Hot Set

by Ivy Blake

  “Wish I would’ve thought about that sooner,” I said.

  “Stop worrying. We’re gonna get her out alive.”

  “If we don’t, I’m slaughtering that man limb by limb in the middle of this fucking park.”

  “I don’t doubt it for a second. Just leave the bloodbath for when it’s necessary,” he said.

  Time passed by, inching along as we kept watch. Four in the morning came and went, and I could see Ryan and Patrice nodding off. Of course, they’d fucking be nodding off while their daughter was being held captive. The fuck was wrong with these people? I stayed in the shadows with Ink and Blade, my gun at the ready just in case this asshole showed up early.

  And just as I thought, he did.

  I watched as a van pulled up with its high beams blaring. It was a black van with dirty ass trim, and I started seeing red. The mother of my child was in there somewhere. Cooped up, pregnant, and scared while she inhaled all that disgusting dust. A man got out and came around to the back, sitting in the van as he waited.

  I aimed down the sights of my gun and readied myself for a shot.

  But just before we gave Ryan and Patrice the signal, something happened. The van began to rock on its chassis. Holy fuck, Harper was in there. She was alive, and I jumped at the ready to go get her.

  “Keep a lid on it,” Ink said. “Not yet.”

  “She’s fucking in there. He’s about to open that damn-”

  The van door opened and I whipped my head around. I listened as Harper screamed, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. Something about the baby? Or being hurt? I couldn’t tell, but I was shaking. Seething and dripping with fury as I watched him zip tie the mother of my fucking child to the damn van door.

  “We gotta get this right,” Ink said. “We’ve only got one shot.”

  “I’ve got a bullet with his name on it,” I said.

  I looked over at the car and saw Harper’s parents panicking. They had watched the scene unfold as well, and they were ready to go. Doc was holding them off, watching the clock tick down to five before he released them. Ryan slowly pulled his car out of the shadows and up to the van, which gave Ink and I time to wrap around to the front of the van.

  Everyone had their guns trained on this man. He was none the wiser that everyone in the park was one of us. He had no fucking idea what was about to creep up on him. Ink and I got to the front of the car just as Ryan got out to approach the man, and we stopped in our tracks to listen to what they were talking about.

  “You got the money?”

  “It’s right here. All of it,” Ryan said. “Now where’s my daughter?”

  “Where she deserves to be.”

  “Give me my daughter, and I’ll give you this bag,” Ryan said.

  “Not how it works,” the man said.

  “I don’t even know if my daughter’s alive,” Ryan said.

  Way to play it, Ryan. The first smart thing you’ve fucking done since I’ve known you.

  I watched as the man raised his gun to Ryan’s head and I saw people in the shadows draw their guns. This man had a gun trained on Harper’s father, but there were eight guns trained on him. Even if Ryan went down tonight, he was not fucking getting away.

  Harper was safe, even if Ryan wasn’t.

  “If you stop with this fucking election, I’ll give you your daughter first,” the man said.

  “Fine. The election is stopped,” Ryan said.

  I snuck up behind the guy as the two of them stood at a standstill. Ryan wasn’t giving up that money, and this asshole wasn’t giving up Harper. I knew both of them wouldn’t budge until the other did, and they’d kill Harper in the process. I watched as Ink slid into the van slowly, inching his way into the back of the van as I approached the man from behind.

  It wasn’t until I had my gun pressed to his temple that he tried to turn around and look at me.

  “What the-?”

  The van began to move as the man scrambled for his gun. Ryan tossed the bag of money behind him as everyone came out of the woodworks with their guns. I wasn’t going to shoot this man if he backed down. I wanted to see him rot in jail. I wanted to pay some fuckers off to make his life miserable for the rest of it.

  But the moment he cocked his gun, I fired.

  Straight between that motherfucker’s eyes.

  Chapter 23

  Harper

  A gunshot went off, and panic rushed through my veins. Where the hell did that come from? Who just got shot? Was it my father? Was it Cade? Had someone shot that man? I tried tugging at the zip ties again, but the only thing that happened was the door jiggled.

  I could hear commotion outside of the van. I had heard my father’s voice, but he wasn’t talking anymore. I could hear guns cocking and people bustling, but no one had opened the van doors yet. Didn’t they know I was back here? Didn’t they know I was alive?

  I started rocking the van before I heard a sound behind me.

  “Hello!? Who’s there? What do you want!?”

  Someone was in the back of the van with me. I could hear them crawling along the floor. I felt heat approaching me as I pressed myself into the door, trying desperately to get it open. I couldn’t hear what was going on outside anymore. The voices in my head were screaming too loudly. My arms were restrained, and someone was approaching me, and my ankles were bound.

  “Just hold on,” the voice said.

  The voice I heard was different. Kinder than the man that had been talking with me before. I felt a pair of hands come down onto my ankles, and I tried to get away, struggling underneath the crumbling weight of my body. My entire being was alight with pain. I was hungry and thirsty, and I had urinated on myself. I was embarrassed at my state as the pair of hands pinned my legs to the floor, but then I heard a sound that frightened me.

  It was the sound of a blade sliding from its home.

