Stolen: A Bad Boy Romance (28 page)

Greyson

I leaned against my chair and looked over across the table to my family. I tried to avoid meals with all of them, especially my father who was sitting at the end of the table. When we were all together, it was like there was a cloud of tension over the family. My father was almost never home, and when he was, he was angry.

My mother, she was the one who ran things. At least inside of this house. She was just like all the other women in the family. Strong, determined, but totally loyal.

My father was never good at being loyal. He probably had more mistresses than he did children.  But he had us too.

“So, Joanna, is it? Tell me, Joanna, about yourself.” My father narrowed his eyes at her, but she just sat there, looking completely unfazed.

“Well,” she thought about it for a minute. “I’m twenty-four, a graduate student over at UMBC-“

“Graduate student? What are you studying?”

“History,” she said, her chin raised high. Good girl.

“Ah, a hobby then?”

That cute little frown appeared. I knew better than to interrupt them, neither one of them would appreciate it, so just sat back and sipped my whiskey.

“No, I’m going to be a professor.”

“Not anymore, you aren’t. You’ll have to give that up. Fitzgerald women do not work.”

I saw the anger take over her face, and I wanted to stop her. Wanted to save her. But I needed to see exactly how she was going to react.

“Well, that changed. I have to marry your son, but I won’t give up my career.” She spoke to him like a leader, like she was the one used to giving orders. It was interesting to watch, and no matter how much I knew it was going to backfire, I loved it when her face got red and the tip of her nose flared, just a little bit.

She must not have been close with her uncle, or she’d know the way the family works.

“I don’t think you understand. You join this family. You do it the way it needs to be done. You follow the order of things-”

My father immediately went into lecture mode, like he was talking to one of my sisters, but my mother chimed in.

“Let’s not worry about this right this second, James. We have a lot to do to get ready for the wedding, and Joanna has a lot to learn. Try not to be so hard on her.” There she was, smoothing the ruffles out, as always. She stood and poured my father another drink, smiling at him as she sat down.

“Where is Kathryn?” I asked. I noticed she wasn’t at the table. In fact, I was starting to notice that she wasn’t around much at all these days. I almost never saw her.

“Probably stayed after at school to help with tutoring,” my mother said waving me away. “What did you think of dinner? Is it too dry?” she asked the family. No more tense subjects. That was what she was really saying. She was trying to steer the conversation off in another direction.

It worked. It always worked, When any of us upset him, it was like she was magic. A band-aid that covered up the cracks in our relationship with him.

Tonight was no different.

“Fine, Mae. It’s a good roast, mashed potatoes are a little lumpy, though,” my father picked at them with his fork.

I swear I saw Jo blush. She must’ve made them.

“I think they taste great,” I said. “Did you hear anything about the Sterling Merger?” I asked. We had a series of business deals getting ready to go down, and one of them was a merger of different companies into one conglomeration. A group of sorts.

“I did, I sent you an email with the details.” Business that was what my father was better at. Talking about, thinking about, dreaming about business. Money.

“I see,” I said, “you wanna give me a run down?”

“Maybe a little bit later. I came home just for dinner, but I really need to get back to the office. I have more paperwork to do.” The way he said paperwork let me know that he meant nothing of the sort. He either had some heads to crack, or he wanted to get back to one of his mistresses.

My mother caught the meaning too.

“Will you be home tonight?” she asked.

“I might just stay at the condo,” he said. I could see the look of recognition in her eyes. There was going to be another fight.

“Thank you so much for the meal, mom,” I stood and looked at Joanna, beckoning her to stand too. I didn’t want her to have to see the truth of my family. Not yet. She didn’t deserve to witness the fallout that was about to happen.

“What?” she asked as she looked over at me, blinking. There she was, the role of the doting mother came back to her. “Oh, yes, of course. I’ll be in touch about wedding details, my dear. It was so nice meeting you.”

Just like that we were dismissed. I grabbed Joanna’s hand and pulled her out of the room, out of the house and down the driveway.

“What just happened?” she asked. She looked blind-sighted.

“You just met my family,” I said. “And you almost got to see behind the curtain.”

There it was, the muffled sound of screaming. “Let’s go.”

She just nodded and slid into the seat of the car. I liked it when she obeyed me.  I thought about the way she did what I told her to earlier today, the way she bent over and just let me spank her ass. Then I thought about why I had to in the first place.

I realized that I liked it even better when she resisted.

Chapter Ten

Joanna

“So, that’s them. I’m pretty sure you heard it all,” he grinned at me as I took another spoonful of my sundae from Anne’s Dairy Creme. It was the best ice-cream in the entire Baltimore metro area.

“You are really lucky, you know,” I said, finally. I didn’t mean to sound rude or ungrateful, but it was true. “I’ve never really had a family.”

