Camouflage (Predator and Prey #1) (16 page)

Alone again, I dressed and was at the office early. Nina had been taking on more and more clients and business was thriving. In my early years at Harvard, I’d pictured a career, any career that meant money, security, things I’d never had before. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined being a part of something so lucrative and satisfying. If I had nothing else in my life, I had a career to be proud of. I stared down at the tourists, a cup of coffee in hand, as I wondered what it was like to again be one of them. It was simple, really. Just a few hours touring around Charleston with a couple hundred dollars in my pocket, buying useless but necessary items from the market, hearing the history from one of the many tour guides. It seemed so simple and yet the thought of going alone saddened me. Nina had grown up here and probably had no interest in doing such a silly thing, but at the same time, I was too embarrassed to ask. For a second, I thought of Daniello and I in a horse drawn carriage. That happy thought was immediately interrupted by an angry Rocco on the opposite side of the carriage, glaring at me. This brought a fast laughter that rang out through my office.

“There’s something you don’t hear often,” Nina remarked as she joined me at the window. She followed my gaze. “Thinking of finally taking some time off?”

“Soon,” I replied, turning away from our view.

“Taylor, God knows you work your ass off, but let me clue you in. You own half of this company. You employ close to two thousand people. We will survive. I’m sure there is something you can do for a few days.”

If she only knew my only thought was to tour the city I’d lived in for the better part of three years she would probably laugh, or worse, pity me.

“So have you said yes to Devin yet?”

Her eyes narrowed as she sat behind my desk with a sigh.

“No, and I won’t. I said I was never marrying again and I meant it.”

I nodded, knowing it was bullshit. Devin was a magician when it came to Nina and his brand of magic was suited just for her.

“Knock, knock.” I looked up to see Nina’s younger brother, Aaron, greet us. Nina jumped from her seat in obvious surprise and met him at the door in a long hug. For a split second, my envy got the better of me before I composed myself and smiled.

“Good to see you again, Aaron.” He gave me a warm smile and replied, “You too, Taylor.”

“How long will you be staying?” I asked for Nina’s sake. I knew her little brother meant the world to her.

“A month or so, I want to try some courses here and Florida is getting pointless.” Aaron was a semi-pro golfer and was recovering from a terrible accident as a result of being too close to Nina’s boyfriend’s psychotic ex-wife. He’d been an innocent bystander to all the events that led up to Nina’s newfound happiness and had almost been a casualty.

“Healed up nicely?” I asked as Aaron’s eyes appraised me as they had the first time we’d met. He was attractive and had an appealing warmth about him. If I was into nice guys, I’d be tempted to learn more.

“Doc says I can ease into it,” he replied as Nina eyed him warily.

“I call bullshit. I’ll call him myself,” she huffed and grabbed Aarons arm, pulling him out of the office while she addressed me. “See you at our three o’clock. This one should be interesting.” She gave me a wink before pulling a protesting Aaron through my office door. I smiled after the two and silently wished for Amber to call. It had been weeks and still no word. I texted Cedric.

Me: Are you sure it was her who got the message?

Cedric: Still no call?

I didn’t reply. He knew as well as I did it was a long shot and Amber was obviously holding some sort of grudge. Or even worse, she may not wish to know me at all. Still, I hoped for the chance to at least see her. To know my mother hadn’t tainted her to the point she was unrecognizable.

Finishing up my day, I let my mind wander to the last words Daniello said before I drifted to sleep the night before and he again disappeared from my bed. Words I knew he hadn’t meant for me to hear.

“Si che paralizzato?”
Who crippled you?

Then again, he had said them in a language he knew I spoke.

I woke to more angry Arabic and groaned as I looked at the clock and it read 4 A.M. Daniello had made another appearance tonight, which did nothing but confuse me further. During dinner, I was sure an apology was on the tip of his tongue, but had never made it past his lips. He seemed distracted and I hadn’t bothered to ask why. All I did know was that his threat to hurt me if I interfered with his business hadn’t been dismissed from my thoughts.

Pushing off the covers, I winced at the soreness between my legs and walked to my dresser. Pulling on a t-shirt and panties, I made my way to the living room to find Daniello at my front door, facing off with Rocco.

The two were whispering heatedly and as soon as Rocco saw me over Daniello’s shoulder, he narrowed his eyes and pointed in my direction. Daniello all but pushed him out the door before turning to me with reassuring eyes.

