HostileTakeover

by Joey W. Hill

  “Yeah, he has that effect on a woman.” Dana’s amusement had a sultry, serious purr to it, one that kept everything humming. Her slim fingers drew provocative circles on the marks. “He switched you good. Did you like it?”

  “Yes.” Marcie swallowed over her raw throat. She was going to have a permanent rasp from these past few days. “I like everything he does to me, and I just want more. The only thing I didn’t like was how he was feeling, what he was feeling.”

  “Yeah. The boy has issues. Think we need to skip all this childhood therapy shit and just have Peter bash his head against a brick wall a few times.”

  “He has a very hard head.”

  “That ain’t all.”

  The switch from grim amusement to mischief was welcome. An unexpected little giggle bubbled up in her. She must be feeling punchy. “The other night…I lost count of how many times he came. What guy can do that?”

  “He’s a cranky young god. Thor has his magic hammer, Ben has his hundred-horsepower cock.”

  Rachel chuckled while Savannah shook her head. “A long time ago, I told Dana that Ben wants a woman’s soul, not her heart.”

  “Because the devil can take your soul,” Dana added, brushing her mouth on the small of Marcie’s back. “But he can’t take a heart. It has to be given, and usually requires one given in exchange.”

  Marcie was pretty sure Ben already had her soul, but there was another caveat. In order to give a heart, someone had to accept it. Dana started kneading Marcie’s buttocks, creating that low-level discomfort that made her shiver, made her want more. “Yeah, you like that,” the blind woman observed. “You’re a pain junkie. No wonder you’ve fucked with Ben’s head so well. Let’s get you up on your knees, little sister.”

  She didn’t know what to say to any of that, but she didn’t have to do so. Instead, she was clutching Savannah with both hands, because Dana slid one of those hands beneath her, enough to lift her a few inches off the lounger, and put her mouth between Marcie’s legs. She’d never had a woman there, and the soft mouth, the feminine licks, were a different experience entirely from Ben’s strong mouth and penetrating tongue. But Dana was focused, probably using her knowledge of what pleasured herself to bring Marcie to a different place, where thinking was no longer an option. She licked the cold labia, heating them up, stroked the clit with a broad then curling tongue. Two separate, dragging sensations. She tugged on the clit ring, making Marcie undulate against her with a moan.

  Both strong brown hands now moved to Marcie’s hips, thumbs nudging her inner thighs to spread her open. Marcie adjusted without thought, seeking more of that feeling, planting her knees out wide on the lounger.

  She was propped on her elbows, and still holding Savannah’s hands. When Savannah switched their grips, moving hers to Marcie’s wrists, the suggestion of restraint was enough to send Marcie up another few notches. She could imagine Ben sitting in a corner, watching these women pleasure her, all at his command.

  Rachel was no longer giving her a massage, at least not that kind. As she slid her hands under Marcie, Marcie dropped her forehead to the lounger. Jon’s wife cupped her breasts, fingers closing over her nipples, tweaking the piercings.

  “Oh…God…” It didn’t take any time at all. She was pushing against Dana’s face, her fingers now grabbing Savannah’s wrists so they were holding each other. Then Rachel’s touch slid back to her shoulder blades, up into her hair. At the key moment, as her lower belly was coiling up tight, tighter, Rachel dug into her scalp, pulled hard on her hair. The way Ben would if he was fucking her, to pull her head up and back.

  She came hard, intense, fast. It shuddered through her, head to toe. It was a purely physical release, but there was an emotional purging involved, something the women obviously knew she needed. Taking out the trash, so tomorrow she could look around the psyche and see what was there.

  She threw her head back farther, neck arching with the power of the climax. It was then Rachel caught her jaw, taking that kiss Marcie had wanted at her house that day. It was so startling and unexpected, Marcie stilled, quivering in the aftershocks even as she explored the shape and pleasure a woman’s lips could offer, an easy girl kiss. It was like cotton candy at the fair, a treat perfect when the environment was just right, and in this moment, it was. When she murmured something incoherent, Savannah’s fingers joined Rachel’s in her hair. She stroked gently while Rachel kept giving her tugs that made those aftershocks a steady bump of little waves through her body.

