The Bandit

by B. B. Reid

  “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m over you.” He stood at the foot of the bed gazing down at me.

  “I bet you won’t taste as sweet with a lie on your lips.” The way he spoke made me believe him.

  “I. Don’t. Want. You.”

  “Prove it.”

  “H—how?” It was official… I was the masochist to his sadist.

  “Pull your dress up and spread your legs. I want to see what’s not mine.”

  My fingers twitched and my legs trembled to do his bidding, but I held back. “So this is how you get girls? You coerce them?”

  “Only you.” He jerked his chin toward my hands which were already at the hem. I just couldn’t bring myself to follow through unless I had control.

  Maybe it meant making him lose it first.

  My fingers curled under and then I slowly lifted it until I couldn’t anymore. He stood as still as a statue, and if it weren’t for the heat wave coming from his body, I wouldn’t have believed he was real.

  I knew what he would find once my legs were spread. My desire threatened to consume me the moment I saw him standing in the door. I knew how much he wanted me. It was time I exploited his desire.

  I was willing to do anything to have my son back, and Angel was willing to give anything to have me.

  “No,” he said when I started to move my thighs apart. He crawled on the bed, his shoulders bunching and rolling until he sat beside me against the headboard. “Let me.” His hand touched my knee. I braced for him to expose me and when he didn’t, I met his gaze. “May I?”

  Damn him.

  He didn’t ask for permission because he was a gentleman.

  The son of a bitch wanted me to admit that I wanted it.

  The corner of his lips tipped up when I nodded. His attention was between my legs, but I couldn’t bring myself to look anywhere but his face as he gently pushed my legs open. He was sitting so close, my knee had no choice but to fall in his lap. When he leaned forward to get a better look, I found myself inhaling the scent of his hair before I could rethink it. If he noticed, he didn’t make it known. His fingers softly and slowly skated from my knee. I tensed the closer he got to my pussy and sung the alphabet to keep from bolting.

  By the letter G, his fingers found my pussy, and I forgot what fucking letter came next.

  “Damn, baby.” His voice was low, husky, and filled with sex.

  I expected him to stop there, but his fingers continued to heighten my arousal until I was unable to deny what this really was. My head fell back against the headboard, and my hips rose from the bed.

  “You said you only wanted to see,” I moaned.

  “But what do you want, Mian?” I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t. Torture felt damn good. “Goddammit, tell me,” he urged. I bit my lip and gazed into the dark brown pools that guarded his soul. I was bound by loyalty to my father and son but tormented by the demands of my body. He must have sensed my uncertainty because his hand threaded through my hair and he lowered his forehead to rest against mine. “I’ll do it. I swear.” He sounded as desperate as I felt.

  “I want your mouth,” I gasped.

  His eyes clouded, and it seemed his gaze completely lost focus when he growled, “Where?”

  Everywhere?

  “Angel…”

  He groaned and hid his face in my neck. “Say the words. I need them, or I won’t touch you. Not until then.” He was barely coherent, but somehow, I understood.

  I slid my hand between my legs and rested it on top of his larger one. His head lifted from my neck and our gazes connected as I helped him stroke me. “There.”

  “God, baby. I will, but I need you to do something for me first.” I would have lost touch with reality if I hadn’t craved more.

  “What?” Anything.

  I felt a thick finger slide up my hungry slit. “Tell me…” I gasped when his finger circled my clit. “…who daddy is?”

  I halted mid moan and stared. “What?”

  His voice was so thick I thought maybe I’d misheard him. How could he be thinking of my father at a time like this?

  He went on, the passion still in his tone as if he couldn’t sense the change in my tune. “Sweet fucking Mian. You think you’re still his spoiled little girl.” He took my bottom lip between his teeth and let go. “But you’re mine now.”

  “A-a-are you high?” I didn’t know how far he’d taken me until I came crashing back down. I inhaled, trying to catch the scent of smoke on his clothing, but all I could smell was male. Pure, hard, unadulterated male.

  His body shook against mine as he laughed soundlessly. “No, I’m not high, Mian. I need you to realize who you belong to.”

  “I don’t belong to anyone,” I said with enough venom that he should have been dead at my feet.

  “You don’t belong to Lucas. You don’t belong to Z.” Where was he going with this? “You don’t belong to your dead mother.” I gasped and shoved against him. He had no right to talk about my mother. He locked his arm around my waist to keep me at his side. “And you sure as fuck don’t belong to your disloyal and soon-to-be dead father.”

  I was enraged.

  “Wanting my father dead won’t stop yours from pushing up daisies.” I was uncomfortably aware of my dress bunched around my waist and my bare bottom open to him. The passionate look on his face had long been replaced by hatred. “Let me go.” I needed time to regroup and to figure out when I’d fallen this stupid. His free hand shifted to my calf and yanked until I was on my back. He then spread me and settled his body between my shaking thighs.

  I hated myself for not only letting him touch me but also for giving in. I fooled myself into believing I could take control for a few, guiltless moments of pleasure.

