She tugs at my shirt, so I strip it off and throw it against the shower wall. I grab her legs and lift her off the tile. I pin her against the wall, and her legs wrap around my waist.
"I, I do love you," she whispers into my ear. "Rex, I love you, too."
I lick her neck. I squeeze and massage her left breast. I kiss her there, and my mouth explores to her wet and erect nipples where I lick and bite gently.
I keep her pinned against the wall with my body. My hand is free to dip in between her legs and feel the heat of her wet womanhood. My fingers brush along her slit. It lights up my body like magic, making me groan and writhe for her. Her fingers rake along my back while I use my fingers on her slit to rub and massage her until she's dripping. I slip one finger in and curl it. Sliding in and out, I make her moan. I watch her eyes roll back. I give her two fingers, and she shudders in delight.
She reaches for my belt. I hold her up against the shower wall with one hand, and my other hand helps her undo my belt and jeans. I pull them down until my manhood springs free. Engorged and pulsing, I'm aching to be inside her again.
I growl into her ear. "We shouldn't be doing this. Wasting time like this."
"Then don't," she pants. "Let me down."
I push her up against the wall. I kiss her and bite her lip. "No," I groan. "Lila, I have to have you, now!" I position my cock against her slit, and I push up and into her. We both moan loud. It echoes along the hot tiles of the shower.
She's wet, hot and wrapped tight around me as I begin to slide in and out. Every inch deeper brings me closer to the edge. Her body was made for me, made to make my legs shake, to make every muscle in my body tighten. I thrust harder, in and out, going deep. I thrust to claim her. To love her. To give myself completely to her.
She tosses her head back. Arms and legs wrapped around me, her body squeezes all of me, and she whimpers louder and louder and I know she's getting close to the finish.
As I thrust inside her, the area of my pelvic just above my shaft rubs against her swollen clit at just the right angle. Her legs tremble. She cries out. She starts pushing against me. She grinds her hips, taking all of me inside her, squeezing and pulsing.
I fuck her madly. Grunting, thrusting, with all the force in my body, I drive us both to the edge under the shower steam. We cry out together. Our bodies lock up in a tangled mess. My manhood throbs inside her, and I release everything I have while she showers me in her juices.
I keep her in my arms. We relax. I kiss her gently. "You're mine," I tell her. "You're my woman, Lila. And I'm never leaving you."
We get dressed. I put on some of Mark's jeans and one of his undershirts. Lila packs a bag hastily. "Only what you need," I tell her. "I can get cash."
From a metal safe in her closet, she retrieves piles and piles of hundred dollar bills, money made from the dealing. She flashes me a grin. "I have cash, too."
I hold her hand and we race for the front door.
"Where will we go?" she asks.
"Across the border. Once we're in Canada, I know a place we can hide out until we figure out the next move." I go to open the front door.
The door bursts open. On the other side is Mark and James. James points a revolver straight at me.
I get in front of Lila. "Shit," I say under my breath. I reach for my gun in the back of these jeans.
"Hold it, Detective," Mark orders. "Touch that gun and James here will blow a hole straight through your chest. Now raise your hands."
I raise my hands, palms out. My teeth clench. I keep Lila behind me to protect her.
Mark sighs. "Let's not make this any harder than it has to be, Detective. Lila? I see you there. Why don't you both back up onto the apartment?"
I don't budge. He's not getting anywhere near my woman.
James steps forward and puts the barrel of his gun to my chest. "Back up, buddy."
Lila touches my shoulder. "Rex, come on." I can hear the fear in her meek voice. "Just do what he says."
My rage threatens to burst from within me as I let Mark get Lila and me back into the apartment. "On your knees, Detective," he orders.
"No," I defy him.
He smiles. "You're not afraid of a gun, of course. But I know what you are afraid of, Rex Copper." He snaps his finger, and James grabs Lila. She screams as he puts the gun to her head. "You're afraid of my wife getting hurt."
"Okay!" I get on my knees. "Do whatever you want to me, Mark. Just don't hurt her."
