Dirty Chase: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Brooklyn Brotherhood Book 2) (17 page)

I
look
over at my Princess. Her skin glows in the late-morning sunlight. I think about waking her by spreading her open and feasting on the sweet honey between her legs. But I’m also just happy to watch her rest. In my bed.

I mentally say
down boy
to my insatiable dick and sneak out of bed to make coffee. I'm just hitting "brew" on the coffeemaker when my phone rings.

"Chase."

The voice on the other end of the line is tense, pissed off, and on edge. Everything I normally am.

"Mornin', Gray," I say. "You sound like shit. What's up?"

A heavy sigh greets me. And then another.

"Gray?" This isn't like him. Even when he called me across two oceans—to ask me to come back to America and help him rescue Kat—he didn't sound like this.

"Kat's leaving me," Gray finally says. His voice sounds cold. Hard. Dead.

I run a few different, curse-laden phrases through my mind, but settle on, "What happened?"

"I don't fucking know!" Gray explodes. Then he takes another deep, weighted breath. "I thought she was—I thought we were—I thought we were
together
. We
are
together. And then this morning I find her passport and a couple thousand dollars."

"So? That's chump change," I say. Gray carries more in his wallet, on the daily.

"Hidden inside a purse.
Inside the lining
of a purse. She's obviously planning on running.
From me
." It's the last two words that get me. They sound like they've been ripped right out of him, from his very soul.

I've never heard Gray sound like this. I've seen him in battles, hand-to-hand combat. I've applied pressure to a wound after he's been shot. But I've never heard him like this before.

I think of Elle, sleeping in my bed. I told her I claimed her.
And I meant it
. Even if I don't know what the fuck that means for the future, if I know one thing in my life, it's that
she's mine
.

I don't know what I would sound like if she ran out on me. I hope to God I never find out.

"What are you going to do?" I say. "What can I do?"

"Just—fuck," Gray cuts off, and I hear a horn and the sounds of traffic. I realize he's driving. "Just don't let Elle talk to Kat. Take Elle's phone, and take Elle out of town. Whatever the fuck you want. I just don't want Kat leaning on Elle right now. If she's gonna run, I want Kat to make her own goddamn foolish fucking decision." His pain comes through the line like something tangible, like I can feel it invading the bright white kitchen.

"Got it, man." I don't want to lie to Elle. But Gray's been a friend for years—he's literally saved my life. I don't like it, but Elle probably won't even know if I stash her phone in my bag. She always forgets the fucking thing, even though it’s in a bedazzled, bright pink case. "I told Elle I was taking the day off. It's Friday. I'll just take her upstate or something. Keep her out of town and occupied for a couple days."

By the time we get back to the city, hopefully all this mess between Gray and Kat will have blown over. And I can find out who wants us dead. And life can get back to normal.

But what does that mean? That I take another job and leave the country—and Elle?

"I'll take care of it,” I say. “Let me know what else I can do—”

"Nothing," Gray growls. "I appreciate it, man. But there's…nothing anyone can do."

He doesn't hang up right away, and I don't know what to say. We don't usually talk about our feelings and shit.

"Where are you going?" I finally say.

"I'm meeting up with Declan to discuss the brothel situation. The Feds want to raid the brothels next week."

I close my eyes and run my hand through my hair. I still can’t believe Gray made a deal with the Feds in order to take down Solonik. Old-school mafia bosses are probably turning in their bloody graves. But it’s a new world, and the Feds are eager to work with Gray and leave us the fuck alone—after helping rescue all the sex slaves the mob has been importing.

It’s a win-win. Sometimes it’s surprising how often—and how well—the law works with us criminals. Blurred lines and all that.

“So I'll come with you. I'm not leaving town when you're going down to Brighton and scoping shit out."

"Nah, man. I'll call if I need you. And remember—Elle's phone. Take it. Just, keep her occupied."

"Who are you talking to?" I look up and Elle's standing before me, wearing my T-shirt and nothing else. The room was feeling heavy, tight, and then she appears and it's like the sun is shining again.

"Gray," I say to Elle. Into the phone I say, "Elle's here. You got it, man. No problem," before hanging up.

