“I’m going to try and trace him through his bank account,” Brooks said.
“And we’ll take up duty in front of her apartment following your schedule,” Topher added, and I nodded my head.
“Good. We’ll be in touch. I expect you boys to be on your best behavior around her,” I said and stood up from my chair.
“No time for a drink first?” Beckett asked as I started getting ready to leave.
“No time for a drink. We need to sort this shit out first, get paid and move on,” I said, and turning from them, I started walking back towards Ensley’s apartment building.
Moving on from Ensley and this job; wasn’t going to be as easy as I made it appear to my brothers. However, they didn’t need to know about my growing attachment towards this woman. For all they were concerned, she was our first new client at this job, and I also happened to be fucking her.
That was all.
Chapter 20
Ensley
I tried to keep myself busy while I was in my apartment. I had already missed several calls from my publicist and later texted her to say that I was under the weather. Thankfully, she was understanding enough to not keep pestering me, and her priority was that I should be fit enough to be ready for the shoot for the second season. It was coming up three days from today, and I was hoping that Thorn and the rest of his team would be able to put me in a better position by then.
I couldn’t help but think of him while I waited. I didn’t know what to expect or what kind of information he would come back with. I didn’t know how soon it was going to be possible for me to leave the apartment. For now, no matter how many cancellations my publicist had to make; I knew it was not safe enough for me to leave.
It was late evening, and I was still trying to keep myself occupied. Watching TV was boring, and I was too afraid to read my emails, worried that Ryan would have gotten a hold of my personal email address and might have written to me there too. I was walking on eggshells around the apartment, and beginning to grow weary waiting for Thorn. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and what all this meant for our relationship.
Was this going somewhere, or were we just two people who had been thrown together by circumstance?
When there was a knock on my door, I approached it on tiptoe. Like I was afraid that it was going to burst into smithereens and Ryan was going to appear on the other side.
“Ensley, it’s me,” Thorn’s voice was strong and confident, and I swung the door open to see him standing there, with his hands stuck deep into the pockets of his jacket.
He came into the apartment and shut the door behind him.
“I’ve put the rest of my core team members on shifts, to watch your apartment,” was the first thing he said when he came in.
The first thing I wanted to do, however, was to throw my arms around his neck and kiss him. I had to do everything I could to hold back from following my instinct. This was supposed to be a professional conversation.
“Okay, are they going to be right outside my door?” I asked, and Thorn nodded his head.
“Someone will be at your door, and one of the guys will be downstairs, watching the entrance to the apartment building at all times,” he said, and I clasped my hands together nervously and nodded my head.
“Okay, that makes me feel better,” I told him, and Thorn stepped towards me.
“I’ve given them instructions that you should be watched at all times,” he added, and I had to crane my neck to look up at him, the closer he came to me.
“Does that mean that I can leave the apartment?” I asked, a smile tugging the corners of my lips. Thorn nodded his head. He had an expression on his face that told me that he was glad he was able to please me.
“Yes, you can go out, and you will have someone with you at all times,” he said. Our bodies were just inches apart, and I could breathe in his strong masculine scent now. I wanted him again, and I was trying my best to not make a complete fool of myself.
“And what about you?” I asked, hoping that he wasn’t able to see the way my lips were quivering.
“I’ve rented a hotel room a few blocks down, so I’ll be close to you,” he said, and I tried to ignore the way my heart fell. What did I expect? For him to move in with me? Realistically, we had only known each other for two days. He had no reason to move in with me.
I smiled weakly at him and nodded my head.
“Okay, that’s good. I’m happy with this arrangement,” I told him, and Thorn reached out a hand and placed it on my shoulder.
“It’ll be all right, Ensley. I’m going to do some digging around tonight, and in a few days, I’m sure that I’ll know his location,” he said, catching my gaze. I nodded my head and smiled. I wanted him to know that I trusted him and I appreciated everything he was doing for me. A complete stranger.
Thorn hooked his forefinger under my chin, tipping my face up in his direction. I had been avoiding looking at him directly, and I could sense that he wanted me to see him.
“Nothing is going to happen to you. I’m going to make sure of that,” he said, and I stared into his blazing green eyes. My gaze dropped to the tattoos that were crawling up the side of his neck. I had seen this man naked, and I wanted to see again.
His hand left my face and traveled down the front of the plaid shirt I was wearing.
“I really need to keep my hands off you,” he said, his fingers fumbling with the buttons of my shirt. My breasts were heaving now. I could feel my nipples pebbling under my shirt, just as his large warm hand slipped in through the shirt and cupped one breast.
“But you are so damn sexy, it’s a sin,” he added in a growl, squeezing my breast, as his other hand reached for my ass. He pulled me close to himself, and I gasped when my body thudded against his. He could turn me on at the blink of an eye. Just looking at him made my pussy quake with desire. It was already beginning to swell up in my panties.
“I don’t want you to resist me,” I said, in a low shy voice, and he slipped his hand away from my shirt and then down the front of my jeans.
