Kissing her softly, I wrap my hands possessively around her waist. “I promise I’ll lie my ass off next time you ask about your shitty music.” Minka smiles and relaxes back into the water. After dipping her hair into the pool, she glances at the hot tub.
“Let’s relax while you tell me the rest of your story.”
I watch her slide through the water towards the steps. She’s temptation personified. When she smiles at me over her shoulder, I feel weak and desperate. Is she the devil?
I join her in the bubbling hot tub. She leans back and lets her sexy body slide under the water until only her head remains afloat.
“Those boys were trying to get Shannon into a backyard. What happened next?”
Under the water, my fingers find hers. Minka’s dark eyes warm, but she only waits for me to tell the rest of my story.
“I wasn’t the powerhouse I am now. Some might even say I was scrawny, but Mom told me I was scrappy. When Frankie and I fought, he always won but only after I hurt him.”
As a smile lingers on her face, Minka slides closer.
“I had to challenge those guys, but I knew I was gonna bleed too. There were four of them, and they were seniors.”
“But you had to do it.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
Still smiling, Minka nods. I study her expression for too long, but she’s fucking ravishing when wet.
“They had Shannon backed against a gate, so they never saw me coming. I got the drop on one of them. The leader, I guess. I kicked him into the fence, and he hit his head. I grabbed some rocks from the house’s garden and threw them at the other guys. They were coming at me by then, and Shannon was smart enough to make a run for it. I only needed to get away myself at that point. I figured they’d chase me home where Mom would yell at them for bothering her boy. Sounded easy, but one of them was a tackle on the high school football team, and he crushed me.”
Minka’s fingers wrap around mine under the bubbles. She’s consoling the kid in me who played hero and got his ass kicked for the trouble.
“I don’t know what might have happened if I hadn’t been a scrappy fucker. I was pissed about them messing with Shannon. I was even pissed that they were causing Missus Waller’s yard to get torn up. I started kicking and hitting anything around me. Frankie claimed I looked like I was having a conniption fit when he showed up. I know I bit one guy and grabbed another guy’s balls. I was twisting those balls when my brother got there. Frankie didn’t have to do much. Those fuckers were already hurting and thought I was crazy. Once they saw I had backup from my big brother, they bailed on the fight.”
“How did that lead you to your line of work?”
“Got me noticed by the Morelli mob. I was still young, but I got a rep for being willing to go ugly to get shit done.”
“Yeah, the biting definitely makes you stand out,” she teases, kissing my shoulder. “Who was your first target?”
“A nobody used car salesman banging the wrong guy’s wife.”
“How did you do it?”
“Made it look like a break-in. Did it with a bat.”
“How did you feel afterward?”
“Numb, I guess. Not really guilty. Just strange that a person was part of this world and then he wasn’t.”
Minka studies me. “Did it make you feel powerful?”
“Not really. The way people respected me gave me power.”
“I always feel more powerful by getting away with stuff than from the actual stuff I do.”
Caressing her lower lip, I murmur, “I love watching you walk into a room. You move like a stone-cold killer. Anyone with a brain can see what you are.”
“Stop praising me. It makes you seem desperate,” she says, sliding onto my lap. “A desperate Dino makes me want to fuck.”
“We don’t want that, now do we, Apples?”
“Appleby isn't my real last name, you know?”
“What’s your real last name then?”
“Cockbottom.”
Laughing, I wrap her in my arms. Minka grinds her pussy against my dick, and I feel my erection nearly tear through the swim trunks.
“What was your first job?”
“Not now,” she whispers against my lips.
My fingers tease the straps of her bikini. I want to fuck her so badly, and the hot water is intoxicating on my skin. As much as I want to rip her clothes off and sink my cock deep inside her, anyone can look into the pool area and see Minka naked.
This idea is fucking unacceptable. No man is ever allowed to see her naked again. None. Well, maybe a doctor if it’s to save her life and only if I’m right there to keep his mind on work. Otherwise, no one else will know my woman’s naked curves.
