Buttons & Hate

by Penelope Sky

  My muscles tensed at his wording. “I don’t need another excuse to kill you. I already have plenty.”

  When he didn’t get the reaction he wanted, he leaned back. “Keep your money. I’ll take everything you have when we meet again—including my slave.” He rose from the chair and buttoned the front of his suit as he moved. His man covered his exit just in case I tried to take a shot. I wanted to pull out my gun but I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger without a bullet flying into my neck.

  I watched him leave, knowing the battle just escalated into a war.

  ***

  I slipped back into bed without her notice. She would never know I left in the middle of the night and tried to secure her freedom. The only way she could walk the world as a free woman was if I killed Bones.

  Just another reason for me to take him out.

  He wasn’t an easy opponent to eliminate and I knew it would be difficult, to say the least. But it was he or she. And when it was broken down that way, I knew what I had to do.

  And that meant I needed Cane.

  I hated to admit the truth after what he did to Button. But there was no way around it. I needed him in order to pull this off. I needed the manpower, the weapons, and the force.

  But could I look him in the eye without pulling the trigger? Could I stop myself from shooting him right in the face?

  My eyes were glued to the dying fire in the fireplace. I was too worked up to sleep. Instead, I watched the sun illuminate the curtains as it rose over the hills. The room slowly filled with more light until the new day had arrived.

  She slowly stretched her petite body until her eyes fluttered open. Her gaze fell on me, and a small smile filled her lips. Her face no longer looked the same. Both of her eyes were still blue and bruised. Her lip was covered in cuts inflicted from Cane’s knuckles. Her left cheekbone had been cracked from the force of his punch. The discoloration hid her freckles and her once beautiful skin. Somehow, her beauty radiated through the scars and shined through. “Morning.”

  I stared at her, entrance. “Morning.”

  She cuddled further into my side, his arm wrapped around my muscular torso. She placed her cheek against my chest and released a comfortable sigh. Her hair stretched across my skin, lightly caressing the surface.

  “Sleep well?”

  “Uh-huh.” She ran her fingers across my lower stomach, her touch grazing my happy trail.

  When I told her the truth about Jasmine the weight left my shoulders. My stubbornness got me into the mess in the first place. I wanted to keep her at a distance and hide my infatuation with her, but the second I almost lost her the game changed. I couldn’t handle her coldness and disappointment. I had to come clean and admit she did mean something to me.

  “How about you?”

  “Great.” I noticed her affection had increased since the night before. When she was hurt by my infidelity I actually enjoyed it. I liked knowing she’d become just as possessive of me as I was of her. I didn’t understand what this relationship was or if it was a relationship at all, but there was something there. It was the first time I somewhat cared about a woman. They used to be sexual objects meant to fulfill my sexual fantasies. But I needed Button to fulfill a lot more than that.

  “Those painkillers are a godsend. I wouldn’t able to sleep without them.”

  “I can imagine.” I’d had my fair share of pain. But I didn’t always have access to medicine. I made sure she had a different experience.

  She slowly sat up, her back exposed to me. Old scars marked the skin from the places I whipped her. Now the marks didn’t turn me on. In fact, they made me hate myself even more. How were Cane and I different? We both caused her pain intentionally. If anything, mine was worse because I got off to it. Unable to handle the sight of my inhumane treatment I looked into the fire.

  “Are you going to work today?”

  “No.” I sat up and pressed my chest against her back. When I covered the scars with my own body I could no longer see them. My lips pressed against her shoulder and I gave her a soft kiss. “I’m staying right here.”

  “I hope you don’t feel obligated. I really will be okay.”

  “I definitely don’t feel obligated.” If I were here, no one else could touch her. No one could come near her. My presence was the greatest protection she could ever have. If someone wanted to get to her, they had to go through me.

  Good luck with that.

  “Do you think breakfast is ready?”

  My hand moved to her small stomach. I lightly touched her, giving her affection without hurting her. “Finally have an appetite?”

  She nodded. “I’m starving, actually.”

  “I’ll give Lars a call.”

  “Let’s go downstairs. I’m tired of being cooped up all the time.”

  “Whatever you want.” I got dressed then helped her into her clothes. She was still weak, and standing on one foot to put on her pants was impossible. She usually had to lay on the bed while I pulled her sweats up her thighs. Whenever we were in that position my cock came to life. Despite her pain and suffering I still wanted to fuck her.

  There was something seriously wrong with me.

  I scooped her into my arms and prepared to carry her to the ground floor.

  “No. Put me down.” Her arms were hooked around my neck and she stared at the ground.

  “Why?”

  “I can manage on my own.”

  I didn’t want to discourage her but I really didn’t think she could make it. “You should rest for a few weeks before you give it a try.”

  “You just told me not to have a pity party for myself.”

  “And I stand by that. But don’t push yourself to do something you can’t.”

  That flame of stubbornness burned in her eyes and she wiggled in my arms. “Put me down.”

  I shouldn’t have phrased my words that way. Of course they would entice her to prove me wrong. I slowly set her on the ground and gripped both of her arms just in case her legs gave out.

