by Davis, Jo
In one of the last rooms, she discovered a library, dimly lit like the others. Bodies writhed everywhere, moaning their enjoyment. Her nipples tingled and her sex heated, the atmosphere getting to her.
As she was about to leave, she saw him. Her heart pounded and her mouth went dry at being confronted with the evidence of her own bargain. Her handsome husband, basking in the freedom he’d been granted.
Completely naked, he sat on the edge of a padded bench, a goddess of a blond woman between his legs. Head bobbing, she sucked his cock in leisurely fashion, as though eating a stick of candy. Alex gripped the bench, totally into letting her do him.
A pair of masculine hands went around Liv’s waist and pulled her close, startling her, and she craned her neck to find herself staring at an amused stranger with jet-black hair. A drop-dead gorgeous stranger, who nodded toward the pair she was observing.
“Your man?” he inquired in a lovely French accent.
Robbed of speech, she could only nod.
“You are shocked, but highly aroused,” he murmured, sliding his palms to cup her braless breasts through the halter of her dress. “I can feel your heat. You have never seen him with another?”
“N-no.” Except for Jason, but that was different.
“Oh, then you are in for a treat. Lean against me while we admire the miracle of beautiful people enjoying one another, yes?” The Frenchman kissed Liv’s hair, parted the material over her breasts and pushed it aside. Pinched her nipples to peaks as she watched the woman bend over the bench and Alex rise to cover himself.
“This can be your pleasure, as well. Ah yes, look at them. The lady is presented to him, offering her body, everything that she is. And a man’s desire to answer her call is older than time. Watch.”
An earthquake couldn’t have moved her. Alex positioned himself between the woman’s spread legs as she said his name, begging for him. He murmured something low and soothing, then parted her ass cheeks and began to work her with one finger. She begged for more and he spoke to her again, gentle but driving her crazy with want.
The Frenchman slid one hand down to Liv’s thigh, then skimmed upward. Found the silk of her panties and slipped underneath, finding the damp curls between her legs. Began to stroke her clit, sending whirls of delight all through her quivering limbs. “This is the gift he gives her now, and she to him. Nice, yes?”
“Yes.” Liv melted against the Frenchman’s hard body, his touch. All of the rioting sensations mingled with the awe she felt as the woman cried out Alex’s name in a clear voice, begging to be fucked.
And then Alex sank his thick cock into his lover, inch by inch, saying something else to her, calling her sweet Dani. He thrust into her again and again, taking her hard. Head thrown back, face awash in glorious pleasure, fucking his partner, he was the picture of male beauty.
He was the act of sexual communion personified.
And she knew now she would never deny him this. When he confessed to her, this was what he wanted to share, the joy of sexual freedom that she’d given him and herself. The gift. She was glad she’d seen, and secretly hoped she would again in the future.
Liv panted in time with her husband pounding Dani’s pussy, her sex throbbing under the Frenchman’s skillful ministrations. Liv was no match for the waves flooding her and she exploded, coming hard, stifling a cry.
Alex buried himself deep inside his lover and they came, as well, shuddering together for some moments before he withdrew.
The Frenchman withdrew his hand from her panties, straightened her halter top, smiling warmly. “This was a good experience for you, yes? You see what I tried to tell you?”
“Yes.” She smiled back. What an interesting man. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you, sweet.” With a brush of his lips against hers, he made his way into the crowd once more.
“Wow,” she breathed. She looked to Alex and Dani again, while staying to the shadows. They were sitting against the bench, talking as though familiar—
She almost smacked her forehead. “Danielle! His new secretary!”
Well, now. This certainly made for a fascinating development. He liked Danielle, she knew. Knowing Alex the way she did, he’d want her again, too. Perhaps many times, from the chemistry that had nearly set the library ablaze—and he only had one more confession. Perhaps a different arrangement was in order next. . . .
Whatever happened, she was glad Dani wasn’t a stranger, but someone he cared for. A lot, apparently, because Alex rolled her to the floor and settled on top of her, between those long legs.
