Surrendering To Him

by Hope Jones

  I glared as I snatched the phone and pushed the green answer button.

  “Hello?” I snapped.

  “My, my, someone is grumpy, considering they slept next to the hottest person in East Haven,” Millie said in my ear while laughing.

  “How do you know that?” I asked, focusing my attention on something other than Hux, which was a piece of lint on my shirt, or his shirt I should say.

  “Well, Mr. Carson called me last night and let me know you were okay and staying with him for the night,” she said with more than a little trepidation in her voice. She had good reason to be scared. My blood lit on fire and my eyes narrowed. I couldn’t believe he called my best friend and told her I was staying with him. I didn’t even know I was staying with him until I woke up in bed next to him!

  “Oh, he called you, huh?” I asked with sarcasm in my voice. At some point, Huxley moved from the counter to the dining room table. He bit into some toast while reading the paper. The same paper I wrote for. I wasn’t sure why, but knowing he could just stumble onto my column and read my work unnerved me. Like I needed his approval for some reason. Regardless, my stomach started knotting up and I could feel a lump in my throat forming.

  Shaking off the nerves, I jumped off the counter and moved to Hux. My movements were jerky and agitated, because… well, I was agitated.

  “One second,” I told Millie into the phone then pulled it away from my ear before she had the chance to say anything else.

  “Why did you call Millie?” I asked angrily. I tried my damnedest not to notice the way his arms moved when he set his coffee cup down, but it was futile. I noticed his every little muscle flex and started mentally drooling.

  Ya know, if he wasn’t such a douche bag, he’d be a good fuck buddy, the sexual side of my brain said.

  Shut up, the rational part responded.

  “She needed to know where you were. She said to call her when you got home, and since you never made it home, I didn’t want her to worry,” he stated flatly.

  “I could have called her! You should have woken me up when we got here, so I could—”

  I paused.

  It clicked.

  How would he know she told me to call her? That was a phone conversation, a private one. He wasn’t in the strange room when I spoke to her.

  My eyes narrowed on him, but he seemed completely unaffected by my glare.

  “How do you know she told me to call her?”

  “You aren’t dumb, babe” was all he said.

  “I’m not dumb? I’m not dumb?” I shrieked.

  It was official.

  I had lost it.

  I had finally lost my ever-lovin’ mind!

  This sanity-tempting, drool-worthy, maddening man had pushed me too far. He interrupted my interview, made me look bad on the job, told me I wasn’t rescheduling said interview, threw me in what I assumed was a safe room for hours, wouldn’t take me home, and then called my best friend and told her I was fine.

  I suppose I should’ve been thankful he called her and told her not to worry, but I thought being pissed was more appropriate, because I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask for his protection, and I still wasn’t sure why I needed it. What could possibly be dangerous about conducting an interview in the police station, for God’s sake? I didn’t ask for him to look out for me. As a matter of fact, I repeatedly asked to be taken home and let out of the safe room. I wasn’t given what I wanted, so Huxley earned this verbal lashing I was about to give him.

  Forcing thoughts of murder out of my head, I watched Huxley set the paper down, push his chair back, and come to his full height. He moved the hair off my shoulders and squeezed my neck roughly, but not painfully, and it made the words on my tongue die instantly.

  “You know the line of work I’m in,” he said, but it was more like a question than a statement.

  “Well, yeah. I think everyone does.”

  “Therefore, you know I have to keep myself and the men who work with me protected.”

  I nodded. I also noted he didn’t say the men who worked for him but with him. That said something about his character. He thought of them as equals, not below him.

  He really is a good man, my brain said to me.

  Shut up already! I yelled back.

  “Means I have to do what is necessary to protect all of us. You don’t make as many friends as you do enemies with my job. My entire office is covered from top to bottom in cameras. Also, I tapped your phone when I found out the mess you were sticking your nose in. There are cameras being installed at your house as we speak, which is why you came home with me last night,” he stated straight to the point and cutting out any bullshit.

