“So, what? You come to my office and place of business to threaten me, Law? I don’t think that’s such a smart idea, kid.” My fist came up so fast I didn’t even see it as it decked the son of a bitch in the nose. There was a loud crack and then the blood started flowing.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Livie
I was doing okay with everything after Ocean forced my body and mind back into mental and emotional submission, until I heard the crack of his dad’s nose, and the blood. I grabbed onto the back of Ocean’s shirt, and his arm reached around and pulled me into him. I’ve never known myself to be afraid of any hostile situation, but lately I wasn’t myself, so I didn’t know what the hell to do.
“What the hell, Lawrence, you didn’t have to break my damn nose again!”
“Yes, I did. Now sit the fuck down and let’s talk!”
Ocean loosened up his hold on me and looked over his shoulder at me. His eyes were dark and his jaw was set. He nodded his head toward the door, guessing I’d leave, but I shook my head. I mouthed the words, “I’m not leaving,” and he rolled his eyes at me. I let go of his shirt and backed up against the wall closest to the door. I saw Law’s dad sitting in his chair holding a wad of tissues to his nose.
Law took a seat at one of the chairs across from him. “Why? I just want to know why you’re doing this to Mom. She doesn’t deserve that shit, you know.”
“You’re just a kid. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Then why was the damn package of crap you sent to Mom addressed to me, if I’m just a fucking kid?” Law’s dad removed the wad of bloody tissue and looked at his son with a puzzled expression.
“I didn’t address the damn letters to you. Why the hell would I do that? Not so you can show up unannounced and break my fucking nose!”
Ocean snickered and said, “Why don’t you ask your wife?”
“Yeah, McDaniels, why don’t you ask the bitch if she did it?” Law’s dads face went red.
“You two dicks don’t have to like the woman, but you will not disrespect her!” Law stood up ready to pounce, and Ocean stepped closer.
“You mean the same bitch that after five minutes of knowing her was swallowing my cum?” Law’s dad shot up out of his seat, and my stomach fell to the floor when I saw Law fly over the table and slam into his father. Holy shit!
Ocean was just standing there with a goddamn grin on his face. I ran up behind him and pushed him. “What the hell, Ocean? Do something!” He finally sprang into action jumping over the table in one bound and jumping on top of Law who was hammering his father with rapid and powerful blows to the face.
Watching the violence unfold in front of me made my nipples harden. I couldn’t help it. Paul Walker and the concoction of sexy looked ferocious, and it was turning me own a little. I cannot wait until we open the studio.
I could tell Ocean was holding back, letting Law get as much as he could out. “OCEAN, GET HIM UP, DAMMIT!” I couldn’t stand to see the blows much longer. Ocean responded by flinging Law backwards over the top of the desk kicking the computer and telephone off and sending them crashing to the floor. Ocean grabbed the bloody man by his suit and threw him into his chair as if the man weighed nothing.
“Now listen up, you sorry sack of shit. I can continue to let Law go to town on your face, or you can be a fucking man for once!” Ocean took off his black t-shirt balled it up and threw it at the man. Law was pacing around the room like a caged animal searching for the weakest spot of his confinement so he could break out. I walked up to him and took his hands. They were shaking and were covered in drying blood. I didn’t care. I was his Sunshine, and I would do my part. I walked him over to the toppled over chair, picked it up off the floor and sat him down. Once he was seated, I sat myself on his lap sideways, and he immediately wrapped his arms around me hugging me tight.
“So what’s it going to be, old man, deal like a man, or have Law light your face up again?”
Ocean turned to face us, and his eye twitched when he saw me sitting on Law’s lap, but he didn’t say anything. I wouldn’t have cared if he did, because Law needed me. I looked at Ocean’s chest and noticed the beautiful tattoo he had. It was a young girl that kind of looked like him. The tattoo looked like an actual picture. The kind taken by portrait, and it was perfectly positioned on his left peck. Under the pretty girls face, in a fancy cursive writing, it said Stormie C. Hawthorne, RIP, and the dates. I looked away when he caught me staring at it.
