Authors: Ember Chase
“If something happens to me…” Fuck. “Jace, I need you to keep protecting her for as long as you can. Please. You’ll get money and so will she. I set it up with my lawyers this morning. If you need more, talk to Sloane. Don’t let him hurt her. I am fucking begging you.”
“Isaac, I can still get you out of the country.” I’m not sure I can keep his Dad from finding him though.
“That’s more like Plan Q or something. And I’m taking Maya with me.”
Sure. May as well add kidnapping to the list of felonies we’re committing, why not?
“Well I guess I’ll start working on a way to make that happen, too.”
“And Jace, one more thing, and I’m dead fucking serious
about this. Keep your dick out of Piper.”
Dammit!
“Of course. Wouldn’t dream of it.” Now that’s going to be tough. I was hoping he’d forget to mention it, because she is possibly the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. And she has kick ass tattoos.
Maya
An unidentifiable rumbling shakes us both out of bliss. I didn’t really hear it as much as feel it, but there it is again. This can’t actually be happening, can it? Isaac’s smile is gone and his eyes are wide and worried as he slides out of me. Pulling me to my feet, he cuts the water and throws a towel around my shoulders.
“Who do you think it is?” I ask, breaking the silence.
“I’m not sure.” He tosses me his black t-shirt lying on the floor. “Put that on.”
“You have to wear a shirt to answer the door.”
“I’m not leaving you in here naked, Maya” he croaks.
“The bite mark…”
“Fuck!”
He takes the shirt back from me and pulls it over his head as I try to make my oversized towel look more like a strapless dress. We’re in the doorway, still holding hands but getting farther apart when he tumbles back into my arms and kisses me with quivering lips and ragged breaths.
“You stay hidden in here, understand?” he says firmly when the dreaded knocking tears us apart. “If I take them down the hallway to fuck you, run out that door. I
will
get you out that door.”
“Is that actually going to happen right now?” I squeal, reaching out for him. This isn’t the last time we’ll touch each other, is it?
“Probably not. But if it does, you go home and I will find you, I swear. And if I don’t then…” he trails off, kissing my forehead. “I put a shoebox under the passenger seat of your car a few days ago, in case you ran off on me. There’s instructions, advice, whatever on how to deal with Luke, at least two sappy love letters I probably would have taken out and, um, forty thousand dollars. Cash. Just in case.”
What the hell? “Huh?”
“I misled you. I have a lot of money and if I never see you again, it’s all going to you. Discreetly. I already set it up.”
“Isaac, I—” He cuts me off with a kiss that would have knocked me over if he wasn’t here to catch me. Such a bittersweet kiss. Hungry. Desperate. Primal. A kiss that feels like it might be the last one I’ll ever have.
“I love you, Maya. It was completely worth it, remember that,” he murmurs as his lips dance around my face. “I need to get the door. Hide. Now.”
I go numb when he leaves me, mindlessly turning off the light so I can stay hidden in the blackness. The tile
s are cold and damp beneath my knees as I huddle behind the half open door and peek through the gap to see Isaac glancing back at me.
This horrible weight in my belly pulls me downward as I watch him reveal the face of the man standing in the hallway
, a face I’ve seen before. Isaac’s spine stiffens as he moves over to allow him inside, locking the door when he closes it.
There’s something strangely familiar in the man’s gait as he strides into the living room. Isaac follows and I realize it’s
nearly the same walk. Actually their stance is similar, their shoulders unusually broad compared to their lean frames, though the intruder is stockier with age and an inch or two taller. Very dark hair starkly contrasted with the silver running through it, just about the same length, but not quite as wavy. A strong jawline, though not quite as chiseled and square, but other than that they don’t look much alike in the face, except around the mouth. Still, if I didn’t know any better…
“Hi, Dad.”
“Did I interrupt your shower?” Baron says nonchalantly, getting uncomfortably close to Isaac and tugging one of his damp curls straight.
“It’s not a problem,” Isaac returns, subtly shifting his weight to his back leg and pulling free of the contact. “I thought you were in New Zealand.”
