Chapter 23 – Sage
M y heart pounds against my chest, my nerves like a hot wire ready to combust.
What the fuck.
What the fuck.
What the fuck.
There’s a literal shootout happening in the middle of the street in Midtown East. Muffled sirens pierce through the nearly soundproof windows, and I cover my ears.
Wait, Elias told me to get down.
But before I dive to the floorboard, the hairs on the back of my neck rise, alerting me that I’m no longer alone. When I turn to see who it is, praying to whatever God will listen that it’s one of Elias’s soldiers, a balmy hand covers my mouth.
And the cool tip of a knife presses against my neck.
“Hello, Sunshine. ”
I gasp and hold my breath at the sound of Chase’s voice.
How the hell did he get in here? Elias and his men were everywhere, even before bullets started flying.
“You’ve been a busy little slut.”
I attempt to respond, but his grip over my mouth is too strong, and he digs the knife’s tip deeper. A burning sensation spreads from the cut, and I feel the slow trickle of blood down my neck.
“Tell your boyfriend to back off,” he says, his hot breath making me shiver.
Tears streak down my cheeks, and I might just pass out with how fast my heart is beating.
“What... what are you going to do?” I manage to say clear enough when his hold eases up.
“I have your parents. I’ll kill them the next time Carter busts one of my shipments.”
He’s lying. My parents are safe. I just spoke to them on FaceTime an hour before coming out tonight.
“Next, I’ll kill that best friend of yours. Noah, or is it Noemi?”
Okay, he’s clearly desperate.
Noah would kick his ass, and even if he somehow got a jump on her, he’d have to get past Del.
But I don’t say anything because one wrong word will have the knife sinking deeper into my neck.
“Tell. Him. To. Back. Off. ”
The shootout has stopped, but the strobe of red and blue lights coming through the windows lets me know cops are on the scene.
Chase lets go and climbs past me to exit the vehicle.
I spin around, searching for Elias, but he’s too far away speaking with police to notice Chase escaping. I spot Aaron and Justin, my two bodyguards, but they’re on the other side of the SUV leaving the side Chase slipped out unprotected.
I try to yell for Elias, to anyone, but nothing comes out when I open my mouth.
Fuck. Chase is getting away, and as soon as Elias finds out what happened, he’s going to be pissed. I hope he won’t kill any of his men for this.
I scan the crowd, wondering if I can at least see which way Chase ran off, but he’s somehow managed to blend in with the dozen or so people now gathering with their cell phones recording the aftermath of the shootout.
I lean my head back on the headrest and inhale deeply. The scent of blood burns my nose, and I skim my fingertips over the cut that Chase caused.
Huh...
That’s not that much blood.
Then where...
My eyes land on the SUV’s driver, slumped over the wheel.
And, finally, I scream .
That gets Elias’s attention.
He runs back to the car and opens the door, the same one Chase exited. I’m a crying, bubbling mess at this point, and I’m explaining what happened quickly and furiously, my words likely making no sense.
I point a lot... at my neck, at the dead driver.
Elias steps away and frantically searches the crowd for Chase, then barks orders at his men. A few of them run off while others stay behind to speak with officers.
Wait. Is that the mayor?
Elias knows the mayor of New York City?
Of course, he does.
I’ve calmed down drastically by the time Elias returns to the car. He holds out his hand, helping me get out since my legs are like Jell-O because of the adrenaline, and leads me to another SUV waiting around the corner.
“Let’s get you home.”
He opens the door for me, and I crawl in. Once he’s inside, and shuts the door, he gives the driver a nod and the car takes off.
Watching him in his mafia persona is insanely hot. The way he can issue a command without saying a word? The way he jumped into the line of fire instead of running away from it. The way he makes sure I’m still safe while taking down the bad guys.
My distress about the shooting, about Chase, falls away and lust takes over. My body lights up .
I turn my head watching this powerful man beside me. He’s typing away on his phone, probably still dealing with the aftermath of what just happened.
He can finish that later.
I need him now.
I grab his phone and toss it to the floor.
“Sage? What the fuck?”
I ignore him and crawl into his lap, swallowing his curses with a devouring kiss. My hands are buried in his hair, tugging at the strands while I grind my hips. His cock hardens beneath me.
“Fuck me right now,” I groan, pulling away from the kiss. I fumble with his pants, desperate to have him inside me.
“Sage, I can’t...”
“Please. I need this.”
“You’re in shock—”
“I’m not. I’m fucking alive. Elias, please.”
Once I have his cock out, I fist the thick length up and down. Elias groans, his head falling back on the headrest. Behind me, I hear the car’s privacy divider activate.
