CROW (Boston Underworld Book 1) (23 page)

I clear my throat and give him a shaky smile as I retreat back into my shell. “So what’s on the agenda for today?”

“Today.” His face darkens. “Ye’re coming back to the club with me. Where I can keep an eye on ye.”

***

Turns out the little stunt I pulled with Conor actually worked out in my favor. Since Lachlan had to send Ronan off on some sort of mission, there isn’t anyone else he trusts to leave alone with me.

So tonight I’m back at the club, doing inventory. I highly suspect Lachlan could give two shits about how much stock he has, but it’s something to keep me busy. I’m not going to complain, because it puts me exactly where I need to be. I can keep an eye on the Russians, and Donny too. Now that Sasha has told me he was hanging around Talia, I have something else to go on besides just my dislike of the guy.

The problem is, he’s not anywhere to be found tonight. And surprisingly, I haven’t actually seen him at the club a whole lot since I’ve been here. I suspect he only stops by out of necessity or when it suits him, which means I need eyes on him elsewhere. That could present a problem since I know Lachlan’s going to be watching me like a hawk now.

Halfway through my shift, I decide to go check on Sasha. I feel bad with how I left things last time, and I want to make sure she’s alright. But when I wander into the dressing room and find her with a split lip and a bruise around her neck, I see red.

“What the hell happened to you, Sash?” I demand.

Her eyes dart around the room before she glances back at me pleadingly. I slam my lips together and gesture down the hall, away from the prying ears. Once we’re at a safe distance, I cross my arms and rake my eyes over her body. She’s practically shaking with fear, and it pisses me the hell off. Trying for a gentler tone, I ask her again.

“Did Donny do this to you?”

She bites her lip and stares at the floor. Answer enough. Jesus, where the hell is Ronan when you need him?

“Let me tell Lachlan,” I plead with her. “He’ll put a stop to this once and for all, Sash.”

The venom that spews from her mouth when she laughs shocks me. “No he fucking won’t,” she snaps. “You don’t get how things work, Mack. Donny is one of their own. We’re the outsiders here. Lachlan won’t say or do anything that will make it any better.”

“I don’t believe that,” I say weakly.

She gives me a pitiful expression and shakes her head. “Well then I feel sorry for you. You’re going to have to learn the hard way.”

I wring my hands together and try to think of something that will fix this mess. Apart from me kicking his ass again, I don’t see a whole lot of other options.

“Let me talk to him then,” I suggest.

Sasha shakes her head, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “No, Mack. Just leave it alone. He’ll get bored with me eventually.”

“That’s not good enough,” I argue. “I’m not going to stand by and watch you…”

“You have to,” she hisses.

Her lip wobbles and then her eyes start leaking tears, and I have one of those moments where I’m reminded that I’m an awful human being. Because I don’t know how to comfort her right now. Every time I ever cried, my dad told me to knock it off. Somehow I don’t think that approach will comfort Sasha.

“I’m sorry, Sash.”

“I’m scared,” she admits. “He scares the hell out of me. He knows where I live, what my schedule’s like… he even knows about my sick mom. He’s said some things. Some really bad things. And I don’t know what he’ll do if I don’t give him what he wants.”

Suddenly, it isn’t Sasha I’m looking at anymore. It’s Talia. My stomach churns as I wonder if this was the same thing she felt. Like she was trapped in an impossible situation, and she didn’t know who to turn to. She would never come to me with it because she knew I’d take them all on myself. That was her weakness. Talia was soft hearted, but she was fiercely protective of those she loved too. It only strengthens my determination. I’m not going to let Donny get away with this shit anymore.

“Listen, Sash,” I say. “I’m going to handle this, okay? I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”

She blinks up at me with clear blue eyes and stares at me in confusion. The exhaustion on her face is almost too much. The stress has been taking a toll on her body, and she looks thin. Her cheekbones are too prominent, the dark circles under her eyes too obvious. Her mother is dying, and on top of that she has some psycho trying to use and abuse her every chance he gets. I want to wring his fucking neck.

