Dominion (Alpha Domain #1)

by Arabella Abbing

  A thought popped into my head and I pulled the phone from my pocket.

  “Yep?”

  “Are they back yet?”

  “Yes, sir. They went into the apartment about ten minutes ago. Looks like they’re watching a movie now.”

  “Alright, good. Listen—John’s going to come by and relieve you in a few hours. I need you to come back here before you go home though.”

  “Sure thing. But can I ask why?”

  “I need audio access to the feed. Can you do that from here?”

  Derek hummed for a moment and I could practically see him scratching his chin thoughtfully. “I think so. The feed stream should be strong enough to reach you at the house. All I need to do is enable your computer’s ability to receive it like I did with the tablet.”

  “Wonderful. And one last thing.”

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  “Do not mention this conversation to John.”

  “Got it.”

  I ended the call and slid the phone back into my pocket. I opened the feed from the camera and sneered at the sight of Amber curled up on Chris’s lap as the two of them watched a movie in his friend’s living room.

  Definitely a masochist.

  * * *

  John

  I snickered to myself as I snuck up to the car and looked inside. Derek was curled up in the driver’s seat, the tablet closed and turned off as he caught a nap he shouldn’t have been taking.

  Granted, this was more my fault than his. I was supposed to be here an hour ago to relieve him from watchdog duty, but I got preoccupied with more important things.

  Which was just a fancy way of saying I overslept then spent ten minutes jerking off in the shower.

  There was an evil grin plastered on my face as I reached up and pounded on the glass window. I wished we were in a less open space so I could’ve screamed at the same time and really scared the piss out of him, but his frightened jump as I tore him out of sleep would have to do.

  “Jesus Christ, John,” Derek said sleepily as he rolled down the window. “What the fuck?”

  “Sleeping on the job? Allen won’t be happy to hear that.”

  His eyes widened as he realized what he’d done. “Oh fuck,” he mumbled as he hastily turned the tablet back on.

  I stood quietly by the car while we waited for the screen to load and when he opened the feed and saw that Amber and Chris were still in the apartment, he let out a long sigh of relief.

  “Oh thank fuck. Please don’t tell Allen. I’ve only been out for a few minutes, I swear.”

  I shook my head and reached in to take the tablet from him. “No worries, man. Your secret is safe with me. Now go home and get some sleep.”

  “Will do, you have a good night yourself. Hopefully they’ll do something more interesting than spending the entire day fucking cuddling and watching movies for you. At least there was audio, I guess.”

  “What movie did they watch last?”

  Derek made a face. “I have no idea, but there was a hell of a lot of crying.”

  I laughed out loud then quieted myself as I remembered where I was. “No wonder you passed out.”

  Derek turned the key and started the engine. “No kidding. See you later, man.”

  I waved as he pulled onto the street then made my way back to my own car for another stakeout. I grabbed my dinner and my headphones, putting them in my ears to listen to whatever was happening inside the apartment.

  “Let the show begin.”

  * * *

  Allen

  “Anything interesting happen?” I asked as Derek came into the office looking a little worse for wear.

  “Only if you think cuddling and chick flicks are interesting. Otherwise, no. How’s your day been?”

  I shrugged nonchalantly, unwilling to admit that I had spent my day alternating between checking in on the rest of the team to see how their current jobs were going and checking the camera feed to see what Amber was up to.

  “It was alright. Pretty slow.”

  “I know the feeling, man,” Derek sympathized as he popped something into the USB port on my laptop. He clicked a few things on the screen, installing whatever drivers he needed to work the equipment before he reopened the feed.

  “Ta-da!” he exclaimed as the sound came out clearly through my speakers. “That’ll do ya. Just pop the booster in the port when you need it.”

  I was curious to ask how it worked, but Derek looked exhausted. I figured my curiosity could wait to be sated until tomorrow.

  “Thanks for your help, Derek. You can go home now.”

  “Thank you,” he breathed out. “See you tomorrow, boss.”

  With that, I was left alone with only my thoughts and the feed of Amber and Chris. I plugged a pair of headphones into the jack and sat back in my chair to watch and listen.

  It’d been a long time since I had seen or spoken to Amber. Almost three years since I’d seen her—longer since we’d spoken. Yet as I watched her darting around the apartment in her skimpy tank top and shorts, it felt like no time had passed since we were teenagers living under the same roof.

  * * *

  Two hours after I started watching the feed, I was beginning to understand why Derek looked so damn tired. As much as I loved seeing Amber—even if it was just on camera—watching them do nothing but sit around was fucking boring.

  I groaned when Chris asked if Amber was up for another movie. How many fucking movies could someone watch in a day?

  “No, I’m tired,” her sweet voice carried over the headphones. “Bed time?”

  “Sure, babe.”

  I grit my teeth together at the term of endearment. Amber deserved better than to be called ‘babe’ by this fucked up asshole. I rolled my eyes when he grabbed her hand and kissed it as they left the living room.

