23
I had to stop by my apartment before heading into the office. Adonis’ surprise ambush last night had left me with only my gym clothes and a sundress that was a little too casual for work. So when I finally arrived at my office an hour later than usual, I found myself being dragged by the arm into an office that was not mine, and having a cold coffee shoved under my nose.Eden was lucky that I didn’t use violence in the workplace, well, I didn’t use it in this workplace. I didn’t appreciate being manhandled, most of the time.“It would’ve been hot if you were on time.” She glared at me, then her lips curved up and she burst out laughing. “What have you been doing this morning?”I took a sip of the cold coffee, not particularly bothered that it wasn’t warm, I liked my coffee black, but that was about as fussy as I got.“I wish I had something great to tell you, but I don’t. Girl, it’s all such a mess.” I sighed.Eden knew the majority of my man drama already, minus a few details that I didn’t think would be a good idea to share, like the fact I’m a member of one of the organisations that practically rules this town, or that my lover—as she liked to put it—was my terrifying boss. As far as she knew, he was just some mysterious guy whose identity I kept secret because it was complicated. So it was kinda true.Eden gave me a pitying look and I scowled back. “If you’re going to look at me like that”—I waved a hand at her—“I won’t talk about it,” I warned, rising to my feet.“Oh sit down, Mal. Fuck, it’s obvious you’ve not had any girl friends before.” She laughed and I sat down and shrugged. She wasn’t wrong. “Start from the beginning,” she prompted.After I filled her in as best as I could without giving her any details that could give away who my lover was, I went back to my own office and busied myself with work. Eden had told me to not give up on Toby, she thinks there’s more to it, and a small part of me was hoping that she would think that too. She wasn’t much help with the Lorenzo situation, but I didn’t expect her to be. Her advice was to just walk away, but I wasn’t sure if it would be that simple.I let three hours pass before I shut down my computer, I couldn’t focus on anything with all of the pent-up emotions bubbling under my skin. Luckily my workload was light, nothing that couldn’t wait another day to be completed, so I grabbed my handbag, fished out my keys, and made my way out of the office and down to my car.I drove aimlessly for a short while, then finally decided where I was going to go. I pulled up in the small carpark by the lake and headed into Belle’s. Gina was working, as usual, and waved from behind the counter as I walked through the door. There was a pretty long queue, so I found an empty table and waited for it to die down, it was lunch time, so it wasn’t surprising that the café was busy.I people watched while I waited, playing a game with myself that me and Jase used to play when we were younger, making random guesses about the people we saw. Creating lives for them. The old couple who met when they were just teenagers and had been inseparable ever since, or the sharply dressed man who was tapping his foot impatiently had just received his big promotion, but was now constantly exhausted, making him agitated and snappy, It was a pointless game, but it kept me distracted from real life.I was just piecing together a life for a mother with her toddler when Gina approached me with a takeaway coffee and my usual baguette. I hadn’t even noticed that the queue was no longer in existence.“Oh, thank you, Gina.” I smiled at her and dug around for my purse, handing over a little more than the cost of my meal. “Don’t worry about the change.”“You don’t have to do that every time,” she chastised, “but it’s lovely that you do. How are you, my love? How’s work?” She raised a brow at me.Gina knew about The Brotherhood, she knew who I was, what with her being Grey’s sister. You’d never guess that they were related, they had a couple of similar facial features, if you looked past Greys scars, but their personalities were polar opposites. Gina was sweet, bubbly and saw the good in everyone. Grey was hard, cynical, and cruel. And for some reason, Gina loved him for it, she teased him about it.“You know how it is, the boss always keeps us busy, you have to work hard to stay at the top.” I gave her a modified version of my usual response, it wasn’t that Gina was a threat, it was just part of our ways, we didn’t share information with anyone outside of The Brotherhood unless it had been deemed appropriate by Lorenzo.“Ha, you and that grumpy brother of mine are so alike, always so aloof.” She chuckled, the sound making it hard to be mad at her for the insult. I’d hate to turn out like Grey. I could live this life and still be a decent person, on some level.“That’s me.” I shrugged with a smile. “Aloof.”“Well, I won’t keep you, but you’d better bring the hot blond one down here soon, really brightens my day, he does.” She tossed me a cheeky wink and bustled off towards the kitchen. I swear there wasn’t a single woman alive who wasn’t attracted to Cooper, even I could appreciate that he was quite nice to look at.I took my lunch and headed to the bench in the quiet little spot that I had found the other week. The peace and calm that I’d felt there was exactly what I needed today. A place to escape.Except, when I made my way through the trees to the secluded area, I found that my bench was already occupied. I huffed in frustration and turned back on myself to find somewhere else.
