by HELEN HARDT
“Why would he have an issue with Colin?” Jade asked.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Bryce said. “Believe it or not, I think it was jealousy.”
“Jealousy?” Talon said. “That’s nuts.”
“To us, yeah. But to Cade? Cade was the first person my father liked enough to pay money for. As far as we know, he didn’t pay money for anyone again until Colin.”
Ruby nodded. “Booker is finally beginning to make psychopathic sense.”
I said nothing. It made an eerie sort of sense to me as well, something I wasn’t altogether comfortable with.
“But Colin escaped from Tom,” Talon said.
“That doesn’t mean Cade didn’t know about him,” Ruby said.
Bryce had already given us the theory that he thought Tom had taken Cade as a sort of protégé.
“You think Cade thought he was being replaced?” I said.
“That’s what it sounds like to me.”
“Crazy shit,” Talon said, more to himself than to any of us. He looked to the yard, where the boys were playing with the dogs. Dale didn’t usually join in, but he did today. That made all of us happy, despite what else was going on.
“So the only question is,” I said, “how did Ted Morse find out about Cade?”
“I’ve been thinking about that too,” Bryce said. “Cade must have gone to Ted after he found out about my father paying for Colin.”
“So Cade and your father were continually in contact,” I said.
“That’s my guess.”
“Dale says the man at the playground was someone who watched at the compound. Not someone who hurt him, but watched him being hurt by others,” Ruby said. “How does that fit in?”
“I have no clue,” Bryce said. “I’m sure my father ‘trained’ Cade the way he himself had been trained. Maybe Cade couldn’t do it to others. Or maybe he was in training himself, watching first. I have no idea.”
“We need to find Cade,” Ruby said. “That’s the only way we’ll get the real story, and that’s only if he wants to tell us.”
The rest of us nodded.
“You realize he’s going to try to hit you or Joe,” Ruby said.
“We’ve got Melanie and the baby protected,” Bryce said.
“You do?” Bryce didn’t normally keep stuff like this from me. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Joe and I just got it done,” he said. But he didn’t look me in the eye.
There was something he wasn’t telling me, but I wouldn’t push it. Not yet. Not in front of my family.
But later.
Later, Bryce, you’re going to level with me.
You’re going to tell me everything.
Bryce went home, and after I’d helped Jade get the boys to bed, I headed to the guesthouse.
Bryce and I were going to have words.
I’d barely gotten through the door, though, when he grabbed me and crushed our mouths together.
No, talk first. We have to talk fir—
I opened for him in spite of myself. We were both so needy, so raw with emotion over everything.
I couldn’t fight it.
I didn’t want to fight it.
We kissed, hard and passionate, with a mixture of fervor and fury. Fury not at each other but at the situation. Fury because it was better than sadness and ache.
He ground his hard cock into my belly and deepened the kiss, our mouths fused together and our tongues dueling. I gave in to it, reveled in it.
We could talk later.
Now was the time to give to each other and take what we each needed in turn.
We kissed harder, harder, harder…until he finally pulled away and inhaled a gasping breath.
“Bedroom,” he grunted, and he pulled me along until we were ensconced in the master suite.
I expected his usual command to undress. Instead, he frantically pulled off his own clothes until he stood naked, his cock hard and ready, his gaze raking over me as I quickly disrobed as well.
“Need you,” he said gruffly.
“I’m here.”
“Get on your hands and knees,” he said. “I’m going to take you from behind. Like a damned animal.”
His words set me on fire, and I obeyed him without question. I was already soaking wet. I could feel it. Feel every quiver between my legs as I imagined him sinking his cock into me.
Soon, he was behind me, the bed shifting with his weight, his cock slapping the cheeks of my ass.
“I’m going to fuck you hard, baby. So hard. I need it. And I need you.”
I squealed sharply as he thrust into me.
I was ready. Wet and ready. But something was different this time. Was he more erect than normal? No, I’d looked at him. He was the same large size he always was.
No, it wasn’t his size. It was his attitude. Something was different.
He slapped the cheek of my ass when he pulled out and then thrust back in.
He’d slapped me once before, but not like this. This felt different.
“Yes,” he said. “Take it. Take all of it, baby. Take all of me.”
I pushed my hips backward, giving him the best access I could. Whatever he needed, I would give it. I’d always give it.
He took me harder, harder, harder, thrusting, thrusting, thrusting…until my body was so ready, but the position didn’t give me the friction I needed against my clit. I tried letting my legs relax so I could rub against the bed, but he pulled me upward, continuing to plunge deeper and deeper inside me.
“Need. To. Come,” I said into the pillow. “Please.”
With one swift movement, Bryce swiped his fingers over my clit.
That was all I needed.
I erupted, he still thrusting into me, my whole body singing a discordant melody.
Yes, discordant.
This was different. So different.
Yet no less passionate and amazing.
“Keep coming, baby,” he said through puffs of his breath. “Keep coming for me.”