“Yeah, I guess you could call it luck.” He shrugged the smile on his face completely gone. “My mom, she loved me. Loved us. My dad, he wants a legacy. I mean, I get it. I know what it is like to have that need pumping through my veins. I have it.” The way his eyes lingered over me it was like he wanted to add something to that, but he didn’t, he just looked down into his cup. There it was again that little bit of his soul that I’d wanted to see.

“I don’t know what it’s like to have a legacy,” I admitted. “I just know what it's like to be the daughter of a screw-up. I guess I’m just lucky to be alive. My uncle, he was always kind to me. Always provided for me. Especially when my father couldn’t.” I shrugged. I never thought I would amount to much, I never expected to, but I was smart. I loved to read, and I was good at writing.

Greyson laid a hand on my shoulder and looked at me, “but you got to be exactly who you wanted. Do what you wanted. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?” he asked.

“Yeah, until I have to give it up.”

“You don’t have to, not if you don’t want to.”

The truth was that I’d been second-guessing graduate school the moment I started. I didn’t have anything in common with anyone, and my upbringing hadn’t prepared me for the snobbery of academia. I wasn’t ready for it, and I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be.

But I didn’t tell Greyson that.

“I guess we both feel trapped in different ways,” he admitted.

“At least we’re trapped together?” I said, trying to lighten the mood. It seemed to work because he bent down and kissed the top of my head. I didn’t understand how a man who was forceful, who could be so controlling, could also be so sweet sometimes.

But he was. Ever the mercurial one.

“I had no idea that our families would react this way, Joanna. I wanted to take you someplace nice. I didn’t think-“

“It’s not your fault,” I said. It was my uncle’s he was cruel, and he had been looking for a way to break the Fitzgeralds for years. Everyone knew that. This was entirely his doing. He didn’t care about me. Didn’t care about Greyson. He wanted information. He wanted to find the weak links in the chain so that he could break into it.

Or, if he couldn’t do that, he wanted to make them an ally so that he could render the competition moot.

“Why do you work for your father?”

“As if I have a choice.” He glanced around. “It’s not the same as your uncle’s establishment. He wouldn’t keep a man like me on if I didn’t do what I needed to to keep the business running. He wouldn’t just let me leave. This is my legacy. This is my family, and I need to step up and take it over.”

I nodded. There wasn’t anything else I could do even if I wanted to. He had a point, even if I wanted to argue it with him.

The moment was gone.

“Take me home? Please?” I asked, suddenly chilly. Ice cream heading into the fall seemed like such a good idea. I’d craved it. Now I was cold, and the influx of sweets was making me regret my decision.

“Yeah, of course,” he said, his eyes cold. Greyson had so many walls that I doubted I would ever breach any of them. I felt completely hopeless in the face of my emotions and his lack of feeling.

I was regretting everything.

Greyson

“We need to talk, Greyson,” Janson was on the other side of my condo’s door, his arms cross. Waiting.

“What is this about?” I asked.

“I don’t want to talk about this here,” he said again, more insistent this time.

“Just tell me what it’s about,” I said, refusing to let him in. Jo was sleeping in the next room.

“Well, for starters, we need to talk about your fiancée,” he hissed. He was not happy. “I warned you about her, and you went and saw her anyway.”

“I did, and she’s here. Sleeping.” I finally opened the damn door and let him in. “She’s been pretty tired lately.” It had been a few days since the dinner with my parents, and she seemed completely exhausted. It was a lot of changes, and I was busy with work. Janson had been away on business with his father over the last couple of days in D.C., and he was just got back this morning. I wasn't surprised he was on my back about this. It was just like him.

He wouldn't gloat, he never would, but that didn't mean he didn't want to.

“Here, in your apartment, you moved her in?” he asked, eying me.

“What other choice did I have? You think I want her in her own place unprotected? It was a fucking rat hole as it was, not to mention it had next to no security.”

He nodded, “this whole cluster fuck isn’t her fault. Might as well protect her.”

“What did you really come here to talk about?” I asked.

“David.”

“What the fuck is my brother up to this time?” I asked. My half-brother was a piece of shit that I should’ve offed a long time ago, but I didn’t like killing. I only did it when I was directly ordered to. My father had expected it. Had created a rival situation just so that I could kill him and take my place. Except for one small problem. He’d grown fond of David.

“You sure you wanna talk here?” Janson asked. I looked down the hallway to an open door. Joanna was sleeping inside.

“No, you’re right. McKenna’s?” I asked. It was the one pub we felt comfortable in. Most of the area was so built up, ritzy and overpriced that even someone like me felt uncomfortable.

“Yes. I’ve been wanting a good beer.” Janson rolled his eyes and turned towards the door. “Coming?”

I wanted to be anywhere else than somewhere she might hear.

“Naturally.”