“He didn’t scare me,” I say.
I reach underneath my dress and pull my panties aside, allowing me to sink down to the hilt.
“Fuck,” I moan at the same time Elias does.
Using his shoulders for leverage, I ride him. My movements are slow, calculated, torturous .
“Chase had a knife to my throat, but instead of cowering like I’d normally do, I held my head high.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Elias says and leans in to lick the blood off my neck.
I whimper and clench around him as I find a rhythm and pick up speed. Elias covers my mouth with his, capturing my moans and cries with rough kisses.
Just how I like it.
This might be the hottest sex we’ve had yet.
It feels important.
Because I can finally see myself in his world.
“You’re perfect, Sage. Your pussy is perfect. My cock was made for you.”
Elias holds my hips in place and bucks up into me. My head falls back with a scream.
Neither of us care that the driver and QBM soldier in the passenger seat can hear us fucking back here. The divider provides visual privacy. It appears to be soundproofed for casual conversations, but not screaming, hot sex.
Elias pounds up into me, bringing me to the edge of release. His mouth finds my breast, and he bites down over the fabric-covered nipple. My orgasm erupts.
He thrusts a few more times before following with his own release.
We sit there, his cock inside me to the hilt while we catch our breath .
“I’m sorry about your driver,” I whisper. “Did anyone else... get hurt?”
He skims his palm up and down my spine. “No one else. At least nothing life-threatening.”
“This is my fault. If Chase—”
“Chase is the only one to blame here. He’s using you to get to me. Don’t ever apologize for that man again, okay?”
I nod then, while still on his lap, his cock inside me, I tell him everything Chase said to me. We even FaceTimed my parents just to be sure. They were inside the beachside home, cooking dinner.
The call was less than a minute because I couldn’t stop blushing, worried that my parents would somehow find out I was being used as a cock warmer.
As the driver continues towards Brooklyn, Elias explains that his men are canvassing the area around the bar, along with the NYPD.
The mayor showed up so he could help spin the shootout to the media.
I asked if he was worried about all the people who recorded the aftermath on their cell phones.
There were too many devices to confiscate and wipe the evidence, so he said they basically had to explain that club owner Johnny Goode was targeted, believed to be a disgruntled patron who was denied access to one of his clubs.
Elias said it was a weak explanation, but it was going to have to do for now.
“Do you feel better?” he asks. “ Did the car sex help?”
I snort and bury my head in the crook of his neck.
“It did.”
I kiss along his throat and jaw before placing a gentle kiss on his lips. Since he’s still inside me, I feel him getting hard again.
“You know, that was the first time I’ve fucked in a moving car,” I say.
“But you’ve fucked in a parked car?”
“Yeah. Prom. Junior year.” I roll my eyes. “I can see you revving up to be jealous, but don’t. It was the dude’s first time and my second. It was horrible.”
He smiles at that.
“Good. You will never have terrible sex ever again.”
“Is that a promise?”
He lifts my hips, and I gasp when his cock slides out of me, but only to the tip.
Then he jerks up, re-entering me again in one slick move.
I groan and wrap my arms around his neck, allowing him to pump into me easily.
“So,” he says between thrusts. “What else haven’t you done? Tell me all your fantasies, and I’ll be happy to fulfill them.”
“I want to...” I moan, temporarily losing my words. “I uh... fuck, Elias, that’s good.”
His arms are wrapped around my waist as he drives into me from below.
“Tell me or I won’t let you come,” he teases .
“I want you... to wake me up... with sex.”
He pauses inside me, and I wiggle my hips because I was real fucking close to coming again.
“I’ve never done that before either,” he says.
“Really? So you’ll do it?”
“When? Tomorrow morning?”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to know. I want it to be unexpected.”
He curses, then resumes fucking me until I’m shaking with another mind-blowing orgasm.
When I crawl off Elias’s lap to sit next to him, I curl up to his side.
“Why didn’t you tell me you could sing?”
“Because I don’t like to. It reminds me of my mother.”
“Oh.”
“But now I can sing and think of you.”
I smile, and he kisses my forehead. I close my eyes, and the next thing I remember is Elias waking me when we get back to the penthouse. I’m half asleep as he leads me inside.
The excitement from the shooting and the adrenaline crash after has me falling asleep the moment he puts me in bed.
I dream about a life where Elias and I have a home in the suburbs with a backyard and a fire pit. Where our kids run around the yard and Noah and Del hang out while Elias grills .
It may not happen anytime soon, but maybe one day that could be us.
No more guns.
No more mafia.
No more brushes with death.