“He will not return to your home.”

“Great. And he was never invited in the first place, and neither were you,” I added, starting a pot of coffee in the kitchen.

Daniello cornered the counter and gripped my t-shirt pulling me to him. “You are such a mood woman.”

“Yes, yes I am.” I grinned. “And it’s moody.”

“Bitch woman.” He grinned back.

“It’s bitchy,” I smarted, resisting his pull and slapping at his greedy hands.

“Stop correcting my English. I am well aware I have not perfected it,” he scorned as he gathered more of the material of my shirt in his fist and I slid hesitantly toward him. If he filled my senses with his scent, I wasn’t sure I would be able to resist him and my body needed a break. He’d fucked me to the brink of unconsciousness after our quiet dinner.

“Why do you not just say what is on your mind, Taylor?”

I turned with my back to him and braced my hands on the counter, watching the coffee brew.

“I will not beg you to tell me your mind.”

I rolled my eyes at his statement. His English tutor should be shot. The man couldn’t even scold me without needing correction. It made it comical, but at four in the morning, it made me brave.

“You threatened my life. I don’t think I’ll be able to get over that. I don’t think I want to. And I still don’t like you.”

He gripped the back of my shirt, turning me to face him. His tight hold outlined my body and my nipples peaked under his watchful eye. “Then I guess it is a good thing I get along so well with your body.” Heat invaded me as he leaned in, sucking my nipple through my t-shirt until it was painfully hard. Pulling out of his grip, I crossed my arms.

Bowing his head, he let out a long breath.

“You want apologies for words I mean when I say them. Do not let your curiosity about me get you killed, Taylor.”

I took a step forward, my eyes as cold and steady as his. “And
you
would be the one to kill me?”

“Would it ease your mind if I told you I would have no choice?”

“I don’t know.” And I didn’t. The man stood in my living room weeks ago with enough DNA on him to convict him for life. Was I really that surprised he would do the same to me?

“And if I end this now?”

He scrubbed his face with his hand, agitated as he answered. “That is your choice. I will honor our agreement.”

We stood facing each other in a silent standoff, the ever present current passing between us.

“What made you think I was the type of woman to deal with your life, your choices?”

He smirked as he sandwiched me between him and the counter, his ready cock pressed against my leg.

“Are you not?”

He had no clue about my past. He couldn’t possibly. There was nothing about it to be found on any piece paper or hidden in any database. I had no criminal record. The only people who knew about my past were me, Laz, and Cedric. If Daniello thought me a woman worthy of handling him, he’d drawn that conclusion on instinct alone. Maybe that’s why I was reluctant to let him go. He was more than capable of handling me sexually, and from what I’d gathered would probably think my corrupt past laughable.

Still, I had no order. I couldn’t seem to make up my fucking mind when it came to him. There was nothing structured about indecision.

And I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this decision could cost me my life. He’d admitted as much. It should have been a simple one, but half an hour later as he bent me over the bathroom sink and licked the inside of my thighs, I decided order could wait a little longer.

After Daniello had licked my pussy raw and I soothed it in the shower, I couldn’t help the distant voice that ran through my mind.

“Stupid or hardheaded, Red, you can’t be both.”

Weeks passed with no word from Daniello. I wanted to believe that he would keep his word and tell me when his departure would be his last, but the more time that passed, the more certain I was that I’d imagined his sincerity. Were women disposable to him? It seemed the case when it came to matters of business. And yet each time I was in his arms, surrounded by his warmth, and felt the passion behind his kiss, I felt completely coveted.

Suddenly, I was clouded by foreign feelings, the need to be close, to be wanted by him. Was I feeling for him or simply craving what his touch evoked?

Falling in love with him would make me an absolute fool. I didn’t know if I was even capable anymore. Being addicted to his touch was just as dangerous due to the nature of our relationship. Obsessing over him had been a constant since the moment our eyes met.

And I longed for those eyes, the light color of them that twinkled when he was amused, and the dark brown irises that greeted me with desire when he was hungry.

My heart pounded each time I turned my key in the door and fell flat with a quick sweep of my empty condo.

I hated everything about what I felt and yet I silently willed the new vicious cycle to end with an appearance, a whisper, one more moment, one touch, a kiss.

I’d become possessed by a ghost, both in body and in mind.

Another week passed as I remained a prisoner in my house, hoping for any sign of him and coming up empty.

