"I'm calling about the hit I put out on Jenny," he said and my head whipped over to him in shock. "Job's off. Repeat, don't kill my daughter," said Don Angelo, his cold eyes staring dead into my soul.
My hands shook uncontrollably in my lap and I knew I was pale in the face.
What the fuck was all that drama if he was just going to have her killed? And why did he decide against it? Was he bluffing about putting a hit out on her to scare me? Or was it a double bluff and he meant for me to know that he was going to kill her and there was nothing I could do about it? Fuck, he was in my head.
"Relax, erede. She'll live. Just like the deer you refused to kill on our first hunting trip. Remember?" he said, patting my hands with one of his.
When I was unable to pull the trigger, he acted like it was no big deal. Only to take me home and make me watch while he beat the living cra
I followed his gaze to where Scott stood, talking to Jenny. For the next few seconds, I stopped being able to hear and my vision became blurry. Then Scott looked my way and I became fixated on his brown eyes. Everything else just fell away.Fuck that handsome face, those dimples and the silver tongue that had probably convinced Jenny to let you in the door, Scott Brady.When I came to and broke eye contact, wanting to respond to Don Angelo, the father daughter dance was already being announced and he was going out to meet Jenny. Scott's gaze found mine across the room again and he broke out into a smile that made me weak in the knees. I wanted to end him for showing up here, but damn if it wasn't good to see him.We did a little dance of him trying to get to me and me avoiding him like the plague. The last thing I needed was to be seen with him. I tried texting his dad again.
Scottie, you should have let me protect you, just this once. What the fuck would I do if he hurt you? Or worse, if he made me do it while he watched?As if reading my mind, Don Angelo seared images of how it would play out into my mind, saying, "Every time you even think of reassembling the dead man's switch, I want you to picture him on his knees. A gun in your hand, while I make you decide who gets to put a bullet in his brain, you or me. Not his knee caps or his elbows or his ankles like you prefer. His fucking brain. You will live the rest of your life knowing that you have defied me for the last time, all this was for nothing and you can't have Scott.""How do I know you won't just kill him anyway even if I come back to you?" I asked, defeat settling over me like I knew it would all along.
With Don Angelo getting lost in the crowd, unable to help myself, I gingerly took steps to cross the room to go to Scott. He beamed at me reassuringly and my heart hurt. Was this how it would end? We deserved so much more. As the woman he loved, he deserved all that I was. Am. Will become. Everything that would always be his no matter where I was.&nbs
"I know you don't want me here, but—" he began, his body pressed gently up close against mine as we swayed to the music."I'm glad you came," I said, not adding that he probably saved Jenny's life by showing up at the church."How did it go?" he asked, taking my cheeks into his hands to look into my eyes.These were our last moments. I didn't want to cry, pay attention to my heart being shredded or worry him. However long I could, I wanted to delay breaking his heart."Just dance with me, Scottie," I said, my eyes falling to his lips, tempted to claim them.I laid my head down on his chest and listened to his heart beat, pounding away fast. Still I didn't say another word and neither did he. I don't know how long I was in his arms, obsessing over how I'd never dance with him again. Hiding from him before the desperation to hear him speak again
Everything I knew about making smart decisions told me this was the wrong choice. I was compromised, thinking with my heart instead of my head and Scott wasn't about to allow that to change.He raised his hands to my face and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears, then wrapped his arm around my waist so slowly I got frustrated. Gently pulling me forward, nudging my nose with his, he waited for me to look him in the eye so he could lay the moves on me. His patience was unrelenting, eventually winning me over and I looked up into his brown eyes. He flashed me his dimples and asked in a soft, doting voice, "Do I have you, Kendrick?"The big did he have her or not question was a popular time pass between Kenny and I. We made a drinking game out of whether or not Scott could land a girl using his stupid moves. How besotted was I that he hadn't needed them to land me?"You have some nerve, trying that shit o
Luca offered Jenny and I an arm each as we walked out of the house. Once we got into Luca's car, Jenny turned to me and said, "Ask Scott to follow us."Stacy: Ready to follow me to hell and back?Scott: Guessing that means to follow Luca? Satan himself?With a giggle, I texted back.Stacy: Just drive the damn car.We stopped at a gas station a few miles away from the estate and got out of the car. While I closed the door, a rush went through me as Scott turned me around and cupped my neck, pinning me against the door and slamming his lips against mine."For fuck's sake. Didn't you just do this?" asked Luca."So now what?" I asked, smiling shyly at Scott."Call this number. It's Grandpa Kendrick. He's a billionaire/veteran. Tell him you're his granddaughter. Tell him Jenny sent you if it helps and
