Intensity

by Eden Fortae

  Never once did he remove his eyes from hers and that fact gave his answer more impact. He watched Kya intently. More than likely for a reaction he could feed off of as most predators would. There was no way she should have been seduced by a look, turned on by something that should have put her off. Yet, the butterflies in her stomach were fluttering madly.

  “And before you worry yourself with another why question, there is no specific reason. At least, not one that I have been able to narrow down. I can’t explain why I’m so drawn to you. I don’t know why I like the shade of your skin, how your hair feels between my fingers, or why the thickness of your lips and thighs drives me crazy, but they do. Everything about you is different. It’s as if you were created to challenge me. Challenge accepted.” He went from looking at her seriously to smirking by the end.

  Kya swallowed visibly. To repeat his words and say that she, too, could not explain why her attraction surpassed the point of knowing right from wrong, was a mistake she refused to make. Antonio already had the upper hand with the way he was currently dressed and how deeply his gaze stirred her soul. She liked the depth of his dark eyes against his smooth skin, just as she liked the fact that he defied that unspoken male order by allowing his hair to grow slightly below his shoulders. She loved the rough and ruggedness of his persona. Behind her own feelings, there was no answer but want for them.

  Kya slid back to the headboard. A little space was needed as desperately as her next breath. Still, with the puppy in her arms, she situated herself under the blankets. The gesture of holding them back to assist with her comfort did not help.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome.”

  Kya narrowed her eyes, to which he smirked again. “You’re doing this on purpose.”

  “What am I doing, Kya?” He asked in his typically low tone.

  “You’re distracting me with these small, but sexy things.” She realized her error immediately. The smile that spread across his lips embodied that word down to the very last letter.

  “Sexy?”

  “I’m serious. I only came here with you because you said you would tell me the truth. So far, I’ve gone to sleep, was given a puppy, and now you’re eating me up with your eyes.”

  “I’d really love to eat—”

  “Don’t. Finish. That. Sentence.” The firmness in her tone brought a new smile to his face.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Even that had a sexy sound to it.

  She sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and sighed a second time. As she rested her head against her hand, Antonio took hold of her wrist, gently pulling her forward. In the place vacated by her fingers, he pressed a slow, soft kiss.

  “I don’t want to frustrate you. Ask what you’d like, and I’ll answer for you.”

  “You’ll be completely honest with me?”

  He hesitated, Kya noticed, and it did not sit well with her. Was the truth so bad that he had to contemplate what to say?

  Finally, he mimicked her sigh.

  “You won’t like it, but complete honesty.”

  Expecting games or rejection, she didn’t know where to begin. Their previous talk ended in him admitting that she was supposed to be used against her father. Although he told her that much, he left out significant details concerning how far he intended to go and that she was nothing more than a piece in the game he was playing.

  She still felt that way. In the back of her mind, she heard the voice saying that there could be a repeat of the last time. That Antonio could and probably would hold back to benefit himself.

  “What would you like to know first?”

  She had to think back to that day. Set the pain and anger aside to revisit everything. “Why was it necessary for you to use your sister and Jermaine in this?”

  That was not the best she could do, but it was a start.

  “I needed more information on you. Rina’s the kind of person that makes a friend everywhere she goes. If she could get close enough to you, you’d tell her things about your father that would have been beneficial to me. However, your relationship with him is just as rocky as my own. By the time we realized it, she had already started viewing you as a real friend. As for Jermaine, you needed the money. I had Rina in mind, but I was watching you before that. You were struggling. Something in me didn’t like that. I had him offer you a job to help.”

  “You thought I was your best chance at him, why?”

  Antonio cocked a brow as if silently asking his own question, “You haven’t been to the station lately, have you? His desk is covered with pictures of you and your mother. You are his world, Kya. Perfect for me to fuck up like he had so thoroughly fucked up mine.”

  She should have been touched by the idea of her father holding her so high. Should have been.

  “So, you planned to seduce me, break my heart, and then rub it in his face? I still don’t understand how I factor into this. If there are pictures of me all over his desk, they can’t be recent. I have not taken a picture outside of school since I was twelve and even then he had no way of getting a hold of one.”

  Antonio nodded. “Yes, they’re old. Yet, still indicative of how much you mean to him.”

  Rather than letting those words sink in and affect her, Kya waited for the answer to the question he skillfully dodged. Only when he realized it did his eyes fall to the blanket. He was sitting sideways, turned just enough to provide Kya his undivided attention until that moment. The hesitation rubbed her the wrong way, once again. Against her better judgment, she slid a little closer to him, ducking her head until he looked up.

  “How were you planning to use me?”

  He blinked long and hard. When his eyes reopened, they were cold, dark pits suddenly exuding regret. Of all things he could say, Kya never could have prepared for his next words.

  “I was going to kill you.”

  She heard wrong. With every part of her being, Kya wanted to believe that she heard things wrong. He couldn’t have said that. A man that cheered her up when she was at her lowest, a man who had recently carried her up to his room and made her comfortable, surely couldn’t have said that.

