Bend: A Dark Mafia Romance

by B. B. Hamel

  And just as soon as I felt his hands beginning to roam my body, the sound of a crying baby tore me out of the moment.

  I paused and stopped, pulling back.

  “Damn,” he said softly.

  “That’s Mason.” I bit my lip. “I have to go check on him.”

  “Yeah,” he grunted. “I guess so. Go ahead, mommy.”

  I climbed off him and stood up. I glanced back at him but quickly tore myself away.

  I opened the bedroom door and quickly shut it behind me. Mason was awake and crying, and so I quickly walked over to him, rocking him slightly, trying to calm him down. He was probably upset that he woke up in a strange room.

  What the hell was I doing? I couldn’t believe I had kissed him like that. I barely knew this man, although he was the father of my son. Our situation, everything happening, it just wasn’t the time to start kissing and throwing myself at Emory.

  Mason had to be my first priority, and I needed my mind to be clear to make the right decisions. I couldn’t be distracted by Emory, by his amazing taste, his lips, his hands, his body. I couldn’t let myself do that.

  I couldn’t risk letting Mason down.

  As I rocked my baby, I knew I wasn’t going back out there. No, I was going to eventually get Mason back in bed, and I was going to go to bed myself, alone.

  I couldn’t let myself give in to what I knew I really wanted.

  Chapter 12

  Emory

  I woke up the next morning with a hard fucking cock and a backache.

  I hated sleeping on hotel couches, though then again I’d take a hotel couch over a tent in north Pakistan any day. At least the couch wasn’t full of rocks and didn’t have the potential to explode at any moment.

  After Tara left the room last night, she didn’t come back out. I figured she was too busy with her fingers deep in her pussy, moaning to herself, saying my name. It was a shame that she was too afraid to give in to what she really wanted, although she’d looked like she was about to for a second.

  That fucking kiss. I stretched my legs and grunted. That fucking kiss had sent fire through my veins, driven me absolutely insane. The girl threw herself at me, straddling my hips, rubbing herself against me. My cock was fucking raging hard, and I wanted to press her down on the couch and fuck that pussy until she couldn’t breathe anymore.

  But as soon as Mason started to cry, she disappeared and never came back. Not that I could blame her of course, since her child always came first.

  Our child, I had to remind myself. Our fucking child.

  My phone started ringing a few minutes later, just as my hard on was finally starting to soften. I grabbed it and answered.

  “Yeah?”

  “Emory, it’s Travis.”

  “How are the parents?”

  “They’re fine,” he said. “Been on them all night. Nothing suspicious. Unless Omar himself was sneaking around, I doubt they were doing anything.”

  “Got it.”

  “Also, Cooper just showed up.”

  I laughed. “You called Coop?”

  “Hell yeah, man.”

  “Fair enough. Tell me next time.”

  “You would have said no. This way, you didn’t have a chance to make a bad decision.”

  Cooper Banks was another one of our SEAL members, one of the more promising young guys. His specialty was demolitions and small arms, though he was also a hand-to-hand master and a skilled diver. I trusted Coop like I trusted anyone else, but I didn’t want to bring in the full team for this. We needed to stay low-key, and when all the guys were together, we tended to blow shit up without remorse.

  And of course, Cooper was most likely to set those charges. The man was young, the youngest member on our team, and he was something of a loose cannon. I had to keep an eye on him every time we deployed. He always did his job remarkably well, but there was an edge to him.

  Still, I had to admit that Travis was right. We needed a third guy on this, especially considering Omar had his own little team. We didn’t know what kind of training they had or how skilled they were, so we had to assume the worst.

  I grinned to myself. “Fine.”

  “What’s the plan for today?”

  “You get some sleep. Coop can watch the parents.”

  “Roger that.”

  “I’ll call with more later.”

  “Over and out, captain.”

  He hung up and I tossed my phone aside.

  I hadn’t heard a peep from the bedroom yet, which surprised me. I’d expected her to be up nice and early, but then again she’d been going through some pretty stressful shit. She probably needed sleep more than she realized.

  I got up and grabbed the landline, dialing room service. I ordered us some food and some coffee and then stretched my legs out, smiling to myself.

  Gorgeous fucking girl in the bedroom and food coming to my door. Not a bad mission as far as missions went.

  I didn’t have to wait long for the food, at least. There was a knock on the door and a young guy brought the tray inside. The smell of eggs, bacon, and pancakes, plus fresh coffee, filled the room. I tipped the kid and went to work.

  The smell of food did the trick, because almost as soon as it was delivered, I heard Tara stirring in the other room. I grinned to myself as she opened the door and came out, holding Mason in her arms.

  “Is that breakfast?” she asked.

  “Sure is.” I poured her a mug of coffee. “Dig in.”

  “Room service?”

  “Compliments of Uncle Sam.”

  She made a face. “This is totally why the government has such a big deficit.”

  “I’m pretty sure this is just a tiny little drop in the ocean of debt.”

  She shrugged. “Still. You seem to be enjoying it.”

  I reached out and gently took Mason from her. I held the kid as she started making a plate for herself.

