by Penelope Sky
“I would have chased you down until I got you back. I’ve got allies everywhere. I would have stopped that car before it returned to Lucian’s compound. And even if it did return, I still wouldn’t have stopped. There’s no scenario in which Lucian would have won.”
She shifted her chin up so she could look me in the eye. Her smoky eye makeup was smeared from the wetness in her eyes. Her seductive playfulness was long gone, but this uneasy version was just as sexy. “I was worried about you. When I heard the gunshots, I was afraid you didn’t make it.”
A smile melted across my lips. “It’d take a lot more than a few boys with guns to take me down. And you worry about me a lot.”
“So?” she whispered. “Of course I do.”
My smile disappeared. “That’s cute, but you don’t need to worry about me.”
She shifted her body and moved onto my chest, her hair loose now that the pins had fallen out. Her lipstick had been wiped off on the wineglass, but her lips were still plump and kissable. “Thank you. I don’t know what else to say.” She rested on my chest like a cat, a small creature that felt weightless.
“You don’t need to thank me, baby. You’re my property—and I protect my property.” I wouldn’t allow Lucian to steal her away like that. If he wanted her, he would have to make an offer. I didn’t just protect her to keep her safe. I did it for my own self-interest—because she was worth a lot. She might get me everything I wanted.
She tilted her head down and kissed my chest. Her full lips gently dragged against my hard skin. Her tongue poked out and tasted me as she moved, and her eyes closed at the same time. Her hands dragged across my chest and abs, feeling the grooves as she continued to kiss me. She migrated farther down, moving to my hard cock in my boxers.
My hard dick showed exactly what I wanted so there was no denying my desires, but I didn’t expect anything from her after what had just happened.
She hooked her fingers into my boxers. Slowly, she peeled them off so my cock could come free. Long, thick, and oozing at the tip, it was anxious to be inside her. Whenever I killed a man, I was particularly anxious to fuck a woman. It was an animal instinct, a carnal desire I couldn’t explain. While I owned this woman and could do whatever I wanted, she clearly wasn’t ready for that.
When my dick was free, she pressed her plump lips right against the shaft.
I closed my eyes and released a quiet moan. My hand automatically slipped into her hair because that simple kiss was enough to chase away all my coherent thoughts.
She dragged her tongue from the base of my shaft all the way to the tip. Then she kissed my crown, her warm breath splashing across my sensitive skin.
If I didn’t stop this now, I would lose my strength. My hand tugged on her hair, and I kept her mouth away from my dick. “Baby, you don’t owe me anything. At least not tonight.” I lifted her chin so she could look at me straight on.
“I know I don’t.” She opened her mouth again, flattened her tongue, and then pushed me deep inside her.
My hand tightened in her hair, and I sucked in a breath between my teeth. “Fuck.” Her mouth was almost as good as her pussy. It was definitely just as wet. I loved feeling her tongue gliding against my length, cushioning my cock as I drove deep to the back of her throat.
Her hand wrapped around my length, and she jerked me off while she deep-throated me. It was a great blow job, good enough to be paid for. She gave head like a hooker—a very expensive hooker.
All I’d wanted at the restaurant was this blow job, these plump lips surrounding my dick. But lying in bed with her, comforting her when she was scared, made me want something else. My arm circled her waist, and I rolled her to her back so I could move between her legs.
Surprise was in her eyes, but she didn’t question my movements. Her legs immediately circled my waist, and her fingers dug into my hair. With enthusiasm in her eyes, she pulled me against her and pressed her sexy lips against mine.
I kissed her slowly, my lips touching hers sensually as I felt her petite body against mine. Her nipples were hard brushing over my chest, and her skin was so soft against mine. I breathed into her mouth and felt her breathe into mine as I pushed my crown through her tight entrance. Slowly, I sank, both of us breathing hard as we fell into each other.
