by Blue, Kaye
I knocked again, a futile effort—which was something I knew—and when she didn’t open the door, I used the key.
Met resistance in the form of a chain across the door, Erin refusing to let me in.
“Erin,” I said, my voice calm, my emotions anything but, “open the door.”
“Sasha, in case you didn’t notice, I’m not up for company.”
Even through my rage, the sound of her voice soothed me.
But there was something in it, something I couldn’t quite discern, but I was determined to figure out what was wrong.
“I didn’t ask if you were up for company. I told you to open the fucking door,” I said.
Those words would have driven men twice her size to their knees, but Erin didn’t relent.
I waited, counted to five, and then said, “Step away from the door.”
I gave her a few seconds to comply and then kicked, the cheap wood splintering, the chain ripping away from the frame.
My gaze landed on her immediately, not looking at all surprised, slightly irritated but also indulgent.
“You owe me another door.”
“Why didn’t you go with my driver?”
Her hair was down, and I noticed that while she looked at me, she kept her head tilted, her braids covering one side of her face.
Almost like she was embarrassed, which wasn’t like her at all.
“I want to be alone, Sasha, and now that you’ve seen me, maybe…”
She trailed off as I approached her, not even her sharp inhale deterring me.
I grabbed her chin and tilted her head to force her to meet my eyes.
I glared as I tried to absorb what I saw.
I stared at her moment, then a moment longer, my lungs barely able to inflate.
I don’t know how long it took for me to regain my voice.
“What happened?”
My words were barely above a whisper, the anger in my voice impossible to miss.
Her eyes widened slightly, the embarrassment that had been there before, the indulgence, gone, and in their place, something like fear.
I didn’t want to see that from her, not ever, but she needed to know how serious this was.
How serious I was.
“It’s nothing,” she said.
“Nothing?” I asked, looking at her face again, wanting to look away from the offending bruise but not allowing myself.
“Nothing,” I repeated, disbelief lifting my anger even higher.
To some, the mark might appear faint, but I didn’t miss it, the mottled blood under her skin a bruise, one that would be pretty nasty tomorrow and even worse the day after.
I had much experience with such things and knew it had taken a pretty good blow to make that.
And she called it nothing.
For a moment I froze and then was seized by a thought, one that was unthinkable a moment ago and even more so now.
“Is there someone else? Someone who thinks they have a claim to you who did this?”
She looked shocked, even a little hurt.
“I told you there was no one,” she said, her anger clear.
She had told me, but what else was I to think? Why would she try to protect someone else?
“So, you gonna tell me how you got that?”
“Sasha, I told you it’s nothing, now if you don’t mind—”
I reached for her chin again, my touch as gentle as I could make it, my voice the same.
“I mind.”
Maybe it was the softness of my voice, but something in her gave.
“It’s really not serious. There’s just this neighborhood guy. He’s real bad on drugs. He needed some quick cash and wasn’t happy I couldn’t give it to him.
“He hit you? Robbed you?” I asked, disbelief coloring my words.
It didn’t surprise me that people did such things; not much surprised me in this world.
But the thought of Erin, alone, subjected to some junkie was one that made me physically ill.
“Yeah, but—”
“Be quiet,” I whispered.
“Hey! I’ve had a rough day,” she said.
“One entirely of your own making. You’re the one who decided to go traipsing around at night, allowing this kind of shit to happen. But no more,” I said.
“Sasha, you don’t come into my home and give orders,” she said, angry again.
“Yes, I do,” I replied, staring at her.
My heart was racing, the thought of what could have happened unnerving me.
I looked at her moment longer then reached for her and pulled her into an embrace.
I hugged her gently, but with a desperation that I didn’t try to hide.
Then I kissed her, needing to touch her, to remind myself that she was all right.
I broke away long enough to slide my pants down, then hers, and then I sat on the couch and pulled her on top of me.
My cock unerringly found her center, and I didn’t take my eyes off her as she lowered herself over me, her sex spreading to take me, the pleasure there as always but so much deeper.
Because she was here, and she was okay.
I gripped her hips and squeezed tight as I tried to drown out thoughts of her not being okay. I thrust inside her hard to remind myself that she was here, that none of the things I didn’t want to imagine had happened.
She held tight to my shoulders, moaning my name on low, needy whispers, whispers that were filled with passion, and, I hoped, something else.
“Sasha,” she said a final time as she came apart around me, her pussy spasming around my cock, forcing my cum from me and into to her in a hard rush.
I didn’t let her go, not even when I softened and slipped out of her. No, I held her close, unable to speak words but knowing I would die before I ever let harm come to this woman.
* * *
Erin
Sasha had been right.
It had been stupid.
I had known that at the time, but to think that I could send Sasha’s driver away and not have anything come of it was ridiculous.