  “No, please. Stop. I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt me, please.”

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” the voice said. “But you’re bound pretty tight. Just keep still. Cade’s right outside.”

  Cade? This man knew Cade?

  I relaxed into the man’s grasp and I heard him cutting through the substance that bound my legs together. They were freed within the span of a few seconds, but the man continued to hold me. His hand slid up my leg, and I panicked, thinking the worst of him. But then he picked up his hand and laid it on the small of my back.

  “My name’s Ink. What’s yours?” he asked.

  “H-Harper. Um… are you with… with the-?”

  “I am, yes. Just hold still. You’re still bound to the door.”

  I heard my father’s voice pierce the air outside and I braced. He sounded frantic. Panicked and shaken. I wanted him to know I was alive. I wanted him to know I was okay. Even though he was a terrible man with shitty morals, I was beginning to understand the fear of a parent. There had been moments where I thought that man was going to harm my child, and with my body being restrained I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing about it.

  I got a dose of the panic my father was experiencing now, and I wanted to alleviate it.

  “Please get me out of here,” he said.

  “Just one second.”

  I felt the blade scoot underneath my wrist, and I hissed. The cool metal stung against my broken skin. The zip ties fell free, and I dropped to the floor of the van while Ink helped get the bag from over my face. My hands gripped at the blindfold, ripping the fabric from my face as my eyes tried to adjust.

  I looked back and saw a man hovering above me, his leather cut boasting the Black Angels logo.

  “Is everyone okay?” I asked breathlessly.

  I watched him nod before he threw open the van door.

  “Harper!”

  I heard my father’s voice, but I still couldn’t see him. The morning was still dark, and I was frantically searching for Cade. I poked my head out of the van as I drew in a sweet breath of fresh air as my eyes
searched the park. I could tell there were a lot of people standing around, but I still couldn’t make out their faces.

  “Why can’t I see?” I asked. “I still… I can’t see anyone.”

  “It’s okay. It’s all right. I’ve got you.”

  I heard Cade’s voice and instantly crumbled. I fell to the floor of the van before I felt a pair of arms scoop me up. The moment I descended against the man’s chest, I knew it was Cade. I would know his touch anywhere. If all of my senses failed me at this moment, I would still know the touch of his skin against mine.

  “Give me my daughter.”

  I heard my father’s voice growling, and I pressed myself deeper into Cade.

  “Ink. Get rid of that before she sees,” Cade said.

  “Get rid of what?” I asked.

  “Nothing. Just stay close to me. That’s it. Such a good girl,” he said.

  “I want to see my daughter!”

  My mother’s voice caused me to jump as Cade tightened his grip on me.

  “The two of you are startling her. Just give her a moment,” Cade said.

  “Take me away,” I said breathlessly.

  And without another word, I felt his body move.

  I kept my eyes screwed shut as I heard people grunting. My mother was protesting something, but I didn’t catch what she was saying. I felt myself being carried in Cade’s arms as the sounds of the night fell into the background. This was the only place I wanted to be right now. This was the only area of my life that made sense at the moment.

  I felt Cade sitting down on a bench before I lifted my gaze to him.

  His piercing green eyes looked down at me, a mixture of anger and relief ebbing behind them. His eyes raked down my body, taking in every bruise and scab I had on me. I felt his hand grace the dried blood on my thigh, his head whipping down to my leg as I whimpered.

  “I’m just going to take a look,” he said. “Nothing else.”

  I felt his hand pulling up my nightgown as he surveyed the gash in my thigh. I felt his entire body pull taut with anger as his jaw clenched. My eyes were finally focusing as his strong, chiseled features came into view, and I raised my hand to cup his cheek.

  That drew his attention away from my wounds, and I could’ve sworn I felt him nuzzle into me.

  “I will always come for you,” he said. “I will always do whatever it takes to protect you.”

  “I know,” I said breathlessly. “I know you will.”

  “I thought that-”

  I watched him swallow hard, trying to keep his fiery emotions at bay as he held me close.

  “Cade, look at me.”

  His eyes drifted back up to mine as I raised myself in his lap.

  “Kiss me,” I said in a whisper.

  And for the first time since I’d known him, he did as I told him to do.

  Epilogue

  Cade

  Six Month Later

  I could hear our son crying in the other room as Harper stirred.

  “You got bottles in the fridge?” I asked.

  “Uh… huh…?”

  “That a question?” I asked.

  “Uh huh,” Harper said again.

  “Lay back down. I’ve got him this time.”

  I slid from our bed and headed for the kitchen. Our bouncing baby boy had a lot of fucking energy. I opened the fridge, shielding myself from the light as I pulled a bottle of breastmilk from the back of the fridge. Our little man was still squealing like a stuffed pig, and I knew if I didn’t get up there quickly, Harper would get out of bed anyway.

  She was a phenomenal mother despite everything she had gone through. She still had scars around her wrist and the scar on her thigh from that night, but she didn’t act as if it had changed her at all. She was the strongest woman I’d ever come across, and I was lucky to have her at my side.

  “Come here, big guy. Let’s get you fed,” I said.

