Maze (The Ballerina Series #2) (8 page)

I
sighed. So much was going on with my folks and their best friends right now. I
didn’t want to discuss my new living arrangements on the phone. “The surgery is
confirmed, so I’ll be there next week. I’m thinking it’s best to tell her in
person.”

He
nodded. “I can be there on the day of surgery. Do you want to wait until I get
there?”

“No.
I need to talk to them first on my own. Besides, I want to tell them as soon as
I see them. It will be at least another day or so before you can get there
right?”

In
truth, I wanted to tell my mom right away. Not sure about my dad. And it was
probably best I tell him alone anyway. Even though Maze wanted to do this with
me. But I needed to let my mom, at least know sooner rather than later. Maze
couldn’t be with me the entire visit. He needed to be in town next week for
some of the deliveries, and to make sure the work got done so the gym could
reopen under new ownership in a couple of weeks. Not that his being there would
help or hurt when I told my parents we’d moved in together. I knew mom would be
okay but dad. Not so sure.

“Yeah,”
he said. “But if you need me to be there when you tell them then I’ll
reschedule the deliveries and be there.”

I
smiled. “Thanks, but it’s fine.”

“You’re
sure?”

“Yes.”
And I was surer than anything in my life. No matter what, I belonged with Maze.

The
limo pulled up to our building. Maze helped me out of the car. For the first
time we used the street entrance. When Maze opened the door of our new home, he
scooped me up in his arms. “Put your arm around my neck.”

“Maze,
what are you doing?”

“Carrying
you across the threshold of our new home.”

I
grinned. “That’s for brides.”

“One
day you will be. Mine that is.”

The
motion of my heart paused between beats. That’s what he did to me. “Maze...”

He
lowered his mouth and kissed me. At the same time I heard the door slam shut, I
assumed he kicked it closed. Turning around he had me flip the dead bolt to
lock the downstairs entrance. I held onto my crutch and Maze, while he held
onto me. He walked us up several flights of stairs. Once we got to the landing,
he went down a short hallway to stop at our door. He shifted me so he could get
the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the apartment. He carried me across the
threshold, then kicked this door shut, too.

“Lock
this one also, will ya, babe?” he directed me.

I
reached down and did as he asked. Not once did he put me down. Not that there
was any place to put me. The apartment was practically empty. He headed
straight for the master bedroom. The mattress sat on the floor. Beside it were
three suitcases Terry had dropped off for us earlier. Two of them belonged to
Maze.

He
placed me gently on the mattress, then took the crutch away from me and rested
it on the floor. Returning to me, he removed my jacket and shirt, kissing my
skin every time he saw it exposed. He moved to kiss my belly button before
reaching down with his hand to remove my black stretch yoga pants. They were
the only kind of pants I could wear with my cast. He carefully got them off my
legs, leaving me only in my gray lacy underwear, which he himself had placed on
me earlier that morning. He seemed to love dressing and undressing me. I was
totally fine with that.

I
enjoyed watching the way his muscles rippled as he raised his arm to remove his
own clothing. He took off everything a little too fast for me, but the view of
a stripped down Maze was delectable and nothing to complain about.

He
placed one knee on the mattress, and his dick twitched, brushing against the
side of my thigh. It appeared eager to touch me, as eager as I was for its
touch. I smiled as he pulled the last barrier between us off, my panty.

Chapter Eight

Maze

“You
are so beautiful.” And she was, every luscious curve, her kind heart, every
part of her. All mine. I don’t know what I ever did in my life to be granted
someone like her. I knew I’d fucked up in the past and I’d try not to again
because I couldn’t lose her. I’d do whatever I had to, to deserve her love.

She
moved her arm and wrapped it around my neck, drawing me to her. I covered her
body with mine. I intended to go slow but wasn’t sure either of us wanted slow
right now. This was our first night in our place. I smiled. Plenty of time to
do slow later.

She
opened her legs and I kissed her at the same time I lowered my hand to cup her.
I ended up moaning into her mouth. She was so fucking wet and ready for me. My
dick didn’t have to be told twice.

I
grasped the pulsating length and guided it straight to where it throbbed to go,
to where it needed to go. As soon as I entered her she sighed, a sound of pure
pleasure humming from her throat, and she grabbed my ass. She flexed her hips
upward and I pushed inward, diving deeper into my haven. I pulled out just to
her entrance and she shifted one leg farther up on me. I moved my arms under
her knees and raised them until they were over my shoulder, leaving her very
open and vulnerable to me.

I
surged all the way inside her, then out again, and then in again. Soon we had
our rhythm, and she met me thrust for thrust. When she reached between our
bodies and grasped my balls, my entire body clenched. I roared while I released
everything into her. My frame kept shuddering until all the liquid seemed to be
drained from my cock. And still I wanted to give up more. I didn’t care how
many times I’d made love with Ivy, I always wanted more. Finally, my trembling
stopped and the quivers coming from her sex slowed to the point I could breathe
again. Barely.

