All In (The Blackstone Affair, Part 2) (9 page)

Brynne sighed again into my chest. I just
kept touching to reassure myself she was indeed here. My girl was
telling me her deepest secrets, in a hot bath, naked in my arms
after some really mind-blowing shagging. I didn’t have any
complaints. Well, maybe a few but I wouldn’t voice them to Brynne.
I continued pulling warm water over her arms and breasts, and
thought about how much I didn’t approve of her mum. What mother
would say such a thing to her daughter after a suicide attempt?

“When it was all over my parents sent me to
a nice place in the New Mexico desert. It took time but I got
better and eventually learned how to deal with my past. Not
faultlessly, but I managed to make some decent progress I suppose.
I discovered my interest in art and grew up.”

Brynne paused again in her story, almost
like she was gauging how I was accepting her news and if I was
shocked or horrified by her now. She worried far too much. I picked
up her wrist with the scars and kissed right over the jagged marks.
Little slices of white marring the otherwise perfect skin with its
translucent sheen, the blue of her veins showing from underneath.
The idea of her cutting into that skin made me very sad for what
she had borne.

I had a sudden epiphany—Brynne had done her
attempt at around the same time I was in that Afghan prison about
to be—

She entwined her fingers with mine and drew
me out of my thoughts, bringing our hands right up to her mouth and
holding them there with her lips. Brynne was kissing
m
y hand
this time. I felt warmth flush all throughout my body and tried to
hold onto the wonderfulness of the sensation while it lasted
because her gesture made me far too emotional to speak.

“I never knew that my dad went to Senator
Oakley and basically blackmailed him. He was livid that he’d nearly
lost me and blamed Lance Oakley for everything. My dad wanted to
press charges but realized I was in no shape to withstand a trial
and probably never would be. And the added bonus of my mother
telling him to leave it alone, and allow me to heal in peace,
convinced him to let the idea of a formal prosecution go. But Daddy
still wanted retribution of some form though. Senator Oakley just
wanted all the ugly to go far, far away from his political career,
so he forced his son to enlist in the Army and solved his biggest
problem when Lance was shipped off to Iraq. Then he arranged for my
acceptance at the University of London when the time came that I
was well enough to leave New Mexico and go off to college. We
decided on London mostly because it was so far away from home and
the art was here. I could speak the language and Aunt Marie lived
here already so I wouldn’t be completely on my own in a foreign
country without at least
some
family.”

“So the senator has known exactly where you
were all these years?” The situation sucked, was much bigger than I
ever imagined, and the risks to Brynne could be enormous.

“I never knew that part until last week,”
she whispered, “I thought I got in on my own merits.”

“I can understand how that might bother you,
but your graduate study was earned on your merits as exemplary in
your field. I’ve seen you at work, and I know you’re brilliant at
what you do,” I teased with my tone and kissed the side of her jaw,
“My adorable anorak, Professor Bennett.”

“Anorak?” she laughed. “What kind of crazy
Brit slang word is that?”

“Yeah, I think you Yanks call them nerds or
geeks. That’s you. An artsy anorak that I adore.” I turned her head
to mine and met her lips for another kiss. I knew we were both
remembering our ridiculous chat in the car that morning about the
professor detaining the misbehaving student. Which would be her,
the professor, and me, the misbehaving student.

“You’re crazy,” she said against my
lips.

“Crazy for you,” I said, squeezing her a
little. “But really, Senator Oakley owed you a hell of a lot more
than what he gave, although it doesn’t make me happy to know that
he is very aware of exactly where you are in the world and what
you’re doing every day.”

“I know. And it scares me a little. Daddy
said that Eric Montrose died in a weird bar fight when Lance was
home on leave from the Army. He—he was one of them…on the video,
but I never saw any of them again after that night. Not even Lance
Oakley.”

The sound of her voice bothered me, and so
did the thought of her remembering what she’d gone through at the
hands of those degenerates. I was really happy one of them was
dead. That part didn’t bother me at all. I just prayed his death
had nothing to do with that video and Senator Oakley’s vetting.

