Motown Takedown (Motown Down Book 3) (26 page)

“It is said such passion could not go unnoticed by the Goddess of love,
”
she says on a sigh. “She took pity on the man and when he went to her temple to sacrifice a bull, Aphrodite gave him a sign. The offering burned on the temple, the flames shot up one, two, three times.”

“Guess the Greeks aren’t the only ones who burn shit,
”
I grin at her.

“Eros,
”
she says taking my hand. “The Greeks have nothing on you.”

“True,
”
I say kissing her knuckles. “Now tell me the rest.”

A luckier motherfucker did not exist.

On the drive over to our final destination, I listened while Cinn waxed on about Pygmalion and Galatea. The guy was sick of the sluts in his neighborhood so he spent his time carving a statue of his perfect woman. Aphrodite thought this was some charming shit and when he gets home and hugs the statue it returns the hug. Aphrodite granted his wish and his Galatea was alive. She did a better of job of explaining it than I ever could but my take from it was, if I had to wish for the perfect female it would be for Cinn. But I didn’t need a Greek Goddess to grant me anything because my wish was currently holding my hand.

My wish came to me when she was a kid.

Parking a block down from the Ren Cen, I open her door and help her down. “Feet hurt?
”
I ask checking out those high fucking heels. Motherfuckers looked painful.

“No,
”
she smiles. “All good.
”

Taking her at her word, we cross the street and head down the steps to stand at the rail overlooking the river. Leaning into me, she moves herself putting my front to her back. Pulling her closer, I cage her in with my arms around her shoulders and rest my chin on the right. Years ago, I came here a lot. It didn’t look like it did now though. It had been run down like the world forgot it existed. But I never did because I brought Cinn here on her fourteenth birthday. Even then, I was tempted to put her on my back and swim over to Canada. Anything to keep her from Savage. I never did follow through with that and yet here we are.

“We stood right here eight years ago,
”
she muses. “It was my birthday. You gave me a cupcake with a candle on top. You had me make a wish.”

“Did it ever come true?
”
I ask kissing her neck.

Then spinning to face me, she cups my jaw and says, “I’m looking at it.
”
It was late, no one was out here but us so I lifted her up and felt her legs wrap around me. Holding her under her ass, I just stare and she does the same. “What’s on your mind, Eros?”

“Should have jumped in the river and swam to Canada.”

“Wouldn’t a boat, I don’t know
…
be easier?”

“With you, Cinn. Eight years ago, when we stood here I wanted to take you and swim to Canada.”

“I can swim now,
”
she says softly. “And if you want to swim to Canada, we’ll swim to Canada.”

“What do you see when you look at me?
”
I ask her this, but before she could answer company showed up. Sliding her down my body, I set her back on her feet and lean in. “Do not move from my side.”

Glancing up she sees it and tenses. “Six,
”
she says hugging me. “Armed. I don’t recognize any of them.”

“When I turn, reach behind my back and take the forty. No matter what happens, do not get in the strike zone.”

Reaching up placing both hands on my face, she kisses me. “I love you, Eros.”

“I love you, my queen.”

Then with an evil smile, she takes a small step back and whispers, “Kill them all.”

Turning to face the threat, Cinn slides the forty out and kept it loose in her hand. Sliding mine into my pockets casually, I address the group. “You’ve come to die.”

“Hand her over and the only one dying is you.
”
He says palming his piece eager to use it.

“She belongs to me.”

“She belongs to the winner,
”
he smiles motioning his men to flank him. “Given the odds, I’d have to say that’s me.”

One shot rang out, one. When the asshole hit the pavement face first, Cinn comes to my side, forty in her hand ready to take them all on.

“Who’s next?
”
She smiles then fluffs her hair giving me a smile. Gauntlet lowered. Chaos erupted. With five men left, three rushed me while two advanced on Cinn. Never losing sight of her, I fought for my woman. Using my fists, elbows and knees I punished the offenders violently. Another shot rings out and the man reaching for her goes down. Momentarily distracted, the other man grabs her pulling her back by her hair. Letting out a grunt of pain, she screams for me.
They seek to separate me from my queen…
Dropping the asshole in front of me, I attempt to charge forward when one jumps on my back while the other rocks me upside the head. Down on one knee, I reach up pulling the asshole from my body and crushing his throat with my hand.

Looking up, the man holding Cinn tries dragging her but she drops all her weight taking them both to the ground. With one man standing between me and my woman, I tag him around the waist taking him to the concrete. He fought hard, I fought harder. Each time I broke away he pulled me back. The motherfucker wrapped his body around mine to keep me from getting to Cinn. Fighting dirty, she punches the man in his throat then scrambles back for the gun on the ground. Righting himself, he launches his body into hers taking her back to the concrete. Letting out a wail of pain, I let out a roar of my own. Breaking free, I roll on the asshole, take his head in my hands and twist.

Cinn was ten yards away but it felt like she was cross country. The man struck her, she hit him back. Never giving up, she wraps her body around his refusing to let go. He wasn’t getting far and with a few more strides, I was on him. Pulling him away from Cinn, I toss him to the ground but he scrambles back to his feet. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see she was hurt, this put me in a real bad fucking place. Reaching into my pocket, I quickly fit my spiked knuckles over my fingers. He dodges my first swing landing one of his own. This was fine because I didn’t feel it and it left him vulnerable. Coming from below, I land a blow into his side watching him stagger back. Advancing, I continue to rein blows to his face, chest, and sides.

