‘You did the right thing, but I’m here now and I’m going to follow up. It’s just sitting back there?’ Zoom nodded. ‘Ok. You don’t do anything until someone is in touch. Stay here.’
Dax let go of his shoulder and Zoom tried to smile. ‘I never go anywhere else.’
Apparently unamused, or maybe just uninterested, Dax stalked back to her and grabbed her hand to tug her back outside and into the car. ‘What is that place?’
‘It’s where we cut the coke,’ he said, starting up the car again. ‘It’s cut and packaged there and it’s supposed to be picked up once it’s divided.’
‘But someone didn’t pick up their share?’ she asked as he manoeuvred out of the industrial site they had not long ago arrived at. ‘Why would that be?’
‘Someone is lazy, scared, or dead, those are the only three reasons,’ he said.
‘Serg works for Mauri too?’
‘Yeah, he’s an all right guy, once you get to know him. He’s been running things for me while my attention has been split.’
‘So that means that you trust him?’
Dax glanced at her and then the road. ‘With the product and the job,’ he said, and one side of his mouth turned into a smile. ‘Not with my girl.’
‘Another rapist friend,’ she said. ‘You know you should really expand your social circles, baby.’
‘What do you think that you are?’
‘I’m a refreshing experience,’ she said. ‘It remains to be seen whether or not you’re beyond the point of redemption.’
‘If I got any better, babygirl, you’d have died and been sent to paradise.’
He didn’t often make jokes and they were almost always dry, but she was getting used to his more genial side though that didn’t stop her from goading him too.
‘If I was in heaven you wouldn’t be the one delivering me to ecstasy,’ she said. ‘I heard you’ve already paid your room deposit in hell.’
‘A room with a view,’ he said, flashing her a smile. ‘I might be able to talk to my peeps if you’re interested in the lot next door.’
‘I thought I belonged under you? Is that lot still vacant?’
‘Not anymore,’ he said in a deep purr that made her tingle.
He left her to consider the implications of what he’d said while they rode to the next location. She would take the isolated warehouse any day over the place that they went to next. Parking in the street, Dax came around the car to take her out of it like last time, this time without the pep talk.
Graffiti covered the walls of old tenement apartment blocks, broken windows and fences surrounded groups of youths in baggy pants wearing cheap jewellery and calling at each other. This was what the “wrong side of the tracks” looked like.
Instead of going into the front of the building they were at, Dax took her through an open chain link fence beside it. Moving around the back, they passed a barking dog tethered to a side wall and a group of heavy, tattooed men on a picnic bench. Nothing affected Dax; he carried on through a swing door at the rear of the building and into a short corridor.
‘Dax,’ she said, hoping for an explanation, but he didn’t stop just reached back and locked his fingers in between hers.
His long calloused digits with their bumps and scars were so unique that their thickness was enough to offer her some reassurance. That comfort lasted until Dax shoved aside the strands of a metal-link curtain that covered a room full of jeering men who sat around a long table.
The smoke filled room reeked of cigarettes and greasy food but as soon as Dax walked in the half a dozen men shut up.
‘Boss, man,’ a blonde at the head of the table said and got up.
Though her eyelids stretched apart Ivy managed to hold in her gasp. The blonde guy had to be nearly seven feet tall.
‘You’re letting the place fall apart, Serg,’ Dax said. ‘What are you doing sitting on your ass when we’ve got a hold up at the factory?’
‘I’m on it.’
‘Apparently not,’ Dax said, unintimidated by this man’s bulk.
None of the men here appeared like the sort to mess with. They were varying grades of thug and hooligan and she recognised one or two from the party at the beach house.
The phone in Dax’s back pocket rang before he could give Serg further orders. While striding into the corridor to maintain his privacy, he dug out the cell-phone and answered it, leaving her alone with the goons.
Ivy’s initial discomfort dissipated when a thug on the right hand side spoke. ‘Are you the boss’ new slut?’
