Guarding Presley (Black Spade #1)

by C. M. Allen

  Nodding his head he says, "you got it.” Before moving away from us.

  I pull Presley to the other side of the car and take a deep breath before I ask her. "I...I need to know did anyone touch you?"

  Shaking her head the relief I feel is immediate. "No they just slapped me around a bit, but no one put their hands on me. They kept saying I wasn't to be touched until Pablo gave the word...but Hudson,….what they were going to do with me if my father didn't cooperate, or if you hadn't found me I would have killed myself somehow before I was made to do those things, no one should ever be made to live a life like that, no one."

  Pulling her to me again knowing that I almost lost her and not able to get enough of the feel of her body against me, I tell her "I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to you. I probably would have gone mad with anger and killed every last one of them. You mean more to me than I can ever say."

  Looking up at me with tears beginning to cloud her vision she asks. "What?"

  Kissing the top of her head I tell her "You mean everything to me Presley,I love you."

  Closing her eyes a tear escapes sliding down her cheek as I catch it with my thumb. When she opens her eyes to look at me again I can see the shear happiness that dances in them. "I love you too Hudson, I think I have since the first day we met, as crazy as that sounds."

  CHAPTER FORTY FOUR PRESLEY

  As Hudson and I confirm our true feelings for one another, my heart sings at finally hearing the words from him I should have at the bar before all hell broke loose and I was taken. Hearing voices in the distance approaching us I can make one of them out as Porter, thanks to his accent that's impossible to miss. "There’s our little lady." Walking up, he picks me up and twirls me around in a tight hug. "I'm so glad we found you, are you okay?"

  Nodding my head I assure him. "I'm fine, no one touched me."

  Watching as him and Hudson share a look of relief, Hudson speaks up. "But those fucking pricks did rough her up."

  Porter looks as if he's going to say something; until he catches sight of something behind Hudson and I. "What. The. Fuck?" He says in almost a disbelieving tone.

  Both of us look behind us spotting Keira. "Oh that’s_." "Keira Watson." Porter says cutting me off.

  "Porter? Is that really you?" I hear Keira ask getting closer to us.

  "Hello Keira, what the hell are you doing here?" Porter asks her in a very unfriendly and very un-Porter like tone.

  "She was kidnapped a couple of days ago, she was in a cell_." I start to tell him before he storms past us and cups her face seeming to look her over for any injuries.

  "What happened? Did they hurt you? They didn't touch you or drug you did they?" He asks with a newly worried tone, causing Hudson and I to exchange confusing looks with one another.

  Pushing his hands away from her face, she takes a step back from him. "No Porter, they didn't touch me, though I am surprised to see you even give a shit whether I'm alive or dead." She snaps crossing her arms before turning to Brice “Can I just wait in the SUV please?"

  All three of us exchange looks of confusion, wondering just what the hell is going on with these two? And how they know one another? "Ah yeah, sure.” Brice says opening the back door for her as Porter grunts and stomps off more mad than I can ever remember seeing him.

  After Keira is in the car and Porter is gone I ask Hudson. "Do you have any idea what that was all about?"

  Shaking his head he answers. "Not a fucking clue, but I will talk to him about it later on the plane when we fly home tonight."

  "Which home are we going back to?" I ask hoping to be able to see my father soon.

  "Well tonight we will be staying at a hotel in San Antonio with the team of FBI agents that way they can talk to you about everything that happened after you were taken from the bar so we can hopefully catch this asshole. Then back to Dallas in a day or two."

  "They didn't get Pablo?" I ask hoping he will tell me they did but deep down knowing they didn't “No I'm sorry__."

  Hearing multiple footsteps charging our way, Hudson pulls me in behind him as Brice and Porter appear out of thin air to draw their weapons beside him aiming at whoever is headed our way. "Identify yourselves!" Brice yells.

  "Larson!" A man calls out and all three of them lower their weapons. "Let's saddle up! We need to get the hell out of here and get to the airport, plane is waiting on the Tarmac for us now!"

