The reflection bounced back to us—my eyes were dark and wild, my jaw tight and angry. No one could see me behind Tess but there would be no mistaking what was happening to her if they happened to look up.
Look up. See me ravishing this stunning creature. Be jealous.
I pulled the netting tighter across her face, using it as leverage to drive up again. She moaned, thrusting backward, meeting my cock.
The knowledge anyone could look up and watch filled my blood with fire. My belt jangled as I fucked her—I grew hot still fully dressed but I’d never been so sexually angry—so needful for a release.
She panted, loose and receiving against the window, her mouth parting with every pound. Her gathered dress protected her hipbones from slamming into the glass as I ruthlessly took her.
There was no finesse. No rhythm. It was a straight claiming. Fast and hard.
Fast and fucking hard.
The first spiral of pleasure erupted from my balls. I threw my head back, driving deeper. Tess would have bruises on top of bruises tomorrow. Her face contorted with pleasure-pain as I used her. But every single thrust, she met me. Every grunt she echoed.
Then someone looked up.
A stranger’s eyes locked onto Tess’s naked breasts, flat against the glass. I growled, pounding so hard her heels left the floor. She cried out, her fingers scrabbling for purchase.
“Oh, God. There’s someone. They’re—”
Another spiral of bliss shot up my spine. The man frowned, trying to work out what he saw, then took a shocked step when realization hit.
That’s right. I’m balls deep in this woman you can only fantasise about.
Something clicked in Tess and her need turned wild. Her pussy clenched around me, locking my teeth from the vicious orgasm building in my blood.
Fisting the scissors, I struggled to keep my eyes open from the overwhelming pleasure.
I made my first cut.
Right on her shoulder blade. A shallow, single line welled with black blood, infecting me with power and lust and need.
“Fuck, oh…” Tess cried. Her back arched but she didn’t twist the wound away.
“That’s it. Remember pain, mon coeur. Remember how fucking delicious it is.”
Another man stopped, gawking at Tess pressed hard against the window. He leaned to speak to the other voyeur who hadn’t taken his eyes off my wondrous woman.
I rode Tess like my orgasm rode me. Hard, brittle, existing in the taboo of intensity.
I didn’t have much time.
Four.
I have to finish before I blow.
The second cut was directly beside the first. A long slightly irregular line where a bead of blood rose but didn’t trickle. I didn’t taste, just let the blood glow with sin, intoxicating me more than any whiskey.
A couple stopped below.
Tess moaned loudly as they pointed upward, mouths hanging open. Her pussy rippled as I planted my feet further apart, pounding upward, chasing my final goal.
Holding the netting harder around her face, I gulped in air, driving harder and harder. Sweat ran down my temples; my heart jackhammered against my ribs, smashing them into dust.
“Q…yes. God, yes. Fuck.” The first band of Tess’s orgasm wrenched a groan from my lips.
“Don’t come. Wait,” I hissed between my teeth. The moment she started coming, I wouldn’t be able to hold back.
I cut her again, clenching my jaw against the unrelenting orgasm gripping my spine. Sparks and tingles and a pain so bright I could barely see held my body hostage.
Tess’s hand suddenly disappeared between her front and the glass. A rustle of silk as she dove into the fabric of her tattered dress, finding her clit. Her spine bowed as she stroked.
“Fuck me, Tess.” I wanted to be down there. I wanted to project my soul to the audience below and watch Tess finger herself to heaven.
I pressed the scissors against her shoulder but Tess let out a scream. Her entire body seized as an orgasm ripped her in two.
I never made the final cut as I fell forward, burying my head in her throat as I let go—allowing the magic to explode out of me and into her, spurt after spurt, mixing our bodies as well as our fucking souls.
Then a soft snick sounded in my ear, cutting my release into pieces. The heat in my blood turned to ice and snow and sleet. A blizzard whistled in my chest, stabbing me with icicles and sub-zero temperatures.
I had to stop. Danger. Stop!
But Tess continued coming, dragging me along with her.
