Beautifully Brutal (Southern Boy Mafia #1) (29 page)

Chapter Forty-Six

Some things are unforgivable.

Max returned to the penthouse with Courtney after their little episode in the club. He’d nearly taken her again in the elevator on the way up, finding it damn difficult to keep his hands off her these days.

Maybe it was the near-death experience, dealing with his own mortality, or simply because she was finally his… He didn’t know what it was, but he found her so damn irresistible. And that was saying something considering he’d always been drawn to her.

While he poured two fingers of whiskey into a glass, Courtney kissed him lightly. “I’m gonna take a bath.”

He smiled at her, noticing the invitation in her white-gray eyes.

“I’ve got somethin’ to deal with,” he informed her, hating that he couldn’t join her.

She nodded, then smiled as she left him standing there watching the seductive sway of her hips.

Before he could act on the lust that had reignited in his veins, there was a knock on the door. With drink in hand, he went to the door, opening it and allowing Leyton to come inside.

“Drink?” he offered.

“Sure,” Leyton said, making his way to the sofa and dropping down on it.

Max poured Leyton’s drink and handed the glass over before moving to the sofa across from him.

“How’d it go?” Max inquired.

“The deal’s done. Guns were delivered.”

They’d been expecting the first shipment via the new channel they’d established after taking possession of the land that Artemis had handed over. Max had partially expected things to go south, so he was happy to hear they hadn’t. It had been in Artemis’s best interest that this shit run smoothly.

“And my father?” Max asked, watching Leyton closely.

Leyton took a long swallow and then glanced out the window, frowning. “He’s entertaining a couple of people.”

Max drained his glass and leaned forward, placing it on the table. “That’s a problem.”

“I know,” Leyton confirmed, meeting his gaze once again.

“What do you think I should do about it?” Max asked, seeking his friend’s input.

Leyton crossed one ankle over the opposite knee. “I wish it could be different,” Leyton said grimly, meeting his gaze. “Unfortunately, your father’s become a liability.”

“He’s become more than that,” Max told him firmly.

“If you want to protect her, you don’t have a choice,” Leyton said, confirming what Max had already determined. “Even if he doesn’t go through with it now, there’s always a chance he’ll try again. And next time, we may not be notified ahead of time.”

“But he’s still in the talking phase?”

“Seems that way. We’ll know more in a few hours after the meeting takes place.”

Max got to his feet and moved to the windows. He’d never thought his life would come to this. Never thought his own father would turn on him, but it appeared Samuel was heading down a path that he would never come back from.

“Does she know yet?” Leyton questioned.

“Not yet. I’d planned to tell her tonight.”

“You need to. Despite the loose ends she still has with her family, Courtney’s in this with you, Max. She loves you.”

“And I love her,” he muttered. “She’s my life, my very reason for breathing.”

“She’ll understand,” Leyton told him.

“I doubt that,” Max stated, turning to face his longtime friend. “But I don’t have a choice. If my father goes through with this, if he gives the go-ahead and orders a hit on Courtney, he’s a dead man. And I’ll be the one to take him out.” Sighing, he headed for the bar, retrieving his empty glass on the way. “I want to know the instant Ace gets back with you.”

Ace was a well-known mercenary they’d done business with in the past. No one knew what his real name was; they simply called him Ace due to the fact he could take out a person—any person—with one shot, nothing more. Ace had been the one to contact Leyton when Samuel had reached out to him, agreeing that he would make Samuel an offer he couldn’t refuse and would relay the details back once he had them.

Leyton got to his feet, tossed back the remaining liquid in his glass, and then set it on the bar. “Will do, boss.”

“Hey,” Max called out as Leyton reached for the door handle, “Thanks.”

Leyton nodded, then left Max to stare after him, contemplating what it was going to do to his mental stability when he had to kill his own father. Truth was, he’d never thought it would come to this, but there was no way he could allow Samuel to get away with ordering a hit on someone important to him. If he did, then others would think they could get away with it, as well.

So, Max was left without a choice. The only way to prove that those he loved were untouchable was to take out one of his own.

The thought still made him sick.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Trust me when I tell you …

I understand.

Courtney awoke to the sound of Max’s hushed voice. A quick glimpse at the clock told her they’d only been in bed for a couple of hours and the sun wouldn’t be up for several more.

“Yeah?” There was a lengthy pause, followed by, “Thanks.”

Max’s heavy sigh worried her, and when he crawled up behind her, pulling her tight to his body, her heart started a heavy thump in her chest.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, keeping her voice calm.

Max didn’t reply.

Turning in his arms, she tried to see him in the dim light of the room but could only make out his profile. “Max?”