  Chaos and danger were normal to him; it was his everyday life. What I didn’t understand was what his chaos had to do with me. I wasn’t involved in anything dangerous. Or, should I say, more dangerous than usual. Why the hell did I need cameras?

  “What mess am I sticking my nose in?” I asked, way more calmly than I felt, because inside I was a freaking mess.

  “Sit, eat, drink your coffee, and we’ll talk,” he said and moved to bring me some toast.

  “I need to go,” I mumbled to Millie.

  She said something in response, but I barely registered it as I pulled the phone from my ear.

  I numbly sat down next to Hux and tried thinking of a way out of him having me on a live feed. I couldn’t have cameras in my house. I couldn’t have Huxley watching me twenty-four seven. No freakin’ way. Nope. Not to mention he already ruined one interview and interfered with my job. He might try to stop me from doing other pieces. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I worked too hard and loved my job too much. My job was my baby; I was dedicated. It was the only thing I had left that meant something to me other than my friendship with Millie and her family.

  Hux set a plate down with two pieces of toast, my coffee mug, grape jelly, and a butter knife. I had no idea why he thought I could eat right now. My stomach was a mess of nerves. I took a sip of java then looked at him expectantly.

  He sighed, nodding at my plate, but I shook my head. Luckily, he didn’t push me on eating. I didn’t think I could handle him pushing anything else right now.

  “You covered a case a few months ago about a drug cartel that was moving into the area. One of the lower men on the totem pole was caught with a lot of heroin and arrested,” he said, leaning back into his chair with an arched brow.

  “Uh, yeah, I remember. That was a huge case. What does that have to do with anything though?” I pondered out loud, frustrated with the runaround I seemed to be getting.

  “That drug and flesh cartel aren’t too happy with you,” Huxley informed me, taking a sip of his coffee then settling back in his seat.

  “Again, why should I care? I’m sure there are plenty of people who aren’t happy with the pieces I write. I don’t usually care though. Huxley, please get to the point,” I stressed.

  “That cartel, the Disciples, have been trying to get territory in East Haven for a couple years now. They lay pretty low and don’t like being seen or heard. You don’t know they’re around until it’s too late and they’ve already bought off half the town. You made it impossible for them to do that when you covered the trial. Everyone in town and half the surrounding area ate that shit up. When you reported what the Disciples were doing, it delayed their takeover and you cost them a shit-ton of money.”

  I sat back in my seat. I didn’t know my writing was such a big deal. I didn’t know the Disciples were such a huge deal. When I covered that trial, I honestly thought it was just a few men operation, not an entire fucking drug cartel! That trial was almost a year ago though, so if they were going to do something to me as retribution, wouldn’t they have done so already? Obviously, I was just a blip on their radar if nothing had been done yet. And why did Hux care so much?

  “Okay, so I pissed them off, but that was a year ago. Wouldn’t they have done something already if they were worried about me?”<
br />
  “What I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room, Phoebe. Understand? I’m serious; don’t even talk to Millie about it. You could put her in danger.”

  My eyes widened with shock. What could be so damn serious that if I breathed a word, Millie’s life hung in the balance?

  “Pinky promise, I won’t say a word.” I held my pinky out, waiting on him to take it.

  “You’re cute,” Hux said but didn’t accept my sacred promise.

  “So, you don’t like pinky promises. Duly noted,” I teased him.

  He smirked and continued with his story. “They have laid low for the last year, because of the publicity you gave them, but as soon as they found an in, they took it.”

  “Sheriff Douche!” I yelled. I put the puzzle together and felt like I won the lottery. I freaking knew something was off with him. “I kept telling Millie something wasn’t right when he won over Kian. She thought I was just trying to find a story where there may not have been one. Ha! Take that, Millie.”

  Huxley looked at me as if I was a lunatic, which was probably how I sounded, but who cared? I was happy to finally have my suspicions confirmed.

