I rested my cheek against his cool desk as my body heated exceedingly whilst he continued to please and torture me all at once.
My orgasm was tingling in my legs, its thrilling tingle burning rapidly upwards as Lucas fed me all he had with his tongue, his lips, his thumbs and his fingers.
Suddenly, everything disappeared and his hand cracked against my arse cheek. My climax tore through me with velocity and power.
“Lucas!” I screamed as his palm met my other buttock harshly, the crack echoing in the large open room.
“Count Red, count how many times my hand connects with your sweet arse.”
“Two,” I shouted then continued until we got to ten.
I could hear Lucas’s heavy aroused breaths and I was surprised he had held out as long as he had.
My own arousal had reached a roaring degree, its intensity climbing higher with each slap and as he cracked number eleven he gave up and thrust into me in one single powerful drive.
His huge cock filled me completely and I groaned in gratification as he stretched me deliciously.
“Arms out above your head, Red” he ordered.
I stretched my arms upwards, resting them against the desk as one of his hands clamped hold of my forearm and he held it tightly as he started to work into me, driving me higher and higher with each push inside me.
“Can you feel me, Red? All of me, inside you, taking every inch of you?” he grunted as he thrust hard and deep, “Can you feel me move? Filling you with me, just me?”
“God, Yes!” I cried out as he thrust brutally, knocking on my womb for an invitation to climb inside.
A knee landed beside my head on the desk and my eyes widened at it but then his cock went deeper, much deeper and I grit my teeth as the pain and pleasure merged and brought an orgasm so fierce I bucked, and shook, and growled, and jerked wildly.
Lucas thrust deep twice more before he burst inside me. “Layla, Fuck, Lay . . .” he snarled and I smirked through the end of my orgasm, realising he had used my proper name again as he came.
Always and only when he came.
“Christ, baby” he puffed as he rested his forehead on my back and collected his senses.
“What a nice way to start the working day, Mr Hunt. I usually just have a cup of tea but this works too.”
His low laughter rumbled behind me and he jumped backwards as his office door opened and Ava stood staring at us. “Oh crap, sorry” She mumbled as she backed out and quickly shut the door.
“Oh, god” I moaned in embarrassment.
Lucas just laughed and unwound my knickers from my wrists.
“I’m sure she’s seen it all before.”
I scoffed at that. “Knowing Ava, yeah, I have to agree.” I said as Lucas exited his private bathroom with some tissue and gestured for me to open my legs so he could clean me up.
“I’m hoping she’s waiting for me. Mason’s a little worried about her and I wanted to see if I could delve and try and find out what’s wrong.”
He pursed his lips but just shrugged, not giving women talk any attention, and then palmed my face and kissed my forehead.
“Tonight, me and you. Restaurant, my bed and lots of sex.” He ordered and I gave him a pout.
“I can’t, I’m babysitting the twins” I told him and he curled his lip.
“You can join me if you want.” I added. He shrugged then nodded before he settled back behind his desk.
“Let me just see to Ava, then I’ll make coffee” I told him as I made sure my clothes were all straight.
His eyebrows lifted but then he smiled and nodded, “It’s fine, Red, I’ll do it.”
I narrowed my eyes on him then placed the back of my hand over his forehead to check his temperature.
“Mr Hunt, I do believe you are coming down with something.”
He growled at me and slapped my arse as I scurried from the room.
* * *
“Hey” I smiled at Ava as I exited Lucas’s office. She turned to me and I frowned at her serious face.
“Everything okay, love?”
She sighed deeply and shook her head. “We need to talk, Lay. Can Lucas spare you for ten?”
Worry clenched my stomach at her manner but I popped my head round Lucas’s door, “Ava needs me for ten minutes. Okay, if I leave you unmanned for a while?”
He frowned at me in query and I shrugged as I pulled a ‘dunno’ expression but he nodded anyway.
