by J. L. Beck
“Your girl?” I teased because I loved when his alpha male tendencies came out. I was munching on the rest of my sandwich when we finally made it back to the SUV. The hike and picnic had taken up nearly the whole day, not to mention our little romp in the woods a second time.
“I just fucked you into submission twice. Do you need me to fuck every hole on your body to prove that you belong to me? Or maybe you want a spanking?” Seth’s voice was all possessive like.
My pussy clenched uncontrollably. I was already soaked with need from his possessive nature. I hoped like hell that if we made it out of this shit-tastic mess we could be together.
“Well I didn’t get a spanking yet so…” I twirled a strand of my blonde hair around my finger, teasing Seth like he always teased me. The secret I was hiding seemed to gain traction right then as our eyes met. He was looking at me like I was his entire world and like I had given him something to cherish and hold onto. What he didn’t know was that some bastard had already taken that part of me.
“I’m… I’m sorry about earlier… I didn’t stop to think about if you were okay after everything. You just seemed so normal…” Seth ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I’ve never been with a virgin… Like ever, so yeah…” His admission wasn’t all that surprising.
Seth was a playboy billionaire with a rap sheet a mile long. There were more notches in his bedpost than most and I knew that when I went with him, accepting his offer and binding us together for however long he saw fit.
I sucked in a breath between my teeth. I didn’t want to have this conversation. Not after the day we had together.
“It was amazing, you were amazing. Thank you…” I didn’t have the heart at that moment to tell him that he wasn’t the man to claim that one piece of me that would forever in my mind belong to him.
“Good, because as bad as I’ve been in my life I could never stomach hurting you. Never. And I’ll do everything in my power to make certain that you walk away from all of this unscathed.” I couldn’t swallow down the truth of the matter, not when I knew what our fates would entail. If Seth thought his father was evil, he would just have to wait and see what Antonio did to us.
“I know you’ll go to the ends of the Earth to protect me. Why else do you think I came with you when I could’ve easily ran?” I smiled, catching him completely off guard. I loved the moments when I got to see Seth think, the moments when he was so vulnerable.
“You could’ve ran but I would’ve found you.” Seth walked me over to the passenger side door, his hand clasping mine so tightly I was sure he was trying to leave an imprint of his hand on my own. “I’ll always find you. No matter what… I’ll burn the entire fucking world down to get to you. Remember that Angel.” And the possessive Seth was back in full force.
“Oh I believe it. I’ve seen the things you can do when you’re determined.” Seth’s hand fell from mine as he opened the SUV door for me, allowing me to get inside. A cold sweat formed against my palms as a lonely feeling started to emerge from deep inside me.
“Nothing will ever keep you from me, Angel. I went to therapy so I could be a better man, not just for myself but for you as well, and I refuse to give up all of that for some asshole who thinks he can have you just because your father owes him money. You were mine first, and you’ll always be mine.” I felt the compassion and meaning behind his words. He was going to fight for us, even if he knew it was a war that we would never win.
Tears stung my eyes when he pressed his lips to my cheek. The gesture was so gentlemanlike and so unlike Seth, and I knew then that it was a memory that would stick with me for the rest of my life.
When he finally pulled away and closed the passenger side door to go to his side of the SUV, I wiped away one of the stray tears that had escaped my eyes. I wasn’t emotional but Seth brought out the best in me. He made me want to be the woman he always saw me as, the angel, his saving grace.
What he didn’t realize was that I was the one in need of saving, and after being sent away by him I lost a little bit of that angelic light I carried around with me. When he got into the SUV, I pulled the mask I wore back into place, vowing to tell him what Antonio had done to me as soon as I found the right moment.
***
The entire ride back to the house was a silent one. Neither Seth or I spoke more than a handful of words to each other and I think it was because we knew what was coming. A hurricane of emotions swirled deep inside both of us but what was the point of telling each other the emotions when the devil would be arriving on your doorstep at any second now.
When we pulled up to the house we both knew something was up, our eyes clashing before we even got out of the SUV. The front door was kicked open and barely hanging on the hinges.
“Fuck!” Seth swore under his breath, pulling out a handgun from the back of his pants. He looked so sexy with a gun in his hands.
“It looks like they ransacked the place.” I took in as much as I could see. Antonio’s men did this, there was no other way around it. The place was trashed and it looked like they were searching for something.
You. A little voice whispered in my ear.
“Oh God!” I couldn’t breath as I took in the body on the floor in the living room. It was a man’s body and blood dripped from his face and down onto the wood floor. Seth was right on my heels, his face a mask of fury and anger.
“Brian,” Seth said his name and I realized then that this was someone that Seth knew.
“Wait, you know this guy?” I questioned Seth.
“Yeah, he’s my private investigator. He helped me track you down. Antonio must’ve done this to him when I sent him in to get more information.” Seth seemed to be upset about the fact that Brian got his ass beat but the truth was if you crossed Antonio you would pay in blood or death.
