PAYBACK (A Bad Boy Romance) (2 page)

I
let
the paper drop to the desk, satisfied with current progress.

“Her finals are next week. Grades are good. She should graduate with honors.”

“Excellent,” I grunted with approval. My little Holly was all grown up.

Finally.

And I was proud of her accomplishments as if they were my own.

Mostly because I took full credit for making them possible.

“Make preparations to bring her home. I want the house prepped, her bedroom ready. This will be a special occasion.”

A low hum of happiness found its way to my mouth in the form of a smile. A rarity for me.

So rare that Johnny found it unnerving.

“You okay, boss?”

“Better than ever. All my plans are finally coming to fruition.”

“What if she…doesn’t share your goals.”

My smile faded. “She will.”

Johnny was being a killjoy.

“Leave that to me, she’ll come around,” I said, confident. “Besides, once she realizes that this is her life…she’ll learn to embrace it.”

Johnny’s short nod told me, he wasn’t so sure but he wasn’t going to argue with me because he liked being able to use his tongue.

Holly was willful, but I liked that about her.

Beneath that shy, quiet exterior, beat the heart of a woman who simply needed a firm hand.

I was that person.

I’d waited so long for this moment. The next two weeks would be agony.

I was so close.

Holly, my sweet Holly, you’re coming home.

M
y head ached
, a sour taste clung to the back of my throat. I tried to move. A moan escaped as I discovered my hands and feet bound tightly, the rope chaffing the skin. Panic threatened. My gaze darted to my surroundings.

I didn’t recognize anything in the cramped room. It smelled as if it hadn’t been cleaned — ever.

A combination of motor oil, pizza, beer and things best left unsaid assaulted my nose. A weak cough tickled my throat.

I tried to remember what’d happened but my memory was foggy at best.

Books.

Paula, the campus librarian had reserved the book I’d been searching for, and had it waiting for me. I remembered being so excited to get home to read. I wasn’t paying attention but I knew the path so well, I hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings.

Butcher was always telling me to watch myself.

Of course, this would happen to prove him right.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the pounding making mincemeat of my brain. I’d been kidnapped. That was the only answer.

Kidnapped by a hoarder, apparently.

I struggled to focus my vision, which kept crossing like marbles kicked across a room.

I struggled to a sitting position, using abs that I’d forgotten about, and found myself on a dingy plaid sofa, the scratchy ‘70s era fabric nearly disintegrating beneath me.

Using my teeth I tried tugging at my bindings. My fingers were cold from lack of circulation.

The door opened and I sucked back a gasp.

A tall man, broad like a linebacker, apprised me as if he were assessing my value.

His dark hair, too long with a bit of curl, was just this side of sexy bed-head, but his slate gray eyes looked chipped from ice.

A slow smile curved cruelly sensual lips.

My breath caught in my chest as my heart beat erratically.

Electricity snapped between us, forging an unlikely connection that both horrified and fascinated me.

I’d lived a sheltered life. My brother, Butcher, was insufferably protective. If he could’ve put me in a plastic bubble, he would’ve.

Right about now, I wished I’d paid better attention to his constant fussing.

“What do you want?” I asked, going straight to the point. Perhaps by feigning bravery, I could bluff my way out of this.

Not that this man could be bluffed.

His eyes zeroed into my soul.

Picking at the tender parts as easily as a bird speared its prey.

That steady smile returned, sending a shiver down my spine.

“I want you,” he answered, coming toward me. “Isn’t that obvious?”

I shrunk against the sofa cushion, trying to disappear but there was no escaping him. He leaned in and bracketed me with both arms, trapping me between muscle and bone.

“Why?” The tremulous question did little to bolster my attempt at bravery but then I’d never been a badass. “I’m no one.”

He caressed my cheek with a roughened knuckle. “Oh, you’re wrong about that, sweetheart. You’re everything I need.”

Why did that statement both thrill and terrify me?

I didn’t know him.

But there was something about him that stole my ability to breathe. There was a word for this:
stupidity
.

He was everything I’d never have the opportunity to experience.

Hard as granite, each muscle, rigid and roped, a body that promised bad things in the best way and a dangerous attitude that practically screamed “heartbreaker” in shrill tones — the kind of man women dreamed about in their darkest fantasies but never spoke about.

