CAPTOR (The Alpha Brotherhood) (Standalone Dark Billionaire New Adult Romance) (13 page)

“Do not speak to her like that,” Shane snaps, stepping between us.

“Don’t forget who made you what you are,” his father replies. His tone is so menacing. What happened to the sweet old man so interested in my art?

“Take your whores and get out of my house.”

“Alright then,” Adam interjects before his father escalates the conflict. “Let’s not spoil the evening.” He nods at two of the women and they both take the patriarch by an arm, trying to conceal their disappointment. I guess Adam picked the other two. “Lovely dinner, Shane. I’ll see you on Tuesday, we need to—”

“Out!” Shane’s voice echoes off the walls. He pulls a small controller from his coat, pressing a button that opens the elevator doors.

Zoey

I’m not sure what to say to him once they finally leave. He calls Maddox, insisting that he clears the schedule for the next few days and informing him that he’ll be dealing with Adam on his behalf for a while.

Shane’s tension lingers for a few moments, almost like he’s expecting them to return. Then he cracks his neck and stretches his arms over his head, yawning. Without saying a word to me, he starts up the stairs.

“Goodnight,” he finally says.

“Wait.” I follow a few steps behind him.

“Z, don’t start. It’s been an incredibly long day.”

“I know, I can tell. I just wanted to say thanks.”

He stops halfway down the hall, turning his head over his shoulder. “For what?”

“The clay. And all the supplies. I know it was just a ploy to keep me busy, but—”

“It wasn’t a ploy,” he interrupts me. Shane turns, walking back toward me as his fingers deftly undo his tie and the top button of his crisp white shirt.

How the hell is that even hotter? I’m not going to let myself get distracted. “It was totally a ploy, Shane.”

One corner of his mouth raises into a mischievous smile. “So you have the code to get out of your room,” he says. Shit. I forgot about that. “When did I slip up?”

“If I tell you that, you’ll be less likely to slip up again,” I reply.

He laughs. I’m really starting to like that sound. “Did you make anything today, Z?”

“Yeah.”

“May I see it?”

“You’re actually asking my permission?”

“For that? Certainly. I would never intrude on your creativity.”

“Just my creativity?”

He’s standing so close to me now. My heart drums in my chest as he reaches forward and drags his thumb across my jawline. “Just your creativity.”

“In that case…” My eyes blink rapidly and I take a deep breath. “No,” I say, testing him. He pouts at me, his bottom lip jutting out comically. I can’t help but giggle. “Well, if you’re going to make a cute face like that…”

His mouth opens a bit, his eyes widening like I’ve startled him. I open my bedroom door with the forbidden code. My captor’s face quickly returns to its standard stoic expression, but I saw that and my stomach is fluttering like crazy. He liked it when I called him cute.

Shane watches me from the threshold for a moment as I bring the lights up, waiting until I beckon him further inside with a curl of my fingers. He approaches my project slowly. “You did all this in one day?”

“Yeah. When it dries, will you send it out to be fired?”

“You aren’t going to demand that you take it yourself?”

“No,” I whisper. “No, I’m not.”

Our eyes meet, his gaze so intense that I can’t stand it for long and I drop my chin. Shane rushes over to me and lifts it, pressing his lips to mine. The smell of fine wine on his breath infuses our kiss with an unfamiliar flavor as his hand slides down my spine until it’s grabbing my ass. I forgot how much he drank tonight. He was still so controlled, so stiff and tense the entire time. It must take a lot to get him to loosen up. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back. I drank quite a bit myself.

“You were very good for me tonight, Z,” he breathes against my lips.

“Don’t get used to it,” I gasp as his mouth leaves mine and starts devouring my throat. “I’ll be a pain in your ass again by morning, I promise.”

He grunts, winding his hand into my hair and tugging. “It’s still tonight.”

Heat flushes across my face as my pulse spikes. Shane kisses me again, pulling my head back until my mouth opens wider and he can push his tongue inside. He slowly drags the zipper on my dress down, just above my waist, his fingers leaving a trail of sparks across my skin. My breathing is ragged as he lowers me onto the bed, my hands trembling along with the rest of my body as he climbs on top of me.

“Shane…” I squirm beneath him.

“Good behavior like that deserves to be rewarded.”

“I’m really scared.”

“I know,” he says softly, wrapping his fingers into mine and squeezing. “And you should be.”

