Diamond (Rare Gems Series) (17 page)

“
Shut the fuck up.” Ignoring Ward, Thad went to the small refrigerator near the file cabinet and got a bottle. He wasn’t sure what Benson wanted from him until he was right there. On top of the cabinet was the camera that he and Benson had been playing with earlier. It had come with the house. They’d found it and the bank of recorders in one of the wall closets in this room. He pressed the button to record his brother.

“
What are you doing here, Ward? The police are looking for you.” His brother snarled at him. “You think I’m going to bail you out of this, you’re stupider than I thought.”

“
Why don’t you just give me what I want?” Thad was surprised by the outburst and laughed. “I want you to give me what I had before. An office at your new building and a house. I don’t want an apartment this time, a real house. With a staff. I’m not going to clean up after myself when you can afford to have it done for me.”

“
Anything else while you’re making demands?” Thad reached for Blair. He nearly reached for Diamond, but he was afraid she’d get hurt, and he didn’t want that. Blair said he was on his way.

Diamond said she could feel that you were upset and tried to call the house.
She said Benson alerted her that Ward was there.
He’d have to find out what they’d said to each other.
I’ve called the police, too, but I don’t think they’re going to be there before me.

More than likely not.
He looked at Ward, then Thad realized he was waiting for an answer. “I’m not going to give you anything. I’m not going to pay off any of the places you destroyed, nor am I going to pay for a lawyer. I hope you end up in jail for a very long time.”

“
What is wrong with you? How can you live here with that woman and not want more?” Ward got up to pace but kept his gun near Benson. “I’ve been trying and trying to show you what you need, but you continue to want to shun the type of lifestyle that you were born to.”

“
I was born to a poor family the same as you were. My mother worked her ass off all day to come home and fix dinner for Dad, who rarely came home from one of the women he was seeing to eat with us. Dad never left the couch to even find a job, and when he did, he was usually fired within a few weeks for being drunk on the job.” Thad leaned back in his chair. “I’ve worked very hard for what I’ve got, and I see no reason whatsoever to give any of it to you. You want money, find a job, a real job.”

“
But I’m your brother.” Thad waited for him to say more, but apparently he thought that should explain it. He shook his head. There was something seriously wrong with his brother.

“
What about that man you killed in Texas? What do you have to say about that?” His brother started pacing again, and Thad noticed that he was talking to himself. He could hear him but didn’t understand what he was saying.

“
He touched me. My person, and that is just not what is done to a person of my caliber. I’m Ward Galloway, and Ward Galloway is rich. Rich men do not get blow jobs from underlings.” Ward turned to look at him. “He was a ways to a means. I needed money, and he had it. What other reason could there be?”

“
You murdered a man in cold blood for his money?” Thad knew his brother was sick, but this was beyond what he’d thought he’d say. “You simply needed something and took it? Damn the consequences?”

“
Of course. Isn’t that what I’ve been trying to tell you to do for the past twenty minutes? You can fuck that Jade woman, but don’t fucking marry her. She’s not worthy of you.”

“
Jade? What does Jade have to do with this?” He tried to remember how she’d been involved in all this, and remembered the encounter at Blair’s office. “I’m not marrying Jade.” His brother sagged with relief.

“
Thank God. She’s well beneath you, and you should have seen it well before now. No matter, we’ll get this all straightened out and I’ll make sure it never happens again.” His brother put the gun in his pants and walked toward him. “You’ll see, things will go better now that I’m going to be working here.”

“
I’m marrying her sister, Diamond. And you won’t be working here either.” Thad reached out and grabbed his brother’s extended hand. He was more than likely going to shake on the deal, but Thad had had enough. With a quick twist, he had his brother down on the desk and Benson was disarming him.

“
I thought for sure he’d never shut up.” Thad laughed at Benson. “Sire, if you don’t mind me saying so, I think your brother has delusions of grandeur that are simply insane.”

Thad couldn
’t have agreed more.

Chapter 1
7

“I do hope you’re happy.” Diamond turned to see Jan standing behind her. “You’ve gotten me written up and put on probation. If one more nurse complains, I’m going to lose my job. All because of you.”

“
Doubtful that it’s because of me. You should have taken better care of the people who support you and not run them into the ground.” Diamond hung the last picture on the wall to her new office before going to her desk. “I’m going to make sure that all the nurses, new and old, know that they’re not your whipping posts and will be respected.” Jan huffed, sat down in the chair across from her, and looked around.

The office wasn
’t anything Diamond had expected. It was on the fourth floor and was so lovely that she spent an hour when she’d arrived today just wandering around it. Thad had given her a big desk as well as the lovely chair she was looking forward to using, and Blair had given her a computer as well as a nice printer. She was set up. Even Sapphire had designed and printed her business cards that seemed to be burning a hole in her pocket to hand out. When Jan looked at her, she didn’t look any happier.

“
Nice office. Who did you have to blow to get it?” Diamond didn’t answer, but she did think about pressing the button on her desk to alert security as soon as she sat down. But she couldn’t find it. There was no way she was putting up with this abuse any longer.