“Fuuuck!” I collapsed forward, slamming a hand against the glass to stop from suffocating her. I. Couldn’t. Stop. My hips were demonic, delivering every drop of come I had to give. My fingers dug at the smooth reflection as the final wave drained my balls, stopping my heart with a horrible mixture of panic and relief.
A masculine chuckle entered the sex-hazed world Tess and I existed in, smashing it to smithereens, bringing death and destruction.
A slow clap sounded. “Well, that made me fucking hard, congratulations.”
Double motherfucking shit.
I should’ve stayed on high alert. I should’ve known something was wrong. I should never have let my guard down.
Tess froze. Not breathing. Not living. Shutting down completely.
Terror filled my limbs at the thought of losing her again. But I didn’t have time to worry. I had a murder to commit. Unclamping my fist from holding the netting around her face, I threw it away. Not once looking behind me.
Who the fuck were they? The man from the restaurant? Some other cocksucker who I’d suspected following us back to the hotel?
I knew what they wanted. I wasn’t naïve to know this wouldn’t happen. Hell, I’d been tense for weeks, just waiting for their move. But planning for a future and facing it head on were two entirely different things.
Gritting my teeth, I pulled out from Tess. My body moved stiff, full of ferocious anger as I forced my still hard cock back into my trousers and buckled up. With infinite gentleness, I pulled Tess’s dress down and reached in front of her, bringing the ruined bodice together as much as possible to keep her hidden.
“Q? What’s going on?” Tess’s voice wobbled.
I kissed her temple. Spinning her around, I looked deep into her eyes. Is this the last time I’ll see her? I’d planned so much—just in case the worst happened. I’d signed my fortune to her—so I’d always know she had money. I’d wanted to marry her to give her the power of my name.
That might not be possible now.
Frederick was right—ever since I’d seen the first article on TV, I’d been fighting against time. Time needed to fix Tess. Time needed to fight her demons before I wasn’t able to anymore. Everything that’d happened to Tess was my fault and I’d wanted to undo my wrongs before it was too late.
The news saved my business but marked me for death.
Fuck, stop those pessimistic thoughts. I would bathe in blood before I let them kill me.
Brushing damp curls from Tess’s cheeks, I murmured, “Trust me. Everything will be okay.” It has to be. I wanted to die as an old married man after living a lifetime with my perfect other. Not here. Not today.
I refused. I fucking refused.
“Mercer!” Franco’s voice cut through my worry just before a fist collided with my cheekbone.
Pain. Hot spreading, throbbing pain.
Tess screamed as I fell to my knee. I shook my head, scattering the stars from taking over my vision.
Blind rage released an injection of adrenaline and I tore upward. My time may be up but it didn’t mean I would give in to the heinous bitch. I had a personal vendetta and fully intended to win.
Another punch landed on my jaw, sending me stumbling into Tess.
She yelled, “Don’t you fucking touch him!”
The ringing in my ears amplified as another man grabbed Tess by the hair, dragging her away. Hurling her to the floor, he kicked her.
I saw red.
I saw blood.
I saw hell.
Launching myself at him, I swung low and hard. My knuckles bellowed as his head cracked backward, eyes rolling with the uppercut. As he fell, I brought his limp carcass forward, smashing my knee hard into his ribcage and dropped every barrier inside.
I lost all sensation of what I did. What parts I tore, what agony I inflicted.
His scream bounced off the walls as I shed all humanity and went rogue.
I’ll kill him.
No one. Absolutely fucking no one would touch Tess again and survive. I would tear their motherfucking heads off.
“Q!”
I ignored Tess, delivering wrath like a devil-filled tornado. Punch. Wallop. Kick. I wanted to turn his body into a lake of blood.
A silenced gunshot went off.
Time stuttered.
Pain.
Lancing horrendous pain sliced into my thigh.
Sickness raced up my back, coating my tongue with bile.
Motherfucker shot me.
I roared with agony, feeding off the hot lick of fire radiating in my leg. Stumbling away from my unconscious victim, I bent over. Pushing a fingertip into the torn flap of my trousers, I found the bloody mess below.
