Cruel Temptation

by Callahan, Kelli

  “Fuck you, lady. You made a choice, and now I’m trapped.” I crossed my arms over my chest and furrowed my gaze at her. She had poufy hair and wore a pink tracksuit. Red lips, thick mascara, and only a few wrinkles around her face. She didn’t look seventy, but she walked like she was. “Don’t give me your excuses. I’m not here because I want to be.” I glanced away and thought about Brian, then sighed. It was no use telling her I wanted to go home. She had chosen her alliances.

  And like I said before, I wasn’t going to beg. No one would get that from me.

  “Oh, poor you. Trapped in a big, beautiful room, with food catered to you.” She laid her hand on her forehead and feigned distress. “Life is just awful. Oh, the injustice of it all.”

  “It…isn’t like that. Stop making the situation seem better than it is.”

  “Rabbit, it is better than what it could be. Be glad you aren’t your friend right now,” she smirked, her voice dragged like she lit a fresh smoke and puffed. She made her way to the door, and my heart pounded at the thought of Brian being injured.

  “Where is he? Is he hurt?” I followed her, but she kept her back to me. “Answer me, damn it!” I nearly shoved her, but my damn subconscious stopped me because the slight jolt would probably break her back.

  She hummed as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “Enjoy your food, Rabbit.” She slid out the door and locked it.

  I slapped and kicked the door, frustrated that I was more of a wreck now than I was before she came in. “Tell me how he is! You better tell me,” I screamed until my voice broke, losing the control I swore not to lose. “And my name isn’t, Rabbit! That doesn’t even make sense!” I kicked the door one more time for good measure and let out a frustrated groan so loud it echoed throughout the room.

  I tried the knob for the hell of it and found it locked, of course, but it was worth a shot. I turned my head and placed my chin on the curve of my shoulder, staring at the silver cart with gold lids covering the plates speculatively. I bet it was poisoned.

  I’d wake up tomorrow in a different room, probably in another country.

  The thought had my breath catching. What if I was in Romania or something right now? What if I wasn’t even in the United States?

  Just my luck.

  I gave up on figuring out where I was held hostage and took a step toward the cart the crazy lady brought. Anxiety gnawed at me, or it could have been hunger. My stomach growled when I smelled the food and coffee. Did I really want to eat the food?

  If I didn’t, I’d be weak, and I couldn’t fight anyone off.

  Or I’d die from poison.

  Or I’d die from not eating.

  Or I eat and die anyway from being cooped up in this room.

  Really, the only option was to eat.

  My fingers gripped the warm lid, and I flung them off the plates quickly, letting them crash onto the floor. The metal rang as the lid circled like a toy spinner until it lost momentum and laid still. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I guess I thought something would jump out at me, but all that was there was my favorite dish.

  “Bastard,” I cursed him again when I saw loaded hashbrowns. I had an unhealthy habit for breakfast foods. Biscuits and gravy sat on top of the crispy bed of potatoes with cheese and cuts of bits of steak, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos. It was disgusting to a lot of people, but my mouth was watering at the plate. The gravy dripped off the edge onto the cart, and I wanted to lick it up.

  I was a sick person wanting to eat this food my kidnapper gave me.

  I opened the next lid and saw fresh fruit, blackberries, and strawberries with a dollop of whipped cream, another favorite. A French press stood in the middle between the two plates, filled with coffee and creamer sat to the right of it.

  All of it looked so good, and Jaxon knew I’d eat every bit of it and then fall back asleep, as I did every time when I got full.

  I hated him more than ever in this moment because while he knew these things about me, after all these years, Brian didn’t know a damn thing.

  “You will not win me over with food,” I grumbled, and I stabbed the forked into the hashbrowns and shoved them into my mouth, the gravy unattractively dripping off my chin.

  But a little tiny piece of my resolve was breaking when it came to the arrogant Jaxon Steel, reminding me of the love I once had for the man.

