Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Kade
Holy. Fucking. Hell.
Her lips taste like the most delicious fruit I’ve ever consumed. Like sinful temptation and danger and sanctuary all in one.
I knew I’d be fucked if I ever did this. Everything inside me warned me to never cross that line. Never touch her like this, outside my mind.
Now look at me. I’ve lost control and I can’t stop.
And this is just a kiss.
The craving inside my heart keeps my lips glued to hers and fuck me, I want more. I want her in my bed.
I want to rip off her cute little dress and taste her everywhere.
I want to impale her on my cock and fall into the madness that takes me when I’m speeding my motorcycle down the highway way too fast with no destination in mind.
I need to stop. But I’ve lost control and so has she.
She can’t lie to herself now and claim to hate me. Neither can I. People who hate each other don’t kiss like this.
The devious thought of how we’d fuck slithers into my mind, and that’s when I remember myself. My plans. My mission.
I’m transfixed by the goddess in my arms. The way she tastes, smells, feels, lives, but I can’t forget why we’re here.
That thought enrages me because I want to forget and take her the way I’ve always wanted to take her.
The conflict drives me mad and all I can do to fix the spell of insanity is stop.
So I do. I stop kissing her and break the spell.
It’s like we were possessed by the ghosts of desire. The people we were before I knew the truth and wanted vengeance. Me the rebel and her the good girl who should have wanted someone better than me.
When I inch away she trembles.
I open my eyes and see her beautiful face turning pale with the shock of someone who’s done something they never thought they would do. Then the same realization that got me hits her and she steps back.
The color returns to her cheeks and she touches her fingers to her lips as if checking to see what we did was real.
A little gasp floats out of her delicate doll-like mouth before she whirls around and practically runs away from me.
I watch her go out the door, leaving it open so I can see her make her escape down the flight of stairs connecting the other apartments.
I stare until I can’t see her anymore and then I touch my lips, too—they're burning with fire from the kiss.
Fuck. What the hell is wrong with me?
No. Scratch that. I know what’s wrong with me. I want her. I established that answer well before now. But just because you want something doesn’t mean you’re supposed to have it. Even if you’re the kind of person who always takes what they want.
In my case there are more important factors I can’t ignore.
I keep jumping back and forth in my mind with this girl.
Wanting her and not.
She makes me crazy. One minute I want to fuck her to death; the next I want to punish her. My mind has gone wild with the fact that she’s mine and I have her where I want her.
I want to promise myself that what happened just now can’t happen again but the problem is that I now have a taste of her.
I know what her hot little mouth tastes and feels like on mine. And now I crave her. I crave more.
I’m like a fucking addict who should have never had the fix.
I have a feeling I’ll never be able to go back to before I touched her.
I stare down at the shaggy-haired man before me.
He’s kneeling on the ground and shaking.
I'm wearing my skull mask. Beside me are Dmitri and Logan, who are masked as well. We’re outside an abandoned warehouse in Central.
Hade’s Demons rode again tonight for another purge. This time we captured guy number two on my list.
Giovanni De Lucca is a drug mule. He was supposed to be transporting a shipment of cocaine to Nikoli’s clients in New York. He stopped off in Boston for a break with some escorts who we sent home.
This fucker had one hell of a night planned until we happened.
His truck with five million dollars’ worth of cocaine is opposite us. His men fled when they saw us coming so he’s all alone.
People like Nikoli commission men like this one because they look normal and can fit into society without drawing police attention. One look at this guy wearing a thick jumper and black-rimmed geek glasses and you’d think he belonged in a library.
The two bulky security guards we took down looked more like the mule I expected to find but the problem there is that having too many guys like that gives the game away.
That’s why he’s left to deal with us now.
“Please don’t hurt me,” Giovanni begs, gazing up at me with pleading eyes.
“ Please don’t hurt me ,” I mimic his words in a little girl voice, making Dmitri and Logan laugh. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t, motherfucker.”
I don’t know this man. He’s just one of Nikoli’s workers. It’s enough to make him my enemy but I wanted to know what kind of man I’d be dealing with.
When I looked him up I found enough dirt to label him as a menace to society no one needs.
This asshole doesn’t just ferry drugs. He kidnaps and traffics women for Nikoli, too.
On top of that he was accused of raping fifteen women in Providence. The cases were mysteriously dropped and written off the system when each victim suddenly retracted their accusation. I imagine that was Nikoli’s way of cleaning up loose ends so he could keep one of his best employees on the street.
“I didn’t do anything to you. I don’t know you,” Giovanni stutters.
“You can’t see my face. How the fuck do you know that you don’t know me? I could be the brother or husband of one of the women you attacked.”
He trembles even more. “Please don’t hurt me.”
“I wonder how many women said those words to you and you never listened.” I send a kick to his stomach and when he doubles over I give him another to his face.
He goes flying backwards.
That felt good and strangely satisfying. This is the first moment I’ve been able to focus since I kissed Isabelle.