“It’s okay, baby,” he said softly, pulling her head down to his chest, his arms winding tightly around her.

She fought him, refusing to allow him to shut her out. After all they’d been through, Courtney couldn’t stand the thought of him keeping something from her. They’d made it through the last two years, fighting their desire for one another, giving in to them, and now, they’d settled into something that was as peaceful as she’d imagined it could be. All things considered.

There was still danger lurking, still things about Max that she would never understand or condone, but she’d finally figured out where she belonged. And if she could overcome her own demons and finally resign herself to loving him for the rest of her life, she deserved to carry his burdens as well.

“Talk to me,” she insisted, her voice low. “Who was that?”

“Leyton,” he told her, pressing his lips to hers as he cupped the back of her head and pulled her closer.

Courtney knew what he was doing, could feel his need to change the subject, and he intended to do that by making love to her. As much as she wanted that, she needed this more. For a solid year, they’d used sex as a way to keep distance between them. And ever since he’d been shot, that hadn’t been the case. The sex was still potent, not to mention frequent, but there was something deeper when they came together. Even tonight when he’d fucked her in the middle of the club, it’d been different.

“What did he say?” she asked, pulling her mouth from his and placing her hands on his chest, keeping some space between them but not enough that she couldn’t feel his heartbeat or his warmth.

“He confirmed what I’d already suspected,” Max said roughly, sitting up abruptly, forcing her off of him.

The lamp came on, and she blinked until her eyes adjusted to the golden glow filling the space. Max grabbed his jeans and yanked them on. When he left the room, she reached for his shirt, pulled it on, and began buttoning it as she followed him into the living room. She found him pouring a drink, and as she rolled up the sleeves so that her hands were free, he moved to the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring out at downtown.

“You can talk to me,” she told him, making her voice stronger than she felt. She hated seeing him like this. Something was obviously wrong. What, she didn’t know, but she wanted to be there when he needed someone to lean on.

“I wish that were true,” he snapped, tossing back his drink.

“What does that mean?” she countered hotly, feeling her face flame with anger. “Why can’t you? You don’t trust me, Max? After all the shit I’ve done for you, you don’t fucking trust me?”

Max spun around, pinning her with his eyes. “It’s not about trust, Courtney. I
do
trust you. I’ve always trusted you. That’s not the problem.”

That revelation did wonders to subdue the anger. He’d once told her in that very same penthouse that he’d never trusted her. Although she’d suspected he’d only been trying to hurt her with his words, there’d been a lingering doubt left behind.

“Then what is?”

“I don’t want you to hate me,” he declared, shocking her with the statement.

She studied him briefly, then said, “I could never hate you.”

“No? What if I had to kill someone else, Courtney? Someone close to me. Would you hate me then?”

Courtney squared her shoulders. “No, I wouldn’t. Not if it meant doing what needs to be done.”

She was shocked at the conviction behind her words, scared more because they were the truth. She didn’t like the idea of Max having to kill someone, but she understood it. Never in her life had she been so callous to think that she could take a life without hating herself for it, but then Angelica had done the unthinkable, and Courtney had considered it.

Hell, she still weighed her options from time to time.

Like when she watched Max having breakfast, smiling and talking to Leyton. Or when he spent time with his brothers and sisters, laughing in a way that made her heart swell. When he sat at his desk, reading whatever had captured his attention… Those were the moments when she knew that she could so easily take a life if it meant protecting him. And she doubted she would even flinch.

Max moved closer, lifted her chin, and forced her to look at him. “And if I had to kill my own father?”

Her gasp was the only sound, other than the pounding of her heart.

“Why? Why would you do that?” she asked, suddenly not understanding anymore.

“Sometimes things have to be done. Horrible things, Courtney. If it means protecting the people who mean the most to us, we do it without regret.”

“Samuel?”
Oh, God.
She didn’t want to know what Max’s father had done that would earn him death. Sure, the guy was pure evil and likely deserved to die for a countless number of things he’d done in his life, but not at Max’s hand. “What did he do?”

“The worst thing he could possibly do,” Max said harshly.

“Which is?”

Max’s eyes caressed her face briefly before he locked them with hers once again. “He ordered a hit.”

Courtney’s stomach churned. “On who? My father?” She knew that Samuel hated Casper for what he’d done, for interfering, for sending Courtney into their world. But to kill him, that didn’t make sense. It would only bring some powerful people down on him.

“Not your father,” Max whispered, the words sounding tortured. “Samuel ordered a hit on … you.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Love me for eternity.

That’s all I need.

Max watched as Courtney’s eyes glazed over, and he thought she was going to pass out. He wrapped his arms around her, but she didn’t lean into him, didn’t hold him, didn’t so much as move.