I wasn’t the kind of woman who could dream of being with someone so bad.

So for him to say I was everything he needed…it did something crazy to my wiring.

I squirmed against the embarrassing wetness between my thighs.

“Who are you?” I dared.

He moved in closer, his breath, smelling of cinnamon and clove, tickled my jaw. “I’m your worst nightmare, baby,” he whispered before sealing his lips to mine in a brutal invasion that I couldn’t escape. I squeaked as his tongue penetrated my gaped mouth. The spicy scent of male enveloped me as he suddenly gripped my jaw, holding me tight as he plundered.

The wetness increased.

My nipples hardened.

A distressing moan followed.

What was wrong with me?

“Stop,” I managed to cry even though a shameful part of me wanted more. “Please…”

I didn’t expect my plea to work. Why would it? I was tied, kidnapped, and at his mercy.

But it did.

Or maybe he just wanted me to think it had.

Either way, he pulled away, pushing a lock of dark hair out of his eyes with a hungry expression. I sensed the danger, simmering beneath the surface of that cool smile, those eyes burning with something that made me shudder.

He was like a wolf.

And I was dinner.

H
olly Brannon
, a bird in my trap.

Succulent, plump, and tasty.

I ran my hand across my lips, wiping away the evidence of our kiss.

That strawberry blonde hair…I itched to have it wrapped around my fist as I buried myself between her thighs. Those eyes, big as an owl’s, blinked back tears and I smiled.

“Who are you?”

It was a fair question. I dropped into the chair opposite her, and plopped my booted feet on the scarred coffee table, upsetting an avalanche of crap.

Tito wasn’t exactly a tidy housekeeper but his place served my purposes.

The minute Butcher discovered his sweet little sister was gone, he’d start looking. I needed somewhere to hole up for a while. I wanted Butcher to sweat, good and plenty, so that when I finally made contact, the son-of-a-bitch was ready to make any deal to keep the little bird safe.

“On second thought, don’t tell me,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut. “I can’t identify you so you can let me go. I’ll forget this ever happened. You can go with your life and everything will be fine.”

I chuckled. “You watch too many movies. It doesn’t work that way. Besides, I want you to know who I am.”

Her eyes popped open, narrowing with anxiety. “Why? Are you going to kill me?”

“That depends on your brother.”

She gasped, paling a bit, revealing tiny freckles dancing across the bridge of her nose. “What do you mean?”

“It means your brother owes a debt and you’re going to help him pay.”

Holly shook her head desperately. “I don’t know anything about my brother’s business. I barely know him. You’re wasting your time. I can’t give you what I don’t have.”

I didn’t fault her for trying but I knew she was lying through her teeth. “He went to a lot of trouble to hide you even existed. And he was smart to do so. Your brother has a lot of enemies. I can only imagine what they’d do with a sweet young thing like you if they knew.”

Tears sparked in her eyes. “So what are you going to do with me?”

“For now? Anything I want.”

My groin ached with the biggest erection I’d ever had.

Sweat actually gathered along my crown.

“My hands are numb,” she whispered.

“I bet they are.” I made no move to untie her.

“Please…if you could just loosen them a bit…”

“So you could run? No, I don’t think so. Besides, rope is a good look on you.”

Holly blushed and her frame shook as she looked away. I liked the way she seemed so virginal, so pure.

But that couldn’t be true.

“You’re pretty good at playing the part of innocent,” I told her, amused.

“What do you mean?”

“You almost got me fooled. Tell me, what do you really do all those hours in the library? You running a racket of some sort? What’s the angle?”

“The angle is that I like to read,” Holly answered with a confused frown. “That’s what most people do at the library.”

I waved away her answer. “Bullshit. No one spends as much time as you do at the library unless they’ve got something going on. Maybe if you cut me in, I’ll think about going easy on you. I’m always looking for ways to broaden my horizon.”

“I like to read,” she repeated as I were slow, adding stiffly, “Actually, it’s what I love. Have you ever opened a book? You should try it sometime.”

“Books are for pussies. Movies are better.”

She looked away as if she couldn’t comprehend how ignorant I was.

That pissed me off.

Just because I hated to read didn’t mean I was stupid.

