Before I could answer, whatever, whomever was behind the door let out a screech and there was no mistaking it now. Someone was in that room being hurt. Badly.
I stumbled back, col iding with a box and crying out when a stack rained down around me.
“I want to go home, Max.”
His eyes hardened. “We both know that’s impossible.”
I turned to run and I barely got two feet before he pounced on me, grabbing my arm and reining me back toward the screams. I fought like something possessed, biting his hand and tasting a gulp of freedom before he caught me again. He snatched a fistful of my hair and yanked so hard that I was surprised he didn’t snap my neck. Fear and fury made me claw the air until he released me a few feet from the door. Back at ground zero. Back where he went from my douche boyfriend to my terrifying boyfriend.
Tears were streaming down my face and I shook so hard I was surprised I didn’t col apse but I got the words out. “You BASTARD! Don’t you ever touch me again!” I held out my fists. “Take me home now, Max. Or else! Or else!”
It was a futile threat and the sneer on his lips showed that he didn’t put much stock in it either. “Or else what?”
“Take me home!”
He shook his head. “It’s too late for that. You’ve seen too much.”
I dropped my hands before bringing them back up. “I haven’t seen a damn thing. You can take me home and we’l …” I let it trail off. We’d what? Pretend like I didn’t hear some guy getting butchered in the next room.
He strode to me, smooth and confident, and reached out and slowly eased my arms down to my side. He took his fingertips and ran them up and down my trembling limbs before he went to my chin and tilted it up, holding it tight, until I had no choice but to look into his eyes.
When he spoke, my heart sunk to my feet.
“You can go in the room yourself on your own two feet, or I can drag you.”
I let out a sob. “Don’t do this, Max. You don’t have to do this!”
He released me, his voice stil cold as ice. “It’s your choice.”
I slowly inched backward, planning to make a run for it.
He must have picked up on my wavelength because he reached behind his back and came up with a gun. I froze as he pointed it directly at me.
“I love you,” he said quietly. “Please don’t make me shoot you.”
So I’d summoned up my strength and went back to the room. There was some man wearing a rubber suit and he turned and gave Max a salute.
The man was a mess of gristle and soggy red meat. He’d been ripped and sliced beyond recognition. It was almost like he’d been fileted, his skin turned inside out. Beside him was a man in a shirt that may have been white, but was now covered in red and gore.
The smel , the sound the man made, rang in my ears. Death would be a mercy, but it was one Max had no interest in granting until he’d shown me the depth of his depravity.
I forced my eyes closed, not wanting to see anymore. My whole body shook, the world going topsy turvy. I screamed for them to stop, but Max just kept talking nonsense about how Kournikovas will never be disrespected without repercussion. Disrespect cost blood.
But it was so much more than blood. They’d tortured this man, a person, and they intended to kil him—while I watched. Between the tears I saw Nikolai come in, a cigar between his thick lips before he gave the official order.
I final y found the strength to stand, my legs wobbly as I walked to the basin, banishing the events that went down last night. I turned the water on ful blast and dipped my hands beneath the stream. I let out a sob as the crystal water became a murky red, thick and gelatinous as it coated my fingers. A flurry of blinks and I saw that it was just in my head.
“Ebony?”
I sniffed, turning to the door. “What?”
“Let me in, Ebony.”
“Demetrius-”
“Please.” His voice was pained. “You don’t have to talk—just let me hold you.”
How could I deny him? When he’d found me outside the warehouse after Max stayed back to help with the disposal, the feel of his arms around me was the only thing that kept me in the grips of sanity.
I fel against his chest as he rushed through the unlocked door. The steady rise and fal of him as he held me close calmed me, but I stil felt the pain. The hurt.
“You were wrong,” I said hol owly, breathing in his scent to banish the demons. “It’s not gonna be okay.”
