn. “Excuse me? Where the fuck do you think you’re taking us?”

  “To the dark side, of course.” My insane rock star sounded confused.

  “And for those of us who don’t have a fucking clue what you are talking about, can you enlighten us?” Aaron’s hand was twitching on his mobile phone. “Because I am about to call the police here, fuckweed.”

  Thorn’s brows drew together. “You don’t want to come to my party, is that it? You want to go back?”

  “Yes,” I answered, because Aaron looked like he had just gone into a state of shock. I realized my voice had taken on a gentle, soothing tone like I was talking to a child; fuck, he would hate that, but I couldn’t help it. I thought he was seriously mentally unstable and was worried about him. “Thorn, could you ask Bob to turn the boat back please?”

  “Oh.” His shoulders fell a little. “I see - you actually think I am insane.” And then he broke into laughter, and motioned for the elderly man to come out onto the deck. “Dad, can you come out here, please?”

  Bob looked nervous; he was a short man, with bushy white hair covered with a Cellrager beanie he had hastily pulled on before leaving the cabin. He had light blue, kindly eyes, and seemed a normal enough old dude wearing cool merchandise from his son’s band.

  “Thornton,” he nodded in greeting, and then at us. “Friends of Thornton.”

  “No. Not friends of Thornton,” Aaron disagreed.

  “They want us to go back.” Thorn was pouting. “Because my flair for the dramatic has been misinterpreted as insanity.”

  “You did forcibly remove them from the pier,” Bob pointed out.

  Thorn nodded. “Fair point. I just assumed-”

  “Assumed what, pretty boy?” Aaron’s tone was acid. Holy shit. Again, he was surprising me tonight. I liked this side of him. Why hadn’t I seen it before?

  “I just assumed Elena explained our arrangement,” he went on, and his gaze, now cold, found mine. “I am a bit intense sometimes; I am sorry, I clearly went too far. I see this now. Of course, if you have changed your mind and want to go back...” His voice fell away as he looked at me expectantly.

  “Bob, please take us back,” Aaron answered for us both.

  “Wait.” Thorn held up a black gloved finger. “What does Elena have to say about that?”

  “Are you deaf as well as insane?” My friend poked a finger at his head. “She already told you she wants your stupid boat turned back.”

  “Hey,” Bob interjected. “I would appreciate it if would you stop calling my son insane mister.”

  Aaron looked like the man had struck him.

  “It is cruel and unnecessary. Thorn means none of you any harm. I assure you kids of that, and what he says is true. He does have a flair for the dramatic. He is certainly intense. But that man has a heart of gold, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with his sanity.”

  “Says his Dad,” Aaron snarked.

  Thornton was ignoring all of this now, staring down at his phone, aghast.

  “Is it Jimmy again?” Bob’s light blue eyes glittered in concern as he touched Thorn’s arm.

  “Yes,” Thorn replied, tension flaring around his mouth. “He’s threatening suicide again. Excuse me, I need to take this.”

  Distracted, Aaron and I exchanged glances of confusion.

  “Hello,” Thorn answered softly, and moved away from us to stand right at the tip of the bow of the boat.

  “He talks this guy and others out of doing stupid shit on at least a daily basis,” Bob sighed unhappily beside us.

  Anger flared within; I was more than pissed that Thorn would be troubled by fuckers like that. It was not that I didn’t have sympathy for those who needed help. I just hated how very much like leeches they were, fastening onto a shining light like Thorn, and sucking everything out of him.

  “Fuck’s sake,” I muttered in frustration, hearing Thorn’s deep voice carry over to me.

  “You are worthwhile. I feel broken on a daily basis. Think of it like this, buddy, we are all broken. You don’t want to do it. No. Please don’t do this, for me. You say you love me. You say I am everyth-”

/>   “The worst one was the lady who cut off her nipple and sent it to him. She’s big on self-mutilation,” Bob went on.

  “So, we’re turning this boat around now, yes?” Aaron was clearly unmoved by Thorn’s efforts to talk someone down from suicide.

  I ignored him for a moment and stared at Thorn who had one hand in his hair now, and was gripping the back of his skull. “This is ridiculous. Why does he do that?” My heart was suddenly breaking for him to indulge these freaks, inviting their shit into his clearly already over-complicated mind.

  “Because deep down, he knows he is one of them,” Bob said sadly.

  “And…?” Aaron jumped up and down impatiently, waving his arms around. “We are still not turning around the boat because?”

  “Shut the fuck up, Aaron!” I hissed, flashing him a severe look. “I’m talking to Bob.”

  Aaron fell silent, but his look would have incinerated me on the spot. He took out his phone and started furiously texting.

  “Them?” I prompted Bob.

  “The misunderstood, the passed over, the freaks of society. They see Thorn as their King. He is fiercely protective. He gave them jobs when no one else will. He keeps their families fed and off the streets. You need to understand, Elena, that they would do anything for him. He takes on all of their sorrow. My son…” Bob’s brow furrowed. “Feels way too much.”

  “Please,” I heard Thorn’s voice raise an octave. “Don’t do this, man. This is not you. This is beyond. Now you’re talking… what now? Please. I have… I don’t. I am not even equipped to deal with this.”

  “The first fucking thing Mr. ass wipe over there has said that makes any sense,” Aaron grumbled, stuffing his phone back in his pocket. “Your son is an arrogant idiot to be speaking with these people, they need professional help. He is not the fucking messiah.”

  “He is their messiah,” Bob disagreed quietly. “Look. I don’t expect you to understand, mister… whoever you are.”

  “Elena’s ex-agent and bodyguard if she hooks up with him!” Aaron’s face had turned bright red. I had never seen him so angry.