‘You still care about that? About the Stark name?’
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘It’s instinct I guess.’
‘So what will happen? Brad is going to take over, right?’
‘That should be what happens, least that’s what Brad’s always thought,’ he said, fondling her breast.
‘But you don’t think that it will?’
Dax shrugged and slid lower to suck her nipple into a tight pebble. ‘Bruno won’t just roll over, Brad won’t give him the same respect that Mauri does.’
‘What about Trystan?’
‘He’s already pissed,’ Dax said. ‘After we left, he apparently went off on a crazy bender. Mauri’s had him locked up in the mansion.’
‘Do you think they’ve…? Is there another woman for him? Has someone been abducted to take my place?’
‘Maybe,’ Dax said, having not considered that. ‘It’s a possibility, but…’
‘But?’
‘It didn’t work with you and maybe Mauri re-thought their approach. I don’t know. I’ll find out when I go over there.’
‘Which will be when?’ she asked. In time with her question, his cell phone rang.
The post-coital intimacy was shattered and her expression cooled. ‘It could be nothing,’ he said.
Extricating himself from their snug position, he climbed off the couch to snag his jeans, which he’d kicked off in the middle of the room. Removing his phone from his pocket, he recognised the number that came up.
‘Hello?’
‘Come over to the house,’ Brad said down the phone line. ‘Mauri wants you to join him for dinner.’
‘I’m having dinner with my wife, thanks.’
‘Bring her,’ Brad said. ‘Mauri’s invited you both.’
‘No, I’m not bringing her over there. Sitting around the table as a happy family is a crock of shit. If Mauri wants to see me then I’ll come over, just me, for a sit down with him. I think we have a lot to talk about and we don’t need you bastards listening in.’
‘Ok,’ Brad said.
He hadn’t gone away to check anything with Mauri, and the old man wasn’t dead yet, so he wouldn’t like Brad speaking for him. That meant that either Dax was on speakerphone and Mauri was right there, or that Mauri knew Dax would tell him where to stick his dinner invitation. Dax would put his money on the latter, Mauri wasn’t the type to skulk.
‘I’ll be over in less than an hour.’
‘You’re eager,’ Brad said. ‘For a guy who didn’t want to come at all.’
‘Eager to get it over with,’ Dax said. ‘Tell Mauri to be ready.’
Hanging up, he put his phone on the dining table, which stood between the entry way and the open plan kitchen, then he turned around to see Ivy was now sitting up on the couch.
‘You’re going over there?’ she asked.
‘Yeah. Mauri wants to talk.’
‘I have to shower,’ she said, rising from the couch to head for the bedroom.
‘You’re not coming,’ he said, getting between her and the living room door.
‘Why did I come all of this way then? I’m not going to sit here twiddling my thumbs. I remember all too well what happened the last time you left me here and went over to that house.’
She expected this to play out as it had before. He had been a dick to her then. He had left this apartment secure in their relationship, in a playful mood after leaving her aroused and unsated. But by the time he’d gotten back, to find her asleep in his bed, he’d been convinced that she had played him just to ensure her freedom.
‘Babygirl, things are different now. They’re not going to convince me that you don’t love me now, are they?’
‘I’m not afraid of them,’ she said, her defiant eyes narrowing on his. ‘If they want a fight—‘
‘You go in there looking for a fight and you’ll create one. You need to be cool.’
‘Act natural?’
‘Yeah,’ he said.
‘After all they’ve done? I don’t think so,’ she said.
‘If they hadn’t caught you in Vegas, this wouldn’t have happened. We wouldn’t have happened,’ he said, dropping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in close to kiss her.
‘I know,’ she exhaled onto him when he lifted his lips. ‘But that doesn’t mean that they should just get away with their bullshit, does it?’
Her anger was understandable because the Starks hadn’t treated her well. But the vehemence in her tone concerned him so much that he backed off. ‘Payback? Is that why you came? You’re gonna go on some crazy vengeance spree?’
