by Jagger Cole
“Julia…”
“No, Evan, you need to take it. I’m not going anywhere.” I blush at my boldness, and at my own nakedness. I curl my legs beneath me and pull a sheet over them. But my heart is still racing for him. Evan stands, his muscles rippling and clenching with his anger. He snatches the second phone up and answers roughly.
“Who is this.”
His face darkens, and a single word snarls from his lips.
“Petrov.”
11
Evan
How this piece of shit got my private line is irrelevant. A man like Petrov has the same resources I do, and I can get anything I want. Seeing as he’s declared war on my company, I’m amazed he hasn’t called me yet on my private line, just to make a point.
“Mr. Danforth,” the Russian oligarch grunts in his Slavic-toned accent. There’s malice in his voice, mixed with a smugness that brings my fury to a boil.
“The fuck do you want?” I spit into my phone. My eyes slide over Julia, sitting there looking like heaven in my bed, with the sheets around her waist. God, I want more of her. That this asshole is keeping me from her is enough to make me want to bury him. And that’s aside from him trying to torpedo my empire.
“I want what is mine, Mr. Danforth,” he mutters. “I want my telephone, which I believe you have.”
“And if I do?”
He laughs a cold laugh. “Do you want a reward? A bounty, Mr. Danforth?”
“I don’t want a thing from you.”
“So you do have my phone, yes?”
I shrug, my hand tightening on the cell. I move to the window and look out over the city—my city. “I have a phone, Petrov.”
“Yes,” he growls, his anger rising. Good, let him cloud himself with his own rage. “You have my phone.”
“I just said I had a phone, asshole. It may in fact be my phone.”
“Theft seems beneath you, Mr. Danforth.”
“Possession is nine tenths of the law,” I growl in response. I’m toying with him, and it feels good to hit back. I turn, and my eyes once again sweep over Julia.
“Petrov?” She whispers in shock. I nod, and she hugs her arms around herself. The move is small, but I don’t want her scared, and I sure as hell won’t stand for a second-rate mobster like Petrov scaring her. I move to the edge of the bed, and I wrap my arm around her. She snuggles into me, and her cheek and hand against my chest calms the storm in me.
“Listen, I’m done playing fucking games with you,” I growl. “If you’ve lost your phone, that’s not really my problem, least of all while you’re trying to wage a war on me. You want me, come after me.”
I’m about to hang up, but Petrov begins to laugh. “Oh, Mr. Danforth,” he laughs coldly. “I will not come after you. That is too easy. No, that is not how this chess game works.”
I frown. “There’s no chess game. I’ll make this simple for you. Back the fuck off, and you’ll get your phone back. We both know it’s a matter of when, not if, my team cracks your encrypted stuff. I’m guessing it’s things you’d rather the world not know about. Or, say, the authorities.” He doesn’t laugh this time or try and knock me off my game. That tells me I’m right.
“Let me tell you how this plays out, Mr. Danforth,” he finally says with an icy tone. “I will not come after you first. As I said, that is too easy. I’ll come for those who helped you. Those who are close to you. The boy from the cafe? The one who gave you my phone? He will be first.”
My blood chills, and my jaw clenches. Petrov goes on.
“Such a shame, that we still live in a world where people commit violence against people for who they sleep with, no?” He chuckles deeply. “Perhaps coffee boy will be going home late one night, and perhaps he tries to pick up the wrong man, no? Such a tragedy that would be.”
It isn’t as if Mateo is a close friend of mine, but I’m not cold monster. I know what Petrov is saying, and it has me furious.
“I won’t stop there though, will I, Mr. Danforth? Your cowboy friend, the one who likes to party? Perhaps he buys the wrong cocaine, yes? Perhaps he dies of an overdose in his big fancy loft, all alone. So sad.”
I growl dangerously. Petrov just laughs. “Ahh, and the pretty therapist? The boss-lady who drank too much like you. Elise, is it?”
“She’s my sponsor, she’s not a therapist.”
