Fraud (Antihero Inferno Book 2)

by Lily White

  “All of you. Dead. Don’t care what it takes. Knives. Guns. Nuclear warheads. A fucking lion I abduct from the Sahara that I feed you to after chopping you up in tiny pieces. You will all die when I get out of these.”

  They stare at me silently, their faces red from trying not to laugh, their lips a thin line. It isn’t until the single fucking chicken in the room clucks again that they lose their shit and can’t hold it in anymore.

  To my right, the feathered fucker walks around with a little head bob like it’s dancing in place, my fingers clenching the cuffs as a fake smile stretches my cheeks.

  With as smooth a voice as I can manage, I lock my eyes on Ivy. “Where do you keep getting the chickens from, love? You never have told me.”

  Tears are leaking from her eyes, Tanner and Ezra no better where they stand on either side of her.

  They teamed up against me, I realize, and there will be hell to pay.

  Tapping Ivy on the shoulder, Ezra turns to leave the room, Tanner walking out behind him, leaving me with a soon to be dead beautiful blonde and a single fucking chicken.

  “Why?”

  “Why what?” she asks as she wipes a tear from her cheek.

  “Why chickens?”

  She glances left and starts laughing again.

  “Oh, that was Tanner’s idea.”

  His death will be the worst of them.

  I shake my arms to rattle my chains. “And this is for?”

  Eyes lifting to look at the cuffs on my wrists, the corner of Ivy’s mouth pulls into a smirk before she meets my stare again.

  “That’s to keep you in place,” she explains.

  “For?”

  The smirk transitions into the saccharine grin that has always driven me insane.

  “For the discussion we’re about to have.”

  Interesting choice of words...

  I smile back. “And what discussion is that?”

  Silence falls for a few seconds, the tension between us interrupted by a single cluck.

  “The discussion where you finally drop all your bullshit and tell me the truth.”

  She takes a step toward me, but stops several feet away. “The discussion where you admit you haven’t been using me and that you only said that because you blame yourself for what my dad did.”

  Our eyes dance together, hers a shimmering blue that has haunted my dreams since the day I met her.

  My voice is soft when I answer, “It might be kind of hard to have that discussion with a chicken in the room.”

  Her smile fades, and her expression becomes serious.

  “Then try your best, Gabriel. Because if the discussion doesn’t happen today, I can’t promise you we’ll see each other again.”

  I don’t like the look she’s giving me. I also don’t like how my heart is in my feet, my pulse a heavy beat that feels like a funeral march.

  Letting her go would be a stupid mistake. One of the worst I’ve ever made. And after what I said to her father, after realizing that the only person I’ve been lying to this entire time is myself, the last thing I need to do is make a decision I’ll regret.

  “Fine, Ivy. We’ll talk. But what the hell is there to say?”

  Ivy

  I’ll admit this is a little ridiculous. While Ezra and I knew we were cornering Gabriel so I could force this conversation, Tanner had to be convinced in another way.

  Ezra lied and said we were playing a simple prank, and it was actually Tanner’s idea to involve the chickens. I hadn’t lied to Gabe about that.

  But the lie had been enough to get a key to Gabriel’s house and also enough for Tanner to help lock him in place. He just didn’t understand the truth of why he was doing it.

  Now that I’m staring at Gabriel, his green eyes unguarded and his mask slipping off, I’m suddenly afraid of what he might say.

  Still, this conversation needs to happen. I need to know. Because there’s no point in sticking around and pretending this can work if it can’t. But there’s also no point in walking away just because a man who has been hiding his entire life chose to pull the mask into place one more time in order to hide his fears.

  “You can start by being honest with me. For once...or again, I should say. You already promised to do that before and failed miserably.”

  He blinks slowly, his tongue moving against his top teeth so that his lip bulges out.

  Above him, the chains rattle lightly, and I fight not to laugh at how insane this is, but if it keeps him in place and prevents him from running, it’s worth it.