  Slowly, they eased her back to her stomach, Rachel breaking the kiss to sweep her hands over her back and shoulders, resuming the massage. Savannah kept stroking her hair. She was falling into lassitude, until a sharp pinch made her yelp. Her gaze snapped down to Dana, who gave her an impish look. The woman picked up another piece of ice, soothed the little bite of pain.

  “Know you appreciate the sadistic side, girlfriend. Didn’t want to leave you unbalanced.”

  “Jesus,” she breathed. “Some minister.”

  “Ministration comes in all forms, love.”

  She managed a snort, but she was well and truly limp now. She mumbled something appropriate, no idea what. Eyes closing, she gave herself back to their hands.

  Cass came back a few minutes after the cries subsided. The cookies were in the oven, but she knew her sister wouldn’t be eating them until later. Marcie was fast asleep, so deeply her arm had fallen off the side of the lounger, the way it had when she was ten. Tenderly, she knelt by Dana, tucked it into a folded position under Marcie’s chin. Glancing at Savannah, she gestured, then helped the woman move over to a corner of the sun porch, out of hearing distance, in case Marcie drifted back to consciousness.

  “Matt’s spoken to Max since we talked. He confirmed what Max told us. He’s never seen Ben like this. He thinks whatever he’s been carrying inside him the past couple years may have ruptured, or at least cracked pretty hard. He told Matt the guys should go look for him, because he doesn’t think he should be alone.”

  Savannah nodded, studied her tense face. “You’re her sister, Cass. What do you think?”

  “Matt asked me the same question.” Cass sighed, shook her head. “I know she’s loved him since she was sixteen years old. He’s every woman’s fantasy, but I don’t know if he has what it takes to be a woman’s reality. To be what Lucas and Matt are to us. We’ve always known he’s the extreme one, Savannah. The one who carries the most demons. As her sister, it scares me to think of her exposed to that.” She gave a tight smile. “At the moment, I want him dismembered and his body dumped in a swamp.”

  “I don’t blame you.”

  Cass raised a brow. “There’s something you want to say, but you’re not sure it’s appropriate.”

  “Using your negotiator skills on me?”

  “Always. I’d miss good stuff if I didn’t.” Cass sobered though, glancing at the sleeping woman, the focus of their concern. “Tell me something that will make this all right, Savannah. Something that gives me hope of a happy ending.”

  “I believe Marcie is right. I think she is the one for Ben, the same way each of us has been for our husbands. Only they accepted the truth of that first, pursued us, convinced us of it. With some rather tempting and unorthodox methods.”

  Cass managed an amused eye roll. “A huge understatement.”

  Savannah nodded. “Ben had a very different history from the other men. He’s never let a woman get close enough to hurt him. He has surrogates, the wives of his friends, safe targets for his affections, but it’s different from having a woman of his own. He’s armored against that level of intimacy, and behind that armor is a lot of darkness. Marcie had a way in no woman has ever had.”

  “Through our family connection.”

  “Correct.” Savannah shifted on the footstool, adjusting swollen ankles onto the brace beneath Cass’ chair. “We know these men have many traits in common. One of them is possessiveness, though they pretend to be civilized about it.”

/>   Cass snorted. “No disagreement here.”

  Savannah acknowledged that with a wry twist of her lips. “We love them, belong to them utterly, consider them ours as well. Ben is just as possessive and protective about what he considers his. However, he doesn’t trust women, because the woman he was supposed to trust unconditionally, from his first breath in this world, abandoned and betrayed him. If his unconscious self recognized Marcie as his soul mate, seeing her with those two men tonight perhaps ripped something open that he’s kept locked down for far too long.”

  “She’s always had more bravery than sense,” Cass said. “But he had no right—”

  “No, he didn’t,” Savannah said evenly. “He had no right at all to do what he did. But figuring out why he did it, seeing what he will do next, that’s the difference between whether there is a future for them or not.”

  Cass considered that. “Matt told Lucas. He’ll be home later tonight. I’ll have her in her pajamas by then, but he’s going to know. Emotions are going to be running high.”

