Circle of Desire

by Carla Swafford

  Arthur’s face flushed in anger.

  “Actually, you took it the first time along with everything else of value in my life.” He leaned toward Theo, baring his teeth as he continued, “I’ve been doing a little investigating myself. You’re the one who had the explosives set in the car. You had hoped to kill us all. No sooner than when you pressed the button you received a call. You were told my brother was nowhere near the accident. Then and only then did you decide to pull me out of the wreckage. You took me and destroyed everything normal and good in my life. You used me in ways no human should use another.”

  Arthur’s face darkened as he grabbed Theo by the shoulder.

  “And I refuse to let you use me anymore. I’m not your slave to do as you say. Go to hell, you bastard!” Spittle whitened the corners of his mouth with hatred.

  He stretched across the table and wrapped his hand around the sword’s pommel before anyone could move. The thump of flesh and sharp scratch of bone being hit vibrated through the deathly silent room. Theo grunted and his eyes widened, staring at his killer in disbelief. Arthur whispered into his ear and then pulled the bloody sword from his body.

  “I thought of you like a son,” Theo groaned and collapsed into his chair. A shiny, dark red stain on his tunic spread across his stomach.

  Collin stared at his brother. No one moved for several seconds. Then Jack leaned over and closed Theo’s eyes. No one moved. No one protested the man’s death.

  The room returned to focus as his breathing resumed. Theo no longer threatened his life, no longer controlled how he looked at the world around him. He was free. Seeing the man dead would never bring his parents back, but Collin could close the door on the past and move on. His big brother he’d loved so much as a kid was alive. That was what he needed to concentrate on for now.

  “What now?” Collin sounded cold-hearted, but the bottom line was he needed to be careful in dealing with the brother he no longer knew. Though he didn’t completely agree with the method of Theo’s death, he admitted the end result was needed.

  His brother leaned over and wiped the blade on Theo’s sleeve, leaving two red stripes as if they were marks of rank. Then Collin spotted a slight tremor of his hand. Good. He wasn’t as unmoved by what he did as he appeared. Maybe there was hope for them to work together.

  “You understand that the sword is now mine,” Arthur challenged him.

  Collin dipped his head. “I truly never wanted it.”

  He stared at the older brother he wanted to know. Such pain stared out of those familiar eyes.

  “We stopped your people from entering Main Sector. They’re safe. No one harmed,” Ryker said, his tone not reassuring.

  Before he could question him, Olivia asked no one in particular, “Are you sure he’s dead?”

  Jack pressed two fingers against his neck. “Yep.”

  “Good. The son of a bitch deserved to die.” Rex folded his arms and watched his brother.

  “Arthur, what do you plan to do now?” Collin’s hands hung at his side, not taking a chance any move could be interpreted wrong. The way Arthur eyed him and Olivia, Collin wasn’t sure what to expect.

  “Ryker. Call me Ryker.” His brother pulled out a cell phone and pressed a few buttons. “Let the OS operatives leave. It’s done. Come and pick us up.”

  Their dad always preferred to be called by his last name.

  “You took a big chance we wouldn’t attack you after you killed Theo,” Collin stated.

  Forehead wrinkled, Collin had a hard time coming to terms that the scarred man standing in front of him was his brother. He remembered Arthur as a jokester who looked after him. From what he could tell, his brother had achieved the level of impassiveness his dad always claimed was needed for the job. Arthur . . . no, Ryker appeared colder and more ruthless.

  “I didn’t worry.” Ryker looked at Olivia. “She wouldn’t attack me. He deserved to die. She understands.” Then he handed the sword to Jack.

  Collin glanced at Olivia. Had she planned this with his brother? He would ask later. For now, they needed to work at settling the war between The Circle and OS.

  “Maybe we all do,” Collin said as he stared at the blood on Theo’s robe pooling and running down to the floor. He had a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact Theo would no longer cause trouble.

