“It’s neither. You’re young, Mindy, too young to even be thinking about boys. Your father finds out and there will be hell to pay.”
“Why? It’s not like he’s my boyfriend. We’ve done nothing to each other.”
“If you want him to live you better keep it that way.” Cherry pushed the trolley down the aisle toward the fresh vegetables. It was Saturday, and Elijah had to leave early for work. Caleb and Henry were expecting him over at Ecstasy. She didn’t know why and refused to get involved. Cherry wasn’t interested in the working side of her man, only the side she needed to see. The less she knew, the better. She wasn’t an idiot and understood the role she took.
The last thing she wanted to do was put him in danger for knowing the wrong thing.
“This is really hard.”
“It’s not really hard. You’re making it really hard by over-thinking everything.” Cherry smiled, heading toward the meat section. “You’re supposed to be helping me shop. This was your idea, and you’re leaving it all to me.”
Mindy had come home two days ago begging for a huge cookout. Cherry waited until Sunday seeing as they were both at home together.
Elijah had given her a credit card in his name for her to use. She didn’t like the thought of ever having to use the credit card, not that she had any money of her own. There was no choice at all.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. Were you ever like this?”
“No, I can safely say I wasn’t like this. I didn’t care about boys at your age.” She didn’t need to tell the younger girl that she’d already been forced to have sex. Mindy was young, fresh, and on the verge of love. “I’d tell Elijah though. He’s going to hate you keeping secrets from him.”
Mindy growled. “He doesn’t understand. He never understands everything.”
“You’re giving him too much of a hard time. Elijah was a boy once.” Cherry paused, tilting her head to the side. “Actually, he’d probably hurt this boy, Daniel did you call him?”
“Why?”
“He was a boy once. If he thinks Daniel is bad news, that’s it.” She threw a can of peaches in syrup at Mindy to put in the trolley. Cherry marked them off the list before moving along. Mindy took over pushing the trolley.
“See, this sucks. This is what you get when you’ve got a hard-ass for a dad.”
Rolling her eyes, Cherry listened as Mindy spent the whole shopping trip complaining. It wasn’t half bad, cute almost, but by the time the shopping was finished, Cherry was getting a headache.
Once they paid for their packages she followed Mindy outside to the car.
“Are you listening to yourself? You’re a strong young girl, Mindy. You don’t need a boy to make you feel better. You don’t need anyone but yourself. Remember that.”
Mindy stopped pushing the trolley, turning to look at her. “Thank you.”
“No problem. Can we talk about something else now, please? You’re giving me a headache.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
They walked toward her car, and the hairs on the back of Cherry’s neck stood on end. Turning around, she spotted Tom’s car, and froze. He was leaning against the steering wheel, unconscious.
“Cherry, we meet again.”
She recognized that voice. Turning back toward her car, she saw Marcel leaning against the side. On either side, she saw two of his men from the warehouse coming toward them.
“Cherry?”
“Mindy, run back into the store.”
It was too late. Before Mindy got a chance to take off a guy held her steady, stopping both of their escape.
“What are you doing? You know I belong to Elijah,” Cherry said, hating the sudden fear that gripped her.
“Exactly, you’re Elijah’s woman, and this sweet morsel,” he stroked Mindy’s face, “is his daughter.”
“Get your fucking hands off her.” Cherry fought the man that held her.
“Take them to the van. I don’t want any trouble,” Marcel said.
“What the hell are you doing? You’re Elijah’s business partner.” Cherry fought the man holding her, scared for Mindy’s life. The younger girl looked terrified.
“Well, it’s time I ventured alone in the world.”
She saw a blue truck several feet from her car. Slamming her foot down on the man’s foot, she elbowed him in the face, charging at Mindy’s captor.
“Go, Mindy.”
It was useless. Marcel grabbed her around the throat, dragging her back as another man wrapped his arms around Mindy’s waist.
The back of a blue truck was opened. Mindy was lifted up, and rope was wrapped around her wrists to bind them. Cherry kept her gaze on the young girl, wishing there was more she could do to get her out of trouble.
“Leave her alone.”
“No,” Marcel said. “It’s time for Elijah to move over. Once he knows I’ve got both of his women, he’ll come.”
“What then?” Cherry asked, angry and scared.
“I kill him. I’ve been planning this for a long time. I needed for him to get comfortable thinking he was in control. Elijah’s not the kind of man you just take shit from. I bring him in, make him trust me, and then, I take from him.”
Marcel slammed the truck door closed. No one was in the truck, and Marcel had bound her wrists up as well. She moved to sit next to Mindy.
“It’s okay, honey, everything is going to be okay.”
“How can you know that? We’re alone with a madman,” Mindy said, sobbing. “I don’t want to die. He’s going to kill Dad, and then he’s going to kill us.”
“We’re not going to die. Elijah will come for us. I promise you, Mindy. He will come. That crap he said, it’s wrong. Elijah doesn’t trust him.” She believed with all of her heart and soul that Elijah wouldn’t leave her or his daughter to die. They meant too much to him for him to just leave them.