“Taylor fractured his shin. We came home early.”
“Is he
okay?”
His father doesn’t answer. “Preston
broke into your room and noticed that your personal effects were gone. You’ve moved out?”
“I didn’t want to spoil your trip.”
With a sigh, Baron shifts forward, placing his hand on Isaac’s cheek. He doesn’t back away but he wants to, his breathe catching as his father’s hand slides down his neck and shoulder. I squirm for him in the dark just a few feet away.
“Isaac.” They’re so close. This is
far from normal, a tense undercurrent between them revealing a strange history. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s complicated.
I’m just—”
“No, I don’t understand why you are still here. Why hasn’t that little bitch run home crying yet?”
“She’s, um…” Isaac falters.
“
Do not tell me that you lost control and maimed her.”
“
No,” he spits back in disgust. “Of course not.”
Breaking contact and turning away, Baron exhales in relief
, giving Isaac space to recover out of his sight. “Thank God,” he laughs. “I wanted to give you a fresh piece of meat. Something that better suits your evolving tastes. But in retrospect, I have realized that she was not the best choice.”
“A fresh piece of meat?” Isaac shoots back icil
y. “You gave me Luke’s official, legitimate girlfriend to babysit and trapped me inside all summer.” Baron chuckles, striding over to my favorite chair to cuddle in and taking a seat like a king on a throne. They stare at each other, Isaac tense, his mouth hardened into a line, Baron’s a twisted, arrogant smirk. “Would you like something to drink?” Isaac asks quietly. There isn’t an answer. “Sir.”
“Of course.” Without a word, Isaac moves to the bar and mixes up something complicated. His father is taking a sip within seconds. “I must say, I am a little disappointed.”
“That I didn’t break your friend’s toy?”
He nods. “But it’s for the best. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“You actually thought I’d rip into a rich girl without your permission?”
“Ever the professional. What exactly have you been doing?”
Isaac sighs. “Experimenting.”
“With?”
“Mental conditioning. You gave me a square peg to fit through a round hole.”
“Did it work?”
“Not the best so far. We’ll see.”
“Make sure it doesn’t. Get rid of her. Nothing too messy.”
Isaac’s jaw drops. “What are you saying? I can’t… I’ve never...”
Baron laughs heartily. “Oh
, for Christ’s sake. No. Unfortunately this little thorn in my side can’t go anywhere.”
Isaac’s lips roll together and I can tell he’s resisting the urge to ask something. “What was
Luke thinking?”
My anger flares as the air between them grows heav
y. Isaac is fishing in dangerous waters. His father’s grip grows tighter on his drink, his head shaking dismissively. Rising, Baron takes his final sip and strides past his son to put the glass in the sink.
Isaac relaxes visibly, sensing the change in the intruder before I do. When he returns to my field of view, his posture, face, everything is different. “I have absolutely no fucking idea,”
Baron finally answers, slumping against the counter in a relaxed, almost adolescent manner. The king is gone and my knight in shining armor leans in closer to his father. Maybe this is how he learned to read moods so well. And manipulate them.
“I’ve never had anything like her,” Isaac says softly. “Thank you for the change of pace.”
“I appreciate your restraint.”
“It wasn’t that much effort.”
“Really? I didn’t think she’d be that compliant.”
“That i
s not the word I’d use to describe her,” he answers with a cocky laugh, his face that same mask he wore when we first came here. Am I the only one that can see right through it?
Baron shoots him a look of confusion and concern that Isaac answ
ers with a casual shrug. “Luckily for us she has no one to tell.”
“Oh really?”
“Don’t get any ideas.”
“She has to have something going for her.”
“It’s the lack of it that he likes so much,” Baron reveals. Isaac waits for more. “A poor girl that grew up in the right circles, so she’s trained well, but not actually worth anything. It could have worked out beautifully for him.”
“Could have?”
“Luke has a tendency to push things past their limits.” It’s so chilly in here. “It’s a weakness.”
“But his requests were so tame.”