“She’s a missing person, too, maybe? A nighttime run in Central Park? Oh, I know it’s safe nowadays, but the woods are full of…” Petrov chuckles. “Bad things.”
“You’d better choose your next words very, very carefully,” I snarl. Julia stiffens against me, looking up at me with scared eyes. Petrov laughs.
“And what about this new secretary of yours? The one whose apartment you visited in Brooklyn? Tell me, Mr. Danforth, did you ever visit Veronica’s apartment? Bring her designer clothes and a personal shopper? Pay her half a million dollars a year?”
My lips curl. “Why don’t you ask her?”
He chuckles. “See? Already I have taken from you, and I’m not even trying. But Mr. Danforth, when I come for your new secretary, this Julia Summers?”
“You motherfucker…”
“I won’t be headhunting her for a job, Mr. Danforth,” Petrov hisses. “I’ll just take her fucking head.”
I want to stay calm and cool, but he’s pushed my last button. With a snarl, I lunge to my feet. Julia gasps, and I almost crush the phone in my grip.
“Listen to me very closely, you piece of shit,” I snarl into the phone. “If you think…”
“One day, Mr. Danforth,” he responds quietly. “You have one day to return my property, or anything that happens to coffee boy, or the cowboy, or your little secretary is on you. Goodnight, Mr. Danforth.”
He hangs up, leaving me cold. I turn, and my eyes drink her in. For the first time in perhaps my entire life, I’m finally close to everything I’ve always wanted. Because for the first time, I have her. And I will not let a piece of shit like Petrov take that from me.
12
Julia
“Hang on, what?” Mateo stares at me like I’m insane. To be fair, what I’m saying does sound completely nuts. But I know it’s true. We haven’t cracked all of Petrov’s phone, but I’ve seen enough to see that he’s a monster. He’s perfectly capable, and certainly has the means to do what he’s threatened.
I had to drag it out of Evan. Of course, he didn’t want to tell me and scare me, but I had to know. A man as strong and calm and unflappable as him looking unnerved? Yeah, something was up, and he finally told me. Petrov has threatened to come after Mateo, and two other friends of Evan’s, and me. I tremble at the thought, but at the same time, I feel safe here with him. I think I’d feel safe with him anywhere.
A part of me is still scared that I’m a plaything for him. And not that that’s a bad thing. Being Evan Danforth’s plaything sounds pretty hot, actually. But also sad. A plaything is discarded when it’s done being played with, and I don’t want that part of this. I want him, and I want him a lot. It’s not even a money thing either, or like I’m gold digging. I just wish I could tell him that or knew how to tell him. He could be flat broke, and I’d still want him like I do. I’d still be smitten with him, like I very clearly am.
“Wait, so, we’re just going to stay here? Like prisoners?”
I give Mateo a look and glance around at Evan’s sumptuously elegant and sleek office. “Does this look like a prison?”
“It looks like a fancy-ass office, but if I can’t go outside when I want, it’s a prison.”
“You’ll have free range of my penthouse upstairs, too.” Evan’s voice growls from behind me. I turn to see him leaning against a doorframe. He looks different in jeans and a t-shirt. More human, more mortal. But I like it a lot.
“Um, did you say penthouse?” Mateo gushes.
Evan nods. “Follow me.” We all head back into the atrium off his office, and then follow him up the stairs.
“That butt,” Mateo sigh
s next to me. I turn and scowl, whacking him on the arm, and he laughs. “Sorry! Sorry!”
“Mine!” I growl possessively.
Mateo grins. “Girl, good, and good on you. Now, does he have any gay brothers?”
“I’m an only child.” Mateo stiffens as Evan turns, a few steps above us. “And I have very, very good hearing.”
I giggle as Mateo turns red. “Mr. Danforth—”
“I’ll tell my trainer to give you a call,” Evan chuckles.
We step into his penthouse, and Mateo’s jaw drops like mine did last night. “Are you joking?” he whispers in awe.
“Still feel like you’re in jail?”
“I don’t want to leave,” he gushes. “Ever. And oh my God, is that an original Eames?” Mateo goes over to the living room area to fawn over the designer furniture, and I turn to Evan.
