by Wyatt, Dani
Every step I take also reminds me of how relentless Walker was last night.
Gawd, I even told him to cum inside me. I pleaded for it. I’m lost somewhere between the heady euphoria that I could already be pregnant and the disappointment at my own irresponsibility. Focusing on that helps the building panic of being outside Tensfield. My hands are sweating and my heart rate is skyrocketing, but I think of Walker, breathe and keep telling myself my fear is all in my head.
“Twenty-six fifty.” The driver is already glancing nervously around him as I fish in my purse and slip him a twenty and a ten through sliding plastic divider.
I fumble in my purse, dropping it on the floor of the cab. I lean down nearly throwing up and do my best to gather everything before finding my wallet.
“Keep the change,” I announce as rush and tug the handle and escape the offending odors of the backseat anxious to get this over with and barely able to form any clear thoughts the panic of just being out in the world about to send me to my knees.
I’d asked the driver if he’d wait for me but he refused since I had no idea how long this would take. I’m hoping Roman will let me use the stupid phone when we’re done. This is not going well at all already.
The sun from this morning has been replaced by gloom. Gray, unmoving clouds cover the sky and the usually pleasant temperatures we expect in June here in Michigan are unseasonably cold, leaving my arms covered with goosebumps.
My cheeks pulse with heat wondering what exactly I’m walking into as well as being out in the world like this. But I also know that bravery is not the absence of fear, it’s being afraid and going right ahead anyway. Because whatever it is you’ve got to do, it takes precedence over your own safety.
Inside the building, it’s a short walk to the heavily armored office on the other side of the open space. It’s not particularly comfortable surroundings, but beggars can’t be choosers. I am still half astounded that Roman Hendrik even agreed to see me, knowing what I wanted, so I guess I should count myself lucky.
He’s an old business associate of my father’s. Never one I liked mind you, I’m not really sure anyone liked him but growing up with the deals that went on around the house, I knew he was one of Dad’s money men. The one he could go to when he needed an influx of cash fast for a deal or to get him out of trouble. Which was more often than a little girl should know about.
A few minutes later, I’m looking into a familiar face. A few years older, but then so am I. He looks me up and down, nods his head and flashes a grin that tops my previous goosebumps with chills. The tightness in my stomach has turned to bile in my throat.
My heart is still beating like a hummingbird’s and my brain is telling me to run, but run where? I’m barely able to breathe let alone run.
“It’s a lot of money you asked for.” Roman doesn’t waste time on small talk. He picks at his thumbnail with this forefinger as he keeps his eyes trained on my chest. With his other hand, he rubs his nose, then it disappears down below the top of the desk somewhere into his lap.
“You know how much Tensfield is worth. Two-hundred-thousand is a small percentage of the value. I’ll repay you. You have my word, but you also have the house. If things don’t work out.”
His chuckle turns my stomach back over on itself. My skin prickles where a bead of sweat slowly lowers down the indent of my spine, finally being absorbed into the waistband of my black skirt. All I want to do is be back at Tensfield, this was a big mistake going out. I can’t handle this.
He clicks his tongue in his mouth before pushing his chair back and coming around to the front of the desk. Roman is a large man, and he’s standing well within my personal space. He hasn’t even offered me a seat. Just straight down to business. And now I’m left standing here, looking up at him as he edges closer, towering over me.
I’ve seen this look before. Roman is eye-fucking me and if I’m reading the energy from him correctly, he doesn’t want to stop there.
“It’s not a problem, girl. I’ll give you that money.” His tongue traces his bottom lip as his eyes turn to slits. “And I’ll take your house if you don’t repay. But we need to seal the deal, so to speak. I want more than just a piece of paper and a promise.”
I clear my throat, shift my weight and try to find my voice as my pulse roars in my ears and the room starts to swim. “What else do you want?” I squeak, then clear my throat and force some strength into my words. “I don’t have anything. Just the estate.”
“You know what you have. What I want. Men are simple creatures. You grew up around enough men to understand that.” He brings his hand up to place a finger under my chin. “It’s business. You want something. I want something. Win, win. You’ll be on your knees for a bit, maybe bent over my desk. But you’ll get your money.”
“That’s not part of my offer.” My voice hardens. I surprise myself with the level of finality in my statement.
“Oh, come on, everything is up for negotiation. Especially when your options are...limited.” He pinches my chin and I gasp as his other hand comes to the back of my neck and squeezes me closer to him. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll add another fifty-thousand for your trouble.”
I push back with the heels of both hands, a fire replacing the nausea. “That’s not going to happen.” Blood pounds in my temples. I take a step back, but he counters forward, never yielding the grip he has on my neck.
“What are your options?” His voice thickens. “Don’t you think for a second I do not know exactly what your situation is. I do my research. I have what you need. And you have what I want. Grow up, Mia, this is a good deal. And it’s about time you learned how the world works. How fucking hard is it to suck a cock and get fucked? You should count yourself lucky you have that option. Any man that came to me wanting what you want, I’d turn him away. But, lucky girl, you have something I want right now. Don’t pretend like it’s some big fucking deal. It’s sex. It’s a different type of currency is all.”
