The Bonds We Break (The Four #5)

by Becca Steele

  As I kept telling myself.

  “This bikini is pointless.” Shifting back, I worked my hands down her body, stopping at the top of her ass. “It hardly covers anything. We should take it off.”

  “Half of it’s already off.”

  “Then the rest should come off, too.”

  “Hmm. I guess it’ll stop me getting tan lines.” She turned her head slightly so I could see her soft, lazy smile.

  “That’s my girl.”

  Her lips curved upwards even further in reply, her eyes closed, with her lashes fanning over her cheeks.

  There was no one else like Jessa.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I think I might have feelings for this girl.

  “Do you wanna take this inside?” I already knew that no one would be watching us, tucked away in our corner of the garden, while they were focused on their own things, but for some reason, I didn’t want anyone to see her like this.

  “Dunno, I’m feeling quite relax—oh.” Her words cut off as I dipped down below her bikini bottoms, smoothing my hand over her ass and down between her legs. She arched into my touch with a tiny moan.

  “You were saying?”

  “Fine, we’ll go inside.”

  I helped her back into her bikini top, taking the opportunity to slide my hands all over her while I did so, then pulled her to me, keeping her body in front of my chest as we headed back to the house.

  Cade smirked from behind his sunglasses as we passed him, so I threw him the middle finger. Then Jessa stumbled slightly, making her ass slam back against my dick, and I forgot everything else. I was so fucking hard for her that I couldn’t even wait—the second we got into the kitchen, I pulled her across to the countertop in front of the sink.

  “Here works.” My mouth went to her neck as I undid her bikini top again, then yanked down the bottoms. “Bend over, baby.”

  “Yesssss.” She was just as into it as I was, arching her back and gripping hold of the sink. “I need you now, Cass.”

  “Jessa…fuuuuck.”

  My shorts were down, and my dick was pushing inside her before she even had a chance to catch her breath. The hot, slow slide as I eased inside her was incomparable. The way she gripped me so tightly as I filled her, her fingers curling over the sink, her gorgeous ass pushing back against me—it was so fucking good that I had to focus on the view out of the window over the sink so I didn’t blow my load straight away.

  “Harder,” she panted. I gripped her hip with one hand and planted the other on the sink, caging her in, and thrust forwards, all the way in. A gasp fell from her throat, quickly followed by a sharp intake of breath.

  “Weston.”

  “Excuse me?” I slammed into her again. And again, relishing her moans and the way she enveloped my dick in her tight, wet heat. So fucking good.

  “Window.” It came out strangled, her head falling forwards as she arched back even further.

  My head flew up to see West just outside the window. He was pointedly spinning away with a hand over his face as I looked up, so I guess he’d seen what we were up to. With a grunt, I turned my attention back to the woman in front of me. “Forget him. Concentrate on how fucking good I feel inside you.”

  “Mmmm. So good,” she moaned. “Touch me.”

  “Is this what you want?” I released my hold on her hip and reached forwards to cup one of her tits in my hand, rolling her nipple between my fingers as I pounded into her.

  “N—ohhh. Fuck, Cass.”

  My balls were drawing up, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold off from coming, so I stopped playing with her lush tits and slid my fingers onto her clit. Almost as soon as I touched her, she was coming, gripping me so fucking tightly as her pussy spasmed around my cock that it was impossible to stop myself from joining her.

  “Jessa, fuuuuck,” I groaned, my brain going completely blank as I came down from my high. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her back against me, pressing a kiss to her head. “Fuck,” I said again, my voice shaky for some reason.

  “Fuck,” she agreed in a whisper.

  “Is it weird?”

  “Is what weird?” Jessa glanced down at me. We were stretched out on the sofa, my head in her lap and my feet kicked up over the armrest, while the TV played Black Widow in the background.

  “Being here after everything. The whole thing.”

