Stryker

by Lexi Buchanan

  “No, you’re not.” She shook her head. “You have more to deal with. I’m sure Carter’s okay.” Millie bit her lip. “At least, I hope he is.”

  I moved and wrapped my arm around my friend, our heads together. “We’re a right pair, huh?”

  “I’ve been thinking that I want to ask my father for help. He knows that you’ve always been here for me, which means he’d do anything for you.”

  “Millie, please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want more trouble and you know as well as I do that your father isn’t very diplomatic.”

  She chuckled. “No, he isn’t. But he’d be able to get Stryker free of Declan without the wedding going ahead. And I trust my father. I can’t say the same for Declan.”

  I so wished I could agree, but I’d heard things about Millie’s father and he sounded a slightly meaner version of Declan, not that I’d ever voice that. He’d mean well, but the way he’d go about it wasn’t something I’d probably be able to live with.

  We’d both be free though.

  “Leave it for now, Millie. Let me try and do it this way before your father gets involved. I need to believe that Declan will let Stryker go free.” I grabbed hold of her hands. “I have to believe that because it’s the only thing keeping me going.”

  Millie nodded.

  “What about your father then? He knows this isn’t what you want. I saw his face when we arrived. It was full of sorrow. I bet that’s why he hasn’t been around.”

  My father may have been absent a lot, but he’d know everything that happened at the house when he wasn’t there. No one could get anything past him. So why had he left and stayed silent?

  “I don’t know. I’m just so tired and I’ve had enough. I feel if someone said boo to me I’ll burst into tears. I hate feeling this way.”

  “Patrick’s at the house.”

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry to just blurt that out. It’s why I came to find you because I was trying to give you some alone time. If it’s any consolation, he looks just as bad as you. At least he did when he thought no one was watching. Then your mother appeared and he changed before my eyes into a happy groom. She ushered him through to the kitchen. Something about the cake.” Millie shrugged. “I know what I saw, but are you sure he doesn’t want this as much as you don’t?”

  “How can he want to marry me, Millie? We had some kind of relationship, which started to go sour before I even knew Stryker existed. Patrick doesn’t want me, and I know he’s only going ahead because of pressure from his father. I suspect he’s also going ahead because it takes the pressure off of him and once married, he can go out after what or who he really wants.”

  Millie frowned but I ignored her.

  “I guess I better go back to the house.”

  “Not so fast.” Millie stood and tugged me up to face her. “What was all that about Patrick? Do you know something you’re not sharing?” She tipped her head to the side and waited.

  “I don’t know anything.” I grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the glasshouse. “I suspect something that’s all.”

  “You going to share?”

  “Not yet.” I shook my head. “Let me go and find Patrick. I want to talk to him before tomorrow. See if there’s some way of ending this whole mess that doesn’t include getting married.”

  “Don’t hold your breath, Evie. His father’s an asshole.”

  “I know.”

  Chapter 21

  EXHAUSTED OF PLAYING A part, he tugged his tie free from around his neck and locked the bedroom door.

  No interruptions.

  He moved slowly to his lover who already laid naked on the large bed, waiting for him to slip his cock inside.

  The buttons slowly slipped free from his dress shirt as he teased his lover with the slow removal of the garment.

  “Please, hurry. It’s been too long,” his lover moaned, hands fisted in the bedding.

  “It has been too long, but soon we won’t have to hide. Soon I’ll be free to be with you.” He inhaled as he shucked the shirt and started on his pants. “I’m doing this for us, not just me. I hope you know that.”

  His lover nodded and then gasped when he knelt on the bed, and started to caress along legs that he craved to have wrapped around his waist.

  “I don’t have any reason to believe that tomorrow won’t go as planned. Just promise me,” he groaned, licking between his lover’s legs,” that you’ll stay close to me.” He gave another swipe with his tongue and pushing his lovers legs open wide, he took hold of his weeping shaft, impaling his lover.

  He stilled, fighting for breath. “I will only be able to get through tomorrow if you’re close…promise me.”

  “I promise…please make love to me.”

  With legs quivering, his balls as hard as his fucking cock, he slowly slipped free before he touched home base again.

  As their lips sealed together he knew he’d do anything to protect his lover…

  Chapter 22 ~ Stryker

  “WE’RE LANDING IN THIRTY minutes so we need to finish our talk,” Carter sat across the table and placed a folder in front of me. He sat forward, his arms on the table.

  “I thought you’d already told me everything?” I frowned.

  “I left out the part about your father helping Evie and Millie.”

  “What the fuck.” I pushed away from the table and tried to pace in the small confines of the private jet, but failed. I couldn’t even stand up straight so I dropped back down.

  “You finished?” Carter asked, amused.

  My father.

  I dropped my head and wanted to ignore Carter, but he was too big to be ignored.

  “He loves you, Jake. He never stopped.”

  “No.” I shook my head and tried not to listen but he wouldn’t stop.

  “Yes. I’ve seen his house. Been inside. One room is full of pictures of you, and him. He has a picture of you and him enlarged on the kitchen wall. You’re a child so no one would recognize you if they didn’t know your connection to him.”