I set the water to drain and helped her out
of the tub. “I won’t let anything happen to you and you don’t have
to be scared. I got it covered.” I smiled and started drying her
legs with a towel. “I’m going to speak to your dad tomorrow and
find out everything I can on Senator Oakley.” I dried her arms and
back and breasts, thinking I could get really used to doing this.
“You just let me worry about the senator. I’ll send some feelers
out and see what I get back in the way of information. Nobody’s
going to get near my girl unless they come through me first.”

She smiled and gave me a very nice nibbling
kiss on my bottom lip. I had trouble restraining myself from
spreading her up on the sink counter and having her again.

Brynne’s skin had a natural golden glow, but
right now was pinked from the hot water, and so beautiful it was
hard to look and stay neutral.
Don’t think about it
. I
ignored the urge and worked at drying her luscious curves which had
definitely lost some of their curviness but still lovely and all
mine
. She stood gracefully for me as if not at all affected
by our nakedness in such proximity. I wondered how in the hell she
managed to do it. Well, I had an idea of how. She was a model who
posed in the nude and she was used to it.
Don’t think about that
either
.

I couldn’t remember ever being driven by my
cock in the way I was driven with her. Maybe when I was just
starting out, but nothing with this level of intensity had ever
consumed me like it did now. Fucking Brynne was right up there with
food, and shelter these days.

Everyone needs the basics, Brynne. Food,
water…a bed
.

She provoked emotions in me I didn’t know
existed until the night she strolled into the Andersen Gallery
talking bollocks about me and my trusty hand.

She tugged the towel away from me with a
sexy smirk and used it to wrap up all that glorious nakedness in
fluffy cream cotton.
A damn shame
. She walked into the
bedroom and I could hear drawers opening and closing. I loved the
sounds of her in there, moving around and preparing for bed. I
pulled a towel down for myself and started drying off, immensely
grateful I would sleep with her in my arms tonight.

I opened my eyes
in
the dark to the scent of Brynne up my nose and smiled when I
figured out where we were.
She’s in your bed with you
. I was
careful to be still so as not to disturb her sleeping. She faced
me, but her head was turned down and curled around her arm. I just
watched her breathe for a few minutes, entranced and content for
the first time in days. I wanted to touch my girl but I let her
sleep. By God she needed it.

Need.
So much need inside me now.
Needs only Brynne could satisfy, and that scared me. I couldn’t
imagine feeling this way about any woman just a month ago, and now
I couldn’t imagine not having her in my life. The time apart had
changed me forever I feared.

I inhaled deeply and held it. The faint
smell of sex was in the sheets from earlier but mostly it was just
her clean, flowery scent that intoxicated me. It intoxicated me now
just as it had intoxicated me on the very first night we met. She
smelled so good I hated to leave her alone in the bed but I got up
carefully and threw on some joggers and a t-shirt.

I headed across the great room and down the
hall to my office, leaving the bedroom door open a crack in case
Brynne woke with a bad dream. I really needed a smoke and I really
needed to talk to her dad.

“Tom Bennett.” His clipped American accent
on the other end of my mobile reminded me of how far away Brynne
was from her family, although I must admit I loved that she
considered London her home now.

“It’s Ethan.” I dragged in a deep inhale off
my cig.

A beat of silence and then rushed questions.
“Is Brynne safe? What’s happened? Where is she?”

“Nothing’s happened, Tom. She’s sleeping
right now and perfectly safe.” I inhaled again.

“You’re with her? Wait. Is she at your place
right now?” The silence grew very thick and ominous as Tom Bennett
contemplated exactly what I’d been doing with his daughter. “So you
two have worked it out. Look, I’m sorry about that call I
made—”

“You’re sorry?” I interrupted him. “And yes,
Brynne is with me at the moment and I plan to keep her
very
close, Tom.” I stubbed out my Djarum and decided against lighting
up a new one until after this conversation was done. “Just so you
know, I’m not going to apologize for being with her either. You set
this whole thing up. I’m just the simple bloke who fell for a
beautiful, lovely girl. Can’t help that now, can we?”