  She stared into space as her fingers raked through my hair, her nails scratching over my scalp. Eventually, she replied. “It is and it isn’t. I feel like I’ve changed a lot. After Portia left…I’m not blaming her for the way I was, because that was all on me, but I think that us growing apart gave me perspective that I didn’t have before.” Her mouth twisted, and then she sighed. “I guess…I… All I can do is move forwards and hope that people realise that my past actions aren’t a reflection of who I am now. You know?”

  Raising my head, I moved into a sitting position. “Babe. Let me tell you something. Anyone who defines you by your past doesn’t know the real you. You’re fucking amazing, inside and out.”

  Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open.

  “Yeah, I mean it,” I said emphatically before she could ask the inevitable question.

  She swallowed hard, her eyes looking suddenly glassy, so I tugged her onto my lap so she was straddling me. Her breath hit my lips, and then we were kissing, long and slow and so fucking good.

  “I think I’m addicted to your mouth,” I said when we finally drew apart. That brought a smile to her face.

  “Same, to yours.”

  “You…” Words I never meant to say, words I didn’t even know were inside of me, came out of my mouth in a rush. “I like this. I don’t have to be switched on. I can just be me with you.”

  Cupping my cheek, she stared at me, confused. “You’re you with the others, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah…” I attempted to articulate my thoughts. “I am. They’re my best friends, and they know me better than anyone else. I guess sometimes I feel like I have to be the one making the conversation lighter, y’know?”

  Her thumb stroked across my jaw. “I think so.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I’m funny as fuck.” I shrugged. “But sometimes I might wanna be moody like Cade, or whatever, but people look to me to cheer shit up.”

  “With great power comes great responsibility,” she said solemnly.

  My grin stretched across my face. “Did you just Spider-Man me, babe?”

  “Maybe.” A smile curved over her lips. Leaning forwards, she kissed me softly. “But seriously, I do get what you’re saying. You…me…whatever this is…you can always be yourself with me. Happy, sad, angry, whatever.”

  There was that weird feeling in my chest again, and this time I dealt with it by wrapping my arms around her and stroking my lips across hers.

  Yeah. I was addicted to her mouth.

  And maybe some other parts of her, too.

  TWENTY

  The morning started like any other. I didn’t suspect anything, and why would I? Movies and books teach us that the bad men come at night, wrapped in darkness and hidden in the shadows.

  It didn’t happen that way for me.

  The sun shone brightly, a light breeze in the air carrying the tang of salt from the sea. Curled up on my sofa, I sipped my mug of tea while I browsed social media. Cassius’ social media, to be exact. My finger traced over his latest image, posted last night, captionless except for a single fire emoji.

  It was me.

  My stomach flipped, a smile spreading across my face. He must’ve taken it the previous night without me noticing because I was silhouetted in the doorway of his house, right as I was leaving. My body was completely in shadow, so no one would have known it was me. Except…he’d tagged me in the image.

  My social media had been locked down since everything that had happened at the docks, but there were enough people that knew us both. I told myself not to read the comments, but I couldn’t help myself. Thankfully, th
ey were mostly speculation, since no one else knew about our exclusive fuck buddy agreement, and although I knew we’d been seen kissing at the beach party, we’d actually hung out separately for most of it.

  There was no reason for me to get my hopes up anyway, despite the image, and yet, my smile remained, thoughts of Cassius occupying every corner of my mind.

  To stop my wayward thoughts, I opened up my messages to a group chat I’d been added to on the day of the party. This one consisted of Winter, Kinslee, Lena, Lena’s friend Raine, and me. The emotions that had come over me when I’d been included… I cleared my throat to get rid of the sudden lump that formed. It was something so simple, yet the fact that they’d chosen to include me filled me with happiness and belonging.

  From what I could work out, Raine designed clothing and had made Lena some trousers that the other girls were raving about. Even though I’d only just been added to the chat, they’d made sure to explain everything to me, sending a million pictures and descriptions and tagging me in almost every message. I tapped out a reply to the latest string of messages, which had come through last night when I was with Cassius, before resting my head on the back of my sofa and finishing up my tea with a smile on my face.

