Blinded by Fate (The Ugly Roses Book 3)

by Harlow Stone

  Frank’s confused, but Ryder sticks his hand out. “Good to meet you Frank, I’m Ryder.” They shake, and Frank asks, “Security? You lookin’ after my girl here?”

  Ryder responds quickly, “Doing my best sir.”

  Deciding to keep the conversation pleasant, I toss in. “Ryder owns a company called Callaghan Security, Frank. He’s the one I was telling you about earlier.” Seeming pleased with where this is going and who I ended up with, Frank smiles. “Well let’s get everyone a drink then, can’t have any friend of Jayne’s goin’ thirsty. What about you, Miller? Off the clock yet?”

  Detective Miller shakes his head. “Not yet Frank, just need a word,” he says, nodding toward me.

  “What can I do for you, Miller?”

  Rubbing his hands over his face he looks at the men beside me. “You want an audience?”

  I shrug. “I don’t hide anything from them.What’s this about?”

  Hands on his hips he says, “I just got a call that the home of Derek Stratus was burned to the ground.” Clearly he can see the confusion on my face. “The guard who attacked you in prison.”

  Shaking my head, I look him in the eye. “Not sure why you’re telling me?”

  Frustrated, he goes on. “Derek was inside the house when it burned down. Fire chief says the propane had to have been leaking for it to go up like that. Now, it could be a coincidence but I don’t really believe in those.”

  I go to open my mouth but he holds up a hand. “To top it off, while I was at the hospital investigating a gang murder, I got called back over to trauma where a man was brought in half beaten to death. Wouldn’t have recognized him, but the name sure put up a few red flags for me after I heard about the burning house. Robert Wallace, same man who was out there the night you were taken,” he says while pointing toward the back lot.

  “She’s been here for hours, catchin’ up with me. Wasn’t her,” says Frank.

  I silently thank him. I know I have only been here for just under one hour, but obviously he knows or assumes I’m guilty because otherwise he wouldn’t have bothered to put his two cents in.

  “Callaghan, I know we had a deal and I hope you didn’t step beyond that,” Miller says, and I have no idea what deal he’s talking about.

  “My team and I were with our lawyer, Andrei Patrov, putting together a case against Derek Stratus for the assault and attempted rape against my woman. You can call him if you’d like to confirm.”

  Miller looks to the floor and shakes his head. “Look fellas, I’m not saying some people don’t deserve what they get, but I still have a job to do.”

  Ryder nods in agreement. “I respect that, Detective. But I won’t lie and tell you that I’ll lose sleep at night knowing the spineless prick who couldn’t defend an innocent woman is in the hospital, and the scumbag piece of shit security guard is cookin’ in house as we speak. In fact, I think we’ll all sleep a little lighter knowing this world has one less sick fuck in it. Appreciate what you do Miller, and I told you we’d help in any way we could with the case. But this is not part of that and don’t expect me to lend a hand in figuring out how either of those incidents happened tonight.”

  Resigned with the knowledge he’ll have no help, and knowing that there’s nothing more to get from us, a defeated looking Miller says his goodbyes. I feel bad, a little. Only because he does have a job to do and I don’t like lying to him because he is a good person. But for the most part, Miller likes to stay on this side of the law. I give him forgiving eyes. He gives me sad ones and a small chin lift before he walks out of the bar.

  “Anything you care to share with me, beautiful?” The warm, whiskey voice washes over me, his breath hot on my neck. “Not here, handsome.”

  He pulls back a fraction and takes a swig of the beer Frank lined up in front of them. I look to my old friend and silently thank him again. He raises his Guinness in a toast and I follow suit, downing what’s left of my vodka, pushing it toward him for another.

  ***

  Eight shots of vodka in and I signal for another. Jimmy has joined us. Laura and Brad came in after, and for the first time in five days I feel lighter. It’s probably the vodka, and it might also be the aggression I got out earlier, but either way it’s nice to be out and surrounded by men who are protecting me so I can let loose, even if just a little.

  “It’s nice to see you out, Jayne,” says Brad, giving me a one armed hug and kiss on my temple. “You too, Brad. Thanks for coming last week by the way. I appreciate it.” He gives me a no nonsense look, because there is no other place he would have been besides having my back at the courthouse.

  I give him a hug and notice Laura weaving her way back from the bathroom laughing. She’s stayed off the tequila so far, which is a blessing. She halts mid-giggle when the woman behind her speaks.

  “Who are your friends, Laura? You’ll have to introduce me.” Prissy’s face comes into view and she pauses scanning all the men at the bar. Well, Ivan, Denny and Ryder since she knows the rest of the crew.

  I wait to see who she locks eyes on. She hasn’t noticed me yet, and I’m not sure if she’ll recognize me. We never spoke much simply because I don’t often speak to people who I don’t respect. Last I heard, Prissy had three kids from three different fathers, one of them used to go to the same daycare Lilly did. I felt sorry for the kid because he was behind due to the fact Prissy never took the time to teach him anything, thus adding to the shit list of things I don’t like about her.

