Corps Security: The Series (135 page)

“In your dreams.”

“One day, Emersyn. One day, when I have my ring on your finger and your dear old daddy gives me this club, you’re going to learn where your fucking place is. Your fucking lippy mouth will only get you so far. The Ram might put up with it, but I sure as hell won’t.”

He grips my arms and spins me before pushing me against the lockers. The metal scrapes against my back, cutting it open in some spots, but I don’t make a sound.

“Get on your knees and suck my dick, bitch,” he demands.

I drop instantly, wondering in the back of my head if it’s still rape now that I’ve stopped fighting him.

It doesn’t take him long before he grabs both sides of my head and starts thrusting into my mouth with a bruising force.

“That’s right. Take it all. Take all of Daddy’s dick.”

God, how repulsive can he get?

I attempt to keep my mind from engaging. I let my body take over and try to go to my happy place. When his hand curls around my neck, it becomes obvious why he started this new game. He wants my attention, and what a better way to get it than taking my air?

When he lifts me to my feet, his needle dick falls from my mouth and I struggle to control the fear at my lack of oxygen. Roughly, he pushes me forward, causing me to crash into the table in the middle of the room. Makeup and clothing scatter around us as he lifts me, flips me, and then slams me onto my back. His hand goes back to my neck before he forcefully pushes into my body.

I’m on the verge of blacking out, his thrusts picking up speed, but then I finally come out of my head and grab ahold of his wrist with my hands. Trying desperately to get some much-needed air, I claw at his skin, begging with my eyes for him to let up.

“That’s right, Emersyn. Fucking fight me,” he pants, sweat beading around his forehead and rolling down his neck. “Fucking fight, bitch!” he screams into my face.

I’m seconds from passing out when I feel his body disappearing. I sit up, struggling to let the air in, and meet the crystal-blue eyes of my savior.

“You okay?” he asks.

I nod mutely. A million questions rush through my head, but not a single word escapes before he nods and slams his fist into Shawn’s face. I want to weep when I watch him crumple to the floor, passed out cold.

“I’m Zeke, but my friends call me Coop. I know you don’t know me, but I promise you can trust me. I was walking to the bathroom and I heard him . . . and, shit . . .” he trails off, running his hands through his thick, blond hair. “I’m not going to hurt you, but I would like to help if you’ll let me.”

I can’t stop the tears if I wanted to. Silently, I nod, still not trusting myself to speak. Then I hastily throw my clothes on, open the safe, and shovel all the cash I have into my duffel bag. There’s nothing else here I need.

“Come on. Let’s get you out of here.” He reaches out, my savior, and takes me out of my hell.

I don’t look back once.

* * *

Coop takes me back to his hotel, helps me get cleaned up, and offers me some clean clothes that don’t smell like an ashtray. He only leaves me long enough to get some bandages to clean up the cuts on my back. I’m not sure what it is about him that has me trusting him instantly. Maybe it’s because, as far as options go, he’s my best one. For all I know, he’s some crazy serial killer and I’m playing right into his hands.

The whole time he dabs alcohol on my back, I don’t utter a word. Not until he tells me that I won’t ever have to go back there. I sharply turn my head and look right into his eyes before laughing.

“I have no where else to go. I have to go back.”

He shakes his head and smiles. “Nah. I’ve got your back now. Chin up, buttercup. We’re a team now.”

* * *

True to his word, Coop became almost like a brother to me. He took me in and helped me get stronger. He had to go out to California, where he worked for a security company, but he made sure I was taken care of. They stayed busy and he hated leaving me alone, always worried that something would happen.

Six months after the momentous day he saved me from Shawn, he finally introduced me to Axel Reid, the owner of Corps Security, where Coop worked. Axel was apprehensive about hiring me since I was so young, but their company was growing so quickly, and college education or not, I’m now gratefully employed as a secretary for Corps Security.

For once, things are starting to look up. I have a great friend and a caring boss, and I wasn’t scared. I’ve mapped out my five-year plan, and I’m finally allowing myself to dream. All of those dreams explode in my face when I finally come face to face with
him.

