Captured: Claimed Book 3

by M James

  “Alright.” I hold up my hands. “I’m fine with it if you were waiting to ask my opinion.”

  And I am fine with it, I’m happy, but I can’t help but feel a sliver of sadness.

  “I wasn’t.” She snaps.

  “Okay fine.” I pause, taking a breath. “So what? Are we just done? You don’t want to fuck me anymore because I knocked you up?” I don’t remind her that she was the one who insisted on no condom, who made sure I came in her raw.

  “I don’t know.” Sonya huffs. “I sure as hell don’t right now.”

  Well, that’s just fantastic, because I’m not either. “Do you want me to sleep somewhere else?”

  “Yes, I would.” Sonya lets out a breath. “You’re being remarkably calm about this.” She cocks her head. “Would you want a baby? If I wanted to keep it?”

  I’m pretty sure this is a trick question. Still, I go for honesty, mostly because I truly don’t know what answer she wants to hear. “No,” I say simply. “My life isn’t cut out for a baby right now, either. Maybe I’d want to be a father eventually. But not right now.” Which is why I tried to put on a fucking condom, or at least pull-out. “I’ll help pay for it if need be—”

  Sonya waves her hand, her expression a little calmer now. “It’s fine. My insurance will cover it, it’s not a problem. I just—” she lets out another huff, looking away from me. “It’s bad timing. Vincent needs me all the time. Constantly. I’ll have to make an appointment soon, but it’ll be tough fitting it in, and I don’t want anyone to know. I’ll never hear the end of it, even though I plan to terminate. They’ll see me as more of a woman than ever and less than an equal.” She looks at me then, and I catch a hint of sadness in her eyes. There’s a time that I might have had some sympathy for her, but tonight I can’t feel sympathy for anyone in this family, not after what I just saw Vincent do.

  “I won’t tell anyone.” I force a reassuring smile. I really won’t—after all, I don’t really feel that it’s my business. It doesn’t feel real, this idea of a baby, and I know that regardless I never had a choice in what Sonya wants to do.

  “I know you won’t. I’d have to kill you if you did.” Sonya pushes back the duvet, giving me a pointed look. “And I appreciate the space, for tonight at least. We’ll talk about it later.”

  “That’s fine.” I know I should seem more upset about getting kicked out of her bed, maybe even the end of our relationship, but I can’t quite find it in myself to fake it. “I’ll go down the hall. I know there’s another bedroom made up. I’ll see you in the morning.” I squeeze her hand, and Sonya gives me a faint smile.

  “Goodnight,” she says as I walk out of the door, and I turn, catching a last glimpse of her beneath the duvet. She looks smaller than normal, somehow, and I realize that I don’t often see her so vulnerable, tired, and beaten down from the news of her pregnancy and the events of the day. I can’t help but wonder how she felt when the shooters came into the club, if she was afraid for the baby as well as herself, but I don’t bother asking. It’s not an important question to know for either of us. And I’m not sure I want to know the answer, either way.

  “Night.” I shut the door behind me and head down to an empty guest room.

  I hadn’t wanted to sleep next to Sonya, but the quiet room is almost as bad, if only because I can’t get that footage of Vincent in Erin’s room out of my head. The sights and sounds play on a loop until I rub the heels of my hands into my eyes, forcing myself to stop thinking about it.

  I want to help them—both of them, Erin and Rain. Rain because I love her, even if it’s hopeless now, and Erin because Rain loves her, because she’s Rain’s sister, and because she was like a little sister to me years ago. Because no one deserves to go through what these two girls are going through, no matter what. But especially because I care for them both—and Rain most of all.

  If April thinks that I need to get close to Rain to get her to flip on Vincent, then that’s what I’ll do, I decide, then and there. I don’t necessarily think I need to have sex with Rain to do it. She just needs a friend, someone who cares, a shoulder to cry on, and an ear to listen, and I can be those things. She’ll trust me again, and when the time is right, I’ll tell her the truth about everything. I’ll let her know what we need from her—and hopefully, I can do all of that without ever having to tell her about Erin.