He stroked my hair gently. “I know it doesn’t seem like it now-”
“He loves me,” I cut in bitterly. “He said he wanted to take the next steps.” Normal people talk about moving in together. Max’s next phase meant involving me in the family business.
I pushed away from Demetrius with renewed disgust washing over me. “He wanted to bond over murder.”
Demetrius’ eyes scoured mine. “It’s a little more complex than that.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Wel , it’s leverage, Ebony.” He paused and then elaborated when I gave him a weird look. “They can use your presence at the scene to control you.”
“Oh my god,” I choked out, taking a few steps back. I hadn’t even taken that into context.
I’d been so caught up in the gruesomeness of the act and Max’s disturbing assurance that we’d ride off into the sunset that I didn’t even think about what me standing by meant.
“Oh my GOD!” Panic coursed through me as I burst from the bathroom. I scanned his living room for my purse. “I have to cal the police.” When I swiped it, my trembling fingers made me spil the contents al over the floor. “Why didn’t I cal the police before? If I’d run-”
“Then that crazy bastard would have kil ed you too.” He stepped beside me, putting a hand on the arm that held the phone. “And you can’t cal the cops.”
“What?” I said shril y. “I have to cal the cops.”
“I can’t let you do that, Ebony.” He strode to me in two steps and held me firmly by the shoulders.
I heard an authority in his voice that took me back to the warehouse. I yanked from him.
“You gonna threaten me too?”
He recoiled like I slapped him. “Fuck, Ebony. I would never, ever hurt you.”
“Then let me cal the cops.”
He shook his head forceful y. “I can’t let you do that.”
“Give me one good reason,” I said stubbornly, even though a few were coursing through my mind. If they were capable of doing that to someone that disrespected them, what would they do to someone that ratted them out? And what if they had the cops in their deep pockets?
The conspiracy theories were endless…hel , for al I knew, Demetrius was part of it al .
But when he let out a deep sigh, asking me to sit down, something told me that he was the one person in this whole mess that I could trust.
Stil , I held the phone like a lifeline. “Why shouldn’t I cal the police?”
He ran a hand through his hair and I could see the struggle in the way his eyes darted around. His body was as tight as a bowstring.
“Ebony,” he said slowly. “I am the police.”
****
TONY/DEMETRIUS
I took a step closer and Ebony jumped damn near two feet in the air before she locked her dark gaze on me.
I took a step toward her. “Let me explain-” I stopped mid-sentence, something in the way she looked at me stopping me dead cold. Her eyebrows were dipped into a harsh V, her dark gaze glittering with disdain. Jesus Christ. I never wanted her to look at me that way.
Sensitivity was irrelevant and I moved into the awkward space between us. I took her by the shoulders, wil ing her to look at me. “Please let me explain. I-”
WHACK!
If her hand hadn’t hung in the air, inches from my jaw, I wouldn’t have believed she was capable. And then there was the stinging pain that spread across my face like wildfire. She slapped me.
I stared at
her and when I saw she was just surprised as I was, I bit back my anger. After al , she’d given me her trust and so much more. She’d given her body to me, and I’d just told her that she’d slept with a figment of someone’s imagination.
“You lied to me.” Her words came out slow, like she was trying to digest it herself. “You lied to me about everything.”
“No, Ebony,” I said, trying to reach for her.
She gave me a look that made me impotently drop my arms to my sides. “Your name’s not Demetrius Sorventinos, is it?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Wel , who the hel are you?”
I swal owed, foolishly pumping the brakes. What did it matter if she knew my real name now? I’d already demolished my cover.
“Anthony Suarez.” I let out a gust of air I’d been holding, like the weight of the world was off my shoulder. “Tony.”
“Tony.” She said it with caution, letting it rol around on her tongue. “Your name is Tony.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re a liar.” She shot daggers my way. “How do I know you’re not lying now?”
“I was born in Jersey to Adelina and Bartolo Suarez. I grew up dirt poor in the city until my father final y threw in the towel for his tailor shop and opened a convenience store.
