Dominion (Alpha Domain #1) (19 page)

A
little over
ten hours later, Jim had come out of the operating room and told us all we could do now was wait. John’s body had accepted the transfusion and his pulse was growing more and more steady— the chances of his waking getting higher with each passing moment.

All we needed to do was be patient.

Unfortunately, I still has business to attend to. Once Jim cleared Amber to wait by John’s side, Mason and I headed out to get cleaned up and gather up the money for the deal. At just past nine o’clock, we started making our way towards the club.

The bouncer didn’t hesitate before he lifted the rope for us, which only led me to believe that my presence was expected. Once we stepped inside, the air shifted in the club— the tension growing with every step we took towards the stairs.

“I got a bad feeling,” Mason muttered low enough for my ears only.

“They won’t try anything here,” I replied surely, glancing around the club enough to catch a few nods of approval coming my direction.

Monaco wasn’t only populated by the Sanchez family and it was clear that at least a few of the other factions had my back if shit got rough.

“I hope you’re right.”

Mason and I made our way upstairs and my eyes immediately locked on Dante, sitting in one of the private booths with the curtain open. When I allowed myself to look away from his irritated gaze, I realized that there was one other person in the booth with him.

Alonzo Sanchez. The head of the Sanchez family himself.

Well. That’s not a good sign.

I approached them warily, Mason’s presence at my back the only thing keeping me at all relaxed. They didn’t speak until after we slid into the booth and pulled the curtain closed.

Alonzo pulled off his sunglasses and placed them gently on the table. Even in his old age, his eyes still held the ruthlessness of a mob boss.

“So you’re the man who has caused my family so much trouble today.”

“Allen Fredrick,” I said curtly, giving him a nod but pointedly not offering my hand.

“Oh, I’ve heard of you.”

“Good.”

There was a brief moment where I regretted saying it— his eyes narrowing on me and his lips curving almost to the point of a scowl before his face relaxed back into a neutral expression.

“All this trouble for a woman, Allen?” Alonzo asked, his voice amused. “I find it hard to believe you would willingly step into a war for something so trite.”

“She’s not just
a
woman. She’s
my
woman.”

Dante scoffed and opened his mouth to argue, only to be cut off by his father’s disapproving look.

“Fair enough. Do you have the money to pay off the boy’s debt?”

I nodded and gestured to Mason, who lifted the case onto the table and opened it.

“It’s double what he owed— my original offer. I never wanted it to come to what happened this morning, but your son wasn’t smart enough to take me up on such a generous offer.”

Alonzo hummed and motioned for Mason to close the case before he slid it over to his side and placed it beside him on the seat. He took his sunglasses in hand and toyed with the arms for a long moment before nodding.

“I agree with your assessment, Mr. Fredrick. This is exactly why Dante was heading my least profitable business venture. You aren’t equip to make rational decisions, son.”

The anger radiating from Dante was enough to make my spine stiffen, even though I was certain he wasn’t stupid enough to make a move here. Especially not in the presence of his father.

But Dante knew his place and after a long moment, he grit his teeth together and lowered his head.

“Well, allow me to correct what my idiot son has caused. I will gratefully accept your payment and would like for us to continue our truce.”

Mason spoke then, surprising me with his question. “What happened to the boy?”

It was clear he meant Chris, and the evil grin that stretched across Alonzo’s face was enough of an answer.

“He has been dealt with and now, with his balance repaid, we can move beyond such ugly topics. We will not go after your girl again, Mr. Fredrick. Of that much— I can assure you.”

Something in his phrasing caught my attention, the words out of my mouth before I could stop them. “What
can’t
you assure me?”

Judging by the way his eyes darkened, I had played into exactly what he wanted me to.

“I can not assure you that we won’t take swift action against your little team if I ever discover that you have invited yourself to fuck with my business again. That little stunt you pulled this morning has cost me millions. Consider this your one warning.”

“You’re not in a position to make threats, Alonzo,” I growled. “Need I remind you that where you may have us on the numbers, we have you beat in skill. We won’t go down as easily as you seem to think.”

“Maybe not, but I think you’re smart enough to know that your team would suffer heavy casualties even if you managed to win. Are you willing to gamble with your men’s lives? With your
girl’s
life?”

I wasn’t willing to do that and the bastard knew it. I backed down, relaxing back against the seat and averting my eyes from his knowing expression.

“Good. Now I want your word that you will cease interfering with my business. If I hear that any of your boys have laid a single
foot
on my territory, I will consider it an act of aggression. Are we clear?”

Kill him. Do it. Just reach over the table and strangle his neck until he stops breathing. Mason can take Dante. Just do it. End this
now
.

