Purr (Revenge Book 3)

by Burns, Trevion

  She slammed her eyes closed when she felt them beginning to burn.

  “How do you find the stomach to date Gage Blackwater?”

  She whimpered into the bedding, letting it cut off her airway completely, only lifting her head up to choke in a strangled breath when he reached under her body and covered her clit with his trembling fingers, swirling the aching bud until she felt her third orgasm rapidly approaching.

  She screamed.

  “And here I was thinking I’d already played my last trump card.”

  She tried to ride the wave. To focus on her throbbing pussy that still belonged to him. The slippery feel of his fingers strumming her clit like a maestro, inducing a wave of pleasure from a body she’d believed was finished. Unearthing a new realm of pleasure she’d thought was gone for the night.

  Her hips lifted as she hit her peak, fisting the sheets, taking his dick in deep long after he’d already fired his last shot. Her walls clenched and convulsed around his dick, her clit both in love with and resistant to the tortuous stroke of his fingers as he carried her over that beautiful, spine-bending, toe-curling precipice once more.

  “You know, Veda, we’re not that different, you and I.”

  As they both collapsed on the bed, spent, Gage’s sweaty chest slick on top of her equally damp back, heaving out breaths as they attempted to collect themselves, Veda couldn’t help but wonder if Jax Murphy had been right all along. If maybe he and she weren’t all that different.

  Just like Jax, desperate to be loved and accepted by his rich friends, so much so that he’d done something unconscionable—something he hadn’t even wanted to do—Veda was so desperate for Gage’s love and acceptance that she found it impossible to fight her body’s ravenous hunger for him. She couldn’t fight her need for the swell of his dick—which he was in the midst of pulling out of her with an agonized moan—the tingle of his kiss as he covered her lips with his, or the music of his pleasure as he continued purring softly, long after his body had left hers completely.

  She couldn’t fight her addiction to the feeling of his weight pressing her into the bed. His weight stealing her sanity. The very air she breathed.

  She couldn’t breathe.

  But she knew she’d rather live in a world with him, short of breath, than in a world without him, breathing deep.

  She’d rather breathe her last breath with him than a million more without him.

  She’d rather be dead.

  And she feared, in the deepest depths of her soul, that day might be coming much faster than she could handle.

  Her day of reckoning.

  Her last breath.

  ——

  The voices remained long after their breathing had relaxed and they’d peeled their insatiable bodies away from each other. Neither bothering to dress or shower, Veda and Gage stared up at the ceiling fan of his master bedroom, their fingers playing together from where her head was cradled on his outstretched arm.

  “I’ve got some really good news,” Gage said softly, only after they’d been lying in silence for several minutes, basking in the glow of their glorious lovemaking. He turned his head toward her and waited for her eyes to meet his. “I spoke to an estate attorney, and he found a clause in my trust fund. Conditions that even my grandfather managed to overlook.”

  Veda’s eyebrows jumped, but she found her body was still in recovery, unable to concoct words as it worked to rebound from the ravenous night they’d just had.

  But Gage didn’t need her to speak, playing the pads of his fingers on hers, making them feel slightly ticklish. “Turns out, if I marry anyone—anyone”—he smiled—“I automatically collect my share of the trust. Regardless of whether or not I have the okay from my grandfather.”

  She searched his eyes. His words make her heartbeat pick up. Her previously humming body finally made a rebound, and she was seeing clearer than she had since the moment he’d thrown her down on that bed and entered her earlier that evening.

  “What are you saying?” she asked.

  He licked his pink lips, eyes searching her face. “I’m saying we get married. As soon as possible. Tomorrow, even.”

  Veda nearly gasped, but knowing the potential that kind of reaction had to hurt him, she managed to swallow it back in the nick of time, making her chest expand.

  “Tomorrow?” Her eyes widened.

  Gage swallowed thickly, paused, and then nodded, studying her face. His eyebrows tugged together. “Is that too scary for you?”

