All Mine: The Complete Series Box Set

by Lauren Wood

  “This does make things a little more difficult. I’m assuming from your reaction the parting of the ways wasn’t amicable.” The elevator closed leaving me to sigh with relief from how close we were to each other.

  Timothy was a leader. Bringing him and his brothers aboard was a big mistake. They were never going to listen to me with him whispering in their ears.

  “I actually don’t mind the challenge.” I was looking forward to seeing his face unconscious with the rest of them after breathing in the invisible gas in the air. “I’m guessing you have somebody you can contact for the party favors.” He ushered me out the door and he flagged down the first taxi at the curb.

  “I don’t want to say his name to jinx it. We’ve always had a good working relationship. I don’t know how he’s going to take strangers.” We drove away from the glitz and glamour with his hand on my knee.

  I felt my stomach turning and it took every effort to keep down my breakfast. His touch wasn’t repulsive. I grabbed for the same pill I had popped earlier. I had acquired them from an alternative healer in medicine. Graham was looking at me funny

  “Don’t worry; it’s only an upset stomach. It must’ve been something I ate.” He didn’t need to know the truth. I was still trying to grasp the concept.

  “If there was anything seriously wrong with you, I would need to know before going forward.” He was showing his concern even though we barely knew each other.

  “It’s nothing.” I looked out the window and suddenly flashed on the night where I lost control.

  Dancing provocatively and sliding my hands down all over his body on the dance floor was putting on an obscene spectacle for the bartender. I still couldn’t remember him, but he had left me with a permanent first impression.

  We arrived in an up and coming neighborhood. Those in the know were getting in on the ground floor. It was in transition, but the remnants of criminal activity was still there lingering in the shadows.

  Graham gave the taxi driver an extra 20 and then we walked up to this brick building. It had seen better days. It didn’t look like much, but I was about to learn a valuable lesson about judging a book by its cover.

  “I don’t like strangers.” The voice was startling and came from seemingly nowhere.

  “She’s the ghost.” There was a moment of awkward silence and the smell of putrid fish assaulted my old factory senses. It was hanging in the air.

  “Against my better judgment, I’m going to allow you to enter. Call it a curiosity and nothing more.” The steel black door popped open with a hiss from being hermetically sealed.

  One step beyond the threshold gave me a new understanding. The place was immaculate with a wide open concept. The windows were blackened leaving those outside unaware of the opulence inside.

  “I’m sure you know who I am. I certainly know you by reputation alone. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nicholas Hammond AKA the hamster.” I was in the presence of a world-class hacker and someone who could get practically anything given enough time.

  “The ghost is most appreciative to get an audience with you. I’m sure my colleague has mentioned what we are in search of.” I wasn’t going to use his name as a courtesy.

  “Graham and I are friends. I won’t go into details, but our past is checkered. I do have what you want, but it comes at a price. I don’t want money down. I haven’t gotten wealthy by being cautious. Whatever job you are pulling, I want 10% and not one percent less.” He was going to get four million dollars, possibly more for doing practically nothing and I couldn’t argue against it.

  His hair was wild in dreadlocks. He was wearing no socks or shoes with a ratty old white bathrobe covering his red silk boxers. I only knew because the robe wasn’t cinched closed. He had nothing I wanted other than the canister we had come for.

  “I would say you have us over a barrel. Your terms are reasonable with one caveat. Your payment will be secured in an undisclosed bank account. We will let this blow over for five days before contacting you with the bank account information. Take it or leave it.” He was listening closely and he smiled before vanishing down the hall.

  “Nicholas is just one of many contacts I have in many different states and countries abroad. My vast network will be missed.” I had my own contacts, but nothing to the extent of having one in every port.

  “Take this and leave out the back where there’s a car waiting for you.” We were going to have to pump the gas from the canister into the room using the ventilation system.

  I’d already gotten the plans and knew exactly where to place it for the best shot of being successful. He was waiting impatiently for us to leave, looking at his watch and pointing to the door leading to the alley in the back. I was worried he had found a better offer with Timothy. I could only hope his connection to Graham was strong enough for him to resist the allure of more money.

  “I want to thank you in advance. You’ve always come through and this is just another one of those markers you can call in. I owe you big time.” I thought the money would suffice, but they also had an understanding.

  Chapter five

  It was a tight fit, but I was able to situate the canister and set the timer to go off at exactly 5:00 AM. It was a unique design and one that favored an immediate release of the gas. There was even of redundancy where I could use my phone to set it off if anything technical was to go wrong.

  It was 4:00 AM with only 1-hour remaining. Graham had set up a camera in the room using a key from the maid’s cart. We had the perfect vantage point by watching them from our room. I came out in a janitor’s closet and lowered myself without making any noise. I opened the door and casually strolled down the hallway until I was going back inside to find Graham staring at the screen.