  We all split up and get into the cars. Porter, Brice, Carter, Keira, Hudson and I in one and the other agents in the last two cars. As we pull out onto the road and move to the highway the tension in the car begins to thicken with the silence. Leaning over to Hudson I say in a low tone so no one but him hears me. "Now I know what Porter was talking about, we need a knife to cut through this."

  Chuckling he says in a whisper to my ear. "Well now it's their turn to work that shit out, we've done our time." Kissing me on my forehead he wraps his arms around me and pulls me in tightly to him where I always feel safe. After about a twenty minute ride we arrive at the airport and all of us unload and head up the stairs into the plane that awaits us.

  Grabbing Keira's hand I tell her. "We need to talk." Giving me a solemn look she nods her head.

  After we've all strapped in, the plane begins to head down the runway and out of Mexico where the nightmare I was

  living for those few long hours pushes its way behind me but never out of my mind, I squeeze Hudson a little tighter knowing it all could have gone so differently had it not been for him and his friends. Feeling his lips on the top of my head I hear him whisper. "You're safe now and in my arms where you belong, I'm never letting you go again."

  "I never want you to.” I tell him closing my eyes and just soaking in this moment between us and thinking about just how far we've come since that first day we met in his office.

  After the plane is at crusing altitude, Hudson unbuckles his seatbelt and tells me he's going to talk to the others about what just went down. Nodding my head, I watch as he goes by when my eyes land on Keira looking towards the direction Hudson just went in. Turning around it’s plain to see what, or rather who she's looking at by the look on Porter’s face before he turns to talk to someone. Unbuckling my seatbelt I move over to the seat beside her. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

  Twisting her hands in her lap she looks up at me. "I'm okay, I found out from my father when I talked to him that my friend Jake is in the ICU at the hospital, but expected to make a full recovery."

  "That's great!" I tell her knowing the relief she feels. "So can I ask you something?"

  "Sure." She says in a quiet voice. "How do you know Porter?"

  Looking over to him I can see Porter raise his eyes to her at almost the exact same moment as if they are somehow silently connected to one another before she turns back to me. "He used to work for my father after he got out of the military."

  Confused by what she's saying I ask. "Wait, I thought he

  went to start his farm in Wyoming when he got out? That's what he told me."

  "Ah, so he's completely cut me out of all his memories then, that's good to know.” She says with a broken tone to her voice and a chuckle.

  "Okay I'm just going to ask, what the hell happened between the two of you? It's obvious you two were close at one point in life, very close by the way you feel each other's stare, so what happened?"

  "It was about two years ago when my father was re-running for senator. He was getting death threats; which is nothing new to a man in his position, but they were being directed at me, his only daughter. So he decided he needed me to be guarded at all times until it all blew over, so he did his homework on possible candidates and Porter’s name was brought up by a friend of my fathers who knew Porter in the military. Anyway, he was hired and became my constant shadow," looking over catching Porter’s eye once again as if on some silent cue that she's heard in her head she says. "A shadow I soon came to love."

  "Wait, you were in love with him?" />
  Nodding her head she looks back to me as she answers.

  "Yes, very much. When I lost him I didn't think I would ever be able to breathe again from the pressure I felt gripping my chest."

  "What happened? Why did you let him go?" I ask thinking about my own situation with Hudson and the fear that I have that we may not be an us when this all ends.

  "I didn't let him go, he let me go, and never gave me a chance to explain what he thought he was seeing." Letting out a breath she continued. "As a daughter of a senator there are certain rules you have to abide by, and falling for your bodyguard is the one at the top of the list of things that are NOT allowed."

  CHAPTER FORTY FIVE HUDSON

  After feeling Presley back in my arms, it takes everything I have just to allow her to be more than two feet from me on the same plane knowing I almost lost her, but knowing I have her back I'm not wasting one precious second on anything else when this plane touches down, I'm taking her straight back to our room and burring myself so deep inside of her no one will ever think we aren't just one person. "Sorry we weren't able to get to Pablo." Larson says placing his hand on my shoulder and yanking me out of my thoughts. "But don't you worry, we. Will. Get him."