  A loud buzzing sound interrupted the peaceful quiet inside my flat, and I answered the intercom with a bounce in my step.

  “Flower delivery,” a gruff voice said through the speaker.

  Glancing out of the open window, I saw a white delivery van idling at the kerb, large flowers painted along the side along with the company name and phone number. “Thanks, I’ll be down in a second.” Smiling, I took the stairs two at a time, keys in hand, leaving my phone in my apartment. At the building door, I was greeted by a huge bunch of flowers in every colour of the rainbow clasped in the delivery guy’s arms.

  The first flowers that I’d ever been sent, and they were beautiful.

  My smile widened. Surely there was only one person who would have sent them…

  The delivery guy thrust the blooms at me, then shoved an electronic pad in my face for me to sign. I couldn’t even see, not with the masses of flowers obscuring my vision, so I carefully placed them on the apartment front steps before turning back to the guy to sign the pad.

  Fuck.

  A scream tore from my throat, instantly cut off by the hand that clamped over my mouth and nose. My struggles were ineffectual as another hand came around my neck, crushing my windpipe.

  My vision swam, spots dancing in front of my eyes.

  The last thing I saw before everything went black was the cruel, twisting smile of Petr Ivanov.

  When I came to, I was disorientated for a moment, blinking slowly, before everything came back to me in a rush. Panic engulfed me, my vision darkening again as my heart rate shot up, and I struggled to catch my breath. Instinctively, I opened my mouth to scream, but all that came out was a hoarse scraping noise. I struggled, unable to move, desperately working to get air into my lungs.

  A laugh came from over to my left. The sudden sound sliced through my panic, shocking my brain into action, and for the first time since I’d regained consciousness, I focused on my breathing, actively working to slow it, counting in my head. Once it was a little more under control, I turned my head to see Petr Ivanov, sitting on a metal chair, watching me. He laughed again when our eyes met but remained where he was, his pose casual, his arms resting on his thighs. One hand played with a black object that I couldn’t make out from my position, and in the other, he held a phone.

  I have to get out of here.

  Slowly, I turned my head away from Petr, listening hard in case he moved, and scanned my surroundings, growing more desperate as I took in the bare room. I was in what looked like some kind of empty storage facility, with a dirty floor and walls and high, cracked windows. There was only one door that I could see, and it was tightly closed. I’d been tied to a chair, my ankles immobile and my wrists bound behind my back.

  I had nothing on me. I hadn’t even brought my phone with me, and I had no idea what had happened to my keys—probably dropped back at my apartment building. My clothes were completely impractical, too—a thin green summer dress and gold flip-flops. It had been a warm morning, but in here it was already cool with a breeze blowing from somewhere behind me. I shivered, pulling at the restraints that bound me so tightly, but they didn’t even budge.

  Hot, frustrated tears filled my eyes, and I yanked at the ropes again, only succeeding in making the rough, scratchy material dig into my skin, rubbing it raw in places. Stifling a whimper, I bit down on my lip, refusing to let Petr have the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of me.

  “Wh-what do you want?” I managed to scrape out, meeting his hard, flinty gaze again.

  Pocketing the phone, he stood, crossing the short distance and coming to a stop in front of me. He stared down at me, his mouth twisted into a sneer. I held his gaze, refusing to be cowed, even though fear was choking me, thick and heavy, as I sat helplessly bound before him.

  His eyes narrowed as he looked at me with pure hatred in his gaze. My breath caught in my throat as he lifted his hand, revealing the black object, which I could now see was a metallic oblong. He pressed something on it, and a silver blade flicked out of the end, the serrated edge gleaming in the dim light that penetrated the grimy, cracked windows.

  “You ruined my life. Now, I ruin yours.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  The sound of my phone woke me. Without opening my eyes, I fumbled for it, swiping the screen to answer. “Hello?”