  “I’m glad you were able to compromise. It does make me feel naked to have a gun without any bullets in it.” I went into the bathroom and turned on the water loud enough to prevent him from hearing me dry heaving. I suddenly got this image of him on top of me with that contorted face of release.

  I was standing with my hands on the white marble counter. It all came back from him saying he felt naked with a gun with no bullets in it. He had used the same phrase for an entirely different purpose. Different phrasing, but familiar enough to jog my memory.

  “This is one gun locked and loaded with many bullets.” I felt this shiver like somebody was walking over my grave. He didn’t recognize me. How could he when we were both drunk. That was one night he didn’t pass out.

  The bun in my oven was put there by Graham. The blackout of that night had given me more than a one night stand. I was with child, two months along. I was foolish to get involved with anybody in that bar. Marbles was known to cater to those elements better left in the shadows.

  “We have to get ready.” I couldn’t tell him and risk his impending fatherhood getting in the way. The whole evening was nothing but fragments of distorted images with our limbs tangled together.

  “Give me a few minutes to get my game face on.” I was pale not that it was a big deal considering my moniker of being the ghost.

  I could see it vividly playing out like a movie in my head. How we were giggling and he was pulling at my clothes upstairs in a vacant room. The bed was a single cot and the sound of it breaking while he was fucking me was jarring, to say the least. It was precisely at that moment he grunted and gave me something to change my outlook forever.

  I threw cold water on my face to snap me out of the long and forgotten memory of that night. It was no wonder I had these feelings of pent-up frustration when I was around him. My body knew what my mind was trying to catch up with. It was that craving for his form which had us all over each other in the elevator the first night.

  I came out disheveled and sat down to look at the haggard expressions on the players’ faces on the screen in the room. We waited with the clock ticking slowly. It was almost like Chinese torture.

  “These last couple of days getting to know you made me see y
ou differently. In my eyes, the ghost has always been a legend and it’s nice to put a name to the reputation. I do wish we could have done more than work together.” That night was still a blank slate to him.

  “It was probably for the best. We don't want to make things more complicated than it already is.” He had no idea and was oblivious to the major change about to smack him in the face.

  “I don’t know why, but I think we would have been good together. I’m not ruling out something in the future happening between us. This partnership is a one time deal, but it doesn’t mean we can’t spend time together. I would enjoy getting to know your body and taking my time to figure out where your erogenous zones are.” It was after 5:00 AM and the gas was making them drop like flies.

  Timothy must have realized something was wrong and tried to get out of the room. Graham had already tampered with the lock.

  Timothy was desperate and wildly looking around until he stared right at the camera in the ceiling. He was barely able to stand on top of the chair, shaking his head and trying to keep his equilibrium.

  “We should have been in there a couple of minutes ago. His high tolerance for the gas is ruining everything.” I could have reiterated what Graham was already saying, but there didn’t seem to be a need.

  We ran into the elevator and refrained from putting on the gas mask until we were on the top floor. We knew exactly where the cameras were and made sure to keep our heads down low to avoid detection. The guards were preoccupied trying to get into the room to notice the threat right behind them. They went down like a sack of potatoes using a Billy Club to the back of their neck.

  He used an electronic device to disengage the lock. He showed me the small piece of metal which had gone unnoticed making everybody in the room a virtual prisoner.

  We went inside and closed the door using the same piece of metal to keep anybody from entering. We gathered the money on the table into two black bags.

  I was reasonably certain there was over $65,000,000. The hamster was looking at a lump sum of 6.5 million. Most of mine was going to charity with the rest to live on for the rest of my life. I had a feeling the lure of danger wasn’t going to be a stranger for long. The baby on the way was making it necessary to secure its future. The unconditional love was something I had never experienced before and probably never would again.

  We weren’t going to go out the same way we came in. Graham produced a black cord and went over the side of the balcony down to a room we knew to be vacant.

  “I fucking knew…it was you.” The words were like a teacher raking their nails down a blackboard to get the students’ attention.

  “I hope there are no hard feelings. I left you something as a consolation prize.” The money earmarked for the charities was down one million dollars.

  “This doesn’t…make us even.” He was barely awake and fighting the influence of the gas. His tolerance was amazing, but even he had his limits. The door to the balcony being open had kept him from succumbing to the gas to the point of being unconscious.

  “I know it doesn’t and I’m sure you have some interesting ways to torture me when you get your hands on me. If I have my way, then this will be the last time we ever lay eyes on one another.” I put my leg over the railing and looked down to see that Graham was waiting for me.

  “This was supposed to be mine and you took it away from me. I won’t forget this.” He was sounding like a broken record, but at least this time he was left with something for his troubles. The one million dollars would hopefully take the sting out of losing $64,000,000 on top of that.

  “I have to know how you got away from the cops. The only way out was in a pine box or body bag.” My curiosity had gotten the best of me.