  "I hope you're right about that because if he tries to take her from me again...I'm going to need a really big fucking loophole from you when I shoot him in the head."

  A look of understanding crosses Larson’s face before he says. "I understand where you're coming from, but it's my job to take those kinds of risks not yours, you know the spiel I have to give you. But as far as loopholes go, I'll try to keep a few handy just in case.” He says with a nod knowing there's nothing I wouldn't do if Pablo ever came near Presley again.

  As Larson and I finish up our conversation, making arrangements for Presley to be interviewed by him tomorrow about what went down, I notice Porter’s eyes locked onto Keira as she talks to Presley, and knowing that look in his eyes I excuse myself with Larson and move to go talk to him. "Hey." I say drawing his attention back to me. "So you want to explain what the hell that was all about back there with you and Keira?"

  Letting out a chuckled breath he says. "Oh just the biggest cluster fuck of my life and the last time I ever let a woman own my heart." Moving to the back of the plane he sits down and runs his hands through his hair. "Never in a million years did I ever think I'd see her again, not that I hadn't kept tabs on her now and then, but seeing her flesh and blood right in front of me, and under these circumstances…never saw that one coming."

  "So what happened with you two?"

  Rubbing his hands over his face, he jerks them away quickly before putting them on his thighs and pushing to a standing position to pace while he explains. "Her father, that's what. He hired me to watch over her when he was re-running for his seat as senator, seems he was getting death threats that were directed at Keira saying if he didn't drop out of the race they would come after her." Turning to face me he asks. "You remember Frank Rosenburg right?"

  Thinking back I tell him. "Yeah I remember him."

  "Well he plays golf with the senator and recommended me for the job. It was in between getting out of the military and when I went to start my ranch, the money I was offered for the job was too good to pass up and would help with my start-up costs, so I took it. But one thing I never expected was falling for her. The first time I met her I just knew I was fucked, those Crystal blue eyes with her long blonde hair against that tan skin and those beautiful curves that I use to trace with the tips of my fingers." Shaking off the memory he continues "Anyway, her father found out about us from one of his ass kissing coordinators that worked on his re-election campaign who wanted Keira for himself, so he freaked out and fired me.

  He couldn't have his precious daughter sleeping with the help. But Keira told me that she was in love with me and would figure out a way for us to be together, so we saw each other under cover every chance we could; which was really difficult with the prick her father hired after me. That sonofabitch was like a God damn hound dog, he almost caught us twice." He says with a chuckle.

  "So what ended it?"

  "Justin Peterson. The ass kisser who told her father about us, that's what." Taking a deep breath he says. "One night I snuck into her place and waited for her to get home from whatever charity function she was attending that night and when she walked in the door she wasn't alone, Justin was with her. He started telling her how much he loved her and wanted to be with her and how her father approved of him, that he'd asked for her father’s permission to date her blah, fucking blah. So anyway I'm sitting there waiting for her to let him down easy and get him out of her house right? When all of the sudden I hear her tell him that she loves him too and then kisses him right there in front of my eyes. I tell you she ripped my heart right out of my chest that night and fucking stomped on it, after that I never wanted to see or talk to her again. I walked out of there that night and never looked back. She called and texted me but I was done, until she showed up on my doorstep one day after I had

  moved to Wyoming, trying to tell me that she had done it all for us." Chuckling again he says "Can you imagine telling me that she kissed that fucking guy and told him that she loved him for us? Utter bullshit I tell ya, so I told her to hit the road, that I didn't want her anymore and closed the door. That was the last time I ever saw her, until tonight."

  Wiping my hand over my face I tell him. "Wow, that's fucked up brother. So you never got the full story from her before you shut her out?"

  "Nope, didn't need to hear anymore of her bullshit lies." Putting my hands up in a surrendering motion I tell him. "Now you know I'm behind you one hundred and ten percent here, but don't you think you owe it to yourself and her to just hear her out and get some closure on this whole thing? Because if it were me in your shoes and Presley pulled some shit like that on me, I would have to know why she did it just so I could move on from it, and from where I'm standing it's clear that you haven't."

  Looking to Keira then back to me he lets out a breath.

