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  I swallow as I reach for the lamp. My skin on my chest is tight. As though something sticky has dried on my flesh. A tear races down my cheek and drips off my jaw. I flip on the lamp and my thoughts are confirmed when I look down at my bare breasts.

  Cum.

  I have someone’s cum dried up on my breasts.

  Vaughn is toying with me.

  “V-Vaughn?” I whimper.

  Discreetly, I reach for my phone and quickly dial Gray. Please answer. Please fucking answer.

  Buzzzzz.

  Buzzzzz.

  Buzzzzz.

  I’m frozen when I realize the sounds are coming from under my bed. It’s as though I’m the star of a horror movie. Tearfully, I swipe my tears away when he doesn’t answer. I drop my phone onto the bed and lean over the edge to look. The tip of a black dress shoe peeks out.

  No.

  No.

  Fucking no!

  I leap from the bed as far as I can and train the barrel of the gun at the shadow between the floor and the bedframe.

  “Get out,” I hiss. “Get out!”

  A grunt—a familiar grunt—resounds from underneath the bed. Terror causes my entire body to shake. I’m naked and scared to fucking death but I don’t dare take my gun from the monster under the bed.

  “GET OUT!”

  A man’s hand slides out from the shadows, strong and powerful. I nearly shoot it on the spot. Now my phone is trapped on the other side of this hand. Stupid! More tears streak out, but I hastily blink them away so I can focus. Slowly, a man slides his very naked body out from beneath my bed. His toned and tattooed chest shimmers with what looks like his spent orgasm. Disgust rises in my throat. The moment I actually see who’s emerging from my bed, I am overcome with betrayal.

  “How could you?” I hiss, the gun in my hand wobbling wildly. “You fucking sicko!”

  “Violet,” he murmurs as he slowly slides the rest of the way out and stands up. His impressive cock hangs limp and dripping between his powerful thighs. Hours ago, this man was inside me. Owning and loving my body. I trusted him.

  “It was you. All of this was you,” I sob.

  “Put the gun down, baby,” he whispers.

  “I AM NOT YOUR BABY!”

  He winces at my tone and starts for me. “Listen to me.”

  “Stay back or I’ll shoot your cock off,” I threaten through my tears. As if it reacts to being spoken to, his dick hardens and bobs.

  “I love you,” he tells me as if this solves fucking everything.

  “You’re a stalker!” I screech. My heart is confused because the look of crushing devastation on his face weighs heavily on me. But my mind is telling me to unload the entire magazine into his psychotic chest.

  “Violet.” His blue eyes are tender as he regards me. “I can’t stay away from you. I’m addicted to you.”

  “This is insanity, Gray. This is illegal!”

  He runs his fingers through his hair and his jaw clenches. I hate how brutally handsome he is. I hate everything about him. This is worse than Vaughn somehow. Vaughn destroyed me straight to my face. Gray has done it behind my back.

  A crippling sob ripples through me blurring the world around me. It’s a terrible mistake because I lose sight of him. By the time my eyes clear, he’s on me. His strength overpowers mine, and together we struggle with the weapon. He manages to tackle me to the floor. When my head hits the floor with a thud, the room spins. The gun is torn from my grip.

  “Listen to me,” he urges, his voice soft but commanding. I scream and struggle, but he pins my wrists above my head. My entire body convulses in fear. His body is heavy against mine, his erection thick and hard between us. Terror bubbles up inside of me, and I’m transported to so many nights with Vaughn. But instead of hurting me, he kisses my neck. Over and over again. It’s almost worse than Vaughn’s abuse because I like Gray’s kisses. Each one is like a painful stabbing reminder of what we could have had.

  “I hate you,” I sob. “I hate you.”

  He works his body between my parted thighs. His breath is hot against the shell of my ear. “Liar.”

  His single word makes my heart clench. “You ruined everything.”

  A whimper escapes me when his cock rubs against my clit. He suckles the flesh just below my ear. Despite my fears and being unable to move my hands, my body betrays me. I’m wet and desperate for his touch.

