Chasing Series: Books 4 & 5

by Ann, Pamela

  I owed it to her to help her exorcise the demons that still haunted her.

  My bitterness and jealous emotions seemed pointless when one truly saw the bigger picture. I was more subdued compared to how I had been an hour ago. Besides, I should be grateful that having Kyle here tonight had brought out that information instead of Sienna hiding it from me. She would probably endure all of the demons that hounded her until the end of time. Sienna was stubborn. Still, it was quite apparent we needed to work harder on our marriage.

  It was our first year—we were bound to make hundreds, maybe thousands, of mistakes—but as long as we communicated and compromised, we would have a much stronger bond.

  After dinner, Lucy and Toby didn’t stay long since the two had important business to take care of first thing in the morning. Since Lucy wasn’t sure what type of business venture she wanted to get into, she had offered to shadow her husband, to learn more about how to handle business dealings and transactions.

  “I better go, too. I’m still jet-lagged,” Kyle said out loud, turning to Sienna before he directed me his gaze. “Thanks for having me, Knightly. I appreciate that my relationship with Sienna didn’t end because you guys got married. This means a lot.”

  This was his way of offering me an olive branch, and as much as I wanted to hate the man, I knew that his short vacation here would open Sienna up. Furthermore, in doing so, I hoped she’d bare more of her thoughts and fears. After all, this was her best friend since childhood. They shared some kind of bond that even I couldn’t interfere with or penetrate. It was terrible to admit this, even to myself, but it was the truth. Therefore, hopefully, with my acceptance, it would benefit us all—as long as he didn’t cross the bloody line and try to steal my wife away. In such an eventuality, this cease-fire would no longer exist.

  “It’s time to move on. I love my wife, and I’d do anything to make her happy. Having you in her life makes her so much more blissful. I’d do anything to keep it that way. Thanks for coming over, Matthews.”

  Sienna’s hand clasped mine before giving it a quick squeeze. It was her way of saying thank you without telling me so. “I’m stepping to see Kyle out, maybe even speak to him a little bit more, if you don’t mind…”

  “Go on, you don’t need my permission.” It took every ounce of me to say it, although I knew it was time. I trusted my wife, so much so that I fought the urge to even go to the window and watch them converse. The old me would’ve gone rampant from being a jealous prick, but I knew I had to shed that old habit and be a man worthy of her. It was a difficult task, most especially since I kept counting down the seconds that ticked by, yet I’d rather hear it from her instead of spying on her.

  Marriage had changed me. Last year, I would have thrown the gauntlet and caused strife between us. Now I realized those childish antics wouldn’t solve much of our problems.

  Striding back to the living room, I headed straight towards the aperitif cart that held excellent whiskey and cognac. Choosing my favorite choice of cognac, it took three helpings until I heard the door open and shut, before Sienna’s footsteps echoed in the foyer.

  “Babe?” she called out.

  “In here. Just having a nightcap.”

  I heard her sigh before coming into the room. “Well, that was a success.” There was something in her voice that indicated she was quite shocked.

  “You sound surprised. Didn’t think I had it in me, did you?”

  “I knew you did… I just never thought you’d stretch it as far as Kyle.” She spoke as she strode towards me until she stood on my side, and we ended up gazing at each other for a long moment. “How are you feeling?”

  “Honestly? I’m actually quite relieved that he was behaving himself. It’s obvious that he’s still madly in love with you, but as long as he doesn’t try and snatch you away from me, I have no problem with him being your friend.”

  She gave me a warm smile before taking both of my hands and kissing my knuckles with her soft lips. “I’m lucky to have you on my side, and I love you even more for granting me this.”

  My wife.

  My only weakness.

  She owned me—heart, body and soul.

  “So… care to tell me what you two spoke about?” The question had been nagging on my mind, even though I had acted like everything was dandy.

  She rolled her eyes, grinning wickedly at me. “Just couldn’t wait to get that out, could you?”

