No matter how hard I’d worked to deal with my past, and how much I insisted it didn’t define me, it was also a huge part of me. It coloured every aspect of my life. Maybe instead of fighting against that, I needed to cut myself some slack and allow myself to feel whatever it was I needed to feel? Feeling afraid when Gabriel was standing in that doorway was a natural reaction, just like Nick said. It didn’t mean I was afraid of him. And now he’d just seen me in the street being groped by some stranger.
‘We’re here, Samantha,’ Scott said when I didn’t get out of the car.
‘Take me back to O’Malley’s with you, Scott. I need to speak to Gabriel.’
Scott shook his head. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m not sure what the boss has on for the rest of the night.’
I didn’t care. I’d made my mind up and I had to see Gabriel and explain what he’d just seen. ‘I need to speak to him, Scott. I’m not getting out of this car.’
He looked at me and sighed. ‘He’s really not in the best of moods. Why don’t you speak to him tomorrow?’
I shook my head. ‘I’m not getting out. If you want me out of here, you’ll have to carry me out yourself.’
He frowned at me and I felt a pang of guilt. Scott was a good guy and I didn’t want him getting into any trouble.
‘Whatever you say,’ he said with another shake of his head as pulled away from the kerb.
Half an hour later we were sitting outside O’Malley’s in Scott’s car. I watched as Gabriel walked out of the bar and over towards us. As he approached the car, he noticed me sitting in the back seat. ‘What the fuck is she doing here?’ he said as he glared at Scott through the open window.
Scott shrugged. ‘She refused to get out of the car, Boss.’
Gabriel climbed into the back seat beside me. ‘I don’t have time for this,’ he growled.
‘I need to talk to you,’ I said.
‘I thought you’d be at home with your date?’ he sneered at me.
I could feel the anger coming off him in waves. The tension in the car was palpable.
‘He wasn’t my date-' I started to say but Gabriel held up his hand dismissively. I was about to protest when I realised it was because his phone was vibrating in his pocket.
‘Hey, Seb,’ he said when he answered. ‘Hang on a minute.’ Then he leaned forward and placed a hand on Scott’s shoulder. ‘Take her back home.’
Then he sat back in his seat and had a conversation with my father about Jimmy Fenton and the spate of incidents that had been happening in their pubs and clubs over the past two nights.
I looked out of the window as Scott drove back to my apartment. I felt like an intruder into their world. Neither of them wanted me there. I should have listened to Scott and just gone home. Gabriel made several more phone calls during the journey and I didn’t get a chance to speak to him until we pulled up outside my building again.
‘Back again,’ Scott said as he turned and gave me a sympathetic smile.
‘Thank you,’ I said to him before I turned to Gabriel. ‘Can we talk?’
He glared at me, his face full of thunderous anger. ‘I don’t think this is the time or the place.’
‘Then come up?’ I suggested. ‘Just for ten minutes?’
‘You’ve already wasted enough of my time tonight,’ he growled.
‘Well, then ten more minutes won’t kill you, will it?’ I challenged him.
He leaned towards me, placing his warm hand on my thigh and squeezing lightly. ‘If it’s just a quick fuck you’re after, baby, I’m sure we could drop you at your new friend’s place instead?’
I shrank back from him. He may as well have slapped me across the face. That stung like hell. In a few words, he had made me feel completely worthless. I felt the tears threatening and I choked them down. ‘No need. I’ve got his number. I’ll get him to come round,’ I lied.
Gabriel scowled at me but didn’t respond.
‘Goodnight, Scott,’ I said and then I got out of the car and walked towards my apartment building feeling like my heart had been torn out of my chest.
I had barely been in my apartment two minutes when I heard the pounding on my front door. I knew it would be Gabriel, but I was still shocked to open the door to a six-foot-two wall of rage. The anger radiated from him like the heat from a furnace.
‘You wanted to talk so bad. Well, come on?’ Gabriel shouted as he pushed his way past me. ‘Tell me why, when you can’t bear to be near me, I find you standing outside O’Malley’s with some cunt who has his hands all over you! Were you intending on bringing him back here in the car that I fucking sent for you? Do you think I’m some sort of fucking mug?’
