“So, he never had you?” Tori asked Laila.
“What? No. Nobody had me. I’ve been fine, other than worried sick about you.”
“I don’t believe it. He told me that if I didn’t stay with him and do what he wanted then he would kill you. He told me that he had you stashed away somewhere and if anything happened to him or if I tried to escape or alert someone then you would be dead within minutes.”
“Wow. You have to call the cops,” Laila said.
“No. I can’t call the cops. You know the last thing my family needs is legal problems. The cops would like to nail the Hellraisers and my family to the wall equally.”
“So, what are you going to do? What did you do?” Laila asked.
“What do you mean?” Tori replied.
“Well, you said he wanted you to do things… did you do… it?” Laila asked. She was actually cringing at her own question.
“No,” Tori said. “He didn’t want to take it. He had this fantasy where I would just come around and want to be with him. That’s what all this was about. It’s beyond sick.”
Tori took a sip of her hot tea, enjoying the warm liquid gliding down her throat. It was relaxing. She felt like she’d just been on a rollercoaster after eating a huge meal. All she wanted to do was relax a bit.
“Why were you in the bathroom with him? You were getting pretty physical? I just don’t get it…” Laila said.
Tori groaned. “I know… you know what? I don’t get it either. It doesn’t make any sense even to me.”
“Do you have feelings for him? Is he right?” Laila asked.
Tori paused while thinking about the answer. She wasn’t sure what to think anymore.
“I don’t know. There is something about him that I am drawn to. I’ve tried to fight it; I’ve tried to ignore it, but the more time we spent together the more I began to break down and it started to feel right. But I’m so angry at what he has done. I feel like he’s taken something from me that I might not get back. It’s like he cracked me open and scooped out a big part of me.”
“Wow, I’m so sorry sweetie,” Laila said.
“And the strangest part is that if you’re asking me if I do have feelings for him—the answer is yes. Yes, I really do. And I hate myself for it.”
Laila leaned back and looked away for a moment as if trying to give Tori space in case she wanted to cry this out. Tori almost laughed; she sure as hell had not changed that much.
“So, what about your dad? You have to talk to him? He went nuts when you were gone. He has had his whole crew out looking for you. I heard he even asked Mikhail if he had seen you and the guy just denied it. He is a perfect liar.”
“Yea, I guess I better talk to him. I know that he is going to freak, but I just don’t want to go through that. I wish I could put the whole ordeal behind me and just forget about it.”
“Well, one step at a time. That is the way Tori Rhodes handles things.”
Tori looked at Laila and smiled.
It was so nice to have her friend back.
CHAPTER 7
“Ok, daddy! I have to breathe at some point!”
Tori said under the weight of her father’s incessant bear hug. He realized that he was squeezing her to death and relinquished his grip on her.
“I’m sorry, honey. I’m just so excited to have my little girl back. I’ve been a bit of a nut since you left,” her father said.
“I know, dad. I’m sorry.”
“Where did you go? What happened?” Tony asked her gesturing for her to sit down. It was his way of saying that they were about to have one of their long father/daughter talks right now.
Tori had been dreading the moment since she pulled up in front of the house and now here it was. She was going to have to come clean and explain to her father where she had been for the past month. Laila wanted her to tell him the truth; she said that was the only way that she would ever start to heal after the ordeal she’d been through.
Tori had considered it. But she knew it would only cause massive amounts of bloodshed and possibly get several people that she really loved killed. And it wasn’t worth it. Mikhail had played his little mind games and ran his crazy little social experiment at her expense and now it was over. It was tragic and it was something she was going to have to deal with forever, but she was prepared to do that. There was no reason to bring anyone else into it, although she did want to see him pay somehow.
“I got really drunk at my birthday party. And when the shooting in the bar started I got so scared that I ran out the back door and stumbled around walking down a few alleys. I flagged down a cab and I had it take me to a hotel where I slept it off. The next day I was going to come home, but I just didn’t feel like going back to real life. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and I just decided that I needed a break. I’m sorry I didn’t contact you and tell you what I was doing. I thought you would just try to talk me out of it. And I needed this. I just had to get away from everything and everyone for a while. I’m sorry.”
Tori almost believed every word of it herself. It was well-thought out and convincing even though she just made it up on the spot.
“Well, honey if you felt that way I would have understood. You should have called. You almost put your mother into an early grave with a stunt like that, you know?”
“I’m sorry,” Tori said. “That’s all I can say. I have no excuse for doing that; it was selfish of me and I just didn’t think. I was too wrapped up in me.”
“Ok,” her father said. “Well, when do you think you can get back to work? No pressure; you take your time, but I was just curious because I do miss you being out there. The people like you and they respond to you.”
“Soon, dad. Soon.”
“Alright, well you just let me know honey. In the meantime just take it easy and enjoy your long birthday,” Tony said with a chuckle.
Tori smiled and walked out of his office feeling the relief washing over her.
