by Stella Rhys
The three of us turned to see security holding Jesse, whose soaked body dripped on their shoes. The four of them looked humorously dutiful as they flexed their muscles to secure a broken man who clearly wasn’t fighting back. I stared pitifully at Jesse, realizing in that moment that he needed Abram. He was still here because he needed him. He needed Nate. Without them, he would have already caved to the relentless sympathy he carried for his brother. He’d find Stefan, help him run again and as a result, join him as a target of the Toro Family.
With a single motion, Abram had the men let go. I was on edge as I watched him walk slowly to Jesse, my body tensed and ready to bolt forward and hold him back. But he didn’t swing. He wasn’t looking to fight. “Give me the location,” was all he said.
Tired, swaying as he dripped onto the shiny hardwood, Jesse reached in his pocket. Tossing Abram his cell phone, he muttered the passcode. Once it was unlocked, Abram lifted his eyebrows. “Stefan’s birthday,” he said, not looking up from the screen. Jesse stared at the water pooling on the ground.
“Yeah.”
Christ. I dropped my eyes. Elle’s birthday was my passcode too. My heart gave another twist though I tried to look unaffected, the heat of Nate’s glare still blazing into my flesh. It burned hotter when Jesse turned his tortured gaze to me, watching me, refusing to look away as Abram went through his phone. I closed my eyes, overwhelmed by the stress. I was the only person in the room who had nothing to do with Stefan Toro and yet I was in the very center of his drama.
“Listen.”
Abram’s voice snapped me out of it. I opened my eyes to find him glaring at Jesse.
“If this is Stefan’s location, he’s in a small fucking town. The fact of the matter is, the second he catches wind of Nate or myself, he’ll run. We were never on great terms and I’m sure they didn’t get better after the beating he took from us, so without a doubt, tracking him would be easier with your help. As far as I know, his instinct isn’t to run from you, so I imagine you’d be able to lure him out with far less effort than it would take for either Nate or myself.” Abram kept his voice even, professional. But I could see the corner of his lip twitching, still curling with hatred. “I’m sure if you went all in on this, Toro, our common interests would be enough motivation for us to work together. On the topic of motivation, we all know what your family would do to you if you were to let Stefan go. They’re counting on you. So let’s take this moment to cut the bullshit and agree that moving forward, we’re all after the same thing.” Abram let his words hang in the air for another few seconds of silence before holding out his hand. “When this is all over, we’ll never have to look at each other again.”
My heart beat fast as I watched Jesse shake Abram’s hand. “Sounds like a fuckin’ plan,” he muttered with little enthusiasm.
Midway into their discussion of the next step, I excused myself. I needed a break. My body was over-stimulated, the rush of my blood buzzing like a swarm of angry bees under my skin. As crazy as things were tonight, I was quickly realizing that they were only about to get worse. I’d be going with them to hunt Stefan Toro – I knew that for a fact. A handshake wouldn’t stop these men from tearing each other apart – only I would. For that very reason, I wanted to go and I didn’t. I wasn’t ready for the pressure but I didn’t have a choice.
“Trying to bail?”
The voice behind me belonged to Nate. I turned to glare. “Trying to find a bathroom.”
“Let me show you.”
I said nothing as Nate walked me to an empty women’s room, following me inside. I forced myself to ignore him as I stood in front of the mirror, grabbing a stack of thick, white napkins and drying my body. The silence was deafening as Nate watched me.
“I had a feeling there was something to it,” he finally said.
“What.”
“The fact that you were so eager to help Toro.”
I shot him a look. “I was eager to help Abram. I thought if he knew that Stefan was the one who killed Gavin, it would be over and he could just relax and forget everything. How the hell was I supposed to know you guys helped Stefan fake his own death? I was just trying to put an end to the drama.”
“I have a feeling you like the drama,” Nate said, coming closer. It was a pointless remark to rile me up so I ignored him. He forced my attention by snatching the napkins from my hands. “How was it, anyway?”
“How was what?” I asked between my teeth.