What the heck does that mean? I want to ask him but he kisses me again, his weight pressing me into the bed. The crushing sensation isn’t as intense as it was that night when we were on the floor, but I can still barely tolerate it.

He breaks away, letting my hand go as I turn my face from his and try to relax. Then I feel something circle my wrist. At first I think it’s his fingers, but instead I see a soft piece of black cloth attached to a strap.

“What are you doing?” I ask as he tethers my other hand to the bed. When the hell did those get there? I obviously should have checked under the mattress.

Shane sits back on his knees, looking down at me with fiery eyes and that devious smile. “Rewarding you.” My arms are spread wide open and I test my restraints. There’s some slack, but I won’t be able get my hands free. “The only way your wrist will get hurt this time is if you do it yourself.”

“But—”

Leaning forward, he puts his hand over my mouth, bringing his face inches away from mine. “I want to hear you moaning, not protesting. And I will gag you again.” He kisses my forehead gently. “So keep your mouth shut until something other than words needs to come out of it.”

He pulls his hand away, cocking his head to the side, daring me to defy him. I let out a hitched breath that borders on a whimper. My eyes flutter closed as his hands wrap around my waist, feeling for the zipper.

“Look at me,” he orders. “Zoey.” Wincing, I force my eyes to open and meet his. “I don’t want to be drunk the first time I fuck you.”

“I—”

Shane silences me with a harsh glare. So what does he want to do, then? Just see me naked? I keep my gaze with his as he pulls my dress down to my expose my breasts. “Most girls in your position would be worried about me seeing these.” He dips his head down, capturing one of my nipples between his lips.

Holy shit, that feels incredible. My spine arches and I let out a groan as he switches to the other side. Shane rises to his knees again, his eyes fixed on my chest as my moist nipples get even harder from the chill.

“But you’re not most girls, are you, Z? You told me that the first day we met,” he says. I turn away, a tear escaping my closed eyelids as he pulls the soft satin dress down to my thighs. “Look at me,” Shane demands, grabbing my chin and forcing my face to turn back when I don’t comply. But I don’t open my eyes and I doubt he’ll pry them apart.

I still cringe when his fingers drag across the marred flesh on my stomach, following the deepest line of the strange pattern of scars. “Zoey, this doesn’t matter to me,” he says. “At all.”

I choke out a sob. “Hey,” he whispers, his voice so soft and normal that I find my eyes fluttering open. “There you are.” He grins and shifts his body upwards to kiss the tip of my nose.

“Shane…”

“I told you to be quiet,” he laughs, pressing his lips to mine.

His hand slips into my panties and my knees automatically try to open, but they’re trapped by the bodice of my dress. That mischievous smile breaks across his face, but his eyes aren’t as intimidating. I let out a gasp as he spreads the flesh between my legs and presses on that perfect spot. Shane turns his face, positioning his ear right above my lips as he toys with me. His breathing grows deeper and more ragged with every moan and squeal I make. His reaction enhances mine and I stop trying to stifle the curious noises coming out of my mouth when I realize how much he likes them.

I whine and kick my legs, desperate to get free. My captor breathes out a laugh and kisses me before finally pulling that beautiful sage gown away. His eyes stay locked with mine as he rips my panties to my ankles and tosses them to the floor.

I can’t believe I’m actually in bed with a man, completely naked. I wish he was. Almost like he can hear my thoughts, his fingers undo the buttons on his shirt and he casts it aside, but there’s an undershirt beneath it and I groan in frustration. Shane chuckles and pulls it over his head, letting me savor the sight of his flexing chest muscles and chiseled abdomen as he takes off his belt.

“Spread your legs for me,” he says firmly. My jaw trembles as I do what he asks, but the satisfaction on his face fascinates me. He gazes down at the heat radiating from me and licks his lips. “You are so beautiful.” He slides his fingers into my slit, pressing against that nub that’s so hard and throbbing it almost hurts. “You’ve never come before, have you?”

He waits for me to answer, but there’s no way in hell I’m failing a test when I’m this close to the finish line. Plus I’m not really sure.

Shane grins and lowers his face between my thighs. I cry out as his mouth latches onto me, his flicking tongue sending waves of heat through my body. My hips buck forward and I call out his name. He grunts, giving me a little bite that makes me yelp as he reaches up to grope my breasts.