“We’re clear,” I forced out, ignoring my internal battle.

“Wonderful. Go now.”

Understanding that we were being dismissed and not wanting to stick around to rock the boat, I slid over and waited for Mason to stand up. I didn’t look back to see their expressions as they watched us walk away, my back staying ramrod straight all the way down the stairs and out of the club.

I didn’t allow myself to relax again until I was seated in the passenger seat of Mason’s car.

“It’s not over, you know,” he said as he turned over the engine. “There’s no way he’ll let us off that easily.”

“I know. But we wiped out at least forty of his men this morning. He’ll take his time rebuilding his numbers before he either finds or invents a reason to come at us again.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“We expand our own team.”

Mason grinned and nodded. “I’ll get started on recruiting.”

“Thank you,” I said earnestly, turning to him. “For everything you’ve done for me.”

“Anytime, boss.”

The rest of the ride back to Jim’s place was silent, but content with the knowledge that for at least a little while—we could rest.

Because for the time being, it was all over.

H
oly hell
, I thought as I started to slip back into consciousness, a groan echoing in my ears when I tried to sit up and failed due to the pain shooting through my body.

“John? Oh my god, John!”

I winced a little at the loud sound so close to my ear, but still smiled when I felt Amber’s warm hand tightly grip my own. I forced my eyes open to look at her, waiting for a long moment for my vision to un-blur.

“Jim? Jim! He’s awake!”

I heard the sound of the man in question grunt and sharply inhale and I turned my head to the other side just in time to see him stirring awake on the chair he was awkwardly sleeping on. My vision was clear enough to make out who they both were, but not enough to see the minute details of their faces or expressions.

“What happened?” I asked, voice cracking from disuse.

“You were shot,” Amber’s soft voice came from my left. “You pushed Allen out of the way and took the bullet in the back.”

The memory of lying on Allen’s chest and bleeding out came rushing back and I let out a sigh of relief that I had obviously lived through it.

“Where’s Allen?”

“He and Mason went to wrap up the Sanchez deal, they’ll be back soon,” Jim explained as he started looking over my vitals on the monitors.

I nodded as much as I could, then allowed Amber to tilt my head up at the neck and pour small swallows of water into my mouth. It was a struggle to move even that small amount, the pain seemingly everywhere at once.

When I began to lightly cough, Amber pulled the glass away and I cleared my throat, testing it before speaking again.

“Is everyone else alright?”

“Yeah, everyone’s fine. Troy and Derek are in the living room sleeping.”

I turned my head to face Jim, watching as he checked the machines I was hooked up to before he finally came over to my side.

“Looks like you’re going to be fine, buddy. Your body just needs some rest. You want some drugs? I got the good shit.”

A hoarse chuckle rose from my throat, but I shook my head. “Can you give me a few minutes first?”

Sensing what I was asking for, he nodded. “I’ll be outside. Come get me when he’s ready to go back to la-la land.”

Amber laughed lightly at the joke and waited until he was gone before she looked at me with tear filled eyes.

“I was so worried.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, smirking a little as I intertwined our fingers together.

“Of course!” she exclaimed with a scoff, then her face softened as she asked, “Do you remember what you said to me before you passed out?”

The memories of those last few moments had come back in jagged bit and pieces, but I did recall exactly what I said in that moment. I didn’t want to admit it even now— but I had been damn sure at that moment that I was going to die and I didn’t want to go without Amber knowing how strongly I felt about her.

“I remember.”

“Did you mean it?”

I gave her an exaggerated scoff and mimicked her tone. “Of course!”

Her playful slap on my hand made me smile and she rolled her eyes before leaning down to kiss me. The press of her lips against mine was soft and I longed to deepen the kiss, but when I tried to reach my right arm up to weave into her hair, my entire body jerked with pain and protested the movement. She pulled away when she felt my mouth twist up in a grimace.

“Stay still, John. You’ll pull the stitches.”

“Couldn’t help myself.”

Amber smiled and said, “I understand. And I love you, too.”

My heart clenched tightly in my chest, the need to grab her and hold her to me almost stronger than the memory of my body’s pain-filled protest. Before I could even consider doing it though, she stood up straight and turned to face the door as the knob twisted.

“John,” Allen breathed out when he saw me. “Thank fuck. You had us worried sick.”

I couldn’t raise my hand, but I still raised up my fingers and wiggled them as I grinned. “Alive and kicking, man. Well, maybe not kicking, but close enough.”

Allen chuckled and shut the door, coming over to stand beside Amber.

“You look like hell.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “That’s the thanks I get for taking a fucking bullet for you? Damn. Won’t be doing
that
again.”