‘Why would vengeance be crazy?’ she asked. ‘You told me it’s what Trystan thrives on.’
‘Yeah, and look how that turned out for him,’ Dax said, clutching her forearm when she tried to back off. ‘You listen to me, Mrs Harrow, I take care of the lowlifes, ok? If there’s a score to settle that’s my damn job, you keep your sexy ass right here at home; you cook, you clean, you suck my cock, that’s your job.’
‘Don’t,’ she said, twisting her arm out of his grip. ‘I know that you like to think that reminding me of that chauvinistic misogynist you played in the beach house will calm me down—‘
‘That’s too many big words for a simple guy like me, Minx.’
‘Stop it,’ she said. This kind of anger from her hadn’t reared its head for a while, not since the last time they were here.
Grabbing her wrists, he thrust them behind her back as he rushed her against the wall. Switching both wrists into one hand, he used the other to snatch her jaw and hold her head up.
‘Do you prefer the alternative?’ he asked, giving her a shake when she tried to wrestle away.
Eventually she surrendered to his grip, she had no chance of physically overpowering him, and they both knew it. Ideas of revenge contorted her expression, and he didn’t know why he hadn’t seen it before.
‘Let go of me,’ she growled.
‘If you don’t want to play then I have no choice, I’ve got to be serious. You prefer this? You’re not going to miss my point now,’ he said.
Squeezing her jaw, Dax forced her lips to part. His goal was to prevent her from clenching her jaw in response to the fury that scalded her veins. But the temptation his action presented was too much for him to resist. He dipped his tongue into her mouth, pushing his kiss onto her and when he withdrew he dragged his teeth over her bottom lip.
‘Get your filthy fucking hands off me,’ she mumbled and damn if she didn’t make his dick go hard all over again.
‘You’re mine to touch,’ he said. ‘You belong to me.’
‘I’m your partner, not your possession, and you are not leaving me here alone.’
‘I am. If I have to lash you to the wall then I will,’ he said. ‘I can’t trust you now. When you get it in your head that you want to start something, then I’m the one who has to finish it. You see my dilemma?’
‘You don’t trust me,’ she said, trying again to writhe free of his control.
Consuming her mouth again, this time she returned his kiss using the energy of the hatred that she wanted to rein down on the Starks. In his opinion, this was a far healthier way to get rid of that venom.
Pulling her away from the wall, neither broke the kiss on their spinning journey toward the dining table. Anything they made contact with clattered to the floor, but he didn’t care about objects. He cared about the pain this woman had suffered, the pain that had thrust her into a frenzy of unhealthy anger that could get her hurt if he let her release it elsewhere.
Shoving her face down onto the table, he pressed her skull with the weight of his own. Her hair covered her face and fluttered out with each huffing breath she took. One of her cheeks was squashed into the table, he kissed the other through her hair, then her temple, and kissed above her ear before he spoke, resting his forehead on her soft hair, pinning her so that she couldn’t squirm away from him.
‘I own you, babygirl. You’re still my goddamn
prisoner, and I will punish anyone who hurts you.’
‘No,’ she said, trying to look at him, but his weight locked her down. ‘I fight my own battles.’
‘I told you,’ he said, tightening his grip on her wrists, her chest was crushed on the table, but he kept her arms on the table on the opposite side from the way she faced. Forcing her legs further apart with his own, he pushed a finger into her still wet centre and began to work it in circles. ‘You’ll never have to fear enemies while you’re under my claim.’
‘You haven’t claimed anything, tough guy,’ she spat out, working her hips against his invading digit. When he snagged her earlobe in his teeth, she whimpered out her arousal and consent.
‘I claim this body. Your mind and your fire are mine too,’ he whispered, then slammed his dick into her again.
This time, she screamed through her gritted teeth and the primal roar made him smile. This would be the way she would release her frustration, and if she wanted him to plan an attack on those who wronged her, he’d do that for her too.
