KADE HAWKINS/ CONNORTHERE WAS only so much shit a man like me could take before he went berserk.I was on the verge of losing the one man who I would call my brother. The one man who was more of family to me than anyone else in this shitty world.On the same fucking day, the woman I would have gone to war for dumped my sorry ass. Regretfully telling me she was done with meโฆfor good.And that shit, her tears, her words ate me up, nothing bloody made sense anymore.โShe needs a minuteโ, my brother from another father quipped beside me not knowing the hell I was going through, the sting that was Cassieโs words and the gnawing fact that I had hurt her and I hadnโt apologized to her yet.โSheโs done with meโ, I muttered and we stood in foreboding silence looking at the theatre doors where Iceโs surgery was still going on.โGood because her handing your ass is your wake-up call to chase after her and earn her forgivenessโ, Jr continued, I still couldnโt understand why they all stayed.Jaso
LUCIA AMATOTHEY said when your turn to die came, you could feel it in your bones. Feel it in the way you faded into nothingness not knowing what was beyond death.When that bullet had hit me, somehow that feeling had latched onto me. The feeling of welcoming death and saying goodbye to everything.Yet when I opened my eyes, light stinging my eyes with a vengeance, the last person I expected to see was the love of my life glancing down at me like an answered prayer.โHey, princessโ The smile he wore was enough to tell me everything was okay. I wasnโt dead. We werenโt separated, everything was going to be okay yetโฆMy hand searched for my tummy, the IV needle injected to my hand hurting far worse than a bee sting.โHey, hey, heโs fine. The babyโs fineโI didnโt realize there were tears in my eyes up until he said that.And when the first tear fell down my cheeks and the rest came crushing like hail, my throat throbbed as I whispered โSorryโ over and over again.I jumped in front of hi
CASSANDRA BATESTHREE WEEKS OF INCONSISTENT NAGGING.I was so mad at him, I wanted to kick him in the shins for everything. But hurting him was hurting myself too and I wasnโt prepared for that.The first week Kade had made it clear no woman of his was staying in a walk-in closet carrying his kid and so heโd rented a luxurious penthouse for me.I took it under the one condition I would be paying rent monthly. That was my first mistake, assuming he would even take my money after the lustful and apologetic look he gave me when he left me in my new apartment.The second week was even more stressful. With him showing up at my apartment door with breakfast and baby necessities I didnโt require yet.The third weekโฆIcarus woke up and I had been beyond thrilled knowing I hadnโt somewhat killed him. I visited him everyday and everyday Kade Hawkins was there, waiting for me with a grin and donuts and healthy drinks I hadnโt asked for and I rejected them.Rejected him. Not missing the pained ex
CANNONJESUS CHRIST. When my boss at B & A told me that my client was a fucking mess, the last thing I expected was to find a strung-out junkie dancing completely naked at a music festival for something called `five seconds of summer`.โHow`s the view Cannon? Pretty chic, huh? Bet you are missing the Marines right about now, aren`t you?โ Fucking Jason spoke over the comms nearly making me deaf with his pussy ass voice. At least I wasn`t him though, two weeks with the naked broad in front of me and he had run like a scared puppy to our boss asking for a new client. I didn`t drop clients, heck I was the best at what I did because I was resilient in everything, I put my effort to and no naked ass would change that.โYou might be a pussy, but am not. Cut the fucking line while I take care of your clientโ, I growled adjusting the ear piece in my ear.โI admire your bravery, Cannon but you are going to need a whole lot more to deal with her. She`s a loose cannonโ, and he chuckled intending
NICOLEMY HEAD HURT as I tried opening my heavy eyelids. The light coming from the light white curtains nearly blinded me as I hugged the comforter tighter. Only, my comforter wasn`t grey but white, it didn`t smell of musk or spice but lavender. I sat up regretting that very decision when my right hand hurt.My eyes popped out of their sockets as I stared at the metallic cuffs cuffing me to the king-sized bed. This was definitely not my room and I was definitely not in my bed.Yesterday`s nightly escapades came to mind and I groaned at the headache that came along with it. I was drunk, I was dancingโฆI was naked.โNo, no!โ I cried pushing the covers from my body with my left hand.I had clothes on! Shit, Nix! Shit! Shit!I really did it this time. Scared out of my wits, I pressed my legs together a surge of relief washing over me that I didn`t feel sore or penetrated. I believe the correct word was, raped.Wriggling my wrists against the bed, I tried yanking the cuffs but God knew, I wa
CANNONFUUCK! I lied. I fucked clients and I fucked them hard.But she wasn`t a regular client. She was spoilt, she got on my nerves for the short span of time we were together and worse, she was the fucking mayor`s daughter. Fucking her would only land me in hot soup and the type of shit they wrote on tabloids.I sauntered in the kitchen taking a bottle of water to calm my thirst and my hard as fuck cock. Not only was her insanely thin body a fucking turn-on, her attitude drove me bonkers. That smart mouth of hers made me think stupid shit like kissing her. Shit I didn`t think about when I drove my cock inside a woman.And when she stared at me as if she was begging to get fucked, I almost lost all the scruples our boss and ex-military Berkely had instilled in us.โDon`t even think about it, Cannonโ, I scolded feeling my dick harden at the sight of those doe hazel eyes peering at me as if I was some sort of hero or a prince.I was far from being a hero. A hero didn`t kill for pleasure
