by Zoey Parker
Katie got up from the bed and stalked over to the bathroom, swinging her hips in the most alluring manner I’d ever seen. She peed, then flushed and washed her hands. When she came back to bed, breasts swinging in the air, she had a little secret smile on her face.
“What are you thinking about?”
Katie grinned and shrugged. “Nothing too important,” she said softly. “Just…oh, I don’t know. Just that today has been different from what I expected.”
Her tone was serious, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her naked body.
“Today was pretty fuckin’ incredible,” I said. “I’ll give that to you.”
Katie sat down on the bed. I was hit with a powerful wave of her scent: musky and womanly, mixed with a little of my sweat. My cock twitched and before I knew it, I was hard again.
Katie smiled at me. She slipped a hand under the sheet and wrapped her fingers around my cock. It felt so good that I groaned—I was still sensitive, but getting back to the point where I knew I could fuck her again soon. As she slowly pumped her hand up and down, she crawled closer. Her breasts were hanging in front of my face, and I wrapped an arm around her, shoving her tits in my face. I took one of her glorious pink nipples in my mouth and sucked eagerly until she was moaning and her pale face was red with arousal.
“Do you want me again?” I took her breast out of my mouth and looked into her eyes.
Katie looked away.
“Look at me,” I commanded in a low voice. “Tell me you want me again.”
Katie’s breath was coming hard and fast and I knew she was aroused. A flush spread down from her face and neck to her chest and covered most of her tits. I felt a sharp spike of arousal hit me as Katie crawled closer.
“I want you again,” she said softly, staring deeply into my eyes. “Jace, I want you again.”
Chapter 9
Katharina
I didn’t think I’d ever been so sore in my life. Jace and I made love almost all night long—four times! I couldn’t believe it. I always thought that was the kind of thing that happened in movies or TV, but never real life. Jace had been the most thorough lover that I’d ever had, and I couldn’t believe he was mine.
“He’s your husband,” I said softly to myself. Next to me in bed, Jace was snoring away. I was too excited to sleep, even though I was completely and utterly spent.
Finally, I managed to drift off to sleep. When I woke up a couple of hours later, I was foggy and confused. Jace’s bedroom was still pitch black. Jace was soundly snoring next to me, and I couldn’t figure out why I’d woken up at first.
Suddenly, I realized my cell phone was buzzing away on the nightstand. My body was filled with dread, and for a moment I hoped I was still asleep. I even reached down and pinched my arm, hoping I could wake up.
No luck. I was already awake. My heart started pounding in my chest as I reached for my phone. The number wasn’t listed, but I already knew who it was.
“Leave me alone,” I whispered into the receiver as soon as I’d answered. “I don’t know how you got this number! I’ve changed it so many times since we broke up!”
I winced, expecting the reply to be angry and powerful. But instead, Troy’s voice was meek, almost chastened. There was no trace of the angry man who had threatened me at the grocery store, no trace of the man who had hurt me so badly that my wrists were still bruised. “Katharina,” Troy said in a pleading voice. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry for what I’ve done, okay? I know I can’t begin to make it up to you, but please come back to me, please!”
My breath was coming hard and fast. “I don’t know what you want from me, Troy, but I can’t help you.”
“Please give me another chance,” Troy begged. “I promise it won’t be like before.”
Jace shifted next to me. The snoring stopped, and before I knew it he was sitting up in bed and flicking the light switch on. He grabbed the phone out of my hand and held it up to his face, looking tired and pissed off. “Hello, is this Troy?” There was a pause. “Hi, Troy, I’m glad I got you. I just wanted to tell you to leave my wife alone, or else I’ll kill you myself. You got that?” Jace hung up before Troy could answer. He tossed the phone on the floor and glared at me. “You wanna tell me how he keeps getting your number, Katie?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I replied. My heart was still pounding and I felt more shaken up than ever before. “I keep changing it! I’ve probably changed it six times since we broke up!” Fear was making my skin clammy and I started to shake.
Jace looked at me. “You need to change it again,” he said sternly.
“I’m scared, Jace” I said. “He’s really going to hurt me now; he’s not fucking around.”
Jace shook his head. I couldn’t make out his features too clearly in the dark, but I could see he wasn’t as angry as he had been while he was on the phone. “He won’t try anything,” Jace said confidently. “Trust me, Katie. I have this under wraps. He’s afraid of me.”
“Why aren’t you taking me seriously?” I looked at Jace with my eyes wide open. “He’s hurt me before, Jace, why wouldn’t he do this again?”
Jace sighed. “Because he knows I’ll rip his dick off if he tries anything,” Jace said. “Come on, Katie. Relax. Get some sleep.” He threw an arm around me and lay back down in bed, snuggling up to my ass.