It was a dive bar, a hole in the wall. The kind of place where no one asked why you were there, and no one really wanted to know. I loved that about McKenna’s. It meant that I could go there and sit for hours, and no one would bother me. No one would recognize me. Except Vick, the bartender, and a few of the long-time patrons, but they just knew me as “Grey” and nothing else.

“Hey man, been a while since you’ve been in here, what can I get for you?” Vick asked. He was already reaching for my favorite brand of bourbon.

“You know what I like,” I said, smiling as I eased down onto the stool. I gave him a wink, and he chuckled then slid the drink over to me. “Keep it coming, man. I’ve had one hell of a week.”

“Join the club, I’ve had fucking college kids in here all week,” he pointed over to the billiards room, and I heard it, the annoying noises of frat boys and asshats. Jesus, fuck they were loud.

“I can sympathize,” I said nodding to the man. “Get yourself something strong, on me.”

“So you are really going to go through with it?” Janson asked. He waved at Vick who handed him a beer.

“With what?” He was getting on my fucking nerves. I gripped the glass a little harder and took a swig of it. Alcohol. Sweet fucking alcohol. That was exactly what I needed.

“The marriage.” He acted like it was obvious, but I had no idea what he was talking about until he said it.

Fuck. Joanna.

I clenched my jaw. The marriage. Joanna was going to be bound to me no matter if she wanted it or not, all because I wanted to show her ass off at some fancy party. I ruined her life.

She was never going to forgive me but fuck. I would at least make her want me.

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” I asked. “My father thinks it is the best course of action, her uncle is demanding it-” I shook my head. “She doesn’t fucking want it.”

“Is that the only thing you regret?” he asked.

“What?”

“Well, it sounds like you are more concerned with how she feels than how you feel.” Janson looked at me with knowing eyes. They were the same fucking ones my mom gave me when I presented Joanna to her.

Did they all fucking know my weakness?

I blinked. “I don’t like forcing women to do anything they don’t want to, period.”

“Right, but you sound like marrying her is a good thing.” Janson raised his eyebrow at me and took a swallow of his beer.

I thought about her, all of her. Her tight body. That smart mouth. It gave me the fucking tingles. What the hell was wrong with me?

“There could be worse things. I mean, I had to get married sometime-“my voice trailed off. My mother was right. I needed to settle down, and if I was going to do it, might as well have it be a woman like Joanna. A woman who made me hard just thinking about her.

“Seriously? And you aren’t itching to find another woman to dip your wick?” he asked, looking around the bar. There were some pretty woman there tonight. Trashy, but pretty. Normally I’d be all for it, but fuck, she was laying in my bed waiting for me.

And that was an offer I didn’t want to refuse.

“Wow, man. Wow.” Janson said then waved his hand for another beer. “Well, if that’s settled then we really need to talk what we came here to talk about.”

“David,” I said. Janson was pulling out all the fucking stops tonight. “What about him?”

“He’s been fucking sniffing around. Dipping his fingers into your shit.” Janson paused then looked me over. “You don’t even fucking know, do you?”

“Know what?” I asked. I may have been naïve, but it was clear I needed an education.

“Fuck, we got a lot of catching up to do.” Janson shook his head. “I saw him last night, with your father.”

“What?” he might have been a Fitzgerald bastard, but that didn’t mean daddy-dearest wanted anything to do with him. Sure, he gave him a job, set him up nice, but he didn’t openly admit who he was. Not that we didn’t all know. It just wasn’t done.

“He was beating the fuck out of the O’Malley boys with your dad last night. Turns out they owed a pretty big fucking debt. Something about heroin profits?”

I nodded. Part of my dad’s business was infecting the community with that poison, and those low-level shits were perfect distributors. Must’ve shortchanged him on the profits.

Sometimes my dad liked to collect the debts himself.

“And he brought the apple of his eye along?” I asked bitterness dripping in my voice.

My dad liked David. Thought he was a good business person. But he wasn’t ever seen with him, at least not in that capacity. “That bastard.”

It was usually me.

Fuck.

He was stepping into my role. My dad had always planned for this. Always. Raise two rival sons, hone them off each other, and then whoever was the most powerful would come out on top. He expected the other one to sink to the bottom, of the Bay.

I could feel the tension rising in my arms. The anger spreading through my face. My father had made the first move. He’d put David in a position where I had to counter.

It was deliberate, and I knew it, but that didn’t mean I could resist the bait. Fuck. I was too angry to think, I needed to bash some fucking heads.

Then I remembered Vick’s problem. I stood and grabbed the now full glass and headed towards the pool tables.

“Where are we going?” Janson asked.

“To have a little fun,” I answered, the smile on my face vicious. “Let Vick know we’ll cover any damage to his place.” I winked at him and headed right for those entitled assholes with the pool sticks and their smug faces.

Someone was going to get a beating on the house, just like my drinks.

“Jesus Christ, Greyson,” Janson swore at me, but he was right the fuck behind me.