DAMIEN

 

 

I jerked back, her revelation stabbing and slicing me all over. I would be nothing after she was finished with me, living in a nightmare of my own sins.

The loud, booming voice from one of the men called out, “You’re late,” as if his voice was muffled through a tunnel.

I was there, but I wasn’t.

Swallowing hard, choking back the tears from happiness, sorrow, and pure desperation from seeing her again. My heart pounded while my mind was raging war with itself. Her face consuming me and punishing me all at the same time. All twelve years we spent apart came crashing down on me. The truth was too much for me to take.

She was alive.

She was there with me.

Except, now she was a ring leader in my dark and fucked-up world.

The world she never belonged in.

The world I desperately tried to protect her from.

The. World. I. Left. Her. For…

Amira walked into the meeting filled with only men as if she owned the degenerate and depraved space. Portraying a woman, I no longer recognized. No longer the little girl I once knew standing in front of me, but the breathtakingly, stunning woman she’d turned into.

Very much alive and fucking breathing.

My sweet, innocent Muñeca really had died, and in her place stood a confident and sophisticated woman dressed to impress. Wearing a tight white dress that stopped just below her knees, accentuating every curve of her body. Her luscious ass, her narrow hips, and her ample breasts, popping at the seams. Sporting diamond earrings, a diamond bracelet, a solitaire diamond necklace, and a Cartier watch. With an oversized designer bag tucked in the nook of her arm. Topping off her outfit with red, sky-high fuck me heels.

Never had I ever seen her look this goddamn sexy, in such a torturous and alluring way.

“I was just reapplying my lipstick,” she teased through her pouty, bright red lips. Striding over to Felix’s seat.

Purposely swaying her hips with each step she took, knowing exactly what every man in the room was thinking. How badly they wanted to fuck her, only fueling the fire inside of me. Amira used her sexuality to get what she wanted, and I silently prayed to God for the first time in I don’t know how long, she didn’t use her pussy in the same way.

We had yet to lock eyes with each other, but mine never wavered from her hypnotic stare. Her big brown eyes were covered with more makeup than I’d ever seen on her before. They always showed me how she was feeling. What she wanted, needed, and couldn’t live without.

Me.

Holding me captive with each flutter of her long lashes. With each breath she took, the way she pursed her lips, how her high cheekbones beamed with each movement of her steps. She was a fucking goddess.

An angel.

Making me realize this was what Hell looked like.

I knew she felt me. It was just the way it had always been between us. Nothing…

Not years.

Not lies.

Not my sins.

Nor truths.

Could ever change that. 

Our connection was alive and thriving all around us, especially in our goddamn souls.

As soon as she stood beside Felix, she eye-fucked the shit out of him, seductively smiling till the motherfucker actually got up. Offering his chair to allow her to sit at the head of the table. I resisted the urge to strangle him within an inch of his life, just imagining they may have been intimate. Feeding into another one of my worst fears.

Amira sat down, placed her bag next to her, crossed her legs, and leaned back into the chair. I counted down the minutes, seconds, moments until she’d look around the room.

Until she’d lock eyes with me. 

It felt like fucking forever had passed, waiting there for her. Contemplating she must have felt the same way when it came to me all those years ago. Constantly waiting for me to get my shit together and make my way back to her. Where I always belonged. So many questions raced through my mind, one right after the other with no end in sight. I couldn’t believe she was here, with me.

In the States.

In Detroit. 

In this fucking meeting of all places.

Life really was this cruel, conniving bastard.

I needed answers, and I wasn’t going to stop until she answered each one of them to my satisfaction. My heart was racing, my head throbbing. I was surprised I could still fucking see straight. All I wanted to do was pull out my gun, and put a bullet in between every man’s eyes for the way they were still looking at her. Consequences be damned.

Love taught you.

Love changed you.

It could bring out the best and the worst in you.

Because above all else, I knew right then and there love could fucking destroy you.

She finally peered around the room, ignoring me entirely like she didn’t know who I was. When in fact, she was the only one who ever did.

“As I was saying, I’m Amira,” she introduced herself to us again as if I didn’t already know every last thing about her. Especially how to make her scream out my name and come on my cock.

I was going to lose my shit if she didn’t acknowledge me soon.

With her eyes.

Her smile.

Something…

Anything…

Other than whatever the hell she was giving me. Which was not a goddamn thing.

“Do you know her, Damien?” Vinny instigated, feeling my heated composure from where he sat.

Immediately making her eyes lock with mine.

“You’re looking at her like you do,” he added, wanting to fuck with me again. 

I cunningly grinned. “You could say that. You could also say so much more.”

Never taking her eyes off mine, she mirrored my expression. Giving it right back to me. “I'm sorry I didn't catch your name. I meet so many men, all your dicks… I mean faces blur together.” She maliciously smiled, proud as fuck of herself. Thinking she put me in my place.

I spoke with conviction, “Well then, I’ll make sure to show you my cock again, just so we’re clear on who you belong to.”

“I belong to no one,” she sternly countered.

Making me grit out, “You belong to me.”