11
~ Minka ~
Killing Them Roughly
Dino is a sexual dream come to life. I look at him and instantly want to fuck. I can’t get enough of his lips on my skin. The guy is addictive, and I’m his junkie. No getting around this fact, and I see no reason to try.
After we return from the pool, he fucks me hard. I come twice, leaving my entire body humming. I want more, though. Kissing him, I straddle his hard, muscled body. He’s instantly thick in my hand.
“It’s never enough,” he murmurs.
I don’t know if he’s accusing me of being sex crazed, or he’s simply making a declaration. All I know is I’ve enjoyed sex before but never like with Dino.
Forty minutes later, he smiles lazily as I roll off of him.
“You’d make a hell of a cowgirl.”
Flopping onto my stomach, I close my eyes and bask in all of the hot waves of pleasure.
Dino is quiet. I half-open my eyes and take in the sight of his sculpted face. He’s a damn Adonis, and I realize I’m wearing a goofy smile. Dino creates a feeling of high-school-crush silliness in me.
“Are you sleepy?” he asks as the palm of his hand glides over my ass.
“No.”
“I was thinking about how Black tried to kill you today.”
“And you.”
“Yeah, but it’s my job to protect you.”
I consider bitching about this comment but decide to give him a break.
“What were you thinking?” I mumble.
“He took over the meth business in Common Bend, and Cooper gave us the location of his main producer. At this time in the morning, I bet the cops are relaxed. We could drive into town, hit the meth lab, and get out before most people wake for work.”
Turning over, I sit up and smile at him. “Devious is sexy on you.”
His hand goes to his cock, and he gives me a low groan. “Now I’m going to be hard for the entire job.”
“Sorry, baby,” I say, giving him a quick kiss before rolling out of bed. “I want to start trouble.”
Dino follows me, and his cock remains rock-hard when he eases the thick muscle into his boxers. We both dress all in black and arm up with military grade weapons. They’re unnecessary for tweakers, but if the cops show up, we’ll need the firepower to escape Common Bend.
“If shit gets dicey,” Dino says as we drive in the still-dark morning, “you bail. I’ll take the heat.”
“Okay. I’ll miss you.”
Dino frowns at me. “I’m not kidding.”
“Neither am I. You’re very memorable.”
“Don’t get killed or arrested.”
“Never occurred to me to do either.”
Scowling, he grunts, “Well, just don’t.”
“Okay. You should stay alive and free too. You know, if that works for you.”
“Again you’re playing around when I’m serious.”
“It’s either playing around or telling you to fuck the fuck off for telling me how to do my fucking job.”
“You sound like Hayes.”
“He doesn’t own the word ‘fuck.’”
Dino makes a noise that sounds like the lovechild of a sigh and a growl. I caress his jaw, enjoying how the rough facial hair teases my palm.<
br />
“I’ll kick ass, and you’ll kick ass. We’ll finish the job and then return to the hotel to fuck and sleep. I don’t know why you need to make it any more complicated than that, Dino.”
“Because I’m the man, Apples.”
“You’re a man. That’s true.”
Dino glares at the road, making me smile. He’s so damn adorable when he acts as if his big dick puts him in charge.
We remain silent on the drive to Common Bend. Dino parks near our destination, on a street lined with cars. We’ll blend in fine as long as we return before the sun is up.
After a short, brisk walk, we arrive at the Harvest Fields Trailer Park. The meth lab is located at the back of the property, nestled near thick woods. The other trailers have been moved awkwardly away from our destination. Clearly, the locals know the place isn’t safe. How happy will they be in a few hours when they learn their meth-cooking neighbors are gone?
Dressed all in black, Dino is the picture of sexy badassery. I want to hump him hard, but work calls. He tugs down his mask and hides his handsome mug. Once I do the same, we’re on the move.