“All yours” I smiled at her but she didn’t echo it before she turned and walked down the corridor towards one of the conference rooms.
“Ava, what’s going on?” I asked as soon as she closed the door behind me.
She tilted her chin towards a chair and I seated myself as she took the chair next to me. “Your brother,” she started and I nodded at her, “is his surname Sykes?”
“Yeah” I answered cautiously and my stomach dropped when she moaned and ran her hands over her face in distress.
“Ava, you’re scaring me now, will you just tell me.”
She pulled in a heavy breath and looked at me. “He has a contract out on him, Lay” she whispered as though it was highly classified information.
My stomach dropped and my heart beat wildly “Fuck! Who?”
She nodded and her expression looked pained. “This is really hard for me Ava but it’s . . .” she exhaled heavily now and I knew before she told me. “ . . . Mason.”
I closed my eyes and groaned “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
She nodded.
We both knew Mason didn’t back down on any contract he initiated, his merciless reputation became him. He was ruthless, cold-blooded and uncompromising and if he had a vendetta against anybody, then he saw it through to the end, no matter what.
“Why?” I asked as I fought against the urge to vomit; my nerves and worry swirling my stomach relentlessly.
“The robbery he got sent down for, the gang he was involved with took down one of Mason’s friends. He’s been after each member of the gang for over eight years now and he’s been waiting for Kenny to be released. I know he was approached about having Kenny finished in prison but Mason was adamant he did it himself. He really wants him Lay, and I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to change his mind. I feel as though I’m betraying him for telling you but,” she rubbed her face again and looked at me intently, “you need to get him out of here before Mason gets to him.”
My head spun at her revelation and I was struggling to process any thoughts that were rapidly firing through my mind.
Kenny was going to die, no matter what I could do to help him, I knew it, just as Ava did but I was grateful for her heads up.
“Do you think it’s worth talking to Mason?” I asked her but I knew the answer by the look on her face.
“It means a lot to him Lay, Andy was one of Mason’s best friends and they just took him down in the robbery for no apparent reason. He was just stood, minding his own and someone from Kenny’s gang realised he was Mason’s best friend and just shot him, just for being involved with Mason. So of course Mason blames himself and is determined to bring every one of them down. As far as I know, there’s only Ricky, Mickey and Kenny left.”
Something didn’t make sense and I cocked my head in thought. “But if that’s the case, that Andy was killed because of his involvement with Mase, then surely Kenny knows who Mason is?”
She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips in thought.
My heart stopped right then as the reason for Kenny’s visit hit me like a fucking freight train.
“FUCK!” I shouted as I flew out of the room and made my way to the elevator, Ava hot on my trail.
Chapter 42
Lucas
I’D HEARD RED shout ‘fuck’ and then she seemed to have disappeared.
The way she had shouted it had made my stomach clench, her terror or shock at something had been evident in the way she sounded, but I was damned if I could find her.
What the hell was going
on?
I had repeatedly rang her, texted her and looked everywhere for her but so far, nothing and I was starting to get worried.
I climbed in my car after telling Nate something was wrong and my floor was unmanned. He had told me Ava was missing as well and then urged me away to find them both. The man was an epic boss and I knew I owed him a decent bottle of whisky.
My first port of call was Mason’s, that being where she was staying at the moment and my heart started beating again when I saw Ava’s jeep parked up outside.
I just hoped Red was with her.
I went to knock on the door but it was already a little open, and I stilled when I heard Red’s desperate pleas.
“Kenny, please don’t do this.”
Something was going down and I crept slowly into the hallway, trying desperately to keep my breathing quiet so I could hear what was going on.
The voices were coming from the living room and I slowly tiptoed across the hardwood floor, silently cursing Mason for getting the noisiest flooring possible.
“Kenny, no. He’s my friend, Ken, one of my best friends. I will never forgive you for this.”
“Yeah Kay, but he took down all my friends, one by fucking one.” Kenny spat and I frowned at the anger towards Red. She was his sister, why was he angry with her?