Something made me pause before I had fully turned away. There was something familiar about the man sitting on the bench eating a baguette and reading a newspaper.
I turned back to face him as I tried to place him, Short dark hair, black suit, tattoos creeping from the collar of his shirt up the back and sides of his neck. I recognised them, but I still couldn’t place him. It was only when I realised that the way he sat was irritating me that all the pieces fell into place.Fucking Adonis.I cleared my throat. “Hey arsehole, find somewhere else to sit,” I said as he turned his head just enough to glance over his shoulder.He huffed a laugh and turned back to his paper. “No.”“No?” I questioned and walked around the bench to stand in front of him.He looked up from the paper, his features set in a cold, harsh expression that made my body tense. It took a lot to unnerve me, but that look did it.“No.”I held his gaze, even though I wanted to look away, he was so broken, so full of hatred, but so was I, and I needed this space.“I’m in no mood to argue with you, Adonis. Just find somewhere else to have your lunch.” I stood my ground. Sure, it was only a bench, but it was the only place where I had felt any real sense of calm in such a long time.“Mallory, If you don’t fuck off, I will shoot you and throw you into this lake.”His use of my name bothered me more than it should, I didn’t know what I’d have preferred him to call me, his little nickname for me irritated me, especially after googling it to find out what it meant. I supposed that simply Mallory would be fine, he was a Brother now after all. And Brothers don’t shoot each other, not to kill anyway. Otherwise he wouldn’t be sat there, breathing.
But something about the way he reached for his gun so casually, and the warning in his eyes, told me that he would do it. Strategically, of course. Nothing lethal, just something to hurt.
The last thing I needed right now though was to be nursing a bullet wound, and I had never been a big fan of swimming, especially in lakes.Deep down, I knew that I should at least try to make a smart choice.I held his gaze for a moment longer, then silently walked away. I probably could have shot him, I never went anywhere completely unarmed, but I wasn’t sure that I trusted myself to make a smart shot. My dislike towards Adonis was growing more intense with each passing day, and I hated myself a little for how much I let him get to me. If I pulled a gun on him, I wouldn’t shoot to wound.I decided to just go back to my car. Once inside, I dug around in my handbag for my phone and made a call that would hopefully cheer me up.“You busy?” I asked when he answered.“Not overly, nothing I can’t cancel. What’s up, Sunshine?” Cooper’s answer instantly boosted my mood, just like I had hoped it would.“I need to shoot something,” I sighed; Cooper would understand. I could happily go to the shooting range alone, but having decent competition would be way better.“One of those days? I’m having one too, but I have a better idea.” I wondered what had affected Cooper enough to dampen his mood, nothing ever seemed to get to him.“What’s your idea?” I asked, unwrapping my baguette.“How do you feel about archery?”I frowned at his idea. My brother had been into archery, something that he had been teased about by girlfriends who thought that it was a weird hobby. He had pushed me for years to try it out and he eventually passed that love on to me. It had become our thing, our escape when things got too much. I hadn’t even looked at a bow since he had died. I was still a club member though, but I had no idea that Cooper was one too. At least, I presumed he was.“Archery, I dunno.” I chewed on my bottom lip, unsure if I was ready to do our thing with someone else.“Let me re-phrase that, are you going to come and do something that I know you love, but have been avoiding because it’s hard to think about doing it without Jason? You know it’ll be fun.”Dammit, of course Cooper knew why I was holding back. He had been my brother’s best friend. He knew everything. There was no point hiding my feelings from him. And I had been looking for an escape today. Fuck it, if there was anyone in this world that I could comfortably lose my shit around, and break down in front of, it was Coop. If it brought back too many memories he would understand.“I hate it when you’re right. Fine, let’s do it,” I agreed, then planned out our afternoon.I arrived ten minutes early. I was always early; it was a habit that I’d picked up from my mother. She was always early to everything, it was an anxious habit for her, she took a lot of risks in life and was on edge a lot of the time. She was right to be cautious though, as one of the risks that she took ended up being the reason that she was no longer here.Blackmailing the leader of The Sinners was never going to end well for Mom. It also didn’t end well for him either. Seeing your mom’s lifeless body in a pool of blood on your kitchen floor at the age of nine can send you one of two ways. You either end up traumatised, or you end up seeking vengeance. It wasn’t hard to work out which way I would go.Carl never saw me coming.Cooper pulled up next to me, precisely on time. “Sunshine,” he beamed as we both stepped out of our cars. “Ready to show me up?”