  This is his storm.

  I was never meant to escape it.

  I’m his to obliterate and destroy.

  He’s doing it gently with kisses and love.

  “I hate you,” I try again, but my body is wiggling with need. “The moment I escape, I’ll run far away from you.”

  He lifts and regards me with a fierce glare as he tortures me with teasing thrusts against my clit. “I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, Violet. Don’t you see? I’ve committed my heart to you and nothing, fucking nothing, will stand in my way.”

  Why do I attract psychos?

  Furthermore, why do I love them back?

  “Please…” I don’t even know what I’m begging for at this point. In the shadows of my mind, I know. My sanity refuses to admit it. “Please…”

  “Please stay?” he questions, his cock sliding away from my clit and toward my opening. He doesn’t enter me, just rubs against me.

  “I hate you.”

  “I love you.”

  His teasing and proclamations of love have me so confused. My heart is thundering right out of my chest. It wants to run away with him and never look back. My mind is at war, though. I can’t wrap my head around what he’s done. It’s twisted. Fucking insane.

  “Let me make love to you,” he breathes against my lips. I’ve lost feeling in my hands where he grips me tight. The thought of him pushing inside me has a low moan rumbling in my throat. Everything throbs for him despite the anger exploding through me. “Say the words and you’re mine again. It’s been all about you from the moment I laid eyes on you. I can’t get you out of my head. The only thing that’ll stop me from loving you—from fucking consuming you—is a bullet to my skull. Is that what you want?”

  I whimper and hiss out, “Yes.”

  “Liar,” he growls, his cock barely pressing into me. “You want my cock to stretch you open. You hate that you can’t hate me. You hate that you want me to fuck you. You love that I’m obsessed with you. You want my children and my last name. Fucking admit it, Violet.”

  “I can’t,” I choke out. “I can’t admit it.”

  “You’re beautiful even when you’re in denial.”

  I shiver and plead once more. “Please.”

  “This?” he questions. The tip of his cock slides further into me.

  I can’t breathe. He’s too much. He’s overwhelming. “Y-Yes.”

  A scream rips from me because before I’ve barely spit out the word, he drives into me with enough force to rip me in two. Gray is an F-5 tornado destroying me with every touch. And yet I can’t step out of his path. I allow him to consume me.

  “I love you,” he tells me over and over again as if it’s a prayer.

  All I can do is ride out the storm. My orgasm teases and taunts me. Reminds me that if I give in, he’ll give me everything.

  He’s not like Vaughn, he’s worse. My ruthless attempts to convince myself aren’t working because, deep down, I know. He’s not worse. He doesn’t hurt me.

  Gray just clouds around me in his intoxicating haze until I’m drunk off his heady scent and whispered vows. I’m so lost in him that I don’t realize he’s released my hands until my fingers claw at his hair. This time, when his lips brush against mine, he follows it with a demanding kiss. So much emotion and power comes with the kiss that I fall victim to it. I want his overpowering attention and affection. I want his gentle love but rough lovemaking. I want him to stalk me to the ends of the earth.

  This means I’m sick too.

  “Come for me, baby,” he breathes against my mouth as his fingers s
lip between our slick-from-sweat bodies. The moment he touches my clit, I lose all sense of time and reason. My world tilts off its axis as pleasure crashes through me. I come so hard, my bones feel as though they’re rattling inside me. “Oh, fuck,” he groans as his release spills from him. “My God you’re perfect.”

  I close my eyes as his seed pours into me and my body goes limp. I’m exhausted from the tears and the emotions that were exploding through me. The adrenaline that was spiking through me has slowly drained away from me like his cum that leaks from my body.

  “Let me take care of you,” he coos as he slides out of me.

  I no longer have any fight left in me. He’s a stalker. The man has crept into my home, jacked off all over me, probably touched me while I slept, gone through my things, and lied to me.

  And yet I still somehow feel safe with him.

  It makes absolutely no sense.

  “I don’t know what to think,” I murmur as he carries me to bed.