  Maybe, just maybe, we can take Vincent down before he decides to tell Rain that he’s fucking her little sister, and Rain will never have to know. I’m willing to bet that’s a secret Erin would take to her grave. And it would break Rain to know that. Not because I think she cares so much about who Vincent screws, but because her sister wanted it. That betrayal would crush her.

  I’ve spent my whole life protecting Rain, it feels like. And I’m glad to do it. This secret is just another thing to protect her from. And if I need to love her again and have her love me in order to keep her safe?

  Well, that’s just part of my job.

  Untitled

  Chapter Eighteen—Rain

  The next few days drag on endlessly. Zach being part of my security makes me constantly feel on edge and always aware of how boring my life is, how endlessly pampered and privileged and grossly uninteresting. It’s blisteringly hot in the city now, so Erin and I spend our afternoon poolside, Erin in the water and me on the deck listening to the foreign-language lessons that Vincent has me taking before my tutor arrives next week. They’re fun sometimes, I have to admit, but some of the lessons are monotonously repetitive, and it’s hard not to let my thoughts keep wandering back to Zach. It’s so hard to have him so close to me all the time.

  Then Erin’s been really distant the last couple of days. It hurts because I thought we were making progress. She’s barely spoken to me—I tried to make her breakfast again yesterday, only for her to wave off the pancakes and bacon in favor of yogurt and fruit, telling me that she’d asked Vincent to get her the same pre-prepped meals that I eat every day.

  Even more insane is the fact that he apparently agreed because this morning, a separate set of meals for Erin appeared in the fridge. It made me furious—this seems like a one-way track to an eating disorder for my teenage sister, and for once, I don’t think I can keep my mouth shut. I’m determined to say something to Vincent tonight about it. If she wants to workout, that’s fine, physical activity is good for anyone. Still, there’s no reason for a seventeen-year-old girl in Erin’s shape to be counting her calories. Not to mention the fact that I’m very, very concerned that she’s doing it for a boy—some other guy that she’s met here in Manhattan, maybe. I can keep an eye on what she’s doing in person, but there’s no way to monitor what she’s doing online.

  Not for the first time, I wish she’d just stayed in Indiana. Not because I don’t want her around, but because she’d be so much safer there.

  The French doors open, startling me out of my thoughts, and Dena swoops out onto the deck in a minuscule black two-piece that’s barely even enough to be considered a bathing suit. To Zach’s credit, he barely even glances at her. It’s hard not to be jealous of her perfectly curvy figure, with boobs that are at least a cup size bigger than mine and full hips that make her waist look even narrower and her stomach even flatter. The diet Vincent has me on has just made me skinny, so I’m losing even what curves I had before.

  She flops onto the lounge chair next to me immediately, scraping her thick black hair up into a bun on top of her head. She looks as if she doesn’t have a care in the world.

  “Is the club still closed after what happened the other night?”

  “Still closed,” Dena huffs. “Best gig I’ve ever had, and someone had to go and fuck it up. Who knows when the cops will let Vincent open up again? And besides, a bunch of repairs already have to be made. He said he’d try to find me a spot at one of his other places in the meantime, but—” she shrugs. “I don’t know. Anyway, he told me I could stay here as long as I want, regardless. So looks like we’re roommates again
for a while.” She winks at me. “If I have my way, I’ll never fucking leave.”

  My stomach turns. Dena is my friend or something like that. I should want her here, but she’s not an ally. She thinks I’m a spoiled princess. That Vincent’s a generous king, and he’s given her too much for me to trust her. Dena thinks about Dena first.

  “Are you okay after what happened?” I ask, concerned, narrowing my eyes at her. “That was really terrifying. I’d be too afraid to work there.”

  Dena shrugs. “I’m fine. It was scary, but it’s over now. And that guy that Vincent’s cousin is dating shot one of them? That was wild, I didn’t see it happen, but I heard about it afterward.”