  Even as her teeth began to chatter, she shook her head. “It’s just…. Is that the only reason you want to move up the wedding? So you’ll regain access to your trust fund?”

  He clenched his fingers around hers and scooted closer, popping a quick kiss on her lips before pressing his forehead to hers, lying on his side and cupping her cheek with his opposite hand. “Of course not. I just want to be able to be the best husband I can for you, and our children, once we’re married. I never want you or our babies to struggle. I never want to be forced to deny you anything you want and need.”

  “You talk like you’re living in a box on the street. We have this beautiful home and you’ve got plenty of money saved. More money than most people will see in their entire lifetimes.” She laughed. “You and I definitely have different ideas of the meaning of the word ‘struggle.’”

  “Why give our kids a comfortable life when we could give them an exceptional one?”

  “With a wonderful father like you, their lives will be exceptional whether we’re in a mansion or a shack. The love of a father doesn’t have a price tag, and I know you’ll love our kids with every fiber of your being.”

  He sighed, holding her eyes, his own losing a bit of their sparkle as his gaze fell between their naked bodies. “You’re scared.”

  It was her turn to cup his cheeks. “No.”

  “You know he was there that night, right?”

  She slammed her eyes closed, never hating the voices in her head as much as she did right then. “I mean… maybe a little nervous. But I want to marry you, Gage.”

  “He was with Todd and Eugene all night.”

  She sucked in a breath, her eyes flying open. She felt that they were wider than they had been a moment ago. She knew he saw it because the line between his eyes deepened. “I want to marry you… more than anything.”

  “How do you find the stomach to date Gage Blackwater?”

  “I’m so in love with you, Gage.” She tightened her hold on his jaw, a frown coming between her own eyebrows as she fought a mental battle with the demons in her head. Thankfully she won out, and the next words that spilled out of her lips spit on her dark thoughts. “As soon as my lease is up… we’ll go to the courthouse.”

  Knowing that was in less than two weeks, Gage’s eyes lit up. The darkness that had been taking over his face washed away.

  And Veda breathed easy. Only because the monster she always worried was transferring from her heart to his seemed to disappear within seconds.

  Only because, in two weeks, Lincoln Hill was sure to have news on those prototype names.

  And Veda could be sure she wasn’t marrying her worst enemy.

  ——

  “You want to know if Gage was on the balcony that night?” Jax smiled across the courtyard the next morning, the black clouds in the sky making the yellow tint of his teeth even more apparent. “Don’t you?”

  Veda tilted her head at him in disgust, trying to focus on the black eye Linc had given him weeks earlier to ease her mind and heart. It didn’t work, and when she found herself unable to stomach the sight of him for another moment, she shoved the bottle in her hand toward him. The pills sang out into the air when she tried to force it on him, the annoyance in her heart going to a boil when he didn’t take it. Her nostrils flared. Not even the pleasant scent of the rose bushes surrounding them and shielding them from view was enough to ease her mind.

  “Will you just take the fucking pills?”

  Eyes alig
ht, Jax snatched the bottle away from her, licking his lips when she didn’t immediately retreat.

  Veda crossed her arms and looked off toward the hospital, sighing. She had another fifteen minutes before she was set to see her next patient.

  “Even if you told me whether or not Gage was there….” She shrugged, reclaiming Jax eyes. “How could I ever believe you? How could I ever trust anything you have to say?”

  He lifted his brows. “Have I ever lied to you?”

  She blinked, stunned at the question. Even more so at the answer. The answer was no. Jax had never lied to her. But that didn’t make him trustworthy.

  She sighed deeply and licked her top teeth, looking away again and then slamming her eyes shut before shooting her gaze back to him. “Well, was he?” Her voice had already taken on an uncontrollable tremble.

  It scared her. The fact that that question could still leave her mouth. It scared her to death.

  Could she really marry a man who left her this conflicted? This confused? This untrusting?

  Her breathing picked up exponentially when the silence carried on.