  “Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

  “Let me go,” I repeated. I didn’t care about puzzles, or legacies, or even the past. I simply wanted to get away from him.

  “That’s exactly what you’re missing,” he spat impatiently. “I’ll never let you go. You and your son are here to stay.”

  I hardened myself to withstand his threats and claim of possession. Angel Knight was neither my guardian angel or knight in shining armor. He was my enemy.

  “Know this…” I witnessed his flinch and was also surprised by how cold and hard my voice had become. I didn’t let it show and instead, clung to the wall I’d built in a matter of seconds. “No matter how long it takes—weeks, months, years… I’ll kill you before I let you keep us.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Fear is an unbreakable chain.

  ANGEL

  She thought leaving me meant she’d go on with her life, raising her son, and working dead-end jobs she couldn’t keep long enough to keep them fed. It was dangerous and rash, but I decided to show her just how fucked life would be without me.

  Little Mian Ross did things to me I wasn’t proud of, but she had a way of making me not care. I didn’t know what came over me when I finally had her in my hands on the brink of release. The words spilled from my lips and just like that, I lost her.

  “You sure it’s a good idea taking her with us?” Lucas grilled for the fifth fucking time.

  “She needs to see for herself what she’s up against,” I answered the same as before.

  “She could get hurt.”

  “She’ll be killed if she’s not convinced leaving isn’t in her best interest.”

  He was silent, but I knew it wouldn’t last. “What if you’re just looking for a reason to keep her around?”

  My jaw worked, and I forced my response—the only response—through my teeth. “I don’t need to.” Why did I need a reason to keep someone who was already mine?

  I had clothes sent up to Mian with the order to show her face in five minutes, or I’d drag her down naked. She came down
mere seconds before the five-minute mark. She didn’t question or bother to look me in the eye.

  * * *

  When we arrived , the guards at the gate were reluctant to allow us entry but a few guns to their heads and the promise to visit their families while they slept in their beds changed their minds. I had my entire security team flanking us as we made our way inside. Mian remained silent through it all, and Z guided her inside by her arm. We were shown to the senator’s office after forcing submission from the rest of his security team. They would all be out of a job by morning anyway, so all they had left to lose was their life.

  “Knight,” the senator greeted after I pushed my way inside and closed the door. “Your visit is unexpected.”

  “I’m not the type to make an appointment.”

  “Or wait for an invitation for that matter.” I shrugged and took a seat without him offering, and his eyes narrowed at the slight. “What brings you by?”

  “The job’s not going to happen.”

  “But you took the money.”

  “And I intend to give it to your grandson for child support. It’s not enough for what your punk ass son did by abandoning him before he was even born, but it will do.”

  “You’ll do no such thing. We don’t even know if that baby is really his.”

  “You and I both know if he wasn’t your son’s kid, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”

  “What makes you think I’ll just let you take my money and give it to her bastard?”

  Most of my control evaporated, but I managed to keep my fists tight around the arms of the chair rather than pummeling them into his face. “Call him a bastard again, and you won’t live to see me take all your money and give it to Caylen .” He looked confused, and it dawned on me that he didn’t even know his grandson’s name. “Your illegitimate grandson’s name is Caylen. Now, be a good boy and say his name so I’ll know you get me.”

  He hesitated, so I pulled my gun and sat it on my lap. I wasn’t the least bit concerned about the guards standing on the other side of the door.

  His faced paled as he looked from me to the gun. I didn’t remove my finger from the trigger until he said his name. I told myself it was guilt for what I had done to his mother that made me want to protect him so fiercely. No one knew that I spent the nights sitting with him to make sure he slept well. They didn’t know I talked to him when no one was around. I told him stories of how she’d been a pain in the ass since she was ten years old. If I had a heart, I’m sure he would have stolen a place in it. But since I didn’t, taking down the senator was merely restitution.

  “So we are in agreement then.” He was smart enough to know I wasn’t asking and kept his mouth shut. “I’ll give her the money you’ve already paid me, and she stays away forever. With the amount of money you paid to off them, she won’t need to bother you again.” My lips curled as I stared down the senator. It would have been cheaper for him to simply pay her off, but the pussy had zero honor.

  Mian wasn’t money hungry.

  She had no aspirations of wealth or prestige and would have been content just being able to give Caylen a healthy life. She’s sacrificed her entire life to give him one, and she would have continued to do so long after he was old enough to take the wheel.

  “We have an arrangement,” he agreed slowly.

  “Good. Now where’s your son? There’s someone you should meet.” The senator’s sat stoic. His refusal to answer didn’t deter me, however, from going to the door and opening it. Mian stood between Lucas and Z with our guard surrounding them. Her wide-eyed gaze met mine and in them were questions she was about to get the answers to. I crooked my finger and for the first time she came without coercion. “Bring his son to me,” I directed to Lucas and Z before hauling her in and shutting the door.

