Damage (Havoc #2) (12 page)

chapter fifteen

I fell asleep hard but woke up in the middle of the night, jolting violently up in Abram’s bed.  Energy dashed through my body like bolts of electricity.  It was like an emotional hangover – anger, heartache and passion all bleeding from my pores after the day’s chaotic events.  When I reached for Abram, I saw that he was gone.  His side of the bed was empty but when I pressed my palm against the sheets, they were still warm.  Hot, even.

I floated down the stairs, my body overheated despite wearing nothing.   I felt so strange – half asleep but wide-awake.  My skin was tingling, my feet like feathers as I made my way to the kitchen, a slow ache building in my limbs as I sensed myself nearing Abram.  Blood rushed to my lips when I spotted his fully naked body leaning against the counter, in front of an empty glass of water.  His muscled back was so long and beautifully tapered, his backside so perfectly sculpted I had to dig my nails into my own skin.  I watched his body naturally ripple and flex as he calmly turned to face me, unblinking, unsurprised by the fact that I was standing there.  We were both wordless, the same listless energy running through our bodies.  Frustration, fury, need – it was all one, and for a long, hard second, we stood there, letting it course through our veins.

Then his hands were on me.  All over me.  He arched my back over the counter, the marble surface cold on my shoulders, his mouth hot and wet on my breasts.  With every lick, his cock swelled against me.  I was dizzy, gasping with the need to touch it, but when I pushed against him, he pushed back.  When I reached for it, he pinned my arms. Holding me down on the counter, he took my nipple in his mouth, doing what he wanted to me.  I moaned but at the same time, I fought his grip, writhing angrily against his lips with the need to relieve myself and taste him too.  When I thrashed away, he growled, catching my breast with his mouth and punishing me by sucking harder, closing his teeth around my tight peaks.  With no warning, he rubbed the heel of his palm fast against my clit.  I cried out, shaking under the weight of his body, the delicious pressure taking over me and leaving me senseless.  I loved the feeling.  I was instantly addicted to it and it only got better as Abram breathed harder, louder, bringing me closer to gratification.  But the day’s energy had me fucked in the head.  I didn’t deserve to come yet.

A second from bursting, I shoved Abram off of me with the angry strength I’d used against Nate in the bathroom.  He growled as I pushed him against the wall, smashing a kiss against his hot mouth and drinking him in.  Reaching down, I jerked him off with both hands.  Our lips still locked, I swallowed his every grunt, his every convulsion against me, focusing every ounce of myself on him – on all the pleasure he deserved for loving me without question today.  Satisfaction tingled in my sex as he let out a long groan.  “You trying to make me cum?” he rasped in my ear.  He shook his head, spasms rippling his abs, clenching and un-clenching the carved sections of his six-pack.  “No, baby… don’t make me cum all over you. I need to fuck you, Isla.  Please.”

I ignored him, dropping to my knees to suck on his cock.  He cursed as my mouth sunk down him, setting an instantly rapid pace on his shaft, my hands stroking what my lips couldn’t reach.  Abram roared to the ceiling as I pleasured him with all I had.  As he began to thrust into me, I squeezed my thighs together, bouncing on my knees to give my clit a thrill.  I knew Abram was watching me because I heard him rumble, “
yes
,” and felt him getting harder against my tongue than I ever knew possible.

“
Fuck
.”  Abram snarled and in a single motion, he pulled out and mounted me on the kitchen floor, kissing me hungrily as he buried his cock deep in my pussy.  I gasped, his name at the edge of my lips.  But he gave me no time to so much as breathe, thrusting deep, hard and fast.  His blue eyes bore into mine, watching my face contort, taking satisfaction in every second of my, pleading gaze.  At the first sound of my orgasm, his teeth gnashed.  He was ready, desperate to explode but he was holding on, rocking into me till I was completely finished.

“Abram,” I gasped, pulling him back to my lips.

He kept his hot kiss pressed against me even as he withdrew from inside.  My body bucked under him, my stomach twitching with each burst of his pleasure onto my skin. 
Oh God
.  The floor felt as if it shook underneath me.  I was delirious and I wanted so badly to tell him, to let the weight of the words out for some relief. 
I love you. 
Contained, they caused a fury in my heart, desperate to be released, to know the bliss of validation.

“I love you.”

I didn’t say the words, I only mouthed them silent against his kiss.  Yet somehow, I could have sworn that through the deafening beat of our hearts, he returned them.  It was a whisper but as I replayed the sound in my head while he brushed the hair from my face to kiss my forehead, I was sure of it.  I’d heard Abram say that he loved me too.