CHAPTER 8
Tori sat in her apartment looking at the blank television. She’d been sitting there for probably close to an hour enjoying the silence and the peace. It was odd, but for the past month she’d had nonstop peace and quiet all day and was desperate to talk to somebody, but now she was free and could pick up a phone and talk to anyone or go out into the house instead of her studio apartment her parents had built over top of the pool house when she turned sixteen, converting it essentially into a nice two-story house and talk to whoever she wanted to talk to.
But she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts, probably because her thoughts would not stop about Mikhail. She could not get her mind on anything else. She kept thinking that he would be in the kitchen making breakfast when she got done with her morning workout or that he would be coming home just before dinner to fix one of his amazing feasts and tell her stories about the stupid things his friends and employees had done that day, some of them horrible things, but it put a smile on her face anyway.
She missed him. She knew it was ridiculous, but she could not help the way she felt. When she broke it down everything he did he did because he wanted her, but he did not force her to do anything she didn’t want to beyond staying in the house. She did not want for anything there. And when she really looked back on it she had to wonder if she knew deep down that Laila was alright. After the first few weeks did she know? Did she know and choose to stay because she liked being there with him?
Tori did not know what to make of her feelings. She had to tell Mikhail how she felt. She had to get some answers and confront him about his feelings.
Thirty minutes later she was knocking on his door. She could barely remember the drive over or even being cleared at the gate to get into his property, but here she was. Was this a mistake after all?
Mikhail answered the door just as Tori was debating whether to leave or not. The sight of seeing him standing there was shocking. He looked incredible and she immediately found herself being sucked back into him.
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Mikhail was shocked as well. It took him a few moments of standing there and looking her up and down before he spoke. And gone was the snarky cocky wit he usually displayed. He was talking to her like an actual person.
“Wow, I didn’t expect to see you here ever again,” Mikhail said.
“Well, that makes two of us.”
“So, stupid question, but how are you?” Mikhail asked.
“Enough with the pleasantries,” Tori said. “I came here to ask you why you did that to me. Why did you take me away from my life? Was I just some toy for your amusement? You asked me to acknowledge my feelings; well I’m asking you to acknowledge yours.”
Mikhail did not answer for a few seconds. He stepped back and motioned her inside. She stepped back inside the house and he shut the door behind her.
“Listen, I’m sorry I hurt you. That was never my intention.”
“Then why do what you did? I still don’t get it.”
“It’s like I told you at the bar; I saw an opportunity and I took it. I’ve been like that with everything in life; I’m a risk taker. I take chances. When I see an opportunity I don’t hesitate for a second. I just pounce on it.”
“I see; so I’m just an opportunity,” Tori said.
“No. You are much more than that. Listen, I really care about you. I’m sorry I did that to you. I ended up blowing what could have been the greatest opportunity of my life by trying to force something to happen instead of letting life take its course. I was wrong. I am sorry.”
Tori could tell that for the first time Mikhail was being genuine. He really meant every word he was saying. And she believed him. And she had to admit the truth to herself too; she cared for him deeply.
“I forgive you,” Tori said. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Mikhail took her hands in his and held her close. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I met you. I never want to let you go.”
“I’m not sure where this will lead or if it will work at all, but I want to try. I think we owe it to ourselves to let down our guards and just see what will happen with us.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Mikhail said. He bent down and kissed her gently on the lips.
“Whatever doesn’t make sense, I’m sure we'll figure it out together,” Tori said.
She closed her eyes as Mikhail leaned in for another kiss. His lips were so firm and so strong; just as she remembered. She had been craving him ever since she left him at the club.
They barely made it to the bed with a single item of clothing left between them. The passion had taken over, true passion. It was a mix of lust and beginning love that was intense and sharp, swooping in like a speeding arrow with a destination that it could not be swayed from.
She could not remember a time when she had felt so desired and so spent. As Mikhail entered her with his huge, thick member pushing through her wet shield into her waiting center she knew that it was all going to work out somehow.
Love like this could not be destroyed. It started fast and it burned bright and hard, but with the right tending it would grow to become massive and nothing could burn hotter.
Caged Passion was often that way.
Sold
~Bonus Story~
A Steamy & Forbidden Mafia Romance
Life is rarely fair. Such an idea is for children, those who haven’t experienced enough of the real world to know what struggle is life. I could say it wasn’t fair that my father was in debt. I could say it wasn’t fair that I was the one that stepped up to deal with the consequences.
What would it matter, really, when at the end of the day I still ended up in the arms and bed of Nero Adams, the man to whom I sold my body so that my father could have a chance to live? Fairness didn’t come into play in such situations like this. The only thing you could worry about was whether or not you’d survive knowing you ended up falling in love with the man who might get you killed.
* * *
Deal Making
Elizabeth
The journey there was a long and complicated one. It was a road riddled in poor choices, bad timing, and though none were through any fault of my own, I still found myself withstanding the worst of the consequences to those actions.