Nate closed the gap between us, his eyes fixed tight on my face, intent on catching any flinch, anything to give away my shame. “You slept with Jesse. Don’t deny it. I don’t know when or how it happened but I know you went to bed with a man you knew Abram hated. Because you just love the drama,” he said, almost in singsong.
“No,” I shook my head. I had no idea who he was. He was Sean when I met him. “That’s not remotely true, Nate, so just leave me the fuck alone,” I hissed, storming past Nate. But he caught me by the arm.
“You make a pact with Toro or something? You gonna let him and Stefan ambush us when we get there?”
“Are you high right now?” With him, it was a legitimate question.
“Fuck you.”
“You’re out of your mind, Nate. Just let go of me.”
“Answer me one thing. You plan on fucking Stefan, too?”
“Get the fuck off of me,” I hardly recognized the growl of my voice or the strength in my body as I flung Nate off of me. We jostled all the way to the door. Nate snarled at me, spitting his vile words barely an inch from my face. “Bitch,” “whore” and every hateful word under the sun till I broke and hissed like a snake in his face.
“I love Abram, you asshole, now get away from me!”
I burst out the door, tears burning out my eyes. Emotion tore through my heart as I ran as fast as I could in my heels and my heavy dress soaked in water. When I crashed into a body, I knew from the way it immediately held me that it was Abram’s, and I felt instant sorrow for the way I’d first vocalized my love for him. I loved Abram. I loved him with all my heart and fuck Nate for making me say it to him first, with nothing but hate in my words.
“Baby, what the hell are you – ”
Tears clouding my vision, I pulled Abram into a kiss – one deep, hot and hard enough to say sorry. To take us away from everything for at least a second. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I breathed him in, clutching him so tight my tears streaked his skin. He kissed me back through his worry, urgent whispers of baby and what’s wrong filling the spaces between my lips against his. My heart broke into a million pieces as he comforted me, as he gave me all of his love and effort without even knowing what was going on.
But of course Nate interrupted. “We’ll meet at the penthouse at seven,” he said to Abram, who pulled gently away from me. As he responded, I looked behind him to see Jesse. His eyes were the only part of him that looked remotely alive as he watched me hold onto Abram. He didn’t look away even as Abram kissed the side of my head.
“Come on,” he murmured softly. “Let me take you upstairs.”
chapter fifteen
I fell asleep hard but woke up in the middle of the night, jolting violently up in Abram’s bed. Energy dashed through my body like bolts of electricity. It was like an emotional hangover – anger, heartache and passion all bleeding from my pores after the day’s chaotic events. When I reached for Abram, I saw that he was gone. His side of the bed was empty but when I pressed my palm against the sheets, they were still warm. Hot, even.
I floated down the stairs, my body overheated despite wearing nothing. I felt so strange – half asleep but wide-awake. My skin was tingling, my feet like feathers as I made my way to the kitchen, a slow ache building in my limbs as I sensed myself nearing Abram. Blood rushed to my lips when I spotted his fully naked body leaning against the counter, in front of an empty glass of water. His muscled back was so long and beautifully tapered, his backside so perfectly sculpted I had to dig my nails into my own skin.
I watched his body naturally ripple and flex as he calmly turned to face me, unblinking, unsurprised by the fact that I was standing there. We were both wordless, the same listless energy running through our bodies. Frustration, fury, need – it was all one, and for a long, hard second, we stood there, letting it course through our veins.
Then his hands were on me. All over me. He arched my back over the counter, the marble surface cold on my shoulders, his mouth hot and wet on my breasts. With every lick, his cock swelled against me. I was dizzy, gasping with the need to touch it, but when I pushed against him, he pushed back. When I reached for it, he pinned my arms. Holding me down on the counter, he took my nipple in his mouth, doing what he wanted to me. I moaned but at the same time, I fought his grip, writhing angrily against his lips with the need to relieve myself and taste him too. When I thrashed away, he growled, catching my breast with his mouth and punishing me by sucking harder, closing his teeth around my tight peaks. With no warning, he rubbed the heel of his palm fast against my clit. I cried out, shaking under the weight of his body, the delicious pressure taking over me and leaving me senseless. I loved the feeling. I was instantly addicted to it and it only got better as Abram breathed harder, louder, bringing me closer to gratification. But the day’s energy had me fucked in the head. I didn’t deserve to come yet.