  She stood on both of her feet but didn’t move. She stared at her feet and held her arms out for balance. Her breathing immediately increased and she labored through the pain.

  “Let me carry you.”

  “I got it.” She spoke though a clenched jaw, ignoring the pain shooting up her legs.

  Now I got angry. “This is stupid—”

  “Just shut up and give me a chance.” She took a shaky step forward, her arms still raised. Her foot wobbled when it touched the hardwood floor. She took another step and shook from side to side like she balancing on a balance beam.

  We’ll never get to breakfast at this rate.

  She made it through the door and into the hallway but then her legs shook even more. Her atrophied legs couldn’t handle her light weight and she slowly tipped and began to fall.

  I caught her and swooped her into my arms. “It’s a good start. You’ll get better.”

  “I can make it. Just be patient.”

  “If you fall over every few feet then you aren’t going to make it.” I carried her down two flights of stairs and knew she would have tumbled to the bottom if I let her go on her own. “But give it some time. You’re still healing.” I carried her into the dining room and set her down. “What do you want?” I sat across from her and waited for Lars to walk in. He always knew exactly what room I was in without looking. He had a special butler capability.

  “Do you think Lars can make French toast?”

  I tried not to scoff. “He can make anything.”

  Right on cue, Lars entered. “Miss Pearl, I’m glad to see you’re doing better.”

  “Thanks, Lars.” She gave him a genuine smile, the kind she’d never given me. “I’m glad you’re well too.”

  He nodded. “What can I get you this morning?”

  “If it’s not too much trouble, can we have French toast?”

  Lars had been smitten with her from the beginning. Her obvious respect for the help
and polite way of asking for things made her the star of the mansion. “Of course. And you, sir?” He turned to me, his hands behind his back.

  “I’ll take the usual.” Egg whites and coffee.

  “Very good, sir.” He nodded before he walked out.

  Button turned to me, a disappointed look on her face. “Don’t you get tired of eating that every single day?”

  “Do you get tired of eating me every single day?” I held her gaze with ferocity.

  “Not the same thing.”

  “I think so.” I rested my elbows on the table and leaned forward. “What did you want to do today?”

  “Not much I can do. I’m a cripple.”

  “Not true. We can do anything you want.”

  “You aren’t tired of spending time with me?” she asked in surprise. “You usually prefer solitude ninety percent of the time.”

  All of that changed when she almost died. “Now I prefer you ninety percent of the time.”

  ***

  Instead of running like anyone else, Cane opened the door like a man. He faced me with a hard look and clenched jaw, pissed I shot him and desperate to do the same back to me. He stared at me without speaking, the warning in his eyes.

  Looking at him just ticked me off. I wanted to put a bullet in each one of his limbs and watch him bleed out just as he did to Button. He deserved a fate worse than what she had to go through.

  When I didn’t utter a word, he spoke. “You here to kill me?”

  “Maybe.”

  He leaned against the door, gauze wrapped around his upper arm where the bullet hit him. “Then get it over with.” He stepped away from the entryway, leaving the door open so I could follow him inside.

  He had a house near the headquarters in Florence. He preferred the big city with people and cobblestone walkways between buildings. The great outdoors and wide open spaces simply weren’t his taste.

  I followed behind him and walked into his open living room. The back wall was made entirely of windows and looking into the backyard with flowers and grass. It was small, but for Florence it was enormous.

  Cane grabbed his glass of scotch from the counter and downed it like I wasn’t there.

  Even though he was my brother I still wanted to kill him. I wanted to murder him right on the spot. Button had become an intricate part of my life. When she hurt, I hurt. Living with her for six months made me oddly attached to her.

  “Can we get this shit over with?”

  I took off my jacket and tossed it on the back of the chair. “She almost died.”

  “Good. That was the point.”

  My knuckles turned white because my fists were so tight. “And what did that accomplish?”

  “Pissed off Bones. I sent the pictures to him.”

  He took pictures of her? “You’re a sick motherfucker.”

  “No. I just want revenge for Vanessa. You remember her, right? Our sister?”

  “Don’t go there right now.” My gun was hooked into the back of my jeans and I wasn’t afraid to use it.

  “You keep acting like I’m the bad guy but you’re the one who screwed everything up. We made a plan and I stuck to the course. It’s not my problem that you fell in love with this stupid whore.”

  “I didn’t fall in love with her.”

  “Well, something happened. You chose her over me. I won’t forget that easily.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “First, you deny me my revenge. I told you on several occasions how much that meant to be. And then you fucking shot me. What the fuck, Crow?”

  “You broke into my goddamn house and tortured her. What did you think I was gong to do?”

  “Pick your brother instead of some whore.”

  “Don’t call her that.” She was anything but a whore. She was mine, and mine alone.

  He rolled his eyes. “Here we go again. What’s with this woman? Bones offers to pay forty million bucks for her, and you shoot your own brother to protect her? Is her pussy heaven or what?”

  “Don’t talk about her pussy.” My neck tensed in offense and I stopped myself from grabbing my gun.

  He gave me an incredulous look. “I don’t even know you anymore, man.”