“So, we’re here?”
He nods. “Until we know the threat is over. Well, or until my crypto team crack those files.”
“So it’s a time game.”
“Exactly. My security is on the roof, and the neighboring roofs, and downstairs. I want to say Petrov isn’t insane enough to actually start using guns in this war. But he’s made threats, and I won’t ignore those.
The elevator across the penthouse dings. The door slides open, and a tall, good-looking man in a casual suit with a cowboy hat strides out.
“What’s up, hoss?” he grins at Evan.
“Julia,” Evan nods. “This is Sam Hemmings. Petrov’s threatened his safety as well, probably because we’re friends. Sam, Julia.”
“My, my, the one that’s got my compadre all turned upside down here, huh?”
I blush, and my eyes swivel to see Evan rolling his. “Nice to meet you, Sam.” I notice he doesn’t go to shake my hand, and part of me wonders if that’s because of Evan’s hand on my waist. If it is, I have to admit, I kind of like it. I like that he’s possessive of me.
“This really necessary?” Sam grumbles. “Cooping up here?”
“I’m sure the topless models back at your loft are excellent security, Sam.”
The cowboy rolls his eyes. “I don’t need security. I’m a big boy.”
“Well, today you do.”
“At your dry apartment?” Sam sighs.
Outside, a whirling sound gets louder. I blink in surprise when a helicopter begins to land on what I didn’t even realize was landing pad. One of the pilots hops out and opens the passenger door, and a pretty but very business-looking brunette hops out. She marches smartly on heels towards the side door, and waltz’s right into Evan’s penthouse.
She spots us and nods. “Evan, my dear.”
I flicker of possessive anger rattles me. Next to me, I hear Sam growl hungrily.
“And who is that?” I almost laugh since Sam and I say it at the exact same time. But my version is with a twinge of jealousy at the gorgeous woman. Sam’s is laced with desire.
Evan chuckles and turns to us both. “Elise James, my sponsor,” he says pointedly to me, with a grin. “And she’s only interested in women.”
“Good,” I mutter at the same time that Sam says “damn” under his breath.
Elise strides over to us and I manage to keep the scowl off my face as she hugs Evan. She turns and smartly puts a hand out to me. “And you must be Julia.”
“That’s me,” I smile.
“Elise James. I’ve heard all about you.”
“Sam Hemmings,” Sam growls deeply, thrusting a hand towards her. Elise smiles thinly and pointedly seems to ignore it.
“I’m well aware.”
He grins. “Heard of me, huh?”
“Your reputation proceeds you,” Elise says with just enough disdain in her voice to make both Evan and I grin. Sam frowns, but then his lips split in a smile.
“But you have heard of me.”
I swear there’s a flicker of blush to Elise’s cheeks before she swallows it back. “Unfortunately. Although I must say, Mr. Hemmings, I always imagined that you permanently had your nose in a pile of drugs and a bimbo hanging off you. I’m a little disappointed.”
“First time a woman’s ever actually said that to me,” Sam drawls with a heated look at Elise.
Again, I swear I see her blush before it’s gone again.
“Keep telling yourself that, Mr. Hemmings.”
“I plan on it, little lady,” he chuckles. “Now I don’t suppose you brought anything to drink, did you? Maybe you and I could get to know each other a little bit—”
“She’s my sponsor, dude,” Evan growls.
“Yeah?”
“I wouldn’t be much of one if I drank, now would I?” she says thinly.
Sam finally caves and frowns. “Well, shit. Strike out.” he grumbles and heads over to Evan’s fridge in the kitchen to start rooting around.
“So, interesting guest list, Evan.”
Evan nods, frowning. His hand tightens on my waist though, making me thrill a little. “Petrov’s made threats on all of you, which is why you’re here. I know you have your own security, Elise, but mine…”
“I feel as safe as I ever could be here, Evan,” she smiles and then turns to me. “You’re in good hands, you know.”
“I think so,” I blush. Elise peers at me curiously, smiling.