  “I can help you with that if you want,” Ryker offered.

  His blank face told Collin more than he wanted to know. The man who was his brother had no conscience and would have no problem killing him.

  “Would you?” Trying one more time to reason with his brother, Collin spoke in an even tone, hoping he would listen. “Don’t you think we need to work together to bring the OS back into The Circle and to regain the good reputation our dad had worked so hard for?”

  “I’m not Theo. When you parted with The Circle, you proved you no longer deserved to be part of the organization.” The last of the words came out of Ryker’s mouth as a growl and he placed one hand on the table as if he was about to attack.

  Collin grabbed Rex before he met Ryker head on. The click of a gun bolt being pushed alerted him. Not loosening his grip on Rex, he turned. Olivia held her submachine gun to her shoulder and pointed at Ryker.

  “I don’t care if you have half his face. I’ll blow it all off if you move another inch.” She stood with legs apart and elbows out.

  “You need to call off your woman.” The look Ryker gave Olivia said he found her actions titillating and Collin didn’t like it one bit.

  “I believe we’ve all had enough,” said Collin.

  He saw no way to come to terms with his brother at this time. He needed to get his best friend and his woman under control. Yeah. His woman. He liked that. He looked at her holding the dangerous weapon and a stirring below his waist warned him he needed to get himself under control.

  With a push he released Rex and turned to watch Ryker walk away, going out the same door he’d entered, leaving it open.

  Jack fell in behind Ryker until Rex shouted, “Hey, stay. We’re brothers. We can talk it out. I’ll forgive you.”

  Rex’s brother stopped. Head down, he stared at the floor and smoothed a hand over his tanned scalp.

  “There you’re wrong. I’ve done things you’ll never forgive,” he said as he lifted his gaze.

  Such anguish on his face brought an answering one from Rex’s. Then Jack stepped into the alleyway and the shadows beyond.

  Rex probably felt like Collin did, unsure what to do next. Seeing Theo’s body draped over the throne-like chair brought the realization an era had ended. His dad and Theo had created an organization to fight the evil elements and protect the weak. Except his dad had been killed by his best friend. Remembering what his dad had quoted to him one time, he murmured, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

  “Maybe your brother learned from Theo’s mistakes.” Olivia stepped closer and asked, “Are you okay?”

  When his gaze fell on her hand resting on his arm, she pulled away. He let her. They had a lot to discuss and he needed to decide if what he felt for her was lust or something more.

  “I’m fine. I need to get back to my people and check on our new facilities,” he said as he tried to avoid the tears shining in her beautiful green eyes. Relief loosened the tension in his body when she looked away.

  “Well, I guess it’s goodbye.” She cleared her throat.

  “What the hell do you mean goodbye?” he shouted. The tension tightened around his chest again. He wanted her in his life.

  “Listen, you got what you want. Theo’s dead.” She gave him her back. “He can’t . . . oh, God, he’s gone.” Her body shuddered as he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms.

  “Shhh. Be happy that you didn’t do it and won’t have that on your conscience. Every time he ordered someone’s death, his was assured to happen in the same way.” He pressed his mouth to the top of her head as he squeezed her. She vigorously shook her head. “You know I’
m right.”

  She pulled away and faced him. “No. You misunderstand. I wanted to be the one to kill him. I hated him!” she hissed. “I hated what he did to me and made me do.” Fat tears rolled down her face. Her eyes red and skin botchy.

  Knowing the eccentric bastard, Collin had a good idea the degradation and misery she’d suffered until she found a way to escape death by the old man’s hands. There was nothing he could say to help her forget. So he tightened his hold and brought her against him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder.

  Minutes passed and Collin heard Rex call their cleanup crew. By the time they showed up, Olivia had regained her composure.

  “Collin,” Olivia said as she rubbed her cheek against his chest.