  I switched cameras, smiling when I successfully landed on the correct one for their bedroom. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to switch the audio feeds and when I finally managed to get patched into the correct microphone and reopened the video, my blood ran cold.

  My eyes closed and I let out a long, slow breath. I sucked in another breath slowly, then released it again, trying to calm myself down. When I reopened my eyes, the image was still enough to send rage coursing through me. I lifted the phone, my eyes never leaving the screen until I had to do so to find the contact.

  “I take it you’re catching the show,” John said dryly after he answered.

  “Turn off your feed. I’ll call you when it’s over.”

  “Allen, I—”

  “Turn it off, John,” I whispered lowly. “I’ll call you when it’s over.”

  He sighed but I heard the sound of the tablet powering down over the telephone.

  “It’s off.”

  “Good.”

  I ended the call and returned my full attention to the screen. Much to my irritation, even Chris’s presence wasn’t enough to keep my cock from twitching with interest as he removed Amber’s shirt and began gently nibbling on her perfect pink nipples.

  The sound of her moan coming through the headphones was my breaking point. My dick reacted immediately, straining in my jeans and demanding attention. I could feel my breaths becoming shallow as she laid back on the bed and he reached to tug the shorts down her hips.

  I can’t watch this. I can’t sit here and watch this prick fuck the woman I love.

  Yet, I also couldn’t seem to tear my eyes away from the screen. I was too entranced by her naked body and her breathless moans to look away.

  It was a blur of activity as Chris undressed himself and I nearly flipped my shit when I saw him try to go inside her without a rubber. But she stopped him before he could get there, sitting up and trying to modestly cover herself with the bed sheet.

  “We talked about this, Chris.”

  “Come on, babe. I know you’re on the pill.”

  “That’s not the point,” she huffed.

  I watched with a proud smile a
s she got out of bed and began to redress herself. Like I told John multiple times before, the girl wasn’t stupid. Did she make questionable decisions? Sure. But who didn’t from time to time?

  From my own memories of Amber, when it really mattered, she always made the right choice.

  Or at least usually.

  “This isn’t about me at all, is it? Are you seeing someone else?”

  Amber turned to look at Chris with disbelief.

  “What? Who on earth would I be seeing in New York?”

  Chris stood up and turned wild eyes to her as he jerked his jeans back up and hastily refastened the button.

  “It’s that motherfucker from SoHo, isn’t it?”

  I felt the ice-cold chill of betrayal creep up my spine. I held my breath while I waited to hear her response to the accusation.

  “Who? John? I don’t even know him!”

  “Oh, so a total stranger that you spoke to enough to get his name just up and offered you his coat out of nowhere? And I’m supposed to buy that?”

  “There’s nothing to buy! It’s the truth!”

  I didn’t know where to direct my rage. All I knew was that it was quickly becoming overpowering and I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to make it through another face-to-face meeting with John without punching him square in the jaw.

  After Amber stormed out of the room and curled up on the couch, I took a few minutes to calm myself down the best that I could before I called John.

  “Wow, is it over already?” he asked with a chuckle. “What a loser.”

  “Yes, it’s over,” I said, my tone clipped. “Keep an eye on her, I’m going to bed. Come see me in the morning.”

  “But I’m supposed to be watching—”

  “Derek will fill in for you again,” I said between clenched teeth. “You and I need to have a chat.”

  I could almost hear his gulp from the other end of the line before I ended the call and tossed the phone down. I took one more glance at Amber’s curled up form before calling it a night and closing the laptop.

  It’d been a long fucking day and I had a bad feeling I was in for an even longer one tomorrow.

  Chapter Four

  John

  “So what happened last night?” I asked curiously as I stepped into Allen’s office the next morning after Derek took over stakeout for me. “When I turned the tablet back on, Amber was on the couch. Did Mr. Wonderful not satisfy her needs?”

  I chuckled, but the smile faded when I looked at Allen. His face was stony, not even a flicker of humor after my joke.

  “They didn’t have sex.”

  “Oh, it’s worse than I thought,” I said seriously as I took the empty seat across from him. “Erectile dysfunction, then?”

  Still nothing. I knew that whatever was going on was serious if I couldn’t even get a smirk out of my best friend.

  “What’s going on, Allen?”

  “They didn’t have sex... because they got into an argument. Chris accused her of seeing some motherfucker in SoHo who offered Amber his coat yesterday.”

  I sat up straighter and drew my lower lip into my mouth to keep from immediately trying to defend my actions. I knew he wasn’t finished yet.

  “Imagine my surprise when Amber said the man’s name was John. What a fucking coincidence, right?”

  “Look, I know you’re mad—”

  “You don’t know SHIT!” Allen shouted as he stood up and slammed his hands against the desk. “I told you to WATCH her, John! Low profile! What in the hell were you thinking?”

  “It was an accident, Allen!” I yelled back, standing up and raising my hands helplessly in the air. “I went to leave and the wind blew the newspaper out of my hands. It happened to run into her.”

