by Hamel, B. B.
“But O’Brian turned me down.” I could barely think, I realized. My head was spinning in circles, trying to connect the dots.
“Yeah, because you didn’t have shit and he knew it. But when we heard about the break-in at Colm’s place, well, we figured that maybe you found something worth backing. And I really, really hope you did.”
Holy fuck. Boss O’Brian from the very start. That crafty son of a bitch. That beautiful crafty son of a bitch. I wanted to laugh and to cry, but my body was too busy shaking from the adrenaline to do either. I was ready to die, ready to roll over and let them fill me with holes, all to save Richie and Ellie. But we were both going to be okay.
“Yeah, I did. I really fucking did.”
He laughed. “Good. Take me to it.”
I looked over in Ellie’s direction and gave her the signal. “It’ll be here soon.”
He blinked. “What do you mean?”
“The girl. Ellie. I had her hiding out over there, watching all this.”
“You really weren’t bluffing?”
“I really wasn’t.”
He laughed loudly. “God damn, Liam Sullivan. You have some serious balls.”
I shrugged and fidgeted, looking away. He had no clue how hard it was for me to let her come, but it wasn’t worth trying to explain.
“By the way,” Colin said, “why Boss de Barra? What the fuck were you thinking?”
I sighed. “I was desperate, and he’s the only other boss with the muscle and the resources to take on Colm himself.”
He nodded. “That’s what I figured. O’Brian thought you were just being suicidal.”
“Yeah, well, it didn’t seem like suicide at the time.”
Colin laughed. “Guess not. Some crazy escape, though.”
“It’s been a pretty crazy few weeks,” I said, the understatement of my life.
He laughed again and we fell into a tense silence, waiting for Ellie to arrive. My mind was working overtime trying to figure out what would come next. Colin betraying Max like that hadn’t been remotely in my mind, and suddenly it felt like my whole world was upside down.
We watched as Ellie appeared around the edge of a building, walking cautiously toward us. Colin gave her a big smile.
“So this is the girl the whole city is trying to find,” he said as she got closer.
She stopped next to me, giving him a suspicious look. “My name is Ellie. Short for Eleanor.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Ellie.”
She looked up at me. “What’s happening?”
I nodded at Colin. “He’s on our side. He works for Boss O’Brian.”
“I thought he turned you down.”
“He did. But apparently he changed his mind.”
She shook her head. “I thought they were going to kill you.”
I stared at her for a second and suddenly saw the anguish stitched in the lines of her face. I grabbed her and pulled her against me tightly. She let the duffle drop to the ground and threw her arms around me.
“I made a promise,” I whispered to her.
“Don’t do that again, you asshole,” she said.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
I held her there, feeling the weight of her body, hating myself for putting her through everything, until I heard Colin clear his throat.
“Sorry to interrupt . . .” he said slowly.
Ellie let go of me reluctantly.
“It’s all in the bag,” I said.
Colin walked over and crouched down. He unzipped its length and began to shuffle through the papers. He whistled.
“This is a ton of paperwork, man. How did you figure this all out?”
“It was all her, actually.”
Ellie shrugged. “I had a lot of time on my hands.”
Colin laughed. “Well, walk me through it.”
I watched her crouch down and started to pull out documents based on the color-coding system she had devised. I listened as she began to slowly lay it all out for him, the entire narrative, beginning to end, using the documents as evidence to back up everything.
Watching her, I had this weird moment. When we first met, she had been devastated and understandably in shock. But now she was brilliant and shining and gorgeous and holding her shit together better than I could have imagined. I didn’t think I could have pulled it all together without her, and hearing her explain it to Colin with such confidence and competence blew me away.
When she was finished, Colin whistled. “I’m really fucking impressed here.”
“You understand, though?” she asked.
“Yeah, I definitely understand. O’Brian is going to like this.”
She smiled, a genuine smile. It almost killed me.
“What’s next, Colin?” I asked.
He stood up. “Well, I’m going to report back to O’Brian, and then you guys are going to meet with him.”
“How soon?”
“Shit, tonight. This can’t wait, especially with that asshole still alive.” He gestured over at Max, still lying facedown, unmoving.
“You sure he’s not dead?”
Colin walked over and checked his pulse. “Nope, just unconscious.”
“Fine. We meet with O’Brian. How?”
He stood back up. “Got a phone?”
“Yeah.”
He walked over to me and held out his hand. “I’ll give you his personal cell. Call him tonight around five, and he’ll work it out with you.”
I dug the burner phone from my pocket and handed it to him. He typed a number in and saved it to contacts. He handed it back.
“Better get going before he wakes up,” Colin said.
“What about the papers?”
“Hold on to them. You’ll show O’Brian everything tonight.” He paused and gestured at Ellie. “I’d bring her along. I suspect she’s better at explaining it all than you are.”
I grinned. “Yeah, okay.”
He held out his hand, and I stared at it a second before grasping it.
“See you tonight, Liam. Everything’s going to change soon.”
