Jethro #2
Now, an hour into the meeting, she’d stopped hissing whenever a brother asked her a polite question, and had even eaten half of her salmon and poached eggs with hollandaise sauce.
She’d refused coffee, which reminded me of how she didn’t drink the one I bought her in Milan, and her body language was so fucking uptight, I expected her to pass out from muscle exhaustion any second.
For the past sixty minutes, we’d discussed the successful transaction last night, the rare delivery of a diamond over twenty-six carats next week, and the on-going politics in Sierra Leone. Boring stuff for an outsider.
She isn’t an outsider. She’s ours now.
More often than I wished, I caught myself watching her, my eyes seeming to land on her, regardless of who was speaking. She was the only splash of colour in the line-up of men on her side of the table—a peach fiesta smack in the middle of leather-jacketed bikers.
“Now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, Jethro, do you have anything to report?” Cut looked down the table, surveying his good disciples.
I stiffened in my chair as all eyes turned on me, including Nila’s. Last night had been fucking boring. I had nothing to add. Now that I’d eaten, I just wanted to leave, get the debt over with, and go for a ride. I needed to get out of this place and away from these people.
“No, nothing to add. You’ve covered it.”
Daniel snickered, his dark hair spiked with too much gel. “Yeah, Pop, you’ve gone over the boring shit. Let’s get to the good part.”
Nila froze; her dark eyes glared, shooting hatred across the table toward my younger brother.
Couldn’t say I blamed her; the feeling was mutual.
Daniel sneered at Nila, licking his lips and blowing her a kiss. “I want to see how our guest reacts.”
My fists clenched on the table.
Kestrel shifted beside her, nudging her shoulder with his. Loud enough for his voice to carry, he said, “It’s okay, Nila. You’re on the sane side of the table. I won’t let him touch you.”
Nila tensed as her head swivelled to look at him. Her eyes searched his, her chin cocked in a strange mixture of defiance and curiosity.
The second turned into a drawn-out moment, and still they stared.
What the fuck?
Finally, Nila nodded, her black ponytail draping over her shoulder. Never tearing her gaze from Kes, she said softly, “Thank you.”
Kes beamed, his golden eyes, the trait all Hawk men carried, glowed. “You’re welcome.” Something passed between them. Something I fucking hated.
Running a hand through his dark, silver-flecked hair, Kes tore his eyes from Nila’s to look directly into mine. “You only have to come to me if you ever feel overwhelmed.”
That lowlife bastard.
My hands balled in my lap. “Enough.”
Kes reclined in his chair, dropping his forearm—the one tattooed with a bird of prey—beneath the table.
Nila jumped a mile.
He’d touched her! That goddamn arsehole touched what was mine.
The instant Nila jolted, Kes pulled away, a smug smile on his lips. “Sorry.”
“Don’t touch me,” Nila hissed.
Something warm sprang from nowhere in my chest. Warm? How was that possible when my heart was full of snow?
My lips twitched, smugness of my own unable to be hidden. Nila might be intrigued or even drawn to Kes, but it was my cock that’d been in her mouth, my tongue that’d been in that pretty cunt of hers.
Kestrel’s suave smile dropped. He always did think too highly of himself. Just because the club whores preferred him, it didn’t mean he was better than the rest of us. He was my favourite person; however, I would not tolerate him poaching my prey.
Kes hung his head, turning on the charm and magic puppy-dog eyes that twisted the knickers off many women. “I only meant to offer comfort. I’m sorry if I offended you.”
Nila crossed her arms, breathing shallowly. Before she could respond, a Diamond brother muttered from across the table, “Yes, I’m sorry if we offended you the other day.”
Nila’s head shot up.
Daniel thumped him in the arm. “What the fuck, man?”
Stupid Daniel.
He didn’t understand how unravelling a person’s psyche went. First came cruelty—a stripping of every high and mighty concept that they were untouchable. Then came tenderness—an acknowledgement of going too far and promises of safety.
This was the second stage.
I’d seen it happen with Nila’s mother. I’d witnessed the bewitchment as she fell under my father’s spell.
That’s going to happen to Nila.
My heart froze at the thought of her looking at me the way her mother looked at my father. Not with fear or panic or loathing but with trust and happiness and...affection.
“Excuse me?” she whispered, almost mute with shock.
The brother who’d spoken, an older man with a goatee, smiled gently. “You have to understand, it was our way of welcoming you into our midst. You do not need to be afraid of us.”
She squared her shoulders. “I’m not afraid.”
I swallowed hard as a foreign emotion crawled into my chest. Goddammit. Jealousy. Again. I was fucking jealous of the men around this table. I wanted to rip their heads off for tasting what was mine.
Don’t go there, Jet.
My father was right to give her to the brotherhood the moment she arrived. If he demanded I strip and deliver her for a round of service again, I would draw a sword from the armoury on the walls and strike him down.
I would never be able to stand behind his chair now. Even though only a few days had passed, so much had happened. Nila had evolved into someone who drove me past rationality and straight into the chaos she wielded so well.
While Nila had been licked and tasted, I’d fought an unwinnable battle of possession. I’d said the words—I went along with the act of sharing her—but that was fucking bullshit now...