  “Then why? If everything you’re saying is the truth, why did he do it? Why’d he sell me? I can’t accept anything else. All this time I’ve had my anger that’s been fueled by his betrayal. What will I have if it’s all been a lie?”

  You couldn’t find the anger when you saw him the other night.

  “Jake, you’ll have your father back.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Think before you speak,” Carter suggested.

  I met Carter’s gaze while my mind was in turmoil.

  Are you sure?

  Sighing, heavily, I asked, “Tell me why?”

  “He’s asked that he be the one to tell you. Evie, Millie, and myself know why. Evie wanted to be angry with him on your behalf, but after she saw his photographs of you, and heard what he had to say, I don’t think she could get there. Everything he’s done, he’s done to get you back.” Carter sat back, but looked to be anything but happy. “Look, he’s going to be meeting us when we land. I’m going to take over the driving while he sits in the back with you and talks. Just give him a chance.”

  What I wanted was to have Evie with me when I talked to him. Coming out and saying that to Carter would make me look like a pussy so I kept my mouth shut. “I don’t want my head full of crap when I’m going to be up against…I don’t know…when we show up at Evie’s parents’ place.”

  “You’re head won’t be full with crap. It might be spinning, and I know you and your father will have to work at getting to know one another again, but I truly believe he did everything he thought he could back then.”

  I looked out of the window as we dropped altitude and wondered what the hell he’d have to say. I wasn’t sure anything could make up for letting them have me. I was a fourteen-year-old boy when I last saw him. I became a man pretty quickly because I didn’t have the choice.

  “I’m not sure any explanation will make amends for what I went through as a boy becau
se of what he did.”

  “I understand, but at least you can hear him out, and then decide. Otherwise, you’ll spend the rest of your life curious about what happened…I’d listen.”

  I offered a mirthless laugh. “I guess I won’t have much choice but to listen.”

  “What about Evie and Millie? All you’ve done is tell me about you, and my father. I want to know the plan to go and get Evie.”

  “By tomorrow, everything should be in place so we’ll move in before the wedding.”

  “They’ll know that I’m going for Evie. At least, Patrick will know where I’m headed.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’re landing under radar and once we’re in the car I have somewhere to stash you.” Carter grinned. “It’s somewhere that Declan Fitzwilliam might consider, but would never look.”

  I raised a brow.

  “We’re the over night guests of Millie’s daddy, Jordan Michaels, except Millie has no idea. So I’d appreciate you keeping that news to yourself.”

  “I can, but why would Millie be pissed at us staying with her family?”

  He sighed. “Whenever I mentioned her parents, she’d change the subject. I actually already knew who they were, especially her father, but I wanted her to tell me. She promised to do so when I returned. Except, I left your father’s house to go and help you and ended up being dragged to Chicago. She’s probably wondering where the hell I am.”

  “I take it her father does a lot of dealings like Declan?”

  “Not anymore. At least what anyone can prove. He’s a much better man than Declan has ever been or ever will be. So let’s just leave it at that… I’ll give you some peace until we land. It will be hectic enough for you once we do.” Carter moved toward the back of the plane and stayed there.

  I rubbed my brow wanting the whole damn thing over with. I wanted Evie in my arms without any worry that we’d be ripped apart. I wanted and needed her by my side for the rest of our lives.

  Just her smile was enough to make me feel happy. My skin always felt fevered at her touch. And I was sure that I acted like an adolescent teenager with how quickly my cock responded to her.

  Even thoughts of her had me hard and aching. Like now. I slipped my hand into my jeans and made myself comfortable, as I tried to turn my thoughts around to something else.

  My father.

  He must really have something to say if Evie couldn’t bring herself to hate him. But what? What could he say to remove the image of him running away and leaving me in that dark alley? I always hoped that he’d come back for me. Tell me it had all been a misunderstanding. He never came and eventually my dreams died and became nightmares. I’d eventually lost all hope and started hating my father.

  I wasn’t sure that years of hate could turn into something else.

  Evie

  WANTING TO TALK TO Patrick, I waited until he went up to the guest room for the night so then his father wouldn’t catch us talking. His father was still downstairs and I certainly wanted to avoid him.

  Patrick had been in there for about an hour so I figured it was time. Like before, I didn’t know what to say to make him walk away from me, but it was worth a try.

  There was a connecting door between our rooms, and I didn’t think that Patrick knew about it. It didn’t look like a door and had been decorated in the same wooden design around both rooms. To blend in.

  Using the small key, I unlocked it and quietly opened the door. Patrick’s room was quiet and there was no sign of him. I looked behind the door as well.

  Bathroom.

  The shower came on and then I heard something. As though someone had banged into the shower door. I wasn’t going look. Patrick might get ideas if I followed him into the bathroom.

  I paced back and forth near the bed and then I froze.

  There were voices.

  Male voices in the bathroom.

  My heart beat erratically at the thought of what was going on in there. I’d had my suspicions, but…

  Curiosity got the better of me as I crept closer to the bathroom. There was a gap in the door, and, I looked.

