It would be the ultimate rebellion.
But he eventually leaves me, only for a moment, coming back in record time, already ready to go. But he shocks me when he flips the chair around, forcing me to stand up straight, and then sits in it before pulling me down onto him.
I nervously place myself over him, letting him guide me to impale my body with him, noticing he’s even bigger than I imagined by his feel.
He’s the kind of man all the women talk about and wonder if he’s a myth.
I can definitively say it’s 100 percent real, and I scream out, unable to control it as the pain and pleasure mix.
The position gets him deep inside me immediately, and I settle into the feeling of being full, my breath and heart rate so high I think I might explode.
After a few breaths in and out, he kisses down my neck and nibbles at my collarbone while I find a comfortable groove, easing into a slow rhythm that makes me lose my breath every time his shaft hits a sensitive spot inside of me.
I don’t know how long we’re doing this hypnotic pace before I lose it, trying to ride him faster and harder than my body seems to be capable of, just desperate to up the ante because it feels so damn good.
Mikel takes control of my hips, muttering expletives as he makes my body move over him like a ragdoll, forcing it to do more than I can make it myself. I’m sure I’ll be sore for this tomorrow but will not regret this trip to Heaven, only that I’ll have to come back down at some point.
He releases first, throbbing inside of me, and I moan as he grunts through continuing the motion until I let go, pulsing and cumming all around him, the seat of the chair even wet when we get up again and take it to the bed where we repeat the process like we never expect it to end.
Chapter Ten
Mikel
Arno comes into the house, a young couple trailing him who look somehow both stressed and perfectly in love at the same time. For some reason, my mind turns to three nights before when Melody and I enjoyed one another’s bodies under the pretense of getting each other out of our systems.
As if that was possible.
Davide and Blanka come in, both looking exasperated in different ways, though I can get why. Blanka and Davide have a six-month-old child, though they’ve left him with a nanny for this trip for obvious reasons, as they’re here to try and find out more about what happened to Davide’s missing daughter.
I’ve asked around to everyone I know, and my men have spent hours asking others and investigating, but haven’t turned up any leads yet. Davide thinks being here, the two of us will be able to put what we know together and find her. He is ready to bring her home.
Blanka looks around as if in a daze but eventually comes to give me a friendly hug.
The way she walks and dresses, and her features, still speak to her past life. She hasn’t been with the Clans long enough, though I don’t know if a woman who has spent more than half her life as an expensive whore will ever feel quite like she belongs in the regular world. The Clans make sense for her, only she needs to accept she’s one of us now.
It makes me think about the girls Melody teaches after we save them and what their lives might be like later on, though Blanka’s status as a Clan leader’s wife gives me at least a little hope for them. And the fact they’re being taken out of the life early.
Davide immediately asks to use my office, and I oblige, though I stop him real quick. “I know what you’re here for, but I’d like you to enjoy it at least a little. Want to go to the bar with me tonight?” I ask him.
He simply nods in agreement before closing my office door behind him, likely going through the files I’ve laid out for him about the warlords and what I know and preparing to make calls and do his own research.
Blanka turns worried eyes toward the closed door.
She looks like she could use a friend right now, and my heart goes out to her. Melody walks by on the way to her own room and stops to look at the other woman curiously. I did tell her we were having visitors that were my friends from abroad.
From my travels. Which I guess isn’t entirely a lie.
“Melody, this is Blanka, one of my friends I was telling you was coming to stay.” The two women tentatively shake hands, Melody’s stubbed fingernails mingling with the long, manicured, red claws of Blanka.
“Blanka,” she offers, though her attention is barely on anything or anyone in the room.
“Melody. It’s nice to meet you.” Melody sounds genuine, but her eyes scrutinize Blanka before she leaves the room. I hope there won’t be any tension between the two while Blanka is here to support her husband.
After Melody is in her room, I offer Blanka a drink, which she happily takes, asking me to make sure it’s a strong one.
To her relief, I happen to have a little vodka stored away as well as some brandy. Though, she doesn’t seem to like the taste, she makes a face and downs it anyway.
“Woah, baby girl, you seem to have a lot on your mind,” I mention to her, half laughing, half concerned. Looking at her, I feel a pang. She’s younger than Melody, and mentally even more so. It makes me think of my daughter who’s out there somewhere, almost 18 by now. And I won’t be there for that, just like I haven’t been around for many important things. Jessica made damn sure I stayed away, and it still plagues me.
That need to help someone like her, grates at me, and I pat next to me in my large recliner. “Come talk to me. Tell me your troubles.”
She comes easily, slipping her shoes off and curling up like she doesn’t have some designer dress on. I wonder how much of this attention she got from her own father. Before he was brutally murdered.
“Dominik is my world, Mikel. My whole world. Before that, it was honestly Davide. I never thought I’d fall in love with a client, but Davide challenged me and gave me excitement and freedom in a way I’d never know, he saved me. He’s a good man. But I feel like we’ve been growing apart. The longer he’s gone without finding his daughter, the more obsessed he’s become. Some days, he won’t even hold Dominik.”
