Cruel Temptation

by Callahan, Kelli

  Then, when her ten years ended, she wouldn’t want to leave me. She’d have no choice but to stay. That was what I really wanted to do. I wanted to take away every choice she had, so the only choice left was me.

  At least it was an option. It was better than absolutely zero choices, plus, I wasn’t that bad of a catch. A little rough around the edges, but what merciless man wasn’t?

  I pressed the button of the intercom, never taking my eyes off Quinn. “Thanks, Louis.” I lift my finger off the switch as the car rolled to a stop, the tires crunching over the gravel. We were in the middle of a wooded area I bought six months ago. We always kept a jet here. California brought a lot of business, and since the damn state was so big, it only made sense to always be prepared.

  Louis opened the back door, and the dry air of California breezed inside the car. I breathed in the familiar pine and saltwater from the Pacific and relaxed. I bent down and gathered Quinn in my arm’s, lifting her until I had her tucked against my chest. I almost felt bad for chloroforming her.

  Almost.

  I wasn’t in the mood for her wicked tongue and quick spit that she liked to threaten me with. Her defiance turned me on as much as it pissed me off. The next ten years were going to be a challenge. And there wasn’t anything I liked more than conquering a challenge.

  The second car came to a stop behind us, nearly hitting the back bumper of the car I just got out of, and I sneered at the driver, giving him a look that I made sure could kill if it were possible. I watched the coward’s throat bob with fear, and as he got out of the car, he debated telling me he was sorry but thought better of it when I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t know his name. My only driver was Louis. He was the only one I trusted with who I bring into the car and who I drag out of it.

  This guy was a rented driver, and I wasn’t afraid to get rid of loose ends.

  The untrustworthy guy finally opened the backdoor for the rest of the guys, and one by one, they came pouring out. Owen, the gruffest of us, had a hold of Brian’s arm and dragged him out of the car, his body hitting the ground with a hard thud. Brian was knocked out cold, and Owen dragged him by his wounded arm, the shoulder where the bullet went through and through.

  That would hurt Brian later, but I didn’t care.

  “This fucker wouldn’t shut up,” Owen said. “Going on and on about how he could give us so much money if we turned against you.”

  “So you punched him?” I asked, not bothering to check if we were alone out here. I knew we were, and the only people that saw what we were doing were the ones here right now.

  That driver might have to get taken care of though.

  “Hell yeah, I did. I hated the sound of his voice. It’s all pitchy.” Owen turned around when Brian’s pant leg got caught on something and tugged Brian’s arm so hard, I thought the damn thing was about to rip out of its socket. The pant leg ripped on a branch poking out from the ground, and the wood dug into Brian’s leg, creating a large gash.

  “Don’t kill him yet,” I said, annoyed that he was treating the captive so carelessly.

  Grayson chuckled. “He’ll be fine. It’s just a scratch.”

  “He already has a bullet wound,” I growled from my patience wearing thin. I loved these guys like my brothers, I really did, but sometimes, I wanted to strangle them. I guess family did that to everyone.

  “It’s a scratch. He’ll live,” Owen said. “Listen to Grayson. Everything is fine. You worry too much. You’ll be able to do what you want to him.”

  Heaven snickered. “That’s what she said.”

  Grayson, me, Sebastian, and Owen paused and glanced at the youngest of us. There were times when he was so immature that you couldn’t help but love him.

  “What?” he asked, smile falling from his face a bit. “I couldn’t just ignore an opening like that. You set yourself up.”

  “Get on the plane, Heaven. I’ll deal with you later.” I hoisted Quinn in my arms to get a better grip on her and realize how light she was. Had she been eating? She felt too thin. That would change with me. She needed to gain ten pounds, at least.

  Heaven pointed at all of us. “You all need to loosen up. You’re wearing your ties too tight.”

  “I’m not even wearing a tie,” Owen grunted, dragging Brian behind him toward the plane as Louis drove the car onto the ramp that would lift it into the bottom of the aircraft.

