“Miles?” The banging gets louder. “Can we talk about this a bit later?”
His smile comes up slowly. “Yeah, puddin’. Of course.”
The loud thud of more banging vibrates through the doors and I roll my eyes. “I’ve had about enough of this shit.” Ruffling up my hair into a messy bundle of joy, and smudging the dark burgundy lipstick that’s smothered on my lips, I walk up to Miles and pull at his tie until it’s loosened. Giggling to myself, I step up to his hard chest, ignoring the way my nipples spark to life at the connection, and bring my lips down to the collar of his crisp white shirt under his suit jacket. Raising my eyes up to his, I run my lips over his collared shirt slowly and then pause at the heat that flares in his eyes. Blinking, I drop my eyes to his neck and to the rose which sits proudly on the side of it. Bringing my eyes back to his carefully, I take my lips away from his now-lipstick-covered collar and toward his neck, over the pulsing angry vein that throbs under his warm skin. Gently, I scatter my lips over it when his body tenses. I open my mouth slightly and the grip he has around my waist tightens. Carefully, I lay a soft, tentative kiss on his neck and then slowly lean back until I can look up into his gentle eyes, eyes that are only gentle for me.
“We will talk, okay?”
He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah. I guess we will.”
I take his hand in mine. “Okay, let’s cause trouble.”
“You always will be my little monster, you know…” Miles laughs, letting me take the lead.
“I’ll always be your little monster,” I repeat with a nod and a chuckle, looking over my shoulder and smiling before running down the stairs.
Swinging the door open, I lean on the doorframe with my arm stretched up. “Hey, sorry,” I tilt my head and suck my bottom lip into my mouth. “Got a little, you know…” I look beside me and behind the door. “Carried away.”
Miles pulls open the door wider while failing at straightening his tie. “Yeah… ahhh…” He brings his eyes back down to mine and I grin up at him under hooded eyes. Miles takes the door handle and looks back to the shocked door-banger. “Yeah, we’re gonna need more time.”
Miles slams the door in the door banger’s face and turns toward me, hiding his laughter with his face turning purple before he bends down and wraps his arms around my calves, lifting me into the air. I let out a loud squeal in surprise and Miles lands his hand on my ass with a loud slap. “Shhh, puddin’.” I cover my mouth with the palm of my hand and try to swallow my fit of laughter. Once we hear the footsteps disappear down the hall, Miles places me back down to my feet with a smile.
“Okay, Johnny Depp. Let’s go.”
“Ooohhh,” he says, his arm hooking around my waist as his other hand grips the door handle. “You really think that was a Johnny Depp level performance?”
I shrug. “Wasn’t bad.”
He throws his head back in a fit of laughter, nudging my body with his shoulder. “You know damn well I’d give Johnny a run for his money.”
“Run?” I say, quirking my eyebrow and following him down the hallway until we reach the top of the stairs. “You couldn’t run if Stephen James was chasing you.”
His mouth snaps shut and I pause. Searching his eyes, I can see the crazy brewing. He lurches forward, his hand flying out to grip my arm, but I sidestep him and move backwards.
“Nuh-uh, can’t touch this. Na, na, na…”
He lunges forward to chase me and I squeal out in shock before launching myself down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Rounding the corner, I pick up my speed when I look over my shoulder to see Miles on my tail with a grin on his face and a psychopathic glint in his eye. “Run, run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the fuck machine man.”
A loud laugh rips out of me as my feet hit the pavement of the hallway. I swing open the door that leads down to the basement and take the stairs again two at a time. Reaching the door which opens out onto the vast space of Raze’s basement board room, I swing it open to find all eyes already on the door, waiting for me to open it because they had already obviously heard the stampede upstairs.
“Hi.” I smile. “Sorry,” I whisper, ignoring Raze’s glare from the head of his table. Miles comes crashing down the stairs and barricades into me until my body falls forward an inch. My hand comes up to my mouth to stifle my laugh.