  “She’s off limits to everyone. She doesn’t belong to Bones, and she won’t be used to get revenge on Bones. We’ll figure something else out. So back the fuck off.” If he pulled another stunt I really would kill him.

  He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head slightly. “Do you understand how insane you are?”

  “Do you understand how much of a dick you are?”

  “I risked my neck to get that bitch out of there, in case you forgot.”

  “And I offered to compensate you for that, if you don’t remember.”

  “But I don’t want money,” he snapped. “All I want is revenge. And I got some of that when I beat the shit out of her. If you want me to apologize, you’re wasting your time. I don’t feel remorse and I never will. If I could do it all over again, I would.”

  Now he crossed a line. “Cane, I’ll shoot you again—in the goddamn head.”

  “You may as well. I’m not your brother anymore and you aren’t mine either. So what does it matter?”

  In the back of my mind I understood Cane’s thoughts. We snatched Button for one reason but everything changed when I saw that fiery ferocity. I took her under my wing with the intention of using her for my own satisfaction, but she brought out the soft version of me—a version I didn’t know existed. Protecting her was an act of betrayal to Cane. I understood it. “We’re always brothers. We’re all we have left of family. But don’t cross me again. I should kill you for what you did to her.”

  He stared at me with the same cold expression I’d received my entire life. “I’m not stopping until I avenge Vanessa. I’ll kill whoever is in my way—even your plaything.”

  “You really think Vanessa would want this?” I demanded. “Pearl is just an innocent woman that was snatched while on vacation. She was sold like livestock and then sold to a psychopath like Bones. She’s just as innocent. Why does she have to pay the price of another man’s actions?”

  “I don’t care if she’s innocent. I don’t care if she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is where she ended up and she just has to deal with it. Someone fucked with my family and I have to strike with full force. She’s essential to that.”

  “She’s no longer part of this game. You and I will get our vengeance in some other way. When we put our minds together, great things happen.”

  “I don’t want to get vengeance in some other way.”

  “Wouldn’t you want to kill him?” I asked. “With your bare hands?”

  “No. I want him to suffer the way I’ve suffered.” He was stubborn and set in his ways. When he made a decision he stuck to it unless it crumbled underneath him. “I want to hurt someone he loves the way he hurt Vanessa.”

  “Well, we’ve accomplished that. His slave has been our prisoner for six months.”

  “Your prisoner,” he kissed. “And we didn’t get under his skin until I sent him those pictures. That will haunt his dreams the way he’s haunted ours.”

  “Or we just started the war of the century.” When I met Bones the night before the intensity rang in the atmosphere. Very few words were shed, but the hostility was evident. “I met him last night.”

  Cane dropped his anger. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me like I was criminally insane. “Why?”

  “I tried to pay him off.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” he asked. “You paid him to keep his slave?” He clutched his head like he was about to explode. “So, we steal here and then you offer to pay him? You sound like his bitch.”

  “I just wanted him to back off.”

  “Did he take the cash?”

  “No.” Unfortunately. “The war rages on.”

  “That means she means even more to him than we realized.” A slight smile upt
urned his lips. “Good thing I beat her. He’s probably going insane right now.”

  I wouldn’t be able to keep my anger back for a moment longer. After what he did to her, I didn’t look at him as my brother. I saw him as my enemy. “We need to work together to take him down, Cane. Once and for all.”

  “Take down one of the biggest criminal masterminds in Europe?” he asked incredulously.

  “Yes.”

  He walked to the table and poured himself another glass of scotch. He downed the entire thing before he turned back to me. Drops of the gold liquid hung from his bottom lip before he wiped them away with his sleeve. “If that were possible we would have done that a long time ago.”

  “It is possible.”

  “The original plan is better. It’s working. He’s writhing right now.”

  Button wouldn’t suffer again. She was off limits—to everyone. “No.”

  He slammed his empty glass down, almost shattering it. “If you were in love with this woman I would be more understanding. Is that the case?”

  Love wasn’t in my vocabulary. I hadn’t said the words to anyone for fifteen years. It was a miracle that I formed some attachment to Button at all. But love was out of the question. “No.”

  “Then I don’t understand.”

  I didn’t understand it either. “Bones thinks we’re mutilating her as we speak thanks to your pictures. So we don’t need to do much more anyway. When he makes a move to steal her back, we’ll take him out.”

  “Or we could hand her over and watch her die in his arms.”

  She wasn’t dying in anyone’s arms. “Cane, I said no.”

  “And I said yes.”

  I was going to shoot him right between the eyes. “Get on board or you’re out.”

  “Out of what?”

  “Out of my life.” He could take the weapon business. It didn’t mean much to me. If he was going to work against me then I couldn’t trust him. And if I couldn’t trust him then we would get nowhere. “Work with me or walk away.”

  He leaned against the back of the couch, his arms still across his chest.

  “I loved Vanessa too. I want to destroy Bones for what he’s done to our family. My devotion is the same as it’s always been. But I don’t want to sacrifice Pearl for it. That’s a compromise you should be willing to take.”