The way she looks right now, keeping her
occupied
will be a pleasure.

Elle smiles and walks toward me, wrapping her arms around me and leaning into my chest. I love how she just
fits
inside my arms.

"Whoa, good morning to you, too!" Elle laughs and pulls back from my morning wood, which appeared when she did. "How's Gray?"

"Mmm," I pull her back to me and kiss her. Put her hand over my dick. "Don't ask. You'll make it go away."

"Oh, well, we wouldn't want that." Elle strokes me through my boxers. I grab her ass, then lift her up onto the countertop. She wraps her legs around me, and we make out, and it feels so…innocent.

Is this what normal people do on a Friday morning? On vacation?

Elle pulls back, her lips pink and swollen from my kiss. "Coffee," she croaks. "Then sex."

I grin and pour us two mugs. Correction: I pour myself a cup of black coffee—the correct way to drink coffee—and I make her favorite drink, which is cream with a splash of coffee.

"Aww, you remember how I like it," Elle says, her naked legs swinging off the countertop like a little girl's. For a second I can picture a little blond girl, legs pumping like crazy on a playground swing, blond hair that turns to white-gold in the sun. Just like Elle's. What her daughter would look like—our daughter.

What the fuck am I thinking?

And why am I getting
harder
when I think about knocking this woman up?

"Always," I say, my voice gruff. I take a sip of the hot coffee, but that's not what makes me feel like I'm burning up inside. I put it on the counter and step between Elle's legs.

"Jesus, you're tall," Elle grins. She sets her cup down and wraps her arms around my neck. "You're so tall you could fuck me right here, where I'm sitting. If I wasn't wearing any panties."

I growl and kiss her neck, sucking on the spot that I know makes her toes curl and turns her nipples to tight, pretty pebbles.

"Oh wait, I'm
not
wearing any panties." Elle giggles as I bite her gently.

"Bad girl," I say, reaching down and finding her slick and ready.

"Bad boy," Elle murmurs, tilting her hips toward me. "You keep ripping my panties off. I thought this might save a pair."

I line my cock up with her entrance and push in, slowly, oh-so-slowly. I like to watch her eyes as I enter her the first time, that hot suck of heat on my dick, the heated wonder in her cool blue eyes.

"I'll buy you more." I grab her hips and fuck her slowly. She leans the back of her head against the cabinets and watches me under heavy lids. I lean forward and kiss her breasts through the T-shirt, sucking hard on her nipples through the fabric.

"Oh, God, keep doing that," Elle whispers.

I smile and pull back, pinching her nipples while she moans. I pick up my coffee cup and take a sip.

Elle's eyes widen, and she laughs. "Oh, so this is boring you? Two can play at that game." She picks up her coffee and puts the mug to her lips.

I thrust in extra-hard, just once, watching her tits bounce from my movement.

"I swear to God, if you make me spill coffee and burn myself—"

I toss my cup over my shoulder, hearing it shatter on the floor behind me.

"Chase!" Elle shrieks.

Then I take hers and throw it over the other shoulder. I hear it shatter behind us.

"You're crazy."

I pull her sweet ass closer to the edge and begin moving faster.

"Crazy for you," I say, like a fucking fool. Like a man possessed.

She laughs, and the heavens part. My heart stops beating in my chest for a second, and I feel pressure there. Pressure like someone's beating down on me.

It hurts.

I can't catch my breath.

Then she leans forward and kisses me, those sweet lips grabbing my lower lip and biting, pulling, playing. And she laughs as I fuck her faster. Then my thumb finds her clit, and I press in swift, sure circles while her pussy sucks me in, time and time again. And she laughs again, even as her core clenches me, milks me, and she starts to come with a smile on her face and my name on her lips…

And the pressure on my heart gets heavier and lighter at the same time.

And then I move faster and fuck the hell out of her, but the whole time I'm watching her face, the most goddamn beautiful face I've ever seen.

Like a man possessed.

Like a man in love.

It's too bad, immediately after this, that I'm gonna have to lie to her. I'll just make sure she never finds out.

"
I
can't believe
this place!" I slam the SUV's door shut and jump out of the car. I had no idea what to expect when Chase suddenly said he wanted to take me out of town for the weekend.

