by Mary Martel
She walked past me and grabbed hold of my hand again, pulling me toward the bed in the corner. She let go of my hand so she could lean down and pull back the covers.
Gem crawled into the bed and scooted all the way over to the wall. She sat up, pulled the comforter up to her lap, and began fiddling with the phone in her hands I hadn’t noticed until now.
Eyes on her phone, she patted the space on the bed beside her. “Come on, Riles, get in.”
If it were only that simple.
I kicked off my shoes and pulled my shirt over my head. I dropped it into a pile on top of my shoes and started emptying out my pockets. I tucked my keys inside my shoe and dropped my phone onto the bed where Gem had patted.
Reluctantly, I unbuckled my belt and undid the button and zipper at the front of my pants. I couldn’t sleep in jeans, it was uncomfortable.
If Gem was comfortable sleeping in her underwear beside me, then fuck it, I would be too. I shucked my jeans off, folded them up neatly, and laid them down on top of the rest of my crap.
With nothing for it, I crawled into bed beside her and pulled the comforter up to my lap, just like she had.
“Relax, Riles, I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve been in bed with a girl before.”
I thought about that and flinched inwardly. I hadn’t actually slept beside a girl before except for Gin and Belinda, and that had obviously been strictly platonic on my part. I’d had sex in a bed with a girl before, but I’d never slept next to one I want to have sex with. It seemed too intimate and not something I wanted to share with someone who meant nothing to me.
Thankfully Gem didn’t mean anything.
I sent a quick text to my mom, letting her know I wouldn’t be home until tomorrow afternoon so she wouldn’t worry, and then dropped my phone down onto the floor.
I didn’t bother setting an alarm. I would wake up early all on my own and never usually needed to set an alarm. There was something wired inside of me that just woke me up every day.
I lay back in bed and rested my hands behind my head with my elbows cocked out at the sides, getting comfortable.
“This bed sucks,” I muttered. “What’s the matter, princess, you blow it all on the house and couldn’t afford a decent mattress?”
She laughed, and I tensed as she leaned over me, pressing her hand into my chest. Her long, minty hair trailed across my stomach and my fingers twitched with the need to reach out and run my fingers through it. Her face hovered above mine and her eyes sparkled with humor.
“Fuck you, Riley. My bed hasn’t come yet. And the air mattress worked just fine for me and Franks last night.”
Ouch.
I didn’t much care for the reminder that she’d slept beside the other one the night before. I was here now though, and that mattered. I had to keep telling myself it mattered, that maybe I mattered to her.
Unfortunately I wasn’t sure if I was lying to myself or not, but I knew with time I’d come to figure it out. Whether I liked it or not.
Gem tossed her phone down to the floor beside mine and I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “Did you text him to let him know you were all tucked in for the night?”
“Let’s not talk about Franklin any more tonight, okay?” She sighed and I went stock-still as she wrapped her arm around my bare stomach. She rested her head on my shoulder and her braid landed on my chest. Good fucking Christ, my chest burned with something I didn’t recognize because I’d never felt it before in my entire life.
I didn’t wrap my arms around her no matter how much I yearned to. I didn’t touch her in any way outside of how she touched me.
And I absolutely did not relax.
“Tell me something about Gin.”
Fuck, I didn’t want to talk about her dead sister when I had her pressed up tightly against me, her sweet body draped all over mine.
“You two like the exact same shit on pizza,” I informed her. “And did you know she hated the color orange? She thought it was the ugliest color ever, even uglier than brown.”
“Brown isn’t always ugly,” she murmured, as her fingers trailed lightly over my abs, leaving liquid fire in their wake.
My hard-on was painful at this point. I hoped like hell she didn’t move her leg any closer to me, because she’d come in contact with it, and she’d be in for a shock.
“This one time she asked me to come over and hang out with her. I remember there was a football game on that night that I wanted to watch with some of the guys from school, but Gin convinced me to skip it and go over to her house instead. She was good at that, talking me into things, I could never say no to her.” Something the two sisters seemed to have in common.
“I got there, and she had what looked like mud on her face and her hair was up in this messy thing on top of her head. I made fun of her for looking ridiculous, and she called me an asshole. I made a deal with her that night that my friends wouldn’t let me live down for a long time.”
“What deal was that?” she whispered in a sleepy voice.
I sighed, finally okay with talking about Gin with someone. Turns out I just needed the right person and that made it okay.
“I got to watch the game only if I allowed her to paint my toenails.” Gem’s body shook with silent laughter. “They were pink for damn near a month after that, and you better believe she took pictures of that shit.”
Eventually her body stopped shaking and she relaxed entirely against my side.
I thought she’d fallen asleep when her quiet voice hit me right in the heart. “I miss her so much. I’m pissed at her, but I don’t care. I’d give anything to have her back. Anything.”
My body shuddered as I sucked in a sharp, painful breath. She wasn’t the only one who was pissed and missing Gin but would still give anything to have the beautiful girl back.
Finally, I moved and wrapped her up in my arms. Thankfully talk of Gin had killed my hard-on.
