Execution Style (18 page)

In fact, once he made it out of the police station, he walked five doors down, and threw the door open to a blacked out door with plate glass windows surrounding the doorframe.

The first thing to hit me was the smell of alcohol and old wood.

The second thing was the way the low red lights made Miller look like he was a super alien. A super, pissed off, muscular alien bent on revenge, ready to conquer earth to avenge the honor of his woman.

Okay, I was over exaggerating, but I was also panicking.

His parents were sitting at the bar, his father on serving side and his mother on a stool at the very end.

“We need to talk,” Miller growled to the two.

I immediately let go of Miller’s neck, but he caught me with both hands firmly planted on my ass, keeping me in place as he walked closer and closer to his stunned parents.

I ducked my head, and prayed that it’d be over soon.

Miller

“Honey,” my mother said as she glanced across the room at Mercy, who happened to be playing with the jukebox, pointing out which songs she liked to Foster and Trance. “I never meant what I said to be hurtful. I was just curious.”

I put both of my hands to my forehead, and rubbed vigorously with the heels of my hands. “If I’m happy, you should be happy for me. None of your opinions matter here. She’s mine and I’m hers. Nothing you can say or do will change that.”

My mother looked down at her hands. “That was never my intention with my concern for you. I was upset that it came on so sudden. There was never any other reason for it other than hearing that she was pregnant, which made me curious. I’m happy for you. I’m happy for her. She seems like a very nice young lady.”

I sighed. “I know, mom. Just…give her a chance. And you probably should
go apologize.”

“Nobody has time for that, son. We have to be at the reunion in less than an hour,” my father tried to intervene.

“No, Micah. It’s okay. I’ll go talk to her, and you can go get dressed with your brothers,” my mother said, standing and making her way to Mercy.

Once she got there, she sent Trance and Foster to us before sequestering Mercy into the very corner of my father’s bar.

“Your mother made us shirts,” Foster said once he got to within speaking distance.

I grimaced. “What do they say, dad?”

My father didn’t bother to hold back his disgust. “Just don’t read it, and you won’t know how bad it is.”

My eyes studied Mercy’s face, making sure my mom wasn’t saying anything that upset her before I headed to the back room of the bar where my mom was storing our shirts.

The first thing I saw when I arrived in there was neon yellow.

The second thing I saw was the saying and I nearly turned around and left.

I would’ve, too, had my father not stopped me from moving more than an inch.

My father was nearly the same size as Trance, which was a shade smaller than me.

He had the same bulk that the rest of us had. The same cleft chin, and the same square jaw.

The only difference between us was that my father had a few more wrinkles and laugh lines, as well as hair that was on the verge of being gray.

The same disgusted look on his face as he gazed at the pieces of shit we were expected to wear.

“I’m not wearing that,” Trance said without preamble.

My father scoffed. “Of course you are. If I have to,
you
have to. That’s the end of that.”

My father, although he’d been retired from the Marines for going on three years now, still acted like he was the man in charge, even when he wasn’t. What he needed to learn was that he wasn’t the only boss in town anymore.

***

“I can’t fucking believe we’re wearing this shirt,” Foster hissed as he took in the family reunion.

Trance’s wife started to laugh.

“I think they’re kind of cute,” Viddy teased her husband playfully, smoothing her hand over the shirt lovingly.

Trance caught her hand and raised it
to plant a kiss on it before dropping it and throwing his arm around her shoulder. “Of course you’d think that. You’re also not wearing one. Why is that?”

Viddy pursed her lips. “It was too tight, so I let Mercy wear it.”

My gaze turned to my Mercy, who was carrying on with my mother over by the food table.

The two were laughing, pointing at my grandmother’s hat that was bigger than some of the one’s the Queen of England wore.

One of the many kids that’d been running around had hung a plastic snake from one of the back swirls of feathers, and the woman was talking so animatedly that the snake was swinging back and forth with her enthusiasm.

