I shook my hair back. Damn it. Glared at the man in my bed. My plan should have worked. It was flawless. But no. Mr. Stupid Asshole had done another end run around me and gotten me to beg first. I was tempted to shove him out of my bed, but he was probably prepared for that as well. Asshole. His snicker told me he wasn't actually asleep. I rolled my eyes, pushed up from the mess of sheets that smelled of hard sex and sweat. "See yourself out, Foster."I walked into the bathroom, shut the door. I did my business and stood at the sink, letting the water warm up before I thrust my hands into the stream. Staring at myself in the mirror, I tried to convince myself to just shut him out. Every single thing about him annoyed or infuriated me. From his smirks and snotty attitude to his inability to stay out of my business. About the only thing he was good for was a roll in the sheets. And that annoyed me, too. I was good at sex. But damn, he was great at it. Probably uses it as
I was out of time. She was going to go meet them alone, and she had no idea what she was getting ready to walk into. I should have told her sooner. Should have sat her down and explained everything. There was something larger at play here. But none of them would listen to me. And fuck if Talia ever thought of actually listening to me. The woman had the biggest chip on her shoulder. Granted, she'd earned it, well and truly.I pulled my phone from my pants pocket. Glared at the soldiers who were keeping me from leaving. I could escape. Pretty easily, in fact. But I didn't want to make her look bad in front of her men. That was a short road to a lonely bed.I shivered in the winter air. Glad I had that as an excuse. She was fucking fire in the sack. Hell, having her snipe and swipe at me got me harder than granite. She issued orders like I was supposed to follow them. Then, when I gave her what she actually wanted, she melted in my hands. Strong women were my kryptonite. And Tal
I gritted my teeth as the tires slipped and slid over the newest layer of ice and snow that covered the ground in pristine white. Instead of getting to watch it fall from the midnight sky, a cup of hot chocolate in my hands, a fuzzy blanket around my shoulders, in my best comfy jammies, I was rocketing across town to a meet up with a competing family. But I needed to do this. Win this. To win at least one. The roads were treacherous. Slick and slippery. I rounded the final corner. Felt the road drift away under the tires. I tried to turn into the fishtail. Why did they have to meet out in BFE anyways? There were perfectly sketchy and abandoned warehouses downtown. But nooo. Just like a man to make me have to dance to his tune to get some satisfaction. With a jerk and a shudder, the car finally straightened out. My heart fell back into my chest as the adrenaline slowly dissipated from my system. Assholes. Making me drive out this far. Your destination is ahead on your right, th
I cradled my arm against my body. Sighed. "Did you really have to shoot me?" I asked Arturo, the oldest of the Amatucci children."Yeah. I did. You should be glad that I only winged you. Now explain. In great detail." He waved me over from the kitchen island to sit in one of the chairs. "Could you at least put some damn clothes on? Interrogations with a naked dude should be listed under cruel and unusual." I sat down. Ripped a pillow case off the seemingly million throw pillows strewn around the loft. Fashioning a crude tourniquet, I staunched the blood flow in my arm while Turo got some clothes on. He was back out in the open concept living and dining area, his woman next to him. "What the fuck, Foster? You didn't get any pussy tonight, so you decided to crash everyone's parade?" Nik said as she stomped across the floor to the kitchen area. She got some kind of kettle thing down along with a bag of something else. "Talia went out to meet with the Russians," I said, looki
THWAP! My head bounced against something hard, jarring me from the void of sickly nothingness. On my back, all I could see were the low lights overhead. Bile coated the back of my throat as I tried to breathe through the nausea. The sloshing and slipping of my brain from one side to the other. "She's awake," someone called in a high voice. Unable to push it down, I made it to my side before my stomach gave a giant heave. Only to be caught by whatever they had over my mouth. Vomit rushed up into my nose, was forced down into my throat. My airways. Terror and fear swamped my mind as all my options for breathing were removed. I was going to die here. Suffocating on my own vomit. "The fuck! Get the tape off her mouth. She's going to die and then where will we be?" a man yelled as someone darted forward in the cramped space. As soon as the ripping pull of my delicate flesh was completed, I was coughing and spitting. Fire burned my nostrils as air forced its way through
"I swear to the gods, Turo, you shoot me again, I'll rip your throat out," I snarled as his stupid timer went off again. "I'm working as fast as I can. Making me bleed out on your girlfriend's couch isn't really going to help me work any faster.""Hey, that's not my couch. At least, I didn't buy it," Nik said. "Gramps, you make him bleed as much as you want." She blew the sadist a kiss before she buried her nose in her computer again.Turo smiled. "See? She doesn't care if you bleed out." He raised his hand again. I braced for the impact. How many bullets could one stupid Glock 23 carry? For fuck's sake. Every single one of them had been a grazing strike. But damn it, they still hurt like the fires of hell. My phone rang before he could pull the trigger. I had it connected and up to my ear before he could say anything. Or pout. The sick fucker pouted when he didn't get to shoot me on time. "Ambright," I said quickly, my voice a little higher than normal as effervescent
I woke to a face full of water. Coughing and spitting so I could actually breathe proved a more difficult chore than I had thought possible. Might have something to do with the black cloth they had over my eyes. Assholes. I needed to figure out what these douchewaffles wanted so I could go home. Hopefully still alive. If this was a bid for ransom, then they'd caught themselves a live one. How they'd known I would be vulnerable was another thing I needed answered. If we had another mole in our organization, I was going to start breaking faces. As soon as I was free. The cover over my head was ripped free. Along with a chunk of hair. Just as the bright lights stabbed my retinas, a huge fist collided with my right cheek. Biting back the cry of pain, I fought to remain conscious. Blacking out so often wasn't really good for long term brain health. Or mental health. Granted, torture wasn't really high up on my list of activities to increase memorization either. Sliding
Get your shit together, man. You've worked way too hard to get this high to blow this over a single skirt. I nodded to myself. I had to stick around for a little bit. It would raise too many brows if I left immediately. The sick fuckers who called themselves my brothers would never find anything in my behavior that would make them look at me harder. Scrubbing a hand down my face, I watched her sleep. Under the swelling and fractured bones, I could see that she was pretty. The photo of her I'd studied for the abduction helped shape those curves and lines in my mind as well. When she wasn't sassing people bigger than her, I could practically see the ready tension in her body. The desire to jump in with both feet. That could get her killed. Very easily. It also made for some fucking fire in bed. Most women here were too timid, too broken by the life of being sex workers for the family. My hand worked better, especially when the blank eyes and fake moans made me feel like a mon