“Brian, are you okay? What happened?” Seth started peppering him with questions as he rolled him over onto his back. Glass, paper, fabric and every item known to mankind seemed to have been strewn across the room. Looking down at Brian I realized his chest wasn’t moving, and that the puddle of blood his face had been lying in was rather large.
“I think he’s dead, Seth….” My words lacked emotion because honestly, I was tired of watching people die at the hands of this man and I felt like Brian’s blood was now on my hands. Like I had a part in killing him.
Seth placed a hand against his throat checking for a pulse, his eyes piercing mine when he realized I was right. The man was dead.
“I’m going to fucking kill him. I’m going to destroy him.” I could feel the fury in Seth’s words. He hated Antonio as much as I did. The hate I had for the man burned through my veins so hot I was sure it would burn me if I ever exposed the feelings I had.
“I’m so sorry, Seth.” My voice cracked, my emotions finally finding their way out of me. Tears pooled in my eyes before falling from my eyes and down my cheeks. Seth stared at his friend, the man that had reunited us again. Anguish and despair were the two biggest emotions that marred his features.
‘”I spent days with him tracking you down. He helped me find you and gave me hope when I wanted to give up on looking for you.” His admission only made the tears slip from my eyes more. Every drop was a painful reminder that we couldn’t win this war. The devil himself was hot on our tails and it would only be a matter of hours, maybe even days before he got his hands on both of us.
“We can’t win this Seth…. What has to happen next for us to see that?” I croaked. Seth eyed me up, there were so many emotions swarming him that I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to grab onto.
“I’ll die before I let him have either of us. I don’t fear death, Angel. I never have and I never will.” He spoke with so much conviction that even I wanted to believe what he was saying. Still the truth was in a heaping pile of lifeless man in front of us. We couldn’t win, not even if we tried.
I turned on my heels seconds later to go into the kitchen and get something to clean the bloody
mess up off the floor with when my eye caught a pair of very expensive Italian leather shoes. All the air in the room was sucked out and before I could even muster up a scream, Seth was at my side, my eyes trailing from the floor and up to Antonio’s dark eyes.
It was finally happening. The devil had finally decided to show his face.
Chapter Ten
Seth
My body went into auto drive. The only thing that mattered was keeping that fucker away from Angel. Without thought I placed myself directly in front of her, shielding her body from the evil bastard.
“Honestly, we didn’t mean to kill him…” The smile that crested his lips told me he was lying. Did he think I was stupid? I was Antonio once, killing and then asking questions. Nonetheless Ryan didn’t deserve to die.
“Don’t lie to me. I’m not fucking stupid.” I snarled, baring my teeth like a rabid dog. I wanted to rip into this dickhead right now, but couldn’t risk him getting his hands on my angel.
A humorless laugh erupted from deep within his chest. The sound of his hands smacking together in a loud clap met my ears.
“See, when I first found out you took my property I was pissed, livid even….” He pushed off the wall and took a step toward us. I pushed Angel back, but stood my ground refusing to let him intimidate me. Once upon a time I had taken bigger shits than him, he was nothing but a twinkle in time and his time was coming to a fucking end.
“She’s not yours. She was mine first and will always be mine.” I had never defended someone like I was defending Angel right now.
A dark look crossed Antonio’s features. “You think so? Would you want her as badly as you do right now if you knew the truth about your little Angel?”
The way her name rolled off his tongue made me sick. I wanted to rearrange his face so badly the ache in my chest was almost consuming my thoughts. With my fists clenched tightly at my sides I waited for him to make the first move.
“Oh she didn’t tell you?” I didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
“Nothing you tell me will ever change how I feel about her.” Antonio smiled and rolled the sleeves of his shirt up. I knew shit was going to get bad soon, and the only thing I could do was hold on for the end.
“You know your father used to work with mine…. I’m sorry to hear about his death.” My teeth ground together at his comment.
“My father deserved to die. He was a horrible fucking man.” Hate saturated my words. My eyes glanced from Antonio to the doors. He wouldn’t have showed up here alone. His men were here, somewhere, surely not far behind.
“See I wouldn’t have agreed with you until I looked further through our debts and realized your father really fucking screwed over my family….”
I shrugged. “I’m sure you’ve screwed over a lot of people yourself so just consider yourself…” My words cut off as Antonio’s fist collided with my face. Pain sliced through my nose and across my cheek.
“No…” Taylor cried out, her voice full of fear as my head twisted to the side from the blow. Did he seriously just fucking punch me? I twisted back around, righting myself and waiting for the next punch.
I felt a trickle of blood making its way down my nose cavity. I wiped at it with the back of my hand catching an evil grin on Antonio’s face.
“What the fuck do you want? You didn’t have to kill Ryan, none of this had to happen. You stole from me. It wasn’t me who took from you. She was mine before she was ever yours,” I sneered, my molars grinding together as I spoke. I needed to keep my temper in check and think with my head, not with my emotions.
“How was she yours, pretty boy?” He tilted his head at me, a curious look crossing his features.
“I paid half a million dollars for her…” I shook my head in despair. “It doesn’t matter though. She means more to me than the money ever did.” I casted a glance at Taylor, my angel, over my shoulder.
