Gypsy Brothers: The Complete Series (15 page)

TWELVE

Jase’s cell phone rings, breaking the silence. Reluctantly, he peels himself away from me and goes into the other room to answer it.

When he returns a few moments later, he isn’t pleased.

“Dornan’s on his way to get you,” he says, his words devoid of passion.

Did we really just kiss? Again? I can’t believe it. I can’t.

I look at the ground, swallowing sharply.

Don’t fucking cry, you can do this
.

You have to do this for your family. For yourself.

Jase notices the look on my face and holds his hands out in question. “I don’t know what you want me to do,” he says, frustration written all over his beautiful face.

“I’m such an idiot,” I say honestly, as my eyes fill with tears. Jase’s face falls and he looks like he’s about to reach out and touch me, but instead he turns and stalks out of the room.

After a few minutes, I compose myself and find him out on the balcony. He’s holding onto the railing, fists clenched, knuckles turning white. He must have heard me, because he addresses me without turning around.

“You have to leave. The next time you piss him off, he’ll just kill you. Simple as that. You can’t stay here, Samantha.”

I swallow, tilting my head back, looking up at the sky as it turns pink and purple, the sun low on the horizon.

“I could help,” Jase says suddenly. “I could help you get out.”

I shake my head. “I can’t leave. I’m not leaving.”

Jase stalks over to me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. “He’s going to kill you, do you understand? Christ, it’s like history repeating itself.” His shoulders sag as he lets go of me, deflated.

“He won’t kill me,” I say, brushing tears from my cheeks. “Not yet.”

Jase’s face turns stony and closed again, and I can only imagine the years he’s spent being shut down, being wailed on by his brothers, being fucked around by Dornan. I wonder how many graves he’s had to dig for his father, how many drugged bitches he’s had to pay off, or whatever, to make sure they didn’t go to the police and end up dead. And I know he can’t help himself. He’ll keep saving the stupid girls who come to the Gypsy Brothers clubhouse looking for protection and ending up with a gun to their head or a knife in their thigh.

But he won’t want to save me, not after I’m finished. Not after I’ve destroyed his entire family.

He might not get along with his brothers, but they’re all he’s got. And when I’m finished, he’ll have nothing.

My heart skips a beat, just one, as I allow myself to think for a moment what would happen, right here and now, if I just told Jase the truth. About who I really am and what I’m really doing here. He’d be mad, sure, but after that? Would he care? And if we ran? If we left this place and took my money and just ran, would I be able to sleep again, knowing he was with me?

“He will,” Jase says with conviction. “Just when you least expect it, he’ll be there. And it’ll be the end for you.”

“You don’t understand,” I say to him. It’s almost like I’m begging him to understand even though I won’t tell him
what
.

He shakes his head. “If you change your mind, let me know. He’s here.”

He points down at the parking lot in front of the building, where Dornan is pulling in on his Harley, the sunset casting a dull gleam on the polished black metal and chrome.

We stand there motionless, watching from afar as Dornan parks his bike and disappears into the stairwell below us.

I start to cry again. Jase remains stone faced. “Pull yourself together,” he hisses.

“It’s that fucking morphine you gave me,” I hiss back, wiping my cheeks and rushing inside, towards the bathroom, where I can wash my face and compose myself.

So of course, I almost scream when I collide blindly with a hard chest covered in leather.

It’s him.

I look up, those tears still fresh in my eyes, to see Dornan’s black eyes staring back at me, piercing straight through me. I freeze as he looks suspiciously from me, to Jase, then back to me.

“What the fuck did I just walk into?” he asks.

I fling myself at his chest and stand on tiptoes, planting little kisses on his cheek. “I thought you weren’t coming back for me,” I say breathlessly. “I missed you so much.”

Jase closes the door to the balcony with a heavy thud. “She hasn’t stopped whining about how much she missed you for the entire day,” he snarls at his father. “Next time, I’m going to gag her.”

Dornan breaks out into peals of laughter that reverberate against my chest and make my insides fill with dread. He tilts my head up and kisses me, the longest, most passionate kiss I’ve experienced from him. It still doesn’t even mildly compare to the intensity of the fleeting kisses Jase and I shared.

It isn’t even in the same fucking
universe
.

