by Gwyn McNamee
“I know you can’t. I didn’t really mean that was an option. I just meant it might solve our problem.”
He nods slowly, then reaches for his beer on the table and tips it back, draining what’s left in the bottle. “You really think it could work?”
“What? My plan?”
“Yeah.”
I’ve been thinking about this nonstop since we rescued Danika. A hundred different ideas have battled around in my head, and I’ve rejected every single one of them. This is all I have, all we have, our only chance at surviving this.
“If I was just some random guy off the street whose girlfriend got in over her head? No. Not for a fucking second do I think it would work. But, Abello knows me. He knows I don’t fuck around, and he knows my word means something. And I know him. I don’t think he wants to hurt me, either directly, or by going after Danika or you. I think if I presented this option, another way to him, he will take it rather than face the consequences of taking us out.”
Just the thought of him coming after Danika or Gabe makes me so angry, my skin heats and my heartbeat races. “I’m not going to let him fuck with us, Gabe. It took me too long to get to where I am, to finally be happy, I’m not going to lose it now.”
“What about my dad? You know he won’t just let this go if Abello follows through with your plan.”
Hearing Gabe refer to Dunne as his dad makes my skin crawl. My father was more of a dad to him than that self-centered asshole ever was. The only good thing Dunne ever did for him was to let him spend most of his time with us, and to basically let him go when he turned eighteen. Now, this shit with Abello may not only bring down Dunne, but it may also out Gabe’s true identity, something he has worked very hard at concealing for over a decade.
“I know, but he is the lesser of two evils here, and we can deal with any blowback from him down the road.”
Gabe sighs and leans back on the couch. “I guess we don’t have much of a choice.”
“Not really.”
“Then call Dom, get the meeting set up, and let’s get this done.”
I make the call, with my heart in my throat. Dom doesn’t answer, but I manage to arrange to meet at Angelo’s on Friday night through one of his goons. Now, all I can think about is getting back to Dani. Even though she’s just been across the hall, and I’ve only been away from her for two hours, it already feels like an eternity.
Princess follows me across the hall to my place and the darkness and silence immediately sets me on edge. “Dani?”
She doesn’t respond.
Where the hell are you?
I follow Princess down the hall toward my bedroom and when I pass the guest bath, the unmistakable smell of eucalyptus wafts from the open door. She must have taken a bath.
Good, she needs to relax.
My bedroom is dark. Dani pulled the curtains closed over the blinds so no light would get in but I know she’s there, in my bed. Even in the darkness, her form stands out and calls to me. I approach the bed and the steady sound of her breathing tells me she’s finally getting some much-needed sleep.
You should leave her be.
Despite every fiber of my being calling out to climb into bed with her and take her in my arms, I don’t. Instead, I turn and head back toward the living room, with every intention of letting her sleep.
“Savage?”
Her voice is soft and it floats across the room to me. I turn back toward her and see she’s leaning up on one arm, facing me. The darkness can’t hide the need emanating from her, or the fact that she’s naked.
“Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
She doesn’t respond, just pulls back the covers on my side of the bed, silently asking me to join her.
Like she needs to ask.
He moves onto the bed and I lie back down, turning my back to him so he can wrap me in his arms and hold me like I need him to right now.
Just feeling his weight shift the bed behind me quells some of the anxiety I’ve been feeling since he went to Gabe’s.
Did they figure something out? Or am I going to be a looking over my shoulder the rest of my life because of Abello?
His arms slip around me and he pulls me back against his chest. I never bothered to put on any clothes after my bath. Exhaustion hit me so hard, all I wanted to do was sleep. Thank God I didn’t, because his naked skin pressed against mine is utterly divine and just what I need right now.
“Mmm…” The low, rumbling sound of contentment sounds from somewhere deep in his chest and vibrates along my back. “You smell amazing.”
“I took a long bath after I talked to my mom and Nora.”
“How did that go?”
“Pretty much what I expected. How did it go with Gabe?”
His warm breath flutters against the hair on the back of my neck and he sighs. I shift back even closer against him, pressing his semi-hard cock against my ass.
He groans and tries to push away from me slightly, but I don’t let him.
“You know, it makes it a little hard to talk, let alone think when you do that with your ass.”
I chuckle and rock back against him again. “I know. Look, I don’t need to know the specifics right now, but I just need to know you have a plan.”
He answers without hesitation, “We have a plan. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know.” I turn my head to the side and look at him. His blue eyes are blazing in the dark room and I know he would die to protect me. Despite everything that has happened, lying here in his arms, I actually believe everything is going to be all right.
My lips find his and instantly, a fire ignites between us. I try to turn in his arms but he stops me, holding me firmly in place and breaks away from our kiss. “Dani, no.”
What? Is he seriously going to deny me sex right now?
“Savage…” I start to protest, but he silences me with another kiss and pushes on my shoulder until my chest is flat on the bed.
Sweet Jesus, if he’s thinking what I think he’s thinking…fuck yes!