He pinches me harshly, making me cry out again, but then he rolls my nipples between his fingers using the perfect amount of pressure. My spine arches, my eyes meeting his as he looks up from under his brow.

Then I feel something approaching. My breaths get shorter and my legs start to twitch, but Shane locks his arms around them, lifting me off the bed with his shoulders. The muscles deep in my belly clench, starting an explosion that rips through me. My body thrashes, but he keeps me still, concentrating the amazing sensation between my legs as the world disappears.

My cheeks flush red when it’s over and the cocky smile twisting his lips isn’t helping much. But I don’t really give a crap, that felt too good to be embarrassed by all the noise I just made. I guess I’m a screamer. Good to know.

Shane’s expression changes, the lines between his eyebrows deepening. His finger dips inside of me, just barely, and I feel him tug at the thin membrane of skin. He exhales in a relieved breath, leaning his face on my inner thigh as he pulls his hand away.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing.”

“You didn’t think I was a virgin, did you?”

“No, I believed you. It’s just…” He winces. “The shit that goes on in those places, you know? Some of those foster parents are…”

I nod, but his eyes are closed shut as he kisses my thighs over and over tenderly. I can’t believe we have this in common, that he was all alone in the world just like I was. I understand him so much better now. The undeniable connection I’ve been resisting finally makes sense.

All of the sudden, my arms can’t stand the restraints. “Untie me,” I whisper. He shakes his head no. “I need to touch you. Please.”

“Alright,” his voice cracks and his face contorts.

My hands are freed faster than I thought possible and I throw my arms around him, squeezing as hard as I can. He buries his face in my shoulder and chokes, clutching my body to his so tightly I can barely breathe.

“Stay with me tonight,” I murmur, dotting every bit of his skin I can get to with kisses.

He lets out a satisfied groan and brings his face to mine. “Nothing could get me out of this bed right now, Z.”

Our lips press together briefly, but his face is completely exhausted. I’m enveloped in his arms a moment later, under the covers, listening to the rhythm of his breathing drift into sleep. It doesn’t take long for me to follow him.

Shane

She’s across the bed from me when I open my eyes. I’ve never woken up in bed with a woman before and actually wanted her to stay. Zoey’s lips are still stained red around the edges and there are little specks of black under her eyes from her makeup last night. I believe that’s the first time I’ve seen her wear any. Talk about a natural beauty.

I’ll take her either way. I pull the covers up to stare at her naked body, but she shivers and I find myself tucking it around her just as quickly. Her scent lingers on my stubble, I can still taste her if I lick my lips. That was another first for me last night, giving pleasure without getting anything in return. Yet I didn’t feel slighted at all. It was enough just to be so close to her. That probably had quite a bit to do with the fatigue, however. I won’t be able to resist next time, not that I plan to attempt it.

She yawns, stretching her legs as she rolls over. I love how dark her hair is, the way it compliments her tawny skin. My eyes drift past her body to the unfinished vase she made yesterday. There’s a twist in the center, a nearly perfect spiral.

I long to see her work with her hands. I love watching the concentration on her face when she paints on that tablet. She’s so patient, but that’s when she’s just playing around, passing the time. I wonder if the serenity carries over to a project that matters to her.

My phone vibrates in the pile of our clothes on the floor. I reluctantly climb out of bed, more to keep it from disturbing her slumber than to see who it is.

Adam. Goddammit.

“What?” It’s hard to sound intimidating when you have to whisper.

“I’m in your elevator right now.”

“Then get the fuck out of it,” I reply, yawning as I creep down the stairs away from Zoey.

“Shane… I need to talk to you. Not Maddox.”

“Just e-mail me if he can’t handle something. That’s the way most people conduct business nowadays, you know? The face to face bullshit the old man taught us has fallen out of style.”

“This isn’t a business call. You’d better let me in.”

There’s something off about Adam’s voice. He’s rattled. “Fine.”

The moment I consent, the elevator starts to rise. Holy shit, I have a headache. Dehydration, probably. I hope Z wakes up in better shape. I’m sure she’ll have a smile on her face regardless. I guzzle down a bottle of water, sitting on my new leather recliner. The furniture is actually rather nice, it makes the place feel… well, like a home, I suppose. Is that what I want?

There’s no time to ponder the thought because the elevator doors open to the sight of my obviously distressed brother. He looks even worse than Trent did the other day. I wonder who he almost killed. The whole fucking family is falling apart.