The look that appeared on Allen’s face was one I’d seen before, but never quite as strong as it was now. It was nothing short of pure gratitude, marred only by his eyebrows as they drew together in a frown.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

“Allen— don’t. I’m not sorry. If I hadn’t—”

“I know.”

We both knew there was no way he would have survived the shot if I hadn’t pushed him out of the way. Mario was a lot of things, but a bad shot wasn’t one of them.

And that bullet was aimed right for Allen’s heart.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And don’t beat yourself up over this, Allen. I wouldn’t have had it happen any other way.”

Amber chimed in with an incredulous laugh. “How about in a way where
no one
got shot?”

“Okay, maybe that would’ve been better. But still—no regrets here.”

Amber let go of my hand and Allen took hold, gripping it tightly.

“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I would never choose to trade your life for mine.”

“I know you wouldn’t. Which is what made my decision so easy.”

Amber abruptly burst into tears and we both smiled and rolled our eyes at her overdramatic reaction. As exhaustion started pulling at me again, I decided to give in.

“Send Jim in, yeah? I’m ready for those drugs he promised.”

“Will do. Come on, baby. Let him get some sleep.”

As they started to move out of the room, I thought of the perfect way that Allen could thank me for what I had done for him.

“Hold up. You want to even the score between us?”

“You know I do,” Allen replied with a confused frown.

I grinned wickedly. “Good. No sex until I’m able to as well. We’ll continue
exactly
where we left off. All three of us.”

Amber’s sobs died off and she started laughing hysterically as Allen stared at me in horror.

“That could take weeks!”

“You’ll live.”

Amber moved back over to press one more gentle kiss to my lips and whispered, “I promise we won’t do a thing until you’re able.”

“Thanks, baby.”

“You’re welcome.”

“But—But—”

“Stop whining, Allen,” Amber chided him. “It’s only fair.”

Allen threw his hands into the air and stormed out of the room, muttering angrily under his breath about how unfair it was. I heard him shout at Jim to put me under and I smiled as my eyes slid shut, already drifting off to sleep before he even made it into the room to pump the pain meds into my veins.

“
I
hate
you so fucking much, man. You have no idea how bad it’s been.”

John snorted. “Oh, shut the fuck up. If you’re in blue ball hell, you only have yourself to blame.”

My eyes widened incredulously. “Are you serious? How is it
my
fault?”

“You’re the one that only bought her slutty clothes to wear.”

He was right. Walking around the house and seeing her only in a tiny dress or a short little mini-skirt and knowing I couldn’t touch her was the sweetest kind of torture I’d ever known. But it
was
my fault.

The worst time though was when Amber had been cleaning up the mess in the bedrooms and decided only to wear panties and one of John’s t-shirts to do it in. There were three times when I walked in to find her bent over a piece of furniture, that supple ass poking out from beneath the hem of the shirt and just
begging
to have my cock in it.

It’d been a rough two weeks.

“Be honest with me. How much time did you spend jerking off while I was at Jim’s?”

“You don’t want to know,” I muttered as I pulled the car into the parking lot. “All that matters now is that you’re up and running again. Which means we can go back to normal.”

“I’m not cleared to fight for another week or so,” John added as we got out of the car.

“Doesn’t matter. What
does
matter is that Jim cleared you for ‘
other physical activities
.’ As soon as we’re done here, you better fucking believe that we’re going straight home to Amber.”

“Did you tell her I was coming back today?”

“No. She thinks you’re still staying with Jim for another week.”

John nodded and slammed the passenger door shut, slowly walking towards the store as I stepped to his side. He was moving slowly and I could tell he was a little unsure about how much he could handle.

This was the first day Jim had allowed him the chance to move around without the assistance of a cane. I stayed directly beside him in case he needed something to steady him, watching his reactions carefully as he took each step.

John turned and gave me a weird look. “I’m good, man. So stop fucking staring at me like that before people get the wrong idea.”

I rolled my eyes, wondering why he hadn’t already considered what it was going to look like when we actually walked into the store together.

I held open the door for him—ignoring the irritated growl he gave me—then stepped inside behind him. We were swarmed by a saleswoman immediately.

“Can I help you gentleman find something?”

“We’re here for a pickup. Last name is Fredrick.”

The woman smiled and gestured for us to follow her to the counter. After a few taps of her fingers on the keyboard, she located the order and nodded.

“You have good timing, it looks like they just arrived this morning. Give me just a moment to grab them for you.”

Once she was gone, John raised an eyebrow and asked, “You put them in your name?”

“You were on your deathbed.”

“Bullshit! I wasn’t dying, I was
healing
.”