Although aware that she was supposed to be the submissive slave in front of Bruno, Ivy found herself unable to show such weakness in the face of this new intimidation.
‘If I am then you’re taking a risk in speaking to me like that,’ she said.
‘The boss has never brought a girl here before,’ another said.
‘You’re more likely to find your nose embedded into the back of your skull than you are to find yourself freed of your ignorance if you insult me,’ she said.
The men can’t have been expecting such a retort from her, if they expected any at all, because when Dax came back in they were all still suspended in silence.
‘I’m getting out of here,’ Dax said, if he noticed the atmosphere in the room he said nothing about it. ‘Get over to the warehouse. I’ll join you there in a while, Serg… Minx.’
She took his statement of her pet name as an indication that she should follow him when he departed. When they were in the outer corridor he linked their fingers again, and held them against the small of his back.
Outside, they passed the inked group again without a word and eventually got back to the car.
‘What was that place?’ she asked.
‘Out front is a bar, it’s where most of the guys hang. It’s a good place to check if you’re looking for anyone.’ She didn’t know who she would ever be looking for, but didn’t point that out to him.
‘Where are we going now?’
‘Back home,’ he said.
‘But you said that you’d go back to that warehouse. You already drove me out here and now you’re going to drive back to the beach house just to drop me off with Bruno? It seems like an awful long way to—‘
‘Bruno’s on his way to the restaurant where Mauri is eating.’
‘So I’ll be alone? Is Rita going to be there? What will she and I talk about? The only thing that we have in common is your penis… I suppose we could talk about that for an hour or two.’
‘She’s never seen my dick,’ he said with a flourish of a smile.
‘She did this morning.’
‘Never before that,’ he grumbled.
‘So you screwed her in the dark every time?’
‘Are you jealous, babygirl?’ His hand was back up her dress at her inner thigh. ‘I’ve watched Bruno put his hands all over you.’
‘And Trystan too,’ she said, curious as to how he felt about the night they first encountered each other.
‘We’re not going back to the beach house. There’s been a change of plans, Mauri wants you at the mansion today.’
All good humour and joviality drained out of her, just as she was sure the colour did too. ‘What? Why?’
‘He didn’t say, just told me to take you over there. He’s not there, so you won’t have to meet him.’
‘Is Trystan there?’
‘No, he’s still in Europe.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes. I’ve told you that he won’t get his hands on you and that won’t change. Trystan’s the most unreliable SOB you’ll ever meet, we could get lucky and he decides to stay in Europe another six months.’
‘Or he makes a surprise return.’
‘I’m never gonna leave you anywhere that you’ll get into trouble.’
Her faith in him did console her. ‘I have a talent for that, I could get myself into trouble in an empty building.’
‘No doubt about that,’ he said. ‘
I’ll take you in, someone will show you around and you’ll probably be given a room… I don’t think they’ll put you in Trystan’s suite.’
Revealing any vulnerability churned her stomach so she tried her best to disguise her jitters. ‘You haven’t shown me your place, maybe we could go there first.’
‘When Mauri calls and tells you to do something you don’t do anything else “first”, you do what he’s told you to do.’
‘To the detriment of anything else you might be doing? What if we were having sex?’
‘I probably wouldn’t have answered the phone.’
‘Probably?’
‘Depends how well you were holding my attention. As long as I’m amused you’ve got nothing to worry about, babygirl.’
‘Amused,’ she said, twisting to lean closer and press her palm to his fly. ‘Is that how you usually feel when we’re in bed together?’
Using sex to manipulate him seemed dishonest now, given their revelation of having feelings for each other, but her choices were limited. Tracing her lips on his neck, she urged her breasts against his solid arm while rubbing her body on his in time with her hand that kneaded his now stiff cock.
‘I’ll drive the scenic route to the mansion if you get your mouth down there,’ he said, turning his head to kiss her quickly.