But I’d been desperate.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide the bruise and couldn’t think of anything else to do.
This reaction was just the type of thing I wanted to avoid.
Because, as much as I might not have appreciated him telling me so, I knew he was right.
I’d been so caught up in my head, I hadn’t been paying attention.
I had allowed Raymond to get close before I could do anything about it.
“You’ll be fine,” Sasha whispered, tightening his arms around me, seeming to sense where my thoughts were headed.
In the hour since he’d first hugged me, then fucked me so tenderly it had almost brought me to tears, he hadn’t let me go, not even as his men had installed a new door.
“I know,” I said.
I took a deep breath and then shifted in his arms, staring into his eyes. “And you’re right. I need to be more aware of my surroundings,” I said.
“Yeah. But that won’t be an issue anymore,” he said.
I didn’t press him for details, something far more important on my mind.
“What are you going to do?”
“It’s not your concern,” he said.
“It is. I don’t want you to do something bad…not over me,” I said.
Neither of us had any doubt what something bad was, but I didn’t say the word.
From Sasha’s reputation, I had no doubt he was capable of killing, and having met him, then been with him, I had no illusions about it.
But a life lost over me…
He’d clammed up, but I couldn’t let this go.
“No, Sasha. I know you feel like you have to, but I don’t want that. I can’t have someone else die because of me.”
I cut off quickly then, realizing what I had said, hoping he would overlook it.
When he didn’t speak, I jumped in to fill the air.
“I’
m not worth it,” I said.
His eyes flashed with anger, then softened.
“I don’t know who lied to you and made think that, but you are worth it. Worth it and so much more.”
“Please, don’t,” I said.
“This is not up for discussion, Erin. Sleep.”
He kissed me softly, pulled me closer, and despite everything, I felt myself drifting off.
What did it say about me, that I could sleep after that conversation, sleep in the arms of a man I knew was capable of killing someone?
I didn’t know, but what I did know was that I had never felt safer, or happier, than I did with him.
* * *
Sasha
“Is this him?” I asked thirty minutes after I’d left Erin’s.
“It’s him.”
I looked at the man—a title he definitely didn’t deserve—even more angry now that I had seen the pathetic creature who dared put his hands on her.
“You probably don’t know why you’re here,” I said.
“No, but whatever it is, I’m sorry.”
His eyes were wide, pupils blown, which told me he had used recently. The adrenaline was probably taking away the high, which was too bad for him.
Numbness would be welcome now.
“It doesn’t matter. But know that if I had my way, you would be dead by now,” I said.
“You’re not gonna kill me?” He looked shocked, relieved.
He wouldn’t for much longer.
“No,” I said.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
“You shouldn’t thank me yet.”
I reach for his finger and twisted until I heard the satisfying snap.
His screams soon followed, the sound of them managing to slake some of my anger.
As he screamed, I unbuttoned my cufflinks and rolled up my sleeves.
Then I stood, waiting until he had calmed enough to look at me again.
“That’s the hand you hit her with, right?”
He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to.
“It is. That hand has twenty-seven bones in it,” I said, staring at his hand before meeting his eyes.
“One down. Twenty-six to go.”
I reached for his second finger.
Eleven
Sasha
“Do you have a moment, Sasha?”
I looked at Ghost, who stood in the office’s doorway, curious.
He seldom initiated conversation and certainly not with this level of formality.
“Yeah,” I said, gesturing at the chair across from my desk.
He sat but remained stiff and upright, a remnant of his past as a soldier he hadn’t quite been able to shake.
He’d been with the Brotherhood for more than ten years now, and while he wasn’t much for words, he was valued. I knew him to be efficient, thorough, and a man of his word. And Etienne trusted him as much as Etienne trusted anyone. Even Riker seemed to tolerate him, which was something.
Still, he wasn’t one for conversation, and in fact, this was the first time I could ever recall him seeking me out.
“What’s this about, Ghost?” I asked, since he didn’t seem inclined to speak.
“The woman, Erin. What do you know about her?”
My reaction was swift, intense, as it always seemed to be when it came to Erin.
“Why are you asking about her?”
Ghost had saved my ass before, more than once, but I didn’t want to talk to him about Erin, didn’t want to talk to anyone about her. This part of my life was something she could never be involved with, so questions about her, even from Ghost, put me on alert.
“I was just wondering,” he said,
“Wondering what, Ghost?”
He looked cautious and concerned, something I knew I’d never seen before. “I don’t intend to overstep, but are you sure about her?”
There was implication in his words, but I fought to stay calm and not let emotion defeat my control as it so often did when it came to her.
“If there’s something you need to say, Ghost, spit it out.”
“I think there might be some anomalies you’ll want to look into. I don’t have anything concrete and didn’t want to dig without coming to you first.”