  “A man can only endure so much torture, poppet.”

  “Well…” she trailed off as she slowly strolled to the side of the living room, hips swaying provocatively, as if she was in some kind of sensual dance.

  When this side of her came out to play, it never failed to hypnotize. My cock grew harder by the second, and the witch was making me lose my train of thought. All of my blood had mostly gone south, throbbing for something else entirely.

  Bloody hell.

  “Sienna?” I rasped out, needing her to answer before I pounced on her and shagged her senseless.

  She bestowed me with her typical, beguiling smile that weakened my knees. “If you insist… We spoke about new things in our lives. How his parents are doing, who he’s dating, or if he’s interested in having a threesome with us. You know, that kind of thing.”

  My throat hurt. “I beg your pardon?”

  “You heard me.” She eyed me with dancing eyes. “That would spice everything up. Besides, I’ve always wondered what it would be like—”

  Common sense absolutely deserted me as my ears grew hot. My heart tightened and everything else evaporated except for one purpose.

  “Sienna!” I shrilled as I chased after her, but she kept walking away, almost running from me.

  But I was much more agile than her, consequently I caught her, wrapping my arms around her hips as I demanded harshly in her ear for her to explain, needing her to clarify it for me.

  “Blake!” she giggled as she tried to get away from me, which only infuriated me further.

  “You’ve been dreaming about his cock, Sienna?” My fury took over, almost pushing me to the edge as I imagined what she wanted to do with her ex-lover. “Is that what this is all about? You wanting to fuck him again because you couldn’t seem to help yourself?” I hissed as I pushed her against the wall, caging her in to look her straight in the eye. I needed to see the truth, once and for all.

  Worry started to settle in her features. Good, I thought as I sought her eyes. “You’ve been yearning for his cock all this time, my lovely, conniving wife?” I thundered into her face.

  She opened her mouth, looking sorry, before she cast her gaze down so I couldn’t see the lies she bore in them. “Blake, I’m sorry. It started as a joke. I didn’t mean for you to get upset.”

  “You think puncturing my heart is a bloody joke?” I ground out, losing my mind as I pictured them fucking again in the damn hotel room. “You know the kind of torment you put me through when it came to him, Sienna. You know,” I whispered, curbing the need to shake her.

  “Babe, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize how deeply it affects you. It was a poor attempt, and I apologize. I never meant to hurt you at all.” She cupped my cheek as I looked away. She cupped my other cheek to force me to face her again before she slowly kissed me as she apologized at the same time. My heart sped up from having this intimate contact with her, but I was still absolutely infuriated to the point I wasn’t prepared to simply let it go yet.

  His dress shirt. High heels and topsy-turvy hair. And that look that said it all the moment she walked into the apartment, looking thoroughly fucked.

  The feeling of being stabbed—the same kind of emotions rolled off me, as if it had just occurred—seized me wholly. Needing to stop her from kissing me, I tried to slowly push her off, however she cupped both of her hands behind my skull and kissed me explicitly.

  “Kiss me back, damn it!”

  “No,” I gritted out, not ready to play the doting and loving husband to her just yet. She needed to be
taught a lesson; that she couldn’t conjure such poor jokes to see my reaction. I would never inflict such idiotic puns just to get her riled up. We were better than that, or so I had thought. “This is enough—”

  “No.” She fought me back, harder this time. “I’m not letting go until you’ve forgiven me. If it’s going to take hours of kissing, I don’t care. I said I was sorry!”

  This woman was pushing for madness.

  Fine, I conceded darkly. Fine!

  Pulling my zipper down, I hastily took out my cock as I roughly pinned her against the wall, lifted her dress, and pushed her thong aside before plunging into her without concession. I fucked to punish. I fucked her tight cunt to get my point across, literally and figuratively speaking.

  “Yes!” she gasped wantonly. “I need this—I need you and your thick monster of a cock.”