  “You want to know if Gage was on the balcony that night.” Jax paused. “And I’d be happy to tell you. Under one condition.”

  Veda raised an eyebrow, rapidly losing patience.

  His voice lowered. “Five thousand dollars a week, every week, until we hit two-fifty. Then not only will I disappear from your life forever—” He motioned to her with the pill bottle, making the tablets sing. “—but I’ll tell you the truth about your future husband. And it’s a truth I think you’ll really appreciate learning, Veda Vandyke.”

  Veda laughed and turned away. “Fuck you, Jax.” She should’ve known he was full of shit.

  “You know, it’s really adorable.”

  Veda froze in the midst of stomping away, grinding her teeth and shooting her eyes up to the cloudy sky. She begged for mercy from whatever god above was having the time of his life torturing her. She didn’t turn back to Jax.

  “It’s adorable that, after all this time, you still think you’re in charge.”

  Veda swiveled on her heel just in time to see the smile vanish from his face. He clenched every last one of his rotted teeth, baring them at her.

  He spoke through the gaps in his incisors. “I am in charge, bitch. Just like I was in charge the night I got a taste of what it felt like to be balls deep in that incredible pussy of yours, huh?”

  Veda felt like bile had entered her veins, charging through every inch of her body, making it roll with disgust from head to toe. She slammed her eyes shut to block out the sight of his nauseating face but his voice snuck in, sending the acid swirling in her stomach into a full-on tsunami that made her feel seconds from throwing up.

  “I still have the photos that prove you’re The Chopper. I also have a bottle of pills in my hand that’ll get your pharmacist friend thrown in prison.”

  Veda opened her eyes and lit him ablaze with her gleaming orbs.

  “Would you be able to live with yourself?” His sharp tongue came out to lick his parched pale lips. “Being the reason dear old Jake takes it up the ass in a prison cell every night?” He thought on it, then shrugged. “Though I doubt that queen would mind very much.”

  Veda’s eyes narrowed. A tear spilled down.

  “Oh Christ. Well don’t start crying,” he chided.

  More tears followed the first until both her cheeks were soaking wet, even as she worked overtime smacking them away.

  “This isn’t a crying matter, my love. Don’t you see? This is me setting you free. Five thousand dollars a week, every week, until we reach two-fifty, and I’m gone forever. This is good news. You should be thrilled to be rid of me, right?”

  Veda tried to speak, but when only a croak left her trembling lips, she took a moment. “Gage just lost his job and his trust fund,” she said weakly. “The days of blackmailing him are long gone. The days of him being that careless with his money are long gone.”

  “Which is exactly why I’m only asking for two-fifty instead of five hundred. I know he’s lost a lot, but he still has millions in the bank. That might not count for much to his billionaire friends and family, but it counts for a hell of a lot to people like you and me. His money is still bountiful. His money still makes money. A quarter mil?” He blew a raspberry. “He’ll make that back before the month is out on interest alone. He never has to work another day in his life. He won’t miss an extra two-fifty, especially spread out over a year, and we both know it.”

  Silence.

  Jax held his hands out at his side. “Whaddya say? Same time Monday morning?” He went to walk away but doubled back, pointing at her. “It’d be wise to have both my drugs and my money come Monday.” He paused. “You don’t want to fuck with me.” With one last, lingering look, he turned and walked away.

  Veda lowered her eyes, every bone in her body shaking. She stared at the grass, the green shards flirting with the toe of her sneakers, before looking up at him from under her hooded eyelashes.

  She watched his retreating back, the thought of hitting him with a ten-cent pistol more attractive than ever before.

  She had a feeling Jax Murphy was well on his way to leaving her no other choice.