NICOLEMy face morphed into shock. I was running. I was fucking running from a man who was two times my size and probably faster.They probably ran miles and miles during training in the army and to him I must have been a measly insect trying to think I could outrun him. The shock got eaten by the fear and that`s what it took for me to assure myself that I could do this.I was no Hollywood stuntman or woman for that matter, but I could jump over the small gate. I was small and light weighed all I had to do was keep up the pace.Arms pumping, the balls of my bare feet keeping me balanced, adrenaline pumping me through me like a fix, I ran. But the constant awareness that he was right behind me gnawed on me like a hopper on sweet grass. Panic surged through me; I could hear his heavy padded feet slam the grass without mercy.Trying to up my confidence I glanced over my shoulder and instead of seeing him behind him, the fucker ran next to me.Eyes up ahead, his breathing smooth, his musc
CANNONEIGHT HOURS.She was in there for eight God damn hours and that made me angsty and angry as ever. She didn`t get the right to be mad, I did. I was the fucking moron running after her. I was the fucking moron worrying over her safety. Worrying over her stubbornness getting both of us killed.I spanked her but I didn`t fuck her and that like every woman I had denied the chance to suck me off, made her mad. I regretted it though; God knew I wanted to do more than slap that ass.It took every bit of restraint not to sink my cock inside that wet pussy of hers. God damn it! I hated how my cock twitched for her, how my body reacted to her as if she was some special woman.I never did special. I never believed in that love shit because it didn`t exist. There was no special pussy that would change me or my ways. I knew myself and I took glory in who I was. All women were the same and all pussies were the same.If she wanted to starve herself then she might as well have because I didn`t
CASSANDRA BATESTHREE WEEKS OF INCONSISTENT NAGGING.I was so mad at him, I wanted to kick him in the shins for everything. But hurting him was hurting myself too and I wasnโt prepared for that.The first week Kade had made it clear no woman of his was staying in a walk-in closet carrying his kid and so heโd rented a luxurious penthouse for me.I took it under the one condition I would be paying rent monthly. That was my first mistake, assuming he would even take my money after the lustful and apologetic look he gave me when he left me in my new apartment.The second week was even more stressful. With him showing up at my apartment door with breakfast and baby necessities I didnโt require yet.The third weekโฆIcarus woke up and I had been beyond thrilled knowing I hadnโt somewhat killed him. I visited him everyday and everyday Kade Hawkins was there, waiting for me with a grin and donuts and healthy drinks I hadnโt asked for and I rejected them.Rejected him. Not missing the pained ex
LUCIA AMATOTHEY said when your turn to die came, you could feel it in your bones. Feel it in the way you faded into nothingness not knowing what was beyond death.When that bullet had hit me, somehow that feeling had latched onto me. The feeling of welcoming death and saying goodbye to everything.Yet when I opened my eyes, light stinging my eyes with a vengeance, the last person I expected to see was the love of my life glancing down at me like an answered prayer.โHey, princessโ The smile he wore was enough to tell me everything was okay. I wasnโt dead. We werenโt separated, everything was going to be okay yetโฆMy hand searched for my tummy, the IV needle injected to my hand hurting far worse than a bee sting.โHey, hey, heโs fine. The babyโs fineโI didnโt realize there were tears in my eyes up until he said that.And when the first tear fell down my cheeks and the rest came crushing like hail, my throat throbbed as I whispered โSorryโ over and over again.I jumped in front of hi
KADE HAWKINS/ CONNORTHERE WAS only so much shit a man like me could take before he went berserk.I was on the verge of losing the one man who I would call my brother. The one man who was more of family to me than anyone else in this shitty world.On the same fucking day, the woman I would have gone to war for dumped my sorry ass. Regretfully telling me she was done with meโฆfor good.And that shit, her tears, her words ate me up, nothing bloody made sense anymore.โShe needs a minuteโ, my brother from another father quipped beside me not knowing the hell I was going through, the sting that was Cassieโs words and the gnawing fact that I had hurt her and I hadnโt apologized to her yet.โSheโs done with meโ, I muttered and we stood in foreboding silence looking at the theatre doors where Iceโs surgery was still going on.โGood because her handing your ass is your wake-up call to chase after her and earn her forgivenessโ, Jr continued, I still couldnโt understand why they all stayed.Jaso