“Well, I’m the one who came in and placed the order.”

“But I picked them out online!”

The woman came back but faltered in her steps, her eyes wide because our voices had risen to the point of almost shouting. We were both slightly embarrassed as she hesitantly moved forward and placed the four small boxes on the counter in front of us.

“Here you go, sir. I just need to see your ID and get your signature to confirm that you’ve picked them up.”

I handed her my driver’s license as John and I opened the boxes to inspect their contents. She came back a moment later with a receipt that I quickly signed, my attention still focused more on the boxes John and I held.

“Are you satisfied with them?” the woman asked, drawing our attention back to her.

“We are,” John said as he slammed the box closed. “They’re perfect.”

The lady smiled as she bagged up our purchases and wished us a good day. We left the shop in silence and stayed that way all the way back to the house, our thoughts both revolving around the girl who was waiting there for us.

M
y favorite part
of when Allen left me alone in the house was that it meant I was free to hop in his humongous shower and sing terrible pop songs as loudly as I wanted.

I was belting my way through an old favorite when I finished shaving my legs, then stood back up to grab my favorite body wash and wrap up my long shower. I was worried that the water would run cold if I stayed in much longer, so I did a quick scrub of my body before I turned the water off.

As I wrapped my body in a fluffy white towel and dried off, I allowed my thoughts to drift back to the last time Allen and I had been in this shower together.

Which also happened to be the
only
time we had been in this shower together.

For every reason imaginable, including the purely selfish ones, I wished that John would recover soon. I could tell that Allen was being tortured by my presence in the house, but what he didn’t seem to realize was that I was equally frustrated.

We still shared a bed, neither of us willing to give up that selfish need. But instead of heated embraces and passionate, sweaty sex—we stuck with chaste cuddling and sweet, quick kisses.

But every morning when I woke up with his hard length pressed against my back, it was becoming more and more difficult to roll out of bed and away from him.

After I was fully dried off, I grabbed the fresh pair of underwear and tugged them up my hips, pulling one of John’s clean t-shirts on next. I hung the damp towel over the rack and stepped out into Allen’s bedroom, freezing in place when I realized I was no longer alone.

“Oh my god,
John!
” I squealed when my eyes landed on his prone form lying on the mattress, looking like he never left.

I sprinted to the bed and crawled up beside him, my eyes scanning over his jeans and the black button down shirt he was wearing. His eyes were dancing with mischief as he smiled up at me and I cocked my head to the side, pursing my lips together for a brief moment as I considered his presence.

“What are you doing here?”

“Picking up where we left off,” he replied, reaching for my hips and pulling me to straddle him. “But we’re a little overdressed, aren’t we?”

“Wh-What?” I questioned breathlessly as he tugged me down to his chest so he could kiss my neck. I carefully placed my hands on either side of his head to avoid putting any weight on him. “Are you well enough to be doing this?”

“My cock certainly is,” he mumbled against the skin of my neck as he angled his hips upwards and ground his heavy erection against my core. “Let’s get this shirt off.”

I sat up enough for him to drag the garment over my head, his eyes darkening once they landed on my tits.

“Come here baby, let me suck them.”

As I leaned over to bring my breasts closer to his mouth, I felt the bed dip behind me and glanced back at Allen as he crawled towards me. He grinned when he saw me looking, then crouched down and plucked the string of my thong aside to lick my sex from behind.

I moaned and arched closer to John’s mouth, shivering as he bit and twisted my nipples while Allen drove me wild with his tongue. They were both licking at me like starving men—desperate for every single taste they could get.

Allen pulled my ass back to get a better angle and the movement pulled my tits away from John. He made a noise of protest that I silenced by kissing him and undoing the buttons of his shirt, my hands shaking with each one. When I finally got them all undone, I pushed open the sides of his shirt and ran my hands up his abs, pausing when I got to the bandaged area where the bullet had come through his chest.

“Are you okay?” I asked, searching his eyes for any discomfort.

“I’m fine, I promise. The bandage is just to keep it from getting infected.”

“You’re sure?” I asked, wiggling my ass away from Allen as I tried to be serious.

He caught the hint and stopped, straightening up behind me and glancing over my shoulder at John.

“You better not be lying,” he said warningly. “But you better not make us stop either.”

“No fucking way,” John agreed, reaching beneath me to undo the button of his jeans and shove down the zipper. “If we’re going to pick up right where we left off, I do believe I was inside that tight pussy of yours, sweetheart.”

I grinned and moved back to help him pull the jeans down his hips, then straddled him again the moment I saw his cock spring free. I gripped his length in my hand and pushed my thong to the side, taking him deep inside my aching sex.