“Shit, sorry, boss. Had to, you know, tell her to hurry up…” Miles continues, his voice dying out when his eyes meet Raze’s.
Oh, nope. I won’t be looking his way right now.
I step forward anyway, ignoring his gaze. Miles follows in front of me, nudging his head while mouthing, “Come on,” to me. I follow him towards the long wooden table that has “Fear no evil, speak no evil” carved into the impressive woodwork. Subtle, much?
Offering Miles a small smile, I follow him to where Raze is. The chair he’s seated in is more like a big plush leather throne, while the rest are mere office chairs. The room is dimly lit by thin bulbs pressed against the painted red walls, and there’s outside access through a sliding door towards the side. To the right is Hachiro and two of his men with a couple extra standing behind him in vests and clutching machine guns. To the left of Raze is who I’m guessing is Roman Lazovsky and two of his men standing behind him also. The atmosphere is tight with tension, so I straighten my clothing out and stand beside Miles, away from Raze. In each dark corner of the room, I can see the masks of each man from The Army. The sight throws me off a little because I didn’t know that they’d be here, but I shrug it off.
“So as I was saying,” Roman begins, leaning back in his chair.
“Stop.” Raze throws his hand up and then leans over the table around Miles. “Pet?”
“Hmmm?” I say, finally looking down at him. My breath hitches and my palms tickle.
“Get the fuck over here now.”
“I—”
“Now.”
“Okay.” I roll my eyes and step back before rounding his chair to the other side. His fingers lace into mine as he tugs on me to stand directly beside his throne. Looking up at me, his eyes flash with desire but are mixed with anger. I swallow.
“Beast and his crew will be here in a second,” Raze tells me, talking to the other men but his eyes remaining on mine. He slowly pulls his penetrating gaze away from mine and back to the others. “Let’s wait so no one has to repeat themselves.”
A few minutes later, there’s a light tap on the door. Miles steps towards it, then rolls up his sleeves before unlocking the latch and sliding it open.
Beast walks through first, followed by the rest of the crew. I smile softly at them all. Raze’s arm hooks around my thigh possessively. Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I lean my arm on the top of his chair. Beast takes the seat opposite Raze at the end of the table while Hella, Frost, Hannibal, and their new prospect—I forget his name but he’s really smart—stands behind him. I look over my shoulder quickly to the wall when I see Beast’s eyes go over us. There have to be around fifty guns of all sorts hanging proudly on the wall. Raze smiles and then looks up at me. “Ready?”
Confused about his question, I nod my head. “Yeah.”
“This is the deal,” Raze starts, picking up his glass of whiskey. “We’ve been planning to bring down Kurr for some time now. We have a plan. Millie was always supposed to get taken.”
“Why?” Beast interferes. “How was she relevant in this plan?”
Raze smiles. “Because I’m smart enough to not take an old lady. Once I heard that Meadow was with you, I dug around for information. I knew all about Melissa and Millie before Melissa was even with Hella.” He looks up at Hella and grins. “Anyway, once that puzzle fell, I knew it was locked in, so when Kurr started talking about retaliation, I filled his head with the same shit. Told him about Millie and how Father David was chasing her and we could use her as a pawn. She was a virgin. She’d give Kurr enough money on the podium, and then there was Father David who wanted her too because s
he had witnessed a murder.”
“About Father David…” Beast cuts in, tilting his head. I notice all the other men are stock still and silent. I wonder whether they already know all of this and are just waiting to get into the details surrounding the plan and how it’s going to happen.
“He’s taken care of,” Raze assures him.
Beast studies him. “How so?”
“How do you think?” Raze quips sarcastically. Beast narrows his eyes on Raze, and if the seriousness of the situation wasn’t so intense, I’d laugh at how much of a brotherly rivalry was happening.
“So you’ve got Millie, and she was… what?” Beast asks, leaning on his elbow. “You just walked out of there with her?”
Raze shakes his head. “No.” He looks at Hachiro and nods his head. “We had Hachiro purchase her. Millie didn’t know until she was here that it was me.”
