His Confession (By His Command #8) (3 page)

BOOK: His Confession (By His Command #8)
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“What is it?” I asked.

“Feels... like someone...
ripping my heart... out.”

“Okay, let’s go,” I said.

“I can’t... lose heart...
you have... it.”

I didn’t want to take
anything he said to heart, but this romantic side of Jonathan Black was kind of
nice. I walked him down the hall to the backdoor of the hotel, where the steps
and emergency exits were. I realized then that I would have to help him down
steps.

Lots of steps.

I kicked open the door and
let Jonathan through. He reached for the railing with both hands and collapsed
to his knees. He cried out in pain and my heart felt like it was going to
explode. If Jonathan Black died in front of my eyes... if I had to watch it...
it would be my own death too.

I fell to my knees and
hugged him. I pulled him close, inhaling his amazing smell, and I kissed his
neck.

“Give me... your lips...,”
he whispered.

I shuffled around and kissed
him. I pressed my lips tight to his and a second later, I offered my tongue. I
climbed against him as hard as I could seriously wondering if this was going to
be my last kiss with the sexy billionaire, Jonathan Black.

My tongue couldn’t get
enough of his mouth and he the same. He took one of his hands off the railing
and touched me. If I were dead, the touch would have brought me back to life.
He touched my waist but his hand immediately moved up to my chest. He gripped
my left breast, tight, and I groaned into his mouth.

“Fuck,” he whispered. “I
want...”

“We have to hurry,” I
whispered. “Time is ticking.”

“I... can be... dead...”

“No. You can’t.”

“We... will...”

I hated myself for what I
had to do but I had to back away from Jonathan’s touch. I stood and pulled at
him, forcing him back to his feet. We took the steps as fast as we could, a few
times Jonathan missing a step and falling to his ass. It was certainly better
than falling forward and knocking himself out cold.

When we made it to the final
landing and I saw the door, I let out a cry of relief.

“We did it!” I yelled.

“This is where... trust...”

He let out a long groan and
fell to one knee. He coughed and I heard something coming from his mouth. He
looked at me and I saw blood. Blood on his lips. Blood on the stone floor.

I opened the backdoor and
two men stood wearing black suits, black sunglasses, and white earpieces. The
one on the left nodded. The one on the right touched his ear.

“Fly time,” he said.

“He’s hurt!” I cried. “Help
him!”

The man on the left pushed
me out of the way - literally - and grabbed for Jonathan. For a second I
thought it was a setup by Katherine. I half expected the man to murder Jonathan
Black right there, but he didn’t. He lifted him and ran from the hotel. A few
feet away was a black limo.

The other man grabbed my
wrist and pulled.

“No time,” he yelled at me.

I could barely keep up with
him and when he threw me into the limo, I sprawled across the seat and rolled
to the floor. They loaded Jonathan into the limo and it peeled away. I looked
out the back window as the two men stood side by side watching us drive away.

“Isabella Grace,” Jonathan
whispered.

He sounded weaker by the
second.

“I’m right here,” I said. I
touched his legs and thought about straddling him. But I didn’t want to hurt
him.

“Come to me,” he said.

“I’m here,” I said.

“No... come...”

That’s when I did straddle
him. I climbed on top of Jonathan and looked down into his eyes. I wiped the
blood off his lip with my thumb and wiped it on the seat. His hands touched my
lower back and he pulled me down tight against his body. When I felt him -
hard
- I let out a gasp. The billionaire was literally
dying in front of my eyes and he was hard...

I began rubbing myself
against him. If that’s what he wanted, needed, then so be it.

I could have stayed there
forever if Jonathan needed me to. But the limo ride didn’t last that long.
Jonathan’s head was back and each time his eyes shut, I moved his face, keeping
him awake and alert. I wasn’t sure if I was helping or hurting, but logic told
me that if his eyes were open and moving he couldn’t die.

The back door to the limo
opened and two more men in suits, glasses, and wires hanging from their ears,
reached for us. Their grip was fierce as they pulled me from the limo. They
threw me again and this time I fell to the ground. When I stood, I thought
about going after the guy but then I realized where we were.

An airport.

A private jet waited not too
far away.

I turned and saw the men
carrying Jonathan towards the plane.

My heart raced but I was
somewhat relieved. All I had wanted was to get out of that hotel and out of
that city. I wanted away from ‘K’ - Katherine - and I wanted to be in the air,
to be safe, and to never be seen again.

I ran to the plane and
boarded it.

I found Jonathan in a
bedroom on the plane, resting like he had been when I found  him back at the
hotel. The two men in suits left and the plane was on and we were taking off.
There was not a second wasted.

“Where are we going?” I
asked Jonathan.

“Safe,” he whispered.
“Safe...”

“Where is safe?”

Jonathan looked at me. He
raised a hand and pointed it at me. “Right there. You, Isabella Grace.”

I fell to Jonathan again, my
head to his chest.

“I can’t live without you,”
I admitted. “Please... don’t die...”

I listened to Jonathan
breathing and I listened to his heart. It was weak. Everything was weak. I was
weak.

My eyes were suddenly heavy
and I wanted to sleep but I feared if I did, I would be alone.

Then Jonathan Black said
something to me that didn’t just wake me... but changed my life forever...

“Isabella Grace... I... I
love you.”

-4-

 

The doctor came into the
large room, stripping himself of his suit jacket and putting on a white coat.
He was remarkably handsome, then again, if he were in the company of Jonathan
Black, what else would I expect.

