Hush - Fighting Fate #2 (13 page)

This was all just one giant head fuck. I hated seeing that fear in her eyes when she
looked at me. I didn’t want her to be scared of me. I wanted her to know I would do anything to keep her safe. But it was a double edged sword, because in order to keep her safe, she needed to think I was the bad guy.

Checking my watch, I was surprised to see how much time had actually passed.
We were quickly getting to the part I both hated and loved. Hated, because I was forcing her to do something she didn’t want to do. Loved, because she felt and tasted incredible.

Pushing off the table, I clenched my jaw and turned around. She was still up against the wall, but she didn’t seem as tense anymore. She was watching me with a mixture of curiousness and confusion.

I took slow steps forward, trying to convey my intensions with my gaze as I went, but I knew she already knew what was coming.

I watched her tense slightly, but it wasn’t the panicked reaction I was expecting. It was accepting. Something stirred inside me and my heart picked up speed. Shit, was I nervous?

I swallowed.

When my body was only mere inches away from hers, so close I could feel the heat radiating off her, I stopped. She
tilted her head back and gazed up at me. Fuck, why wasn’t she fighting me? She didn’t even look confused anymore. Just curious. And fuck me if I didn’t like it.

The scent that was coming off her was sweet. It smelled floral, something like jasmine or one of those kinds of flowers. It made my mouth water.

I watched her taking me in, and I realized she wasn’t going to back down. My breath was coming faster now, the rise and fall of my chest more than obvious. Looking down at her chest, I saw it was the same. Was she scared, or nervous, or excited? I couldn’t tell. Her hands were clenched into fists in her skirt, but her eyes weren’t showing fear.

Reaching out, I placed my palms flat against the wall, either side of her head, and slowly, I leant forward.

Her breath hitched. I saw her eyes flash with something, but I couldn’t decipher it. The split second before my mouth connected with hers, her eyes fluttered closed. Oh fuck. I was so fucking screwed.

I didn’t kiss her hard this time. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I gently brushed my bottom lip over hers
. She didn’t respond. Her mouth remained still beneath mine, but she didn’t turn away.

I grazed her lips again, my tongue taking a tiny taste without my consent. I could feel her breath against my mouth, and fuck me if that wasn’t a major turn on. My dick was instantly hard.

Taking a third taste, I couldn’t help pressing in a little more. She was fucking addictive.

And then a fucking miracle happened. Her lips moved against mine. It was only the smallest of movements,
but I felt it, and god help me, it sent a bolt of pure thrill through my body.

I groaned, my body reacting all on its own. Pushing against her a little more, I kissed her again. I knew she’d be able to feel how excited I was, and I should’ve felt ashamed, but I was too fucking
gone to care.

When her lips parted to let me in, I was sunk. I was no longer in control of myself. The little voice of reason that had been helping me decide what was best for her was good and buried. I slid my tongue inside, getting my first real taste of her, and I heard myself groan again.

And when my hands found their way into her hair, I tried to tell myself it was all part of the façade. She needed to look used. Right? Yeah, right.

But when her mouth actually started moving against mine? That was when I knew I was completely full of bullshit. I wanted her, and I wanted her to want me.

I kissed her deep, pushing our bodies together from our knees to our chests. One of my hands moved to her lower back, pulling her in harder against me while the other one held her kiss to mine.

It wasn’t until she tore her mouth away from mine to take deep, panting breaths, and I went to consume her throat, that I realized just how far I was taking things.

I jerked away from her like she’d given me an electric shock and forced myself to walk away. “Fucking hell.”

Closing my eyes, I paced the room, willing myself to calm down. When I thought I had myself under control, I glanced up at her. I was expecting to see anger or worry on her face, and I prepared myself to offer an apology, but when I was met with dark desire in her gaze instead, I growled. “Motherfucker.”

Spinning away again, I screwed my eyes shut. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I counted to twenty, then I continued on to fifty, then one hundred. With a deep breath, I forced myself to
keep my gaze far away from hers and grabbed a clean shirt out of my cupboard. Shucking it on, I growled something that might’ve sounded like ‘Come on’, then yanked the door open.

Chapter 25

Kaeli

My head was one big swirling mess as I
followed Mitch out the door.

I kissed him. I actually kissed him. And holy mother of god, was it good. I was actually surprised my legs were able to support me right now.

It had taken all my strength not to touch him. I swear I thought I was going to rip holes in my skirt I was holding on so hard.

I didn
’t know what it was that made me decide not to fight. It might have been the way he ignored me the second we were locked in his room, or maybe it was the way he appeared so desolate as he sat on the bed, or maybe it was just pure sex appeal, the way he stripped the shirt from his body and all those hard, tight contours…

Whatever it was, it made me
want to stop fighting.

As we walked downstairs, I knew I would’ve looked a wreck, and I supposed that was probably a good thing. If Mitch was going to so much trouble to make it look like he was taking advantage of me – regardless of whether it was for my benefit or not, because let’s face it, it
was
to my benefit, then the least I could do was act like I’d just been taken advantage of. TJ might be a criminal, but I certainly didn’t think he was stupid, and it took a lot more than some messed up clothes and swollen lips to make it look like someone had been raped.

I thought of what emotional state I might be in if I really had been
in that situation. I could image I’d be a crying mess – pretty much how I had been the last couple of times I’d been in this position, but I wasn’t sure if I could manage tears right now. My head was too much of a mess. I thought maybe I could just go for hollow. I’d imagine if you’d been placed in the same horrifying situation a few times, you’d have to go into some sort of survival mode.