  A love that never really faded and a love that would never happen again. No matter how this situation was painted, he was a murderer. A stone-cold killer.

  And I’d rather die than to feel his embrace.

  Chapter Six

  Jaxon

  I opened the door to the room we kept Brian in. We finally had a doctor look at his wound and stitch him up, but it did get infected.

  Whoops.

  So now he laid in one of the hospital beds we kept on site, the heart rate monitor beeping to let me know he was alive and well.

  Damn it.

  He had handcuffs on each wrist, chaining him to the bed. His blonde hair was slicked back, and his forehead shined with sweat as he fought a fever. Damn it; I was really looking forward to torturing him and letting out years of pent of anger. Maybe I could when he healed. He wasn’t going anywhere for a long time.

  Not until I had the answers I was looking for.

  And I had a feeling he wasn’t going to give them up easily. I had him on camera, recording every move and sound he made, just in case he slipped up and admitted that he was the one that killed Tracy.

  “Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show his face,” Brian coughed. “I was wondering when I’d see a friendly face.”

  “I know you aren’t looking at mine, then,” I said, sitting it the chair in the far corner away from the bed. I was afraid if I got too close to him again, I’d kill him, just like he deserved but I had to stay calm. I had to look at the bigger picture. I crossed my ankle over my knee and folded my hands in my lap, composing myself in the best way I knew how.

  I hated the man in front of me.

  With every ounce in my fucking soul, I wished him dead. I remembered when I first met Brian. I had just gotten done with a deal, and the guy fucked me over a few bucks. I was furious, and Brian was walking down the street when he saw me beating the man’s face in. We had been inseparable ever since, and I learned a lot of my ways from him.

  And then I introduced him to my sister, and it was the worst thing I had ever done. It was my fault that she was dead because if I hadn’t introduced them, she’d still be alive.

  “The felon look looks good on you, Jax.”

  My jaw ticked when he called me by a name I hadn’t heard in years.

  “The whole tattooed, I just got out of prison look really works. Oh, wait,” he coughed again through a sarcastic laugh. “You did just get out of prison, didn’t you?”

  “I’d watch your mouth if I were you, Brian. You’re here, under my roof, and I can kill you whenever I want.”

  “Oh, but you wouldn’t do that. You never do anything that doesn’t benefit you. And if you hurt me, that would hurt Quinn. And you wouldn’t want anything to hurt your precious little Quinny, right?”

  I stayed silent. He was taunting me. He knew what Quinn meant to me when he took her from me. All these years, she had been lying with the enemy, and she had no idea. “Do you even care about her?”

  “Quinn?” he snorted and shook his head. “She’s an easy bitch to target and filthy rich. Did you know that? If it wasn’t for you, I would be on my way to Mexico, four million dollars richer, and Quinn would be six feet under, somewhere.”

  I stood slowly, keeping my breathing even and calm as he spoke about a woman, he almost married. I knew about the money transfer he had set up, but I had no idea he had intended to kill her. I wasn’t surprised. He killed Tracy. Why wouldn’t he have killed Quinn? Why now? Why not sooner? It didn’t matter. I was glad it wasn’t sooner, or I wouldn’t have been around to stop it.

  I casually strolled to the
side of the bed and wrapped my much large palm that was wider than his neck around his throat and squeezed.

  Hard.

  His face turned red, and he started to gasp. The metal of the handcuffs clanked against the bed as he tried to grab my hand and stop me from killing him. I brought my lips to his ear and sneered a whisper, “You hear that, Brian? You hear your heart beating rapidly as is struggles to keep you alive with the air you have left in your lungs?” The heart rate monitor was beeping viciously, and his pulse kept climbing the redder his face got. “Just a little bit longer and I never have to deal with you again, but you have something I need, and you need to be alive for that.” His eyes started to hood, and his mouth was open, gasping for air like a fish out of water.

  I let go.

  Damn it.

  And he breathed so hard and inhaled so much air, he coughed, sending spit flying everywhere. “You’re crazy if you think I’ll give you a damn thing.”