A second from bursting, I shoved Abram off of me with the angry strength I’d used against Nate in the bathroom. He growled as I pushed him against the wall, smashing a kiss against his hot mouth and drinking him in. Reaching down, I jerked him off with both hands. Our lips still locked, I swallowed his every grunt, his every convulsion against me, focusing every ounce of myself on him – on all the pleasure he deserved for loving me without question today. Satisfaction tingled in my sex as he let out a long groan. “You trying to make me cum?” he rasped in my ear. He shook his head, spasms rippling his abs, clenching and un-clenching the carved sections of his six-pack. “No, baby… don’t make me cum all over you. I need to fuck you, Isla. Please.”
I ignored him, dropping to my knees to suck on his cock. He cursed as my mouth sunk down him, setting an instantly rapid pace on his shaft, my hands stroking what my lips couldn’t reach. Abram roared to the ceiling as I pleasured him with all I had. As he began to thrust into me, I squeezed my thighs together, bouncing on my knees to give my clit a thrill. I knew Abram was watching me because I heard him rumble, “yes,” and felt him getting harder against my tongue than I ever knew possible.
“Fuck.” Abram snarled and in a single motion, he pulled out and mounted me on the kitchen floor, kissing me hungrily as he buried his cock deep in my pussy. I gasped, his name at the edge of my lips. But he gave me no time to so much as breathe, thrusting deep, hard and fast. His blue eyes bore into mine, watching my face contort, taking satisfaction in every second of my, pleading gaze. At the first sound of my orgasm, his teeth gnashed. He was ready, desperate to explode but he was holding on, rocking into me till I was completely finished.
“Abram,” I gasped, pulling him back to my lips.
He kept his hot kiss pressed against me even as he withdrew from inside. My body bucked under him, my stomach twitching with each burst of his pleasure onto my skin. Oh God. The floor felt as if it shook underneath me. I was delirious and I wanted so badly to tell him, to let the weight of the words out for some relief. I love you. Contained, they caused a fury in my heart, desperate to be released, to know the bliss of validation.
“I love you.”
I didn’t say the words, I only mouthed them silent against his kiss. Yet somehow, I could have sworn that through the deafening beat of our hearts, he returned them. It was a whisper but as I replayed the sound in my head while he brushed the hair from my face to kiss my forehead, I was sure of it. I’d heard Abram say that he loved me too.
~
The next afternoon, the four of us were set to leave for Singer, Nevada – population well below eight thousand. Abram had already taken care of my schedule for work at Muse Room, but before leaving indefinitely, I needed to go back to the apartment to pack. And it was obvious that I needed to have a conversation with Rhode. The fight outside the Gavin Theroux gala was a blur in my mind and while I could’ve sworn recalling Rhode’s accusing “you lied to me” stare, I also recalled feeling her hold onto me, whether to keep me on my feet or to keep me from stupidly launching myself into the line of fire.
At home, I found her curled up asleep on the couch, infomercials playing on the TV. Only then did I look at my phone. I had several texts from her but the last one asked if I was coming home. Guilt weighed on me as I turned off the television and sat on the floor next to the couch, whispering “Rhode” with increasing volume till her long lashes fluttered awake. Groggy, she giggled at the silly face I made. But a second later, when she came to, she was frowning.
“Girl. You’ve got some explaining to do.”
“I know.” I bowed my head, trying to think of what I could really disclose right now. “I feel so bad about it, Rhode. I really do. And I’m going to tell you as much as I can when I get back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To help Abram find somebody.”
“Who?” When I grimaced, unable to answer, she moved on. “Is he like, friends with Jesse Toro?”
“Not exactly.”