I found myself in the shower again last night with my dick in my hands trying to rid myself of the crippling lust that tore away at my mind and body.
It was only when I met up with the guys that I started to think about something that wasn’t her.
Giovanni pisses himself and we laugh.
“Tonight we’re going to teach you a lesson you won’t forget,” Dmitri taunts. In his hand is a large can of gasoline.
We like fire. The ones we start leave nothing behind.
Dmitri walks over to the truck, opens the back, and doses the packages of cocaine with the gasoline. Logan takes out his knife and slashes them open.
“No, don’t do that. I’ll get in trouble when the boss finds out.”
“Don’t worry. Where you’re going you won’t have to worry about him anymore. You’ll have a whole new set of worries.” I kick him again.
“Where am I going?” Giovanni winces.
“An island off the coast of nowhere the Bratva uses for scum like you.”
He starts panting like he’s going to have a panic attack.
I thought Hell’s Island would be a perfect place for him. It’s actually a private island near Thasos the Bratva uses as an off-grid location to deal with people like this guy who they want to punish. When you go there you disappear forever.
While Dmitri and Logan continue dosing the truck, I kick the shit out of Giovanni. By the time I’m done with him he’s a bloody, crying mess.
Another truck pulls up to us. This is one of my guys. A contact my uncle uses when he needs to dispose of certain things or people.
Big Joe steps out of the truck and his gaze goes straight to Giovanni squirming on the ground.
When I was little I used to think Big Joe was a giant. He’s nearly seven feet tall and is built like The Rock.
“Is this him?” he asks, grinning at Giovanni.
“Sure is, and he’s all yours,” I answer.
Big Joe laughs, sounding like a monster from a nightmare.
Giovanni has just enough energy left to try and get away, but he’s moving at a snail’s pace.
Joe marches over to him and zip ties his hands and feet. Then he easily picks him up, throws him over his shoulder and hauls him into the back of his truck where a large Rottweiler sits. Giovanni’s screams are cut off.
“Until next time, mikrós polemistís ,” Joe says, calling me little warrior in Greek.
That’s what my mother used to call me. Hearing him call me that pulls memories of her to my mind and the ache in my heart that I can never soothe.
“Next time.” I tip my head.
Joe gets in the truck and drives away.
I turn back to Dmitri and Logan and nod, signaling them to start the fire.
They do, and when it blazes we get away from there. Our bikes are parked around the corner.
We rush toward them but I stop just as I’m about to jump on.
Like the other night there’s a lone biker parked in the distance.
Alek . He followed us again.
Tonight he’s parked near the river but positioned himself where he knew we’d be able to see him. Or rather I would.
Dmitri comes to my side and follows my gaze.
“That’s Alek,” he says in a low voice as if Alek can hear him.
“I know.” I clench my jaw and keep my eyes on Alek.
“He was watching us last night, too.” Logan joins us.
“He hasn’t stopped watching us,” I inform them and they both glance at me.
“What are we going to do?”
“Nothing yet. If he hasn’t said anything to anyone or me, it means it’s not time to talk yet. But I’ll be ready when he is.”
“Alright, boss.” Dmitri smirks.
With that plan finalized we jump on our bikes and ride away. I glance back at Alek’s bike and wonder what exactly he’s up to.
He’s watching but he’s not talking. When we’re together he acts like nothing ever happened.
Alek got in my good graces when we first became the elite, but I sincerely hope he doesn’t fuck with me.
I don’t like games where I don’t set the rules but I’ll always play.
And I’ll always win.
When I get back to campus I find myself heading to Isabelle’s apartment.
The moment I rode through the gates she returned to my mind.
Everything I thought of to prevent me from seeing her sounded like bullshit in my head.
I walk up the moonlit path and conceal myself behind a grove of willow and pine trees. From here I have a good view of her bedroom and no one can see me.
Unlike weeks ago, I don’t want to be seen. But I want to watch her.
She’s there. I can see her through the open window walking around in her bedroom. Most people have their windows closed because it’s cold. Isabelle is different.
She’s wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top that shows off a flat, toned stomach.
It’s nearly midnight but she’s up, painting.
She has a large canvas set on an easel next to her bed and she’s painting away like she has all day to do it.
I can just about see that she’s drawing the outline of a woman standing by the sea. Like her sculpture, the woman has long flowing hair, but she actually reminds me of Isabelle.
When she bends over to pick up a bottle of water from the floor my eyes move straight to her ass and my fucking dick hardens all over again.
The crazy part of me wants to walk into her apartment and relieve the aching need to be inside her.
I don’t know how I manage to stop myself.
I also don’t think I’m going to get around this by trying to deny myself what I know I shouldn’t have.
Every time I’m around her it gets worse. The crazy inside my head is telling me that I must have her. Even once.
Why deny myself a woman I want? That doesn’t change anything.
She wants me, too.
I felt it in her kiss. It was me who stopped it. Not her.
That tells me everything.
Phase two of my plan just got a whole lot more interesting and I have other ideas up my sleeve.
Time to truly make her mine.