But I couldn’t sleep after that. My mind was running wild with horrible thoughts of Troy. Jace didn’t know Troy; he didn’t know him at all. He didn’t know what kind of horrible things Troy was capable of doing, how evil and manipulative he could be. I had a horrible vision of Troy breaking into Jace’s house and sneaking upstairs, kidnapping me and torturing me all while Jace slept on, oblivious to whatever was happening around him. I shivered as I thought about how Troy could lie and charm his way into just about anywhere, maybe even the neighbor’s house.
There was a noise downstairs and I about jumped out of my skin. Every time I started trying to relax, Troy would pop back up in my mind. I thought he was everywhere: sneaking around outside, downstairs, even in the hallway.
Maybe we can get a dog, I thought to myself. A good guard dog that would bite Troy and keep me safe at home on long nights. I didn’t know just how much late-night business Jace had with The Silent Havoc, but I knew it couldn’t be a small amount. If I were going to be home alone at night, I wanted some real protection, not just a gun.
I shivered. There was one other thing I knew would kill Troy: the marriage. Troy always talked about how he held marriage up to a high standard, how he didn’t think marriage should ever be broken or changed. Troy looked down on people who got divorced, saying they didn’t know how to work out their problems. I knew he even thought similar things about his parents. He’d often called his mother a coward for not wanting to stay with his father, even though he ran around on her all the time. It had made me shudder at the time; it was almost like Troy was gripped by some kind of religious fervor when it came to marriage. He’d always told me we’d get married, and that we’d be man and wife, and nothing would ever be able to tear us apart. That was one of the scariest things he’d ever said to me. He’d been able to make me shudder just by bringing it up.
But fervor or not, I knew he was going to go ballistic knowing I was married to someone else. I stayed awake almost all night, turning over possible situations in my mind. I decided I had to talk to Jace again in the morning. I had to make him understand the severity of this situation. I had to make him understand that Troy would hurt me if he was alone with me. Troy was sneaky, and he could be watching the house right now, waiting to see when Jace left. He could be watching the windows for movements, staking a place out, biding his time. I shivered as I realized it wouldn’t take much more than a small rock to break the bedroom windows. Jace’s house was all on the ground floor, and someone could easily crawl in from outside. He had a security system, but I couldn’t imagine that would help me out too much if Troy was already in the house.
; All night, I twisted and turned in bed, getting progressively sweatier and more anxious as time went on. I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing Troy’s horrible face, his demonic eyes, his reedy figure. I remembered what I’d thought after the first time he’d ever hit me: How could a man like that have punched me? He’s so slender! Doesn’t he realize I’m stronger than him?
Now, that thought was enough to make me laugh. I’d done enough research about abuse to realize Troy didn’t care if he was small or not. It didn’t matter; from almost the beginning, I’d belonged to him, and he’d known it every second of every day. From the day I’d become Troy’s girlfriend, I’d ceased to be Katie. I’d become Katharina, Troy’s property.
When Jace woke up, I was dressed and sitting in a chair at the end of the bed. He frowned at me. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Not after that phone call,” I said softly. “Jace, I really need to talk to you about Troy. He’s a lot more dangerous than you think.”
Jace sat up in bed and ran a hand through his dark hair, making it stand on end. “Katie, I know you’re freaked about this, but you have to relax, okay? I don’t mean to sound condescending, but I think you’re only afraid of him because you never had protection before now.” He smiled at me and I felt anger seize my throat. “Know I’ll always take care of you, okay?”
I shook my head. “It’s not that, Jace. Troy is really dangerous. He’s threatened my friends before!”
“Threatened,” Jace said lightly. “He hasn’t actually ever done anything to them, right?”
“No, but—”
“Then it’ll be okay, Kate. I promise.” Jace got out of bed and pulled on yesterday’s pants and shirt. “Listen, I got some shit to take care of, but you’ll see me later, okay?”
I sighed. “Please listen to me,” I begged. “I know you think I’m overreacting, but I’m really afraid! Troy knows we’re married now, and he’s going to try to hurt both of us!”
Jace came over to where I was sitting and kneeled down. “Katie, you can’t let fear control your life,” he said, reaching up and stroking my cheek. I was surprised at the tender gesture, but part of me was still angry with him for not listening to me. “It can’t be all about Troy anymore. Your life is about you now, okay? You’re my wife, and I promise nothing will ever happen to you again.”
Jace glanced down at the floor where he’d thrown my phone from last night. “And see about getting that number changed, okay?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve changed it six times in a month. I’m not sure what one more would do,” I grumbled.
“Please?” Jace looked up at me.
“Don’t go,” I said suddenly, throwing myself off the chair and into Jace’s arms. He was clearly surprised, but he held me close for a minute. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent of smoke and masculinity.
“Katie, everything will be okay,” Jace said in a soothing voice. He stroked my back with one of his hands and I felt my skin start to slowly warm up.
“Can one of the guys come over and watch me?”
Jace looked at me. “Okay,” he said. “If that will really help you feel better,” he added cautiously. “I’ll call Kenny.”