Mark laughs. "Did you really think I would just leave you alone with her, Rex? Did you really think I trusted you?" He walks to the couch where Lila's grey coat is slung over the arm. He takes a blue pendant off the chest and holds it in his fingertips. "Not since last night of course." He walks to Lila.
"Don't touch her!" I roar.
Mark doesn't look at me. He smiles at Lila and holds the pendant in front her. "My darling wife, you never questioned any jewelry I ever gave you. Too bad for you. Maybe you could've figured out I bugged this." He faces me. "And I heard every word you said last night. Every, single, little dirty word."
"Bastard," Lila says, a fire of hatred in her eyes.
Mark laughs. "Oh sweetheart, I've had my eyes and ears on you for quite some time now. But I could just never figure out quite what you were up to, not until last night. This whole time I thought you were having an affair, it turns out you were running drugs, running drugs for a man I've recently had killed."
Lila’s eyes widen in terror.
"That's right," Mark says with an evil grin. "I'm the new boss, baby, and all the old runners and dealers gotta go." He paces the room as he continues. "So, you can imagine my surprise when I find out that my own wife is one of them." He points my gun at me. "This is actually where I should thank you, Rex. Thank you for saving Lila. These new goons of mine are so stupid they would've shot her dead out there in the woods."
My jaw clenches shut. Nostrils flaring, my hands are burning to tear this man apart.
Mark kneels before me. "I just never thought she'd sleep with you, Rex." He looks me up and down. His voice raises. "And what the hell are you doing in my clothes now?"
"If you knew," I growl. "Then why leave me here? Why leave us here alone?"
"Good question!" Mark stands and walks to the bag Lila left near the door. He throws it in front of us and unzips it. "I heard all the pillow talk last night. I knew Lila had all this." He overturns the bag and the cash scatters over the floor. "I just needed her to get it for me. I knew she would try to run with you, so James and I waited. We waited until you two lovebirds came to the door, bags in hand, and you made it so easy for us." He straightens up. He pulls a cigarette from his suit pocket and lights it. "And now for the big question..." He blows smoke coolly into Lila's face. "What ever am I going to do with the two of you?"
I get up on my feet. "Lila!"
Mark aims the gun at me. I stay back. He approaches me, and he speaks to James. "James, keep Lila still. I need her to watch this."
Lila’s voice shakes. "Mark, please, no!"
Mark smiles at me. Then he punches me hard in my stomach. I keel over. He knees me in the chest. He punches me across the face. I fall to my knees. I raise my arms, ready to fight, but he puts the gun to my head.
Sweating, panting, I stay down, my eyes glaring up at this evil son of a bitch.
Mark’s hand shakes with rage. He's desperate to pull the trigger. I can see it in his furious eyes, his red face as it trembles. "No." He pulls back. "Can’t kill you here, Detective. Get blood everywhere? The cops wouldn't be out of my hair for days." He shrugs. "Not that I don't have half the force under my belt, anyway." He sighs. He scratches his forehead with the barrel of my gun, contemplating... "James, you're gonna take the big, bad detective here and take care of him at the usual spot." He turns to Lila. "And you and I, my darling wife, are going to have a nice long talk."
James hands Lila to Mark. She struggles, but he puts the gun to her chest and she has no choice but to surre
nder.
James gets me to my feet. My body aches from Mark’s beating, but it's not near as painful as seeing the terror in Lila's expression. "We'll get outta this, Lila. I promise. We'll make it outta this."
She nods to me.
Mark sneers at me. "You stupid bastard. Say goodbye now, Lila. You're never going to see Rex Copper again." He drags her away at gunpoint.
Lila takes a last look at me, tears streaming down her face. But she holds it all in, keeps her calm even though she's trembling. She goes away with her husband, and I'm left with James.
I make fists. Hit him when he's not looking, I think. He's scrawny, easy to take down.
James leans in close to me. His gun is at my ribs. He licks the side of my face and hisses, "I'm really going to enjoy killing you, Detective."
I turn, about to strike him.
But, I feel a sharp jab and sting in my side. I flinch. I look down. James has injected me with a small needle. Suddenly, I'm dizzy. Everything blurs. I fall to my knees.
