Twenty-One
Stana
I feel the bed dip, and then I’m being pulled into his body. The smell of his cologne fills my nose, and I turn in his arms. “Where did you go?” I mumble sleepily.
“Don’t worry about it, love,” he responds quietly.
I feel the dread fill my belly with his answer. He went to confront Max, I just know it. “Jerick,” I whisper. My entire body goes cold with fear just thinking about what he did and or said to Max. My mind starts to race as I try to figure out what could have gone on between them. “What did you do?” The words barely fall from my mouth as I stare at him.
“He’s fine.” He kisses my forehead. I can hear the frustration in his voice, but I can’t help but be worried about Max. He’s been my friend longer than I’ve known Jerick and that still means something to me. “I told him to stay away from ye. I don’t want him near ye after what happened.” My body goes still in his arms, pulling back to look at him in the eyes. Is he serious right now?
“Told him not to talk to me?” I ask shocked. Why would he tell Max to stay away from me?
“After what happened today, I don’t want him near ye. Don’t stand up fer him now. He yelled at ye. He doesn’t care about ye. Ye could have gotten hurt or worse earlier. I won’t allow that.” He runs his fingers down the side of my jaw, and I see the warning in his eyes. He really doesn’t want Max near me.
“But –” He cuts me off and presses his mouth to mine. I don’t even get a chance to try and say something before he slips his tongue into my mouth, effectively silencing me. I don’t try to get a word out after the kiss he leaves me with. He gets back out of bed and makes his way towards the bathroom. When I go to ask what happened, he comes back into the room with a bag that I didn’t notice earlier.
He pulls something out and walks back over to the bed, sitting down back where he was laying. My eyes scan over him in the moonlight, but I can’t figure out what is in his hand or what he is doing. “I don’t want ye to go back to work there tomorrow,” he starts. I go to interrupt, but he puts his hand up in the air, silencing me for a second. When I can’t take it anymore, I say something.
“But it’s my job,” I state, sitting up in the bed.
“I don’t care Stana. I don’t want ye going tomorrow,” he grinds out. He reaches out a hand, and I move away from his reach.
“You’re not the boss of me,” I state firmly. “I have a job to do, and I will go back to work.” My voice is clipped and as bad as I feel about saying anything somewhat bossy to him, I don’t back down. I’ve let a man run my life before, and I won’t let him run my life now. It’s time I take control over something.
“Stana, it isn’t safe. I don’t know if Max, Ciaran, or yer ex is lurking around a damn corner waiting fer ye.” I pale at his words. He’s right, but I won’t let him know that.
“Ciaran?” I ask. I think that it was the name he said when I was on the phone with him earlier. The man that had held me against the door earlier today. The reason I ran into the street.
“Aye,” he answers, not giving me any more information than that.
“You need to tell me what is going on. What if he comes after me again? What am I supposed to do? I don’t even know what the threat is…” His eyes move to me, and he lets out a sigh.
“Ciaran is a lad from me past. We were never friends, but we worked together. He was part of the family business back in Belfast. When the family was having problems due to me brother Liam, Ciaran and I were the ones who took a brunt of the heat. Liam told the Divil that Ciaran and I were the reason that he was missing half a million in drugs.” He pauses, and I frown at the word Divil.
“Divil? Like Satan?” I’m sure with the look on my face, he’s thinking twice about telling me stuff.
“Aye. Similar. Only he’s a real man. A man that controlled a majority of the drug trade in Belfast. We did our part with the pussy and the guns, while the Divil did his dealings in drugs.” He pauses and runs his hand down the side of his jaw before continuing, still fiddling with something in his hands. “Me brother Liam decided that we as a family needed to get into the drug business as well. He struck a deal with the Divil and got us in the coke business, something that we always swore off. Me and Da never wanted to get into drugs. They are messy. Yer dealers get addicted to their product and then always end up using it all and not selling a damn ounce of it.”
My eyes widen at his honesty. I guess I expected him to lie to me about this, but he is really giving me the truth like he said he would.
“Me brother was the dealer. He got addicted. He snorted up most of the supply and only sold maybe an eighth of what he got. We were in debt a little less than half a million, and we didn’t have the cash to pay the Divil off. Instead of Liam owning up to his shit, he took off leaving Ciaran and me to deal with the fallout. One night they pulled us off the street and took us to see the Divil himself.”
He looks down and blows out a breath before he continues.
“We were tortured until someone gave up the information fer where me brother was hiding, but neither of us did. I kept me mouth closed because like it or not, he’s still me brother. I wouldn’t rat him out no matter what they did to us. Ciaran didn’t agree. He didn’t want to take the torture that wasn’t meant fer him. I can’t blame him. He was just a foot soldier, nothing more. He didn’t know the shit I knew. Ever since then, he’s hated Liam and me.”
I scoot closer to Jerick and put my head on his shoulder, not saying anything. I don’t even know what to say. How do you say something to what they went through? I couldn’t imagine if I had a sibling that did that to me.
