23. Connor
CONNOR
Istand at the edge of the salvage yard. At night, the cars look like twisted trees, a strange forest of scrap metal and ruin. Angie stays by my side, her body close and warm.
“What are we doing here, Connor?”
“I wanted you to see this.” I take out my phone and turn on the flashlight. “This way.”
She follows as I walk further into the twisting lanes. “All my time at WashCo and I’ve never actually been to one of these before.”
“You did data entry. No reason for you to see it.”
“Still, this is what I was doing, right?”
I stop and shine the light on the ground. We’re far enough away from the parking lot now that I can’t see the headlights anymore. It’s like we’re on another planet. “You were reckless tonight, Angelina.”
“I know. I’m sorry, Connor, I just?—“
“No,” I say, interrupting her firmly. I don’t want to be a bastard, but I can’t go easy on her. “You don’t understand at all. Look down.”
She steps forward, the toes of her shoes pressing against the edge of the massive bloody stain. “What is it?”
“You saw some splashed all over me the night I came home.” I move the light, showing her more. Rusty red all over a nearby car, more drying in clumps and clots on top of a pile of radiators. “I thought you got it when you saw me, but clearly not.”
She’s trembling when I touch her. She flinches away. “You brought me here to show me blood stains?”
“These are dead men, all of whom died because of our union.”
“I didn’t ask for it.”
“No, but you are not valuing their sacrifice.”
“That’s not?—“
“It’s exactly what you did. Sneaking out of the mansion. Letting my sister light off fireworks. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Setting aside the Gallaghers, my own men could’ve made a horrible mistake and gunned you down.”
She pales and chews on her thumbnail. “I know. It was stupid.”
“And yet you did it anyway.” I catch her wrist and pull her against me. “Tell me why. Make me understand. What were you thinking?”
Her body shakes like it’s freezing outside. My fingers brush through her hair, and all my anger fades into something worse. A dark hunger fills me, a desire to own her, to destroy her. But isn’t that what I’ve always done?
Obedience. That’s been my single demand. Those who work for me follow my command. Is that what I want from my wife? From my angel?
Do I want to break her?
“You had enough to worry about,” she whispers, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I thought if I could pay them off, it would be okay. And I also knew…”
“Knew what?”
“That you’d hurt them.”
I tug her hair to make her look at me. “Didn’t you want me to?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. Brad isn’t a bad person. He’s mixed up with someone terrible, maybe he’s confused, but I don’t think he’s evil. I can’t believe that. I was with him for too long.”
“But the girl…”
“Well, she probably deserved it.”
“Oh, angel. You broke my rules, dragged my little sister into it, and went behind my back, all to spare a couple of lowlife pieces of shit?”
“Sounds crazy when you put it that way.”
“There’s no other way.” I stroke her cheek and wipe away her tears. I lift them to my mouth and lick them from my fingers. “You need to understand something. You are precious to me. You and this—“ I press my palm to her belly. “You are both everything to me now.”
She worries at her lower lip. “I’m a vessel for this baby. You can’t mean that.”
“No, angel. I’ve been watching you for years. You saved Rowan’s life, even though you put it in danger tonight. I know your heart is good. That’s why—“ I clench my jaw, choking back the next words, unable to say them out loud. They’re too pathetic, and it’s too vulnerable.
But she touches my cheek. “Tell me. Please, Connor.”
“That’s why I haven’t been able to look away.
You’re good, angel, you’re the only good thing in my entire life.
I’ve been able to lie all these years, pretending like if I kept helping you, if I kept taking care of you from a distance, that would balance out my sins.
But if I’m honest, my scales are tipped toward hell, and it’s all that’s waiting for me now. ”
“I don’t believe that. You’re a good man too.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not. Look at Rowan. She’s pure, isn’t she?
She’s a great girl, and it’s because you’re in her life.
Your men look up to you. I know how much you care about them, how much you sacrifice.
I’m sorry, Connor, I really am. I never should have gone to see Brad.
I wanted to handle my own mess for once, but it was stupid, and I’m sorry. ”
“Angel.” I pull her mouth to mine. I kiss her, sinking my tongue between her lips, tasting her. “Angel,” I say again, moaning it this time, kissing her harder.