  Dry eyed, she soaked up his undivided attention even with all the activity surrounding them. The cleanup crew had arrived and was doing their job. Before the sun rose again, the place would be cleaned of blood and fingerprints, bullet holes would be repaired, or any sign that anything lethal happened would be gone.

  “Yes, sweetheart?”

  His eyes had been closed when she’d moved her head from his shoulder. Now he looked down at her with a tenderness she’d never experienced from him. Could he have feelings for her? Real feelings? If that was true, what she must say would extinguish any chance.

  “I’m leaving and returning to The Circle.”

  His arms fell away from her. All activity around them stopped.

  “Why?” he asked.

  How could she tell him she wasn’t good enough for him? How could he look at her knowing she’d killed so many OS operatives? She only hoped some were common psychos like Theo had told her. Theo’s taunts reminded her of what she really was. Collin deserved a good woman without blood on her hands. She needed time to think.

  “Ryker will get you killed,” he simply stated.

  “As you mentioned before, I’m too valuable to your brother.”

  She wished she could lie to Collin and tell him it was for the common good. Only one reason existed. She was scared. The man in front of her had become too important in her life. He may care for her, but he would never love her. And she never believed in all that martyred shit people tried to feed each other. Just being around him and seeing him every day was not enough. A piece of her would die each day. Since she wasn’t fit to live with regular folk, she would return to what she knew best. Killing for The Circle.

  “You know the OS will continue to work at stopping The Circle if he continues Theo’s policies.” His jaw shifted.

  Good. His being mad was better than acting as if he didn’t care. He would never beg, not that it would change her mind.

  She looked around, swallowing the lump in her throat, determined to act as if they discussed her resigning from a job and nothing more. An unreal quality had her reaching out to touch his cheek. He jerked back. Yeah. The sum total of their relationship, they didn’t trust each other. No. That wasn’t quite right. She trusted him completely. He trusted her not at all. He believed she was betraying him by leaving.

  “Goodbye.” She waited for his response.

  His lips remained closed. She placed the MP5 on the table and walked away, leaving through the same door Ryker and Jack had hours earlier.

  As soon as she reached some distance from the warehouse, she wandered aimlessly down several streets. The few people she passed gave her a wide berth as tears soaked her reddened cheeks and dripped off her chin. She came to a bus stop and sat on the bench as she stared off into the air. Thankfully people on this side of town never meddled in weeping women’s affairs. Some days she hated being a woman with churning emotions popping up no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. She wished she could be as cold and unemotional as the men in her life.

  She wiped the tears onto her sleeves and stood straight. Being a wimp wouldn’t get her what she wanted. There was no way she could go back to The Circle. Ryker would make her think of Collin too much. She had to think of something else.

  She needed a new direction in her life. New experiences would be great too. Being alone as an orphan child and adult had never bothered her.

  She snapped her fingers.

  The orphans at St. Vincent! She’d never felt comfortable around children, but falling in love had made her realize she wanted children. Even though she couldn’t physically have any of her own she had an orphanage full to call her own. Helping them would help her move on. Give her the experience of doing something right. She could do it.

  In a cloud of exhaust fumes and screeching brakes, a bus stopped in front of her. She blinked. The street name on the sign flashing above the driver happened to be two blocks from St. Vincent. She’d never been on a city bus. She laughed. A sign. A real sign. Someone up there agreed with her decision and had provided her transportation.

  Maybe afterwards she would see a new sign for how to teach a hardheaded man a lesson.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Collin stalked down the hallway of Olivia’s house. By the time he reached the last room, sweat beaded on his forehead and his heart pounded against his chest. Had he missed her? Where could she be?

  Despair drew him to the window overlooking the small garden in the back. He held back the curtains with shaking hands. How many nights had he stared at his ceiling wanting her and wishing he’d gone after her?

  Sheets of rain poured from the heavens. An old-fashioned two-seater swing hung from large oak tree’s limb and swayed. His gaze moved to the other side of the yard. That was when he saw her. She stood on a moon-shaped cement patio about ten feet from the back door. He’d thought at first she was a statue as she stood in the middle with her hands reaching toward the sky. Her long nightgown stuck to her body and water flowed off the white folds of cloth.