“
I want you to leave. I’ve contacted security and I’m going to report you to the—” Jan pulled a gun out and pointed it at her. “That’s not necessary. You’re not only going to lose your job but your license too if you pull that trigger.”

“
It’s a done deal now. As of this morning as a matter of fact, when I lost my temper in the nurses’ lounge. But they’ve all decided that they want to follow rules now and not help me out when I tell them I need them. You turned them all against me, and your sister went up and reported me already. What did you do, tell her to watch me so that my first little mistake, she would get rid of me? I really hate you Erickson women, all of you. Well, if I go so do you.”

Diamond wasn
’t afraid, but she was concerned. If she pulled the trigger, not only might she get hurt, but Diamond was having a hard time calming her wolf. She wanted out to take care of this woman, and she was afraid that she would do it. She reached for Thad, hoping he was still close enough to help her.

Thad, are you still in the hospital?
If you are, do you think you can come to my office right now? I have a situation.

His laughter hummed along her skin
. You need me to come up there and show you what I meant about bending you over the desk? I assure you that it’s going to take me the rest of the day to get it just right. I might even have to continue showing you when I get home—

Jan is in my office
, and she has a gun pointed at me. I’m not really afraid, but I would very much like it if you came up here and helped me out.
She felt his terror.
It’ll be all right, I promise you. Just come up, okay?

He told her he was on his way
, and she could feel Blair sort of knocking at her mind. She told him what she told Thad, and he said he was coming as well. She just hoped that neither of them was hurt by this woman. Her wolf wouldn’t be contained if they were.

She
’d tried to be calm, but the woman didn’t look like she had much to lose and was going to kill her. There wasn’t silver in the gun, but a bullet to the head was pretty permanent and she wasn’t ready to die right now. When there was a brisk knock at her door, she nearly stood up to let them in when it suddenly burst open. Thad stood there as a sleek, black wolf.

“
I’d put that down if I were you. I’m pretty sure he is a great deal faster, and if he gets to you, he will tear your throat out.” Jan stared at Thad but didn’t put her gun down. “Jan, if you shoot him, you’re going to piss me off and I’ll shift too. You’ll never survive the two of us.”

“
Where did you get that…what the hell is a dog doing in my hospital?” Jan shifted the gun to Thad, who growled at her. “What the hell is that thing doing here? And what do you mean ‘shift too’?”

“
I’m a wolf too, and mine is really going to hurt you if you shoot at him. He won’t die, but he will be really pissed off.” Jan turned to look at her, but the gun was still on Thad. “You shoot him and I shit you not, I’ll tear your throat out so fast it wouldn’t matter if you were in the operating room to be repaired, you’ll be dead.”

“
This can’t be happening. Wolves do not run free in the hospital.” Diamond could see Thad moving into the room slowly while Jan continued. “I just wanted to be a good doctor and make people know that I’m important. I am, too. I graduated at the top of my class, and you stupid nurses should respect me. I’m not going to go down easy.”

Thad was behind Jan
’s chair when Diamond spoke. “You’re babbling, and I, for one, have no idea why you think we should respect you when you’ve never done the same to us. You’re nothing but a bully, and you’re getting just what you deserve.”

The gun went off just as Thad leapt at Jan.
The room vibrated with the sound, and before Diamond could shift as well, if that was her intention, Jan was lying on the floor with her throat covered in Thad’s massive jaws. If she moved or did anything stupid now, she was as good as dead. Finally finding the stupid button, Diamond pressed it several times just as she moved around her desk to kneel down beside her on the floor. This was not going to go well, she just knew it. Thad had his paw on her chest as well, holding her still.

“
I warned you.” Diamond moved the gun away from her hand and left it close in the event she needed it. “This is going to be how this works. And so you know, I hope you fuck up because I’d like nothing better than to have him tear your throat out right now.”

I
’m shot, love. Not in any place that I think will kill me, but my leg, my rear one, is hurting like a motherfucker. Do you think we could...Christ, it’s not silver is it?
Diamond heard the panic in his voice.

No, it
’s just a plain bullet, but if you bleed on my nice carpet I’m going to make you pay.
She was so afraid for him, but when he laughed, she felt so much better.
Are you all right?

“
Yes, I am. Now that I know you’re safe. Just let’s get this bitch taken care of. I want to break in your new desk.
She felt the warmth of his words and glanced at her broken door, knowing that at any moment security was going to come in.

I
don’t think it’s going to be today. There is a mad woman on my floor and a wolf at her throat. I think it’ll be a while before either of us will be doing anything like that. I love you, Thad.
As soon as he let Jan go, Diamond picked up the gun and pointed it at her as she stood up. “They’ll never believe you.”

“
They won’t believe there’s a dog in the hospital? They will if I tell them. I may not be respected, but I do have some pull left.” Diamond shook her head. “You’re a fucking cunt, do you know that?”