I
lowered her legs then rolled to the side. My dick had softened and slipped out
of her. My breathing evened out more as we lay side by side staring at each
other. I pushed the hair off her face and leaned forward to kiss the tip of her
button nose.

“Love
you,” I whispered and settled my head on the pillow next to hers. More content
than I’ve ever been in my life.

“I
love you, too.”

An
annoying sound kept playing in my head, trying to drag me out of the cocoon of
peace surrounding me. I attempted to ignore it, but Ivy moving out of my arms
had me opening my eyes and awareness coming that made me realize the noise came
from my ringing cell.

I
sat up and glanced around. Floor. The phone was in my pants pocket on the
floor.

I
rolled over Ivy and reached down to answer the call but it stopped ringing as
soon as I touched it. It was a missed call from Uncle Tsang, and my fuzzy brain
also registered the time. A few minutes after three a.m. Nothing good could
come from a phone call at this witching hour, something Joe used to say about
late night calls. I sat up, but before I could hit redial, the phone vibrated
again. My hand was fucking trembling when I hit the answer button to take the
call my gut screamed would change everything.

I
held the phone up to my ear and listened. Blood exploded in my head and the
phone fell from my icy fingers to the mattress. I couldn’t think. I watched as
Ivy picked up the phone and spoke quickly to Uncle Tsang. When she hung up
there were tears in her eyes.

“Yes.
We have to go.” I didn’t recognize the dead voice coming from my mouth. I still
hadn’t completely processed what I’d heard. Somehow she got me out of bed. I
don’t know what I would have done without Ivy. I’m not sure how I even managed
to get dressed and downstairs to the car. Terry was already there in the
driver’s seat, and there was another large guy waiting for us on the sidewalk,
long black hair pulled back into a braid and built like a soma wrestler.

“This
way, sir,” he said gesturing toward the open car door as he kept glancing up
and down the street. He helped us into the limo then got into the passenger
seat.

It
wasn’t until I stuck my head in the car I realized that wasn’t Terry behind the
wheel but Will. The other bodyguard I’d seen a few times at Tsang’s side, he
had Asian features but seemed to be more of a mix. But he had the same muscular
built as the others but kept his hair short cropped.

His
presence brought me a little out of my stupor. “What’s going on, Will?” I asked
as I sat down. “Where’s Terry?”

“I’ll
have you there in five, Maze. Hang on,” Will said. “Mr. Tsang will fill you in.
This is Mark and he’ll be with you for awhile, too.” Mark sat in the front seat
and glanced over his shoulder and nodded.

I
put my head back, shut my eyes and shut down my thought processes. Ivy spoke, I
think she said thank you to Will. My mind returned to its daze. One word kept
ricocheting around in my head—shot. Joe had been shot and Terry wasn’t
driving us.

The
pressure of Ivy’s hand in mine caused me to open my eyes and turn at the same
time to stare at her. The fear and worry I saw in her eyes reflected in my own
emotions, but I couldn’t reassure her or comfort her. And she couldn’t comfort
me. We’d both been here before almost five years ago. I knew she hurt back then
and I didn’t know how to take the pain away. There were no words we needed to
share now. We only needed each other.

When
she leaned forward I took her mouth and devoured her. My fingers dug into her
arms, and my chest rose and fell to the point of pain. She became the only
thing keeping the darkness threatening to engulf me in check. She must have
known what I needed and didn’t deny me. Instead, she placed her palms on my
face and kissed me back just as hard as I kissed her. I relaxed my manic hold
on her, pulled back and took a deep breath. After a moment, I placed my head
against hers.

The
car came to a screeching halt and the door opened. I stepped out and turned
back to help Ivy out of the car. I didn’t realize Mark had hopped out of the
car and stood by the open door. I didn’t know him but I figured since he was
with Will and Tsang sent him it meant he could be trusted.

He
kept glancing around, scanning the area. He nodded at Will then he turned back
to us. “Stay with me. We’re going straight in. I know where your uncle is
waiting for us.”

I
was glad cause I wasn’t sure I’d be too coherent right now. My world was
crumbling and I held onto the only thing that mattered in it any more, Ivy.

He
led us straight to the elevators and we got in. I have no clue what floor we
got off on but when the elevator door opened a man slightly shorter than I,
with his familiar bald head and round face stood there to meet us. I stepped
off and Uncle Tsang hugged me then Ivy.

“How
is he?” Ivy asked. I’m glad she did. I couldn’t.

He
didn’t say anything. Just took my arm, and I gripped Ivy’s hand like a lifeline
as I followed Uncle Tsang to some room that looked like a waiting area but it
was small. It had two long couches, a few chairs, and a television set on the
wall that was turned off. Someone closed the door behind us, another one of
Tsang’s guards. Mark remained outside with him.