Moving behind Mitch, I masked my expression into one of emptiness
. Of complete hopelessness. I didn’t meet anyone’s eyes, I just moved like I was on autopilot.

I heard someone laugh. “Damn
, Mitch, you’ve broken her. Now she’s not going to be anywhere near as much fun to play with.”

I didn’t look at Mitch to see what kind of an expression he was wearing, but I heard him grunt a little like he was smirking. “
Nah, man, this is just the way I like them.”

He shuffled me out the back door,
put me into his car, and pulled out onto the street without saying a word. His body looked so tightly wound, I didn’t know how he wasn’t exploding. Two days ago I would’ve been frightened of the way he looked, but now I knew I had nothing to be frightened of.

There was no doubt in my mind that had he tried to go any further with that kiss, I would’ve gone with it. The fact that he was the one to stop
it spoke volumes. I wasn’t sure of his reasons, but I certainly wasn’t going to question it. If he was going to keep me safe, I was going to let him.

It wasn’t until we were a block from where I parked my car that I remembered I’d driven. “Oh shit. I forgot I drove my car.”

His bright green gaze swung to meet mine with surprise. I really liked these contacts. They were almost as mesmerizing as the violet ones.

“It’s just in that little parking lot up there,” I said
, pointing.

He flicked on his indicator and pulled in, parking right next to my little corolla. I didn’t know how he knew it was my car, but
the fact that he did didn’t surprise me. When I glanced across at him, he was pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Please don’t drive again, Kaeli. It’s not safe.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “And walking seven blocks through dark, questionable backstreets at night with
that
bag is?” I said sardonically.

He paled a little then sighed. “Point taken, but I’m talking about a different kind of safe
here.”

He let his words hang in the air
for a little while, letting me take in his meaning. He meant TJ wouldn’t like it.

I watched him for a while. It was strange how much I didn’t feel threatened by him anymore. Now that I could look him in the eye, I could see the worry there. I could see the need to protect me. It was…
overwhelming
. There didn’t seem to be any other way to describe it. It completely overwhelmed me.

Mitch sighed and let his head fall back against the head rest. When he eventually turned back to look at me
, his gaze was desperate. “Kaeli, I want to tell you to keep your eyes open – be prepared for anything, but I also want you to stay blissfully ignorant. Your innocence is such a beautiful thing. I hate that you’ve been thrown into this.”

I almost gasped
out loud. I watched him turn away and glare out his side window, looking very much like he was kicking himself for saying anything. I was in shock. Did he seriously mean that?

Taking his
cue, I turned and looked out my own window. I knew I should be going, but as crazy as it sounded, I wasn’t ready to leave him just yet. I had no idea when I’d be seeing him again.

Without turning away from the window, I asked, “How often will I have to come back?”

When he didn’t answer me, I turned to look at him. He was watching me again, but this time his expression was guarded. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “I don’t know. There’s…” He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

I didn’t understand, but he seemed too dejected now to push. Sighing, I reached for the door handle. “I better go then.”

When all I got was a nod, I slipped out, grabbed the bag off the back seat and turned away. He waited for me to leave first, and as hard as it was, I forced myself not to look at him as I drove away.

Not wanting to have that god awful bag in my possession any longer than I had to, I drove straight home, dumping it at Aaron’
s feet before trudging up the stairs to my room.

I was so done with thinking. My brain felt absolutely fried. All I wanted to do was take a warm shower and climb into bed. I didn’t even think I’d care if I
missed dinner.

But try as I might, I couldn’t
sleep. I just couldn’t get Mitch out of my head. The second I snuggled up under the blankets, the image of him came straight onto the screen of my mind. All I could see was his hard, muscular chest, and his intense colorful eyes.

And once I started there, I couldn’t stop it. The sweet, sugary taste of his lips, and the firm,
mouthwatering contours of his body, had me groaning from the memory of them against me. I wondered if what I was feeling was something along the same lines as Stockholm syndrome. I hadn’t been kidnapped, but I was definitely forced into a situation I had no control over and had to rely on the one person to look after me.

Yeah, great. I was a walking head case.

Chapter 26

Noah

The closer the shipment came, the harder it was to push down my excitement. TJ still hadn’t given any of us any details, but I had a feeling that had more to do with the fact that he didn’t know the details yet either.

One thing I could console myself with was TJ’s opinion of me. Since both my visits to Delaney and Jay, it was obvious he was more re
laxed around me than usual. I didn’t think he’d ever be able to look at me without suspicion, but I’d learnt he was like that with everyone. Hell, he was probably like that with his own mother. All I knew was that I’d passed some sort of test.

Ever since we’d put the heavy on Jay
and found the counterfeit pills, TJ had been holing himself up in his office on the phone, talking to every single one of his buyers. He’d sent Pock and Vinnie out to find Jay again, but it seemed he’d pulled a disappearing act.

We also had a lot of discussions about
where the shipment was going after we’d taken delivery and bagged it all. TJ was quite amazing to watch really. If he’d managed to pick something legitimate to do with his life, I would almost put money on his success.

The other thing we were doing a lot of was
counting and bundling money in to piles. That was the reason I knew the shipment was still going ahead. TJ was making sure the money would be ready when the shipment came in.