Surviving Brooklyn (Brooklyn Series Book 1) (7 page)

“Brooklyn, I do care about you,” Mark whispered as I laid my head on his chest.

“Don’t. You’ll only make it worse.” I had enough going on to fill up my BS meter and I didn’t need him in that mix.

“Brook, please hear me out.”

I turned away from him, but he didn’t allow any distance between us. I kept my back to his chest for the rest of the night. Neither of us said another word to each other, and we didn’t sleep until the sun began to rise. Mark held me and gave me the comfort I always seemed to need when he was around, and he stayed right by my side the entire time.

Chapter 7

I slept about an hour and my brain woke me up with thoughts of where my relationship with Mark was headed. I lifted his arm and slid out of bed. I thought I had gotten away unscathed, but then I heard Mark’s voice as I reached the door.

“Where are you going?” He sounded gruff. I turned to look at him and smiled the best I could without giving away my intentions.

“I am going to shower and make coffee. Sleep a little longer. It is going to be a long day.”

Then I walked out of the bedroom, closing the doors behind me. After brewing a pot of coffee, I turned on the shower but made no move to get in.

I walked to the front door in nothing but my towel and asked the police officers who were stationed there to run and get breakfast for themselves. I gave them a little wink to make them think Mark and I were about to have sex, and watched as they got into the elevator.

I grabbed my bag and put on a pair of skinny jeans and my gray knee high boots. Then I dressed in a white tank top and a gray sweater that hung off my shoulder. I quickly brushed out my hair and applied my make-up. A quick spray of my perfume, and I was almost ready.

I clipped my holster to my black belt, double-checking my gun was loaded. Then I settled her in the holster. I threw everything into my bag and rolled it out the front door.

As I entered the lobby, I begged the concierge to hold my bag until I figured out what it was I was doing. He agreed, but must have known who I was because he was calling my room as soon I walked off. Mark would be furious, but I needed space. I needed time to think.

I grabbed a cab and headed toward the Empire State Building. Nothing says distance like being one hundred and two stories up in the air. I just needed a little time to clear my head.

I surrendered my gun with complaint as security wouldn’t let me up with it. My badge did nothing for me here. The trip up in the elevator was numbing. I felt constricted and worried what would happen if I was found. Mark would be livid. My boss would be furious. My dad would become a saint compared to the wrath of Mark and Taylor.

Upon leaving the elevator on the eighty-sixth floor, I stared at the view in front of me. I was shaken when I felt my phone vibrate in my purse, then opened it to see a very angry text from Mark and nineteen missed calls.

There was a little boy standing with his mother enjoying the view as the sun rose over New York City. I watched as he played with his teddy bear, unaware of the danger lurking in the city. He was safe as long as he didn’t have anything that resembled me, after all the killer only wanted women who looked like me. Then he looked at me, his bright blue eyes glimmering, and I nearly vomited with the thought that he could one day be a victim merely because his eyes matched mine.

I downloaded a game to my phone and turned it on airplane mode, then I tip-toed over and handed it to him.

“This is our secret,” I whispered, while his mother looked through the viewfinder. He immediately sat down by her feet and began playing without saying a word. I walked back inside and took the elevator to floor one hundred and two.

As I stared out the windows, the storm in the distance kept me mesmerized. I watched the lighting jump, placing my hands on the glass and looking downward. It was so surreal, my brain was playing flashbacks of being against the glass the previous night.

My nipples hardened and my heart raced. My body was betraying my heart. I could still feel every touch and kiss. I yearned for him to be with me, but my heart begged me to make him stay away. I didn’t even hear the man’s voice until he placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Ma’am, are you all right?” he asked.

I startled, then turned to find a very tall security guard behind me. He was broad shouldered, and something about his demeanor made him seem like a country boy. He had dirty blond hair and familiar green eyes.

My stomach quivered with unease. I knew his eyes from the man in the park, but nothing else about him made him seem like the same man.