“
Fuck
, it’s been way too long,” he panted once he bottomed out. “
Please
move.”

“Not so fast,” Allen said from behind me. “Neither of us are going to last long. Let me get inside.”

I nodded and John groaned, but accepted my lips when I leaned down to kiss him, making sure to brace myself on my arms.

“Don’t do that,” he whispered, pulling away a mere fraction of an inch. “Don’t act like I’m going to break. I’m fine, I swear.”

I allowed a little more of my weight to rest on his chest and lowered myself to my elbows until he seemed satisfied. Our bare chests pressed together as we continued to kiss and wait for Allen to start prepping my ass.

Every now and then, I’d purposely flex my internal muscles around his cock just to hear his strangled groan. I grinned against his lips, then tensed when I felt Allen’s hands tugging at the string of my thong.

The band suddenly snapped and I realized he was actually
cutting
them off of me, the act making me shiver with desire. Once he cut both sides, he eased the fabric away and tossed it beside him on the bed before a slick finger went right for my unoccupied hole.

He pushed past the tight ring of muscles and I willed my body to relax, letting out a long, slow breath as he flexed a little inside then buried his digit down to the knuckle. He eased it in and out a few times before he squirted a dollop of lube right where his finger was connected to me, the coolness of the liquid making me shudder.

John’s arms tightened around my back and he shifted me slightly upwards, just far enough so he was able to direct attention to my neck, kissing and biting the tender skin.

Allen’s finger slipped out for a brief second and a moment later, I felt it return with a second one. I let out a sharp cry of pain as he forced both fingers in at once, only able to remain still thanks to John’s tight hold on my body.

“You alright, baby?” Allen asked, pausing with only the pads of his fingers inside.

“Y-Yeah. Keep going.”

His two fingers sunk deeper into me and I winced a little, wondering how on earth I was going to be able to take his thick cock there without it splitting me open.

But Allen and John were patient with me and after ten minutes of continuous foreplay, I had three of his fingers roughly pumping in and out of my ass in time with the slight rocks of my hips on John’s cock. The pain had morphed into a warped sense of pleasure, but I was sure that John’s finger slowly working my clit had something to do with that.

“I’m ready,” I announced, unable to wait any longer to feel them both at once. The ministrations had already gotten my skin slick with sweat and I could feel the sparks of pleasure going from my clitoris to the rest of my body as my climax approached. “Allen, I’m ready.”

“I heard you,” he muttered before his removed his fingers and popped open the bottle of lube.

The sound of his fist working his slick cock made me crane my neck to look back and I moaned at the sight. Allen grinned and purposely fisted himself tighter, jerking himself faster as I watched.

“You like?”

“I
want
,” I breathed, pushing my ass back a little further towards him. “Please.”

He groaned and moved forward, spreading my cheeks with one hand while directing the head to my opening with the other. The feeling of his huge head pressing against my hole made me tense up, but after a few calming breaths, my body relaxed again.

Allen took advantage of the moment and surged forward, the pressure as he fought past the tight ring of muscles nearly enough to make me scream. I cried out when he finally pushed past the barrier, my muscles squeezing him so tightly that he couldn’t even move forward.

“God
damn
,” Allen hissed, then quietly murmured, “Just relax, angel. Relax for me.”

I shuddered and tried my hardest to do as he instructed, calming a little as John’s hand soothed over my back while Allen lovingly caressed my hips. I focused solely on those two sensations and when I was relaxed again, the pain started to subside and Allen pressed his hips forward.

Thankfully, he had thoroughly slicked both my hole and his cock with a
ton
of lube, so bottoming out inside me was a lot easier than I thought it’d be. After the pain of the initial penetration was over, I realized that anal was far more pleasurable than I expected.

Allen shuddered behind me and waited— his fingers twitching on my hips as he used the last shred of control he had to not immediately begin fucking me.

I knew it was torturing him to stay still, which was one of the primary reasons why I waited as long as I did before I twisted my neck back and said, “Fuck me.”

His cock eased out and back in, setting a slow, fluid rhythm that was just barely enough to move me on top of John. I made my hips move in tandem with Allen’s— every time he pulled out, I’d move up and off of John’s cock, then eased back down when he pushed into my ass.

The feeling of having them both in me at once was indescribable. I was gushing all over John’s cock as he stared up at me with a tight jaw, the muscles in his face ticking with every tiny movement I made.

“Are you close?” I whispered, smiling a little at his obvious struggle.

“You know I am,” he breathed out, his eyes fluttering shut and his head tipping back on the pillow. “You’re so fucking wet, it’s unreal.”