CASSANDRA BATESEVERYTHING HURT.Physically, emotionally, mentally, I wasnโt doing okay even as the doc assessed me for the hundredth time in the night.Seating at the edge of the bed, trying to piece everything together, I was on the verge of insanity and knowing that Icarus was somewhere in this massive hospital trying to hold onto dear life because of me devastated the hell out of me.The doc offered me a wan smile, all I could do was pretend that I wasnโt going mad when the truth of the matter was, I was. Indeed, going mad.โEverything looks fine, Ms. Bates given your umโฆearlier predicament. A few scratches here and there, nothing major enough to affect the baby. I would recommend a few ointments for the-โI had already tuned him out the minute I heard a word I didnโt think would ever be directed at me.Reality came crushing in and with it so was confusion and happiness and anxiety and everything a person like me whoโd just been kidnapped and slapped with a dose of heartbreak coul
ICARUS โICEโ HAWKINSEIGHT YEARS AGO, I WAS THE SAME fucking schmuck working for Lucas Hawkins. A scrawny kid with a maid for a mother, no father, no money, no fucking worth to anybody.And hell, I would have been the same loser all my life after mumsy died of typhoid or some shit of the sort had it not been for HIM.KADE FUCKING HAWKINS. MY GODDAMN SAVIOR. My partner in crime. My brother.The same bossโ son who thought we were equals. The same kid who had everything I never had and hated it.Money. A powerful father. Power. He had it all and the fucking kid hated every inch of it.I envied him. All my eighteen years of being his best friend and I envied everything he had. But apart from envy? I looked up to him. He might have been a sour pussy, hell a pain in the ass but the kid had his heart in the right place, had that urge to do what needed to be done to get ahead in life and I respected that because I wanted it too.And when the kid got his first dose of power, I straight up jump
CASSANDRA BATESโW-WHAT?โA pulsating headache threatened to split my head apart as I winced.I moved my handโฆat least tried to anyway because my hand felt numb. Both my hands felt numb and any tiny movement made something rattle against my body.Prior memories of what happened came to my mind all at once upping the headache even further.I was crying, damn it after what had happened with Lucia, Kade and Jace, I had ended up like some hobo on the street crying thenโฆthenโฆMy eyes shot open and like someone had knocked my head with a bat, everything came back biting me in the ass.The unwelcomed light ate my eyes without mercy but thatโs not what made my heart pulsate madly in my chest.It was everything in my surroundings, it was in the way, my hands, my legsโฆI was tied up!I was tied up!What was this placeโฆhowโฆoh God what wasโฆI sat in the middle of the largest warehouse Iโd ever seen and I would have been at ease if there were other thigs in here but noโฆit was me alone in a creepy p
JACE `JR` ASHER/ TRIGGERLEFT, RIGHT, FRONT, THE beeping machines haunted me. I hadnโt slept a fucking wink not that it had mattered because the fucking doctors took their time in there.Four hours and counting, theyโd completed the surgery but none of them geeky fucks had showed their asses to explain what was going on.How was she?How was my kid?โHow are you holding up?โ Ontario shot me a passive look and I shot him an equally tired one.Everyone was here but, in all honesty, I felt alone. I felt helpless and most of all I felt like someone had gutted me and yanked my entrails from my body.The chief, Flames, had brought every goddamn man in B&A to console my ass but heโd avoided me entirely and I had a good hunch it was because of the one man no one talked about.My bloody fucking asshole of a brother.The one whoโd escaped his grave and unleashed hell on me.I didnโt answer. Ontario lay his arm across my shoulder.โYou should have never fallen in love, buddy. Christ, you look wo
CONNOR/ KADE HAWKINSTHE WINSTON BLUE DIAMOND ring THE SIZE OF MY HEAD stared back at me and I could only stare back at it nursing a whole lot of emotions that wracked and unnerved me.I breathed but I wasnโt really breathing.I tried to think but every ticking moment went to what happened yesterday.Stupid. Fucking stupid.Why hadnโt I realized, why hadnโt IโJr was alive! They all were and I hadnโt searched enough, hadnโt spent every last dime of daddyโs money to look for them.I had been stunned the minute the forty something year old man stared at me like he knew me while ironically aiming a rifle in my damn face.Then as if all the memories that had been caged in a tight little box had been unleashed, I remembered him.Remembered him with my father.Remembered him carrying me in his shoulders telling meโฆtelling me to call him Uncle Jay.And thatโs what I remembered; he was Uncle Jay. The cool uncle. The one who pissed my fathโCallan most of the times.And the man who peeked at me
JACE โJRโ ASHER/TRIGGERโJ-Jace, THE BABYโโT-the babyโHer blood oozed from that spot on her chest I was trying so hard to apply fucking pressure on.Her eyes were dimming and there was nothing I could do as I held her, my hands trying their best to incorporate every single fucking thing I had learnt from B&A about handling a situation like this.โStay with me, princess. Okay? S-stay with meโMy voice croaked; my heart pumped so hard I could hear the blood thrum in my ears with an uproar.She was making it. She was going to make it. The baby was going to make it.She had to. They fucking had to.My hands were bloody, covered with her life, covered with my mistakes, when she opened her lips to speak, I saw life ebb out of her the same way my mother and fatherโs screams had assaulted my ears as fire took them away from me.โLuce? Lucia? Come on, baby. Donโt, donโt do this. DonโtโโAnd when my eyes couldnโt see shit, every noise I had tuned out since Luciaโs body went limp in my arms ca