Adam doesn’t barge in, waiting for an invitation. I nod and wave him in. That was odd.

“Is that girl still here?” Adam asks, barely stepping inside.

“This better not be what you came here to talk about.”

“Is she?”

“Yes,” I reply. “She’s still sleeping.”

“Do you have her… confined?”

“Not anymore.” I can’t help but laugh when I remember the satisfaction on her face when she surprised me in the kitchen last night. “I didn’t appreciate that stunt you pulled at dinner by the way.”

“What stunt?”

“Bringing Jessica.”

Adam shakes his head dismissively. “I didn’t expect you to actually have your hostage at the dinner table, Shane.”

“She’s not…” Does no one understand the meaning of that fucking word? “She has a name,” I say. “Use it.”

“A rather ironic name, don’t you think? Do you find it difficult to say?” Adam knows me too well. “You can tell me. I’ve already come to terms with this.” There’s nothing particularly hostile about his tone. This isn’t a fishing expedition for a point of weakness that he can later use against me.

“Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s not,” I admit, surprising myself with my honesty. “Of all the fucking names she could have been given…”

“Yeah.” His voice is low and sympathetic as he takes the seat across from me. “Are you still glad you found her?”

Right when his presence becomes comforting, he reminds me. “You have a lot of nerve bringing that up.”

“I’m not shouldering the blame anymore for that one, little brother. Since when did you rely on us for anything that you actually wanted to do?”

“Fuck you,” I snap.

“You could have kept searching. You were just afraid of what you would have found.” He’s an asshole, but he’s right. “But she beat the odds, didn’t turn out the way the rest of them did. And now you’re left with the guilt of not looking.”

“Change the goddamned subject or get out.”

“You need to let that girl go. Give her a chance to have a normal life.”

I snicker bitterly. Someone took that opportunity away from Z a long time before I did. “Is that what you tell yourself you’re doing with Sabrina?” Adam’s eyes flare for a split second when I mention his estranged lover, but he catches himself before he lets it show on the rest of his face. “She beat those odds better than Zoey did. You know more about guilt than I do.”

“Stop living in the fucking past,” Adam snarls, leaning forward.

“Stop pretending it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter, Shane. It’s over.”

“Obviously not.” I reply, glancing upstairs.

My brother rests his face in his hand, his eyes closing. “I suppose I should concede on that. It’s the reason I came here to begin with.”

“Really?”

“The old man… he’s not coming back, is he?” Adam’s expression is pained, so much so that I can’t tell him how glad I am the bastard is forever altered.

“No, he’s not.”

“Last night, he couldn’t… perform. The girl was gracious about it, but he…” He trails off, staring into the distance.

“Beat the hell out of her?” I finish the sentence for him. “Because that’s the only way you fuckers know how to communicate with the fairer sex?”

“Climb off your fucking high horse, Shane. You aren’t that different from the rest of us and you know it,” Adam reminds me. As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. Aside from my last year of virtual celibacy. “And the old man didn’t. He started to, but his strength gave out. He wound up crumpled on the floor,” my brother says. “Sobbing.” He spits the last word out as if he’s ashamed.

“He’s ancient, Adam. This was bound to happen.”

“I know that. I just wish he’d been more honest with himself.”

“Do you ponder your inevitable decline often?” I laugh. “I don’t.”

“We don’t adopt foster kids, either,” Adam replies quietly, looking me directly in the eye.

My heart starts to pound. “What do you mean by that?”

“Don’t hit the roof, Shane.”

“Adam, what the fuck do you mean?” I ask loudly. Shit. I hope that didn’t wake Zoey.

“He didn’t stop. It’s still going on.”

“You are not serious,” I breathe. It can’t be true. “Maddox just graduated college. He was in the last batch.”

“It never stopped, Shane.” My brother rises to his feet when I do. “And the old man can’t handle it. I think I should step up.”

“You think you should what?”

“Finish what he started. It’s not fair to those boys to take the dream away, after all they’ve done to get this far.”

“What are you… How fucking long have you known about this?”

“The youngest group? Only a year. I swear.”

“How many are there?”

“Three.”

“How many kids, Adam? Not ‘families’, as he likes to call them.”

“The oldest five aren’t really kids. Two just started college, the other three will next year. There’s still ten in the next batch, but that’s about to get whittled down. It’s the little ones that I’m worried about. There’s 21 now.”