Her voice cracks, and I give her a moment to get her composure.
“It’s taken over his whole life, and I’d never ask him to stop, but what if when he finally gets her, he loves her more than our son? If he pushes us to the side?”
She whispers it, glancing to the office door like he might hear and get angry or maybe take it as a suggestion. This young woman is wildly insecure on top of the whirlwind of emotions and hormones during the first year of being a mother. I can’t even imagine.
I know my Jessica struggled with that, which was the only reason I didn’t fly off the handle when I caught her with another man.
And Blanka is perhaps too young for all this, one of the reasons I dislike the structure of the Clans and the pressure it puts to reproduce. It becomes a race, one I no longer plan on participating in even if I had a partner to do that with.
“Blanka.” I try to be delicate with my words. She needs some comfort and good advice. “Think about it. Davide has gone from lecherous womanizer to family man and realizes he has another child out there, one who is a little girl in danger. She’s possibly in the company of psychopaths. If that were Dominik, would you ever stop looking? Would you spend every waking moment wanting to find him?”
She looks at me for a moment and then reluctantly nods.
“It’s likely tearing Davide apart, and I’m sure he only wants his family to be complete. I’m sure he’ll love Dominik and his daughter just the same and bring you into her life as well. Wasn’t her mother a friend of yours?”
“Yes, my roommate,” she confirms.
This seems to turn on a lightbulb, and we spend a little longer together until she falls asleep. When Davide comes out of his office, he ends up carrying her to the guest bedroom and shutting the door before telling me he’s ready to go to the bar. He needs just a moment with his mind clear before he has to go to war for his daughter.
I nod in understanding, taking a momen
t to go into my bedroom and tuck my special stash into my pocket before we take a walk, both of us packing too much to worry about anyone dangerous at night, and walk into the bar just down the road.
It’s a local haunt I’ve been to many times. The kind of place with dark, quiet corners where service is good, and everyone minds their own business.
I could talk about and do almost anything without anyone blinking an eye.
As soon as we get inside and order our drinks and small amounts of bar food, I pull out my stash, causing Davide to smile. “Just what I need.”
We take a few drags, relaxing in the darkness and silence, though I know I’m going to bring up my little conversation with Blanka at some point. I’m not one for drama or keeping secrets. Davide needs to know what she’s feeling. I don’t want them to fall apart over a misunderstanding.
“Your wife seemed upset,” I say after a little while, on my second drink. “She told me about your obsession to find your daughter and how you don’t seem to really be there for your son anymore. She thinks you’ll love your daughter more and drop the two of them like hot cakes.”
I take a slow drag, savoring the feeling it gives me. My body feels no pain right now, and Davide looks like he’s floating, which I’m sure he needs right now.
“I love my wife and that beautiful boy, it’s just . . .”
“Guilt? Fear?”
“Yeah.” He slumps in his seat, running a hand through his dark hair.
“You ought to talk to her, find a way to still make her important. I don’t doubt the pain you’re in looking for your daughter, but be present as much as you can.”
He nods and then disappears into his personal thoughts for a bit. I don’t feel the need to fill the silence.
Never have been that kind of man, but I am surprised to see Davide doesn’t. I’ve always known him and his reputation to be all about experiments, games, orgies, loud music, and big shows.
He’s lost a part of himself in this two-year search.
Eventually, something clicks in Davide, the drugs and alcohol mixing to make him more himself than ever, and we’re able to joke, but then he pulls out a tease that feels like too much for me, even in this inebriated state. “So, what about you and this woman you’ve been working with? She lives with you, right? Maybe it’s time for you to try and settle down again. Join the married Clan club finally.”
“You know I tried that once,” I snap, not meaning to. “Sorry, it’s just . . .”
“I know about Jessica and your daughter, but sounds like I hit another nerve here. Maybe I’m righter than you think.”
Chapter Eleven
Melody
I hear a knock at my door and then it opens, causing me to jump. I hate to admit it, but Mikel has caught me looking at places for rent in the area, though I doubt he can actually see my computer from his vantage point.
I close my laptop and place my reading glasses on my desk, ready to hear what he needs from me, though dreading the conversation.
I’ve been avoiding him for three days now, ever since I saw him with Blanka.
I know Blanka came with her husband, but I don’t know much else about either of them other than the two of them live in Italy.
What I do know is I caught Blanka, the night they arrived, curled up in Mikel’s lap and looking cozy.
Very cozy.
I hate to admit to even myself that the green monster came out, but she did, and she’s a bitch. It doesn’t help that Blanka is as far away from being me as a woman can get.
No matter how tired she is or what she’s wearing, she exudes an air of sex. Her clothes and makeup are high price, and she’s always put together. Nails done. Wearing heels. Even her pedicure looks like it was done by someone top dollar. Her feet don’t even look like feet should. They look fake.