Gem cuddled up to me and buried her face in my neck. I held on to her tight until she fell asleep, and we both pretended not to notice the wetness covering my chest due to her tears.
Chapter Fifteen
Rich Girl Pussy
Franklin
“You got blood on my shoes, dick,” I snapped irritably, for there really was blood on my shoes and I didn’t much care for the mess.
I had told the fucker that when I tied him down to the chair not five minutes before. Apparently he’d forgotten the rules after I put my fist in his face repeatedly. Go figure.
I held my hand out in front of me, admiring the brass knuckles there. They’d once belonged to my father’s right-hand man before I came of age, and he’d been reduced to my right-hand man, a man I looked up to far more than I ever had my own father, Jordy Twines. He’d given them to me on my fifteenth birthday. They were precious to me since he’d died due to a GSW to the back of his head a year later. I felt him with me every time I slid my fingers inside, like coming home.
He’d taught me how to throw a punch, and when I’d been what he’d considered old enough, he taught me how to dodge one. After giving me several black eyes, of course.
He’d been a good guy. It was days like today when I missed him the most. He should have been here standing beside me covered in this twat’s blood himself.
Instead, I was stuck with Bronco and his brother Rancher. Two brothers who were in their late twenties.
They looked absolutely nothing alike since they’d had different mothers and only shared a father.
Bronco’s mother had been Hispanic, and from what he’d said, if he could be believed and I doubted he could be because half the shit that came out of his mouth was pure bullshit, she’d been an incredible beauty. Since he was an ugly, face scarred up to hell motherfucker himself, he claimed to have gotten his looks from his father. Now that I believed.
Rancher’s mother had been blonde and blue-eyed, just like Rancher.
Both their personalities sucked, and I think it was the only trait they s
hared between them.
Their mothers were dead. Their father had butchered them both and then taken his children with him. They had two sisters he’d done the same with.
When Bronco became old enough, he took their dad out permanently, and they’d been raising their two little sisters together ever since.
My father had taken them on years ago, and they’d been faithful, loyal little soldiers ever since.
And they usually drove me fucking nuts. For some ungodly reason, today they were acting strange and weren’t their usual brand of smartass and blabbermouth.
I didn’t know what the hell their problems were, and I normally wouldn’t care, but today it seemed to be affecting their ability to do the job.
“Please,” the man in the chair wailed. “I didn’t take anything from your family. I would never steal from your father, I’m not stupid. I’m loyal. Where’s Johnny? I want to talk to him. He’ll know I’m not lying.”
I sneered down at him, almost feeling sorry for the poor bastard. Johnny was the reason I was here, and you didn’t change his mind on anything.
I hit the man in the face again and heard the crack in his jaw. His mouth went slack and he howled in pain. The sounds came out garbled and slightly deranged. I’d broken something, and I didn’t care, it was part of the job. I hit him again. And again. And again. Over and over and over.
Something inside of me snapped, and I let it all out, unleashing the beast within on this poor fucker who’d made the mistake of skimming off the top of my father’s take. He had been doing so for months. He’d managed to steal thirty-five thousand dollars from my father. This wasn’t exactly a gathering of information here, because the money had already been retrieved and was back where it belonged. My father had said to teach him a lesson before taking him out.
I didn’t teach him a lesson as such. I simply exercised my demons by beating the life out of him and leaving his face a bloody, unrecognizable pulp.
“I don’t think Johnny is going to be happy about this,” Rancher complained loudly. “He wanted it to be more drawn out and painful.”
Blood ran down the side of the traitor’s mushy face and I watched, fascinated as that rich, wine colored bead made its journey through the air down to the floor.
Fuck Johnny Nines and fuck his opinions on how I got the job done. If he didn’t like it, he could do it on his own from here on out, and I’d quit or he could find himself someone to replace me. Fuck if I cared. My old man would care a whole hell of a lot, no matter how hard he pretended to not have any feelings left and that he wasn’t anything other than the cold-blooded bastard he portrayed to the world. It meant something to him, more than he’d probably ever admit aloud to anyone other than me that it would break his little black heart if I not only walked away from him, but the business he’d poured his blood, sweat, and other people’s tears into.
That goddamn pride was a thing to behold and could really get you into trouble if you weren’t smart enough to know when to check that shit. My father had no idea when to check his pride and be a man I might actually aspire to be like. I was like him because he forced me to be like him.
End of fucking story.
“You know he wants to see you?” Rancher questioned me, sounding uneasy. “He instructed us to take you back to the mansion with us.”
I’d be going to see my father for sure, but I wouldn’t be going with Rancher and Bronco shadowing my every step.
I had something else planned for them, and I’d come up with it while watching them out of the corner of my eye while I did my father’s dirty work.
I stared them both down as blood still dripped from my hands onto the concrete floor. When they were with me on the job, they were always without fault, loyal to me first, and they didn’t usually bring up my father until the job was over. Then they went back to being loyal to the big boss man, but only if I didn’t call on them or have a need for them to be with me.
Well, today, or tonight, however the fuck you looked at it, I had a few things on my to-do list that I needed to check off so I could get back to my girl and her new lap dog.