She wraps her arms around my neck. I hold her in the darkness, moonlight and stars glittering from shattered glass and blood-covered steel.
I hoist her up, sit her on a bumper of an ancient ripped Chevy, and dominate her lips as she kisses me back furiously.
I cup her ass, holding on tight, growling between her lips.
And could she be right? If she thinks I’m decent, does that make it true? Is there a glimmer of hope for me in all this darkness?
No, I don’t think so.
And for all that, I still need her, because if I’m going to slide into hell, I might as well go doing what I love the most.
I tug her down and turn her. Angie yelps as I shove my right hand up her top and squeeze her breasts, kissing her neck, pulling her hair with my other palm.
She arches into me, gasping as I tweak and pinch her nipples, biting her shoulder, sliding from her top down into her bottoms. I cup her pussy, feeling its warmth, and she moans, wiggling her hips.
“Someone… someone could see…” She’s panting as my fingers slowly stroke.
“Nobody’s coming.”
“Cameras. There have to be cameras.”
“I’ll have the footage erased.”
“Connor—“
“I’m going to fuck you, angel. I’m going to fill you to the brim and make you scream and that’s going to be your punishment.”
“Oh my god.”
“No more fighting. No more talking. You are mine.” I flick aside her panties and tease along her soaking folds. “You are mine and you are so fucking wet.”
“That feels so good… Connor…”
I plunge my fingers inside of her and kiss her over her shoulder.
She whimpers, returning the kiss with eager urgency.
I slide my fingers in deep, curling, swirling, and pulling them back out, stroking her clit, plunging back in.
Her hands grip the truck’s bumper, fingers inches from pitted and jagged steel.
I yank her pants down, dropping to my knees behind her. I kiss her ass, one cheek then the other, and spread her to lick up and down, teasing and tasting. She curses, hands curled into fists. I stand, sucking my fingers, and unbuckle my belt.
“Knees. Now.”
And like always, I get what I want. My wife sinks in front of me, her big, pretty eyes shining with want as I pull out my cock, fist holding the root as she opens her mouth and takes the tip.
Fuck, that feels so good. Pleasure washes through me and I release a low, shuddering moan. She licks, sucking the top, tongue going in heavenly circles.
“Fuck, angel, that feels so good.”
“Are you going to come in my mouth?”
I curse, gripping the truck behind her. Metal slices my palm and I don’t care. “If you keep doing that?—“
She bends into me, taking more, hands grabbing my ass. I groan, growling and purring my bliss as she sucks, gliding back. I release my root and she takes over, stroking with both hands.
“Fuck, baby.” I hold her hair and realize I’m bleeding. Blood’s getting in her pretty curls. I don’t care. I slide deeper, into her throat, before pulling her to her feet.
“Connor, please,” she begs as I turn her. “I want it.”
“I want you too.” I kiss her, leaving a smear of blood on her cheek, and press my tip against her dripping entrance. “You’re so fucking warm and pretty. God, every inch of you is like a promise. I want to stay inside you.”
“Fill me then.” She arches, grinding back. The top of me slips inside and she moans, grinning. “More, god, more.”
I let her move back, slowly taking me deep into her pussy.
She looks so beautiful, my blood smeared on her face, streaked in her hair, and I smack her ass hard, a sharp whip-crack, making her scream as I fill her to the brim at the same instant.
I leave a palm-shaped print on her pristine white skin, then I grip her hips, and I fuck her like I have nothing left to lose.
All I can do is fill her and whisper in her ear.
I tell her she’s pretty, she feels good, she’s everything to me.
I fuck her rough and stroke her pussy, gliding my hand around her clit as I slam into her from behind.
She screams out, arching, begging and moaning.
“Keep going, Connor, oh my fucking god!”
I grind into her sweet pussy. “You’re so fucking dripping wet, your messy cunt getting me all soaked.” I wrap my hand around her throat, smearing more blood on her. “You love this, don’t you? Getting fucked by your husband. You dirty girl.”
