“I have to fix this. I’m going to go see my father and tell him I’m sorry.” She stood up and walked toward the door. He caught her just before she walked out and spun her to face him. Kelli tore her arm out of his hand with her eyes full of contempt and disgust.
“I know you’re upset…” he said trying to explain why he stopped her.
“Of course you know why I’m upset. You’re the reason. You and all of the people like you who don’t care to be decent human beings. You take what you want and throw everything else away. I texted you because I thought you were going to be killed in some senseless way just for fucking Picerno’s daughter, but you’re more like my father than I ever imagined.” She could barely get all of what she wanted to say because she was hyperventilating. He backed away from her with his hands up. She already felt violated; there was no reason for her to feel trapped as well. Carson got the feeling that was how she spent most of her life, and she wasn’t happy about it.
“I just wanted to remind you of a few things before you go barreling out into the night.”
She looked skeptical, and he couldn’t fault her for that. The trust she thought she had with him was damaged, but if she didn’t listen to him. she may be in a worse position than even she thought. He could tell she was going over the options in her mind and the exact moment she decided it may be to her advantage to see what the criminal could bring to the table.
“I’m giving you ten minutes. This better be good.” She closed the door and sat at the circle table while she looked at her nails. She’d never looked more like the princess he’d heard about until right then. He tried to get his words together so he would know what they were up against. “The clock is ticking, Carson. Spit it out or let me go.”
Chapter Eight
Kelli had been duped again. How had this happened? She knew she’d been taken in by his good looks, but that wasn’t the reason she’d kept him around. They were so much alike, and for that reason alone, she knew she should have fucked him and sent him away like she did with all of her other play toys. She knew that she told people she was anyone other than herself because she knew she’d be judged by her father’s actions, so she made herself into whoever she wanted to for that day. As soon as he opened his mouth, she’d recognized the trait she’d picked up long ago and wanted to know more about the man who was so much like her. What she didn’t think about was what he was hiding. He could have been anything, and she’d brought him to her home. Maybe she didn’t need to live alone since that decision could have cost her life.
Carson paced the room looking like he was searching for words, and her anger grew. She wasn’t always happy that she had the family she did, but they were hers, and they loved her. Kelli wasn’t sure about the conditions that were placed on her. Tonight, she’d embarrassed her father when she knocked him down, and she’d saved someone her father wanted killed. Her father was right. He’d killed people for less than either of the things she’d done, and that crossed her mind as soon as she opened that door.
“Your father is a very cutthroat boss. I don’t know what that means for you and your relationship with him, but I think we need to figure out how we can make all this work.”
“We? This is your mess.” She felt the need to remind him.
“That you’ve hooked your name with by saving me. I don’t think your father is going to take this lightly.”
She hated that Carson was probably right. “So what do you think we should do?”
“We need to find a way to satisfy my boss and your father at the same time. If we can do that, then we can both be free. From this situation and if you want… from each other.”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to work anything out with this man. He’d already broken her trust and her heart. What else could he do? This didn’t seem very fixable, but she wanted to know what exactly he had in mind. “If we work together, you’re going to have to be completely honest with me. Full disclosure. Can you do that?”
“Yes, I can.” He looked like he was earnest, but that could just be his award winning acting coming into play. She couldn’t believe she fell for every line he’d handed her. She thought he was some poor boy from Idaho, but really that could all be a line too.
“So what’s the first thing that must be done?” She wondered if he had all that worked out because it seemed like an impossible task.
“We need to find out who is trying to get rid of your cousin and what issue are they having. Maybe it’s something we can fix ourselves, and there would be no need for bloodshed,” he said sounding hopeful.
“You do know these men are criminals and like to kill. How do you know it wasn’t something as simple as you stepped on my turf, and I’m going to make an example out of you?”
He sat down on the other chair across from her and looked like he was thinking of this question and wanted to answer it honestly.
“I don’t know that, but I want to try to find out if we can start there. Sometimes things are not what seem. We won’t know what’s going on until we try.” He looked like that little piece of plan was going to work, but at this point they didn’t have much else. “Do you think we can work together?”
“The way you make it sound, I don’t have much of a choice.” She hated that her voice got almost whiny when she didn’t get her way, but this wasn’t just a little issue; this is one what would cause her store to close down and her life to change.
When his phone rang, she saw him look down at the caller ID, and his eyes get wide for a second.
“Put it on speaker,” she said because she didn’t want to be left out of anything. He pressed the answer button and didn’t say anything, but the voice that came through the line left her no doubt on who was on the other end of the line.