“I’ll go home to see Johnny on my own,” I informed them, watching them both carefully for any signs they weren’t going to be on board with my plans. “But I’ve got a different job I want to send the two of you on. A personal one that stays between the three of us. You’ll get paid the same as usual, but my father’s not to know anything about it, and I certainly don’t want him getting involved with this.”
“It’s got to do with your girl,” Bronco immediately shot back. Rancher nodded his head in agreement, both of them watching me carefully, standing still almost as if they were afraid to move.
They were prepared for me to strike out at them for even daring to bring Gem into the conversation. They were lucky they didn’t mention her by name.
I fisted my hands at my sides and glared down at the now blood-soaked brass knucks. Here was the moment of truth, where I made my first move and I’d find out if I could really trust them or if they were more loyal to my father than me. Eventually, I would need to test all the men because they would one day be my men, and I wanted them to be loyal only to me. Anyone solely loyal to the old man would have to go. Maybe I’d bury them in a hole right next to the one I already had picked out for him.
“What’s the job?” Bronco asked without hesitation, and something inside my chest eased. I knew better than to fully trust this just yet, only in time would he earn that.
“You in too?” I asked Rancher, just to needle him a bit. I already knew he was in. When one of them spoke, they spoke for the both of them. Where one went the other followed. They wouldn’t take a job if they couldn’t work it together. They’d always been like that, and I used to find myself envious of their relationship. It must be nice to have someone to always have your back.
Until Gem had come into my life, I felt like I had always been on my own.
Not that I wanted Gem to pick up a gun and take my back. Though, I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to do it, I just didn’t want my girl to ever have to get her hands dirty.
“There’s a woman I want you to follow. I want to know everything about her, where she eats, what she buys, where she spends her time, who she talks to on the phone.” I looked from one brother to the other and back again. “And who she fucks. I want you both to seduce her, fuck her nice and good, and get her addicted to not only your cock but you.”
Rancher’s mouth dropped open, and Bronco’s eyes narrowed on me. Yeah, I knew it was fucked, and I had never asked them anything like this before ever. They both probably thought I’d lost my fucking mind.
Maybe I had.
“Just who in the fuck is this woman?” Bronco growled.
I guessed I owed them that much, eh? If someone had ordered me to stick my dick somewhere, I’d probably want to know the whys of it. Not that I’d actually do it. Anymore… I used to not care as much who I stuck my dick in, it was a basic human need I sometimes needed another person to fulfill when I got bored with using my hand. The person fulfilling that need never mattered so long as they didn’t talk about it afterwards, because I never wanted anything to get back to Gem. Even before then I always made sure the girls I was with didn’t talk about their time with me. Sometimes that cost me cash, sometimes my last name was all that was needed to keep their mouths shut.
It was nice to know Gem didn’t give a fuck about my last name, and if I tried to give her cash she’d laugh in my face. I also knew she wouldn’t ever talk about our sex life to anyone, not that I cared if she did. She was different and our relationship wouldn’t be anything like what either of us had ever had before.
Well, maybe she’d talk to Riley now, but who gave a fuck about him? The guy was smart enough to know not to talk about me or my business. I’m sure Chance had trained him better.
“Gem’s mother,” I gritted out reluctantly, hating to talk about her with any of my father’s guys, but if I had to pick anyone, I’d want
it to be these two. “She’s causing my girl some problems, and I want to get a handle on her before she becomes a real problem.”
“So you want us to fuck her, entertain her, and get her mind off of her daughter?” Bronco asked, sounding shocked but slightly amused, and who the fuck could blame him?
Jesus Christ.
“No,” I spat out and sighed. I lifted my hand to run my fingers through my hair but winced when I caught sight of the blood there and quickly lowered my hand. Fuck, I needed to get myself cleaned up and the fuck out of here before my old friend anger came back and filled me up inside.
“No,” I repeated much calmer this time. “I don’t just want you to fuck her. I want you to get in there. I want her to bring you home with her and maybe even fall in love with you. Or lust will even work. Just so long as she trusts you. Maybe not even trusts you so much as allows you to spend time with her in her home. I want you to search the place, and I want you to keep your eyes out for anything I can use against her. Any kind of weakness she has, I want to know about it. Anything involving her daughter, I want to know about it. I want to know everything. Do you think you can handle this, or do I need to find someone else for the job?”
They both looked doubtful, but I didn’t care about that.
“Let’s get this shit cleaned up,” I suggested as I gestured at the traitor with my bloody hand.
“Do you think your girl is going to be okay with you doing this to her mom?” Rancher asked in a quiet voice.
Hmmm…
I hadn’t even taken Gem’s feelings on the matter into consideration, but now that I really thought about it, I came to the conclusion that Gem would not give the first fuck.
I picked up the hunting knife on the table beside the chair and cut away the restraints keeping the man in place. His large, limp body immediately slithered out of the chair, and he fell onto the concrete floor with a thud.
“I’ll take care of this,” Bronco murmured. “You get yourself cleaned up and get to Johnny. And don’t worry about your girl’s mom, we’ll take care of her for you and keep you informed on everything we find.”
