Brutal King (The Seven Deadly Sinacores #7)

Chapter 27

27

SOFIA

I t’s been two days since I’ve heard a word from Gideon. Sure, the last time we spoke and he told me he might be gone a bit longer than expected, I told him that if he ever did come back, he’d have to sleep with one eye open.

I didn’t mean I’d actually try to kill him again. Maybe.

“Still nothing?” Andie, Gavin’s girlfriend asks.

“Nothing.” I sigh. “He’s punishing me for threatening his life.”

“Oh.” She hands me the plate of dinosaur chicken nuggets I asked for. Since Gideon doesn’t consider them healthy, they’re not allowed on my diet. And Gavin is so dead set on keeping his promise to Gideon about my safety, that he’s eradicated anything remotely tasty from my menu.

Lucky for me, Andie’s curiosity when she spied me coming into the hotel got the better of her. She desperately wanted to meet me. So, she snuck into my suite/prison. We became instant friends and now she sneaks food I actually want to eat when she comes to visit. This morning it was Pop Tarts.

“What?” I ask when she stares at me for a long time.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You know you can.”

She comes to sit beside me and snags one of my nuggets. “I’ve told you about Lola.”

“Yes,” I say, wondering where this is headed. Lola is Andie’s daughter. Although Gavin has taken over the role, he’s not her biological father. Lola’s father had been a gangster from Los Angeles that raped Andie.

Andie chews on her lower lip, as if she’s struggling to formulate her question. “Did… The baby… Did Gideon rape you?”

“No.” I answer without hesitation, because I don’t want her to get that impression.

“But, he’s holding you against your will.”

I let out a long breath. “He is. But he’s never forced me to do things.” God. The things we’ve done. The things I have initiated. “Gideon would never hurt me in that way.”

“Do you love him?”

That surprises me. I want to answer as quickly as I did before. A resound no. I want to tell her that I hate him. That I wish he were dead and that I could go home to Briar House.

But as I sit here, desperate to hear from him, I realize that I can’t say any of those things. Instead, I say, “I don’t know what I feel anymore. I just want…”

A small cry escapes me. What do I want? I want to hear his voice. I want him to call me Little Bird. I want to fight with him. To have sex with him. To wake up in the middle of the night and not miss him!

“I just want him to call me,” I say. “Damn him for screwing me up like this.”

When did he become this important to me? He shouldn’t be, and yet, he’s vital to my wellbeing.

Andie reaches for my hand. “Do you want me to ask Gav if he’s heard from him?”

I nod. “Please.”

“Okay.” She gives me a gentle smile. “I’ll go look for him now.”

An hour passes. Two. The Red is a big hotel, but it shouldn’t be this hard to find someone. Unless Andie did find Gavin, but whatever she found out is bad.

There it is. I finally allow myself to think the worst. Ever since I was old enough to know what the men in my family were involved in, I’ve been afraid that something would happen to them. Now, that same fear that’s clutched at my chest is making it hard to breathe. This time, it’s for a man I should want dead, but fear I might die without.

Ugh! How did this happen? How did he worm his way into my heart? I fist my shirt and tug, wishing I could tear that traitorous thing from my chest.

I’ve been pacing the sitting area so long my feet have begun to hurt. I can’t wait any longer.

Determined to find Gavin myself, I go for the door. Before I can grab the handle, there’s a small knock.

I open it and gasp, “Gideon!”

He’s standing there, looking worse than I’ve ever seen him— his nose swollen, both eyes bruised and several cuts on his face.

Somehow, he still manages to give me one of his wolfish grins. “Hello, Little Bird.”

“You’re back!” I throw myself on him and he grunts.

However, when I try to pull back, his arms come around me and hold me tightly against him. “Don’t.”

“You’re hurt.”

“Just a bit.”

“Who did this? What happened? You didn’t call me for two fucking days!”

“I’m sorry.” He goes to the couch and I get him a pack of ice from the kitchenette. I sit beside him, but he tugs me onto his lap.

“What happened, Gideon?” I touch the ice to the most swollen part of his face.

“Scarlet.”

My cheeks burn with sudden rage. “She did this?”

“No. She’s the reason this happened.” He touches me softly, his fingertips tracing every bit of my skin that’s exposed. I’d grown so accustomed to his constant contact, I didn’t notice it anymore. Until I didn’t have it, that is. Now, I lean into it with relief that it’s finally back.

“Are you going to make me pry the story out of you?” I ask.