I went away to col ege and studied criminology. I was a beat cop back home until I passed the detective exam. I had the opportunity to move to a new town and go undercover so I jumped on it.” I took a breath.
“You’re trying to catch the Kournikovas,” she said matter-of-factly. “You’re going to put them away?”
“That’s the plan, yes.”
She swal owed hard and final y loosened her stance, taking a smal step in my direction.
“And me? Where do I fit into your plan?”
I opened my mouth but her question hung unanswered. How could I tel her that I hadn’t planned on her at al ? That this feeling the thril of being with her came out of left field?
“I was told of you, but what happened between us wasn’t part of the plan.”
She propped her hand on a hip. “I guess that’s comforting—that you only lied and fucked me by accident.”
“No, I’m trying to say I didn’t want this. I mean, this was a mistake.” I turned my back to her and let out a moan of frustration. None of this was coming out right and I was obviously just digging myself deeper and deeper. “It shouldn’t have happened and-”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” she cut at me. “You pursued me. You kissed me-”
“You kissed me back,” I added weakly.
“Whatever.” She turned like she wanted to storm out but decided against it and whirled back to face me. “I told you things—how scared and lost I was. About Max and I-” Her doe eyes doubled in size and she let out a gasp of horror. “You used me!”
“Ebony, no-”
“Yes!” She clutched her chest. Like she was in pain; like her heart ached.
I wanted to tel her that I hadn’t used her but in a way, hadn’t I? I didn’t know what was blossoming between us, but I sure as hel didn’t plan on coming clean before the case wrapped.
I began again. “At first, maybe I wasn’t so sure about you. Maybe I didn’t think we’d be more than…you know. But it was before I got to know you.”
“Right,” she scoffed. “Sure.”
“Couldn’t you feel it?” I asked forceful y, trying to get through to her. “When we were together, couldn’t you tel that it was real?”
Her bottom lip trembled, but she just shrugged. “Deep down I wondered if you were looking for a good lay. Guess I was right.”
She might as well have hit me a second time—her words hurt just as much. But two could play that game. I’d fooled the most prolific criminals on the eastern seaboard. If she could pretend she didn’t care about me, I was more than capable of making her believe I didn’t care about her either.
I shrugged my shoulders at her before I walked to the adjacent couch and sunk onto the cushions. I folded my arms behind my head, putting on a hel uva show. “I’m just trying to make you feel better.”
She squared her chin. “So the truth, then? Something real, final y?”
“I was just trying to do you a favor. Kinda like before.” I made a lewd face, like I was recal ing our time together in vivid detail. “Not that I didn’t have a good time.” Her mouth fel open in silence and I rushed into the opening. “Either way, you’re gonna need my help if you wanna walk outta this in one piece.”
“I don’t need your help,” she said adamantly, but her voice betrayed her. There was an undercurrent of hurt and when I just gave her a blank look, struggling to keep from putting myself out there to get slapped down, her façade crumbled and she buried her face in her hands. The sounds of her anguish plucked at my heart strings as I watched her broken frame quiver with sobs.
Aw hel . Fuck it.
I went to her, feeling like the biggest dick on the planet. What the hel was wrong with me? Was I so scared of rejection that I let her comments, obviously born out of hurt, draw me in? She’d just been through hel and back and I just lashed out instead of being honest with her.
With myself.
She cried against my chest for a moment and as fucked as the situation was, I couldn’t deny how heavenly it felt to have her in my arms.
But she wasn’t done making me pay for my sins. She started pounding my chest with bal ed fists. It was clear her intent wasn’t to injure but to vent and I let myself be her punching bag. I’d be anything she needed.
“How could you?” she said angrily. “You were the one person, the one thing…” She continued to pummel me, open palm, over and over. “I counted on you! I needed you.” She dug her nails into my chest. “I hate you! I hate you!”