In what universe?
“Apparently it’s more difficult for her to make dinner than it is to lay down for his boss.” My cheeks flush in shame as I watch Isaac stiffen.
“Is that why I’ve been trapped in the 1950’s for the last three weeks?”
“I’m shocked
that she made it this long. I was almost sure I’d have to call for the keys and find her fucked to death in the back room.”
Isaac could never do that. Not to me, not to anyone.
“How could you think that? I would never do that to you.” Without looking at him, Baron reaches over and places his hand on Isaac’s shoulder. They would almost appear to be any normal farther and son if I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“Thank God. The last surviving best friend of the DA’s precious, already wayward daughter and only child. That would have been a disaster.”
My heart jumps into my throat. Did he actually say that? “Last surviving?”
“Long, sad, boring story that put Maya’s name halfway on a list of daughters
to keep away from my dick.”
“Then how did she end up here?”
“I said halfway.” Baron sighs pushing away from the counter and moving closer to the door. “Is she as smart as they say she is?”
“
She seems pretty bright, yeah.”
“Apparently she’s brilliant. Notably so. I didn’t think she’d even make it to your door.”
“So I’ve been trying to mind fuck a genius. Great. Background information, Dad. I keep telling you.”
They laugh together, but Isaac’s is small and obviously fake if you heard the real one. Or felt it. “So what the fuck is keeping her here? Curiosity?”
“Well, him, probably. Right?” Isaac offers tentatively as my stomach churns. “Doesn’t that make sense?”
Baron’s brow furrows. “
Luke is more surprised than I am. He wouldn’t get rid of her over this.”
“Would she know that?”
“That’s interesting. Perhaps not. If she’s as smart as they say she is, perhaps she’s acutely aware of just how worthless she is in every other respect.”
Thanks. You always were an asshole
. “I didn’t think she was that bad looking.”
“
I know you don’t,” he laughs. “That not what I mean. She knew she hit the jackpot when Luke latched onto her. And like you said, his requests were simple, tame. Not really enough to chase her away.”
“There’s obviously been a misinterpretation on my part. One that ended up working in your favor.”
That snicker sends a chill down my spine and I see Isaac’s stiffen. “Oh, that isn’t going to help you.” In an instant, the intruder grips his son by the throat and slams him against the door. “Did you enjoy making that little whore scream?” Baron rasps, his lips sliding across Isaac’s jawline. What the fuck?
“Yes, Sir.”
“Probably a lot more than you have in a while. Right?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And this is how you repay me?”
Baron’s forearm is across his son’s chest, pinning him against the
wall. Isaac doesn’t struggle, his eyes darting toward me for a moment before they drop downward. I can feel his skin crawling as Baron’s thumb slides across the lips that were on mine just a moment ago, moving in until their faces are so close it wouldn’t surprise me if he leaned in for a kiss. The anger and panic contorting Isaacs’ features fades to an unnerving blank slate as his father’s hand slides lower, lingering at the flimsy elastic waistband of his workout shorts.
“Where is this going?” Isaac asks shakily. The little kid voice, usually one of my favorites, and I can’t help but imagine where this has gone in the past.
“Wherever I want it to go,” Baron replies coolly. “Do you actually need me to remind you of that?”
Isaac flinches when his father’s fingers slide over the sculpted flesh of his abdomen. My own fingertips tingle as if they know their territory is being violated. I am not going to be able to just sit here and watch this. The light gleaming off of a silver candlestick catches my eye. It’s very heavy.
“If I fight back now, I just might win.” Isaac has clearly snapped out of the trace, his shoulders squaring.
“You might. Don’t you want to find out?”
“No.”
Baron huffs, bringing his hand up from Isaac’s stomach to ruffle his hair playfully.
“Why did you have to grow up? You were so much more fun to play with when you were little.”
You fucking bastard
. Bile rises in my throat.
“All great things come to an end, I suppose.”
“Oh, you think this is over? This is over when I say it’s fucking over. I
made
you. I
own
you. I gave you everything.”