It had started with my father’s gambling, and then escalated at my mother’s death. By the time I realized how bad things were, truly saw how far things had sunk… well. All my mother’s possessions had been pawned to pay off my father’s unbreakable debts, and even then, he had the Lorenzo’s lackeys knocking on his door, demanding his money. When he couldn’t give it, his car had been busted up. The second time?
It was his knee cap.
So, where was here? Where was this place that I’d come, the beginning of the end, the apex of a hellish mass of worrying and suffering my family had been made to endure? Of all places, a biker bar. The last place that I ever wanted to be, but it was the only place I could imagine I could get what I needed and save my father before a busted knee cap turned into a busted skull.
Ray’s, the place was called, and it was seedy as all hell. Pulling in in my beat-up Dodge, I cringed at the thought of setting foot into that bar. It was a haven for the depraved, the desperate and the destitute. You could get anything you wanted in there – booze, drugs, women, men. The biker gang that ran it wasn’t too picky; if it could be bought, they sold it, if they wanted it they took it. They were the second most powerful crime organization in the city, next to the Lorenzo’s, and that was only because the Lorenzo blood ran so deep through the city that they had their hands in everything that the bikers of Ray’s hadn’t touched.
I stepped out onto the gravel, heels sinking between the rocks. I felt my stomach sink, too, the anxiety grip me at my core. I breathed in the air and tasted lingering hints of tobacco smoke. It almost made me crave the drag of a menthol, though my choice to quit years ago left me without. Perhaps it’d have calmed my nerves, settled the jitters that worked their way from my stomach, into my throat.
The place was crowded. Bodies were packed tight within, and the haze of smoke and flickering yellow lights didn’t help much. I ended up pressed against people, body sliding uncomfortably against strangers. The firm grip of a hand squeezed my rear; a whistle pierced through the sound of thumping rock music. These were all things I ignored, things I let slip to the back of my mind and away.
I had a singular purpose. I made my way to the back of the bar, avoiding the calls of men who noticed me. A quick glance to my phone told me that I was just a few minutes early; my promptness only made me feel more jittery. I didn’t want to have to wait much longer. The men outside the back room didn’t make it much easier on me, either. They were huge, stood a head and a half taller than me, at least. They looked down at me, smirks on their faces. Their eyes roved, though I stood straight.
“I’m Elizabeth Love,” I told them. “I’m here to see Mr. Adams?”
“You can wait until he’s done,” the man on the right said. He continued to look at me, and I felt as though I should be standing before him naked. I shifted.
“I’ll wait, then.” I didn’t want to cause any more trouble than need be. My stomach felt knotted enough as it was; I didn’t have it in me to cause a true commotion.
“Pretty thing, ain’t she, Johnny?” The one on the right spoke up. When I glanced at him, his smirk was a toothy grin.
“True thing, true thing. You doing anything tonight, sugar?”
“I’m speaking with Mr. Adams, and then I’m leaving,” I said, firm.
“Sure you don’t want to party? Sweet little thing like you. Look like you need a little breaking in –”
The reprieve of the door opening saved me. A woman stepped out, blonde, busty, beautiful. She had a dazed look to her green eyes, though, and white dusted her nose. She walked past us, wiping at her mouth. I swallowed when I saw white liquid drip from the corner of her red-smeared lips. One of the men reached out and smacked her rear. She stumbled, looked back at him, though
she said nothing before going on her way. I didn’t like the implications of her state; it made me swallow nervously again.
“Have fun, cupcake,” the man on the left said to me.
I was glad that he at least didn’t touch me, too.
The doors closed behind me. I was grateful for the silence that followed. A great desk was before me, and behind that, stood a man. I barely took his features in before I looked away, my face heating. He was tucking himself back into pants that had been down at his hip. There wasn’t much guessing as to what the woman in here previously had been doing for him.
“Elizabeth Love?” The voice that greeted me was cocky sounding, as if its owner was too sure of himself for his own good. I nodded. The man laughed, and my eyes cut to him.
“Is something funny, Mr. Adams?”
He plopped himself down into his cushy chair. One of his hands ran through his sandy blonde hair; his smirk was as ever-present as the men outside. When he didn’t answer me, I stepped forward, neatly seating myself in the chair across from him. I steeled myself for the conversation at hand, for the bargain I would initiate. Too bad I didn’t possess enough steel within myself to stop my hands from trembling, clenched as they were on my lap.
“I understand that you help people,” I began, unwilling to let his amusement with me impede my purpose. “If they have something to offer in return.”
“I do,” he said simply. He lounged back, relaxed. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one with a lighter from his desk. When he offered me one, as well, I shook my head. He gave a shrug and took a drag. There was a bit of silence before he spoke again. “So what is it you need? Money? Protection? Another sort of favor? We’re generous here. For a price.” He seemed quite pleased about that. For a price. I had to fight down a grimace, and nod.
Bad, Very Bad Shifters- The Complete Mega Bundle Page 88