“Awe, this is so adorable…” Antonio took a step in my direction and I took one backwards, wish more now than ever that I could protect Taylor from the fate that we both would be meeting soon.
“Do you really think I give a fuck about her or you? Do you think it matters to me if you’re in love with her?” He narrowed his dark eyes at me and the contents of my stomach churned with fear. Fear for Angel and me. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run to. I had never been a quitter in my life nor had I ever backed down from a fight, but I knew there was no winning this one. Even if we did manage to get outside, his men more than likely had the place surrounded.
“I’m more than in love with her and I’m not going to let you have her back. You’ll have to kill me to get to her…” I threatened, not thinking of the consequences.
Antonio laughed, pulling out his gun at the same time that I reached for mine. We both had our weapons pointed at each other, as the air around us seemed to become electrically charged.
“Please don’t do this Antonio. I will do whatever you want… Just don’t kill him.” Taylor’s voice cracked, and with it so did a piece of me. I could feel my heart breaking. She was going to give herself up for me. Didn’t she realize I wasn’t worth it? That I was the reason we were here to begin with.
“Save your tears for when I fuck you next, you know I like it more when you cry….” I digested the words he had just spoken, my eyes flickering to Taylor’s. It hit me then, why she didn’t seem to care about our first time in the woods together. Or why she didn’t bleed or at the very least cry.
“Oh you didn’t tell him…” Antonio continued the evil glint in his eyes burning whatever patience I had left to shreds. I was enraged, angry, and fueled with hate. How could he take something so precious from her? How could he?
“I’m sorry, Seth. I wanted to tell you. It should’ve been you, it should’ve been….” Taylor cried out. I was so caught up in my own mind that I lost track of where Antonio was. I let my feelings become the focus for a second and I knew it would cost me. In the fraction of a second I was on the floor, blood pooling from a cut on my head.
The sound of feet against the wood floor filtered into my ears. I blinked my eyes open right as one of Antonio’s men grabbed Taylor, my sweet angel, by the back of her head. She screamed out in pain, thrashing against the man’s hold. I reached an arm out to her, wanting to save her from our impending future.
“There’s no saving her….” Antonio’s foot lifted, landing harshly against my hand. Pain shot up my arm and I groaned, trying to roll away from him. “Hell, there may not be any saving you either….”
“Please… Let her go…” I would beg and plead if I had to. I would do whatever I needed to do to save both of us.
“You hear that, Luis?” Antonio shot over his shoulder at someone. The Luis guy let out a light laugh, before mumbling something under his breath.
“What do you need? Money? I’ll pay it. Whatever you want.” I had my father’s entire company, a fortune of wealth and power.
Silence settled over the room and for a second I thought I had him won over. Until his foot came into view, landing directly against the side my head. My vision went black before coming back again.
Pain sliced through my head, making it hard to breath or move. I knew I couldn’t hold on much longer. My body was weak and though I wasn’t losing a ton of blood I could barely move without feeling like I was going to puke.
“You might’ve been able to buy that whore but you can’t fucking buy me. I’m not for sale playboy….” I slammed my clenched fist against the wood floor. I needed to find a way out of this mess.
Then it hit me. He knew all there was to know about me, or at least about my father. They worked together a time or two…
“What did my father owe you?” I questioned. I knew what I was going to do. I knew what I was going to give up in return for mine and Taylor’s lives and it wouldn’t even hurt me to do it.
Antonio blinked, a somewhat astonished look on his face. “Money. A lot of fucking money.”
I shoved up into a sitt
ing position. I could feel the blood dripping down the side of my face. The contents of my stomach threatened to come up and right before I spoke, my eyes glided with Taylor’s dark blue ones. She had fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. She was so fucking beautiful and she deserved a perfect life.
“I have a proposition… I know you don’t want my money…” I moaned in pain. “I do know you want something that can bring you enough money to last for a very long time. Something that will probably outlast whatever payout Taylor or I could ever offer you.” I had never been the type of man to make a deal with the devil, not when I was always the one excepting deals. But this was different, this was about Taylor’s and my future and I would give anything I had to, sign any contract needed to give us or even just her what she deserved.
Antonio dropped down onto his heels, making him eye level with me. Everything about him screamed money and death. It was strange looking at a man that resembled the man that you used to be.
“Do tell me what it is that you would like to propose because my patience is running really thin for bullshit and honestly, I have a bullet in the chamber of this gun with your name on it.” He lifted the barrel and placed it against my forehead. Every choice I ever made in my life flashed before my eyes.
No memory standing out more than the time that I decided to buy Taylor. I felt the tears falling from my eyes as the clicking of the bullet falling into the chamber of the gun met my ears.
This was it. This was the end.
“No Antonio, please no!” I heard Taylor’s pleading voice.
“What will it be, Mr. Smith?” Antonio’s voice was deathly calm.
“I’ll give you my father’s company in return for mine and Taylor’s lives.” The words were finally out, the only problem was would he agree to the agreement or would I be left dead with a bullet in my head?