I nodded. “Yeah. See you.”
We released and Colin turned and walked off. I grabbed the duffle and looked at Ellie. I gestured with my head for her to follow. We started off, back the opposite way.
At first, as we left the field and moved through the narrow streets, I couldn’t identify the feeling that was forcing itself up through my chest. But when Ellie slipped her small hand into mine and looked up at me with those sexy fucking eyes, I knew what it was and what it meant.
Things were going to change. Things already had changed.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Ellie
I gasped as Liam slipped his hand down my yoga pants and felt my soaking spot, kissing my neck gently. I wrapped my arms around his broad back and let myself get swept up in him for the hundredth time that week.
After the field and Colin’s sudden betrayal of Max, we met with Boss O’Brian. I never thought I’d like a mob boss, but O’Brian was surprisingly funny and charming. But once I showed him everything, the jokes were gone, and he was all ruthless business. They discussed when and where and how many guys and what other bosses would support them. It was a whirlwind of numbers and planning and violence.
But I didn’t mind. I wanted Colm Brennan to pay for everything he had put me and Liam through.
It was going down two days from that meeting, which was just enough time for O’Brian to get his people together and prepared, but not enough time to let Colm escape the city or to gather much of a force for himself. After the meeting, Liam and I went back to the safe house, where we spent the next forty-eight hours in and out of bed.
But mostly in bed. I couldn’t get enough of him. I couldn’t stop myself from climbing onto his body at every chance I got. I wanted to drown every worry in the back of my mind with his taste and his touch and the sweet, painful embrace of a leg-shaking orgasm.
The coup was a few hours away when Liam s
lipped my yoga pants down my ass and pressed me back against the bed, toppling over on top of me. His fingers worked ruthlessly at my clit, rubbing soft and hard and in circles, driving me wild. He could have done that all day long and I would have never gotten tired of it. His lips pressed against mine roughly, kissing my mouth and tongue hungrily. I grasped at his shoulders and his hair, needing whatever he could give me, knowing that he would have to leave soon.
Because part of the deal with Boss O’Brian was that Liam be on the front lines. He said that if Liam was willing to send men to violence, he should be willing to lead them. I fought with him on that, but in the end, Liam agreed.
I gasped as he pulled his hand away and began to kiss down my neck, grabbing my full breasts.
“Why can’t I get enough of this?” he grunted.
I laughed. “Because I make you come so fucking hard?”
He smirked up at me. “We’ll see who comes first.”
Before I could shoot back some witty retort, he pushed my body upwards, hooking his arms under my legs, and pressed his face and tongue against my clit. He nibbled and licked at my spot, eating circles around my clit, sending wild waves of pleasure through my hips.
“Ah, fuck,” I groaned.
“What was that? You need more?” he said, grinning.
“Shut up and get back to work.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
His tongue felt incredible as it moved down my length and pushed inside me. I couldn’t help but squirm at the warm but firm pressure, and my back arched as I grasped on to the bed sheets. There had to be something inhuman about him. It was impossible that he happened to know exactly how I liked to be touched, when I needed more pressure or less, and when I was on the verge of having another brain-shattering orgasm.
But he did. He knew every inch of my body, and he had learned it through constant and dutiful study.
I grabbed his hair and pulled it gently, tugging him up toward me. He smirked and moved up my body as I squirmed down to meet his lips. I kissed him hard, shoving his face against mine, and savored his taste mixing with my own, and the stubble that was scratchy against my own smooth skin.
He pulled back. “I’m going to be fine, Ellie.”
I looked away. “I know.”
I didn’t really believe him, but he had said it so many times that I was almost ready to let myself believe the lie.
“It’s going to be quick. Believe me, we know what we’re doing.”
He began to kiss my chest again, biting my nipples and massaging my breasts. I couldn’t help but let out a soft moan, my mind beginning to blur back into what my body really wanted.
I felt him grab my hips, the tip of his cock pressed against my soaked lips. He looked me in the eye.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I promised.”
“I know you’re not.”
“I fucking mean it, Ellie. Even after all this.”
I blinked. What was he talking about?
“You mean . . . ?” I said.
“I’m done with it, all of it. I’m with you.”
I could feel his rock-hard rod pushing up against me, and I was aching for him to push deep into me. I had never felt so insane for someone before, and I could barely focus on what he was trying to say to me.
“I’m yours, Liam,” I said softly.
He touched my face. “Yeah, I know you are.”
And then he pushed himself deep into me. It never got old, that first painfully incredible moment when his big dick pressed deep inside me. I dipped my head back and gasped as his hips worked, pushing himself deep into me. I could feel myself wrap around him, wrap every inch of myself around him, and he grunted as he began to slide in and out, moving gently inside me.
Usually I wanted him to work me hard, thrust deep and rough and make me scream, but for some reason I needed his body to stay close. I hooked my hands around his neck and pressed my face against his as he thrust into me, firm but slow, following my cues.
My hips rolled against his as I felt the sweat begin to stand up on our skin.