  “Then you need to pull the stick out of your ass,” Heaven joked and laughed when Owen got out his gun and pointed it at him. “Someone is sensitive.”

  “Someone is annoying, and it might get you killed one day.”

  Heaven pouted. “Aw, someone didn’t get hugged enough at night.”

  Owen brought his gaze to mine and pressed his lips together. “Can I kill him? I’m killing him.”

  “No, we like him, remember?”

  “Not right now.” Owen tugged on Brian’s arm, and this time Brian woke up and started screaming. Owen stopped in his tracks. “You have got to be kidding me.” he hung his head, clearly exhausted from Brian, not from dragging him, just…him.

  “Help me! Someone, help me!” Brian’s screams echoed in the forest yet blended in with the crash of the waves against the bottom of the cliffs. No one could hear him. It was just us out here.

  He wasn’t even asking about Quinn. He didn’t give a damn about her. I wondered if they had sex. Just the thought had me clutching her tighter.

  No, I didn’t care. She could fuck whoever she wanted.

  It was far from the truth, but I had to stay as far away as possible from that damn thing, or I’d get myself in deeper shit than I was in right now.

  “Is anyone going to shut him up?” the wayward old lady scowled as she hobbled toward us on her cane. How the hell I picked up a grandma was beyond me and out of character, but I liked Ingrid. We jived. And I didn’t find many people that didn’t flinch when confronted with violence. Ingrid was a badass, and the guys could use a feminine figure around to keep them respectful. “Stop your moaning!” Ingrid chastised Brian and smacked her cane against the side of his head until he was knocked out again.

  Well, maybe saying she was feminine was a bit of a reach.

  “Damn! Old lady has moves!” Heaven gasped and pointed at Ingrid with his mouth open.

  “Call me old one more time and I’ll shove this cane down your throat,” Ingrid warned and continued her way to the plane.

  “I thought bringing her was a mistake, but I think she’ll fit in just fine,” Owen said, watching Ingrid walk away. “She kind of reminds me of my Nana.”

  “I heard that! I ain’t no one’s fucking Nana,” she cursed at him and climbed up the steps of the plane, refusing Louis’s help, shrugging his arm off her shoulder, and almost making my favorite driver fall down the airplane steps.

  And here I thought she wanted to be a grandma. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. Bringing Ingrid was a last-minute choice, one that told me it would be good for her to be there for Quinn. Women need Women, right?

  Not that I cared. I just didn’t want to hear Quinn bitch.

  “Grayson? Carry Quinn to my suite on the plane. I’ll be up in a minute.” I was careful when I handed her off to Grayson, my hand lingering on her head to make sure he was supporting her. This was the woman I loved when I was sixteen and hated when I turned twenty-one.

  I never stopped.

  “I have her, Jaxon. It’s fine.” Grayson strolled away, and I kept my back to him, refusing to turn around and watch as he carried a woman that meant more to me— that shouldn’t mean anything to me— laying in his arms instead of mine.

  But I had someone to take care of.

  The rent-a-driver was alone since the cars were on the plane. He was sweating, jittery, and pale. I knew he was untrustworthy, so letting him leave, well, I didn’t think that was an option. Jittery people had a habit of flapping their mouths.

  “I swear, I wo—won’t t—tell anyone wh—wha—you’re doing,” he stuttered and wr
ung his hands together. “Take me with you. I could be useful.”

  “I doubt that,” I said, and then the warm stench of piss filled the air. Damn, the man really was a coward. I hadn’t even done anything yet.

  “I swear Mr. Steel. I…I can do grunt work. Whatever you need done.” His pants were wet, and he didn’t bother to hide the shame. I didn’t like people I didn’t trust knowing what I was up to. Someone who saw me kidnapping two people and carrying them to my plane, that was too much for him to know.

  “No.” I shoved his chest with one hand, and he fell over the cliff, screaming for his life until the sea and rocks swallowed him, death silencing his plea.

