Surrender

by D H Sidebottom

  He sucked air through his teeth and closed his eyes as if disappointed in me. When they snapped back open, I gulped but he surprised me when he softly stroked his thumb across my cheek, his eyes strangely full of pain. “I . . .” He appeared to be struggling but he inhaled deeply and nodded. “I understand why you told him, Isla, honestly I do. If I could change . . . things from my childhood, then I would sell my soul to the devil himself to do that, but things are the way they are for a reason.”

  “No.” I shook my head briskly at him. “My mum has paid the price for my actions for long enough, Jake. I’m sorry, but I stand by what I did.”

  “How reliable is this doctor?”

  “Well, I’ve known him for ten years now. He’s done everything he can for my mother but nothing was working.”

  “I didn’t ask that, I asked how reliable he is.” He peered at me, waiting for me to give him a reassurance but I couldn’t.

  “Well, I don’t know. He did say he wants to study me though. To delve into my head.”

  Jake narrowed his eyes, his body stiffening. “Study what about you?”

  “My . . .” I shrugged, slightly uncomfortable now that I thought back over my strange conversation with Dr Lovejoy. “My empathy levels and how I . . . how I cope with murdering someone. That sort of thing.”

  “Really?” Jake pursed his lips before disappearing back out of the bathroom. I followed him but he was once again on his phone.

  “I want everything you can find on Dr Lovejoy.”

  Goosebumps broke out over my skin as I listened to the mighty Jake Devine in action. I had never realised just how dark Jake went but witnessing only the very edge of what he was capable was, I was suddenly scared I was out of my depth.

  I turned slowly, trying to calm my rampant heartbeat and leaving him still barking at whoever as I slipped into the shower.

  Was I out of my depth? Because I had killed someone and never regretted it didn’t mean I could handle whatever lifestyle Jake was into. Could I even manage the dominant side to him he so easily ruled me with? If I was honest, I had enjoyed what he’d done to me the night before; the pain in the pleasure giving me the most intense climax. But at the end of the day, that was just sex. It wasn’t even a percentage of the relationship I had unexpectedly found myself in with Jake.

  I bit my lip when I felt him slip into the shower cubicle behind me. My eyes closed when his mouth found my shoulder blade and he sucked the water away, his teeth nipping at me as his hands moved in front of me and found my breasts. I hated the way my body powered to life for him, my back involuntarily arching into him and my head falling back onto his shoulder. I moaned, hating the erotic sound as Jake replied with a moan of his own.

  “I don’t have much time,” he growled.

  Gasping when he abruptly pushed me against the shower wall, I moaned louder when he slipped his knee between my thighs and pushed my legs open for him. “Hang on, sweetheart, this is going to be hard and fast.”

  He was inside me before I had even acknowledged his statement, his cock pushing to the very tip of me and painfully demanding I accommodate his massive length. My belly thrummed at the delicious pain yet for an instance, I sagged, disappointed when the pain subsided and he slid out of me. But then he took my hair in his hand and wrapped it tightly around his fist, pulling my head back so he could look at my face. As if he sensed my need, his teeth flanked my lower lip and he bit down, making me squeal but shiver as he brought my blood to the surface for his tongue. I blinked, wondering stupidly for a second if he was a damn vampire but when he rammed into me once again, all thoughts disappeared and ecstasy took over.

  His other hand reached around me and I hissed when his thumb stroked across my clit, forcing my orgasm to the forefront as his cock swept in and out of me hard and fast like he had promised.

  As soon as my orgasm exploded, Jake jerked deep inside me, trying to fuck straight through to my soul as his own climax took his sanity and he spewed out a garbled incoherent sentence. I couldn’t help but giggle at what sounded like, ‘fluff more black.’

  He grunted and huffed, kissing the dip between my shoulder blades. “Shit, Isla. You’re going to kill me.”

  I shrugged, turning to look over my shoulder and plant a small kiss on the tip of his nose. “Maybe.” I winked causing him to chuckle.