"What do I need to pack?" I'd said after I'd recovered. "Are we going someplace warm? Cold? Do I need a swimsuit? Nice dresses for…nice places?"

Chase had just laughed at me, and I'd watched him toss three T-shirts and two pairs of jeans into a beat-up but gorgeous leather satchel.

"That's
it
?" I'd said. "That's all you're wearing?"

"That's all I'm
taking
. Once we're there, I'm planning on being naked most of the time."

A girl can't argue with that.

After filling up Chase's mammoth car with gas (mental note: convince the mob to switch to hybrids) and gummy bears, we drive three hours north into the woods and mountains of upstate New York. North and west, past farmlands, forests and resorts, until finally Chase turns down a mile-long private road.

We drive under a canopy of leafy green trees and emerge into a small circle of sunlight. There’s a gravel roundabout, a quiet hollow full of dappled sunlight, and the quiet summer hum of birds and bugs and nature all around us.

And right in front of us, a white farmhouse with a wraparound porch, two rocking chairs, and—in the distance, through the trees—a sparkling, lazy river.

It's maybe the prettiest place I've ever seen.

"It's
gorgeous,
" I cry, jumping up and down.

"Do you like it?" Chase finishes unloading the car and stands next to me, looking…anxious?

He looks like he really wants to please me
. And it's that hope—that uncertain, tentative hope—in his eyes that gets to me more than anything else.

My heart just melts, right here in the sunlight. It just melts right down to my toes.

"I love it!" I cry. I jump into his arms. His face relaxes into a wide grin, and I wrap my thighs around him as he carries me up the stairs and onto the porch.

"I love it," I repeat, cradling his scruffy cheeks between my hands. "I love it."

Chase laughs while pawing my ass with his hands, and I half-wonder if we'll just screw right there on the porch. Then I hear a woman clear her voice.

"Well, isn't that
adorable
. I swear, Earl, there's nothing cuter than newlyweds."

Newlyweds
?

Chase sets me on the ground, and I turn around to see a four-foot-something woman standing in the open front doorway. She's wearing overalls and a bun on top of her head that adds a good three inches to her height. She steps out onto the porch, clapping her hands and staring at us like we're two cute kittens, and she just wants to put us in her pocket and take us home with her. A tall, thin, elderly man follows her, leaning heavily on a cane. I guess that's Earl.

"You must be Mrs. Alloway. Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Chase lays his accent on thick, and walks forward to shake her and Earl's hands.

"And you must be Mr. and Mrs. Cooper. You got here just in time! Earl and I just finished changing all the linens, and we ran the dishwasher, and—"

"They don't want to know all that," Earl harrumphs as he makes his way down the stairs, leaning heavily on the cane. "They want us to get the hell out of here, Judith. They're
newlyweds
."

I turn to Chase and catch his eye. His blue eyes are sparkling in the sun, and he's obviously trying not to laugh. Then I catch Mrs. Alloway—
Judith
—looking at his tattoos. And the way his T-shirt is nice and snug across his chest, then hangs loose as it falls over his abs.

"Are you sure, ahem, you don't want a tour?" Mrs. Alloway bats her eyes at Chase.

"No, ma'am, I'm pretty sure we can take care of things—"

"Oh no,
Mr. Cooper
, please
do
take a tour with Mrs. Alloway." I smile as Chase glares at me. "It's our
honeymoon
after all, and I know you want everything to be perfect."

Mrs. Alloway claps her hands and then runs over to Chase, slipping her tiny hand over his forearm. She's about half his height, and stares up at him with undisguised lust.

Mr. Alloway groans, rolls his eyes at me, and shuffles off. "I'll be in the car, Judith. Have a great weekend, kids."

I wave goodbye to Mr. Alloway, and then wave goodbye to Chase as Mrs. Alloway drags him inside the house. "Now, this home is one-hundred years old, and it's been
beautifully
restored. Let me tell you all about it. We'll begin in the bathroom…"

I sit down on one of the sturdy, wooden rocking chairs and gaze out at the countryside. It's amazing. We're only three hours away from the city, and yet I feel like I'm in a different world. Why didn't I ever come upstate before? Hundred-year-old trees surround us on all sides. The day is warm and slow, and I watch bumblebees fly, fat and lazy, among lush purple flowers growing next to the porch.