“Sit
down, Maze,” Uncle Tsang said.

I
shook my head. “No. Tell me.”

Tsang’s
gaze shifted to Ivy, a helpless look in his eyes before he focused on me again.
It was then I knew. I saw it when he looked at me.

My
legs. Suddenly, I couldn’t feel them. Tsang caught me and helped me to a chair.
I stared up at him, tears already fighting for space in my eyes. “What…is he…”
I couldn’t finish the thought.

“I’m
sorry, Maze.” There were tears in Uncle Tsang’s eyes. He did nothing to hide
them or stop them when they spilled down his cheeks.

“No.”
I thought the word came out as a scream. That’s what it felt like in my head
but it sounded more like a croak, born of pain. “No,” I said, stronger this
time.

“He
died before he got here. They worked on him the entire time in the ambulance
and more when we first arrived but he never regained consciousness. He’s gone
Maze. Joe’s gone.”

Sobs
racked my body. My head dropped to my chest. I felt Ivy fall to my feet rather
than saw her, but even through the pain, I knew she was there. I needed her so
badly. Her hands tightened around my own and I gripped them. They were the only
things keeping me from punching a wall.

“Maze,”
she wailed. “I’m so sorry.” She looked up. “Mr. Tsang, what happened?”

My
head snapped up, tears still coursing down my face. “What the fuck happened?
What do you mean before he got here? Where was he? You were supposed to protect
him. How the fuck did he get shot?”

My
breath hitched when I noticed the blood. All on the arm of Tsang’s jacket and I
knew whose it was. I had to take a deep breath and almost choked on it. “Fuck.
Fuck.”

He
gripped my shoulder. “You have every right to be angry. Let me explain. We made
a mistake. I made a mistake. They…we were ambushed. I’d arranged for Joe to be
moved from the hospital earlier this morning. I thought by doing it at an odd
hour, there’d be less chance of any problems. But they must have been watching,
waiting.”

He
paused and took a deep breath. “Along the way a trash truck blocked the road on
a one way street and our car had to stop. I heard shots, they took out the
tires. We decided to get out of the car because we were vulnerable. The windows
are bullet proof but the entire body of the car isn’t. Only the doors. So we
tried to make a run for it. But they picked their location well. They had a
shooter on one of the buildings and men behind the trash truck. Terry and
Jason, my other guard, were with us. We all managed to make it out of the car
and huddled behind the open rear door using it as cover. We stayed low, kept
the car between the sharpshooter and us. We were going to make our way to the
parked cars to give ourselves better cover. But the sharpshooter fired off more
shots pinning us there just as more men came from around the truck. Jason and I
managed to shoot two of them, but while three came from the front one came up
from the rear. He fired twice, first hitting Terry and Joe stepped out…”

Tsang
lost it. I’d never seen him cry. The man broke down and cried. Ivy released one
of my hands to hug his bicep with her arm. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket
and wiped at his face, then he continued. “Joe pushed me. The son of a bitch
pushed me to the ground. The second shot hit his head. The shooter got away.”

Leaning
forward I wrapped my arms around Ivy and bawled like a baby into her hair. At
some point I stopped and the doctor came into the room. He explained the
medical terms as to what happened but who gave a shit?

“Doctor,
is he dead?” I asked, needing the confirmation. I had to hear it myself to
accept it. I had to.

“Yes,
Mr. Chang, I’m sorry. There wasn’t anything we could do.”

“Thank
you.” Cause dead was dead. I really didn’t need to hear more about
complications and hemorrhaging. I already knew the goddamn cause. “I need to
see him, Doctor.”

After
that they took us to the room where Joe still laid, a sheet over his face. I
held onto Ivy.

I
let go of her before reaching out to lift the sheet off his face. I had to see
for myself. To know for sure, it was my father in so many ways who lay there.
Even by blood since he’d shed it for me. One of the earliest memories I have of
Joe was of him crawling into the back room to get me that day…that day my
mother died. He looked like he was in pain then. There was blood on his face
and he had fear in his eyes. Even as a child I knew that. Looking at him now,
while his eyes were closed his features took me back to that day. To the memory
I’d just been able to recall. A day of so much pain. He took me out of the
store so I never saw my mother’s body on the floor in the front room. I had
enough nightmares as a child as it was, I didn’t need any more. Now I had one
more to add to the night demons. I leaned down and kissed Joe’s cheek, before
lowering the cover back over his face.

“Let
me see you home, Maze.” Tsang sighed. “I’ll make arrangements for Joe. Will and
Mark will take you back to my condo in Chinatown. You’ll be safer there. I will
sort this out. I promise you. I swear on my friendship with Joe.”