“Hale!” It wasn’t a question; it was a demand. Argo had somehow found Carson’s number and had something to say. “We have a large organization, so we know where you are, and I know that you have my cousin. You both need to leave before reinforcements show up and your lives are terminated. I don’t know if what everyone is saying is true, but you better fix this and nothing better happen to my cousin or I’ll kill you myself.” The call was disconnected, and they looked at each other for a few seconds before they jumped up to leave. He had to throw on his clothes and they both went to the door.
“Stay back. If someone is going to get killed, it’s going to be me.” He said as he jumped in front of her on their way out the door.
“Where are we going?” She asked as they closed the door and went for the steps.
“I’m not sure where we are going, but we need to make this right. I guess we take the motorcycle and try to get away from this area, but don’t worry; we’ll work this out, and you’ll be back at your boutique before you know it.”
She couldn’t help but be skeptical, but when he reached for her hand she knew that he would try his best. He revved up his bike, and she hopped on behind him. The lights of a half a dozen cars could be seen in the distance, so Carson left his lights out as he drove in the opposite direction.
“God bless us,” she said as a prayer. Her life had never been peaceful, but it looked like she’d made a turn to hell.
Chapter Nine
How could someone be your heaven and your hell?
Kelli Picerno lay on her side and watched the man who she’d been hiding out with for the last week. His jet black hair had grown out longer than she’d seen it, but that was to be expected. They were on the outskirts of town living in a beautiful cabin like they were on the run. There was a reason for that. They were on the run from seemingly everyone.
She’d met the sexy Carson Hale at a dive bar where he was trying to find information about where to find the mark he’d been sent to kill. Little did she know he was there to kill her favorite cousin Argo, and little did he know she was the only daughter of the city’s largest organized crime boss. Since she’d met him, it was like she was in a constant state of “what the fuck.” Sometimes it was wonder
, amazement, disbelief, or a varied amount of other things that made her feel this way. They had a deep connection, and it was one that she hadn’t ever found with another person.
Unfortunately, she’d acted irrationally when she heard from her controlling father that he was going to kill him and pushed the head of the organized underworld down in front of her cousin and many of his followers. She was able to save Carson, but she didn’t know for how long, and she didn’t know what her punishment would be for her part of what her father would call betrayal of the family for a stranger.
“You know I can feel you staring at me,” he muttered in his deep sleepy voice. Have mercy. The man sounded like her favorite treat deep, dark and chocolate, and it made her want to slide her fingers into her panties immediately.
She’d heard before that your body can feel someone watching it even when they slept, but she didn’t believe it before now. “I stare at you all the time, and you never notice.”
“I notice. I just don’t say anything about it because I think it’s hot as hell, but you’ve been doing it for quite a while. So I thought I’d let you know so you can either tell me what’s on your mind or I can occupy your time since you have nothing better to do than to stare at me.” He opened his eyes, and his clear green gaze scanned her face as if he were looking for the answers there. “What’s the problem?”
“I don’t know, Carson. Could it be that we are hiding out from who knows how many groups? Doesn’t that bother you? How the hell is this going to end?” She wasn’t actively trying to wake him up to talk to him, but now that he asked her, she did have a lot of things on her mind.
He sat up on his elbow and turned toward her. “There is a lot going on in that mind of yours. Know that I have a few things in the works for how to get both of us out of this.”
“Do these plans include us walking on our own two feet and being a part of the land of the living?” She wasn’t trying to be a smart ass, but they were both living here in la-la land on borrowed time and money, and the real world was just outside that door.
“That is the plan. I want us both to get out of this alive.” He looked so sincere, and she had to give it to him. This man could wake up and have a decent conversation. She didn’t know if someone had awakened her out of a deep sleep if she’d have much more than grunts from her.
“What about my cousin, Argo? If you were hired to kill him, then won’t there be some repercussions from that?” She was getting herself all worked up about this, but it didn’t seem like he worried at all. The man had been hired to kill her cousin… her freaking favorite cousin, and here she lay in the bed with him. Her father would call it sleeping with the enemy, but she had to believe that Carson was going to make sure everything was going to be okay.
“I’m working on it and hoping that we can be out of here within the week.” He gathered her into his arms and rolled onto his back pulling her on top of him. Warm and fragrant, she was filled with the beauty of being in the bed with a man who filled her spirit as well as her sexual needs.
She knew that he was having lots of conversations with people off and on throughout the day. The talks he’d been having were quiet and personal. Growing up with a mafia father had taught her not to ask many questions, but she wasn’t a kid anymore, and Carson wasn’t her father so her need to have answers grew with each phone call. They had bought throw away phones since she’d had to ditch hers while she was trying to save his life when her father found out that her new boyfriend was trying to kill his first in command who was also his nephew.