The only thing that's keeping me from falling asleep right then and there is worry about Kat. I texted her last night, and she said she was great, though she hadn't told Gray about the pregnancy yet.

I open my bag to try and text her again and…I can't find my phone. Shit. I'll have to borrow Chase's.

The front door slams shut, and I jump as Chase comes barreling out the front door. "Get your sweet ass in there,
Mrs. Cooper
," he growls. "Because if I have to look at one more faucet or figurine, I will burn this hundred-year-old building
to the ground
."

I laugh at the terrorized look on his face. "So now I know your weakness. Guns? Bullets? No problem. But senior citizens with a penchant for farmhouse chic—"

I can't finish my sentence because Chase leans down, grabs me, and tosses me over his shoulder. He shifts me so I slide into the just-married-bride pose, cradled in his arms, and then opens the front door with one hand and carries me over the threshold.

"Tour's done, ma'am! My apologies, but my virgin bride has demanded my presence in the bedroom!"

I hide my face in his shirt as he parades me by a shocked Mrs. Alloway and continues on up the stairs.

"You're insane, Mr. Cooper," I whisper.

Chase laughs and calls out loud enough for Mrs. Alloway to hear: "Don't worry, darlin'. It only hurts the first time."

Chase carries me up the stairs, and I get glimpses of tall ceilings, old-fashioned beds, quilts, and throws on corner chairs.

And then we arrive at the master suite.

It's an all-white room, with tall windows that look out over the trees and, to the south, a pasture with a barn. There are two chaise lounges in the corner, a fireplace, and one giant bed, covered in white and off-white pillows.

"Mr. Cooper?" I raise an eyebrow as Chase carefully lowers me onto the bed and climbs up over me. There's a ceiling fan, humming slow and lazy, just like the bumblebees outside.

Chase grins and begins to lift my T-shirt up. He kisses my bare belly, then works the soft fabric up and over my breasts.

"What can I say? Every place I called was booked. When I explained how sad it would make my
new bride
, the Alloways relented."

"You must be a pretty good liar." I bite my lip after saying that, because all I want to do is tell Chase about Kat—but of course, I can't.

I'm so distracted by my own guilt that I almost miss the shadowed look in Chase's eyes. But before I can question it, he winks and says, "Well, that and I doubled their asking price."

"Money talks, I guess," I moan as he takes my breast in his mouth. Then he moves lower.

And then neither of us talk for a good, long while.

"
W
hat's in the barn
?" I ask as we cross the fields behind our rental house.

We spent Friday making love, napping while draped over each other's bodies, then fucking some more. Today, we visited nearby towns, antiquing (something I doubt Chase will ever want to do again), drinking beer at a local bar (of course he'll do that again), buying steaks for dinner, and then charring the hell out of them.

Okay, so neither of us knows how to cook.

So we opened the windows to air out the kitchen and went for a sunset walk.

It turns out this piece of land—56 acres, to be precise—is a family-run farm, with a good deal of forest and a river running through it all. But Chase told me that the owners make most of their money renting out their perfectly renovated home for wedding parties and wealthy New Yorkers wanting to get away from it all.

"And us," I'd laughed. "Poor 'newlyweds.'"

Chase had smiled, but held his tongue. He'd been doing that all day. Looking pensive. Being unnaturally quiet.

I glance over at Chase as we pick our way through the fields. He's wearing jeans slung low on his hips, a T-shirt, and a trucker cap he bought at the local gas station. I'm wearing a short sundress and cowgirl boots Chase bought because he said they were the only thing that could make my legs even sexier.

We're holding hands, like a normal couple. Like a couple with no secrets, no dark pasts, nothing to hide.

Chase smiles down at me and the sun catches his eyes, turning them into glowing blue jewels.

"You know," I say, "the first time I met you—from the very first moment I saw you—I was captivated by your eyes."

“Oh really?" He pulls me closer to him, so we're hip-to-hip as we make our way toward the big red barn at the end of the field.

