by K. R. Haynes
Mary J might not have expected Mick’s physical reaction to hearing her ex’s name. She sure as hell hadn’t anticipated his next words either.
“Your ex is Myke Dillon?”
“Yes. Why, what’s wrong, Mick? What aren’t you telling me?”
“Shit! Mary J, do you realise that your ex is the man responsible for stalking and attacking Chloe? He is also the man wanted for the death of at least one woman, possibly two if we can prove it. Plus, the Bomb Squad has been investigating him in relation to smuggling in explosives for the gang Randall and I have been investigating for several months. I hate to be the one to tell you this, Mary J, but your ex is here, in Kingston. He has been tracking you and now I know the fucking reason why. Motherfucking bastard, he’s a dead man, Mary J. I swear to you I will kill that rat bastard myself when I find him!”
Mary J could hear Mick’s words reverberating around in her head. Myke was here in town? No, that wasn’t possible. He couldn’t have tracked her down, not now, not after two years had passed since she last saw him. Mary J began to struggle in Mick’s arms as he held her closer to him like he was trying to shield her with his body. She couldn’t breathe, though. Her lungs, they felt too tight and way too heavy. Her ex was here? Oh god, he found her. He was going to kill her this time for sure if he ever got his hands on her. She had to leave. She had to run again. She couldn’t allow Myke to catch her. She was dead if he did.
“Let go of me, Mick.” Her voice shook as she struggled within his hold. “I have to leave. I can’t stay here, it’s not safe for me to be here any longer.”
His arms tightened around her as she continued to struggle to break free.
“You’re staying right here beside me, Mary J. I’ll keep you safe, sugar. Trust me.” Mick’s voice was stern but calm as he spoke to her. But could she really believe that he would honour his word to keep her safe?
Trust him. How could she place her life in his hands when he had no idea what her ex was capable of? “No, no you don’t understand, Mick, he’ll kill me if he finds me.” She began wheezing as she struggled to get enough oxygen into her constricted lungs. “Oh, god I can’t breathe, Mick, help me p–please.”
She was gasping for breath when Mick sat her up. He bent her upper body forward and rubbed her back with his hand in slow circular movements, forcing her muscles to relax under his soothing motions. She forced herself to listen to him and calmed down enough to follow his instructions. She had to breathe when he did. Her eyes tracked the movement of his chest. Somewhere along the way he had managed to turn a light on and she felt safer knowing she could see him. She never did like sleeping in the dark, not even as a kid.
Once she had calmed down enough, Mary J slumped back down onto the bed and laid her head on Mick’s chest. They both lay there quietly for a few brief moments. The time allowed her to regain her strength and breath back after such a shock of learning her ex was back in her life, whether she wanted him in it or not.
“You okay now, sugar?”
The tenderness she could hear in Mick’s voice soothed her even more and finally she could breathe on her own. “Yes thank you, sweetie.”
Mary J shifted her body closer to Mick’s, needing to feel his warmth against her. So much had changed between them now that she had spoken the truth about her past to him. It still amazed her that Mick still wanted her near him even though she was like damaged goods to him. Her history with her ex had affected her in more ways than one. Nonetheless, Mary J knew with Mick supporting her, in time she could move past the hurt and pain that had been inflicted on her. She would come out of this stronger both in mind and spirit and that was something she would never have gotten if Mick hadn’t helped guide her there.
He had proven to her that he was more than just her man and Dom tonight, and that was something she would always cherish close to her heart, his heart now. After all, everything she had in her to give to him was his. He had branded her as his on that night in the chapel when his lips had pressed ever so tenderly against hers. Her heart, body, soul, and now her submission were all for Mick and only for him.
No more words were said between them as they lay there in each other’s arms. So many words had been said already tonight. Her head started to ache a little from information overload. What she was in need of now was a little shut eye. Slowly, Mary J closed her eyes at the feel of Mick’s arm circling around her waist. He was her cocoon of strength and he was her safe haven in a world that suddenly seemed way too small and far too dangerous a place for her to live in now.
