Elijah: The Boss's Gift (14 page)

“Elijah?”

“I’m asking you to marry me, Cherry. I know we didn’t
start out normally, but we’re here now and I’m more than ready to take the next
step with you.” He nuzzled her neck, prepared to use sex to get what he wanted.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you by my side. Tell me what your heart
desires and it’s yours.”

Cherry closed her eyes. “I don’t need anything,
Elijah.” She turned in his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her
arms around his neck. “The only person I need or want is you.”

“You’ll marry me.”

“I doubted you’d give me a chance to turn you down.”

“You can turn me down, but I wasn’t above using
tactics to win you over.”

She chuckled, and Elijah loved the sound. “You’re a bad
man.”

“I never said I was anything but.” Gripping the back
of her head, he tugged her close, bringing her mouth to his. He always needed a
taste of her.

Cherry Morgan was his drug of choice.

Chapter Ten

One month later

“Do you think he likes me, Cherry? I mean, we sit
together through biology and I have to tutor him in math, but he’s so nice.
Well, he’s nice when no one is looking, but that still counts right?”

Cherry listened to Mindy talk about the boy at school.
For the last two weeks, she’d been listening to her talk constantly about a boy
named Daniel. She placed the sweet potatoes in the shopping trolley, chuckling
at her companion.

“Laughing? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Mindy
asked.

“It’s neither. You’re young, Mindy, too young to even
be thinking about boys. Your father finds out and there will be hell to pay.”

“Why? It’s not like he’s my boyfriend. We’ve done
nothing to each other.”

“If you want him to live you better keep it that way.”
Cherry pushed the trolley down the aisle toward the fresh vegetables. It was
Saturday, and Elijah had to leave early for work. Caleb and Henry were
expecting him over at Ecstasy. She didn’t know why and refused to get involved.
Cherry wasn’t interested in the working side of her man, only the side she
needed to see. The less she
knew,
the better. She
wasn’t an idiot and understood the role she took.

The last thing she wanted to do was put him in danger
for knowing the wrong thing.

“This is really hard.”

“It’s not really hard. You’re making it really hard by
over-thinking everything.” Cherry smiled, heading toward the meat section.
“You’re supposed to be helping me shop. This was your idea, and you’re leaving
it all to me.”

Mindy had come home two days ago begging for a huge
cookout. Cherry waited until Sunday seeing as they were both at home together.

Elijah had given her a credit card in his name for her
to use. She didn’t like the thought of ever having to use the credit card, not
that she had any money of her own. There was no choice at all.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. Were you ever like this?”

“No, I can safely say I wasn’t like this. I didn’t
care about boys at your age.” She didn’t need to tell the younger girl that
she’d already been forced to have sex. Mindy was young, fresh, and on the verge
of love. “I’d tell Elijah though. He’s going to hate you keeping secrets from
him.”

Mindy growled. “He doesn’t understand. He never
understands everything.”

“You’re giving him too much of a hard time. Elijah was
a boy once.” Cherry paused, tilting her head to the side. “Actually, he’d
probably hurt this boy, Daniel did you call him?”

“Why?”

“He was a boy once. If he thinks Daniel is bad news,
that’s it.” She threw a can of peaches in syrup at Mindy to put in the trolley.
Cherry marked them off the list before moving along. Mindy took over pushing
the trolley.

“See, this sucks. This is what you get when you’ve got
a hard-ass for a dad.”

Rolling her eyes, Cherry listened as Mindy spent the
whole shopping trip complaining. It wasn’t half bad, cute almost, but by the
time the shopping was finished,
Cherry
was getting a
headache.

Once they paid for their packages she followed Mindy
outside to the car.

“Are you listening to yourself? You’re a strong young
girl, Mindy. You don’t need a boy to make you feel better. You don’t need
anyone but yourself. Remember that.”

Mindy stopped pushing the trolley, turning to look at
her. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Can we talk about something else now,
please? You’re giving me a headache.”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

They walked toward her car, and the hairs on the back
of Cherry’s neck stood on end. Turning around, she spotted Tom’s car, and
froze. He was leaning against the steering wheel, unconscious.

“Cherry, we meet again.”

She recognized that voice. Turning back toward her
car, she saw Marcel leaning against the side. On either side, she saw two of
his men from the warehouse coming toward them.

“Cherry?”

“Mindy, run back
into the store.”

It was too late. Before Mindy got a chance to take off
a guy held her steady, stopping both of their escape.

“What are you doing? You know I belong to Elijah,”
Cherry said, hating the sudden fear that gripped her.

“Exactly, you’re Elijah’s woman, and this sweet morsel,”
he stroked Mindy’s face, “is his daughter.”

“Get your fucking hands off her.” Cherry fought the
man that held her.

“Take them to the van. I don’t want any trouble,”
Marcel said.

“What the hell are you doing? You’re Elijah’s business
partner.” Cherry fought the man holding her, scared for Mindy’s life. The
younger girl looked terrified.

“Well, it’s time I ventured alone in the world.”

She saw a blue truck several feet from her car.
Slamming her foot down on the man’s foot, she elbowed him in the face, charging
at Mindy’s captor.

“Go, Mindy.”

It was useless. Marcel grabbed her around the throat,
dragging her back as another man wrapped his arms around Mindy’s waist.

The back of a blue truck was opened. Mindy was lifted
up, and rope was wrapped around her wrists to bind them. Cherry kept her gaze
on the young girl, wishing there was more she could do to get her out of
trouble.

“Leave her alone.”

