“I’ll take care of that,” Kane says with authority, taking the paper from Sloane and pocketing it, “If you take care of that,” he adds, pointing to Marco, who finally finds his voice.
“I didn’t know who you were, you might’ve said something,” he groans miserably.
“And you might have fallen from the balcony if I’d got here a minute after… you’re through here, Marco. I’ll have my team go over the accounts, see just how much ‘overdue’ rent you’ve been collecting for yourself, plus the assault charges we’ll both press and I guess you’ve got assaulting a police officer now too?” Kane says, quizzing Sloane who’s nodding while he mops his speckled brow.
“You don’t touch what doesn’t belong to you. Mr.…?” Sloane says.
“Brunel.”
“Marco Brunel. Used to work for me… apparently,” Kane growls.
Sloane repeats himself, giving me a friendly nod of his head as he looks to Marco again, wagging his finger in his direction. “You don’t touch what doesn’t belong to you, Mr. Brunel. Otherwise you have a price to pay, what’s Mr. Barret’s is Mr. Barret’s.”
And I feel Kane squeeze me harder from behind, his hand sliding to my shoulder as he murmurs hoarsely into my ear.
“Damned right… what’s mine is mine…”
CHAPTER FOUR
Kane
The presence of others, men especially gets my back up, but Sloane’s alright. He can take out the bag of trash that’s Marco, let him have some time in a cell to consider what it costs when you handle what doesn’t belong to you.
“Call my office with any questions,” I tell Sloane, dismissing him as he hauls Marco off downstairs to wait for his uniformed ride.
“Oh, I’ll be in touch. Mr. Barret, we’ll be in touch for a formal statement later,” he says, giving Marco some of his own medicine to prepare him for his special visit to the big house.
Once we’re alone, I turn Trudi to face me, I tilt her chin up with my finger, feeling her whole body trembling still.
“Tell me you’re alright.”
She shudders another breath and I can see she’s not okay. She’s unhurt, but she’s got things on her mind. I need to show her, not just tell her, that I’m here now.
No more problems for Trudi. Not ever again.
Her eyes keep straying south, finally she bites her lip again, taking a deep breath in and asks me if I want to come inside again, I only reply to her glances by cocking my brow.
“Oh I want to come in again,” I growl. “Again and again…” but I think she’s too overwhelmed to catch my double meaning.
Or is she?
Her coy smile wants to stay, but there’s so much in her eyes. So much in her face that’s telling me more than words about what she’s going through.
“I have to go look for work. I have an interview and I’m late… Did that cop really mean it about the eviction thing? I mean… Oh! I just don’t know anything right now…”
She looks frazzled, upset. Her lower lip starts to tremble in time with her body again and I just can’t stand it. I can’t stand to see her like this, in this place.
I move over to her, so close her hands press up against my chest. She’s wanting to push me away but we both know she can’t.
My thick hard on is still at full attention, pressing into her belly as I pull her towards me, I groan softly as I touch the small of her back and feel her warmth pressing into me, before she finally yields and sinks into me. My arms covering her, shielding her from the world at last.
I hold her, letting her get her tears out, holding her while she jolts in sobs and sniffs. Holding her until she’s spent all she’s got left of her old life.
“I feel so stupid…” she sniffs, “One minute I’m running late and now, now I’ve ruined everything… my job… my house… what am I gonna do?”
“What do you want to do?” I ask her, knowing I can’t force her to do anything she doesn’t want to, but hoping she’ll agree with what I’m about to command her to do, for her own good.
“I’ve only just met you, but I feel like… I feel like I want this… whatever’s happening between us. I want that, but surely… I’m just a …”
I let out another low sound, I want to kiss her so bad, I want to just throw her over my shoulder and carry her out of this place out of this life she’s made for herself.
I want to take her home and spread her wide open on our bed, taste her come in my mouth before I fill her with my seed. I know she’s the only one I want to start the rest of my life with, have that family I’ve only ever seen other people enjoy so much.
“You’re evicted,” I inform her gently as I hear her gasp, pulling back only far enough to bring her face up to look into my eyes again.
“You’re coming home with me, and that’s that. No more shitty jobs, no more crummy apartments for you. You’re mine now. Understand?”
I know she’s done the best for herself here in this place, with her full-time job and that insult they call a wage. Servitude is what I’d call it, keeping someone so perfect, so beautiful down on themselves like this. It’s criminal.
Her eyes narrow for a second, there’s fire in her and she’s not just gonna let a man tell her what to do without having her say, but I see the shift in her eyes when she feels me pulsing against her, as her own body shudders at the recognition of what's between us.
“I want you, Trudi. And I’m a man who gets what he wants because I know what I want…”
This force that’s drawn us together, it’s bigger than both of us and it can’t be denied. I know it,