Dornan breaks away from me, and I catch my breath, avoiding Jase’s stare. “I gotta shower,” he says. “Been on that bike for too fucking long. You,” he stabs a finger into my chest, “ better meet me in there in five.”

He plants one last lingering kiss on my mouth before turning and walking into the bathroom. A moment later, I hear the shower running.

“You’re an excellent actress,” Jase says behind me, every word measured and deliberate. I turn, wiping the back of my hand against my mouth—wiping Dornan away. Jase’s eyes are cold, his arms folded across his chest as he studies me, the look of disgust on his face impossible to miss. I am deeply troubled that he is already seeing through the façade that Dornan is oblivious to, but at the same time, I am secretly relieved. Because if he knows it’s a lie, maybe he’ll still want me, as crazy and fucked-up as that sounds.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I say softly, letting my hand drop to my side.

He just shakes his head, his hands balled up into angry fists, and storms out of the room.

I hear a rattle of keys, the front door slams loudly, and my heart sinks as I realise Jase is gone.

I make it the longest five minutes possible before I slip out of my T-shirt and hobble slowly into the bathroom to join Dornan under the shower. He smiles as he sees me, his gaze going to the crudely stitched wound on my thigh. “I’m sorry, baby girl,” he says, kneeling down on the tiles, inspecting the new row of stitches his doctor has professionally installed in my leg. He runs his fingers along it oh-so-gently, before tightening his grip on the back of my knees, forcing me to spread my legs wider so I don’t fall over. He plants a soft kiss on my sensitive nub, his breath against my skin making me squirm.

He rises, taking the time to suck on my hardened nipple before standing straight again. I shiver, grasping his hard biceps as he grinds himself against me.

“Get on your knees, baby girl.”

A sense of panic rises in my belly. “I can’t,” I whisper. “My leg—”

Frustration flashes across his features briefly, his black eyes burning into mine. His eyes flick down to my stab wound before settling back on my face.

“Pain is good,” he says, his hands squeezing my neck tight before releasing me again.
A warning
. “Remember? Pain means I fucking
own
you.”

I nod reluctantly.

“Say it.”

“You own me.”

“Why?”

Remember Chad. Remember who you are
. I smile.

“Because I’m yours.”

“You’re goddamn right, you’re mine. Now get on your fucking knees.”

He holds my weight as I kneel slowly and with difficulty, my leg screaming with fresh pain that radiates to my extremities and makes me want to hurl.

I feel a couple stitches pop open and glance down to see thin rivulets of blood break free and slide down my leg, diluted by the warm water. The scene revitalises me. Today, I’ll give my blood for him, and one day soon, he’ll give his blood for me.

Now,” he says smugly, pressing the tip of his hard cock against my lips. “Show me how much you missed me.”

Jase was right. I am an excellent actress.

I open my mouth, and I lie.

THIRTEEN

After our shower, Dornan takes me back to the clubhouse on the back of his bike.

Riding with Dornan just feels
wrong
. I don’t feel free in the wind; I feel trapped, like a butterfly encased in glass. Fluttering my wings feebly, only to keep hitting them on my invisible fortress.

Only this fortress of mine is of my own making.

I shouldn’t complain. But I’m impatient. It’s been almost a month and so far I’ve killed Chad, kissed Jase twice and screwed Dornan enough times to make my head whirl. I wonder what my father would think of me right now, and then I squash that thought, because he’d be horrified. He’d be beside himself.

His little girl killing, and fucking, and lying.

It still kills me when I think that he died trying to save me from this life.

***

A week passes with no nasty surprises and no stabbings. Just a lot of sitting in Dornan’s room, waiting for him to be there, and a lot of laying on my back, being fucked. Every day of my life is starting to feel exactly the same, a veritable groundhog day for vengeful whores.

I learn to bite my tongue and not answer back, as impossible as it is for me. Jase is barely around, and when he is, he won’t look me in the eye.

That makes me very, very sad.

I am laying on Dornan’s bed one afternoon, headphones in, bopping my head, listening to the Revenge playlist that Elliot made for me. I’m at “These Boots are made for walkin’” when Dornan bursts in to the room, yelling into his phone.

“It was fucking
them
!” I hear him growl into the phone, his low voice reverberating in the confined space. “I saw their warehouse. Barrels of pure meth stacked to the ceiling, and they’re the ones importing this shit through the shipping yards.”

I turn down the music, intrigued, but continue to bop my head like I can’t hear anything he’s saying.