“Always.” I strode ahead confidently, but Cooper caught up quickly and threw his arm around my shoulder playfully and nuzzled into my hair.“I’ve never done this before,” he confessed.“Really? Then why did you suggest it?” I frowned.“Because you need a release, and I knew that Grey was up at the shooting range today, that wouldn’t have helped, would it? So it was either this or taking you over to Lorenzo’s place.” He waggled his eyebrows at me, and I shoved his arm off of me.“Eugh, I can’t believe you knew about that,” I groaned. He was right though, Grey would piss me off, and I couldn’t go to Lorenzo’s, even if I wanted to.“I can’t believe that you thought you were subtle.” He threw me a cheeky grin and I rolled my eyes.“Touché.” I smiled back at him and quickly changed the subject, not wanting to linger on thoughts of Lorenzo. “Oh, Gina was asking after you, she wants me to drag you down to the café soon. You’ve got yourself a little admirer, Coop,” I said, nudging him in the rib.“Well I am somewhat of a heartthrob, you’d have to be mad not to want a piece of this.” He winked, and I shook my head at him.“Cocky prick.”Cooper led the way inside, and I found my membership card and presented it to the woman behind the desk. Cooper got himself signed up, I had presumed that he would just come along as my guest and we would pay the fee, but apparently, he thought he might have a hidden talent and wanted to ensure that he could keep on top of his undiscovered skill.He was wrong.Cooper may have been a good shot with any gun you put in his hands, but put a bow there, and he was a disaster. I spent far too long standing behind him, helping him with his stance, and he used the opportunity to repeatedly wiggle his bum against me and declare that I was ‘so hard’ for him.Even with my guidance, he sucked.“Come on then, cupid, show me how it’s done,” he teased as I pulled my hair into a messy bun and kicked off my heels. It only took me a few slightly off shots to get comfortable again. Then each arrow that I loosed sank into its target smoothly and my tension began to ease away. I’d had a crappy morning, a frustrating lunch, and now, I had the best company, and the growing calmness that I had needed. Surprisingly, I wasn’t sad, and standing before a target, a gentle breeze cooling my skin, I didn’t miss my brother anywhere near as much as I thought I would.It didn’t take long for Cooper to give up, deciding that archery was ‘for losers anyway’. He had left me outside to continue alone while he packed away and grabbed us coffees. When he came back, I put my bow down and rolled my shoulders, enjoying the movement and letting out a little groan.“Don’t tell me that this is what gets you going.” Cooper wrinkled his nose. “Does the boss dress up like Robin Hood and poke you with his lucky arrow?”I sighed heavily and glared at him. “Don’t be gross, Coop. And please don’t bring up Lorenzo, I’m trying not to think about him.”“Oh, trouble in paradise? Fill me in.” He sipped his drink and placed a cup of hot black coffee in my hand.“I really shouldn’t go into any of it,” I began.
But then I did.“Oh, my, God.” Cooper laughed. “You’re going to end up becoming the new Mrs D’Angelo. Will I have to answer to you too? Will I start getting special treatment because you love me? Can I be your maid of honour when you guys get married? I’d look super-hot in a little pink number, or maybe blue to really bring out my eyes,” he teased.“That isn’t helpful,” I whined, “I had never planned on it becoming a thing, and if I walk away from him, what’s going to happen to me? Can you see him just letting it go?”Cooper composed himself and gave me a gentle smile. “He knows your worth, Mallory. You could walk away from his bed, and not a damn thing would change. He isn’t stupid.”Coopers reassuring words felt like being wrapped in a comforter, I hadn’t considered how Lorenzo’s mind worked, that he was a business first kind of man. My position in The Brotherhood shouldn’t be affected by my decision. So that was something good.It wasn’t really much help though; I still didn’t trust him. I still didn’t know what I was doing. Could I be with a man who I didn’t trust just because when he wanted to, he could treat me like a queen?
Then again, it would be a little hypocritical of me to expect full honesty, when I was expecting Toby to accept me without knowing the truth.Toby.I was still hurting. Annoyingly so. That incredible man had got himself under my skin, and he didn’t want me. And I had to see him in a few short hours.Fuck. My. Life.