  He kisses my forehead. “I know. So don’t think. Just let me take care of you, like I always will.”

  I curl up into a ball once he sets me on the bed. He leaves and several moments later he comes back. Dutifully, he shoves the gun back under the mattress and plugs my phone back in. Then, he uses a wet cloth to clean my stomach and between my legs. Once the light is turned off, he slides into the bed behind me. I shiver until he envelops me with his warmth. My skyrocketing heart slows to a crawl, as my eyelids grow heavy.

  I’m tired, and truth be told, I like him wrapped around me.

  I know what’s right and wrong, yet here I am, choosing wrong because it feels right.

  “I love you, Violet,” he murmurs against my hair.

  I shiver again. “I love you too.” Because it’s true. Fucked up, but so very true.

  “This is fucked up,” Bull growls into the phone.

  I pinch the bridge of my nose and nod. “I know, but it’s reality.”

  “How is she this morning?”

  I glance up at the bathroom. The door is closed as she dries her hair.

  “Contemplative but responsive.”

  He grunts. “What does that even mean?”

  “It means she’s quieter than usual but she didn’t put up an argument when I went down on her this morning in the shower.”

  A long, disappointed sigh escapes him. “Where do you guys go from here? I hate to sound like an asshole, but why is she still with you?”

  Her phone buzzes on the table. Ignoring him for a moment, I let out a deep breath I’d been holding the moment I see it’s Gwen.

  Gwen: Can we do lunch today?

  My heart swells.

  “Hello?” Bull questions.

  “Sorry,” I grunt. “I’ll see you in the meeting this morning. We’ll talk after.” I abruptly hang up, my focus on something new.

  Me: It’s Gray. Violet’s drying her hair. I’m sure she’d love to go to breakfast instead. I have a meeting with a London client at 9. Can you pick her up at the office?

  Gwen: Of course.

  The dryer stops, and a second later, the bathroom door opens. Violet is absolutely stunning today. Her silky brown hair has been blown straight and I love how strands of gold glimmer in the sunlight shining in from the window. A towel remains wrapped around her body that bears red marks—marks I made from sucking on her all night and into the morning.

  “Who are you texting?” she questions.

  “Gwen. She wants you to have breakfast with her.” I search her gaze. After all that went down last night, I feel that she’s fragile. I need to put her back together if she starts to break again.

  She takes her phone and reads through the texts. “Okay.”

  I’d only made it to putting my slacks back on but am still without a shirt. Her eyes roam my chest before she turns her back to me. I grab her hips and pull her into my lap. My arms snake around her middle.

  “You feeling okay?” I question as I press kisses along the back of her shoulder.

  “Surprisingly, yes,” she says with a sigh, relaxing against me. “I should be a lot of things but not content.” Her shoulders sag. “I shouldn’t be happy.”

  I tug her towel loose and then urge her to straddle me so I can see her face. My fingers ghost up her ribs on both sides as I look at her, my stare fierce. “You should be so fucking happy, baby,” I argue, pressing kisses to the hollow of her throat as I squeeze her bare ass.

  Her palms find my cheeks and she frowns. “This isn’t normal, Gray. Nothing about this is normal. We’re sick.”

  I slide my hand up to cup the back of her neck and draw her closer. We kiss softly. Our kisses are gentle and filled with promises. I pull slightly away and rest my forehead against hers. “We don’t have to follow the rules. We just have to be together.”

  She seems to soften and relax. “You make it sound easy.”

  I grin at her, which makes her eyes twinkle in return. “It’s that easy. You let me take care of you like I want. After everything you’ve been through, you deserve it. I sure as hell don’t deserve you but I’m going to have you anyway.”

  Her thumb brushes along my jaw. “Are you always this intense?”

  “Only when it comes to you,” I say with a smirk.

  She smiles but then it falls away. “What you did was not okay.”

  Shame fills my chest, and I nod. “I know. I’d do it a thousand times over, though. I don’t think you understand the level of my need for you.”