My breath came hard and deep as another flash of pain consumed my system. My finger was torture but I found the exit hole. No broken bones. No severed arteries. A flesh wound.
A wound sending my anger ratcheting from uncontrollable to psychopathic.
“No! Oh, my God. You shot him!” Tess attacked the asshole who’d lodged a bullet in my limb, bringing a rain of tiny fists onto his torso.
Tess, don’t!
The man batted her arms away, his face contorting with rage. Tess kicked him, screaming.
He slapped her hard, wrenching her neck sideways with force. She went instantly limp, falling into his arms.
No! Fuck no. Not again.
I hurtled toward him, intending to rip his throat out but another man captured Tess, dragging her disorientated body against him. She shook her head, trying to clear the dazed fog, fighting meekly as he grabbed her breast with horrible fingers.
Glowering at me, he yelled, “Stop! Everyone! Behave or we’ll take turns with your little slave before cutting her throat. Got it?”
The threat worked.
I slammed to a halt, breathing hard. Rage siphoned around my body, making me tremble, but I embraced cold calculation.
Glancing around the room, I catalogued everything.
Five men.
A pentagon of doom caged me against the window with Franco in a bloody pile a few metres away. One of his eyes was swollen shut, blood covered his shirt, and he sat painfully, nursing his right side.
Five men.
Three with black hair and smooth blank faces, two with brownish hair and sick satisfaction wrinkling their eyes.
I didn’t recognise any of them.
Red Wolverine?
No, I did enough damage to his operation to risk coming after me so soon.
Emerald Dragon?
No, they were based in Singapore, or was it Hong Kong—either way, I doubted they’d have the resources to come to Rome—not with the heat surrounding their names after I handed over my address book of fuckwit traffickers.
So who are they?
It didn’t matter. Tonight would be the last night they’d be alive. I didn’t need to know any more than that.
I looked at Tess. Her eyes were clear, blazing with anger. Her fierceness gave me strength. No matter what I’d done with my life—healing her and giving her back her fire was enough to land me, maybe not in heaven, but hopefully not in hell.
I’d fixed her in time. Barely.
I would’ve been happy about that—if it wasn’t for the entirely unwinnable situation I faced. Five men against one. Franco was no use to me and I wouldn’t do anything to put Tess’s life in peril again.
“Give her to me and I’ll obey,” I growled.
The room shimmered with violence. A standoff. My knuckles hurt, needing to be lodged in his teeth. My thigh throbbed but shock worked wonders on deleting most of the distraction.
Ten seconds of waiting.
Finally the man nodded, shoving Tess toward me. Striding forward, I wrenched her behind my back. The second her form touched mine, huddling my back in a fierce embrace I sighed, gathering my wits for the next fight.
“Q, I’m sorry—I tried,” Tess cried.
Ignoring her, I kept my body between her and the unwelcome bastards. I concentrated on the best plan available for keeping her unharmed.
You have to get them to leave.
That was my only option. And I didn’t like what I’d have to do to make it come true.
“Who the fuck are you? What do you want?” I hissed.
Tess trembled, her rapid, shallow breaths hitting the back of my neck. Something snapped inside her, turning her silent tears into terror-filled gasps. Pressing hard against me, her teeth chattered. “They can’t—Q…I can’t do it again.” The edge of lunacy in Tess’s voice made my anger reach a whole new boiling point. “I’m bankrupt. I can’t afford another toll! Please. I have nothing left.”
Don’t revert, Tess. Please don’t undo all my fucking hard work.
“Get the fuck out!” I roared. “Get out before I fucking murder you!” Ignoring their guns and soulless eyes, I reached behind, crushing Tess’s front against my spine. I hated how wobbly and cold she was. “I won’t let them take you, esclave. I promise.” On my sister’s grave, I promise. “Stay with me.”
The gunshot in my leg turned from a fire to a cataclysmic inferno.
A silenced semi-automatic was pointed in my face. The man wielding it, sneered; his teeth perfect pegs of white. “We’re not here for her.”
My heart bucked. Spanish accent.
Spain.
Everything clicked into place.
