She gave and I took. With each passing second, she softened under my touch. My hands roamed, taking in every sensuous curve. The back of her shirt was wet from her hair as it air dried from her shower. Easily, she allowed me to remove it. When my lips hit hers again, her tongue invaded my mouth. I pulled back. She moaned.

I crashed my mouth to hers once again. Biting at her bottom lip, she whimpered. Again, she gave and I took.

Lifting her leg, I wrapped it around my waist. Sliding my hand down the back of her pants and panties, I gripped her ass and rocked her core against my thick, hard cock. I wanted her to feel me, every fucking inch of me.

“Paxton,” she panted, with her hands grabbing the back of my head to keep me to her. Dropping my head to her neck, I licked, sucked, and nipped at her sensitive flesh as my fingers found their way under the globes of her ass to the folds of her pussy.

Stroking, I teased. Her body enticed me further as my digits became saturated in her juices. Sliding inside her heat, her walls clamped around my fingers as I worked her up.

Her breaths came quicker and quicker. She was right there. I was ready to bust a nut in my pants. I could push us both over the edge… easily. It was there, seconds away.

Harshly, I removed my fingers and backed away from her. Her face froze in shock with her cheeks rosy in desire, flushed from her body heating. It was sexy as fuck.

I shook my head at her. “In this game, Laurel, you won’t be playing me. When you submit, it will be completely to me. Genuine. Real. Your submission will be freely obtained and earned by me. Until then, we’ll both remain on the edge.” Her eyes blazed with fury and lust at my torment.

“Fuck you!” she spat out at me angrily.

I loved the challenge. I wanted her to fight me, fight the pull, fight what was meant to be. Because when it finally happened I knew it would be for the long haul. There would be no turning back. She would come to me. But it wouldn’t be like this. It wouldn’t be as a power play. She didn’t seem to realize she was with me and against me at the same time. We were battling a war of the mind, body, and mostly the heart. I was a power player who would always come out the winner in every game I played including this one with her.

“Give in to having it all with me, and I’ll gladly fuck you and give you more orgasms than your mind can comprehend,” I told her honestly.

“Not happenin’. You took my life from me, my money, my world.”

“No, Laurel. I took your money. You showed up with a gun. You’re still breathin’, so you’re alive,” I corrected. I raised my hands to show her. “You feel, you touch, you see, you know you’re alive. I took your money. As for your world, angel, your world is my world and it’s here for you to take. You reacted with heat, passion, fire with that gun, but you didn’t pull the trigger. Give in to us, and you can have it all.”

“What the hell did you expect me to do?”

I laughed, “Beg.”

She gasped, “You’re out of your damn mind if you think I would ever beg you for my money back. It is mine. You never should have had access in the first place.”

“If it’s yours, it’s mine because I told you—you’re mine.”

“You infuriate me!”

I laughed at her frustration, but didn’t reply.

Walking away from her, I went to the bathroom to take an extremely cold shower. When I came out, I ignored her as I left the room needing to check in on a few things. She refused to look at me. It was only a matter of time until she gave in to what I knew.

Garrett answered my call on the second ring. “You find Riley?”

“Yeah, and, man, you should know he’s pissed Laurel can’t be found.”

I laughed.

“Not something I think he finds funny, Pax. You sure you know what you’re getting into?”

I lit my cigarette and took a long drag. “I’m always two steps ahead.”

“Every time Laurel has ever been involved you lose sight of the next play, Pax. So again, I’ll be the one to say it—you sure you know what the fuck you’re doing?” Garrett always had the balls to take me on and call it like he saw it. It was only because he actually gave a shit.

“I’ve squared everything away. No one goes down but me. So stop being a mother hen, Garrett.”

To this he laughed. “I’m far from a mother anything other than maybe a motherfucker. I don’t want anyone to go down in this, including you.”

“Well, motherfucker, I got my shit handled,” I told him lightheartedly. I had everything under control. When it all was over, we could sit back, drink a beer, and call it another memory. Until then, I had to remain focused on the big picture. It wasn’t simply about Laurel. This was business too.

We ended the call, and I took a long drag off my cigarette. For once, though, I had to get real. I wasn’t so sure I was truly two steps ahead of the game. When Laurel was involved my head got fuzzy. She was my greatest distraction from the beginning. Garrett was right about that.

She moved to Lancaster our freshman year of high school. She walked in to first period lost. She was in the wrong class. I could see the tears building behind her eyes, but she pushed back the emotions. I offered to walk her to class.

She declined.

She always wanted to take care of herself and depend on no one.

Laurel had always been a challenge. Everything she ever did was on her own. It turned me on. She always had my attention even when I knew I needed to let her go. That was then and this was now. I would do anything necessary to keep her with me. And yes, that included taking her money to force her to come to me.

My phone rang. The caller ID showed Private number. I knew who was on the other end even without the number revealed.

“Speak,” I barked into the phone, answering the call.

“Where’s my sister?” Riley asked, not hiding his panicked state.

I put the cigarette to my mouth. Pressing my lips around the filter, I sucked in. The smoke filled my lungs. I loved the feel of the deep inhale. On the exhale, I let myself absorb the burn.

“Paxton, fuckin’ answer me.”

“Don’t have shit to say to you, Riley. You know what you did and why she had to be removed. Callin’ me, well that doesn’t fix the problem does it?” I didn’t wait for him to reply as I continued, “You know what you need to do. You know who you need to be calling, and it ain’t fuckin’ me or your fairy godmother.” Without giving him more of my time, I clicked the phone off.

Immediately, I dialed the person I knew could find what I needed to know now. If Riley found me, it meant the time had come to find him easily. This made my job go smoother.

“Fuck, suck that cock,” Dane clipped out as he answered the call. “Hello.”

“Is this a bad time?” I laughed, realizing I caught Dane in the midst of something he obviously didn’t want interrupted since he didn’t push whoever was with him off.

“For you, never.” He muffled the phone but only slightly. “Keep goin’, I didn’t say stop. This is business. I can multitask.”

“Riley Conrad just called me from a blocked number. How soon can you get me the number?”

“If Macy would give a little teeth and a few deep throats, I could finish here and get it to ya within an hour. Right now, she’s still in her post-orgasm euphoria from ridin’ my face, so I’m gonna have to fuck her to find my release because her mouth ain’t doin’ it,” he said frankly.

I gave a little chuckle knowing he was serious. “Get me everything you can on the number and address associated with the phone.” I tossed my cigarette butt to the ground.

“If he’s smart, he’s usin’ a burner and we’ll have no address.”

I thought for a moment. “Riley’s in too deep. He won’t think to use a burner. And he’s not the one who brought the attention to their family. He’s graspin’ at straws. No, I doubt seriously he snagged a burner.”

At least that’s what I was banking on. Dane ended the call, and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind I would have all the information he could gather within the hour. This was what he did, find people and handle whatever situation arose for us.

Listening to Dane and this Macy woman through the phone had me imagining having Laurel’s mouth wrapped around my cock. I couldn’t wait to feel her choke down my rock hard dick.

First, I had to sort out where her brother was and how deep things went. Laurel didn’t have a clue, and I planned to keep it that way. I wanted her mind on me, my body, and what we could have together.

All in due time, I told myself. All in due fucking time.