“Poetic,” Frost digs, folding his arms in front of himself.
“Mmmm, you have no idea.” Raze grins devilishly at him while his fingers flex around my thigh. Despite the fact that there are more important things going on here, how do Frost and Raze manage to have a pissing contest in the middle of it?
“So what’s the plan?” Beast asks.
“Three nights from now, Kurr is holding one of his monthly meetings at the base. It’s where all of his main men meet to go over the next month’s… activities. I’ll be there already, with the boys.” Raze nudges his head over his shoulder to the line of masked men standing there like soldiers ready for battle. They must have moved from their corners.
Raze points to Hachiro. “At eight fifty p.m., they will come from the fire exit.” Then he points at Roman. “And they will come from the main entryway and exit.” Then he looks back at Beast. “And your club will be surrounding the entire property. Do you have a sniper?”
Beast nudges his head. “Yeah, Hella.”
Raze shakes his head. “Nah, I need Hella down below. Do you have anyone else?”
“Why do you need Hella down below?” Beast asks.
I bring my eyes up to Hella, who’s watching Raze with fresh eyes. In this moment, I’d say it has just registered to Hella just how much pull Raze has and how much he knows. Hella won’t like that; he’s too much of a control freak. Like Raze.
“Because of manpower and precision. Hella is quick, silent, a little hotheaded and loose, but that’s the sort of crazy I need on the ground. How are you with a rifle?” Raze tilts his head and though he’s not smiling, I see what he’s doing.
Beast narrows his eyes. “Not bad, why?”
“Because you have too much control. I don’t need that on the floor this night. You’d be better up in one of the bunkers.”
“Bunkers?”
“We built bunkers in the trees which surround the base. Three of them, one for each sniper.”
“And you aren’t bringing a sniper to the table?” Beast asks.
“No.” Raze shakes his head. “My men are seven shades of crazy. They’re not only loose and bloodthirsty, but they’re relentless when it comes to a kill.” Raze smiles sweetly. “Therefore, they’d be much better fit on the ground.”
Hella shrugs. “The man has a point.”
“Fine,” grunts Beast. “I need to know why.”
“Why what?” Raze asks.
“Why you decided to take him down.”
Raze chuckles, lifting the rim of his whiskey to his mouth and downing it in one long swig before placing it back on the table. “Because I’ve hated him for as long as I can remember.”
“Not good enough.”
Raze smirks. “I don’t care what isn’t good enough for you, Beast. You want this revenge or not?”
He watches Raze before shrugging. “Yeah.”
Raze nods, pulling out the plans from under the table. “Good. Now, this is the plan.”
RAZE
After the meeting, I take Millie into the kitchen and pull open the fridge. “Any questions?”
She takes a seat on one of the barstools. “What about Shelby? I notice you didn’t tell Beast about her.”
I swallow down the cool water before sliding it across to Millie. “I didn’t, no. All in due time, pet.”
She takes a drink of the water and places it back down onto the counter. “Can I come?”
“Absolutely fucking not,” I scoff, rounding the kitchen bar and sitting down beside her.
She turns to face me, her green eyes lasering into mine. “And why not?”
My face scrunches. “Are you ready for the list of reasons why the fuck your ass is staying right here? ‘Cause I got a list, baby, right off the top of my head.” She rolls her eyes and swivels the stool back around. My hand latches onto her knee as I spin her back around to face me. “That shit,” I wave my finger between her eyes, “will get you fucking spanked.”
“Threats, Raze. All I hear are threats,” she teases, looking at me from the corner of her eye. Standing, the stool crashes and falls behind me and I lean down, taking her legs in my arms and swinging her over my shoulder.
“Raze!” she yells, banging on my back. “Put me down, this is not funny!” She lets out a slight giggle and I raise my hand up before slapping across her bare ass from her skirt falling over her back.
Miles walks down the stars and wolf whistles. “Still the best ass I’ve ever laid eyes on.” My eyes narrow. “And touched.” One hand grips around the back of Millie’s thigh while the other launches out to Miles’ neck.
