He almost had me believing him. Almost.“Who told you about the rumors?”He went still again. “Why?” More wariness.“Who told you?” I was firmer.He didn’t reply, his mouth thinning.I was losing my patience with him, and I didn’t want that. The game would stop being fun. Because of that, I went over and pressed a button. “Bring me his phone.”“What?”I waited.“What are you doing? You can’t get into my phone.”The door opened, and Elijah handed me first his phone, and then my programming equipment.“What are you doing?! What is that?” Worthing was starting to struggle, trying to get free. The chair scraped against the floor.I ignored him, giving Elijah a nod that he could go back out. I spoke as I plugged my equipment into the phone. “Do you know my first business that I ever started?”I enjoyed asking people that question.“What does that have to do with anything? Stop fucking with my phone! That’s my phone—”Beep, beep, beeeeeep!I smiled, showing him his own screen as my program
MOLLYIf Ashton Walden actually thought I was going to go and take a nap, he was—well, I was being positive here. The exception was my father. I would always allow myself to be negative with him, but back to what I was currently doing.He was doing Mafia stuff. I was snooping.Ashton or one of his guys must’ve scooped up my purse after the explosion because I found it next to my bed. I’d been elated, grabbing for my phone, only to find no reception.So carrying my purse, my phone in hand, I was tiptoeing around the place.At one point, I was in the east wing. Yes. They literally had a north tower, south tower, west, east, and it looked like there was a whole middle section where the kitchen was set at. The place looked more like a spaceship than a house. Ashton did say it was a compound, so kudos to whoever paid for all of this. It was a bit overkill in my opinion, but then again, I’m not the head of a Mafia empire. And anyways, I was in the east wing when I heard voices, and looking
A cold shiver went to my toes.“Ashton.”He lowered his head, his eyes still on me, and his voice came out low and soft. “Do you have any idea what you just did? That I brought you somewhere no one knew about for your safety? That you didn’t think the person who tried to kill you might also be watching your ‘besties’ on the off chance you might contact one of them? That you might tell them where you were? If their phones were tapped, if you were on long enough for a location trace?”Right. Crap. I did all of that. I was aware that I had a problem. I hadn’t thought about that stuff. “I’m new to this Mafia stuff. I’m sorry, but next time give me some lessons.”His nostrils flared. “Lessons?”His tone was sending a whole new set of chills down my spine.I wrung my hands together. “I said what I said. I’m sor—”“Do not.” He leaned in, his head moving so he was a breath away, and he placed a hand behind me against the wall. “It’s not my life that’s going to be snuffed out if they find you.
ASHTONI ripped myself away from Molly, my whole body trembling because holy fuck, the need to tear down her leggings, throw her up against the wall, and sink my dick deep inside of her was tearing through me at a breakneck speed.She tore something down inside of me. Something I needed, the last bit of restraint with her.She didn’t just tear it down. She took a battering ram to it, and I was shaken, taking her in. Only her in. I was ignoring the emotions clawing through me.Only Molly. I could only feel Molly.I was also going to murder Remmi West because I knew who’d just stormed her way in.“What are you doing here?” I had to get ahold of myself, but I half growled at Trace’s sister.She was coming in, hoop earrings. Leather jacket. Her dark hair swept up, piled high, and she was wearing her usual black pants. Trace’s sister liked to dress the Mafia-princess stereotype, but today there was no faux fur jacket.Remmi ignored me, her neck craning so she could see Molly. “Who’s that?”
The desperation to be inside of her was primal, rushing through me.My hand skimmed down her leg from her hip, catching the back of her thigh, and I lifted it, stepping fully into her.She gasped again, a soft breathy sound coming from her. “This”—she trailed her finger down my chest to my stomach and lingered there, toying with the top button of my pants—“is one thing I keep getting distracted by, and I’m just going to reiterate again that I don’t care about the other bullshit going on.”I lifted her leg higher and moved in.She gasped again, her head falling back against the door, her chin rising, and her tongue wet her bottom lip.God.My dick just shot up at that sight, and feeling me, her eyes opened fully, seeing me.Her hand splayed out over my chest, pushing back but using that momentum to lift both her legs up.I growled, moving with her. My hands slipped under her ass as she wound her legs behind me, her ankles crossing.Jesus.I rubbed against her, slowly.Looking down, I w
MOLLYI was such a moron.Throwing myself at him. Doing the whole hand-to-his-chest thing. Being seductive. And it failed! Crash and burn. He rejected me, but man oh man. I felt him. He wanted me. He was into it, but agh. I was so humiliated.Was it me?What was I thinking? Of course it was me.Me. Who else would it have been? Something was wrong with me. I wasn’t pretty enough, or tall enough, or I don’t know. It was just me. Who was I kidding? The universe did not like me, but dammit. No. I refused to go down this path. I’d done too much, endured too much, etched out a damn good life despite my parental seeds. Screw him.I mean, that’s what I’d been trying to do but aghhhh!His loss. Right. Totally his loss. He’d be regretting it, except, and this was hard for me to admit, I didn’t think he was regretting it at all. He was quiet when he got in the vehicle, and despite performing some first aid on his hand, he hadn’t done anything on the whole drive back to the city. Total silence. W
The driver was returning, so I ignored a very different feeling that came over the back of the car. I pointed at him. “He’s back.”He opened the door. Ashton got out first and stepped aside to let me lead the way.I did, ignoring the clerk and a couple other customers inside. The bathroom was empty, thank god, but the lock was pitiful. Holding my bladder, as if that worked, I hauled the giant garbage bin over to block the door. The thing was hella heavy, so it’d do. After that, heaven and relief and yes.That’s when my phone pinged in my pocket.I pulled it out, seeing that reception had come back at some point, and saw thirty text messages, sixteen voice messages, and a whole host of other alerts. Holy shit . . .Pialto: WHAT THE HAT, WOMAN?! WHERE ARE YOU?Pialto: Sorry. What the what. Auto-duck.Pialto: Your cousin won’t tell us anything!Sophie: Where are you? Are you alive? Did you have a one-night stand and it’s amazing and you’re taking a day? Please please please tell me that’
MOLLYHe was cleaning my face.We were in a bathroom. I was on the counter, and Ashton stood between my legs. A first aid kit was next to us. He was dabbing a cotton ball at my forehead.I felt the sting and hissed.He pulled back. “Can you hear me?”His voice droned through an invisible barrier, but I nodded. I could.“Can you talk?”I closed my eyes and started to lower my head, but he touched under my chin. “I need to clean some scrapes you got. They can’t get infected.”Another nod. Fine. But I kept my eyes closed.It felt better this way, somehow. And I reached back for what I’d been holding on to, my fingers touching bare skin.I looked, seeing that I was holding on to Ashton’s side.I took all of him in.He was in his black pants that he’d worn earlier, but his shirt was unbuttoned. It hung open. The ends tucked over my hands as I was gripping onto him, as if I couldn’t let go, but it felt right to put my hand there again, so I did.Ashton moved even closer, his head angling ov