Relief went through me like a wave. “Thank you,” I murmured. A blush came over my face and I realized I was still embarrassed about asking for help, especially now that Jace didn’t believe me about Troy doing anything too awful.
While Jace called Kenny, I paced around the bedroom. “When are you coming home?” I asked after he hung up.
Jace shrugged. “I got some errands to take care of,” he said in a businesslike tone. “Do you need anything? A credit card? Some money?”
I shook my head. I couldn’t explain it, but now I suddenly felt miserable. It was like the magic had completely gone away from our interactions. Now that we were married, I was going to have to rely on Jace for protection every day for the rest of my life. At least until Troy is taken care of.
After he left, I got back in bed and tried to close my eyes. Sleep wouldn’t come, but a new, troubling thought started to plague me. Just why exactly had Jace married me? What was in it for him?
Chapter 10
Jace
I had to get out of the house. Katie and I hadn’t even been married for twenty-four hours yet and she was already getting on my nerves. I knew she was nervous about the Troy thing, but she was driving me up the fucking wall. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her and tell her things would be fine, but I didn’t think that would be very effective.
Katie had every reason to be scared of that pissant before I came on the scene, but now that she was with me, she had absolutely nothing to worry about. Especially not with Kenny guarding her back at my place. I knew Kenny well enough to know he was a big softie, but to strangers, he cut a pretty mean figure.
That letter I’d found at Matthias’s was bothering me. I knew that time was running out—if I wanted to get any prints or anything from it, I’d have to act fast. And that meant only one person could help me.
Rosa. Rosa Graham was a girl I’d banged a couple of years back on the regular. She was a computer whiz who’d helped the club out with some business, and she had a smokin’ hot curvy body, too. Now, we were just friends, but I hadn’t seen her in some time. I wondered if there was going to be tension between us like always.
“You couldn’t have called?” Rosa gave me a flirtatious smile that told me she didn’t mind one bit. I climbed out of my car as she started walking down the path of her home office. “I haven’t see you in ages, Jace.”
“I know,” I said, flashing her a guilty grin. “I know it’s been a long time, girly.”
Rosa laughed. She threw her head back, exposing pearly white teeth. “Too long, I’d say,” she said with a little giggle. “How have you been?”
As I got out of the car, I studied her. Even though she was only wearing dark jeans and a black top, she looked incredible. Rosa had a body that wouldn’t quit. Her dark hair and tan complexion made her look like she’d just come from a day at the beach, even though I knew that, more likely than not, she’d been up all night on her computer.
“You look good,” I told her. We embraced briefly—a small flare of lust went through my body as I imagined Rosa flat on her back in my bed—and then pulled away. There was a smile on the sensual curve of her lips as she stared at me.
“You do, too, Jace. What can I do for you today?”
I sighed and shrugged, pulling the letter out of my pocket. When I’d gotten home the other night, I’d wrapped it up in plastic to prevent further contamination.
Rosa laughed. “I’m not in the CIA, boy,” she said with a little giggle. “I’m not sure what you think I can do with that.”
“Hold up,” I said defensively. “I didn’t ask you to do anything, not just yet.”
Rosa smiled. “Come on inside,” she said. “Let’s have a cup of tea.” She walked in front of me, swinging her tantalizing ass from side to side.
Normally, I would have been all over her like a dog in heat. But today, I just wasn’t feeling it. Rosa was still one of the most beautiful women that I’d ever seen, but I had a feeling things were over between us. We’d always flirt, sure, but I couldn’t imagine ever bedding her again.
Rosa led me inside her quaint little house. She gazed around before turning to me with her hands on her hips and grinning. “This isn’t what you are used to, I know,” she said. “But maybe you can relax here for a little while.”
For about half an hour, we sat down and talked. Rosa told me what was new in her life. She was a computer programmer who had recently started doing some work for a startup. She said it was going well, but I could tell she was feeling nervous about the whole thing. Rosa and The Silent Havoc met a few years back—one of the guys paid her to do some hacking work when we suspected the member who was keeping our books wasn’t doing a fair job. Rosa put in a camera and a keystroke counter and, within a few days, we realized we were being scammed.
It had been about two years after Margot had died, and I was heavily in need of some comfort. Rosa was perpetually single. I couldn’t believe it; she was gorgeous, but she said her intelligence intimidated men. After spending a couple of hours with her, I didn’t exactly think she was lying. She’d been a great lay: very attentive, very loud, perfect body. But it had never gotten serious between us, and whenever Rosa hinted at something more, I shut her down immediately. Deep down, I didn’t think she wanted a relationship, at least not with someone like me. But I knew she had to be lonely.
“So, that’s what you’ve been doing?” I grinned at her. “Maybe this’ll be a break for you, then,” I said, reaching forward and plucking the plastic bag with the letter from her jacket. “I need some help analyzing this.”
