Cruel Temptation

by Callahan, Kelli

  I was the only woman he had ever wanted, and in a typical Jaxon fashion, he wrapped me around his soul. Truth be told, I knew I was the only person he trusts with it. Not even his friends that lived in the same house as him knew him like I knew him. I knew all his scarred parts and regrets, just as he knew mine.

  We were fucked up, and it was settling, knowing we would be fucked up together.

  “Okay, tell you what. You go hiking with me to Strawberry Rock. We will start with that height. It’s just a tall rock that looks over the ocean. Do that with me today and ziplining can be saved for another time.”

  It was a compromise. He was asking me to better myself. He faced fear every day and owned it. He served ten years in prison and survived. I could climb a silly rock. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

  “Thank you. I’m proud of you for even trying.” He pushed himself off the ground and stood, intimidating as always. He wore all black today. The color against his olive skin tone with the darkness of his tattoos made me want to lick him all over. “I have to go deal with some business first, so eat, get dressed, and we will shop first, hike later.”

  I sat on the edge of the bed and reached over the cart for the A-1 sauce, unscrewed the white cap, and poured a hefty amount over my breakfast. My mouth watered. “Are you going to go see Brian?”

  I shouldn’t have asked that question because his confidence diminished a little. His shoulder sagged slightly, and his jaw tightened, annoyed that I would ask about Brian in the first place. “I was only wondering what the plan was for him?”

  “You don’t want to know, Quinn. You don’t want to know that side of me. I prefer to keep it away from you.”

  “Nothing can surprise me, Jaxon. Don’t you think I know what you’re capable of by now? You objected at my wedding, you shot Brian, and then you kidnapped us, then adopted some old lady, who I haven’t seen in a day—”

  “Cause we have been in here,” he said with a flirtatious suggestion and dancing brows.

  I pseudo stabbed him with my fork that had a piece of biscuit on it. “You know what I mean.” I shoved the food into my mouth and groaned.

  My love for A-1 was unhealthy. I probably needed to cut back.

  Never.

  He laid his hand on the nook, where my shoulder and neck met. His skin was hot, almost branding me like a hot iron poker as he touched me. “I know. I’m happy you know that I’m not a good man, but it doesn’t mean I want you to see that side of me. You’d look at me in a different way, in a whole new light, and that is something I’m not ready for. I just got you back, Quinn. Losing you again isn’t an option.”

  “You aren’t going to lose me. You are in a criminal heist group, and you admitted to killing innocent people, yet here I sit, eating your food, probably bought with blood money, but you know what, Jaxon?”

  The waves took the moment to batter the windows, and both of us looked outside to see the sea rocking again. Mother nature was pissed off today. “What, baby?” his tone was so soft when he called me that. I couldn’t help that my heart tripped over itself every time the pet name left him.

  “The food tastes just as good as food bought with clean money.” I shoved another scoop of loaded hashbrowns into my mouth, debating for a split second where my moral compass had vanish to, but it must have fallen in the damn ocean and sank to the bottom of Mariana’s Trench.

  “There is no way you are real.”

  “As real as a heart attack that this food is about to give me.” Gravy dripped down my lips as I horsed around with him, but he didn’t find it funny. His expression changed from soft and sweet to concern. He stared at the food, then me, back to the food, and then me again. A light bulb went off above his head when he got an idea. I saw it.

  And I could tell I wasn’t going to like it. “No, don’t you dare. I’m going to hike with you. If you take my food away, you will see a side of me that will haunt you until death.” I snatched the plate away from his quick, grabby, sneaky hands. “And I’m a nurse; I run my own bloodwork. I’m healthy, swear it. Lowe’s promise,” I held up my finger’s, showing the boy scout honor symbol.

  “Those two have nothing to do with one another. What am I going to do with you?” He inched forward and stole the biscuit off my fork. His face cringed with disgust when the A-1 burst over his tongue. “That is nasty. You are a sick person. I know what I’m going to do with you. Get your damn head checked because if you like that, it only makes sense that you would love me. You have horrible taste.”