“Yeah. I Googled it last night and I read that Abe had beef with Dante Toro in the past,” Rhode said, smirking when I laughed at the iPad she’d fallen asleep with on the couch. “Isla, can you at least tell me what’s going on with Jesse Toro? Clearly you guys didn’t first meet when he came to work that night.”
No. We met when he pretended that he was Sean from across the hall. I didn’t find out who he was till he broke into this apartment. “I… met him before that, yes. Really simply put, he and Abram had some… beef… and now they realize there’s really no reason to but they still don’t like each other. And I feel like I’m going on this road trip with them because if I don’t, they’ll kill each other before they ever get their job done.”
“You’re gonna be the mediator between Abram Lenox and Jesse Toro? Good luck with that.”
“I know.”
“Sounds hot though.”
“It’s more chaotic than hot. You saw.”
“I did. The guy who got in Jesse’s face… was that Abram’s asshole friend? Because he was kind of hot. I’d totally hump that.”
I snorted hard. “Yeah, honestly, I think he needs you to hump that. Maybe some booty will calm him down and make him less of an unredeemable asshole,” I said, thinking about the horrible things he’d said to me in the bathroom last night. Though, of course, if Nate were good for anything, it was making me say it aloud: I loved Abram. And it wasn’t something to beat myself up over anymore.
It was quiet for a little as we both were thinking. I could tell Rhode was trying to put what puzzle pieces I’d given her together. But then she finally broke the silence. “Isla, wait.” She looked at me with true fear that stopped my heart for a second. “You… got your shifts covered, right?”
I burst out laughing. “I’m glad that’s what you’re concerned about,” I said genuinely.
“Gotta cover my bases, ya know.”
“Yes, I did get my shifts covered,” I said, kissing her forehead and getting up off the floor. “I gotta go pack now. Thank you for being understanding. I don’t think you realize how much I need your normalness in my life.”
“Jee-sus. Your life must be pretty batshit if I’m the only ‘normal’ in it,” Rhode called after me with a giggle. “But happy to do it, baby girl! As long as you tell me stories when you get back and don’t you dare get killed out there!”
chapter sixteen
There was a problem with the private charter so we wound up flying first class to Reno. Nate bitched about it, of course. I was glad that I didn’t wind up stuck near him anywhere on the plane. He was several rows behind the rest of us and passed out like a baby the second he sat down. That
was certainly a relief because my seat wound up next to Jesse, and that alone had me nervous enough. I didn’t need Nate watching us. Abram was already keeping the occasional eye from afar.
But to my surprise, Jesse said nothing to me for the first hour of the ride. Plugged into his ear buds, he turned on some music and closed his eyes, opening them only to order drinks from the flight attendants. The women flitted over to him or Abram every ten or so minutes, much to the other passengers’ annoyance or amusement.
“Bet if it was a bunch of male stewards, they’d be all over you,” the suited man next to me murmured out of nowhere. When he gave a little “mm-hm” that made me feel as if I needed a shower, I smiled, offered a polite laugh and then rifled through my purse in search of ear buds. “Oh, I see how it is,” Suit laughed when he saw me break them out. “I just gave you a compliment and now you’re going to brush me off before I can ask your name.”
“I’d just prefer to listen to my headphones right now,” I said evenly, eyeing Abram. But the flight attendant was talking to him.
“Yeah? What kind of music do you listen to?”
“It’s a podcast.”
“Yeah? About what? I just listened to one about joining the Mile High Club,” Suit grinned at me. Ugh, dude, come on. “They were talking about how everyone should try it at least once in their lives.” He took advantage of my ear as I tried to untangle my wires. “And they didn’t say this part, but I’m sure it’s best to join the club with a stranger in a twelve-hundred dollar suit because at least you know that’s the kind of guy who’s got a nice thick wallet. And, you know, a nice thick – ”
“Babe.” A hand clasped suddenly over mine. My heart stopped as Jesse leaned into me, taking out his ear buds. “Did you pack my charger?”
I blinked, so taken aback for a second that I actually tried to remember if I’d packed Jesse’s cell phone charger. But then I realized the game. “Uh… yeah. I did. I packed it… babe.”