  When he speaks, his voice is careful, controlled, smooth, but not from the practiced liar. It’s honest. So honest that I’m not sure how to respond.

  “You’re better off without me. At least, that’s what I thought last night. You risked yourself because of me. Your face was bruised because of me. I panicked to see it and then to hear you admit that, even when you knew I wanted to hurt you, you risked yourself to hang on anyway. It’s the second time you’ve done that. And once again, you ended up hurt because of it.”

  Memory assaults me. The other time he’d hurt me as badly as he hurt me last night.

  You’re a stupid bitch, you know that? How fucking pathetic do you have to be to keep showing up wherever I am? Maybe I should just fuck you now and get it over with so you can feel like you’re something special and can walk away to join the rest of the easy whores I don’t care about...

  He’d said that to me with blood dripping from his lip and a gash over his eye. He’d said it while straddling my stomach with his hand over my throat. He’d said it as lightning crashed down around us, and the wind ripped at our clothes.

  And then he’d kissed me and removed all doubt that he’d been lying that night as well.

  For Gabriel, it’s easy to lie with pretty words and a gorgeous smile, but his lips and hands tell the truth when they touch me. He can’t hide the desperation I’ve always felt in them.

  “You were hurt that night, so you hurt me. It wouldn’t be the first time. Technically, if you count shoving me down when we were kids, that night was the second, and last night was the third.”

  “Oh,” he laughs. “Well, thanks for clearing that up. It makes me feel so much better.”

  “Glad to help.”

  His fingers curl over the cuffs that have pulled up to hug the palms of his hands.

  “All I ever do is hurt you. And after what’s been done to me, the last thing I want is to do the same to someone else. Especially you.”

  He has a point. But he’s forgotten one important part.

  “Except nobody can hurt you anymore. Not like they used to.”

  Confusion clouds his eyes. “So?”

  How can he not see it? For as smart as Gabriel is, sometimes he’s so damn blind.

  “So every time you hurt me, it’s because somebody hurt you. I already told you that.”

  I step up to him and reach to brush my palm against his cheek. “And if nobody can hurt you anymore...”

  My voice trails off as I wait for him to follow that train of thought.

  His expression softens. “That’s not fair to you. You shouldn’t be a target regardless of what’s being done to me.”

  Silence passes, our eyes locked as both of us stand exposed and open. “Did you want to hurt me last night, or were you doing that to protect me? To run me off? Be honest.”

  “You know the answer to that.”

  “Then how does that make me a target? If you ask me, it’s the first time you’ve done the exact opposite of what you’re afraid of. Granted, in a really shitty way, but that’s just how you are. You lie. But instead of lying to protect yourself, you lied to protect me.”

  He doesn’t say anything. Instead, he stares down at my face.

  “I’ve asked you this before, Gabriel, and I’ll ask one more time. And whatever answer you give is the final one. I won’t let you lie to me again.”

  Taking a deep breath, I round my shoulders and lock my eyes with his.
“What do you want?”

  It takes him a minute to answer the question, his gaze searching my face the entire time.

  Do you have any idea how long a minute lasts?

  Take the time to count the seconds in silence.

  Feel how long it really is.

  People say a minute thinking it’s as quick as the blink of an eye. When, in truth, it’s the opposite.

  It’s an eternity when your heart hangs on the line.

  An eternity when your breath is caught in your lungs.

  An eternity when your pulse pounds so hard that all you can hear is the soft, rolling thunder of rushing blood.

  It’s an eternity when you’re waiting for an answer you’ve wanted your entire life but you’re not sure you’ll get.

  “You,” he finally says. “I want you.”

  Tremulous breath pours out of me.

  Relief melts the tension from my body as my hands slide to the collar of his shirt, my fingertips brushing against the knot of his tie.

  “Then don’t ever lie to me again and say differently. It pisses me off.”

