Fighting Fate

by Scarlett Finn

  ‘I’ve got plans, Minx,’ he grumbled. ‘You’re not getting any more of me now.’

  Sex hadn’t been on her mind – though it was because it always seemed to be around him – but the kisses weren’t a prelude to it.

  ‘Do you miss the east coast?’ she asked him, he’d revealed that he’d done his growing up in New York.

  ‘Nope,’ he said, releasing her hand to stretch out his muscles. She stayed against him just to experience the tactile motion of it.

  ‘You never ask about me,’ she said when he nudged her onto her back and rolled off the bed.

  ‘Why would I?’

  ‘We’ve been having sex for a while, Dax. A month. You’re not curious about the woman who has been in your bed every night?’

  ‘What is there to know?’ he asked, going into the bathroom to turn on the shower, then returning to her in the bedroom. ‘You grew up somewhere, had parents, maybe siblings. I don’t give a fuck.’

  She sat up and wrapped herself in the sheet that had been kicked to the end of the bed. ‘I was born in Chicago, we only lived there for a few years, and then we kicked around Ohio where my grandfather lived, that’s where my mom met Ted, in Cleveland. He took us to Detroit, we lived in a shitty trailer park—‘

  ‘I don’t care,’ he said, standing in full naked glory beside the bed.

  ‘You cared enough to make sure your cohorts took blood from me before we left LA,’ she said.

  ‘They had to check that you weren’t diseased.’

  ‘So you could get your groove on without wearing a raincoat, I know, we had that conversation two weeks ago.’

  ‘I know, but you’re still bitching about it.’

  She bitched about it to remind him of everything they had gone through to get them here. Sometimes when they were alone in this bedroom it was easy to forget that they weren’t a “normal” couple. ‘I hate needles,’ she said.

  ‘You’ve told me that too, babygirl. Maybe I don’t need to ask questions because you volunteer every damn thing.’

  Getting under his skin was as easy for her as ever. ‘Are you going to let me free from here?’ she asked, bending her knee to flash her thigh through the sheet.

  He came around the bed with a flick-knife he’d retrieved from the drawer. When she was loose, she grabbed his arms and tugged him forward, bringing him down onto the bed on top of her. Latching onto him, she hooked her arms and legs around his body.

  ‘I said no more sex,’ he said.

  ‘Why is getting to know me so dangerous for you? You answer eighty percent of my questions, I know you’re an only child, from New York and you grew up with your dad, until he left you with the circus and took off on you.’ His father had left him with a group of fight organisers, but calling it the circus irked him, so she did it for that reason. ‘Every foster or group home they put you into, you ran away from, and you’ve been on the street since you were ten. You answer all of my questions about the past and none about the present.’

  ‘I don’t have to answer your questions at all,’ he said, slanting his mouth on hers he parted her lips with his tongue and began to grind his hardening dick against her sensitive inner thigh.

  ‘No sex,’ she said, taking hold of his arms again. ‘Why is it so wrong for you to talk to me?’

  ‘Why do you need answers? Why do you need me to care?’

  ‘Why won’t you admit how you feel? You hate it when Bruno touches me.’ He tensed, sort of proving her point. 'All of the rules I have to follow out there go out the window in here.’

  ‘In here you open your legs for me on command and that’s all I care about.’

  ‘And you let me fidget with your dick anytime I want.’

  ‘Do I?’

  ‘Case and point,’ she said, squeezing her hands between them to take hold of him with both of them.

  ‘You can play with my dick later, Minx,’ he said, rolling off her and stretching again. ‘I have stuff to do today.’

  ‘Stuff like what?’ she asked but he was already on his way to the shower.

  Joining him in the bathroom might allow her to goad him into sex, but she wasn’t in the mood to speed her journey down the stairs to join Bruno. The only time she got to shower without a witness was when she was doing it with Dax.

  So she left the bed to join him, but by the time she got there he was already rinsing off. He handed her the loofah then squeezed past her in the exit. When they co-occupied the narrow doorway she crowded him, flattening her breasts on him.