  “Of course I am,” I said. “I’m usually sleeping on rocks and in the desert on missions. I think this is the first time I’ve ordered room service.”

  “Well, I can’t complain too much then,” she said.

  “Good, since I’m normally risking my life to keep this country safe.”

  She made a face. “Your cocky attitude makes it hard to feel thankful.”

  “You should be thankful. I’m the man keeping everything that goes bump in the night away from you ignorant civilians.”

  “I guess I’m just too ignorant then.”

  “You’ll figure it out.” I rocked Mason in my arms. “When do you feed him, by the way?”

  “Did it already.”

  “Oh. Good.”

  She laughed at me. “You really don’t know anything about babies, do you?”

  “Not at all. I know plenty about guns and tactics, but babies are a mystery.”

  “How about you keep him company while I go shower?”

  “I can jump from a helicopter into a storm ocean, swim five miles to shore, and kill a man with my bare hands. I can handle the baby.”

  “Good. Have fun you two!” She smiled at me and walked back into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

  I looked at Mason. “Okay, little man, it’s just us now. What do we do?”

  He stared back at me blankly.

  I didn’t know shit about babies. I had no clue what I was doing, or what I was supposed to be doing. And of course, Tara was taking forever in the bathroom.

  I sat on the couch for ten minutes, bouncing him on my knee, trying to think of things to tell him. I ended up telling him an abridged version of one of my deployments, without most of the violence and gore. He seemed to like that, or maybe he just liked hearing my voice.

  Holding my son was strange. Even thinking the words “my son” was an insane revelation every time it happened. I wasn’t a father, wasn’t cut out for having a kid. Even if I was, my job didn’t really let us have lives or families or children.

  SEALs didn’t get close to other people. We l
ived on the edge of danger at all times and spent most of our lives abroad. Even if I wanted a family, it would be pretty damn hard to have one when I saw foreign countries more often than my own.

  Which was admittedly a downside to the job. Sometimes I wished I could have more stability, more time in the States. But even when I got a few weeks off, inevitably I wanted to get back out into the shit, back into the action, because that was where I thrived.

  I felt alive in a firefight, more alive than I ever felt at home. The only thing that made me feel even slightly like I was living in the moment was fucking, but that never lasted.

  I looked at Mason and he looked back at me. I had a strange feeling in my chest, and I could tell that I was torn between two poles. There were two options opening up before me, two ways of living my life, whereas before there was only ever one choice.

  Before Uncle Sam owned my ass.

  Now, Mason was in my life. It didn’t matter if I knew what to do with him or not. He was still my flesh and blood, my responsibility.

  There was no going back, not anymore. I’d committed myself to keeping my family safe, but also to trying to be a part of Mason’s life. I didn’t know what that meant, or what that could mean, since I spent most my fucking life killing bad men.

  But I had to figure that shit out.

  Finally, after what felt like hours, Tara came back out into the living room, her hair wet. She was wearing a navy blue T-shirt and white cotton shorts, and she looked fucking perfect.

  “How’s it going?” she asked.

  “Okay,” I grunted. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “Is he crying?”

  I inspected him. “No.”

  “Is he injured?”

  I inspected him again. “Not visibly.”

  “Then you did great.”

  I held him up. “Take him from me before I somehow break him.”

  She laughed and came over, taking him into her arms. He laughed and cuddled against her.

  “You’re not going to break him,” she said. “He’s a baby. Just use common sense and ask me if you’re not sure.”

  I stood up and went over to the food tray. “We should talk about what the plan is for today.”

  “I want to go back home and see my parents.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s what I want to do.”

  I frowned. “Why?”

  “I want to make sure they’re okay.”

  “You’re going to make this difficult for me, aren’t you?”

  “Maybe I am.”

  I grinned at her, “You like making it difficult, I think. Not like I mind working for it.”

  “You’re not working for anything. I just want to make sure my parents are okay.”

  “Sure, princess. Tell yourself that.” I smirked at her, moving closer. I knew what she was thinking. “I’ll work you as hard as you want. I’ll make your body feel things you’ve forgotten about. I know you went to bed last night and touched that tight pussy of yours while thinking about me.”

  “I didn’t,” she said. But she looked away, and I knew she was lying.

  “You did. You rubbed that soaking clit but had to stay quiet. You pretended like I had a hand over your mouth while I fucked you deep and rough.”

  “No,” she said. “Not even close. Are you going to take me home today or do I have to go myself?”

  “I’ll take you,” I said. “You can meet the team.”

  “Good.” She turned and headed into the bedroom without another word.

  I dug into my breakfast, grinning to myself. The girl pretended like she didn’t want it, acted like she didn’t, but we both knew the truth. That kiss last night was proof enough.

  She was dripping wet every time she was around me.

  And I couldn’t wait to keep working for that incredible pussy.

  Chapter 13

  Tara

  I hated that I had to twist Emory’s arm just to get back to my own house. He clearly didn’t want to go there, but he wasn’t my jailer.

  Or at least I didn’t think he was. Maybe I was wrong and he really was willing to do whatever it took to keep me safe, including locking me up in a closet somewhere.

