2: dreams and dangers

⚠️Warning This chapter contains sexual and mature content.

Riley Ochoa

The hands that ran up my sides under the sheets made me hum, and despite trying my very best not to open my eyes, I end up giving up, needing to see those eyes. As expected, they are already watching me; even in the slight darkness of the room, I can very clearly see the strain in his naked chest, the way it rose and fell, as if trying to contain himself. I could feel the muscles on his stomach tense up when he saw me open my eyes, and then all it took was his name before he leaned over to kiss me hungrily.

In a matter of seconds, his hands had taken possession of my breasts, letting out a disapproving grunt at the fabric but not letting that stop him from bundling it up against my collarbones, making me moan the moment his lips pressed against my skin. I moan again as I feel his knee between my legs, a grunt letting me know he can feel how wet I am between them, and after another kiss to my right nipple, he pulls back. 

I jolted upwards in my bed, my breath hitching in my throat as I scanned around my bedroom for those eyes, that were nowhere to be seen. Not only did I just dream of someone I didn't even actually know, but I was left so unsatisfied it made me groan. 

I sighed as I got out of bed, shaking my head and pushing the stray locks that had escaped my ponytail behind my ear. I swung my legs off the bed, the short pants I used to sleep in, and the thin shirt, making me shiver at the cold house. I made my way downstairs, and as soon as I sat down for breakfast, I heard the 'ding' that told me I had just received a message. I sighed again but paused my food journey to go check my phone, grabbing it and taking it with me to the kitchen. As I sat down again, my eyebrows furrowed a little bit in confusion as it was an unknown number. 

Unknown: I'm still not over the stunt you pulled yesterday at the bar.

I stared at the message in confusion for a couple seconds before I moved to send Matt a message. The only logical explanation is that he was trying to mess with me.

Riley: Very funny, but you aren't scaring me.

I rolled my eyes and continued to eat, not even two minutes later I heard the ding again, and upon checking, I saw that Matt claimed to not have any idea about what exactly I was talking about, so I simply followed his game until I had long finished my breakfast and remembered I had to pay my bills. 

It wasn't a long walk, so rather than taking the crappy car I had, I decided to just walk there, locking my small apartment behind, not that they could rob much. 

The bank was in a rather secluded area, but then again the whole part of town I lived in was secluded. It wasn't considered the death corner for nothing. I couldn't wear earbuds for my own safety, and that helped me hear voices. 

"Fucking crazy," I caught on, the voice was of a man, and he sounded panicked, scared. A scream that was suddenly muffled made my skin crawl, and I moved to rush over to see what was happening. I peeked from behind a tree, seeing three backs turned to me. The clothes were black, and they looked...expensive somehow. In between the gap they left, I could see a man with tears and blood mixing on his cheeks, a hand clasping over his mouth. 

"You don't steal from us and walk away unharmed; you should have known that," one of the men said, his voice deep and low, dangerous. 

And it had my knees pressing together. 

The man just watched them with wide eyes and tried to shake his head desperately. I heard the sound of clothing, and then the glint of a blade caught my eye and made my own eyes widen.

The man's brown eyes, suddenly turned to me just as the blade ran by his throat, the hand over his mouth clasping tighter when he started gurgling and choking on his own blood. 

It was too late. Before I could even react, I heard a curse, and as I noticed eyes on me, I realized I had been spotted. 

Fuck.

I took a step back. The man that spotted me had beautiful blue eyes, yet so cold that it had me shivering. He grunted something to his other two men, and then they turned their heads to look at me. My breath caught up in my throat as I caught those green eyes staring at me with mild confusion and, surprise?

Though I couldn't exactly stop and chat, my body turned quickly as I started running out of there. I could hear a curse from one of them before I heard the shuffling behind me.

It wasn't like I could exactly sprint out in one second, which was all they needed for one of them to grab me by my hair. All I could do was yell, though it was muffled by a hand. I used the momentum to slam my elbow back, hitting something rather hard despite having thought I'd hit soft flesh. The man bent over briefly with a grunt, letting go of me and giving me more than enough time to run further away. 

All the people that I had seen on my way to the bank were gone, and I cursed when I felt that familiar pain in my chest. The aftermath of being in tension for so long had caused my right side to move to the left, which essentially caused my ribs to constrict my lungs, cutting off any oxygen whenever I did the minimum effort. Of course running caused it too, no matter how light it was, but normally I could stop and catch my breath.