  “Matt will send Peter or Jon after Ben. He can face Lucas at the office Monday. In a reasonably public place, Lucas will hold off murdering him.”

  “I’m not so sure of that.”

  “Janet will cover their asses for many things, but not a capital crime.”

  “True.” Cass sighed again. “I want to do something, Savannah.”

  “We did something tonight. Something important. She needed us.” Savannah nodded toward Marcie. “Let the men deal with Ben right now. They’ll know how to handle him. Marcie herself has a choice in all this, once she feels a little more herself. We don’t want to step on that.”

  “You might feel less equable when you have your own child,” Cass said, but without rancor. Rising, she moved back to Marcie, knelt by her. She couldn’t bear looking at that strained and exhausted face any longer without touching, reassuring herself that her sister was okay. It made her think of Jeremy’s pale, thin face. She’d seen him a couple weeks ago, and knew things were drawing to a close for him. The knowledge of that came forward now, making her feel even more fiercely protective, and more helpless.

  “She’s so sure, Savannah. Why is she so sure?”

  “The letters,” Marcie mumbled. “His letters.” Her brown eyes opened, met Cass’ blue ones. “I wrote to him in college, and he answered. I could tell…it’s hard to explain. I just knew. The things he told me…to help me, they told me things about him as well.” Pain suffused her expression. “Maybe I am too young, too stupid, too sure. But, Cass…I’m not sure I’ll survive being wrong.”

  Tears spilled forth anew. Cass didn’t know what to say to that, but she put her hand over the one Marcie had curled up under her chin. As she slid her arm over the younger woman’s back, Dana and Rachel, who’d been stroking and keeping her comfortable, now drew closer once again. Marcie didn’t seem to notice. She kept that lock on Cass’ gaze, her chin tightening. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. If I am wrong, if he doesn’t love me, if there’s no chance…I’ll go to Milan. I’ll put it back together, Cass. It’s okay. I’ll be all right.”

  Did she know her words broke as she spoke them, her hand quivering in Cass’? When Marcie fixated on Ben as a teenager, Cass had been glad. Ben had been the big brother Jeremy failed to be. He’d also done what Cass couldn’t—he’d taught her to relax enough to enjoy life, to have fun, to be young. But what Cass had called a fixation, a crush, had been something very different in Marcie’s mind, evolving into this as she became a woman. If she had to go back, would she have discouraged Ben’s friendship with her sister, seeing her like this now?

  The answer to that question depended a great deal on what happened next, as Savannah said. They were a close-knit group for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was how much faith they had in this unique circle of men. She couldn’t let this one night wipe away seven years of Ben being what he’d been to all of them. Just on principle, though, she might nurse a homicidal rage toward him for a day or two.

  “You will be okay,” Cass agreed, wiping away the tears. “You’re very strong. You have family who loves you. Me, Lucas, all of us. We’ll be here to take care of you, no matter what comes. I promise.”

  Her heart tightened at the thought of her husband, her Master, the man who meant so much to her. Lucas loved Marcie. Being the kind of Master he was, he would know what Ben had done to her with barely a glance. It wasn’t the marks on her body. That was something Marcie craved. What would ignite Lucas was her shattered expression, her loss of faith, the evidence of betrayal. Ben broke down a sub with brutal methods, but only to bring her to a place where he gave her the maximum pleasure, the perfect experience. In this case, Ben had merely broken her, pushed her aside. Given his lethal talent at breaking a submissive, what he’d done was an unforgivable breach.

  No way around it. Monday was going to be pretty ugly.

  “Remember, we can still strap him down naked and go after him with a Taser. Combine that with a few chocolate truffles, and it’d be the perfect girls’ night.”

  That helpful advice came from Rachel. “I think Dana’s having a bad influence on you,” Marcie said.

  “Everyone always blames me,” Dana complained. “No one realizes Rachel is really worse. I’m just her beard.”

  Marcie hiccupped, a half-chuckle. It also produced a few more tears, breaking Cass’ heart a little.

  Seeing it, Savannah glanced at Rachel and Dana. They picked up her cue without a word. The three of them slid their arms around both sisters, giving them an embrace that promised them all the love and support they needed.