  ‘Where are you going in such a hurry, stranger?’

  ‘The clingy thing isn’t attractive.’

  ‘Neither is the distant brooder.’

  ‘Who are you kidding? Every time I snap my fingers your panties melt.’

  And with that statement her arousal cooled. ‘Jerk,’ she said, shoving her way past him to get under the spray.

  The draft from the door told her he hadn’t closed the sliding door. When she opened her eyes she could make out the outline of his figure. Stepping out of the engulfing water, her eye was immediately drawn down to his intimidating erection, but the idea of using it faded when she recognised his aloof expression that made her think of the night they met.

  ‘There’s a guy that owes Mauri money,’ he said, all cool like. ‘A lot of money, Mauri trusted him with some product and didn’t get his return.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So I’m going to get that money back for him today.’

  ‘If you’re just a thug for hire then what am I?’ she asked.

  ‘A massive pain in my ass. You’ll be alone with Bruno today, wear the denim cut-offs.’

  She’d found them on her side of the closet and worn them two days ago. He’d been unable to keep his eyes, or his hands off her ass. Since their union in the gym when he’d told her to stop wearing bikinis he had given her wardrobe instructions every day and Bruno had never questioned or refuted Dax’s authority in this area.

  ‘Ok.’

  ‘Are you comfortable here at the beach house?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m comfortable with you.’

  ‘What would you do for me?’ His question came quietly, but determination bled through him. ‘Would you do anything I asked?’

  ‘I’d give you shit for it first but yeah, I’d probably agree to try most things. I’m not ready for the ass thing yet though, so don’t even go there.’

  ‘How did they get you?’ he asked as though carrying on a conversation here, like this, was a normal occurrence. ‘How did you end up at the Stark mansion?’

  ‘I answered an advert for a live-in housekeeper in Vegas,’ she said. ‘Three days after getting the job I couldn’t get out of the house. From there they took me to LA. I had no idea what was going on or who they were until I saw you, downstairs in the living room.’ The story was entirely true, but he didn’t respond. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Have your shower. I’ll be back this afternoon.’

  He slid the door shut and the confined space quickly gathered steam. The scent of his shower gel that lingered brought back her arousal with the subtlety of a freight train. If he was dressing and leaving then all she had waiting for her was Bruno.

  Letting her fingers glide down her abdomen she shifted back under the spray and began to imagine that Dax was still with her. He’d asked her a question, of his own accord, whether he liked it or not their intimacy was growing deeper.

  Doing Mauri’s bidding gave Dax a chance to clear his head and be reminded of what he did best. Going through the motions, and expelling some of his tension in the process, was overdue.

  This was his life, running errands for Mauri, doing for the old man what he couldn’t do for himself. Being relied upon made Dax feel important and he’d always believed himself valuable to the Stark organisation.

  But while Trystan sunned himself and fucked his way through Europe, Brad was handing out orders, taking care of business for management, and preparing to take over the reins for Mauri. Dax was
beating up lowlifes and threatening them with physical harm so that they’d pay their debts, which they always did after he came around.

  The truth was cold. Although he was held in esteem by Mauri, the Stark sons had no real regard for Dax, they made no secret of it, and that meant that his future was uncertain. The perplexing thing was that he’d never cared about the future before and he couldn’t figure out why he suddenly did now.

  Bruno would be expecting him back at the beach house and he didn’t want to leave the pervert alone with the Minx for longer than he had to, so Dax sped up the car. The shipment of sex toys that Bruno ordered online had arrived, and Bruno had stowed them in Dax’s closet, but Dax had refused to look through the package. He used his indifference as a shield over the fury that built when he thought about any man penetrating his property, either with his own anatomy or with a foreign object.

  The Minx drove him barmy, the way she strutted around in those too high heels and pushed out that tight butt as though presenting it to him – even when it was red raw, still glowing from his hand print – she teased him with it as though daring him to spank her again. She fought with him and questioned him, but never stepped out of line in public. He didn’t get it.