  Sometimes, this job got dirty. Sometimes, people died.

  But that wasn’t my problem.

  Chapter Three

  Quinn

  I do.

  I woke up with a gasp when Brian’s face morphed into Jaxon’s in my dream.

  More like a nightmare.

  I rubbed my eyes to wake myself up, and my head swam with dizziness. My stomach turned, and a low hum surrounded me. Sitting up, I couldn’t believe my eyes with what I saw. I was in a large luxurious room, and the sheets beneath me were made of the finest silk. A white canopy fell over the bed, and it would have been a gorgeous room if it were on the fucking ground!

  The bastard put me on a plane. I had no idea where I was, where he was taking me, or if Brian was okay. I loved Brian, but I wasn’t in love with Brian. I was content. I figured happiness didn’t really exist since the man I did love, murdered his sister, and went to prison for ten years, so my views on love shifted a bit.

  Sue me.

  “Ooof,” I groaned and held my hand to my head when a wave of dizziness hit again as I stood up. A full-bodied mirror greeted me as it hung against the wall and I noticed the horrid appearance of not only myself but my wedding dress. My hair was wrecked, blood splattered over the beautiful Vera Wang silk gown, staining the expensive material that I saved up an entire two years for.

  Not much made me cry, but this was coming close to making tears fall. I didn’t have to save. I could have used the money my grandparents left me, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to feel accomplished like I made something out of myself, and I worked every damn night shift the hospital had until I finally saved up the eight-thousand dollars needed to buy this gown.

  And it was ruined.

  “I will not cry. I will not cry. He is done getting your tears.” I pressed my index fingers under my eyes and blinked up at the lights. Jaxon Steel was a man I cried too many nights over, wrote too many letters to that I never sent, and filled me with so much torment; I made sure I had convinced myself he was nothing but a mistake.

  Now he was back, almost from the damn grave, and it proved he wasn’t a ghost haunting me anymore. He was a villain coming to collect his dues.

  I would scream if I thought it would matter, but if I knew one thing about Jaxon, I knew my screams wouldn’t matter. He worked on his own time. Always had. I was better off sitting down and waiting patiently and doing my best not to freak out.

  My insides were a tangled, knotted mess. I was more than freaked out, I was scared out of my mind, but I couldn’t let him think that. He already had the upper hand, and my fear would be the last time thing he would get from me since he already has had everything else.

  “Brian, please be okay,” I whispered into the empty room, and my voice bounced back at me, reminding me that I was all alone. I wasn’t in love with the man, but I didn’t want to see him get hurt. It took him so long to get over Tracy’s death, and my friendship and comfort somehow turned into a relationship with him. I cared about him, and I realized I probably wouldn’t be any happier with anyone else than I was with him.

  So when he asked me to marry him, I said yes, because why not?

  A low buzz of something turning had me whipping my head around. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary until my eyes landed on a small black camera nestled in the corner. “Oh, you fucker! Why don’t you come in here and face me yourself! You think keeping me trapped in a room gives you the advantage? I’m not scared of you Jaxon. I haven’t been for a really long time.” I didn’t even know if he could hear me, but I hoped he could. I wanted him to know that his tactics wouldn’t work on me.

  They were working.

  I wouldn’t let him shake me. Not this time. For all I knew, he would throw me out of this plane thirty-thousand feet in the air and let me fall to my death.

  At least I’d finally get to sky-dive.

  Oh, that was some sick shit, Quinn. Stop thinking like that.

  The camera stayed right on me, not moving left or right. I smirked when I got an idea. I grabbed the blanket off the bed and sauntered over to the built-in bar that took up the right side of the room. I still felt sick from whatever he made me breathe in, but I wouldn’t let that stop me. I climbed on top of the bar, careful not to fall, and grinned in the camera. “You want to talk to me? You want to look at me? Then come knock on the door, damn it,” I nearly growled with the hate I have had building up inside me for far too long and tossed the soft cashmere throw over the camera to block the view.