“Please . . .” Ava now begged and I could hear the fear in her voice, the choke of a sob being released as she pleaded.
I stopped dead when I saw the scene in the room reflected into the huge hall mirror and I closed my eyes for a moment to steal myself.
Anger and fear choked my throat and I desperately tried to control it. I needed to keep calm now.
Think Lucas, think.
Kenny had an arm around Mason’s throat and a gun pointed into his side. Red was stood in front of Ava protectively as she tried to calm her brother down, but she was inching closer and I knew what she was going to do.
My heart exploded in my chest when Kenny realised what she was doing and he shook his head sinisterly at her. “Plum, don’t do it. I can’t protect you against Ricky. You know him; he’ll expect me to take you with him.”
“You take Mason, Kenny, then you take me as well. I won’t stand here and let you do this.” She said and I knew it was a promise.
I noticed Ava stealthily sneaking her hand into her bag, her action being hidden by Red’s body and I wondered if Red knew Ava was going to take out her brother.
I didn’t blame Ava, her loyalty and love lay with Mason and anybody would take out somebody else’s brother to save the person they loved, but it was Red I was worried for.
I knew she was going to lose her brother or her best friend today. Only one of them would survive but the question was which one?
“I can protect you, Kenny. If I’d known you were Lay’s brother then you wouldn’t have been on the list. You wanna job with me, you’re in” Mason told him and Kenny frowned at him as he turned to look at him.
I knew as soon as Kenny looked at Mason what was coming and I tried desperately to get my legs to move but they just seemed to stumble as I strove to take the distance between Red and her brother.
Red flung herself at Kenny; both of them seemed to spin in the air slowly before they fell to the ground, Kenny landing heavily on top of Red.
Two gunshots resounded and my legs quavered when I saw blood pool on the floor beside Red.
Both she and Kenny were still and I couldn’t move, my whole body stood stock still as I shook my head at Red’s motionlessness.
“No” I whispered, the hoarse sound all I could manage as Mason bent beside them both.
“Call an ambulance, NOW!”
“Fuck!” Ava declared as she pulled out her phone and I forced my legs to carry me across the room towards the still rigid Red, underneath Kenny’s obvious dead body.
His back was covered in blood, his shirt now a deep red colour as his veins emptied rapidly out of the hole Ava had put in his back.
Mason rolled Kenny from Red and my legs completely gave way when the cavity in her stomach was revealed to us.
“No . . . No . . .” Mason choked out as he pressed his fists against Red’s wounds.
Ava dropped to the side of him and bent her ear to Red’s mouth. “She’s not breathing Mason, she’s not breathing.”
“Shush baby, calm down.”
I just sat there, my legs under me as I stared dreamlike at the scene before me.
No, Red was fine, she was okay. It was just Kenny’s blood, it wasn’t Red’s, no it wasn’t, it wasn’t Red’s. She was just fine, she was good, she was fine, fine. Fine.
“R. .R. .Red . . . Baby, p . . . p. .please look at me . . . Red . . .” I don’t know if I vocalised or imagined the words but nobody turned to look at me. I wanted Red to look at me but the stubborn woman was refusing to look at me. Always so bloody obstinate, she was.
I was going to spank her arse ten ways to Sunday for doing this to me.
I was almost trampled in the rush from the paramedics as they stormed past me and I watched from afar as they pulled Mason out of the way and started to work on her, one of them desperately trying to find one of Red’s veins as the other pulled out the defibrillator.
What the hell did he need a defibrillator for? Red was fine, she was just asleep, she was just tired, that’s all, tired.
Her body jerked as an electric current flowed through her and I clambered onto my hands and knees, frantically crawling across the floor to help her. They were hurting her, her tiny little body jolting wildly with each shock they put her through.
I could hear a funny noise, it was kind of low and long but at the same time high-pitched and I squinted at it as I unsuccessfully pulled myself along the floor towards her.