A shiver of anticipation rolls through me and I flatten myself completely on the bed, my head turned to the side, and wait while he shifts his body across my back until his dick is pressed between my ass cheeks. My pussy clenches and I stifle a whimper.
His massive arms support his weight and he leans in until his lips are a hairsbreadth from mine. I look up at him and see the mix of love, lust, and trepidation there. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s terrified of even attempting this. His need to control a situation he’s unfamiliar with must be absolutely killing him right now. But he’s doing it.
For me.
I kiss him and reach back, wrapping my hand around his cock and squeezing it firmly. He groans into my mouth and I grin against his lips while I arch my back and rub the head of cock against my wet core.
“Fuck!” He gasps and shifts first one hand, then the other, up onto the top of the headboard, the weight of his lower body still pressed along mine.
“Can you kneel?”
He nods. “As long as I have the headboard to support me.”
I scoot forward and push up onto my hands and knees, giving him room behind me. He pulls himself up until he’s kneeling and I reach back, angling his cock so it just barely presses into me. The wood creaks under his grasp and his entire body vibrates behind me.
With a little shifting of my hips, I’m able to push back and take his cock in, inch by inch, slow and steady.
Damn…he feels even bigger this way. I didn’t think that was possible.
I work my way back until he has completely filled me. Another shudder rolls through my body and his teeth nip at the side of my neck.
“Fuck, Dani, you feel so incredible.”
My response is something between a whimper and a moan and I move forward, slowly easing myself off his cock. The headboard creaks as he pulls against it, meeting my backward thrust. He’s using the headboard for leverage…
I sure
as hell hope it doesn’t break.
We find a rhythm—me sliding back against him and him pulling himself forward as much as he can. Our gasps and moans echo through the room and that, combined with the sound of our skin slapping together, has me nearly orgasming.
Teeth sink into my shoulder and I cry out, contracting and squeezing him through the next several thrusts. My knees are quivering and so are his arms—the veins bulging in his massive biceps. Our combined sweat drips down my back and if I don’t come soon, I know he will beat me to the punch.
I slide my right hand down to my swollen clit and rub against it furiously—needing to come more than I need air right now. He grunts in my ear and stills behind me just as my body begins pulsing with pleasure.
“Dani…” He gasps my name as he comes.
My head falls to the pillow and his name comes from my lips, garbled. I collapse onto the bed, his cock slipping free. He moves his hands down off the headboard and slides behind me, pulling me onto my side and up against him.
His panting breath tickles my ear and he presses his lips to sensitive skin just below it. “God, I fucking love you.”
I manage to catch my breath and turn in his arms until I can look up at his face. “I love you, too, Savage.”
The corner of his mouth quirks up before he leans in and presses a gentle kiss to my lips. I hold his face in my hands and pull away, making sure he keeps his eyes on mine.
It’s terrifying how much I love this man, how much he has come to mean to me and my life.
I can’t lose him…ever. I can’t let whatever goes on in his head ever get between us again.
“Don’t ever forget, I’m not going anywhere. This is where I belong…where we belong.”
Sitting across from Abello at the back booth of Angelo’s, I wonder what the fuck I was thinking when I decided this was a good idea. There are probably ten guns on me right now and another ten ready and willing if they are needed.
Abello glares at me, his hands folded together on the table in front of him. He’s absolutely still—nothing moves, not even his chest. The man is a fucking statue. I can’t even tell if he’s breathing.
He’s been like this for five minutes, or at least it feels like five minutes. Gabe sits next to me stoically. I don’t dare turn my head to check on him. Breaking eye contact with Abello is tantamount to admitting defeat. His cold, brown eyes continue to bore into me as I fight the urge to shift in my seat under his scrutiny.
Finally, a ghost of a smile crosses his lips and he clears his throat. “I have to hand it to you, Savage. I didn’t think you had it in you. When I learned of your connection to Ms. Eriksson, I never imagined you would come out swinging in her defense. You never did have your father’s fight in you.”
I smirk and reach out to grab my glass of Scotch, taking a long sip and savoring it, giving me a chance to compose myself. “If it surprises you I would do anything to protect the woman I love, then you haven’t been paying much attention to me the last thirty years.”
He returns my smirk and leans on his forearms toward me across the table. “Oh, I know all about you, Savage, more than you could ever imagine. I just never thought you would stoop to blackmail. Your mother raised you better than that.”
“You didn’t give him much fucking choice, did you?” Gabe interjects, his voice vibrating with his effort to maintain self-control. Undoubtedly, he’s just itching to lunge across the table and strangle the life from Abello with his bare hands.
Abello laughs—a cold, empty sound that can’t camouflage the darkness and hatred in his eyes. “Everyone has choices, Mr. Anderson, or should I call you Mr. Dunne?”
Shit.
Of course Abello knows Gabe’s real identity. They were both around our house all the time when I was growing up, but hearing him actually say it is something else. It’s an unspoken threat to out Gabe. It’s the least of our worries, but it’s a very personal attack.
“Fuck you,” Gabe spits back at him, his hands balling into fists on the tabletop. I move my hand over onto his wrist in warning. This is not the time, the place, or the person, to antagonize. He will not hesitate to kill us, all three of us, unless he believes what I just got done telling him.