  Though a nice hotel with room service included wasn’t exactly a closet.

  Still, I knew he wanted me to be safe, and I couldn’t be angry about that. Plus, he was being great with Mason. Emory clearly wasn’t the type of man to be a father, but he was trying, and that was more than I could have asked from him at this point.

  “Ready?” He stood by the door, his arms crossed, as I put Mason into his stroller.

  “Ready.”

  Emory was wearing a tan button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up over his elbows and dark jeans. I could see a slight bulge where his gun was tucked into his pants, though only because I knew to look for it.

  I followed him out of the room and back down the hall. We got into the elevator, rode it down to the bottom, and went out to the parking lot.

  I frowned at his ridiculous car. “Did you really have to get one of these?” I asked him.

  “Yes,” he said very seriously, “I absolutely did.”

  “Makes it hard to transport an infant.”

  “I didn’t know I’d be driving around a baby.”

  “Yes, you did,” I grumbled. “You just wanted a fast car.”

  “Damn right I did.”

  I got Mason situated in the back seat and climbed up front as Emory fired up the engine. He grinned at me as he pulled out of the parking lot, driving way too fast.

  “Slow down!” I said, surprised.

  “Relax, princess,” he said. “I have training for this.”

  “Still, there’s a baby back there.”

  “There is?” He revved the engine and passed a car on the shoulder. “I guess I forgot.”

  I glanced back at Mason, and he seemed to be loving the speed.

  “You two are awful,” I said, but I couldn’t help but smile.

  He looked in the rearview mirror. “Your mom is just jealous,” he said to Mason. “She wishes she could handle this speed.”

  “I can handle it. I just choose not to.”

  “Sounds like denial to me.”

  We sped through town, a grin on Emory’s face. I knew that if I hadn’t said anything, he probably would have driven much slower and carefully, but he clearly wanted to push my buttons, and I knew I was letting him.

  I couldn’t help it. He was just so cocky, such an asshole. He seemed to think the world revolved around him. I was only in this mess at all because of that cocky confidence to begin with. The least he could do was drive normally.

  We got to my parents’ house not long after. He pulled into the driveway and parked behind my dad’s car. I got out and started unhooking Mason’s car seat.

  “I’ll be back,” Emory said, and walked off.

  “Okay,” I said, but he didn’t hear me. He had already walked off, cutting across the lawn.

  I shook my head. He wasn’t exactly good at telling me what he was planning. I watched him disappear behind some hedges and went back to getting Mason situated.

  It took me a few minutes, but finally I lugged Mason in his car seat through the front door. Dad was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the paper, and Mom was nowhere in sight.

  “Morning, honey,” Dad said. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Sleep okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “His room is really nice.”

  He gave me a look. “You two didn’t have sex, did you?”

  “Dad!”

  “What? I just want to know what to expect here.”

  “No, Dad, we didn’t have sex. Oh my god, please don’t say that again.”

  I shook my head and sat down across from him. He wasn’t normally so gross, but this whole situation clearly had him put off his normal game.

  I couldn’t blame him. It had me al
l over the place too. But at least I wasn’t talking to him about sex.

  Mercifully, Mom came downstairs a second later. “Morning, honey,” she said.

  “Morning, Mom. How was it here last night?”

  She shrugged. “Fine. Nothing new.”

  “No terrorists here,” Dad said.

  I gave him a look and then turned back to Mom. “Did you guys meet Cooper?”

  “Who?”

  “He was watching you last night. Or maybe it was Travis?”

  Dad shook his head and looked annoyed. “Nobody came to the house. I didn’t even think anyone was really watching us.”

  “Good,” I said. “Good. You shouldn’t be bothered by this.”

  “Not bothered by terrorists. Of course not.”

  Just then, the front door opened. I stood up as Emory came down the hall.

  “Not knocking?” Dad muttered, but I ignored him.

  “Morning all,” Emory said.

  “Good morning, Emory. Would you like something to eat?”

  “No, thank you, Mrs. Bright.”

  “Please, call me Celine.”

  “Okay then, Celine.”

  “And call him Roger, even if he tells you not to.”

  Dad just grunted and went back to reading the paper.

  “Anything going on out there?” I asked Emory.

  “Nothing. Cooper is running a sweep of the area right now. Did anyone bother you folks last night?”

  “Nope. All quiet here,” Mom reported.

  “Good,” Emory said. “You tell me if anyone bugs you. They report to me.”

  “Of course they do,” Dad said. “You’re, what, their general?”

  “Captain actually,” Emory said.

  “Right. The captain of the team.”

  “Dad,” I said.

  He made a face and went back to the paper.

  Emory grinned at me. “Glad you’re home?”

  “Yeah,” I said, “I am. Despite my father being a major ass.”

  “Major Ass. Is he in your squad too?” Dad asked.

  “Roger, that’s enough,” Mom said harshly.

  Emory smirked at my dad. “I know you’re not buying any of this, sir, and I don’t blame you. But I hope one day you’ll understand and know that this is all for your protection.”