  “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just insult me, my food, or you. I’m happy right now, and you not liking this means more for me. Now, go torture or do your Dr. Evil stuff. Shoo. Go.” I shooed him to the door with my fork. I was being easy-going about this. I wasn’t scared or freaking out like I was a few days ago. There was no denial anymore.

  I was happy. I didn’t care what Jaxon did for a living.

  I only wanted him again, and if that meant I loved a crime-fighting vigilante, then so be it. Plus, my mood was amazing this morning after the amazing sex I had last night. All those orgasms that had been building up over the years made me feel like a lighter person.

  “I’ll be back to get you soon. I love you.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, something he did when we were younger too. It never mattered where he was going, if he left me, he kissed me on my forehead. The press of his lips was a small gesture that made me feel more loved than any bouquet of flowers could.

  “I love you too,” I said, watching that beautiful ass walk away.

  “Stop staring.”

  “Never,” I called out after him with a smug smile.

  What would he look like in a cape?

  Just a cape.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jaxon

  I left Quinn’s room with a pep in my step and a damn grin on my face. I never smiled on my way to work. I was calm, composed, ready to strike and kill, but damn it, Quinn had me wanting to skip down the hall.

  This was not a field of wildflowers. There would be no damn skipping, Jaxon. Pull yourself together.

  I got to the kitchen and didn’t notice anyone around, and while the guys were probably downstairs and waiting for me, Ingrid wasn’t here. She always stayed on the couch and smoked her joint. She claimed it was medical marijuana for her lower back pain. I believed her since some days she walked with a cane and some days she didn’t.

  What if something had happened to her in her room? Damn it. I closed the refrigerator door harder than necessary, and the glass bottles on the door clanked together. I bet something was wrong because she was as old as the damn dinosaurs, and I brought home a stray. She was getting a life-alert necklace if she was going to stay.

  I wouldn’t get anxiety over someone every time they weren’t around.

  With an apple in my hand, I tossed it in the air and caught it. Starting my way down the hall, I made my strides quick and long so I could get to her room sooner. It was past the area where bookshelves were but before the elevator. My shoes echoed down the hall with every commanding beat of my steps. I bit into the apple, the crisp, sweet juices bursting over my tongue reminded me of how Quinn tasted.

  “Get it together, Jaxon,” I said to myself, giving myself a small reminder that I was the same guy that pushed the driver off the cliff. I needed to be that guy when I wasn’t around Quinn. I hadn’t realized how much I’d changed when I finally got her trust in me. I was happier, and I couldn’t seem to hide it.

  I schooled my face, wiping the grin off my lips to try and gain the stern ‘I will kill you’ expression I seemed to perfect over the years, lifted my fist, and knocked on Ingrid’s door. “Ingrid, your old bat. Where the hell have you been?” I asked through the door. I leaned my ear against the wood and heard her giggle. “Ingrid?” I repeated. “If you don’t open this door in three seconds, I’m going too.”

  One. Two. Three.

  I turned the knob and swung the door open to see her in bed with Louis, my driver. His saggy wh
ite ass had me frozen in place.

  “Shut the damn door; you fucking peeping Tom!” Ingrid tossed a pillow at me, and I slammed the door before the sex-drenched thing could hit me.

  I was ruined, blinded by the damn light of Louis’s ass. I rubbed a hand over my face and shook my head, trying to get the memory out of my head of those two going at it. “You dog,” I said, wishing Ingrid could hear me. I assumed she was the one that seduced Louis. Poor bastard never had a fighting chance with how determined she seemed to be about everything.

  Well, now that I knew she was more than okay, alive, and most definitely well, I headed toward the elevator. I noticed the floors looked dirty and blurred, and I made a note to tell Grayson that it was his turn to polish the floors. We could hire a housekeeper, but we liked doing house duties. We rotated every week. I thought it was a way to keep us grounded.

  Granted, when we were away, I hired someone to come in and dust and fill the fridge with groceries, so when we came back from a job, we didn’t have to worry about anything.

