Dark Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 1) (10 page)

She whimpered.

She was so wet she couldn’t think straight.

“Greyson!”

He locked the handcuffs around her wrists again, trapping her beneath him. “I’m going to enjoy every second of this, kitten.”

Yeah, well, so was she.

As his body rested over hers, she felt the nudge of his erection as he slid through the wetness. That first slide into her was welcome and delicious. When Greyson buried himself to the base of his dick, she was so damn happy.

Emma couldn’t wait for the ride to begin. She wiggled her ass, trying to get him to take her.

“Oh, are you offering that up?” he whispered into her ear. Slowly, he slid out until he was free from her body.

“Greyson!”

He knew he was going to enjoy what was coming—Emma, not so much. She was going to be frustrated. Again, he nudged her, and then slid home, burying himself in her body.

She gasped at the invasion.

“Oh God!”

He didn’t move. “You were a naughty little kitten, and someone has to keep you on a very short leash.”

With that, he lifted her hips, placing her on her knees. Then he began driving into her in long strokes.

Emma whimpered.

Greyson knew why.

His kitten wasn’t getting any clit action. She was satisfying his needs and suffering.

“Grey! Please.”

Oh, he’d get her off, but when he was ready. This was about teaching her a lesson.

“No playing for other men. Am I clear?”

He was filling her to the point she couldn’t take any more of him. Emma was begging so much that her words sounded unfamiliar to even her.

He moved harder until there was the sound of his body slapping against hers.

Emma pleaded. “Please!”

“Tell me what I want to hear, kitten. You wanted to play this game, and I want to win.”

She knew it was going to be like this. Emma loved provoking that darkness in him. When Greyson was let off the civilized leash, the sex was hot.

Here was the proof.

“I.”

He slammed into her.

“Promise.”

Again, he drove his dick into her ass with enough force to shake the headboard.

“You.”

His fingers buried themselves in her hips as he rode her hard. He could feel his balls tighten, and he hoped for her sake she hurried up, or she wasn’t getting off. Greyson didn’t have much left in him.

“Only!”

He reached around as he rode her hard, pulling breathy gasps from her with each stroke. As soon as his fingers touched her incredibly swollen clit, she came.

Then so did he.

She shouted his name.

On his guttural moan, he emptied into her body. She drained him physically and emotionally. Greyson Croft was spent.

As he rested over her, the room spun in pleasure. Somehow, he managed to find the key and set his wife free. He rolled to his side, spooning his precious wife.

“Mmmmmm,” she said, not quite able to put a full sentence together.

He nuzzled her neck.

“I meant what I said.”

“Yes, Grey,” she finally got out.

When he pulled the blanket over them, she cuddled into his body. This was a perfect way to end the night. Big strong caveman lovin’ was at the top of her list.

“Emma?” he said, blowing some air across her neck. She shivered, and he knew she wasn’t asleep.

“Yeah, Grey?”

“Can we talk about something?”

Emma could tell he wanted to be serious. There was that tone in his voice.

This wasn’t going to be a laughing matter.

She turned to face him. They were face to face, staring into each other’s eyes. Emma had been right. Whenever her sexy caveman was worked up, the serene gray of his eyes went molten.

There was a storm brewing.

She could see it.

“What’s wrong, Grey?”

He didn’t know how to tell her this. In fact, he couldn’t believe he was going to say it himself, but he was.

“Just say it. You know we’re not supposed to keep secrets from each other. It destroys and erodes the marriage. We made a promise to each other.”

Yeah, he was aware.

Only, he definitely had a secret.

Or two.

This one was the more important one. The one about Mace Bristol would keep.

Hell!

If he had his choice, he’d take that one to his grave. It wasn’t nearly as important as what had him stirred up.

“Grey?”

She was getting worried. Greyson had the crinkles around his eyes when he was thinking about something. “You can tell me anything, babe.”

Emma was getting nervous.

She didn’t like when he got that look on his face. For this to happen, it had to be something big.

Huge.

Monumental.

Yeah, she was a little freaked out. Emma hoped he wasn’t going to say he wanted to go back into law enforcement. It was so damn nice not being shot at every day.

Oh, and having her husband make it home at night. Granted, the whole town thought they were crooked, and the mob, but that was far better than the alternatives.

“Grey?”

“I think I want to have a baby.”

She stared at him.

“Oh.”

“Hear me out. I was talking to Curtis, and I realized that his child is going to be our grandchild—technically. It feels wrong that we didn’t get to raise a baby. I don’t know how to be a grandfather, since I don’t know how to be a father.”

She listened.

“I know you and I said we’d never have kids, because being a cop and Fed were too dangerous to raise a family, but now we’re not in that situation.”

Emma let him get it off his chest. With her husband, you had to or he’d bottle it up until it ate away at him.