  My eyes widened in shock. The same man that was always with Patrick was naked, facing the shower wall with his legs spread. I didn’t miss his bobbing erection either.

  I quickly turned to look at Patrick who was also naked, erect, and…oh.

  He held his cock and pressed into the man in front of him.

  I quickly turned away and tried to catch my breath. Somehow, I thought I’d feel good knowing that I was right, but I didn’t.

  Quickly getting back to my room, I closed and locked the door and sagged to the floor.

  At least now I knew why Patrick would be going through with the wedding. His father would kill him if he knew he was gay. What a way to cover it up by marrying a woman.

  I just wish I’d discovered I was right without having to witness them having sex in the shower. It was now an image I wouldn’t be able to get out of my head anytime soon.

  “Hey, Evie. Open up.”

  I scrambled to my feet and unlocked my bedroom door. The minute I did, Millie fell into the room, out of breath.

  “Why’d you lock your room?” She frowned. “And why are you flushed?” Her eyes narrowed.

  “I’m fine, but why are you acting like you’ve run a mile?”

  She tugged me over to the window. “Look.” She pointed to the garden.

  “What?”

  “Glasshouse. See something now?” She turned my head and my heart stopped.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Some meeting of sorts. I think it’s something bad.”

  “Oh Millie, calm down. We’re safe in here.”

  “I’m sleeping with you tonight.” Millie turned and used the bathroom before she climbed into my bed. “I’m waiting.”

  I laughed.

  Shoving my pajamas on, I climbed into bed beside her and lay looking up at the ceiling. “Just like old times.”

  Millie smiled and turned on to her side. “I want the truth. Why were you flushed?”

  Groaning, I turned to face her. “I used the secret door to go into Patrick’s room,” I whispered. “I wanted to talk to him without his father being around. I just didn’t expect to see what I did.”

  She poked me in the shoulder. “All of it.”

  I could feel the flush coating my cheeks again. “He was in the shower.”

  “So, was he playing with himself?”

  I choked on a laugh. “He wasn’t alone.”

  She froze. “What?”

  “Millie, he was having sex in the shower with another man. With Oliver”

  “No way.”

  “Yes, way. I saw it with my own eyes.”

  “And you didn’t come and get me so I could watch.”

  “Millie.” I swatted her arm. “Be serious.”

  “I am. Two guys going at it is hot as hell. I mean two cocks to play with.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. “I don’t know what to say to that.”

  Millie rolled her eyes. “Were they both hard?”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

  “Evie, that’s so not fair.” She pouted.

  “You do realize that you sound like a two year old, right?”

  “Well, at least it’s taking your mind off the wedding.”

  I flopped to my back. “The wedding isn’t far from my mind…neither is Jake.”

  Millie intertwined her fingers with mine. “I hope, when he’s free, that you’ll call him Jake.”

  Tears slipped down my face. “When he’s free I won’t see him, Millie.”

  “Surely you don’t expect him to go on his way without coming after you. Because no way will that man accept you being with someone else.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of. What if he comes after me and Declan does something to prevent him from getting close?”

  “That happens then regardless of what everyone wants, I’ll get my dad involved. I sho
uldn’t have listened to you and Carter. My dad would have gotten Stryker free without this farce of a wedding.”

  I blew out a breath and wiped at my face. “Let’s try and sleep.” I turned over, praying for sleep, but not really believing it would come any time soon.

  Patrick obviously needed to marry a woman to hide his true sexual orientation, so I didn’t think that I’d get any help from him. I sure as heck didn’t want to get my father involved because Declan was a dangerous man.

  Maybe Millie’s father could do something after all.

  Chapter 23 ~ Stryker

  DRESSED IN A MONKEY suit, I stood in front of the mirror in the bedroom not recognizing myself. My casual clothes were in a heap on the bed and I longed to put them back on. That wasn’t the plan though. I wasn’t sure about the whole plan, but someone who was part of the wedding had supplied us with official wedding invitations so that we could get on the property.

  Security would be tight and I hoped that the false ID Carter had come up with would hold. I doubted that anyone would recognize me unless they looked close enough.

  My hair had been cropped in an army cut, which made my head feel damn cold. It certainly changed the way I looked after having slightly longer hair for so long.

  The bowtie around my neck felt more like a noose, but before I ripped it off, I kept telling myself that this was all for Evie.

  Evie who had no clue that I was already free from under Declan, but soon would. I just hoped that we got there before it was too late.

  My nerves were shot to hell and the lack of sleep hadn’t helped. Millie’s father, Jordan, had been a surprise in itself. I’d expected a hard-core criminal like Declan. Instead we’d found a successful businessman who knew what he was talking about, and who wanted nothing more than to bury Declan.

  Carter and I had nearly come to blows when we’d arrived last night though. I’d wanted to get in touch with Evie to let her know that I was free and coming for her, but Carter told me it would be safer if she had no idea. I agreed, grudgingly. I’d just wanted to charge in there and take her with me. Keep her safe.