Chapter 22
Tatum
I’ve made myself scarce all day since Halo gave me all my things and a new phone. He let me know they did track my phone and it was a smart move I made. I appreciate his praise but I didn’t do anything really. I still feel guilt churning in my gut over handing my brother over.
I retreated to Alex’s cabin when his men arrived to be briefed on what was going on. Omen said I could stay but I declined. I didn’t need to listen in on their plans—how they plan to capture my brother and kill him. Knowing it's going to happen is one thing, but hearing the gory details is another. I’ve buried myself in work for most of the day. I checked in with Andre—my co-manager of Lividica in Hollow Hills—to see how things are going. He assures me he has everything under control. Thanks to Alex and his impromptu kidnapping escapades I’m behind on work.
When I see a WhatsApp message ping across my screen I sigh at the sight of the name.
V__Temp – You’re alive
TLaw – Yeah, no thanks to you!
V_Temp – I’m sorry He just looked so happy to see you.
TLaw – Yeah sure, got to go.
Before I can close out of the app, a request for a video call with her pops up. I debate hanging up on her but then decide against it. When I hit answer, I fight not to smile at the sight of her and Nova crowding around the screen of her phone.
“Tate!” Nova squeals.
I roll my eyes and fight back a smile. “Hi.”
“Oh, don’t sound so bitter, we miss you,” Vivian says.
I balk at her. “You wouldn’t be missing me if you didn’t snitch me out to The Butcher!” I scold.
She waves me off. “Girl, lie to yourself if you want but I saw the way you were looking at him.” She fans herself with her hand. “I got hot just watching you both.” Nova laughs and nods her agreement.
“Thanks to you, I’m now behind on work,” I say, trying to bring the subject back to something I can actually deal with instead of my feelings about Alexander–fucking–Denver.
“Don’t worry about it, we hired someone to help oversee the finalization of the builds.” My breath lodges and I begin to panic.
“A-am I fired?” I stutter.
Both Vivian and Nova’s faces fall. “Did the guys fire you?” Vivian shrieks.
“What? No,” I rush to say.
“Then why do you think you’re fired?” Nova says in a confused tone.
“You just said you hired someone else… so I thought that…” I clamp my mouth closed to stop rambling.
“Oh my God, Tate!” Vivian exclaims. “You are not fired, don’t scare me like that again!” she scolds.
“So, I still have a job?” I ask with a cheesy smile.
“Yes!” they both say in unison. I release the breath I didn’t know I was holding and smile.
“Thank you,” I mutter.
“So, I guess you will be wherever you are right now for a while?” Vivian says with a gleeful look on her face.
I roll my eyes which just causes her to laugh. “I… Yeah, I guess I’ll have to work remotely for a while.”
“Are you okay?” Nova asks in a tone filled with concern.
“Define okay?” I joke. They share a look before looking at me and I can see the worry lines on both their faces. “I’m fine, I promise,” I say, trying to ease their worries.
“How did he know where you were?” Nova asks.
I snort. “I swear he has a tracker on me, that son of a bitch?—”
“Stop calling my mom a bitch!” I snap my head toward the door so fast I cringe in pain. I think I pulled a muscle from moving too fast. My eyes widen at the sight of him shirtless and wearing only his jeans, covered in sweat. His hair is out and he looks like a fucking wet dream standing there looking like an Aztec god with no effort at all. He strolls toward me and I fight not to swallow my tongue the closer he gets. He stops at the edge of the bed, putting my face in line with his crotch. I fight the groan of sexual frustration from breaking free.
“Well, shit.” I jolt and Alex frowns at the sound of Vivian’s voice, I forgot all about the girls being on video call. I turn back to the screen to see them both staring at Alex with dumbfounded looks on their faces. “Hi, Alex,” Vi singsongs. I glare at her.
“Hey!” I snap, bringing both their eyes to me. Nova at least smiles sheepishly while Vivian just grins like an idiot. “You have three dicks to choose from, stop looking at mine!” I blurt out without thinking. My eyes widen a second before I scrunch them shut and wish for the floor to open and swallow me whole.
“Your dick, huh?” Alex’s tone is filled with smug satisfaction. Vivian and Nova both lose it and start laughing at my expense.
“On that note, I’ll talk to you both later,” I grit out.
“No, wait—” I slam the lid closed, cutting Vivian off. I bite down on my lip, refusing to even look at him. I’m so embarrassed and right now I would give anything for him to disappear so I can wallow in my own self-pity in private. He’s standing so close I can feel the heat radiating off him and it's doing nothing to calm my raging hormones. How the fuck could I have gone eighteen years without caring about sex or even thinking about it, to it now becoming a constant thought?