Little Miss High and Mighty better learn that real quick.

“Where am I?”

I didn’t answer. The less detail she had, the better.

Instead, I abruptly rose and planted myself in front of her, invading her space, once again. I liked the way her pupils dilated and her soft lips parted, almost inviting me for a taste.

I reached down to untie her feet. I tossed the rope aside and then just as she lifted her hands with relief, thinking I was going to release her, I kicked apart her legs and leaned in, my body taking up the space between her thighs.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her eyes wide and her voice breathy.

“Let’s get something straight from the get-go…I ask the questions, not the other way around. If you’re a good girl, I’ll reward you. If you’re bad…I’ll punish you. Do you understand?”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t understand any of this,” she cried, the freckles on her nose standing out. Where else did she have freckles? “I’m begging you. There’s still time to change your mind. Someone is going to report me missing and it’s only going to take a short while for my brother to find me. Do yourself a favor and let me go before my brother eats your balls for lunch.”

I laughed. “I’m counting on that, baby girl. I want your brother to know panic. I want him to stew in his own fear until I tell him my terms. You, little girl, are collateral. You are mine to do what I wish and no one is coming to save you so you’d better work on your manners. It’s just you and me. Got it?”

That much was true. Tito’s place was isolated in a forgotten section outside of the city, where people were sparse and the neighborhood wasn’t exactly friendly. Even the cops avoided this place if they could.

I wouldn’t set up permanent shop here but it would definitely serve my needs.

“Now…let’s get to know each other,” I said, forcing her hands down to her lap. “Repeat after me…Cason O’Connor.”

“W-why?” she stammered.

“Because that’s the name you’re going to be screaming when I’m deep inside you. I want to hear my name when I’ve got you bent over this very couch, buried up to my balls inside your sweet pussy. How’s that sound?”

“You’re disgusting.” A shocked gasp escaped her sweet lips. “You would rape me?”

A snarl escaped as a wave of rage blotted out my thoughts. “And if I did, it would be no more than Butcher deserves.”

I choked back the black tide, my breathing short as I fought to right my tilting ship. Why should I show Butcher’s sister mercy when he didn’t have a merciful bone in his body?

“I don’t know what happened between you and my brother—“

I got in her face. “That’s right, you don’t know but you will. You think your brother is the good guy? Because he pays to send you to some fancy, uptight private college but know this, baby girl, your brother pays your bills with blood money. He’s as dirty as they come. If I were you, I’d drop the innocent act because anyone who shares DNA with Butcher Brannon is just as rotten and I don’t give a shit about you or your feelings. Go ahead, hate me. It’s better that way. I’m not a good guy either but at least I don’t pretend to be.”

“I swear I don’t know anything about my brother’s business,” she said, tears wetting her cheeks.

“You’d be surprised how quickly people remember details with the right motivation,” I returned.

“I’m a virgin,” she blurted out, almost desperately. “Please, don’t do this. I’m begging you. Please.”

Something inside me jolted with awareness. She was playing the part, right? College kids were all about getting laid and partying between mid-term cram sessions. There’s no way she was still untouched.

But, fuck it, she could play any part she wanted as long as long as Butcher got his due.

”That sucks for you,” was all I said, then pushed off, away from her, leaving with a warning. “Stay put. If I find you tried to escape…well, let’s just say, it’s in your best interests to just do as you’re told.”

“You can’t keep me here forever,” she shot back, tears still sparkling in her eyes.

I laughed. “Of course not. But I can make each day feel like an eternity if you cross me. Understand?”

Fear snaked its way into her eyes. Good. Fear kept people from doing stupid things.

Tito walked in, a hulking mass of tattooed bad-assery with a permanent scowl, and she shrank back against the sofa cushion. To Tito, I said, “Watch her. I’ll be back.”

“Maybe she gets out of line,” Tito suggested with a shrug and I fought the immediate growl. Tito knew me well enough to know when he was treading on dangerous ground. He chuckled, easing up on his scowl for a moment. “Go on, bring back a pizza. I’m fucking starved.”

I nodded. Tito would guard my prize while I went on a food run.

For Holly’s sake, I hoped she heeded my warning.

I’d hate to mark up that creamy skin prematurely.