“And I’m here,” I said, stil trying to hold her. I wouldn’t let her go again. Not ever. If she needed to hate me, so be it. “I’m sorry Ebony. I’m sorry.”
“Are you?” she hissed. She looked up at me, her pretty face stil devastatingly so, even streaked with tears. “Are you real y sorry?”
“Yes, Ebony. I am.”
“About what? Hurting me? Meeting me?”
“Hurting you,” I said softly.
She pursed her lips and swiped at her face with the back of her hand. “Not because you met me? Not because we were together?”
“No,” I told her. “Never.”
She took a breath, swallowing hard as she tried to keep it together. “With your case…
you could turn me in. It would be a slam dunk.”
She was right. I hadn’t expected them to be so sloppy so soon after the incident with the last undercover. But then again, I hadn’t counted on Max being so crazy as to bring a civilian into the fold. Was it possible that somewhere in his fucked logic that he loved her and thought this was some way to cement their relationship?
When Ebony nested against my chest, stil trembling with sorrow, it fel into place. Her vulnerability, her fragility, her strength. God, she was strong. Any other woman would have broken completely and utterly. But through it al , what she’d seen in the warehouse, Max’s brutality, my confession, she was shaken but it was obvious she was making a concerted effort to be strong and keep it altogether. She was like a wildflower, beautiful, fragile--but resilient. Of course Max loved her and wanted to possess her. How could he not?
“So you don’t regret sleeping with me? Even though it has thoroughly complicated everything?”
“No,” I said. No hesitation. No holding back. “You are the one good thing to come out of this whole mess.”
When she perked to her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around my neck, breathing her need into my body, my body immediately responded to hers. My hands ran down her body, up and down before resting on the hem of her dress. With a throaty moan she dropped her hands to my fly, fumbling with the zipper.
“I thought you hated me,” I whispered against her neck.
“Shut up.”
>
With al the blood in me rushing to my cock, she didn’t have to ask me twice.
I touched every hot inch of her. I knew the hows, its whys, what she needed. I knew how to make her beg. But she took the reins, throwing me back onto the couch with a tenacity that knocked me flat. Gone was the kitten as she hiked up her skirt, not even stripping down with peek a boo glances and teases. When she gripped my cock in her hand, she barely had to stroke it before I was hard as a rock and ready.
I gripped her hips as she straddled me and sat on my cock. She forced me between the wet warmth of her and it was I who begged for more. She was feral, moving like a woman possessed as she ground into me, rising up and drawing me from her canal before thrusting down and forcing me back in.
“More,” I growled at her, digging into her flesh. Fuck the flesh. I wanted in her bones.
Deeper—in her soul. As I felt her climax, her pussy squeezing me with a fervor that sent me soaring to my own, I knew there was no denying it. I would never al ow harm to come to her again. I cared about Ebony way more than I should.
For the first time in a long time, when she sunk into my arms, I felt it. That tingle, that familiar ache; that beautiful pain that one never gets over. I didn’t want to run. I wanted to stay right there with her body clasped to mine.
11
EBONY
Liani's dark eyes nearly bulged from her head. "You did WHAT?!"
I cringed at her volume level, but I couldn’t blame her. The last time we'd spoke about the Demetrius situation, I'd told her that I was gonna end it before a kiss became something more. Now I was tel ing her things had escalated and official y gone past the point of no return.
"Ebony Monet Rivers!" she said shril y. I was surprised al the glass in the place didn't shatter. "You should be ashamed of yourself!" Before I could tel her that after the high of being with him wore off that I did feel a little skeet-ish, she did one better, completely changing her tune. "Details! And don't leave a thing out!"
She bounded over to the couch where I sat, twisting her ratty hair into a bun on top of her head. That in itself made me do a double take. Liani was the kind of girl that was always dressed to the nines, hair always looked like one of those shampoo commercials, clothes always styling, always with her makeup on. She was a ghost of her former self with a blank face and an old ratty tee.
After the Kiss Page 11