The pulses of my climax increased, as though hearing and obeying his words. Vibrant colors kaleidoscoped behind my closed eyes.
Different. So different.
Yet still the same. Still Bryce. Still Bryce and me. Still perfect.
He pushed into me harder and harder still, and when my climax finally began to subside, he groaned and spilled inside me, the walls of my pussy clasping him with each contraction of his cock.
He stayed there for a moment, his cock sunk into me, his hands gripping my hips. I stayed still beneath him, letting him take what he needed from my body. From me.
When he finally let go, he rolled over onto his back and pulled me into his arms.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
“For what?”
“For everything.”
I stroked his chest, tangling my fingers through the hair coated with perspiration. Give him a few minutes before you pounce on him with questions.
I was determined. I closed my eyes and relaxed against his hard body.
Then—
“I needed to remember,” Bryce said softly, his breath tickling my forehead.
“Remember what?” I asked.
“Who I am.”
I lifted my brow. “Oh?”
“This won’t make any sense to you,” he said.
I moved away from him slightly and lifted my head to meet his gaze. “Try me.”
He closed his eyes. “I experienced some strange emotions today, after talking to”—he paused—“Dominic.”
“Dominic? Why?”
“I found out some stuff about Cade and my father. Stuff that shouldn’t have bothered me but did a little.”
“Bryce, you can be bothered about this whole situation. I certainly am.”
“No. You don’t understand.” Another pause. “Dominic told me that Cade was…was my father’s protégé.”
“Why would that— Oh.” I swallowed.
“Stupid as sh
it, right?” Bryce shook his head. “I was his son. I should have been— God, I can’t even say it.”
“He kept you out of that part of his life because you were his son. He loved you.”
“I know. It’s not enough that I feel tremendous guilt for that, but then he chose someone else to… I’m so fucked up.”
“You’re not fucked up, Bryce.” I swept his hair off his forehead. “You’re just a son who found out his father was a lot different than the great guy you remembered. I’ve been there. I get it.”
He opened his mouth, but I placed two fingers on his lips.
“Don’t. I know your father was worse than mine ever was.”
“That isn’t what I was going to say,” he said.
“Oh. Then what?”
“It’s the sliver of envy,” he said. “How fucked up am I?”
“Bryce, do you truly wish your father had brought you into his other life?”
“No! Of course not.”
“Then why are you torturing yourself over a stupid little slice of emotion that means nothing?”
“Because it sickens me. Seriously sickens me that I could even have the thought.”
“That tells you something right there,” I said. “You know the thought is wrong. Do you think you’re the only one who’s had a thought they didn’t want? That stupid little imp in your mind plays tricks on you. Mel told me all about it. Give yourself a break. You’re way too hard on yourself where your father is concerned, Bryce. First, you won’t let go of the guilt that he didn’t harm you and was a good father, and now you actually think that one morsel of envy actually means you wish he’d chosen you instead of Cade? That’s not what it means at all.”
“Yeah? What does it mean, then?”
“It’s means you’re a damned human being. You’re normal. You’re dealing with a lot. It’s more guilt.”
“More guilt? How is it more guilt?”
“Because Cade went through something you feel you should have gone through. That’s all it is.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Bryce
“Say that again,” I said. “Please.”
“What? You’re a human being. Just like me. Just like everyone.”
“No. Not that. The part about the guilt.”
“Well, I can’t take credit. I learned it all from Mel. But it seems like it’s all part of the guilt you feel about having good memories of your father and more guilt about others having to go through hell while you had a good father. It’s not envy. It’s guilt that it was him instead of you.”
God. So simple. And so clear once she said the words. “How can you see something that’s right in front of my face? Yet I was blind to it?”
“Mel taught me a lot. I’ve done a lot of the same things.”
The sliver of envy over my father choosing someone other than me as a protégé to his life of horror suddenly seemed like the nothing that it was. It stemmed from the guilt.
And it was damned time to let the guilt go. “I’m sorry. It’s self-indulgent. This isn’t about me. It never has been.”
“It is about you, Bryce, but it’s not your fault. There’s no reason for the guilt, just like there was no reason for mine. Does it go away overnight? Of course not. But I no longer have to indulge it. I was only hurting myself. In my case, both emotionally and physically.”
I cupped her cheek. “How did you get to be so smart?”
“I always was, babe.” She smiled.
I kissed her lips. “I know. You’re amazing.”
“I still think you should talk to Mel,” Marj was saying. “I’m certainly not qualified to—”
I silenced her with a kiss.
I had every intention of talking to Melanie once she and the baby were home. I knew these things weren’t solved in a day. But a huge brick had been lifted off my chest by this wonderful woman in my bed.
I was okay. I wasn’t jealous of Cade Booker. I felt guilty that it was him instead of me.
We had to find him. While he was out there, I could never be sure of Henry’s safety or baby Brad’s, or even Marj’s for that matter. He blamed me—and Joe—for what he’d been through.