I clench his throat in my fingers with a smile. “Talk about her ass like that again and you won’t be getting any for an entire month.”
Miles’ mouth drops open. “What? You the ass controller too, now?”
I continue walking up the stairs. “I’m the controller of whatever the fuck I want.”
“Sorry, puddin’!” Miles yells out.
Rolling my eyes, I walk back down the hallway and towards my bedroom door before kicking it closed and taking her ass to bed.
Two days later
“Raze?” Millie says from my bed, the black silky sheets clutching her body.
“Mmm?” I continue to tie up my boots.
“Can you be careful, please? And take care of Miles?”
I chuckle, standing and reaching for my holster vest and throwing it over my bare chest. “We’ve been doing this for a long time, baby. We’re good. You just need to stay your ass here and sit tight,” I nudge my head, “until we come home carrying Kurr’s head on a stick.”
She laughs. “That’d be interesting.”
I smirk, turning to face her while throwing one of my black t-shirts on. “No joke. We can have a bonfire afterwards.”
She smiles sweetly. “Okay.”
Walking towards the bed, I bend down and press my lips against her forehead, inhaling her sweet, feminine scent. “I’ll be back.”
“You will?” she asks, her eyes glazing over. She’s scared, which takes me aback. Ever since she’s been out of the dungeon, Millie has turned out to be one of the strongest women I know, so seeing fear in her summons a feral and predatorial side of me to the surface.
“Yeah, babe. You think I’d die knowing that someone else will be tapping this ass while I’m rotting in the ground?” I smirk. “Fuck that.”
She laughs, throwing her head back. All her worries and stresses are gone for that split second that she let herself laugh. “That would probably be Miles.”
I shrug. “Then if I go down, that fucker is coming down with me.”
She laughs harder and I bring my lips to hers again, catching her off-guard. I was only supposed to kiss her quickly, but as soon as her soft lips connect with mine, I want to savor it. Bringing my fingers to the back of her head, I pull her face in deeper. She opens slightly and her little tongue slips into my mouth and licks mine softly before retreating. I growl, pulling her bottom lip in between my teeth and readjusting my cock that now presses against the zipper inside my jeans.
“Those lips are gonna get
me killed one day.”
“Like the kiss of death?” she asks, tilting her head.
I laugh. “Yeah, the kiss of death.”
***
“So as I was saying,” Kurr continues, and I look around at all the faces that are here this evening. The 6, and eight of Kurr’s soldiers. “This month is busy. We have a schedule that’s running tight. We have hits that weren’t completed last month so they’re being put through on the priority list.”
I snap my neck, the vision through the eyes of my mask almost like a second sight to me now. My eyes drift to the back where the main entrance is, and then to the right behind us where the fire exit is. I can imagine the chaos that’s happening outside, but because this room is soundproof, nothing is spilling into here. Obviously the snipers are doing a good job of keeping people out, too.
“You’re missing one other hit.” I raise my finger.
“And who is that?” Kurr looks to me, tilting his head.
I grin, my hand going inside of my holster and gripping my gun. “You.” I stand from my seat, point the gun to his leg, and pull the trigger. Pop! He falls to the ground and chaos breaks out in the background, so I quickly turn my gun to his men. Pop, one goes down. When I see that the rest of my crew have his soldiers handled, I walk towards Kurr who is stretched out on the floor.
The front entrance doors swing open and Beast walks through with Miles on his tail, dripping in blood with a grin on his face.
“You fuckers look like you had a good fucking time.” I place my gun back into my holster and replace it with my switchblade.
Miles smiles, his white teeth cutting through his blood-smeared face. “We did, but there’s still a lot out there. We might be slightly outnumbered by a dozen or so, but it’s handled.”
I nudge my head at Beast. “What’s the plan with this fucker?”
Beast’s jaw flexes and Kurr laughs, spitting out blood onto the ground. “Oh, how fucking sweet. The brothers reunite.”