Money Shot (29 page)

Trent snatched the ski mask off his face to see if he recognized the man. He didn’t.

“What the fuck?” Marcus came up behind them.

“I think we’ve got our trespasser,” Trent said.

The man’s eyes widened, but he didn’t say a word.

“Don’t I know you, man?” Marcus closed the distance between them.

“Check his wallet,” Trent directed.

Marcus opened the man’s trench coat and hunted for his wallet. Sure enough, he had ID on him.

“You stupid fuck,” Trent exclaimed.

“Fuck you,” the man retorted.

Trent bashed the back of his head against the wall. “You obviously don’t know who the hell you’re dealing with? What the fuck are you doing up in our building? You don’t work here.”

A small video camera fell from the deep pocket in his trench coat as Marcus searched for more items to incriminate him.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Marcus whispered. “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

“What?”

Marcus gave no reply as he jabbed the unidentified male hard in the face. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body immediately grew limp. Trent didn’t have to worry about holding the man in his custody any longer. As sooner as he released his grip, the dude fell to the floor like a limp biscuit. He was still conscious and very well aware, but his nose was bleeding from the blow.

“Who is this punk?” Trent asked.

Marcus handed Trent the man’s open ID. “Tanya’s ex-boyfriend. Justin. The same sick fuck who leaked Tanya’s sex tape.”

“Fuck. Are you serious?”

“Please,” Justin croaked out. “I’ll erase the footage. Whatever you want. Just let me go.”

“Did you fucking tape me and my woman?” Trent drove his heel down into Justin’s side.

Justin spoke, but not very audibly. Trent kicked him again, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him over to the end of the stairwell. His hand wrapped tightly around the intruder’s throat.

“Man, do you have a damn mental condition? Do you know who you’re playing with? I will whip your ass within an inch of life.”

Justin made a gurgling noise and Trent realized he was still chocking him. He let up his hand.

Justin panted deeply, and then held his palm up. “I…maybe your boy right there shouldn’t steal someone else’s girl and maybe you should find a better place to fuck your whore at.”

Trent’s fist connected with bone and cartilage over and over again. The only reason he stopped was because Marcus pulled him away.

“Dude, he’s not worth jail time. Let’s call the cops. This petty shit ain’t even worth it,” Marcus urged, attempting to calm Trent down. “Come on. We’ve got him. Let someone else deal with the rest of him.”

“Alright.” Trent shrugged away, still extremely pissed.

The man was on the ground, curled up in a ball unable to move.

Trent turned on the little video recorder as Marcus called the police. Sure enough there was footage of the time he and Zaira had made love in his office. The footage went back months based on the date displayed on the screen. Trent almost upchucked his lunch when there was film of women working at Svelte using the toilet.

Trent removed the memory stick and pocketed it for evidence, then crashed the camcorder on the concrete next to Justin’s head. Pieces shattered across the floor and some of it hit Justin in the face and he hollered in shock and curled up against a corner of the wall.

“Pray that I never see your face again,” he told Justin.

There was one groan as a reply.

Zaira grumbled when her phone rang on the nightstand. She snatched it up and squinted at the screen. The name on the display read: Tanya. It was also one o’ clock in the morning. What in the hell?

“Jesus, can I get some sleep?” she begged before accepting the call.

“Zaira,” Tanya called breathlessly.

“What’s up? Girl, my clock must be messed up because you cannot be calling me this early in the morning.”

“Trent’s at the jail.”

Zaira shot up in the bed and her mind stalled as she registered what Tanya was telling her. “What!”

“Trent and Marcus were taken down to the jail,” she confirmed. “Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” Zaira slipped out of bed and threw on a robe.

“They caught the intruder peeping tom at Svelte. It was Justin, Zaira. Justin was the one filming us and taking all these pictures. I am
sooo
sorry.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, grabbing a pair of tennis shoes and slipping them on. “Who the fuck is Justin?”

“My ex. The one that leaked the sex tape of me.”

“Oh…” Zaira had remembered a long time ago when Justin sent a videotape to Marcus of Tanya’s sex footage. “What does this have to do with Trent in jail?”

“Trent and Marcus beat him up pretty badly. No charges have been filed, but they were taken in for questioning because of the severity of Justin’s injuries.”

“Oh, my God,” Zaira breathed. “I’m on the way there.”

“I’ve just pulled out onto the interstate. I’ll see you there.”

Epilogue

Two weeks had passed since catching Svelte’s intruder and peeping tom and in two weeks’ time, things moved pretty fast. With each and every passing day, Zaira and Trent played the hand that was dealt to them and their union was still going strong.

Zaira loved Trent, needed him, and couldn’t do without him and it was time to admit it.

She breathed in his masculine scent and cuddled up to him on the bed.

“I think we should leave pretty soon,” she said. “My dad literally invited the whole entire city of Atlanta and you know he doesn’t like when people are late.”

“But you feel so good.” He buried his nose against her neck and pulled her close.

“We can take a hot shower together before we go,” she offered.

“Mmmm, I’d love that.”

Neither of them made any moves to get up. Her muscles were screaming from their sex sessions. It was Trent’s birthday, so of course they had to indulge. Her dad was throwing Trent a huge party, and invited all RR members and affiliates and even some of his folks from Virginia. She would never forget the smile on Trent’s face when Dad asked if he could throw him a party.

Zaira closed her eyes and listened to the calm tempo of his heartbeat.

“Trent?”

“Hmm?”

She stroked his chest with her palm. “My dad really does like you a lot, you know that, right?”

“Me and your dad have always been cool,” he replied. “We’ve already had that talk. Don’t worry. Everything’s all good.”

“What did y’all talk about?” she asked sweetly.

“You.”

She sighed. “Well, gee thanks. That tells me everything.”

“You’re welcome.” He kissed her cheek.

“Why do you always wear this chain?” She turned the pendant over and over again, trying to decipher what the design was.

“It’s our family crest. My dad gave it to me right after my mom left. His father gave it to him. This gem is the one thing he never pawned or gambled away. I will gift it to my first born one day.”

“You want babies?” she asked before she could stop herself.

“Of course. Don’t you?”

She nodded. “It’s in my plans so I hope I’m blessed enough to have them.”

“You’d make a beautiful mother.” He kissed her. “I think we should get started on making a baby of our own right now.”

“You’re moving ahead of yourself,” she teased, kissing him back. “But do you really want to have children? We never talked about that.”

“Of course I do.” He pulled her closer to his chest. “At least one boy and one girl. We can even adopt. There are plenty of deserving children in the system without places to stay. Boys and girls who want a place to call home and someone to love and encourage them.” He paused for a minute and his Adam’s apple bobbed on his throat, and then he added, “That’s if you want to.”

Oh, she wanted to. There was nothing else in the world she’d rather have than a family with Trent Stone.

“You’d be the perfect father.” Zaira pushed some wayward hair back and away from his face and pressed a kiss against his temple. “I’m falling in love with you, Trent.”

“I already love you. Always have. Always will.”

Want more of the Rugged crew?

Join the brothers again in the next book in the Rugged Riders series.

RUGGED RIDERS

Driven by Desire

Taken by Temptation

Seduced by Sin (Coming Soon)

ABOUT AMBRIELLE KIRK