“We have a stable life, I don’t travel, and you’re home. We only take on so many cases, and I just feel like before I mark grandfather off my bucket list, I try the father thing.”

Emma didn’t say anything.

“I know this is crazy, and you probably think I’m insane for even bringing it up, but the more I see Curtis so happy to be a father, and Kat being a mother-to-be, I want to know what it feels like to have a child really call me dad and it’s real.”

Emma could tell he’d thought a lot about this.

“Greyson, I can’t give you the answer right now. Can I think about it a little while?” she asked.

He completely understood.

“I hope I didn’t ruin our night.”

She touched his cheek. “Grey, you didn’t ruin anything. If you really feel that you want kids, I understand that. All I’m asking for is some time to think about it. You did just spring this on me out of the blue.”

He totally got that.

“You’ll seriously think about it?”

“I will.”

Then that was all he could ask.

In fact, it was probably more than he deserved.

“Grey, if I can’t do it…?”

He took her face in his big warm palms and stared into her green eyes. “Honey, if you can’t do it, then it changes nothing. I won’t ever stray, leave, or risk the amazing relationship we have. I simply wanted to share what I was feeling.”

She kissed him.

Greyson pulled her into his arm.

When she was finished kissing him, he tucked her even closer to his body. “Let’s get some rest, kitten. You’ve worn me down.”

She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, but she didn’t sleep.

How could she?

He’d just dropped one hell of a bomb on her.

Now Emma had to think about this.

And she had no idea what the hell she was going to do.

Greyson Thaddeus Croft wanted to be a father.

Oh, shit!

 
                 
* * *
  G r e y s o n   C r o f t   * * *

Kat was miserable.

She was in her bed, alone, and ready to cry. What she wanted to do was go to Curtis’s room and tell him she was sorry. She’d apologize to him just so she didn’t feel like he hated her.

This whole thing scared her.

At the knock on her door, she sat up in bed.

“Are you decent, Kat?” Dimitri asked.

“Yeah, I am.”

He peeked in.

It surprised him to see that the man-child was nowhere to be found. It also made him sad to see that his sister was distraught. That was the last thing he wanted.

A part of Dimitri wanted to reassure her, telling Kat that he knew the truth, but he knew they needed to grow up, and fast. If they were going to be bringing a child into the world, they needed to realize that there was a right and wrong way to do everything.

This was the wrong way.

Family was there to catch you when you stumbled.

They weren’t relying on family.

They were being sneaky, and that had no place in anyone’s life. In fact, it made Dimitri want to rage around like a lunatic. Granted, he wouldn’t yell at his pregnant sister, but he would force her to learn a lesson.

In life, the ones you had to suffer through were the ones you learned the most.

“I came to check on you. How are you? You looked upset earlier.”

She wanted to tell him.

Only, she wasn’t in the mood for a fight—one a day was more than sufficient in her book.

Kat rested on her side and Dimitri sat beside her. “If there’s something on your mind, Kat, you can tell me. I’m here to help.”

God!

She wanted to cry.

“No, I’m good.”

Yeah, he could see that was clearly not the case. If she wasn’t in the mood to share with him, he’d let it go. “Tomorrow, we start investigating. Is there any way you can stay here and keep the place monitored?”

Yeah, she wasn’t really in the mood to go anywhere.

“Curtis has to head to Sky Villa. He’s going to be using the equipment there to do the research.”

She didn’t say anything.

“You can go with him if you want. I can pull Nat to wander the property.”

“No, I’ll stay.”

Yeah, there was trouble in paradise.

The two of them were going to crack, and soon.

He could see it.

“Okay, little one. Get some sleep.” Dimitri kissed her on the forehead as he tucked her in. He remembered doing all of this when she was only twelve. She’d stare up at him with big aqua eyes, and his heart would hurt for what she’d been forced to survive.

He felt bad then too.

He couldn’t let her suffer.

This was wrong. Pretending he didn’t know wasn’t being kind to her. When he’d saved her, he promised to always treat her with that love and gentleness.

“Katerina.”

“I need to sleep,” she said, rolling over to face the window. It was clear that she didn’t want to talk to him, or anyone.

What was he to do?

She was stubborn as hell.

Really…

Curtis was in for one hell of a future with his sister. She was going to be a handful.

“I love you, Kat. Sweet dreams.”

He headed out, glancing back at her. He could tell she was crying. Dimitri was torn between hurting Curtis, yelling at her, or buying her a pony.

Yeah, he’d gone soft.

Here was his proof.

When he closed the door, he headed out, going on patrol. Then he could think.

If this wasn’t settled by tomorrow, he’d step in and handle it.

It was time.

