The Sculptor's Seduction (The Gentlemen's Guild Book 2)

by Dr. Rebecca Sharp

  “Is she awake?” Cyn asked immediately, glancing towards the guest room.

  Sloane listened in to their conversation but felt like part of him was a thousand miles away – and drifting further by the minute. It had all started when he walked into his studio to get Cyn. He saw her standing in the middle of the room, wearing his shirt, in the exact same spot she’d stood last night begging him to take her. The memory released the part of him that had tried to resist her and it raged against the desire that burned in him to, not just take her, but keep her. Suddenly, he couldn’t picture the room without her. Not only could he not picture the room without her – his mind quickly began to picture her all over the room… and himself all over her. On the couch, the floor, against the mirror, on top of the marble… It had taken a significant effort for him to focus on what needed to be done this morning and that scared him.

  He’d had a car take them to Terri’s apartment and they’d rode most of the way in silence. His heart had been pounding, his lungs fighting for breath as he tried control his desire for her; his fingers twitching with the need to touch her.

  What if she was wrong? What if he was becoming addicted?

  Fuck. She was sitting next to him, worried sick over her friend, and a part of him could only think about yanking her on top of his lap and shoving himself completely inside of her.

  He felt like a monster. And from there his guilt had only grown. As hopeful as he had felt last night and early this morning, he now recoiled tenfold in the opposite direction.

  “Not yet – it was a bad night, Cyn. Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done if Sebastian hadn’t been here.” He shook his head. “He seemed to be the only thing that kept her calm…”

  “Is he still here?” she asked.

  “No, he had to handle some business this morning, but he said he would be back in a few hours. He was pretty distraught. I wasn’t really expecting that from him – always so calm and collected… and gorgeous.” Terri sighed.

  “What are we going to do?” Cyn bit her lip in thought. “I… I don’t think we can go to the police. Tash has no proof of, well… anything that happened to her. I’ve been thinking about it the whole way over here. It would be her word against Julian’s and who is going to believe an escort over a wealthy businessman? Whatever she saw, I’m sure he’s gotten rid of any trace. It would be a huge risk to put her in front of him to implicate him only for nothing to come of it; she would be directly in his crosshairs.”

  “I agree. We need to get her out of here and then tip off law enforcement onto the dealer’s activities.”

  “Where can we take her? Anywhere in the city is too dangerous. She has no family… no one she’s close to outside of New York.” Sloane heard Cyn’s voice clog with tears.

  “I mean I have some friends in Florida…” Terri offered.

  He had an idea.

  “No. Too close to the coast. That might be where the drugs are coming in initially. No, she needs to get out of here. I have an idea. Terri, can you give us a minute?” He turned to Cyn, locking his gaze with hers. “Do you trust me?”

  Eyes widening, she nodded.

  “Let her go with Pierce, Morgan, and Ana,” he said softly. “Let them take her to London.” He watched as his suggestion sunk in, her brain processing the thought. “If we can get her out of here without anyone knowing, he will never think to look for her there. She will be safe.”

  Cyn bit her lip. “I… I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I mean, I know she will be safe. She will just be alone.”

  “She will be with my friends. Hopefully, it will just be for the short term. And, I hate to say it, but she’s better alone than scared, hunted, or worse.” He saw her blink back tears.

  “No, you’re right. It’s her best bet right now until they arrest him. She’ll never be safe here while he’s out there.”

  “Cyn?” Tash’s scratchy voice echoed into the room and immediately Cyn left him and Terri to see her friend.

  “Did she say anything else?” Sloane asked.

  “Not really. Poor thing is petrified.” Terri looked over at the girls sadly. “How’s Cyn?”

  Sloane cleared his throat. “Ok… As ok as she can be. Concerned and scared for Tash, less so for herself.”

  “Sounds like Cyn.” Then the large black man stared him down. “I’m glad she has you. I just hope you realize how lucky you are to have her.” His eyes narrowed further. “That girl is incredible.”

