Anguish

  Anyway, back to the drunk.

  After the guys and gals went and got it on, we all came back and continued drinking. Even the guys got into it. My phone rang about fifteen minutes ago, and I stumbled outside to answer it. It was Josie and we talked, I told her how I kissed Mack, she squealed, and then we were done. Now I’m pressed against the wall, my head spinning in a delightful way.

  “You’re still alive.”

  I turn my head to see Mack walking out. He closes the door behind him and we’re alone in the darkness. Oh, man. My heartbeat just kicked up about thirty notches.

  “I’m alive,” I whisper.

  He steps closer. I can feel him more than see him. His body heat invades my space, and I swallow. Oh man. Oh, man.

  “You drunk, honey?” he murmurs.

  Honey.

  Sigh.

  “Ah, yes.”

  He steps closer again, and I can smell the beer mixed with his very own scent wafting over me. Oh, holy mother. He’s slightly under the weather too, and inside, for a while there, I saw some of the tension slip from his body, and it made him look even more beautiful.

  “You wanna explain you leapin’ onto my lap and kissing me earlier?”

  I flinch. I knew that was coming.

  “It was,” I swallow, “a dare.”

  “You like it?”

  “What?” I squeak.

  “Did you like it?”

  Oh, man.

  “Ah, yes.”

  “You really never had a man’s tongue?”

  “Oh my God, Mack, stop.”

  “’Cause after that kiss, I’m thinkin’ I’d like it to be me that puts it there for the first time.”

  My knees are going to give way. Mack doesn’t want me. I’m hallucinating.

  “Am I dreaming?”

  He chuckles, so low and soft I nearly don’t hear it. “No, but we’ve both been thinkin’ about this all fuckin’ night, and I figure why the fuck not take it?”

  “I’m your nanny.”

  That really is a poor protest, but hey, it’s all I’ve got.

  “You gonna stop bein’ my nanny if I put my tongue in your cunt?”

  Eeek.

  “I owe you money, so no.”

  “Good.”

  Then he steps closer, and his body presses against the length of mine. God dammit, my lady pieces just betrayed me and got really, really wet.

  “Mack,” I breathe, when his fingers go down and slowly raise my dress. “I really don’t—”

  “Shhh,” he murmurs, his lips finding my neck.

  Oh, shit.

  “No, really,” I whimper. “I don’t—”

  “Shut up, Lah.”

  “Stop calling me that!”

  “Shut up.”

  “I don’t like it, I really don’t, this is awkward for me, and—”

  He kisses me, his lips crushing down on mine in a scorching kiss that has my knees going weak and my hands going up to tangle in his thick, long hair. His tongue invades my mouth, dancing with mine, and silencing me in a way nothing else could.

  “Now,” he rasps, pulling back. “We’re done talkin’.”

  “You don’t understand,” I cry, pressing my hands to his chest. “What I said inside, it’s not the only reason I don’t want to do it.”

  He stops, tilts his head, and murmurs, “What’s the reason.”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “You got diseases?”

  “What?” I cry. “No!”

  “Then what?”

  “I . . .” Oh, God, the shame. I wouldn’t say this if I wasn’t drunk, that I’m sure, but I don’t have the strength to push him away and he’s determined. “I get . . . overly excited.”

  His body starts shaking.

  “Are you laughing at me?” I cry.

  “Sorry,” he says, though I can hear the laughter in his voice. “Excited?”

  “Yes, you know . . .”

  “No, honey, I don’t.”

  “There’s a lot of . . .”

  “Go on.”

  My cheeks flame, and I cry, “I get really wet!”

  He’s silent. “That’s it?”

  “What do you mean is that it?”

  “You get wet, that’s it?”

  “That should be enough,” I protest.

  “How wet are we talkin’?”

  “What?”

  He leans in closer, his hand going around my hip to pull me closer. “How wet are we talkin’?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “Then how do you know it’s too much?”

  “My ex-boyfriend told me.”

  “You a squirter, honey?”

  I gasp. “NO!”

