Dirty Pool

by Bethany-Kris

  God.

  Why was this such a mess?

  “It’s not that I expect him to sit around and wait for more violence to happen,” Michel returned, “but I assume the entire family might get together and have a discussion about what’s going to happen next. That’s all.”

  That’s how it worked for Gabbie’s father, too.

  Michel had a point.

  “You assume they haven’t,” David returned.

  “It’s been a few hours since the meeting, man.”

  “Who said it happened today?”

  Michel’s body tensed—Gabbie felt it in his legs, for feck’s sake. “So like I said, then, he’s moving fast.”

  “Everyone is.”

  “Thanks for the heads up.”

  “Care for a game of pool?” David asked. “Someone said you were pretty good, and you know how I like to make bets, huh?”

  Michel’s gaze did drift downward, then, and Gabbie looked up at the same time. It was just a split second—not very long at all, and she doubted the man on the other side of the table even noticed Michel’s brief distraction.

  Still, they looked at each other.

  Her heart thumped so hard that she could feel it in her throat. It was enough to make her want to be sick. No, they couldn’t play a feckin’ game of pool. She couldn’t stay hidden on the other side of the goddamn table when they would be walking around it.

  “I think I’m going to head out, actually,” Michel said. “Like you said, I wouldn’t want to be caught out on the streets tonight, right?”

  No, Gabbie wanted to say.

  She didn’t want him to leave at all. Who knew when the next time they could see each other again would be? Between his pre-med, her classes at college, this shite between their families … and more, when would they get any time at all?

  Never.

  That’s when.

  “I’ll walk you out, then,” David said.

  Michel tensed again.

  Gabbie flinched.

  “Yeah, man, sure,” Michel replied tightly.

  She had to physically stop herself from grabbing onto Michel’s legs to keep him there with her. A part of her knew without a doubt it was going to be weeks before the two of them even got a chance to be near one another again.

  Her heart felt like it was dying.

  Still, she stayed hidden even as Michel moved away from her, and rounded the table. Just before he was gone from her sights entirely, he glanced back and caught her staring at him. It was quick—just a blink, and she would have missed it.

  He winked.

  Then, he mouthed, “See you soon.”

  It made her smile.

  He was always doing that.

  And then he was gone.

  Gabbie didn’t know how long she stayed down there—another minute or two before she dared to at least poke her head up over the edge of the table, and scan the bar. No one seemed to notice the redhead at the pool table when she stood straight up, deciding it was safe enough for her to leave.

  Michel was nowhere in sight.

  Neither was his friend.

  Gabbie waited by the pool table, staring at the front entrance where he would have left, just long enough to see if Michel might come back. There was a chance, right? Maybe his friend got in his vehicle first, and left before Michel did. Then, he could turn around and come right back in to see her.

  He didn’t come back.

  Gabbie slipped out the back of the bar the same way she had come in. Each step she took made her heart grow heavier, but she pushed the feeling down. They would figure it out, right? They always did.

  The phone in Gabbie’s pocket rang, dragging her from the thoughts warring in her mind. She checked the screen just long enough to see Charles’ name looking back at her. Shite. It seemed her father noticed her absence before she hoped he would.

  Nothing ever went right.

  “Da,” she greeted, picking up the call.

  “Where are you? I told you to stay close, didn’t I? And you left?”

  He didn’t feck around.

  Gabbie thought up a quick lie. “I needed a breather. It’s been a long day. I decided to take a drive, okay?”

  “That doesn’t tell me where—”

  “Coming home right now,” she interrupted. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  … yeah, if she drove like a madwoman.

  Maybe she would.

  “My home,” her father ordered.

  Oh, were they going back to that?

  Great.

  “Of course, Da.”

  He hung up the phone.

  Gabbie breathed a little easier.

  • • •

  A month.

  A whole month.

  That’s how long it took before Gabbie and Michel were able to make time to attempt to meet again. Sure, they texted daily, and she called him when it was safe to do so. Their conversations were often far too short, and a wee bit … careful. Both of them were mindful not to say something that might upset the other. Neither wanted to give away too many details about what was happening around them.

  Gabbie didn’t think she was going to be able to get away from her father—he was still making her stay at his home—which he had men on twenty-four seven now. It was constant; she hated feeling like she was being babysat. A man drove her to classes at the college, and back home. If she needed to go to an appointment, or to the gym, he took her there, too.

  She told Michel all of that. He needed to know if they were going to make this plan to see one another work, right?

  By complete accident, Gabbie noticed the man who took her to school tended to disappear around eleven in the morning when she was in her second class of the day. No one told her that he left for a time, and came back before the class was even over. She only found out because three times the week before, with her sugars acting up, she stepped out to handle what she needed in the bathroom and realized … he wasn’t in the hallway.

  She let Michel know.

  A plan was formed.