His face was serious as he
hung over Jonathan Black, looking at his face and body.

Jonathan hadn’t said a word
since saying what he did on the private jet. I, again, tried my hardest not to
believe everything I was told by Jonathan in his current state. My heart did
not need anymore tearing and my nerves were already shaking as it was. When his
eyes had closed on the flight and remained shut, I wept. I wanted to leave the
room for help but I couldn’t. I was paralyzed. After the plane landed, men
rushed in and took Jonathan from me. Two came back and carried me off the plane
and into the back of what looked like a warehouse. I was certain we were both
going to end up dead.

And that was fine by me.

If Jonathan was going to
die, so would I.

“How long has he been out?”
the doctor asked.

“I... I’m not sure. He shut
his eyes maybe ten minutes into the flight.”

The doctor nodded, obviously
calculating the time of flight. I had no sense of time or direction. I couldn’t
tell anyone where I was... what city, what state, perhaps even what country for
all I knew.

“Okay,” the doctor said.
“Let me take care of this.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

It was probably something
too bold to say in such a tender moment but the doctor looked at me, eyeing me.

“I’m going to save his
life,” he said, his voice honest. “And you’re going to thank me. And that’s all
you need to know. Now, if you don’t mind... leave this room.
Isabella Grace.

The way he said my name made
my entire body shake. It should have surprised me that he knew my name but it
didn’t. What it did do was make me think of all the things Jonathan Black had said
that day to me. Was he so enamored with me that he confessed it to everyone
around him?

I backed away from the
doctor and from Jonathan Black. I turned and left the room. I wasn’t sure where
I actually was, but I guess you could call a waiting room. It had several black
leather couches, end tables with publications on them, but the ambience of the
room was sterile and silent. I felt like I had been trapped in a horror movie
and all hell would break loose when one of the doors opened. When one of the
doors actually opened I let out a small scream and jumped. It was a man in a
suit, looking so much like all the other men I had seen.

The man stopped and let the
door shut behind him. He looked at the door where I had come from and I could
only imagine he was mentally putting the pieces together.

“He will survive,” the man
said, calm, but without the strength and command that only Jonathan Black’s
voice could provide.

The man then reached up and
pulled a white wire from his ear and dropped it to a table. He took his suit
jacket off and loosened his tie. My guess was he was trying to appear more
casual to me in the hopes I would relax a little. Little did he know the only
way I would actually relax was when Jonathan Black could wrap his strong arms
around me and hold me.

“You should sit,” he said.
“And take a breath. It may be a few hours. Maybe a day or two.”

“A day or two? How? Why?”

“If you sit I’ll tell you.”

I growled under my breath.
Another man to negotiate with. I was barely fresh off of my forced dates with
Kellen and now I had to handle this.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m not allowed to give you
my legal name,” the man said. “But you can call me Ace.”

“Ace?”

“Ace,” the man said. “I’m
one of Mr. Black’s top advisors and protectors.”

“Mr. Black doesn’t seem like
the type that needs protecting.”

“He’s not. That’s why I’m
more of an advisor than a protector.”

“Where were you to advise
him about Katherine?” I snapped.

The man puckered his lips
and his cheeks started to burn. I knew I didn’t have the protection from
Jonathan Black and that anything could happen to me, but the anger and
frustration were too much to bear alone.

“I’m only human,” Ace said.
“Now, please sit.”

I did, crashing to the
leather couch. My body instantly felt numb and my muscles all sighed at once.
Maybe I was just that exhausted, I’m not sure, but the couch felt like the
greatest couch I had ever touched in my life.

Ace sat on a couch near me.
I respected the move. It hinted his full loyalty to Jonathan Black... and
perhaps even myself.

“The history between he and
Katherine is long,” Ace said. “Long before me. Long before you. Long before all
Mr. Black has created. It’s a part of him that he alone has to handle.”

“I’m sure if he told you to
handle it, you would,” I said.

“Of course I would. Personally,
if asked. But he doesn’t allow interference with that part of his life. Then,
now, ever. Your phone call, Isabella Grace, saved his life. And I thank you for
that.”

“Don’t get mushy on me,” I
said, “he told me where the phone was and what to do. I just obeyed.”

“Which I thank you for,” Ace
said.

Something in his eyes spoke
deeper than his words, even if I couldn’t fully read it.

“I can’t wait here like this
for two days,” I said. “It’s impossible.”

“But you’d do it for him,”
Ace said.

“Of course I would. I’d wait
my entire life. There’s nothing else in my life but him. He is the one and
only.”

“Then we wait,” Ace said.
“The doctor in there is one of the world’s best doctors. When he speaks, people
listen. When he acts, people survive. When he commands, people obey.”

“What’s his name?” I asked.

“The doctor?”

I nodded.

“Dr. Ace,” Ace said.

He flickered a quick smile
and raised an eyebrow.

Message received
, I
thought to myself.

Everyone in this little
secret operation must have shared the same name. That way nobody could ever be
tracked down, point a finger, do anything to blame someone. And it all revolved
around Jonathan Black.

“Without you, I don’t think
he’d survive this time,” Ace said.

He stood from the couch as
the words really hit me.

“Wait a second,” I said.
“You said...
this time
... meaning
what?”

“Meaning this time, the
present,” Ace said. “Don’t look too deep, Isabella Grace. There’s dead ends
everywhere around here. The only way out, the only way to live is behind the
door where you came from.”

BOOK: His Confession (By His Command #8)
7.81Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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