~

The next afternoon, the four of us were set to leave for Singer, Nevada – population well below eight thousand.  Abram had already taken care of my schedule for work at Muse Room, but before leaving indefinitely, I needed to go back to the apartment to pack.  And it was obvious that I needed to have a conversation with Rhode.  The fight outside the Gavin Theroux gala was a blur in my mind and while I could’ve sworn recalling Rhode’s accusing “
you lied to me
” stare, I also recalled feeling her hold onto me, whether to keep me on my feet or to keep me from stupidly launching myself into the line of fire.

At home, I found her curled up asleep on the couch, infomercials playing on the TV.  Only then did I look at my phone.  I had several texts from her but the last one asked if I was coming home.  Guilt weighed on me as I turned off the television and sat on the floor next to the couch, whispering “
Rhode
” with increasing volume till her long lashes fluttered awake.  Groggy, she giggled at the silly face I made.  But a second later, when she came to, she was frowning.

“Girl.  You’ve got some explaining to do.”

“I know.”  I bowed my head, trying to think of what I could really disclose right now.  “I feel so bad about it, Rhode.  I really do.  And I’m going to tell you as much as I can when I get back.”

“Where are you going?”

“To help Abram find somebody.”

“Who?” When I grimaced, unable to answer, she moved on.  “Is he like,
friends
with Jesse Toro?”

“Not exactly.”

“Yeah.  I Googled it last night and I read that Abe had beef with Dante Toro in the past,” Rhode said, smirking when I laughed at the iPad she’d fallen asleep with on the couch.  “Isla, can you at least tell me what’s going on with Jesse Toro? Clearly you guys didn’t first meet when he came to work that night.”

No.  We met when he pretended that he was Sean from across the hall.  I didn’t find out who he was till he broke into this apartment
.  “I… met him before that, yes.  Really simply put, he and Abram had some…
beef
… and now they realize there’s really no reason to but they still don’t like each other.  And I feel like I’m going on this road trip with them because if I don’t, they’ll kill each other before they ever get their job done.”

“You’re gonna be the mediator between Abram Lenox and Jesse Toro? Good luck with that.”

“I know.”

“Sounds hot though.”

“It’s more chaotic than hot.  You saw.”

“I did.  The guy who got in Jesse’s face… was that Abram’s asshole friend? Because he was kind of hot.  I’d totally hump that.”

I snorted hard.  “Yeah, honestly, I think he needs you to hump that.  Maybe some booty will calm him down and make him less of an unredeemable asshole,” I said, thinking about the horrible things he’d said to me in the bathroom last night.  Though, of course, if Nate were good for anything, it was making me say it aloud: I loved Abram.  And it wasn’t something to beat myself up over anymore.

It was quiet for a little as we both were thinking.  I could tell Rhode was trying to put what puzzle pieces I’d given her together.  But then she finally broke the silence.  “Isla, wait.” She looked at me with true fear that stopped my heart for a second.  “You… got your shifts covered, right?”

I burst out laughing.  “I’m glad that’s what you’re concerned about,” I said genuinely.

“Gotta cover my bases, ya know.”

“Yes, I did get my shifts covered,” I said, kissing her forehead and getting up off the floor.  “I gotta go pack now.  Thank you for being understanding.  I don’t think you realize how much I need your normalness in my life.”

“
Jee
-sus.  Your life must be pretty batshit if I’m the only ‘normal’ in it,” Rhode called after me with a giggle.  “But happy to do it, baby girl! As long as you tell me stories when you get back and
don’t
you dare get killed out there!”

chapter sixteen

There was a problem with the private charter so we wound up flying first class to Reno.  Nate bitched about it, of course.  I was glad that I didn’t wind up stuck near him anywhere on the plane.  He was several rows behind the rest of us and passed out like a baby the second he sat down.  That was certainly a relief because my seat wound up next to Jesse, and that alone had me nervous enough.  I didn’t need Nate watching us.  Abram was already keeping the occasional eye from afar.

But to my surprise, Jesse said nothing to me for the first hour of the ride.  Plugged into his ear buds, he turned on some music and closed his eyes, opening them only to order drinks from the flight attendants.  The women flitted over to him or Abram every ten or so minutes, much to the other passengers’ annoyance or amusement.

“Bet if it was a bunch of male stewards, they’d be all over
you
,” the suited man next to me murmured out of nowhere.  When he gave a little “
mm-hm
” that made me feel as if I needed a shower, I smiled, offered a polite laugh and then rifled through my purse in search of ear buds.  “Oh, I see how it is,” Suit laughed when he saw me break them out.  “I just gave you a compliment and now you’re going to brush me off before I can ask your name.”

“I’d just prefer to listen to my headphones right now,” I said evenly, eyeing Abram.  But the flight attendant was talking to him.

“Yeah? What kind of music do you listen to?”

“It’s a podcast.”