Chapter Three
The Stark mansion was the same as Dax remembered it. When he arrived, he hadn’t been shown into the usual office that they worked from, he’d been taken to Maurice’s suite of rooms, and that was unusual to the point of being concerning.
Serg was outside the suite and told him to go straight in. When Dax did go inside, the room was empty of people. The furniture was opulent and very classic in its style. The focal point of the room was the large fireplace, which was almost taller than he was. He’d never seen an actual fire burning here, then again, it had been a few years since he’d been in this usually private space.
There was no time to go looking for anything, the side door opened, and Mauri came in from the bedroom. It was immediately obvious to Dax that Mauri had lost weight, but other than appearing a bit gaunt, Dax couldn’t pick out any other indications that Mauri was ill.
They stood for a few seconds, just looking at each other, but there was nothing threatening in the exchange. Mauri came in and went to the Waterford in the corner to pour two fingers for each of them, neat.
‘Brad said you were reluctant to come home,’ Mauri said, taking the glasses to the table between the two burgundy upholstered armchairs to the left of the fireplace. Mauri sat down. ‘Sit down with me, have a drink.’
‘I’m driving,’ Dax said. He wasn’t driving at all, but he wouldn’t sit and drink like they were buddies, and he wanted to keep his wits about him. Mauri knew about Dax’s fighting skills, so he wouldn’t set just one guy on him. If Dax pissed Mauri off enough to call security, then he’d have a dozen guys up here within a minute.
‘One won’t hurt,’ Mauri said. ‘And we can get you a driver if—‘
‘This isn’t a catch-up,’ Dax said, going over and seating himself where Mauri wanted him to sit. ‘I came here because Brad said you were sick. Why didn’t you tell us?’
Mauri took a sip of the liquor. ‘Why do you think? If men like us show weakness, the vultures close in, don’t they?’
‘Men like us…? I’m nothing like you.’
‘That might be a convenient thing to say now,’ Mauri said. ‘But a few months ago you were exactly like me, and proud of it too.’
‘Things have changed for me. I told you that—‘
‘How is Ms. Dune?’
‘It’s Harrow,’ Dax said. He’d bet that these men deliberately used Ivy’s maiden name, but he hadn’t yet discovered why that might be. Did they want to belittle the marriage? Or did they want to remind him that to them she would never be a part of him? ‘And I didn’t come here to talk about her.’
‘Are you having trouble?’ he asked, settling himself back in the chair. ‘Marriage is a big commitment. If you are struggling—‘
‘We’re just fine,’ he said. ‘Marriage is easy.’
‘Either you truly have found your soulmate, or things between you and your other half are more strained than you will confess to me.’
‘I wouldn’t have walked away from this if I hadn’t been sure about her.’
‘You did give up a lot for her, your whole life, is she appreciative?’
‘Every damn day,’ he said with innuendo and sarcasm. ‘Now you want to tell me why the fuck I’m here?’
‘I don’t know. You chose to come. Why did you do that?’
He came because Mauri meant a lot to him and because Mauri had always looked after him. Dax wasn’t ignorant to what Mauri had done for him as a child, and it still troubled Dax that he had flouted that generosity by disappearing with Ivy. He didn’t like to owe any man anything.
‘Brad said you were sick, said you wanted to talk to me, so I came.’
‘Just like old times,’ Mauri smiled. Now that his face was more slender the grooves on his cheeks were more prominent and after taking a closer look, Dax could see that Mauri was tired. But that wasn’t unusual if business was busy.
‘Have there been any shipment issues?’ Dax asked, curious if the man was overworking himself. ‘Is everything running smoothly?’
‘We’ve had nothing but problems,’ Mauri said, putting his glass down and rubbing his fingers across his forehead. ‘Since you left, no one else has been able to keep the men together, there has been tension in the ranks.’
‘Serg was respected—‘
‘And the men seemed happy to take his orders,’ Mauri said. ‘But he is not as efficient as you were. Things have been missed. We almost got fucking busted because Serg gave one of the courier’s directions that ended him up in a police station parking lot.’