“Sorry. I’m tired.” He inhales deeply and lets his breath out slowly. “She and Gunner Sinclair have run off together.”

I laugh, but it dies off almost immediately when I realize he’s telling the truth. “Oh. And you’re okay with that?”

“Of course not. But I’m not their biggest problem. It’s your brother. He likes their union even less than I do.”

“What are you saying?”

“They came to me seeking asylum. He tracked them to my penthouse in New York. I had to do something to buy them time to escape.”

“Luca did this to you?”

He nods. “Well, he had help.”

I stare at him, processing what he’s just said. He turned himself in for them. Risked his life so that they can have one.

My throat tightens as I realize just how close he came to dying. “Luca could have killed you.”

His lips tug upwards and he smirks.

“What?” I ask.

“This is the first time you worried about me. Usually you only care if I hurt him .”

“You promised me you wouldn’t.”

“And you trust me now?”

“Yes,” I reply honestly.

Grabbing me by the back of the neck, he pulls me into a gentle kiss. “Say you missed me, Little Bird.”

“You know I did.”

“Say it.”

“I missed you, you horrid man.” I kiss him again, my hands all over him. Shoving his suit jacket aside, I add, “If you ever leave me again, I’ll murder you.”

Chuckling, he wraps his hands around my wrists. He brings them to his mouth and bites each one. “What should I do then? Bring you with me?”

“Or don’t go at all.” I practically tear his button-shirt off and wince when I see all the bruising on his chest. “Jesus.”

“I’ve had worse.”

“Have you?”

“No. But don’t stop.” He thrusts his hips up so that I can feel his rigid length on my ass.

I’m wet. It’s been two weeks since we’ve been together and my body is desperate for him. So, it takes everything I have to get off him. “We can’t. You’re injured.”

He snatches my hand before I can go far and tugs me to him so that I’m standing between his legs. “Then fuck me slowly.”

“Are you sure?”

“I need to be inside you.” He lifts my shirt over my swollen breasts and drags my bra down. “Have you touched yourself today?”

“No.” I giggle when he licks a nipple. “Are you going to punish me?”

“In a few days. Right now, I just want to taste you.” He licks me again, then he takes me fully into his mouth, suckling me the way he knows will make me squirm.

“God, yes.” I hold his head to me, digging my fingers into his thick hair.

He makes quick work of my jeans and panties, and pulls his pants off. I straddle him and press my pussy onto his cock. It slides between my folds and over my sensitive clit. Then, I position myself so that when I come down once more, he sinks into me.

We both sigh from the feeling of being joined like this. His arms come around me. At the same time, I wrap myself around him. Our mouths come together, not in a violent kiss as is our usual, but in something slow and tender.

I begin to move my hips, undulating them over him in the same rhythm as my kiss. We stay like that for a long while. Yet, it’s not long enough.

Even after he comes, he keeps me there, refusing to let me go. He stays inside me. It’s where he belongs and we both know it.

It’s only when his weariness overwhelms him and he shuts his eyes, that he finally releases me. I get off him and tug him down to the couch so that we’re lying next to each other.

“I can’t fall asleep,” he says, though I can tell he can’t fight it. “I have things to do.”

“Always plotting.” I run my fingertips lightly through his hair. “How did you escape Luca?”

His lids crack open. “He called Rowan. Made a deal with him.”

“What deal?”

“His entire territory if I don’t give you up by the end of the week.”

I feel as if all of my blood drains from me. “Oh, my God. What are you going to do?”

“I’m not going to let you go. But I can’t allow my brother to sacrifice what he’s worked so hard for, either.” He stares at me sleepily and smiles. His arm snakes around me and tugs me closer. “Damn vulnerabilities.”

“I could talk to Luca,” I offer.

“What would you say? That you want to stay with me?” His brows pinch together. “ Do you want to stay?”

“If I did?”

His grin widens. “Have you fallen in love with me, Little Bird?”

“I think it’s called Stockholm Syndrome, actually. It’s what happens when someone is captured and develops feelings for their captor.” It’s meant to be a joke, because I don’t really believe it’s my case. Not when I was hot and bothered by him before he did anything. But I needed a way to confess whatever this is that had me desperate for his return, without leaving myself completely exposed.

However, Gideon doesn’t take it that way. It sobers him instantly. He frowns and his gaze goes distant. Then, he abruptly stands.

“I should shower,” he says.

Without looking at me again, he walks away. I’m left staring after him, wondering what the hell I’ve said that bothered him.