Thirty-Four
THIRTY-FOUR
KEIRA
Do or Die - Natalie Jane
M y body is sore, and I’m shaky on my feet, but other than that, I’m strong enough to peel myself from the bed and search for Harkin. It’s well into the witching hour, and I expected him to wake me so we could talk. The pain pills coursing through my veins have the replay of our fight from earlier foggy in my head. The living room and kitchen lie cloaked in darkness while the lights from the streetlamps cast an eerie glow. Maybe it’s the day to come, looming in the wings.
His office door is closed, but the faint light spilling under the floorboards leaves a soft glow, letting me know I’ve found him. I draw in a steading breath and push the door open. He’s typing away at something on his screen, and his eyes don’t lift as I enter, but he knows I’m here.
“Come here, sweetness.”
My hesitant steps lead me around to his side, and I lower myself to the desk’s top. He keeps working at whatever has his attention, his fingers flying as the keys clack into the quiet night. The wait only serves to draw out my anxiety. I pick at my nail beds, focused intently on the dry skin there.
The sound stops, and his office chair spins toward me before he drags me into his lap.
“Oof.”
“How are you feeling?”
“A little sore, but nothing the pain pills aren’t covering, so ignore the loopiness.”
Chuckling, he nuzzles into my hair. His warm hands skate up my naked thighs, sending heat racing to my core. It’d be so easy to forget why I came searching for him and let him distract me with his wicked ways.
“We should talk.”
“It’s a little late for that, sweetness.”
My body tenses at his words. This will lead to another fight, and if I’m not careful, I’ll find myself locked up and unable to do what I need tomorrow.
“Relax and look.”
He slides the chair back in front of the monitors, and I take in the mix of information displayed across multiple screens. For the most part, it’s a bunch of meaningless code. My brain doesn’t recognize the patterns and queues like his would.
“What am I looking at?”
“Your contact.”
“Wait, you figured out who it was? How?”
“I had a hunch and followed it.”
“And?” I ask.
“It’s going to be a wild ride later today.”
“Oh, now, you think it’s a good idea?” I snark back.
“Now that I know it’s not someone on the inside trying to fuck you over. Yeah.”
“You’re infuriating.”
“Right back at ya, sweetness.”
I’m quiet for a minute, trying to make heads from tails on the information he’s left up on the screen. I don’t see anything that would give away who the contact was. Letters and numbers mix and run the screen too quickly to catch most of it.
“Are you going to tell me who it is?”
“I think it’s best if you don’t know.”
I turn and resituate in his lap to search his eyes for the truth. I kept this from him because I was scared of his reaction, but maybe it’s finally time to admit to myself that Harkin will always put me first. If he thinks it’s best for me not to know, that must mean knowing will fuck up my concentration and possibly send me off the handle.
Great , another thing to unravel.
“You should get some sleep,” I tell him.
The dark bags under his eyes only bring out the red rimming his irises from straining on the screens for who knows how long.
“I’m fine. I still have a few more things I need to finish. But you should go back to sleep, sweetness.”
“Only if you come with me.” I smirk, tracing my fingers up his arms before digging them into his messy hair and giving it a rough pull.
“You’re high on pills.”
“All the better.”
“You’re healing from surgery.”
“So, make the pain go away.”
“You’re—”
I’m tired of listening to his excuses. Slamming my lips into his, I catch him off guard, and it takes him a moment to gain the upper hand. When he does, he doesn’t devour me as I’d intended. He coaxes the moans from deep within my soul. My core pulses at the same tempo he keeps with his tongue, drawing lazily against mine as if we have all the time in the world and aren’t on a countdown to all hell breaking loose.
His lips descend the front of my neck, tracing feather-light touches downward until they wrap around my nipple through the thin silk material I’m wearing.
“Harkin, more,” I plead, like a sinner on her knees, before Lucifer himself.
“More what, little one?” he asks, between biting kisses against my skin until he’s captured my other nipple, pulling it taut between his teeth.
“Harder. Faster. More,” I beg.
“If you want this. If you want to come, we’re taking it slow. Do you understand?”
I sigh in annoyance, and his skillful mouth pulls away, leaving me cold and wanton.
“This, or you can go back to bed with your hot cunt pulsing and nothing to dull the ache.”
“Don’t stop.”
I shift and straddle him, my knees knocking into the armrests. My fingers work quickly to shove his gray sweatpants down and free his cock. He’s hard and pulses in my hand when I jack him slowly, drawing out his pleasure just the same as his teasing touches up my back. Pre-cum leaks from his tip, and I run my thumb through it, dragging it across his purple-tinged crown. Hiking my silk slip to my hips with one hand, I lead him to my entrance to take him inside me, but Harkin stalls my efforts with his large, hot hands around my hips.
Letting me drop an inch, he pulls me back, repeating the process and keeping my movement excruciatingly shallow. He stokes my heightened desire to build it, but never lets me fully reach my peak. I’m seconds away from climbing off and handling things myself back in our bedroom. He must feel the shift in my demeanor because his eyes lock on mine, and he thrusts up, bottoming out.
“Fuck!” I scream through the apartment.
“Is that what you wanted, little one? To feel me so deep, you’ll ache from my loss the rest of the day?”
“Yes,” I whisper, lost to our bodies' rhythm as we pick up the pace.