Chapter Five

Wednesday

Morning

When she rolled over, her husband was in bed beside her. Tessa Archer cuddled against him, enjoying the feel of his body against hers.

She’d missed him when she went to bed.

Paris had worked late the previous night, consulting at the local hospital on a case.

She had fallen to sleep at some point while watching TV in their bed. Well, now he was home, and Tessa was more than happy to wake him up. Sliding her hand beneath the sheet, she ran her fingers across his abs.

“Mmmm, honey, I missed you,” he muttered.

Tessa took that as his sign that he was in the mood to make out. She brought her mouth to his, and they both woke up the best way in the world.

Kissing.

Paris rolled toward her, and Tessa cuddled into his body. When they broke the kiss, he was grinning.

“Hello, Mrs. Archer.”

She giggled. Still, months later, the name made her as giddy as a schoolgirl.

Tessa couldn’t help herself. Paris had that effect on her.

“Hello, Doctor Archer. You were late getting home last night. Was it a rough one?”

He brushed some of the black hair from her face. “No worse than the usual. One of my patients tried to kill himself. He was hopped up on drugs, and he took out a few bystanders first. The police needed a psych evaluation.”             

“Well, I’m glad you made it home safe and sound. I really missed you.”

In all honesty, she was going out of her mind. It was hard to go from busy agent to bored housewife. They’d been trying to have kids, but as of late, nothing was happening. Tessa and Paris knew it was a long shot.

Since his injury, the doctor told them that more often than not, it didn’t happen. Even thought he was starting to be more mobile, it didn’t mean it would happen. The fact might just be that his sperm count had dropped so low, and they weren’t meant to be parents.

“I’m pretty open with my schedule today, Tessie. If you want, we can meet for lunch. By lunch, I don’t mean a picnic.”

That made her laugh.

“Well, I have a date.”

Paris stared at her.

“Relax, husband. It’s with Curtis. Greyson pulled a new case, so we’re all helping out.”

He relaxed. There was still a part of him that believed she’d leave one day because he wasn’t a whole man—but with Curtis, he trusted him.

“What’s it about?”

She told him.

“If he needs any help, I’m available for profiling.”

Tessa would pass that on.

“I'm going to be upstairs doing research.”

Paris knew that was code for illegal searches. He was more than fine with that. Greyson Croft and Dimitri Gideon were fighting the good fight.

They were helping people.

“I can meet you down here for some
‘lunch’
,” she offered.

That made him grin.

“Deal.”

Paris sat up and stretched. “I’m going to grab a shower. If my lovely wife isn’t busy, she can feel free to come in and wash my back.”

Tessa snorted.

“OR MY FRONT.”

She was down for that.

Tessa watched as he skipped the wheelchair and grabbed his cane. As he walked slowly into the shower, her eyes filled with tears.

She really loved that he was fighting back.

When he turned, he noticed she was crying. “Coming, Tessie, my sweet?” he asked.

Paris knew why the emotion.

He felt it too.

“Yeah, babe, I’m coming, and soon, so will you.”

 
                                
* * *
  G r e y s o n   C r o f t   * * *

Terrace Glen

Having their coffee, Emma and Greyson sat on the patio as the chef brought out their breakfast. Emma wanted to laugh the second her husband saw what he was going to be eating.

“Fruit?” he asked, glaring at his wife.

“You had a steak yesterday, and don’t think I don’t know you were eating Curtis’s pizza.”

He stared at her.

“There are days I wish you were never a detective. This is one of those moments.”

That made her laugh.

As she began eating her breakfast, they saw Dante approaching.

“Yo! Bro! How’s the empire?” Greyson asked.

Dante dropped a kiss to the top of Emma’s head before taking a seat.

“It’s going.”

“Did you hear from Steele?” Greyson asked.

Dante shook his head. “He changed his number, and he had building security block my entry. Of course he’s going to live in the one building you don’t own. They told me if I show up again, they’re going to have me arrested.”

Emma squeezed his hand. “Want me to talk to him?”

He shook his head. “No. I think I have to come to the realization that he’s not in love with me anymore. He told me to go away, and I can’t fight much longer. My heart is breaking. No, it’s already broken.”

Greyson patted him on the back.

“I’m sorry, Dante. I wish I could go back and save him before Dominic took him.”

Yeah, he did too.

“You did your best, Grey. This isn’t on you. It’s on Dominic. He did this to my fiancé—not you. I just have to let it go. It’s so hard, because I know he was the one. I can tell now more than ever. My heart feels like it’s been ripped in half. I want him back, but he hates me.”

They both knew he didn’t hate him.

Steele was like a wounded animal. He was broken, and he couldn’t get past that to see that his family loved him.

“Give it time.”

He looked up, tears in his eyes. “Yeah, great. I’m going to skip breakfast. I’ll be at work. I have back to back meetings today.”