  The elevator chimed, and the metal doors slid open. While I waited to get to the basement, I thought about the letters Quinn said she wrote to me over the last ten years. I’d never forget spending day after day in a prison cell, lying awake because sleep didn’t come easy. I slept with one eye open the entire time. I never knew what could happen. A guy always had to be on the lookout to protect one's self. I would have given anything for an escape, to see her handwriting, and get lost in her words, whether they were good or bad. It would have been like having a piece of her with me.

  That would have been a lot better than staying inside metal bars with nothing but freedom and my thoughts trying to get the best of me.

  The high ding of the elevator had my focus returning. Once the doors opened, I heard the guys arguing with one another, their voices carrying down the empty hall. The door was open as I entered it, and Owen was holding another syringe full of who-knows-what, and Sebastian was being the level-headed one, trying to talk Owen off the angry edge he constantly perched on.

  “What’s going on? Update me,” I said as I entered the room, and all eyes turned to me.

  “Bout time you showed up and was able to pull out of her pussy for more than five minutes. This was your problem, remember?” Owen spat at me, and I wasted no time slamming him against the wall by the back of his neck and pushed his face against the hard surface.

  I took control of his arm and twisted his wrist back, snatching the needle from his grasp. “I will let you talk about me all your want, Owen, but fuck you if you think I’m going to let you disrespect Quinn like that.” I shoved the syringe into his neck and pressed whatever medication was inside into his bloodstream. Maybe it would kill him; maybe it wouldn’t. Right now, I didn’t care. No one spoke about her like that, no one.

  Owen collapsed. His body hit the ground hard, and his head hit the floor with an unforgiving smack. His eyes were wide, and he moved them back and forth.

  Ah, the paralytic again.

  “How does it feel to get a taste of your own medicine?” I asked him, knowing he wouldn’t be able to reply. I squatted and then yanked the needle out of his neck. “I will say this once,” I held up a finger. “Talk about her like that again, and I will throw you from the cliffs myself next time, while you can’t feel your body, and you can’t swim to the surface. You’ll watch yourself sink deeper and deeper into the ocean. The world around you will get darker the further you get since the light can’t touch you. You’ll try not to breathe, but instinct will finally win, and you’ll inhale water. There will be nothing you can do to save yourself. You’ll die helplessly.” I patted his leg and stood, then cracked my neck as I twisted it from side to side, and rolled my shoulders.

  “Take him to a free bed. Force his eyes closed. I don’t want to have to worry about giving him eye drops.”

  Heaven and Grayson hurried to Owen’s side, and they grunted when they lifted the poor bastard and carried him out the door.

  “He will be furious at you for that,” Sebastian advised as he leaned against the mirror. When I stared at him, I noticed Brian was chained to the wall this time. Ankles strapped against the wall, and his hands chained to his sides.

  Okay, maybe it was a little dungeon-y, but it was a classy dungeon. His torture chambers could have been a lot worse.

  My eyes flicked over Brian and settled on Sebastian a second later. “I don’t care. Let it be a warning to everyone. She was before all of you. I love you like family, but she’s different. I won’t let anyone talk about her like that. That was a warning. Next time, I’ll kill whoever speaks about her that way.”

  “You forgive her that easily?”

  Without hesitation, I stared him in the eyes and said, “Yes. I do. It’s that easy.”

  “Why? I’m not being insulting. I’m trying to understand. All those years of built-up anger, just forgiven?”

  I laced my hands behind my back and watched Brian tug on the restraints. His arms were clasped above his head, so his shoulder would be fine. For now. “I was upset. It hurt like hell not to have her faith in me. We were young, it was a hard situation, and she admitted her wrongs. I love her enough to not hold it against her. If I did, there would be no future.” And if Brian breathed the same air, Quinn and I would be looking over our shoulders. I would never know peace if he never confessed.

  It haunted me that I was accused of killing my sister. I wanted to feel liberated when the words were spoken into the air. I wanted them to be out in the world.