“You’re lying. That’d fit you. You just wanted her to wear it,” Trance said softly, giving Viddy’s head a kiss.

A well of thankfulness bubbled inside of me at Viddy’s welcoming hand, and I was excited to see how the two interacted
. Especially since they were going to have babies together. Not that Trance knew that,
yet
.

Viddy shrugged. “I wanted her to feel like she belonged. Plus, you never let me go more than three feet from you; I’m pretty sure they’ll know I belong.”

Trance shrugged. “You’re really missing out with these ‘Team Spurlock’ shirts. I can’t believe she made these such obnoxious colors. Mine doesn’t even fit.”

“Umm,” Viddy smiled widely. “That’s ‘cause I told your mom you were a large.”

Trance shook his head, laughing slightly
. “You’re
such a shit.”

“Heads up!” Foster yelled from across the room.

I looked up just in time to see a football a few feet from my face.

Reflexively, I caught it, and then launched it back at him like a missile.

Which my cousin immediately intercepted with a beer in one hand.

“Let the games begin!”
Foster roared, then tackled Aiden to the ground.

Abs are cool and all…but have you ever tried Olive Garden’s breadsticks?

-Mercy’s secret thoughts

Mercy

I opened my eyes to a wall of tattooed muscle.

Turning over to my back and stretching, I took in the bright neon lights of the Las Vegas strip.

I glanced at the clock, and groaned.

It was nearly six in the morning, and yet again, I was awake and starving.

It almost felt like déjà vu as I went through my morning routine, and came out of the bathroom. Except, this time, Miller was awake and leaning against the headboard; his legs were crossed, and the sheet was pulled up to around his hips.

I licked my lips as I took in the scene before me, “You’re awake.”

The statement had sounded breathless coming from my lips, and Miller’s sleepy eyes smiled, although his mouth didn’t.

“Come ‘ere,” he rasped in his sleep roughened voice, patting the bed beside him.

I went, getting to the end of the bed and crawling up onto it.

He whipped the sheet off, giving me an unhindered view of his flaccid cock that was lying against one of his thighs.

I crawled up his body, settling my ass over his lap, and pinning his cock between us.

The heated lips of my sex covered his, but he was focused on something else besides us, bringing my attention away from how good he felt skin to skin with me, and to the way his eyes were slightly worried.

He threw the sheet back over us, and wrapped it snugly around my shoulders before wrapping his arms around my body.

I laid my head down on his chest, tucking my arms between us as I did.

“I’m hungry,” I said softly.

He snorted. “You’re always hungry.”

I smiled against his chest. “True. I’m overly hungry today, though.”

“You said that yesterday at lunch and dinner. As well as that midnight snack from the bakery we passed on the way home from the family reunion,” he teased.

I pinched his side. “I’m sure it’s only going to get worse.”

His lips skimmed the top of my head. “My mom said that when she was pregnant with me, she gained fifty pounds because she was always so hungry.”

I winced. “Let’s hope that’s not the case. I don’t think my feet could manage an extra fifty pounds. I’m already so freakin’ tired, there’s no telling what that much weight added to it would do.”

“I need to tell you about Faris,” he said softly.

I blinked. “What about him? Did the police find anything out?”

“Yes,” he said. “I got a call from Tony while we were at the reunion. I just didn’t tell you.”

I swallowed. “Okay, what?”

He ran his fingers slowly through my hair.

“He was on our floor, I don’t know why, and that’s where you came in. Once you leave Silas, the security cameras can track you all the way down the elevator, and then to the bathroom where you disappear for twenty minutes,” he hesitated. “Faris followed you into the bathroom. You came out, and he didn’t.”

I blinked, absently encircling Miller’s nipple with my finger.

“The only thing saving you from being arrested right now is the fact that your clothes were clean, and you had no…residue… on you,” Miller said softly.

I stiffened and leaned up, looking at him. “Residue?”

He nodded. “Whatever happened, was pretty messy. Whomever did it, had to have left that room covered in it…or they stripped out of their clothes.”