  He smiles because here we are. Two people who believed they were fighting each other, but were actually holding on.

  It took us this long to discover we were fighting the chaotic winds that clawed at us to tear us apart. We were fighting the rain that pelted and froze our skin. And we were fighting the ground that shook and opened, attempting to swallow us whole.

  But we were never – ever – fighting each other.

  We were only fighting to hold on despite the disasters around us.

  I tighten the knot up to his chin, his green eyes sparkling down at me in response to the hint of violence.

  But those sparks quickly ignite green flames when I tug at the knot again to untie it, our gazes tangle together as I undo the top buttons of his collar.

  The corner of his mouth quirks into a sexy smile, and my lips stretch to match the expression.

  “What do you think you’re doing, Ivy?”

  Tilting my head, I keep unbuttoning his shirt to reveal golden skin beneath. “I don’t know. It’s kind of nice having you chained up and helpless.”

  Pulling the sides of his shirt open, I slide my palms up his abs and chest, my fingers curling over his muscular shoulders. They are still so broad, regardless of how his wrists are trapped above his head.

  Gabriel grins down at me, his arms straining against the cuffs, his lips slightly parted, showing a hint of teeth.

  “Let me out of these cuffs,” he demands, his voice commanding yet breathless.

  With a demure shake of my head, I tease, “I’m not sure you’ve learned your lesson yet.”

  My hands slide back down to land on his leather belt. When I glance up, the tip of his smooth-talking tongue slides across his bottom lip. I’d give anything to taste it, but even on my tiptoes, he’s too damn tall.

  I’m torturing myself as much as I’m torturing him.

  My hands work slowly to unbuckle his belt, that green stare pinning me in place.

  “What would you do to me if you could use your hands?” I lift my eyes to him and melt to see the curve of his grin.

  “Unlock me and find out.”

  With his belt loose, I work on the button of his pants next. “Would you grab my hips?”

  A low sound rattles in his chest because I know Gabriel well enough to know just where he likes to take control of me.

  My voice is a purr of sound. “You like my hips, don’t you? All round and soft, the perfect place to hold onto me when you’re getting what you want.”

  I glance up to see his lips have curled more, pure heat blazing behind eyes of liquid emerald. There’s a warning in that stare, and it forces my thighs to clench together, an ache between my legs that only he has the power to cause.

  My hand slips beneath his briefs to find his erection long and hard. Staring up at him as I wrap my fingers over the thick shaft and flick my thumb across the head, I shiver at the growl that crawls up his throat, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

  “Unlock the damn cuffs, Ivy.”

  I pump him once, a slow pull up and back down. “Or what?”

  “Fuck...” he breathes out, his eyes clenching shut when I pump him again, harder this time, faster.

  Pulling my hand away, I slip my fingers beneath the sides of his pants and tug them down over his hips. The buckle of his belt slaps against the floor, the cotton of his briefs slipping down his legs next as I drop to my knees and take him into my mouth.

  Gabriel jerks when my tongue slides over the head, my lips closing down on the shaft to take him deep into my mouth.

  Above me, the chains rattle again, his muscles going taut as I work his cock with my mouth and savor the taste of his skin.

  His voice is a deep growl when his hips buck, the chains rattling again. “Undo the cuffs, Ivy. I won’t tell you again.”

  Running my hands up his strong thighs, I flick my tongue over the head of his cock, my lips popping to release it.

  Slowly, I lift my eyes to meet his, and a tremor courses down my body at the way he stares at me, the force of it as violent as an earthquake.

  “What will you do if I don’t?”

  His eyes flash with sparks, the heat so consuming that I melt at his feet and lose the ability to continue playing.

  “Okay.”

  I’m on my feet and pulling the key from a side table where we’d found it earlier today. My hands are shaking as I go up on my tiptoes, barely able to reach with my arms fully extended. Somehow I manage to unlock one, Gabriel’s hand slipping free.