  “You’re right. They have Sheriff Romer on their payroll, which is how he won the election. Kian knows about Romer and the Disciples and that I’m in the process of taking them down,” he said and stopped to take a sip from his mug.

  “Okay, but what are we doing to stop Sheriff Douche and the cartel?” I asked, finally feeling well enough to take a bite of toast. I needed something or my stomach would eat itself, since I hadn’t had a meal since breakfast yesterday.

  “Nothing,” Hux said, his eyes darkening.

  I cocked my head to the side and dropped my toast back on the plate. “Nothing? What do you mean nothing?” I yelled.

  “You said we, and we aren’t doing anything about it. My team and I are doing something about it, alongside Kian, but he can only do so much.”

  He really couldn’t think I would sit back and do nothing. There was no way he thought that. Huxley wasn’t an idiot.

  “Judging by the look on your face, I can see you aren’t cool with that. I’m gonna tell you why you are gonna be cool with that or I’m gonna handcuff you to my bed,” he said with more than a little annoyance in his tone.

  Ha! This man thought he owned me. Let him try to cuff me to his bed. I would scream and raise hell until one of his neighbors heard me then called the cops.

  “You started a fire when you insisted on interviewing Sheriff Romer.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him off. Mostly to tell him I was just doing my job. I needed that interview to complete the election piece I was working on. I needed to hear words straight from Sheriff Douche’s mouth, so I could nail his ass to the wall when I dug a little deeper to find the truth behind the lies.

  “Hold it in. Keep your snit fit to yourself for a few more minutes,” he cut in quickly, seemingly losing his patience.

  I nodded. I thought it was best to hold the ‘snit fit’ in for a few more minutes, let him say his piece, and then lay into him.

  “The Disciples’s leader, Hector, put a hit out on you, and I believe Romer accepted the interview to help set you up. Your snooping has caused a problem. No one knows about the connection between the Disciples and Romer, and they wanted to keep it that way. Hector didn’t see you as a big threat until you pushed for the interview. Anyone who can provide proof of your death and make it look like an accident gets a hundred thousand bucks. Last thing they need is the attention a potential murder charge would bring. Too much heat. Hector is cleaning up liabilities. You were already one when you gave the Disciples unwanted attention a year ago. Then you really got on their radar when you started poking around after the election. They thought you would go away, but of course you didn’t. You don’t have a single bone in your body that would allow you to quit.” He stopped, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and bringing his face closer to mine.

  “Now, I know you aren’t the type to sit in the background and wait this out, but that’s what I need from you. I can’t have you die. I can’t have your blood on my hands,” he stressed, taking my hands in his and rubbing his thumb up and down the tops of my hands.

  “Why are you so concerned about my well-being?” I wondered out loud.

  Out of everything he just told me, I focused on why he was so worried about me. I sounded like a ten-year-old who had never been given any attention or love, which was not the case. But I couldn’t understand why Huxley Carson was so concerned about little ole me. He had been in town for two years. We had passed each other on the street occasionally, and we may have even said hello once or twice, but we didn’t know each other. So, what about me was so special? I was sure there were other people, men and women, who needed his help more than I did, but he wasn’t personally invested in their lives.

  “Because as of last night, you are mine.”

  “Huh?” I mumbled, because what he said was so ludicrous.

  I was his? First off, what the hell did that even mean? Second, isn’t that something we should have, I don’t know, discussed? I couldn’t help myself; I started laughing until my gut hurt.

  Oh my God, he was joking, and his joke was actually funny. Who would have thought that big, bad Huxley Carson was a jokester?

  “Laugh all you want, babe, but it’s happening,” he said, getting out of his chair and taking his dishes to the sink.

  “Uh, since when? I didn’t agree to any of this,” I said defiantly. I had been over and over this in my head. Hux and I weren’t going to happen. There was no way.

