Chapter 21 Onyx
After I fucked her, I stepped outside to check on Cooper and found him leaning against the wall on his phone, waiting.
“She still good?” he asked me casually.
With a sigh, I took up position beside him. “She’s still fucking infuriating,” I told him honestly as I rubbed my jaw and admitted to myself, yes, she was still good. More than good.
“That ain’t ever going to change,” he grunted as he showed me the camera. It was tiny, so small you would walk past it and never notice it. Which was the point. “Sticker,” he said as he showed me. “No cut, simple fucking vandalism.”
“But he knew it was there,” I said as I looked at the wall where it had been. “So he was expecting something. Or he already knew where it was?”
“Either? Both? Fuck knows at this point,” he grunted. “How long she going to be?” he asked as he jerked his head to the door. “You were quick at least,” he added with a grin.
“I know how much you hate waiting.”
Cooper laughed at me, and we both turned as Charlie stepped out of the elevator. “What’s with the welcome committee? She kick you out?” he asked us as he approached, holding his key card up. “You need in?”
“No, we don’t need in, you dick,” Cooper chuckled as he stopped beside us. “He fucked her again.”
“I thought she’d been threatened?” Charlie asked as he looked between us.
“She was, woke up to a knife to her throat,” Cooper said soberly. “She’s a tough bitch though.”
Charlie huffed his agreement. “How did it go from ‘wake up with knife to throat’ to ‘being fucked by Onyx’?” he asked after a moment. “Where were you?” he asked Cooper.
“Out here, checking this.” He held up the camera and the black tape that had covered it. “Heard them screwing and thought it best to stay outside.” Cooper looked at me as I remained silent, and then, with a wink to Charlie, he added, “He was quick though.”
That I did smile at. “You’re both assholes,” I said as I snatched the key card from Charlie and let myself into the suite. I heard the shower and let the other two in. “Strip it.”
“Hey,” Charlie said as he handed me an envelope. “One letter and pictures. The guy’s not fucking around.”
Taking it from him, I felt my anger burn. No, he wasn’t fucking around; he was playing a dangerous game, and if he knew what was good for him, he’d quit.
Pulling the papers out, I read the short note and looked at the pictures. They were three different nights, did she know? Had she studied them? Looked at them and realized that she was wearing different PJs? He had been in her house three times when she was sleeping.
When she was vulnerable.
Which is why I walked in on her shower. She was in danger, and she was also pissing me off. I really shouldn’t have fucked her again, but she pushed me, and I pushed back. Telling me to my face she hadn’t tucked tail pissed me off.
When she turned her back to me in the shower to rinse her hair, I left before I paddled her ass so hard she would walk with a limp.
When she eventually came out of the shower, she had started to dry her hair. That’s when my temper snapped, and I physically picked her up and took her out of the suite, past Cooper and Charlie, who called a greeting to her as we passed them.
Driving to my house, she never said a word to me. Her head was turned to look out at Nashville as I drove. Although the drive wasn’t long, I expected something from her, but when I parked in the drive and looked at her, she turned to me, and I saw her cheeks wet with tears.
“What do I do?” she asked me as we sat in the car.
“Come inside, go to bed, sleep.” I opened the car door. “You’ve had a long night.”
She followed me inside and headed for the stairs as I set the alarm for the lower levels.
I followed her up the stairs and was pleased when she headed to the room she’d been in before.
I hadn’t been sure if she thought she would be sleeping with me, but Angel was practical, always had been.
Her levelheadedness was one of the reasons she was a good sports agent.
Dropping her luggage in the closet, Angel pushed her sweats down, and in panties and a T-shirt, she climbed under the covers.
“Hey,” she called as I turned to leave her.
“Mm-hmm?”
“Might be late to work tomorrow,” she told me tiredly.
“I’ll put a word in with the boss,” I told her, and I heard her light laugh. “Sleep,” I commanded.
“I will,” she told me, and her eyes were already closed. “Onyx?”
With a sigh, I looked over my shoulder. “Yes, Angel?”
“Thank you.” Her voice drifted quietly over the quiet of the room, her eyes still closed.