  He grabs the key from me and unlocks the other, his fingers fisting into my hair as soon as he’s free, his body leaning down and his mouth locking over mine as he kicks the pants from his feet.

  Gabriel must have kicked them across the room a little too hard because a loud bagawk sounds, his mouth smiling against mine when he growls, “What is it with you and chickens?”

  I’m laughing for only a second, the humor completely lost to maddening desire when his hands take aggressive possession of my hips and he lifts me up so I’ll wrap my legs around his waist.

  Mouth crashing against mine, he bites down on my bottom lip as a punishment, his tongue flicking out a second later to slide against mine.

  I hear fabric ripping as he walks me out the room, his shoulder colliding against one wall as he walks blindly, our tongues tangled and teeth grazing before I have to pull away to breathe.

  He only steals the opportunity to slide his mouth down my throat, his teeth nipping at my pulse point, his tongue hot where it tastes my skin.

  I worry briefly that Tanner or Ezra are still in the house and in view of Gabriel carrying me down the hall without pants on.

  It must not matter to him, though.

  Once in his room, he yanks at my dress again, and it falls to the floor as a flutter of scrap, my bare breasts pressed against his chest, the contact enough for both of us to release a deep sigh of relief.

  Gabriel’s fingers fist my hair as he drags my head back and runs his teeth down the line of my neck to bite down on the soft spot at my shoulder.

  When I think he’ll drop me on the bed, Gabriel stills, one hand palming my ass while the other tightens in my hair. It worries me that my weight is too much, but he doesn’t struggle to hold me up, his biceps tight beneath my palms as I slide them up his arms and over his shoulders.

  His mouth becomes soft as it grazes up the line of my neck, his lips wet and warm when they press against my ear.

  What he says surprises me, so much so that my eyes clench shut, the tips of my fingers playing through the loose waves in his hair.

  “I’m sorry.”

  I almost don’t answer, because what is there to say? What is there to apologize for? But I have to respond, have to acknowledge the utter vulnerability in the two words I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Gabriel say to anyone in his life.

  Sure, I wasn’t around him constantl
y, he may have apologized to a million people before me, but somehow this feels...

  “For what?”

  His hand releases my hair to close around my chin in a tight grip that turns my face to his, our mouths brushing together, my eyes opening to witness the glimmer of liquid emerald shadowed by guilt.

  “For hurting you. For not seeing you.”

  He pauses, our breath dancing together, hot and fast.

  “For lying my entire life that you haven’t always been mine.”

  His fingers tighten on my chin, a flash of exquisite pain before he drops me on the bed without warning.

  Fisting his cock in his hand, Gabriel stares down at me, his gaze molten, his body hard, his shoulders hidden beneath the white dress shirt and loose tie he still hasn’t peeled off.

  Arrogance arches one of his brows and the slow pump of his hand draws my eyes down.

  “But I know it now, don’t I?”

  Raw, masculine possession edges those words. It drags my gaze up again, a tremor coursing through me when he finally peels his shirt away to drop it to the floor. His hands lock over my thighs, my legs forced apart, his stare running a line down my skin as if dedicating to memory every inch of the body he now owns.

  Fuck...

  I warned you in the beginning.

  Warned everybody.

  Gabriel isn’t just the friendly, beguiling smiles and easy charm he’ll have you believe.

  He’s not the smooth words and the pretty lies, the colorful peacock feathers that lull you into a happy, comfortable easy friendship.

  He’s this.

  A man just as dangerous as the rest.

  A man just as cunning.

  A devil who stares out at you from behind the eyes of an angel while he tears your world apart.

  He’s a tempest storm with the rolling warning of thunder and the whip crack of lightning, with the violent wind that rips at your hair and the stinging rain that pelts your skin.

  Most of all, he’s right.

  I am his.

  Always have been.

  And it’s about damn time he stops lying to both of us and finally accepts what I’ve known all along.