  “How fucking beautiful,” he said snidely. “What a perfect story of how you two met. It’s just like something out of a shitty movie.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “You think I was moving in on her? Seriously?”

  “Why else would you offer her your coat?”

  I shrugged, still unable to fully understand the answer to that myself. “I-I honestly don’t know, man. She was shivering and it just… I just did it. I didn’t think about it.”

  Allen stared at me coldly for a long moment. I was almost certain that he was going to flip his shit and punch me, so it completely took me by surprise when he abruptly sat back in his chair and buried his face in his hands.

  “I asked you to watch her, John. Not to develop a fucking crush on the woman I love.”

  I reared back in shock. Was he right? Was that what this was?

  Am I really surprised?

  I sighed and dropped back into my seat. “I’m sorry, man. I mean, I don’t even know her or anything. She’s just—fuck, I mean, she’s gorgeous. Any straight man would have had the exact same reaction.”

  “Derek didn’t.”

  “Derek’s fucking weird,” I muttered. To my surprise, Allen actually laughed. I chuckled along with him and when he looked up at me, I asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  “I want you to stop crushing on my stepsister,” he said blandly.

  “Got anything else? Cause I hate to say this—I truly do—but if I keep watching her, I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop it.”

  Allen nodded sadly as he mentally ran through his options. None of them were good.

  He could take over himself and risk Amber seeing him and bolting. He could move Derek over to watch her full time, but he didn’t trust him as much as he trusted me. Or he could allow me to stay her watchdog and just deal with the fact that I was crushing on her.

  Or…

  “I’ve got a really bad idea,” I said abruptly, drawing his full attention.

  “What is it?”

  “Let’s break them up.”

  Allen’s eyes widened and I knew he hadn’t even considered that those words were about to come out of my mouth. “What? Why? How?”

  I leaned forward, getting more excited about my plan by the second. “Look, it’ll be win-win-win. She’s already met me so I’ll causally run into her again and ask her out. If we get her away from Chris, we won’t need to worry about keeping her safe because the Sanchez family won’t go after her. And if I get a chance to talk to her alone, I can try to talk her into seeing you again.”

  “She’ll never agree to that,” Allen said firmly with a shake of his head. “At best, the only person who will win here is you since you’ll be the one in bed with her. Isn’t that right?”

  I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. “I won’t lie to you. If she asked, there’s no fucking way I’d say no.”

  Allen snarled at me. “Nice of you to start telling me the truth now, after I had to fucking force it out of you in the first place.”

  I really couldn’t argue with that and I winced. “I’m sorry, Allen. But I think this plan will work. And I can get her back to you, I know I can. Hell, you never know. Maybe I’ll start to get to know her and realize I don’t even like her.”

  “That’s highly unlikely. Amber is…” he trailed off, his eyes moving past me to stare blankly at the wall as he searched for a good word. “Just incredible. There’s no one else like her.”

  “We’ve reached an impasse, Allen. The only way out of this is if you be honest with me now. Tell me why she isn’t speaking to you.”

  “I told you, after the—”

  “Just tell me, dammit! I can hear it from you, or I can ask her.”

  He stood up at my bluff, looking down at me with a deep frown. “You’re going to let a woman you don’t even know come between us? I have reason to be angry. You don’t.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re missing the entire point here. I’m not suggesting that you give me your blessing to date your stepsister.”

  “Then what exactly are you suggesting?”

  I huffed and ran a hand through my hair, trying to think of the simplest way to phrase my thoughts. “I guess I’m suggesting you let me get close
to her and talk her into speaking to you again so we can both be in her good graces.”

  “And by good graces—”

  “I mean both of us get to have her.”

  * * *

  Allen

  This was the most ridiculous bullshit I’d ever heard.

  “You want to share a woman? Share my stepsister? Sexually?”

  John shrugged. “Why the fuck not? It’s not like either of us have the time to balance a relationship with what we do. It’d be a win-win all around. When I’m busy, she’s yours. When you’re busy, she’s mine.”

  “And when we’re both free?”

  John grinned. “Then we’ll share. And not like in a sword-crossing way. I love you, man, but I don’t want to touch your dick. No offense.”

  I stared at my best friend blankly, unable to even process the fact that he was legitimately suggesting this. It was like the idea had blown up some vital piece in my brain that I needed for sorting information and the only thought that kept running through my head was—

  If John’s plan works, I’ll get to have Amber. Even if I have to share her, it’d be better than never having her at all.

  “How in the hell would you get her to agree to this?”

  John smirked cockily. “In case you didn’t know, I’m extremely charming. And besides, what woman wouldn’t want, not one, but two very attractive men lavishing her with attention?”

  “Oh yeah. It’s every woman’s dream to be lusted after by her stepbrother and his best friend,” I said with a disbelieving snort.

  John tilted his head to the side and looked at me curiously. “You know, the only way I could get this to work is if you give me full discretion of what happened between you two. I need to know if it’s something forgivable or if I’d be wasting my time.”