An idea teased at Liv’s brain. What if she joined them? Oh, that could be mind-blowing!
But she’d been standing here a while, and Jason might be worried by now. She needed to go back to the alcove and find him first, let him know she’d located Alex, and that he was far from being in any danger. Then she’d return and get in on the action, too.
Excited about her plan, she started to sneak from the room when something round and small pressed into her lower back.
“Don’t make a sound,” the unfamiliar male voice instructed. “Just smile, go nice and calm, and I won’t have to shoot the two lovebirds over there. Got it?”
Fear paralyzed her vocal chords. This man would do it, too. Smiling, terrified, she edged from the room, willing Alex to know somehow that they were all in trouble.
Then she was marched away to meet an uncertain fate.
Sixteen
Jason had about given up on finding Alex when he spied his friend in a library on the main floor, laughing and talking with a familiar woman. Danielle Forney? Yep, that was her, gorgeous and blond. Barely dressed. And disheveled.
“You dawg,” he muttered, annoyed. “I’ve been searching all over this damned mausoleum, and you’re in here getting lucky with Miss Babe-a-licious.”
Alex was zipping his jeans and Danielle was straightening what there was of her clothes, right there among a roomful of other partygoers who had been, or still were, doing likewise. Jason started toward them, ready to give his friend a piece of his mind, when another man pushed his way toward them, carrying a drink.
The room was dim, but Jason knew this guy was someone from Alex’s office, too. Nice-looking, brown hair. What was his name? Kyle. That was it, Kyle Murphy. He was so wrapped up in trying to see Murphy’s face that he almost missed the motion of the man’s arm. One hand under the base of the glass, one over the top as though simply holding it steady.
Then the hand over the glass moved away, crumpled something small, and stuck it into his front pants pocket in one smooth motion.
Murphy had put something in Alex’s drink!
He handed it to Alex, smiling, briefly joked with him about something, then moved off.
And Jason was too fucking far away.
“Oh, God!” He ran, shoving people aside, leaping over prone bodies. “Alex! Alex, no!”
Several people cursed, one made a grab at him, but he only saw Alex, lifting the glass, bringing it to his lips.
With a last push, he leapt, catching Alex in a flying tackle, sending the glass crashing against the bookcase and them to the floor. Lying half on top of Alex, the crisis temporarily averted, Jason rested his forehead on his friend’s shoulder.
“Fuck me, that was close,” he said, attempting to catch his breath.
“Since there are no rogue newspaper boys here, do you mind telling me what the hell that was about this time?”
“Poison. I saw Murphy poison your drink, Alex.” Raising his head, he gazed into Alex’s eyes, reading the shock and disbelief there. Then resigned sadness.
“Liv tried to tell me, and I wouldn’t listen.”
“I know, but it’s going to be okay, buddy. He’s not worth your grief. And now that we can play connect the dots from your office to Palmer’s, we can get them all in one swoop.”
“We?”
Jason shook his head and pushed up, offering Alex his hand. “Later. Let’s find Liv first and get o
ut of here so I can make a call.”
Danielle glanced between them, wide-eyed. “Will someone tell me what’s going on?”
“At the office, Dani,” Alex said, giving her a peck on the cheek. “We have to go.”
Jason shot his friend an arch look on the way out the door. “Dani? Boy, that was cozy. I can’t wait to hear this confession.”
“You don’t know the half of it. And why’d you bring Liv here?”
“Do you honestly think I could’ve left her behind? She’s a force of nature, my friend.”
“Good point.”
They got to the foyer, and Jason pointed toward the alcove.
Olivia wasn’t there.
Sick panic seized his bowels as he looked into Alex’s grim face. She wouldn’t leave willingly.
“Where is she?” Alex hissed, punching the wall.
“Hello, gentlemen. She’s here.”
They turned to see Jenna waving them to follow her down the corridor past the alcove. Exchanging a troubled glance, they went after her.
Alex leaned to him, keeping his voice low. “What’s going on?”
“Two words. We’re fucked.”