“But I need to do my job,” he said, bringing his face close to my ear. He was whispering, as his rough stubbled cheek brushed against my own soft skin.
“I’m your employer, and I’m asking you to fuck me,” I said, and Thorn’s mouth was on my earlobe, flicking and sucking it. There was no going back from this.
***
Thorn’s thick fingers were down the front of my jeans and inside my panties. He was nuzzling my ear and my hair, while his fingers sought out my swollen clit. I was writhing in his arms, moaning and clinging on to him.
His fingers slipped into my pussy, and I felt like I was about to explode. He pushed me with his body so that my back was pressing up against the wall of my living room now.
I could feel his cock thrusting into my thigh as he held me in position, his fingers sliding in and out of my folds. I was out of breath, moaning and calling out his name. His mouth lapped against my other earlobe now, just before he pulled that into his mouth and started sucking on it again.
His fingers inside my pussy were like a time bomb going off in my body. Inch by inch, the rougher his movement got; I knew that I was on the brink of coming.
I dug my nails into his back and bit down on my lip as I tried to hold back for a few minutes longer. He wanted me to come. His stroking became rougher by the second, his fingers played with my folds, his thumb stroked my clit. I could feel my juices sticking to his fingers, and he slipped deeper into my pussy.
With one hand, his free one, he shoved my shirt off my shoulders. My breasts were on full display for him now, and quickly he took one nipple into his mouth. That was about all I could take. I weaved my fingers into the hair in the middle of his head. I held on to him by twisting my hand around it. His mouth continued to suck on my nipple.
“Thorn, please, I’m about to come,” I screamed, as I felt my body slipping out of my mind’s control.
His fingers had reached tha
t spot deep inside me, that spot that was going to set my orgasm in motion now. Repeatedly, his fingers stroked me, the friction against the walls of my pussy was too much to bear.
“Come for me, princess,” he growled again, and that was all I needed.
With his fingers still inside my pussy, I felt myself explode. My juices trickled out of me, his fingers slipped in them, and now a wet slapping sound filled the air in my apartment while he fucked me with just his fingers.
My jeans were wet from my own cum, my panties were soaked, and my body was shaking out of control. I was standing on my tiptoes now, while I sank my nails into his jacket. His mouth remained on my breasts, sucking one nipple and then teasing the other with his teeth. He didn’t stop thrusting his fingers into me till I had finally stopped coming.
My breathing was hard, I wanted to collapse right there to the floor, but I managed to hold myself back. Especially because Thorn still had a grip on me. Slowly, as the voice of reason started to return to me, I felt him slide his fingers out of my pussy, and then out from my jeans.
Thorn stepped away from me, not concerned by the juices that covered his hand.
I knocked the back of my head against the wall. My breasts were heaving, I could still feel my swollen throbbing clit recovering in my panties. Every time we had sex, I felt exhausted. Like I had given all my energy to him, and I had none left to keep going.
“I really should get going,” Thorn said, and when I gazed down to the front of his jeans; I could see the bulge. He was turned on, but he didn’t want to stay. Something told me that he was making a firm decision on this. He didn’t want to spend any more time in my apartment than absolutely necessary.
Was making me come a necessity?
I drew the stray strands of my blond hair away from my forehead and could feel the beads of perspiration that covered my face.
“Yeah, sure, hope you have a nice night,” I said and tidied up my jeans.
Thorn was watching me intently like he was trying to figure me out from my behavior. I tried to be as cool as I could pretend to be.
I had asked him to fuck me. Now he was leaving. Did he consider giving me orgasms a part of his job? Did he think that I needed them to keep me sane and relaxed?
I didn’t want him to read it on my face; that ‘s what I was thinking. I wanted him to think that none of this affected me as much as it really did.
When I looked up at him and met his eye, I saw that he had clenched his jaw.
“I’m going to be working,” he replied to my earlier statement, and I nodded my head. We were not in a relationship. He didn’t owe me an explanation of what he was going to be doing tonight. I was paying him and his crew to provide me with their protection, and as far as I could tell, he was getting the job done.
“Sure, no problem,” I said, feeling stupid as soon as the words left my mouth.
Thorn said nothing more. He stuck his hands into the pockets of his jeans, the same hands that were in my pussy just minutes ago. Then he turned from me and walked to my front door.
“Hope you sleep well tonight, Ensley,” he said, holding the door open.
My face was flushed, I could feel the back of my neck growing hot, and I nodded my head. Of course, I was going to sleep well, he had made sure that I did. The question was, did he consider it a part of his duties to do that?
“You too, Thorn,” I said, just before he shut the door behind him and I was left alone in my apartment again.
Chapter 21
Thorn
I sat at the coffee table in the small hotel room I’d rented near Ensley’s apartment. I could still see the disappointed look in her eyes when I told her that I was going to give her some privacy for the night. She looked disappointed, but she didn’t ask me to stay. Which was a good thing, because I would have agreed to that in a heartbeat.