  “Yeah, Chase.” I nod towards Zach, my stomach twisting at the memory. “He’s on my security detail now.” I pause. “I’m glad you’re safe,” I add, and I really do mean it. Dena and I have had our differences, and she’s by no means the supportive friend that I really need, but I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her. I’ve woken up in a cold sweat the last two nights from nightmares about the shooting. Even if she’s putting on a brave face, I’d be surprised if she isn’t having trouble deep down, though I know she’d never admit it no matter how hard I dig. If I tried, she’d just get pissed.

  Dena glances over towards Zach, ignoring my last statement. “Fuck, you’re lucky,” she says wistfully. “I could barely keep from staring at him at the dinner table the other night. Sonya is a lucky fucking bitch. He looks like a fucking Hemsworth brother. Jesus, what I wouldn’t give for a piece of that. And now you get to look at him every day. I’d be in soo much trouble if my husband had a guy like that around me.”

  I feel my skin heat all over with jealousy, even though I know I shouldn’t feel that way. For one, I know Zach would never go for Dena, she’s not his type, and even if she were, he wouldn’t cheat on Sonya.

  But you would never have thought he’d go for a girl like Sonya, either, the little voice in my head whispers, and my stomach twists with anxiety.

  The thought of Zach with someone like Sonya, or Dena, burns me up inside. To be reminded that he’s not mine to be jealous of anymore, that it was a very short time that he was.

  Still, I don’t want anyone else to have him.

  I want him, and the fact that that’s not possible anymore, that our lives have diverged too far apart, is tearing me up inside.

  It feels like the worst kind of torture.

  Dena eyes him, licking her full lower lip. “God, he’s delicious. Look at those arm muscles—I bet the rest of him is just as ripped.” She giggles. “I wonder how big his dick is?”

  “Dena!” I exclaim, but my entire body flushes at the thought because although I could never tell her, I know exactly how big Zach is. I remember it, vividly, not just because he is actually fucking huge, but because I was a virgin when I saw it. I’ve never forgotten the exquisite, painful pleasure of feeling him push inside of me for the first time, claiming my body as his in a way that no one else will ever get to. He has a part of me that Vincent can never have, that no one else can ever have. Something about that makes me feel a tiny bit better, despite the actual garbage fire that my life has turned into.

  “How did he end up on your security, anyway?”

  “Vincent doesn’t trust a lot of people, and I guess since Chase protected me at the club, and Sonya backed him up as capable, Vincent decided he’d be a good pick for now. Vincent’s been really on edge anyway, since Italy, and now after the shooting at the club—” I shrug. “He’s being really overprotective. Erin is basically never away from the house or me anyway, so we just have a double security detail, I guess.”

  “I can’t believe Vincent would let you have a bodyguard who looks like that,” Dena cackles. “Oh my fucking god. He really trusts you.” She smirks. “You’re too scared to ever do anything about that, though, anyway. I still don’t know how you ever hooked Vincent in the first place, except I think he has a rescue complex. If he’s with Sonya, you’re probably not his type.”

  Something hot and bitter burns in the pit of my stomach, and it takes every bit of self-preservation instinct that I have not to go off on Dena, to tell her that not only could I have Zach, but that I did. Once upon a time, he was my everything, and I was his, we were best friends, soulmates, that he was my first, that once upon a time I looked up into those gorgeous blue eyes and moaned his name and came for him, and that nothing has ever felt like that since. That I loved him and he loved me and that I’m not sure it’s really gone for either of us.

  I wish I could say all of that and wipe the smug look off of her face, but I can’t, not ever. It’s too dangerous for everyone—for me, for Erin, for Zach, for my family—and besides, it doesn’t matter, because she might be right. I had Zach back then, but there’s no reason for me to believe I could have him now.

  No reason to believe I could have him anymore.

  No matter how much I’m starting to want to.

  “He’s with Sonya.” I shrug. “Have you looked at her? She’s gorgeous, and she’s dangerous. I’m pretty sure anyone seduces her man at their peril.”

  “For that?” Dena grins. “I’d risk it all.”

  “Your problem is that you think about dick too much.” I glare at her. “Imagine what you could have accomplished by now if you weren’t always chasing a guy.”

  “Look what you have accomplished by chasing a guy,” Dena retorts. “Quite a bit, I’d say. Just look around you! You really landed a fucking whale.”