  He pulled out of me and turned me around to face him. Placing his own tender kiss on my nose, his eyes suddenly grew serious. “I’m taking your mother out of The Grange.”

  “What?” I stared at him like he’d gone mad. “What? You can’t!”

  He nodded. “I can and I am. Dr Lovejoy is a risk, Isla.”

  My skin prickled. “What did you find out?”

  His teeth clenched but he shook his head. “Nothing you need to know about, but Marianne is leaving—today.”

  My mouth fell open as my heart started to race. The Grange had been the only place my dad and I could afford, but it had done her well so far. Dr Lovejoy had been a Godsend if I was honest.

  “Jake,” I pleaded as he stepped out of the shower. “You can’t. I can’t afford anywhere else.”

  He peered at me like I was the one going mad. “Are you for real?”

  “Yes,” I stuttered. “Just because you have money to burn doesn’t mean everyone does.”

  He looked at me completely perplexed before he started to laugh. The arrogant fuck!

  “What the hell is your problem?” I spat as I slapped him angrily in the chest.

  He finally stopped laughing and reached out, cupping my cheek. “You really should check your bank balance more often, sweetheart.” I stared at him in utter confusion but he carried on. “And don’t worry about the cost,” he added as he kissed me quickly on the lips then turned to dress himself. “Your mother is moving into the annex at my house. I have already arranged a psychologist and nurse to care for her.”

  The cigarette I had just popped into my mouth to calm my rage dropped to the floor when my jaw opened in shock. All words fled as I watched him bend and pick it up, popping it into his own mouth and taking a drag.

  He smiled softly. “Get dressed. You’ll be late for work. I’m driving you in. You’re still over the limit.”

  Oh, I was definitely over the limit. Definitely.

  THE MAN SAT IN, or rather tied to, the chair paled when I walked in. Damn fucking right. His eyes flicked to Kris, who grinned and winked before they moved back to me, the fear he displayed almost making my cock hard. I frowned to myself. The only person capable of making my dick hard was Isla, her exquisite little pussy tempting me like a line of pure cocaine.

  “Good morning,” I said as I strolled across the bare room to him. It was dull, the light subdued by the various sheets of metal and fabric that had been placed against the windows to block out any nosy bastards hanging around. Not that they would dare query any of my dealings, but it was better to be safe.

  He looked up at me, squinting through the black eyes Keegan had given him, his broken nose decorating the lower half of his face with blood. The fear he displayed made me shiver when my blood danced excitedly. “Now, my friends here tell me you’re being quite . . . reserved.” I pursed my lips. “I don’t like reserved. I like openness between friends.” I swung my arms around, gesturing to all four of us as though we were a group of close knit friends.

  “Fuck you, Devine!” the young lad spat. I couldn’t help but chuckle. Bless him. He really was as thick as they came.

  “Now, now,” I mocked, “I’m afraid I only go for pussy.” He squealed like a girl when I swiftly kicked the chair leg and it flew backwards, the back of his skull bouncing off the concrete floor, the sickening thud like a melody to my madness. His eyes widened when the heel of my boot pressed against his Adam’s apple, the sound of it starting to crunch was satisfying.

  “Oh, come on now.” I sighed, becoming bored with him. “All you have to do is tell me who sent you to The Grange.”

  He shook his head under my foo
t as much as he could. I crouched beside him and replaced my foot with my fingers, curling them tightly and relishing the blue tint that started to seep into his unusually dark pink lips.

  Clicking my tongue, I tipped my head towards Kris. “Now see, we can make this quick and easy, or lengthy and painful. Kris is very eager to play with his favourite knife, and who am I to deny him some playtime?” I dipped my face closer. “He gets rather moody if he can’t play.” Kris chuckled, the malevolence in that single sound the most sinister thing I had ever witnessed. He’d always had a thing for blades, his expertise with them the reason I paid my friend heftily every month. “You are going to die here this morning. Whether or not you make it painful is up to you.”

  The guy under my hand shook his head, but grimaced. “I can’t, they’ll kill me.”