  "Maybe it is time I close the book on this whole mess with her, because after seeing her tonight and knowing that Pablo had her and I never even knew she was in danger? If anything had happened to her and I didn't stop it, as much as I hate her for what she did to us, I would have never forgiven myself."

  "My advice, talk to her and figure it out, there's obviously something still there between you two with the way you sense one another. Shit, since we've been talking you two have both felt the pull from the other and looking at each other at one point or another. I know you you won't ever get over her until you know the whole truth behind her betrayal."

  Nodding his head he slaps me on the back "You're right, so what do you and the little lady plan on doing when we get to the hotel?" Looking over at him I raise an eyebrow at him in a 'you know damn well what we'll be doing' manner. Laughing he grabs my shoulder. "I hear you man, I'd be planning the same shit if the roles were reversed."

  "I just need to feel her next to me and know it's all real, that's she's really here with me again and safe."

  "I get it, if things were different with Keira and I, I'd be doing the same thing instead of dreading the answers she might give me tonight, that I don't want to hear."

  Placing my hand on his shoulder I tell him. "Just hear her out, you never know what you might discover."

  CHAPTER FORTY SIX PRESLEY

  After Keira tells me the whole story behind her and Porter’s break up, I'm beyond glad that Hudson, and myself, never had to go through anything like that. But I do tell her that she needs to just tell Porter what was really going on, and she agrees to try again and see if he will listen to her this time. When the plane touches down, we all disembark and get into the three awaiting SUV's that take us back to the hotel we are staying at. After getting all checked in, Hudson and I get into the elevator with Larson as he starts to tell me what I can expect tomorrow, but just as the doors are about to close us in I see Porter walk up to K
eira and turn her to face him. "Yes!" I cheer unable to hide my excitement for them. When I look around the elevator car I see Hudson and agent Larson giving me a confused look. "He's going to talk to her!" I say like hello?

  Hudson understanding what I mean smiles, while Larson just brushes it off and continues on with his spiel. "Okay so when you get up then, just give me a call when you're ready." Both of us nod as the doors open to the floor where Agent Larson is staying. "Well this is me you two have a good night and Presley, I'm Glad we were able to get you back safe and sound where you belong."

  Leaning forward I give him a hug. "Thank you for everything you did to help get me back, I'll never forget what you did."

  Nodding he tells me. "Just finally doing the job that I got in to this position to do."

  Hudson reaching out to shake his hand says. "Anything you ever need, you just call and I'll make it happen."

  "I think this makes us about even now, but I'll keep that offer in mind, good night you two." He says as he walks away, and the doors close Hudson and I in.

  All of two seconds passes before Hudson’s mouth is on mine and he has me pinned against the wall of the elevator as we continue the ride up to our floor. As his tongue invades my mouth with desperation and desire I match him with the same. Breaking the kiss, he cups my cheeks and kisses me one more time lightly on the lips. "I need to be inside you and feel that you're really here with me."

  "I need you so bad right now Hudson,” I tell him kissing him again.

  As the doors to the elevator open, Hudson and I tumble out in a mess of arms, legs and mouths on each other, not able to get enough of one another. When we reach our door Hudson pulls out the key card to open it as I wrap my arms around his waist stroking his chest and abs, loving the feel of his strong body against mine as I rest my head on his back. After a few tries with his fumbling hands, we're in. Dropping anything and everything we have in our hands. We collide against one another as we begin to rip at the clothes on each other, both needing that feel of our bodies wrapped around the another, "I need to feel you, feel your skin on mine.” he says moments before removing my shirt and pants from me so fast it makes me wonder if my clothes weren't just ripped from my body. The thought doesn't last long after he picks me up and presses his hard cock against my body as I wrap my legs around his waist and he backs me up against the wall while we devour each other with our mouths. Breaking the kiss, he slides his lips down my neck to that sensitive spot biting me and drawing a moan from me as my head tips back against the wall. Taking his lips away from me I instantly feel the loss and look up as he holds my stare. "I love you so much Presley." Placing his forehead against mine he continues, "I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you."