  As far as Bruno knew he was doing his job because the Minx was always obedient when it counted. But if he was being truthful with himself he would have to admit that he hadn’t been fulfilling the role expected of him.

  She didn’t fear him, she respected him. She didn’t submit to his sexual will, she enhanced it with her own craving for his domination. As unconventional as it was, they’d forged a sort of private relationship and by her actions she’d proved to him he could trust her. But he could never confide in her and he couldn’t tell her the truth.

  One day soon he’d have to hand her over to Trystan. Either she would fight the youngest Stark and get herself killed, or she would comply with his depraved requests and marry him in order to be spared.

  Dax didn’t like either of those options but he had no claim on the girl. Even if she did stand beside him, not that he was sure she would, it would mean nothing. If Trystan found out that Dax had even considered keeping the girl for himself it would only increase Trystan’s want for her. He was a man who wouldn’t be beaten and their fates would be sealed.

  The trap that had been set up to snare her was the type he’d usually be in charge of. This time he couldn’t be part of it because she knew his face, but he couldn’t blame her for falling for it. No doubt the Stark’s had paid off a friend or acquaintance of the Minx’s to recommend the post. After losing her job at GoldSpring she’d be in the need of money, he knew what living that kind of breadline existence was like.

  Yet, she was a woman of class who carried herself with grace – even when she was being demeaned by Bruno. Class that went as far as the bedroom threshold at least.

  This morning he had already been late to meet his contact when she’d pulled him back into bed, but he’d been tempted to screw her anyway, hard and fast, then punish her with a thorough spanking for delaying him. Refusing her was getting harder, resisting her was a chore. And when he’d heard her moaning in the shower, that breathy desperate sound usually followed by a curse, he’d been tempted to join in or to wrap his fist around himself.

  Being with her had taught him things about himself that he didn’t know. The most dangerous of which was that he liked mouthy brunettes who weren’t shy about their bodies.

  Switching off the car engine after he stopped in the driveway, Dax slammed out of the car to alert those inside the beach house to his arrival. Except when he got through the front door, the living room was empty. Knowing that Bruno would never be downstairs in the gym, and that he couldn't fulfil his wants with the Minx upstairs in the bedroom, Dax thought the kitchen or back deck were the most likely location for the pair he expected to be here.

  Pushing into the kitchen, which led to the deck and pool, Dax found who he was looking for. Bruno was at the kitchen table with a thick smoothie and a nine millimetre flat on the table top under his palm. Their captive was at the centre isle brushing spices onto skewers of chicken, onions, and peppers. When she saw him she fell to her knees as Bruno expected her to do, Dax had to admit that he liked the instant submission, but she never acted that way when they were alone.

  ‘Up,’ he said to her. ‘Carry on.’ She went back to what she’d been doing and he looked again to the gun.

  ‘We're having company tonight,’ Bruno said before Dax had the chance to question the gun.

  ‘Company?’ he asked, crossing to stand behind his female who carried on with her job.

  ‘The guys are coming over, we're gonna throw on the grill and have ourselves a party.’

  ‘Brad coming?’

  ‘No, he's got business. I talked to him about today. You did good.’

  ‘I got the job done. Brad should have sent me in two weeks ago.’

  ‘You were busy. We'll celebrate today's success tonight.’

  ‘I don't need praise for doing my job.’

  His fingers crawled onto her hips, managing to creep under to top of her shorts, the cut offs he'd instructed her to wear. After telling her not to wear the bikinis Dax had spoken to Bruno about it, making up some cock and bull tale about how dressing her every morning took away more of her free will. The truth was, he just wanted something on her that didn’t give Bruno such easy access to flesh. Bruno didn’t argue, thank god, because Dax couldn’t be bothered wasting the energy with the man.