  I laughed. “Did you not just hear me? Don’t worry about them killing you, they won’t even see you again. Your time to die is now, right here. But how you choose that to go down is up to you.”

  He clenched his teeth, the fear making his eyes twitch. I rolled my eyes when a stench of piss permeated the air. “For fuck’s sake. I really want to make this painful now.”

  He shook his head again more rapidly. “No! No. I don’t know. I was just sent an anonymous text telling me to go to The Grange and inform Marianne Cormack about someone’s death. That’s it, I swear. I don’t know who they are!”

  I narrowed my eyes. “You received a text?”

  He nodded, his eyes begging. “I swear, Devine. I’ve heard some rumours though.”

  I tipped my head. “Go on.”

  “They’re new. Little hints I’ve heard say they came from Portugal. That’s all I know.”

  I studied him. His eyes held mine, forcing the honesty to me. Releasing my grip, I nodded to Kris. He nodded back and lifted the guy up, sitting the chair upright. Turning, I heard the gargle when Kris slit his throat easily and cleanly, his blood seeping onto the polythene sheet already laid out to catch the mess.

  I walked out, sliding my phone from my pocket and dialling a number as I climbed into my car.

  “Well, well, Jake Devine,” he greeted.

  “Mason fucking Fox, how are you?”

  “I’m good, mate. Really good. Long time, Jake.”

  “It is,” I replied with a smile. “Listen, I need some info. Apparently some new guys have decided to tread on territory that belongs to me.”

  Mason chuckled. “I gather they’re already dead.”

  “They will be when I find out who they are. Word is that they came from your neck of the woods.”

  “Portugal?” I stiffened when the tone of his voice dropped.

  “Uh-huh. Any ideas?”

  He sighed. “Oh yeah, trouble with a capital T. Deacon Nessi. Tough bastard, no scruples, no emotions. Had a thing with him a while back. He took a liking to Ava.”

  I laughed. “Oh shit. How is the lovely wife?”

  I could feel the grin seep through the phone. Mason Fox was well known for how much he loved his wife; you touched her and you automatically had a target on your back. Fuck delegating, Mason Fox saw to you himself. “She’s perfect, as always, trying to send me to an early grave.”

  I laughed, nodding. “Yeah.” My heart clenched tightly. I’d always been jealous of Mason, the love he and his wife had for each other was something that I could only have dreamed of with Isla. Yet, now, there was hope.

  “I’ll see what I can find out,” Mason offered.

  “Cheers, mate. I owe you one.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, yeah, you always owe me one, Devine.”

  I ended the call laughing. I’d heard nothing about this Nessi and that in itself was bad. Anyone new came onto the scene, my boys made sure to make it our business. If Nessi had come all the way over from Portugal, then I should have known about it before he was even here. And why the fuck was he making Isla’s personal business his own?

  Kris and Keegan walked out of the building as the cleaning guys walked in. Lifting a hand to them, I nodded and drove off. I needed to find out as much as possible on Nessi, and there was only one man I knew who could get me the information I needed.

  I SMILED, FORCING MY lips to turn upwards at the bitch peering at me like I’d just stepped out of an episode of Benefit Street. “Of course, ma’am. If you would care to follow me.”

  I turned on my heels, taking a deep breath to bate my temper. The cow had been dragging me from one end of the Deviant shopping complex to the other, but now, apparently, she had decided she needed lingerie to go with the thirteen bags of designer outfits I was trying to juggle in my two small hands.

  “I do hope this place has a high-quality collection. I’m somewhat disappointed so far.”

  I rolled my eyes. So far the famous footballer’s bit on the side had spent in the region of £300,000 on clothes, all on her lover’s credit card, of course.

  “I think you’ll be satisfied, Miss Duke. Mr Devine makes it a top priority that Deviant caters to everyone.”

  She huffed. “Well, not everyone. I was disgusted to find that the complex sports a . . .” her voice dropped to a disgusted whisper, “ . . . store for sexual deviants”

  Give me strength.

  Ignoring her I winced at how much my feet hurt. My phone pinged in my pocket and I manipulated all the bags so I could read the text.