  Christ, she knew what happened to me whenever she talked nasty whilst fucking her witless.

  “Whose cock do you live for, Sienna?” I gripped both of her breasts as she slid up and down each time I thrust into her.

  She laced her fingers behind my neck, hooking herself up further so I could hammer my rigid length farther into her depths. “Baby, that’s it…” she moaned with pure abandonment. “I’m coming—God!” she shrieked. “I love you—so much!”

  It was good that we were coming to an understanding. Ready to let myself go and all the bad memories of her and her ex, I focused on her body and how it made me feel. I was about to release my load into her when I suddenly bit into her shoulder, making her yelp and shudder, while I emptied into her womb. I went rigid before my body sagged against her, breathing ever so heavily, feeling spent.

  “Don’t put me through that kind of hell again, cara.”

  “Never again.” She held me close, kissing my neck. “I love you more than life itself. I’m sorry for hurting you.”

  I nodded, believing her. Trusting her once more.

  Kinship

  Blake

  After our jaunt downstairs, it took us forever to get upstairs, make love in the shower, and finally exhaust ourselves to the point we sought the comfort of our plush bed. I was just on the brink of falling into a deep coma when the uninvited sound of a shrilling phone broke into my semi-awake consciousness.

  Groaning, I tried to nudge Sienna. “Cara, your cell phone is at it again.”

  “I can’t move.” She sighed before dropping her hand on my face. “What time is it?”

  “It’s time to sleep.”

  We listened for the phone ringing for the last time before we spoke again. “Maybe it was important.”

  “Maybe… you won’t know unless you call back.” The only people that called around this time were Chad, Lucy, or Kyle. Usually, they had some emotional turmoil that needed to be unloaded at this ungodly hour, and Sienna, no doubt, would always be there to listen to their qualms.

  “Blake,” she grunted out, nudging me.

  “What?”

  “I think I can hear your phone ringing downstairs.”

  Bloody hell. If both of our phones were being blasted at this time of night, then it must’ve been urgent. Reluctantly rolling off the bed, I combed a hand through my hair before I squinted towards the darkness of the room for her cell phone. “Where is it? I can’t see it anywhere.”

  “It’s on the side table, charging.”

  Right. Once I spotted the bloody device, I hastily took it off its charger before pressing the button to light up the screen. It was asking me to prompt a password. “What’s your secret code?”

  When she gave me our wedding date, my heart stuttered a bit, which was quite amazing given that I was only half awake at this point.

  Unlocking her device, there were two missed calls from a familiar number. Tapping the digits, it rang before a man took the call on its second ring. “I’m calling on behalf of my wife—”

  “Mr. Knightly, this is Manfred, sir. I apologize to interrupt your night, but I’m afraid it couldn’t be helped. I have somewhat grave news about your grandfather.”

  My body went on high alert, strung from shock when he told me that he’d had a heart attack and was in the hospital. We didn’t fully discuss everything because I didn’t want disclosures coming from anyone else other than the doctors in charge of my grandfather’s care.

  He was the closest thing to a parent for me. He was the one who’d brought me up when I was orphaned at the age of ten. I owed him everything. Sensing his life was on the line brought immense pain and sadness in me, bringing me back to a time when I was merely a boy that couldn’t fully comprehend what it meant when people told me my parents had died.

  “Babe?” Sienna came up to me, frowning as she touched my cheek. “Tell me what’s happened.”

  “Grandfather just had a heart attack. I have to go to him in the hospital. I’ll call you for updates,” I said in an automated tone, feeling like everything was surreal.

  “Call me for updates?” She was dumbfounded. “I’m going with you! This is not something I want you to go through by yourself. I need to be there with you, Blake.”

  I made a light nod, not sure what to think anymore, other than I needed to head straight to the hospital.

