by Sonia Belier
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Taken By The Brothers: Gemini
Alpha Outlaws Book 1
Sonia Belier
Always Remember…
You can always find redemption, no matter how far off it might seem.
-Sonia
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Copyright © 2017 by Sonia Belier
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
Taken By The Brothers: Gemini
They say the Gemini twins are Volatile and Bold. But can they be tamed?
The Hatton Brothers are dangerous. Ruthless. Limitless. And irresistibly sexy.
They've built a criminal enterprise with their bare hands and they won't stop until they've taken over the International Black Market.
Somehow, I was thrust into the middle of their operation with no way out…
I should’ve been afraid for my life.
I should’ve run away.
They were going to kill me.
But I melted to my feet after that one kiss became something much deeper.
Will I survive the dangerous allure of the Hatton Brothers? Or do they have other plans for my captivity?
Contents
1. Ada
2. Fate
3. Valor
4. Ada
5. Fate
6. Ada
7. Valor
Ada
Also by Sonia Belier
Chapter 1
Ada
I was under the impression that when you move into a finished apartment, that it should actually be finished.
That was still a normal thing in New York, right?
Mom walked through the cluttered living room of my new humble little abode and I could feel the condescension just dripping off of her. She couldn’t wait to tell all of her knitting friends back in Westchester County about my “lackluster” move downstate.
I was already certain this move was going to be a mistake.
But a teaching position at the top university in the state said otherwise.
“Well Ada, it’s not done but…I guess it’ll do for now.” She nearly tripped over a huge stack of plywood that was sprawled over the living room floor. “Can you call those contractors? If I fall in here, I’m suing.”
“Yes mom, I will. And no mom, you’re not going to fall if you watch where you’re going.” Somehow, I managed to get that last jab in without so much as a snicker from her. She was distracted. Cool.
I took out my phone and dialed the contractors number. I’d never met any them before, but Yelp never lead me astray and the landlord swore by them…so there you go.
My eyes traversed the rooms to the cadence of the dial tone.
The walls throughout were freshly painted a cool grey and because of that, the sharp scent of wet paint nearly disoriented me. Kitchen appliances were placed neatly about as bold peaks of the sunlight crept from behind them. It would be nice in here, when it was finished.
“Ada Honey, get the door!”
“I’m on the phone mom!”
“Well hang up! It’s the Contractors!” She yelled from the other side of the apartment.
It was a good thing that the Contractors were here to unknowingly diffuse the increasing tension between my mother and I.
There were no words to describe what I saw after I opened that door. Nothing that could have prepared me for the sight I was beholding before my eyes.
Two of them. Brothers. Definitely twins. Absolutely heavenly.
Four hazel eyes staring directly back at me.
One with scruffy, firm jawline. One completely clean shaven.
Both tall as hell and undeniably attractive.
“You guys must be the contractors the landlord mentioned. Ada Fiero, nice to meet you.” I felt surer than I probably sounded, but these two men would’ve surely knocked the wind out of any respectable woman just by glaring at her.
They reached their hands out to me, almost choreographed, and introduced themselves.
“I’m Fate Hatton, and this is my twin brother Valor Hatton. We’re here to finish up converting your apartment. So if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna go right inside.”
I thought about giving the pair nicknames in my mind to tell them apart, but I quickly dispelled the thought. It was embarrassing. So I would study them, and commit their features to photographic memory instead.
Fate: definitely born a few seconds earlier than his twin, I could just tell. He was tanned, built and had the firm, scruffy jawline. His brows were furrowed and he looked serious. By the way he quickly walked inside by me, I could tell he was the more dominant of the two.
Valor: built just as beautifully as his brother, Valor’s face was hidden behind what appeared to be a very expensive pair of glasses. I stared at him curiously until a wide grin crept upon his face.
I was definitely already fucking up.
“So, may I come in?”
“Of course! Sure, sure, I apologize. I was just admiring your glasses.”
“Well that’s a compliment I don’t get that often. Thank you Ms. Fiero.” Charming. Wow.
I followed quickly behind him into my apartment and to my dismay, could already see that my mother was talking Fate’s ear off. He seemed to be trying to be as polite as he could, whilst fixing the kitchen cabinet handles. But I sensed his patience wearing thin.
My mom had that effect on people.
I ran into the kitchen to prevent my mother from embarrassing me.
“Mom, this is Fate Hatton. He’s a very, very busy man as you can see, so maybe you should make your way out for today.” Gently nudging her back, I guided her past Valor, to the front door of the apartment.