  Adam: Can you come to my office when you’re free?

  I blew out a breath, sure I wouldn’t get home until after midnight. I’d never been so busy. Now word had got round Deviant about me being a runner, everyone had taken it upon themselves to find me jobs to do. I was already debating asking Adam for an assistant.

  Directing the bitch into the underwear store situated at the far end of the complex, I was grateful when Beth, the store’s manager, took pity on me and made me sit on one of the shop’s comfy sofas whilst she dealt with my client.

  I was scanning Facebook when another text came through, although this time it was a media message from an unknown.

  Frowning, I opened it.

  I vomited all over the luxury Deviant logo carpet when a video image of my mother came through, a gun pointed to her head by someone out of shot.

  Every face turned to mine when the sound of a shot echoed around the shop from my phone and my gut wrenching scream sent word round the Deviant compound that the new runner had finally lost it.

  “WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?”

  They all lowered their eyes to the floor. I was beyond livid, the wrath I was famous for beyond anything I had ever known.

  “It was supposed to be an easy task! Go and fetch Marianne Cormack and bring her back to mine!” I glared at them all. “So will someone explain to me why the fuck I will have to hold my woman’s hand while she buries her FUCKING MOTHER?”

  “I don’t know, Jake,” Sean said. “We got there and the receptionist said that one of ours had already checked out with her. Fuck knows!”

  “Not good enough!” I barked then turned to Adam. “Did you check the CCTV?”

  He nodded. “Yep, it’s been manipulated. All it gives me is an empty corridor on loop.”

  “Fuck! Anything of Nessi?”

  “I’ve found a few things. I’ll go over them with you later.” I nodded to Adam; he knew how much I valued secrecy.

  Rubbing at my temples, I sighed. “I want all of you on this. Wes, make a deal with Greg. I want as many pieces you can get your hands on, ammo included.” Wes nodded before I turned to Frank. “Arrange a meet with Katie Fox. I want all hands on this. This is personal, and I don’t like FUCKING PERSONAL!”

  I narrowed my eyes at Kris who had remained silent. “Something bothering you, Kris?”

  He shrugged.

  “Come on,” I said. Kris was never one to hold back so I knew his silence would be something I didn’t like.

  “Jake, you know I love you man. That I would die for you . . .”

  “But?”

  “But you allowed her to ruin your life ten
years ago. Don’t let her do it again. This is her personal shit, not yours.”

  Everybody in the room stiffened, every mouth gasping as every eye lowered when Kris’ back hit the wall. His wide eyes found mine. My knuckles throbbed after I hit him so hard he was thrown six feet backwards, his body smacking the wall with so much force I wouldn’t be surprised if I had broken one of his vertebrae. His hand rose to his lip and he stared at the blood when he brought it away. I closed my eyes, realising I’d finally lost my shit. Kicking out at the table, I shook my head and stormed out.

  Kris and I had never actually come to blows, never in all the years we had been friends. It was spiralling out of control. Isla only had her father left. But what was worse was that I hadn’t a fucking clue who the hell was doing this to her, and more importantly, why.

  I slammed the door closed when I entered my personal quarters above my office. Immediately cutting two lines, I snorted quickly, letting out a huge sigh as the tingle trickled along my veins and relaxed my brain.

  I was losing it. It was the unknown that I didn’t like. But if I was honest, the fear of something happening to Isla was what was sending me over the edge. I’d never before felt like this. I didn’t like it. I couldn’t cope with the feelings and emotions.

  Kris was right. Isla was dictating my life, like ten years ago. What the hell was it about her?

  I knew though, that I would never be able to let go of her. Ever. I would hold her hand and drag her into hell before I let go. I had a feeling that would be sooner than I liked.

  I’D NEVER NOTICED HOW pretty the flames in the fake fire were before. They danced and flickered, their unique frolic reminding me of a girl in my class at school who used to flounce around the school playground singing to a David Bowie song that used to drive all the girls crazy. The colour of the flames matched her hair too.

  “Nikki,” I mumbled out loud.