“Argo won’t be killed. Right?” She picked her head off his chest to see his face when he answered that question. It had been difficult listening to the real reason he’d fallen into her life, and it was something she was still working through. Her father could order someone’s death as easily as people ordered a pepperoni pizza, heavy on the sauce and light on the mozzarella. Kelli didn’t like violence and had tried her whole life to stay away from it, but she’d practically fallen for this beautiful man within days, and after listen to him tell her his life story, it appeared she’d been vigilant for nothing. This man was as dangerous as they came.
“I’m trying to get that whole deal resolved.” He looked her in the eye when he said those words so she wanted to believe that he was telling her the truth, but did she really know? When working with criminals, no one knows 100%.
“I don’t know what I would do if someone killed Argo. He’s more like a brother to me than my brothers are. He was one of the only ones who ever tried to understand that I was different from most of the people the family who just went along with the mob lifestyle. He stood up for me and helped me get the life I wanted.” She looked over to see if Carson could hear what she was trying to say about her cousin Argo and was relieved when she watched the remorse fill his eyes. It would have to be enough that he understood what was going on with her and how important Argo and his survival was to her. That man had fought tooth and nail to get permission for her to move out of her family’s home and for her father to set up that boutique for her. Argo was the second in command, but her father looked up to him more than anyone else, so when she had Argo’s ear, she knew she also had her fathers.
The room was filled with regrets and tension that the conversation and their situation had brought about. After spilling so much of her guts before breakfast, she felt like she was wilted. There was nothing else to say to express how important it was to her that her life remain Argo-filled, but she wondered how much a man like Carson could actually do. He didn’t seem to be in a management position but more of a person who fills the contractual agreement.
“I hate to see you like this, Kelli. The thing is… I don’t know what the future holds. It’s new for me to even worry that far. I’ve always been in it for myself and partially for my brothers in the club, but having someone like you involved is putting an unfamiliar spin on something I’m usually accustomed to dealing with. That’s not to say that I’m not going to go over and above that standard, but I just wanted to let you know where I stand.”
She could understand that, but that didn’t help the fact that she wanted some reassurance that her cousin wasn’t going to be harmed, and he was basically telling her that he couldn’t offer that to her.
He rolled her on her back so he was on top of her, and the wanton that she was had her legs spread so that his big body settled right between her legs. Losing herself in sex was something that she’d done before but never with someone so good at it or someone that she was beginning to feel something for. All those dumb love songs were right when feelings were involved it did make everything more intense.
“I know there are a lot of things that are going on, but now isn’t the time to worry about them because nothing can be done. There are some things going on behind the curtain that I have to wait and see how they pan out but no one is saying we can’t have fun while we wait.” His words were interspersed with kisses, and she hoped he continued with this mode of communication all day.
If he had said this at another time, she probably would have been able to recognize the validity of his words, but with his hard cock rubbing against swollen clit with only her silk panties as a barrier, she could barely make out what he was saying.
“You’re so ready for me. I love that.” He was watching her like he normally did when she was more far gone than he was. There was no reason for her to be this excited except for the fact that watching him sleep turned her on like nothing else. He looked so peaceful and sweet. When he woke up, he was a barrel of energy, and sweet wasn’t on the list of what she would call him. Wicked may have been a better choice of word for him. He was an unusual man, so maybe she should just make up a word for him. Sweet and wicked would equal - Swicked. That was the perfect name for what he was.
“Fuck me, Carson,” she moaned and wished she hadn’t. There was a contest she and Carson were involved in… even if he didn’t know it and damn it if he wasn’t always winning. His eyes lit up whene
ver she was losing control, and for once she wanted to see that happen to him.
“Not so fast. There is no need for a sprint when we have time for a marathon.” He was always trying to slow her down when she wanted to speed things up.
“Marathons last all day with several episodes finishing throughout the day.” She told him her logic and hopefully he’d be so confused by it he’d just make her come just to shut her up. Whatever it took to get what she wanted in the sexual arena, she was ready to do it.
“What kind of marathon are you talking about?” He stopped the soft grind he was doing against her pussy to look into her eyes. She hated when he did that. If he wanted information, he would stop all physical activity until he got what he wanted. She would do that to him one day. Make him wait for her. Today wasn’t the day it was going to happen, but it was going to happen. She tried to hold off on her explanation, but when he looked like he wasn’t going to move without it, she burst.
CARSON_Satan’s Ravens MC Page 8