Now, I would never be able to share.
Never.
She was mine.
Not my brothers’, not my father’s, and definitely not the conclave of bikers, who by rights were my minions.
Mine.
Another brother broke through my tormenting thoughts, saying to Nila, “It was a special circumstance to welcome you into our family. We were all honoured to have you become a part of us.”
Nila’s face twisted in disgust. “A part of you?”
I jumped in before anyone else could. Ingrates.
There was a way of delivering this so it made sense, not repulsed.
“We all tasted you. We all licked a part of you and absorbed your sweat, your tears, your fears. No other initiation could’ve broken the barriers between newcomers and old-timers better than stripping you bare. ”
Nila’s mouth fell onto the table. The same table I’d spread her over and driven my tongue deep inside.
Fuck, shouldn’t have thought about that.
My cock went from soft to hard in an instant. I shifted in my chair as memories of her blowing me in the forest came thick and fast. I’d come thick and fast. All down that beautiful throat.
I felt Cut watching me, the intensity of his gaze searing into my skin.
“What did you just say?” Nila whispered, her features strained.
Cut sat taller in his chair at the head of the table, steepling his hands in front of him. “Jethro’s right, Nila.”
Nila.
I hated that everyone called her Nila. They had no right to her first name. If and when anyone addressed her by it, it should be me.
Why don’t you then? She wants you to. She asked strongly enough in the woods.
I didn’t have an answer to that. And I didn’t have the guts to search for one.
Nila shook her head, looking at my father. “Is this another one of your mind games?”
Cut smiled reservedly. “No games. I told you, you’re a part of this family now. You’ll be treated kindly and respectfully. You will come to care for us, just like you care for your own flesh and blood.”
“Never,” she spat.
Cut chuckled. “Your mother said the same thing, but by the end, she willingly paid the last debt. A pet can only hate its owner for so long. But ply it with warmth, safety, kindness, and good food, and soon...you’ll have no choice but to let go of that hatred in your heart and embrace the life we’re giving you. ”
“The life you mean to steal.”
He nodded. “The life we mean to steal. But also the life we will continue to nurture as long as we have your strict obedience.” His eyes landed on me. “Give me an update, Jet. How are things progressing? Have you followed my instructions?”
Not one.
Not a single fucking rule had I followed. And yet...what had happened in the woods after I’d hunted her down had taken something from her. We’d shared something. Something I never wanted to share with another human being, because it made me feel so damn weak.
Ignoring the question, I sat taller. “The First Debt will be paid this afternoon.”
Nila sucked in a breath. Her fear of the unknown did a much better job than I ever could.
Cut relaxed into his chair. “Good.”
A second passed.
Another ticked silently before Nila snapped, “Have you forgotten my promise so soon, Mr. Hawk?”
The table froze; men looked from the skinny seamstress to their leather-jacketed leader.
Cut tensed. “No, I haven’t forgotten.”
“I meant what I said,” Nila growled. “I will kill you. You can pretend you’re kind and keep me in good health, but I will never forget what you’ve done.”
I stood up, slapping my palms loudly on the table. “Ms. Weaver!”
Her head snapped in my direction, her dark eyes blazing. “Was I talking to you? You’re as bad as he is. I have a good mind to kill you, too.”
My heart raced, shedding the glacier in favour of excitement.
Excitement? How the hell did she confuse me and draw out such lubricous reactions? “Oh, you can try. We’ll see who wins. A seasoned hunter or a fumbling dressmaker? I know who I’d place money on.”
Nila shoved her chair back, standing in one swift move. She looked as if she would hurl herself over the table to slap me.
Cut shouted, “Out! All of you.”
Shit.
Tearing my eyes from the trembling, angry woman before me, I muttered, “Cut, let me—”
Punish her.
Fuck her.
Ruin her in my own way.
Anything to stop you from touching what’s mine.
My father pursed his lips, pointing at the doors. “Out. I won’t ask again.”
The Diamond brothers stood up, their chairs sliding over thick carpet, before disappearing out the door in creaking leather and boots.
Daniel, Kes, and I didn’t move.
Nila stood locked in place.
Cut raised his eyebrow. “I believe I just gave an order?”
“What? All of us?” Kestrel asked, disbelief in his voice.
Cut didn’t reply, only glowered until the power of his rank, and the fact he was not only our father but our president, overrode our rebellion.
My brothers stood.
I gritted my teeth as Kes placed a hand on Nila’s shoulder, sharing a look with her that made my stomach fucking shake off any pretence of ice and go nuclear with fury.
Nila smiled softly, standing and moving toward the exit.
“Not you, Ms. Weaver. You and I are going to have a little chat,” Cut said quietly.
Nila closed her eyes briefly, blocking her panic. When she opened them again, all that remained was reckless confidence.
I wanted to say something, but my tongue tied into a useless piece of meat.
“Out, Jethro. I won’t ask again.”
Nodding once at my father, I moved stiffly. Nila refused to meet my eyes as I stalked out of the room, following my two siblings.
The last thing I heard as the doors closed was my father’s voice. “Now that we’re alone, my dear, I have something I want to share with you.”