Underworld

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hayes

M y father taught me early in life to not show fear. His words were – never give them a reason to guess your weakness, Hayes.

But I would be lying if I said I was not scared shitless when I pulled up seeing Dante and his men around Olivia.

I do not even remember putting the car in park before I flew out, grabbing my pistol from my waistband and doing what needed to be done.

We came straight to Ashton’s area of town after talking to Gloria. I did not want to waste any time because I feared for Olivia’s safety, and I am so thankful I listened to my gut.

I saw red watching, knowing, what Dante was about to do; I still regret not putting a bullet in his skull. But maybe this way he can run and tell Ashton that I mean business. She is mine and will be under my protection.

With a hold on the tray of food Maria fixed for Olivia in the kitchen, I head up the stairs to my bedroom where she has been sleeping for a few hours now.

Once we got back from the alley, I stripped her naked and made her lay in a hot bath. Getting naked myself, I slid into the tub with her and bathed her the best I could. Nothing sexual, just the act of helping her feel like herself again.

Although my dick wanted nothing more than to be inside her again, I knew that was not what she needed right now.

With my baggy t-shirt over her tight muscles, she curled up into bed and has been out cold since.

I slowly open the door, trying hard not to wake her up. Sitting the tray down by the bed, she turns over and her drowsy eyes flutter open.

“Hey, little doe.” I grin at her. “I brought you some soup from the kitchen that Maria fixed for you. It is chicken noodle and some juice. Don’t rush to get up but it’s here if you need it.” I turn heading back toward the door when a hand grabs mine, “Hayes, please don’t leave me alone.” Her voice is almost a whimper.

My heart contracts.

“Okay,” I assure her, “Let me shut the door.”

Making sure the door is shut and locked, I ease over to my side of the bed, put my phone on the nightstand, and pull back the covers, and curl in beside her.

Olivia rolls over beside me, nestling her head on my chest. Her arm goes around my waist, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so intimate with a woman without being inside her.

Within seconds, her breathing regulates and soon enough my eyes start to close, too.

Olivia

Light from the window spreads over my eyes, waking me from my slumber. At first, the room is blurry but after a while, my eyes adjust to my surroundings.

I’m startled when snoring rattles my ear and I turn, now noticing Hayes laying beside me, fast asleep.

The sight makes me smile.

He is a beautiful man and something about him makes me feel safe. Nestling more into his chest, I listen to his heartbeat while he sleeps.

It’s morning and thankfully, I feel well rested.

My hand rubs over his chest and then his abs, noticing the bulge in his pants. My thoughts run wild with ways to wake him.

Quietly, I run my hands over the button of his pants and slowly unbutton them. He groans, making me stop my hands for a moment and when he doesn’t wake, I continue with his boxers.

Thankfully, he has the ones on with a hole in the front for easy access and I reach my hand inside them, grabbing his balls and massaging them.

“Someone woke up being naughty,” his sleepy voice says without opening his eyes. I don’t miss the smile on his face, though.

“Let me give you a good morning gift,” I whisper to him.

He laughs, “Olivia, it is well into the afternoon now.”

Oh. I must have been out cold.

Running my hands up his length I grab hold of his shaft in a tight grip and start pumping up and down.

His hands go to my shirt and run under the inside of it, playing with my breasts and grabbing my nipples, pinching them.

I moan and my head tilts back. “Stop,” I tease, “This is for you.”

Reluctantly, he removes his hands from my chest and allows me to pleasure him even though I can tell a war is going on in his head.

My pumps get erotic, and I can tell he is close. Right before I think he is about to explode all over my hand, Hayes jumps up grabs my waist and lays me down on the bed.

Taking over the pumps, he aims his dick at my breasts and says, “Take the shirt off, Olivia.”

I don’t even try to argue and remove his shirt from my body just in time before his seed darts all over my breasts and nipples. The warmth makes wetness pool in between my thighs.

“You know what I am thinking?” Hayes asks me with a smirk.

I giggle. “What?”

He gabs me by the waist, spins me around so my back is on the mattress, and he says, “I think it is time for my midday snack.”

My laughter quickly turns into moans as he licks, sucks, and sticks a finger inside me.

***

M ARIA HAS A TABLE FULL of food when we both make our way down the stairs and into the kitchen area. Both dressed and looking like we just had the best orgasm of our lives.

I know I did.

Maria smiles at me, “Hello, Miss Olivia.”

“Hello.” I give her a soft smile back. “It smells delicious. Thank you.”

“That’ll be all, Maria.” Hayes says harshly to her, and I huff at him as Maria quickly removes herself from the room.

“What?” He snorts.

“She slaves in that kitchen all day for you; the least you could do is be nicer to her,” I tell him.