“Fuck, I want this,” I groaned in his ear.
“What do you want?”
“This, for as long as I can have it.”
He grunted and grabbed my hip hard with his right hand, angling my hips up and pushing himself even deeper. I moaned loudly, losing myself completely, feeling him fill me completely.
“You can have it, you can have whatever you want,” he grunted.
He thrust into me, and I worked back against him for what felt like hours. We moved together like that, our bodies completely in rhythm. I didn’t have any more thoughts or worries or desires as our sweating skin rubbed and he thrust in and out of my soaking spot. I pushed my tits against his chest and ground my hips, working with him, desperate for the ever-growing glow that was taking over my spine.
I could feel his thrusts get harder and faster, could feel his body tense, and I heard his familiar soft cursing as he got close. I knew I was close, knew that I could make it if he just kept pushing there, right there, kept pressing his thick cock hard inside me, filling my every inch.
My hips worked and worked, and he stiffened, spurting his orgasm deep into me, and I felt the glow envelope me as my back arched and I let out a low, loud moan. I lost myself completely to my orgasm, and he continued to thrust into me through his own, kept working me through my powerful climax.
Finally, our hips slowly ended together, slowly rocked to a conclusion. He stayed there inside me for a minute, our bodies entwined, my hair splayed out around me and covered in sweat. I kissed his cheek as he slowly pulled away, rolling over onto his back. I curled up against his side, glowing in the pure bliss.
“Shit that never gets old,” he grunted.
I laughed. “It really doesn’t.”
He looked at me and smiled. “I can’t wait to fuck you somewhere that isn’t this piece-of-shit bed.”
I nodded enthusiastically. “That sounds absolutely perfect.”
“What can I say, I’m a romantic.” He rolled to the side of the bed and got up, stretching.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to shower and get dressed.”
I frowned but didn’t argue as he left the room and started the shower. I laid back on the bed, mind reeling from the sex, and sighed.
What was going to happen? He was going to be on the front lines. Was O’Brian trying to kill him off, or was there something else happening? And even if he did make it through the night, what happened then? My mind was swirling with questions, but I was sick of them. I was sick of the uncertainty.
Resolve forming in my stomach, I climbed out of bed and stomped off into the bathroom, pushing the door open.
“Hey there, ready for more already?” he said teasingly.
“Liam, what happens after tonight?” I blurted out more forcefully than I had intended.
He was quiet for a second, and the water stopped. He stepped out and I blinked, taking in his naked and wet body, beads of water slowly rolling down his ripped and sculpted muscles, the body he earned by working hard on the streets, by fighting for a living. He smirked at my expression as he wrapped a towel around his midsection.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.”
I shook my head, embarrassed. “You don’t have to. I’m just being annoying.”
He stepped closer. “Listen to me, Ellie. After tonight, I’m done with the Mob.”
I looked up. “Are you sure?”
“I’m leaving the life. I’m going to walk away from it all.”
“But . . . why?” I was at a complete loss.
“Isn’t it obvious why?”
I gaped at him, confusion running through my mind. I suddenly felt completely naked, even more naked than I already was. Which, as I glanced down at myself, was pretty naked. I wished I had stopped to at least put on underwear.
He sensed my hesitation. “You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t o
we me a single fucking thing. But that’s my plan.”
“I can’t ask you to do that, Liam. You can’t give up everything you’ve worked so hard for.”
“After what we’ve been through, I’d rather burn it all to the fucking ground than keep working for them. I won’t ever let myself be in a position where I have to put someone I care about in danger.”
“But what will you do?”
“I’ll still own my restaurant, and it’s still turning a profit. I have a lot of money saved, and some decent investments. I’m going to be fine.”
I shook my head. “Liam . . .”
He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me hard on the mouth. My emotions were in turmoil. I wanted him to quit, wanted to run away with him and forget about all the pain we had gone through together. But I couldn’t let him give up the things he had worked so hard for just for me. He had already sacrificed so much to save my life.
He pulled away gently. “Just thing about it. We can talk more later.”
“Okay,” I said softly.
He kissed me again lightly on the lips and stepped around me, heading toward the bedroom.
I leaned back against the sink, knees suddenly weak.
He had to fucking come back. He had to. I needed to find out what was going to happen next.
Because I was his and always would be.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Liam
I could feel the tension in my shoulders as the black SUV bounced over a pothole. The night’s events skimmed through my mind: men moving fast, guns firing, muzzle flashes, bullets flying, blood and pain and worse. And through it all, only one thought: Ellie, I have to get back to Ellie.
It was over faster than I could have imagined. O’Brian had mustered up five other bosses, though the ones who sat out didn’t get involved on Colm’s side, either. The men were armed to the teeth, most of them already killers. We wore bulletproof vests and other paramilitary shit, most of it bought illegally, but a lot of it stolen. We knew we had to move fast to avoid the cops and to take Colm by surprise. He knew that something was happening, since Max had told him that Colin was a traitor, but he didn’t know the extent to which events were turning against him.