“Why?” she asks. “It’s got nothing to do with you.”

“Because that’s what friends do,” I tell her. “And I’m your friend.”

“Okay.” Her body sags in relief. “I guess I don’t really have any other choice.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Mackenzie

L
ater that night, I’m in the stock room finishing up my inventory when someone grabs me from behind and covers my mouth. On instinct I try to throw my head back into his face, but when he grips me by the hair and I get a whiff of his cologne, I relax.

“Ye’re a deadly wee thing, aren’t ye butterfly?”

He moves his mouth over my ear to nibble on it, and I keep my lips zipped as my body melts against him. Hot kisses press against the sensitive flesh of my neck as his hand snakes lower and cups the thong beneath my dress.

“Who does this belong to, sweetheart?” he asks in a rough voice.

His erection is already poking into my back, and there’s some feral part of me that loves that he sought me out just to do this.

“It’s yours, Lach.”

He groans and bites at the back of my neck while he starts to gather the material of my dress around my waist. He’s rubbing his hard cock against my ass like a weapon.

“You caused this,” he tells me. “I haven’t been able to think straight all night. Now ye’re going to fix it.”

“Okay,” I agree.

“Bend forward and put your hands against the shelf.”

I do as he orders because... I just really want to. Rough fingers shove my thong aside a moment before the sound of his zipper fills the small space.

“I don’t have time for sweet tonight.” He slides his thick cock between my thighs. “I’m going to fuck ye hard and fast and stuff ye full of my come before I have to leave.”

I make a noise in my throat. Jesus, why does that sound so hot?

Lachlan grabs my hips and sinks into me, and he was right about one thing. It’s definitely not sweet and gentle. The bottles of alcohol rattle on the shelf as he slaps his hips against my ass, his balls bouncing against me as he pushes deeper and deeper. He’s groaning, his hands simultaneously squeezing the flesh of my ass and one of my tits.

“Ye know what I love about you, Mack?” he grunts out. “I love that ye’re such a cocky little bitch, and yet ye let me toss you around like this. It fucking turns me on to no end.”

I don’t even try to deny it. I’m too busy trying to hold myself upright from the power of his thrusts and the electric energy humming through my body. He makes me feel like a princess and a dirty little slut.

“Tell me ye like it,” he demands.

“I like it.”

And I do. So sue me.

“Tell me ye like me using you like a little slut. Bending ye over and shagging ye wherever I want because I fucking own you.”

“Ugg…” I groan. “Fuck you, asshole.”

I can practically feel his smile beaming down into my back. Apparently my back talk turns him on just as much as my agreeability because he’s fucking me like a lunatic now. I have no more wits left when his hard fingers dig into my hips and he chokes out his release.

I’m panting, sweaty and can feel his come leaking down between my thighs when he pulls out. I still haven’t come, but I’m so fricken’ close. I half expect him to just zip up and leave, but instead, he turns me in his arms and pins me up against the shelf.

His lips find mine in a much gentler fashion than the way he just fucked me while his fingers go to where I need them. I close my eyes and my head falls back as he takes care of me. It’s intimate, having him so close, breathing my air… being so vulnerable to him, but it doesn’t bother me right now. I know he’s watching my every tick, my every breath, and every tortured sound pouring from my lips. He swallows them all and then gives something else back to me when he kisses me.

He sends me flying over the edge with only a full minute of effort before I collapse against him.

“Have I worn ye out, love?”

When I blink open my eyes, there’s a satisfied smirk on his face. “Yes,” I answer.

“Grand,” he murmurs against my lips. “Ye know I’ll murder anyone else who touches you, Mack. Just remember that.”

He’s not saying these things for show. I really think he would kill someone who tried to touch me. I wrap my arms around him and stroke the back of his neck as I stare up at him earnestly. “I would never do that to you.”