  “I know…” was all he managed to get out over the thickness in his throat.

  “Sloane!” Cyn called his name and with a nod to Terri, he walked unknowingly towards the sight that would break him.

  As he got closer to the room the weight on his chest got heavier. Through the doorway, he saw that Cyn had turned on the light. He could see her in the opening, but the partially closed door hid Tash from his view. He walked inside, meeting Cyn’s gaze first, before he turned to look at her friend.

  Sloane had only seen her one time – the night he met Cyn – but the woman lying in the bed looked nothing like the Tash he met. One eye and one side of her face were still swollen; there was a melted ice pack on the other side of the bed which meant that someone had been holding it on her face for her although it didn’t seem like it had done too much. Her face was a rainbow of purple-black bruises interspersed with cuts and scrapes. As she attempted to open her eyes to look at him, Sloane felt the déjà-vu knock the breath completely out of him. He prayed that he wasn’t staring at her like a complete ass, but the image of Tash had morphed into that of his mother, laying face-up on the kitchen floor, her face similarly bruised; it had been hard to tell because of all the smoke.

  “Sloane!” Cyn’s voice cut through the recollection. She was staring at him, her expression steeped with concern. “What’s wrong? Are you ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Just thinking.” He redirected his focus to the injured woman again, this time seeing the real Tash. “Hey, Tash.” He didn’t even know what to say; asking how she was or how she felt seemed like a slap in the face at this point.

  Cyn looked at him, her eyes squinting in disbelief for a second before she too redirected to her friend. “I told her about what you suggested.”

  “I’ll go,” Tash interjected firmly. The fear in her voice was crystal clear.

  Sloane nodded. “I’ll talk to Pierce. They were planning on leaving in a few weeks, but that’s all I know; I’m sure they can push up their timeframe. I think it’s best we get you out of here today though and away from people that know you in case he comes looking. I’m sure you can stay with Morgan and his sister for the time being.”

  “I hate feeling like I’m running away…” she murmured and Sloane saw a tear slip down her cheek.

  “Oh, honey,” Cyn said, sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching for Tash’s hand. “You can’t look at it like that. There’s nothing that you can do to him – to fight him – right now. Until someone can get some evidence on him, you just aren’t safe. You aren’t running, you’re just regrouping.”

  Tash gave the slightest nod and even that seemed to cause her pain. “Thank you for the offer, Sloane. Take care of this one for me while I’m gone, ok?”

  Sloane just nodded, his expression darkening further. He tried to stay focused on Cyn because every time he looked at Tash, his mother’s face flashed in his mind – a part of a memory that had been previously lost to him due to the trauma and smoke inhalation.

  “I’ll leave you two,” he mumbled, excusing himself from the room.

  As soon as he was out of their sight, he put his hands over his face, more images from that day flashing in his mind.

  His parents had been fighting again, a random blonde woman walking out of his house in the middle of it. His mom was crying and screaming – starting to scratch her face and hit herself. His dad grabbing his arm and yanking him out of the house, yelling at him to go to the bus, and then turned an
d followed the blonde woman, getting in her car.

  Sloane felt like the room continued to get smaller and the air thinned as the memories wouldn’t stop.

  He was standing at the bus stop, waiting. It had been too early to wait for it, but he wasn’t about to argue with his dad. So instead, he waited, playing with the figurine in his hand. It was when he saw the bus finally rolling down the street that he realized he couldn’t take this to school with him – maybe his mom would want it while he was gone; she was so sad this morning.

  His vision started to narrow, darkness encroaching in from every corner. He didn’t know where Terri had gone, but he hoped he wouldn’t find him like this. Sloane grabbed onto the countertop, assaulted by the visions from his past

  He ran into the smoke and flames, screaming for his mom. He fell to the floor – the air was easier to breathe down there. Crawling into the kitchen, he saw her lying on the floor, her bruised, tear-stained face finally at peace. He called to her as he vaguely saw one arm extended with an empty bottle of pills falling from its slackened grasp. He looked up at the gas stove which was angrily fueling the flames; the last thing he saw before he passed out was his parent’s wedding photo being consumed by the fire.

