Power (Romantic Suspense) (37 page)

I need to get her out of this water and into some clothes, before I bend her over this tub. Put that big ass in the air. Fuck. I haven’t got behind her really good like I want to. Could I do it right now, and not hurt her? Maybe get a pillow and put it on the edge? Maybe—

“You’re squinting and licking your lips,” Mary Jane giggled. “What are you thinking about?”

“Don’t worry about that?”

Vinese’s last card flashed in my head at exactly the wrong time. Anxiety rose in my chest. I did my best to relax, but I couldn’t get the image out of my mind. A large man draped in shadows. A crown made out of bones sat on his head. His eyes glowed red from under the darkness. In his one hand, he held a rose that bled and dripped to the foggy ground in front of him.

“Death,” Vinese had whispered and pierced me with her gaze. “Noah, you must focus.”

Mary Jane snapped her fingers in front of me. “Tell me more about Butterfly.”

I groaned. By now the warm liquid rose to my chin. “Do I have to?”

“Why can’t you find her?” Mary Jane asked.

“Because she’s always been good at hiding in Din City. The first thing a female learns on the streets is that she has to hide until she gains power or protection. I bet she has thousands of hiding spots.”

“And what’s the second thing?”

“Trust no guy from the block. Even if he looks, acts, and eats like a sheep, he’s a fucking wolf, waiting to bite the shit out of her.”

“And the third?”

“Pussy is power.”

“Fourth?”

“Once a chick knows that pussy is power, there’s no need to learn anything else.”

“That sounds so wrong, yet, right in some way.”

“Wrong?”

“Very, very wrong, my friend,” Mary Jane said. “Women have so many beautiful things about them. The space between their thighs is just the cool bonus. This whole way of thinking is wrong. These streets are wrong too. And the men are wrong. I don’t know. I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m just saying. . .”

“It’s wrong.”

“Yes.”

I thought about what Vinese had said last night.

“Wrong bones in the wrong place. Wrong bones, Noah. People that shouldn’t be dead. Blood that is too innocent. Crying where there should be laughter. Fire and destruction where there should be beauty and love. A festival of pain.”

“Is this in my city?” I’d asked.

“Choose what you really love and fight for it, Noah. Look for the light in the darkness and then run fast toward that light, like you’re about to die. Never look over your shoulder at the darkness. Any light you see boy, you run for it. That is all I can say or those wrong bones might come my way.”

I thought about that for a long time as I stared at Mary Jane and wondered how many times could we sit in the bathtub like this and enjoy ourselves. How many days would I get a break to relish in her? Would the city ever let me rest? Would my enemies ever let me be?

Sighing, I asked the question that had been knocking in my head all morning and giving me a headache. “Do you think you could be a part of my life, baby?”

She took too long to answer as she moved her leg and rested it on mine, making little swirly patterns on my stomach with her toes. “I don’t know.”

My goddamned heart did that booming pattern that she’d triggered since the first time I met her. I couldn’t leave the conversation there. We had to have this talk.

I whispered, “You have to know, baby.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Do you think I could really hurt you if you walked away from me?”

She returned to drawing on my body with her toes.

Fear twisted inside of me. “Mary Jane?”

“No, you wouldn’t hurt me, but I don’t think you would let me move on to another man.”

She’s always been a fast fucking learner. I would kill any man that looked at her too long, whether she was with me or not.

She let out a long breath. “But then. . .I don’t think I would let you move on to another woman either. I don’t care if she’s from the streets or whatever, I would spend the rest of my life hurting her as much as possible. That’s the messed up thing about this Butterfly situation. The solution would be to love her.”

“I couldn’t. Not the way she wants and she’s done too much. She pit Domingo, Rasheed, and me against each other.”

“From what Fuji has told me, it wouldn’t have been too hard to have you three fighting. It sounded like as you rose in power, your friends slowly became frenemies. It’s probably why Butterfly wanted you even more.”

A throb came right at the center of my forehead. Right where those crazy yoga people in articles talked about the third eye’s location.

“It sounded like as you rose in power, your friends slowly became frenemies. It’s probably why Butterfly wanted you even more.”

I sat up in the tub.

Power. That’s why Butterfly loves me.

Water streamed down from my chest. Mary Jane’s expression twisted into lust as her eyes left my face and went everywhere they shouldn’t have.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I said. “I’m already finding it hard enough not to fuck you right now.”

“Eh! Why would you
not
be giving me that thug love right now.”

“Thug love?”

“Thug passion, maybe?”

The past week’s events played out in my mind.

Mary Jane snapped her fingers. “What are you thinking about?”

“Hold up. I’ll be right back.” I shook my head and climbed out of the water. Bubbles still clung to most of me. My lady had poured the whole damn bottle in the tub.

“Where are you going?” Mary Jane pouted. “I demand that you get back in here.”

“You made me realize something.” I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around my waist. Poor Fuji, Crusher, and 305. They stayed in the loft last night to guard us and the red-head we’d saved. There was no way they didn’t hear Mary Jane and I sexing. I didn’t give a fuck about being loud. But no man wanted to listen to another man groan and come, especially when that guy was his boss.

Now, I’ll be giving them an order, covered in bubbles and wearing a bath towel.