He nods, but doesn’t look convinced. Can’t say that I blame him after last night.

“I have to head on,” he says. “I won’t be in until late, but Ronan’s on his way back here now to take ye home.”

Home. As in his place. How comfortable he is with dropping that word. In another lifetime, I imagine what it would have been like for me to meet Lachlan. If Talia were still here, and she wasn’t the reason I was doing this, could I be with a man like him? Be the little woman to a mobster? I don’t know, but a part of me strongly suspects that I wouldn’t be able to help myself.

Lach brushes his lips against mine one last time and straightens his clothes before he walks towards the door. He gives me one last glance and a wink.

“Be good, butterfly.”

“I will,” I reassure him.

He turns again, but something else slips out of my lips. Something crazy.

“Lach?”

“Aye, sweetheart?”

“Be careful.”

This earns me a boyish smile. And fuck me if I’m not grinning right back at the goofy bastard.

***

When the door opens again, I figure it’s Ronan, so I finish up counting the bottles before I spin around. But when I notice Sean standing there, his eyes on my body, my stomach rolls. Is this why Lachlan came and fucked me earlier? Because he knew one of his men would try to corner me like this?

“Hello there.” Sean winks. “I didn’t know you were in here.”

Yeah, sure you didn’t. Asshole. I smile sweetly and shrug. “It’s okay. I was just about to leave anyway. Ronan’s taking me home.”

I hope this will make him back down, but not so.

“You’re sure a pretty little thing, aren’t you?”

“Thanks,” I say tightly.

I try to move past him and reach for the door, but he grabs me by the arm and holds me in place.

“What’s the rush?” he asks.

“I told you, Ronan’s waiting for me.”

“Last I checked Ronan does as I tell him,” he replies. “He can wait a little longer.”

If he were anybody else, I’d have punched his lights out by now. But this is Niall’s son. And I’m in a very precarious position. Sean full well knows it too. I doubt there are many women who have the balls to stand up to him, knowing what he can do to them.

“I can see why Crow likes you,” he says. “Why don’t you stick around and have a drink with me.”

“I’d love to,” I try to keep my tone even and patient. “But it’s been a long day, and I’m really tired. How about a rain check?”

His eyes narrow, and his grip tightens around my arm. A little bit of panic wells up inside of me. I don’t want to hurt him, but no way am I going to let him touch me. I know I should be agreeing to his request. Asking him questions, trying to get the information I need. That was my original plan. But that was before I started focusing on Donny. Now I want to stay as far away from Sean as I can help.

“Let me rephrase that,” Sean says in a tone that brooks no argument. “You’re bedding one of our men at a time when the syndicate is vulnerable. And I don’t trust him to vet someone he’s putting his cock in. So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to have a drink together, and you’re going to answer my questions. Understand?”

Fucking prick. I nod and yank my arm away. “Of course.”

The door opens, and Ronan lurks in the frame, his eyes filled with accusation when he catches me standing with Sean in the small space.

“Ah, perfect timing,” Sean says. “Ronan, fetch us a couple drinks, will ya?”

I shoot Ronan a glare right back, letting him know this is not my doing. He presses his lips together and leaves without a word, of course.

“Come, sit down.” Sean points at the table and chairs in the back corner.

I follow him obediently when all I really want to do is punch him in the kidney. I pull my chair out of arm’s reach of his and sit down, and his eyes spark with annoyance as he watches me. Ronan appears a moment later, two glasses of some kind of whiskey on hand. I take mine and throw it back in one shot, not even caring what it is.

“You can leave now,” Sean barks at Ronan.

He’s still standing beside me, almost protectively, his hesitation obvious. I glance up at him and smile, letting him know I’ve got this. Sean might be Niall’s son, and he might be intimidating to everybody else, but he has another thing coming if he thinks he’s getting his mitts on me.