"Fuck me dress," said Scott, coming to stand behind me. I was standing in his childhood bedroom in front of the mirror, trying on dresses from the bag he had packed for me for Vermont. Willow and his mom Lisa would be home soon. We landed in Ohio an hour ago, but they didn't know we were here as he wanted to surprise them. "What are you talking about? Because it's backless? It's stunning and modest. There's like no cleavage," I said, defending my choice. "Not because it’s backless, but that helps," he said, running his hands up my naked back. "There's this," he said, piling my hair onto one of my shoulders and kissing the back of my neck before he pulled the strings secured around my neck and pulled the front of the dress down. "Easy access, so much better than cleavage," he said, laying hands on my strapless bra clad breasts and squeezing them, before whispering huskily, "Fuck me dress.""Then just don't pull the strings. Problem solved," I said, my breathing quickening. He slid
"He's carrying her like a bride the first time he brought her home to meet his mom. This is a sign, right?" said Lisa's voice."That they're doing marital activities? Sure," said Willow, both women standing in the front door, watching us fool around.I pulled away from Scott's face, beaming at him as he set me down on my feet, his ears reddening. So much for us surprising them."Hi mom. Willow. You guys know—""Let me get a good look at you. You're gorgeous," said Lisa, taking my hands in hers, her whole face lighting up with excitement. "You know he's never brought a girl home before. That must mean wedding bells are ringing soon."Willow went into stitches, grabbing onto Scott's shoulder while I sucked in my lips trying not to do the same."Stacy," Scott finished, burying his face in his hands. "I did warn y
"How come you never asked me to fuck you? We could have gotten here sooner. You could have been my wife by now," I said, daring to dream. "Because I didn't just want a fuck, Scott. I wanted you. There was a fucking half naked chick in your bed and you didn't want your dick in her. I'm fucking hot and awesome, so that obviously wasn't the problem. You just weren't ready. So I waited until you were. I know what you've been through with other women. I didn't rush you then and I won't rush you now," said my beautifully honest, drunk girl. Her saying she didn't want to rush me made me want to pound her pussy onto next Tuesday, drunk or not, but I was also so incredibly grateful for what she gave me. A chance to grow close to her. Love her. So that when we fucked, it would be amazing. And it was. The first time. On the kitchen floor tonight and every other time in between. "You do understand that just made my dick harder, right? Like fucking steel," I told he
She definitely had a headstart on me, but I'd be damned if I wasn't getting between her legs now. "I know you loved every bit of me touching you all over while you played with my dick," I said, slipping the loofah in between her legs as I fought off a groan. "Is your pussy frustrated, Stace?" She moaned loudly as the loofah went back and forth between her legs, gripping my dick tighter. "Fuck," I cursed, unable to help it. She had me on the very edge. I dropped the loofah and shoved a finger into her pussy, backing her up against the wall as I pumped into her. I pressed my forehead up against hers, both of us panting as we resisted giving in. "Is your dick ready to blow yet, baby?" she asked, grinning at me. I was so fucking close and she wasn't letting up. Unwilling to go out without at least getting another finger into her, I pumped into her quickly. Then I put my other hand on her clit and started rubbing in fast circles, slipping another finger into her and finge
After crying her eyes out, she got up and headed towards the closet. She returned to me with a gift box. "Happy birthday," she said, and I smiled from ear to ear, taking it from her. As I opened the box and pulled out a brand new camera, she went off about all the research she did to buy it for me. "I know it's not a film camera like you prefer, but it's a similar model to your digital camera back home," she said, waiting for a response as I tinkered with my new toy. This was so fucking sweet. She knew what I wanted before I even did. Holding a camera after all this time was surreal. "It's actually a better model," I told her, comforted by having a small piece of my old life returned to me. I slipped the strap of the camera around my neck and asked, "Will you be my model?" Then I picked her up and laid her down on the pillows. "I'm naked," she said, blushing shyly like I hadn't seen it all. "You have panties on," I said with a smirk as I took her picture. "Actually th