  His mother had taken the whole bottle of pills because of what his father had done. He’d broken her down emotionally to the point where even injuring herself didn’t provide her with an ounce of his attention.

  His mother had killed herself because without that, she’d had nothing to live for.

  Now, he knew why he didn’t remember much about what he’d seen. He didn’t want to remember how he hadn’t done enough for her.

  He didn’t want to remember how he hadn’t been enough for her to want to live.

  “Sloane!” Cyn’s voice pulled him back from the darkness. “What’s wrong?” Her hand came up to touch his arm and he instinctively flinched, still feeling like everything that touched him was scorching hot from the fire.

  He shook his head, trying to find his voice.

  “I’m fine,” he said a little too forcefully; the words might not have come out otherwise. “I have to go talk to Pierce… about Tash.”

  Of course, about Tash. What else would you be going to talk to him about?

  “Oh, ok. Do you want me to come with you?”

  “No,” he replied sharply, wincing at his tone. “This is the safest place for the both of you right now. Plus, I should probably talk to him alone and you should be here for Tash – see if there are any more details that she can give us to go to the authorities with.” The sadness he saw in the depths of her eyes gnawed at him, but it was nothing like the fear that consumed every cell in his body.

  He needed to get out of there.

  He continued gruffly, “I also want to go over to your apartment and see if anything looks like it’s been tampered with. Text me the address.” It wasn’t a question. He was going to see if that bastard had found out where they lived.

  She nodded; everything that he’d said had been valid, but she knew that there was more to it. Cyn looked around before yelling down the hall to where the master bedroom must be. “Terri! I’m going to walk Sloane out. I’ll be right back up.”

  She gave him a small smile before walking in front of him.

  His eyes focused on the sight of her; how she managed to take an oversized men’s shirt and make it look sexy was beyond him. Sloane closed his eyes for a moment – first, Tash and then his mother’s lifeless face flashed before him. He coughed, focusing on the door to the apartment willing it to open and set him free.

  In his haste, he ran into Cyn as she bent down in front of him to slip on her shoes. He groaned as his hips brushed the perfect globes of her ass. As if his mind wasn’t confused enough, his lust for her only muddled his thoughts further.

  He walked around her and out the door. Taking a deep breath of the air in the hall, he tried to keep his body from flying apart.

  “Sloane.” He heard Cyn say just before her hand touched his arm again. “What’s going on? You’re not ok. What happened in there when you saw Tash?”

  He shook his head, his throat tightening and the periphery of the room starting to go black again. He turned and punched the down button for the elevator repeatedly.

  “Please talk to me,” she pleaded again, coming to stand in front of him between his body and the elevator.

  The doors opened and he put his hands on her hips to move her back into the chamber.

  It was a mistake – touching her.

  Her hands immediately raised to clasp the sides of his face. “Sloane, just talk to me. Please, don’t shut me out again.” She looked up at him with a look he’d seen a thousand times on Ellie’s face when she looked at Tristan – love.

  He stood frozen, on the verge of losing it, as she raised her lips to his. The gentle touch of her mouth unchained him.

  He wanted her. In his studio. In his shirts. In his bed. In his life.

  He growled against her, pushing her up to the wall of the elevator as it dinged down each floor. He needed to be inside her. His hands made quick work of his fly, freeing his arousal. He didn’t even realize how fast his desire was moving – how fast he was moving. He lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist, grateful that he’d destroyed her panties last night. He positioned the head of his erection at her entrance and thrust mercilessly inside.

  He heard her gasp and whimper.

  Something wasn’t right. This wasn’t right. He looked at her face to see a tear stream down her cheek, her teeth digging into her lower lip.