‘I’ll get my mouth down there and let you fuck my throat ‘til you fill my belly, if you take me to your place.’
He let her keep going for a few more seconds then took her hand off his groin and curled her fingers around his knee.
‘We have to go to the mansion. If we go to mine they’ll just come over to find out what is going on.’
‘So we tell them,’ she said. ‘Isn’t that what you said that you were going to do?’
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I haven’t had a chance to talk to Mauri in private. I have to talk to him first.’
‘You’ll get that chance if you take me to yours.’
‘Mauri won’t be the one who comes over and even if he did, he wouldn’t be alone… there’s a line of respect, babygirl—‘
‘Don’t say babygirl to me in that patronising tone,’ she said, removing herself from his person and taking his hands off her. ‘I thought you were a man, Dax. I guess I’ve been sucking too hard on those balls you carry around in your pants, I seem to have more ‘nads than you do.’
‘If you start running your mouth you’re gonna make me do something that we’ll both regret.’
His fingers worked the steering wheel, squeezing and twisting around it. ‘I’m not afraid of you, Dax. Do your worst with your superior fighting talent.’
Surging forward, he fired the car into a rest area and slammed on the brakes to bring the vehicle to an abrupt halt.
‘Have I ever hit you?’ he asked with a snarling rage.
‘Well the spanking—‘
‘That’s a different thing and you know it. Have I ever hit you in anger?’
‘No,’ she confessed, confused by the fury he displayed now. ‘But you just said—‘
‘Let’s get one thing straight, babygirl. Just because I don’t do things your way doesn’t mean I’m a coward. I do things my way and you better get damn used to that, fast, because from now on that’s how you’ll be doing things as well.’
‘So I’m supposed to sit tight in this guy’s big house because you tell me to? And if his men choose to take turns of me—‘
‘I’ve already told you that won’t happen.’
Seizing her wrist, he wrestled her back to his side. ‘Let go of me!’ she protested, trying with her other hand to get him off her, to no avail.
‘I’ve claimed you, Minx. You’re mine.’
‘Claiming me in private means nothing,’ she hissed. ‘Are you afraid of them?’
‘Mauri’s given me everything and now I’m stealing his son’s girl.’
‘You’re ashamed of your feelings for me?’
‘Yeah,’ he said, without hesitation and his scowl deepened. ‘I vowed never to screw Mauri over and that’s what I’m doing. So yeah, I’m gonna send you in there and you’re gonna play along just like you have been. I’m not going to embarrass Mauri, we’re gonna handle this right and give him the respect he deserves. That way, when I tell him what’s going on, he might be open to the idea of not forcing you to marry Trystan. Mauri shouldn’t be inconvenienced just because I can’t get the scent of your skin off of mine, or that vision of your god damn smile out of my head.’
‘Because he’s not the one who has done anything wrong, we are,’ she said not meaning a word of it, which she figured Dax knew except he showed no hint of acknowledging her sarcasm.
‘Yeah. We are. This was never supposed to happen. And it’s not Mauri’s fault that touching you makes me wanna slam the door and keep us alone and naked all day. It’s not his fault that whenever you look at me with that goddamn unimpressed scowl I wanna go out and find myself a no-bell, no-forfeit fight. I’m a guy who is always in control, that’s what Mauri knows, I’ve worked hard for him, I have. I’m the problem-solver, not the problem-creator and you, Minx, are one major head-fucking problem! One I could do without!’
‘Do you love me, Dax?’
His grip loosened with the jolt that question gave him, it was obvious now that his adrenaline was coursing. ‘You looking for a fucking ring?’
‘No, but this is a rough call for you. From what you’ve said this situation could rip your family apart. You’ll have to dishonour the man you consider to be your father in order to be with me. If you’re not sure that you love me, then is this worth it?’
She was aware that her question could backfire but what she hoped was that it would give him some clarity, which might push him into action.