  His body starts shaking again.

  “Mack!”

  His fingers go back to lifting my dress.

  “Did you not hear me?” I cry, squirming.

  “I heard you, and I can’t fuckin’ wait to have your sweet cunt in my mouth. Wet or not.”

  Oh, God. I never knew Mack could be a dirty talker, though I won’t lie and say I haven’t heard the girls at the club talking about how he’s a maniac in bed, but still . . .

  He starts lowering himself down my body, his lips grazing against my belly as he goes.

  “Mack, I really don’t—”

  He rips my panties aside, cutting me off. His hot breath is against my flesh, and oh man, I just convulsed in the best way.

  “Mack, really, I don’t want you to do this.”

  “You want me to stop?” he murmurs.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.”

  He leans in and presses a kiss to my clit. My entire body jerks, and I cry out.

  “Sure?” he asks.

  “No,” I wail. “Yes. No.”

  He doesn’t wait for any more; no, he just closes his mouth over me like I’m the food he needs to survive. He consumes me, devours me, his tongue slides up my flesh and down, then up again. I’m screaming, I know this, but I don’t fucking care. What was wrong with me? Why would I not want this? I’m a fool, a . . . oh, God, he just bit my clit. He bit it. I’m going to come shamefully hard in my boss’s mouth.

  “Oh my God,” I scream, my legs giving way as the best orgasm of my life tears through my body. Mack’s arm goes round my middle and he holds me up.

  “Fuck, so wet, wettest I’ve ever seen.”

  “Oh God,” I whisper shamefully.

  “You taste like fuckin’ heaven,” he rasps, sliding his tongue out and taking every ounce of my arousal.

  “Mack, please.”

  “Again,” he demands and he presses his tongue back to my jerking clit. Then his finger goes up, sliding inside of me. He makes a ragged sound, and I cry out his name as his finger does amazing things to the bundle of nerves already on fire inside my body.

  “Mack,” I plead.

  “Fuckin’ again,” he orders.

  I give in to him again, long and slow, sweet and sexy, until my legs are jelly and my body is slumped in his arms. He pushes my panties back, slides his body up mine, and then shoves a deep, angry kiss onto my lips. I can taste me, and I protest for a moment, but soon I’ve got no fight left. I melt into him, and I take all of my cum off his tongue and lips, licking and sucking until he’s grinding against me.

  “Fuck,” he growls, pulling back. “Fuck.”

  “Mack,” I breathe.

  “You have no idea how much I want to fuck you right now.”

  “Then why don’t you?” I whimper.

  He pulls back, letting me go gently. “Can’t.”

  Then he’s gone.

  Gone.

  Oh, man.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  MACK

  Running my hands through my hair, I turn onto the highway, ready to end this shit with Gregor so that I know Jaylah is safe. Not just Jaylah, but . . . my . . . son. The very thought of the baby, my son, has my body jerking. I push it out of my mind as quickly as it came in, and instead take my focus to the p
arty two nights ago.

  Fuck.

  I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have walked out there and put my mouth on her sweet pussy, but I fuckin’ did. And because of that, I complicated shit. Now she’s no doubt thinkin’ about it as much as I am. I should have stayed away, kept my guard up and let the relationship go, but it was impossible after she threw herself onto my lap in that basement and kissed me.

  And fuck, did she kiss me.

  I let out a low, feral growl. I can’t be doing this; not after Ingrid. That was enough to teach me that emotions are fucked. Anything besides sex is just a dangerous game to play. Jaylah isn’t just a fuck-and-leave kind of girl. I know that, I knew that before I did it, but I fuckin’ did it anyway. She might act like she’d just take a piece and leave, but I can see it, even under all her spunk, that she’s not going to be a mere sex toy.

  Stay the fuck away, Mack.

  I focus back on the road, and how I’m goin’ to deal with Gregor. I hope to fuckin’ God he lets it go, but there’s a chance he won’t, and it’ll start yet another fuckin’ war we don’t need. With everything goin’ on in the club, and Benito around, I don’t have time for any of this shit.