“What’s your idea?” Mary Jane called out to me.

I paused in the doorway and turned to her. “It’s fair to say that Butterfly is in love with me, because I saved her all of those times.”

“That and the fact that God personally sculpted your body and cock from magic clay and had his top angels blow breath into your lungs.”

I opened my mouth.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Let’s focus. Yes. Butterfly probably fell for you, because you are her hero.”

I smiled. “And because I have power.”

“Maybe.”

“It’s not a maybe, Mary Jane.”

“Sure, it could be the power, too.

“Power.” I raised a finger. “It is the number one reason why Butterfly loves me. This is why I could never love her or any of the other women I met in the streets. When they fuck me, they’re fucking the Beast of Din City. When you’re in my bed, who are you fucking?”

“Noah. The Ruiner of Good Jokes. The Lord of Long Monologues and OCD cleanliness. The Mocker of Pop Corn and all things that are junk food. The King of Odd Beach Glass Meditation. The Purveyor of Pounding My Pussy. I could go on and on.”

Damn. I love her.

I couldn’t help it. I rushed to her, almost slipping on the wood flooring. I took her into my arms and she shrieked a little before I devoured her lips. When I pulled away, lust pooled in her eyes and I bet she didn’t remember what we’d even been talking about.

“Could you be a part of this life?” I landed a kiss on both of her cheeks. “Tell me the truth.”

“I wouldn’t want to be.” Panting, she tried to move away, but I wouldn’t let her.

“I don’t think I would want to be with the Mary Jane that loved my power. You’ve only been with me for this long and you’ve already seen too much shit.” I traced her bottom lip with my thumb. “After a year in this life, you won’t be telling jokes and giggling with the guys. You’ll be holding a gun, probably scared about whatever new enemy that I’m fighting, because in the end, my Mary Jane, there will always be a new enemy.”

She frowned. “What are you saying?”

“If I left this life, would you leave me?”

She twisted her face in confusion. “Leave you? Of course not. I would hold a huge going away party and be happy that you’re not in these streets getting yourself killed or even worse. I mean. . .seriously, if we had kids or something. . .not that I’ve been thinking about that recently. . .but if we did, I would be scared as hell for them.”

“Kids?” My heart shifted from booming to slamming against my ribcage. “Kids?”

She’s going to have me on fucking heart medication by next week.

“Ignore that.” She moved my hand away from her face. “What are you trying to tell me?”

“If I lost my power, would you stay by my side?” I asked.

“Duh.”

“You’d be there, if I was broke?”

“I’m a college kid and raised by a single mother who taught school. I know all about being broke.”

“That’s why I fucking love you. That’s why I was able to warm to you.” I slipped my hand down to one of her breasts. Those wet nipples had been enticing me the whole time.

She pushed my hand away. “Noah, stop. What’s your idea?”

“If I lost my power, Butterfly would not be there for me. She’d be sad about it, maybe. But she would be gone to the next man with power.”

Mary Jane shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“If Domingo or Rasheed had killed me, she’d be with whoever beat the other. That’s a fact. All this time, the war wasn’t about being next to me. It was about her being next to my position. She couldn’t rule over my men because she’s a woman, but if she puppet mastered another man, there would be no problem. And when someone came after the guy and killed him, she’d just replace him with another fool. She doesn’t love Noah. She loves my power and reputation.”

She tossed me a skeptical look. “I don’t know. She may really love you.”

“Let’s see.” I kissed her forehead and walked off to talk to my men.

“But what’s the plan?”

I left. My dick had gone stiff from touching her. I had to get the damn erection down, before talking to them.

“Noah? Noah!”

Vinese’s words hit me again.

“Choose what you really love and fight for it, Noah.”

Chapter 26

Noah

On a visit to the city, a moron catches sight of the full moon, and asks his father if other cities have moons just like it.

–Philogelos (The Laughter Lover)

F
uji
and 305 waited in the living room while I grabbed Crusher. No one had said anything about my walking in the towel, but I knew one of the motherfuckers were joking on me as I rushed off. No one knew where Crusher was, but I had some ideas. I headed to the guest room where we’d put the red-head. Sure enough, that stupid Beauty and the Beast song played in the room.

She’s already scared, man. Now you’re going to sit your ugly ass in there and play this shit.

I cracked the door a little to peek in on him, praying to God that he hadn’t been cutting off her fingers or doing worse. Mary Jane would fucking kill me if Crusher hurt her.

The red-head still crouched in the corner, but at least she’d stopped shaking.

Good. She’s alive.

“The song,
Beauty and the Beast
is one of my favorites.” Crusher pressed a button on his phone and lowered the volume a little as it came on. “The chick who’s singing it is from this old tv mystery show.
Murder She Wrote
. You ever heard of that?”

The girl sat there with wide eyes and a closed mouth.

“Well, anyway. I didn’t know the chick could sing too. I thought she only knew how to solve mysteries and what not.” He started the song over. “I like this song, because it’s all about how love is good no matter what you are and how throughout history people have been in love. Sometimes, when I’m killing people, I think about who that person might’ve loved and I hope that they enjoyed the person. Some of them probably loved a whole lot. Back in the day, I tried to keep their hearts, but Noah never let me. Well, one time he did, but it stank up the place and. . .”