Dino runs for the trailer where all of the lights are on. He takes a chance with the door being unlocked gets lucky. These guys don’t expect anyone to fuck with them. Not when they have the Sheriff’s Department watching their backs.
First through the door, Dino knocks one guy on his ass and fires on a second one. His voice remains steady and quiet, even while threatening to kill them for breathing.
I move past him and into a back room. One tweaker is on the bed, playing with his puny dick. He doesn’t react when I enter. Too high to know he’s about to die, he only smiles at the battered woman sitting on the bed.
She sees me and inhales roughly. I take in the sight of her and the tied up women on the other side of the room.
“Don’t move or speak,” I warn.
The tweaker smiles wider and reaches for the woman next to him. He’s dead before his fingers touch her.
Turning my gun towards the women, I order them to stay put in my manliest voice. They stare, too horrified to respond. I ease out of the room without turning my back on the women. They’re victims, but so was the sex slave in Guatemala who took a shot at me years earlier. No one is safe in my world.
The pale fucker in front of me has shitty tweaker teeth. He smiles at me as if I’m about to die, but he’s only biding his time.
“On the floor,” I order the asshole. When he doesn’t react quickly enough, I crack the butt of my rifle against his head. He goes down with a thud. “I said on the floor.”
My focus returns to the women behind me. They remain very still even when Dino fires on someone in the kitchen. Glancing in his direction, I see a tweaker gushing blood on the ground. The remaining assholes know their time’s short. Most of them go for their weapons, but one lunges past me to where the women wait.
Careful with my shots, I kill the one looking to take hostages. Dino shoots the guy heading for the door. He kills another asshole in the kitchen. When the guy falls towards a table, Dino grabs his body to keep it from making a racket.
“Clear,” he says, tapping me on the shoulder.
“Stay quiet,” I tell the women before gesturing for them to get up. “Untie that one.”
Beaten down too many times to fight back, the woman on the bed only nods. The women think we’ll kill them next. Or we’ll sell them off to the next pervert. Even wanting them to worry enough to remain docile, I still feel like shit. Their lives weren’t easy before our weapons pointed at them.
Dino leans over and whispers, “You want them or the fire?”
“I’ll do the fire.”
Call me a wuss, but these women and their horrible lives make me uneasy. I could have turned out like them so easily. One bad decision here or there and I’d be someone’s bitch. I can almost see myself in their terrified eyes.
Speaking in a quiet yet authoritative voice, Dino leads the women out of the room. “You will walk into the woods and keep walking until you reach the other side. When you speak to the police, you will tell them Dick Richey saved you. Do you understand?”
The women follow Dino out of the already burning trailer. I hurry outside after dumping as much accelerant as possible. I want only ashes left for Black.
We watch the women shivering in the autumn morning. None of them are wearing shoes. One is only in a tee and panties. They look like survivors of a natural disaster, and I wonder what’ll happen to them next.
“Go and don’t look back,” Dino says. “If you do, we’ll put you down too.”
The women walk into the dark woods, and I wish they had shoes at least. With less than an hour before the sun rises, it's too late to do anything for them.
Dino and I run in the opposite direction as the women. We ditch the trailer park long before a single siren rings out in the quiet morning.
12
~ Minka ~
Handing Out Chill Pills
My cell rings just after eleven, and I’m barely able to understand what an angry Hayes is yelling. I tell him he woke me up and to call back later. He hollers into the phone that I better get my scrawny ass over to his office. If I were more awake, I’d be offended about him dismissing my fine butt. Instead, I tell him we’ll be right over. Once I hang up, I turn off my phone, roll over against Dino’s warm body, and return to sleep.
Many hours later, we show up at Hayes’s office where we find Donna gone along with her knickknacks and family photos. A new woman sits at the desk. She’s wearing the same panicky look as the former receptionist. I smile at her, but she can barely return it. I do notice she gives Dino a quick and approving once over.