“Uh . . . can I help you?” I ask the man standing in front of my desk.

“Name.”

“Excuse me?”

His face remains expressionless. His dark eyes don’t travel down to my chest like I’ve been used to over the years, but he keeps me tapped in his gaze. My body becomes more and more paralyzed with each passing second that I look at this man.

“Your name,” he repeats.

“You want my name?” I stupidly reply.

One dark brow cocks without losing his stoic mask and he just waits. My cheeks heat and I have to fight my body’s reaction to this man in front of me.

“Em . . . Emersyn. Emmy. I mean, I’m Emmy,” I whisper.

He nods and then walks past my desk and down the hall.

It takes me a second to clear the unexpected fog of lust that is taking over my body. I jump up from my seat so quickly that it rolls into the wall behind me before I run after the tall, dark, stranger.

“Wait!” I yell.

He stops but doesn’t turn.

“You can’t just walk in here,” I gasp at his back.

“It’s fine, Emmy. That’s Locke. He’s our technical specialist. He’s just been out of town.” Beck says softly behind me.

I turn to gape at Beck, my mouth opening and closing like a guppy.

He just shakes his head and looks to where Locke is still standing with his back to us. “It’s cool, Em. Just go on back to the front, okay?” He offers me a sad smile and turns to walk over to Locke.

I give him another glance, noticing how tense his body is strung. His hands are clenched in a firm fist and his shoulders are pulled tight.

I head back to the front, thinking about Locke. He’s so intense. My body was on fire just from his eyes. He spoke three words to me and I’m already hooked.

It wasn’t love at first sight, but I’m drawn to him. Even now, with him down the hall from me, I can feel my skin tingle with the memory of his black eyes holding my own.

With a smile, I return to my work and think to myself that my five-year plan just got a lot more interesting.

CHAPTER 6

Emmy

Present Time

That son of a bitch!

Who the hell does he think he is? For years, he’s treated me with indifference. The only time I got past his thick shield was at Axel and Izzy’s wedding. He had so much to drink that he doesn’t even remember that he almost took me against the wall at the reception. Not one of my finest moments, but I savored those precious memories of his mouth and hands on my body. I’m not proud of it or what it makes me, but that small memory has carried me through some tough times lately.

Like a naïve little girl, I’ve harbored my crush on Maddox Locke since the first time I met him back in California. It took losing the one person I considered family to wake me the hell up. I’ve been panting after the one man who couldn’t care less about me, giving him every second of my dreams, only to get pushed down each and every time. Sure, I’ve dated here and there, but no one has ever made me feel the way he did. It was hopeless.

Every since the day that Coop died, I feel like I’ve been struggling to find my place. Find where I belong. His death kills me daily. We weren’t as close as we had been four years ago. Between things picking up at CS and our moving from California to Georgia, we were just too busy. I regret that daily. I know I looked stupid for running, but I couldn’t stay. Not when I’d lost the one person who’d had my back like no one else. Sure, I was close with the girls—especially Melissa—but something held me back from giving them one hundred percent of Emersyn. To this day, the only ones who know my whole story are Axel and . . . well, Coop.

I’m sure the other guys know bits and pieces, but they don’t know everything. Axel made me a promise the day I met him that he would do his best to never let my past come up again. I’ll never forget his words.

“We all have our battles. We get past them the best we can by putting one foot in front of the other. Looking back doesn’t do anything but make it hurt a little more.”

So that’s what I did. I did it for four years as I worked for the boys and then I did it again when Coop gave his life and saved me again.

One foot in front of the other.

“You have a lot of nerve, Maddox Locke,” I deadpan.

He takes his eyes off the road and levels me with what I’m sure is meant to be one of his signature shut-the-hell-up glares. They don’t work on me anymore. I don’t care. He’s kept me dangling by a string of desire for years now. I prayed that he would just look at me. And now, now that I’m working on fixing myself, he thinks he can just storm right in and save the day.

“What do you want from me? Huh? Is this some sick game with you?!”