  Gabbie’s hands trembled a bit as she came up to the hotel room with a brass 9 hanging above the peephole. She was going to get in a lot of trouble for this—no doubt about it. Already, she bet the man watching her knew she had snuck out on him at the college. Her class ended a half hour ago, so they were probably on the hunt for her.

  Her father would be in a panic …

  Worth it.

  Tomorrow, she would deal with the hell from her da. But this was her one chance to see Michel after an entire month of being away from him, and she wasn’t passing it up. Everyone had to take risks, and this was hers.

  Undoing the tie on her coat—the beginning of the month had brought with it even colder weather than ever—she knocked on the hotel door. Light footsteps echoed behind the door before it quieted, and then just as quickly, it was opened.

  And there he was.

  Michel stood behind the door, the dim lighting in the room shadowing him just enough to make him look like a dark angel standing there. She kind of loved it.

  “It worked, then?” he asked.

  “I guess so.”

  That was literally the only thing she was able to say before he yanked her into the room, and slammed the door behind her. Gabbie’s back hit the door, and Michel’s lips found hers. The kiss was brutal—making her high and spun all at the same time.

  Yeah, a month was way too long.

  Gabbie didn’t care how rough Michel was as he tugged the clothes from her body. The only thing she could think about was just how close she could get to him in the least amount of time possible. His tongue lashed against hers, his teeth drawing her lower lip in to bite hard as his hands ripped her jeans down her thighs.

  This was basic.

  Primal.

  It’d been too long. She just wanted him to give her what she wanted, and then they could talk later. The rest was pleasantries, and she didn’t care for those at all. Not when he looked ready to ruin he
r. She didn’t know how it had happened because everything moved so fast when they were like this, but he got her bent over the arm of the couch before she even had time to admire the room or look around.

  His kisses dotted up her spine.

  His hands followed the same path.

  Gabbie’s breaths came out shuddering. Her whole body felt him everywhere, and he wasn’t even inside of her yet. Like the way her arse clenched when he palmed her backside, and clenched hard against the supple flesh before spanking her so damn good. Or how shivers chased his hands when he drove them up her back.

  She heard the rip of foil, and then felt him behind her as he fitted between her thighs. That first thrust was heaven—it was when he pulled out that she thought it was hell. And then he quickly gave her that heavenly feeling back when he slammed in all over again.

  His kiss had been brutal.

  And so was his pace, now.

  This was frantic, and dirty. She didn’t need his words whispering in her ear to get her higher, or his teasing touches to light the flames inside her body. She was already there, and working toward the cliff that would throw her straight off the edge of bliss.

  What a wonderful trip that would be.

  Michel found her hips to yank her harder into him as the rhythm between them came a little faster. It made his cock hit the deepest spot inside of her pussy as his groin slapped her backside with every snap of his hips.

  It ached.

  And it felt so good.

  “Right there,” Gabbie gasped. “Right there, oh, my God.”

  It was the feeling of him leaning over her back, and his teeth finding the junction of her shoulder that sent her spinning. Because that’s how it felt when the orgasm crashed over her senses. Like she was a coil coming undone—spinning and twisting, unfurling a million miles a minute until she hit bottom, and crashed to the ground. She was sure her body was in a million little pieces, but it couldn’t possibly be because Michel pulled away, and in the next blink, had her wrapped in his arms to cradle her.

  The softness of a bed met her back before he was crawling in between her thighs. All she could do was open up to him, and let him in. Too sensitive, and trying to recover, she felt him enter her again.

  Softer, this time.

  Easier.

  He wasn’t so frantic, then.

  Wasn’t so rough.

  And she liked it, too.

  Loved how he loved her. Sweet touches against her body, and his kisses drifting over her chest and throat as he used her body to make himself fly, too. She didn’t think she was going to come again—wasn’t her body already spent?

  It felt like it.

  Michel proved her wrong.

  She came when he did, too, because just hearing his pleased, thick moan when he came was enough to shove her over the ledge again. This time, she didn’t feel so broken as she tried to catch her breath, her fingernails digging into the hard muscles of his shoulders as she trembled all over.

  It still somehow broke her, though.

  He always did that.

  He’d ruined her for other men.

  There could be no other but him.

  “They follow me all the time,” he muttered against her lips.

  Gabbie stiffened on the bed, her naked body moving against his on the sheets. Just like that, her high was gone. It was time for them to talk, it seemed, and she didn’t know if she liked that, or not. “What do you mean?”

  “The Italians. It’s … they’re watching me.”

  “I mean, my father’s people watch me, too, Michel.”

  He shook his head, and she knew then that he was trying to tell her something else. Something important, but she wasn’t hearing it correctly.

  “Why does it bother you, then?”

  Michel leaned away from her, using his elbow to keep him propped up on the bed. In the dim lighting, she still had a good view of his face, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Because it means they don’t trust me. And since they won’t let me in on their plans, and I don’t want to be associated with my … friends here anymore, I’m in the dark. But it puts me on edge to know they’re watching me like they have to.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Were they following you to—”

  “Lost them downtown,” he replied quickly.