Jenna showed them to a set of stairs, descending into darkness. She turned to usher them ahead, face pale. “That’s an accurate assessment. Olivia is in the basement, and if you want to see her alive again, you’ll go without a struggle.”
“You set us up,” Jason said, stalling.
“I had no choice. Alex is going to die. And you? Palmer is on his way to take you home.”
Alex gaped at him. “Home?”
“Not here, Alex. Not now, like this.” Jason felt about a hundred years old at the moment, and had no clue how to get them out of this alive. He wanted so badly to come clean with the rest, but couldn’t. Not if there was a slim chance of working surprise to his advantage.
“We get out of this, you owe me and Liv a confession of your own.”
“I swear it.”
Alex threw Jenna a glare of pure loathing over his shoulder. “They’re going to kill you and Kyle, too. You’re both idiots if you think they won’t.”
From her lack of a snappy comeback, Jason thought she might agree.
At the bottom, they drew up short, the scene more terrifying than any Jason had faced before. Henry Boardman had Liv by the arm, the muzzle of a gun pressed to her head.
Alex froze with fear and rage, both warring for top billing as he fought with the powerful need to tear Boardman, and everyone else associated with him, into unrecognizable pieces. He’d fully planned to defend this slime in a court of law. A few days ago, he’d actually believed every person was entitled to a defense.
Some didn’t deserve to breathe.
Staring helplessly at his Olivia, the woman he loved, he wanted to cry, too. For what he’d gambled away. He’d been led to his own murder, literally, by his own dick.
If he had a single breath in his body to protect her, she wasn’t going to pay for his mistakes.
Boardman smirked, the madness twisting his features. “You’re quite a skilled attorney, Quinn. Under different circumstances, I’d love to allow you to get me off with no jail time. But my boss wouldn’t like that. The cops need a fall guy.” He shrugged before going on.
“By the time I get out in a couple of years, we’ll be richer than ever. And you,” he said, nodding to Jason. “Palmer can’t wait to get his hands on you, boy. You know what the penalty for escaping your master will be? Torture. Long and excruciating. By the time he’s finished retraining you, you won’t be capable of a single thought except what pleases him.”
“You sorry little bastard,” Alex said, his voice low and dangerous. Oh, God. Now he understood at least part of what Jason had been keeping from them. “How will you explain our deaths? I was your attorney, and the authorities already know about you and Palmer. They’ll know you helped to murder me.”
A flash of uncertainty flitted across his hateful face, and the gun wavered. “No, they’re going to find a messy murder-suicide. Seems your wife got tired of your affairs, and tonight was the last straw when she heard you had that busy dick of yours stuffed in your secretary’s hot pussy. So she lured you down here. Shot you at point-blank range, then herself. A tragedy.”
Alex clenched his fists, vibrating, thinking he might shake apart with the force of his rage. He caught Liv’s frightened gaze, his own softening. Trying to tell her without words how sorry he was she had to hear something that should’ve been private spewed from this asshole’s mouth. How sorry he was for all of this, and how much he loved her.
She knew. He saw the answer there and forced himself to stay calm. Wait for an opening. He risked a glance at Jason, who gave a slight nod. If they had one, they’d take it.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, two sets, and he wondered if one of them might be Kyle. The first man who stepped into the dim light Alex guessed to be Palmer Hodge. Medium height, dark hair. Very GQ and handsome if you didn’t know he was a monster.
He was holding a gun and Alex bet his buddy in the shadows was, as well, sending the odds down the toilet. So, they’d make an opening and go down fighting. Of all the ways he’d envisioned his life would end, being murdered by a ring of criminals wasn’t one of them.
“So nice of you to attend my party, Quinn,” Hodge said, smiling. Smug. “And to bring Seraph to me? How wonderful. Unfortunately, I can’t express my gratitude properly. Business, you understand.”
“How did you get to Kyle? He was my best friend, and he’s no killer.” Well, that had sure as hell changed. He knew what Hodge would say, but he needed to buy more time.