My hand dug into her hair as I sank deeper, feeling every inch of that exquisite cunt. My fingers tightened in her hair and kept her in place as I entered the woman I kept on a short leash. Someone had tried to take her from me, but I defended her so easily. She would be mine until I decided to give her up—and not a moment sooner.
She moaned against my mouth then dragged her nails down my back. “Balto…” Her ankles unlocked, and she widened her legs so I could thrust deep inside her. Even if I tapped against her cervix and caused her pain, she didn’t want me to stop. She wanted to feel every single inch of me no matter the cost.
My eyes locked on hers as I thrust into her, sinking us both into the mattress. “Baby, I’d never let anything happen to you.” I would defend her with my life, torment Lucian every day by reminding him she belonged to me, not him.
With her legs wide apart and her tits shaking with the thrusts, she looked into my eyes with parted lips. “I know…”
26
BALTO
Cassini was quiet the next day, saying very little because she was still disturbed by the events of the previous evening. Her appetite was gone, and she spent most of her time looking out the window, like she might spot the armored cars coming down the street.
At the end of the day, I took her to bed, and she fell asleep shortly after sex. Her naked body was wrapped around mine, so I carefully pulled myself away without disturbing her. I got dressed then entered the living room just as the elevator beeped.
Heath stepped inside. “What the hell happened?” He helped himself to a glass of scotch then took a seat on the couch.
“Lucian is an idiot. That’s what happened.” I grabbed the decanter and helped myself.
Heath had let his beard grow over the last few days, so his chin was completely covered. He seemed too tired for basic hygiene. Now we actually looked different because I always shaved. I preferred a clean look because it showed off the hard bones in my jaw. “He must be watching you like a hawk, then. The one time you go out, he strikes.”
“I don’t care if he’s watching me.” He’d been studying me for months, and that was the best attack he could muster. What a waste of time. He had a perfect opportunity, but he blew it with his stupidity. “I don’t understand how a man so brilliant can be so fucking stupid.”
“Maybe he thought you would be unarmed.” He swirled his glass as he looked into the contents.
“Which is even more stupid.” I was never unarmed. The only time a gun wasn’t within arm’s reach was when I was buried deep inside a woman. If he wanted to kill me, that was the best time to do it.
“Arrogance is the number one cause of downfalls. Every regime in history has crumpled because of that reason.”
“That may be the case. But Lucian doesn’t have enough qualities to be arrogant. There’s nothing to be arrogant about.” The man knew how to connect wires to a motherboard and he knew how to outsmart Cassini, but he would never know how to outsmart me.
“So what are you going to do?”
“Nothing.”
Heath raised an eyebrow. “Nothing?”
I nodded. “He’ll come to me eventually. He’ll realize the only way he’ll get Cassini back is by giving me what I want.”
“You really think he’ll give up the diamond to get her back?”
He’d sacrificed seventeen of his best men by trying to catch me off guard. After realizing Cassini was cheating on him, he should have tossed her aside and forgotten about her. But now he needed revenge—against both of us. “Unless he sells the diamond, it’s worthless. And if he tries to make a deal with someone, there’s a good chance I’ll hear about it. He’s a petty man who can’t stand hits to his pri
de, so he probably cares more about revenge than holding on to that diamond. Now he doesn’t just want vengeance against me, but Cassini. The only way that’s going to happen is if I give her to him.”
“And how will he get vengeance against you?”
“By hurting Cassini. I’m sure once he gets her back, he’ll plot something against me.”
“So this is never going to end until one of you is dead.” He pulled out a cigar from his pocket and lit it in my living room.
“Spoiler alert—it’s not going to be me.”
“So are you going to give her back, then?”
I stared into my glass, studying the sea of amber liquid. When I first started to drink, it burned my throat all the way down to my gut. Now it had no effect on me whatsoever. It was like drinking flavored water. “Not sure yet.”
He puffed on his cigar and let the smoke rise from his mouth. “I assumed your answer would be no.”