  “Hmm,” I hummed thoughtfully, straightening from my bent position. I took out my phone and opened the gallery, selecting the first photo. “Look at her, isn’t she adorable.” It was a picture of Brian’s three-year-old niece. She had curly blonde hair and big blue eyes. “She is going to be a heartbreaker when she is older.”

  “You wouldn’t dare kill a child,” he said, the dip in his voice let me know that he was uncertain. He should be.

  I would never kill a child, but he didn’t need to know that. “Maybe,” I said and flipped to the next picture to his sister. She had blonde hair too, like mother like daughter. “Stephanie looks so happy here, Brian. Look at that smile.”

  “You are fucking asshole. You better not touch her.” He tried to get free of the cuffs again but it was useless. He had a mad gleam in his eyes and sweat dripping from his nose to his lips from the fever.

  My hand flew up and grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked it back until he cried out. “Why not? You took mine. Sister for a sister, that’s fair, isn’t it?”

  “You’d never find her,” he challenged. “I made sure—”

  “She lives off the coast of Australia. In a cute cottage, working at a surf shop, happy as a little bee flying from flower to flower.” I drifted my hands through the air to mimic a bumblebee flying through the air. “You were never really that great at covering your tracks.”

  “I’ll kill you—”

  “If I kill her? Keep that in mind.” I gripped his chin as hard as I could, my fingers digging into his skin to the point I could feel the sharp peaks of his teeth. “I will kill anyone you care about until you confess the truth.” I darted my eyes between his, searching for him to back down, but he gave nothing away. How sad was it that the man had to think about saving his family over his own freedom? “You don’t have long to decide.”

  “Where does Quinn fit in all this?” he asked.

  This time, I lifted my fist in the air and let it fly against his cheek. Something cracked, and a second later, blood sprayed, and a tooth bounced on the floor until it hit the wall.

  “You made me lose a tooth!” he screamed, blood dripping from his mouth and staining his hospital gown.

  I held onto his throat again and picked him up off the bed as high as I could until we were face to face. “You don’t get to talk about her. She is not your business anymore.”

  “She hates you, you know. There will be no reversing that.”

  “There will be if you care about your family at all. Don’t forget about your younger brother, John, and his fiancé Meredith. What about your parents?” I slammed him back against the bed and stared down at him. “Make no mistake, Brian. I am not the same man you used to know. Prison does that to a guy. I’ll kill them right in front of you and not blink twice.” I turned away and ignored the itch I had to kill him and finish it off. It really didn’t matter if I got his confession, but it was something I needed.

  I had to hear him say it.

  I opened the door and closed it softly, but I was seething with rage on the inside. I was ready to kill. I needed a job to do. There had to be something lined up for us to take off this edge. I was in the mood to go to Africa and steal some weapons from the soldiers there that liked to hurt their women. It wasn’t a job that would make a lot of money, but it would be satisfying.

  Something to get me out of here.

  But I couldn’t leave Quinn. I trusted only a few men, and they went where I went. They would have to go without me on heists, as much as I hated it, Quinn was already on the edge, and I didn’t feel right leaving her in this place alone. It was a maze, and she could get lost.

  Or escape.

  “Feel better?” Owen asked as he rummaged through the medical cabinet. He was the only one here that knew about medicine. He wasn’t a doctor, but he had read hundreds of books on medicine, if he could, I knew he’d be a great doctor, but that just wasn’t an option for men like us.

  “Not really,” I said, tugging on my suit sleeves.

  “It won’t get better, you know,” he said absentmindedly as he pulled a large syringe out of the medical cart. “Either buck up or kill. You need to figure out what you want. It can’t go on forever.”

  “You don’t think I know that?”

  He turned his cold eyes onto me and shook his head, no expression on his face. “No, I don’t think you do. I think your mind is clouded with emotions. Hate for him and love for her.”

  “Her,” I spat. “I don’t love her.”