She reached over to try to grab Mindy’s hands. It was awkward, but she did everything she could to soothe the other woman.
“I’m so scared.”
“It’s okay to be scared. I’m scared.” Her heart was racing. Marcel was insane. He wanted to kill Elijah to take his place? The man was insane. Marcel had underestimated Elijah.
Cherry didn’t know how long they were in the truck. After a time, the truck finally came to a stop, and she heard doors opening then closing.
The truck door was flung open. Two large men jumped in. One roughly grabbed Mindy as another grabbed her. They were passed down to two other men.
Mindy fell on the floor, and the men laughed at her.
When Elijah found them, he was going to make them all pay. Cherry couldn’t wait until he got here.
****
“Rewind it now,” Elijah said. He was losing his temper and was prepared to kill any bastard who got in his way. The moment Tom called him to tell him that he’d been ambushed, he’d lost it. When he got to the supermarket to find the trolley full of food with Cherry’s bag on top, he knew something bad had gone down.
The problem he had, he didn’t know who had his girls and where they were. Tapping his fingers on the desk, he stared at the screen.
“There, stop,” Elijah said.
Caleb and Henry were with him, staring at the screen.
“Do you know these?” Caleb asked.
“Oh, I do.” Elijah stared at Marcel along with four of his men. The bastard really thought he could betray him? Marcel didn’t know who he was dealing with. “I know them, and their time on this sweet little planet is about to come to an end.”
He handed several hundred dollars to the man and headed outside. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed Marcel’s number.
“You have something of mine,” Elijah said, walking toward his car. No one fucked with him. It seemed Marcel needed to learn a lesson.
A feminine scream came over the line.
“Yes. I’ve got something of yours. My little gift, I think I’d like to take her back.”
Cherry’s cry filled
him with anger. He’d sworn to protect her, and now, they were all going to die.
“What do you want?”
“I want you here at the warehouse in three hours. Don’t try anything funny.”
Elijah hung up the phone. He’d be at the warehouse in two and he was going to burn the warehouse down to the ground.
“What’s happening?” Caleb asked.
“I can’t ask either of you to help me with this.”
John climbed out of the car along with Tom. “I fucked up, boss. I’m coming with you. I want a little payback for them coming up behind me.”
Caleb and Henry looked at each other. “We’re all friends here. They’ve taken your woman, and I think it’s only fair that we take them back.”
Elijah nodded. “It’s going to be dangerous.”
“So? We’ve all been in danger before. Come on, it’ll be fun,” Henry said. “We do expect an invite to the wedding.”
Laughing, Elijah climbed back into his car. John and Tom joined him. Caleb and Henry moved to their own car.
“Drop down the seat beside you, Tom. You’ll find a case. Pull it out.” Elijah started up the car and drove toward the warehouse, the same warehouse where he’d first met Cherry.
“I’ve got it.”
“Good. Open it up, you’ll find weapons along with shit to start a fire. I’m going to leave you at the back of the warehouse, so set that bastard alight.”
“I do that and you’re only going to have a set time to get in and get out.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Pressing his foot to the gas, Elijah thought about Cherry and his little girl. No one touched what was his and got away with it. He was the boss. They took orders from him. The more he thought about it and the longer he drove, the angrier he became. He was pissed off, fuming inside, and when he got his hands on Marcel, he was going to destroy him.
No one talked on the journey toward the warehouse. There were no words that would make the trip any easier. He checked his mirror to find Caleb and Henry still following close behind them.
When he saw the warehouse, he brought the car to a stop. There were no guards looking out. Marcel truly believed Elijah was just going to go in all guns blazing.
“I’m leaving the car here.” He climbed out, and moving Tom aside, he pulled out the case of weapons. Elijah took his gun, checking to make sure it was loaded before handing one to John.
“Set fire to this bastard.”
“Do I wait for a signal?” Tom asked.
“Yes, the moment you hear gunfire, light it up.”
Henry and Caleb joined him.
“We’ve got to walk from here. I don’t want to risk them hearing us,” Elijah said.
“This is where the deals went down?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” Elijah took the lead, walking around the side of the warehouse. There wasn’t a lot of noise coming around the dock as it was a Saturday and was closed.
The moment Elijah rounded the corner to the entrance of the warehouse all hell broke loose. He fired his gun, taking down one of the men from the footage he’d seen. These men had put their hands on his baby girl and his woman. They were not going to live to see another day. He was pissed off, angry, livid, and wanted to kill each and every one of them.
Caleb and Henry had his back along with John. The countdown was on as Tom would be setting fire to the warehouse. The moment the flames caught, they didn’t have a lot of time left.
Entering the warehouse, Elijah saw that Marcel held Cherry against his chest with a knife to her throat. The fucking coward was hiding behind a woman, his woman.
“Put her the fuck down,” Elijah said.
Another man held a gun pointed at Mindy’s head.
“Put the gun down and I let her go.”
“Ignore him, Elijah. Kill him,” Cherry said. She cried out as tightened his hold on her.