“Fuck off.”
He laughs. “Feisty, I like that. I’m not going to rape you, Mia. I’m just not going to give you what you need until you agree to my end of the deal. And if you don’t, I may just go down to the city after you leave here. Pay off the tax lien in my name which, according to the law, replaces their lien with my own. So, don’t pretend like you have any good choices here. Either you give me what I want and you get what you want. Or, I fuck you a different way.”
Now it’s both hands on the back of my neck. His smile reveals cracked, crooked teeth as his eyebrows raise in arrogance and the realization that I am a rookie at this game drowns me in cold reality.
I feel like a mouse in a maze. Every thought in my head is focused on how to figure out a solution to the puzzle, but each one comes up against the same brick wall.
Seconds feel like hours, and Roman’s breath and the pounding of my heart is all I hear until a crack sounds from the closed door behind us.
9
Walker
I WAS EARLY GETTING to the warehouse when I parked my car and stepped out to take a breath and get my head straight for the meeting with Roman when a cab comes up behind where I’m parked.
“Hey.” The driver leans out his open window. “You work here?”
“What do you need?” I return his question with a question. He doesn’t need to know anything about me.
“I just dropped this fare off here, a girl. She forgot this in the back seat.” He turns and reaches over then dangles a small black case out the open door in his hand. “There some beeping thing going off in there. That’s how I found it, opened it up, I think it’s a medical something. She may need it.”
Blind rage is a term I’ve just realized I never understood until today.
I grab the case from him and hit the door to the warehouse at a run until my hand is on the office door.
I see nothing else.
All I see is his hands on my girl. I see the fear in her eyes.
The world evaporates
around me as my vision is laser-focused on the fear darkening her face, my mind clouding with all the ways I’m going to hurt that motherfucker who dares to put a finger on my Mia.
“What the fuck, Walker, can’t you see we’re busy here? I’ll meet with you when I’m done.” Roman Hendrik spies me for a second before I’m on him.
I don’t bother with answering his question. I’ve got tunnel vision. Without any ceremony, I come at him swinging.
My first punch lands full force. I hear the crack of his eye socket as he stumbles back into the desk. Mia’s yelp, her words of surprise, are lost, blending with Roman’s pained groan as my next blow pummels him just below his sternum, dropping him to his knees.
Roman flails with a loose arm, trying to gain some defensive pride but adrenaline is already coursing through me. I used to fight like a street animal, all bravado, and posturingbut that sort of fighting doesn’t get you very far in the pen. In there, there’s no chance to retreat. It’s winner takes all.
I learned to fight like I meant it, and Roman’s finding out just what that means. All I can see in my fire-seared brain is where his hands were on the back of her neck. Entangled in her hair.
“Walker!” Mia’s trembling voice brings me back for a second, and I see my fists landing multiple blows on the huddled figure of the man in front of me. A man who will be lucky to walk out of here alive. “What are you doing here?”
“What the fuck am I doing here?” I slam my open hand into my chest. Her eyes don’t sway my disappointment. “What are you doing here? I told you to stay put at the house.” I grunt out the last words.
“I was fine! I didn’t need you!” The forced snark in her tone tells me she knows full well she was far from fine. “I’m taking care of some business, that’s all.”
“Uh huh.” I stomp toward her and grab her by the arm before walking her a few feet away from where Roman is breathing heavily and groaning, trying to pull himself back to his feet. I give him a halfhearted kick telling him to stay down before moving away. “From now on, your business is my fucking business. Understood? What the hell, Mia?” I shake my head. “Did I not tell you I would take care of you?”
“I’m not your responsibility, Walker. And that’s what I’ve heard my whole life. Just be quiet, let the men take care of things...well, where did that get me? You have your own things to take care of, my problems are mine and for once in my life, I want to handle them on my own.”
I take a breath, ready to give her another tirade, but then stall. I don’t begrudge her the honesty. I’ve known her long enough, known her life but fuck if that’s an excuse for putting herself in danger.
“Listen, baby.” I cup her cheeks, feeling the heat there. “I hear you. I respect you and all of what you have done. You are strong. You are fierce. But I am on your team. Do you get that?”
“Yes.” Her lip is quivering. “But I can’t lay my problems on you. Maybe you can’t fix this.”
In my mind, I’m laughing because I know in my heart anything that she needs, I’ll find a way. But I can’t just make it so simple. She needs to hear more, and I’ll give her what she needs.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, what kind of deal you were trying to make with this piece of shit, but I do know it’s not necessary. And I also know that if anything happened to you, Nana would tear me a new one.” I widen my eyes, making sure I’ve got her attention. She coughs out a laugh. “When we get in the car, we’re going to lay all the cards on the table and find a solution to whatever is going on. But right now,” I tip my head to the heap on the floor that is now sitting up, cupping his hands under the faucet of crimson running from his nose, “we need to leave.”
With that, I say a few corrective words to Roman, making sure he understands there is nothing more to discuss. Any deal that we might have had is off. I’ll find my money some other way or do without than dealing with this motherfucker. I let him know I will not hesitate to return to make things more permanent if need be.