This time I couldn't. 

I was quite literally running for my life, and as soon as I got home and I slammed the door shut, I let my legs give up on me, sending me crashing onto the ground. 

Taylor Sloan

That morning everything was already going wrong; since the moment my eyes had met hers in that stupid bar, I knew things were going to be difficult. I had tried to brush away the thoughts, push away the weird pressure in my chest, and the little voice that told me I needed to see her again.

I could have any woman in the entire city of New York, and I still had to end up feeling trapped with someone who worked at one of the lowest class bars in the area. I sighed, my knuckles hitting the red bag in our gym, until I heard Cade's voice calling for me to get ready. 

After unwrapping my hands from the training strips and taking a cold shower, I slipped into my work clothes, an Armani suit tailored to fit me perfectly, and then made my way downstairs, where Elijah and Cade were already dressed and waiting for me. We exchanged a brief look, and then we headed off. 

"Antonio Berachi." Cade said while He got on the drivers seat and Joshua sat beside him, leaving me in the back as usual. "You found him?" Elijah asked in surprise, making Cade smirk a bit. "Our men did. Apparently the fucker was just hiding in New York all this time," he said with a laugh, driving where I figured they were keeping the man. 

Of course Antonio Berachi would be hiding in a warehouse, thinking he was safe, truth was, he wasn't. 

It took us fifteen minutes to get in, knock him out, and get him right where we could take care of him. The street was mostly secluded at that time, so it was the perfect place to get it done, quick. 

We tied him to one of the benches and waited until he started regaining consciousness before Cade took a step closer and hummed. "Antonio! My good friend," he said with that dangerous smile dancing on his lips. The man looked like he was on the verge of pissing his pants. However, we were far from done, so I silently hoped he wouldn't yet. 

"We want to know where the guns and money you stole from us are." Elijah intervened, stepping closer with his hands in his pockets. Antonio's shoulders were already shaking, and it was such a beautiful sight. "I don't-" 

"Don't give me that bullshit; we know it was you, and we want answers. Cooperate, and we won't have to talk about this ever again," I said with a shake of my head, though I didn't step closer. 

We went back and forth for a little while, really making Antonio believe he would be safe if he talked, but once he finally spilled that the guns were burrowed in someone's house, Elijah had just sliced the man's throat when we heard the tiniest gasp behind us. Cade had already turned his head, and Josh and I followed, my eyes threatening to widen at the sight of her.

Damn it. 

I so wish now that I wouldn't have come, because this meant we had to get rid of her, and that wasn't something that I wanted. Though I could feel the tension in both my friends' bodies and could immediately tell they had been drawn in the same way I had. 

Before any of us could say anything, Cade was already chasing after her, and Eli and I immediately knew that we had to clean this mess and then we'd worry about her. Of course it didn't take us too long to finish what we were doing, and after a call to Cade, we headed to where he was.

The building was horrifying, it looked like it was about to fall any second, and it didn't seem secure enough. It turned out she was faster than we initially thought and stronger, considering the bruise already forming on Cade's side. The thought made me want to smile, but as we stood outside of her door, trying to listen for any sounds, we couldn't tell if she had called the police or not. 

Cade and Elijah stayed by the front door; considering it was still dark outside, we didn't have to worry too much about being seen, but we tried to be out of sight anyway. I went around the building and found one of the windows unlocked, which only made me sigh at how careless she was. After slipping inside with ease, I forced my breath to be quiet and tried to hear for any sounds that might indicate that she was moving around, though as I went to unlock the front door for her, my eyes caught her figure slumped on the floor, completely passed out. I took a couple seconds to watch her before I scooted her up in my arms carefully and carried her around until I found her room.

Again, it wasn't anything pretty, the walls were a cream color, and her bed creaked when I placed her down on the hard mattress. I covered her up, and after a few more seconds, I took her phone, which didn't even have a password, and put her phone number on my phone. Just in case. 

Rummaging around, I found her name: Riley Ochoa. And the messages from the unknown number, which I also wrote down. It seemed she had a secret admirer that was a bit too far gone. As she stirred, I knew I had to leave, so placing her phone back down, I made my way out the front door, shaking my head at Cade and Joshua. 

"We need to have her," I said, and despite their unsure expressions, I knew they silently agreed with me.