“Well aren’t you pushy Ada? I’ll be back real soon to check up on this place. It better be done when I get back in a few days or I’ll have some choice words for those hunky contractors of yours. And you…” she pointed condescendingly at my chest, “…do something with that bird’s nest on top of your head.” I unconsciously moved to fix my hair and could feel Fates eyes burning against my back.
This was embarrassing but not surprising.
Since my youth I’d fought to gain love, care, and respect from my mother. She was simply too busy to be bothered with her daughter’s feelings.
On that vein, I don’t know if it was humanly possible to conceal a massive eye roll from a mother, but I swear I managed to do it.
“Yes mom. It’ll be done when you get back kay? See you later!” I gave her a playful push out the front door and she walked haughtily to her fancy Beamer that was parked outside.
My back slid down the back door briefly and I let out a massive sigh of relief.
Maybe now the contractors could actually work.
Thirsty.
They were probably thirsty.
; “Fate, Valor, would you guys like anything to drink?” For some reason, the words were not coming out normally. I’m really not sure the word ‘nervous’ would properly describe what I was feeling at that moment. Maybe intimidated by the soaking machismo sex appeal that they both exuded?
Fate didn’t budge from tightening the screws on the kitchen cabinet and I could see Valor shoot him a subtle but menacing glare.
“You know what Ms. Fiero? I’ll take you up on that offer. It’s a little stuffy in here. A glass of water would be nice.” Valor swiftly pulled his leather jacket from his arms and smiled at me. I tried not to stare at his perfectly sculpted biceps, but it was hard.
Oh so hard.
Well, at least one of the twins was willing to make some mundane conversation with me.
There were boxes of glassware on the kitchen floor and I pulled one out. I filled the glass with ice and poured some filtered water inside. Handing the glass to Valor and turned back to the kitchen entryway and watched the men work.
“So, when do you expect that the job will be finished?”
There was that look again.
The firm features on Fate’s face managed to portray the most bored concentrated of disdain I’ve ever seen in my life. As if I was burdening his existence by simply asking a dull question, he spent nary a minute glancing at me and then quickly returning to his work.
I was beginning to think that Fate didn’t like me much at all and Valor noticed too, causing him to quickly diffuse the situation yet again.
This was getting awkward.
“We’ll need to come back every so often this week to tie up all the loose ends. Here, why don’t you give me your number so I can give you a ring when we need to come inside.”
Should I have blushed at that?
I should not have blushed at that.
“Oh, no problem. I actually have the number to your company, so I’ll just text it if that’s okay.” I pulled out my phone prepared to text but was quickly interrupted by Fate.
“No. We’ll give you our personal numbers. More convenient.” His tone was serious, almost scarily so. It was becoming really clear that Fate and Valor were extremely opposite of one another.
He marched over to me, placing his wrench in the tool holder on his waist and folded his arms.
“Ready for the number or what?”
“Uh…yeah…I am.” I quickly fumbled through the menus on my phone and opened the dial screen. “You can start.”
“212-839-6728. That’s my number. I have yours from your mother. Expect a call sometime throughout the week.”
And just like that, Fate went back to fiddling with various screws in the kitchen.
I’ll admit, something about Fate was utterly sexy.
He was cold, domineering, and short with his words, but something about it was refreshing. He wasn’t seeking my approval at all and it would be fine that way for now; Fate was definitely too mesmerizing to look at. And us not being super friendly was definitely in my best interest.
I resigned to the fact that Valor would be the brother I got along with and that was that.
After a few hours or so of thudding, tinkering, and fumbling, the brothers exited the kitchen and met me in the living room.
“Your kitchen is finally done Ada. I really hope you like what we did with it. And you can finally cook now.” Valor nudged my arm and smiled.
Gosh, why the hell was he so sweet?
Men that looked as good as him were definitely supposed to be condescending assholes. You know, kinda like his equally attractive twin brother?
“I’m really excited! I can’t thank you two enough for your hard work. I’m looking forward to the hardwood floor in the living room. I’m sure it’ll look amazing too.”
“Gotta go. Keep your phone near you this week.” Not wasting time with any conversation, Fate made his way to the front door.
As soon as Fate left the apartment, Valor and I let out a collective sigh. I could tell that he picked up on my less than stellar interaction with Fate.
“Don’t mind Fate Ada. He’s really serious about work and just wants to make sure everything is done well. He’ll smooth out soon.” The feeling of Valor’s warm hand on my back made me shiver.
Sexy and sweet?
Count me in. I could certainly get used to having gorgeous contractor friends.
“I understand. He’s definitely about his business. Let me see you to the door Valor.”
We walked to the front door together and he turned around to look at me before exiting.
“Got any plans for tomorrow?” Valor leaned his head against the doorway and stared into my eyes. It wasn’t right that a man could be so attractive.
