Chapter Three
COLE PUSHED up silently and fluidly, somehow masking the fact that he had guns under his open jacket.
His cock slipped wetly from my passage, and when he stood up I saw that the condom had broken at some point.
All the remaining blood that had flushed my cheeks drained away.
He reached down to cover my exposed nether regions and I murmured, “I’ve got it. Take care of yourself.”
I was somehow counting in my head and we were already at three-one thousand out of ten-one thousand.
I slid from the lounge and grabbed for my purse, watching him.
My fingers groped across the ground and I found its strap along with his tie.
His was partially turned away from the bad guys for a smidgen of privacy to remove the condom and I heard him mutter, “Fuck!” He glanced down at me and I turned away.
What the heck do you say to that?
Not the time for words, anyway, that was for sure. I placed my purse in front of my exposed breasts and slipped past the guns trained on me and inside the opened door.
Cole followed closely, pulling his pants up over his hips while I tried to covertly pull my top up.
My skirt had fallen back into place, but it felt crooked.
The three masked gun wielders followed and not so gently pushed us toward the closed office door.
I had just got my top situation when one of the individuals opened the door to the office and shoved me through.
Cole was still wrestling with his pants and had managed to get the button done when he was also “helped” through the door.
What awaited us was not a pretty site. It appeared that the majority of the party had been herded to the top level.
They were all pressed into the center of the room, down on their knees with their hands resting on top of their heads.
Five masked men were in a circle around them with their guns trained on the group at large.
I didn’t move an inch from my spot while I tried to straighten out my skirt and finger comb through my mussed hair, unsure as to what they wanted me to do now.
Cole was zipping up his pants and buckling his belt.
He couldn’t do anything about his shirt.
The buttons were gone. I held his tie still, so I draped it over his shoulder, trying to keep my blush from turning to an unattractive tomato red.
When I make an entrance, I really make an entrance.
Every eye had turned in our direction – amazingly, without their heads moving.
At least, all but the people with guns. They didn’t watch us so much.
Cole finished redressing, scratched his ear, and pulled me closer. I wasn’t sure if it was to shield the fact that he was packing or out of some misguided male ego trip. I was going to hide his darn guns the best I could, though. I didn’t care about his reasoning.
“Well, are you two ready now?” the same gunman that had spoken up outside asked sardonically, placing his gun against my temple and holding it there.
Cole’s grip on my hips tightened, and I murmured, “Yes.”
“So glad to hear it,” he mocked and leaned in close and asked softly, “Your tits are superb. Would you like for me to make you scream like he did?”
Oh, good Lord in Heaven. I trembled where I stood.
Cole’s tone chilled when he asked, “You like sloppy seconds?”
The gun disappeared from my temple and the masked man moved, slamming his fist into Cole’s gut.
Gasping and bent over, Cole adjusted his arms slightly, shielding his guns better.
Darn it, we needed more than his two. A twitch of Cole’s lips when the bad guy turned away and I knew he had interrupted on purpose.
Well, that was welcomed. A little crazy, and crude, but still appreciated. Or was it calculation?
A thought occurred.
His friends. Where were they? I shifted in front of Cole a smidge as he straightened, sheltering him again and surveyed the crowd. Everyone was still staring at us. What had felt like forever already had realistically been less than a minute.
I saw Ally and Sam on the left. Sam’s eyes were huge in her face, but Ally was staring at the masked man near me with unadulterated hate. No hope there. I didn’t think she brought any firepower in her little clutch.
His friends weren’t in the center. Not in the front. Darn it! Where were they? My gaze flicked to the right, and I found them.
But, they weren’t watching the bad people.
They were ogling Cole’s disheveled appearance.
Dark and Dangerous’ shadowy, lurking mien had disappeared and was currently replaced with wide-eyed surprise as he took in his friend’s apparel.
Velvet was darn near grinning, and alternated between gawking at his friend and me.
His eyes met mine and they glittered with amusement.
Good grief! Weren’t they taking this seriously?
The spokesman for the bad people spoke up again, “I’m not interested in you, Cole.