Finally down, with blood pouring out of him, Cinn staggers over wearing one heel, handing me the forty. While securing it behind my back I see Cinn holding her side as she struggles to catch her breath. “Finish,
”
she tries and coughs. “Him.
”
Nodding to her, I step to him and with only my right hand, I beat the motherfucker into the ground with a kill blow to the temple. Moving away, I slip the knuckles back into my pocket and watch as she slowly begins emptying each of their pockets. Tucking their wallets in her bag, she nods, she’s ready.

Careful of any injury, I keep her close to my side as we head back to the Tahoe. Both of us were alert, scanning for another threat but finding none.

Helping her in and buckling her belt, neither one of us spoke on the way home. For Cinn, I imagine it was the pain keeping her quiet. As for me, it was rage keeping me silent. This was proof war was coming.

Fuck that, I decided. The war was already here.

“Freedom?
”
Savage roars with laughter. “Freedom is a myth, Bean. Say I give it to you, let you do you as please
…
I took one look at you and knew you belonged here and every criminal in this Godforsaken city wants you to belong to them too. You are too precious, vital. It’s a risk I am not willing to take. No sane man would.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to correct him and sensing it, he pinned me to the wall and beat me to it. “Given the chance, he would be worse than I could ever be,
”
he snarls in my face. “A man who builds an empire, kills indiscriminately and does it all for a female who does not belong to him? Will never belong to him? That’s insanity, Bean. Hate me for speaking the truth, I can tolerate it but what I can’t tolerate is you waiting for a fucking hero who will never come.”

“He’ll come,
”
I whisper.

“Look at me,
”
he smiles in victory. “He won’t.”

My eyes must have spoken for me and they were screaming I’d break myself free and he caught that too. Lifting my arms above my head, using his knee to separate my thighs he warns me of what my defiance would cost me. “Test me,
”
he says low. “I’ll kill him first while you watch.”

He was not in the mood to discuss what happened tonight. His only concern was my comfort and I let him see to me because his rage was at the forefront. Once in bed, I scanned their IDs assuming they were fake since most are. Whether they were or not made no difference to me. I didn’t know these men which meant they were now too dead to tell us who they worked for. Not really giving a shit, I handed their wallets over to Monarch to handle it. I had a whopper of a headache and was none too pleased about the strawberry running up my left side.

“I get it,
”
he says sitting at the edge of the bed. With his head in his hands, he stares at the floor. “Why Savage kept you caged. I fucking get it.
”

“This isn’t the first incident and it won’t be the last, Eros.
”
I’ve had a taste of freedom, I was addicted to it and was not ready to lose it. I would not be caged again, I wouldn’t survive it. “Talk to me,
”
I urge him.

“You need to rest,
”
he says turning. In that moment he looked…feral. His eyes zeroed in on my swollen lip and he flies from the bed imbedding his fist into the wall. Over and over again, he clobbers the drywall until his hands bleed.

Getting up, I come up behind and wrap myself around him. “Stop,
”
I beg him.

Taking my wrists, he faces me trying to catch his breath. “Stop? You expect me to
stop
? That motherfucker put his hands on my queen.
My queen
! No one takes you from me, understand me?”

“Yes,
”
I agree. “I do understand but this won’t be the last time someone tries.”

“Then I kill them all.”

“Monarch,
”
I try settling him down. “Come to bed.”

“My queen needs her rest,
”
he says forcing me back in. He stays for a bit, touching me with his hands but no words came from his mouth. I could feel him drifting away from me. Monarch was in another world right now and I wasn’t welcome there. So in an effort to sort my own head out, I fell asleep. When I woke to use the bathroom, he still hadn’t come to bed. Crawling back in, I had just started to drift when I felt the mattress dip. His deadly aura was gone but I scented the alcohol on his breath. Carefully wrapping his body around mine, he tucks his face into my neck and exhales hard.

“Mo chuisle,
”
he whispers assuming I’m asleep. “Know that I am sorry for what I’m about to do. Please don’t fucking hate me for it. Don’t hate me…”

And there it was.

Like history was repeating itself, my man was going to cage me. He would convince himself it was to protect me from further danger. I’d be spoiled to the point of insanity to compensate for the loss of my freedom, but it wouldn’t matter. Monarch was not like Savage in most ways, but in a few he was. When the attacks became frequent, for my safety I was sequestered. Don’t misunderstand me, I get why a man would do this to protect what he cherishes, but what neither understands is I’d rather die a slow death then be trapped again. I was a leader, a fighter, and capable. To both of them this was the easy way, safest way. For me, this was another prison, another loss. If Monarch did this to me, stuck to it despite my resistance, then it would only be a matter of time before I grew to hate him too.

I told myself, I loved him too much to ever hate him. But if he took this from me, I would; and it would destroy us both in the process. Sensing my distress, Ares jumps up and snuggles into my chest. Wrapping an arm over Ares with Monarch’s arms around me, I wondered why it hurt to breathe.  But I knew the weight on my chest had nothing to do with my dog and everything to do with the future that I dreamed of.

Because I could feel it being stolen from me.

Again.