  “Happened about the time I threw you over my shoulder and then handcuffed you to my door handle,” he said, coming up behind me and grabbing my cup and plate off the table then dumping them in the sink.

  “Hux, we can’t start seeing each other just because you say so. That’s not how dating works,” I informed him, even though he probably already knew that.

  He wasn’t an idiot.

  Or so I thought.

  “With you it does.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I fumed, my anger rising yet again. Being angry so much in the last twelve hours couldn’t have been good for my health. Huxley was completely irrational.

  “Babe,” he said flatly.

  I rolled my eyes and looked to the heavens, asking for patience. I didn’t ask for strength, because if I did, and received said strength, I’d use it to knock Huxley in the head.

  “Your one word answers really freakin’ suck. Did you know that?” So much for patience.

  “Go get your clothes on. I’m taking you home so I can go to the office. Got shit to do,” he ordered, completely ignoring me.

  “I would have already been dressed had I known where my damn clothes are!” I hollered at his retreating back.

  “Laundry room, last door on the left. Clothes are on the dryer,” he shouted as he closed the bedroom door behind him. I guessed he was getting ready too.

  Hell yeah! I was going home. I was so happy I could dance. After having my internal wounds exposed to Huxley yesterday and learning that a bounty had been put on my head, I craved time to myself. I needed to feel all my anger and nerves without Huxley watching over me. I also needed to figure out a way to shake Huxley off.

  I scoffed to myself. Yeah, and maybe I could grow two heads overnight and scare him away for good.

  Three

  Are We Drunk?

  THE RIDE TO my house was quiet and he didn’t say anything. I almost asked how he knew where I lived, but it was Huxley. He knew everything about me. When we pulled up to my house, there were a few men milling about outside, talking amongst one another and pointing to the corners of my brick house.

  “Uh, who are they?” I asked Hux, pointing to the guys.

  “My men. Setting up your new security system and cameras,” he replied, pulling into my driveway and throwing his car in park before unbuckling then angling his large body out of his sp
orts car.

  But I was frozen in my seat. It was like I was glued. I was starting to freak out internally.

  Cameras were being installed in my house. A new security system. All of this was too real. I was in danger. My life could end right this very second.

  Holy shit.

  Holy shit.

  What the hell was I going to do? And how the hell could I get out of this? I couldn’t have Huxley watching me on cameras whenever he wanted. Fuck, what if there were cameras in my bathroom and he saw me naked before I jumped into the shower?

  Idiot, he already undressed you last night, my brain reminded me.

  Fuck, I forgot about that.

  Huxley opened my door and bent his head in to look at me.

  “Babe, let’s go. Got shit to do,” he spoke, breaking into my thoughts.

  I couldn’t move. I was still stuck.

  “Babe,” he reiterated.

  “I can’t do this,” I whispered to no one in particular, because it didn’t even register that Hux was in my face, unbuckling my seat belt.

  “Phoebe, look at me,” he commanded, and something about the tone of his voice caught my attention and forced me to look at him.

  “You’re gonna be okay. I have you, baby,” he whispered, gliding his hand through my hair.

  His eyes were sincere. I could tell he meant what he said. He had me. But I didn’t want him to, did I?

  Fuck, who was I and what did I do with the normal Phoebe Danvers? ‘Cause the normal Phoebe Danvers would never question whether she wanted a man to have her. The answer would be a resounding no.

  “I can’t have you watching me twenty-four seven, Huxley. I can’t.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced my eyes away from him. I couldn’t be vulnerable around him. No one had ever seen me like that except the family I didn’t have any more and Millie.

  “The only cameras in your house are in your living room, hallway, and office. Your personal space isn’t being invaded. No cameras in your bedroom or bathroom. Cameras outside in your backyard, front yard, and the blind spots around your house. I’m here to keep you safe, not make you feel like I’ve taken over your entire life.” Hux spoke gently, like I was a child who would run away at any moment.