  I gotta hand it to her though, she’s still kept her body in shape at the ripe age of thirty-two. She’s not hard on the eyes with her long reddish-brown hair and heart shaped face. But it’s what’s underneath all that shine that takes away from it. Prissy was, and always will be the bitch who treats everyone as if they are less than her. Regardless of the fact she has three baby daddies, the men still flock to her.

  Slowly sauntering toward the bar, she leans between Denny and Ryder. I left my stool to talk to Brad and it looks like she’d gladly take that place. “Mind if I sit here while I wait for Frank?” she asks Denny with sultry eyes and wet lips. He shakes his head, unaffected by her charm and already warned by Frank before she came over here.

  “It’s taken,” Ryder simply says, going back to nursing his beer.

  “Well you guys aren’t much fun tonight are you? Who’s got you in a mood, maybe I can cheer you up? Buy you a drink, my treat?” she places her hand on Ryder’s Henley covered arm. I note this one is white, not the black one he wore when he left Jimmy’s.

  “Go back and work your corner Prissy, this is still our end of the bar,” Laura says. She and I have always been picky with who we hang out with, we like good people and honest ones. This has also been our end of the bar since we were old enough to see over it, and later drink at it. Frank doesn’t chat with people like her. He gets a barmaid to serve their drinks while he sidles up next to a good and honest regular, like Laura or myself.

  She mock laughs, still trying to impress my hot as hell security crew. “Oh, Laura I just wanted to meet your friends.”

  I cut her off. “They’re not here to make friends Prissy, they’re here for my homecoming.”

  Her face sours. “It’s Priscilla, and you are?”

  “Same sweet bitch I was when I left here. Only now I’m back due to my involvement in a pending murder investigation, being questioned about a man being burned to death. And I just got out of jail for assault charges, so don’t piss me off today. ”

  Her face blanches at the news. I watch it fall.

  “Jayne?”

  “The one and only. I suggest you head on back to your corner, and remove your hand if you plan on keeping it. Word on the street is that I kill people,” I say with mock horror.

  Her hand drops like its on fire, completely caught off guard. Stuttering for a moment, she straightens her spine and hitches her purse up higher on her shoulder. “You always did know how to make a grand entrance, didn’t you Jayne?”

  I smirk
at her, “so long as you’ve got the exit part covered, we’re good.”

  Huffing out a breath she retreats to her corner of Frank’s.

  “Sure did miss you around here girl,” Frank says with a smile on his face. He always gets a kick out of Laura and I. We mean no harm, and it provides him with entertainment.

  “Jay just doesn’t like rotten pussy encroaching on her territory, Frank,” says Jimmy.

  “If I’m not mistaken, it wasn’t too many months ago you went home with that rotten pussy,” Frank deadpans, causing the whole group to howl in laughter. Jimmy holds his hands up, “Hey, I made it as far as the front door and no further. I haven’t touched that in two years. Honest.”

  He’s actually upset Frank would think so little of him, but Jimmy has only a few standards; tight ass, round tits, hair long enough to pull and good teeth. Jimmy believes if you don’t take care of your teeth, you probably don’t take care of what’s underneath your clothes.

  “Alright, who wants tequila?” Laura shouts, and Jimmy and I exchange a look. I’ve had fun, I feel good. But it’s time for me to call it a night. Ryder catches my pleading look and hooks me around the waist. “Ready to go, beautiful?” I nod in answer and start to say my goodbyes, but not before Laura shoves one tequila for old times down my throat.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You tipsy, beautiful?”

  Rubbing my face against his bare chest, I confirm. Not off my rocker, but definitely feeling good. Ryder tugs my shirt over my head and continues with the rest of my clothing until I weave before him in nothing but my birthday suit.

  “Did you have a good night?” he asks against my neck, placing kisses along my shoulder, working his way up. I sigh, “I did.”

  Putting his hands under my ass, he lifts me up and I wrap my legs around him. Crawling on his knees he moves us forward until we’re in the middle before he lays me back down. Continuing his assault with his mouth, he unwraps my legs from around his waist and moves his tongue south. Mid tongue swirl in my belly button he asks, “What were you thinkin’ tonight Elle, going to that house?” He continues his assault, making it hard to answer questions.

  “I was thinking, I-ugh…” I stop mid-sentence when his tongue makes one long lick up my center. He stops completely. “Answer me.”

  I fist the sheets. “I was frustrated, fed up, pissed off and sick of sitting around! Aggghhh, thank you.” His tongue swirls around my clit, pinching it between his teeth. “Why Elle?”

  Frustrated, I grab his hair. “Because I did!” I try to bring him forward but he likes his hair pulled. He just sits there, staring at me, his lips an inch from where I want him most. Big black eyes stare back at me, and he places one quick kiss before he removes them. “Why?”

  At wits end I let go of his hair and throw my hands up before leaning on my elbows to see him better, “Because I had to! Because I need to feel something! Because I needed to let it out! I went to Frank’s and stared at the fucking parking lot, thinking if I can’t catch the other brother, I’ll start from the beginning which was that useless fucking accountant who wouldn’t help me! That’s why! Happy?”