***
I was thankful to be leaving the office. By the time the men where done talking and swinging their dicks around like massive pendulums, the place looked like a Kansas City tornado had past through, not once, but a couple of times. Ocean was too exhausted to argue about who was driving what car, so I got the keys to the 300z easy. I figured they needed time to themselves to talk things out, and I needed to do the same. I was okay with my relationship with Law even though there was some risk involved to our friendship, but I could handle it. Ocean, on the other hand, was a totally new blood sport for me. My sanity was on the line when it came to him. I found myself feeling like a lost puppy around him, and especially in his absence.
He had this nature about him that washed away all of my fears and it scared me. No fears meant he could easily pry too many answers to the questions I wanted no part in sharing. The way he could strip away my anxiety, fear, and fight with one rough touch of his hands was illusory. Did this mean I liked to be roughed up when it came to sex? Nope! Not going there. There was no way I was going to let that animal explore my body no matter how badly I craved him. No doubt, once he saw my scars and understood that I cause them out of my sick and twisted need for physical pain, he’d probably run for the hills. And I don’t think I could make it through that type of rejection. Not from Ocean Hawthorne.
My ride back to the hotel was nice. I’ve never driven a car, so nice and the high from being behind the wheel made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I knew I could always go out and by one of these babies with the money I’d saved from my dad’s contributions into my account, but I couldn’t give up on my Lucy. She would be devastated. As the Hyatt towers came into view up ahead, my cell phone went off. The ringtone was not one I recognized as assigning to anyone, so I grabbed the phone quickly to check the caller ID.
It read OCEAN, and Chris Brown’s Don’t Judge Me was serenading my ears. I was so focused on listening to the lyrics that I didn’t even answer the call. My phone starting ringing again, and I answered it putting the call on speakerphone.
“Yeah,” I answered not knowing how else to greet the man I feared and wanted the most.
“Hey, you mind taking Law up to our room right away? I’ll take care of parking the cars and grabbing the luggage.”
“Of course not. How is he?” There was a pause before he answered.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure he would rather talk to you about it.”
“Okay, see you in a few,” I said hanging up.
We pulled into the Hyatt Towers, and I parked the car in front of the main entrance behind Law’s rental. I quickly grabbed my keys and phone while opening the door to get out. As I walked around the car, Law was stumbling out of the truck, and he didn’t look too good. His clothes were covered in dried blood, his blond curls were messier than usual, and his hands started to bruise up black and blue. I skipped to him propping my shoulder under his right arm to help him get steady. Law reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet handing it to me.
“Just show them my id and we’ll be fine. I used to come here a lot after fights.” I took his wallet with my free hand, and we both hobbled through the hotel doors.
The two male hotel receptionists just stared at us as we got closer. I didn’t feel like explaining anything to anybody, so I didn’t say shit.
“Are you checking in this evening?” The younger of the two asked. No, I came here to do my fucking groceries!
“Yes, the reservations are under Lawrence Hawthorne,” I said
handing over his id to the guy. He looked at the id and did a double take. I guess he recognized Law from somewhere, or maybe just the name.
With a couple clicks of the keyboard, the guy handed me three sets of keys. Two room keys were for room 403 and one was for 401. Law must have seen my face because he chuckled above my head. “Sunshine, you didn’t think I would put you in a room with me or caveman, did you?” I lightly jabbed him in the ribs and he laughed a little harder.
“Come on. Let’s get your heavy ass up stairs, cleaned up, fed and to bed.”
“You would do that for me, Sunshine?” he asked with a hand over his chest.
“No, I wouldn’t, but your new studio assistant manager would.” “Ouch, Sunshine.”
“Come on, you big baby!”
Once we got off the elevator, Law grabbed the set of room keys from my hand. He took the little packet that held the two keys. “You don’t have to take care of me, I’ll be fine, Sunshine. I’ll get cleaned up and order room service, and then I’ll probably crash afterwards. You’re free to do whatever you want, so don’t feel like you have to stick around. Don’t let me ruin this trip for you… or what’s left of it.”