  Oh, God… she hadn’t been ready.

  He pulled out of her in an instant, her feet dropping unceremoniously to the ground as he pushed himself to the other side of the elevator, his breath heaving.

  A glance down at himself told him he’d hurt her – a faint red streak of blood along his throbbing arousal meant that he’d hurt her.

  “Fuck,” he swore, tucking himself into his pants. “God, I am so sorry, Cyn. So fucking sorry, angel.”

  “Don’t, Sloane,” she quickly replied, a smile attempting to make its way up her face. “It’s really ok… I’m fine.”

  He shook his head, his hands spearing through his hair.

  She wasn’t fine. He wasn’t fine.

  “No, it’s not. I knew this… I knew that I…” He couldn’t even finish the sentence, there were so many things he hated about himself right now.

  The elevator dinged that they had reached the lobby.

  “Sloane, please!” she exclaimed and he knew that she was going to try to make this ok when nothing about this was ok. “I’m really—”

  “No,” he cut her off as the doors opened.

  He needed her to stay away from him. And his past. And his problems. And his uncontrollable needs. And all the ways that he would hurt her.

  “I’m an animal, Cyn. Don’t try to justify what just happened when we both know that there is something wrong with me. I won’t let it destroy you, too.

  And with that, he stepped back through the doors, his arm reaching around to hit number thirty-nine – where Terri’s apartment was – and then the button to shut the doors. He watched as they closed her off to him, her expression torn between love and anguish over his suffering.

  She couldn’t love him; he would never be enough for her. He would hurt her just like his dad had done to his mom. He wouldn’t be able to do enough – to love her enough – just like he hadn’t been able to for his mom.

  Sloane walked out of the building confident of one thing only: the part of him that Cyn had freed – the part that begged for him to let someone in… to let someone love him – should have stayed buried.

  Restraint, Sloane.

  Chapter 23

  Cyn stared at the elevator doors as they took her back up to Terri and Tash, her heart willing the thing to change direction and take her back to Sloane.

  Something had happened when he saw Tash. His demeanor had changed as soon as he set his eye
s on her. The color had drained from his face and he had stared as though he was seeing a ghost from his past. Cyn had a feeling it had to do with his mother and father; there must still be something to that story that he had kept from her – maybe something that he’d kept from himself. She’d hoped he would reveal it to her in time, but it looked like it had come to claim him instead.

  When she came out of Tash’s room, Sloane had just been standing there frozen, like he wasn’t seeing anything around him except the thoughts that were in his head. She’d said his name twice before he’d heard her.

  Cyn had panicked when he began to shut down. He’d closed her off before, but that was… before. She felt him on the precipice of either letting her in and letting her help him or retreating inside of himself.

  And then she’d kissed him.

  She’d done it to comfort him, to show him physically that she was there for him. But now that she really thought about it, she’d done it for herself – as a Hail Mary to break through to him. If she’d really thought about him first, she would have known that playing to his desire was the last thing he needed. The reality was that she panicked. After their intimacy last night, seeing Tash this morning, and coming to terms with her friend leaving the country in a matter of days, she’d been comforted and grounded by the fact that she would still have him. And then he’d begun to pull away and she’d panicked.

  So, she’d kissed him – trying to reach him in the way that she’d taught herself she was most likely to succeed, only she hadn’t reached the part of him that she’d intended. He was struggling; he was hurting and she’d used their intimacy as a crutch and she paid the price.

  She wanted him – there was no question about that; she couldn’t think of a time since meeting him that she didn’t, but just because she wanted him didn’t mean her body was ready that quickly to accommodate him; he was just too big for that. Cyn felt her core burn with pain as he’d rammed into her and tore her. If he’d stayed with her another minute, she would have been ready. A quickie in the elevator was so damn hot. But, he realized what had happened too fast and the fact that he’d hurt her only exacerbated the turmoil inside of him. Instead of bringing him closer, she’d only managed to push him further away.