“Never assume anything when it comes to me.” I was a man devoid of emotion. My decisions were always based on logic, nothing else. That was what made me a good leader. Even the hardest decisions were easy to make because there was nothing that complicated the matter.
“What do you even want the diamond for? You have the other two.”
“Because all three belong to me.”
“But you’ll never sell them—”
“Because I don’t need to sell them. Cassini will never be more valuable. It doesn’t matter how beautiful she is. It doesn’t matter if I respect her or like her. This is business, and unfortunately, she’s the victim in that. But that’s how the real world works.”
He took another puff and let the smoke escape from the corner of his mouth. “I always knew you were cold, but damn…”
“It’s my job to be pragmatic.”
“But this has nothing to do with the Skull Kings. This is entirely personal—so you don’t need to be pragmatic.”
Maybe that was true, but it was still a betrayal to the man I was. I knew I would never have a serious woman in my life. It would be all work, drinking, and fucking. But then again, I’d never been with a single woman so long. I’d never been with a woman for more than a night. My regulars were all prostitutes, so they didn’t count.
“Can you really do that to her?” Heath asked incredulously. “You’ve been living with her for months now. You’re with her all the time. You killed seventeen men just to save her.”
“I saved her because she’s valuable property. It was nothing personal.”
“Well, I don’t believe that. I think you actually care about this girl, but you won’t admit it to yourself.”
“I never lie so that doesn’t make any sense.”
“People lie to themselves all the time. It’s a defense mechanism. You can’t stand the idea of caring about this woman, so you pretend she means nothing. You keep telling yourself she means nothing. You’ve said it enough times that you actually believe it.”
I refilled my glass and brought it to my lips as I stared at the coffee table. “I can’t have a woman in my life, at least not a permanent one. I’m the Skull King, and my obligation is to my men and our organization. There’s no happily ever after with me. She would just be a liability, a distraction. There’s no reason to keep her. I enjoy her now, but I can’t enjoy her in the long term.”
“Maybe that’s true. But you would really do that to an innocent woman?” Heath was usually hard and cold like I was, but he obviously had a soft spot for Cassini. Maybe his tenure in prison changed his attitude about wrongful suffering.
“I don’t care about innocent people. If I did, I wouldn’t be the Skull King.”
“You know what will happen to her.” He stared at me as he held the cigar between his fingertips.
Lucian would beat her bloody. He would rape her, have his men rape her. He would torture her until he finally felt satisfied. Then he would kill her in a brutal way. It wouldn’t be a bullet through the skull, something quick and relatively painless. It would be horrific, like drowning her in the pool or burning her alive.
“You’re telling me you can just carry on like nothing happened? Knowing the woman who has been in your bed every night was now being tortured?”
“What other option do I have? I can’t let him keep the diamond.”
“It’s just a diamond, Balto.”
“One of the most expensive diamonds in the world.”
“So?” he asked with a shrug. “You don’t have enough money already?”
“He betrayed me, Heath.” I slammed my glass on the table. “We had a deal, and he betrayed me. You think I can just let that go?”
“You got your revenge when you slept with his wife. If you ask me, that’s worse.”
“Not worse enough…” I stared at the coffee table.
“If Lucian does make the offer, really think it over. I know you’ll regret handing her over.”
“You don’t know anything, Heath. I threw you in jail for six months, remember? Lucian’s soldiers are just working for a paycheck, but that didn’t stop me from crushing one’s skull with my boot and recording it for Lucian to see. I’m a heartless son of a bitch.”
“Well, I deserved to be thrown in jail. We both know it. And Lucian’s soldier would have raped Cassini if he got his way. You don’t need to feel bad for what you did. But Cassini is different. Let’s not forget that you hunted down her ex-boyfriend and tortured him for what he did to her. She didn’t ask you to do that. You weren’t obligated to do it. But you did it anyway. What does that say about you?”
“She deserved vengeance. That’s all.”