Chapter Eighteen
It was the weekend finally and thank fuck for that. After a rather eventful week, Mick decided it was time to let loose a bit and invited everyone around to his place for beer and a barbeque. It was all a ruse however. By having Jake and Randall around at his place, the men could strategize about how to capture Myke Dillon while keeping a watchful eye on the two women who were being targeted by Mary J’s bloodthirsty ex.
That rat bastard was going to pay for laying one fucking finger on Mary J. Mick had already vowed that to her, numerous times, that he would avenge the harm she had suffered when she had been under the supposed protection of her ex. The stupid fuck had talked himself up as a Dominant. What the fuck? The dumbass bastard wasn’t even close to being a true Dom, not in this fucking lifetime at least. In what part of a D/s relationship could a Dominant justify dismissing a sub’s safe word in the middle of a scene? None, because there were no valid reasons to ignore your sub’s safe word as far as Mick saw it. There was absolutely no reason to dismiss hearing your sub say his or her safe word to you. If you heard your sub say her safe word, that was it. The scene ended right there and then. It did not continue on at the Dominant’s will.
Mick had been beyond livid when Mary J had relayed how her ex had constantly dismissed the fact that she had cried out her safe word to him. The fact that the bastard hadn’t once stopped inflicting his form of pain and torture on her until he had satisfied himself sickened Mick. It made him mad as hell that a person could be so willing to hurt another who was under their care. He just couldn’t fathom how someone could hurt a woman like Mary J, who had the softest heart Mick had ever known.
The damn woman managed to even outshine the fucking sun itself most of the time. She was so goddamn hot and sinfully sexy that he was a walking, talking stiff around her most of the time. Hell, over the past week he had taken her so many times he was surprised his dick hadn’t fallen off from being overworked. So to him, Mick just couldn’t understand why someone would go out of their way to purposely hurt her.
So over the past few days, he had made absolutely certain that Mary J had no doubts about how he felt about her. He also made every effort to ensure that she knew she was his most cherished possession he had ever held in his arms. She was so deeply buried beneath his skin now that he could actually sense her even when she wasn’t close by. He had yet to say the three little words he knew she craved to hear from him. But he felt like it was way too soon to say them to her. After everything she had disclosed to him about her past, the last thing he wanted to do was push his love and dominance onto her. She may have believed that she was ready for all of it. Her brain, however, was something he had yet to conquer. Her history with her ex was still making her wary of him being her Dom, and that was something Mick was determined to fix.
Little by little, he had been working his magic to ensure her past now stayed in the past and the present and future lay with him. Also over the passing week he had managed to manipulate her body to accept his domination of it and it responded to him so beautifully now. It made him proud to see how far she had come in such a short amount of time. He had even purchased some things that would always keep her mind on him and him alone. He was hoping to give one of his gifts to her tonight after their guests left.
The bedroom had already been prepared in readiness for his gift and the pleasure he planned on giving to her after he presented it to her. Hell, his dick had bee
n hard ever since he laid out the lube and the small gold-plated anal plug he purchased just for her. He was planning on cuffing her again tonight too and hoped that she would accept it this time. If she didn’t, he wasn’t planning on trying it again.
Hearing the front doorbell ringing again, Mick went and answered it knowing it would be Jake, as Randall and Chloe had already arrived and were out back with Mary J gossiping about god knows what, probably him if he was to hazard a guess.
“Hey, Jake, glad you could make it.”
“Thanks for the invite. Here, I brought this in case you were all out.” Mick took the case of imported beer from Jake’s arms and then ushered his friend inside.
“Everyone else is out back. There’s a tub of ice with beer and soda in it out there, so why don’t you head on out back. I’ll be out there in a sec.”
With Jake making his way out back, Mick headed into the kitchen and stuffed some of the beer Jake had brought up with him into the fridge to chill. He was only mildly surprised to find himself not alone in the kitchen when he closed the fridge door and turned his back to it.
“Chloe, what are you doing in here, sweet thing? Do you need something? Water maybe?”