James smiles down at me. "Just go to sleep, Detective. This will all be over soon."
Lila, I think. Don't, don't let anything happen to her... Lila, no... Everything goes black.
FIVE
LILA
Evening falls upon the city. It's a winter evening, cold and bitter. The sun sinks beyond the buildings, and Manhattan plunges into darkness once again. And I stand at my bedroom window, looking out and praying that Rex is safe.
Mark made me get dressed for him. I'm in a tight, red dress that bares my thighs and cleavage like I'm an escort. I can hardly breathe in it, and that's the way he wants it. He's coming back any moment. It's just me and him in our apartment ever since James took Rex away. I'd have attacked Mark by now, but he's kept a hold of James's gun all afternoon like it's attached to his hand.
Get out, I think. What would Rex do? He'd find anything to make a weapon. My eyes scan the bedroom. There's nothing to use. Just clothes and jewelry and, wait...
I rush to the desk in the corner of our bedroom. In the top drawer is a little sharp letter opener. Good enough, I think, already planning on how to plunge it into Mark's neck.
His footsteps sound from the stairs. Climbing slowly, he's coming.
I flinch. Should I attack? No. He has the gun. He'll kill me before I get close. Hide it! I think fast. I slip up the end of my dress and tuck the letter opener under. I pull it back down and smooth the fabric over. The sharp end pokes against my thigh. I suffer through the sting and act submissive, head down and eyes low, as my husband enters the bedroom.
Mark holds onto Rex's gun. He watches me as he enters our bedroom, a smile across his face. "It's good to have you back, my darling wife. Good to know what you're doing, and where you're going. I have to say, it would've been such a shame if Cutthroat had killed you. A beautiful woman like you is hard to come across, you know."
My heart pounds, but I stay still. I can't let him see my hatred. I can't let him suspect my attack.
He gets closer. He circles me, slowly, like a bloodthirsty shark. "And business is booming, my darling wife. Why, I think I'm going to do very well in this business. And I'll have you by my side, my beautiful, loyal wife." He stands behind me. His hands move over my body like slime, and he gropes the back of my thigh. "And you, Lila, aren't going anywhere." He forces me to raise my leg.
I yelp. The letter opener cuts into my thigh.
Mark holds me close and wraps his hand around my throat. He breathes wet and heavy on my ear. "I might not be a knight in shining armor like your lover boy detective, Lila." He raises my leg an inch higher, and the letter opener jabs in deeper. My blood trickles over his hand. "But one thing I'm definitely not, is stupid." He puts down my leg, reaches up my dress and yanks out the letter opener. He holds it in front of my eyes, and it drips my blood. "You're beautiful, Lila, but you're not irreplaceable. If you try something like this again, I will kill you." He throws me aside.
I shake. It's rage and terror. There's no escape. Not from this monster.
Mark walks to the bedroom doorway. "We have a gala to attend tonight, my darling wife. Javier will drive you." He straightens his suit, and he tosses the letter opener onto the floor. "Try to act right, okay? Act like you love me. Shouldn't be too hard." He smiles, evil all over his expression. "Just pretend I'm your lover boy detective, who I'm sure is dead by now."
REX
Something jolts me awake. It was a stop. A screeching stop. Tires screeching. I see a faint light before me. A trunk, I'm in the trunk of a car because of course I am! My head seers, a sharp pain at the back near my neck. I try to move. My hands and ankles are tied. And I'm gagged. It's scorching hot in here, and it smells rotten and foul. I know I'm not the first body to be in this trunk, but I may be this first living one.
The trunk opens. James smiles down at me. "Good evening, Detective." He grabs me and drags me out of the trunk.
For a moment I'm too dizzy to do anything, so he drops me on hard pavement. The blurriness clears to sight, and I see I've been taken to a dock. Around us are abandoned, broken warehouses. Before us are the waves of the Hudson. We must be north of the city. There doesn't look to be anything else around for miles.