“Don’t mention it,” I said as I left the room and shut the door. After undressing, showering, and getting myself ready for bed, I lay on top of my bed and checked in with Cooper.
“You starting tonight?”
“Yup, no time like the present.”
“Careful,” I warned him as I stared at the flatscreen on my opposite wall. “You’re starting to care.”
“Can’t stand it when fuckers touch my stuff,” he mumbled.
“And Angel?”
“Nothing’s changed. She’s still a stuck-up bitch.” He hesitated. “But it’s going too far now. Time to take the bastard down.”
“Agreed,” I said before he said goodnight.
Lying down, I closed my eyes. I could still taste her. Feel her. Her pussy clamping down on my cock as I fought not to come inside her. Kissing her had been rash, but I didn’t like being lied to directly. Especially by her.
I knew why she left that morning. She saw women’s lingerie, she put two and two together and got fourteen, and then she realized she’d fucked up. Instead of owning her mistake, she had scurried away to a hotel.
She ran.
I thought about it.
That’s what the note said. That she ran. They knew her? More than we thought they did? Sitting up, I reached for my phone and opened the list I had of her clients.
I was checking the people closest to her first. Clark Fitzpatrick had been my prime suspect until Cooper had run a background on his whereabouts, and it looked like Clark was going to be ruled out.
Skimming the list for what felt like the hundredth time, I phoned Cooper again. “What now?” he complained. “You need pussy advice, phone Jer.”
“If I did need advice about that, you would never be the one I called,” I told him honestly. “You run a background check on her?”
Cooper was silent. “Not since college,” he said slowly. “What are you thinking?”
“She left my house, she left her house, she’s now left the hotel.”
“With good reason,” Cooper said and then thought about it. “Running.”
“The note said it. She said the fucker told her that tonight. He knows her more than she thinks he does.”
“I’ll run a check. Exes?”
“I did them already,” I told him. “Ex-boyfriend is usually the culprit.”
Cooper laughed loudly. “I need to check you, Onyx? You an ex or a current?”
“Fuck off.” I hung up.
He was right, though. I probably shouldn’t have fucked her. Then or now. Putting my phone down again, I stared at the ceiling. Oh well, too late now for regrets.
The sound of screaming woke me, and I ran to her room to find her twisted in her sheets, sweating and crying, experiencing a nightmare. Did I leave her? Her whimpering brought me closer to her bed.
Her hair was a long and tangled mess around her. I don’t know how she wasn’t choking on it as it wrapped around her throat, but the idea it gave me made me move a little closer.
“Onyx,” she cried out. “Help me,” she whispered as she twisted again, and I reached out to catch her hand, giving it a small squeeze before I let go.
Quietly, I made my way around the bed and carefully climbed under the covers. Moving closer, I gently caught her arm and rolled her into me. With my arm around her, I pulled her in tighter. “Shh,” I whispered. “I’m here.”
She was restless for a few moments more, and then she breathed in deeply. “Onyx,” she sighed, and then she was still.
Surprised, I looked down at her as she slept by my side. I brought her peace? Well, that was new. Angel burrowed in closer, and with a sigh of resignation, I closed my eyes. So much for boundaries.
In the morning, I woke before her and made my way back to my own room. Changing into my sweats, I headed down to the gym, disabling the alarm as I did so.
My house was secure. My house was so damn secure that even my little brothers couldn’t hack into my system, and although Ash had gotten through once, he had never managed it again when I upgraded the security software.
Even with the ground floor deactivated, the doors and the windows were still alarmed.
As I ran my miles, I looked up when she came down to the basement, a bathrobe on.
“Hey,” she greeted me. “I got into a routine, for being in the hotel for such a short time, so I get up early to use the pool,” she said as she looked over at my indoor pool. “Can I?” She opened her robe. “Brought my own this time,” she tried to joke as she showed me her modest swimsuit.
“Go ahead. You drown before I’m done, I’m not jumping in to save you.”
Angel fought her smile. “I would never expect you to,” she said as she walked over to the pool area, and laying the robe on a lounger, she slipped into the water. Even from here, I could hear her hiss of appreciation before she tipped her head back.
Pulling her goggles on, she shook her head and then started her laps.