‘It wasn’t what it looked like,’ I said.
‘So, I didn’t see some prick standing there with his hands on your arse?’
‘Well, in that case, I suppose it was exactly what it looked like then. But it was entirely unwanted and he was just some guy who thinks a girl being polite to him entitles him to touch her.’ I saw his face soften slightly but it was too late, the second half of my sentence was already on its way out of my mouth and I couldn’t stop it. ‘Are you even bothered who puts their hands on my arse, anyway?’ I wanted to push his buttons the way he constantly pressed mine.
He stalked towards me, towering over me, shaking with fury. I had never seen him so angry. He looked like he might explode. I imagined steam might soon start coming out of his ears
‘What did you say?’ He snarled, his eyes burning into mine. No trace of green remained, they were black, smouldering like the dying embers of a fire.
I swallowed hard. I should probably apologise, but my ego wouldn’t let me. ‘I said, are you even bothered who puts his hands on me?’
I continued to stare at him, half expecting the anger to have dissipated, as it usually did, but he appeared as fierce as ever and I wondered if this time I had pushed him too far — if he was going to snap.
He didn’t. He grabbed me, his hands fisting in my hair, mouth crashing onto mine. He kissed me so hard my lips felt bruised. I kissed him back with the same ferocity, desperate for him.
‘I am the only man who gets to put his hands on you,’ he growled.
‘I know,’ I breathed.
‘You drive me fucking crazy. I should have brought you straight home tonight and fucked you senseless. Because that’s what you want, isn’t it?’
Pulling my skirt up he pushed his fingers past my underwear and inside me. He groaned against my mouth as he realised I was ready for him. ‘Did he make you wet or is this for me?’
His words stung like nettles. ‘Of course it’s for you,’ I answered as he pinned me to the wall. He unzipped his trousers and then pushed himself inside me, fucking me so hard I almost forgot my own name — let alone what we had even been arguing about.
When we had both found some release, Gabriel pressed his forehead against mine.
‘He really did just grab me,’ I said as I put my hand on his cheek.
‘I know,’ he breathed. ‘And I’m sorry about the other morning. I should have spoken to you before I accused you. I swear though I was only there to talk to you. I would never hurt you like that, Sam. I don’t know what I can do to prove that to you. It kills me to think that you were scared of me.’
‘I understand why you were angry, Gabe. But you jumped to the conclusion that I was cheating on you without even considering there would be an alternative explanation. Do you really think I would do that to you?’
He looked into my eyes. ‘No,’ he said softly. ‘But, I didn’t think. I’m sorry.’
‘What would you have done if I had been with someone else, Gabe?’
He frowned at me as though the question pained him. ‘I would have shouted. I would have told you it was over. It would have killed me, but I would have done it. I would not have hurt you. When we first got together, I asked you to trust me, and you did. Have I ever done anything to make you question that?’
‘N
o.’
He kissed me deeply before pulling back. ‘I really have to get back to work,’ he said with a sigh.
‘So, you just came up here for a quickie?’ I asked him with a grin. I didn’t want him to go but I knew he was in the middle of something, and I didn’t want there to be any further tension between us. My world felt off kilter when we weren’t in sync.
‘Well, it had been three whole days since I’d fucked you. I was starting to have withdrawal symptoms,’ he smiled at me.
‘You know what really annoyed me more than anything else the other morning?’ I said as I started to plant soft kisses on his throat.
‘What was that, baby?’ he groaned.
‘You looked so damn fine in that boxing gear. All sweaty and pumped up. And you smelled so good. I was desperate to jump your bones — and then you went and acted like a twat and ruined it all.’
He tilted my chin to look at him. ‘A twat?’
I nodded. ‘Yes. A prize twat. You ruined a perfectly good shagging opportunity.’
He kissed me softly before he answered. ‘You’re right. Next time I go boxing I’ll make sure to come round and fuck you straight after. Deal?’