Anomalies? What the fuck was he talking about? But I didn’t ask that, didn’t lose my cool.
“Any particular reason you’re interested in her?”
“You’ve gotten close. It seemed worthwhile to know more about her.”
“Do you think I’m a fucking amateur?” I asked, my control slipping for a moment.
“Anything but. But personal relationships can sometimes cloud judgment.”
I knew he spoke truth and would have said the same thing or more if the roles were reversed, but I didn’t want to hear it.
Erin was mine, and I trusted her. I wouldn’t give her up just because Ghost was being nosy.
“Your concerns have been noted.”
He looked at me a moment longer, his expression telling me nothing, before he nodded and stood.
A good soldier always knew when he was dismissed, and I was happy when he left without another word.
Not that he needed to say anything else. He’d asked his question, sent my mind down a path I had no interest in, so he’d done as he intended.
But, if only to prove I wouldn’t be manipulated, I tried to put the conversation out of my head.
After an hour, I gave up.
I felt restless, unsettled, a feeling I hated, especially when it came to her.
I made my way to Erin’s house on automatic, not even bothering to speak after she opened the door.
I pulled her into my arms, kissed her deeply, and pulled back to see her smile.
That calm that had been so elusive before I saw her effortlessly came back.
As did the relentless hunger for her, a hunger that only got stronger every time I had her.
“It’s good to see you,” she whispered as she held me.
“It’s better to see you,” I responded.
And then the time for words was gone. As I kissed her, we made quick work of our clothes, her urgency matching mine.
I lay her down on the bed and pushed into her roughly, the way she opened herself to me, gave herself to me with no reservations, making me want her that much more.
And as I rocked inside her and filled her with my seed, I again knew peace.
Erin, this thing between us, was perfect, and no one, nothing, would get in the way of it.
* * *
Sasha
“I like this,” she whispered the next morning.
“What’s that?” I asked, wrapping my arms around her.
“Waking up with you.”
I didn’t speak immediately, and I felt her stiffen.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to get clingy,” she said as she tried to pull away.
I didn’t let her.
“Don’t be sorry. It was nice.”
I still didn’t know what the fuck I was doing, but I knew that every moment that passed pulled me deeper and deeper under her spell and knew I couldn’t imagine living without her.
Which was dangerous, especially with my work.
I’d never given thought to having someone in my life permanently, but now, with Erin, it was all I could think of.
I didn’t know if it was a possibility, but I knew I wanted to try.
“How much do you like it?” I asked, shifting to lie flat on my back and pulling her on top of me.
She kissed my chest and moved down my body, leaving little kisses here and there.
When she reached my cock, she stroked her hand up and down my length then swirled her tongue around the tip.
“A lot,” she whispered, her voice husky, her lips brushing my sensitive skin, “and it’s too bad I don’t have time to show you how much.”
I rocked my hips, my cockhead bumping her lips before she opened and sucked me into her mouth.
Then she pulled b
ack, my crown slick, near throbbing now. “Sasha, I really have to go,” she said, though she continued to stroke her hand up and down my shaft, the strokes enough to get me hard but not enough to make me come.
“Then you should make this quick,” I whispered as I wrapped my hand around her braids and pushed my cockhead against her lips again.
She opened for me, and I thrust up and she moved down, my grip on her hair tightening.
I set the pace, moving her head and thrusting my hips until I had the perfect rhythm, Erin’s little moans telling me she was right there. I’d discovered my strong girl liked it when I played rough, and I was happy to oblige her.
I thrust deeper and deeper into her mouth, twisting her hair around my hand even tighter.
“Look at me,” I said roughly when her eyes started to drift closed.
She did, and I knew I couldn’t hold back at the sight of Erin’s lips stretched tight around my shaft, her eyes bright with passion…and something else.
“Swallow every drop,” I whispered as I thrust again.
She sucked me deeper, the tight pull of her mouth making it impossible for me to do anything but give in. I came on a rough grunt, spurt after spurt of my cum emptying into her mouth.
She swallowed it all and held me until I softened.
I pulled her up until her head was tucked against my neck.
“I can’t convince you to stay?” The tenderness in my voice was unexpected and came far too close to revealing feelings I needed to keep to myself.
I could tell she was considering it but saw when she made her decision.
“I want to, but I can’t.”
My instinct was to argue, but instead, I kissed her forehead, and together we stood.
“Fine. But I’ll see you later?”
She smiled, nodded, and after I kissed her again, I dressed and left.
A few hours later, everything at the restaurant was taken care of and all of the other business seemed to be in hand, which left me with free time.
I filled the next hour but then gave up pretending that I didn’t want to see Erin. So I found myself heading to her shop, realizing I’d never been there personally.
I was excited to see it, wanted to know everything there was to know about her. I’d left my guards at the restaurant, so I was alone when I walked up to Erin’s shop.