“First day on the job actually. I’m teaching physiology at Columbia University.”
“Columbia? That’s impressive. If I ever need advanced studies on the human body, you’ll be the person I call.”
Oh the innuendos were making me weak at this point…
“Sure…um…we do provide free tutoring!”
What. The. Hell. Was. I. Thinking?!
He smiled at me jokingly and nodded his head, turning to meet his very clearly impatient brother outside.
This was going to be interesting.
I didn’t quite know what to make of Fate. Though as hard to read as he was, I trusted that he would even out soon just like Valor said.
I walked into the kitchen to get a glance at their work.
“Pshh, let’s see mom talk about my apartment now…”
The work was beautiful.
White tiles ran along the walls. Stainless steel appliances adorned every crevice in the room and marble countertops accented it all.
I ran my hands along the cabinets admiring the handlebars, and stopped at a cabinet that had a different color handle than the rest. It was small and discreetly placed in the corner, behind the fridge.
“Hmm? This is an odd place for a cabinet.” Getting down on my knees, I knelt in to open the cabinet door.
It wouldn’t budge.
I pulled as hard as I could and the damn thing just wouldn’t open!
“Eh…well, I’ll tell Fate and Valor about it tomorrow.”
I glanced at the clock on the stove and it read 11:30 pm.
“Shit, I’ve gotta get ready for bed!”
My first-day teaching physiology at Columbia was tomorrow, and I definitely didn’t want to turn it sour by being late. I turned to get one last look at the peculiar cabinet behind the fridge and then headed to shower for the night.
“Hello class. I’m Professor Fiero. Welcome to Physiology 300.”
I peered into the lecture hall of at least two hundred students. The blank expressions and sunken eyes did little to ease the nerves that were creeping up my back. These students look like they’d been president for 8 years!
“This class is challenging but you all look like an enthusiastic and capable bunch! I’m sure they’ll be little to no problems.”
Sarcasm…flying right out of the window. If the rest of the year was going to be like this, someone save me now.
“Well, since everyone seems very eager to begin, let’s jump right into it.”
“You haven’t handed us our syllabus yet!” A few loud voices cried out from the top of the lecture hall.
“Syllabus? Oh! That’s right! I’ll pass them out right now.” I was already forgetting some basic facets of being a professor. This stint was either going to end really well, or really badly, and I wouldn’t be too sure of what to bet on.
A few of the students from each isle volunteered to pass out the thick bundle of class assignments and rules dubbed “the syllabus”, and once the chatter had calmed down I moved on to the day’s lessons.
The Muscular system.
Triceps, biceps, and abdomens...
Somehow, the Hatton brothers perfectly chiseled forms kept poisoning my mind.
It was unfair.
I was hired to teach these hopeful kids about
which muscle on the human body does what. And my subtle perversions of the gorgeous contractors that worked on my house kept bleeding into my thoughts. It would soon pass, I thought and I continued to teach until the end of the class period.
Remember, Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner across the scorching Arizonian canyons?
Yeah, that’s about how fast I hauled ass out of that lecture hall. Inquiring students be damned.
So close was the university exit before me, I could taste its freedom against my parched tongue.
But a brash voice of an elderly man stopped me in my tracks.
“Professor Fiero! Can you spare a minute?” I turned around to face that man that could easily be mistaken for an aged skeleton.
And that’s saying a lot.
“Hello sir, can I help you?” His eyes were sunken in, and I could tell he’d seen more life than the entire elderly population on the planet combined.
“Professor, I’m Dr. Arnold. I teach the Cellular Biology class in our department. It’s nice to meet you.”
I shook his hand politely, but as briskly as I could and smiled.
“Pleasure to meet you Dr. Arnold. I look forward to working together.” Hoping that he could tell my fast way of talking was purposeful (I really wanted to leave!), I slowly backed up to the exited.
“Whoops! I’m such a clutz! Well Dr. Arnold, gotta go!”
“Professor Fiero. I’m the director of the science department. I am your boss.”
Just as my luck would have it, I was caught in the middle of trying to swerve the head of the department.
This was not going to be good.
“Oh! Excuse my haste Dr. Arnold. I was unawa-”
“I want you to be aware that I’ll be monitoring your progress very closely.” He cut me off immediately and proceeded to talk at the speed of a sloth. “We have a system of rating each professor’s teaching methods to ensure our Ivy League quality. Also, I’ve heard a lot about you. There’s a certain expectation we have of our professors around here. Keep that in mind. Have a wonderful night Professor Fiero.” He walked in the opposite direction back in the direction of the lecture hall.