“No,” Marcel said. “It’s time for Elijah to move over.
Once he knows I’ve got both of his women, he’ll come.”

“What then?” Cherry asked, angry and scared.

“I kill him. I’ve been planning this for a long time.
I needed for him to get comfortable thinking he was in control. Elijah’s not
the kind of man you just take shit from. I bring him in, make him trust me, and
then, I take from him.”

Marcel slammed the truck door closed. No one was in
the truck, and Marcel had bound her wrists up as well. She moved to sit next to
Mindy.

“It’s okay, honey, everything is going to be okay.”

“How can you know that? We’re alone with a madman,”
Mindy said, sobbing. “I don’t want to die. He’s going to kill Dad, and then
he’s going to kill us.”

“We’re not going to die. Elijah will come for us. I
promise you, Mindy. He will come. That crap he said, it’s wrong. Elijah doesn’t
trust him.” She believed with all of her heart and soul that Elijah wouldn’t
leave her or his daughter to die. They meant too much to him for him to just
leave them.

She reached over to try to grab Mindy’s hands. It was
awkward, but she did everything she could to soothe the other woman.

“I’m so scared.”

“It’s okay to be scared. I’m scared.” Her heart was
racing. Marcel was insane. He wanted to kill Elijah to take his place? The man
was insane. Marcel had underestimated Elijah.

Cherry didn’t know how long they were in the truck.
After a time, the truck finally came to a stop, and she heard doors opening
then closing.

The truck door was flung open. Two large men jumped
in. One roughly grabbed Mindy as another grabbed her. They were passed down to
two other men.

Mindy fell on the floor, and the men laughed at her.

When Elijah found them, he was going to make them all
pay. Cherry couldn’t wait until he got here.

****

“Rewind it now,” Elijah said. He was losing his temper
and was prepared to kill any bastard who got in his way. The moment Tom called
him to tell him that he’d been ambushed, he’d lost it. When he got to the
supermarket to find the trolley full of food with Cherry’s bag on top, he knew
something bad had gone down.

The problem he had, he didn’t know who had his girls
and where they were. Tapping his fingers on the desk, he stared at the screen.

“There, stop,” Elijah said.

Caleb and Henry were with him, staring at the screen.

“Do you know these?” Caleb asked.

“Oh, I do.” Elijah stared at Marcel along with four of
his men. The bastard really thought he could betray him? Marcel didn’t know who
he was dealing with. “I know them, and their time on this sweet little planet
is about to come to an end.”

He handed several hundred dollars to the man and
headed outside. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed Marcel’s number.

“You have something of mine,” Elijah said, walking
toward his car. No one fucked with him. It seemed Marcel needed to learn a
lesson.

A feminine scream came over the line.

“Yes. I’ve got something of yours. My little gift, I
think I’d like to take her back.”

Cherry’s cry filled him with anger. He’d sworn to
protect her, and now, they were all going to die.

“What do you want?”

“I want you here at the warehouse in three hours.
Don’t try anything funny.”

Elijah hung up the phone. He’d be at the warehouse in
two and he was going to burn the warehouse down to the ground.

“What’s happening?” Caleb asked.

“I can’t ask either of you to help me with this.”

John climbed out of the car along with Tom. “I fucked
up, boss. I’m coming with you. I want a little payback for them coming up behind
me.”

Caleb and Henry looked at each other. “We’re all
friends here. They’ve taken your woman, and I think it’s only fair that we take
them back.”

Elijah nodded. “It’s going to be dangerous.”

“So? We’ve all been in danger before. Come on, it’ll
be fun,” Henry said. “We do expect an invite to the wedding.”

Laughing, Elijah climbed back into his car. John and
Tom joined him. Caleb and Henry moved to their own car.

“Drop down the seat beside you, Tom. You’ll find a
case. Pull it out.” Elijah started up the car and drove toward the warehouse,
the same warehouse where he’d first met Cherry.

“I’ve got it.”

“Good. Open it up, you’ll find weapons along with shit
to start a fire. I’m going to leave you at the back of the warehouse, so set
that bastard alight.”

“I do that and you’re only going to have a set time to
get in and get out.”

“I’m counting on it.”

Pressing his foot to the gas, Elijah thought about
Cherry and his little girl. No one touched what was his and got away with it.
He was the boss. They took orders from him. The more he thought about it and
the longer he drove, the angrier he became. He was pissed off, fuming inside,
and when he got his hands on Marcel, he was going to destroy him.

No one talked on the journey toward the warehouse.
There were no words that would make the trip any easier. He checked his mirror
to find Caleb and Henry still following close behind them.

When he saw the warehouse, he brought the car to a
stop. There were no guards looking out. Marcel truly believed Elijah was just
going to go in all guns blazing.

“I’m leaving the car here.” He climbed out, and moving
Tom aside, he pulled out the case of weapons. Elijah took his gun, checking to
make sure it was loaded before handing one to John.

“Set fire to this bastard.”

“Do I wait for a signal?” Tom asked.

“Yes, the moment you hear gunfire, light it up.”

Henry and Caleb joined him.

“We’ve got to walk from here. I don’t want to risk
them hearing us,” Elijah said.

“This is where the deals went down?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” Elijah took
the lead, walking around the side of the warehouse. There wasn’t a lot of noise
coming around the dock as it was a Saturday and was closed.

The moment Elijah rounded the corner to the entrance
of the warehouse all hell broke loose. He fired his gun, taking down one of the
men from the footage he’d seen. These men had put their hands on his baby girl
and his woman. They were not going to live to see another day. He was pissed
off, angry, livid, and wanted to kill each and every one of them.