  Not long after, I heard shouting and then the door was ripped open. A struggling Aaron was thrown inside the room and landed on his stomach. Lucas and Z entered and closed the door behind them while the senator stood from his chair and slammed his fists on the desk.

  “What is this?” he shouted.

  I saw Mian tense in my peripheral, so I used my body to shield her from the senator’s anger. Aaron was righting his clothes and had yet to see her, but I knew the moment Mian recognized him. She gasped and something inside my chest shifted when she moved closer to me. I wasn’t naive enough to believe she trusted me to protect her. I was just the lesser of two evils… in her book.

  Aaron finally noticed me standing in the corner but then his attention shifted behind me, and he leaned over to try to get a better look. “Is that…” The room fell silent as we waited for the other shoe to fall. “Mian?”

  “This is preposterous,” the senator blubbered. “Why is that lying harlot in my home?”

  Mian made another sound, but this one was filled with pain. My finger moved back to the trigger, though my gun remained at my side. Lucas and Z were staring down the senator looking only seconds away from ending him.

  “Senator,” I called to get his attention. He was busy trying to glare a hole through me to reach the innocent girl who’d asked for none of this. “I would say the same rule applies to her, but I don’t want to taint her name by letting you speak it. You don’t talk to her, and you for damn sure won’t talk at her.”

  “What makes you think you can come into my house and give orders?”

  “The bullet I can put into your son’s skull before your security team can even have a chance to pull their head from their asses. Shall we continue?”

  Wisely, he reclaimed his seat, so I reached behind me and pulled Mian to my front. She fought me, but like always, I won. Her gaze was fixed on Aaron as I brought her back against my chest to share my strength. He was already leering at her, and I seriously wanted to pull my blade and carve his eyes out.

  “Why did you bring her here,” the senator asked more cordially.

  Because I need to scare her from leaving me. “So your son can tell her in person why he shunned his responsibilities.” The truth was I had no interest in why he was a prick, and I doubt Mian would ever have the courage to confront him if her trembling was anything to go by. It made me wonder what happened between them. I expected anger, not fear.

  “She spread her legs and got herself in trouble, so she screams rape and my son is just supposed to pay?” As soon as the last word left the senator’s lips, his son spat blood onto the carpet and regarded Mian with disgust. It wasn’t just the way he was looking at her that made me want to rip his heart out and make his father eat it, but what his father had said.

  I must have done something because all eyes were suddenly on me, but I only had eyes for one person. One look in his eyes told me the truth.

  That motherfucker raped her.

  I didn’t think after that.

  I just reacted.

  I lifted my gun and aimed it between his eyes. My finger squeezed the trigger without hesitation or remorse. He should have been dead, but my aim was compromised when my hand had been knocked away at the last moment. The bullet killed the wall and not the bitch I was aiming for. Enraged, I turned on the fucker who dared and stared into frightened green eyes while the senator’s men tried to break the door down.

  My fury only heightened when I found the culprit was Mian. Was she actually protecting that cunt?

  I sent her my most menacing expression, but she didn’t flinch. In fact, there was no emotion in her eyes to be found. Anger turned into worry , and suddenly, we were the only two people in the room. After a few tense moments, she finally spoke, but it wasn’t the words I wanted to hear.

  “You can’t kill him.”

  “And why is that?” Did she love him?

  I’ll kill them both and bury them in the same hole where they could be together.

  Forever.

 
“Because he’s the son of a senator.”

  I was not moved.

  “I can always kill the good senator, too.” Both of those bitches gasped like women making my trigger finger itch to put them out of their misery for good. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”

  She started to speak but immediately snapped her mouth close.

  Like I thought.

  “You have something you want to say to me?”

  She gripped my shirt under her fingers, and finally, there was life staring back at me. “I don’t want anything from him. Not even his blood.”

  “Well, that’s too bad.”

  Her frown deepened. “The senator has agreed that you and your son deserve more.” I looked up to meet the senator’s gaze. “Isn’t that right, Senator?” Her head turned in the senator’s direction, and her body tightened even more.

  “That’s right. One hundred and fifty grand in cash to you and Caylen.”

  “I—I don’t know what to say.”

  “The senator doesn’t deserve your gratitude.” She looked uncertain and ready to thank that asshole anyway until I promised death with a glare.

  “I assure you it’s not necessary,” he rushed to agree. He slid his gaze back to me. “You have your money now leave my home.”

  I almost put a bullet in his skull just because.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  You need me.

  MIAN

  What the hell just happened?

  We were back in his father’s home where I watched Angel take a drink while I sat on the couch in his father’s office next to Z. Lucas disappeared somewhere in the house as soon as we arrived, and I worried over who had been watching Caylen all this time.

  I was surprised when Angel pushed his glass away and then slammed two briefcases down on the desk. His strong fingers deftly popped opened the cases and lifted the tops. Stacks of money filled both briefcases to capacity.

  “What is this?” I asked when he stared at me expectantly. I needed to react. I just didn’t know how.