Dax could laugh because he hadn’t been there, but Mauri’s frustration was obvious. ‘That’s Cecil’s run,’ Dax said. ‘You miss that third turn and you’re right there at police headquarters.’
‘Yes,’ Mauri said, leaning closer. ‘See, you know it all so well, you just… it’s second nature to you.’
‘I did it for a long time,’ Dax said. He’d been working for Mauri since he was old enough to see over the steering wheel. ‘Cecil is one of our oldest contacts, and he’s a real prick to get on the phone.’
‘We need you to come back, we need you at the helm.’
‘No,’ Dax said, already shaking his head. ‘Not a chance.’
‘Why not? I don’t see why there would be any problem,’ Mauri said. ‘I have taken care of the men, they know that you are married now; Ivy will be safe. She’ll be safer here than wherever you’ve been holed up. She’ll have full protection of the family.’
‘For how long?’ Dax asked. ‘Word is that with you on your way out, the hyenas are circling. When you’re gone the venture is going to be picked apart. Brad isn’t strong enough to hold it together on his own, he doesn’t have the respect of the men, and he’s sure not feared in the community. You ever seen him get blood on those fancy-ass Italian loafers?’
‘You have their respect and you’re feared. No one would cross you.’
‘Yeah, ‘cause I know better than to turn my back on them,’ Dax said. ‘I’m not interested in taking over.’
‘You could,’ Mauri said, locking his eyes on Dax’s and sitting back slowly. ‘Would you be interested?’
‘In taking over…? You’re offering me the business?’
‘There could be something worked out.’
‘No, Brad wouldn’t have it. He’s had his eyes on the company for years.’
‘He can still run things as the legitimate face of the Stark’s.’
‘Legitimate?’ Dax asked. ‘The haulage and dry cleaning firms are fronts, they clean the money, there’s nothing legitimate about that.’ Although they did have big haulage rigs and a few legitimate contracts, but those were meant to distract from the other cargo in the back of those trucks.
‘You and Brad are not enemies,’ Mauri said. ‘You always got along.’
‘We never had to deal with each other. It’s easy to be civil with the guy who’s just another cog in the machine.’
‘You under
stand that machine. You have an affinity for this industry, Dax. Don’t throw that away for a piece of ass.’
‘My wife is not a piece of ass. If you don’t show her some goddamn respect—‘
‘Respect? I have nothing but respect for the woman who managed to turn your head. I wasn’t sure you would ever lower your defences for long enough to let love in… Your choice might have caused difficulties in the family, but you showed your commitment to her when you walked away from us. I have to say, I was… almost proud of you for standing up for her like you did.’
He didn’t want to be gratified, didn’t want his own humble feelings to diminish his ego until he was under Mauri’s boot again. Sitting straighter, Dax snatched up the Scotch and took a mouthful.
‘Ivy is the best thing I have, and I am not going to disappoint her again,’ Dax said.
‘Ivy is a clever girl, you shouldn’t refuse my offer before you have spoken to her. If she is as smart as you believe she is, then she’s not going to pass up a good thing when she sees it. She would be walking into a position of power and that is very seductive. To be by your side when you take over this empire—‘
‘What does Trystan say about this? Have you told him that Ivy and me are back in town? I don’t think that he’ll be happy with your proposals.’
‘Trystan will be happy as long as there is money to spend.’
‘So he hasn’t straightened himself out? Your plan didn’t work.’
‘We haven’t given up on it yet,’ Mauri said. ‘I still believe that if he can find himself the right woman, he will buck up his ideas. It worked wonders for you. Tell me, doesn’t love clear your perspective?’
‘It changes it,’ he said. ‘It changes a man’s priorities. But you’re not going to get Trystan to fall in love by beating a woman into submission.’
‘We realise that what we did with Ivy was… unsuitable.’
Fighting Back (Harrow Book 2) Page 3