  But he did.

  “You were going to...” she paused, her breaths becoming labored. “Why would you? I don’t understand. The very first time I saw you, you were dressed in all black with your eyes covered. Everything about you shouted danger, but you gave me the only real piece of comfort I’d gotten in a long time.” The more she pondered it, the harder it became to hold back tears. “Robert came to me in the hospital. He told me you were a killer and I didn’t believe him. You were so sweet to me. You kissed me with more passion than any man I was with, and you cared enough to get me to that hospital.”

  “He thinks I killed his partner.”

  “Did you?”

  “No, Kya. I had no involvement in that nor do I know who was behind it. Why he tried to pin it on me, I have absolutely no clue.”

  “And you’d tell me if you did, right?” She smirked, capturing the first tear to spill over her cheek. The hardening of his face after it was asked, proof that he did not appreciate the sarcasm.

  “I’d tell you. You asked me for the truth, and I'm telling you despite the consequences. You mean more to me than a man I’ve never met and I just told you that I planned to kill you. So why would I not tell you if I were involved?”

  Kya wiped another tear, holding the puppy closer as if he were keeping her grounded.

  “He said you wouldn’t think twice about killing me if it meant you could destroy him.”

  “Yet, I’ve had more than enough opportunities to do it, and you’re in my bed rather than a grave. Things changed. I came to you in the cemetery intending to end Rich once and for all, but I stopped to get roses along the way. I reasoned with myself that I’d shoot you and leave those flowers as an extra slap in your father’s face. Instead, I put a single rose in your hand. I don’t know what happened or why, Kya, but I couldn’t do it. As much as I wanted to wat
ch that bastard lose, I wanted to be near you more. As much as I want to make his life hell, I want to make you happy, more.”

  At that point, the tears were flowing faster and free. Kya's heart kicked up with the admission that he wanted to make her happy, but the aching remained. Antonio’s thumbs ran gently over both her cheeks to clear them. An effort to take care of her once more.

  “I don’t know what to think.” She met his gaze head-on, and it jumbled her thoughts more. “I read about your father after Robert came to see me. He tried to associate you with the drug raid where his partner was killed. Why would he put you there? Were you a drug dealer?”

  Just like before, Antonio paused. That should have been enough of an answer, yet it wasn’t. She needed to hear the words.

  “Back then, I was.”

  “You stopped when you started your business?”

  “No, baby. I stopped being a drug dealer long before that. By that point, I was well on my way to having my own empire.”

  Kya froze, the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, “By empire, you’re referring to your company.”

  Antonio took a deep breath, releasing it with a sigh, “I mean, by that point I was ranked higher than a drug dealer. So high that I don’t have an official title, but drug Lord and Kingpin are names that the law commonly associated with what I am now.”

  “Now?”

  “Yes, now. I don’t deal drugs. I’m so high up in the ranks that I have people that do it for me. People that would kill just for my approval. People that fear me more than a life sentence.”

  So flustered and consumed by shock, Kya took the puppy out of her lap and climbed out of bed. Hands over her face, she paced the length of the bed still crying silently until Antonio tried to pull her into his arms.

  Angrily, she yanked away from him, “Why, Antonio? You have so much going for you. You have a career that’s made you millions and a family that I would die to have.”

  “Because without it I would not have had the money to go to school or pursue that career. Without it, my family would have suffered. I had to take care of them because I became the man of the house before my balls fucking dropped. Because I could not stand the idea of my mother having to go on welfare and struggle paycheck to paycheck!”

  “Those are excuses, now! You made it! You have something much bigger and greater to rely on. Most importantly, a little boy is watching your every move! My father was so determined to get you and your father that he left me to care for my sick mother and never came back. If he could get his hands on you, now, what the hell do you think that would do to your family? To Anthony? You would be sentencing him to the same hell you had to endure as well as putting your mother and sisters through the same bullshit they just got over with your Dad!”

  When she stopped, she shoved her hands into her hair that was no longer twisted into neat curls but tangled into a huge mess. For a relatively short conversation, she was already tired. With him, she’d bitten off more than she could chew and felt the evidence through a rapidly approaching headache. “You know what? I can’t. Even if I could overlook you planning to end my life over my father, I can’t deal with someone involved with drugs. I won’t deal with someone involved with drugs.”

  As soon as she could locate her dress, she was leaving. Was it irrational? Was her reaction at all reasonable? While everything sat in the front of her mind, too fresh to ignore, the answers were beyond her reach. She checked the armchair a few feet from the bed, the bench at the foot of it, and was on her way to the bathroom to look when she felt him against her back. In all too familiar fashion, his arms circled her from behind, pulling her close.

  “Do not think for one fucking second that I’m just going to let you walk away from me.”

  She tried to free herself to no avail. After two good attempts, she let her arms hang limply over his, “What are you going to do?” She sneered, “Follow through with your original plan to kill me?”