Hell had officially frozen over. I was living for a man.

Disgusted with weakness, I’d made it a point to leave my condo every night the following week. I’d spent hours shopping for shit I didn’t need, tripling my workload, and exhausting my body with workouts to the point of passing out without a shower. I was doing the opposite of what I set out to do and simply went through the motions.

Nina had noticed my change in behavior, taking me to lunch twice to ask what my hang up was. At the second Spanish Inquisition, I’d finally admitted I’d gotten involved with an overbearing, infuriating ass of a man with an oversized ego and a persuasive cock. It was the most I’d ever shared, which sickened me even more.

“You sound like a woman in love to me,” she’d said with a shit eating grin.

“Not love, lust. Definitely just lust,” I said confidently as we both finished our plates. “I know hardly anything about him except that I lose myself in him so easily ...” I drifted off as I tried to explain his effect, but was at a loss for words when it came to explaining how he made me feel. “The situation is all wrong. We ...us together ...we are all wrong, but I just want to know why he feels the need to be so damned—”

“You are over-thinking this, Taylor, and dare I say, you sound kind of ...needy.” She laughed loudly at my discomfort.

“You’re right. I don’t want to hear it.”

She straightened in her seat and ran a manicured nail down the side of her water glass. “Taylor, who taught you there was anything wrong with developing feelings for a man?”

I gave her a straight face as I confessed the truth. “Every man I’ve ever developed feelings for.”

She simply nodded as she averted her eyes, not pressing me further, because she knew I wouldn’t go there.

“Taylor, this relation—this thing, sounds like a low maintenance relationship with no strings, no expectations, and incredible sex. Tell me again what the issue is, because from what I can tell, it’s perfectly suited to you.”

And that was the bitch slap I needed to put the whole thing in perspective.

No longer obsessed with Daniello’s motive for control over me in and out of bed, I kept my routine of perfect order. Again and comfortably alone at home washing dishes, I heard my phone vibrate as I worked suds into a coffee cup.

“Taylor Ellison.”

Silence on the other end had me about to hang up when I looked at the screen and felt the shock wave drift through my limbs. It was a Tennessee area code. I waited for words on the other end of the line with heavy breath.

“Taylor ...it’s ...it’s me, Amber.”

“Amber,” I repeated as I dropped the cup into the sink, hearing it break and stared at the broken pieces. Her voice was nowhere near what I was used to. It wasn’t the voice of the little girl I’d left, or the soft spoken teen that I’d had a conversation with through a bedroom window. It was the voice of a woman.

“I ...” A harsh sob escaped her. “I need your help.”

Picking up the broken pieces of the cup, I nervously rushed through, “I’m here, Amber.”

“It ...I ...it’s ...”

“What is it, Amber?” I pressed, “Talk to me.”

“Hello, Red.” Gripping a broken piece of coffee cup, I felt it cut through my flesh. Cold sweat seeped out of my forehead as I addressed the voice I never thought I’d hear again.

“Laz, don’t you fucking touch her!”

“Me? Nah, wouldn’t hurt her for the world. She’s my girl, Red. I take really good care of her.”

Blood pooled into my hand as I discarded the broken glass into the trash and braced myself on the counter, dread racing from the center of me throughout every limb, every nerve, and every fiber of my being.

“Don’t hurt her, Laz. I’ll give you anything you want, just don’t hurt her.”

“From what I gather, you have about a thirteen hour drive. I’ll be sure to have a welcome home party well underway. You remember the place, right?” I heard Amber shriek in the background.

“Laz, please—”

The line went dead as I stood dazed in my kitchen, my past barreling over me like a tidal wave. Grabbing a kitchen towel, I wrapped my bleeding hand and took a deep breath. The Laz I’d left was a criminal and unpredictable, but a large part of me knew then he didn’t want to harm me.
Then
. The last time I saw him, I’d left him crying and bleeding in a hotel room, begging me not to leave.

What I was sure of was the man I’d just spoken to on the phone wanted nothing more than to hurt me.
Now
.

And I predicted he would be more caustic than the ghost I fought in my head.

Pushing down the terror that raced through me, I raced through my condo and pulled a bag from my closet, mindlessly shoved some clothes inside, grabbed some cash from my safe, then texted Nina.

Me: I need a few days.

Nina: It’s about damn time.

Functionally numb, I pulled out onto the street, leaving the life I’d built to face the one I’d left behind.