Wait, it is Cole, isn’t it? At least, that’s what I think she screamed there at the end.
” He chuckled. “Go sit down.” He kicked Cole in the back with his foot, making Cole stumbled into me.
I didn’t mind at all and started moving with him.
“No, no. Not you, baby. Just him.” A hand grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me back against a fleshy body.
I instinctively froze. “You, I think I’m going to try. ”
Cole stopped in his tracks and turned back to us. He gave the impression he was going to charge the guy holding me and I shook my head at him right before another masked man pointed a gun at his head and told him to move.
“Go back to your friends, Cole,” I whispered.
The jerk tightened his grip on my hair and murmured in a high, derisive tone, “Yes, go back to your friends, Cole. And no, I don’t mind your sloppy seconds.
This slice of this cherry pie will soon have her legs spread for me, too.
I may even let you watch.” He squealed with delight and his disgusting tongue slid out between his lips and black mask, licking up the side of my face in an unhurried stroke.
I shuddered in revulsion, gritted my teeth, and stared hard at Cole. “Go to your friends.”
“Do as she says or you die,” the man’s voice was sadistically anticipative, like he hoped Cole wouldn’t do as he bid. I pleaded with my eyes and Cole finally walked backward, his focus wholly on me, uncannily crossing straight to where his friends knelt.
“What the hell is this about?” Brent’s voice rang out throughout the silent room.
My gaze found him instantly. I don’t know how I had missed him before. He was sitting directly next to Dark and Dangerous. Supermodel was on his other side and Asian dude knelt directly next to her.
And boy howdy, was Brent livid. His fiery gaze traveled from the gunman gripping my hair - Spokesman, to me, to Cole, and back again, all in rapid succession. D&D and Velvet’s scrutiny snapped to him in surprise. How exactly did they know him?
Brent spoke up again when Spokesman ignored him while whispering something to his cohorts, “Whatever it is, I’m sure that woman has nothing to do with it. Let her go and I’ll give you whatever it is you want. This is my show. You can have all these fucking pictures if you release her.”
His gaze was trained on mine and even though flashes of anger and longing and betrayal stirred in his eyes, his absolute love for me was there, too.
Cripes, what have I done? I glanced at Supermodel.
I felt my eyes harden. Nothing he already hadn’t.
He flinched from the expression I swung his way and D&D, Velvet, and Cole all stared back and forth between us.
“Do you know her? You look at her like you do,” Spokesman asked softly, and he put the bad end of his gun under the collar of my sweater and started dragging it down my shoulder.
I couldn’t help it. I lurched and he fisted my hair painfully while slowly removing my sweater over my shoulder and down my arm.
I freaked. “Please, don’t!”
“Do you know her?” his repeated his demanding question to Brent, only to lose interest in him when he jammed the gun under my sweaters collar again and drug down the remaining shoulders material.
My eyes shut. I knew what he saw. The crowd could only see the newly revealed bruise of my left shoulder, but the masked men behind me, who gasped, saw my real personal shame.
“Oh, my. This is some sweet work. Who did this to you, baby?”
I clenched my jaw and stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be. Not here. Not in front of Brent and Ally.
“Answer me!” he demanded with a sharp tug on my hair as he handed his gun over to his neighbor in crime.
“Screw you,” I spat harshly.
“Soon enough, baby. Soon enough,” he crooned in enjoyment as his finger stroked where my sweater barely hung on my arms. “I wonder what else will be revealed.”
Swiftly, from behind, he yanked my sweater completely off my arms and I glimpsed down at Brent.
None but the jerks behind me could see the real mess, but his mouth was still shut tight and his eyes spoke of murder as he regarded my purple shoulder.
D&D had found his dark nature again as his mysterious eyes watched and his jaw worked.
Velvet’s eyes were absolute sympathy and I turned from him quickly.
Cole had a lovely mask of blankness on his face and he stared at me with unflinching, ice eyes.
Ally was crying. I moved my gaze back to the men. I wouldn’t cry, darn it.
“TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!?” Brent screamed to the masked Spokesman reverently lowering the back of my top.