MIA IS BUCKLED SAFELY into the car as we speed down the expressway back to Tensfield. I’m still mad, but not with her. I’m mad at myself. I’m mad at Roman. That fucker got off lightly. But, finally, I’m calm enough to have a decent conversation.
I pull off the freeway and run us down the road a few miles into a park. I put the Camaro into the park under a large Maple tree next to a little river.
“Now, I want to hear every detail of what’s going on. Why do you need money from Roman? That’s not an overdue credit card you’re paying off.”
Rain begins to pelt the windshield. With the rain, no one is around and I need to breathe and have a little discussion with my girl.
I glance over to find her looking straight ahead. The deep blue dress she’s wearing wraps around her curves and lands just up over her knees. She’s holding her breath and I reach over to brush her cheek with my thumb, breaking the tension, before lowering my hand to rest on her knee with a soft grip, letting her know I’m right here and she’s safe.
After another long moment of silence, my irritation is too much to bear, and I increase the tightness of my grip on her knee, adding, “I’m waiting, babe.”
She releases her breath, and I squeeze again which seems to open the floodgates.
“Tensfield,” she starts in an accusatory tone “My fuc—my father didn’t bother with the place once we were gone. The taxes are so far behind. If we hadn’t arrived home when we did, it would have gone into foreclosure with the county. But the taxes are a fortune and I’m left with barely any money. I have no way of paying it. And, don’t take this the wrong way...” She finally looks over and I glance away from the road for a second to see the distress in her eyes. Whatever’s coming, she doesn’t think I’m going to take it lightly. “You just got out of prison. I couldn’t ask you to help. I mean, yes, I want to handle it. But also, even if you had that sort of money, you need it to start your life over. And I was afraid that if you knew what I needed you’d do something that could land you right back in jail.”
When I look over, a flash of the little girl I knew that first day twinkles in her eyes. I pick up on the bit of pride she has that she stood up and tried to take care of things for herself. I do not wish to take that away from her. She needs it. She needs to feel like she’s in control. I get that.
I always and only want what is good for her.
With a nod, I encourage her and she spills the specifics. Amounts, due dates, general cost of keeping the estate going month to month. It’s no joke, but neither am I.
“You were brave as hell, baby, trying to manage all this on your own,,” I assure her. “But from now on, you come to me, okay? No matter what. Doesn’t mean I don’t think you can handle your shit, clearly you can. But together we are better than the sum of our parts, you get that? And...” My throat tightens at the truth of what’s about to come. “If I ever lose you again...if anything happens to you...I’m done. I will lay waste to whatever hurt you, then I won’t care about anything else. So, if you care about me too, we have to be in this together. Everything, you and me against the world. But I’ll be honest.” I raise my hand to brush under her chin. “I’m always going to walk through the doors first, you’re going to have to accept that. Because my nature is to protect you at all costs.”
“What about me protecting you? Isn’t it a two-way street?”
I consider that for a moment and pride swells along with my cock that my precious Mia is thinking of protecting me.
“You can protect me. But if I’m doing my job, it will be from perhaps your cooking and nothing more.”
The wipers splash the rain back and forth as Mia shakes her head and swats my shoulder.
“I can cook.”
“Oh no, you can’t.” I enunciate each word as I palm the wheel with my left hand, guiding the Camaro off the exit toward Tensfield. As I do so, I gently move my right hand up her leg, pulling the hem of her dress higher as I squeeze her upper thigh. “How are you feeling? Tha
t was a lot of stress, you feeling okay?”
I nod. “Yes. I ate right before I left. Took my blood sugar, made sure I brought my kit with me, just in case.”
“Yeah, I know. It was your kit that saved your ass.” I quickly tell her how I knew she was in the office because I hadn’t cleared that up yet.
“Funny how things work sometimes.” She dips her chin quickly then gives me a contrite grin.
“Look at you. Keeping yourself safe and putting yourself in danger all at the same time. But you do anything like that again I’ll tan that ass.”
“Is that a punishment?” She huffs playfully her mood quickly shifting, but when both her hands come down to cover mine my thoughts turn to what I really want. “You know...” She snickers. “I’ve never parked before. Never made out in a car before.”
“You wanna play do you?” I ask slipping my fingers down under her thigh and she bites her lip and winks at me. “Take your panties off,” I order. Suddenly, my need for her to comply with my every wish outweighs any other concern.
“What?” Her cheeks brighten. “How do you know I have pant—"
I cut her off. “I know you heard me.” I flash her a grin and give her a moment to digest what’s happening. I know her. I know what she wants. What she needs. I know just how far I can push. “I saw those panty lines through your dress. And I know you know better.”
“I didn’t want to go see him without panties on.”
“Well, guess that should have been a little clue you shouldn’t have been going there at all. Now take your fucking panties off.”
With a blush, her hands shift and sweep under her skirt, a moment later she’s squirming out of a pair of lacy black panties and my cock is painful against the front of my pants.
“How do you do that?” she perplexes as I glance around us making sure no other cars have snuck in nearby. The dusk is just hushing the last daylight from the sky and the rain is masking any other possibility that we could be seen.