‘So if I don’t plan to keep you forever then what? You’d rather marry Trystan?’
‘I would rather not be the cause of conflict in your family for you to decide to dump me in six months. Then none of you are happy with me and I’ve lost all hope of protection.’
‘You won’t get the chance to fuck around with other dudes,’ he said. ‘It’s my job to make sure of that—‘
‘What does that have to do with—‘
‘The only thing you could do to make me mad enough to maybe hate you is fuck around. I won’t let that happen.’
‘Do you love me? Don’t tear your family apart and ruin your life unless you’re sure. You’ll only end up resenting me.’
His face hardened, but his eyes left hers and for every passing second she prayed that he was coming to the conclusion that his feelings for her were deep and true.
‘If you love me then we have to get out of here now,’ she said, linking their fingers. ‘We don’t have to go back to that place, we can’t reason with the illogical.’ It was illogical to assume that she would marry Trystan without putting up a fight, but the Stark family had believed that she would. ‘Let’s not walk into another of their prisons, I might not get out of this one, Dax. Baby, let’s just go… please?’
‘No,’ he murmured and his eyes crept back to her. Now stony and cold, they littered ice across her. ‘Mauri’s going to listen; this is all going to work out.’
Slamming the car back into gear, he sped away from the rest area sending a scattering of loose chips firing up behind them. Their speed was greater this time and her anxiety kicked up.
‘Where are we going?’
‘The mansion,’ he said, his focus fixed out the windshield.
‘But… if we go in there—‘
‘We’re going in there,’ he said. ‘You’re right. If you force me to betray him now and leave with you… I will end up resenting you for forcing my hand. Mauri gave me a job, to get you to the mansion, and I’ve never let him down yet.’
‘You’re not letting him down,’ she said, swamped with the dread of panic. ‘We didn’t intend for this to happen and—‘
‘And I’m going to explain that to him, Mauri will get it, he will.’
‘Why do you n
eed them so much?’ she asked, seeing his determination grow. ‘Why can’t you just walk away with me?’
‘Because they’re my family. Mauri didn’t have to feed me and train me and watch out for me, but he did. He’s a good guy. You’ve never even met him, you don’t know him, not like I do.’
‘I’m scared, Dax. I don’t want to go in there and never see you again.’
‘You will see me again. You’re gonna keep playing along, just like you have been. You’re a good actress.’
‘Implying what? Are you accusing me of lying about my feelings for you?’ she asked.
‘Maybe. Best way to save yourself, right?’
‘You don’t believe that. Are you scared of loving me? Is that why you cling to them? You can’t really believe that I don’t feel for you, I do, Dax. It’s no easier for me to admit that than it is for you to admit it to me.’ The closer they got to the house the faster her words became. ‘Please, Dax, I do, I love you. I don’t want to go in there, I want to get out of here with you. Please, Dax, please don’t take me in there.’
Then they turned the corner and drove into the entrance of the mansion through the already open gates and she fell into silence.
Pressed to the back of her seat, she dug her nails into the leather by her thighs, frozen with the futile terror of what was to come. Part of her couldn’t fault Dax for not trusting her completely and being torn in his loyalties. If he had dropped Mauri in a heartbeat she’d have questions about how deep Dax’s respect for Mauri went, and about how long Dax’s loyalty to her might last. But right now, given the circumstances, she couldn’t forgive him this. He would leave her here to her fate and she had no idea what that would be.
Past the tall, swaying trees and the lawns, which were being watered by an immense sprinkler system, she saw a large white house accented with deep red and dark grey. The long covered portico was where they were headed. When Dax stopped the car, she immediately jumped out. She didn’t manage to get too far, he caught up with her at the trunk. Grabbing her arms, he slammed her down on the searing metal using his bent body to restrain hers.
‘Where do you think you’re going, Minx? You’re going in there to be a good girl.’
Fighting Fate Page 17