With that, he was up and heading toward the gate that led to the driveway.

“We have to do something.”

Greyson agreed, but what could he do? Force Steele to come back and marry his brother? They weren’t talking children on the playground.

They were talking about an adult man.

“Give it time.”

“Yeah, you keep saying that.”

“It’s all I have on it for now. I don’t really know how to handle this kind of thing.”

Greyson changed the subject.

“I’m going to check in with Curtis this morning. I want to start working on the victims. He should have everything ready by tonight.”

“Great. I’m going to head to the precinct to talk to Chris. He hasn’t replied to any of my texts.”

“I should go,” he said, willing to take the heat. Greyson knew what was going to happen the second his wife walked into that place.

For weeks, they’d gotten death threats from cops, simply because they called out the commissioner. If they ever released that tape, the man was going to be burnt in front of his own building. He’d talked himself out of it, but he was still as guilty as sin, and he knew it—whether he was now helping the FBI or not.

“I miss Chris. I want to see if he’ll get me Mace’s files.”

Speaking of which…

“I’ll be more than happy to talk to Chris.”

“No, I’m going. I can’t wait to see him. I feel like he’s been avoiding me. I hope he’s not buried in work. If he is, maybe he’ll let me help him out. He was shot not that long ago. He’s supposed to be on light duty.”

Emma put down her napkin and then kissed her husband. “I’ll meet you here later, and we’ll start working on Seth’s case. Tell our son to get me something.”

He would.

As she walked away, Dimitri headed his way. “Want me to follow her?”

He knew this was going to be bad. Chris was avoiding them, and if he was siding with the cops, it was going to break Emma’s heart.

“Yeah, you had better tail her. I hate putting you on her, but I’m afraid one of those dick cops will take it out on her.”

Dimitri agreed.

“I’m sorry, Greyson.”

Yeah, so was he.

So was he.

                 
         
* * *
  G r e y s o n   C r o f t   * * *

Sky Villa

When the bell rang, Curtis answered. It was his partner, and she was smiling at him.

“Tess!”

She came in and hugged him. “How are you, Curtis?”

“Same old.”

He didn’t plan to tell everyone about his pathetic life. It was easier to pretend he was happy.

“What do we have?” she asked, taking a seat at the computer.

“We have five dead women, and then we have the cop who supposedly killed them. We need the police reports, and ironically, Mace Bristol was the one who had this case.”

“Oh.”

Yeah, he felt the same way.

“I’m not sorry he’s dead,” Curtis said. “He played Grey, and he deserved it.”

She took the file with the victims’ names.

“You don’t believe that for a damn second, Curtis.”

Yeah, he didn’t.

Anytime a cop went down, it affected all the other cops around him. They were a family.

Well, unless you were a Croft and public enemy number one.

“You know me too well. I do feel bad for him.”

Curtis, Greyson, and Dimitri were the only three who knew what had happened. The only reason he knew was he’d heard the two men talking about it.

He swore Dimitri was going to kill him because of it too. Greyson had reassured the man that he could keep a secret.

This was one Curtis was taking to his grave because if he didn’t, he was going to his grave.

It just proved that Dimitri was not one to screw with when it came to the Crofts.

Damn!

It made him think about the Kat situation.

“You work the victims, and I’ll handle this, okay?” he offered, holding up the man’s file.

“Sure thing!”

They got down to work, but the entire time, Curtis was thinking about his girlfriend, and the mess between them.

He hoped Dimitri stopped in.

If he did, he was coming clean.

 
         
* * *
  G r e y s o n   C r o f t   * * *

LVPD

Emma strolled in, thinking nothing of it.

She knew they weren’t going to be happy she was there, but she didn’t care. What were they going to do? Shoot her?

Yeah, they couldn’t.

Right?

As she strolled in, the desk sergeant stopped her. Apparently, Chris had new rules, and she had to check in before seeing him.

Okay, she’d play this game.

“Name and business?”

“Tony, you know who I’m here to see. Knock it off. I came in here every day, so don’t pretend you don’t know me.”

He stared at her.

“What are you here for? State your business.”

Fine.

She’d let him be an ass.

“I’m here to see Captain Christopher Ford. You know, the big guy with the bum arm and all the medals on that barrel of a chest of his.”

“I’ll call him.”

Emma stood there staring at him.

Really?

She had to make an appointment to see the man she considered her brother?

This was insanity.

Family didn’t need to jump through hoops. He didn’t need to call before coming to their place, so why did she have to call before showing up there?

“Captain Ford, Mrs. Turncoat Croft is here to see you. Are you available?”

There were snickers all around.

Emma was getting pissed.

The men who were riding her ass were the same ones who had shaken her hand when they took down Kenneth James and Dominic Marianna.