  “Cassius.”

  I was instantly awake at the sound of Austin’s voice. “What’s up?”

  His low, angry tone came through the speaker. “It seems we were misinformed. Ivanov is still in the country. He was staying with one of the contacts of the Volkovs, but last night he disappeared.”

  “Fuck. You think he’s on his way here?”

  “I don’t know. Probably not, but can you—”

  “I’m on my way to Jessa’s right now,” I assured him, already out of bed and pulling on my clothes. There was no way I was leaving her alone if he was still around.

  “Good. It’s just my luck I’m in fucking Edinburgh visiting suppliers, but I’ll make some more enquiries my end, see if I can find out anything else. Keep me updated.”

  “Will do.” Disconnecting the call, I ran downstairs, stopping only to shove my feet into my trainers and grab my car keys. The feeling I’d had, the fucking premonition I’d ignored, was now a warning siren blaring in my head. Something was wrong. Badly wrong.

  I made it to Jessa’s in record time, parking on the double yellow lines and slamming my hand on the buzzer over and over again. There was no answer.

  “Fuck!” I shouted, yanking my phone from my pocket and hitting West’s number. As soon as it started ringing, I scanned the names next to the other door buzzers, then pressed the buzzer for James Granville.

  “Cass.” Weston answered at the same time as James’ “hello” came from the intercom.

  “Hang on, West.” I spoke into the intercom. “James, it’s Cassius. I’m here to see Jessa, but she’s not answering. Can you let me up?”

  She has to be asleep. Her car’s still here.

  Even as I told myself that, I knew I was already too late.

  James buzzed me into the building, and I gave West a rundown of the situation as I headed up the stairs to Jessa’s apartment.

  “I’m pulling up the security footage now,” he told me as I hammered on Jessa’s door to no reply. There was silence for a few minutes, and then I heard his sharp intake of breath. “Fuck. It’s Littlefinger—I’d know that fucker anywhere. He just got out of a white van…” There was a clicking sound. “Okay, zoomed in. The van says ‘Rosie’s Blooms.’ I’m sending you the phone number on the van and the number plate too.”

  I held my breath as he continued to relay everything he was seeing on the screen.

  “He’s carrying some flowers to the building. I can�
�t see him now without switching cameras to the one that faces the building, but let’s watch the rest of this one—shit. He’s got Jessa. He’s…dragging her to the van… Now he’s driving away.”

  I’d heard enough.

  Littlefinger had my girl, and I was going to make very fucking sure he regretted it.

  After a quick call to the flower shop, which just had a recorded message saying that it was open at 10:00 a.m., I had West and Lena scouring the feeds of the surrounding roads, trying to see if we could pin down Littlefinger’s destination. Thank fuck there was so much CCTV around, and since we had a timestamp for the video outside her apartment, we could check the live feeds for the surrounding roads. Running back to my car, I called Austin to let him know what was going on. There was no answer, so I left a voicemail, then for lack of any other options, input the flower shop address into my satnav and started up my SUV.

  The shop had a south London address, and every single one of my instincts told me that this was where I needed to be.

  Hitting the accelerator, I set off.

  When I pulled up outside the shop, it was just opening up, an older woman with grey curls and glasses setting out a flower display in front of the large window.

  “Morning.” I flashed her a grin, calling on all my skills to appear my usual charming self, even though I was ready to rip someone’s head off.

  “Morning, dear.” She returned my smile. “How can I help you today?”

  Getting straight to the point, I brought up the subject of the van, coming up with some bollocks story about how it had dented my sister’s car, reading out the number plate and asking if it was registered to the shop. Frowning, she nodded slowly.

  “That’s our spare van. We use it at the weekends and busy times of the year, but it’s kept in the car park down there normally.” She pointed at a tiny road that ran between two tall buildings. “Are you sure that this was the van that hit your sister’s car? It’s not due to be used today.”