“More,” she pleads. “Keep going. Hold me tighter. Harder.”
I increase the pressure on her throat as I fuck her like a savage. I destroy her little body, dominate and take her, claim her as my own, and she cries out with bliss. I can hardly hold back, dancing on the knife’s edge, only the pain from my bloody palm keeping me from exploding.
But that only lasts so long. When she tells me how good my cock feels, it breaks me. “Fuck, angel, please, you need to come,” I say, losing control, and she must hear it, because she wails with pleasure.
“Yes, Connor, fuck! Fill me!”
I grind in deep and snarl. “Baby, I’m going to fucking come.”
“Oh my god, don’t stop!”
I slam into her, mindless, holding her throat still, kissing her, getting blood on my mouth as I do it, fucking her faster and deeper, until the explosion breaks me.
I make mindless gasping, grunting moans against her ear as I slam and slam and slam, filling her, coming deep inside of her, and she screams out in return, her eyes rolling back.
I hold her, grinding, stroking, fucking her until she collapses forward, gasping for breath.
I stand still a moment. Moonlight gleams off her. She looks like a fucking murder victim. My palm’s cut worse than I realized and it’s bleeding all over: blood on her ass, on her face, on her neck, in her hair. She smiles at me, unaware, gaze glazed with bliss.
“You look so beautiful,” I whisper, stroking hair from her face.
“Really? You think so?”
“Perfect.” Drenched in blood. Lovely as sin.
We clean up together. She notices the blood eventually and laughs about it, shaking her head. When we get back to the car, the driver watches her in the rearview mirror, looking concerned, but I tell him to get moving. She leans against my shoulder on the way back to the mansion.
“Promise me something.” I kiss her bloody hair and linger on her mouth.
“Do promises count if they’re made under duress?”
“Don’t ask the priest that question. I mean it, promise me something. I want you to swear you won’t run off like that again.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Relief hits me. I sigh and lean back as she snuggles against my chest. “Can you promise me something in return?”
“Anything.”
“Don’t be too eager. All I want is honesty. No more doing things behind my back. No more watching me from the shadows.”
“That’s over now.”
“Good, because it was pretty creepy.”
I laugh, leaning down to kiss her again. “You didn’t even know.”
“But now I do and it’s weird.”
“Would it make it worse if you knew I used to steal your underwear?”
Her eyebrows arch in alarm. “Don’t tell me?—“
I throw my head back and let out a low belly roar. I haven’t cracked up this hard in a very, very long time, and she slaps my chest, shaking her head, smiling too.
It’s a release, almost as much as fucking her back in the salvage yard.
The laughter dies away, but I still have a small smile on my face for the rest of the ride.
While we’re here in the car, I can be nothing more than her husband: not the boss, not responsible for a company or a family, but a man with the woman he’s deeply obsessed with.
Normal for once.
I’m still in a good mood when we reach home. Angie heads inside, but my phone buzzes and I pause to take the call. “Everything good?”
“Girls are home safe,” Marcus confirms. “That Nadia’s nice to look at.”
“No.”
“But—“
“I said no.”
“You’re zero fun.” There’s a sound like he’s changing hands. “But hold on, before you hang up. I got something for you.”
“Anything I should be worried about?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. When you told me about the ex-boyfriend and his girl, I did some digging on them. Had my guy break into their apartment, logged into their laptop?—“
“That’s above and beyond.”
“We’re at war, brother. Here’s the thing. Our good friend Brad’s bank account was open and there were three money transfers totaling five grand.”
I look out into the darkness, at the men patrolling through the trees. “Someone paid them.”
“Damn right someone paid them. I don’t think that whole business was about blackmailing her at all. I bet the cash was only the first step.”
“Or they got greedy.” I rub the heel of my palm into my eye. “Figure out who sent that money.”
“Already working on it.”
“Good job, Marcus.”
“Now can I get that Nadia girl’s number?”
I hang up.
Whatever joy I felt fades into the evening. The mansion’s doors loom wide. My wife’s waiting for me upstairs. My sister is home safe. My family is protected.
But death’s coming. It always does, and my life is spent holding it at bay for as long as I can.