“Yeah? About what? I just listened to one about joining the Mile High Club,” Suit grinned at me. 
Ugh, dude, come on
.  “They were talking about how everyone should try it at least once in their lives.”  He took advantage of my ear as I tried to untangle my wires.  “And they didn’t say this part, but I’m sure it’s best to join the club with a stranger in a twelve-hundred dollar suit because at least you know that’s the kind of guy who’s got a nice thick wallet.  And, you know, a nice thick – ”

“Babe.”  A hand clasped suddenly over mine.  My heart stopped as Jesse leaned into me, taking out his ear buds.  “Did you pack my charger?”

I blinked, so taken aback for a second that I actually tried to remember if I’d packed Jesse’s cell phone charger.  But then I realized the game.  “Uh… yeah.  I did.  I packed it… babe.”

Jesse exhaled.  “Thank Christ,” he murmured, squeezing my hand and kissing my cheek – or rather, the corner of my lips.  Then he went back to his music.  I sat frozen, realizing from my peripherals that the stewardess who’d been chatting up Abram had left.  His line of vision was open again and he had seen what Jesse had just done.  I could make out the tenseness in his shoulders.

“Oh.  The fuck.  I didn’t realize that, uh…” Next to me, Suit stammered some apology but I couldn’t even think about him anymore.  All I wanted was to get up out of my seat and explain to Abram what had just happened, but I also didn’t want to be stared at or cause even the slightest bit of a scene.  So heaving a sigh, I simply sat back in my chair and waited for the next five hours to be over.  If anything, I was thankful that Jesse hadn’t let himself have too much fun while playing my boyfriend.  He certainly could’ve done worse than kiss my cheek.  I could only imagine how Abram would’ve reacted if Jesse had decided to carry out his charade for any longer.

Especially since the small kiss was clearly enough to get his testosterone pumping.  An hour later, in the bathroom, I heard a knock.  Something about its hard, neat sound was distinctly Abram.  My heart instantly pounded as I stared at the door, wondering what I was about to get from him if I opened it.  I had barely cracked it when in one motion, he pushed it open walked in and locked it behind us.  “
Abram!
” I hissed, trying to read his stony expression.  “What the hell are you – ” He shut me up with his mouth crushed over mine, his hands up my shirt and his groin pinning me against the wall.  He gripped my jaw and kissed over the skin Jesse had planted his lips, reclaiming it as his.  Once the shock passed, I kissed Abram back, a rush of excitement surging through my body as he unzipped his jeans, took out his cock and wrapped my hand around it.  The hand Jesse had held just before, of course.

“That’s yours,” Abram muttered as he moved my grip over his shaft.  “And this,” he swept his tongue inside my mouth, “is mine.”  Closing his fingers over my breasts, he squeezed.  “This is mine.”  He hiked my skirt up till it was a ring around my waist.  Spreading my legs, he pushed my panties aside.  “And this tight pussy,” he squeezed the base of his shaft and positioned it just outside my lips, “is
mine
,” he muttered.  And with that, he gave a hard push and filled me up in a way that had me gasping for breath.  Lifting my legs off the ground, Abram pinned me to the wall with short, quick thrusts into my pussy.  The sensation and the taboo – all of it was overwhelming.  I wrapped my arms and legs around him, the sounds of his rhythmic pumping and my soaking pleasure completely filling up the small space.  I felt him breathing louder, harder with every upward slam into my body.  “Say it,” Abram demanded without breaking his merciless pace.

“I’m yours,” I gasped, tightening around him, watching the angry pleasure glaze over his eyes.

“You belong to me.”

“Yes,” I exhaled.  “I belong to you.”

Closing my eyes, I reveled in the pleasured grunts he gave with every confirmation I breathed into his skin.  He groaned with all-around satisfaction, wrapping my legs tighter around him, pushing himself as deep inside me as he possibly could.  And for a moment, he stayed still, whispering into my lips and relishing in being inside me, savoring the sensation of my walls pulsing hot around his flesh.  “You,” he finally thrust again, “and you alone,” he kissed me, “make me the luckiest man on this fucking Earth.”  When the ferocious orgasm quaked through me, he helped me muffle it.

And after, we stood there catching our breaths for a moment.  His forehead on mine, he stroked my cheek, eyes open, fireworks lighting behind it as he took me in.  His gaze didn’t break from me until somebody knocked.  Abram cracked a cute grin as I pleaded with him, eventually agreeing to go back out first.  When it was my turn, I prepared an apologetic look for whomever stood there. 
Unless it’s Suit, because fuck that guy.

But it was Jesse.

Hands in his pockets, head tilted up, he leaned on the door opposite mine, pinning a lazy but unblinking gaze on me as he watched me walk out.  It was the Jesse Toro way of looking pissed.  I was sure that Abram had reveled in this.  My cheeks reddened as I slowed my step just a bit, waiting to hear some snarky comment or smug little jab.  But I got nothing.  Jesse went into the bathroom without a word.  But when he came back to the seat next to mine, he shook his head and gave a bitter laugh.