  The camera tried to move, but the weight of the blanket was too much.

  Take that.

  I wiped my hands as if I just got them dirty and snooped around the room to see if there was anything good in here, I could use as a weapon. I was going to get the hell out of here, and if that meant taking Jaxon down in my attempt, then so be it.

  While I waited for him to come to the room to see if he’d give in since he couldn’t spy on me anymore, I hated that I appreciated the rich taste he had. Everything was light-colored with masculine detail. There was an onyx bowl filled with fresh fruit in the middle of the coffee table. Everything looked line with gold, every edge of every hard surface in the room. How the hell did a felon like Jaxon make so much money?

  I already knew.

  No surprise here. It had to be criminal activity. Jaxon always had his hands in something he wasn’t supposed to, including my pants when we were sixteen. Not that I stopped him from taking off my pants because I was a lovestruck teenage girl, but if I knew what I knew now, no way in hell would I have gotten within five feet of him.

  I knew he would never hurt me physically, but he has already done his damage mentally and emotionally. I had no idea what else he wanted from me, but I knew I wasn’t capable of giving it to him.

  My strides were slow, dragging from the memories weighing me down. I flipped the light on to the bathroom, and my eyes widened when a walk-in shower greeted me with a white sink and large vanity mirror. Who the hell needed rooms like this on a plane? He could live here.

  Maybe he did, and I was stuck looking at damn clouds out of a small window of a plane for the rest of my life.

  I remembered a time when life wasn’t so complicated when I wasn’t a prize, and Jaxon wasn’t the cold-blooded killer he was now. Being kids was so much easier. We had no worries, and the worst thing he had ever done was sell weed in back alleyways.

  My fingers touched my lips when a faint memory had my senses reeling, remembering his lips on mine. They were softer than they looked, gentle and experienced, commanding and refined. I almost felt his lips on me again, like a phantom limb pain, but what I missed was his mouth on mine. He was my first kiss.

  My first love.

  My first everything.

  Remembering Jaxon that way was remembering another man because the man I loved would have never killed his sister. He was different now. Cold. Calculated. Selfish. Domineering.

  And so damn handsome, he should be considered unholy.

  He was always that way; the kind of man that mothers warned about, but the kind that brought the memories women talked about until their golden years. Yeah, even thinking about all the times we could have gotten caught and been in massive trouble made my cheeks warm. God, that man had my heart caught in a wild snare.

  Only it wasn’t him that was lef
t bleeding, it was me.

  I wasn’t sure how much time had passed since throwing the blanket over the camera, and there wasn’t a clock in sight. I lost track of time the moment he stood up and objected at my wedding. He had balls of steel. Pun intended.

  I was almost free of him, but freedom always came with a price, and Jaxon never failed to name his. If I remembered correctly, he said I was his for the next ten years? Yeah, he could go jump out of this plane without a parachute for all I cared. He wasn’t taking ten years of my life because he got ten years taken from him for killing his sister.

  That wasn’t fair. I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be caught in whatever problem Brian and Jaxon had.

  I sat down on the bed and startled when I felt something under me. My brows drew together, and I stood up again to see what I could possibly be sitting on. Fresh clothes that were neatly folded in a perfect square. Straight legged grey joggers and an over-sized t-shirt that made my breath catch.

  He remembered?

  Impossible that he still knew I loved my pajama shirts to swallow me. It was my favorite thing about staying over with him when we were younger. I’d always steal a t-shirt. This one looked new, just plain black, but I felt how soft and expensive the material was. A normal forty-dollar outfit was probably two or three hundred because that was Jaxon. He always had to have the best of the best of everything.

  I was grateful the shirt wasn’t his. It hurt enough to know he remembered a detail like that about me, and it hurt even more when I realized a part of me was sad that it wasn’t his shirt. I could almost smell his cologne if I thought hard enough, another ghost of him no doubt that still lingered.