"Yes, they were so intense, so vivid—they reminded me of an animal. What's that animal called?"

"A wolf?" Chase grins and nips my shoulder.

"Hmm, no. More like those big, Northern dogs with the blue, blue eyes?"

"A Husky?" Chase says, extra huskily.

A grin. "That's the one! Yes. You reminded me exactly of a great, big…
fluffy Husky puppy
."

His jaw drops. "A
puppy
."

"Totally. A cute, teensy, itty-bitty, adorable
puppy
."

"Girl," Chase growls, slapping my ass. "I'll show you doggy-style."

"You know, I always wanted one of those dogs growing up." I don't know why, but it's easy to talk to Chase here. “But when I was little, my dad was in the Army. We moved all the time, and the last thing my mom wanted was a dog. And then when my dad died—”

Chase grabs my hand tight. I know he's watching me, listening.

"How old were you? When your dad died?"

I don't like to delve into my past, or talk about my parents. But I find myself talking now, though I can't quite meet his eyes—though I'm conscious of his warm, steady hand holding mine as we make our way through the overgrown grass.

I stare at my right hand, and study how my palm feels as I brush it over the tall grass, instead.

"My Dad died when I was fourteen," I say. "He was the best. Just the best. He'd been in the Army—he was tough. But he loved my mom and me more than anything. Then he got cancer. He was gone in six months."

"Darlin,'" Chase sighs.

I glance up at him, then back to the tall grass, the barn up ahead, the river beyond. "My mom had gotten married young. She never worked. She had no clue how to navigate life without him. We had money from my dad, but—her problem was bigger than money. She was devastated and didn't
believe
she could live on her own, you know?"

Chase nods. He doesn't push, which makes talking easier.

"We were in Texas when she started drinking. A lot, all the time. She didn't seem to care about anything. Certainly not me. She was beautiful, though. Men in our small town flocked to her. They didn't see how she was just falling apart on the inside. And then one guy—" I bite my lip. I don't even want to say his name.

"A pillar of the community," I say sarcastically, "took a special interest in her. He was on the city council. He had a successful business. He was a deacon in the church. He ran a charity for kids. And he wanted my mom."

"And he got her?"

I nod. "Oh, he got her. Then he moved us about two hours away from everyone we knew. Said it was because his business was expanding, which it was. But he liked that we had no one to turn to. That's when we saw who he truly was, underneath that perfect exterior. At least, I did. He began with just slaps on her face. She'd make excuses for the bruises. Sometimes I'd hear her…screaming at night."

Chase stops and turns me to him. "Elle. What else did he do?"

I don't look at him. I can't, if I'm going to get the rest out. "I'm saying this once, and I don't want to talk about it, ever again. My mom got worse. She drank more and more. She was out of it, for days. And she wasn't as…pretty."

My throat closes up for a minute. I take a chance and look up. Chase's eyes—it's like a thunderstorm has taken over, moved in. He's still as stone, though.

"But I was. I was pretty. Very pretty, and very young. He began to come in at night, to 'tuck me in.' It started small." I take a deep breath, close my eyes. "Then he began touching me. After awhile, even I couldn't pretend anymore. I kept telling myself it wasn't really happening—but it was."

I open my eyes, force myself to look at Chase. "He didn't rape me. I mean, I didn't lose my virginity to him. He put his…hands…inside me. And he made me do things to him, for him. But when he finally tried to get on top of me, something just—snapped. I screamed and screamed and screamed. Like a crazy person. All those screams I'd held inside, for months before. I let them all out."

Chase watches me. He doesn't flinch, he doesn't look away.

"It was enough to wake my mom up, from her drunken blackout. And even after she walked in on us—he was able to convince her that what she saw wasn't really—what she saw."

Chase runs his hand down my cheek. I realize he's wiping tears away.

"By this time we'd moved to New York. Kat and another friend in high school got me a knife. And pepper spray. Isn't that hilarious? And I wasn't as afraid of him anymore. I told him what I'd do if he tried anything with me. I don't know if my threats would have worked for long, but I never found out."

"What's his name?" Chase growls.