“I kissed your cheek.  Imagine if he knew about the other places I’ve touched you,” he murmured under his breath, enjoying my glare for a moment before returning to his music.

~

Abram drove us in a black truck from Reno to the little town of Singer.  The bright blue sky was a stark contrast to the dried out trees, paint-chipped buildings and faded storefronts emblazoned with blocky fonts from the Old West.  “Am I in a fucking John Wayne movie?” In the backseat with me, Nate stared out the window, squinting as we passed a dingy bar named Applejack Saloon.  “Christ, maybe Stefan offed himself for us.  Didn’t think he could live without nightclubs and bottle service.”

I caught Jesse’s grimace and wished I didn’t feel that second of protectiveness.  But it was his little brother we were talking about.  I breathed out when he recovered quickly.  “Relocation tends to be in Bumblefuck towns.  But I’m pretty sure Stef chose this one because he knows somebody here.  Defeats the purpose of laying low but he’s an idiot, so what can I say.”

I hadn’t seen Abram so much as look in Jesse’s direction since getting off the plane, but there was no time for personal grudges now. It was time to do work.  “How close is the friend?” he asked, glancing at the passenger seat.  I could see his irritation in Jesse’s booted feet up on the dash.

“Are you asking whether he’d choose loyalty over a bribe? Because he was one of many coke dealers Stefan thought was an actual friend and I hear he’s got a jolly ol’ meth habit these days.  So no, he’s not close and yes, we can probably use him to our advantage.”  The news relieved me.  So did the fact that Abram and Jesse could carry a productive albeit short conversation without brawling.  If things continued this smoothly, hopefully we wouldn’t be here for long.  It was interesting, a bit novel to be in some dusty cowboy town but I could already feel through the windows that the heat was through the roof.  Somewhere in the low hundreds.  I had stupidly brought only long jeans to wear but my bigger concern was the agitation the temperatures might cause.  The existing tension among these three was enough without needing even the smallest outside factor to tip the scale.

“I’d bet my hat that you folks aren’t from anywhere near here.”  The blonde manning the desk at the hotel stared at us.

We were now several towns away from Singer, just as a precaution.  Though Jesse gave the cash for four rooms, I put my bags in Abram’s.  Jesse eyed them when he and Nate dropped by in the afternoon, to discuss their plan.  I tuned them out when the conversation turned to the grislier details that truly reminded me why I was here.  I could pretend all I wanted that I was on a simple road trip with two hotheads and an asshole, but the reality was that I was accompanying three men aimed to kill.  I closed my eyes, trying to hear no more after catching Jesse’s brief plea to “be humane about it – quick and painless.”  It was too real.  I had hoped that the mission would never sink in for me, that I could leave Nevada once the boys were done and pretend that we’d only gone for a change in scenery.  But I knew that wasn’t realistic.

Especially when it was decided that I was actively needed to lure out Stefan Toro.

“I don’t understand.”  I blinked up at Jesse from the dusty floral armchair, Abram seated on the ottoman across from me while Jesse and Nate stood at my sides.  “Why would it be better for Stefan to see you and a stranger and not just you?”

“Because you make me less threatening to anyone, including Stefan,” he answered.  “It’s the couple effect.  People are more likely to pick up a man hitchhiking with his wife than a man hitchhiking alone.  I’m his brother but Stefan still knows to be at least a little afraid of me.  Even if I play dumb about him working with the FBI, I’ll still know that he faked his fucking death and put us all through hell.”

Abram leaned forward on his knees, facing me with a serious eye and a half-furrowed brow.  I didn’t realize how that look melted me to nothing till just now.  “It would help if you did it, Isla,” he said.  “We don’t want to take any chances raising suspicion.” 
Jesus
.  If Abram was confirming it, then I figured it had to be true.  I was well aware that he wouldn’t send me off with Jesse if it weren’t truly necessary.  Wringing my hands, I chewed my lip, trying to come to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t just be sitting on the sidelines.  It took some time but they gave it to me.

“Okay,” I finally muttered, holding my trembling hands still between my thighs.  “But I’m warning you that I don’t know how I’ll act when I’m nervous.  I’m nervous right now and Stefan’s not even in the room.  I’m not a good actress.  I know that for a fact.”

“Don’t worry.  It doesn’t take a whole lot to paint a convincing picture for Stefan.  He’s an idiot and you’re a hot brunette who already looks exactly like the kind of girl I’d date,” Jesse said, cracking a smirk when he felt Abram glance at him.  “We’ll just need you to make a few changes to dress the part.”

“Is that really necessary?” Abram asked dryly.

Jesse reveled in his irritation.  “Oh, I think so.”