  Sebastian didn’t say anything. He just nodded and thought about what I said. I didn’t know if he understood, but that was okay. When the time came for him to get his vengeance, and he fell in love, he would see how much didn’t matter compared to what did.

  Quinn was what mattered.

  “How has Brian been?”

  “Quiet. There was a police report of what happened at the church filed, but witnesses say they didn’t see anything. Still, I’m going to keep an eye on it. We don’t need backlash from this.”

  “Agreed.” Sebastian’s warning about getting caught led me to think about Brian’s family. With how far apart his brother was from his sister, I’d say they had no idea Brian was missing. They hadn’t gone to the wedding, probably due to Brian telling them to stay away. The man had a lot of enemies. He obviously had no intention of protecting Quinn like the rest of his family, or he would have gotten married in private. He wanted to protect his brother and sister, but nothing was too far out of reach for me to grab.

  I’d take his sister and dangle her in front of him if I had to, threaten to wrap my hands around her throat just like he did mine, but I hoped it wouldn’t have to come to that. I didn’t ever hurt women. It was a rule I had, but I didn’t mind using them as a means to an end for my own advantage.

  “What are you going to do with him?” Sebastian asked as I stared at the man that ruined my life.

  I was wondering the same thing. I wanted to punch him, beat him within an inch of is life, torture him, waterboard him, give him pain, unlike anything he ever felt to get what I wanted.

  But I didn’t want to deal with him. A part of me wanted to forget the plan, let go of the need for his confession, and just live my life with Quinn. Was the stress worth it? I tried to dig down deep for the hatred, the need to hurt the man, and while it was there, lingering like a disease, it wasn’t as strong as it used to be.

  Where the hell did that leave me? What was happening to my drive to bring this man to his knees? He didn’t deserve to live, to breathe, to smile, or laugh. He deserved every ounce of pain I could give him.

  But the time spent here in this room with him was time wasted. I could be making new, sweet, and better memories with Quinn. My anger was never an afterthought. It lived in the forefront of my mind, all-day, every day.

  And now it was barely a sting inside my chest.

  I needed to change tactics. This wasn’t about Quinn. Not anymore.

  T
his was about my sister. Vengeance had to be about her. The right man had to go to prison, and he wouldn’t survive long in a hell hole like San Quentin.

  An evil smug grin tilted half my face when an idea formed. All I had to do was get that confession, and the worst pain of his life would be waiting for him in that facility. If a guy wasn’t smarter, quicker, and stronger than the next, he’d die.

  Anyone who challenged me, lost. In prison, the only place to be was on top. Correctional officers did me favors, smuggled in whatever I requested, smuggled out whatever I needed, and trusted me. Trust with a guard, now that got a prisoner places.

  Yeah, Brian was a fucking idiot. He’d die in there.

  “Leave him hanging there, no food, no water, no conversation for a few days. He doesn’t have long before I threaten him with his sister.”

  “And then what?” Sebastian asked.

  If I was a real bastard, I’d follow the eye-for-an-eye rule. A sister for a sister, but it was too bad I gave a damn. She had a daughter, and that daughter needed a mother.

  “And then, we grab his sister.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Quinn

  I was hungry again, but I didn’t know how to tell Jaxon that. We had just left the house, and it was the first time I had seen where he lived. Instead of looking from the inside out, I was looking from the outside in, and the house was unlike anything I had ever seen. I placed my hands on the window of the car and nearly pressed my face against the glass like a kid enthralled driving past Disneyland.

  “Holy shit,” I said in awe as I stared up at the cliff. That fact that it was a cliff astounded me. It looked like a damn mountain with how big it was. Besides windows and the large garage, it looked like your typical big rock. The way he designed it was phenomenal, and the only way inside was through the garage. No front door, but he did say on the way to the car that there were underground tunnels that led into town in case of an emergency. I kind of wanted to see them and go on an adventure, but when I told Jaxon that, he gave me a look that said I was crazy.