  “She sure did.” Erin chirps as she joins us. “We should all be so lucky.”

  I bite my tongue because I know better than to argue. I don’t want to start a fight with my sister in front of Dena and Zach anyway—Zach might be good at acting like the bodyguard furniture he’s supposed to be. Still, I know he’s hearing at least part of this conversation. Erin isn’t exactly good at keeping her voice down, either.

  My phone chimes and I glance down to see a text from Vincent, one that makes my stomach twist. “We should shower and get dressed before too long,” I say, swallowing hard. “Vincent just told me that he wants to take all three of us out to dinner tonight.”

  “Yeah!” Dena exclaims, clapping her hands. “I’m sure he’ll take us out somewhere awesome. He has such good taste.”

  “Right?” Erin grins, reaching for a bottle of water. “Rain, I don’t know why you always look so sad. This is like a fucking dream. Swimming in the pool, no work, just lounging around, and then getting dressed up to go out to a club, dinner, play, or anything you want. You’re like the queen of this place.”

  “If she’s the queen, does that make us the princesses?” Dena asks, laughing, and I notice a look creep across Erin’s face. It was weird and almost annoyed. I wonder if she dislikes Dena.

  “I think it does,” Erin says, smirking, as she takes another drink of her water.

  Vincent is waiting for us by the time we finish getting ready, downstairs at seven o’clock on the dot. I’m the first one down, and I don’t say anything as I walk into the room—just in time to catch a glimpse of and hear him talking to Zach.

  My heart pounds in my chest, and I scurry backward, slipping behind the doorjamb so I can hear what they’re saying. Neither of them has noticed me yet, and Vincent isn’t talking all that loudly, but it’s loud enough for me to hear.

  “What were they doing?”

  “Pretty much hung out by the pool.” Zach’s voice is casual, almost careless, and it sends a shiver of nervousness through me to hear him talk to Vincent that way, as if what he says doesn’t matter. It does. I want to scream at him; he’s dangerous, be careful.

  “By herself?”

  “No, with Erin and then that other girl who’s staying here, I can’t remember her name—”

  “Dena,” Vincent supplies, and I want to laugh. Dena would be horrified if she knew that not only had Zach not noticed her in any real way, he doesn’t even remember her name.

  “Yeah, Dena. She hung out with t
hem for a while, and then they said they had to get ready to meet you. I assumed you didn’t want me watching them in the shower, so I stayed down here after that.”

  Zach’s voice is amused, but Vincent’s isn’t. I want to shout at him to take this more seriously, but maybe that’s his defense mechanism against Vincent—humor. I remember it being that when we were younger, when he’d hide out in the garage from his father, working on his car or lifting weights.

  “You were smart not to,” Vincent says stiffly. “But more to the point, did Poppy have lunch today?”

  My stomach twists, my face flaming with a sudden wash of humiliation. Hearing my fiancé ask my ex-boyfriend, the man who was once and still might be the love of my life, about whether or not I ate is so fucking embarrassing. And I have a feeling that it’s only going to get worse.

  “Um—yeah,” Zach says, and I can hear from his tone that the question is making him uncomfortable, too. “She did, with Erin.”

  “And what did she have?”

  Oh my god. I feel sick. It was one thing to have April reporting on me to Vincent, but Zach is so much worse.

  “I—I’m not actually sure,” Zach says slowly. “I didn’t notice. I assumed whatever she was eating, she was supposed to have.”

  Vincent makes a displeased noise in the back of his throat. “I thought I was clear that I wanted you to pay attention to every detail and report it back to me. Poppy hasn’t been well. I need to make sure she is sticking to her plan. It’s for her own good, and you and April are here to make sure that she does what’s needed, as well as ensure her safety for her peace of mind and my own. Do you understand?”

  I close my eyes, leaning my head back against the doorjamb. I want to break down in tears and laugh hysterically all at once because Vincent has unwittingly made this all so much worse by making the man that I love one of my jailers, someone who is supposed to watch me and report on me to Vincent.

  “I’ll keep a better eye out,” Zach says neutrally.