Bile rises in my throat. “How long has he had those?”

“Three years.”

“Holy fuck…”

“The old man started with the usual 50. Almost half failed him in the first year. He got rid of a few more stragglers after that, and now… Well, they’re all around twelve. Stage three is about to begin and the old man is… he’s just not in his right mind anymore.”

“He never fucking was!” I shout. “How can you not see that?”

“Lower your voice, for Christ’s sake.”

“You think I should feel guilty about keeping Z? That you should carry remorse for stringing Sabrina along all these years? This, Adam, this shit is what should keep us awake at night. It will keep me awake. And you’ve known for a fucking year?”

“You’re overreacting as usual.”

“No, you brainwashed assholes are underreacting. Like you always have.”

“I should have went to Trent with this.”

“I don’t fucking think so,” I growl, racing to block his path to the elevator. “You confided in me for a reason. Because I barely made it. Because I’m the only one of us left with a shred of a conscience.”

“Just forget I told you.” He can’t look me in the eye anymore.

“You know that won’t happen. That’s why you did tell me instead of him. Where the hell are those kids?”

“Shane, I will handle this. Get out of my way.” Adam shoves me to the side and I let him just to see if he’ll actually press the button to leave. He doesn’t.

“Remember Betty?” I remind him. His mouth drops open and he covers it with his hand. “Do you ever think about that?”

“No.”

“I do. You guys just blocked it all out, didn’t you? I didn’t get lucky, my mind just doesn’t work that way.”

“That’s too bad for you.”

“I still think about Bridget sometimes. I still see those big, trusting brown eyes when I dream about her.”

“Shut up,” Adam chokes.

“She just sat there while I put that shotgun in her face. The only time she moved was to lick my hand when I started crying.”

“Shut up!”

“So batch number two is about to get ‘whittled down’, is it?” I hiss. “Remember how many of our brothers didn’t pass that final test? I do. So does Trent, he still keeps in touch with a few.”

“They were weak.”

“No, we were. Didn’t you ever look at it that way? That perhaps all the kids that didn’t make the cut were the strong ones? They weren’t afraid to get cast out. They weren’t greedy enough to do the things we did to get to the top.”

Adam glares at me. “You’re so ungrateful. I’m not. I’m proud to be who I am today, glad that I did what I did.”

“You lie to yourself more than you lie to your women.”

“His methods served us well in the end.”

“Oh, yeah? So you’re going to hand those 21 boys a bunch of little puppies and make sure they kill them four years later so they learn to never get attached? To never let themselves fall in love with a stupid bitch?”

His head sinks, his watering eyes squeezing shut. “No,” he croaks.

I let out a relieved breath, resting my hand on his shoulder. “Of course you won’t.”

“Shane, I can’t… You were always the one that could stand up to him without actually lighting his fuse.”

“Fuck his fuse, Adam. He’s not as well connected as you are now. All you have to do is say the word. You just need to report him and it’s over.”

“No, I still need to see this through. My way,” he whispers. His way. My brother is going through something of a metamorphosis and he doesn’t even realize it.

I squeeze his shoulder reassuringly. I have to give him a chance to actually do the right thing here. “Adam, you know I won’t be able to let this go. I’ll have to—”

“Yeah, I know. You’re right about this, and you were right about Marlowe. It wasn’t enough.”

“Speaking of that,” I say, taking a step back because neither of us typically enjoys physical contact with the other. “I’ve noticed that he’s not in prison yet.”

“No one in his crew has flipped on him.”

“If you need anything for whatever plan you have to help that along…”

“There is no plan. Like I said, you were right about Marlowe,” he replies, flashing an evil smile as he opens the elevator.

Holy shit. He’s finally going to kill him. I can’t wait to get that call. I might have stolen the big speech, but I’d never take that one from my brother.

I already have what I wanted from that monster. She’s right up in that room, waiting for me. I start up the stairs, making sure to be exceptionally quiet. Listening at the door, I try to determine if Z has woken up or not. Her breathing isn’t slow and peaceful. Just because she’s still lying in bed doesn’t mean she’s actually sleeping. She might have heard all of that. A part of me hopes that she did.

I close the door, leaving it cracked as I head to my room to get some more rest. The last thing I need right now is the temptation of her naked body. I’ll have my fill of that tonight.