He ignores me. Not that I expected anything less. But it does nothing but fuel my fire. How dare he!

“Four years, you idiot! I all but handed myself over to you. The only thing that was missing was a freaking bow and a cherry on the top! Four stupid years I wanted you. And now . . . What is this now? I’m not good enough for you, but you still want me to die a little inside by forcing me to be around you?”

His jaw ticks, but that’s all I get.

“Answer me! Why! Why now?”

Nothing.

“I hate you!” I exclaim, hating the taste of those words from my mouth when directed him. I don’t hate him and I probably never could. I’m not really sure what that says about me at this point.

I have to hold on to the dash when his car suddenly swerves to the shoulder and comes to a jarring halt. He doesn’t move to face me. Hell, he doesn’t move at all. He just faces forward with his white-knuckle grip on the wheel and his chest moving rapidly with each breath he forces through his nose.

But he still refuses to speak.

“I loved you once, you know,” I whisper more to myself than to him, but he hears me because I watch his eyes close. “I loved you unconditionally even though I was—no, even though I
am
—nothing to you. I left because being around you and trying to get over the fact that I’m the reason why Coop is dead was just too much. I was dying, daily, every time you would look at me but look right through me. I’m not sure why I thought that you would somehow be there for me when you never had been before.”

He doesn’t say anything, instead choosing to remain silent and let my confession linger in the air. His eyes are still closed, his body pulled tight, reminding me of the first time I met him. Even all these years later, we’re still no further than we were the first time we met when it just took three words for me to be hooked.

I let out a choppy breath and fist my hands tight, letting the pain of my nails take away the urge to cry. Gazing out the window, I beg myself to get it together.

I’m done crying over Maddox Locke.

“Chin up, buttercup.”
My chest hurts when I remember Coop’s thing for me. He was constantly saying that to me when I was having a hard time.

I hear Maddox mumble under his breath and I turn my attention back to the driver’s seat. He’s looking at me with an expression I’ve never seen on his face before. I frown and let my eyes take in every inch of his face, attempting to place whatever he’s trying to tell me with his eyes. I come up empty and sigh. Why did I think I would get anywhere with this man? I look away when he doesn’t speak.

“You were never nothing, Emmy. Never nothing. Not to me. You’ve been
everything
for longer than I care to admit, but you deserved more than a poor bastard like me.”

I almost miss his words, but my eyes snap back to his and my jaw drops.

“For such a smart man, you really are clueless. I never wanted anything
but
you. What I deserved was you not pushing me away like yesterday’s trash. What I deserved was you treating me like a human being with feelings and not to play games with my heart.”

“I never played games with you, Emmy. I just tried to get you to recognize a lost cause. I wouldn’t be able to live with hurting you.”

“Are you blind?! Jesus, Maddox! That’s all you ever did was hurt me.” I laugh without humor. Then I angrily swipe at the tear that sneaks past my demand to stay locked inside. “I don’t want to talk about it right now. Just drive to wherever the hell you’re determined to take me so I can get some sleep. We can talk about it later before you take me back to Syn and head home.”

“I am home, Em,” he says under his breath.

I have no desire to argue with him, so I just lean my head against the glass and work on my strength to get past the next stage in his game.

CHAPTER 7

Maddox

I pull into the hotel, shut off the engine, and try to calm myself down. I’ve worked for over a decade to keep my emotions sealed away, determined not to let anyone in while I deal with the stone-cold truth that I ruin everything and everyone. I did exactly what she accused me of. I pushed her away. I was intentionally cruel to her by throwing other women in her face. Women I had no real taste for at all. Fillers, they were a means to a distraction. Let’s face it—eleven years is a long fucking time to go without sex.

So I used them. Paraded them in front of Emmy when the few social settings we were in deemed it worthy. I’ll never forget the look of pure agony the first time I brought one of them around. Daisy, a chick who knew that, when I called, all I needed was her to meet me at the local hotel and check in. She did me a favor and played the part, but all I got out of it was the feeling of sinking in the middle of the ocean with no boat in sight.

She’s right; I played games to keep her from getting too close.