“No, Law. I said I would help get you settled in and that’s what I’m doing, and I don’t think you’re the kind of man to throw a poor little defenseless girl like me out of your room.” The smile in his eyes made my heart skip a beat or two.
“Sunshine, there is nothing poor, little, or defenseless about you,” he said as he swiped his room key and opened the door.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Livie
After I got room service called for Law to arrive in about an hour or so, I got his shower ready for him. He let me do what I wanted to help him without fighting me on it. I helped him get undressed minus the boxer briefs he was wearing… which, by the way, left nothing to the imagination, and the man was built like a god. Paul Walker himself would pay to have a body like Law. I thought Ocean would have come up by now, so that I could have taken out his clothes for him, but no such luck. Before I left him, Law kissed my forehead and thanked me as I walked out of the room.
If my baby brother would have ever been born, I prayed that he would have been like Law. I took a quick look around and pulled my room key out of my back pocket. My room was adjacent to theirs and I was thankful for it. I swiped my room key, pushed the heavy door open, and froze in the doors entrance. The butt heads couldn’t just rent me a regular room. The room looked like a damn honeymoon suite. There was a monstrous king bed draped in white fluffy pillows, white sheets, and a thick comforter that I could probably sleep for weeks under without wanting to wake up. The worst was the bed was covered in red rose pedals, and there were chocolates laid out in a huge heart design in the middle of the bed.
The room smelled of chocolate covered strawberries, which were on a small tray placed on the side table with a bottle of champagne. Am I missing something here? I think I got the wrong room. The room was absolutely beautiful and lay out with soft pastel colors and intricate art pieces throughout the room. The soft carpet was a light cream color and the walls were a warm tan, and the bathroom was freaking huge. You could fit a small village in that bathroom, and a hot tub! I would definitely have to make time to enjoy that before we left. Realizing I had left the door wide open, I stepped back, closed it, and locked it. I walked over to the enormous bed and let my body fall backwards on the mattress and my body bounced against the thick fluffy comforter. The rose pedals rose and fell around me and I laughed.
I pulled out my phone remembering the song that Ocean must have assigned himself for his ringtone when he asked for my phone on the plane. I pulled up his contact and he put everything from his birthday, address, and even his dad’s number and his address. I didn’t know what to think about this, so I decided not to think about it. I pulled up the song he selected. Chris Brown, huh? I opened up my iTunes app, looked up the song, and played it. There had to be a reason he chose that one and I wanted to find out why. The melody of the song instantly relaxed my body, and I closed my eyes listening to the lyrics being sung by the oh so sexy Christopher Brown. It wasn’t until the chorus of the song come on that I realized why he maybe would have wanted me to hear the song. But was he saying he wouldn’t judge me nor was he asking me not to judge him?
A light wrap at the door woke me up from my lyrical sleep. The song had ended a few seconds ago, but the chorus weaved itself into my brain and I held on to it. There was no way he could really mean he would never judge me, because he didn’t know me. He didn’t know my secret, and I was going to make it my mission to keep him out of my head. There was another wrap at the door, and I got up lazily to open it. I pulled the door open, and on the other side was Ocean dressed in gym clothes. He had on grey loose sweats that clung to his narrow waist, and a black tight sleeveless Tapout top that exposed his well-defined arms and broad shoulders.
He had a hand towel draped over his shoulder and a huge jug of water in his left hand. When I finally looked up to his face to meet his eyes, there was something lurking beneath them and it made my body hum with excitement.
“Law’s passed out in the room, thanks for taking care of him.” I nodded back afraid of letting my mouth speak for me. “I’m going to the gym for a couple hours. You want to come down with me?”
Just like any other time he asked me to do something, he was never really asking. The tone in his voice always communicated to my body that it was an order, and of course, my body always responded to the alpha in him. If that’s what it even was.
