Grayson
"I'm here for Emmalin Ross; she was brought in by ambulance a few hours ago." I watched the lady at the receptionist desk type slow as fuck on her keyboard.
"Grayson." I turned as Hawkins was motioning me over. Thank fuck. "Where is she? What have they said?"
"She left." I stopped and slowly turned to Hawkins. "What the hell do you mean she left?" Before he could answer, Tyler started yelling.
"You!" Before I could react, he had me on the ground. Hawkins pulled him off of me.
"Do you have a death wish, Tyler?!" He shrugged Hawkins off of him.
"You put your fucking hands on her, Grayson."
I grabbed him and shoved him against the wall. "I would kill myself before I ever hurt her, do you understand me?"
He pushed me back. "She has a broken rib and bruises on her body. I know what I saw, Grayson."
I shook my head. "I didn't do that, Tyler. I would never do that."
He stepped closer to me. "Then you find the son of a bitch who did."
"Excuse me, do we need to have security in here?" We both turned to see a doctor standing in the hallway.
I rolled my eyes. "No. I'm looking for the doctor that treated Emmalin Ross."
She sized me up. "That would be me." I stalked toward her.
"Why was she able to leave? I doubt she was in any condition to do so."
"That may be true, but Ms. Ross decided to leave Against Medical Advice. I preferred for her to wait at least until we discussed her test results."
"Why? What were they? We’re together, you can tell me."
The doctor looked at me. "I'm sorry, but that's not information I can share with you. The patient didn't sign a release. I really need her to come back in for further care." I ran my hand through my hair. I practically owned the fucking hospital with as much money I donated and they couldn't tell me something as simple as blood test results. "With a head injury, she does need to be watched for a few days. If you notice a change in her behavior, have her see her physician, but she should be seeing one anyway." She raised her eyebrows before walking away. What the hell was that?
"I just got word that she arrived at the condo a few minutes ago, sir."
I glared at Hawkins. "Please tell me how the fuck she managed to evade you, Hawkins?"
"Mr. Mandrake, as you know, there're multiple entrances and exits to the hospital. The entire team hadn't arrived yet, to secure all points of entries."
I cut him off. "I don't give a fuck. Everyone is playing chess, and she's the goddamn ninja. Get out of my sight, before I take your gun and kill you with it."
I raced home, with my only thought to get to Emmalin. I needed to see if she was okay, and never let her out of my sight again.
I walked into the apartment. It was quiet. Almost too quiet, and that scared me. Somehow I was bracing myself for the fear that either she wasn't here, or something worse. I walked toward the bedroom and slowly opened the door. All the air left my body. She lay on the bed, wrapped around my pillow with her phone connected to the charger, in her hand. I walked over and lightly stroked her face, and she stirred. Her eyes fluttered, softly, but remained closed.
I took a deep breath as I lowered myself into the chair across the room. I didn't realize I was shaking, until I saw how tightly I gripped the arm of the chair. I was physically preventing myself from going to her and wrapping myself around her. I knew the moment I looked closely, I would've stripped her, to see what harm was done to her. I would've demanded, and punished, and bled her soul dry until she hated me. I would've watched her cry and relished in it. All because I loved her. Instead, I sat across the room, watching her sleep.
Almost an hour went by before she started to wake up. She reached for her phone and started dialing. My phone in my hand lit up with her name. Her head shot up at hearing my ringtone for her and she gasped.
"Grayson?" Her voice came out in a whisper. I stood slowly and walked over to the bed, turning on the bedside lamp. She lowered her head, and I moved onto the bed next to her, gently grabbing her chin so she had to look at me. She shut her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. I noted the busted lip. The remnants of bruising around her left eye. The indentation of finger marks around her neck. My heart squeezed.
"Look at me."
Another tear fell.
"Look. At. Me."
She took a deep breath and finally opened her eyes. The same eyes that I swear, if anyone asked me, I fell in love with the first night I saw her. She gazed up at me with exhaustion and pain, but they still held love. She nodded yes to the unspoken question I didn't even need to ask her. Which was good. Because I was ready to kill someone.
“Carson Bradley Ross, who also went under the name of Carson Jenkins.”
I looked down at the thick file Jack just threw down on my desk.
“Arrested for child pornography in 2009, sentenced to three years but only served thirty days; owned a failed comic book store, and the most recent offense, arrested for prostitution.”
I looked through the file. “Child pornography? Sick fuck. Is that all?”
“Just getting started. We’ve also noticed there’s a few cases of identity theft that can be linked back to him. Misdemeanors, DUI’s; the list goes on and fucking on. He’s a fucking train wreck. When he was confronted with the child pornography, they didn’t have much on him. The evidence they did have vanished. Everything was gone. How’s that for a fucking mystery?”
“Like a professional hacker?”
“I don’t know, maybe. But if that’s the case, he could hack into anyone’s account and wire money, right? He told Emmalin he wanted money. So, I’m ruling out hacker. He’s just a desperate man that’s blackmailing her for money. But there’s got to be something else there.”
"You'll never believe this shit. He walked right in the fucking building."
We both looked up at Benny walking into the room. He was smiling, pointing to his laptop as he cleared off space on my already crowded desk. We peered over his screen. "The fucker walked right in the building. He had a fucking key, and walked right in her office after Hawkins left." I watched the security feed as Carson came right off the elevator, onto the 33rd floor, and inserted a key into Emmalin's office.
Not only did he have her key, but he had a key card to the 33rd floor. Only certain people had access to that floor. Fuck. He was definitely working with someone. Either that, or I now couldn't trust a single member of my staff.