“And you don’t think she deserves to be free from Lucian?” he questioned. “Beating the shit out of Evan doesn’t help her, Balto. It doesn’t make a difference. It only satisfied your rage. You say it was for her, but we both know that’s bullshit.”
I rubbed my hands together as I stared at my hard knuckles. Maybe I did care about Cassini, but not enough to change my plans. When I took her, I’d always had the intention of selling her back. I just wanted leverage against Lucian so he would give me what I wanted. I was too stubborn to change my mind. “Let’s drop it, alright?” I grabbed my glass again and finished the contents. “We’ve got work to do.” I rose to my feet and grabbed the gun off the counter.
Heath put out his cigar even though he wasn’t finished with it and came to my side. “Alright. I’ve said my piece.”
We headed to the elevator so we could ride to the lobby. I hit the button then we waited for the carriage to rise all the way to our level. Heath pulled out his phone and checked his text messages before he shoved it back into his pocket.
“Balto?” Her quiet voice sounded from behind me.
I turned around to see Cassini standing there, swallowed by my enormous t-shirt. It reached all the way to her knees, and the sleeves touched her elbows.
Heath abruptly turned around and faced the elevator, knowing it would piss me off if he stared at her when she looked so sexy in my clothes. “Pretend I’m not here…”
Cassini stared at me with hurt in her eyes. “Are you leaving?”
I stepped toward her and heard the elevator doors open behind me. “Yes.”
“And you weren’t going to tell me?” She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes bright with fire.
Heath stepped inside then hit the button. “I’ll wait for you downstairs…” The doors shut.
I kept my eyes on her. “You were asleep.”
“You could have woken me.” She shifted her weight to one hip, her attitude vicious.
“I hoped I would be back before you even woke up.”
“And what if I woke up and you weren’t here?”
“You would have called me—that’s what a phone is for.” I didn’t appreciate being questioned like this. I didn’t appreciate her entitlement. I came and went as I pleased, and I didn’t owe her anything.
“Don’t be an asshole.”
“Don’t expect anythi
ng out of me.”
The flames in her eyes continued to rise higher and higher. “Where are you going?”
“The same place I always go.” Anytime I left in the middle of the night, I was heading to the Underground. It was my home away from home. It was where my men gathered and we plotted our next scheme.
“Don’t you think it’s a little soon for you to be leaving?”
“It’s eleven. It’s later than normal.”
“I meant leaving me.” She tightened her arms across her chest. “I’m not ready to be alone right now.”
Her neediness aroused me, but it also pissed me off at the same time. “I have work to do, Cassini. I can’t stay here with you.”
“You’re the Skull King. You can do whatever you want.”
“And as the Skull King, I never abuse my power. I’m the leader of my men, and I’ve earned their respect and trust. I’m not going to turn my back on them just because you want me to protect you like a fucking guard dog.”
The fire in her eyes died away, replaced by a painful expression.
“You’re my prisoner, Cassini. Let’s not forget that.” I turned to the elevator and hit the button.
“Then why do you call me your woman?” she demanded. “Why do you call me baby?”
I stared at her, my expression stoic.
“You could have at least told me you were leaving.”
“I don’t owe you anything. Stop acting like I’m your boyfriend, and remember that I’m your captor. I’m your master. I come and go as I please. The only thing I’m required to do is make sure you have food and water.”
That made her snap. She stormed toward me and smacked her hand across my face.
I allowed her to do it because I knew I deserved it.
“You’re two different people.” Her voice was surprisingly quiet for how tense the moment was. “When you’re cold and ruthless, you’re the Skull King. You treat me like a dog and make me feel insignificant. But when you’re Balto, you’re my protector, my lover, and my friend. You treat me with respect and make me feel safe. You call me baby as you make love to me. You promise that you’ll protect me from all the terrible things in the world. You’re always going back and forth, and I’m sick of it. Who are you? You can’t be both. You can only be one or the other. So, which is it?”