  His head dropped as he pushed hers to the side, exposing her neck. The kiss to her jaw transformed into a warm glide of his tongue toward her neck, ending with a scrape of his teeth. “I can’t hurt you. I’ll never hurt you. But I could tie you to my bed and keep you here until these four walls drive you crazy enough to stay with me on your own.”

  “You don’t want me. You want to win.”

  He kissed her on the neck again, pulling forth an involuntary sigh of pleasure, “What’s the point of winning if you’re not the prize?” A few more kisses and he was wearing her down. Against her will, he was speaking to her body and the desire overcoming it.

  “I met your uncle Brian. I saw him kiss you before he dropped you off and I was going to kill him before I knew who he was because you’re mine.” His possessiveness sparked but ignited a flame deep in her core. His. He thought she was his and wanted to kill for her.

  “I don’t belong to you or anyone, Antonio.”

  “You couldn’t be more wrong, baby. You belong to me. I can’t do anything without thinking of you first and I’m willing to bet that I cross your mind, too.”

  She turned in his arms. That close, all he had to do was lower his head, and she would be doomed. What fight was left could be stolen by a kiss that would foolishly override everything he said.

  Facing him, Kya got a good look at the man she was speaking to. The man claiming he had no issue with taking a life. A man that sold poison to those too weak to realize they were killing themselves. This was the point where she needed to make a stand, to decide if she could deal or if this was done.

  With her palms flat on his chest, Kya pushed back, and this time he released her. Instantly she was cold. The absences of his body flush against her own, symbolic of what she was sentencing herself to if she decided to walk.

  “I mean what I said. I won’t be with someone who’s involved with drugs.”

  “Then I’ll stop.”

  “Just like that? You can walk away from it just like that?”

  “I’m at the very top of the food chain, Kya. The people I am connected to are loyal to my father. As long as I refer everyone under me, I’m good. I can walk today, and no drama will follow.”

  “Then why haven’t you?”

  “Because,” he paused, looking deep into her eyes, “I never had the motivation to do so.”

  Kya shook her head. She could name several reasons that should have been his motivation. Starting with the cute little boy that idolized him. She couldn’t believe that he would stop for her. A nobody. A pawn. To believe it, he’d have to show her.

  “Until then, this is done. I should be cutting you off for good, but I know that if you pop up on me, I will be happy to see you. I can’t and won’t fool myself. I feel something for you. What it is, I don’t really have a title for. What I can say, is that I’m not going to play this game anymore. If you have issues with my father, you take them up with him. Leave me out of that. But if you truly want me as much as you say, I need to see it. For now, I would like to go back to Karrina’s.”

  He nodded and said nothing. Internally, Kya felt like the dumbest woman on Earth. There she was with a man that admitted to wanting her dead, and she had all but told him she’d give him a chance to make up for it. A chance to win her the right way having no idea what that challenge meant to him. Essentially, that she was opening the door to more surprises and seduction that she could never anticipate.

  TWENTY

  She was scared of him, now. Although the words were never spoken, he knew it. Once he grabbed her dress from the dryer and she was out of his shirt, everything was different. He could not get close enough to her without her shying away or diverting her eyes. Having the ability to read people, Antonio realized that it was not just fear that sparked the change in Kya’s demeanor. It was a defensive wall. The way she had given into the kisses on her jaw and neck and how she sank into his arms as he told her she was his, were all signs of feelings Kya was withholding.

  “I should be cutting you off fo
r good, but I know that if you pop up on me, I will be happy to see you. I can’t and won’t fool myself. I feel something for you.”

  But not like he felt for her. That much was clear. Never in Antonio’s life had he ever felt as if he needed or wanted to prove himself to anyone. In the eyes of all, what you saw was what you got, and if you didn’t see much, that was your problem. That rule did not apply to Kya. Most–if not all–of his regulations did not refer to Kya. She yelled at him. Raised her sweet voice to tell him how angry it made her that he was taking his fortune and family for granted. He’d hurt people for less, and yet his response to her had not come anywhere near violence.

  Just to keep her in his company for a little while longer, Antonio took Kya to breakfast, in which she was silent for the most part. Unless there was a question asked, she said nothing and did not look his way.

  On the way to Karrina’s, he made a decision to turn off a few exits after the one they needed. As expected, Kya’s eyes held questions, but her lips never moved even as the houses became few and dilapidated buildings were more prominent. Also as manicured lawns thinned into stained concrete. Even as he stopped the car in front of one of those rundown buildings.

  “This building right here is where my mother, sisters, and I, lived after my father went to prison. In that two-bedroom apartment on the first floor. Naturally, I took the couch while my sisters shared a room. My mother wanted me to take the other room, but I refused. Losing the house we were once happy in was hard enough on her. She’d sacrificed enough. Despite the money my father was bringing in, my mother insisted on working. It’s because she worked that we stayed in the house as long as we did and kept some of our things in the first place. She was smart enough to keep a record of the money she made as well as her investments to cover for my father. When the police came and seized everything they assumed was bought with drug money, we had more than just the clothes on our backs.”

  “She covered for him?”

  For some reason, he smiled, nodding as if she were looking at him rather than out the window.