My mouth opened and closed like a fish. “How was that not heard? Or seen?”

Miller shook his head. “I went in there yesterday with another buddy on LVPD. The stalls are all like tiny rooms. Whatever happened to Faris was contained by the very far stall. The door was locked, too, so nobody even bothered to try that door until the cleaning lady came in later that day.”

“What does this mean for me?” I asked in worry, leaning forward until my hands were resting on his muscular chest.

He lifted his hands to cover the back of mine before he said, “Right now you’re just a person of interest, although all they have on you is circumstantial. You’re allowed to leave the city, but you have to come back if they have any questions.”

I heaved a relieved breath. “Good. That would’ve sucked having to stay in Las Vegas while everyone else went home.”

He leaned forward and captured me to his chest once again. “I wouldn’t have left you here alone.”

I threaded my arms around his neck, studying his face. The cleft in his chin. The blueness of his eyes.

Taking a deep, soothing breath, I broached the subject that was never really resolved yesterday.

“I don’t want to be your charity project. I want you to be with me because you want to be with me, and I’m sorry if I forced any of that on you unwillingly. You’re free to leave if and when you want to. I’ll never force you to stay with me,” I said softly, looking into his eyes as I said it.

His lips tightened. “I don’t know where you keep coming up with this bullshit,” he snapped, reversing our positions until he was settled deep between my thighs. “Does this feel like you’re just a charity project to me?”

He ground his humongous erection into me. One that hadn’t been there when I’d broached the subject.

Holy shit, he got hard really, really fast.

The head of his cock worked into the seam of my sex, working back and forth as he looked into my eyes.

When I didn’t reply, he leaned back and the head of his cock nudged at my entrance.

Then started pushing slowly forward.

My eyes opened wide in surprise.

He filled me to perfection, and he felt even bigger in this positon than he did in others.

“Ohh,” I breathed, lifting my hips to clamp his chest between my thighs.

His eyes stayed on mine as he slowly started to move forward and backward.

His eyes studied my face, taking in the slightly parted slit of my mouth, and the way my chest heaved with the breaths that weren’t sending oxygen to my brain.

When my hips started to tilt further, he pushed up onto his knees, and then pulled me up until my hips were supported by his thighs.

His hands went forward and pushed the hem of my shirt up, freeing my small breasts to his intense gaze.

“Can I play with your pretty little nipples?” He asked roughly, bucking his hips up and down.
Each movement of his hips pushed the head of his cock against a delicious spot inside of me, making my breath catch with each pass.

Something hot and heavy was pooling in my core, burning me from the inside out.

I nodded, and he captured each between two fingers, bucking his hips, using the pressure on my nipples to urge me up and down.

“God,” I gasped, the slow buildup of my orgasm turned into a rushing freight train, barreling down the tracks at me with no way to move out of the way.

My silent scream stole through me as I arched my back and came hard, clamping down on his length with all the ferocity my body could muster.

He grunted in surprise, letting go of my breasts and latching onto my hips as he started to pound inside of me.

I held on for the ride as my orgasm started to build up once again, not fully recovered from the last time.

When his movements became jerky, he pulled out of me quickly, fisting his cock as he aimed it at my pussy.

Hot spurts of semen shot from the tip of his cock.

The milky white substance hit my clit and belly.

I alternated from watching his face to his cock, totally enraptured with the entire act.

It was so erotic, so fucking right, that I came again on his fingers as he rubbed his essence into me in slow, sensual circles, focusing on my clit as he did.

“God,” I jerked. “Stop, it’s too much.”

He grinned and leaned forward, capturing my nipple with his mouth as he continued his erotic torture, coaxing yet another orgasm from my too-tired body.

Once the torture stopped, my limbs fell to the bed in exhaustion as I stared up at the mirrored ceiling, realizing too late what an erotic picture that would’ve been.

Hell, it was one now and all I could see was the top of Miller’s head and shoulders, as well as where his cock lay against my belly as he leaned back looking at me.