  23

  Linc slowed his black pickup truck in a dark, secluded area at Port Blackwater. He clicked off the Maxwell song fluttering gently from the speakers, leaving only the crunch of his wheels on the port’s gravelly surface to keep him company. A slouchy black beanie hid his hair and made his green eyes seem brighter as they gazed out the windshield, drinking in the largest cruise ship on the island. Even as it floated quietly in the water, the ship’s white body jumped out against the black surface, crying out into the night. The lights had been left on, making each window on the sixteen-deck behemoth glow, casting light on the wispy silver clouds in the gloomy sky.

  Linc sucked in a breath as his eyes flitted over the Celeste, the Blackwater’s two-billion-dollar boat, the largest cruise ship in the world, which the family had branded a ‘city on the sea.’ The Celeste was so massive it actually had ‘neighborhoods.’ There was nothing the Blackwater family loved more than segregation, and that was never more true than it was on one of their vessels. The lower your floor, the lower your standing in Shadow Rock society. The penthouse suite windows at the very top of the ship shone a little brighter than all the rest.

  The Celeste carried a record-breaking seven thousand passengers, once a month, on a twenty-three-day cruise from California, to Hawaii, to the sunny beaches of Sydney, Australia.

  It was also the boat where most of the administrative work was done, with more offices on the lower deck than the sprawling business complex the family had built on the island.

  That lower deck was where Linc needed to be. The one place in the world he’d yet to be granted a search warrant. The one place in the world Pierce and David Blackwater protected with feral ferocity, paying top lawyers more money than God to keep it out of the hands—and away from the eyes—of law enforcement. No one would spend so much money keeping that lower deck under wraps if there weren’t something worth seeing.

  That night, warrant be damned, Linc had the card that would get him there.

  He pressed his lips together when they tried to smile at the thought of Veda Vandyke. But smile they did, and as he put his truck in park on the port, almost pitch black in its darkness, he worried nothing on Earth could wash it away.

  When a loud thump rang in from the truck’s rear, making it shake, the smile did vanish from his face. He froze with his hand on the gear shift, frowning deeply into his rearview mirror. He glared at the reflection of his trunk bed cover. He’d lowered the cover days ago, making it impossible to see inside.

  He stilled for a long while, sure he’d imagined the thump.

  Then another thump, louder that time. Followed by a bump that made the truck bounce, and a flurry of muffled curses.

  Drawing in a gasp, Linc threw open the drive
r’s side door and hopped onto the deck. The gravel crunched under his combat boots. A gentle night breeze made his long-sleeve black T-shirt flutter as he covered the concealed pistol clipped to the back of his jeans, circling around to the truck bed.

  Placing a hand on the cover’s handle, he threw it open, eyes falling to the bed as the cover flew up and locked in place.

  His face fell. “You gotta be fucking with me.”

  Veda, curled into a ball in the bed of the truck, met Linc’s heated green eyes, her own going wide even as she gave him an unconvincing smile, so big it showed both rows of her teeth.

  “Linc.” She beamed as if they’d stumbled upon each other in the milk aisle at the supermarket.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Taking a step back, he bit his bottom lip so hard he almost drew blood, realizing he didn’t even need to hear the answer. He stared off at the Celeste, biting back an infuriated laugh, not even looking at Veda when he heard her bumbling and grumbling her way out of the truck. Only when he heard the crunch of her boots hitting the gravel did he look at her from the corner of his eyes.

  She pushed her collarbone-length natural hair out of her eyes as she stepped toward him, showing him her palms. “I’m just here to help you.”

  He bared his teeth. “I didn’t ask for your help. I don’t need your help. And thanks for nothing, Veda, because you’ve just fucked this up for me.” He faced her, pointing toward the Celeste. “You know better than anyone that, once this ship sets sail tomorrow, it’ll be gone for a month.”

  “Of course I know that. How else would I have known what night I needed to climb into the back of this truck? I knew you wouldn’t be able to wait a whole month to utilize that keycard.” She frowned at him. “I’m not here to screw up your plans. Like I said, I’m here to help you.”

  “How many different ways can I tell you that I don’t want you in danger before you finally get it through your thick head, Veda? I don’t want you in danger. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  She looked in the midst of laughing.