She chuckled, breaking our connection to look at them. When in reality she was trying to shove away the sexual tension and the animosity I knew she still had for me. “Gentlemen, please excuse this man who obviously must have me mistaken for someone else.”

“You’re the only one who’s mistaken, but don’t you worry. I have the rest of our lives to remind you of who you truly are, Muñeca.”

She glared at me, instantly blinking it away. It wasn’t from what I said, it was from what I called her.

Her demeanor quickly changed from luscious vixen to cutthroat business woman when she announced, “I’m not here to fulfill this man’s boyish fantasies. I’m here to talk business, so let’s get down to it. My cocaine is produced for three thousand a kilo, and it can be sold for up to forty thousand on the street. I won’t settle for anything less than sixty thousand tonight. I’m not here to make connections, I don’t give two shits about what you can offer me in terms of business. I’ve built my empire on my own, and I plan to keep it that way. I’m here to make money. Let’s hear it, someone make me an offer I can’t fucking refuse, or you’re just wasting my precious time.”

“Sixty thousand?” Vinny uttered in disbelief. “Are you out of your mind? This is why you never let a woman into a man’s world. They’re all greedy cunts trying to take a man for everything they’re worth.”

She laughed even though there wasn’t anything fucking funny about the situation. Cocking an eyebrow, challenging him. “I’m not here for you to whisper sweet nothings in my ear. I have real men to do that for me.”

I took a deep breath, willing my emotions in check, but she wasn’t making it easy on me by any means. I wanted to make this motherfucker swallow his dick for speaking to her like that.

“The only way I’ll settle for sixty thousand is if it includes your pussy and your mouth wrapped around my cock. I want to come on your pretty fucking face.”

I watched it happen with stone cold eyes as she hiked up her tight dress, immediately pulling out her Glock strapped to her inner thigh.

“AMIRA, NO!”

She didn’t falter, pulling the trigger and laying him the hell out. In two seconds flat, everyone had their guns out, including me as I forcefully kicked over the wooden table. Using it as a shield before tackling her to the ground. Covering her with my body.

“Get the fuck off me!” she seethed, thrashing around beneath me. “I don’t need you to save me, Damien! I can handle my own!”

“Handle your own? Yeah, you handled it right by trying to get us fucking killed!”

Shot after shot rang out around us, it was every man for himself. We returned fire in the direction the bullets were flying, from our position on the floor.

“You follow me and let me cover you! Do you understand? Or we’re not getting out of here alive!”

“Fuck you! Now, get off me!”

I growled, gripping onto her arm and dragging her ass up with me. She reached and got ahold of her bag as I grabbed one of the men nearby who was already dead on the floor, using his body as a shield as we hauled ass toward the door. Opening fire on anyone who stood in our way. Ready to kill without a moment’s notice. Acting on pure adrenaline and fury from what she started, pissed as fuck she was there with me of all places. Bullets sprayed throughout the entire space. Destroying everything in its wake. Casings busted through the windows, ricocheting off the metal. Shattering glass everywhere, causing shards to lodge into my skin.

An all-out war had broken out.

All because of the woman I’d fucking die for behind me.

It was only a matter of time until their guards and men showed up to see who would be the last man standing.

“Damien, let go of me!” she shouted when we were out of the warehouse.

I pulled her away much harder than I intended, unable to manage my own strength. Needing to get us the hell out of there, fully aware it wouldn’t stop here. This was only the beginning. She tried to keep up with my stride as I rushed us over to my car. The clicking sound of her heels vibrated deep within my core with each step she took. One by one it added to all the chaos erupting in my mind.

“You’re going too fast,” she pleaded, as I quickly descended upon my car. “You’re going to make me break my ankle, Damien!”

“Then maybe next time you’ll think twice about wearing fuck me heels to a meeting with men. You need to portray yourself as a drug lord and not a piece of ass they’d want to take home for the night!”

She forcefully yanked her arm away from my hold, spewing, “I am the fucking drug lord and maybe I wanted to be someone’s piece of ass to take home for the night! Don’t get it twisted, just because I don’t have a dick doesn’t mean I don’t like to fuck, Damien. You taught me that.”

The last statement triggered me to whip around and get right up in her face. “Not here! Do you understand me? Not. Fucking. Here. Not. Fucking. Now,” I gritted through a clenched jaw. Once again gripping onto her wrist, dragging her to my car. I pulled out the keys, unlocking it, and opened the passenger side door for her. “Get in!”

We only had a few seconds before men would be back on our asses, trying to take us out.

“I’m not going anywhere with you! Just leave me here! It’s what you’re good at! I’ll call my—”

The menacing expression on my face was enough to render her speechless. “Get in the car or I will throw your ass in. Either way you’re coming with me.”

She glared at me, knowing she wouldn’t win a physical power struggle against me. “Fine. I’m driving.” She snatched the keys out of my hand. Confidently striding her way over to the driver’s side with a certain swagger that made me want to fuck her and strangle her, all at the same time.

No one knew how to test my very thin patience like Amira.

“Do you even know how to drive a stick?”

“Yeah,” she snidely stated. “Especially in fuck me heels.”

I never thought I would see her again and this wasn’t what I pictured if I did, which had me questioning all my beliefs.

Specifically, in God.