  “Right, that’s why you’re keeping her for ten years? Get real, man,” Owen said and pushed by me. “Now, I’m going to give him a paralyzer, but his mind and eyes will be awake. Want to watch?”

  “You go ahead with your fun. I’m going to go get a drink.” And I wanted to see Quinn. It had been another twenty-four hours since I brought her here, and it was time I showed my face. I glanced down at my watch and saw that it was just passed one in the morning. I winced; I wasn’t sure if she’d be awake. I had been sleeping in the guest room next to my suite, the one she was staying in, but there was a two-way mirror that brought the rooms together.

  I could see her.

  She just couldn’t see me.

  I felt that it was the only way to be near her, to marvel at her, to watch her graceful steps and angry expressions. There were so many times where she looked at the mirror, staring at her own reflection, but there were times where I felt like she knew I was on the other side. It was best if she didn’t know.

  It was best if no one knew about the mirror. It was my secret. My guilty pleasure. I never watched as she undressed, no matter how much I wanted to. Sure, I had seen her body before, and some would argue that it was nothing new, but that was where they were wrong.

  Quinn’s body was sinful, curves and mounds to keep a man like me busy for the rest of his life, but it was her personality that changed every time her clothes fell. Quinn, sweet and timid? Quinn, who wanted to be in control? Quinn, who wanted her ass smacked? Quinn’s fiery temper ready to rip me to shreds.

  Quinn was like a set of dice and with every roll, I never knew what I’d get, I just hoped I got lucky.

  It had to be luck. It would be the only reason why a man like me, one who wasn’t afraid to get blood on his hands, touched a woman of her caliber.

  She was a force to be reckoned with. An unpredictable tornado waiting to tear me apart.

  She’d be happy to know she had already.

  Chapter Seven

  Quinn

  I woke up with a start. The room was dark, minus the glow of the moon coming through the floor to ceiling windows behind me. It was so silent I could hear the waves crashing beneath us, a light static in the background that made my eyes heavy, but I couldn’t sleep. I felt someone in the room with me.

  A strong presence. One that was undeniable. One I had felt a hundred times.

  I didn’t turn over. I didn’t move. I barely blinked. I didn’t want him to know I was awake; maybe then he would leave. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to him. Jaxon ma
de the space feel so much smaller, suffocating me slowly with the air he exhaled from his lungs.

  His shouts, when he got arrested and dragged out of the house as they covered his sister’s dead body, screamed at me. He cried out for me.

  “Quinn! Quinn! You must believe me. I didn’t do this. I didn’t! I’d never! Quinn!”

  But as they lowered him into the cop car and I saw Brian crying and devastated, I didn’t know what to believe. All the evidence pointed to Jaxon, my heart and my mind told me two different things, and I listened to the rational part of my brain instead of the emotion that controlled my heart.

  Did I make a mistake? Was he truly calling out for me because he needed me, and I wasn’t there? No, that couldn’t be it. Jaxon was selfish. He only ever thought of himself. He never needed me.

  “I know you’re awake,” he said from the darkness.

  I considered pretending I was asleep, but what was the point? I stayed on my side and tucked my hands under my head and stared at the wall. I had nothing to say to him. What he was doing was unforgivable.

  “We have a lot to discuss, Quinn.”

  Ugh, the way he said my name, all deep and raspy, made my skin tremor in response. I didn’t know it was possible to hate someone even more, but here I was, hating him with a vengeance.

  “Silent treatment? You were always good at that.”

  I knew what he meant. I never spoke a word to him again when he went to prison. It was wrong of me, but I was young and afraid. The truth scared the hell out of me. I had so many unsent letters stuffed in a shoebox that not even Brian knew about. A part of me was locked behind those prison bars with Jaxon, but I could never gather the courage to mail the letters, asking a hundred times what happened.

  I was a prisoner of fear from the truth.

  “I want to talk.”

  I stayed silent, not giving him the satisfaction.