by Marks, Teir
While she would admit that there were people who did have the ability to do this, they had gone through years of training. Herself and Larkin would not be among those people. Therefore, in her opinion, it seemed better for both of them to take a different route.
Even with all of that, the biggest question remained. If they were able to pull the trigger and they killed the person they were shooting at, though it was to save their own lives, would they be able to live with it? Deal with the aftermath and weight of what had happened?
“I guess you're right,” Larkin responded after the silence between them had stretched on for some time. Maleiha smiled at her, and the two of them continued making dinner while discussing their college courses.
After she and Larkin had finished preparing dinner, the two of them had eaten together. Larkin had then volunteered to let everyone else know that there was food whenever they decided they wanted to eat.
Now, Maleiha found herself heading down the stairs of the basement. It was her second time being down there, and it wasn't any less uncomfortable.
When she made it to the bottom of the stairs, she had to stop and take in what she was seeing. Henry was still seated in the chair, restrained. However, now, his head was strapped back, and there was some sort of contraption above it. She followed the path of it backward and saw that it led to the sink in the corner.
Maleiha brought her eyes back to Henry and saw that every couple of seconds, there was a single drop of water falling onto his forehead. While she had heard of such things and read about them, never did she think that she would be witnessing Chinese Water Torture.
Grae hadn't been down to the basement, to her knowledge since the night of the morning she had fed him. So, she could only conclude that this had been going on for roughly three days. From the looks of it, it seemed to be having it's desired effect.
Henry wasn't able to sit still in his chair. He was fidgeting. The parts of his fingers that were left were twitching. His legs were bouncing. It was clear to see that this was having an extreme effect on him. She was almost afraid to move him from under it. In the event that this would be the thing needed to break him, but Grae had told her before she'd gone to train with Ashton that she should feed him today.
Making her way over to one of the tables, she set down the plate she had and the bottle of water. She placed gloves on her hands, as Grae had told her always to do if she was going to be touching the captive man, and walked over to him.
First, leaning over him, she saw that his eyes were closed. Maleiha figured he could only be trying to imagine himself somewhere else. To take his mind off of the repetition he had been going through.
Her hands shook upon first reaching out; however, she was able to steady them. She began to remove the restraints on his head, and his eyes snapped open. It was at that moment that she realized he had been so taken by the torture he was undergoing that he had not heard her enter. Though she had been anything but quiet.
The first instinct that popped into her head was to snatch her hands back, but she refrained. Instead, she continued to remove the restraints on his head. Once they were all off, she made her way to the sink to turn the water off.
This encounter with the man was much like the first. He wouldn't eat or drink anything until she did it first even though she knew that he had to be starving. They didn't speak either. She just fed him in silence, feeling the weight of his stare on her the entire time.
When she was finished feeding him, she put on more gloves and went to restrain him in the position she had found him in. He jerked his head out of her hands. So, she tried again. When he did it the second time, Maleiha put her High School Drama Club skills, which were rusty as hell, to the test.
“Please.” She let out just above a whisper. Being sure that he could hear the unsteadiness of her voice. “He'll know if I don't put you back the way you were.” She thought of the saddest thing imaginable, and her eyes began to water. “He'll hurt me.”
It was silent between them as Maleiha felt a tear stream down her cheek. After several seconds he laid his head back and willingly allowed her to restrain him. She didn't think it was because he believed her entirely. More so because his mind probably still wasn't functioning at one hundred percent after what he had endured. What she was placing him back into.
“Thank you.” She whispered as she went about securing his head in the straps. She turned the water back on the way she had found it before picking up the plate and the bottle.
When she got to the top of the stairs, like last time, she made a show of peeping out of the door. Even though he couldn't see her. She then exited quickly.
She rounded the corner into the kitchen and found Kylen there, eating a plate of food. His eyes came up to her, and it was a mere second before she saw rage spark behind them. Great, now what's wrong with this psycho?
Rage built inside of Kylen as he looked at Maleiha. He placed his plate down as he watched her make her way to the sink to clean the plate she was holding.
“What happened to you?” He questioned through clenched teeth.
“What are you talking about?” She responded, her back still to him and her voice a bit breathy.
Kylen didn't care what she had to say after that as he turned and headed out of the kitchen, down the hall, and into his brother's office. Grae was standing in front of the television screen housing the pictures of the four men on it. He turned to face Kylen.
“What did you do to Maleiha?”
Grae raised a brow at him. “Do to her?”
“She just walked into the kitchen. She's been crying.”
Kylen listened as his older brother cursed under his breath before walking past him. He turned to follow, making his way back into the kitchen right behind Grae.
Leaning against the door frame, Kylen watched as his brother walked over and turned Maleiha to him.
“Are you okay, Beauty?”