“Can I help you?” she nearly whispers.
“What happened to Donna?”
“She quit. I’m from the temp agency.”
“Why’d she quit?” I ask.
“They didn’t tell me.” The new woman glances back at Hayes’s door as if to answer me. “I’m only here until they find someone permanent.”
“Margie!” Hayes bellows from the next room.
The woman flinches at the sound of his voice and continues to shake while walking to the door. He yells something about a missing stapler. After Margie mumbles about looking for it, she returns to the front desk.
“I don’t know where the stapler is,” she tells me.
“Neither do I.”
Margie sighs unsteadily. Dino slides closer to me while keeping his gaze on the secretary.
“You look like you need a hug. I can’t give you one, though. These arms only hug my mom and woman. Sorry, Margie.”
I give him a quick glance. “You’re so whipped that I almost feel guilty.”
“Almost.”
Hayes yells from his office and tells us to stop distracting Margie and get into his office. Dino heads for the door, but I glance around the messy front area. Spotting the stapler, I take it with me into the office and set it on the angry man’s desk.
“Did you scare off Donna?” I ask, sitting in a chair.
“That fucking woman wasn’t ever going to work out. She watched too much fucking Oprah, who convinced her that fucking feelings matter in the real fucking world.”
“I forgot how much you like that word.”
Hayes gives me a dark frown, but I think he finds me amusing. Dino seems to think something similar since his foot makes contact with the desk. The men’s gazes lock.
“Eyes over here, Jolly Green Giant.”
Hayes looks ready to tear off Dino’s perfect head. I only smile because there’s something irresistible about my lover when he turns possessive. I’ve never had a man claim me so strongly. The closest was Troy, who once punched a guy for being disrespectful to me. He hadn’t minded when the guy flirted with me for an hour, though. Troy just never fully shifted from friend to lover. Dino doesn’t have that problem.
“You wanted to see us,” I remind Hayes.
“Don’t look at him,” Dino says
to me.
“I’m looking just over his head. Now can we get to the reason we’re here?”
Hayes leans back in his chair, and I again wait for it to buckle under his size. The chair must pump iron because it survives.
“I was wondering if you two had fun at the Shithole Trailer Park this morning.”
“Oh, yeah, thanks for asking.”
“Well, you got Black riled up. He visited the park himself and arrested the women you let go.”
“For what?” I balk.
“For whatever he wants because he’s an asshole with a badge.”
“That’s bullshit.”
Dino nods while patting my hand. His attempt at soothing me only makes me angrier.
“Don’t do that.”
“I can’t help it. You bring out the teddy bear in me.”
Hayes lights a cigar and clears his throat. “You two need to keep your romance bullshit to your own time. I have no fucking interest in watching it play out.”
“Sorry, Dad,” I mutter. “So, was there a reason we had to drive over here? I hope you didn’t just want to yell at someone besides your poor assistant.”
“Look, when your boss lost his balls and let Black take over, he created a fucking vacuum. Now everyone is calling my hotline with problems that aren’t fucking mine. I don’t care what happens in Common Bend. I’m only helping you two shitheads because I don’t want the trouble spilling over White Horse. Except it’s already spilling the fuck over.”
Crossing my arms, I shrug. “I feel like you’re breaking your ‘no feelings’ rule by sharing how you’re sad and frustrated. Now, I’m not Oprah, but I think you need to suck it up until we’re done working.”
Hayes gives me a darker glare while I roll my eyes dismissively. Dino, though, takes these reactions to be potential flirting.
“We’re leaving,” Italian Sausage says, standing up and reaching for me.
“I want to know what you two fuckwads will do next.”
Standing up, I take an agitated Dino’s hand. “We’re going to fuck. Probably talk about our feelings. Maybe even write poems about fucking. Then fuck again. Why? What are your plans for the day?”
“My guess is I’ll be cleaning up your fucking messes.”
High Voltage (Ramsey Security Book 3) Page 6