“If you can give me a few to get ready, I’ll go.” He nodded his head and then picked up my duffle bags laid by his feet as he walked through the door. He took one look at the bed and I felt him go frigid. Heat was rolling off him in waves slamming directly into me. He stared for a few seconds then cleared his throat. He placed the bags on the bed and turned to look at me. This was the first time since I’ve met him that he looked nervous and unsure of himself. He was losing control of himself and part of me wanted him to. I wanted to know what he was feeling… whether it was by his words or his actions. I remembered what happened between us when I came out of the shower back in my hotel room, and my body shimmered with heat. The moisture that Ocean always caused to pool at the center of my panties seeped out to say ‘hello Ocean’ as I looked at him.
Ocean was frozen in time. Afraid to move think or speak, it looked like. Not wanting this situation to land me ass naked on my back with my legs wide open under that beast and that bed of rose pedals and chocolates. I willed my body to work and walked over to my duffle bags on the bed. I grabbed them both and walked into the bathroom without speaking or taking another look at the man frozen in the middle of my honeymoon suite.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ocean
As soon as Law and Liv walked through the hotel doors, I put our bags onto the dumbwaiter, hopped back into the truck and parked it in the garage. I sprinted back to the 300z and found a closer parking to the hotel entrance. I cut off the engine and just sat there. I felt my insides unraveling and the angst of needing some hard liquor or pussy to bury myself in balls deep started to take over my mind. I couldn’t let it take me, not here, and not now. I had Liv to deal with now.
I’m not sure what it was I was searching for in her, but I felt compelled to be with her, be around her, and just be there for her. Lord knows I didn’t want this. She deserved someone better, someone who hadn’t spent the past year in rehab for sniffing coke just because he couldn’t be a man and deal with his shit. She needed someone like Law, someone safe. I was a fucking “one-way fork in the road turn left for disaster or right for disappointment.”
I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. “Stormie, sis…god, how I wish you were still here with me. Things would be so different... I would be so different. Sis, I know you’re probably pissed for what I’ve done to myself, but I’m so fucking lost without you. You were my heart... you were my world. I would have anything to
be the one bleeding out on the side of that damn road. Stormie, help me… help me be good. Help me save Liv. You would have liked her, She’s crazy cute, can fight, and feisty just like you were. Stormie, wherever you are in heaven, because there is no other place an angel like you could be. Help me, Stormie, I can’t be alone anymore, sis. Always love you, Stormie.”
The sound of children laughing and yelling at each other made me open my eyes. I rubbed away the tears that coated my eyes and face. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw two kids around the age of ten or so. A boy and a girl, and I guessed the brother was older because he had his sister in an arm lock. The little girl swung hard and clocked him right in the chin, and they busted out laughing even harder. My heart started to bleed, and the river of tears starting flowing again. It’s as if I were watching a real live memory of Stormie and me from the past.
As I sat silently in my seat watching them play fight while their parents tried to get their luggage together, the little girl looked up toward the car and straight into the rearview mirror. I wanted to look away but I couldn’t. Her stare was hard and her smile was brilliant. She winked and took off after her family. I sat there afraid to move and afraid to think. A smile crept up on my face, and all I could piece together was that wherever Stormie was she’d heard me.
I wiped the wetness from my face and stepped out of the car. All right, sis, I’m listening. Time to get the girl.
***
When I got to the lobby, the receptionist told me the bags where delivered to room 403. I got an extra key and headed for my room hoping that Liv was still there with Law. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning anticipating something great and something I’d waited all year to get. In my case, that was Livie, with batteries and attitude included.
I got to my room and swiped my room key. I pushed the door open and heard the shower running, and immediately, my mind went from calm to frantic. Panic set in, and my insecurities started fucking with me. I pictured Law fucking Liv in the shower, and I started sweating. I couldn’t help it... I had to know. I walked further into the room, and I saw food had been brought up to the room and set up for two. Shit, shit, shit! I went straight into the bathroom door and damn near broke off the nob as I burst through it. Law was alone in the shower looking at me as if I were fucking crazy, which I apparently was, so whatever.
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