“They’re our enemies. Of course they want to fuck me over.”

The person on the other end of the phone says something and Dornan seems placated for the moment.

“Tomorrow we ride,” he says. “Assholes think they can fuck with my kid? My club? I’ll burn that motherfucking warehouse to the ground with them in it.”

He throws the phone down, his entire body tensed. I remove my headphones and slide them under my pillow, along with my pink iPhone. He’s seen it, knows I have it, but I don’t flash it around in case he tries to take it from me.

He sits on the end of the bed and pulls his black boots off, dropping them by his feet. I slide over, placing my hand on the back of his leather cut, testing his reaction.

When he doesn’t push me away, I crawl onto his lap and straddle him, running my fingers through his short black hair. My leg is much better and though it still hurts when I move like this, it’s bearable.

“Are you okay?” I ask him, turning my head to the side a little. I stare straight into his dark brown eyes, almost the same colour as his pupils, and I’m struck by how different they look to Jase’s. The colors are all the same, but the look in their eyes is poles apart. One says gentle, and the others scream predator.

I put my hand between us, rubbing the spot where Dornan would normally be hard at the mere sight of me. But today he’s not, he’s too distracted and he is the one with revenge on his mind. He pulls my hand away and lets it fall between us, smiling.

“You’re a doll, trying to make me feel better.”

I shrug. “You can talk to me, you know,” I say. “I can listen as well as fuck.”

He laughs, and for once the sound is light, without intent. It’s…normal. I am shaken as I try to assign that seemingly innocent laugh with the monster lurking inside.

Don’t ever let your guard down
, I think to myself.
Last time he was sweet the fucker stabbed you
.

“I’m sorry about your leg,” he says, as if he knows what I’m thinking. “It was a bad day. Burying Chad…you’re not supposed to bury your own kids, you know? They’re supposed to bury you.”

Wait… he’s
apologising
? To
me
?

I nod, suppressing a smile. “I know.”
I’ll bury you, no problem.

“What did Mariana do that was so bad?” I ask him.

He sighs. “Bitch tried to take my son and leave. Fucked my best friend. Stole enough fuckin’ money from this club to ruin us.”

So she
was
having an affair with my father.

“I’ll never do to you what she did, Dornan.”

I’ll do worse.

He runs his hand through my hair, his mind elsewhere, and I smirk as I realise what he’s yet to confirm.

I’ve got him.

The son of a bitch is starting to
love
me.

“Pack a bag, baby girl,” Dornan says abruptly. “A couple days we’ll be gone. You’re riding with me, and when we get there you’ll be riding me with that sweet pussy of yours.”

I fight the innate urge to roll my eyes and smile instead. “We’re going on a trip?”

“Yeah.” He doesn’t offer anything more, and I don’t dare ask where, even though I’m dying to know. I hate surprises.

“Should I pack for cold, or hot?” I ask, hoping the question is neutral enough. “I want to look nice for you.”

“Hot,” he says. “We’re going inland.”

Right. It’s a big fucking country. We’re going east somewhere, I guess. That’s a lot of states.

“Baby girl.”

“Yeah?”

Put something pretty on. One of those dresses of yours that shows your titties off. Tomorrow we ride, but tonight, we party. Maxi’s birthday’s tomorrow.”

“What did you get him?” I ask.

A slow smile spreads across his evil face and I see that glint in his eye that always means trouble.

“I got him two virgins,” he says. “Never been fucked before.”

“Wow” I say, smiling even as my heart drops and I die a little more inside. “You’re a generous daddy.”

He fists my hair roughly, his lips touching my cheek. “I need something from you, too, baby girl.”

My stomach roils.

“Anything for you,” I say sweetly.

“These girls, they’ve got zero experience. And Maxi…he’s impatient. I was thinking you could be there to…guide them, I suppose.”

My eyes light up. “Of course. What a great idea.”

It’s a fucking brilliant idea. My smile is so big that I’m worried my face might break.

“You’re such a good daddy,” I say, staring up into his face. “I’ll give him the best birthday he’s ever had.”

I think of the package Elliot got for me, wrapped in cellophane and tied with twine.

I think of how I’m going to take Maxi so high, he’s going to come crashing back down to earth in a cataclysm of blood and pain.

“It’ll be beautiful,” I whisper against his chest.