"Whose card was ran that night?"
Benny grimaced. "That was the night communications to the servers were being swapped. We're lucky we were able to get this. This was just the backup."
"Fuck! Help me out here, Benny. I want everyone with access vetted immediately, and all cards confiscated." I checked my phone. I wasn't within distance for my phone to pick up whose card it was that checked in on the floor. Shit.
"I feel like we're going round and round in a loop, and no matter what, this fucker seems to be two steps ahead of us. Why the fuck is that? Give me answers, Benny; give me something I can work with, or find me someone who can."
After they both left, I sat staring at the folder. I know all I had to do was give the word and the piece of shit would be dead. But I couldn’t yet. Especially if he had accomplices we weren’t aware of yet. I needed to focus, but I was also ready to end this mess. I wanted to take Emmalin far away from here and start a new life with her. The sound of water running made me jump up, and I headed to the bedroom.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I reached past her and turned off the water to the shower. “You should be in bed. You’re supposed to be careful, especially since you had a concussion, Emmalin.” I started to guide her out of the bathroom, and she stopped me.
“I need a shower, Grayson. I can take a shower,” she pleaded.
I looked at her, eyes glistening with tears. Then my eyes trailed down to the marks on her neck, and I noticed how she kept the robe tightly around her, as if she was shielding her body from me.
I nodded. “Together. Okay?”
She reluctantly nodded as I reached in and turned the water back on, warming the temperature, then stripped all of my clothes off. I stood in front of her, completely bare, then took a step forward, grabbed the belt of her robe, and pulled the string.
Her arms clutched around her, as her eyes watered. “I don’t want you to see me like this,” she whispered.
My heart sagged as I kissed her temple. “You’re beautiful no matter what.” I wiped the tear that had fallen down her cheek. She was hesitant at first, and still tried to shield herself before finally giving in. I gently pushed the robe off her shoulders, and forced myself not to get angry upon seeing the bruise that was covering her rib cage. I grabbed her hand and led her into the shower; she shut her eyes at the warmth of the water cascading over her skin.
I let the steam engulf her and lightly traced my fingertips over her body. Even in the hot water, she shivered under my touch. I lightly traced over the bruise that was faint but still noticeable under her eye, and back down to her rib. It was too much. Too fucking much. Seeing her damaged and bruised but still standing before me, like a goddess, only proved that I wasn’t worthy of her.
I slid down to my knees and wrapped my arms around her waist and I started to shudder. “I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I failed you. Please forgive me.” I felt her fingers threading through my hair.
“Grayson, you didn’t fail me. All you’ve done is protect me. All of this is my fault. It’s my doing.”
“It’s my job to protect you in every way. As your Dominant, as your Sir, as your Master. That’s where I’ve failed you. I don’t deserve you,” I whispered against her.
“You’re all I have. You’re the best thing in my life, Grayson Ethan Mandrake.
I smiled at her using my full name. I squeezed my eyes tighter before opening them again. My head was right near her pussy and I inhaled. My favorite scent. The tip of her clit was peeking out. Taunting me. Teasing me. I wanted a taste. I needed a taste. Just a taste, I told myself. She needed to rest, I told myself. But I needed to satisfy my hunger.
I glided my tongue out onto her hidden bud, coaxing it, and she let out a sharp gasp, since I took her by surprise.
Just a taste.
I swiped over her clit again. She moaned. Fuck. Me. That moan drove me crazy. Fuck tasting. I wanted to devour her. I buried my face in her pussy, shoving my tongue in her opening, and fucking her unmercifully. Her knees began to quiver, and I slowly guided her to the shower bench, not taking my mouth off of her. She shouldn’t be on her feet anyway. I hooked one leg over my shoulder. I was so fucking hard, but this was about her.
“How many can you give me?” I bit the inside of her thigh, and she yelped. Her breathing was heavy as she looked down at me, wet hair framing her face.
She bit her bottom lip. “One?”
I arched an eyebrow before lightly tugging her clit between my teeth before sucking. “Try again.” I inserted two fingers and tugged, and she started to pulse around my fingers. I was a greedy, greedy man. I latched onto her clit. “I want three.”
She tried gripping the wall to get away, but I held her down. I started stroking my cock to relieve the pressure. I wanted to come bad, but not as bad as I wanted her to come in my mouth. I felt her getting close as I sucked harder. Her body tensed, and she screamed out. I didn’t want to bring her down. She still had one more to count for.
She tried pushing me away. “I can’t. No more.”
“I said three, baby. You can give me three. Just one more. We’ll go together.” By now, I was so fucking close it hurt, but I was still getting my three from her.
I bit down, and she screamed as her pussy clamped around my fingers. My balls tightened and I started coming, my ejaculation mixing in with the water. Fuck.
She collapsed forward, and I caught her easily as she lay on top of me. The water cascaded around us, my dick still semi-hard. After a few minutes, she raised her head up and looked at me, eyes gleaming. She placed a soft kiss against my lips. “I love you, Mr. Mandrake.”
I relished in washing over every inch of her, making sure to be gentle over her bruised ribs. I dried her thoroughly, not bothering with myself. I decided, from here on out, she was my number one priority.
“Are you in any pain?” I fluffed her pillows behind her as she tried to get comfortable, and she winced when she tried to turn on her side.
“Not really.”
I smirked. “Liar. I’ll grab a few pain meds and some food. I don’t like the fact that you’ve lost weight.”
After she ate, I tucked her into my side. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep from the medication.