Kylen watched on as Maleiha looked at him strangely. “Yeah, why wouldn't I be?”
“Kylen said you were crying.”
“I was, but I was playing my part.”
Kylen watched as his brother's body language relaxed as did his own. He'd never admit it, but outside of his mother, his sister, and his doll, Maleiha was the only other woman he felt the slightest need to protect. Had it been his brother that had made her cry, then he had no problem picking a fight with him, though that would honestly only be because he wanted to fight with someone.
He knew his siblings well enough to know that they wouldn't allow any of their women to walk away from them, upset enough that they were crying. However, if they did, they were overly pissed and probably needed to be away from their woman and calm down.
Kylen pushed off the door frame and turned, heading down the hall. He was going to check in on Sutton. She had been spending most of her time in the office they had set up as her workroom. From what he could tell, she had found out information on three of the men. The ones that she and the other women had come into contact with. However, the fourth, the one none of them had seen before, she was coming up short.
Aside from pictures that had been discovered of him with the others, they didn't have anything on him. He knew that it was frustrating for her. She was good at what she did, and this was giving her a run for her money.
Stepping into the room, he found her at one of her screens as he knew that she would be. He was quiet when he entered. So, he knew that she hadn't heard him.
Making his way behind her, he gently settled his hands on her shoulders as not to startle her too much. She shifted to look back at him.
“How's it going?” He questioned, moving his hands up slightly to massage her neck.
“This is frustrating.” She told him softly. “How can someone have no digital fingerprint?”
Kylen leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “I'm sure you'll find something.”
“I've been at this for three days almost.”
He could hear t
he frustration in her voice. The tone was only slightly different from usual. Pulling her chair back, he turned it around. Leaning down, he placed his lips to hers. She had been at this for a while, and he figured that he would give her a bit of tension release.
He placed his hands on her waist and picked her up. His doll was tiny, which made it easy to manipulate her body. Sutton's legs went around his waist as she kissed him back.
Kylen placed her back against the nearest wall as he removed his lips from hers and attached them to her neck.
Sliding his hand between them, he moved the shorts of her romper aside along with her panties and began to run his finger up and down her slit. She moaned softly as he worked overtime to suck hickeys into her mocha skin.
“K-Kylen. Someone could walk in on us.”
He heard what she said, but he honestly wasn't worried about it, aside from his sister. Everyone else would turn around and leave them alone.
“No one's coming.” He stated against her neck.
“Kylen, no.” She responded.
He groaned into her neck, removing his hand from her bottoms. When he pulled away from her neck, he kissed her on the lips before attempting to put her down. Sutton, instead, wrapped her arms around his neck a bit tighter and tightened her legs around his waist.
“I...I don't want to stop.” She told him softly. “Take me to the bedroom.”
Kylen leaned in and licked her lower lip. He had no problem taking her to the bedroom and indulging in her body for the rest of the night.
Ashton was sitting in the chair in his room reading when Korrae walked in. He looked up at her as she closed the door. It was quiet between the two of them as she leaned against the door, fidgeting from foot to foot. She was nervous, and he knew that she had finally decided to talk to him about the situation she had been avoiding for the past four days.
Closing his book he'd been reading, he set it aside, leaning back in his chair. He figured he would let her start. He wouldn't hazard a guess as to where her frame of mind was right now for the simple fact that he knew her thoughts were more than likely all over the place.
“I don't want to know everything. I want to know what I need to know.” She told him.
Ashton reached up and rubbed his chin. “That would be everything, Vixen. I had no intention of keeping this from you forever. I just wanted you to be more comfortable with me, with our relationship.” He watched as she bit her bottom lip. “However, I won't overload you. I'll tell you what I think is relevant at the moment, and we can discuss the rest when you're ready.”
When she nodded, he went about telling her what he thought was relevant to their current situation and some necessary information he felt she needed to know as well.
He told her about how he and all of his siblings got into the business. Each of them at different points in their life. Except for Synn and Grae. Who had essentially joined at the same time. Vocally, Synn was the first; but technically, Grae was first.
The entire time, she had remained quiet.
When he was finished, she nodded, pushing herself off the door. Ashton had expected her to simply leave the room even though it was going on ten o'clock at night.
Instead, she made her way towards him and sat on his lap. He wrapped one arm around her, placing his other hand on her thigh.
“I'm going to work tomorrow.”
Ashton exhaled. He didn't want that. Having her go to work put her in danger, but he had decided to take a page out of Grae's book. He agreed with his brother that changing their entire routines would not do them any good. So, he wasn't going to put up a protest about her going to work.
“Okay, but I'm sending some guys to keep an eye on your boutique while you're there.”
“What about my employees? Are they in danger?”
Ashton, for a moment, wondered if this was the first time she had thought of that. Or if she'd thought of it previously and her mind was working overtime, and she had just forgotten about it.