My head swims from the pills, making it hard to focus on the tightness building in my core. But then a tingling crosses my skin, breaking through my mental block, and I roll my hips searching for friction against my clit. It comes with a wave of pleasure, pushing me closer to my peak, and I explode. Stars dance behind my closed lids, and I shudder, falling apart in Harkin’s arms as he races to join me.
He controls my relaxed body with a firm grip, hammering into me from below as I lay limp against his warm chest. He jerks and holds my hips down against himself, finding his pulsing release deep inside my pussy.
“Jesus, woman,” he breathes out, stilling underneath me.
I’m relaxed, coaxed onto the cusp of unconsciousness. I could fall asleep here in his arms and not think twice about the fact that he’s still seated deep inside me, his cum waiting to spill free.
“How about we get you back to bed now?” he asks as he kisses my cheek.
I mumble my approval, but it doesn’t seem to break past my lips as a clear statement. Harkin’s laugh bounces my body against his chest. I’m jolted from my perch on his lap into the air. He takes a second to kick free from his sweats before we both go toppling to the ground.
I don’t let go of my hold around his neck when he lays me down, wanting to pull him with me into bed so he can finally get some rest. “Come to bed,” I whine, my eyes blurring and ready to close to pull me under.
“Let me clean you up, and then I’ll join you.”
“You take such good care of me.”
“Shh, go to sleep.”
His lips caress my skin and disappear into nothingness as sleep claims me.
A harsh pounding and raised voices startle me awake. I groan, throwing off the sheet to climb out of bed. Rushing toward the sounds of breaking pottery, I stumble to a stop in the hallway. Harkin fights off two hulking men, resembling the muscle that brought us to my grandfather. I’m weaponless until my eye catches on the small glass decorative orb on one of the coffee tables. The previously useless home décor is heavy in my hand, and I lob it at the man with his back toward me.
“The fuck do you two think you’re doing in our home,” I yell at the meatheads trying to manhandle Harkin into submission.
The intruders, now distracted by my arrival, lose the upper hand of their two-on-one with Harkin. He launches a right hook and sends one collapsing to the ground. The other guy rushes him, forgetting I’m there in the hallway. Throwing my hands up, I shuffle back to the last bedroom, peeking inside to grab one of the many guns we have stashed around the apartment. They’re still fighting when I return; the one from the floor has regained his footing, and punches hurl through the air.
The apartment is decently soundproofed, but I doubt it’ll keep the neighbors from hearing a gunshot and sending the police. That leaves me with two options, send off a warning shot or hope that pressing the barrel to one of these asshole's heads is enough to cut the bullshit. I choose the latter, keeping the former in my pocket.
“I said, what the fuck are you doing here?” I yell, stepping up to one of the men trying to wrestle Harkin’s arms again and pressing the gun into the back of his head.
He stills, and the scene finally settles. I shove the gun harder into his skull, waiting for an answer.
“Listen, I’ve asked twice now. If you make me ask again, my finger might get a little twitchy, and then your friend over there is going to have to explain to my father or grandfather, whoever the fuck you two work for, why you didn’t come back with him. How about you don’t cause me more issues with them and answer the fucking question,” I bite out, sounding slightly more unhinged than the irritation I’m actually feeling.
Harkin chuckles, and the guy under my hand bristles. It’s the man across from us that finally speaks up.
“Your father sent us to collect Mr. Greyson to ensure today’s job runs smoothly. He said you weren’t needed.”
“Oh, did he now? And tell me, Frank, I can call you Frank, right?”
“It’s Nico,” he says, rocking from foot to foot.
“Great. Here’s what you’re going to do, Nico. You’ll call up your boss and tell him that Mr. Greyson isn’t going anywhere with you and that if my father needs someone to ensure this little scheme goes off without a hitch, he’ll have to take me instead.”
“Absolutely, fucking not,” Harkin roars. “You’re still recovering. You’re not going anywhere.”
“Listen to me.” I lock my gaze on his beautiful blue eyes. “If my father is going to take someone hostage, it’s going to be me. Don’t push me on this.”
I need him to let me go. My father isn’t likely to harm a hair on my head, but Harkin, I don’t trust the two alone in the same room. Once the job is done, he might get the idea in his head to eliminate the obstacle standing in his way of me joining the family. He’s delusional enough to think that would be the key to his success when it’d be an excellent way to get himself removed from this planet.
“I don’t see you calling your boss like I said, Nico. Come on. I thought we were making progress.”
The man doesn’t have much of a backbone for the line of work he’s in. His partner shifts, and I shove the gun again, reminding him of its existence.
“Na uh, buddy. You just keep standing there and wait until we have word from your boss. How about that.”
He stops shifting, his hulking form a good eight inches over mine, and if I’m being honest, my arm is starting to ache from holding the gun up.
Nico finally moves, digging a phone out of his pocket and making the call. The call must ring for a while because he starts looking antsy before someone picks up and he can speak. They go back and forth, and a line of sweat beads on his brow. He clears his throat, muttering a “yes, sir,” before hanging up.
“Mr. Morelli has agreed to your terms.”
“Very well. Now, if you two will give me a few minutes to get dressed and grab the stuff I need to work, I’ll meet you in the parking garage in ten.”
Nico looks a little unsure if he should leave and possibly let me slip through his fingers. But I have no intention of going back on my offer. I just need a few minutes to reassure Harkin that this is what we need for the plan to work and to put on some pants.