Chapter 24 Maxim
MAXIM
Asex marathon was never on the cards and yet somehow, Hollie and I spent all day yesterday fucking like we were teenagers discovering pleasure for the first time.
And it’s not over.
By the time Saturday dawns, I’m still not satisfied. I want to taste her lips against mine all the time, feel her pussy gripping my cock like she never wants to let go, feel her nails rake over my tattoos like she’s trying to leave her own imprint.
I want to be inside her and never leave just so I can hear those sweet, adorable moans whenever I want.
But duty calls.
“Maxim,” Hollie murmurs as my arms circle her waist and I pull her close against me, distracting her from the water bottle she’s trying to fill up. “I really have to go. I’ve postponed this guy enough and you’re going to make me late.”
“Who cares,” I say softly, nuzzling underneath her ear. “Stay with me and fuck like rabbits like we did all day yesterday.”
“My pussy can’t take much more,” she groans. “Trust me, she needs a break.”
“Are you sure about that?” My hand glides down her abdomen and cups her core through her skirt, causing Hollie to gasp and jerk her hips back into me. “It doesn’t sound like she needs a break.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Hollie moans. “She doesn’t know what she wants.”
“Are you really sure about that?” As I talk, I gather her skirt up until it’s bunched at her waist and slip my hand between her warm thighs. The heat radiating from her pussy is mouthwatering and my cock twitches in my pants.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” she gasps, unable to stop her hips from rolling into my palm. “We’re both late and I need to talk to you, but you said we don’t have time!”
She’s right. My father’s waiting, and he’s blowing up my phone with constant messages, judging by how often it vibrates in my back pocket.
But Hollie’s irresistible and I suspect she wants to talk about our sudden and frantic fucking.
Once we bring logic into this, there’s a chance I’ll lose her, so I’ll happily delay that talk as long as I can.
“I am late,” I say, sucking gently on her earlobe. “And I’m starving.”
“Maxim!” Hollie squeals as I scoop her up and dump her on the counter, then I fall to my knees and pull her hips off the counter and onto my shoulders while burying my face in her pussy.
She’s left with her shoulders and arms scrabbling for balance on the counter as I drag my tongue over her panties.
Her resistance melts away, and within seconds, her panties are soaked from my tongue and her juice.
Moving them aside with my teeth, I shove my face into her pussy and soak my beard in her juices while dragging my tongue over her swollen clit to the music of her breathless moans above me.
She tastes as divine as she did yesterday and I’m utterly addicted to the searing heat that warms my cheeks as I eat her out, the softness of her thighs and the silky texture as I slide my tongue inside her.
Hollie, over-sensitive from our day of fucking, comes within a matter of seconds and prods my chest sharply when I kiss her thigh and stand back up.
“You’re an asshole,” she pants, sweat beading her hairline. “Now I’m really going to be late!”
It was difficult to part from Hollie, but an hour later, I climb the steps to my father’s brownstone and let myself in, my attention down on my phone as the tracker alerts me that Hollie’s reached her destination.
Toto is with her and Stu is shadowing them, so she’s safe, but that doesn’t stop the worried hamster from looping around my thoughts.
“Maxim?” Dad’s voice cuts through my distraction as I enter his office.
“Hey.”
“You’re fucking late,” he snaps.
I stop just shy of the door and stare at him blankly. “You’re lucky I’m here at all.”
“Why?” Dad’s momentary confusion melts into a cold understanding. “You’re not still hung up on that, are you?”
“Hung up on your trying to kill my wife?” Anger licks at my gut.
“She’s hardly your wife. You’ve known her five minutes.”
“That’s longer than I’ve known the woman you wanted me to marry. You think I will just forgive you at the drop of a hat?”
“You, of all people, should know why she’s dangerous,” Dad snaps, slamming his fist down onto his desk. “We’ve been over this!”
“You tried to kill her. There’s no excuse you can give that I’ll make peace with until you look her in the eye and apologize.”
Dad scoffs. “Out there in the real world, they all see you’ve married the daughter of an ex-police chief. How do you think that makes me look?”
“If you called me here to argue about this, then I’m leaving.”
“No, I called you here because of this.” Dad picks up a green folder and tosses it across the desk toward me. “We lost four shipments. Two were caught in the snow and stolen, the other two were stopped at a search and raided. The weather is fucking us up and we need a new plan.”