‘Deal.’
The vibration of his phone ringing in the inside pocket of his jacket interrupted the moment. ‘I have to go,’ he said.
‘Can you come back later?’ I asked him.
‘I don’t know what time I’ll be finished. I’ll see you tomorrow instead?’ he offered.
‘Okay. But if you change your mind, you have a spare key.’
He slipped his hands back down to my behind and pressed my body into his before giving me one long, final kiss.
‘Goodnight, baby,’ he said before walking out of the door.
Chapter 44
Gabriel
I walked across the car park and climbed into the passenger seat of Scott’s car.
‘Feel better, Boss?’ Scott asked with a grin.
‘You could say that,’ I replied, realising that I had a grin on my face too.
‘That must have been some talk,’ he said with a low whistle and I swatted the back of his head, making him laugh.
‘Just drive us to the office. The vans will be there. And we’re late.’
‘I won’t tell them why, Boss. Don’t worry,’ Scott said with a soft chuckle.
‘You’ll be out of a fucking job if you do,’ I grinned at him. Scott was one of my most trusted employees and I knew he was fucking with me. I also knew that he had a soft spot for Samantha. She was kind of impossible not to like. The look he had given me when she’d got out of the car earlier had made me realise what a bastard I’d been to her. He had seen the exchange between her and that prick outside O’Malley’s while I’d been distracted on my phone. He confirmed her version of events. Not that I needed that to believe her. She wasn’t a liar.
I leaned back against the seat. There were three vans waiting for us back at our offices. Sebastian and two dozen of our bouncers were in them — armed to the teeth. We were about to put on a display of power to show Jimmy Fenton and his firm once and for all that he could not fuck us over. I ran a hand over my face. I could smell Sam on me and I had to stifle a groan. She smelled so fucking good. I should be in bed with her right now. I should be inside her, instead of having to deal with the Fentons’ bullshit.
A few hours later I stood in the shower and washed the blood from my hands, watching the pale red water running down the plughole. Tonight, had been a huge success. We had hit all of the Fenton’s main businesses, put at least two dozen of their best men out of action and left our own security in their place. Fenton’s Security was no more. There had been no police interference. No innocent bystanders had been caught in the crossfire and our own lads had made it out with nothing more than cuts and bruises.
Sebastian and I had dealt with Jimmy and his brother, Martin ourselves. To Sebastian’s delight and amusement, Martin Fenton had pissed his pants when Seb had shoved a gun in his mouth. Eventually, they’d both begged for mercy and against my better judgement, I had left them still breathing, I wouldn’t usually be so forgiving when they’d already been warned off. But, they’d drawn too much attention to us all with their amateurish takeover attempt. And I couldn’t act without consequences any more. I couldn’t risk the possibility of doing life in prison for one of those cunts, because that would mean I had to live a life without Samantha in it — and I wasn’t prepared to do that. The Fenton brothers had been spared, and they knew it.
Now that it was all over, I was restless and edgy. There was no way I was getting any sleep. I wanted Samantha. I wanted to feel her soft warm body and bury myself insider her.
I switched off the shower and stepped out before drying myself with a towel. Picking up my watch, from the ledge, I glanced at the time. It was a little after 3am. Samantha would be asleep, but she had said that I could use her spare key. I could be at her place in less than thirty minutes if I left now. I knew it was selfish. But I needed her.
Chapter 45
Samantha
I’d been in bed for a couple of hours but I’d been restless the whole time. Drifting in and out of sleep and worrying about what trouble Gabriel and my father were dealing with. When I saw the figure of a man walking into the bedroom, I wondered if I was dreaming.
‘Gabe?’ I asked sleepily.
‘Yeah, it’s just me, baby,’ he whispered.
A few moments later, I felt him slide into bed beside me. He slipped his warm hand beneath the t-shirt I was wearing and onto my abdomen, pulling me towards him and pressing his body into mine. His erection nudged at my back. He nuzzled my neck and I felt the warm feeling spreading through my stomach and down between my legs.