  By the time he reached the backyard, he’d expected her to disappear like the dreams he grabbed for each night since she left two months ago. The downpour had slowed to a drizzle. She remained in the center but now with her arms held out to the sides and her head thrown back as she let the mist wash her face. A willing sacrifice to the night.

  He couldn’t bring himself to touch her and break the spell she weaved around him. Beads of water decorated the tips of her eyelashes. From the outside corners of her eyes, thin streams ran down her temples. She looked as if she was crying. Was she as unhappy as he’d been?

  “Olivia?”

  He leaned over her body, almost touching, his lips a breath away from her moist ones. Her eyes drifted open and more water flowed from their depths.

  “Collin?” she said his name as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

  “Yes.”

  “I’ve missed you.”

  She brought her arms around and clasped his shoulders. Her body trembled against his. He licked her bottom lip, savoring the taste of her mixed with the cool moisture.

  “Are you cold?” he asked.

  His hands covered her breasts and lifted them as he placed a kiss on the cloth cupping each taunt nipple.

  “No. But I ache for you.”

  He dropped his hands to her hips and pulled on the cloth, but the wet material clung to her body. Impatient and wanting to see the body he missed so much, he slipped out his knife and sliced the front of the gown from neck to knee.

  “You realize you owe me for two gowns now.” Her words brushed his neck as he leaned forward to tear the material off her body.

  He inhaled, enjoying the way her cool breasts warmed against his chest. The fragrance of vanilla brought back memories of their time together. An exotic scent mixed with the familiar. He pulled her into his arms and his hands slid down her back.

  “I’ve missed you,” he repeated.

  His mouth covered hers and met coldness. He looked down to see lips made of chiseled stone. Stumbling back, he realized he’d been making love to a statue. What happened? His eyes searched the area surrounding the patio and then caught movement in the window he’d peered out earlier.

 
Then a strange sensation pulled his gaze to the front of his shirt. A small green spot danced across his chest.

  “No! Olivia! It’s me!”

  He lifted his hand, signaling to her to stop. The sounds of the computer on her sniper rifle winding up reached his ears. With a jerk, his body was sailing through the air and everything around him turned red.

  With heart pounding, he woke as lightning lit up his bedroom. A shadow moved near the window, at the same time, thunder shook the bed. He tried to sit up but his wrists remained near his head. Manacles chained him to the headboard. When he shifted his feet, he felt the same around his ankles.

  “Olivia?”

  Olivia loved thunderstorms. When she was little she remembered the nuns warning her of how dangerous it was to stand near the windows. Considering the numerous ways she’d come close to dying over the last few years, she wasn’t too worried about lightning.

  Just then a bright line divided the sky for a few seconds, quickly followed by thunder echoing above her head. Rain pelted the window as the wind shoved drops sideways. On the radio earlier, she’d heard tornado warnings would hang around until the early morning hours. A sense of anticipation dangled in the air.

  “Olivia?”

  “Finally, my Prince Charming is awake.” She climbed onto the bed and straddled his big body, her face above his. “I thought I would have to start without you.”

  The chains holding the manacles rattled as he tried to reach for her. She didn’t move. It would take two thousand pounds of pressure to break the chain holding him. Only the best for what she had planned.

  “Did my brother send you?” he asked as his eyes flared when her naked body rested onto top of his.

  How convenient that he slept in the nude. Though she had to admit she would enjoy tearing his clothes off.

  She chuckled.

  “I can promise you, your brother had nothing to do with this.”

  His gaze darted to her breasts. Oh, yeah, he liked what he saw as she felt him lengthen and become thicker. Torturing herself was not in her plans, so with a slight shift of her hips, she sank down on him. The thickness filling her brought a sigh to her lips. He felt so good.