“He could be the reason that Liam is here. I won’t know until he comes to find me.” His expression hardens, and he rests his cheek against the top on my head. “He now knows that he can hurt me by getting ye. I don’t want to risk ye, love. I can’t,” he murmurs quietly.
After a few moments of silence, he moves out from under me and turns to face me. My eyes scan over him, and I can’t for the life of me figure out what he’s doing. His hands are still messing with whatever is in them as he stares at me. His eyes burn in me, and I can’t bring myself to look away. Every dream of happiness I’ve ever had reminds me of him.
Growing up, I always thought that I would find my prince and we would ride off into the sunset together. I thought that we would never have a problem between us. We would be perfect. Although my prince was never really there, I finally feel like I’ve found one person I could love my whole life, even if it meant me loving him only.
He reaches out and grabs the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him. I go willingly, moving to where he wants me. “Meeting ye was never part of me plan. Ye came in and blew everything I care about out of me mind, and ye took hold of every part of me. I want ye to wear this.” He reaches forward and puts a necklace around my neck.
As he pulls away, my hand goes to my neck, and I run my fingers along the delicate silver chain. Looking down, I see a beautiful pendant that looks way more expensive than anything I’ve ever owned before. The diamonds on it shine like you wouldn’t believe and the jewel in the middle is vast and beautiful.
“When I said he could hurt me by using ye, I meant it. I will kill fer ye.” I suck in a breath at his declaration. I’ve never had someone tell me something like that, and as much as it makes me nervous, it excites me as well.
Leaning forward, I press my lips against his and kiss him. I typically don’t initiate kisses and sex, but this time I can’t stop myself. The emotion in his voice was raw with his declaration, and I know it came from the heart. He meant every word he said. Climbing into his lap, I press my body into his, kissing him deeply. His hands slide up my back, they make their way towards my hair, tangling his fingers into the strands.
Grinding down on him as I kiss him, I feel his erection start to stiffen in his boxer briefs. He moves us on the bed and picks me up and puts me on my back in the center of the bed. He slides between my thighs and rubs against my core. My eyes close and I have to grip the blankets. I moan out from the sensations that are currently taking over every thought process.
Before we can get any further, someone starts to bang on my front door. Both of us go completely still at the sound, and I hear Jerick mutter something under his breath that I don’t catch.
He gets off the bed quickly and pulls on a pair of jeans that he must have taken off when he got back. I’m afraid to move from the bed, so I don’t move from my spot. Staying rooted is the best plan, or so I think.
“What the feck are ye doing here?” He grits out. I try to peek my head around the door jamb, but I can’t see from that angle. The woman’s voice isn’t one I recognize, so I get up and amble to the door. When I look towards the door, I see a woman standing there staring at Jerick. She’s batting her eyes at him, but I can’t hear what she’s telling him. “I suggest ye get the feck away from here and not come back.” He says in a low growl. “And tell that fecker that if he wants to talk, he has me number.”
A chill runs down my spine as I think about that. Could his brother or that Ciaran guy be the reason that girl is here? Shit, does that mean they know where I live? I look down at the ground for a few minutes before I look back up and see her putting her hands on his chest. Jealously comes over me and I start to walk towards them. She doesn’t even bother to look at me when I get closer to them. She just grins at him and runs her hand down lower towards his pants.
Before she can hit her target, I grab her hand from behind him and twist her wrist. Her eyes flash in anger, and I give her a dirty look. “I’m pretty sure he told you to leave, so why don’t you take your skanky ass somewhere else and stop touching my man.” I release her wrist, and she takes a step back. Her eyes narrow and she turns to leave without another word. Before Jerick can shut the door, she comes back and launches herself at me, but he catches her before she can touch me.
“Ye stupid little bitch. Ye have no clue who he is. He isn’t the white knight ye think he is. He’ll sell ye out to make his family happy. Yer just a toy fer him to play with until he comes back home to the people in his family.“ He grabs her by the throat and puts his mouth to her ear, whispering something to her before her eyes widen slightly and she pulls back from him.
He releases her and she stumbles back slightly before he slams the door shut and turns the locks. When he turns to face me, I don’t know what to say or do. She’s probably right about him only seeing me as a toy for him to play with, but he wouldn’t have given me the necklace if he thought that, would he? My hand goes to my neck, and I run my fingers along the chain as I look at the ground.
“Love,” he says coming closer to me. My eyes rise up to meet his, and I see the anger that is still lingering in them. Whatever reason she was here, it pissed him off more than normal. “She has no idea what the feck she’s talking about. I’m not using ye.” He reaches out and cups my cheek. Each step closer he takes, I feel myself start to believe him.
Closing my eyes, I try to get my jealous emotions under control. His hand moves to the back of my neck, and he pulls my mouth to his. He kisses me lightly, and I forget about everything that doesn’t matter right now. I focus solely on the feel of his lips on mine and the need to have him that is still lingering before the interruption.