“By all means, Bambi, come play with the monster's dick anytime you like.” I groan and bury my face in my hands. The bastard laughs. “I’m gonna take a shower, sparring with the guys wasn’t the cardio I was hoping to do tonight.” I gasp, his innuendo was not fucking subtle. While he showers I decide to clean up all my things and put them away, then climb into bed. Maybe if I try really hard, I’ll fall asleep fast for once in my life.
Wishful thinking!
The door opens and I scrunch my eyes closed, not wanting to look at him. The second I do I know I’ll salivate at the sight of him, and then my thoughts will go haywire as I picture my pussy clenching around him while he’s slamming inside me. When the bed dips from his weight, I bite back the groan from breaking free and remain still, praying he will think I’m asleep.
“I lied.” I remain still and unmoving. “I had planned to break down your walls but not in the way you think. I was going to fuck with your head not your body or your… heart. Breaking you was never an option.” My breathing turns choppy but I still refuse to open my eyes or let him know I’m awake. “You’re right, I had six months of getting to know you. I hated you on sight at the beginning. I thought you would be exactly like your brother and father, but turns out I misjudged you. The longer I watched, the more I learned. You were kind because you could be. You helped because it was the right thing to do. You never used Vivian, you worked your ass off. You protected those girls at the clubs. You never did anything for yourself. In the six months I have been watching you I’ve never seen you buy a single thing for yourself.”
I’m trying to latch onto my anger toward him, but the more he talks the harder it's becoming. I know men like Alex aren’t the type to explain themselves or even express their feelings, he’s showing me the real him. I slowly open my eyes to find his gaze fixed on me. He smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He knew I was faking sleep. I release a sigh and push myself up so my back is resting against the headboard.
“Did you mean it?” I ask quietly, as I tilt my head to the side so I can look at him.
“Mean what?” The soft glow of the bedside lamp makes him look like a glowing star. Alexander Denver is certainly not a star, he's more of a meteorite, something that you only see once in a lifetime.
“That you hate me because of who my brother and father are?”
He flinches and shakes his head. “No, Tatum. I said some fucked up things I never should have. I was angry?—”
“That’s not an excuse to be a dick, Alex,” I chastise him.
He rolls his lips over his teeth to keep from smiling. “This isn’t easy for me.”
“You think it is for me?” I wail. “I’ve had my life turned upside down, look at it from my point of view. You’ve been watching me without me knowing. For months I have lived in fear and a gilded cage because I was waiting for you to finally kill me and now look at me!”
“I am looking at you, Tatum.” His tone is serious and I swallow trying not to focus on the intensity in his eyes. “When I told you that you were never supposed to know who we were, I meant it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The night I called you, I told you to stop looking into us. I knew you wouldn’t listen so I convinced the guys we needed to go to you and scare you. They had no idea I had planned to bring you back here.”
“Why did you bring me here?”
“Because I wanted you.” My eyes round in surprise at his honesty. “I still do and I won’t apologize for that. I thought if I just got to spend a day or so with you that you would drop the nice girl act but you didn’t. Everything I saw on the videos was real and I don’t know how to feel about that.”
“What do you feel?” I push.
He exhales and slumps back against the headboard. My heart is racing so fast I’m scared it's about to jump out of my chest.
“I’ve only ever felt love a few times in my life. I love my parents. I love my brothers and even fucking Carnage, but the person who truly made me feel what love meant was… Ellie. My sister was the one person who could see through my bullshit and force me to feel things I didn’t know I could. My sister was the only person I loved with all my heart and ever since she was taken from me…” Tears prick the back of my eyes, I can hear the raw pain in his tone and it's taking everything inside me not to try and comfort him. I need to hear this and he needs to say it. “I’ve been numb. I haven’t felt anything. I used to feel the heat of the sun on my skin but that all stopped when her heart did. I relished in the numbness, it made me focus. I saw my end goal clear as day but then, I met a vulgar mouth blonde who started thawing the ice that filled my veins.”
Warmth flows through me. “Just to clarify, I’m the vulgar mouth blonde, right? You don’t have another kidnapped chick around here somewhere?” He narrows his eyes clearly, not finding me amusing.
“One of you is enough.”
I tilt my head side to side. “I love me but even I have to agree I wouldn’t be able to put up with a clone of myself.” I shift and move until I’m straddling him. His hands instantly grip my hips through one of his shirts I stole from his drawers. I reach out and skate my fingers through his beard, loving the feeling of its texture.
“What are you doing to me, Tatum?” he whispers.
My brows draw in, I cup his face between my hands and stare into his eyes. “I don’t know but I think you’re doing it to me as well.” My declaration has his eyes filling with carnal pleasure. He knows exactly what he is doing to me and he loves it. His mind may be confused because of the feelings I’m inspiring inside him, but him knowing that he is affecting me as well, has the monster inside him flexing.