“You’re good for him, I can tell. I was worried, I won’t lie to you. But I can tell you’re a beacon for him, not a crutch.”
“I’m right here,” Evan mutters.
“Yes, I can see that,” Elise cracks a grin. “So maybe stop eavesdropping and let me and your friend here talk?”
I giggle, and Evan sighs heavily. He pulls me close and kisses me briefly, but it’s just long enough to make me hungry for more.
“I’m going to call down for something to drink for Sam so he stops turning my kitchen upside-down.”
“Evan,” Elise stops him. “How close is your crypto team to cracking Petrov’s files?”
“Close,” he grunts. “Very close.”
“That’s what worries me,” she says softly. “Because the closer you are, the more desperate Petrov is going to get.”
“We’re safe here,” Evan says darkly. His eyes find mine, and he holds them. “I promise you that.”
13
Evan
It’s strangely peaceful, given the circumstances. I let my eyes wander over the strange assortment of my friends, and I smile. Across the penthouse by my massive wall of vinyl records, Elise and Mateo are actually getting along famously. Apparently, they’re both huge Fleetwood Mac fans, and I have a collection of first-press, signed albums that they’re both going nuts for.
Near them, Sam is sipping a glass of whiskey, courtesy of a bottle I had building security bring up for him. Elise scowled when she saw it of course, but I’m fine with it. And she’s strong too. It’s not going bother her aside from the principle. I chuckle to myself when I see the way Sam is looking at her, though.
Wrong tree, buddy, I think to myself. And even if Elise wasn’t into women, he’s not exactly scoring any points knocking back whiskey in front of her. But, that’s beside the point.
The best part of the whole scene though is that I’ve got Julia on my lap in my chair by the window. She snuggles into me, her fingers laced with mine. Her breath teases my neck, and it’s both sensual and calming at the same time.
“You’re smiling.
I turn to her. “Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“Surprising?”
“You just don’t often,” she giggles. “I like it. What’s got you smiling?”
“This,” I grin. I give her thigh beneath her skirt a squeeze. Then I gesture at the rest of them. “It’s like having a family here.”
“You’re not close to yours?”
“Don’t have one,” I grunt.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she says quickly with a sad look.
“Don’t be,” I say gently. I take her other hand in mine as well. “My father was absent even before he
passed. My mother was a devil, and a drunk.” I smile grimly. “I can thank her for my genetics.”
“You’re five years sober now, though?”
I nod. “Yes.”
“Is it hard?” She frowns when she says it. “I’m sorry, that’s not my business.”
“Of course it is. Your business, I mean. All of me is your business,” I growl and kiss her softly. “I want you to know all of me, Julia.”
She blushes, and when I kiss her again, she snuggles closer to me.
“It was hard, but not anymore. Like Sam having a drink doesn’t bother me anymore. A few years ago, though, I’d be going out of my mind.”
“What made you quit?”
I think on that. I’m not a guy who had a “make or break” moment. I didn’t almost die in a car wreck or go to jail. I didn’t find God or anything like that.
“I made a choice. I knew I had the potential to take myself as high as I wanted, but I also knew I would never get there if I kept up my ways. It was die young, probably, and alone. Or I could see how high I could climb, unfettered.”
“Wow,” she breathes. “And you just quit drinking? Just like that?”
“I went to a program first. It’s where I met Elise, actually.”
She smiles and pulls close to me. “I like her.”
“You know there’s nothing to be jealous of, right?” I say gently.
Julia giggles. “I do. Well, I can still be jealous of her. She’s beautiful, and super successful, and rich. And she’s got a piece of your heart.” I frown, but Julia smiles and squeezes my hand. “No, I don’t mean that in a psycho jealous way. I like that she does. It means you’re human.”
“She’s like a sister to me.”
“I get that. No, I like her.” Julia nods across the room and giggles. “Poor Sam.”
I laugh. “Tell me about it. My brother from another mother. He’s a good guy, he just lives on the edge a little more than me. Well, a lot more.”
“So, Elise has a piece of your heart, and Sam does.”