  Until tonight, the K&A men had never let any of them down, had rescued them from some unbearable situations. Savannah knew Ben would make this good. If he didn’t, he wasn’t the man she believed him to be. While she might call her own judgment into doubt on rare occasion, she knew one thing about Matt Kensington. He never misjudged people. It would all work out. If it didn’t…she’d have a go with that Taser herself.

  * * * * *

  Ben knew he had no business being around anyone tonight. He wanted to pound on something. Fortunately, hanging around long enough to torture himself with that brief conversation between Marcie and Max had given him a target.

  So Pfeiffer hired ham-handed security who liked to punch girls in the face. He’d stayed in the shadows long enough to hear that and be certain that Marcie didn’t break Max, talk him into something stupid. Like Ben hadn’t already won the hands-down prize for the stupidest act of the millennium.

  She’d have been looking through that trash container when she had shadows and low foot traffic, which meant the security asshole who’d done it was a nightshift stiff. He wasn’t oblivious to the irony of hunting down a guy who’d hurt her. But hypocrisy was the least of his crimes tonight. He knew he was out of focus, more than a little out of control. He should go home, bolt the door, get blind drunk and leave it at that. But he hated being closed in when he felt like this. He needed to move, to keep moving, until things evened out. He’d go beat this guy to a bloody pulp, buy a cheap bottle of whatever junk one of the convenience stores had, then go drink it on top of his cemetery perch. If he was lucky, he’d pass out, roll off the top and break his fucking neck.

  Pfeiffer was within walking distance of the K&A offices. The building had a spiffy silver and glass façade revealing the lobby inside. He contemplated picking up one of the big stone planters up front and tossing it through, but then he noticed the security desk was visible. He could wave and get the attention of the two guys sitting there, entirely dissatisfying. He was going to throw the planter anyway.

  Then he noticed Peter sitting on a sidewalk bench, ankle balanced on his knee, patiently waiting for him.

  Max was too damn intuitive to be a fucking limo driver.

  “If you’re out trawling for paid pussy, that’s up on Canal Street. Blind women can smell that kind of thing though, so you better sleep with one eye open. Dana will shoot
you full of holes, even if she can’t see you.”

  Peter gave him a level look. “You can’t make me beat you into unconsciousness, no matter how much you deserve it.”

  “Stand back and watch me beat one of these guys into unconsciousness then. Other than doing the same to me, there’s no way you’re going to stop me.” Ben tightened his jaw. “Go home, Peter. I don’t want to be around anyone. Particularly anyone I know.”

  Peter rose, stretching his substantial bulk, cracking his thick neck. “The guy you want isn’t working tonight. I happen to know where he lives.”

  “Why would you share that information?”

  “Because I’ve seen him. I think you need to see him as well. It’s not far.” Sliding his hands into his jeans pockets, Peter began to walk up the street, literally whistling Dixie. Biting back a vile curse, Ben fell in with him in a few strides, since the asshole was ambling. Once there, Peter picked up the pace, but not by much. “Nice night.”

  “Not interested.”

  “Okay.” He said nothing further, and in a few blocks, he made a left, taking Ben down a street where the buildings had upper-level apartments much like his own place nearby. Peter stopped in front of one with a side staircase that led to living quarters above the Ruby Slipper restaurant. Ben went there regularly for breakfast and sometimes to watch ball games on the several wide-screens. He and this guy were practically neighbors.

  “What’s his name?”

  “Why? You thinking of exchanging Christmas cards?” Arching a brow, Peter rapped on a door that looked in need of painting.

  “Hold on. Jesus. Like a fucking train station tonight.” The rumbling voice within sounded like it came from a bear.

  Ben gave Peter a look when they heard a thud, a curse, then a slow progression to the door. “How old is this guy? Ninety?”

  The latch was thrown, and his target opened the door. Ben had to look up several inches. The guy freaking filled the door. Normally he’d throw Peter at him first, to soften him up, but Ben was riding on blood lust, wanting to work the guy over personally. Unfortunately, someone had beaten him to it.