  I picked my son out of his crib and instantly smelled the mess he had made. I set the bottle on the edge of the crib, preparing myself for the diaper that needed to be changed. No one doubted the fact that this child was mine. He looked like me, he was tall like me, and he was strong like me.

  But his eyes. And his freckles. He got all of that from Harper.

  Ryan ended up giving us his blessing, though I didn’t need it. After Harper recuperated in the hospital, I told him she was coming to live with me. I didn’t ask. I didn’t inquire. I told them the mother of my child was coming with me. I could keep her safe, I could keep her out of harm’s way, and I could be the man she needed me to be.

  Ryan wasn’t happy about it, but I didn’t give a shit.

  “Wow, you really made a mess, didn’t you?” I asked.

  Brian blew bubbles back at me as I reached for the baby wipes.

  The DNA tests were done on the man I shot that night ended up revealing that the man who took Harper was a disgruntled employee of Ryan’s. He was supposed to help with the campaign until Ryan fired him to make room for Harper working, so he took his anger out on the girl who took his damn job. He was a pussy of the highest kind, and I was glad I’d shot him dead.

  And as repayment for killing the man that took his daughter, Ryan made sure my ass was covered.

  I sat down in the chair with my son and watched as he drank down his meal. He guzzled and slurped, eating like we didn’t feed him eight times a day already. He was going to be strong and big like me, which meant I needed to rake in all the money I could on jobs. We would need it in order to feed his appetite as he grew.

  My family was safe. Because of our actions that night and the stance I took with Harper’s father, they were under my care now. I moved Harper in two months before she was due with our baby boy, and she had been here ever since.

  And I took care of that beautiful body every damn night.

  I put my baby boy on my shoulders and started to burp him. I bounced him until he fell asleep on my shoulder, then I laid him back in his crib. I was officially on baby duty tonight. That was the rule. Whoever got the first bottle got the rest of them for the night. It was how Harper and I were both getting sleep.

  But now that her body was on my mind, I had different plans.

  I closed my son’s door and stalked back to our bedroom. I opened the door and saw Harper lying there, her legs spread apart as she took up most of the bed. She was a massive bed hog, but I love that about her. I always had a part of her touching me throughout the night, and it gave me comfort that she was there.

  Safe.

  Breathing.

  I walked over to the bed and slid her nightgown up over her body. My tongue descended on her thigh, tracing every stretch mark that had appeared upon her skin. Her body was a gold mine of stories to tell. Scars and stretch marks and a c-section scar that told an entire story of her life. I could hear her groaning, her body undulating into my lips as my tongue found that beautiful pussy of hers.

  “Cade, I’m so tired,” she said sleepily.

  “Then lay back and let me take care of you,” I said.

  I drew patterns upon her pussy as her hands curled into my hair. I could feel my cock growing beneath my pants, but he would have to wait. This wasn’t about me tonight. Not by a long shot. All I wanted was to praise the body of the woman that gave me my son.

  I wanted to praise the body of the woman I loved.

  “Don’t stop, Cade. Please. I’m so… so close.”

  I pressed my tongue into her pussy and felt her fall over the edge. Her fluids dripped out from between her legs, falling upon my tongue as I drank her down. I kissed her up the body as she shook with her orgasm, then I pulled her close to me as her eyes fluttered closed.

  “I love you, Harper,” I said into her skin.

  “I love you, too, Cade.”

  Taken by the Mob Boss

  by Savannah Rylan

  Chapter 1

  Leo

  Naples, Italy 2014

  “No mercy” were the words that kept ringing in
my head as I fired the shots. Those were Marco’s words and when he said something, anything, I took it as command, as did every other member of the family. Marco was our boss. He was the leader of the Aducci family and his words were meant to be followed, no questions asked.

  My men and I had taken the guards by surprise. Marco had given us his orders and we followed them. We had launched an attack on a warehouse that was flimsily guarded by the men of the Romano family. They were hiding weapons, encroaching on our territory, and they needed to be wiped out.

  We were six men to their three guards, with one man in a worn-out suit who we found inside the storage room. He must have been responsible for taking inventory because he had a pair of thick glasses covering his face and a file in his hands. He seemed to be taking notes, looking through the stock.

  I shot him straight through his gut and now he was lying in a pool of his own blood on the ground. I walked over to him. When I checked, I saw that he wasn’t even carrying a gun. What kind of weapons operation was this?

  “All clear,” one of my men said, returning back to where I was standing over the sputtering, quickly dying stock taker. I’d sent two of them out to scan the perimeter and make sure there weren’t any other stragglers we should have taken care of. Apparently, there weren’t.

  If the Romanos were protecting a stockpile of weapons, like Marco said they were, then they were doing a pretty poor job of keeping them safe. They hadn’t prepared themselves against any form of attack.

  “Rip everything apart. We need to figure out just how much they have in storage.” I gave my orders to the men who immediately got to work.

  I stood over the man, who was mumbling something now. There was blood dripping from his mouth; he was still alive. I could see that he was trying to say something, clutching the puncture wound in his stomach where the bullet had gone through. I clenched my jaw and shot him straight in his head, put him out of his misery.

  “No mercy.” Marco’s words rang in my head again and I gulped as I watched the man die.