Lynx.
He had midway houses in Rome to traffic the overwhelming number of women he traded in Spain. The complications I’d told Tess about all revolved around that cocksucker. Young, ambitious, with no fucking remorse. Lynx had been a personal enemy ever since he killed a girl I’d agreed to trade for—just because he didn’t like the shirt I wore to the meeting.
Asswipe. Fucking juvenile sadistic delinquent.
Tess stifled a sob, sucking back her downfall into crazy, latching once again onto reality. She twisted in my arms, trying to get free. Glaring at the men, she yelled, “Just leave. Go back to the hole you crawled out of. Don’t do this!”
A man with black hair laughed. “Do what? This?” Closing the distance between us, he swung the gun at my temple.
I didn’t think. Just reacted. Ducking, I launched. Lowering my shoulder, I plowed into his chest, crunching him to the floor in a heap of body parts.
I didn’t care about my leg. All I cared about was ripping out his fucking heart. He gasped for breath punching anywhere he could. He managed to knock the air out of my lungs, bruise a rib, kick my knee.
He was strong, but he didn’t have psychotic rage thrumming in my veins.
Tess.
Above all I had to keep her safe.
I landed a square punch, sending his fighting body into a loose pile of bones. My fingers latched around his gun, wrenching it from his hold. Limping to my feet, I aimed at the ringleader who’d royally fucked up my night.
“Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
I swung around. My stomach splattered to my feet. One of the brown-haired men had Tess in a vice-like grip, his gun bruising her temple.
Fuck!
Instantly, I threw my newly acquired weapon away.
If it was just me, I could’ve taken them on. I might not have won—but I would’ve done some serious damage before they killed me.
But I was handcuffed by my love for Tess. I couldn’t put her in any more harm than I’d already caused. How much more did that poor woman have to go through because of me?
/> I’d brought nothing but death and horror into her life. I’d brought her back from the edge once. I’d paid my debts and I refused to layer her with more.
My eyes locked with Tess: I’m so fucking sorry. So unbelievably sorry for everything that I’ve caused.
Tess exploded into action. Shoving the guy off her, she sprinted the distance between us, colliding with my chest. “Don’t you dare look at me like that Quincy Mercer. Don’t you dare say goodbye.” Her voice cracked as tears gushed from her eyes.
I wanted to hug her forever but another man punched me in the jaw, dragging Tess out of my embrace.
“No!” I spun in the assholes hold, ready to tear off his ears. My heartbeat relocated to my thigh, thundering a fucking gong of agony.
“Enough!” The man struck my temple, crashing me into Franco. I tripped over his body. He groaned in pain, but his eyes were fierce and ready to fight. “Je couvre tes arrières, Mercer. Nous pouvons les prendre. Ensemble. ” I’ve got your back, Mercer. We can take them. Together.
His shoulder looked dislocated, and he bled out of his ears—concussion. His left hand was hidden in his bloody blazer. He’d put up a good fight but no matter how good, the odds were against us.
My eyes flickered between the Spanish men, waiting to see if they understood.
One man stalked toward Tess, shoving a gun against her head. Looking at me, he ordered, “Get up, asshole.” He didn’t seem to know what Franco said—just working on precaution. Obviously the dumb fucks couldn’t speak French.
“Tu es blessé. Ne leur donne pas une raison de nous tuer. Tu connais le plan. Il faut s’y tenir.” You’re hurt. Don’t give them a reason to kill us. You know the plan. Stick to it. I glared at Franco, willing him to stay down and not be fucking stupid. I needed him for the next stage. And if the next stage failed, I needed him to look after Tess.
Franco’s face blackened. “Je vais la garder en sécurité.” I’ll keep her safe.
My heart stuttered in relief. I trusted Franco as much as I trusted Frederick. As long as Tess was with them, I could keep my mind sharp and find a way to survive—away from her—away from the distraction of trying to keep her from being hurt.
I have to get them to leave.
“Stop speaking in French if you don’t want your little girlfriend’s brains splattered all over the glass you fucked her against.”
Monsters in the Dark Page 99