  Not like when the Minx contradicted him; fighting with her got his blood turning to lava. Then she would throw him for a loop and comply with the simplest of mundane requests and the pyro clastic fumes of torture intoxicated him. This broad was as stubborn as him, but she had a smart head on her shoulders which she used to her advantage as much as she did that explosive body.

  Possessing one another was impossible, he knew that their fates were not intertwined. Their paths would continue to cross; he was destined to see her become entrenched in the Stark family, in the position of Trystan's wife. Eventually the time they shared here would be no more than a memory and no one would know what had happened in their bedroom, except them.

  If there was a woman in the world for him, one he could trust, then she was as close as he would get. But he couldn't open himself, or that possibility, to her because he would have to give her up. He couldn't bring himself to explain that to her because he knew that she would object and he couldn't deal with the aggravation she would visit on him when there was nothing he could do to alter any of the facts.

  ‘Did this one behave?’ he asked, bumping his chin on his female’s head, actually wanting to know if Bruno had felt provoked into punishing her, which might provoke Dax into doing some punishing of his own, but not of her.

  ‘She’s got the place in great shape for the guys, and she’s prepping for the grill. I think she’s going to have the time of her life tonight. Meeting the crew is a big step and she’ll sure be kept busy.’

  Dax didn’t move, but her ass shifted back just slightly, enough to rub that rump on his dick and as though she’d cast a spell on his blood it did as she had silently requested and began to fill his now distracted organ.

  ‘How long we got until they show?’ Dax asked Bruno.

  ‘About an hour.’

  Bringing his hand away from her hip he spanked her right ass cheek, and her body jolted in response. ‘Then you’re done here,’ he said to her. ‘I need something to wear, get upstairs and iron my shirt.’

  ‘Which—‘

  ‘I don’t know yet,’ he said, ‘start at one side of my closet and work your way across.’

  That was the kind of comment that he would never get away with upstairs, but she bumped him with her ass again and toddled away upstairs, just like he’d told her to without complaint.

  ‘Who’s coming?’ Dax asked, when she was out of sight.

  ‘Don’t know, whoever shows up… they’re gonna love her.’ />
  The light in Bruno’s eyes was wicked, and Dax knew just the kind of things that would be expected of his female, because he’d been to these kinds of parties before. These were the type of parties that he’d frequented with Trystan since they were kids.

  ‘If they want female company then they better bring it with them.’

  Bruno’s grin twitched, then vanished. ‘What?’

  ‘None of them are to touch her.’

  ‘Wait a minute, Dax, she’s not your woman, our job here—‘

  ‘Is to get her ready for Trystan. It might be a laugh now, but Trystan won’t be happy to marry a woman that every other guy has got his hands on first.’ Bruno’s eyes drifted as he considered this. ‘He’ll want them all to want her, and he’ll want to be able to offer her out as he sees fit. If she’s already done the rounds—‘

  ‘How do you think he’ll feel about what you’ve done with her?’

  Dax shrugged. ‘I’ve fucked Trystan’s women before. I know how to be discreet… I think we need to change up the game.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘We’ve made her obedient, right? We know she’ll open her legs when Tryst wants it and she’s not likely to cause a fuss.’

  ‘Ok.’

  ‘Now we need to teach her how to be a proper wife to her man. Make sure that she knows she’ll be expected to carry herself with a bit of class. The last thing Tryst wants is a cheap ho,’ he said, using Trystan’s own words.

  ‘So we dress her up pretty tonight, let her know it’s her job to play the hostess who turns a blind eye?’

  ‘That’s it.’

  ‘So we better get you some company,’ Bruno said, removing his hand from the gun to retrieve his cell phone from the back pocket of his shorts.

  ‘The guys will bring women. There will be plenty to go around.’

  ‘Mauri wants her to spend some time at the mansion before Trystan gets back, to make sure she’s up to muster… and that she fits into the dress.’ Bruno’s grin returned and Dax forced himself to try and return it, but he knew his expression came out as more of a grimace than a smile.