Abello returns his attention to me, and I release Gabe when I feel him relax slightly. “Let’s just end this now, Dom. Do we, or do we not, have an understanding?”
He grabs the manila envelope off the table. It contains a copy of Danika’s notes, our only bargaining hip. He reclines in the booth, shaking the envelope in his hand. “I’m expected to believe you, your little girlfriend, and Mr. Dunne here are going to keep your mouths shut, indefinitely?”
“We have no reason to talk, Dom, not unless any unfortunate accidents befall any of us. Like I said, we keep our mouths shut, you agree not to move against any of us, and, if you do, the original notes go to the FBI and the two other copies to the local police, and the media.”
I know there isn’t enough there to actually arrest him. Most of it is stories and speculations, but it could lead to new sources of information, and ultimately, maybe a legit prosecution. My hope is that he doesn’t want to risk that.
I’m also relying on the fact that he cares for my mother. He now knows how much Danika means to me, and by association, my family. Men like Abello don’t have loyalty to much, but family is the exception, and as far as he’s concerned, we are family.
The corner of his mouth twitches up. “You forgot the part where I somehow convince Mayor Dunne to resign and never run for public office again.”
“And that.” I grin at him as I down the rest of my Scotch. Glancing at Gabe, I find his usual stoicism has returned. That man has ice in his veins, at least that’s what I always believed.
Abello rubs his chin and examines the envelope as if he has x-ray vision and can see its contents. When I handed it over to him at the beginning of our meeting, he opened it and glanced at its contents, then shoved them back in as if he could care less. Now, he looks at it like he holds the construction plans to Fort Knox in his palms.
After a moment of contemplation, he nods and gives us another fake smile. “You have a deal, gentlemen. But, don’t push me. I’m not a man you should fuck with, and I would really hate to upset your mother, Savage.”
The veiled threat does not go unnoticed, and I bite my tongue to avoid setting him off. This was it, this was all we had, our only plan, our only chance to get out of this with Danika’s safety assured. I could fucking care less about my safety, and I know Gabe feels the same way, but neither of us could live with ourselves if we played a role in bringing her into the crossfire, again.
“Good evening, gentlemen.” He slips from the booth and is immediately surrounded by his entourage of armed goons.
I release the breath I’ve been holding for so long my chest aches, and drop my head into my hands. Gabe calls for our waiter and orders us another round of Scotch.
“No, man,” I say, turning toward him, “I need to get home to Danika.”
He smacks me on the back as the waiter sets the tumblers of amber liquid on the white fabric tablecloth. “No, you need to drink this and relax. If you go home to her all jacked up on adrenaline like you are right now, it will not end well. Trust me, I know from experience.”
I nod at him and pick up the glass, swirling it around with my hand. Maybe he’s right. I do need to calm down before seeing Danika. This is the end, of all the lies, all the bullshit, all the drama, and it’s a new beginning for us. Some decompression time is a good thing.
Gabe drops his elbows to the table and drains his glass in one swallow. Imitating him, I tip the tumbler back and savor the sting of the liquid flowing down my throat as I drain it.
I twist and spin the empty tumbler on the table, the candlelight reflecting off the facets, sending flashes of rainbow colors across the white tablecloth. I make my decision then and there and pull my phone from my jacket so I can call Danika.
“Savage? Where are you? Are you
all right?” The panic in her voice makes me regret waiting even the two minutes it took to have another drink.
“Baby, I’m fine. Everything is fine. It worked.” She releases a massive sob and I can picture her crumpled up on the couch with Princess, crying and shaking. I should be there with her, and knowing I’m going to delay my return even more is a knife twisting in my gut. “Shh, don’t cry. I’ll be home soon.”
She sniffles, and rather than being disgusting, it’s somehow adorable. “Please come home to me.”
“I will, baby. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
“Where the hell is he?” I ask Princess as I pace the floors of the condo for the hundredth time chewing on my nail so badly I’m starting to bleed. “Shit,” I yank my finger from my mouth, “he said he was coming home over an hour ago. He should be here by now.”
I finally force myself to sit on the couch and I stare at the door, willing it to open, willing him to come through it. Princess jumps onto my lap and I run my fingers through her silky fur, trying to push myself to take deep breaths and telling myself not to cry again.
He’s fine.
He called.
He’s fine.
Images of fiery crashes and Paul’s head exploding before my eyes race through my head. The tears start again. Fucking Abello, he’s a psychopath. The coldest of the cold, ruthless and unforgiving. Will he really let us all walk away unscathed? Did he agree only to give Savage and Gabe a false sense of security before taking them out the moment they left Angelo’s?
My heart races and the tears increase. I become a sobbing mess. Princess stands on my lap, leaning up to lick at my face and offer me what comfort she can.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I check for the millionth time for a call or text from Savage, but, nothing. I shoot off a text.
< Where are you? >
I wait anxiously for a reply, but when none comes, I call. Straight to voicemail.