“Ah, but he’s a desperate man and they do desperate, and stupid, things. I’m sure you realize now that the money you lent him was just a drop in his ocean of debt. He was poised to lose everything, and I required a weak link in your firm.”
“A question, if you’ll humor me. Since Kyle was the weak link, why not just have him ask to be my second chair on Boardman’s trial? He could’ve screwed up our defense just fine from the inside, with no need to involve Jenna.”
“Perceptive man. I’m impressed.” Hodge waved the gun at Alex’s chest. “Very true, and I might have gone that route if I’d planned to use Murphy only once. As it was, I wanted to keep him free from suspicion and as far under your radar as possible. Because I have him well under my thumb and I can use him again and again, but he cannot get directly involved in each job I require without eventually attracting unwanted attention. Jenna, however, served one purpose, and unfortunately for her, is now dispensable.”
“Her purpose being to get to me.”
“Yes. Besides my desire to keep Murphy in the shadows, I enjoy playing games, as you can see. Your former friend certainly couldn’t have distracted you as well as Jenna was able to do. Her job was to get you into bed and embroiled in a scorching affair, which she did quite admirably. At that point, you were to be blackmailed into tanking Henry’s defense yourself, with no one the wiser about Murphy, who would walk away unscathed. In return, I wouldn’t tell your lovely wife that you and Jenna were buried in more than just legal papers together.”
Jenna, after him for weeks, weakening his resolve. All a setup from the start. Blackmail.
Unreal. “I wasn’t meant to die.”
“No. I only required your cooperation. Then Murphy overheard you telling Jenna about your open arrangement with your wife, and there went the blackmail option.” He gave Alex a look of mock sympathy. “I had no other leverage, and I’m an impatient man. You’ve led quite the staid, boring life, Mr. Quinn. That it would come to this is what I’d call the mother of ironies.”
Jason broke his silence. “I don’t know how you think to get away with this. Nobody’s going to buy whatever excuse you concoct to explain their deaths.”
Anger darkened Hodge’s face and he strode to Jason, swiftly delivering a blow to his face with his gun hand that sent the younger man to his knees. Liv cried out, and Alex started forwar
d, but restrained himself. Boardman’s gun was still aimed at Liv’s temple, and he couldn’t launch a defense without Jason backing him.
Hodge loomed over Jason, sneering down at him. “You’ll stay on your knees where I’ll give that smart mouth better things to do. The sooner you remember that, boy, the better.”
Holding his bleeding cheek, Jason lifted his chin, hatred in his brown gaze. Alex held out a hand. “Jason, don’t—”
“Fuck. You.”
His defiance earned him a hard kick in the ribs, breath leaving him as he bent double, holding his side. Come on, Jase. Don’t get yourself killed before we even have a chance to fight back.
“Try again, boy.”
“I-I’m sorry. Sir.” The last he spat with venom, but Hodge seemed pacified for the moment.
“Good.” With his free hand, Hodge fished a long object from his pocket. A syringe. He tossed it to Jenna. “Tranquilize Seraph for the flight home. Quickly.”
She started toward Jason, who pushed to his feet and gave Alex a meaningful stare. The last grain had fallen through the hourglass.
Hodge gestured to Alex with the gun, a nasty gleam in his eyes. “Who’ll die first, you or your wife?” He straightened his arm, leveling the weapon at the center of Alex’s chest. “You, I think. She can watch you bleed—”
Liv brought her elbow straight back into Boardman’s gut, taking him by surprise, knocking him off balance. She leapt, tackling Jenna to the dirty floor, and they rolled, struggling for possession of the needle.
Seizing his chance, Alex threw himself at Hodge, hardly believing his ears as he heard Jason shout, “FBI, freeze!” From the corner of his eye, he caught the motion of his friend producing a weapon of his own as Alex barreled for Hodge.
One gunshot exploded like a cannon in the closed space. Another shot, and Alex felt a punch to his chest as he took Hodge down. Falling, lungs burning. They hit the ground and Hodge rolled him like a sack of flour, pushed up. Alex tried to sit up but couldn’t move. Had to fight to draw his breath, his chest on fire.