‘I know you’re sleeping, baby, but I need you,’ he breathed in my ear.
I stretched my limbs, pushing my behind even closer against him and rubbing myself on his cock. ‘Oh? What is it you need?’ I purred.
He slipped his hand lower, under the band of my underwear and between my thighs. ‘I think you know exactly what I mean. Open your legs,’ he ordered as he nipped my earlobe.
I did as he told me and he slipped his hand further southwards.
‘I hope you’ve been dreaming about me, baby?’ he said between kisses.
‘Why?’
‘Because you’re soaking wet,’ he growled.
‘Oh, that? Well, after you left me earlier, I had to come to bed on my own. So, what’s a girl to do when her handsome boyfriend isn’t around to take care of her?’ I teased.
‘So, you took care of yourself?’
‘Hmmm,’ I groaned as he started to work his fingers on me.
‘Then I hope you were thinking of me, at least.’
‘I was.’
‘Well, I’m glad you don’t need warming up, because you’re about to be fucked, baby. Hard.’
He didn’t even bother taking off my underwear, he just pulled the soft fabric to the side and pushed his cock deep inside me.
‘Oh, fuck, Gabe,’ I groaned.
‘I love how easy you make it for me to slide my cock in you,’ he growled in my ear. ‘You’re going to struggle to walk tomorrow, baby.’
His words made my insides tremble. He rolled on top of me, pinning me down to the mattress with the weight of his body, so that I was lying on my stomach. I could barely move and I realised that I didn’t care. I trusted him completely.
‘Are you ready?’ he growled.
‘Yes,’ I panted. Because I was always ready for him and whatever he wanted to do to me.
Chapter 46
Samantha
Despite Gabriel’s promise, I’d been able to walk from his car to my office just fine earlier that morning. Although I didn’t think my thigh and stomach muscles could ache any more than that time I’d done two spin classes back to back, it seemed I was wrong. Gabriel Sullivan was a machine, and he’d made me late for work. I smiled as I thought about him. Sadie Jones dumped the stack of case files on my
desk with a groan, interrupting my daydream.
‘I know it’s not my place, Samantha. But I’m not sure if we can keep taking on any more clients. Not without an extra pair of hands anyway,’ she said as she wiped the beads of perspiration from her forehead. Sadie Jones was one of the best legal secretaries I had ever worked with. She was smart, incredibly organised, had an extensive knowledge of the law and was great with people too. I respected her opinion, and felt a pang of guilt knowing that she was struggling to keep up with the workload.
I had always been a workaholic. It had been the thing I had clung to in order to survive my marriage, but I sometimes forgot that my employees had a life outside of the place. And now that I rarely worked late anymore, and spent most of my weekends with Gabriel, there was no-one to pick up the slack. Maybe it was time we got another solicitor and junior secretary in? We certainly had the workload to justify it. I made a mental note to speak to Nick as soon as possible.
‘I think you might be right,’ I replied. ‘I can’t believe we’re barely up and running and we’re already in the position where we may have to turn clients away.’
Sadie nodded. ‘Well, you and Nick make quite a team.’
‘And you. We couldn’t do it without you. I’ll speak to Nick. We’ll look at the figures and see what we can do.’
Sadie smiled as she headed out of my office and my phone started to vibrate on the desk to signal a text message. I looked at the screen. It was from Gabriel.
If you don’t stop sending me filthy messages I will come over there and bend you over that desk. Behave yourself.
I laughed to myself. I knew he was in important meetings all day and had been sending him texts all morning, telling him what I’d like him to do to me later, and what I’d like to do to him. I was due to leave for court, but couldn’t resist teasing him some more. He’d left before I was dressed that morning and hadn’t seen the stockings and suspenders I’d put on under my work clothes. I hitched up my skirt and used my phone to take a photograph of the top of my stockings before sending it to him. He sent a reply within thirty seconds.
Dark Angel: A Dark Romance: London Ruthless Series Book 1 (The London Ruthless Series) Page 17
