Chapter Twenty-Three #2
Done with this game, I reached for my coat pocket. There was no going back now. A decision had been made. I pulled free the rope I’d hidden inside and started toward Hunter.
Abel swore.
Noticing, Hunter rose to her full height and eyed me warily as she backed away.
“Turn around and put your arms behind your back.” I paused when she shook her head. “Or die, Hunter. Those are your choices.”
She stopped backing away, but her stubborn ass still felt the need to make me wait as she considered whether or not to obey after bargaining beautifully for her life just moments ago.
The tension coiling around my muscles and my patience eased when Hunter slowly turned and stayed still for me while I used the rope to tie her wrists. I didn’t miss the raw skin that was already there, and if I could, I’d kill the men who brought her to me a second time.
Once she was bound, Abel gave the signal, and my men all lowered their guns. I pulled the knot to check that it was secure and then used the rope to yank her into me until her back was flush with my chest.
“Don’t make me regret this,” I quietly warned in her ear. Her jasmine scent was earthy, whereas Coby’s was sweet. I wanted to bathe in them both, but I knew better than to say so.
Hunter turned her head and flashed a smile filled with the promise of violence. “Not even a little?”
I didn’t respond as I pulled free the other item I was hiding in my pocket.
“Open your mouth.” She didn’t hesitate this time, probably to tell me to fuck off, so I quickly shoved the red ball between her lips and then quickly buckled the black leather straps behind her head before she could get over her shock of being gagged.
“Keeping testing me, and I’ll spank that ass black and blue,” I warned.
Hunter’s eyes widened.
Smirking, I gently turned her around. And then, to her surprise and mine, I bent and lifted her over my shoulder.
I left Abel to issue orders to the men as I carried her to the Denali.
Paul was at home recovering from his run-in with Hunter. Apparently, she knocked him out while he was driving. When he woke up, he found himself alone inside the totaled Denali with nothing to explain what had happened except the dead deer in the road.
Hunter was chaos.
She was violence and vengeance.
And now…she was mine.
Kellan, who was filling in for Paul, held the back door open for us while grinning at Hunter, who merely rolled her eyes at discovering he was still alive after trying to drown him.
I shifted my hold on Hunter before climbing in.
Once settled, I pushed her to sit between my legs on the floor.
Trapped between the back of the front passenger seat and me, there was nowhere for her to go unless she wanted to sit in my lap.
Kellan hopped into the driver’s seat, and then we were off.
I didn’t realize I was keeping track of how much time had passed until ten minutes into the drive when Hunter finally capitulated and rested her cheek on my inner thigh to ease the strain in her neck.
I couldn’t remember exactly when I reached out for her, but before long, I was playing with the end of her long braid as I stared out the window, trying to figure out what I’d done…. My gaze shifted away from the window and down to Hunter.
And what I was going do now.
We didn’t go back to the city—back to Glainne. Instead, we headed north, where none of us would be safe. I took Hunter with me to Glamis.
Hunter perked from her doze on my lap when she felt the shift from paved road to dirt and the Denali slowing.
Forgetting she was bound, she shifted to rise onto her knees and see where we were, but I wrapped her braid around one hand, yanking her head back and keeping her eyes on me while I pulled a scrap of silk from my pocket with the other.
Her eyes flashed with hatred, but her nipples…the way they pushed against her sweater told a different story. The other half of the truth. Hunter wanted to kill me, but she craved what I could do to her just as much.
“You must be wondering why this is happening,” I said as I let her hair go and tied the blindfold around her eyes.
Hunter didn’t make a sound, but I knew she was listening.
“You’re wondering what Coby could have done to earn my attention.
If she’d been keeping secrets from you.” I finished tying the blindfold as Kellan drove us around the main house overlooking the lake.
“The answer is simple, if not at all conventional. Your friend intrigued me, Hunter, and that doesn’t happen often.
I never intended to act on it, but when I encountered an obstacle, I could think of no one else to help me get around it.
Maybe it’s love,” I mused, just to fuck with her.
Hunter’s eyes flared with alarm when my comment hit its mark.
“Whatever it is, I can’t shake it.” I grew quiet as Kellan carefully steered us through the thicker part of the foliage, driving us deeper into the property and away from the main house.
“And now, here you are—stubborn and steadfast like a rock forcing the river to go around it. You’re in my way, Hunter Parrish. ”
The small cabin, the first home my great-grandfather had built after he immigrated to America, finally appeared.
“Fortunately for you, you intrigue me, too. It’s…
distracting. But you and I need to get some shit understood, Hunter.
Coby is mine. Her heart is mine. Her loyalty is mine.
” Leaning down, I brushed my lips against her forehead, cheeks, and chin.
The only part of Hunter’s lovely face that was still bared to me.
“Her pussy is mine too,” I whispered in her ear.
“And I don’t share. If you’d like to keep breathing, make sure you remember that. ”
Hunter made a sound then, but her muffled screams went ignored as the Denali stopped in front of the cabin. It was treated like sacred ground, so we hadn’t used it in years—not even as a guest house.
That was all about to change.
“Welcome home, Hunter.”
“Are you fucking kidding me!” Abel shouted as he followed me through the main house an hour later.