Tom made a noise that sounded like
frustration to me. I had to give him credit for not exploding but
maybe he still had it in him. “Look, Ethan…I only want her safe.
Brynne makes her own decisions in regards to who she wants to date.
I just want those bastards to keep away from her. From reminding
her of all the bad shit. You have no idea how she’s suffered. It
nearly destroyed her.”

“I know. She told me
everything
tonight. I have a few things to say to you as well.”

“Go ahead,” Tom said impatiently.

“First, I want to thank you for acting on
your ominous vibe and coming home for lunch to check on her that
day. And second, I want to ask you something.” I paused for effect.
“What in the mother-fuck were you thinking by not telling me what
really happened to your daughter? Knowledge is power, Tom. How in
the hell can I keep her protected when I don’t know what they did
to her? What Brynne described to me was not some indiscreet sex
tape as you alluded to; it was a criminal act of assault and abuse
upon a seventeen year old girl by three legally adult men.”

“I know that,” he said in a defeated voice.
“I didn’t want to break her trust and disclose the details to you
or anyone. That story is hers and hers alone to tell.”

Fuck this. I lit a second Djarum. “You left
out the part about the senator getting her the scholarship to
University of London. He knows exactly where she is, and has for
years.”

“I realize that, and again, only wanted to
get her as far away from those people as possible!” he gritted
back. “I know this situation is potentially a disaster and leaves
my daughter in the worst sort of position! Now do you see why I
need you? This whole thing would have slipped away into oblivion if
not for that plane crash. Who would have imagined Oakley being
vetted as the next vice president!”

I sighed loudly. “I’m working on him and so
far I’m not finding any dirtiness popping up about the senator. I
know his boy is trouble, but Senator Oakley’s black book is neat
and tidy.”

“Well, I don’t trust him. And now one of
those fucking degenerates is out of the picture! This story is
everything the senator wishes dead and buried, and right now, my
daughter is in the middle of that shit pile! This is
unacceptable!”

“You’re right, and I’m watching them all,
believe me. I have some contacts in the SF that are looking into
the son’s military record. If there’s anything there I’ll find it.
Question for you. Brynne said the only person identifiable on the
video was herself. She told me the others were mostly off camera
and their voices dubbed over with a song—”

“I—I saw it. I saw what they did to my baby
girl…” The man sounded broken now.

I closed my eyes and willed the images to
just fade away. I couldn’t imagine being in his shoes, having seen
that vileness and not tried to kill who hurt her. Tom Bennett got
praise for not becoming a murderer in my book.

I cleared my throat so I could speak.
“There’s something else you need to know about me.”

“What’s that?”

“She’s my responsibility now. I call the
shots, and I make the contact with Oakley’s people when and if the
time comes. Brynne is an adult and we are together. And if you’re
worried about my motives for telling you this, don’t be. I love
her, Tom. I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep her safe and
happy.” I took a final drag on the smoke and let my words sink
in.

He sighed before he answered. “I have two
things to say to that. From a client who needs you, I
wholeheartedly agree. I know you’re the man for the job. If anyone
can see Brynne through this mess it will be you.”

He paused and I could guess what was coming
next.

“But as a father who loves his daughter—and
you really cannot understand until it happens to you—if you hurt
her in this, and break her heart, I am coming after you,
Blackstone, and I’ll have forgotten we were ever friends.”

I grinned in my chair, glad that this
conversation was out of the way. “Fair enough, Tom Bennett. I can
live with those terms.”

We spoke a bit more and I got the full
backstory on the Oakleys of San Francisco. I arranged for us to
talk again soon, to keep him abreast of any new developments, and
ended the call.

I stayed at my desk for a bit, wrote up some
notes, and sent some emails before shutting down my laptop. As I
turned out the light, Simba fluttered madly from the aquarium
glowing behind my desk. I went back and tossed him a treat before
heading out to the balcony to sit for a while.