Chloe just shook her head at him and pointed a dainty little finger at his chest. Uh oh, he was in trouble. What the fucking hell about had him completely stumped. He guessed he was about to find out when she stepped forward until her finger pressed not so gently into his chest. Mick had to resist the urge to remove her finger away from him. With an eyebrow raised up at her, he waited silently for her to answer him.
“No, I don’t want any damn water. What I want is to have a word with you, Mick Huon.”
“Oh that sounds ominous, sweet thing. What would you like to have a word to me about?”
“Don’t pull that bullshit with me, Mick. You know damn well what I want to talk to you about.”
“Sorry to tell you this, Chloe, but I have no idea what has got your panties in a twist today. Shouldn’t you be out there pestering your fiancé instead of me? Hell, does Randall even know you’re in here giving me a Spanish Inquisition?”
Mick held back the laughter at the sight of Chloe paling. He guessed then that Randall had no idea what his fiancé was up to. That makes two of them.
“No, he told me to stay out of it. But I can’t.”
“Okay, so let me get this straight, sweet thing. Your badass Dom told you not to confront me about something that I still have no idea what about, and you’re defying him anyway. Does that sum it up about right for you there, sweet thing?”
“Yes. However, it’s not as bad as it sounds I can assure you of that.”
“Go ahead then and assure me away.”
“Well, Jon told me that the captain’s going to have you reinstated back into the Bomb Squad team after the investigation cleared you of all charges. But you’re not planning on going back are you?”
“Yes, that is partially true. Although the captain has yet to reinstate my ass, but no doubt it will come soon enough. With Jake’s evidence and police report on the other dead female victim from a couple of years ago and the recordings made from Randall and Jake’s informal meeting with a person of interest, I would think that my reinstatement should come soon.” Hell, Mick had no idea why Randall would even relay any of this to Chloe in the first place. His reinstatement meant nothing to her. Or at least he thought it didn’t. The early-morning phone call he received yesterday from the captain about the news of his impending recall had thrown him completely through a loop. It also made him wonder if he was making the right decision on not going back to the Bomb Squad once recalled.
“So, you are planning on going back then?”
“I didn’t say that, Chloe.”
“But you have to go back, it’s your job and your career.”
“What’s the real reason you want me to go back, Chloe? And I want the truth and not a lie. If I get one whiff of a lie from that mouth of yours I will make sure Randall punishes that ass of yours again.”
Chloe blanched visibly in front of him then. Yes, he had made sure that if Chloe had ever stepped out of line with him in the past, that Randall got wind of it so he could deal with her brattiness as he saw fit.
“Because I need you there to watch Jon’s back that’s why. I need to know that Jon is safe and that at the end of his shift he will come home to me. I trust you to keep him alive. I don’t trust any of the others, maybe because I don’t know them as well as I know you. I also know that deep down, you have Jon’s best interest at heart and that you will protect him like he protects you. Together you watch each other’s sixes. If you’re not on the team, Mick, then he won’t have anyone there watching his back, ensuring that he comes home to me in one piece.”
Mick watched Chloe draw in a deep, steadying breath. It struck him in that moment that he had been wrong. A Dom could certainly learn a thing or two from a sub, because he was learning something right now from the petite sub standing in front of him, pouring her heart out to him. “Mick…I can’t handle Randall getting hurt like he did in that bomb blast a few months back. It almost destroyed me when I saw him lying there in that hospital bed almost lifeless…I can’t go through that again. I need you there to protect him. Please. “
The raw honesty in her voice shocked him. He hadn’t been prepared for it. Hell, he hadn’t really even thought seriously of going back to the Bomb Squad at all. His stubborn-ass mind had been made up for him on the day he had been sent packing and suspended without pay after being accused of having a hand in Lucy Walker’s murder. Listening to Chloe now, Mick knew she was right. Randall always had his back whether out on a job disarming explosives or just dealing with life itself. Randall was always there for him, just like Mick was always there for Randall, hell even Jake too. Both men were like brothers to him.