But part of me hoped Cade could find a life of peace eventually.
Being my father’s protégé couldn’t have been an easy life. Not at all.
Still, the man had been watching us for how long, now? I was pretty sure his so-called “friendship” with Joe at the leather club was all a part of him keeping tabs on us, and once my father died…
He came in for the kill.
I needed to talk to Joe.
Alone.
But right now I had my beautiful woman in my bed, and I’d take advantage of that. She’d helped me immensely. She’d let me fuck her hard and fast when I needed it to cleanse my soul of the blackness that sliver of envy had colored it.
In the end, though, her words, rather than her body, had helped most of all.
I woke to the sound of the shower.
I moved my arm to the other side of the bed. Still warm. Marj hadn’t been up for long.
I sat up and stretched, yawning. I could join her in the shower. Yeah, that sounded good.
When I got to the bathroom, though, she was stepping out and reaching for a towel.
I smiled. “Guess I’m too late.”
“For what?”
“To make love to you in the shower.”
She laughed. “Just this time. Jade and I are driving into the city this morning to see Mel and the baby.”
“What about Joe?” I asked.
“We didn’t invite him.” She laughed again. “He might be there. He spends about every other night with Melanie at the hotel.”
“Do you have time for breakfast?”
She nodded. “Just let me get dressed. I’ll make something. I want to talk to you anyway.”
“About what?”
“It can wait for coffee. I started a pot. It’ll be ready now. Go pour yourself a cup, and I’ll be out in a minute.”
Hmm. She wanted to talk. And she didn’t want to talk in the bathroom while she was wet and naked.
That didn’t sound too good.
I pulled on a pair of jeans and headed to the kitchen, texting Joe on the way. Marj might need to talk to me, but I needed to talk to Joe. I’d promised Brad discretion, but Joe and I were in this together. He had to know what his father had done, and together, we had to find Cade Booker and discover the truth, once and for all. I quickly texted Joe and got an almost instant response.
I’m heading to the north
quadrant. You can meet me
there. I only have an hour or
so before I leave for the city.
That didn’t give me a lot of time. I poured coffee into a travel mug and scribbled a quick note to Marj, apologizing and saying I’d see her later.
“He’s trying to incriminate Dominic, Alex, and Colin,” I said, after explaining how we’d inferred that the polished rock Dale had found probably belonged to Alex.
“Did she ID it?” Joe asked.
“No. Ruby has it. She’s going to take care of that. Alex was just released from the hospital.”
Joe nodded. “Why them? Why not us?”
“Evidently Cade hates his siblings nearly as much as he hates us. They work against him, after all.”
“Makes sense. But why Colin?”
“That one’s a little harder.” I explained my theory of Cade’s jealousy of Colin.
“Wow. Cade really had a number pulled on him.”
“Yeah. Well, my father pulled a number on a lot of people.” Myself included, to a much lesser extent—and not until his true self was revealed after his suicide.
“No one’s blaming you,” Joe said.
I exhaled slowly. “I know that. I’m beginning to see things a little differently.”
“Oh? Did you decide to see a therapist?”
“Not yet. I’m still going to talk to Melanie, once she and the baby are ho
me. It was actually Marj who gave me the epiphany.”
“Ugh. Spare me the details of sex with my sister.”
I chuckled. “It wasn’t during sex, you idiot. Your sister is one smart woman.”
“I always knew that.”
“She wants me to talk to someone qualified, of course, and I will. But she basically told me to get over myself. That I was indulging myself, a lot like—” I stopped. Marjorie had trusted me with her secret, and I couldn’t let her down.
“I know what you don’t want to say,” Joe said.
“You do?”
“Yeah. I know. I did the same thing. Feeling guilty because I didn’t protect Talon. Feeling guilty because nothing happened to me. It was stupid.”
Good save, Bryce. Actually, Joe had done the saving. He’d thought Marj had been talking about him.
“It’s time we both got over it,” I said.
“Can’t argue.” Joe tipped his Stetson. “That what you wanted to talk about?”
I swallowed. No. That wasn’t what I’d wanted to talk about. How to bring it up?
By the way, your father’s still not dead. Dominic and Alex actually do work for him. Oh, and he bought my dad’s cabin.
Before I could get the words out, though, Joe’s phone buzzed.
“Yeah?” he said into it. “Tell me some good news.”
Pause.
“You’re kidding. Excellent!”
Pause.
“We’re on our way.” He ended the call and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
“Mills and Johnson,” he said. “They found Cade Booker. He says he’s willing to talk.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Marjorie
I rolled my eyes, crumpled up Bryce’s note, and tossed it in the kitchen trash. He could have texted me. Of course, had he texted, I’d have gotten it right away and run out to stop him.
Cute move, Bryce. But you and I are still going to talk.
I made my way to the main house. Jade was ready and waiting to go see Melanie.
“I can’t believe I haven’t seen that baby yet,” she said. “I’m the last one.”