“I am okay, just needed some air,” I replied, hoping he would understand the implication that I needed some space. He did not get the hint. Instead, he stood beside me, looking down on the buildings below.

“I have always been told I am a great listener. Anything you need to get off your chest?” he asked.

“I don’t know you. Why would I tell you?” I replied hastily.

“Ma’am, you would be surprised what people have told me, when they come up here, and look at the world the way you are looking at it right now. You are standing against the glass as if you wish you could fall.”

I took a step back and turned toward him, placing my hands on my hips.

“I am not suicidal. I am working. I just needed some air, and furthermore, I just had my heart broken, which is why I needed to get some fresh air
alone
.”

“I meant no harm, ma’am.” He lifted his hands in a defensive manner. Then, as he lowered his hands, he asked, “What did he do?”

“He didn’t love me,” I replied, a tear rolling down my face. I turned back to the glass and faced the storm. I knew how it felt. So full of life and energy, but after a few raindrops it would feel weak and dissipate into the atmosphere.

“Ma’am, I don’t know you or your story, but I can tell you what my momma always said. When someone breaks your heart, you coin toss. Heads, you give them one last chance. Tails, you forget they even existed. I have a coin, do you want to play a
game
with me?”

I immediately turned and out of instinct I reached to pop the strap on my holster that I had surrendered before coming up in the elevator. I stared at him, watching as he flipped the coin and waited for my response.

“Games are for children,” I retorted. “This is real life.” I backed away from him as he smiled like a Cheshire cat, and I suddenly missed my phone. It was him, I knew it was. I walked back through the doors as he followed me.

“You really are a beautiful woman,” he said. “I love the way your hair accents your eyes. Whoever he was doesn’t deserve you. Maybe he should have his heart ripped out.”

I swallowed hard as the elevator took its time rising to the top to get me. My palms grew sweaty as he came closer to me.

“You stay away from him,” I said firmly. “If it came to a choice, I would lay down my life for him. Under no circumstances should it be the other way around.”

He had not even admitted that he had done anything; he merely implied things that made me uncomfortable. I was alone and defenseless.

“I am not in the habit of ripping out hearts, ma’am.”

The elevator grew louder, and I knew it would be there momentarily. This was the do or die moment people talk about. They say it is either fight or flight, but they forget the third option—freeze. When facing an intense situation, people either fight, run, or they freeze. I was frozen.

He reached into his pocket and my body began to tremble with anxiety. He pulled something out, very slowly. The elevator door opened and the little boy with my phone walked out with his mother. They walked between me and the security guard, and I backed into the elevator as the security guard smiled. The doors began to close, and he threw something inside.

I looked to the floor to see what it was. There were tons of dead-headed blue forget-me-nots. I fell to the floor and let the adrenaline run through me. My body was shaking so much that I had no control.

When I arrived on the eighty-sixth floor, I glanced up to see Mark and a dozen police officers waiting. Mark scooped me up in his arms and held me as the adrenaline coursed through me fiercely.

“Are you all right?” he asked, noticing the flowers on the floor. I nodded, but words wouldn’t come.

Mark took me onto a secondary elevator after shouting orders. He set me down inside, and looked me over. Something on my face must have given me away. Because he asked the attendant to step out and then we were alone as the door closed.

Mark’s expression changed from concern to anger in a split second after he saw I was all right. I pushed him against the elevator and grabbed his face. I pulled his lips to mine. As his tongue dove into my mouth, his flavor hit me and sent me reeling for more.

I grabbed his belt and loosened it as he pushed the emergency stop button. He pressed me against the elevator wall and unbuttoned my pants, pulling them down. When I couldn’t take it anymore, he unzipped my knee-high boots. I pulled him back up to me with one boot on and one boot off. My jeans matched with one leg on and one leg off.

I unzipped his pants and dove my hand inside while my other hand worked to free his cock. I dropped to my knees as his pants fell. He moved to the back wall and gripped the railing as I sucked the head of his cock into my mouth.