“Red . . . wake up now baby, they’re hurting you.” I tried to say but the sound was getting louder and something was bubbling up my throat.
I reeled back in shock when my stomach pumped its entire contents all over the floor just as the high-pitched sound turned into a scream and left my throat at an alarming velocity.
Mason was crouched before me saying something, his lips were moving but I couldn’t make out what he was saying as my ears roared and my blood pumped wildly.
“No . . .” I managed to choke out this time. The scream had seemed to clear my airway and I grabbed hold of Mason, “Help her, please . . . help her . . . Mason, please. . . .”
His face was pained and he turned to Ava, utter desolation and alarm expressed openly.
Ava now appeared beside me and she wrapped both arms around me.
It was only then I realised how badly I was trembling, my whole body seemed to quake and shake violently as she pulled me against her.
“Shush Lucas, they’re doing everything they can for her, I promise, I promise Lucas.”
“You have to help her Ava, they’re hurting her. She won’t like the electric thing, she’ll hate that. It will hurt her . . .”
She nodded and gestured her chin towards the paramedics “They’ve stopped look, they’re not using the defibrillator now, look.”
I turned to look but the whine came back and I quickly diverted my gaze again. Every time I looked at Red, my heart seemed to stop beating and my ears pounded as a high-pitched whine came from inside me, choking me and suffocating me.
So I didn’t look.
I refused to look.
I refused to acknowledge.
She was fine.
She was fine.
Chapter 43
Layla
SO DARK. EVERYWHERE, darkness flooded me and I squinted to find anything I could concentrate on.
“Hey, baby.”
“Ry?” I gasped as I turned to the voice behind me.
His deep laugh made me smile. “What are you doing here, Ry?”
“I should be asking you that, Kay. What the hell do you think you’re doing here?”
“I’m not even sure where we are, Ry.”
He patted the bench beside him
and I frowned, I was sure that wasn’t there a moment ago.
I settled beside him and curled into his strong chest when he lifted his arm for me.
His hand stroked my hair gently and I calmed immensely and relished myself in his scent and hold.
“I miss you” I whispered to him and his arm tightened around me.
“Me too, baby.”
We remained silent for a while, both of us revelling in each other’s presence. “You need to go back now, Kay. You don’t belong here.”
I turned to look up at him, “But . . .”
He shook his head firmly, “Not yet, Kay. I’m doing okay without you, you need to get back. Lucas needs you.”
I nodded but didn’t move. “Will you look after Kenny?”
He nodded. “And you Todd?”
I nodded in acknowledgment before he kissed the top of my head and pulled back.
“Oh, and by the way, don’t be a bloody hero again” he scolded softly.
I nodded “No, it wasn’t one of my best ideas.”
He chuckled lightly then pressed his mouth against my forehead as he took my hand in his, “Always, Kay” he whispered.
“Always, Ry.”
* * *
His back was to me when I opened my eyes. His gaze through the window, his shirt was wrinkled and plastered to his strong back with his sweat and his hand was running through his wild hair.
I knew then how much I loved him and how much he loved me, and I knew I would never find another man who loved me as much as Lucas did.
I felt Ryan’s hand slide from mine as he handed me over to another, to a man who would protect me with his life and his very soul, and I, he.
As if he sensed my consciousness, he turned slowly and gripped the window frame as he saw my open eyes.
I tried to say something but the tube that fed through my nose and lined my throat into my lungs, prevented me.
“Red?”
I smiled slowly but I managed it.
“Oh God, Red . . .” he choked out.
He stumbled over to me and dropped to his knees by the bed as he took both my hands in his. His head came down to rest on top of them and then he cried, loudly and uncontrollably, as he chanted my name over and over.
“Red, baby. God, I love you, I love you . . .” over and over until I slid one hand from his and lifted it to my mouth, kissed two fingers and placed them on his lips.
The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone Page 147