Her body is perfect. She’s short and thin but curvy still, her boobs as big as mine without all the extra fat in other places, even though I’ve heard her mention having a baby more than once passing through the house.
It’s something I could never live up to, and despite the fact we agreed what we did was a one-time thing, I’ve felt a connection to Mikel ever since. But it’s been bearable to work side by side with him since he wasn’t seeing any other women either.
I thought things would either naturally progress to something more in our own time, or I would simply get over it and move on.
It hasn’t been long enough for either one of these to happen, even as kind as he is to me.
So, I’ve buried myself in my work instead and in finding a place where I don’t have to see him all the time or be tempted to wallow in self-pity when I see him with other women who don’t look like me.
“How can I help you, Mikel?” I admit, my voice is a little cold, and he raises an eyebrow at me. It’s the least calm I’ve ever seen him, and he pulls the door all the way open, invading my personal space. Though, I guess it’s still his house.
“Have I done something wrong?” Mikel questions, the original reason he came forgotten. I look up at him, exasperated. I want to scream out about how he could have sex with me and so soon after get cozy with the beautiful and sexy married woman that’s now in this house, but I don’t.
I know that could ruin my job faster than anything.
“Nothing. I’m just a little tired. I’ve been staring at a screen looking at places I could make my home all day.” I hope the pointed remark will give him the message without an altercation so he can get to the point and we can move on. But he only takes steps closer to me.
Wrinkles break out on his forehead, making him actually appear to be his age more than the salt and pepper hair that I’ve come to be wildly attracted to.
“Now wait just a minute, I thought you were happy here. That you were simply going to stay. It’s why I hadn’t been looking myself.”
His voice wavers, and I wonder how I’ve offended him, with him being in the arms of other women. I narrow my eyes at him. “You can’t have your cake and eat it too. And it turns out I’m not as good at this whole one-night stand thing as you might be.” My voice is quiet, though a little menacing.
“I don’t know what fucking cake you think I’m having, but I only suggested a one-night stand because you’re so hell bent on keeping this to a work only relationship. I’m sick of the hot and cold. If you’re going to be like this, you need to come out and just say you want more from me.”
“Even if I did, I don’t share my men.”
“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself there.”
It’s like he’s confirming right there he’s been sleeping with other women. Blanka likely isn’t the only one.
“What did you come in here to tell me?”
“Just that Davide and I have some business to take care of out of town. Arno will be around to make sure you and Blanka are safe.”
With that, he leaves the room, a chill lingering behind him.
Chapter Twelve
Mikel
It was finally Arjana, reporting to us from one of the men he manages in the mines named Davu, who gave Davide and I the information we needed.
Davide’s insistence and obsession has paid off, getting even my men to do more for me than they ever had before. Being less laid back, he’s also a scary motherfucker when he needs to be. I’ve gone soft as I’ve gotten up in years and only let my inner asshole out when it’s absolutely necessary.
It just didn’t seem that way. I’d gotten cocky about my own connections, which was a mistake.
We got word of a little girl being held in a home that many actually say is owned by Thato, one of the well-known warlords in Southern Africa. We’d already taken a boy from him early on, the youngest in the program so far. Though, with the fact he’s somehow keeping a two-year-old girl in his possession, I get the feeling we will be going for younger ones soon. I can’t let them grow up in that sort of violence and become numb to it all. That’s how more warlords are made and why this issue has gone on f
or so many years.
Children growing up being taught to be monsters. Now, my mind, unfortunately, reeling from the fight I had with Melody before I left, Davide and I stand only yards from where they’re keeping his daughter, Andreea. He’s named her in his eagerness to find her.
Of course, there’s a chance it isn’t her. But she arrived at the right time, proved by the sudden hiring of a woman that didn’t fit the profile of any of the other people warlords typically keep around them, especially this one. I bet it was to care for the girl until she grew up old enough to be of service to him. Though, I don’t want to think about what that service might be.
“So, is there a plan?” I ask Davide, having let him take the lead since this whole thing could put his daughter in just as much risk as leaving her here to rot.
“I say we just go in hot and find a way to get her out of there. If the woman they hired cares about Andreea at all, then she’ll want to keep her safe. We order her to get her outside and hide with her, and she’ll do it. They’ll care more about killing us than keeping her, I’m sure.”
“I hope you’re right.”
I leave at that, and we do exactly what he says. We pull our guns as the shooting begins, and Davide calls out, looking straight at the chubby, red cheeked woman who was already worrying over a little girl with dark hair crying in the corner, “Get her outside. Hide her until I come for her. She’s my daughter.”
The woman must have obeyed because I didn’t see her anymore, but that distraction had one consequence; a shot hitting Davide.
I turned on the man who did it, a low-level militant, no warlords actually in the building, and aimed to kill.
In minutes, the place was littered in blood and bullets. They would assume it was another warlord or someone else, not the mafia coming to collect a child who belongs to them.
Flawed (The Clans Book 12) Page 5