The large purple head appeared as angry as the rest of him. I licked him from balls to head and looked up. His eyes were dilated, his breathing rushed. He no longer looked angry. He placed his hand on the back of my head and showed me the rhythm he liked as I flattened my tongue and took him to my throat.

I took my time in tasting him, using my hand to follow my mouth as he was too long to get him all the way inside. I tightened my grip and he released my hair to hold the rail.

I tasted the pre-cum and wanted to give him more. I tremored with my own need until he vibrated right out of my mouth. I continued to pump him, but he must have felt as I did.

He pulled me off of him and lifted me to my feet in one swift move. He spread my legs, pushed my panties aside and immediately pushed his hardened cock inside me. The initial stretch burned and had me gasping for breath. I gripped his shoulders. I needed this, and I needed him.

“Condom.” He gritted his teeth as he spoke. I didn’t want him to pull out of me.

“Pill,” I whispered, as I grabbed his head to bring his mouth over mine. He picked me up and took the few steps to the wall and placed me against it. He pushed in and out of me as he kissed my neck. I moaned in his ear as I clawed at his shirt.

This was what I needed at the moment. He rode me hard and fast. I didn’t see my orgasm coming until it was upon me. It was intense. My body bowed against the wall and forced him farther inside me. The bite of pain from it sent me spiraling to the heavens and cresting before collapsing on his shoulder as he drove me down the cliff.

I felt the stirring in my stomach and swore it couldn’t be true. One orgasm was all I ever managed vaginally, but here it was, coming on me fast. I squirmed trying to escape the impending orgasm that would steal my soul, but it was too late. I bit down on his shoulder to keep my screams down as I hit and slapped at him when it peaked and sent me over the edge.

He rode me down my orgasm, whispering something I couldn’t understand. My heart roared with energy as it tried to beat out of my chest. My adrenaline rush exited in my orgasm and I was suddenly very tired. Mark pumped into me a few more times before throwing his head back and gritting his teeth. His orgasm had him leaning his head on the cool wall and looking down into my eyes.

He lowered me and we both got dressed. My legs were once again like jelly and I struggled with staying upright. The lack of sleep and parade of emotions had me crashing to the floor in pure exhaustion. Mark started the elevator again and helped me get dressed during our descent.

“Brooklyn, want to tell me what happened here?” Mark asked as he helped me get my boot back on.

“I needed some air, and there was a man here. He was dressed as a guard, but the things he said made me think it was him.”

Mark helped me to my feet and kept an arm around me as he inspected me.

“We will talk about this, Brooklyn.” He waved at the air around us. “You have put me off or run away each time I try. Now after you explain the flowers we are going to have a cup of coffee and you and I will discuss this thing that is happening between us.”

“Mark, I can’t handle hearing the words come out of your mouth that you don’t want me. Put it off a few more days or a week, please.”

He seemed to ignore me and snapped the holster shut on my pants.

“I can’t keep passing work onto others so I can soothe you. I left work when you got nauseous, and here I am again helping you cascade down an adrenaline mountain. I need to be able to focus and I can’t when you look at me the way you do.”

“How do I keep looking at you?” I ask in a whisper, unable to meet his eyes.

“You stare at me with those deep blue eyes, and I can see you love me. Your full pouty lips beg me to kiss them. Your voice quivers when you get excited, which is the same thing it does when I am deep inside you. Your skin flourishes to life when I touch you. Everything about you pulls me in so fast that I have to run the opposite direction just to catch my breath.”

I decided it was time to get off the subject. I knew if he went into any further detail someone would end up hurt and it would most likely be me. I wonder how he came to be here when I was here.

“How did you find me?” I asked softly.

“Your phone has its GPS on.”

“Who ratted me out?” I asked, trying to hide the guilt that followed. I knew someone was in trouble for my actions.

“The cops you sent for breakfast have been relieved of duty pending an investigation.”