Resigning myself to my fate as an enslaved man, I relented. Not for me, but for her and everything she wasn't saying. While I believed that she wanted me to get back to our old life, I knew she wanted it too. It was all she ever wanted. It broke my heart that some part of her still seemed to believe she didn't deserve it. She didn't talk about us having a full life together, but instead said she was going to take me home. Give me a full life. That didn't really matter though, because any life I had was going to include her. I'd give her everything she was too afraid to hope for. Besides, what choice did I have? The risk of remaining on the run indefinitely was just too great with so many new players on the board. She needed my support and I was going to give it to her. "I wish I could trade places with you, but since I can't, I will let you do what you want. We can fuck as much as you want to if it helps you complete your dead man's switch. I will support you," I said, and she bea
"Daddy said he'd make me kill you," she said in between sniffles as I came round to squat before her and take her hands. "He said you'd be on your knees and he'd put a gun in my hand and make me decide who got to kill you, me or him," she said, rapidly spitting the words out. She started hyperventilating halfway through her speech. Well that wasn't terrifying at all. Was this the shit she thought about while recreating the dead man's switch? "He said if I recreated the dead man's switch, he'd kill you. I'd kill you. Make you kill Scott. Make you kill Scott," she said in between laboured breaths. "Stace, baby, I need you to breathe for me. Can you do that?" I asked, linking our fingers the way I used to at the coffee shop in France. It didn't work this time. She just kept chanting about killing me, which honestly scared the crap out of me. But I promised her everything would be okay, no matter what she said or did. So I took her face into my ha
She sat next to me, quietly listening to my speech, then moved to get up. I gave her my hands to hold so she wouldn't fall. "I want to tell you about the typewriter now," she said, staring down at me. "Just don't be mad, okay?" she said, looking like the innocent girl I met seven years ago as she turned and wandered off on her own. I followed her to her study, a place I hadn't been allowed into since I brought up the typewriter. She pulled out a thick binder and handed it to me, spinning around in her office chair. "It's—" "I know what it is," I said, flipping through the sheets of her dead man's switch. It was probably my turn to share my secret, since it clearly tied into hers, but she wasn't done just yet. "This is why we have so much sex," she said, hiding her blushing cheeks behind her hands, as much a bashful drunk as a honest one. "Go on," I said, sitting down across from her. She folded her hands
It was five minutes before my birthday. After I fucked her a few hours ago, we had a quiet dinner, then somehow wound up back on the kitchen floor. She was drunk off her ass. When she said she wanted to get drunk with me, I understood the implications. Booze was her truth serum. She was finally going to talk to me. No, we were going to talk to each other. "I don't think anyone has ever loved me," she said, slurring her words as she set the wine glass down between us. It took a lot of booze to get her this drunk and I definitely wasn't fucking her again tonight, but it was worth it to have a real conversation with her. I made an effort to not get as drunk as her without her noticing so I could take care of her. I didn't need the booze to tell her my shit anyway. Long before the drinking, I decided I was going to be honest with her. "That's ridiculous. There are married men that are still in love with you. Definitely still Kyle," I said, my tipsy brain taunting me with other men thin
The anger turned into a slow, piercing ache. Her questions weren't that crazy after all. She was there for all the other women. She saw what it meant to be with me. What she didn't know was that I've done exactly what she was accusing me of with so many women. Fucked them to get out of saying the words. It sucked that she was asking anyway, because she did get the words from me. She was the only one. Didn't that mean anything to her? "No baby," I said, my voice softening for her. "I'm going to fuck you because clearly telling you I love you every day isn't enough. For some fucked up reason, you don't believe I will always love you, no matter what dumb shit we go through. It was stupid to stop fucking you. The truth is the pain in your eyes scared me. I freaked out, because I didn't know how to help you, but I swear I'll never turn away from you when you're hurting again."When she started crying in earnest, I rolled off of her and laid down next to her, flat on my back. Listening to
I thought about what she said as I followed her into the house. She wasn't entirely wrong. The secret she was keeping pissed me off, but I figured we were even on that front. It was nothing compared to the pain I saw in her eyes since Rome. I couldn't fix what was happening in her head. I couldn't make it better for her. I couldn't take the pain away and it killed me. I feel so fucking powerless. Tell me baby, what can I do? When I got into the kitchen, she brought me an ice pack and laid it down on my jaw. I watched her do it without protest. This game wasn't fun anymore. Baby, the pain in your eyes is killing me. Let me in. Even if it's not pretty and there's nothing I can do. Even if we both hate it. Please just talk to me. She took my hand, put it on the ice pack and let go, turning her back on me. Just as I was getting up the nerve to tell her she was right, that not knowing how to help her was fucking with me, she spun back around, her eyes still blazing. "Do you stil