“I don't think so. These people seem to be after my siblings and I. They know the way to us is through all of you. I don't see them being in danger. If it makes you feel better, I'll send someone to make sure periodically.”
“Thank you.” She told him, leaning in and kissing him.
When she pulled away, she stood up and headed into the bathroom. Ashton picked his book back up and opened it to the page he'd been on.
He had only gotten to the bottom of the page when movement caught his attention.
Looking up, he saw Korrae standing in the doorway of the bathroom, completely naked. Licking his lips, Ashton closed the book, putting it down.
“Is this an invitation, Vixen?”
“It is. I didn't think it was subtle.”
Ashton smirked at her, standing. “I just wanted to hear you say it.”
He made his way towards her, pulling his shirt over his head. It had been a little while since they'd had sex. So, he had no issues giving her exactly what she seemed to be asking for.
Grabbing her waist, he pulled her against him and molded his lips to hers. He had nothing to do in the morning that he couldn't push back. He had the entire night to give her the slow build-up he was fond of using. Ashton knew they would both enjoy every moment of it.
7
Nyela sat at one of the tables outside with the other women. All of them minus Emery. She was pretty sure that they were classifying her as more of an Amato sibling than as a woman. Maleiha had decided that they all needed to spend some quality time together and get to know one another. Bond and what not.
Honestly, she didn't want too. This was time that was being wasted on them finding out more information on the people that were after them. She had included herself, and all of the other girlfriends in that category; because they were targets now by association.
The time they were wasting could have been spent with Sutton helping Miles try to dig up anything they could on the last man. For some reason, he had no digital footprint. Nyela knew from experience that if a person wanted to remain a metaphorical ghost, they were up to something that would make even Lucifer cringe.
However, when she had thought about protesting, she saw the relief in Sutton's eyes and knew that the younger woman needed a break. So, here she was. Sipping on her Margarita that tasted as if a bartender made it with heaven for hands. It helped in keeping her present with the others. She figured she could take a break for a while.
It wasn't as if they hadn't found anything at all. Miles had discovered that Brian, the man that had come to their house and had been in the club with the man that was still currently being tortured in the basement, was having a party at a building in town that he owned. She had already begun coming up with an idea on how to get into it, which she planned on bringing up with the women tonight. She knew it wouldn't be an ideal bonding conversation, but it needed to be discussed.
She listened to them discuss an array of things. Larkin was talking about getting her finance degree. Maleiha was discussing how she was glad after this next semester; she would have her nursing license once she passed the state exam and Korrae about her boutique. Sutton would chime in now and then and comment on what they were talking about, but she wasn't really saying anything in regards to herself.
To be honest, Nyela was surprised that she was even talking to the other women, though she supposed that they could have put her at ease and she had gotten comfortable around them in her absence.
Luna was among them as well, contributing to the conversation. More so when it came to talking about the types of items Korrae sold at her boutique and if she would bring some for her to try on and purchase.
“You're quiet, Nyela.”
She moved the cup she had just brought up away from her lips at Maleiha's words. She could tell her that she was always quiet. It wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't entirely the truth. She often observed when she was around people, but she normally spoke as well. However, in this case, a big part of her didn't want to be
there.
It was nice, yes, but they had other things they needed to focus on. She was only there for Sutton's sake. Bonding and getting to know one another could wait until after they had disposed of the people that were a threat to them at the moment. She refrained from saying that, though.
She could tell that Maleiha had put a lot of work into this over the past couple of days since she had told them she wanted them all to hang out. She'd made the pitcher of Margaritas herself, and Nyela was sure that if nursing didn't work out, she would make one hell of a bartender. She had also put together a fruit tray, cheese tray, and finger sandwiches — all of which she had made herself. There were even little games she wanted them to play.
So, she had no intention of raining on her parade when she had worked so hard, and the other women seemed to be enjoying it immensely.
“I'm just enjoying the festivities. Besides, we all know I'm an assassin for hire. I don't think there's much more to tell.” She responded, finishing off with a shrug.
“That's what you do. Not who you are.” Maleiha responded before popping a grape into her mouth.
Nyela simply raised her glass to her in acknowledgment of that statement before taking a sip, listening as the conversation struck up again.
“Larkin, can I ask you something?” She heard Luna inquire. When the other woman nodded her head, she proceeded. “Is Emery the first woman you've ever been with?”
“Yeah, she is.”
“Had you ever thought about it before you got with her?”
“I'm...not sure. I mean, I could always admit when a woman was pretty, but I don't know if I ever thought about being with one. I guess it helps that she has male tendencies.”
“And puts it down like one too,” Korrae stated with a smirk.
“How would you know?” Nyela questioned.
“Emery and Ashton's rooms are on the same floor. I can hear them.” Korrae responded.