"I can't tell you how long I've been waiting to send you into the river, Detective." James reaches back into the trunk and drags out a chain. At the end of the chain, a cinder block is tethered to it. He's going to drop me in the water and let me drown. "Can't tell you how many big guys like you picked on me when I was a kid." He walks to my ankles. "So it's my pleasure to finally send one of you to a watery grave."
I kick at him when he tries to grab my ankles. I grunt, and I fight against my restraints. But they're tight and my body is still recuperating from the drugs he injected into me.
James stands up. "You're only making this harder on yourself, Detective." He smiles, and then he rears back and kicks me in the stomach.
I curl into a ball. My stomach knots in pain. I can't, can't breathe.
While I struggle to get air, James comes back to my ankles and manages to get the chain wrapped around them. He hooks it tight, wraps it around again and in between my legs, making a tangled knot of chain I can't wiggle out of. And now I'm tied to this damn concrete block.
I grunt and scream through the gag in my mouth. I drool over it. My hands burn to destroy him, but I lay on the ground like a helpless animal.
James grabs the block. It's heavy for him, probably forty pounds. And in the water, it'll feel like a hundred. He takes two steps towards the edge of the dock. "You know, I've been working for Mark Suns for ten years now. I can't tell you how thrilled I am he's finally taking a step into his destiny. He and I, oh we've always been some evil pieces of shit." He throws his body weight into pulling me.
My shoulders and arms scrape along the pavement. He moves me inch by inch. The pain seers through me, but not nearly as bad as my rage.
"You'll be my first kill, Detective." He smiles, gazing into space for a moment. He's reliving some fond, sick memory. "No that's not true, but you'll be my first kill working for Mark."
I've known psychos like this before. I've killed stronger men, and one of the things I know about psychos like James, is that they take pleasure in the pain they inflict. There's only one way to distract him before he throws that block off the edge of the dock and I'm dragged into the water. I start laughing through my gag.
James freezes. He looks down at me. His eyes narrow. "Are you, are you laughing, Detective?"
I look him in his beady little eyes, and I keep laughing as drool hangs off my lips. Through all the pain and adrenaline, I laugh like a mad man. And I know just how to press his buttons.
"What's so funny?" He drops the block and kneels next to me. He forces the gag off me. "What's so funny?!"
I spit and catch my breath. Damn it feels good. And now I've got this psycho where I want him, Listening... "You, you son of a bitch. You think you're tough, killing me like this? You're stupid. Mark is gonna hire gu
ys like me to work for him, big guys, the kind that picked on you when you were just a shrimp in school. And you? He'll cut you so fast you won't know what happened. He's gonna find out how useless you are because you can't even kill like a real man."
James eyes inflame in anger. "You don't think I can kill like a real man?"
I lower my voice. "A real man would kill with a fight."
James grabs me. He pushes me up, and I maneuver my feet under me and gladly stand up to my feet. My hands and ankles are still bound, so he still has the upper hand.
James takes three steps back from me. "I'll show you I can kill like a real man, Detective." He retrieves his gun and aims it at me.
"Prove it by fighting me," I growl. "Anyone can shoot a gun, James. Only a real man can kill with his hands."
James hesitates. He smiles. "Alright, Detective." He kneels and sets his gun on the pavement. He pushes back his suit jacket to reveal a knife holster attached to his belt. He pulls out a large hunting knife, and the metal glistens in the evening sunlight. "You want to die this way? Be my guest." He approaches me.
My muscles tense. I lower my head. "A real man would unchain me."
He laughs. "Oh please, Detective. You know I'm not going to play that fair." He lunges at me.
I dodge left. I nearly fall, but I hop left and catch myself. I stay standing.
James comes back at me. He tries to stab my stomach.
I shift right and his arm flies before my abdomen. His blade slices through my shirt and leaves a cut in my stomach. I duck under his head. I jolt up and knock him under his chin.
James stumbles back one pace. He bleeds from his mouth, because I made him bite his tongue.
I hop forward, then I lunge head first at him. Our foreheads bash together, but I'm stronger, and I give him a bash to his skull hard enough to knock him down.
Riding Hard - A Scorching Hot Romance Novel (Falling Fast Book 1) Page 4