  “I believe I get it now,” she says in a wry tone. “After Vaughn, this took me by surprise. Had I not gone through such a toxic relationship with him, I’d never be able to accept this.”

  I study her features. Her lips are pressed together in a firm line and her brows are pinched together.

  “I won’t hurt you like he did,” I promise. “You have to realize that.”

  She smiles. “I do know that. But…” Her smile falls again. “What happens when the intensity fades? Six months down the road? Six years down the road? What happens then, Gray?”

  I kiss her mouth. “It won’t happen. If anything, each second that passes, I become worse. My brain is scrambled with you. I can’t think straight. I can’t work. I can’t sleep. Not when I’m worrying about you. When you’re sleeping in my arms or by my side, my life seems to level out. The way I hyper focus on shit seems to fade away. Yes, I’m completely focused on you but I also somehow see the world around me for the first time. You make me better.”

  Her cheeks redden slightly. “I want you to be better.”

  “I am better with you.”

  We’re quiet for a moment, simply content to hold each other.

  “What do you want to do? I know mortgages wasn’t it.” I look up at her with a brow lifted in question.

  She lets out a small chuckle. “Actually, I’m doing it. I love the stuff I do at Maxwell. Especially now that my job doesn’t revolve around making coffee. I love analyzing every aspect of the properties and businesses you want to acquire. It’s like a puzzle I have to put together to make sure it’s a good fit for the company.”

  I beam at her. “You’re nearly as good as me at it,” I tease. “What do you like to do for fun? You know…when I’m not embedding myself in every second of your life?”

  She grows thoughtful and looks past me at the window. “I love watching those shows on HGTV. You know…the ones where they flip old homes and spaces. I’ve never had a home of my own to do that sort of thing with. I love the idea of taking something old and ruined and then turning it modern and beautiful.”

  “I’ll buy you a house to fix up,” I tell her, my tone fierce. I’ll buy her a thousand houses.

  She smirks and darts her eyes back to me. “You’re literally insane. You know that, right?”

  “There are worse things I could be than your stalker.”

  Her eyes close as she shakes her head. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around this. If I had any friends, they’d be telling me to run for the hil
ls.”

  “I’d just follow you there.”

  “Crazy. You’re crazy.”

  I laugh. “I know.”

  Bull is mid-sentence explaining about a new client when my phone buzzes in my pocket. Violet is off at brunch with Gwen so I’ve actually been able to focus on work for a change. Assuming it’s her texting, I pull out my phone to make sure everything is okay.

  Dusty: Found the slippery fuck.

  I flash Bull a look that has him going silent. With one nod, he knows what to do. He rises from his chair and stalks out of my office.

  Me: Here or there?

  Dusty: There. You’re not gonna like this.

  I scratch at the stubble growing in along my jaw. With Violet, I never seem to have any time or means to shave. Once I have her at my house indefinitely, I can settle back into a normal routine—one that doesn’t require me spending the night under her bed.

  Me: Spill.

  Dusty: I saw him and two men go into her mother’s house. Then, the target left alone. I’m in pursuit now. He’s headed that way.

  My heart rate spikes. I knew I’d draw the little cocksucker out.

  Me: Eyes on him. Give me the location of her mother’s house. I need pictures. Send one of your guys to get me the layout. I need to know everything down to the motherfucking weather.

  Dusty: On it, Hawk.

  It’s hard to remain calm, but I have to. Vaughn has been slippery thus far, but I won’t let him get away from me. He thinks he can use her mother to find her now that he knows where she lives and works. I’ll be damned if he ever harms her again.

  I quickly shoot off a text to her. There isn’t any time for me to intervene. All I can do is follow the plan.

  Focus.

  Adjust.

  Hoping she’ll see my text before it’s too late, I fire off a message.

  Me: Be brave for me. I’m going to get you your life back but I need you to be brave. I love you.

  When she doesn’t respond, I worry it’s too late. I bolt from my office just as Bull is striding my way. Together, we haul ass out of there.

  We have a plan.

  Focus.