The truth was that we both needed some time apart. I needed some time so that I could get to work on her case. While Ensley needed some time so she could wrap her brain around what was going on between us. To say that things were moving a little too fast for us, was an understatement. It was moving at lightning speed, and I didn’t want her making any decisions that she would later regret.
I had the file, which Brooks had put together on Ryan from the NYPD, scattered around me. I knew he was a good researcher, and he was working hard on trying to find out more, but I wanted to do some digging of my own. It wasn’t like I was going to be able to sleep tonight anyway, I had gotten used to having her around me all the time and even though I didn’t want to admit it-I was missing Ensley.
I was looking for any clues based on Ryan’s history in his file, about where he could possibly be at this point. If Brooks could hack into his bank account and find out more, that would be even better.
I’d also found Ryan’s social media account online, which I had already browsed through, but the medical report of Ensley’s bruises now had my full attention. I kept coming back to examine them, as much as I tried to focus on other things.
There were harsh mug-shot style photographs taken of Ensley. These were not details she had provided me with. Instead, this was what Brooks had dug out for me. All she had shown me, earlier in her apartment, was the medical report and the restraining order.
Now I had all the details in front of me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off the bruises. There were images of Ensley holding her arms up so that the cameraman could photograph the bruises on her arms. They were dark, finger-shaped bruises against her pale skin and the more I stared at them, the angrier I grew.
She had mentioned that he used to give her bruises just by grabbing her, but I hadn’t expected them to be this bad. There were dark circles under her eyes, her complexion was pale, and the photo that was taken last had evidence of the split lip that she had told me about.
The Ensley in these photographs was not the same vivacious woman I knew and had slept with. She looked like a scared, broken person in these pictures. Someone who had suffered deep trauma at the hands of a man who should have been protecting her and taking care of her. I hadn’t asked, but I was still wondering what had attracted her to him in the first place.
My hands fisted up the more I went through the details of the statement she had made to the police.
They were in a fight that night. Ryan was drunk and pushed her against a glass cabinet. He was yelling at her, while she fell to the floor, conscious of the fact that her lip had split open. He had picked her up, bunching her hair in his hands and then slammed her against the wall.
Ensley claimed in her report that she didn’t fight back. She just cried till he passed out on the couch. That was when she left the apartment and thankfully went straight to the police station.
I had known enough battered and abused women in my lifetime to know what a brave step that had been. I hated every fucking man who raised a finger at a woman, but I felt like I hated Ryan the most. Ensley hadn’t disclosed just how traumatic her experiences had been, but I could see now, and I wanted to protect her even more.
I was glad that she had managed to escape that life, and I was determined that she would never have to go through that again.
My eyes drifted to the computer screen on my coffee table. I could see the asshole’s face on my screen now. On his social media account, he seemed like an ordinary guy with an ordinary set of friends. Dusty blond hair, a narrow face and somewhat of a jokester online.
I would bet money that none of his friends or family knew exactly the kind of man he was behind closed doors. People rarely did.
I scrolled through the page, clicking on photographs and re-reading status updates to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything. Ryan didn’t update his social media on where he was, or what he was doing. He seemed to be leading a regular kind of life.
It was only when I stumbled on one of his recent photographs, that I stopped scrolling. Something had caught my eye, which I hadn’t noticed the previous times that I’d looked at the pictures.
Ryan was in the photo, it was a selfie, and his face covered most of the frame-which was probably why I had missed noticing it earlier. It was only when I looked closer that I noticed the background. The Santa Monica Pier was behind him, and this fucking asshole was smiling at the camera.
I stood up with a jerk from the chair and rushed to get my cell phone. I tried Jamison’s number first. He was on shift to watch Ensley’s front door, but his phone rang through. I tried again and no response.
I was pacing the hotel room, as I rang Topher. He was supposed to be downstairs, watching the entrance to Ensley’s building. He answered the call.
“What’s going on?” I barked into the phone. Topher seemed surprised by the tone of my voice, which was a good thing, I thought.
“It’s all good, brother. She hasn’t left her apartment yet and not too many people have gone into the building. Don’t worry, man, we’re keeping an eye on her,” he said and added a laugh.
I couldn’t stop pacing. I had a bad gut feeling that I couldn’t get rid of.
“Where is Jamison? I tried calling him,” I growled into the phone.
“Jamison? He should be up there on her floor. That was where I left him, spoke to him like an hour ago and everything was fine,” Topher replied.
“Why the fuck isn’t he answering his phone?” I barked.
“Calm down there, brother. He’s probably just gone to piss or something. Maybe his phone is on silent. It could be any of those things. I told you I’ve been keeping an eye and nothing’s happened,” Topher said, trying to put me at ease.
“Fuck this. He should be fucking reachable when I need him!” I growled and ended the call.
I dialed Ensley’s number right after that, still pacing around and waiting for her to pick up.
She didn’t, and the call ended. I tried her number again, and there was no response.
Fox (The Road Rebels MC Book 4) Page 52