“You’ll shut your fucking mouth if you know what’s good for you.” Marcel snarled the world against her temple.
“I put the gun down and you step away from her. We’ll handle this like men.” Elijah leaned down to put the gun on the floor.
Staring across the floor, he had a clear view of Marcel’s leg. Elijah fired the gun, and Marcel dropped his hands from Cherry. His woman launched herself at the man holding the gun on Mindy.
Stepping closer to Marcel, he pointed the gun at his face. With a quick glance at his women, he saw Cherry had the gun and Mindy was behind her.
“You’re not going to kill me,” Marcel said.
“You’re right, I’m not. Others like you have learned not to underestimate me, Marcel. This was your biggest mistake.” He pulled the gun away, taking hold of Cherry. “Get out of here.”
“Dad, you can’t just leave them there. They’ll come after us.”
He wasn’t going to kill those men in front of his girl.
Caleb and Henry dragged the bodies of the other men into the warehouse. Together they sealed the door.
Tom rounded the building carrying the stuff for the fire.
“Do it this end as well.”
Wrapping his arm around Mindy, and pulling Cherry close, Elijah held onto his girls tightly. He was never, ever going to let them go again.
“I love you, Dad,” Mindy said.
Staring at his daughter, Elijah shook his head. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, baby.”
She nodded, tucking her head against his chest. “I understand why you protected me so much. There are bad men out there.”
He wasn’t going to tell her he was one of those bad men.
“I love you, baby.”
Staring at Cherry, he saw a bruise forming on her cheek. “You got here in record time,” Cherry said.
“They had my girls. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to either of you.”
Cupping Cherry’s injured cheek, Elijah felt a fresh wave of anger.
“Ignore it.”
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.” She pressed her head against his chest.
Closing his eyes, Elijah breathed out a sigh of relief. He didn’t know what he would have done if they’d taken his woman from him.
She’d entered his life suddenly, and now he couldn’t imagine life without her.
“I’ll always come for you.”
“I know and that’s why I’m not going anywhere.” She lifted her head up for him, and he couldn’t resist. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to her lips.
Epilogue
Three years later
“Daddy’s going crazy, yes he is.” Cherry smiled as she listened to Elijah pace up and down the long corridor outside of the door.
“You’ve got to tell him to stop,” Mindy said.
“I’m not the one going to prom. When is Daniel picking you up?”
“I’m hoping never.” Mindy was dressed in a beautiful pastel blue prom dress. She looked beautiful.
Lucy squealed on her lap as Elijah came into the sitting room. The last three years had been a whirlwind of romance, sex, and marriage. Cherry glanced down at the wedding band decorating her finger. She couldn’t believe at times how much her life had changed all because of Elijah.
“You will come straight home after the dance. I’ll be waiting up for you.”
Getting to her feet, Cherry put Lucy on her hip, pressing a hand to her rounded stomach. “Calm down,” she said, patting Elijah’s chest. She walked out into the hallway as the doorbell sounded.
Cherry got to the door first, smiling at Daniel. “Be nice, okay? Be a gentleman.” She gave the boy a warning seconds before Elijah came up behind her.
“Are you the ass taking my daughter to prom?”
Daniel held a single red rose in his hand. “Erm, yes.”
“You will treat her nicely tonight, like a lady. You keep your dick in your pants. Do I make myself clear? I know what goes on at prom. I own a gun. I own several guns, and if I
so much as see you sniffing around my girl, I’ll shoot you.”
“God, Dad, stop it.” Mindy pulled Elijah out of the way. “You’re completely crazy.”
“Have fun,” Cherry said, putting Lucy in Elijah’s hands. “Hold your other daughter.” She gave Mindy a hug before sending the happy couple away. “Wow, I dread what will happen when Lucy gets a date.”
“She’s getting private school.”
“You’re not letting men get to them?” Cherry asked, smiling up. “It’s a good job I didn’t have a father to look out for me. You wouldn’t have gotten near me.”
Elijah banded a hand around her waist, pulling her close.
“Why do you think I’m so protective? I know exactly what’s going on in the little shit’s head. You’ve got no idea what I want to do to you?”
Heat flooded her pussy as she smiled up at him. Three years with Elijah and the need was still there. It showed no signs of dissipating.
“I’ll put Lucy to bed and then you can show me exactly what you’re thinking.” She pressed her body against his, wanting to be alone. Lucy slept throughout the night now.
He pressed a hand to her stomach where their second child was growing. Elijah refused to wear a condom, and she doubted there would ever come a time when she wasn’t pregnant.
“Are you sure you can handle me?” he asked.
Smiling, she grabbed his face, bringing his face down to hers. Cherry had handled him for a long time. His passion matched hers in everything, but when she was pregnant, he struggled to keep up.
“Are you sure you can handle me?”
The devilish look on his face let her know he was certainly going to try.
The End
www.samcrescent.wordpress.com
Other Books by Sam Crescent:
www.evernightpublishing.com/sam-crescent
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Elijah: The Boss's Gift Page 10