He sits down, pouring a glass of orange juice and finally says, “Maria used to change my diapers, Olivia. I am grateful for her. She was my mother's favorite person when it came to our staff. She hired her off the streets while she was homeless. All she has ever known is working for my parents and now myself.”

I sit and stare at him and he cocks an eyebrow. “What?”

“Not a single word in anything you said okays the fact that you are an ass to her most of the time,”

I take a deep breath. “Like the women at the Hope House, you are too stern with them sometimes. You can talk to your men however you deem fit, but please give the women in your life some grace. As a man, you have no idea what’s it’s like.”

He takes a sip of his orange juice and sits it down slowly. Finally making eye contact with me again, he leans forwards on his elbows and says, “Please enlighten me.”

I sit up taller, more confident than the first time I met him. “Well, for instance, let me ask you this, Mr. Ricci. When you leave this house and go anywhere in town, do you have to keep your head on a swivel?”

He shakes his head, “Not all the time unless one of my enemies are out to get me.”

“And what about touching handles, sitting down on public toilets, or having someone buy you a drink and giving it to you. Have you ever had the thought, ‘Maybe this could be laced with drugs and someone could kidnap me?’”

He shakes his head, leaning back in his seat, “No. I have not.”

“As women, we are always on alert. We are always cautious. We are always watching our backs. Men go out and show their power without respect first.”

I take a deep breath, “What you did upstairs, was because I consented for you to do it. But there are men out there who do not care about consent and would get it any way possible.” A tear forms in my eye, “My father is one of those sick bastards.”

“Olivia, I am sorry. You are right, I need to do better when I speak to women.” Hayes says, getting up out of his chair and sitting in the chair beside me, grabbing my hand and holding it in his.

“How did you become different than the men my father keeps around?” I ask, looking up at him through tears.

“Because I was raised by a man who cherished everything a woman meant. I was raised by a mother who cherished the man who worshipped the ground she walked on.”

He squeezes my hand, “I do have my father’s temper though and I am sorry. This life was not my plan A. It was thrown at me when my father died suddenly. He was my best friend, and I am angry I never got more time with him.”

“How did he die?” I ask, changing the subject.

His eyes go cold for a moment and then he sighs. “Your father had him murdered.”

I gasp. “Why on earth would he do that?”

He stands and says, “Come here, I want to show you something.”

He takes my hand in his and walks me into the library, the one I stayed in the first morning I was here and stops us at the desk by the back wall.

He grabs a picture frame off the top shelf of the desk and hands it to me.

I eye the two women in the photograph; they are both so beautiful and one looks around my age while the other one looks a little bit older.

I look up at Hayes, whose eyes twinkle with a tear. “Who is this?” I finally ask.

He points to the older one, “That is my mother. She died shortly after my father from a broken heart. He was her best friend, and she would not go on living without him.”

The deep breath he takes makes my heart rush full of adrenaline waiting on him to speak; he points to the other woman, the one that looks about my age.

“This one . . .” he starts, “This beautiful woman was my mother’s stepsister. I never knew her, but I had always seen her picture around this desk. My mother sat here often and did paperwork. At times, I would hear her cry while in here alone, but I never knew why until yesterday.”

I look at the photograph again, my stomach is almost in my throat looking at the eyes of the young woman. She’s so beautiful and somehow looks much like me.

“Olivia, my mother’s stepsister’s name was Natalie, and she was your mother. Ashton took her from my grandparents when she was a young woman and made her his sex slave.”

He catches the frame before it falls to the floor while also catching me in the process.

My knees are shaking under me, “That is my mother?” Tears start flowing down my cheeks.

“It is. Last night when I went looking for you, I met up with Maxwell. He explained it to Alan and me. We then went to the Hope House and met with Gloria who told me what you and she talked about when we dropped her off earlier in the day.”

I take a deep breath, tears still flooding out of my eyes. “How did she die Hayes?” I ask, looking at him.

My gut already knows what he is about to say, and anger boils the blood rushing through my veins.

He sighs, “When Ashton found out you were a little girl and not his next heir, he decided he was going to sell you into the auction. Your mother went into mama bear mode and refused it, finally decided she was going to make her escape with you. But your father found out and shot her dead the morning she tried to leave.”

He caught me before my knees hit the floor. He caught me as I screamed and cried. He caught me as the anger flowed out of my veins in window-cracking waves.

He held me as my head hit his chest and my tears soaked his shirt. My mother, my protector, and the only person who cared enough about me to get us out of that hell, died trying to save me.

She was just a young girl herself who did not have a say-so about her life but being bred for only the thing she could give a man.

My anger must have awakened the demons in hell as my eyes flash red and I look up through the tears and runny nose.

“Help me take him down.”