As I ran, I watched her methodically swim her lengths, never pausing.
Her stamina was impressive, and a sense of contentment fell over me.
Running was my outlet. I could run for miles, a trait my youngest brother, Gray, appreciated.
It cleared my mind, unclouded my judgment, and gave me a sense of Zen.
The only time I was content was when I was running, my mind free to analyze all my problems and keep going.
She finished her laps before I stopped running, and I liked that she didn’t fool around in the water afterward; she exited the pool, picked up her robe, and with a small wave of her hand, she headed back upstairs.
Simple and easy. The way I liked it.
When I was done, I jumped into the pool myself and swam a few lengths, and then, refreshed and energized, I headed upstairs. I heard the soft hum of her muttering as I passed the kitchen, and I detoured out of curiosity.
“What’s wrong?”
Angel yelped and turned to look at me with annoyance. “Creeping about bastard,” she hissed, causing me to smile. “I can’t work this stupid fancy machine,” she confessed.
Checking the clock on the wall, I shrugged. “Leave it. It’ll be on in five minutes; you don’t need to do anything.”
“Oh.” She frowned at it and then at me. “I didn’t know ones this fancy did that.”
Angel padded past me. “Your pool was great, like swimming in a bath,” she added. She headed up the stairs, and I followed, watching her ass under the robe, knowing I probably shouldn’t.
We headed to our separate rooms, and after getting ready for work, I went back downstairs. While I ate my breakfast, she came down dressed for work. “Can you take me to work with you?”
“I thought you were taking a day?” I asked as I finished my cereal.
“Lucky Charms?”
“They’re magically delicious.” Looking at my bowl, I shrugged. “Not what you expected?”
Angel shrugged as she poured a coffee. “All that sugar? Now I know why you’re an overbearing asshole.”
Dropping my bowl in the sink, I finished my coffee. “Lucky has nothing to do with my charm,” I taunted her as I passed. “I’m leaving in five minutes,” I called over my shoulder.
“I’m ready now,” she sassed back, and I was smiling as I headed up to my room.
* * *
When I was parked in the parking lot at work, I turned to her. “You get any mail, email, phone calls, deliveries—”
“I get it, tell you.” Angel looked around the parking lot. “I feel like he’s already watching.”
“Then give him something to watch,” I told her as I got out.
“Like what?” she asked as we got into the elevator together.
“Just be yourself; show him he has no control over you.”
“I don’t like this,” Angel muttered as we got to my floor.
“What?”
“Us. This.”
“There is no us, or this,” I reminded her.
Her breath of relief was loud. “Good, I can’t stand the thought of having to be nice to you.”
“I expect the same as always,” I replied dryly as I saw Neil walk toward us. “Just forget you came all over my cock last night and you’ll be fine.”
Neil’s startled cough alerted Angel that he was there, and she turned to look at him as she hissed dick at me. Leaving her to that conversation, I headed into my office.
Filtering through my emails, I looked up when she passed by several minutes later. Her rage permeated through the glass, and as I had done for the last eighteen months, I ignored her.
Last night was a blip. Tension had been high, and we both needed an outlet.
In the cold light of the morning, I knew I couldn’t fuck her again. It would complicate things, and Angel Balan and I were already complicated enough.
Calling Cooper, I knew I woke him up.
“She went to Dallas, she met with a college freshman and his dad, and the dad was in a hit-and-run car accident. Find out who the other driver was.”
“You think it’s her?”
“She bent over backward to get this kid an agent. I want to know why.”
“Fine, but I think you’re wasting your time,” he said calmly.
“The kid’s connected. She doesn’t do anything without motive.”
“I’ll look into it again,” he told me.
When he was gone, I called Charlie. “I want to know everything about who Sasha Fitzpatrick has been with in the past two months, including you.”
“She’s crazy enough to do it, but she wouldn’t,” he told me.
“Think with the head on your shoulders, not the one between your legs,” I snapped. “Check her and her fuck buddies. She may not be the one doing it, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t found help. Or inspired some shithead to think he’s helping her. Men are pricks for tight pussy.”
“I’m on it.”
My fingers drummed on my desk as I thought about the words I had just said. Men were pricks for pussy, me included.