  Gabbie blinked. “They’re that close to you that you can see them?”

  “Exactly.”

  She quieted in the bed, and just as quickly, his weight was covering hers again. The blankets on the mattress were pulled over them, and the rest of the world disappeared. For a second, it was just Michel and Gabbie hidden under the blankets, naked and together. The way she always wanted it to be.

  No one would understand, though.

  It wasn’t this easy.

  She couldn’t have him.

  “Gabbie?”

  “Yeah?”

  Peering up in his embrace, she found Michel watching her in that way. Intense, and pensive. Like if he looked away, then she might not be there when he glanced back again. She knew that feeling too well.

  “What?” she asked when he stayed quiet.

  “I was thinking …”

  “About?”

  “Me and you.”

  She tensed. Because he knew this was a dead end for them? Because it was likely this thing between them was going to end nowhere good, and the only thing she would be left with was a broken heart to show for it?

  That’s how it felt sometimes.

  His hand on her hip flexed almost painfully. “Don’t do that—don’t ever second guess what I feel about you, or what I want, okay?”

  She swallowed hard. “It’s hard not to. Everything is bad right now and … it’s always on my mind. I can’t not think about it, Michel.”

  “Except I want you. And I’d do anything to have you. Anything, Gabbie. I’ve had a month to think about the shit going on, and I tried to play by their rules. I thought stepping back might calm it down, and they would realize this war with the Irish is foolish, but it didn’t work. Because that’s not what they want. They want a war, and I’m starting to think it’s not about me and you at all. I just haven’t figured out why. But I plan on figuring it out, and soon.”

  “You shouldn’t meddle, that’s dangerous.”

  “So is not knowing their endgame, Gabbie.”

  Fair point.

  It still left her unsettled, though.

  Michel let out a bitter laugh, and one of his hands left her hip so that he could scrub it down his face. “My father would tell me to get the hell out of this city, you know? If I called him today and told him what was happening, that would be the first thing out of his mouth. And he’s not wrong …”

  She stilled again, fear slicing through her heart. A part of her wondered if he would leave, but just as quickly, it was quashed by the side of her that heard what he’d said not a minute before loud and clear.

  He wants me.

  He wouldn’t leave without her.

  His next words confirmed it. “I’m here for you—do you hear me?”

  She nodded. “I got it.”

  “But would you leave?”

  “What?”

  Michel’s hands found her body again, and he rolled her over on the bed. Once again, she was on her back, and he hovered above her. His hands splayed across her rib cage—so strong, and expansive. He could squeeze her body, take her breath away, and she would beg him for more. She wanted everything he gave her.

  Including him.

  “If we could leave, would you come with me?” he asked.

  “Is it that simple?”

  “Probably not. It might be a last resort.”

  “Okay, and yes.”

  Her heart was with him. Her soul, too. What good was a woman without a heart and soul? What would she possibly do with herself if she was left without him, and he had taken those parts of her with him, too?

  No, she would have to go.

  She would
rather die, otherwise.

  Michel’s throat jumped at her reply before he dropped a quick kiss to her lips. She smiled under his mouth, but the truth was simpler. In a way … it wouldn’t be that easy. Nothing ever was in this life.

  She learned that lesson well.

  • • •

  Gabbie woke up in the bed to chaos. At first, she wasn’t even sure what was going on as she was yanked from her slumber next to Michel with viciousness. She wondered if the scene playing out in the hotel room was a nightmare, or reality.

  She wasn’t sure she was even awake.

  And then it became painfully clear that yes, she was awake. The men storming the hotel room had familiar faces—one bad sign. Their words as they dragged her out of the bed from the right, and Michel from the left was the second sign.

  It happened so fast.

  Seconds, really.

  Even still, she fought against the hold of the person keeping her away from Michel. She slapped and scratched and spat while the men on the other side of the room slammed Michel against the wall with no care or concern.

  “Enough, lass!”

  That voice.

  That voice she knew so well.

  She was still focused in on Michel, but the hands that suddenly landed on her arms squeezed tightly enough to leave bruises behind. She was forced to stare into the eyes of a familiar face instead of the man across the room like she wanted.

  “Let her go!” Michel shouted.

  His next yell was stopped by one of the men slamming a punch to his gut. Gabbie felt like she had taken that punch, too.

  “Stop,” she mumbled.

  “Then you leave, lass,” the man holding her said.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she found the door had been kicked in. That was likely the noise that woke her up. Still, she felt hazy and confused. Unsteady even as she was pulled to her feet, and a handful of shite was pushed into her hands.

  Gabbie blinked at the items.

  Her clothes.

  Humiliation filled her to the brim.

  She was still naked.

  So was Michel.

  It was then that she realized who exactly had beaten down their door to get her. Oh, sure, she understood perfectly fine that it was her father’s men. But the one who just handed her the clothes to get dressed and was now looking at her right in her eyes?