  Obviously not because he stares at me from between my legs like I should have given him more. So I do. “It felt good Ryder. It felt fucking good to beat the shit out of someone, to not feel weak. Maybe if he had helped or called the police I wouldn’t have been tortured for three days. So that’s it, I don’t feel bad about it and I’d do it again. If you can’t live with the kind of person I am then get your mouth away from my pussy so I can make myself come. Take it or leave it because I don’t see myself changing any day soon.”

  No sooner do the words fly from my mouth when my body flies through the air. Too fast his right arm went under my back, sending me up, over and back down, face first in the mattress. I push my knees and elbows into the bed to sit up and tell him exactly what I think when his hand collides with my ass.

  “Fuck!” I shudder, caught off guard from being on the verge of what would have been an incredible orgasm to being slapped on my ass. Ryder’s weight settles on top of me. My knees are still to the bed while he sooths the spot he smacked me with a gentle hand. “That was a stupid fucking move Elle, incredibly fucking stupid. You put Denny in an awkward position and you could have gotten yourself killed! Denny told me what he said to you. He was right. What if Robert Wallace wasn’t so fucking helpless anymore? You had no idea because you didn’t plan it out.”

  Being held by his weight on the bed, I turn my head to the side and glare at him, our faces a foot apart. “It’s done, I can’t change it. I don’t regret it.”

  Pulling up, his heavy hand lands on my other ass cheek. “You son of a bitch!” I shriek, not at all impressed and ashamed because as mad as I should be I’m dripping down my leg.

  “You didn’t think. That’s what gets you killed, Elle,” he rasps in my ear.

  “Oh, and you thought? What the fuck was that all about with Miller? Huh? Don’t think I didn’t notice your clothes were different when you came into the bar. While I was out kicking ass you were having a bonfire, a very big one by the sounds of it!”

  Leaning down, he licks up my spine to the base of my neck. I can’t stop the shiver running through my body. He notices. “You’re mine. I told you I look after what’s mine. I’ve been pretty fucking patient with you, Elle. I gave you space and we’ve gotten to where we are now which is me telling you that my patience has run dry and I’m done fucking around. Bottom line here is nobody touches you but me, and I know you like when I touch you,” he says while licking and kissing his way back down, over the swell of my ass and back again.

  “Why would you do that for me? I’m grateful he’s dead, but why Ryder? What if you get caught?” I feel his head shaking against my back before he moves his head back beside mine. “I won’t.”

  I sigh. “You’re not invisible, Ryder. Nobody is.”

  Moving the hair out of my face, he kisses my temple and moves to my earlobe. “We are, we were, and we won’t get caught.”

  I huff in annoyance, not at all impressed with his answer because I hate the thought of anything happening to him, especially because of me. It’s incredibly noble of him, and Ivan I’m assuming, along with Patrov. But we could have taken up some form of religion instead and prayed that Derek Stratus died of a flesh eating bacteria he could have contracted after my teeth sunk into him.

  Instead, he put his life on the line.

  For me.

  “Ryder, thank you but it’s still not any different from what I did tonight, you-ooof!”

  The air whooshes out of my lungs when his hand comes down on my ass again.

  “Quit talking about it, Elle. I’m tired and pissed enough as it is. Drop it!”

  “Dammit Ryder, I’m not trying to—fuck!” Two more slaps come down and his hands dive between my legs. “You’re soaked so don’t deny me. As much as I love reddening your pretty ass, I’d rather fuck you to sleep. I love you, Elle. I do. But we’re not talking about this anymore tonight. I’m hard and I’m tired. So, can you be quiet for five minutes so I can take care of that? It’s been a long night.”

  Being tipsy, and unable to help my smart mouth, I can’t stop the words before they come out. “Just five?”

  The answer is Ryder’s hard shaft in one long drive deep inside me. “Gah, fuck!” My back arches like a cat and he grabs a hold of my shoulder with one hand. The other slides down between us.

  “I love fucking you, Elle. I love making love to you too, but I thoroughly enjoy fucking you.” Gathering my wetness with his thumb, he moves it up to my rear, circling the tight muscle while keeping pace with his thrusts.

  “You with me, beautiful?” he rasps. I shake my head. “I’m with you, handsome.” In one smooth motion he pushes in at the same time he trusts. It’s exquisite and full, causing my entire body to shiver.

  “God you feel good,” he says, pulling his thumb out and replacing it with his finger. Pulling back on my shoulder, he
helps me up onto my knees and wraps his arm around my body, his hand tight on my chest. Warm lips work their way up my neck and I reach up, holding onto the back of his hair.

  “You’re almost there,” he says as he sinks his teeth into my shoulder. It wasn’t a question, he knows my body better than I do. Reaching down I put pressure on my clit with the heel of my hand and reach my fingers out to cup his balls. Adding the right amount of pressure that I know he loves.

  “Fuck!” he growls, picking up the pace. “Fuck I love you!” My legs start to shake at the emotion in his voice and the orgasm coming out of nowhere. Like a fucking train, he rams into me, and his finger drives deep into my rear, while pinching my nipple between fingers on his free hand.

  “God!” I wail, shuddering in his arms. Violent tremors take over every part of my body and make me thankful he doesn’t let go.