“Why?” she asked, the word muffled as she pressed her face against his chest.

Max kissed the top of her head and then pulled away from her. “As payback to your father. He wants to hurt Casper, to show him that no one interferes with his family.”

“That’d do it,” Courtney said, her tone light. Too light.

She moved away from him, grasping the back of the sofa as though attempting to keep her legs beneath her.

“It’ll never come down to that,” he assured her. “Courtney, I’ll never let him hurt you.”

“You can’t kill your own father,” she declared, whirling around, her eyes wide, glassy with unshed tears.

“I can,” he told her sharply. “And I will. That bastard sealed his fate when he ordered the hit. I knew what he’d been plannin’, so I sent someone in. Someone who would agree to take your life but has no intention of following through.”

He could sense her confusion, and he wanted to tell her it would be all right, but he couldn’t. Those reassurances didn’t mean shit in his world. Death was inevitable.

And she’d seen firsthand what he was capable of, but there was so much more she would never know because he didn’t want to see the light completely dim in her eyes. As it was, over the last weeks, she’d become colder in many ways. Except when it came to him.

She was embracing his world, effortlessly moving in, and eventually, she’d be so involved there’d be no way out. That was the way things worked. Once in, always in. Death was the only way out. Not that he intended to let her go, nor would he let anyone hurt her. He’d die before he allowed that to happen.

“There has to be another way.” Courtney’s eyes lifted to his.

Max shook his head. Unfortunately, this was the way of the world. When word got out that the Adorite boss had ordered a hit on the woman Max loved, he’d be expected to avenge her. And the only way to do that was to take out the threat.

If he wanted to prove himself as the future boss, he had no choice but to follow through.

Which he fully intended to do.

Reaching for her, Max dragged her over to the sofa. Sitting, he pulled her into his lap, forcing her to straddle him. Sliding his hands beneath the shirt—his shirt—he caressed smooth, warm skin. She had nothing on beneath, and the urge to see more of her was too much. With his eyes locked on hers, he proceeded to release the few buttons she’d hooked, then opened the shirt, giving him a front-row view of her beautiful body.

“Max,” she whispered, her eyes never leaving his.

“I need to feel you, Courtney,” he told her, running his hands over her skin again. Over her hips, her waist, her ribs, then cupping her beautiful breasts, bringing one to his mouth. He licked her nipple until she moaned.

“Inside me,” she insisted.

Max released her from his mouth so that he could remove his jeans. Courtney shifted, allowing him room to lift his hips and push the denim down his legs and then off completely. With that task accomplished, he resumed his feast. And when Courtney took his rigid cock into her body, impaling herself, he groaned.

She was so warm, so wet… It didn’t matter when, where, or how, but when Max was inside her, he was in heaven. Nothing or no one would ever take that away from him. Hell was a way of life, something he trudged through every single day because this was the life he’d been born into, the life he’d ultimately chosen. But her… Courtney was light and energy and good. He craved that little sliver in his world, feeding off her goodness, knowing it would never help but needing it all the same.

“Max,” Courtney breathed against his ear, her hand cupping his jaw as she rode him slowly.

Max grazed his fingers over her skin, teasing her nipple, caressing her body while he lost himself to her. Cupping her face, he rested his forehead against hers while pleasure snared him.

“I love you,” he whispered as her hips continued to rock forward and back, his cock buried deep inside her body. Her muscles clamped down on him, sending awareness rippling through his balls, the beginning urges to come tingling in his spine.

“I love you, too,” she said on a rough moan.

“Marry me, Courtney,” he said, holding her hips, guiding her body as he slowly penetrated her.

A small smile formed on her lips. “Always tryin’ to distract me.”

“Not this time,” he told her truthfully. “I want you to marry me. To spend the rest of your life with me. It’s all I want, all I need. I can’t breathe without you.”

Courtney rocked forward and back, sensation after sensation rocketing through him while he waited for her answer.

“Yes,” she said, her lips brushing his lightly. “I’ll marry you, Max.”

Max rocked her faster against him while he thrust up into her, increasing the friction. He slid his thumb over her clit, circling it, pressing down until she was gasping and moaning, her nails biting into his shoulders.

Before she came, Courtney leaned down, crushing her mouth to his, and Max let go, time standing still as her pussy gripped him, milking him dry. He didn’t stop kissing her, unable to let her go. He wanted to stay right there forever, to forget the bullshit that had invaded his world, but he knew he couldn’t.

Dawn would be there soon enough, and when it arrived, Max had some final decisions to make.

Some that would ultimately alter the course of his entire life.