I pick up the folder and scan the reports, noting the cost of the drugs lost due to the weather and the cops. It’s an occupational hazard when it comes to traffic stops from the cops, but the weather is something else. “How behind does this put us?”
Dad sighs and takes his seat. “Given that those were to carry us through until the New Year, it’s a blow. When our clients can’t get what they want, who will they turn to?”
The Irish. My teeth sink into my lower lip as I set the folder down. “So we use the restaurants.”
“How?” Dad meets my gaze.
“Easy. We can use the city’s own shipments against them.
You know how hard they work to ensure the soup kitchens are stocked at this time of year, and no one is going to interrupt a food delivery for the homeless.
So we hijack a couple of their trucks, let the city do the work for us, and everyone wins. ”
“You think it will work?”
I shrug, crossing my arms. “Make sure you use men who can keep their mouths shut, and we’re fine. I’ll have Rex look into distributors. Just make sure the drugs are ready to move.”
“Hmm.” Dad’s brow wrinkles and I see the appreciation in his eyes though he will never voice it. I had a good idea and only I will acknowledge that.
“Is that everything?”
Dad grunts and I turn to leave, but as I reach the door, he calls out to me. “Maxim.”
“What?”
“You…” He hesitates and for a moment, he looks pained. Rather than entertain him, I reach for the door and he speaks once more. “Do you not see the danger you’re in? What she could do to you?”
I pause, then turn to face him. “This isn’t the same.”
“Isn’t it?” He stands abruptly. “Your brother did the same thing you’re doing. He married an outsider. He cast away tradition and loyalty and married that bitch, and the next thing we know, he’s dead!”
“Dad… he was killed by a drunk driver. That’s not her fault. It’s not anyone’s fault.”
“If it wasn’t for her demanding to see her parents at Christmas, he would have been with us instead of on that road that night. Don’t you see? He wasn’t with the families, he wasn’t in the right place because of some outsider bitch getting her claws into him and taking him away from his family!”
My heart clenches like a fist is reaching up from my gut. “He was doing something kind for the woman he loved, and if I remember correctly, they were only going to her parents’ because you insisted that she couldn’t stay here. If you want to blame someone, then blame yourself.”
“That’s not true.” He moves around the desk. “She was welcome, just not that night. Family night. That was supposed to be just us.”
“But she was part of him and you couldn’t accept her.”
“Inviting an outsider into a dinner of the top Mafia leaders in the city? You know how stupid that is. And he knew. He just wanted to make an exception, and exceptions get people killed!”
It’s an argument with no end, because we will never agree, but as our eyes meet, I see a flash of the real pain inside him. A father whose son was taken from him far too soon. My anger softens.
“My situation is different. I’m trying to keep Hollie out of this life.”
“For how long?” Dad rubs at his jaw. “I can’t lose you, Maxim. Not you too. I’m not—” He hesitates. “If the same thing were to happen to you and I couldn’t stop it…”
“Dad…” Sympathy swells inside me and I take a few steps closer. “The only thing pushing me away right now is you. Not her. For one thing, Hollie is being kept out of this life as much as I can keep her out. And she’s nice. If you don’t want the same thing to happen, then apologize. And mean it.”
The pain in Dad’s eyes melts away and he turns around, walking back to his desk. “I’ll get you a list of names who won’t talk.”
Momentary bonding over, it seems. Staring at his retreating back, I linger for a few seconds and then leave the room. On some level, I understand him. He’s preached all my life about the dangers of outsiders and I lost my brother because he was with one.
But in the end, it was a terrible accident.
Outside, the snow falls around me carrying the threat that at any moment, one wrong flake or patch of ice could bring me, or anyone I care about, to the same fate. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I head to my car but just as I’m about to text Toto about the car tires, Hollie calls.
“Hello?”
“Hey!” She sounds happy to see me and it makes my heart lift.
“How was your rehearsal?”
“It was fine. He was a little pissed at the delay and stuff, but he liked what I did so we’re set. But I actually, uhm… There's something I’d really like to talk to you about. Could we do something? Maybe go shopping and talk?”
“Is everything alright?” My phone buzzes once. “Hold that thought, actually.”
Checking the screen, my heart dips. It’s a 911 text.
And it’s from Zoe.