  “You just said a mouthful. We all went down in a hail of bullets like in the old west. I had gotten my hands on some medication to slow our heart. Most of us woke up when we were processed at the coroner’s office. Jessie wasn’t so lucky. One of the bullets was a dead shot between the eyes. You have his death on your conscience. He will be avenged one day. By the way, Gideon says hello.” He slumped onto the table, leaving me to ponder the last thing on his lips. I never wanted to hear that name again.

  I repelled down the rope into Graham’s waiting arms.

  I wasn’t expecting the gun in my face.

  Chapter six

  The facts were glaringly obvious. Graham was prepared to betray me and take the money for himself. The barrel was cold and impersonal. I knew there was the possibility one day a bullet with my name would find me.

  “You should have seen this coming. It’s not a secret. I don’t play nice with others. Don’t worry, I will make this quick. There’s no point in procrastinating.” His finger was on the trigger, but it wasn’t my death getting me a little hot under the collar.

  “I’m going to have your child.” He shook his head and began laughing at the audacity of trying to save my own skin.

  “We haven’t even slept together. You do know Immaculate Conception is virtually impossible. I admit I wasn’t expecting you to say that, but it doesn’t change one single thing. I commend you for making me take a step back. You’re only putting off the inevitable.” His finger had wavered for a moment. He had conviction that came from his mind being dead set on a particular course of action.

  “We met at Marbles after last call. You took me up to one of the rooms and had your way with me. Tell me there isn’t something familiar about me when we first met. Can you deny the chemistry between us even though we barely know each other?” He lowered his gun and then brought it up to his forehead trying to jog his memory.

  He tossed the gun and it landed with a heavy bang on the bedside table. The phone was temporarily displaced with the receiver off the hook and hanging down to the floor. The dial tone was deafening and then his hands were on my shoulders until he had me prone on the bed.

  “I thought something was off, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I shouldn’t believe you, but I do. I’ve never been faced with fatherhood. The very idea of somebody depending on me is laughable. I can barely take care of myself.” He was pulling up my shirt, exposing my breasts and burying his head between both sizable mountains

  “You have gone from wanting to kill me to wanting to protect me with your life. What a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive. It’s something I have always wanted to say but never had the opportunity.” I felt the heat of his breath on my face and the way his clumsy hands were trying to get my shirt over my head.

  I was trapped with the fabric wrapped around my wrists. He was kissing my nipples and then extending his tongue with a quick flicking motion. The buds became rock solid under his oral attention to detail.

  He soon had me naked with my feet practically touching my ears. I had no idea my body could bend like some kind of contortionist.

  “I don’t know how we get past my attempted betrayal. We have to for the sake of the child. It’s going to need both of his parents. I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself. There’s no way to possibly know the sex this early.” He was nipping lightly at my nipples; nursing at them with the kind of suction a newborn baby would to milk his mother for sustenance.

  “Graham, you have always been able to take my breath away. We both deserve to make this work for obvious reasons. We have the sort of income which makes it possible to give this child the life we never had.” I never made a promise I didn’t keep.

  The pointed end of his tongue was drawing a roadmap to my lower extremities. He was making me arch my body every time he attempted to graze my already soaking mound with his finger. His teasing gesture was met with me slapping his face for good measure.

  “I’m glad you told me before it was too late. It was nothing personal. I’ve never been able to share my toys with the other children. I was a hellion when I was younger. I never did have the kind of family dynamic to make me well rounded and a productive member of society.” He was dipping his tongue into my navel and sending a
jolt of excitement right between my legs.

  “I hold no hard feelings. I do want something hard, but it has nothing to do with feelings.” He was on his knees between my legs and was frantically taking off his shirt followed by his pants and underwear. The risk of getting caught by overstaying our welcome was foremost on my mind.

  His anatomy was hard to recover from once I had a taste. It lingered waiting to be explored again. His shaft was barely touching my bald mound. He traced the lips with the head of his cock, paying particular attention to the hard and unyielding presence of my clit. He burrowed in with his tongue corkscrewing into me without mercy. I clawed at his scalp, tearing at his hair and coming back with strands clinging to my fingertips.

  He was humming a happy tune, lifting me into the air and plastering my sex against his mouth. I was riding in the sweetest torture possible and his tongue was the product of my discomfort and pleasure.

  My whole body was extra sensitive to his touch. It had to have something to do with an overactive hormone imbalance. My doctor had told me in confidence the possibility of side effects were extremely possible.

  “You can’t possibly think this makes us… even.” I was on the fence whether or not I should snap his neck between my muscular thighs. It was touch and go for a moment until he opened up the floodgates.

  He was making a good case for him to continue breathing despite his hand on the trigger about to kill me and the child. I probably would have done the same thing had the shoe been on the other foot.

  “I know you think you know me better than anyone, but maybe you were…fuck it… I don’t know what I’m talking about”. I lost my train of thought when he began to flutter his tongue inside me. He was touching that particular spot.

  He made me thrash my head from side to side with my hair flipping from one side of the pillow to the other. It was lucky nobody was in the way or they probably would’ve gotten hurt.