It was a bond thicker than blood that united them together from the battles they had won and lost in the past. They fought together and they would die together if necessary and that was what drew them all together. It had been a foolish, almost stubborn reasoning that had him wanting to break that bond and that brotherhood all because he didn’t want to face his team members’ accusing glares. He wasn’t gutless. So why was he backing away from the job he loved? Being in the Bomb Squad wasn’t your everyday run-of-the-mill kind of job. It was tough fucking hard work and he had nightmares to prove it too. Well, he used to at least. Come to think of it, he hadn’t had one damn nightmare since he began sleeping with Mary J. Hell, he hadn’t even told her that he was considering leaving the Bomb Squad. Would she still stay with him if he wasn’t employed by the state police? There were plenty of security jobs going around so it’s not like he would stay unemployed for long. Plus, Jake was always pestering him about coming to join his PI firm.
“I appreciate what you’re saying, Chloe, but—”
“But, you’ve made up your mind.”
That sight of tears brimming in her eyes gutted him. He hated seeing Mary J cry let alone having to watch her friend shed tears over his dumb ass. “No, I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
She sniffed at him then and dried her eyes. “So there’s a chance you’ll go back, that you’ll make sure Jon stays safe?”
“Yes, sweet thing, there’s a good chance that I’ll go back. To tell you the truth, I never really considered going back until I heard you tell me why I should.”
“Chloe? Are you inside, precious?”
Mick smirked as Chloe gaped at hearing Randall’s concerned voice. She knew she was in trouble now. Hell, Mick wasn’t even planning on telling her fiancé about her coming to him demanding answers on why he was considering leaving the force. After all, Chloe had been right. He was a fool not to go back to the Bomb Squad. But it was much more entertaining watching her squirm under her Dom’s narrowed gaze.
“She’s in here, mate,” Mick informed him.
“Ah there you are. I have been looking all over for you, Chloe.” Randall looked at Mick then back at
Chloe before asking them both, “What’s going on in here?”
“Nothing, Jon, it’s all sorted now.” Chloe reached out for Randall’s hand as he stepped up to her and gripped it with her much smaller one.
Mick kept his eyes on Randall as he glanced down at his fiancée with a puzzled look on his face before lifting his gaze back up to Mick. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on here, mate?”
“Well your sub here thought she would interrogate me, in why I would consider leaving the Bomb Squad.”
“Tattletale, you promised not to say anything.”
Mick smirked down at Chloe as she growled her displeasure at him.
“Did she now?” Randall turned his attention back to Chloe then. “Precious, do you recall a conversation we had about this at home, then again in the truck on the way over here?”
“Yes, I remember but you may have forgotten that I didn’t agree with your request to not meddle in something that didn’t concern me. But I hate to tell the both of you that this does concern me, so I damn well will interfere if it means it keeps both your dumb asses alive.”
Both men growled at the same time at hearing Chloe’s disobedience and sassy backtalk. It made Mick glad that Mary J wasn’t in here listening to it too. Because the last thing he needed was for her to learn from her friend how to fire up a Dom’s patience with bratty behaviour.
“And you may recall, Chloe, that I also stated that you didn’t have to agree with Mick’s decision, that it was his to make and not yours to change.”
“Yes, but that—” The rest of Chloe’s words were cut off when Randall placed a finger against her lips.
“Enough. Now, when we get home you will be reprimanded for messing into other people’s lives without permission to do so.” Randall dropped his voice to a more menacing one when Chloe insisted on trying to speak again. “Uh, uh! No more words, little girl. You will learn that when I say ‘do not interfere’ I mean ‘do not interfere.’” Randall leaned over so he was crowding Chloe in, then uttered in a stern voice that even Mick could hear from where he was standing. “Your punishment tonight will consist of two things. The first being a count of twenty on your ass for being completely disobedient of the orders given to you and for showing both myself and Mick disrespect by talking back to us. The second one being you will take your punishment with a plug up your ass, little girl.”