  When I reach the old warehouse where we organized to meet, I pull the truck over and get out.

  I reach around, checking my gun is secure in my back pocket before walking in past the old creaking gates. Dust flies around, a result of little rain in the past month or so, and my black clothes quickly become dusty. I see Gregor standing beside a sleek, black car. Why the fuck anyone would bring a car into this dust pile is beyond me. Especially a car like that.

  He’s crouched over, even though he’s trying not to show it. He took a solid blow to the gut with that bullet. I have no doubt he’s livin’ in some pretty serious pain right now. I stop in front of him and scan the area around us, making sure I’m not about to step into a set-up, then I turn and mutter, “Gregor.”

  “Didn’t think you’d come along,” he says, his voice tight.

  “Said I would.”

  He nods. “You and me, we got problems, Miakoda?” he asks.

  “That depends,” I say, my voice dropping. “You gonna go after Jaylah?”

  “I was shot.”

  “Not by her.”

  “By her boyfriend.”

  “Ex-boyfriend, who she no longer has anything to do with.”

  Gregor’s eyes flash and he straightens. “I’m a fair man, Miakoda, but I don’t take kindly to being set up.”

  “You think I set you up?” I growl. “Gregor, if I was having you fuckin’ set-up, I would have pulled the gun and shot you myself, not given you fuckin’ cash. That boy came in like a screamin’ loon, and thought he was savin’ Jaylah. We didn’t ask him to. We didn’t fuckin’ want him there, and he’s a fuckin’ idiot.”

  “You expect me to believe you?” he hisses.

  “Yeah, I fuckin’ do, because if you don’t, we got problems, and I don’t have the fuckin’ time or effort for problems.”

  “I’ve heard Benito is back in town.”

  I flinch and give him a hard stare. “Benito has got nothin’ to do with this.”

  “He wants that baby; he wants you to suffer. He’s even been talkin’ about the girl . . .”

  I step forward, blinded by rage, and I curl my fists in his shirt and snarl, “We’re not here to talk about Benito. He’s my fuckin’ problem. We’re here to talk about you and me. Now, if I wanted to fuckin’ kill you, I would have. You believe me, we walk away and you can do whatever the fuck you want to that little bastard who shot you. If you don’t believe me then we start a fuckin’ war, here and now.”

  He holds my eyes, his gaze intense.

  “I can do whatever the fuck I like to Samuel?”

  I jerk my head in response. “I couldn’t give a fuck about that piece of shit and Jaylah might care, but she’s not goin’ to step in the way. He put himself in this mess; he can get himself the fuck out of it. Now, how’s this gonna go down?”

  He studies me. “Hands off me, Miakoda.”

  I drop him, shoving him back slightly. He winces in pain but rights himself quickly.

  “You assure me there’ll be no interference from you or the girl, and we’ve got a deal,” he growls.

  I reach out my hand, “Deal.”

  He takes it and gives it a quick shake before letting go.

  “I mean it, Miakoda. If I hear of her being involved again, I won’t be so nice.”

  I shoot him a glare so hard he flinches, but he holds his ground.

  “And I mean it when I say we’ll have a big fuckin’ war if you touch her.”

  He nods.

  I nod.

  And it’s done.

  For now.

  ~*~*~*~

  JAYLAH

  “Hush, sweetheart,” I soothe, bouncing Diesel in my arms as I pace the room.

  I know he can feel my tension because he’s upset, crying and won’t calm down. I’m trying to soothe him as much as I can, but my heart is racing and my head is pounding. Mack went to see Gregor this morning, and I don’t know how it’s going to end. Something really bad could happen, and it would be all on me.

  I could be the reason Diesel is left without a father.

  The sound of a car pulling in has me spinning on my heel and rushing to the window. I see Mack’s black truck and he slides out. He doesn’t really drive it much, he’s usually on his bike, but he looks equally as sexy in a truck, I must say. My breath whooshes out as he nears and I see he’s unharmed. I put Diesel down in his bouncer, and try not to act too desperate when Mack enters the house.