The first guard came through the door just as Jan started screaming.
Thad had gone to the bathroom, so no one searched for the giant motherfucking dog, as Jan kept screaming about. She was being cuffed just as Blair came into the room, and he moved to the bathroom and tossed in a small bag before coming to hold her. Thad came out and stood there staring at her, wearing a pair of scrubs as she held onto Blair. She’d never been so relieved or happy in all her life, and as she walked to him, he smiled at her. She hugged Thad to her just as the police arrived.

As Jan was being taken away
, the police looked at her, she supposed for some sort of direction. Shrugging, Diamond never looked at anyone but the one cop she knew was a shifter. He winked at her just before he walked out of the room with Jan in cuffs. There would be no more talk of a giant dog running free in the hospital.

“
You should know that I’m not at all happy about this.” Both she and Thad looked at Blair as he continued. “First of all, there are all sorts of things you could have done without shifting in a public place, and secondly, telling me to be calm several times when I knew you weren’t is not very nice. I need you both to pledge to me so that I can skip all this finding out after the fact what’s going on.”

“
I told you what was going on.” Blair shook his head at her. “Okay, you contacted me first, but I still told you.”

“
So you did, but would you have done it before either of you were killed? Doubtful. And my big contribution to this was to steal some clothes from the cart down the hall so your boyfriend there wouldn’t be naked when the police arrived.” Blair shook his head again. “Please pledge to me. I need to know when you might need me.”

She thought about telling him she always needed him
, but didn’t. Sitting down in the chair at her desk, she was scooped up by Thad, then was sitting on his lap before she could speak. He held her tightly as he looked at Blair.

“
I’ll pledge to you if she does.” She looked at Thad as he continued speaking to her. “We both know that as our alpha, he can demand that we pledge, but he’s asking. And what will it cost us to pledge to him? Nothing. But we gain more. There are things that we can have with this connection that most humans never attain in the world. Most of which, as he’s pointed out, help.”

“
He’ll know everything. Our depression, happiness, not to mention, he’ll know when we are fighting.” Thad shrugged. “You don’t understand, he’ll know it all.”

“
And what is wrong with that? I doubt that he’ll come running over when we have a fight. And according to the book I read, there is no way for him to know what we’re saying to each other unless we want him to. As for our depression, I might want him to bring me out of my funk. But to be honest with you, Diamond, I doubt very much I’ll be there again. You’ve made me the happiest man in the world.”

She flushed at him
, and he smiled. “You just want him to go away so we can have sex on this desk.”

Blair stood up as he spoke.
“I’m out of here. Too much information. But I would like very much for you two to think about it.”

After he
left, Thad held her while neither of them spoke. When she felt her eyes drift shut, she snuggled deeper into his arms until she let her body relax. Nothing in this world could have made her feel like she did right at that moment. And as sleep took her, she thought she heard him say that he loved her.

~~~

Thad watched Diamond sleep. She was his world now, and he wanted to prove how much he loved her more and more daily. As soon as he was sure she was sound asleep, he shifted her in his arms and lifted her up. Laying her on the couch was easy, but letting her go wasn’t. When she opened her eyes and looked at him, he felt himself fall over into the “Christ, I can’t live without you” phase and over into the “I’ll die without you” kind of love.

“
You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” Thad smiled as she continued talking softly to him. “I want to spend the rest of my life trying to show you how much I love you.”

“
And I love you too. I want to be a better person because of you.” She touched her fingers to his face and he kissed them. “Oh Diamond, do you have any idea what you do to me every time I look at you?”

“
Yes, I think I do.” Sitting up, he leaned back on his heels and watched her. “I’d very much like to break in my desk now. I have a need to scream out your name while you take me hard.”

“
I’m going to take you home first. I had a package delivered today, and I want to set it up and try it out. There are all sorts of things we can do there that we can’t here. Not with a broken door anyway.” He could smell her arousal and thought about what he was going to do to her when he tied her to the new chair, and realized he’d never make it. “I’ve decided that you’ll have to service me first. I want you to sit there and suck my cock until I come down the back of your throat.”

Thad stood up and moved between her legs when she sat up.
He watched her move her hands up his thighs to his string on his pants, and nearly swallowed his tongue when she pulled them down with her teeth. As she pulled his pants down to his thighs, Thad curled his fingers into her hair to watch her.

As soon as his cock was free
, she licked him from root to tip and then swirled her tongue around his thick head. Christ, he was ready to come right now, and his balls tightened close to his body. As soon as she took him into her mouth, he nearly let his fast approaching climax go.

Diamond didn
’t slow at all once he started to fuck her mouth. She took him as deep as he had ever been, and knew that if she kept this up he’d be finished long before he wanted to be. But there was no way he was going to ask her to stop, and when she swallowed around him, he knew that he was a goner.

“
Open your mouth.” She leaned back just a little as he fisted his cock. “Christ, you look delicious. I’m coming.”

His first
stream of cum splashed over her mouth and then down her chin. Every time he fisted up and down his cock, more and more of his cum sprayed over her face. Each time his cum landed near her lips, she licked it into her mouth and moaned. Christ, he’d never seen anything more sexy or beautiful. As soon as he felt his balls empty, he put his hand on the wall behind her and held on. Her tongue along his shaft had him shiver as his cock hardened again.