I rubbed my throbbing temples and sighed. “What?”
“Quit playing with me, Ocean. You’d already brought that rope and gag, so tell me the truth. When did you decide to take her?”
“Does it matter?”
“Was it worth it?” he shot back.
I didn’t answer since that remained to be seen, but God, I hoped so. I wasn’t sure what I wanted from Hunter, but she wasn’t going anywhere until I figured it out.
I turned down the hallway that led to my suite of rooms with Abel still on my heels, so I stopped in my tracks before I reached the door and kept my voice low just in case Coby had awakened.
“Put men on Hunter’s guard detail, but only ones you trust, and keep their shift rotation sporadic so she doesn’t learn their routine.”
“This shit is crazy.” Abel huffed with his hands on his head as he eyed me like he didn’t know who I was anymore. He was probably onto something because I wasn’t so sure either. “You don’t think you’re being a little greedy?”
“Last I checked, I was the one paying you, not the other way around. I give the orders, and you follow them. If you can’t understand that, maybe I should find someone who will.”
“Well, don’t come crying to me when your fiancée finds out, or one of them kills yo’ ass.” Dropping his arms and shaking his head, Abel spun around without another word and stormed off.
He was probably right, but I couldn’t see myself letting either of them go or worse—choosing between them. I wasn’t dumb enough to think the choice would be up to me anyway.
Reaching the double doors of my suite, I pulled a black key card from my pocket—similar to the ones I used at Glainne—and scanned it before pushing inside the dark room.
My eyes immediately went to the Alaskan king, expecting to find the bed occupied, but it was empty, so I followed the sound of running water.
There was light pouring in from under the closed bathroom door.
I was still torn between giving Coby privacy and interrupting to settle my own peace of mind when I heard a faint sound behind me.
Exhaustion had slowed my reflexes.
Something heavy crashed over my head. Pain erupted through my skull as I went down. My knees hit the carpet, and the base of the lamp landed next to me with a thud.
I reached back and touched the spot on my head where I’d been hit and felt blood.
A soft gasp came from behind me when Coby realized she hadn’t succeeded in knocking me out, and then I heard hurried footsteps retreating from the bedroom.
Coby was halfway down the hall when I finally shook off my disorientation and rose to my feet.
I staggered out of the bedroom just as she reached the end of the corridor.
I started to call out to her when Coby ran into the open to turn down another hall, but then Abel appeared out of nowhere, catching her around the waist and lifting my fleeing fiancée off her feet.
“You bitch ass dick-sucking cunt! Let me go!” Her short legs were flailing wildly, and she even managed to knee Abel in the stomach, making him grunt before he threw her over his shoulder.
“Is this a good time to remind you why you keep me around?” Abel shouted as I approached.
“We both know you left her alone too long to chase the other one. I figured her ass was plotting, so I stuck around.” A smug grin took over Abel’s scarred face.
“I guess that means you should listen to me more.”
“I thought you were going to let them kill me?” I took Coby from him, and as soon as her back was to my chest, she kicked out at Abel, which he narrowly dodged. I tightened my arm around her waist until all the breath left her and she piped the fuck down.
“Yeah, well, I can’t get paid if you’re dead, and I’d rather not work for your damn daddy.” Abel left without another word.
I peered around the corner to ensure we were alone this time before wrapping my free hand around Coby’s throat and shifting her until she faced me. I drove her back into the wall hard enough to rattle the framed art above us.
“My patience is running thin, Coby.” She pursed her lips to spit in my face, but I clapped my other hand over her mouth just in time. “If you won’t at least behave for your brother’s sake, I’ll have to assume he’s no good to me and pay him a visit. Is that what you want?”
Coby’s eyes flared wide and then filled with unshed tears before she shook her head no.
“Good girl.”
Coby sniffled and then stared up at me. “Did you find Hunter?” Slowly, I nodded but didn’t offer more information than that. I should have known it wouldn’t be enough for Coby. “And? Where is she?”
“Home,” I answered carefully because I didn’t want to lie to my wife. “Safe and sound. All tucked in.”
Coby visibly relaxed against the wall. We stood like that for a full minute before she began looking at me warily. “Why am I here, Ocean?”
“My father is in Ireland dealing with a family dispute. He’ll be gone for a few weeks.”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “Why am I here… with you?” She bit her bottom lip.
“Because you are my wife,” I stated simply. “Or at least you will be soon.”
“Are you still going to kill Hunter?”
“Not unless she gives me a reason, Coby.”
It was incredibly telling that my answer wasn’t very assuring to Coby.
Hunter was never going to give up fighting to be reunited with Coby, and my bride-to-be didn’t seem any closer to letting go of Hunter either.
These two were making it harder and harder for me to do the honorable thing and keep my hands to my fucking self.
I didn’t know if they were just committed to the lie that they were only friends or in denial, but I wondered how much longer I could resist calling them both out on it.
“Come on,” I said when it began to look like Coby would pass out from exhaustion right here. “Let’s get you to bed. You need the rest. You have a big day tomorrow.”
“What’s happening tomorrow?” she asked with a confused frown aimed up at me.
Staring straight ahead, I ushered into my room. “You’re meeting my mother.”