  “Mack,” I squeak.

  Yep, not desperate at all.

  He flicks his gaze to me, and oh boy, he looks a little angry.

  “It’s done,” he says, his voice low.

  Done? What does he mean done? Is it finished? Did he kill Gregor? How is it done?

  “Done?”

  He turns to me. Oh man, holy angry alert. “I said, it’s done.”

  “Done how?”

  “Finished.”

  “Mack,” I plead.

  He steps closer, glaring at something over my shoulder. The wall, probably. “He won’t bother you again.”

  “Does that mean he’s not alive?”

  His eyes come to mine. “He’s fine. He won’t bother you again.”

  “And Samuel?”

  “Samuel ain’t my problem.”

  My heart starts pounding. “But he’s not safe. He’ll kill him.”

  “Not. My. Problem.”

  I gape. “I don’t like the man, but he doesn’t deserve to die, Mack.”

  Mack turns, stepping closer and getting in my face. “He decided to mess around with drug dealers, let his woman get involved, shot one, so he can deal with the outcome of that. He made a choice, Jaylah. He’s gotta live with it.”

  “But—”

  “You wanna get yourself killed for his bad choices?” Mack growls.

  “No, but I don’t want him to die knowing I could have tried, or—”

  “You did try, and you nearly got your ass blown apart because of it. Your debt is paid; it’s done.”

  “But—”

  He reaches out, curling his fingers around the back of my head and pulling me close. Diesel has settled in his bouncer, and it seems strange he did this when Mack came in. Like he knows his voice. That warms my heart.

  “You gonna go out there and try and fuck what I just did up?”

  “I . . .”

  “No, you ain’t. You work for me now, Jaylah. You owe me that money, and there’s no way in hell you’re bringin’ that shit back into my home with that baby around.”

  My temper flares.

  “So now you care about what happens to the baby you barely even look at?”

  “Step down,” he snarls.

  “And you’re going to blackmail me into not helping Samuel, because you know I owe you, and you know I’d never let anything happen t
o Diesel. Which is his name, in case you forgot.”

  “Step. Down.”

  His voice is like a whip, making my body flinch, but I don’t step down.

  “No, Mack,” I hiss. “You step down. I came in here, took your baby on full-time, put up with your moods and your bullshit, and even your random sexual acts towards me, and I do it without a whole lot of fuss. Most women would have thrown the towel in after a day with you.”

  “No fuss?” he growls, low. “You threw a shitty diaper at the woman I was fuckin’.”

  “You shouldn’t have been . . .” I look down at Diesel. “. . . banging her.”

  “Since when did that choice become yours?”

  I step closer now, getting in his face. “Since you wanted me in your house, to do every fuckin’ thing you’re afraid of.”

  His body jerks. “You’re walkin’ a fine fuckin’ line.”

  “What are you going to do, Mack?” I challenge. “Fire me? We both know that’s not going to happen, not just because of the money, but because you like me with Diesel, you like me being here, and hell, sometimes you just like me.”

  “What I’d like,” he grinds out, his hand still around the back of my neck, “is for you to do as you’re told, and trust me.”

  “News flash, caveman,” I mutter sarcastically. “We’re not in the past anymore. Women actually don’t have to do what you say.”

  He growls.

  I hold his stare.

  “Are we done here?” I say, my eyes still on his.

  He lets me go and steps back. “I find out you made contact, tried to help, or fuck, even breathed on Samuel, I won’t be happy.”

  “I’m shaking,” I mutter.

  He glares at me, I blow him a kiss and then scoop Diesel up and leave the room.

  Take that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  JAYLAH

  I’ve just put Diesel down for his nap when there’s a soft knock at the door. Mack has gone out, but Tyke and Austin are watching the house, so whoever is knocking must be allowed to. Figuring it must be Ash or Santana and seriously hoping it is, because I need to vent, I rush over. I swing the door open without hesitation, and see a lady I’ve never met in my life standing there.