  Married to a Knightly

  Sienna

  Poor Blake. He’d seemed like a lost puppy ever since he had hung up that phone call. We were in the waiting room area, awaiting the result of William’s operation. He hadn’t let go of my hand, which was making me really worry. Not to mention the fact he had barely said anything to me. I knew he was terrified of what could happen to his grandfather since he was very close to him. But given his old age, hadn’t Blake at least thought of the inevitable?

  Blake and I had lost our parents at a very young age, and I could relate to his fears. Unlike him, he grew up loved and cherished while I, on the other hand, was battered—black, red, and blue from abuse.

  I just hoped that, if the surgery didn’t come out successful, he wouldn’t be too traumatized. Looking at him now, though, with his lips in a thin line, eyes looking bleak, worry etched his forehead, I wasn’t sure how my husband would fair. No matter what happened in the next few hours, all I knew was that I would remain next to him, holding his hand, and go through whatever life had in store for us.

  At seven thirty in the morning, William came out of surgery and the doctor said the operation had been successful. However, the most vital part was the recovery. All different types of complications could arise while he was induced in a deep sleep.

  “I’ll stay here. I’m taking the week off and having Luke delegate everything. Why don’t you go to work? I promise to call you if there are any changes.” Blake seemed distant as he said the words, as if he wasn’t seeing me clearly. I mean, he was looking at me, yet it felt like he wasn’t.

  “Baby, please,” I begged as I tried to reach out to him, but he looked away, his mind already made up.

  “I need some time to think. I need to be alone.” His eyes became blank again, the beautiful midnight blue and the flecks of gold nowhere in sight. They had been replaced by darkness. “I beg of you, cara…”

  There was something about his voice when he said cara this time. It was like a broken plea. He wanted to be left alone with his grandfather while he pondered about his past, present, and future, yet he didn’t want to directly hit me with the words of rejection. He was putting me off mildly. Either way, it didn’t comfort me.

  In the two years since we had gotten together, Blake had never had this lifeless look in him. Even when he had been angry about my indiscretion with Kyle, he had showed anger and fury—all types of emotions, whether it was good or bad—had rolled off him consistently, but it had never been this. It had never come to this.

  As much as I wanted to pester and try to convince him he needed me here, I knew giving him some space might help him recover from the shock he had been dealt just six hours prior.

  Standing up, I hovered above his sitting form and cradled his head before planting a
kiss on his forehead and another on his lips. “I love you.” I looked him straight in the eye, hoping my words got through to him. As much as I would love to tell him comforting words, I knew nothing would make a difference to him until he knew for certain his granddad was clear from any danger.

  Taking a deep breath, I tightened my light wrap around me before striding out of the room. Since Blake drove here and I didn’t want to further pester him about the car, I decided to just get a cab once I was outside the hospital. However, this simple thought became a difficulty the moment I stepped foot on the pavement with reporters, paparazzi, and all the microphones and cell phones shoved at me, paralyzing me momentarily before I shook myself out of shock and started to make my way towards where the bank of cabs were parked on the other side of the building.

  As I tried to walk and avoid all of them, a few persistent ones rushed at my heels, desperate to get something out of me.

  “Miss Sienna, could you please comment on William Knightly’s condition? There are rumors saying that he’s already at the death’s door?”

  “Blake Knightly has a lovechild in Spain and he denied all allegations; did he give you a confession?”

  “Your husband is bound to inherit a bigger fortune once his grandfather dies; do you guys have any plans with all that money in your bankroll?”

  Each question was a stab to my heart. And as much as I wanted to lash out at them and kick them in the gut, I didn’t pause for a second until I was safely inside the black cab and on my way towards my home. I wasn’t going to lie, one question had stood out above all:

  “Blake Knightly has a lovechild in Spain and he denied all allegations; did he give you a confession?”

  I admit, I was pissed off because where the flying fuck had that shit come from? Was that question invented because they wanted to get a kick out of my aghast reaction and to cause a rift between Blake and I because it was a critical time for us to need each other, or… Then there was that.

  The or.